Bound in Sin (Bound #3)(24)

I want you. I want to stay.

Some things just weren’t meant to be.

But Paige didn’t run away. She walked. One foot in front of the other. Slow. Steady.

“Was everything a lie?”

She stopped. Didn’t look back. “Not everything.” Then because–hell, what did she have to lose? Paige glanced back over her shoulder. “I really have always loved you.” From the first moment she saw him. “And I always will.”

Then she kept walking. Because sometimes, love just wasn’t enough.

Not when you were a vampire.

And not when the man you wanted more than blood was a werewolf.

***

Did Paige really think that she was just going to walk away? Hell, no.

Drake watched her as she left him. The snow drifted over her dark hair. Her steps were slow but certain.

Not running…just leaving him.

Right after she’d said she loved him? The woman was about to break him.

He inhaled deeply, drawing in her scent. He’d never lose her again.

Never.

“Get rid of the bodies.” Easy enough in the wild. “Head back to the compound.” Because the battle wasn’t over. Not for him.

His gaze swept around the assembled wolves. “Then if there is any one of you who wants to challenge me, take your best shot.” He was ready for a fight with claws and teeth and blood and fury. “Because my mate is going to be with me, in my pack, by my side, for the rest of my life.” Even if his life was shorter than hers.

He’d take what he could get.

Mate. That was what Paige was. She’d been his mate since she was nineteen.

She’d be his until he took his last breath.

Vampire, werewolf–it didn’t matter. She was his.

He’d fight for her, just as she’d fought for him.

When the fight was over, he’d find her.

I’ll come after you, Paige.

Always.

***

Silence.

Drake stared at the group of shifters who’d assembled in the compound’s courtyard. No one spoke. No one moved.

They all stood before him. Waiting.

He wore a pair of jeans, hanging low on his hips, and his claws were out.

His gaze swept over them all. “Who’s first?” The wolf inside was already howling.

He’d fight to give Paige a place at his side because he damn well wasn’t living without her.

No one stepped forward.

“Who’s first?”

They weren’t meeting his stare. The shifters backed up, showing submission.

All of them backed up…except for Heath. His first-in-command stepped forward.

First.

But Heath lifted his hands and no claws burst from his fingertips. “I have no quarrel with you or your mate.”

Drake grabbed him. Lifted him into the air. “That’s not what you said before.”

“Before…” Heath swallowed and shook his head. “Before I didn’t know what she’d risk for you.”

Everything.

“We saw the blood. The bodies. We know what she did.”

Fought. Saved him. Saved the pack.

Drake dropped the other shifter. Heath scrambled to his feet. “We’ll protect her, swear allegiance to her, just as we do to you.”

There was a murmur or agreement from the shifters. Not silence, not anymore.

The murmur turned into a growing roar of approval. Determination.

“So go get your mate,” Heath told him, voice fierce now. “Bring her into the pack. Bring her back where she belongs.”

Drake’s bare feet sank into the snow as he rushed through the crowd. Paige’s sweet scent still filled his nose. He wasn’t losing her this time.

Not this time.

Drake ran after his mate, and as he ran, he knew exactly where he’d find her.

***

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.”