Chapter Eighteen
Jane looked so helpless.
Aidan swallowed the thick lump in his throat as he stared at her. She was strapped down to an exam table, heavily sedated—sedated enough to knock out a damn elephant. Or an alpha werewolf. The vial Paris had taken from Annette had certainly come in handy.
After they’d drugged Jane, he’d brought her back to his home, the estate deep in the swamp. Aidan had only kept his most trusted wolves with him…and a few other needed individuals.
Dr. Bob Heider was currently curled over his microscope.
Annette was staring into her scrying mirror.
Paris was staring at Annette.
And the bastard vampire Vincent…well…Garrison had a gun pointed dead-center at the vamp’s heart. A gun that was loaded with wooden bullets.
“The gun isn’t necessary,” Vincent stated for what had to be the twentieth time. “I’m not here to hurt anyone. As I told you from the beginning, I want to help Jane.”
Something inside of Aidan just broke at the guy’s words. He flew toward him, caught the vamp’s neck in his hands and snarled, “The way you helped her when you broke her neck?”
Vincent blanched. “She was already dying. Did you want me to prolong her suffering? You couldn’t get to her, you were barely breathing yourself! And your blood kept…changing her. I was afraid of what she’d become if she took more. I didn’t want her in agony, I didn’t want—”
Snap.
It was too easy to break Vincent’s neck.
Aidan released a long, hard breath.
“Did that make you feel better?” Paris asked him, voice curious.
He considered it. “A little bit.” Aidan motioned to Garrison. “He’ll wake up again in a few minutes. That broken neck will heal all too soon, so keep the gun on him.”
Garrison nodded. His hold was tight on the weapon. A little too tight. “Don’t get trigger happy on me yet,” Aidan warned him. “The vamp came to us willingly. And he’s provided us with a lot of information about Jane.”
Like the fact that Jane hadn’t been able to keep down bagged blood or human blood that had come straight from the source. She’d only been able to take werewolf blood.
And…according to Vincent…the fact that Jane hadn’t killed when she’d taken that blood meant her humanity remained. At least some of it. Jane wasn’t a killing machine.
Neither am I.
Because while the beast had raged, while the wolf had snapped and snarled, it hadn’t gone for Jane’s throat. Even my beast didn’t want to kill her. The wolf had gone against its natural instincts because Jane…
She still smelled like she was mine. I looked at her and thought…Mine.
Was that how it had been for his father? Was that why he hadn’t been able to stop Aidan’s mother?
Am I just fucking fooling myself? Prolonging all of our pain? He raked his hand through his hair. “Fuck me. What the hell does ‘the end’ even mean?” Aidan demanded. “Why was it branded on her?”
Garrison pointed toward Vincent’s slumped form. “That’s probably something you should’ve asked him.”
“Yes, well, I will.” He paced back to Jane’s side. Her cheeks had a little color in them. Her hair had been washed, her body washed—all of the blood cleaned away. I did that. I knew she’d want to be clean. He’d dressed her, too. Carefully. Tenderly. Because she was still his Jane.
She always would be.
“Her blood has mutated,” Bob said as he straightened away from the microscope Aidan had brought in for the doctor to use. “But it’s…it’s not like other vamp blood that I’ve seen.”
Aidan curled his fingers around Jane’s hand. “What does that mean?”
“It means…shit, it means her cells actually look like—like yours.”
Aidan kept his hold on Jane, but his gaze zeroed in on the ME. “Explain.”
“It’s like a weird mix. Half vamp, half werewolf. I’m seeing traits of both when I examine her cells. It makes no sense to me. I mean, she has to be one or the other right?” Dr. Bob yanked off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I am so working above my pay grade here.”
Annette gave a low gasp, and the mirror she’d been holding slipped from her fingers. It hit the floor and splintered, heavy, dark chunks flying in every direction. “You did this.”
Aidan blinked.
Vincent moaned. “Fucking bastard…”
Annette hurried toward Aidan, carefully stepping around the chunks of broken glass. She pointed at him. “You changed Jane.”
“No, that would be the jerk-off vampire—”
“He was right,” Annette cut in, shaking her head. Her finger jabbed into his chest. “You had given Jane your blood. But Jane wasn’t a werewolf when you did that, and she wasn’t human, either. I saw…in the mirror…you changed her.”
Aidan’s muscled tensed.
“Ripped sheets,” Annette whispered. “In my mirror, I saw Jane’s hands become claws as she gripped the sheets and gave herself to you.”
Aidan felt heat sting his cheeks. “That would be damn personal, Annette. Do you always see people having sex in that mirror?”
“Jane was already different then. A wolf had started to rise within her. You suspected…that was why you came to me.”
Aidan glanced back at Jane. “She’d been injured so badly. I was just happy to have her with me. She…she seemed a little different.” He winced at that. “Her senses were sharper. She was stronger, but I…I thought it was just temporary.”
“You can’t fuck with nature,” Vincent snarled. The vamp was back in fighting form. The broken neck hadn’t slowed him down nearly long enough. “When you do…bad things happen. Why do you think most vamps are so screwed up? They aren’t supposed to be made. Humans can’t handle the transformation. They go wild with the feelings and the needs exploding in them. Vamps are supposed to be born. Like me. Like Jane. Born and then guided so that we can keep our control. I’m Jane’s guide. I’m here to help her.”
A born vampire had a guide? “Where the hell was my mother’s guide?” The question ripped out of him, the bitterness and pain never far from the surface. “When she was killing my family, where was her guide, huh? Where?”
Sadness flashed on Vincent’s face. “I don’t know. There…there aren’t many born left. Until Jane, I was worried there wouldn’t be more. Vampires aren’t all evil, despite what you think. I’ve tried hard all these years to fight my own darkness. To help others. That’s why I’m here now. I will do anything to see that Jane makes it through this change.”
“That’s why we’re all here,” Aidan muttered, his fingers still holding tight to Jane. “To make sure…” He cleared his throat and focused on Bob Heider. “I knew when I pulled you out of that fire that you’d come in handy.”
Bob’s eyes narrowed as he slipped his glasses back into place. “Are you saying you didn’t just save me because it was the right thing to do?”
Aidan stared back at him.
“Liar…” It was a soft whisper, so faint that, even with Aidan’s enhanced hearing, he almost missed it. But—
His gaze whipped down to Jane.
Her lips moved again, the smallest of motions.
“Liar…” Her voice was louder. “You saved…him…because it was…right.”
“She shouldn’t be awake.” Paris grabbed another drug-filled syringe and hurried toward them. “She shouldn’t be—”
Jane’s lashes lifted. She stared up at Aidan and said, “If he knocks me out again, we’re going to…have issues.”
“Stop, Paris.” Aidan couldn’t look away from her eyes. His beautiful Jane. “Are you…in control?”
“Are…you?”
“Yes.”
Her lips curved. “Then so am I.”
Without thought, he bent and pressed his lips to hers. “I missed you,” he whispered against her mouth.
Missed her so much that his entire word had gone dark.
“Uh, excuse me.” Dr. Bob’s voice—though not as pompous as normal—filled the room. “About these tests…”
“The tests aren’t needed now,” Annette announced, as if giving a decree. “Aidan changed her. He didn’t know it at the time but giving Jane his blood…it made her different.”
Aidan was trying to figure all of this shit out. Staring into Jane’s dark eyes, he said, “You can only feed from werewolves.”
A furrow appeared between her brows.
Annette stepped toward the exam table. She smoothed back Jane’s hair. “You can only feed on them because you need the blood of your own kind to survive. To give you power.”
But Jane was shaking her head. “Werewolves aren’t just going to let me drink from them…”
“Not them,” Aidan stated. “Me. You drink from me.”
Fear filled her eyes. “I don’t want to hurt you. If I lose control…I-I will.”
I won’t let you lose control. “That’s why when you have your first drink, we’ll do it with these straps in place.” His hand moved to the metal strap that slid over her chest. “Just as a precaution.”
“But your wolf…”
“I will keep him controlled.” And if he didn’t, well, he’d make sure Paris was close with his drugs. Still, there was something else Aidan needed to test out before he was sure they were in safe waters. “Paris, come closer to Jane.”
Paris inched closer.
Jane tensed.
“Smell her,” Aidan ordered.
Jane’s nose scrunched. “That is so—”
Paris leaned in close to Jane and inhaled.
“Do you want to kill her?” Aidan asked, then held his breath. Just because his beast was in control around Jane, it didn’t mean that other werewolves would react the same way. In the cemetery, Quint Laurel had certainly been desperate to get at her…but the young alpha had already been in a killing fury. Had he attacked because Jane was in his way? Because he recognized her and wanted her dead? Or had it been something else entirely?
If her vamp scent was going to send his wolves into attack mode, then Aidan would have to leave the city with Jane. There would be no other choice.
“I don’t want to kill her.” Paris seemed surprised. “Didn’t want to kill her at the cemetery, either. She…kind of smells like apples.”
“And lavender,” Garrison blurted.
Aidan’s gaze shot to the younger wolf.
“That’s…how Jane has always smelled,” Garrison’s cheeks flushed. “Apples and lavender. She’s still the same.”
No, she wasn’t. She’d changed, and there was no going back. Just as my mother changed. But this time, things were different. Aidan was using science and magic and even his own blood to ensure that he didn’t lose Jane to the darkness. He wasn’t his father. She wasn’t his mother.
Their ending didn’t have to be the same.
“Everyone…get the fuck out,” Aidan ordered.
People got the fuck out—fast. And they sealed the door shut behind them. Aidan stayed at the side of that exam table, unable to take his eyes off Jane. He’d had the exam room put in because he’d needed a place to patch up injured wolves. He’d never realized Jane would be in that little room.
“Am I really…some half wolf, half vampire thing?”
He put his hands on either side of her head and leaned closer to her. “You are Mary Jane Hart. The woman I love. Always. The most beautiful person I have ever seen.”
Some of the pain vanished from her eyes.
“I want you to drink from me, Mary Jane.”
He could see the tips of her fangs peeking out behind her lips. Earlier, Vincent had warned him that when Jane woke up, she’d be hungry. He’d said that her hunger would be the strongest during the first few weeks as her body fully adjusted to her new state.
But Vincent doesn’t know anything about werewolf blood.
“Don’t let me hurt you,” Jane said, voice trembling.
“That’s why we have the straps, remember?” He gave her a smile. Then Aidan lifted his right wrist and put it at Jane’s mouth. Her eyes were on him. She licked his inner wrist, just over his pulse point, then she bit him.
There wasn’t pain from her bite. A hot lancing seemed to pierce his skin and then pleasure flooded Aidan’s veins. Thick and wild and consuming, the pleasure had his body stiffening, his cock hardening, his heartbeat racing—
Jane pushed his hand away. “I hurt you.”
Hurt sure wasn’t the word.
“Aidan, I’m so sorry.”
He grabbed the bar across her chest and yanked it away. The heavy steel broke with a hard groan. Then he tore away the bar that covered her hips. “I want more.”
“You…what?”
He pulled her up. Stared into her eyes. “I like your bite, Mary Jane.”
“That’s…that’s not possible.”
He was pretty sure that anything was possible, with her.
She swung her legs around to dangle off the table, and he stepped between her spread thighs. He curled his hands around her hips, bringing her closer to him, and then he offered her his neck. It was a move that an alpha werewolf was never supposed to make to another. It was submissive. It was…
Me, offering myself to her.
Her mouth pressed to his throat. She licked him again and then she bit him.
The pleasure was even more intense this time. Firing his blood, making him shudder and quake. His cock jerked toward her, wanting inside her body, and he wasn’t about to stop. Perhaps, after everything that had happened between them, he should have used finesse. Charm.
But, no, because of everything, the moment was too elemental. The desire too fierce. He needed to take her, to claim her, to know that Jane—his Jane—was still with him. Always.
Forever.
His claws shredded the pajama pants he’d put on her so carefully. He ripped away her panties. And he shoved down his jeans so his cock could be free.
She kept drinking from him.
He kept needing her.
He positioned his cock at the entrance to her body. She was wet, eager for him. He tightened his hold on Jane, and then Aidan thrust deep.
She pulled her mouth away from his throat, gasping.
“More, Jane,” Aidan said. He didn’t know if he was talking about her bite or the pleasure they were giving each other. He just knew it couldn’t end. They couldn’t end.
This wasn’t the end.
He thrust into her, faster, harder, and when he couldn’t get deep enough, he picked her up off that table and held her easily in his arms. He lifted her up and down, working her along the length of his cock.
He stepped on something sharp—probably a chunk of that fucking mirror—and just ignored the quick flash of pain. Again and again, he thrust into Jane.
She came for him. He felt the contractions of her sex around him. She cried out with her climax, and he was right behind her. Aidan emptied himself into Jane, coming hard and strong, coming until he could barely breathe because his need for her was so powerful.
And in the aftermath, his heartbeat slowly returned to normal. His shaking hands lowered Jane back to the exam table.
“You didn’t kill me,” Jane said.
“The pleasure almost killed me,” Aidan confessed.
She smiled at him. A smile that lit her gorgeous eyes and made his chest ache. They’d done it. They’d survived the storm. Survived the hell that came for them.
And they were stronger now. They’d stay stronger.
“I love you, Jane.” He would fight with every breath in his body to protect her.
Today. Tomorrow. Forever.
***
It was hours later when Annette slipped into the lab room in the depths of the alpha’s house. Jane and Aidan were upstairs, no doubt lost in each other’s arms. They thought the danger had passed.
She wasn’t so sure.
“I think this is a really bad idea,” Bob Heider muttered from behind her. “The last thing I want to do is piss off Aidan Locke.”
Her gaze slid over the floor—the broken pieces of her mirror. And…
Aidan’s blood. She knew it. Just the way she’d always known certain things. Annette picked up that bloody chunk of glass. The instant she touched it, her hand chilled.
It’s not over. Not yet.
“You need to run tests on this blood,” she said, giving the chunk of glass to Bob. “Run the tests and then tell me what you find—”
“No.” Not Bob’s voice. The growled word had been far too dark and deep for Bob. Paris. Shit. She peeked to the left and saw that Paris was standing in the shadows of the room. He’d been watching them the whole time, and now his gaze was on the glass. Very slowly, his golden stare rose until he was looking straight at Bob. “You tell me what you find.”
Oh, no. This wasn’t going to be good.
Because Annette strongly suspected that Jane wasn’t the only one changing. Aidan had given his blood to a vampire. He’d bonded with her. His wolf…it hadn’t attacked Jane. An alpha should have attacked her. The difference in her blood—that mix of wolf—might be enough to confuse the others in the pack so that they wouldn’t attack, but an alpha wolf should have still felt the primal urge to kill her.
Only…he hadn’t. And he hadn’t killed Vincent, either.
Because Aidan is changing, too.
The rules of the paranormal world were changing. And she was very, very afraid of what might come next…
The end.
For them all.
***
Jane rolled over in bed and smiled up at Aidan. She’d thought her chance with him was over—that her life was over.
And, well, her human life was gone. She was still getting used to her fangs—if she wasn’t careful, she’d bite her own lip. And the heightened senses made things a little confusing but…
I have Aidan.
For her, having Aidan was what mattered. He was at her side. He had her back. Just as she had his. Their bond was so deep. Deeper than blood.
Deeper than family.
“Why do you look sad?” Aidan asked her.
Jane blinked quickly. She’d thought he was sleeping. “I was…thinking about my brother.”
“Don’t.”
She gave a bitter laugh. “Not that easy.” And this was the hard part. “Aidan, I know you plan to kill him.”
“Because he fucking shot you, yes, I—”
“Don’t.”
He drew in a deep breath.
“Let me handle him. He’s my family. My responsibility.” Even though she didn’t know what the hell she was going to do about Drew. Not yet.
Kill him?
No. Because while she might be a vampire, while she might not have total control of her new self yet, Jane knew she wasn’t a murderer.
She was still a cop. And her job was to uphold the law.
To protect.
“He won’t hurt you again, Jane,” Aidan promised.
“No, he won’t.” She’d make sure of that. She leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Aidan’s lips. “You know…things can be easier now.”
“Easier?” Doubt was heavy in his voice.
“Just think…with all of this extra strength and power, I’ll be able to track down criminals twice as fast as I did before.”
He groaned.
“And I pity the dumbass who tries to resist arrest with me,” she added.
“Jane…”
“What? The world doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom.” It wasn’t. She’d survived her change, she was with Aidan and, for the most part, she still felt like her old self. “I will use this change to help me. To help others.”
Because despite Annette’s orders, Jane didn’t intend to stop playing hero. Not now…maybe not ever.
Aidan stared at her, silent.
“There are some things that you just can’t change,” she said.
His expression softened. “No, I guess you can’t.” His fingers slid into her hair and he pulled her down for a kiss. “I love you.”
And she would always love him.
Her werewolf.
Her partner.
Her mate.
The End
###
The final book in the Blood and Moonlight trilogy, BITTER BLOOD, will be available in spring of 2016! Aidan and Jane will be back one last time…and the changes coming will blow their world apart.