Bite, My Love (21 page)

The
wolves behind me fan out in a defensive line. Their claws scratch
up mud through the grass as they lower their bodies in readiness.
Muzzles pull back to bare rows of sharp teeth. Barking loudly,
their snapping jaws warn the Vampires not to come any
closer.

Daniel
hisses back, a sound of monster frenzy that sends vibrations
through flesh to bone.

‘
I’m so hot for you right now,
’ I
think at Daniel.

I edge my
way closer to Vampire territory, merely a running leap from the
safety of my mate’s arms.

Sudden
movement in the midst of the predators surrounding me is a no,
no.

Daniel’s eyelids slide low. The corner of his mouth twitches,
and his attention shifts to me. He holds out his hand.
‘Focus, sweetling. I can’t if you think such
things.’

I place
my hand in his and grin madly.

“
Beta!”

Daniel
shoves my middle with such force my feet leave the ground. I’m
airborne. Flying back into the hunting grounds.

The air
is crushed from my lungs on impact, and I roll onto my
side.

Landing
where I’d stood not a second before, arm finishing a lethal swing
in an attempt to claw me, Sy throws his head back and howls. His
fingernails elongate to talons that can tear flesh from
bone.

Arm
slashing with supernatural speed, Sy slices flesh from Daniel’s
face and rips into his stomach. Gory tissue splatters the grass.
Blood erupts from the deep lacerations in a fountain of liquid
turned black by the moonless night.

Lee’s
shriek ends as a deranged screech of fury. She lunges for the
Lycan, but Ben is faster. He wraps his arm around her middle to
haul her back. Her nails graze the Beta’s face leaving thin red
scratches.

The
coppery tang of my mate’s blood fills the air.

It clogs
my nostrils.

Chokes
me.

A scream
builds in the pit of my stomach and explodes from my mouth. My
bellow of anguish is raw and primal.

Energy
surges through my limbs.

My mate.

Rolling
onto my feet, I sprint, summoning my beast. Heat shoots down my
spine and blooms across my nose and forehead. Bloodlust. The thirst
for blood is so intense I falter, tripping over my own
feet.

Aaron
grabs my hair as I speed past and yanks.

The
energy from the earth – the catalyst in all shifter transformations
– stalls. The currents of old magic gone, my lengthening face
regresses to Human proportions, and my paws elongate to clawless
fingers. Twisting, I lash out. My fist lands square on Aaron’s jaw.
He avoids another blow by snatching my wrist. I swing with the
other arm. He catches my balled up fist in the dead centre of his
palm.

Flinging
my hand away he grips my shoulders and shakes me. “There’s nothing
we can do. He’s dead, Harmony.”

I’m spun
in his grasp. My bucking body held prisoner in the cage of his
arms.

Lee
struggles with Ben to get free, and from the agonized look on his
face, she’s trying to use her power to order him to let her
go.

Tears pool in my eyes at the enormity of what’s happening. I
can’t understand why he’s standing there doing
nothing.

Daniel
smiles, a frightening curve of the lips. He wraps his fingers
around the wrist of the hand digging into his stomach and pulls it
out. The talons clawing his flesh slip free with a sickening
squelch.

They drip
blood.

Sy swipes
at his neck, but his hand is caught mid-swing in my mate’s
steel-like grip.

The wrist
is twisted backward.

Snap.

The Beta
howls and jerks wildly. Straining to angle away from the advancing
predator, his eyes swivel in panic.

Daniel
wrenches Sy’s head to the side. His brow undulates, slants, and
becomes sleekly feline. His eyes glow, and his fangs drip with
venom and saliva. Strike deadly, he bites the Lycan’s throat. Blood
spurts, gushes, and Daniel makes grizzly sucking noises. Ghostly
wisps of soul seep from Sy’s body and are absorbed into my mate.
Each tendril that sinks into his skin revitalizes him.

Sy’s good
hand pushes Daniel clumsily. He manages nothing but an ineffectual
shoving.

His eyes
lock on mine. He reaches for me, the muscles in his arms shaking
from the effort. His lips move silently, begging for
help.

“
Daniel.” Tears stream down my cheeks. “Stop–”

“
Quiet.” Aaron hugs me to him. “I told you he was dead. This
kill is your mate’s right and we will not retaliate. He left the
safety of Pack territory.”

The
brutal feeding continues, and in the end, Aaron looks
away.

Lee and
Ben are ferocious in their study of the carnage. They sidle closer,
attracted by the metallic tang of blood. Nostrils flaring, their
fangs lengthen to deadlier spikes in preparation of
food.

Daniel
drops his enemy and straightens. Saturated in blood his chest
heaves as he calmly pulls the monster back. His bony crown smoothes
and he rakes his fingers through his hair to drag back the blonde
locks falling into his eyes.

I force
my gaze to pass over the contorted body crumpled at my lover’s
feet.

Sy is
alive.

Barely.

Shouldn’t
I feel something – something other than a sense of relief and
righteousness? I’ve never questioned my nature, but I feel the need
to now. I’ve been questioning a lot of things sings Daniel crept
into my life and heart. His presence is like aerial roots punching
through my very soul, living threads connecting me to the tree of
his Vampire family.

Daniel
bows.

Accepting
his offering, Lee and Ben descended upon Sy’s twitching body. Lee
straddles his lap and sinks her teeth into the unbroken side of his
throat. Ben latches onto the dying Beta’s wrist.

The
gashes on Daniel’s face knit together leaving alabaster skin.
Crimson blood dribbles down his chin. His tongue seeks these
streams of red only to catch a drop at the outmost corner of his
mouth. He grimaces when he smacks his lips together.

“
Is there anyone–” The barely repressed violence in his
breathy drawl is disturbing. Chuckling as he clears his throat, he
begins again. “Does anyone dispute my right to that female?” He
stabs a finger at me.

I swallow
thickly.

Had I not
seen Daniel suck blood I’d swear he was a Lycan Alpha for how he’s
acting.

I’m not
the only one to notice the similarity in behaviour. The Enforcers
lower their heads in submission.

Aaron
keeps his chin up, but it’s not without difficulty.

Daniel
has taken down the second strongest werewolf in the South Western
Pack without so much as throwing a punch.

His
elegant hands smooth down his front. He snorts when he assesses the
damage to his attire. His shirt is torn to ribbons where Sy impaled
him. The skin on his stomach has healed beneath the dark
fabric.

Lycans
know Vampires are stronger. Our power comes from our numbers, and
the ability to attack as a team. Pack. It was more than a word.
It’s the only way we stand a chance against one from the Great
Bloodline.

Witnessing the strength the Vampires command yet rarely use
is intimidating.

I’ve
always wondered if they’re as powerful as the stories say. Why
would they avoid war as much as they do if they were so powerful?
After spending time with Lee and Ben I now understand. They want to
be left alone to love each other. Not spend their lives fighting
and killing creatures they could as easily live
alongside.

I’ll
never question their power again.

Lee
breaks away from Sy, gasping, purring low in her throat. Eyes
glazed, she drops his bloodless body.

Chest
heaving, Ben follows her.

Aaron
takes a deep breath and steps forward. By doing so he jumps into
his new role as Beta. He stops at the boundary line and jerks his
chin at Sy’s body. “We’ll need that to burn.”

Daniel
draws back his foot.

Flinching, I stop him with a hand on his chest. “We respect
the dead.”

“
He would have done worse to me.”

I remain
firm. “We’re better than that.” I frown. “I’d known him all my
life. Please? For me?”

Jaw
clenched, Daniel crouches. I’m not sure if he’s annoyed because he
has to touch the dead Lycan, or because he submitted to my
wish.

He grabs
a leg and tosses the corpse at the stunned Enforcers. They catch it
awkwardly, and hold it gingerly between them.

Not
exactly what I had in mind, but it’s better than a kick in the
head.

Satisfied, I meet Aaron’s curious gaze. He helped in his way.
He told Sy to let me go, knowing his Alpha expected me to return
home. When it came down to it, he’d stood by me because he knew it
was the right thing to do.

I would
forever be grateful. “If you ever need anything….”

“
You’re my friend.” He wrinkles his nose. “Who you love
doesn’t change that.” Though his solemn expression doesn’t shift,
he winks.

There’s
nothing more than that to say. The Vampires and I turn
away.

“
Harmony,” Aaron says softly to my back. “You
are
banished. There’s
nothing I can do to change that. By not returning you’re disobeying
the Alpha and breaking Pack law.”

It hurts
to walk away from the place of my birth, knowing I can never
return. I don’t look back. My sights are fixed on my
future.

Change is
healthy.

Aaron
hears me when I say, “Bye then.”

His
amused chortle is the last sound he makes. My nose twitches, the
musky scent of my old Pack fading.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Spiky
grass prickles my knees and lower thighs. We crush small flowers
underfoot, and they release sweet fragrance into the air. I peer
into the star speckled sky seeking mother moon, but she hides
behind soot-coloured clouds.

The
fright of being trapped for the rest of my life has worn
off.

Now I’m
mad.

Twice,
Daniel has tried to take my hand. Both times I curled my fingers
into to a fist and shook him off. This subtle attempt to reconnect
is nothing compared to the banging in my mind. His hoarse cries for
me to let him in ring in my mental ears. The projection of his pain
scratches across the invisible plane of conscious.

The way
Lee keeps flinching and touching her temple tells me he’s being
quite loud about our troubles.

I double
my efforts to block him until I’m so closed off to him he cannot
sense my life force at all.

Isn’t
this what he wanted? That I not exist at all to him?

The dirt bag was going to
leave
me.

He
lied.

Was he
trying to break my heart? Why should I forgive him so easily? He
deserves months of silent treatment. It’s not okay for him to treat
me this way. I’m submissive to him, but only if he gives me the
respect I should command as his mate.

He blocks
my path, and drops to his knees. Head bowed. He stays there for a
while, entire being stooped in supplication.

“
Please.”

The word
is strangled from him.

His
hurting pains me, and I ease back enough in my anger to let my
mental guards drop.

He sighs
in relief.

When he
lifts his head his eyes are closed. His chest rises and falls
steeply. Vampires don’t need oxygen. They don’t breathe to live
– just talk.

So he’s
overly emotional?

His
Adam’s apple bobs. “Please allow me to explain why I did what I
did. Will you let me?”

Ben and
Lee keep walking to give us privacy. They glide through the waist
high grass with their fingers entwined, bodies brushing.

‘
He loves you.’
Ben’s voice floats
through my mind whisper faint.
‘There will
come a time when you must part. In that moment, all the time you
spent not holding him will haunt you. Let him love you. You will
regret it if you don’t.’

‘
He hurt me.’

‘
What you have with him is rare. As my darling is wont to say,
“Chew his ass out,” all you like, but forgive him.’
Ben winks at me over Lee’s head.
‘Don’t take too long. Afzal and Iain return
tonight, and they’ll want to meet you.’

With a
spring in his step he scoops Lee into his arms and spins around.
She throws her head back in laughter, looping her arms around his
neck.

Their
love is deep and unconditional.

I have a chance of that kind of devotion with Daniel.
It
is
rare. Who
knows how long I have with him? I’ve taken his blood into my body
three times, and while I feel connected to him, I’m still
mortal.