by J. C. Diem
Dressing, I went downstairs for breakfast and found the others sitting at the table. Mark smiled, but it was strained. “How are you feeling?” he asked. I had the feeling they’d been talking about me.
“Tired,” I replied and turned to Kala. “Did you help me get changed last night?” I hoped it’d been her. If it was any of the others, I’d die of embarrassment.
“Help you?” she scoffed. “You were completely unconscious. It was like dressing a life-sized doll.” She shuddered slightly in remembrance.
“Do you remember what happened last night in the cemetery?” Mark asked me.
I shrugged while I poured milk into my cereal. “Some of it. It’s all a bit hazy.”
He was silent for a moment while I crossed to the table and took a seat. The whole team was subdued. It almost seemed as if they were afraid for me. Or of me. I couldn’t tell which.
“I’d like you to take another trip into the city to see the voodoo priestess,” he said.
I paused with my spoon halfway to my mouth. “Why?”
“I’d like you to ask her if we’ve eliminated the threat from the Zombie King and the necromancer.”
“Why do you want me to ask her?” I asked, narrowing my eyes with suspicion.
“Because she’d only talk to you the last time,” he pointed out.
I didn’t feel up to a trip, but it would be churlish to refuse his request. “Okay,” I said with a shrug and pushed my bowl away. I’d barely touched my cereal, but I wasn’t hungry. All I wanted to do was sleep.
“Reece will drive you to New Orleans this afternoon,” Mark said and stood. He headed for the coms room before I could muster up a protest that I could drive myself. I swayed on my feet when I stood and had to revise that thought. Maybe it would be a good idea to have a chauffeur after all.
₪₪₪
Chapter Thirty-Two
I intended to spend the day reading through the archives, but I spent most of my time dozing instead. I woke when a fist banged on my bedroom door.
“Lexi!” Reece shouted. “Are you ready to go?”
“I’ll meet you downstairs in five minutes!” I shouted back. My legs were wobbly when I entered the bathroom. Checking my reflection, I winced at what I saw. Dark circles crouched beneath my eyes and my cheeks were hollow. I’d already been thin, but I’d lost weight and was beginning to look ill. “What’s wrong with me?” I asked the girl in the mirror, but she didn’t respond.
Changing into jeans, a tank top, my holster and my red leather jacket, I checked that my gun wasn’t visible before leaving my room. There was no need for my rifle and I left it tucked away in the closet. Hopefully, we wouldn’t need the flamethrowers that were still stashed in the back of the SUV.
Reece waited for me to buckle myself in before triggering the button that opened the garage door. I closed my eyes to rest for a moment and when I opened them again, we were entering New Orleans.
“Are you awake?” Reece asked. His tone was ragged and I wondered what I’d done to annoy him this time.
“Yes.” Barely. I’d spent the whole day sleeping yet still felt inexplicably drained of energy.
We parked outside the voodoo store and Reece had my door open even before I’d unbuckled the seatbelt. I was as slow and clumsy as an ordinary human and it made me irritable. He ignored my glare and helped me out of the SUV.
I hated to admit it, but I seemed to gain some strength from his touch as he guided me inside the store with a hand on my elbow. The bell jingled as we entered. The voodoo priestess glanced up, saw me and froze. She made a sound of horror and rushed out from behind the counter. “I feared this,” she said as she checked my eyes and then my pulse.
“Feared what?” my concerned companion asked. “Do you know what’s wrong with her?”
The priestess flicked a glance at him then addressed me. “I warned you that your spirit was at war.”
“I remember,” I said and talking was hard. “I didn’t really understand what you were talking about.” I still didn’t and hoped that she was about to enlighten me. Maybe she’d have a solution for whatever was wrong with me.
“The battle that is raging inside you is tearing you apart,” she said. “You must take steps to defend yourself or you will lose your soul to the darkness.”
I still had no idea what she was talking about and my expression reflected my confusion.
“What does she have to do?” Reece asked. He stood at my back with a hand on my left shoulder. His palm rested on the mark that he’d given me. It seemed to pulse beneath his hand.
“You must strengthen the bond between you in order to break the hold that the darkness has over her.”
I didn’t like the sounds of that. “How?”
“You know how,” she chided, as if I was being deliberately obtuse. “There is only one way to make your bond stronger.”
Unwillingly, I turned so I could see Reece’s expression. He stared down at me with an inscrutable look, but I sensed his flare of anticipation before he dampened it.
“You must do this before the sun is gone from the sky,” the priestess warned us.
“Did we destroy the zombie threat?” I asked. That was what Mark had sent us here to discover, not to listen to some mystical mumbo jumbo about my soul.
“There is only one soulless left in this city now,” she said darkly. “And it is not a zombie.” She knew what it was, but she wasn’t going to elaborate.
Reece guided me back outside and over to the SUV. I climbed inside and couldn’t bring myself to look at him as he drove through the city. Instead of heading back to the compound, he pulled up outside a hotel.
Too tired to ask him why we were stopping, I watched him climb out and walk to the back of the SUV. He opened the back door and covered the flamethrowers with a blanket. Then he was opening my door and was helping me out. We stepped into the hotel and headed over to the reception desk. In a slight daze, I listened without protest as he used his credit card to pay for a room for the night.
It didn’t occur to me that he was taking the priestess’ advice seriously until we were standing in the bedroom and he was taking his clothes off.
“What are you doing?” I asked him in alarm.
“You heard the priestess,” he replied evenly. “We have to strengthen the bond or you’ll lose your soul.”
I heard a hint of sarcasm in his tone and crossed my arms. “You don’t really believe that.”
Stripping his t-shirt off, he dropped it to the floor then moved to stand in front of me. “I’m not sure what to believe. All I know is that you’re sick and that I might be able to help you.”
“By having sex with me,” I said flatly.
“If that’s what it takes.” He read the anguish in my eyes and sighed. “I know what you’re thinking. That I’m only doing this because I have no choice.”
“Aren’t you?” We hadn’t had any choice the last two times we’d been naked together. Why should this time be any different?
“Can we talk about this later?” he asked and took a step closer.
This might not be his choice, but I felt his desire tickling the back of my mind. We hadn’t even touched each other yet and the bond was already growing stronger. My gaze dropped from his face to his chest and swept down to his sculpted abs. I remembered what it felt like to have his hands on me and I swayed towards him. His hands enclosed my shoulders and he bent to kiss me.
For a long moment, I resisted the feelings that rose up to engulf me. Then I was on my tippy toes and my hands were clutching Reece’s shoulders, trying to pull him closer. My jacket dropped to the floor and my tank top and jeans followed. He stripped his pants off without breaking contact with me then he picked me up and pulled my legs around his waist. He sat on the edge of the bed with me on his lap. I looked down at his obvious arousal and blushed bright red. This was the first time that neither of us had been under the influence of mind control. We knew exactly what we were doing and we would remember
every moment of it when we were done.
He laughed silently and pulled me closer. “It’s too late for modesty, Alexis. I’ve seen you naked before and I’ve already been inside you.” His hands moved from my back to my butt and he slid me up and down his body slowly. “You rode me like this in the back of that car.” His voice was thick with desire and something deep inside me clenched in response.
I didn’t protest when he undid my bra and slid it down my arms. I was beyond being able to call a halt to this. Deep down inside, I admitted that I didn’t want him to stop. I wanted him inside me again.
Now with only my panties between us, I leaned forward until my breasts were brushing his chest. I kissed him deeply and had a flash of memory of doing this exact thing once before. His thumb brushed against the most intimate part of me and I moaned into his mouth.
In a swift move that made my head spin, he had me on my back and was lying on top of me. Our lips melded, our tongues touched and the heat began to build. Reece swept a hand down my side and back up to cup my breast. “You’re so beautiful,” he breathed into my neck then slid down my torso and took my nipple into his mouth.
Lost in sensation, I gripped a handful of sheets when he moved even lower and kissed his way down my body. He paused to slip my panties off then simply gazed at my body. His hands were resting on my thighs and I didn’t have the strength or the will to resist him when he nudged them apart. His head dipped, his tongue touched me and my body convulsed in response.
When I didn’t think I could take it any longer, he guided himself inside me and plunged in deep. A moan escaped me and was swallowed when we kissed. My legs went around his waist and my hands to his lower back when he began to move. With each stroke, the heat built up and the bond strengthened.
I sensed the same heat within Reece and then our minds became more fully entwined than they’d ever been before. Like a dam bursting, I remembered the night that Lust had taken control of me. I saw it through both his memory and mine as he pounded himself inside me. I recalled his astonishment and pleasure as I’d ridden him and his guilt when we’d reached our peak.
He had the same revelation of when he’d been forced to seek me out due to the telepath’s command. He remembered our first night together, the night that he’d taken my virginity. “I was your first,” he murmured with profound satisfaction and an emotion that could only be classed as possession. He’d already figured this was the case, but now there could be no doubt.
Before I could speak, more memories came back to me. This time, they had nothing to do with compulsion and everything to do with my alter ego. In excruciating detail, I remembered the first time I’d changed into a werewolf. That memory paled in comparison to the second time I’d become a monster. I remembered hunting down the zombies that had invaded my territory. I saw Mark as the pitifully small and weak human being that he was and I saw myself carrying him back to the prison where my mate was being kept. Most of all, I remembered my link to Reece.
Together, we relived the three nights that we’d spent in his enclosure. We’d felt joy in the hunt and peace at being a pack. In our half-wolf forms, we knew we were destined to be together. Everything was simple when we didn’t have human emotions to complicate everything.
Teeth lightly grazed my left shoulder without breaking the skin and I was brought back to the here and now. If Reece switched sides, he might see the fresh mark at the back of my right shoulder. The thought was almost enough to jolt me from my pleasure.
“I’m the only man who has ever done this to you,” he said as he increased his thrusts to a frantic pace. “I’m the only one who will ever be inside your body.” He lifted his head and stared down at me. “Say it,” he demanded in a hoarse voice. His eyes were a shade lighter than usual, as if he was close to his change.
We were both alphas, but in that moment, his will was stronger than mine. “I’m yours,” I whispered and triumph blazed from his eyes. The heat became unbearable then I was hurtling over the edge, taking him with me as my body bucked in pleasure.
Lying on top of me, Reece fought to get his breath back then rolled onto his side. Our bond had been restored, but he clamped down on his emotions so tightly that I couldn’t sense them. “The bond has been repaired, so your soul should be safe from whatever darkness the voodoo priestess was talking about,” he said calmly and as if he hadn’t just claimed my body forever.
Still tingling all over, I knew instinctively that my promise had been just as binding as the marks on our shoulders. I knew little about alphas and shifters in general, but I sensed through our link that I had become his.
Pushing my newfound knowledge behind a wall in my mind to hide it from him, I nodded and pulled the sheet up to my chin. “At least we know I’m not pregnant now,” I replied. In our shifted forms, we’d hunted, played and slept, but we hadn’t mated. Our bond had been too new to start a family. I wasn’t carrying a bellyful of puppies and my relief was almost strong enough to reduce me to tears.
Climbing out of bed, Reece didn’t look at me as he dressed. “I’ll call Mark and tell him that we’ll be back soon.”
“I’m going to take a shower,” I said, trying to pretend that I wasn’t falling apart on the inside.
Nodding, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and stepped outside.
Alone in the room, I slid out of bed and gathered up my clothes. I took my second shower for the day and silent sobs wracked me from head to toe. Once again, Reece had done his duty. We were members of the same pack and he was compelled to keep me safe, even if that meant he had to sacrifice his body again. While he’d tried hard to hide his emotions from me, I sensed his anguish at our predicament. For better or worse, we were now tied so tightly together that it would be almost impossible to extricate ourselves.
Being permanently and irrevocably bound to him and agreeing to allow him sole access to my body wasn’t what was upsetting me. The knowledge that his attraction for me wasn’t real and never would be was the cause of my distress. He didn’t have the eternal restriction that I’d just placed on myself not to be with another man.
With a wry snort, I shut off the water and got hold of myself. I was no longer a little girl and it was time to grow up. True love might exist, but if it did, I obviously wasn’t meant to experience it. Instead, I was mated to someone who didn’t want me and was forced to protect me due to his loyal nature. I only hoped he never discovered that my feelings for him were genuine.
Reece was waiting in the hall when I opened the door. The look he gave me was guarded and I smiled neutrally. We’d just had mind blowing sex and now we were acting like polite strangers. My breath tried to hitch, but I forced myself to be calm. It wasn’t his fault that I loved him and that he’d never feel the same way about me. This was our future now and there was nothing either of us could do to change it.
₪₪₪
Chapter Thirty-Three
“Mark wants us to run a final check of the cemeteries before we return to the base,” Reece said when we reached the SUV. We hadn’t needed the hotel room for the entire night and he’d handed the key over to the receptionist, much to her surprise.
“Okay,” I replied. Nightfall was only a couple of hours away now and we spent that time cruising through the city.
When the sun finally set, we began the usual circuit of the graveyards. None showed any signs of green fog and I didn’t sense any undead.
Reece saved the cemetery where we’d killed the necromancer last night for last. “I want to make sure the zombies that you sent back to their graves aren’t going to rise again,” he said. “You can wait in the SUV if you like.”
I already knew they were just bones again, but I didn’t bother to tell him that and merely nodded. I’d said very little during our search for stray zombies. I felt much better physically, but I was a wreck mentally. Some girls might be able to handle a casual relationship that involved sex without strings, but I wasn’t one of them. I could foresee a future where he would
be free to pursue any female he liked and would only have sex with me when it was absolutely necessary.
Rage flared at the thought of another female putting her hands on him and I decided I needed fresh air. I hopped out and stretched with my arms up over my head, reaching for the sky. Hearing stealthy footsteps behind me, I whirled around to see Officer Mallory attempting to creep up on me. His expression was crafty and his face was animated with sick excitement.
I wasn’t completely sure of his intentions until he leaped forward and slammed me into the SUV. He clamped a hand over my mouth to keep me quiet. “Your boyfriend shouldn’t have left you alone,” he said with a grin that was pure evil. “You’re mine now.”
The charming cop was gone and now I saw him for the fiend that he really was. A normal girl would have been frightened, but I was pissed. This man was clearly a monster, but of the human variety. He moved his hand just enough to let me speak. “What are you going to do to me?” I whispered, pretending to be scared. In reality, I was preparing to tear his throat out with my bare hands.
“Everything,” he said and ground his pelvis into mine. He was hard and my gorge rose. “Then I’m going to kill you and dump your body in the swamp along with all the other pretty young girls that I’ve added to my collection over the years.”
Reece came out of nowhere with rage pouring off him in waves. “Over my dead body,” he growled and wrenched the cop away from me.
I watched with detached amazement as he put his hands around Mallory’s neck and squeezed. It took only seconds to pulverize his throat and for the cop to choke on his last breath. I should have been shocked, but all I felt was disappointment that I hadn’t had the chance to kill the man.
