I jolted awake and sat upright in Darren’s bed.
It was daytime. Sunlight beamed through the curtains, though I wasn’t sure of the time of day.
The bell was still ringing.
I reached out for Darren but the spot beside me was cold. He had been there, the sheets were rumpled, there was an imprint where his body had been, but now but he was gone.
Why was the bell ringing?
Slipping out of bed, I dragged the sheet along with me as I padded on bare feet to the window. I was still naked so I wrapped the sheet around me in a makeshift gown. The rest of the sheet fluttered behind me like a train.
With one hand I kept the sheet clutched together at my breasts and with the other I opened the curtain and glimpsed Moon Alley.
People were rushing around with urgency. I was surprised there were so many people, there must have been dozens. They couldn’t all be werewolves, could they? There were mostly men. Big, strong men in black shirts and jeans, barking orders at each other or hauling goods. Occasionally I glimpsed a woman but mostly it was a sausage fest.
Moon Alley has been weak and deteriorating for years. If all the people running about were truly werewolves, there must have been a very recent and very big boom in population. But that didn’t make sense… unless they’ve been running around biting people or something.
The bell rang again.
The door behind me opened and I spun around in a twirl of sheet.
“Hey,” Darren said as he walked in.
I could immediately tell something was wrong.
He had a stack of clothes in his arms topped with a pair of boots.
He walked over to the bed and dropped the stack. Then eyed me up and down, warming me with the heat of his gaze.
“What’s wrong? Why is the bell ringing?” I asked as I walked to him.
His hands immediately reached for me, touching my arms.
“We believe there will be an attack tonight. So we’re preparing a defense.”
Shit.
I knew that the wolves were growing stronger, supposedly by Darren and I being together. I had even witnessed the wolves holding their own in the surprise attack on Blood Alley.
Darren’s wolf form was majestic, especially with its ability to pop off vampire heads.
But still I knew, though I freakin’ hated it, that the wolves were no match against the vampires. Even now. Even with more numbers, more strength, and a heads up. It would take a bloody miracle for Moon Alley to survive a full blown vampire attack.
This was exactly the thing I tried to prevent.
“How do you know?”
Maybe, hopefully they were mistaken.
Darren gave a feral grin, “Your old vampire master warned us that if we didn’t hand you over they would attack.”
Hand me over?
“The Queen will not like it.” I said.
For so long that had always been the reason the vampires didn’t supposedly finish off Moon Alley.
Darren shrugged and gave my arms a squeeze. “So far the Queen has remained silent on the whole matter. Which is for the best.”
I bit my tongue. It wasn’t for the best that the Queen didn’t step in. The threat of her wrath was what had always protected the wolves. Now, without that protection I feared the wolves, and me along with them, were doomed.
Yet Darren didn’t seem to share my sentiment. He was still grinning, as if he welcomed what was going to happen.
But maybe that was for the best? Maybe if he was cocky enough, arrogant enough, he’d have a chance. A very tiny, itsy bitsy of a chance, but a chance none the less.
“Get dressed,” he commanded before I could muster up the courage to tell him we were all going to die.
The thought must have reflected on my face.
“And don’t look so gloomy. Tonight will be a glorious night of battle, and then we will be free of the vampires forever.”
He kissed me. His lips crushed mine but for a moment and then he dropped his hands and stepped away.
He hesitated, as if he regretted letting me go. I blinked and then his lips were upon me again.
Someone knocked at the door but I was grabbing at Darren.
It felt so right kissing him, touching him. I never wanted to stop.
When I kissed him, reality went away. There was only his taste, the stroke of his tongue, and his heat. I could lose myself in the sensation, in the experience of him. I could lose myself in him.
Reality sucked. Kissing Darren was so much more preferable.
Darren broke the kiss. He had to pry me off him, peeling my lips from his, and held me at arm’s length.
“Ella,” he said, his voice husky and intimate. I loved the sound of my name flowing from his well kissed lips. “You need to get dressed. Trick is here, he’ll keep you company.”
Huh?
“I don’t need any company.”
Especially Trick’s. The last time I was with Trick, I had somehow ended up locked in a cage.
“I have to help with preparations. The pack needs me to lead.”
“I’ll stay with you.”
“No,” he said firmly and his tone stung a bit. “You’ll stay where I know you’ll be protected.”
How could he do this? We were finally together and now he was going to separate from me? Purposely?
“I’ll be protected with you.”
“I can’t take care of you and see to everything that needs my attention. You need your rest. I’ll rejoin you as soon as I can.”
“I’m fine, I can help.”
I didn’t want to be without him. I didn’t feel safe without him. Who was going to protect me? Trick and that group of his that were always in the diner? They were strangers, I didn’t trust them.
Darren shook his head.
It made me angry.
Weakly, I wanted to throw myself at him, cling and beg. To be apart from him again… what if I never saw him again? What if this time we were never reunited?
But he was acting as if he was the boss, as if he knew what was best for me. Radu used to always do the same.
“Are you going to lock me in a cage again?” I asked sharply and stomped over to the pile of clothes.
I was insulted by him, infuriated. I chose to hold on to the anger, it was easier to feel it, to fuel it than it was to be weak and sad.
Darren sighed with exasperation, “I didn’t order you to be locked in a cage.”
I snorted as I picked up the shirt. It was a black t-shirt, of course, and there were a pair of jeans to go with it.
“You’re going to be sheltered with the other mates. I need to go…” he said as he glanced to the window, “so we can finish in time and I can return to you.”
I pulled the black t-shirt over my head and wiggled myself into the jeans. A bra and panties was probably too much to ask for, but otherwise the clothes fit almost perfectly.
I eyed the boots. I bet they were a good fit as well. Then I eyed Darren.
I was frustrated that he was trying to control me as if he knew better than me. But I was even more frustrated because I knew the truth of all of it and I couldn’t say it.
The wolves’ efforts in defense were all in vain. They didn’t have a prayer. Tonight, if the vampires attacked in force, by tomorrow Moon Alley could be erased from the maps.
The best place for me was by Darren’s side. So we could enjoy what time we had left together.
But how did I say that?
I sat down on the edge of the bed, defeated. I didn’t want to spend our last moments of time together arguing, but I also didn’t want to spend it away from him.
My shoulders slumped forward and I buried my face in my hands. I breathed deeply, in and out. I had to keep it together.
“Ella…” Darren sounded concerned.
He already had enough on his plate. I shouldn’t add to it. Get your shit together, Ella. Ask him one more time, maybe he’ll give in.
“Please let me stay with you.” I’m not going to beg dammit.
Darren came to me and then dropped to kneel beside the bed. He took my face in his hands, his giant palms encompassing me and stared deeply into my eyes.
“Ella, I am so grateful the Luna has deemed me worthy to be your mate.”
My heart was melting.
“And I promise that once this is all over, once I tear that vampire bastards head from his neck and put an end to all of this, you will always be by my side. Always. I will always protect you, love you, and keep you close.”
He was going to say “but”, dammit. I just knew it.
“But…”
Gah, I frowned.
He continued, “Tonight I have to fight to keep you safe and I can’t do that if you’re by my side and I have to worry about you. The best place for you will be in the shelter with the other mates. And that’s the way it’s going to be.”
He kissed me. It was another smashing, crushing kiss but it was harder, meant to show me he had the power. He was in control. And trapped by his hands, I couldn’t escape it.
He pulled away suddenly. He was intentionally flustering me so he could make his exit.
For someone so big, he sure was fast. As he reached out to open the door, I had but a moment to decide if I wanted to say something to stop him.
Ultimately, I didn’t.
Even if I said out loud that I didn’t think the wolves, us, had a chance in Hell of winning, I didn’t think it would stop him from trying.
And the last thing he needed was to go into battle carrying my doubt.
So I kept it in.
I pressed my lips together and swallowed the truth back.
I had a track record of being wrong, and making bad decisions. I hoped with all my heart that this would turn out to be wrong, just like the rest.