Page 21 of Shadow Bound

I’d made it all the way to Colorado, following closely behind the rogue, when Ransom and his friend had lost the trail in South Dakota. My plan had been to stay back, wait for them to capture the rogue. Then I’d swoop in and take the wolf right from under their noses, but then, these idiotslostthe rogue.

While they’re highly trained, I forget they’re not trained atmylevel and mistakes can be made. Mistakes in my world were never allowed, they usually resulted in death. Or Sterling’s wrath—which would make you wish for death.

I’d had to backtrack all the way to South Dakota, so I could point them in the right direction and in doing so, reveal myself to Ransom.

That hadn’t been the fucking plan.

I never wanted to be that close to that wolf again. My bloodlust had been at an all-time high after meeting him in the clinic. After I tasted his blood, it’d taken all my strength to not go back to that tiny Montana town and bleed him dry. On multiple occasions, I almost did. Made it all the way to the Montana state border once before I snapped out of it and turned around. The intense bloodlust was clouding my mind so intensely I didn’t even realize where I was heading.

I’ve never experienced something like my craving for Ransom’s blood before. Never has blood called to me like his does. Being around him the other night in the woods was almost painful, the rich scent of his blood running in his veins beckoned me.

It didn’t help that I’m starving.

Nessa’s tracking me the same way I’m tracking her. I’m following the bodies devoid of their blood and the reports from hospitals after blood bags have gone missing. The second I fed off a human or stole a bag of blood, Nessa would know where I am. And that can’t happen.

Most vampires can feed off a human and the venom coating our fangs would cause them to forget the whole ordeal. They could take a couple pints and let their poor victim walk away albeit a little dizzy and dazed. But I can’t do that—not anymore. If I feed from a live host, I’ll drain them until there is nothing left and they lay limp in my arms. The control to stop is something I no longer possess.

I’ve been lucky and found a couple of backwoods medical clinics I knew wouldn’t report the missing blood, but I’ve barely been getting by and it’s affecting me. I’ve felt off for months. While my body is capable of consuming human food, I don’t absorb any nutrients from it. It’s not what fuels my body. Blood does. The small bit of shadow walking I’d done while hiding from Ransom had tapped me of all my strength. I didn’t even have enough strength to melt into the shadows when I left him in the woods two nights ago. I’d had towalkaway instead.

Nessa’s using a different method to hide from me, but I finally figured it out. Now that I know what she’s up to, I just need that pesky little rogue to tell me where the hell she is so I can move on to bigger fish.

With Nessa out of the way, there’s only Kaius left and he won’t be as difficult to track down. Where Kaius is, Sterling is never far behind and Sterling is my ultimate goal. I’m going to make him bleed just like he did to Alexandre and me all those years. And I’ll smile while I do it. They assumed when they molded me into the “person” I am, that those skills they bestowed on me would never be used on them. They were wrong.

Like I’d promised him, I’d sent Ransom the coordinates of the rogue’s last location. If he responded to the text, I’ll never know, having ditched the device immediately after messaging him. The last thing I need or want is to start a texting conversation with Ransom. He seems like the kind of person that’d use those stupid little yellow icons and those make me want to throat punch people.

I don’t need a text to know he made it to Colorado already, I swear there was a shift in the air the second he pulled into town in that big silver truck of his. The air hummed, making my skin prickle—almost like it did the night I shook his hand. That had felt like I’d been electrocuted by his touch, the current flowing through all my limbs.

I still don’t know what the hell that was, and I never plan on feeling it again. That was the first and only time Ransom Weylyn is putting his hands anywhere near me. I’ll cut them off before he gets another chance.

Pushing back the memory of what Ransom’s touch did to my body, I focus on what’s happening in front of me. Like I knew they would, they picked up the scent of the rogue quick and headed in the right direction.Thank fuck, I don’t know how much more hand-holding I can manage.Perched up in yet another tree, far enough away and downwind to hide my scent, I watch them hike up the side of the mountain. Still in their human forms and dressed in warmer clothes to account for the recent snowfall, they track the wolf that I know is hiding just a ways up in a system of caves.

Fueled by the small amount of blood I was able to liberate from a clinic in butt-fuck-nowhere Nebraska, I feel stronger, but not strong enough to use my power. I rely on the thick foliage to hide instead. Even though I know I’m hidden from him, and there is no way for him to sense me from here, when his ocean colored eyes scan the landscape around him, I hold my breath and freeze.

He laughs at something Sawyer says, his bright white teeth flash as he smiles. His freely given, outward response mesmerizes me. No one in my life has ever smiled or laughed so freely like he and his family do. Every emotion I ever feel—ifI ever feel them—is tucked safely behind my mask, so that I give nothing away.

“Every thought you have is written on your face, Isabeau. Do not give your enemies the upper hand and let them know what you’re feeling. I will not tolerate that kind of blatant weakness.”Nessa had said. I can still feel the ice-cold slap of her hand on my cheek, effectively knocking the smile off my face.

Stone cold… emotionless. That’s how I survived.

And how I will continue to survive.

Even from this far away, I can see and hear him perfectly. I zero in on his features, taking him all in even though I already have every single inch of his body committed to memory. I guess it’s a shifter thing to be comfortable with nudity, because he seemed completely at ease being naked in front of me—the only time I saw a flash of regret was when I informed him of where my knife was pressed. His tanned flesh had felt like an inferno against my perpetually cold skin when he held me against the tree. For a fleeting moment, I had the strangest desire to curl into it—to borrow some of his warmth. It’d only been a second, but the sensation is forever engraved in me.

He looks like he’s bulked over the last few months, his arms are larger than I remember, making his broad shoulders seem even wider. I’ve never been one to pay attention to something like ab muscles, never really gave a shit about whether someone had a six-pack. But for some reason—and I hate myself for it—I know that Ransom is the proud owner of an eight pack.

He’s the opposite of me in every way. He’s warm, I’m ice cold. He smiles and laughs, I don’t know if I’m capable of doing either. He’s a protector at heart, I’m a stone-cold killer. He’saliveand I died a longtime ago. I might still be breathing but I’m a shell of a person driven by hatred and revenge.

The side of the mountain they hike up is steep, the blanket of snow making it even harder to hike. At one point, Sawyer’s boot slips and he almost face plants before catching himself. Ransom’s laugh echoes through the air, but he still reaches out to steady his friend.

“Fuck,” Sawyer grumbles under his breath, but I can tell there isn’t any animosity in his voice. “I hate the snow.”

“Really?” Ransom’s head swings around, taking in the pretty scenery. It is picturesque out here with the clear blue skies and snow-covered pine trees. It’s so beautiful, it almost makes me forget there’s danger lurking just around the corner.Almost. “I don’t think it’s all that bad.” His eyes shift in the direction of where I’m lurking and hold. Shivers cascade down my spine, as if I’d been caressed by his gaze.

He can’t see you.I assure myself, even though I feel a twinge of doubt in my gut. Can he sense me out here just like he did in the clinic?

My body relaxes when he finally turns away. Silently, I leap into the next tree, making sure to keep them in my sight at all times. While I know Nessa better than anyone, she’s a sneaky bitch and always has tricks up her sleeve. Going back to collect Ransom in South Dakota means there were a couple days the rogue had no eyes on him.

Meaning Nessa had two days to plot and scheme.

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