Hunted, The Complete Edition: A Full-length Steamy Vampire Romance (New England Nightwalkers) (19 page)

“Yes, that’s it, love. Come on,” he said, his voice an urgent whisper as he thrust faster and deeper.

He bent his head low and sucked her nipple into his mouth, giving a long pull as he plunged forward. Then she was flying. She let out a yelp as her body imploded in hard, smashing waves, clenching tight over him again and again. As tremors still racked her body, he stiffened above her and shouted, quaking and straining, pinning her hard against the bed as he came.

It was a long time before she drifted back to earth, but when she did, it still felt like a dream.

Gabriel was back in her arms again. The entire world was uncertain. Her whole life in shambles. But this? This was real, and nothing would make her doubt it again.

As if reading her mind, Gabriel touched his forehead to hers.

“I fucking love you. If you believe nothing else in this world, believe that. And I will stop at nothing to protect you.”

“I know,” she murmured, squeezing him tightly. “And I love you. We’ll figure it out, okay? We’ll figure it all out together.”

He was silent as he rolled to his side and pulled her with him. For a long while, she lay in his arms, wide awake, reveling in his touch and his scent as she traced patterns on his chest with the tip of her finger. When her eyelids began to grow heavy, she pressed a kiss to his shoulder and made herself a promise.

Once she and Gabriel woke from their nap, they would have a long, serious talk.

Because if he thought he was going to see Ezekiel and risk his neck again, he was going to have to get through her first.

G
abriel parked
his car along with the half dozen others at the front of Marcella’s Bar. It was a local fixture on the Cape Cod rural highway, where the locals would gather, talk, play darts or watch a game on the wide screen hung over the bar.

He looked at his phone. Seven o’clock straight up.

At any other time and for any other opponent he would have arrived early and scoped out the territory. But this was Irena and, potentially, Ezekiel. There was no point in trying to set up an escape route or some defense.

There was no defense against either one of them.

He could only hope he could convince them that there was no need to kill Zara. He was counting on his long relationship with them both and, in some measure, the vampire’s larger-than-life ego. If he could convince him Zara wasn’t a threat and was too insignificant for Ezekiel’s attention, maybe…

If not
, he thought grimly,
there’s plan B
.

He thought back to that morning with Zara, squashing a stab of guilt. He’d known after they’d made love she would never willingly let him leave, so he’d broken his most sacred vow. He’d used his powers to keep her asleep until long after he’d left. It wasn’t something he was proud of, but he was beyond trying to redeem himself.

The thought of what might happen to her if he failed tonight almost made him hesitate as he reached the entrance to the bar. There was no good answer here and this was the best shot they had. All that mattered was Zara’s safety. She was his everything. All the empty spaces inside him felt full when she was around. She made him whole again…

Except the hunger.

The unbridled, desperate starvation that had had his hands quaking as he slid deep inside her. The need was all-consuming…so great, he’d nearly done it. Nearly dipped his head down and took her vein, desperate to feel the hot gush in his mouth, wild with desire to taste her sweetness.

He was here to protect Zara against Irena and Ezekiel. But he was also here to protect her from himself.

It was that very reminder that had him turning the knob. The door of the old bar creaked as he pulled it open, and the scents of the watering hole greeted his extra-sensitive nostrils. Smoke and rum mixed with the scent of humans. But despite the sensory overload, there was no question that he’d caught the scents he’d been expecting.

Ezekiel and Irena both.

Gabriel’s head swiveled toward them. They were sitting in a corner, both of them with a drink in front of them as they apparently made small talk.

Camouflage.

But Gabriel could see their tension disguised as ennui. The tautness of their bodies as they waited for him. They were not as disinterested as they seemed.

As soon as he began making his way toward them, they turned, watching him like a cat watched a mouse that came along its path.

He straightened his shoulders and kept his gaze aloof, refusing to look away. He would not go to them as a supplicant. There was no shame in what he had done. He would present himself as he was, a trusted lieutenant and a force to be reckoned with.

Each step drew him closer to an inexorable path. The next fifteen minutes would determine the course of his future.

Or lack thereof.

Irena nodded to him curtly as he reached their table. Wordlessly he drew a chair out and sat. Their eyes met and she appraised him with angry eyes.

Ezekiel was much less transparent, and Gabriel found himself wishing he could read the Master’s thoughts.

“Well, well,” said Ezekiel, with a tight smile. “Look who dragged himself into this shithole.”

“Nice to see you too, Ezekiel.” Gabriel leaned back in his chair.

“You should know better than to run away from me, Gabriel,” Ezekiel said, a frown marring his smooth brow. “I found you when you ran last. I found you now. I will
always
find you.”

Gabriel let a grim smile twist his lips. “Well, to be fair, I came to you this time.”

Ezekiel banged his hand on the table loudly, which drew the attention of the locals. They looked over their shoulders toward the strangers but with just one glance from the Master, they quickly went back to their drinks and conversations.

“I am supremely disappointed in you,” Ezekiel said. “You were tasked to take care of this problem. Instead, you have exacerbated it.”

“I had more information than the two of you did,” said Gabriel. His voice was ice. “She wasn’t involved in what happened with your mate. She was just trying to find out what happened to her father. Any of us would do the same.” He gave Ezekiel a look that dared him to deny it.

The vampire leaned forward with menace in his eyes.

“Do you even fucking care that Melissande is dead?”

He could feel the weight of Irena’s stare as he nodded. “Of course I do. She was the best of us,” he said, softening his stance for a moment, remembering his lost friend.

“Then you know why she must be avenged.”

“You’ve had your vengeance. The murderer is dead, Master.”

“And yet his daughter lives,” Ezekiel spat in response, the last vestige of his calm flying out the window.

“As she should. She’s nothing. A tiny human woman who lives her life buried in books. Zara had nothing to do with your beloved’s death. She’s no more culpable than the cocktail waitress over there,” he reasoned, jerking his head toward the bar.

“I decide who is to blame, boy. Not you. Or have you forgotten who your Master is?”

Irena watched the exchange between Ezekiel and Gabriel, her face impassive now as she toyed with the straw in her drink. She might be Ezekiel’s second, but the relationship between the two males precluded her. Her eyes shifted subtly to Gabriel, and she dipped her head.

But before she did, Gabriel caught a flash of something there. Sadness perhaps? Disgust maybe? Directed at him?

No.

She looked at Ezekiel again, and Gabriel caught the mix of longing and sadness. Was Fenton right? Was she in love with him and unable to help him past his rage and grief?

“Where is she?” demanded Ezekiel.

“I’m not here to tell you that,” said Gabriel.

Ezekiel bared his fangs, and gave a long warning growl that rose up from his chest.

“You dare to defy me?”

Gabriel shook his head. “If I hand her to you, she dies. And if she dies, I’ll surely follow.”

Ezekiel leaned across the table and grabbed Gabriel’s throat, growling and displaying his fangs. He was loud enough to again gain the notice of the locals.

“Calm yourself,” urged Irena in low tones. “We do not want to turn this into a bloodbath.”

Ezekiel’s fingernails pierced the skin sharply on Gabriel’s throat before he pulled away but Gabriel’s eyes never left his maker’s face.

He was getting nowhere. As much as it killed him, he had no choice but to make the promise he knew would haunt him for the rest of his days.

“I can make her forget,” he said, the words tasting like ashes in his mouth. “Forget her father, forget me, forget the nightwalkers altogether. She’ll be no threat to us. I’ll move her far away. Then, I’ll return by your side and be the lieutenant you always wanted. I’ll drink human blood, bring you new Familiars, recruit new changelings, and serve you as faithfully as Irena. You’ll have me as you always wanted me, Ezekiel. Like Master and Slave.”

Ezekiel’s eyes glittered and he shot a glance toward Irena. Gabriel waited while the seconds ticked away as his maker decided whether to take the deal that would free Zara and chain Gabriel for eternity.

He seemed like he was about to speak but then suddenly, his head jerked around. Gabriel followed his Master’s gaze to the television above the bar. The words “Special Report” ran in a ribbon at the bottom and police cars flooding the parking lot of a church filled the rest of the screen.

“The horrific scene was discovered early this morning when the janitor arrived to clean the church after the midnight Christmas Eve service. Dozens of bodies were found, though the cause of death is unknown. One source speaking on the condition of anonymity says that a number of the deceased had parts of their bodies torn from them. It is said that there are counselors to help the responding officers deal with the overwhelming brutality of what they saw.

At this time, there is no official police statement about who may have committed acts of horrendous savagery. However, the police urge citizens to remain indoors after dark with all doors and windows locked.”

Ezekiel rose, fury in his eyes.

“Son of a bitch,” he declared, his voice a low growl. Fury poured off him in waves as he wheeled around to face Irena. “How did we not know this before the police? Why are we just hearing about this?”

Irena put her hand on his arm again but this time he shook it off.

“You!” said Ezekiel, pointing his finger at Gabriel. “You’ve been nothing but a distraction to her with your subterfuge and betrayal. This is your fault.”

“Ezekiel,” said Irena even more urgently. “Please, the locals are staring.”

“Let them stare,” raged the vampire. “Did you just see that? More attention aimed at us now. On my watch. Because this asshole has to slip off with his human whore whose father murdered my mate.”

At his last words he picked up his beer bottle and flung it across the room to the television screen. It broke against the screen shattering it.

“Every last one of you, out of here,” he said coldly, flicking his wrist.

Gabriel watched in horror at this display of power as, one by one, the customers stood, and marched, single file, out the door. Even the barman left without a word.

Ezekiel stood and shoved the table out of the way. Then, he hauled Gabriel to his feet by his shirt and threw him clear across the floor of the bar.

Gabriel skidded, colliding with tables and chairs, but before he could stand, the Master was on him. With inhuman strength, he raised him with one hand from the floor. Gabriel’s feet dangled under him and his maker shook him like he was a rag doll.

“We have a much more serious problem at hand, Ezekiel. The rogues are out of hand. We don’t have time for games,” Irena said, stepping closer to them. “Let Gabriel and the woman go. She doesn’t matter anymore.”

But her words didn’t even seem to penetrate the Master’s single-minded fury.

“It didn’t have to be this way, Gabriel. I thought of you like a son.”

The absurdity of Ezekiel’s statement hit Gabriel, and he laughed, which only drew more anger in the vampire lord’s face.

“Son?” said Gabriel incredulously. “I had a father for a short time and to my recollections, he wasn’t a bloodthirsty monster.”

Ezekiel shook Gabriel even more fiercely and Gabriel placed a strategic finger on the phone in his pants pocket and left his other arm dangling at a certain pocket in his cargo pants.

“Tell me where the human is,” roared Ezekiel.

“Over my dead body,” said Gabriel.

Ezekiel suddenly calmed. “We will not need to go that far. I hate to do this, but you leave me no choice. If you won’t give me the information, I’ll take it from you. I’ll use your connection to locate her.”

This was it. Time for his last card. The Hail Mary.

The tug in his brain was gentle at first, like the tap of a finger against a microphone. Then it went deeper, like fingers of black muck twisting and sliding into the crevices, pulling him down, dragging him under as his Master began to take control of his mind. Soon, his will would be completely submerged, and he’d give Ezekiel everything he wanted.

Including Zara’s location.

With steely resolve, he inched his fingers to the phone in his pocket. Without looking, he ran his thumb over the glass cover, feeling until he found the scratch he’d etched into the glass directly over the Send button. Then, he pressed down, sending a pre-written text message containing only a single word.

Run.

A sense of calm fell over him as he used every ounce of his mental strength to hold off Ezekiel for just one more moment. And, in a final effort of will, he drew out the second item that had been secreted in his pocket.

“Oh, fuck,” he dimly heard Irena exclaim. “Please, Gabriel. Don’t!”

But there was no other way. Even if Zara ran, he would be able to feel her out there. Especially after their bond had only tightened even further that morning. And Ezekiel would have no qualms about using him as a divining rod to find her. As long as they were both alive, Zara’s safety was in jeopardy.

“You won’t kill me with that, Gabriel,” Ezekiel said in the mesmerizing voice that had bent thousands to his will.

“You’re right, Master,” Gabriel bit out through gritted teeth. “But I don’t need to.”

He said a silent prayer for Zara. That she would understand. That her own suffering would be bearable. And, most of all, that she wouldn’t blame herself when she learned what he’d done. Then, he tightened his grip on the wooden stake he’d carved to an ultra sharp point and drove it, fast and true, deep under his own rib cage and into his heart.

Pain exploded through his body and his head. Breathing became impossible. He hovered between life and death, staring into the eyes of his hated maker that reflected utter shock.

“Fuck you,” he gasped, just before blackness shuttered his eyes.