by Jewel Dartt
"You listen to me, Miranda Slate, I've not gone through all this hell just to shoot you at the first sign of trouble, do you understand?" He let out a sigh and hugged her closer. "Besides, I don't specialize in taking lives; I'm better at trying to save them, as you well know."
Hadden placed his chin on top of her head. "Let's not talk about it anymore, sweetheart. It's too damn depressing. And after what happened to Jan and then the fire, it's been one hell of a day. Why don't we just try and think positive, okay? Steven is going to find a answer to our problem, and Drake is out of our lives for good. End of story."
She stiffened in his arms. "What if Steven doesn't find your miracle cure, Hadden? What then? Are you going to become my keeper? You're placing too much faith in something that may not even exist."
His arms tightened around her. "If necessary. But we will find a cure someday, Miranda. There has to be something out there that can reverse the process. Don't lose faith yet."
She dashed at the tears welling up in her eyes with the back of her hand. "It's not a matter of losing faith, it's a matter of life and death—possibly yours in the near future. We can't have a normal life as long as I am what I am. You must know that by now."
Hadden turned her around and tilted her chin gently. "Look at me, Miranda."
Reluctantly, she looked at him. He was staring down at her, his eyes narrowed and dark with emotion. There was intensity in his gaze that pulled the breath from her body and left her feeling, strangely enough, exposed.
"It doesn't matter if we find a cure or not. The only thing that does matter is I love you, and nothing is going to change that…nothing at all, Miranda. We can still build a life together, just you and me, somewhere nobody knows us if we have to."
Although she knew what he was saying could never be, she didn't deny it. Let him hold onto the dream a little longer, she thought, curving her slender fingers against his cheek and pulling him closer.
His tongue dragged lazily along her lower lip, tasting, exploring the full curve, then dipped into her mouth. The warm, liquid tip of it flicked against hers, causing a lightning bolt of heat to shoot through her body. His finger found the rounded flesh of her breast, fondling the stiff peaks until a whimpering sound came from her lips, and her own hand came up to clasp his and press it tighter to her breast.
A small voice inside her whispered, No. Stop him…tell him to go. Tell him you're leaving him tomorrow.
She didn't listen. She clutched at him with the desperation of one standing on the edge of a precipice. The driving force of her need for him was taking her beyond reason and fear…beyond herself and into a new dimension.
Miranda ignored the ache in her heart as he swept her into his arms and carried her inside.
She felt the softness of the bed beneath her as it gave beneath their weight, and then all rational thought left her as his hands and mouth replaced her clothing, sending ribbons of fire unfurling through her. It seemed like she had loved him forever, and she knew she would in reality love him for an eternity. Leaving him would be like ripping her soul in half, but leave him she must. The thought brought tears to her eyes, and she dashed them away angrily. She'd let nothing ruin this one last night of magic between them—no sadness—no anger—only love.
She let out a strangled moan and in a space of a heartbeat, he was inside her, filling her with his heat. Passion wiped away all awareness of pain, of danger, of anything real. All she cared about was Hadden. All she loved was Hadden. She didn't want to think about her legacy or Drake…or her mother dying in Florida without her only child by her side. She just wanted to stay like this with him forever, with the outside world held at bay by the magic of their lovemaking. Such bliss. Yet, such pain to know that she would never know his touch again. She forced back the thought. No, not now. She would not think about it now. Tonight was their night.
Hadden caught her mouth with his and moved deeper within her. A cry of delight escaped her as she matched his movements, igniting a fire in her blood that only he could quench. Together they rode higher and higher until at last, they were in the Heavens, dancing among the stars…and for a heartbeat in time they were one heart, one soul…one body.
* * *
Miranda was surrounded by mist; layers and layers rolled in, pressing in until she couldn't breath. She tried to run, but to her horror she found she couldn't move. Her eyes widened as black stark trees burst through the mist, their branches reaching out hungrily toward her.
She screamed as one of the thin knobby branches scraped against her cheek.
"Don't be afraid, Miranda."
Stunned, Miranda watched as Bobby came out of the fog, a mile on his boyish features. "Bobby? No…you're dead. You can't be real."
His smile changed into a frown and his eyes grew accusing. "I would be real if you had chosen to save me from the monster. Why did you leave me to die, Miranda? I thought you were my friend."
Miranda buried her face in her hands. "Oh God, I didn't know what he would do to you, Bobby, I would have saved you if I'd known." She looked up at him, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Forgive me for failing you."
"And what about me, Miranda?" another voice spoke from out of the fog. "You knew what he was, yet you still didn't try to warn me."
"Jan?" Miranda whispered.
Jan, her eyes cold and lifeless, stepped forward to join Bobby. "You were my best friend, but you didn't lift a finger to stop that beast from hurting me. How could you, Miranda?"
"I didn't mean to. I tried, dear God, I wanted to warn you, but I was afraid you would think I was insane."
"Stop making excuses, Miranda," Jan said, her voice as cold as death. "It's your fault Bobby is dead, and your fault I'm lying in a hospital near death. Admit it, Miranda. Admit the truth."
Guilt and remorse pressed in on her with an intensity that choked her breath in her throat. Jan was right. If not for her, Drake would never have come to Silver Valley. If not for her, he never would have hurt the people she loved.
Her shoulders slumped in defeat. "It's my fault," she whispered in a broken voice. "I could have stopped him. I should have done something." As if in answer to her admission of guilt, the trees moved in closer. She screamed in terror as their sharp branches enfolded her, crushing the very life from her body. She could hear Bobby and Jan laughing as she struggled against her fate…
* * *
Her heart pounding wildly, Miranda woke with a start, a silent cry of fear locked in her throat. A dream. It was only a dream, but it had seemed so real.
The sound of the phone ringing from the other room brought her fully back into reality. She struggled out from under the sheets. Automatically, her hand went out to her bed stand before she remembered that Hadden had removed the phone from the room a couple of days ago, when he was making the room into a prison for her.
She glanced over at Hadden to find him sleeping peacefully, and then eased out of the bed. God knows he needs all the sleep he can get after everything he's been through with me.
The phone got out two more rings before she yanked the receiver off its cradle.
"Hello?" she whispered.
The sound of someone sobbing on the other end sent shivers of dread racing down her spine.
"Gram, is that you?" she asked, her fingers tightening around the receiver.
There was a moment pause as the person on the other end tried to control her crying. "Yes…I'm sorry, dear. It's your mother."
"She's gone," Miranda said, her voice flat and unemotional. "When did it happen, Gram?"
"Just a few minutes ago. She didn't suffer, Miranda, she just slipped away in her sleep."
"Thank you, Gram," Miranda said, her voice stiff and wooden. "I have to go now."
"Miranda, wait…" But it was too late. She'd already broken the connection. She moved with stiff, jerky movements to the bedroom and slipped into her jeans and a paint-splattered shirt. It was almost as if she moved inside a dream. Nothing seemed real. It was as if she was
wrapped in cotton.
She made her way outside onto the porch and stared with unseeing eyes at the shadowed darkened trees.
Her mother was dead.
Grief and pain crashed in on her with an intensity that made her gasp in surprise. And with a sob of despair, she sank to the porch steps and wept until there were no more tears left inside her to cry.
Finally, after what felt like forever, she lifted her head. Someone was out there, in the forest, watching her.
She could feel it.
Her head whirled giddily. Miranda felt weak and drained as if her thoughts and inner strength were being drained away. Drained away by what…or who?
Drake!
She hugged herself, shivering in the chilled night air. No…she wouldn't go to him. She tried to fight his command with everything inside her. The feeling grew worse, like an itch she couldn't scratch, and she knew she could no longer ignore it.
She had to go.
Miranda grabbed a jacket from the hall closet and set out, letting that intangible bond between them guide her to him. Dead leaves crunched underfoot as she made her way through the tangled underbrush. A tree branch snagged her shirt, and she paused long enough to untangle herself before going on.
Nearby an owl hooted, breaking the silence, and then he was there, standing in front of her.
She swallowed hard as fear inched its way along her spine. Even in human form her newly acquired night vision let her see clearly. He was in werewolf form, dark and malevolent, and although she had to admit his visage was terrifying, she also found herself drawn to him in a way that frightened her even more. She stared into his long, tilted eyes, noticing the straight brows that swept back toward the temples, his aquiline nose, and the fine sheen of silken hair that covered his face.
His mane of black and silver hair swept to his waist, and she had to fight back an irresistible urge to tangle her fingers in its silken mass. Dammit, he was doing it again, making her want him, when in reality she did not.
He touched the curve of her cheek and smiled down at her. "You came, my beloved."
She pushed her chin out with stubborn determination. "I don't see where I had much of a choice in the matter. What do you want?"
"Now, is that any way to talk to your husband-to-be, my love?" he asked.
Miranda pulled her jacket tighter around her to ward off the chill…and his power over her. As irrational though it seemed. "You are not my husband-to-be, or anything else to me you might imagine. After what you did to Jan and Hadden's clinic, I don't want anything to do with you. Not now…not ever."
He grabbed her arm. "None of that had to happen. If you hadn't left town without telling me, I would not have had any reason to punish you."
"You hurt Jan to punish me?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
"But of course. Why else would I harm such a beautiful woman as your friend? But please take note of the fact that I did not kill her, as I so easily could have. I wanted to respect your wishes."
She wrenched away from him and lost her balance. Drake reached for her as the ground rose up to meet her, saving her from a nasty fall.
"No…don't touch me!" she cried, struggling against his strength. "Never touch me again!"
He pulled her close. "Hush, ma petite. You're too emotionally involved with these humans. I did nothing wrong."
Miranda pulled back her hair and stared at him in disbelief. "Nothing wrong…you almost killed my best friend! And if that's not enough, you torch Hadden's building, and it's only by the grace of God nobody was hurt or killed by your insane actions! So don't try and tell me you did nothing wrong, buster! You did plenty wrong!"
He let out a little ragged laugh. "I did it all for you, my love, don't you see? What must I do to convince you that you belong with your own kind…with me?"
Miranda pushed her hair out of her face. "There's nothing you can do to convince me to leave with you, Drake. Nothing!"
"Not even if I tell you that your doctor friend's life may very well depend upon it?"
She sucked in a startled breath. "You're blackmailing me now?"
He shrugged. "Blackmail is such an ugly word. I prefer to call it creative persuasion."
"You said you would not force me to go with you," she reminded him, her voice cold.
"Desperate situations sometimes require desperate actions. You've given me very little choice in this matter, Miranda. I want you to come with me to Damaina, and since I've had very little luck in convincing you, I must use my trump card, namely, Hadden McNeal."
Stunned by his threat, she could only stare upward into the green crystal of his gaze. "You wouldn't dare do anything to Hadden," she finally whispered. Waves of pain jagged through her. "Not even someone as heartless as you could be so cruel. You know what he means to me, and yet you would murder him to get to me?"
Drake laughed, an ugly sound that made her shudder. "I thought you knew me well enough to know I don't place as high a value on human life as you do."
For a split second in time, she thought she saw a flicker of emotion she couldn't identify in his eyes, and then it disappeared.
He pulled her closer until she could hear the beating of his heart beneath his chest. "I want you more than I've ever wanted anything in my life, Miranda. And if you would only forget about this foolish infatuation you have with McNeal, I could show you eternity," he said. "Come with me, chère amie. Let me love you the way you deserve to be loved."
Her body trembled with revulsion, and she knew that for once he was not exerting his will over hers. She felt no overwhelming attraction, no scorching desire to become his. For some odd reason, now, he was relying on his own animal magnetism to win her over. Well, not this time. This time he would know how she really felt about him. As if waking from a dream, Miranda shook off the last remnants of his magic, and tried to push away from him.
"No…never. No matter what you do, I will never love you, Drake. Do you hear me? Never."
His arms became like steel and only seemed to tighten around her waist more as she struggled. He threw back his head and laughed. "Never is such a long time to wait, don't you think? After a hundred years or so with me I do believe you will change your mind. After all, the good doctor will be no more than a handful of dust by then, whether he dies by my hand, or by the hand of time. Time is his enemy, chèrie."
"Get your dirty hands off her before I blow your black furry hide to hell and back."
Startled, Drake let her go. Miranda spun about to see the sheriff step out of the underbrush, followed by two other men. A thin beam of light flashed in her eyes.
"Boys, turn on those lanterns," Sheriff Banks ordered.
Suddenly the clearing was flooded with light, and Drake roared out a curse as he dived sideways and then forward before she could get out a word.
Miranda, blinded by the sudden light, held up her hand to shield her eyes from the brightness as screams and curses erupted around her.
Frightened, she pressed up against a tree, and when her vision cleared, she let out a moan from the utter depths of her soul.
Two of the men lay sprawled on the ground, bloodied and torn. She didn't have to look any closer to realize they were beyond help. Then, suddenly, to her horror and dismay, the hunger leapt inside her, roused by the coppery scent of freshly spilled blood. It beat at her, furious at its confines, tearing at her insides like a savage beast of prey.
She grabbed hold of the oak tree behind her, her fingers digging into its bark. "Noo…" she moaned as she wrestled with the demon that had awakened inside her.
"See what I have here, Miranda," Drake breathed, dragging the heavy bulk of the sheriff in front of him. Blood poured from the sheriff's nose and mouth, but there was a stubborn glint of pride still left in the older man's faded eyes.
"Do what you want to me, you unholy bastard, but leave the woman alone," the sheriff grated out between clenched teeth.
"My, my, what bravery for a mere human." Drake gave him a hard
shake. "Your wife must be very proud of you. Shame…she won't know you died a fool trying to be a hero."
Miranda tried to control the shaking of her body as she released her stranglehold on the tree and stepped forward. Keep it under control. Have to keep it under control, she told herself over and over. Somehow she had to help the sheriff, convince Drake not to hurt him, or worse, kill him.
"Please, let him go, Drake. You've done enough damage here tonight." She swallowed hard. "Don't make it any worse than it already is."
He grinned. "You mean by killing the town's sheriff?"
She nodded, not trusting herself to speak, lest she loose control over the ravaging hunger ripping at her insides.
He laughed. "I'm touched by your concern for me, but I don't worry about human law. It has no authority over me…or you for that matter." He turned his attention back to the lawman. "Now, what should I do to this fearless leader of Silver Valley?" Drake grinned a wolfish grin. "Perhaps he should join his brave soldiers, what do you think, my love?"
Miranda put out her hands as if to stop him. "No, please don't hurt him."
He studied her thoughtfully for a long moment. "And what do you offer in return for his life?"
She bowed her head. "I have nothing to bargain with."
"Oh, but you do, my sweet. You have yourself."
Miranda looked at him in horror. "No…"
Drake scratched his chin. "What if I sweeten the pot, and throw in your doctor's life too? Hell, I'll throw in the whole valley if you will agree to come with me and be my mate."
Sheriff Banks twisted in Drake's powerful grip, his face displaying his own horror and disgust. "No, Miranda. Don't sell your soul to this monster for us. Save yourself."
A rolling wave of sickness hit her, and she staggered slightly. And then the first pain slammed into her, and she fell to the ground. She could feel her blood boiling and the pain. Dear God, such pain…A scream escaped her as the transformation took over. Time lost all meaning as the agony swamped her, wave after wave. The only thing that existed for her was the pain, and what was happening to her body.