Oh.
Aeron was talented. Talented. Beyond fucking talented.
“Silas!” I screamed, safe from prying eyes inside the bubble of fae magic. Before I could reach him, he'd shifted into wolf form and latched onto Julian's neck with his jaws, dragging the vampire away from the doors to the bathroom and throwing him against the opposite wall.
Fortunately the next round of classes had just started and there were few people in the halls. Good thing, too, because I didn't know exactly how powerful Aeron was. Her mother could've concocted a glamour capable of masking both sight and touch, but the princess? I just wasn't sure. And if Silas and Julian slammed into someone, the whole illusion could wear off.
“Silas!” I shouted again, but he was completely red-zoned, locked onto Julian with a ferocity that was almost frightening. He was fucking losing it.
Tidus was right beside me, trying to get control of our pack mate, shifting into wolf form and trying to block him from the daywalking vampire. It seemed ironic, defending a man I wanted dead. But this was not the place, not the right time.
Murdering Julian now could spark the war that I was so fucking afraid of.
Silas barreled right into Tidus, knocking him out of the way and grabbing Julian by the head. I heard the distinct sound of bone cracking before the vampire got control of himself and started to fight back.
His hands shot up and Silas yelped in pain as fingers dug into the sides of his neck, digging right through his skin and drawing blood.
Without many other options left to me, I shifted too, and snatched one of Julian's arms, squeezing down with all my strength and severing the limb from the rest of his body. The vampire howled in agony and yanked his other fingers from Silas' throat, turning on me instead.
Lunging up from the floor, he went for my throat and managed to sink his teeth into my neck, the sheer force of his bite cutting through the ruff of fur until his fangs were buried deep into me. With poisoned vampire flesh between my lips, and vamp pheromones tainting my blood, I felt my body start to list to one side.
'Zara!' Nic shouted in wolfspeak.
“Oh for Christ's fucking sake!” Che called out from behind me, right at about the same moment Tidus grabbed hold of Julian by the back of the neck and squeezed.
I collapsed onto my side as the vampire took his last breath, jaws releasing my neck as he sagged back onto the white linoleum floor with a macabre death rattle.
And the scariest part about all that?
He wouldn't stay dead.
'Start cleaning this mess up,' I told the boys, feeling Nic's wild fear through our pack connection. He'd stay with Faith, though. That boy knew how to do his job—even when it was hard for him. I knew I could trust Nic to keep Faith safe. 'Take him outside and put him in the SUV, but make sure you put a wooden knife in his heart first.'
My vision was dancing and blurring as I shifted back, naked and hating that I'd decided to wear new jeans today. Should've known better.
“Here,” Montgomery said, handing me a cool water bottle. He must've grabbed it from the vending machine down the hall. Quick thinking.
I took it from him, filled my mouth with cool water, swished and spit.
“Goddamn it,” I whispered as Che hefted Julian's body up and over his shoulder, the sound of Aeron's laughter echoing around the empty building. Anubis and Jax had managed to clear the hallway of humans; it was just us in here now.
My fingers touched the side of my neck, felt the tiny punctures and the overwhelming wave of pleasure that hit me with I teased the broken flesh. Fucking vamp pheromones. They'd make you orgasm at the same time they drained the life from your body.
But their saliva … it was just as poisonous to a wolf as their blood.
“I have an antidote with me,” Monty said, the tip of his white braid dragging through some of the copious blood splatter on the floor. He reached into his jacket, felt around inside a pocket, and produced a tiny brown paper packet. Tearing the edge, Montgomery opened the package and handed it over to me.
Inside, a sprinkling of black powder sat, reeking of sulfur and copper.
Demon blood.
“Where did you get this?” I whispered, but my voice was cracking, my vision blurring. I needed to stop questioning my blessings and utilize them instead. Taking the packet in shaking fingers, I sprinkled the foul tasting ash on my tongue and washed it down with the water bottle.
Anubis and Jax were on their knees scrubbing blood with huge wads of paper towels from the bathroom. Tidus was sitting against the wall naked, swishing soda around in his mouth to rid himself of the taint of vamp blood. Silas was doing the same, holding a hand to the wounds in his neck, his eyes closed as his breath whooshed out in panting gasps.
“There are duffel bags with clothes in them, in the back of the SUV,” I told Montgomery and he nodded, rising to his feet and jogging outside to grab them. “In the bathroom, boys,” I choked, still feeling shaky and weak and unsure as I found my feet and stumbled over to the unisex bathroom, pushing in the door and sagging against one of the sinks.
I turned the water on full blast and started washing the vampire blood off my hands and face.
“Clean up,” I instructed, trying to keep my voice neutral when what I really wanted to do was growl and rip into Silas for such a stupid stunt. He could've exposed us all in there. Worse even, he could've gotten himself or somebody else killed.
“I'm sorry, Alpha,” he said, leaning over the neighboring sink, espresso dark hair falling into his face, his naked body a kaleidoscope of tattoos. My wolf responded to the sight with a purr of pleasure. Even with the demon blood antidote in me, I could feel waves of lust and heat raking through me from the bite. My sex swelled and my nipples hardened and I knew both boys could smell me.
“Lock the door,” I told Tidus, simply because having a human walk in here would be downright catastrophic. But the way it came out? In a husky purr? I felt the air in the bathroom heat with an electric charge.
The Amber Ash Alpha-Son did what I asked before moving over to the row of sinks and rinsing himself carefully, the only sounds in that bathroom the rush of water and the harshness of our combined breathing.
“Come here,” I told Silas when we were both done cleaning up. I turned, my bare ass cheeks pressing into the sink as I had him stand in front of me. Looking into those gorgeous gold eyes of his, I put my hands on either side of his throat, where the wounds were, and closed my eyes.
The feel of my palms against his rapidly beating pulse … it did things to me that I didn't know how to fight, especially not with the vamp pheromones doing their best to turn me into a raging nymphomaniac.
Add to that the fact that our bodies were close … so close. I could feel Silas' warmth, smell the cherry and vanilla scent of pack Obsidian Gold, even through the stink of blood and sweat and violence.
After a moment, the magic responded to my touch, filling the room with the scents of fresh rain and wet earth. That musky wildness that swept over us made my skin pebble with goose bumps. Silas closed his gold eyes, the scar on his face crinkling with the motion.
He was hard, too, his cock responding to the sense of urgency and need in the room, this bestial calling that I was finding hard to resist.
A knock on the door sounded at the edges of my concentration and Tidus scrambled to answer it.
It was Nic.
“What the fuck happened out there?” he asked, pausing on the opposite side of the bathroom and looking at me and Silas like he could sense the intensity brewing between us. Che stormed in right after him, the sleeves of his black hoodie pushed up, his arms covered in blood up to his elbows.
“You fucking son of a bitch!” he shouted, grabbing Silas by the shoulders and pulling him away from me. He lashed out with both palms, leaving red handprints on Silas' chest as the other boy stumbled back and hit the tiled bathroom wall.
But the wounds on his neck … those were gone.
“I can't even … fuck,
man. The lengths you'll go to cover up what you've done.” Che reached out and curled his fingers around Silas' throat, pushing him into the wall as he snarled and his skin rippled with the ebony night of wolf fur. “I ought to fucking kill you right here, right now. Only thing that's stopping me is the fact that I don't want to clean anymore blood up!”
“No,” I said, and the single syllable snapped into place like a solid entity, taking up more of the room than all of us put together. I was panting and shaking, and I needed someone to lay hands on me so we could heal the Blood bite on my neck. “You won't touch him because your Alpha says so.”
My voice boomed with authority as Che's violet eyes widened.
After a moment, he scowled, but released Silas as I'd asked. The Alpha-Son of Pack Obsidian Gold put a hand to his throat and scowled right back. If I let them, the two boys probably would rip each other's throats out.
“We don't know what Silas has done,” I said quietly, and even though I was mad as hell about what had just happened in the hallway, I didn't think he was a traitor. No, I knew he wasn't. I could feel his pain and anxiety ricocheting between us, teasing our connection with fear and confusion. “But he's my responsibility.” I licked my lips and took a deep breath. “He's my mate.”
“Zara,” Nic said, stepping forward, a thread of warning in his voice. He knew what I was asking. I was asking … no, I was telling him that I wanted to mate with Silas. And Tidus. Hell, I wanted to mate with everyone in that room. But, you know, baby steps and all that. I'd only had sex three times in my life. It was a bit much to skip all the way to an orgy. “Shouldn't you at least find out what he's done first?”
“He's my mate,” I repeated, my voice threaded through with steel.
I looked over at Che and found him with his face tight, his hands clenched into fists at his sides.
“Just make it quick then,” Che snapped, and I swear, I almost put him on his back right then and there. “There's a dead vampire in the back of your SUV—and he won't stay that way for long.”
Without another word, he spun and stormed out of the bathroom.
“Zara,” Nic said again, but the tightness on his face told me he already knew this was happening. Right here, right now. It couldn't wait. The vampire bite was making me feel like I might burst out of my skin at any moment, a horny caterpillar from a cocoon. Okay, weird image, but still …
“No matter what,” I told Nic, feeling the power of the bond pulsing between me and Silas, “he's mine. I don't care what he's done.”
Nic made a low sound in his throat, raking his fingers through his dark red hair, aubergine eyes flashing for a moment before he, too, turned and left. A moment later, Montgomery walked in and offered up the duffel with the clothes in it.
Soundlessly, Tidus moved over, pulled on a pair of sweats and left with Monty following along behind him. I didn't have to say anything; he could feel it.
“Why are you sticking up for me?” Silas asked, raising his face to look at me, his expression a strange mix of lust and confusion. “I knew my dad was plotting against the packs. He basically told me to my face if I didn't snag the spot as alpha at the end of the year, that he'd make sure we all regretted your decision.”
“You knew what was happening to the missing wolves?” I whispered, my voice low and dangerous.
“I didn't … I didn't know,” he said, looking up at me with those gold eyes I'd always found so fascinating, his scar a vibrant reminder of the horror his father had put him through. “I didn't know they were eating them,” he whispered. “But I … I knew my father was involved somehow. I've known for a while.”
I closed my eyes for a moment to gather my thoughts.
“I tried to tell you the night after Coyote Creek,” he said hesitantly, reminding me of our make out session and the words he'd tried and failed to say. Mm. I remembered that. And I believed him. I could feel how earnest he was through our pack connection. “But I didn't know what to say without making you think I was a part of it. Now I've just royally fucked things up with everyone.”
“You've never met Julian before?” I asked, the reality of what'd just happened in the hallway starting to sink in. This could be the tinder that set the war ablaze. I had no idea how important Julian was to Kingdom Ironbound. Or if that even mattered. Maybe they'd use him as an excuse to fight anyway?
“Never,” he said, a growl chasing the syllables from his lips. Silas lifted his head to look at me, meeting my gaze dead-on. “I wouldn't betray you like that, Zara. I've been waiting for this moment for a long fucking time. The last thing I'd do is put our relationship at risk. I should've told you sooner what I knew about Allister. I'm just … he's conditioned me to be afraid of him. I hate it. I … goddamn it, I fucking hate it.”
Silas traced a finger down his scar and came toward me, his tattoos bright under the fluorescent lights of the bathroom.
“He's abused you since you were a pup,” I said carefully, aware of the tension in the room, in my own body, the hot heat between my thighs. “I don't hold it against you,” I continued, stepping forward and running my fingers up the back of Silas' neck and into his hair.
“Zara,” he said, letting his lids slide closed. “Don't.”
“Don't, what?” I asked him, wondering what the hell Faith was going to say when she found out that One-Kiss-No-Date had screwed her high school crush in the university bathroom, butt naked and covered in vampire blood. Okay, so I'd have to leave that last part out, but still. “Do this?”
I put one hand on Silas' chest, right over a tattoo of a blackbird, and dragged it down the firm hard muscles of his body while he watched, running his tongue along the curve of his lower lip.
The need to mate was riding me hard, maybe even harder than the day of the Hunt.
At the last moment, I skirted Silas' cock and grabbed his left hand instead, lifting it up and placing it on the vampire bite. I'd intended to try for a little more of that healing magic, but as soon as his fingers touched my skin, I lost it.
With a snarl I leaned into him, crushing our naked bodies together, my wolf rippling beneath the surface, pacing like a caged animal. My mouth pressed up tight to Silas', stealing a kiss from him a split second before his arms wrapped around me and he was lifting me up on the edge of the sink.
His cock pressed up against the swollen wetness of my core, making me feel like I was burning up from the inside. The bite throbbed, pumping pheromones through my blood, making me feel like an animal in heat.
Silas took over the kiss, sliding his tongue against mine, working his mouth against my own with a barely suppressed frenzy that I knew had been brewing between us for years. There was a reason I'd decided to share my first kiss with this boy.
Mm.
With this man?
Because he'd definitely grown into a beautiful man.
Silas dragged his hand down from my neck, smearing blood across my shoulder, down my arm. My lips parted in a gasping moan as he slid his inked fingers over my breast, kneading the pale flesh with his colorful ones.
I arched my back into him, squeezing him between my thighs, encouraging him to push forward, to fill me up with the long, hard length of his cock.
“We should probably slow down,” he started, but I growled at him and he growled back. “Fuck it.” Silas reached between us, curling his fingers around the base of his shaft and guiding himself into my opening.
It was like magic between us, the feel of him inside of me like that.
“Holy shit,” Silas groaned, letting his head fall back so I could kiss the tattooed sides of his throat. It didn't escape my realization that this was his first time. A harem of virgins, that's what I'd been given at the Bonding. It was a strange thought, that, but I didn't have time to contemplate it.
“I trust you, Silas,” I told him, putting my palms on either side of his face. His gold gaze fell to mine, giving me a brief glimpse into his soul, all those feelings he kept bottled up inside. “You won't keep anything
from us again?”
“Never,” he whispered, putting his hand on the back of my head and giving me a kiss that curled my toes and made my body clench with need. Silas groaned and then licked the side of my mouth, like a wolf.
Speaking of wolf …
“Silas,” I started, but I didn't know quite how to say it.
Putting a palm on his chest, between the two bloody prints Che had left, I pushed him back a step and he groaned, sliding out of me with a snarl playing on his lips.
“Oh, fuck, Zara,” he whispered as I slid off the edge of the sink and turned around, sweeping bloodred hair over one shoulder and glancing back at him. “Like this?” he asked, sounding both shocked and thrilled at the same time.
“Like this,” I said, my breathing coming in these frantic, angsty bursts. When this was over, I was going to be embarrassed as hell—I was sure of it. But even though my actions were motivated by the bite, my intentions were pure.
“I wish I had words to describe what I'm feeling right now,” he whispered, his voice this rough, sexy growl that had my tongue playing across my lips, my nipples pebbling to hard points. Silas stepped up close to me, taking hold of my hip with one hand using the other to find my opening again, sliding into me with a relieved groan.
The sensation of him fucking me from behind was so different that I almost lost it right there, nails curling against the sides of the sink as I looked up and found my face, so very different than what I was used to seeing in the mirror.
I looked like a goddess.
A lupine moon goddess.
My pupils were big and dark, bleeding into the purple-black color of my eyes, lids heavy and drooping. My mouth was swollen and red and my pulse was dancing like a wild bird. I leaned back into Silas as he took hold of my other hip and began to move, filling me with long, easy strokes, like he'd done this plenty of times before. I knew he hadn't though. No, what I was feeling was pure instinct.
My breasts swung with the movement and my head drooped, red hair pooling in the sink as I struggled to stay standing upright. When Silas' hand came around and found my clit? I was shocked. Pleasure arced through me, a fireworks display that lit up my brain and drew these noises from me that I'd never expected to make, not in a million years.
Pack Violet Shadow Page 11
