by Cat Devon
Alex rushed to her side. “What did they do to you?”
“You!” she growled, slapping his hands away. “You did this to me. I told you not to lock me in there.”
“She’s claustrophobic,” Doc said.
“What happened?” Alex demanded.
“I’m not sure,” Doc said. “I suspect her panic triggered some sort of paranormal response in her. An extremely pissed-off paranormal response. She wanted out so she made that happen.”
“I have a headache,” she moaned.
Daniella joined them, giving them all a reprimanding look. “You’re lucky we didn’t have a funeral in progress. I don’t know what we would have done in that case. I’m assuming someone compelled my father, stepmother, and brother to stay in the funeral director’s office until further notice. How is that supposed to be a safe place during an invasion? And what the hell happened to Keira?” She moved closer to offer a sympathetic word but Alex held his hand out to keep her back.
“She was in the tunnel,” he said.
“We all have bad memories of those tunnels,” Daniella said. “Miles held me captive down there when he was in charge of the Gold Coast clan.”
Nick put an arm around Daniella. “I know it’s difficult for you, but Miles is gone. Eradicated.”
“By me. Maybe this is his clan’s way of getting back at us all,” Daniella said. “Have you considered that?”
“Considered and rejected,” Nick said curtly.
“What about the invasion?” Daniella asked.
“It was a false alarm, according to Neville,” Nick said, checking his smartphone. “Someone hacked into our system and created the image of an invasion. Neville and his crew are working on fixing the problem. The most damage was what the hunter’s granddaughter did to the tunnel.”
“She has a name, dammit,” Alex growled in frustration. “Her name is Keira and she’s no hunter.”
“Careful,” Doc warned him. “I wouldn’t get any closer to her if I were you.”
“You’re not me,” Alex said before returning his attention to Keira. “Mija, it’s me. It’s okay. You’re safe now.”
“No I’m not!” She slapped his hands away.
“I warned you,” Doc told Alex.
“Where am I?” Keira looked around.
“The basement of the funeral home,” Bruce said helpfully.
Her eyes widened. “Did Bruce bring me here to kill me?” She got to her feet and looked ready to make a run for it.
Alex quickly got to his feet and curled his fingers around hers for reassurance. “No, nothing like that. I’ve got you. You’re safe.”
“This is where you get your blood,” Keira said out of the blue.
“Uh-oh,” Bruce said.
Alex took her in his arms and rushed her back to the loft. “Shh, I’m not using the tunnels,” he assured her.
She felt the rush of thick, humid air before the chill of the air-conditioning hit her. Opening her eyes, she looked around, searching out reassuring items like the photo of her mom. What would she think of this situation?
One thing was certain. Keira’s mom would tell her to stay strong. So Keira took a deep breath and shoved the remaining fear down. Even though it wasn’t easy, she had to regain control. Her tongue was so dry it felt like it was stuck to the roof of her mouth.
“I’m sorry,” Alex said, handing her a cold unopened bottle of water from the fridge. “I didn’t know—”
“Yes, you did.” She took the bottle. “You heard me tell Bruce I had claustrophobia. You didn’t care.”
He cupped her cheek with his hand. “I do care.”
She moved away. “Sure you do. You care about my grandfather’s journal and that’s it.”
“Not true. I do care about the journal but I care about you as well.”
His warm words washed over her. She wished she could believe him. A part of her sensed that she could. But that wasn’t logical. The bond she felt with him had to be the result of some sort of vampire thing.
Yes, he was a damn fine kisser. Yes, he was powerful and sexy. Yes, looking at him made her weak in the knees, which was why she was now sitting down on her couch. “If you think you can romance the journal from me, you’re wrong.”
“You’re too smart for a con like that.”
“That’s not what you thought this morning when you called me Lois Lane.”
“My bad.”
“And not your only bad,” she said bitterly. “You shoved me into that dark hole.”
“We were under attack. The tunnels were the safest place for you.”
“No place feels safe,” she retorted. “Not my apartment with rabid vampires at the door. I thought vampires had to be invited in. Maybe they would have stayed on the fire escape if you hadn’t grabbed me.”
“They were fledgling mercenaries.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means they don’t wait for invitations.”
“What’s the point of having rules if everyone doesn’t obey them?” she growled in frustration. “So fledgling mercenaries can do whatever they want?”
“No. They can do whatever they are paid to do. That’s what they were created for.”
“Someone paid them money to come after me?”
“No. Someone promised to pay them with blood. That’s why they seemed so rabid. They hadn’t fed in a long time, and that kind of starvation is particularly difficult during the fledgling period.” He paused a moment before asking, “What made you say what you did about the funeral home and blood?”
“It’s the truth, isn’t it?”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“It was the only location that had an attempted robbery. I checked the police records.”
“The specifics weren’t in the police records.”
“They weren’t?”
“No. But you knew that already.”
“I did?”
“Don’t get cute with me.”
“Trust me, I’m not feeling very cute at the moment,” she muttered, holding the cold bottle to her sweaty and pounding forehead.
“I’m finding it hard to trust you when you refuse to tell me the truth,” Alex said.
“I’m a reporter. I keep asking questions until I get a reasonable answer.”
“Reasonable? Really?” he mocked her. “None of this is reasonable unless Damon is right and your grandfather is still alive.”
Keira blinked in surprise. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “That’s ridiculous!”
“Is it?”
“So you’re saying my grandfather sent those rabid fledgling vampires after me and then torched my apartment?”
“Maybe he did.”
“Why?”
“To make me feel sorry for you,” Alex said.
“You … you…,” she sputtered, so angry she couldn’t speak properly. The lights started flickering.
“Did I hit a nerve?” he said. “Too close to the truth?”
“Too ludicrous to even contemplate,” she shot back. “My grandfather would never do that to me.”
“Do what? Put you in danger? He sent you to me, didn’t he? You don’t think that was a risky move?”
“Unless he knew you wouldn’t hurt me,” she said. “Maybe he knew you and I had some kind of connection.”
“Or maybe he knew that starting a war between vampire clans would kill more vampires than he ever could on his own.”
“Maybe he did. But I’m not part of that plan if there ever was one.”
“Or is one,” he said.
Keira refused to accept the possibility that her grandfather was still alive. While a part of her would welcome his return to her life, another part of her couldn’t believe that he’d put her through the pain and grief of losing him. Or that he wouldn’t have come forward when her mother died two months ago. No, he had to be gone.
As for the Evergreen Funeral Home, she’d guessed that was the location of the attempte
d blood theft, hoping Alex’s reaction would tell her if it was true or not. She narrowed her eyes at him. He’d shoved her into that dark space with no regard to her feelings, and that infuriated her.
The lights flickered again. Had she done that? What the hell was going on?
“When are you going to discuss the elephant in the room?” she demanded. “Don’t give me that look. You know what I’m talking about. The fact that I blasted my way out of that tunnel. I went all Princess Leah minus the blaster in my hand.”
“Tell me exactly what happened.”
“I had to get out. My panic kept growing until I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t control it.”
“Has anything like that happened before?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“I think I’d know if I knocked a hole in a wall just by putting my hands out and having bolts of energy shooting from my fingertips,” she noted sarcastically.
“What else did you feel besides the panic?”
“Anger. Then my head started pounding and my fingertips felt hot. The lights started flickering like they did here a minute ago. I couldn’t breathe. I think I screamed something. I put my hands out…” She demonstrated and the plastic water bottle in her hand burst open, spraying water over them both.
“Okay, I am officially freaking out now,” she said. “What did you do to me to make this happen?”
“I didn’t do anything,” Alex said.
“The other vampires, then. What did they do?”
“Nothing. It’s your heritage. Your hunter heritage.”
“That’s ridiculous,” she said. “Nothing weird ever happened to me until I met you.”
“A blood test could confirm it.”
“Confirm what?”
“That fact that you have a powerful strain of hunter blood in you. I don’t know if it’s the percentage or something else. If you read your grandfather’s journal then you should know that the blasting ability you experienced is one of his tools of the trade.”
“You mean he used it to blast vampires?” She must have skipped over that part.
“Yes, and before you try it on me, he was only able to do so after decades of training and learning to focus his abilities.”
“I wouldn’t try it on you.”
“Wouldn’t you?”
“Why did he send me to you?” she said. “And don’t give me that feeling-sorry-for-me shit.”
“I don’t know. I suspect it was because he knew I would protect you.”
“From what?”
“From whatever danger faced you.”
“That’s not logical. My vampire hunting grandfather sends me to a vampire to protect me? And not just any vampire, but the one at the top of his hit list.”
“Like you said before, there is a connection between us.” Alex smoothed her damp hair off her cheek. “You feel it, too. I know you do.”
Her nipples tightened at his touch. His gaze lowered from her eyes, to her mouth, to her breasts. Her wet tunic top was plastered against her and provided no protection.
Droplets of water sparkled on his lashes. She followed the path of one that dropped onto his cheek and ran down to his mouth, where his tongue darted out to lick it away.
She burned deep inside. Cupping her cheek with his warm hand, he brushed his thumb over her lips. She did the same to him. He licked the ultra-sensitive skin between her fingers before drawing her thumb into his mouth and gently nipping the ball of her thumb before soothing it with the tip of his tongue.
“We can’t do this,” she said even as she reached for him. Freeing her hand, she slid it through his thick dark hair.
“I know.” He placed a string of ravishingly delicious kisses along the curve of her lips. “And we won’t. We’ll stop.”
“Not yet,” she murmured, deepening the kiss.
“No, not yet.” His voice was muffled against her mouth.
“Soon?”
“Mmm. Not too soon.” He lowered his hands to the small of her back in order to tug her closer to his aroused body.
She felt a flare of wild desire that surged and pooled at the juncture of her thighs. She was awed by the power of her response. Awed and stunned. What was she doing?
She wanted him so badly. Why shouldn’t she have him?
The protection tattoo on the small of her back burned beneath his hand, not in a sexy way but in a warning way.
“I’ll do it,” she gasped as she broke free of his intimate embrace. Putting a hand on his chest, she clarified her statement. “The blood test. I’ll do it.”
Chapter Twelve
Alex released Keira. He’d felt her protection tattoo burning beneath the palm of his hand. His body was wound so tight, his arousal still intense. Walking to the kitchen, he turned the faucet on cold full blast and splashed his face with the icy water. He’d prefer to douse his entire body but there was no time for a cold shower now. Yes, the water bottle had sprayed him, but that was nothing.
Cupping his hands, he splashed more frigid water over his head.
“Are you okay?” Keira asked from the other side of the room. Wisely, she hadn’t followed him to the sink.
“Just peachy.” His voice was curt. Grabbing a towel from the top drawer, he rubbed it over his wet hair and face. “What made you change your mind?”
“I thought we agreed that we were going to stop—”
“I meant about the blood test,” he interrupted her. He was in no shape to talk about the kiss they’d just shared.
“Right. The blood test.” She straightened her shoulders and stood to face him. Her top was still wet and displayed her nipples for his visual appreciation. “The quest for knowledge. I want to know what’s going on with me. And it all seems to come back to blood, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, it does.” Blood and sex. He wanted to grab the satin cover off the bed and wrap it around her from head to foot. He also wanted to tear her clothes right off her and enter her in one slick thrust. He was holding back but it took more energy than he was accustomed to requiring.
“Like the fact that you get your blood from the funeral home,” she was saying. “How does that work? Is that why the funeral home was broken into?”
That got his attention. “It was an attempted break-in. You still haven’t said how you heard about it.”
“You mentioned an attempted robbery although you didn’t go into details when I came to the police station yesterday. Someone told me more when you first brought me here. Pat or Damon, I’m not sure which.”
That was possible. Or she could just have been guessing. She was so damn clever; he had to admire the way she figured things out.
“So is Lynch after your blood supply?” she asked, going all reporter on him.
“He’s got plenty of his own.”
“He has his own funeral homes?”
“No.” Alex tossed the towel onto the countertop. “You ask too many questions.”
“I wouldn’t be a good reporter if I didn’t.”
He should just walk away but he couldn’t. She was a fire in his blood. He was throbbing with his desperate desire for her. He wanted her so badly he could hardly think straight. This went beyond the physical, though. He admired her guts, her vulnerability, her courage.
His time as a medic had taught him to shut down his emotions because feelings got in the way of doing what had to be done. This power she had over him was dangerous. Maybe the answer was in her blood. Maybe getting a sample tested would give him options so this link between them would never control him.
Reaching for his smartphone, Alex texted Neville about getting a human phlebotomist to come get a sample of Keira’s blood. Neville responded with an ETA of fifteen minutes.
“Are you going to answer my questions?” Keira said.
“Probably not,” Alex replied.
“Then why should I answer yours? Because I’m the victim in this play and you’re the vampire?”
“You’re not a
victim.”
“Damn right I’m not. Just because I have claustrophobia doesn’t mean I’m a wimp.”
“I never thought you were a wimp,” he denied.
“So what’s the deal with this blasting stuff?”
“You tell me.”
She sighed, obviously peeved with his answer. But instead of challenging him, she changed the subject. “How long will it take to get results from the blood test?”
“Not long,” Alex said. “Doc Boomer will evaluate it immediately.”
“You sure he won’t drink it first?”
“Hunter blood is toxic, remember?”
“Right.” She rubbed her forehead. “So what happens if I cut myself and a drop of blood touches you?”
“Nothing happens. It’s only when the blood is ingested that trouble occurs.”
“Can you tell when someone is a hunter?”
“The fact that they’re trying to kill me is usually a pretty good sign,” he noted drily.
“That’s your only sign?”
“I can usually sense trouble. Most vampires can.”
“Yet you didn’t sense it with me.”
“Oh, I sensed trouble with you right away.”
“You knew I was related to a vampire hunter?”
“Not specifically.”
“Then what kind of trouble did you sense with me?”
“All kinds of trouble.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she demanded.
A knock on the door saved him from answering. Neville was there with a woman at his side and Doc Boomer behind him. “This is Molly,” Neville said. “She’s here to take blood.”
Alex could tell by the slightly glazed look in Molly’s eyes that she’d been compelled. But her movements were efficient as she set to work, tapping the vein in Keira’s arm. “This looks good.” She tied a tourniquet around the top of Keira’s arm. “Make a fist, please.”
“You okay?” Alex asked Keira. He didn’t want her panicking and sending the small tubes of blood splattering all over the place. He also didn’t want her hurt.
“I’m fine,” she said.
“Done,” Molly said a few moments later. She handed the tubes of blood to Neville, who took them gingerly before gladly handing them over to Doc Boomer. He put them in a steel suitcase and departed as quietly as he’d appeared.
