The Siren's Alpha, page 6
Unlike my hands, my ankles were chained together and secured to a thick part of stone. I needed leverage to lift them up and over the statue holding me, so I dropped forward onto my hands into a half handstand position, and lifted my legs up and over the top of the white marble headstone.
Tumbling forward, I cracked my face, but I was free.
Awkwardly I got to my feet. “Fuck you, bitch,” I shouted into the darkness. I then flipped off the queen.
It still counted even if she couldn’t see it.
Once that was out of my system, I hobbled in the direction Red had gone. The darkness was pretty all-encompassing away from the firelight, but I knew the vampire hadn’t gone far before he hit stairs, so I figured it had to be close.
As my foot slammed into the bottom step, I stumbled, and a door creaked above me. Shit. Shit. Shit. He was back. I quickly moved away, standing in the shadows just beside the bottom of the stairs. Boots clomped down in fast clicks, and I waited as patiently as I could, the chains hanging from each wrist, bolts still attached.
He was totally going to wish he had just let me pee on the floor.
As the shadow crossed in front of me, I swung out in the general direction of his head – which I based on movement and height. A sickening thud was followed by another thud as his body hit the ground.
I lurched forward as fast as I could with my ankle shackles, and stumbled up the stairs. It took longer than I expected to get to the top, but eventually a heavy stone door appeared – after I smashed my head into it. With my brain protesting all the abuse, I groaned and pushed it open, a sense of panic clawing at me.
I’d only hit the vampire downstairs once. It would have had to be a damn good hit to knock him down for long, so I needed to hurry. Sure enough, as I stepped out into the late afternoon light, I heard movement from below. I wasn’t strong enough to do much in these cuffs, but maybe a small use of power would work.
Block the door.
The stone door slammed back across the opening, and whatever minute particles of water existed in the aged stone fused it completely closed. I heard a thump on the other side, followed by very muffled cursing, but Red didn’t break through, so I had a chance. I headed toward the huge hotel I could see in the distance.
Rounding a section of forest, I let out a relieved sigh when a familiar building came into sight – the spa that was off to the back of the main building.
I hadn’t been far away. I didn’t know why Carissa hadn’t found me, but no doubt it had something to do with that tomb thing I’d been held in. Most of them had ancient spells and runes carved into them, to keep the dead from rising.
I was leaving a blood trail as I hobble-sprinted, my wrists and ankles still bleeding profusely. The chains were draining me and I needed to get them off. Rounding the side of the hotel, it took me a good fifteen minutes to make it to the front entrance. Just when I was about to climb those steps, a shout caught my attention.
I had no idea how I had missed the group of beings spread out across the front land. Vampires were along one side, wolves along the other, and a mix of other creatures intermingled with them.
It looked as if they were mere seconds away from a fight breaking out, so I changed trajectories, and even though it was the last thing I wanted to do right then, I ran toward them.
10
It must have been because she was high on my kill-list, but I zeroed straight in on the queen, who was standing front and center. In her arms was a long scroll-like parchment of paper.
I caught the tail end of her words as I got closer: “… sign here and there needs to be no fighting.”
A man stepped into view and my heart skipped a few beats. My head got light until adrenalin kicked back in, along with relief and joy.
Axel. He was perfectly okay. Red hadn’t been lying.
The alpha lowered his head, every definition on his rugged jaw visible as he clenched his teeth hard. He looked unhappy – actually, scratch that, he looked pissed, furious enough to kill everyone he could get his hands on.
“I want to see Lettie before I sign this,” he growled out, hands clenching the parchment. “Your word doesn’t mean shit.”
I could see his wolves were restless behind him; none of them looked happy. I wished I knew what was going on, but even without that knowledge I knew I couldn’t let him sign that paper.
“Axel!” My siren scream was loud and unfettered. His name was picked up by the wind and scooted toward him.
Hundreds of heads swung in my direction to look at the crazy, blood-coated, chained-up siren hobbling toward them. Vampires sprang into action, speeding toward me.
Shit. Maybe I should have continued sneaking up.
Before I was hit by a second vampire attack for the day, wolves surrounded me, many of them shifted into their animal form, snarling, biting at the vamps who dared to step closer. They were protecting me? I was so astonished that I almost tripped and faceplanted, but somehow I kept my footing as I ran toward Axel. He and the vampire queen were still facing off. His lips were moving, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying. Her face looked pale, and she shuffled back, before some steel stiffened her spine.
My shout was lost as she sprang for him. I ran as fast as I could, but the increased pace didn’t work so well with my feet in cuffs, and I lost the precarious balance I’d had, tripping forward. I would have faceplanted if strong arms didn’t scoop me up and continue running toward the alpha, a pack of protective wolves still surrounding us.
I watched as the queen shed her human façade, becoming night and shadows. She darted forward again and attacked Axel. With a roar he smashed a fist into the blur of night she had become, and it actually connected. She flew back across the yard, sprawling along the dirt.
Her eyes were wide, astonished, as she lifted to her feet. “How did you do that?” The breathless question lacked her usual arrogance.
Axel stood as tall as he could, which seemed like it was ten feet or so. He appeared to be growing in height and mass, getting slightly hairier too, like a human cross wolf cross giant.
“I am Dracon Axel Raiden, son of Fenrir, grandson of Loki. I am god, and I will bow to no vampire again.”
His voice was a deep rumble that filled the air around us, spilling across the land in a wash of power. Shifters everywhere fell to their knees. The only one to remain standing was the one holding me in his arms. We were both still and silent, standing ten feet from the spectacular sight of Axel, who was apparently so much more than I had ever known. We were born of gods – from different pantheons, sure, but it still meant we had a lot more in common than I previously thought.
Axel lifted a hand, and with a wave of his fingers Isadora was dragged along the ground toward him. Apparently he had not lost any of his powers by being on Earth. He lifted her up so her tiny figure was eye-level with him, and then with an almost slow, exaggerated movement, reached forward and tore through her chest, ripping her heart free.
“This is what happens to any who touch Lettie,” he said, loud enough for all to hear.
He tossed the blackened organ to the vampires, who looked shocked by what had happened. “This is the last warning I give you. If you come for the hallowed lands again, I will wipe vampires from the face of the Earth. Do not test me.”
Holy shit! That’s what this had all been about? The hallowed lands. She’d been trying to get him to sign them over to her. That parchment was no doubt magically binding so he could never attack her to get them back.
I had no idea that they were controlled by the wolf packs, and I’d never set foot in North Dakota to see for myself why those lands were so heavily fought over. Was that why the queen had hated Axel so much? Everyone knew whoever controlled it controlled a lot of the magical ley line energy. Who would have thought vampires or wolves cared about that? It was more the witches’ territory.
The vampires scattered, and Axel turned to face me. The look on his face was scarier than any I’d seen before, even from the gods. His aura was dark, his body flushed with adrenalin and power. If I hadn’t had some sort of unexplained trust in him, I would have been running with the bloodsuckers. I felt the tension from the male who held me, and I knew why the moment Axel spoke again.
“Get. Your. Hands. Off. My. Mate.”
He enunciated each word slowly and clearly, tingles of power leaking again. He was no longer an alpha wolf. He was now a god. And he would not be fucked with.
The male holding me let out a chuckle. “Ax, buddy, you don’t scare me.” I glanced up and it took me a second, but I eventually recognized the shaggy blond hair and laughing green eyes. This was one of his “brothers,” and clearly he was powerful enough to take on a god.
“Nayte, I have zero patience for your bullshit. Unhand my fucking mate or I will rip your head off. A thousand years of friendship is not going to change my mind on this.”
Nayte let out another laugh before I was gently set on my feet. “Find me later for a drink,” he called as he walked off.
Axel strode toward me with determination, and I hobbled forward, needing to feel his touch. I would have jumped into his arms but the chains were preventing me – not to mention he was even bigger than usual in this god-like form.
He swept me up with ease, and his lips claimed mine in a domination I couldn’t fight. I didn’t even want to try. As his tongue stroked mine, I let out a low moan, wishing we were alone.
“Loving you is probably going to put me in an early grave,” he growl-murmured against my lips. “But I don’t fucking care. I would take an early death any day … for this.”
That was exactly how I felt too, and I pressed myself even closer to him. “You need to get naked.” Siren energy spilled out in those words, and shifters around us reacted.
Clothes were being shed faster than I could process, and I couldn’t help but throw my head back and laugh. I had almost died multiple times today. Axel had killed the vampire queen. And now I was surrounded by a naked pack of shifters who apparently weren’t going to kill me for being in love with their alpha. Not right now anyways.
What a weird day.
“Lettie!”
The shriek brought a tear to my eye, and I twisted in Axel’s arms to see my sister dashing toward me. Her face was drawn, also streaked with tears, and her hair was a jumbled mess. Unlike his pack, she didn’t appear to be afraid of god-sized Axel, getting right up to his side as she reached for me.
He released me into her arms without hesitation and she held me so hard that my ribs creaked in protest. “I thought you were dead. I searched for you and there was nothing. No bond. Then, as I’m combing through the dark forest again, there was this twinge. I felt you.
“I traced the pinpoint, only to find a pissed-off vampire clawing his way out of an underground grave. He was covered in your blood, so I ripped his head off before he could even open his fang-filled mouth.”
No one in this world was sad that Red was dead, no one. If anything, we all owed Carissa a drink. Or six.
When she finally let me go, she must have noticed the huge metal cuffs still around my wrists. Before I could worry about how the hell I was going to get them off, she lifted a long chain up. There was an old fashioned key dangling from it.
“I knew that bastard had this key for a reason.”
She unlocked the cuffs on my hands and around my ankles. Axel reached out and took them from her, handing them to a nearby shifter, one of the few not naked or off running in the forest.
“Keep those,” I said. “They’re made by Hephaestus, and might come in handy one day.”
He gave his shifter a nod, and I knew the message had been received. The alpha then reached out and captured my hands in his, lifting them up and pressing his lips to the torn skin on my wrists, which was just starting to knit together.
“When your sister found me … said the queen took you…” His voice got deep and husky. “I lost my mind. Isadora told me she would kill you if I didn’t sign my lands over.”
He was shrinking back to his normal almost seven foot tall, so I didn’t have to look up quite as much to him. “I realized in that moment, with your life on the line, that I would be willing to risk anything for you. I will destroy this very world if it means I keep you safe.”
He ran a hand through his hair, frustration on his face, blond braids falling back to rest on his shoulders. “I have always believed the reason I never had a mate was because I was too dangerous. That when I loved and protected, I would do so without thought for any consequences. It appears this is true, and now that I have found you, I worry for the world.”
I stepped into him, wrapping my arms around his waist. “I love this world. It’s my home. I will make sure you don’t destroy it in your rage.”
I was pulled up into his arms again then, a happy shriek falling from my lips. A sexy grin tilted the corner of his mouth, more of his darkness dissipating. There was a promise of so many orgasms in that look, and I was damned ready. Holy fuck, so ready.
“Go,” he shouted to his shifters. “Go and enjoy the rest of your stay here. Don’t seek me out unless it’s life and death.”
Wolves everywhere let out howls as they tipped their heads back to the darkening sky. I didn’t care though. I was in my mate’s arms, and with a bit of luck wouldn’t step foot out of a bedroom for the rest of our time at the Hotel.
Carissa shook her head as Axel and I linked hands. When we started to cross the lawn toward the hotel porch, she called after me, “Glad I forced you to come this year, sis?”
I laughed, glancing up to look at Axel. “Best decision I ever made.” My soft words earned me another smile.
“We’ll come back every year,” Axel decided. “But you’ll be staying on the sixty-ninth floor from now on.”
“Or maybe you’ll stay on the tenth…” I wasn’t letting him alpha me. Had to stop that before it started.
He just laughed, a sound I could get used to hearing. “I can live with that. Ten always was my lucky number.”
Mine too.
Whether luck or fate, whatever had brought us together had done me a favor, and I would be thanking them for the rest of my very long days. Immortality was finally starting to look good, and I was ready for everything the future had in store.
About the Author
Jaymin Eve is the WSJ and USA Today Bestselling author of Young Adult and New Adult romance novels (both urban fantasy and contemporary). She loves surrounding herself with the best things in life: her two girls, a good book, and chocolate.
www.jaymineve.com
jaymineve@gmail.com
Jaymin Eve, The Siren's Alpha
