Chapter Six
Kill the vamp bitch.
Griffin glanced around the dimly lit parking lot. It was full of werewolves—he’d smelled the pack coming. Sure, he’d been a bit distracted at the time, because he’d been balls deep in Isabella, but he’d realized he was being hunted.
He’d also decided he wasn’t going to run. Running wasn’t his style.
Isabella had been allowed to dress. She wore her sexy skirt, her tight top, and still no shoes. That fucking bothered him. He didn’t want her feet hurt. She stood at his side, right in the middle of that circle of werewolves. At least most of the pack members were in human form, for the moment, anyway.
“Uh, Griffin?” A cough came from the left.
Griffin turned his head.
Carter rolled back his shoulders and looked highly uncomfortable. “I’m…I’m really sorry, man. But I did it to protect you.”
Griffin lifted his brows.
“She’s evil,” Carter continued with a determined air. “You know the stories. You know what vamps will do—”
“Ah, excuse me,” Isabella cut in. “But she is right here. And I’d really like to know what the hell is happening.”
Griffin caught her hand in his. He brought her fingers to his mouth and kissed the back of her knuckles. He heard the snarls that came from the werewolves when he made that move. Screw them. Not like he really cared what they thought. Maybe once, he’d tried to follow the pack rules. But not now. Not any longer.
I’ve had her. She’s mine. And I’ll do anything to keep her.
Griffin kissed her knuckles once more. “I’m going to fight for you.”
“Yes, but…why? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I don’t exactly want to be facing this pack alone but—what is happening?”
Carter locked his fingers around Griffin’s shoulder. “You’re digging your own grave, buddy. She’s a parasite. A bloodsucker. She’s not worth the pain you’re going to take from the alpha.”
Griffin let go of Isabella’s fingers. She’d flinched at Carter’s words—because those words had hurt her. Griffin gave Isabella a small smile, then he turned, and he drove his fist into Carter’s face. His ex-friend slammed into the ground.
The snarls and growls around them stopped. Griffin threw back his shoulders and lifted his chin. “Good. I see I’ve got everyone’s attention.” He lifted his claws. He hadn’t used his claws on Carter, but he would be using them on the next bastard who came at him or at Isabella. “I was told the alpha was waiting outside the motel room. Only now I’m outside, and I don’t see him.” He let his gaze drift around the crowd. “Is Vane hiding?” A deliberate taunt. A challenge.
“What in the hell are you doing?” Carter was on his feet and he’d rushed back to Griffin’s side. “Just give up the vamp and you’ll be okay. You don’t need to get into some epic battle for her.”
“Actually, I do, Carter. She’s my mate.”
Carter swore.
“And I’ll fight to the death for her.”
The color bleached from Carter’s skin. “No…”
“Um, hello? Again…I’m here.” Isabella tapped Griffin’s arm. “And I don’t want you fighting to the death for me. Your death is the last thing I want.”
That was cute. She cared, already. Definite progress. Griffin gave her a smile. “Sweetheart, I won’t be the one dying.” His death wouldn’t protect her. Becoming the new alpha? That was the only way to keep her safe.
“Don’t be too sure of that.” The voice—loud, booming—was entirely too arrogant. Vane Bollen had finally shown himself. Tall, nearly six foot three and with wide shoulders, the guy probably would have intimidated most people.
Not me.
Griffin had often wondered before who would win if he ever battled his alpha. When he’d come to town, Vane had been the wolf in charge, and Griffin hadn’t cared enough to challenge the guy. Leadership wasn’t exactly his bit. But…
He didn’t have a choice any longer.
“Is it true?” Vane stalked forward, stopping when he was about five feet away from Griffin. “Did you mate the vamp bitch?”
“I don’t like him,” Isabella whispered to Griffin. “I think I want to punch his fat face.”
“I’ll take care of it,” he promised her.
“I can fight my own battles.”
A faint smirk curled Vane’s thin lips. “She wants to challenge me?” He laughed. So did the others. At least fifteen werewolves were in that parking lot. No humans were around. They’d had the sense to clear out, probably because they thought a gang of bikers were riding into the area. That was what the werewolves there looked like—bikers wearing battered jeans and t-shirts. Lots of leather. With plenty of tats and bad fucking attitudes.
They were a pack, all right, just not the sort that the humans had first figured.
“Why not let the vamp have a go at me?” Vane smiled. “Let’s see what she’s got.” His smile slipped away. “Before I tear her apart.”
Isabella lunged forward, as if she’d go right at Vane, but Griffin held her back. He pulled her against his body, wrapping his arms around her so that her sweet little ass pressed to his cock. Wrong time.
“Let me go,” Isabella rasped.
He just held her tighter. He put his mouth to her ear. “It’s a wolf thing. I have to kick Vane’s ass because we are right in the middle of a pack challenge. You make a run at him, and all of the wolves will attack at once.” And he couldn’t fight off that many werewolves, not at one time. “I’m good, baby, but not that good.” He could feel Carter watching them. Everyone was watching them. “But if I go against Vane on my own, if I challenge him for alpha status…” His breath blew over the shell of her ear. Isabella shivered. “Then I save us both.”
“Or you kill both of you.” Vane’s mocking laughter echoed around them. Of course, the alpha would have heard Griffin’s quiet words. Wolves could always hear nearly every damn thing. “Because you won’t defeat me.”
Griffin eased his hold on Isabella. She immediately spun in his arms and stared up at him. “He’s going to attack you because of me. I should be the one fighting. I should—”
He kissed her and, damn, but she was sweet.
“He’s kissing the vamp!” One werewolf shouted. “She’s making him weak! Kill her! Kill—”
Griffin lifted his head. If he didn’t take alpha status, the pack would swarm. “Hold the thought, Isabella. I’ll be right back.” He let her go. He’d put on jeans before he’d come into that parking lot, and he walked forward, clad in the jeans and nothing else.
“You sure you want to challenge me?” Vane stared at him. The alpha’s arms were crossed over his chest. He wore jeans, boots, and a t-shirt. “In the last ten years, I’ve killed every werewolf who was dumb enough to come at me.”
“You won’t be killing me.” Griffin had too much to live for.
Vane bounded forward, standing toe-to-toe with Griffin in an instant. “We aren’t pets for the vampires,” he hissed. “You would disgrace us all?”
“She’s my mate.” For a werewolf, there wasn’t anything else to say. A mating was special. It was soul deep. With a bite, the beast could recognize his other half, long before the human part of Griffin realized what was happening. Nature’s way of speeding up the process, hell, yes. The beast’s way of saying…I found the one who makes me whole.
“You don’t even know her.” Vane sneered at him. “You think you’re the first werewolf she went after? Not even close.”
Griffin frowned. “What in the hell are you talking about?”
“Ask her.” Vane nodded. “Ask her about the others. Because I heard of their deaths. Word reached me right before Carter came with his tale of you and your vamp.” He lifted his hand and shoved his index finger into Griffin’s chest. “Ask your pretty little vamp whore—”
Griffin caught that finger—and he broke it. One hard snap. “I’m asking you.”
Vane hadn’t made a sound when his finger broke. It took more than a little snap to hurt an alpha.
“I’m asking you,” Griffin said again. “Tell me what in the hell you are talking about.”
“I’m talking about the fact that your little vamp killed three other werewolves in her hunt to find a new…pet. Guess she got lucky with you, huh? Finally found the beast who would fucking bow to her.”
Griffin glanced back at Isabella. She was staring at him with wide, dark eyes, her body tense, her—
Claws slashed across his stomach and a fist slammed into his jaw. Sucker punch. The werewolves around him started chanting. And it wasn’t a fucking good chant.
“Death, death, death!”
“Death!”
Because the battle wouldn’t end until either Vane was dead…or Griffin was. So Griffin clenched his teeth, and his claws slashed toward the alpha.
***
“Isabella is too valuable to lose.” Felix stood inside of Griffin’s office. His men had trashed the place, and they’d found nothing. They’d also searched every inch of Griffin’s home, but they’d turned up nothing there, either. The bastard had vanished.
With my vampire.
His men kept searching. There was a thud as Griffin’s computer hit the floor.
Where did you take Isabella?
“At least you know they’re a match.”
Felix’s eyes snapped open. Bait was talking.
Bait. That was the nickname he’d given to the man he’d sent into the alley after Isabella during her ever-so-fateful first meeting with Griffin. But Bait had a real name, and it was Will Hasting. Will was sweating as he stood there. Will didn’t like the paranormals—most of them scared the shit out of him. Well, with one small exception.
Will was a semi-intelligent guy, after all.
“I mean, Griffin didn’t kill her in the alley. So if he has her now, you know he’s protecting her. He’ll keep her alive, and that gives us time to find them, right?” Will asked as he swiped a hand over his sweaty forehead.
“We’re looking for a vampire and a werewolf. Two beings with enhanced strength and— as far as the wolf is concerned—very, very enhanced senses.” The werewolf would hear them coming long before they got close to their target. “And if Isabella has any humans near her, she can use her compulsion on them. They’ll give her aid.” What a clusterfuck. “We should’ve had her at the hotel.” He just hadn’t counted on the woman flying out of the seventh floor window. Next time, he’d be better prepared. “We need to offer a bounty.”
Will swallowed. “Like a dead or alive thing?”
“Isabella is no use to me dead.” Why did everyone always assume a vamp was dead? A vamp’s heart still beat, a vamp breathed air, a vamp needed blood to live. “I want her alive.”
“R-right.”
There were plenty of wolves in the city. Those wolves would be eager to kill a vampire, and he couldn’t let that happen. No, no, he couldn’t put a bounty on her head. Instead… “Put a bounty on him. Griffin Romeo. One hundred thousand dollars for information on his whereabouts.” One hundred grand could tempt almost anyone. “Because wherever he is, our vamp will be close by.”
Will didn’t look convinced. “You sure about that? I mean, okay, even if their DNA made them some kind of mating bond…vamps and werewolves are mortal enemies.”
Felix just laughed. “Not anymore, they’re not. She’s now his drug of choice, and he won’t go anywhere without his fix.”
***
“Wh-why haven’t they shifted?” Isabella hated the stutter in her voice, but she was surrounded by a whole pack of werewolves, and she was scared. Actually, terrified would probably be a better word choice. Yet, strangely enough, the terror wasn’t for herself.
It was for the bloody man who was fighting so viciously. For Griffin. Griffin had claw marks all over his body. Blood poured from him and from his opponent.
“They can’t shift,” Carter muttered. “That’s against the rules.” Carter. She’d heard Griffin say his name. Once the fighting had started, Carter had taken up a semi-protective position at her side. He didn’t like her, though—none of those wolves did. Only Griffin. And if Griffin didn’t kick the ass of the alpha, Isabella knew she was in serious trouble.
“What are the rules?” Isabella figured she should know them. Seemed important given the circumstances she was in.
As she watched the fight, the other wolf—Vane? Yes, someone had shouted his name moments before—plunged his claws into Griffin’s stomach.
Isabella took a frantic step forward.
Carter grabbed her, his fingers biting into her arms. “Rule one…no interference. You try to help Griffin, and all of the other wolves will attack—they’ll come for you and him.”
Well, that was a crappy rule.
Griffin let out a hard roar. He punched Vane once, twice—a left hook, then a right. Vane staggered back. Griffin swiped out with his claws.
She bit her lip. All of that blood…vamps didn’t do so well around that much blood. Her fangs were lengthening in her mouth. She could feel the slow burn in her gums.
“Rule two,” Carter added as they watched the fight, “no shifting. You fight as a man, not as a beast because it’s a control issue. If you want to be alpha, you have to prove that you can keep your beast in check. That the man is stronger than the monster.”
She felt shock roll through her. “Griffin is fighting to be alpha?”
“No, I think he’s fucking fighting for you.” Disgust was rich in his voice. “He never cared about being alpha. He’s doing this because it’s the only way to keep the pack from ripping you to pieces.”
Lovely visual.
“Vane is our alpha right now. And he’s a tough sonofabitch, so this fight won’t be easy.”
Vane slipped and fell onto the parking lot pavement. Griffin immediately jumped on top of him. His claws went for Vane’s throat, but the alpha blocked him. More blood spilled.
“Rule three…the fight doesn’t stop until one man is dead.”
Griffin drove his claws into Vane’s chest. Right over his heart.
Vane let out a high, keening cry. His body arched upward, but then he fell back against the pavement.
Silence.
Griffin withdrew his claws. He knelt beside Vane a moment, his head bowed. Vane didn’t appear to be breathing. And there was so much blood. Griffin rose. His breath came in heaving pants. He turned to face Isabella. His gaze held hers but…
His stare was hard. Cold. An icy fury radiated from the green depths of his eyes.
What did you expect? He just killed a man for you.
But Griffin was staring at her with such controlled and scary fury. He stalked toward her, moving with fast, angry strides despite all of the blood and—
“Behind you!” Isabella yelled.
Griffin whirled. Vane had lunged up from the ground. He charged at Griffin, his hand curled around a knife.
A knife? Why the hell would a werewolf need a knife? He has his own claws. He has—
In a move so fast her eyes could barely follow it, Griffin snatched the knife from Vane’s hand—and then Griffin drove it deep into Vane’s chest. Smoke immediately rose from the wound, mixing with the blood that soaked Vane’s shirt.
“Silver,” Carter spat in disgust. “That damn asshole had a silver knife hidden on him. That’s cheating.”
Smoke was still rising from Vane’s chest. Isabella was afraid to take her eyes off him. What if he got up again and attacked? What if he just kept coming? What—
“She broke the rules!” A male voice shouted. “The vamp interfered!”
Snarls and growls followed that shout and suddenly, a whole lot of angry werewolves were moving toward her. Closing in.
Carter stepped fully in front of her. “Vane was using a silver knife. I saw it in his hand. He broke the rules before she said a word. The victory stands.”
He’d barely uttered that final word before he was shoved to the side—by Griffin. Griffin’s big, angry, bloody self was suddenly right in front of Isabella. She stared up at him a moment, absolutely certain her heart had stopped. He glared. She—she threw her arms around him.
“You scared the life out of me,” Isabella muttered, holding him tight. He was as stiff as a statue in her arms, making no move to hold her in return. Embarrassed, Isabella pulled back. The scent of his blood was so strong. It nearly overwhelmed her. Her teeth were fully extended, and she knew all of the werewolves had to see them.
Griffin has so many wounds. He’s bleeding too much.
She pushed her wrist toward his mouth. “Here. Take my blood. It will help you heal faster.”
“Werewolves heal plenty fast on their own,” Carter told her, rather arrogantly. “They—”
Griffin bit her. She gave a little gasp and her body went from petrified to alive. Pulsing. Throbbing. Aching.
That bite of his held a definite kick.
The werewolves stopped muttering. Everyone just went dead silent.
As he bit her, Griffin’s gaze stayed on her. His mouth was on her wrist, and she knew he’d bit her in the exact same spot as before. She could feel it. As if his brand had been placed on her again.
Mates? Was that really possible?
“What the fuck are we supposed to do now?”
Her head jerked at those low words. She wasn’t even sure which werewolf had asked that growly question.
Griffin’s tongue swiped over her wrist. It was an oddly tender move, especially considering that they were standing in the middle of a raving wolf pack.
“Now…” Griffin’s voice carried easily. “You pick up the dead. We bury him.” That cold gaze of his never left her face. “And I find out just what fucking secrets this vamp has been keeping from me.”
Her jaw dropped in shock.
And the werewolves howled…as if…as if in victory.
It was right then that Isabella realized she was still in some serious shit.