Noose (Road Kill MC #1) (40 page)

“What are you?” I whispered.

“I am your foil. I am the one that no Druid can withstand, no matter how pure the blood.”

“Why?” I all but yelled. My misery was acute, knowing that at least I could choose with the others, tears burning the back of my eyelids in frustration.

“I am Druid as well.”

CHAPTER 2

Zach had left with a satisfied smirk on his face. The bomb dropped, he left me to deal with the debris.

I tried to sort through what he'd told me and why it should matter. The bottom line was I was in over my head, at a different place, still held against my will.

Then there was the problematic attraction thing. It's like no matter where I turned or how I intellectualized the whole shebang, those vamps had it goin' on. Zach was a problem but I could manipulate him. It was Erik that was the wild card. I'd seen the look he'd given me as he left my room.

He'd be back and I'd have to be ready.

I looked around the room, completely different from where I'd been held by Cole's group. It was an old house, the floor boards scarred with a hundred years of use, thick moldings wrapped the lone window and old door, a glass knob winked in the light cast from the window.

Strolling over to the window, I peered out at the yard below that wavered through the old glass like water running over its surface.
No fence
, I thought. Maybe escape would be easier.

Definitely their numbers were down,
I thought with satisfaction, remembering the damage Cole had done to the other
rogue
. There was no love lost, I shuddered, remembering the one who'd hurt my shoulder. I rotated it tentatively, only a mild twinge proved the injury had ever occurred.

It made me think of Cole. What I'd told him. Guilt assailed me, I had told him I'd stay with him. It didn't matter how circumstances had brought us together. My former life was screwed beyond repair, I'd always be hunted. Better to be with someone that would defend me.

And I did care about him.

I sighed. My eyes caught sight of a pile of clothes on the very top of a free-standing wardrobe against the wall. I approached, watching my reflection as I came nearer, my face pale, purple smudges running underneath the blueness of my eyes. I looked like I'd been set on spin cycle in a washing machine.

Surveying the damage made me ache for a shower. Seeing another door, I reached out, the clothes in one hand and my other touching the solid glass knob. I turned the handle and pushed open the door into a small bathroom.

Maybe a shower would clear my head?
Better yet, maybe Cole would somehow find me...?
I thought uneasily as I set the clothing next to the claw foot tub positioned underneath a small window. Turning on the tap, I glanced at the water, thinking of Cole, pushing thoughts of Zach uneasily away....

*

Cole

Cole came awake with a bone crusher headache thumping like dull knives stabbing his temple. He lay astride Rachel's bed. It was up on end, he had thrown it against the window as an additional barrier against the dangerous orb of the sun. The bastard
rogue
had taken her shortly before dawn, it was the best he had managed.

Rage set in immediately. They had Rachel, and that damn coworker of hers, Erik, was a male without honor. He knew that Zach would not harm Rachel. But he would try to bond with her immediately, making it impossible for Cole to be with her, impossible for him to return to his kiss. With Rachel, he would have to share with his brethren. Without her, he would be condemned to a life of servitude for going against vampire law. There was not a single mate for a  Druid. It had not always been so. Before their females became sterile, a male could choose who he wanted.

For love.

But no more. Now it was two to three males for one female. And finding a Druid with sufficient blood quantum was difficult. Nay, impossible. Rachel was very rare.

And Zach of the
rogue
had her.

Cole checked his breathing, forcing himself to breathe evenly. He must feed, then he would find her.

Somehow.

He would contact Nathan. He may have additional intel that would reveal a basic idea of the locale of the
rogue
.

Cole's eyes flicked to the clock, almost four p.m. But it was his body that told him night was nigh. Like all Vampire, he was finely-tuned to nightfall.

When that invisible switch flipped that told Cole night had fallen like a great obsidian blanket, he slipped out of Rachel's dwelling, snapping open his cell as he did.

He went west, where the car had taken the breeder.

Rachel.

Mine
, he thought as he put on a burst of speed, scenting the air for prey.

For blood.

*

Nathan snapped the cell closed, a fine sheen of sweat on his upper lip, his eyes sliding to Alexander's.

“Does he believe you?”

“Why would he not?” Nathan answered.

Alexander walked toward him until their noses almost touched. He struggled against the three that held him, a hiss escaping his mouth.

“How dare you show aggression against me!” Alexander said, clenching his fist and jabbing Nathan in the solar plexus.

It momentarily stole Nathan's breath, but he had seen its advance and tightened up accordingly.

“Hold him, fool. You better have not uttered a code of some kind. I want that Reaper back here by nightfall, apprehended and subdued. He lost us that Druid and I will take it out of his hide.”

Nathan accused, “You just want to breed with her yourself!” his breath coming shallowly from the hit.

Alexander's eyes narrowed. “No single vampire can have a Druid, you know that,” his eyes betrayed his intent, his answer neatly deflecting the question.

“But you will bend the rules for what you want. And it was not Cole that allowed her to escape.”

Alexander grabbed the back of Nathan's head and jerked him forward, his breath like death on him. “Then who was it?”

“I do not know! But it was Cole I came upon in the meadow. It was
he
who fought the
rogue
to reclaim her!”

The other vampires that held them shifted uneasily, their gazes lighting first upon Alexander then on Nathan.

“Lies!” Alexander said as his fists rained down upon Nathan, his blood spraying as the signet ring that Alexander wore tore and ripped at his flesh. The ruby in the ring flashed as his fist rose for a final blow and Nathan said in a fierce whisper through the gore in his mouth, “You do not deserve to lead.”

The fist fell like a great meteorite, crashing into his skull and his vision wavered, growing dim, then gray.

Nathan knew no more.

*

Cole kept to the woods, hugging them closely, their shape masking his own. Long ago he had ascribed to the all-black wardrobe, instinctively understanding human's weak sight and all the camouflage that simple decision afforded him. He put himself against the rough bark of a Spruce tree, recounting the strange conversation he had with Nathan but minutes before.

“Nathan?”

“Yes, it is I.”

Cole clutched the cell tighter, his acute hearing picking up on a subtle tension in Nathan's voice. He shifted his weight, thinking.

“Are you alone?”

“No.”

Treading carefully.

“The
rogue
have taken Rachel. They have a dangerous Intimate amongst them. He will have her at the first opportunity. Even now it may be too late.”

“Let us rendezvous.”

“Is Alexander there?”

“Yes.”

“You are going to give me the latest location of the
rogue
?”

“Yes.”

“He will kill you if he finds you have helped me, Brother.”

“I know.”

Nathan told him the whereabouts of the
rogue
. Where they suspected the
rogue
to be. He had also warned him by alerting him to their leader's presence.

Subtly.

Alexander thought to reacquire Cole there. He might even think himself lucky enough to get Rachel back.

For himself. Make no mistake, that bastard Alexander wanted her for himself. She would give him what he was after: a Pureblood Druid.

The prophesy could be true. That a pureblood would be the one to allow vampires to walk during the day.

Daywalkers. A pure vampire and pure Druid mated could mean offspring that would free the Vampire from the night.

Free to live in the sun.

Free.

CHAPTER 3

Zach's eyes bored into mine, his revelation a burning phrase that stood between us. The moment's ticked by as we stared at each other.

Finally I broke the silence, “I know that I can't hope for the life I had before. My cubicle job with a boss I hated, my friend Michelle... my cat. Gone,” my voice broke on the words.

There was a grief in me for the familiar, the comfortable. It wasn't that my life had been so great before. It's that... it was what I knew. And now, with this stupid Druid blood in my veins, I was a sought-after commodity. That I'd even been comfortable enough with Cole proved that there was something to the biology of it all, whether or not I wanted to accept that reality. It was.

Zach looked at me as we sat facing each other, his hair, maybe red in his human existence, was a burnished copper, so different from Cole.

I watched his jaw tighten on his next words, “We are not without compassion. What do you think the
rogue
is about? We do not rape, we do not force unions with many,” he said as he rolled his massive shoulders into a shrug. “But, we are not beyond the manipulation of our genetics for the betterment of all Vampire.”

He clenched his eyes closed for a moment, the soot of his eyelashes like black lace against the paleness of his cheekbones. He opened them, momentarily dazzling me with the color of them... a shade of fine Merlot not found in nature.

“What about Erik? How does he fit into the picture? You may not be 'about' the things you just outlined, but he definitely is!” I crossed my arms beneath my breasts and stewed at him.

He smirked. “It is not so easy to procure willing humans. We are vulnerable during the daytime, we must trust who we can.” He looked at me thoughtfully then said, “You are familiar with the phrase 'keep your friends close but your enemies closer'?” When I nodded he continued, “That is the caliber of what we choose. They long only for the superficial that we can provide, never caring for anything of real value. Erik,” he said the name with some distaste, she noticed, “is but a tool. A tool in our acquisitions. It is the same for Cole's kiss.” There was just the barest trace of sadness and I wondered at it. The origin of it a speculation constantly turning in my mind.

I opened my mouth to ask another question but he pressed a finger to my lips, the boiling heat of the contact going straight to my core. I gasped at the electricity of it and his eyes widened.

Nice to know it wasn't just me.

He snatched his finger back as if shocked but recovered, finally saying, “It is time to eat and for you to... become acquainted with your new surroundings.”

I stood, unhappy that I had half the answers to twice the questions. Maybe, in the pie in the sky dream that I had, I would escape all of this and get so far away none of them would find me.

Zach led me through a series of strange hallways which reminded me of my aunt's house back east. When I was a child, I'd spend hot summers there and the halls turned and twisted, maze-like, until you'd get lost. These were like those. Doors at every turn, the place was ginormous, the biggest old house I'd ever been in. Finally, we reached the top of a staircase, the massive newel posts standing sentinel at the apex.

Zach turned his eyes to mine, the deepest color of red, I could't believe I'd thought they were black. “Watch your step, Rachel.”

I smirked up at him, “Like I'll fall with you here. Precious-ass Druid that I am!” I laughed, thinking that I was already half-nuts for not being more scared or stunned at my situation. But the whole thing had a surreal quality to it, unbelievable I felt like I was going along with it, playacting, no more.

I guess it would get serious when Zach put down the sexual hammer, wanting to bang me day and night
, I thought with a smile. I'd be long-gone before that happened.

My hand trailed along the smooth wood of the handrail, Zach at my elbow. “Did you know Cole before you became
rogue
?” I asked, keeping his mind on questions instead of breeding me like a prize mule.

His face hardened and as we got to the last step, he took my elbow, frowning slightly, “You grow too thin, I can feel your bones.”

I shrugged, gently removing my elbow from the bigness of his hand. “It's been an exciting few days. I haven't had proper rest or food since before I was taken.” I looked down, rolling my lip between my teeth, biting softly, trying not to let that sadness over the loss of my old life overtake me.

Zach turned me and put a hand underneath my chin, lifting my gaze to meet his. “It will all work out toward the best end, Rachel.”

I held his gaze. “So you say.”

We turned together on a sigh and headed to the large kitchen. My body needed more than physical sustenance.

I realized he'd never answered my question about Cole.

*

Cole

Cole let the body slide away from his grasp, licking the blood splatter around his mouth where he could. Drinking was a messy, yet necessary, task.

Cole gazed down at the already-cooling corpse at his feet and reveled in the luck of finding this one. Criminal as he was. Cole knew that he could find a victim that needed to pass into the Other by just cruising certain likely establishments. Like this one.

His gaze traveled to the neon sign. “Kodiak,” it read. It was a known hang-out for the edgy young crowd that liked to dabble. Cole had found there was always enough of a certain element that wish to do wrong. They were normally in large enough numbers for Cole to satisfy his blood lust.

He toed the male's body like so much garbage. He'd been forcing a human female in the dark recesses of the alley, her glazed eyes and soft pleas for him to stop loud in Cole's acute hearing. The male never knew what hit him. The female's eyes widening was the only warning before he struck.

“Run!” Cole had hissed at her when she stood like a deer in the headlights. The body of the male thrashed underneath fangs that had sunk deep into its carotid artery. The sweet nectar of his neck pulsed directly into Cole's mouth. A burning highway of fuel he greedily gulped.

The female's eyes latched onto the sight, then found Cole's. Thinking faster than she had but moments before she scrambled away, falling twice as she raced to safety.
Cole was not usually viewed as a savior,
he thought with mirth. No matter that her assault in progress would have been a terrible ordeal and vile memory for years to come, his mouth pressed on the male as he succumbed to the blood letting would not be easily forgotten by her.

Or believed.

He turned on his heel, thinking that the
rogue
would be blamed for his hasty feeding. Already he could feel the blaze of power feeding an energy pipeline to his extremities. He lifted his nose to the air, scenting.

Catching something very faint, he spun in that direction.

He ran.

****

Zach made me laugh again and I was struck that I was laughing with my kidnapper. My smile faded, my appetite lessening.

He saw my expression and put hair that had fallen forward across my face behind my ear, his touch lingering at my temple.

I pulled back and his hand fell.

“I will not hurt you,” Zach said.

I shrugged. “Having a hard time convincing myself of that with how things went in the glade... “

He nodded his head as if he understood. “Sometimes my comrades can be overzealous.”

Overzealous my ass
, I thought. My shoulder still throbbed if I moved it wrong. I unconsciously touched it and his eyes tracked my movement. As heat rose to my face I immediately scolded myself. I was not some blushing virgin to be intimidated by his touch. Still, it was so different than what I knew. And I was pretty inexperienced. I thought of Michelle and immediately set those thoughts aside. She was not here. I wouldn't see her again. As soon as I got outta here, they'd go straight to my old digs and try to reacquire me.

Zach stood, pushing my half-eaten food away. “Does your shoulder still hurt you?”

I nodded silently as he moved closer, his hand a burning flame when it began to knead the skin that lay at the base of my neck.

“Here?” he asked in a whisper.

Oh my god, his hand felt so good, the smoothness of it rubbing and gently grabbing my flesh, stroking and bunching it at the junction where my neck connected to the injured shoulder. I couldn't help it, my head fell back and my lips parted. His hand tightened and drew me into the cradle of his body and my legs began to tremble as I felt his mouth a hair's breadth over mine. “Tell me not to kiss you and I will not.”

The words stuck in my throat, I thought of my past life, Cole, whatever I could, but in the end, biology won out and with a soft groan I wound my arms around the vampire
rogue
who had kidnapped me from another, pressing my body against his.

With our bodies married hip to head he moved his mouth over mine, flattening his huge hands at the small of my back and pressing me against his hips. His shaft pressed against me and I involuntarily ground against it.

His sharp intake of breath startled me but he swung me into his arms and sprinted up the stairs as if the burden of me was light.

Things were moving too quickly and I struggled, out of breath and he fell on me as I became pinned beneath him. He clasped my wrists and held them over my head, blazing a trail of hot kisses from my mouth then pecking his way down to my nipple. Aggressively sucking it through my thin tee, it hardened and became a stiff pebble of aroused flesh in his mouth and I groaned at the assault. As his fangs maneuvered around the delicate area, the barest thread that led from my nipple to my core throbbed with each pull of his mouth, each suckling. I was soon panting and out of breath. My resolve weakened, my resistance, gone.

He spread my legs and tore off my jeans with a jerk. I began to close them when he pressed them open again. I struggled against his hands. “No... I'm not ready for this...”

His eyes met mine, my fingers driven into his hair and straining to keep his head away from my pussy. Which in no time he'd find was soaking wet from his foreplay. What defense would I have then?

“I but wish to taste you, give you pleasure. I do not ask for sex yet.”

I dropped my head back, beaten.

He dipped his head down, moving a finger along the lace of the panties I wore. Back and forth that blunt finger worked until I was about nuts. Just as I thought I'd beg for him to stop or do more, he slid my panties to the side and planted the flat of his tongue on my clit. My body shuddered and I moved the slightest bit against his seeking mouth, all the while feeling ashamed at my behavior. I meant to leave, not lie here, legs spread, shoving my pussy in a vampire's face. But oh... what he did to me. Zach knew female anatomy and lifted his head to ask me what I liked.

“Do you like my tongue like this?” he asked as he stabbed it inside my wet hole. My hips jumped and he put a forearm down on my belly to hold me in place as he fucked me with his tongue.

“Tell me you like it,” he purred against my ripe opening and the vibration of his voice reverberated against me as I got closer to orgasm. A small part of me felt like I should say
no
,
get away
... something. But my blood roared to meet his in a heated call I couldn't ignore. I didn't know him, but my blood did. He felt the same, groaning as he licked and sucked along my delicate folds of flesh.

When I felt his finger enter me I arched my back and grabbed his copper hair again, jerking his face off me even as his fingers dove in and out of my channel, pulling rhythmically, getting me closer to that delicious explosion I was helpless to stop.

“Please... “ I began.

“Please what?” he murmured. My hands fisted in his hair did nothing to stop his motions. If he'd wanted to go down on me again he could have. His eyes were deep and drowning obsidian pools, liquid and heated.

“Please more,” he whispered. I nodded even as my brain said
no
.

I nodded yes.

He plunged his mouth into my pussy and tore his hands out of me and shoved them underneath the small of my back, lifting my hips to get better access to my pussy. Spreading me wide, he rubbed his face back and forth across my sensitive skin and with a final plunge of his tongue I orgasmed. In his face.

Again and again.

*

We lay together afterward, Zach spooning me from behind as I cried my frustration into his muscular arm.

“What is it? Did I not pleasure you?” he asked, tenderly kissing the side of my face while the tears soaked him.

“You did! That's not the point!” I wailed.

“What is wrong then?”

“I am not like... that. I don't do those things with everyone, anyone.”

“It is not your fault. Think of it as a biological imperative. You are drawn to us sexually. It was what you were made to do. Females of Druid blood are the only humans with whom we may breed. It is true that we can have sex with any human female.”