That meant everything to her.
* * * *
Joaquin neared the campsite with a stealthy prowl, spying two hikers enjoying the canyon’s wonders. They would suffice for his needs. He had little time to waste. Lily was asleep in the cave, a little extra behind it to keep her dreaming happily so she wouldn’t wake to find him gone. His skin still felt the lingering shock of waking to find her heated body draped lovingly over his own.
It had been a shock, but such a wonderful one it had taken him a full fifteen minutes to even think of disturbing either of them. His skin had burned beneath her, as though a single fire danced between them, back and forth, warming them as his body became acclimated to not being alone, absorbing the feeling of her silken skin along his from his shoulder to his foot where hers had hooked him in her sleep. Those sensations weren’t the only things his body seemed to respond to either. Her scent soaked into him and desire rose to meet it, soaring at an unruly speed to reach out to her with a vicious need. He ached with wanting to feel her again, so full and hard he almost groaned at the speed with which it overcame him.
But he needed to feed. They had things to talk about. He had to tell her what they’d done. He prayed she would still love him after. There was no way he could live without her. Not now. Those moments had slipped through his fingers nights ago. He hoped by the end of tonight she would come to him willingly.
In his deepest soul, now he understood what Diego and Titania shared, and felt doubly blessed to be given this chance. A second chance at life, with love and friends.
The sun had set not too long ago and the men he watched sat near their campfire on a forgotten river log, relaxing from the dinner they had eaten and an extensive day exploring the canyon. Thankfully, with the two, he wouldn’t have to leave either weakened. The canyon was a rough environment even for the heartiest of beings.
Checking one last time for any signs of anyone else, human or Brethren, and finding no one, he glided out of the shifting shadows and drew the young pair to him. Two strong men. He’d sensed their close friendship in their words as he’d studied them and the night.
Bringing the first into his arms, he closed his eyes and pictured Lily, her succulent body glowing and replete as she had been the night before. The feeling of her fingers, of her skin as he had touched her, pleased her, made his heart beat with a hard rhythm, one he didn’t have to prod. He swallowed, keeping the groan inside. He swept the wounds closed with hardly a thought. With her on his mind, it was easy to stop himself from taking too much. There was so much he would have to learn about having a life partner, a mate, as Diego had called Titania. His wife.
The slap of wanting came out of nowhere, so strong he almost broke his enthralled hold on his provider.
After he took what he needed from the second, he sent them to their site with orders to sleep the night. They had water to cure their thirst in the morning. Satisfied they would not come to harm from his needs, he whirled and burst into the sky, dropping his shape to create the streamlined body of a hawk. Every cell demanded he return to her. Even this little amount of time, of distance, was enough to make him edgy. He had to know she was safe. The strain of her abduction and tortures would not be quickly or easily forgotten.
Soaring through the star-speckled night, he zipped into the cave opening, hidden from most eyes because of the angle of the canyon face. It was easier to see from above than below, and there was no place at the edge to look down.
He found her where he’d left her, curled delectably on the pillows like a red-haired goddess. All that warm, fair skin glistened against the rich jewel tones of the velvets. The image made his body throb again. His instantaneous reaction had him wondering if he’d ever outgrow his burgeoning need for her. He hoped on every moon he’d seen the answer was no.
Kneeling, he scooped her into his arms, then turned to make the reverse journey through the winding splits forming the only way in or out. Long, jagged cracks in the canyon that had happened millions of years ago.
Dropping easily from the height, he landed in the scrub of the canyon floor, striding to take his precious cargo to a bend in the riverbank where the surface had smoothed out. Boulders lined the canyon between the river and cliff face.
Picking a nearly flat one, he hopped up and sat, holding her in his lap. With a little thought, he prepared rousing her by giving her a pair of jeans and a top, but instead of the unflattering sweatshirts, he created a long sleeved silk blouse with lovely buttons that would be a delight to slide free. Her breasts rose and fell against the material with an alluring rhythm, making his already tight and needy body swell with hunger. He couldn’t care less what she wore. Nothing was a prime choice, but he knew she was still very self-conscious over the proof of her imprisonment on her body. Lastly, a simple pair of sneakers like the ones he’d seen her wear, and he lifted the sleep curtain on her mind.
Giving kisses on her face, she tilted and turned, welcoming every touch. “Wake, lovely. Open your eyes slowly. It may take time for your eyes to adjust to light again.”
Golden lashes fluttered, heeding his warning even as he did his best to distract her from everything else. She purred wantonly and curled tighter against his chest, comfortable in the cradle of his arms. The needy groan was impossible to hide. Thoughts tumbled and whirled like a windstorm, dangerously erotic with promising images dancing across his mind.
They were coming from her.
He tipped back and laughed, too happy to care about anything else at that moment. “You little minx,” he playfully accused her, swiping her hair away from her face.
She lifted her eyes, looking through her lashes at him, a wicked smile playing across her lips. “Yes?”
Joaquin dropped a quick kiss to her pouty mouth. If he asked for more, he’d take everything. “Can you see all right?”
She rubbed a hand over her eyes, blinking to clear them. “Yeah, I think I’ll be okay.” He nodded, then let her slip from his hands to her feet. “Walk with me,” he coaxed, twining his fingers through hers.
“Shouldn’t we get back?”
“Soon.” Questions colored her gaze when she caught his. He wasn’t trying to be evasive, but he had no experience with ‘making’ another vampire. “We need to talk.”
Those same tawny eyes gathered the stars as they began to sparkle with mischievous remembrance peering up at him. “I think we tried to last night and something seemed to interrupt.”
“Ah, my lovely,” he breathed, grinning, remembering too well what had happened. Tugging her close, he walked along the river.
She ran a hand over her stomach, a confused frown rising, then fading from her features.
“Is something wrong?”
“I was thinking. It’s been two days since I ate, but I’m not hungry. I feel mostly okay. A little tired, but not deprived. I’ve been worried why.”
Joaquin nodded, his own concern matching her frown. The tumble of the river was soothing as it raced its endless path alongside them. “You haven’t eaten in two days?”
She shook her head. “No.”
Now that was something to worry about. They’d bonded two nights ago. With a sinking feeling, he realized it had already begun. She was living on borrowed time until her body gave out, or they successfully completed the conversion. There was no thought of failure that she wouldn’t survive it. He’d done nothing but pray for the last two nights. He knew he’d only begun to renew his need in his faith. “Lily, there’s something I have to tell you.” Heaviness made his entire body feel like lead. Fear of her rejection. Fear of failure. Fear of losing her. It all attacked him mercilessly.
“O-kay,” she replied, a touch of anxiety reaching his ears. Her fingers twitched within his grasp.
“When we bonded…” He lost his nerve. He tried again, knowing he had to take whatever punishment she gave him for it. Take it and move past it. He wasn’t going to let her die. “When we bonded, something happened.”
“Oh?” She paused, t
urning to look up at him. There was no censure in her gaze. No condemnation. Not yet.
“You remember Titania telling us she was an accident inadvertently started?”
She nodded, listening astutely.
“She never explained what it was that had been the accident.” He glanced away, then faced her, unable to say it without seeing her reaction. He wasn’t a coward. “You and I did the same thing.”
It took a moment for the truth to become clear to her. Her cream pale skin whitened to snow, making her eyes too bright and too large for her face. “No.” She choked on the word, her eyes widening more. “No!” Trembles rocked her frame. “You’re wrong!”
“I wish I was,” he admitted. “You and I are forever, I meant that.” He raked a hand through his hair. “But I didn’t mean it like this. I was going to live your life and let you go. I would die without you, but I never intended for you to… For this to be the way,” he finished lamely, reeling from the pain rolling off of her. It swamped and choked him like the bitter dust of the river bottom surrounding them. He deserved every evil, disgusted thought she could throw at him. He had a few himself.
“What did you do?” Fury made her eyes spark for a whole new reason, brighter than anything he’d ever seen. They narrowed as her hands curled into fists.
“When I accepted you into me, I shared with you. You carry my blood in your veins.”
“I…drank your blood?” Revulsion and horror made her waver, her eyes closing. Instead of bloodless, she looked a little green. “Oh my God,” she breathed. “I think I’m going to faint.” She spun and walked to an even spot and folded bonelessly to sit. Haggard breaths lifted her shoulders as she cradled her head. “This can’t be happening,” he heard her mutter. “I thought…” She swallowed, taking huge gulps of air. “I thought it was for now. For us, yes, but…” She whimpered. “I wasn’t expecting eternity to mean eternity!” Her voice carried down the canyon as she shouted out her growing rage at him. The golden fire of her eyes split him in two.
He approached and knelt before her. “I know.”
“Damn it! I can’t drink blood! I don’t want to be a vampire!”
Joaquin couldn’t deny her pain, or her rage. It was no less than he’d suffered. It made no difference it was as unintentional as Titania’s conversion had been, an innocent attempt to keep them safe. The intensity of her anger was killing him, a little at a time.
“It takes time to get used to—”
“I’m not going to get used to it! I’m not going to do it, damn it!”
“It can’t be reversed,” he informed her, damning himself for every word he’d ever uttered to her, for every emotion he’d dared to let himself feel. He’d done this to her. There was no one else to blame. Joaquin’s worst nightmare had come to pass. His redemption had become a living hell. “If you cannot do the conversion, you will die.”
Cold. Her eyes were actually so cold, he shivered. He swore he saw her words form as ice shards in the air, there was so much coldness in her, so much pain. She was frozen. He’d done this to her, hurt her so bad, her soul had frozen solid.
“Then you have killed me. Even when Tenorio couldn’t, when Hawthorne couldn’t break me, you have.” She stood with little warning, looking beyond him. Through him. “Take me home, Joaquin.”
Pain sliced him down the middle with her judgment, because she wasn’t wrong.
Gathering her stiff and unyielding body against his, he tipped her into his shoulder and soared upward. He tried only once to reach her, touching her gingerly with his mind.
The slam of the wall was so fierce, he felt the reverberation down to his toes.
* * * *
She didn’t look at him when he placed her on her feet. “Lily?” She shook with rage, completely ignoring the heartfelt plea. Neither had spoken on the way. No sense in starting now. Anger still made her shake inside. She marched straight up to, then through, the front door. She would’ve slammed it, but knew people were probably asleep.
Her life had been turned on its ear yet again. Stolen for the second time. She was hurting inside, bloody and bleeding. All she wanted had been stripped away. Control over her own life. A fragile chance to have a real life. A normal life. Gone. She knew she was just as responsible. She’d asked for him to do it, but she hadn’t thought he’d… She couldn’t even finish the thought. She’d meant the bond with every fiber of her being. She knew what it meant for him to take from her, but from him? How had he done it? She didn’t remember a thing.
“Lily!” Whirling, she was nearly knocked off her feet by Kathy and a quickly swooping Amy. “You’re back!”
She hugged them both. Overcome with the welcome, she let her previously raging emotions melt away.
“I’m glad to be home.” She said it, then realized she meant it. This had become her home. These women, and the others surrounding her in her life, were her family. She hugged them fiercely, too happy to see their faces again.
“We knew they’d be able to rescue you,” Kathy said, her lips trembling to restrain the tears, then swept them away when she couldn’t. “Diego told us a little bit ago what happened when they found you and Claire.”
“Claire?”
Amy and Kathy both nodded. “The girl they found at Hawthorne’s. She is resting upstairs, still in shock, but so happy to be out.”
“Like all of us,” Amy said quietly.
Lily forked her hair with her fingers, sending it rolling around herself in a wild wave.
“They also told us they didn’t get David. We’d gone into town with Laney and Houston to look into some baby stuff. Normal stuff,” Amy added, regretfully because if they’d been there, David might not have been able to get away with what he’d done.
Kathy wiped another tear away, saying, “I can’t believe he’d do that to any of us.”
“Did Diego tell you why he took me?”
They both shook their heads. “Why don’t we get some tea and I’ll tell you? We also think Hawthorne still has him. He wasn’t found when Diego and Joaquin arrived.” She didn’t stumble over his name. Amazing. At least she was able to keep her anger at him out of her voice. She’d have time later to figure out what she was going to do about what he’d done. There had to be a way to reverse it.
There had to be. She didn’t want to have to suck blood for the rest of her—supposedly now very long—life.
Both Amy and Kathy sat asking very few questions as she gave them her rendition of her capture and rescue. When she was done, they sat in contemplative silence. What was left to be said? David had paid the price trying to protect his family. It was a futile attempt. No one was safe with or from Tenorio.
She lifted the mug to her lips and sipped, instantly putting it down, unprepared for the sudden volatile reaction from her stomach.
“Is it too hot?” Amy asked.
“No.” Lily swallowed, fighting the hard roil her stomach had threatened her with—a distinct message. Usually, the warning right before something unnatural and very unpleasant was about to happen. Breathing through her nose, she calmed the constrictions tightening her body like a vise. It took a few minutes. Cautiously, she tried again to sip at the drink, savoring the taste to encourage her stomach to want the flavorful tea.
She lurched from her seat and spit it into the sink, gagging and coughing.
“Lily!” Kathy was beside her, rubbing her back. “You’re not feeling well and we’ve kept you up to talk. You probably need to sleep. It’s shock or something.”
“Yeah, or something,” she sputtered, sucking in air to calm her stomach. Well, that explained why she wasn’t hungry. It wasn’t going to ask, and definitely wasn’t going to take anything she stuck in it. Lovely.
She ran the back of her hand over her forehead, confused and feeling more tired. “I think I will rest for a while. Is Tabitha doing okay?”
“She’s fine. Been sleeping almost nonstop. She needs it more than anything.”
Lily nodded. “All right,
then.” She nodded, giving a fake smile. “If you need me, just come get me. I’m sure I’ll still be awake.” Especially if her stomach kept this up.
Once inside her room, she closed the door and leaned against it, the first unbidden tears falling free. “Joaquin, what did you do?” Covering her eyes with her hands, with her back pressed to the door, she sank down.
Lily never heard him. Gently, strong arms lifted her off the floor. She formed a fist and hit him on the chest, then did it again as Joaquin crossed the space of her room to lay her on the bed. He didn’t try to stop her as she pounded out her misery on his body.
“Damn you,” she cursed at him. “Do you even know what you’ve done?”
“With every bone in my body.”
She sobbed once more. “You have to reverse it, Joaquin.” She couldn’t look at him, her head turned away even though she knew he stood right next to the bed. His fingers were drifting down her cheek, chasing the tears on her skin. “There has to be a way.”
His Redeemer's Kiss Page 24
