Bound by Passion: The Alliance Series, Book 4

by Davies, Brenda K.

  If she couldn’t decide what to do, she could at least get a freaking weapon. The other vamps hadn’t worried she might find something to use against them. They knew how to keep her meek, and as a human, they saw her as inferior, but this guy was severely wounded; she might have a chance.

  A chance at what?

  Just do one thing at a time.

  The legs of one of the wooden chairs at the small kitchen table squeaked against the tan, tile floor when she pulled it away from the table. Lifting it over her head, she took a deep breath before bashing it against the floor.

  The impact jarred her arms and nearly knocked the chair from her grasp, but it didn’t shatter. Damn it! Before being held here, she could have broken it in one try. She may be small, but she’d always been stronger than she looked; she couldn’t say that anymore.

  Frustration propelled her across the room with the chair, and she lifted it again. Her arms shook from the weight as she brought the chair down against the edge of the green marble counter. The impact ripped the chair from her hands, but two of the legs broke off. One leg flew across the room; the other bounced off the cabinet and nearly hit her in the head before falling to the floor and spinning under the table.

  The wooden leg stopped spinning as the first step sounded on the porch. Elyse shoved aside another chair and lunged for the leg. She nearly fell when her foot slipped on the tile and bit her lip to keep from crying out when her knee twisted to the side. And then her hand wrapped around the leg, and she lifted it before her while she listened to the approach of the newest monster to arrive on her doorstep.

  Chapter Four

  What have you done?

  Glancing at the ruined chair, she fought against the hot wash of tears filling her eyes. Her captors would see this chair, and her dad would suffer because of it. Her emotions started to fray as the full horror of what she’d done sank in. A buzzing like bees filled her ears as the room blurred; she grasped the table to keep from going down.

  A loud thud from the porch vibrated the cabin floor; Elyse held her breath as she waited for the front door to burst open. When the seconds ticked into minutes, and her chest began to burn, she released her breath. The door remained intact, and she didn’t hear the man again.

  She dreaded going anywhere near that man or the door, but she had to know what was happening. Clutching the leg against her chest, she edged around the table and tiptoed toward the front door.

  She looked out the windows on either side of the door but didn’t see the vamp standing there. Her breathing was abnormally harsh in her ears as she clung to the leg like a two-year-old to their favorite teddy.

  She glanced around the empty, snow-covered driveway before turning toward the kitchen. He must have gone around to the back door which meant….

  She spun around to gaze at the car. If she could get to the car while he was behind the cabin, she might be able to get out of here!

  Unwilling to give herself time to think about the consequences of her actions, she threw open the door and plunged outside. Her feet skidded awkwardly on the porch, and she darted to the side in time to stop herself from running over the top of the handsome vampire sprawled face first across the porch. She squeaked when her ankle twisted, and she went down in a heap beside his motionless body.

  When she scrambled away, her foot almost touched the blood seeping out from under him. No, no, no, no!

  She lifted her foot and turned it toward her to make sure the blood hadn’t touched her skin. Her shoulders slumped when she didn’t see anything there, but she still wiped at her skin with the sleeve of her overly large sweater.

  She lowered her foot and drew her legs against her chest while she took a second to steady herself; she’d been so close to touching his blood. When she felt a little more in control, she studied the vamp while she tried to see if he was alive or not. Then, his fingers twitched, and he released a low moan.

  Elyse scrambled to her feet, dashed around the vamp, and rushed down the porch steps. The chill of the snow and the sharpness of the stones against her bare feet made her wince with every step, but she didn’t slow as she ran for the car. She barely glanced at the dented hood before flinging open the driver’s door.

  She hadn’t let herself think about keys, but she smiled when she heard the beep indicating they were in the ignition. Tossing the chair leg onto the passenger seat, she climbed into the driver’s side and closed the door. The wind blowing through the broken window caused her to shiver as she rested her hand on the wheel.

  It had been months since she was behind the wheel of a car and sitting in the driver’s seat, and it gave her a sense of freedom. Some strange, almost hysterical laugh issued from her as she grasped the key, but she couldn’t stop making the terrible noise.

  And then she turned the key.

  The car sounded like it was going to start before making an awful, grinding noise that caused her to flinch. Her gaze flew to the vamp sprawled across the porch, and she bit her lip as she waited for him to rise and come after her, but he didn’t move. Taking a deep breath, she focused on the ignition again.

  “Please start,” she pleaded before turning the key.

  This time, the car didn’t bother to pretend it was going to start as the grinding noise filled the air before the lights inside dimmed and the car died. It was useless, but she couldn’t stop herself from turning the key again.

  Gurrr. Gurrr. Gurrr. Thunk. On the thunk, a puff of black smoke seeped out around the hood. Elyse sat and stared at the smoke as her emotions swung wildly back and forth between hopelessness and rage. And then, before she knew what she was doing, she started beating on the steering wheel while tears rolled down her face.

  “Ahh!” She screamed as she gripped the wheel and yanked at it like a madwoman.

  She didn’t recognize herself, but she didn’t care as all her well-maintained composure over these horrific months unraveled, and she allowed her anger and terror to burst free. For months, she refused to cry or let her captors see how much they were breaking her, but she couldn’t hold it back anymore.

  She’d been so close! Freedom was at the tips of her fingers, and it had been cruelly ripped away, but then, she could never truly be free while these bastards held her father.

  Finally, exhausted and feeling like an idiot, she reeled in her composure and lifted her head to look around. Hope wasn’t completely lost; her guards were dead. Or at least she assumed they were all dead, she didn’t know how many were actually out there, but no one had come out of the woods to stop her or finish off the other vamp.

  Maybe she could still get away, but how?

  She stared at the snow falling faster from the sky as it stuck to the window and the windshield. The only source of illumination was the light pouring from the cabin windows. Turning in her seat, she stared at what she could see of the driveway.

  She’d been bound and gagged when they brought her here, so she had no idea where here was. For the first part of the journey, she’d been unconscious, and when she woke up, she’d faked being out to see if they would talk and she could learn something, but no one spoke throughout the drive.

  For all she knew, she could be in Alaska and she could run down the driveway to discover nothing but miles of snow and unfamiliar terrain. But still, she had to try. She couldn’t sit here and wait for the vamp to wake up or for her captors to realize something was wrong and come for her. And they would come, she did not doubt that.

  She lifted the chair leg off the seat and pushed the door open. Her breath sucked in when the wind hit her with enough force that it swayed her back into the car. Normally, she loved winter—when she was bundled up against the elements and had hot chocolate waiting for her. She wasn’t such a fan when she was barefoot with a too big sweater hanging off her shoulders and no hat or gloves.

  She could end up with frostbite in every one of her extremities, but she made herself put one foot in front of the other. She bit her bottom lip to keep from crying out as the sto
nes dug into her frozen feet while she jogged across the circle area of the driveway. Beyond that, the drive turned to asphalt, and she was able to run faster down the winding surface.

  Her breaths plumed in the air as her feet sank into the thickening snow. Her skin felt like ice, and she’d lost the feeling in her hands and feet, but she didn’t stop. She couldn’t stop. Once free of here, she didn’t know what she would do. She’d have to steal a car before going to find her father, but at least she would be free to look for him.

  If they discovered she was gone before she found him, they would make him pay, but this was the closest either of them had come to freedom since becoming prisoners, and she couldn’t let it go to waste. Elyse didn’t stop to think about how she would steal a car or get her father free; if she did, she’d probably return to the cabin, curl up in a ball, and wait for them to come for her again.

  She would not be a coward. But as she decided this, doubt crept in. What would they do to her dad if they discovered her gone before she found him? And how was she ever going to get him away from these monsters?

  The doubts niggled at her mind, but if she didn’t do anything, then they were both as good as dead anyway, and she’d never expected those deaths to be pleasant.

  Her chest and legs burned when she made it to the bottom of the drive. Her hopes shattered as she gazed up and down the deserted road. She hugged herself as the sweat froze on her body, and her chattering teeth drowned out the sound of her ragged breaths.

  To her left, the road rose steeply while to her right, it descended. A layer of snow already coated the asphalt. She couldn’t see more than twenty feet down the road in either direction, but she saw enough to know there were no nearby homes.

  There was nowhere for her to go. If she continued down the road, she had no idea how far it would be until she encountered another home and possible help. How far could she make it before she froze to death or something found her? The bears were probably hibernating right now, but there could be any number of other things out there waiting to eat her, including vampires.

  She almost said screw it and raced down the road, but though her life had been full of despair these past months, she wasn’t ready for it to end. Her chances of escaping were dwindling by the second, but she still retained some hope she would survive this.

  She didn’t see how she’d survive, but she wasn’t ready to throw in the towel. She had a lot of living left to do, and if she remained standing here, she would freeze to death before she got another chance to break free.

  When the snow stopped, she’d try again. Until then, she’d work on making herself something for her feet from what little clothing she had. She’d also put on layers and a blanket before venturing out again.

  Turning, she trudged back up the driveway. She tried to run again, if only to warm herself up, but the lack of nutrition, stress, and exhaustion she’d endured over the past months had left her weaker than she’d realized; she didn’t have the energy to run anymore.

  When she arrived back at the gravel part of the driveway, the snow started coming down faster. It stung her cheeks as the wind whipped it through the air. Her hand trembled as she brushed frozen strands of hair from her face. When snow fell away from her, she realized it was building on her hair and clothes.

  With the lights in the cabin on, she could see more up here, and she paused to take in the carnage littering the yard. The blood staining the snow was fading beneath this new layer. Finally, she turned her attention to the vamp sprawled across the porch.

  Was he still alive? And if he was, how long would it be before he woke up? And what would he do to her when he did wake? He was incapacitated, but he’d still taken on her guards and won. She was a mere mortal; it would only take a flick of his wrist to end her life.

  It didn’t matter. What mattered was getting inside before she froze to death. She tried to jog across the stone, but her feet were so frozen she couldn’t get them to cooperate, and she was afraid she might break one of them, or her ankle before she made it to the cabin.

  Limping across the drive, she arrived at the porch and used the railing to help her carefully climb the steps. The vamp hadn’t moved, but she watched his chest rise and fall as she crept around his blood and into the house.

  She was about to close the door, but something stopped her. Turning back, she studied the vamp and then the carcasses littering the yard.

  He was their enemy, and if ancient proverbs were right, then the enemy of her enemy was her friend. But what was he doing here, and what did he want from her? Or was he here to kill her because he was their enemy? How did he know about her?

  She didn’t have any answers for the questions running through her head, but he possessed the knowledge. Don’t be an idiot. Shut the door and leave him here or stake him.

  She chuckled when she glanced at the jagged chair leg. The idea of shoving it through anyone’s chest and into their heart made her queasy, but if she left him here, he would heal and come after her. She was glad her guards were dead, but that meant there was no one to stop this vamp if he’d come here to kill her.

  She studied the man for a minute more before turning and limping into the house. Maybe he’d come here to kill her, but he was the first change she’d experienced in all the months she’d been here, and she had to know why he was here and who he was.

  She went into the room one of her guards usually slept in and pulled the blanket from the bed; this would also get her in trouble with them, but that was the least of her concerns now. With the blanket tucked under her arm, she went to her room to gather a couple of T-shirts. The idea of ruining some of what little clothing she had made her hands shake, but she had no choice. She could not touch his blood.

  Using the jagged table leg, she worked a hole into the shirts until she could tear them in two. She wound two of the halves around her feet—only then realizing the still frozen extremities were also bleeding—before wrapping the other two halves around her hands.

  She made sure her skin was covered before returning to the porch. Taking a deep breath, she grasped him under his arms and started wiggling, turning, and shoving him onto the blanket. When she still couldn’t get him on, she gritted her teeth, leaned her back against the doorframe, planted her foot on his shoulder, and shoved him.

  He flopped over onto it, and his arms sprawled out at his sides. She bent over and placed her hands on her knees as she panted for breath and glared at the immobile vamp. The blood streaking from his nose had dried, and the bruising across the bridge of his nose and around his eyes told her he’d broken it when he fell.

  More dried blood, from a cut on his head, was caked near his temple, and a bite mark marred his throat. Beneath all the blood and bruising, he was a handsome man. He was also completely unaware of the misery of their surroundings while sweat streamed down her body, and she shivered from the cold as the wind blew snow around them.

  Exhausted, she wanted to retreat into the cabin and sleep for days, but she still had to get him inside. She pushed herself away from the door and almost collapsed when she bent over to lift a corner of the blanket.

  Resting her hand on the floor, she didn’t move as she waited for her racing heart to calm and her dizziness to ease. She should give up; the answers weren’t worth this, but for some reason, she couldn’t bring herself to quit now.

  When she felt strong enough to try again, she gathered the blanket and started tugging it toward the door. She was pretty sure she had frostbite, hypothermia, and would have a heart attack by the time she managed to drag him over the threshold and out of the way of the door.

  Closing the door against the rising wind, she locked it before leaning against it and sliding to the floor. She gazed longingly into the room to her right as she recalled the fireplace in there, but even if it were the only source of heat in this place, she wouldn’t go anywhere near it.

  She listened to the sounds of the vamp’s breathing as needle pricks of feeling returned to her extremiti
es. Biting her lip, she drew blood as she tried to keep from crying, but as the pain intensified, she couldn’t withhold her tears. Curling into the fetal position, she shoved her fist into her mouth to keep from screaming while her body defrosted.

  Chapter Five

  Saxon cracked open his eyes and stifled a groan when the light caused him to recoil. His head pounded like someone was taking a hammer to it, and every muscle in his body felt like the same hammer had battered it. The dryness in his throat was matched only by the aridness of his veins.

  His fangs lengthened as hunger coursed through him. He went to push himself up, but something caught at his arms and tugged them back. Weak and disoriented, it took him too long to realize he was tied to something. When he pulled again, something scraped, and he got a little more give to his right hand.

  “Stop that!” a female voice commanded.

  The panic in her voice caused him to stop tugging, and he inhaled the sweet scent of cherry blossoms drifting from her. “Who are you?” he demanded.

  Elyse gulped; now that he was awake, she didn’t know what to do. She’d had a lot of time to study the man while the snowstorm turned into a blizzard outside. During that time, he’d practically healed before her eyes until most of his cuts and bruises were gone.

  And completely healed, this massive vamp was a big threat to her. His broad shoulders were easily twice the size of her, and his jeans emphasized his tapered waist. His straight, dark blond hair fell to the collar of his sweater. He had a roman nose and full lips that were blue when she first dragged him in here, but now they were a pale red color. Dark blond stubble lined his high cheekbones and jaw.

  Saxon sniffed the air. It took him some time to get past her cherry scent, but eventually, he smelled death and snow. However, he didn’t detect any of the garbage stench that came with the Savages.