The Vampire SEAL Collection, page 108
A branch snapped, drawing our attention to the dense forest behind us. I stiffened and readied my hands to wield my one go-to power that would stop anyone without killing them. As I blinked, Olivia came into focus. Her long dark hair was wild as though she’d been in a fight with an animal. Her clothes were ripped in most places, and her fangs were dripping with blood.
“Jo? Sam?” she said before she yelled, “Kraft, over here.”
I ran, stopping inches from her. “Is Webb alive? Tell me.” My heartbeat was erratic.
Her chest heaved. Then she dropped her gaze.
Kraft swatted at branches with his tattooed arms as he emerged. Blood covered his mouth as though he’d been feeding. Like Olivia, his clothes were shredded in most places. His once shoulder-length blond hair had grown longer, and he sported a thick beard.
“Where’s Webb?” I asked again as my stomach curdled with nausea.
Kraft and Olivia exchanged a forlorn glance.
More branches snapped before Kodiak stalked out from in between the trees. “Webb isn’t going to make it.”
“Why would you say that?” Olivia snarled.
Kodiak lifted a large shoulder as his lifeless green eyes scanned my face. “It’s the truth.”
Sam grabbed my hand. “Where is he?”
Thank God for my brother. I was tongue-tied for some reason as I continued to stare at Kodiak. He’d never been one to beat around the bush about anything. My dad had had a couple of problems with Kodiak’s crass attitude.
Crysta took hold of my other hand. “Come with us, Jo. Maybe Webb will respond to you. He hit his head pretty hard, and he’s lost a lot of blood.” Her soothing voice did nothing to quell the uneasiness inside me.
My pulse pounded in my ears as we trudged through the falling snow and thick leaves. Please let Webb live. I kept repeating that in my head.
Olivia and Kraft led the way, while Kodiak took up the rear.
“Can someone fill us in on what’s happened to you guys since you left the base three months ago?” Sam asked.
“Bruno,” Kodiak said his name as though Bruno was the devil. “That man has a target on his forehead. I don’t care if I spend the rest of my life looking for him; I will kill him.”
“Get in line,” Olivia and Kraft said in unison.
I had my own reasons to see that Bruno got what was coming to him, but first, we had to take care of Webb. I couldn’t lose him. I couldn’t go on in life without him. The last three months had been unbearable, not knowing if he was dead or alive. The only thing that had kept me from losing my sanity was hope. The old cliché that no news was good news certainly helped me get out of bed every day. Even now as we wound through the forest, hope still bloomed along with despair. What if Kodiak was right? What if Webb didn’t make it? Vampires had very few ways they could die, and Webb hitting his head on a rock wasn’t one of them, although losing a lot of blood could contribute to his demise.
“Why haven’t any of you given him blood?” I asked as my brain began to awaken with tons of questions. In my world, we normally didn’t drink from other vampires unless it was an emergency or, as Webb had schooled me, when two vampires had an intimate connection.
Butterflies took flight as I remembered back to the night I had to drink from Webb in the woods behind the base. I’d just been rescued from sea and was in desperate need of blood. But at the time, I was a newborn vampire and could only drink my father’s blood. Webb had considered my dire need for blood an extreme emergency. I’d argued with him, albeit weakly. I’d lost the argument, and as soon as his blood touched my tongue, sweet and sinful, my body came alive. Heat rushed upward and pinched my cheeks as though a hot fireplace poker had touched them. Then his emotions poured into me. It was at that moment that I knew Webb was mine forever.
Sam nudged me, catapulting me back to the present. “Look.” He dipped his head to a bed of leaves.
I tore from Crysta and Sam’s hold and ran to Webb. He lay on the ground with his hands resting on his bare muscular stomach. His pale skin beamed in the darkening forest. Tears rushed out as I dropped to the ground. “Hey, it’s me. I’m here now.” I placed a trembling hand over his heart. His pulse was faint, but I could hear the blood pumping through him.
Olivia knelt down beside me. “We didn’t feed him because we’re all very weak from Bruno draining us for three months. We found a few bags of blood, but we lost them in the explosion. So we were hunting to replenish our system. Crysta can’t give him any either. He would drain her.”
“It looks like the three of you found blood,” I said. “So we need to start a line. Let’s force blood into him little by little. That way, we don’t weaken anyone. Sam and I will go first since we’re healthy.” We would do whatever we had to do. I didn’t care if Webb drained me, as long as he lived.
Sam joined me on my left near Webb’s head. “I’ll go first.” He pulled a knife out of his boot then slit his wrist.
I was about to ask him where he got the knife, but I was certain it was from one of the guards. Besides, it didn’t matter. The scent of blood wafted around us. Crysta came around and settled across from us before she opened Webb’s mouth. Sam’s blood dripped onto Webb’s tongue, and with each drop, my heart broke into pieces and knitted back together at the same time. It was odd how my emotions were mixed. It pained me to see Webb almost comatose, but I was also elated that he was alive. My soaring pulse was a testament to my wild emotions.
Kraft walked up to stand near Webb’s head then stole the knife from Sam. “It’s my turn.”
I was about to protest, when Kraft pinned his mahogany-colored gaze on me, indicating not to challenge him. If I’d learned anything about military life, it was that SEALs wanted to protect and save their brethren. Once Kraft had sliced open his skin, he pressed his wrist to Webb’s mouth.
Crysta stood, pulled out her phone, and tapped the screen. “Still no signal. We need to get to higher ground.”
All of us ignored Crysta as Kodiak and Olivia took their turns feeding Webb. I was about to slit my wrist when Webb’s eyes flew open. Immediately, he honed in on me. Then with vampire speed, he jumped up, grabbed me, then darted into the woods.
“Webb?” Crysta shouted.
“Give him a few minutes,” Olivia said. “He’s not going far.”
I wasn’t protesting. Webb was on his feet, and I was in his arms. I’d prayed for so long that this moment would come. Happy tears coursed down my face as Webb ran deeper into the forest. I held onto his neck tightly, listening to his heart beat. The sound made my own heart soar. God, he felt like heaven against me, although he needed a shower. But that didn’t matter. I would take him any way, any how, and with any scent. The man of my dreams, the one I was so deeply in love with, was holding me.
Then, as though the wind died and life around us stopped, so did the voices in the distance. Webb came to a halt under a massive tree. Without a word, he anchored me against the tree trunk and scanned every part of my face, as though he was programming me. I grabbed my hair and pulled it to one side, exposing my neck. His fangs shot out as he pressed his body into mine. It was all I could do not to squirm. I nodded as my body heated from head to toe. Webb had never taken my blood, and I’d never given my blood to anyone either. I didn’t know if I would feel pain. Then again, I would take all the pain if it meant that Webb and I were together.
My breathing grew shallow as he raked his cloudy blue gaze over my face and neck. I almost laughed at the irony of where we were. When I drank from him, we’d been in the woods. When he told me he loved me, we had been in the woods. Now, he held me as though he was holding onto a lifeline, and we were once again in a dense forest. I suddenly realized that if we ever got married, I just might consider a wooded ceremony.
His rough palm touched my cheek as his gaze rested on my neck.
I leaned into him. “It’s okay. You won’t hurt me.”
His fangs grazed just below my ear. I shivered in delight. Then he pressed his entire body farther into me. Bark poked into my back, but all I felt were lots and lots of tingles. Before I could move, Webb struck, his fangs piercing my skin. If there was supposed to be pain, I didn’t feel it. The world around me narrowed. More tingles slid down to settle in my belly. Suddenly, it was as though I was careening down a waterfall, flying, free as a bird with stars twinkling above me. If this was euphoria, then I wanted more. I wanted to stay glued to Webb as my blood flowed into him.
I opened a telepathic connection. When I did, two things hit me. His voice was as smooth as silk in my head. I’m so in love with you. Then I was reading his mind. He was flitting through all the nastiness that Bruno had put him through. How he was chained to a wall. How he was near death, angry, and gave up hope that he would ever see me again.
Tears burned hot and bright as I took his journey with him. He wanted to kill Bruno for what he’d done. He wanted to hide me away until all our enemies were dead. His heart pumped faster than it ever had. His cells were coming alive. Hell, I was alive with more need for him than ever before.
Your father has no say in us anymore. His tone in my head was lethal.
The word father made me flinch. He was probably furious. No, scratch that. Dad was certainly beyond furious. But this wasn’t the moment to worry about my father. I was with Webb, and I would take all my father’s rage for disappearing without telling him.
Webb retracted his fangs then peppered kisses along my neck before he edged back. Gone was the pale vampire I’d seen when I first dropped to my knees. A sparkle shimmered in his blue eyes as he licked the remaining blood from his chapped lips.
I flattened my palms on the sides of his rough bearded face. “Better?”
He answered by plunging his tongue into my mouth. His kiss was desperate, frantic, and oh, so good. I met him, tasting and taking what I’d daydreamed about for the past three months.
Someone cleared her throat. Webb growled as he released my lips.
“We need to find shelter for the night,” Crysta said. “The snow is getting worse.”
Webb kept me close to him. “Where’s Sloan’s body?”
Kraft, Sam, Kodiak, and Olivia fanned out behind Crysta as though she was their leader. Big flakes were falling at a rapid rate, but the trees caught most of the snow.
Olivia stepped around Crysta. “We set his body down five yards back.”
“We carry him with us,” Webb said, firm and strong.
“What happened to Sloan? Is he alive?” I’d forgotten he’d been part of the mission.
“What about the two sentinels that you were supposed to rescue?” Sam asked.
Webb peered down at me. “Sloan didn’t make it.”
A pain shot through my heart. Soldiers always went into battle with the threat of death. Still, war or no war, it didn’t make it any easier to hear that Sloan was dead.
“We can’t carry him as we find our way out of here,” Crysta said. She was the only one among us who had a coat and hat and was bundled for this type of weather.
Since I hadn’t experienced extreme cold temperatures as a vampire, I wasn’t sure how my body would react to only wearing a sweater. At that thought, I shivered.
“He comes with us until we can bury him,” Webb said firmly. “Besides, would you want us to leave your cousin, Tripp, behind if he were dead?”
Sam and I exchanged a wide-eyed look.
“Are you the cousin that Tripp put into a coma?” I asked, remembering the conversation Sam and I had had with Tripp. He’d given his cousin some of his blood, and the aftereffects had caused her to drop into a coma for over a year.
Crysta’s dark-green eyes grew big. “He told you about that?”
“Focus,” Webb said. “Sam, you take the first leg and carry Sloan. Right now, you’re the strongest.”
Sam nodded.
Crysta didn’t argue. I imagined Webb’s point about Tripp had hit her right in the gut.
Sam and the rest of the sentinels took off, leaving Webb, Crysta, and me alone.
Crysta sidled up to Webb and touched his arm. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to leave anyone behind either, but the conditions and the environment we’re in don’t give us the latitude to save everyone. The longer we’re in these mountains with winter setting in, the less chance of survival for any of us.”
Webb hugged me to him. “Let’s not forget that we’re at the top of the food chain. You can shift to protect yourself. As far as the rest of us, we can withstand the cold. Plus, the wildlife in the area is food for all of us.”
I wasn’t stoked about drinking blood from an animal. I’d tried to snag a wolf once, but I hadn’t been successful.
“One encounter with a bear, and he’ll rip your head off,” she countered.
I tensed. Up until now, I would die to save Webb. But now that he was alive and I was securely tucked into his arms, fear coursed through me. I would die fighting the enemy, but a bear? That idea froze the blood in my veins.
Webb narrowed his eyes at Crysta. “You said yourself there’s a cabin five miles from here. We head for that cabin before the snow gets too heavy. We’ll settle there for the night. End of discussion.”
Sam and the sentinels emerged with Sloan draped over Sam’s shoulder. Once we were all together, we set out, following Crysta, who took the lead. Webb held my hand as we trailed behind the group. All was right in my world for the moment, although that feeling of weightlessness wouldn’t last long, especially once we contacted my father.
11
Webb
The boarded up cabin came into view, and the log building was a sight for sore eyes. The five-mile trek there had been excruciatingly painful, both physically and mentally. I still hungered for blood, but I also had this desperate need to whisk Jo away. During the entire hike, I’d wanted to hear how Sam and Jo escaped Bruno, but I couldn’t concentrate. One, I was elated that she was even with me. I wanted to enjoy how her soft hand felt in mine and how she smelled of lavender and all woman. Fuck, was she a woman. She’d filled out in all the right places, more so since I’d last seen her. And two, my head was cloudy, almost dizzy from ingesting Jo’s blood, and I wanted a clear head to ask questions. I was beginning to understand why Bruno was stealing vampire blood. Sure, I’d taken blood from other sentinels when I’d needed it in battle, but it had never affected me the way Jo’s had. Even now as I put one foot in front of the other, I had to shake off the high. I swayed as I tried to clear my vision.
“Hey,” Jo said, her silky voice sliding along my arms. “Are you okay? That head injury got to you, didn’t it?”
Without a doubt, I knew my semi-drunken state was due to her blood. I’d felt the tingly feeling the moment her blood filled my mouth. The more I’d drunk from her, the more the dizzy feeling blanketed me. I’d also started to see her visions. When I drank her blood, it was as though I was seeing things through her eyes. I’d seen her sitting next to Ben Jackson, laughing and having a good time. That sight was enough to make my blood boil, and not because she was laughing. Ben wanted her in a girlfriend-boyfriend kind of relationship. I wasn’t about to deny that I was jealous. As a vampire, I was very territorial. All vampires were. We went to extremes to protect those we loved, more so when we had an intimate connection. I’d never had this strong of a pull to someone in my life, but the need to love, protect, and kill for Jo was stronger than ever.
Crysta ran up the porch steps to the cabin and knocked.
Kraft drew up alongside her. “Really, wolf?” He kicked in the door without any hesitation. “After you.”
“Ass,” Crysta muttered as she entered the cabin.
With the exception of Jo and me, the rest of the group trampled in behind Crysta. Kodiak trailed with Sloan draped over his shoulder. The men had taken turns carrying Sloan. I’d offered, but all agreed that I was too weak. I hadn’t argued. I would’ve dropped Sloan with the first step I took.
Just as Jo climbed the steps to the porch, I grabbed her arm. She gave me one of her award-winning smiles as her silver eyes glistened beneath the darkened sky. I ran a hand through her wet hair as I continued to drink in every inch of her beauty. I had fucking missed her. I wanted to curl up with her and sleep. Who was I kidding? I wanted to do more than sleep. Yet at the moment, I couldn’t get past the determination in her eyes that said she was ready to take on the world.
“What’s different about you?” I wanted nothing more than to run the backs of my fingers over her naked stomach, much like I’d done when we were lying in my living room at my house in Maine. That night was so serene with the ocean’s waves crashing along the shore, the sound trickling in through the windows.
Her eyes flashed from silver to violet, a color change like no other vampire, a sign that she was the chosen one in our world. Her father worried constantly about her and how her powers would change our lives. At first, I didn’t believe a vampire could be stronger than Commander Mason. Part of me still didn’t. He was feared among our kind for the mere fact that he was capable of elemental magic. As a sentinel, I had the ability to control three of the elements. But control of all four was reserved for the commander. Not even Jo had the power to control all four, at least not that I was aware of. When I’d left for my mission, she’d only been able to manipulate three of the four elements.
Her tongue darted out to coat her pink lips. “I’m still the same person.”
I flattened my palms on the sides of her delicate face. “No. You’re stronger and more beautiful.”
Her gaze shot up to mine. “How do you know I’m stronger?”
I couldn’t help but smile. “I feel your energy. I see it in your eyes, and as stubborn as you are, you would’ve never disobeyed your father.”
“That’s not true. You know I don’t always do as my father says.”
“That might’ve been true at first, but the more you’ve been living with him, the more you and Sam do as he says.”
She shrugged. “I would do anything and everything to save you. And it’s true. I did listen to my father. But I was given an opportunity, and I took it.”
