ROMANCE: Mason (Bad Boy Alpha Male Stepbrother Romance Boxset) (New Adult Contemporary Stepbrother Romance Collection) (92 page)

They were large, their coats ranging through all colors of gray. Some were black. I recognized the silvery one that had found me to nights ago.

Raymond looked around the circle, meeting their gaze full on. There was no acknowledgement of authority. No respect. He’d known they’d come. And he knew he was going to die.

They shifted into human form, some slow, some fast, and finally when they were all just people, the silver one spoke.

“You’ve broken curfew, Dante,” he said. Dante, I had to get used to that.

He didn’t reply.

“We’ll take you to the alpha now.”

That was all that was said. The man that had sought me out produced a piece of tattered rope. It didn’t look like much, but I could feel the magic on it from here. It was a strange tingling that made my knees feel weak. They tied it around Raymond’s neck, and then one by one they shifted into wolf for again, Raymond shifting last.

I’d never seen his as  wolf, and he was a creature of deadly beauty. His skin was a rich gold, like his hair, with dark liquid eyes and a sleek body much, much bigger than most of the wolves around him. When he moved, he limped slightly, and he was stiff like an old animal, not like a young fierce warrior.

The other wolves disappeared among the trees, heading to the west of where I was standing, and Raymond followed, not as fast as the rest, but he went. I trusted the rope around his neck, now a collar, had something to do with it.

There wasn’t a question in my mind. I had to follow him.

Werewolves are fast, and even though vampires have skill of their own, there was no way I could keep up with them. I closed my eyes and trusted the hum that crackled through the our bond.

Unfortunately the magic around his neck came through it too, and I felt so tired. Curling up in a ball and sleeping right there sounded great to me. But I steeled myself against it, and dematerialized.

I didn’t trust the distance I could keep from the wolves, so I materialized every hundred yards just to make sure I didn’t end up right in the middle of them. Twice I thought I’d lost them completely, but the dim buzz told me I’d fallen behind, and with luck more than skill I managed to catch up again. I was aware that I was moving further and further away from the city, deeper into uncharted territory.

If something happened to me here, I’d be lost forever. They wouldn’t even find my body.

The next time, just before I dematerialized again, the feeling changed through the bond, and I pulled myself up short. I materialized again almost in the middle of the group of wolves, who had stopped. I took a quick step back. One of the smaller wolves at the outside of the pack’s ears flicked in my direction, but thankfully he didn’t look.

I’d been careless.

The group shifted into human form again. When Raymond did, he sagged to the ground and leaned on his hands and knees. I clapped a hand over my mouth and forced myself to keep quiet. The compassion I felt for him racked my body, and shocked me. I should have hated him at least a little bit.

As I watched, more wolves appeared through the trees. I looked over my shoulder, and made out dim shadows behind me. I looked up, and disappeared, taking form again on a branch high up. I couldn’t afford to be seen. Not now. There were way too many of them, and once a werewolf sank it’s teeth into a vampire, they couldn’t dematerialized. Not until they wolf’s teeth left their skin.

There were more than a hundred wolves by the time they stopped coming. I had no idea there were so many. The only reason they didn’t sense or smell me was because they were occupied with internal affairs.

“Dante Heller,” a booming voice echoed all around the pack and the group of humans. The wolves grew still, and the humans bowed their heads. A large, silver wolf walked into the group, with green eyes glowing in the darkness. I could feel his presence from where I was perched on the branch. I don’t know how he’d spoken in wolf form, but there was no doubt who that wolf was.

The Leader had arrived.

Slowly the wolf started shifting, and finally took form as a powerful man. He was large, tall and upright with bulging muscles. He carried himself like he knew he had power, and in the real world I guessed he was a business man or something of the like, wielding his ability to rule.

“The full moon has passed, and still you have not sought our your leader.”

Raymond – Dante I should have said – nodded.

“Have you lost the female?”

Dante shook his head. “She would not have me, my lord.”

“You have failed in your ability to persuade her?”

“It was not my magic that failed,” he said. “She took my blood in a ritual I did not know, and found me out.”

The man growled, and the other wolves joined in, a low rumble filling the air.

“You have failed us!” he snapped. “You let her live. Why?”

“She didn’t deserve to die for a mistake I made.” He should have killed me? Why had he let me live?

“None of them deserves to live,” the Leader hissed, and the humans around him nodded. “The only reason I permitted this plan of yours was because you promised results. You would give me the information you could get your hands on once you were a member of her family. Where are my results?”

“Everyone fails sometimes,” Dante said.

“And wolves die, so other, more capable wolves, can take their place.”

The wolves around them started up with shrill, yipping barks, like wild dogs when they’re hunting. The sound had me squirming on the spot. That was the sound that had vampires trained to run for their lives. I was fighting my every instinct to stay where I was.

The alpha shifted into wolf form, and human stepped up to Dante and undid the rope around his neck.

“This fight will be to the death,” he man said, and stepped away. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what it meant. Dante had one chance to defend his life. He would have to fight this out with the Leader. He shifted into wolf form as well, and this time he moved like I expected he would. He was fluid and graceful, an predator.

The other men shifted into wolf form as well, and backed away, opening up the circle, blending in with the trees so the two wolves had the whole clearing. The wolves circles each other, growling in their throats, teeth bared. They eyed each other, snapped their jaws, swishing tails.

Suddenly Dante leapt forward, and snapped at the Leader’s front leg, but the Leader was faster and pulled it out the way, snapped at Dante’s ear. He nicked it, and blood trickled onto his fur. The smell of fresh blood filled my nose.

The circled again. Dante attacked a second time, aiming for the Leader's neck, but again the Leader was too fast. He met Dante head on, and they reared up on hind legs, clawing at each other with their front feet, teeth bared in horrible snarls. The fight was vicious and bloody. They both had scratches and gashes, blood running onto their fur. The Leader’s blood was more visible on his silver coat, but there was less blood. Dante’s coat was soaked with blood. The metal tang of fresh blood hung in the air, and made my own blood curdle.

Suddenly the Leader had Dante pinned down. The big wolf was on him, his teeth in his neck. Dante squirmed under him, trying to get free, but this was it. He stopped struggling after a moment, knowing he was going to die.

I couldn’t stand it anymore. I stopped thinking, stopped fighting the pull of the smell of blood, the urge to protect what was mine.

Mine

That was what the blood bond did. I finally understood why this was tearing me up.

I jumped down from the branch, and landed behind the Leader.

“Stop!” I cried out.

6

The world around us became deathly still. The Leader let Dante go, and turned his head slowly to me. When his emerald eyes landed on me, a shockwave of horror traveled through me. I half-expected the other wolves to attack, but none of them moved. Without the Leader’s command, they weren’t allowed to do anything.

Dante lifted his head weakly, and when he saw me, his body trembled.

The Leader turned around, and walked to me, carefully putting one paw in front of the others. He held his head low, like an animal ready to strike, and I felt the waves of power rolling off him.

This was the end for me. I’d been an idiot, and I knew it. But I couldn’t have stopped myself.

The Leader shifted into human form. As a human he towered over me. His eyes were still a dangerous green, but they’d lost their glowing quality. When he was almost right up against me, he chuckled.

“Are you here to save him?” his tone was mocking. He looked around had Dante. He’d shifted into a human too, and his blond hair was matted with blood. It ran down his cheek, onto his neck and chest. When he got up he had a limp and he looked like he struggled to breathe.

The animal inside me stirred. It was a vicious creature, one I didn’t know I possessed.

“He’s mine,” I said, and I was surprised at my own voice. It held authority and warning of its own. I hissed, baring my own fangs at the Alpha.

“Well well,” he said, an amused smile playing around his mouth.

“I don’t think you understand how serious I am,” I said in a low voice. And then I lunged toward him, and sank my teeth into his neck. It was the element of surprise that was on my side, and little else. The Leader roared, and his fingers wrapped around my upper arms with a grip of steel. He shoved me off him, and I flew across the ground and hit a tree. Pain shot through my body, up and down my spine, and I cried out.

The Leader walked toward me, and in his eyes I saw death. But before he reached me, Dante, in wolf form, jumped on the Alpha’s back. He pulled him down and with a fierce growl he bit him in the shoulder and shook his head, jerking his body back and forth. It was going to do some real damage.

Still the other wolves did nothing. They were waiting on the Alpha, and until he gave the word, they would do nothing, or face death themselves.

Finally the alpha gave the word. The other dogs lunged at Dante, who’s teeth were still in the Leader’s shoulder.

“No!” I cried out, and dove for Dante. I tackled the wolf to the ground, his teeth released the Leader and with what strength I had left, I dematerialized.

When I took form again, I was in the road where the other wolf had tackled me down. Dante was in my arms. I was clutching the wolf’s body against my chest so tightly, that I had to pry my own fingers open one by one. When I laid him down on the tar, he whined. His eyes were closed and his breathing shallow.

“Dante,” I whispered and his ears flicked back and forth, but he didn’t open his eyes. Then slowly he started shifting, shrinking in size. His snout disappeared, shrinking into the normal nose. His paws became hands and his body became small. Eventually he was wounded man, lying unconscious in my arms.

I bit my own wrist, and pulled once so the blood was flowing freely. I pushed it to his mouth. The thick red liquid coated his lips. I hoped some of it would get into his mouth. He didn’t move, made no attempt to drink.

“Drink, darn you,” I muttered to myself. This wasn’t an act of bonding. This was to save his life. My blood was strong enough pull him through. A vampire’s blood had healing qualities to it. We healed at lightning speeds. Werewolves could too, but Dante was too weak.

Finally his lips closed around my lips, and he started drinking. The pulls were weak, almost too weak to make me comfortable, but at least he was drinking.

When he stopped sucking at my vein, I dematerialized to the hospital in town.

Two nights later I was allowed to see him. He had a gash on the side of his head with twelve stitches. Thick bandages wrapped around his torso, his wrist was in a cast and he would use crutches for a while. But he was alive.

When I walked into his room, he smiled. It lit up his face, and black eyes deepened.

“You’re here,” he said with a hoarse voice.

“I am.”

“I didn’t think you would come.”

I sat down next to his bed, and took his hand. His skin was cold to the touch, something it had never been.

“How are you feeling?”

“A bit under the weather, but I’ll heal up. The doctor said I should have died. It’s a miracle I pulled through.”

I looked down at our hands. I didn’t say anything.

“Why did you come get me?” he asked. “You could have died.”

“Because you would have died.”

“I did it to save you.”

I sighed, swallowing down a lump that had risen in my throat.

“I know.”

He shook his head. “You shouldn’t have done that. You’re a target now. We both are. You can’t go home.”

I looked up at him again. “I don’t mind. I’ll go back, say my goodbyes, and we’ll leave. We can go to Canada. I hear a lot of vampires go there, we can settle into one of the villages.”

“And me?”

“They’ll accept you. You’re my mate.”

It was his turn to look away.

“There’s so much I’ve done wrong,” he said. “Our whole relationship was based on a lie.”

“It started off as one, but did it stay that way?”

He looked up at me, confused.