by J. N. Baker
But it wasn’t.
The snow crunched under my feet as I skirted around the edge of the castle grounds, heading for the mostly frozen-over lake. The same small lake where I’d pressed my naked body to Josh’s and obliterated every damn rule in The Boundaries of Friendship handbook.
I knew I couldn’t go far but I needed to get away, or as far away as I could under the circumstances. I had to put some distance between the others and me. I couldn’t bear to see their faces any longer. William with his disapproving and disappointed stare. Annie with her effortless tears. And, tough, strong, take-no-shit Jade looking shattered and hollow. I was fairly certain if I bumped into her again, she’d chop my head off. It was probably fair in her mind—eye for an eye, or however that went.
Most of all, I needed to get away from Alec. He was probably out scouring the halls, looking for Annie so she could hurry up and erase my memory. He was so distracted that he hadn’t even noticed me slipping out of the castle. He never would have let me leave, even just to go the short distance to the lake. Of course, he had good reason, what with three heads being gift wrapped and left on our doorstep. Baldric had proven that he was out there, just waiting for us.
I pulled my hood tighter around my face, shielding my identity from any wandering eyes—friendly or otherwise. I strolled to the water’s edge, the unmanned castle gates mostly visible behind me.
Their blood is on your hands. This is all your fault.
Jade’s words played on repeat in my head. I pursed my lips and looked up at the black sky, void of all light or hope.
“I should have gone back for them,” I told the darkness.
“And then you, too, would have met the same fate,” the darkness replied.
I whirled around at the raspy voice. The shadow creature took another step toward me before bowing. It didn’t bother to cast down its glowing eyes and I didn’t bother avoiding them. There was no point. The creature already had control over me. It would until I ended it. I honestly wasn’t sure why it hadn’t tried to kill me yet. It had every opportunity during the ambush when it dropped me on my ass. And yet, here I stood, not eaten. I’d be lying if I said that didn’t intrigue me.
“I should kill you where you stand,” I snarled.
A sound not unlike a laugh escaped from the black hood. “Is that the thanks I get for saving you?”
“You should’ve let me go back. I could have helped them.”
“And you would have died,” it said again, moving closer still. I resisted the urge to retreat a step; I didn’t particularly want an ice bath. “There were far too many. A hundred, perhaps more. Not even I could defeat them all. I destroyed as many as I could and returned to get you to safety. Is that not what you wanted, us to fight for you?”
“For us!” I hissed, trying to keep my voice low enough not to draw attention from the sensitive ears nearby. “You let them die!”
“Your people were already dead when I reached them.”
My brows knitted together. “How do I know you’re not lying?”
The creature had the audacity to shrug. “Believe what you want, my lady. What is done is done. Take comfort in knowing there was nothing you could have done…besides dying along with them.”
With that, the creature turned to leave.
“Will your people continue to fight for us?” I asked the creature’s retreating back.
It paused. “I will.” And then it was gone.
I stood there a moment, more than a little dumbfounded. Had I just made nice with one of the shadow creatures?
See, Ryuu, I wanted to say, I can make friends.
Thinking about Ryuu filled me with loneliness. Despite the purpose of my little escape, I found I suddenly didn’t want to be so alone. I wanted to be back in Alec’s arms; to hear Annie’s bell-like voice comforting me; to have William scolding me; to hear Jade blame me for Ryuu’s death. Well, maybe not the last one. I’d had about enough of that.
I needed to get back before the others started to worry. Lord knew they’d been through enough without me causing further problems.
I started back in the direction of the castle before my feet slowed. Someone was watching me. Someone not in the castle. I felt eyes burning through the center of my back. The shadow creature perhaps?
Freeing my sword from its sheath, I made a slow turn back toward the lake and the trees beyond. If it was Brock, I was going to kick his big Scottish frostbit ass.
“I know you’re out there,” I called, taking a step around the lake. “Show yourself.”
A man, shrouded in darkness, stepped out from the forest. I held up my sword, waiting for the attack that didn’t come.
Instead, the man took a small step forward, which I found myself matching. He took another and so did I. We matched each other step for step, as if we were being pulled together by an unseen force, until the castle gates went out of view and he came into it.
The sword slipped from my trembling fingers and I forgot how to breathe. I stumbled over my own feet as I reached out for the man in disbelief.
“Josh?”
The Earth tilted on its axis, swaying around me. And there in the center of it all stood a man who was supposed to be dead.
I inhaled a sharp breath. “Impossible. You—you’re dead. Alec watched you die. You’re dead,” I said again. I wasn’t sure who I was trying to convince, him or me.
Josh stared at me, his ice-blue eyes shining brightly in the darkness—almost luminescent.
“This can’t be real,” I whispered, but even as I said the words I knew it was. I was awake. I was sure of it. And that meant…
I took a shaky step toward him, unable to tear my gaze from his. “Is it really you?”
He didn’t reply, those beautiful eyes fixed on me. Every second that ticked by felt like an eternity. I needed to hear his voice, to feel his arms around me. I needed to know it was him.
My feet moved forward again, drawn to him. “How is this even possible?” I asked before shaking my head. “You know what, I don’t care. All that matters is you’re here.”
I ran for him.
The sharp tip of the blade stopped me cold. I slid a hand down my stomach until it found where the sword kissed the surface of my skin, extracting the smallest trail of blood. Sword, not dagger. Stomach, not chest. I should have been concerned with why Josh would pull a weapon on me in the first place, but I was too fixated on it not being another blasted dream.
Shoving the blade aside—I would’ve run straight through the damn thing if that was what it took—I dove into his arms. My hands snaked around his neck, fingers tangling in his hair as I breathed him in. His familiar masculine scent surrounded me and I sighed. It was really him. He was alive.
Josh tensed but didn’t pull away. To my surprise, he also didn’t return the embrace, his arms staying glued to his sides. Was he not happy to see me?
Ever so slowly, Josh’s arms lifted, easing my mounting fears. His hands fell to my waist and then, even slower still, slipped around my back until he was wrapped around me as much as I was him. Nose buried in my hair, Josh inhaled deeply. He gripped the bottom of my shirt and his knuckles grazed my bare skin, making my flesh tingle. And then that tingle turned into a burn that shot straight to my core like a bolt of lightning, eliciting a gasp from me.
He pulled away slightly, squinting at me as if he were trying to figure me out. One large hand came up to cup my cheek and I leaned into it.
“Mine,” Josh said, and damn it if that word falling off his tongue didn’t do all sorts of naughty things to my lady parts. Before guilt could sink its teeth into me for constantly giving Alec grief for using the same word, Josh grabbed me.
His fingers wrapped around my wrist faster than I could see, yanking me back into his hard chest. Grabbing a fist full of my hair, he tilted my head back and brought his lips crashing onto mine like his life depended on it. Mine sure as hell did. I opened my mouth to his, letting him breath life back into me—to resuscita
te my very soul.
He wasn’t the only one coming back from the dead.
Josh was stronger than I remembered. Impossibly so. I wasn’t sure I could get away from him if I tried. Not that I ever would. I was right where I wanted to be. I returned the kiss, molding my body to his. He felt like heaven pressed up against me. It was probably the closest I’d ever get to paradise, and I was okay with that. Josh was the only heaven I needed.
And Alec?
I promptly silenced the voice and shoved that bitch to the deepest, darkest corners of my mind and locked her holier-than-thou ass there. In that moment, wrapped in Josh’s arms, nothing else mattered. No one else mattered. Just Josh. I was done with fate telling me who I should be and what my life was destined for—who I was destined for. This man was what I wanted. He was my destiny. Based on the otherworldly pull I felt toward him, fate knew it too and was scrambling to fix her fuck-up.
“I missed you so much, Josh,” I murmured against his mouth. “I thought I’d lost you forever.”
Josh’s hungry lips traveled from my mouth to my jaw and from my jaw down my neck, making my skin burn in the most delicious way. Heat coursed throughout my body until I was sure I was touching the sun. I was surprised there was any snow left at all. But despite how fan-fucking-tastic his touch felt, something wasn’t quite right.
Much to my body’s utter displeasure, I broke the kiss and stepped away from him.
My eyes found his once more. Bright…damn near glowing. No, they were glowing. My gaze dropped to the collar of his shirt, seeing the black marking peeking out from beneath it. With little protest from Josh, I flew forward, fingers digging into the fabric and tugging until it ripped clean in half, the remnants hanging from his well-built shoulders.
“It can’t be…” I breathed, taking in his muscular form. I saw him then. I saw him for everything he was. For what he’d become. Ancient black markings enveloped his body, the same markings that had once covered my own. There was no denying it. Josh was one of us, one of the Chosen. Immortal.
“But how?” That’s when it hit me. Ryuu.
That should have bothered me more than it did. A hell of a lot more. I didn’t need that pesky voice in the back of my head to say it for me to know. But the truth was, it didn’t matter. All I cared about was that Josh was alive and standing before me. I would take him any way I could.
I was a damn fool.
As I leapt back into his arms, I heard it. The distinct sound of fangs extending. I went stiff, the blood draining from my face. Before I knew what was happening, instinct kicked in and I leapt back, sword back in my hand.
“No!” I shouted, anger washing over me in powerful waves. Anger at myself. Like some stupid lovesick teenager, I didn’t stop to put all the pieces together. I let my emotions cloud my senses. Josh was one of the Chosen. Someone had to have changed him. If that someone wasn’t William, which I knew it wasn’t, then that left only one person. The only person who also possessed the power to turn people into bloodsucking monsters.
Baldric.
I damn near dropped my sword in shock.
Josh took a step forward and I instinctively stepped back, keeping a cautious eye on his own weapon, which stayed at his side. He stepped toward me once more and I held my ground. He was so close I could feel his breath caressing my face. I closed my eyes, the sweet scent of his sweat invading my nostrils, intoxicating me. The rapid beating of our blackened hearts drowned out everything else, and it was just him and me. Two monsters pulled together by a twisted fate.
Opening my eyes, I lifted my hand to his face. I ran my fingers down his jaw, his soft stubble scratching at my skin. My fingers traced his lips, the sharp fangs threatening to pierce my fingertips. I sighed, letting my hand fall away.
“How?” I asked, though I already knew the answer. Baldric had changed him—in more ways than one. I tried to say the word, but I couldn’t seem to get it out. Vampire.
It appears fate is on my side after all, Baldric had said when he’d first set eyes on Josh. What is it the humans say—two birds, one stone?
Two birds…one stone.
In the beginning, Baldric might have wanted Josh in order to get to me. But he’d found another, greater, reason to get his hands on Josh. He’d known there was something different about him the moment he looked into his eyes on that watchtower. He must have known Josh would be a successor. He killed off Ryuu in order to make Josh his own. And then he made him one of the bloodsuckers. Bile rose in the back of my throat.
Half vampire, half Chosen. He was a hybrid just like Baldric; though Josh wouldn’t be quite as powerful. Baldric was one of the original Chosen, just like William. He was also the first ever vampire, given power by the Devil himself. Still, I imagined Josh would be far stronger than the rest of the Chosen. Most of us, at least. That would give Baldric a distinct advantage, not that he fucking needed it.
I couldn’t take my eyes off Josh. A large scar—a scar he must have acquired before his transformation—stretched from his left pectoral all the way down to his right hipbone. I reached out with shaky fingers until my skin brushed against his. He shuddered under my touch, goose bumps racing across his naked flesh. At least some things remained the same.
“What has he done to you?” I whispered, following the scar until I reached the very bottom. My fingertips lingered at the rim of his low-hanging pants.
I shook away my lust-filled haze, forcing my hand from his hip to his wrist. “Come on,” I told him, giving him a hard tug. “We need to get you back.”
Josh didn’t budge. “No.”
I whirled on him. “What do you mean no? Of course you’re coming back with me. That’s where you belong.”
He easily pulled his arm free. “You are mistaken,” he said, his deep voice making my insides quiver with want. “You’re coming with me.”
I took an instinctive step back. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“I was sent here to get you,” Josh said calmly. “My king wants you for his own,” he added, though I could see the conflict in his eyes. He wanted me to himself.
“Your king?” I spat. “You’re working for that sick bastard?”
“He is the rightful ruler.” He looked down at me, his expression almost blank. Those ice-blue eyes were so hollow, empty.
I stopped breathing. “D-do you even know who I am?” I asked, my voice barely audible. The nonexistent tears pushed at the backs of my eyelids as I bit my lip to keep it from trembling.
After an agonizing minute, Josh said, “You are the king’s bride.”
My legs gave out and I stumbled into the snow, letting it swallow me whole.
Josh knelt in front of me and I raised my sword. With a flick of his hand, the sword flew out of my grip and I gasped. I wasn’t even sure he’d touched it. I scrambled backward like a crab until I collided with one of the trees surrounding the lake, knocking whatever air was left out of me. I wondered if he’d kill me. Maybe the moment had finally come where he would fulfill my vision. A dagger straight through the heart by one of the Chosen. A quick death at least.
I closed my eyes as he inched toward me, readying for the fatal blow. Instead, his deft fingers brushed the hair from my face, making me flinch. His fingertips trailed down to my mouth, gently sliding across my bottom lip.
He removed his hand from my mouth, replacing it with his ravenous lips. The kiss was only slightly softer but just as intense. His hands slid around my waist, scooting me toward him until I was practically sitting in his lap. I could taste his hunger; it was almost overwhelming. I shared in that hunger, but it was for a man who knew me, a man who I loved. This wasn’t the Josh I knew. And, obviously, I wasn’t anyone he knew either. The man before me was nothing more than an empty shell, lacking the pieces that made Josh, Josh.
I cried out as his fangs pierced my bottom lip, desire surging through my traitorous body.
No.
Unable to take any more, I pushed off him, climbing to stand.
Confusion flickered across his eyes. He was on his feet in a heartbeat, trying to pull me back into his arms, fangs still extended.
“No!” I shoved him away, my voice bouncing off the many stones.
I thought a single tear rolled down my cheek but I highly doubted it. I wiped my hand at it anyway, if only to feel human.
I looked deep into Josh’s eyes, wishing I could see some hint of the old him in those brilliant blues. To my disappointment, they were vacant. He may have been alive, but Josh was gone.
I’d always thought there were worse things in life than death. Josh had proved me right.
Shaking my head, I went to reach for my discarded sword when his hand snatched up my wrist, yanking me toward him.
“Let go of me!”
“What part of ‘you’re coming with me’ did you not understand?” he sneered. Before I could respond, he threw me over his shoulder and sprinted into the forest.
I pounded my fists into his back. If he were still human it would have fazed him a hell of a lot more than it was now—like broken his spine. I eyed his sword on his hip. Rocking my weight over his shoulder, my fingers brushed the hilt of his weapon. Before I could get a grip on it I was flying through the air.
Josh slammed me into a nearby tree, his hand around my throat and the hard length of his erection pressing into my stomach. I clearly wasn’t the only one having mixed feelings about all this. “That would not be wise,” he purred, angling his sword hip away from me.
Just when I thought he’d unsheathe the blade to bend me to his will, he bent forward to claim my mouth once more, twice more, until I lost count. His hand tightened on my throat and I whimpered, grinding into his solid thigh.
No.
I shoved him back and my hand flew out at the speed of light, connecting with his cheek hard enough the crack echoed throughout the forest.
A growl slipped through his lips, his fangs descending once more. He blinked hard and took a step back.
“Which is it, Josh: does your king want me, or you?”
The look in his eyes screamed both. “You will be his,” he said instead.