He had plans for her. He rubbed the handle of the sword he’d removed from the tunnels. His new leader wanted the sword, and he would get it to him, but Kirkau also sought a purebred woman, and he suspected that’s what this woman was. She was faster and stronger than most of the vamps they encountered.
Yes, he’d get the sword to Kirkau, but he’d also deliver her. His new master meant to destroy anyone who got in his way, and that included the Alliance and Nathan. Because of that, Derrick would do everything in his power to help him succeed.
He smiled grimly as he watched the sickening display. Before becoming a vampire, his hatred of them was ingrained into every fiber of his being. He was infuriated when Nathan announced he was forming an Alliance with the vamps; he’d been betrayed by his leader and more than happy to leave the traitor behind.
He’d spent his days at the new hunter location plotting how to take down the Alliance and how to make Nathan pay for his betrayal to their kind and everything they believed. Then, they captured him, and the unfairness of it all furthered his hatred for Nathan and everyone working with him.
Now, he was one of the monsters, and he wouldn’t be like this if it weren’t for Nathan and the Alliance. This was their fault. But no matter how badly he wanted to destroy every last one of them, he had to make sure he captured the woman alive.
If she’d survived this long, she was a strong fighter, and though he was silent, they might sense his approach. He wouldn’t be strong enough to take both of them. He would see every member of the Alliance dead, but he wasn’t stupid or reckless in his determination to destroy them.
He knew how to bide his time and wait for the perfect time to destroy his prey. A better opportunity would arise, and he would be there when it did. He excelled at staying hidden and tracking.
When these two went into the waterfall, he’d left the battle at the top of the cliff immediately. He knew a losing situation when he saw one, and he wanted the female. If he could take them both, all the better, but she was his main concern.
It had taken him a while to find their trail again, but now that he had it, he wouldn’t lose them. They were good but not as good as him, and they would soon learn that. Before these two stopped being distracted with each other, he slipped into the woods. He would stay far back from them to make sure they never knew he was there.
Chapter Nineteen
Willow’s fingers slid down Declan’s chest as he bent over her. Anticipation built within her as she ran her fingers down the thick wall of his chest, over his abs, and down to the edge of his shirt. She lifted the ends, and her fingers touched on the soft skin pulled taut over his etched abs.
Just when she thought he was going to settle her on the ground and ease the fire he stoked so easily to life within her, he grasped her hands and pulled them out from under his shirt. She didn’t realize he’d moved away from her until she found herself sitting on the ground, alone.
Cold air rushed in to replace his warmth, and she opened her eyes to discover him ten feet away. The chill that slid through her had nothing to do with the brisk spring air as he prowled over to stand near a tree. His entire body vibrated as if he were a volcano building toward eruption.
Feeling like an idiot, she settled her hands in her lap, but her mortification over being abruptly tossed aside vanished in the wake of his obvious distress. What was so distressing about kissing her?
She didn’t know the answer, but his shoulders were so tensed they almost touched his ears, and he hunched in a way that made him look as if he expected her to yell at him. She had no intention of doing that.
Rising, Willow brushed dirt and leaves from her ass before straightening her clothes. She couldn’t deny her disappointment or feeling of rejection, but she straightened her shoulders before lifting her head to look at him again.
The hunger in his gaze and the red in his eyes caused her to freeze. He wasn’t rejecting her. That much was evident in the way his eyes drank in her body before settling on her face again.
No, whatever caused him to bolt away from her like he was a bomb and she was the spark that would blow him sky-high had nothing to do with a lack of desire on his part. She suspected that whatever drove him away had more to do with him than her.
She tried to ask what was wrong, but the words wouldn’t come out. Despite the fact his tongue was just in her mouth, they weren’t close enough for her to start asking intrusive questions. He was entitled to his privacy, even if the not knowing made her crazy.
“Is it my breath?” she teased in the hopes of getting things back to normal. “It must be bad enough to make morning breath smell enticing.”
Declan gave her a small smile as he struggled to regain his restraint over himself. He’d been so close to throwing away centuries of discipline by stripping her bare and burying himself inside her.
Then she’d started pulling off his shirt, and reality returned. He couldn’t take the chance of losing control and unleashing what he’d trapped inside him. If he did, he would end up like his father. Except he’d become more of a monster.
There were things she could never see and some things he never wanted her to learn about him. His past was a festering pit of evil and depravity, and hers was one of love and happiness. The things he’d done….
He pushed the memory away as he brought himself back to the present. She was joking about bad breath to make him feel better when he should be apologizing to her.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
His voice was so gruff she barely recognized it. When he tugged at the ends of his hair, he pulled so hard, she winced for him. She had no idea how he could do that to himself, yet he didn’t seem to feel the pain he inflicted on himself.
Willow ached to go to him and comfort him but suspected she was the cause of his suffering even if she didn’t understand why or how she was causing him such distress. He dipped a hand inside his jacket and removed a lollipop.
Her eyebrows drew together as he methodically unwrapped the candy and put it in his mouth as he stared over her shoulder and into the woods. She recalled seeing him do this before he went to Mexico, but she had no idea why a purebred vampire would eat anything human.
She could understand a turned vamp missing some of the foods they once ate; her mom still liked to drink hot chocolate, and many vamps drank alcohol, but for the most part, she’d never seen a vamp eat human food.
She had so many questions about this man, and she suspected he wouldn’t tell her anything. She’d never met anyone as infuriating or intriguing in her life. Nothing about things progressing between them was a good idea, but she found herself not caring as much as she once did.
“There’s no reason to be sorry,” she said. “I wasn’t complaining.”
His eyes flicked toward her before darting away again. They weren’t red anymore, but they were darker than normal, and she sensed he still wasn’t entirely in control. The crunch of the lollipop was as loud as a gunshot in the woods, and she flinched at the sound.
Declan pulled the stick from his mouth and used the wrapper to cover the end of it before tucking it back into his pocket and pulling out another one. From the scent, it was another banana, and he welcomed the revolting flavor on his tongue; it helped to erase Willow’s taste. Despite thinking her breath was atrocious, she’d tasted sweet, and he wanted a whole lot more of her.
“What’s with the lollipops?” she asked to divert their attention from what passed between them and the awkwardness that followed.
The corners of his lips quirked into a smile as he twirled the stick between them. “I’m curious to see how many licks it takes to get to the center.”
She couldn’t have heard him right. “What?”
“It was a commercial. But then, it was probably long before your time.”
“I know the commercial; it’s run for years. Why do you want to know the answer?”
He shrugged. “There are so many things in this world that I can’t answer; I might as well a
nswer the things I can.”
For some reason, she didn’t buy his explanation, but she let it go. They’d had enough awkwardness between them tonight without creating more, and the way they were going, they might never see civilization again.
She couldn’t think of much worse than being trapped in the woods with someone she couldn’t look at or talk to without blushing. They weren’t to that point yet, but if they kept going this way, they would get there.
“We should go,” she said when the first rays of the sun poked through the trees.
Declan would far prefer to draw her back into his arms and finish what they started, but it was better this way.
“Yes, we should,” he said.
Chapter Twenty
Willow splashed water on her face before using it to wash her hands and arms. Sitting back on her heels, she surveyed the forest, but it looked the same as it had yesterday and the day before and the day before that. There were no homes, no stores, and no roads to break the monotony of the trees. The only change in the land was when it rose up a hill and fell into a valley.
She spent a lot of time outside as a kid, running through fields, playing in the woods, and swimming with her siblings; she’d loved the freedom it brought her, and she loved the animals. But now she’d had enough of the outdoors and was ready to be inside somewhere warm and comfortable. At least they hadn’t heard the howls of the Savages again.
She missed civilization, showers, and her bed. But most of all, she missed being with someone who didn’t go out of their way to avoid looking at her. It was a chilly night, but instead of waking in his arms, she awoke to find his jacket draped around her.
It took everything she had not to throw the thing at him. But even if he was acting like a child, she refused to. Folding it up neatly, she handed it back to him. The way he took it made it very clear he was careful not to touch her.
She hadn’t wanted things to become awkward after their kiss, and she hadn’t believed they were at the awkward stage when they started into the woods again yesterday, but she was wrong. He considered them there, or at least he was making it uncomfortable between them.
She missed the ease of their conversations, but every time she tried talking to him, his clipped, one-word replies ended it. And now she’d given up trying.
She’d never regretted kissing someone before, and she had some pretty crappy kisses in her life, but she was starting to regret the best kiss of her life. Willow rested her hands on her thighs as she tried to think of something to say, but her mind raced in circles.
Rising, she stepped away from the small stream to survey the woods. Declan glanced at her before focusing on the shadows again. The breeze blowing down the hill they’d descended ruffled the hair against her neck. The terrain had grown steadily rockier and more difficult to traverse as they progressed into the mountains.
She started into the woods again, and Declan followed. They walked for another hour before they emerged into an open field. Trees lined the edge of the field, but they stayed out in the open as they crossed what she now realized was a corn or maybe a wheat field.
Willow lifted her face to the sun to absorb its rays. After days spent living in the shadows of the forest, she welcomed this open warmth. They were halfway across the field when three men emerged from the trees and started across the field toward them.
She glanced at Declan to find his jaw set and his nostrils flaring. Red glinted in his silvery eyes as the demon he kept buried beneath his usually serene exterior slipped through. He rested his hand on her arm in a possessive gesture so out of place with the man who had avoided her for the past two days.
She shoved aside the way her skin came alive at his touch, pulled her arm away from his, and removed a stake from her jacket. She started to lower it to her side when Declan stayed her hand.
“They’re not vampires,” he said.
Her violet eyes darkened as her gaze went from him to the woods and back again. Even perplexed, dirty, and tired, she was achingly beautiful.
The murmur of conversation drifting across the field pulled his attention away from her. When he detected the faint beat of hearts, his fangs tingled, and it took everything he had to keep them retracted.
At any other time, the approach of humans wouldn’t have fazed him, but he didn’t like anyone near Willow. He frowned as this sank in. He’d never felt like that about anyone before, but then, his past relationships with women weren’t exactly healthy. If he bothered to learn their names, he often forgot them before the night ended.
Things were different with Willow. He liked and admired her strength and determination to survive. She was the first woman who made him long for something more. He was trying to figure out what that something more was when the three men stopped five feet away from them.
They all had fishing poles resting against their shoulders and tackle boxes in hand. They wore camouflage hats and jackets over their jeans. The men frowned as they looked from them, to each other, and back to them. Finally, the youngest man’s gaze settled on Willow, and he grinned.
“Hello,” the young fisherman greeted.
Shades of red filled Declan’s vision when the man’s eyes ran leisurely over her. The lust emanating from him had Declan envisioning ripping off the guy’s dick and shoving it down his throat. He shook his head to clear it of the overwhelming, violent compulsion, but he couldn’t entirely rid himself of it.
They had to return home, and he had to get far away from her before he killed someone. But the idea of distancing himself from her pissed off the demon part of him more than the man’s lewd stare.
What is wrong with me? He ran a hand through his hair and tugged at the ends of it. He welcomed the discomfort it caused as it helped to calm him a little.
“Hi,” Willow said with a wave. “Could you tell us if there’s a town nearby?”
The fishermen exchanged a glance. Willow suspected the trio was a son, father, and grandfather.
“Are you lost?” the oldest one asked.
“Yes,” Willow said.
The men all looked at Declan like he was an alien descended from the farthest galaxy. Willow suspected that with his striking looks, they were probably pinning him as some city boy who couldn’t handle the woods. She tried to hide her amusement but started chuckling when they all scowled at him.
“How did you end up way out here?” Grandpa asked.
“Where is out here?” Declan inquired.
The three of them exchanged another look.
“Where do you think it is?” the dad asked.
“Maine.”
The three men laughed so loud they scared some mourning doves from the ground, and Grandpa slapped his knee. She had no idea where they were, but she liked these guys.
“Son, you need a map, a compass, or some common sense,” Grandpa said.
Willow snorted with laughter, and Declan sent her a look. He wasn’t as amused as she was by the fact he’d been “son’d” by a man who was hundreds of years younger than him. Not only that, but he’d pretty much been called an idiot.
“If we’re not in Maine, then where are we?” Willow asked. It was probably best if she interacted with them instead of Declan; he looked a little too tempted to kill them.
“You’re in Vermont,” the dad answered. “Near the border of Canada.”
Willow didn’t know how far that meant they’d run, and she wasn’t about to ask. Instead, she gave them her best smile, and they all returned it.
Declan removed a lollipop and carefully opened it as Willow wrapped the men around her delicate finger. If the men were still walking, they’d probably be tripping over themselves to please her.
He shoved the lollipop in his mouth and didn’t bother to taste it before biting into the center. The acrid taste helped to jerk him out of his growing, murderous impulses, but he’d still like to eat them all.
“We’ve gotten a little turned around,” Willow said.
“I’d say so,” Grandp
a said and spat some chew on the ground. “You’re not out here looking for a marijuana field or something like that, are you?”
“No, sir, nothing like that,” Willow said.
Declan chewed faster as all the men melted beneath her wide, innocent eyes and beguiling expression.
“We went for a hike with some friends and got separated from them,” Willow continued. “We were only supposed to be in the woods for a few hours, but it’s been days now.”
“You’re lucky,” the youngest man said. He looked to be in his early twenties. “You could have died out here.”
They all shot accusatory glances at Declan, but it was Willow who bristled over their words. She was quite capable of taking care of herself, and she didn’t need some man to protect her or lead her astray.
“It’s a good thing we found you then,” Willow said. She may not like their chauvinistic attitudes, but they were their ticket back to civilization, and she knew how to flatter their pride.
“It sure is,” the dad said. “Come on; we’ll take you to our hunting camp. We don’t have a phone, but there’s food and drinks. I’m sure you could use a little of both. I can take you to a phone afterward.”
“Thank you,” Willow said and nudged Declan when he didn’t speak.
“Yes, thank you,” Declan muttered.
Derrick followed them as far as he could once they entered the field, but the sun kept him hiding in the shadows of the trees. He checked his phone, but there was no service. After another hundred feet, the two vamps disappeared with the humans.
Cursing, he slipped into the trees and ran as fast as he could in search of a town; there had to be something close by if they’d encountered humans. He’d gone only a mile before coming across a row of buildings. He ran along the back of them until he found the police station.
They’d been too far away for him to see the humans clearly, and the caps they wore obscured their hair color, but he’d find somewhere to call for backup and have any phones or cell towers in the area shut down. Then he’d use the humans of this town to help make sure they never made it out of here.
Bound by Torment (The Alliance Series Book 5) Page 10