As her friends had burned. Her family.
She"d transformed some of the coven herself. Found the rare few that she"d thought could handle the vampire world. They"d turned others. The coven had grown.
It was all gone now. Ashes.
Her father had wanted to burn her to ashes. Fire was such a good way to kill a vampire.
Her gaze fell to the blackened ground. She"d driven for so long that night had descended on her once more, a black shroud to cover her beloved home.
"Iona."
At first, she thought the call was just a memory. Then she looked up, and, there, just beyond the front gate, she saw Michael staring at her.
He looked as if he"d seen a ghost. She felt as if she had.
Michael. Michael Monroe. The breath rushed from her. One of her coven!
She hadn"t transformed him. Another member of the coven-Christine-had brought him over. Christine had found Michael, broken and b.l.o.o.d.y, the victim of a hit and run car accident. He"d begged Christine for help.
The gate groaned louder as Michael opened the metal bars that lined the entrance. Iona hadn"t bothered opening the gate. She"d just leapt over the stone wall.
If Michael had known just what sort of help Christine truly offered, would he still have begged? Or would he have chosen death? Iona had always wondered...
"You should be dead," Michael said, shaking his head as he advanced on her. "All this time...we thought you were dead."
She kept her hands at her sides. Refused to let hope fill her. He was alive, and he"d just said...we. Others must have survived, too.
But...but she didn"t let the hope take over. Hope had been crushed too many times. "What happened here?"
"Latham," Michael bit off the name of the werewolf at the top of Iona"s most-hated list. "When you left us, he came in with his wolves. They attacked during the day and burned the place around us."
Her eyes narrowed. There should have been safeguards in place. Specific vampires and bodyguard humans who protected the area during the day while the vamp coven was more vulnerable. The compound had been set up with security systems, dozens of alarms. The wolves should never have been able to sneak inside and attack.
"How did you escape?" Iona asked him.
But he just shook his head. "I can"t believe...I"m so glad to see you!" Then he rushed forward and wrapped his arms around her. He smelled of fresh blood.
Michael had been out hunting. Had his prey been humans? Werewolves?
Her hands touched lightly on his shoulders. "How did you escape?" Iona asked him again. Gooseb.u.mps rose on her arms. Something was off, something felt- A low growl drifted in the air. Iona swallowed.
Michael lifted his head. Pulled back a bit so he could stare down at her. "I didn"t escape." He was smiling now. Flashing his fangs. He must have heard the growl, too. Like her, he knew the sound for exactly what it was.
The sound of a werewolf. After all, that deep, rumbling growl was pretty unmistakable. A werewolf was closing in on them.
"I killed the human guards," Michael told her. He was proud. Bragging? "I made sure that the vamps on patrol were given drugged blood. Then I just walked away and let the werewolves have their fun."
Fury had her trembling and more than ready to rip off his head. "Christine saved you!"
He shrugged. "Then she got in my way. Tried to get me to be a good, f.u.c.kin" little vamp who followed the rules." He shook his head and pulled a stake from his coat. "I"m not the following type."
The wolf was behind him, racing with his giant jaws parted and his eyes trained on the prey that waited.
Michael pressed the tip of his wooden stake over her chest. "I"m guessing all that time, frozen like the dead, slowed you down, huh?" His smile widened. "I"m glad I get to be the one to send you to h.e.l.l."
She s.n.a.t.c.hed the stake from him, and, before he could even have a chance to fight-he deserved no chance-Iona shoved that stake deep into his heart. "You guessed wrong."
His lips parted. His eyes stared at her in horrified surprise.
"No time to beg this go around," she said. "You"re dead." Then she walked away while his body fell to the blackened earth.
The wolf was charging right at her. Iona braced her legs to face him.
But the beast started to change. Bones crunched and snapped, and the fur vanished from his body. Golden flesh emerged. Flesh she knew. A face she knew. It would be impossible to ever forget Jamie"s hard, dangerous features.
"I was...coming to save you..." The words were raspy and grating as his paws became hands that sank into the earth.
Her head tilted at she studied him. "I didn"t need saving."
Jamie looked up at her. His gaze blazed. "That vamp"s not the only one after you."
No, she didn"t think that he was. She wasn"t that foolish.
"A few other vamps were helping him, and they"re-"
"Here," she finished with a nod because she"d caught their scents, too. They were just beyond the wall, waiting.
Maybe Michael had been their leader, so they"d let him try for first blood. Would they attack now that they realized she wasn"t weak? Would they be afraid-or would they try killing her, too?
"If they"re smart, they"ll run like h.e.l.l," Jamie said as he fired a fast glance toward the wall.
If they"d been smart, they never would have betrayed her coven.
Jamie"s head jerked to the right. "One"s running."
But she already heard other footsteps. Pounding toward them. "And two are attacking." Iona rushed away from Jamie as she ran to face the threat. Fury boiled in her, the kind that just made her want to destroy. So when she saw the two vampires charging at her with hate twisting their faces and their hands curled around stakes, Iona didn"t hesitate.
She was within range now. She"d just needed to get close enough- "Good-bye," Iona whispered and flames shot out from her hands.
Close enough to kill.
The vampires screamed as the fire consumed them. A fire stronger than anything they"d probably ever seen before.
My fire. One fueled by rage and magic.
They died quickly, though they probably didn"t deserve such a swift death. Not after what they"d done. Betrayal.
A hand touched her shoulder. Iona flinched and spun around.
Jamie backed up, lifting both hands in front of him. "Easy, love. I"m on your side."
She wanted to believe that. "The woman..." Iona couldn"t look at what was left of her, but she didn"t need to. Iona remembered Luanne"s face. "She brought the blood to me that last night. Michael and his vamps...they gave me drugged blood." That was how they"d managed to subdue her. She just hadn"t realized it at the time.
She"d gone to sleep in her home, and she"d woken in the room that would become her prison, woken just in time to see Latham and Brian. The spell had been cast. The taste of blood filled her mouth-Latham"s blood. She"d tried to lunge at them, but her body had refused to obey her commands.
If you won"t give me your blood, then I"ll just take it. Latham"s voice. He"d tried to woo her when they first met. Offered her promises of peace between the vampires and werewolves. He"d been handsome. Charming.
But she"d seen the darkness in him.
Latham had only wanted her blood. Her power. He hadn"t cared about peace. The werewolf enjoyed his violence and death too much for that.
I would have put him down. She"d planned to kill him, but Latham had struck first. He couldn"t kill her, because then he"d never get the blood he wanted from a corpse. And if he let her live, then he"d known she would attack him.
So he"d decided on a compromise.
b.a.s.t.a.r.d.
"Iona?" Jamie eased closer to her. "We should get out of here. Latham knows this is where you were going when you left Oregon."
"And he"s coming." No surprise. "When Michael caught the werewolf scent in the air, he thought you were just one of Latham"s army."
You thought wrong, Michael.
She rolled her shoulders. Weariness beat at her. She"d driven so far, non-stop, and Iona always felt drained whenever she used her fire and magic.
She risked a look up into Jamie"s bright stare and knew he could see her weakness.
"You need to rest," he told her.
True, but not likely.
But when he offered his hand to her, Iona found herself stepping forward and actually clasping his fingers. So many had betrayed her over the years, but...some had been her true friends. Christine. Iona could still see her so clearly in her mind. Her warm smile. Her perfect, dark skin. Her kind eyes. "Latham killed my family."
"And mine." Fury vibrated in his words. She could understand that rage. It was no wonder he wanted vengeance against Latham.
They were outside of the gate now. A big, black truck waited for them. She frowned at it for a moment.
Jamie laughed softly. "Ah, love, did you really think I ran all the way after you?"
Love? It was the second time that he"d called her that. She"d just been baby before. But Iona pushed the thought aside as he guided her to the vehicle. Her legs wanted to go limp, so she slumped inside, sinking into the soft seat.
She would go with the werewolf, for now. She could always slip away from him later. She could slip away any time that she wanted.
In seconds, Jamie was in the truck with her. With a flick of his fingers, he started the ignition, and they left the heavy, stone walls behind them. Iona squeezed her eyes shut.
"I would have...brought you here," Jamie said, voice hesitant. "You didn"t have to leave me."
"I brought myself here." She could protect herself. She"d never needed anyone else to fight her battles. Still didn"t. "And maybe I was tired of being used." Because he was using her, too. She knew it. Wasn"t it always about the blood?
My blood. My power. The werewolves just kept wanting it.
"Iona-"
"I want to shower." To wash away the ash on her skin. To wash away the death. She forced her eyes to open, and Iona glanced at him. "Find the nearest hotel or just...just find me a safe place."
A muscle jerked in his jaw, but Jamie gave a grim nod. He didn"t speak again during the ride, and Iona was glad because the ghosts from her past-the vampires she"d lost-their memories were screaming at her as she left her home behind.
She was hurting. Not a physical pain. Jamie had checked Iona"s body thoroughly and found no sign of wounds.
Her pain went far beneath the surface.
Iona was in the shower, the water pouring down with a heavy thunder that he could hear clearly through the gleaming door.
He had found her a safe place. Not some pay-by-the-hour dump. She"d deserved better than that. The woman was a queen, and he"d gotten her the best room he could afford. Five freaking stars.
He wanted to do anything and everything he could in order to make her pain go away. She"d seen enough pain, more than he"d ever expected.
I want her to be happy.
"I know you"re there..." Her voice drifted to him. Not a yell, just a whisper. That was all she needed to do...whisper, and his wolf could hear her. "Come inside, Jamie."
His body hardened at the invitation. h.e.l.l, he"d already been hard, from the moment they entered the hotel. Iona had started to strip. Then she"d walked away. Shut the door. Closed him out.
But, now...she was inviting him inside...
He didn"t need to be invited twice.
Jamie nearly ripped the door off the hinges when he rushed into the bathroom.
The shower was huge. Easily bigger than the little house Sean had found for them back in Oregon. The place was lined with granite. Some kind of stone bench was in the shower, and, in that shower, two different jets of water poured from opposite walls to slide down over Iona"s naked body.
She stood just behind the gla.s.s door. Steam drifted around her. Her gaze met his, then she put her hand on the gla.s.s.
He could see the small birthmark on her palm. That mark had changed everything for her.
Jamie didn"t remember crossing the room, but suddenly, he was right in front of the shower door. His hand lifted and covered hers. Only that thin pane of gla.s.s separated his flesh from hers.
Her gaze met his. He could see the edge of her fangs peeking out from beneath her red lips.
"Will it be like before?" Iona asked him. "So much pleasure...it let me forget all the pain."
Her words pierced deep into him. No more pain. Jamie lifted his hand. Stripped. Opened the door. Reached for her. His fingers skimmed over the silken flesh that had been heated by the pounding water. "This time, it will be even better."
"Promises, promises..."
He noticed that some of the shadows had lifted from her gaze. So beautiful that she makes me ache.