Forever Bound Series 1-4 Part 25

That bad feeling got worse. This looked like private quarters to her. Like they were taking her A door jerked open to her left. And then, right there, bigger and even s.e.xier than she remembered, with wide shoulders that brushed the edges of the doorframe, a muscled and bare chest, a wild curl of black hair, and eyes that blazed golden fire...right there stood the werewolf alpha, Drake Wyler.

The man she'd loved and lost before.

The man she needed now.

But at that moment, he stared at her with so much fury she almost felt the heat of his glittering gaze burn her skin.

"Paige." Her name was a growl of rage. Okay, so coming here hadn't been the best idea but His nostrils flared.

h.e.l.l. Her whole body tensed. With werewolves, their sense of smell was so strong that it only took one whiff to realize... "Vampire." The word was a curse.

She didn't flinch. Well, perhaps she did. When he'd known her before, his voice had always been softened with need, with love.

Not hardened with deadly rage.

He grabbed her, not with his claws out, like the other werewolf had, but Drake wrapped his hands around her shoulders and pulled her over the threshold of the roomand into his arms.

Then he kissed her. His lips pressed down on hers, and because she'd wanted him, for so long, Paige kissed him back. Her mouth opened beneath his. Her tongue met his, and the desire that only Drake seemed to be able to stir burned through her.

Her heart raced. Her hips arched toward him even as her nipples tightened against his chest. One kiss...and she craved. It was the way it had always been with them. She'd never wanted anything more than she wanted him.

And she'd never been meant to have anything less.

His tongue slid over her lower lip. Stroked into her mouth. Her wolf had become an even better kisser over the years. Seducing, taking, and making her want so much more. Making her Drake's head lifted. He stared down at herwith that strong, chiseled face that often slipped into her dreams, a face that had a few more fine lines now, but the same square jaw, the same high cheekbones, and the same sensual but slightly cruel lips. His eyes blazed so brightly, and she could see the same raw l.u.s.t she felt reflected in his stare.

The years hadn't changed the way he felt. He still needed, just as much as she did. He still "Guess that means she is yours..." The blond werewolf behind them muttered. "A vampire...with a werewolf, how twisted is"

Drake pushed Paige away and grabbed the wolf in one fast, brutal move. "I saw your claw marks on her throat."

Paige lifted her hand and touched the skin. She felt the light wetness of her own blood. Huh. She hadn't even noticed the sting. After all she'd experienced in the last ten years, what did few scratches matter?

"You don't ever touch her." Drake tossed the guy down the hallway. The smaller werewolf's head thudded into a wall. "You come at her with your claws again, Michael, and I'll rip you open."

Ah, all right, so Drake thought that the scratches mattered. She hadn't remembered him being quite so blood-thirsty.

He swung back toward her. The l.u.s.t and fury were still battling in his eyes. This wasn't the man she'd fallen for all those years ago. The guy staring back at herhe was a primal wolf.

"Make sure no one disturbs me," Drake ordered and he stalked back toward her. She should speak. Say something. She hadn't said a word to the guy yet. Maybe she should start with something like...Hi, there, long time, no see. You might wonder why I disappeared without a word. I've got a really good story to tell you.

More like a nightmare tale. A nightmare that she'd just brought to his door.

And the door closed behind him with a soft click. Her gaze flew around the room. She'd been right. This was definitely a bedroom. Complete with one huge, rumpled bed. But at least it looked like Drake had been sleeping alone. If there'd been a she-wolf in there with him, Paige might have just let her own claws out.

When he touched her, she jumped. Paige wanted to hide her fear, but being a werewolf, he could probably smell the scent on her. Werewolves had such d.a.m.n superior senses. Better than anyone or anything else in the world.

His fingers brushed over the curve of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. The guy had to slow down. This couldn't happen. Not yet anyway. They had to talk first. "Drake, I"

He lifted the necklace. Stared at the heavy gold etched with the carving of a wolf's head.

She cleared her throat.

"Why are you wearing this?" Drake asked her, his voice the rumbling mix of darkness and l.u.s.t that had always been able to make her yearn.

She was yearning already, but she pushed back the need and focused on what the guy was saying. Her necklace. He'd given it to her when she'd turned nineteen. The day he'd told her what he really was.

Werewolf.

That had been the day when her life had started to spiral out of control.

Time to woman up and talk. She swiped her tongue over her lips, tasted him, and managed to say, "Y-you told me...you said a werewolf would never attack me if I wore it." The necklace had been a sign of pack protection.

His strong, tanned fingers closed around the necklace. Then he yanked and broke the gold chain in one vicious tug that seemed to claw across her heart. "I told you," he said, voice even darker, "that this necklace meant you belonged to me."

Ah, right, that rage was burning so bright in him.

"But then you left." A muscle jerked in Drake's jaw. "Disappeared."

Paige backed up a step. When a werewolf this big and angry was coming at you, a smart woman backed the h.e.l.l up.

"You vanished," his fingers had whitened around the necklace, "when you were supposed to be mine."

Yes, a human named Paige Sloan had promised to love him, always. But then she'd stopped being a human, and she'd become the one thing that she knew he hated.

Vampire.

"You don't taste like death," Drake told her.

She flinched at the cold and brutal words. Werewolves always were saying that vamps smelled and tasted like deaththat was one of their many insults. So why hadn't she expected that slam from him? Her chin lifted. "And right now, you don't look particularly furry." She'd never actually seen him shift. She didn't want to, either. Paige squared her shoulders and held his gaze. "I guess we're both full of surprises, huh?"

"You can f.u.c.king say that again."

Her back teeth clenched together. She hadn't expected the guy to run to her, wrap her in his arms, and immediately swear his undying love. She'd let that dream die a long time ago. But, jeez, did he want to rip her soul out or what? "Look, I know you aren't exactly happy to see me"

He advanced. She backed up once more. The last thing she wanted was for him to put those big, warm hands of his on her again. When he touched her, her body went into s.e.xual overdrive. She'd gone way too long without a lover.

No one but him.

Right. Too d.a.m.n long.

But l.u.s.t had to wait. For now.

"Do you know how long I looked for you?" Drake demanded. She could see the edge of his fangs. Probably not a good sign. What was that saying in the vamp world? When you saw a wolf's fangs, you were about to see h.e.l.l. He shook his head slowly and said, "You vanished."

It wasn't like she'd wanted to leave him. But he'd been marked to be the next alpha of his pack and she'd been Bitten.

"I didn't think you wanted a vampire turning up on your doorstep." Some of her own angerthe anger she usually worked so hard to keep in checkbroke through her fraying control. "Even if I was a vamp that you used to screw."

He pounced. She should have expected the move, but she'd been around humans too long, and werewolves, d.a.m.n, they could move fast.

In two seconds, he had her on his bed, sprawled amidst the covers, while he held her arms pinned to the mattress. "You weren't a vampire then."

His muscled body pressed against her. No, correction, his aroused body pressed against her. There was no mistaking the bulge of his c.o.c.k.

"You were human then," he said, and his hold tightened around her. "Not vampire, not"

What she'd been didn't matter. "I'm a vampire now." His sworn enemy. Only...he still wanted her. She'd thought werewolves were supposed to be repulsed by her kind. She'd sure been told that often enough.

The voice from her nightmares whispered through her mind, saying, "Do you think he'll ever want you again? One look, one taste...as soon as he knows what you are, you'll be dead."

And she wouldn't be able to rise again.

She waited to feel claws at her throat again. Because she didn't want to see this end, Paige closed her eyes. She'd remember him as he used to be. If only Drake could remember her the same way.

Some dreams just weren't meant to come true.

Paige took a breath, tasted himstrength, power, manand waited for her second death to come.

Chapter Two.

A ghost lay beneath him. A ghost who'd haunted more nightmares than Drake could count.

She was as still as a statue, her features pale and perfect. High, curving cheekbones, a small, pert nose, and lush, red lips made for sin. Her hairdark as the night he'd always lovedtangled around her face.

And she didn't move. Barely seemed to breathe.

Why?

"Do it," Paige whispered, her voice still that same combination of sin and seduction that had driven him to the edge too many times in the past. "Just...make it fast."

He really hoped she wasn't talking about s.e.x. With her, fast hadn't ever been an option. He'd always needed to take her again and again, to erupt inside of her, to lose himself.

She lifted one eyelid just a bit. Her green gaze darted over him. "You're not...you're not killing me?"

What. The. f.u.c.k. It took every ounce of his will-power to hold back the rage that threatened to swamp him. "Not yet," he managed to snarl.

Paige trembled beneath him. Her slender body had trembled beneath his before, but back then, those little shivers had been from pleasure.

Not fear.

He could all but smell the fear covering her. He hated that smell on her.

"How." Drake bit off the world. How had she become a vampire? Had she chosen this life? Some humans wanted to be vampires. They went out seeking the bite because they wanted to live forever.

Fools. The price of forever was a river of blood and death.

He hadn't thought Paige would be like those desperate humans. He also hadn't thought she'd vanish and leave him aching for herten d.a.m.n years.

"It doesn't matter," she told him and both of her eyes opened fully as she gazed up at him. "I can't change what I am."

The scent of her blood filled his nostrils. When he got hold of Michael again, he was gonna give that claw-happy werewolf some marks to remember him by. You don't touch her.

Drake caught both of her wrists in his left hand and raised them over her head. She wasn't fighting him, and as a vampire, her delicate form was hiding one h.e.l.l of a lot of strength.

She just stared up at him, reminding him of all the stupid dreams he'd once had...and lost.

He'd almost left his pack for her. He'd wanted to be human. For her.

But now, the beast was in charge. There was no going back. There was only blood, death, and darkness.

For both of them.

He gazed down at her, trying to figure out when she'd stopped being human and become a vampire. She'd been nineteen the last time he saw her. He'd been twenty-one.

Right then, Paige's skin was still flawless and pure, giving no hint to her real age.

What did her age matter? She was right. There was no going back. Not for either of them.

"Are you going to glare at me all night?" Paige asked. "Or do you want to know why I'm here?"

Why she was there...and still wearing his medallion. Or she had been wearing it, until he'd taken it from her neck. It was on the floor now. He'd dropped it when he'd pushed her onto the bed. Paige's neck was bare, and...why the h.e.l.l did he want to bend down and lick her flesh?

Because I still want her. More than breath. More than life. He saw her, and he needed.

"Why?" He didn't lift his body off hers. Paige would feel his aroused flesh pressing against her. So what? If she wanted a favor from him, she'd pay the price he demanded.

And I demand her.

Vampire or not, she was still his.

Even death couldn't change some things.

"I'm being hunted," she told him in that low, husky voice that made his c.o.c.k swell even more. He could just see the hint of her fangs behind her red lips. The sight should have repulsed him. It didn't. "If you don't help me, I'll die."

"You're already dead." That knowledge made him feel as if his chest had been ripped open. Since Paige had been human when he'd known her before, she must have been made into a vampire.

A rare few, the purebloods, were actually born as vamps, but the rest of the parasites out there? They'd been turned. They were bled until the point of death, then brought back as a vampire.

Drake would kill the one who'd turned her. He couldn't wait to hear the vampire's screams.

"Don't say that," Paige snapped at him, then she showed him just how strong she really was. She twisted beneath him and yanked her hands free. A fast roll sent them tumbling across the bed. Then she was on top of him. Her knees straddled his hips, and her hands slammed down against his chest. "I'm as alive as you are!"