Forever Bound Series 1-4 Part 30

But Gabe had always been chasing her. He hadn't planned to let her go. Not when she could be such a valuable tool in his battle.

She'd never called Drake after she escaped. Never so much as spoken his name again. Why? Because Jeremiah had still been there, still wielding his power, and if she'd tried to get close to Drake again...

The old scars on her body seemed to burn.

Her heartbeat thudded in her ears. Fast. So fast.

"All vampires aren't sick p.r.i.c.ks like him," she spoke quietly, but her voice filled the room. "There are others out there who are different. They're good." They'd found her. Hurt. Wild. So desperate after her change. And they'd helped her.

I won't drink from a human. She'd been starving because she refused to drink. But she hadn't wanted to attack another person, hadn't trusted herself to stop once she sank her teeth into prey.

Gabe had told her that she wouldn't be able to pull back after she had her first taste of blood.

"Once you taste the blood, it'll drive you wild. You'll do anything to get more. You'll drain humans, one after the other, and leave their bodies in your wake."

His promise to her, right after he'd turned her. He'd leaned close, pressed a kiss to her cheek and said, "Then you'll be just like me."

Never.

Drake had dropped Malcolm. The vamp lay sprawled on the floor while her werewolf stared at her with a face gone white. No, he shouldn't be like this. She hadn't ever wanted him to know all the secrets she carried.

"Paige..." Her name was a ragged sound of pain, torn from Drake.

And Malcolmhis eyes were on her. On her, then Drake. No, not just on Drake...on his neck.

Malcolm's smile said he knew what she'd done.

After resisting for so long, she'd broken down and taken blood from a live source, from him. The one who mattered the most.

"Guess I am a monster," she told Malcolm, then she lunged forward. No one tried to stop her. They couldn't. She was too fast then.

In an instant, she had the stake out.

And Malcolm was attacking, too. Not an attack at her, but one aimed at Drake.

He was distracting you. She'd tried to warn him, but Drake had been too busy listening to Malcolm's twisted tale. The vamp slashed out with his claws, going for Drake's back.

Only she got to Malcolm first. Paige shoved the stake into his chest. "Go to h.e.l.l, b.a.s.t.a.r.d," she snarled. He'd sure done his best to drag her there and Malcolm ripped the stake right out of his chest. "Missed...heart...b.i.t.c.h..."

Oh, c.r.a.p.

"I won't miss," Drake promised as he yanked her back. Then he attacked, slamming his body into Malcolm's. And, no, he didn't miss because one powerful swipe of the razor sharp claws that sprang from Drake's fingerswell, one swipe took Malcolm's head.

And the vampire went to h.e.l.l.

The silence in the room was deafening then. All the wolves stood, as still as statues, watching her. Waiting.

After one glance, she didn't look at Malcolm again. Her stomach was twisting, her hands shaking. She wanted the nightmare to just end, but for her and for Drake, the end was still too far away. The nightmare wouldn't stop, not yet.

Not until Gabe was the one on the floor, stone dead.

She should say something. Anything. But...

Her shoulders hunched as Paige turned away. The scent of blood seemed to burn her nostrils, and she just needed to get out of there.

Away from the blood and death. Escape. She hadn't known real freedom in so long, and she was so tired of being surrounded by death.

Constantly.

Paige shoved the shifters out of her way. Drake called out to her. She didn't glance back, and she sure as h.e.l.l didn't stop. She'd talk with himlater.

Not now.

I wasn't at the lake.

Her words had been so hollow because, yes, she'd been at Lost Lake. She'd kept her promise to Drake.

And that promise had cost Paige far more than she'd ever expectedher life.

Chapter Six.

She d.a.m.n well wasn't getting away from him.

Paige had fled the compound and raced away into the night. Sure, he could have gotten his men to track her, but this hunt was personal, and Drake didn't want the others chasing her.

If someone hunted Paige, it would be him.

"You can't do this!" Heath grabbed him just as Drake was about to pa.s.s through the compound' heavy gates. His eyes blazed with fury. "This could be a vamp trap! She's luring you outside."

Paige hadn't gone through the gates. She'd just leapt over the wall. So fast and graceful. His blood had sure pumped up her power.

As for her bite...it had given him so much pleasure. I'll have more. If she needed blood, he'd be happy to be her personal donor from now on.

Her first, her only.

"She's hurting," Drake said and pain, yeah, that was just what he'd seen in Paige's eyes. She'd always shown so much with her green gaze. He'd once been able to look right into her eyes and see her soul.

Heath actually shook him. "She's in pain? Fine. Then let her go off and lick her d.a.m.n wounds." Heath's words held a sharp bite. "But don't put yourself at risk for her. She's a vampire."

The necklace he'd given to her so long ago, the one he'd stupidly taken from her neck just the previous night, was a heavy weight in Drake's pocket. Give it back to her. "She's mine." There wasn't anything else to say.

She was his. And she hurt.

Protect her. An instinct from the wolf and the man.

He looked beyond the wall. So much darkness and icy cold waited for him. But that frigid darkness had been his whole life, ever since Paige had left him.

He wanted more now. He wanted warmth. Light. Paige had always been that to him.

"I'm bringing her back." Drake shoved the other wolf aside.

Heath grabbed his arm. "You can't bring a vampire into the pack." Low words. Gritted. Burning with intensity. "You know you can't do that."

Very, very slowly, Drake turned his head and stared down at his first in command. He'd been friends with Heath since they were both just boys, but that friendship wouldn't stop him from kicking the s.h.i.t out of the guy. "I'm the f.u.c.king alpha." He let the power ring in his voice. He'd fought for the t.i.tle. Earned it. And since he was alpha, the one they all submitted to... "I can do anything I want."

"Jeremiah"

Had that b.a.s.t.a.r.d really gone after Paige? Set this whole nightmare in motion? His jaw ached as Drake growled, "He's dead." A very lucky thing for the old wolf right then. Because if he'd still been living, Drake would have ripped him apart. "It's my pack now." If Heath wanted to challenge him...

Come the h.e.l.l on.

He was more than in the mood for some a.s.s-kicking.

After he brought Paige back. He had his priorities, and she came first. "Spread the word," Drake ordered. "Any who want to challenge me...tell them to get the f.u.c.k in line." When he came back, he'd take them all on.

Because no one was going to keep him from Paige. Not now.

Not ever.

He turned away from Heath and ran into the night. Vampires were fast, but wolves were faster. Especially when they hunted.

He shed the form of man with a crack and snap of his bones. The pain of the shift burned over him, familiar, white-hot, and soon he was running on all fours, with paws instead of hands, and he tossed back his head and howled for the one thing he wanted most in the world.

His mate.

He had her scent, and he wouldn't lose it. He flew over the terrain, ignoring the frigid cold temperaturean arctic chill that he knew would be cutting into Paige. The cold wouldn't kill a vamp, but it would make her body tremble and shake. She'd suffer out there.

She'd already been in pain when she left him.

And the only d.a.m.n thing he wanted to do was take that pain away.

He bounded through the forest and sent snow flying in his wake. The world was a blur of white, but he could just see the imprints of her footsteps.

He knew where she was going.

Inside the body of the beast, the man cursed.

The wolf ran faster, faster...

She'd never seen him in this form. Before, he'd been ashamed for her to see him transform. He knew what he was...

"Guess I am a monster..." Her words were burned into his mind.

But he'd been the monster. Always. The beast who'd taken what he should never have touched.

He leapt into the air, easily jumping over a fallen tree. Her scent was stronger now. Strawberries. s.e.x. Woman. He'd never been able to forget that lush scent.

The small lake was frozen, its surface dark and glistening. Even though it was day, the sky overhead was as dark as the lake. No sunlight.

Not now.

Just cold. Just darkness.

Paige spun at his approach and put her back to the lake. Her eyes widened when she saw him. Swallowing, she backed up a step.

He froze.

Then he changed, for her.

The transformation was brutal to watch. He knew it had to be. His bones shifted and broke, reshaped into a man's body instead of the form that belonged to the beast. The fur seemed to melt from his body. Soon paws and claws became hands and fingersfingers that had dug deeply into the snow.

"Drake?"

Her hushed voice pushed through the last of the shift, and, naked, he glanced up at her.

Paige rushed toward him. "You shouldn't be here!"

"Neither...should you." He rose before her. Wind whipped against his body, but werewolves always stayed warm no matter what the outside temperature was. The beast burned within.

Paige shivered.

He took a step toward her, but she stiffened, and her gaze darted around the small clearing. "It's dangerous. I didn't thinkwe need to go back."

Drake lifted his hand and offered it to her. "Then come with me." He knew why she'd run from the compound. Desperation and pain had driven her to flee blindly.

I wasn't at the lake.

But she had been. He knew a lie when he heard it.

"I'm sorry." The words were torn from him. Jeremiah had come to him, told him that he had a message from Paige. "Your little human said to meet you in two hours." Jeremiah had smiled and flashed his fangs. "That gives us time for a hunt."

And he'd just...gone off with the b.a.s.t.a.r.d.

Paige wasn't taking his hand.

Her gaze was on him, sweeping over his body. She hadn't been disgusted by his shift, and she sure didn't appear disgusted by what she was seeing right then.

l.u.s.t. He knew that expression well. But he hated the mix of l.u.s.t and pain in her eyes. He hated to see any pain in her gaze.

He'd rather just have the l.u.s.t.