“Tell me you don’t want me,” he said as his cheek grazed mine and he nipped at my ear lobe. I took a deep breath and his scent molested me. I was cripplingly aroused now. I drew my bottom lip between my teeth and closed my eyes as I let my head fall back between my arms. Hot tears rolled back to my temples as the static heat we shared began to pulse between us like soul rattling thunder. I wanted to tell him that I wanted him…dead. I wanted to tell him that I would never belong to him. I wanted to tell him that I hated him and that I would rather die than spend another second burdened by our bond. But those words refused to leave my lips.
Instead I felt my body vibrate with a need for his. He began to growl against my neck, his teeth and tongue tracing my pulse. My body rolled against his without my permission as if it were completely separate from my own will. His hands clung to my flesh as if he were welded to me and I was pulled against him even tighter as he too became mind numbingly aroused. My lips parted as I whimpered when I felt his static touch slip beneath my skirt. With invisible effort my panties were drawn to the side and he was inside of me.
As he pulled me down against him all of my hatred and anger seemed go up in flames and burn away in our passion. I cried out as he pulsed inside of me slowly but with power. Each thrust jerked me closer to the edge of a cliff that my body had never imagined before. His teeth found my shoulder and sunk deep into my burning flesh. What once blinded me with pain now brought me wild pleasure.
The thundering vibration in his chest grew louder and louder as he more aggressively drove himself inside of me. Again and again he collided with me and my back arched at an unnatural angle. The strength in my arms allowed me to use the belt to my advantage and I was able to rock myself into orgasm just as he slammed into his. A tidal wave of release plunged me under a sea of pleasure and forced me so far down that I felt as though the pressure could have crushed me. The air in the room around us seemed to snap and crackle with the electric vibe the two of us created. Almost in unison our heads snapped back and a blood curdling howl shook the walls of the smoldering room.
“FUCK,” I screamed as I jolted up in bed and managed to fall out. My face cracked against the hardwood floor and I quickly rolled to my hip with my hands over my face. I finally lay on my back and slowly lowered my hands. Looking up, I found Greyden peering over the side of the bed at me with a raised brow. I covered my face again and couldn’t help but start to laugh.
“You are going to kill yourself before anyone else can,” he mumbled and shook his head. “Dreaming again?”
“You know it,” I breathed heavily and rubbed my eyes. Peeling myself from the floor I stumbled to the bathroom to evaluate the damage. I flipped on the bathroom light and rounded the sink to stand before the mirror. A huge knot had formed close to my temple. There was no need to stress it. I was sure it would be gone in an hour at my healing rate. I brushed my teeth and leaned over to wash my face. As I stood I nearly slammed my fist into the mirror when I spotted Murphy’s reflection in the back corner of the huge bathroom.
He quickly held a finger to his lips in an attempt to silence me. I stormed to the door, slammed it and locked us inside. Spinning on heel, I turned to find him only a couple of feet away from me and my back went stiff against the bathroom door.
“Why the fuck are you here?” He ignored me and leaned over to a radio on a self and turned it on. He knew Greyden was in the house and I was sure that he also knew that if Greyden saw him…he would kill him. I pushed away from the door and slid to the shower to turn it on. I could play the convincing game too. I startled myself when I realized I was playing along with Murphy. I should have been slitting his throat. Too bad my razor was getting dull.
“I told you I would find you,” he said and stood firmly in the middle of the room. I circled him and then leaned against the shower door. He was dressed just as he had been in my dream and it took every fiber in me to control myself when my eyes slid to his belt.
“You didn’t have to look to fucking hard,” I barked and he hushed me again. “Why, Murphy….why?” I asked as my hands went into the air. “You fucking mutilated me. Tore me to pieces, fucked my carcass and then left me to rot. Fuck you,” I said and he cringed.
“It’s nothing like that. I warned you. I told you that I was bad news and that if we went there….there was a point of no return. I realized you were clueless about our nature but there was nothing I could do to stop once we were at that point. Nature takes over,” he tried to explain.
“More like the fucking devil!” He shook his head and folded his arms. “I’m a monster now.” I pointed to my eyes which I was sure were glowing now. He shook his head again. “This whole damn town is full of monsters and I spent my whole life completely clueless.”
“You aren’t a monster. You will learn to embrace it.” I rolled my eyes at him and laughed.
“Fuck you.”
“You said that already,” he mocked and then sighed. It was his nature to be an asshole. “What do you know?”
“That I’m a freak. That you, my Pops and my whore of a mother are to blame. I shift when I freak out. I’m hungry for human flesh and all of my senses are incredible,” I listed. He tilted his head knowing that I had more on the tip of my tongue. “Everyone keeps telling me that I matured because I found my mate.”
“You did and you must know that it is more than that. This is why I couldn’t stop myself once we got started. I wanted to leave and never see you again. Never put you through all of this. You could have matured on your own but once we linked up, no matter how hard we could have tried to avoid it, it was bound to happen.” I exhaled and moved to the narrow but tall window in the room.
“I’m bound to you,” I said. It was more of a question but it slipped out like a conviction.
“We are bound to each other, Dakota,” he corrected me. “You can love me, you can hate me, you can stay with me or you can leave me. No matter what your choice is…the desire will always be there and we will always wind up side by side until one of us is no longer.”
“Is that the only way to break it,” I asked. I was pretty sure I knew the answer. He nodded and I sighed.
“Do you hate me that much,” he asked. His voice seemed to weigh heavily on me. I turned my cheek and refused to look at him. I did hate him. Didn’t I?
“I ran into them again,” I said changing the subject. “Yates is dead. The preacher tried to attack me. Darius creeps me out. Charlie was in on it all and I put a hole in his head. I shot another in the foot. Hines is a Were and I am pretty sure everyone else I am close to out here is too.” He was quiet. My guess was that he was trying to piece things together. I could feel his breath on my shoulder and turned to face him at the window. He leaned his forehead against mine and closed his eyes. He smelled so good.
I quickly placed my hand on his chest and put a little distance between us. I turned to walk to the clothes hamper where a pile of my things lay on its lid from the night before. With my back to him, I collected my things and opened the lid to toss them in.
“You have to stay away from these guys, Dakota. Even though you think you are a force to be reckoned with now…they are much stronger. I’m sorry about your world being turned upside down. It was going to happen sooner or later. I didn’t expect you to be the type to cry over spilled milk. You are tough; you can learn the ropes and move on with your life.” He sighed and I listened to him sit on the narrow window frame. “Do you love him,” he asked out of the blue.
“Greyden?” I glanced at him over my shoulder and gave a light nod. “He has been my closest friend since we were kids.” I could feel his mood shift. It was as if he knew that I loved Greyden but also knew I was not in-love with Greyden. “Does it matter?”
“It does to me,” he replied. His gravelly voice held more emotion in those four words than he had shown the entire time I had known him.
“Its just our bond talking,” I assumed. He shook his head and I heard him stand again. Before he could step a
way from the window, I turned on heel with my 9mm in my hand and pulled the trigger. Having caught him completely off guard, he stumbled back and smashed through the window. I watched with my mouth gaped open as he fell back and vanished.
CHAPTER 19
A thundering bang came at the bathroom door.
“NO! Dakota, no!” Greyden’s screams were desperate and horrified. I moved to the window and glanced over the ledge to find the ground below littered with glass and a little bit of blood. Murphy was gone. I knew he would be back but I was hoping that I had pissed him off enough to chase him off for a while.
I heard the door jam splinter and the door slammed against the wall as Greyden burst through it. His eyes searched franticly over the room until he found me standing at the busted window with my gun in hand.
“For fuck’s sake! I thought you tried to kill yourself!” He rushed across the tile floor and pulled the gun from my hand and held me tight to his chest. “What happened?”
“He showed up.” I sighed heavily and turned my face so I could look out the window again. Looking back at Greyden I wrinkled my brow and shook my head. “I’d never pull some shit like that! You should know me better than that!”
He nodded and looked out the window as I pulled away from him and went to turn the shower and radio off.
“Did you shoot him,” he asked and glanced back at me. I nodded and shrugged.
“He will heal in an hour but I wanted to make a point,” I said and moved to sit on the closed toilet. “We are bound. I understand that. But I don’t want him and I don’t want him around.”
“You sure know how to chase them off. If I see him you do know that I will kill him or die trying, right?”
“Yes, I know.” I smiled at him and walked out of the bathroom. I had a mess to clean up.
I put the last of the glass in a big trashcan and pulled off my gloves. Greyden stood close by in the yard complaining about how I didn’t alert him when I knew Murphy was in the house. In one ear and out the other. Dressed in my red coveralls and boots, I tossed the lid on the trashcan and started dragging it to the back of the house.
“Stay armed,” he told me and I glanced him over.
“I was. I took care of it.”
“We need to get you silver bullets!” He said on my heels. “That way if any of these guys show up you can at least paralyze them!”
“Calm down or I will shoot you too,” I barked and headed inside through the back door.
“So what’s next?” He closed the door behind us and entered the kitchen while I unzipped my coveralls and slid out of them. Dressed in a black tank top and black shorts, I kicked my boots off and padded across the kitchen towards the hallway to the stairs.
“I’m getting dressed and I am going into town. I want to learn as much as I can about my father and maybe my mom too.”
“Dakota, I don’t know how much people are going to want to talk about. This town is pretty tight lipped. You should know this,” he warned me.
I tugged off my shorts and slipped on a pair of jeans. A green shirt hugged my bust snuggly and my holster made me feel a little safer. Greyden collected my jacket for me and tossed it to me.
“Thanks,” I said as I slipped into it and stuffed my feet into my boots.
“Where are you going first?” I was sure he was going to tag along.
“Hines. I have a few more questions for him.” Greyden nodded and joined me on my way back down the stairs and right out the front door to my truck.
As we drove through town I eyed every building as if I were new to this place. I felt as though I were.
The late morning light highlighted a “Help Wanted” sign in the window of the store Mrs. Yates had once worked. I was sure that Darius had come back to tie up that loose end as well. My mind jumped to the comforting heat that the Weres seem to give off and the way they can touch you without actual physical contact. This curse came with some heavy duty Jedi mind tricks. I felt myself smirk against the fact that there was nothing to laugh about.
Hines was outside of the school unloading a box from the back of his jeep. I parked and headed in his direction. Looking up from the box of miscellaneous science materials he grinned at us. I had a feeling he was tickled that I was in need of his smarts now.
“Good morning, you two. I’m needed back inside but my lunch hour is in thirty minutes. Meet me at Shady’s.” He turned towards the school’s double doors and didn’t even look back over his shoulder. I wrinkled my nose and sighed. I turned on heel to grab Greyden’s hand and lead him a block down to Shady’s diner. We had been there together many times in our youth.
The gold bell above the door jingled to life as Greyden opened the door for me. Shady’s looked like it was plucked right out of Grease. I kept waiting for Frenchie to come take our order. Greyden slid into an old red booth beside me and reached across the table for a menu. My stomach growled at the smell of bacon and burgers. Maybe I would find a way to be normal. Thinking of the bloodshed already weighing on my conscience was enough to make me want to go vegan. However, I was sure my new nature would never allow it.
“How rare do you think they will make my burger,” I teased. Greyden just shook his head and turned his eyes to the window. An ash colored Toyota Tacoma drove into view slowly and then parked out front. I watched with slight curiosity. It was not a truck that belonged to any customer of mine. A tall woman slid down from the driver’s side, collected her purse and walked in the door. Standing about 5’9” with crimson locks pulled high and big black sunglasses; she stepped in and glanced around. Her well manicured hands reached up to lift her glasses as she looked out way.
The hair on the back of my neck stood up as a warm wash of static hit the air around me. My nails bit down into the cushion of the booth and the fabric tore. Greyden turned to look at me and panic hit his eyes.
“Dakota, relax. Your eyes,” he warned me and then turned to look at the newcomer. “It’s her isn’t it,” he asked.
“Yes,” I spit and tried my best to put a lid on the anger that was about to boil over. The sound of her boots clicking on the black and white tiled floor grated my every nerve. With her sunglasses now being tucked in her purse, her jade eyes fell on me. A soft and slightly wary smile touched her coral painted lips.
“Dakota,” she asked with nearly a sob. Her voice was soothing like that of a tender mother, but there were no loving thoughts dancing through my mind at that moment. “Dakota, may we please talk,” she begged quietly. Her jade eyes rimmed with tears and I watched her hands tremble around her purse. Greyden took my hand and squeezed it tight to reassure me he had my back.
“I have nothing to say to you,” I quipped. I tore my eyes away from her and looked back out the window at her truck. Without invitation she slid into the seat across the table from us.
“But I have much to say to you,” she answered. Her scent blanketed the air around me. Rose and jasmine, warm but not suffocating. I took a deep breath and cursed the tears that threatened my eyes. “I’m so sorry I didn’t stay with you. I’m so sorry that I ever hurt you and your father. I loved him. I love you. More than you will ever know.” It all sounded like a typical sob story and even though I was sure she meant it…I didn’t care.
“I don’t know the depths of our nature yet. I’m sure this Darius has some soul damning pull on you, but you deserted me, your own flesh and blood. You left me with a heartbroken father and a curse. The man you ran back to…he killed the only parent in my life and now he has come for me. This is your fault. People around here are dying left and right because of these men and I…blame you.”
“I know. Tell me what you want me to do, Dakota. I am so sorry,” she pleaded. She reached for my hand that Greyden was holding on the tabletop and Greyden gracefully pulled our hands from her reach. “I stayed up the road and kept an eye on the house, waiting for you to come out. I followed you here, I’m sorry. Darius would be so upset with me if he knew I came. I’m begging you to please trust m
e…don’t fight them.”
“Vivianna, I suggest you return to your pack and call them off. Dakota has done no wrong to them,” he began and I cleared my throat. I had shot one in the head and another in the foot after all. “What did you think you would accomplish by coming here today,” he asked.
“Dakota, you must know they mean you no harm. He just wanted to see,” she began to sob. The bell chimed behind her and derailed her train of thought. Hines walked in and she quickly stood. Folding her hands over her purse in front of her she turned to look back at me and sighed through her tears. “I’ll go. Please don’t fight them, Dakota. I can’t lose you too.”
Silverbow Page 16
