Eternal Embrace

by Billi Jean

  Viktor studied the path, then sniffed over to the side and started digging in the grassy turf under the shrubs to his left. His front paws ripped the turf, throwing bits of grass and dirt behind him as he kept at it.

  “What is he doing?” Joey asked, breathless and beautiful at his side.

  “I have no idea. The Lykae mind is odd.”

  The wolf snorted but didn’t stop digging. Suddenly he heard the wolf’s paws hit something other than soft dirt. Viktor stopped and stepped back. Jaxon hunkered down, with Joey peering over his shoulder. He brushed dirt aside to reveal what looked like a square wooden door of some kind.

  “A trap door?”

  Viktor snorted, and nudged him with his wolf head.

  “Even if we manage to get in that hole, it probably ends back where we started,” he grumbled.

  Joey rested her chin on his shoulder. “Well, what else can we do?”

  “A hell of a lot. This might lead anywhere, wolf. What the fuck do you want us to do with this?”

  “Jaxon, could you please stop harassing him? We should try to get the collar off, huh?”

  She moved closer to Viktor, but from the distance, they heard a shout and the thud of running feet and she froze.

  “Right. Here, let me see the collar,” Jaxon ordered, leaning closer. “It looks solid. Like a solid piece of wire, not really a collar at all, but thin, hidden really in all that fur, man.” Viktor snorted again, but let him trace the metal and tug on it, trying to break it.

  “You can’t break it off him, Jaxon? Can I try to remove it?”

  He shook his head. “I can’t get it off, and you’d better not try.”

  Joey moved closer, examining Viktor’s neck closely. “It looks like silver, but silver’s not that sharp,” she said, twisting it out of the way to reveal the way it’d cut into Viktor’s neck. “It’s even sliced his neck, maybe from him trying to get it off?”

  “Maybe,” he murmured. “Look, is this way safe? Are you certain? Once we go down there, how the hell do we know it won’t take us right back to them?”

  Viktor pulled away, bit into the hedge, and ripped off pieces of shrubbery. He clawed and bit until with an excited cry, Joey helped him.

  “He wants us to disguise which way we went. We can cover this with the branches and hope…”

  “Hope they are fooled by a hole dug in the middle of the shrubs?”

  Both of them stopped to give him almost identical ‘what the fuck’ stares.

  “Shit, okay, we’ll try this,” he grumbled, pushing Joey aside and motioning with his hand for the wolf to back off. He sliced big chunks through the hedge, making a four foot opening.

  “All right, now, the false trail is laid.” He motioned to the trap door and cut more of the lower branches of the shrub above it so he could lift the lid. “I’ll go first and you, Mr Mangy, are at the rear this time.”

  Joey snorted at the same time as Viktor, but Jaxon ignored how cute she was, and bent to lift the rusty metal ring at the centre of the trapdoor. Pulling, he tested the weight. The thing was solid. “Stand back,” he ordered and waited until Joey’s tiny boots backed off before he raised the lid an inch. A harsh choking smell rose from the hole.

  “Damn,” Jax muttered, lifting the lid higher and trying not to breathe. The smell faded after that first blast and carefully, he dropped the lid on the grass. “Okay, when I say so, Joey, you sit on the rim, and I’ll catch you.”

  Joey nodded. He scanned the area once more, then just when he would have signalled them to move, he heard the thud of boots on the grass. Not growing closer, but not leaving off either.

  Taking a deep breath, he jumped inside, landing only a few feet down on soft, solid dirt. He spotted nothing around him besides the narrow walls of an underground tunnel system. Clean for the most part, but ancient and better, unused. He stepped carefully to the side nearest him then back, examining the prints he left behind. Satisfied, he turned and called to Joey.

  “Now, baby, sit on the edge and—” A muffled thump sounded from above him and the wolf snarled, disappearing from view. “What was that?”

  “Nothing, nothing, come on,” Joey urged, sitting on the edge and practically jumping into his arms.

  Viktor jumped in seconds after her. Jax lifted himself back up, spread the destroyed shrub around their footprints, and dragged the lid over them, keeping his hands out to cover it as much as possible with the shrubbery. Satisfied he’d done all he could, he let the lid fall with a dull thud over their heads.

  As soon as he did, blood hit his senses.

  Not any blood either. Joey’s.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Jaxon spun Joey around and planted himself right in her face so fast, the air left her on a whoosh. Viktor snarled, but eased off almost immediately. She didn’t. Neither did Jaxon.

  “You’re hurt!”

  “Well, I think I’m kinda…” She broke off and swallowed, not looking forward to telling Jax the truth.

  He didn’t wait for her to finish, but shoved her shirt up, ripping the hoodie in the process, and froze.

  “Darlin’, I—this—” He gentled his grip until he barely touched her, and grimaced at the bloody hole in her side.

  “I’m pretty sure the bullet’s kinda still in there, you know?”

  At that, he went nuts. Ballistic to the extreme she wanted to duck and cover. She’d seen him pissed, experienced his anger first-hand, but he was so hot now, he sizzled. Through the link with him, she sensed powerful instincts rising up to swamp him. She was surprised he could hold them off and he didn’t. With a suddenness that made her gasp, he had her flat against the wall with his lips pressed to her side.

  “Jaxon! What are you—?”

  He pulled with his mouth, sucking so deeply she choked on a scream and bit her lip to keep the sound from surging free. He must have heard her though because he tightened his hand on her and eased the pressure of his mouth, almost soothing her now with odd, seriously whacked results. She grew woozy and lightheaded and just when she thought she would fall, she did—only Jaxon caught her and gently eased her to the ground. She heard Viktor whine, and Jax lifted his head enough to snarl at him. Her vision blurred, but she was sure his fangs had dropped.

  The next thing she knew she was in his arms, and he was running, murmuring her name in a whisper as he raced along.

  “Joey, wildcat, you can’t do this to me. Not again. I just got you and I—”

  “Jaxon, shhh, I’m okay, I’m good.”

  He stumbled to a stop. “Say that again,” he demanded.

  “I’m good, just tired. So tired. Is it daytime?”

  “Past, it’s past. Just stay awake a bit longer, okay?”

  Did he sound strangled, choked up? “Yeah? I will try, okay.”

  He shook her face gently. “No, stay awake, Joey, stay awake. Shit, stop, stop,” he called. The world tipped and she hung on to Jaxon’s shoulders to make it stop. “Look, I freaked, I drank from you, too much, okay, and now you need to drink from me.”

  “Jaxon, you drank from me?” she asked, trying to remember what he was talking about, then remembered they were bonded.

  “Of course you did. I loved it, did I tell you?”

  “Not then, shit, you’re not okay. You need to drink from me, fully, not a small amount, not like before, more.”

  “Oh, oh, I can do that, I think, but won’t I get—” She broke off and her mind grew fuzzy on the details. “Oh, yeah, hot, and Viktor is here…”

  “Wildcat, you can get as hot as you like, I’ll hide you, okay? Just drink.”

  He hung his head and held her so tight, she felt like he might suffocate her. It was hard to make sense of him.

  “Jaxon, I can’t breathe. It’s okay, if you drank from me. I wanted it to be a bit more memorable, but it’s okay.”

  “Joey!” He pulled away and stared at her, his eyes flashing a brilliant blue when he opened them so wide. Did he know? “Baby, you were shot for fuck’s sak
e. Shot! You didn’t tell me and I thought,” he choked on a cough.

  “You freaked out,” she finished for him.

  Beside her, the wolf yipped as if in agreement. She smiled at Jaxon and pulled his face closer, breathing against his lips for a moment before she kissed him. “I love you. I didn’t want to have you come out of that hole and ruin everything. You healed me?”

  For a few seconds he stared at her, looking miserable and torn. “I healed you, after I got the bullet out and bit you,” he muttered the last. “Now, you need to drink, and as hot as I want that to be, we have company, still.” He tacked on, sounding pissed about that.

  “Get us free of this underground maze and home where we belong, and I will make it so hot you melt, okay?” she offered.

  He hugged her tight and kissed her head, murmuring her name in her hair. “You make me do that already. You’ll have to drink, and I can’t soothe you, you know, with sex,” he whispered.

  She kissed his throat, already craving the pulse under her lips. “I shouldn’t want to do this, Jax. I really, really shouldn’t, but I want to, I want to…” She trailed off and licked his skin, moaning at his taste. “I loved it before, you taste like the best whisky ever made,” she told him.

  “Ah, fuck me, darling, that is so fucking hot.” Against her body, Jax’s body hardened to tense muscle. Before she could comprehend what he was doing, he sliced a line across his throat where his shoulder met it. Blood rushed out, bright, Jaxon-scented blood. He guided her mouth to the spot and with a moan, pressed her lips to his neck. Without a conscious decision, her fangs dropped and she dug her fingers into the firm muscle of his broad shoulders.

  “I want this. You didn’t have to do this. I choose you, only you, Jaxon,” she told him softly. She licked along the cut and hummed as his flavour hit her taste buds. “Oh, Jaxon, you taste so good,” she whispered.

  “Shit, baby, come on, you’re killing me here,” he growled.

  She bit down, sinking into his flesh and drew on him with urgency. Blood—spicy, potent—filled her mouth and slipped like ambrosia down her throat. She drew again, barely conscious that he encouraged her with tender words and soft caresses. His blood hit harder than the most powerful double espresso she’d ever ordered. But with Jaxon, the shot was also the purest, finest-grade alcohol ever produced.

  She broke off with a gasp and fell back, trying to sort it all out. Her body heated like it was on fire, her muscles easily able to do anything she asked of them. Her mind, too, worked quicker, faster and much more able to comprehend her surroundings. And more magical than all that, her pussy was soaked, flaming so hot, she would have begged him to fuck her—if Viktor weren’t somewhere nearby. She even considered it with him nearby.

  “Oh, Jaxon, that was”—she broke off and licked her lips—“amazing.”

  Jaxon’s worried face came into her line of sight and he smirked. “That’s it? Amazing?”

  “Well,” she murmured, threading her fingers through his hair to discover it was even silkier, softer to the touch than she remembered. “I’m still buzzing, so give me a second to think of something more descriptive.”

  He gave her a big grin and bent closer to whisper, “Wait until we have sex and we do it.”

  The wolf snorted, and Jaxon shot him an irritated look.

  She distracted him by softly caressing his face and on down his chest to his belt. He grabbed her hand there though, ending her hopes he’d let her test how velvety hard his erection was when she was high on Jaxon.

  “Party pooper,” she muttered, but let him help her sit.

  He cracked a grin, but grew serious very quickly. “No secrets.”

  “I would never keep a secret from you,” she told him tartly.

  “Being shot is—”

  “I told you as soon as you shut the lid. I’m not dumb, you know, Jaxon. If I’d told you, that lid would have blown sky high when yours did. I bet you growled and freaked out, didn’t you?”

  He gave her an offended look, but she saw the wolf nod his head. “I was upset, but you would be too, if I’d been shot.”

  She nodded. “Yeah, I’ll give you that one. When are we going home? Can you shift yet? Why can’t you?” she asked as soon as he shook his head.

  “I don’t know. I’m still strong, I can still sense things, I can feel you, but I can’t shift things to me or us out of here. It’s up to you, but you can’t shift the wolf and me, so we walk for a bit more. It might be the chains. They were spelled to hold me, the magic takes time.”

  He hesitated, and she watched him mull something over before he helped her stand. “I don’t think that’s it, though. The blood I’ve had—yours specifically—should have knocked any spell right out of me. This…” He rubbed his goatee and along the stubble darkening his jaw. “This feels different.”

  “Different how?”

  “I’m not sure how to describe it, but let’s walk. Just take in your surroundings as you go and if you can shift us some water, we all need it.”

  She felt fine, more than fine, but still lifted her shirt and examined her torso. No bullet wound marred her flesh. Jaxon reached out and brushed his fingers over the smooth skin.

  “You fucking frighten me sometimes, wildcat.”

  “I don’t mean to.”

  “This, I’m sure of.”

  He brought her fingers to his lips and kissed them. “Let’s go. The quicker we do, the faster we can leave this place.”

  “And be home,” she said with feeling.

  Jaxon nodded once and started walking. They were underground, but this time, the sides of the corridor appeared smoothly carved from stone. Dust lay heavy on the ground and no footprints appeared ahead of them. She kept pace with Viktor and Jaxon easily, hoping, they were finally going to make it out of the crazy trouble they’d landed in—if they ever found an end to this tunnel.

  The bond between her and Jaxon seemed stronger, almost like an extension of herself, but the sharing of the minds wasn’t there—only the sense of him, right there near her. The more they walked, the more she knew exactly where he was, whether in front of her or, if he slowed, behind her.

  “Wait,” Jaxon called. At the same time, she sensed more of their kind—immortals—ahead of her. Disturbingly, she also sensed blood.

  Viktor’s hackles rose, but he kept on, this time placing each paw carefully as they inched along.

  “I sense a whole lot of evil ahead, Vik. Go carefully. Joey, use the technique I taught you before, but spread it like a blanket to include all of us.”

  “The invisible in the shadows thing?”

  Jax nodded, but his attention was fixed ahead of them, as if he could see through the dark and discover what lay ahead. She concentrated on blending into the surroundings, making herself and her companions part of the shadows.

  “Good, that’s good. I’m still sluggish. Other than fighting our way out of this, we got jack, wolf. Take it slow. If we need to fight, protect Joey.”

  Fear settled over her the deeper they went, until with an arm over her chest to hold her back, Jax hissed for them to stop. “I go on alone. Just for a few feet, not far. I’ll come back when—”

  “No, I can move easily in the shadows, you know that. Let me go see, and I’ll bring wolfman with me. You stay here. How far is it, ten feet? Fifteen?”

  He pulled her close and bent his head. “I’m not letting you five feet out of my sight. We go together then, but you stay in between us, got it?”

  “Yes. I got it.” She left off the Jedi Master, because he glared as if he wanted to shake her just a bit. “Go. I want out of here.”

  He must have agreed because he pushed her slightly behind his back. “Put that shadow on deep, really deep, Joey.”

  She did. She thought of the deepest darkest shadows she could, pulled it around them like a blanket and sensed it encompass them all as they silently made their way along. A corner appeared and from it, she saw the flicker of lights, then when they eased around t
hat, a narrow shaft of more light flowed from another branching-off corridor.

  “This area can’t be the main hold. There aren’t nearly enough Death Stalkers for it to be the prime location. This can’t be where we were. We’ve gone too far west.” Jaxon seemed to mull that over as he stared at her and Viktor. The wolf blew out a breath then nodded with exaggerated care, nipped at his own leg and arrowed his nose at the corridor, then back at them.

  “There are Lykae down there?” Jaxon asked.

  Viktor shook his head and sniffed, then bit himself again and nudged her with his head.

  “Wolf-tiger things?” she offered, unsure how she got that, but Viktor nodded with exaggerated care.

  “Fuck me, that’s not good, right?”

  Viktor snarled, then lowered his head, seeming to say, no, it wasn’t. He stood straighter right after and turned to face the shaft of light with a low whine.

  “We have to try to save them, huh?” Jax whispered, then muttered some truly offensive curse words.

  “Jaxon, we still don’t know what’s up with you and shifting. It’s not just shifting either is it?”

  Jaxon shook his head and seemed to come to some decision.

  “You stay with me.”

  Shocked, she blinked over at him. Then concentrating she tried to send him her thoughts. “I will, I promise.”

  “Good. Leave this open, this pathway. I want this open.”

  “I didn’t close it!”

  He snorted and hugged her. “I know, just keep your mind open to me, that’s all. The more blood exchanged the more of a pathway we create. Until then, you might have to force it.”

  “Okay.”

  “You have your pipe?” he asked, frowning when he noticed she didn’t. “Call one of my knives too, and make sure you get more if you lose them. Think of our home, all the places I have weapons and draw from that.”

  She nodded and imagined her pipe. It hit her palm with a smack and seconds later she held the knife from his table.