He balled one hand into a fist, the other fingertips pressing into concrete. Much longer and there’d be five perfect indentations on his patio. Like he needed a memento of this thing that had claimed him.
Growling, he pushed up. Demanded his body to heed the command to rise. There was a split second of victory, when he was certain he could move without collapsing again. But as he looked toward the back door, figuring it would only take half a dozen steps to make it inside, his vision narrowed and pain exploded down his back.
Bast screamed, unable to hold back the cry of being tortured by a body that was no longer under his control.
The odor of sulfur, thick and viscous, seemed to weep out of him. His mouth. The pores of his skin.
Every part of him was hypersensitive again. Almost as if he could feel each individual cell mutating. Changing. Becoming something new. Something different.
His insides began to claw. Push toward the surface. His skin was a barrier that would be barrier no more if he couldn’t stop it now. There would be nothing left of the vampire in minutes. Maybe seconds.
Bast cut his eyes to the door again. His hope, his lifeline fast asleep in a bedroom within. Taking one step seemed an impossibility. Getting to Alice simply unimaginable.
He swore he heard the crackle of flames then and the only thing he could do was scream.
* * *
Groggy, Alice sat up, pushing away both covers and the blanket of fatigue still hovering over her. Sebastian had insisted transitioning to a nocturnal schedule would be difficult at first. Frequent napping would be expected. Still, he’d made a promise before tucking her in, and she damned well wanted to cash in on it.
Already her body tingled with anticipation, knowing that being with the vampire, having his body over hers—in hers—would be exquisite.
A year ago she could have never imagined the past twenty-four hours. Driving an insanely expensive car. Having full run of a mini-mansion. Being aboard a private plane. And the vampire thing...wow.
She hadn’t met just a vampire either. There was the whole werewolf matter she had to wrap her mind around as well. A new world existed outside of her reality and slowly, she would be getting to know it. What other creatures...
Her mind was blown with possibilities.
Sebastian’s family tree. Jeez, she’d been so focused on the fact that he was a vampire that it had never crossed her mind to consider more otherworldly creatures. What else existed out there that might explain the branch he’d spent years trying to grasp? He wanted so badly to be a vampire. With near-manic eagerness driving his every decision, was it possible that he’d somehow bypassed the obvious?
Alice swung her legs over the edge of the bed, letting out a little shriek as toes met cold floor. It took only a minute to grab some clothes and head to the guest bathroom to freshen up. She had an idea to explore, but she also had a gorgeous man to meet too.
Once done, a quick circuit of the large house proved Sebastian wasn’t anywhere to be found. Her heart sank with each empty room she encountered, but something within her felt reassured he wouldn’t leave her alone. It wasn’t until she’d gone into the kitchen to snag an apple that she peered into the dark wilds of his backyard.
Her gaze immediately went to the form swimming with an exotic beauty in the center of the pool. From this distance, she could discern the way Sebastian’s muscles rippled as he swam. He was doing some sort of complicated maneuver that seemed as natural to him as breathing. The water barely had a chance to dribble down the smooth expanse of his skin before he dipped beneath its depths again. She could have gazed upon him for hours, mesmerized by this definition of masculinity, while crunching on the apple. Instead, she let her sights move beyond the pool—still so very aware of Sebastian at its center—and took in the copse of trees surrounding the perimeter of concrete. They were lined well beyond the pool yet somehow didn’t clash with it. Whoever had designed the landscaping knew how to weave nature into the background seamlessly.
Alice moved forward, lured by the beauty of the night, intent on holding Sebastian to his promise. But as she moved closer to the door, the pale light of the moon became its own beacon. As quickly, the reason for finding the vampire in the first place became of renewed importance. For with the moon’s bold face, she remembered the existence of werewolves.