Enraptured (21 page)

“We can find some other exercise, if you’d
prefer.” The hungry growl of his voice made her rethink the option
of keeping her clothes on.

“Ian…”

Whatever she’d been about to say was cut off
when he placed his hand over her mouth, lifted her up against his
chest, and slid noiselessly into the woods before she had a chance
to blink let alone process what was going on. He ducked around the
back of a large oak just as three men emerged from the shadows of
the woods. Paige went completely still against him, she hung limply
in his grasp as she watched them move up the trail. They had bows
in hand and quivers slung over their backs as they walked.

“Shh,” he whispered in her ear before
removing his hand from her mouth. He didn’t release her, but kept
her close against him.

“Are they human?” she asked.

“Yes.”

She watched the men as they continued up the
ridge, away from the cabin. “They’re only going hunting.”

“Maybe. They could be scouts.”

Tilting her head back, she frowned up at
him. “Scouts for what?”

Her eyes widened when his crimson eyes met
hers. She’d never expected to see the murderous expression on his
face. “Remember, not all of us can walk about in the daylight. Some
vampires use humans to do what they can’t.”

“Do you think they’re a threat?”

“If it means keeping you safe, then I will
consider everyone a threat.”

She finally managed to blink when his lip
curled back to reveal an elongated fang. “Ian…”

“Let’s get back to the cabin.”

Turning her around, he rested his hands on
her hips and lifted her off the ground again. “What are you doing?”
she hissed in his ear.

“Wrap your legs around my waist.” She shook
her head and tried to wiggle out of his grasp. He didn’t relent to
her. “We have to move silently. You’re quiet, you’re graceful, but
you’re human.”

“So are they,” she protested. “And they
probably already know the cabin is there, if they’re from the
area.”

“They don’t know where we are right now and
they’re carrying bows.” A muscle near his eye twitched, his jaw was
locked as he stared at her. “I’m not trying to get in your pants
right now. I’m only trying to get us back to the cabin undetected,
and fast.”

His blunt words knocked away her argument.
Her legs wrapped around his waist and she slid her arms around his
neck. Feeling like a child, she clung to him as he placed his hand
in her back. He began to move through the woods with a speed she
never would have been able to attain. The trees rushed by her in a
blur; she had no concern they would hit any of them as he dashed in
and out with ease.

The scent of lake water, and his natural,
heady aroma of earth and something entirely male drifted up to her.
With every step he took, she fought the urge to bury her face in
his neck and press against his heated, taut flesh. Her breasts
ached, without meaning to she pushed them more firmly against his
bare chest in an attempt to ease the pressure within them. Hating
this hold he had over her, she fought against her growing arousal
and impulses. When they broke free of the woods, she realized she’d
never be free of the way he could make her feel. She’d never rid
herself of the sensations only he’d ever brought to life.

Ian ground his teeth together as he fought
the urge to slide his hands beneath her sweater and feel the
silkiness of her supple skin. Her nipples pressing against his
chest caused him to lengthen and harden. Images of sliding his cock
into her filled his mind. He immediately shoved the erotic pictures
aside. He had to keep his head clear right now. There had been
nothing overly menacing about the men, but right now he didn’t
trust anyone near her.

He still felt in control of himself, but he
knew if the bond between them developed further, or was denied for
too long, his sanity would begin to unravel. He’d seen it with
Isabelle and Stefan, and he’d
really
seen it happen with
Ethan and Emma. He still trusted himself to be around her, far more
than he trusted anyone else.

However, he would tear someone’s throat out
if they so much as looked at her the wrong way. Violence, and the
urge to kill someone, had never been something that had come easy
to him. Any violence he’d been provoked into before had been
necessary to keep his loved ones safe, but he wouldn’t hesitate to
destroy someone if it meant keeping her alive. He would deal out
death to anyone who lifted a finger against her or so much as
harmed a hair on her head.

He climbed the stairs of the cabin, pulled
open the door and stepped inside. She leaned away to look up at
him. For the first time since she’d met him, his face was
shuddered, his eyes distant. A muscle in his jaw twitched; he
grabbed her waist again and lifted her off of him. The look on his
face was aloof, but she felt the evidence of his arousal when she
slid down him.

A shiver ran through her. Her hands
convulsed on the thick muscles of his biceps when he placed her on
the ground. Her head tilted back; her eyes settled on his mouth.
She would give anything to feel his mouth on hers again, to feel
those large hands running over her flesh, but as she thought it, he
stepped away from her.

Disappointment crashed through her; her
hands fell back to her sides. “Probably best if we stay in here for
a couple of hours.” Even his voice had become distant.

He returned to the screen door and looked
outside before moving on to look out the two windows in the living
room. She watched him walk around the rest of the cabin, but her
feet remained strangely rooted in place. All this time she’d been
trying to push him away, she was petrified she’d finally succeeded
in doing so.

Ian returned to the cabin after completing his walk
of the area. The humans were gone, or at least they weren’t within
a ten mile radius, but he still didn’t like the idea they’d been
anywhere nearby in the first place. He found Paige in the shed,
pounding on the punching bag he’d discovered inside and hung from
the center beam. Her punches made a solid thwacking sound as she
connected with it over and over again. She spun and gave a solid
roundhouse kick to the side of the bag. She danced back before
going at it with a series of blows that would have knocked any
human on their ass.

Small grunts escaped her as she continued to
pound on it before spinning again and kicking it so vigorously it
jerked on its chains and swung away from her. Stepping back, she
wiped her forearm across her brow. Straggling hairs had broken free
of the loose knot on her head; they clung to her round cheeks and
chin. He couldn’t help but admire the leanness of her lithe frame
as she moved with the fluid grace of an athlete.

His arousal from earlier began to return
while he watched her. He gritted his teeth against his erection and
focused on the more important issues at hand. “Pretending it’s me?”
he inquired.

She didn’t jump at the sound of his voice.
Somehow, she’d instinctively known he’d been standing there,
watching her. “No.”

There was only one man that punching bag
would ever be to her. Ian may infuriate, unsettle, and arouse her
in ways she’d never known possible, but she’d never want any harm
to befall him. Turning toward him, she tugged at the rags wrapped
around her knuckles and dropped them on the floor. She’d been
hoping beating on the bag would help to ease some of her
frustration and clear her mind. Any sense of working out her
anxiety vanished the minute her eyes landed on him again. There
weren’t enough punching bags in the world to work him out of her
system.

“Did you see them anywhere?” she asked.

He shook his head and folded his arms over
his chest. The sun setting over his shoulder caused red and orange
colors to dance across his golden hair and emphasized his bronzed
skin. “No.”

“Do you think we’re safe here?”

Ian’s gaze drifted back to the fading
sunlight as he pondered her question. There had been no signs of
any threat to them. He couldn’t shake the feeling something wasn’t
right, and he’d learned to trust his instincts over the years. “No,
I don’t.” Her eyebrows rose; she glanced around the clearing again.
“We’re going to leave.”

“Where will we go?”

“To the motel in town. A public place would
be better right now.” She remained unmoving, her eyes on the woods.
“Go on and pack. I’ll get the pickup started.”

She nodded her agreement and slipped past
him. Ian watched her climb the stairs to the cabin before turning
away. He walked around the back of the shed to the pickup parked
behind it and checked the oil before slamming the hood shut. His
gaze traveled around the clearing, he scented the air, but all he
detected was the lake water and the crisp mountain air. That didn’t
mean something wasn’t coming.

He leapt up the porch steps in one bound and
walked into the cabin where he found Paige emerging from the
bedroom. Her blue-green eyes were troubled when they met his, but
she forced a smile. Grabbing his clothes, he shoved them into the
duffel bag Emma had given to him and slung it over his
shoulder.

“Ready?” he inquired.

“Yes.” She waited for him to leave the cabin
before following behind. Stepping onto the porch, Ian froze
immediately as the strong stench of rot and decay drifted toward
him on the breeze flowing through the mountains. He’d smelled
landfills in August with a better aroma than what reached him now.
A rock lodged in his stomach, he couldn’t see who was emitting the
stench, but he knew immediately at least one murderous vampire was
within five miles of the cabin. Throwing his arm out, he halted
Paige before she could take another step.

“What’s the matter?” she asked
nervously.

“The kind of vampire you dislike so much is
near.”

Her mouth parted, her bag plopped onto the
porch as she scanned the woods. “How can you tell?”

“I can smell it.”

She gave a snort of disbelief. “You can
smell a vampire?”

“I can smell a
killer
vampire. A
normal vampire doesn’t emit this particular aroma.”

Some of the color drained from her face.
“How?”

Paige almost grabbed hold of him when he
shook his head and stepped away from her. She strained to see
through the trees his eyes were focused on, but nothing moved
amongst the foliage. “I don’t see anyone.”

“They’re there,” he murmured.

Those words chilled her more than the
thunderous look on his face. “They?”

“Yes.”

“Can we get to the pickup?”

“No.”

The word had just left his mouth when she
saw figures emerging from the tree line. Paige’s heartbeat
escalated, a chill slid down her spine as she watched two men and a
woman step onto the cleared land. The fog drifting low across the
grass obscured their feet and gave them the impression of
spectral-like figures. Paige swallowed heavily, her fingers itched
for a weapon.

“Stay behind me,” he commanded.

“Ian…” she started to protest.

“These vampires won’t play with you and tug
on your hair, Paige. They’ll tear out your throat before you know
they’re there. I won’t lose you.”

She swallowed down the lump in her throat as
the three of them stopped before the porch. The woman reminded her
of a fairy with her short pixie blond hair sticking up at every
angle around her angular face. Her features were as small and
diminutive as her size. Paige felt like she could lift her leg and
stomp on her. She may look like a flyswatter would take her down,
but Paige knew it would take a lot more than that.

The man to the right of the woman looked to
be in his mid to late forties while the other looked closer to
thirty. Both the men had bags under their eyes and shadows lining
them. Their upper lips curled into sneers at Ian before they turned
their attention to her. All of their eyes glistened like rubies in
the dusk settling over the clearing. A smile curved the woman’s
mouth as her gaze raked Ian from head to toe and back again.

“Well, now, who might you be?” the woman
purred.

Paige bristled at the woman’s words and
thrust her shoulders back. She’d gladly stomp the pixie looking
woman if she kept undressing Ian with her eyes like that. “No one
you should mess with,” Ian replied.

Ian’s gaze slid over them, mentally tallying
up their weaknesses and which one would make the first move. He
glanced back at Paige, but she remained unmoving with her chin
jutting out. His eyes traveled to the still open cabin door. He
could get her shoved inside before she knew what was happening.

“We have no bone to pick with you,” the
older of the men said. “We’re only here for the girl.”

“What do you want me for?” Paige
inquired.

One of the men smiled at her in a leering
way that caused a snarl to tear from Ian. Paige’s hand on his arm
stopped him from launching at the man, but the man did take an
abrupt step back. “There’s someone who would like to see you,” the
woman replied.

Despite her training to remain calm, Paige’s
heart knocked against her ribs. Her gaze flew to the tree line, but
she didn’t see anyone else out there. Beside her, Ian stiffened,
his nostrils flared as he scented the air and scanned their
surroundings.
She
couldn’t see anyone else out there, but
she didn’t have his eyes, and she certainly didn’t have his
nose.

Ian focused on the three before him again as
the woods and surrounding area remained clear. Whoever had sent
them here, had the brains to stay away. “If you plan to survive, I
suggest you leave,” Ian told them.

“We really don’t want to fight you,” the
younger man said. “Just give us the girl.”

Ian lifted his arm and held it in front of
Paige, he moved forward in such a way his body almost completely
blocked hers. “That’s never going to happen.”