His Dark Embrace

by Verika Sloane

  He exaggerated offense. “I’m an open book! You want references? I got references. Here. I’ll call one of them right now.”

  Was he really making a phone call in the middle of dinner? On speaker phone?

  “What are you doing?” she half-laughed.

  “Shh. Don’t be rude. I’m makin’ a call if you don’t mind.”

  People were sending them glares. “Jackson—”

  “Hey Ralph, would you vouch for me?” Jackson interrupted when the other line answered.

  “’Course, boy. Who needs it?”

  Jackson chuckled at Kimber’s attempt to take his phone away. “There’s a pretty lady here who just won’t take me seriously—”

  “Will you stop?” she whispered fiercely.

  “I will, once you hear my man out,” he told her. “Now, Ralph, this is important. You know me. Will I be good to her?”

  “Oh! Oh yes, I reckon.”

  “Will I take my shoes off at the door? Will I put the seat down? Will I buy flowers on holidays, etcetera?”

  The man laughed. “This girl got you wrapped or what?”

  Jackson didn’t readily answer, smiling into her eyes. “Something like that.”

  Shiefs moved fast, but this was rocket speed. They hadn’t even kissed.

  “Gotta go, bud. Thanks.” He ended the call, grinning.

  She playfully threw her napkin at him, looking around the restaurant. “I’m surprised they aren’t kicking us out.”

  “Hey, you were the one who wanted the reference.”

  He winked at her. Damn. He sure was attractive. And so was his sense of humor.

  All week she’d been trying to picture herself with him, but Shain’s face melted away Jackson’s with ease. Seeing him had revived her dreams to the point she pulled out the ritual and considered going through with it. If she forgot him altogether, would Jackson suddenly become the man of her dreams? Was the memory of Shain the only reason she wasn’t over-the-moon for the alpha?

  Who knew?

  It was strange he asked her about the Glacier Wolf Pack’s books, though. His omega had clearly looked into them. Or her. Was it his way of getting a background check on a woman he was considering choosing as his mate?

  Jackson’s phone vibrated, and he checked it. “We should go.”

  Once the bill was paid, she headed toward the parking lot, when he took her hand and led her in the other direction.

  “Not so fast, shiya. It’s a nice night. Let’s go for a walk.”

  In this neighborhood? The street wasn’t exactly inspired with aesthetics. Or even decent sidewalk lighting. But she let him take her hand. Even though it was large and warm, there was no zing, no electric current at the contact.

  He looked left, then right, saying nothing for a while as they rounded the block. As if he was looking for someone. He led her to an alley behind the row of restaurants.

  Nya didn’t like this. “Maybe we should—”

  “There’s a festival next Saturday. Wanna go?” he asked.

  Nya growled. Something wasn’t right. Not alone, Nya warned.

  Kimber’s unease grew. “A what?” she replied distractedly.

  Jackson chuckled. “What’s wrong? We’re fine.”

  She froze as three men seemingly came straight out of the shadows.

  “Look what we have here,” a young Asian man sneered, flashing a sinister smile with sharp canines. “Two for the price of one.”

  “Careful,” said the second one with red hair. “I smell an alpha.”

  Vampires. Nya urged her to run, and Kimber gulped, secure in the fact she had an alpha by her side.

  Jackson let go of her hand and stood in front of her. “What do you want?” he asked in an oddly dispassionate tone.

  Where was the overly confident, eager-to-throwdown Jackson from last week?

  Motion from behind her caught her attention, raising her hackles: A third vampire with near silver hair to his shoulders.

  “Jackson,” she warned him.

  He glanced back and forth between them. “Leave us alone. We don’t want any trouble.”

  Kimber gaped at his broad back. Huh? Days ago, he’d wanted to fight four vampires who’d appeared a lot more intimidating than these three punks. Despite her rising trepidation, each reeked of awkwardness, as if waiting for the others to make the first move.

  One came her way while the other two leered at Jackson.

  The silver-haired one closest to her said, “My, my. The things I’d like to do to you. Mm.”

  “Touch me and I’ll rip your testicles off',” she told him.

  The trio closed in on them with hollow chuckles.

  Why wasn’t Jackson going on the offensive already? What was he waiting for?

  As silver-hair made a grab for her, she cried out, “Jackson!”

  “Don’t. Stay away from us,” he shouted.

  Ah yes, like saying that to a bunch of thugs has ever worked in the history of humanity.

  “And what are you going to do about it?” the red-headed vamp asked.

  Yes, what was he going to do, and when? She couldn’t wait to see it.

  The red-haired vampire and the leader grabbed Jackson, each snatching an arm.

  Kimber was left undefended. “Fight them! Please!”

  Was he holding back because of what she said last time?

  Jackson merely growled before receiving a punch to the gut. He hunched over with a snarl. Kimber was astounded. Was it that easy to subdue an alpha?

  She ran to get help, but silver-hair grabbed her. “Don’t fucking touch me!”

  “Ooh, I like it when they struggle.” He breathed in, slamming her to the brick. His slim body pressed into hers running a hand down her arm. “Luscious little woman, aren’t you?”

  She tried to wriggle away, but he was strong. Very strong. A frustrated noise came from between her clenched teeth. God, she hated the helpless feeling creeping into her blood. “Jackson—”

  The vampire chuckled. “Shh. I just want a sample.”

  Fang tips brushed down her jugular, and she squeezed her eyes shut, unable to believe she was about to be bitten or assaulted. Or worse.

  “Please. Don’t.”

  One moment fangs were tracing her pulsing vein and the next he was gone, as if snatched by a ghost.

  Kimber slowly opened her eyes.

  Did Jackson finally overpower them?

  She whipped around in time to see the alpha effortlessly push the other two away before running away, out of sight. Abandoning her.

  “Jackson! Wait!” she called. She thought to follow him, but halted with the realization she was safer with whoever interfered than with a coward.

  Her molester yelled in pain as he was thrown against the building. The rescuer turned his back before she could see his face. The leader vampire picked up a piece of wood from a pile of broken pallets to hit the stranger from behind. Kimber was about to call out when the man spun around, blocked the weapon with his forearm, stole it, and struck his opponent so hard he fell to the cement like lead, moaning.

  The third tried to run, but he was caught in short order. It wasn’t until he slammed him into the wall where the dim alley light shone, did she see her rescuer’s profile.

  Her knees buckled.

  Teeth bared, Shain held the vampire three feet high on the wall. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing? Who are you?”

  The vampire’s mouth opened and shut as he gagged. “T-Trevyn?”

  Shain gritted his teeth. “What were you doing, attacking them? Why?”

  Kimber swore she heard bones snapping, even while the shock of seeing Shain roared in her head, Nya barking for his attention.

  “I…I can’t. Tell you,” the vamp managed to eek out.

  Shain yanked the man in and shoved him back even harder to the wall. “Start talking, shadow.”

  Shadows? Humans who’d been turned vampire. Why would they attack her and Jackson? For the most part, they didn
’t involve themselves in the conflict between natural-born vamps and wolf shifters.

  But. Shain. Was there?

  Silver-hair groped for a reprieve. “Please, Trevyn…”

  Shain wouldn’t ease up. Pretty soon the shadow’s neck would be crushed beyond healing.

  Kimber unlocked her voice. “Shain. Don’t.”

  He looked over as if he’d forgotten her, the blue fire in his eyes dimming.

  He let go of the shadow, who fell to his feet, gasping.

  Shain looked down at him with disgust. “I want answers.”

  The man waved a hand. “I swear…to the gods, we weren’t…”

  “Threatening an alpha and his woman?”

  Kimber opened her mouth to correct him, but thought better of it.

  Again, she looked up and down the alley. Where the hell did Jackson go? How could he ditch her? How could he run? Deserting her aside, the fact an alpha fled from a fight alone would qualify him to be challenged. It didn’t make sense.

  The vampire struggled to speak, his voice scratchy. “That’s…that’s what he p—paid for.”

  “Someone hired you?” Kimber exclaimed. “Who?”

  The vampire shakily brought his hand to his throat, still trying to form words and breathe at the same time. “Him.” He blindly pointed in Kimber’s direction. “The one…she was with. The al-alpha.”

  Disbelief smacked her in the face. “No. You’re lying.”

  The redhead he’d hit with the plank confirmed it, swearing as he got up with a wince. “It’s true. We wouldn’t lie to you, sir.” He directed his gaze on the Asian shadow. “Tell him.”

  The man he spoke to moved, but since Kimber knew they weren’t a threat, she wasn’t afraid anymore. Now that their façade was over, it was almost comical how their mannerisms changed.

  The leader sighed. “I knew him before I turned. I used to do…odds and ends for him for money. He said he needed three of us to come put on a scare, paid up front. Plan was to throw him around a little. Harass the woman, bite her some. Once he gave a code word, he’d take over, handle us, and they’d run. All he said where and what time. That was it.”

  Sick. A sick plan that made her sick to her stomach. And for what?

  Shain ran a hand down his mouth, then pushed her attacker as he tried to stumble away. “Get the hell away from us. Now.”

  As the trio rushed out of the alley, Shain waited until they were out of sight, and long gone, before resting his gaze on her.

  The second she went to him, he stiffened. “Don’t. It’s best if we keep our distance.”

  Distance? She wanted him to hold her. For them to hold each other. “But—”

  “Why your alpha would do this, I can only guess. If it’s important to you, I can get more information later. I just wanted them away from us.”

  “Shain, he’s not my alpha.”

  “Why would he do this?”

  With her fear gone, her thoughts settling, the events snapped into place.

  Jackson’s lack of boldness when the vampires emerged.

  The absence of adrenaline in his scent.

  The calmness in his forced tone of fear…everything.

  Though there was a lack of chill in the night air, she was cold, shaking with the need to be in his arms. “The other night, at the Golden Tankard, he didn’t seem to comprehend why I wasn’t impressed by his supposed courage in confronting your friends. I told him the entire scene was a turnoff, not a turn-on. The fact I wasn’t throwing my arms around him for ‘protecting’ me seemed to bother him. I guess he wanted to push my fear for vampires over the edge, and see him as some sort of hero.”

  As if one scary encounter was going to change her mind. The question was, how far Jackson would’ve let it go before he “rescued” her? She shuddered.

  “Are you okay?” Shain asked, voice soft.

  Instead of replying—because if she said yes, he might leave—she asked her own question. “Did you know he was going to do this?”

  “No. Of course not.”

  “So why were you following us? Running into each other last week was a coincidence, but this can’t be.” Nya forced her to take a step forward.

  Shain drew farther into the dark, half of his handsome face cast in shadow. “One of my allies knew who he was. I had to be sure he would treat you right, so I looked into him. What I read concerned me.”

  Kimber advanced again and Shain retreated once more.

  His next words were rushed. “I knew you’d never get the note if I left one, so I found out his schedule, and followed him when I discovered he had plans with you.”

  Oh, Shain. You could’ve just talked to me. “I should’ve listened to my instincts.”

  “Promise me you’ll stay away from—”

  “I promise.”

  She felt, rather than heard, his relief. As if she’d ever go near Jackson again. In fact, if he dared come around her or her sisters, she’d tell her alpha what he’d done.

  His brow lowered before he slowly looked up. “Someone is watching. I can feel it.”

  Kimber looked behind her, smelled the air. Had Jackson returned now that the coast was clear? She hoped not, because she might claw his eyes out for orchestrating an attack on her.

  But no one else was around. It was just them.

  She faced forward again, her heart stopping when she saw nothing but darkness.

  Oh God, had Shain left?

  His scent lingered, so potent and reviving.

  No, he hadn’t, she could feel him.

  Her eyes searching the blackness, she breathed, “I miss you. So much. Do you miss me? Are you as miserable as I am, or do you feel the same as you did that night?” She sniffed, closing her eyes at his silence. “All right. Don’t answer that. Would you hold me? Just for a moment. I swear, I won’t ask for more.”

  She took another step, and another, and finally his arms wrapped around her.

  Nya howled in desperate longing. Kimber sighed, keeping her eyes shut, bringing her hand around his neck, their noses touching. Their lips were so close, but she didn’t dare get greedy, relishing his embrace.

  There was something else around them. A serene energy. A stillness. It wound around them like an invisible cloak. Warm, comforting, unexplainable.

  When Shain broke away, it nearly broke her.

  “Call one of your sisters to pick you up? Please?”

  It was hell letting him go. “I will.”

  He slipped from her arms, and the frigid cold returned.

  Eyes welling, voice trembling, she forced herself not to move, afraid she’d shatter. “Shain. Say something.”

  A long, holding-her-breath pause.

  “Something,” he whispered. “By the gods, Kimber. Something.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  The following morning, she emerged from the bathroom and overheard her pack sisters talking about her around the kitchen table, like how the alpha and the shiefs talked about a problematic member.

  Her sisters’ lack of support almost proved more heartbreaking than walking away from Shain.

  Lucinda had been the one who picked her up, annoyed about it, as if it was Kimber’s fault Jackson had left her. Void of any kind of compassion or outrage on her behalf.

  “She must’ve done something really crazy to scare him off,” whispered Claudine.

  “An alpha? Scared? Oh, please,” said Tory in a hushed voice.

  “Or she ignored him.”

  The only one not bothering to whisper was Lucinda. “Are you really that surprised, girls?”

  Nya growled while Kimber forced the hurt back. The moment she walked through the doorway, each woman averted her gaze and shifted her body language.

  “Morning,” she said, attempting to keep her voice neutral. She systematically went about finding a clean mug, rinsing it, pouring coffee, adding cream…keeping her back to the six pairs of eyes burning holes in her shirt.

  Tory was the first to have the guts to bri
ng it up, sounding like she more or less sympathized. “What happened, Kimber?”

  “Does it really matter?”

  Lucinda snorted. “Does it matter you were dumped by an alpha? Yes.”

  Not that she could blame them for wondering. She turned around with a sigh, leaning against the counter. “He’s not as perfect as you all thought.”

  While she relayed the night, Tory and Lia’s eyes widened, Abigail’s mouth dropped open, Beth covered her lips with a gasp, and Claudine looked confused. Lucinda’s expression was her habitual resting bitch face.

  Of course Kimber omitted knowing the identity of the vampire who’d scared the others off.

  “I don’t understand,” Claudine said after Kimber finished. “Jackson set it up?”

  At Kimber’s nod, Abigail commented, “According to vampires. Do you really believe what they told you? That’s pretty ludicrous to me.”

  “I believe them,” Kimber didn’t hesitate to answer. “If it wasn’t true, why did Jackson take off without a word? Why would he leave me alone with a group of vampires in an alley if he was innocent? Why did he bail at all?”

  No one countered her.

  “Wow. You must’ve been terrified,” gushed Beth.

  Her gaze drifted off. “I was, at first. It was confusing why Jackson wasn’t more aggressive with them, especially when one was about to put his fangs in my neck. But once the last vampire appeared and handled the others, I knew I’d be okay.” She didn’t miss the ick look on a few of their faces. “What? It’s true. Without him, who knows what Jackson would’ve let happen to me?”

  “No alpha,” Lucinda said with a raised voice, “is going to set up something as ridiculous as a fake vampire attack just to show his power, Kimber. Him being an alpha is all the show anyone would need.”

  “Yeah,” chimed in Claudine. “Why would he go through the effort? I mean, striking some kind of deal with shadows to pretend to assault you in order to impress you? Why would he feel the need to do that?”

  Abigail reached for the butter for her toast. “Exactly. He must’ve had good reason.”

  “What good reason could that be?” Lia exclaimed.

  “He had to have one,” Lucinda insisted, snatching the sugar and putting it away.

  Kimber’s nails dug in. “Such as?”