by Dee Carney
“Too mean to die. Too mean to break. And it sure as shittin’ ain’t gonna happen while I’m buck naked.”
This time Alice did smile, helping him to sit upright. No blood poured from his head. No particular tenderness at the site. He’d probably get one righteous goose egg, but she could live with that. Her poor, abused shirt clung to her body, but some of the red streamed from it, circling the drain before being sucked away. The secondhand jeans became an unbearable weight, turning dark beneath the saturation.
“Shit.” Bast wrapped his hands around hers. “Your fingers are turning blue.”
She’d started to shiver too. “That might be true, but you’re still throwing off some outrageous heat. The water’s practically evaporating off your skin.”
He stretched above them in a graceful catlike move and turned the knob. When he pulled her to him, settling her in his lap, Alice let out a squeak of surprise. Her body curved against his, molding next to him as if they were designed for nothing—and no one—else. “I won’t risk you getting hypothermia.”
Curled beside the warmth of his bare skin, she almost purred in contentment. “One of us has to go. You need the cold, and I need the heat.”
“You’re right.” His low timber sent another shiver skating over her spine. This time, the temperature of the water held zero influence over her reaction. “One of us should go.” His breath felt close, his lips closer. “Which one?”
Neither of them made a move, which suited her just fine, but Bast’s mouth whispered over the skin of her neck. She tried to regulate her breathing, gone erratic since stepping into the shower, but pulling her concentration away from Bast seemed an impossible task. He was insanely good-looking, built like a god, and she hadn’t seen any action since George Junior left the presidency.
“You’re making it difficult to think.” And breathe right.
“I’m trying to make you warm.”
She hiccupped a laugh. “It’s working.” Boy, was it working. Her heart pounded, blood racing through her veins, making her nipples and between her legs swell with arousal.
This wasn’t right. She didn’t know this man at all. Just because he looked nice, drove a nice car and lived in a nice house didn’t mean he was the kind of guy she should give liberties. She’d thought he might be a drug dealer; still thought it. “Just tell me you don’t do anything illegal to maintain your lifestyle,” she added.
“I’ve been a mercenary in the past.” He followed his statement with the touch of his lips beneath her jaw.
“But now?” She gasped. That warm mouth, the trail of fire would consume her.
“I protect important people. Nothing illegal.”
“Thank God.” Later she’d think about her impulsivity. Maybe even chastise herself for it. Right now there was a very aroused male draped around her body. He might be feeling a little under the weather—okay, maybe a lot under the weather—but his readiness suggested it’d take more than illness to stop him in his tracks.
But what of the illness? What could make him sick like this? “No drugs, right?”
He held her chin. Twisted them both so his lips moved to the hollow of her throat. “None.”
“Contagious diseases?”
“Never.” One hand slid beneath the clinging shirt, splayed flat over her belly. “Now, shh...I need to get you warm.”
“But what about you? The f—”
Bast whisked away the word fever when his mouth captured hers. Her eyelids fluttered closed and she knew this was wrong. Not just wrong, but nonsensical. He moved too fast, the heat flaring between them burning too hot.
Complete strangers didn’t do this. Men like Bast didn’t lust after nobodies like her.
The moment his tongue slipped into her mouth though, she reconsidered.
Red heat swam from him into her and she swallowed it down. Felt the burn spread through her belly and ricochet through her extremities. She fed the fire back to him, sweeping her tongue to his. But for as much as they should have gone up in smoke beneath the water’s spray, Bast was gentle. Teasing.
* * *
She tasted so sweet. Like a delicacy. He treasured moving his lips over hers. Pulling into him her scent. The heat had pooled in his belly, but the moment he opened her mouth beneath his, it flared and then extinguished.
Moving his thumbs to her slender neck, he caressed the supple skin. Marveled in it. So feminine. So fragile. Alice moaned when he stroked along her beating pulse, and he heard and felt the thrum quicken.
“A kiss, sweet Alice,” he murmured, his lips moving to brush next to his thumbs. Blood roared so close to the surface. The song as seductive as her moans. Stepping beneath the icy spray of the shower had done nothing to the fever boiling him alive. But being so close to feeding his hunger, reveling in the way she clutched to him, the ache became mollified somewhat.
“Sebastian...”
His cock thumped, his name never before said with such want. He licked his lips, pleasure searing him when he touched sensitive incisors with the motion. “A kiss right here. Please.”
“Yes, kiss me. More.”
She didn’t know what permission she’d given him, but it couldn’t be his concern right now. His need had grown frenzied. His appetite about to consume them both. Sebastian lowered his mouth to her neck, to the rapid beat lifting her skin ever so slightly, and let his nature take over.
Alice arched into him when he pierced her flesh with teeth elongated and hurting. Her whimpering moan became an orgasmic cry when he pulled. He heard the pleasure in it, felt her shudder ripple into him. His hand stroked over the soft skin of her belly, trailed to the rounded curve of her breast. Her nipple beaded beneath his fingers, and he used it to elongate her orgasm. He teased the tip, pinching it when she twisted beneath increasing pressure. And all the while he fed.
Growling into her neck kept him focused. Kept the tug at the base of his spine from turning into an all-out loss of control. His dick became steel, trapped between their bodies, throbbing in tune with the teeth sunk deeply into her flesh. He would not come like this, not from a simple feeding, but never before had blood tasted so good to him. Felt so good. Velvet on his tongue. For every tug, his mind cleared. The heat cooled. The sexual appetite hadn’t abated, but he could think now. Every ounce of her blood warmed through him, healing and soothing.
He didn’t want to take too much; this human deserved more than to be food, but he’d become an addict to her taste. Hearing her throaty moans, her breathy cries as she shuddered, he knew the very essence of her.
She’d become a thing he needed as his own.
Bast growled.
No. This he would not allow to happen.
Withdrawing from her when he wanted nothing more than to drink until she surrendered her life to him almost pained him as much as the hunger previously had. But he licked over the wound, sealing it closed. He knew that when she looked at the spot, only a faint bruise would be visible. One created during the heat of the moment and understandable to her confused senses.
“Oh...my...God,” she said with a shaky breath.
He held her against him, enjoying the aftershocks making her shudder in his arms. “Thank you.”
“Thank me?” She laughed, sounding surprised. “I am most definitely thanking you. I’m almost embarrassed at how easily I did that.”
“Did what?” he asked, stroking her slick hair away from her face. He wanted to see those eyes again. Wanted to kiss her
lips. It made little sense, but the urge was there.
“All you did was kiss me and I...well, took to it very nicely.” She twisted to look at him, her face turning bright red as soon as she did. The way she studied him gave him the sense he wasn’t supposed to know the extent of her reaction. But he knew. Damn, how he loved it. “And I cannot believe I just did that. With a complete stranger. Who is sick. In his shower.”
Alice pushed away from him, scrambling on her hands and knees to the other side of the stall. She rose to her feet, swaying on unsteady legs. Bast rushed to her when they gave out, catching her before she fell. He’d taken a good deal of blood from her and she would need a little while to recover.
“That was one hell of a kiss, mister. I’m a little dizzy.”
She weighed next to nothing, a fact that startled him. Another minute or two and he might have taken too much, indeed. “When’s the last time you had something to eat?”
“Put me down—”
With no intention of acquiescing to her demand, he stepped out of the shower, taking just enough time to turn off the running water. The mess in the bathroom could be dealt with later. The woman he wanted to deal with now.
“You helped me. Let me help you. I’m only going to take you into the guest room, so you can dry off and get into bed. I’ll order a pizza for you or whatever you’d like.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I know, but I’m going to. You have no idea what you’ve done for me tonight.”
No, he couldn’t explain how she’d saved his life. If anyone had seen him—any of the lycans, any of the guards, any other vampire—the destructive possibilities boggled his mind. The kindness of this human would not be forgotten. She’d given him food when none other could be obtained, not to mention staved off a mysterious illness that made him even more vulnerable.
“You sound much better.” He felt her studying his face. “You look better. How do you feel?”
“Like new.” Meaning it. The sun would rise in a few hours, but he had phone calls to make. Tomorrow evening, the guard would expect him to show up for part of the ongoing manhunt under way, but what if he became sick again? He had to find out what was happening to him before then. Had to.
“Your fever feels like it’s broken, so I guess the shower worked.”
“Yeah, I think whatever it was has passed. Maybe a twenty-four-hour bug, you know?”
She made a noncommittal noise and he wasn’t sure if he’d satisfied her curiosity. God knew he didn’t have any answers.
They didn’t speak any more as he carried her down the long corridor, the hardwood floor cool beneath his bare feet. At times he wondered why he’d chosen to live in such a large home, but tonight he was thankful for the extra room. She needed a place to rest. To recover.
“What do you want on your pizza?”
“Bast, I—”
“If you don’t specify, I’m just going to go with everything.”
The maid kept the rooms in the house ready for a guest at all times. No telling when one of his men would need a place to crash. This particular one was farthest from his bedroom. He didn’t need to feed again, he didn’t think, but he wasn’t sure how he felt about letting her stay beneath his roof. Then again, with his sexual appetite only whetted and not sated, he wasn’t sure who was more dangerous to whom.
“Everything would be fine. Thank you.”
“Good. I’ll make the call.” He lowered her onto the bed, trying not to smirk at how she avoided eye contact with his groin. “There is some men’s clothing in the drawers, extra towels in the closet. Help yourself to them. In the morning, you can take a real shower if you’d like. For now, just get some of your strength back with rest, and later, food. Okay?”
“Why are you doing this?”
He thought about the lives he’d taken in his years as a hunter. The humans he’d fed from during the heat of frenzied, anonymous sex. The ones he’d sometimes killed, whether by design or by accident. A hollow pit formed in his stomach. He replied, “Karma.”
Chapter Four
“Gray, I need you to assume leadership for a little while.”
His second-in-command, Gray Thallum, got straight to the point. “How long?”
Bast pushed a hand through his hair, at once wishing he could still consistently see his reflection in a mirror. Every once in a while a trick of the light helped him do so, but now was not one of those times. “I’m really not sure. At least until tomorrow night.”
“You know Cicero will string you up when he finds out.”
“Yeah, well, Cicero can go fuck himself.”
Gray laughed. “Easy, man. I’m just telling you what’s what. The Council’s getting restless, too. Do you want to tell me what’s so urgent that we’re not getting together for another night?”
Fuck, he was right. The vampire community’s ruling body would not be pleased at all.
Bast’s precarious position as Commander of the Council guard might go from shaky to nonexistent, but he couldn’t see another way through it, other than to rely on Gray at least for a little while. He could be trusted with the Council’s safety as well as Bast. None of the seven members of the Council would see harm with Gray in charge. The man had proven himself time and again. He wouldn’t have been made first lieutenant otherwise.
Once upon a time, there hadn’t been a need for the Council’s guard. Hell, there hadn’t been a need for the Council. But with vampire creations spiraling out of control, technology threatening to expose vampire existence and an overall lack of direction for the vampire community, the need was recognized. And organized.
A new crisis had arisen over the last few weeks. Someone—something—was killing off newly created vampires in vicious attacks obviously designed to instill fear in the entire community. When a recent threat had been directed at the Council, Bast and his men were tasked with putting an end to the menace, with extreme prejudice and expeditiousness. They had some clues, but no solid leads.
It frustrated the hell out of him. Still, it couldn’t be helped. For just a single night more, he needed to stay away from his men and Council business.
Bast stuck his head into the hallway, looking down the hall to where he’d tucked Alice in for the time being. The heat burning him from the inside hadn’t returned, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t. For now, every passing minute without any sign of the illness was a small victory. What the hell had happened to him? More importantly, would it return? He so did not need this shit. Not now.
“It’s nothing—”
Gray cut him off. “You can’t tell me that. I have to tell the others something. Give a dog a bone here.”
“Tell them...” He blew out a breath, a habit he’d picked up from hanging out with humans. “Tell them an expected visitor showed up and I can’t shirk my duty in that regard.”
“An unexpected visitor. You really want that to be the reason?” Bast could almost see Gray run a hand through his military-style cut. “Dude, if your visitor doesn’t go furry the night of a full moon, they aren’t going to want to hear it. Give me something better than that.”
“It’s not Council business,” Bast replied. “It’s personal. That’s all I can tell you.”
Gray snorted. “I hope she’s worth it.”
He went still for a moment, trying to decide whether to let his lieutenant in on his illness. If he told, Gray would be by his side, helping him figure out the problem, to hell with everyt
hing else. Then again, if he told and Cicero found out, Bast would be off the guard detail faster than he could spit. Some members of the Council already had their doubts about him. No fucking way was he giving them another reason. “It’s not just a woman.”
“But it has something to do with one.”
“Sir, I can neither confirm nor deny whether there’s a woman involved.”
Gray laughed, not bothering to say anything further before disconnecting.
What would Gray—or better yet, Cicero—say if they saw the hold she had on him? Agreeing to let her stay with him went beyond insanity. He’d taken only enough blood to satisfy his thirst. Just barely. Tomorrow, when the sun had set, he’d need to find better sustenance. A willing partner among the humans who’d want to exchange sex for blood. What he’d done to her was just short of stealing, if not worse.
By the time the pizza had been called for and delivered, he was no closer to figuring out why he reacted to her the way he did. But the good news was that he hadn’t felt any of the nausea or weakness plaguing him for the past several hours. His stomach growled its disapproval at him from time to time, but he suspected that had more to do with the quantity he’d taken than anything.
Pizza in hand, he knocked on her door, waiting for her soft voice to bid him enter before turning the knob. He then sat in one of the chairs farthest away from the bed, watching her eat. She’d finished the first slice before he decided to tackle the problem at hand.
“Alice—”
She yawned before taking another slice from the box. “You should eat too.”
A smile touched his lips. “I’ve eaten already.”
“Crap. Almost forgot to take my medication.”
Frowning, Bast watched her scramble from the hold of the comforter and to a neat little pile she’d created on the bedside table. A single key, a small box of mints and some loose change were there. A few dollar bills, crinkled and damp, had been laid flat in an attempt to dry them off as well, he figured. She pried open the candy tin before fishing in its contents.
