Eternal Embrace (16 page)

“This is the vow. You’ll have to repeat it,” he said, so serious for once, butterflies winged to life in her stomach.

“I want you as my bonded female.” He nudged her head and kissed her. “With this breath, with this body, with this heart, I freely bind myself to you for all time,” he whispered against her lips.

A shiver shook her and her heart rate skyrocketed. She kissed him as he’d kissed her, so deeply their fangs clashed together. Taking a breath, she said, “I want you for my bonded male.”

Jaxon jerked, his body going tighter against hers. Her body also tensed, as if the warmth spreading through her would somehow grow and her body prepared for something. “With this breath,” she whispered, and leaned into him more fully. “With this body, with this heart, I freely bind myself to you for all time.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, she gasped in surprise. Thousands—no, millions—of threads suddenly wove them together, breaking open her mind and body to his with such force she nearly fell and only caught herself with her hold on him.

Jaxon shuddered, groaning tightly and through the threads tying them as one, she heard him urge her to bite and drink. Without hesitation, she sank her fangs into his chest and drew from him. Hot, rich blood flooded her mouth, knocking her for a loop. He tasted like the hottest, most amazing liquor ever bottled, spicy, full-bodied and perfect. Power rushed along her muscles, strengthening to a degree that startled her.

“Jaxon?”

“Ah, wildcat, don’t worry, I’ve got you. You’re going to be stronger, strong enough to get through this now.”

At the same time as his words floated through her mind, Jaxon’s bite sank into her, right where her neck met her shoulder. He drew blood and it was if, with that bite, he filled her with sensations and light. Tears rolled past her closed eyelids.

“Joey, my love, I will be yours for eternity now.”

“Oh, Jaxon, you do love me, don’t you?”

She heard something like a mental growl, and his bite deepened, shocking her. She suddenly burst into a desperate climax.

“There has never been anyone but you. Never before, no one after. I’ll be in love with you, wildcat, forever. Best not question that again, eh?”

“Oh, Jaxon.”

Slowly he eased from her, breathless and radiating happiness mixed with so much fear and anger she also withdrew her fangs and licked his chest, watching in amazement as his body tensed and the muscle healed.

“You can heal with your mouth now, wildcat, but you’re also killing me.”

“Oh, this is weird. Are you reading all my thoughts?”

He laughed sharply and nipped at her ear. “No, but why would that be a problem? I want to see all those dirty little thoughts you have,” he teased, kissing her once more before turning completely serious.

“Is this how I could sense your anger before?”

He stilled and looked at her for a long moment with a thoughtful frown. “I have no idea,” he murmured. “Shit, I should have looked into that. You shouldn’t be vampire. I didn’t turn you. Those other vampires,” he growled the words, “they didn’t either. But I’ll not let you go—”

“No, no you won’t. You’re stuck with me now.”

His eyes rounded out. “Stuck? Fuck, I want you until I can’t breathe without you. I’m not stuck, brat, I’m hooked.” He caught her gaze and shifted his eyes to the cage doors. “Now, here’s what you’re going to do.”

Her mind flooded with his directions and the skill to do what he wanted. “You want me to simply think about you without the chains and that will happen?”

“It’s much like me taking our clothes off. Look in my mind, see what I can do and learn it. Quickly though.”

“No one is coming, right?” she whispered.

“Not yet, but soon they will.”

She concentrated on him, finding it easy to slip into his thoughts. His mind was amazing. So quick and full of knowledge she had trouble not getting distracted. At first, she worried that she’d see something she didn’t want to know about, like him with another woman, but that fear slowly eased as he showed her the skills she needed. She still experienced glimpses of his memory, but she felt more at ease within minutes. Jaxon proved to be the honourable, fiercely loyal man she knew he was. He fought for what was right, alone most of the time, but in some of his memories she glimpsed other fierce, brave men.

Gathering what she needed, she steadied her heartbeat and envisioned Jaxon, standing free of the chains. Nothing happened. She tried again with Jaxon’s silent encouragement. Then, with a frustrated growl, she imagined the chains at her feet so she could kick them. Instantly the chains were there, lying on the dirt floor and Jaxon was free, hugging her tightly.

“How did you do that?” Jaxon demanded shaking her, then hugged her so close she thought he might leave bruises. “No time, no fucking time,” he whispered, dragging her with him to where Viktor stood, silently watching them in his wolf form. “Can you get him out? Imagine the door to his cell and ours open.”

“You can’t?” she asked.

“No, not yet. Something is still blocking me.”

“Oh! Jaxon—”

“No time, think on what you want to do and do it Joey.”

She nodded and forced her mind to think on the closed iron and imagined the doors standing open. Both swung outward with a loud creaking sound.

“Holy shit, I did it!”

Jaxon tossed her his sexy grin. “
You’re beautiful.”

“I am, aren’t I?”

“Absolutely.”

She grinned, but quickly sobered and frowned over at Viktor. “What gives? Why are you still”—she waved to his wolf form—“like, uh, that?”

Jaxon frowned and Viktor walked up, not changing form. Jaxon bent and examined the collar around his neck. “Shit, this is some kind of trap around his neck.”

“Trap?” Her breath caught and she knelt to examine the silver circling the wolf’s neck. Viktor didn’t move. “Is this stuck on you?”

He nodded his wolf head and sat with a low growl.

“So you can’t lose the wolf?” Jaxon demanded.

The wolf snorted like Jax was stupid and she fought a laugh. Jaxon caught it, though, and bent to kiss her. “Not funny.”

“Wait, can you shift now?” she asked Jaxon.

Jaxon’s eyes grew distant and she sensed he was trying to do what she’d already learned by instinct, to move somewhere else. “Shit, no, I still can’t.”

“Should I try to shift us, all of us?” she offered.

Jax shook his head and Viktor backed away from her.

“No, wildcat, you could shift only part of us, you know?”

“Oh, man, that is not something you should have told me.” Images of body parts rose in her imagination.

He grinned and pulled her next to him. “Don’t let it freak you out,” he told her. “We need a witch to get that off, Vik. Right now, we’re lucky just to be free.”

“But what is stopping you from, you know, using your gifts?”

“I have no idea, baby. It could be something they gave me, something to do with those chains—shit, it could be anything, but it won’t last. Vampires are resilient. Once I feed and sleep a few times, nothing will remain.”

In her mind, he showed her what he was talking about and the double dose of hearing him and seeing what he was talking about thrilled her. He grinned and smacked her on the butt. “Let’s not push it.” He turned his brilliant gaze on Viktor. “Do you sense a way out?”

Viktor stared at Jaxon, then her, then behind them. Cells—more like ancient holes in the stone—lined the corridor. All of them were empty.

“I can sense this floor is empty.”

“Yes, you will be sensing life now, or if not life exactly, the presence of others. You can scent evil, too. Like you did at the warehouse.”

“Gerald.”

“Yes.”

“Which way, Lykae?”

Viktor trotted a few feet to their left then back past them heading downward. He stopped there and turned to look back at them.

“That’s the way then,” Jaxon said, tugging her into moving. “How did you get those fucking—?”

“Jaxon, really, you need to cut the swearing.”

He stumbled and gave her an incredulous look. “Fine, okay, how did you get those locked manacles off me?”

“You told me to!”

“I know that, baby, I’m asking
how
you did it.”

“Oh. I called them—kinda like you take my clothes off, right? But I wanted them so I could kick them. You wanted them off, you said, and I wanted those chains off.”

“Shit, you’re so fuc—so damn hot.” He frowned and turned to stop her. “Can you call my sword? Do you remember the one? In the library, next to the fireplace, hanging below the battle axe?”

She thought on it, glanced at the wolf watching her, then at Jax’s expectant face. The sword. She’d seen it, had even held it once when Jax saw her interest. The long silver blade held spells in flowing script along the sides and Jax had told her he’d wrapped the hilt in plain, black leather. The weave he’d used reminded her of Celtic knots. She concentrated on wanting to hold the hilt again and gasped, nearly dropping the heavy thing when it fell in her hands. The wolf yipped softly and Jaxon buried her against his chest.

“That’s my fucking girl,” he said, kissing her soundly. “Now we get the hell out of here. If you so much as scent that evil bastard, you latch onto my arm and picture us in bed, okay?”

“That’s all? It’s that easy? What if I lose a part and—”

“You just shifted my sword to us. I think you can do a shift to the one room we used the most. Just don’t picture us naked with the wolf, okay?”

Blood heated her face and she shook her head at him in exasperation. “You’re impossible.”

He gave her a big, shit-eating grin and smacked her butt again. “I’m more than that,” he murmured in her ear, then straightened and nodded to Viktor. “We need to run, wolf. Let’s get out of here. Come on, Joey, baby.”

He took her hand and kept her close as they began running. All around her evil waited to attack them like some monster hiding under her bed, but with Jaxon near her, she knew she’d always be safe.

They ran for several minutes before turning right, then right again, almost like they were going in a circle, she thought. Every turn headed downward, and the thought of all that earth above her head started to freak her out. After what felt like forever, but was more like a half an hour, Viktor let out a deep, menacing growl. He slowed at what looked like another hallway intersecting theirs.

Jaxon slowed them as well, and pulled her until she paused. He tilted his head and stared at her while he listened, then grimaced.

“Shit, they’ve found us gone. Hear that?”

She listened too, and faintly she heard the sounds of shouting.

“Lead the way, wolf, we don’t have time to play around.”

The wolf snorted and tore off faster, but not before Joey heard the yells behind her and the sound of a wicked siren splitting the air.

Chapter Thirteen

Jaxon dragged Joey along with him, suddenly the rush of fresh air hit his face like a welcome caress—almost. Joey held his left hand and that caress was more welcome than anything he’d ever had the chance to experience.

She’d bonded to him.

The first draw of her blood had nearly been his undoing. He’d wanted to pin her to the wall and take her body as he shared blood with her for hours. Instead, he’d had to swallow only a mouthful, and slow the sudden blast of her—her thoughts, desires and her very essence—from overwhelming him. She shone bright, so brave and trusting, whole and free of evil that she humbled him. The love coming off her only made it worse. There was no one else for her—there never had been. He’d been isolated most of his existence, but so had Joey. She’d never had a solid foundation to build on, no one to lean on outside of her grandfather—a frail old man. She looked to Jaxon now, saw him as some hero mixed with just enough of a bad boy to drive her wild.

He could have fallen into her thoughts of him and stayed there forever. He’d never let her go.

She knew he wasn’t perfect and he sensed in those first seconds they’d shared that he’d have never gained her love if he had been. She wanted him—Jaxon—the man he’d feared showing her.

What did he do with that? With her? When all around them, danger waited to rip her from him.

Never give up, boy. When you do, that’s when you’ll feel more pain than you’ve ever experienced before.

His uncle’s harsh words made sense to him now. As a child, he’d not understood, but now, with Joey a sparkling, bright presence near his heart, he knew that if he ever gave up the fight to keep her safe and lost her, he’d not survive the pain.

Next to him, she ran, breathless from his longer stride, not a single part of her about to quit though. He squeezed her small hand and she smiled, but didn’t take her eyes off Viktor.

Since they’d fallen into what had to have been a spell trap back at the warehouse, too many things were going wrong. The Lykae. The collar. His inability to shift. His phone was missing. Joey didn’t have one on her, and Viktor sure didn’t. He sensed they weren’t in the States. If he was correct, that meant they could be anywhere in the world—and no one would know. This wasn’t like the salt mine. There would be no rescue. They’d have to get out of here on their own. Chances were the place was locked tight.

They ventured a few more feet and thick iron bars from the dirt to the low archway blocked their way.

“Fuck,” he grumbled and glanced at Viktor. The wolf gave him a quick look, then tossed his head back the way they’d come, clearly unsure what to do now.

“We can get it open. We just have to think of something.” Joey gripped the rusted metal and gave it a tug.

Okay, any other time that would be cute, but right now, that metal stood between him and his woman’s safety. She
loved
him. She loved
him
. He needed to hear that when the words were just between the two of them while they were intimately entwined.

“Well?” she asked after giving the metal another tug. “It seems solid. Can’t you, well, mist out and kinda work the lock with smoke?”

He grinned at her. “I’m not the Mummy, baby, but thanks, I like your confidence.”