Rebel Bitten (Blood Alliance Book 4)

by Lexi C. Foss

  “You did, and I wasn’t angry with you.” He cupped my cheek again and leaned in to kiss me softly, his lips plump and promising against mine. “I couldn’t figure out what was hurting you. That was when Damien mentioned the fragility of mortals. So I tried to turn you.”

  My heart sped up with his words. He tried to turn me? “Into a vampire?”

  “No, into a bat,” he drawled, nipping my lower lip before pulling back to give me a look. “Yes, into a vampire, pet. But apparently, you tried to bite me during the transformation instead. In all my millennia, I’ve never been bitten by a lycan. Or, I suppose, in your case, a partially turned lycan. However, it carried the same impact. I was high from blood loss, and my wound wouldn’t close. So Damien knocked me out and brought us both here.”

  “I… I bit you?” That was what he’d said to Damien. Along with the tidbit about how I nearly killed him.

  “I guess you were hungry,” he murmured, not sounding upset about it. “I’d almost depleted your blood supply for the transition, so you merely returned the favor. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out well for either of us.” He continued into a recollection of what happened once he woke up again, telling me the theory about how I’d been bitten the night we met, how his blood temporarily cured me with his immortality, and how the full-moon energy had demanded a shift my body couldn’t handle. Which had led to Edon’s arrival and his subsequent bite.

  “Edon’s the dark-haired alpha?” I guessed.

  “Yes, he ascended last night. Luna and Silas are his mates.” Ryder focused on me for a moment, his eyebrows dipping down. “You’ve never mentioned Silas before.”

  It wasn’t a question, but I sensed his unease. “Does that upset you?”

  “He claims to be one of your best friends,” Ryder replied, avoiding my question.

  “He is. And Rae.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me about them?”

  “I…” I trailed off. “I didn’t know how to mention them.”

  He fell silent, studying me. “Am I difficult to speak to?” he finally asked, his hand roaming down my side to my hip. “Do I frighten you, Willow?”

  The question caused my heart to skip a beat. Did he frighten me? Sometimes. But a dark part of me enjoyed that fear. It could be sensual. Provoking. Invigorating.

  Because while he held all the cards, his age and experience severely superior to my own, I felt connected to him in a manner that allowed me to trust him.

  Perhaps it didn’t make sense.

  Maybe it implied a fracture in my mental state.

  But Ryder had shown me an odd sort of kindness in a world overrun by cruelty.

  He tried to turn me, I marveled again. “Why?” I asked him, taking our conversation in a new direction. “Why did you try to turn me?”

  “Because we’re not done yet,” he replied, his voice just as soft as mine.

  “And what happens when we’re done?”

  He stared into my eyes, his dark irises glittering with an emotion I could almost taste. Only, I didn’t have a name for it. Something dark and possessive. “Edon wants you to have a choice. We were in the middle of discussing it when you woke up.”

  Another shift of topic, but that was Ryder’s way. Always unpredictable. Always thinking. “A choice of what?”

  “Clemente Clan or Ryder Region,” he mused, closing the distance between us. I fell to my back as he moved on top of me, his thigh parting my own. “He wants you to choose an alliance. Remain with the lycans or play with me.”

  His elbows settled onto the mattress on either side of my head, basking me in the warmth of his body and sending a shiver down my spine. He leaned down to skim his nose across my cheekbone to my ear.

  “Do you want to choose, pet?” His teeth grazed my earlobe. “Should I agree to the new alpha’s demand?”

  I shivered again. “Would that mean we’re done?”

  “Mmm,” he hummed, sliding his lips to my throat. “We’re not done.” He kissed a path back up my neck to my jaw, then gently nibbled my chin before hovering his mouth over mine. “And we may never be done, Willow. My immortality lives inside you now. Forever.”

  “So I’m part vampire, part lycan.”

  “You are,” he agreed.

  “Is that…? Has that ever happened before? Is that allowed?” My stomach flipped with the question, understanding slowly seeping into my mind. “You broke the rules when you tried to turn me…” Oh, Goddess. What did that mean for me?

  He grinned, his dark eyes radiating amusement. “And I’d do it again,” he admitted. “As to your former question, I don’t know. Jace seemed familiar with hybrids, as he was the one to point out what you’d become. I’ll have to ask if he knows any others.”

  “Jace?” I repeated. “Like the royal?”

  “Did you miss him standing in the living room?”

  My heart stopped. Jace was the icy-eyed vampire. “He’s… he’s a royal.”

  “I’m aware.”

  Why didn’t he seem concerned about this? “They’re going to kill me, aren’t they?” I asked, my pulse slamming back to life with a vengeance. “W-why would you do this to me? Offer me life just to… just to…?” I couldn’t finish.

  He said something I couldn’t hear, my head spinning with visuals of my impending demise. And words. So many words.

  We’re not done yet played on repeat.

  No wonder he wouldn’t tell me what happened when we were done. My death was the answer. I grabbed his shoulders to shove him away, but he didn’t budge, his dark eyes studying me in that frustratingly curious way. As if I were an object that amused him.

  Which was exactly what he thought of me.

  A pet.

  A thing.

  A life to play with and toss away.

  “Get. Off. Of. Me.” The words came out clipped and underlined in a strange sort of commanding tone. Yet I could hear the hysteria in it, too.

  Oh, but he wouldn’t budge.

  If anything, he just appeared bemused.

  How could he be so cruel?

  He’d saved me to kill me.

  All to what? Fuck me first? Enjoy me as a passing amusement until he grew bored?

  That was the plan, wasn’t it? To keep me around until I no longer intrigued him.

  I tried to shove him away again, but he was too damn heavy. Ugh!

  “You’re quite angry,” he mused, his words cutting through the chaos of my mind. “Why? Most mortals crave immortality. Should I have let you die?”

  “I am going to die,” I snapped. And yeah, my voice sounded a bit more hysterical now.

  His brow furrowed. “I don’t understand. You seem very much alive to me.”

  “Because you turned me into a hybrid!”

  “Exactly. So what’s the problem?”

  Was he messing with me? Was this some cruel immortal mindfuck? “Did you have permission to turn me?” I demanded.

  “Permission from whom?”

  “The council. The Goddess. I don’t know. Whoever makes those allowances.” If there even was such a thing. “Only two humans are gifted immortality every year after earning it in the Immortal Cup.”

  He scoffed at that. “What a ridiculous rule. I turn who I want to turn, Willow.”

  “At what expense? My life? Yours?” I nearly laughed. “Oh, but they won’t kill you. You’re a royal. That’s against the Blood Alliance.” Or it required a trial or something. Regardless, he’d be fine. I would not.

  “Is it?” he asked, considering for a moment. “Interesting. But no, I turned you because I wanted you to live. It had nothing to do with permission or edicts.”

  “Do you understand what they will do to me?”

  “I understand what they may try to do, yes. But you seem to be under the misconception that I’ll allow it, which I won’t. You’re mine, Willow. They’ll have to get through me to touch you, and I assure you, that won’t be an easy feat.”

  I blinked, his words a splash of cold water to
my senses. “You…?” I wasn’t sure what I wanted to ask. It didn’t make sense.

  He arched a brow. “What about me? Are you questioning my ability to keep you safe? Is that because you nearly died last night?” He frowned. “I… I suppose I did fail you to an extent. I should have noticed the signs. And I was admittedly careless when I initially healed you as well. Had I evaluated your wounds more extensively, I might have noticed the bite mark.”

  His gaze turned inward, his expression less confident.

  “Do you feel I can’t adequately protect you now as a result of my carelessness?” He seemed to be asking himself more than me. “I… I can still train you and improve your current techniques. If you trust me to do so. Unless… do you prefer the lycans? Would you rather learn more about your animal nature and how to fight as a wolf?”

  I gaped at him.

  This wasn’t a mindfuck at all, just Ryder yet again doing exactly what I didn’t expect.

  He had no ulterior motive.

  He’d saved me to do just that—save me.

  And now he had every intention of ensuring I survived. He even wanted to continue to train me.

  A rule breaker until the end.

  A royal who did the opposite of what society told him to do.

  A man who did what he wanted, however he wanted it.

  “You’re looking at me strangely,” he observed, his tone holding a touch of uncertainty. “I don’t handle displays of emotion well, Willow. If you’re about to cry, please don’t. I won’t be able to fix it.”

  No, I imagined he wouldn’t. Because he thought with logic and resolve. His way of showing he cared was through pragmatic behavior, such as by sparring with me.

  That hadn’t been for him, my mortal form too slow to keep up with his immortal strength and experience.

  It had been for me.

  To teach me how to protect myself.

  To give me a fighting chance in this life.

  That was how Ryder showed emotion. Just like when he tried to turn me. It served as a practical response to a problem, one he only wanted to fix because of how he felt about me.

  “You wanted me to live.”

  “Yes, I’ve already said that.” He frowned. “Lycans are supposed to have decent hearing. Perhaps being a hybrid is negatively impacting your senses.”

  He worded it too seriously to be a joke, but I couldn’t help my resulting smile. “I heard you.”

  “Did you? Because I had to repeat the bit about not allowing others to kill you as well.”

  Okay, maybe I hadn’t heard that part originally over my initial freak-out. Although, now I understood. He just didn’t care about the rules. He never had. I should have realized that before losing my head, but it was all a lot to take in.

  I’m a hybrid.

  Immortal.

  Half vampire, half lycan.

  And according to Ryder, he didn’t know of any others in existence.

  “Now what?” I asked him. “Do I hide?”

  “From?”

  “The council.”

  He grunted. “No. Fuck them and their rules.”

  “But Jace is here… and Edon…” I trailed off. “I don’t… I don’t know how to interpret all this, Ryder. I need to understand what to expect.” Ryder said he could protect me, and I believed him, but I’d also witnessed their reach and control. This world was not kind to those who broke the rules. I’d observed countless incidents over the years to know what they would do to me if they caught me.

  “What you can expect is that I will not hide you, nor will I put up with anyone telling me who I can and cannot turn. Just like I’ve ignored Lilith’s demands regarding my leadership. She feels it’s her right to dictate to me. I feel otherwise.” He cupped my cheek, his lower body settling more firmly over mine. “You’re mine, Willow. The others can fuck off.”

  “It’s not that easy.”

  “But it is,” he countered, leaning down to press his lips to mine. “What’s done is done. I won’t be changing it, and I certainly won’t allow them to kill my progeny.”

  “Progeny,” I repeated, tasting the word.

  “That’s what you are now, Willow,” he murmured. “Nearly five thousand years of life and I’ve only made two—Damien and now you. Do you really think I’m going to allow a council full of pompous pricks to dictate my decisions?”

  “No.”

  “Good,” he murmured. “We’re getting somewhere.”

  He said something similar to that the night he asked how I felt about him. I told him I didn’t know at the time. I lifted my hand to his face, my gaze dropping to his mouth as I considered the question again.

  And how do you feel about me?

  “Ryder?” I whispered. “I think I know how I feel about you now.” But I didn’t want to explain it with words. Ryder preferred and understood actions. So rather than elaborate, I threaded my fingers through his hair and pulled his head down to mine.

  I craved him like I’d never craved anyone else in my existence.

  I wanted to experience him.

  Devour him.

  Claim him.

  The latter was a foreign concept, one driven to the forefront of my thoughts by a new desire inside me. My wolf, I realized with an inhale doused in Ryder’s minty essence.

  Mmm, more, my wolf demanded, her presence loud in my mind. She was half of me now, motivated purely by animalistic need. While my vampire side reminded me of Ryder, pragmatic and focused.

  Yet both halves of me were ready for this now.

  Ryder had possessed me from the very moment we met, his essence a lifeline that thrived inside me. However, it went deeper than that. We were bonded on a level of existence I might never understand. It was more than the Sire link. He’d tapped into my heart. My being. My soul.

  He’d become the enigma in my world. He overrode all the bad, replacing it with his version of good. And I wanted him to do that now, to erase the horrors of my past and give me a memory to rely on when the nightmares threatened to take over.

  Because I remembered everything now.

  Every brutal moment of the camps.

  Their utter savagery.

  I’d fought them every step of the way, even while drugged. I’d hated them. Begged them to stop. Screamed at them in hatred. Broke every rule of decorum imaginable. They’d turned me into a beast hell-bent on surviving. I’d forgotten that, Ryder’s blood an odd sort of antidote that allowed my mind a moment to heal and seal off the pain.

  But my reawakening had brought it all back.

  Except, at some point, I’d realized how to shut it off.

  Ryder.

  He’d become a hero, only to me. His presence the balm I required to heal wounds created by others. It was a dangerous reliance, an addiction that would harm me in the end, but for the moment, I allowed it. And I showed him my gratitude with my mouth and tongue.

  Ryder had healed me in so many ways yet had broken me in others. He’d shattered my expectations, reprogrammed my views of society, and possessed my very spirit.

  Our relationship wasn’t conventional. Hell, it wasn’t even a relationship.

  And I accepted that.

  I accepted him—this old vampire and his eccentric ways.

  My Ryder.

  26

  Ryder

  The female beneath me vibrated with a myriad of emotions. I could taste each of them on my tongue as she worshiped me with a kiss that captivated each of my senses.

  Willow spoke to me in a way no one else ever had. Not with her mouth, but with her body and mind. I sensed her inside me, possessing me in a manner I had no desire to fight.

  My sweet little pet had evolved into an enchantress, seducing me without trying and drawing me into a dangerous web of passion. It ensnared us both, weaving our lives together to create a destiny underlined in temptation and rightness.

  I took charge of her kiss almost as soon as it began, testing her limits and desire with the intensity and force of my m
outh. She met me back with equal ferocity, her teeth dragging along my lower lip and biting down in silent demand.

  “You’re tempting my inner beast,” I warned her. “He doesn’t know how to play nicely, pet.”

  “I don’t want to play nicely,” she returned. “I want to fuck. I want you to remove their touch. Their hands. Their mouths. I want it to be erased, gone, replaced by you.”

  I didn’t need to ask whom she meant. The lycans. I growled in response, not liking their presence between us.

  “Oh, I’ll erase them,” I promised her. “And when we’re done, you won’t be able to even think about fucking another immortal without remembering what I’ve done to you.”

  “Prove it,” she dared, arching up into me.

  “A dangerous provocation.”

  “Stop talking and fuck me, Sire.”

  “Fuck, Willow,” I breathed. “Where has this side of you been hiding?”

  She growled in response, the reverberation from her chest making me growl back at her. My pet had blossomed into a hybrid with teeth. Mmm, I approved. Yes, I very much approved indeed.

  I drew my own teeth along her jaw, going to her ear. “I’m not going to go easy on you, Willow. Remember your safe word.”

  “I don’t need it,” she vowed.

  No, she wouldn’t. Because I knew her limits now. I’d never push her past them. Never share her. Never allow another to so much as touch her. She belonged to me and only me. And by the time we finished, she wouldn’t want another either.

  I sank my teeth into her throat, needing to taste her. She cried out, her nails scraping down my back through my shirt. Then she began to claw at the fabric as though it deeply offended her that I still wore a shirt. I chuckled against her neck, amused that my fiery little wildcat was thoroughly living up to my expectations.

  “Ryder,” she growled.

  I palmed her breast and squeezed, then released her from my bite just long enough to say, “Patience.”

  She didn’t agree, her fingers yanking at my shirt as I returned my teeth to her neck, taking a deep pull from her vein. “Mmm.” I’d never tasted a hybrid before, and I found the flavor to my liking.

  Her moan encouraged me to drink a little more, her body writhing beneath mine as a result of the endorphins overwhelming her system. “At least we know you still enjoy my bite.”