“She isn’t going anywhere.” Cash stepped in front of me, shielding me with his body.
The vampire’s eyes flashed as he sniffed the air. “A dragon?”
“Damn right,” Cash growled.
“It seems you’ve made some new friends.”
My nostrils flared and my fists balled. Before I could respond, the vampire raised his hand and motioned forward with two fingers. “Take her.”
My heart leapt as a dozen vampires surged toward us. Cash roared as wings flew from his back, shredding his dress shirt. His wings slammed into the first few vampires to reach us and sent them flying back toward the SUVs.
“Get back in the car!” Cash commanded.
Both me and my wolf rolled our eyes in amusement.
Not fucking happening.
Instinct took over, and when the first vampire slipped past Cash, I slammed my fist into his cheek. I might have been a wolf for the last two years, but when my father had still been alive he’d taught me a thing or two about hand-to-hand combat.
The vampire stilled. Instead of being thrown back like my father had been in our practice matches, he barely moved. Only his face moved to the side with the impact. The rest of him remained like a statue.
Shit.
“Ariana!” Cash barked.
I leapt back as the vampire rounded on me again. This wasn’t good. I had to transform. My wolf was a far better fighter than human Ariana.
“Come here, little girl,” another vampire hissed through his teeth as he grabbed my arm and yanked me away from Cash and his gigantic wings.
The dragon alpha sent blazing trails of red, orange and yellow through the air as he launched fireballs at the vampires. But it wasn’t enough. Shifters might be fast, but vampires were faster, and they far outnumbered us.
I yanked my arm from the vampire’s grasp and stomped on his foot before slamming my elbow into his nose. Pain shot up my arm. It was like hitting concrete.
The vampire grabbed me again, this time restraining me with both hands on my biceps. My wolf howled for release, but just as I went to unleash her, giving her control in this awful situation, pain shot through my neck.
I cried out in shock.
A draining feeling washed through my veins, like my very life was being sucked from inside me, and I lost the grip on my transformation.
I’d never been fed on by a vampire, and I didn’t like it one bit. I thrashed in the vampire’s grasp until he pulled back breathlessly.
“You’re far tastier than I imagined, pretty puppy.”
Disgust turned my stomach, and again I tried to pull away, but his grip was like iron. Another vampire joined him, and then another.
Heat coursed through me as their bites tore through my flesh. The world spun, and stars danced at the edge of my vision. My body started to go numb, the pain falling away as my legs gave out.
Distantly I heard someone calling my name, and in one last attempt, I sent out a desperate mental plea for Maximus to get this bloodsucking leach away from me.
11
Maximus
Pain and terror shot through the pack bond like a wave of ice water. I gasped and threw the vampire atop me away, scrambling to my feet to look for who dared to harm my mate.
My heart raced as I saw all the blood and ash at my feet. I’d killed a few vampires that stood in my path already, but there had to be nearly a dozen on this end alone. The second I’d leapt from my car, I’d tried to get to Ariana, but the vampires had crowded in, separating me from my mate.
I’d been foolish to relent when she’d insisted on riding with Cash. She should have been by my side when this happened. At least then I could protect her. From here, I was all but useless.
A snarl ripped from between my teeth. Blood sprayed the ground as Owen ripped off the head of another bloodsucker with his bear teeth. He’d transformed almost before he was out of his truck. The man was a good fighter, and I was glad to have him by my side, but it didn’t stop me from wishing it was Ariana instead.
“Give up now, wolfie,” a female vampire purred. I was sure the sound was supposed to be sexy, but it only grated against my ears and made me want to tear her head off.
“Unlikely, nightwalker.” I leapt over the pile of ash at my feet and reached for her shoulder, intent on throwing her across the street.
She dodged to the side, a blur of movement, and backhanded me. Pain shot through me as I spun through the air and landed hard on the hood of my Jeep. Breath exploded from my lungs, and I barely rolled off before the vampire landed in my place, her hand leaving an outline of her knuckles on my new blue paint job.
Son of a bitch.
I growled as I grabbed her ankle and yanked her foot out from under her and pulled her off my car and onto the pavement. She screeched and her booted foot lashed out to stab me with her heel. I grabbed her other ankle and threw her over my head and across the street. Her scream echoed between buildings as she flew, and I heard a loud crash as she sailed through the glass window of an ice cream joint.
Fuck. Ariana’s pained cry was no longer in my head.
“You good?” I shouted at Owen, who’d just charged a group of vampires.
He barely glanced back, giving a swift nod before his hulking grizzly form stood on his hind legs and swiped enormous claws at the vampires before him.
I turned and raced between cars, sliding over the dented hood of my Jeep before taking off to find Ariana. Her voice was gone from my head, but her presence was still there. She wasn’t dead, though every fiber of my wolf howled for me to kill every last being that dared lay a hand on her.
Cash roared up ahead, spraying fire at the surrounding pack of vampires. I stopped by the head of his Lincoln and scanned the flaming ash for signs of Ariana.
There! A flash of silver caught my eye between a huddle of vampires. Before I could stop my wolf, I was transforming. My body cracked and reshaped, but past the momentary pain, all I saw was red.
Ariana’s limp body was cradled between three feasting bloodsuckers. Long trails of blood streamed from her exposed neck, dripping over her collarbones before disappearing into her shirt.
I snarled in rage as I leapt across the pavement and barrelled into the first vampire. Surprise registered in his glazed eyes, and then I had his throat between my teeth. I yanked my head up with one swift jerk. The disgusting taste of vampires—the taste of ash—filled my mouth, and I spit it out as his severed head hit the street a few feet away.
I spun to face the others. They’d dropped my mate on the ground and turned to face me. I lunged at the closest vampire.
He caught me mid-air and threw me to the side. Pain shot down my spine as my back hit a group of metal mailboxes. I forced back the pain and leapt aside before either of them reached me. Neither blurred with movement as they usually did. The same glazed look was in their cold eyes. One vampire shot forward, followed slowly by the other. They got caught in each other’s way, giving me time to snap the ankles of the first with my powerful jaws. He tumbled to the ground, and the second fell on top of him with a grunt.
I leapt onto his back and sank my teeth into his shoulder. He screeched as I dug in harder, my claws ripping through his shirt and then his skin. The sound continued to echo off the surrounding buildings until I finally severed his spinal cord. His body fell limp on top of his friend.
I pulled back to throw the body away, but the vampire was faster, throwing the body of his comrades at me before racing down the closest alley.
My wolf was torn between chasing the vampires and going to Ari, but my human knew Ari was my end and my beginning. I ran to her, my breath strangled in my throat. She lay in a heap in the middle of the street, her silver hair spilling over her face and blood covering the front of her shirt. A whimper escaped me, and I scrambled to reach her side as fast as I could.
I shifted back to my human form and fell to my knees at Ariana’s side. My hands froze inches from touching her. I didn’t want to harm her further, b
ut I had to know she was okay.
Carefully, I pushed her hair back, away from her neck. Her shirt was ripped and stretched from where the vampires had grabbed her, but other than the bites on her neck and shoulders, she didn’t have any other injuries.
I took her in my arms, cradling her in my lap.
“Ariana,” I whispered, brushing strands of hair from her face. My heart thundered in my chest. I’d just found her, and I couldn’t lose her, not like this. “Ari.”
After a long moment, her eyelids fluttered open, and the swirling silver depths of her eyes were revealed. I heaved a sigh of relief and clutched her to me, pressing my heart to hers.
“Damn it, Ariana,” I growled. “Don’t ever do that again.”
Soft fingers brushed my shoulder, and I froze before pulling back to look at her.
“Do what?” Her voice was tiny, quiet, like she could barely speak.
I tightened my grip. “Ariana?”
Cash dropped to his knees on her other side. “Ari, are you all right?”
“Hey!” Owen called. “They’re backing off.”
He trotted over to join us, jeans slung around his hips, blond hair a dishevelled mess. He set a folded pair of pants beside me, and I glanced down at them in surprise.
“The vampires have retreated,” Cash confirmed. “We need to get the Silver Shifter out of here.”
I nodded my agreement. I could barely take my eyes off her as her eyelids continued to flutter. It was clear she fought to stay conscious. “Rest,” I told her, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead.
Ariana closed her eyes and leaned her head against my arm, seeming content that she was safe.
“What the hell was that?” Owen asked. He shifted from foot to foot, glancing at every shadow like another vampire might leap from it.
“I don’t know,” Cash said. His jaw hardened as he stood, inspecting the street for further danger.
“Come on, we should go,” Owen said.
I stood, my heart clenching painfully in my chest. This had been a close call. Something was wrong. Dante might be wealthy and well connected, but how had he known we’d come this way in the first place?
Was it just luck? Or something more?
I ground my teeth as the same thoughts circled my head again and again. If someone had betrayed us, I wouldn’t rest until they were found and dealt with.
12
Ariana
I woke up in a moving car. Even in human form, I could smell blood. “Maximus?” I mumbled. “Cash? Owen?”
“You doing roll call?” a deep voice rumbled above me.
“Owen,” I whispered, closing my hand over his knee. My head rested on his thigh as I lay across the seat of his truck.
“Everyone’s alive,” he said, dropping one hand from the steering wheel to my shoulder. “You and Maximus got the worst of it. I’m taking you back to his place because it’s closest.”
I drifted off again, comforted by his presence. He was like a mountain, that man. In his hands, I felt completely safe in a way I didn’t feel anywhere else. It was a safety I hadn’t felt since curling up in my mother’s arms as a child, before I even knew what it meant to be in a warlock’s debt. There was a conviction to that comfort, an unwavering belief that nothing bad could happen as long as I was loved.
Which was strange, because of course Owen didn’t love me. We’d spent a little time together over the past week, but I didn’t know him as well as Maximus and Cash. Owen seemed content to stand back and watch Cash flirt with me and Maximus try to boss me around. He was always kind and respectful, but we hadn’t spent any time alone together.
I woke when he lifted me out of his truck. Night had fallen, and a cool breeze blew a strand of my silver hair across my face as Owen carried me towards the lodge, cradling me in his arms like a baby. I wound my arms around his neck, laying my head on his warm, solid chest.
All around, the pack was rushing to help Maximus out of the car, pelting him with questions and concerns about his well being.
“Let’s get you to bed,” Owen said, his voice rumbling through his body and mine. Even though I was barely conscious, my wolf and my human were in agreement—it felt right to be in Owen’s arms, like coming home at last.
“Where’s Cash?” I managed as Owen carried me up the stairs.
“He went home,” Owen said. “He had a few injuries, but he’s going to be fine. He just needed a doctor familiar with dragon anatomy.”
“Oh,” I said, relieved that he was getting the best care he could. “What about you?”
“I shifted early,” Owen said, opening the door to the bedroom where I’d been staying. “I didn’t get hurt much. You just worry about getting yourself better, all right?”
Dante’s face flashed in my mind. I swallowed hard, my limbs trembling. I didn’t know how I could ever feel safe with him out there. Now that he knew where I was, who I was with, he’d be coming for me. Hunting me.
When Owen laid me on the bed, I kept my arms around his neck, tugging him close. He was so strong he’d escaped the vampires with barely more than a scratch.
“Stay with me?” I whispered.
“Ariana…”
I closed my eyes. “Please? Just hold me until I fall asleep.”
He hesitated, then stood and went to the door. My chest squeezed, and I curled up into a ball, holding my hands under my chin, trying to hold in the hurt. I’d learned long ago not to ask for anything. It only let someone else see your vulnerability, your need.
Owen paused for a second in the doorway, then shut off the light and pushed the door closed.
“Maximus won’t like this,” he muttered as he approached the bed. I felt his weight sinking onto the mattress, and then he swung his legs up and lay down beside me.
“It’s not Maximus's choice,” I said, fitting my body into the angles of his. I sighed, amazed by how well we fit, how right it felt. “It’s my choice. You’re my choice.”
“That’s the blood loss talking,” he said, his voice so low it was a rumble beneath the surface, more felt than heard. His massive arm snaked around me, pulling my body to his. Lying with him like this, I felt how fragile I had become while in the pits. He could have broken me with his bare hands. And yet, I’d never felt so safe in my life. I knew instinctively that he would use that strength to protect me, never turning it against me.
I snuggled closer into his arms, pressing back into his lap and sliding my fingers through his, holding his arm around me.
“Tell me you don’t feel it,” I mumbled, my eyes falling closed. “Tell me this doesn’t feel right.”
“It feels right,” he admitted, his voice barely audible. “But…”
“Shhhh,” I said, smiling in the darkness, letting the exhaustion melt my body into the bed, into him. “I’m trying to sleep.”
Owen’s chuckle rumbled through my entire body, and his embrace tightened. I disappeared into the black behind my eyelids before I could hear his response.
I woke to find myself still cocooned against Owen’s body. The scent of sandalwood clung to my nose and heated my insides. My body was a little sore, and my clothes stuck to me in all the wrong place, but I’d slept the whole night protected and safe in his arms. Before now, the only person who had made me feel safe was Maximus, and that was different...or was it? Turning it over in my mind, I tried to find a way in which my mate felt better, safer, or more right than this. But it felt exactly the same.
The thought startled me. I shouldn’t even be capable of feeling this way about someone after claiming a mate. And yet, it felt just as right, just as perfect, just as simple.
Mine…
My wolf growled in pleasure at the sensations of Owen’s body pressed so tightly against mine. He was breathing deeply, his arms wrapped snugly around me. His body was relaxed in sleep, but something much less relaxed was pressing firmly against my ass. I drew a slow breath as I realized what it was. I’d never been in this kind of situation before. I’
d spent my teenage years in a freaking cage with a dirt floor. My curiosity burned through me, and I struggled around under his arm to face him. Tentatively, I ran my fingertip down his chest.
Owen’s eyes fluttered open, and my heartbeat increased. I gulped, but he didn’t stop my finger from moving lower, over his abs, until it reached the top of his jeans. Slowly, I moved lower, tracing the outline of his erection with my fingernail.
By the time I’d finished, more than curiosity was burning through me. My breath was coming faster, shallower, and so was his. Our eyes locked, and I inhaled sharply when I read the desire in his eyes.
“Ariana,” he breathed. “We can’t. You’re…” He broke off, swallowing hard.
“I’m what?” I whispered.
“You’re injured,” he said, taking my hand and lacing my fingers through his. His big hands were work-worn and calloused, his skin hot against mine. “And you’re Maximus's mate. Do you have any idea how pissed he’d be if he knew this was going on?”
“And what about you?” I asked. “What do you want?”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“Then what about your bear? What does he want?”
“My bear…is a little confused right now,” Owen said.
“How so?” I asked, my heart suddenly hammering again. I wanted to hear him say it, to know that my inner animal wasn’t the only one confused in this way.
“He thinks you’re our mate,” Owen admitted.
The relief was immediate and stronger than I’d expected. I didn’t realize how conflicted I’d been until I heard my own suspicions confirmed. I closed my eyes, my head swimming with dizziness. Owen propped himself up on his elbow. “Ariana? Are you okay? I didn’t mean to upset you. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
Her Wolf: A Why Choose Urban Fantasy Romance (Silver Shifter Book 1) Page 7
