Hot Decadent Rising (Breath of Darkness) (15 page)

What’s your name?

Eli.

Slowly she lifted her lips into a sweet
uneven grin.
You kissed me.

He lowered his head and kissed her lips
gently.
And you liked it.

I did…not.

He moved slowly, carefully to not hurt
her. He pulled her into his arms.
You must rest.

Several hours went by. For so long he’d
been taught that keeping the purity of his bloodline was essential for the
survival of his kind. But that didn’t matter to him. He held her until he was
certain she’d finally stopped fighting the compulsion. He knew she would stay
asleep until she was fully healed. Leaving her was the hardest thing he’d ever
done, but he knew he needed to do it. For now, in Nikolas’ care, she was
perfectly safe.

When she woke up she would set out on a
dangerous mission of revenge. A small part of Eli wanted to go after the men
responsible for killing her baby. He wanted to kill them before she ever woke
up, but he wouldn’t take away her right to avenge her baby. He’d already taken
enough from her. The baby didn’t have to die. Fate had tried to step in when
they’d crossed paths at the gas station, but he allowed her to be taken and her
unborn child to be killed.

He couldn’t change what had happened,
but he could make sure she got her revenge and didn’t get herself killed in the
process. To properly protect her, he needed to be at his strongest. To be at
his strongest, he needed to take his pack back. And that’s what he intended to
do.

~Seven~

“EITHER
YOU’RE FUCKING around with me or you’ve lost your mind.” Cain shook his head.
“After all you went through with Joseph Payne, you didn’t leave the female you
believe to be your mate in the care of a demon. Why? Why the hell would you do
something so stupid?”

“I know,” Eli said. “It’s a little much
to take in all at once. And there’s more.”

“What?”

“She’s human.”

“A little? Let’s just forget about the
human mate you left with a demon and talk about this crazy plan of yours to get
back the pack.” Frustrated, Cain pushed a hand through his hair as he paced
back and forth. Eli claiming a human mate was unthinkable. He figured it wasn’t
true. Eli had to be testing him. He was willing to go along with just about
anything to prove his loyalty, but Eli was asking him to cross a line he wasn’t
sure he could cross, for any reason. In truth, he couldn’t believe what
Eli was asking him to do. On second thought, it wasn’t a test. He had to be
screwing around with him. “You want me to bite you hard enough to cause a
severe enough injury to leave a blood trail for miles, and then you want me to
go to Samuel and tell him that I kicked your ass and left you in the woods.”
Waiting for a response, he stopped and stared at him.

Crossing his arms over his chest, Eli
nodded. “That’s right. That’s exactly what I want you to do.”

 “Then you want me to lead him to you?”

He lifted his brow. “You really are a
quick learner, aren’t you?”

“I don’t like it.” Cain started to pace
again. “Why do I need to injure you?” Not that it actually mattered. He wasn’t
going to do it. “The plan is too messy. It’s too spur-of-the-moment to be
successful. And the idea of you with a human as a mate… is just too insane to
process right now.”

“He knows I’m stronger and faster. He
knows I’m better than him. He’ll never get close enough for me to kill him,
unless he thinks I’m unable to fight. And you’d better get used to the idea of
my mate being human.”

Cain knew Eli wasn’t bragging. He was
simply stating facts. “Why do I actually need to bite you? It seems a little
over dramatic. Can’t I just tell him I bit you?”

“No. He knows you’ve rejected him as
your leader. He knows you’ve come to me. I won’t risk him turning on you and
killing you. The only way you can prove your loyalty to him, is to prove your
unfaithfulness to me. He won’t believe you’ve injured me unless you have my
blood on you. He would never think that I
allowed
you to bite me.”

Cain shook his head. “It’s a bad idea.
You know that, right?”

“What are you worried about? I’m the one
getting gnawed on.”

“Stop making light of the situation.
You’re rushing into this. You aren’t thinking the entire situation through. The
locals won’t stand down. They will attempt to interfere. You don’t have any
reason to act in haste.”

“I’m aware of what the locals will try
to do.”

“You’re stronger and faster than Samuel.
That’s a fact. But you can’t defeat him and the locals on your own. They will
gang up on you. They’ll kill you.”

Eli narrowed his eyes. “I’ve no
intention of being killed. And I won’t be alone. Not with you there watching my
back.”

“You trust me?” It was either that or
Eli was suicidal. He couldn’t blame him for wanting to die, if he truly had a
human mate.

“Yes. I do. You’ve never failed me. The
pack has never failed me. I’ve failed you and the pack. I thought I needed to
teach you all a lesson. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I was the one who
needed to learn a lesson in loyalty. The pack has been doing as they should
have done all along. They’ve been following the lead of the male who seemed to
be the strongest.”

Cain knew it couldn’t be easy for Eli to
admit he’d been wrong. “We all make mistakes.”

“The pack will follow your lead. They
will join you to keep the locals from interfering.”

“I’m still not feeling good about biting
you. What if we fail?”

“We live in a kill or
be
killed world. It’s the only way. I realize it’s not the best plan, but it’s the
only one we have at the moment. I cannot wait any longer. I need the pack.”

 Cain had waited for this day for
months. It seemed it would never come. Now that it was here it was hard to
believe. “You’re truly planning to take the pack back tonight?”

“Yes.”

“Then I will do my part.” He shifted
into his wolf form.

Eli took his jacket off and held out his
arm. “No little flesh wound. He needs to
believe
I’m too weak to defend
myself. For that, I need to leave a convincing trail of blood.”

Taking a step back, Cain hesitated.
Biting one’s leader was just so wrong. As a general rule, it ended in one hell
of an ass kicking. 

“Damn it, Cain. I don’t want to
fucking
bite myself. Just do it.”

He tore through flesh and muscles to
bury his teeth all the way to the bone. He knew it had to hurt like hell, but
Eli didn’t even flinch.  

A few minutes later, with the taste of
Eli’s blood still in his mouth and scent on his fur, Cain headed toward Samuel.
Hopefully, the plan was crazy enough to work.  

***

At
first Samuel was suspicious of Cain’s motives. Out of all the other pack
members, Cain was the most loyal to Eli. “Why would you go after Eli alone?”

“Why not? Should I be afraid of him? Do
you fear him?”

The entire pack was gathered around,
watching and waiting to see what Samuel would do. He couldn’t afford to allow
them to think he had any fear of Eli. “Of course not. I find your willingness
to go after him alone suspicious because you’ve always shared a special
connection with him.”

“I owed him respect. He was our leader until
he proved his inability to be in charge of us. He betrayed us all, just because
he was too afraid to claim his mate. He handed her, a pure blood, to a demon.
He was weak. Weakness cannot be tolerated by the pack. It could destroy us. You
proved yourself to be our rightful leader. I now owe you my respect. We all do,
unless you prove you’re unable to be our commander.”

As Samuel took a step toward Cain the
rest of the pack moved closer as if to protect the younger wolf. The locals
stood still. They wouldn’t openly get involved in the dispute, but they would
kill Cain for openly challenging him. “You doubt I’m able to kill him?”

“He’s weak. I’ve wounded him. If you’re
convinced you can kill him, why are you still here arguing with me? We can’t
properly proceed until he’s dead. Perhaps you would rather I finish him off.”

Samuel merged his mind with Wes. He was
a local who’d been handpicked by Jeremy Lang to deal with uncooperative pack
members of the original pack.
Once we’ve found Eli I want you kill Cain.
He’s going to be a problem in the future.

Wes nodded.
It’ll be my pleasure.

“Well?” Cain asked.

Rather than show respect by speaking
solely to Cain, Samuel looked away from him to address the entire pack. “Today,
I will prove to be the only one capable of being your leader.”

The locals cheered, but the members from
the original pack just stared at him. It irritated him, but he didn’t expect
more from them. Their beliefs were old school. Survival of the fittest. It was
what had made them one of the strongest packs still around, when so many had
dwindled away to nothing. They didn’t truly respect him, and they wouldn’t
until he killed Eli.

***

It
was the moment of truth. By the end of the hour Eli would know which members of
his pack were loyal and which were not. Most had been with him for over a hundred
years. He didn’t want to lose any of them, but he believed it was more than a
possibility that he would. It was an inevitable result of all that had
happened, of his failure to accept truth about the woman he’d believed was his
mate, before it was too late.

He’d spent thirty years leading his
pack, traveling from one state to the next, searching for her. Looking back at
the first moment he’d seen her with the male demon that turned out to be her
true mate, he laughed at his ignorance. They were so deeply connected, so
entirely in love with each other. He should’ve turned around and walked away.
He should’ve known she was right where she belonged, but his pride wouldn’t
allow it. 

All things considered, it was a good
experience for his personal growth and development. He was different now.
Better than he was. He was smarter. Stronger. More willing to see and admit his
faults. Tragically, the cost of it outweighed the good. If he’d seen the truth
earlier, his true mate wouldn’t have lost her child.

She was full of rage. The need for
revenge was threatening to consume her. He would protect her. He would help her
avenge her son, but when all was said and done he couldn’t be sure she would
ever recover from the experience. She would emerge stronger, or it would
destroy her. Her grief was crushing and her sense of guilt was more intense
than any he’d ever known.

One day he would have to tell her the
truth. She would know he’d walked away from her at the gas station where they’d
first met knowing she was in danger, knowing that he could’ve protected her and
her baby. How would she take it? Would she reject him? Would she hate him? She
couldn’t possibly ever forgive him. How could she? Her child had died because
he failed to accept she was his mate. Even though his soul recognized her he
refused to acknowledge it. Worse than that, he’d abandoned her to chase after a
woman who didn’t belong to him.     

Killing Samuel wasn’t personal. For the
most part, Eli was disconnected from any real emotions over it. He was
hardwired dominate and defeat, to be an unyielding, hard-hitting alpha male. He
wouldn’t take any pleasure in killing Samuel or any other member of the pack.
This was a matter of survival of the fittest. Nothing more. Nothing less. 

Remaining in his human form, Eli kept
his back to Samuel as if oblivious to his approach. He couldn’t see them, but
he knew where each member of the pack was positioned. He could feel their
anticipation as they waited. When he felt his challenger hesitate to attack, he
hunched over and swaggered a bit as if his body was threatening to give out and
topple over.

At that moment, he felt a strong sense of
disappointment all round him. He realized the entire pack was for him. Wanting
to intervene, wanting to protect him, they were anxious for they couldn’t do
anything to help him, other than prevent the locals from ganging up on him.
They had to allow the fight to go on, without any intervention. Regardless of
whether or not they liked the victor, he would become their leader. They wanted
him to conquer Samuel, but they feared he was too weak. 

He smiled. He didn’t even try to hold it
back. His pack had been waiting for him to return to them all along. Proving
their strength, they’d made it through the ordeal undivided. Though he’d always
known they were strong it amazed him. It humbled him. Everything inside him
wanted to rush to take Samuel down, but he waited him out to allow his
challengers rage to grow, knowing it would cause him to make mistakes. It made
him look like the fool he was.

Eli was ready for it when it came, but
when Samuel slammed him from behind the impact was like being hit by a semi-truck.
It threw him forward several feet. Moving slowly, he stood up and hunched over
as he clutched his ribs to feign injury. Again, moving slowly to appear weak
and using his mind to project weakness, he turned to face Samuel.