Stripped Bear (11 page)

Though she’d been ready to scratch her assailant’s eyes out, Cade’s warning tone had given her pause. If he considered this man dangerous, he must be deadly. And by the sound of his words, Leah surmised he wasn’t the sort of guy who made idle threats. If Cade didn’t do as he asked, he’d snap her neck.

She believed him.

Her indignation evaporated under a hot wave of fear that choked the air from her lungs. The man’s fingers gripped her arm like a vise and Leah bit the inside of her cheek to keep from crying out. Tears sprang to her eyes and she willed them not to fall. She couldn’t let Cade see her hurt. Already, he looked on the verge of losing his shit completely. Though she’d seen a hint of his otherness, never had he looked so completely foreign to her. So much like the animal he claimed to be.

“What’s it going to be, Cade?” The man’s calm demeanor did nothing to assuage Leah’s fear. “McAlister is waiting for an answer.”

Despite her fear, Leah stood in awe of Cade. Dressed in nothing but his boxers, every muscle in his body bulged and the veins stood out with tension. His eyes glowed, feral and almost ice blue, and a loud snarl erupted from his chest to echo in the space between them. Once again, his canines elongated into sharp glistening points. He was every bit the monster he claimed to be. Every bit as violent. And he was
magnificent
.

“I’ll take that as a no, then?” The man let out a slow sigh and Leah wrinkled her nose at his musky scent. His nails seemed sharper than they’d been a moment before, and where he held her, blood trickled from the punctures he made. “Too bad.”

He wrapped a hand around Leah’s neck, and whatever control Cade exercised snapped. Leah’s jaw fell open as his body transformed, the shift as fluid and graceful as a dance. His human form seemed to shrink as the body of a huge golden bear enveloped it, bigger than any bear Leah had ever seen. Cade’s massive jaw went wide as he released a bellow that shook the penthouse’s many windows. His claws, as long and sharp as daggers, cut deep grooves into the pristine wood floor as he advanced.

The man stiffened beside her, and in this seemingly fearless individual, Leah sensed a tremor of trepidation. A triumphant smirk tugged at her mouth. Cade was massive, beautiful. Death incarnate. Leah’s gaze slid to the side. The man’s eyes had gone black, as though his pupils had swallowed his irises completely. Inky tendrils spread through the delicate skin of his eyelids and fanned out over his cheeks. This was no man. Beside her stood the true monster.

“Cade, look out!”

Her captor shoved her to one side a spit second before launching himself at Cade. Leah sprawled to the floor, her knees jarring on the hardwood floor. She managed to roll out of the way before the pair of them crushed her, and she scooted on her ass until her back met the hallway wall.

Though, in his bear form, Cade was five times larger than the other man, the bastard fought with a strength and ferocity that was astounding. He exuded a raw, frightening power that sent Leah’s heart racing in her chest. Cade bit and clawed, delivering wound after wound, but his opponent healed almost instantly. Had Cade not told Leah about what he was and the world he came from, she never would have believed her eyes. The shock and fear froze her in place. She could barely breathe, and her vision darkened at the periphery.

Hold it together, damn it. Do something!

Leah pushed herself away from the wall and searched frantically for anything she could use as a weapon. Hanging on the opposite wall, above the mantel was a large broadsword that could have been a decoration for all she knew. It had a pointy end, though, and Leah planned to put it to good use. She raced across the room as Cade continued his attack. Furniture scattered in his wake, glass shattered. The damned sword weighed much more than Leah thought it would and she was barely able to heft it from the brackets that held it.

As quickly as she could manage with the cumbersome weapon, she raced back to the fight. The man’s eyes had gone completely black—even the whites had been swallowed by darkness—and he tossed Cade onto an end table as though he were a ragdoll and not a one-ton bear. Cade rebounded with amazing speed and barreled into the man, pinning him against the wall. Leah took the opportunity to enter the fray and came from behind Cade to pin the tip of the sword against the man’s throat.

He stilled in an instant as his narrowed gaze slid to her. “Do you have the guts to use that sword, female?”

“You bet your ass I do.” The weight of it in her hands was immense. Leah’s arms shook with the effort it took to hold the sword against the man’s throat. She’d be damned if she dropped the sword no matter how her muscles burned. Cade needed her help and she wouldn’t let him down.

As quickly and gracefully as Cade had shed his human form, the hulking bear gave way to the man. Cade’s breath sawed in and out of his chest as he seized the sword from Leah’s grip and brought the blade fully against his attacker’s throat. “I know one way to kill a berserker,” he growled in the man’s face. Cade leaned in until they were nose to nose, and his lips pulled back from his teeth in a feral snarl. “Care to take this further?”

The black veins retreated from the man’s cheeks and eyelids and his eyes once again became deep forest green. He smiled at Cade, an expression that was so cold and detached that it sent a shiver down Leah’s spine.

“Make L.A. your business if that’s what you want, Ian. Take the vampire out yourself. I’ll tell you what I told McAlister: until my life is settled, he won’t be seeing me. If the Sortiari has work for me in the future, I’ll be glad to handle it. As for the vampire, I won’t get involved. It’s not negotiable. Handle him yourself, berserker. Your kind did a fine job of dealing with them two and a half centuries ago.”

“Aye.” The berserker’s eyes gleamed. Leah had never seen a creature with so much hatred in its eyes. So much cruel darkness. “I will.”

“Then get the fuck out of my house,” Cade growled. “Don’t come back. If I see your face again, I won’t hesitate to run this blade through your spine.”

Cade shoved himself away and the man straightened his jacket. The generic smile didn’t fade from his face. He cast Leah a quick glance, winked, and headed for the door. “I’ll give McAlister your regards, shifter,” he called as he pulled open the door. “I hope Fate sees clear to forgive your moment of disloyalty.” And with his last ominous words, he closed the door behind him.

Eleven

Cade’s anger burned hot and fresh as he examined Leah’s arm. Ian had punctured her skin with the sharp points of his claws. Not deep enough to need stitches, but he’d drawn blood just the same. Cade lifted Leah up onto the countertop and passed a washcloth under the faucet. He cleaned the wounds, applied antibiotic cream, and wrapped her arm with gauze.

“I’m going to kill that motherfucker.” He might fly to L.A. just to find the berserker and follow through on his promise to separate the male’s head from his shoulders.

“I’m okay, Cade.” Leah gave him a soft smile. She cupped his cheek in her palm and guided his gaze to meet hers. “Seriously. You should be worried about your ruined floors and furniture. Oh my god! It’s going to cost a fortune to fix everything. You’re a force of destruction, you know that? But beautiful. A beautiful golden beast with clear blue eyes. I’ve never seen a bear with blue eyes.”

Cade gave a slow shake of his head. Leah could have died and all she wanted to talk about was the way he’d looked and a few pieces of broken furniture? That shit could easily be replaced. She couldn’t. “If you ever jump into the middle of a fight like that again, I’ll lock you away.” The fear that had gripped him when Leah stepped in with his sword in hand still shook him even an hour later. “You could have been killed.”

“I’d die to protect you,” she said. “I’d do anything for you, Cade.”

McAlister and the Sortiari were his only resource to finding a way to protect Leah, and he might have burned his bridges by getting into a scuffle with one of their slayers. His absence in L.A. wouldn’t go unnoticed, and likely not unpunished. He doubted McAlister would go too hard on him, though. He was a valuable asset and important to their organization. It would blow over eventually, but until it did, Cade would be walking a fine line.

“If you want to do something for me,” he said to Leah, “stay
out
of the dangerous scuffles.”

“I’m not making any promises,” she replied. Cade packed away the first aid kit and slid it down the counter. “If you’re in trouble, I’m in trouble. We’re a team now, you know.”

“We are, huh?” If the berserker had truly wanted them dead, they probably wouldn’t have walked away from his visit with nothing more than a few scrapes. McAlister obviously didn’t want Cade dead, he wanted him
managed
. Ian would undoubtedly inform the director about Leah. He might try to use her as leverage. Next time, it could be worse. Leah could be in real danger and not simply walk away from a tussle with a few scratches. “Joined at the hip from here on out?”

Leah flashed a seductive smile that stirred his cock. “Yep. You’re never getting rid of me. Hope you know that.”

Cade settled himself between her legs. He reached between them and tugged her underwear to one side so he could pet the silken flesh of her pussy. Leah’s head lolled back on her shoulders and she let out a low moan. “Are you trying to distract me, Cade?”

“Depends,” he growled close to her ear. The scent of her arousal bloomed around them and he shoved his boxers down. He gripped her hips and dragged her to the edge of the countertop. “Is it working?”

He entered her slowly and Leah’s back arched. He’d
never
get enough of her.

“It’s definitely working,” she purred. Her breath hitched as she scooted closer. “Don’t stop.”

Cade pulled out slowly and thrust deep. He cupped the back of Leah’s neck and kept his gaze locked with hers as he fucked her slowly. Her breath came in shallow pants that transformed into mewling cries. He continued his unhurried assault and entered her again and again with slow, easy pumps of his hips. “I love you, Leah,” he said through his own panting breaths. “Forever.”

Her inner walls contracted around him. The spasms held his shaft deep inside of her. “I love you, Cade,” she said as she came. “I love you so much.”

*   *   *

Leah had loved Cade for as long as she could remember. If he thought a few superficial cuts would scare her away, he had another think coming. He’d warned her that his world was violent and she believed him. She’d stand by his side no matter what, though. She knew that tonight’s chaos was only a taste of what was to come. She wasn’t afraid. As long as she had Cade she could face anything. She’d meant what she said to him. They were a team from here on out. A threat against him was a threat against her, and Leah fought for the people she loved.

Leah rode out her pleasure as Cade drove hard and deep. He filled her, stretched her inner walls, and with every pump of his hips, the delicious friction sent wave after wave of pleasure washing through her. Cade’s expression pinched, his breathing became ragged, and his pace increased. Her name burst from his lips as he came, and Leah sighed at the delicious heat that flooded her with every jerk of his shaft.

As they came down from their highs, Leah kept him caged between her legs. She kissed his forehead, his temple, both of his cheeks, and finally his mouth. She savored the taste of him, his natural heat, the soft glide of his tongue against hers. He was everything she’d ever wanted. The only thing she needed. And he belonged to her.
Forever
.

Cade gathered her in his arms and carried her into the destroyed living room. He set her gently down on the only couch that hadn’t been overturned in the fight and gathered her in his arms as he settled down next to her. For a while, they simply stared out of the large picture windows at the New York City skyline illuminated like myriad stars against the backdrop of night.

Leah’s first foray into the supernatural world had been an interesting one, and she was both excited and anxious over what their future together would hold. “What was he?” she asked.

“A berserker,” Cade said darkly. “Born for killing, invincible in battle.”

“We managed him well enough,” she said.

Cade’s bark of laughter didn’t hold much humor. “I suppose we did.”

“So, what else is out there? Shifters, vampires, berserkers … How about werewolves?”

“Yes,” Cade replied. He held her tighter and Leah nestled against his bare chest. “The Sortiari sent me after a werewolf once. He’d gotten in deep with the Russian mob and they’d threatened to out his existence to the world if the Sortiari didn’t pay his debts.”

“What did you do?” Leah asked. Cade might find his life dangerous, but she found it fascinating.

“It’s a long story,” Cade said. “But not an uninteresting one.”

“Good,” Leah said as she laid her head on Cade’s chest. “I’ve got all night…”

Read on for an excerpt from Kate Baxter’s full-length novel

THE LAST TRUE VAMPIRE

Available in June 2015 in paperback and eBook from St. Martin’s Press!

With a sudden, shattering impact, a scent the likes of which had no equal invaded Michael’s senses and he pulled so violently from the human’s throat that he nearly tore her flesh. His brain roared with an instinct too strong to resist, but if he didn’t close the punctures in the woman’s neck, she’d bleed out in a matter of seconds. She slumped against his body and Michael quickly scored his tongue, lapping at her throat and healing the bite. He laid her down in the booth without another thought to her welfare as he was inexplicably drawn to the scent of blood that called to him in a way that he’d never felt in all of his centuries upon the earth.

Want. Need. Hunger. Desire.
Lust
.

Raw, untamed emotion exploded inside of him, something so deep and primal that he was helpless to fight it. The empty void that had opened up inside of him upon his turning filled to bursting and Michael rubbed at his chest as though the change were a physical thing. His mind raced as he tried to make sense of what he felt, the sensation foreign and shocking. It had been so long since he’d last fed, perhaps his dormant body simply wasn’t used to being rejuvenated. Or maybe it was the sheer fierceness of the anticipation of the dhampirs around him that sent him into a frenzy. His muscles bunched and flexed with every step, as though they’d gone decades without use. The soulless void evaporated, and in the center of his being, something secured itself to him as though with a length of unbreakable chain. The past two hundred years of solitude melted away in this moment, his quest for the exotic scent that drove him past reason, and for the first time since the slayer had entombed him all of those years ago, Michael experienced the vitality of the warrior he once was. The powerful vampire. The hunter in search of prey.