She opened her mouth to answer and he knew he wasn’t going to like it. He kissed her, wrapped his hands around her lush backside, and pumped into her. Somehow, if he could get deep enough, get close enough, she’d understand, she’d know why he wasn’t losing her. Why he wouldn’t lose her. If only he could just fuck her hard enough. He went still, before his arms tightened around her.
“What?” she panted, leaning back to look at him. “What is it?”
“I love you,” he confessed. “And don’t tell me I haven’t had time to know. I’ve had a hundred years to know.”
Her eyes glossed over again. “I love you too. I love you so much.”
“Then please,” he whispered, stroking her hair. “Come with me. We’ll find the wolf and capture him. We’ll let him be their guinea pig. Together.”
“Yes,” she said, her fingers curling at his neck. “Yes.”
Chapter Fourteen
Only hours after their declaration of love, Marissa was showered and changed into jeans and a light pink tee. She could hear Evan in the living room, talking on his phone to what sounded like one of his brothers. From his irritated tone, she was guessing it was Troy and she smiled. Ah, brotherly love. She’d always wanted a sibling to fight with. Now, she’d just borrow his, she thought, and her smile widened. She liked that idea. She’d be a part of a family unit.
Marissa was just about done gathering the few possessions Evan had convinced her to buy before arriving at the cabin, for their departure. They were important to her, a part of the memories of this place that would forever be bittersweet. That was, if there was a forever for her. She wanted there to be one for her and Evan together. She prayed it would happen. She needed to believe it could to get through these next few days.
She did one more, quick glance around the room and set her small bag on the bed. Soon Aiden and Troy were supposed to arrive and take over the cabin. She and Evan were going to some high rise hotel in Austin, less than an hour away, to wait for word on the petition. She was just tugging the zipper on her bag shut when a sliver of warning slid down her back. She went completely still, not even breathing, listening, waiting, but she wasn’t sure for what. Wolf.
“Evan,” she shouted out, already running around the bed, so certain of her instincts that she knew she had to act.
Glass shattered from the window behind her before she made it three steps. She turned the instant the big body hit hers, slamming her to the ground. It was as if time stood still, went into rewind, and repeated. Only this time she could see the man on top of her, with only his fangs that of a wolf, his clothes ripping as his body began to fully shift. She didn’t move, didn’t fight. He was bigger than her, able to rip her throat out with one snag of those teeth.
Instead she tried to stall, tried to give Evan time to get to her. He’d have heard her scream, heard the glass break. “What do you want from me?”
He snarled near her ear. “Your life, so that I will keep mine,” he sunk his teeth into her neck.
***
Evan was on top of the wolf a split second too late, a mere instant too late. The wolf tore Marissa’s throat open. “Nooooooo!” he shouted, adrenaline pumping through him like rocket fuel. He grabbed the wolf off of the top of Marissa, flung it at the window.
Evan dropped to his knees beside Marissa, the wolf already forgotten. Her neck was shredded, her eyes shut, her face a mask of white. She was dead and he knew it and he had only a tiny window to drain her and bring her back. He didn’t think. He just acted. He sunk his teeth into her shoulder and drank. A snarl sounded behind him, and he stiffened, bracing himself for the attack.
The wolf landed on top of him, his teeth digging into Evan’s back, tugging and tearing. But still Evan managed to cover Marissa with his body, to keep drinking.
Shouts sounded behind Evan, his brother’s he thought. The wolf was dragged off of him and an eruption of sound exploded around him. He was bleeding from his back, maybe even his neck, the blood gushing out of him -- blood he needed to feed Marissa, to save her. Pain radiated through him, but he didn’t care. He’d die before he’d give up on Marissa.
When finally, he’d done his part of the conversion, he could barely look at her bloodless body. He heaved himself upward, and bit his wrist, dripping blood over her mouth. “Please Baby. Come back to me. Please.” He stroked her jaw, her hair.
“Drink,” a male voice ordered.
Marcus wasnot only squatting down beside Evan, he’d opened a vein to replenish Evan’s lost blood. “I’d feed her instead of you,” Marcus said, “but something tells me you wouldn’t like that much. I know how possessive a vampire male can be.”
Evan grabbed his ‘Warden in Charge’s wrist and bit down. Ancient blood poured through Evan, healing his back, his shoulder. He could feel the power radiating inside him, and then, through him, into Marissa. Seconds passed like hours as he drank, as she lay there unresponsive, but finally her neck began to heal, her pasty skin began to tinge pink. When she grabbed his arms and hungrily drank, relief flooded him. He let go of Marcus’s wrist, pulling Marissa into his arms and cradling her.
“Thank God,” he murmured, holding her tighter than perhaps he should have, but he couldn?
??t help it. She was alive and he promised himself right then and there that he would never let anything happen to her again.
Long minutes later, she released his wrist and blinked up at him in dazed confusion, then abruptly jerked, trying to see around her. “The wolf, where’s the--”
“Easy Sweetheart,” he said, stroking her hair. “Troy and Aiden are dealing with the wolf. You’re safe. You’re okay.”
Her gaze dropped to her torn, bloodied shirt, worry replacing fear. “You…no, tell me you didn’t do what I think you did. Evan--”
“I saved your life. I did what I had to. Together Sweetheart, remember? That was our agreement.”
Marcus appeared in front of them, almost out of thin air. He squatted down to join them again. “I thought you might want this,” he said, indicating the folded paper in his hand. “The council had a sudden urge to approve your petition.” He smiled at Marissa and offered it to her. “Welcome to the bloodsuckers, sweetheart.”