Forever Claimed Read online

  Lucinda sent Jerrod away. “Gather the others. Send for the rest and bring them up to speed.”

  Jerrod hesitated only a moment, looking as if he had plenty he wanted to say to Dani, but then he returned to the car and drove back into the woods, where he would no doubt strip and transform again. The pack communicated far more readily as wolves, and far more clearly.

  Her mother turned to look at her. “You looked more powerful when we arrived. You smelled more powerful.”

  Dani couldn’t deny it. “I feel like a pup again.”

  Lucinda reached out to cup her cheek gently. “Daughter, don’t do this to yourself. You’re an adult, you had the courage to leave the pack and strike out to make your own life. How many of us would dare that?”

  Not many, Dani admitted to herself. When the packs grew too large, as occasionally happened, they split. But never did one wolf go off by itself. Never.

  “You’re not like us, but there’s nothing wrong with that, Dani. If we ever made you feel there was, I’m sorry.”

  “You didn’t make me feel that way.”

  “But being unable to change and become one of us certainly did. You are who you are, and who you are is sufficient. We love you as you are.”

  “I know.” Her throat tightened with the truth of it. “I never felt unloved.”

  “I should hope not. But now I’m worried.”

  “Why?”

  “Because of that vampire. Luc. I feel something between the two of you.” Lucinda frowned. “Dani, if you go that way, I can’t guarantee the packs won’t shun you. I may plead for sense, but some things are deeper than logic.”

  Dani swallowed hard. She thought about Luc, about what had passed between them, and realized that all that had really happened was lust. Hormones and pheromones and not one other thing. It hurt to look at it clinically, but she had to be honest with herself.

  “Nothing will come of it,” she said finally. “Nothing. I don’t think he likes me all that much, actually.”

  “Like?” Lucinda almost laughed. “That vampire came out here to keep an eye on you. I could smell it all over him. He thought we might attack you because you smell like them now. He was ready to take on our entire pack if anyone made a threatening gesture toward you.”

  “How can you tell that? I couldn’t smell it.”

  “I could. I could also see it in the way he emerged from the cabin. His every muscle was coiled. You didn’t see it because your back was turned.”

  “He’s protective,” Dani said reluctantly.

  “More than that, perhaps. I don’t know. I just know that if you take up his way of life, you will probably lose ours.”

  “Mom…”

  “Not me, Dani, never me. But there are some things not even an alpha can command. Our loathing of vampires can be restrained, but only for a while. Just keep that in mind. And don’t let him drink from you again.”

  Dani, who remembered those brief moments as a trip to the stars, said nothing, just nodded an acknowledgment.

  “Protect him by keeping a proper distance,” Lucinda warned her. “If the others think he’s put you under his spell, they will tear him to pieces.”

  “He can’t affect me that way.”

  “Are you absolutely sure of that?” Lucinda’s smile was almost sad as she turned away.

  “What are you going to do now?”

  “I think we’ll go to the city and check things out.”

  Dani’s heart squeezed with fear. What had she set in motion? “If the rogues smell you…”

  “We will deal with them. That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?” Then she ran into the woods and disappeared from sight.

  “Oh, my God.” The tormented whisper squeezed out from between Dani’s lips, and her knees gave way. She sank to the snow and started to cry.

  Never, ever had she considered the possibility her pack might act alone.

  Luc finally grew impatient and opened the front door. He saw Dani huddled in the snow, heard her nearly silent sobs, smelled her distress on the clear, cold air.

  He told himself to step back, give her time to deal with whatever was going on. He was still more than a little annoyed that the wolves had been thrown into the equation after both he and Jude had told her to keep them out of it.

  They were an unknown and might complicate an already complicated problem. They still hadn’t even learned what they were up against in terms of how many and what kind. Absent that knowledge, absent any other vampires arriving unless the situation worsened, they still hadn’t been able to put together a plan.

  Now this.

  Yes, he was annoyed. But the sounds issuing from Dani reached the heart that he had tried so hard to turn into stone, so he went to her.

  He scooped her up out of the snow, sat cross-legged and put her on his lap, shielding her from the icy ground with his impervious body.

  The crack in the shell around his heart grew even wider when she turned into him and wrapped an arm around him. God, he didn’t want to feel again. But what he wanted didn’t change what was. It never did.

  Anger seeped out of that crack. “What did she say to you? Did she hurt you?”

  “Not intentionally.” Dani hiccuped. “I’m scared, Luc. They’re going into town to check the situation out. What if I got them all killed?”

  He could have made a brittle and sharp comment about how she should have thought of that first, but he didn’t. She had acted out of the best intentions, and it just wasn’t in him to criticize someone for that. He’d certainly made enough mistakes of his own.

  “I’m sure they’ll take care.” It was a lame reassurance, but there was no other.

  “Yes, but still… They can smell the vampires, Luc, but you certainly know that the vampires can smell them.”

  “True,” he admitted.

  “And it’s my fault they’re taking this risk.”

  “Not your fault,” he said. “They chose to do this.”

  “For me.”

  “Not just for you. They know they could have taken you home whether you liked it or not. Tell me that’s not true.”

  She couldn’t. She hiccuped again and swiped at her cheeks.

  “They decided to become involved the way I did not two centuries ago. They did it to prevent the kind of chaos that would make life impossible for them. And for humans.”

  “I hope so.”

  “Of course they did. It was your mother who instantly picked up on my regrets. She could have done that only if she saw far enough down the road to realize the regrets the pack would feel if they didn’t act. She’s farsighted.”

  “She has to be.”

  “I’m sure she’ll take every precaution because if what you said is correct, they want to assess the situation, not start the battle tonight. And I’ll tell you something else, little wolf.”

  “What’s that?”

  “In human form, they don’t much smell like wolves. So the rogues shouldn’t catch scent of them unless they prowl in wolf shape. And even then they don’t smell all that different from true wolves. To identify the difference, you have to have been exposed to it before, and the packs, as you say, avoid that.”

  “Really?”

  “Really.”

  That eased her heart a bit.

  “I doubt the rogues expect any intervention from lycanthropes. If your family is careful, they shouldn’t alert the—how do you say?—the bad guys.”

  “I hope not.”

  “Your mother is wise. She could tell we had very little intelligence about the situation. And we really don’t. We know they want Jude. We had to protect three females, and so we decamped to find backup and try to gather enough information to make some kind of plan.”

  “How can you plan something like this?”

  “Very carefully.” He sighed and brushed cool fingers against her cheek. “If you want, I can go to town and keep an eye on your pack. Unfortunately, I’m fairly certain I left my scent on that rogue I killed. I may
draw unwanted attention. But still, I could be a distraction if needed.”

  That thought terrified her as much as what her pack might face. “You can’t. The rest of the pack doesn’t know your smell. You could be in danger.”

  “I think I smell enough like you to be safe.”

  “No,” she said again, almost desperately. She had enough to worry about without adding him to the mix. Everything she cared about out there and exposed in that city? No way. “If you go, you can’t go without me. I’m all that would stand between you and my pack.”

  “And you can’t stop me from going without you.”

  She lifted her face, meeting his gaze directly. “No, I can’t. But you can’t prevent me from following you on my own.”

  He sighed then, really sighed. “You are difficult.”

  “I know.”

  A smile twitched around the edges of his mouth. “I am not used to being thwarted.”

  “Sometimes I can see that. Get used to it.”

  “I’m learning.”

  She scrubbed at her face with her sleeve, drying the last of her tears. “They’ll be okay.”

  “Your mother strikes me as one who will ensure they do nothing to draw attention. But I can understand why she wants to evaluate the situation. We need to know what we’re up against, and trying to discern that from what Terri can learn from the medical examiner’s office and police reports…that’s not enough.”

  “They can run fast,” she said as her emotions settled, the storm over. “They can sample the air and be out of there quickly. Do you know how many vampires are usually there?”

  “Jude would know, but not I.”

  “Then maybe we can get a sense of how the numbers have grown.”

  “That would be helpful. Very helpful.”

  She nodded and sniffled down the last of her tears.

  He shifted restlessly beneath her. Her proximity was driving him nearly mad with lust and hunger, and that, when added to his impatience, was making him acutely aware of a need for action.

  He could have laughed at himself. He had thought the centuries had taught him patience. Maybe about some things. But not about what was going on now.

  He wanted to take action against the threat. Being stymied because they were essentially blind and could find no help from other vampires was not at all to his taste.

  He could, of course, just leave as he had initially intended to. But ignoring an ugly situation once had cost him much, and time had taught him the full toll of his mistakes. He wasn’t inclined to repeat them.

  “You must be freezing,” Dani said, withdrawing her arm in order to look at him.

  He felt that small withdrawal in places he thought Natasha’s death had killed. “I could sit in the snow all night and not freeze. I really do not feel it.”

  “So you weren’t exaggerating?”

  “Why would I? I told you, I’m impervious to temperature. The only heat I can feel is the warmth of a human body.”

  “That seems odd.”

  “Every predator is drawn to particular prey. I assume there are reasons for them all.”

  “Oh.”

  Well, he thought, perhaps he had just passed the shock factor with her. Now she would realize that while he wasn’t the creature of myth her family had taught her, he was still as far as possible from anything she could imagine. And it wouldn’t hurt for her to remember he was indeed a predator. Her family was not wrong about that.

  “Is that how you see yourself?”

  “It’s not a matter of how I see myself. I am a predator. The fact that I choose to limit myself to willing donors doesn’t change my essential nature.”

  “My pack are predators, too,” she said presently. “They hunt deer, elk and other game. I never hunted. I couldn’t.”

  He wondered where she was trying to go with this, but she didn’t say any more. The heavy need was growing in him, pounding relentlessly in his veins. Even as bundled up as she was, he could smell her blood, a sweet siren’s call. His gaze focused on her neck, exposed just a little because she hadn’t zipped her jacket all the way. It would be all too easy to give a little tug to that fabric and expose her delicious flesh. To lean forward and sip. Just a small sip. Just one.

  “Luc!”

  The call from the door shook him out of the intoxication that was overtaking him. In a single fast movement, he rose and set Dani on her feet.

  Jude was calling to them. “We’ve learned some more.”

  He was sure the news wasn’t good.

  “Creed,” Jude said as they gathered around the table and the computer, “has identified at least eight adults and three newborns new to the city. Terri thinks other newborns may awake tonight in their homes or in the morgue.”

  “Yes,” Terri said. “I’ve told my staff to start autopsies immediately on any new bodies brought in. That it’s essential to do craniotomies first.”

  “Pardon?” Luc said.

  “To remove the brains. I told them I suspect some infection is being passed that may show up in the brains. They’re thinking rabies. I’m leaving it at that.”

  But even as she spoke, Luc noticed she was pulling on her outerwear.

  “I’ve got to get back. I have to make sure we don’t risk letting any newborns awake in the morgue. I can’t do anything about private homes, but I can damn well make sure we change the order of procedures from here on out. We’ll do our part. I just don’t want to risk someone overlooking or ignoring the change. That could wind up being deadly.”

  “And at nightfall,” Jude agreed. “I’m taking her back.”

  “I’m going, too,” Luc said.

  “Me, too,” Dani announced. “My pack went into town to try to sniff out vampires.”

  Jude swore. “I thought we had an alliance going here, not a helter-skelter, do-as-you wish operation!”

  “You don’t tell an alpha what to do.”

  “Maybe not. But if you go into town, how in the hell are we going to get in touch with your pack and let them know where we are? How are we going to exchange information?”

  “My mother has a phone,” Dani said tautly.

  “Well, she better be answering.”

  “Jude,” Terri said quietly. “Please. I know you don’t want me going back to town, but surely you understand that I have to. And you shouldn’t take your anger out on Dani.”

  Jude turned to Chloe. “You,” he said, “stay here. I’m going to have my hands full enough trying to keep my wife safe.”

  “Trust me, boss,” Chloe said, “I don’t plan on going back. I’ll be here. If the pack comes here, I’ll pass along the information. But exactly where are you all going to be?”

  “I’ll be at the morgue with Terri at least until dawn. Luc, if Dani insists on going back, take her to Creed. At least he’s not a target. Yet.”

  “Yet,” Luc agreed. He turned to Dani. “Try to reach your mother. When you do, tell her we’re meeting at Creed’s. I’ll give you the address.” He smiled almost sardonically. “And thus ends Creed’s honeymoon. I’m sure he’ll be delighted to have to share his bedroom with another vampire.”

  “He knows you’re coming,” Jude said. “He could have objected if he wanted. He wants me there, too. He doesn’t think my office is safe. They’ve been sniffing around, according to him.”

  “Then we shall all meet there.”

  Ten minutes later all of them except Chloe were in the car, heading into the unknown.

  Chapter 8

  The drive back to the city sped by, mostly because the snow had long since stopped and the roads were clear. There was little enough talk, but the tension in the car was palpable.

  Luc had folded himself into the backseat with Dani, and Terri sat up front beside Jude. Neither vampire seemed at all happy with the turn of events.

  Not that Dani was. But on the way back she could feel an almost palpable gulf between her and Luc, bigger than what she had felt just the night before. Admittedly she had compli
cated their lives by bringing her pack in on this. As scared as she was, she wasn’t sure she had been wrong.

  But Luc probably thought so, and it made her ache to think he might be mad at her. Even the comfort he had offered such a short time ago as they sat in the snow seemed to have been temporary, and to have drifted into the past somehow.

  It was Jude who broke the silence. “You’re going to be in serious danger, Terri. If those rogues figure out that you’re thwarting them by killing the newborns before they can awake, they’re going to want you with a vengeance.”

  “They can’t get at me during daylight. By tomorrow night I should have everyone in the morgue convinced to do the brain studies first.”

  “I hope so. Because that’s the last place I want you to be tomorrow night. By then they may figure out that something is going wrong with newborns.”

  Luc spoke. “The morgue might actually be a good place to meet them first. Assuming we want to draw them out. If they go there to protect the newborns or to find out what’s going wrong, we can prepare.”

  “Good thinking,” Jude said.

  Dani raised a question. “So when you set out to change someone, it never fails?”

  “Never,” Luc answered. “No one has ever heard of a case. So they’ll know someone is interrupting the process somehow, and the easiest place to look first is at the morgue.”

  “But there must be others who won’t be found until it’s too late.”

  “Clearly,” he answered, his voice heavy. “Clearly.”

  She longed to reach out to him. To take his hand and feel a reassuring squeeze from his fingers, but when she looked at him, the moonlight trailing through the windows told her that he was as rigid and unyielding as a statue.

  He couldn’t blame her for Terri’s having to go back. That was clearly her decision. So he must be angrier than he had let on about her bringing in her pack. But she didn’t know how to ask. Nothing about him invited questioning, and certainly not about a topic that had become so important. Or maybe she didn’t want to hear the answer.