William said sadly, “I am more man than you could ever know.”
Julia had looked into his face, and William had not been able to mask the sincerity of his feelings—or his desire.
She'd shifted her gaze from his as they walked away together, the vampire guard swarming around them.
*
Taking
Joseph gave Tony a subtle flick of his tail, but it was scent, not motion, that let Tony know to flank the group of vampires. One among the Were remained unchanged.
A new threat faced them. They had smelled what threatened during their last reconnaissance.
The Rare One was entering her awakening. She would be dangerous. One of his wolves would nail her with the gun—a gun that had a dart filled with a sedative. It could stop an ox. In this case, it would stop the Singer from using what made her unique against them. That she stayed willingly with the kiss of drinkers was worrisome. Very worrisome.
She was unmated. Joseph knew that. Her smell told him.
They moved toward the group stealthily. They were sure and confident—ready for combat.
*
Julia
Julia was nervous. She was usually anxious now. Gone was the easygoing nonchalance of her former life. Knowing what she was had stripped her of that. Not knowing what her future held, or knowing the expectation others had for her future had cloaked her as surely as the warm puffy coats of her Alaskan existence before.
William watched her pace, her unease a contagious thing. Finally, he could bear it no more. “What is it? What is troubling you?” His arms were crossed, his face in shadows as he leaned against the wall in her chamber. She took in his form—his athletic build accentuated by the casual attire and his tight black T-shirt stretched across a broadly muscled chest. Black sweatpants hugged hips and legs that were finely honed by exercise and the perfection of what he was.
Julia stopped. She felt the pull there between them like a rope of warm taffy, always taut, never breaking. She felt dumb explaining it. “I know that the exercise is good.” His expression encouraged her, and she realized she was starting to care a little for William. She didn't know how she felt about it, but after almost eighteen months, he and Claire were really all the contact she had.
She went on, stumbling over the next part. “Before the thing… happened.” Julia flicked her eyes to his. He would know what she meant. He waited in pregnant silence.
She swallowed. “I felt a sense of…”
He arched his eyebrows. “Foreboding?”
She nodded, relieved he understood. “Yes.”
He straightened. “You sense that now?”
She nodded again. The foreboding was a vibration in her body, humming in an ominous way she hated. And the headaches were back.
Turning, she walked closer to him voluntarily for the first time.
*
William
William watched her move, a graceful, slow-burning flame with eyes and hair a liquid gold that ignited a torch within his soul. He stuffed his emotions deep inside, giving her his pleasantly neutral face. It was something that was now a daily challenge. Before, it had been made easier by her indifference. He did not feel that from her right now, in this moment.
Julia came very close to him. Reaching out, she placed a small hand on his arm, and he stifled the gasp that tore from inside him as their flesh connected. Her eyes moved to his. “I'm not afraid of you anymore. I don't know how I feel, but I know you'd protect me.”
It took every ounce of willpower not to touch her back—caress the face he had caressed mentally a thousand times before. How badly he wished to do it with his hands. Instead, he forced them against his side, remaining unmoved.
“Today, I'm afraid. Even this near, this protected. I don't want to be with the Were.” Julia knew however bad this new life was, that the alternative with them would be worse.
William stiffened. “We would never allow that. They have tried for you twice, and failed. They would never succeed.”
She shook her head, the ginger of her hair sliding over shoulders encased in the smooth nylon material of her exercise gear. He watched the silken strands and wanted to run his fingers through them. The low light of the skylight made it glow a soft red. William suddenly wished he could see it in the sun. He imagined it would be quite red.
“They may succeed,” she said.
He looked down at her as she looked up at him. “No,” he said fiercely, his emotion overwhelming his sense. He wrapped both his hands around her forearms. “It cannot be precognitive. If that were so, they would have tried for you months ago, when you were more vulnerable.”
William felt her watching him, and it took every bit of willpower to hold himself back. His nerve endings were on fire.
*
Julia stared at him. He didn’t believe her. She'd be given her nightly exercise, regardless of her misgivings. Maybe she had a case of nerves.
Maybe her unbearable loneliness was in the way. She felt the heat from her body emanating toward his. Still, that small space separated them. She noticed his hands encasing her arms, and suddenly her eyes were on his lips.
Julia's mind trembled at the possibility. Her emotions and intellect warred in a heated battle.
Julia felt him holding back, waiting for her to act. She would have to decide if she wanted him. William would not make that decision for her.
Julia felt her emotions—her guilt over Jason, his death, their unconsummated marriage—unraveling. Missing him felt like misery in the pit of her stomach. She knew that what she was beginning to feel for William was wrong. But she could only go on so long with the constant loneliness. William was right: he had proven himself. She was the one who needed to move on.
Her decision made, Julia stood on tiptoe. Using lips that hadn't kissed in almost two years, she brushed a featherweight's press over the softness of his mouth.
Julia's eyes were closed, one hand on his chest for balance. She didn't feel his response, and her skin flushed with embarrassment. She began to draw away.
Then she felt his hands move off her arms and snap around her body, jerking her against him. His mouth moved over hers with a barely contained hunger, eating at it until she opened it for him.
He lifted his mouth just long enough to say, “I will always protect you, Julia.”
“I know—” she began, but his mouth came down on hers again, and she twined her arms around his neck. The heat that moved between their embrace felt overwhelmingly natural.
Too natural.
Julia pulled away just as there was a knock on the door, and William's arms released her reluctantly. She watched William’s face. He followed the progress of her hand as it touched her mouth, swollen from his kiss—bruised from his affection.
Guilt assailed her. “Come in,” she said, relieved for the interruption.
Pierce entered the room. “It's time.” He looked from William to Julia. The broken tension lay dangerously all around them like shards of glass.
*
William
William was angry at the knocking. The sweet scent of Julia filled his nose and his senses wailed to take her, to make her his. Their first contact was more overwhelming than even he could have imagined. That she initiated it, that their blood share was all but washed away, made it all the sweeter.
He looked upon her as she pulled away, guilt and desire mixed up in her features. He had a pang of regret then shoved it away. He had not taken what she'd loved away from her. It was the Were that had stolen her husband's life. In their haste to acquire her, they'd killed a Singer unnecessarily. It had been a long time, almost two years of patience and frustration. If he could finally be joined with her, if she would possibly be open to a courtship, he would not dissuade her. And his competitors were fewer.
Actually, the horrible attack of Julia had tightened things up considerably in the coven.
He glanced at Pierce, coming to his senses as if emerging from a fog. He shook off the letharg
y of his desire with difficulty. Gabriel wished for Julia to exercise, to be away from the coven. Even William had to admit that she was progressing better with the exercise.
But her words of disquiet were troubling. William did not make assumptions. He wished to be as confident as possible, but to discount a Rare One was not prudent.
William considered himself pragmatic—and ruthless.
Always ruthless.
He turned to Pierce. “Let us take an additional five runners.”
Pierce's brows came together.
William answered his unspoken question. “Their presence will ease Julia.”
He turned and smiled at her. She gave him one of her rare genuine smiles. He loved seeing it on her face and smiled back.
*
Julia looked at William and was instantly relieved. He had not discounted her warning. He was more than a protector now. She wasn't sure what he was becoming, but in that moment, a small space in her heart softened and a fissure formed, allowing William in.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Run
Julia wiped sweat off her brow, running with a thousand vampires at her side—or at least, that was what it felt like.
She'd told William that the Were were sniffing around, and so far, they had seen nothing.
Julia was feeling foolish. She decided to tell him so.
She knew that they didn't need fifteen anymore. Five was probably enough. He smiled and kissed her forehead casually, calling off the vampires for the following evening's run. Her sense of impending doom lessened.
It had been a full week since she'd mentioned her uneasy feelings to William. It was so similar to what she'd felt before Terrell went madder than a March hare—as Aunt Lily would have said—that she'd felt compelled to speak. Now, she just felt like a dumbass, getting the vampires wound up because she had an emotional hiccup. Julia needed to be stronger.
She smiled at William. Julia thought there would be a ton of awkwardness between them, but he'd been solicitous, touching her subtly day by day. A slow bridge of small intimacies—one on top of the other— was building.
She came to find herself looking forward to the subtle touches and glances, anticipating them. If anyone had told her that she was going to be crushing on a vampire two years ago, she would have written the letter to have that person committed.
Yet there she was. She hadn't forgotten Jason, but the pain was less acute.
Julia was also not certain of her path. She knew in her mind that Jason was gone, and that this weird new life, however much she hadn't wanted it, was what she had now. Julia realized she needed to move on. A vision of Jason's face, once so clear, had turned fuzzy at the edges. She felt herself all at once profoundly sad again. It was not just losing him in reality but also the memory of him slipping away day by day that tore at her heart.
*
William stood, watching the myriad of emotions play over her face. Having made a study of humanity in the past two hundred years, he knew some of what the issues she was reconciling herself to.
Damn the Were, William thought for the hundredth time. She would have been separated from her husband regardless. However, his death had marked her. Even now, she struggled.
“Julia.” William looked at her, the sadness clinging to her like greedy fingers and thought that she looked so fragile and small standing there. The hopes of his race depended on a young woman barely more than a girl.
Julia swung her face to Pierce and the other three and nodded. She was ready. She focused her considerable will on the moment, not on the past.
*
They were deep into the run, her body singing in muscular tension and heat. The vamps were barely on a jog. Julia felt as though she was practically sprinting. They climbed the steep hills of the city as if they were the Swiss Alps. An occasional car sputtered by, the gears grinding together in the ascent. When they reached the area of the famous Nordstrom's, they stopped, the loneliest part of the night embracing them as they stood in a loose group.
William grabbed the water bottle from a small backpack that hung between his shoulder blades. He handed it to Julia, and she gulped a few swigs, admiring the building. Cyn would have died ten deaths to go shopping there. Julia's melancholy stole its way inside her again. Her face tilted to take in the vertical sign. It was completely black except for the letters in ivory. She noticed it was lit from the sides, the characters softly illuminated.
Julia grappled for a life that was no more until Williams interrupted her thoughts. “Let us go back.”
She nodded and was struck dumb with a pain so acute, so widespread that she gasped and fell to her knees.
The five vampires took their eyes from their posts to assist her.
As Julia lay sideways on the concrete sidewalk, the sign poised above her head like a guillotine, she saw the Were slide out from the dark corners the city provided.
There were many.
Julia whispered through her pain, which she now recognized as an alarm come too late, “Werewolves…”
*
Joseph and Tony watched, alongside the remaining nine Were, as the small group of vampires allowed Julia Caldwell to rest.
Six long days they had waited for the vampiresʼ complacency to reestablish itself—for their perfect moment of opportunity.
Finally, it had come.
Joseph took in the sight of her. Her golden hair was swept back in a ponytail, and the navy athletic gear looked black to his wolf vision but was so soft a color in the darkness he knew it was blue. Watching her drink water, he felt her awareness of him before she did.
“She will know we are here soon. Be ready.” He gave Tony a significant glance, and Tony raised the dart gun in acknowledgment.
“I'm not gonna fuck this up. I told you,” he said in a growl.
Joseph turned his snout to Tony, and their golden eyes locked on each other. “See that you don't. We won't get another opportunity like this one.” Their eyes held for two heartbeats more until Tony broke the stare, his status in the group firmly set. Not Alpha.
Joseph swept his eyes among the other Were soldiers, and they gave him the subtle eye contact he required. The affirmation that let him know they were ready to battle the vampires.
On his scent command, they released their bodies from the shadows and stepped out into the open.
*
William knelt beside Julia, stifling his rising panic. The first thing that flooded his mind was her warning, nary a week old, in which she had told him of her unease. He had listened, acted. But now he saw the alarm on her face and realized that the Were had chosen their time, and it was now.
William tenderly brushed the hair that had come undone away from Julia's temple.
He stood and readied himself for what the Were would bring.
The four who were with him spread and flanked his position. With a last glance at Julia, he stepped in front of her. The look blazing in her eyes scorched a path in his mental imagery and made his insides clench.
Trust.
Julia trusted him.
As he gazed out and counted eleven of the enemy, he hoped that the sentiment was not misplaced.
*
Julia reclaimed tenuous control of her body and stood on shaky legs. She was fatigued by the run and numb with fear. She backed away from the vampires who were in front of her, and her eyes met the Were that stood beyond them.
One in particular captured her attention: the rapist.
Julia backed away until her butt collided with the travertine façade of the building.
The night was as dark as they came, the streetlights illuminating the Were in patches then disappearing as the dark embraced them again.
Julia didn't take her eyes off the one. He was the biggest, the most intense. She immediately understood that he wasn't the leader. Then she saw it. In his hand he held something—a gun.
What? They were here to kill her? Julia was utterly confused. The two groups were not, however. As she held h
erself up against the wall they wordlessly charged each other, the Were making excited yips as their supple muscles flexed and bunched, readying to spring against the vampires.
Julia thought she'd just slip away while they fought. She couldn't be taken by the Were—her mind shuddered at the possibility. She began to feel her way along the building's smooth contours, until her hand curved around the corner. She turned her face into an alley so dark she couldn't see where it ended or how high the sides were.
She stepped into the darkness, the war behind her raging in a clash of supernatural strength and will.
*
William advanced on the leader, swiping with talons that sprung from his fingertips in a blur of motion faster than anything he had mastered before, the pulse of his feelings for Julia a thing that beat in his brain independently of his heart. The need to protect her was instinctive.
He saw one of the runners fall in his peripheral vision, a gaping wound in his body. Still, he would heal, William thought as he leaned away from a strike and simultaneously punched a hole of his own in the chest of the nearest Were.
Fear gripped him. Julia was no longer a warm presence at his back. At the same time, he saw one of the largest of the dogs break from the group and lope off to the side, a spider gait with fur, pursuing something—or someone.
William turned in the direction of the lone Were just as Joseph used his half-wolf paws in a swinging arc, bringing them down across William's back, knocking him forward into a rough patch of cobblestone, revealed by damaged asphalt. William’s hands bit into the unforgiving street as two more of the Were assailed him. They pummeled him into submission.
Before he lost consciousness, he tore the head from the neck of one, and warm blood sprayed his face. He gulped without thinking, the grievous wounds inflicted by the Were repairing as he drank the arterial spray of the enemy. His death repairing the worst of William’s injuries, a cycle of rejuvenation that was as old as time.
*
Joseph saw the vampire leader take the head off his third and howled. Before Joseph could kill the vampire covered in blood at his feet, his second growled, “Tony.”
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