What did he do?
She forced herself to speak. “Wh-what will hurt?”
“This.”
She expected him to strangle her. But his head ducked toward her throat. Something sharp sliced across her jugular.
Hannah didn’t even have the chance to scream.
***
It was cold. The air had grown increasingly chilled as they drove—drove up higher and higher into the mountains.
Alerac had given her a jacket that he’d taken from his saddle-bag. Leather. One that smelled of him. One that made her feel strangely comforted.
Just as he did.
She hadn’t burned in the sunlight.
She hadn’t even felt weak.
His blood? Yes, it had to be.
I drank from him. The knowledge should have horrified her. It didn’t.
Up, up, they went, until it seemed that they were in the very clouds. Dark clouds that threatened a coming storm.
They’d stopped only to refuel. Kept driving and driving. It had been more than just a few hours.
And now…
Heavy gates swung shut behind them. Iron. Clanging closed.
Alerac turned off his motorcycle. “You’re home.”
Home.
She stared up at the heavy structure. This wasn’t what she’d expected. Made of thick, white stones, the massive house seemed to spring right from the mountain. Glass windows looked out into the coming night. Bright lights shone from within.
Her werewolf lived…here?
The cold air chilled her lungs as she moved away from the bike. There were a few other houses, much smaller, nestled along the mountain. Homes for his pack members?
“You’ll be safe here,” he promised her.
She truly wanted to believe him.
But when she looked into his eyes, they were hot and hard. Hungry. For her.
They were on his turf, and he’d already told her exactly what he wanted. The price she had to pay for the safety he provided.
Could she pay that price?
He took her hand. Since she couldn’t very well just stand there in the growing cold, she followed him. The other werewolves dispersed, heading toward the other houses. Then she and Alerac were inside.
The first thing that Jane noticed was the fire. It blazed in a massive fireplace. Her gaze slowly slid away from the flames, and Jane saw a winding staircase that led up to the higher levels of the house. It looked like there were at least two more floors up there.
“Your bedroom is at the top of the stairs.”
She glanced at him. “My room?” Just to be clear.
“Our room,” he corrected as he raised one brow.
So he was still holding to that.
The door swung open behind them. Jane turned so see Liam heading inside. “Doesn’t look like we were followed, yet.”
Alerac inclined his head. “They’ll come calling soon enough. We’ll be ready for them.”
The fire wasn’t chasing away the chill in her bones. “Why is it that they want me dead?” Betrayal, check. But it was time for her to get some specifics. If she was going to be hunted every minute, Jane figured that she deserved to know why.
“Rest.” Alerac glanced toward the stairs. “Then you can—”
Screw resting. “Why don’t I have any memories?”
He glanced back at Liam. “Call in the debts we have. See if you can find me a witch.”
Again with the witch talk. That talk made her nervous, but she pushed on, “Why can’t I remember anything? We’re here, we’re supposedly safe. Just tell me.”
Liam hurried into another room. She thought he muttered something like “Good luck with that,” on his way out.
Alerac waited until Liam was gone, then he put his hand to Jane’s back and guided her a little closer to the fire. “You can’t remember because you were made to forget.” His eyes were on her. Blazing now—brighter than the flames in that fireplace, and his eyes fully showed a stark, desperate need. “The vampire clan leader, Lorcan Teague, wanted you to forget me, so he made a witch put you under a spell.”
Her heart was pounding faster. Shaking her chest. Her fingers had a nervous tremble. “You said…I know we were lovers.”
That need got even sharper. Jane caught her breath.
“We were.” His eyes held her trapped. “But werewolves and vampires aren’t supposed to mate. We’re supposed to fight. To hate. To kill one another.” His fingers skimmed over her cheek. “Not to f**k.”
Okay, now the fire was a little too hot. Or maybe she was a little too hot. Jane edged back.
“We weren’t supposed to be together,” Alerac continued, and his fingers brushed back her hair. “And Lorcan wanted to make sure that when you were free, you didn’t remember me.”
His head bent.
She tensed.
His lips brushed over her throat.
A shiver slid over her. That shiver had nothing to do with nervousness and everything to do with desire. Her sex was suddenly aching. Her ni**les were tight. When she’d taken his blood before, it had been as if a gate had broken open inside of her. She’d been flooded with emotion. Need.
Lust.
For him.
“The bastard thought I’d be long dead by the time you were free. That you wouldn’t remember what he’d done.” His voice roughened even more. “I showed him.” Another sensual press of his lips along her throat.
Her knees were starting to feel funny. “Why would you be…long dead?”
His head lifted. “Werewolves aren’t immortal.”
She’d never get used to those glowing eyes. Eyes that saw in to her.
“You were locked away.”
“Locked away?”
“I don’t know where. I couldn’t find you. I looked and I looked, but you were gone.”
Her lips had turned desert dry. “For how long?”
She’d demanded the truth, but in that instant, Jane didn’t think she wanted to hear—
“Two hundred years.”
No, she definitely hadn’t wanted to hear that truth.
Chapter Five
Jane was in his home. Where he could keep her safe.
He could hear the rush of the shower’s water pounding down on her. After he’d told her that she’d been imprisoned for over two hundred years, he’d expected more questions. Instead, she’d turned and headed up the stairs without a word.
He’d followed her.
He felt like he was always f**kin’ following her.
She won’t get away again.
He stood before the closed bathroom door. Jane was inside. Naked.