Redemption (Page 45)

He could find her now. Anywhere she went, anywhere that he went, and no matter how much time passed, he would always be able to find her. The thought should terrify her, it would have if it had been anyone else, but she found it oddly comforting to know that he could always return to her if he chose to once he left.

She shied away from the thought of him leaving. There was still a little bit of peace within her right now, she wasn’t going to ruin it by dwelling on depressing thoughts.

His fingers brushed the hair back from her neck; she didn’t flinch away as he pressed lightly against the bite marks there. She waited for him to apologize or say something else that would officially ruin the moment. Instead, his eyes drifted back to hers and she saw the same confusion radiating out of him that was twisting through her insides.

Though she tried to stifle it, she couldn’t entirely suppress a yawn. His fingers slid away from her neck and he began to stride across the room to the door. She’d forgotten about the vampires passed out on her floor, but she was quickly reminded of this fact as Jack had to weave through them to get to the stairs. She twisted in his arms to look at them, but Jack didn’t glance back as he took the steps three at a time to the top.

His arms briefly squeezed around her as he stopped at her door. Reluctantly, he lowered her to the ground. Hannah felt as if she were losing a piece of herself as she forced her hand to wrap around the knob and push the door open.

"Hannah." She looked over her shoulder at him. His hair was a tussled mess, his lips were redder from her blood and though she was aware of just how powerful he was, there was an air of vulnerability around him that tugged at her heart. His eyes drifted to her neck. "What just happened…"

"It’s ok, I wanted it too."

She disappeared into the room before he could say anything more, or before she begged him to stay with her. Tears welled in her eyes as she leaned against the door. Enough had happened today without her giving herself over him to completely now. There were some things she had to keep from him, he already had her blood and she realized now that he was also taking her heart.

CHAPTER 16

"What has you so on edge?" William demanded as Jack stood to the side of his brother’s men. They weren’t overly pleased about being kept in the woods, but then most of them were used to it after the time they had spent in the forest and caves in preparation of the war last year.

"Just waiting for Calvin to make a move," he muttered.

William glanced at him questioningly. "We’ll be prepared. Do you think Calvin’s men are better trained than Braith’s?"

"Of course not," Jack retorted.

William had a persistent, and completely unnerving, way of seeming to stare into a person or vampire, and he could feel that stare focused upon him now. Jack didn’t know what to say to him though, didn’t know how to explain the hunger twisting through his body. It wasn’t an appetite for random blood though, but for more of hers.

He’d never known anything could taste as delicious or be as fulfilling as she was. He actually felt physically stronger from the influx of her blood within him. He didn’t know if her blood was more potent and satisfying because she was a vampire or if it was simply because it was her blood. He could still taste her, still feel her, and drinking from her vein was all he yearned to do again. The last thing he wanted was to be standing amongst a group of his brother’s soldiers training.

The sound of staffs clashing against each other drew him from his thoughts, but not before his fangs had sprung free again. He poked at them with the tip of his tongue and shook his head. He didn’t have a freaking clue what was wrong with him, but he knew he had to get it together soon before he ended up accidentally killing someone. Shedding his shirt, he grabbed hold of a staff and jumped into the fray. He relished in the loud click of the wood as he bounced it off of the other staffs. The strain that radiated through his forearms and biceps was a welcome relief to the tension coiled within his chest. Sweat poured down his face, he took more than a few glancing blows off his knuckles, arms, chest, and head. He was bruised, bleeding, and aching, but he pushed himself onward until it was only him and one other vampire left fighting.

The staff vibrated in his hand as it crashed and banged against the staff of the larger vampire across from him. Larger, but not older, and the vampire most certainly didn’t have Hannah’s blood coursing through him. Leaning back, Jack dodged the violent downward slash of the staff and drove his own upward into the vampire’s ribs. The staff clattered from his opponent’s hands as a loud grunt escaped him.

Jack’s shoulders heaved as the staff dropped down by his side. The blood trickling from his knuckles and temple began to dry as the wounds started to knit themselves closed. It had felt good to get some of his frustration out but as he looked around for another victim, he realized that he was going to have to find another way to release some of his tension as the others all took a step back from him. Jack nodded to the man and tossed the staff to a woman standing nearby. There was an interested gleam in her eyes as she studied him, and though she was attractive enough, he was dismayed to realize that she did nothing for him.

There had to be some way to get Hannah off his mind, but beating the hell out of someone as well as himself hadn’t worked out. He knew another woman would be useless, and he had glutted himself on blood at the blood bank before coming here. There was only one other thing he could think of to do, and though he knew it would be a bad decision he wanted nothing more than to get drunk.

He was seriously contemplating that idea when Timber emerged from the forest. The giant of a man was larger than some of the saplings surrounding him. His weathered face was drawn, his brown eyes troubled. "Your boy is on the move," he told Jack.