Her Vampire Husband (23 page)

Vengeance in his wife’s name demanded he kill the wolf; honor insisted he not.

Dodging a punch, Creed noted the wolf was slow because of his upper body. There was a point a man
could develop too many muscles. He came up and elbowed the bruiser in the ribs. The move didn’t even force a gasp from the wolf.

Blood spilled down the back of Creed’s throat. The wolf had crushed his nose with an iron fist. He spit to the side.

“Had enough, longtooth?” Ryan barked. “Some tribe leader you are. Can’t even stand against one wolf. And I’m not even breaking out the big bad yet.”

Creed spit again, and the wolf dodged to avoid the bloody spittle. He used that moment of inattention to kick him high at the shoulder. The move sent the wolf flying against the brick wall twenty feet away.

“Nice one,” a vampire called.

Yes, but Creed could have laid him out if he’d the power of his magic behind the kick. The shackles were yet too apparent, though, to consider such a stupid move.

The wolf shook off the hit and growled, flexing his arms in a he-man pose. And then he began to shift.

Not good. A vampire never liked to take on a werewolf without proper weapons. Yet Creed did not wish for Wolfsbane. No, that would only serve as the rally to battle.

Somewhere at the club’s back door, a female yelled. A flash of violet skirts distracted Creed momentarily.

“Stay back!” he shouted to Blu.

She’d rushed out the back door and barged through the
clutch of vampires. Making eye contact with Alexandre, Creed nodded once.

Alexandre secured Blu.

“Call off your thug,” Ryan growled, mid-shift. “Let her go!” His face elongated and it grew caninelike. Fangs descended. His shirt ripped down the seams. Hair sprouted across his shoulders and down his arms.

Creed willed down his teeth and lunged for the wolf. If he were close, it would be more difficult for the beast to lash out with those deadly talons. What werewolves lacked in agility, vampires made up for with speed and stealth.

Besides, he’d had a crash course avoiding claws just last night. He was up for this.

The enraged werewolf howled to the sky. The entire pack answered with short, yipping howls. Completely shifted, Ryan now stood two heads higher than Creed. His shoulders had broadened and dark hair covered his body. He stomped, flicking his head back and howling—and eyed Creed.

Creed raised a fist, and connected directly with Ryan’s jaw. Bones cracked.

As did glass.

Spatters of liquid silver beaded in the air. The world seemed to slow as Creed withdrew his fist. But the wolf didn’t snap at him with an angry growl. Instead, a silver
bead hit the werewolf on the bloody snout and it yowled, slapping at the contact.

“Hell’s mercy.” Creed flipped over his hand. The ring had broken, spattering liquid silver into the air.

“It’s silver!” one of the wolves shouted. The pack dispersed but did not go far.

“Bastard’s not fighting fair!”

“No, I…” Creed looked to Blu. He could not hear her over the growls and wild yips, but her mouth was open wide, screaming.

For him or her lover?

The werewolf dropped, convulsing before him. The silver would track his veins and explode the beast from within.

“He’s killed him. Take the longtooth!”

At Blu’s father’s direction the pack moved in for the kill. Wolves charged Creed and others went after Alexandre. The vampire was no match for the pack. Blu, too, was taken and wrangled by wolves.

A fist to his jaw sent Creed stumbling. A kick to his shin dropped him to his knees. Blood dribbled down his chin. The talon slash across his chest was only half-healed and hurt like hell.

“Take his head!” Amandus announced.

“No!” Blu raged, struggling against her captors. “You promised!”

The father looked to his struggling daughter and nodded.

“Wait,” Amandus shouted, as a wolf transformed, talons growing out its fingers. “Leave that longtooth alive.”

The last thing Creed remembered was a foot connecting with his jaw.

“Y
OU MADE YOUR BARGAIN
,” Amandus said to Blu as she was secured in the back of the waiting
SUV
.

Silver shackles about her wrists—lined on the interior with leather—would not harm her, but would drain her energy. She couldn’t struggle if she wished.

Indeed, she had made a deal with the devil to save Creed’s life.

“You go back on the bargain,” she screamed at her father, “and I’ll come after you myself.”

The old man smirked and slammed the door shut.

Blu shuffled into the darkness but was grabbed by two strong hands. “Welcome home, Princess. Your father thinks I’ve potential in the pack. We’ll be seeing a lot of each other is what
I
hear.”

It was not the familiar Ridge who grabbed her, but the creepy, lecherous new recruit, Diaz.

C
REED DRAGGED HIMSELF
up by the brick wall. Blood filled his mouth—his own. He spit to the side.

All about him chaos reigned. Vampires fought werewolves. Bladed weapons were slashed through the air, and wooden bullets were fired at the vampires. The occasional splash of holy water only burned flesh if the vampire had been baptized. None in Nava had been, but there were other tribes Creed worried about.
A
baptized vampire could not survive a holy wound.

Remarkably, no weres came after him. They must think him already dead.

The last thing he remembered was Blu shouting and struggling with her father’s men.

Had they taken her?

He raced inside and toward the banquet hall, shoving aside werewolves and vampires alike. The very war they’d tried to prevent had been set loose tonight.

Because of him.

He’d not thought about the ring when he’d been fighting Ryan. It was too insane that it had broken. Of course, the glass wasn’t as strong as titanium. He hadn’t wished the wolf dead, no matter his vicious attack, or his fronting the blood matches.

If Blu had for one disillusioned moment loved Eugene Ryan, he would never kill him. Beat the crap out of him, sure, but not kill him.

“She must hate me. Where is she?”

Havoc bustled inside the ballroom beneath the grand chandeliers. Vampires went after werewolves, fangs bared. Weres shifted and slashed out with talons. Through the darkness and sparking lights, Creed spied Amandus. The old man observed the chaos from the edge of the room, peering around the doorway.

Creed crossed the room and shoved the man across the hall and into a dark corner. “Where is she?”

“Safe from you. Unhand me, longtooth.”

The old man’s eyes glowed yellow. Did he think to shift before Creed? Bring it on.

“I’ll see to Blu’s safety,” Creed hissed. “She could get hurt in this havoc.”

“She is secure. And she is no longer yours.”

“No longer—? She is my wife!”

“Drop the game, Saint-Pierre. You put up a good show, but you are released from your vows. I’ll burn the marriage contract. I’ll not see any daughter of mine wed to a vampire.”

“Too late, old man. You were the one to push her into my arms. I love her. I’ll treat her far better than you ever could. Why didn’t your men finish me off?”

Her father grimaced and spat. “She begged for your life.”

“What? When?”

“Earlier. She knew this would happen. Just as you
have known it would, so drop the act. We’ve both now got the war we have strived for.”

“Not my war,” Creed said through clenched teeth. “Nor is it Blu’s. Where is she?”

“On her way to becoming a broodmare for the pack. As she should be. Idiot bitch. To think she was in love with a longtooth?”

Creed fisted Amandus at the jaw. The wolf groped for a hold, but slid down the wall. Gripping him by the neck, Creed lifted him and leaned over his face.

“She told me how you treated her. How dare you? She is not a commodity to hand out as a prize to your warriors.”

The wolf cracked a smirk and Creed squeezed his neck. The vein pounded against his palm. His fangs lowered.

“No wolf will ever again use Blu, do you understand that?”

“If you go to her, longtooth, the bargain she made with me is broken and you’re dead.”

Creed squeezed harder until his thumb broke through flesh. Hot blood spurted across his face. “You first.”

He lunged to bite the wolf’s neck.

C
REED FOUND
A
LEXANDRE
bent over outside behind a garbage Dumpster. His throat had been slashed, exposing muscle and spine, yet no vampire was going to die that easily.

He couldn’t talk until the gaping wound healed. Creed shucked off his bloodied shirt and tied it about Alexandre’s throat.

“They’ve got Blu,” he said. “I suspect they’ve taken her to the Northern pack’s compound. That’s about an hour drive beyond my estate. I’m going after her.”

Alexandre gripped his forearm and shook his head violently.

Creed pressed firmly against the makeshift bandage. “Don’t move so much. Let the wound heal.”

“Just…let me die.”

Creed swallowed back an angry refusal. He’d said the same thing after Creed had rescued him from the blood match.

“No. I will not let you die. You are a good man, Alex. You’ve far too much to live for. What about Veronica?”

Alexandre winced but nodded. Creed could feel the man’s flesh knit together beneath his touch as he held the wound closed.

Alexandre managed to whisper. “She’s not worth it.”

“Veronica?”

“No. Your wolf.”

“Not worth sacrificing my position with the tribe? Not worth my being ostracized?”

“Exactly,” Alexandre croaked.

“Alexandre, think about the women you have loved. What of your beloved wife?”

The tattered vampire nodded his head. “Maria.”

The reason the man was a vampire was because of the woman he had loved so long ago. His wife had been raped, tortured and murdered. Alexandre, in a rage, had taken his revenge, knowing the hangman’s noose would be his reward. He’d done it out of love. Vampires, excited at the mortal’s revenge, had claimed him after that.

“You are fortunate to have known love, Alexandre, and to have it once again. It is a reason you must not ask for death now.”

The vampire nodded, conceding weakly.

“I have lived almost a thousand years, can you imagine? This is it, Alexandre. Love. And I’m not going to lose it. And if Blu does choose to return to her pack and abandon me, I won’t let it happen until I know she is safe. I’m going. When you are able, you gather as many from Nava as you can and retreat. We aren’t prepared for this battle. We have to regroup and strategize.”

“Not alone,” Alexandre managed, though his words gurgled with blood.

“Yes, alone. It’s the safest way without drawing attention. I’ll find her, or die trying.” He slapped Alexandre on the shoulder and took off across the parking lot.

A wolf, half-shifted, lolled by the trunk of a Mercedes
as he neared the
BMW
. Creed approached, prepared to kill it, but when it looked up at him, Creed saw one of its eyes had been torn out.

“I had no idea my men had become so vicious.” He backed away and got in the car. “They’ve become blood crazed. This fight will escalate to war if we don’t stop it.”

Backing from the lot, he peeled onto the road. There was no time to waste. He stopped at his estate, ran inside and grabbed Wolfsbane. He made the drive to the compound in a half hour and parked two miles out on a dark gravel road.

S
WINGING
W
OLFSBANE
through the cool evening air, Creed stalked down a ditch and across a barren field. The wolves would smell him coming. He was covered in wolf blood, his own and, as well, Alexandre’s. Would they scent their principal’s blood on him, too?

He swiped a palm over his bloodied chest, but it would do little good. He should have washed before coming here. He hadn’t time now.

He had to reach the compound quickly, and without being noticed.
A
spell to summon the wind would keep his scent hidden.

He began to summon, and the first pinch of iron to his skull stopped him cold. Creed fell to his knees. “Fuck.”

No magic. Not ever again.

He shook off the nerve-abrading pain and stood. “Guess I’ll have to do things the old-fashioned way.”

He’d charged vanguards many times. Usually with dozens of soldiers flanking him. Pray tonight the vanguard was all sleeping inside the compound.

Breaking into a run, he dashed across the lumpy field. Chunks of dried earth made footing difficult, but his steps were so quick he barely touched ground before pushing off in another stride. Beating a fierce pace, he gained the massive cement compound.

Entering at ground level would be suicide. He sighted an iron ladder attached to the side of the compound and leaped for it, landing five rungs up. Climbing quickly, he hurdled over the roof edge and landed on the flat roof with a roll, but did not come up on his feet. Instead he crouched beyond the demarcation where the security light beamed.

Taking the cement roof ledge in careful steps, he avoided the light as it flashed around again. He couldn’t scent Blu as easily as a wolf could.

If only he’d bitten her. With her blood in his system, his heartbeat would synch to hers when she was near. He would know her presence.

A rustle behind alerted him. Creed slipped noiselessly up against a tin chimney flue. So they did have guards outside. Smart. He hoped the guard wasn’t in werewolf
form. The moon was officially still full, even though it was waning, and that made the enemy formidable.

“Who’s there?”

The unseen enemy was not in werewolf form, else he wouldn’t have been able to speak.

Creed jumped to the top of the chimney. The wolf looked up, still unable to pinpoint the intruder. Creed sprang, landing on his opponent on the shoulders and bringing them both down on the loose-pebbled rooftop.

They grappled, but Creed didn’t take any chances. He slashed Wolfsbane across the wolf’s throat before he could cry out and alert others. The foul scent of wolf blood permeated the air. Blood pooled on the pebbles and Creed stepped away so he would not leave tracks.

Drawing tall, Creed relished the adrenaline rush of success. He liked taking off werewolf heads. And defeating an enemy that should rightly have more strength.

How could his wife ever love him? He knew well he could act on the outside, but inside he would always be her enemy.

“No,” he whispered. “Never.”

Blu was not the enemy. And he had begun to change, thanks to her.

Creed stepped back, wiped the blade across the wolf’s pant leg, then tilted his head to listen. No others on the roof.

Without Blu’s scent or the blood bond, he would have to listen for the heartbeats below. Already he sensed two, perhaps two stories below him. Calm heartbeats. Walking farther, he paused as each new heartbeat pulsed a message to him. Most were calm, some aggressive, a few sleeping. He counted eight so far.

And then he sensed the erratic pulse of fear. “Blu.”

Whispering her name, Creed wished he could use magic to send it below to his wife, but perhaps their bond would reassure her. “I’m coming for you.”

“I’
M COMING FOR YOU
.”

She heard the voice in her head, thought it was Creed, but didn’t dare to dream.

Whimpering at the aches pulsing in her muscles, Blu nuzzled her face into the scratchy straw barely covering the cement floor. It was cold in the basement, and her dress was gossamer thin. The skirt was made from yards of fabric, but she wasn’t able to utilize more than the long loose end designed to sweep over her arm and wrap it about her shoulders.

Her ankle pulsed madly. It must have twisted when Diaz had shoved her from the van. Normally a minor injury would heal within minutes, but shackled in silver, as she was, the injury might grow worse.

If she could shift to wolf shape, she could slip from
the shackles and scamper out of here. But again, the silver kept her weak.

She prayed this was not how her father intended to keep her now. Surely he would allow her to return to her private quarters and live as she had.

Not like this.

She was not an animal.

When Creed looked at her, all he saw was his wife. His lover. He made her so proud to stand at his side. And now she would never see him again.

They’d both been shackled tonight. What a sorry end to the relationship. Yet she would shackle herself to Creed for the rest of her days if she were able.

“Oh, Creed.”

Footsteps descending the stairs alerted her. Blu was too drained to scent who was coming. It was probably Diaz. The wolf had manhandled her down the stairs and she’d feared rape, but after chaining her to the plumbing pipe, he’d merely cracked a wicked grin and promised to return.

If Amandus gave her to Diaz to mate with, she would sooner rip out her heart.

“Oh,
mon Dieu.
”

That voice! Diaz’s voice would not make her heart flutter. Blu wanted to lift her head, but she couldn’t muster the strength.

“Chains and shackles? No, no, Blu. Can you hear me?”

“Creed?”

“We must be quick. I don’t think I alerted the guards, but they will scent the blood on me soon enough. My love, I am so sorry for this. Had that fight not started you would not be here right now.”

He lifted a shackle and Blu moaned as the numbing ache prickled through her body. “Silver?”

“Yes. I’m too weak to struggle out. Please, Creed, get out of here and save yourself. There are too many wolves. You can’t fight them all. Not without magic.”

“I’d die without you, Blu. I’m not going anywhere unless you’re in my arms.”

She heard the sound of metal scraping across the cement. The glint of a blade made her wince. “You brought Wolfsbane?”

“Have a problem with that?”

“Swing to your heart’s content, lover. I’m so over the pack’s nasty dogs.”

He wrenched on the shackle about her wrist. “I can’t use the sword. I don’t want to cut you. But the silver is soft. I can snap it. Your wrists are so delicate—”

“Just do it. Ouch!”