It took them over a half hour to find Cherish, since she had holed herself up in one of the rarely used back storage rooms so she could do her research in peace. Smaller than most vampires, she had a mop of curly brown hair that she usually kept tucked into one of her various hats. Today she wore a red crocheted beret cocked to the side. Even though she was dressed in the all black Drone uniform, she couldn’t have looked less like a soldier. With her sparkling brown eyes and dimples, she looked more like a college coed than a creature of the night. She was sitting in a ratty, blue recliner that had seen better days, her laptop on her knees. She always had the computer with her. Ethan wondered if she slept with the damn thing.
“Hey you!” she beamed up at Ethan, showing off a dainty set of fangs. “You’re looking a whole lot better than when I last saw you.”
“You were part of the rescue group?” he asked as he took the fold up chair next to her. Dante, Kane and Rafe remained standing.
“Yes, I stayed behind in the van to help monitor the situation like I always do, so I didn’t really get into the nitty-gritty, but I was there when they pulled you out.”
“Thank you,” Ethan said with true sincerity. It still amazed him that this clan of vampires was willing to risk their lives when they hardly knew him.
“What can I say,” she teased. “I have a soft spot for blonds.” She turned back to her keyboard and started typing again.
“I wanted to ask you a few questions about Zeke,” Ethan threw out, studying her face to see her reaction. Her hands stilled as her mouth dropped open for a second.
“I was wondering when you would come for that,” she finally said, recovering. She started typing again, refusing to look at any of them, but Ethan could tell she was stressing by the way she nibbled on her bottom lip.
“What’s his story?” Rafe butted in. “How was he turned? Why does he hate magics so much?”
“What is your connection to him? I know you two are really tight,” Ethan couldn’t resist adding. He winced when he realized how revealing that question was, especially when Cherish turned to give him a knowing look.
“We were blood partners for a while,” she replied flatly. “There was nothing sexual between us. Just two friends helping each other out. He’s like a brother to me and I’m not going to rat him out to you guys.”
Ethan almost smiled when he heard there was no romantic connection between the two. He managed to keep a straight face though, not wanting to let on how much Zeke meant to him. If Rafe knew how deeply connected he already was to the vampire, he’d never let up on the mother hen act.
“So you’re willing to admit he has some secrets then,” Rafe cut in sharply.
“Don’t we all have secrets?” Cherish replied, pinning him with a hard, knowing look.
“Fine, can you at least tell us how he was turned?” Kane sighed. “Surely that isn’t some big secret since you guys all had to reveal it to Eric when you joined the clan.”
When she still hesitated, Dante reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Please, do it for me.”
“Sorry, Dante, we may be friends, but Zeke has been there for me so many times. I don’t want to see him get hurt by all this.” She shook her head, pressing her lips together in a tight line.
Rafe knelt down on the other side of her so he was eye level. “Look, I almost lost my brother and I can’t stand for him to be hurt again. I know Zeke has some kind of infatuation with him. I just don’t know what and that scares me. Maybe if you could tell me a little more about the guy, it might take some of the worry away from me.”
“Again with the talking like I’m not even here,” Ethan bitched, finally having had enough. As usual, they all ignored him. That was until he tried to get up. Kane’s hand shot out and clamped down on his shoulder, preventing his escape.
“Aren’t they annoying when they get so bossy?” Cherish shot him a dry look.
“Yeah, real annoying.” Ethan shocked himself when he bared his fangs and hissed. Slightly embarrassed by his lapse in control, he brought his hand to his mouth. For some reason, that seemed to amuse her, a small smile playing on her lips.
“Fine, I’ll tell you, but only because I think Ethan deserves a break after what he did for our clan and not for you nosy bastards.” She shot the brothers chastising looks. Glancing at Ethan, she directed her next sentence to him, “The whole reason Zeke was turned into a vampire was because of a witch.”
Ethan felt his stomach drop at her bombshell. Well, that might explain why Zeke didn’t want to get close to another magic. Licking his lips in hopes of alleviating the sudden case of cottonmouth he’d developed, he asked, “What exactly happened.”
“Zeke’s human military team ran into a dark witch and she decided she wanted some new pets. She captured them and did some things to them—bad things. I’m not going to go into more details of what he went through with her. If you want to know, you’ll have to ask Zeke yourself. I will tell you that when she got done playing with them, she sold them to a group of feral vampires for food.”
“Shit,” Ethan breathed, getting nauseous. No wonder Zeke hated magics so much. He knew more than anyone how it felt to be bartered away so you could be someone’s next meal.
“How many of his team were turned?” Rafe asked, looking a bit green, too.
“There were six men that were captured by the witch. Zeke was the only one who lived long enough to be turned,” Cherish whispered as she clenched her hands into tense fists. “He was the lone survivor and he’s never forgiven himself for that.”
Chapter Six
“You want to tell me what the fuck you were thinking?” Eric demanded angrily as soon as Zeke walked into the clan leader’s office.
He almost groaned when he saw Dominic sitting in one of the chairs facing the leader’s desk. Why in the hell was a warlock in there and what business did he have listening in on this personal conversation about Ethan? Zeke wasn’t sure if it was the sire instinct taking over or something deeper, but he didn’t want Ethan’s dirty laundry aired in front of anyone. Especially a guy who’d never made it a secret that he’d never liked the heir of Olivia. No, better make that the former heir of Olivia since the cold bitch disowned him.
Zeke didn’t take the other chair sitting in front of the desk, instead standing at attention. After years of discipline in the human military, he still had trouble embracing the more laid-back way of the clan. Eric knew this and it never failed to annoy him although Zeke didn’t know why. From what he’d heard, the clan leader had served, too, before he’d become a vampire. Dominic seemed to find the situation funny, a smirk playing across his too-good-looking-for-his-own-good mug.
“At ease.” Eric let out a sigh as he rolled his eyes. “Now are you going to tell me why you thought it would be a good idea to turn Ethan?”
“Sir, he was dying and I didn’t know what else to do,” Zeke fired back.
“How about leaving him like you found him?” Dominic drawled as he stretched his long legs out in front of him. “He wouldn’t be the first one to die for the rebellion and he sure as hell won’t be the last. What makes him so special?”
“That’s a pretty cold attitude to have considering Rafe is your mate and that’s his brother you’re talking about.” Zeke had to work hard to keep the anger out of his voice, when all the while, he wanted nothing more than to go over and punch the arrogant jerk in the face. Instead, he turned and leveled a hard stare at Eric. “I would expect this attitude from Dominic since it’s already a given that he’s an ass, but I expected more from you. The only reason Ethan was even in that hellhole was because he sacrificed himself for Misty.”
He was more pleased than he should have been when he saw the leader wince. Maybe it had been a low blow to bring the girl into this, but damn it, he wasn’t going to sit back a have them show Ethan’s life the same shallow disregard that Olivia had.
“I am not demeaning what he did for me.” A lot of the bluster left Eric’s face. “H
ell, if I could I would erect a damn shrine for the guy. Misty is all I have in life and if anything happened to her…” He swallowed hard before continuing, “Well, let’s just say I don’t think I could ever recover from a blow like that.”
“Then why are you giving me crap for saving him?”
Dominic let out a harsh laugh. “Because, fangs for brains, you turned a warlock. One who grew up in one of the worst dark magic covens out there. If Ethan ever decides to embrace his dark side again, his added vampire strength is going to make it impossible to bring him down. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if the vampire instinct in him doesn’t shove him down that road. No offense, but you guys are natural predators.”
“You know as well as I do that Ethan lost his magic,” Zeke snapped.
“For now, but Ethan had some crazy skills going on. If anyone can recover from having their magic stripped from them, it’s him,” Dominic continued to badger.
“You saw what he did in the infirmary,” Eric added, his voice softer like he was regretting his hard judgment.
“So what? Lots of us went crazy during our transformation,” Zeke challenged, still wondering why every word they said against Ethan felt so personal to him.
“True,” Eric conceded. “But not all of us broke steel and punched holes through sheet rock like he did.”
“That doesn’t concern me as much as what he was saying.” Dominic’s eyes narrowed in added concern.
“I didn’t understand most of it,” Zeke admitted.
“That was because it was in a language that only dark magics use. I don’t know what’s worse, that he so easily reverted back to that tongue or what he was saying.”
“Are you going to tell us or were you planning on keeping us hanging?” Eric asked, cocking one blond brow in irritation.
It pleased Zeke to know that he wasn’t the only one irritated by the warlock.
“He kept repeating, They took away what I am. All that I live for.” Dominic ran a hand through his hair and Zeke was shocked to see the warlock was shaking.
“So what?” he shrugged. “We all know how important being a warlock was to him.”
“You don’t get it. He was saying it in the language of dark magics, which meant, that was the part of him he was talking about. I know dark magic. I was raised in a coven that practiced it, although nothing to the extremes that the Nine did.”
“How bad is this Nine?” Eric asked, a little pale himself now.
“They do things that no other coven would be crazy enough to touch. Live sacrifices, blood orgies, some even say cannibalism. I don’t think Ethan did some of the worst of it, but I do know he did play around a little before Olivia called him back home.”
“How can you be so sure Ethan did anything at all?” Zeke protested. Even as he argued, he remembered a time not too long ago where Ethan had admitted to participating in blood orgies. The guilt of doing the act seemed to eat at him though, so as far as Zeke could tell, the guy was as stable as any of them.
“When you’re around dark magic enough, you learn how to smell it on others,” Dominic answered. “Even after Ethan left, I could tell he still embraced some of their ways.”
“Do you think Olivia knew?” Eric slowly shook his head in disbelief.
“Please, that bitch encouraged it. Remember, she was the one who sent him to live with those monsters in the first place,” Dominic snorted. “Ethan grew up exactly the way she wanted him to and you just added more gas to the fire by turning him.”
“What are you trying to say?” Zeke breathed, his heart pounding with fear as a cold sweat prickled his skin.
“You could have just created the biggest monster any of us have seen and, considering what our kind sees every day, that’s saying a whole lot,” Eric replied grimly.
* * * *
“Nice little hissy fit you had back there,” Dante goaded as soon as they had left Cherish.
Ethan just glared at him, not wanting to encourage him. Unfortunately, the dipwad was having way too much fun to be deterred.
“Really, there is nothing that says fledgling more than doing something like that.”
“Can’t we go back to where you were ignoring me all the time?” Ethan rubbed his temples, feeling a major migraine coming on.
“No way. You’re one of us now and that means I have to ride you.” Dante reached out and tweaked his nose…actually frigging tweaked his nose like he was some irritable toddler who’d just peed his pants.
“Fuck off.” Ethan batted his hand away and turned to Kane for help. “Can’t you put a tether or a muzzle on him?”
“We’ve tried, but it’s hard to pin him down since he’s so damn scrappy,” Kane drawled. Dante’s mug split into a wide grin, showing how proud he was of that fact.
Exasperated, Ethan looked over a Rafe.
“I can’t help either. Once Dante decides he likes you, he never lets up. It’s his way of showing he cares.” Rafe shrugged, but damned if there wasn’t a hint of smile playing on his lips, too.
“Then tell him to start hating me again,” Ethan snarled, his head pounding even worse. He pinched the bridge of his nose and bit back a moan.
“Are you feeling okay?” Rafe immediately asked, his face filled with concern.
“And stop mothering me,” Ethan snapped, knowing he was coming off as a jerk, but unable to stop. “I can take care of myself.”
“Oh, he is your brother, Rafe.” Kane whistled as he shook his head. “He’s a moody little bugger, too.”
“Did you hear that, fledgling?” Dante asked in a loud stage whisper. “He called you a booger.”
“Don’t pay attention to them. They’re just trying to make you relax,” Rafe advised as he came up and gently touched his arm.
Ethan stopped himself from jerking away just in time. After so many years of living by the fight-or-flight motto, he was still getting used to the fact that every time someone touched him, it wasn’t because they meant him any harm. Still, he didn’t know how much more he could take before he lost it. “You know I’m not really feeling so hot after all. My head is hurting so I think maybe I need to go lie down for a while.” Ethan needed to get away from everyone and everything. Just take some time alone to try to absorb it all.
“Sure thing. Do you need me to walk you back?” Rafe gave his arm a reassuring squeeze.
“No, I think I can manage on my own. Thanks.” Ethan tried for a smile and knew he failed when the brothers exchanged worried looks.
“You sure you don’t want us to come tuck you in, maybe help you into some flannel jammies?” Dante asked.
It was then Ethan realized that Rafe had been right. The vampire was using his smartass humor to try to bring him out of his funk. “No, but in a couple of days I would love to take you to the gym for a good sparring match.” Ethan grinned. “You may be scrappy, but this fledgling fights dirty.”
The sounds of their laughter followed him as he turned and went back to his room. He was still smiling when he turned the corner and saw Zeke standing at his door, his hand to knock. He’d changed into a pair of worn jeans and a red tee shirt that looked so good against the tan skin of his arms.
“I was just coming to check up on you,” Zeke explained as he moved aside to let Ethan unlock and open the door.
“I was out with Rafe and his brothers.” Ethan ushered him in and shut the door. He deliberately left out what exactly they’d been doing, feeling more than a little guilty about prying into Zeke’s personal business.
“You should know that Kane and Dante have decided to adopt you as their little brother, too.” Zeke cocked a brow. “Dante has been spending the better part of the day warning everyone that they best keep their hands off you.”
“Why? Does he think someone is going to try to attack me or something?”
“No, it’s kind of a game with some vampires to see who can get the fledgling into bed first.”
A trace of jealously in Zeke’s voice made Ethan want to smile. “Wel
l since I woke up with you in my bed, doesn’t that mean you’d win?” Ethan licked his lips as he remembered how nice it had been, drinking Zeke’s blood while stretched out over his hard body.
“I don’t think that would count since we just played a bit.” Zeke’s gaze flicked over to the bed.
“We could remedy that, you know,” Ethan suggested. His headache was now gone and it was replaced with a deep arousal that only Zeke could bring out in him.
“You have no idea how tempting that is to me,” Zeke said thickly, his eyes turning smoky with desire.
“Then what’s stopping you?” Ethan braced himself for an answer he probably didn’t want to hear.
“I will fuck you, don’t doubt that,” Zeke shocked him by confessing. “I’m not going to do it until you’ve fully recovered though. You don’t look so hot.”
“Thanks.” Ethan cocked his head to the side. “I think.”
Zeke crossed the room, covering the space that was separating them. Pressing his body tight to Ethan, he cupped his cheek and said, “What I meant is you still are way, too pale and stuff. When I make love to you I want you to be one hundred percent so you can truly enjoy it.”
“Is that really it?” Ethan’s heart hammered in apprehension. “Or is it because I used to be a warlock?”
“Not anymore.” Zeke ran the pad of his thumb along Ethan’s cheek. “Now when I look at you, all I see if Ethan. The guy who is not only sexy as hell, but is willing to trade himself away for my clan.”
“So you really do want me?”
“Yes, it’s so bad I’ve been walking around with a constant hard on since I woke up with you in my arms,” Zeke confessed with a wry chuckle.
He let his hand drift to Zeke’s groin. He hadn’t been lying. Even through the thick denim of his jeans, Ethan could feel the male’s hard, thick cock demanding attention. He rubbed his hand against the bulge, earning a hiss of pleasure from Zeke. “Why don’t you let me help you with that?” Ethan crooned.
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