Forever Bound Series 1-4(60)

“Ask her…” Malcolm said, choking a bit on blood. “She begged…for you.”

Bastard.

He’d enjoyed it so much when she begged.

I stopped begging. Stopped crying. Stopped letting him enjoy her pain. In the end, she’d been the stronger one. Damn him, she’d been stronger.

Heath’s hands slackened even more on her. She yanked away from him. “Vamps use distraction as their number one attack method.” That’s what Malcolm was trying to do then. Why didn’t the wolves realize what was happening? “He wants to buy time, to give the others a chance to regroup and come in again for an attack.”

Paige inched forward as the wolves glanced around the room. She just needed to get within striking distance. Almost…there.

Drake swung his gaze back to her. “You weren’t at the lake.”

Paige could still smell the lake. That long ago day, the polar night had ended. The darkness had faded and the sunlight had just been about to come her way. Everything had been fresh. New.

She and Drake had wanted to see the sun together.

Then start their lives together.

She’d gone to Lost Lake early because she’d been so excited. She hadn’t cared about what Drake was. She’d just loved him.

When she’d heard the twig snap and the rustle in the bushes, she’d thought it was him. She’d spun around with a smile on her face.

Hello, little wolf whore.

“No,” she whispered through numb lips as the past and the present fought in her mind, “I wasn’t at the lake.”

Drake’s claws dug into Malcolm’s neck. More blood flowed. “I waited for you,” Drake told her, sounding lost. She’d been lost, for so long. His eyes were still on her as he said, “I waited for hours. But you never came. You left me. You couldn’t stand what I was.”

A few more steps, and she’d be at his side. “I left,” Paige agreed softly. Wasn’t that what she wanted him to know?

“She screamed,” Malcolm gasped out the words. Damn him. Shut up. Only he wasn’t shutting up. He was saying… “Jeremiah had taken you too far away…and you couldn’t hear her. We cloaked our scents, so you never knew we were…at that lake. Then the old alpha came…because he wanted to make sure…she died…”

You won’t tempt the boy again. Jeremiah’s vow to her. He’d met up with the vamps. In some God-forsaken cabin. A place that had reeked of death and fear.

But by the time he’d gotten there, she’d stopped screaming. She’d realized her screams were only building the excitement for the vamps. They got off on her pain.

So the tears had streaked silently down her cheeks, but she’d stopped crying out. Her lips had clamped together. She’d bit through them to hold back her cries.

Jeremiah had come to kill her. She’d understood that instantly. He’d wanted to be the one to send her to the grave. Personally. Because she’d dared to try and taint his pack with her human blood.

But Gabe…oh, Gabe, he’d always been so smart. He’d known that Jeremiah wouldn’t be around forever, and with Drake growing bigger and stronger every day…

A new alpha’s taking over. When he rises, I’ll have what he wants most. Gabe had whispered those words to her. Then kissed her tears away. Don’t be afraid, love. You’re not dying…yet.

“I wasn’t at the lake,” she said again as she tried to push the past back into the dark hole in her mind. Drake needed to remember her leaving him. He had to be strong. He couldn’t have a weakness.

Gabe was counting on his weakness.

She blinked. Why were her cheeks wet? Dammit, she was crying, and the wolves were all staring at her, dead silent.

As silent as she’d been when Jeremiah had raked his claws down her arm. Then her side.

But Gabe had stopped him before the bastard could rip out her heart.

“She’s not yours to kill, Jeremiah.” Gabe’s taunting voice still haunted her mind. “She’s ours now.”

“We didn’t turn her right away.” Malcolm’s body trembled and his voice shook. “She…got away from us…gave us quite a chase…”

Didn’t Drake get it? Malcolm was wasting time with this story. Distracting them all.

Making Drake weak.

Because Gabe wanted Drake to be weak, distracted…broken when the real attack came.

She remembered the desperate time she’d spent running. She’d fled through the snow. Hitchhiked. Gotten as far from Alaska as she could.

Hello, Florida.

But Gabe had always been chasing her. He hadn’t planned to let her go. Not when she could be such a valuable tool in his battle.

She’d never called Drake after she escaped. Never so much as spoken his name again. Why? Because Jeremiah had still been there, still wielding his power, and if she’d tried to get close to Drake again…

The old scars on her body seemed to burn.

Her heartbeat thudded in her ears. Fast. So fast.

“All vampires aren’t sick pricks like him,” she spoke quietly, but her voice filled the room. “There are others out there who are different. They’re good.” They’d found her. Hurt. Wild. So desperate after her change. And they’d helped her.