Taming the Heart (Creatures of the Night Book 2) (18 page)

She nodded and when he would have left she grabbed his arm. “I’m sorry Saul.”

“This no es your fault Mira. I guarantee I am going to discover the one’s responsible for this and they will be sorry for sure.”

She recoiled form the deadly look in his eyes as he slammed the door closed and began calling people on his phone. The fire trucks pulled up as well as the cameras and Saul went into full action as he directed people and answered questions. A few people attempted to approach her in the car but Saul headed them off the best he could while still yelling out orders.

Miranda took a few moments to take stock of the damage done to her body. The major gashes to her legs had healed, tissue and skin reappearing, but several smaller wounds still bled. She couldn’t tell how bad her shoulder was at the moment because she still had her bloodied down jacket on. It was a mess, a combination of blood and exposed fluff. It felt like someone had stood on her chest and slammed down into her shoulder with a sledge hammer. The loss of blood was making her light headed. She needed food. She needed food in the worst way.

The hunger was like a gnawing aching beast clawing at her insides, screaming to break free. She looked around the car and cursed how clean it was. Anyone who kept a car over ten years old this clean deserved to be shot. She opened the glove compartment and gave thanks to God above. There were a few power bars stashed inside. She ate them quickly and wished that there was more.

Panic seized her as fatigue slammed into her. She rolled down the window quickly calling out to Saul. He said something to a policeman before he loped over. The policeman held the reporters away from the car to give them a moment.

“You have to get me out of here. I’m going to crash.”

“It’s all right. I’ll watch the car until-“

“Listen to me, when I wake up… something happens to me. I can’t be here around all of these people.”

He nodded. “I forgot. Braden mentioned something about that. You rest. I will take you out of here long before you wake up.”

“You take me somewhere and then you leave me.”

“Mira. I can’t-”

“You promise. You take me and then you leave me. I… don’t… want…”

She was fading fast. Saul reached inside and leaned her chair back so that she was lying down.

“Don’t worry. I’m not afraid. I will take care of everything,” he said before he closed her inside the car.

She couldn’t bring herself to respond to him. Her last bit of effort was used to call out to Braden, but he wasn’t here to protect her, and he should have been.

Chapter Eleven

Braden felt something smash into him. It hit him right between his eyes. Something was happening to Miranda. She needed him and he was God only knew how far away. He tried to will his rented truck to go faster. If only he had his own truck, he could roll right into the desert and straight up to the compound, alarms and whistles be damned. He’d seen the reports about the bombings on television and tried to call her on the cell phone he’d left behind for her. There was no answer. He’d tried Saul’s cell, and still it was busy. His heart was pounding hard and he actually felt himself begin to sweat.

If they had done anything to hurt either of them… this was why he’d given up personal connections. He didn’t want to have to go through this, yet here he was and he knew one thing for certain. If anything had happened to either one of them his single goal in life would be to hunt down each and every day walker and execute them with his bare hands. Maybe he had loved someone this strongly once, but he couldn’t remember it.

He couldn’t ever remember holding anyone so tiny so close to his chest before as he whispered pretty things in her ear. He couldn’t remember ever wanting to protect someone so much. He couldn’t ever remember wanting to see a woman parade around in pink frilly lacy clothes but he would give the heart from his chest to see Miranda do those things again. She was cute, she was petite, and she had his heart thoroughly wrapped around her little finger. The last forty hours without her had been pure hell. He was lost and he knew it.

It seemed like it took forever to reach the compound but finally he pulled up to the barriers that led up to the burning building. Dawn was approaching yet the fire was still as bright as the sun. It was furious, angry, and unfeeling. It might be at this very moment consuming his tiny precious treasure. What had he been thinking to leave her alone?

A cop was trying to tell him to turn around when he rolled down his window and held out his badge. The officer came and took it from him.

“I’m not familiar with this clearance card.”

“I work in that building and am authorized to enter even in times of catastrophe.”

“I’m gonna have to check with my supervisor.”

“Do what you must but I am only willing to wait a certain amount of time before I take this truck and come through that barricade.”

Braden saw the man’s pride surge forward and war with fear. Even people in authority had to acknowledge that Braden looked large and menacing enough to crush a man’s head in one hand and it often made them twitchy around him. Braden chose to remain silent as the cop strode off and made a phone call. It only took two minutes for the cop to return his badge and move the barrier with a grudging look. Usually Braden didn’t mind the way humans treated him, especially when they saw him as a threat, but right now the stupid human was lucky he still had his head on his shoulders.

Braden hit the gas and had to pick his way through a crowd of emergency workers. The reports had obviously been pushed back behind the barrier meant to keep such persons out. He left the keys in the truck and it was as if he had some kind of internal guide that carried him through the mass of confusion. He was in the parking lot headed towards a car in the center.

All his vision and attention was focused on that one spot. He growled as someone got in his way. He pushed the man so hard he landed on a nearby trunk. Braden didn’t stop to see if the man was all right.

“Braden.”

The voice registered as someone he knew, but he couldn’t stop to see who it was or what they were saying. Whoever it was was smart enough not to touch him. He couldn’t think about, couldn’t hear, couldn’t see anything else. She was there and she needed him. He reached the car and pulled the door open so hard the door bent back and came off the car all together. She was nestled inside a down jacket that was ripped at the shoulder.

Her face was smudged with soot and half her jacket and her jeans were covered in blood. He growled ferociously and turned on whoever had been behind him. He was about to rip his head off until the face registered. It was Saul and his eyes were huge as he whipped off his jacket and lifted it to try and conceal Braden’s face.

“What the hell are you doing muchacho?! You want to air your hunter’s face on National Television?” Saul snapped in outrage.

Braden hadn’t realized that his face had changed. He forced it back. Saul lowered the coat and Braden saw a few people look their way skeptically. As soon as they saw his face was normal, they shrugged it off and went back to what they were doing. People saw what they wanted to see.

“I leave her in your care for one day… I thought I could trust you!”

“She isn’t dead! Not for lack of the day walkers trying! You think I wanted any of this… Hector… Trent… Mericruise… Sabrina,” he began and had to stop as tears and rage gathered in his eyes.

Braden relented some. He had met Saul’s girlfriend Sabrina. She had been tall and lithe with her long blond hair and big green eyes. Braden could remember thinking that her only flaw was her freckles which made her look younger than she was.

“What the hell happened here? Was there some type of demand, some type of warning?” Braden asked instead.

“When has a day walker EVER needed an excuse to strike out at the hunters,” Saul said so angrily that Braden could almost feel the heat of his temper.

He was hurting but hiding behind the mask of authority he had thrown up to take care if this situation. The phone in his hand hadn’t stopped ringing yet and it looked as if three people were standing to the side waiting for him to take charge once again. They looked to be frightened of Saul and Braden didn’t blame them. The look on his face was all sharp angles and hawk eyes. Braden had seen a hint of this in his friends face when they had been under attack in various skirmishes before, but never to this extent.

“Day walkers capture hunters, torture hunters, eat hunters for supper; they do not waste life this way.”

“Well apparently something has happened to change their minds now hasn’t it?! Now. If you are through tossing people around and exposing your face in public, I have a job to do and by the way, if you could try NOT to do that anymore, por favor. There aren’t going to be anymore clean-up crews for a little while to pick up after your ass if you should mess up again! I need everyone to be on their top game if we are going to make it through this.”

“I want to take her back to Norway,” Braden said giving his friend a break. Braden had better control than to go off halfcocked, but just barely. Someone had hurt his woman and Braden would not stand for it. The mood he was in, Saul’s outburst nearly set him into motion, which would have been bad for everyone.

“You want…” Saul shook his head and took a deep breath. “You want me to uproot Paula and bring her here, acclimate her to a territory she’s never been in, get her acquainted with Alaric to make sure she knows his scent and doesn’t rip his head off on top of all I have to do here? No! You are going to have to suck it up and protect her within the confines of your new territory.”

Saul began to turn away when Braden stepped in front of him and looked him in the eye. The black eyes that were usually filled with so much life and laughter were hallow… soulless. Braden reached out and put a hand on his shoulder.

“I’m sorry about Hector… about Sabrina.”

Saul shook his hand off and stepped back. “Don’t… they made the choice to be here just like me. We knew the risk of being involved with the hunters. And Sabrina… I should have never allowed myself to get so close to her in the first place. We are not supposed to date each other and now I know why.”

He turned and strode off. Braden took a deep breath. This was going to change his friend forever and there was nothing he could do to help him. Hopefully the life would eventually return to him, but he would always be different. If this had happened even a month ago Braden could have taken the statement Saul had made and said it was accurate. Now he knew how wrong it was. There were no choices when it came to who you fell in love with apparently.

He turned back to the woman who had given him his compassion back and lifted her up in his arms. He vowed then and there that he would never let her go again.

*                            *                            *

Miranda came awake slowly. It took her a moment to remember what had happened to her as she looked around. She was in a hotel room. She sat up and looked down. She was wearing a white night gown. It sounded peaceful and quiet outside. She heard the shower turn off as the door swung open. Braden. He hadn’t even bothered to grab a towel.

Her senses came alive as she saw him and she felt her eyes change as she looked over his hard muscled body. She was up and out of the bed and in his arms before she knew what she was doing. She was holding him tight and breathing in his deep masculine scent. It was really him and he was finally with her again.

“I’m sorry I left you.”

“Never leave me again you big-”

She didn’t get to finish before he was on her, pushing her down into the mattress and she didn’t mind his weight at all. His weight was welcome and comfortable and the nightgown between them seemed to disappear he whipped it form her so fast.

Then he was inside her, moving hard and fast and deep. She could do little more than cling to him as his scent filled her nostrils. She didn’t think she would ever get enough of his scent, of his taste, of the feel of his hard smooth skin against her softness. This was right. This was good. In this moment in time they were one and nothing could come between them.

She wanted it to last forever but she felt the orgasm ripping the ground from beneath her. She let her fingers drift up into his damp hair as his mouth left a trail of kisses on her throat and shoulder. His kisses were so feather light and his cock was so hard and deep in her that she felt like she would be torn apart by the passion she felt for him. This was better than any dream she had ever had, better than any fantasy, better than anything she had ever read in any romance novel.

She wrapped her legs around his waist and lifted herself so that he could go harder and deeper. He groaned as his control began to slip and she felt power surge through her. She gripped him internally and he made a sound like a wounded animal as he stilled for a moment his breathing labored.

“Cum with me,” she whispered in his ear as she let her warm breath linger there for a moment. He could only make a strangled response. She moved beneath him and he cried out again as he threw his head back.

She felt it the moment he lost all control and she forced herself to look at him. His face had become feline, feral. She should be afraid; she knew she should be, but something that she had never known before rose to the surface. She would have never considered herself as wild or animalistic but that was how she felt right now. As if she could tame this beast in him. She could tame him by doing nothing more than giving herself over to him, and that was what she did.

She spread her legs as wide as they would spread and arched her back up gripping the mattress to leave him complete access and it was as if something awakened in him in response. His fangs descended and his eyes became violet. She felt the puncture but absorbed the blissful pleasure as he took a draw from her. She groaned as he did and then he was moving in her again. This time with no restraint.

He pushed her knees as far open as they would go as he lifted himself to begin working in her. It took a great restraint on her part not to reach up and touch that beautiful body but for some reason she wanted him to have all the power in this moment. She was giving him something more than she had given him the last time.

In this act of obedience she was showing her trust… her love. She let her eyes say to him what her mouth was beyond uttering at the moment. She let her soul do the talking and he returned her steady gaze as he moved in and out of her, harder and harder until it nearly made her dizzy. They were both lost in this moment as she lifted her hips to him and his hips pistoned faster and harder. It was a perfect moment of ecstasy and she felt her world shatter and splinter into a million pieces as she finally was pushed over the edge.

She gripped the bed and cried out as she closed her eyes and stars exploded behind her eyelids. She felt him spill into her and heard his cry of relief as he found his own release. Nothing had ever felt better or more devastating for just as the euphoria began to fade, he rolled from her leaving a void.

He sat on the edge of the bed breathing hard. He looked like he was almost shaking. She reached out to him but he got up and headed for the bathroom before her fingers could glide over his flesh. She sat up pulling the sheet to her chest as her legs went limp and her breathing evened some.

She grabbed a few tissues to clean herself with, feeling very dirty suddenly. She didn’t understand what was happening. She couldn’t have been the only one to feel what had just happened. She tossed the tissues into the waist basket beside the bed. When he came out of the bathroom dressed she felt the stab even deeper.

“I’m glad I was there when you woke up,” he commented as he opened a small refrigerator and pulled out two bags.

She blinked as she watched him. The knife plunged even deeper as she realized what he was talking about. He thought that she had only reacted the way she had because of the need that struck her every morning. She reviewed her feelings in that moment. She had been so happy to see him, so glad that he had come for her… was that why she had opened up to him this morning or was it just the need?