The sun was high in the sky when Declan called a halt so they could feed. Nowhere near as starved as she was the day before, Willow contented herself with a fox while Declan fed on a coyote.
When she finished with the fox, she set it on its feet and ran her hand over its back before petting its head. Its fur was silky beneath her hand as the creature leaned into her touch before nuzzling her hand with its head.
Willow smiled when it gave her fingers a playful nip before rolling onto its belly and wiggling on its back like a dog in search of a belly scratch. When she happily obliged, it kicked its feet in the air and grinned at her.
Declan released his coyote, which sprinted into the forest as fast as it could. He watched in awe as the fox, finished with its belly rub, rose and circled Willow. It rubbed against her as it walked.
He’d fed on animals countless times over the years, and every single one of them bolted the first chance they got. Even slightly weakened from blood loss, they still fled as fast as their legs would carry them.
He’d never seen anything like what they did with Willow. He could have chalked the deer up as a fluke, but not anymore. These creatures truly liked her, and the love she felt for them was evident in her radiant smile and the way she giggled as she played with the fox.
Something inside him shifted, and a strange sensation he’d never experienced before rose in his chest while he watched her. This woman who ruthlessly killed Savages, hated worms, and charmed animals was the most amazing being he’d ever encountered. And he longed to get closer to her, even if it ended in his demise.
Willow pet the fox’s head again before giving it a nudge toward the woods. She wiped her hands on her jeans and turned to Declan as she rose. The look on his face trapped her words as he stared at her with an expression she’d never seen before. It was as if he was bewildered, yet amazed by her.
The smile she gave him caused his cock to stir. For centuries, he’d battled the lust that once ruled him, but there was no controlling it around her, and he didn’t try as his gaze ran over her lithe body.
Her open jacket revealed the swell of her breasts against her black, formfitting shirt. His mouth watered as he recalled the feel of those breasts against his chest, and he imagined cupping them while running his tongue over her taut nipple.
He’d tease her until she begged for release. Tease her until neither of them could take any more, and then he’d fuck her until they were too exhausted to move, pull her into his arms, and hold her as he’d never held another before.
Willow’s heart beat a little faster as Declan’s eyes latched onto her breasts. Normally, she’d tell the guy exactly where her eyes were, and if he didn’t take the hint, she’d bash his nuts into his body, but she couldn’t move. She didn’t want to move as her nipples hardened against her sports bra.
Then, Declan tore his gaze away from her, and Willow found herself able to breathe again as the tension between them eased. If this kept up, bad idea or not, she was going to jump his bones.
Maybe if they screwed, she could work him out of her system and go on about her life as if nothing happened. People and vamps did it all the time. She’d never been with someone more than once, but that was because she liked her relationships casual.
Curious about sex, she’d been with four men, but she never saw them again. She’d spent the night and next day with one of the guys, and that was her longest relationship. It was a fun night and day, though. Her first was a boy she’d gone to high school with and run into again a year after graduation.
She’d always thought he was cute and figured why not? She might never meet her mate, and if she did, she could be three hundred or a thousand when it happened. There was no way she was staying a virgin for that long. She wasn’t going to be the forty-year-old virgin, never mind the thousand-year-old one.
So, they had sex. It was a blundering mess, and she left before he woke up the next morning because there was no point in awkward goodbyes or building a relationship with someone who wasn’t her mate. Besides, friends with benefits was too much of a commitment to her. However, she might enjoy a friends-with-benefits arrangement with Declan.
No, she would enjoy it with Declan; she did not doubt that. She’d never been with a vamp before, and she couldn’t deny her curiosity was piqued, especially since it was this enigmatic vamp with the silver eyes, dark auburn hair, and a smile that turned her insides to goo.
“The animals like you,” he murmured.
“I’ve always had a special—” Willow paused as she tried to come up with the right word for it. “—affinity with them. I like them, they like me, and we respect each other. I know it sounds weird, considering I sometimes feed on them, but they seem to understand.”
“That’s because they know what it takes to survive,” Declan said.
Willow pondered this for a minute. “Maybe. Are you ready to run again?”
He studied her with a more critical eye. After feeding and sleeping, she looked a lot better than yesterday, but shadows still smudged her eyes. She would never admit it or stop unless he suggested it.
“Why don’t we walk for a little while?” he said. “I think we’ve lost them, and there’s no reason to push ourselves if we don’t have to.”
Willow yearned for civilization and all its luxurious comforts, like clean underwear, but she’d love to give her aching legs a break.
“Walking sounds good,” she said.
She fell into step beside him as they made their way through the forest. Declan pushed branches out of the way for her, and she ducked to avoid a low-hanging limb before rising on the other side. He followed her.
While they walked, she kept her attention riveted on the shadows and the squirrels and birds flitting through the branches. She loved the sounds they made, and watching them gave her a sense of comfort she hadn’t experienced in days.
“Why did you join the Alliance?” Declan asked after they’d walked for a couple of miles.
Willow ducked another branch before rising on the other side and glancing surreptitiously at him. Maybe they should have kept running; it was preferable to crying in front of him.
When the silence stretched on, she realized she had to give him an answer. “Savages killed one of my adopted uncles. They captured him and two of my other uncles and took them to an island where they hunted them like they were less than animals. Unfortunately, Doug didn’t survive.”
Her jaw was clenched so tight, he heard her teeth grinding together as her grief beat against him.
“Doug wasn’t blood, but he was my family,” Willow said. “We all loved him so much, and they took him from us.”
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you,” she muttered.
“I heard about that island. It was a new low for Savages, but over the years, I’ve come to realize there’s little they can do to surprise me anymore.”
“Until they start building tunnels and living underground with demons?”
“Until they start doing that,” he admitted. “So, you joined to get revenge for your uncle?”
“No, I joined to prevent other families from suffering the same fate. No one should lose someone they love to these bastards, and no one should be forced into becoming one of them.”
Fire burned in her eyes when she met his gaze again. He didn’t have to feel her determination; it radiated off her in waves.
“And I do it for Doug,” she admitted.
“Understandable. Vicky wasn’t thrilled when you joined us.”
Willow snorted. “That’s an understatement. None of my family was thrilled about it, but they’ve gotten used to the idea, or at least they don’t constantly try to talk me out of it anymore. I’m sure that will change after this.”
“They care about you.”
“Too much.”
“Is there such a thing?”
When she tilted her head, the sun’s rays filtering through the trees emphasized her delicate beauty. He almost stopped walking to draw her against him. He didn’t think she’d deny him if he tried to kiss her, and he imagined those full, red lips tasted as good as they looked.
His hand dipped into the pocket containing what remained of his stash of lollipops, but when she smiled at him, he released the sticks.
“It is when you have nine siblings, parents who are madly in love with each other, and four… I mean, three adopted uncles.” She’d been talking to him about Doug, but sometimes she still forgot he was gone. When she remembered, it was like a blow to her all over again. “Not to mention brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, and a troop of nieces and nephews. Sometimes the amount of caring can be overwhelming, but I guess it never can be too much.”
“I bet holidays at your house are a little hectic.”
She chuckled as she pushed aside another branch. “Christmas was a war zone when I was a kid. Even if a present had your name on it, there was no guarantee you’d get it. My brother Julian took a wooden Santa to the head when he tried to steal my brother Aiden’s PlayStation.
“In the process of the fight, they both broke the PlayStation, and my father grounded them for a week. The sad thing is, the broken PlayStation made Julian happy as he’d planned to take it apart and learn how it worked. We tortured each other daily.”
Despite describing it as a war zone, the sad smile on her face said she missed her family and all their craziness.
“It sounds like fun.”
“It was… interesting, frustrating, brutal, and a lot of laughter. We loved it. What about you, why did you join the Alliance?”
“My father was a member before me; I always knew I would join one day too. When I stopped aging at twenty-four, I went into training, though I was preparing years before that.”
“Did your mom give you a hard time about it?” she asked.
“She was killed by Savages when I was five.”
Willow winced and wondered if she could pull her foot out of her mouth. “I’m sorry.”
“It was almost six hundred years ago, and I don’t remember much about her.” But he could recall feeling an overwhelming amount of love in her presence and the sweet sound of her voice when she sang to him. “She loved me.”
The wistful way he said it caused a pang to tug at Willow’s heart. He was gorgeous, powerful, brave, and a man willing to sacrifice himself for others, but she suspected that, unlike her, there hadn’t been a whole lot of love in his life. Yet, she couldn’t think of anyone who deserved it more.
She rested her hand on his arm before realizing what she’d done. The gesture was so instinctive, she hadn’t thought about it before acting, but now she was holding the arm of a man she was supposed to be strictly business around.