Only After Dark The Boxed Set Books 1 - 4: Shifters Forever Worlds (17 page)

B
urning
. That was the first sensation that struck Alexa. It started in her fingertips and toes, then moved upward. It was as if someone was injecting lava in her veins.

“You were bit by that bloodsucker, then you bit him. You’ve bloodshared.” That was Leandra’s voice, coming from far away, but talking to her, Alexa knew.

She knew because she remembered. The vampires, the attack. Then everything went foggy in her mind. It was like drowning, but not in water.

She opened her eyes, tried to focus but her vision was blurry.

“I have to stop the process.” Leandra was holding a vial. “Drink it.” She looked up. “It’s been a long time since it was used. I hope it’s effective.”

Alexa swallowed. Her teeth felt like they were being pulled with pliers. “And if it isn’t?”

“You don’t want to know.” She put the vial to Alexa’s lips.

“What can happen?” Alexa pulled her head away. “And why do my teeth feel like they’re being pulled out.”

Leandra’s eyes flew wide, silver orbs on a white ocean. “Drink. Now. There’s not a second to waste. Hurry.”

Alexa gulped the thick viscous liquid. She grimaced. If black licorice were soaked in dog piss, then blended with mulch, it would have tasted better. “That’s horrible.”

A series of rubber bands snapped in her body. Popping and cracking ensued, traveling from the tips of her fingers to her arms, shoulders, torso while the identical sensation began at her toes and moved upward.

Alexa hissed, the sound foreign as if it hadn’t come from her lips. The sensation was overwhelming. The popping so loud, it drowned out other sounds. She tried to keep her eyes focused on the ceiling of the little cabin. To study the beams that joined in mismatched joints, the items perched on the beams, but everything began to slowly turn black.

R
eese opened
the door when he heard her scream. He stood in the doorway and balled his fist at his side as his mate—yeah, she was his mate, and he’d take on anyone who contradicted that fact—Alexa’s eyes rolled back before her lids drew down.

Leandra turned her back, placing the vial on the nearby scarred and aged butcher block table.

Reese put his hand on Leandra’s shoulder. He didn’t like what was going on. “She’s…”

“This is normal. It means the antidote is working.” Leandra rubbed her arms, though it wasn’t cold. “Hopefully, it will be strong enough.”

“What could happen if it’s not?”

Leandra turned to face him. Her eyes resembled moons with a single black dot in the center. She glanced at Alexa. “Bloodlust.”

Reese hadn’t a clue what that was, but he could guess.

Alexa moaned and squirmed.

He took long strides to her side. “What’s going on?” he asked Leandra.

“She’s fighting the vampire’s essence.”

“Will she live if she loses the battle?”

“She’ll wish she hadn’t.”

A
lexa moaned
. Her head felt like it was full of a million buzzing gnats. The gnats turned into fire ants and began to migrate throughout her veins, traveling over her body, leaving her nerve endings ragged.

She raised her eyelids slowly, afraid that the fire ants would attack her eyeballs.

A pair of brown eyes, liquid chocolate, full of love and worry, stared at her. Reese’s face was drawn into lines of concern, his color more like ash.

Behind Reese, Leandra’s silver gaze studied Alexa.

She squeezed her hands into fists, trying to push the fire ants away.

“How do you feel?” Leandra’s voice sounded as if she were miles away. The words seem to come from her before her lips even moved.

Or did they move at all?

Alexa blinked hard, pushing the ants’ pinpricks from behind her lids. “Will I be infected?”

“I think we caught it in time.”

“You think?” Reese’s voice was fraught with unease.

“I’m pretty sure.”

A frown put vertical lines between his brows. He placed the back of his hand against her cheek.

Alexa flinched as if she’d been burned.

“Did I hurt you?”

“Her skin is sensitive. All of her is sensitive. Shifter cells are battling vampire cells, with a little assistance from my people.”

Another platoon of ants made its way over her body. Alexa moaned, stretching her fingers apart so they didn’t touch each other. She released a low moan.

Reese turned toward Leandra. “Is there nothing you can do?”

“Perhaps.” Leandra stepped away and took a miniscule flask from the top shelf “Drink.” She popped a lid off the glass vessel and touched it to Alexa’s lips. The contact made her jump back as if more ants had been placed against her mouth.

“Drink,” Leandra insisted.

“What’s that you’re giving her now?”

“Something to ease the discomfort.”

The liquid was flavorless, but its effect was immediate. It pulled Alexa into a black bottomless pit where no sensation existed. She closed her eyes in blissful numbness.

A
lexa awakened slowly
. She remained motionless, her eyes closed, while she waited to see if the ants had departed. No stinging or burning. She kept her eyes closed and let her shifter senses pick up Reese’s scent. Joining Reese’s scent, the cabin’s aromas told her she was still at Leandra’s.

“You weren’t honest with us.” That was Reese’s voice.

“What did you want me to tell you?” Leandra’s tone was sharp.

“How I know her. What we were to each other before.”

“I don’t know for sure.”

“But it’s better than nothing,” Reese explained. “I’d rather know what little you think you know, than nothing.”

“You knew each other in another life.”

“Were we mated?”

“You’d couple bonded. That’s what’s kept you drawn to each other.”

Alexa felt Reese’s warm hand, recognized it was him not only from his pulse but from the way her body reacted to his touch. Every cell of her being tried to reach toward him, to be nearer to his essence.

His fingertips brushed her hair away from her shoulder. “She has no mark of having been couple bonded.”

“Maybe it was long ago. Do not ask me for details. I have not delved into your past.”

Alexa had known Leandra far too long not to realize her phrasing and her tone said there was something unsaid.

“But you can, can’t you?” Reese said, his hand resting on Alexa’s shoulder, offering comfort and security. “You can delve, somehow. You can answer questions.”

“It’s dangerous to do and a risk I won’t take.”

Alexa’s eyes flew open. “What risk?”

She felt Reese’s pulse quicken as a response to seeing her awake.

“How are you?” He caressed her shoulder, his thumb making circle patterns on her flesh.

“I’m me. I think I’m fine.” She tried to sit up, but pinpoints of flashing lights dotted her vision. She reached for his shoulder, holding on for support. “Maybe not completely fine.”

Reese pressed his lips against her forehead. “I was so damned worried.” The words were low, a tortured whisper torn from his core.

Alexa pressed into his body, letting his strength imbue her with her own.

Leandra opened the curtains, letting the morning’s light cast a glow in the cabin. The morning had ushered the darkness and the creatures that inhabited it away.

Leandra placed a frying pan on a two-burner stove then pulled a carton of eggs from an ancient icebox. She cracked four eggs, then turned toward the doorway. “Someone comes.”

A knock sounded on the wood.

“How did I not hear that before she did?” Reese asked, though Alexa thought the question rhetorical.

The door opened and the doorway was blocked by Theo’s large bulk.

His eyes narrowed as he took in Alexa laying on the couch and Reese perched on a chair next to the couch. Leandra hovered to the side.

Theo took a step into cabin. “What’s going on here?” He glanced at each of them, one at a time.

Reese’s hand tensed against Alexa’s shoulder. She put her fingers over his.

“Theo can be trusted.”

“Trusted?” Theo looked at Leandra. “What’s this about?”

“Lézare doesn’t need to know,” Alexa declared.

“It seems there’s a lot you don’t want your brother to know, Lex.”

“She’s not a child, Theo.” Leandra put her arm around Theo and tilted her head for a kiss.

Reese looked at Alexa, the question clearly in his eyes about Leandra and Theo.

“Long story.”

“Lézare’s back. He’s looking for you.”

Alexa jumped up, almost knocking Reese off the rickety chair.

“Is everything okay? Is he fine?”

“Yeah, but seeing as how it’s almost noon, the brunch has been put off. Evie’s not anywhere to be found, she’s not opening her door. He’s so pissed, he’s thinking of breaking the door open. Valencia’s not back. He’s sent two guys out to find her. If she didn’t take I-10 to get here, then they’ll never find her.”

Alexa heaved a sigh.
I almost die at some damned vampire’s hands—fangs—and life goes on as usual.

She looked at her clothing. Except it wasn’t her clothing. Alexa was in a thin, loose sweater—very loose, and a pair of drawstring sweatpants that nearly fell off her.
And it’s not like I have small hips, for fuck’s sake.

“My clothing?”

Leandra coughed. “I had to get you out of that dress.” The clothes… are borrowed.”

Leandra held up the cream colored dress. “I tried to restore it to what it was before you shifted.”

Thank goodness she didn’t say before you fought the vampires. Theo may not keep my secret from Lézare.

“It looks wonderful, Leandra.”

“I’ve brought the airboat. It’ll make the return trip quicker,” Theo announced. “It’s around the bend. I didn’t want to risk bringing it all the way. Wasn’t sure who’d be here and didn’t want to alert them.”

“Like who?” Alexa wondered. The vampires were long gone.

Theo gave Leandra a look. “Her people.”

“Escape Weekend hasn’t been much of one,” Alexa grumbled. “I need a vacation from our recreation weekend.”

“I have a suggestion.” Reese tugged on the sweater, pulling her close against his chest. “Houston’s a great location to get away, and I have the perfect place for you to hide.”

“Oh please, what’s Houston got that I’d want to see? Houston has nothing on New Orleans.”

“Houston has me.” Reese’s smile tipped up, meeting his eyes.

Right now Houston sounded heavenly. “Can I have some privacy so I can change?”
And if I’m lucky, I can sneak into my room and change into something that doesn’t look like it’s been through a couple of shifts and a fight with the vampires.

Although, Alexa had to admit, Leandra had done a remarkable job of removing the bloodstains she was sure were there. And miraculously there didn’t seem to be any new damage.

“I’ll help you change.” Leandra shut the door behind Theo and Reese.

A
lexa did it
. With a little help from Theo, and a lot of help and a dirty look from Maylene, Alexa managed to sneak in the back door and up to her room to change.

She was about to close her door when Maylene tugged on her arm. “There’s something you should know.” She hem hawed, then crossed her arms under her breasts. “Lézare has found a woman.”

“He did?” Alexa grinned. Maybe this wasn’t going to be such a bad Escape Weekend after all.

“Before you get too happy…”

“What?”

Heavy footsteps sounded on the stairway nearest her room.

“Alexa?” It was Lézare’s voice.

“He can’t see me like this. I’ve got to change. Stall him.” She gave Maylene a gentle nudge toward the stairway. “Please.”

Alexa didn’t understand what the headshake Maylene gave her meant. And she didn’t have time to figure it out, either. Not with Lézare a few paces away.

She slipped into her room, closed the door behind her and leaned against it. She listened to Maylene telling Lézare she needed him downstairs.

Then the sound of departing footsteps brought relief.

Whew.

Alexa unzipped the dress, struggling to do something she’d normally need help with. It didn’t help when she heard the soft whisper of fabric tearing as she reached the last stage of the zipper’s teeth parting the fabric.

She threw the dress in the corner.
That damned thing needs to be burned after that ordeal.

Grabbing a pair of black slacks and a yellow top, she donned them quickly and picked up her toothbrush.

What I should do is brush this messy mop.
She grimaced at her reflection in the mirror.

Was it true, what they said about vampires? That they had no reflection?

She had no clue.

Maybe it’s a good thing I can see mine then.

On the nightstand her cell phone vibrated. She darted toward it.

She didn’t recognize number and it wasn’t attached to any of her contacts. Could it be Valencia? She picked it up.

“I miss you already.” A low sexy voice said in her ear, pulling at her core, tugging at her senses, making her want him.

“Reese!” She knew her voice sounded like a teenager’s, and the breathy whisper was because she wasn’t sure if anyone was in hearing range. “I miss you, too.”

“Then open the damned door already.”

She looked across the room at her reflection in the full-sized mirror on the wall.

Fuck it.

She ran to the door and flung it open.

“God, woman. Do I really get a moment alone with you? Without security guys, protective older brothers, or vampires?”

“Hard to believe, isn’t it?”

“I should bond with you before something else gets in the way.”

“It feels like we already are,” she said. Her tigress snarled in agreement.

Maybe he hadn’t noticed or didn’t feel the same reactions she did to his presence?

“It does. But if we did, would it be stronger? More intense?”

God, they seemed so in tune already. Could that possibly become more powerful? Amplified?

“And if we take the time to bond now, woman, maybe I won’t let you out of your room for days.” He pulled her close, lowered his head, cupping her face with gentle hands. “I thought I was going to lose you last night. An eternity spent seeking and dreaming of you, and a damned vampire could have taken that away.”

She leaned her body into his as she leaned her face into his hand.

“I’d have died alongside you.” He pressed his lips along her jawline.

“She said bloodlust happens when you’ve shared blood with a vampire… but the way Leandra acted, seems that may be as bad as death.”

He pushed the neckline of her top down, his lips traveling the column of her neck to the hollow at the base. His lips sought the center of the dip, pressed firmly and he kissed her.

He released a low grunt, his mouth rising to hers. He slipped his tongue between parted lips on her more-than-willing mouth. He reconquered and reclaimed.

To Alexa it felt like the most natural of acts. Like she was in the most wonderful and familiar of territories, and yet a fire of a pleasant sort, very different than the one earlier in Leandra’s cabin.

His hands traveled her back, sliding up and down along the fabric before finally cupping her ass cheeks and pulling her close.

His groan was tortured, borne of eons of waiting it seemed.

He squeezed her flesh, her self-consciousness about her body vanished as she noticed how perfectly it molded to his.

He pulled away his gaze piercing hers. “This is…” he began.

“Yesss,” she released the word in a long exhale. “It is.”

It was as if they could finish one another’s train of thought.

His fingers tangled in her hair. He nibbled on her lips, sucking her bottom one in his mouth. She seized the fabric of the shirt he’d changed into and pulled him closer. His desire evident and pressing against her. Her hips arched into the hardness, her body pulsing for him.

His kiss drove her senseless and breathless. He drank in her moans and whimpers, then pulled away.

“No.” A growl erupted from deep within Alexa.

Her tigress wasn’t having this. She wasn’t about to let Alexa give him a pass. There would be no getting away for the wolf. Things were different. She needed him to fulfill what they’d started and should have had long ago. She’d waited an eternity for this.

The tigress fueled Alexa’s action, pouring kerosene over the fire of her yearning.

She grabbed his shirt, tugged him back. Her arms snaked over his shoulders, around his neck, she brought his head down until his lips met hers. She pressed her tongue against his lips, then slipped it in. She stroked his tongue slowly, tentatively. Was she rushing this?

She intertwined her fingers behind his neck, melting against a firm chest and hard abs. She applied gentle pressure, pushing him slowly toward the bed.

“You’re not in a hurry to get downstairs, I hope.” Reese’s voice was sex-husky, low and imbued with his and his wolf’s desire.

He sat on the bed, raised his hands to hers, took her fingertips and ministered to each, one at a time. Kissing, licking, sucking on them.

Each time he took one of her digits between his lips, he sent shockwaves through her body. Her stomach quivered and her core contracted.

She let out a shaky breath. “I need to be yours.”

“You already are.”

“I need… more.”

“You’re asking me to mark you with our couple bond?”

“I…” Tears pricked the backs of her eyes. The bridge of her nose burned with those same tears. “I am.”

His wolf growled, then Reese said, “You know that only happens when we make love.”

She nodded, afraid her voice would betray her and crack with emotions.

“And you’re okay with that?” A bemused smile tipped the corners of his mouth.

I’ve been more than okay with that for an eternity.
“Yes.”

His low groan sent a delicious shiver traveling up her spine, working its way along her nerve endings.

He unbuttoned her top, one breath-holding, lung-burning button at a time, until she stood before him in pants and a bra and goose bumped flesh. Her breasts swelled behind the satin. Her nipples hardened to pebbled peaks.

His nostrils flared.

She scented his desire—musky, sexy, hot, earthy.

The imprint of his hardness pressed against the fabric of his pants made the lump in her throat the Rock of Gibraltar. She ran her hands lightly over his chest and the muscular curves of his triceps and forearms. Her hands drifted downward. She unclasped the button of his jeans. He leaned back, his eyes glued on hers. Their gazes locked, she tugged on the zipper, the ripping sound of it was the only noise in the room, not even their breathing.

She pulled on the pants. He arched his hips, then hooked his thumbs in the elastic of his briefs, releasing his hard, thickness. Alexa let out a little breath—not one of relief, but one of anticipation and eagerness.

He sat up, his shirt hiding part of his erection. With haste, Alexa had the buttons undone and the shirt off her mate.

She ran fingertips over a hard chest with a sprinkling of hair, tracing tiny circles that became ever widening, touching his nipple. His response was instantaneous. His cock jerked in response.

A gleam appeared in his eyes, a yellow glow flared. A claw extended from his finger. He hooked it in the waistband of her pants and ran the length of the out seam until the garment had parted and lay at her feet. Her panties had the same fate, joining her sheared pants on the floor.

He tucked the claw between her breasts and her bra, then raised it. The bra released with a soundless pop, setting creamy mounds free.

Her nipples were on fire with a yearning for his touch. He leaned forward, taking one burning nipple in his mouth. He sucked on it, drawing on it with such force the pain was an exquisite pleasure. Alexa leaned into him, her hands in his hair, pulling him closer while a moisture pooled with every flex of her core muscles.

He pulled her onto his lap, having her straddle him, her folds opening for his viewing pleasure. Placing a hand on her inner thighs, he spread her legs until she was completely exposed. The air cool on her moist folds.

His fingers trailed along the outside of her nether lips, skimming the inner area, then barely touching the trimmed triangle. Up and down, he skimmed her sensitive skin, not touching her where she needed him most.

“Reese.” His name was a request, a demand, an order, an ultimatum. “Please. Now.”

The words were a command, the tone was tortured.

He plunged two fingers into her and she opened her mouth to scream. Hand behind her head, he pulled her in with preternatural swiftness, capturing any sound she was about to make.

She squeezed his shoulder, her tigress coming out as her claws extended and scored his flesh.

He didn’t relent, his fingers stroked over and over while a primal burst exploded in her head, setting off starbursts of fireworks behind her closed lids.

“I want you,” he murmured against her neck. His breath heating her flesh, his stubble a bristle reminder of his maleness. His lips latched on her nipple just as a second climax hit her.

Palming her ass, he adjusted their bodies, lifting her, his length against her wetness, then he pushed her back, aligned his hardness and dropped her onto his shaft. She gasped at the excruciatingly delightful way he filled her, pressing against every bit of her quivering pussy.

Alexa wrapped her legs around him, pulling him deeper. Her tigress mewled, the sound coming from Alexa’s lips, giving her pause, surprised her tigress’s passion had erupted from her mouth.

“Fuckkkk.” He rotated his hips, thrusting into her hard and fast. “You feel so damned good. Just like I rememb—”

Her eyes flew open. She remembered too. She remembered now, his wolf, her tigress, they’d been one. A sob escaped her.

“We’re together now.”

She shook her head in confusion. She didn’t understand…

Alexa didn’t dwell on it for long, his lips seized hers in a kiss that shoved everything away, leaving just the two of them. He pumped in and out of her, plunging deep. A climax began to build, waves of heat pulsing through her body.

A quivering wave turned into a series of muscle spasms as her body grew tight around him and his cock swelled.

A rumble started in his chest, building into a roar their kiss contained. She knew the moment he was going to come undone.

She tore her lips from his. “Bond me, Reese.”

Reese didn’t need to be asked again. He sunk his teeth into the soft flesh at the base of her neck where it curved into her shoulder.

Ecstasy and agony merged at the juncture where he’d bitten her. His lips closed over the wound, sealing it. Another orgasm exploded within her while he released his passion in hot spurts.

He licked the wound while her shifter healing powers healed it.

She collapsed against his body. Reese held her close, their hearts beating with the same pulse.

Moments later, Alexa rained tiny kisses on the corner of his lip, his jaw, his chin, his neck.

Reese took her by the shoulders and held her so he could look in her eyes. “You’re going to make it so we can’t go downstairs to brunch.”

Puzzled, she studied his face. “Food? You think I’m concerned with food right now?”

“I’d think you’d be concerned about your brother walking in on us. We got lucky the first time.”

Her face flared with heat, she was sure a blush had darkened her cheeks. “I suppose you’re right. I don’t think I’d appreciate Lézare catching us. Anyway, Maylene said he’d found someone. Maybe my brother will finally take a mate.”

“I’d say he has. I saw them together as I walked up. Unlike you, I didn’t sneak in the back.” He gave her a wink.

Alexa playfully struck his arm. “It’s all your fault.” She turned toward the mirror and reached for the long-forgotten hair brush.

“Oh, sure. Because that’s what I want my woman doing, attacking vampires. Yeah, right.” He smacked her ass with an open palm.

She whirled and turned on him, wielding the brush like a weapon, the smile quick and easy on her face.

It did feel like they’d been together forever.

He tugged on the brush, pulling her into his chest with a crash, taking her lips hostage. He twirled her around and tossed her on the bed. “Don’t say you weren’t warned. You’ll just have to meet your brother’s mate Natalya later.”

Alexa froze. Her tigress snarled. “What?” she drew back. “What did you say?”

“About meeting your brother?”

“About his mate. No. There’s no way. That shrew is not good for my brother. What the hell is Lézare thinking?”
I’m going to kill him.