Lisa Renee Jones (3 page)

“You can still find your car, right?” he asked teasingly, as he turned the key in the front door and motioned to the closing manager to lock up behind him.

She laughed. “Of course, I’m too drunk to drive it, but it’s still big enough for me to find.” He shoved open the door, stepping outside to a rush of awareness. Tension raked over Evan’s nerve endings, his vampire senses screaming with the presence of a wolf. Covertly, he had an advantage. He could sense the wolf, but as a vampire, he was essentially dead, so he had no scent, no emotion for the wolf to pick up. But out in the open like this, the wolf would see him and sense nothing human in him. In other words, the wolf would know Evan was a vampire, a Warden hunting him. That put the ball back in the wolf’s corner. Run or attack. And since most Wardens worked alone -- he and his brothers being the exceptions -- the wolf might well be cocky enough to attack.

“I left my jacket inside,” Evan said, turning back to the bar entrance. One of his brothers could stay with Ellen, but he needed the other brother here, ready to take out the wolf, while Evan protected Marissa.

Evan knocked on the door.

“You wear a jacket in this heat?” Marissa asked, the humid Texas night stiflingly impossible to ignore.

“Fashion statement,” he told her. “And since my wallet is inside my jacket pocket, an important one.”

The manager looked through the double glass door and opened it up. “Forget something?” Evan nodded. "Yeah, I’ll be quick.”

He pulled Marissa inside, found himself tenderly brushing hair from her eyes, wondering what it was about this woman that brought out such an action. He was a hunter, an assassin, a man who was no longer a man. “Don’t move,” he instructed brusquely, trying to get himself back on track, focused on his mission. More focused on protecting her rather than fucking her. “I’ll be right back.”

She wobbled and grabbed his arm. “Woops. Guess I moved. The floor is unsteady.”

“The floor,” he said, his lips twitching, a smile trying to invade his desperate need to separate the Warden hunting werewolf and the Warden hunting this female. She was adorable, a witch casting a spell over him. “Of course,” he led her to a table and settled her into a chair, squatting down beside her. “Now this time, I mean it. Don’t move.” She offered him a crooked smile framed by a glassy-eyed stare. “I’d say it’s a pretty safe gamble I won’t be getting up without your help.”

“Good,” he said, caressing the back of her leg. “I don’t want you to go anywhere without me.”

***

Marissa watched Evan depart with his loose-legged, sexy swagger, leaving her alone in the front of the bar, and a low moan escaped her lips. Man almighty, he was incredible. She could feel the ache between her thighs, the tingle of awareness in her nipples. She was a wanton hussy! Oh good grief. This was not who she was, drunk or sober. She didn’t need to go where this was going -- to where she was headed with this man. She didn’t need to wake up feeling crappy about her life choices, and then feeling like a hussy to top it off. She hadn’t made it through life alone by making irresponsible or irrational decisions. But then again, Evan was really hot, and maybe she wouldn’t remember the hussy part. She giggled. She wasn’t a giggler, didn’t like gigglers, and was even appalled at the idea that she’d suddenly become one. Another giggle slid uncontrollably from her lips.

She pushed to her feet and her stomach instantly rolled. Oh great, she thought, grabbing the wooden arm of the chair. “I’m going to be sick,” she murmured. A hot man, a night of inhibitions-be-damned, and she was on the verge of throwing up. Wasn’t that just the story of her life?

Another roll of her stomach and Marissa knew she was in deep trouble. Desperation to escape before she embarrassed herself, she rushed to the door, thanking the good Lord that the keys were hanging in the lock. Somehow, she managed to turn the key and shove the door open.

Relief washed over her. She was safe from embarrassing herself in front of Evan. Or she would be if she could hold her stomach in check long enough to get to the side of the building.

Chapter Three

Marissa stumbled forward, thankful she still possessed the capacity to act, to make it to the alley where no one could see her. Marissa’s purse flopped around on her shoulder, though she had no memory of how it got there. Not a second too soon, she rounded the side of the building and found the sanctuary of the dark alley. Horrible stomach pain bent her at the waist and seconds turned into minutes, as the sickness overcame her.

When finally she heaved herself to stand upright, she knew any fantasy romance for the night was over. She not only felt like crap, she must look it. And please let there be a stick of gum in her purse. She fumbled with the leather strap, trying to get her zipper open, when a sudden rush of icy cold awareness slid through her. Marissa froze, immediately aware of the pitch-black alley as a place of danger, rather than a sanctuary. A sense of foreboding lodged her breath in her throat, some instinct telling her not to move, not to dare to so much as blink. Someone was in the sheet of blackness surrounding her and she knew it in every pore of her being.

She strained to adjust her eyes, to see something, anything. Then -- a sound -- a slight scraping of the pavement. Her heart jack hammered and she turned to run only to come face to face with a pair of red glowing eyes. A growl permeated the air at the same moment Marissa screamed.

An instant later, a powerful solid force blasted into her and she hit the ground hard. Her bones and teeth rattled with the impact, and gravel grinded into her back. But fear was more powerful than the pain and Marissa tried to get up, tried to escape. She pressed up onto her hands when a heavy body came down on top of hers. A hot, wicked breath washed over her face in the midst of a snarl. Right then, she knew she was in deep trouble. This was no man -- this was worse. This was a wild animal, a big wild animal.

She opened her mouth to scream again but teeth dug into her shoulder. Marissa gasped with the ripping of her flesh, the crunching of tendons and bone. Her body jerked on its own, as if nerves were reacting to the damage. She tried to scream, but no sound would come. She hurt…God, she hurt so badly. She willed herself to fight, to move, to survive -- cursed the alcohol that made her weaker, that made her head spin, that surely contributed to why her limbs refused to move. She was limp, a rag doll being torn apart. And all she could do was squeeze her eyes shut and pray.

***

At the same moment a scream ripped through the air, Evan burst through the double doors of the bar, tasting Marissa’s fear as surely as he’d tasted the sweetness of her blood only a short time before. In a flash, he was around the dark alley’s corner, thankful for his night vision, despite the horrific scene before him. Marissa was on the ground, the wolf hovering above her fallen body.

Instantly, the wolf’s head lifted with awareness of Evan’s presence, blood dripping from its lips.

Evan was behind the beast in a flash of vampire speed. He flung the wolf hard against a Dumpster, anger fueling his power. The wolf hit the metal with a thundering jolt before plummeting to the ground.

Evan squatted next to Marissa where she lay unconscious, blood spurting from a clawed gouge running from her neck to her shoulder where teeth had punctured her clear past the bone. His gaze cut to where the wolf pushed to its feet in a snarl of irritation. Evan and the yellow-eyed beast locked gazes, the wolf’s stare radiating aggression.

“Come and get me, Wolf!” he yelled.

The wolf bared spiked fangs with a snarl, curling its seven-foot plus tall body forward, posturing up for an attack. Evan sprang to his feet, standing in ready position.

Several tense seconds passed, a silent standoff ensuing, until abruptly, the wolf snarled and then with a spry leap to the roof of the bar, he was gone. A moment of indecision overcame Evan.

The wolf was escaping, potentially targeting many more humans, yet if he didn’t attend to Marissa’s injuries she would surely bleed to death.

Evan snapped his gaze from where the retreating wolf had disappeared and focused on Marissa, his chest tightening at the sight of her pale face illuminated by his night vision. He bent down beside her, lifted her so that she rested against him, knowing he was bound by council law to kill her. She’d been bitten by a wolf infected with a virus comparable to rabies if the animal kept a sound, calculating mind. A virus that would infect Marissa, turn her into the same kind of monster. Everything inside him screamed with the injustice of it, with blame for leaving her alone. He reacted with possessiveness, protectiveness for this woman that defied their short encounter. Exactly why he usually kept his encounters with women in the bedroom. He didn’t want to know them, he didn’t want to care. Because caring didn’t help him, caring didn’t allowing him to do his Warden duty.

Without giving himself time to think about the consequences of his actions, really not giving a damn, he bit his wrist and trickled blood past her lips, giving her the substance that would heal her. He could save her. He would save her.

It took only seconds for Marissa to react to the blood, to act on the primal need to survive, the instinctive understanding of what she needed to continue to live. He let her take what she needed, the wounds on her neck and shoulder, beginning to seal as he knew they would. But he couldn’t allow her to take too much, not without the risk of becoming too weak to protect her if the wolf returned. Not without feeding himself and that wasn’t an option at the moment.

“Enough,” he ordered softly, commanding her mind, “Sleep.” She didn’t fight the compulsion as some humans would, didn’t require an addition mental push.

She simply collapsed against him, a soft delicate flower of a female, and he knew on some level, she trusted him.

“Tell me you have a reason the council will consider acceptable for saving her.” Evan’s gaze lifted, cutting through the darkness, to find, Aiden, the eldest of his two younger brothers, leaning on the wall, one foot propped over the other. He scooped Marissa into his arms and stood up.

“A good reason,” he said. “But not one they’ll accept.” Aiden cursed. “They’ll kill you and if they don’t she will. The virus will make her a monster.”

“Not if I kill the wolf, and the virus with it, before the full moon.”

“The virus will make her go crazy long before the full moon.”

“It won’t.” He started walking, intending to pass his brother and head to the parking lot.

Aiden captured his arm before he passed. “It will,” he insisted.

“She won’t go crazy,” Evan ground out between his teeth, jerking his arm free and charging forward.

Aiden cursed softly and then quickly fell into pace with Evan, the tension rolling off of his brother telling Evan that Aiden had a good idea why Evan was so sure of his words, and most defiantly wasn’t happy about it.

Barely a minute later, Evan slid into the backseat of Aiden’s escalade with Marissa curled in his arms. Aiden climbed into the front seat and turned to face Evan immediately. “You exchanged blood with her?”

Evan gave a slow nod.

“Fuck!” Aiden cursed, hitting the steering wheel and then turning a black heated stare on Evan.

“Damn it to hell Evan, are you trying to get yourself killed? Is that it? You’re tired of this life and you’re looking for a ticket to goodbye? Now you can’t erase her memory. She will know about us. She will be a danger to us no matter what happens to the wolf.” Evan was all too aware of what the bond had created between them. “I’ll deal with the woman.”

“She’s infected Evan,” Aiden ground out between cuspids now elongated with his anger. “She’s going to turn into a monster. And that monster will share a mental channel with you that will allow her to hunt you down and kill you herself. And whatever it is you think you feel for her, and I assume you must, or you wouldn’t be pulling this crap – well, she won’t feel it for you.

She’ll want you dead.”

“Not if I kill the wolf.”

Aiden stared at Evan for several longs seconds before he asked, “And if your blood, and the bond you’ve created with her, isn’t enough to keep her from going crazy?” They both knew she’d struggle with primal urges that would have to be controlled. “I said I’ll deal the woman.”

Aiden stared at him several long moments, and then turned without another word and started the truck, the silence and dark shadows, filled with implications.

In all their days as Wardens, as Vampires, none of them had ever made the mistake of creating a blood bond with a human, a mistake that could expose their entire race. It could be remedied only two ways – death or conversion to Vampire. He’d vowed he’d never curse another human to his existence. Never steal a human life as a vampire had done his and his brothers, and a good number of those in their village, all in one violent night of blood feasting. But he wouldn’t allow Marissa to be the reason his brothers were hunted down and killed either.

Chapter Four

Marissa sat up in her bed with a gasp, the air in her chest expanding with such force it was as if she’d been dead and found life. The sensation was intense, and her chest heaved with several deep drags of air – in and then out. Her heart thundered as she struggled with a sense of disorientation. Her gaze flickered frantically across her room – her bedroom – her home. That was good. Safe. Though she wasn’t sure why she thought she wasn’t safe. There was a reason –

something just out of the reach of her memory.

The room was dimly lit, light filtering through the red-shaded lamp on the nightstand, her gaze locking on the digital clock that read four AM.

Her nostrils flared with the sudden awareness of a familiar scent, and she drew it in as readily as she had air moments before, savoring it – darn near tasting it. Her mouth watered, and oddly, her skin warmed. Had she ever smelled anything so delicious in her entire life? Textured, rich and multi-colored, in a way a scent had never been before. It reached inside her and flowered.

She inhaled yet again, hungry for more of the scent, eager to identify its source. Spicy and male, she realized. A flash of images charged through her mind of tall, dark, good-looking – Mr. Hot-One-Night-Stand with long dark hair and smoldering sensuality. She’d been upset about her patient’s death, about telling the patient’s sister about the loss. The bar and drinks had followed.