Fierce Awakenings Read online

  “I won’t let you do it!” she challenged as she glared up at him. He might find her predicament amusing, but she was far from amused.

  “How are you going to stop me?”

  “Test me and you’ll see!” she threatened.

  The corners of his mouth quivered into a smile and that infuriated her even more.

  “What makes you think you can beat me?” he snarled.

  “I’m fully capable of beating you to a pulp if I have to!”

  The damn vampire responded by pressing his body closer to hers, almost as if he intended to mesh them together into one being. She gasped at the feel of his hard chest crushing her breasts, causing her nipples to harden almost immediately.

  “Are you now?”

  “You’re out of your mind,” she accused, not quite sure what to make of his odd comportment.

  “Contrary to your belief, I’m completely sane,” he remarked.

  His behavior made her think otherwise. He was a strange man. By his manner of speaking, and the way he acted, Victoria assumed he was unaccustomed to company. Or maybe he was simply amazed at having found a female werewolf since he had mentioned he’d never seen one before.

  “A simple bite will poison you,” she declared, even when she was unsure whether that statement was true or not. She feared being bitten, so even if it wasn’t true, she hoped it would deter him.

  “Poison?” He sounded confused. “What could poison possibly do to me?”

  “Kill you.”

  “I’m already dead,” he replied with a cock of his eyebrow.

  “It can destroy you.”

  “Poison cannot destroy me,” he said. “In fact, nothing short of fire can.”

  Damn him. He seemed to have an answer for everything.

  “You can be destroyed if you drink my blood.” Never let yourselves be bitten by the undead, it is forbidden. But if you are ever bitten by one, rest assured naught will happen to you for our blood is a poisonous elixir for these fiends. Those were the exact words spoken by her grandfather.

  “I guess I’m about to find out then.”

  The fact that she was about to be bitten by a vampire didn’t scare her. He couldn’t hurt her by that act alone, and unless it was just a ruse to distract her in order to kill her, she should be safe. For some unexplainable reason, she believed that wasn’t his intention at all. But something else struck her as odd; he didn’t seem to be troubled by the fact that if the theory proved to be true, he would be destroyed. She wondered if that was his plan all along. Was he looking for a way to end his existence?

  Ceasing all struggles, she allowed him access to her neck, exposing it to him. One large arm snaked around her waist and drew her closer to his cold body while the other gripped the back of her neck and angled it so that it was completely bare to him. She watched as his seductive mouth equipped with four shiny incisors neared her throat, and by God, she was more than curious to know if it would hurt even the slightest bit. She had no intention of stopping his approach, so she would find out one way or another.

  Her mind blanked as his fangs pierced her skin and dug further into her muscles. By allowing him to bite her she was going against everything her father and pack taught her. It was taboo for vampires to bite werewolves and feed on them, yet she was not putting up a fight as he dug his fangs into her. She couldn’t explain why she allowed him to take such huge liberties with her, but even if she repented, it was too late to stop him now.

  After the initial sharp spark of pain, all discomfort soon ceased as he began to drink from her. His greedy fangs tunneled deeper than necessary, which annoyed her at first, but in spite of the rough start she knew there was no immediate danger. Her body would immediately work to replenish what she lost.

  The closeness of their bodies however, forced another shiver to course down her body. It felt too intimate to be held like this. Only lovers should hold each other so intimately and he certainly wasn’t her lover. Yet, as her mind continued to protest, her body wanted more closeness. The feel of his hard body against hers wasn’t enough to satisfy her curiosity, so Victoria did the only thing she could think of, she wrapped her arms around his midsection and pressed against him.

  Their bodies touched in ways that made her blush straight down to her toes. The sound of his soft moan nearly sent her blood flooding through her system; it was the most erotic sound she had ever heard. Her forwardness had forced a reaction out of him, whether he had wanted it or not, and as she squeezed her eyes shut and tilted her head back, he clamped his lips on her skin and drank greedily. She craved distraction from the tightness forming in the pit of her stomach, but as her eyes closed, she only managed to concentrate more on his nearness.

  Her body seemed to vibrate with new life as she stood there and inhaled that intoxicating scent of his. He smelled like expensive cologne combined with the wonderful aroma of nature, and as his hands lowered further down her back, she shook, overwhelmed by the rush of warmth that engulfed her body. Never had she allowed such liberties to anyone and yet, he was treating her as if he had every right in the world to not only touch her, but actually drink her blood. Despite her earlier surprise, Victoria wouldn’t—couldn’t stop what should have been an appalling act, at least from her side.

  He continued to drink as if he meant to bleed her dry; his huge hands held her firm and steady. A human being would have died had he taken as much from them as he was from her. Was he looking to kill her by trying to drink as much blood as he could?

  A second later, Tristan released her and stepped back. His eyes were literally glowing a shade of indigo by then. His fangs and lower lip were smeared with her blood. His cheeks appeared flushed from the warm liquid now coursing through his body, his pale skin was no longer as ashen. He looked more human now than he did moments before.

  The look Tristan gave her once he finished feeding was one of bewilderment.

  Victoria didn’t understand why the look of surprise. He seemed confused, startled, lost. For a split second she thought his reaction was due to fear of being destroyed. But when seconds dragged by and he didn’t spontaneously combust, she was reassured the theory had just been proven wrong. If anything, he looked more alive now than he did before he drank her blood.

  “So much power…” he finally muttered.

  Victoria could only stare. She wasn’t sure what he meant by that.

  “I drank so much blood…you should be dead.” Those words startled her.

  “You were trying to kill me?” she asked, completely annoyed with herself for believing he meant her no harm.

  “No!” he shouted. “I…I couldn’t stop once I started…your blood is so...” He shook his head as if confused by something. “I’ve never tasted anything like it.”

  Using his index finger, he reached up to clean what little blood remained on his lower lip. When he slipped that same finger into his mouth to lick the blood that had been left behind, Victoria’s knees nearly buckled under the intensity of that simple action. She swallowed hard as she watched him twirl his tongue around his finger, delicately cleaning it before lowering his hand to his side.

  “I’m sorry!”

  “For what?”

  Ignoring her question, he then asked, “Why didn’t you stop me?”

  “Because…I knew you couldn’t hurt me,” she admitted. To be honest, hurting her seemed to be the last thing on his mind.

  “You took a huge risk. I could have done more than drink your blood.”

  Victoria lowered her gaze, momentarily unable to look at him directly. “Yes, but you didn’t, so the risk was worth taking.”

  A shadow possessed his already darkening expression. She could tell he wasn’t sure what to make of her admission.

  “My body works to replenish what it loses. No matter how much blood I lose, my body will restock itself, so to speak.” she added as she met his gaze once again. “Is it not that way with you?”

  He arched his eyebrows as he stared at her.
/>   “No. If we lose too much we must replenish ourselves by drinking more blood. We won’t die but we will be weak, near vulnerable.”

  “Is that what you were doing yesterday, hunting?”

  “I was hunting because I hungered, not because I needed to replenish myself.” So he was the presence she felt the night before.

  “Why didn’t you…?”

  He ambled over to her until his face was but an inch away from hers. “What, stay?” He grinned, watching her expression as if waiting for her to say yes.

  “Um…” She desperately wanted to reach up and touch his face, he was so close, yet he could have been miles away for all the effort it took for her to even look straight up at him.

  Victoria averted her gaze in the hopes he wouldn’t see the many emotions that were surely visible through her eyes, relieved when he stepped back and away from her. How could she feel so attracted to a being like him? She had a thousand questions to ask, but now was not the time. She had been gone far too long and she had little doubt someone would come looking for her soon.

  “I must leave,” she stated and waited for a response. There was none. By the time she refocused her eyes on him he had vanished, gone as quietly as he had appeared. Since she could no longer sense him near, she knew he was far away and moving farther every second that ticked by.

  If only she didn’t have to leave…she would have enjoyed—NO. What was wrong with her? Her father was fixing to mate her off to an alpha from another pack and here she was fantasizing about a vampire!

  Saddened by the sudden departure of her newfound mystery, Victoria opened the car door and climbed inside. As she sat on the driver side seat, she found it hard to concentrate on anything except Tristan’s wonderful aroma, his unique features, and the way his body felt pressed against hers. How ironic life could be. She’d never felt any physical attraction to any of the male betas she was forced to be around. To her, they were just uninteresting males. Yet, here she was, stricken by a male that wasn’t even qualified as being a living creature.

  In an effort to clear her head of Tristan’s handsome features and the effect he had on her, Victoria shook her head and sighed heavily. Her only concern should be going home.

  Tristan was right about one thing though—she needed to guard her thoughts better. Tristan, the vampire, had caused her to forget in a few seconds everything her father had taught her in her twenty years of being. She had broken so many rules tonight she couldn’t possibly count them all. As confused as she was, she had no choice but to drive home and face whatever she had to.

  Inserting the key into the ignition, Victoria turned the car on, and as quickly and effortlessly as she had managed to find the desolated patch of woods, she started back home.

  Twenty minutes later, she arrived at her extravagant looking home and parked the car just outside the huge metal gates. Even from a distance she could make out the distinct and familiar sounds of the pack members moving within the house and the many acres of woods surrounding it. Wanting to be within the safety of her bedroom as soon as possible, she ran inside and avoided acknowledging anyone she saw as she made her way inside the house, up the stairs, and down the large hallway. In no time at all she was inside her bedroom with the door slammed shut and locked.

  Victoria was no fool, she was aware that many had spotted her leaving the premises and then arriving just now, but as long as her father didn’t notice, no one would say a thing. Although the betas normally avoided keeping things from her father, they wouldn’t say a thing unless it was absolutely necessary. The fact that she had made it to her bedroom safely was proof enough that Victor, at least, had no idea she had been gone.

  Unfortunately, as she breathed a sigh of relief for having arrived in the nick of time, she was just as troubled over how complicated things had gotten in such a short amount of time. Life tended to become complex and this day had proven to be no different. She had awoken that morning with the knowledge that in two weeks’ time she would be mated to an alpha from a pack arriving from Canada. It was her father’s decision and in spite of the fact that she didn’t agree with it, she had come to accept it because she had no choice.

  Victor was a little over four hundred years old and was completely stuck to the old ways. Ways in which werewolves ran with packs, lone wolves were outlawed, and females were mated to the male of her father’s choosing. But Victoria was just twenty years old, and by every right an adult in no immediate need to become mated to a male—any male, really. Not unless she wanted to, of course, but that wasn’t the case.

  She understood her father’s concern over werewolves going extinct and having to properly mate females with powerful males that carried strong genes in order to repopulate the species, but she wasn’t ready for that kind of responsibility. She wanted so much more in a relationship than mere obligation. She guessed that was her human side speaking. It was logical for her to want more in a relationship than a quick copulation that would leave her pregnant with the next generation of immortal children. And this male her father was considering was a maneater. Though it was said he had never actually consumed human flesh, he still carried the gene within his bloodline. Why would she want to be mated to a creature that had tainted blood? All because he was a powerful alpha? No, she didn’t want that.

  Puffing her discontent, Victoria marched to the bathroom, turned on the lights, and stepped inside. As she observed herself in the mirror, her mind began to stray toward Tristan. She wondered why he was so awed by her. Was it because of what she was? It was a possibility. After all, his dangerous aura was what attracted her to him in the first place.

  He was not a werewolf; he was something more, something different, something out of the norm. All her life she was forced to mingle with werewolves only. Even friendship with humans was outlawed. Her association with humans was very limited because her father considered it dangerous to get too close to them. As ridiculous as it sounded, those were her father’s ways.

  Of one thing she was sure though, she definitely wanted to see Tristan again. But she didn’t think he would want to see her, since he’d left without saying a word. Why had he left in such a hurry? Was he assailed with feelings of disgust after what he’d done? Or did he feel guilt?

  Opting to set aside her thoughts about Tristan, Victoria quickly undressed and stepped into the bathtub, where she proceeded to take a quick shower. After dressing in her favorite pair of pajamas, she finished with her nighttime routine and hurried to bed.

  Although she wasn’t tired or as sleepy as she wanted to be, she needed to lie down for a bit and think. More than anything else, she needed a reprieve from the pack society and daily life, but most of all; she needed a reprieve from her father. If she could only find a way to leave for a few days, to be alone.

  Perhaps she could manage this! Victoria sat up in bed as a crazy thought crossed her mind. It wouldn’t be the first time she took off and made herself scarce for days at a time. She’d done it before in the past. The only consequence she faced upon returning was her father’s anger. He hated when she disappeared. Not because he feared for her safety, but because she opposed his wishes. He was Alpha and it made him look bad when one of his own children contradicted him. But heck, if she’d done it before, she could do it again.

  The idea had not yet left her thoughts when she rose and began to pack the essentials into a duffel bag. She didn’t need much, just a few items of clothing, a hairbrush, toothbrush, some toiletries, and money. The rest she could get if she needed it. She wouldn’t go far, just far enough so she could be alone. It was time she did some serious thinking and analyzing what her life would be like once she mated with Armando. Besides, if she figured out how to actually survive without the safety of the pack, this could turn out to be her ticket out once and for all.

  Even though she had disappeared for a few days at a time, she was always forced to come back by her inexperience in the real world. However, this time she had more of an incentive to learn how to co
ntrol her beast while in the presence of humans and how to separate her lifestyle from theirs. And, of course, if she managed to accomplish a lot more this time, she could use any knowledge she learned and move across the country and never have to see her parents again. She would miss Tyrone, Sasha, and Danero, but she was certain she could find a way to see them again in time.

  Analyzing her predicament, she came to the conclusion that she had two weeks to think things through. Her mate-to-be was due to arrive in fourteen days. If she couldn’t manage to survive on her own, then she would have no other choice but to stagger back home with her tail tucked between her legs, and admit defeat.

  The only problem she could foresee so far was how to make it out of the compound without anyone noticing. Walking out the front door with a duffel bag in hand would surely get noticed, but if she got some help, it would be less conspicuous.

  Victoria immediately set out to put her plan in motion. Hurrying out her bedroom door, she walked down the hallway to the staircase, where she found Nicolette, one of the betas in charge of the housekeeping.

  “Nicolette…” When the girl—who was diligently vacuuming the carpeted stairwell—looked up, Victoria motioned for her to approach.

  Nicolette turned off the vacuum and hurried up the stairs.

  “Yes?” Smiling, the girl waited patiently for Victoria to speak.

  “I need a favor of you.” When the girl nodded, Victoria added, “Can you please fetch Danero for me? Please tell him to meet me in my bedroom.”

  “Of course, Miss, right away.”

  “Thank you, Nicolette.”

  The girl moved back down the stairs to the second floor where she promptly disappeared.

  Once the girl was out of sight, Victoria ran back into her bedroom and waited patiently for her best friend to show up. She paced back and forth, her jumbled nerves making her a mess. She was determined to leave, to escape her prison once and for all, but that didn’t make things any easier. She was about to take on more than she ever had before and the possibility of getting caught was enough to make her think twice about her decision. Especially if Danero helped her and he ended up getting busted.