Bound In Sin (A Vampire/Werewolf Romance) (6 page)

In an instant, she had the stake out. 

And Malcolm was attacking, too. Not an attack at her,
but one aimed at Drake.

He was distracting you.
She’d tried to warn
him, but Drake had been too busy listening to Malcolm’s twisted
tale.  The vamp slashed out with his claws, going for Drake’s
back. 

Only she got to Malcolm first.  Paige shoved the
stake into his chest.  “Go to hell, bastard,” she snarled.
He’d sure done his best to drag her there and–

Malcolm ripped the stake right out of his chest.
“Missed…heart…bitch…”

Oh, crap. 

“I won’t miss,” Drake promised as he yanked her
back.  Then he attacked, slamming his body into Malcolm’s.
And, no, he didn’t miss because one powerful swipe of the razor
sharp claws that sprang from Drake’s fingers–well, one swipe took
Malcolm’s head.

And the vampire went to hell. 

The silence in the room was deafening then.  All
the wolves stood, as still as statues, watching her. 
Waiting.

After one glance, she didn’t look at Malcolm again.
Her stomach was twisting, her hands shaking.  She wanted the
nightmare to just end, but for her and for Drake, the end was still
too far away. The nightmare wouldn’t stop, not yet.

Not until Gabe was the one on the floor, stone
dead.

She should say something.  Anything. 
But…

Her shoulders hunched as Paige turned away. The scent
of blood seemed to burn her nostrils, and she just needed to get
out of there.

Away from the blood and death. 
Escape.
  She hadn’t known real freedom in so long,
and she was so tired of being surrounded by death.

Constantly.

Paige shoved the shifters out of her way. Drake
called out to her. She didn’t glance back, and she sure as hell
didn’t stop. She’d talk with him–later.

Not now.

I wasn’t at the lake.

Her words had been so hollow because, yes, she’d been
at Lost Lake. She’d kept her promise to Drake. 

And that promise had cost Paige far more than she’d
ever expected–her life.

She damn well wasn’t getting away from him. 

Paige had fled the compound and raced away into the
night. Sure, he could have gotten his men to track her, but this
hunt was personal, and Drake didn’t want the others chasing
her.

If someone hunted Paige, it would be him.

“You can’t do this!” Heath grabbed him just as Drake
was about to pass through the compound’ heavy gates. His eyes
blazed with fury. “This could be a vamp trap! She’s luring you
outside.”

Paige hadn’t gone through the gates. She’d just leapt
over the wall. So fast and graceful. His blood had sure pumped up
her power.

As for her bite…it had given him so much pleasure.
 I’ll have more.
If she needed blood, he’d be happy
to be her personal donor from now on.

Her first, her only.

“She’s hurting,” Drake said and pain, yeah, that was
just  what he’d seen in Paige’s eyes. She’d always shown so
much with her green gaze.  He’d once been able to look right
into her eyes and see her soul. 

Heath actually shook him. “She’s in pain? Fine. Then
let her go off and lick her damn wounds.” Heath’s words held a
sharp bite. “But don’t put yourself at risk for her. She’s a
vampire.”

The necklace he’d given to her so long ago, the one
he’d stupidly taken from her neck just the previous night, was a
heavy weight in Drake’s pocket.
Give it back to her.
“She’s mine.” There wasn’t anything else to say.

She was his. And she hurt.

Protect her.
An instinct from the wolf and
the man. 

He looked beyond the wall.  So much darkness and
icy cold waited for him. But that frigid darkness had been his
whole life, ever since Paige had left him.

He wanted more now. He wanted warmth. Light. Paige
had always been that to him.  

“I’m bringing her back.” Drake shoved the other wolf
aside.

Heath grabbed his arm. “You can’t bring a vampire
into the pack.” Low words. Gritted. Burning with intensity. “You
know you can’t do that.”    

Very, very slowly, Drake turned his head and stared
down at his first in command. He’d been friends with Heath since
they were both just boys, but that friendship wouldn’t stop him
from kicking the shit out of the guy.  “I’m the fucking
alpha.” He let the power ring in his voice. He’d fought for the
title. Earned it. And since he was alpha, the one they all
submitted to… “I can do anything I want.” 

“Jeremiah–”

Had that bastard really gone after Paige? Set
this whole nightmare in motion?
His jaw ached as Drake
growled, “He’s dead.” A very lucky thing for the old wolf right
then.  Because if he’d still been living, Drake would have
ripped him apart. “It’s
my
pack now.”  If Heath
wanted to challenge him…

Come the hell on.

He was more than in the mood for some
ass-kicking.

After
he brought Paige back. He had his
priorities, and she came first. “Spread the word,” Drake ordered.
“Any who want to challenge me…tell them to get the fuck in line.”
When he came back, he’d take them all on.

Because no one was going to keep him from Paige. Not
now.

Not ever.

He turned away from Heath and ran into the
night.  Vampires were fast, but wolves were faster. Especially
when they hunted.

He shed the form of man with a crack and snap of his
bones.  The pain of the shift burned over him, familiar,
white-hot, and soon he was running on all fours, with paws instead
of hands, and he tossed back his head and howled for the one thing
he wanted most in the world.

His mate.

He had her scent, and he wouldn’t lose it. He flew
over the terrain, ignoring the frigid cold temperature–an artic
chill that he knew would be cutting into Paige. The cold wouldn’t
kill a vamp, but it would make her body tremble and shake. 
She’d suffer out there.

She’d already been in pain when she left him.

And the only damn thing he wanted to do was take that
pain away.

He bounded through the forest and sent snow flying in
his wake. The world was a blur of white, but he could just see the
imprints of her footsteps.

He knew where she was going. 

Inside the body of the beast, the man cursed.

The wolf ran faster, faster…

She’d never seen him in this form.  Before, he’d
been ashamed for her to see him transform. He knew what he was…

“
Guess I am a monster…”
Her words were
burned into his mind.

But he’d been the monster. Always. The beast who’d
taken what he should never have touched.

He leapt into the air, easily jumping over a fallen
tree.  Her scent was stronger now. Strawberries. Sex. Woman.
He’d never been able to forget that lush scent.

The small lake was frozen, its surface dark and
glistening.  Even though it was day, the sky overhead was as
dark as the lake. No sunlight.

Not now.

Just cold. Just darkness.

Paige spun at his approach and put her back to the
lake. Her eyes widened when she saw him. Swallowing, she backed up
a step.

He froze.

Then he changed, for her.

The transformation was brutal to watch.  He knew
it had to be. His bones shifted and broke, reshaped into a man’s
body instead of the form that belonged to the beast. The fur seemed
to melt from his body.  Soon paws and claws became hands and
fingers–fingers that had dug deeply into the snow.

“Drake?”

Her hushed voice pushed through the last of the
shift, and, naked, he glanced up at her.

Paige rushed toward him. “You shouldn’t be here!”

“Neither…should you.”  He rose before her. 
Wind whipped against his body, but werewolves always stayed warm no
matter what the outside temperature was.  The beast burned
within.

Paige shivered.

He took a step toward her, but she stiffened, and her
gaze darted around the small clearing. “It’s dangerous. I didn’t
think–we need to go back.”

Drake lifted his hand and offered it to her. 
“Then come with me.”  He knew why she’d run from the compound.
Desperation and pain had driven her to flee blindly. 
  

I wasn’t at the lake.

But she had been. He knew a lie when he heard it.

“I’m sorry.” The words were torn from him. Jeremiah
had come to him, told him that he had a message from Paige.
“Your little human said to meet you in two hours.”
Jeremiah had smiled and flashed his fangs. “
That gives us time
for a hunt.”

And he’d just…gone off with the bastard. 

Paige wasn’t taking his hand. 

Her gaze was on him, sweeping over his body. 
She hadn’t been disgusted by his shift, and she sure didn’t appear
disgusted by what she was seeing right then.

Lust. He knew that expression well. But he hated the
mix of lust and pain in her eyes.  He hated to see
any
pain in her gaze. 

He’d rather just have the lust. 

“Come with me,” he said again, and he still waited
for her to take his hand.  There would be no forcing on this.
She had to choose to come with him.

To be with him. 

Her gaze swept around the lake. The woods. She inched
toward him. The snow crunched beneath her boots. “I-I didn’t…you
shouldn’t have followed me.” Her words rushed out. “I just needed a
little time…”

“There’s a vamp hunting you,” he told her. Hell, it
was probably a whole gang of vamps now. “You really think I’d just
leave you on your own?” 

No. Her hand lifted and slowly, so slowly, her gaze
met his. Her fingers touched his hand. Tentative. Soft. “I lied,”
she whispered.

His fingers closed around hers.  “What?” But he
already knew and if she wanted to confess to him, he’d damn well
listen.

He should have met her here, at Lost Lake. He should
have told Jeremiah to screw off, that he was still heading out to
meet Paige and that he’d just wait for her to show.

If he’d gone then, they would have been married by
now. Had children.  Had a fucking perfect life.

It was all his fault. 

But then he heard the growl of an engine. No, not
just one engine. Two. Three.

Coming close.

Too fast.

Far too fast.

Her eyes still held his. “I lied,” she said again,
then she jerked her hand free from his grip and shoved against his
chest. “
Run!”

The vampires were coming.

“Shift! Turn back into a wolf!” Paige yelled at him.
“You can outrun them, you can get away!”

“Not without you.”  His claws tore through his
flesh. He’d be damned if he left her behind.

She shook her head and shoved harder against him.
“It’s not about me.  They don’t want me.”

But–but she’d told him–the vampire she’d called
Gabe–

“They want you,” she said, voice stark and sad. Her
eyes had never looked bigger. Or sadder. “And Gabe always planned
to use me…in order to get you.”

He could see the light from the snowmobiles cutting
through the darkness.  The vamps were closing in on
them. 

The vamps wouldn’t get them, though. Dumbasses. Drake
knew this land so well.

Better than any vampire ever could. His beast ran
free often. Knew every fallen tree. Every secret bend. Every dark
cave.

Every hiding spot.  

“Run with me,” he told her. Because right then, it
wasn’t about fighting, even though the beast within was roaring for
blood. That moment was about protecting Paige. Getting her to
safety.

Then coming back to cut down all the vampires after
him. 

She nodded, and they took off, racing not around the
lake, but right across it. It was icy and slick beneath their feet,
frozen solid, and by going straight across that cold surface, they
saved valuable time.

The ice wouldn’t break.  Not for months.

They cleared the lake. Entered the edge of the
forest, where the heavy weight of the snow had bent the trees.
Because they’d gone right across the lake then leapt into the
woods, they didn’t leave any footprints behind. 

Well, no footprints that would be seen immediately.
The vamps would have to search first, scanning every edge of the
woods, then if they got lucky, they
might
see the tracks
just past the trees but–

But it was starting to snow again.

Hell, yes
.  The snow came down,
brushing against his skin as they ran.  The fresh snow would
cover any tracks they left behind. 

A wolf would have been able to track them through the
snow. Vamps were no match for wolves when it came to stalking
prey.

No match.

Paige stumbled and would have fallen, but he just
grabbed her and hoisted her into his arms.  Her weight didn’t
slow him.  He pushed faster. Held her tighter.

He leapt easily over the dead trees, the rough rocks.
Faster…

Drake turned abruptly, heading toward the cabin that
he knew would be waiting. Small, non-descript, the snow almost hid
it completely from view.  But he knew the cabin was there,
waiting.

The vamps wouldn’t be so lucky. Unless they knew the
specific location of this safe house, they’d never find it in the
darkness.

He punched in the security code, then shouldered open
the door. Still holding her tightly, Drake carried Paige
inside.  The interior was pitch black, and their ragged
breathing seemed to echo in the tight space.

“We can’t stay here,” Paige said, voice desperate.
Her nails sank into his shoulder. “We need to get back to the
compound. They’ll find you here! You can’t face all of them on your
own!”

He put her down beside him. The cabin was sparsely
furnished in this area–containing just a bed and an old table. But
looks could be deceiving. Drake bent down and yanked back an old
rug, a rug that had covered a trapdoor on the floor. When he’d had
the cabin built, Drake had made sure that the trapdoor blended
seamlessly with the floor. He pressed against the wood, in just the
right spot. With a creak, the trapdoor opened, revealing the gaping
entrance that led below.