Claimed, a vampire romance (Lost) (8 page)

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It was barely dusk, but Cameron was up and moving around his hotel room. If he wanted to complete his mission, he couldn't waste darkness.

He tossed toiletries into his duffel and walked out the door. He knew immediately he was being watched.

He'd known this the night before, too, and had welcomed that knowledge. It meant his plan was working.

But tonight the presence he sensed was different. More apparent and familiar.

He made a show of stopping as if something had just occurred to him, then he walked into the shadows, directly toward the woman he could feel standing there.

Rachel stood next to the ice machine, her eyes wide and her lower lip trembling.

She was afraid, as she should be.

He muttered a curse, dropped his duffle, and moved toward her, pressing her deeper into the shadows, where he hoped she would be out of sight of the vampires he knew were watching him.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

“I—”

Ice dropped inside the ice machine. Rachel flinched and lifted her hands to cover her ears.

“Bryce said the pack would help you with that.” Cameron growled. He couldn't help it. He'd trusted the rogue hunter, and not only had his “help” apparently failed, but he'd also allowed Rachel to find Cameron here where the vampire least wanted her to be.

“They do, it's just... I've cut myself off from them. It was the only way I could come here without them knowing.”

“So you're alone.” Unprotected. “You shouldn't have come.”

She blanched. “I know you don't want me now that I'm... not what I was, but...” She screwed her eyes shut and fisted her hands.

Cameron fisted his too. He had to. It was the only way he could keep from touching her, from pulling her into his arms and running his hands over her hair and face. From telling her he loved her and nothing else mattered.

But other things did matter. Like the three vampires he knew were waiting for him to appear in the parking lot at any moment.

After a moment, she opened her eyes and let out a breath. “Kill me.”

Cameron flinched as if she'd struck him.

She took a step forward. “I heard what happened with your father. I know what will happen to you if you don't do as he's said. I can't let that happen.” She shook her head and licked her lips. “I'm not who I was. I can't go back to my life or my family. There is nothing left for me anyway. Kill me, and you will buy time for the others and yourself.”

“Kill you?” Cameron could barely utter the words. “You think I would— could— kill you?”

“You're a vampire; I'm a werewolf.” She looked away, stared at a broken place in the stucco wall. “I know what that means.”

Cameron grabbed her by the upper arms and pulled her toward him. “What that means? You know what that means? It means I haven't slept since you left. It means I'm defying my father worse than I ever have in my life. It means I would walk out into the day and pierce my own heart with a stake if I could undo even one moment of what has happened to you. It means this...” He lowered his mouth to hers and captured her lips.

His kiss was angry and rough, all the frustration he'd felt for the past week pouring out of him in one giant rush. He'd missed her. He'd obsessed about her. He'd been willing to risk everything to save her, and she was throwing all of that away by following him here.

He wouldn't let her. She was the one who was going to survive this, not him, and it was time she accepted that.

He pulled back and stared into her eyes, determined to do whatever it took, even mesmerize her if he had to, to get her to accept her new reality and forget him.

But as he stared at her, as he willed her to do as he wished, she only stared back, confused and hurt and one hundred percent aware. The spell didn't work.

He closed his eyes then and pulled her back against his chest.

She lifted her chin to stare up at him, and he kissed her again, this time softly and making no effort to hide how thoroughly he had fallen.

“We'll figure this out,” he murmured against her lips. He didn't know how, but somehow they would. They had to.

First, though, he had to get rid of the waiting vampires before they came looking for him.

He turned, thinking to have her hide behind the ice machine again, but as he did, he heard a loud inhalation followed by a hiss.

“A werewolf with the Crystal City leader's son.” The vampire blocking the entrance to the alcove where Cameron and Rachel stood was unknown to Cameron, but obviously the unfamiliarity didn't go both ways.

Cameron pushed Rachel toward the ice machine and prepared to fight.

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Cameron hadn't agreed to her plan, and he hadn't turned her away either.

Rachel
hoped
that he thought they could be together, that they could somehow make this mess that was their reality into a life together.

But first it seemed they had to get past another vampire.

Or three.

Two vampires flanked the first. These other vampires weren’t visible from her position, but they were definitely there. She could smell them, their cologne and the scent of blood on their breath.

The first would tire Cameron, and the others would kill him.

It was how the wolves would do it.

She jerked at the thought. She didn't know how the wolves did anything.

But the pack did, and it seemed they had found her and reconnected.

Strength and confidence flowed into her. So much and so quickly that she staggered backward under the onslaught.

Cameron flew backward, thrown by the visible vamp. He crashed into the ice machine. As quickly as he hit, he rushed back toward the opening of the alcove and the other vampires.

Rachel opened and closed her hands. She could feel them itching, could feel her body itching.

“Not now,” a voice or voices murmured in her head.

She wasn't ready to take on wolf form. She knew that, but her body wasn't so sure.

“He has weapons. Use those.”

Nancy had told her Cameron was carrying an arsenal of werewolf-fighting weapons. Surely there was something in the mix she could use on a vampire just as well.

Her gaze shot to the duffle Cameron had dropped when he'd entered the alcove earlier. Avoiding the fighting vampires, she scrambled toward it.

Her guess was right. The bag clanked as she jerked it toward her. Blindly, she grabbed the first object she could and immediately hissed in pain.

Silver. Wrong end.

She pulled the bag back to her place behind the ice machine and dumped its contents onto the ground.

Knives, guns, and something she hadn't expected. Stakes. A lot of them.

Perhaps Cameron hadn't been hunting werewolves after all.

She grabbed two wooden stakes from the pile and stepped out from behind the machine.

The pair of vampires who had been standing behind the first moved forward.

“Rachel. No.” Cameron gripped his attacker by the throat and shoved his head against the motel's brick wall.

The other vampire, on seeing her and his companions, smiled. “One down. How many to go?” he asked.

In answer, Cameron bashed his head against the wall again.

Cameron's fangs were extended and his face contorted, just as she'd seen him before, but this time she didn't find the transformation disturbing at all.

She found it reassuring.

The pack, she realized, approved of her change in perception. Their murmurs blended into a hum, encouraging her to embrace her task.

One of the waiting vampires rushed forward. She took a step to the side, twisted her arm so the stake pointed at his chest, and slammed the weapon into his heart.

He froze. Surprise pulled at his face. Then he looked down, and his hands started to rise, but they never made it to the stake. Instead, he fell forward, dead at her feet.

She stared down at him, neither elated nor dismayed. She'd killed him. It wasn't an act to regret or celebrate. It was just something that had to be done, and she had been the one in the place to do it.

Beside her, she heard a crunch and a pop. She twisted and moved the second stake to her stronger hand. Cameron stood two feet away, the first vampire's head gripped in his hands. He dropped the male onto the ground and held out one hand. Without a thought, she slapped the stake against his open palm.

Within seconds, he'd staked the vampire and jerked the weapon free.

He stood, his back strong and straight and an air of such power flowing around him she wondered how she could ever have been in his presence and not known what he was. Even in the dark of the alcove, his dominance was obvious.

He hadn't needed her help, but he'd accepted it. That made him even stronger to her.

Unaware of her thoughts, he moved forward, after the third vampire, who, on seeing what had happened to his companions, turned and fled.

“They have him,” she said, her voice loud to her ears.

Cameron stopped and turned. “They?”

“The wolves.”

“You're... communicating with them?” He looked both curious and concerned.

She lifted one shoulder. “I can't explain it, but it's...” What? “Right.” And it was, she realized.

He glanced over his shoulder again, but at the sound of growls nearby, he nodded his head and returned his gaze to her.

Minutes seemed to tick by.

“So you're good then. You'll be good and happy?”

“I'm good or will be.” She swallowed, waiting for him to tell her he was good too, that being with her made everything good.

“The Senate will send more vampires, but it's early. I can make it pretty far before day hits. And you and your pack can travel in the light. By tomorrow night, when they realize something has gone wrong, we'll be miles apart, and you'll be safe.” His gaze stayed on her for a second, then he bent to retrieve the weapons that she had dumped onto the ground.

She stared at him, not believing what he was saying, what he seemed to be thinking.

“Will we?” she asked. “What makes you think that?”

A line drew itself between his brows. “I told you, I'll—”

She stepped closer. “I'll follow you. I'll always follow you.” And it was true. She would. Her old life was gone. She couldn’t go into this new one alone. She needed Cameron. She loved Cameron.

“I'm a vampire.”

“And I'm a wolf.” It didn’t matter. She knew that now. Nothing mattered.

“You haven't shifted. I can't help you with that.” He licked his lips. She could see doubt in his eyes.

“You don't have to.” She might need the pack, at least for a while, but that didn't mean she would let go of Cameron to be part of it.

“They'll understand,” she added.

He moved toward her,
until her legs pressed up against his. “How can you be so sure?”

“They'll have to.”

“And my father? He doesn't give up easily.”

“Do you?” She smiled.

A moment passed.

Then slowly, Cameron smiled back, and her world shifted again.

“No. Not this time.” His hands cupped her face and his thumbs traced her lips.

Then slowly, carefully, as if any sudden movement would break the spell that they’d built, he lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her. Sweet, soft, and meant to last forever.

And they would.

-o0o-

Note from Lori:

Thanks for reading
Claimed
and the rest of the
Lost
series. If you would like to see more stories in this series, I’d love to hear from you. Drop me an email at
[email protected]
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Then stop by
my web site
for information on my monthly contests and Fan of the Month program.

And if you enjoyed the series and have a moment, reviews posted online at any of the online booksellers, Goodreads, or your blog are always appreciated!

Thanks so much for reading my stories.

Lori Devoti

About the Author

Lori Devoti is the author of urban fantasy, contemporary and paranormal romance. To learn more about her fiction,
visit her web site
, http://www.loridevoti.com, or her
fan page on Facebook
, http://www.facebook.com/LoriDevotiAuthor.

Or email her at
[email protected]

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