Chapter Twenty

Her words came at me in slow motion. I love you, Derek … for all eternity.

I plunged into her sweet depths, nipping and tasting her supple neck, my arousal for her near the brink of climax. “I love you,” I whispered in return against her throat. “I’ll always love you, Erin.”

Erin.

Dear God in heaven. I had just told Erin that I loved her. And I’d meant every word. I truly had fallen for this modern woman who, for years, had turned my life upside down during my attempts to lure Ersule into my greedy trap. I adored the headstrong woman who resembled my wife in every physical way possible, but was really nothing like her, at all.

I released her wrists and slowed my pace, trying to keep my wits.

Dammit!

Perhaps it hadn’t been such a good idea to have Mrs. Schauss fill my goblet with burgundy wine rather than the numbing blood cocktail. The moment was close at hand, but my mind was nowhere near rational or ready for deductive reasoning. Feeling Erin’s beating cord of blood against my urgent tongue, the taste of her, dear God, I could sense the wolf inside me beckoning escape.

Please, not just yet. I need to think!

Erin, the woman beneath me, her body writhing with pleasure, her essence, her soul, all meant the world to me.

The world.

Oh God.

If I proceeded with my devious plan, what would become of her? Would my submissive Ersule return with absolutely no hint of my spirited Erin? Would the vivacious woman known to the contemporary world of today merely vanish?

I rose up on my hands and stared at Erin. Beautiful, willful Erin. What if this was all a mistake, an error of monumental proportions?

“Derek,” she breathed, her cheeks flushing with intense desire in the glowing amber candlelight.

I groaned involuntarily. “My love.” I winced, forcing the vile beast clawing inside my belly to remain trapped. I clenched my jaw and gritted my teeth. If I climaxed now, I could lose all control. If only I could delay the shift while I gathered my thoughts.

I reached for her goblet on the night table and drank. Two swallows. Not nearly enough. My fingers trembled as I set the chalice down.

She grasped my chin and angled it toward the candlelight. Her gaze narrowed as she assessed me closely. “Your eyes are wildly blue tonight.”

Soft hands drew my shaft back inside her. I wanted to scream as I gazed at the moon mocking me from the bedroom window. I shivered, for the scene before me felt all too familiar.

I plunged again. And again. And again.

Erin closed her eyes and pulled me into a deep kiss as her body gave way to rising passion.

Blood. Dear God, I tasted blood. Ersule’s blood. Erin’s blood.

I clutched a thick strand of her hair and wrapped it around my hand, tasting the succulent drops upon her tongue as I drove deep inside her silky depths. I moved faster, unable to pull away even if she begged me to stop. Her soft, primal whimpers of pleasure called, and I growled, my arousal at the brink of no return.

She moaned, clearly provoked by the intensity of my desire.

“Derek,” she murmured. “Such an animal you are tonight.”

The moment she uttered those familiar words, I froze.

Her eyelids flew open. Frowning, she looked at me, unblinking, and I watched as trepidation rose within the emerald stare.

Suddenly, her eyes paled, grew faraway, dazed, as though she were trying to remember an uncomfortable vision.

Her rising unease and my instinctual need to claim her only fueled my growing desperation. I yanked her wrists above her head, digging my nails into her soft flesh, demanding the beast inside me remain hidden. I turned from her gaze, unable to look into her inquisitive eyes any longer.

Instantly, the wolf inside sensed the physical power I had over the small creature and seized my moment of weakness.

I released her wrists and shoved her thigh, attempting to flip her onto her stomach. Erin resisted my forceful maneuver to no avail, and just as our eyes met, flames of terror rose within her emerald stare.

She cried out, “What are you doing?”

I moaned like a wounded beast and spilled my seed within her moist depths. Panting and breathless, my gaze snapped to the rising moon through the window, my ears tuned to the howling chorus of my small awaiting pack, who’d endured much and for so many years to ensure our survival.

Though terror radiated within her moist eyes, something paralleling pity resided, too.

She quickly sat up. With a firm hand, she gripped my tense jaw and forced my face to hers. With the visceral changes threatening to consume me, I could shift in a flash. I forced my gaze away from hers and faced the luminous moonlight slanting through the window.

“Look at me,” she whispered so softly it could have been the gentle song of a mourning dove. “’Tis only you I love. Come back to me. Come back to me, Derek.”

My heart stopped dead.

Erin’s hands fell limp to her sides. She scooted to the edge of the bed. I gripped her shoulders. “What did you say?”

She looked at me as though I’d gone mad.

“I … I didn’t say anything, or at least I don’t think I did.” She rubbed her temples. “I feel so strange. So very strange.” She scrunched her eyes tightly shut. “I’m remembering something. Something from long ago, I think, and fear looms each time I edge toward recollection.” She grabbed my hand. “Feel my heart.”

I placed my hand upon her chest. Her heart beat like that of a trapped hare awaiting slaughter, blood pounding, pounding, pounding.

“Visions like nightmares,” she said, lifting her gaze, “and only when I’m with you.”

My jaw tightened with pain, the first sign of the inevitable shift. I cleared my throat, watching the firelight claw the bedroom walls.

“I see a fire in a stone hearth,” she whispered. She cast her gaze toward the fireplace. “Much like the one in this very room. I’m drinking from a tankard. I see … ”

She flinched, and I felt her heart stop only to resume with a monstrous thud against my hand.

She gazed up at me, terror flooding her eyes. “I see you. I see you, Derek!”

In a flurry of naked flesh, she tossed my hand aside, rose from the bed, and snatched her clothing.

I rose. “Wait, please. Let me explain —”

“I cannot. I’m so frightened.”

She staggered. I reached for her and gripped her shoulders to steady her gait. “Perhaps you should sit —”

“No!” She swatted my hand and jerked away. “Ouch! What’s that — on your hand?”

I looked at my palms and saw nothing unusual. Then I turned my hands over. Several bristled hairs had already thrust forth across my knuckles.

She gasped.

I quickly reached out for her.

“Don’t touch me!” she shouted, slowly backing away.

Desperation fueled the beast. My jaw tightened until it throbbed. I groaned as the steady shift began its merciless course.

Her eyes widened with fear. “It’s you. In my visions, in my dreams. It’s always been you!”

I had risked everything, everything on this moment, and the thought of being with neither woman was like a metal spike thrust straight through my dark heart. I couldn’t let Erin go.

I would not let her go.

“Erin, my love.” I extended my hand toward her. “I must explain —”

In a flash, she reached in her dress pocket and withdrew a sheathed knife with a polished wooden handle. She yanked the covering from the shiny blade, her eyes fixed steadily upon mine. Trembling hands pointed the dagger toward me. “Stay away,” she shouted. “I mean it!”

I held up my hands. “What are you doing?” My breath caught in my throat at the sound of my deepening voice. The small swallows of cocktail had slowed the shift, but I knew it would soon wear off.

“I’ve carried this ever since the wolves attacked me. Don’t come near me, Derek.” She cocked her head and listened to the feral chorus outside. She bundled her clothes in her arms and slowly stepped backwards, toward the bedroom door. “Keep away!”

Candlelight flashed against the dagger blade. She opened the door, her eyes locked upon mine, then slammed it shut behind her. I heard her run along the hallway and close a door. The click of the metal lock echoed off the hardwood floors.

I grabbed my trousers and saw more blades of dark golden hair had sprung across my knuckles.

Christ!

I stepped into my trousers and opened the bedroom door. At the end of the long hallway, Erin opened the bathroom door standing in bare feet, wearing her dress and carrying her undergarments and shoes. She saw me, shrieked, and fled toward the front door.

My gut turned to knots of desperation. I bolted after her. A door opened in the hallway, and Hannah stepped out. I ran into her with a loud thud, nearly knocking the servant over.

Hannah wobbled, her eyes wide with fright. “Sweet Jesus, Master Derek,” she said, tugging at her crocheted nightcap.

Lord. The only mortal servant in the household. She’d never understand this twisted mess. I gripped her shoulders. “Stand aside, woman.”

Her chubby feet padded backwards. “Oh, yes, sir.”

Erin unlocked the front door and escaped outside. I sprinted after her, stopping at the entry, trying to get a lock on which direction she had headed. Light snow had begun to fall, and the whipping wind clawed my face with icy fingers.

Dammit! I snatched my boots sitting in the entry and thrust them over my bare feet.

My throat tightened, and my heart pounded so fiercely I feared it could flee from my chest. I retrieved my coat from the iron hook and ran down the front porch. My gaze darted to the right, the left. Wet snowflakes plopped on my face and eyelids, obscuring my view.

I heard her voice and turned.

There.

Up ahead stood Erin, talking to the driver as she stepped inside the open buggy. The driver cracked the whip with a mighty snap, and off they sped down the snow-dusted street. It only took a moment before my senses picked up the evil scent left in their fleeing wake.