Chapter 7
Jack
Those two vampires found her before I could get to her. They’re too fast for me while I’m in my human form and by the time I catch up, she’s escaped their grasp. Well, escape is the wrong word. They let her go so they could play a cat and mouse game with her, chasing her through these woods.
I intercept her and grip her about the waist, pressing her back into a tree. Her entire body is shaking with fear, and blood runs down her neck. I press my fingers to her wound to help stop the bleeding. Her pulse beats wildly against my fingertips.
Being this close to her almost undoes me. The want I feel for her is overwhelming. She smells like the woods I love so much.
“Wh-what do you want?” She asks, her voice quivering with each word.
Her fear does things to me. It ignites a primal instinct inside me that’s long been dormant.
I get close to her face, studying her every curve, taking in her soft freckles that dot her cheeks and nose.
Her dark lashes are wet with unshed tears.
The moment they spill over, my tongue licks their salty rivulets from her damp skin.
She shudders under my feather light touch. Her chest rises and falls with every inhale.
“You’re so fucking beautiful,” I tell her.
Her mouth drops open, and her eyes go wide. I can tell she isn’t used to having someone compliment her. But she should. She should know just how stunning she is.
“Th-thank you,” she says.
“You have no idea all the things I want to do to you. All the ways I could make you scream,” I tell her.
“Why do you want to make me scream?” She asks.
“Because I want to hear how much I affect you,” I say, pulling my hand away from her neck. My fingertips are stained in her blood, but the bleeding seems to have stopped for now.
“What’s your name?” I ask her, desperate to know.
“L-lydia.”
“Lydia,” I say, rolling her name around on my tongue, feeling every syllable fit in my mouth like it belongs there.
“What’s yours?”
“Jack.”
“Are you going to hurt me, Jack?”
“Not unless you want me to,” I say, caging her in against the tree.
Her lashes flutter and she traces my face with her eyes, landing on my lips for a moment before looking back up at me. She’s interested. That much is clear, even though there’s a part of her that’s scared.
“What do you say, Lydia? Do you want me to make you scream?”
She inhales sharply as I lean down. Her mouth opens as my lips brush against hers and then she’s there, kissing me back and grabbing me around the back of my head to get closer to her.
A cough from the side interrupts us and I see those two bloodsuckers are watching. Waiting. I can feel their eyes on us, and I look over to them feeling annoyed.
“Jack,” I hear Maverick say with a rumble in his throat.
“Maverick,” I say back, stepping away from Lydia.
She takes that moment to dash off into the darkness, leaving nothing but her scent behind. My lips still feel the faintest hint of hers against mine, and that sweet taste of blueberries lingers on my tongue.
If that’s how she wants to play, we can play. I can chase her all night if she wants.
“What are you doing with her?” Hendricks asks.
“She’s mine,” I say. “Leave her alone.”
“No. No fucking way. You never go for any of the guests.”
“Yeah well. Things change. Deal with it,” I turn on my heel and go after her, making sure she doesn’t fall into one of the barbaric traps these guys dug.
“Just where do you think you’re going? You can’t just call dibs on her like that,” Maverick says pulling up next to me. “We have just as much right to her as you do.”
“Bull. You probably just want to suck her dry after chasing her around.”
“It’s not like that. Swear. We feel… pulled to her. Both of us.” He gestures at Hendricks, and I shake my head.
“Well, what the fuck do we do then? The three of us make a move for her and let her decide or what?” I ask. I know the two of them are into sharing, but the concept is foreign to me. I’ve only ever been married and that was well over a century ago.
“We let her decide, and if she wants all three of us, will you be cool with that?” Hendricks asks.
Internally, I’m struggling against the concept of sharing, but if it means I get to have her, then I’ll do it. I’ll do anything to make sure she stays here with me.
“Yes. Fine. Now let’s go get her before she hurts herself in one of your stupid traps.”