Replica (The Blood Borne Series Book 2) (24 page)

LEA

The back of the truck was littered with wooden boxes, a few blankets and what looked like a large rug rolled up against the cab. Using a foot, I pried the rug open and spread it across the surface.

“You look like shit, Lea.” Ivan put a hand under my elbow as the truck lurched forward. I would have shaken him off if I could have spared the energy. I had nothing left in the gas tank, and I’d be lucky to get into the truck without help.

I let my weight drop and he helped lower me to the thick rug on the bed of the truck. My wounds ached, the bite marks from the werewolves burning with a fire I couldn’t put out. An ordinary werewolf bite would have been healed by now. Whatever Stravinsky was doing, his new weapons were dangerous even to me.

Ivan sat behind me and scooted so my shoulders were against his lower back. “The fact you aren’t arguing with me is rather concerning.”

“Ivan.”

“What?”

“The Cazador is going to come at me soon. When he does, don’t interfere. Even if he kills me.”

“That’s not going to happen.”

“Promise me you won’t interfere between him and me.”

“Fine, I won’t save his scrawny ass from you.” I could almost hear the smile in his voice.

My discussion with Antonio had gone poorly at best, but my point had been made and that was all that mattered.

As soon as we were out of sight of the others, his fist slammed into the side of my head. The lack of blood and the injuries my body fought to heal on the little bit of blood I’d managed to take from Rachel made me human-slow.

Still, he’d take a cheap shot and I couldn’t have the conversation I wanted from a position of weakness. I went to one knee, grabbed both of Antonio’s ankles and jerked him to the ground. I climbed up his body with the drive to feed so strong it gave me the energy I needed to move faster than he could react.

I pulled back at the last second. My mouth hovered over the throbbing vein in his neck while I kept both his hands trapped deep in the sand. “You see, Cazador. You aren’t strong enough to keep her safe. And if she turns from me now because you tell her she is bound to me, you will strip her of my protection. Imagine an army of vampires, Cazador, coming for you and her. And no one to stand between.”

“I don’t need you to protect me,
puta de sangre
!” he snarled.

Blood whore. I hadn’t been called that in a long while. I leaned in and nipped the skin on his neck, breaking it open. Sweat beaded on his face. I smiled, though the pain of not feeding on him all but seared my throat.

“You see? Not so tough. Fragile is actually a good word for you and your oh-so-tearable skin.” I tightened my grip on him even as my strength faded. I had to end this conversation fast. “I still hold the deal I offered you.”

“I’ll make no deals with a monster.” He tried to head butt me, but I avoided the blow.

“Until this is done, we work together. When the other vamps are dead and gone, I will lay my heart bare for you to take. A clean blow. Just as I promised.”

He went still below me. “Lies.”

Time to lay it all on the table.

“I was a Cazador, Antonio. I hunted the monsters before I became one. And now I use their strength against them. When the time comes, I will not fight you. But until then—” Using the last of my reserves, I jerked up to my feet, yanking him with me. “Know your place in the food chain and keep your fucking mouth shut.”

He took a few steps back, but I had to give credit where it was due. He didn’t run. “And if I tell her that you bonded her soul to yours? That she is damned as long as you live?”

“She’ll believe me over you. You are on her shit list, my friend. I saw into her mind and she does not want you in her life,” I said, hoping to hell the first part was true. The second was a lie. Rachel’s thoughts regarding Antonio were at best, complicated and at worst, intrigued. The fact that I could read them at all without bringing her to the edge of death was confirmation of our bond.

But we just had to get through this mess before I told her. Besides, if we played it right, maybe I was soon to be the last vampire if I had my way. Which would leave only one final bloodsucker for Antonio to kill and no need for Rachel to know anything.

Ivan brushed a hand over my head and I cringed from his touch. “Do not get fond of me, mutt.”

“Too late. You need to feed still?”

I curled tighter around myself. “It can wait.”

“I can smell the hunger on you, Lea. You can’t hide from me.” He put his arms around me and spun me around so I was straddling his lap. I found myself staring right into his eyes. This was not the plan.

“Damn you,” I whispered as he tipped his head back, offering me his throat. I closed my eyes, fighting the urge. With Rachel, there was friendship and a growing trust.

With Ivan, I wanted more than I had the right to ask for. The more I leaned on him...the more I would need him.

“There is a chance I will see your memories,” I said, struggling to find a reason not to feed on him, but instantly regretting that one. I had no plans to drain him—although I was hungry enough I might lose the ability to stop. My attraction to him was stronger than I cared to admit, which left me open to another type of bonding.

“I doubt that. We’re trained to lock them away from vamps for fear of releasing information about our packs. Safe houses. Number of members. Weaknesses.” His chartreuse eyes locked on mine. “You won’t see a thing.”

The smell of his skin and the blood pumping just under it were too much for my hunger. Even though he was healing too, I knew I could take a little from him without weakening him. It would get me through the day, and I could feed again when we stopped after sundown.

I sunk my teeth into his neck without touching him anywhere else, doing my best to keep it clinical and distant.

Ivan was having none of it. He wrapped his arms around me, his hands soft and gentle, urging me closer.

No, this couldn’t happen. I dug my fangs in hard enough to make it hurt, tearing and grinding instead of only puncturing.

“I didn’t know you liked it rough. You’d make a good wolf,” he mumbled as his hands grabbed hold of my ass and jerked me toward him, pressing me against the rather obvious attraction in the front of his pants.

His blood hit my tongue, the first werewolf blood I’d ever taken, and all thoughts of holding back fled.

Now I knew why vamps would seek out the werewolf packs. An ounce of human blood powered me for a few hours, but an ounce of werewolf blood would last days. I took four gulps and pulled back, wiping the back of my hand across my mouth.

“Thanks.”

He grinned at me. “Anytime, but that’s not a proper thank you.” His lips were on mine in a flash, demanding and sweet at the same time, the taste of his blood in my mouth making the kiss that much more pleasurable. I clung to him, wanting it all, knowing it was a bad idea. Knowing also he was strong enough to stand with me.

Knowing he didn’t hate me, didn’t loathe what I was. Unlike Calvin.

Calvin.

His name snapped through me as surely as if I’d been doused with a bucket of ice-cold water. I pulled back, all but scrambling away from Ivan. “I need to rest.”

He tried to kiss me again, but I slid the rest of the way from his lap. I did not want more attachments than I already had. It was bad enough I’d bonded myself to Rachel. I knew that bond would at least be sundered with my death. But to start having feelings for the wolf? I glanced at him, and he grinned at me.

Part of Rachel’s memories surfaced in my mind—a discussion she’d had with Ivan. About his past, about what drove him.

I steeled myself not to feel what I was about to do. “Your wife was beautiful. But I think you need to work on keeping your memories to yourself.”

Ivan paled and his whole body shook. “No.”

I turned away from him. “I warned you. I’m not one of the pansy-ass vamps who stalk your people. They were weak enough to be blocked. I will not be blocked from your mind.”

He slammed me into the floor without warning. I let him, knowing him well enough to know that after the rage faded he would hold his distance from me. He pinned me the same way I’d pinned Antonio, arms to the sides, his mouth next to my neck, teeth bared.

“One bite and I could tear your head off,” he snarled, his body quivering with barely suppressed anger.

I snorted. “I let you tackle me, Ivan. You’re good at what you do, but with your blood coursing through me, there are very few who could match me.” I turned my head, pressing it against him until he got off me. He slumped in the corner, acting as if I’d whipped him soundly.

“Why, why would you say that?”

The truck hit a particularly bad bump, sending us both sprawling and opening one of the boxes.

The glittering silver stakes that spilled across the rolled-out rug cut short any answer I might have given them.

“Fuck. Maybe Rachel isn’t your friend after all,” he said, picking up a stake and rolling it across his knuckles. He looked over his shoulder at me, just the corner of one eye visible.

Damn him for being so fucking sexy when I needed to distance myself from him.

I made myself sit. Act like nothing bothered me—neither what I’d done to him nor Rachel’s failure to mention she’d acquired more vamp-killing equipment. It made sense, we were going after vampires and the surest way to kill them was a silver stake. Yet I felt...betrayed. She should have told me.

The night faded around us, and the canvas covering of the truck slowly lightened up. Neither of us moved or spoke.

God, what a mess. A Cazador who wanted me dead in the worst way, and was threatening to tell Rachel about the bond I’d forced on her before she was ready. A lovesick werewolf who had played on my sympathies and long-buried desires while he sought to revenge his dead wife. Then there was Rachel and our tenuous friendship. Add to that the fact we were driving into enemy territory filled with rotting werewolves, shadow men, and vampires old enough to make me look like a child.

The day didn’t feel like it could get any worse.

I put a hand to my forehead. “What day is it, Ivan?”

“What?”

“The day of the week. Which one?”

He was quiet a moment. “Monday.”

I laughed, unable to contain it. Why was I not surprised? I lay down on the floor and closed my eyes. Might as well sleep it away and hope that Tuesday would be a little bit better.

One could hope.

CHAPTER 26