Текст книги "Bonds of Fire"
Автор книги: T. A. Grey
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Текущая страница: 7 (всего у книги 20 страниц)
Chapter 14
Now that she knew escape wasn’t much of a possibility, Willow, surprisingly, felt relaxed. There were no worries about being caught or finding a way to leave. A part of her was actually relieved.
She had no idea what this meant for the future. If she left him, she’d destroy him. Not only would it devastate him but the pack would suffer as well, and the way they relied on him, well, she wasn’t sure she could go through with it. Chloe had told her to stay until the situation with this new demon was taken care of, then if she was still unhappy she’d have Tyrian help get her out. Instead of delighting her, the thought sent her into a sort of panic.
Of course, when she’d asked Lily for advice, she’d simply recommended “boning the hot Alpha” as much as possible. According to one of her recent dreams, Willow mated with him. So far, she refused to think much upon that. And hey it wasn’t like Lily’s dreams were always correct, because they weren’t. But when they were right, it was a 100% sure thing. Willow didn’t want to think about the possibility of mating with the Alpha. She hadn’t even figured out how she was supposed to stay here, without getting any soft feelings for him. He was a gentle man in many ways, actually nice. So not what she’d originally thought.
Even over the past few days, she’d watched the way the pack members sought him out for advice or questions. He never gave quick answers but would contemplate the matter seriously—no matter how trivial it was. Earlier that day a teenage boy with a thick head of blond hair asked Lyonis how he could get girls to like him more. The boy was taller than most for his age and nearly bone thin giving him a lanky and gangly appearance.
Lyonis had nodded gravely as if the question was the most dire and important ones of all time. He then grabbed his shoulder and said, “Danny, the first thing you need to do is figure out what makes her happy, then you give that to her. If she likes to talk, then talk to her. If she likes flowers, then pick her some.”
Danny had watched the Alpha with a look of grim wonder. After the boy left with a new look of excitement, Lyonis had turned to her and winked. Willow blushed. No one had ever winked at her before. It made her stomach spin with a peculiar feeling somewhere between embarrassment and excitement.
Surprisingly, since that morning sex they’d had, he hadn’t brought it up. She’d expected some sort of fight over it. After all, he hadn’t liked being tied up. But ha! He got what he deserved after the way he treated her in that damn club. There was almost something strange about him now that she’d taken the leap and done that. He watched her with different eyes, almost as if he was assessing her. It was starting to drive her nuts to the point where she finally threw up her arms and yelled “What!” when he kept watching her. But he’d only given her a small smile.
Today, Lyonis was showing her the other parts of the pack’s town. “You’ll need to be acquainted with everything if you’re going to be my queen,” he said, taking her into the big building in which he’d first announced her as his mate.
Willow laughed. “That’s the biggest if in the history of ifs, my friend.” He looked down at her and one corner of his mouth curled up.
“I have no problem with starting as your friend—so long as we work up to what I want.”
Willow rolled her eyes. “Whatever. So what is this place?” The main floor of the building was big enough to be an auditorium and two hallways led off it with offices on either side.
“This is our headquarters. We use it for larger meetings with the pack and to keep with what the other packs are doing. And down here,” he said, taking her by the hand and pulling her into a hallway, “we have our workout facilities, a medical facility, and offices.”
Lyonis led her into the healing ward first. The room was massive and looked like a hospital room complete with gurneys, a washroom, and medical equipment she couldn’t even name.
“Why do you need such an elaborate healing ward? This place looks like a mini-hospital.”
“It basically is. Being a shapeshifter doesn’t make you immune to death or pain. As I mentioned before, we’ve had some problems with the local humans in the past years. They know what we are and don’t like it, and of course there’s the occasional skirmish between members.”
“Not all of the humans hate you, I’m sure.”
He nodded. “That’s true, but some seem to hate us simply because we’re different. Just the way of life, I guess. Every now and then, we get illegal hunters on our land. They try to hunt us in animal forms. Man, woman, child, they can’t tell the difference and they don’t care.” Willow grimaced at the thought.
“Aren’t there any legal repercussions for these assholes?” He laughed at her and shut the hospital door behind them.
“Sadly, no. Right now there is no universal governing board for us. No separate government to join any of the packs, let alone the vampires and other beings. The human government’s motto seems to be to ignore us as much as possible.”
“But what about when they hurt one of you?”
He shrugged. “We’ve tried taking it to court before, but the human’s defensive is always that they thought they were shooting another animal, that they had no idea it was a shapeshifter.”
“But if they’re on your land...”
“I know. It’s a lie. They used to try to hunt us, but I’ve put a stop to it. It’s been years since anything like that has happened. I have trained guards, even cameras covering the edge of the property so we can see if anyone comes in. We’ve had to amp up security to keep everyone as safe as possible.”
Neither of them spoke as he led her deeper into the building and down several flights of stairs.
“This place didn’t look nearly so big from the outside,” Willow noted.
“That’s part of the design, and the defense of this building. Here is where our guards train. Other come here to work out, but mostly the guards use this.”
“What kind of training do they do?” He smiled at her as if he was pleased by her question. Shit, Willow thought. She wasn’t trying to make him think she was interested in any of this—even if she was. But it was too late, the question was out.
“Hand to hand combat, shifting while fighting, things like that.”
“Oh, that’s—” The sound of footsteps stopped her. Willow turned to see Thane and Jackie running into the room with a hard, worried look in their eyes. Lyonis tensed instantly.
“What’s wrong?”
“We found a piece of Stephanie’s clothes off the trail,” Thane said. He paused as if he didn’t want to say what he was about to. “There’s blood.”
“Show me, now!”
Willow jumped at the sound of Lyonis’ voice. She’d never heard him sound so angry. She hesitated as they all made for the doors, but then he turned back to her and nodded his head for her to join them. Willow followed; no matter how much her stomach and instincts told her not to. Stephanie was missing and now they’d found her blood. She couldn’t help the lost feeling inside her that kept telling her it was her fault.
They broke into a run outside of headquarters. As an avid runner, she was able to keep pace with them as they made for the surrounding forest line that cocooned the small town. She watched as pack members, walking by in their daily lives stopped and looked at them with alert eyes. Please don’t let her be dead.
It took nearly fifteen minutes for them to come to a stop. Willow didn’t know what she expected to see, but this wasn’t it. It just looked like a forest. The floor was covered in dark soil; leaves covered the ground with the oncoming of winter and trees stood tall and imposing. The wind blew and rustled the dry branches and blew back the hair from her face.
She was about to ask what blood, when she saw it. A piece of cloth hanging from a notch in a tree.
Lyonis went to it immediately. Knowing his senses, he’d probably noticed it right away while her untrained eyes had searched the area for anything unusual. Lyonis was stiff as he stopped before the white, torn cloth. He sniffed it and his frown grew graver.
He picked up the meager scrap and examined it. “It’s a piece of her sleeve. The McLannahans said she left in a white t-shirt. Three drops of blood are on it.”
Willow wrapped her arms around her stomach. She felt like she was intruding on something that she had no right to see. She kept her mouth closed as her gut rolled with worry. She wanted to ask questions but she knew they were all stupid, and no one had the answers to them.
“I want a search team sent out into town. Look over the whole state and get it done now! Find her.” Jackie and Thane nodded as if the task he’d set upon them wasn’t going to be difficult.
Lyonis folded the small cloth into a small square and gently tucked it into his pocket. He didn’t meet her eyes as he walked past her with heavy steps. Willow hesitated to go after him. Hell, she had no experience in this. What the hell was she supposed to do? She couldn’t comfort him.
Jackie came up to her. “Go to him.”
“I can’t.” Nothing she could say or do could bring back Stephanie or make this any better.
Jackie grasped her shoulder in a firm hand. “He needs you. Just go to him.”
Willow nodded as the harsh look on his face ran through her mind. Before she knew it she took one step after him then another, until soon she ran hard through the forest. Her heart hammered in a fast, scared rhythm. He would have to tell the parents what he’d found. She’d only met the girl once and Willow felt like her heart was on the edge of breaking. What would he be feeling? What about the family?
Willow burst through the trees and came to a staggering stop. Lyonis stood a short distance away, his eyes watching the dark, cloudy sky. He had the appearance of someone who was lost, but as Willow peered closer, she realized...it was anger. Deep, raging anger. Willow swallowed hard and slowly came up to him as if the smallest movement might set off that coiled anger inside him.
He didn’t yell at her; didn’t step away, so she slowly reached out and laid her hand on his chest. He looked down with a startled expression. Willow didn’t know what came over her, some undeniable need that she couldn’t ignore, and she wrapped her arms around him and pressed herself close.
He was stiff like a brick wall, hard and unmoving. She pressed her ear to his chest and could hear the fast rhythm of his heart. She stayed that way and simply held him.
It was several minutes before he reached and held her back.
* * *
Dammit. Draven couldn’t wait any longer while the couple comforted each other. He dissolved near them and coughed loudly. Willow and Lyonis broke away with a start.
“What do you want?” said Lyonis. Anger was in the Alpha’s eyes. Draven recognized that look; it was one he’d worn many times. It clearly stated: piss me off so we can fight. He might be happy to oblige the Alpha on any other occasion, if there wasn’t a more pressing matter.
“I found something you might want to know about.”
Willow pulled away from the Alpha and stepped several paces away. Draven almost laughed at her. He’d already seen the way she’d held him, there was no denying it now.
“What is it?” she said.
“Out where you found that piece of the girl’s clothing—I smelled demon.”
Lyonis took an aggressive step forward, his hands curling into fists. Willow gasped at the quick surge of anger and nearly stepped forward to halt him.
“Bullshit. I would have scented it.” Draven shrugged elegantly.
“Well I did smell it. It had a familiar tinge to it. One that I smelled while I was in Germany.”
It took a minute for his meaning to become clear to Willow. “You mean the one that’s—”
Lyonis took another step forward, his eyes starting to glow dark amber. “You lie. My guards or I would have scented it. It was probably just a human who took her.”
Draven slowly shook his head. “Listen, I know you don’t like this but it’s true. The demon has her.”
Lyonis tensed to pounce and Willow acted without thinking. She jumped forward and grabbed Lyonis’ arm. His reaction was instantaneous. He swung out his arm and knocked her back.
Willow cried out as the hit landed against her stomach and flung her back into the air. The air whooshed harshly from her belly like a whip. She wheezed as she struggled to suck in air over the pain. Her body tightened up, ready to slam against the ground, but then Draven was there. He grabbed her before she landed and picked her up. He sent Lyonis a disgusted glare.
“What is wrong with you, man?” Willow wheezed in breaths at the tight, constricted pain in her abdomen. Lyonis stared, shaking, his mouth hanging open.
“Tawicue. Willow—” His hands traced over her face then curled them around her body. He gave Draven a hard look she was glad she wasn’t on the other end of. “Let her go.”
Draven nodded but before he released his grip on her, he pinned Lyonis with an answering look. “You ever do that again, accidental or not, and I’ll take her out of here faster than you can blink.”
Lyonis growled a fierce, territorial warning then took her into his arms. Willow didn’t know where Draven went then because Lyonis took up all her attention. He talked quickly, quietly to her in a pained voice. He apologized repeatedly as he carried her all the way back to his home.
By then Willow’s stomach didn’t hurt and she was struggling to get out of his arms. Her face was bright red as they walked past a town of on-lookers. Fuck, she thought.
At his house, he was still apologizing. Willow finally squirreled her way out of his arms and dropped to her feet.
“Shut the fuck up!”
They both tensed. Okay, she should have handled that a little more delicately.
“I never should have…I can’t believe I…” He scrubbed his hands over his face. Breathing hard, he slammed his back against the wall. Willow gaped at him, mouth hanging open, eyes wide. It was one thing to see him sad, another to see him angry, but this? This was self-loathing.
Slowly he slithered down the wall, kicking his legs out in front of him until he was a slumped mass against the door.
“I hit you,” he whispered harshly, as if he was speaking to himself. “I hit my mate.” He sounded so broken that Willow’s heart cracked inside.
She wasn’t thinking anymore. She dropped to her knees before him, wrapped her arms around him, and pulled his head to her chest.
“It hurt for only a moment. It really was an accident. I shouldn’t have surprised you like that. I saw that you were angry. I’m fine, Lyonis. I must be if I can still yell at you.” His arms came around her, nearly squeezing the breath from her.
“No, it isn’t fine. A man never lays a hand on his mate in any form of anger.” Willow rolled her eyes. Okay, obviously this holding thing wasn’t going to work, so she grabbed his face in her hands and turned his head up to meet her eyes.
“Listen to me. I’m saying it only this once or I really am out of here. That was truly an accident. I am not hurt; it just knocked the breath out of me and surprised me. If you really ever hit me, I would fight back, and then I’d be gone faster than you could imagine.”
Slowly, he nodded. That look of self-disgust was still in his eyes but at least he got off the floor.
“Do you need to feed tonight?” Willow’s gut tightened with excitement, but she saw the tired, haggard look on his face and knew neither of them was ready for that tonight.
“No, no. I’m fine. Why don’t we go to bed?” His eyes jumped to hers with surprise. Hell, she’d surprised herself, but he needed her right now. So if that meant sleeping next to him with his ridiculously heavy arm/leg around her, then so be it.
Was she losing her mind? Probably.
Chapter 15
Willow pulled on her shoes with a big yawn. Damn if the Alpha didn’t like to wake up at the crack of dawn. Hadn’t he ever heard of sleeping in?
“So, where are you taking me?”
Lyonis grimaced as he turned to her. “Actually I’m afraid we’ll have to wait on my plans. I need to run the perimeter and check in on the scouts, see if they found anything.” Willow’s stomach sunk. Right, it was easy to forget that a young girl was missing when her mind still hadn’t started working yet.
“What am I supposed to do? God, you know, I really don’t need to be here for any of this. I don’t need to be here at all.” Lyonis laughed softly at her and knelt in front of her at the bed. His hands grabbed her just above the knee and it took everything in her not to spread her legs open in some kind of offering. His large hands easily swallowed up her thighs as if they were twigs and not round with muscle.
His voice turned serious. “I’m sorry about this; this wasn’t how I envisioned this process going.” Willow smirked at him.
“And just how did you envision it, Oh Great Alpha?” His hands curved inward, grasping her inner thighs over her pajama pants. Willow’s gut tightened reflexively, her new succubus side roaring awake. She hadn’t fed in two days. Two very long days.
“I made promises to you in Germany. Promises I planned to keep.” The sound of his voice made her shiver. “I think I’ll still make good on them, but these new...developments in the pack make things difficult.”
“You can say that again,” she muttered. Again, his laughter trickled over her, and again it felt good to hear the sound. His thumbs rubbed a circular path into her thighs, coaxing a need from deep within her.
“Before I go to work, I suppose you need a reminder of what I’d promised. Of what I still plan to do, my Willow.”
“No, no, that’s all right,” she said quickly. She threw up her hands to push him away but he came over her anyways, pushing her back into the mattress. The weight of him sunk her into the comforter; the heat of him melted her.
His lips trailed over her neck in a light, teasing touch. Willow slammed her eyes shut as her breath caught at the warm silky touch. She felt his warm breath on her a moment before his teeth bit into the cord of her muscle. Reflexively, or on purpose, she didn’t know but she grabbed onto his back and held on for dear life.
The moment he released her, he spoke in low, dark words. “I’m going to master you, Willow. I’m going to take your body in every way I want, whenever I want. I’m going to have you on your knees before me sucking my cock before you lift your beautiful ass for me.”
Willow felt dazed at his words, cocooned in the heat and scent of him. One hand moved under her to cup her ass, and then he was pressing his fingers between her cheeks. The touch was so hot it scalded her.
She gasped. “What are you doing?”
The touch felt good but scandalous. A part of her wanted to push him away while the other, hungrier part, wanted to arch against him.
“Damn I don’t want to go. I want to stay in bed with you all day. Be a good woman today and go talk with the pack. They’re curious about you.”
“I bet,” she grumbled. He laughed at her then kissed her quick on the mouth. He said one last goodbye then left. If she wasn’t careful this would start to feel like some kind of fucked up relationship.
Willow flung herself back on the bed, ran a hand between her legs, and cursed.
“That son of a bitch gets me revved up on purpose.” Wait, was that what he was doing? Wooing her via her hormones? It wasn’t like she had a choice either. If she wanted to live she needed to feed someway. Growling, Willow scrubbed her hands over tired eyes and got out of bed.
God dammit, if she was going to stay here and do this then she was going to do it her way, not his. He wasn’t going to dominate her. If it were the last thing she did, she wouldn’t submit to him.
Willow grabbed a jacket out of her backpack and left the cabin. Cool air had settled over the town during the night and the dark, cloudy sky hinted that snow would be upon them soon. She’d need to go shopping if she was going to stay here much longer. Her meager backpack items wouldn’t last her a month in this winter. Just to think, if he hadn’t caught her she could be in her new Florida summer home left to her by Papa. Those times almost seemed like ages ago now. Oh God, what was she thinking? She was losing her mind even contemplating this stuff.
Willow kicked a rocked off the road and stomped down towards the pack’s houses. She hesitated for a moment outside of Bitchy Amy’s place. Talk about a woman who couldn’t let go. If a man didn’t want you, then why didn’t she move on already? Aside from her shitty attitude, Willow didn’t see anything wrong with her.
Deciding to check out the town, she skipped the houses and walked the couple of miles into Lyonis’ homemade town. The smell of sweet pastries and fresh made bread teased her senses as she passed next to a bakery. The woman behind the register caught her glance through the glass and waved happily at her. Willow hesitantly stuck up her arm and waved back. The woman almost bounced with joy.
“Weird people,” she muttered and continued on. A clothing store caught her attention next. It was about half the size of the department store she usually used back home, but she needed clothes.
She grunted with approval as she stepped inside the store. She found the winter coat aisle and immediately started grabbing items in her size. She didn’t care much what they looked like—anything simple made her happy. As she stepped in line to pay the cashier smiled wildly at her with a mischievous look in her eye.
“Hello there, I’m Stacy. Everyone calls me Stacy P. because there’s another Stacy too, and we’re only a year apart and we get mixed up a lot. So you’re Willow, huh? Quite the beauty too, and strong. You know I’m not surprised Lyonis was fated with someone like yourself. I always say a strong man needs and even stronger woman to keep him in line, you know what I mean?” She snorted and giggled, never once stopping from ringing up items...or taking a breath.
Willow closed her mouth and tried to think of something to say. How the hell can the woman say so much but she couldn’t think of one thing to say back?
“Um, it’s nice to meet you, Stacy.”
“That’s Stacy P,” she corrected with a wink and a smile. Willow smiled back at her. She couldn’t help it. The woman was probably in her early thirties and she had a hair of curly blood hair that bobbed every time she talked.
She rang up the last item and said, “That’ll be a hundred and four dollars even. Whew, that never happens. You know my momma used to say that was a sign of good luck.” Willow gave her a tight-lipped smile as she patted her back pocket.
“Shit.” She forgot she didn’t have any money. She had a twenty on her and that was it. She swore that ever since she got to this town, it was like she was living in a surreal world. One in which she was captive.
“I’m afraid I made a mistake. I forgot to take more money out of the bank.” Ire rose quick and hot. It was his fault. If she hadn’t been woman-napped from Europe then she’d be free to leave and stop at an ATM and be sunbathing at the ocean right now instead of buying freaking winter clothes.
Stacy P’s eyes lit up even brighter. “Not to worry! I’ll put it on the Alpha Lyonis’ account.” Willow frowned; the thought of owing him money like tar in her gut.
“No, thanks. I think I’ll just wait until I can stop at a bank.” Willow started to leave but the woman stopped her. She held out the bag of clothes to her and lifted her chin high.
“No, I insist. Take them; you’ll need it since the cold weather’s coming in. I promise he won’t mind at all.” She giggled like she just told a joke that only she got.
Sighing, Willow snatched the bag and mumbled a thank you. “Have a great day; come by anytime to chat!” Willow waved her off and left.
The bag slapped against her leg as she wandered down the street. More pack members passed her with smiles and hellos. Since when did they get so welcoming? Willow snarled and glared at the members as she rushed past them. Without even thinking, she opened the next door on the street and went in.
“Oh, thank God,” she sighed. It was the town’s pub. The name above the bar read: The Wolf’s Den. She almost chuckled. She thanked God there were only two patrons and hurried to the bar. The bartender was an older man with a face aged with wrinkles, lines, and a full head of thick white and gray hair.
“What can I do you for, my Queen?” Willow’s jaw dropped at the title, and quickly she realized the two patrons had stopped talking. She looked over to see them watching her, expectantly. What the hell did that mean? Why were they watching her?
“Quit staring!” she yelled to the men. They quickly looked away and went back to their conversation. When she looked back at the bartender she fought the urge to blush. There was always something about yelling in front of older folks that hit her the wrong way.
“No need to take it out on them, they can’t help it.”
“Help what?” Willow grabbed onto her hair and pulled the cords until she felt a sting of pain. The second she was done, she realized she’d forgotten her hair tie. Just perfect.
“People are even more curious about you since they know you’ll be staying now. So what can I get you to drink?”
Willow’s mind spun.
“Whoa, wait. What do you mean I’m staying?” The bartender turned around and started pouring a cup of black, steamy coffee. Willow almost sighed at the smell as he placed it in front of her with a small bowl of sugar. “How’d you know how I take it?”
He gave her a wise, knowing look and shrugged a shoulder. “Tool of the trade, I s’pose. Drink up, you’ll feel better.” Willow sipped her sweetened coffee and let it soothe her stomach. She set the cup down after a moment.
“Okay, now tell me what you meant by that.”
“By what?” he asked innocently. Willow clenched and unclenched her fists while in her mind she pictured throwing the coffee on the bartender. Okay, she wasn’t that evil, but at least she could fantasize about it.
“What do you mean I’ll be staying here?” The old bartender smiled gently and rested his elbows on the bar.
Leaning towards her, he said, “Oh, that? The whole pack already knows about it. People are getting real excited. Seems like good timin’ to me too with the Winter Festival comin’ up.”
Willow took a long, burning drink of her coffee and slammed her cup on the bar.
“Answer me clearly old man, or prepare to fight.”
The bartender tossed back and laughed a hoarse, wheezing laugh until his cheeks turned red. When he finally calmed enough to look back at her, his eyes were watery with unshed tears. Willow bared her teeth at him.
“Alright, alright. No need to threaten an old man. See, people saw your show of affection yesterday. How you went to Lyonis after the news of little Stephanie.”
Willow waited for him to continue but he only picked up a white rag and started wiping down the already clean bar. As the white, swishing rag neared her, she slammed her hand on it to halt it.
“Answer me clearly and fully or I swear I’ll break every bottle of liquor in this place.” The bartender looked startled, then understanding set in.
“See here, Queen, I wasn’t trying to make you mad. I forget you’re not one of us. You don’t know the ways. See, you are what we call a wakipajan.”
A throbbing pain was starting slammed against her temple. “What the fuck is that?” Even she cringed at her language. Cursing was usually saved for at least ten in the morning.
“It means a fighter, a rebel of sorts. It’s a phrase we use when one mate is pursuing one that’s a bit more...defiant. You, Queen, are a wakipajan.”
“What does that have to do with what you said before?” The old man rolled his eyes like a sixteen-year-old girl.
“Aren’t you listening to a word I said? When a wakipajan takes the first step to comforting or helping the other in a rough time it’s the first big step towards becoming a mate.”
Willow dropped the coffee cup and dark liquid spilled over the bar. “Say what?”
The old man seemed happy by her reaction. “Everyone’s talking about how you helped the Alpha yesterday evening after the news with Stephanie. You helped to bring him down from his anger. Like I said, that’s the first step to becoming his mate.”
Willow grimaced and couldn’t bring herself to touch the fresh cup of coffee he set in front of her. “I can’t believe this. I was just...being nice. I didn’t even do anything.” Her mind scattered to remember every detail of that moment yesterday. Did she do something monumental that she hadn’t been aware of? She’d chased him out of the woods and hugged him. That was it. How the hell did that start the mating process?
“Hey now, don’t worry about it. The pack is happy is all. It’s a good thing too; we’ve needed some added happiness since Stephanie went missing. If you were looking for some advice, I’d say enjoy it. I’d say enjoy Lyonis too. He’s a great man. He’ll treat you as a man should.”
Willow snorted with disgust and slammed her twenty down on the bar before stalking out. As she wound her way through the streets she saw everything with a new set of eyes. So that’s why everyone looked at her like she was made of candy. They thought she was going to mate with Lyonis. If only they knew how wrong that was.
