The frozen lake stared back up at her. So still and cold. Paige was shivering and she was hungry and she just ached.
But she was still alive. Sort of, anyway, and pain was just part of life.
She turned away from the lake.
And found Drake watching her.
She was so surprised to see him that she flinched. "D-Drake?"
He stood next to an old, twisted tree, one bent beneath the weight of the snow. "I was supposed to meet you here," he said, voice rumbling. Intense. Dark.
She shook her head. "Th-that was a long time ago."
He pulled a necklace from the back pocket of his jeans. Her necklace. The one he"d taken away that first night.
Her chin lifted.
"Do you know why I gave this to you?"
She did. She"d known him so well back then. "Because you loved me." The words were said with certainty. Once upon a time, a boy had loved a girl.
Once upon a time...
He stalked toward her. Didn"t even seem to feel the cold. But then, he wouldn"t. Not like she did.
He came toward her and lifted the necklace. "I still do love you, sweet."
She raised her hand and stopped him before he could slide that necklace over her head. "You...you took this from me."
Because of what she was.
Not a girl. Not just a boy.
A vampire. A werewolf.
"I was going out of my mind that night. I"d missed you for so long..." His breath heaved out in a rush. "I hurt, and I wanted to hurt you."
A dark admission.
His head bowed. "I want to make it up to you. I want to make everything up to you."
And there, in the snow, with the lake behind her and too many memories around them, Drake dropped to his knees.
Her breath rushed out. An alpha should never submit to another like this. It wasn"t the way of the pack. It wasn"t His hand clenched around the necklace. "I thought you didn"t want me."
She"d always wanted him.
"I never loved anyone else. All those years...the only one to ever touch my heart...was you." He looked up at her. She saw the beast and the man in his eyes. "Stay with me." A plea, from a man who"d never pleaded for anything before.
Paige couldn"t speak.
"I can make things right for you. I"ll make you happy, I swear. Just give me a chance."
She licked her lips and tasted the sorrow from the past. "I"m not the same..."
"You"re stronger. More beautiful. And I f.u.c.king love you even more than I did before."
Her hands touched his shoulders. Hesitant. Hopeful. "You...do?"
"Yes." Said with a growl. Said as he stared into her eyes. In his gaze, she saw The future.
"I want you to be with me, for as long as I walk this earth." Now his words came faster. "I won"t live as long as you, I know that. Just give me those years, just give me"
She sank to her knees before him. Kissed him. Kissed him so hard that they tumbled back onto the soft snow.
And he tasted so good. Like forever. Because that was what she could give to him. Her head lifted slowly. "I can give you more."
If he"d let her.
His brows pulled low. His arms were around her, holding her so close. "You"ll stay with me?"
"The pack"
"They want you to stay. They want you to come home."
Home.
"Fifty years," he told her, "sixty. Give me that, give me"
She shook her head and saw the stark pain flash across his face.
"I love you," he told her but he sounded...lost.
She knew because she"d been lost for years. "I can give you more," Paige promised him. Because she"d learned so much from the vampires who"d helped her in Florida.
Down there, another werewolf had paired with a vampire female. They"d discovered that if a vampire"s blood was shared, the wolf would become stronger.
Aging stopped for the wolf. Death was put on hold.
Jeremiah had thought that he was cheating death by drinking from a vamp, but that blood had been poison.
She"d never poison Drake. She"d give him her blood, and she"d give him... "Forever," Paige whispered and kissed Drake again.
As she kissed him, she heard the howl of wolves in the distance.
She wasn"t afraid of that sound. She wasn"t afraid of anything. Not anymore.
Because she wasn"t lost now. She was home and safe...in the arms of her wolf.
Bound By The Night.
Chapter One.
He hadn"t expected her to be dead.
Jamie O"Connell narrowed his eyes as he studied the still woman before him. Her body had been placed-very carefully, he had no doubt of that-in the middle of a large bed. White, gossamer curtains billowed around the bed, looking like thin spider webs that had been spun to shield her body.
"This is a bad idea," Sean Whelen, Jamie"s first in command, muttered as he grabbed Jamie"s arm. "There"s a reason she"s under, man. The woman is evil."
She didn"t look evil. She looked...beautiful.
Jamie shook off Sean"s hold. The guy swore but stepped back as Jamie shoved away those too-thin curtains and let his gaze sweep over the prize he"d sought for so long.
The woman was pale, but that was expected of her kind. It wasn"t like she would have been a fan of sunbathing even before she"d succ.u.mbed to the curse that had locked her body. Her hair was long and dark, l.u.s.trous and gleaming against the bedding. A silken, white dress covered her, skimming over what he could see were ample b.r.e.a.s.t.s and the kind of hips he"d always enjoyed holding tight.
"We"re going to die," Sean told him, voice definite. "Probably in the next five minutes. Some horrible, painful death."
Jamie tossed him a glare. "Not helping."
Sean rocked back on his heels.
"And it"s not like we have a choice," Jamie muttered. h.e.l.l. He didn"t want to do this. Waking the woman known as the Blood Queen wasn"t exactly something that Jamie had ever thought he"d do.
But sometimes, a werewolf could sure get desperate. Especially when the lives of his remaining packmates were on the line.
So he put his hands on her body. Ice cold. Figured.
"She"s not breathing, is she?" As usual, Sean kept talking.
But this time, the guy was right. "No." That was why she looked...dead. When he"d first heard the story about the Blood Queen, he"d just thought it was bulls.h.i.t.
He wasn"t staring at bulls.h.i.t.
He"d had to kill his way through half a dozen paranormal b.a.s.t.a.r.ds in order to get to her. Their blood still stained his clothes. But if the woman before him could really do what he thought, then the h.e.l.l he"d walked through would be worth it.
His fingers skimmed down the delicate curve of her cheek. She certainly didn"t look like the walking nightmare rumors whispered about in the dark. Her chin was a little pointed, her lips sensual and full-and red. Long lashes cast faint shadows on her cheeks, and Jamie wondered what color her eyes would be.
Since he planned on waking her up real soon, Jamie knew he was about to find out.
He lifted his hand away from her face and claws ripped from his fingertips. "Go outside," Jamie ordered Sean. "Guard the door, just in case..."
"Uh, yeah, in case the crazy b.i.t.c.h gets loose and kills you?"
No. He wasn"t worried about that. Jamie had this, her. "In case we"ve been tracked. I don"t want anyone stopping me. Not until I"ve put the bond in place."
Silence.
Then Sean gave a low whistle. "You"re...really going to do it?"
What, did Sean think he"d gone to all this trouble for the h.e.l.l of it? s.h.i.ts and grins?
"You know...you know what will happen to her if you do this, Jamie."
Now Sean almost sounded sorry for the "crazy b.i.t.c.h" in question. Jamie forced a shrug. "And I know what will happen to me." He turned his head and met Sean"s dark stare. "I"ll make my pack stronger."
The pack was all that mattered.
He"d returned to the pack just one year before and found them under attack. An attack that had come from within. Men, women-they"d been brutally killed. The pack had dwindled down to just six-six-werewolves.
There would be no more deaths in the O"Connell pack. But the pack...oh, yes, the pack would have its vengeance.
His gaze turned back to the woman. h.e.l.lo, vengeance.
She didn"t stir.
"Go outside," Jamie ordered again.
This time, Sean obeyed. Jamie heard the shuffle of Sean"s boots over the dusty floor and the creak of the old door as it slid closed.
Then he was alone with the prey that he"d sought for the last six months. The instrument of his revenge.
He raised his right hand, and his claws slashed across his left wrist. Blood welled, dripped. Clenching his teeth, Jamie put his hand over the woman"s mouth and he waited.
The seconds ticked by as his heartbeat thundered in his ears.
And nothing happened.
Jamie lifted his hand. Blood had smeared over her lips. He leaned toward her. His index finger pushed lightly inside her mouth as he searched for the fangs that should have been there.
Only they weren"t. The woman had perfectly normal, human teeth. No fangs.
He pulled back. The wound he"d made on his wrist throbbed with a dull ache, but he ignored it. Pain didn"t matter. Never had, to him. Frowning, he put his hand on her chest. He didn"t feel a heartbeat. Despite what humans believed, the hearts of vampires actually did beat.
Only her heart was ominously still.
His back teeth ground together. "Maybe you are dead," he gritted out.
The Blood Queen had been under a spell for the last fifteen years. A spell, a curse, same d.a.m.n thing to him.