by M. L. Briers
She yanked the front door to the cabin open and wasn’t entirely surprised to come face to chest with the vampire in question. His dark eyes took her in a moment before his hand wrapped cruelly around her wrist and he yanked the rest of her body over the threshold and out of the security of the cabin’s walls where he couldn’t get to her.
“I have trust issues,” he whispered aside her ear as his hands on her upper arms locked her to the spot in front of him.
“What’s a girl to do when you dangle a nice bauble in front of…” she stopped talking and bit down on the pain of his fingers digging into her skin.
“I want it back,” he bit down on his anger. An anger made worse by the witch not dropping to her knees on the floor before him and begging for forgiveness for making him come after her. For taking what was his in the first place.
“It doesn’t belong to you,” he squeezed harder until a small squeak left her lips. “It’s mine.”
“It’s witch property,”
Vega spun her on her heels and brought her back up against his chest. One hand fisted her hair and he yanked her head to one side, opening her neck to his fangs. His breath against her skin was more than enough for her to get the message of what came next.
Kiri’s eyes took in the inside of the cabin. With the door still open it now looked more inviting to her than before.
Funny the things that matter with hindsight, and if she had been able to turn the clock back two minutes, she would have stayed firmly behind that closed door.
“Tell me where it is,” he ground out.
Kiri knew what came next. If she handed it over then she was as good as dead. She didn’t think Vega was just going to walk away and leave her to her life- her future- with Rowan or without him.
She didn’t have it, not on her- it was stashed back at the car, but that would be too easy… She’d just disappear and Rowan would never see her alive again. He would probably go rogue, and all because she had some warped sense of right and wrong, and Vega having a powerful Fae artefact in his possession had been wrong.
Kiri felt the sting of his razor sharp fangs scratch down her skin and jolted at the feel of it, but he had a death grip on her body and there was nowhere to go.
“Inside,” she lied, but not. It was inside- inside the car.
“Invite me in,” he whispered again against her ear and her stomach took a downward turn within her at the feel of his lips so close to her skin.
“It’s not my cabin.”
Kiri heard the grunt of annoyance that came from the man and was somehow grateful for it. She might be playing a deadly game, and the stakes were high, and yet- it felt good to thwart him once more.
“I could just burn the place down and take it from the ashes.” Vega’s voice held the kind of glee that taunted her sense of right and wrong.
Seeing Rowan’s cabin in cinders somehow didn’t appeal to her. She’d brought this monster to their land, to Rowan’s door, and she should be the one to deal with it.
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CHAPTER SIX
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“It won’t survive the heat of the fire,” Kiri lied.
“I’ll take my chances,” Vega’s fangs were too close to her neck. She could practically feel them against the vein that carried her lifeblood. Using her magic now would be a risk, a possibly deadly calculation on her part, but she had little choice.
“Let me get it for you,” she tried her last option.
“Trust you with it again?” Vega obviously wasn’t stupid and he wasn’t going to fall for the same trick twice. He’d rather cut of his nose to spite his face than allow her inside the cabin and out of his clutches…
“It’s not in there,” She said blandly. She had little choice. She needed to lead him away from the cabin, away from her sanctuary, and just hope that in doing so she would find a way to better him.
“Where is it?” Vega was fast losing patience with the witch. She’d led him on a merry dance and made him hunt her to pack land, but now he was done playing.
He couldn’t say that he hunt to find her hadn’t been exhilarating, and yet, now he was bored. It was time to leave, but not without what he’d come for, and of course, the witch’s blood in his veins.
“My car, abandoned on pack land. It’s why I’m stuck here,” she bit out.
That in itself wasn’t a lie either- it was in the car and it was the reason she was on pack land- ish. He didn’t need to hear the rest, it would only be another weapon for him to use against her.
“Let’s go.”
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Callum was running a wide circuit around the cabins. He’d caught the vampire’s scent on the air- suddenly appearing like magic, and knew the tactic well. Connor used it often, sticking to the trees for cover before dropping down where he needed to be.
He guessed it was a vampire thing.
The only trouble was that the scent had appeared near one of the cabins, Rowan’s, and Callum didn’t much believe in coincidences- none of the pack did.
‘Rowan, your cabin door is open and your mate is missing. I trailed the vampire scent right up to the damn door.’ Callum believed in telling it straight, anything else was a waste of precious time, and as it appeared that the vampire had come for the witch, he didn’t think that they had time to waste.
‘Find him so I can rip him to pieces,’ Rowan growled out.
Callum had expected nothing less. As far as he was aware, his brother hadn’t mated with the woman yet, and that meant his beast was already half insane with the need to claim her, protect her until she was his mate- like a stranglehold on his rationality, and that was a dangerous place to be.
‘Their scent vanishes. I’m guessing if he’s still on pack land then he’s using the trees for his escape.’ Callum’s beast started off on fast paws, running ever wider rings around the cabin and beyond to see if he could pick up a trace of a scent.
‘Connor’s up in the tree line. With any luck…’ Justice froze in place the moment that he heard the rustling above.
“Not so damn tight…” Kiri bit out, and then they were gone.
‘Above me now. They were moving south towards the waterfall,’ Justice growled into the link between them.
‘Kiri’s car,’ Rowan was so damn sure that he could taste it. ‘They’re going to the barn, to her car.’
‘On it.’ Justice changed direction.
He now had no reason to follow the path that the vampire was taking through the trees, and instead, he favoured the route that might just cut them off as they came out into the wide open space around the barn.
‘He’s mine,’ Rowan growled, shifting his run, now not tracking but travelling like the wind across the uneven ground.
‘He’s whoever gets to him first. Save your mate, if she isn’t willingly with him.’ Callum didn’t want to think it- A mate of the run, but she’d already tried it once and who was to say that she wasn’t doing it again.
Perhaps this vampire was a friend?
‘Callum, keep your damn options to yourself- Rowan’s beast is hyped up enough.’ Justice warned.
It was bad enough that Rowan would be acting on the pure, basic instinct of a bloodlust fuelled anger that could override all sense of rationality and reason and get him killed. The last thing that they needed was for him to believe his mate was running again too.
‘Understood,’ Callum knew better and he cursed himself for speaking his fears aloud.
‘I’m coming at the barn from the lower east side,’ Maverick informed them. ‘I see her car, but no sign of them yet.’
‘Watch your damn back,’ Justice growled the warning at his brother.
Maverick was a beta, and more than capable in a fight, but he’d rather be there himself, or at least be in a position to help should Maverick need him.
‘You know me, Brother-” Maverick chuckled.
‘My point exactly,’ Justice returned fire.
There wasn’t one of
his brothers that wouldn’t take a chance, play the odds when it suited them, and it usually suited them well. Maverick wasn’t the worst of them.
He had five brothers and Dexter was as close to a damn rogue as you could get and still keep your humanity- but he wasn’t around- he’d taken off a while back and they hadn’t heard from him since, but of the brothers still in the pack, Callum could be the biggest risk taker and loose cannon of them all.
What mattered now was that they got Rowan’s mate back, unharmed.
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“As soon as I give it to you you’re gonna open my vein,” Kiri wasn’t stupid and she knew that Vega’s own sense of warped pride wouldn’t allow him to just let her walk away.
He was the kind of man that considered everything his – his possessions – his toys – his to own, to use, and to discard as he saw fit. She’d known a couple of vampires just like him, and they didn’t think the laws of the human world or the supernatural applied to them.
“If you don’t give it to me then I’m going to make you suffer, so you have little to lose and possibly something to gain.”
Vega was scoping out the area around the barn. Wide open fields on three sides left him vulnerable, and the woods were too far back to be useful in comparison to where her car was dumped.
He had little choice but to take the risk. If the artefact wasn’t where she’d claimed it to be and this was a trap then she was in for a world of hurt.
Vega hated the damn countryside for just this reason. Too open. There were no buildings to use to your advantage, and no back alleyways in which to disappear like a rat lost in a maze.
If the pack were out there somewhere then they’d see him coming from a mile away. None if this was to his liking.
He also had the damn witch to contend with. Her and her magic that could easily disarm or disable him if she put her mind to it. Just not while he had a tight hold upon her – if she zapped him now then she’d take herself down as well.
“It’s that word possibly that I have a problem with. It’s akin to reading the small print and finding out that you’ve just given your soul to the Devil himself. I prefer to deal in concrete assurances.” She hissed back and was rewarded with a cruel twist on the lips of her captor.
“I assure you that I will make you suffer if you don’t deliver the artefact into my hand.”
“Good enough.” She wasn’t about to argue the toss with him when his ego was making the decisions for him. She only had to hope that between where they were and the time that she handed over the artefact she could find a way to get out of his clutches long enough to bring the man to his knees – talk about suffering…
With the strength that accompanied being a supernatural being; she knew that even with her extra curves she still weighed next to nothing, as had been proven by the way that he’d taken her through the trees with him on route to the barn.
She knew couldn’t slow him down as she was, but she had been using her magic to increase her weight – a little at a time – so that he wouldn’t notice the extra hit all at once. The spell was a nice variation on the light as a feather spell that teenagers everywhere tried at least once with their friends.
She knew that she wasn’t exactly boulder heavy, but she was giving him a little drag factor as he dropped down to the ground with her still in his arms, and he scanned the area one last time before he made a dash for the car.
Even she knew that they weren’t travelling at the kind of speed that a vampire could take for granted, and she had to smile to herself for a job well done.
Kiri spotted it first, a lone wolf coming at speed towards them… It didn’t take much for Vega to notice a heartbeat later…
She also knew that the wolf couldn’t attack while Vega had her in his arms - not like this – he couldn’t or wouldn’t risk her getting hurt.
There was only one thing that she could do… and she let loose with her magic, taking the vampire down, and her with him.
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Kiri knew that it wouldn’t last for long. Her spell would take longer for her to get over than for the vampire, who would recover much easier due to his healing blood. But the spell had been enough to send him crashing down to the ground, disabled, and her body tumbling away from his.
She felt the bone jarring moment that she’d hit the ground. It felt as if she’d run into a brick wall at high speed, and the pain shot through her body with every bounce, roll, and tumble that she took across the hard earth.
Kiri couldn’t hold onto her magic – not when every bone in her body screamed out with the agony of the impact, and by the time that she had come to rest, stomach down on the ground, her head tipped to one side, eyes on the vampire that had fallen not far from her, he was already pushing back up to his feet once more.
At least she had given that wolf a chance to attack.
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‘Rowan, your mate’s injured-’ Maverick warned.
‘What did you do?’ The growl in his voice said it all – Rowan was fit to kill someone. Anyone.
‘It wasn’t me man, she did it to herself,’ Maverick just wanted to put that out there before he took on the vampire, just in case Rowan decided to take a slice out of him instead of attacking the bloodsucking leech.
Right now, he had bigger fish to fry. His wolf pushed up with its hind legs and left the ground, knowing that it was a bad idea the moment that he’d done it, but he was already committed…
With a swipe of his arm, Vega sent the beta flying across the field like a baseball bat hitting a large furry ball…
“Try me,” Connor ground out, appearing as if out of nowhere, and heading straight for Vega.
Connor’s chin was angled down towards his chest, and his claws and fangs were out, and he was eager to use them.
“Pleasure,” Vega ran at him. With his fangs down and his claws out, they looked an imposing sight in the middle of the field as they clashed… but it was all that Kiri could do to keep her eyes open…
She was cold, tired, and going numb. The last part was a blessing because it took away the pain that had screamed so loudly inside of her it was deafening to her senses, to everything else around her.
It was hard to breathe and getting harder, and in truth, she really didn’t want to for fear the pain would come back…
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CHAPTER SEVEN
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‘Take care of your mate,’ Justice growled out to Rowan as they entered the field at the same time from different directions.
Rowan headed straight for her. His beast was so damn tempted to take a slice out of the vampire on the way, but his overriding sense of protection for her clawed inside him, making him powerless to stop for a heartbeat before he got to her.
His beast ground to a halt at her side. It sniffed the air and scented her blood. A whimper caught in the wolf’s throat before he roared with the rage that twisted up the inside of him…
Rowan had to force the change back into his human form. The wolf was more than damn reluctant to let go.
Both man and beast were in protection mode and forcing the shift back to human had caused the pain to rip through every muscle, every bone in his body. Nothing mattered more than his mate, and he dropped to his knees beside her on the ground and tried to figure out what her injuries were…
“Connor, I need your blood, now!” Rowan ground out his anger.
‘Crap!’ Justice needed the witch to hold on. For Connor to be able to get close enough to Rowan’s mate to give her his blood then Rowan would have to be subdued.
There was no way in hell that he or his wolf would allow the vampire anywhere near her while she was injured, and everyone knew it.
‘What do you want to do, Alpha?’ Maverick asked as both wolves circled around the vampires as they knocked chunks out of each other.
‘I got this,’ Callum growled.
Callu
m’s wolf rushed at Rowan and knocked him backwards away from Kiri. It would be the only chance that Connor would have to get to her without having to go through her mate, and as she lay stock still on the ground, her breathing shallow, Callum took the man down under his weight and pinned him there.
Rowan’s wolf was incensed and the man fared no better. The rage that was already flowing through his veins like lava overflowed with the need to be back at his mate’s side.
He bucked. He clawed. He growled and snarled at his brother to try to gain his freedom… and then Tyler’s bear ambled up and sat on the pair of them.
It was all on Connor now to do his worst… when he got a moment.
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Connor was more than aware of the slight window of opportunity that Callum’s beast and Tyler’s bear had given him to get to the witch and feed her his blood. The trouble was he was still locked in battle with a vampire that wouldn’t stay down when he was knocked there.
He had backup. One Alpha and one beta, but were they good enough to take the vampire down or were they in danger of getting their backsides handed to them?
Connor knew that he had a choice to make. Save the witch and risk one of his friends dying or keep fighting and hope that she lived that long…
It was an easy choice to make. The witch was human and without his blood it was certain that she wouldn’t survive. His friends, at least, had a chance.
“Care to dance with the devil?” Connor bit out to Justice as he put everything that he had into launching Vega away from him and into the path of the Alpha…
Vega hit the ground with a thud that signalled it was Connor’s time to make for the witch. With one eye on how well Callum and Tyler were doing in battling to keep Rowan down; Connor wasted no time in biting down into his own flesh and opening a wound that he could use to get the blood into the dying mate.
