Her side heaved as she raced through the woods. Her legs burned, but she pushed herself as fast as she could go. There was no safe place for her anymore. No one to trust. Even Elsa had sold her out.
Elsa…the woman who’d come to Allison when she’d stood, crying, over her parents graves in that cold cemetery. Elsa had promised friendship.
But tried to give death.
Lying witch.
Another howl shook the night and she whipped around, following that sound.
Oh, hell. A big, black beast of a wolf charged after her. Too big, freaking huge. And he was running too swiftly.
She lurched to the right, tripped over a fallen log, and hurtled down the hill, spinning again and again and slamming into the earth with each painful turn.
When her body finally stopped hurtling, she was face-down on the ground. Every part of her hurt and…
“Allison.”
Her head jerked up. Elsa stood there. Lying, scheming Elsa. Smiling.
“Guess the werewolf has already started his fun…”
Werewolf. Then she heard it—the thunder of the wolf’s approach as he raced down after her.
“He’s going to rip you apart.” Elsa stood near two twisted, gnarled trees. “And I can’t wait to watch.”
Allison made it to her feet. Nothing felt too broken. Maybe. But she was trapped between a witch and a wolf. A freaking werewolf. She’d heard plenty of stories about the werewolves. Dangerous, more animals than men. And she had to fight one of those beasts? Without a weapon? “You were supposed to help me!” Screw this. She wasn’t standing around to—
Elsa lunged at her. Grabbed her and held on tight. Elsa’s nails sliced into Allison’s arms. “You think you’ll take my power? My life? You won’t,” she gritted, spittle flying. “You won’t take a damn thing from me.” Her nails dug deeper. “But I’ll take everything that you are.”
The wolf snarled, and Allison actually felt the hot stir of his breath behind her.
Elsa twisted her around and shoved Allison back toward the wolf. “Rip the vamp’s throat out.”
“I’m not a vampire!” Couldn’t the chick see that?
And could the wolf even understand her now?
Her breath heaved as she stared at him—at green eyes she’d never be able to forget. No wonder Cade’s teeth had looked so sharp. His teeth, his claws…
All the better to freaking kill me with.
“Rip her apart!” Elsa shouted the words with feverish excitement. “Rip. Her. Apart.”
Allison didn’t move.
The wolf stalked closer. She’d stabbed him. Shoved him—and the guy had hurtled pretty far when she’d hit him back at the cabin. Maybe she could hold him off. Hold them both off, just long enough to—
The wolf leapt forward.
Allison screamed. She couldn’t help it. She wasn’t brave and super kick ass, and she didn’t want to die, she didn’t want—
The wolf pushed her behind his body and faced off against the witch. He’d shoved her back with his powerful paws, and Allison found herself on the ground again.
The wolf was so big that she could barely see around him, and she rose quickly to her knees in order to get a better view.
The witch wasn’t smiling any longer. “What in the hell are you doing?” Elsa screeched.
The wolf glanced back at Allison. His green eyes—glowing, so wild—seemed to see right through her.
Bones began to snap then. To break, to crunch. The sounds were horrific, and Allison wanted to turn away, but she couldn’t.
Watch him. Her legs trembled as she stood.
Fur melted from the wolf’s body. Golden flesh and toned muscles appeared. Naked male. Powerful. Primal.
He rose to his feet, still making sure to keep his body between her and the witch.
“She’s not a vampire yet.” His voice was rougher, harder than before.
Allison bit her lip to keep from speaking. He knew about her infection?
“It doesn’t fucking matter!” Elsa snapped back at him. “Kill her!”
Two against one. Bad odds. Especially when one of those two was a werewolf.
Her mouth had gone desert dry. Her nails dug into her palms, and her body locked as she waited for Cade’s next move.
He spared her a glittering glance over his shoulder. Please. She didn’t speak the word, but she sure thought it and knew the plea had to be reflected in her eyes. Don’t kill me.
Did his head incline? Did she imagine it?
“Kill her!” Elsa yelled.
“No.” Cade’s response. Low but fierce.
And Allison didn’t know who was more shocked.
The wind began to whip around them in heavy bursts that caught Allison’s hair and lifted it into the air.
“I paid you!” Elsa thundered at him. “We had a deal.”
“You paid me to kill a vampire.” The guy was naked and still damn dangerous. “Right now, she’s just a lost human.”
She was a scared-as-hell human who had a bit of hope stirring in her chest.
When she craned her neck, Allison caught sight of the red-faced witch. “She’ll change!” Elsa’s hands were fisted on her hips. “Just a few more days, and she’ll be—”
“Then I’ll see about killing her,” he said with a shrug.
And that simply, her hope faded.
Elsa lunged forward, coming at Allison with a scream. But Cade caught her and tossed her back. “You’re not touching her,” he growled.
Allison shivered at the threat lacing those words.
“If you won’t do it—” Elsa began.
Now Cade was the one to laugh. “You can’t kill her. If you could’ve done the job, you never would have come crawling to me.”
Uh, why couldn’t the witch kill her?
“So get the fuck out of here, witch, and I damn well better not see you again.” He lifted his hand, and claws had broken through his fingertips. “If I do, you may just be the one to die.”
Allison backed up a step and a stick snapped beneath her feet. But the wolf and the witch didn’t glance her way.
“You’ll pay for this,” Elsa promised.
Cade just shrugged again, clearly not worried. What did it take to worry a werewolf? Not threats from a witch, obviously…
“She’ll turn on you. The minute the hunger strikes her, she’ll feed on you…just like the others.” A heavy pause. “But maybe you like that. Maybe you like just being fucking food for the vamps!”
Elsa yanked away from him, chest heaving. “You’ve made the wrong enemy.” Her blond hair rose in the thrashing wind. “Soon enough, you’ll both die.”
The wind whipped in an even wilder frenzy. Allison struggled to stand and—
And Cade had her. He pulled her tight against his chest as the wind seemed to scream and rake her flesh. He held her close, his warm body a solid anchor against the fury.
Then, in the next instant, there was only—
Silence.
His fingers curled around her chin and forced her head up. Allison stared into his eyes, not knowing what to say. Because the werewolf she was looking at just might be her savior…or he could be her worst nightmare.
Chapter Three
“You’re…not going to kill me?” Allison asked softly from her position in front of the fireplace.
Cade buttoned the jeans he’d donned and headed toward her. Her scent pulled him in—no one should smell like that.
Good enough to fucking eat.
Her gaze darted to his face, then dropped to his chest. Her lips parted when she saw his scars.
He’d be willing to bet she didn’t have a single scar on that soft, silken body.
She glanced away, too fast, and his jaw locked. The woman had better start getting used to the way he looked. If she wanted to keep living, he was her only shot at survival.
Why? What the hell am I doing?
Helping her hadn’t been the plan…had it?
She looked at him again, locking those fuck-me blue eyes on his.
The wolf within started to growl.
“Why are you making that sound?”
So maybe the man was growling, too. Vamps weren’t the only ones who liked to use their teeth. Right then, he was real tempted to bite.
He could start on her shoulder. That delicate spot where neck and shoulder met. He could mark her and—
“S-stop staring at me like that.” She hunched her shoulders and pulled up her blanket. “Either you’re gonna kill me or you’re not.”
Those weren’t the only choices he had. What about fucking? Where did that fall on her little to-do-list?
“I can leave, you know. Go out that door, and you won’t ever have to see me again.”
She didn’t get it. Cade lunged forward, grabbed her arms, and lifted her up against him. The blanket fell to the floor. Her lips parted as she sucked in a startled breath. “Without me,” he told her flatly, “you are dead. You’ve been marked for death by a witch.”
Her eyes caught his—trapped him. Fuck. A woman’s eyes shouldn’t make a guy feel like she was stealing his soul with just a glance.
He forced his hands to ease their too tight grip on her. “Since I didn’t kill you, you can bet that she’ll just send someone else to finish the job.”
“Why?”
“Because vamps aren’t exactly loved, sweetheart. Humans and supernaturals, hell, we all want to stake them.”
She shook her head and her hair brushed over his arms. “I-I got infected and—”
At that, he laughed and stepped back, freeing her. “Is that what you think happened?”
Allison nodded quickly. “When I was a kid…vampires killed my parents. They tried to kill me—when they bit me, th-they must have infected me—”
Had Elsa told her this BS?
“If we can just find me a cure…” Allison continued, voice desperate, “I’ll be okay. Whatever’s happening…it can stop. It stopped for years. Nothing happened to me until just a few weeks ago—”
She had no clue. “You’re not infected.” The vamps who’d attacked her had no doubt realized the truth about Allison with one bite. They would have tasted the power in her blood. “You’re a pureblood.”
Allison blinked. “I’m a what?”
“A human who is born to the call of blood. You don’t have to get a blood exchange in order to change. You’re one of the rare few who will change on your own.”
She shook her head at him again. Right. Why believe what he had to say? Figured. He exhaled on a rough sigh. “That family of yours that died, I’m betting they weren’t your real family, were they?”
“They sure as hell were!”
Ah, now she was showing some bite.
He cocked his head as he studied her. “Easy. I meant, they weren’t your blood family, right?” No way two humans could have created her. That wasn’t the way purebloods were made.
Her jaw tightened. “I don’t have any clue who my birth parents were, okay? All I know is they dumped me on the steps of a hospital and never looked back.”
“To leave a pureblood behind, they probably couldn’t look back.”
A furrow appeared between her brows. No clue. He tried to explain by saying, “Purebloods are rare. Only newly turned vamps can have kids, and they don’t just toss ‘em out.” No matter what else you could say about the vamps, they protected their own. “Your parents…”
She watched him with troubled, lost eyes, not speaking.
Cade exhaled. “I’m guessing they were being hunted, and if they never came back for you, that means…”
They died.
Her lashes lowered, and he knew she understood. Her throat worked as she swallowed, and, still not looking back at him, she said, “I-I can’t be…”
Deal with it. Life sucks, sweetheart. It’s a lesson we all learn. “You are. In just a few days, you’ll be kissing your human life good-bye.” Then what was he supposed to do? Stake her? Cut off that pretty head?
No.
Her cheeks grew even paler.
But it was best that she go ahead and understand this now. An infection? Not for her. “You’re gonna change. By the time the full moon rises, you’ll be a vampire.”
“I can stop it! Elsa said there was a cure, I can—”
“There is no stopping it for you. Elsa just set you up to die.”
She flinched at his words. Right. The truth could hurt, huh? Better to shatter all her illusions now. “There’s no cure. There’s not a damn thing you can do to stop the change.”
Her body trembled.
“You will be a vampire.” His hand lifted, and traced the thick scar that circled his neck. A scar that he’d received when he’d been too young to readily pull forth the full wolf within. “And then…”
“Then?” Allison whispered.
“Then you’ll go for the throat of any asshole dumb enough to get near you.”
“You—you…hate vampires.” Her eyes had fallen to the hand that slid across his scar.
He stared at her, caught by her words. “Yeah, I fucking do.” Fury broke beneath the words. He hated those parasites and wanted them all in the ground—so why was he standing there, talking to her, wanting her?
Offering to protect her?
Cade spun away. “Stay the night. You’ll be safe here.” He’d know if anyone tried to sneak onto his land.
“Thank you.” Her whisper followed him.
Cade glanced back. She’d wrapped her arms around her stomach. She stared after him, looking lost.