Not responding to her championship, he shoved his fingers in his front pockets. “No big deal.” But it was to her. It showed he cared, not just about the inferno that roared between them physically, but about her as a person. She suspected he didn’t let many people this close.
She cut the steak and took a bite. It melted in her mouth as she chewed and made her whole body sit up and take notice. She didn’t realize how long she’d gone without eating something other than a handful of trail mix or some other prepacked meal. She swallowed. “This is amazing. I thought you didn’t cook.”
He tilted his head to the side and raised one dark brow. “I said I don’t often have a reason to.”
“And feeding me gave you an excuse?”
“Only fair seeing as how you fed me first,” he said with a smile. “Now eat up. Can’t have you going into a battle on an empty stomach.”
Raina tucked in, eating the creamy potato and enjoying the crunch of the salad. The only thing that would make the meal utterly perfect was a glass of wine.
By her hand a wineglass appeared and crimson wine flowed from some invisible bottle, filling it. She speared him with a glance. “You reading my mind again, Donovan?”
His lips twitched. “I thought if we were on friendly enough terms, you wouldn’t mind.”
Raina reached out, picked up the glass and took a sip. She could get used to this. She stopped in midsip, shocked at the thought. Since when had badass vampires become her type? She gazed over the edge of her glass, staring at the man looking intently back at her. Suddenly that indefinable wildness that seemed to cling to Slade like cologne made a lot of sense. He wasn’t just some vampire. He was utterly unique.
She set down the glass and got up from the bar stool, walking slowly up to him. Slade welcomed her next to him, placing his large hands on her hips and drawing her close. Raina put her hands on the hard planes of his chest.
“You strike me as a kind of guy who likes a little risk.”
“Mmm-hmm,” he rumbled, and Raina felt the vibration through her fingertips. It set off a chain reaction in her. “Then you have to go into this showdown knowing that shifting is a risk you’re willing to take. It’s like you told Ty, there’s more at stake here than just Weres versus vampires. This isn’t a territorial fight. It’s a fight for all of us against Eris.”
He blew out a long, labored breath, kissing her lightly on the forehead. “You’re right,” he whispered against her skin.
“Of course I am.”
He gave a small laugh and lifted his head, giving her a half smile that softened his eyes. He reached out, caressing her cheek with the back of his fingers. “You’re something else, you know that?”
“What I know is I’m not vampire.”
A deeper light lit in his eyes and yearning filled his voice. “You could be if you wanted to.”
Raina grasped his hand at her cheek and held it. “If I could change anything in all of this, it would be that I get to end up with you. But we’re from two very different worlds and nothing, not even defeating Eris, is going to change that. You have your clan and I have my people.” It killed her to say it, but she had no intentions of leading him on. She couldn’t leave her tribe any more than he could stop being a vampire.
He closed his eyes, his face taut with pain, then hung his head, touching his forehead to hers. “You’re right. I know that. It’s just that I’ve never felt more like myself than when I’m with you.”
Raina felt as though her heart was fracturing. Heartache hurt, just plain old hurt. Being with him seemed so right, and yet their time together was slipping through her fingers every second that ticked closer to the showdown with the Weres, and ultimately Eris.
She realized right then and there that the whole time she’d been trying to care for those around her, she’d neglected herself. Her wants, her desires, had always been tempered by the needs of her people and her responsibilities, even when she didn’t believe in all the hocus-pocus about being a Whisperer. Now that she was faced with the facts that her ancestors where Weres, and she was the connection between her people and the shifters, it seemed an all too real obligation. And she’d never asked for any of it. Slade was the first person who didn’t ask anything of her other than for her to be precisely who she was.
“Slade Donovan Blackwolf, is that your way of saying you love me?”
“Love is a dangerous thing, Raina. It’s like a loaded gun pointed straight at your heart. Somebody else always has their finger on the trigger.”
“You’re not answering the question, Donovan.”
His hand on her hip tightened a fraction and his eyes filled with intensity. “Yeah, nature girl. I love you.”
Her mouth curled into a provocative smile. “Prove it.”
Slade pulled her close and slanted his mouth over hers, pouring into the kiss everything he hadn’t said. Didn’t have a clue how to say. The emotion filling him was golden and bubbled like fine champagne. He cupped her cheek as he tasted her need, tasted her love for him. He caressed the soft, warm skin of her cheek. He admired her strength and resolve. How she was funny and sarcastic and mouthy and perfect. How he ached bone deep at the thought of them going their separate ways when this was over.
Without breaking the kiss, he lifted her, placing her up on the island counter. Raina wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, her fingers threading through his hair. Need, heady and scented with strawberry and warm female flesh, rolled off her. She kissed him back with everything in her as if he were the last sip of air and she were drowning.
She entangled herself with him in every way possible. Mentally. Physically—every piece of him was engaged in loving her.
Her mouth lush and inviting, her body supple and soft, tempted him to forget who he was and what was happening around them, just to indulge in this one perfect, blissful moment with her lips clinging to his.
With the clarity of a lightning bolt arcing across a dark sky, Slade suddenly realized that he would do anything, be anything, to keep her by his side.
Slade, Dr. Chamberlin’s voice invaded his mind, just when he wanted to shut the outside world out most. You need to report to my office in the clinic in five minutes. We still haven’t given you that shot yet.
Raina pulled back, aware that he’d lost his focus for an instant. “What’s wrong?”
Slade shook his head. “Nothing. Just getting paged by the doctor for my shot.”
She eyed him, her fingers absently stroking the back of his head in a soothing touch. “Don’t you ever get tired of people in your head? I mean, it’s cool and all that you can talk to one another with thought, but I’d get tired of having no privacy.”
He gave her a quick kiss on her swollen lips. “Believe me, there are times when it’s a huge pain in the ass. But there’s nothing I can do about it. It’s just part of the gig.”
Her legs dropped to bracket his hips, and she kept one arm looped around his neck, the other absently stroking his chest. “Are all vampires like that?”
“Nope. Most can block if they choose, but not those of us on the security team. Part of the job requirement so we can be accessed at all times.”
The tip of Raina’s warm, wet tongue slid over the dent in his chin and crossed his bottom lip. “Sure we can’t ignore her a little longer?”
He dipped his head for another searing kiss and hugged her tight, swinging her off the counter. “She’ll just make Achilles call me and then I’ll have both of them in my head making demands.”
“Then I guess we better get you to your doctor’s appointment.” She sighed.
Slade transported them both to Dr. Chamberlin’s offices. “You rang?” he said with a touch of sarcasm in his voice.
Dr. Chamberlin took a slight sniff of the air and arched a brow. “Honey and roses. Was I interrupting something?” Color crept into Raina’s cheeks. Dr. Chamberlin was nice enough to ignore it and move on. “I’ve got your medication ready.” She picked up a
syringe and tapped it twice, pushing the plunger so that a thin stream of black liquid squirted out the tip. “Put out your arm,” she instructed.
Slade hesitated a moment.
“What’s in it?” Raina asked.
He eyed the syringe. He didn’t particularly care for needles. Truth was he hated them. There’d been so many times he’d seen people shooting up when he was a kid that it had indelibly imprinted on his brain a dislike of the things.
“A concoction of my own design. I’m hoping it’ll keep Slade from shifting if his moon sickness gets worse.”
Reluctantly, Slade stuck out his arm and looked away. He didn’t want to look like a complete wuss in front of Raina, but he couldn’t stand to see Dr. Chamberlin stick the needle in his vein, either. Dr. Chamberlin swabbed the bend in his arm with a cold, wet cotton ball that smelled of rubbing alcohol, then pierced his skin. The flow of the liquid from the syringe hurt slightly, but it was the feeling of the needle in his skin that made him feel sick. Ironic, really, considering he didn’t mind poking his fangs into people. He was just thankful he wasn’t sweating.
The needle slipped from his skin and she put a dry cotton ball over the spot and bent his arm, wedging the bit of fluff between his forearm and his biceps.
“That should do it.”
“Thanks, Doc.”
“Don’t thank me yet, let’s see if it works first,” she said as she threw the syringe in a sharps box on the wall. “I think Achilles and Dmitri are waiting for you in the security center to brief everyone before you head out.”
Slade nodded and grasped Raina about the waist. “Ready to fly?”
She smiled at him. “Ready when you are.” Together they disappeared in a dark mist.
A few seconds later they reappeared in the security center. Ty was seated on Achilles’s right and the other security members on his left. Dmitri was at the head of the table. Two chairs had been left open for them and they quickly took their seats.
“This is to be a diplomatic mission. Our first order of business is to convince the Weres, with Ty’s help, that we have a common enemy. And if she isn’t defeated, a truce or all-out war between vampires and Weres will be moot. We need to band together to fight Eris. We’ll be taking Ty back to his pack and trying to meet with Bracken to discuss Eris and her deception. The goal is to see if we can get their cooperation in trapping Eris.”
“Bracken is going to want proof,” Ty said.
Dmitri glanced at him. He leaned over and pressed his fists to the tabletop. “I know. Problem is the only way we can get proof is either A, summon Diana and hope she shows, which is highly unlikely, or B, taunt Eris into revealing herself.” Dmitri nodded to Achilles. “Achilles is going to fill you in on the particulars.”
Achilles stood, maintaining his position between Ty and the other members of the security team. “We’ll be going in as a group. Slade and Officer Ravenwing will take point and go in with Ty. We’re serving as their backup on this one.”
“Aren’t they going to be pissed we took him?” James pointed out, tapping his fingers on the top of the conference table.
Achilles glared at James. “He’s agreed to tell them he came along willingly, to help us in this process. Neither side wants to have their own hurt, especially if this is all just a setup by Eris. Ty, Ravenwing and Donovan, you three will transport in to the edge of the Wenatchee Pack territory and wait for us to join you. Ty has agreed to take you to the pack den to meet with Bracken. James, Titus, Mikhail, you three will be with me, posted as lookouts to make sure nothing gets out of hand. Everybody know where you’re supposed to be?” Around the table everyone nodded. “Good. Dismissed.”
People rose from their chairs. Raina grabbed hold of Slade’s hand as Ty skirted the table toward them.
The Were gave Slade a challenging look. “You brave enough to go in alone with just me and the Whisperer, vampire?” he said, low and quiet, next to Slade’s ear.
“I’m good. You think Bracken will listen before he takes a bite out of us?”
“He’s not going to be easy to persuade but he can be if you present enough evidence. And you have the Whisperer with you. That’ll help.”
Slade didn’t want to think about what might happen if Bracken figured out who he really was. “Ready?” he asked Ty.
“In a moment.” Ty bent his head, and the hair rose on Slade’s arm as the energy around him changed. He reached out and grabbed Ty by the shoulder, knowing he was planning on wolfing-out in front of the vampires. Ty glared at him, his brown eyes piercing.
“Don’t make this any harder than it already is. You can shift when we get there,” Slade said, warning infusing his voice.
Ty glanced at the others in the room. James muffled his chuckle. Mikhail’s eyes narrowed and Titus rubbed his hand lightly over his fist. Ty rolled his shoulders, the muscles in his jaw twitching as he ground his teeth. The tension in the room doubled, growing thick and smelling like the cedar and musk typical of too much testosterone circulating in a limited space. Slade could tell Ty had wanted to psych out the others with a little freak show. He still didn’t get they were on the same side.
“He’s right,” Raina added. “If you want us to trust you, you’ve got to do the same.”
Ty gave one curt nod and narrowed his eyes. “Fine. Then take me home, vampire.”
Slade wrapped a hand around Ty’s bicep and his other arm around Raina’s waist and all three of them pulled inside out as they transported back to the bluff below Red Top Mountain.
Chapter 17
Dawn broke slowly over the mountaintops, burnishing the snow on the high alpine peaks to a brilliant gold. Down in the lower elevations, mist clung eerily in the creases and dips of the sleeping valley, lingering among the shadowy darkness of trees. To Raina, the wooded bluff beneath Red Top Mountain looked…forlorn.
The early-morning shadows, the mist, the semidarkness of a day not fully realized, gave a sense, at least to her mind, of fearful anticipation. Her skin prickled in goose bumps from the chilly morning air, and she briskly rubbed her hands on her arms. In the confines of the clan complex it had been difficult to discern night from day or even the temperature outside. Now she wished she’d thought to tell Slade she’d need a warm jacket. Or maybe, she thought with a shiver of foreboding, what she needed was Were-proof body armor? Underneath her fingers she suddenly felt leather instead of skin as a jacket, lined with something soft. She glanced at Slade and he gave her a slight nod and a wink.
Ty grumbled beneath his breath something about vampires and gave her an arch glance. He wore only the T-shirt and faded jeans provided to him by Dr. Chamberlin. “There’s a reason why this is our territory. We’re made for it.” He lowered his head, his long hair obscuring his features and Raina watched in horrified fascination as he transitioned from man to beast.
The grotesque cracking and sucking sounds that accompanied the breaking, shifting and reformation of bone, muscle, skin and hair was revolting but efficient. His jaw, nose and ears elongated into a lupine form. Hair spread down from his scalp, covering his back and shoulders, and sprouted rapidly into a thick pelt over his entire body. His fists curled, forming paws, and his spine grew longer to form a swishing tail.
She just hoped she never had to witness Slade do that. It looked painful.
Ty shook himself, ridding his gleaming thick gray fur of the last shreds of the clothing that had burst apart into fragments. “Much better,” he rumbled in wolf, his pink tongue moving as he panted.
“Dude, that’s disgusting,” Slade said under his breath.
Ty gazed at him and yipped. “There’s nothing as solid as four feet on the earth.”
“How far are we from the pack den?” Raina used the yips and rolling, rumbling sounds that formed the Weres’ communication.
Slade raised his nose to the air and inhaled. “About five hundred yards up the face of the mountain, that way.” He pointed.
Ty blinked, his one ear twitching back and for
th in agitation. “You’re good, vampire.”
Slade didn’t dare tell Ty the reason why. Being half Were had advantages when you were tracking them. It also had disadvantages when the alpha of the pack you were about to the visit wanted you dead.
Behind them, four spirals of dark particles formed into the remainder of the clan security team that blended back into the shadows of the trees, avoiding the rising sun. Achilles gave Slade a thumbs-up. Good luck. And watch your back, he said, his words echoing in Slade’s skull.
Slade nodded. “Let’s head out. The others will stay here and wait for us to return.”
Ty took up the lead, trotting through the ground fog like a silent shadow. He was fast enough that Slade could keep up, but Raina had to jog. “Slow down,” he admonished Ty. “She’s only human.”
Still running, the Were glanced back, his brown eyes amused. “That’s where you’re wrong, vampire. She’s a Whisperer, a soul-link between our kind and our people.”
“She can’t be both.”
“The same virus that runs in us runs in her, as well, but she won’t transform until she has mated with the alpha.”
That stopped Slade dead in his tracks. “What?”
“She’s been destined to be the pack’s alpha female since she was chosen to mate with Bracken.”
Oh. Hell. No. Not gonna happen. The thought of Raina “mating” with anyone but himself made Slade’s ichor run cold.
Slade lowered his voice. Raina was a good fifteen feet back as she jogged to catch up. “Does she know?”
Ty shook his massive head, making his ruff fan out. “No Whisperer is told until they are brought before the alpha. Most don’t wish to be neck bit as they are mated.” Amusement danced in the shifter’s eyes. “Don’t look so worried, vampire. As it is, Bracken might reject her, seeing as how you’ve already bitten her.”
The Half-Breed Vampire Page 17
