Chapter Fifty-Eight

Drake.

Bringing in werewolves was a desperate move. Everyone knew it. Having two different supernaturals working together this way wasn’t normal. A vampire asking for a werewolf's help, or vice versa, meant they were desperate.

Which they were. Roderick was gone, and Drake couldn’t stop his pacing in his bedroom. The unused adrenaline coursing him felt wasteful. He should be out looking for his brother. Searching with the trackers for any sense of him.

He wouldn’t have left without telling him. Roderick was pushy and irritating but he wasn’t a coward. He would help them face their father.

Unless he was threatened. Drake couldn’t stop thinking about reasons why Roderick would have left. All of them pointed back to his father.

Sitting down on the bed, he swiped his palm down his face and closed his eyes. There were many emotions in that small cabin and he could almost taste all of them.

He could sense his mother’s unease from the kitchen, and Sarah’s erratic heartbeat beside her. It felt uneasy knowing that he didn’t have his brother as a backup in case everything hit the fan with the wolves or any unexpected guest.

Waverly knocked on the door, and it swung open several seconds later. She looked calm as she came in and locked the door.

Drake opened his eyes and looked up at her.

She placed her palms on his shoulders. There was so much depth in those pretty eyes. He could stare at them forever. “Are you hungry?” she asked.

"Actually, yeah, I am." He went to stand up, but she stopped him with her hand on his shoulder. He made eye contact with her for several seconds.

“What?” he asked. “The blood is in the kitchen.”

Waverly pushed him back an inch and slid onto his lap. "I'm sure there is blood in the kitchen," she confirmed.

Every part where their bodies met burned him alive. Despite his cool skin, he felt flaming on the inside. “I’m shocked, Waverly,” he said, curving his palm over her ass. “My mother is in the other room. Shame on you for igniting this."

She chuckled. “I think your mother knows what goes on with vampires and their mates. I’m sure we’re safe.” She went to stand up. “Unless you don’t want it...”

He hissed and pulled her back down onto his lap. “You know I could never refuse any of your blood, right? We could be right in the middle of a war, it wouldn’t matter. I smell your blood and I’m done for. My body craves it at the worst times."

Waverly smiled and turned her neck to one side. “Well, by all means, bite me then, 4B.”

Drake inhaled her neck, smelling and hearing the blood in her veins. It wasn’t the right time, but he couldn’t stop himself from it. She was serving it to him on a silver platter, and it looked delicious.

Licking a path from her collarbone to her ear, he kissed a path back down to the sweetest spot that would give him the best flow. She clutched her fingers into his T-shirt and waited in anticipation.

Drake pressed the tips of his teeth against her skin and sank them into her.

Waverly’s fingers dug into his shoulders and her legs wrapped tightly around his waist. She moaned loudly that there was no way Sarah and his mother hadn’t heard her.

When the front door shut, he heard Waverly chuckle from the endorphins and the fact they’d left them alone. His mother did know what went on with a vampire and his mate and didn't want to hear it.

Drake felt her blood sliding down his throat, and his body reacted like a kid in the candy store. It was sweet, and cool running down his throat. Unable to stop himself, he turned them around and laid her on the bed without taking his teeth from her.

Everything about her taste was perfect. He loved all of it.

The seconds turned into minutes, and he felt her body grow weaker. Tangling his fingers into the covers on either side of her, he tried to pull away, but she wrapped her legs around his waist to keep him there.

Groaning, he smelled her arousal and attempted to keep himself together. He felt like a fifteen-year-old boy feeling a girl for the first time.

When he finally broke free, her eyes were at half-mast and she was smiling. “Touch me,” she begged. "Please, I need it."

They both did, and she didn't have to ask him twice.

Tearing his T-shirt over his head, he undressed them quickly, until their naked flesh touched. He watched drops of blood run down her neck as he slid into her sweet heat. She arched her back, her breasts touching his chest as she cried out in a blissful cry.

All their emotions tumbled out onto one another. She clung to him in a way that showed how safe she felt with him, and his sadness turned into anger.

Each thrust inside of her brought out more, and he knew if he could cry he would. For his brother. For his family. For the humans involved in their madness. It wasn't their fault. None of it.

All the hatred he held for his father poured out of him. He kissed her roughly, tugging her hair and flipping her over onto all fours. He didn't want to push his anger out onto her, but couldn't stop himself.

She moved back and forth against him until she became undone. She seemed to love the rough pressure of him against her, and his fingertips against her skin.

Minutes later, he followed and rolled onto his back, bringing her with him.

She sighed against him. “My personal air conditioner when it’s hot,” she whispered against his skin.

He ran his fingers through her hair and smiled.

“Feel better?” she asked.

“Much better.”

Several minutes ticked by when she said, “We’ll find him, you know. Your father didn’t kill him. He may be threatening him to keep him there, but Roderick would never switch sides.”

“I know,” he whispered. “I’m afraid Dad will force us to fight against one another. It wouldn’t be the first time. He liked to do that when we were kids. Make us fight.”

Waverly sat up using his chest as a prop. “He made you two fight one another before turning?”

Drake touched her bottom lip. “Yeah. He liked to see us fight. Defend ourselves is what he called it.”

Waverly frowned. “That’s sick.”

“Yeah, tell me about it,” Drake said.

Waverly touched my face. “He can’t force you to fight, can he? You can’t compel one another, right?”

Drake began to drag his fingertips against her spine. “He can’t compel us, but he can threaten us now that we know our mates.”

“Use Sarah and I to get you two to fight?” she whispered.

He nodded.

Waverly rested her head against his shoulder. “Don’t kill your brother because of me, Drake. You’ll hate yourself forever.”

“I’ll hate myself forever if he takes you from me.”

Waverly was silent for several minutes when Drake heard the noise from outside.

“They’re here,” he whispered.

She pushed up on his chest. “The wolves?”

Drake swung her around, licked her neck to seal the wound, and gave her a look. “Don’t get too excited or I may lock you in here while they’re here.”

She grinned. “Scout’s honor.”