Page 3 of Jake

Chapter Two

Concealing her true nature had driven Kai Beckett to exhaustion. Only eleven years old, she’d been the very reason her birth parents had been killed. Vampires had raided her village, seeking out the child whose luminescent charm would bring them good fortune.

When she’d immigrated to America with her sister, Shilan, in the early 1900s, they’d been attacked again and that’s when she knew she’d have to forever hide or risk death. So rare a being, others would seek her out like an endangered animal, syphon her blood for the luck they believed it would bring.

Nearly a hundred years ago, she’d met the witch in New Orleans, and had paid Ilsbeth to glamour her powers. For decades after, Kai had successfully hidden in Wyoming with her sister. Shilan harbored distinctive gifts other than Kai’s, but they’d both been at risk due to their relationship. Until recently, the only supernatural in the area to know of her existence had been the local Alpha, Hunter Livingston, who had agreed to allow her to live in his territory. On the barren outskirts of Yellowstone, she’d successfully worked as a geologist, studying and monitoring the caldera. Her sister, Shilan, a prominent seismologist, worked alongside her and the university team.

Three days ago, she’d tracked her missing sister to San Francisco. When the trail had grown cold, Kai sought assistance from the Elders. They’d led her to the vampire who’d once attacked her as a young girl. Kasdeya. The City by the Bay had been under her control for as long as Kai could remember. As a child, she’d been terrified of the vicious vampire.

Kai had gone alone to Kasdeya’s in search of her missing sister, but the spell that had long concealed her true nature failed. The demon mistress had tricked her, promising to reveal Shilan’s location in exchange for Kai’s blood. What Kai had thought a fair exchange quickly morphed into torture. Kasdeya’s demonic bite stirred the power of Kai’s beast. Traumatized, her thoughts had gone to the only other person who might be able to help her find her sister. Jake Louvière. For the first time in her life, she’d materialized, landing at his cabin. Disoriented and poisoned, she’d lost control, attacked the Alpha.

Quintus Tullius had intervened. All she’d ever known about the elusive mercenary was that he’d been involved in saving her as a child, ensuring her passage into America. When he’d materialized them out of the bayou and into his home, she’d had no choice. Kasdeya’s black essence had sucked the life from her body, and Kai had been helpless to refuse the blood he forced into her mouth.

Oh Goddess. Where am I?She trembled, the iron-tanged blood trickling down her throat. Kai fought the sexual attraction that she knew the vampire’s blood exchange would bring, yet her body tingled in arousal as she curled into a ball on the bed. His energy spiked through her, and she shoved his arm away.

“No more,” she cried, tears streaming down her face.

“It’s okay.” His palm settled on her shoulder.

“No, please don’t.” She shuddered at his touch.

“Kai. You know who I am without ever seeing my face.”

“I…I don’t know how…” Kai wiped her cheek with the back of her hand and glanced to the intimidating vampire. Something about Quintus…his voice, his touch; it was oddly familiar.

“You are a very special being. Rare and precious,” he said, his voice smooth.

As he stood and strode across the room to the window, Kai scanned her surroundings. Gas lamps flickered light on the walls, their old-world ambiance illuminating the room. Deep emerald velvet curtains pooled onto the floor, and the cream-colored crown molding contrasted with the cardinal walls. She glanced to the ceiling of the four poster bed, its sheer canopy floating over its edges.

His fingers tapped on the woodwork, and her gaze went to his.

“Others seek to steal your power. That bite,” he said, pressing his palm to the glass.

“Why are you helping me?” Kai brushed her fingers over the newly healed skin, and her stomach clenched in nausea.

“You are weak,” he responded.

“You didn’t answer me.” She sucked a deep breath and shoved up to sit on the bed. Her head spun with his essence, and she flattened her palms onto the mattress, steadying herself.

“You feel me, bella?”

“What have you done to me?”

“I assure you, it’s temporary. I have not taken your will. We have no bond.”

“Where am I?” Anger shot through her as her energy returned.

“Do not test me, pet,” he responded, his gaze intense.

Kai’s eyes darted to the door. She leapt from the bed in an attempt to escape, but was thwarted as strong fingers clamped around her wrist. “Let go of me!” she screamed.

“Listen carefully, Kai Ling Zhou.”

Shock rolled through her at the sound of her given birth name that she’d long ago changed. No one had spoken it but her sister. Both terrified and enraged, she yanked her arm out of his grip. “How do you know my name?”

“I suspect for the same reason you know my name,” he replied, his tone cold. “It’s no matter to you at this point. All you need to know is that I saved your lovely ass.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She’d heard rumors of him, that much was true.