by Leia King
“No!” she screamed.
Luca bared his fangs and lunged at Ryan, obviously seeing his opportunity now that he’d been forced to return to human form, because of his severe wound. Panic gripped her. It had her power rising up within her suddenly. She reacted on instinct and let it go. Silver fire shot from both her palms, at Luca.
He roared in agony and flew back several feet.
She stepped in front of Ryan and held her palms steady, watching as Luca struggled back to his feet.
“You want more, vampire?” she threatened.
He hesitated.
His eyes darted around frantically. He was sensing something.
Moments later, Cora heard the screech of tires coming up the dirt road towards them. It had to be the pack.
“I will take you as my bride, princess,” Luca vowed, before taking off in a sudden burst of speed.
Cora turned away and skidded to her knees beside Ryan. She laid her hand gently on his arm.
“You’re gonna be okay. It’s gonna be okay, baby.”
He smiled at her weakly. “Go. The pack. They’ll… protect you. Forever.”
She shook her head, tears filling her eyes. “No. I’m not leaving you.”
“I need you… safe. Wife.”
“Ry!” Josh bellowed from behind her.
She turned to see the entire pack rushing onto the front lawn. They encircled her and Ryan. Josh broke through and skidded to his knees beside her.
He snapped into action, examining the wound. “Fucking hell.”
His reaction sent a wave of terror through her.
He reached for the branch embedded in Ryan’s flesh and motioned the pack to step back.
“No. You’ll hurt him!” Cora cried.
“He can’t heal with it in.”
Cora felt hands on her shoulders. She looked up to see Roy and Ben smiling reassuringly at her.
“Ready, Ry?” Josh asked.
Ryan barely managed a nod. He was fading fast, much too fast.
Josh ripped the branch free in one sudden motion.
Ryan bellowed in agony, writing on the ground wildly.
His claws sprung from his hands and he smashed them into the ground.
Cora bolted forward and laid her hands on him.
Josh joined her again, taking another look at the wound now that the offending object was no longer blocking his view. To her horror, he grimaced, and emotion flickered in his eyes. He looked away, scrubbing his hand over his face to try to hide the tears that she’d seen fill his eyes.
“Josh?” she pressed. “Talk to me. How bad is it?”
“He’s… not healing.”
“Wolves take some time to heal.”
“It should’ve started by now. The wound’s still bleeding.”
Cora followed his gaze and saw that, not only was it continuing to bleed, but Ryan was actually bleeding out. There was so much blood pooled around him. Way too much.
It was then that she realized what she had to do. Judging by Josh’s reaction, it was the only thing to do.
She shook off her jacket and held her wrist out to Josh. “Cut me,” she commanded.
“What?”
“Summon your claws and slash my wrist. Deep. I would do it myself, but I only have a stake. No claws to speak of.”
“Cora, you’re not a vamp, sweetheart.”
“I am more,” she said. “I heal fast. Faster than the undead. Faster than wolves. “
“That’s not—”
“Listen to me!” she hissed. There wasn’t time to argue, but it looked like she’d have to convince him and the pack, if she hoped to do what she planned, what was needed. “Tonight, when Ryan tasted my blood, he told me that it was powerful, that it packed a major punch. If my blood can cause a power rush for a wolf of his astounding calibre, then it’s really fucking powerful, right?”
“It stands to reason, yeah,” Roy spoke from behind her.
“You guys did the ritual tonight? You mated?” Josh asked, surprised.
“Yes. We haven’t been together a day yet, so I’m not going to sit here a watch him die, okay? So, just fucking cut me!”
Josh beamed at her, obviously happy with her speech. “All right. He’s barely conscious. He won’t be with it, which means he won’t be able to pull back on his own. I’ll stop him from bleeding you dry, okay?”
“Don’t stop it until I tell you to.”
“Cora—”
“Please just trust me, Josh.”
“Fine,” he grumbled. He swiped his razor-sharp claws across her wrist, drawing a deep wound. She cringed at the searing pain. “You okay?” he asked, worriedly.
“Yeah.” She cradled Ryan’s head and pressed her wrist to his lips. “Drink, baby,” she urged.
She watched him scent her blood. He looked up at her through glazed eyes and frowned, looking both shocked and anxious at what she was trying to do. He tried to move away, but he was too weak.
Hell, he was fucking dying. And he was trying to refuse her blood, her help? Ridiculous.
“Drink, Ryan. Now. I need you to live. Your pack needs you to,” she pleaded, tightening her hold on him and forcing his mouth more tightly to her wrist.
Several excruciatingly long seconds passed before he finally gave in and she felt his tongue lap at the blood.
“He’s taking it,” she said, looking back at Josh.
He nodded with relief.
“Fuck,” she choked, when Ryan suddenly started to suck hard, really hard, drawing more of her blood into his mouth at a shockingly rapid rate. She gritted her teeth against the awful pain and ignored her instinctive reaction to rip her wrist away. She could feel herself sweating from the effort. “Oh God,” she gulped. “Shit.”
“Cora!” Josh cried, reaching for her. She felt hands on her shoulders, rubbing them gently, taking care of her. Josh and the pack.
Josh took her hand in his. “Use me.”
“I’ll hurt you.”
“I know. It’s okay.”
She smiled and then squeezed his hand against the pain that Ryan was causing her. She tried her best to hold back her full strength, so she didn’t break his hand.
Moments passed and she watched as Ryan’s wound slowly started to close.
“It’s working!” Josh called out, as much to the pack, as to himself.
Cora smiled dazedly. She could feel herself getting weaker by the second, her life slowly draining away. It was an awful feeling, a terrifying feeling. She wavered, but the pack was there to steady her.
“I need to pull him back now,” Josh told her.
“No!” she choked out. “The wound must close completely, or it’s pointless.”
She forced herself to stay awake against the overwhelming light-headedness and the need to sleep that plagued her.
She watched the wound close completely.
And that was when she passed out.
18
Cora opened her eyes slowly.
Groaning, she tried to sit up, but strong arms held fast around her.
She smelled him before she saw him.
Ryan.
He was holding her tightly against him, his head nuzzled against hers.
“Cora?” he spoke, softly.
“Yeah,” she rasped, her throat dry from sleep.
“You’re awake!” he cried. “How do you feel?”
“Drowsy,” she murmured, leaning back against him tiredly.
She glanced around and realized that she was on his lap on the couch in the living room of the military base. Josh sat in the chair beside them. And the entire pack was gathered around the room, some sitting on the other two couches, some standing. They were all there, staring at her.
“What’s going on?” she asked, confused.
“You passed out. We were worried,” Ryan told her.
“How long?”
“Several hours.”
“And you’ve all just been standing here, waiting for me to wake up?”
Josh rubbed her arm, telling her, “You saved our Alpha, sweetheart. We would have stayed with you for hours more if that’s how long it’d taken for you to wake up. These boys will die for you now. So will I.”
Oh, wow. She smiled shyly. “It was just a bit of blood.”
Ryan laughed and kissed the top of her head. “So modest. It’s unlike you. You must be tired.”
She craned her neck to look up at him, studying him with concern. “You’re okay, though? Completely healed?”
He nodded. “Thanks to you, my love.”
For the first time, Cora saw raw emotion in his eyes. Deep, gut-wrenching sentiment. He looked away quickly to avoid anyone but her from seeing it.
“Don’t ever do that again,” he scolded her. “Ever. Do you understand me?” he spoke in a harsh, commanding tone.
She heard gasps from several members of the pack, no doubt recognizing what had to be the very familiar sign of their Alpha’s temper flaring. She shifted her weight, breaking his hold on her. “You could just say “thank you” instead of being such a heavy-handed asshole.”
He met her gaze, seeming more than a little shocked. He looked out at the pack, at a complete loss for a few moments. She supposed it was because no one dared to talk to him that way. He drew his gaze back to her and a broad grin played on his lips. “Thank you.”
She laughed and lunged at him, pressing her lips to his, taking him in a ravenous kiss. His hands fisted in her hair and he deepened it, moaning into her mouth with pleasure.
The pack howled and hollered around them.
Ryan pulled back, laughing. Then, he scooped her up in his arms. “Excuse me, boys, but I need to take my wife to bed.”
Cora gazed up at him excitedly.
He shook his head at her. “To sleep. Why are you always at your horniest when you’re drunk, or exhausted?” he asked, as he carried her down the corridor to his room.
Moments later, he had her tucked up in bed. He perched on the edge and just looked at her for a long while.
“What?” she asked, her dazed eyes meeting his intense stare.
“Nothing. I’m just keeping an eye on you, my love.”
“I’m fine, baby. Don’t worry.”
“Mmm. Baby. I’m liking that.”
She smiled. “Yeah? Me too.”
All trace of humor left him, and his expression turned deadly serious, as he said, “You saved my life tonight.”
“I had the power. I used it. That’s all.”
“That’s all? You could’ve died, Cora.”
“No, Ryan. I couldn’t.”
“How do you know that?”
“I just know. I can’t explain it.”
He heaved a heavy sigh. “What happened tonight… it should never have happened. I put you in jeopardy.”
“Luca did, not you.”
“I should’ve gone into the house with you. It was the safest option for us both. If I hadn’t engaged Luca, you wouldn’t have left the house to help me and risked your own life to save mine. My emotions got the better of me. That’s not acceptable. Luca was right. I am weak right now.”
Cora shook her head. “Don’t you get it? Your emotions make you strong.”
“No.”
“Luca said that to get under your skin. He doesn’t feel anything. He doesn’t care about anyone. He doesn’t love anything, or anyone. But you do. And that scares him, because of the power that it gives you. The power of conviction. You fight for something real, for those you care about. Nothing can overcome that. Nothing can break your will to win. It makes you unstoppable, Ryan.”
“For all that will you speak of, he beat me tonight.”
“No. You’re still alive.”
“Only because of you.”
“Right. Together, he can’t stop us. Do you see?”
She watched him taking her words in. And then he nodded slowly, “Yeah. I hear you.”
She smiled. “Besides, he won’t be able to almost kill you again now. You have my blood coursing through your veins. A lot of it. No wound can kill you now.”
He chuckled. “We’re assuming that’s true. We don’t know for certain. Let’s not test that theory. How did you stop him anyway? The last I saw of him, he was going in for the bite.”
“I kind of… zapped him.”
“Really? And he was wounded?”
“Yeah. I watched him struggle to get up.”
“How did you summon it?”
“I’m not sure. It was just an instinctual reaction.”
“Sounds like the effect of wolf’s blood to me,” he said, winking at her.
“You think?”
“Attacking without thinking? Just reacting instantly? Yeah, that’s wolf mentality.”
“Well, I like your blood in me then. It was a good feeling. Powerful. Plus, I can read your thoughts.”
“Yeah, about that….”
“What? You can read mine.”
“I see a shitload of problems with this new development. My thoughts of you tend to be anything but gentlemanly, Cora. And when you piss me off, you really don’t want to hear what I’m thinking.”
“My thoughts aren’t as tame as you think either.”
“Really? A good girl like you?”
“Try me,” she said, raising her eyebrows in a challenge.
He gazed at her and concentrated, drawing her thoughts to him.
She focused on controlling her thoughts, specifically for him to hear.
I want to rip his clothes off right now and run my tongue all over that smoking hot body of his. His lips, his chest, his cock, until he’s panting with need. And then I’ll take him in my mouth like I know he’s been craving. He won’t know what’s hit him. Tongue swirling, my mouth devouring every inch of his impressive length. Tasting him. Swallowing every drop of cum when he comes apart around me.
She watched him jolt and physically step back, blinking hard and sucking in a breath. His gaze snapped to hers and she could see in his eyes that he realized what she’d done. “You did that on purpose. You were controlling your thoughts.”
She laughed. “Yeah. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.”
“I can do it to you too, you know.”
“Go ahead.”
“No. Not right now.”
“Why not?” she asked, disappointed.
He crossed to the bed and perched beside her. He took her hand in his. “Because, my sweet, formerly-innocent wife, you need to rest. You’re exhausted and you’re not yourself.”
“Fine. All right. Seeing as though you said it so nicely.”
“Thank you.”
She smiled tiredly and held his hand tightly as he sat with her, waiting for her to fall asleep.
It wasn’t long before she did.
19
Luca stood in the shadows of Michael’s bedroom, watching him sleep.
Fury raged within him. He could barely contain it.
“Are you trying to decide whether or not to kill me?”
Michael’s voice caught him by surprise. Luca watched his eyes snap open. He sat up in bed and stared directly at him, knowing exactly his position, even though he was positioned out of sight, in the shadows.
Curse the all-knowing bastard.
“Well?” Michael pressed.
“No,” Luca said. “We are beyond the black and white of that, are we not?”
“That would be an understatement after our telepathic conversation earlier. It would have been less taxing if you had a phone. I trust that you understand now what I was saying the other night during our confrontation with the princess and her wolf?”
Luca stepped from the shadows. “Yes. And, remember what I told you? The pureblood wolf is dead. I killed him.”
Michael smiled with amusement and shook his head. “No, you didn’t.”
“What? I was there, Michael. I know what I did. I know what I saw.”
“The wound was fatal, yes. But he still lives.”
“Impossib
le.”
“Her blood has made the impossible possible, Luca.”
“You’re saying that Cora saved him, brought him back from death?”
“Near-death. But, yes. And now he knows that you can actually kill him. The secret is out, Luca! I gave you the power to transcend your inability to kill your blood kin, thinking you would use it responsibly and actually get the deed done when the opportunity presented itself!”
“He would have died, if she hadn’t interfered!”
“You should have taken her, instead of walking away!”
“I couldn’t. Her magic… it’s getting stronger.” He lifted his shirt. “See? This is her doing.”
Michael failed to stifle a gasp as he studied the wound in the center of Luca’s chest. Luca wasn’t surprised. It was disturbing to look at. It was six inches wide, a deep, gaping hole that was oozing blood and… something else. He knew it couldn’t be puss, because vampires couldn’t become infected with anything. They were technically dead, after all.
“I came here, because I need you to heal me,” Luca said. “It’s been several days and it’s the same. It won’t close. And it’s glistening with silver magic.”
“I can see that. Hmm… it looks painful.”
“It is!”
“Have you been feeding?”
“Of course.”
“Then this magic is extremely powerful.” Michael swept his hand over the wound.
A shimmering, black glow emanated from his palm and spread to the wound. Luca growled in agony. As Michael brought up his other palm to assist, Luca collapsed to his knees, grunting.
Michael pulled back and shook his head with disbelief. “It’s not working.”
“What?”
“I can’t heal you. Her magic is too strong. I can’t breach it. You’ll have to let it heal in time. Give it another few days.”
More time? Absolutely not. “Try something else. I can’t go another few days in this much agony, Michael!”
“You have no choice. There is nothing else that I can do.”
Curses! Luca snarled and struggled back to his feet.
“When you are healed, you need to bring her to me. We can’t allow her power to grow beyond what it already has.”
“She has returned to the wolf compound. I can’t breach it. No vampire can. It’s invitation only.”
