Wolf Games (The Vampire Games Book 4)

by Caroline Peckham

  Jameson stiffened at my words and stopped eating. Which was a big deal for him. His eyes lifted, deep bronze and glittering. “We?”

  I was caught by surprise and instinctively laid a hand on his. We'd been through so much together, even if I did have my reservations about him. He was still a friend. We'd fought for our lives side by side more than once. “Yes. We,” I confirmed. “Whatever it is you want from Ulvic, I'll help you. I can break his neck the second he steps out of the human quarters if you like?”

  Jameson snorted a laugh. “No can do, Firefly. Ulvic is the only one who can take me to his father. I wouldn't know where to start. If I want to rescue Mekiah and Reason, I have to work with him.”

  I squeezed his wrist and he slid his fingers between mine before I could pull away. “Forget about him. I want one last day of peace before I talk to him. Before we leave.”

  “You're leaving tomorrow?” I gasped, unable to help myself.

  He nodded, giving me a grim look. “I can't wait any longer. I have to find them.”

  “I'll help,” I said without thought.

  He shook his head. “No, you're safe here. And besides, I don't know if you'd be able to avoid the sun. Ulvic's father could be in Barbados for all I know.”

  I sighed, trying to tug my hand free of his, but he didn't let me go. My heart was heavy. Jameson was walking into danger again. And a sudden realisation flooded over me. “This is why you waited till now, for Varick to leave. You knew he'd go with you.”

  Jameson ran a hand down the back of his neck before nodding. “He's human now, and sure, he could probably still fight like a trooper, but what for? He's just been given life again, and I'll be damned if I'm gonna risk him losing it.”

  My brows drew together. Jameson cared about his friend so deeply. And I was drawn to him because of it. The way he loved so unconditionally. So fully and without question. It was alien to me.

  Before I could argue any further, Jameson said, “So can I have one perfect day?” His mouth hooked up at the corner and I couldn't fight my own smile, despite the sinking feeling at knowing he was leaving.

  “Of course,” I said. My tongue scraped the roof of my mouth and I realised I was growing thirsty. My hand went instinctively to my throat and I glanced at the door. “But I better go and get some blood first...”

  Jameson thrust his wrist toward my mouth. “You're not going anywhere.”

  I rolled my eyes, moving to get up, but Jameson didn't release my hand. “I'll be five minutes,” I said, but he shook his head.

  “It's my perfect day, and I want you to drink from me.” He gave me a stupid grin.

  “Why?” I narrowed my eyes. I was reluctant to accept - for more reasons than one. Jameson wasn't aware that whenever I drank his blood, I was given snippets of his memories. I should have told him. Apparently it was a Werewolf blood thing. But I'd held my tongue for this long, and now it had gone past the point of owning up.

  “Maybe it turns me on.” He grinned and I rolled my eyes. “Alright,” he dropped the act with a sigh. “I like it...it kind of makes me feel useful to you.”

  I frowned, parting my fingers from his. “You don't have to give me blood for that to be true.”

  “Still...” He offered his wrist again.

  I dug my fangs into my tongue, trying to resist. If he watched me feed from him, he'd see the moment I experienced his memories, his past. I batted his hand away, knowing he was probably going to overthink this, but I didn't really have a choice. I cupped his neck and his eyes lit up like a gas burner. He tilted his head and I dug my fangs into his throat. The moment his blood met my lips, I got lost. My eyes unfocused as I drank, the warmth sliding down my throat, sating the hungry devil inside me.

  Jameson pulled me into his lap and I didn't even complain. When I tasted blood, it faded the rest of the world. Nothing mattered but this.

  All at once, I was hit with flashes from Jameson's past, seeing the memories through his eyes. He was in wolf form: I could feel the muscles moving in his back, the weight of his heavy paws as he padded across a wooden floor, stained with blood.

  His mind was my mind and his thoughts poured through me in a torrent.

  I'd rather die than this.

  My heart – his heart – pounded in a frantic rhythm. Terror and panic was all he knew at that moment.

  A wolf came into view, laid out on the floor, breathing but unconscious. Jamesons's jaw locked around its throat. I heard the crack. I tasted the blood.

  I was trapped in hell, but I couldn't stop watching.

  Kill me now.

  End this Ulvic. Let me die.

  I wanted to cry, to scream, to drag Jameson away from this heart-breaking moment and stop it from ever happening. The night Ulvic had ordered him to kill his pack to save his own skin. It had broken Jameson. And I could feel that pain now, mirrored in my heart.

  I gasped, pulling my fangs free of Jameson's neck. The agony I'd felt stayed with me. My heart beat out of rhythm. Jameson's brows were drawn and his eyes were open, vulnerable, asking a question I didn't give him a moment to ask. I pressed my lips to his. His hands hooked around my hips as he responded, the heat of his mouth on mine like a furnace. He moved forward, dropping me onto the bed and pinning me beneath him. He braced his arms beside me and lifted his head, ending the kiss.

  “You confuse the hell out of me, Firefly.” He gazed between my eyes as if trying to read me.

  Guilt swept through me, knowing that I had secret access to his thoughts. It wasn't right. But still, I bit my tongue.

  “I know,” I breathed, running a hand up his spine.

  I longed to soothe the pain I'd found inside him, even if it broke my own heart to do it. Because Jameson would leave after I gave in to him. In the deepest regions of my body, I knew that. But some part of me wanted him to break me. I wanted to open the iron doors of my heart, and let him in with a butcher knife. I didn't care right then; the decision was made.

  On a bed full of sweets, with the theme tune to Jurassic Park playing in the background, I was going to let him have me.

  Jameson

  Cass was beneath me (#lifegoals), her mouth was painting heated patterns down my neck (#dreamcometrue), and I was having serious doubts (#WTFbro?). This woman had resisted me from day dot. And for some insane reason she was suddenly getting handsy with me in my bed.

  In truth, I actually hadn't invited her there to get laid. Which was a first for me when it came to women.

  But Cass was different. And though we'd made-out a few times on Øyafrelse during our mission to destroy the V Games, I'd thought that was pretty much a one time thing for her. Apparently I'd been wrong. And also apparently, my wildest dreams were unfolding before my eyes. So why was I resisting?

  I clung to Cass's waist as she tangled herself around me. The girl had the body of a tight-rope walker (I'd know), and a face that seemed to have been designed purely with the intention of attracting one man. Me.

  Those eyes... emeralds, jades, I'd had the real thing back in my pirate life. But those babies, were something else. The kind of rare jewel you couldn't sell. So I was going to do something I never did with girls. Stop.

  I lifted my head and her rubbed-raw lips parted in surprise.

  “You don't want this,” I panted – already out of breath? Real smooth, bro. And one part of my body in particular was furious at me for those words.

  “I do,” she breathed. “You're leaving and...”

  “And?”

  “And...”

  A lump rose in my throat.

  I waited.

  “And...” She curled her cool palm around the back of my neck, drawing me down to meet her lips. “And I want you.”

  And there it was. Like someone had punctured my heart with an arrow. It was probably how Varick had felt when that had really happened to him – like exactly the same.

  And there wasn't really any going back from those words. “So let's do this,” I said and she blushed. I laughed.
“And that. But I meant us. For real. No bullshit. No games. We get together now and we stay together until one of us dies or you meet a hotter Werewolf – which will be never by the way.”

  She bit her lip, her sparkling eyes fading a fraction. “Do you really mean that?”

  “Yes.” And I did. Totally did. Completely, bloody did. “I'll go save Mekiah and Reason Rambo-style. And when I come back, we'll start our lives together. We do this for real, properly, or we don't do it at all.”

  She nodded, but she wasn't smiling. I feared she didn't believe me. But I'd show her. I'd damn well show her.

  I moved to get up – despite the other part of me that screamed at me not to.

  Cass knotted her hand in my shirt, pulling me back down. Her mouth curled up into a beautiful, mischievous smile that said 'now, Jameson'. I was only human. Or Werewolf. Whatever I was, I was a slave to that look. And hell if I was gonna keep saying no. We weren't exactly dating, but I reckoned we'd sort-of, maybe had three dates. One where we'd bonded over murdering Vs on the Isle of Lidelse in our not-so-lovely cages. The second when we'd broken out of that hell-hole. The third was murdering Hunters together in Rockley Jones's Resort. Our first kiss had been a bit of a shit-show. But I was about to make up for that tenfold. Oh, who was I kidding? Fifty-fold. I was about to kick-start our happily-ever-after.

  Probably for the first time in history, I was nervous about my 'performance'. But that was soon forgotten when Cass pulled my shirt over my head. I grinned wolfishly as she trailed her fingers over my abs. Her palms were cool against my flaming body. We were fire and ice and I was about to find out what happened when the two collided.

  I exposed Cass's alabaster skin, hungrily, piece by piece. I tasted every part of her until I couldn't wait any longer. Cass sighed my name in a way that made me want to propose to her right then.

  Probably a bit soon...all things considered.

  Our mouths met once more, and my body fell into rhythm with hers. We weren't polite with each other, or gentle. Her nails tore down my back, my arms, and she definitely bit me more than once.

  She was trying to wound me whilst trying to love me. Typical of her. I started responding to every slash with a kiss and forced her to acknowledge that, no matter how hard she fought me away, I was staying. She was damn well going to love me. But I'd have to break the rest of her walls down first. Just let me in, Firefly.

  A while later – like a long, long while later – I fell into the space beside Cass, hot, sweaty and the most satisfied I'd ever felt in my entire two hundred years of life.

  Cass sat up, curling her legs to her chest. Her deep red hair fell down her spine, caressing her moonshine skin. I sat up, jealous of her hair, pushing it from her shoulders and running kisses across her neck. She shivered, batting me away with a laugh, “Jameson.”

  “Yes?” I murmured into a freckle, running my tongue over her shoulder. Holy shit, she tasted better than red M&Ms.

  She giggled again and I dragged her back into my arms. “I think you're my new favourite flavour.” I pressed my mouth to the velvet-smooth skin behind her ear.

  She glanced back at me and I felt like she was looking directly into my soul. The smile dropped from my face as I waited for her to speak.

  “I'm sorry about what happened to you,” she said softly. “With your pack.”

  Rusty nails dug into my throat as I nodded.

  “I know how painful that must be, even now.” She turned, cupping my cheek, melting away any bravado I had left. Which was pretty much none.

  Her expression told me she did know how I felt. As if she could feel the open wound of that loss inside me, barely starting to heal over.

  “If I get the others back, at least...” I dropped my eyes. “I can start to make up for what I did.”

  “It wasn't you,” she whispered.

  I gave her a sad sort of smile. Yeah, it hadn't been my choice. But my body had done it. “I just keep thinking...what if I'd fought harder? What if there was a way I could have stopped myself from obeying. That moment plays over and over and o-”

  She kissed me, halting all thoughts, dissolving all worries, soothing all wounds. Her kiss was different to before, soft, languid, loving. She was letting me in, and it felt like the best thing in the entire world. A future was expanding before us, our lives were intertwined, and there was no way in hell they were getting untangled. In fact, I was going to actively tangle them further. I was gonna knot them up like necklaces in a jar.

  Cass put on my shirt and I slid into my boxers, before helping myself to a bag of melted maltesers that had been stuck to my left arse cheek for god only knew how long.

  Far-be-it from me to waste perfectly good chocolate.

  We watched more films, but I wasn't really paying attention anymore. The girl in my bed, was the only girl who would be in my bed ever again. And my heart didn't seem big enough to handle the amount of emotion that that evoked in me.

  By the time night fell, Cass was tucked under my arm, her head rested on my shoulder, her ankles locked together as she quietly watched Jurassic World. Her fingers twirled in circles on my thigh and I didn't think I'd ever felt so content.

  Tomorrow was the problem. I'd have to talk to Ulvic. And God help me, I didn't know how I was going to cope spending time with him on this mission. But I had to do whatever it took to save my pack.

  “Will you come with me to speak with Ulvic in morning?” I murmured, rubbing my chin against Cass's head. I needed a non-Werewolf present to make sure he didn't command me to do anything. Or at least to bear witness if he did.

  “Of course,” she said. “And the second you get your pack back, I'll also happily rip his throat out.”

  I chuckled softly, laying a kiss in her hair. “That's my girl.”

  *★*

  Cass had to attend perimeter duty during the night, so at midnight, I reluctantly let her go and headed to the communal bathroom for a piss. I'd tried to talk Brendan into giving me a room with an en-suite, but he'd thought I was joking.

  As I peed into a urinal, a sniffing noise reached my ears.

  I glanced around the cubicles, but didn't hear any sign of movement, so continued peeing.

  Sniff.

  Stopped peeing.

  Silence.

  Started again.

  Sniff.

  I grunted my annoyance, finishing my interrupted piss before zipping up my jeans and hunting down the source of the noise. I followed the sniffing into the showers; the left fork led to the men and the right to the women. The whole place was decorated with cream and blue tiles, the smell of ocean-scented bleach filling the air. The noise was coming from the women's showers, so I called out, “Hello?” before stepping into them. I didn't want to walk in on some unsuspecting girl having a private shower-cry.

  “Jameson?” Nadine's voice answered me and a cubicle swung slowly open.

  I moved toward it, finding Nadine on the floor, wrapped in a towel, her plum-coloured hair soaking wet and plastered to her shoulders. Tears ran down her cheeks and her eyes were hollow. She'd lost weight since we'd first arrived here, her ample curves having slimmed out and her face taking on a bony look.

  I crouched down, my heart yanking at the sight of her. “Hey, are you okay?”

  I reached out a hand and she took it, crawling forward into my arms. Her wet hair soaked through my shirt, but I didn't care, holding her tightly as she let out little hiccoughs of emotion.

  “I miss them,” she breathed. “I wish Emerico was here. He'd have – hic- loved this place.”

  Claws ripped at my heart at her words. The loss of our pack was horribly present. “Me too,” I whispered. “But you've gotta look after yourself, Dina, this isn't helping.”

  “It's easy for you to – hic - say. I – hic – don't have any friends here. At least you – hic – have people around who care about you.”

  “I care about you.” I pulled her to her feet, keeping her held against me. “And if you spoke to the others,
you'd make some friends.”

  “Ulvic always warned us about the Vs,” she said, leaning back to look up at me. “But they're alright, aren't they? That one, Cass, you're – hic - friends aren't you?”

  There was something kind of desperate in her gaze and I didn't think it was the time to explain the complicated nature of mine and Cass's relationship. But I did make a mental note to discuss it with Cass tomorrow. Would she be my girlfriend if I asked her? Or would she want to keep it quiet? I'd have to do this on her terms. Rushing her was a no-no.

  “Yeah, we're close,” I answered.

  Nadine seemed to relax, resting her head on my shoulder. “It's just you and me now. We don't even know if the others are still alive.”

  “Don't say that,” I growled. “Tomorrow, we're taking Ulvic and going to find them.”

  “Oh Alpha!” Nadine gasped. “I'm coming too?”

  I'd never really considered not bringing her. The girl was badass, she'd be one of our best assets.

  “Of course you're coming. I'm not planning to take on Ulvic's crazy father without you.”

  She let out a rattling sigh and I laid my arm around her shoulders, guiding her out of the bathroom. “Go get some sleep.” I encouraged her in the direction of her bedroom with a gentle push.

  She nodded, leaning up and pressing a kiss to my cheek, the scent of cinnamon shampoo engulfing me. “Thank you,” she breathed.

  I headed back to my room, my heart slightly heavier. I paused outside my door, gazing down the corridor, thinking of going to the perimeter to spend some more time with Cass. But it was probably a good idea to get some sleep before tomorrow. Hesitating a moment longer, I forced myself to walk through the door, but for all the world I wished I hadn't.

  A commanding tone filled the air, making the hairs on my body stand on end, dominating every bone in my body, “Don't speak, Alpha. And don't you dare move either.”

  Jameson

  Ulvic stood before me in a shirt and jeans, his injured hand no longer bandaged after the Helsings had butchered it. Evidently he'd gotten hold of some V blood. All the digits were missing, the skin smoothly healed over, leaving just uneven stumps where they'd been cut off by Abraham Van Helsing.