BRIAR
“He’s not dead.” My heart lurched, and I got to my feet at the sound of Nik’s voice. He found me. The man always found me.
“What do you mean? I saw it.” I stood near the pond on the edge of our property, watching the ducks swim together in the dimming light of day.
He shook his head as he approached. “Can’t you feel it, lass? Our bond with the alpha is there. Weak, but still sparking. I’m telling you, the reason Rowena hasn’t come out of that room in three days is that she’s doing something to heal him.”
“But he…the hex. The blood. I watched the life leave his eyes.”
“It’s harder to kill us than that. You’re young, you’ve been sheltered all your life. A shifter can be balancing on the edge of death and come back, they can have one foot in the afterlife but still heal and recover.”
Frowning, I shifted my focus to him, letting my gaze linger on the multitude of scars that crisscrossed his forearms. “How many times have you almost died?”
“Two.”
“Do you remember what comes after?”
His expression remained stoic as he reached out to brush a stray lock of hair away from my face. “Darkness.”
“Well, that is comforting. Thank you.” Sarcasm dripped from my words.
“We can live a long time, Briar. We’re nearly indestructible. But unlike vampires, we do age, at a fraction of the pace of humans, but immortality isnae something we are cursed with. We will die eventually. It’s what makes our lives worth fighting for while they appreciate nothing. One day, you’ll understand that.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. The sound of wind through the trees brought me a sense of calm. “I’m not that young. I’ve seen death and birth and all that comes in between.”
A low chuckle rumbled from his chest. “And yet you allowed that vampire to put his hands all over you on the dance floor. You play with fire when you’re around those creatures. We can survive most injuries, but a bloodless heart cannae beat.”
I shivered at the thought of Lucas biting me, draining me. Nik was right. The vampire could kill me before I had a chance to fight back. “Well, we never have to see them again, so it’s not going to be a problem.”
He glanced behind me, his lips pressed into a firm line. “I dinnae think they’ll be that easy to be rid of.”
“Why do you say that?” The scent of bergamot and citrus hit me almost as soon as the words left my mouth.
“Because they’re standing at the property line.”
Somewhere in all of this, the sun had set. I’d known it was coming, but I’d been so caught up in my grief I’d stopped keeping track of the days and nights. Stopped thinking of the handsome vampire who’d haunted my dreams and starred in more than one of my fantasies. But it wasn’t Lucas I found when I turned my head. The two women stood there, painfully beautiful, long hair blowing in the breeze.
“Step one foot over the line, and I’ll be justified in my destruction of ye, Blackthornes.” Nik’s words were little more than a low growl.
“Relax, pup. We’re only here to see how you’re getting on after such a traumatic experience. Losing your alpha like that. So tragic.” The taller of the two, Sorcha, if I wasn’t mistaken, smiled. “We lost our beloved mother. Losing a parent is never easy.”
I stood a little taller, my chin jutting defiantly. I wouldn’t tell her my father wasn’t dead. She didn’t need to know that. “I’m fine. I’ll be fine.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh, he’s recovered? Well, that’s marvelous news.”
What just happened?
“Silly little wolf, vampires from my bloodline can read minds. Didn’t you do your research? We certainly learned everything we could about you after we found out you’d infiltrated our haven.”
“Did you know this?” I asked Nik.
“No. I…I thought it was only a story.”
Sorcha laughed. “Oh, the stories you’ve heard are true. All of them in one way or another. Unfortunately for you, you’ll never know which of them apply to us.”
“I bet a stake to the heart applies as good as anything.”
Her eyes darkened as anger warred for control on her face. “It applies to you too. You can’t exist without a heart. Should we test that theory?”
“Sorcha, stop. We’re not here to fight.” Callie rested a palm on her sister’s forearm. “We came to offer our condolences, but since those are clearly not needed, we should go.”
Nik put himself between the vampires and me. “Stay on your side of the property, vampires. It was a mistake to trust that any of us could co-exist. From here on out, if I see any of you on our land, I’ll do what needs to be done. That goes for the witches too. My pack is my responsibility. They’re my first priority.”
“Even if the woman you want doesn’t want you?” Sorcha lifted a brow, and all the blood drained from my face. I could feel it happening.
“She doesn’t have to want me for her to be mine.”
My chest tightened, and unease curled in my gut. What was he talking about?
“Clearly, she doesn’t agree.” Sorcha’s words were laced with amusement. Then she was gone in a soft rustle of leaves, and her sister followed behind her.
“What did you mean by that?” I asked, forcing the words through a tight throat.
“By what?”
“That I don’t have to want you to be yours.”
I turned toward him, looking up into his eyes with a mixture of anger and hurt and desperation.
“It’s not just that I want ye for my mate. Your parents signed a contract when I joined the pack. They promised you to me before you were born, as payment for my loyalty and protection.”
I shook my head, disbelief twisting my heart. “No. They wouldn’t sell me off. Why would they do that?”
He took my hands and stared into my eyes. “Perhaps they ken we will be a good match. That you’ll grow to love me. Many good marriages are made on paper first.”
“No. I can’t believe they’d do this to me. They never said anything. I thought they’d want me to choose on my own.”
“They tried to let you come to the decision naturally. It’s why they brought me to live at the manor, to be near you so often. I shouldn’t have told you.”
Pulling away from him, I wrapped my arms around myself and fought the rage that made my body shake. “Leave me be. I don’t want to see you right now, Nik.”
“Briar, don’t do this. We’ll be good together.”
“I’m not yours. I belong to no one.”
He growled. “You’ll see. Soon you’ll understand. You’re mine, no matter what you say. It’s a contract signed in blood. You can’t get out of it. Not without forfeiting something valuable.”
“Get away from me!” I shouted, but instead of waiting, I stripped down to nothing and shifted, letting the change take me and giving my wolf full control. She’d keep me from having to think too hard about the information I’d just learned.
I ran, deep into the woods, following my instinct over all else and letting my wolf lead me where she wanted to go. She was the only thing I could trust.
LUCAS
I took down the cougar with ease, jumping from the trees onto its back and sinking my fangs deep before it even knew what hit it. My sisters were right; it paled in comparison to fresh blood from a human, but I couldn’t bring myself to take from them. Not with the possibility I might kill one of them. It was why my father called me weak. My appreciation for human life. My longing for a connection to my mother’s kind.
A twig snapped nearby, pulling my attention from my prey and to the periphery. Someone was watching me. I let the now subdued and weak cougar fall to the ground and followed my senses toward the presence in the distance. Heart racing from the combined thrill of the hunt and the adrenaline of not knowing who might be hunting me, I worked to home in on the sounds my potential assailant was making. Soft breaths, almost panting, a rapid heartbeat, a wild scent. Then, a flash of silver streaked toward me, paws landing on my chest, knocking me flat on my back. The silver wolf stood over me, pinning me to the forest floor.
“You’re bold, Briar. But it’s not me you want to attack.”
She backed away and shifted into her human form before my eyes. God, she was magnificent. Strong, powerful limbs, graceful and lithe. She was everything I craved. She was the perfect prey.
“We keep meeting like this, me naked, you fully clothed. It’s not fair.”
I stripped my shirt over my head and tossed it at her. “Here. Now we’re even.”
Did I just see her sniff my shirt before she put it on? I thought I did. That sent elation through me, straight between my legs where my cock had begun to thicken in response to her. Her gaze traveled my form, stopping where she’d marked me. At the wounds that still weren’t fully healed.
“What are you doing here?” I asked her.
She shrugged. “Needed a break from the rest of my pack. From everything.”
“So you run through the woods, off the safety of your pack land? Is that…wise? I heard vampires were living nearby.”
That earned me a smile, and I hated how much I loved it. I was supposed to seduce her away from her family, convince her to turn on them and do our dirty work for us. Instead, I wanted to make her fucking smile. She sat on a moss-covered log and rested her chin in her hands. “I heard about them. They can’t be worse than what I’m going through right now. In fact,” she got a wicked gleam in her eyes, “one of them might be a welcome distraction.”
“What do you need me to distract you from?”
She blinked a few times, flicking her gaze from me to the cloud-covered sky above. “My parents promised me to someone before I was born.”
That statement made my skin crawl, but I kept my composure. “It’s a common enough practice. Plenty of marriages are arranged.”
“Yours?”
I laughed. “No. My father couldn’t care less who I marry. What gain could his bastard offer?”
“You’re lucky.”
“Am I?” I reached for her hand and waited as she considered my offer. “Come, walk with me. There’s nothing better to clear your head than a long walk in the moonlight.”
“We shouldn’t. Aren’t we supposed to be mortal enemies?”
My stomach twisted. She had no idea. “Doesn’t that make it more fun?”
“It might.”
I didn’t release her hand as we walked, and she drew closer to my body with every step until my bare torso was pressed against her with enough contact I could hardly stand it. She smelled so good. Wild. “Briar,” I whispered.
“Lucas.”
“You…you’re…I crave you.”
I couldn’t contain myself. I had to taste her lips at least once more. My palms encircled her waist and pulled her in front of me. Her form was smooth and silky on mine, the temperature of her body warmer than a human. She breathed my name again, and I lost all restraint. I cupped her cheek and lowered my lips to hers. Instant fire raced through my blood. The best kind of heat. My mouth parted, and her tongue pressed inside. The moment she cut herself on my fang, I was gripping her hips, lifting her so she’d wrap her legs around my waist, wishing I could drive deep inside her and make her mine. I kissed her like I wanted to devour her, and she moaned against me. Then the sharp sting of pain blossomed in my lip as she bit down hard enough to draw blood. I pulled away, arousal raging at the sight of my blood on her mouth. She licked her lips and smiled. Oh, I was going to take her here and now. There was almost nothing on this earth that could stop me.
It was the last thing I should have done, and the only thing I could have all at the same time. “Tell me I can have you.”
She pulled away, her heart hammering. “You can’t.”
She slipped free of my arms and took two steps back. With fluid grace, she pulled the shirt over her head and tossed it to me. “Briar,” I said.
“This was a mistake, Lucas. You know it. I know it.”
“It didn’t bloody well feel like one.”
Before she ran, she looked over her shoulder and said, “That’s exactly how I know it was.”