Death Before Dawn

by Amelia Hutchins

  He turned me over until I was on my stomach, and lifted my ass as he pushed inside, slapping my ass as he reached for my hair, only to stop as he took in the short, crude haircut which was growing back surprisingly fast. It almost reached my shoulders in just a few days, but it was a reminder of what had happened. His hands slipped lower and gripped my hips instead, and he continued to pummel me; flesh hitting flesh was the only sound inside the silent house.

  He continued until I shattered around him. The earth spun, and the stars erupted as I cried out his name. His own release followed mine, and we collapsed in a pile of sweaty bodies and heavy breathing. We did this well, the mindless sex. It was outside the bedroom we struggled, where we had to face reality.

  We lay on the floor for a while as I listened to the Sentinel’s voice in my head that promised retribution. How did he know what I was doing, and who I was doing it with? It made my mind whirl with what it could mean, or maybe I’d imagined it? It had sounded real, as if he’d watched me and was upset about Jaeden and I having sex.

  “Emma,” Jaeden interrupted my thoughts as he rested his head in his hand as he stared down at me. “We’re building a medical facility, that’s why they asked for blood types.”

  “I know.” I was already regretting that I’d given in to my baser needs. I was being selfish. It wasn’t like me, and while he may not care that I’d used him to forget, I did. “This was a mistake,” I murmured as I sat up and searched for my clothes.

  “This wasn’t a mistake,” he countered. “You’ve talked to Addy?” His blue eyes filled with unease.

  “Little while ago.” I explained what had happened before he’d found me.

  “That couldn’t have been easy,” he said after a few moments of staring at me. “You took away the pain.”

  “Did I? Or did I kill someone because I was too weak to help her? She had kids, little ones. I should have been able to do more!” I slipped into my pants, carefully adding the knives as I watched Jaeden sit up, his eyes filled with a softness I didn’t want or need. Yeah, I’d wanted him, but not this softness. I wanted him to look me in the eye and tell me that what I’d done was wrong, because it was.

  “Emma…” he froze midsentence, his hand outstretched as if to grab me as I slipped my tank top over my head and smoothed it down.

  I swallowed as my heart began to beat faster, painfully so. I turned to find the Sentinel there, inches from me with a wicked sword held at the ready, those beautiful eyes locked with mine but where they’d held heat before, they were cold. Ice cold. The blade swung, and I instinctively stepped in front of Jaeden, hearing the whistle of the blade as it sliced towards him. I shielded him from the blow meant to remove his head. I felt a slice of pain, and brought my hand up to touch my ear that had been nicked by the sword.

  I turned, slowly rising as the Sentinel backed up, his sword held in front of him. I’d been wrong about him, dead wrong. I shook my head, watching as his eyes slowly slid over my body, the coldness in them sending a chill bone-deep inside of me.

  “No,” I whispered breathlessly, as I dropped my hand and prepared to fight for Jaeden.

  “You’re no better than your mother,” the Sentinel gritted out, derision dripping from each word. “He’s your enemy. Our enemy.”

  “He’s not my enemy,” I replied, inching closer to him, knowing I wouldn’t win.

  “No?” he laughed coldly.

  “No.”

  “You keep giving him something that belongs to me, therefore, he dies,” he sneered as he pushed his blade into a scabbard that rested on his back.

  “And just what do you think is yours?” I asked coldly. I stepped closer to him, intending to attack. He’d been able to stop time, the same way I had, but where I could hold it for seconds, he held it effortlessly, and for an extended amount of time.

  “You are mine,” he answered heatedly, his eyes sliding over my body with a possessiveness that sent off warning bells.

  “I’m not yours,” I said, shaking my head.

  “Yet.”

  “I’ll never be yours. Not happening,” I replied coldly.

  “You can tell yourself that all you want if it helps you sleep better, but you feel me, don’t you?” he murmured as I kicked my foot out, trying to catch him off guard. He blocked it, as if he was clairvoyant. “The way your heart races when I get too close? Even now I can hear your heart hammering in my presence,” he laughed coldly. “The only question you should be asking yourself is when will I take you and make you mine.”

  “Fucking try it, asshole,” I snapped as I punched out, trying to catch him; but he allowed it, my fist connected with armor. I’d been wrong; he wasn’t wearing tactical gear; he had actual armor that clung to him. “Ouch,” I cried, pulling my hand against my chest as I danced away from him, keeping him away from Jaeden’s frozen form in the process.

  The Sentinel smiled, as if he’d known I would shatter my hand against it. He started towards me, the mask he wore shifting as if it were alive, and the lower half disappeared. I almost tripped over Jaeden, and changed tactics, rushing the Sentinel with my body and enjoying the gasp that stole from his lips as we collided hard.

  My teeth chattered, my body screamed in pain, and his hands wrapped around me, taking us both to the floor with him on top. I struggled against him, wondering how long he could hold Jaeden frozen as he was. Minutes, hours, or indefinitely?

  “Fuck him again, Emma, and I’ll show you that not even immortals can escape death. Next time, I won’t let you save him,” he growled, but he didn’t let me go; he hovered over me, watching me as if he expected me to react.

  He raised his hand, and one glove shimmered and melted away as he held me trapped with the weight of his body, and then he touched me. His eyes widened, his lips parted, and he shuddered with the mere contact. I felt hot tears slipping from my eyes as I considered just how fucked I was if he decided to rape me. Jaeden was frozen, unable to save me. I couldn’t move, as if he had some power over me. Time had stopped, and he was touching my cheek, catching the tear that slipped free.

  “I will kill you,” I rasped through the thickness of my tongue as I watched him look down the length of me.

  “You reek of his touch,” he countered. His fingers slid over the soft flesh of my cheek and then over my lips as his eyes explored me. I wiggled to get away, and he groaned and closed his eyes.

  What the fuck?

  “I’ve waited lifetimes for you,” he said softly as he moved to sit between my legs. I felt like I was being held to the floor, as if invisible hands were holding me down.

  “Wait a few more,” I said, and he smiled as if it was funny.

  I felt myself being freed from whatever had held me and grabbed the knife I’d returned to its sheath just before he’d arrived. I brought it up, intending to bury it in his heart, but he was faster. He pulled me up and shoved me into the wall, causing the air to leave my lungs as he slammed against me, shattering the thin wall. His hand captured mine and gripped it painfully until the knife fell from my hand. The sound of it hitting the floor was loud; the deafening noise of our labored breathing filled the room.

  His arm pushed against my chest and I cried out. He watched me as if he found me interesting, and it bothered me on so many levels. He didn’t try to kiss me, and I knew he wanted to. I, on the other hand, had no intention of kissing him back this time.

  “You kissed me last time we met, why?” I watched as his eyes slowly rose from my heaving bosom, and he smiled.

  “Testing you, seeing if you survived it,” he said cryptically. “Same as when I kissed the back of your neck; you know what they say about the third time being a charm.”

  “You think kissing can kill me?” I snorted as I kept him busy while I mentally tried to come up with something, anything, to get away from him.

 
His face turned hard, cold, and then emotionless. He stepped away so fast that I wasn’t ready and landed on my hands and knees as he watched.

  “I won’t hesitate to kill him next time, or you. Stay away from him, understand?” he ordered, and I smiled coldly.

  “I’m not yours, and you sure as hell don’t get to decide who I’m with,” I snapped, and watched as his eyes turned from icy cold, to heated with something I wasn’t sure I wanted to see in his eyes. Possession.

  “Yet,” he laughed as something cold returned to his eyes, and he crouched down to look at me. “You stink, fix it,” he growled, and I watched as his eyes changed back to cerulean blue and narrowed as he smiled. “Remember what I told you, because I don’t give second warnings. Not even for you, Mate,” he whispered before he disappeared—as in, vanished.

  I expelled the air from my lungs as I watched Jaeden come back to life, his eyes snapped to where my ear was dripping blood from the cut of the Sentinel’s sword.

  “Emma, what the fuck just happened?” he demanded.

  I couldn’t answer. The word replayed in my mind. Mate.

  Chapter 8

  Jaeden and Shamus watched me carefully as Bjorn was giving his detailed report, or to the point, what he could remember of the events that happened at the supposedly-vacant house. He hadn’t heard or seen anything as I’d struggled with the Sentinel; to him, time had stopped just as it had for Jaeden. Bjorn had been instructed to watch over us, protect us. He hadn’t had a chance once the Sentinel had shown up; hell, I didn’t have a chance and I was a Sentinel.

  One minute I’d been arguing with Jaeden, pulling away from him, and the next I’d been flinging myself in front of him as a human shield. He’d been frozen. I’d told them as little as possible about the Sentinel, unsure as to why I felt the need to protect the guy. He had an agenda, which was apparent now. I was no longer able to delude myself into thinking he was on our side, or assume he didn’t plan to hurt me. He’d said as much.

  He’d actually told me he’d kissed me to see if I survived it. What the hell did that mean? Maybe he had some unknown power that had to deal with kissing, or maybe he’d lied to me. Either way, for the last few hours my heart hadn’t stopped hammering, and this time, I didn’t know if it was because he was near, or if it was my response to what he’d done. He’d materialized inside the house. I’d felt him, and it scared the shit out of me.

  There was also the fact that he’d threatened Jaeden’s life, and it wasn’t an idle threat. He’d meant it. Jaeden had tried to hug me afterwards, and I’d pulled away from him. I’d been cold, mostly because I was terrified that if I allowed myself to seek the comfort his embrace afforded me, I’d want more. I wasn’t willing to play games with his life. The Sentinel could freeze time, not for seconds, but longer than I’d ever seen before. He could teleport, hold me to the floor without lifting a finger, and he’d looked at me with a possessiveness that terrified me.

  “Emma, welcome back,” Shamus greeted coldly, his eyes searching my body for any signs of weakness from the wound. His eyes were hard, and anything but welcoming. “Jaeden has informed me of another Sentinel; he has become a problem for you, correct? It means we have one now too, no?” His eyes lowered to where my shirt was ripped.

  “It’s my problem, not yours.”

  “Emma.” His eyes wandered up to hold mine as he scolded me as if I were a disobedient child. “You are my ward, therefore, my problem when you have one. We share an interest, a common home. I’m invested in the welfare of all those who reside in it.”

  Nice touch. He knew I’d had Addy kick his people out. He had no plans of admitting it in front of Jaeden, but he was aware I could do it at any time I chose to.

  “Have you ever seen him before?” he asked, and I felt the subtle push of compulsion in his words.

  “Yes, a few times. Once in the forest, when he cut off a lock of my hair, and then again during the ambush when he kissed me.” I felt Jaeden’s eyes as they watched me. Guilt washed through me, but then, I’d watched him with the feeders a few times, and it hadn’t always been innocent touching. I wasn’t an idiot, either; bloodlust could happen. Jaeden himself had taught me that, to prepare me in case it ever happened when I was near his kind.

  There was also the little tidbit he’d imparted on our way back here: That Jolene was now directly under his protection. Not his choice, but it meant she was to sleep beside him when he was in camp. Where I could have been, had I not chosen to end things with him.

  “Anything else? Did you fuck him as well?” Shamus wasn’t asking, he was speculating. “Details, darling,” he demanded.

  “I’m not your darling, Shamus. I didn’t sleep with him. The only man I’ve ever been with is Jaeden. The Sentinel kissed me. He is following me; it’s not the other way around.”

  “Stay close to camp, Emma; no more nature walks. Since Jaeden was in charge of your care and is now otherwise occupied with his new female, Raphael will take over where you are concerned. Raphael’s feeder is shared between him and Sven at the moment, and I’d rather not allow this…whatever he is, to get close to you again,” Shamus said, making sure I knew Jaeden was with Jolene. Whatever, I had a feeling Shamus was, and had been, interfering between myself and Jaeden for a while now.

  He’d fucked me over, and he’d set me up to take the fall. I wasn’t under anyone’s protection; if I had been, Astrid and Jolene would have been punished for what they’d done to me. It was their way, rules or whatever. It felt like Shamus was playing with matches, and I was left holding a paper heart, which was easily burned.

  “Maybe you didn’t hear me, or want to hear me. He froze Jaeden and Bjorn, easily. Bjorn didn’t even realize he’d been in a precarious position until he was told otherwise.”

  “Look around you, Emma; we are fifty strong, and the wolves will soon return to us when the alpha is healed,” he snapped. “You will do as I say, child.”

  “Or what?” I replied crisply. “I’m not bound by your laws or words as the others are. So exactly what will you do? Spank me? Tie me up?” I shivered as he smiled coldly, his eyes slowly moving down my body as if it was something he’d wanted to do for a while.

  “Pray you never find out, little one,” he mused as he stepped away, dismissing me.

  “Emma,” Jaeden called out when I turned to do the same. “We need to talk about what happened.”

  “No, Jaeden, we don’t. I told you, it was a mistake.”

  “You need to listen to Shamus. I’m counting on you to behave.”

  “Don’t,” I ground out. “Don’t count on me for anything. I’m drowning, and the last thing I want you to do is to drown with me.” I turned away from him and started my search of the layout of this camp for a tree where I could hang my hammock.

  Once I’d found it, I set it up and climbed back down the tree, then headed to the little area that was used to bathe in, my new sidekick tagging along. Raphael didn’t have the same moral code that Jaeden had. Instead of giving me the gentlemanly courtesy of his back while I bathed, he lay in the grass a few feet from the water, chewing on a flower stem. His eyes skimmed the water as I sank my naked body beneath it.

  “I can see the attraction, you’ve got a nice ass,” he called, and I silently growled. I missed Lachlan; he was the one who I could trust myself to be around, and still be me. My body ached from being with Jaeden, as he’d tried to make up for lost time, but it wasn’t his eyes I saw when I closed mine, it was the eyes of the Sentinel who attacked us.

  I opened my eyes and heard laughter bubbling inside my head. He definitely had some kind of telepathic power and remote viewing capability, because he’d known the moment I was with Jaeden. It gave him an advantage, considering he had powers and I was fumbling with my own. So far, I had discovered all of my powers by accident and usually at moments of extreme duress or fear.

 
I left the water without care that Raphael was getting a front row view of my birthday suit. I wrapped a towel around me after I dried off and slipped into a soft pair of baby blue sweatpants and a white tank top that I’d taken from one of the stores we’d rummaged through on our trek south. I slipped a sweatshirt on over it, shivering as the wind picked up, chilly in the evening air.

  “Damn, he’s an idiot,” Raphael whined, his eyes watching everything.

  “I’m going to make your job easy tonight. I’m going to bed,” I replied, ignoring his jibe, even though I had to agree with him. Jaeden was an idiot.

  “You could sleep with me. Naked. It’s preferable,” he laughed.

  “Hold your breath while I decide, hmm?” I asked, and then realized that I was talking to the undead, as in, he could probably hold his breath and be just fine.

  “Actually, I just saw something walk by that I know won’t turn me down.” He stared at something in the distance, towards the feeder camp. “Walk faster,” he ordered, and I stiffened my spine.

  As I arrived back at camp, I noted that there was a huge fire burning, and that the vampires had changed the layout of this camp from the last several. Instead of having the fire just outside the camp, or not having one at all, they had a huge bonfire. It was in the middle of the camp, and they were all gathered in the open, some partially clothed or missing clothes altogether. Some fed openly from the humans.

  I sighed as I caught sight of Jaeden, who apparently thought he’d have more time before I returned. His demeanor was stiff, as was Jolene’s. I caught and held his eyes before I shimmied up the tree, ignoring the debauchery going on right beneath it. I just wanted to forget the entire week.