The twenty-mile trek was easy for Ashton in his lion form. The bracing smell of pine and fir filled his nose as he hurried through the underbrush. He could scent deer and wild boar, and the smell of a native lion, hiding from the massive shifter intruding in her woods.
Isabella’s hands gripped his pelt, pinching sharply. She had sharp nails that seemed to grow sharper the longer she rode on his back. When they got to the cabin, he would catch them a meal to cook in Ronan’s old cabin. Ashton barely ever hunted anymore, but he enjoyed it when he did.
Finally, the sight of the log cabin broke through the trees. Ashton stopped near the front door, and Isabella slid from his back. She looked around, a frown etched deeply in her face. “We’re staying here?” she asked, irritated.
He shifted and pulled the backpack from her back and pulled out his clothing. “Yep. Safest place I could think of on short notice.”
“Seriously, Ashton. I could be halfway to Mexico by now. I was thinking a nice little luxury resort on the beach somewhere with fruity drinks with umbrellas in them. Not some backwoods cabin. This place sucks. Does it even have electricity?”
“No. Believe me. I’d rather go to Mexico and stay in that luxury resort, but I think your father knows your tricks and your taste. Don’t you think he’d find you immediately?”
“I can hide. I have cash accounts he can’t trace under pseudonyms he doesn’t know about.”
“Let’s just lay low for a few days, Isabella.”
“I don’t even know why you’re helping me.” She crossed her arms and dug in her heels as Ashton stood in the doorway of the tiny cabin. She looked so cute when she pouted.
He crossed the space between them and stood close to her, putting his arms around her waist. He looked deeply into her caramel eyes and frowned. She didn’t understand how he felt. Maybe he didn’t even understand himself. He needed to help her. He needed her to be safe.
The lion inside him rumbled. He wanted to take her right then and there and show her exactly why he was helping her.
She is my mate.
Ashton took a sharp breath in. The vampire? A mate? No. That couldn’t be true. His kind and hers were sworn enemies. At the very least there was a centuries old taboo against mating with one. Humans sure. Other types of shifters, okay. Even witches weren’t that off limits. But a vampire? No way.
She slid her long finger along his jaw and smiled up at him. She could sense his anxiety. A small smirk played on her lips.
“Come inside,” he said, taking her hand. She followed him into the dusty cabin. Everything was still there. Ronan had left the place tidy and livable for the most part. The months of vacancy had left their mark in half an inch of dust over everything.
She looked around and sighed. “I’ve slept in worse places. There was the year I slept buried underground in a coffin,” she said, waving her hand to the side.
“You slept in a coffin, underground, for a year?” he asked her in disbelief.
“I was depressed,” she said, moving into the small space. She sat down on the bed and tested the mattress. “Not bad,” she said, looking at Ashton meaningfully.
A slow smile moved across his lips. He knew what she was thinking and his inner lion roared to oblige her. Mate, it roared. Ashton gritted his teeth and put his palms to his temples, turning away.
When this had just been a fling, it was fine. When he’d decided to help the woman out a sense of duty, that was all good. He liked the danger and excitement. But now that his lion screamed for him to mate the blood-sucking vixen, Ashton was not okay with that.
“I’ll be right back,” Ashton said, turning away. “I’m going to hunt something for us to eat.”
“Fine. I’ll find something to do, all by myself.”
Ashton smirked at her and strode out the door to strip off his clothes. He hunched over into the shift and then bounded into the woods. His senses were on overdrive. The lion’s mind pushed to go back to the cabin and use his teeth to remove the vampire woman’s clothing before licking every inch of her curvy body with his wet, raspy tongue.
The human inside him pushed his lion on, forcing him to focus on the hunt. He picked up the scent of a buck not far off in the woods. Ashton fell into the hunt. His cat moved through the trees as if in an altered stated. Every sense heightened as he stalked his prey.
He saw the buck grazing in a small clearing below a rock outcropping. With silent feet, he pounced on the rocks and scrambled upward. He crouched, waiting for the right moment.
He could sense the buck’s heartbeat, smell its blood coursing through its veins. He licked his lips, still downwind from the animal. Pulling the scent of his future meal in through his mouth, it twisted down his throat and sank in his belly.
The buck looked up, startled by a far off sound. It turned its head, turning its jugular vein toward Ashton’s crouching lion. The cat pounced, falling full force onto the mature deer. His teeth sank deep into the buck’s neck. It gave a high-pitched yell until Ashton cut it off with his strong bite.
Slowly the blood of his kill ran over his tongue, its life flowing out of its body and into Ashton’s mouth. It had been so long since he’d hunted. The arousal of the vampire and her ever-present desire for blood had awakened a need in him. He reveled in the kill, rubbing his mouth on the bleeding wound.
I will bring my kill back to my mate, the lion decided. Ashton began to pull the deer through the woods, back to the cabin and Isabella.
When he’d dragged it all way back to the front door, he shifted and wiped his face from the animal’s blood. “Isabella,” he called through the front door, looking inside. She had dusted out the entire room, but was nowhere to be seen.
“Out here,” she called. Ashton followed the sound of her voice and found her around the side of the cabin. She had the quilt over a clothesline and was beating the dust out with a stick. She looked so cute in her pajama bottoms and tank top, doing this old-fashioned domestic work. He had to smile as he watched her breasts heave under her thin black shirt.
“I brought a kill back. Do you want some…blood before I butcher it?”
She pursed her lips as she considered. She crossed the yard and stood right against him, her full breasts pressing at his upper abdomen.
She ran her hands over his naked body, up his chest and down his abs, her nails grazing his skin. “I know whose blood I would much prefer to cold deer blood.”
He growled. The lion inside him wanted to let her drink from him. The hunt had given him vitality. Ashton’s human mind was still not okay with this whole thing. No matter how much he liked Isabella, mating a vampire was a bad idea.
Chapter Thirteen
“Maybe later,” Ashton said, turning away from Isabella. She watched his gorgeous backside as he moved around the cabin and crouched down to butcher the deer he’d killed.
The thought of him out there in his lion form, hunting for her, killing. It sent a shiver of desire through her body. Her fangs descended and her pussy twitched as a gush of moisture dampened her panties. He was a predator, just like her. Yum.
She watched him butcher the deer, reveling in the sight of blood and flesh. He finished quickly and cleaned up the area where he’d dressed the deer and got rid of the carcass, deep in the woods. They were left with some very nice venison steaks.
Ashton washed and put his clothing back on before building a fire in the fireplace. Isabella busied herself with removing the rest of the dust and putting the quilt back on the bed.
She washed some plates and silverware while Ashton seasoned the meat with salt and herbs still in the cabin. He placed the meat on a grill over the open flame, and it sizzled and sputtered as it cooked. The smell of barbecue filled the air.
They sat in front of the fire watching the meat cook in the hearth. Isabella leaned back in her chair and looked around the small cabin. A bed sat in the corner, and a small table was pushed under the window facing the front yard. There was a line of counters full of jars and a sin
k that drained outside. A cook stove sat beside the counter, and the fireplace was between the bed and the stove. All in all, the small studio apartment sized cabin wasn’t that bad.
Maybe roughing it for a while would be a good thing. “Too bad we don’t have any booze,” she said watching the meat cook.
“Wait a minute,” Ashton said, standing. He hurried outside and came back a few minutes later holding a liter of rum.
“Where did you get that?” she asked him, taking the bottle from his hands.
“I left it in Ronan’s root cellar, just in case I ever came out here for a bender,” he said, smiling as he forked the steaks onto a clean plate.
Isabella twisted it off the cap, took a long swig, and smiled. “Good stuff,” she said, smacking her lips. Ashton put the meat on the table, and they moved to sit together under the window.
Venison was not a meat that Isabella typically ate. Veal, yeah. Deer, no. But it wasn’t bad. Ashton had flavored it nicely with what he had.
He poured rum into two glasses, and they drank while they ate. With the warmth of the liquor tingling in her stomach, she started to feel pretty damn good. If her father hadn’t been trying to catch her so he could force her to marry some douchebag, this would have been a nice little camping vacation.
“So, what do you do when you aren’t saving halfling vampire women from their psycho fathers?” she asked before taking another bite of food.
“I work at my tattoo shop, draw, ride my bike, surf, chase women, have a good time. That kind of thing.” He gave her a bright smile and moved his eyebrows up and down as he drank a shot of rum from his glass.
“You surf. I thought cats hated water,” she teased.
“I’m a mountain lion. Not a house cat. Cougars are excellent swimmers. What about you? What do you do for fun when you aren’t being hunted by your family?”
“I like to party. Go shopping. Get into trouble. Travel. Find willing men to suck,” she said, showing her fangs as she smiled teasingly.
“Willing men to suck, huh? I’ve seen what you do with your mouth. You want to suck me, Isabella?” he asked, his better judgment nowhere to be found.
She smiled wide, her fangs descending even further as her eyes glowed with intensity. “I’d like to sink my teeth into you while you sink into me,” she said.
“I’d like to watch you suck me,” he growled.
She came to stand before him and sank to her knees. “You would, would you? I think that can be arranged. I’ve been watching you walk around naked all day. I want your cock in my mouth, now.” She pulled open his pants, and his erection sprang out. She licked her lips.
“No biting,” he chided.
She looked up at him, smiling brightly as she gripped his cock in her hand. She slid her hand up and down his shaft, looking him in the eyes as she licked her lips and lowered her mouth over his tip.
Isabella licked the beads of precum off his head, flicking her tongue over his slit. Ashton took a sharp breath in and threw back his head. He tasted like heaven and smelled like a mixture of man and the animal that he was. The musky tang of his skin made her nipples hard as she took his length into her mouth.
He was a big man, bigger than most vampires. His animal nature filled him with primal masculinity. She used her hand to work him as her mouth bobbed up and down. She held back the desire to sink her teeth into his cock and suck his blood as she sucked his shaft.
Ashton ran his figures through her hair and held her head in his hands as he thrust slowly in and out of her mouth. She moaned on his dick, loving the feeling of him taking control even though at any moment she could take a bite out of him.
He pulled her off him and lifted her off the floor, bringing her onto his lap. She could feel his hardness under her hungry pussy as he gripped her around the waist.
“Take off your pants,” he said, pushing her tank up over her breasts. She pulled her pants off and straddled him again as he took her breast in his mouth. He reached around and straightened his cock so that it pushed against her wet hole.
She took a sharp breath as he pressed inside her entrance. A long moan escaped her lips as he sank slowly inside her. He held her fast around the hips as his mouth played with her breasts.
When he’d sunk balls deep inside her, he looked her in the eyes and cupped her head in his big hands. She moaned slightly, breathing heavily as he ran his hands all over her body. He enveloped her and brought her into a deep kiss. Gripping her hips, he pulled her up and down on his cock.
Isabella exploded hard on him, her orgasm taking her off guard. She groaned in his mouth as his tongue flicked over hers. He didn’t stop or slow down. He just kept fucking her so that her orgasm didn’t seem to come down at all. She came and came like a freight train barreling down the track without brakes.
She nuzzled his neck, taking in his musk. She wanted him. Wanted every bit of him. Her fangs descended and she sank them into his neck. He groaned and gripped her hips more tightly, taking her harder.
Chapter Fourteen
A rumbling growl echoed through the cabin as Ashton sank his teeth into Isabella’s neck. He held her tight, pumping her up and down on his hungry cock. They sucked and licked each other’s blood as they fucked hard and fast.
He knew what was coming. He knew what he was doing, but he didn’t care. His lion had taken over. His claws descended, gripping her flesh and drawing blood as he rammed himself inside her soft, wet pussy.
She moaned and sucked his neck, lapping up his blood with relish. Ashton let her take his blood as she took his. They were playing with fire, but both of them seemed to want to be burned.
He let the mating juices come down inside him as he held her neck in his teeth. His orgasm exploded deep in her tight cunt; with it, his mating seed pumped into her womb.
They held each other tight, arms, and teeth wrapped around each other’s flesh. Slowly, they let each other go. Senses returning, Ashton had to accept what he’d just done. He’d mated her. A vampire. He didn’t regret it. He wanted the curvy little woman to be his and his alone. He would deal with the consequences, no matter what they might be.
Isabella slowly stood up and pulled her clothes back on, licking her lips. She picked up her glass and threw back a shot of rum.
“Holy hell,” she said, sitting across from him. Ashton pulled his own clothes on and nodded at her. “That was amazing,” she said.
“Yes, it was. Do you know what just happened?” he asked her.
She looked away and out the window at the growing darkness. The moon shown bright above them in a sliver globe between the trees. She looked back at him, her expression a strange mix of giddiness and anxiety. “We’re mated,” she said, pouring them both another shot of rum. She lifted her glass to him. He lifted his, and they clanged them together before downing the liquid inside. It burned going down, but it helped numb the growing awareness that what they’d done would get them both into a lot of trouble.
“Let’s get some sleep, mate,” he said, taking her hand. He guided her to the bed, and they got under the covers. They snuggled together as the firelight flickered. Soon they were both passed out asleep.
The blankets were thrown off them in the darkness, and an angry scream filled the cabin. “What have you done?” the angry voice yelled. Ashton heard a loud slap. As his eye adjusted to the darkness, he saw Domingo holding Isabella by the shirt, ready to her strike again. He grabbed the vampire’s hand and threw him backward.
“Don’t you dare,” he roared. Domingo backhanded Ashton, sending him reeling onto the bed.
“You mated our female, you disguising animal. I should kill you now.”
“Bring them both,” a voice said from the cabin door.
“Father, just leave me alone. I’m mated to the lion. I’m no use to you now.” Her voice was panicked.
“You’ve broken my law, Isabella. You’ve defied me. You and your lover will pay the price for your insolence.”
“No!” she yelled as the
stronger vampires hauled them out of the cabin and shoved them on the back of ATVs. Santiago punched Ashton in the face repeatedly, the pain sharp and overpowering until Ashton finally passed out.
When he came to they were lumbering through the forest. Ashton had his hands tied behind his back and was slumped over the back of an ATV. He could make out Isabella’s scent. She was close.
He strained against the restraints, but it did no good. When they made it out of the woods, he and Isabella were dumped into the back of an SUV. The car drove fast through the night while Ashton lapsed in and out of consciousness.
Finally, they arrived at the mansion. His head throbbing, Ashton tried to sit up and look around, but he was forcefully pulled from the SUV and pushed through the house and into the basement.
Isabella was still unconscious. They deposited her on a metal-framed bed and tied him up to the wall. They were both cuffed to long chains bolted into heavy bricks. When the vampires left the room, Ashton tried to get to Isabella, but the chains only let him move so far.
He could tell she was still breathing, but she had a welt on her blackening eye. He growled. He would kill these men, just as soon as he figured out how. “Isabella?” he whispered, trying to get her to wake up and give him an indication that she was all right. “Please, Isabella. Wake up.”
She grumbled from the bed before she sat up slowly, groaning. “Oh my god, my head hurts,” she moaned.
“They beat you pretty badly,” Ashton said.
“I’m sorry you got in the middle of this, Ashton. You don’t deserve it,” she said.
“What are you talking about. You are my mate now. I love you. Whatever happens to you happens to me.”
She looked over at him, light in her eyes, her expression questioning. “You love me?” she asked. She looked confused, as if no one had ever said those words to her before.
“Of course I do. I love your spunk and your vigor. I love everything about you. You are my mate.”