“A little late, weren’t they? Because those guards certainly weren’t here fifteen years ago.” Sarah snarled. Then her eyes narrowed. “How interesting that not for one moment do you question him sending you here.”
Mary blanked her thoughts and spoke from that shallow well she’d learned long ago worked best around vampires. “And you do?”
“Oh, yes. Grath taught me well. You obviously don’t remember clearly, but he didn’t only beat and rape me. He also ranted and raved. After killing me, he later snuck into the Murder’s crypt, replaced my body with some nameless woman’s, and stole me away. Then beat, raped, and raved some more.” Sarah laughed cynically, her voice as cold as her facial expression. “No one can ever accuse him of trying to fix what works.”
Her mother screamed again. The pain in her voice unbearable. Mary huddled in a corner with her fist in her mouth. He hurt Mommy worse whenever Mary begged him to stop. Then hurt Mary, twisting her arms and bruising her skin, wanting to hear Mommy beg him to stop. He liked to hear her beg for her daughter’s life, plead for her freedom, promise the monster anything, even to stay, if only her little girl could go.
Those nightmares had never left her. Mary blinked when her eyes started to burn. Sympathy, begging, pleading and promises wouldn’t get her and the wolves out of this cave. It wouldn’t gain them freedom. That lesson could never be unlearned.
Mary frowned. Grath had snuck into Sanctuary and stolen her mother away. If not for the break in security that he must have found, her mother would have awakened in the crypt, amongst the Murder. Her entire unlife would have been so different.
“Grath was thrilled with his ingenuity in feeding his dead blood to me,” Sarah sneered, “less than three feet from where Sebastian ripped Grath’s new sentinel to shreds."
"What new sentinel?"
Sarah smirked. "What new sentinel, indeed? What adult male could it possibly have been?"
Mary scowled, refusing to believe the horrible idea that came to her.
Sarah just chuckled and continued. "Grath was proud of how he’d slipped into the shadows and escaped that day, then later disappeared with my body, with not even the crypt guard wise to his presence.”
Swallowing past a dry throat, Mary prompted her mother to continue. It was better to know. She hoped. “Proud, huh?”
Sarah proffered a familiar half-shrug. “He was amazing at infiltration, but only adequate at escape. He admired my skills and forced me to hone them out of sheer self-preservation.”
Mary’s brows drew together. Her mom kept pointing out how much she had suffered over the years, seeming to want sympathy and understanding, but she wasn't the one tied up now. None of this made sense. “Now that you’ve gotten away, your answer is to hide in the mountains where he captured you, making minions of hunters and fishermen for protection?”
“Yeah,” Sarah stared straight into Mary’s eyes. “After spending so long right here, what else is there?”
Mary studied her mother’s body language, snapping images of her stance, her tone, her expression like pictures in her mind’s photo album. She was lying.
Sarah shrugged. Her eyes were hard, her lips thin. “There are men who must pay for my pain. I suffered because they failed.”
No doubt Sarah blamed every man. Grath. Sebastian, for not saving her from Grath. Even Mary’s father, for not protecting her in the first place.
“No, Mary. I may be the worst of motherhood in your eyes, but my pain began with Josh’s death. That's what I won't forgive your father for. When Sean paid more attention to how crappy cell reception was hurting his business than helping his son gather more firewood in the darkness of the forest. When it took him an eternity to realize how long it had been since he'd last seen Josh. Do you know he waited before he started searching for him? Josh would have been safe if they’d returned in the few minutes it should have taken. Surrounded by fire and people, he would have been safe.”
“You know that’s not true.” Mary shook her head. “Grath could have killed everyone. No matter how outnumbered he was. And out there, alone, Dad couldn’t fight a vampire. He had no idea what he was facing.”
“So you excuse his inattention to your brother. What about you?”
Mary’s eyes narrowed. Seriously? Her mother abandons her for fifteen years and then shows up, ready to rewrite not only the history Mary thought she knew, but also the history she'd lived? "Daddy paid me plenty of attention. Besides, how could he have saved me? He didn't know what he was up against. He couldn't even save himself."
Sarah nodded. “Oh, yes. Sean knew what he faced, later, when he halted our escape. He fought against me and allowed you to run into the arms of another vampire. He always did want to be top of the food chain. Instead, he was merely chum for your Sebastian to rip to shreds while Grath murdered me.”
And there was the horrible truth Mary hadn't wanted to know. Thinking he was Grath, Sebastian had killed her father. In defense of her.
It was bad, but she'd belived her father dead the night Grath captured them. The pain of his death had gone away long ago. She missed having her dad, but it no longer killed her that he was gone. She barely remembered the idea of him, let alone his face. If it weren't for pictures, she might have forgotten entirely.
Okay, so instead of dying, he became the undead minion of a homicidal vampire. His second death was necessary, then. Killing rogues was a job she admired and aspired to. Why was her mother trying to hurt her with details that no longer mattered?
Mary shook her head. “Sebastian thought he was saving us from Grath. He couldn't have known it was Dad. I watched it happen and even I didn't know it was Dad. I had believed Grath dead all these years. Thought I was safe. I've been grateful that Sebastian killed for me.”
Sarah stared at her, astonishment a frozen caricature on her dead face. “My, how you leap to his defense, even over your own father.”
Cold sweat popped out along Mary’s spine.
“There are such rumors about the Murder King’s treasured human pet. I see my dread was not misplaced. You are in love with him. You'll let him turn you, won’t you? Let him keep you.” Sarah's brows and lips twisted in a disgusted scowl.
“No,” Hello, thin ice. Mary shook her head. "We haven't made any plans to do that."
“Careful, daughter. Vampires smell lies just as well as wolves.”
Mary licked her lips, trying to block her thoughts and pick her story carefully. The truth was a many faceted gem. She just had to look at it from different points of view to mislead while being truthful. Another adolescent trick that had saved her many times. “I am not strong enough to be his. And I don’t want to be a vampire.”
Lucas narrowed his eyes. Ben and Travis turned their faces to her. Her mother’s eyes focused, determined to chip away at Mary’s secrets.
Mary rolled her eyes. Not even half-truths worked if her body language was off. “Is that why you are really here, Mom? You heard rumors and got angry?”
“Of course. If there’s a chance I can save one of my children from this life, I will do so.”
Mary cast a confused look at her bound wrists. The rope was chafing her skin.
Sarah chuckled. “It is never that easy, is it? I was your mother from conception to birth and after. I will always be your mother. I will save you from this life in the only way a human can be saved once a vampire has their scent.”
Mary gaped. No, she couldn't mean… “You want to kill me?”
Chapter Five
“That doesn’t make sense to you?” Sarah laughed. “Vampires can’t raise the dead. They just make it look that way.”
“Sebastian is not about to make me a vampire. There’s no reason to kill me.” Mary looked at the ground, knowing her words were absolute truth, in certain contexts. Also knowing she would have to deflect her mother if she wanted to live. The black stone beneath her was so cold, so black with only small, darker fissures to show it wasn’t even. She hated to be cold. She hated the darkne
ss. Living without sunlight for the rest of her days would be a subtle torture.
Sarah knelt in front of her, a frown creasing the skin between her eyes. “You are telling the truth. But it doesn’t matter. I am proof they don’t care what we want.”
Mary shook her head. “He won’t.”
Sarah’s expression was full of pity. “How can you possibly believe that? What secret do you carry that convinces you of your safety?”
Mary kept her gaze down, her thoughts focused on the tracks of fissures in the rock. Carefully, she timed her heartbeats in the taut silence before allowing a flicker. A single image. Large fists pressed to clenched thighs. A moment of overwhelming arousal. Then a second image, this one of burning hazel eyes, staring into hers and reflecting her own heat.
Sarah made a choked sound and Mary clamped down on her mind, blanking everything.
“I am sure you have practiced controlling your thoughts since you hit puberty. Or even before. You are my daughter, after all.” Sarah smiled gently, nearly hiding her broken mind. She lifted a finger to a wayward strand of Mary’s hair, pulling it from her face and tucking it behind her ear. “But you aren’t good enough to fool a vampire.”
Horror crossed Mary’s face as Sarah turned her eyes to the three wolves behind her.
Ben looked lost, his pale hazel gaze bouncing from Sarah to Mary to Lucas to Travis.
Travis frowned, unease in the depths of his mostly brown eyes.
But Lucas… Lucas clenched it, leaning forward, intense focus in his features. The forest’s greens and browns reflected in his eyes with a clarity few hazel gazes could match.
Mary bit her lip, apology screaming from her soul, streaming from her scent. Only he would know the why of it. The full truth. Perhaps.
Mary averted her gaze, noting the positions of the three other vampires in the room. The older man stared at her with a cunning look while the younger one rocked in place, mumbling to himself. The third was like Ben, captivated by the unfolding drama.
Sarah rose and crossed to Lucas. “You think this one can save you from Sebastian?”
Mary bit her lip again, swallowed. “He means more to Sebastian than I do. Were I his mate, Sebastian would honor it.”
Sarah looked over her shoulder at Mary. “Then why have you waited?”
Mary shrugged. “I need to finish school before anything else.”
Sarah smiled with genuine delight. “You’re going to college?”
Mary tried to smile back. It might have been a bit wobbly. “I’m going to Gonzaga. Like you did.”
Pride filled her mother’s expression for a brief moment. “Then you want to become a werewolf?”
“We think it best not to make any large changes before I graduate. I’ve only got six months left.”
Sarah considered Lucas closely. “And this is the werewolf you want changing you?”
“Yes,” Mary said, completely honest. Lucas was the only werewolf she would trust to turn her. “Do you have anything against werewolves?”
“Actually,” Sarah shook her head and her voice sounded almost surprised. “No.”
Mary relaxed a fraction. That should ease her mother’s fears of her becoming a vampire.
Sara laughed. “Oh, no, Mary. That doesn’t solve our dilemma at all. As long as you’re alive and human, you are in danger.”
Sarah eyed Lucas again and gave a negative shake of her head. “I’m sorry. Your plans must change. Six months is too long to wait.”
Mary bit her lip, struggling to contain her anxiety. Sarah’s brows arched as she gave Mary a falsely innocent look. Her mother was too cunning to sell that look and they both knew it.
“Why so anxious? It’s what you want, right?” Sarah’s expression turned deadly. “Or were you hoping to talk your way out of any big changes? If so, let me disabuse you of that notion immediately. Your life will change and you will never again be the same as you are now.”
“Of course, I want Lucas to change me.” And before the lie could be fully exposed, Mary added, “I just wasn’t planning on doing this now.”
The other vampires sniggered at how close she skated around the truth, as if they could smell the half lies. “It’s also a very intimate experience. I refuse to have an audience.”
And if there was any part of her mother that wasn’t insane, truly loved her and did want to save her life, then she would allow some concessions. Mary nearly shouted these mental instructions at Sarah.
Sarah nodded, then jerked her head to the side, ordering the other vamps from the cavern. Indicating Ben and Travis, both manacled in place, she said, “There’s nothing I can do about them.”
Considering the alternatives of sending them with the others to be used as toys and snacks, Mary agreed. “They’re fine.”
When Sarah walked behind her, helping Mary to her feet, Mary gave Lucas a serious, slightly negative look. In her mind, though, she considered what was about to happen. Growing up, Mary had many tutors. For a long time, though, Sebastian and Lucas were the only two creatures she’d trusted. The only two that didn’t induce hysterical panic attacks. And while Sebastian had ruled the Murder, Lucas had been left to teach her and occupy her mind with something besides nightmarish memories. So much of her werewolf lore had come from Lucas himself.
It wasn’t the bite alone that forced the transformation. There were so many different chemical reactions involved, each crucial in its own way. If it weren’t for these fail-safes, lycanthropy would have spread like a disease and wiped out the humans long ago.
Instead, it was a virus stored in glands beneath a werewolf’s tongue that began it all. Once it mixed with the Lycan saliva and was injected into the “victim’s” bloodstream via a bite, the transformation became likely but not necessarily positive.
From there, it depended on the recipient’s adrenaline to rush the chemical through their system and the power of their immune system to fight the invading virus. The only options: win, lose or die.
Either of the three options were risks her mother was willing to take.
Mary swallowed thickly, her eyes on Lucas and her mind on science. To ensure her survival as a werewolf, they would need to raise her adrenaline and pass as much of the virus from him to her as they could, giving them better odds against her healthy immune system.
The adrenaline could be forced in two different ways. Fear or passion. Fear would make the vampires’ control over themselves near impossible. Passion would make it difficult, but manageable. And it would give him more of a chance to pass the virus. Which meant one hell of a make-out session. In front of her mother.
Mary sighed and allowed her reluctance to show clearly.
Sarah’s dry voice came from behind her. “I see what you mean by intimate experience.”
“You know, there are just some things a mom should never watch. Like, her daughter sucking on a man’s tongue.”
“If you think I’m stupid enough not to supervise…”
“I couldn’t get that lucky.” Mary finished for her.
“Right.”
Mary faced Lucas, her bound hands reaching for the edges of his coat.
Sarah sucked at her teeth impatiently and cut the rope. “He can turn his back to the room, but keep your hands visible and well away from that stake.”
Mary grinned. Sarah hadn’t needed to read her mind, which was bad, but still funny. Kind of. It made the years between childhood and now seem a smaller gap.
Mary ducked between Lucas and the wall and put her hands to the back of his neck. Or tried to. She stretched as far as she could, but she wasn’t tall and he very much was. She met his dark gaze. How could they make this work?
Very slow and deliberate, Mary smiled and, when his eyes narrowed, she swung her gaze to the bolt shot through his coat just above his left clavicle. Her forearm partially hid it, but it was clear what she meant.
Lucas dragged his hands down her arms and sides, clasping her hips, then lower until his hands wrapped around
the back of her thighs. As a distraction technique so she didn’t think about what she was doing, it worked wonders. His hands were large and hot from the silver-fever he fought, but his eyes remained clear and focused.
Her body was not focused, however, tingling and stretching and altogether enjoying itself too much. His intent gaze, his heat, and the firm touch of his hands ratcheted up her pulse, making her breath go shallow and her lips dry.
He lifted, bracing her between him and the wall, his hips pressing her thighs wide, demanding she make space for him. Mary’s thighs clenched around him tight, her back arching and pressing her breasts to his chest, her body easily accepting what she would have normally rejected.
Here. In front of her mother. Mary’s eyes widened in panic and she stared up at him helplessly.
Lucas' eyes were hard, even sharper than they had been. Filled with a grim determination that said they would do what they had to and deal with the consequences later. She swallowed hard and gave a small nod.
Earlier, she had compared him to an exotic dancer, but it wasn’t costumes, a pole and a stage that he used as tools. No, Lucas stripped to his waist in the center of the practice field and danced with weapons twirling lethally in his powerful grip. His torso was lean and draped in muscled strength from his taut abs to his thickly muscled shoulders. Even the sharp protrusion of his Adam's apple in the shadowed light was a sign of strength. Only a fool would consider him weak or submissive, though he knew how to play the game.
Leaning forward, she licked at the tender spot over his pulse, taking in his taste, absorbing it, knowing it and using it to catalyze arousal reactions in her body. She pulled back, breaking the suction on his neck and leaving a dark red mark.
He winced and his nostrils flared as they had the two other times he’d scented her arousal that day. Maybe her body didn’t care what she had to do, but her heart knew what plans she risked, what future was at stake here. This was life or death, turn or die. No part of her could fully forget that and she reserved the right to resent her mother for forcing this situation.
The Murder King's Summons Page 3
