William (2 page)

They ran.

Neither of them was powerful enough to take down James and William needed to get to his father. He needed to warn everyone.

How was he going to tell his father—their leader—that they were at war with the wolves?

“William, stop.” He stopped and turned to the love of his life, then gasped.

 She looked old; her hair was grey and her face gaunt.

“We have to go,” he insisted. “You’re using too much magic.”

She paused and pressed a kiss to his palm. “
You
have to go. You must tell your father.”

“Together, we can do this together,” he earnestly pleaded.

She shook her head. “I love you, William, and that’s why I have to help you. He will keep coming. James won’t stop.”

“Don’t do this,” he begged, tears falling from his eyes.

“I love you, Will. I always have. Listen to me. You will find another.”

He shook his head in denial.

“You will. I’ve seen it. You love me but you’re not meant for me. You’re meant for another.” She rested his palm against her heart. He could feel the steady beat. She wasn’t afraid—she had accepted her fate.

Once a witch knew what she had to do, in the steady beat of her heart, there was no stopping it.

William looked into the face of the woman he had loved for more than a century. She was his bonded mate. He loved her with all his heart and soul. He couldn’t imagine life without her.

She kissed him one final time.

“Well, isn’t this a touching scene?” James was standing a few feet away.

William broke the kiss and stared into the face of the man he was going to hunt for the rest of his life.

“You interrupted us.” Emma turned to him.

William noted the squared shoulders, the jaw set with determination. She was here for business and she was taking James with her.

“You killed my witch,” he growled.

“You killed hundreds of mine.” He could hear the anger and the rage. Her kind—her race. She was fighting for them. For the countless men and women who had lost their lives in this man’s hunt for domination.

“Well, that was just plain fun,” James gloated.

Emma screamed and threw all her power against him. It was awful to see. William watched and could do nothing. She’d cast a spell to keep him in place. He could only watch James winning, taunting her with his own abilities.

Finally she threw enough power against him, using up the last of her magic in a killing blow. James disappeared.

She collapsed in a bloodied heap on the ground.

William felt the magic wear off, releasing him, and he ran to her side.

The tears rolled down his cheeks, thick and fast.

“Oh God, Emma.” He cradled her so that she was draped across his lap.

Her face was pale, blood spilling from her mouth. “Go and warn the others.”

“I love you,” he said.

It was too late. She was gone.

William held her to him for the longest time. Her pale, lifeless body in his arms, laid against his heart. Time passed. It didn’t matter. He held her and he felt nothing.

“William… William… William…” He heard his name spoken, but he didn’t care.

Eventually he looked up to see his brothers, Robert, and Adam. They were waiting for him.

“I couldn’t save her,” he cried.

“Come with us.” Robert held out his hand.

He shook his head. He couldn’t leave her—he and Emma were meant to be together.

Adam shoved Robert out of the way and growled at William. “Look, William, it won’t help the situation if you just stay here and die.”

Reluctantly, William let her go. A witch needed to be given back to the earth. It was their way. He couldn’t take her with him. He laid her to rest, said his prayers and walked away with his brothers, a changed man.

Several hours later

James stood over the body of the dead witch. A waste, but worth it.

He moved over to the other witch and looked down into her face. She was a rare beauty. Her brown hair was tinted with the white of a witch who had abused her power.

“You should learn balance,” he tutted.

He knelt by her side and touched her cold cheek. He stroked the cold, lifeless flesh, so still and silent in death.

He pulled back, laughing as Emma came to, choking and gasping for air. She pulled the air into her lungs as if it were a rare find.

“Had me worried there, little Em. Didn’t think you were going to wake up.” He handed her a cloak to cover her bloodied body.

She took it. He could see her fingers trembling.

“Spell go wrong?”

Once she’d placed the cloak around her shoulders, she got to her feet. She flipped her hair over one shoulder. “Spell went perfectly, didn’t you think?” She placed her hand on her hip.

She was saucy and hot, and he’d come to appreciate her over these past months.

“It sure had William convinced,” he agreed.

She didn’t even bat an eyelash.

“Not concerned that your one and only mate thinks you’re dead and innocent?” James asked.

She shrugged her shoulders. “You gave him the chance to join us; he wanted to stay with his daddy. That’s his business. I’m not prepared to go back.”

“Did you honestly think he’d join me—us?” James leaned against the tree, taking her in.

“He doesn’t agree with his father. I guess he just thinks he’s bad.”

James hadn’t been able to believe it when he’d got a visit from this witch, some months ago, late at night. She had wanted to join forces. She’d known it had been him who had started the hunts of the witches and vampires. Emma was an evil witch to the core and she was tired of being the good girl.

There was no love and no compassion in this package—just pure hatred.

The partnership worked very well.

“Remember what you promised me?” He walked over to her, his power and energy clashing with hers, sending tingles of pain shooting along his nerve endings.

“Yes, I know what I promised.” She took a step back. A huge mistake. His wolf liked to see her scared. He could smell her fear.

“You’d better not mess with me, witch,” he warned.

“I came to you, remember? No messing from my end. You’ll get what you want and I’ll get what I want.” Her tone was insolent.

He didn’t like it.

Within seconds he had wrapped his hand around her neck and was squeezing. “I want you to remember, sweet Emma, I don’t care about you. I’m not William Valentine. You’re one witch in a sea of others and any time I want I can pluck the next one out. You get on my nerves and your days are numbered.” He thrust her away and turned from her.

“It’s because of
her
, isn’t it?” Emma cried.

He stopped, stood rigid and turned with a snarl on his face.

“You’re doing this because—”

“I suggest that if you like breathing you keep your mouth shut.”

He didn’t speak again. He didn’t need to. His warning was clear.

Chapter One

Present day

The sound of glass smashing could be heard in every corner of the bar. The audience looked on at the spectacle in silence, each doubtless wondering if they would be the target of the vampire’s wrath.

“Where is she?” A fist was raised. Usually, bar fights were great sport, but in a predominantly vampire-filled bar there was no sport, just information gathering—and it wasn’t acquired over tea and biscuits. It always got bloody and it never ended well. A Valentine was on the prowl and no one was about to get in his way—even if the vampire William targeted was scared for his life.

The way the other customers saw it, the guy getting pummelled shouldn’t have earned a reputation for being a messenger to the wolves. A man supporting both sides of the war.

“I don’t know, man. No one has talked.” The guy covered his face, denying all knowledge. Adam stood and observed from the dark corner as he watched his older brother lose control. William was completely out of it.

Since another witch had been taken—Katie, the best friend of his brother Robert’s bonded mate—it was like he was losing his sense of reality. No one could reason with him.

“Tell me where they are,” William snarled in the young vampire’s face. Adam winced. He was here as a favour to Robert and he loved his brother, but this was too damn much. There was no thought, no consideration of the chaos he was causing. It had hit him worse even than losing Emma. It was like someone had carved out his heart and left him hurt and bleeding.

Katie White, the last remaining witch, was still alive, and that made it worse. At least Emma had been dead and he’d known there was nothing he could do to change that. But William knew that Katie was out there, and he was leaving a wave of destruction everywhere he went in his efforts to find her.

William wasn’t the same man. There was no mercy in this guy. Rage, anger and pain consumed him now. His was on a destructive path. No one—not even Robert—could stop him now.

Adam looked around at all the people observing the fight. Vampires, wolves…shit, even demons sat and watched William. Most of them looked terrified of the vampire who had clearly lost his mind.

Shaking his head, Adam turned back to watch his brother.

As much as he thought that this was wrong, he would never get in between his brother and what he felt he needed to do. The witch clearly meant something to him. No vampire went this crazy for a woman unless she was a bond mate.

Adam didn’t know much about her. He’d never met her. A few months ago, she had been taken by the wolf Alpha, James. The same night his own father—head of the vampire council and the most powerful vampire in all of Beyer West—had been killed. Murdered, actually. Taken from them by the same wolf.

Everything around them was going to shit and his brother was determined to go down the same path. At any time the other customers could jump them and finally be rid of the unstable Valentine boy. For decades, William had made himself a reputation for being the crazy brother, but now he was driving his ruthlessness to a whole new level.

Adam tensed as the barman approached his brother. The barman was a vampire and, from the look of it, one of the older generation. Adam moved closer. If it went the wrong way he would back his brother. Whether he believed what his brother was doing was right or not, family came first.

That was what made him a Valentine.

Adam watched as William raised his fist, ready to take another set of swipes at the guy he held. The barman stopped his raised fist easily, holding it in his, and span William around as if he were nothing more than a rag doll.

“Son, he said he didn’t know nothing. Leave him be,” the barman said.

William hissed and tried to hit the barman, a great insult amongst their community. Out of respect, no one attacked the older generation. Adam swore and moved forward.

The barman grabbed William and, using the full force of his upper body, threw him against the bar. The bottles rattled and the customers close by dispersed, not wanting to get involved in a fight that was clearly about to get worse.

Adam ran, going for the man who was holding his brother. The barman turned and sucker-punched him across the room before Adam could even land a blow. He crashed through the window, broken shards of glass spraying around him.

“Fuck,” Adam cursed. The only humans in the street were ones who had seen too much of this world and were pretty much crazy. Drunks, druggies and prostitutes who knew better than to talk about what they had seen. His fangs protruded as his anger rose.

Fuck protocol. Adam was pissed off and cruising for a fight.

He stormed back into the bar.

William was bloodied but he was getting in a few punches of his own.

“I’ve told you not to bring shit like this to my bar. I didn’t serve your fucking family to have you ruin my business,” the barman yelled as he pushed William away from him.

Adam stopped as his words registered. This man used to serve the Valentines?

“What the hell are you talking about?” William asked, spitting blood on the floor and wiping his lip.

“Name’s Donald. I served the Valentines for over three generations and this is the type of respect I get?”

William pulled himself up off the floor.

Adam couldn’t believe what his brother had done. Fucking asshole. Donald ‘Don’ Hargreaves was a well-known guard and warrior. He had fought for and protected the Valentines up until their youngest sister, Rose, had been born. After Rose had come home safe and sound, their mother healthy, Don had been relieved of his duties by their father. No explanations—nothing. Centuries had passed since this fierce warrior had been seen, which was why William hadn’t recognised him. He’d done nothing other than working in a bar, where no one would have thought to look for him.

“Don Hargreaves?” Adam asked.

“Yep, that’s me. About time you two heathens bloody noticed,” Don replied, his anger still close to the surface.

“Shit.” William wiped his face, smearing the blood along his cheek. “I’m sorry, Don. This had nothing to do with you.”

“It has something to do with your father’s death a few months back?” Don asked William.

“Part of it,” replied Adam, who could see how much William was struggling to keep himself together. The natural instinct to hunt and kill was close to the surface, ready to erupt.

Don didn’t look at Adam. He kept his eyes firmly on the other Valentine brother. The one whom he considered a threat, Adam supposed.

“What is all this about?” Don folded his arms.

Adam stared at William. After all, this was William’s deal and he had nothing to do with it. He refused to talk about something he had no hand in.

“A witch was found a couple of weeks back.” William raised his voice so that everyone in the room could hear.

Murmurs and gasps filled the room.

“Bullshit. Witches have all been killed off,” one of the customers yelled.

Pretty much his first thought when he’d been told. Every vampire with a few years on them would remember the slaughter of the witches.

“Yeah, this is some shit you Valentines are selling. No witches. It’s why the world has gone to shit,” another agreed.