Enraptured (23 page)

“I’ll help you.” Her voice came out quieter
than she’d expected, but he looked up at her.

“No.”

“Ian…”

“I don’t want you touching them. Please
Paige, go over and wait for me.”

Her gaze slid over him as his skin began to
return to the golden tone she’d come to know so well. She may not
have been able to do much for him against those vampires, but she
wasn’t about to leave him to deal with this alone. Nor would she be
thought of as weak and incapable in front of him.

She walked over to the porch and climbed the
stairs; her fingers slid into the brown and bloodied hair of the
head lying on the porch, she lifted it up. As soon as she turned
around Ian, standing directly behind her, brought her up short. He
held his hand out to her, but she shook her head no. “I’m going to
help.”

Ian took a deep breath before gently taking
hold of her hand. “I don’t think you’re weak, Paige. I know you’re
strong. There’s no reason for you to have to deal with this when I
can take care of it. You’ve had enough death and destruction in
your life.”

Paige reluctantly released the head to him.
“How do you know I’m strong? I was useless against them.”

He gave her a halfhearted smile as the last
of the reddish black color faded from his magnificent face. The red
veins streaking through the whites of his eyes vanished, his eyes
returned to their sky color. “I know you better than you think
Paige, and you weren’t useless, there’s more to you than you
realize.”

Ian fought the urge to bend and place a kiss
against her forehead, but he refused to get any more of the blood
coating him on her. Turning away, he walked over and dumped the
head in with the body. He gathered the other two bodies and tossed
them into the grave. He rapidly filled it in again, tossed the
shovel into the shed, and turned toward her.

“Come on, let’s get out of here.”

She walked over to join him by the pickup.
He grabbed a shirt from his bag, pulled off his ruined one and
tugged the new one on. She went to grab the handle of the truck,
but his hand shot out before she could grasp it, and he pulled the
door open for her. He didn’t say a word as he waited for her to
settle inside before closing the door behind her.

He moved so fast around the front of the
truck that she lost sight of him. She didn’t see him again until he
pulled the driver’s side door open and climbed in beside her.
Without thinking, she reached out and placed her hand against his
on the wheel. He glanced at her and gave her a smile before
starting the truck. A spray of dirt and rocks pinged against the
undercarriage when he pulled out of the drive.

“You’ll have to get the room,” Ian said and glanced
pointedly down at the blood that had seeped through his shirt and
coated his jeans. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his
wallet and handed her a wad of cash. “I’ll be right here.”

“Ok.” It took all of her energy to walk into
the small office and ring the bell on the counter. A portly,
middle-aged man chomping on the end of his cigar stepped through
the doorway behind the counter. She could hear the low murmur of
the TV drifting from the backroom. Paige’s nose wrinkled as the
smell of the cigar drifted to her; she ignored the curling tendrils
of smoke while she filled out the card the man gave her.

The motel was the land technology forgot,
she realized. She didn’t see a computer, only stacks of paper
scattered across the desk. Or maybe this was normally a pay by the
hour kind of place, either way, she just wanted the key and a bed.
She handed him back the card and paid with the cash Ian had given
her.

The man’s eyes raked over her as he handed
out the keys. She glanced down at her rumpled sweater. She hadn’t
realized the sleeves of it were torn, and she’d lay money that if
she looked close enough she would be able to find blood splattered
on the red material. “I don’t want no funny business here.”

“There won’t be,” she assured him as she
took the key from his hand.

The bell on the door rang as she stepped
outside and searched for Ian. She spotted him standing amongst the
shadows by the corner of the building. The dim light illuminated
the golden color of his hair and emphasized the aura of power
emanating from him. His gaze scanned the night, she could sense the
murderous impulse radiating from him in waves. He’d most likely
frightened off every vampire within a ten mile radius, but for some
reason he didn’t frighten her as she descended the stairs toward
him.

The best thing she could do was catch the
next bus out of here and away from him. She had no idea where she
would go or what she would do, but if she stayed she would continue
to put Ian in danger. Her father had found her again. He may even
be out there somewhere, watching her now. She doubted it with Ian
so close, and emitting an,
I’ll rip your head off
, vibe but
there was no way for her to know for sure.

She glanced nervously around the gloomy
parking lot. Nothing unusual stirred within the shadows. That
didn’t mean he wasn’t there, watching her, waiting for his
opportunity to pounce on her. Being here with him put Ian’s life at
risk too. She’d never be able to live with herself if something
happened to him because of her.

She felt as alone now as she had four years
ago when her entire life had been turned upside down and ripped
apart. No, she was more alone now. Then, she’d had a mission, rage,
and revenge driving her. Now she still had all three of those
things, but she also had the knowledge she would never win. Not
against a creature like her father.

Ian may have taken on those three vampires
today, but he’d been injured, and she couldn’t expect him to keep
putting his life at risk for her. No matter what he believed her to
be, she’d never allow his life to become the battle hers had
become.

She walked to the middle of the building,
slid the key into the lock and opened the door. Her hand felt
around for the light switch inside; she flicked it on just as Ian
materialized at her backside. The flickering light on the bed table
between the two full size beds revealed the dingy yellow walls,
faded orange and brown bedspreads, and industrial brown carpet. The
room looked like it had stepped out of nineteen eighty something,
but it smelled of vanilla and she didn’t see a speck of dust on any
of the scratched and lopsided furniture.

Ian closed the door and placed both of their
bags on the first bed. He strode past her toward the mirror and
sink across the way. She didn’t know what he planned until he
tugged his shirt off over his head. She gawked at the broad expanse
of his back. Blood stuck to his skin as he dropped the shirt on the
floor. His head turned as he tried to inspect his back. There was
no way he could see the piece of wood embedded beneath his shoulder
blade or the pieces of glass still digging into his flesh.

“I’ll take it out,” she whispered.

He glanced over his shoulder at her before
giving a brisk nod of his head. His body would eventually push it
out, but the wound would heal much faster if she removed it now.
She patted the bed closest to him and stepped back as he approached
her. Settling on the edge of the bed, his shoulders hunched up when
her hands rested upon them.

“This is going to hurt,” she murmured.

“I can take it.”

Her fingers wrapped around the piece of
wood. From his angle, he could see her in the mirror as she
inspected the injury. Her curly hair tumbled around her shoulders,
her blue-green eyes were shadowed, but they gleamed with
determination. Her chin jutted out, she took a deep breath before
jerking it from his body.

A low groan escaped him; he flinched
briefly, but showed no other sign that a six inch long piece of
wood had just been torn out of his back. Paige lifted it up before
her; her eyes nearly crossing as she took it in. “Could you get
that away from me,” he said with a grim smile.

“Oh, ah, yeah.” Walking over, she tossed it
into the trashcan beneath the sink. Paige returned to him with the
trashcan in hand. “There are a few pieces of glass still in your
back. I’ll pull them out too if you’d like.”

“Yes.” In the mirror he saw her gaping at
his back. He could already feel the flesh on his back closing, the
blood ceasing its flow out of him as the hole closed. Lifting her
head, she met his eyes in the mirror and held them.

Something more than pain and anger sizzled
over his skin as he held her turquoise gaze. His body heated at the
touch of her fingers upon his shoulders; his blood flowed into his
cock, causing it to jump when her tongue slid out to wet her lips.
She nervously looked away from him and focused on his back, but he
couldn’t tear his gaze away from her as she began to tenderly pick
the shards of glass from his flesh.

Paige forced herself to focus on the task at
hand instead of on the eyes she could sense watching her in the
mirror. Her fingers trembled as his skin rapidly knitted back
together. With a rattling ting, she tossed the last piece of glass
into the trash and lifted her head to meet his relentless gaze in
the mirror.

“They used me, didn’t they?” she
inquired.

His brow furrowed. “Who used you,
Paige?”

“The hunters. I remember what happened now,
with Nabel in the alley. One minute he was behind me, and the next
he was gone. He left me there, with my…” she broke off before the
word father slipped out. She trusted him more now than she’d ever
believed possible, but she wasn’t ready to dig into that horror
from her past, not after everything that had just happened. “Enemy.
I was bait to them, something to lure the vampires in, and nothing
more.”

“I don’t know the answer to that.”

“But you think they used me, don’t you?” she
pressed. “You said as much before.”

He rolled his shoulders back and heaved a
sigh. “Yes, I do.”

Something inside of her broke; she’d already
known the answer, already known what he’d believed, but to hear it
confirmed again just made her feel more lost and confused. “I
really believed they were the good guys.”

“Not everything is as black and white as you
believe.” He rose to his feet and stretched his back. “Yes, there
is good and evil in this world. But people and vampires are also so
many other colors that you can’t even begin to imagine. It’s what
makes this ride called life so fantastic.”

“I think we’ve taken a really strange ride
so far.”

“Sometimes those are the best.”

“What color would you be?” she inquired.

“Well, dear girl, I’m all red of
course.”

“Oh, of course,” she muttered. The smile he
shot her caused her stomach to flutter. “Why didn’t you let those
vampires take me? You didn’t have to protect me.”

His smile vanished, his eyes glittered
dangerously. “
No
one is ever going to take you or hurt you
again.”

“They could have killed you,” she whispered.
“You were outnumbered.”

“It would have taken a lot more than the
three of them, and I would have gladly killed them all to keep you
safe. My life is intertwined with yours Paige; there’s nothing I
wouldn’t do for you.”

Inexplicable tears burned her eyes; she
rapidly blinked them back. “Is that because you believe I’m your
mate?”

He sat on the bed again. Taking hold of her
hand, he pulled her down beside him. She perched on the edge of the
bed, afraid to get too close. His touch could make her forget
everything, and right now she didn’t think burying her head in the
sand was the way to deal with what was happening in her life.

“You
are
my mate. There’s no doubt
about it in my mind. I’d die for you, and I would die without you.”
Paige couldn’t breathe as his eyes burned into hers. Lifting his
hand, he brushed back a strand of her hair. His fingers lingered on
her cheek as he leaned closer to her. She could feel the warmth of
his breath against her lips. “I know, as a human, this is difficult
for you to understand, but you’re everything to me. There will
never be anyone, but you, for me from now on.”

“Ian…”

The brush of his lips against hers caused
her heart to jump. He didn’t deepen the kiss but sat back and slid
his fingers into hers. “The man you first saw in that bar is gone.
If you decide you’ll stay with me, then I’ll be with you, and
only
you, for an eternity. If you decide to leave me, there
still won’t ever be anyone else for me again. You’re everything to
me.”

She didn’t know how to respond, not when he
was staring at her with such reverence and need. “You barely know
me,” she whispered.

“I know enough. We haven’t gone far in our
relationship; I could let you go if you chose to walk away from
me.” He wasn’t sure he could let her go, but he couldn’t tell her
that. She had to make this choice on her own. And if she did decide
to walk away, he would let her, even if it destroyed him. Her
happiness is all he wanted. “But I will always be there to make
sure you’re protected.”

“I can’t stand the thought of you being hurt
by anyone, and he will keep coming for me. If I leave he’ll follow
me.”

The flash of red that ran through his eyes
caused her breath to inhale sharply. “So will I,” he grated.

“I don’t want you to be hurt because of
me.”

“I could have killed twenty of them today; I
will
not
be hurt. Don’t ever worry about that, and don’t
leave me because that’s what you fear. If you chose to leave me do
so because it’s what you want, but know that I am here willingly
and will not go anywhere until this vampire is dead.”

Paige nodded, but she couldn’t shake the
lingering doubt and fear that she would be the cause of his demise.
She’d be broken if anything happened to him, she realized. “What
exactly has to be done to complete the mate bond?” she
inquired.