“Please, don’t.” I could feel my heartbeat race. My vision blurred as I tried desperately to find a way to maneuver myself out of this trap. Panic seized me, paralyzed me. He just chuckled at my terror and moved his lips to my neck. I squeezed my eyes shut and found myself praying for help. His breath was cold on my skin; and in that moment, I knew my life was over. Even if this wasn’t a vampire, he was crazy enough to play through with the ruse. There was no doubt in my mind he would kill me when he was done having fun.
His teeth sank into my neck and a scream left my lips just as his large hand stifled the sound. I fought. I swear I did, kicking and hitting, but the man’s lips and teeth were locked like a vice grip against my neck, and with each disgusting suck I found myself getting weaker. This insane bastard was draining my blood and I was unable to fight him off, was the last thought I had before falling into the dark abyss.
Chapter Four
Tucker
BY THE TIME TUCKER MADE it to the alley, he found the blonde girl limp in the vampire’s arms and he saw red. There was nothing that could stop the rage that flooded his veins. He attacked, throwing the vampire across the alley and using his quick reflexes to catch the blonde before she slammed into the ground. He laid her head on her friend’s stomach and turned to finish his assault just as the dark-haired vamp was charging him.
Tucker roared as he charged back. The two large men slammed into each other midair and crashed into the brick wall with a thud. “What in all that is holy are you doing feasting on a human in the streets?” He snapped.
“I can’t help myself. She is a succulent piece of meat,” the vampire spat as he punched Tucker in the face.
“There is a treaty! You have no right to risk all of our lives with your foolhardy actions.” Tucker adjusted his jaw and wiped the blood that fell from his split lip.
“Fuck the treaty!”
Tucker’s fist slammed into his enemy’s face. “That treaty keeps us all safe, you arrogant bastard.”
The vampire twisted and body slammed Tucker into the ground. “Bastard is one name for me, but if I am going to kill you I suppose you should know who I am. Andre’s the name.” He jumped in the air and took aim at Tucker’s head.
Tucker moved out of the way at the last minute, causing Andre to hit the ground harder than expected. Bones crunched, but it didn’t slow the monster down.
Tucker swiped his leg under the vampire’s feet and watched as he crashed to the ground. He’d be far more effective in fighting the vampire in his bear form, but that would expose them to the humans, and that wasn’t allowed. “I don’t care who you are! I care that you fall in line with the rules of our world.” He started punching Andre over and over again. “Humans are off limits. Say it!”
Andre laughed as each hit bruised his face.
“She is off limits.” He pulled Andre up by the scruff of his well-tailored collar. “You hear me? She is off limits!”
“That’s not how it works, friend. I’ve tasted her blood and she is delicious.” Andre’s words were muffled from all the swelling, but he wasn’t fighting back. Instead, he simply laughed, a wicked laugh that chilled Tucker to the bone.
Tucker saw red and started wailing on Andre, punching blindly. He didn’t care if he killed the man. The idea of Andre chasing the blonde for her blood had his own blood boiling.
“Enough!”
Both men froze, unable to move.
“What the hell?” Tucker couldn’t turn his head to see the source of who paralyzed their bodies.
“This is a mixer, meant for people to meet possible mates, not spread hate,” Aphrodite snapped. “Can someone please explain to me why you’re here brawling like two school boys?” She stepped out of the shadows and into their view, anger clear on her face, hands on her hips, and high-heeled foot tapping out a steady beat of irritation.
“Andre decided he wanted to snack on one of your guests.”
“Did she agree to this snacking affair?” Aphrodite asked, coldness in her snippy tone.
“Is that allowed?” Tucker asked confused. “Last I checked, keeping our secret from the humans was our first priority.”
“Vampires find drinking blood stimulating...sexually.” Aphrodite rolled her eyes. “What happens between two potential mates is none of our business.”
“I hardly doubt she was into being bitten.”
“And what gave you that impression?” Aphrodite asked.
“I don’t know, maybe it was the screaming, or how about the passed out body with the bloody neck over there.”
“Andre?” Aphrodite waited for his response.
“Some of us like it rough,” was all Andre said in his defense.
“And her unconscious friend? Did the witch like it rough too?” Tucker asked.
Aphrodite approached Callie and Ashlee’s unconscious bodies. After a quick inspection she snapped her fingers and Tucker was able to move. Andre was still frozen in place. “Eros, please help Tucker take these two to safety. I’ll deal with Andre.”
Chapter Five
Ashlee
MY EYES FELT LIKE SANDPAPER as I attempted to open them.
“Be still, Ashlee. You’ve been through a terrible ordeal.” Callie’s tender voice spoke as she wiped a cool washcloth against my hot forehead. Was I running a fever? Did I get sick?
“What happened?” I couldn’t remember much, other than a man trying to bite me and another man coming to our rescue.
“We were attacked.” Callie continued to cool off my skin with the damp rag.
“That man, he was delusional. He thought he was a… a… vampire.” I whispered the last word, unable to trust what I was saying.
“He is a vampire,” a deep male voice spoke from across the room. I squinted my eyes and saw a shadowy figure leaning against the door jamb.
“She doesn’t need to hear that right now,” Callie hissed.
“She needs to know the truth so she can protect herself.” He took a step into the room.
“You can wait until she recovers before springing the news on her.” Callie dropped the rag into a bucket with a healthy splash.
“You don’t expect me to believe any of this, do you? Vampires don’t exist.”
“They do, and unfortunately, this vampire now has a taste for your blood.” The man stood next to me. “You need to learn about them and how to protect yourself, in case he attacks again.”
The moment I could focus on his handsome face I felt something click deep inside. He was tall, rugged, and muscular. His face was chiseled with a strong jaw and high cheekbones. He wore his sandy-brown hair feathered back, but it was his forest green eyes that pulled me in like a magnet. His angry scowl only added to his appeal. Call me a masochist, looking for pain, but there was something about this man that drew me to him despite his obvious dislike of me.
“Are you the one that saved us?” I asked.
“That doesn’t matter.” He crossed his arms over his chest.
“It does.” I forced myself to a sitting position. “If it was you, I figure I owe you a thank you.”
“No need,” he headed toward the door, “but if you’d really like to thank me, you can learn to protect yourself. I won’t be around all the time to save you.” He left abruptly on that note, and I found myself missing him.
“Who was that?” I whispered.
“That was Tucker. He’s the leader here.”
I looked around the room. It was strangely decorated, like half of it was a home, and the other was earth. I was in a comfy bed made out of thick wood logs, covered in fur skins. The floor was made of stone, like no other tile I’d ever seen before. One wall looked like the side of a mountain, the rest made of painted sheetrock, I guessed.
“Where are we?”
“He brought us to his den so we could recover. You lost a lot of blood.”
Memories came flooding back. Callie being attacked. My attempt to protect us with pepper spray, which was useless against the man with glowin
g eyes and sharpened teeth. “Oh my god, Callie, you were knocked out! Are you okay?”
“Just a bump on the head. I’ll be fine. You took the brunt of the attack.” Callie burst into tears. “I’m so sorry, Ash.”
“Why are you sorry? It’s not your fault.” I reached for her hands. “It was that crazy maniac who was into role playing games or something.”
Callie pulled her hands away. “No, that’s not it. He…I shouldn’t have signed us up for Aphrodite’s Love Connection. I should’ve known better when my aunt recommended it.”
I frowned. “You’re confusing me.”
“Don’t you see? I signed us up for a supernatural dating site. I didn’t know, but I should’ve known when Elizabeth recommended it.”
“Callie, you’re talking crazy.”
“No, that’s just it, Ash, I’m not crazy. I’m a witch, and Andre, our attacker, he’s a vampire. I should’ve recognized that, but I, he attacked before my senses could see what he really was, and Tucker is a bear shifter.”
I stared at her, waiting silently for the punchline. There were no such things as vampires, witches, and shifters, not in real life. They were things of fiction. When Callie didn’t finish the joke, I burst out laughing.
With no words, Callie picked up a candle and blew across the wick. Suddenly, it burst into flame. I screamed and scrambled off the bed, far away from my best friend. “What? How did you? I mean, that was a trick, a slight of hand, a magic trick, right?”
“It was magic, but not a trick. I am a fire witch.” She tried to explain, but I couldn’t comprehend the words she was speaking. They didn’t make sense in the sentences she formed.
I shook my head, over and over again. Denial and I were fast becoming best friends. “No way, this isn’t happening. I’m dreaming. I need to wake up now.” I pinched myself and yelped at the sharp pain. “I am dreaming, right?”
Callie shook her head. “No. You’re not dreaming.” She pulled out a strange looking pewter amulet with a red gem in the center. “I need you to wear this. It will help to protect you.”
I slapped her hand away and the necklace went flying. “Stay away from me.”
“Ashlee--”
“No, your joke is getting really mean.”
“You need to hear me. I’m not joking. This is real. I never meant to bring you into this world, but now that you are in it, you’re, well, in it.”
“What does that mean?”
“You can’t unsee or unknow what you know. Before you could ignore the strange things, explain them away. You won’t be able to do that anymore.” She took a step forward, and I stepped backward. “Worse, they’ll know you can see them. Tucker is right, you need to protect yourself.”
Callie closed the gap between us, and I stumbled backward falling over a wooden rocking chair. “Get away from me. Leave me alone!”
“I’m trying to help you.”
“Help? You’re nuts. If what you’re saying is true, you’ve ruined my life.”
“Ashlee, I’m so sorry.” She started sobbing.
I didn’t want to hear it. “Get out! Leave me alone.”
It was the first time I’d seen Callie defeated. Her shoulders slumped, her eyes red from tears. I felt sadness for her, until I remembered the hot water she got me into. There wasn’t another word exchanged. She just left.
Chapter Six
Tucker
HIS HANDS FISTED AT HIS sides as he walked away from his bed with the blonde human in it. There was something about her that ate him up from the inside out. It could be her beauty, her innocence. Perhaps it was her ignorance. The woman was in danger and she simply chose to bury her head in the sand like an ostrich and pretend it wasn’t real. Denial was not a good place to live when you knew supernatural creatures existed. Most likely it was her inability to protect herself, and the way his bear responded to her scent and presence. One minute he wanted to shake her into understanding, and the next, he wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her silly. Then he’d take her to his bed and show her pleasures beyond anything she’d ever experienced before. Damn woman was getting under his skin.
He needed a distraction. Work. It was time to work. Anything to get Ashlee out of his system. He ignored his desire to return to his room and show her how much of an animal he could be with his mate. How well he could pleasure her, make her scream with delight. What he wouldn’t give to hear his name tumble from her lips in the moment of ecstasy.
He ran a shaky hand through his sun-kissed brown hair. Work. He needed the distraction. He ignored his beastly drive and headed toward the main hall. Grayson, his right hand man, was hunched over the area map in talks with their enemy, the alpha wolf, Brand. They’d been in heated talks for three days and were nowhere near a workable solution.
Tucker took a deep breath to center himself before entering. “How are things coming along?”
“Terrible,” Brand growled as he ran a hand through his dark, shaggy hair. “Gray is absolutely useless in these talks.”
“Watch it, wolf!” Gray snapped, his hazel eyes turning dark, a sign he was reaching his limit.
Tucker stepped between the two snarling men and did his best to calm the situation. He took a page from his mother’s diplomatic approach handbook, rest her soul. “So where are we running into problems?”
“Your man wants to claim all the waterways, which will leave my pack hungry in the winter.”
“Okay, that is fair. We can’t leave you starving in the winter. How do you propose we work a compromise?” He hated being the rational one. His bear wanted to tear the wolf from limb to limb, but that would cause war, and war would cause death on both sides. His bears were already struggling in numbers, and they couldn’t afford to lose more. They were a very secluded people and shared their homes with so few. Mating was difficult by nature. Offspring were rare. Without the numbers, the wolves would take the entire territory. This treaty needed to happen or they’d be pushed out.
“We’ll take the waters up north.” Brand pointed at the map.
“The upstream waters of the north will keep us from the salmon run in the fall.” Gray sat down in the chair and tossed his blond hair behind his shoulders. “You know this is a major source of food for us through the winter.”
“Could we share the water from September to November?” The words tasted bitter as they left his mouth, but Tucker needed more give from Brand. The truth was, giving up any water through the territories was going to be hard.
“We might as well share the water all year.” Gray spoke with sarcasm.
“Why is that not possible?” Callie entered the room with caution.
“Excuse me? Who is she?” Brand whipped his head around to get a look at the tall, willowy, brown-haired witch.
“She is a… friend,” Tucker lied, “and she is under my protection. Both the witch and the human. What are you doing out of the room?”
“It doesn’t matter. I could hear you yelling from across the house and thought I’d come and help.” She looked down shyly. “I’m fairly good in negotiations.”
“Wolves and bears do not share anything.” Brand stood with his arms crossed. It was obvious the man wasn’t willing to give an inch. “And we sure as hell don’t need a witch aiding us in peace talks.”
“Not sharing is a ridiculous notion. It seems to me, putting up boundaries will only lead to more fighting. At some point, one bear or wolf will get into the wrong territory and fighting will ensue. Why not avoid this outcome completely and become allies?” Callie suggested.
“Our animals won’t allow such a compromise. We are driven to claim territory. It is a biological imperative,” Tucker explained. They were warriors first and foremost, it was what they were created for. There was little changing that reality.
“Adapt your imperative.” Callie raised her chin in defiance.
“You’re mad, woman.” Brand shook his head.
“My name is Callie, and I am far from mad, just logical. We can�
�t keep fighting among supernatural races or we’ll wipe each other out.”
“Why did you bring a peacemaker to our talks, Tucker?” Brand turned his anger to the bear alpha.
“I didn’t, but she has a point.” He ran a hand through his sandy-brown hair and pointed to the map. “We have plenty of territory to share hunting grounds. We can set up camps on opposite sides of the river and share the entire area.”
“And when we’re fighting over food, who gets the final say?”
“Split it,” Callie interjected.
Brand snorted. “Madness!”
The door burst open and Andre entered the room with seven other vampires. “Where is she?” He sniffed the air and turned red eyes to Tucker. “I smell her sweetness.”
Chapter Seven
Ashlee
NOTHING ABOUT THIS WORLD IS okay. I really believed I was in a waking nightmare. My best friend is a witch, a witch with real power. Fire power. Vampires, werewolves, even bear…shifters exist? It was unbelievable. None of this made any sense. Suddenly my world was collapsing in on itself. To make matters worse, now there’s a vampire after me, a stranger who wants to kill me for what? Why? I rubbed my face and wiped the tears from my eyes. Something, self-preservation maybe, told me I needed to be stronger, that I wouldn’t survive any of this if I didn’t find my inner strength. The same inner strength that my mother and ex-husband tried to destroy. The power that I had spent the last few years trying to rebuild. It was easy to be weak, but if there was one thing I’d learned about myself these last few years, I wasn’t one to take the easy way out. Not anymore.
I washed my face, pinched my cheeks to add a little color to them, got dressed, found my purse and lipstick on the dresser, and grabbed my infuriating high heels. Those would not go on my feet until it was necessary. After one final look in the full length mirror, I took a deep breath. Disheveled and sad-looking were the words of the day for my appearance, but there was little else I could do until I was home, safe and sound, so I headed out of the room to find a way out of this nightmare and back to my normal life.
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