Bound In Death (A Vampire and Werewolf Romance) (25 page)

Thud. Thud.
Zoe’s heart was giving its last few beats. Jane’s enhanced hearing barely picked up the feeble sounds.

“What are you doing?” Lorcan had torn away from Alerac. His eyes were on Jane. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Saving my brother.”

“He
can’t
be saved! He’s dead! He’s—”

Zoe gasped.

Jane smiled.  “He’s not dead yet. He’s feeding.”

Lorcan lunged toward Jane. Before he could grab her, Alerac was in his path once again.

“You won’t ever hurt her again,” Alerac vowed.

Lorcan staggered to a stop. “Of course, I will. I’ll hurt her again and again. Watch and see.” Then he lifted up his claws—and plunged them into his own chest.

Blood poured from the matching wound that instantly appeared on Jane’s body. 

Lorcan smiled his sadistic grin. “I can hurt her anytime I want.  From anywhere I want. That was all part of the spell. Pain for pain. Life for life.”

Lorcan hadn’t driven the claws into his heart—because he didn’t want to die. He just wanted her to suffer.

Alerac yanked the claws out of Lorcan’s chest. “Stop it,” he gritted.

Jane’s blood dripped onto the ground.

“I’ll stop hurting her,” Lorcan agreed, voice sly and silken, “once you’re gone, wolf. Get the hell out of here. Leave Jane, and I won’t hurt her again.”

Lie.

Alerac glanced over his shoulder at Jane.

She shook her head. “We both know that’s bullshit.”  She ignored the pain in her chest.  Or, at least, she didn’t let the pain send her to her knees. “You leave, and he’ll go after your pack.”

“I’ll go after them anyway.” Lorcan admitted easily. “Dogs need death. And
he,”
he swiped his claws over Alerac’s chest. Alerac didn’t even fight back. Alerac
let
the bastard attack him. “He won’t stop me. He can’t. Not if he wants to keep his precious
a rúnsearc
safe.”

A rúnsearc
.

Alerac had said that meant vampire.

He’d lied to her.

What it really meant was…
secret love.
She knew that, now. Because she had Alerac and Lorcan’s understanding of the language.

Alerac had been telling her how he felt, all along. She hadn’t realized…

Alerac hadn’t just been using her two centuries before.
He loves me.

She ran to him and yanked him away from Lorcan’s attack.  Jane forced Alerac to face her.

His fierce gaze locked on hers.  “There’s a way,” he said to Jane. “I know there is. I just have to find it.”

“If I take those wolf eyes of yours, will you grow another set?” Lorcan asked, voice curious. “I can’t wait to find out.” His voice hardened as he said, “In case you missed the news, I have the power here. All of it. You can’t hurt me, not without hurting her. You can’t do a damn thing to me, but I can sure as fuck enjoy hurting
you.”

Alerac’s shoulders straightened. She knew that he’d take whatever pain Lorcan gave to him—and not fight back.

For me.

His pack would suffer.

For me.

In the end, Alerac would lose his life.

For me.

She wasn’t going to let that happen. “It was my choice before,” Jane whispered to him.

Alerac shook his head.

“It’s my choice now.” She pushed onto her toes.  Pressed her lips against his. “I love you.” 

Then she backed away from him.      

“No, Jane,” Alerac began. “you can’t—”

“Hold him, Ryan.” 

Alerac’s eyes widened. He glanced over his shoulder.

Ryan wasn’t on the ground anymore. Wasn’t spitting up blood. He was on his feet, and in an instant, he’d lunged toward Alerac. Ryan wrapped his hands around Alerac. Held him tight.

Jane knew her brother wouldn’t be able to hold Alerac for long.

But she didn’t need a long time. After all, it only took seconds to die. She bent and grabbed a broken branch near her feet. Good thing there were plenty of tree branches lying around. And all you needed to stake a vampire was a chunk of wood. “The deal’s over, Lorcan.  Consider the bond broken.”

Lorcan’s eyes widened.

They were still wide when she rushed toward him and drove that branch right through his heart.

Didn’t see that coming, did you, bastard?

***

“
No!”
The cry ripped from Alerac. He tossed Ryan aside. Raced toward Jane.

The wood went straight through Lorcan’s body, shoving out of his back.  Blood covered the vamp as his knees gave way and he hit the ground.

Alerac grabbed Jane before she could fall, too.

“
A rúnsearc
, what have you done?”  Her chest was soaked with blood.  Her breath barely wheezed out.  “
Why?”

“B-because y-you wouldn’t…ever h-hurt me…” 

“So you decided to end things yourself?  You can’t do this!”  Rage and grief twisted inside him, and destroyed any sane thought. “I won’t let you go! Dammit,
no!”

Blood trickled from her mouth.  Her eyes stared up at him. “Love…”

“No!”  He pulled her against his chest. Rocked her with mindless motions of his body. “Don’t tell me that you love me. Don’t say that you love me while your heart is—”

She wasn’t moving.

He couldn’t breathe. “J-Jane?”

He tilted back her head. Her eyes were closed. 

“Jane, don’t do this!”

His hold on her was too hard. He had to ease his grip or he’d bruise her. He couldn’t bruise Jane. He couldn’t hurt Jane. He needed her too much. She had to stay with him. He couldn’t make it through any more years without her.

“Lorcan’s dead.” 

Ryan’s voice.  Alerac’s head snapped up. His gaze narrowed on the vampire. The one who’d held him back. If Ryan hadn’t grabbed him, then Alerac could have stopped Jane. He could have
saved
her.

No, no, I’ll still save her. She’s not gone. Not yet.  She’ll come back to me.

“We should burn his body,” Ryan continued. “Just to make fucking sure.”

“No!”  Alerac’s roar. If they burned Lorcan, then they would burn Jane.

Ryan swallowed. He stared right back at Alerac. Grief was in the vamp’s eyes. “She knew that you wouldn’t kill him, that you’d let your pack die, that
you’d
die, for her.”

Yes, in an instant, he would have given his life for her.

“She chose to save you instead. Just like before.”  Ryan’s lips twisted, but there was no humor there. Only pain. “Looks like two hundred years didn’t change the way that she felt about you, memory or no memory.”

The drumming of Alerac’s heartbeat was too loud.  A red haze covered his vision. That haze was blood.

Jane’s blood.

Jane.

“You aren’t burning him,” Alerac said. HIs words sounded hoarse, as if they’d been scraped from his throat.  “You aren’t burning
her.”

Alerac’s gaze flew back to Jane.  He couldn’t look away.  Jane had saved him, too many times. It was his turn to save her. He
had
to save her. There wasn’t any other option for him. 

Without her, he didn’t want to walk this earth.   

Without her, it wouldn’t be
safe
for him to walk this earth.

“She just needs blood,” he said.  His words were ragged. So was his breath. “Blood heals. That’s all she needs.”

Ryan’s footsteps shuffled closer.  “Blood won’t bring back the dead.”

“She’s not
dead.”

“Yes, she is.” A soft voice—Zoe? 

His head turned. He saw her standing, pale, trembling, just behind Ryan. 

“She’s not breathing, Alerac,” Zoe told him with pity in her eyes. “She—”

“She was in the ground for two centuries!” Alerac yelled back. “A witch put a spell on her then. She didn’t need breath. She can still
live!”

He had to make her live.  He cut his wrist, sliced it quickly with his claws, then dripped the blood into Jane’s mouth.  Then he massaged her neck—
she’s warm, that means she lives—
as he attempted to force the blood down her throat.

“We’re linked,” Alerac whispered. “She made me more than just a beast. I made her more than just a vampire.” 
Please don’t leave me. Please.
“She’s still
here.”

He held her tight. He gave her his blood.  “I love you, Jane,” he whispered. He told her that truth again and again.

But her eyes didn’t open.

And the beast within him broke just as the man did.

***

Ryan felt as if his own heart had been cut out.  Alerac wouldn’t let his sister go. He clung to her too tightly.  Had to hold her close constantly. Alerac had finally left the woods moments before, with Jane still held in his arms.

“Are we going to…to lose him?”  Zoe’s voice.  She came toward him, a torch in her hands. Her movements were slow, her body still trembled, but her gaze was unflinching as it met his.   

She saved my life.

By sacrificing her beast. 

The fire in his chest was gone. The pain, the certainty of death—all gone.

Because of her. 

How was he supposed to repay a debt like that?

“Will he s-survive losing her?”  Zoe asked.   Her voice broke a bit. Her throat was almost fully healed. He knew the catch in her words came from grief, not pain.

Ryan wasn’t sure that Alerac would survive. But one thing he
did
know…he had to burn Lorcan’s body.  That had been Jane’s last order to him. 

Bite…
her whisper had floated through his mind, and he’d found himself sinking his teeth into Zoe’s arm.

Then…

Stop Alerac.  Hold him.

He’d been at Alerac’s back in the next moment.

Burn Lorcan. Nothing can remain.

He took the torch from Zoe.  They’d waited until Alerac left for this last act. 

But…when he burned Lorcan, would Jane’s body turn to ash, too? He knew that was what Alerac feared.

“Go to him,” he said quietly.  “Make sure…”
That he doesn’t jump into the flames if Jane’s body sparks fire. Make sure that he doesn’t turn on his pack as the rage consumes him.

Zoe nodded and she hurried away. 

Ryan stood over Lorcan’s body, staring down at the vampire who’d ruined so many lives.

But now, now that vampire would burn in hell.

“My sister’s free of you,” Ryan told him, voice thick. “You can’t ever hurt her again.”

He lifted the torch. He’d wait just a few more minutes so that Zoe could get to Alerac.  Just a few minutes more.

***

“Alerac, stop!”

He didn’t stop. He kept walking, numb, holding Jane tight. Had he ever told her how beautiful she was?  When she smiled, it was the most perfect sight he’d ever witnessed.

He wished that she had smiled more.

He’d wanted to spend an eternity at her side.

He’d been given just days.

Zoe grabbed his arm. “Let her
go.”

He couldn’t, not yet.

“Ryan is burning Lorcan. You know it has to be done. He was so strong—”

His body tensed. “That will burn
her.”

“Y-yes…”

He spun in an instant and rushed back through the woods. Ryan should know better. Ryan was her
brother.
He should want to keep her alive. Not give her to the flames. As he ran, Alerac kept Jane locked tightly in his arms.  Was her body growing colder? No, no, it couldn’t.

The smell of smoke teased his nose. “Stop!” Alerac bellowed.

Flames began to crackle.

“
Stop!”

He burst into the clearing. 

Ryan shook his head and lowered the torch. The fire caught the edge of Lorcan’s shirt. Grazed over the vamp’s skin. Then Lorcan
ignited.

The flames spread instantly.

And Jane’s body began to feel warmer.   

“No,” Alerac whispered. This couldn’t happen. Things were supposed to end differently for them. He was going to protect her. Going to spend all of his life with her.

“Put her down before you burn!” Zoe cried.

But he just held Jane tighter.

“Things were going to be different,” he whispered.

Lorcan was completely engulfed in flames.

Jane’s body was even warmer now.

“So different.”  He closed his eyes and bent his head. His lips brushed over her forehead. 

Then he heard…it.

A soft thud.

A heart, beating again.

Breath whispered from lips that had been still moments before.

Alerac was afraid to look at Jane. What if his vision proved the other senses to be a lie? Better to stay this way, to just hope…

Has my sanity left already?

Without her, yes, he knew it had.

“Things will be different.” That was
her
voice. Soft and husky and
hers
.

Helpless now, his lashes lifted.

Jane’s pale lips tried to curve into a smile. “I could…sure use a little…more of the super blood y-you…have…”

He’d give her
anything.

“Feel like…death warmed…over…” Jane told him.

She was trying to joke? When he’d just nearly lost his life?  Because if he’d lost her, his life would not have been worth living.
I couldn’t survive without her again.

He lifted her higher. Her arms curled around his neck. Her fangs sank into his throat.

Alive. Alive. Alive!

“Jane?”  Ryan sounded shocked. “Holy hell,
Jane!”

Her mouth pulled away from Alerac’s throat. She looked up at him. Stared deeply into Alerac’s eyes. “I’m only bound…to you now.”

He’d always be bound to her.

“You p-pulled me back.” Her voice was gaining strength. Faint color filled her cheeks. “You gave me…some of the beast inside. Inside
me.”

Not just vampire. Not just werewolf.

“His tie only lasted until death.”  Jane smiled.
The most beautiful sight.
“Yours lasted longer, and so did I.”

Good. Because if she hadn’t come back to him, Alerac would have followed her. He would have fuckin’ fought death. Done anything—for her.

“I love you,” he told her. He needed her to hear the words. Alerac needed to say them, even though love felt like far too tame of a description for the way he felt.