Page 3 of Bound by Vengeance
Vicky almost turned and bolted straight atDuke. She was willing to take on dozens of Savages rather than gowith this one hunter who unnerved her far more than the prospect ofdeath.
However, instead of running, she found herhand stretching toward his as if a magnet pulled her toward him.When he clasped it, prickles of electricity swept over her, and sheknew she’d made the choice that would save her now… butwouldultimately destroy her.
CHAPTER 2
“This way,” Nathan said as he led Vicky downa side street, through an alley, and back onto a busier street.
They fled through the shadows, staying closeto the buildings to keep their sides protected. Nathan didn’trealize he still held her hand until Vicky tugged it away.
Glancing back at her, he discovered heremerald eyes surveying him like she’d made a deal with the devil.His attention was pulled away from her when he detected the fainthint of garbage and the squeak of a single footstep behindthem.
Never before had he run from a vampire, butthis wasn’t one or two or eventenSavages. He would havebattled those numbers, he might not have survived it, but he wouldhave faced them.
There’d been more than that back therethough, and they’d been going forher. If Nathan took themon now, he didn’t know if he could keep her safe against somany.
He’d only ever seen Vicky twice before, anddespite having first glimpsed her with her identical twin, Abby, heknew it was Vicky he led and not her twin. He couldn’t detect adifference in their appearances when he saw them together, but Abbywouldn’t be wandering the streets alone. She would be with hermate, Brian.
Also, from their first encounter, somethingabout Vicky inexplicably drew him to her. He couldn’t put hisfinger on what it was, but since the day he’d agreed to ally hishunters with Ronan’s vampires and first seen Vicky, she’d intriguedhim. Vicky had scowled at him during that brief encounter.
The second time he saw her, he’d beenvisiting his sister, Kadence, in her new home. Vicky was in the gymwith her brother, Aiden, at the time. She’d slipped from the gymwithout looking at him.
Curious about her, he’d asked Kadence whather name was, and his sister had told him Victoria, but shepreferred Vicky.
Vicky was pretty with her pale blonde hairand striking emerald eyes, but he’d seen more beautiful womenbefore. However, since first encountering her, Vicky played astarring role in many of his dreams and waking fantasies, but itseemed he only annoyed her.
He’d seen her hesitate before taking hishand. It was as if she would prefer the Savages to him, but hedidn’t detect the odor of rot on her, and she was residing withRonan and the others, so shewasn’ta Savage. For somereason, most likely because he was a hunter, she didn’t likehim.
He almost reached for her hand again butrefrained from doing so as he sprinted across a busy intersectionwith Vicky at his heels. This area of the city was still activewith those looking to celebrate their Friday night. As he dartedacross the road, taxi horns blared, someone shouted at them, andbrakes squealed.
Nathan twisted to avoid taking the fullimpact of a cab, but the bumper caught his leg and staggered him tothe side. His hand banged down on the hood before he regained hisbalance and raced forward again. The people on the sidewalk steppedhastily out of their way when they left the intersectionbehind.
Vicky ignored the startled looks people gavethem when they raced by. A woman exiting a bar had the misfortuneof doing so as Vicky ran past the door. Vicky’s shoulder caught thewoman’s and staggered her back.
“Sorry!” she called back when the woman fellagainst a brick wall.
Vicky dodged the next pedestrian and plungedinto the middle of another street behind Nathan. They dashed in andout of screeching cars before fleeing down a quieter road. Theyleft the busier business areas behind for neighborhoods that becameincreasingly decrepit with every block they traversed. She had noidea where they were in the city anymore, but she didn’t dareslow.
She was about to plunge onto another streetwhen Nathan grabbed her arm and pulled her toward a seedy-lookingbuilding with plywood nailed over two of the bottom windows. Chunksof brick missing from the building’s façade looked like they’d beentorn away by bullets peppering it.
He tugged her onward, but Vicky dug herheels in and refused to go any further. It wasn’t the buildingunnerving her; it was the man. The closer she got to him, the worseit would be for her long-term sanity and chances of survival.
Her heart thundered when he turned back andhis azure eyes met hers. Emphasized by his coal black hair and hisbronzed skin, those eyes were dazzling. Lean in build, hisshoulders were broad, his waist tapered, and she guessed him to besix four as he stood a good ten inches above her.
She didn’t feel intimidated by his height,his stance, or the knowledge he was a hunter who only months agowould have staked her without question. Instead, she fisted herhands to keep herself from running her fingers over one of his highcheekbones before tracing his stiff upper lip and full bottomone.
His black eyebrows drew together over thebridge of his aquiline nose. His hair was cut short enough to keepit from getting in his face, but it was long enough Vicky couldgrip it to pull him to her for a kiss.
Ugh, as soon as she thought it, she hatedherself for it, but she’d imagined doing much more than kissingthis man since first meeting him.
She was so fucked and absolutely 100 percentnot in a good way.
Since their first short meeting, she’dsuspected this man was her mate. Never in her life had sheexperienced the kind of visceral reaction to another that Nathanbrought out in her. She dreamed of him nightly, found her thoughtstraveling to him throughout the day, and couldn’t get him out ofher head.
But this man was a hunter, a race of mortalswho had been the enemy of all vampires for thousands of years. Thatenemy status had only changed recently and could end tomorrow. Thetruce was tenuous as vampires and hunters still had a difficulttime working together.
Not only had he been her enemy just a fewshort months ago, but Nathan was the leader ofallhunters.He had a duty to his people, and she was certain that duty didnotinclude being the mate of a vampire. In fact, Kadencehad told her that one day Nathan would have a bride chosen for him.His fate belonged to another woman.
Which was fine for him. Living without amate most likely wouldn’t kill him; it would eventually destroyher. If she kept her distance from him, she’d be able to handle thebond between them not being completed better, but the more timethey spent together, the more she risked the mate bond deepening,and that could never end well for her. A vampire needed to completethe bond with their mate; if not they went insane or died, and shedoubted Nathan would willingly hand his throat, and his life, overto her.
