Blood Moon, Original Version (Shifters #1) (2 page)

             
Nate stepped closer to the woman.

Chapter Five

              Maxine allowed the man to help her, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t be cautious.

             
Nate knew the woman was depending on him to be her eyes in the dark.

             
Maxine allowed him to lead her out of the darkness; panic gripped her as sounds of approaching footsteps could be heard.

             
Nate stopped and listened knowing they were coming from every direction, except for one, through the catacombs.

             
Nate pulled the woman towards the door as she struggled against his grasp. “You must trust me,” he said.

             
“No…no, I’m not going in there!”

             
“It’s either that, or we face them!” He said.

             
Maxine knew from the sounds of the approaching footsteps that there were several. Biting her lip, she nodded her head and followed him into the catacombs.

             
Nate pulled the woman close and led her through the dark tunnels. Something deep inside of him needed to protect her.

             
“Why are you helping me?” She gasped. Having him so close to her set her body to trembling, this time it was not from fear.

             
She reached out and touched him with just the lightest caress.  Nate was held in place, and his breathing quickened.

             
“You could have left me, but you didn’t,” she said.

             
Nate did not know how to answer. All he said was, “I’m not a monster.”

             
He hadn’t left her, and he knew he wouldn’t. The realization surprised even him.

             
He bent down close and she could feel his breath on her skin. His longing built and his body responded this time letting him know that the need in his groins wanted to be answered.

             
Maxine could feel a sexual desire building in herself. She knew he could feel it too.

             
Nate found a place to slip them into; they would be safe now if they could hold out until dawn.

             
Inside the crawl space they both moved back to the wall.

             
Closing her eyes, Maxine leaned against the man’s chest as she allowed her body to relax in his embrace.

             
Nate relished in the feel of her as he embraced the female he wanted so badly. He could hear her heartbeat as if it were beckoning to him as his lips danced over her skin.

             
He would not be able to resist this woman much longer. He wanted her. Nate leaned her head back and slipped his mouth over hers.

Chapter Six

              His kiss was intoxicating; she let her hands roam over his body. A longing that only intensified the longer they stayed connected built between them.

             
He kissed her with more intensity. Her body ached for him, for a release only he could provide. She squirmed in his arms and turned her body to straddle him. She wanted much more than he was already offering.

             
Maxine moaned with pleasure. She rode him as she rubbed her body against his.

             
Nate reached under her shirt and found her nipple, sucking it into a harder peak. A gasp of pleasure broke from her lips as he laid her down on the ground and removed her clothing. As he did so, he slipped his fingers inside her, strumming her into an orgasm. She arched her back as another climax took hold of her.

             
Nate could feel his erection growing by the minute.

             
Maxine could feel his lips making their way down, and when he lifted her butt off the ground and wrapped her legs around his shoulders, she almost screamed as his tongue slipped inside stroking the most sensitive parts.

             
Nate rolled onto his side and slipped off his own garments. Crawling on top of her, he hovered just above and looked straight at her. “Who are you?”

             
She wanted him inside of her and squirmed to meet her body to his. With a gasp “Maxine,” she replied. She looked at him with almost a begging look. He answered her with what they both wanted as he slammed into her.

             
With each thrust, they were brought closer to the release they both begged for. Finally with one last deep thrust, they both clung to each other as a shattering climax shot through them.

             
Both of them lay in each other’s arms as they regained their breath, neither of them wanting to move away from the other.

             
Maxine may not have been able to see him in the darkness, but she could smell his musky scent. She knew when he was looking at her; she felt him.

             
Nate let the name run through his mind, “Maxine.” His voice cut through the silence. “Nate.”

             
“Thank you Nate."

             
“For what are you thanking me?”

             
“For saving me,” she said…she pulled her gaze away from his direction.

Chapter Seven

             
Maxine sat up. She told herself she would not think about what just happened between her and Nate. Taking in a deep breath to find the courage she needed, she hesitated. “I need to go home now.” Maxine placed a hand on Nate’s arm. He reached out and grabbed her wrist; he wanted to keep her here with him.

             
Maxine turned away. When she was able to turn back, something in her was different, and she was terrified.

             
“You killed those vampires,” she whispered.

             
“The ones that attacked you?” he asked. He tried to speak in a low tone as not to scare her. She, he realized might know more than she should, she had already seen more than most people even knew existed on their streets. Maybe it was just a reason to keep her with him longer, but he would not hesitate to use the excuse if he had to.

             
“Werewolf. You are a werewolf. You changed twice in front of me already, I saw you! You’re just like them.” She tried to jerk her hand out of his grasp, but Nate wouldn’t let go.

             
He had no idea why she would even think he was anything like those things. “You think I drink blood?” he asked.

             
She slapped at him with her free hand in the dark, but with the nuisance of not being able to see, not once did her hand meet its target.

             
“Yes, I think you’re a blood sucker. I saw you in the alleyway rip out that vampire’s throat with your teeth. Who knows, maybe you even turned them yourself.” She tried to jerk her wrist from his grip again, but he still refused to release her.

             
“I haven’t turned anyone, and I don’t drink blood!” he replied.

             
A nervous laugh escaped her. “Then what are you doing here? Why are you in this place?” she looked around at her surroundings, or what little she could see of them.

             
“Why are you here?” he asked.

             
“I was pulled in here against my will, while I was trying to get away from you!”

             
“And I’m here because I heard you scream, trying to save…you.”

             
There was a sound of hissing and footsteps shuffling around. Both Maxine and Nate became still.

             
“The vampires.” She whispered.

             
Nate took in a deep breath. His acute sense of smell picked up the putrid scent of the undead. Vampires were near, looking for them.

             
“We have to leave.” He stepped towards the entrance of their hiding place, grabbing Maxine in a firmer grip around the wrist. She became frightened like a wild animal caught in a trap, and then she managed to jerk out of Nate’s hold and made a beeline out of the entrance of their secret place.

             
She could barely tell where she was running as she trailed her hand over the surface of the catacomb walls to give her balance and a sense of direction. Everything around her was pitch black as she felt the darkness pushing in on her from all around. Her breathing quickened and she could hear it echo back to her through the catacomb tunnels.

             
Maxine knew she was running for her life, she believed that the vampires were just as dangerous as Nate had made them out to be. She also knew that Nate was no less dangerous. The fact that she allowed herself to have sex with him and get that close to her as fast as she did, scared her almost as much as the danger she was running from in the tunnels.

             
Her feet hurt from the sharp shards of rock cutting at her bare flesh, and her side ached from her heavy breathing caused from the running. Everything was silent around her; there was no evidence of Nate in pursuit of her. But she did know there were vampires or someone else in the catacombs, she had heard them before she ran.

             
Once she found her way out of this place, she would make her way straight home and call the police. As for Nate, whether he was telling the truth or not of being a blood drinker, she would consider herself lucky to just stay away from him.

             
But she couldn’t leave this place until she found her way out.

             
Ignoring the terror that threatened to engulf her again, she raced forward blindly in the dark. Without any sign of warning, the tunnels opened up into a large cavernous room that stretched all the way to the sky above. She stopped at the sight not knowing where to go from there. Without a second warning, an arm reached out from nowhere and grabbed her from behind.

Chapter Eight

              “Where do you think you were running off too?” Nate shoved Maxine against the catacomb wall and back into the deeper shadows. “Don’t move.” Is all he said before he was out of her sight.

             
She felt her way along the catacomb wall only feeling the hard stone. Her hand touched something that felt like a handle, and then she realized it was a torch connected to a sconce. Finding a rock, she bashed it on the wall and struck it until she was able to light a fire with a piece of cloth she tore from her shirt. When she was sure she had it going fairly well, she retrieved the torch and lit it.

             
She held the torch up and allowed it to spread its light into the tunnels. All that lay before her were passageways that led in every direction. None of them gave her a hint as to which one led the way out.

             
She stared down a tunnel directly in front of her and decided that was the one she would take.

             
Armed with only a torch, she started down the catacombs again.

             
Because of the darkness when Nate had found her, there was no way of telling what direction or what tunnel he had ventured down. But she knew she had to find a way out of this place once and for all.

             
With no way of telling which way was which, she made a turn at one of the tunnels. She only realized too soon the mistake she had made. Sounds of hissing and shuffling feet could be heard from further down the tunnel, and she was heading straight for them.

             
“I know you’re there, I can smell the fear on you child. Don’t be afraid, no harm will come to you.”

             
The vampires, they knew where she was. They had found her, and she had run straight to them.

             
Turning in the opposite direction, she made her way as fast as she could down the tunnel holding her torch in front of her to light the way.

             
The tunnels traveled in every direction, and where old tunnels ended, new ones began. How many vampires were nesting down here, Nate had no idea. He thought he was close to catching the vampire he was after, he could feel it near, and he could smell the putrid stench of its flesh. But like before, it had managed to slip from his senses once again.

             
Nate knew he was not getting anywhere this way. The dampness of the tunnel reeked of mold and mildew. He tried to register other smells, only to find more of the same.