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  Alexa let the vampire go. He hurried toward his companions.

  Reese glanced to the right, already recognizing the voice he’d heard twice before. Leandra stood before them, emerging from the shadows of the trees that led to the swamp.

  Reese hastened toward Alexa, blood trickled from the wound in her neck. Her jaws were soaked with the other vampire’s blood.

  “Are you okay?” he asked Alexa in their sync.

  God, I’m an idiot. She’s far from okay. She’s got blood dripping from her neck.

  “Witch… Go… Leave us…” The vampires glared at Leandra, their eyes turning to a red so dark as to be black.

  “Go. Before I make you wish you had.” Leandra’s already light eyes picked up the full moon’s beam and shone almost white. Black stripes emanated from her pupils, lining her silver-white irises like the spokes of a bicycle.

  Reese stared at her eyes. He’d never seen eyes do that. He didn’t have time to dwell on the oddness because the vampires were hissing and drawing back.

  “Don’t be afraid. There are six of us. We can take her,” said the second vampire.

  “Fool. You should know better. We cannot take her kind,” the first vampire took a step back.

  “We can,” the second vampire insisted.

  “Fine.” The second vampire flashed, moving quickly, stopping in front of Leandra. His fangs bared, his eyes turned from brown to a deep red, he reached for her with claw-tipped fingers.

  He stopped. Blood began to flow from his eyes as if he were crying crimson tears. His mouth opened in a silent scream, his fangs shattered into tiny white shards, scattering about him.

  His mouth still open, his Adam’s apple worked furiously, but no sound escaped the open orifice.

  His hands reached for his face, but immediately were yanked to his sides as if being pinned by an invisible force.

  Leandra’s hand was raised toward the moon, as if in supplication. Her face was immobile.

  “Go.” Leandra pointed to the vampires. “Go now.”

  Four vampires turned to leave.

  The soundlessly screaming, fangless one collapsed to the ground.

  The sixth vampire turned to leave, then looked back at his fallen clan member. He leaned down, pulled the wounded vampire to his feet, threw him over his shoulder, and with a backward red glare at Leandra, he followed the other vampires into the dark mist that had begun to settle in over the water.

  Alexa released a sound that was more like a groan than a growl.

  Reese turned his attention away from the departing vampires.

  Alexa’s vibrant green tigress eyes had glazed over to a dull finish.

  He shifted immediately, ignoring the discomfort, shoving through the shift with a haste that made his wolf snarl. “She’s—something’s wrong with Alexa.”

  “She needs an antidote.”

  “For what?”

  Alexa’s tigress collapsed onto the dirt road, not much wider than a large path.

  Reese kneeled next to her, feeling for her pulse. “She’s weak.” I can’t lose her. I can’t. “Alexa.” He stroked the luxurious fur.

  “Alexa. You need to shift now. We need to get you to the cabin, before the bloodshare takes over.”

  A low grumble came from deep within Alexa’s tigress chest.

  “You can do it, my love.” He leaned close to her, his lips near fur-tipped ears. “Do it. Shift. I’ll carry you to the cabin. Shift for me.” His words were choked, his throat stuffed with a lump of despair. “Do it, now. Damn it.”

  Alexa’s body began to make slight creaking and stretching sounds, then seconds later, she lay on her side, on the road, laying on a rumpled cream-colored ball gown. Her face was pale, dark lashes lay on ivory skin. Her lips were coated with dried vampire blood and two puncture wounds dotted her neck where the being had sunk his fangs in.

  Reese tried to wipe the blood from her lips.

  “Get her up, now. We have to hurry.” The black spokes had vanished from Leandra’s eyes, leaving her with that eerie silvery blue color.

  Reese picked Alexa up, lay her against his chest. “Lead the way.” He followed a running Leandra down the path, careful not to jar Alexa.

  The path became narrower, yielding to a ramp that opened up to a porch-wrapped dilapidated cabin on stilts.

  Running quietly up the ramp, Leandra opened the door and let him in. She indicated a tiny cot in the corner. “Give us privacy.”

  “But I—” He was about to protest. He didn’t want to leave Alexa alone. Then he remembered how much Leandra had done to help them. “I’ll be on the porch, keeping an eye out.”

  Her eyes gleamed in the cabin’s dimness. “They won’t be back.”

  Alexa moaned and squirmed on the cot.

  Leandra reached for a vial on the shelf.

  Reese slipped out the front door and studied the swamp’s foggy darkness, but he couldn’t help from keeping his shifter hearing tuned into what was happening in the cabin.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Burning. That was the first sensation that struck Alexa. It started in her fingertips and toes, then moved upward. It was as if someone was injecting lava in her veins.

  “You were bit by that bloodsucker, then you bit him. You’ve bloodshared.” That was Leandra’s voice, coming from far away, but talking to her, Alexa knew.

  She knew because she remembered. The vampires, the attack. Then everything went foggy in her mind. It was like drowning, but not in water.

  She opened her eyes, tried to focus but her vision was blurry.

  “I have to stop the process.” Leandra was holding a vial. “Drink it.” She looked up. “It’s been a long time since it was used. I hope it’s effective.”

  Alexa swallowed. Her teeth felt like they were being pulled with pliers. “And if it isn’t?”

  “You don’t want to know.” She put the vial to Alexa’s lips.

  “What can happen?” Alexa pulled her head away. “And why do my teeth feel like they’re being pulled out.”

  Leandra’s eyes flew wide, silver orbs on a white ocean. “Drink. Now. There’s not a second to waste. Hurry.”

  Alexa gulped the thick viscous liquid. She grimaced. If black licorice were soaked in dog piss, then blended with mulch, it would have tasted better. “That’s horrible.”

  A series of rubber bands snapped in her body. Popping and cracking ensued, traveling from the tips of her fingers to her arms, shoulders, torso while the identical sensation began at her toes and moved upward.

  Alexa hissed, the sound foreign as if it hadn’t come from her lips. The sensation was overwhelming. The popping so loud, it drowned out other sounds. She tried to keep her eyes focused on the ceiling of the little cabin. To study the beams that joined in mismatched joints, the items perched on the beams, but everything began to slowly turn black.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Reese opened the door when he heard her scream. He stood in the doorway and balled his fist at his side as his mate—yeah, she was his mate, and he’d take on anyone who contradicted that fact—Alexa’s eyes rolled back before her lids drew down.

  Leandra turned her back, placing the vial on the nearby scarred and aged butcher block table.

  Reese put his hand on Leandra’s shoulder. He didn’t like what was going on. “She’s…”

  “This is normal. It means the antidote is working.” Leandra rubbed her arms, though it wasn’t cold. “Hopefully, it will be strong enough.”

  “What could happen if it’s not?”

  Leandra turned to face him. Her eyes resembled moons with a single black dot in the center. She glanced at Alexa. “Bloodlust.”

  Reese hadn’t a clue what that was, but he could guess.

  Alexa moaned and squirmed.

  He took long strides to her side. “What’s going on?” he asked Leandra.

  “She’s fighting the vampire’s essence.”

  “Will she live if she loses the battle?”

  “Sh
e’ll wish she hadn’t.”

  Alexa moaned. Her head felt like it was full of a million buzzing gnats. The gnats turned into fire ants and began to migrate throughout her veins, traveling over her body, leaving her nerve endings ragged.

  She raised her eyelids slowly, afraid that the fire ants would attack her eyeballs.

  A pair of brown eyes, liquid chocolate, full of love and worry, stared at her. Reese’s face was drawn into lines of concern, his color more like ash.

  Behind Reese, Leandra’s silver gaze studied Alexa.

  She squeezed her hands into fists, trying to push the fire ants away.

  “How do you feel?” Leandra’s voice sounded as if she were miles away. The words seem to come from her before her lips even moved.

  Or did they move at all?

  Alexa blinked hard, pushing the ants’ pinpricks from behind her lids. “Will I be infected?”

  “I think we caught it in time.”

  “You think?” Reese’s voice was fraught with unease.

  “I’m pretty sure.”

  A frown put vertical lines between his brows. He placed the back of his hand against her cheek.

  Alexa flinched as if she’d been burned.

  “Did I hurt you?”

  “Her skin is sensitive. All of her is sensitive. Shifter cells are battling vampire cells, with a little assistance from my people.”

  Another platoon of ants made its way over her body. Alexa moaned, stretching her fingers apart so they didn’t touch each other. She released a low moan.

  Reese turned toward Leandra. “Is there nothing you can do?”

  “Perhaps.” Leandra stepped away and took a miniscule flask from the top shelf “Drink.” She popped a lid off the glass vessel and touched it to Alexa’s lips. The contact made her jump back as if more ants had been placed against her mouth.

  “Drink,” Leandra insisted.

  “What’s that you’re giving her now?”

  “Something to ease the discomfort.”

  The liquid was flavorless, but its effect was immediate. It pulled Alexa into a black bottomless pit where no sensation existed. She closed her eyes in blissful numbness.

  Alexa awakened slowly. She remained motionless, her eyes closed, while she waited to see if the ants had departed. No stinging or burning. She kept her eyes closed and let her shifter senses pick up Reese’s scent. Joining Reese’s scent, the cabin’s aromas told her she was still at Leandra’s.

  “You weren’t honest with us.” That was Reese’s voice.

  “What did you want me to tell you?” Leandra’s tone was sharp.

  “How I know her. What we were to each other before.”

  “I don’t know for sure.”

  “But it’s better than nothing,” Reese explained. “I’d rather know what little you think you know, than nothing.”

  “You knew each other in another life.”

  “Were we mated?”

  “You’d couple bonded. That’s what’s kept you drawn to each other.”

  Alexa felt Reese’s warm hand, recognized it was him not only from his pulse but from the way her body reacted to his touch. Every cell of her being tried to reach toward him, to be nearer to his essence.

  His fingertips brushed her hair away from her shoulder. “She has no mark of having been couple bonded.”

  “Maybe it was long ago. Do not ask me for details. I have not delved into your past.”

  Alexa had known Leandra far too long not to realize her phrasing and her tone said there was something unsaid.

  “But you can, can’t you?” Reese said, his hand resting on Alexa’s shoulder, offering comfort and security. “You can delve, somehow. You can answer questions.”

  “It’s dangerous to do and a risk I won’t take.”

  Alexa’s eyes flew open. “What risk?”

  She felt Reese’s pulse quicken as a response to seeing her awake.

  “How are you?” He caressed her shoulder, his thumb making circle patterns on her flesh.

  “I’m me. I think I’m fine.” She tried to sit up, but pinpoints of flashing lights dotted her vision. She reached for his shoulder, holding on for support. “Maybe not completely fine.”

  Reese pressed his lips against her forehead. “I was so damned worried.” The words were low, a tortured whisper torn from his core.

  Alexa pressed into his body, letting his strength imbue her with her own.

  Leandra opened the curtains, letting the morning’s light cast a glow in the cabin. The morning had ushered the darkness and the creatures that inhabited it away.

  Leandra placed a frying pan on a two-burner stove then pulled a carton of eggs from an ancient icebox. She cracked four eggs, then turned toward the doorway. “Someone comes.”

  A knock sounded on the wood.

  “How did I not hear that before she did?” Reese asked, though Alexa thought the question rhetorical.

  The door opened and the doorway was blocked by Theo’s large bulk.

  His eyes narrowed as he took in Alexa laying on the couch and Reese perched on a chair next to the couch. Leandra hovered to the side.

  Theo took a step into cabin. “What’s going on here?” He glanced at each of them, one at a time.

  Reese’s hand tensed against Alexa’s shoulder. She put her fingers over his.

  “Theo can be trusted.”

  “Trusted?” Theo looked at Leandra. “What’s this about?”

  “Lézare doesn’t need to know,” Alexa declared.

  “It seems there’s a lot you don’t want your brother to know, Lex.”

  “She’s not a child, Theo.” Leandra put her arm around Theo and tilted her head for a kiss.

  Reese looked at Alexa, the question clearly in his eyes about Leandra and Theo.

  “Long story.”

  “Lézare’s back. He’s looking for you.”

  Alexa jumped up, almost knocking Reese off the rickety chair.

  “Is everything okay? Is he fine?”

  “Yeah, but seeing as how it’s almost noon, the brunch has been put off. Evie’s not anywhere to be found, she’s not opening her door. He’s so pissed, he’s thinking of breaking the door open. Valencia’s not back. He’s sent two guys out to find her. If she didn’t take I-10 to get here, then they’ll never find her.”

  Alexa heaved a sigh. I almost die at some damned vampire’s hands—fangs—and life goes on as usual.

  She looked at her clothing. Except it wasn’t her clothing. Alexa was in a thin, loose sweater—very loose, and a pair of drawstring sweatpants that nearly fell off her. And it’s not like I have small hips, for fuck’s sake.

  “My clothing?”

  Leandra coughed. “I had to get you out of that dress.” The clothes… are borrowed.”

  Leandra held up the cream colored dress. “I tried to restore it to what it was before you shifted.”

  Thank goodness she didn’t say before you fought the vampires. Theo may not keep my secret from Lézare.

  “It looks wonderful, Leandra.”

  “I’ve brought the airboat. It’ll make the return trip quicker,” Theo announced. “It’s around the bend. I didn’t want to risk bringing it all the way. Wasn’t sure who’d be here and didn’t want to alert them.”

  “Like who?” Alexa wondered. The vampires were long gone.

  Theo gave Leandra a look. “Her people.”

  “Escape Weekend hasn’t been much of one,” Alexa grumbled. “I need a vacation from our recreation weekend.”

  “I have a suggestion.” Reese tugged on the sweater, pulling her close against his chest. “Houston’s a great location to get away, and I have the perfect place for you to hide.”

  “Oh please, what’s Houston got that I’d want to see? Houston has nothing on New Orleans.”

  “Houston has me.” Reese’s smile tipped up, meeting his eyes.

  Right now Houston sounded heavenly. “Can I have some privacy so I can change?” And if I’m lucky, I can sneak into m
y room and change into something that doesn’t look like it’s been through a couple of shifts and a fight with the vampires.

  Although, Alexa had to admit, Leandra had done a remarkable job of removing the bloodstains she was sure were there. And miraculously there didn’t seem to be any new damage.

  “I’ll help you change.” Leandra shut the door behind Theo and Reese.

  Chapter Twenty

  Alexa did it. With a little help from Theo, and a lot of help and a dirty look from Maylene, Alexa managed to sneak in the back door and up to her room to change.

  She was about to close her door when Maylene tugged on her arm. “There’s something you should know.” She hem hawed, then crossed her arms under her breasts. “Lézare has found a woman.”

  “He did?” Alexa grinned. Maybe this wasn’t going to be such a bad Escape Weekend after all.

  “Before you get too happy…”

  “What?”

  Heavy footsteps sounded on the stairway nearest her room.

  “Alexa?” It was Lézare’s voice.

  “He can’t see me like this. I’ve got to change. Stall him.” She gave Maylene a gentle nudge toward the stairway. “Please.”

  Alexa didn’t understand what the headshake Maylene gave her meant. And she didn’t have time to figure it out, either. Not with Lézare a few paces away.

  She slipped into her room, closed the door behind her and leaned against it. She listened to Maylene telling Lézare she needed him downstairs.

  Then the sound of departing footsteps brought relief.

  Whew.

  Alexa unzipped the dress, struggling to do something she’d normally need help with. It didn’t help when she heard the soft whisper of fabric tearing as she reached the last stage of the zipper’s teeth parting the fabric.

  She threw the dress in the corner. That damned thing needs to be burned after that ordeal.

  Grabbing a pair of black slacks and a yellow top, she donned them quickly and picked up her toothbrush.

  What I should do is brush this messy mop. She grimaced at her reflection in the mirror.