Lycan Alpha Claim 3 (13 page)

False eyelashes!

“No way! I am not putting that crap on my own eyelashes.” Julia stared at Cynthia in a huff.

“How about just a few on the outer edge? It'll make your eyes look bigger.”

“They're big enough,” Julia thought, if they were any bigger she'd be a toad.

“They're ginger-colored! You can hardly see them,” she wheedled.

Julia shook her head. “No. Just... put the brown mascara on and be done with it.”

Cynthia sighed, defeated. She made it a point to spend a ton of time on each eye, finally swiveling Julia around in her chair to look at her reflection.

Julia stared.

And stared some more.

A slow smile spread on Cynthia's face. “See, Jules? You're a goddess, who was to know!”

Julia couldn't believe the transformation. The mossy green of the dress set off her hair, making the red in it look like molten champagne. Her eyes sparkled like gold topaz, gems in a pale face with shimmering lips in a pouty apricot. She opened her mouth. Closed it. Opened it again.

“You can tell me now,” she said, smug.

Julia turned from her reflection and scowled at Cyn.

Cynthia waited.

Well-hell. “You're the greatest.”

Cynthia grinned. “I know, doll-face.”

Julia rolled her eyes. What was Jason going to think of her in this get-up? With the make-up and…. everything? Julia rolled her glossed lip into her teeth and nibbled anxiously.

Jason waited impatiently for Julia to arrive. He knew he should have nixed the lame Plan of the Girls. Them going together! Retarded. He'd let Kevin convince him it was easier not to fight Cynthia.

“Listen man, just let them. I don't want to deal with Cyn when she gets a head-o-steam about girl shit, you feel me?” Kevin had said.

“What's so flaming-ass important that I can't pick Jules up?”

“I told ya, they're putting the masks and garb on.”

“What?” Jason asked, confused. He was already feeling gay in a tux, the bow around his neck was a slowly encroaching noose. He tugged at it again.

“Hey! Don't dick with that, it screws up the gig.”

“What's a gig?” Jason asked, messin' around with the stupid noose.

“It's... damn-man! Leave it alone!” Kevin said, slapping his hand away impatiently. He took either side of the corners of the bow tie and aligned them with Jason's Adam's apple.

There
, Kevin thought. He wondered if his ass-hat friend could leave it alone for the next two hours.

Probably not.

“It's a military term... it means to keep all your accessories in line with the middle of your body,” Kevin said in a matter-of-fact way.

“That's great, Kev. I'll sleep better knowing your ramrod dad gave you a few pointers.”

“Hey jag-up, Dad served our country and has a few pearls of wisdom once in awhile.”

“Along with some colorful vocabulary.”

“No shit, right?” Kevin said, totally missing the irony.

Jason smiled and shook his head as they hopped into Kev's car.

They made their way to the last dance they'd ever attend.

*

Jason

Kevin caught sight of Julia and elbowed Jason.

They looked at the girls as they entered the gymnasium where fake acrylic stars danced above their heads like wayward diamonds.

Jason couldn't take his eyes off of her. The breath left his body in one, exhaustive rush.

Jules was drop-dead gorgeous.

Jason knew that people said that all the time about chicks, sometimes dudes even. But Julia floated inside the auditorium on a cloud of emerald vapor, her dress the color of green kissed by autumn... and stunned him into silence.

Her hair looked almost red, its normal gold color boosted by the pine of the dress, her eyes a sparkling gold. They took up half her face.

He still couldn't look away.

She walked toward him slowly and he noticed the dress showcased how curvy she was. She wasn't a twig and she wasn't heavy. Jason took in a shaky breath, his eyes on her hourglass figure as she moved toward him.

He noticed all the other guys were staring at her too and frowned.

Julia reached him just as he put his hands out for her and his face smoothed.

He pulled her closer and leaned down until his jaw brushed her temple. “You're beautiful,” he whispered against her fragrant skin.

Julia knew she looked beautiful.

She didn't need a mirror to tell her.

Jason's eyes told her.

They moved out to the dance floor, their hands knotted together, their gazes locked.

Julia waited in her bed with bated breath. Jason had dropped her off from prom and promised to sneak in her bedroom window later.

Much later.

Aunt Lily had the irritating habit of checking in on her.

Julia clutched her cell in one hand so she could text Jason the instant she did.

She laid on her side for, she swore, ten hours. Finally, Lily opened the door a crack and, seeing that Julia appeared asleep, closed it softly behind her.

Julia let a long breath out, texting Jason.

He must have been waiting outside her house like a good stalker-boyfriend and she let him in as he stumbled from outside the window.

“Damn! I won't miss that anymore. No more nut-cruncher windowsill for me!”

Julia cocked and eyebrow. “We wouldn't want your, ah, nuts crunched. No, that wouldn't do,” Julia said in a low, teasing voice.

“Come here,” Jason said, thinking about how he'd kiss that smirk off her face. She was killing him. Standing there in her pajama bottoms and a cami. Her hair was still loose and curled from prom, the makeup still on.

“Aren't you supposed to take all that crap off your face?”

She scrunched her nose in that way he loved and said, “Nah, pillowcase will get rid of it.”

“Really?” Jason asked, grinning. He walked over to her, admiring her in her post-prom glory.

“The dance turned out okay, Jules,” he said softly, bending to kiss the hollow between those sexy bones that intersected her neck.

She nodded, a little breathless as his breath moved over her pulse. She wound her arms around his neck and his lips traveled up to her jaw then made its way to her forehead. He began peppering her face with butterfly kisses, his lashes grazing her skin above his lips. Her breathing became shallower and Jason picked her up and carried her to the bed.

They lay together, head to hip, the heat of their bodies one hot line. He moved against her, his hands on her ribs, kneading her flesh as she wound a leg around his hip, their mouths moving against each other.

His hands traveled and Julia pulled away.

“Jason,” she whispered.

“What?” he said, never breaking from his sensual assault on her. She could hardly breathe, she just wanted... she wanted to finish what they started. But she wanted forever more.

She thought of her parents. Long gone. A thread that tied the fabric of her being together.

He paused and pulled back to look at her face, a sliver of moonlight a pale slash across her eyes.

He saw the expression there and pressed his forehead against hers.

“I know,” he moaned.

“I'm sorry,” Julia whispered. “It's not that I don't trust you.”

“I know,” he repeated against the skin of her forehead.

A lone tear escaped her eye and Jason caught it, staring into those eyes. Those eyes that he'd looked into for a decade.

“I want to be married. It's what my parents would have wanted,” she said and Jason felt her tremble against him. He silently promised to make her first time extra special. It'd be perfect if it killed him.

“You still miss them,” he asked as a statement, tightening his hold on her.

“Every day,” she replied through eyes that had glossed with a sheen of tears.

He smiled. Jason wanted her so damn bad. It wasn't just sex, he could have tapped any mindless alley cat in the school.

She was his and he was hers. Jason knew Jules was the one he wanted from the moment he saw her.

He leaned down and kissed the crescent-shaped scar on her forehead, the only thing that marred her perfect skin.

He could wait. He could wait forever if it meant being with her.

They lay together in each other's arms until dawn shattered the darkness into a million pieces of golden orange, rose and scarlet, flinging the colors about the room like so much broken glass.

CHAPTER 3

Present Day

Liquid lapped Julia and the water parted, ice replacing the subtle undulation of comfort she'd been under.

She came to the surface of her consciousness in a nauseating wave. She became aware that she was drowning.

Drowning in hunger and weakness. She didn't have the strength to move. Loud voices assailed her. They floated around her, stabbing at her consciousness until she finally understood where she was.

If she'd had the strength, she would have wept.

The creatures that had stolen her life away were arguing about her again.

“I am phoning him. Gabriel must be made aware of what is happening here!”

Julia cracked open her eyes, wide and grainy, her mouth felt like the Sahara Desert. She was so thirsty her bones ached with it. How long had she been out?

“She is killing herself,” the one named William said. His fists were clenched and anxiety tightened his already stark features.

“Call him. Ask him what we must do. If she is as important as you hypothesize, it is necessary, no?” Pierce queried reasonably.

She lay perfectly still but they heard a change in her breathing and turned their silvered eyes to her.

She had just enough energy to lift her forearm and cover her eyes. She would not look at them.

“Just kill me,” she said listlessly. Without Jason, why go on? She couldn't bear to think of all of it right now. The shards of that nightmare would not be a memory she would look at any time soon.

If ever.

She didn't hear them approach but an icy hand clamped around her forearm gently and moved it off of eyes that ran with tears. Julia was surprised she had enough tears to shed. Her mind was so beleaguered with grief she could hardly breathe. Why didn't they just kill her now?

After all, that's what they were good at.

Killing.

William tapped his cell to hibernate and pocketed it inside the jacket he wore. He breathed out in an elaborate exhale. They took a chance implementing this protocol. If they did not follow it to the letter, they would lose her.

This girl. The Blood Singer from the Book of Blood.

The Rare One.

He gave Pierce a full look as they walked together toward the girl.

Julia watched them come, one dark and one light. Angels. They looked like angels.

Angels of death.

Her arms long ago released, she lay there, unable to move a muscle. Only her eyes rolled in their sockets, tracking their approach.

William crouched down, feeling the hollow on the underside of her wrist, where a thready pulse beat. “She is close, it is a near thing.”

Pierce nodded. “It must be you. You are the one with Singer heritage coursing through your veins. Maybe you can bring her back.”

William had hoped that she would come around these past months. But they could tarry here no longer. The Were drew near, circling like sharks in water saturated by blood. This coven grew restless with her presence, Blood Singers were a stick to stir the cauldron of trouble. He had already waited too long. She was weak, compromised.

Julia looked up at him with eyes of liquid gold and he breathed through his mouth, hoping the scent of her would not impede what he must do.

It was a risk he must accept.

Julia saw William look at her intently and kept her eyes open with effort. Something was building, it thrummed deep in her bones like a call. Julia whimpered. She hated to be weak but knew what they were capable of. She watched as his eyes drank in the sight of her. Then his fangs elongated, escaping his mouth. She opened her own to scream and nothing came out.

His eyes tightened at her expression as he tore into the flesh of his own wrist. Black blood began oozing out of his damaged forearm and flowed down, dripping onto her neck. The droplets splattered like hot candle wax on her skin.

“Drink,” William said, lowering his wrist down to her mouth.

She shook her head, with her ebbing strength she clamped her lips together.

William's eyes flicked behind her and he grunted, frustrated.

“Hold her,” he said with a voice filled with regret.

Large hands clamped onto either side of her head and she was helpless to move in the jaws of their hold.

Just helpless, Julia seethed with frustration.

The poison of his body poured into her mouth in a steady stream and she fought, trying to move her head, but steel bands of flesh held her in position.

He pressed his forearm onto her mouth and with his other hand he pinched her nostrils together and she sucked the blood down into her throat as she began to clench her teeth around his arm.

He didn't react like she thought he would. He dragged her against himself, Pierce releasing her in surprise. Her mouth on his arm, clamping down. Julia bit down with everything she had.

His eyes dilated, the silver disappearing to be replaced by deep crimson. He pressed her against him, his fangs completely extended.

“William! Control yourself!” Pierce yelled, coming for him.

Julia hung on for dear life as she watched those black eyes look at her with such longing and loneliness. As he reared to strike a fist crashed into the side of his temple.

Her mouth was torn off his forearm, her body sliding off his lap onto the floor.

Julia lay in a small heap on her side as a fire burnt inside her. It became a delicious roar within. She was being consumed by heat. It burned and itched.  She melted into the intense warmth, her consciousness narrowing.

As her mind dimmed, she saw the other creature check on William, his black eyes shut.

The creature named Pierce looked in her direction and he was sideways.

Julia knew what else he was.

Vampire.

She fell into a deep abyss of grayness, her mind shielding her from what she couldn't handle.

She floated swiftly down her memory pipeline, grateful for the escape it gave her.

*

last day

Jason had his fingers entwined in Julia's, their last day of school finally here, his plane tickets bought for Vegas. They were gonna do it. She looked up at him and smiled. He looked into the light gold depths and almost stumbled. She always had that affect on him. He'd been drawn to her from the beginning. A small furrow stood between her brows. Julia's hand came to her temple, rubbing.

He pulled her over to the side of the hall, the sea of bodies and backpacks jostling past, an excited buzz thrumming in the halls. He slid his palm underneath her honey-colored hair and wrapped the back of it on her neck, gently kneading the soft skin.

“Is it the headaches again?” he asked. Jules had been having these bone crusher headaches. Jason thought it was the stress at home, trying to plan a secret elopement could take its toll on a girl. He smirked.

“Huh, you really care!” she said, giving him a mock-scowl, putting her hands on her hips.

Her luscious hips
, he thought.

“No!” Ah... I was just thinking all your super secret spy moves you're pullin' around Lily are getting kinda old?” He cocked an eyebrow.

She nodded, true... but. “Actually,” Julia looked down at her hands that had found their way to Jason's hips and she couldn't look away, a blush came over her face.

Jason put a gentle finger under her chin and raised it until their eyes met. Chocolate meeting gold. “What is it?”

She shoved her erotic impulses away and concentrated on his question instead, the blush still staining her cheeks.

Jason saw the high color marking her cheekbones a delicate pink and wondered what she'd been thinking about. He opened his mouth to repeat the question and she interrupted, “It's the dreams, I'm having them again.”

“Oh,” Jason said, pulling her in against his body. He hadn't liked the dreams. He wasn't going to tell her, but he'd begun having some of his own. And they were goddamn doozies.

“Get a room!” Kevin yelled, walking by, arm slung around Cynthia. Jason gave Kevin the finger and Julia grabbed it in the air.

“Don't,” she hissed, giving him another scowl.

Jason threw up the other hand and flipped him another bird.

“You're impossible!” Julia said sternly. Then she smiled.

She began laughing and convulsed into a stream of irrepressible giggles.

“That's so helpful, Jules. You're so
on it.”

Julia looked at Jason and he was standing there, in full view of the world, giving Kevin the double-finger send off.

Oh my god, Julia clutched her sides, howling.

Julia was bent over until she noticed a pair of hot pink boots come into her line of sight.

She grabbed Cyn's sweater and hauled herself up.

“Hey asswipe, you're not sensing any adults around?” Kevin asked.

Jason dropped his hands as one of their teachers made his way toward them in a huff of righteous Adult Indignation.

Terrell.

Great. Instead of calming down, it had the opposite effect and Julia continued laughing, tears streaming down her face.

Terrell lurched up to the group. Taking a look at the Wade girl, doubled over in fits of hysterical giggling, he dismissed her. It was the basketball boys that he had his attention trained on. He didn't care if the Caldwell boy had got an A in his class, there was something fishy about them. Especially that never-apply-herself-girlfriend of his.

He got right up in Caldwell's grill, momentarily nonplussed that the kid had him by four inches. “Listen here, Caldwell. I don't give a good lick about how great you think you are, or that it's your last day here, this isn't the court. You don't own the school, the halls, nothing. Act like an adult and maybe, just maybe, you'll become one someday.”

Terrell had sobered Julia up and she didn't like how Terrell was talking to Jason. Big surprise, she didn't like Terrell that much. She and Cyn had their arms crossed and Kevin stood looming over Terrell.

He didn't seem intimidated and Julia suddenly remembered a term that Lily used, “little man's syndrome.”
Maybe he had a dose of that
, she thought.

“We clear?” Terrell asked. But he wasn't really asking. He was commanding. He wanted a certain kind of response.

Please don't get nailed on the last day, Julia thought, seeing Jason's fists clench and loosen. She watched him notch down his anger at Terrell and her shoulders relaxed. Looked like things were gonna settle down.

Then Terrell looked at her. Really looked at her, starting at her head and ending at her feet, sweeping over her private parts with a lingering look.

Gross!

“Hey perv!” Cyn squeaked. “Why don't you go die somewhere?”

But it was Jason that knotted his fist in the teacher's collar and dragged him close. “Don't you look at her,” he said in a low voice, violence swirling beneath the surface.

Kevin was prying his fingers off of Terrell. “Don't... he deserves it but don't. He's pushin' ya.”

Their eyes met and Jason released Terrell, pulling Julia behind him protectively.

He looked smug. “I knew you'd mess up. This is all I needed to get you where I want you.”

Jason was confused, he'd seen the perv look at Julia and some of the other girls but what did it have to do with today? Why had he been so overt with Julia? His eyes narrowed on the teacher.

Jason planted his legs apart, hands on his hips, looking around once to make sure Julia was behind him and safe. This guy had lost it.

Kevin hit him in the arm and Jason's face whipped back to Terrell as Cyn gasped. Jason became focused on the gun that was naked in Terrell’s hand.

What-the-hell was this? Jason thought, backing away, Julia a warm presence at his back.

Julia wasn't laughing now as kids in the hall, who had just been thinking how much trouble Jason was going to be in, scattered like beetles out of a jar, screaming as they ran down the hall.

Julia's headache slammed into her uncontrollably, spearing into her temple at a fever pitch. But it was the frenzied gaze of the teacher that she couldn’t look away from. His beady hazel eyes shifted between the three kids, seeking.

Finally, he caught a glimpse of Julia behind Jason and said, “It's you. If you were not here, then I could... stop having this pain. The pain would stop..” he said, brandishing his gun in the air, kids slamming themselves on the hallway floor.

Julia felt something integral slip into place, the pain slipping away and becoming a burning mass.

“Hey whack-job!” Kevin said, going for the gun at the same time that Jason did. It wasn't choreographed and as their bodies moved, a gap opened and Terrell pointed the barrel.

At Julia.

All that focus, a warm liquid pain that she buried for the moment came to her in a sliding push. With nothing but raw emotion, she looked at the black hole of the gun and mentally shoved as the hammer pulled back.