“You thought you’d be safe,” Henry spat the words at her as he punched out with his ham-like fists. “You thought he’d save you, but–”
“No,” Paige gasped out because, what did she have to lose now? No one else would hear what she said to Henry. The wolves were too busy fighting the flames and the other shooters. “I thought I’d save him.” Because she’d known that Gabe’s attack on the wolves was coming. She’d known that he was going after Drake.
So I wanted to be at Drake’s side, to keep him safe.
The bargain she’d made hadn’t been about her protection, not really. It had been about his.
But she’d failed him. After only a few damn minutes, she’d failed.
Henry’s thick brow lowered in confusion. “What? You–”
She had the stake in her hand. She rushed forward–and drove it into Henry’s heart. “I loved him,” she whispered as she twisted that stake. She had once loved him more than anything else in this world, but Henry and Gabe had taken Drake from her. Then, and now. “So you burn, ass**le, burn.”
Blood dripped from Henry’s mouth, and she saw the light fade from his eyes as the bastard took his last gasp of breath.
And she smiled. A cold puff of air appeared near her face. She was still breathing. Henry would never breathe again.
The other vamps were racing away now, disappearing into the surrounding woods as quickly as they could–and vamps could run so very fast.
Time to chase.
She’d shown her true allegiance, and if she didn’t give chase, they’d all be coming for her head–or her heart.
Paige yanked up her stake. Barely glanced at the blood on the wood and–
Hard arms wrapped her around. She lifted her weapon, ready to take another heart herself.
But Drake stared down at her. His face was stark white, and his eyes glowed with the power of his beast.
His wolf wasn’t the only one straining for freedom. Some of the others had already shifted. Paige could hear wolf howls now as the beasts hunted the vampires. Big, furry beasts raced over the snow.
When had they shifted? She hadn’t even noticed. She’d been too intent on killing Henry. On getting vengeance because he’d shot Drake.
“Got the alpha. Fuckin’ got ‘him in in the heart!” Henry had been so certain of his hit. Unlike vampires, wolves couldn’t survive a shot of silver to the heart.
So how was Drake still alive?
Her gaze dropped to his chest. A chest he’d clawed open–to get the bullet out.
Oh, damn. That was just brutal.
“I thought you were dead.” His voice was guttural. His hands locked around her shoulders and pulled her against him. “I saw you go over the wall…”
She shook her head. Her body was trembling. He’s alive. “I-I was just trying to stop him. I didn’t want him to–”
Drake’s lips took hers. Not gentle. Not soft.
Hard. Wild. Rough.
There was desperation in his kiss, and so much lust.
The sounds of the wolves were all around them. The thudding of their paws on the snow. The howls that broke the night.
It was cold out there, bitterly cold, but she barely felt the ice around her. Right then, she was burning hot.
Drake lifted his head. Stared down at her. “Don’t ever do that again.”
Um, that wasn’t a promise she could make. She’d keep fighting, until the threats to him were gone. She wasn’t the running type, not anymore.
He kept a tight hold on her, smearing his blood over her clothes, and he turned to face the wolves who’d gathered around them. Smoke drifted in the air, but most of the flames were out, for now.
“Find them,” he shouted. “Hunt them!”
Some wolves were already in the woods, hunting. But vampires were good hunters, too.
“Find them,” Drake said again, and his voice cut through the night, “and kill them.”
The wolves howled.
Paige knew that the final war between the vampires and werewolves had begun.
Chapter Four
She could have f**king died.
Drake pulled Paige through the main house, making sure not to let her go, not even for an instant. The woman wasn’t getting away from him, hell, no.
When he’d looked up and seen her on that wall, with that vampire bastard attacking her…
He’d roared her name.
Then the vamp had shot him. The silver had burned, ripping and tearing through him as he fell to the ground. When Drake had looked up again, it had been to see Paige tumbling right over the edge of the wall.
Drake rounded the corner and shoved open the door that led to his quarters.
“Drake, look, I–”
In an instant, he spun on her. “You knew they were attacking.”
Did she look paler than before? It seemed so. Even the red of her lips had faded to a light pink. She stared up at him and gave a slow nod.
Shit. Why couldn’t she have lied? He didn’t want to know that she’d set him up.
Because then he’d have to punish her.
He headed to the left. He had blood on his hands, and he’d already smeared that blood on her. When he touched her again, he wanted his hands clean.
All he could smell was blood. His blood. The blood of the wolves who’d been attacked. The blood of the bastard she’d staked. And…
Her blood.
She’d seemed paler than before.
He whirled back to face her. As she stumbled, he picked her up and held her close against his chest. She’s a vampire, but she can still die. The scent of her blood was too strong. “Where’s the wound?”
She lifted her arm to her shoulder. Her hair had fallen forward, covering the injury, and he swept the mane back, then cursed at the sight of her flesh.
A bullet had torn through her shoulder.
Why the hell wasn’t she healing? Vampires usually healed fast enough when they were injured.
She wasn’t healing.
He took her into his bathroom. Put her down next to the shower that could easily hold three people, though he only preferred an intimate two. Then he tore open her shirt and tossed away the scraps of material so that he could see her wound.
But…it wasn’t the only wound that he found on her body. There were faint white lines on her flesh, snaking up her stomach. Sliding down her left arm. Scars. Old injuries.
Vampires didn’t scar. Those marks…she must have gotten them while she was still human.
He knelt on the marble tile so that his eyes were level with hers. “What happened to you?”