Twenty-Three
Gracie gasped and shoved Fraze’s arm off of her. She had to be free to save him.
She gave an exaggerated, sarcastic curtsy. “Ana.”
“Gracie Jane, little Gracie Jane,” Ana said, licking her lips. “Rescued by your shifter friend, in the nick of time. I shouldn’t be surprised, but I often am, especially when it comes to you.”
Gracie didn’t have a response, so she kept quiet.
“You need a court, young one. You need the protection of other vampires.”
“I don’t need your kind of protection,” Gracie said. “I’ve been surviving, but now I aim to live.”
Ana laughed. “Oh, how precious. I always thought you were the weakest of us, and it appears I was right. In this case, I am not surprised. Your feelings make you weak. Your emotions make you weak. Let me weaken you further by telling you that once I have defeated you, I will defeat these shifter boys, and then I will defeat your poor brother Bo. And I will continue to defeat everyone you’ve ever touched, talked to, fed from, until every last trace and memory of you is gone from the earth. It will be easy, because I have centuries ahead of me.”
Without waiting, Gracie lunged forward and tried to grab Ana. Ana dodged, and Gracie’s fingers clawed Ana’s neck. The contact was satisfying to Gracie, and infuriating to Ana.
“How dare you touch your queen!” Ana shouted, before bolting forward.
Gracie braced for impact, ready to fight. When Ana made contact with Gracie’s shoulder, Gracie turned and shoved the queen to the ground.
Ana leaped up immediately and charged again—this time Gracie leaped and met her in the air. She threw as many hits as she could at Ana’s face, until they fell to the ground.
Gracie was on the bottom—the vulnerable position. She fought to push Ana off of her. Ana just grinned. She held Gracie’s head tightly, as if to rip it directly off Gracie’s neck.
She could do it, too.
Gracie grabbed Ana’s wrists, but Ana was too strong.
But suddenly, Ana’s weight left Gracie’s stomach.
Two mountain lions had barreled against her, shoving her off Gracie.
Fraze stood over Ana in his mountain lion form. Another mountain lion stood with him. His brother, Gracie guessed. Fraze held Ana down, and the other bit into her throat.
A half-second later, Ana was dust.
But the sun had risen. Light, beautiful light, gracing the treetops and painting them a warm, greenish gold.
Gracie felt the light burning her skin, the sear of it branding into her flesh. So beautiful, but painful. She struggled to stand. “Ana must have had somewhere to go,” she said, “if she was risking being out here this late…”
The lions turned to her, and one of them shifted to human. Fraze. His big body covered hers in shadow, trying to protect her from the sun. Her shoulder already felt burned—she would scar, no question about it.
“There’s a cave just beyond these trees,” he said. “I’ll stay with you all day.”
The other lion shifted, too, into Fraze’s brother. The two men shielded Gracie with their bodies. They couldn’t protect her completely, and any exposed parts of her skin bubbled into immediate blisters. She writhed, trying to hide in the brothers’ shadows. Intense pain. She cowered behind them until they backed her into a cool, damp cave.
Fraze looked at his brother. “Thank you.”
The other man was objectively handsomer than Fraze, with sandy blond hair and piercing blue eyes. The kind of classically handsome man she’d see in the movies. But it was Fraze she loved, Fraze who held her heart. His face was dearer to her than anyone else’s.
Fraze saw her gaze on his brother. “Gracie, this is Dristan. Dristan, Gracie.”
Gracie said, “Thank you for saving my life. It’s nice to meet you.”
She held out her hand, and Dristan stared at it for a long moment. Finally, he took it in his own and shook it. Then he turned and shifted back into a lion.
Then he was gone.
Fraze looked down at Gracie, she felt his eyes on her.
“Where am I burned?” she asked.
“Your shoulder. A little on your neck right here.”
“It’ll scar,” she said.
He held up his wrist. “Take some of my blood.”
Gracie smiled at him. Her generous man. “Thank you, but a burn from the sun always scars.”
“Does that bother you?” he asked.
“Not if it doesn’t bother you.”
“‘Course it doesn’t.”
Leaning over, he kissed her, and Gracie reveled in the feeling of his lips on hers. This was exactly where she belonged. Maybe not in this cave, but with Fraze at her side, for as long as their lifetimes would allow it.
His tongue probed her mouth and she allowed him in, allowed him to pull her into his arms. She wrapped her arms around him, feeling his muscles. He looked bruised in places, from his fight with the other shifters, but he would be all right. Both of them would be just fine.
She covered his face with kisses, pulling him closer to her body. “All alone in this cave,” she murmured. “And I can’t leave for the entire day. What ever are we gonna do?”
He laughed, low in his throat, and captured her lips with his once more. After releasing her mouth with a soft smack of lips, he said, “I have a few ideas.”