Claimed, a vampire romance (Lost) (5 page)

He would complete his deal with his father by destroying all the wolves. Then he would be free to leave Crystal City once and for all.

He glanced to his side, at Rachel. Her blond and pink hair danced in the wind. She'd closed her eyes. If he hadn't known better, he would have thought she'd fallen asleep.

Her eyes opened, blue and startling. “What?”

“Nothing.” He turned his gaze back to the road, shutting her image out of his sight and the possibility of a future with her out of his soul.

o0o

The streets nearest the lake always felt colder and darker than anywhere else in Crystal City, at least to Rachel. And tonight was no different.

As she exited Cameron's car, a breeze coming off the three-thousand-acre lake raked over her skin and riffled through her hair.

She hugged her arms around her chest and tried to ignore the prickles of unease dancing up the back of her neck. They were less than fifty feet from the water, and the air stank of fish.

“Why would she come here?” she wondered out loud.

“A party?” Cameron suggested, but Rachel could tell by his tense posture that he was on alert too.

“She said a bar, but I’ve never heard of one here. Maybe she meant a party.” Rachel squeezed her arms tighter and shook her head, trying to shake off the trepidation that had wrapped its way around her.

“The address she gave you is down there.” Cameron pointed toward a narrow, asphalt path that ran parallel to the lake. “The roads here are too rough for my car. I'm afraid we'd get stuck.”

Rachel nodded. Even the surface on which they stood was cracked and heaving upward in parts. She was surprised that Cameron's low-hung sports car had made it this far.

“Do you know of any businesses here?” Rachel asked. The area seemed completely deserted, not somewhere a bar would flourish or, for that matter, where anyone would choose to host a party.

“Some warehouses, one lunch spot for the people who work there. But those are only open during the day.”

Rachel wondered why her friend claimed to be visiting a bar here but kept the thought to herself. If Shelby had secrets, it wasn't Rachel's place to draw attention to them.

She sucked in a breath, straightened her shoulders, and then forced herself to move in the direction Cameron had pointed. “She said she'd be waiting.”

Cameron didn't reply, but she could feel him following her. His closeness made her legs move a little more confidently and her heart slow to a steady beat. But she was still on alert. There was something about the place, some feeling that she couldn't shake.

She longed to know if Cameron felt it too but wouldn't allow herself to glance his direction. He'd know she was scared if she did, and he'd seen her scared enough.

A few more steps and they were out of the open area where they had left Cameron's car. Shacks, for fishing or storage, Rachel guessed, lined the street on their right, next to the lake. Bigger buildings constructed of sheet metal and steel lay on their left.

They, she decided, were the problem. There were no lights along the lakeshore, and the warehouses on the left blocked any light and sound that might have made its way here from the rest of Crystal City. They were like a wall, cutting Rachel and Cameron off from every sign of life.

“Rachel? Is that you?” Shelby stepped from behind a rolling trash bin twenty feet ahead of them.

Rachel's heart skipped, and she had to fist her hands to keep herself from racing forward to grab her friend and hurry as quickly as they could from this dark place.

Instead, she stopped. She felt Cameron stop too, but not until he was even with her.

“The car's back there.” She pointed over her shoulder. “We'll go somewhere... else and talk.”

Shelby took a few steps, but more to the side than forward. “Is that your vampire with you?”

Rachel stiffened. Cameron didn't know that she'd told Shelby what he was, or he hadn't. Embarrassed and a little annoyed that Shelby would out her like this, she kept her gaze on her sorority sister and her tone level.

“Yes, Cameron is here. He's going to drive us. He's a... friend.” More than a friend.

“You're sure?” Shelby tilted her head as if thinking, but then shrugged and started in their direction.

Tension flowed out of Rachel, and she twisted in place to smile at Cameron.

But her smile soon died.

A man dropped from the roof of a building behind Cameron and landed on his back. Cameron stumbled forward but didn't fall. He reached over his shoulder, grabbed the smaller man by the arm, and tossed him back toward the building from which he'd jumped.

Before Rachel could react, two more males dropped from the roof of the same building onto the asphalt next to Cameron and charged forward.

“Rachel, run.” Cameron growled out the order then turned to face his attackers.

For a moment, Rachel stood frozen. Cameron was being attacked— running seemed wrong.

Then the man Cameron had tossed away like a soggy towel rose onto all fours and howled. His chin lifted and his body shook. Hair— fur— sprouted from between his eyes, and his ears lengthened.

He was changing into a wolf.

Rachel stood frozen again, this time in horror and shock.

Being told werewolves were real was one thing. Seeing someone shift into a wolf... She shook her head as if the motion would shake the image away.

But it didn't. This was no Etch-a-Sketch creation of her imagination.

This was real.

The wolf, fully formed now, shook his body like a dog removing water after a bath and lunged.

His teeth sank into Cameron's calf. He pulled, tugging the vampire off balance. One of the other two wolves, still in human form, reached into his back pocket and pulled out a shiny metal stake. Even in the dim light, the object seemed to glow.

All rational thought left Rachel. “No!” she screamed and fought with the flap that covered the pocket that held the gun. Weapon in hand, she stumbled forward. She held it up, ready to fire. Fingers dug into her arm, jerking her to a stop.

Shelby pulled Rachel around to face her. “Are you crazy? You can't get into that.” Her eyes snapped with annoyance. “We need to get out of here.”

Rachel shoved at her friend, moving her enough that Rachel could see Cameron raise an arm and fend off the human wolf's downward strike with the stake. She lifted the gun again.

“What are you doing? Where did you get that?” Shelby’s eyes were wide now. She waved her arms as if the motion might break some spell Rachel had fallen under.

Rachel focused on the man with the stake and pulled the trigger. Shelby’s hand rose too, knocking into Rachel’s and sending the bullet skyward and the gun flying from Rachel’s grip.

The weapon hit the ground fifteen feet away, firing a second time as it did.

“No!” Two shots. All, according to Cameron, the gun held.

“Oh my god! We’ve got to get out of here!” Shelby yelled into her ear. She jerked on Rachel’s arm, tugging her away from the still-fighting men.

 Her gaze fixated on the now-worthless gun, Rachel resisted.  

“Rachel, listen to me. We need to leave. How did you get here? In that?” Shelby gestured toward Cameron's car.

“Yes...” Reality was returning. Rachel glanced at her friend. Without the gun, she couldn’t fight a werewolf, and neither could Shelby.

“Then let's go.” Shelby grabbed her arm again and tugged her toward the waiting car.

Another howl echoed against the buildings and reverberated over the lake.

A second wolf had shifted. He turned to face them, his head and tail held low.

Behind him, Cameron struggled with the two remaining wolves, one in wolf form, the other still human. His fangs had lowered, and his face was distorted. He looked nothing like the man she'd kissed in that basement, nothing like anything outside of a nightmare.

But still she hesitated.

Shelby jerked again. “Now.”

The wolf, the one watching them, sniffed the air, and his ruff rose. Then, with a smile, his front legs extended, and he loped toward them.

“Now! Rachel! Now!” Shelby let go of Rachel's arm and ran.

This time Rachel followed.

The car wasn't locked, and the keys were in the ignition. Cameron, Rachel realized, had thought ahead. He had known something like this might happen. Guilt knifed through her again, but she forced it back and slid behind the wheel.

Shelby threw her body into the passenger seat and jerked the door closed behind her. At the same instant, the wolf slammed into the driver's side window.

Rachel screamed. She couldn't help herself. Her hands shook and her heart raced. In her panic, she could barely see, but she could hear Shelby yelling beside her, telling her to turn the car on and hit the gas.

She did, shoving the accelerator to the floor and wrenching the steering wheel to the left, away from the lake and back toward the smoother roads where the car could pick up speed and leave this nightmare behind.

This nightmare and Cameron.

Tears welled in her eyes, but she did what she had to do. She drove as fast and as confidently as she could until they had left behind the lake, the wolves, and the man who had saved her.

Chapter 6

At first, Rachel just drove. She knew Cameron had planned on taking Shelby and her to a safe house, but she had no idea how to find it.

“We could go back to the sorority house,” Shelby offered.

Her eyes on the road and her fingers wrapped so tightly around the steering wheel that her knuckles ached, Rachel shook her head. “No. Cameron had somewhere for us to go. I just need to think.”

Shelby had seen the wolves too, hadn't she? Rachel risked a glance at her sorority sister.

Shelby was staring out the window as if current events bored her to tears.

“You...” A flashing light below the car's stereo caught Rachel's attention. Impetuously, she pushed it.

A woman's voice with a British accent cut off the question Rachel had been about to ask. “Calculating route.”

Shelby's gaze shot to her. Rachel smiled. Cameron had thought of everything.

“You aren't going to follow it, are you?” Shelby asked. A crease had formed between her brows.

“Yes.”

“In fifty feet, turn right.”

Rachel put on her blinker.

“But he's a vampire. This could be set to take us anywhere. To some kind of den!”

“It's not. It's taking us to the safe house.” Rachel had never felt more certain of anything in her life. “And Cameron will meet us there.” She wasn't as sure of the last statement, but it made her feel better to say it out loud.

“I really—”

Rachel raised her hand. “We're following this GPS. I know it's the right thing to do.”

Shelby's frown deepened. She glanced out the window again. “Where is it taking us?” she asked.

“I don't know.” But Cameron had said wherever this house was, it would be safe. That was enough for Rachel.

Her jaw tight, Shelby pulled out her phone. Rachel couldn't see what she was doing, but she didn't care either. Shelby wasn't arguing. That was enough.

Chapter 7

Twenty minutes later, the demure English voice announced, “You have arrived.”

Rachel pulled the car next to the curb and stared at the home beside them. Streetlamps and the home’s front porch light were on, making the two-story colonial look very normal and safe.  

“Are you sure this is it?” Shelby, busy typing into her phone, didn't bother to look up as she asked the question.

The answer was no, but Rachel guessed Shelby already knew that. Rachel was going on faith that Cameron had programmed his car to take them to the safe house.

This home, however, looked nothing like Rachel had imagined a house protected against werewolves and vampires would look.

“We're in suburbia,” Shelby announced, looking up from her phone. “Some family obviously lives here.” She pointed to the sandbox visible on the side of the house and the tricycle partially hidden behind an overgrown shrub in the front yard.

“Maybe they're care keepers.”

“Care keepers? With kids?” Shelby lowered her phone to her lap and sighed. “Let's just go to the sorority house, or if that makes you nervous, I have some friends who live off campus. Just not
this
off campus.”

But Rachel was already getting out of the car. She closed the door behind her softly and walked around the front of the sports car.

The house looked... ordinary. Could this be right?

She glanced back at Shelby, who had opened her door but was still sitting inside the car.

“What's the worst that can happen?” Rachel asked, as much to herself as her friend.

Shelby flicked on her phone. The backlight blazed to life. “It's two in the morning. Someone might shoot us.”

“For knocking on the door? I don't think so.” Rachel's words sounded braver than she felt, but whether this was the safe house or not, it had been programmed into Cameron's GPS. He would know that, and when he was done with the wolves, he would look for them here.

She walked up the concrete sidewalk that led to the front door. Two pots of what Rachel recognized from the smell as rosemary sat on the front porch, and a wreath of purple flowers hung on the green-painted front door.

“It seems safe,” she murmured. In fact, standing on the porch, she felt more secure than she had for days. She lifted her fist and knocked.

There was no answer.

“I told you, they're in bed.” Shelby stood behind her on the walk, still three feet from the porch.

“They're probably asleep.” Rachel knocked louder.

“And if they are, we don't want to wake them.” Shelby stomped forward, intent, Rachel could tell, on doing what she always did, bullying Rachel into following her lead, but as Shelby's foot hit the front step, she paled.

“What?” Afraid her friend had seen something, Rachel spun and searched the area around them for a threat.

Shelby took a step back so both feet were on the walk. “I don't feel well. I really think we should go to my friends'.”

Rachel hesitated. Shelby really didn't look well. Maybe this was a bad idea. She took a step toward her friend.