Forever (Book #3 in the Fateful Series)

by Schmidt, Cheri

  They made their way up the curving staircase, his thoughts a whirl of chaotic worries as his fingers trailed along the carved banister. Schooling his features, he hoped she couldn’t see into his mind. But it felt like every terrifying thought in his head was written on his face, especially to her. Danielle knew him well, too well, and this deal with Lucas concerned him. Lucas could hurt her emotionally as well as physically, which is what disturbed him the most. Ethan wondered, almost desperately, where he could take her during full moons to protect her from this. If only there was a place on this planet where the moon never rose, he’d take her there. That silly concept was ridiculous and Ethan knew it. He swallowed the scoffing chuckle that tried to come out.

  They’d reached the door and he nudged it open with the toe of his shoe, drawing her in behind him as he shut the door. He locked it, knowing full well it wouldn’t matter if the beasts managed to reach it. The tumbler rolled into place with a quiet click. Avoiding any eye contact with his wife, he made for his dresser to change into his pajama bottoms, yanking his shirt over his head as he went.

  With a flick of his wrist, the gray t-shirt landed in the laundry hamper and he reached for the fly of his jeans. One look tossed over his shoulder told him Danielle was also changing and not paying much attention to him. Good. Once she figured out how much this new development upset him, she’d start asking questions he wasn’t prepared to answer just yet. If his main goal was to keep her content, he couldn’t very well be explaining too much about Lucas. The sordid details of that story would upset her even more.

  Ethan kicked off his shoes, and shoved the denim down his legs, his gaze shifting to the big window on the south side of their bedroom. Relief loosened the knot of worry inside his stomach. Through the thin drapes, he could see the backs of guards standing on the patio roof just outside the glass. Even after all of the past attacks, werewolves had yet to gain entrance to their bedroom, and with as many vampires as they had on the property, it wasn’t likely to happen tonight. While transformed into werewolves, Ethan knew they couldn’t likely be killed, but neither could the vampires protecting them.

  Chapter 2

  The Things of Nightmares

  “What do they eat?” Danielle asked, tucking her feet beneath her and setting her untouched plate of cake on the nightstand next to the bed. Merrick had finished what Ethan had started in the kitchen and brought everything up to their bedroom. But she couldn’t stomach even chocolate right now. Werewolves were creepy enough and now Lucas was one of them? If they were like wolves it might not be so bad, but these things were nightmarishly frightening with distorted human faces semi-cloaked beneath a wicked-looking mask of a beast. A shudder rolled up her spine and she looked at Ethan to see if he’d noticed.

  Apparently he hadn’t. He seemed really distracted, like he had the weight of dark and wicked things on his shoulders. A little sigh blew past her lips, because he probably did. Staring straight ahead like he was, she could see his profile perfectly. His golden eyebrows were drawn low over his straight nose. Wire-rimmed glasses were perched there and Danielle’s mouth wanted to smile at how handsomely adorable he was with them on. She preferred him this way, slightly blind, and completely normal.... But her smile never made it to her lips because his mouth was pursed with deep thoughts—thoughts that were likely tormenting his peace of mind. His usually calm, blue-eyed gaze reflected the distress within. Again she wondered if he regretted being a weak and ordinary mortal, even though he’d been the one to first partake of the candy before prompting her to follow. He dragged a hand through his blond hair, which needed a trim and hung into his eyes, until he pushed it back. After a long pause, Ethan finally answered her question. “During a full moon? Flesh ... probably.”

  “You don’t know for sure?” she asked, trying not to let what he just said totally freak her out.

  His eyes shifted to hers. “No. Their kind is even more reclusive than fairies are.”

  Danielle turned away from the upsetting things she could see within his expression, and nudged the plate of cake out of the way as she reached for her tea. Maybe that would help settle her stomach, because it was churning at the idea of Lucas with a whole mouthful of pointy teeth instead of just a pair of fangs. He’d been scary enough as a vampire, and now he was something she knew very little about. A sip of creamy peach liquid filled her mouth and slid down her throat as she swallowed. “Then how can we fight them?” she asked. Danielle decided the tea was helping a little and took another sip, watching the little rosebud painted inside it disappear as she rocked the cup level again.

  “It doesn’t seem like they can do anything to vampires. We’ve fought them before, as you know, and none of us were affected adversely. I suppose it could be due to the fact that the curses were placed by different sorceresses.”

  “Hmm,” she murmured as she drank, again watching for the pink rosebud with green leaves inside her cup.

  “I love watching you do that.”

  Startled by the sudden change in topic she looked at Ethan, who was smiling. “Do what?”

  “Watch for the flower.” When she wrinkled her brow at him, confused, he added, “The one inside your teacup.”

  While rounding, her eyes swung back as the flower in question disappeared halfway below the liquid line. “You noticed I do that?” Had she even noticed she did that?

  He popped a few pieces of popcorn in his mouth and said around it, “I noticed that, and the fact that you’re not really paying any attention to the picture.”

  With eyes returning to the television, she figured it had been playing for a while and she had no idea what was going on. Ethan had brought the DVD up from downstairs and started it, but once her thoughts had snagged on the werewolves she hadn’t paid any attention to anything else. Was that what he’d been so focused on earlier? Somehow she doubted it because he seemed just as distracted as her. On a sigh she said, “I need to know more about them, more about what to expect from Lucas now.”

  Ethan adjusted his seated position so he was sitting up more. He looped one arm around his bent knee and with the other he reached for the remote and paused the movie. Next he removed the glasses and set them on his nightstand. His eyes had gotten worse since he’d turned back the second time, and he needed them more often than he had before. “The guards will deal with them. And they’ll never be more than a once-a-month problem.”

  “But what can Lucas do to me now that he’s a werewolf?”

  She watched the muscles in his throat work when he swallowed and his gaze dropped nervously to the comforter. Suspecting he didn’t want to tell her, she wondered how bad it really was. “Ethan?” she prompted when he hesitated with his answer, longer this time.

  More than she wanted to see was visible when his gaze rose and locked with hers. His soul was just as tortured over this as hers. That protective side of him was blazing fiercely in his blue eyes and when he spoke, she knew he meant his words. “Lucas will never have the chance to do anything to you. I’ll make sure of it. “

  “How can you make sure of that? We’re both mortal again...” With her words trailing off, a horrible idea struck her and it felt like a razor-sharp cord of worry had drawn her insides so tight that she couldn’t breathe properly. “Oh, no!”

  “‘Oh, no,’ what?” he asked, sort of sounding like he feared the answer because he likely already knew what it was.

  “What if Beon wants to turn us back again?”

  Ethan’s shoulders slumped like he’d already considered this. Still he didn’t answer as he discarded the half-eaten bowl of popcorn to his nightstand. Apparently he’d lost his appetite too, which was out of character for him and therefore intensified her worries.

  Waiting for his response she set the rest of her cooling tea on her nightstand next to the cake. Ethan gathered her into his arms but still said nothing.

  “Ethan? Please answer me,” Danielle asked as his arm cinched around her body.

  She could feel the play of m
uscle dance across his naked chest with the big breath he took. In reaction, her palm settled against his arm. With her fingers curling around it, she dragged her hand downward in a caress, noticing his skin was hot and he smelled of male spice and butter. She nuzzled her nose into his shoulder, slid her legs beneath the blankets and slanted her bent legs over his thighs, getting as close to his smell and his warmth as possible because it was always comforting.

  When he again hesitated, another idea occurred to her, this one much more upsetting than the first. In a weak voice, she managed, “You’d let him do it this time, wouldn’t you?” Danielle chanced a look at his face, into his eyes where he couldn’t hide anything from her.

  At least he didn’t try to hide the concern, the possessiveness that made him bossy sometimes and his love for her. Even so, anger still swelled within her heart when she saw the answer written on his face. He would allow it! He might even be considering it right now as he held her. When she pulled free of his arms, he frowned and leaned back into his pillows, folded his arms over his nude chest, and angled a look of frustrated worry her way.

  With a shrug of his shoulders he replied, way too nonchalantly, “There’s no child yet, we still have one more candy left. You can have it. And you could defend yourself then. Danielle, you were really kick a—”

  “I can’t believe it! I can’t believe you!”

  Ethan’s frown deepened. “Look. Lucas wouldn’t be able to hurt you, Danielle. I wouldn’t need to worry—”

  “But I really hated being cursed, being a vampire! And feeding—” Her hands were quaking as she remembered it all: being so acutely aware of spiders, and snakes, and mice, and the fiendishly delicious stench of blood that was so constant. But even worse was the craving for it. Danielle tucked her fingers under her armpits to stop the trembling, or more accurately, to hide it.

  She felt Ethan brush the hair that had swung into her face away as she’d dropped her head. He enveloped her in his arms again, his hands sliding around her waist, his chest coming in contact with her back. “Look at me?” he gently requested.

  Lifting her face and looking over her shoulder, she tightened the grip she had on herself.

  Fixing flirtatious blue eyes on hers, he whispered, “As I recall, you liked feeding from me.”

  “I still think it’s wrong that you liked that. I remember how much it hurt!” She couldn’t seem to escape the memory of having so many vampires sink their fangs into her skin all at once. It was worse than having multiple needles jammed into her flesh ... it was actually more like nails. Fangs were not thin things. But having her skin punctured wasn’t the worst part of it. In her book, there was nothing worse than having your life-force sucked out of you. She couldn’t do that to Ethan again, even if he did say he liked it in some twisted way. And then what would happen to her? Wouldn’t Lucas be just as dangerous to her if she were a weak, starving vampire?

  His chin dropped onto her shoulder and his breath tickled her ear. “I know it hurt when they bit you, but it didn’t hurt me and I’ll never think it’s wrong.”

  Jerking out of his embrace again, she swung around. “You miss it!”

  “A little,” he admitted huskily, stalking her now, adjusting her position so she was nestled beneath him. When she tried to get away, he forced her flat on her back and pinned her to the mattress, his hands clasping her wrists. The smile curving his lips was slightly triumphant and more than a little wicked. With his eyes locked with hers his face lowered. Expelling a soft chuckle he playfully nipped at her chin with his teeth. “I felt close to you when you fed off me. Like I was able to give you a part of myself I never could any other way.”

  Of course she could easily throw him onto the floor for this, but as usual, she couldn’t bring herself to hurt him, even if she was frustrated with him at the moment. “I really need you to stop talking about that.” She needed him to stop talking about it in such a romantic way. It just wasn’t right.

  As she continued to pout, a cloud of deep unease shifted into his gaze, darkening his blue eyes. Ethan hung his head in what looked like defeat to her. His blond hair tumbled down over his forehead in a handsome mess of tousled shades of gold, glinting-yellow and light brown. After lifting his gaze again, his jaw tightened as he ground out, “I couldn’t bear it if he hurt you.”

  Danielle knew he was speaking of Lucas. She narrowed her eyes at him. “Didn’t you just say the guards would stop him?”

  “I did say that,” he replied sounding slightly awkward. “It’s just that, what if this gets worse? How am I to protect you then?”

  Her gaze narrowed even more. “So your plan is to turn back into vampires if things get worse?”

  A nervous laugh tumbled out of him. “It’s just a backup plan, nothing more.”

  “What are you not telling me?” She’d suspected he’d been hiding something with his guilt-ridden expression, and now, she knew it. He was keeping something from her.

  “Nothing. It’s nothing, really.” And with that he was on her, kissing her neck, drawing giggles out of her before he moved his mouth to her lips and expelled his breath into her. Inhaling it, she sank into the mattress, tension melting from her muscles like the butter she tasted on his tongue. No, it wasn’t the potent breath of a vampire but as always it swept her senses into a potion-drugged state of bliss. So bewitching—even though he was no longer cursed, again. The scoundrel had changed tactics and it was working. She couldn’t focus on much else besides the way his mouth moved over hers and the way his palms rode the length of her arms before tangling into her hair. With his fingers curling along her scalp he pulled gently, forcing her chin up, further deepening the kiss.

  Muffled shouts and guttural growls made Danielle pause, and made Ethan lift his head, curse and shoot a surprised look at the closed door. In a swift move, Ethan had moved from her, captured her under the arms and was hauling her to ... where? If werewolves had breached their home and were coming up the stairs they had no escape. It sure sounded like they were as the nightmarish sounds drew closer. The door rattled as something slammed into it. The bang was followed by a grating noise, like claws raking the surface, shredding the wood.

  “What’s going on?” she asked while Ethan passed a frantic gaze over the room, probably looking for a weapon or escape. His blue eyes landed on his family heirloom, the sword hung as decoration above the painting of the ruins she’d done for him.

  Muttering, “I wish I knew,” along with a string of French words, which she figured were a volley of profanities, he made for the blade and lifted it from the decorative hooks it was nestled in.

  “Is it made of silver? Does that work on them?”

  “It’s steel,” he grumbled before adding with a deep frown, “I have no idea if it’ll damage them or not.” He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her close behind his back.

  The door exploded into millions of splinters. Diving for cover, Ethan’s hand connected with her back when he shoved her to the floor. As she landed roughly on her stomach and grunted in surprise and pain, she heard the sword clatter against the polished wood flooring when he landed next to her, shielding his head from debris as well. Danielle felt bits of sharp wood drag at the exposed skin of her legs and arms.

  Shoving the hair out of her face and tossing a look over her shoulder, she saw three werewolves trying fiercely to get past Merrick, Cedric and Casanova. Before she had any time to recover from the shock of it all, Ethan had picked up the sword, and hauled her upright again as he made for the window. He shoved it open, but in the next second he slammed it shut.

  She saw why as they backed toward the bed again. Pieces of wood dug into her bare feet with each painful step. Spinning away, they both dove onto the bed as a werewolf flew at the glass and crashed through it. Worse than hearing a car crash, the sound of breaking glass was followed by vicious snarls and shouts. Driven by a crazy need to see what was going on, Danielle lowered the hands she’d tossed over her face and craned another look over her shou
lder. Even obscured by the hair that had fallen over her face, she could see the beast had landed, its knees bending with the impact before straightening, its spine uncurling as it rose upright. It shook like a dog trying to dry itself. Danielle threw an arm over her face again. Shards of glass showered the room like droplets of rock-solid water, clinking against anything hard it hit. Danielle felt a few pieces hit her, but it seemed they didn’t hit hard enough to do more damage than a few minor abrasions.

  Silence fell when the werewolf stilled and she rolled to her back, instinctively moving to the other side of the bed. Ethan scuttled along with her, but he kept the sword trained on the creature. Again sweeping the hair out of her eyes, Danielle wondered what this thing meant to do. It swung its hideous face toward her and Ethan. Its head cocked sideways as it watched them with glowing, yellowish eyes. Baring its teeth in a devilish sort of smile, it stalked closer. Ethan held his sword higher, his hand steady, and his face pinched into a deep determined scowl.

  Danielle really hadn’t realized how big werewolves were until she saw this one close up. Way too close. The creature towered above them, stretching high into the peaked roof of their room. Because she could still partially see the man underneath, she knew it wasn’t Lucas. While the image of the beast looked holographic in a way, the man had also transformed into an enormous monster. It reached for her. Pure instinct pumped into her veins and she mentally prepared to defend herself, even knowing deep down, that any of her skills wouldn’t likely make any difference. Ethan tensed beside her. “Don’t. You can’t let it touch you.”