Hunted, The Complete Edition: A Full-length Steamy Vampire Romance (New England Nightwalkers) (21 page)

"No!" Zara released Gabriel's hand and shot to her feet. "No, I will not accept that. We have to try. We can't stop until we've tried." Her voice broke as she dissolved into wracking sobs.

Irena stared at her for a long moment like she was an animal in a zoo exhibit and then cocked her head. She reached out a hand and touched a finger to Zara's tear-dampened cheek. "You do love him."

Zara nodded and swiped at her face impatiently. "I do. And now he's dying. Because of me." She set her pleading gaze on Irena and took a step closer. "Please. Even if you think it's impossible. Please tell me what could save him. I’ll do anything to bring him back."

"There might be one thing…” She trailed off and shook her head. “It would be nothing short of a miracle." Irena looked away before pinning Zara with her own penetrating stare. "You'd be risking your life on the slimmest of chances, young woman. Gabriel would not want me to allow it. As much as I cautioned him against it, he loved you with every fiber of his being. Enough to suffer this,” she said, pointing to Gabriel’s prone body. “He would be furious with me for even telling you."

Zara refused to let the other woman's words stop the flow of adrenaline that coursed through her, because hidden deep within them was one unspoken word that she clung to.

But.

Irena stepped back and, in one swift motion, yanked her shirt open. Buttons flew and pinged off the hardwood floor. She held her arm over the flickering light of the candle and Zara gasped.

A deep, ugly gash oozing with black blood looked as if it had nearly severed her forearm.

"I tried to save him myself," she murmured softly, gazing at the gruesome wound almost dispassionately. "And at first, he took it, but Fenton was right. Vampire blood is not what he needs."

She let out a short laugh.

"Hell, I even broke my solemn oath to him and tried to give him a bag of human blood when he was close to incoherent, but he refused it. Can you imagine?" she asked in wonder. "No, I don't think you can, but I'll try to describe it. Imagine the sharpest, most all-consuming hunger you've ever felt. That gnawing, empty feeling inside that makes you nauseous and headachy and miserable. Then magnify that by a thousand. Imagine a hunger so deep and so relentless and so unending that it makes you pray for death."

Zara's own stomach pitched at her words.

"That is what Gabriel has been living with as he tried to 'cure' himself of his vampirism and refused to feed. And then the self-inflicted, mortal wound. An influx of blood on the scene might’ve helped heal him, and still, he refused."

She whipped her head toward Zara and leveled her with a hard stare.

"But you, Zara? I believe you are his Necessary. If he is in there somewhere, he won't have the physical ability to refuse your blood. It would be akin to pressing a steak between the lips of a starved lion."

The words lay between them like a gauntlet.

Necessary.

Fenton had said it before, but she had been so distraught over her own circumstances that she had ignored him. But it wasn’t hard to guess what that meant.

He needed her. And if he needed her even half as much as she felt like she needed him right now?

Maybe there should've been questions. Thoughts. Concerns. Instead, Zara yanked off her coat and tossed it onto the floor.

"How?" she demanded, already stripping off her sweater to follow.

"Wait," Irena said, stilling Zara's motion with a firm, cool hand. "You need to understand. If he's still in there somewhere, once he starts to take, like the lion, he will have no ability to control himself. He will take until he has had his fill."

Her words settled over Zara like smog. "And he might take enough to kill me?"

Irena nodded slowly. “It’s possible.”

Zara looked at Gabriel’s face as still as in death, hovering between life and death. In that instant Zara faced the terrifying prospect of losing him altogether. Gabriel. The man that loved her. The man she loved. The man who had risked it all for her.

“Show me how,” she said roughly.

Irena took a knife and held her arm. With a deft movement she sliced the inner side of her upper forearm, close to, but not on top of the main artery.

“To get him started. Hold your arm under his nose. If there is any part of him still alive in there, instinct will do the rest.”

Zara settled next to Gabriel in his bed on her side and held her arm to his nose and mouth. Seconds ticked by, and then minutes. He just laid there, blood trickling from his motionless lips, and Zara feared he was too far-gone even to take this easy offering.

Irena had just laid a gentle hand on her shoulder, drawing her away, when his nose twitched.

“Wait,” Zara whispered, fear and hope coalescing into one as she shook Irena’s hand off.

Long seconds passed, and then, the very tip of Gabriel’s tongue flicked over his lips. He let out a long groan that echoed through the room. Elation filled her, making her shake from head to toe as she waited for his next move.

A moment later, his hands came up and gripped her arm weakly, bringing it toward his mouth.

His lips drew back, revealing his lethal fangs and Zara shivered. His eyes had gone almost black, and he was more animal than human now. When he sunk his teeth into her tender flesh, she let out a hiss, but didn’t pull away.

The sensation was like nothing she’d ever felt before as her blood pulsed from her body into his. A buzzing in her ears grew louder, and she could feel the pulse in her arm as it gave and gave. The strange pleasure/pain and his nearness stirred strangely erotic thoughts and, instinctively, she pressed herself into the bed to lie beside him. His free hand dove into her hair as he groaned louder, drank deeper. Before her very eyes, his dry, pale skin grew warm and pink. His sunken-in cheekbones lost their edge and the grip on her wrist grew tighter.

“It’s working,” Irena said, her voice tight with emotion. “Keep going, I will prepare fluids and a meal for you. Call me if you need me.”

Zara nodded, waiting to feel lightheaded or sick, but instead, she was suffused with a warm glow that spread throughout her body. He bit more deeply into her arm, and while she could feel the slice of his fangs, it was overshadowed by the waves of ecstasy, more intense than sex.

Gabriel sucked in one more mighty gulp and every nerve ending in her body lit up, spreading delicious white fire through her. She quivered, her whole body arching as his dark gaze finally focused and locked with hers.

I love you.

She heard it as clearly as if he’d spoken the words.

One moment, she was on her side, hovering over him, the next, she was flat on her back, Gabriel covering her body, his thick, hard erection pressing into her hip.

Alive.

Gabriel was alive.

H
e couldn’t think
. Rational thought was beyond him in this moment, but damn, could he feel.

And all he felt was Zara.

She was everywhere. Beneath him, coursing through him, surrounding him.

Blood roared in his ears. Fire spread through his body, awakening muscle, sinew and bone, healing him from the inside out. Hunger consumed him even as sweet blood poured into his mouth. It was the most delicious thing he ever had tasted in his century’s long life.

He gasped, coming to full consciousness to see the woman he loved beneath him, offering her life’s blood to him without reservation. An ethereal calm settled over her face and she looked like an angel.

A very pale angel.

The latter gave him pause and he realized, if he didn’t stop soon, he could do her harm. He tried to pull away, but her hand came up to cup his head, holding him in place.

“Don’t stop,” she whispered, her eyes glittering with desire.

He was growing stronger by the second, but he was still too weak to deny her. She was his sun, the center of his universe. The questions could wait, hell, the world could stop spinning…in that moment, he needed to be inside her while she fed him.

Need coiled within him, like a panther stalking its prey. Still drawing from her arm but far more gently, he savored each life-giving spurt of blood as he swept away the hair that had strayed across her beautiful face.

He dropped his gaze to her breasts, plumping over the lacy bra that restrained them. The curve of her breasts was so luscious he had to restrain himself from releasing her arm only to sink his fangs into the smooth swells. Her cherry blossom scent called him and he grunted when she ground her mound against his length.

He groaned and met her gaze, asking the question wordlessly.

“Yes. God, yes,” she hissed, sliding her free hand down his chest. “I almost lost you. I need you now.”

His fingers worked between them as he yanked her jeans open and she shimmied free of them. The second she did, the scent of her arousal hit him like a brick and he growled low in his throat, drawing hard on her arm, filling his mouth with her taste.

With a rough tug, he ripped her lacy panties off, the fabric shredding in his hand. His cock bucked hard against his boxers and his vision blurred as he closed his hand over her heat.

“That’s…oh, god,” she murmured, her eyes slipping closed as she rolled her hips against his hand.

He needed no other encouragement, dipping into her wetness and plunging two fingers deep inside her gripping channel.

She cried out in approval and pulsed her hips in counterpoint, taking him deeper. She was so slick with desire, she was nearly dripping, and he couldn’t bear it another second. He withdrew his fingers and, a second later, he’d wrestled his aching, stiff cock from his underwear.

She was trembling from head to toe, urging him on wordlessly as he guided his shaft between her creamy thighs. He was so hard, so ready, that a gleaming drop of pre-cum dripped onto her thigh. He parted her legs wide, taking in the view of her, pink, wet and wanting, before he began feeding her each swollen inch of his cock until he filled her.

Warmth and softness surrounded him, clutching at him like an unseen hand, overloading his brain with pleasure. He wanted to savor it, wait just a second, but Zara wiggled beneath him, and he came undone. He fisted her hair and held her down as he fucked her in long, slow strokes. Soon, it wasn’t enough for either of them. She groaned under him, wriggling and bouncing, pleading with him wordlessly to take more. Take it all. To make her come.

All rational thought ceased and he drew back. Then he pounded into her, his hips moving like pistons as he fucked her hard and deep. It was only when she began clawing at his back, murmuring his name like a chant, that he took it home, sucking hard on her arm, letting the sweet nectar of her blood send them both over the edge as the head of his cock relentlessly rode her g-spot.

She screamed, and pulsed around him, clenching him so tightly that he felt electric tingles and the rush that signaled his own orgasm. Light exploded behind his eyelids and the hot come snaked up his shaft, jetting into her in hard spurts.

He held her there, suspended in pleasure, for a long moment before he released her flesh and slumped over her with a groan.

“Zara, ah, love.”

He leaned in, lapping her flesh with his tongue. Her flesh sealed, and the trickle of blood ceased. Then, he pressed soft kisses to her neck and shoulder while her breathing leveled out.

When she could speak, she rolled slowly to her side and stared into his eyes.

“I thought I’d lost you,” she whispered, reaching out to trace his jaw. “I thought I’d lost you, and here you are.”

“Why?” he asked softly. “Why did you do it?” He was overwhelmed by her courage, what she’d risked, what she’d sacrificed. He could not put into words the rush of emotion that flooded him now. More than love. She was his everything.

She burrowed her body closer to his and shrugged, unwilling to meet his gaze now. “I couldn’t let you die. I love you.”

Gabriel couldn’t take another step on this earth without this woman by his side. He held her close and shook his head slowly.

“I love you too. I still can’t believe it. You risked your life for me,” he said.

“You did the same,” she reminded him, her eyes on him again.

“Damn it, Zara. What if it had been a trap set by Ezekiel to get you here? Or what if I had started to drink and I couldn’t stop?”

“Shh, shh,” she said, kissing his shoulder. “It wasn’t. And you didn’t. Once you started I knew you would stop. We’re connected.”

“You felt it too.”

“Yes. You’d never harm me, Gabriel. And I couldn’t let you die.”

Dread rushed in and he tensed. “Ezekiel--”

“Isn’t here right now.”

“But he will be and I won’t have you here when he gets here.”

As perfect as this little oasis had been, they were still very much in danger. He wasn’t about to have gone through hell and back, only to see her killed in front of him.

They stood by tacit agreement, and searched for their clothes. Gabriel picked up his bloody shirt.

“This won’t do if we need to find a place to stay,” he said. Zara felt around the door and found a light switch.

“Here’s a t-shirt,” she said, tossing it to him.

It was too small, but it was a shirt.

“Come,” he said, taking her hand. They walked down the staircase to the hall below. On their left, a door was open and Gabriel led Zara toward it.

“Gabriel,” Irena called softly. “We need to talk.”

He held Zara’s hand tightly as they entered the space. It was a living room with panes of glass that formed the outside wall looking out on the ocean. The moon had risen and now shimmered its light on the dark waters of the Atlantic. Irena sat next to a single soft lamp that cast an incongruous angelic glow on her.

“I’m glad to see you are feeling better,” she said.

That was an understatement.

“Thanks. And I appreciate what you’ve done for me. But all we’ve done is exchange one problem for another, I’m afraid,” he said grimly.

“No. We have only one problem now, as far as I’m concerned,” she said. “Ezekiel has gone off the deep end.” She looked away, the sadness radiating off her like a beacon of despair. “He nearly dragged me right off with him when he sent me after Fenton, but I see it now.” Irena caught Gabriel’s gaze again. “He is the heart of the problem. Maybe it’s grief over my sister. Maybe he’s too steeped in the old ways. Whatever it is, he isn’t focusing on the threat that will be the ruin of us all, nightwalker and human alike.”

“The rogues,” Gabriel said with a grim nod.

“Exactly. He left me to tend to Gabriel so he could go talk with the rogues. Surely he can see the time for talk there has passed? Already they’ve invited the attention of the local police twice with bloody massacres. Now we’re national news. The rogues see him as weak, and they won’t stop. Not until someone makes them. If we stay on this path, our kind will be exposed to the world and the real slaughter would begin. Back and forth, death for death, in the name of vengeance, with only the ferryman coming out on top.”

“And what do you want to do about it?”

“Take his place,” she said simply.

“You want to stage a coup?” He couldn’t help the incredulity edging into his voice. “How?”

“We can do it together. You and I…and, between us, we can rally more. There’s power in numbers. It’s a chance we’ll have to take. We can’t go on the way we are now.”

Gabriel clutched Zara’s hands that curled around his.

“And what do you propose we do with Zara?”

“What you do with your Necessary is your business. I believe that she wasn’t a part of Melissande’s murder and won’t be a threat going forward. It’s Ezekiel who still wants vengeance. It seems to me that if you want to keep her out of harm’s way, it would behoove you to have him taken care of as quickly as possible. You and I both know the best thing to do, Gabriel. You really should consider tu--”

“No,” Gabriel barked, tightening his grip on Zara’s hand. “Not going to happen.”

“What?” Zara asked, flicking her gaze from Irena to Gabriel and back again. “What were you going to say, Irena?”

Irena cocked her head and held Zara’s gaze with her own. “I was going to tell him that he should turn you into a nightwalker. You’re vulnerable, no matter how hard we try to protect you, and Ezekiel knows that you’re Gabriel’s Achilles heel.”

“Shut up, Irena,” Gabriela snarled, fury rising hot and fast.

“No, I want to hear what she has to say,” Zara said, tugging her hand away. “Go on, Irena.”

“If he turns you, at least you won’t be a liability,” Irena finished, ignoring his protests. “It’s taken me some time to realize it, but things need to change. What happened to Melissande…what happened to your father,” she shrugged her shoulders, her lovely face soft with grief. “Tragedies. Both of them. But tragedies we could’ve prevented. I know we can do better. Gabriel has always known it, and I think most of our brethren are coming around to that way of thinking as well. Once the rogues are eradicated, we can start over. Strive for harmony and peace. It’s what my sister would want. And I think it’s what your father would have wanted, too. You can be a part of that, Zara.”

Gabriel looked down into Zara’s shining eyes, dread creeping up the back of his neck.

“The answer is no. I will find a way to protect her.”

“In the state you were in at the bar?” Irena said with a sad smile. “You couldn’t even protect yourself.”

“So I’ll start feeding again until Fenton finds a cure. Then we can go into hiding,” he snapped back.

“You’re not sick, Gabriel,” Irena said, rising to her feet, chin jutting out stubbornly. “You’re a nightwalker. It’s only a curse if you make it one. And even if Fenton succeeds, hiding won’t change the fact that our town is in chaos. A chaos that is going to spread like wildfire as other nightwalkers see what’s happening here and recognize Ezekiel’s incompetence. We’re going to reach a crossroads that will determine whether we can continue on living side by side with humans in relative peace or start a civil war that will end like a horror movie. Running isn’t going to help that.”

Silence fell over the room as Gabriel tried to think over the roaring of his tumultuous emotions. He hated the idea of letting the rogues win, but he’d already lost his soul. How could he ask Zara to give up hers?

“She’s right,” Zara murmured, sucking in a breath and pulling on his arm until he faced her. “I’m a sitting duck in a pool of piranhas right now. I couldn’t bear it if you died trying to protect me, Gabriel.”

Her words crashed in his ears like cymbals and he shook his head. “Zara, I don’t know if you get it. You’d have to drink blood to stay strong. You’d be a monster like me.”

She ran a finger over his cheek, her lips trembling into a smile. “I was the monster for saying that. You had no choice but to drink blood. I was just too hurt by your deceit to see clearly then. I see the truth now. There are nightwalkers who are monsters, that’s for sure. But there are humans who fit that bill as well. We are what we choose to be.” She tossed her head back and straightened, leveling him with a determined stare. “I choose to be on the right side of the coming war, and I’ll take any advantage I can to help us win. I don’t want to see another innocent die. Not if I can help in some way.”

“And feeding?” he demanded.

“We can feed off each other for pleasure and keep the Red Cross in business for sustenance,” she said, her tone matter of fact.

“It’s the safest way, Gabriel,” Irena added softly.

He let his eyes drift closed, his knee-jerk reaction of a resounding
no
on the tip of his tongue.

But the fact was, they were right. The two of them as nightwalkers at full strength stood a lot better chance against Ezekiel than him weakened and her as a human.

“Are you sure, Zara? Can you live in my world?”

She looked away and stared out at the sea. When she returned her gaze she nodded.

“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. It’s me and you. Always.”

He turned back to Irena. He had no doubt that she was still the same old Irena. Tough as nails, ruthless and cunning. But there was a weariness about her. A sadness that made him believe her when she said she wanted peace.

And there was no question that she was right. Ezekiel needed to be stopped.

“All right. Let’s do it.”

Irena stuck out her hand, Zara laid hers on top of it, and Gabriel followed.

Whether they were the three amigos or the three idiots remained to be seen. But two things were certain. He would have his woman.

And Irena would stage her coup.

God help them all.

T
he End

S
tay tuned for Mated
, Irena’s love story, along with appearances by Gabriel and Zara, coming in July 2016!

Subscribe to Chloe’s
mailing list
for book release dates and exclusive content!