“But we’re together now. We don’t have to think about the future yet.” I inhaled, absorbing his musky scent. The strain of the day had worn on me too. Snuggled up to him, I drifted off to sleep, but remained on the edge of consciousness. Just because I’d tried to ease Zack’s worry by insisting my mother wouldn’t have sent us anywhere dangerous didn’t mean I believed we were totally safe. I only knew that my mom believed it.
Chapter EIGHT
Zack
The sun had set and our room was almost pitch black. I reached into my pocket to grab my cell to check the time, hoping we hadn’t slept until the next morning. As hard as my stomach was yowling for food, I wouldn’t have been surprised. But only three hours had passed.
I peered over at Autumn through the dark, easily finding the line of her jaw with my superhuman vision, her long black lashes, the way her thick brown hair fanned over the pillow, and her slightly parted full lips. Memories of our pre-nap kiss hijacked me and all I could think about was doing it again.
But I’d made her carry the brunt of my burden earlier, which made me reluctant to wake her. The idea that I’d made things harder for her than they needed to be had my chest aching. I’d make it up to her somehow.
Maybe I’d wake her after all.
I maneuvered myself over her, pressing my weight into her soft, warm body. Her lids fluttered, exposing her big brown eyes, and she reached over to run her fingers up my spine. She moaned and the urge to touch every inch of her overruled all logic. When my thumb grazed her breast, she took in a quick lungful of air and kissed me harder as her legs molded against my thighs.
Her sweet taste invaded my senses and everything else around me dimmed. All I knew was her: the warmth of her skin at my fingertips, the curve of her waist against my palm, the way her hips followed me as we swallowed each other’s whispers with every kiss.
I reached for the button of her jeans. She gasped and blocked me. “What are you doing?”
Trying to get her naked.
Oh, hell. Not that I was opposed to having every inch of her silky, exposed skin against me, but I couldn’t actually have sex with her. We couldn’t get remotely close to doing that. Not if we wanted to stay strong to be able to protect ourselves.
Werewolves and shape-shifters weren’t supposed to interact in any way. Period. Not just because it was illegal, but also because it wasn’t safe. Legend said that mixing species caused both species to lose their supernatural abilities. If we gave in to our desires, we’d be too weak to protect ourselves later. Like Hannah and Eli who escaped from the werewolf king centuries ago and hadn’t been seen since. Even if they survived the king’s henchmen—highly improbable— they’d mostly likely mixed species and were long since buried. Until we discovered otherwise, Autumn and I could never do much more than kiss.
That I’d let it get this far and nearly lost control was bad. Especially considering we were right smack in the middle of an awful lot of hostile vamps where we needed our strength the most. I abandoned her zipper, sighed, and rested my cheek against hers. “I hate this.”
“Not more than I do.” She stroked the back of my arms and it felt nice. Really nice. God, I wanted to do all the things to her I’d been fantasizing about for months. That would keep us in bed for a few days.
I needed to refuel, but working off my extra energy might take my mind off Autumn’s unbelievable body. Or not. It was worth a try.
“I need to morph.” I groaned and rolled off her. “I hope the vampire king has as much control over his subjects as he thinks he does.” My feet touched the ground and I held my hand out for her.
She let me pull her up. “Since he’s all we got, I hope so.”
“Remember what Cedric said and stay close to me so they don’t catch your scent. Or lack thereof,” I whispered. “Wolf form only, okay?”
“Roger that.” She kissed me on the nose and tugged me toward the door.
We vacated our room, which led us to Cedric’s study where we’d met with him earlier. He glanced up from the monitor squinting, surrounded by a mountain of paperwork.
“You don’t have assistants to do that for you?” Autumn wrinkled her nose.
Cedric mumbled something but I couldn’t be sure if they were even words. “Usually, yes,” he said. “But I have some investments and concerns that I see to personally. Off for a run?” The king clearly understood werewolves’ compulsion to morph daily.
“Unless you don’t mind if I hang around here and destroy the place.” In my wolf form I was pretty big since I stayed the same weight when I changed shape. Minimally, the slick hardwood floors could get scratched by the long claws of a nearly two-hundred-pound werewolf. The carpeted sections would get shredded.
The king’s eyes danced in amusement. “Kayla and Tony will be here any moment.”
Autumn angled her head. “So she’ll escort us everywhere we go?”
Cedric hiked up one brow. “Would you rather risk being attacked by an angry mob of blood suckers?”
Autumn shook her head. “That came out wrong. I meant, well, you’re going through an awful lot of trouble and—”
“And after you leave, I’ll still be indebted to your mother. She saved my life. I’m merely providing a temporary safe house for her daughter and boyfriend.”
The king definitely sounded committed. But could we trust him? Didn’t they eat humans? Probably werewolves too. “So, um, I hate to ask the obvious. Do vampires—”
“Yes, we prefer to drink human blood.” He glanced up from the monitor again. “No, it doesn’t have to be fresh and straight from the vein. We can do frozen blood or take it in bags if we need to. Yes, we can sustain ourselves on animal blood, though it’s not nearly as tasty,” he rattled off as if he’d been asked about his diet a million times before.
“Right.” Autumn blinked.
“I’ve already notified Kayla you two need to go out.” He aimed an index finger at his head. He’d told her by telepathy, of course.
A tap sounded at the door. It cracked open and Kayla’s head popped through. “We’ll be waiting outside.”
“Off with you then.” King Cedric resumed squinting at the monitor, which was immediately followed by profanity.
“You need help?” Autumn inched toward the huge wooden desk. “I’m pretty good with computers.”
Scowling, he leaned back in his chair. “Not unless you’re an expert at getting the columns to add up on this spreadsheet.”
Autumn shot him a smug look, rounded the desk, and nudged him out of her way. “Child’s play. Which column?”
“I need the total right there.” He pointed at a field.
Autumn’s fingers tap-danced across the keyboard. A moment later, she straightened. “When you have a real computer problem, let me know.”
He studied her a moment. “What else can you do?”
“Website design, a little programming. I’m Photoshop certified.”
“You’re hired.”
Autumn laughed. “I can’t accept your money, but it’d be great to have something to take my mind off all the vampires wishing we were dead.”
“And if you have any cars that need fixing, you only need to show me the way,” I added. “We’re happy to help any way we can... under the condition that we get fed soon.”
The king’s eyes sparkled. “Today’s my lucky day. As it turns out, the Bentley developed a humming noise yesterday. The kitchen on this floor was fully stocked in anticipation of your arrival, so go ahead and raid it when you’re ready.”
Relief washed over me. If we’re helping in some way, we wouldn’t be sponging off the vampires. They might even see that we weren’t all that bad. “I’ll check out the Bentley tomorrow after breakfast.”
“Fine. Have a good run, but don’t wander too far from Kayla and Tony. Just because we’ve got a hundred acres doesn’t mean you need to explore all of it tonight.”
I saluted the king and we headed out. Kayla threw me a strange look and I wonde
red if she’d been eavesdropping.
“Tony will be here any moment,” Kayla said. “We should wait for him.”
“Okay.” Autumn seemed relieved. As much as she insisted we were safe with her mom’s friend, I doubted she was completely convinced.
“The others won’t be won over so easily.” Kayla folded her arms over her chest, her mouth drawn. “If ever. It’s been a rough few weeks and a werewolf bite is a horrible way to die. We may have many advantages over werewolves, but you have the ultimate weapon. They won’t forget that anytime soon.”
My dad had left me a pile of books. I’d read every one on werewolves and the pamphlet from Shape-shifter Werewolf Alliance Against Slavery and Tyranny, but at the time, I’d been fixated on learning about werewolves and had only skimmed the books on shape-shifters, witches, and vampires.
“What are your advantages?” I leaned against the wall, trying to act casual about pumping her for information.
“If a day comes that I fully trust you, I’ll have no problem telling you anything you want to know.” Her dark eyes told me I wouldn’t hear about those advantages anytime soon, not from her.
“I love your hair.” Autumn stepped away from me to get a closer look at Kayla. “It’s so black and shiny. Gorgeous.”
I wondered if she was trying to soften Kayla up. But Autumn wasn’t the type to kiss up to someone to get what she wanted. She was usually nice to everyone and if she needed something from someone she didn’t care for, she’d work out another way to get it. There wasn’t an insincere bone in her body.
“Thanks.” Kayla’s twitching lip told me we were one step closer to getting that information.
“What is this?” Tony’s mouth twisted. “Fraternizing with the dogs?”
Kayla’s gaze averted in guilt, and I knew we’d lost our miniscule progress. But whatever. So long as they were loyal to the king, we were safe. From them anyway. I wasn’t so sure about the twenty-something others in the palace.
Chapter NINE
Zack
Our paws covered only a fraction of the king’s acres of woods. After the long day, we craved that release more than usual and ran hard. But having freedom to roam such a large chunk of property gave us a false sense of safety. We’d stayed out longer than planned, and I was beginning to feel antsy.
Where are Kayla and Tony? I asked Autumn. They were around a minute ago.
Dunno. I’m nervous about being so far from them, Autumn replied.
I slid to a stop and sniffed the air. They’re close by. I can smell ’em.
Yeah, but I smell someone else too, Autumn told me, her nose high in the air.
Crap. So did I. My heart banged against my ribs. We’d better head back.
Autumn took off and I followed. I considered howling to get Kayla to come to us, but that could signal every other vampire too.
In my peripheral vision, a shadow flashed toward us and rammed into Autumn. She yipped and crashed to the ground. After bouncing up, she huddled with me against the nearly unseen force, our furry butts meeting so we had each other’s backs.
Cedric said a werewolf bite kills, so they’ll try to avoid our teeth, I reminded Autumn. Except she wasn’t a werewolf, which meant her bite wasn’t deadly and she had no weapon against them. They didn’t know that though.
Another shadow advanced, and I snarled and snapped. But the vamp was too fast and I could only tear its pant leg. Two new shapes raced toward us, but we were ready, our teeth exposed. Four against two. Great.
Maybe we should make a run for it, Autumn suggested as the vamps hurled themselves at us repeatedly.
They’re faster than we are. Kayla and Tony should be here any second. I hoped. These guys weren’t able to get past our jaws to do any damage, but we couldn’t hold them off forever. We’d have to do something soon.
Unless Kayla and Tony helped plan the ambush, she said.
In that case, we were on our own. The vampires slowed and backed up, circling us. “Why are you here?” a tall, blond man asked.
Adrenaline roared through my body. They’re stopping to chat, hoping to catch us off guard. I growled, making my fangs appear as big and scary as possible. Don’t let them distract you. And make sure they can’t get close to any part of you except your teeth. We can stall them for a while.
“Were you sent to kill us?” The blond man led the others in a circle, trapping us. As he passed Autumn and neared me, he commanded, “Testify, wolves! Tell us why you’re in vampire territory.”
I lunged, my fangs sinking into his side. He snarled and struggled, but my teeth burrowed deeper then scraped across his abdomen. He drove a fist into my back, knocking me away. I took some of his flesh with me. He dove at Autumn and his fangs latched onto her neck. Before I could rip him apart, Autumn managed to claw him off her.
Two vamps advanced on me but backed away when I advanced on them teeth first. The blond one stumbled away while we repositioned our bodies to cover each other and waited for another opportunity to strike one of them.
Are you okay? I asked Autumn.
Yeah, he didn’t get much blood. Don’t worry about me. Just concentrate on biting the next one.
My hot girlfriend was also a cutthroat. I would’ve been more amused by that if our lives hadn’t been at stake.
“You’ll die here, dogs.” The blond vamp laughed.
Maybe, maybe not. But I bit you, leech, so your death is guaranteed, I thrust at him telepathically.
He sneered. “Yes, you did, but werewolf blood is the cure. I’ll be healed in a matter of moments.”
He’d heard me talk to him silently. Which meant the king could probably hear me too. Your Majesty, we’re being attacked in the woods. Something must’ve happened to Kayla and Tony, because I haven’t seen them for several minutes.
While making sure I knew Autumn’s position behind me, I kept track of the blond vamp in front of me. I directed my next silent words to all four vampires. Your king is on his way.
The other three vampires vanished, leaving the blond one alone.
Werewolf blood is the cure? I asked.
He smirked. Of course he’d be cocky, since he believed he already had the cure. I heard a whoosh! and an instant later, Cedric stood in front of us. Tony and Kayla flanked him, both with blood stains over their hearts. A pungent metallic scent wafted up my nose.
My gaze transferred to the blond vamp, but he’d taken off. I shifted into my human form, thankful that Autumn had talked me into wearing all natural fibers that morphed with me. I didn’t usually mind being suddenly buck naked and having to fish around for my clothes, but this time I was grateful for not having to.
“Did you see any of them?” Autumn asked, slightly out of breath.
“No.” King Cedric folded his arms over his chest. “Explain to me what happened.”
“We were on our way back and something struck me. Next thing I knew, we were surrounded by four vampires,” Autumn said, and then turned to Kayla. “What happened to you guys?”
“Someone staked us. They were so fast we couldn’t identify who.” She scanned the grounds. “Would you be able describe them?”
“We were too busy trying not to die and it’s dark out here,” I said. “A redheaded woman, but she didn’t show us her face. And a couple of guys. The blond man stopped to talk so we got a pretty good look at him. Taller than me and bulky. He’s wearing a black T-shirt, black jeans, and his hair was straight and a little long.”
“Sounds like Gideon.” Cedric’s mouth twisted. “Did you bite any of them?”
Autumn glanced at me wide-eyed. Yeah, since I’d possibly killed one of their own, I could be in big trouble. But I couldn’t lie. Once they realized he died of a werewolf bite, I’d be thrown off the estate anyway. And that was the best-case scenario. I had no choice but to be upfront with them.
I straightened my spine, ready to face the consequences. “I got my teeth into him and tasted blood.”
Cedric redistributed his weight
from one leg to the other as he scanned the vicinity. “Did he bite you back and get the cure?”
Oh, hell. If the other vamps located the guy and found out he drank from Autumn, they’d know she wasn’t a werewolf as soon as they noticed he wasn’t cured. But I didn’t see any way out of that. “No.”
“Kayla and Tony, go track him down. Werewolf venom works quickly. He couldn’t have gotten far.” Cedric’s mouth was set in a hard line as he watched them go, and I sensed a rage coming on. I hoped it wouldn’t be directed at Autumn or me. We stood zero chance against so many vampires.
“Unless one of the others carried him away,” Autumn said as the king’s bodyguards sped off.
A woman with red hair skidded to a stop next to the king. “Your Majesty, I heard growling. What’s going on?”
Her scent wafted to me and I recognized it from moments ago. Her red hair seemed awfully familiar too. “If you want to get the other three, start with her. She’s one of them.”
She hissed at me. “He’s lying. I was upstairs in my chamber.”
Chamber? Who used that word anymore? She must be very old.
“No, Your Majesty, she was one of the four who attacked us,” Autumn said, threading her fingers through mine.
“Are you absolutely certain?” Cedric asked. But when both Autumn and I nodded, he asked. “I’m supposed to take your word over my own people?”
I should’ve known Cedric wouldn’t choose us over his own kind. And it wasn’t like we could outrun the vamps, especially since we were outnumbered.
Kayla and Tony emerged from the woods with the blond man between them, his arms slung around their necks. His head hung and I wondered if he was conscious. At least I’d already copped to biting him. That knowledge didn’t ease the tension building in my limbs or calm the adrenaline roaring through my veins.
The redhead hurried to him, examined his torn shirt, then she gasped at the gaping wound that stretched clear across his abdomen. Black blood oozed from blisters developing over the incision. Yep, I’d gotten the vamp good.