Forbidden Love (7 page)

Elijah threw a gun to her, and while she trained it at the ones he shot, he moved around them quickly, tying their hands behind their backs and their feet together with cable ties. Once he had duct tape over their mouths, he pulled out his phone and text Blake the address and then turned to Keta.

This was too easy. They didn’t even put up much of a fight.
“Let’s go. Blake will arrive soon to pick these up.” With a hand on her back, Elijah escorted her out of the house. He wanted to get her away before anything happened, but once they got to the car they had hidden just beyond the mansion, Keta pushed him against the car and kissed him.

A groan escaped him as he pulled her tighter against him, crushing his lips against hers while heat swept through him. When she ran her hands up his top, he opened the door, pushed her inside and followed her in.

Keta raised her eyebrows at him over her shoulder and pushed herself into his growing erection.

Groaning again, Elijah gripped her hips tight, resisting the urge to rip away her clothes to get to her milky flesh. “Bad move, Killer.” He pulled her up against his body and pulled the strings that held her top together. When it fell away, he grasped her breasts and ran his thumbs across her nipples.

She arched away from him, her breasts rising and falling with her heavy breathing. When she reached behind her to palm Elijah’s erection, he bit her neck hard and pushed her back down onto her hands and knees.

Elijah quickly pulled her skirt up and almost stopped breathing when he saw her bare flesh, wet with arousal. “You wore no underwear?” he asked while he freed himself from his trousers.

When I shift, they rip apart. The corset and skirt don’t. It’s a loss I’ve learned to live with.

Elijah grunted and thrust himself into her hard. She arched her back and slammed her hands into the steamed up windows with the force, but when she glanced at him over her shoulder, he saw the heat in her eyes.

Shit, she’s beautiful.
Elijah moved slower, watching himself slide out, his cock coated by a sheet of her arousal. When he slid back in, he blew out a hard breath when he felt her tighten around him, pulling him deeper inside.

He inhaled deeply, taking in the scents of their arousal, and pulled her up against his body. Keeping her pinned against his body with a hand around her throat, he gripped her left breast with his free hand and slammed himself into her hard and fast. The sight of her nearly made him come but he held himself back, wanting to see and feel her come before he did. He knew she was close as her muscles constricted.

Keta thrust her hips out and threw her head back against his shoulder with her mouth wide open and her eyes squeezed shut.

Elijah put his lips to her ear and licked the shell.

Keta came. Her grip tightened as she thrust her breasts out further. Her inner muscles tightened, soaking Elijah and drawing him in deeper.

He couldn’t hold it in any longer. The sight of her breasts bouncing in time with his movements, her milky white skin flushing, and her nipples becoming hard made his balls tighten and his cock harden. He groaned loudly, biting into her neck again as he came. He bellowed around her soft skin as she milked everything he had until he struggled to breathe.

Withdrawing slightly, he let Keta slump forward, breathing heavily while her body twitched and her muscles still constricted against him. When the sensitivity became too much, he pulled out and leaned over her. “You are so beautiful when you come.”

Keta’s lips pulled back into a smile when a loud knock against the window made them both jump.

Elijah turned, baring his fangs and shielding Keta’s naked body with his own as the door to the car opened and a gun pointed at him.

“Both of you get out of the car. Now.”

Elijah knew the voice, but before he could open his mouth, the other side of the car opened and Keta was dragged out. Elijah growled and followed her out when vampires surrounded him, their weapons trained at them.

“When Blake got a text that the famous Elijah Read had captured more rogues ready to take in singlehandedly, I just knew the Silent Killer would be with you. The stories running around are true it seems. Elijah and the Silent Killer, you’ve sunk low.”

Elijah growled when he saw his gaze travel down Keta’s naked body.

“Don’t worry—we haven’t come here to kill you. We’ve come for her.”

“If you touch her, I’ll rip your head off!” When Elijah moved forward, his hands clenched tightly, the vampires raised their weapons higher, ready to shoot. Elijah knew he couldn’t escape the bullets to save Keta, but he knew she was strong and smart enough to get out of anything.

“She may be a beautiful creature, but she is a killer of our kind—a kind that is still your own, Elijah, in case you forgot.”

“Tell that to your father, Drake.” Elijah met Keta’s eyes, pleading with her silently. He needed her to escape and not worry about his safety. He needed her safe.

Keta rolled her head on her shoulders, her skin paling when Drake pointed his gun at her head. She began to breathe heavily, and her body shook violently, her chest rising and falling quickly.

The air around them grew colder even as waves of heat slammed into all of them, causing Drake to back away a step, his hands shaking.

Elijah stepped forward while worry swirled within his stomach, when Keta bared her sharp teeth as she continued to shake. Elijah stopped and turned his attention to the sky where the full moon shone down where they stood.

Bones cracking echoed through the night, Keta’s body arched and her mouth opened in a silent scream as she her body changed. Her hair lengthened, covering her entire body when she dropped down on all fours.

Elijah shook his head in disbelief. His heart stopping for a second as he watched Keta back away, her teeth bared at him and the vampires surrounding them.
Keta is a werewolf, not a vampire?

Keta turned her head left and right, her pupils dilating before she lunged forward, knocking Drake to the floor.

Elijah spun around when the vampires pointed their guns at the wolf and grabbed one of the guns and smashed it into the owner’s face. As he staggered back, Elijah spun and kicked him hard in the stomach and turned to fire a shot at the closest vampire. The bullet went through his leg and he screamed as he fell. Elijah punched him in the face, hard enough to knock him out before turning to the next vampire.

A gunshot that didn’t come from his gun went off into the night, scaring the birds from the trees. Elijah spun around, still keeping a tight hold on one of the vampires and watched Keta dart off into the trees, swerving left and right as more bullets fired her way.

Elijah watched her go, unable to make himself move.

Keta stirred as broken twigs and rustling leaves echoed around her, the noise pounding against her skull. She pushed herself up, saw she was naked, and covered herself. Her heart hammered in her chest.
What happened?

Elijah trudged through the trees towards her and she lifted her hands to sign, to ask him what had happened when he threw her clothes at her feet. She could feel his anger rippling across her sensitive skin.

Elijah sat on his heels, his jaw jumping as his eyes swept across her. “Why didn’t you tell me you were born wolf?”

Keta rolled her head on her shoulders, easing a cramp she must have got last night. She lifted her heavy arms and signed.
You assumed I was born a vampire. I didn’t tell you otherwise because I didn’t trust you.

“And now?”

Keta turned her head away, fighting the fear that stirred within.
I can’t. I just can’t.

Elijah exhaled hard. “Keta, we had sex—a vampire and a werewolf. That kind of relationship is forbidden. If anyone was to find out, we’d be killed.”

Her eyes filled with tears as she faced him again.
I didn’t think.

“No, you didn’t.” Elijah stood. “I’m going to search for Katrina. I’ll deal with you after I’ve found her.”

Keta tried to grab him, but he stepped back before she could. She felt her heart break as he backed away from her.

“You don’t understand! They’ll make me kill you with my bare hands before they kill me. I am a wolf as well as a vampire, Keta. There are just some things I can’t do without consequence!”

Keta raised her hands to explain, but Elijah turned away, his entire body shaking, and left her alone in the woods.

Keta let her tears fall as she struggled to breathe. What had she done? She should have told Elijah the truth straight away, or tried harder to escape instead of falling for him.

* * * *

Elijah made his way to the old ruin the vampire had spoken about. He was still angry with Keta’s betrayal. She knew what she was, she knew what he was and she never told him, choosing to give in to her own passions without considering the consequences.

Liar.

Elijah stopped where he was, hanging his head in shame. Keta never would have used him to get what she wanted, he knew that. After what she had been through he was still surprised by her act to save him with pleasure instead of pain.

One thing was clear—Elijah would rather be dead than alive, knowing he would never be able to live without Keta, or knowing what she did. They would both be hunted and he would be forced to kill her with his own hands before he got his punishment.

The laws hadn’t changed in centuries. Both vampires and werewolves still held their laws seriously, and viciously.

Elijah turned away from the direction he faced, his decision already made.
Rio!
He put all of his strength into the name and waited, knowing Rio wouldn’t resist his chance to put another command on him.

“The half-breed called?”

Elijah clenched his hands into fists as anger surged through him. He held in his temper and faced the man he wished he could kill. “I can’t find Katrina—it just isn’t possible, not with the dead lead you threw me on.” Elijah didn’t see the point in wasting time. He just wanted everything to end.

“You have not really tried.”

“I’ve done more than you,” Elijah spoke through gritted teeth and waited for a blow from Rio. It didn’t come.

“You realise what will happen now?”

“I do.”

“I was under the impression you didn’t give up easily.” Rio chuckled.

Elijah didn’t bother speaking and didn’t bother explaining that he wasn’t giving in for his own sake, but for Keta’s. Despite what she did, the secrets she kept, Elijah didn’t want to kill her with his own hands. He knew he couldn’t, but if forced, he’d had no choice. At least she’d be able to escape without harm.

“Be at my home at midnight. You will face your punishment in humiliation in front of the entire pack. Do not be late.” Rio turned and without a word, left.

Elijah resisted the urge to follow the wolf and kill him when he heard someone behind him. He spun around and a wolf lunged at him. He staggered back and fell. He rolled into his feet as Keta got to hers.

What the hell do you think you’re doing?

“Why do you care? You’ve sealed our fates. I’m just planning to go before I’m made to kill you by my own hands.”

Keta pushed him hard.
Coward! You want Rio, of all people to kill you just so you can escape?

“I have no choice!”

Fire erupted from within her eyes.
Everyone has a choice. Some are just unlucky and have theirs taken from them.

Elijah exhaled hard. “Keta, I’m sorry—”

No. You want the easy way out. Well let me tell you a little something about the man who plans to kill you. He was the one who attacked Katrina. He was the one who sold her off to the vampires.

Elijah straightened up and frowned. “What?”
Rio attacked his own daughter?

Keta didn’t speak. Instead, she turned and, after shifting, walked away.

Elijah followed, walking a short distance until they both stood in front of a large, looming ruin. The old bricks faded brown and broken. Half of the front wall at the top and bottom was completely gone and all the windows were smashed.

He stripped, folding his clothes neatly and placed them next to Keta’s on the small wall surrounding the building before he changed into a wolf. There were many scents here, the strongest coming from a bunch of dying flowers planted in the hard soil close to the wall.

Katrina often came here, she liked old buildings, but this was also where she was born, and where her mum had died giving birth to her.

Elijah turned to Keta, listening to her words.

She briefly met his eyes as she passed him. When she got to the dead flowers, she bowed her head and continued.
She would plant her mum’s favourite flowers every year. This was what she was doing before she went back home. When she did, her dad followed her all the way. She let him in and then he attacked her and dragged her out of the house. She was too weak to fight, but when he handed her over to the vampires, she fought to get away, and never stopped until she did.
Keta turned looked away from the flowers and shifted into her human form.

Elijah shifted also, not speaking as Keta pulled on her clothes while he dressed himself, thinking about her words.
Rio sold her off to the vampires? Why?
And how does Keta know this? Did she meet her while in the hands of the vampires?
He watched Keta as she began to sign.

Katrina didn’t know why her dad betrayed her and sold her off to the vampires. She never did understand that.

“How do you know this?”

Keta stared off into the distance. The soft breeze blew against her as she swallowed. When she met his eyes, they were filled with tears and pain.

Not because she hadn’t told Elijah about her being a wolf, he could see that clearly—though the hurt was still there. The pain he could see now was something entirely different.

Because I’m Katrina Riviere.

I never once thought Rio could have a hand in what happened, but I saw him, saw him take those poor innocent girls, the ones he swore to protect, and treat them like dirt before he gave them to the vampires, laughing.
Keta shook her head, wiping the tears before they fell.
He saw me and I ran before he could say anything. I went to the building my mum died in, and after I planted flowers, I told her what I’d seen. I don’t know what I expected. Guidance? Strength? I don’t know, but I got nothing. So I went back home and I was aware that Rio followed me. I didn’t care—I planned to confront him on what I saw anyway.