Undying Hunger (5 page)

Chapter Five

Four weeks later

Apparently, even an immortal still felt the burn from a strenuous workout. Alex rolled her shoulders once more, trying to loosen the knots in her neck and upper back from the previous day’s training session. She sighed, closed her bedroom door, and strode down the second-floor hallway. Eve had seized her arm, twisted it, and forced her to drop the blade from her fist before taking her down hard. Alex slowed, closed her eyes, and shook her head at the memory. God, two weeks and she still wasn’t much better than when she’d first started training.

With a deep breath, she opened her eyes, repositioned her workout jacket, and continued down the hall. Time for another rematch. No matter how long it took her to develop the necessary skills, she couldn’t give up—would never give up. She was tired of sitting idle. She wanted out in the field with the rest of the Enclave. And with any luck, that would mean coming face-to-face with Enrique. If Markus refused to talk, something told her Enrique was someone who would. She was willing to bet her life on it.

A few steps away from the staircase, a grunting sound caught her attention. Bypassing the stairs, she crept closer, listening, picking up the resonating beat of a bass guitar.
Music?
Two rooms down, she spotted one of the doors standing ajar.
Strange.
She didn’t know anyone occupied that particular room.

Humpf.

She cocked her head toward the guttural noise punctuating the rock tune. A couple of seconds later, she heard the sound again. What the hell was going on in there?

Curiosity rode her hard, and unfortunately Alex had never been known for the strength of her willpower. Before she’d been turned, her hips could have attested to that fact. That was one of the few positive things about losing her humanity. Her new metabolism rocked.

Reaching out, she placed her palm against the wood and eased the door open a few more inches. Billy Idol’s “White Wedding” bounced off the walls, bombarding her eardrums, but it only took a second for her to locate the source of the other sound. A male, wearing a pair of charcoal-colored sweats and nothing else, hung by his hands from a metal bar suspended between the two built-in closets. Black and red tattooed swirls trailed from his wrists up and over his shoulders, covering both of his arms. His hair was bound at the nape and hung down his back in a thick black-as-sin mane. A grunt rushed from his lungs as he yanked on the bar once more and pulled himself up until his chin topped the metal. Muscles along his spine flexed and rippled beneath flesh that shone with sweat from his effort.

Arousal swelled between Alex’s legs and hardened her nipples into stiff points.

“Holy mother of God…” The words exited her lips on a breathy whisper. She’d never been one who prayed very often, but the sight before her was worthy of a few spontaneous words of worship.

The male dropped from the bar, plucked the remote from the nearby shelf, and tapped one of the buttons, silencing the music. “I was wondering how long it would take before you and I ran into each other,” he said. “I’m pleasantly surprised it happened so soon.”

The voice… It couldn’t be?

As if the world had downshifted and everything was suddenly moving at half speed, he turned.

Air punched from her chest.

Markus.

Except this wasn’t the Markus who lived in the small silver cage in the basement. The one who was thin, pale, and almost fragile in appearance. Oh hell no. This was the Markus from her dreams—nightmares—the gorgeous male who’d left her with images and feelings that oscillated among lust, arousal, fear, and rage.

Reflex propelled her back a step. “What the hell are you doing in here?”

“This is my room,” he calmly stated, as if the situation were perfectly normal.

“What are you talking about?” Alex scanned the rest of the bedroom. She’d been so distracted by the view, she’d totally missed that the once-empty room now contained all the furnishings of a typical bedroom. Her head spun with the implications of what he’d said.

“How?” She shook her head and waved a finger at his metamorphosis. “You look so…different.”

“Yeah.” He held his arms wide as if inviting a closer inspection. “It’s pretty amazing the power contained in a master’s blood, if you actually allow yourself to consume it.” He flashed a grin.

Alex backed farther into the hall, yet Markus matched her step for step. “How did you convince Kenric to let you out?”

“Stop running from me, Alex,” he said. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

Jamming the brakes on her retreat, she lifted her chin. “I’m not running. And it’s a little too late, don’t you think, for your latter proclamation?”

“You have a point.” He crossed his arms and retreated, giving her some space.

“So how did you do it, Markus? How did you get him to believe you actually want to be part of the Enclave again?”

“You did what?” A loud voice that sounded a lot like Guerin rang out from the first floor, distracting her and jabbing a cork in whatever story Markus was about to spout. Alex angled closer toward the stairs.

“I can’t believe you opened that damn cage without coming to me first,” Arran bellowed, his tone less than civil.

“I guess that means they’ve heard the news,” Markus murmured directly behind her, a ripple of heat skating down her spine. Whether the reaction originated from the proximity of his half-naked flesh, or the fact she was scared to death that was exactly case, who the hell knew at this point?

Alex glanced over her shoulder, her gaze catching the fine dark hairs covering his pecs. She followed them as they rode the hollows and ridges of his ripped abs. The thin trail circled his navel, then traveled lower, disappearing beneath the waistband of the sweats sitting low on his narrow hips.
Damn him.
At the lower section of his abs, he possessed the perfect hard vee of muscles and veins she loved on a man. The kind that arrowed south, straight toward his—

Her mouth went dry, and her breasts tingled, nipples tightening into hardened peaks. She jerked her head up. Markus stood there, staring at her with one slash of a brow lifted.

“Did you get a good look, or is there something more you’d like to see?” He smirked.

“Shut up and get some clothes on,” she spat, and proceeded to march down the stairs, doing her best to keep her shoulders squared and her pride intact. God, why did she let him get to her? Or an even better question was: when it came to him, why the hell did her hormones always kick into high gear?

Her heart pounded inside her head with each step, and she didn’t miss Markus’s chuckle when she made her hasty exit. Which just pissed her off even more. How the other males in the house were going to keep from killing that smart-aleck asshole was beyond her. Because it was all she could do not to storm back up there and personally remove the grin from his face with her bare hands. But murder before breakfast was probably in poor taste.

…

“You owed me that much, Kenric,” Arran barked from where he stood by the fireplace, facing the commander. Kenric’s mate, Emily, the second female after Alex’s sister to become part of their dysfunctional family, sat nearby on the love seat. Her apprehensive expression and body language relayed her concern over the tension and anger vibrating around them like a plucked guitar string.

On the other side of the room, Guerin slowly paced the floor, the
thud
of his boots on the hardwood resonating like a metronome in the room.

“Christ!” Arran swiped a hand over his face, then added, “He kidnapped and assaulted my mate. Don’t you think I’d want to know you were going to release him?”

“It was my decision to make,” Kenric said, his voice low and steady. “Mine alone. Besides, it was only few hours ago that I decided today was the right time for him to join the rest of the house.”

Guerin drew to a halt and spun, facing the other two males. “Today was the right time?” His expression twisted. “Are you saying that you’ve been considering this for a while now, and you didn’t discuss it with me?”

“There was nothing more to be said. You knew from the beginning that I hoped Markus would be able to recover from Marguerite’s brainwashing and return to the Enclave.”

“But at the time, it was more like a fantasy of yours,” Guerin snarled, “and not one I shared.”

Elle strode into the room from the kitchen and stopped at Alex’s side. “What’s all the shouting about?” Elle glanced at her sister.

“Me.” Markus stepped down from the last stair behind them.

“Shit!” Elle whipped around, clamped onto Alex’s wrist, jerking her closer as if attempting to shield Alex from the intruder with her body. Alex stumbled forward, but managed to grab on to Elle’s arm.

“Elle…” Alex protested. “What are you doing?”

“What am
I
doing?” Elle’s perplexed gaze flickered between her and Markus. “What the hell is
he
doing here?”

“Well, that’s the question of the evening, isn’t it?” Arran inserted himself between Alex and Elle, his mate, and Markus, his former partner.

Markus released a short crack of laughter as if amused with Arran’s protective move. “You worried about me getting too close to your mate, partner?”

“You lost the right to call me that the moment you sank your fangs, and other various parts of your anatomy, into Marguerite,” Arran spat.

“That was a long time ago, Arran.” Markus shook his head and proceeded farther into the room toward the master of the Enclave. “If Kenric can let go of the past, don’t you think you should give it the old Boy Scout try?” At the commander’s side, he faced the others in the room. “After all, Kenric was the one betrayed the most, yet he’s willing to give me a second chance.” Markus tapped first Guerin, then Arran with his gaze. “Your numbers are down, warriors. You need me. And hey.” Markus smiled. “I’m willing to let bygones be bygones.”

Arran roared and launched at the grinning male.

“You arrogant son of a bitch.” Guerin also surged toward Markus.

“That’s enough,” Kenric bellowed and appeared in front of their new team member, blocking their attack. Yet Alex never saw him move. The warriors froze in their steps, their wills seized. A powerful feat only a master such as Kenric could accomplish. Alex’s breath hitched and her pulse quickened at the sight.

“Now…” Kenric said, ratcheting his tone back down into the range of civil conversation. “Do we think we can keep from killing one another long enough for me to speak?” As if the master vampire had reeled his power back down a measure or two, the males managed slight nods. “Good.” Kenric inhaled deeply and released them.

“Damn, I hate when you do that.” Arran rubbed his nape. “I always end up with a bad case of fucking whiplash when you let go.”

“Then stop giving me reasons to do it,” Kenric drily stated.

“
Pfft
.” Arran lowered his arm and drew his mate to his side once more.

“I knew my decision to release Markus and invite him to return to the Enclave would be met with a great deal of reservation,” Kenric began, taking a stand beside the fireplace. He leaned his shoulder against the mantel and crossed a leg over his booted ankle. Standing at more than six foot four with short, thick black hair and eyes the color of the sea, Eve’s father emitted power—confidence. The dark warrior was an impressive sight, and Alex could easily see why Emily was so enamored with her mate.

Yet as captivating as Kenric was, Alex found her attention wandering. Drawn to the darker male to his right, the one the others in the room tossed daggers at with their eyes, as if he had a target painted on his chest.

And it was disturbing.

Not the part where the warriors and their mates wanted to kill him. Nope. That she understood. She’d wanted to do the same not five minutes ago. But the part where every time his gaze brushed hers, a fire kindled low in her pelvis.

What’s wrong with me?

Maybe when a male turned a female it wasn’t uncommon for a lingering attraction? Except no one had ever mentioned she should expect that type of physical reaction to Markus. Elle didn’t seem to have the same problem, and Markus had also been her sire. But she’d also said he hadn’t been the one to feed her during the change. A Calyx by the name of Christian had been sent to take care of her need for blood. Perhaps that had made the difference?

There was only one problem with her theory, though: confirmation. She couldn’t just walk up to anyone in the house and say, “I’ve got the hots for Markus. Do you think my body’s reaction to him has to do with the fact he’s my sire and he exclusively fed me for so many weeks?”

Alex mentally shook herself. Nope. No way was she dropping that bit of news on anyone.

“I can’t imagine why,” Guerin uttered, jerking her back into the moment.

Shit!
Had she spoken out loud? A cool sheen of sweat beaded from her pores, and her heart raced.

“I understand you’re pissed off, Guerin,” Kenric said.

Oh, thank God.
She inhaled deeply, trying to calm her pulse.

“I didn’t discuss my decision with any of you beforehand because I knew this would be your response,” the commander added. Restless grumbling resumed around the room.

“Are you okay, Alex?” Elle whispered, her sister’s hand brushing her arm. “You look pale.” She stepped in closer. “And you’re sweating.”

“I’m fine.” Alex frowned, shrugging off her touch.

“It’s your proximity to Markus, seeing him again, isn’t it?” Elle shook her head, scowling.

Yes. But not in the way you’re thinking.