by L. J. Red
Isabella was screaming and beating at the door behind him as he sped away. In his mind’s eye, the countdown from the bomb fueled his desperation and made him run even faster, faster than he had ever moved. The world around him blurred and smeared so much, he could barely tell where he was. There was a violent explosion of sound, heat and force that slammed into his back, launching him up through the air and out into the snow. He hunched his body over May, protecting her from the blast as fire raged around him, smoke billowing out, chunks of wood and shards of glass shattering into his back and cascading around them.
It seemed an age before the force of the explosion faded away. Still crouched, he turned to see the building far behind him, a twisted, burning wreck. He’d done it. He had run fast enough. He had got them both clear of the explosion. He turned back. The scene outside was carnage. Injured people lay groaning on the snow. Through the smoke and blood, Neal couldn’t tell if they were human or vampire. Survivors were dragging bodies clear of the wreckage. Neal felt Talon and Rune deep within the web of his Bloodline, still alive. They’d taken out the shooters and evacuated the Conclave, but not soon enough. A great mourning cry went up from those still alive. Broken sobbing echoing through the buildings. So many dead. But Neal had no heart to spare to mourn the lost. May was growing cold and silent in his arms, her pulse slowing. She gasped, blood on her lips, searching for his eyes. There was only one way to save her, and Neal didn’t even hesitate. He bit down so hard on his wrist that he felt tendons tear and placed it over May’s mouth, desperately lifting her and stroking the side of her throat that was not ravaged by Isabella’s bite. “Drink,” he urged, “drink, my love.” She had to drink, had to live. If she died, he knew he would die too.
Chapter 31
Roman ran through the darkness of the forest. His foot caught on something on the ground and he went flying, thudding into the snow, pine needles scratching his arms. He rolled over and glanced around wildly. Was it the Shadows? Had they found him? He looked down at the ground and saw what his foot had caught. No, it was no Shadow warrior attacking him from the darkness. He had tripped over a dead human body, still gripping its rifle, its eyes staring blankly up at the sky, its throat torn out. Blood looking black in the moonlight.
Roman wrinkled his nose in disgust and pulled himself to his feet. He looked back in the direction of the lodge. The sky was stained orange by the light of the fire still consuming the buildings and smoke billowed up in waves, fouling the air with its smell.
If he listened, he could hear the faint cries from the survivors mourning the dead, but no sound of pursuit. Good. The Shadows were still consumed with the wreckage of the Conclave. No one would be coming after him.
True, things hadn’t fallen out the way he wanted. He had hoped to kill the Shadows and every member of the Circle at the Conclave. He had hoped to deal a death blow to vampire society in one strike, but that useless Isabella had failed him. He glanced down at the human. There were plenty more hunters out there, and since Isabella had gone and gotten herself killed, he would be happy to step in and take her place.
Things would change. He may not have killed all of the Conclave, but enough vampires had died in the explosion that vampire society would be reeling from that blow for a long time. And he would, of course, be ready to take advantage of the confusion. He turned away from the burning lodge and looked further into the woods to the south. Chicago, where the Shadows were still trying to establish their stronghold. He had his own people spread throughout the city. Radiance had been sending its tendrils into the city’s underbelly for a very long time. The Shadows had no idea what they were dealing with. He grinned, his fangs flashing, and he swept his pale hair back from his forehead. He gathered his power and flickering between the reflection of the far-off flames on the snow and the darkness of the night, he sped away.
Chapter 32
May woke up. She was floating, her limbs weightless, her head full of soft clouds, drifting gently on a warm ocean, darkness all around her, but a welcoming, comforting kind of darkness. It took an age for her to realize she was lying on a soft bed and that the darkness came from her closed eyes. She slowly opened her eyes and looked around.
She was lying on an expanse of white sheets, warm wooden beams made up the walls of the room around her, familiar, the cabin? But it looked nothing like the cabin she remembered, everything was so bright, so sharp, so rich and full of life. She pushed the sheets down to her waist and raised herself up. How did she get here? Where had she been before? There was a deep ache in her neck, a kind of heavy tenderness. She raised her hand to her skin. She suddenly remembered Isabella, teeth, and pain as she ripped into May’s throat. May scrubbed her fingers down her skin, but it was whole. Unbroken. She looked at her fingertips. There was no blood, not even a bandage. How could that be?
She kicked the sheets off her and sprung up from the bed. The movement feeling so fluid and natural that she gasped, a trickle of realization at the back of her head, slowly gathering power as she stepped lightly across the room.
Her senses were dialed up to the maximum. Everything felt present and immediate, and she was almost aching at the clearness of it. She heard the wind through the trees outside despite the thick wall separating them. She sensed the sun, hidden now but waiting to rise with the dawn. She smelled the clear, clean scent of pine, the crush of snow outside and within the cabin, the thick warm scent that made her think of leather, of fire, of a molten, uncontrollable desire. Not just lingering in the cabin. Not just from his possessions or his clothes, but right there, she could scent him right there with her. She spun around to see Neal standing in the corner of the room watching her intently.
He stalked towards her, the intensity in his eyes undeniable and May found herself stumbling backward, surprised by the force of it. Her back hit the wardrobe and she remembered the first day when she had arrived in the Conclave and she had invaded Neal’s space and he had advanced on her just like this.
This time it was different. Even though his expression was fierce, she knew the intensity underlying it was not hatred or anger, but a deep protective streak and deeper beneath that as she reached within herself and unspooled the thread that connected them, there was love. She pressed her hand to her chest, reeling at the unrivaled strength of emotion she felt from him.
Neal reached her and rested his hands on either side of her head, leaning in, creating a cage with his body. He pressed his head against her neck and inhaled deeply. May trembled and her eyes fell shut. She couldn’t catch her breath, having him close to her. Sensing him with all of her vampire senses and with the inner bond blooming fiery and strong between them.
She wasn’t human anymore. She had died on the snow outside the lodge, and Neal had brought her back. The bond she felt was the bond of two vampires sharing blood and sharing souls. And as that realization shattered through her, she raised her hands and clutched Neal to her.
She remembered Neal brushing his lips over her skin and wanting desperately to be bitten, unable to even admit the strength of her desire to herself. But now there was no reason to hold back, nothing at all in their way, no more secrets or questions lying between them. She ran her hands up his thick muscled shoulders, and plunged her fingers into his thick hair, pressing him closer to her neck. “Do it,” she whispered, “bite me.”
“It will seal the bond,” he murmured against her skin. “Claim it and make it unbreakable—”
“Yes,” she interrupted, “yes, yes.”
Neal needed no further urging. He opened his mouth, his fangs lightly grazing her skin and then a second later plunging into her. The pain was brief, barely even there and it transmitted quickly into an electric, tantalizing pleasure that raged down her nerves and pooled in her core.
She flicked her tongue over her own fangs as they emerged into her mouth, and her breath hitched at the sensation. Too soon Neal pulled back away from her, his hot tongue licking the wound to close it. “Don’t stop,” May moaned.
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“I have to,” Neal said, “you’re still recovering. You have to be careful. You lost so much blood.” His eyes were haunted, and she knew he was remembering the moment when Isabella had tried to kill her. May placed her palms on either side of his face. “I’m all right,” she said seriously, “I’m right here, you saved me.”
“May,” Neal choked and he pressed her close to him. “I thought I had lost you.” He pressed a kiss to her lips, the wealth of feeling clear in the way his lips moved against hers. He kissed her like he could never have enough of her.
May poured herself into the kiss, her love, her desire and she felt arousal rising between them through their bond. It gave her a delicious thrill to know that this warrior was as enraptured by her as she was by him. Their souls yearned to be joined, and every touch built more and more upon their twin desire. “Please, please,” she moaned. “I need you.”
“Yes,” Neal said, his voice a soft rumble, “my love.” He picked her up, carrying her to the bed and crawling up her body. His fingers quick on his fly. He drew her underwear own her body, kissing every inch of revealed skin, before moving up to rest his hardness between her legs, pinning her. Then, tantalizingly slowly, he returned to deep, wrenching kisses, first on her mouth, then her jaw, then kissing her bare skin, licking his way across her neck, her collarbone, teasing her until May couldn’t bear it, her skin aching, a desperate need between her legs.
“Oh, God. Now,” she said. “I need you inside me.”
“Ah lass, you only had to ask,” he said smugly, his voice a rich purr, and he entered her in one swift thrust. She cried out as the stretch overwhelmed her, filling her up, her nails raking down his muscled back. Then he began to rock into her. The bond wide open between them, pleasure shifting back and forth with every thrust. She cried out again, twisting the sheets between her hands as he urged her higher. Deep within her, the yearning in her core finally met, coaxed into a raging, incandescent burn of pleasure that left her delirious, gasping, urging him shamelessly deeper, her head thrown back, his fangs grazing her bare throat. She could only surrender to the naked power between them as it lifted her higher, and finally into her climax. Power and pleasure tore through her body in one shining, everlasting moment.
Spent and exhausted, they collapsed back onto the sheets. May stared at the ceiling, her vision out of focus, every part of her body exhausted. She never knew sex could be like that. Holy shit. How did soulmates ever get anything else done?
She didn’t know how long she lay there, panting, before her memories of the events that had led them here surfaced. She dragged herself onto her side to look at Neal. “What happened with the explosion? I don’t remember—”
Neal soothed her. “Don’t worry,” he said, tugging her into the side of his body. She pressed herself against him, reveling in the solid weight of his arm over her shoulders. “Talon and Rune took out the shooters in the forest and were able to evacuate almost everyone.”
May tilted her head up, “Almost everyone?”
“Yes,” Neal said, and his eyes were shadowed, “a number of vampires and vassals were caught in the explosion.”
May growled, and the sound resonated through her body. “It was Roman,” she said, catching Neal’s eyes again. “Isabella told me, she said she was working for him. She told me… she told me everything…”
Neal shifted to catch her eyes fully. “I never loved Isabella,” he said seriously. “I was young, foolish. I thought it was love, but I knew, even then. It’s why I never wanted to turn her.” He ran his hand over May’s cheek. “It wasn’t until I met you that I realized what love truly was, but I’d spent so long convinced that I’d lost my chance, that I could never—”
“It’s okay,” May stopped him, resting her fingers over his lips. “She’s gone, you can finally lay her memory to rest.”
Neal stroked his hand down her side and swept her in closer towards him. “I don’t deserve you,” he said, pressing a kiss to her head.
May let herself drift, enjoying the feel of his arms around her a little longer, but eventually, her curiosity urged her to ask. “What happens now? Roman can’t just get away with this.”
“Too many have died. The peace of the Conclave shattered. Vampires are, even as we speak, fleeing this place for their territories. I don’t know what it will mean for vampire society. It may be that Roman succeeded in his plan after all, that this blow to the Circle will be too great, and the vampires will retreat into their Bloodlines.”
“But that means war,” May said hesitantly.
“Whatever happens,” Neal promised, “We will be together. Wherever you want to go, I will go. You’re my soulmate, May. I shoulda told you a hundred times.”
May pressed her head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat. She knew what it meant for him to say that, to consider leaving the Shadows, their fight, and running away with her. For a moment she tried to imagine it. Tried to imagine leaving with Neal and going somewhere, anywhere, just the two of them. For a second, it seemed perfect. Then she remembered Dana. Her friends in the Sanctuary. She thought of the Shadows, the battle they had ahead of them to protect her city. She was no coward. She wasn’t walking away from that. “I want to go back to Chicago,” she said seriously. “I want us both to be there when Roman tries his next attack. That’s what the Circle is about, isn’t it? Vampires working together for the good of all? I’m not letting him win.” She raised her head to meet his eyes. “We’re going home.”
Neal grinned at her. “My little warrior lass,” he said.
May laughed. “Well, I’m not sure about that, but someone did teach me how to break out an attacker’s hold.”
“Ach really? He must have been a very smart man.”
May shrugged, a smirk on her lips. “He has his moments.” She stretched. “I should go out there, help,” she said, pushing herself up, then swaying as a wave of dizziness crashed over her.
“No,” Neal said. “You aren’t going anywhere, you’re staying right here.” He tugged her back onto the bed with him, his eyes full of concern.
May sighed, “I feel like I should be doing something.”
“There is nothing you need to do, your little red-headed friend has taken command of the remaining vassals. Trust me, you’ve trained her well—she’s just as stubborn as you.”
May grinned, glad to hear Ivy was unharmed. “Then, will you stay with me?” she asked him.
“Yes,” Neal said, wrapping his arms around her. He let his hand slide down to tangle his fingers with May’s. A warm, glowing feeling grew in her chest and filled out the spaces between her ribs. This was what she wanted. Neal by her side, the warm humming of the bond between them. Everything they’d been through, the fear, the danger, it all faded in her memory. The hardship and struggle had been worth it. She smiled up at Neal. She had everything she could ever want.
“Well, then, there is one thing we could do,” she said hesitantly, glancing up at him through her eyelashes. “To pass the time,” she added, desire rippling across her skin. She was thrilled to see his sharp fanged-grin in response. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her lips.
“If you insist.”
Chapter 33
Talon picked his way through the crowds of shell-shocked vampires standing beside their vassals, or in groups on their own. The general evacuation from the Conclave was going as smoothly as possible considering the shit-show this Conclave turned into. He refused to look at the still-smoking building behind him. He needed to ask Neal what the plans were for their own evacuation and that of the vassals they had brought with them, but when he reached the cabin, he heard Neal’s voice raised in a shout. Talon tensed, ready to run in—and then he realized the sound he heard was not Neal in pain, and that a second voice had joined Neal’s. Talon stopped stock still. Well, it seemed like Neal and the vassal had made up. Or, not actually a vassal anymore, he corrected himself. Neal’s mate.
A vampire came up behind him. “I have a qu
estion for—” he started in a snotty voice. Talon rounded on the vampire, his eyes flashing and he growled wordlessly, his fangs bared. The vampire flinched and turned tail, speeding away from him. Talon planted his feet and stood at the entrance to the path towards the Shadows’ cabins deciding then and there that no one would interrupt his brother or his mate.
He was happy Neal had found what his heart desired for so long. He had suspected it from the beginning. The way Neal reacted to that woman, it was just like the way that Lucian had reacted to Dana. He supposed he ought to use May’s name from now on, rather than referring to her as merely the vassal, since he had felt her bloom into life on the network of their Bloodline, just as he had felt Dana appear so many weeks before.
What would it be like, he wondered, to feel that bond? Something he knew he would never know. His violent urges boiled beneath his skin. He was constantly fighting the urge to rip and kill. The protective instinct that used to fire his violence was starting to turn into a mad rage. Who could love someone like him? He thought bitterly.
His anger wasn’t hot-blooded and alive, it was cold, colder every day. There wasn’t one shred of gentleness within him. Nothing that could call to a soft, gentle soul like May, or a fiercely honorable fighter like Dana. No, there was no one for him. He knew it. If all he could do was lay down his life in the protection of his brothers and his brothers’ mates, then so be it.