by Juniper Hart
Ezekiel looked towards Reuben, ignoring the policeman clutching the remains of his throat.
“Now here’s what’s going to happen, dog. You stole my sister from me. I’ll steal your lover from you. And here’s the best part – I won’t make it nice and gentle. Oh, no. I won’t kill her here and give you the satisfaction. I’m taking both of you back to the clan, where we’ll have more fun.” He motioned for his men to sit Cara upright. “Then, when your dried-up corpses are burned, there will be nothing being left of you. As you like to say, my stupid friend, comprendo?”
“Don’t do this!” Reuben was begging, not for his life, but for Cara’s.
He was still trying to shift, but the silver all around him seemed to be causing him physical discomfort. Ezekiel gestured to his thugs, who lifted Reuben to his feet and started walking him towards the door. The vampires handling Cara wrapped her in a sheet as a makeshift dress before leading her towards the jittering body of the unfortunate policeman by the door. Ezekiel stepped into the pool of blood, pausing to make a disappointed face at soiling his shoes.
And then Reuben made his move.
He kicked one thug away and pulled his other hand free to grab a bat. The silver burned his hand as if it were white hot, but he whacked two of them in the head before anyone could move. He ran to the window and threw open the curtains.
The vampires shrieked and retreated into the hallway, skin burning. He grabbed the gun and pointed it at the doorway, firing several rounds through the weak sheetrock walls. Cara heard yelling from the other side.
“Go out the window!” he commanded. “Get out of here!”
He fired again, and called forth an ancient curse. Cara dashed to the window and froze. People were outside, staring up in shock at the sounds coming from their room. She couldn’t let the people stop her. Cara tightened the sheet around her and attempted to open the window, but it wouldn’t budge.
She grabbed a nearby chair and smashed the window into thousands of pieces. Carefully placing a blanket in the widow frame to shield her from the broken glass, Cara clambered out. Their room was only on the second floor, so she hit the ground hard, but she wasn’t hurt badly. Her knees caught the brunt of the impact, but she got up to see the guys in the parking lot, whose surprise at hearing gunshots had been overcome with seeing a scantily clad woman fall out of a window.
“Get out of here!” she snapped. “You all need to run. Fast!”
The onlookers took a couple looks before hurrying away. A moment later, Reuben jumped out of the window. It was only a matter of time until the vampires put their cowls and sunglasses back on and followed.
“Get to the car!”
They dashed to her Honda, where she grabbed the spare key from its hiding spot and threw it to Reuben, and rushed to the passenger seat. He started the engine and slammed on the gas pedal. The wheels spun wildly for a moment before they got enough traction to shoot them off. The car swerved onto the road and merged onto the interstate, getting them as far away as they could in as little time as possible. Cara could hear the screaming vampires for a while before distance started to drown them out.
“My God!” She punched him in the shoulder. “You asshole! Why didn’t you tell me the whole story?”
He deflected her next shot. “What does it matter? Like I said, I didn’t love his sister. Why does it matter that I slept with her?”
“How can I believe you? How can I believe anything you say?”
“I never lied to you. I told you everything except that one part. I just…I wasn’t ready to tell you about that part.”
“So you killed her?”
“I already told you. It wasn’t on purpose.”
She looked back over her shoulder, expecting to see cops following them. Nobody was there.
“We need to ditch this car,” he said. “Do you have another one?”
“Seriously? No, I don’t have another one!”
Cara was having a difficult time focusing her thoughts. Her entire world had been torn apart when he told her magic was real. Then he made love to her, only to be followed up by a daring escape from a clan of bloodthirsty vampires, who had told her that Reuben murdered his last girlfriend.
“Take me to the spell guy now! I want nothing more to do with you.”
He got into the center lane. They weren’t getting off anytime soon.
“It’s not that easy anymore. They know who you are. They’re looking for you. They want to kill you because of me. You’re no longer a meal; you’re a threat.”
Cara was terrified.
“I’m sorry,” he said, meeting her gaze.
Cara was surprised to see that he actually meant it.
Reuben explained, “I never thought it would go this way. I meant what I said. I wanted to take you to the mage and have him send you back to your old life. But it just can’t be like that now, no matter how much you want it. Ezekiel…” he sighed. “I have to protect you.”
Tears welled up behind Cara’s eyelashes, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t hold them back. She wanted more excitement, but she didn’t want this.
Reuben looked over and saw Cara’s tears. He grabbed her hand and kissed it.
“Cara, I promise I will make this right. Nobody will hurt you ever again.”
They drove for what seemed like hours. Cara had a long road ahead of her, starting with securing clothes and money. Their belongings were probably getting soaked by the blood of the brave policeman who’d tried to save them.
“Do you have a plan?” she finally asked after an eternity.
Reuben was her best shot at survival, and to be honest, she could get used to the idea of him taking care of her.
Noticing Cara had relaxed considerably, Reuben placed his hand on her knee and slowly moved it up to her thigh. Cara wanted his touch, but she playfully slapped his hand away. After all, she was supposed to be mad at him.
Reuben laughed and removed his hand.
“Even though I would love for you to wear a sheet all of the time, we probably need to get some clothes. Where? I don’t know. You’re wearing a sheet, and I don’t have a shirt or shoes. I guess we could join a nudist colony.”
“We need clothes. Got it. Step two?”
“I don’t know. Ezekiel has smelled you and he can already track me. No matter where we go, he’s going to find us.”
“Could we just go back to the Enchantment Society and use them for protection?” she asked hopefully.
“Good idea, but no. They’re just middlemen. Again, think of the bank reference. They’re not the military, and they have nowhere near the power to deal with someone like Ezekiel. And you might remember that we broke in there and severely injured some guards. I don’t think they’d be too keen about us visiting again. I have some friends in the South. They’ll be able to help us. I assume you’re coming with me?”
“I don’t have much of a choice, do I?”
He thought about it. “Honestly… no. You don’t.”
Cara shrugged. “I like the idea of sticking with you. Besides, you’re pretty good in bed.”
He smiled broadly.
“Yes, well, hopefully we’ll have plenty of time for that.”
He continued in a more serious tone, “I have plenty of money. My supplies have been admittedly running low, so we’ll need some help with that. I’ll teach you how to shoot, and about weaknesses of vamps and anything else Ezekiel might send at us.”
There was a pause.
“So… what would have happened if he’d bitten me?” Cara asked, not entirely sure if she wanted to know the answer.
“Short answer? You’d die. Long answer? You’d go catatonic and become utterly devoted to them for the next thousand years as your body slowly disintegrated. You wouldn’t feel a thing, but it wouldn’t be good.”
“I thought people that got bit by vampires turned into vampires.”
“Legend. Common misconception. Turning into a vampire is a much more complicated
process.”
“I guess I have a lot to learn.”
She settled back into her seat. She had no idea where they were going aside from somewhere in the South.
This new adventure was going to be scary, but Cara was also excited about spending more time with Reuben. If she could only block out the fact that she could be killed at any moment. Fate had forced her out of her comfort zone to create a better story then she could have ever written. Maybe one day she would use her life as the inspiration for a new novel.
Ezekiel, based on what Reuben had told her, wasn’t going to stop trying to kill them anytime soon. He would send anything and everything that it took to kill her in the most violent way possible.
But no matter what he sent, no matter how many, or how horrible, she’d be there to greet them. And not just her. She had Reuben.
Together, they would build a new life.
Together, they would survive.
***
THE END
Werewolf Mate
Enchanted Werewolf – Book Two
By: Alexis Davie
Chapter 1
It was the middle of the night, and the sound of screaming woke Cara up from a deep sleep.
She jumped up with such surprise that she tumbled straight off the bed and over the nightstand. It tried it’s best to hold her, but the nightstand didn’t stand much of a chance; it crumbled like tinfoil under her weight.
“Fuck!” she snapped to nobody in particular, stumbling and grabbing her phone to turn the light on.
She hurried to the door of her room and unbolted the deadbolt, grabbing her gun before dashing out the front door. Not too many things made Reuben scream like that. The werewolf was almost indestructible. She’d seen him shot, beaten and experience every other form of pain known to man, but he’d never screamed like that.
She dashed over to his room.
“Hey! Quit screaming!”
In retrospect, she wished she would have come up with something more eloquent such as, ‘Are you okay or are vampires in there with you?’ But in the heat of the moment, telling him to stop screaming was the first thing she could think of. After all, they were in a hotel and she didn’t want him to wake the guests and draw attention to himself.
Normally, she could sleep in the same bed as Reuben, but tonight was the full moon. She didn’t want to be anywhere near him when he started to transform, as he lost all control of his actions when the beastly side took over.
For the past few days, they had been staying in hotels as they made their way to Texas to meet up with Reuben’s friend. Cara had recently got mixed up in a vicious battle between Reuben and a clan of vampires, which is why they were on the run. The vampires had found her with Reuben, so now they were after her, too.
The screaming died down. She could still hear him breathing, but he wasn’t screaming anymore.
“Cara,” he snarled. “Let me out.”
“Why were you screaming like that?” she asked. “Are you okay?”
Well, she did end up eventually asking him about his wellbeing in a more articulate way. It still counted.
“Let me out. Now!”
Apparently, he was fine, but she couldn’t open the door to see for herself. The last person who’d tried it had probably ended up in the morgue. Reuben was a dangerous man to start with, but in his werewolf form, he was insane. If there was a vampire in there, it was dead.
A drunken couple emerged from the elevator and stumbled towards their own room. Cara felt like an idiot with her face up against the door of a hotel room, trying to console an enraged werewolf. She raised a hand and wiggled her fingers in an awkward wave. The man shot her a finger gun and winked.
Drunk people always tend to be amusing, thought Cara, which was really one of their only redeeming qualities.
“Let me out!”
Reuben bashed up against the door again.
“Kinky,” the drunk woman said before she vanished into her hotel room with her partner.
“It’s not like that,” Cara called pathetically after her. “It’s not… forget it. Reuben, it’s late. I’m going to bed. Try to keep it down.”
The last thing she wanted was for the hotel staff or the police to show up and try to rescue Reuben from his room. Cara dreaded the thought. They only had twelve more hours of driving until they reached their destination. She hoped they would make it there without any more challenges.
She wandered back over to her room and sat down on the bed, trying to piece the nightstand back together before finally giving up. It seemed as if Reuben was finally calming down, and for that, she was grateful. He had been transforming into a werewolf every night due to a spell that had been placed on him. They had broken into the Enchanted Society building, where she’d been able to crack the code to break the spell. Thankfully, Reuben was back to normal. Well, about as normal as a werewolf could be.
The nights when Reuben didn’t transform were amazing, and she didn’t get any sleep for a completely different reason. Getting used to sharing a bed with a man every night was taking some time. She’d slept alone for so long, she had gotten used to sprawling out. Cara liked her space. However, she much preferred being spooned in a powerful man’s arms every night after wild sex.
She plopped down on the bed with a low moan, making sure to avoid letting the gun hit too hard for fear it would go off. That would surely draw unwanted attention.
It made Cara laugh to think about how that conversation would go down. ‘Excuse me, ma’am, but you don’t appear to be a registered handgun owner. Where did you get this gun?’
‘Oh, my friend gave it to me to protect me from vampires.’
‘…. I see. And where is this friend? Can we speak to him?’
‘He’s the one across the hall – the werewolf that’s currently ripping up the furniture and sounds like a trapped man desperately trying to escape.’
‘I see. Well, I guess you’re good to go.’
She had expected problems when she first started traveling with him. The most obvious one was Ezekiel. The vampire was still out for revenge. Cara and Reuben had spotted a couple of Ezekiel’s thugs a few towns back, but they didn’t dare to attack at night since Reuben could transform on cue if there was moonlight. His only uncontrollable transformation was during the full moon.
Oddly enough, the vampires only attacked during the day when the threat from the sun was less deadly than the threat of Reuben. The vampires just had to cover themselves up with all manner of clothes to keep their skin from dissolving in the sunlight.
After everything she had been through, the one problem she hadn’t expected was boredom.
It wasn’t like she could go hang out somewhere, and she didn’t turn on the television for fear of vampires sneaking up on her and using the sound to mask their movements. Writing used to quell her boredom, but she’d left her laptop back at her apartment. All of her writing was lost when she left her laptop behind, which brought on a deep sadness. After all, Cara had spent upwards of nine months trying to work on that story before losing it. At first, it hurt. It hurt badly. She could almost feel the absence in her heart. Maybe when her current vampire situation was resolved, she’d be able to go back to her apartment and retrieve her writing. Maybe. Hopefully.
She laid back and stared up at the light from the ceiling fan. Since she’d met Reuben, she’d started to sleep with the light on. Not because of her childhood fear of a boogeyman, but for the imminent danger she faced. The light didn’t burn vampires, but it let her know if they were ever inside the room.
She closed her eyes and tried to get some sleep. She was a light sleeper. Back when she lived at the apartment, everything would wake her up—especially the elevator and the garbage truck. Ugh. That garbage truck. It woke her up at five o’clock in the morning every Tuesday.
The quietness subsided when something thumped against the door. Her eyes widened and her heart started beating uncontrollably. Placing her hand on the gun gave her a sm
all reprieve from fear, but she continued to listen intently for another sound that might indicate she wasn’t alone.
Another thump. This time followed by a moan.
“Oh! Oh, yes! Yes! Yes!”
The couple from the hallway were making love right on the other side of the cheap wall. No, that wasn’t right. Making love was special; it was the sharing of two people’s kindred spirits and their bodies. These two weren’t making love. They were – as Cara’s old boss liked to rudely say – doing the nasty.
Cara banged on the wall.
“Hey! I’m trying to sleep over here. Keep it down!”
“What? You want to join us?” the guy called over, slurring his words. “What do you think, babe?”
“I don’t know. Is she hot?”
Cara could just barely hear the woman’s voice.
“I thought so. Really hot. She’s a brunette and, with, uh, like a really hot body.”
There were mumblings.
“We’re coming over!” said the man’s voice.
“What?” Cara banged up against the wall. “No! I don’t want to...” She tried to think of the right word. “No! Just stop being so loud!”
There was the sound of movement from the other side of the wall. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. About thirty seconds later, she realized that it was, in fact, a bad thing. They knocked on her door.
“Door’s locked! Go away.”
The drunk guy called out, “Let us in!”
She threw back her head with an exasperated groan.
“I’m not having sex with you two. Go back to your room.”
“But you already said you would, girlie!”
Girlie? Who uses the term girlie to try to pick up a woman?
“No. Go away.”
She almost added, ‘Or I’ll call the cops,’ but she knew she couldn’t do that with Reuben across the hall in his current state. The police would probably try to get into his room. Then Cara would have to convince them to go away, and they wouldn’t so she’d be in an even bigger mess.
“Hey,” the guy said from outside. “Come on over. I promise, you’ll enjoy—”
