Blood Lust (A Paranormal Romance: Preternaturals Book 1)

by Zoe Winters

  “We heal fast and rarely scar, but sometimes there are things that leave a permanent mark.”

  She found herself riveted to the scar slashing across his stomach, a wound that would have killed him had he not been a wolf.

  “What happened?”

  “I was eighteen, and the pack alpha was raping my mother. I killed him and in the process got this little souvenir. He was bleeding out and dying and still sneering at me because he knew it would scar. But I didn’t look at it that way. This is what I got in the process of saving my mother and becoming the leader. And those are what you got while surviving and becoming who you are.”

  “Scars make a man look distinguished, but on a woman . . . ”

  Cole quirked a brow. “Was that a joke?”

  “Yeah. Lame huh?”

  He just chuckled.

  Jane crawled to the edge of the bed, ran her finger over the puckered mark on his stomach, and kissed it as he’d done with her. All this could be yours, Jane.

  His hands had moved to unbutton his pants. She put her hand over his. “Wait. Don’t mark me, okay?”

  He looked like he was going to protest, but she interrupted him. “I want to see what this would be like with us. I can’t just hand my entire life to you yet. Please promise me you won’t mark me.”

  He sighed, but nodded, the look on his face like she’d just asked him to go vegan.

  Chapter Eleven

  They were really going to do this. Jane stood in her jeans and bare feet beside the bed watching as Cole peeled the jeans from his own body. She guessed this was the part where she was supposed to follow suit, but she was busily cataloging her previous sexual history, trying to convince herself this was different.

  All vampires, all in one way or another to protect herself. Was this what this was too? Fucking a man to gain protection?

  The idea made her feel like a whore.

  No, Cole was different. She felt connected to him in a way she hadn’t felt with the others. His protection wasn’t conditional on her sleeping with him. He’d made that clear. He’d patiently waited weeks, not pushing her toward anything too sexual. And she wanted him.

  His hand slipped up to cradle the back of her head in that deliciously possessive way she’d always wanted a man––the right man––to hold her for a kiss.

  “You’re thinking too much,” he growled.

  Before she could respond, his mouth was on hers, a soft, devouring caress that made her mind empty all its contents except for him. She could feel the hard length of his erection pressed against her stomach, and her hand automatically moved between them to stroke him.

  His hand closed over hers, stilling her movements as he tore himself away from her mouth. “I’ve been waiting too long for this. You do that and I won’t last until I’m inside you. Coming on your leg like a randy teenager wasn’t exactly how I imagined this.”

  She blushed and moved her arms around his neck.

  “Good girl. You take instruction so well.”

  “Cole!” She was trying to sound indignant, outraged even, but the deep gravel purr of his voice was doing wildly inappropriate things to her body. He could say nearly anything to her right about now, and she’d respond like a porn star.

  He chuckled, scooped her up, and laid her on the bed. His gaze raked over her, considering. “Are you particularly attached to these jeans?”

  She shrugged. “You paid for them.”

  “And I’ll replace them.”

  Jane watched, enthralled, as he allowed himself to shift just enough for his hands to form fur and claws. He ripped the jeans off her, careful not to nick her skin, then shifted back to human form.

  And what a form it was. Tall, broad-shouldered, well-muscled, looming over her like every girl’s fantasy. The tribal tattoo was like a shiny bow on a gift wrapped just for her. Or unwrapped, as the case may be. His eyes flashed yellow at her for a moment, and her heart picked up speed.

  She reached up, pulling him down on top of her, overwhelmed by the feel of flesh against flesh as his body pressed into hers. Warmth. Not the eerie coldness of a vampire’s skin. He nuzzled his mouth against her throat and kissed her hungrily.

  She tensed.

  “Don’t worry, baby. Not marking. Just kissing.”

  She relaxed again and bucked her hips against him. Maybe it had been her time with vampires, but a mouth on her neck immediately sent her into a tailspin.

  “Please . . . ”

  Cole lifted himself to look into her eyes. His gaze was intense as he buried himself fully inside her. She gasped.

  The emotion slammed into her, causing tears to pour down her cheeks. He was so warm. It was the first sex she’d had that hadn’t in some way been a seduction to appease someone to spare her life. Even with Gregory it had been about hoping to keep his interest in her so she’d stay safe. With Cole it was because she’d wanted to know what his body would feel like inside of hers.

  The intensity of his eyes changed to concern. “Did I hurt you?”

  She shook her head. “No, I’m fine. Better than fine.”

  He feathered his fingers over her hair, his gaze scorching her.

  Jane didn’t think he was aware of the deep growls he was emitting as his mouth latched onto her breast. A little voice in her brain chanted in rhythm to his thrusts, Mine. Mine. Mine. All Mine. For a moment she thought her mind had connected with Cole’s, and she was hearing his thoughts of possession toward her. But the voice in her head was her own. She wanted him to mark her.

  Her body strained against his and, at the peak moment, she bit down on her lip to stop herself from begging him to bite her. Her orgasm came crashing over her, and she whimpered, part from the pleasure of her release and part from biting her lip so hard she’d drawn blood. Cole followed with a primal growl. She could see the strength of will it took for him not to bite her. Then he collapsed and rolled her over with him so they were lying together on their sides.

  A part of her had feared sex with anyone would only bring back the Technicolor nightmare of her history. But the experience was so physically different she couldn’t compare it. She wanted him, and despite everything she’d been taught about the wolves, she trusted him. But being mated to a wolf was serious. It wasn’t something she could take lightly or rush into. Knowing he’d had the desire to mark her but held back for her benefit, made her trust him a little more.

  He trailed his hand over her arm and pressed his lips against the side of her neck. She melted against him.

  “Are you okay?”

  She nodded, not trusting her voice as his fingers skimmed over her skin. Since joining physically with him, she felt . . . connected, like somehow he sensed what was going on inside her. Maybe he understood the crying because she’d hate to pick up the nickname, Crybaby Jane. It was as if she’d saved up years of tears to let them pour out over Cole, the one man who wouldn’t use them as a weapon against her.

  She rolled to face him and wrapped her arms around his neck, her lips pressing against his. He made her ache in places she didn’t know she could ache, and there were no words to fill in the emotional spaces. All she could do was feel.

  His arms came around her, cradling her, his fingers in her hair, his mouth consuming hers. She felt him, hard again, nudged against her, and she spread her thighs so he could slide back inside. He eased in and out of her in the most exquisite torture. His mouth moved back to her throat, and she felt his canines elongating, his struggle not to penetrate her skin and mark her seeming equal to her own struggle not to capitulate and beg him to.

  A moan escaped her throat as she groaned against him, urging him to quicken his pace. He responded with a growl.

  ***

  A wolf getting into his bed would have known the score, that she might end up marked and belonging to him. A human didn’t understand. And with Jane’s history, the last thing she needed was another situation where the choice was taken out of her hands.

  All she had to do was say the wor
d and she’d be his.

  No. His mind rebelled against the future tense of that statement. She was his. She just didn’t know it yet. It wasn’t official, but she belonged to him. He felt it with more ferocity than he’d ever felt anything else in his life.

  He spilled into her and felt the reverberation of her moans against his chest. His canines pressed against her throat. Just one little movement, and it would be done. The intent was sure as hell there. With great difficulty he pulled his fangs from her neck and held her, shaking from the effort it took not to mark her.

  Her warm, sweet body curled into his, and he fell into a fitful sleep.

  Cole was restless when he woke the next morning. Being next to his mate should soothe him, but leaving the mating uncompleted made him tense and anxious. It was the night of the full moon; he couldn’t avoid the potential consequences of that.

  What if he was the wolf from the painting? What if he lost control under the influence of the moon and hurt her? His logical mind told him to just avoid churches or buildings that looked like old churches. But he knew that wasn’t how it worked. Any event could shift the future, and in all likelihood the course had already changed just from his knowledge of it.

  He felt Jane stir and snuggle deeper against his chest. “Jane?”

  “Mmm?”

  “I have to leave for a few days.”

  “What? No!” She gripped him tighter as if her frail human strength could stop his movement.

  “I can respect your wish to wait to complete the mating, but tonight is the full moon. Although I believe Ed is the wolf in the painting, I can’t take the risk it’s me.”

  “It’s not you.”

  “I promise I’ll only be gone three nights until the full moon is over.”

  He could hear her heart pounding through her chest and her breathing changing, becoming shallow pants like the first night when she’d learned she was locked underground. His chest tightened.

  “Please, I can’t stay down here by myself. I can’t.”

  “It would just be for a few hours after sunset each night. During the day, Mara and Blake will be here with you. We know they’re safe. They’re also the wolves who have the most control over the change. At sunset they’ll have to leave you to go hunting, but after they’ve hunted they’ll come back to guard you.”

  Her nails dug into his skin. “I don’t want you to leave me. Greg left.”

  He stroked his fingers through her hair, the guilt from causing her more distress tugging at him. “Shhhh, I’m not leaving you.” Then he said it, the thought that had been tempting him since the conversation began. “If the mating was complete you’d be safe with me.”

  She stiffened in his arms.

  Stupid, Cole. Why did you have to go there? She was starting to trust you. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up, but it would be a simple solution.”

  “Cole, I can’t yet. Please understand.”

  He nodded, the disappointment overwhelming his senses while the wolf banged against his cage intent on taking what was his. “I’m sorry.”

  He’d said he wouldn’t leave her until sunset. He spent every second until that time, touching her, needing his skin to be pressed against hers, a shallow substitute for the completion of the mating ritual.

  At five o’clock, Blake and Mara were summoned to the den.

  “I’m going to give the code to your bodyguards. I’ll change it when I get back.” He scribbled something on a slip of paper and handed it to Blake.

  Her voice cracked. “But not me.”

  “Jane, please.” He felt like a monster not giving her permission to leave. What if something crazy happened and she needed to escape? But he knew she wouldn’t need to escape the wolves he’d chosen to stay with her. If he gave her the code she might come looking for him.

  He knew the mating call stirred within her blood as it did his. Perhaps not as strongly, but it was enough. She felt it or she wouldn’t be so upset about a temporary separation. Once again he wanted to make both of their lives easier by just marking her. But he couldn’t start their relationship with a betrayal of trust, even if he knew she’d forgive him once she felt the bond between them fully flare to life.

  Jane clung to him as he gave her one last kiss. She looked so lost.

  “Stay. It’s not you. I know it’s not you,” she said, tears tracking down her cheeks.

  He leaned in to whisper in her ear. “Even if it isn’t, the full moon is the best shot I have at catching the human-hunter and removing him from the pack. A wolf that’s been hunting people won’t be able to resist human flesh on the full moon. I’ll track him and kill him.”

  “But what if he kills you?”

  “He won’t. He’s older, and I’ve been alpha for two decades for a reason. It’ll be fine. I promise you.”

  Cole left her in the den, resenting every step that took him farther from his mate. He was so lost inside his head with thoughts of Jane that he bumped into Rhonda.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  He looked at her and almost snapped. He could see in her eyes the little light, the lack of true sympathy. She probably hoped something had happened between him and Jane and that she still had a shot.

  He growled in frustration. “I have to leave for a few days.”

  “What about Jane?”

  That false sympathy again.

  “Jane is staying behind with Blake and Mara.”

  Rhonda moved to touch his shoulder. He sidestepped it. He couldn’t stand her skin on his right now. He wanted to run back into the den to tell Jane he was sorry he’d been crazy. But there was the small chance without the mating mark, in an enclosed space with her on the full moon, that he wouldn’t be able to control himself.

  If he lost control and she expressed the slightest bit of fear toward him, it could end with bloodshed. He swallowed around the lump in his throat as he remembered the vision in detail far more vivid than the painting. He couldn’t be the one to do that to Jane.

  If removing himself from the equation was the only way to keep her safe, he’d do it.

  ***

  He stayed far back at first so his suspect wouldn’t see him, tracking him through the demon dimension and back out to the other side into Georgia. The same place Cain said he’d caught a wolf from his pack hunting a human. Golatha Falls was a small town with plenty of forests to hide in. Plenty of game to hunt. Cole quickly caught and fed off a few rabbits so he could more easily control his change.

  He followed the other wolf’s trail through the woods. When the smell of blood hit the air, he broke into a run. Ed looked up from his kill, crimson staining his muzzle. The deer lay dead at his feet. He reclaimed his human form.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Cole shifted as well. “Dammit!”

  “What? What is it?”

  “I thought you’d been hunting humans. I was trying to catch you in the act.”

  Ed looked hurt. “Why me? Have I ever given you any reason to think I’d betray you? Have I ever defied an order?”

  Cole quickly recounted the vision to him. “That, combined with the hostile way you’ve been around Jane . . . ”

  Ed shook his head. “I’m sorry I gave you reason to doubt me. It’s not that Jane’s a human. It’s the vampire stuff. I thought you were being ruled by your dick and I just . . . It was inexcusable. I’m sorry. I’ll help you hunt.”

  Cole nodded and the two black wolves returned to a shape fit for fast tracking. He felt like a clock had been attached to the night, and they were running out of time.

  Chapter Twelve

  Jane was doubled over, gripping the counter in the den. She felt like she had food poisoning. Mara stood beside her, holding her hand for comfort.

  “You’ll be fine. He’ll be back.”

  What? This was Cole? Because Cole had left her? She looked up to see shock in Blake’s eyes.

  “My God. She really is his mate.”

  Mara’s voice went up a
register in a sing-song mocking tone. “I thought you said you didn’t believe in that true mate nonsense.”

  Blake stared at Jane. “I didn’t. Before.”

  The two wolves guided her to the couch.

  “Just breathe,” Mara said. “If you don’t panic it won’t hurt.”

  Jane concentrated on breathing slowly in through her nose and out through her mouth, counting the breaths. “Why is this happening to me?”

  “Your body wants to complete the mating. It’s like a kind of limbo. You slept with him didn’t you?”

  She blushed and nodded. Not that they couldn’t smell it on her most likely. She probably smelled more like Cole than herself right now. “If he knew this would happen, why would he leave me like this?”

  “Because you’re human,” Blake said. “No one would think something like that would happen with a human. And Cole isn’t exactly as well-versed on the intricacies of mating rituals as Mara is. She’s our resident expert.”

  Mara punched him playfully in the arm.

  Jane didn’t say anything about the vampire blood. It was a good thing this didn’t happen if a human slept with a werewolf. They wouldn’t survive it.

  Mara was talking to her again in that quiet, soothing voice. “It’ll go away if you can stop panicking.”

  “Really?” If ever there was a time to learn to calm down, it was now.

  “Yes. You’re anxious, and you want your mate. But he’s not quite your mate yet. It’s throwing your body out of whack. If you relax, this will fade.”

  But Jane couldn’t relax. She got up and paced the length of the den, a million thoughts swirling through her head. The primary one being: Why did I have sex with him? She’d wanted Cole. She felt safe with him, but now she was essentially married to him because clearly she couldn’t go through life like this.

  She turned sharply back to the wolves on the couch. “Will it be like this until he marks me?”

  Mara shrugged. “I don’t know. This almost never happens. When a wolf finds his true mate, he doesn’t wait; he doesn’t ask; he just marks and that’s that.”