Bound in Sin (Bound #3)(16)
Author: Cynthia Eden

She’d survive. So would Drake. She’d make sure of it.

“Why is he here?” Drake demanded. “He should be at the lake, hunting the vampires. He should–”

“He’s not alone.” Because she’d seen the other shadows. The ones that were closing in on the shifter.

Michael had to hear the vampires. Had to smell them.

But he just kept walking toward the cabin like he didn’t have a care in the world. “Does he know how to get past your security?” Her heart was racing in her chest.

Michael headed for the cabin. Another camera zoomed in on his face as he approached the front door. For just an instant, Paige caught sight of the smile that curved Michael’s lips.

Hell.

“He brought them here,” she whispered as the cold certainty settled in her gut. Michael was going to lead the vampires inside. Right to her and Drake. They would be sitting ducks for the vamps.

Their safe house had just become their prison.

Two of them. Two against–how many vamps?

The shadows pushed toward the cabin. One. Two. Three. Four…

Five?

“He’s not getting in,” Drake said as he punched a series of codes into the computer. “He doesn’t have the right access code. I changed a few days, and, after he hurt you, I didn’t give it to him.”

Her breath rushed out.

“Never really trusted him,” Drake muttered as he reached for the radio. He connected almost instantly with the compound. “Wolf gone rogue at safe house one,” he said, biting off the words. “Send back up…”

Michael wasn’t smiling anymore. He was kicking at the door. Punching. Guess he’d realized he didn’t the right code to get inside.

“That’s steel, bastard,” Drake said, voice hardening, “Reinforced f**king steel, and no, I didn’t tell your ass about that little feature, either.”

Because Drake had known that Michael might turn on him?

Another voice crackled over the radio. “Coming now, alpha. Two teams. Are there–”

The vampires closed in on Michael. They grabbed him and hauled him away from the cabin. Michael didn’t fight them. The wolf went with them willingly.

But she could see he wasn’t smiling anymore.

Her chest began to burn. She knew what would happen next. Michael might have thought he was working with the vampires. He might have thought that…

“Michael brought the vampires,” Drake said flatly into the radio, “and, they’re–”

Killing him.

Or, they would be, soon enough. Right then, they were holding him down. Slicing into him with their razor-sharp fangs.

Drinking from him.

And making sure that the security cameras saw everything.

“Get the f**k here,” Drake snarled and tossed the radio aside. Then he whirled and headed for the stairs.

Paige grabbed him. “You can’t go out there.” A glance at the monitors showed her that Michael was fighting back now. Screaming.

The vampires were still drinking.

Only it wasn’t just four vampires any longer.

Six.

Her breath caught when she saw Gabe. He wasn’t drinking from the werewolf. Gabe just stood there, staring up at the cabin.

Waiting.

He’d waited on this one attack for years.

Secrets. She hadn’t told Drake everything yet. There hadn’t been enough time. There still wasn’t.

“I’m alpha,” he growled as his gaze burned into her. “Michael is one of mine, traitor or not.”

Um, there was a not portion? That guy was a straight-up traitor. No doubt.

“I won’t let them drain him,” Drake’s voice rumbled over the beeping alarm. “Not while I just watch.”

No, Drake wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t just stand back while another wolf suffered. That wasn’t who her shifter was.

She knew that…and that was just one of the reasons she’d known that she had to get close to him again.

He’d taken her blood, but the boost from that blood didn’t happen instantaneously. She’d learned from the vampires in Florida–the vamps that weren’t twisted freaks–that when a vampire offered her blood to a werewolf, well, the result could be pretty damn amazing.

The wolf could become stronger.

She wanted Drake as strong as he could possibly be.

But the boost took a little time. The vampire blood had to work its way through his body.

I’ll give him the time he needs.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered because he’d hate what she was about to do.

But, sometimes, a vamp just had to do what she had to do.

Since he wasn’t expecting the attack, Paige had the advantage. She grabbed Drake and shoved him back against the wall. The wall had to be reinforced with steel. The whole place was reinforced.

This would hurt. But she had to hurt him in order to save him.

“Paige, what the hell–”

She kissed him. A deep, hard kiss that held all the passion and longing she felt for him. Did he know that she still loved him? That she always had? There’d never been another in her heart. There wasn’t room for anyone else. Even with all the miles and years between them, Drake had been the only one she wanted.

He shuddered against her. “Paige.” Lust. Need. Fury. All were in his voice. And he was about to try and break away from her. She knew it.

Couldn’t allow it.

I’m sorry. The words were only in her mind this time. She brought his lips back to hers. Kissed him again. She knew just what she had to do. Give him an injury that would disable him–for a bit–but allow him to come back even stronger once her blood started pumping fully in his veins.

A tear leaked down her cheek. His arms were around her. He was holding her tight. Some attacks, you never expected.

Paige tore her lips from his. In the same instant, she reached up, grabbed his head, and slammed it back against the reinforced wall. The thud of impact had nausea rolling in her gut.

Her shifter went down with a groan.

She stared at him, aware that her heart just hurt. “I’m sorry,” she said again. She had to move fast. She knew shifters–no, she knew him–and he’d be recovered in three, four minutes tops.

He’d come after her.

He’d go after Michael.

But Drake wouldn’t die. Because she wouldn’t allow it.

She spun away. Punched in the codes she’d memorized. She’d watched him so carefully, just in case…

The steel slid back. The trapdoor opened. She rushed through the opening but took precious seconds to secure the door behind her.