Evan grabbed her and pulled her onto the bed, then rolled so that one leg slid between hers. “There’s a way out of this,” he promised. “A way we both live.”
“What way?” she asked urgently. She was desperate for an answer that would make this feeling inside her and the certainty that she was destined to kill Evan, go away.
She listened to his story of a mutated wolf virus, how her blood was the way to convince the council she was important, that she was worth saving. A way for her petition to be converted to vampire before the full moon would be approved.
“I don’t want to steal your life from you Marisa,” he told her, brushing his lips over hers. “I swear to you. I want to give you a second chance at one.”
“I know,” she said, running her fingers threw his damp hair. “I know.” And she did. “I want that chance. I want to make a difference in the world. I haven’t and I regret that so much now.” So why wasn’t she shouting with joy? “What happens now if I say yes to conversion?”
“We get the council blood samples and then find a safe place to hole up – a luxury hotel of your choice. We’ll wait on word of the petition there. That’ll give you a chance to ask questions about our race, and learn about what you’ll become. A luxury I wasn’t given and I want you to have.”
“What about the wolf?”
“Troy and Aiden are going after it. My job is to keep you safe and alive.”
“Don’t you mean ‘sane’ and alive.”
He drew her knuckles to his lips. “Actually. I intend to drive you as crazy as I possibly can.”
She wanted nothing more than to spend the next twelve days, as he’d suggested, holed up in a plush hotel room while he drove her crazy with passion. It was a chance to explore why this vampire male felt so right – as if she’d known him a lifetime, a chance to think through how she’d take this new spin on life by the horns. She would leave an imprint this time, she’d do more, be more.
“I have no money and no job,” she said.
“All newly created vampires are given a dowry,” he said. “And if you do as we have, and invest it well, it’ll last you an eternity as it should.”
This was all wonderful, this solution that wiped away all the bad, and left only good. There was an optimistic future, one where they both survived, one where maybe – just maybe – she and Evan were more than lovers. She told herself to be happy, to be relieved. Only, she could still feel the wolf inside her. Still feel its hatred of Evan, its own desire to survive. The wolf cared only about its own happiness, and it wouldn’t be happy until Evan was dead.
Chapter Thirteen
Ten days later, Evan stood on the porch of the Lake Austin cabin he’d taken Marissa too, with both Troy and Aiden. “Tell me you have a lead on the wolf?”
Both his brothers grimaced then shook their heads. “It’s like he just disappeared,” Troy said.
“And we could chase random leads all over the country and get nowhere,” Aiden said.
Troy motioned to the house. “Where is Marissa?” Troy asked.
“Shower,” Evan said. “Her skin keeps getting hot. Nothing helps but ice cold water.”
“I guess that answers my question,” Aiden said. “Which was going to be – how is she?”
“She was great when we first got here. Running in the woods helped the adrenaline spikes she keeps having. But she has two days left before she turns into a monster. She’s pretty upset. And all Marcus keeps saying is – one more blood sample. If the mutation we suspected hasn’t shown up by now, it’s not going to. We had to be wrong.”
“At the risk of being called cynical,” Troy started.
“You,” Aiden asked mockingly, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “Cynical? Never.”
Troy ignored him. “The council could easily send in an assassin to kill you both before she turns.”
“Why not now,” Aiden said. ”Why not ten days ago?”
“Maybe,” Troy said tightly. “They really are waiting out her blood samples, looking for a mutation. There’s got to be a reason this wolf could partially shift when we’ve never seen that in any other wolf. They know that.”
“Or maybe they don’t want to kill her at all,” Evan said softly, voicing the worry in his mind. “Maybe they want her to change so they can study her.” The expression on his brother’s faces, said they’d thought the same thing.
“If you care about her as much as we think you do,” Troy said. “You can’t let her shift.”
He more than cared about her. He loved her, everything about her. From her odd habit of eating mustard with French fries, to her ability to coax him into watching Wesley Snipes in a Blade marathon, when he didn’t watch vampire movies. But he hadn’t told her. He knew what she’d say. He knew she’d say he didn’t know her long enough to love her, or he felt sorry for her, or responsible for her because of the wolf attack. He’d gladly spend a lifetime proving her wrong on all those points. But he needed to be sure he had a life, she had a life, to start with.
He arched a brow at Troy. “Are you suggesting I change her now?”
“That puts them on the run,” Aiden said. “That’s not the life they want.”
“I’m suggesting you take precautions,” Troy said. “Change locations and quickly, we’ll stay here and wait for action. If Marcus delivers your sign, sealed and approved petition, we’ll let you know. If not -- you change her before the full moon.”
Aiden scrubbed his day old beard. “I hate to admit it, but he makes sense. Do it Evan. Move her. Move her now.”
“And what about Marcus,” Evan asked. “He’s going to be pissed.”
“If Marcus is plotting with the council against you then piss on him,” Troy said. “And if he’s not – then he’ll get behind us on this.”
“You don’t want to fuck with Marcus, Troy,” Evan warned tightly.
“We’ll deal with Marcus,” Aiden assured him, apparently confident he could smooth things over with him. And truth be told, he probably could. That’s why he was so willing to call him before, why he was willing now. Something had happened between Aiden and Marcus some twenty years back, and oddly, for brothers who shared everything, neither Evan nor Troy, had ever coaxed details out of him. Aiden motioned to the cabin, “You just get Marissa the hell out of here. Leave the rest to us.”
Evan hesitated, “Both of you stay alive.”
“That goes for you too,” Aiden said.
Evan entered the cabin to find Marissa sitting on the couch her hair newly dried, a silky mass of blonde silk over her slender shoulder, her legs bared beneath a pair of red shorts they’d bought before arriving, her breasts full beneath a matching tank. He could feel the strain radiating off of her, see the worry etched in her lovely heart shaped face.
He went to her, bent down on one knee and caressed her bare calf and kissed her knee. He loved her knees, the ticklish spot behind the left in particular. “How are you?”
“I heard. I heard what Troy and Aiden said.”
“You’re getting good at hearing when you aren’t supposed to hear.”
“I’m not running,” she said. “I’m not letting you become a hunted man.”
“Marissa--”
She leaned in and pressed her lips to his and let her mouth linger on his. He wrapped his arms around her waist, molded her closer. “What if I can save lives by shifting, by letting them study me?”
A possessive growl roared from his throat. “No. That’s not happening. This is not even a discussion we are having.”
She stroked his cheek. “This virus is a bigger problem than either of us – bigger than my one life, Evan. And so is what you do as a Warden.”
“We’re leaving.” He scooted his arms under her, intending to pick her up. ”We’re leaving now.”
“I’m not going,” she said, and there was something so icy certain in her words, that he froze in place.
“We are leaving.”
“No--”
He k
issed her, kissed her like it was the last time he would ever kiss her. Kissed her with demand –- that she go with him, that she be with him, that she would not become a wolf. And she would not die. Anger flared inside him – at all he had lost, at all he had seen, at a life devoted to a council that was failing him now.
“I won’t lose you too,” he said, only half aware of the implications of the ‘too’ he’d added to that declaration. He kissed her again, touched and caressed her, branding her. Never had he felt so primal, so predatory.
“This is my decision,” he growled against her lips. He nipped her lip, shoved her shirt up, and palmed her breasts. He was in control. He would show her he was in control. He would make this right. She would do what he wanted. He saw white, he saw black -– he saw pain.
He had her naked in seconds, her shorts tossed aside, her back against the couch, and her legs over his shoulders. He closed his mouth down over her, suckling and licking. Her pleasure was his. She was his. She came almost instantly, the wolf and vampire, the blood bond, a fiery aphrodisiac they’d proven over and over these past two weeks. She was sweet honey melting in his mouth and he wasn’t even close to done with her.
He slid his fingers inside her, stroked her to another orgasm. “I need you,” she rasped. “Inside me, I need you.”
“That’s right,” he told her. “You need me, just like I need you. On your knees,” he licked his fingers, held her gaze when he did it. Tugged his shirt over his head and stood up, unbuttoning his pants. She wet her lips, the little witch, teasing him. His lips thinned over his extended canines. “Knees.”
“Whatever you want, my Vampire Master,” she said, referencing the little game they’d played one hot night.
“This isn’t a game.” He kicked his clothes aside, his shaft thick and pulsing, balls tight. Suddenly, he didn’t want her on her knees. He wanted her wrapped around him. He grabbed her, pulled her hard into his arms. “I make the rules, Marissa.”
The taunting play slid out of her face. “Not this time, Evan. Not when it could cost you your life.”
Damn it, why wasn’t she listening. He lifted her, slid his cock inside her, her legs wrapping his waist. He buried himself inside her and then sat down on the couch, her on top of him. His hand laced into her hair and he exposed her neck, his teeth scraping along the delicate skin. “I could turn you right here and now and you couldn’t stop me.”
“But you won’t.”
His fingers slid behind her nape, bringing her gaze to his, his fangs purposely visible. “Don’t be so sure of that.”
Her eyes, blue as crystal, held his. “You won’t turn me without my permission.”
“You’re mine.”
“Yes.”
Finally, she agreed. “So you do as I say.”
She opened her mouth to answer and he knew he wasn’t going to like it. He kissed her, wrapped his hands around her lush backside, and pumped into her. Somehow, if he could get deep enough, get close enough, she’d understand, she’d know why he wasn’t losing her. Why he wouldn’t lose her. If only he could just fuck her hard enough. He went still, before his arms tightened around her.
“What?” she panted, leaning back to look at him. “What is it?”
“I love you,” he confessed. “And don’t tell me I haven’t had time to know. I’ve had a hundred years to know.”
Her eyes glossed over again. “I love you too. I love you so much.”
“Then please,” he whispered, stroking her hair. “Come with me. We’ll find the wolf and capture him. We’ll let him be their guinea pig. Together.”
“Yes,” she said, her fingers curling at his neck. “Yes.”
Chapter Fourteen
Only hours after their declaration of love, Marissa was showered and changed into jeans and a light pink tee. She could hear Evan in the living room, talking on his phone to what sounded like one of his brothers. From his irritated tone, she was guessing it was Troy and she smiled. Ah, brotherly love. She’d always wanted a sibling to fight with. Now, she’d just borrow his, she thought, and her smile widened. She liked that idea. She’d be a part of a family unit.
Marissa was just about done gathering the few possessions Evan had convinced her to buy before arriving at the cabin, for their departure. They were important to her, a part of the memories of this place that would forever be bittersweet. That was, if there was a forever for her. She wanted there to be one for her and Evan together. She prayed it would happen. She needed to believe it could to get through these next few days.
She did one more, quick glance around the room and set her small bag on the bed. Soon Aiden and Troy were supposed to arrive and take over the cabin. She and Evan were going to some high rise hotel in Austin, less than an hour away, to wait for word on the petition. She was just tugging the zipper on her bag shut when a sliver of warning slid down her back. She went completely still, not even breathing, listening, waiting, but she wasn’t sure for what. Wolf.
“Evan,” she shouted out, already running around the bed, so certain of her instincts that she knew she had to act.
Glass shattered from the window behind her before she made it three steps. She turned the instant the big body hit hers, slamming her to the ground. It was as if time stood still, went into rewind, and repeated. Only this time she could see the man on top of her, with only his fangs that of a wolf, his clothes ripping as his body began to fully shift. She didn’t move, didn’t fight. He was bigger than her, able to rip her throat out with one snag of those teeth.
Instead she tried to stall, tried to give Evan time to get to her. He’d have heard her scream, heard the glass break. “What do you want from me?”
He snarled near her ear. “Your life, so that I will keep mine,” he sunk his teeth into her neck.
***
Evan was on top of the wolf a split second too late, a mere instant too late. The wolf tore Marissa’s throat open. “Nooooooo!” he shouted, adrenaline pumping through him like rocket fuel. He grabbed the wolf off of the top of Marissa, flung it at the window.
Evan dropped to his knees beside Marissa, the wolf already forgotten. Her neck was shredded, her eyes shut, her face a mask of white. She was dead and he knew it and he had only a tiny window to drain her and bring her back. He didn’t think. He just acted. He sunk his teeth into her shoulder and drank. A snarl sounded behind him, and he stiffened, bracing himself for the attack.
The wolf landed on top of him, his teeth digging into Evan’s back, tugging and tearing. But still Evan managed to cover Marissa with his body, to keep drinking.
Shouts sounded behind Evan, his brother’s he thought. The wolf was dragged off of him and an eruption of sound exploded around him. He was bleeding from his back, maybe even his neck, the blood gushing out of him -- blood he needed to feed Marissa, to save her. Pain radiated through him, but he didn’t care. He’d die before he’d give up on Marissa.
When finally, he’d done his part of the conversion, he could barely look at her bloodless body. He heaved himself upward, and bit his wrist, dripping blood over her mouth. “Please Baby. Come back to me. Please.” He stroked her jaw, her hair.
“Drink,” a male voice ordered.
Marcus wasnot only squatting down beside Evan, he’d opened a vein to replenish Evan’s lost blood. “I’d feed her instead of you,” Marcus said, “but something tells me you wouldn’t like that much. I know how possessive a vampire male can be.”
Evan grabbed his ‘Warden in Charge’s wrist and bit down. Ancient blood poured through Evan, healing his back, his shoulder. He could feel the power radiating inside him, and then, through him, into Marissa. Seconds passed like hours as he drank, as she lay there unresponsive, but finally her neck began to heal, her pasty skin began to tinge pink. When she grabbed his arms and hungrily drank, relief flooded him. He let go of Marcus’s wrist, pulling Marissa into his arms and cradling her.
“Thank God,” he murmured, holding her tighter than perhaps he should have, but he couldn?
??t help it. She was alive and he promised himself right then and there that he would never let anything happen to her again.
Long minutes later, she released his wrist and blinked up at him in dazed confusion, then abruptly jerked, trying to see around her. “The wolf, where’s the--”
“Easy Sweetheart,” he said, stroking her hair. “Troy and Aiden are dealing with the wolf. You’re safe. You’re okay.”
Her gaze dropped to her torn, bloodied shirt, worry replacing fear. “You…no, tell me you didn’t do what I think you did. Evan--”
“I saved your life. I did what I had to. Together Sweetheart, remember? That was our agreement.”
Marcus appeared in front of them, almost out of thin air. He squatted down to join them again. “I thought you might want this,” he said, indicating the folded paper in his hand. “The council had a sudden urge to approve your petition.” He smiled at Marissa and offered it to her. “Welcome to the bloodsuckers, sweetheart.”
Marissa closed her hand around it. “I can’t believe it’s true.”
“What do you mean a sudden urge?” Evan asked suspiciously.
“The wolf found you here at the cabin. And unless myself, or one of your brothers told him where to find you, which I know I didn’t. Something doesn’t add up. There is only one other place the wolf could have gotten your location.”
“From a member of the council,” Evan asked incredulously. “No fucking way.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time the werewolf’s have infiltrated high level vampire ranks. I suspect there was tampering done with Marissa’s blood work as well. So do the senior council members.”
“Any ideas of who the guilty party is,” Evan asked.
Marcus shook his head grimly. “That would make this too perfect an ending, now wouldn’t it? And perfect doesn’t happen in my world. There always has to be a lose end.” He pushed to his feet. “Oh and the wolf got away. In light of his prior experience with a wolf’s betrayal, Troy appears exceptionally motivated to find him. And as usual, Aiden is trying to control Troy. Life is back, as we know it. I’ll leave you two to do whatever newly bonded vampires do together, and try not to use my imagination.” He disappeared.