Lycan Alpha Claim 3 (23 page)

William did, smashing two of the vampires' heads together hard enough for their brains to splatter against the inside of their skulls and leak out their ears. He threw himself on his feet and launched to Julia's side in a fluid gymnastic movement, his fist punching out as he did.

The vampire who had fangs a millimeter away from her throat, lost them from the impact of William’s fist even as his talons swung to take the head of the one that restrained her.

*

Julia

Julia saw William come. A shaky exhale escaped as she lay in the arms of one vampire while the other prepared to chew her throat out.

The one that held her dumped her head on the floor so hard she saw lights twinkle above her.

And then William was there.

Their heads fell on either side of her body and heat suffused her. Julia knew she would pass out and had but moments to express herself.

William crouched above her protectively and she raised her arm, weakly. She clutched onto his clothing.

He glanced at her then away, prepared for the next onslaught.

She tugged again.

“Julia, lay still. You have lost much blood.”

“Thank you,” she whispered on her final breath. Her vision dimmed to a pinpoint.

The last coherent image was William.

A face she didn't hate anymore.

His mouth moved but she couldn't hear him, an enveloping softness encased her as she floated away.

Like dandelion seed on the wind.

Julia slept in a pool of her own blood.

And that of others.

Many others.

CHAPTER 18

The Den of the Were

one month later

“Do you see her?” Joseph asked impatiently.

“Yes,” Tony responded, dropping the night vision binoculars.

“It is easy to make her out, Joseph. She is so much smaller than the blood drinkers.”

Right. Joseph knew that. But his anxiety was full-tilt. It had been a month since their orders from Lawrence to execute reconnaissance on the vampire kiss. They had.

It had been troubling to smell injuries on the Rare One.

When they had first begun their covert stake out, they could smell fresh wounds. They were concentrated on the female, but also one other.

The vampire that could turn into a raven. He had been injured as well.

It was only speculation but Joseph felt something terrible had happened within the coven. Something which allowed a freedom that was almost brazen in its regard to her safety.

Although, they flanked her five deep on either side.

Joseph was still sticking with the number fifteen.

Fifteen of his entire soldier contingent should be enough to bring her home.

The Rare One would assimilate into his den. She would not automatically be his. But he would butcher any Alpha who took challenge.

Joseph would be victor.

He must.

The whelp of the Were must evolve or the race would be lost.

He squeezed his hands into fists, mourning the moon's shape.

It was waxing. Two weeks yet until they could bring the change.

Joseph and Tony watched the small female figure bounce as she ran, the huge blood drinkers watching to the four corners of the earth.

Joseph growled low in his throat, the vampires unaware. Tony heard and answered.

It would have been a howl had the moon been full.

*

Julia

Julia's lungs burned. But in a good way. What had started out as nightly walks when the city slept had turned into jogging.

Now she ran. Her vitality returned incrementally night by night.

She shuddered, thinking about how her life had almost ended that fateful night on a floor of ancient cobblestone. Built for humans, infiltrated by vampires.

Claire had to provide blood to save her life. William could not give it.

The third blood share would have mated her to William. Whether she wanted it or not.

Forever was a long time to hold a grudge
, Julia thought.

Because that's what it was. She was immortal only if she had blood quantum. Too much blood loss and her life would be gone.

Julia wasn't sure she believed them. There was no such thing as immortality? Right?

Then her mind burdened her with the facts of the past year.

Like the existence of werewolves and vampire. Check. Like that wasn't crazy-as-hell?

Julia wiped sweat from her brow and glanced at William, who didn't sweat, of course. He never broke stride.

Neither did the other nine which ran with her.

Excuse me, jogged. They could run, she could only do what she was doing now. It was hopelessly slow. She was a foot shorter than them.

“Are you well?” William asked.

She smiled shyly. He was beyond solicitous. Julia had allowed herself the barest crack in her plan. As she had begun to figure it, with all that time recuperating to help with her decisions, she had two evils. The one she knew and the one she did not. The vampires had come clean (or as clean as they ever would) by explaining to her what her options were. Her alternative of escape seemed so remote. So unsuccessful. Julia couldn't help but feel defeated, beaten down. Her chances of survival if she were to get away would be slim.

For starters, there was no camouflaging the scent of what she was. That was by far the largest obstacle standing in the way of her freedom. True freedom.

Secondly, and this was a terrifying prospect, the Were searched for her just as hard as the vampires would. If she
did
escape, the likelihood of her being reacquired by another coven or den of the Were was high. She literally could not find sanctuary.

Her heart grieved for Jason. Her pragmatic nature instructed her thought processes. Survival. And it seemed she had many years to survive.

She'd been off a million miles away and finally answered William, “Yes, I”m fine.”

He looked at the others and gave a command outside the decibel range of human hearing.

He took her by the elbow and they slowed.

She still felt slightly weak, but nothing like when they had taken the first, shuffling steps into the outside air. The smell of it had been cloying, foul.

And rich and wonderful.

Freedom had a smell and Julia breathed deeply of it.

So long she'd been underground, held captive in the original thirty-one blocks of Seattle's great city. While the cattle walked overhead, their predators lived underneath their feet.

Julia remembered what Claire had told her over a month ago.

Julia came awake and met Claire's stare, her eyes steady on Julia's face.

She had never felt as weak as she did now. Not when she had refused to eat for months, when she had to be bathed like a baby by Susan.

She felt cold to her marrow.

“You've lost a tremendous amount of blood from the attack,” Claire said in her calm way.

Julia looked at her, willing her lips to move, but they didn't cooperate.

Claire smiled and stood. She brought a cup with a bendy straw in it.

As Julia sucked on the plastic tube, cool, clean water saturated her mouth and tongue, swollen from lack of use and circulation anomalies.

Finally, when she'd had her fill she asked Claire, “What happened?”

Claire looked away for a moment, a blush of pink lighting on her cheekbones, her skin as fair as Julia's. Julia realized she was embarrassed.

“Things got out of hand. A few of the contenders... could not control their blood lust.” She looked at Julia, who returned the stare without expression, willing her silently to go on. After a pause, she did. “We did not foresee it. But, they were quite premeditated. Gabriel and I,” Julia huffed at the leader's name, immediately begrudging his authority. As Julia saw it, he had no authority over her. After all, he was nothing more than a glorified kidnapper, using the weapons at his disposal to manipulate the vampire outcome.

For their benefit, she thought sourly, not hers. His weapons of choice... the vampire of course.

Claire continued through Julia's insolence as if it didn't exist, “... thought there'd be sufficient protection because of their Singer lineage but it wasn't enough.” Claire looked at the hands that were wringing themselves in her lap. When her eyes met Julia's she saw they were glistening, the tears held there unshed. “There are so few vampire that are capable of breeding with a Rare One.” She gulped and struggled forward, “Now there are fewer.”

So what? Julia thought. It's not like those were such great guys that had assaulted her? Whatever. She said as much to Claire and she nodded reluctantly.

“We know this now. It had been centuries since a female Rare One had entered the coven for this purpose. We didn't anticipate the pull...”

Julia crossed her arms again as she looked up at the shadows that passed across the glass skylight of her room. Why was sunlight allowed to penetrate their lair if it were such a problem?

Claire followed her gaze, smiling. “We have our technologies.”

Julia's brow cocked in question.

Claire gave a little shrug. “They cannot live outside the confines of this space during the day. But, we have one that formulated a chemical wash for the glass...” she threw a palm in the direction of the only window that Julia had.

“So...” Julia's sudden realization of what the shadows were struck her almost dumb.

Almost.

“Those are people? They are walking over our heads?” she asked incredulously.

Claire nodded. “They do not know of our existence. It is like being hidden in plain sight. You understand this concept, no?”

Julia did. She had a babysitter before her parents were killed that would hide everyday objects in plain sight. Julia remembered at one point she'd hidden a sewing thimble on the top of an old TV antenna and it'd been an hour before she'd spied it. Metal on metal, almost invisible.

She couldn't suppress a small smile at the memory, nodding at Claire.

Claire returned the smile, not knowing its origin but happy for its appearance.

“It affords the kiss the greatest protection.”

Julia looked at the shadowed feet, crossing the glass, a foot's separation between their life and death. They never knew.

Julia shivered.

“The solution blocks the UV rays.”

“Couldn't that clever guy make a sunblock or something?” Julia asked, a little bit of snark creeping into her tone.

Claire's smile faded. “That was unsuccessful.”

Julia didn't press but judging by the expression on her face, there'd been a few vampire-torches.

Julia withheld her smile. An image of William on fire came to her mind. Just a few days ago, that visual might have given her a lot of satisfaction. Now... her heart had shifted. And while she did not hate him any more, she wasn't sure what she felt. She thought of flying over the meadow, leaving the Were that had attacked her behind, the claws bound to her shoulders like excruciating hooks. His fierce expression as he fought the vampires that would have bled her dry.

Julia was ashamed. He was what he was, a freak of biology. As she was. Jason was gone.

Forever.

It was in that moment that Julia decided for neutrality with William. He had not shown her harm. On the contrary, he had shown much more.

What it was made her uncomfortable. That couldn't be held against him.

Her discomfort.

In the end, William had been right. Jason had been killed by the Were. Not vampire.

Julia sighed, looking once more above her head.

The cattle moved across their concrete pasture.

Unaware of the vampires below.

*

the present

William smiled down at Julia. Cautious hope took hold of his soul. If a vampire had such.

She looked infinitely better than after the attack. He was right as rain in less than a fore-night. But Julia's tenuous situation was held in the fragile balance of the twilight of death. It took much to kill a Rare One. But the two that may have been in the race for betrothal ruined it by hurting her.

Forget that notion
, William thought. Killing her. They almost killed her. He could hardly bear to think upon it. He had already claimed Julia in his heart. He had not the right. But love chose its own pathway, mindless of the change.

Love hath no master.

He took in her lush mouth, the pulse that beat at the hollow of her throat more attractive than any show of flesh could ever have been. He swallowed, reining in his emotions. He'd had two centuries to perfect his lack of expression.

William found that a year and some days with Julia had undone it all. The careful procedure of schooling one's expression in the way of the vampire, lost. He thought it might never be regained.

His heart seized with instant panic as a scent wafted through the night air.

In an instant, he pulled Julia against him, scenting their surroundings, her water bottle hitting the ground with a false thud, the water leaking out over the black pavement like a crystal well.

Broken.

*

Julia

Julia's heart slammed into her ribcage, William’s hands wrapped around her arms like steel bands, cool against her fevered skin, still warm from the run.

“What is it?” Julia asked.

Pierce lifted his nose to the air. “Wolves, William?”

“I do not know. But,” he looked at the nine that were gathered together, his eyes glittering in the weakness of the lights that illuminated the street where they stood, “it is the only moment of my existence wherein I wish for their sense of smell.”

There was uneasy laughter even as the vampires looked around them for the perceived danger. A few tense moments passed and William's shoulders finally dropped into a more relaxed posture.

“Well?” another vampire asked, Robert, Julia remembered.

William shrugged, his eyes tight. “I do not know what it was, but I very much wish to head back.”

They agreed but Julia protested, “They would never think to find me here.”

William looked down at her, his face cut marble in the whitish blue light of the streetlamp. “It is that mentality that will hasten your taking from our kiss. We do not underestimate the dogs. Their passion makes them dangerous.” He looked into her eyes then elaborated, “Sometimes I will have a moment of...” William deliberated on his wording. Finally settling on, “intuition.”