Bound In Death (Bound #5)(12)
Author: Cynthia Eden

“I-I don’t want a war.” The other wolves were shifting back into the forms of men. Coming to stand around them. Glaring. They all seemed to hate her.

All but Alerac.

He looked at her as if—as if he wants to devour me.

She didn’t want to be a snack for the big, bad wolf.

Alerac wasn’t looking away from her. “Some will want to kill you. They’ll want to torture you just to hear you beg.”

This couldn’t be happening. She wasn’t in to the torture scene, not at all.

“Some will want to use you. A pawn with no f**kin’ clue.”

Her eyes narrowed. “What is it that you want?”

To use her? To torture her?

That glowing stare drifted over her face. “You. I’ll keep you alive, but in return, I get you.”

Then she could finally hear the sirens, too. Like screams in the night.

“Live or die, your choice,” the one he’d called Liam said. “Just choose fast.”

She didn’t want to die. What waited for someone like her on the other side? Jane was afraid to find out. If she was a vampire, did that mean she was some kind of abomination? “Live,” she said, lifting her chin.

Alerac smiled. “Good, because you really didn’t have a choice.”

Her lashes flickered.

Liam tossed some clothing and shoes at Alerac. He dressed in an instant, then he was pulling her toward him. “Come on!”

“But my truck—”

“You don’t need it. You don’t need anything from your old life.”

They were in front of a motorcycle. He climbed on. Motioned for her to jump on behind him.

She slid onto the bike.

“Wrap your arms around me.”

Tentatively, her fingers settled around his shoulders.

“Come closer. Hold me tighter.”

Her breath whispered out. She slid closer. Her br**sts brushed his back. Her arms dropped. Her hands curled around his stomach.

The motorcycle growled to life, with a growl much like Alerac’s own. Then they were lunging forward. Racing into the night.

She didn’t look back at the bodies. She turned her face against his shoulder, and Jane tried to figure out how she was going to survive with the werewolf.

A werewolf who seemed particularly skilled at killing vampires.

***

That sure hadn’t gone according to his damn plan.

Lorcan Teague stood in the shadows. The swirl of police lights flashed around the street, a sickening blue illumination that had his eyes narrowing. Humans were hurrying around the scene. Snapping pictures of the bodies. Looking for evidence. Roping everything off with their yellow police tape.

Vampires had attacked someone here.

They’d attacked the woman known as Jane Smith.

Only there should have been no such attack. He hadn’t sent out the order for Jane to be taken in. What would have been the point? Jane was supposed to go off with the werewolf alpha.

In order for her blood to become stronger, she had to go with the beast.

He’d planned so carefully.

But it looked as if another player had entered the game. Someone who was screwing with his agenda.

That wouldn’t be tolerated.

He turned away from the scene. He inhaled the scents in the night. The werewolves had fled one way.

Vamps…my own kind…had gone another.

His fangs stretched and burned in his mouth.

Someone was about to pay the price for betrayal. It would be a very, very high price indeed.

Chapter Three

He drove until he could see the red streaks of dawn sweeping across the sky. Alerac didn’t want to stop, he wanted to keep right on driving until he had Jane safe with him and back at his home. Where he could be certain no more vampires would attack her.

But the sun wasn’t her friend. Hadn’t been, since her twenty-fifth birthday. He should know. He’d been there that day. He’d covered her with his coat, trying to shield her from the light that burned her now.

The motorcycle braked near the rundown motel. They were still in Florida. Still miles to go before he felt secure enough.

But Liam was already hurrying inside. Securing the rooms for the group. Alerac knew that the humans at the motel thought they looked like a motorcycle gang. He’d heard the whispers when they’d all ridden up on their bikes.

The human staff members weren’t completely wrong.

They were a gang, of sorts.

He turned off the bike. Jane was already sliding off the seat, trying to get away from him.

He caught her hand, brushed his fingers over her pulse. Enjoyed the way it sped beneath his touch. “We’ll stay here today.” But he’d make other arrangements soon. As long as Jane was covered, safely away from that sunlight, his pack could keep traveling. It would be easy enough to acquire a van for their use.

Liam exited the motel’s office and headed back toward him. The werewolf tossed Alerac a room key. He caught it easily, fisting his fingers around it. “You’ll stay with me,” he told Jane. As if there was another option. Hell, no, he didn’t trust any other wolf with her.

He didn’t trust anyone else with her.

“Kent and Finn, you take the first watch,” Liam ordered.

The two werewolves nodded. Their curious gazes kept drifting to Jane.

Everyone in his pack had heard whispers about her.

Now they all wanted to get close to the legend.

As he advanced toward the motel, Alerac kept Jane at his side. He sent a hard, determined, back off glare to the others.

Jane didn’t speak until they were inside the small room. One bed. King-sized. Plenty of room for them both.

The last time I was in bed with her…

Well, that time had ended in plenty of bloodshed.

And with her disappearance.

He slammed the door shut behind them. “You can rest here while the sun’s high.” Vampires were always at their weakest during the day. That part of the old story was true enough.

She had stopped in the middle of the room. Her eyes were on the bed.

How he’d like to strip her and take her on that bed.

The wolf inside was clawing at him, so desperate for the woman he’d been denied for far too long.

More than a lifetime. Hell, more than two lifetimes. Did she have any idea what he’d done for her?

He exhaled slowly. Forced his muscles to unclench.

If she knew, she’d probably be running. Screaming.

Instead, she turned slowly to face him. Her hair brushed across those glass-sharp cheekbones. “I don’t like being in the dark.”

His brows rose. “Most vamps do.”