Colton's Dilemma (Shadow Breeds)

by Dara Nelson

  He reached out with his thumb to gently wipe them away, “But Tess, you didn’t agree to this part. You told them they were crazy and that you didn’t want any part of this. They had to put a spell on you to get you to do this. So it wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t your fault at all. I know that and you need to know that too.”

  “You can’t trust me, Colton. I can’t even trust me. This, right here, could be part of their evil plan as well. I could still be under the influence of a spell,” she groaned as more tears slid down her cheeks.

  Colton tilted her chin up so that her eyes met his. The love he felt for her that she saw in his eyes made her gasp. Why would he still love her after all of this? Why didn’t he hate her?

  “Tess, you were a victim in this just like I was. And I trust you completely.”

  “Why?” she cried with anguish.

  His smile melted her heart as he said, “Because I love you and you love me. I can feel your love for me, Tess. It’s in your blood and it’s inside me. That can’t be faked in a spell, Tess. It’s real.”

  She collapsed farther into his arms, exhausted from both her loss of blood and from the overload of emotions coursing through her. “Damn it Tess, I’m calling for help. You need food.”

  Her fingers gripped his forearm as she whispered, “No. I need you, only you,” right before she passed out.

  He knew what she was saying. She was close enough to death now that if she drank his blood she would probably turn. But he didn’t have enough blood in him to complete her transformation. He had been starved for days, maybe even a week. The only blood he had consumed was hers. It wasn’t enough. If he allowed her to drink his blood now, it would save her but she wouldn’t turn – and she would run the risk of becoming addicted to the incredible high that humans get if they drank vampire blood – an addiction that could claim her instantly, just like it did to Lisette so many years ago.

  “I’m not like her, Colton. I’ll be fine. I just, I just need to get out of here to find the key to save you, but I can barely walk right now,” she said, as if she had been reading his mind.

  He sank down to the floor, cradling her between his legs, as he agonized over his decision. He could hear how slow her heart was beating. Her breathing came in slow exaggerated rasps. He had taken too much from her and she was going to die if somebody didn’t do something – and the only somebody around was him – he hadn’t heard any other sounds in the house for hours. He could sense the full moon outside – it seemed that everyone was out on a hunt right now – which left only Colton to save her – or doom her depending on how she reacted to his blood. He growled a curse as he brought his shaking hand to his mouth and pierced his wrist with his fangs. He pressed the bleeding wound to her lips and had to force himself to speak, “Come on Tess. Wake up. You need to drink,” he said as he shook her shoulder gently with his other hand. She stirred, “Mmmm?” she mumbled.

  “Open your mouth Tess,” he whispered into her ear.

  He winced as he felt both fear and relief as her tongue snaked its way onto his wrist.

  He hissed, his fangs dropped and his cock was instantly hard the moment her lips locked on and she sucked - swallowing her first taste of his blood. He didn’t mean to be turned on, in fact his brain was still screaming that he was scared shitless, but his body reacted the same way every vampire’s body reacts when someone or something was drinking from it – it got turned on and immediately wanted sex – lots and lots of sex.

  “Sweet Jesus,” he hissed.

  Tess groaned into his wrist and pressed her body back into his erection as if she was feeling the same thing.

  She reached over and grasped his other forearm, dragging his fingers over her rock hard nipples and settling his hand between her legs.

  “Oh God. You’re so wet,” he gasped into her ear as his fingers pressed against her. He tucked them under her soaked panties and slipped one inside as his thumb pressed against her. Within seconds she threw her head back against his chest as she writhed with the full-body orgasm that engulfed her. It went on and on and on. Seconds turned into minutes until, finally, she collapsed against him, little twitches still surging through her every few seconds.

  “Holy shit, Colton,” she gasped then she tried to bring his wrist back to her mouth. She frowned when she saw that the wounds were already healed.

  “Do I get more?” she mumbled.

  Colton kissed her temple, “You don’t need more Tess.”

  “I know I don’t need more, I feel awesome. But that was amazing. Seriously the best, biggest, mind-blowing orgasm that I’ve ever had. I felt that from the top of my head down to the tips of my toes and it felt like it was going to go on forever. You can’t blame me for wanting more,” she said as she sighed and leaned back into him.

  Colton smiled, “I don’t. And I will give you more, a lot more. But right now you need to hit me.”

  She jerked up and looked at him, “Excuse me? Why do I need to hit you?”

  “Because somebody is coming. You need to act like you came in here to check on me and I tried to bite you.”

  “Shit,” she said as she scrambled to her feet. As she did, he tore a piece of her dress. She held her left arm out to him, “Grab it,” she said.

  “What?”

  “Grab it hard enough to leave marks. Now, Colton!”

  He did and she winced – which caused him to loosen his grip and got him an angry look from her, so he tightened it again. A moment later they both tensed as footsteps stopped at the not-quite-closed-door to his cell. Tess took this as her cue. She hauled her right hand back and slapped Colton across the face as hard as she could as she wrenched her left arm free, “Don’t touch me, asshole!” she screamed as she backed away from him. The door flew open as Shane burst in, “What the hell is going on here?” he growled.

  Tess rubbed her arm, her body shaking, as she said, “I came in to check on this leech and he tried to bite me, fucking bite me!” she shrieked as she rubbed her sore arm. She looked down and appeared to notice her tattered, dirty dress for the first time, “Damn it – I love this dress.”

  Shane walked up to her, sniffing the air as he did, “I’ll buy you a new one,” he said as his brow furrowed and his gaze fell to Colton’s face. Shit, Colton knew instantly that he was scenting her arousal from just a few minutes ago.

  Shane grabbed Tess’ arm, “What were you doing right before you came in here?” he growled.

  Tess’ eyes popped up and flitted between Colton and Shane, “W – W – Why?” she mumbled.

  “Answer the damn question, Tess,” he snarled.

  Tess barely caught Colton’s gaze as it flickered quickly to her crotch. Her eyes went wide as she realized what he was silently telling her.

  “You’re hurting me, Shane,” she moaned as she tried to pull her arm free – he only gripped harder.

  “I’m going to do a lot worse if you don’t answer my fucking question right now,” he spat, nostrils flared and eyes flashing red.

  “Fine. I was getting myself off, okay? Happy now? I had a lot of pent up energy so I decided to do something about it. Thanks for thoroughly embarrassing me, asshole,” she said as she yanked her arm free.

  As Tess was pulling off the best acting he had seen in a while, Colton was quietly dragging his hand – the hand that had just been inside Tess and still had the evidence of her ‘pent up energy’ all over it – through the filth on the floor, trying desperately to get rid of the evidence that it was him who had gotten her off, not she because he knew without a doubt that Shane would check.

  “Get out,” Shane growled at Tess before he turned his attention to Colton.

  Tess scurried out the door, glancing back at Colton for a quick second with sympathy in her eyes before dashing down the hall.

  Shane began slowly circling Colton, sniffing as he did. Colton decided that making Shane angry might distract him so he said, “What the fuck are you sniffing at wolf-boy? Don’t you trust your woman?”
<
br />   “It’s you I don’t trust, vamp. And she’s not my woman. She won’t come near me ever since I brought her back from your place. You want to tell me why that is?” he spat.

  “Dunno. Maybe she realized that wolf wasn’t good for her diet when you beat the shit out of her.”

  “Or maybe you turned her into a fang girl, in which case I’m going to have to kill her.”

  Colton shook his head, “She doesn’t want to have anything to do with me, Shane. She’s not a fang girl.”

  “Uh huh,” Shane said and then he sniffed sharply near Colton’s back.

  “Would you stop doing that? You’re creeping me out,” Colton said.

  “You smell like….,” he began and Colton squeezed his eyes shut and prayed that he wouldn’t say ‘her’.

  “I smell like what dickhead?” he hissed.

  “You smell like blood.”

  Colton had to force himself to not visibly exhale in relief. “Of course I smell like blood, you imbecile. I’m a vampire.”

  “I know that you arrogant prick. What I’m trying to decide is if you smell like more blood, like you’ve fed.”

  “Look at me, Shane. I’m skin and bones. I’m withering away to nothing. Do I really look like I’ve fed?”

  “No, but why aren’t you dead yet?”

  “It can take months, years even, for my body to die of starvation. I won’t be able to move or speak, basically I’ll be in a coma, but I won’t die for a long time.”

  “Then I guess I’ll just have to kill you, but first I’m going to give you a little going away present, as it were,” he said as he walked to the door and stepped out. Colton tried to listen as he spoke to the guard but he could only pick up bits and pieces. One thing he definitely heard was Tess’ name, and that was not good.

  Shane stepped back into the room and walked to the wall. He grabbed a large length of heavy metal chain and wrapped the end of it several times around his hand. Using the chain was heavy-duty, this punishment was different and it made Colton worry about what else Shane had in store for him, especially after Shane put Colton’s wrists back in the restraints hanging from the ceiling. Colton closed his eyes and waited for the beating to start.

  Chapter 5

  Even though Shane was behind him, Colton felt the wolf’s arm rise up. Pain shot through even nerve in his body as the heavy chain blasted down onto his back. At least ten blows rained down on his back. Colton heard bones cracking in the backside of his ribcage. There was a brief pause and then the blows began again, this time on his right arm and the right side of his body. Colton’s shoulder dislocated as his body, still in the restraints, was jerked around from the force of the blows. His right forearm snapped, the bone sticking out of his arm. Shane kept moving in a slow circle around Colton and the anger and complete hatred that Colton saw in Shane’s eyes when he moved to the front side and beat the chain against Colton’s chest told Colton that this hell was far from over.

  Colton’s left knee buckled when his leg broke and that was when the beating ended, but only because Shane was exhausted and couldn’t lift the chain anymore. Shane’s chest was heaving as he walked up to Colton and yanked his head back, forcing him to lock eyes with him, “You’re seriously hurting, aren’t you vamp? Your body is crying for blood to help it heal, isn’t it? If I locked you in here with a human, nothing would be able to stop you from draining that human completely, would it?”

  Somewhere in the back of Colton’s foggy brain came the realization of what Shane was going to do, “Dear God, please don’t,” he rasped through swollen, bloodied lips.

  Shane smiled an evil grin as he began to unlock Colton’s restraints, “Fuck you, vamp,” he spat as he unlocked the final handcuff. Colton stumbled forward and tried to take a swing at Shane. Shane laughed and pushed him to the ground. He placed his foot on Colton’s chest to hold him down as he grabbed the waistband of Colton’s pants and tore them off of his body. “Sexual urges will increase your bloodlust, won’t they, vamp?” he said as he walked to the door.

  Colton cringed when he heard her struggling with the guard outside the door. A moment later she was shoved into the room, restrained by the wrists in Shane’s tight grasp. She looked over at Colton’s bloody, beaten body. “Oh my God, what did you do to him? You fucking animal,” she said as she tried to break free. Shane turned her so that she was facing Colton, her back pressed tightly to Shane’s front. Shane’s hand slowly traced up her torso. He grabbed her dress at the neckline, and tore it from her body, leaving her completely naked. “What the fuck are you doing, Shane?” she shrieked.

  He whispered into her ear, “You want him? You can have him, bitch,” then he pushed her farther into the room and walked out.

  “NO!!” Colton yelled as he heard the locks click into place.

  Tess took one step towards Colton. “Stop!” he hissed as he dragged his broken body as quickly as he could into the far corner of the room. He turned around with this back to the wall, pulling his knees up to hug himself. “Don’t come anywhere near me Tess. I’ll kill you if you do.” Colton just happened to glance over at her as he said it, and he groaned. God she was beautiful. He wanted her, even broken and in pain, he wanted her. He squeezed his eyes shut, “Can you please sit down and cover yourself up? Having you naked over there isn’t helping me.”

  Tess walked back to the wall and sat down, using her bent legs to cover her body. “I want to help you Colton. What can I do?”

  “Just stay over there. No matter what happens, Tess, stay as far away from me as you possibly can,” he said as his vision blurred. The room started spinning. He fell onto his side as he passed out.

  Colton’s eyes blinked open once, then twice. He tried to focus on his surroundings. The first thing he noticed was that Tess wasn’t on the other side of the room anymore. Good, he thought, they must have taken her away. The next thing he noticed was that he was warm, incredibly warm, and his head felt like it was on a nice, soft pillow. He concentrated and that was when his brain came fully awake. Tess was curled up behind him, her breasts pressing into his back as she slept, and her arm was under his head…with her wrist just inches from his mouth. He tried to push himself up with his one good arm, but his broken leg buckled underneath him. He crawled, using one arm and dragging his useless leg behind him down the wall, away from her. “Damn it Tess. I told you to stay away from me,” he sputtered as he tried to get himself under control and get his damn fangs to retract.

  “You were shivering in your sleep, Colton,” she whispered as she sat up.

  “What part of ‘no matter what happens’ did you not get? I’m dangerous to you right now, Tess. Deadly. If my fangs sink into any part of you right now I will not stop. There’s no ‘I might be able to stop’ here. There is only ‘I will not stop.’ Do you get it now? I will kill you, I can’t help it. My body’s instinct to heal is more powerful than anything else, including my feelings for you.”

  Tess opened her mouth to apologize when there was a loud crash from somewhere in the house, followed by female screams, males yelling and wolves growling. Colton’s head whipped towards the door. “Shit,” he muttered, “Tess, get over here quickly.”

  “I, I, I thought you told me to stay away from you,” she whispered.

  “I did. But now I have to protect you.”

  “From what?” she said as the fighting grew closer to their door.

  “Hansen.”

  “Hansen? He knows me. He won’t hurt me.”

  “Hansen doesn’t know anybody when he’s in kill mode. Even me. Besides, he saw you betray me. In his mind you’re the enemy.”

  Tess took a few tentative steps towards Colton. She watched as he struggled to control himself. She could tell by the bulge in his mouth that his fangs were down, she knew by the way that he squeezed his eyes shut that they were black. “I trust you, Colton,” she said as she took the final step to reach him, holding her hand out as she did. His eyes were still squeezed shut, so she gently touched his
cheek. He reached up and grabbed onto her hand, pulling it away from his nose. “Help me up,” he mumbled. She moved one foot behind her to brace herself and then she pulled. He hissed in a breath as he pushed himself up on one leg. “Get us over to the corner. I want your back pressed into the corner as tightly as you can.”

  Tess put his arm over her shoulder, wrapped one arm around his waist and began to move them slowly Colton groaned and hissed with each hop that he had to make. A loud crash somewhere down the hall made Colton’s head whip around. “Hurry, Tess,” he whispered. They increased their pace and finally reached the corner. Tess pressed her back into it as Colton moved his body in front of hers. He was able to use the wall next to him to slightly compensate for his broken leg. Tess watched, fascinated, as, despite the incredible amount of pain he must be in, every muscle in his body tensed as he prepared to do battle to protect her. “Wrap your arms around me and pull me in tight,” he said.

  “But your ribs, they’re broken.”

  “Don’t care. Just do it, Tess. Now.”

  She did, trying to ignore the grunts of pain that Colton tried to hide. Their naked flesh was fused tightly, her breasts smashed against his back, his butt pressed into her belly, as the noises from the hall grew louder. Tess squeezed her eyes shut as she pressed her forehead into the back of his neck. “Whatever you do, don’t move and don’t make a sound,” he whispered. A moment later there was a loud crash as the door to their room flew off of its hinges.

  Chapter 6

  Tess inhaled a deep breath and squeezed her eyes tighter as she felt, yes, felt, the evil presence enter the room. What she felt from this thing (Hansen, she had to remind herself) was more frightening than anything that she’d ever felt in her entire life. A loud growl erupted from the front of the room.