“No, I told you, although you’re trying hard to make me human. I hunt vampires. My body makeup is different. I know you thought I was going to die and you humored me by allowing me to put soil in my wounds, but the earth really has healing properties.” Sun scorch him, he was exhausted. “Please. I’m asking for your help. Get your things and come back. Wild animals will find me and I’m helpless.”
She regarded him with a small frown. “I didn’t think about the animals, but you’re right. I have no idea what to do.” She sank back onto her heels. “If I leave you to hike up the mountain, you could really be in danger. If I stay, seriously, Andor, you could die. You should already be dead.”
He was beginning to really fall for that frown, or maybe he was just light-headed from the pain. Keeping it at bay was becoming difficult in spite of the infusion of blood. He was still leaking far too much, and right now, blood was at a premium. He had been careful not to leave the three vampire assassins too weak. He wanted them out of the area.
“Just hurry and get your camping things.”
“The scent of blood will draw wildlife. There are bears and coyotes in these mountains. For all I know, there could be wolves, but I don’t think so. I can’t leave you alone.”
“You have to. We need your tent. I can’t be out in the sun. Not even for a few minutes. You have to cover me with your tent and the soil through the daytime. I’ll sleep and hope the soil starts the healing process.” It was going to be a long process at the rate he was going.
He knew the moment he’d won. Her face changed from worry and indecision to determination. “It’s going to take about twenty minutes. I’m not that far from here, but it is a little bit of a hike.” She was already on her feet, anxious to go now that they had a plan.
“Lorraine, thank you for not asking questions and arguing.”
“What would be the use? I can’t leave you, and I can’t raise anyone from down here in this valley. You’re either going to live or die, and you’re the strongest person I’ve ever met, so I’m betting you’re going to live.”
He hoped she was right. He didn’t feel very strong. In fact, he just wanted to close his eyes and let the night take him for a little while. Just to give himself a few minutes where he didn’t have to block the pain. It was taking so much strength. He was trying to slow the steady leaking of blood. Once she was back with the tent and had set everything up, he could take more of her blood, but he needed her fit, not weak.
“I’ll need water,” he reminded as she started to turn away.
“I have plenty and there’s a stream not too far from here. I have a filtration system.” She was backing away, her eyes moving over his torn body for the first time since he’d been in her mind. She swallowed hard and shook her head again. “I’ll be back in a few, hang on.”
Andor watched her go. She seemed to take his strength with her. His lungs continued to burn for air, telling him he needed to shut down soon. There was too much damage to his body. He had destroyed seven vampires. Two were very close to being master vampires. They’d lived long enough that he should have run across them, but he seldom remembered names or even faces of the undead.
He closed his eyes. She would come back, although she really detested the sight of blood. He read the revulsion and the way it made her ill. Her stomach churned and she’d fought not to be sick. She really had to work not to faint. It was a testimony to her courage and tenacity that she’d stuck around to help him.
She was his lifemate. He knew she was, yet he was so wounded he couldn’t bind them together, he didn’t dare. That meant she could still walk away from him and he’d be more dangerous than ever. He could only hope that he had read her correctly and she was everything he believed her to be. She was coming back. She had to, if he had any chance at all of surviving.
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