Bound In Death (Bound #5)(20)
Author: Cynthia Eden

Lorcan wasn’t the only one with enemies stalking him in the night. Alerac had his share, too.

Foolish wolf. When would he learn? Trust no one in this world.

Even your own blood would turn on you.

“Wh-what do you want me to do?” Heath asked him as he squared his shoulders. “I told you, I want to help Jane.”

“Such a lie.” Lorcan was tired of the lies. What did they matter? “You want immortality. Jane won’t give it to you.” He titled his head to the right as he studied the man. “I will.”

Heath’s eyes widened.

“You can be useful to me, doctor. You can help me get what I need. If you do, then I’ll give you exactly what you have coming to you.”

Heath nodded quickly.

The werewolves would attack instantly if they were confronted by a vampire. But if a human came calling…

Lorcan smiled. This human would definitely prove to be useful. And, when that usefulness was at an end, he would die.

***

Dawn was coming. Jane saw the faint streaks of gold and red across the sky. She tensed, her hands tightening around Alerac. “We need to stop!”

He didn’t respond.

He’d heard her, hadn’t he? With his shifter hearing, he must have.

But she still tried again, “We need to stop!”

The first time she’d gone out in the sunlight, Jane had been hit with a lethargy so strong that she’d almost keeled over. When day came, she just got weak. No other way to describe it. Her body wanted to shut down and curl in on itself. There was no way she could stay upright on that bike during the day.

The bike began to slow. They were nearing a rest area. A deserted looking place. He eased into the parking lot, and the other pack members fell in behind him.

“Vampires don’t burn in the sunlight.”

“I know that,” she muttered. She’d discovered that TV myth just fine on her own.

He shut off the bike.

“It makes me…weak.” A stark confession. She was sure that lethargy would hit her any moment. She needed a place to crash.

“You have my blood. You’ll be stronger now.” He seemed so certain. She wasn’t.

Jane hopped off the bike. Took off her helmet. She started to walk toward the shelter of the rest area.

Alerac caught her hand in his. “I know more about vampires than you do.”

He knew more about everything than she did, and that fact pissed her off. She was walking blindly, and she hated it.

“We’re close to my home. Just a few more hours to go.”

The sun was stretching higher into the sky with each moment that passed. The weakness hadn’t started.

Yet.

“A few more hours in sunlight,” she muttered as she tried to tug her hand from his. “I don’t want that, okay? I don’t want to fall off the bike. Don’t want to slam into the pavement and have you drag the poor, beaten vampire away.”

“That’s not going to happen.” A pause, then he said, “Trust me.”

She stopped tugging her hand and stared up at him.

“It’s okay to be afraid.”

Good. Because she was shaking in her shoes.

“But my blood is in you now. Werewolf blood is very strong. It’s going to protect you.” He kept staring into her eyes. “Trust me.” Then he pulled her straight into the faint sunlight.

She expected the lethargy, the weakness to hit her.

It didn’t.

“I told you, my blood protects you.”

Her breath caught. The sunlight was warm on her skin, and she didn’t feel the usual weakness. Not even a little.

His gaze seemed to see right into her soul. “You have nothing to fear from me.”

In that instant, standing in the sunlight, strength still coursing through her, she almost believed him. But deep inside, a soft voice whispered…

He lies.

***

“Tell me about the man who took Jane.”

Hannah Wylee frowned across the bar. The place should have been closed. It was long past dawn, and she should be at home, sleeping.

But just as she’d been ready to leave, he’d come in.

Tall. Muscled. With icy eyes that seemed to see right through her.

She didn’t even remember when everyone else had left. Didn’t remember how she’d wound up alone with him in that empty place.

“Jane,” he repeated the name softly. “Where is she?”

Hannah shook her head. “I-I don’t know.” Jane had run off, left without a word. Damn inconvenience. Now she’d have to get another waitress. She’d tried to call Heath and ram into him about Jane. Talk about ungrateful. After all she’d done for the woman. But Heath had been dodging her.

Probably because he knew how pissed she was.

“Someone else was here, someone was after Jane.” His voice seemed to pour into Hannah.

Her brow furrowed. She felt like they’d been talking about Jane for a long time, but she couldn’t be sure.

“I don’t want to hurt you, Hannah,” he murmured. There was no accent in his voice. Just darkness. “But I will, if you don’t tell me what I need to know.”

His words should have terrified her, yet she found there was no room for terror. She felt frozen. No, she was frozen. Hannah couldn’t make herself move.

And he was coming ever closer to her.

He lifted his hand. His fingers curled around her neck. “The last night that Jane was here, what happened?”

“A-a man came in.” She remembered that. That guy had filled the doorway, catching her eyes. Big and rough—scary. “I think Jane ran from him.”

Those fingers tightened on her throat. “What did his eyes look like?”

She frowned, searching her memory. “He…he had on glasses.” Sunglasses, inside the bar. More memories pushed through her mind. “I sent my bouncers after him.” No one messed with her staff.

“What happened to them?”

“The guy took ‘em down.” She’d had to fire them. What good were bouncers who couldn’t control one guy?

His hold was heavy on her throat. “And did he hurt Jane?”

She shook her head, or tried to. “She left. Ran out the front. Alone.” Hannah thought that was the truth. “I haven’t seen her since.”

He stared down at her.

She couldn’t look away from him.

He sighed. “Hannah, I need to know the truth. Don’t worry, it will only hurt for a moment.”

He was beautiful. Gorgeous. The best-looking man she’d ever seen. And something was wrong with her. He’d done something to her, she knew he had. Because she wouldn’t have told him so much about Jane. Wouldn’t have shut herself in there alone with him.