I didn’t delude myself into thinking that this was the end of our argument, but it was a ceasefire. I wished it would last, but how could it when tomorrow he’d leave to perform a vile act? I pushed my cousin’s face out of my mind while Liam demolished my mouth. I tasted blood even though none had yet been spilled.
Liam groaned and kissed me harder. The taste of blood thickened in my mouth to the point where I gagged. I dug my palms into his chest and pushed him away.
Liam’s mouth and chin were smeared red.
12
“Oh my God, you’re bleeding!” I yelped.
“You did bite me.” There was a lilt in his tone. Amusement?
How could this amuse him?
I swiped my tongue against my teeth, and sure enough, my canines had lengthened. I touched my mouth. My fingertips came away red. Absolute revulsion seized me.
Liam’s smile widened as he grabbed a tissue from the leather box atop the console next to the front door. He dabbed his lips, dabbed mine. Blood still trickled from the puncture wound.
“Damn if that wasn’t the hottest kiss I’ve ever had.”
I blinked at him. How could that have been pleasurable?
He pressed the tissue to his mouth a while longer before balling it up and tossing it on the console.
“I hurt you,” I said, my voice as raw as his broken lip.
He frowned. “Babe, getting bitten only increases the pleasure. Or so I’ve been told . . . since I’ve never been with a she-wolf.”
I momentarily forgot about having bit him. However silly, I liked the fact that I was different from his past girlfriends.
His eyes flashed yellow—wolf eyes. “Do you trust me?”
I nodded.
He nudged my jaw up with his nose, dragged his teeth that had sharpened to points down my neck, then sank them into a patch of skin right above my collarbone.
I gasped, but not in pain.
The skin he’d pierced tingled, and then shockwaves of pleasure radiated from that one spot into the rest of my body. He released my skin and laved the spot he’d bitten with his tongue.
“Fuck, you taste sweet.” Once he was done lapping up all the blood, he peered into my stunned face with a satisfied smirk. “I’m happy I’ve found one way to pleasure you. Even though I’m not giving up on finding more.”
Heat engulfed my cheeks, my entire body for that matter. “I thought only vampires did that.”
“Vampires don’t exist.”
Yet we do . . .
He licked his lust-swollen lips, eyes gleaming but no longer yellow. “Have you ever heard the legend of the bite that saved a life?”
I shook my head.
“It’s a good story. One of my favorites. My grandfather used to tell it to me.”
I rubbed the spot Liam had bitten.
“Apparently, during a terrible forest fire, an Alpha was hit by a blazing fallen tree. The blow was so violent that while his pack worked to roll the crackling trunk off him, they felt his link to them unravel. His second-in-command”—I frowned, so he explained—“large packs have betas. Well, he urged the wolves to make their way home to prevent any more casualties, but the Alpha’s mate, she refused to leave him. She dug a trench in the ground to reach him, and then she grabbed him by the neck and dragged his asphyxiated body out. Legend says that when her fangs pierced his skin, her love for him leaked into his bloodstream and jumpstarted his heart.” He shrugged. “Story’s probably embellished, but I like to think our magic has the power to save lives.” He moved my fingers off the spot I was still rubbing and kissed it.
I shivered. I hadn’t lost much blood, yet felt as lightheaded as when I’d extracted a whole pint from my veins to try and save my mother. She’d insisted that injecting herself with my blood wouldn’t magically defeat her ovarian cancer, but I’d tried one gray afternoon. While I’d slid the needle in her catheter-bruised arm, I’d begged for a miracle.
Unlike the Alpha’s mate from Liam’s legend, I never got my miracle, so I didn’t put much stock in our magic saving a life.
Liam tugged me out of my dreary memory by leading me into the bedroom. He flicked on the lamp on his nightstand, then let go of my hand and walked to his connecting bathroom. “Give me a sec.”
He vanished into his en suite, leaving me to stand on the edge of the electric-violet rug that stretched from one wood-paneled wall to the other. Alone in the bedroom, my thoughts whirred like the microwave, continuously spinning images of my cousin.
How I wished I could save his life.
Over my shoulder, I spied my bag on the couch. My phone was in there. I could text Everest. I could warn him. He could run and stay away forever. Glancing at the bedroom door, I took my phone out and hovered my finger over the text messaging icon.
With a few little words, I could change the course of his fate. I almost went through with it, but then I thought about how he’d toyed with my life, how he’d strangled Heath, and realized I couldn’t betray the pack for the sake of a blood-tie.
As I lowered my phone, it vibrated, and a message appeared on my screen.
SARAH: Hey, friend, want to hang tomorrow?
Even though I was feeling rather glum, Sarah’s message managed to make me smile.
ME: Would love to.
SARAH: Lunch at Tracy’s at 3?
ME: No one has lunch at 3.
SARAH: We do.
I shook my head. Fine. See you tomorrow.
The floorboards creaked, and I jumped.
Liam leaned against the doorframe of his bedroom, jeans slung low on his hips—and shirtless. My throat went a little dry at the sight of his honed chest and the indents at his waist, and the thickening trail of dark hair. Liam was so incredibly perfect. Why did I have to imprint on August?
“Who you texting?” There was a hint of something in Liam’s tone—suspicion or jealousy?
“Sarah. We’re meeting up tomorrow.”
He uncrossed his arms and strolled over to me. “Can you be careful with her? I know she’s your friend, but she’s a Pine. I don’t trust Pines. Same way I don’t trust Creeks, or any of the Eastern packs.”
“And you say I’m the one with trust issues?”
He flashed me an almost predatorial smile as he plucked the phone from my fingers and tossed it on his leather couch. “You’re wearing too many clothes. Arms up.”
I looked around me at the walls of glass and the night-soaked landscape beyond them.
“No one’s out there,” he promised. Sensing my enduring anguish, he walked over to the wall and hit a switch that brought down metal blinds before returning to me.
“Are you sure?”
“Close your eyes.”
I frowned but did as I was told.
“Now, listen.”
Still frowning, I strained to listen. It took a second for me to hear anything over my quick breathing and the droning of the descending metal curtain, but then I made out the steady thump of Liam’s heart, the plink of insects against the windows, the rush of a breeze over the swaying wild grass, the scratch of pine needles, the hoot of owls, the flutter of insect wings, and the shallow beat of hearts too tiny to be human or wolf.
“I know you’re still growing attuned to your senses, but never forget to use them. Being human allows us to live in the world. Being a wolf allows us to survive in it.”
Delicately, he gathered my wrists in one hand and raised them toward the ceiling. With his other hand, he dragged my T-shirt up and over my head and arms.
Goose bumps pebbled my skin as desire spread through me. Even though my body wasn’t meant for Liam’s, it still desired his. After he unhooked my bra, he dipped his face to my breasts and breathed against my sensitive skin.
“Does this hurt?” His voice was low and husky.
“No,” I said, a little breathily.
His fingers skimmed down my stomach, unbuttoned my jeans, and slowly rolled them off. He was on his knees again, but this time, it wasn’t to implo
re me. His gaze turned hooded as his face leveled off on a part of me that no man had ever been near.
He hooked a finger in the side of black lace. Cold sweat slicked over my brow as he roamed nearer to my core. When a bolt of pain shot up to my navel, I batted his hand away.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” I croaked. “This sucks.”
Liam rose to his feet, wrapped his arms around my body that had begun to tremble, and tucked my head underneath his chin. “It does, but it’s just temporary.”
I rested my cheek against his thumping chest, wondering why my wolf had to go and choose August as a mate.
13
I awoke with a start. Disoriented, I took in the room that was streaked with dull sunlight. My gaze landed on the peacock feather painting over the stone fireplace. I was in Liam’s room.
In his bed.
I twisted around and touched his pillow. It was cold. I tore the sheets off my legs and leaped out of bed.
“Liam,” I called out, padding about the bedroom.
The door to the bathroom was cracked open, but no one was inside. I picked up my phone and checked the time, reeling when I made out the digital readout: 10:30 a.m. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d slept in this late.
My phone’s screen was riddled with messages from Evelyn asking me where I was and if I was okay. I dispatched a quick text to inform her I was fine and on my way to the inn.
Liam had also sent me a text message: On the road to Denver. I already miss you.
My heart began jackknifing my throat, making breathing a feat.
I checked the time stamp on Liam’s text: 7:30 a.m. That meant he was already in Denver. Had been for more than two hours. The fact that I hadn’t gotten a message from him made me queasy as hell. Did that mean they were out looking for Everest? Or did it mean they’d already gotten to him and were on their way back? Images of what they could be doing to him wafted through my mind like sticky chimney smoke.
I quieted my imagination. I needed to corral my mind, keep it from crafting scenarios. I looked for my clothes but remembered they were in the living room. In my underwear, I padded toward the door.
When I opened it, Lucas looked up from his magazine. “She finally awakens.”
I shut the door with such force that the hinges rattled. Crap. Crap. Crap. I cupped my hands over my bare breasts as though he could somehow see them through the door.
“Would it help if I got naked too?”
Help? How did Lucas think that would help?
“I take your silence as a negative.”
I hunted down a towel and wrapped it around myself. Pulling in great big gulps of air, I trudged back to the door and yanked it open.
Lucas smirked. “You do know you’re pack now, Ness. You’re going to have to get used to getting naked in front of us. It’ll help you bond with your people.”
“You and your bonding . . . ” I muttered, trudging to the couch.
“Paintball was fun, eh? We should do it again.”
“I’d rather eat a rotten squirrel.”
He chucked his magazine on the wrought-iron coffee table before readjusting the royal-blue baseball cap he wore backward. “So cold, Clark.”
“What part of paintballing was fun? Getting shot by my own teammates?” I plucked my bra off the couch before grabbing my jeans and T-shirt. “You guys were awful to me.”
“It’s called hazing. Everyone goes through it.”
“Really? Who else in the pack got to experience the same fun treatment as me?”
Lucas shot me a sheepish grin.
“That’s what I thought.”
“Did you ever hear that holding onto resentment is like drinking poison? Only hurts you.”
I gritted my teeth. “What are you doing here, anyway? Come to play guard dog again?”
He puffed air out of the corner of his lips. “First off, I’m a wolf, not a dog. Secondly, even though spending the day with you is as exciting as clipping my toenails, I take my job seriously.”
Did he have to give me a visual of his feet? Yuck.
He got up and rubbed his hands against his black mesh shorts. “Besides, if all goes well, you’ll be rid of me by tonight.”
His words echoed through me. If all goes well . . . In other words, if Everest was found and killed.
I clamped my fingers around my clothes. “Do you have any news?”
“No.” He studied me for a long second. “So, what’s the plan?” His voice was a tad less cocky, as though he felt pity for me instead of annoyance. He must’ve figured out that my sullen mood was more due to what was happening in Denver than what was going down in Boulder.
“Do you have a car?” I asked.
“I have access to one.” He gestured to the window. Even though the sky was overcast, Liam’s black SUV gleamed.
However much I wanted to get rid of Lucas, I couldn’t deny how practical it was that he could drive. “You have a license, right?”
He cocked the eyebrow slashed by the white scar. “Since I was sixteen. Why? You don’t?”
I pressed my lips together. “No, I don’t.”
“Seriously?” His eyebrow seemed to rise a couple more millimeters.
“I never had time to get it. But that’s what I wanted to do today. After I stop by the inn to see Evelyn and Isobel.” I started for the bedroom door, holding my clothes against me, but paused and turned back to Lucas. For the first time since I’d woken up, I smiled. “Oh, and then I’m having lunch with Sarah at three at Tracy’s. Or should I say, we’re having lunch with her?”
His lips puckered as though he’d swallowed something sour. As I entered the bedroom, I heard him grumble something that sounded like, “I’m not being paid enough for that.”
I smirked as I donned yesterday’s outfit. When I returned to the living room, tying my hair up in a ponytail, Lucas was gone. I spied him outside, crouched with his nose low to the ground. Heart pounding in time with my feet, I treaded to him, surveying the dirt road and the gently swaying pines.
“Is something wrong?” My low words were snatched up by the blustery breeze.
“I got a whiff of some wolves.”
“From the pack?”
“No.”
“Pines?”
His nostrils flared one more time before he unfurled his long body back to standing. “No.”
“Real ones, then?”
“Smell.” He nodded to the grass.
I crouched and inhaled. Mixed among the earthy, green aroma of the slick blades was the woolly scent of wolf edged with the distinctive musky scent of humans.
Werewolves.
14
“How can you tell they’re not Boulders?” I rose from my crouch, morning dew seeping into the fabric of my tight jeans.
“I’m a tracker, Ness.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning while you studied calc, I sniffed scraps of fabric belonging to various bodies before going after them.”
“You didn’t go to school?”
“Oh, I went to school.” He flashed me a smug grin. “I just had more interesting after-school activities than most.”
As we walked toward the car, I said, “I have a lot to learn.”
“What?” He slapped a palm over his chest. “The great Ness Clark doesn’t know everything?”
I slugged his bicep, and it was like hitting solid rock. “Shut up.”
He chuckled, which was strange, because Lucas was a sulky bastard, not a chuckler. He jutted his chin toward the house. “You locked up?”
“I don’t have a key.”
“Liam didn’t give you a key?”
I frowned. “Why would he?”
As he pulled out a keyring from the pocket of his mesh shorts, he cast me a sideways glance. I didn’t ask what his look meant. While Lucas locked up, I climbed into the SUV and strapped myself in. A minute later, he sprang behind the wheel and revved up the engine.
As he pulled out of the driveway, I exam
ined the forest again. “Is there another pack in these parts?”
“Not that I know of.”
“So loners?”
“Possibly. But they’re playing with fire by running around here. If they value their lives, they better have been passing through.”
The landscape was cloaked in a gray light that turned everything flatter, duller. I was glad there was no sun. I didn’t feel like sunshine. I checked my phone for updates on the Everest hunt. Having none, I stuffed my phone into my bag.
“Nervous?” Lucas asked as we headed up the inn’s long driveway.
I chewed on my thumbnail. “Aren’t you?”
“Nah. I have total faith in my Alpha.” He side-eyed me. “Unless he’s not the person you’re nervous for.”
The golden log façade of the inn rose beyond the windshield. Soon it would belong to a detestable man. Aidan would probably strip it of its hominess and transform it into another impersonal, multi-million dollar venture.
“He’s my flesh and blood, Lucas.”
“He used you, then tried to have you killed, yet you hope he gets away with his life? I don’t get it, Clark.”
I twirled the ends of my ponytail. “What if there’s more to it? What if he didn’t mean to do any of that? What if Aidan Michaels coerced him to do it? Or blackmailed him?”
“And what if Aidan Michaels didn’t?”
My skin prickled from his sharp answer. Then that would make my cousin truly heartless. “I guess we’ll never know since Everest won’t get a trial.”
I gripped my door handle.
“We’re not animals. They’ll interrogate him before putting him down.”
Sucking in a sticky lungful of air, I gritted out, “He’s not a dog.”
“You know what I mean.”
I did, but it still bothered me. “You don’t have to come inside.”
“Until it’s over, I’m shadowing your ass.”
I heaved an annoyed breath and hopped out.
While Lucas went to park, I pushed through the revolving doors. The inn was bright and warm and smelled faintly of potpourri and varnished pine, scents I’d come to associate with Boulder. It wasn’t home, and it wasn’t a safe haven, but for a while it had been the closest place to a home I’d had. I stopped by the bell desk where Isobel was answering a call. She raised her index finger. I waited, studying her face. She was pale, but not sickly so. And although her cheekbones pressed against her skin and her shoulders jutted through her cream blouse, she wasn’t emaciated. For a moment, I superimposed the image of my mother over Isobel, and my heartbeats slowed.
A Pack of Vows and Tears Page 8
