by Jessica Sims
“At the very least, I owe you an apology,” he said softly. “I wasn’t kind to you at dinner. The blindfold was cruel. I’m sorry.”
I waved off his apology. “I’ve hurt you, too. I guess we’re even, right?”
“I don’t want to be even,” he said in a low, husky voice.
“Yet you wanted to hurt me once you found out that I was in the agency database. When you figured out I had lied to you about what I was.”
“I did,” he admitted, his green gaze on me. “But I’ve changed my mind.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “Already?”
He brushed his fingers over my cheek, confusing me with flutters of feeling all over again. “You saved my life. And what we had before . . . it was good. I’ve missed you. I want to be friends again.”
My heart skipped an excited beat even as I was crestfallen. After all the heartbreak and the agony, all he wanted was to be friends? Could I be friends with a man I’d once loved?
And really, had I ever stopped loving him at all?
“Friends,” I repeated with a forced smile, and stuck my hand out.
He looked at my extended hand in surprise. Then he smiled and shook it. “Friends, then.”
My heart felt as if it was breaking into a million tiny pieces.
Chapter Four
Michael was still a little weak and slow-moving because of the poison, but he didn’t like that I was stranded there naked and that his bounty hunters likely had my ID and home address.
“We can go to my house,” he said. “I’ve been living under an assumed name for quite a while now. I doubt they know it.”
“They know something about you,” I pointed out. “Otherwise, how were they able to find you at the restaurant?”
He shrugged. “Dumb luck? They know I’m in the area, they just don’t know where.”
I frowned at him. “Then why don’t you leave the area and go somewhere safe?”
He shrugged, glancing away. “I like it here. It’s home.”
“Not if home gets you killed,” I retorted, and got to my feet. “What’s the plan?”
His gaze strayed back to my nude body, pale in the moonlight, and then quickly flicked away again, as if he couldn’t help himself but was trying to be polite for the sake of our friendship. Already I hated that word. “We should scout the area, see if they’re still nearby. If not, we can head out.”
“And go where?”
“I have multiple safe houses in the area,” he said calmly. “One of them is bound to be secure.”
We didn’t have any other options that I could see, but I didn’t like it. It felt like tempting fate. “Fine. I’ll scout the area, and once I know it’s clear, we can go.”
“I can scout, too,” he said. He jumped to his feet and immediately swayed, reaching for a nearby crate to hold himself up.
I went back to his side. He leaned against me heavily. “What’s wrong?” I asked, worried.
He shook his head and righted himself. “Just a little residually weak from the garlic oil. It’ll be fine once I feed again.” He gave me a hopeful look. “Don’t suppose you’d volunteer for the task?”
I shuddered, remembering those enormous teeth sinking into my wrist and the excruciating pain. “No, thank you. It’s not my thing.”
“Most people enjoy it,” he said, his tone light and cajoling.
I waved my bandaged wrist at him. “I already did my good deed for the week. Find some other sucker to drink from. It’s not my idea of fun at all.”
Michael looked stricken, grabbing my wrist and pulling it forward to inspect the bandages more closely. “When did I do this, Ruby?”
“When you were sick and the sunlight hit you. I thought you were going to die, so I offered my wrist.” A tiny shudder went through me again.
He saw my reaction, his face pale and dismayed. “And it hurt?”
“Yes.”
He released my arm with a small sigh. “Then I owe you another apology.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I said, not liking how hard he was taking this.
“I must not have prepared you. I’m sorry.”
No amount of preparation could have prepared me for four-inch-long fangs sinking into my wrist. “Like I said, the vampire thing just isn’t for me.”
He looked tense. “No, I guess not.”
Again, the uncomfortable silence fell. I gestured at the moonlight streaming in through the dusty windows. “I’m going out to have a look around. It’s safest if I go alone. You stay here.”
He stripped off his jacket and began to remove his shirt. “Here. Take my clothes, at least.”
I put a hand on his chest, stopping him. Okay, I hadn’t needed to touch him, but I couldn’t seem to help myself. “You keep it. I’ll just tear it when I shift.”
He looked at me in surprised fascination. “Are you going to shift right now?”
“I am. You might want to turn away,” I said, then stepped away a few feet and behind some boxes to prevent him from seeing the worst.
A lot of people find shifting hideous. As we move from one form to another, our muscles bunch and redirect. Our bones become almost bendy and shift and flex with our bodies. I don’t know how it works in a scientific way—all I know is that our entire being rearranges itself, and it’s probably something straight out of a horror movie unless you’re expecting it.
I looked over midchange and noticed that he wasn’t looking away. He’d moved so he could get a better look at my shift, leaning heavily against one of the nearby crates.
When I was done, I stretched in my cat form, my tail flicking.
Michael looked impressed. “That was amazing.”
Flatterer. I blinked my cat eyes at him, then went back to his pallet, circled there twice, and then stared at him.
“All right. I’m going,” he said, unable to keep the smile from his face as he sat down.
—
Although the night breeze was brisk, the air was warm and carried with it numerous scents. I could smell exhaust and hear the movement of cars in the distance. I also smelled small rodents, reminding my rumbling stomach that I needed to eat just as badly as Michael did.
I also smelled something else—a spicy, enticing smell that I was becoming all too familiar with.
Vampire. And not Michael.
I found the scent on the far side of the building and tracked it, but I could find no other traces of his scent in the parking lot. I checked the loading-bay doors on this side of the building, but the lock and chain were undisturbed. The windows were unbroken there, but on the other side of the building, where Michael and I were hiding, I’d broken a window. He’d be able to get in through it.
I moved to the far side of the building and picked up another scent, and this one made my blood run cold.
Werewolf. The vampire was using a tracker to hunt us.
Shit. We were in trouble. The wolf would smell jaguar all over this building and know that I was hiding here. I padded back through the parking lot on quick, silent feet, heading for the window that led me back to Michael.
A dark form crouched close to the window. I gave a low, chuffing cry of warning and watched the canine head turn toward me. The wolf raised his head, scenting the air. He hadn’t yet seen me, but he’d heard my warning and smelled me on the wind. I stalked out of the shadows and let him get a good look at my size. At my long, pointed teeth. I hissed, baring my teeth, my tail lashing.
The wolf took one look at me and ran like the wind. He didn’t stand a chance, and he knew it. Wolves were strong when they were many in number.
I was strong just being me.
That took care of the bloodhound. Now to find the other vampire before he shot Michael full of garlic again—or worse. I climbed up to the ledge of the broken window, then dropped inside. I immediately lowered myself to my belly, tail twitching as I scented the area.
I smelled Michael, his scent far too obvious. I also smelled a faint vampire spice wi
th a different flavor to it, coming from my right. I moved through the shadows, grateful for the haunted-house props that let me slink through the room unnoticed.
Against the wall, I heard a piece of wood shift and fall.
I heard Michael stiffen, his clothes rustling as he moved. I heard something rasp against his hand—a weapon, I hoped. “Ruby? That you?”
I saw a figure rise from the shadows, raising something long to his shoulder. My haunches tightened, and I readied to spring.
“Not Ruby,” the man said, and when he tilted his head, I realized he held a crossbow. I sprang with a cry, claws extended.
My heavy weight dropped onto him, and I heard the singing whizz of the crossbow as it released. Something thunked into plywood nearby, and I heard Michael swear. The vampire beneath me struggled hard, and I smelled blood under my claws as I bent my head to break his neck, instinct strong.
“Please,” he whispered. “Don’t kill me.”
I stopped as my front teeth brushed against his cold flesh. I couldn’t kill a man in cold blood, however much of a danger he presented to us. I lifted my head, sniffing the air for other vampires as he squirmed underneath me.
I smelled no one else, so I turned my attention back to the vampire below me.
“Ruby?” Michael called again. “Ruby, where are you?”
The vampire below me gave a violent twist, and I put my mouth against his neck in warning.
He raised his free hand, and I saw that he’d somehow produced another gun. With a cold smile full of fangs, he held it against my shoulder and fired.
I waited for the pain of the bullet to hit me, but all I felt was a sting. Then I saw the tranquilizer sticking out of my shoulder, two seconds before the world slid to darkness.
Screw mercy. Next time, I was totally killing the bad guy. My last view was of Michael snarling, fangs extended, as he leaped onto the vampire.
—
“Ruby,” a voice said, patting my cheek. “Wake up.”
I groaned at the throbbing headache behind my eyes. My mouth felt dry, and I was dying for a drink of water. I cracked one eyelid open and stared around.
Michael hovered over me, his face lined with concern. His mouth had a cut in the corner, and there was a scrape on one cheekbone, as if he’d been brawling. He frowned down at my face, and I felt his fingertips stroke my jaw. “Are you okay?”
I was back in my human form, which meant that I’d been out for a while. I sat up, wincing, and rubbed my shoulder, remembering the dart. “He tranq’d me,” I said peevishly. “Like a fucking zoo animal.”
“I know,” he said, sitting back on his haunches. His lips twitched as if he was trying not to laugh. “I was there.”
I peered around. The shadows seemed deeper than before. How long was I out? “Did you kill him?”
“No. After he tranquilized you, I pounded him until he reached for his crossbow. Then I grabbed it and smashed it. I think he was out of weapons after that, because he ran like a coward. I had a choice between following him and tending to you, and I chose you.”
I wasn’t entirely sure that was the wiser choice, but I said nothing. My arm stung, but otherwise I felt fine, just a little sluggish. “So that was the bounty hunter again?”
He nodded. “He’ll be back, but not tonight.”
“Why not?”
“No vampire wants to be caught out close to daylight, and that’s less than an hour away.”
“Oh.” Had I been asleep for that long? That was depressing. I noticed Michael no longer wore his shirt, and it had been pulled over me. “Thanks for the clothes.”
“Tempting as it was to let you lie around naked, I felt it wasn’t fair to you, since you’d lost your clothes defending me.”
He found me tempting naked, did he? A sliver of pleasure cut through me, but I ignored it, getting to my feet. “We should get out of here.”
“Like I said,” he began, “no vampire is going to be caught out near sunlight. That includes me.”
Right. Damn. “So we’re stuck here another night?”
“You’re not. I appreciate the assistance, but you’re not required to help me anymore. I can take care of myself now.”
I frowned. Was this an attempt to ditch me? Was he counting the hours until I left? “But you’ll be vulnerable.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“And can you defend yourself when the sun is up?”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “The other guy’s a vampire, too. I don’t need to worry about that.”
“Wrong. He’s working with a werewolf. You’d be a sitting duck if he found you.”
He said nothing.
“I thought so,” I replied, my tone crisp. “So I need to look after you until you can get somewhere safe. That’s what a friend would do.”
He smiled at me then, slow, sensual, and my insides turned to mush. “Thank you, Ruby. I’m sorry you’re stuck with me for a bit longer.”
His tone implied that he wasn’t sorry at all. I smiled back at him.
My smile faded a little when he began to unbutton his pants. I found myself staring at his fingers as he slid his fly down, my throat suddenly dryer than dry. “Um, what are you doing?”
“A convenience store can’t be far from here. You need to eat something. I can hear your stomach growling from over here. And if you’re going to be my bodyguard, you need to keep your strength up.”
“There’s a few rats in the building,” I joked.
“You might have to leave those for me.”
“Funny,” I said, then realized he was not joking. Ugh. I hated the thought of fighting him for rats. “All right, then. Give me your pants.”
—
If the guy behind the counter at the 7-Eleven thought it was weird that a woman would show up at four in the morning dressed in a man’s clothing and buy six hot dogs, all of the beef jerky on the shelf, three bags of chips, and two gigantic bottles of water, he didn’t say so. He simply took my cash and went back to watching the movie on his monitor. I trotted back to the plant with my stash swinging from my hand. I didn’t like leaving Michael alone, but it was either that or starve to death.
I ate all of the hot dogs before I even made it back and was polishing off the first bag of chips by the time I crawled back through the window. Michael looked relieved at the sight of me, devouring my body with his eyes.
“You look ravishing in my clothes,” he commented.
“Aren’t you supposed to tell me that I look better out of them?” I teased, stripping off his pants and handing them to him. He wore tighty whiteys that outlined far more than I remembered, and I blushed every time I looked at him.
It should be sinful for the undead to look that good.
I sat cross-legged (my borrowed shirt covered plenty) and offered him some of my haul. “Can you eat human food?”
He shook his head at me. “I’ll be fine.”
“How often do vampires need to drink?”
“Not often.”
Huh. That surprised me. Shapeshifters had high metabolisms because of our supernatural bodies, and I had assumed it’d be the same for vampires. But perhaps not.
I gestured at the nearby window. “Sun’s coming up soon. As soon as it goes down, we’ll get out of here, since they’ll be back tonight.”
“One of my safe houses isn’t far from here.”
“Sounds like a plan,” I said, getting to my feet to adjust the tarp over the crates, just in case they’d shifted during the fight earlier.
He stood, too . . . and stumbled.
I automatically reached out to steady him, alarm pounding through me. “Michael? You okay?”
He sat back down again, leaning heavily against one of the crates. “Yeah, just give me a second.”
“Is it the poison? Are you still sick?”
“I’ll be fine,” he said in a hard voice. “Leave me alone, Ruby.”
“Oh, sure,” I said sarcastically. “Because I know when I’m fi
ne, I fall over and have to support myself on furniture. That’s totally what fine people do, right? How silly of me to be concerned.”
His mouth quirked on one side. “You’re concerned about me?”
He was about two inches away from getting a fist in his mouth. “Don’t try to change the subject on me.”
“I’m just a little weak still,” he said, raking a hand through his hair. It stood a little higher. “It’ll go with time, and I imagine it’ll be gone with the next feeding.”
I crossed my arms over my chest, a sinking feeling coming over me. “Tell me the truth—how often do vampires need to feed?”
He gave me a rueful smile. “How often do you need to eat?”
“Michael,” I said in an exasperated tone. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because there’s nothing to do about it.”
But there was. I was full of nice, fresh blood, and he wasn’t asking. I knew it would be kind of me to volunteer, but the memory of how horrible it was still made me shudder with distaste.
But I didn’t want him to starve, either. I sighed.
“It’s okay, Ruby,” he said, straightening his shoulders. He rubbed his head, making that crazy hair stand up on end. “I’ll be fine. I just need to sleep it off.”
“Actually, I know what we can do,” I said, rolling up one of the long sleeves of my borrowed shirt.
I almost hated the hungry flash that crossed his gorgeous face. “You’re going to feed me?”
“No, I’m going to go catch you one of those rats.” At his startled expression, I rolled my eyes. “Of course I’m going to feed you.” I finished rolling up my sleeve, my movements jerky. I was nervous and more than a little wigged out. After vowing never to feed a vampire again, here I was, offering up my good wrist like an idiot.
Michael’s fangs elongated as I stepped toward him, and the look in his eyes grew sleepy with desire. “I won’t hurt you, Ruby. I promise.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” I said in a hard voice, and shoved my wrist forward, offering it to him. “Let’s just get it over with.”
He took my uninjured wrist tenderly, his thumb brushing over the soft skin. Then he looked up at me, and his pupils were nearly black, they were so dark with hunger. But he only pressed a kiss to my palm. “You don’t believe me when I say I won’t hurt you? I vow it.”
