Chapter 4
I was standing in Kfarkattan, not wearing any clothing, being held by a vampire. That should sound like a nightmare of the most terrifying variety. But I wasn’t scared. Not with Miguel caressing my face, tracing his thumbs over my jaw, opening and closing his lips over mine in barely there, gentle tugs, darting his tongue out and lapping at mine every so often.
Necking with a soulless killer wasn’t what I would have expected. He was tender and gentle, his gaze warm and full of desire, his body hard and muscular and nothing short of perfect. I melted against him, and he moaned, increasing the pressure of his lips against mine and sucking on my tongue.
“Ungh, ungh,” I groaned and pushed my groin against him, looking for friction.
“So young,” he said quietly and caressed my cheek as he gazed at me. “So innocent.”
I saw something cross his expression then, something other than lust and desire, something closer to disappointment or sadness. But I couldn’t think too long on it because suddenly he was kissing me again as he pressed his knee between my thighs, giving me something to rub on. Instinct took over, and I frantically rutted against him, grasping at his shirt, pouring my moans and whimpers into his mouth. And then I was shaking and coming and crying out his name.
When I came back to earth, I was still in Miguel’s arms, snug as a bug, surrounded by his strength as he kissed and sucked on my neck. “You said my name,” I heard him whisper. Then he pulled back and put his hands on my shoulders, holding me in place. His gaze bore into me. “How did you know my name?”
“I heard your, uh, friend say it. Is that…is that okay?”
“Yes.” He nodded. “I like hearing my name from your lips. But I don’t know what you’re called.”
“Ethan,” I answered. “Ethan Abbatt.”
“Ethan Abbatt.” He repeated my name, sounding almost wistful as he said it. “I think it’s time we got you home, Ethan Abbatt.”
“What if I don’t want to go?” I asked, hoping I didn’t sound like a petulant child fixin’ to pitch a fit.
He sighed and caressed my cheek, his gentleness once again surprising me. “You don’t belong here, wolf. It isn’t safe.”
“But you’re here,” I responded.
He graced me with another of those crooked grins, the kind that made me feel like he thought I was amusing. I sensed that Miguel wasn’t amused very often, so I felt proud that I could put that expression on his face, no matter the reason.
“Yes, I’m here for now. But I’m not a little wolf who can’t seem to stay out of trouble.”
He had managed to say the one thing that was sure to tear me up right quick. I frowned and dropped my gaze. “I know I’m a runt, but I can’t help my size,” I said quietly.
“Hey.” He tipped my chin up and forced me to meet his gaze. “It wasn’t an insult. In case you hadn’t noticed, I like how you look.”
“Yeah?” I croaked, my voice breaking on the word.
“Oh, yeah.” He dragged a heated gaze over every inch of my body and brought his hand along for the ride.
When he ended at my cheek, I turned my face and nuzzled his hand. “Good,” I said.
“Yes, it is good. So good, in fact, that I want to make sure you keep on looking like this, except maybe without all those scrapes and cuts.” He furrowed his brow and stared at my legs and arms. “Those aren’t wounds from my kind, so they’re not from last night.” Suddenly all the humor left his face and he looked just as deadly as he had during the battle the night before. “Who hurt you?”
I looked down at my body and saw that while the abrasions from crawling on the ground had stopped bleeding and started healing when I shifted, they were still readily apparent.
“Nobody. It happened when I crawled to you.”
“Crawled? Do you mean when you walked over in your wolf form?”
“No.” I shook my head. “I heard you and I tried to shift but I couldn’t, so I crawled and the ground was sharp and hard and it hurt when it cut into me, and I started bleeding, but then I was able to call my wolf and that’s when I saw you and it didn’t hurt no more.”
Miguel furrowed his brow, looking like he was perplexed by what I’d said. Then he flicked his gaze all about and wrapped his arm around me, pulling me close. “Come on, wolf. Ted will be back any minute to get the other humans, and he might not be alone. You said you started out in your human form, right? That means you have clothes. Where are they?”
I opened my mouth to protest any plan that would ultimately lead to being forced away from him, but he narrowed his eyes, and something told me if I didn’t answer his question, he’d get right ornery lickety-split. I much preferred a happy expression on Miguel’s face, so I slumped my shoulders in defeat and cocked my chin toward the alley where I’d left my clothes.
“They’re right over yonder,” I answered.
He walked us over without another word, but he kept his arm around me, holding me close. I liked it.
When we got to my clothes, he fetched them and handed me my shirt. “Get dressed,” he ordered.
I reached for my shirt and pulled it on. My socks came next. I hopped on each leg in turn to tug them on, feeling my pecker flopping from side to side, and heard a new sound—Miguel laughing.
“What?” I asked him.
He leaned down and kissed me. “You are by far the most charming creature I have ever had the good fortune of encountering.”
“Charming?”
A hot, dark gaze scanned my body yet again, from face to feet and back up. I was wearing a long-sleeved shirt and socks. Nothing else.
“Yeah,” he said, his voice husky. “I’m feeling pretty charmed from watching you jump around with your stuff hanging out there.” He cupped my package with his large hand and gave me a light squeeze. “And it is really nice-looking stuff. Almost a shame to cover up a dick this pretty.”
“Then don’t,” I said.
“We can’t walk you through town like this.” Miguel chuckled. “Humans might be oblivious to some things, but a man without pants isn’t one of them.”
“Then we won’t go through town,” I suggested, realizing my voice sounded somewhat desperate. “You live here, right? Can’t we go to your den?”
“My den?” Miguel repeated my question.
I nodded.
He looked at me suspiciously. “Why?” he asked.
Thinking he was worried I’d harm him if he let me into his private domain, I tried to relieve his fears. “I won’t hurt you,” I promised. “Or do anything to your den.”
The no-longer-foreign laugh rolled out of him again. He shook out my drawers and held them out in front of me. “Get dressed, killer,” he said.
I put one foot and then the other through the underwear. “Are you making fun of me?” I asked with a frown.
He pulled them up until they rested at my waist. “No, never,” he responded sarcastically.
“Yes, you are.” I adjusted my genitals. “You’re laughing at me,” I said with my hand still in my drawers. “What’s so funny?”
His smile took over his face and transformed it from frightening to adoring.
“Look, don’t get all ruffled again.” He held my cut-off jean shorts up. I pulled my hand away from my groin and put it over his hand so I could keep steady as I stepped into them. “But I found it just a tad amusing to hear you reassure me about my safety in your presence.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Are you saying I’m weak?” I demanded. He pulled my cut-offs up and then zipped and buttoned them.
“No. I’m saying…” He hesitated, seeming to choose his words carefully as he crouched down on the ground and slipped each of my shoes on. “You’re an innocent. I can see that. It isn’t a bad thing. In fact, it’s a great thing. But we need to get you back where you belong so you can stay that way.”
“I am right where I belong, and I’m fixin’ to stay here.”
Miguel stood up and glanced around. “You belong in an alley in the middle of town with some injured humans down the way and an irritated vampire heading back any minute to get rid of them?” He shook his head. “I don’t think so, wolf.”
“I belong with you. If that’s”—I waved my hands around—“this here alley, then that’s where I’ll be.”
I reckoned he was about to tell me that dog wouldn’t hunt so I tried to look as serious and strong as possible. Have you ever tried to look strong? Turned out it wasn’t such an easy feat to accomplish. Seemed a certain pose wasn’t quite enough to cut it. Either that or I didn’t know the particular pose to strike.
“You belong where?” Miguel asked, looking perplexed.
“I belong with you,” I repeated, trying to keep my voice from shaking. I was pretty sure I failed.
“I’m a vampire,” he said, stating the obvious.
“I’m aware,” I said.
He furrowed his brow. “You’re a shifter.” Again with the obvious.
“I surely know that too.”
“Look, if you want me to take you to my place for a little fun, I can do that. But I’m trying to spare you here.”
“Spare me?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yes, spare you. How do you think your pack will take it if you come home smelling of a vampire? You already smell like sex, but the scent is just your own, so they’ll dismiss that as you having a bit of personal fun. If we—”
“I smell like sex?” I asked nervously, lifting my arms and sniffing them before poking my nose into my underarms.
Miguel moved my arms down to my sides. “Your pits aren’t where you got your seed, wolf. But don’t worry, like I said, right now it’s just your seed. If I fuck you, you’re going to be smelling of me for some time. No way to hide that. How do you think your pack would react to that?”
I gulped and tried not to shake. “It wouldn’t be good,” I admitted. “We’re not supposed to diddle ourselves. And I haven’t ever…well, there was the one time, just to see what it was like, but I don’t diddle myself, and if—”
“Diddle yourself?” Miguel repeated incredulously. He shook his head and grasped my arm, then tugged me out of the alley. “You need to go home,” he said. “You don’t belong here.”
“I am home,” I insisted, dragging my feet in a failed attempt to slow him down. Damn, he was strong. “I’m staying with you. That’s how things are supposed to be.”
“Supposed to—” He shook his head again and kept walking. “You just said ‘diddle.’ Hell, you just said you don’t diddle. You seem to have no idea how dangerous it is for you here. You seem to have no idea how dangerous I am, wolf. I am nobody’s home.”
But he was wrong. Wrong about all of it. He was my home. I knew it. There was no way to mistake his scent. No way to mistake the way my body reacted to him. Miguel was my mate. My true mate.
Some of the guys at school used to say there was no such thing, that true mates were a fairy tale. But I’d met a pair once, when we were visiting kin in another pack. And I’d heard tell about another pair my parents knew when they were young. So I knew true mates were real. I just hadn’t expected to have one. Why would a broken shifter be bestowed with the greatest gift possible? But for whatever reason, I’d been blessed. I was about to explain that to Miguel when we heard a commotion.
“Who are you?” an angry voice shouted.
Miguel halted in his tracks and covered my mouth with his hand. I thought about licking it.
“This doesn’t concern you,” a voice I recognized as Ted, Miguel’s vampire friend, responded. “Keep walking.”
“I don’t believe we’ll be doing that,” a third man said. “What’s going on here?”
We peeked around the corner, and sure enough, there was Ted with one of the unconscious half-souls over his shoulder, another at his feet, and four unfamiliar half-soul males surrounding him. One approached Ted, and from the way he was walking on a slant, I suspected he’d been hitting the bottle. Plus, his fists were clenched and he looked madder than an old wet hen. Seemed like the human was hankering for a fight.
“Listen very carefully, wolf,” Miguel whispered in my ear, still covering my mouth with his hand. “I’m going to step over there to deal with the humans. You’re going to wait until they’re focused on me, and then you’re going to quietly, but quickly, head in the other direction. And you will not stop until you are out of town and back with your pack. Have I made myself clear?”
I tried to think of a way to stay with him. I might help by…help by… Yeah, no way to end that thought with anything helpful I could do. I was doing much better than earlier that day, true enough. But just because my veins no longer felt like they were going to burst didn’t mean I was anywhere near as strong as Miguel or Ted. Plus, Ted wanted to kill me, so getting involved meant I’d be trying to help him at the same time I’d be trying to avoid him. That was a surefire way to distract Miguel in the midst of a battle. I sighed in frustration.
“Ethan.” Miguel said my name for the first time. He didn’t call me wolf. I supposed that meant he was serious. “Do you hear what I’m saying to you?”
I nodded and he dropped his hand. Miguel took two steps forward, then paused, turned on his heel, and returned to me. He gazed into my eyes for several long seconds, and then he dipped his face and kissed my cheek.
“I won’t forget you, Ethan Abbatt,” he said. And then he really did walk away.
Seconds later, I heard the start of a scream, then a gurgling sound. I peered over to where the half-souls had gathered and saw the one who had been walking toward Ted down on the ground with his hands around his neck, trying to stem the flow of blood. Miguel was standing above him, red dripping from his claws.
“I believe my friend told you to keep walking,” he growled at the other half-souls. “This is your last chance to listen to his advice. Because if you don’t walk away now, you won’t be walking. Ever.”
Lord, he sounded cold and cruel. I did as I’d been told and walked in the opposite direction, quickly but quietly. It sounded like at least one of the half-souls hadn’t taken Miguel’s generous offer, because another scream rent the air. This one was cut off just as quickly as the first, so I reckoned the half-soul had been injured, or worse.
Okay, so I might have underestimated how dangerous Miguel was. Maybe I even underestimated how dangerous it was for me to be in Kfarkattan. But I was right about what was important: Miguel was my true mate. That meant my home was with him. Even if he was a vampire and a male and, all right, I’ll admit it, a bit of a ruffian.
Because if I knew anything, it was to be grateful for whatever blessings were sent my way. Nature hadn’t gifted me with much in my life, and I was starting to suspect that my share of the good stuff had been set aside because I’d been slated for a whopper: I had myself a true mate. Now I just had to figure out how to prove it to him.