Chapter 2
Imogen thought of her life in different phases, herself before her parent’s death. She and Celia had what would be considered a good upbringing, 2 wonderful, loving parents, she went to school and did pretty well, her mom worked at the local store, her dad was a builder so there wasn’t a lot of money but there was enough love to counter that.
She remembered the knock at the door; she had been at college for 3 weeks exactly. Coming out of the shower she answered the knock at the door to find her tutor stood there with tears in her eyes. To this day Imogen couldn’t tell anyone what was said, or how she reacted, she knew she dropped to the floor, she knew that somehow she made the two hour journey home with her tutor driving, she knew that when she saw Celia hooked up to machines and unconscious her heart broke. But when she saw her parents in the morgue she fell apart, seeing them there, so empty, no life, no love, the pain that ripped through her body took her breath away. Even then she knew that no matter what, she would take care of Celia.
It was Imogen who had to explain to her baby sister that an over tired trucker had run their car off the road and she was the only survivor. Just thinking about that conversation speared pain through her chest even now. After the accident, it had taken 6 month’s to convince Court and Child Protection Services that she could take care of Celia, they had their family home to live in and a small inheritance, but rather than spend it, she saved it. She wanted to save their inheritance for Celia to attend College when she was older. To get by Imogen had taken two jobs, waitressing during the day and babysitting at night which meant she could take Celia with her.
The first year had been the hardest, with no other family it was the neighbours who made sure they looked after themselves immediately after their parent's death. But Imogen quickly realised that to keep Celia she needed to pull her shit together. It didn’t take long for them to get into a routine, and although they both knew life would never be as it was before it was okay.
And then there was her life after she and Celia were kidnapped. They had been to the movies, were walking back to the car park. When they arrived it was light out, but she knew it wouldn’t be when they left, so she had parked near a street light. It wasn’t a popular movie so there were not many people about and as they approached the car she saw that the street light was out. They were in a corner of the car park and as Imogen dug in her purse for her keys she heard the squeal of tires behind her, and she was grabbed from behind.
Even now she could still remember the strength of the man who had grabbed her, the smell of mud, and his large hand over her mouth restricting her breathing, his growl when she tried to kick and bite him in her desperate attempts to see Celia. He hit her head on the van doors as he threw her in, she came to in the back of a van with blacked out windows. As she came to she found her head cradled in Celia’s lap, with Celia crying her eyes out. Celia was only 15 at the time and Imogen prayed to everyone to save Celia, god, Jesus, their parents.
In a way Celia had been saved, they had been taken to a house and for the next five months Imogen had suffered daily and sometimes hourly physical and sexual abuse. Within two hours of arriving Imogen realised that they were in some sort of brothel, initially she fought and fought hard but the man running it liked that, so she stopped fighting.
The people there had few boundaries, in fact they had only one and that one had saved Celia, they didn’t touch children. She knew that they had initially planned to kill Celia instead, but Imogen had begged and pleaded with them, until she was informed mid beating that if she stopped causing problems (meaning stop trying to run away or attack clients), then Celia would be allowed to live. She agreed on the condition that Celia was never made aware of what was happening to her, if they didn’t agree, Imogen forcefully told them to kill them both now, mercifully it worked.
3-4 times a day she was sold to some of New York’s most depraved, she was beaten, chained and used in the worst possible ways and every night she crawled into bed and tucked her arms around Celia and knew she would protect her with her life. If it hadn’t been for Celia she wouldn’t have survived, she knew without a doubt she would’ve done whatever she had needed to do to kill herself.
Salvation came one night in a seedy nightclub, she and other girls were often taken to the private rooms, where they waited for the first sicko to come through the doors, hers that night was a vampire. Rather than abuse her he had wanted to get her away, she told him no, but she did give him information about the set up. He promised to free them, but Imogen didn’t really hold out much hope, but within a few weeks, she and Celia were coiled up in the single bed they shared, when Imogen heard the shouts and screams. Their door was flung open and in walked this huge man, Imogen remembered seeing him silhouetted in the doorway, as he came close she saw the tattoos that covered one half of his face, he was truly a scary looking man, but when he said he wanted to free them and held his hand out to them, Imogen had been surprised when Celia walked towards him telling her "he will help us."
He wouldn’t let Imogen walk, she had taken a particularly severe beating that day from a client and she hurt everywhere, he picked her up and carried her downstairs, and at the same time he took Celia’s hand and guided her out.
Imogen later found out that the man was Theo, he was part of the Silver wolf pack and had helped the police shut down the operation. To make sure all of the survivors were safe; everyone was taken to Silver Pack land and offered a safe haven until the investigation was complete. From that night, Celia clung to Theo she wouldn’t leave Imogen or let Theo move more than 3 feet away from her. Imogen needed to stay in the makeshift hospital for two nights so neither left her side, no matter how much she protested.
In the beginning Theo didn’t talk much to her, but when he thought she was asleep he sat with Celia and talked about anything and everything. When the time came to leave the hospital, Imogen watched Celia shake and try so hard not to cry and that was when she knew she had failed her baby sister and her parents. It was also when Theo offered to let them stay with him, seeing the relief on Celia’s face Imogen didn’t feel able to say no, she didn’t have the energy, she was too tired emotionally and physically.
It had taken 3 months to heal not only from the physical injuries but the emotional injuries, sort of, well she still wasn’t healed from the emotional trauma. For the first 9 months she kept herself distant from Theo, she refused to sleep in a different room to Celia and kept a large knife under her pillow. She didn’t trust easily anymore, but Theo had never over stepped the mark, he had never raised his voice to Celia, he had to Imogen, but in fairness she had more than raised her voice to him.
Even when she threw things and lashed out, the most he ever did was wrap his arms around her to contain her, murmuring words of safety to her. He didn’t however take any crap from her, if she was out of order he told her so, when she found him teaching Celia to shoot a gun and had balled him out about exposing her to weapons, Theo took her to one side and gave her a few home truths, while also making it clear that he expected her to learn some basic safety skills.
When she finally moved into her own bedroom, it was Theo who came in to comfort her at night when the nightmares took control of her mind and body, he sat next to her on the bed, holding her yet saying nothing and still making her feel warm and safe.
When Celia wanted to go back to school, it was Theo who found Imogen sat in the trees bordering the school just watching, while nervously wringing her hands. It was Theo who spent the whole week sat with her until she felt safe enough to leave Celia. It was Theo who convinced her to learn self-defense, how to throw a knife, fire a gun and fight, man could he fight, she loved watching him move.
Then there was her life at Silvers. By the time they had been at Silvers for 18 months, things changed, her and Theo fought like hell, for a variety of reasons. She was feeling stronger and had started helping the wolf pack. Initially she had upgraded their computer systems, and then built programs that would
link the security systems and developed a Silver Pack web site. Silver's was a huge organisation in New York, with a nightclub and many bars, as well as a thriving construction business under their belt, they were a prominent organisation. Therefore Imogen had set up her own computer consultancy and security business and linked it to Silver.
Theo however was unhappy when she had first started thinking of expanding her own business, not at her success but at the possible risks to her. It wasn’t that he was possessive but at Silver's they were safe, out of Silver's there were risks.
Imogen had become friends with some of the pack and she knew they rarely allowed unmated humans to reside on pack land. She knew what they had offered her and Celia and she didn’t want to seem to be taking advantage. In the pack Theo acted as one of the two pack second’s and she knew he had spoken to the Alpha about his concerns with regards to things moving too quick in Imogen’s business.
Although Ben the Alpha had agreed with Theo, he was a good man with honour and had an amazing wife, so what they eventually agreed on was for Imogen to become more involved in the technology side of Silver’s first and companies closely linked with Silver's. This had worked, she had developed new software, regularly hacked into the systems of people or others who were a concern, she ran the pack’s databases and taught some of the younger and older pack members in how to use current and new technology, it was then that she had expanded to private consultations.
The most remarkable change that happened to Imogen over this time was her feelings for Theo, without a doubt he was the most amazing specimen of man she had ever seen. Some people were intimidated by him, others were scared of his physical appearance and there were a few who didn’t understand his silence and distrust. Imogen felt none of these things, she often found herself gazing at him, his tall wide frame, the muscles that spread across his arms, chest and legs, the penetrating gaze from his blue eyes, his strong defined jaw line, he was just gorgeous. The burns were there but they just added to the mystery of the man. But the man and wolf inside was also something to wonder at, he was without a doubt the kindest most considerate man she had ever met. To others he was quiet and sometimes sullen but she saw behind that.
For Imogen, the man infuriated her, while he excited her and as she felt safer and more confident she slowly became turned on by him. She had once asked him what had happened to cause the burns, they had been sat outside on the step’s leading to the house, he had sighed and then told her she already had enough nightmares of her own, she didn’t need his as well.
Living with him, she had seen his upper torso almost daily and man was he toned, he didn’t say a lot but when he did he made it count. She knew they had both suffered, he knew what he had saved her from, so he knew she was damaged goods but they had developed a close albeit somewhat volatile relationship. She trusted him with her life but more importantly she trusted him with her sister’s life.
Six months after realising her feelings for Theo had developed, she had made a decision, after speaking to Ben they had a house built next door to Theo. She had been finding it harder and harder to live with him while knowing her feelings were deepening, if she acted on it, they would sacrifice their friendship and she wasn’t sure she could take a rejection from him. But she knew she wouldn’t cope with being too far away from him. It wasn’t just that he looked out for her and Celia, but sometimes he neglected himself or became so engrossed with a task that he forgot to look after himself. She found she quite liked looking after him. Moving out turned out to be somewhat silly, between them they spent most of the time with each other anyway. Theo and Celia were really close and Imogen now had the security of knowing that if anything did happen to her, Celia wouldn’t be alone.
With a sigh Imogen slipped on her tank and long bottoms, she checked where the knife under her mattress was, her gun was in the holster hanging of the bed post. All the doors were locked, windows locked, alarm on, now she could breathe and hopefully sleep, although not until she had checked on Celia one last time. The last thing she thought of before sleep caught was the excitement surrounding her changing relationship with Theo, the feel of his lips on hers, the exotic taste of his blood in her mouth, his hands on her breasts.
Chapter 3
Theo woke with a raging erection and a pounding headache, in his head he replayed the evening events, and then went over them again, did him and Imogen really…. Almost, no couldn’t have, but as he touched his thick and sore lip he knew it had happened. The woman was so strong and controlled, she never let anyone into her heart if she could help it, he knew that what she went through was horrendous and so he had tried to give her a better chance at defending herself and attacking if needed. Well he now knew the training had worked, he just hadn’t expected her to use it on him.
He still remembered the first time he had seen her, Ben, one of Theo’s closest friends, had fallen in love with Lucky, who worked for the Paranormal Task Force (PTF). Since the other species had come out to the world and had started living openly with the humans, the PTF had become the police force unit that dealt with the other species. Lucky and her colleagues had been involved in closing an illegal fighting ring, but during the preceding investigation they had found out that people were being forced into prostitution by the same group. Because of Ben’s blossoming relationship with Lucky, Silver became part of the large team assembled to close it all down.
When Lucky was kidnapped and tracked to an isolated mansion, they entered the house to get her back, he initially headed to the basement to protect Ben, but when he saw that he wasn’t needed he went to help the other’s get the victims out.
As he opened one of the doors, he took in the dark room housing only a bed and a bucket in the corner. He saw a figure fly off the bed, while another cowed in the corner. Theo had watched as Imogen stood tall and strong, even though he could see the bruises and cuts on her face, the way she leaned on one leg, she must have been in agony but the determination in brown eyes was fierce. He knew if Celia hadn’t have come to him, Imogen wouldn’t have moved, well she might have but it would have been to attempt to kill him, of that he was sure.
It had taken a long time for Imogen to trust him, which was a real turn around for Theo, he was normally the distrustful one. But over time they had opened up to each other, they trusted each other to care and protect Celia. He had made sure both of them were more able to fight and protect themselves, he never wanted to see either one of them hurt and vulnerable again. Wherever possible he protected them, offering to drive them places, sending other pack members with them if he couldn’t make it, hell he had even been clothes shopping with them on way too many occasions.
It hadn’t taken him long to realise that the feelings he had for Imogen were strong, he had admired her from that first meeting, and later he had admired her determination, her love, her caring nature, her brain and her body was just damn hot. But Theo also knew that the pain and suffering she had been through in her life was so traumatic it would take her years to move forward. He knew that feeling and had no intention of making her suffer again. He enjoyed how she did not fear him, how she would stand up to him, she actually made him laugh and smile, even when she was pissed at him, it kept him on his toes.
When she had made the decision to move out of his house, it had really unsettled him, he had become so used to having her and Celia in his home, he hadn’t lived with anyone for a long time and he hadn’t been sure if he could live with anyone else. His house had gone from being stark to the point of looking sterile to being a home. Before Imogen had always made sure everything had a place, he liked things minimalistic and ordered, they had turned his home disorderly and chaotic, but he loved it.
When they started building the house next to his he had been overtaken by a feelings of loss. He could no longer imagine eating alone, spending hours holed up alone with only the wild wolves to talk to. He had always thought his life was full and that he had enjoyed the solitude, but after they moved in he saw how e
mpty his life was.
Over the last two years Celia had become like a daughter to him, he knew they had lost their parent’s and he didn’t try to replace them, but he adored her and wanted to protect her. He had been just as upset loosing Celia from his house as he had been Imogen, for a while he thought it was because he had upset them, but slowly he had watched Imogen fight for her independence. She had been adamant about wanting a place in the pack and being able to contribute, he was terrified that she wanted to be involved in the actual combat side and although he understood her reasons he feared for her.
When he spoke to Ben about this he was surprised that Ben agreed and was thankful when Imogen became more involved in the technology side of things. He was damn grateful she was a technology wizard and had to say she had done an amazing job in bringing the pack up to date. In fact the pack had embraced both Imogen and Celia. Initially he didn’t like the idea of her being friends with some of the males, a wolf was a wolf regardless, but they had kept within the boundaries of friendship.
The Kiss of a Vampire, the Heart of a Wolf (The Silver Series) Page 2