Werewolf and Vampire Mate [Book 1 Complete]

chapter eighteen.

I can't move, can't breathe, can't think. Fear paralyzes me.

All I can do is watch in horror as it slowly rises up on its hind legs.

I'm about to be eaten by a fucking bear. Of all the ways to die—via werewolves or vampires or fucking powerful grimoires—I'm going to be eaten by a Goddamn bear? I know being mated to Reed is supposed to keep me alive, but surely if I am torn to pieces, there is no coming back from that...right?

I've never even seen a bear in real life before.

Then, a familiar growl breaks through the night and my black wolf stalks out from the treeline. He rushes toward the bear who lets out an ear-splitting roar. Reed leaps at the bear and tackles it to the ground, clamping his jaw around the bear's throat and shaking violently.

The bear claws at him and must realize the danger that Reed poses, because the moment Reed lets it go with a harsh snarl, it takes off back into the woods.

When the breath has finally returned to my lungs, I scramble out of the river and stumble over to my wolf, collapsing into him, gripping fistfuls of coarse fur.

A sob tumbles from my lips as Reed nuzzles gently at my thigh.

Leaning heavily on his large form, he helps me over to the soft grass and I all but lie on top of him. Exhausted, run down and emotional, I bury my head in his shoulder as his warm body wraps around me, cocooning me.

The exhaustion from the copious amount of sex I just had kicks in. Sleep comes easily then.

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Sunlight poking through the trees isn't what wakes me. It's the soft but insistent chiding of my name that pulls me from a rather strange dream.

"April? April, it's time to get up."

I blink, stretching, feeling dew-covered grass beneath my bare body, and look up into Nik's solemn eyes.

"Where's–"

"I'm here," Reed says from behind me. He is pulling on his jeans and zipping them up. Across his tan, muscular chest is a faint pink scratch that I think is from the bear. Or possibly from my nails, it's really hard to say.

The events of last night play in my mind like a continuous movie that I can't escape. I can't decide if it's pornographic or a horror film.

"We've got to get moving. Can you stand?" Nik grips my elbows as I nod and helps me to my feet. There is an ache between my legs, a mix of pleasure and pain, like an echo of what happened last night.

Now that I am completely free from the affects of the grimoire, my mind clear and not lost to that haze of passion, embarrassment floods in. My cheeks go warm.

"We're ok," Nik says quietly, squeezing my arm reassuringly. "What happened wasn't anyone's fault. We just have to keep moving."

He's right; of course he is. There are more important things to worry about.

He has my clothes folded in the crook of his arm and he helps me into them, dragging the jean shorts up my legs and fishing the button through the hole, then helping me into the shirt. Around my neck, he carefully untangles the silver necklace that Wickham gave me—my tracking device—and presses the pendant against my chest.

"Let's get back to where we made camp, grab the bag and get going," Reed says.

When I step forward, I wince and lift the bottom of my foot to see it is covered in little cuts and bruises.

"Shit," Reed mutters, steadying me with a hand on my waist. "I can carry you."

But before he can pick me up, Nik shifts my tangled and damp hair to the side, looking at my neck. At his mark on me.

I wish I had a mirror so I could see it too.

His fingers gently trace the bite mark and I shiver, my eyes fluttering closed. "Nik," I warn.

"I'm just checking it's healed," he tells me, voice husky. "And it is. The Kindred bond has completely taken root." He leans down and kisses me on the temple, then brings his hand up and sinks his fangs into the heel of his palm. "Here, malyshka. Drink. You'll feel much better, I promise."

Nik is right; the Kindred bond is definitely in place, because before when I saw his blood I was intrigued but mildly repulsed. I mean, it's fucking blood. But now? There is a craving in me for it, a hunger that scares me.

My eyes dart up to his and he is ready to reassure me.

"It's alright, lyubov' moya. It's normal. You are part of me as I am part of you now."

And so we hunger for each other's blood.

There is something so, so messed up about that. And something...intimate too.

I glance over at Reed and he is watching me intensely, his eyebrows pulled down, but the usual furious jealousy is strangely absent.

"Come on," Nik insists. "Drink." He raises his hand and my lips part as they connect with his slowly bleeding skin. The taste floods my mouth, rich and oaky and warm. It feels...perfect. He strokes my hair, bringing me against his chest as I drink. "That's it," he murmurs and I feel his lips brushing the top of my head.

Finally, I pull away, gasping and rubbing at my mouth with the back of my hand. It takes only a few moments for my body to start to feel better. The various aches and pains ebb away until they are gone completely and I feel better, more energized than I have in weeks.

The faintest hint of a smirk plays on his lips. "Better?" He asks.

"Shut up," I grumble. "Let's go."

We pick our way through the forest, back to where we made camp, and quickly gather our things. I pull my shoes back on, Reed smothers the barely-smoldering fire and we head out.

"We need to make a plan," I declare as we hike along, parallel to the river.

"A plan for what?" Reed asks.

"For what we're going to do the next time the grimoire decides to mess with our heads. If we keep getting set back, we're not going to make it to the caves in time."

"This isn't the kind of thing you can plan for, April," Nik says. "We don't know how the grimoire is going to affect us next, so it is impossible to know what we're going to have to do."

He's right, but it frustrates me that we just have to keep walking and hoping for the best.

What horrible trick is this book going to play on us next?

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you so much for reading. Please vote and, if you have time, leave a comment.