Bound In Sin (A Vampire/Werewolf Romance) (9 page)

Drake was looking at Paige then. He saw her eyes
flare wide in horror, then Gabe spun her around so that she faced
the vampire.

“You’re free now,” the vampire told her, voice soft,
almost tender, “because that’s what your wolf wants.” 

Paige struggled against him, clawing, punching–

Drake realized, too late, just what the asshole was
doing.

You’re free now.

He was killing her.

Drake roared and lunged forward, forgetting the other
vampires, desperate to reach Paige, to help her and–

Gunfire.

Bullets. Thudding into his flesh. Burning. 
Tearing apart muscle and bone.

His blood spilled onto the ground. His legs stopped
working. He wanted to reach Paige, but he couldn’t.

He was falling.

The snow turned red beneath him.

His claws lifted as he tried to dig out the bullets.
So many. In his chest. His back.

He managed to tilt back his head. He could see Paige.
She was still fighting with Gabe. The stake was covered in
blood.

But she was still alive.

She glanced back at Drake and screamed his name.

He’d promised to protect her. She’d asked him for
just one thing.

I want you to rip his head off, and I want you to
make damn sure that he never rises again.

Now that vampire was laughing. She was bleeding.

And I’m dying.

No, no, he wouldn’t die. He wouldn’t go out like
this.

Drake called on the beast within.
Wake up.
Drake pushed to his feet. Stumbled. Yanked out the silver in his
shoulder and barely felt the burn. 

Wake up.

The beast hated silver.

But the wolf loved the woman who was screaming for
him.

A vampire came at him, still with a gun in his hand.
Fool.
You came too close.
Drake grabbed the gun. Shot the
vampire in the chest. Swiped out with his claws.

This time, it was the vampire that fell.

Drake dug another bullet from his flesh.  The
smoke from his blistering fingertips rose in the air.

Another vampire came at him.

A swipe of his claws and the vampire’s blood
flowed. 

“
Stop him!”
Gabe’s scream of fury.

Then all the vampires swarmed him. Even though Drake
still had at least three silver bullets in him, he didn’t hesitate
when they attacked.

He roared and slashed into the chest of the nearest
vamp.
Another one down. Bye, asshole.  

The other two vamps–they just turned and ran.

Drake grabbed a weapon that had been tossed aside and
turned his focus on the one that mattered. The vampire that was
about to lose his damn head.

“
How?”
Gabe gritted as he stared at Drake
with fury boiling in his dark gaze. “You can’t–you’re not strong
enough–”

Paige’s laughter cut through his words.  “He’s
strong enough…if he’s got vampire blood in him.” 

Drake could still taste her on his tongue. 

Mark me.

The wolf had claimed his mate. Marked her. And tasted
her blood.

“You bitch.” Gabe shook Paige, sending her head
snapping back.

Begging for death.
Drake fired the gun. It
just clicked. No more bullets. That was all right. He wanted to get
his hands bloody.

“You did this to him!” Gabe shouted. The guy didn’t
even seem to see Drake closing in on him. The stake had fallen from
his hand. “You made him–”

“Stronger,” Paige gasped out as blood dripped from
her lips. “I made him strong enough to kill you…just in case I
couldn’t.”

Her words had Drake’s body tensing. He’d kill the
vamp for her, all right.
A promise is a promise.
Drake
grabbed Paige and yanked her away from Gabe.  Drake’s wolf was
snarling, his claws were fully extended, and he was ready to
destroy.

The stake broke beneath his feet, and he broke Gabe’s
neck with one twist of his wrist.

But the vampire just laughed–and his bones snapped
back into place almost instantly.

“Try harder,” Gabe murmured. There was no fear on the
vampire’s face or in his eyes. “Come on, let’s see what you can do,
alpha. Let’s see if you can fight as hard as you father did.”

His father? What did his–

More laughter from Gabe. Colder than the night that
surrounded them. “You thought that you got all the vamps from that
attack, huh?  Think again, alpha.
Think fucking
again.
” Gabe barred his teeth. “Those vamps attacked because
I
gave the order.  Only they were supposed to have
killed your sorry ass that night, too.”

But he hadn’t been at home when his family was so
brutally attacked. He’d been out, watching Paige as she worked at a
little diner. He’d gone to that diner over and over, eager to catch
a glimpse of her. That night, he’d finally asked her out. He’d been
so excited when he’d gone back home.
She’d said yes!
Then
he’d found the blood and the bodies waiting on him.

“Jeremiah let me in,” Gabe told him as the vamp
circled around Drake. “He knew you’d be the next alpha, and he
wasn’t ready to let go of the pack. He let me kill them all…and
drink all that shifter blood.”

Because shifter blood was stronger than human blood.
Far more powerful.

Jeremiah had fed his own pack to this prick?
Why?

“Your bastard alpha was addicted…the same way she
wants you to be…to vampire blood.”

He could taste her…
The wolf howled within
him, desperate to break free and attack.

Drake sucked in a deep breath. Paige was on the
ground. Still, like a broken, beautiful doll. “It’s not the blood
I’m addicted to,” Drake told Gabe, voice growling. The beast was
coming out. The vamp was dying. “It’s her.” 

He leapt at the vamp even as the shift burned through
him. The vamp would get in a few swipes while he transformed, no
way around that, because Drake was weak in those moments when he
was locked between man and beast. 

But he had to shift. The shift would push the rest of
the silver from his body, and the wolf would be stronger than the
man.

The wolf would take the vamp’s
head. 

Gabe was smiling as he lunged toward Drake. The
vamp’s fangs were barred and–

“
Think fucking again,”
Paige shouted,
throwing the vamp’s words right back at him. Then gunfire
thundered. Once. Twice.

She had picked up one of the other discarded guns.
But, unlike the weapon Drake had chosen, her gun still had
ammunition. She filled Gabe’s chest with the silver bullets. 
He stumbled back, screaming and bleeding.

Not a broken doll, not anymore.

Time to die, Gabe.

In his mind, Drake could see his mother’s broken
body.  His father’s pale face. 

The shift was over. The wolf growled and charged the
vamp. They fell down in a tangle of limbs and claws. The vampire
was biting, tearing into the wolf’s body, and punching with his
enhanced strength.

Gabe was too used to pushing around humans. Too used
to torturing them.

Wolves weren’t so easy to take down.

“K-killed the alpha…” Gabe gritted out as they
fought. “And I’ll kill you, too.” Blood dripped down his chin. “The
vamps are taking over this–”

Drake’s teeth locked around the pureblood’s throat.
 

Paige was standing right behind him. He could smell
her sweet scent, hear the ragged gasp of her breaths.

This was it. She’d be free. His parents could rest in
peace.

But Gabe was still laughing.  “Mine…” Gabe
gasped, spitting blood. “She’ll…always be…mine. The vamps…win. We
take…Alaska…”

No, he wouldn’t win.

When the wolf’s teeth sank deep, the vamp didn’t
speak again.

He just died.

It was over. 

Paige turned away from the sight of Gabe’s body. She
didn’t want to see anymore. She just wanted–

Wolves surrounded her.

Oh, crap, when had they arrived?  She hadn’t
even noticed them. She’d been so intent on fighting Gabe and
helping Drake that she hadn’t been aware of the wolves. They could
move so quietly as they prepared for an attack.

A dozen wolves formed a circle around her and Drake.
They stood back. Watching, waiting.

Had they heard Gabe’s final taunt? Hell, she
knew
the wolves weren’t going to let her stay in the pack,
so they didn’t have to worry about her taking over their precious
territory.

The minute Gabe had transformed her, she’d known that
her dream of finding Drake and staying with him–forever–well, it
had truly just been a dream.

They might have sex. They might turn to each other in
the darkness, but his pack would never accept her.

And she wouldn’t ask him to leave the
wolves. 

She held up her hands and realized they were stained
with blood. Her own. Gabe’s. “Easy…”

The black wolf near her snarled.

Great.  Just–

Drake leapt in front of her.  He opened his
mouth and howled his fury at the pack.

Paige shivered. She hadn’t been afraid when she faced
off against Gabe and the vamps. She’d been too pissed. But now,
with the wolves circling, hell, yes, she could admit to
fear. 

These wolves would love to rip and tear her apart.
Once they found out the truth about what she’d done, the final
secret that she’d kept from them…

They’d want her head, just as she’d wanted
Gabe’s.

Drake was shifting back into the form of a man before
her. The snap and crunch of his bones filled her ears. 

But she didn’t wait around for him to finish
shifting.  Paige knew an exit time when she saw one. “Don’t
worry,” she told the wolves–jeez, it sure looked like they were
about to rip her limb from limb.  “I’m leaving.”

She had friends waiting for her. Friends who’d helped
her reach Alaska. Friends who’d be glad to welcome her back to the
vampire world.

We’re not all monsters.
She’d learned that.
Some vampires were more than just predators. Just as the werewolves
were more.

She kept her steps nice and slow.  The wolves
could probably smell her fear, but a running target–that was prey
they’d always instinctively chase.  No sense giving them any
more reason to want her blood.

“
You’re not leaving me.”

Drake’s voice. Guttural. Still more beast than
man.

She froze. “The deal’s over.” Not the conversation
she wanted to have in front of a wolf pack. “Gabe’s dead.”
You’re safe.
 

He grabbed her hand. Pulled her close. She could
smell the metallic scent of the silver hanging in the air. 
She’d come too close to losing him.

If he hadn’t taken her blood…

She swallowed. “Let me go.”  Dammit, the words
were a plea. Because she knew he wanted her, just as much as she
wanted him.

I’m addicted to her.

But sometimes, the things you wanted most were the
things that would destroy you. 

His head lowered toward hers. “I killed for you.”

She’d wanted to kill for him. To protect him, she
would have done anything.

I did.
 

“Do you know how your alpha died?” Paige asked him
quietly. Maybe he knew some of the details already. There were
spies in the vampire covens. For the right price, they’d share any
information. 

She’d sure offered up enough money over the years for
the Intel they’d given her.

Drake frowned down at her. The wolves behind him
still didn’t move.

“Your old alpha was fed poisoned vampire
blood.”  Jeremiah had thought that he’d get stronger by taking
the vampire blood. If he’d been given normal vamp blood, he
would
have become stronger.

But he’d been ingesting blood laced with silver for
years.  Poison, building up in his body.  Eating away at
him from the inside.

He’d lost his ability to shift.  He’d lost his
ability to walk. To talk. To breathe.

Because Gabe had always enjoyed his
torture. 

“I knew what was happening to him,” she said. She’d
known for a long time. Long enough to save him. Only she hadn’t
wanted to save him. She’d wanted him to suffer. “I didn’t stop it
because I wanted that bastard dead.”

A wolf snarled from somewhere behind her. 

Screw them all. She turned and barred her fangs right
back at the snarling beast.  The wolf shut up. 
Good.  Paige exhaled on a low, rough sigh and turned back to
meet Drake’s intense stare. “But when Jeremiah finally died, I-I
knew Gabe would come after you.”  She shook her head. “But I
wasn’t gonna let you die. I knew I’d do whatever I had to do…in
order to keep you safe.”

And she’d done her part.  He’d survived.

“It wasn’t ever about me taking his head…to protect
you,” Drake muttered.

No, she hadn’t been the one who needed
protection.

“You tricked me into taking your blood,” Drake said
as he towered over her. Eyes so intent. Body naked. Strong. His
hand tightened around her wrist. “You got me to drink, so I’d be
strong enough to kill the pureblood when he came after me.” Because
despite what Drake had originally thought, even an alpha wasn’t
strong enough to take out a vamp like Gabe–not Gabe and his silver
wielding buddies.  But an alpha pumped up on vamp blood? He
could kick ass and destroy any vamp in his path.

The wolves were shifting around them. 
Transforming into men and women and the snow was falling again.

She didn’t look at the dead body on the ground. 
And Michael–he was groaning and struggling to his feet.  Some
of the shifters went to help him.

“Leave him,” Drake ordered, voice tight with fury.
“He worked with the vampires. He led them right to me.”

The shifters froze.

“He’s banished from the pack,” Drake said flatly. A
judgment. Cold and brutal. “Leave him where the fuck he is.”
 His head turned as he stared over at Michael. “You’re still
breathing, so count yourself damn lucky.”