Loe raamatut: «Forever Claimed»

“If I’m not with you every minute of the night, you might fall into danger again,” Luc said.

The pulse in her throat, her scent, her lips, her eyes … everything about Dani woke his most atavistic primal needs and desires. Much as she despised vampires, she had no idea of the pleasures he could show her, the absolute heaven that lay between life and death.

But he knew, and it made him both restless and dangerous. The need for action filled him, the only antidote to desire.

The room was too small to truly escape. Worse, he could smell moments of desire passing through her, too. They came and went like waves on a shore, as she battled them down. What was it about her?

Dear Reader,

Forever Claimed provided me with an opportunity to take a different look at werewolves. I like taking different looks at things.

Our heroine, Dani, is a werewolf who can’t shapeshift and has left her clan because she can’t stand being different. She was also raised with a deep loathing of vampires, so imagine her shock when she discovers her life was saved by a vampire named Luc.

Against a backdrop of a war between vampires, Dani must choose a side. It is a sometimes painful journey, especially when she finds herself increasingly attracted to a vampire, one of her family’s eternal enemies.

Dani’s journey of self-discovery leads her to some strange and dangerous places and finally to the one place she belongs, in the arms of a vampire.

Enjoy!

Rachel

About the Author

RACHEL LEE was hooked on writing by the age of twelve, and practiced her craft as she moved from place to place all over the United States. This New York Times bestselling author now resides in Florida and has the joy of writing full-time.

Forever Claimed

Rachel Lee

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Chapter 1

He smelled blood on the night air. Little did he guess the danger it was about to lead him into.

Luc St. Just sped through the dark city streets, moving shadow to shadow, too fast for human eyes to see. He didn’t want to be here. Indeed, he was returning to this place only because he felt he owed at least a small favor to Jude Messenger, a fellow vampire. Jude was one of very few vampires he counted as a friend.

Which wasn’t saying much. For most of his two centuries as a vampire, Luc had grown truly close to only one other of his kind: Natasha. His lost lover, his claimed mate. When she had died, madness had overtaken him, and although with Jude’s help he’d achieved a measure of vengeance, the excruciating sense of loss and sorrow still remained.

A claiming was supposed to be broken by vengeance, but apparently it hadn’t been. That left only his own death to release him. But for some reason he clung to his existence, however unwillingly. He hadn’t yet asked a vampire for mercy, although he had come close. So he was still here, and because some dregs of conscience prompted him, he was entering a city he had no desire to ever see again.

He should be in Paris, the city of his heart. Or anywhere in Europe where life felt more comfortable than this new world with all its brashness and noise.

But all those thoughts, thoughts that dogged his heels almost obsessively—a sign of a claiming—dropped into the background as he smelled blood on the air.

He was a vampire, and there was no sweeter siren call than that of fresh blood. He lifted his head, sniffing the air, locating the direction from which the enticing scent came. The park. Someone had been injured badly.

He could have just continued on his way, but the call was hard to resist, and his resistance was low these days. If nothing else, he could at least put some human out of misery. Or so he thought, trying to put a noble veneer on what was an irresistible instinct.

Even he could see some bleak humor in his own rationalization.

He slipped through the shadowy woods swiftly, the night as clear to him as day would have been to a human. A high, full moon deepened the shadows, allowing him to pass swiftly, invisible to human eyes, just another shadow among shadows. But for him, colors shone with jewellike brilliance.

The night came alive to him in ways it never would for a mortal. The movement of every leaf, the insects crawling in the grass or nibbling on leaves, he could hear all that. Even the sound of water running up inside the trunks of trees reached him with a delightful syncopated rhythm. He heard a bird’s wings flutter then settle quickly.

The night sang to him.

He could hear the distant sound of a baby’s cry, a couple of people who argued blocks away and even the sound of someone’s private lovemaking.

Once, he had soaked up these sounds with pleasure. No more, for he had lost his capacity for pleasure. Tonight he shoved them into the background as the call of blood dominated.

He paused a few times, testing the air, smelling for humans. What he smelled gave him pause. As the delicious scent of fresh blood grew, so did another scent: the scent of his own kind.

“Putain,” he said under his breath. He should clear out now. He had a message to deliver, and a face-down with some hungry vampires enjoying their meal would not serve him at all. But there was too much blood on the air, too much to be a simple feeding. What if those he had come to warn Jude about had already arrived?

Even when not concerned, a vampire tended to be very quiet, but now he heightened his senses and moved with true stealth to avoid his own kind. Trees zipped past him. He stayed off the paved paths and tasted the air frequently. Both the scent of blood and vampires grew, but the blood strengthened more quickly. Whoever had done this thing, he judged they had moved on.

He picked up his pace a bit, then saw the heat signature of a body lying on the ground amidst the trees. The sound of a too-rapid heartbeat reached him. The victim. He circled quickly, looking for others of his kind and soon detected they had moved on to the south.

He and the food were alone.

He crept toward her and what he saw appalled even him. He was no saint, despite his name, and indulged in willing mortal blood without compunction. But this was not a willing donation, and the savagery of the attack on the woman lying before him shrieked unnecessary violence. She must have put up one hell of a fight and paid for it with a torn and possibly broken body.

Her heartbeat raced as her body fought to pump its diminishing blood supply to essential organs. She hovered on the brink of death, and he wondered why her attackers hadn’t finished her. It would have been so easy for them to just snap her neck.

And what that said about the attackers offended him. There was no need to have been this violent or to have left the woman to die slowly. Like many hunters, he believed in clean kills. Vampires were not cats, to maul their prey. They had other ways of satisfying those urges, sexual and seductive ways that needn’t lead to this kind of mess.

This group had left a message, writ clear on the woman’s body.

He could have put an end to her suffering right then, but stayed himself. She might be just the proof he needed to convince Jude of the gravity and reality of the warning he carried.

Just as he was bending toward her, he caught an unmistakable smell on the breeze. He straightened and whirled just in time to see another vampire seeping out of the shadows toward him.

He considered, then said, “Is she yours?”

“I came back to finish her.” The other vampire, short and wiry, paused. “You can finish her if you want.”

Luc wanted but refused to, however easy it would have been. “You were a trifle rough on her. She isn’t very appealing just now.”

The other shrugged and moved closer. “Four of us, and she fought. She was quite a handful. In any event, I thought by now she’d be weak enough to finish. Apparently so.”

“She’ll be dead soon enough.”

“So finish her.”

He heard the challenge, realized this was one of the rogues and he was being asked to choose a side. If he didn’t finish the woman, he would be considered an enemy.

How odd, thought a detached part of his mind. A very odd conversation for two vampires to have, especially when they had never met before.

There were four of them altogether, useful information. He lifted his head, tasting the air, but could detect no others anywhere near.

“All right,” he said.

It was enough to make the other relax just a bit. Enough to give him the opportunity to spring. While he had little advantage in strength, he had another advantage: years of training with the épée had made him fast, springy and, oh, so deadly when it came to one on one.

The knife was out of his pocket in an instant and buried in the other swiftly. He pulled it upward, until it reached the heart. He stared into eyes gone black as night, heard the gurgle of the other’s breath. Then, with no compunction whatever, he pulled the knife free, dropped it and reached for the other’s head. A second later he heard the satisfying crack and the other fell dead. Dawn would take care of his remains.

Too easy, he thought. Entirely too easy. Either the other was a total fool, or he had honestly believed that any unknown vampire would not hesitate to take his leftovers. That said more about the rogues than anything he’d heard so far.

He picked up his knife, wiping it on the other’s clothes, tucking it away. He froze, taking in the night air and listening. No others were about. Not yet. But he had to move fast.

Picking up the blood-soaked woman was hard. Not because she was heavy—his preternatural strength made her feel little heavier than air—nor because she was covered in blood. The difficulty came from the way the blood called to him, begging him to drink. It would have been easy, so easy, to drain this woman and walk away. In fact, nothing would have satisfied him more.

But he might need her.

Still, he hesitated. If he took her with him, she’d leave a trail as clear as neon on the night air, clear to noses that could smell it. If it crossed the path of the rogue vampires, he might have more trouble than he could handle.

With a sigh he lifted the woman higher into his arms. It wasn’t as if he was attached to his existence. If this turned out to be the end, he wouldn’t exactly be disappointed.

Nor would he be able to blame himself for failing to warn Jude.

Shrugging slightly, he took off through the woods effortlessly, the woman seeming light as eiderdown.

He changed one thing, though. He chose a more circuitous route to Jude’s place, so that if others caught the scent on the breeze they should assume he was merely carrying away prey to a safer location.

With his arms full, he couldn’t scale any buildings, so he was forced to stick with ground streets. The limitation made him edgy. He hated to feel edgy. Normally he felt so secure in his power and strength that he seldom spared his own safety a thought.

All of that was changing. The world was changing, right now, tonight. The only question was how far he wanted to involve himself in that change.

Oddly enough, he didn’t know. He had been sure when he set out for Jude, but something about the savaged body in his arms filled him with doubts. As if her silent testimony to the very thing Jude was fighting made him part of the fight.

Not now, he told himself. Just get the woman to Jude as proof of what is coming. Think about the rest later.

He paused several times, checking the air, but there was no sign he was being followed. Then he noticed that the woman’s heart had slowed dangerously and that she no longer leaked blood. Minutes from death probably, but still evidence.

He quickened his pace, now making a straight beeline for Jude. He didn’t want to sort through his tangled feelings just then, told himself he wanted to get the woman to Jude so Jude could decide what to do with her. Save her, let her die, kill her. He didn’t care.

But somewhere inside his aching, sorrowful, almost deadened heart, a voice whispered otherwise. He tried to quash it, knowing it could only cause trouble. It rose again, however, a little louder.

And the pressure of it made him run even faster.

Jude lived in his office, a place slightly below street level with the kind of security a spy agency might have envied. Because of it, he had to press the button and look into a camera.

Then he heard a familiar voice: Chloe, Jude’s assistant. A human who had cause to loathe him.

“Well, look what the cat dragged in,” her voice drawled over the speaker. Then a note of horror canceled her sarcasm. “My God, St. Just, what did you do?”

Evidently she could see his burden. “Nothing but try to save this mortal. I need to see Jude now. Let me in.”

He heard the sound of a buzzer. Adjusting his hold on the woman, he reached for the door and opened it.

The hallway was dark as always, out of deference to Jude’s vampire eyes. Spilling from a doorway, however, was warm lamplight: the entry to the inner offices where Chloe ruled the roost when Jude wasn’t there to keep her in line.

He crossed the threshold, narrowing his eyes against the sudden light, and laid the woman on the couch. He ignored Chloe’s gasp.

He turned to look at her. “Jude,” he repeated.

Chloe was a piece of work, and she had plenty of reason to despise him. Just last year he had kidnapped her briefly and she’d taken it in her usual manner: with sarcastic anger.

She stood now glaring at him, her hands on her hips. Her hair was still dyed the deepest of blacks, heavy black makeup outlined her eyes, and her costume managed to bridge the territory between stripper and punk: lots of black leather and lace with black leggings that barely protected her modesty.

Sometimes Luc missed the beautiful gowns women had worn in the old days. The modern version of fashion didn’t appeal to him at all. It left too little to the imagination.

“You’re not going to tell me you didn’t do that,” she said, accusing him with a pointed finger.

“If I had done this,” he said stonily, “I would not have brought her here, and certainly not still alive. Jude,” he demanded again.

Chloe bit her scarlet-painted lower lip, the only color on her except for a blood-colored ruby ring. “He and Terri are out on a date. What do you expect him to do about her, anyway?” she demanded, waving a hand at the woman.

“I expect him to listen to a warning I have to give him. That’s proof of the danger he’s in.”

Chloe’s eyes widened a shade. “You better not be lying, St. Just.”

The man he had been before would have considered those fighting words. The man he had discovered after Natasha’s death couldn’t deny she had a right to speak them.

“Jude, now,” he repeated. “Then we can decide what to do with this mortal.”

“It looks too late to me,” Chloe muttered, but she pulled out a cell phone from a skirt so layered with black lace and net that it stuck out from her body almost like a tutu, and then pressed a button before placing it to her ear.

“Sorry, boss,” she said into the receiver. “St. Just is here with a woman who looks like she’s been half butchered and he says you’re in danger. He wants to see you now.”

She ended the call and scowled at him. “You so better not be lying.”

He didn’t bother to argue with her or say another word. With Chloe, he’d swiftly learned, you could waste a lot of breath. Instead, he just glided over to an armchair and sat, folding his arms.

The outer office hadn’t changed in any important way; Jude’s inner sanctum still lay behind a locked door, a deceptively ordinary-looking door. He scanned his environs because it was native instinct to be aware of his surroundings, not because they interested him. He looked everywhere except at the woman on the couch.

Five minutes later, he heard the sounds of Jude and Terri coming down the hall. From the speed of their arrival, he guessed Jude must have carried Terri on his back and traveled at top speed. Terri, clad in evening dress covered by a heavy parka, looked windblown.

As they crossed the threshold, their gazes fixed on the woman on the couch. Terri’s bright blue eyes widened, and she sped across the room with a rustle of sapphire silk to kneel beside the victim. As a forensic pathologist, she was also a trained doctor.

“My God,” she whispered. “She’s almost dead.”

“She’s been almost dead since I found her.”

Jude, dressed as always in elegantly tailored black beneath a long black leather coat, looked at Luc. “What happened?”

“Vampires.” Luc shrugged. “I could smell them in the area. But the woman is just evidence, Jude. I came to warn you. There are those who don’t like the way you drove them out of this city, who don’t like your rules about not harming humans. They’re coming back to take vengeance, they’re bringing others who feel as they do. And from what was done to that—” he waved toward the woman on the couch “—I suspect they may already be here.”

“That,” Chloe interjected sarcastically, “is a human being.”

Luc shrugged. None of this was his problem, beyond delivering his warning so Jude could prepare. He had done what he set out to do, and could leave.

Except for some reason he didn’t. He just kept sitting there, almost as if waiting for something.

“I should get her to the hospital,” Terri said, her fingertips pressed to the woman’s throat. She hadn’t even yet removed her jacket. “I don’t know if there’s time, but she needs a transfusion, a lot of stitches, maybe even surgery, depending.”

“There isn’t time,” Jude said with unusual gentleness. “Trust me. I sense it. She’ll be gone in a couple of minutes.”

Terri swore softly and settled back on her heels. “Do you know how much it goes against my grain to sit by while someone dies?”

“Do you want me to try to turn her?” Jude asked. “There might be just enough time.”

Terri’s blue eyes fixed on him. “You’d turn a stranger, but not me?”

“She’s a stranger. I love you. I don’t want to make you something you might regret for eternity.”

Terri simply shook her head, apparently having no retort.

Luc watched as Jude went to place a hand on his human mate’s shoulder. “Trust me, Terri, this woman is better off dying. I know what it’s like to be turned without a choice. Without knowing and understanding.”

Luc was the last person to argue that being a vampire was good. He was suffering the torments of the damned because of a vampire trait he’d been unable to escape: claiming. The beauty of a claiming was undeniable. But so was the obsession, and the madness that followed if you lost what you had claimed. He wouldn’t wish that on anyone, not even his worst enemy.

Jude turned to him, his golden eyes intent. “So they’re coming after me? And you think they’re already here?”

“I think this woman—” he emphasized the word for Chloe’s benefit “—is the opening salvo, if you will.”

“Do you know what their plan is?”

“A reign of terror designed to draw you out in such a way that they can terminate you.”

“They could just come knock on my door.”

“But what fun would that be?”

Chloe shuddered. “I knew there was a reason I don’t like most vampires.”

Luc ignored her, knowing full well he was the reason she didn’t like other vampires. Her liking for Jude and for his friend Creed was obvious enough. He didn’t care. Chloe was just another human, low on his radar of importance.

“They are going to take over the city,” he said. “They are either going to kill you or make it impossible for you to remain here. One way or another, they’ll sabotage the authority you’ve been exercising in this city. They’ll make sure another vampire never heeds your rules.”

“I’m not the only one with those rules.”

“True, mon ami, but this group is completely rogue and they’ve been whipped up by some of those you forced out of this city in the past. You’re just the first target among what I suspect will be many.”

Jude leaned back against Chloe’s desk and folded his arms. “I don’t have to tell you, Luc. Most of us have always tried to avoid creating situations that draw attention to our existence.”

Luc nodded. “I have helped remove rogues before. A certain amount of careful coexistence is necessary. All-out war between vampires and humans would benefit neither of our kinds. But that is what this group wishes.”

Chloe spoke. “Why the hell should you care?”

Jude spoke, silencing her. “Have you never thought, Chloe, what would happen to my kind if there were no food left?”

Luc knew a moment of dark amusement as Chloe’s expression changed. Evidently she didn’t think of herself as a food group. But why would she when Jude restricted himself almost entirely to blood from blood banks? She probably hadn’t thought about where all that blood came from.

Suddenly Terri gasped. Luc looked at her and saw her face filled with astonishment. “She’s healing,” she said. “My God, her wounds are closing.”

Jude bent swiftly over the woman and looked. “You’re right. No ordinary human.” He straightened and looked at Luc. “What did you bring into my home?”

Apprehension chilled Luc, the first he had felt in a long time. Rising, he moved swiftly to look at the woman. Her clothes were still blood soaked and ripped, but he could see that her wounds had closed just since he brought her here.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Mon dieu, I don’t know.”

“Hell,” said Chloe, who always had two cents to add. “If it’s not vampire and it’s not human, then what the devil is it?”

Dani Makar woke suddenly, knowing she wasn’t alone. Worse, the first thing to assault her nose was the smell of vampires. She kept her eyes closed and tried to maintain a slow, steady rhythm in her heartbeat, even though she knew it was probably useless. Those bloodsuckers would have smelled it, heard it, the instant she awoke.

But she tried to keep up the pretense anyway, hoping against hope. She knew what had attacked her. What she couldn’t figure out was why she was lying on something soft instead of the hard ground, and why she smelled humans, as well.

She hurt from head to toe, but knew that would pass quickly. Despite all the things she had failed to inherit from her family, she had inherited two things: an acute sense of smell and quick healing from wounds.

She’d also inherited a loathing for bloodsuckers, one which had been amply proved in the park. Now, as near as she could tell, they held her captive. She expected no mercy from their kind.

Waiting for the instant she could no longer pretend to be unconscious, she tried to figure out how many were in the room. Listening, she was sure she heard two females and two males, though she couldn’t tell which of them were vampire and which were human. Her nose was clouded with their scents.

The presence of humans and vampires together didn’t shock her. She had been taught about the hypnotic effect vampires had on humans. What she didn’t know was whether she was susceptible. She had, after all, been forced to resign herself to life as a normal without being fully normal.

But after the attack that had nearly killed her, why would they want to keep her captive now? It didn’t make sense.

“She’s awake,” said a deep voice.

Then she heard a rustle and smelled the odor of human come closer.

“Can you open your eyes?” a woman’s gentle voice asked.

“Stand back,” said the same deep voice. “We don’t know what she is or how she’ll react.”

That gave Dani her opening. If they were wary of her, she might be able to take advantage of it.

Instantly she sprang up into a crouch and snarled, her gaze moving from one to the other. Even as she did it, she knew how pathetic she must look, like a puppy pretending to be a full-grown wolf. But maybe it would be enough.

“It’s all right,” the familiar woman’s voice said.

Dani glanced at her, taking in a tiny, dark-haired beauty wearing a sapphire cocktail dress. Her expression was kind. The other woman regarded her with consternation from eyes surrounded in entirely too much makeup.

Then there were the men. In an instant she knew they were the vampires. One wore neatly tailored black and stood leaning against a desk. The other was seated and also wore black, though he looked a bit more disheveled. And like too many vampires, they were handsome, almost as if their change transformed them into objects of dark beauty.

“We rescued you,” said the blond vampire, his voice slightly accented. “I found you in the park and brought you here.”

Dani gave him another snarl. Like she was going to believe a bloodsucker?

For long seconds, no one moved. Then the elegant man with the dark hair said, “You can leave if you’d like. I’ll show you the door.”

She doubted that and didn’t move. Besides, she hurt all over and wasn’t yet sure how far she could walk. Her clothes were torn and covered in blood. She wouldn’t make it far before the police stopped her, and then she’d have to make up some lie about what had happened because normals absolutely didn’t believe in vampires, and she didn’t want to get committed.

“It’s all right,” the woman in blue said again, her voice remaining gentle. She moved closer and Dani smelled vampire all over her, but also the scent of human. She might be in league with the bloodsuckers, but she was still a normal.

The woman edged onto the couch beside her, moving slowly.

“Terri,” said the dark vampire warningly.

“It’s all right, Jude. She’s frightened. After the way she was attacked, how could she be anything else?”

The woman called Terri smiled at her. “I’m Terri, and I’m a doctor. I’m both amazed and thankful at the way you healed. We thought we couldn’t save you.”

Dani didn’t answer, choosing to reveal nothing.

“I’ll give you something to wear so you can leave. I’m afraid my clothes might be a bit small on you, but at least they’ll cover you so you don’t have to answer questions.”

Fear immediately spiked Dani. How could this woman know she didn’t want to answer questions? Then the answer came to her: she had healed too fast from nearly fatal injuries. Of course they knew she might have something to hide.

Uneasier than ever, she edged away and adjusted her crouch, ready to spring if necessary. One hand felt for and found her necklace, the crystal wolf’s head that hung by a leather thong around her neck. It was all she had left of her old life, and her heart squeezed with relief when she realized she still had it. It had been her last gift from her mother, and she would probably never receive another. She drew a steadying breath and refocused on her enemies.

Then the blond vampire with the faint accent spoke. “My advice would be to remain here until just before dawn. There are rogues on the streets, the ones who attacked you. You don’t want to encounter them again.”

Dani finally spoke. “How do I know it wasn’t you, vampire? You and your friend?”

Instantly she wished she could recall the words. She had just revealed too much, that she could tell they were bloodsuckers, and in so doing had made herself a threat to them.

“Très intéressant,” said the blond one, revealing the source of his accent. “She knows what we are. So she must be able to smell us.”

“I can smell you, all right,” Dani said forcefully, hoping to hold them at bay with a show of strength, however false. “Your stench fills the room.”

“So you know what we are. Perhaps you can tell us what you are.”

“I’m a human,” Dani said, catching herself just before she revealed more by saying she was a normal. “Can’t you smell it, bloodsucker?”

He shrugged and turned his head away from her, as if losing interest. That offended her, that he considered her such a small threat he could ignore her. Even if it was true.

The woman, Terri, reached out and touched her gently on the arm. Dani pulled back.

“Let me explain some things,” Terri said. “That man over there? That’s Jude, and he’s my husband. Whatever you may think about vampires, he doesn’t condone what happened to you, and now I’ll have to endure the anxiety while he sets out to hunt those who hurt you.”

Almost in spite of herself, Dani looked at her. “What are you talking about?”

“Jude,” said the other woman, “is a bit of an avenger. He usually deals with demons, but now I’m quite sure he’s going to look for the rogues who attacked you.”

“Chloe,” the dark one called Jude said in a warning tone.

“Well, it’s true, boss. Besides, you’re not going to be able to avoid looking for them, not with the news that St. Just brought us.”

Jude frowned at her, but said nothing.

The blond one suddenly rose and in an instant was bent over, his face inches from hers. His black-as-ebony gaze was mesmerizing, and the only way she could fight it was to pull back as far as possible.

“She’s human,” he said, “but not quite. I don’t care what you are, ma cocotte, but I know what you were used for. You were attacked on purpose. You are a declaration of war against Jude and any other vampire who forswears harm to humans. It was simply your misfortune to be there when they decided to make the declaration. But I will tell you this, they are still out there, still hunting to create more mayhem. Since you healed, you can now attract them once again. Especially since you reek of blood.”

Her heart skittered, and she found herself wondering what to believe.

“Stay here until dawn. Then go home and stay there, because the attack on you is a mere taste of what these rogues intend to inflict on this entire city.”

“Why should I believe you?”

He shrugged and drew away. “I don’t care what you believe. I don’t even care what you do. I did what I needed to, I brought you to Jude to prove these rogues have arrived. Beyond that…” He shrugged.