Feral Instincts (The Feral Series) (9 page)

Teagan
had been stunned when little Ava had reached up to stroke his cheek. Even in
his human form most women were nervous around him, like they still sensed the
danger lying just under the surface. Even more confusing was the disappointment
he had felt when she had pulled her hand away. From the moment that she had
walked into the room his beast had risen to the surface and he hadn’t been able
to take his eyes off of her.

“You’re
welcome. I’m sorry we didn’t get there sooner for you.” He said with regret
looking down into her crystal blue eyes.

“Yes,
well that’s not your fault. No one even knew I was there.”

“Ava?”
Joseph poked his head in the door. “Victor said you might want me to show you
around the estate. Are you ready?”

“Yes,
I’m coming.” Ava looked back at Teagan with regret. She really had no desire to
leave him but didn’t want to keep Joseph waiting. “Thanks again Teagan.” She
said as she reluctantly walked over to Joseph and he led her down the hall.

Teagan
scowled at the possessive hand Joseph laid on the small of Ava’s back. The
vampires may be their allies but they certainly didn’t want little Ava
associating with the weres. He didn’t really blame them though. Ava wasn’t a
werewolf and she was a newborn at that and it would be wrong to encourage her
interest in him. He would just have to keep telling himself that.

“Argh.
What do you mean you don’t have her!” Salvatore’s roar echoed all throughout
the underground tunnels. Bruno’s body flew through the air, smashing into the
stone wall, his skull crushed on one side, and sliding to the ground where a
bloody puddle formed a gruesome halo around his head. Salvatore barley
restrained himself from tearing his head from his shoulders and finishing him
off. “I am surrounded by incompetent fools!” Salvatore stormed. Picking up a
chair he threw it against a wall smashing it into thick splinters. His eyes
glowing a blood red, the bones of his face began to shift into harsh angles as
the monster revealed itself.

Moving
at super human speed he picked up a piece of the broken leg and slammed it deep
into the heart one of the rogues that had been with Bruno. The rogue let out a
gurgling scream as it too crumpled to the ground in a pool of blood. Looking at
the two remaining rogues who were cowering, certain they would be the next to
die, he roared at them. “Find her and do not return until you have discovered
where the werewolf took her!”

Salvatore
sank into his chair to brood. Things were not going as planned. He had to
relocate his lair to these miserable damp tunnels, he had to replace several of
his new rogues and instead of enjoying himself with his beautiful, new consort
she was in the hands of some filthy Lykan! When he found the beast that had
taken her he would cut him apart piece by piece before finally ripping his
heart out with his bare hands!

This
was all Victor’s fault and that dam Council. Vampires and werewolves working
together, it was an abomination! For centuries they had warred with the Lykan.
They had been little more than mindless beasts, shifting uncontrollably with
every full moon. Although lacking the intelligence of the vampires, the
strength of their beast had made them dangerous enemies.

The
vampire clan leaders had grown soft. It was men like Victor that would ruin
them all. When he finally had his army complete Victor’s territory would be the
first to be crushed under Salvatore’s heel and his little pet werewolves with
him.

Once
again, Victor thought he could come between him and his intended mate.
Apparently it wasn’t enough that he had taken Earnestine from him, now he
thought he could keep Ava from him too.

Earnestine
had thought him a fool. Playing the devoted mate and yet he had seen the hunger
in her eyes when she looked at Victor. She hadn’t been able to completely hide
her racing heart when he was near. Then one night she had returned from a
supposed social event with Victor’s scent clinging to her.

Despite
her denials and pleas for mercy he had been forced to punish her. He had made
sure that she had paid for her treachery. Unfortunately he had been unable to
silence his darker urges that night and she had paid with her life. In order to
avoid retribution from the Council it had appeared that his mate had a tragic
accident on her way home from her event that night, her remains were too badly
burned to identify. Although, he knew that rumors that he had murdered her had
still managed to circulate.

It
was all Victor’s fault really. If it hadn’t been for Victor he wouldn’t have
lost his temper while disciplining his mate. He had already tasted of the
seductive high that came from drinking ones prey to death long before
Earnestine’s death. He had tasted the darkness… and he had liked it. For years
he had dabbled with the darker side of his vampire nature. Always walking the
edge of addiction until one day he stopped fighting it. Being a Descendant, the
power that came from the kill had been highly addictive. The night Earnestine
had died had been the most decadent surge of power he had ever received.

He
had been such a fool to resist for so long. Why couldn’t the others see that
this is what the vampires were meant to be? They were clearly the superior
race. They were meant to rule over the other races.

When
Victor had taken Earnestine from him, Salvatore hadn’t been in a position to
exact his revenge. Back then he had still been living the life of an esteemed
Council member. On the surface at least he had still been playing the role of
one of the highly respected Breed Descendant. Appearances had to be kept and
the rules had to be followed. This time would be different. This time they
would play by his rules.

Salvatore
slammed his fist down on the arm of the chair he was sitting in, snapping it
off. He was so close to getting all that he wanted. How dare they raid his lair
and take what belongs to him! He was the one with the power now! He was the one
in control.

“Bruno!
Bring my car around. I need to hunt.” Dam it! He forgot he had crushed Bruno’s
skull. Very inconvenient. It would be a while before the bastard regenerated.
“Someone bring me my car! I need some air.” His eyes glowed a bright blood red
as the dark predator went in search of his prey.

Ava
walked quietly next to Joseph as he showed her around Claymore. She couldn’t
help but sneak peeks at him from beneath her lashes. He was truly an
exceptional looking man. He was a little less army commando looking tonight
than when she had seen him for the first time. He had traded his black fatigues
for black jeans and a black t-shirt that stretched tightly over his biceps and
broad shoulders. His hair was pulled back again from high cheeks bones and a
square jaw.

Ava
found herself easily relaxing around Joseph. She walked contentedly by his
side, enjoying his company. “Are you getting tired? I could take you back to
your room.”

“No
I’m fine, really. I’m not that tired. I don’t really want to be alone right now
anyway. I’m not keeping you from anything am I?”

“No.
I’m all yours.” Joseph said with a devilish grin. Ava couldn’t help but laugh.
He was surprised to find that he actually enjoyed spending time with the little
female. Even before he had joined Victor’s guardians he had rarely spent much
time with the fairer sex. The more respectable women always seemed nervous
around him and the other kind of women only wanted him for one thing. Not that
he was complaining.

“What
is this room for?” Ava asked peering through the glass window in the door.

“This
is our training room.” Joseph looked in to make sure no one was inside yet. “Do
you want to see it?”

“Sure.”
Ava was curious to see what a vampire training room was all about and slipped
through the door that Joseph held open for her. She walked into a huge room
with mirrors on one wall and several pieces of training equipment. One entire
wall was covered in various weapons, several that Ava didn’t even recognize.
Another section of the room had a padded floor.

Ava
looked around with her hands on the curve of her hips. “So if you are all big
bad vampire men, why do you have to train? I mean, you are all already
naturally bigger, faster, stronger right?” Ava looked at Joseph out of the
corner of her eye, curious to see how he would react to her teasing.

Joseph
grinned at her, liking the wicked little gleam that he saw in her eyes. “Well
yes we are bigger, faster, stronger… thank you for noticing…” Ava choked on her
laugh. “… but just because you have the speed and strength doesn’t mean you
know what to do with it. Control is something that must be learned and
continuously honed.”

“So
what do you do to practice this
control
?” Do you practice
kah rah tae
?”
Ava joked while striking a fierce karate pose. All of the trauma from the past
few days had caught up to her and she was feeling a little slap happy. She
needed a break from her brooding and self-pity. She needed to play.

Joseph
laughed out loud this time. “Something like that.”

Ava
still held her awesome karate pose and turned her karate hands, wiggling the
tips of her fingers as though to say “bring it on”.

Joseph
raised an eyebrow and began to advance on Ava with a determined look in his
eye.
Oh dam! Did he think I was serious! What was I thinking!
Ava
squeaked in alarm and only managed to take one step in retreat before Joseph
was on her. He had her spun around with both of her hands contained in one of
his larger ones while his muscled arms trapped her with her back pressed
against his chest.

Joseph
inhaled Ava’s warm feminine scent, enjoying her small curves pressed against
his larger body for a moment. Ava had frozen in his arms, not sure what her
next move should be. Abruptly Joseph released her, causing her to take a quick
step to catch herself. He was still chuckling and muttered something about
kittens with claw. Ava huffed and blew a strand of hair out of her eyes and ran
her fingers through her curls in a nervous gesture.

“Would
you like to learn?”

“What?”

“Would
you like to learn to be bigger, faster, and stronger?” Joseph used her own
words to tease her.

“Me?!”
Ava’s voice cracked in a squeak again. “Ah-hem. Me?”

“Why
not you? You are now a vampire. Your body is going to be changing and you are
going to have speed and strength that you have never had as a human. You are
going to need to learn how to use your new abilities. You will need to learn
control.”

Ava
looked at Joseph wide eyed. Comically visualizing herself with enormous biceps
like Joseph had. “Will I be strong like you?”

Joseph
smiled at her. “No, having been a human that has been turned you are a halfbreed.
Most of the guardians are Breed. Breed vampires are purebloods and are the
strongest of the vampires. They are vampires born from pureblood vampire
parents.”

“So
you are a pureblood?”

“Yes.”

“…
and I’m like… some kind of mutt?!” For some reason Ava found this hysterically
funny and started laughing. “Oh my god, that’s terrible!”

Joseph
smiled at her unexpected sense of humor. “You are not a mutt.”

Once
Ava had calmed down she suddenly became serious again. “I want you to teach me.
Teach me to protect myself.” The smile on Ava’s face was gone and she looked
down at her ballet flats, unable to meet Joseph’s eyes.

Joseph
felt to loss of her smile. He didn’t like it one bit. “Okay then, your first
lesson starts right now.”

“Really?
Right now.”

“Sure,
unless you have something better to do.” Joseph raised one dark eyebrow in
challenge.

“No.
No. Now is good.” Ava walked over to the edge of the padded floor and slipped
her flats off and then pulled the sweater over her head and put it by her
shoes. She pulled the bottom of her lace trimmed black tank top down over her
hips and hesitantly walked over to stand in front of Joseph.

Joseph
let his eyes roam over the curves that were displayed now that her loose
sweater was gone. He would have to get her some more baggy sweaters if she was
going to be around the other guardians.

“Okay
then, we will start out with something simple that will help you work on your
balance and coordination. You are still weak from your transition and your
speed and strength won’t improve until you are feeding regularly.” Ava paled at
the reminder that Victor was expecting her to try feeding tomorrow.

“Ava
don’t worry, everything will be fine.”

“That’s
easy for you to say. I have been a vampire for two days and you have been a
vampire for how long? Hey, how old are you anyway?”

“Focus
please. Balance…”

Oh
no.  Ava was not letting him off the hook that easily.  This was too
good to pass up.

“Whoa,
so old you don’t want to tell me?” Ava looked at the massive vampire with eyes
gone wide in comical shock.

“Ava…”
Joseph growled in warning.

“Fine,
don’t tell me old man.” With that Joseph growled and began to advance on Ava.