Lisa Renee Jones (7 page)

Seconds later, Evan touched her arm to draw her attention back to him. The physical reaction to his touch was instant and shivers rushed over her skin, across her shoulder, fanning her chest.

“Lock it,” he ordered softly when she looked at him, his voice gruff, telling her how he was feeling.

For a moment he held her stare, the connection between them, intimate – right, in a way she’d never experienced before. Not another man. Not family. She’d never known her father who had died when she’d barely been walking age. She’d loved, and lost her mother. Enjoyed friends, and even a few steady male companions, but no one that ever made her feel like Evan. Regret filled Marissa, replacing her bravado of living life she’d mentally celebrated only a few minutes before. She was going to die before she had really lived.

“You’re not going to die,” Evan said softly, and then disappeared quickly, slamming the door behind him. She blinked at the door, trying to understand how he’d known what she was thinking. Could he read her mind?

He knocked on the window and pointed at the lock. She jumped and locked it. And then it hit her. She was alone with Aiden and Troy.

Marissa inhaled and turned to the back of the large vehicle and found her gaze locked with a now recovered, but incredibly silent, and frightening, Troy. “How are you?” she asked.

“Better than you I suspect,” he said, inclining his head at her fingers on the seat. “You’re trembling.”

She knew. God, did she know. “If someone has to kill me,” she blurted, before it was too late and Evan returned. “Make sure it’s you and not Evan.”

“No one is going to kill you,” Aiden said, sitting up so that she could see him more clearly.

“We’re going to kill the wolf, Marissa.”

Troy’s silver eyes bore into hers, unchanged at his brother’s comments. “Do you want to know why I have blond hair and silver eyes?”

She did, but the odd question took her off guard and a fizzle of warning flared inside her. She wasn’t going to like where this was going. “No,” she said cautiously. “Why?”

“A werewolf attacked me and pretty much ripped my throat out. When I recovered, I was different.”

Dread filled her. “Please don’t tell me that I’ve infected Evan with the virus.”

“Vampires are immune to the virus,” Aiden said. “We don’t know why the attack changed Troy.

Just that it did.”

“Yes,” Troy said. “It changed me.” The way he said the statement indicated that he meant in more ways than his hair and eye color. “And the point of this story is that I know what a wolf can do more than either of my brothers. If it comes down to choosing between you or my brother

– I’ll choose my brother.”

Her chest tightened and she could almost feel the wolf inside her clawing at it, trying to get out.

As if it hated Troy, as if it rejected his declaration. That she knew what that part of her was thinking, feeling, terrified her. “That’s not good enough. If it comes to the midnight hour and my chances of staying human are gone – kill me. And don’t let Evan talk you out of it. The wolf in me…it’ll kill him. Don’t let it – me – kill him.” It was the first time she realized the intent of the wolf in her, but there was no question in her mind.

Evan knocked on the window and she quickly popped the locks. The door opened and she quickly turned to Evan as he slid inside. “Around back,” he said and flicked a look over his shoulder at his brothers. “Side by side adjoined rooms.”

“Excellent,” Aiden said dryly. “We can be one big happy family.” Marissa inhaled on his comment, hoping he wasn’t going to tell Evan what she’d said, and almost certain he was. Damn, damn, damn. A few minutes later they filed into one of the dingy rooms with two double beds and orange comforters. The space was small as it was, but add in three big vampires, and it was a matchbox. She quickly headed to the second room through the adjoining doors, to find an identical room, aware Evan was following her. She could sense every move the vampire male made, every breath he drew.

She turned to face him. “I need to call my employer.” His expression instantly darkened. “And tell them what Marissa?”

“I need my job. When this is over I still have bills, a life.” And I’ve no one else to depend on, but me. His lips firmed his expression grim. The silence stretched immeasurably long and she couldn’t take it. “You don’t think I’ll make it back to my job do you?”

“Do you?” Troy asked from the doorway.

The question infuriated her and she whirled on him. “I need to believe that I can beat this…this thing growing inside me. So yes, I’m going back. And I’m calling my work to make sure I have a job when I do.” She stormed towards the bed and grabbed the phone, ignoring the shake of her hand as she started to dial. She punched in the number, her gaze lifting to see Evan and Troy disappear into the other room, shutting the door behind them. She hung up the phone. She had no excuse that would last two weeks. Her boss knew she had no family who could be ill or in need of her help. Her employer was one of the best hospitals in the country, so medical wasn’t a good excuse. Temple was a small town where she could walk to work, so car trouble was also marked off the possible list of excuses. Plain and simple, she had nothing, including a job anymore.

She rubbed her arms, suddenly cold and hot, at the same time. Her knees were shaking right along with her hands now she realized. She started to pace, trying to let go of the energy that bloomed inside her, a dark and hungry energy that wanted to consume her and everything around her. Her fingers laced into her hair, stroking her scalp that was prickling with discomfort. She didn’t know what was happening to her. She stopped walking and stared at the door, trying to decide if she should go into the other room and ask for help. No. No. Troy was in there, and he might just go ahead and kill her. He wanted to. She sensed it. He hated her because he thought she was dangerous to his brother. She read that in him, smelled it in the air waving off of him.

She turned to the hotel door. The need to run overcame her, much like it had when the wolf had attacked back at her house. The need to expel energy before her wolf could claw itself out of her. That wasn’t a good idea. She knew that. Marissa forced herself to sit down on the bed, telling herself not to open the door. Not to leave the room.

Her fingernails dug into her arms, into her skin. She couldn’t look away from the door. Evan’s voice echoed through the wall, and she inhaled, telling herself he’d be back in a moment. He’d kiss her, touch her, caress her -- calm her. She focused on his voice, not the door. Think about Evan. She wasn’t going to run. She wasn’t going out that door.

Slowly her focus, her sense of hearing heightened, the words being spoken in the next room taking form enough for her to realize what she should have already assumed. They were talking about her, and she didn’t like what they were saying.

Her gaze went back to the door. Run. The words murmured in her head, playing like background music to the conversation one room over. Run. She stood up.

“Damn it Troy,” Evan growled, furious with his brother. “I want you both out of here. I’ll handle this myself.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Troy said. “You can’t kill her and someone might have to. I know how this goes down. I couldn’t kill Sarah, remember? And I should have.”

“Stop making this about Sarah,” Evan ground out, his fist balled at his sides. “Marissa isn’t Sarah.”

“Not yet,” Troy countered.

That was it. Evan snapped and moved toward Troy, who pulled his shoulders back, ready for conflict.

“Enough,” Aiden commanded, shoving a hand on both of their chests. “No one is getting killed.

When have we ever not gotten a target we set out to get?” Troy scoffed. “We’ve chased this wolf half way across the country. We didn’t get him in three other states.” He glared at Evan. “Yet, you put your life on the line with the gamble we’ll get him in a few days.”

“My life,” Evan blasted back. “Mine.”

“Even if we left you to deal with this, and by some miracle, you managed to kill the wolf, you’re problems aren’t over. You broke the law by bonding with a human. That’s punishable by death.

You saved her life and wrote your own tombstone.”

“Which is why I want you out of here. That’s the only way you can deny being a part of this.”

“If you two would pipe down I know how to get out of this,” Aiden declared.

Evan’s gaze shifted to Aiden, “How?”

“The virus is mutating. It has to be. There’s no other way that wolf only partially shifted and still attacked us, back at Marissa’s place. We need a blood sample.” He lifted his chin toward the other room. “Marissa gives us that.”

A glimmer of hope spread through Evan. “You’ll have to involve Marcus.” Marcus being the Vampire who’d saved them, and now their ‘Warden-in-charge’. No one wanted to piss off Marcus.

“Hand me a phone and let me get to it,” Aiden said. “This is a good cover story. Saving Marissa to study the mutation of the virus really could save lives. And I’ll petition for Marissa’s conversion to vampire before the full moon which will stop her from changing to wolf.” Evan scrubbed his jaw and turned away, no longer thinking of a battle with Troy. He didn’t want to force conversion on Marissa. He wanted to kill the wolf and then give her time to decide on conversion herself, even if it meant putting himself at risk with the council. But he had to keep his options open, give himself, and Marissa, options to survive.

He turned to face his brothers, and gave Aiden a quick nod. “Call Marcus, talk to him.” He glared at Troy. “And you go find that damn wolf without making yourself his chew toy again.

We don’t even know which direction he went and--”

The door in the next room opened and then slammed shut. Evan cursed and didn’t even bother looking in the next room. He went for the front door of the room he was in, and opened the door to a downpour of rain. Marissa was already across the road, headed towards the woods. He’d been too pissed off at Troy to consider her heightened senses, her ability to hear through the door. But she’d heard. He had no doubt. She’d heard and she’d bolted.

“She’s upset,” Evan said to his brothers, who flanked him on either side. “So just stay back and make sure the wolf doesn’t show up.” He took off running.

It took only a minute to catch up with her, but he let her run, hoping she’d burn off some of the adrenaline her emotions, and the virus, were fueling. Twenty minutes passed, and still she ran.

The rain shifted from intervals of light to heavy showers, but she pressed onward, until she stumbled and he was there to catch her, wrapping his arms around her from behind.

She whirled on him, hands on his chest, anger gleaming from her eyes. “Why’d you do it? Why would you put your life on the line for a woman you barely know? Why, Evan?”

“Because the minute you walked in that bar I felt more alive than I have in a hundred years and I needed to know – I need to know why.”

A stunned look slid across her face, along with droplets of water. She shoved her hair from her face. “You don’t know me.”

“The bond--”

“Will get you killed,” she said. “I live and you die. I can’t live with that.” Her knees started to buckle and he tightened his hold on her waist.

“I’ve got you,” he told her, pressing her wet hair back from her face. “And I’m not letting go, so you might as well just accept that.” He softened his voice, pressed hair from her face. “Come back to the room with me.”

She shook her head. “Troy hates me. I can’t deal with him right now.”

“He doesn’t hate you. He just doesn’t want to like you.”

“Because he thinks he might have to kill me.”

“Because he was in love with a Werewolf, she turned on him. And he and Aiden are going after the wolf, they’re leaving. We’ll be alone.” He felt some of the tension slide from her body and he kissed her. “Come back to the room with me.”

“Only if you agree that if the full moon arrives, and the wolf isn’t dead, you’ll let Troy kill me before I change. He hates me. I know he can do it. And I know you can’t and won’t.”

“Sweetheart, I told you. Troy doesn’t hate you. He just doesn’t want to like you.”

“And I told you why. Because he knows he’s going to have to kill me.”

“No. It was because he fell in love with a wolf who betrayed him.” Surprise flickered in her face, her voice rasping out. “And he’s afraid I’m going to betray you.

And I will Evan. I know I will. My wolf absolutely does hate you.” He framed her face. “Your wolf doesn’t hate me anymore than Troy hates you or you wouldn’t want to fuck me like you do. You just don’t understand your primal side well enough to understand what it’s telling you.”

“You’re wrong,” she insisted. “It hates you. It will kill you if I survive that moon.”

“It doesn’t hate me. It fears me. There’s a difference.”

“Whatever you want to label it,” she said. “It wants you dead.”
Chapter Eleven

It wants you dead. The hair on the back of Evan’s neck stood up at those words, and anger fired in his gut. “Message, for your wolf -- you’re mine. It can’t have you.”

“We both know it already has me,” she yelled, the rain suddenly pounding on them again, a torrential downpour.

He kissed her, a deep passionate devouring kiss, meant to stake a claim, to silently declare her his woman. It was a branding. The wolf couldn’t have her and neither could the council. “I’m not letting you go,” her repeated against her lips.

“No,” she shouted, trying to push away from him. “No. You need to stay away from me. Far away so I can’t hurt you.”

He wrapped his arms around her, holding her captive. “I’m a vampire,” he said. “No wolf is going to hurt me.”

“Tell Troy that,” she countered.

He scooped her up, ending the conversation with actions. He didn’t want to hear about Troy and Sarah.

Marissa squirmed in his arms, wet and slippery, and already stronger for the wolf growing inside her. “Damn you, Evan! Let me go. I have to go.”

She was illogical, kicking and biting, and he didn’t want to hurt her, which proved a challenge.

The next thing he knew, he was slipping. He went down hard with her on top of him. Mud splattered around them, but thankfully the downpour slowed.