A snarl hung in the air, and, in the next moment, she hung in the air, held up by the vampire’s grip on her throat. The big, blond vampire shook her like she was a rag doll and if he hadn’t been choking her, Elsa would have laughed right in his face.
“Where is she?” he demanded.
Elsa knew this vampire. Charles Crawford. A vamp who’d been walking the earth for over two hundred years.
A vamp who’d been tracking Allison for weeks.
He knew what she was. Vampires could always sense when a pureblood turning was at hand. And Allison had been right there in the city with the guy just nights before. No wonder he’d almost caught her in that alley.
Would have caught her, if Cade hadn’t plunged his claws into Crawford’s throat. Yes, her mirror had shown her that truth, too late. It hadn’t been Allison’s blood dripping from that alley’s walls the first night. Cade had attacked Crawford.
She smiled.
Crawford’s eyes narrowed. “What have you done?”
His hold eased, just enough for her to speak. “N-not me.” Her smile widened even more. “Werewolf.”
“That bastard? He still has her?”
“Gonna…kill her.” And the perfect plan hit her. “Unless…” Her breath heaved out as she studied the vamp. Maybe he could get the job done for her.
Wouldn’t that be fitting?
“Unless what?” he snapped. Poor vampire. With the werewolf hiding Allison in the woods, he wouldn’t have been able to catch her scent anymore.
And he’d be wanting to find the lost pureblood very badly. Purebloods were the favored in the vamp clans.
Elsa tried to appear careless as she said, “He’ll kill her…Unless you can kill him first.”
Now that bit had Crawford stepping back. “Tell me where the wolf is, and he’s dead.”
Elsa rubbed her throat and glanced back at her broken mirror. She saw nothing, because there was nothing left to see.
The end was coming.
It won’t be my end. It won’t. Crawford could take out the werewolf, and she would find a way to kill the pureblood.
“Don’t worry,” she told the vampire. “You won’t have to wait long.” Not long at all. “When night falls, he’ll come here. To you.”
She didn’t need her mirror to know that. Cade wouldn’t wait for her to attack again. She’d studied him. Learned his habits before she approached her would-be killer. No, he wouldn’t sit back and wait for another attack. He’d come after her.
And find a vampire waiting to kill him.
Chapter Seven
Vampires tore into her flesh. They cut her with gleaming silver blades, and they licked her blood from the edges of their knives. They laughed when she screamed.
And they tortured her even more.
They chained her and poured liquid silver onto her back, just so they could hear her screams.
And Allison did scream. Over and over as her flesh burned away.
She looked up, staring straight at the bastards who loved her pain, and something broke inside of her. Broke, even as the chains holding her arms broke free, and she lunged forward with a strength born of fury.One swipe, and she cut the head off the nearest vampire. She drove her claws into the throat of another. And as they fell, this time, she was the one who laughed.
“Allison!” Hard hands grabbed her, shook her.
Her eyes flew open, and Allison found herself out of that dank pit. The peeling walls of the hotel room surrounded her. She was on the bed. With Cade.
The man seemed to always be saving her from nightmares. But then, it wasn’t like she was the sweet dream type.
Always nightmares.
Sweat covered her, and she could still smell the scent of her own burning flesh.
Only, it hadn’t been her flesh that burned. Not really. Her trembling fingers lifted and touched the rough scars that marked Cade’s face.
His pupils widened when she touched him. His hold on her gentled, but he didn’t let her go.
Why not? Her hand fell away. How could he stand to have her near him? Those other vampires had tortured him for hours, days, and they’d drank his blood.
Just like she had.
“I’m sorry.” Her stark whisper.
Cade frowned down at her but there wasn’t surprise on his face. Just a kind of angry understanding. “The blood,” he said. “Fuck, how did I forget that? Vamps don’t just take blood, they take memories, too.”
Allison flinched. “I-I didn’t—” What? What was she supposed to say? That she hadn’t meant to steal his memories? That she hadn’t meant to drink his blood?
She had meant to do it.
Allison realized she was still naked. It hadn’t mattered before, not when she’d wanted the press of his flesh against her more than she’d wanted anything else. But at that moment, she felt…lost.
She pulled free of him and yanked the sheet up to cover her breasts. Taking a breath, she asked the question that she feared, “Am I even human any longer?” She didn’t feel weak. In fact, her body seemed incredibly strong right then. No blisters, no wounds. Only healed flesh.
Her heart was still beating. She still breathed. But she’d taken blood. Grown fangs. Her own version of claws.
“You were never human.”
His words hurt as much as a slap would have.
Allison jumped from the bed, dragging the sheet with her.
“You were born a vampire, it just took a little while for the DNA to kick-in.” His voice followed her, cold, no emotion. There’d been plenty of heat in the daytime hours. But with night, all of that seemed to have vanished. “It usually takes about twenty-five years of life, maybe a few years more, before the vamp side takes over for a pureblood.”
“Why?” She needed to learn all that she could. No more denying. No more hiding.
Deal with this.
“Because the vamp genes freeze the body at its peak. They keep you strong and young, forever.”
“Forever…” Or as long as she kept drinking blood. As long as she didn’t lose her head or get staked.
Or die in a fire set by a sadistic witch.
“You’ll keep breathing,” he told her, and she glanced back to see him pulling up his jeans. Sexy. “Your heart won’t stop. That only happens to the turned humans, and only for a little while. You were born this way…you’ll stay this way.”
She felt something wet on her cheek. Allison swiped the back of her hand over her face, and when she looked down, blood stained her fingers.
Humans didn’t cry tears of blood.
“Wh-what about you?” She hated to ask, but she had bitten him, and he’d bitten her. What if she’d…changed him?
What if he turned into the one thing he hated more than anything else?
His eyes narrowed. “What about me?”
“Will you become…like me? Because I swear, I never meant—”
He laughed then, and some of the tension eased from his face. “I won’t turn into a vampire, no matter how many times I’m bitten.”
Her shoulders sagged.
“It doesn’t work that way for my kind. We can’t change but…” Now he rubbed his chin. “I have heard a story about another werewolf down in Florida…”
“What story?”
He buttoned and zipped up his jeans. “Seemed he married a pureblood vampire and by drinking her blood, the guy made himself even stronger.”
Her heartbeat kicked up. Last night, she’d been only thinking about him and pleasure. But just what had Cade been planning? “Is that why you bit me?” Anger began to simmer in her gut.
Where the hell were her clothes?
Oh, yeah, right. Pretty much burned to bits. So she’d keep having this awkward conversation wrapped in a sheet.
He stalked toward her. Didn’t touch her. Just came close enough that she could feel the hot warmth of his flesh. “I wasn’t trying to get a power boost last night.”
“No?” Crap. She sounded way too hopeful
. She could play this semi-cool. “Then what were you doing?”
His jaw clenched. “Claiming you.”
Um…
“I’m taking care of this witch,” he told her, “I’m gonna make sure that she never comes after you again, and then…” His hand lifted. Brushed over her cheek. “Then you and I—we’re gonna work this thing out between us.”
“This thing?” The guy didn’t exactly have a golden way with words.
He pressed a kiss to her lips. An open-mouthed-I-want-more kiss. “You want me. I’m fucking burning alive with need for you.”
Okay, better. Her lips curled. A girl liked to hear some occasional sweet—or hot—things from the guy who’d fought his way past her defenses.
And into her heart?
Don’t go there. Not now. Focus.
“So let’s take her out,” Allison said and this time, she was the one to kiss him. Her kiss lasted longer. “Because I’m tired of looking over my shoulder.” She wanted to look ahead, instead.
To a future? A few days ago, Allison would never have thought that possible. But now…
What if she could have a future, with Cade?
That was sure as hell something worth fighting for.
But first…Allison caught the hand that he’d put to her cheek. She entwined her fingers with his. Stared deeply into his eyes. “I won’t ever let another vampire hurt you.” She needed to say this. To make him understand.
She wasn’t like the others. No matter what happened, she wouldn’t become like them.
And they’d damn well never attack him with silver again on her watch.
“So tough.” His smile had her heart jumping in her chest. “I think I’m rubbing off on you.”
“Maybe you are.” Or maybe the vamp in her was just developing her own killer instincts.
Kill to protect what was hers? Yes, she would. Because she was definitely starting to think of Cade as hers.
“Let’s find me some clothes,” Allison said. There had to be some kind of store around there somewhere, right? “Then we’ll hunt the bitch.” And part of her nightmare would end.
Then she could deal with what was becoming, had become.
A monster who wasn’t afraid to kill.
***
Tracking the witch wasn’t hard. Once they made it back to town, Cade made short work of finding Elsa’s scent trail. Actually, finding her scent was a little too easy. Elsa should have covered her tracks better.
He stared up at the old Victorian house near the edge of town. Lights glowed through the windows, firing out through the stained glass on the second floor.
He’d followed the scent of ash and power all the way back to this place. Elsa waited inside. But the witch wasn’t alone.
The scent of blood was far too strong.
Vampires.
His wolf pushed to break free.
Allison’s hand pressed against his shoulder. “What is it?”
He didn’t look away from the house. He’d wanted Allison with him because he’d been afraid Elsa would trick them and attack again. Leaving Allison behind to be a sitting duck hadn’t been his fucking plan.
But leading her straight into a nest of vampires wasn’t an option, either.
He inhaled, catching all the scents and said, “There are four vamps in there with her.” The scent of those vamps was so strong that it nearly overpowered everything else.
He caught the ragged sigh of her breath.
“Don’t worry, sweetheart, they won’t be a problem for long.” Not once he ripped their heads right off their bodies.
Her nails dug through his shirt and into his flesh. “You can’t take them all on.”
The wolf was clawing to the surface now, determined to be free. “Watch me.”
She didn’t let go. Her hold just tightened more. “I don’t want you dying for me!”
He could think of worse things to die for but… “I won’t be dying tonight.” No matter what Elsa had planned, “And neither will you.” Then, because he had to taste her, just once more, Cade pulled her close. His lips took hers in a hot, deep kiss, and he knew he’d carry her taste with him when he faced the enemies who waited.
The only good vamp is a staked vamp.
Not his motto anymore. But those bastards who’d sided with Elsa? They were begging for death.
He pushed Allison back. The change took him then, hard, brutal, as bones broke and reshaped. He fell to the ground, body contorting, and fur burst along his flesh.
At fourteen, his first change had been a burning agony. Now, he hardly felt the pain at all.
In moments, a wolf stalked the ground, heading toward the house. Allison stayed behind him, following close. He could go in quiet, try to surprise the vamps or—
Or he could just tear them apart.
Cade leapt for the door. His powerful claws slammed into the wood and sent the door crashing inward. Before it had even slammed to the floor, Cade jumped away and swiped out at the vamps who rushed toward him.
One slash across the chest to the dark-haired jerk who attacked with fangs barred. Even as the guy screamed and stumbled back, Cade drove his claws into the chest of the vampire on the right. The red-head’s eyes widened as the claws jerked inside of him, and the scent of the vampire’s fear filled Cade’s nose.
Kill. Destroy.
“Don’t hurt the girl!” The vampire’s bellow seemed to shake the whole house. Cade dropped his prey and saw that a big, blond vampire was rushing down the stairs, with another vamp right on his tail.
Their fangs were out, bloodlust glowing in their eyes but—
A gunshot thundered and a bullet thudded into his flesh. From the red-hot burn, Cade knew he’d taken a silver hit. His head jerked toward the top of the stairs. Elsa smiled at him even as she lifted her weapon once more.
Now he knew where Griggs had picked up his silver bullet ammo. Figured.
Allison screamed even as Cade’s wolf form tore up the stairs. He slashed out and knocked the vampires out of his way. But those vamps, they weren’t going down easy. The blond shoved a knife into Cade’s back.
More fucking silver.
His body burned.
“No!” Allison’s shout. “Get away from him!”
He felt the vampire jump in surprise. That shift of focus, that second’s hesitation was all that Cade needed. His head twisted, and he sank his fangs into the vampire’s neck.
Another bullet thudded into him. Elsa’s laughter grated in his ears.
Won’t stop. Kill.
Then Allison was there. She punched at the vampires. Swiped with her own claws. “Let him go!”
The vampires didn’t fight her. They fell back—one actually fell off the stairs, and Cade raced toward the witch. She was still smiling, still holding up her gun—
“Cade, no!” Allison’s steps pounded after him.
The witch’s finger tightened around the trigger.
His hind legs shoved down, then pushed him high into the air as he launched toward her. The bullet fired, scraped right by his left-ear, and he slammed into the witch.
His claws sank into her flesh.
She didn’t scream. Just kept laughing.
“Cade, watch out!” Allison’s yell.
But the warning came too late. He’d been too focused on the witch. On the vampires. Their scents had been so strong that he hadn’t noticed—
A knife plunged into his back. The pain had a howl of fury and agony breaking from him. He rolled, swiping with his claws, and Griggs—fucking bastard Griggs—fell to the ground, dead.
But Cade fell, too. He couldn’t get up. His legs had gone numb, and the shift swept over him again in an uncontrolled rush.
Too much silver. Too much blood.
He tried to find Allison. Saw her being held by the blond vampire. She was struggling in his arms and red tears leaked down her cheeks.
She thinks I’m dying.
Maybe he was.
He still couldn’t ge
t up.
Griggs would never get up.
“Greedy bastard…for the right money, Griggs would always do anything.” Elsa, dripping blood, eased down beside Cade. She had a mirror cradled in her hands, a cracked, blackened mirror. “I knew he’d come back…he just wanted you to be weak enough first. Likes to attack when…his prey is weak.”
Too bad for the bastard…Griggs hadn’t waited long enough. Cade had made sure that prick went to hell first.
“Get away from him!” Allison yelled.
Elsa didn’t look her way. She leaned closer to Cade. He still couldn’t move. That fucking knife lodged right in the middle of his back. Griggs had driven it in deep, all the way to the bone, and when Cade had spun to kill the human—
I just drove it in deeper. When his back had hit the floor, the hilt had broken off, and the silver blade was lodged deep within him.
“What did you think would happen?” Elsa whispered as she clutched her mirror. “That you’d save her? That you’d get to keep her?”
Forever. He’d wanted a chance, a shot at—
“She would’ve stayed young for centuries, and you would have wasted away.” She held up the mirror to him. “See what would have been—see it!”
Cade stared into the mirror. He saw the future that had waited for him and bellowed in maddened fury.
Chapter Eight
That bitch wasn’t killing Cade. Allison jerked, twisted like a snake, and drove her claws—not nearly as fierce as Cade’s—into the blond vampire’s stomach.
He barely grunted. His eyes, too blue and bright, glittered down at her. “Don’t worry, we’ll keep you safe.”
Screw that. Like she believed a word he said.
Gritting her teeth, she pulled back her fist and slammed it right into his chest.
She heard something break. Luckily, it wasn’t her hand.
The vamp’s eyes widened. “Pureblood,” he whispered as he fell back a step.
That step was all she needed. “You aren’t killing Cade!” She’d promised that vampires wouldn’t hurt him again, and now he was up there, not moving.
Dying?
No.
“Cade!” She spun away and jumped up half the stairs.
But the blond vampire moved faster than her. He blocked her path in an instant. “I’m like you. Born to the blood, I can help you…show you…”