Wicked Heart, page 8
With a mighty mental shove, I projected my words. “I suggest you all holster your weapons.”
They all holstered their weapons, looking just as shocked as I felt.
Damn. I can compel them even with their charms on. Holy crap, what exactly was I?
My heart thundered, and I breathed a sigh of relief. “Keep the weapons holstered,” I added when Harrison reached for his again.
His weasel-like face scrunched in anger.
“Robby’s our alpha,” Johnson, Robby’s beta, said, as if he had a claim on him. He stared at me with a crease between his narrowed eyes. “You haven’t done anything to him, have you?” His voice carried an ugly accusation.
My gaze shot to him. We went way back, to the days of the academy. He was Robby’s beta then, too, and always seemed to be hanging around. I cocked my head at him as more questions surfaced. “I am his mate.”
“Bullshit,” he said.
I pulled my shirt aside, showing them all Robby’s mark, and Johnson’s face fell.
He sniffed the air before shooting his gaze at Harrison. It seemed no one told the pack what was going on.
“Did you know?”
Johnson shook his head.
“Obviously you didn’t know Robby marked me.” I rolled my eyes. “What I’m asking is did you know he felt the way he did for all these years?” I glared at him.
“I’ve been his beta all my life. Who do you think talked him off the ledge every week?” he snapped.
“I don’t know whether to thank you or kick your ass,” I said, and he had the decency to lower his eyes. “Do you still have Robby’s cowboy boots in your trunk?” Robby would need some shoes and clothing, and Johnson had borrowed Robby’s extra pair of shoes more than once after shifting because he always seemed to forget to pack his. And he rarely returned anything. “And a backup bag of clothing?”
He nodded.
“Give them to me,” I ordered.
Everyone watched as he pulled out boots and a bag and crossed, dropping them to my side. He stood, waiting for the next order like a blank page.
“Go. All of you except Harrison,” I snapped the order, and yet again, they were compelled to follow. “And this never happened,” I added before they could turn and trot off.
I kept my gaze on Harrison Littleton. Our boss. The one who locked up Manuel. Who would have locked me up in a cell and thrown away the key. He would understand just what I had become soon enough.
When everyone had gone far enough that their engines were a low whine on the wind, I focused on Harrison. “Put your weapons on the ground and come here.” I pointed to the spot in front of me.
He dropped his gun and the knives on his belt on the ground, and started forward. Each motion was stilted, as though he tried to ignore my compelling spell. Harrison was a weasel of a man with a pinched face, a receding hairline, and beady eyes the color of filthy mud.
“You shouldn’t be able to do this. What are you?” he asked as he came to a stop in front of me.
I smiled, revealing my fangs. “Do not move a muscle,” I ordered, reveling in the power thrumming through my veins. “As to what I am? I’m a new breed of vampire, and I’m damned hungry.”
His eyes didn’t have a chance to fully widen before my teeth dug into his neck. Hot blood rolled over my tongue and down my throat, satiating the parched feeling accosting me. I actually felt my cells hydrating from the flow, and I pulled greedily at the punctures, draining Harrison of his life’s blood a torrent at a time. All while Harrison remained still, as if he were a statue.
He made a pleading noise, as if he knew the end was near. It was enough to break the bloodlust that had overcome me. I did not want to be a killer of humans. I didn’t want to be at the top of the most wanted list. I wanted them to back off, and killing Harrison would make that impossible.
I pulled my fangs from his skin and met his wide-eyed gaze as blood slid down his neck. I lifted my finger, willed my flame into existence, and then cauterized the wounds, stopping the flow of blood.
He winced and glared at me as if I had just sacrificed his first born.
“I’m not a complete monster.” I blew the flame on my finger out. “But I am a new breed of nightmare. So, you would do well to stay the fuck out of my way while Robby and I hunt down the bastard who did this to me. Understand?”
“You are an abomination,” Harrison hissed, his eyes slits of venom.
If looks could kill, I’d be dead ten times over.
I leaned closer, and he recoiled. “I could have easily killed you, but I chose not to. Remember that.” I tapped his nose and stepped back, giving him some breathing room.
“You should be put down,” Harrison said through clenched teeth.
Harrison would never give up the hunt. Not now that I had gotten the best of him. I should end him, make him disappear, but I was not the monster he thought I was. I needed to give him something more to think about. Something that could somehow benefit him. “Here is something you should consider before you just condemn me. Imagine the kind of damage I could do to the bastards who truly got off on hurting humans.”
Just for a moment, I saw the spark of possibility fill his eyes, as if I just opened a door he hadn’t even considered. But the minute he tried to move, that spark disappeared and the anger at being controlled returned.
My window had passed. Even though I had Johnson’s clothing for Robby, I nodded toward Harrison’s car. “Give me Robby’s sweatpants and sweatshirt you have in your trunk.” I put my hand out, waiting.
Harrison growled under his breath. “I don’t know what the hell you are, but we will find out and take you down,” he muttered as he marched to his trunk and pulled out clothing with Robby’s name on them at my bidding. He slammed them into my hand.
“If you decide to continue hunting us, it will not end well for you. Now go, before I change my mind and slaughter you.”
He did an about-face and marched to his car. I waited until he was out of sight before I reached down and collected the backpack and boots and returned to Robby’s side.
Regret slid through me like a slippery snake. I really should have wiped away Harrison’s memory, but I wanted our boss to know what he was up against if he decided to continue his hunt.
Robby slowly came to just after the sun dipped below the horizon. He moaned and grabbed his head. In our training as newbies, we had to be tranquilized to know the effects. The headache coming out of it was as hellish as a particularly nasty migraine.
I ran my hands through his hair and whispered, “Shh.”
“What happened?” He opened an eye for a moment to look up at me, but even that motion made him turn a shade of green and he stilled, taking long, slow breaths like we had been taught.
I continued to run my fingers through his hair in a steady, methodical flow.
“Tranquilizer.” I had enough time to replay the entire ordeal to the point I was probably more uncomfortable with what I was than Harrison had been. “Did you know I can compel agency members even when they are wearing their charms?”
This time both his eyes opened, and he stared up at me, forgetting that his head might split in two at any moment. His gaze moved around the shed as if he was really seeing where we were.
“We’re not in a cell.” It wasn’t a question, and then his gaze jumped back to me.
“No. We’re still in that god-awful shack.” I gave him a soft smile, and he searched my eyes, which I was sure held every ounce of regret flowing through me.
“How?”
“I compelled them to sheathe their weapons, and I commanded the pack members to leave after I announced I was your mate.” I bit my lower lip and nodded toward the boots, backpack, and sweats I procured in my standoff. “But I got you some clothing before they left, and they won’t remember a thing.”
His gaze moved slowly to the pile and back.
“And I decided Harrison was my human feed bag.”
“You killed Harrison?”
I shook my head. “No, I stopped feeding before he was too far gone. But I’m sure he felt the full force of blood loss once his adrenaline faded. And I’m second-guessing my kindness where he’s concerned.” I took a deep breath. “Letting him go without wiping his memory of me might come back and bite us.”
“You stopped?” Robby sat up with a wince and turned toward me. His cheeks paled, and he froze, sucking air through his teeth.
“Yes.” I glanced down at my hands now folded in my lap. “He made a noise of protest and that yanked me out of my bloodlust.” I picked at my nail. Although I had told Harrison that I chose not to kill him, that was not completely true. Had he not made the noise, I might have sucked him dry before sanity kicked in.
Robby reached out and cupped my cheek, tilting my head so I would look at him. “The key thing for you to remember is you stopped.” He wiped his face, taking those long breaths to get himself under control from the effects of the tranquilizer.
I reached into the backpack, pulling out one of those little fruit cups and offering it to him.
“Not yet.” He closed his eyes, keeping his head as still as possible.
I flashed back to my training experience with tranquilizers. I had thrown up everything, heaving until only a trace of stomach acid was left, so Robby either had an iron stomach or some serious self-control.
Thinking about the way he ravaged me back at the house, my bet was on serious self-control because that kind of passion said worlds about how much he kept his wolf in check. It had been truly explosive. I couldn’t believe he suppressed his wolf for fifteen years.
His lips twitched into a smile. “You’re slinging those pheromones again.”
My cheeks heated, and I glanced at the open doorway. “We’re a little exposed right now.” Although screwing around seemed like a good idea, anyone could walk in, and if I was preoccupied, we could be taken be by surprise. Which would be a disaster.
He glanced over his shoulder and a light laugh escaped. “I wish I could have seen their faces.” The humorous light danced in his eyes despite him still being a bit peaked.
“Johnson was a bit thrown by me being your mate.” Actually, he had looked downright flabbergasted when I said it. As if he almost didn’t believe me. But I guess the mark on my shoulder along with something in my scent must have given him confirmation because his mouth closed pretty quickly.
“He shouldn’t have been. He knew what happened. And he knew what my father’s wishes were. He talked me off that ledge at least a thousand times over the years.”
“So he said. I guess he was surprised you let your wolf win.”
“I’m sure he was,” Robby said. “No one underestimated my feelings more, except maybe you.” He reached for the sweats and slipped them on, and then slid the boots on. “I think I can walk now without throwing up.”
I stood and offered my hand, helping him to his feet, then strapped the backpack with food in it on my back. Robby slung the other pack over his shoulder and then picked up the fruit cup I had left on the ground. He opened it and downed the sugary syrup along with the sweet fruit. He tossed the empty container into a bucket that sat in the corner and then froze in place, closing his eyes. That slow, steady breathing resumed.
I didn’t speak. Either he was going to win the battle with his stomach, or he was going to hurl. Nothing I said or did would help either way, so I remained silent and skirted around him to step outside.
One minute, I was breathing the night in and the next, I was slammed into the side of the shack. A hand squeezed my throat and the angriest green eyes I had ever seen stared back at me. With his grip still clamped on my neck, he spun me, so my back was pressed against him.
“Call off your dog,” he snarled in my ear.
Robby, in wolf form, leapt out the door. His hard eyes glared at the man holding me.
When I didn’t speak, he said to Robby, “Stand down. Or would you like to see me tear her head clean off?” His grip on my neck moved to under my jaw, and his nails dug into my flesh. “I made her. I can unmake her, too.”
Robby froze in place as his growl slipped. Concern and aggravation crossed his gaze and then his teeth reappeared.
“She’s mine.” The man dragged me a step backward.
Robby’s gaze went feral, and his snarl echoed off the wood of the shack. He took a step forward, keeping the distance between us steady.
The bastard’s scent filled me, seeming familiar, yet I could not recall who the hell he was. I took another whiff and recognized death underneath the sweet glamour. “When you didn’t pick up your phone, I knew something was amiss. Imagine my surprise when I found your house reduced to ashes. Then I heard the news reports.” He stepped backward again, dragging me with him.
Robby matched him step for step.
“Give me my memories,” I commanded.
He laughed in my ear, his breath tickling me. “You cannot compel your master.”
Damn it. “You are not my master.” The thought of it left me physically ill.
“No? I was more than that before you stupidly pledged your allegiance to a fucking dog.” His grip on my throat tightened.
Robby hated to be called a dog. He was an alpha wolf, not a measly dog. Fury filled his eyes as he stared at us.
“What are you?” I asked as the man dragged me another step away.
“You know what I am.”
“A filthy vampire.” I spat out the words.
“You didn’t think I was filthy when I was in your bed,” he said in such a teasing tone that it pulled a vicious growl from Robby.
I blinked and aggravation bloomed. I couldn’t remember and I didn’t know whether this bastard was baiting Robby, or whether he was telling the truth. How the hell could I have ever been romantically associated with a vampire? I shook my head. “I don’t believe you.”
His hand tightened even more on my jaw, limiting my ability to breathe. “Maybe I’ll just erase him from your memory,” he whispered in my ear. “Then it won’t matter when I rip him to shreds.”
I stiffened. That kind of venom only bled through when it was personal. My fire stirred, swirling inside me. Protect my mate, it whispered, as violently as a hurricane. I stared at Robby. He was a man I could never allow to be forgotten.
I screamed, letting the fire engulf me. It flared bright, and a yell sounded from behind me as the bastard’s hands released me. I spun on my heel and growled at him as he patted his clothing down, putting out the flames I had set, his eyes wider than they had been in the bedroom the other night.
I gathered up the energy inside, intending to smite the bastard, and just before I hurled it toward the asshole, he disappeared into smoke.
Robby took off with a snarl.
“Robby, come back here!” I didn’t yell as a plea. I yelled as a command, and Robby was back in seconds, growling at me. “I don’t care what you think. Going after him is suicide. We don’t have backup.”
Robby transitioned back to his human form. “I don’t care that we don’t have backup,” he snarled as he crossed the distance. He lifted my head to inspect my throat. He ran his fingers over a tender spot, and I winced.
“I will be the one doing the tearing apart.” His conviction was total, and it was hard to argue with a naked werewolf.
Robby walked with purpose, putting as much distance between us and that shack as possible. He didn’t say much, which was good because I was turning over everything again and again in my head and banging against that wall between me and my memories like a bull in a cage.
“Why?” he finally said. His tone was one of hurt, and I wasn’t sure where it was coming from.
“Why what?”
“Why would you sleep with a vampire?” He didn’t even look over at me.
“Who said I did?” I snapped. I couldn’t accept that I would have done it knowingly. Of course, his physique matched my personal preference. Good-looking, built, and a voice that sounded like honey. It was more a reflection of Robby than I cared to admit. The only variation was this was a blond, not a brunette. And the only thing out of character was he was a vampire. “Maybe he was just trying to get a rise out of you.” My words sounded hollow even to my ears and the glare Robby sent chilled me to the core.
“That was personal, Sarah.”
He was right. Everything about my encounters with that vampire echoed a personal connection. From the initial playfulness in my house to the fury in his eyes today. “Maybe I killed his mate,” I mumbled, knowing in my gut that wasn’t the case. But I still could not come to terms that I had any relationship with such a vile creature.
But if I had killed his mate, he would have just sucked me dry and left a dead husk on the bed for MDA to find. Instead, he bled me to the point of death and then turned me. That wasn’t the action of vengeance, was it?
God. Why couldn’t I break down this barrier in my mind?
“He would have slayed you himself if you had done that,” Robby said, echoing my thoughts. He chewed on his lower lip. “Why the memory black out?” He glanced at me, looking at me with a scrutiny he hadn’t before. He slowly shook his head. “Besides, if you had been sleeping with him, I would have smelled him on you.”
I always showered first thing in the morning. I didn’t know whether Robby would be that observant when we were just partners, despite his wolf’s obsession with me. “Did you ever smell anyone else?” I prayed the answer was yes, but the longer he thought about the question, the more my heart dropped.
“Not that I can remember,” he muttered and took a deep breath. He knew my reputation. He knew I bedded more than my fair share of men, just like he slept with dozens of women. We both had tried to ignore what was between us by finding solace elsewhere.
We walked in silence, both stewing over the situation. The gaps in my memory made it impossible for me to say either way. Frustration left me on the verge of catching fire, and I took a breath, calming the snaking heat inside me.
