“Krieger headquarters. What is your emergency?”
“Taryn,” I began. “It’s Ashby. I need backup at Nights. There’s been a drive by shooting, and one human is down. I’d already called Jennings to get him to remove some picketers. Can you also contact him to let him know he needs to be here like yesterday?”
“I’ve got it,” she said. “Sending backup now.”
I hung up and kept my eyes focused on the vampires. The humans behind me were screaming and trying everything they could to stop the flow of blood from their fellow picketer. I could taste their fear and panic on my tongue.
“God damn vampires,” one yelled. He was the oldest of the group. A tall, lanky human with white hair. He looked to be their leader. A minister? “See what you’ve done! Do you want this poor woman’s blood? Huh? Does it make you hungry? I bet you can’t control yourself! Come on! Come take her blood and show us what real monsters look like! I know you want it! Come. Take. Her!”
I was seriously considering knocking this guy out, just to shut him up, but the arrival of Jennings kept this human from harm. An ambulance pulled into the parking lot right behind him. Powle and Bastian arrived before the ambulance driver even stepped foot out of the vehicle.
“What the hell happened, Ashby?” Jennings cursed.
“After I hung up with you, an older model, brown Dodge truck raced down the street and fired several shots. Vampires ducked, humans did not. Got one down, that I can see. I had to hold back vampires to keep the human safe.”
“Good,” he breathed a sigh of relief. “All we need is for one of them to go after that woman and all hell will break loose.”
“I know,” I replied. He ran off to assess the situation as his other officers arrived. Blue lights flashed around bouncing off the brick exterior of the building. Other Krieger arrived and helped with crowd control outside of the building.
I sensed her before I even saw her. Turning around, Lydia was standing at the doorway with the bouncer. Her hand was covering her mouth in shock at the scene in the parking lot. Making sure Bastian and Powle had everything handled, I walked over toward the entrance to explain what had happened.
“Oh my God,” she said, leaping into my arms. “Are you okay? Did you get hit?”
“I’m fine, love,” I assured her. “Just the human was shot. I need you to stay inside.”
“No,” she growled. “This is my parking lot, and I will be damned if anyone gets hurt at my club.” Blood seeped into her eyes from the anger at what had just happened.
“No,” I growled, showing a bit of blood in my own eyes. The idea of her being out here when it happened sent a shiver up my spine. Imagining what could’ve happened sent me almost into a panic. “You stay inside. It’s not safe out here!”
“Ashby,” Bastian said, coming up on my right. “I need to speak with you.”
“Stay here,” I told Lydia. I turned to the bouncer and received a nod, telling me he’d keep her in the building, before walking away with the other Krieger.
“What?” I barked.
“First of all,” he began. “Are you hurt?”
“No,” I replied, keeping one eye on my mate. She was mad as hell. So mad that in fact, I could hear her thoughts.
“This is my fucking club! How dare he tell me that I can’t go out in the parking lot! Well, screw him! I am my own woman, and I will do what I damn well want to do! What an overprotective, overbearing, Neanderthal, jerk!”
“Did you get a license plate?” he asked, pulling me back from her internal ramblings. Boy, she was pissed.
“No. Just a description,” I said, repeating the information that I gave to Jennings.
“Is this the same truck that Ms. Duncan saw the night of her shooting?” I replayed her statement in my mind from the night she was shot. My hands balled into fists remembering the way she died in my truck. The fear of losing her made my chest ache.
“I think it is,” I sighed. “I’ll go talk to her.”
“Good luck,” he said, holding back a laugh. “Unless you want me to do it?”
“No,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck. “I’ll do it.”
His rumble of laughter followed me as I left him standing next to his SUV. I turned and found her standing there, arms folded across her chest and her tiny jaw was set hard as she ground her teeth together in anger.
“Oh, hell,” I cursed, walking toward the entrance to Nights. When she saw me coming, Lydia spun on her heel and headed inside. I used my speed to zip past her and beat her to the office. When she walked in and slammed the door, I was already sitting in her office chair with my boots up on the desk.
“Don’t start,” I warned.
“I’m not,” she huffed and pushed my feet off of her desk. I pulled her into my lap and buried my nose in her soft hair. The thought of her being shot again made my ancient heart ache.
“Can you replay the night you were shot? Let me see what you saw? I think the truck that did that drive by is the same one that the men were in when they shot you.”
“Yeah,” she shivered. “I’m not going to be worth a damn after this. Can I let Meadow know I’m going to be leaving afterward?”
“Go ahead,” I nodded toward the phone. She would be weak and need blood after using her ability. I’d need take her back to my home to rest. “I’ll take care of you afterward.”
“Okay,” she said. I pressed her head so that she rested it against my chest. I tucked her under my chin and relaxed at the rightness of her in my arms. I’d do anything to protect her, even if it meant killing someone to get her back to me. These humans wouldn’t hurt her anymore, if I had anything to do with it.
“I’m going to replay it exactly as it happened,” she said, after hanging up with the Meadow. “Are you sure you can watch it?”
“Yes,” I swallowed, tensing myself to see the events that almost took her from me, before I even knew she was mine.
“Okay,” she whispered. Her deep breathing told me she was concentrating. I felt her mind reach for mine, touching it ever so softly. And then the images came to life.
I parked and made my way to the back door. The parking lot was lit, and for some reason it was almost too quiet. I stopped suddenly, when I heard a slight rustling to my left. My nostrils flared as I tested the air. My superhuman senses realized something wasn’t right. The predator in me automatically tensed in preparation of something bad. Scenting the air again, I realized that it was not a vampire I scented and definitely not Lycan or Hybrid. It was human.
The hair on the back of my neck prickled, and I spun around, grabbing for the door as pain bloomed at the back of my neck. Warmth spread from that point out to my arms, and it didn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that I’d been shot.
My eyes blurred as I turned around and found two males coming at me fast. They were definitely human and they had huge stakes hanging off their belts. I heard a whooshing sound, and a small stake pierced me in the middle of my chest, thankfully missing my heart.
A younger man was carrying a black bag, like doctors used to use back years ago. I tried to reach out, but my right arm didn’t cooperate. I reached up with my working arm and felt the back of my head. From the agonizing burning, I knew the bullet had to have been wooden, but it wasn’t Hawthorne. This burning was worse than that horrible wood that vampires are highly allergic to and could poison, if not kill, my kind.
My hand came away sticky with my own blood. The coppery smell fired my senses, causing my stomach to clench with the need to feed and repair my body from the bullet.
My attackers advanced on me as I tried to return to my feet. Blood filled my eyes and my fangs burned as they thickened in my mouth. Humans were not prey, but at the moment, I wanted their blood.
The first one was older, probably in his fifties, bald and a little pudgy. He grinned slowly and said, “Hey, Jerry! We got us a vampire! Bring me the vial.” He reached for me, and even in my weakened state, I hissed in warning, the predator
in me poised ready to fight.
The one named Jerry ran up looking downright pissed off. “Dammit, Dad! You gotta get ‘em in the heart.” Jerry was about twenty years younger than his father and resembled him perfectly. Except, Jerry still had his own hair and his was brown. Both of them had eyes the color of dark chocolate. Each one was dressed in black cargo pants and black cotton shirts.
“We need her blood,” the father yelled at his son. “They said they needed her vampire blood.”
I screamed, “B...bastard.” It was hard to breathe. The jackass turned and staked me again, but this time in the shoulder. The burning from the wood impaled in my body caused me to stumble, and I fell to the ground, hoping they’d get within a few inches of my teeth.
They stood over me for several minutes, judging my ability to attack them. Or, shall I say, my inability!
Lights suddenly turned the corner, and a vehicle I recognized screeched to a halt. Meadow – our waitress who was just learning her talents into seeing the future – jumped out of her car and ran straight for me. “Run!” I screamed, but it came out more garbled than a demand.
Both Jerry and his father scrambled to gather their things, making fast time getting into their old, brown pickup truck. As I tried to right myself, my weakened body collapsed in a heap on the ground. My beautiful dress was ruined. The bastards laughed loudly as they drove out of sight.
“Son of a bitch,” I snarled, fisting my hands tight. What I saw was through her eyes and as if I were Lydia during that point in time. It was strange being in her mind during a past event. Her talent was powerful and thankfully effective in helping find these men.
“It’s okay,” Lydia said, stroking my jaw with her tiny hands. “It’s over, Ashby.”
“I’ll kill them,” I promised, my sight turning red.
Lydia started to stand, but stumbled. I scooped her up into my arms and carried her out of the office. I knew she was exhausted, because she didn’t even complain about me not letting her walk.
Back at the mansion, I let her take blood from me to strengthen her. I made a vow right then and there. No human would hurt another of our kind again and take their blood. It had to end.
Chapter 13
Lydia
The club fell silent, the only sound was the music thumping through the speakers. I turned from my perch at the East Bar and gasped aloud, “Charity!”
My child and best friend ran toward me, her arms open wide. We embraced as if we hadn’t seen each other in a decade.
“Oh, I missed you,” she smiled, pulling back to look me over. Her immediate frown told me she had been worried.
“I’m fine,” I promised. “You can’t get rid of me that easily.”
“Um,” she froze, staring at my face. “What happened to your eyes? Is there something you need to tell me?”
“I’m mated,” I announced proudly.
“With Ashby?” she smiled.
“Come to the office so I can tell you all about it.” I laughed when she tossed her blonde hair over her shoulder and took my hand. I chuckled again when I heard her mumble, “Thank God it wasn’t Walter.”
When I turned, all three of her personal guards froze when they saw my eyes for the first time. I gasped when they slammed their fists over their hearts and dropped to one knee, “My lady.”
“Ugh,” I grimaced. “Get up! You know I’m going to hate this!”
“It’s tradition,” Charity giggled.
“Come on,” I growled, not liking this formality crap.
Charity’s guards, Brock, William and Adam, the hybrid werewolf/vampire, followed us down the hallway to the office. The men were assigned to her protection when Dragus was at work or otherwise unable to be at her side.
“Oh, no,” I held out my hands. “Girl talk! You stay away.”
Adam looked as if he wanted to say something, but from the glare I gave him, he thought better of it. We rolled our eyes and allowed Brock to do a sweep of the office to make sure there were no bad guys hiding in the filing cabinet or anything.
“Geez,” I said, once the men were shut out in the hallway. “I didn’t miss them hanging around.”
“Okay,” she said. “Talk!”
“Well,” I began. “Ashby and I had one night of really amazing sex, and when I rose the next evening, we were mated.” Charity opened her mouth to say something, but closed it quickly and frowned. “I know it’s a lot to take in. Obviously, the gods wanted this Charity. It’s strange and I’m just getting used to it myself.”
“This is strange,” she continued to frown. “Are you…happy?”
“I really don’t know what to think,” I sighed. “It happened so fast.”
Charity came around the desk, and I stood up. We hugged for what seemed like forever. The knot in my throat constricted, and I took a shaky breath. She smelled like sweet roses and home. I’d missed her so much over the past couple of weeks.
“Talk to me,” she demanded. I looked into her eyes that matched my own and smiled weakly.
“I don’t know what to think,” I said, repeating my early statement. The prick in the back of my eyes was getting stronger. I didn’t want to cry, but I had a feeling it was going to happen.
“You’ve already said that,” she whispered, our arms were still wrapped around each other. Charity pushed the hair out of my face and closed her eyes with a heavy sigh when she saw my eyes welling up with tears. “It’s just you and me in here, Lydia. You can let go now.”
With her words, I let the tears fall. However, they didn’t fall…they exploded out of my eyes. Bloody water trailed down my face, and I blubbered all of the thoughts I’d been too worried to speak aloud.
“I…like him, but I…I don’t know him. He’s sexy and frustrating and protective and caring and…and…oh, Charity! I don’t know what’s happening to me, to us! I agreed to move in with him at the estate, because of my safety as a mate of the Krieger. Stupid humans are after my blood, and I don’t know why! I’ve been shot, staked and woke up as a mate to a warrior. All in a matter of days, Charity! Days! Not weeks, or months, like it’s supposed to be!”
“Oh, Lydia,” she cried along with me. “Do you want me to take you away? You know, you can leave and get some distance. It’s the only way to break the mating, but it will be painful.”
“I know,” I sniffled. It was possible and could be done, but if you found yourself mated there was a way to get away from it. The rumor was that the pain of distance would have you begging for death. That was for a regular mating, between two mates. How bad would it be to try and break a mating with a warrior? Would Ashby go insane? Would I? “I like him, and I really want to try to see where this goes.”
“Do you think you can love him?” she asked. Now there was the question I had been holding in the back of my mind.
“Honestly?” I looked at my best friend, my child. She stood there waiting on the answer I didn’t want to reveal, but if I had to reveal it to anyone, it would be her.
“Yes, Lydia. Honestly? Do you think you can love him?” She tucked a stray lock of hair over my ear and waited for me to answer.
“I think…I think I already do,” I cried.
“You have to tell him,” she said, wiping away my bloody tears.
“I know,” I said, reaching for another tissue from the box on my desk.
We screamed as the office door smashed in with an explosion of two very pissed off and extremely large warrior males…our mates. Dragus and Ashby rushed to our sides, their hands cupping our faces. “What’s wrong?” they asked in unison.
“Nothing,” we replied, laughing shakily as we wiped the remaining tears from our faces.
“We felt you,” Dragus said, his Romanian accent thick as he checked over his mate.
“Baby,” Ashby said, holding me tight to his chest and breathing out a heavy sigh of relief. “Talk to me.”
“We were just talking,” I said, wiping frantically at more bloody tears.
“Yeah
, girl stuff,” Charity shrugged, giving Dragus her sweet, perfect smile that I knew melted him in those heavy, black boots he wore.
Ashby rubbed his fist over his heart and swore under his breath, before slumping down into my office chair, pulling me as he went. “You scared the hell out of me.”
“This mate stuff is weird,” Charity rolled her eyes. “In Hawaii, I was startled by a spider, and Dragus came into the living room with weapons drawn for battle, just from feeling my panic for half of a second.”
“It gets stronger,” Dragus admitted, giving Ashby a knowing look. “The bond. It’s like we are one, and I felt Charity’s panic. It scared a hundred years off of my life.”
“You’re a vampire, Dragus. You can’t scare years off of your life,” Charity scoffed, rolling her eyes and handing me several tissues to wipe my face. “You can go now. We are okay.”
“Why don’t you come home?” Ashby asked, softly.
“I need to work,” I said, pointing to a stack of paperwork.
“Dragus and I have to run to Valencia County to pick up some new warriors that will be starting the training program. I don’t want you to be alone,” he said, kissing my temple.
“I’ll be fine,” I promised. “I’ll need a ride home, though.”
“I can have Adam or Brock swing by whenever you are ready,” Charity offered. “I’m heading home for the night to finish unpacking.”
“If you don’t mind?” I smiled. “I don’t have my car.”
Dragus and Charity left the office to give us some privacy, after promising to send someone to drive me home. Ashby buried his face deep in my auburn curls and inhaled my scent.
“I’ve never been so scared in my life. I felt you. It hurt my chest.” He followed the statement up by pulling my hand to the center of his chest, just to the right of his heart. I rubbed the spot softly until a soft rumble vibrated my fingers. He liked when I touched him.
“It makes me feel better knowing you’d feel me if I was ever hurt or in danger,” I admitted.
Blood at Stake (Warriors of the Krieger Book 2) Page 8
