by Martha Woods
After a few moments he finally got control over himself again, withdrawing his fangs with a shuddering gasp and wrapping his now freed arms around my chest, holding me tightly against himself and breathing deeply.
“Ok,” He said, “Maybe you were right.”
I laughed weakly, turning my head in his grasp to look up at him and wink. “I usually am, I thought you would be used to that by now.”
* * *
“I guess I just like to keep being surprised.” Placing a kiss into my hair, he lay back against the mattress and stared up at the ceiling, brow furrowed in concern. “Damon should be here by now, he sent me off so he could deal with Faye but that shouldn’t have taken this long.”
“You think something happened to him?” I sat up, looking between him and the stairs to the outside, pulling up my pants in case we needed to leave right away. I would still need to find a top given that he’d destroyed mine, but we could work something out.
“I don’t know if anything happened,” He said, “He could just be running late, maybe Faye needed his help but… I don’t know.”
“We could go out and try to find him, I still have the car to use.” Standing up, I moved out into the living area and turned on the television, staring at the array of camera feeds that were available and frowning to myself. Though he didn’t immediately know why I was doing so, Vincent understood as soon as he walked over to join me.
“The sun is going to rise soon, I can’t leave the bunker.” He frowned, running his hand through his hair and sighing, “Sometimes I really am fed up with these limitations.”
“I could just go on my own,” I said, “You can stay here and call me if he shows up, divide and conquer and all that!”
“Not in the condition that you’re in, with a wound like that it would only take one good hit to drop you for good. I can’t let you leave if I can’t be there to protect you, and Damon wouldn’t allow it either.” He placed his hands on my shoulders, making sure that I was looking him in the eye. “I know that it doesn’t seem like the right thing to do, that we should do something, but that would not be the smart thing to do at all. The best thing to do is to stay here and wait for news, trust me.”
* * *
I didn’t want to believe it, I wanted to go out there and find him but… as much as I didn’t want to admit it he was right. I was wounded and the sun was going to be up in a few hours, what hope would we have of finding Damon in an entire city in only a few hours? As much as it killed me to think, the best thing to do was… absolutely nothing.
“Alright,” I said, taking his hand and leading him over to the couch, “Alright. We’ll wait, but if we get the news that something has happened to him I’m going to be out of here before you can even blink.”
He smiled, squeezing my hand and nodding. “I doubt I could stop you if I tried.”
* * *
We sat there for a good two hours before the phone in my pocket started to ring, the unfamiliar ringtone making me panic for a second before I realized where it was coming from, a private number flashing on the screen before I pressed the answer button and held it to my ear.
“Hello?”
“Oh, now that’s a voice that I haven’t heard in a while.”
My blood ran cold, hand squeezing so tightly around Vincent’s that I could feel his bones shifting, his ears alert and his eyes narrowed when he recognized the voice on the other end of the line.
“Tristian,” I growled, not bothering to disguise the hate in my tone, “Why are you calling me? How did you get this number?”
“I just asked a friend for it, took a little while but eventually she gave me the number.” The smugness in his tone was insufferable, but his words made my heart stop altogether. “Don’t worry, I didn’t kill her Amy. Not yet anyway.”
That didn’t bode well for her. Or for my temper.
“Tristian just let her go right now or I swear to god…”
“You’ll do what? In your condition I doubt that you can do anything, not when you can barely walk,” He laughed, “Someone should teach them to shoot properly, the fact that you’re still alive is really just shameful.”
I couldn’t really deny that, I’d thought much the same myself. Not that I was going to agree with him, I was too focused on making sure that Alexis stayed alive. “What do you want Tristian? Did you call me up to say that you’re coming to kill me?”
“No, no nothing like that,” He said, false cheer seeping through into my ear, “We don’t know where you are, and Rick doesn’t really have the power to start tracking your phone. That sort of thing goes to a level much higher than his. I wanted to call you up personally because I wanted to tell you to come and meet me yourself.”
* * *
“What?” I said, not sure if I’d heard him correctly, “Meet you myself? What, are you insane?”
* * *
“Far from it Amy, I’m just not sure why I should put in all the work when I can just get you to do it all for me.” He dropped the happy act, his voice filled with malice that was so sudden it almost made me drop the phone completely, “Because if you don’t I’m going to kill Alexis. And then I’m going to kill Tariq, then Tabitha. I’ll make sure that you’re on the phone when I kill poor, precious little Cara, and you’ll be on the line the whole, excruciating time that I spend killing Damon for laying with a whore.”
* * *
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, I didn’t want to believe what I was hearing, but Tristian wasn’t in the habit of making idle threats. He knew exactly how to get what he wanted from whoever he wanted, and he was ruthless enough to do whatever it took. Ruthless enough to clean up any loose ends too.
“You’ll… you’ll just kill them anyway.”
* * *
Tristian chuckled, “I’m not going to lie Amy, I just might. But I can tell you that I’ll definitely kill them if you don’t show yourself, and even if the chance of them dying after you is still ninety nine percent you won’t pass up the chance to save them.” He leaned into the line, almost breathing his next words to me, “Just let this happen Amy, this is the only chance that your friends have. Give it some thought, I’ll be sure to call you back with the details.”
* * *
The line clicked dead, the inside of the bunker suddenly feeling so empty, so closed in, but maybe that was just the feeling in my chest making everything else feel so much smaller. The phone fell from my hand, Vincent’s hand coming out to catch it before it could break against the floor and rising to hold me.
* * *
“Amy!” He said, “Amy talk to me, we can… we can work this out, we just need a plan.”
“I… I don’t…” I trailed off, stepping back and falling against the wall, sliding down until my arms were wrapped around my knees and my head was falling forward, so overwhelmed with everything that I couldn’t even see straight.
“I don’t know what to do anymore...”
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PREVIEW: The Alpha’s Return
(Book 1 Of The Werewolves of Boulder Junction)
Martha Woods
© 2017 Martha Woods
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dea
d, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Chapter 1
The darkness was his friend, keeping him hidden from sight as he sprinted through the woods. Gigantic paws hit the ground with thuds, muffled by the soil. The wind brushed against his thick, gray fur. He felt free. This was the only time he felt this way, running in the night in his wolf form. At times like this, he could temporarily forget about his responsibilities and simply be a part of nature; a part of the night. Smaller animals scurried to their hiding places, avoiding the huge predator zipping through the forest.
The wolf inhaled long and deep as it ran. Liam smiled within as the fresh air filled his lungs. This was what he had missed about Boulder Junction: the acres of forest, the freedom to run wild, and the fresh air. Other than that, he wouldn’t mind never seeing the place again. It was where he had grown up and the place that he had finally escaped when he was old enough. Family duty had forced him to return and it seemed there was no escape this time.
Liam came to a stop in front of a river. He stood still for a few minutes, resting on his haunches as he stared out across the dark water. He always enjoyed the peace and quiet of the forest at night. The only sounds audible were the sounds of nature. His ears perked up when he heard something that didn’t quite fit in with the natural sounds. Footsteps, hushed by dirt and leaves, approached him. The feeling of danger coursed through him, sending him on high alert. More than likely, it wasn’t someone merely out for a night stroll. Not at midnight and certainly not in these woods. He sniffed the air, catching a whiff of an unfamiliar scent.
A low growl rumbled in his chest as he got up and padded back into the safety of the bushes. He didn’t want any trouble and he really didn’t want to kill anyone so soon after arriving back home. Liam let out a sigh. So much for a peaceful night run, he thought.
He treaded lightly, careful not to make a sound. All he had to do was make it back home undetected. Stealthily, he moved through the woods, listening for any sign of his unwanted companion. There was silence. Had the person turned back? With any luck, whoever it was had taken caution and turned back. But he still couldn’t shake the feeling of danger. His sense radar was always on point. But it was just a human, right?
Stories of werewolf hunters that he had heard of as a child suddenly flooded his mind. It was the eeriness of his current situation that brought on the foolish memory. He had always thought hunters were nothing more than myths because he had never seen one. Plenty of stories about other wolves’ experiences were heard - which had to have been exaggerated, he was sure. Wolf shifters were powerful, cunning creatures. There was no way a single human with a sword could take one down. And that was always how the story of the hunter went: a human, wielding a sword, taking out a wolf three times his size. Ridiculous.
The farther Liam walked into the forest, the more he should have felt at ease. He was sure he had put a good distance between him and whoever had been approaching from the other side of the river, but he still felt like he was being watched. His golden eyes surveyed the surrounding area. There was no one or anything in sight. His moderate pace then turned into a full out run.
Then he heard the footsteps again. They were approaching him at a rapid pace, going almost as fast as he was. So, whoever was in the woods with him wasn’t human and it definitely wasn’t a fellow wolf. For a second, he considered stopping to confront whoever – whatever – followed him. It could be a vampire on the prowl. But they were rare in this area. They avoided small towns.
If he stopped then he could have a midnight snack. His wolf loved the idea of fresh meat, but Liam shoved down the craving. He was sure he could outrun his pursuer. Suddenly, something whizzed past his head.
What the hell?
He looked ahead to see an arrow lodged in a tree. His eyes widened. Was he being hunted? Could it possibly be the hunter of legend on his tail? It was hard to believe but he wasn’t taking any chances. He decided not to lead whoever it was to where he lived. Liam knew the forest like the back of his hand and he used that to his advantage, making sudden twists and turns and confusing trails of paw prints. Hopefully, he would lose whoever it was. He moved tirelessly until the footsteps could no longer be heard. He smiled, knowing there was no way his mystery stalker could keep up, even if it was a hunter.
Liam closed his eyes, held his muzzle up, and inhaled deeply. The scent had disappeared and there was once again silence. He waited a few minutes before heading back in the direction he had come from. The tree that the arrow had lodged in came into view. He went closer to study it. There were strange markings along the wood, markings unfamiliar to him. He had to get it home. Maybe his housekeeper could tell him what they meant. The woman loved strange things like ancient languages and artifacts. She was a bit peculiar but if she didn’t bother him, he wouldn’t bother her. Plus, she was one hell of a cook.
Liam used his teeth to pull the arrow from the tree trunk. He was surprised to see that the tip was made of silver. His blood ran cold. The arrow was meant to kill him. If it had hit him, he could have kept running. Unless it had lodged in his heart… then he would have been a goner. Did someone know who he was or was it just coincidence that someone attacked his first night home?
* * *
Cayden walked toward his truck, wearing a deep scowl. He slid inside and threw his bow down on the passenger’s seat and slammed his palms against the steering wheel with aggravation. He had the abomination in his sight but he lost him deep in the forest. He needed to get better at the hunting these things if he was ever going to find the beast that killed his father. He pulled up the sword strapped to his thigh and ran his fingers over the curved blade. He stared down at it with reverence. It was the weapon that had been in his family for generations.
Pain and anger ripped through him. He wouldn’t be holding the blade if his father was still alive. He let out a breath that he had been holding tight in his chest. He didn’t want this life, the life a hunter. His father had always shielded him from the strange world he was meant to be a part of until he couldn’t hide him anymore. Cayden had a curious nature and had wondered about his father’s strange behavior, all the secrecy, and lies that had driven his mother off.
One night he had decided to follow his father to see where he went almost every night. Now though, he really wished he hadn’t. Hidden in the bushes, watching his father, confusion had muddled his mind. The only rational explanation to why his father was lurking in the woods with an arsenal of weapons was that he had to be hunting wild animals. Then something had jumped out of the bushes. It was a man with red eyes and abnormally sharp teeth. To his amazement and absolute terror, the man had transformed into a beast right before his eyes‒ a wolf-like creature, only much bigger.
A teenage Cayden had watched, transfixed and too afraid to move as his father battled with the creature and ended the fight by the taking the beast’s head off with the same blade he held now. That night had changed his life forever and pulled him into a world of darkness and death. His father had known all along that he had followed him into the woods. He figured it was time for Cayden to know the truth about his family lineage. Imagine his shock when he discovered that he came from a long line of hunters. Throughout history, his kind traveled around the world maintaining order and protecting humans from all magic and supernatural creatures. That explained his father’s sporadic, long absences.
Cayden was stronger and faster than most humans, able to handle himself in a fight with a werewolf, any kind of shifter, a vampire, and the list went on. Of course, he refused to accept his heritage and left home and all the craziness when he was nineteen. All he wanted was a quiet life, a nice, safe desk job, and maybe a wife and a kid or two.
He remained estranged from his father for years. Finding out that his father had been killed a year ago, he had finally assumed his title as a hunter. Guilt and pain drove him to find the shifter that killed his
father. Maybe if he had stayed and hunted with his old man, protected him, he would still be alive. He’d always thought it was less than smart for one person to hunt alone. There should be a team of men and women working together. The best he had done was check up on his father every once in a while, but he chose to stay away for the most part. The last he heard, his father was in these very woods, hunting a pack of shifters and one of them had killed him.
Cayden set down the blade. He vowed that it would be the weapon he used to end the shifter when he found him. Tonight, he had hoped to get his hands on one of the creatures and torture him or her for information, then kill the abomination of course. He had been close, but the wolf was fast and had the advantage of knowing the terrain.
No matter. He would remain in town until he accomplished his mission. In the meantime, he would take out as many abominations of nature as he could and hone his skills. He started his truck and drove off, easily navigating his way through the dark with his enhanced vision. A shadow of a smile hovered on his lips. He may not be thrilled about what he was but he was going to have a grand time in Boulder Junction wreaking havoc on all the creatures that went bump in the night.
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PREVIEW: Kiss of A Vampire
(Book One of the Vampire Prophecies Series)
