Scarlet Heat (Born to Darkness) (25 page)

“That is completely irrelevant,” the pack master
said blandly. “The fact that you touched her at all is enough for her to take
offense. And I’m afraid she has. My LeeAnn has quite a little temper on her.”
He shook his head and chuckled, as though it was an amusing quirk.
Oh that, LeeAnn—girls will be girls.
Ha-ha.
Very funy.

“Well, I didn’t know anything about giving
offense,” I protested, crossing my arms over my chest. It occurred to me,
rather belatedly, that I was still just wearing the thin white t-shirt and
nothing else and I felt suddenly vulnerable and exposed. “The only were I know
is Victor—I don’t know anything about your laws and customs.”

“Unfortunately ignorance of the law is not excuse
for breaking it,” the pack master said sternly. “I’m afraid you’ll have to
answer for your crimes at our council tonight or…”

“Or what?” Victor growled.

“Or we can make things very,
very
hard on you.” The older were cocked an eyebrow at him. “I know
you have a construction company, Victor. How would it be if you suddenly
couldn’t find anyone to work for you? Or worse yet, what if someone sabotaged
every job you did. What kind of a reputation do you think you’d get around the
Tampa Bay Area? Not a very good one, I’m afraid.”

“You wouldn’t dare.” Victor’s eyes blazed.

“Oh, I’m afraid I would. And don’t bother taking
it to a higher council. Not a were in the world would side with you—a lone
wolf, an interloper refusing to acknowledge the local pack master… bonding
himself to a vampire… letting her run roughshod over the Alpha Bitch without
even offering so much as an apology…you’d be completely blackballed, my boy.
You wouldn’t be able to settle within five hundred miles of any pack anywhere
in the world.”

“Why, you—” Victor started.

“I’ll go,” I said quickly, cutting him off. “I’ll
apologize, okay?”

“Taylor, no—you can’t,” Victor exclaimed.

“Yes, I can.” I lifted my chin. “Look, Sir,” I
said, addressing Pack Master Wainright. “I know your people and mine don’t get
along but I didn’t mean to offend your daughter. If an apology is what it takes
to make you leave Victor alone, I’m not too proud say I’m sorry.”

He eyed me coolly. “So you’re prepared to make
reparations toward LeeAnn?”

That didn’t sound too good. I frowned and shifted
from foot to foot.

“I’ll
apologize
,”
I repeated. “But only if you swear this will be the end of it and you’ll leave
Victor alone.”

He nodded gravely. “I swear it.”

“Taylor, don’t.” Victor gave me a frown. “I mean
it.
Don’t.”

“I
have
to.”
I looked back at the pack master. “All right then, I’ll be there.”

“But not alone,” Victor growled. He gave the pack
master and the silently watching weres a baleful look. “I’m coming with her.”

“You can, if you wish,” Wainright said. “But I
wouldn’t worry about your little friend overly much, Victor. If she can run out
into the noonday sun with nothing worse than a tan to show for it, I’m sure she
can handle anything we can dish out.” He looked at me. “That was impressive, by
the way. I’d love to know how you managed it.”

“That’s Taylor’s business, not yours,” Victor
snarled before I could answer. “And you may have strong-armed her into coming
to your council but I’ll be right by her side the whole time. I swear if anyone
so much as
touches
my wife—”

“
That
will be entirely up to you, Victor.” Pack Master Wainright nodded at both of
us. “Good evening. I’ll see both of you at nine tonight at Skull Rock to make
your
apology
.”

He turned and glided out the door. The other
weres melted away with him. After a minute, their smell started to dissipate
too and I almost could have sworn the whole thing was a dream. Well, except for
the fact that Victor was glaring at me.

“Do you realize what you just did?” he growled.

“What?” I shrugged my shoulders uneasily. “I
agreed to apologize to get them off your back. What’s the big deal?”

“The big deal is that you can’t just say ‘sorry’
and all is forgiven. Touching the Alpha Bitch in anger is a mortal offense.
They’re not going to let you get off with just a simple apology.”

The cool finger of dread traced my spine but I
tried not to show my fear.

“Well, what else could I have done?” I demanded.
“You heard the threats he was making against you.”

“Against
me.
Right.” Victor tapped his broad, bare chest. “Which means
I’m
the one who should be answering
them—not you. If you hadn’t piped up and sworn to go, I could have taken care
of it myself.”

“How?” I asked. “By fighting all of them?
No
. You’re big and strong, Victor, but
there have to be a lot of wolves in that pack. You can’t fight
all
of them for me—and I don’t want you
to.”

“What you want doesn’t enter into it,” he
snarled.

“And why is that?” I demanded, starting to get
really mad. “Because this is a were matter or because we’re bonded? Let me tell
something, Victor, just because Corbin forced us to get married doesn’t mean
you
own
me.”

“Yes, I do,” he insisted, his eyes flashing gold.
“I told you before, Taylor, you’re
mine.
By
the Laws of Ownership you’re mine and I’m yours.”

“I don’t belong to you,” I said, my voice
trembling. “I spent the last six years of my life as a slave to Celeste. I’m
not trading one master for another.”

He raked a hand through his hair in obvious
frustration.

“I’m not claiming to be your
master,
Taylor—I’m your Goddamn
husband
.
I’m supposed to protect you.”

“I can take care of myself,” I snapped back. “And
don’t forget you’re only my husband for two more months until the Laws of
Ownership are satisfied. After that—” I stopped, biting my tongue but the
damage had obviously been done. There was a furious, hurt look in Victor’s eyes
as he glared at me.

“After that you’re leaving, is that right?” he
demanded. “And nothing else matters. I guess last night was no big fucking deal
to you.”

“It
was
a big deal,” I protested. “It was really nice…incredible…”

“Incredibly stupid, you mean.” He ran a hand
through his hair again. “God, I can’t believe I’m so
stupid.”

“Victor—” I started but he grabbed his keys off
the kitchen counter and headed for the door.

I called his name again but he was already
driving away. As he left, I saw that someone had spray painted the words
FANG FUCKER
in big red capital letters
across the side of his truck.

I sat down at the breakfast table and cried.

Chapter Nineteen—Victor

I knew I shouldn’t have flown off the handle, but
it made me crazy to hear her talk like that. Saying I was only her husband for
two more months until the Laws of Ownership were satisfied, implying she was
going to leave as soon as she could…I couldn’t stand it. The wolf inside me
woke up even though it was broad daylight and howled with anger and sorrow.

Mine,
he insisted.
Mine, mine, mine. The pale girl is
mine/ours. We need to claim her, mark her before it’s too late.

Even deeper under the surface, I felt another
presence stirring. The beast, which was neither man nor wolf but somehow both,
was also enraged. The thought of Taylor leaving made the brand at my back burn
like fire and the curse felt like a lead weight resting on my shoulders.

It was too much. I did the only thing I could
do—I left.

I drove for miles and miles, trying to calm down.
Trying to think of a plan to get through the council that night. A mortal
offense is a serious thing, especially if it’s been offered to an Alpha of the
pack. It didn’t matter that Taylor had barely touched LeeAnn and hadn’t even
left a mark on her skin—she was still culpable just because she’d dared to lay
hands on her at all.

I was reminded all over again of why I hated
being part of a pack. When I’d first been banished from my own pack, I had
wanted to die. But after some time on my own, I’d started enjoying the freedom.
It was nice not to have to bow and scrape to another person just because they
were older or had higher status than me—not that many did. My father had been
second in command, and I had Alpha status from him as well as on my own merits.
Still, I found the freedom of being a lone wolf exhilarating, though the curse
was a heavy price to pay for it.

I had a feeling I was going to be paying another
price tonight—the price for letting myself fall for Taylor. I knew what my old
pack mates would have said about bonding myself to a vampire—
they’re cold-blooded, dead, can’t love or
feel emotions like we can. She’s just using you. Just looking for her next
meal. You’re nothing but a blood bank to her.

But that wasn’t Taylor, not the girl I knew. She
was sweet and kind and gentle—well, until she decided to rip my heart out, that
was. I kept my eyes on the road but her words kept echoing in my head.
“…don’t forget you’re only my husband for
two more months. After that—”

God!
I banged a fist on the steering
wheel. I had to get hold of myself. Had to go somewhere and calm the fuck down
or I was going to lose it tonight at the council. And I couldn’t afford to do
that. Not when the curse was weighing on me and the full moon was only two
nights away. I had to be ready.

This was going to be one hell of a night.

* * * * *

Taylor

“Okay, I don’t know much about weres but
according to Corbin what you did was a big no-no.” Addison stepped back to take
a look at me. “No, I don’t like that. Let’s try on the blue one.”

The minute I had called her and explained what
had happened, she’d come rushing over to Victor’s house with a selection of
dresses and shoes. I was currently trying on the second outfit but there were
five more to choose from if necessary.

Don’t get me wrong—my best friend isn’t one of
those girly-girls who insists that a make-over can make everything better—far
from it. But according to Corbin, I had to make a good showing at the were
council that night. In other words, I couldn’t just show up in jeans and a
t-shirt—I had to look impressive.

Aside from the wardrobe help, I was glad to see
her. It had been almost a month since we’d done anything but talk on the phone
and we had a lot of catching up to do.

“What did I do that was so wrong?” I asked,
blotting my eyes on the back of my hand. Victor had been gone for hours but I
was still feeling weepy. I knew I had to dry it up before I faced the pack
tonight but it was our first real fight and for some reason it really upset me.
“I mean, I just promised to go to the council to keep them off his back.”

“If what you told me was right, you refused his
direct order and agreed to go to the council against his wishes. You’re not
supposed to do that,” Addison said, handing me the blue outfit to try.

I stripped out of the dark brown dress she’d put
me in and started pulling on the blue one.

“You mean I’m not supposed to have a mind of my
own? That’s pretty freaking sexist.”

She shrugged. “Apparently that’s were culture.
The male and female wolves can bicker and bitch all they want when they’re
alone but out in the pack, the male speaks for both of them and the female
never
contradicts him. You’re kind of
seen as a ball-breaker otherwise.”

I gave an incredulous laugh. “Are you serious?
Me
a ball-breaker?”

“I know, right?” Addison laughed too as she
zipped me up. “Look, the point is, just don’t undermine him again. You guys can
work out your differences before you go but once you get to the pack council,
let
him
do the dealing.”

“All right,” I grumbled and then sighed. “
If
he wants to talk to me at all, that
is.”

“Aw, hon…” Addison turned me around and looked me
in the eyes. “Is it really that bad?”

Reluctantly, I nodded. “Things have been
getting…kind of serious. What with me going into heat and—”

“Wait a minute. Hold it.” She held up one hand.
“Back up. You going into
what?”

Too late, I remembered that I hadn’t told her.

“Okay,” I said, taking her hands. “I think we’d
better sit down…”

After I filled her in on everything from me going
into heat all the way up to my strange dream and the way I’d run out into the
sun with nothing but a tan to show for it, Addison shook her head.

“Taylor, that’s…I don’t even know what to say.
And this has been going on for weeks?”

“The, uh, going into heat thing has. Almost from
the first minute I moved in with him,” I admitted.

“But why…I don’t understand why you didn’t tell
me before.”

I sighed. “At first, it seemed too complicated
and embarrassing to explain over the phone. And then it became sort of a secret
between Victor and me and I guess…I guess I
liked
having a secret with him. It made us more of a, I don’t know—more of a
couple, I guess.” I looked down at my hands. “I know that sounds stupid.”