Primal Desires (12 page)

S
id tried to think of something to say, but thankfully the office door opened and her mother came bustling in with Toni in her arms.

“Mommy!” Toni called. The toddler held her arms out to Eden.

“You do know she can walk?” Eden asked as she came to take her daughter. Her actions did nothing to prove this as she balanced the girl on her hip.

“I know you're very busy, Eden,” Antonia said. “But I thought you could use a Mommy break.”

“You are so right,” Eden said, hugging Toni close. She began to stroke her daughter's cheek.

Sid noticed the fond look David gave the women and child, which she thought was sweet. But she didn't appreciate it when he put his hand on her shoulder.

She slipped away from his touch and approached her mother. She barely managed not to growl when David followed close behind her. Maybe she had been hanging out with werewolves too much.

“What's Danny doing?” Toni asked, staring hard at the man seated behind Cathy's desk.
Oh, he's time walking,
the little girl added telepathically.

When Antonia winced, David put a hand comfortingly on her shoulder and said to Toni, “Use your out-loud voice, honey. You have quite a gifted child,” he said to Eden.

Antonia brightened with pride and grinned with anticipation. “You don't know the half of it. Show Mommy, Toni.”

Toni obediently turned her head and bit her mother's thumb.

Sid caught the sweet scent of blood as Eden shouted in pain and almost dropped her daughter.

But she held on, and so did Toni, suckling like any proper baby vampire. Eden started to pull her thumb out of Toni's mouth, but after a moment she gave a contented sigh and let the girl draw small sips from the bite.

“Nothing as good as mother's blood,” Antonia said.

Sid was totally confounded. “But Toni's not—one of us.”

“She's a daughter of the Clan,” Antonia stated firmly. “Lady Juanita and I have suspected she'd make the change, and when her baby teeth popped out this morning we were sure.”

“But how?” Sid asked. “Children born to mortals and Primes are always mortal themselves.”

“Not always,” Antonia said. “Why don't you explain, Eden? Hunters understand the process, don't they?”

“Yeah. But I never expected my own kid would be—”

“Explain!” Sid demanded.

“Most children born from any kind of vampire matings are male,” Eden said. “Vampire genetics are inherited strictly from the female side. So, a son born to a Prime and a mortal woman is going to be mortal.”

“There have been exceptions,” David said.

“Granted,” Eden said. “Maybe five or six sons of mortal matings have gone Prime in the history of the world, and they all had really funky powers, but the odds are astronomical for a male to turn vampire. Daughters of mortals and vampires can make the change, but only if the girl's mother has a vampire somewhere in her own ancestry.”

“I've heard of mortal women who made the change when they were bonded to a Prime,” Sid said.

“But they still have to be descended from a vampire.” Eden looked thoughtful, then she laughed. “Of course, I'm from a hunter family.”

“Hunters and vampires have been mating as long as there've been vampires and hunters,” David said.

“But we hunters don't like to talk about certain
special
relationships. It's anathema to admit that our enemies sometimes turn out to be our destined loves.” She laughed again. “I wonder which one of my grandpas had fangs and his own opera cape?”

“Watch the stereotypes,” Sid told her. “And congratulations.”

Eden didn't look quite like she was ready to be congratulated on this surprise turn of events, but Sid wanted to crow with glee. The vampire population was dangerously small, so every female added to their gene pool contributed to the species survival.

“I have to tell Laurent,” Eden said. She slipped her thumb from her daughter's mouth. “Mommy needs to leave Daddy a voice mail now.”

“Why?”

“Because Mommy isn't a telepath like you are.”

Before Eden could turn toward her desk, Daniel suddenly stood up. “We have to go,” he announced. It took his eyes a moment to focus on all the people suddenly staring at him. “They need our help,” he told them. “Their minds are”—he shook his head as if trying to toss something out of it—“being messed with.”

“Who?” Sid asked. “When?” After all, Daniel's peculiar psychic gift was for reading the past.

“The Bleythins,” he answered. “All of them.” He was pale, and he shuddered and took a deep breath before he went on. “We have to help. Right now.”

“What did you see?” Sid demanded. She was skeptical, but she didn't question his urgency or his belief.

“I'll tell you on the way,” he said. He headed toward the door. “Hurry!”

Sid and Eden looked at each other. “Do we go with this?” Eden said.

“We go,” Sid decided.

Eden kissed Toni's forehead and handed her over to the waiting arms of Antonia, then headed after Daniel.

David would have come with them, but Sid pointed to her niece. “That is a future Clan Mother. She needs guarding, Prime.”

“You are a future Clan Mother,” he reminded her.

Sid showed him her fangs. “It isn't only Primes who can grow these.”

“Sidonie, be polite.”

“Sorry, Mom.” She drew in her fangs and nodded curtly to David. “Prime of the Snake Clan.”

Antonia put a hand on David's arm. “I trust my daughter to take care of herself. Let her go. Stay here with me.”

He didn't like it, but said, “As the Lady Antonia wishes.”

Thanks, Mom,
Sid thought as gently as she could to her telepathically null mother, and hurried after Daniel and Eden.

S
ofia had never thought of herself as impatient, but right now the waiting was killing her. Her only consolation was knowing that not being patient might get her killed.

Maybe.

Suspecting that she was acting like a delusional idiot about to be made a fool of was also killing her.

Any minute now, Cathy will show up. S
he checked her watch.
She's five minutes late, so she'll show up any second now. And then I'll know that all this werewolf stuff is crazy family folklore, and I'll feel like an idiot for my current behavior.

Or…

From her car, Sofia stared at the door to her room and tried not to think about the “or.”

She checked her watch one more time, then saw movement out of the corner of her eye. It was large, slinking carefully from shadow to shadow, keeping close to the wall. It was padding very carefully forward, stealthy and purposeful.

Damn!

Her stomach clenched with fear and she wanted to scream, but she would not give in to automatic fear.

She watched the wolf's careful approach and was glad that she'd taken a walk all over the motel buildings and parking lot. She'd carefully touched every door, every car, leaving her scent everywhere just in case she needed to confuse a creature she'd hoped wasn't really coming and didn't really exist.

That's probably one of Jason's pets.

She shook her head and ignored the voice of sanity. The wolf she watched was bigger than George and Gracie combined. They were gray and white; this one's fur was yellow.

She also doubted that George and Gracie were capable of doing what this wolf did when it reached her door. It reared up on its hind legs and banged its head against the wood.

There was a wolf at the door, and it was knocking.

Okay, now she had a certain amount of proof that werewolves were real. But she had no idea how to ask a monster about her cousin. So she waited, hand poised over her keys.

When the door went unanswered, the wolf snarled. Then it backed up, ran forward, and hit the flimsy wood with the force of a battering ram. The door flew inward and the wolf rushed in.

Sofia had the car started before the werewolf bounded outside again. She had the car in gear by the time the creature saw her. His head came up and their eyes met; Sofia froze in terror.

His soul was evil and cruel, and she'd looked into eyes like those before.

Though her brain might've been frozen, her foot stomped on the gas pedal. The car sped forward but the werewolf easily jumped aside. Sofia was barely able to jerk the steering wheel hard to the left before slamming into the side of the building.

The monster was nowhere in sight when she headed toward the street.

The doors of her car were safely locked, but that did her no good when the werewolf jumped through the rear windshield.

Hot breath burned across the back of her neck, and Sofia threw open her door and rolled out. She hit the pavement hard while the car continued to move out into the street. She heard the crunch of metal and squealing tires behind her as she took off in the opposite direction.

She dodged into an alley behind the motel, hoping that a truck had flattened her car with the werewolf inside it.

No such luck, she realized within seconds when she heard the creature racing up behind her. The sound of claws scrambling on pavement sent a chill up her spine.

I'm repeating history. I need to be out in the open, among people. That thing won't draw attention to itself by attacking in a crowd.

Repeating history?

“Damn it!” she shouted. Consumed by sudden fury, she turned to face the onrushing beast. “Look at me, you bastard!” Her voice had never been so full of command and conviction before.

The beast did. Their gazes met and it came scrambling to a halt a few feet away from her.

The animal snarled, baring huge fangs.

Sofia glared, putting a lifetime's worth of anger into it.

She felt power gather in her. It was like nothing she'd ever known before; she was in control here.

Keep your distance,
she thought at the werewolf.
Sit, and stay. How dare you look me in the eye?

The werewolf snarled and snapped. Its whole body shuddered in resistance to her command. After long, tense seconds, it began to slowly sink to its haunches.

Sofia concentrated as hard as she could, beginning to tremble, sweat beading on her forehead.

The werewolf continued to stare at her, defiance boiling in its gold eyes, its hard will boring into her determination.

She began to grow cold, though sunlight flamed against her skin. A dark tendril of fear began to twine through her, and a voice began to whisper in her head. She could make out no words, but the sound was sinister and distracting.

She took a shaky step forward.

He was calling to her, wasn't he?

How did he get into her head?

Her own thoughts distracted her, and shadows came up dark around her.

The alley changed. She changed.

She slammed into the brick wall before she could stop herself, scraping her palms and jarring her arms from wrists to shoulders. She turned around and fell to her knees, putting her at eyelevel with the wolf.

He had a big head, and huge teeth. His eyes glowed, cruel and fierce, and full of hunger.

His eyes glowed!

He began to move in for the kill.

S
weetheart, you were doing so well, too,
Jason thought as he jumped off the roof behind the werewolf.

He'd kept his fury in check while monitoring Sofia's confrontation with the werewolf. Pride and hope warred with anxiety until she absolutely needed him.

Now he gave in to the fierceness of his nature and grabbed the creature from behind. His claws dug into soft fur and tough skin as he lifted the werewolf high over his head. It snarled and bucked in his grasp.

He ignored the struggling creature while he looked at Sofia's blank expression. “Come back, hon. You're fine.”

She blinked and shook her head. Then she looked up at the werewolf before meeting Jason's gaze. Puzzlement and anger replaced the shadows of the past that had consumed and crippled her.

“Try again,” Jason said, and dropped the werewolf.

It instantly leapt at Sofia.

He hadn't expected the animal to be so fast. When he grabbed it again, he broke its neck. It was inches away from Sofia's throat.

“Nobody touches that neck but me,” he said as he dropped the werewolf.

Sofia looked from the body at her feet to Jason. “You killed him.”

Jason took her by the shoulders and drew her close. He gave her a hard, tight hug, then turned her, keeping an arm around her waist. How good she felt next to him! She quivered with tension, radiated shock and growing disgust, but she didn't try to pull away from him. Whether she acknowledged it or not, she needed him as much as he needed her.

“Look,” he said. He leaned so that his cheek touched hers. “Watch.”

Her attention was riveted by the large body stretched on the concrete in front of them.

The transformation of the yellow wolf took place with quick, magical grace. Reality stretched and briefly blurred, and became different. The sharp muzzle and pricked ears melded into a human head covered in long blond hair.

The human body that emerged was hard-muscled and huge, the same size as the wolf's but a different shape. She could clearly see him breathing.

“He's not dead.”

Sofia looked over her shoulder at Jason. “You didn't kill him?”

“It takes a lot more than a broken neck to take out one of the werefolk.”

He let her stare at her unconscious attacker for a few moments. She shuddered and he pulled her closer. A police siren sounded in front of the motel.

“You wanted me to see it—him—change.”

“You needed proof.” He turned her to face him. “You needed to believe.”

She closed her eyes for a moment. They flashed with anger when she opened them. “You knew I'd be attacked.” She sneered, “You wanted the chance to act the hero.”

“No!” Her accusation stung. “I gave you the chance to save yourself. To prove to yourself that you could—”

She tried to struggle out of his embrace. “You let me face that—” She gestured wildly toward the werewolf.

He realized that she was still on the edge of panic and nothing would be settled until she calmed down. And they weren't going to be alone for long; there was a great deal of excitement about the wrecked car out in the street. He heard people shouting about having seen a huge dog running from the wreck.

Jason let Sofia go and bent to sling the werewolf over his shoulder.

“What are you going to do?” she asked.

He didn't ask her to come with him, but was glad when she followed him to the other end of the alley. He'd left his truck parked where Sofia wouldn't notice it when she left her room. He carried the prisoner to the vehicle and shoved the werewolf inside the empty wolf pen. The wolves were happy to keep away from the prisoner.

“The lock ought to hold him when he wakes up,” Jason told Sofia. “I can't question him until he comes around.”

“We've got to find out what they've done to Cathy.”

“Right now, we have to get out of here.” He took her arm, but she shook him off before he could lead her to the truck cab. He gestured back toward the motel. “We don't need mortal interference.”

“I need my stuff,” she answered, heading off.

He caught up with her. “Why?”

She gave him an angry look. “I need my laptop for school. I left it in my room. At least I wasn't stupid enough to have it in the car.”

“Waiting in the car was a good plan,” he told her. “I wondered what you were up to when I saw you running around marking the place.”

She blushed.

“You did great, Wolf-Tamer-in-Training,” he assured her. “And right now, you have to keep thinking like what you are and get out of here.”

She shook her head. “Do you think I can afford to run off and leave what little I have? Even if I'm supposed to save the world, I'm still on a budget.”

Jason supposed that telling Sofia that he could fulfill her every material wish wasn't the way to win this independent woman's heart.

“Fine,” he said, and took her into an empty motel room, with the wolves following at their heels.

Once inside he couldn't stop himself from kissing her, and after a moment her mouth opened beneath his and her arms came around his back. They clung together in an eager, hot embrace for a few moments before Jason reluctantly drew away.

“I'll get your stuff for you. Stay right here,” he ordered. “All of you.”

“Wait a second,” she insisted as he started to leave. He glanced back. Arousal stretched across the room between them. She touched a finger to her sensitized lips, but her gaze was sharply questioning. “How did you get that door open?”

He smiled. “It's just a little trick my people have.”

“You're not a werewolf, right?”

“Right.”

“I saw how fast you moved, how strong you are, and you've got all that”—she tapped her forehead—“telepathic talent. What are you?”

Jason knew he'd put this off too long, but he couldn't help but smile wider and show a great deal of fang. “I'm a vampire, sweetheart.”

He closed the door behind him, but he still heard Sofia's stunned whisper. “Vampire?”

He laughed out loud as he ran toward her room.