He heard the rustle of footsteps as Vincent rushed toward him. “Jane wasn’t meant to be saved! She was meant to be transformed!”
Bastard. Aidan whirled, slicing out with his claws. His claws ripped into the vampire’s stomach, cut deep, and then Aidan drew back, ready to take Vincent’s head.
“Aidan?”
That was…Jane’s voice. Jane’s beautiful, sweet voice.
His head whipped to the right and then Aidan stilled. He didn’t take the bastard’s head. He couldn’t move at all because Jane was stumbling toward him, walking out of a narrow alley. She was naked, and her hair trailed over her shoulders.
“She transformed quickly,” Vincent whispered. “She’s going to be so powerful. Probably even stronger than I am.”
She didn’t look powerful right then. She looked fragile, delicate, beautiful, and so very lost.
“Aidan?” Jane said his name again, almost desperately. “What’s happening? How did I get here?”
He ran to her. Her scent had changed—grown deeper, richer. Even more lush. She didn’t smell like a vampire. No death and blood clung to her. She was just his Jane.
He looked at her and didn’t see fangs.
Her eyes were wide. Scared.
Jane shouldn’t be afraid.
His wolf was oddly silent as Aidan grabbed Jane and pulled her into his arms. “It’s okay,” Aidan told her, knowing his hold was too tight but not able to ease his grip. He wanted to hold her and never let go. “You’re safe. I’ve got you. Everything will be all right.”
She shuddered against him.
“You…you need to have a care there, wolf,” Vincent softly warned him.
Fuck that vampire. Vincent would be headless soon enough. Smoke drifted in the air around them, and Aidan still heard the crackle of flames.
Jane shuddered once more.
She’s naked. She’s probably cold. He finally eased his hold on her, yanked off his jacket, and looped it around her shoulders. “I’ll take care of you,” he promised her.
Again, his wolf was dead silent.
It was just the man talking. The man who was so desperate for her he couldn’t see straight.
Jane. Not dead. Not gone. She was still right there with him.
Her head had tilted forward and her long hair covered her face. His hand—shaking—brushed back that hair. “Jane?”
“I don’t…feel right, Aidan.” She wasn’t looking at him. Her head was still tilted forward.
You’ve been dead, sweetheart. Of course, you don’t feel right. “You need to rest. We’ll go back to our home.” Our home. “You’ll be fine. You’ll—”
Slowly, her head slid back so that Jane was looking up at him. “I feel…hungry.” And he saw the flash of her sharp teeth—right before she lunged at him and sank her fangs into his throat.
The pain was fast, white-hot, and shock held Aidan immobile.
Not Jane. Not Jane…I don’t want to hurt her…
But the wolf that had been so quiet and still inside of him wasn’t quiet any longer. He was howling, raking Aidan with his claws, and demanding to be set free.
The wolf’s thoughts were basic.
Vampire. Kill. Destroy.
An instinct as old as time. Primitive.
But the man was still in control and the man just thought…
Jane is mine.
Her tongue snaked over his skin. A tremble shook him. He shouldn’t be finding pleasure in her bite. It was so fucking wrong. Everything was wrong and—
“Aidan?” Jane said, her voice husky. “Wh-what am I doing?” And she was suddenly pushing against him. Horror flashed on her face even as drops of his blood dripped down her chin. “No! No! Stop me!” She was screaming now, terrified, anguished. “Stop me!”
That was just what the wolf wanted. To stop her. His bones snapped. He—
Vincent yanked Jane out of Aidan’s arms and shoved her behind him. “It was way too soon for this little meeting. She isn’t strong enough yet, and you—” His gaze raked over Aidan. “You are totally fucked up.”
Aidan couldn’t stop the transformation now. It was coming too fast. Fur burst from his skin, and he slammed down to the ground, landing on all fours.
“You have better things to worry about than us,” Vincent said, his voice rough and fast. “Things like say, the other alpha in town. You know, the one that has been killing humans. Why don’t you go after him? Take out all this aggression on him?”
Aidan’s rage was focused on the vampire before him. Vincent. Vincent had done this. He’d changed Jane. He’d ruined everything. A growl broke from Aidan as razor sharp teeth filled his mouth. Not a man’s mouth, a beast’s.
“Jane, we have to go,” Vincent said. “Right now.”
Aidan looked up, still seeing through the eyes of a man, for the moment. Jane was struggling in Vincent’s arms, and her wide gaze was…
On me.
She stared at him with anguish and fear and—and love. Even then, after everything, he could still see her love for him.
“Stop me,” Jane begged him softly.
“Stop saying that shit!” Vincent yelled back. Then he locked his arms around her stomach and started running with her down the tight alley. “Stop it—or he will!”
The last of the shift burned through Aidan’s blood.
“Oh, my God.” Dr. Bob’s voice. Still breathless and now absolutely terrified. “Don’t kill me. Don’t kill me. Don’t…”
The doctor wasn’t the beast’s prey.
The vampires were.
Aidan howled as the shift finished, the man now gone and only the wolf in his place. He bounded down the alley, steps behind the vampires. So close.
“Aidan…” Jane’s voice.
The wolf stumbled.
My mate.
And then both vampires vanished.
Chapter Sixteen
It was hard to think straight. Jane’s body was too hot. Her skin too tight. And her mind…
Hunger. Need. Blood.
She could taste blood on her tongue. The flavor was rich and oddly sweet. And…and Jane feared it was…his.
Everything was cloudy. Her thoughts were in chaos. She’d been in an alley. She thought she had, anyway. Aidan had been there. She’d…bit him?
Had she killed him?
“Jane.” It was that voice again. The annoying one that kept bossing her around.
“Jane, you need to feed.”
The fangs in her mouth—the ones that were fully extended and burning—told her that he was right. But… “Leave me alone.” Her voice was a rasp. So weak and broken. That was how she felt.
Every part of her seemed broken.
Did I kill Aidan? Her—her fangs had been in his throat. But…he’d shifted, hadn’t he?
“Stop moping.” The annoying voice came once more. The vampire’s voice. “Your werewolf is still alive, though I think he’d like nothing more than to tear us both apart.”
At those words, Jane’s lashes lifted. The vampire—Vincent—stood just a few feet in front of her. It was dim all around them, and the place smelled a bit dank. Mildew hung in the air, the scent had her nose twitching.
“Are you in control?” Vincent asked her.
“Fuck off.”
He nodded. “That sounds relatively in control.” His gaze slid over her and he winced. “Sorry about all the manacles. I’m totally not into bondage, but until I see how you’re going to react to this whole new vamp life you’ve got going on, they seem like a good idea.”
Because the bastard had her chained up. Both of her wrists were locked in heavy, metal cuffs above her head. Her feet were chained up, too. She stood against a wall, trapped. At his mercy.
Her day was truly shit. Or was it night now? She had no clue.
“I think this place used to be an old BDSM club,” Vincent explained to her, as if they were having a friendly little chat. “When I came to town, I bought it and made a few quick modifications.”
br /> “Because you knew…you were going…to change…me…” Speaking was so hard. Each word left her throat feeling raw.
Vincent shook his head. “I knew you would change. It was meant to be. Even your voodoo queen saw it, didn’t she?”
Don’t be the hero. Just…don’t be. Annette’s words played through her mind, like a song stuck on repeat.
“She saw it,” Vincent continued, “but even the famed Annette Benoit couldn’t change anything.”
“You…did…this…” Her voice didn’t even sound human. More like an animal’s. Her stomach was knotted and her whole body hurt.
“You were choking on your own blood, Jane. You were dead, your body was just still suffering. I ended your pain.”
You broke my neck. I remember that part, you asshole.
“I am not the enemy.” Vincent took a step closer to her. His eyes drifted over her face. “You need to realize that. I am your one friend in this world. I can help you.”
She closed her eyes. The bloodlust was building inside of her again. Nearly uncontrollable. Her fangs shoved against her lips. Her throat was parched.
Want. I need…
“You attacked Aidan. Do you remember that?” Vincent asked her.
Shame twisted around her heart.
“And he tried to kill you.”
A tear leaked from her eye. She felt it slide down her cheek.
Vincent sighed. “You have to stay away from him, or he will kill you. You and I need to leave town. As soon as you’re strong enough, we’ll be out of here. Hell, we’ll leave the freaking country, just to be safe. He won’t get you. I’ll keep you safe.”
She didn’t want to be safe. She wanted her old life back. She wanted Aidan.
“Jane.” Her name came from him, hard and demanding. “Jane, I am not the enemy. I came here to help you because I knew the change was coming. You don’t have to be a monster. You have vampires all wrong. You don’t have to be evil.”
Tell that to the vampire who killed my family. Tell it to my father, tell—
“Even your father eventually regained his humanity. How do you think you escaped that vampire attack when you were eleven? When your worthless excuse for a brother saved himself first and you were struggling to get out of that little window in the basement?”
How did Vincent know about that?
“Your father came to your rescue. He gave his life so that you could escape, not that I expect you to remember that, of course. You probably didn’t even look back. I don’t blame you. You just wanted to run, right? To escape?”
Her eyes squeezed closed even tighter. Stop talking.
“After the initial change, I won’t lie…being a vampire is brutal. Especially for humans who are made into vamps, the ones that needed the transfusion for the change to occur in their bodies. The bloodlust overwhelms them. It’s all they know. But for you and me…we were born to be this way. We were never really human—that is the part that was the lie about us. We were always meant to be vampires.”
Don’t look at him. Don’t.
Her body jerked because the hunger was twisting through her.
“Some vampires go mad with their power. They exist to torture. To kill. To destroy.”
She didn’t want to be like that. But already, Jane could feel her humanity sliding away. Need blood. Need it.
“You won’t be this way,” Vincent said, as if he were making a promise to her. “I won’t let you make the same mistakes I did.” His voice was grim. “You will be the end. Just like you were supposed to be…only they’re wrong about how that end will come. You’ll change everything for the vampires. I know you can do it. I know it.”
He knew nothing.
Her lashes slowly lifted. “Blood.” It was all she could manage. So guttural. So…desperate.
He nodded. Then he…he lifted up what looked like a plastic bag, one that was filled with red liquid. “I’ve got all the blood you need, right here.”
Bagged. Not from a person. Somewhere deep inside, joy burst through Jane. She wasn’t going to feed from a person. She could just take the blood bags! She wouldn’t be a monster! She wouldn’t!
He ripped open the bag. “Open wide, Jane.” Vincent was smiling. Looking happy…or as happy as a vamp could look.
She opened her mouth. He lifted up the bag and blood poured past her lips, over her tongue, down her throat. That terrible, twisted need she had felt moments before began to lessen as she gorged herself and then—
Jane vomited. The blood all came back up—and landed right on Vincent.
And in a very dim part of her mind, Jane thought…Serves you right, asshole. That’s what you get for killing me.
Vincent wiped the blood vomit from his eyes. “We may need to try something else.”
The bloodlust grew again, even stronger than before. She snapped at him with her teeth because his throat suddenly looked way too appealing.
Vincent hurriedly stepped back. “We definitely need to try something else.”
***
“Where is Jane?” Aidan asked Annette as he stood in her shop, in the private back room. Paris was right behind him. Garrison lurked in the shadows, poking at the objects on her shelf. Garrison had been trying to sneak his little ass out of town, but Aidan had stopped him. Pack didn’t run. Pack stayed together.
No matter what.
He knew Garrison was afraid of having to hurt Jane…Join the fucking club. That was why they were all there with Annette. Because there has to be another option. We can’t kill Jane.
Annette sat at the small table she used for her scrying work, and her gaze was on the mirror before her. To Aidan, the mirror looked completely black, but he knew that Annette saw…things…in that dark surface.
See Jane.
Annette smoothed back her hair. “How did your beast react to her?”
“Can’t you see for yourself?” He snapped. “Isn’t it all right there in that fucking glass?”
She looked up at him.
Paris put his hand on Aidan’s shoulder. “Easy.”
Aidan’s lip curled in a snarl. “There is nothing easy about this situation.” It was a fucking nightmare. “I lost my Jane.”
“And now…” Annette murmured, her face sad. “You think she will attack you…turn on you…the same way that your mother did.”
His teeth ground together. “Isn’t that what vampires do?”
Her gaze searched his. “Jane is not your mother. You are not your father.”
That wasn’t an answer to his question.
“How did your beast react to her?” Annette asked again. Aidan just stared at her. Annette’s fist slammed down on the table, making the scrying mirror bounce. “Dammit, I don’t see what happened, Aidan! That’s why I’m asking! Now stop being a dick and tell me!”
Silence.
Garrison cleared his throat. “You shouldn’t call the alpha a dick.”
“Then he shouldn’t be one,” Annette snapped right back. “Look, I get this is hard.”
Aidan laughed. “Hard doesn’t cover it.” She wanted to know? Fine. “Jane went for my throat and my beast went for her. I shifted before I could stop myself and if Vincent hadn’t vanished with her.” Fucking parlor trick that I still don’t understand. “If he hadn’t vanished, I would have killed them both.” It was a truth that made him sick.
Killed…Jane.
His hands fisted. “I don’t want this.”
“Guilt can be a terrible monster to carry,” she said, her voice softening. “I’m sorry.”
“I did this to her. If I’d moved faster, if I hadn’t brought in her bastard of a brother…”
Annette shook her head. “Fate can’t be changed. Jane was born to be a vampire.”
“Fuck fate. Jane was born to be mine.”
Her brow furrowed at his words, and Annette leaned over her mirror once more. “Yes,” she said, voice a bit dazed. “I think she was.”
And her brother is a dead man. I’ve alre
ady got a call in to Vivian’s office…I want access to that prisoner. Drew Hart was in intensive care at the local hospital, under constant police protection. Once Aidan spoke with Vivian, that protection would vanish. Drew would die.
A life for a life.
Why the hell hasn’t Vivian called me back already? He’d put her in that position as police captain for two reasons. One—Vivian was fucking fantastic at the job. And two—she was a werewolf who’d always been loyal to the pack. He could always count on her to do what he needed.
Only Vivian hasn’t called me…
“There are other threats out there,” Annette said and her words were way too close to Vincent’s for Aidan’s comfort. “Others you need to face before you see Jane.”
He knew where this was going. “The other alpha.” The sonofabitch who was killing in Aidan’s territory.
Annette nodded. “You think he won’t have the same urge that you do? When confronted by not one, but two vampires, his primal instincts will overwhelm him. He’ll attack. He’ll destroy Jane.”
Aidan’s chest was ice cold.
“But I suppose that’s what you want,” Annette mused silkily. “For her to just be…gone.”
Aidan shot to his feet. “I want her back. I want my Jane back.” His throat seemed to throb where she’d bit him. “I want her in my arms. In my bed. In my life.” Then he had to say the truth that tore him apart. “But my beast wants her dead.”
Annette turned her hand so that it faced him, palm up. “Give me your blood so I can see…”
He gave her his hand. She sliced across his palm with her knife and as the blood dripped onto her mirror, he saw Jane.
Jane and blood. The two would always be bound together in his mind.
***
“Jane.”
She hung limply in her chains. Every part of her body hurt. Her lips and tongue were so swollen. The thirst wouldn’t end. It was ripping her apart. She wanted to feed so badly. So. Badly. She’d do anything to stop that terrible hunger. Anything.
Then a smell hit her. Light. Sweet. Intoxicating.
Her eyes flew open.
Vincent stood a few feet away. A woman with dark red hair was before him and…blood trickled down the woman’s throat.
“I think the problem,” Vincent said, “is that you need live prey.”