The door opened. A pale woman with blood-red eyes and fangs in her smile stood in the doorway. She grinned, her pale skin gleaming in the light. The scent of rotten fruit assaulted Melanie's nose and she let out a soft gasp, stepping backward. She wasn’t fast enough, though, as the vampire charged in. The vampire grabbed her phone and smashed it before seizing her around the waist and dragging her from the room.
“Hey!” Melanie threw her head forward. Her forehead collided with the vampire’s nose. The vampire squealed, and her grip loosened just enough for Melanie to slip away. She shifted into her cat form, the clothes she’d managed to put on melting off her body. She darted for the staircase.
A pained howl came from the first floor. Melanie sprang down the stairs, aware of the vampire on her tail. When she rounded the steps and darted into the hallway, she skidded to a stop. Hurricane, half-shifted into his wolf form, was on the ground. Three dead vampires lay on the floor, their throats ripped out. A dozen more surrounded him, kicking and beating on him.
The vampire chasing her swooped down and seized her by the neck. With a cry of triumph, she hoisted Melanie into the air.
“Stop,” a voice rang out.
Melanie twisted, her claws half-unsheathed, as a man strode into the hall. He frowned at Hurricane as he growled. The wolf tried to get up, but one of the vampires slammed a boot into his spine and pinned him down. The new vampire snarled and pushed the other away.
“You idiot,” he snarled. “Don’t kill him. I get one shifter in exchange for the man Zane killed. One. I’m not going to waste it on this wolf. He’s meaningless to me… Besides, look at the mark on his neck. Someone else has claimed him.”
Hurricane growled and started back up, but fell with a pained whimper.
“Stay down, boy, or else I’ll have to arrange more deaths to get what I want.”
Hurricane surged to his feet, howling, and the vampire punched him hard in his stomach, then headbutted him. This time when Hurricane went down, he stayed down.
The vampire shook his head. “Someone feed him your blood so he doesn’t die.”
The order was met with scowls, but the leader didn’t care. He strode to the vampire holding Melanie and smirked. His eyes seemed to literally glow as he looked at her. When he snapped his fingers, another vampire stepped over, holding a cage made of thick steel bars. The one holding Melanie stuffed her into it. Melanie tried to turn and scratch her, but they were too fast. The cage shut with a distinctive click.
“I am pleased to finally meet you,” the leader said, smirking at her. “I’m Eldric. And you are the little kitty whose scent was all over Zane’s home. He must like you a lot to introduce you to his mother. Judging by the scent at his home, you were there every day… Things must be very serious between you two.”
Melanie puffed up her fur and hissed at the vampire even as her mind whirled. Clearly this guy had no clue what was really going on. If she was in her human form, she might have considered correcting him. But her first priority was to get out. Eldric said that the shifters owed him a death—and by the way he was looking at her, she knew who he had picked for his sacrifice.
Eldric hummed, taking the cage almost gingerly. He smiled once more at her, and then headed out of the mansion. Melanie yowled and hissed, trying to claw him through the bars, but it was useless. Everything she could reach was heavily protected by layers of leather. The vampire didn’t even seem to notice her attempts as he carried her to a sedan and placed the cage inside before he climbed in after her.
“Oh, don’t be like that,” he said when she hissed again. “You are part of a research project that has been going on for almost two thousand years. Thanks to your contribution, and the contribution of other subjects like you, I am going to find a cure for vampirism.”
Melanie's snarls died in her throat. She blinked, confused.
“Didn’t expect that, did you?” Eldric chuckled. “Before I was turned into a vampire—very much against my will, mind you—I was a wealthy man’s son. A learned man, I was. I took my education very seriously. I learned every science. That is perhaps the greatest thing being a vampire gave me, the ability to continue my studies and learn more about science every year. But it took almost everything away from me… even the sun.”
Melanie winced. She hadn’t thought of that. What must it be like, for a vampire? Turned against their will, their humanity stripped away. Who were they, really? The same person they were as humans, or something else? A monster, or a victim?
“I’m getting it back,” he said softly as a driver got into the car and pulled them away from the mansion. “I’ve found out how to give myself the sun back. In the end it was simple. Inject a shifter with pure venom, and then siphon their blood into a vampire’s body. Doesn’t work to drink it, but putting it directly in the vein? The process makes us more human. Takes away some of our abilities. But we have the sun back.”
Melanie watched as he closed his eyes and sighed. She slipped a paw between the bars and started to bat at the latch holding it shut. Whatever sympathy she had for him, it didn’t change the fact that he was going to kill or experiment on her or both. She had to get out of here.
“Shifters are key,” he murmured, more to himself than to her. “I’m certain of it. If I can just make a vampire-shifter hybrid. Then drinking their blood… Infusing it with our venom. I’m certain it will allow vampiric strength and longevity while allowing us almost human lives… better than human. The best of all three, without the limitations of any of them.
The latch flipped. Melanie felt a surge of triumph as the cage door swung open. Eldric’s eyes opened as she sprang out, aiming her claws at his face. The vampire let out a surprised shout as he grabbed at her. Her claws tore through his skin, releasing more of that rotten fruit scent.
The crack of a gunshot made them both jump. The car swerved, throwing Melanie to the other side of the backseat. She sprang up again and looked out the black window—her heart leapt to see Zane barreling after them, a gun in his hand. He fired again, and the back window shattered.
Eldric cursed. “Here we go again.”
Chapter Ten
Thunder
Eldric ducked down out of sight and Zane cursed. Not much would kill a vampire, but putting a bullet in his head would certainly slow him down. With Eldric out of view now, he took aim at the tires. He held the bike steady with one hand, took a deep breath, and squeezed the trigger. The tire blew out, making the car swerve from side to side. Zane grinned as the brakes squealed and it ran into a telephone pole.
He zipped up to the front first. The driver started to get out of the car, but Zane put a bullet in his brain. Eldric tripped out of the back. Their gazes met for a moment. Blood trickled down Eldric’s face from long scratches around his eyes. Zane lifted the gun and fired.
The shot went wide. Eldric flinched, snarled, and ran. Zane whipped the bike around. He opened the gas and raced around the back of the car to the sidewalk. There, he stopped for a steadier aim and lifted the gun again. Eldric glanced back, cursed, and threw himself to the side as Zane fired again and again. His gun clicked, and he snarled, about to take off after him, when there was a meaty thud from behind him.
“Zane!”
He turned at Melanie’s voice. She scrambled up from where she had fallen onto the sidewalk and stepped toward him, lifting her arms as though to embrace him. Her knees and palms were scraped, her body naked. A small cut on her lip dribbled blood.
For a fraction of a second, Zane was tempted to turn. To leave her and go after Eldric, the need for answers and revenge burning through him. But his wolf snarled and snapped at him for even daring to think such a thing. He cursed bitterly under his breath as he turned back to Eldric’s fleeing form—there were other vampires and he had no idea if they were watching and would kill Melanie if he left her.
She had frozen when he swore, eyes wide.
“Get on,” he told her. “Quickly, before the cops come to arrest you.”
“Indecent exposure, lady. You’re naked.” Naked. His wolf growled again as he considered what Eldric might have done. He shrugged off his leather jacket and handed it to her. She pulled it on, huffing with apparent disgust when she tried to zip it only to find it wouldn’t close over her breasts.
“Get on,” Zane repeated.
Melanie climbed on behind him. The knot in his chest eased once her arms were wrapped around him, but he didn’t speak. He turned the bike and took off down the road. They made it back to Hurricane’s place quickly, and Zane ushered her inside. She still smelled overpoweringly like him.
“Are you okay?” he asked once they were in the hall and safe from stranger’s eyes.
Melanie stared up at him. “Yeah. Sorry I stopped you from—”
“You didn’t stop me.” He touched the cut on her lip, eyes darkening when she winced. “You’d tell me if he hurt you, right?”
“Yeah,” she breathed, eyes wide as she shuffled a little closer. “But he didn’t. I got his face pretty good, though, didn’t I?”
His wolf stopped its pacing. It snorted, pleased, and he couldn’t stop himself from smiling. His lips tingled with the desire to kiss her. He would have, too, if she hadn’t continued.
“How did you even know to come after me?”
Zane’s gaze darkened slightly. “I brought Ma here, saw the vamps. Between me and Hurricane, we killed them, and then you weren’t here. Grabbed one of his bikes and went after you. I knew Eldric would be heading for Easthallow, cause that’s where Typhoon lives and the vamp would need his permission to claim you. I’m just glad I found you. If anything happened to you...”
He let himself trail off. His hand shook, thinking of what would have happened if he had been too late. His wolf growled with the need to protect her and he couldn't stop himself. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tight against him, needing to feel her in his arms. Needing her to be there and safe.
Relief washed over him. She was here. She was safe. The vamps were gone, for now. He’d need to secure the grounds, but right now all he cared about was holding her in his arms. Melanie's arms wrapped around his waist. Her face pressed into his shoulder.
“Me, too,” she whispered.
Zane let out a strangled laugh. “I thought you said you didn’t do gangsters.”
“You said you didn’t do forever.”
“I wish I could tell you that I didn’t and that you didn’t change that.” He held her tighter. “Hell, I’m screwed. I want you, Melanie. I want to do forever with you. But I can’t give up my position. I can’t give up the Brotherhood. And that includes everything that goes with it. I’m no knight in shining armor.”
Melanie squeezed him tighter for a moment, then released him. She stepped back, her expression disappointed. “I know you can’t.”
There was nothing more to say. They stared at each other for a moment, and then they moved past one another, each with their own tasks to accomplish. Zane’s heart sat somewhere around his toes. He had thought that Tornado and Shadow were insane for taking mates, but now he knew what it really was—not a choice. He hadn’t wanted to fall in love with Melanie, but here he was. She was the center of his world and he knew he would never be allowed to keep her.
***
Typhoon arrived at the mansion looking fit to kill. Zane’s own wolf rose up in answer to the threat, but when Typhoon stared at him, fury and fire in his eyes, Zane’s wolf bowed to the alpha. That probably saved his life.
“Explain,” Typhoon snarled at him.
Zane did, keeping his voice strong and calm. Typhoon listened, not interrupting. When he was done, Typhoon shook his head and ran a hand over his buzzed hair.
“Fucking idiot,” he spat at Zane. “This is the sort of thing I need to know before it blows up into a catastrophe. Now Eldric’s gone to the kings and got them breathing down my neck to allow him his kill. And if he decides to kill you, it will serve you right! Idiot! I ought to strip you of your position right now. What sort of an alpha goes fucking around like that and makes this big of a mistake? You’re an idiot and I ought to tear your head off myself!”
“Hey!” A streak of brown crossed in front of him and Melanie pushed herself between the two of them. She put a hand on her hip and poked Typhoon in the chest. “You can’t talk to him like that. Who the hell do you think you are? This is the alpha you’re talking to.”
“Melanie—”
Typhoon narrowed his eyes. “He’s the alpha of the Ivywood chapter. I’m the alpha of the whole fucking Brotherhood. And who the hell are you?”
Melanie shrank back, but straightened quickly enough. “Someone who isn’t going to cringe from your big scary intimidation tactics.”
Typhoon snarled at her. Zane acted without thinking. He grabbed Melanie's arm and pulled her away from Typhoon, then planted himself in front of her. A snarl ripped from his own throat as his hackles rose. Claws started to form at the end of his fingers. Typhoon growled, but this time he didn’t back down.
“Are you challenging me, Thunder?” Typhoon seemed to grow larger with every word.
“Only if you try to put your hands on my mate again.”
Melanie gasped from behind him. “What the fuck?”
Zane flinched as he glanced over his shoulder. “Yeah. You’re my mate. I don’t like it any more than you do, but it’s true. You are my mate and I won’t let anyone hurt you.”
“All my alphas are turning into idiots.” Typhoon shook his head, looking seriously pissed off. “How long have you known that girl? A couple weeks at best? I know how you met her,” he added as Zane opened his mouth. “Shit. I ought to make it a rule that mated males are immediately cast from the Brotherhood. You realize how stupid you end up when you’re tied to a woman, especially one that has no fucking clue what the hard decisions actually mean?”
Zane stared at him for a long moment. It was what he himself had thought—and perhaps a part of him still thought it. But he couldn’t change how he felt.
Melanie pushed between them again. “Look, Typhoon or whatever your name is. You can have your temper tantrum later.”
Was she trying to get herself killed? Zane tensed as Typhoon’s eyes flashed.
“Eldric wants me. But not to kill me. This whole exchange thing you’ve got going on? I’m damn certain that he’s been stealing shifters marked for death and experimenting on them. He’s using shifter blood to allow the vampires to walk around in sunlight. And he wants to make a shifter-vampire hybrid. The way he was talking, he thinks it’ll make him invincible.”
Typhoon’s eyes grew even stormier. Zane pulled Melanie back again, ready to attack the other alpha if necessary. Typhoon didn’t make any motion as though he was going to attack, though. He turned away, hands clenching and unclenching. After a long moment, he turned back to them. All emotion had been completely wiped from his face.
“I’ll look into that. If there are shifters being held in the vampire kingdoms, then the vamps will pay. But,” he glared at Zane again, “that doesn’t change the fact that you killed a vampire in vampire territory. By the treaty, a life must be given in exchange for that life.”
“You can’t be serious!” Melanie lunged, and Zane caught her. Her green eyes glowed and sharp claws formed at her fingertips. “Eldric attacked first! He bit Zane, he drank his blood and kidnapped his mother! Doesn’t that break your little treaty? Or does that not matter, you’re still going to hand me over to them?”
Typhoon shook his head, allowing Zane to relax. “Eldric has no claim to you. Under the old contract they could choose their sacrifice at will, but under the new terms, the life given is the one who killed the vamp in the first place.”
Zane nodded, grim. He would accept that if it meant Melanie was safe.
She, however, began to curse up a storm, shouting and spitting while her teeth sharpened. Zane, fearing that she would at
tack Typhoon and get herself hurt, wrapped his arms around her waist and dragged her away from him. He pinned her elbows to her sides, but she thrashed, writhed and spat continually.
“You know the history between me and Eldric. He targeted me on purpose, goaded me—”
“We all know the history between you,” Typhoon interrupted. “And Eldric himself slipped up and mentioned drinking from you in Brotherhood territory. Using that, I was able to negotiate. The two of you will fight to the death at the next full moon. And that’s the best I can do for you.”
Zane relaxed. He was bigger and stronger than Eldric, he stood a good chance in a one-on-one fight. The vampire kings must have agreed to it because they were tired of Eldric’s dramatics, too.
It was a mistake to loosen his grip though, because as soon as he did, Melanie tore herself away. Her fist flew, smacking Typhoon right in the nose. His head jerked back, and he let out an odd huff. Zane cursed, grabbed her and spun around so whatever retaliation Typhoon would have would go on him rather than her.
“Your rules suck,” Melanie howled. “They suck big time!”
Typhoon rubbed his nose, checked his hand for blood, and glared at her. “Keep your fuzzy little tail out of Brotherhood business.”
“I’m Zane’s mate,” she shot back, struggling against his hold. “That means Brotherhood business is my business!”
Typhoon growled and pointed a finger at her, but he addressed Zane. “Get that cat out of my sight before I snap her neck.”
Zane snarled, his wolf bristling at the threat to his mate, but he was smarter than to try to fight this one out. He seized Melanie around the waist and threw her over his shoulder. While she kicked and screamed at him to put her down, he raced away. He didn’t stop until they were in her bedroom and he’d shut the door. It was only there that he put her down.
Tears rolled down her face. “Eldric is the one who attacked you, he ought to be the one in the noose.”
“I’m going to be fine. He’s scrawny and always runs when there’s a fight.” Zane wrapped his arms around her gently. “Don’t worry about me.”
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