The Bone Coven Chronicles: The Complete Series Read online

  Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Dorian’s gaze locked on my face. He knew what I was thinking, what I was feeling. It wouldn’t even take our strange bond for him to understand how I felt about one of my closest friends turning into something like this.

  “We can’t let him be, Juno,” Dorian said in a softer voice, probably more to soothe my nerves than Nathan’s. “He’s killed two blood mages. If we don’t do something, he could kill someone else.”

  Juno shook her head, her red hair slapping against her neck. “He wouldn’t. He isn’t like that. Come on, you know what a good guy he is.” She turned to me, her eyes pleading with me so much that it hurt. “Right, Zoe? Tell him. Tell him what Nathan is like.”

  With a sigh that shook me to my very core, I glanced away. Every word that came next was like a punch in my gut. “Dorian is right. We need to contain him, at least until daylight.”

  “I can’t believe this,” she said, shaking her head as she stumbled back. “You’re his friend. He trusts you.”

  “I know.” I closed my eyes, hating myself almost as much as she did. Maybe even more so. “But it will be a hell of a lot worse for him if he hurts someone else.

  Dorian found me curled up on the floor of the stock room, a makeshift pillow thrown together from some clean towels I’d found on one of the shelves. I’d spent all night listening to Nathan’s howls, wishing my powers included the manipulation of time. What I would give to go back into the past and warn Nathan of things to come.

  “You doing okay?” Dorian eased onto the floor beside me and dropped a paper bag by my side. The scent of fresh bread drifted into my nose, but for once, I wasn’t hungry. Dread had taken up residence in my stomach, drowning out everything else. How could I eat when I knew what came next?

  Nathan would be found guilty of murder, and neither the Bone Coven or the Blood Coven would let him get away with that.

  And I couldn’t exactly blame them.

  “This sucks, Dorian,” I whispered, knowing that Nathan would be able to hear us if he was awake. He’d quietened down a couple of hours ago, the wolf finally leaving his body when dawn broke through the sky. I’d left him to rest, knowing the difficult conversations about to come. We both needed a chance to take a breath.

  “I know.” Dorian squeezed my shoulder and pressed his forehead against mine. His cool skin soothed me somehow, grounding me in the new reality we’d discovered. “And things are only going to get worse for him. You don’t have to stay here, Zoe. Go home and get some rest. I’ll handle this from here on out. You shouldn’t have to put your friend behind bars. Or worse.”

  In the covens, the penalty for murder was death. And Enforcers often carried out the sentence.

  “I think it would be better for him if I stayed,” I said. “He needs a friendly face. Someone who understands that he would have never done this on purpose.”

  Dorian gave me a sad smile. “I think we both know that these kills were done on purpose, Zoe. The victims, the cause of death, the arrangement of the bodies. I’ve worked with the FBI many times on cases like this, and when the murders check those boxes, it’s never random. I know you want to think this was all done in a fit of werewolf fury he couldn’t control, but it wasn’t. We’d be hearing about a string of bodies all over Boston if that were the case.”

  “I just can’t believe that he meant to do something like that. I’ve known him for years. He’s not that kind of person. He’s good. He’s kind. He’s not like…”

  He’s not like me.

  Dorian tucked a finger underneath my chin and forced my gaze to meet his. His eyes churned, the depth of his powers rippling in his irises. A yearning tugged me toward him, a sensation I’d felt for months but had pushed aside. Dorian saw into my soul and into my heart, and he understood me. He cared. Instead of viewing me as a broken witch with darkness brewing in my heart, he saw me as something else. Something better than what I really was.

  And I felt the same about him. He might be a vampire, but he conquered his curse in everything he said and did.

  “Don’t think like that,” he murmured. “Stop punishing yourself for something you have no control over.”

  “But I must have done something to make myself this way,” I said. “Something so terrible that the universe decided I needed to be marked. As a warning for everyone else.”

  “That’s not why we’re marked, and you know it.” Dorian’s fingers dropped to my neck, caressing the spot where my mark was etched into my skin. The illusion was faint, the lines drawn to identify me as a member of the Bone Coven. But underneath, the truth yearned to break through, the dark slashes that told the truth about my powers. I was a member of the Shadow Coven, though only a handful of people knew.

  “It’s meant to identify us to one another,” I said in a whisper. “And any mage who saw it would take it as a warning. Stay the hell away from the Shadow.”

  “Except I know what you are, and I don’t want to stay away from you.” His voice dropped lower, and a new kind of shiver caressed my skin, making the tremor of my heart go faster. Dorian’s hand wrapped around the back of my neck, and he dug his fingers into my hair. I sucked in a breath, my eyes fluttering shut. I’d been wanting him to do this for so long, to touch me, to feel me, to provide an exquisite relief to the overwhelming tension that charged between us.

  “Not everyone in the world is like you, Dorian,” I whispered, sighing as his thumb continued to trace slow circles around my mark. “You’re different.”

  “Why?” His voice was a growl as he shifted closer, and our bodies were suddenly chest to chest and eye to eye. His scent enveloped me. Iron and musk and leather. My mind whirled from this closeness, and my heart beat so hard I swore it might burst. “Because I’m a vampire? A cursed man, driven by his own darkness? Someone good couldn’t care for you? Is that what you’re saying?”

  “Of course not.” Opening my eyes, I stared into the deep pools of his eyes, feeling myself getting caught up in the current of his intensity, feeling myself drowning in this moment between us. “That’s not what I meant. I…”

  My voice caught, and I looked away.

  “Then, what did you mean?” His thumb stilled as he fell silent, waiting for my answer. I knew we were on a precipice here, perched on the edge of something I wasn’t entirely sure I was ready to explore. My body begged for me to give in while my fear told me to turn and run.

  “I meant…well, I meant that,” I stumbled. My cheeks flamed, and I sucked a sharp breath into my lungs. How could I explain how I felt to this man? To this vampire? He made me feel things I’d never felt before, but he’d never given an indication that he felt the same. Even when we’d been bonded, all that charged emotion seemed to come from me. Now, here we were, wrapped up in each other’s arms, and I didn’t know what to say.

  Because the last thing I wanted him to do was run away.

  “Shh.” He pressed a finger to my lips. “You don’t have to explain it. Not now. I can read you, Zoe Bennett. I understand how you feel more than you think.”

  With his hand still gripping my head, he dropped his mouth onto mine. A moan rose up in my throat as desire shot through me. His tongue slipped through my lips, teasing, exploring, tasting. Everything about his kiss was electric, full of heat and need even though his skin was rigid and cold.

  His grip tightened as his kiss deepened, and his hands began to scratch along my back. And then his fangs caught my lip. Sharp pain exploded in my mouth. Choking out a cry of shock, I pulled back only to see his eyes churning with a new kind of need. They were wide and dilated, shot through with a deep crimson red that matched the blood on his lips. A low growl escaped from his throat as he pulled me toward him once again. I put my hands up between us, heart hammering in my chest.

  “What are you doing?” I asked, breath ragged, cheeks flushed.

  “Kissing you,” he said. “And if you ask me, it’s about fucking time.”

  “You bit me.” I reached out, dragge
d my finger across his lip, and held up the evidence to show him. “And your eyes are red.”

  In an instant, Dorian was off the floor and across the room, his chest heaving as he stared at me. His eyes grew clear as he swiped the blood from his mouth, frowning down at his fingers. With a sigh, he dragged his hands down his face, muttering something that was almost too low for me to hear. Something about asshole and lust and uncontrollable.

  “I’m sorry,” he finally said. “I don’t know what came over me. I’ve never done that before.”

  For some reason, I got a rush of satisfaction at hearing that. “It’s okay. I know you wouldn’t actually hurt me.”

  Though, I had to admit, it did hurt. Like hell.

  “Your mouth is bleeding, Zoe.” He winced. “There’s blood all over your chin.”

  Dorian knelt on the ground and grabbed a towel, pressing it to my lip. I winced, a shockwave of pain shooting through my mouth. Okay, so it hurt a hell of a lot more than I originally thought. I’d been so caught up in the desire and the kiss that my mind had been foggy. Now that it was all wearing off, reality set in fast. He’d really cut into my mouth. And when I pulled the towel away, it was coated in blood.

  “Shit,” I whispered, pressing the towel to my lip again. “How bad is it?”

  Dorian frowned, eyeing the wound. His body was tense as he stared and licked his lips. The red filled his eyes again as he drank in the sight of me with blood pouring from my mouth. He looked hungry, like a man who had been starved for years. And I guessed he had. Dorian had once told me that he’d never drank anything other than animal blood, and the cravings must have been tough over the years. Every time we came face to face with the real thing, he looked as if he was on the verge of breaking down. And now, here I was, standing before him like this, practically daring him to drink me up.

  And his desire was met with my own. I wanted him to taste me, to feel linked to me in a way that no one else could. The way I’d felt when I’d had his blood? Well, I’d been euphoric, buzzing with an electricity that had never been matched.

  Dropping back my head, I pulled the towel from my lips, presenting myself to him. “Drink me.”

  He groaned, his hands wrapping tight around my arms. Something deep and low rumbled in his throat, an animalistic need that practically rippled off his body in waves. “Zoe, I can’t. If I do, I might lose control. You’re already bleeding so badly that you might need to get stitches.”

  “I trust you. Have just a sip,” I whispered. “And you can patch the wound back up. You’ve done it before.”

  My words were inviting, welcoming, beckoning. Dorian went tense, and his eyes searched mine for confirmation of what I’d meant. “You’ll let me heal you?”

  Dorian had healed me once before when I’d broken my hand during a hand-to-hand combat training session. At the time, I’d been hesitant and more than a little wary of drinking the blood of a vampire. He’d hidden his true nature from me as we’d worked on the case, and I sure as hell didn’t find him trustworthy when I’d finally found out the truth.

  But so much had changed since then. We’d spent countless hours working side by side, and I’d stayed awake more than a few nights remembering what it had felt like to have his power running through my veins and his arms around my body. I wanted nothing more than to feel him inside of me again.

  “Yes,” I whispered.

  In an instant, Dorian dug his teeth into his wrist and punctured his skin. Blood poured from the wound as he held it up to my lips. Opening wide, I pressed my tongue against his salty skin and drank the thick liquid. It slipped down my throat, filling my body with a buzzing electricity that roared in my ears. Every sense intensified. Sounds were louder, touch was harder, and taste was stronger. It drowned out the world so that all I could feel was Dorian. Nothing else existed but him, surrounding me and filling me and taking me as his.

  His mouth replaced his wrist, and he devoured the blood that had poured from the wound that began to slowly heal. His tongue lapped against my lips and against my chin before diving into my mouth again. His movements were frenzied, his kiss deeper and deeper until he finally broke free, panting heavily with blood smeared across his lips.

  Our eyes locked, and something between us snapped tight. It was if there was a cord connecting us together, one that kept me tethered to his body. It tugged at my soul, at my heart. Not only did it feel as if Dorian’s life-force poured through my veins, but I felt as if I were part of him as well. We were joined, inexplicably.

  And even though the sensation scared the shit out of me, I never wanted it to end.

  “What’s going on?” I asked. “Last time you healed me, I felt something, but it wasn’t like this.”

  “Zoe, I—”

  His words were interrupted by a loud banging from underneath our feet. An animalistic growl rose up around us, but it wasn’t a scream from a wolf. It was very much human, angry and sorrowful and full of despair. Nathan was awake.

  Chapter 14

  “Where’s Juno?” Nathan asked when we settled onto the basement floor across from him. He’d shifted back into human form, but evidence of last night’s full moon was written across every inch of him. His wild and curling hair stuck to his damp forehead. Dirt caked his cheeks. Blood clung to his jagged nails. He’d been naked when we’d come down the ladder, but Dorian had handed him some fresh clothes. At first, I thought Nathan wouldn’t take them, but he finally slid into them with a low growl.

  “Juno is upstairs in her apartment,” I said, taking the lead. I figured he’d take all of this better coming from me since he appeared to feel the gut revulsion for vampires like every other werewolf on the planet. “She was pretty upset so she took a sleeping pill and went to bed. It’s morning now, but I expect she’ll be out of it for a few more hours.”

  Nathan frowned, his eyes raking across me until they landed on my lips. Embarrassment flamed in my cheeks, causing me to glance away. There was no way he hadn’t heard what had happened between me and Dorian upstairs.

  “I didn’t take you as the kind of girl to get involved with a thing like that.” He jerked his head at the vampire. “Especially after what happened in September.”

  “Nathan.” I frowned. “Look, I know you’re upset, but Dorian isn’t a thing. He’s a warlock who was cursed with vampirism. I’m sorry about what happened to you, but Dorian isn’t the one to blame here.”

  “Then, who is?” He pulled on the chains that were locked around his wrists and trapped him in the basement along with the shadows and the cobwebs. “Because as far as I can remember, he’s the one who locked me up in here last night. How could you let him do that to me, Zoe?”

  Sucking in a sharp breath, I tried to find the right words. I didn’t really know how all this worked. How much did Nathan know? How much did he remember? Was it the man inside causing these murders or was it the wolf taking over his mind? Like Dorian said, the evidence suggested the latter, but I had to give Nathan a chance to give another explanation, one that wouldn’t lead to his death.

  “It was for your own good, Nathan. How much do you remember?” I asked. “How much about last night is clear?”

  “You’re asking me if I know I’m a werewolf, aren’t you?” He nodded, staring hard at the floor. “Yeah, I’m aware. If it weren’t for Juno, I’d probably be confused, but she explained how things work.”

  “And Juno isn’t a werewolf?” I had to ask.

  “Her ex-boyfriend bit her, but she didn’t turn,” he said. “Said she was wearing a ring when it happened. One that protected her from the disease.”

  With a frown, I gave Dorian a sharp look. He nodded, filing that information away. That ring had come back into the conversation yet again, and I couldn’t help but wonder…If Juno had that ring before, how had it ended up in the possession of a blood mage? More mysteries to solve, more questions to answer. But right now, we had more important things to focus on.

  “Unfortunately,” Nathan continued, “we
think she still had the werewolf venom in her veins even with the ring protecting her. One night when I was over there, she kissed me, and…well, I’d ask you not to think it’s weird, but biting doesn’t seem to throw either one of you off.”

  My face flamed, and I cleared my throat. Yep, he’d definitely heard us.

  “You’re saying that Juno bit you, and that’s what turned you?” Dorian asked, speaking up when I couldn’t find my voice. “That’s interesting.”

  Nathan scowled, an expression I’d never seen on him before. “I’d prefer you use some other word besides interesting as the way to describe this.”

  “I don’t think you’re in much of a position to state demands,” Dorian snapped.

  I shot him a look. Even though I understood where he was coming from, I didn’t want to handle things that way. We needed to keep the conversation civil and calm, and we needed to give Nathan a chance to state his case.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Nathan asked, frowning. He looked from Dorian’s grim face to mine before he began to pull at the chains. They rattled, the metal shuddering as he yanked at them harder and harder, his breath expelling in rapid bursts. “Let me go. You have no right to keep me locked up in here. I may be a werewolf, but I still have rights.”

  “Listen, Nathan.” I stood from the floor and moved closer to him, kneeling in front of him so that we could see each other eye-to-eye. From behind me, I heard Dorian muttering under his breath, clearly unhappy with my close proximity to the werewolf. “Do you remember much about last night? When you go into wolf form, does your human mind understand what you’re doing? Are you in control?”

  He sighed and sagged against the chains. “That isn’t how it works, Zoe. There’s no wolf form and human form. They aren’t separate things that I can put into their own distinct bottles. I am the wolf, and the wolf is me. So, yes, I understand and remember everything that happens when I shift.”