“I saw you tear apart twelve men. I’m pretty sure the most deadly thing in these woods is you, and I managed to evade you for two days.”
He gave a hoarse chuckle as I walked away.
For all my bravado, I didn’t have the slightest idea what I was doing. I didn’t know much about hunting and I knew even less about some mystical realm. I didn’t know if I was hunting boars or griffins.
But Max needed me, so I was going to find something edible and kill it. Max had run southeast from the palace, so I continued in that direction assuming it would be the safest. I didn’t get far before spotting tracks—small hoof prints.
I followed the tracks to a creek. Dammit. Why couldn’t it have been a griffin? A giant vicious griffin with metal claws. Anything would have been better than the doe drinking from the creek.
I took aim. Well, at least it wouldn’t be hard to carry back. I knew I had to act fast. Anything could cause it to scurry away costing Max a much needed meal. I just needed to shoot. All I had to do was pretend like I wasn’t murdering Bambi and bring Max back his dinner.
Bambi’s nose twitched in the most adorable way. I lowered my weapon. There had to be something else out here. Woods were full of animals. As I was about to walk away a tiger pounced from the bushes snapping Bambi’s neck, killing him instantly. I gazed up at the starlit sky and thanked whatever deity looked after werewolves and put two bullets in the tiger.
I made it about a quarter of a mile before deeply regretting my decision. Fortunately, the tiger was a small female so I was able to carry it, but man was it heavy. By the time I reached Max I was dragging the damn thing by it’s paws.
I dropped it at his feet. “I hope you’re rested because I have no idea what comes next.”
Max stood up, which was a good sign, and started stripping. Okay, less of a good sign. “Do you know how to make a fire?”
“I got the badge to prove it.”
“Good. Make a fire. I’ll take care of the rest.” Max’s limbs stretched and contorted. Dark fur sprung from his skin. Once he was shifted he tore into the carcass’s flesh.
I scanned the area for dry wood.
By the time I got the fire started Max had left several piece of meat for me on a piece of my discarded skirt. I gathered the rest of the fabric to sit on as I cooked the meat. “And to think, a few hours ago I had a big bed in a fancy palace. Now I’m sitting in the dirt with you.”
Max whimpered and nuzzled up against me. I wrapped my arms around his neck. “You’re damn luck I’m fond of you.”
I rarely saw Max as a wolf. I’d seen him partially shift a few times. I figured I should be weirded out by it, but I wasn’t. Man or wolf, to me he was just Max. I fell asleep with him curled around me.
CHAPTER 12
I frowned down at the piece of dried tiger meat from last night.
“Eat it,” Max ordered.
“I’m working my way up to it,” I whined.
“You need your strength.”
“How many calories could this possibly have? It’s lean meat.”
“Eat it.”
I closed my eyes and shoved it in my mouth. It was just like steak…but gamy and flavorless and a day old. “I think I preferred the grubs,” I complained.
“I’m sure we’ll have our fill of that too before this is all over.”
I groaned. Choosing love tasted gross.
We headed south, cutting east and then west to avoid roads and populations. While I didn’t know much about this realm, I trusted Max’s ability to get us safely to Deabru territory. “Have you talked to her since the break up?”
“We didn’t break up. She told me she was dying, ordered me to be okay with it and then married my greatest enemy.”
“So… I’ll take that as a no.”
“I spent most of that time on Earth, watching over Julian.”
“Are you going to be okay?”
“I have to be. This is more important than what she did to me.”
“I could hate her for you.”
“What?”
“You be the bigger person and act like you’re totally over her and I’ll give her stink eye and be a total bitch to her.”
He laughed. “Why would you do that?”
“Because she deserves it. Not to mention it sounds like fun. Don’t you think?”
“No matter what you say, you won’t get a rise out of her. She prides herself on controlling her emotions.”
“What an ice queen. Okay, challenge accepted.”
“Kiera…”
“You heard me. I’m going to make bloodsucker Barbie lose her shit in the middle of court, she’ll be so humiliated. Vengeance will be ours.”
“There are more important things at stake than getting revenge for something that happened so long ago.”
I waved him off. “Oh yeah, saving Julian’s kingdom. We’ll get around to that too.”
“Kiera…”
“What? Just because I helped you escape doesn’t mean I’ve signed off to letting some vampire keep my best friend in bondage. He and his sister can fight their uncle for the throne, hopefully they all die in a bloody massacre and you get chosen as their replacement.”
“You do see the fundamental flaw in that plan, right?”
“Who says the king of vampires has to be a vampire?”
“The other vampires.”
“What do they know?”
“What am I going to do with you?” Max snatched me up and threw me over his shoulder.
Since it was obvious he wasn’t doing it so we could move faster, I kicked and flailed. “Put me down you bastard,” I said laughing.
He smacked my ass and I laughed harder.
We were supposed to be running for our lives, but there was something about being with him that made me feel like nothing bad could happen. That night we made camp in a cave. Max hunted down a couple hares and I went to sleep wishing I’d shown that roast and potatoes far more respect than I did. Oh well.
We zigzagged our way south until I couldn’t stand to spend another day in the remnants of my princess dress. He mentioned a village not to far off and we decided to sneak in and grab some clothes.
We were at a farmhouse not far from the village spying a line of laundry drying in the sun. “Brown woolen dress, here I come.”
“Do you know how much that fabric itches?”
“Meh, we’ll deal. Now come on.” I crept across the open field making a b-line for the dress. I pulled it down just dreaming of a long soak in a lake when I noticed I wasn’t alone. A little girl, about four or five, with blond pigtails, clutched a rag doll as she watched me with her saucer eyes.
I put on my biggest saleswoman smile. “Well, hi there, what’s your name?”
“Are you stealing Mommy’s dress?” Well the kid knew how to get to the point, I’d give her that.
“No. I’m a friend of your Mommy’s, I’m just borrowing it.” If you’re Mommy’s friend, what’s her name?
Smart kid. “Okay, I’m not you’re mom’s friend—”
She took a big breath in preparation to scream.
I held up my hands. “Wait, wait, we’ll buy the clothes.” I looked over at Max who was standing there with a pair of slacks under his arm looking bemused. “Shut up and loan me this place’s equivalent of a twenty.”
He tapped the side of his head.
I tilted my head unsure of what he meant, and then I felt the weight of it. With everything that happened I forgot I was walking around with a head full of swag. I pulled out a gold comb encrusted with emeralds and offered it to the little girl.
She accepted it and said, “I want one for Molly too.”
“Molly?”
She pointed to her rag doll.
“You run a hard bargain.” I offered her a pin with an emerald at the tip.
She took it and ran towards her house. “Moommmmy, I made us rich.”
Max and I took off in the other direction. We got to the lake before we
could stop and talk. “If they are still looking for us—”
I cut him off. “They aren’t even thinking about us. We’re stuck here, so we can’t warn Julian. And after it was over with Lucius would have let you go anyway. Why would he lose another twelve guys trying to come after you when he can just send his people to Earth.”
“He doesn’t know what we can and can’t do. If we can get to Claudia before he gets to Julian, we can put a stop to this.”
I attempted to get out of my corset, but I couldn’t undo the back laces. Max noticed my struggle and started to untie me as we spoke. “How is your princess going to save the day?”
“She’s a queen now and she’s not mine. She’s queen of the most powerful army in the realm, if she threatens war, Lucius will be forced to back off.”
With the corset loosened, I slipped off my dress and stepped into the cool rushing water. “Unless he figures out she’s bluffing.”
Max stripped off his suit. It hadn’t faired much better than my dress, but I still hated to see it go. “She can’t bluff. It’s her brother. I’m sure if she knew what was going on, she’d put a stop to it.”
He had a point. I dipped my face under the water adding to the reasons I didn’t like Claudia. She’d be yet another obstacle in getting rid of Julian. It was bad enough I’d have to figure out a way to do it that wouldn’t upset Max, now I had to worry about being stopped by a vampiress.
I emerged from that water just in time for Max’s cannonball sending a wave of water slamming into my face and knocking me over. I sputtered my way back to the surface. “Max!”
He brushed back his raven black hair, laughing. “This was your idea.”
“I never asked you to drown me,” I said using my palms to send a wave in his direction.
His smile softened as he settled down. “You know, you were really good with that kid back there.”
I shrugged. “I love children. I always wanted my own little league team.”
“Really? So why don’t you have any?”
I sighed, pushing the water back and forth as I spoke. “Never met the right guy. I’m fun.”
He quirked a brow. “Fun?”
“I’m the girl that drinks you under the bar. The one that’s down for a threesome. The one you take to Maui. I’m not the girl you bring home to meet the fam, and I’m certainly not the one you give a ring to.”
“So threesomes are on the table, huh?” There was that devilish grin again.
I threw more water at him.
He laughed as he grabbed me, dragging me into his embrace. “I don’t think you give yourself enough credit.”
“Would your mom have liked me?”
“Oh, my mom would have loved you, doubly so if you managed to drink me under the bar.” He kissed my head and I closed my eyes wanting to soak him in.
“What about you?” I asked.
“What about me?”
“Want kids?”
“My own little league team.”
I was glad he couldn’t see the stupid grin on my face. “So, why haven’t you started a family yet? Too busy babysitting Julian to find a baby mama?”
“Well, it’s not like just any woman would do. We’d essentially be starting our own pack. It’d take an extraordinary woman for something like that.”
“So what are you looking for?” I asked teasingly.
“Well, first and foremost she’d have to be tough. A true alpha female.” Check.
“Secondly, she’d have to be good with kids. After all, how we raised our children would determine the fate of our clan for generations to come.” Check.
“She’d also need to have a good sense of humor. Times get hard sometimes, and I’d need the kind of woman who could share in my joy and make me laugh when I feel like I want to cry.” Check. Check. Check.
“But most importantly, she’d have to be someone I could trust. Someone I knew always had my back.” Big red X and a buzzer sound. Chicks intent on killing his best friend need not apply.
I pushed away from him and he let me go. “We should probably get going. I’m starting to get cold.”
We got dressed in our incredibly expensive rags and Max was right, it itched like nothing has ever itched before.
We continued on our journey, as I silently contemplated the choice I had to make. Abby’s safety or my happiness, it seemed the universe wasn’t going to allow me to have both.
CHAPTER 13
A nother couple of days of walking and I couldn’t take it anymore. “Please. There is no way they are still following us. Just one night. I need a bath and a bed and food that neither of us had to kill first.”
“Kiera, it’s dangerous. If word got out—”
“If word got out, we’d be in Deabru territory before they could catch up with us. I’m not meeting your picture perfect ex with greasy hair.” I did my best impression of his sad puppy expression and stuck my bottom lip out for extra manipulation.
He relented. “Fine. We’ll spend the night at an inn.”
We changed course and headed back towards civilization. Max was just being overly cautious. Our journey had taken twice as long due to being on foot and our indirect route, yet there’d been not a single sign that we were being pursued.
When we reached Silver Oaks, I headed straight to the inn. There was a tavern downstairs, which was convenient because the only thing I could use more than a bath and a change of clothes was a drink. My other comb bought us a night’s stay, all we could eat and some riding leathers. That left me with a single pin, so it was a good thing we were close to our destination.
After we got cleaned up, we headed back downstairs for our food and drinks. The innkeeper sat a turkey on the table between us and two cups of mead. The smell was so delicious, I tore off a leg and savoring the juiciness of the meat, the tartness of the cranberries. “Even if we get caught, this dinner makes it all worth it.”
“I doubt you’ll feel that way if we really do get caught.”
At the table across from us several rough-looking men sat at one of the tavern tables playing with dice. I pointed at them with the leg bone. “What’s the game they are playing?”
“It’s kinda like Yahtzee, but with more stabbing when things go wrong,” he explained.
“Let’s see if they’ll let us join them.”
“What happened to keeping a low profile?”
“I can guarantee those guys have never snitched a day in their life.” I headed over to their table pulling out my last hairpin.
“Teach me the rules?” I said in my flirty voice.
One of the guys who looked as though he wanted to eat me for lunch, took my pin and exchanged it for a stack of coin.
Over the next few hours, Max watched as I got smashed and cleaned those guys out. By the time I was stumbling up the stairs to our room, I had more coin than I could carry.
I dropped the coin on the table by the bed and started to get undressed.
“I can’t believe you cheated at a game you learned tonight and they didn’t even notice.” Max said pulling off his shirt.
I cupped my breasts, laughing. “When guys are staring at these they don’t notice much else.”
He shook his head. “You are dangerous.”
I let my pants fall to the floor and walked over to him naked. I wrapped my arms around his neck. “And don’t you forget it.”
I stood on tiptoe to kiss him. The feel of him against me made it hard to breathe. I wanted him so bad I ached with need. “Fuck me,” I whispered against his lips. “It doesn’t have to mean anything, I just want to feel you inside me.”
His expression grew serious. He grabbed me by the arms and held me at a distance, capturing my full attention. “No deal. If we do this, it’s because it means something. Understand?”
Of course he’d be a romantic. Some guys were just like that. They enjoyed sex more with some sort of connection. But those feelings quickly faded in the light of day. But I wanted to feel him inside me
and if that was the price, I’d happily pay it. After all, I didn’t have to fake my feelings, I just had to play it cool when he got bored of me and moved on to the next girl. “Sorry, I was just saying what I thought you wanted to hear. Of course this means something to me. I love you, Max.” I hadn’t intended to say that last part. Sometimes I got so swept up in a role that I forgot myself.
That must have satisfied him because he snatched me off my feet and kissed me so hard my lips bruised. He pushed me down on the bed, touching me from head to toe. Licking and nipping at every inch of my body mixing pleasure with just a touch of pain. Just enough to set my sense of fire and make me feel alive.
He thrust a finger in my wetness and then two. I squirmed on the bed begging for something more substantial. He didn’t have to be asked twice. He pushed my thighs apart, spreading me wide. His eyes taking me in as if he was looking at treasure.
He grabbed his rod thrusting the mushroom head inside me. He fed me each inch, stretching me wide around his girth. My back arched as I lifted my hips to take more of him. I was shameless and wanton and I could tell the wilder I got the more he loved it. I dug into his arms leaving scratch marks. I wanted everyone to see them and know that he was mine.
As he thrust inside me, I felt spread open and bare beneath him, like he’d shone a light on all my hiding places. And it was thrilling and terrifying at the same time, just like in the cave.
I pushed him onto his back and climbed on top of him. Lowering myself until his hardness filled me to the brim. I braced my hands on his chest and rode him. His gaze rose and fell as if he couldn’t decide if he wanted to stare into my eyes that looked at him with pure hunger or the part where our bodies met and he disappeared inside me.
When I started to get tired, he lifted me up and placed me down on my hands and knees. He took me from behind, the head of his cock buried so deep inside me he was slamming into parts I didn’t know I had, reaching new depths and making me delirious.
It wasn’t long before I went flying over the edge at full speed, coming so hard I didn’t think I could survive it. The human body wasn’t made for anything so intense. Moments later, Max exploded inside me, filling me with his warmth.
Moonstruck (Warring Hearts Book 2) Page 7
