by C. D. Gorri
Never suffer a vamp to live. That was his pack’s motto. It had been his duty to end her. Yet, he couldn’t bring himself to do it with his own hands. It would be better to turn her over to the prison camp. He’d carried her from her village to a spot where many didn’t go. He’d damn near broken his leg trying to get to the location.
He’d slipped down in the mud with her three times. By the time they’d arrived, both of them had been covered in mud. As he’d tied her to the tree, he’d realized he wasn’t so sure if he could turn her in or not. She’d looked so peaceful, passed out against the tree.
Guilt kicked in as he stared at her torn and dirty clothes. His had been torn and dirty too from the trek. Worse than hers. Knowing that didn’t lessen the guilt. What kind of mate did something like this? His inner beast was furious with him. Yung didn’t know what to do.
He couldn’t mate her. There was a law in his pack against aiding or helping vampires. Mating with one was downright forbidden. He’d been taught at a young age to kill leeches. Vampires killed his mother, uncle, and aunt. Not to mention all of the pack members who’d died in the wolf-vamp war.
His anger began to rise. There was no way he could mate with a vampire. If he’d known she was a vampire the night he’d first met her, he would have killed her right then and there. Vampires were not allowed in that club. If Myra had known she was a vampire, she too would have been ready to kill her.
Yung had never heard of any creature that was part vampire and part wolf. He didn’t know of any wolves that would want to sleep with a vampire to create such a creature. Female vampires were known to be vicious killers. However, his little mate was timid and weak. He couldn’t picture her hurting anyone.
Guess that was what happened when you mixed wolf blood with that of leeches. You got a weakling. Yung couldn’t mate with a weakling. He had to turn her in. It would anger his inner beast, but there was no getting around it. Unfortunately, a part of him would die when she died.
He would have to spend the rest of his life mateless. There would never be another mate for him. Did he even want anyone else? Ugh! Why was his mind so confused right now? The sun was starting to rise. He had to get back to his mate. No, not mate. Back to Iris. He had to stop thinking of her as his mate.
It would make what he had to do even harder if he kept thinking of her that way. Yung raced back to the spot he’d left her. Trekking there was easier when he wasn’t carrying someone. When he arrived, he was shocked to find that his mate… that Iris wasn’t there.
The rope he’d tied her up with lay broken on the ground. Turns out, she wasn’t as weak as he thought she was. Where ever she was, she still had the handcuffs on. There was no way she could break out of them. They required a security code to unlock. Yung leaned down and examined the ground for footprints.
She couldn’t teleport, so she had to be walking. Was she in pain? The trek had been hard. Shit. Yung hardened his heart. He couldn’t dwell on her pain. She was a vamp who drank blood. She lived off the pain of others. She had probably caused plenty of pain in her time.
There was no need to feel sorry for her. Following her footprints was easy. It led him to a creek not too far from a park where local human kids played. He couldn’t believe she had made it that far. There was that guilt again. He pushed it aside. He was more worried about the humans she’d encountered.
Iris was weak and had to be hungry. He had to find her before she killed someone. No kids should be in the park at that hour. But there could be people walking on the walking trail. Yung didn’t have to go as far as he’d thought to find her. His mate was on the other side of the creek, leaning against a tree.
Her eyes were closed and she was taking deep breaths. Her face was no longer dirty. She must have cleaned it in the creek. His beast whimpered. His instincts screamed for him to go to her and protect her.
But his first loyalty was to his pack. He couldn’t give his loyalty to a vampire. Striding over to her, he ignored how beautiful she looked in the sun. Even though her skin was damn near translucent, she was still the most beautiful creature he’d ever seen.
He knew her eyes would be red when she opened them. That should disgust him. Perhaps it would when she finally opened them. Yung stood in front of her, waiting for her to open her eyes. She did so slowly as if even that slight movement pained her.
Yung couldn’t describe the inner turmoil he was experiencing. He felt as if his beast was hiding in shame. Even he wanted to hide from her. When their eyes met it wasn’t the redness that stole his breath. It was the look of resigned sadness they held.
Tearing his gaze from hers, Yung grabbed her by the handcuffs, intending to pull her up. Instead, he landed on his butt in the creek. Angry, Yung stared at his mate in disbelief. She stood up slowly.
“Don’t ever touch me again,” she growled, hair falling into her face, making her look like a wild woman.
Yung rose to his feet. Had she really just pushed him that hard and that far, even with the copper handcuffs on? Slightly embarrassed, Yung strode to her again. He’d like to see her try that again. When he was a few inches away from her, she kicked him in his shin.
When he doubled over in pain, she wrapped her handcuffed hands around the back of his neck forcing his face into her raised knee. Fuck! Blood poured from his nose and he dropped to his knees as his mate tried to run. Grabbing her by her ankle, he pulled her to the ground then drug her to him.
She hissed, a sound that vampires made when they were angry. That made him even angrier. Straddling her, he turned her onto her back and lifted her hands above her head.
“Don’t ever do that again,” he warned.
Iris laughed bitterly then tried to knee him in the groin. He lifted his lower body out of the way but made the mistake of leaning his face closer to hers. Iris took advantage of this position and sank her fangs into the side of his neck and sucked.
Yung jerked from the sting of her bite, and then he jerked again for an entirely different reason. He lowered his lower body back to hers and forced himself not to grind on her. He sat as still as a stone as his mate sucked him.
He didn’t attempt to free himself or to stop her. The beast inside him relaxed for the first time since he’d taken her from her village. Both man and beast enjoyed the feel of her feeding from him. Even the bite itself felt good. The feel of her sucking his blood was almost as good as the feel of her sucking his manhood.
How was that possible? Then she moaned and ground against him. Yung lost the ability to think. He lifted his hand to her breast as she tore her mouth from his neck and his lips found hers. He could taste his blood on her tongue. It didn’t disgust him as it should.
It turned him on. Yung ground against her. She spread her legs wider for him. A gasp made them break apart. A jogging couple had spotted them, the female looked furious but the male gave Yung a thumbs up before they jogged off.
Yung looked back into his mate's red eyes. The color of her eyes should have angered him; instead, they excited him. Everything about her excited him. Her expression hardened and he knew she had just remembered that she was mad at him.
“Get off me you animal,” she screamed.
Yung got up and pulled her up. “Was I an animal a moment ago when you was grinding and sucking on me?” Yung asked, dusting the dirt from his knees.
“Yes, you were. I-I only did that to distract you so you wouldn’t hurt me.” His mate took a step back away from him.
Could she really have been faking? Did she know her bite would affect him the way it did? Of course, she did. She’d probably been doing that to men for years. Her gaze jerked to the ground. She was avoiding making eye contact with him. That’s when he realized something, his mate found it hard to look at him after she lied.
“So that kiss meant nothing?” he asked.
“Of course, not,” she told him, gaze darting to a tree behind him.
“Look at me,” he told her.
Her gaze met his.
“What about at the lake? That meant nothing also?”
“I don’t even remember it.” She stared at her handcuffs.
A vampire who couldn’t lie. A vampire who’d managed to make it to a creek near a park where humans hung out, yet, she hadn’t killed a single soul. A vampire who’d bit him yet stopped on her own and didn’t try to kill him. What type of vampire was she?
Yung smiled at her causing her to turn and walk away from him.
“I don’t know what you’re smiling for,” she muttered. “I even lied when I said I was starting to fall in love with you.”
She was just saying that to piss him off. Yung followed behind her. She wasn’t like the vampires that had attacked his family. He couldn’t picture his mate killing and feeding off entire villages.
Even as angry as she was with him, her bite hadn’t been vicious. Maybe if he explained to his pack, maybe if he told them that she was different, they wouldn’t object to them being together.
With his decision to keep her made, Yung walked faster to catch up with her. When he got closer to her she tried to run but tripped and almost fell. Yung caught her before she hit the ground. Iris struggled to get out of his grasp.
“Oh, now you catch me,” she yelled. “You could have done that earlier when I fainted. Maybe I wouldn’t be in the pain I’m in now. Oh wait, I’m also in pain from you dragging me for miles.”
“I didn’t drag…”
“Good thing I heal quickly thanks to my vampire side,” Iris screamed and tried to fight her way out of his grasp. “Yes, I’m a vampire. There. I said it.”
She was going to draw attention to them. Yung picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder. She would never know how guilty he felt. He would spend the rest of his life trying to get her to forgive him for all the pain he’d caused her this day. First, he had to get her somewhere safe.
Since he no longer planned to turn her over to his pack, he couldn’t take her home. He had to think of a way to make them understand that she wouldn’t hurt others. Turning and going in the opposite direction, he decided to take her to his secret cottage.
Of course, it would take them all day to get there if they walked. What choice did he have? It wasn’t like he could catch a cab. Not with his mate handcuffed, and dirty. Consumed with guilt, Yung decided that walking was the best option. If he had to carry her all the way, so be it.
His secret cottage was the only place safe for her. There, the two of them could talk and possibly get past what he’d done to her. No one knew about his cottage. He’d purchased it a few years ago from a farmer who’d aided him when he was wounded.
The man had no family and had recently learned that he had cancer. He’d wanted to spend his last days with friends in Montana. That’s why he’d sold his cottage to Yung and used the money to cover his travel expenses. The cottage was located off the beaten path. No one even came that way.
He and his mate would be safe there. They would have time to get to know each other. He would have time to figure out how he would protect her from his family. He hardly noticed her tiny fist beating on his back. He was too focused on their future.
“Put me down you jerk,” Iris yelled.
Yung ignored her and continued walking through the forest. They would have to stop at some point to find food. His cottage was stocked with food. But they wouldn’t make it there till morning at the earliest.
Yung hadn’t even fed his mate breakfast yet. Setting her onto her feet, Yung grabbed her by the handcuffs and pulled her behind a tree. Iris's hair had fallen over her face. Yung pushed her hair out of her face, then cocked his head to the side, revealing his throat to her.
“Feed,” he told her. Would her bite be as glorious as it was earlier?
“What?” Iris wore a confused expression on her face.
“Feed,” he repeated. “You haven’t had breakfast. You must be starving. I know I am.”
“Well, what do you plan to eat?” Iris asked.
“I will catch a fish later after I’ve taken care of you. There’s a river a few miles from here.”
Iris face soften a bit, apparently what he had just said pleased her.
“I want fish also,” she told him.
So, it was the thought of fish that pleased her.
“Preferably cooked,” she told him. “Preferably on my stove, in my kitchen, where my seasonings are. If you would just untie me, I can go to the fish market then go home and cook. We can forget this incident ever happened. In fact, we can forget we ever met each other.”
This time, her eyes remained glued to his. He’d angered her enough for her to want to forget him. But he didn’t want to forget her. Yung shook his head no.
“No?” she asked. “No to which part?”
“All of it. You are going home, to my home. You can cook for me when we get there. But if you are hungry now, I freely offer you my neck. Bite me.”
Please. He thought it but didn’t say it. He’d felt closer to her when she’d bit him earlier. He needed to feel that closeness again. Because the look in her eyes told him he angered her to the point that she was willing to ignore the mating bond and move on without him.
Chapter Six
Iris stared at Yung. She simply stared at him. Was he truly offering her his neck? What type of trick was this? She didn’t feel like playing games with him. She was tired and she was hungry. Not necessarily for blood. Fish truly did sound better. Yung stepped closer to her, offering her his neck again.
“Listen,” she told him. “I want food! Just because I’m half vampire doesn’t mean I want blood all the time. Can I have a taco? Some pizza? Fish?”
Yung stepped back. “You don’t drink blood to stay alive?”
Iris rolled her eyes. “No. I don’t. When I do feel the need for blood, I just eat my steak half done or bloody. I don’t actually sneak out into the night and bite peoples’ necks.” Iris blushed. “You are my first bite.”
She knew her face had to be flaming red because she was extremely embarrassed.
Yung moved closer to her. She took a step back. He followed, backing her up against the tree.
“I like that I’m your first bite. That pleases me a great deal.”
Had she stepped into the Twilight Zone? He’d gone from murderous to flirtatious in record time. Yung picked up a strand of her hair and rubbed it between his fingers. Iris watched his movements as if in a daze. Why was he acting so strange?
How could he be so charming now when a few hours ago he was ready to let her burn in the sun? The memory of how disgusted he’d looked at her hours ago angered her. He was probably taking her to his pack to be burned at the stake. Wait, that only happened to witches. He was probably going to try to drive a stake through her heart.
“Let’s just stop this right now.” She swatted his hand away from her hair. “First of all, I don’t like people touching my hair. Second of all, I want to go home. You seem less murderous now.” She didn’t miss the look of guilt that passed over his face. “You can go home and we can forget any of this ever happened.”
Why was he looking at her like that? Like he’d eaten a regret sandwich? It was too late for regrets.
“Listen here, buddy.” Iris began but was cut off.
“Call me mate,” Yung told her.
Iris stared at him as if he had lost his mind. “Are you serious?”
Yung nodded and had the audacity to wear a slight smile on his face.
“You dragged me through mud…”
“I carried you. I just slipped a few times and…”
“You tied me to a tree.”
“I did. But I came back to free you and you had already done it yourself.”
“You threw me over your shoulder and walked miles with me.”
“We couldn’t catch a cab. And I couldn’t go home and get my car. Walking was our safest bet.”
“You did all of that, now you want me to call you my mate?”
Maybe he was crazy Iris thought as he stood
smiling stupidly at her. Maybe he was clinically insane. He could even be missing from some mental institution for all she knew. She didn’t care. She was tired, she was hungry, and he was the reason she was dirty.
“Fuck you,” Iris told him, ignoring the shocked look on his face.
“Okay. Maybe you don’t have to call me mate. You should at least call me by my name. Don’t you think?” Standing with his hands folded over his chest and his feet a few inches apart, he looked relaxed and calm.
But Iris had seen that stance many times while training with the cheetahs in her village. He was anticipating her every move. Iris took a step to the left, talking to distract him.
“So, if I call you mate will you be nicer to me?”
Yung smiled and took a step to the left also then relaxed back into his ready stance. “I apologize for my behavior earlier. I was surprised by what you are but that is something we will talk about after we arrive at my cottage.”
Iris had expected him to say something more but he didn’t. She took a step backward, absently twirling a strand of her hair. Why did he have to look so sexy in his khaki cargo shorts and white tee that clung to his biceps nicely.
“What if I admit that I’m thirsty and want to drink from you right now? Would you be nicer to me if I did that?”
Surprise then anger flickered in his eyes as he took three steps forward to stand right in front of her. “If you’re hungry, feed. You don’t have to be embarrassed. I will not have my mate starving.” Turning his head to the side he whispered, “Drink.”
Iris took a step toward him closing the distance between the two. She wasn’t thirsty at all but being closer to him calmed her beast and made her less nervous. She didn’t understand it, since he was the cause of her nervousness in the first place.
But being near him and touching him eased the fire she felt building in her. She was still going through the change and having him near kept her from feeling the negative effects of it. Placing her hands on his chest, she felt his body tremble slightly.