Ravaged (Vampire Awakenings, Book 7)

by Brenda K. Davies

  Satan himself would have gotten out of Aiden’s way if he saw him on the street.

  “Do I scare you, Magdalene?” he purred in a taunting tone she didn’t recognize.

  There was no point in lying to him; he knew the truth. “Yes.”

  Aiden stopped a few feet away from the door. Despite the dampness of the cool air, he wore no clothes. She suddenly understood why Vicky said she didn’t look in the window when she spoke with him.

  Maggie bit back a cry of despair and fury when she saw the blood trickling from beneath the cuffs on his wrists and ankles. He’d fought against his bonds so much that he’d torn his skin worse than she’d shredded hers.

  His struggles and pain had been for nothing. There would be no breaking the chains binding him. The links of the chains were easily larger than both her wrists put together and led inside the wall where she assumed they were bolted. Those chains were attached to the bands on his ankles and wrists and were at least three inches thick and five inches wide.

  “Why did you do this to him?” she demanded and spun on Ethan.

  Sorrow radiated from his eyes as he bowed his head. “We had no other choice.”

  Maggie wanted to punch him, but instead, she focused on Aiden again. “Aiden,” she breathed as tears pricked her eyes.

  For a fraction of a second, she swore she saw a flash of green in his eyes. Then, the red became brighter, and he returned to the shadows.

  “You should be scared,” he growled.

  “No, I shouldn’t,” she argued. “You won’t hurt me.”

  “Get her out of here, Ethan, and when I get out of this cell, I will kill you for bringing her here. I set her free. Let her go.”

  “No, Aiden, wait!” Maggie protested. She tried to grasp the window again, but Ethan pushed her hands down once more.

  “Don’t get any closer to him,” Ethan cautioned at the same time Aiden shouted, “Don’t touch her!”

  Maggie stomped her foot as she gazed back and forth between the infuriating men. “I came here to talk to him, and that’s what I’m going to do!” she declared.

  She jerked her hands away from Ethan. Before she could touch the window, Ethan grasped her shoulder and pulled her back. “Stop it!” Maggie protested.

  “GET YOUR FUCKING HANDS OFF HER!” Aiden roared so loudly the walls around them shook.

  Maggie yanked her shoulder away from Ethan at the same time Aiden rushed at them with the speed of a Mac truck. Before he could reach the door, the chains reached their end and yanked him back. Startled by the sudden rush, Maggie staggered away from the door before she could stop herself.

  Aiden lunged against the chains again, his fangs snapping as his thickly corded muscles strained against his bonds. Veins bulged from his flesh; sweat beaded his forehead and shoulders as he hunched forward to pull more forcefully on the chains.

  Maggie’s eyes widened when Aiden’s skin took on a reddish-black hue. She recalled thinking she’d seen the same thing when they’d been in the ambulance. Then, she’d believed she’d imagined it, but she couldn’t deny the color seeping steadily across his flesh.

  Metal screeched forebodingly.

  Aiden lunged again, his muscles bulging as Ethan gripped her shoulder again and pulled her back a step. The second Ethan’s hand touched her, Aiden howled.

  “What’s happening to him?” Maggie breathed. “Why is his skin turning that color?”

  “That’s what happens when a purebred is enraged,” Ethan replied. “And there is almost no stopping them once it does. We have to go.”

  “No! I came to help him!”

  “In this state, he may kill you, and then there will be no helping him!” Resting his hand on the small of her back, Ethan nudged her toward the door, but she stood her ground.

  “Don’t touch her!” Aiden bellowed.

  Metal broke with a pop. One of the chains on Aiden’s wrists wrenched free of the wall. Maggie threw up her hands and staggered away from the door when the broken end of the chain smashed against it.

  “Shit!” Ethan hissed.

  Lowering her hands, Maggie gawked at Aiden as he tore the cuff from his wrist before turning to grip the remaining chain binding his wrist to the wall with both hands. The color of his skin deepened as he yanked it from the wall. Then, he bent to tear off one of the cuffs around his ankles.

  “Go!” Ethan shouted and pushed her toward the door at the end of the hall.

  Despite that she’d come here to help him, fear propelled her toward the door. When she looked back to find Aiden’s hands wrapping around the edges of the window, her step faltered. She watched in disbelief as the steel door bowed from Aiden pulling it toward him.

  CHAPTER 48

  “Vicky, get the others!” Ethan shouted as he hurried her faster down the hall.

  Maggie’s heart beat so fast she half feared it would explode. Her fight-or-flight instinct screamed flight at the top of its lungs, yet she knew she couldn’t leave Aiden. Not like this.

  She loved him, and she wouldn’t give him up without a fight. The bulbs overhead danced and swayed from the vibrations rattling the walls as Aiden tore his cell apart. Ahead of them, Vicky and Brian appeared in the doorway. A black-haired man she didn’t recognize and Saxon stood behind them.

  “What the…?”

  The black-haired man’s question trailed off as his gaze went toward Aiden’s cell. She couldn’t hear her footfalls or breaths over the wrenching sound of twisting metal. Something crashed behind them, and the floor lurched beneath her feet.

  Ethan grabbed her elbow and swung her up to clasp her against his chest. He started running. Over his shoulder, Maggie saw the ruined door of Aiden’s cell falling into the middle of the hall. The door of the cell across from Aiden’s was now bent inward, and she assumed Aiden had thrown his door into the other one.

  Maggie gasped when Aiden stepped out of his cage and into the hall with his hands fisted, his legs braced apart, and his red eyes latched onto her. There was no denying the demon DNA coursing through him as, from head to toe, his skin pulsed with that reddish-black color and the veins in his arms bulged. She wouldn’t be at all surprised if a set of horns sprouted from his head.

  He’d kill them all, she knew, but she might be able to stop this. If Aiden was this crazed because Ethan had touched her, it meant he still cared for her, still wanted her even if he’d told Ethan to take her out of here. She might be able to reach him, somehow.

  The others all stepped out of the way when Ethan carried her through the door and set her down. Maggie took two steps forward and spun back. Ethan was pulling the door closed when she ducked under his arm and ran back into the corridor with Aiden.

  “Stefan, stop her!” Vicky yelled.

  She realized that Stefan must be the black-haired man she didn’t know, and she recalled Aiden saying he had a brother-in-law named Stefan.

  A hand skimmed her back, seeking to pull her from the hall.

  No! Maggie screamed inwardly. She threw herself forward, knowing she might be diving toward her death, but it was too late to stop her plunge.

  Before the hand could get a firm hold on her and yank her back, another hand swung out of the shadows and knocked the first one away. Arms encircled her and spun her away. Aiden’s scent filled her nose when she found herself clasped against his broad chest.

  Behind her, the slamming of the door echoed in her ears and reverberated down the hall. For a minute, Maggie didn’t breathe, and she couldn’t bring herself to open her eyes as she remained unmoving in his arms.

  Then she was set down so abruptly that she staggered to the side. She came up against a forearm as a wall of muscle pinned her into a cage made of flesh and bone. The cool metal door pressed against her back.

  Chest heaving, Maggie tilted her head up to take in the ruby eyes blazing down at her. If she hadn’t seen him in his cell, she never would have recognized Aiden now.

  He’d planted his hands on either side of her head, keeping the
door closed as the others banged and shoved against it. The door opened a couple of inches, pushing her forward a step before Aiden rammed it closed again. He didn’t look at the door as his attention remained riveted on her.

  Blood trickled down his forearms from the abrasions the cuffs had created on his wrists. It slid past her eyes and dripped onto the floor. Still, he stared unblinkingly at her. Maggie gulped, but she didn’t dare move. Movement might set off his predatory instincts; if she tried to run, he would take her down.

  “Maggie!” Vicky shouted. “Maggie, are you okay?”

  Aiden’s arms vibrated with tension as his gaze fell to her mouth before drifting to her neck. The red of his eyes intensified.

  “Maggie!” Ethan shouted.

  “I’m… I’m fine!” she called back as Aiden’s eyes returned to hers. “Leave us be!”

  Maggie bit her lip as she waited for them to continue trying to get in, but she heard nothing, and no one shoved on the door. Aiden continued to stare at her until Maggie wondered if he didn’t recognize her. Then, he removed one arm from the door to stroke her cheek with his knuckles.

  “Maggie,” he breathed.

  “Yes, it’s… it’s me.”

  “Why did you come here?” he demanded in a voice she barely recognized.

  “For you.”

  Before he could reply, she slid her hand around the back of his head and rose onto her toes. She might be about to kiss a live wire, might be about to pay the price for doing something so stupid, but she sensed he needed contact with her if she were going to get through to him.

  When she ran her tongue over his mouth, she licked away the trickles of blood beading his lower lip. He remained unyielding against her as she tasted him. The longer he remained unmoving, the more apprehensive she became that she’d come too late, he was too far gone, and he would kill her. However, while she lived, she wouldn’t give up on him.

  “I came for you,” she whispered against his mouth.

  She felt it when something within him broke and he lost control. Wrapping his arm around her waist, he lifted her against his chest. Maggie draped her arms over his shoulders as he gripped her hair and pulled her head back to deepen her kiss.

  His beard abraded her skin, and she shoved her apprehension aside when his fangs pricked her bottom lip. She didn’t try to fight him. He needed her, and she trusted him to keep her safe. When his fangs pricked her lip again, and he consumed more of her blood, he shuddered against her.

  “Maggie,” he breathed.

  A part of him believed he’d hallucinated her outside his cell, but as the scent of her engulfed him and the heat of her body warmed his, he became increasingly convinced she was real. Then, her blood hit his tongue, and some of his madness ebbed. Only Maggie could taste so good.

  “I came for you.” Her words replayed in his mind as her fingers dug into his shoulders and she ground against his swelling cock. The rare times he’d slept since coming here, dreams of her had haunted him, and he’d woken with an aching need his hand failed to satisfy. Now that need tripled until his dick throbbed painfully.

  He broke the kiss and lifted his head to look down at her. Heavy lidded, her eyes were dazed with passion, her mouth swollen from his kiss and stained a deeper red from her blood and his. He’d never seen anything as beautiful or amazing as her.

  Aiden’s eye flashed from red to green and back again as he struggled to regain complete control. She cupped his cheeks in her hands and drew him down for another kiss. His hands twisted in her sweater, and material shredded as he ripped the front of it open from her neck to her belly button.

  Surprise crossed his face, and he pulled his hands away from her as he stepped back. Maggie held onto him. She was certain she could bring him back from the edge, but if she let go of him now and allowed him to retreat, she feared she’d lose him forever.

  And she also held on for herself too. For the first time in weeks, she didn’t feel like shredding her skin off, she felt at ease, and she almost sobbed with the joy of it.

  “No,” she said when he dropped his hands to her waist and started to pull her away from him.

  “Can’t. Too out of control,” he grated.

  She sensed his mounting confusion. “No, you’re not.” She ran her lips over his cheek and down to his neck. “I trust you.”

  When her hands slid over his shoulder blades, his muscles flexed beneath her touch, and his hands tightened on her waist. He could pull her off him, but he didn’t. Her fingertips traced his shoulders before she ran them down his chest to his waist.

  “I trust you,” she murmured as she ran her tongue over his ear and slid her hand down between their bodies to grip his erection.

  His cock was stiff and hot in her hand, yet soft against her palm. She ran a finger over the thick vein on the side of it before running her thumb over his silken head to spread the bead of precum forming there. The familiar feel of him created a pleasant ache between her thighs and she grew increasingly wet for him.

  His head fell to her shoulder; he inhaled a ragged breath as he gazed at her belly. He’d torn the front of her sweater open, but she still wore her bra, and the sleeves remained on her arms. Unable to resist touching her, he glided his knuckles over her stomach before flattening his hand on her hip. His fangs scraped her neck, over her vein, but he didn’t sink them into her.

  “I need you too, so badly,” she breathed.

  He lifted her off him so fast she didn’t register the movement until she was on her feet. Her breath caught, but she didn’t have time to process what was going on before he was undoing her jeans and pushing them down her legs. Maggie kicked off her sneakers as he tugged her jeans off and tossed them aside.

  His eyes were still a volatile shade of red when they met hers again, but the fury had ebbed from him. There would be no going back after this, no changing her mind, no keeping her mortality. She’d known that when she walked out of her apartment with Ethan.

  She started to pull off the remains of her ruined sweater, but he seized her hips and lifted her again.

  Maggie slid her legs around his waist and went to rest her hands on his shoulders. Before she could touch him, he snatched her wrists and pinned them against the wall over her head. When she jerked against his hold, his hand only tightened on her.

  She recalled him saying he hadn’t allowed the women he’d had sex with to touch him. Was he too far gone to accept her touch now? Would he treat her the same way as all those women before her? Could they ever repair the damage wrought between them?

  Her throat clogged at the possibility even as he sank his shaft inside her. Maggie’s head fell back as the exquisite sensation of him filling her again took control and pushed her worries away. She’d almost forgotten how right it felt when they joined together.

  She would give anything to touch him, but he kept her restrained as he pulled his hips back before impaling her again. Aiden’s forehead fell to her chest as his body took control of hers. His fangs grazed the swell of her breast, above her bra.

  The ravenous fire licking over his veins scorched his body. Maggie could put those flames out, yet still, he hesitated to drink from her. He’d been denied her too long, and she was his mate. She was also his to protect, and right now, he was the biggest threat to her. He was barely maintaining his control as he listened to the blood racing through her veins.

  “It’s okay, Aiden,” she whispered when his fangs scored her skin again. Power emanated from him, the reddish-black hue of his skin lessened but remained present. While that color stayed, she sensed he wouldn’t be in complete control. “Take my blood.”

  He switched her wrists into one hand. His other hand fell to her waist and snaked around it to drive her down onto his shaft, taking her harder than he ever had before. The feel of his body against her, the heat of him, the friction of his body inside of hers pushed her closer and closer to the brink. When his next thrust rubbed her clit, Maggie cried out. Then, his fangs sank into her breast, an
d she nearly screamed as he drew her blood from her. Her back bowed at the same time her body came apart and waves of pleasure crashed through her.

  Aiden growled against her breast when her orgasm caused the muscles of her sheath to clench around his cock, pushing him closer to spilling his seed. Her blood sliding down his throat extinguished the flames torching his veins as he greedily consumed it.

  Small tremors still racked her when Maggie jerked her wrists against his hold again. “Let me go.”

  No matter what their relationship became now, she refused to be like the other women he’d been with before her. Aiden hesitated long enough she feared they wouldn’t be able to get back what they’d had. Then his grip eased, and he let her go. Maggie’s hands fell to his shoulders before cradling his head to her breast.

  She nuzzled his temple and forehead as his body enveloped hers. His fangs retracted from her chest, and his hand entangled in her hair as he pulled her head back to gaze at her. More of the color had faded from his flesh, but she’d hoped to see his beautiful leaf-green eyes again; they remained red.

  Aiden held her gaze as he continued to thrust into her. When he drove into her again, his body tensed and he came with a low groan. His head fell into the hollow of her shoulder, and he inhaled his scent on her skin as he ran his tongue over her collarbone. He felt more in control, but being inside her and feeding on her hadn’t been enough to calm him completely.

  “Maggie,” he whispered hoarsely.

  She ran her hands over his body, hoping to soothe him further, but the color was creeping back into areas where it had already faded. She’d expected him to be more relaxed now, or at least be able to talk with her. Instead, he seemed to be spiraling away again. “Aiden, what is it?”

  “It’s been too long. I can’t control myself; it’s too late.”

  “No.” She clasped his cheeks and pulled his head out of her shoulder so she could look at him. “No, it is not.”

  “I need the bond to be completed, Maggie. I have to change you.”

  “Then do it. I didn’t come here thinking I would walk away still human. I didn’t go to the hotel that day thinking I wouldn’t one day become a vampire.”