“Who are you?” he asked again.
“Who are you?” she retorted. “You’re the one who showed up here.”
Saxon twisted to see in the direction of the voice, but the woman remained out of sight. His fingers rubbed the cloth binding his wrists, and when he lifted his foot, he discovered his ankles were also restricted, but a couple of jerks on them caused more scraping and more give to his bindings.
“I said, stop that!” she snapped.
Elyse shifted her hold on the broken chair leg as she studied the binds she used on him. She’d taken one of the sheets off her bed and torn it into strips to tie his wrists to the couch. Afterward, she moved the coffee table closer to the door and tied his ankles to it. The bindings wouldn’t keep him restrained for long, but she didn’t have a whole lot of options to work with here.
Saxon went still again when bruised and bloodied feet came into view. The jeans above those feet were rolled up to hang at the woman’s ankles. Craning his head, he tried to see the woman belonging to those feet, but she moved away before he could see more of her.
Testing his bonds again, he realized he could break free at any time, but something kept him where he was. Judging by the rapid beat of her heart, the woman was terrified, and he couldn’t bring himself to scare her more. If she hadn’t killed him while he was unconscious, and this was the best she could do to restrain him, he didn’t see her as much of a menace.
“I’m Saxon Voyse,” he said. “And you are?”
There was a slight hesitation before she replied, “Elyse Hughes. What are you doing here, Saxon?”
“I’m not really sure. Are all of the Savages dead?”
“What are Savages?”
“The vamps outside, are they all dead?”
“Oh.” She’d never heard them referred to like that before, but it was a fitting name for the bastards who kept her here. “Yes, or at least I think they’re all dead. I’m not sure how many of them were out there, but I haven’t seen any since you killed those.”
Saxon frowned as he tried to figure out what was going on here. She was in a cabin the Savages were guarding, but she didn’t know how many of them were out there, and she was a human.
Why was she here, and was she lying to him about not knowing the number of Savages? He didn’t think there were any more Savages out there. They most likely would have all come for him, but they were cowards, and he wouldn’t assume they were all dead until he knew for sure.
Elyse gripped the stake tighter. While he was unconscious, and after she stopped pleading to die from the ordeal of defrosting, she’d wiggled his jacket off him and removed one of the stakes from it.
The weapon was far better than her chair leg, but she didn’t feel any reassurance about having it in her hand. She’d have to get close to him to use it, and she didn’t know if she could stab someone, even if they were a vampire. However, she required answers.
Taking a deep breath, Elyse padded back toward the vampire. His head turned toward her as she approached, and he stiffened as if he were about to tear himself free and lunge at her. Despite her instincts screaming at her to run, she gathered her courage to kneel at his side and hold the stake over his heart. Elyse found herself gazing into a pair of hazel eyes that were more golden brown than green.
“Tell me what you’re doing here,” she ordered.
Saxon didn’t know if he was more shocked or amused by the woman. Yes, she had a stake aimed at his heart, but he could break free of his binds and have the weapon in his hand before she touched it to his chest. Besides, she didn’t look strong enough to hold the weapon, let alone wield it.
The chocolate brown hair tumbling over her shoulders tickled his cheek as it fell in waves to her waist. Clear, arctic blue eyes held his as she lifted her delicate chin in a stubborn gesture. Her rosebud lips were set in a grim line of determination, and her thick eyebrows were knitted together. At around five foot four, she was a good eleven inches shorter than him.
If the shadows lining her eyes were any indication, she hadn’t slept in weeks. Her too-big sweater slid off her shoulder to reveal her collarbone, which stood out against her pale skin. She was so thin her cheeks were hollow, and the bones in the hand holding the stake were visible. The fast pace of her heart betrayed her steely look, but her gaze never wavered from his.
Despite her frail appearance, she was stunning, and he’d give anything to run his hand along the delicate contours of her face before caressing those lips with his thumb. Ever since he reached maturity and his purebred vampire instincts kicked in, he’d buried himself in more women than he could count to keep the demon within him suppressed, but none had ever left him as breathless as this tiny human.
Mortal and surrounded by Savages, what was going on here?
His surprise over her vanished as he realized this was not amusing. He was wounded, in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, and though she fascinated him, she was clearly working with his enemies.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
“I’m the one asking the questions.” Elyse felt more confident now that she had the stake over his heart. If he tried anything, she’d kill him. The idea of it made her stomach turn, but she’d do whatever it took to save herself. “Why are you here?”
“I’m not sure why I’m here.”
“Don’t lie to me! I’m not in the mood.”
She may look like a good breeze would blow her over, but she possessed a ferocity he hadn’t expected. “I’m not lying. I was sent here.”
“By who?”
“A friend.”
“Are you here to kill me?”
“No.” Or at least he didn’t think he was. They didn’t kill humans, and Kadence would never lead them somewhere to murder someone, but then, Kadence hadn’t known what she was leading them toward when she told them about this cabin. “I don’t kill humans.”
She snorted. “Yeah, and I’m the Queen of England. You’re all monsters.”
“Not all of us. Why are you here with the Savages?”
Elyse clamped her teeth together. He may not be here to kill her—and she’d have an easier time believing aliens walked among them than believing that—but if he didn’t know why these vamps were using her, then she wasn’t going to tell him. He might decide her gift was one to be used and manipulated and imprison her too, or he might kill her to protect himself.
“If you don’t kill humans, then how do you survive?” she inquired.
“I can feed on someone without killing them.”
His gaze dipped to her throat and the tempting beat of her pulse. She’d be delicious. He didn’t have to taste her to know that; he could feel it in every fiber of his being.
“Don’t,” Elyse said sharply when she saw the direction of his gaze.
She pressed the stake into his chest, and Saxon winced. Under normal circumstances, she would have felt sorry for anyone or anything she harmed, but this was far from normal. She didn’t care if he wasn’t here to kill her; she would kill him before she ever allowed one of these things to feed on her again. Elyse suppressed a shudder at the memory of the one time it happened to her; the soul-crushing intensity of the pain was something she’d never forget.
“I won’t,” he promised though the fire in his veins had increased when he pictured sinking his fangs into her delicate throat. He’d been beaten, fed on by a Savage, and lost a lot of blood; he had to feed so he could replenish himself and finish healing. “I won’t drink from you, Elyse.”
Not unless you ask me to. He almost licked his lips at the prospect, but he suspected she might stake him if he did.
“I don’t believe you,” she said.
He realized he was never going to earn her trust while he remained tied up like a hog for the slaughter. In one swift motion, he yanked his wrists down. A loud scraping sound followed the movement, but before Elyse could react, he plucked the stake from her hand and rolled to the side.
Elyse scrambled away as Saxon pulle
d the couch five feet toward him before drawing his knees up to his chest and yanking the coffee table toward him. He tore through the bindings on his ankles and kicked them away.
She’d known the binds weren’t strong enough to restrain him for long, but he’d broken free in less time than it took her to inhale and stolen her weapon before she could blink. He tugged the sheets on his wrists free and tossed them on the floor while she scrambled back and leapt to her feet.
The open room at her back was the best option for fleeing, but even if it bought her a few precious seconds of life, she’d rather die. Instead, she darted to the right and around the couch Saxon had dragged across the floor. With her damaged and swollen feet, she felt like she was running on glass as she lunged for his jacket and the weapons stashed inside.
She’d never seen him get to his feet, but his hand fell on the coat before hers. Elyse almost screamed in anger when he yanked it away from her. Like every other asshole vamp who had walked through the door, this bastard was playing with her.
“Elyse….”
She didn’t wait to hear what he had to say, she turned and fled into the kitchen and toward the back door. She’d forgotten about the blizzard, but as soon as she flung open the door, she was slapped in the face by the reminder.
No! The wail of dismay echoed in her head as she gazed at the mound of snow before her. It was nearly to her knees already as it fell through the doorway and spilled around her feet. She danced out of the way of the snow, but it touched the toes she was certain she would lose earlier. Thankfully, her extremities didn’t show any signs of frostbite, but she couldn’t stick them in something cold again.
“Easy,” Saxon said from behind her and grasped her shoulder.
“Don’t touch me!”
Her scream was so raw and petrified that he released her as soon as he touched her. She backed away from him as she twisted her head to peer over her shoulder. She brushed at her skin before turning to stare at him with an expression that made him feel like he’d taken her puppy and thrown it off a cliff.
“Elyse—”
“Stay back,” she said as she tried to examine her skin again.
She didn’t see any blood, and she didn’t smell burnt copper; if he’d gotten any blood on her, then it wasn’t his. The chair skidded across the floor as she planted it between them while she backed toward the room she just fled.
Saxon held his hands up as he tracked her movements. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
She gave him a “yeah right” look as she dragged the broken chair with her toward the other room.
“If I wanted you dead, you would be,” he told her.
She had no doubt about that, but these bastards hadn’t wanted her dead either—at least not right away—and there were plenty of times since they took her when she wished they’d kill her.
Chapter Six
“Tell me what is going on here,” Saxon said. “And I might be able to help you.”
“No one can help me.”
He followed her back into what he now realized was a living room with a TV on top of a cherrywood stand. A few books sat on one of the end tables with the remote next to them. He imagined the brown, leather couch and wagon wheel coffee table were usually set up in front of the TV, but they were both closer to the door now.
Dark, wooden beams ran across the ceiling toward the paneled walls. His booted feet clicked on the wood, plank floors. Looking around the cabin, he felt like he’d stepped back into the seventies; a time he remembered with fondness. He loathed disco music, but he had a lot of fun in the clubs. Studio 54 was an especially good time, almost as fun as Woodstock.
With his responsibilities, he hadn’t expected to attend either place, but when some Savages decided to crash the party, he’d followed them and attended one day of Woodstock with Killean and Declan.
He’d never seen Declan look as amused as he did while watching the hippies rolling through the mud or Killean look as disgusted. For his part, he’d enjoyed more than a few flower children and the music. And in Studio 54, after killing a Savage, he’d contemplated clawing his eardrums out, but he stayed for the show and the women.
His attention returned to Elyse as she continued to edge away with the chair between them. He was used to charming women with a smile; he didn’t know how to handle one who held a stake to his chest and looked terrified of him. And for some reason, he hated the idea of Elyse being scared of him.
Holding his hands up, he strode over to the couch and sprawled out on it. He crossed his legs at the ankles and folded his hands behind his head as he tried to look as nonthreatening as possible. When he smiled at her, she scowled at him, so he lost the smile.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said.
“There are worse things than pain.”
His casual demeanor vanished as he sat up on the couch. “Such as?”
Elyse glanced at the door behind her, but she had no illusions she’d make it outside before he stopped her. And there was nowhere for her to go. She’d freeze to death out there.
“What are you going to do with me?” she asked.
“I’m going to get you out of here once I have the chance. Have you seen—” He searched his pockets for his phone, but it was gone. “—my phone?”
“No,” Elyse said. “And it wasn’t on the porch.”
He probably lost it during the fight, which meant the snow now covered it. “Well, anyway, I’ll get you out of here. But first, you have to tell me what is going on.”
Elyse studied him as she tried to figure out what to do. He didn’t seem as vicious as the other vampires, and he looked sincere, but she didn’t trust anyone with fangs. Hell, she barely trusted anyone without fangs.
“And how do you plan to get me out of here?” she asked.
“When the snow stops, we’ll take the car—”
“The car is dead.”
“You already tried to escape here.”
“Yes.”
He recalled her battered feet and understood what happened to make them that way. “Did you run outside barefoot?”
Elyse tried to hide her feet behind the chair, but it was pointless. “So what if I did?”
“Why would you do that?”
“Why are you here?” she asked again. She didn’t feel like discussing her feet right now.
Saxon sighed and lowered his feet to the floor. “A friend of mine led me here.”
That wasn’t the answer she’d expected. “How? Why?”
He couldn’t tell her about Kadence’s visions; Ronan would kill him if he revealed anything about his mate. However, Elyse looked like she still intended to bash him over the head with the chair. If he were going to learn anything about her, he would have to give her some answers, and he had to keep his distance.
He didn’t usually cater to someone else, but he would never forget the terror in her scream when he touched her shoulder or the stricken look in her eyes. He never wanted to make her look like that again.
He could take control of her mind and compel the answers from her, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. From the looks of her, she’d endured enough. She didn’t need him messing with her head on top of it.
Clasping his hands before him, he gestured to the other end of the couch. “Why don’t you sit? I promise I won’t touch you again.”
“I’m okay where I am,” she said.
“That’s your decision.”
“It is.”
He smiled at her; she was a prickly little thing, but he liked it. “A friend of mine led us to this cabin because they felt there was something here we should see.”
“How did they lead you here?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
Elyse bit her bottom lip as she contemplated his words; they weren’t much of an answer. “Who is we?”
“I came to this town with some of my friends. We split up to search for this cabin.”
“Are they vampires like you?”
“Most of them.”
“What are the others?”
“Hunters.”
“What are hunters?”
“Hunters and vampires are the results of when demons once walked the earth and mated with humans. Hunters are the mortal version of vampires, except they don’t drink blood and they’re not immortal. They live longer than humans and are a lot stronger. For millennia, hunters killed any vampire they came across, but they’ve recently learned to be more discriminating about who they stake.”
“Demons once walked the earth!” she gasped.
“Yes. A very long time ago.” Saxon started to rise but decided against it. He was probably less intimidating while sitting. “How much do you know about the vampire world?”
“I know you’re all sadistic bastards.”
His mouth quirked in a sad smile. “Not all of us are like the Savages outside.”
“And what’s the difference?”
“We… I don’t kill innocent people. The vampires out there gave in to their Savage nature and their thirst for blood and death, but I fight that impulse daily.”
“But you could become like one of them?”
He opened his mouth to say no, but he couldn’t bring himself to lie to her. At one time, Joseph was one of them too. More recently, Killean dipped into becoming a Savage, and sometimes he wondered if Killean had really come back to them. On more than a few nights, Saxon found him pacing the mansion like a caged animal.
On those nights, Saxon would sit and listen if Killean decided to talk, which was rare. Sometimes, he would sit silently while letting his presence show Killean he still had his support. Usually, Simone came to find him, and Killean would retreat with her.
Killean had never been the most relaxed of vamps, but the tension in him since June could make the Dalai Lama lose his mind. Killean’s hallucinations had lessened—so he said—but Saxon wasn’t sure he believed him.
“I could become one of them,” he admitted. “But I fight against it every day and will continue to do so for the rest of my life. My job is to protect you from these monsters, but unfortunately, they’re growing in numbers.”
Bound by Passion: The Alliance Series, Book 4 Page 4
