Page 24 of Eternally Yours

She flexed her hands and her nails grew into black claws two inches in length. Her blue eyes flashed crimson and glowed with predatory fire. Her beautiful, porcelain skin became ashen as every muscle in her body flexed, enlarging in mass.

“Loren…” I whispered, but she glared at me before turning back to the wolf.

She snarled, her fangs extending longer and seeming sharper than any I’d ever seen on a vampire before. The wolf lowered its head, backing away as if heeding to her dominance.

What the hell had I just witnessed?

When the beast scampered into the darkness, Loren’s head jerked my way, neck cocking to the side like an animal observing something new. Gauging me as a predator or prey.

I took a step back. I'd never seen anything like her before.

Behind me, Budrow’s sharp gasp broke our stalemate. “She’s exactly what we’d hoped,” he croaked.

Loren’s hard gaze shifted toward him. The instant I caught the feral look in her eyes, I knew what she was about to do, but it was already too late. My speed was no match to hers.

“No!” I cried as I attempted to block her from reaching Budrow, but she shoved me to the side in one hard blow as she pounced on his body, ripping into his flesh with her claws.

Budrow screamed as she sank her teeth into his neck, the sounds of his cervical spine snapping making me shudder. She drank from him as if she hadn’t fed in ages.

I didn’t know what to do. I looked on dumbstruck and waited for the poison in his blood to hit her, but she seemed unfazed by it. Just continued to make a meal of his body, tearing into his throat.

Afraid to provoke an attack by interrupting, I let her finish. It was disturbing yet fascinating. And now things were starting to make sense. Loren wasn’t a regular vampire. My blood had definitely mutated her DNA. The difference was, Loren had already been bitten by one of their wolves when I sired her. Perhaps it had been a combination of their toxin and my blood that had turned her into…

I didn’t even know what to call it.

But she clearly wasn’t one of us.

Or them.

And if the Order wanted her, I was certain the answer to Loren’s true nature would be located inside their labs.

Stepping forward with caution, I whispered, “Loren, it’s time to go.”

She snapped her gaze at me, but this time all I saw was ocean blue. Her normal features had returned—fiercely beautiful, but with a rueful innocence in her eyes. Only this time, blood dripped from her chin, staining the front of her clothes. Beautiful and dangerous. Far more dangerous than a normal fledgling.

Emergency sirens blared in the distance. We needed to get out of there before the police showed up.

I reached out a hand to her slowly. She stared at it like a timid animal.

“We need to go,” I eased, making sure to keep my voice calm. “I'll keep you safe.”

Something flickered in her gaze, as if she’d finally surfaced from her feeding stupor, unaware of what had occurred. Loren looked down at her hands and clothes, her face scrunching in disgust. Then she noticed Budrow’s mangled corpse and jumped back, a hand covering her mouth as she stifled screams.

From the corner of my eye, I noticed people approaching the scene of the accident. Fuck. We needed to move.

I stepped closer. “Come on, we have to go.”

“Wh… what happened. Why am I covered in blood?”

Taking her under my arm, I guided her toward my beat-up car. “You had your first human.”

She said nothing as her body gave way under me and she collapsed to her knees, burying her face in her hands. I leaned down, trying to get her to stand. “Loren, it’s not safe here. The police are on their way. We need to go.”

“Leave me alone,” she muttered as she looked at me, tears streaming down her face. “I killed that man. I deserve to be put away. Caged. Like the monster I am.”

Kneeling beside her, I said, “Listen to me. We’ll figure this out. Together. But I won’t be able to help you if you’re behind bars.”

She sighed, and something seemed to make sense because she nodded and took my hand. “Let’s get you cleaned up, then we’ll head for the cabin where it’s safer.”

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