Chapter Eighteen
“Clarissa, you always told me that I can leave whenever I want,” Ash said, trying in vain to reason with her as she’d done the entire flight to New York.
Clarissa continued to drag her, not paying Ash any mind. Ash twisted her arm. She couldn’t release Clarissa’s hold on her, she was too strong. Ash only ended up hurting herself more than anything else.
“So, I lied,” Clarissa said with a hint of amusement.
Ash dug her heels into the carpeted floor, but that only made Clarissa tug violently. Something snapped, followed by a whole lot of pain. Asha howled, her knees buckled, and she couldn’t catch her breath. “My arm,” she said between pained breaths. “It’s dislocated.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that. It’ll repair itself soon enough.”
Even with pain shooting through her body, Ash pulled her useless arm back and dropped her butt to the floor. It was no use. Clarissa was much stronger than her. She dragged her across the carpet. Ash’s pants fell from her hip. Carpet burned against her skin.
That still didn’t matter. To Clarissa, Ash weighed nothing.
Clarissa unlocked the door to the bedroom they both shared. Ash’s stomach clenched. If Clarissa got her beyond those doors, Ash wouldn’t come out alive.
“Please, Clarissa,” Ash begged. “I’m sorry for everything that I’ve done. I’ll stay with you until the day I die. I don’t want this anymore.” Ash’s chest burned as she spoke.
The lock clicked free. As if in slow motion, Clarissa glared down at her. “You’ll be with me forever now.”
There was no hope.
Clarissa pulled Ash into the room and closed the door behind her. Clarissa released her. Ash scrambled backward on her knees and good hand, while the other arm hung limply at her side. Her breaths came out hard and ragged. Ash looked around the room wildly, trying to find something, anything that could be used as a weapon against Clarissa. Of course, there was nothing that could harm a determined Vampire.
Clarissa turned to face her. The angelic smile on her face had lost its ability to comfort many years before. Asha knew to fear that smile for good reason now. It meant something terrible was about to happen.
Clarissa opened her mouth wide and Ash watched in horror as her pointy canines grew longer, until they touched her bottom lip.
Ash shielded herself with her good hand. “Please, Clarissa,” she whispered. “Please don’t do this to me…to Hunter. He had no choice in choosing me as his life-mate, but I do in becoming a Vampire. This might kill him.”
Clarissa took slow steps toward her, as if she glided on air. Ash had never witnessed a turning. It had never been discussed. Any illusions she might have had about it being glamorous were quickly dispelled. In a flash, Clarissa was on her neck, pressing her ear painfully to her shoulder, ripping tendons as she did. The prick of teeth normally felt on her wrists and groin was replaced with a full-on bite. Clarissa tore a chunk out of Ash’s neck and spat skin and blood on the floor.
Ash’s vision dimmed. Screams were on her lips, death was at her door and Hunter was on her mind.
Pain quickly subsided to numbness. Clarissa gurgled as she feasted on her flesh and blood. The noise soon faded into the background. Fear was replaced by sadness. So much sadness. For the life that she’d lost and the love that hadn’t had time to grow.
The connection that bound her and Hunter began to weaken. She was alone, yet again.
“Hunter, I’m so sorry,” she whispered as darkness claimed her.
* * * *
Hunter paced the short length from one side of the airplane hangar to the other. He couldn’t keep his legs still and his mind clear. He imagined all the wrongs and evils that Ash was probably enduring and he couldn’t do anything about it while he was stuck waiting for the private plane to refuel. Each thought was like a separate car on a fast-moving locomotive, barreling through his head, one right after the other. His wolf wasn’t any calmer. He prowled and whined, sending him picture after picture of Ash—the scared look in her eyes whenever she glanced at Clarissa, Clarissa breaking her finger and the open wounds on her wrists.
It was his fault that she was back in that blood-sucker’s hands.
With a roar, Hunter pulled back a closed fist and, using all of his might, slammed it through the wall.
“What the hell?” Meisha said, glancing at him.
Lajos and Meisha had cut their extended honeymoon short and returned home after learning that Erzsebet had left the Pack. The jet had landed just as Andras, Kristof and Hunter had finished dressing.
Hunter had wanted to run up the steps just as Lajos and Meisha had come down them, but the plane had required maintenance before making another trip. Hunter now had to tack on thirty more minutes until he could get to Ash. And thirty more minutes with Clarissa would probably feel like a lifetime.
Andras paused the conversation that he’d been having with Kristof, Lajos and Meisha and turned to Hunter. His dark eyes, while showing compassion, also held power behind the irises. “Hunter, we’ll leave shortly. Destroying property won’t get the plane ready any sooner,” he said in steady and calm voice. “Try to calm down.”
How could he be calm when his life-mate was in trouble? He could feel her anxiety. It was palpable within his bones. “I can’t.”
“Andras will make this right, Hunter,” Katalin said, trying her best to keep him calm. She’d been by his side ever since meeting them.
She rubbed her hand across his back. Normally, Hunter would’ve appeased the younger Shifter. She was anxious and her wolf was having a hard time dealing with losing two Pack members at once. But now wasn’t the time. He pulled away and growled.
Katalin jumped away from him. She had a stunned look of hurt in her eyes. “I-I’m sorry. I was just trying to help.”
Hunter drew his hand back to punch another section of the wall. He thrust his fist forward with all his might and hit something else. Lajos caught him.
“I know what you’re going through,” Lajos whispered to him.
Hunter tried to keep the forward momentum of his fist going, but Lajos wouldn’t budge. He wanted to tell Lajos that he couldn’t possibly know how he felt, but if one person knew exactly what he was going through it was him.
Lajos had mated with Meisha and, right after their bonding, Meisha had been taken hostage by a rogue Russian Shifter group in Miami. Lajos had been beside himself. It had taken all of Andras’ Alpha control to keep him from rushing into a trap alone and risk getting killed in the process. Hunter and the rest of the security team had flown to Miami to rescue Meisha, only to find out that she’d been handling the situation herself and had been about to scale down the building to freedom.
Hunter closed his eyes and dropped his hand. “I can feel how much she needs me,” he whispered.
“I know the feeling. But what’s best is for you to give her strength and courage. The stronger you are, the stronger she’ll feel. If you feel despair, so will she. Let her draw from your energy.
Hunter closed his eyes and used his mating bond to reach out to her. She was scared and confused. He took a deep breath and projected courage and strength, letting her know that she wasn’t alone, he would always be by her side, no matter how many miles separated them.
Hunter opened his eyes. “It helps a little, but I need to get to her as soon as possible.”
“Ten minutes before we’re ready for takeoff,” the pilot called out.
Hunter let out a heavy breath. In ten minutes, he’d be closer to getting Ash back and in his arms. “Thank you for your counsel,” he said to Lajos. Then to Katalin he said, “I’m sorry.”
Katalin gave him a weak smile and lifted a shoulder. “You’re having a hard time. I think we all are. We all want them back as soon as possible.”
“And I’m sorry that you and Meisha had to cut your honeymoon short because of all of this,” Hunter said to Lajos.
“Don’t worry about that. You were there to help me get my mate back safely, and I’m here to help you.”
Hunter frowned. He hadn’t expected Lajos to go with them. He was still on honeymoon. “Meisha is letting you go to New York with us?”
Lajos shifted on his feet. “Umm, she…”
“She what?” Meisha asked as she came into earshot.
Lajos turned to his wife. There was adoration in his eyes that Hunter quickly recognized as love. “Honey, I’m going to go to New York with Hunter to get his mate back.”
She wrapped her arms around his waist and he pulled her close to his body. “Fine with me. But I’m going, too.”
“Absolutely not.” Lajos shook his head vehemently. “We may have to go up against Vampires. I don’t want you anywhere near them.”
“I can handle myself. The Yaruzi, Lycans, Vampires, it doesn’t matter to me. I got this.”
Meisha was half Japanese and half African-American. Although she only stood around five-feet-one and weighed about one hundred and ten pounds, she was a force to be reckoned with. Her family had fled Japan when she’d been a young girl because the Yaruzi gang boss had wanted her father to turn her and her mother over to them as payment for a wrong that he’d done. Meisha’s father had trained her and her younger brother Miko in martial arts, readying them for the day that the Yaruzi came knocking on their door. Meisha and her family had been hiding from them ever since, but now, with Lajos’s love and the Pack’s support, her family didn’t hide anymore.
“Meisha,” Andras said, drawing everyone’s attention to him. “You’ll have to sit this one out. Because of your bond with Lajos you’re stronger and faster, but you still aren’t a match for a Vampire. Stay here.”
“But—”
Andras leveled his gaze on her. His Alpha dominance crackled through the air. “No buts. There’s a ton of work that’s waiting for you here. Trudy is excited about your return. She’s anxious to get started on the budget for the new school.”
Meisha was a teacher by trade and, now that she was part of the Pack, Andras had tasked her to help build and run a small school just for the Shifter kids who were currently being homeschooled by their mothers. With a real school on the Dark Wolf Enterprises’ property, the kids could spend their days together learning, instead of at home alone.
Meisha opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She tried again and, after the same result, shut it with a huff.
“Honey, there’s no use in arguing with Andras. He’s your Alpha now.” Lajos leaned over and kissed the top of her head. “I’ll return shortly. Don’t worry about us.”
She lowered her eyes at Andras. “Sorry, I’m still learning the ropes.”
“No offense taken. I understand there’s going to be a learning curve now that we have…humans in our Pack.”
She nodded then turned toward Lajos. “What am I supposed to do while you’re on an adventure? Sit around and twiddle my thumbs?”
“No, you have plenty to do with Trudy, and you can also help your mom finish shopping for furniture for their new place. Because I’m sure your dad and Miko would love to have couches and chairs to sit on.”
Meisha chewed on her bottom lip in thought. “You’re right.” She rose on tippy-toes and looped her arms around his neck. “Come back to me safe.”
Hunter choked up at the amount of love that emanated from the happy couple. Would he and Asha ever be able to share the kind of love and admiration that Meisha and Lajos had? His arms longed to hold his mate. His hands missed the feel of her skin. His eyes missed looking at her. His heart longed for her. His soul sang a song just for her.
He turned away from the couple, unable to watch them any longer.
“No doubt,” he whispered to her.
A bolt of lightning seemed to strike him in his chest, rocking him back on his heels. His breath caught in his throat as his lungs seized. Pain rippled through his body, waves of it firing to every nerve ending. Blinding light flashed behind his eyes. His brain felt as though it would explode against his skull.
“Hunter!”
“Hunter, what’s the matter?”
He heard the others’ concern but couldn’t focus on any of it. The pain was too great. On the next wave came sorrow and loneliness.
His voice finally came back, but as a cry. “She’s gone! My Asha is dead.”