by Alana Hart
Finally, his body relaxed, his cock once again soft, or at least softer, he lay his head on his arm. Tonight, since she was sick, he would let her sleep against him. She would probably die if she got cold. So he tucked his hand behind him, closed his eyes, and willed himself asleep.
Chapter Ten
Lyss woke with the sun, but she kept her eyes closed. It warmed her, feet first, finally turning the inside of her eyelids red. For a second she couldn’t remember where she was, and then the smell of dirt, rock, and trees brought back the flood of events that had been the day before.
She moved, but something heavy kept her pinned to the ground. Then the scent of Liam filled her nose, his warmth wrapped around her like a blanket. His arm and leg were draped over her, his face buried in her hair.
It had been a very long time since Lyss had been this close to someone and enjoyed it. He smelled like warmth and fire and sweat and Liam. Wriggling closer to him, she felt his body respond, the hardness of him pressing into her ass. What she wouldn’t give to turn around and sink herself onto him. Lose herself in him.
But he’d probably turn into a wolf and eat her.
Somehow, she’d known he was a virgin. Maybe it was something to do with his blood in her, but she felt things from him, like emotions or glimpses of his thoughts, and one thing had been complete fear and hatred when she had gotten too close last night.
This intrigued her, made her want to know more. Made her want to be his first.
He woke then. She felt the change in his breathing, and then he eased her away from him. She rolled over and sat up, running her fingers through her hair, her face warm. He reached into his pants and adjusted himself, his face quite red.
Eyes like the sky after a storm found hers. “You’re not dead,” he said.
“Nope. Survived the night.”
He cleared his throat. “Let me see your, ah, your stomach—your wound.”
She lifted her shirt and looked down to see what he was inspecting. Her stomach was horrific, like a burn victim’s with a raised bite mark and small hole seeping shiny, black goo.
“That doesn’t look good,” she said.
He was frowning. “No.” He stood. “Let’s go.”
If she had expected more than that, she wasn’t about to get it. Liam left the cave, ducking his head so as not to hit it on the boulder above them, and then the morning light swallowed him. Gingerly, because though she had survived the night, she was in a lot of pain, Lyss used the cave walls to pull herself up.
The sun outside the cave was warm where it touched her skin, the air chilly. Dew clung to the leaves and grass, frosty in the shade. Spring would be here for real soon. She hoped she was still alive to see it.
They didn’t go back to the car they had taken yesterday, but instead Liam led them away, south through the woods, walking in silence. He stopped only once to pull a handful of berries from a bush.
“Eat,” he’d said, and then he turned and kept walking.
The berries were sweet and then sour, leaving a bitter taste in her mouth. She walked, listening to the birds chirp. Hours passed and Lyss’s legs were numb. She was hot and sweating, panting as the sun got warmer. Ahead of her Liam plowed on through the branches and bushes, stepping easily over roots. Now and then he stopped and listened a moment, then changed direction.
Lyss wasn’t one to be quiet for so long and if it weren’t for the pain she would have been asking all sorts of questions. She would either die of the injections and Liam’s bite or she would survive and, she assumed, become a shifter.
Or she would die from this walk.
Lyss stopped. She sat down on a fallen tree trunk and stretched her legs, her hand on her stomach as she tried to sooth away the pain.
Liam turned. “What are you doing?”
“Resting.”
“No. We don’t have time for rest.”
“Make time.”
“Fuck that, get up.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet.
Anger and frustration boiled to the surface. Lyss yanked her hand away, scratching him as she did. Liam yelped.
For a second Lyss stared in shock at the deep bleeding scratches on his forearm. And then Liam grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand up high. Thick, dark claws three inches long had replaced her fingernails. But even as they stared at them, the nails shrank back into her skin.
“Did I shift? Is that it? Am I a shifter like you?”
Liam frowned. “You’re not like me.”
Lyss rolled her eyes. “I know, I’m bitten, whatever. But I can turn into a wolf now?”
He shook his head. “No.”
When he didn’t elaborate, Lyss tugged her hand from his grasp. “Sorry for cutting you,” she said, not sorry at all.
He shrugged and held up his arm. The cuts were completely healed. Not even a scar. Meanwhile she was half-dead over here.
Liam pulled her shirt up, and she jumped back. The crease between his brows was not comforting.
“I need to talk to my uncles. Like I said, we don’t have time to rest.”
Desperate to rest, but more desperate to live, Lyss trudged on after Liam. They walked another hour before finally coming out onto a road. The pavement was a frigging Godsend for Lyss. It was another twenty minutes before they found a gas station where Liam made a phone call.
Lyss leaned against the counter feeling dizzy and winded while Liam dialed. The man running the station sat outside in a rickety lawn chair, chomping on the end of a pipe.
Liam spoke into the phone. “This is Liam. Uncle Gavin?” Relief flooded Liam’s face for a moment, and then the business frown was back. “Yes, I’m okay… I’m in Portland, Maine… The facility? It’s worse than we thought.”
Lyss took deep breaths, listening vaguely while Liam explained what the facility was and what they had been planning to do with him. Her head was spinning, nausea rolling in her gut.
His voice cut through the fog in her brain. “Way up north. I can take you there, yeah… I’ll wait here. Um…” He glanced at Lyss and lowered his voice. “So, I have someone with me; she helped me get out of there. She’s having a bad reaction to my bite, like really bad… I had to. I mean, I thought I did. She might’ve died. Still might… Really? Okay. See you in a few hours.”
He hung up, meeting her gaze. His usually wary eyes were concerned. “What’s the plan?” Lyss asked.
“We wait here for my pack. My uncle Gavin is one of the alphas. He said—for your bad reaction—he said to bite you again. Said your body is probably treating my venom like a virus and I need to flood your system with it, overpower your antibodies.”
“Sounds very scientific,” Lyss said. Even to herself she didn’t sound right. Her words slurred together, and she was having trouble focusing on Liam’s face. “All right,” she said, trying to sound like she had her shit together. “Bite me again.”
“Not here,” he said, and took her by the arm. Both leading her away and holding her up, Liam walked them out of the little gas station and into the woods behind. The old man had fallen asleep and didn’t notice them go. He walked until they couldn’t see the station or the road anymore. Trees surrounded them, the sunlight breaking through the thick canopy above them to throw patches of dancing yellow on the ground.
He sat her at the base of a tree, leaning her against the trunk. The bark scratched her back. Lyss wriggled, enjoying the feeling.
“This is probably going to hurt a lot more than last time,” Liam said.
“Can’t hurt more than I do now.” Lyss closed her eyes.
“Well… I have to bite you a few times.”
Her eyes popped open in time to see Liam’s fangs emerge. They were long, sharp, and deadly looking. He lifted her shirt, his sliding hands around her waist, and sank his fangs into her ribs. At first all she felt was the pinch of his bite, and then the venom seeped in.
Lyss gritted her teeth as the venom attacked her body. He bit her again on her other side. Again on her
lower belly. The venom was in her blood, flowing fast, burning her like fire.
“Relax,” Liam murmured, his lips cool against her skin. “Let it work.”
“Can’t,” she ground out. “Hurts.”
Her muscles were rigid, but he eased her onto her back, and then she felt him pull her coveralls away from her hips, exposing the plain underwear and her legs. She couldn’t fight him when he eased her thighs apart, pushing her legs open wide.
What the hell was he doing?
And then his fangs sank deep into the inside of her thigh. He did this again on the other leg.
Those bites, so close to the massive arteries in her thighs, they took the most venom and soon it was in her heart. Pain like nothing she had known yet rushed through her. She must have screamed because she felt Liam’s hand over her mouth, his body covering hers, his breath in her ear as he shushed her over and over.
She was going to die.
Liam turned her head, exposing her throat, and bit the side of her neck. With venom rushing into her bloodstream and into her brain, Lyss finally went limp. Her mind floated away from her body and she blacked out.
Chapter Eleven
Liam listened to her heart slow. It didn’t stop though so that was good. At least he hadn’t killed her. He didn’t know how much venom needed to be in her system, but for a while there it seemed like her body was going to win. He’d watched her eyes widen, the pupils dilating so much that her entire eye was black. Her fingernails had become claws again, digging into his arms as he held her down. She had been screaming, and then she was growling.
It was terrifying. But she finally settled down and passed out. Her body returned to normal. Liam eased himself off of her and checked her stomach and the bites. Although he could see her blood rushing through her veins, which were bright under her pale skin, the wound on her stomach looked better. The blackness around it was receding, the injection site closing, healing over. And the bites were already healed and fading.
It seemed to have worked. Whatever her shift was, she might be able to do it now, but it sure as hell wasn’t a wolf.
It was about an hour before she woke up. Liam had left her, running off as a wolf to get some food, and was finished cooking it over a small fire beside them, when she opened her eyes.
“You look better,” he said as she sat up. “How do you feel?”
Lyss lifted her shirt. Her stomach was almost completely healed. There was a bruise around the injection site, but it was yellow and brown now instead of black and purple. She met his gaze, a smile pulling at her mouth.
“I’ll have to thank your uncle,” she said. “What’s that smell?”
Liam held up the cooked fish; something he found swimming in a stream nearby. They ate in silence, Lyss devouring almost all of it.
“Jesus,” Liam watched her lick her fingers.
“I know right? Just wait until you see my get my hands on some chocolate cake.” She winked.
Liam looked away.
The fact that she would be able to shift, and that she wasn’t a wolf—it was safe to assume he wouldn’t be seeing her again once he handed her over to her uncles. If anything, she would probably end up sent to Ireland where the Days could look after her. They had a few different kinds of shifters in their pack.
“My pack’ll be here soon.” Liam stood. Lyss hopped up, her pain obviously gone.
They waited by the station, the old man gone, the place locked up, a “closed” sign in the door. Liam peeked in the window. It was almost five. Lyss turned on the hose on the side of the building and chugged.
Liam watched her throat work, watched droplets of water spray her shirt, soaking it, the fabric clinging to her chest beneath.
He heard a laugh and saw that she was watching him watch her. Face burning, Liam glared at the trees across the street.
As Lyss turned off the hose, Liam stood.
“What is it?” she asked.
In the woods across from them, several pairs of eyes watched them. As soon as Liam made them, they stepped out from the trees. All were collared shifters.
“Fuck,” Liam said.
“They found us.” Fear thickened her voice.
There was too much time before his pack would get to them, and they didn’t stand a chance against a pack of shifters.
“We have to run,” he said. “Stay close.”
She nodded and followed when he took off. Behind them, the collared shifters gave chase. As he ran, Liam glanced back. There were seven collared shifters after them. He dodged through the woods, jumping over small ravines and streams, hoping that something would stop them, but they kept coming.
Finally, when there was a bit of space between them, Liam stopped. Panting, he looked for a way out. They were in the middle of the woods with nowhere to hide. Lyss gasped beside him, clutching a stitch in her side.
“What do we do?” she said.
Liam shook his head. Panic bubbled in his stomach. He had never been this alone before, this outnumbered, this pinned down.
Lyss bit her lip. Her eyes fell on a huge, dead oak tree beside them. Her hand floated toward him, easing him away.
“Stand back,” she said. “Let them come for you,” she added and then pressed her hands into the tree, leaning into it.
They were going to be caught, and who knew what would happen to them once they were returned to the facility.
Liam had seconds to decide whether to run and leave her or stay. He didn’t move. The others were within spitting distance when there was a loud crack, the ground shook, and the tree Lyss was leaning on fell. The others didn’t have time to run once they realized what was happening. The tree landed on them with a sickening crunch. Birds screeched and flew away. And then everything was quiet.
Lyss stared at the tree a moment and then smiled at Liam.
“What the fuck did they pump you with?”
“Dude,” she said, her grin lifting her eyes. “I have no fucking idea, but fuck yeah, right? That was awesome.”
He had heard that a bitten shifter had impossible strength and senses after their bodies accepted the shift, but Lyss had been injected, and what she had done…
“That was… something,” he said. Liam retracted his claws, which had come out in preparation for a fight. “Come on. We’ll find somewhere to sleep for tonight, head out in the morning.”
“You calling your pack again?”
He shook his head. “The facility is too good. Must have a longer reach than I thought. We’ll stay off the phones. Grab a car tomorrow and just drive straight to the Den.”
“What if your pack comes here and we’re gone?”
Liam watched blood seep from under the tree trunk. “I’ll leave a note. I’d rather not wait around for their back-up.”
They walked for a while through the woods. The air grew chilly with the afternoon. Liam found a path that led to a residential street. It was quiet. A dog slept on the front porch of one house. He could hear a game show playing on a TV nearby.
One house was silent and dark, mail stacked on a table by the front door. Liam slipped behind the house, hopped the fence, and broke in through the back door.
“What if they have an alarm?” Lyss said.
“I’d feel it.” She frowned, confused. “The electricity, I’d feel it in the air. No one here has an alarm system.”
The house smelled like it had been closed up for at least a week. Dust floated in the rays of the setting sun. Old, clunky furniture was mixed with all the comforts of modern technology. They found their way upstairs to a few bedrooms and two full bathrooms.
“Get some clothes and take a shower,” Liam said, and headed for one of the rooms.
“You don’t want to shower with me?” Lyss winked.
Liam frowned and left her grinning in the hall. He found jeans that were a little big, a red tee shirt, and sneakers. The shower was hot, the soap smelled strong, and Liam relaxed. He just needed to get clean, eat something, and sleep. Tomorrow
he could take a car off this street and drive straight home. Once there he wouldn’t have to think anymore, his uncles would take over, delegate, figure things out. All Liam would have to do is obey.
He leaned his forehead against the slick tiles and let the water beat down onto his neck. Amid the smell of his soap, tub water, and old house came the scent of warmth and sunshine, cream and honey. He breathed deep and wanted to drown in that scent. Until he realized what it was.
He heard Lyss’s shower turn off and the floor settle as she stepped out of the tub. It was quiet enough and he had excellent enough hearing to know that she was running her hand over her stomach, water droplets sliding down her hips. He could hear her heartbeat, too fast for a human’s, but just right for someone who could shift.
Virgin though he was, it would be lying to say he never got himself off. Letting the sound of her hand sliding over her skin build an image in his mind of her naked body, Liam touched himself. His own heart beat faster as he stroked himself, his breathing growing deeper and more ragged.
It was quick. He held his breath as he came, spilling himself into the draining water, the feeling of completion already fading. Sighing, Liam turned off the shower and stepped out. Dressed in the stolen clothing, Liam left the bathroom and found his way back downstairs.
Lyss sat at the kitchen counter in a baggy gray tee shirt, an enormous sandwich in her hands. She took a huge bite and nodded at the other plate. Spam and tuna with potato chips and pickles. When Liam made a face, Lyss swallowed and said, “All they had was non-perishables.”
The sandwich wasn’t terrible, but he couldn’t wait to get home and eat Siobhan’s cooking again.
Lyss finished her sandwich and ate chips from the bag, watching Liam.
“What?” he said finally, annoyed with her staring.
She smiled. “Had a nice shower?”
“Yeah.”
“Relaxing shower?”
