Bite, My Love

Dark Creature #2

BITE, MY LOVE

PENELOPE FLETCHER

Copyright © 2012 Penelope
Fletcher

All rights reserved by the
Author

SMASHWORDS
EDITION

British English

Cover Design

Penelope Fletcher

All characters and events in
this novel are fictitious and resemblance to real persons, living
or dead, are purely coincidental. No part of this novel may be
reproduced, stored, or transmitted without the prior permission in
writing from the author.

***

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CHAPTER ONE

Hannah
will freak if I muddy my dress. If I’m late for her big day, I may
as well kiss my sweet ass goodbye. I dig my boot tip into the
undergrowth, and disturb a few worms and beetles when I unearth a
knobby twig.

Stupid
wedding.

As if being youngest daughter of the Pack Alpha isn’t bad
enough. If I have to endure any more boring, pointless crap – like
a wedding ceremony – I will lose my goddamned mind. Not only
endure, but also
be part
of
. Even worse, being the younger sister
of the Alpha female means I have to assume her hunting duties
whilst she breeds.

Like I
don’t have my own shit to do.

People
act like it’s a crime to want some freedom. That I should be happy
I have an entire mob of aggressive and overbearing Pack members
watching me all day, every day, expecting me to be the perfect
daughter all day, every day.

All I
want is some peace and quiet – the room to breathe away from the
people crowding me.

Lord, I
sound immature and ungrateful to my own ears. Whatever. Anybody not
trapped by tradition and expectation will never understand what
it’s like to be stuck in my position.

My family
treats me like a child, like porcelain, or glass. Lord knows my
nether regions may never see the love of a strong man if I stay
with the Pack.

I will
never be seen as an individual, as a woman to love in her own
right, not because of my position, or what a male can gain through
me.

Grumbling
to myself, my fingers twitch on the spaghetti straps at my
shoulders. “I’ll die a virgin. A frustrated virgin.”

I hate dresses. Then again, I hate clothes in general. As
for
this
dress,
it’s so
demure.
The other bridesmaids get to wear sexy, slinky numbers. Tight
dresses that bare acres of skin in pearly colours to compliment
their tans. What do I get? A brilliant white dress down to my
ankles, miles of toile skirt, a high bodice, and spaghetti straps
in case,
lord forbid
, I show a little cleavage to draw some interest.

Daddy almost wanted me to wear a cape to cover my back and
shoulders
and
kid
gloves. I mean what the hell?

Well, I
towed the damn line. I shifted, tore that disgusting cape to
shreds, and buried it in the backyard. When that didn’t work, a
major bitch fit, and a promise to not pout as I walked down the
aisle convinced Daddy it was over the top to cover his
twenty-year-old daughter like a Victorian debutant in this day and
age.

The moon
peeks out from behind the clouds. Fat and bright it’s always the
most beautiful thing to me.

The hairs
on the back of my neck prickle. Lord, I want to strip naked and
howl. I want to prowl the night on four legs, and roll around in
the mud.

I want to
hunt, to fuck, and hell, I’m sick to death of curbing the
latter.

As a
wolf, I get respect. I’m fast, agile, strong. Respect cannot be
denied to so powerful a being. My she-wolf is something to make a
grown man piss himself in fear. Because I submitted to my sister
during a challenge for Alpha female last year, afraid of hurting
her, some Pack members are dumb enough to assume that means my
Human self is weak, vulnerable.

Some
forget I look sweet and innocent, but that the sugar coating is an
effective mask for power lurking beneath. The look of surprise on
people’s faces the split second before I smash them into a wall
after they’ve crossed the line one too many times is always
priceless, immensely satisfying.

Honestly,
I don’t want to hurt anybody. Most times, I don’t even bother
fighting it when the others assert dominance over me … as long as
they don’t take it too far, like biting my neck and shit. I’m no
push over. On occasion, my wolf gets disgruntled, but I know I’m a
badass, and that’s enough to sustain me. It’s just crap my wolf
status has translated itself to an overprotective Pack in daily
Human life.

“
Five minutes. I won’t be late if I only run for five
minutes,” I say aloud to the night.

It’s
bullshit. Once I shift there’s no way my wolf will obey, but what
the hell.

I slip
the dress straps off, and struggle to get the zipper at the back
down.

A pained
groan floats past me on the wind. I still and instinctively crouch.
My teeth lengthen, and like the enraged buzz of bees, I growl a
warning.

Blood.

I inhale
deeply, taste the night on my tongue, and … something else.
Something sickly sweet and ashy. My body tenses, my hackles
rise.

That scent should
not
be here.

My eyes
burn, a tell-tale sign of the eerie glow that shines from my
pupils.

Vampire.

I should turn back – that’s what one such as me is supposed
to do. I’m
supposed
to run to the first male wolf I can find, and tell him of
what I’d found.

I sneer
at the idea.

Considering we’re at the cusp of open war with them, I’m not
meant to be prowling the lands alone anyway, especially after what
happened to my cousin.

The
thought of running to a male wolf is galling, how would I explain
why I’m out here instead of prettying myself for the
ceremony?

I can
handle this, right?

The
Vampire female I met yesterday, Lee, didn’t seem all that bad.
Maybe the one I smell is like her.

Lee
convinced me to not attack when we’d come across her and three
others by being honest, and appealing to my better nature. Nobody
wants another war. Or did she twist my mind somehow? No, I don’t
believe that, my mind was clear when we spoke.

Sy and
boys had given me hell when we’d gotten back to Pack territory
safely. Daddy was already unhappy with me, and I didn’t need
another strike against my name. It had taken a lot of threats to
keep them silent. After all, we’d had the leader of their kind in
our grasp, and we’d let her go. Some of the boys were still
struggling with the fact my choice may come back to bite us.
Literally. Whatever. I could see it in Lee’s freaky cat eyes she
didn’t want to hurt us. She’ll make it right with Daddy, and avert
war.

Keeping low, I prowl forward, holding my wolf at bay.
I
really
can’t
afford for anything to happen to this outfit.

The plan?
I’ll take a peek, figure out why a Vampire is bleeding in Pack
woods then report back to the first Enforcer I can find.

Bunching
yards of skirt in my hands, I draw up the hem so it won’t drag in
the mud.

My nose
guides me, always has done. The olfactory system of a wolf is
spectacular and the sense of smell on a werewolf?
Infuckingfallible. I can track a mouse through a storm three days
past. Every scent riding a microscopic speck of dust is picked up.
Most times, opening my senses to that degree is overwhelming, and
more often than not, the smells I pick up are not
pleasant.

My eyes
flick from left to right, scouring the undergrowth, and I use my
gift to lead me to the Vampire.

The
male.

This
makes me pause for a beat before I carry on.

He smells
like seawater.

I barely
make a sound as I pace forward. I have trouble hearing myself, and
my hearing is almost as good as my nose.

He’s
breathing.

Some
surprise there, I’ll admit. Fangs die and come back. No oxygen is
needed for them to survive, and apparently, they can’t drown.
Freaks. I know they inhale and exhale air to be able to talk,
though it does nothing for them physically. How do the Suckers have
sex? Anyway, what animates them is magic, pure, dark, putrid
magic.

My brows
plunge.

Now I’m
thinking on it, Lee breathed. She even flushed, and I’m sure when I
stood close to her I heard a faint heartbeat.

There.

He lies
face down in the dirt.

I stop
and let my dress fall. Baffled, I cock my head to the side, not
that the new angle helps. He’s dug himself from a hole in the
ground. How odd. Vampires disposed of that kind of behaviour
centuries ago.

He lifts
his head, torso stretching and curving as he props himself up on
his elbows. He glares at me, dark eyes furious. Anguished. His legs
are mangled, pretty fucked up actually.

He huffs
and lets his body fall back down. This time he turns his head to
the side so he can watch me.

I’m
surprised. No attempt to bite me. No hissing or demands for me to
help him. Have I found a tame and humble Vampire? I think not. This
one is broken emotionally.

“
Are you going to just give up?” I drop my butt as I roll onto
the balls of my feet. Keeping my hands busy with bunches of skirt,
I still manage to retain perfect balance as I lower myself to the
ground.

“
Go away.” His voice is a pained rasp. “Leave me to die in
peace.”

I blink.
My curiosity hits an all-time high. “You Fangs are usually all
about survival, The Great Bloodline, and all that. Why do you want
to die?”

He sighs
as if I am bothersome, and lifts his head to stare at me. “I ask
that you refrain from torturing me. If you are to kill me let it be
swift.”

My bottom
lip pops out. “Who said anything about killing you?” I stand and
walk to him, no longer afraid. If he had the strength to fight me,
he would’ve made a move by now. “You’re on Pack land, and that
means you must answer to my Alpha.”

“
I am trying to die in peace. If you take me to your Alpha he
will have no choice but to kill me in some perverse way.” He
pauses. Shudders. “Or he will return me to my own kind.”

“
And you don’t want that.” My eyes track his injuries. “You
weren’t mauled by a wolf, and no Human could do this to you.” I
inhale deeper to get a better scent on him. “You’re old, so you’re
strong. Yet here you lie near death.” I push my lips out until the
top one touches my nose. “I like puzzles and you are undeniably
puzzling me.”

“
This is not a game you want to play.” His jaw clenches. “And
I’m immortal, but not indestructible.”

“
You sound like you’re in pain.”

“
Of course.”

I narrow
my eyes at him. “Don’t you snap at me.”

“
Why
are you still here?”

“
Told you that bit already, you need to see my Alpha. Daddy
will want to know about you.”

“
Would you just kill me instead? Remove my head that will do
it.”

“
Do you have any idea how much trouble I’d be in if your body
was found? Pack Enforcers run this territory every day, and not to
be mean, or anything, but you smell … different. They’d be able to
scent you a mile off, and then what would I do?” I flap my arms
around us. “My scent is all over this place now.”

He closes
his eyes and counts silently to ten for patience. A wicked smile
flashes across my face, but is gone before he opens his dark eyes
and fixes them on me. “The Alpha is your father.
Biological?”