Forever Bound Series 1-4 Part 17

"Now get the f.u.c.k out of here," he ordered. "And make sure every hunter in the area knows...stay away from what's mine."

Wait-hold up-did she qualify as his?

Cade stepped back from Griggs. Griggs hauled a.s.s for his truck and his men, wounded, bleeding-their blood smelled sweet-limped after him.

The trucks roared away, fish-tailing it through the woods.

Slowly, Cade turned to face her. "Why?"

She lifted her hand and saw the blood on her fingertips. "Because you couldn't die for me."

He stalked toward her. "I wouldn't have."

Well, that seemed harsh. She'd saved his b.u.t.t. Didn't that count for anything in his mind?

His nostrils flared. "Wolves like the scent of blood."

So did vampires.

He was almost upon her now, and she could see the sharp edge of his canines. "It usually makes us want to attack," he said in that lethal voice of his.

Allison barely managed to swallow the lump in her throat as she looked up at him. Don't attack. Down, wolf. Down.

He'd said his control wasn't that good. She sure didn't want him losing control right then.

His hands flew out and grabbed the edge of her t-s.h.i.+rt. He yanked the b.l.o.o.d.y fabric, ripping it. His breath hissed out. Or was that hers?

"The bullet's still in you."

Her knees almost buckled at that.

"It's still in you..." His green gaze measured her, and he said, "and you're on your feet."

So she was. "I wanted to...help you."

He just stared at her for a moment. His gaze searched hers. For what, she didn't know. Then he shook his head. "Let me help you now." And he picked her up, lifting her easily into his arms.

Maybe it was stupid, but she felt...safe...in those strong arms.

"This is gonna hurt," he warned her as he carried her back inside the cabin. "But you can't heal until that bullet comes out."

Her head rested against his shoulder. It seemed natural to put her head against him. To let her body soften against the hard strength of his chest.

She took a deep breath and tried to ignore the pain lancing up her side. "You said...blood usually makes you want to attack." Please, no attacks for the next, oh, hour or so. Not until she was back to better fighting form.

He slammed the door behind them and headed for the bedroom.

She wasn't letting this one go. "Wh-what does my blood make you want to do?"

Cade lowered her onto the bed. He ripped away the rest of her s.h.i.+rt, leaving her clad in her black bra. His fingers slid up her side, a gentle touch that she hadn't expected. A caress? That soft touch was almost enough to make Allison forget her question. Almost.

But having a werewolf so close to her when she was weak and bleeding...Focus. "Cade?" Allison breathed his name. What if the scent was too strong? What if his beast took control?

He looked up at her, and his green eyes were glowing with the power of the wolf.

Chill b.u.mps rose on her arms.

"Your blood...the scent..." His jaw clenched, and he gritted, "It makes me want to kill."

Not good.

"It makes me want to tear apart those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds-to make d.a.m.n sure that they can't ever hurt you again."

Her lips parted but Allison realized she didn't know what to say.

"Now scream if you have to," and his sharpened claws hovered over her wound, "because this is gonna hurt like a b.i.t.c.h."

Chapter Four.

She screamed.

The sound pierced right through him. The wolf howled inside of Cade, but his fingers were rock steady as he drove his claws into her wound.

His left hand pressed against her stomach, holding her in place on the bed, while his right hand dug into the torn flesh.

Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes, but after that first scream, she didn't make a sound. He glanced at her, only for a moment, and saw that Allison was biting her bottom lip to hold back her cries.

Should have killed them.

Why the h.e.l.l hadn't he?

Because you didn't want her to think you were a monster.

He found the bullet. Held tight to it and felt the burn on his flesh. Smoke rose from his fingertips and drifted from her body.

"C-Cade?" Her voice was soft and scared. "What's happening?"

He pulled out the bullet. The flesh on his fingers was bright red and already blistering. He tossed the bullet onto the nightstand. "They used silver."

Should have killed them.

Those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds hadn't just been after Allison. Elsa had sent the humans to take him out.

Allison's wound began to close, right before his eyes.

"It feels...strange," she whispered. "Tingling..."

Because the flesh was mending. She was so close to the change now, so close to becoming fully vampire, that her body had already prepared for the s.h.i.+ft.

Vamps could heal from nearly any wound. Because they were such fast healers, they were often d.a.m.n hard to kill.

There were only three ways to kill a vampire-fire, beheading, or a stake to the heart.

No wonder Elsa hadn't come after Allison on her own. The witch literally wasn't strong enough to kill her.

But I am. A werewolf's claws were the perfect weapon to behead a vamp.

He realized that his fingers were caressing her stomach. Sliding lightly over the flesh. His gaze lifted, met hers.

Want her.

"You...protected me." Who'd ever done that before? And why the h.e.l.l had she done it? He'd told her that he'd been sent to kill her, and the woman had still gone ahead and take a bullet for him.

Why?

Allison stared back at him.

f.u.c.k. He rose. Left the room.

"Cade?" Allison called after him. He liked it when she said his name. Liked it when she touched him. When her scent surrounded him. "Don't leave," she said, the words quiet, but he heard them perfectly.

His chest ached. "I'm not." He went back into the room with a wet cloth held in his hands. She was sitting up now, and her b.r.e.a.s.t.s pushed against the cups of her bra. d.a.m.n fine b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

Cade's c.o.c.k shoved against the front of his jeans, but he yanked back the l.u.s.t.

For now.

Carefully, he put the wet cloth over her side and washed the blood off her skin. Creamy, smooth skin. The wound was all but gone. Vamps and their amped up healing powers. She'd have no scar to bear, not like him.

Scars covered far too much of him.

He glanced up and found Allison staring at the scar that sliced down his cheek and curled under his jaw. Cade's back teeth clenched.

Then she lifted her hand and touched the rough skin. "What happened to you?"

Sympathy. Pity. He didn't want either from her. He tossed the cloth unto the nightstand. It covered the bullet. "Nothing I couldn't handle."

He expected her to drop her hand. She didn't. Just kept right on touching him, and the l.u.s.t that he'd tried to hold back grew stronger with every second that pa.s.sed.

Her heady scent filled his nose. Her body was so close, waiting for him. And she was touching him. Stroking his cheek. Staring up at him with those big, blue eyes.

She knew how dangerous he was. The lady should be hauling a.s.s away from him.

Not- "Tell me." Her words were husky, whispered, and they slid right over his flesh better than any silken stroke.

Fine. Not like it was some deep, dark secret. His story had been talked about in bars. Whispered in the woods. "When I was fourteen, vamps attacked my pack."

Her hand stilled on his cheek. Her eyes didn't look away from his.

"I was too young to s.h.i.+ft, but too d.a.m.n big to be seen as anything other than a threat that they had to eliminate." He'd always been big. But being big didn't matter when you were up against a vampire's enhanced strength.

"Before they got around to that eliminating..." He exhaled and remembered the scent of burning flesh. "They thought it would be fun to torture me."

He saw the delicate movement of her throat as she swallowed. "Your face."

Cade couldn't help it. He laughed at that. Then he rose and made sure the light fell on his body. There would be no shadows to hide him any longer. He hadn't taken the time to put his s.h.i.+rt back on before heading out to face Griggs and his gang. No s.h.i.+rt to cover him. No darkness to cloak the old wounds. "Sweetheart, my face was just the start."

He turned around, real slow, making sure she had time to see all the marks that twisted his flesh.

Nothing nice or neat about him. The vamps had used silver knifes to peel away his skin. Then they'd used liquid silver to burn his muscles. To burn and burn until agony had been all he'd known.

He kept his back to her and stared straight ahead at the wall. The vampires had been laughing as he screamed.

"But I stopped them," he said, still remembering. Still seeing. "I got out of the chains." Out of the silver that had held his wrists so tightly. "At the first light of dawn, when they were weak and I was strong, I got out, and I killed every one of those f.u.c.king bloodsuckers." With the claws that had finally sprang from his fingers. The pain, the fury-something had brought on the change in him. The wolf had burst to the surface that blood-soaked day, and his claws had ripped into his prey.

"But it was too late for the others in my pack," he said. Far too late. "Everyone else was dead." Tossed aside. Broken.

He'd never joined another pack. What was the point? To grow close to them, to care, only to wind up one day watching them all die in another attack?

He didn't need anyone else. Didn't want anyone else. It was far better to be alone.

When Cade felt the light touch on his back, he stiffened. Not fingers on his skin-the touch was too soft. That was- Allison was kissing his back. Kissing the marks left by torture almost twenty years ago.

He spun around and caught her shoulders. "Don't."

She didn't look afraid. She should. The wolf was far too close to breaking free. "Why not?" she asked him, staring into his eyes and he found he couldn't look away. "You took care of me...why can't I take care of you?"

"Because I don't want your d.a.m.n pity!" His words weren't loud. Lethally soft.

"Pity isn't what I want to give you." Then she pulled from his hold, far too easily.

Barely human now. The vampire transformation was so close. Did she realize it?

Allison straightened her shoulders, and then she reached behind her back. He heard a soft snick and her bra slipped to the floor.

"I know what's happening to me."

s.h.i.+t, were those tears in her eyes?

"I can feel the change. I mean, I just instantly healed from a freaking bullet wound. I know, okay? I know what I'm becoming."