“Sit a second,” he urged her softly, reaching behind the shower curtain and turning on the water. And then, suddenly he was naked and pulling her into the shower, his arms and the warm water piercing the cold. He washed her hair, soaped her body. He soothed her with his hands, his lips. Warmth seeped into the places she’d been cold. Never had anyone touched her so gently, with so much care and tenderness. She realized then, that she’d built a wall around herself, a way to deal with being alone in the world. If she didn’t let anyone in, they couldn’t leave.
She rested her head on his chest, letting his powerful body hold her up, give her strength. “I heard,” she finally whispered, tilting her chin up to look at him. “I heard what your brothers said about the blood bond being against your laws.”
“I know,” he said solemnly. “The water is getting cold. Let’s get out of here before you start shaking again.” He turned off the water, and then yanked the curtain back. He dried her off, wrapped her in a towel, but never once looked at her.
When he wrapped a towel around his waist, she grabbed his arm, forced his gaze to hers. “Tell me what is happening. Make me understand.”
He motioned to the bed. “Let’s go sit down.”
His discomfort was palpable. Whatever he had to tell her she wasn’t going to like. He sat down on the bed and patted the area beside him.
She hugged herself. “Tell me.”
Reluctantly, he seemed to accept her distance. “Vampires are a relatively small race. And we’ve survived extinction by staying off the radar. If we expose ourselves to a human, their memory is erased.”
“Wait. What? You can erase a memory?”
“Yes.”
“Mine? Have you erased my memory? Is that why I can’t remember all of what happened earlier tonight?”
“No. Once a blood bond is created the human is immune to our abilities. And,” he hesitated, “they become a potential liability.”
Her jaw went slack. “Are you telling me that your government will kill me? And you too for creating the bond?” His lips thinned to a grim line and he didn’t even have to speak for her to know she was right. “So either you kill me because I become a wolf or they kill us both because I don’t.” Emotion exploded inside her and she started shaking all over again. “You aren’t going to die for me. I remember now. I remember why I ran, why I tried to get away from you. I’m going to be the reason you die. I knew it then and I know it now. I can’t let that happen. I won’t.”
Evan grabbed her and pulled her onto the bed, then rolled so that one leg slid between hers. “There’s a way out of this,” he promised. “A way we both live.”
“What way?” she asked urgently. She was desperate for an answer that would make this feeling inside her and the certainty that she was destined to kill Evan, go away.
She listened to his story of a mutated wolf virus, how her blood was the way to convince the council she was important, that she was worth saving. A way for her petition to be converted to vampire before the full moon would be approved.
“I don’t want to steal your life from you Marisa,” he told her, brushing his lips over hers. “I swear to you. I want to give you a second chance at one.”
“I know,” she said, running her fingers threw his damp hair. “I know.” And she did. “I want that chance. I want to make a difference in the world. I haven’t and I regret that so much now.” So why wasn’t she shouting with joy? “What happens now if I say yes to conversion?”
“We get the council blood samples and then find a safe place to hole up—a luxury hotel of your choice. We’ll wait on word of the petition there. That’ll give you a chance to ask questions about our race, and learn about what you’ll become. A luxury I wasn’t given and I want you to have.”
“What about the wolf?”
“Troy and Aiden are going after it. My job is to keep you safe and alive.”
“Don’t you mean ‘sane’ and alive.”
He drew her knuckles to his lips. “Actually. I intend to drive you as crazy as I possibly can.”
She wanted nothing more than to spend the next twelve days, as he’d suggested, holed up in a plush hotel room while he drove her crazy with passion. It was a chance to explore why this vampire male felt so right—as if she’d known him a lifetime, a chance to think through how she’d take this new spin on life by the horns. She would leave an imprint this time, she’d do more, be more.
“I have no money and no job,” she said.
“All newly created vampires are given a dowry,” he said. “And if you do as we have, and invest it well, it’ll last you an eternity as it should.”
This was all wonderful, this solution that wiped away all the bad, and left only good. There was an optimistic future, one where they both survived, one where maybe—just maybe—she and Evan were more than lovers. She told herself to be happy, to be relieved. Only, she could still feel the wolf inside her. Still feel its hatred of Evan, its own desire to survive. The wolf cared only about its own happiness, and it wouldn’t be happy until Evan was dead.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Ten days later, Evan stood on the porch of the Lake Austin cabin he’d taken Marissa too, with both Troy and Aiden. “Tell me you have a lead on the wolf?”
Both his brothers grimaced then shook their heads. “It’s like he just disappeared,” Troy said.
“And we could chase random leads all over the country and get nowhere,” Aiden said.
Troy motioned to the house. “Where is Marissa?” Troy asked.
“Shower,” Evan said. “Her skin keeps getting hot. Nothing helps but ice-cold water.”
“I guess that answers my question,” Aiden said. “Which was going to be—how is she?”
“She was great when we first got here. Running in the woods helped the adrenaline spikes she keeps having. But she has two days left before she turns into a monster. She’s pretty upset. And all Marcus keeps saying is—one more blood sample. If the mutation we suspected hasn’t shown up by now, it’s not going to. We had to be wrong.”
“At the risk of being called cynical,” Troy started.
“You,” Aiden asked mockingly, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “Cynical? Never.”
Troy ignored him. “The council could easily send in an assassin to kill you both before she turns.”
“Why not now,” Aiden said. “Why not ten days ago?”
“Maybe,” Troy said tightly. “They really are waiting out her blood samples, looking for a mutation. There’s got to be a reason this wolf could partially shift when we’ve never seen that in any other wolf. They know that.”
“Or maybe they don’t want to kill her at all,” Evan said softly, voicing the worry in his mind. “Maybe they want her to change so they can study her.” The expression on his brother’s faces, said they’d thought the same thing.