by Cynthia Eden
The human tried to run.
Foolish, foolish human.
Lorcan followed him outside and slammed the human back against a tree.
“Y-you should be weak,” the human whimpered.
“Should I?”
“J-Jane was weak in the sun.”
His eyes narrowed. “Who are you, human?” He lifted him up and rammed his head into the tree once more.
“D-doctor Heath Myers.”
A doctor. Hmm. “Jane’s doctor.” The name was familiar to him. Because he’d had eyes on Jane. On those close to her.
I should have been watching this one more closely.
Lorcan dropped the human.
“You killed them all,” Heath’s voice was hoarse. He started to wretch on the ground.
A sigh broke from Lorcan. “You’re about to join them. You aligned yourself with the wrong vampires.”
Heath swiped his hand over his mouth. “I didn’t even know I was aligning with vamps,” he muttered. “Thought it was…someone else…until tonight.”
Curious now, Lorcan bent next to the man. His eyes narrowed on the human’s face. “Let’s just see what you thought.” And he sank his teeth into the man’s throat while Heath Myers screamed.
If you wanted to look at a human’s past, all a vamp had to do was take a bite.
***
Darkness. It was always the same when she slept. Jane instantly sank into a thick suffocating darkness.
She was trapped. Her wrists shackled. Her ankles bound. The darkness was complete and consuming.
She cried out, screaming again and again, but soon her voice was gone. Gasps were all that could escape from her throat.
Her voice was broken.
She was lost.
There was only the darkness.
Tears leaked down her cheeks. She knew that she’d been left in the darkness. Forgotten. There was no rescue. No hope.
There was nothing.
“Jane.” The voice, it was new. Voices never entered her dreams.
Yet she heard a man’s voice. Low. Rumbling. Demanding.
She tried to see the man in the darkness.
He’s not there. A taunt, from within. She was alone. That was the way that she would always be.
“Jane, open your eyes.”
She could feel him, touching her cheeks. As if he were wiping away tears. She knew that she cried. The darkness made her cry. No, it was the hopelessness that did that.
Slightly rough fingertips brushed her cheeks once more.
Why could she feel him, but not see him?
“A rúnsearc,” his rumble continued, and the language—did she know it? Yes. It seemed familiar, just as his voice seemed familiar, but the memory was just out of reach.
As all memories were to her.
His hands moved to clasp her shoulders. “Wake for me. Now.”
If only she could just open her eyes for him. But it wasn’t that easy to escape the darkness. Not once it had her in its greedy grasp. She hated to sleep. Fought it with every bit of strength that she had.
To her, the darkness was death.
No escape.
His mouth pressed to hers. The touch was electric, sending a sharp pulse of desire straight through her body. His lips brushed against hers, and his tongue slipped into her mouth.
She awakened with a gasp.
And he stole that breath, taking it away from her.
His mouth lingered for an instant. She didn’t fight him, actually, Jane wanted to grab onto Alerac and hold him as tightly as she could.
He saved me from the dark.
But then he pulled back.
She realized that she was on the bed. That big, king-sized bed in the small motel room. He was curled over her, his hands now pressing into the mattress, caging her.
His gaze—would she ever grow used to that shining green gaze?—pinned her. “You were crying in your sleep.”
And he’d seen her. When she was so weak. Humiliating. “Sorry.” If you don’t want to see me cry, then don’t watch me. She held the words back, for now. Angering the big, bad slayer of vamps probably wasn’t a good idea.
“What did you dream of?”
Jane shook her head.
“Did you remember?” Alerac pressed.
Jane had to laugh. “All I remember is darkness. Having a voice that can’t scream because it’s broken.” She shoved that darkness from her mind, but she knew it would come back. It always did. “I dream of being forgotten.” Exactly what had happened to her.
Six months. Her face flashed in the newspaper and on TV. For six months. But no family had come to claim her. No one had come to tell her that she mattered.
That she was loved.
Forgotten. Yes, that was exactly what she was.
Not surprising, really. Why search for a monster?
“You were never forgotten.”
Her gaze flew to his.
The faint lines near his eyes had deepened. “I should have transported you during the day, while you slept but—but you seemed weak.”
Right. Weak. Wonderful. Just what she wanted to be thought of by this tough, scary guy. Weak probably equaled prey in his eyes.
His gaze slid over her features. “I thought it would be best if you had a day of sleep. A day to prepare for what will come.”
That sounded ominous. “What’s coming?”
His stare turned away from her as he glanced toward the locked door. “Vampires will hunt us in the night, so we must take care.”
She lifted her hand. Curled it around his chin. Forced him to look back and see her. “What’s coming?”
Those too-bright eyes seemed to burn through her. “You tempt much when you touch me. The sheets smell of you. And though you might try to deny it…” He lifted the hand that had cradled his cheek. Brought it to his mouth. Kissed the palm. Lightly licked her.
Jane shivered.
“You want me,” he said, sounding both satisfied and hungry. “And the scent of your desire drives me fuckin’ crazy.”
Her breath caught. “A werewolf’s senses…”
“Are ten times better than a human’s.” Grim. He licked her palm again. Nipped lightly with his teeth.
The heat surging through her body had her heart pounding in a double-time beat.
“So I know exactly when you get wet for me,” Alerac whispered. “You’ll never be able to hide your desire from me.”
He knew. Horror widened her eyes as they flew back to his.
“My pack is waiting outside.”
The faint snarl of the motorcycle engines finally penetrated her awareness.
Oh, crap, if he could scent her desire…could they all?
Yes. The answer was right there on his face.
Her own face burned. Talk about humiliating.
But Alerac shook his head. “They know you’re mine,” he said simply. “None would dare speak ill to you.”
His. “I’m not…yours, Alerac.” They needed to be clear on that.
His hold tightened on her hand. “Wasn’t that the deal?” He murmured. “Your safety, but in return, I have you.”
A desperate deal. She hadn’t even realized just what she’d been giving away.
Had she?
“You fear me.”
“I’d be a fool not to.” A werewolf with glowing eyes and razor sharp claws. Um, yes, a smart girl would fear him.
So would a dumb girl for that matter. So would any freaking one.
The sound of the snarling engines outside seemed to grow even louder.
“Fear can be a good thing. It will help keep you alive.”
He wanted her afraid of him?
Alerac climbed from the bed. Looked even bigger. She swore the guy had grown while she slept.
Then she realized that the pillow beside her bore the impression of—of a head. The covers near her were rumpled. She jumped up from that bed. “You slept with me!” He’d stormed out. Done his angry wolf routine, then he’
d come back and crawled in bed with her.
While she hadn’t even realized he’d been there.
“I protected you.” He’d already turned away.
“Protected me from what? The motel maid?” She rushed after him, but had to do a fast halt when he hurried out of the room. What the hell, Alerac? You don’t leave in the middle of an argument. She yanked on her shoes, adjusted her sleep-wrinkled clothes, and followed fast. “You crawled into bed with me because—“
At least six werewolves were on their motorcycles. All of them were staring at her.
Jane clamped her mouth closed. Jerk wolf.
Alerac glanced back at her, and a faint smile lifted his lips. “You were saying, a rúnsearc?”
What she’d been saying would be finished—in private. But her eyes narrowed to slits. “What did you just call me?”
That faint smile faded. “It’s an Irish expression. It means vampire.”
Liam coughed. Or choked. Hard to tell for sure.
Alerac eased onto on his motorcycle. Darkness had fallen again, but the moon wasn’t blocked by clouds tonight. It shone, high and heavy, though not quite full, in the sky above them.
All of the men were staring at her. Waiting.
“Has she fed?” Finally, that suspicious question came from Liam.
Her gaze cut to him. “She can tell you herself.” Her fangs weren’t even aching. She didn’t need blood every day. “And the answer is, no. I haven’t fed tonight. But don’t worry, I’m not about to start biting anyone.”
A murmur—an angry one—seemed to go through the pack.
“Wolves aren’t on the vampire menu,” Liam told her, but only after a quick glance at Alerac. “Or rather, for you, only one is.”
And that one had lifted his hand toward her. He held that hand, palm open, toward her. “Come, Jane.”
Like she had a choice. But she wasn’t a dog to be called. So she held her ground a moment longer. Get the point, wolf. I don’t jump at your command. “Where are we going?”
“My home.” A pause. “Your home.”
She didn’t have a home.
Her chest began to ache. Unwanted. Forgotten.
“And maybe we’ll find a damn witch along the way,” Alerac added, voice darkening.
Jane wasn’t so sure she wanted to find a witch. Was her past worth remembering?
Maybe it was time to find out. Alerac knew her, he held her secrets—so why didn’t the guy just spill them? “Why are my own kind hunting me?”
His hand lowered. He kicked up the stand on the motorcycle. Then he came to her, easily controlling the bike as he circled around and advanced on her.
She had to hold back her smile. She’d wanted that. For him to be the one to make the move. I’m not jumping for you.
But when that big, snarling bike and the equally big wolf came to a stop right in front of her, Jane stiffened. Yes, I’m afraid of him.
Afraid, yet she could admit—she was also drawn to the wolf. She should be running away from him. But she wasn’t moving.
“The vamps think you committed a crime against them.”
She’d turned on the other vampires? It just gets worse for me.
“And some of them won’t stop coming, not until—well, not until I make sure they’re dead.”
Wonderful. “I-I thought vampires already were dead. The undead, right?” That was what she’d seen on TV. She’d made sure to watch every vampire movie that she could find, hoping that maybe she’d find some kind of secret message or insight into her own biology.
The movies hadn’t been helpful. She didn’t sparkle. She didn’t serve the devil. She didn’t attack children. She didn’t do any of the things that those vamps had done.
Well, except she did drink blood. But only when she absolutely had to do so.
“Some folks do have to die, for a little while, in order to come back as vamps.” Alerac gave a slow shake of his head. “That’s not what happened to you. You never died. You were born as you are.”
Born as a vampire? That hadn’t been in the movies.
“That’s why you have power to them. Why you’re a threat and why they won’t stop coming.”
She still didn’t understand.
“Your birthmark. The circle of gold that surrounds your pupils. Those are both signs that you are a pureblood. Not made from a bite, but born to be a vampire.”
The little mark on her left palm seemed to burn.
“I’m telling you the truth. And you have to trust me.”
Like trust was easy. Trusting a human was hard enough. Trusting a werewolf?
“Get on the bike,” Alerac ordered with a curt nod. “With darkness, they’ll be coming soon.”
She looked beyond him. At the thin row of pine trees. At the darkness. Were the vampires already stalking her? “They all want me dead?” All of her kind? Surely there was at least one who wanted her alive. She had a family somewhere, didn’t she?
He didn’t answer.
Her gaze jumped back to him. “Alerac?”
“You saw them,” he said, voice devoid of emotion. “They fired wooden bullets at you.”
Bullets that he’d taken into his own body as he shielded her.
“If those bullets had hit your heart, you’d be dead.”
He’d kept her alive before. Her own kind wanted her cold in the ground. But he…
She climbed on to the bike. Wrapped her arms around him. Held him tight.
After an instant, his body seemed to relax against hers.
“There’s a helmet behind you,” he murmured, the words drifting to her over the roar of the bike. “Vamps can die if they lose their heads, so, this time, be sure you wear it.”
Oh, right. She hadn’t even realized…
Her hands pulled away from him. Fumbled. She got the helmet on. Then she started to worry. “What about you?” Jane asked.
He glanced back at her. Those eyes…her shiver seemed to start on the inside and then push its way out.
“I’m not planning to lose my head.”
Yeah, but—
The motorcycle lunged forward. Wind beat against her, and she held on to Alerac as tightly as she could.
The rest of the pack closed around them as they left the motel. The scream of the engines was soon all that she could hear. The miles passed, and the pavement vanished beneath them as the bikes moved faster and faster.
The vibration of the bike shook her whole body, beginning first in her legs, then slowly moving up. She pressed closer to Alerac as the vibration continued.
She didn’t know what to make of the werewolf.
A werewolf. The knowledge wasn’t so shocking now. How could it be? He was right. She was a vampire. Not like she could judge.
If Heath were right, and all Alerac wanted was to kill her—he could have done so plenty of times by this point.
But he hadn’t. In fact, he hadn’t hurt her at all.
He’d protected her. Taken bullets for her. Killed, for her.
Told me to wear a helmet so that I’d keep my head.
They’d been lovers once. This knowledge was there. It was obvious from the looks that he gave her. Jane knew there was no denying what she’d seen in his eyes—or the way he’d touched her.
When he’d whispered Keira to her, she’d realized just how intimately they must have been involved. His voice had burned with desire and a heavy possessiveness.
Whatever Alerac truly wanted from her, Jane didn’t think it was about her death.
He might not want to kill her, but the vamps sure seemed to want her out of this world.
She wanted to know what crimes she’d committed against her own kind. Why they hunted her so fiercely.
During the six months when she’d felt abandoned because no one had come forward to claim her—well, maybe she should have been relieved. Because if the vamps had gotten to her before Alerac did, would she already be dead?
The bikes slid into another curve.
&nbs
p; Jane frowned, trying to locate a road sign. She didn’t know if they were in Alabama, Georgia, or even still in Florida.
Her arms were wrapped around his stomach. The guy’s abs were as hard as a rock. His attention seemed totally on the road. Hell, the guy acted as if he didn’t even realize she was clinging so desperately to him.
Jane started to ease her hold.
His right hand lifted and immediately curled around her thigh.
His fingers pressed into her.
The touch heated her. No, he heated her. The awareness that she had for him wasn’t natural. She recognized that. Fear shouldn’t be so tangled with desire, but it was.
She looked at him, and she feared.
She looked at him, and she wanted.
The vibration of that bike continued, making her body too hyperaware and sensitive. Her thighs were aching. And she could all too easily imagine those strong fingers of his sliding between her legs.
Her eyes squeezed shut. Her breath was coming too hard and heavy and her—her fangs were growing.
That wasn’t supposed to happen.
She rarely fed.
Her fangs shouldn’t be coming out. She’d worked hard to control them. She’d wanted to blend with the humans. Not freak them out.
But her fangs kept burning as they stretched in her mouth.
“St-stop,” she managed to push the words out.
Because something was wrong.
He didn’t slow.
“Stop!” She yelled to him. “You have to stop!” Because a hunger was building within her, one that was making her body shake.
A hunger for his blood.
She wanted to bite. To sink her fangs into him and taste the werewolf. And that was wrong. As wrong as the desire that kept stirring within her.
A desire to be taken by him—rough and wild and hard.
To be claimed by the man that she didn’t even know.
And if he didn’t let her off that motorcycle—right freaking then—she was going to give in to dark impulses and bite him.
So much for being all confident with Liam and saying that she wasn’t looking for blood. All she could think about right then was getting a drink from Alerac. Sinking her teeth into him. Tasting him.
Heath told me never to take directly from a living human. He said I’d lose control. That I’d kill.
But Alerac wasn’t human.
The motorcycle slowed. Finally. Yes! Before it had even come to a full stop, she jumped from the bike and tried to put some much needed distance between her and her companion.
