by Paige Tyler
The whole soul mate thing had definitely thrown her for a loop. It wasn’t that she didn’t feel anything for Zane because God knew she did. But hearing him say the two of them had some kind of magical bond that meant they were going to be connected forever was a little insane. It should have been totally insane, but seeing as she now believed in werewolves and vampires, her definition of insane was currently being recalibrated.
The really scary thing was there was a part of her that knew Zane wasn’t making up that stuff about the soul-mate bond. The moment she’d walked out of the office to head outside, she’d felt the pull on her insides, like her body was trying to tell her she shouldn’t be separated from him right then. Even now, standing out there in the cool night air, it was harder to breathe than it should be.
Zane was a werewolf and there was something between them, maybe something she couldn’t even fight. Crap, it was like she was trapped in some psychotic version of Beauty and the Beast, and she didn’t have a clue what she was supposed to do about it. Hell, she wasn’t even sure how she felt about the situation.
Needing to talk to someone, she took out her cell phone again and pulled up the number for her go-to therapy girl, knowing her friend would be asleep at this late—early—hour but that Christine wouldn’t even think to complain.
“Aly, it’s almost four o’clock in the frigging morning.” Her friend’s voice was rough with sleep. “This had better be life or death or I’m hanging up.”
“Not exactly life or death,” she admitted. “Okay, maybe it might be. I’ve had a really crazy night, and I just needed to talk to someone. And you’re my dedicated someone for stuff like this.”
She heard movement on the other end of the line, like Christine had gotten out of bed and was heading to the bathroom to talk so she wouldn’t wake up her husband.
“Okay, what’s the situation?” Christine asked.
Alyssa knew she’d been right about her friend going into the bathroom because her voice echoed on the other end of the line.
“I got involved in a crazy kidnapping at a club downtown,” she said without preamble. “It won’t make the news or anything, but there was a ton of shooting and a lot of dead bodies.”
“Are you okay?” Christine asked urgently. “You aren’t hurt, are you?”
Alyssa could envision her friend sitting on the edge of the garden tub in the master bathroom, biting her perfect nails and completely freaking out.
A car drove past on Third, slowing a little as if whoever was in it wanted to look down the alley she was in. Alyssa had no idea why. The entire place was empty now and as dark and quiet as a cemetery.
“No, I didn’t get hurt,” she answered, pulling her thin coat a little tighter around her as a gust of wind swirled past, kicking up some street dust. “Zane pretty much saved my bacon, though.”
“Is that why you’re calling?” Christine asked. “Because you got a little shook up in the shoot-out? Or is it because Zane was the one to save you? You have a thing against big, sexy guys with British accents saving your bacon?”
Alyssa was silent for a moment. Damn, she wished she’d brought a heavier coat with her. She’d never expected it to be this cold down in LA. The temperature felt like it had dropped five degrees in the few minutes she’d been out here.
“No, it wasn’t the shoot-out that has me reeling. Or Zane rescuing me. It’s the fact that I think I’m falling for a man I’ve known for less than a week even though I just found out he’s been keeping a really big secret from me the whole time.”
Christine sighed. “This really big secret wouldn’t involve him being married, would it? Or that he’s only attracted to people who use the same bathroom as him? Or that he’s not a U.S. citizen and only wants to marry you for purposes of gaining citizenship?”
This was why she could always depend on Christine—the woman was guaranteed to make her lighten up no matter what was going on in her life.
“To answer those questions in order—no, no, and no.”
“Okay, now that we have the big issues out of the way, I guess the next thing I need to know is whether this secret you mentioned is something you can get over or whether it’s a deal killer?”
Alyssa thought about that for a moment, trying to decide if she would be okay being in a relationship with Zane now, knowing what she knew about him. The problem was, she was kind of worried this soul-mate-bond crap was messing up her perspective on the whole thing. She needed an unbiased opinion from someone she trusted.
“Christine, this is going to sound bizarre, but I’m going to come out and say it anyway.” She paused for a second, then blurted it all out as fast as she could. “Zane’s a werewolf and I think I’m in love with him.”
Alyssa supposed she should have mentioned the soul mate thing but decided at the last second to hold back that part. This conversation was pushing the boundaries of what she could expect her friend to deal with already.
The silence on the other end of the line lasted so long Alyssa pulled the phone away from her ear to look and make sure they still had a connection. After seeing they did, she put it back to her ear.
“Since you mentioned you were in a club, my first instinct is to ask whether you’re drunk. Or high,” Christine finally said. “But considering the mysterious nature of the work you do for the FBI, I’m going to make the leap and assume you aren’t speaking about werewolves in the metaphorical sense.”
“No, I’m not,” Alyssa said. “This is all real.”
More silence.
“Wow. Well, thanks for springing all this on me at once,” her friend eventually said. “But okay. Werewolves exist, and you have the hots for one. I’ve seen the man, so I know for a fact he’s definitely not hard to look at. And you just told me he saved your life. So what’s the problem?”
“What part of he’s a werewolf are you missing?” Alyssa said. “Don’t you think something like that might make a relationship kind of difficult?”
She wasn’t sure what she expected, but a long, amused laugh wasn’t on the list. “First, you slept with him, then, you’re falling for him, and now, you’re worried about the long-term relationship possibilities? I think the fact that he’s a werewolf is the least of your concerns. I’d be more worried about finding a place to hold the reception before the weekend.”
“I’m being serious, Christine!” Alyssa snapped. “He’s got frigging claws and fangs and can hear my heart beating from across the room. I’m freaking out and I don’t know what to do.”
“Yeah, you do,” her friend said calmly. “You’ve always had good instincts and you’re following them now. You’re simply looking for someone to tell you it’s the right thing to do. The answer is yes. If your heart is telling you to go after this guy, stop thinking so much and do it.”
“I’ve never associated my instincts with my heart,” Alyssa muttered. “I always assumed they were two different things.”
“Nah. Instincts are instincts. They all come from the same place,” Christine said. “You knew what you wanted to do before you even called me. You were just doubting yourself. So, I’m asking you again. Is the fact that Zane is a werewolf a deal killer?”
Alyssa took a deep breath. This was the real reason she’d called Christine. Her friend had the unique ability to simplify the most complex situation. In this case, now that everything was out in the open, the question seemed almost childish. Could Alyssa handle the fact that Zane was so different? Not that he hadn’t told her what he was, but if she could be with a man like him.
Zane was a werewolf. There was every reason in the world that should not only freak her out, but it should also scare her away. Yet, if she was being honest with herself, it didn’t. She’d slept with him, but more than that, she knew who he was beyond the claws and fangs. He was a man who intrigued and excited her. And yeah, he was also a man who seemed to feel something for her—likely the same thing she felt for him.
“Okay, it’s not a deal killer,” she final
ly admitted. “It might complicate the relationship a bit, but nothing we couldn’t work through.”
“Excellent,” Christine said. “That leaves the final and most important question: Is he any good in the sack? I’m assuming he must be amazing, because it was barely more than twenty-four hours ago that you were completely disinterested in having anything to do with the man. Now you’re calling me at a stupid time of the morning to tell me you’re falling in love with him. A turnaround that extreme usually involves multiple orgasms—plus oral.”
Alyssa laughed so hard she didn’t hear the footsteps behind her until whoever it was got right on her. She spun around, her right hand reaching for the weapon behind her back out of pure muscle memory.
But she never got a chance to pull her gun. Fingers as hard as stone captured her right hand while Dario Casteel’s other hand wrapped around her neck, jerking her off her feet. She got out a little squeak before her air supply was completely cut off. She dropped her phone, vaguely hearing it fall to the ground. She thought she heard Christine shouting her name, but her friend’s voice was getting hard to hear as everything started going fuzzy.
Alyssa jerked at the hand holding her weapon secure, punching at the thing’s face with her other hand even as she kicked like crazy. But nothing she did seemed to hurt Dario at all, not even when she caught him with a solid blow to the crotch. All the monster did was tilt his head sideways, stare at her with those lifeless, black eyes, and grin at her as if she were an interesting toy.
He was still smiling as she passed out.
Chapter 11
Zane wasn’t sure how long he sat on the couch in Davina’s office after Alyssa left. The twisting sensation in his gut had gotten worse as the minutes passed, and it was all he could do not to howl in pain. It felt like something inside him had torn when she’d walked out. He shouldn’t have let her leave. But he hadn’t had a choice. There was no way he could make her stay—or feel something she didn’t.
The reminder that Alyssa didn’t feel the bond between them like he did made him gasp for breath. He rested his forearms on his spread thighs and dropped his head into his hands. It felt like he was bloody drowning. He’d felt this same way after Sienna had left him. Only this time it was a hundred times more wretched.
Zane was so lost in his own misery he didn’t realize Rachel had come into the room until she stood directly in front of him. He lifted his head to find her gazing down at him.
“Diego and I talked to Gage,” she said. “He was as shocked as we were when we told him that vampires are real and that they’re the ones who hired the hunters. He’ll be on the next plane along with Brooks and some of the other guys. With the time change between LA and Dallas, they should get here before eight o’clock this morning.”
Zane nodded, but didn’t say anything. That meant they’d be able to move against the vampires in four hours.
“What happened?” Rachel asked. “I’m guessing from the look on your face that your conversation with Alyssa didn’t go as well as you’d hoped?”
Zane flopped back on the couch with a snort. “That’s one way to put it. Another way would be to say it was a complete disaster that ended with her walking out. She said she needed to get some air, but I think that was an excuse to get away from me.”
He didn’t blame her. He didn’t want to be around himself right now.
Rachel sat down beside him. “I’m sure it’s not as bad as you think, but then again, it’s possible you could have screwed up and said something stupid. In fact, given that you’re a guy, it’s almost a certainty. So, spill. What did you say to upset her?”
“I didn’t say anything,” he protested. “I told her how I became a werewolf, and she told me how she ended up hunting supernatural creatures for the FBI. Then I asked her if she regretted sleeping with a monster and she insisted she didn’t. When she said she felt a connection between us, I told her about the legend of The One and how she’s my soul mate. Then she walked out, taking a chunk of my soul with her.”
Rachel regarded him in silence for a moment, then shook her head. “Wow. You said all that and you’re surprised she bailed on you? Hell, I’m your pack mate and I want to walk out, too.”
Zane frowned. “What did I say that was so terrible?”
Rachel sighed. “How long did it take you to come to grips with being a werewolf? Weeks…months…years?”
He shrugged. “It’s probably not a stretch to say it’s still a work in progress.”
“Exactly,” Rachel said. “Now imagine what it’s like for Alyssa. She’s known you for a few days and just learned you’re a werewolf. Her head is probably spinning. And that was before you sprung the stuff about her being The One for you. I’m surprised she didn’t pass out—or shoot you. Regardless, you need to give her some time to process all of this. It’s a lot to take in.”
Zane didn’t say anything. He’d always considered himself a patient person, but the idea of waiting for Alyssa to wrap her head around everything made him nearly insane.
“Do you really think of yourself as a monster?” Rachel asked quietly.
He gave her a sidelong glance. “It’s what I am.”
“Then that must make Diego, me, and everyone else in the Pack monsters too, huh? That’s bullshit. I’m not a monster and neither is anyone else in our pack, including you.”
He bit back a growl, forcing his claws back in when they tried to slip out. “I never said my pack mates were monsters.”
Rachel glared at him. “Well, then stop throwing that word around when you’re referring to yourself. If you can’t accept what you are, how the hell will Alyssa ever be able to do it?”
Zane suppressed another growl, this one out of anguish. How could any woman accept him for what he was, especially someone as perfect as Alyssa?
He was still wallowing in that when Diego and Jake ran into the room. Diego had a mobile phone in his hand and his face was pale. Jake didn’t look much better. Which was scary as hell, since that didn’t usually happen to werewolves unless half their blood had been spilled.
Zane stood, his inner wolf on high alert. Beside him, Rachel did the same.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
Before either could say anything, a terrified female voice shouted unintelligible words over the mobile. Diego held it out to him.
“You need to hear this,” his pack mate said.
Frowning, Zane took it and held it to his ear. His gut clenched all over again as he picked up Alyssa’s scent on the phone. “Who is this?”
“Zane?” Christine said urgently. “Is that you? It has to be you. Nobody has an accent like that. Where the hell is Alyssa? I heard her drop the phone, but when I called back someone named Diego answered. He wouldn’t tell me a damn thing and I’m starting to freak out.”
Alyssa is in trouble. Bloody hell, he knew he shouldn’t have let her leave.
“After Rachel came up here, Jake and I went outside to grab something out of the car when we found Alyssa’s phone in the alley,” Diego said. “Dario’s scent was all over the area. I think he grabbed her.”
Zane’s heart seized in his chest. “Christine,” he said into the mobile phone. “I’m going to have to call you back.”
* * *
The first thing Alyssa noticed was the splitting headache. Then she felt a throbbing in her neck that made her think it had been crushed to the diameter of a drinking straw. On the bright side, since she could feel pain, that meant she wasn’t dead.
Memories of that asshole vampire choking her came back in a rush, and she instinctively gasped for air, hoping to assure herself that breathing was still possible. Her throat spasmed at the sudden intake of oxygen, closing off her airway and making unconsciousness seem like a much better way to spend the time.
Alyssa had no idea how long she lay there, gasping for air like a carp out of water, but it was long enough for her to figure out that whatever was underneath her was harder than a box of rocks and cold as hell. Despi
te her jeans and light jacket, her body was numb. Was she outside?
Praying Dario had left her in the alley behind the club, she took a shallow breath and pushed herself up on her elbow. Unfortunately, she wasn’t in the alley. The dimly lit space she was in didn’t look like she was inside a building either. Maybe the vampire had dumped her in a cave and left her for dead. It took half a second for her to realize that was a stupid thought. There probably weren’t a lot of caves in the city of LA.
Taking another breath—deeper this time—she sat up and looked around. As her eyes adjusted to the near darkness, she took in the bare concrete walls and matching floor and realized she was in a basement. Then, Alyssa saw the steel bars surrounding her and her stomach plummeted. Crap, she was in a prison of some kind. She didn’t need a PhD in vampire lore to know this was probably where the monsters held their victims until they got around to draining them dry.
She scrambled around for her cell phone but couldn’t find it. Not that she thought she would, but still… A quick glance at her watch told her it was nearly eight o’clock in the morning. At least she hoped it was still morning. If so, then it had been about four hours since Dario had kidnapped her. Four hours for Christine to have figured out someone had grabbed her. Four hours for her friend to do something about it. But what? Christine didn’t know about vampires and she didn’t have Zane’s cell phone number.
Zane.
He knew she’d gone out to get some air and clear her head because she’d needed to process. When she hadn’t come back, there was a good chance he’d thought she walked away from him. How would he know Dario had come back for her? Even if they realized she was missing, how would they know where to look?
Oh hell. This was bad.
“Alyssa, are you okay?” a soft, familiar voice asked from somewhere to her right.
Alyssa turned her head slowly to keep from getting dizzy and found Zoe leaning up against the bars separating their cells, concern clear on the girl’s face even in the darkness. Her twin, Chloe—still the more timid of the two—hung back a few feet.
