by Lia Davis
She nodded and averted her gaze. Shame and guilt drifted from her. Whispers of my intuition said she killed the hunters, but I wanted to hear it from her. After a moment she said, “I killed them.”
“Both of them?”
“I’m half vampire.”
I cupped her face and made her look at me. “You protected your son and yourself. Don’t feel guilty for doing what those bastards deserved.”
Being half wolf, half vampire was why neither Sofia’s or Charley’s injuries were more severe than what they were. Both mother and son were able to self-heal faster.
Sofia held my gaze for a few moments longer. Her eyes teared up, and I sensed her relief flow from her. I smiled at her. “Promise me something.”
“Anything.”
“You never saw me.” I wasn’t sure why I asked to keep my identity a secret other than a feeling deep in my soul. It told me to run. To hide.
Sofia frowned briefly then smiled. “Never saw you.”
Movement in the doorway stole my attention. Clara, one of the Sunshine Lives case workers, entered the room. Her blonde hair was braided into two pigtails and her green eyes sparkled as she smiled at me then Sofia.
I motioned to Clara and introduced her. “This is Clara, your case worker. She’ll go over the process while showing you to your temporary apartment, then take you to Charley.”
Sofia drew me into a hug. “Thank you.”
She held onto me a little longer than I expected. From the corner of my eyes I saw Eli tense. I waved him off. Sofia wasn’t a threat to me. Then she inhaled, placing her nose on my shoulder. A soft laughed escaped me. “Are you sniffing me?”
Sofia pulled away and stood. “Sorry. I just haven’t been around many other wolves. You smell…” She trailed off and refused to meet my gaze.
Standing, I took her hand. “I smell like Pack.” I glanced to Eli, wondering if Sofia would be safe in the Carter Moon Pack. I could have Clara contact Tory so my secret was safe. Then again, Eli knew now. As if knowing what I was thinking, Eli shrugged. His stern glare eased a little. But there was a fierce, primal fury brewing in his depths.
I was in trouble when I left here.
Clara held out her hand to Sofia. “It’s great to meet you. We are happy you came to us.”
Sofia took her hand and let the other female lead her out of the room. I sighed. That was why I risked my own freedom. For hybrids like Sofia and her son.
Crossing over the center of the room, I froze and sucked in a breath as an overwhelming amount of magick hit me full force.
I cried out and dropped to my knees. Pain exploded in my head. Voices and thoughts assailed me, shattering my mental shields blocking my telepathy. I kept that ability on lockdown because the constant chatter of everyone’s thoughts annoyed me. Plus, I’d never met another hybrid who had the number of abilities I had so I kept a lot of my powers on a need to know basis.
There only two people that could penetrate my mental shields. My sister, Brooke, and my dad. Apparently both of them were trying to contact me at the same time. I focused on Brooke’s voice.
Run, Cassia. They’re coming for you.
2
Cassia
I held my head in my hands. Brooke’s message rang in my mind loud and clear. I needed to start moving.
Eli was in front of me in a flash, framing my face. His blue eyes studied me. Worry clouded the depths. “What’s wrong?”
Fear flooded my senses and I began to shake. “I have to go. Hunters.”
I pushed out of his hold and rushed by him. Lucian met me in the hallway. “Brooke called.”
Nodding, I jogged down the to the stairwell while talking over my shoulder at him. “I know. I’m gone.”
Hunters had been out searching for Brooke and I for a few years. They’d chased Brooke until they lost her trail and gave up to focus on me. How she was able to lose them was still a mystery to me. It was around the time she moved to California a year ago.
I hurried down the stairs and blew out the backdoor of the restaurant. When I jerked my truck door open, I noticed Eli climbing in the passenger seat. Scowling at him, I asked, “What are you doing?”
“We need to ditch your truck, then go in wolf form to the safe house.”
That wasn’t an answer to my question. Not really. “I need to disappear. I can’t do that with you hovering over me.”
He returned my scowl and pointed to the road. “Drive.”
A low growl escaped me. I didn’t have time to argue. I fired the truck up and threw it into gear and we were off. Glancing in my rearview mirror I noticed a black SUV pulling into the Raven’s Nest parking lot. A sinking feeling in my bones told me that was one of the Hunters. I stepped on the gas.
“Slow down. We don’t need a to get pulled over by cops,” Eli snapped.
I ignored him. We wouldn’t get pulled over. My telepathy worked both ways. I could send thoughts and alter memories in others. Although it was limited to whom it worked on. Humans, no problem. But I had difficulties with most paras.
“Where are we going?” I wasn’t getting rid of my truck. It was the only thing I owned out right beside the clothes on my back. I’d be damned if I was ditching it as Eli said.
“The safe house is located at the north end of Lake Tahoe.”
Glancing at him, I frowned. That was a day’s drive from Carson City. “I’ll need to get gas.”
“We’re ditching the truck.”
“No, we’re not.” I held up my hand to silence him. “This is the only thing I own. I’m not giving it up.”
I breathed in and whispered the incantation to the spell I put on my truck. Magick rippled around us, then snapped in place.
“What the fuck was that?” Eli turned in his seat to glare at me.
“Illusion spell. The hunters are looking for a white Chevy pickup, not a VW Bus.” I smiled and slowed the vehicle a little.
Eli grunted and stared out the window. His anger and annoyance were thick in the air between us. Whatever. When we got to the safe house, I hadn’t a doubt he would lay into me for lying about what I really did at Raven’s Nest.
Until then I’d enjoy the quiet.
The safe house was a three-story lake house surrounded by trees. The second and third stories had balconies that wrapped around the building. The exterior was dark red stained wood with black shutters that accented the windows on the third floor, while the second floor was mostly glass.
“This is the fanciest safe house I’ve ever seen.” I hopped out of the truck and shut the door.
Eli waited for me at the front of the house. “It’s mine and safe.”
I wasn’t so sure about the safe part. There were no wards around the property. “I need to set up magical traps to warn me if someone gets close.”
“Later.” He climbed the steps and unlocked the front door.
The single word was clipped and I swore there was a growl in it. Yep he was pissed. Rolling my eyes, I followed him into the house. A hint of lavender scented the air. I breathed it in, letting the floral fragrance calm me. The living room was a large open space with dark hard wood floors. The furniture was made from black leather and the walls were a soft cream color. “Why not now?”
Eli stopped in the middle of the living room and faced me. His jaw worked and the muscle in his temples flexed like he was trying to rein in his wolf. I crossed my arms and waited. “We need to talk about your extracurricular activities.”
I glared at him. “I should ward the house.”
“Don’t change the subject on me.” He worked his jaw and locked gazes with me. We stood staring at each other for a few seconds before he exploded. He threw his arms up in the air. “I can’t believe you lied to your Alpha, Beta, and me! Do you know how much danger you put the Pack in?”
Oh no, he wasn’t going to put the pack safety in my hands. We all knew that one day the Hunters would eventually find me. Working for Sunshine Lives was the safest place for me to work and help
others like me. “The Pack was never in danger.”
He crossed the distance between in one step and gripped my upper arms. “You risked your life and the safety the Pack provided you.”
Heat bloomed in my core and spread like a wildfire in my veins. He did that to me. every time he was close, I inhaled his intoxicating scent, and peered into his gorgeous blue eyes, it was hard to think and process my emotions. My wolf whimpered, wanting to claim him. “You were always there.”
Knowing he had my back and would do anything to protect me made me a little more reckless than I needed to be, I’d admit that. But I was still doing the right thing by helping the hybrids.
He growled and walked me backwards. “I couldn’t save your pretty ass if I didn’t know what I was saving it from.”
I was cracking, going completely insane. Because his anger mixed with fear and worry turned me on like nothing I’ve ever experienced. “Dad keeps Harrison busy. Brooke has a connection on the inside.”
I didn’t know who Brooke’s connection was. She never mentioned a name just called him her source. I trusted my sister and her judgement. Sure, all the factors in play made me a little ballsy and maybe careless, but I couldn’t do nothing.
“You still lied.” His blue eyes darkened.
“If I told you, would you have let me continue to work for Sunshine Lives?” I raised my brows.
A storm brewed in his depths. Flashes of light arced through his blue irises. No, he wouldn’t let me work with Lucian and the others. It was too risky. “I can’t sit around to do nothing. There are hybrids that need our help. Innocent lives are being destroyed because of Harrison’s fear and greed. You saw the female and her son that came in today. She wasn’t the first one to show up beaten. And she’s not going to be the last until we stop Harrison.”
My anger rose, stirring the magick in my blood to the surface. Eli sucked in a breath but didn’t release me. I knew he felt the hum of my power like an electric current over my skin. “Someone needs to help them!”
My voice broke and tears blurred my vision. So many emotions had been riding me since seeing Sofia and her son, beaten and scared.
Eli drew me to him ad wrapped his arms around me. I fisted my hands in his T-shirt and buried my face into it. The tension left his body. “I understand your need to protect them. I just wish you trusted me enough to tell me.”
He thought I didn’t trust him? I lifted my gaze to his and bunched my brows. “I do trust you. You’re my sentry, my security.”
“Not enough.”
Ouch. That was a hit in the gut. “I didn’t want David and Tory to know. They’d make me stop or kick me out of the Pack.” I shuddered at the last thought. Losing the connection to the Pack would hurt my wolf. “Plus the less they knew about Sunshine Lives the safer it was for them and the Pack.”
Eli stared into my eyes for serval long moments before he lowered his head. Without a word, he crushed his mouth to mine. I moaned and leaned into the kiss. Desire and pleasure swirled from within, making me ache all over. The urge to claim him was too strong. It was like we were already connected on a deeper level than the Pack bond. The feeling we were meant to be together churned in my soul.
My intuition nagged at me to claim him as well as my wolf. Like they were trying to tell me my life could depend on being connected to him.
Odd.
He broke the kiss and trailed his lips down my jaw to my throat. When his teeth scraped against my flesh, my body trembled and I let out a moan. Eli lifted his head and locked gazes with me. “You’re mine.”
Oh gods. Yes! “Then do something about it.”
It was never a good thing to challenge an alpha male. I was crazy for wanting the connection to him as much as I did. However, I had learned not to question my intuition. Just go with it and figure out the aftermath later.
With another growl, Eli dipped his head and bit my shoulder. Pain assailed me, then quickly turned into pleasure. Hot desire filled me and melted into him.
Skin. I needed skin to skin contact. I slipped my hands under his shirt and slid my palms up his back.
Cupping my ass, he lifted me. I wrapped my legs around his waist, and he moved farther into the first floor of the house while holding me to him, and then turned. Moments later a door shut and he laid me on a bed. Only then did he extract his teeth from my shoulder.
Our gazes locked. He was beautiful, masculine, and mine. The bond from the bite was weak. But that wasn’t unusual. Sometimes it took days, months even for the mating bond to strengthen. Sometimes it was instant. Others it took both mates claiming one another.
Eli stood on his knees and ripped his shirt over his head and tossed it to the floor. Then he removed his pants. My breath hitched and my pulse quickened. I couldn’t tear my gaze from his sculptured form. Need unfurled inside me. “Eli.”
He chuckled at the command in my tone, but I could tell he didn’t want to go slow either. We had plenty of time to make love later. Right then I wanted to be fucked, claimed.
Sparks of silver lit up his blue eyes—his wolf looking out at me—before he removed my jeans and panties. I sat up and removed my T-shirt and bra.
A fierce, graveled growl sounded from both of us as he crawled on the bed between my legs and licked one of my nipples. I reached between us and gripped his impossibly hard cock and guided it to my entrance.
He removed my hand and laced his fingers with mine then held them above my head. With a quick thrust, he entered, slamming into me, stretching. Gods, he felt too fucking good.
Leaning down, he nipped at my earlobe as he rotated his hip, pumping in and out. “I’ve wanted you from the moment I saw you. I dreamt of the day I’d fuck you and claim as my mate.”
I wrapped my free arm around his and scored his shoulder with my nails. “What took you so long?”
Before he could answer, I bit his neck. He cursed and thrust into me harder and faster. My magic ran wild inside me and through the room. Something crashed to the floor, followed by the sound of glass breaking, but we both ignored it. Eli knew about my telekinetic and telepathy abilities. When my emotions ran high, sometimes the abilities took on a mind of their own.
The bond he started grew with my bite. Mine. My wolf was claiming him. But so was my magick. Through the newly formed bond our wolves nuzzled each other.
Intense pleasure and dizzying desire made my skin too sensitive. It strengthened with each thrust. Then it turned into an explosion of emotions as the orgasm pulled me over the edge of bliss.
Eli followed me in his own release, his body twitched above mine. When his climax finished, he pulled out and gathered me in his arms and lay beside me. “I’m still mad at you.”
A slow smile lifted my lips. “It won’t be the last time.”
He growled then nipped at my ear. A hint of playfulness flowed into the bond. I sensed he was about to say something. Instead he stiffened. Tingles of power touched my awareness, putting my own wolf on alert.
The power was familiar and deadly.
“Hunters,” I whispered.
How did they find us so fast? I lost the SUV before I left Carson City.
HoHAs a unit, we jumped out of the bed and dressed before setting off down the hallway. It was a good thing there was a bedroom on the first floor. I’m not crazy about heights and to be stuck on the second or third floor when the hunters busted in would suck.
When we reached the living room, I crept to the window at my right. I had a sightline to my truck and the male checking it out. He wore all black. His shirt and jeans were form-fitting and left nothing to the imagination. Tall with lean muscles and a tight ass…
Whoa. Wait. I was now mated. It shouldn’t be possible to feel a pull to another male. Especially a vampire who worked for Harrison.
As if the vamp sensed me, he jerked his head my direction. His dark gaze locked onto mine. I swore the world stood still for a breath of a moment. Shaking out of a trance or what the hell ever just happened, I darted awa
y from the window and crossed the living room.
Eli was on my heels. When I reached the backdoor, he gripped my arm and whirled me around to face him. “What is it?”
Glancing to the front door then back to Eli, I considered telling him nothing. However, he’d know it was a lie. “There’s a vampire outside. A Hunter. Something’s wrong. I have to leave.”
I couldn’t be drawn to a Hunter. Confusion swirled in my mind making it hard to think clearly. Just then the front door burst open. The vampire filled the space with his fangs bared and a murderous glare at Eli. My wolf protector stepped in front of me and growled at the Hunter. Fear ignited from deep in my soul and my wolf wanted out to protect her mate.
Not now. We need to leave. Eli can take care of himself. Then he’ll come find us.
I yanked the backdoor open and made my escape. Trees blurred by as I pushed my legs to run faster than ever. I refused to be Harrison’s lab rat or used for target practice or whatever he planned to do. The council leader didn’t always kill the hybrids he caught. Rumors whispered that he was still looking for something in the hybrids’ DNA. I wasn’t sure what or if I wanted to know.
Staying alive was my number one priority.
Pain exploded in my chest causing me to gasp and stumble. I fell to the ground, rolling a few feet before I realized it was Eli’s pain I felt. Worry and a need to be at my mate’s side tugged at me.
Okay, breathe. I took a deep, calming breath, then stretched out my senses through the newly formed bond I shared with Eli. It was stronger than moments ago. A sob escaped me when I felt his faint heartbeat. He was hurt bad.
I pushed to a stand and called my healing magick then directed it to flow through the mating link. It was a good thing I didn’t need to be near Eli to heal him. Mating perk number one.