Up in a Blaze

by Alice Brown

  He was standing directly in front of her, her chin lightly resting on his fingers, before she could even blink. “I happen to think you’re the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Those marks on your face don’t turn me off, sweetheart, they only tell me what a fighter you are. They represent how strong you are. Don’t let that jerk-off win, baby.” He ever so lightly ghosted his other hand down the side of her face.

  He watched as she narrowed her eyes up at him. “How many times have you used that line on a woman?”

  He looked down at the tiny woman sitting on the bed in front of him. Other than Walter’s wife, Sissy, no woman had dared speak to him in that tone of voice in too many years to count. Damn if she wasn’t the cutest thing when she got her feathers in a ruffle.

  He flashed her his million-dollar smile. “That one was all for you, babe.”

  His fingertips were still brushing down her cheek until she reached up and slapped his hand away. “I am not your babe, and I believe I’ve changed my mind about going to Texas with you. You may leave now.”

  She attempted to cross her arms over her chest, but squeaked in pain as her ribs protested the movement. Donte sighed and pulled up the chair next to the bed to sit down. “Look, we seem to have gotten off on the wrong foot, and for that I do apologize. What caught me off guard was your beauty. And yes, while I am bothered by your bruises, it is not for the reason you think. Men like the one who attacked you need to be hunted down and done away with, and the fact there’s another one out there to be found is the only thing that bothers me. I can assure you your inner strength and beauty come shining through, and I’m not just spouting off at the mouth. No, I don’t make it a habit of going around telling women they are beautiful two minutes after we meet. As a matter of fact, you may have a hard time believing this, but I rarely have anything to do with the finer sex.”

  He watched as she rolled her eyes, as if she didn’t believe him. Her words a few seconds later affirmed just that. “Right, a total hottie like you, who has lines as smooth as silk, and able to put a woman into a trance, and I’m supposed to believe you aren’t a player? Pulease, Mr. Chaverez. I wasn’t born yesterday.”

  “It’s Donte, please call me Donte, and you think I’m hot?” He couldn’t help the predatory grin that was stretched across his face.

  She looked over to him incredulously. “Is that the only thing you heard?” She shook her head in disbelief. “Men, you are all the same.”

  “Hey now, darlin’, don’t go throwing us all in the dumpster. You don’t even know me yet.” He stopped and tilted his head as if trying to figure her out. “Tell you what. How about if I walk out that door over there, and you forget our first ten minutes together. I’ll walk back in, and we start fresh, does that work for you?”

  She raked a hand over her face, but then gave him a smirk. “Okay, I apologize for being a bitch. I’m tired, and sore, and I just don’t know who I can trust anymore. I guess it is coloring my viewpoint on humanity as a whole.”

  Donte nodded to her in understanding. “I know, and for that I am sorry. But if there is one thing I can tell you with absolute certainty, it’s that you can trust a Texas Ranger. Every one of us has dedicated our lives to helping hu…people, and we don’t take that oath lightly. Now,” he stood hoping he wasn’t getting ready to piss her off again, “why don’t you lay back and get some rest? And why are you suffering in pain? Why haven’t they given you something for it?”

  Cassie released a tired sigh. She was so worn out. Since the attack two days ago, she had trusted no one. She was worried her attacker would find her and finish what he started, because little doubt was left in her mind that he had no intentions of stopping until she was dead.

  Unfortunately, when he heard the sirens blaring, he had taken off out a window, long gone by the time the police arrived on the scene. And even though she’d been told there was security right outside her door, she suddenly didn’t know who to trust and who not to. So she had spent the last forty-eight hours refusing pain meds, knowing they would make her drowsy and sluggish. Since Betty moved months ago, she’d lost the only friend she really trusted. Now she had no one. But at this point, her body was battered and bruised, and she knew she wouldn’t be able to hold sleep off very much longer. Besides, she was pretty sure her absolute bitchiness was directly related to the amount of pain she was in. This man had come all the way from Texas to help her, and what had she done? Pretty much thrown him to the wolves the moment he opened his mouth.

  “I refused pain meds because I don’t trust anyone here. They make me sleepy and I can’t afford to sleep. What happens if…” she trailed away, her breath hitching. Donte watched as she wrapped an arm gently around her middle.

  It was not something he did often, but this was his mate. His body physically hurt every time she tried to move and winced in pain. So he justified his actions a moment later when he jumped into his mate’s thoughts, to evaluate what she needed, and how he could best help her.

  He jumped in and immediately winced. How in the hell had she been able to deal with this level of pain for the past forty-eight hours? He washed over her pain levels, hoping he was making things a bit more bearable. Then he sent her a sleep directive, seriously doubting her ability to override him. She may be stubborn, but little did she know she was dealing with a two hundred and fifty year old vampire.

  He squeezed the hand he was currently holding. “Hon, we have a long trip tomorrow, and without rest you’re not going to get any better. You have my absolute word that you are safe.” He held up his hand in a gesture he’d watched humans do for years. When you were a vampire as old as he was, it paid to watch humans around you closely, and be able to fit in with the current society. He’d watched a lot come and go over the years, and had picked up a lot of knowledge along the way. His own teammates didn’t even realize how old he was. As far as he knew, he was the oldest vampire working on the ranger team, but that was something he kept to himself. His boss and good friend, Walter, didn’t even know how old he was.

  He watched as her eyelids began to flutter, but as soon as her body began to lean back a bit, her face scrunched up and she bit down on her bottom lip as the pain became too much for her to bear. “Cassie, you have my word, hon, you are safe. Will you consider taking something for the pain?” At this point he was tempted to jump back into her mind and force her compliance. She really needed some pain medication.

  “I guess so. Are you going…” Her face turned a cute shade of pink as she seemed unable or unwilling to continue.

  He nodded his head. “Yes, I am going to be staying with you the entire time. You are just going to rest so we can get out of here tomorrow. I can’t very well deliver you to your friend if they won’t release you from the hospital.”

  She sighed deeply, even though her ribs protested the move every time she did it. He was making a valid point, and if she couldn’t trust a Texas Ranger, who could she trust? She watched as he reached over and pressed the call button for the nurse.

  “Yes, can I help you?” a female voice came through the small speaker on the bed.

  “Yes, Ms. Vicors would like something for pain so she can sleep please.” Donte held her gaze, daring her to argue.

  “Okay, someone will be right in.”

  A nurse walked into the room a few minutes later, her crisp white uniform standing out against the grey dullness of the room. “Has the pain become too much, hon?” she asked as she sat a small cup down on the table by the bed and started checking over her patient.

  “I just need to sleep,” Cassandra replied grumpily.

  “Well, in all honesty, that’s what your body needs, hon.” The nurse looked at her patient sitting up on the bed. “Let me help get you in a more comfortable sleeping position.”

  She pushed a button on the side of the bed and the top of the bed moved upwards until it was pressed up against Cassandra’s back. “Now, I am going to lower the bed slowly, just move with the bed. This way you won’t ha
ve to use any muscles to lay down.”

  By the time the nurse had the bed back in a horizontal position, Cassandra had curled up on her side, her arms wrapped protectively against her ribs, tears leaking out of her eyes. “Okay, hon, you try to get some rest now. I’ll be back later to check on you.” The nurse stated as she gently patted her patient on the arm and gathered up her equipment, walking back out the door.

  Donte’s mate was facing him, and he desperately wanted to help her. He cautiously extended his hand, palm upwards, next to her, hoping she would grab onto it like a lifeline. God, he hated to see her in pain like this.

  Finally, after what seemed like forever, her wee little hand came out and touched his. “Please don’t leave me,” she whispered so softly, that without the benefit of vampire hearing he would have never heard what she said. Her eyes were already shut. “I’m usually not this needy, it’s just…” she trailed off, but that was okay. Donte knew exactly what was going on in that head of hers.

  He picked up his free hand and gently ran his fingers through her silky hair. There was a cut with stitches on the left side, so he was very careful to avoid that area. “I’m not going anywhere, babe. You’re more stuck with me than you realize,” he whispered down to her, knowing the drugs were already taking effect, and she was falling into a deep healing sleep.

  He waited until she was totally under, then retrieved his cell phone out of his shirt pocket. Speed-dialing Walter, he sat back in his chair and waited for his boss to answer.

  “Donte, how goes it?” Walter greeted him after the third ring.

  “I’m here, but we may have a bit of a problem for tomorrow. I don’t think she’s going to be able to do a commercial flight. Her body is covered in bruises, and she has several broken ribs. She can’t even move without severe pain. I can’t imagine her sitting up for a three hour plane ride. Do we have any other options?”

  Walter’s sigh could be heard over the phone line, and Donte could just imagine him frowning at the phone. “Yeah, we might. Let me make a few calls. I know the vampire group there has a private plane. Maybe I can talk them into borrowing it,” he hesitated before continuing, “Other than that, how is she?”

  “Truthfully, at this moment she doesn’t trust anyone, and is still reeling from the attack. She’ll probably feel better once I get her back with Betty.”

  “Yes, between Sissy and Betty, they will have her spoiled in no time,” Walter chuckled.

  “Well, there is one other matter that needs to be discussed.” Donte quietly stood and walked over the window, hoping he wouldn’t wake her talking to Walter.

  “Okay, I’m listening,” Walter stated patiently.

  “She’s my mate,” Donte spoke this very low, just in case she wasn’t all the way under yet. Thankfully, with Walter being a vampire, he would have heard anything Donte breathed, but he was standing far enough away from Cassandra that she shouldn’t be able to make out any words.

  “Are you shitting me?” Walter boomed so loudly that Donte instinctively held the phone out away from his ear.

  “What in the hell is in the water, or should I say blood these days? First Lucas, then Nathaniel, and now you!” The line went silent for a second and Donte was just getting ready to ask if Walter was still on the line when he came back. “Well, congratulations! Although it sounds to me like you have your work cut out for you. You know, we have no choice but to tell her about us. Not only is she going to be staying with me for a while, but being she’s your mate, she deserves to know the truth. Maybe we’ll all sit down together to tell her, and I’ll make sure Betty and Susan are there as well. Maybe that will make it easier on her.”

  “Maybe. Right now I just want to concentrate on getting her back to Texas, then we can worry about everything else,” Donte replied to his boss. Priorities. He was a stickler for making priority lists for everything. The guys loved to pick on him for it at work.

  He got off the phone with Walter and sat back down in the chair next to the bed. Reaching down to his brief case, he quietly retrieved a sketchpad and a few charcoal pencils. He loved to draw. It was his way of relaxing, winding down after a hard day at work.

  Now, as he sat back in the chair and tried to get comfortable, he planned to use his drawing as a way of getting his mind off his mate sleeping not more than a few feet away from him. His dick had sprung to life as soon as he stepped foot in the room, knowing from her scent alone she was their mate. And the damn bastard didn’t care that she was too injured to even think of having sex. No, all it cared about was sinking into her warm, silky sheath until he was balls deep inside of her.

  He sighed and shook his head as he glanced down at his stubborn cock. He hadn’t even experienced a hard-on in too many years to count. It had somewhat sat up and taken notice when Susan first started working with the team, but he had known immediately she wasn’t his mate. Prior to Nathaniel walking in and snatching her up, he had thought about asking her out just as friends. He hadn’t been on a date in a really, really, long time, and figured it might be something he wanted to brush up on just in case.

  Now, looking back on things, he was glad Nathaniel showed up when he did. It would have been an awkward conversation to have with his mate that yes, he had dated someone that she would more than likely be introduced to, and as close as the women were, probably end up friends with her. He smiled, thankful for fate knowing what she was doing when Nathaniel had shown up and snatched Susan up immediately. Now that he was sitting next to his own sleeping mate, he knew the inner peace that Walter, Lucas, and Nathaniel walked around with knowing they had their mate by their side.

  Unfortunately, he was going to have a much more difficult road to go down to win his mate than his buddy, Nathaniel. At least Susan already knew about vampires and true mates. So half of Nathaniel’s battle had already been tackled. Same with Meredith and Lucas. Meredith was a half-vampire, and as such, already knew all about true mates and didn’t fight Lucas at all as far as Donte knew.

  He glanced over to his sleeping mate as he began to sketch the picture in his mind’s eye. Although things would be a hundred percent easier if his little mate already knew about vampires, now that he had met her, he knew she was it for him. Yes, he had his work cut out for him, but in the end, if he could convince her to be with him, to accept the mating, he knew he’d spend the rest of his life being one happy vampire.

  As he sat back and watched his mate sleep, his fingers began to fly over the page. An hour later he put his pencils down and looked at the final result. It was perfect. He was staring at a drawing of his mate. He glanced over when he heard her move a bit, and quickly decided to put his work away. She probably wouldn’t appreciate him drawing a picture of her this early in the ball game, especially while she was sleeping. Would probably seem a bit creepy to her.

  He grabbed the book he’d been trying to get into on the plane out of his briefcase after he put away his drawing supplies. After five minutes of no luck, he placed it back in the briefcase and grabbed a magazine to look at. He wasn’t accustomed to sitting around doing nothing for long periods of time, and even though there was a part of him that longed to be active, just the fact that he had found his mate, and was in the same room with her, near her, calmed him down tremendously.

  *****

  From across the street of the hospital, Gregory sat in a beat up pickup truck that he had hot-wired. He made sure he was well out of sight, but he could watch the main doors that patients had been coming out of all day as they had been discharged. Just how much longer were they going to keep that bitch anyway?

  He should have just killed her. Luckily, he’d picked up some new skills since he’d been in prison. While the other stupid inmates learned cooking, automotive, or other life skills, he hadn’t been interested in that. No man worth his salt would cook when you could get a bitch to do it for you. And automotive skills? Who the hell wanted to get their hands all greasy and dirty? No, that wasn’t for him either. But one other inmate had c
aught his attention. There were rumors going around the guy knew magic, and others tended to steer clear of him. That only made Gregory want to get to know him more. Magic? Now that would be a handy skill to have.

  It hadn’t taken Gregory long to make friends with the guy, and convinced the inmate to teach him a few things he just knew he’d get the chance to put into practice, one way or the other. Because he hadn’t had plans of sticking around. No sirree, no how. He figured sooner or later some dumb fuck wasn’t going to have his guard up, then he could strike and gain his freedom. So he had spent all of his time in his little cell, hour after hour each day dreaming about the day he would break free of the hellhole. He memorized everything his new friend taught him. The guy had been stingy, and only taught him a couple of spells and incantations, but it was enough to get the job done. What his fellow inmate taught him would work rather well in finding the bitch, once he had gotten out of there. He’d known just who to go pay a visit to. The dark haired piece of shit who lived a couple of doors down. Damn bitch. Prior to Betty throwing his ass in jail, he’d wanted to fuck her friend, Cassandra. But no, the dumb bitch acted like she was too good for him. A dumb ass woman acting as if she were better than him? So yes, she was his first stop. He’d taught her who was better than who. He wondered before if she would still feel like she was too good for him when he had her on the ground having his way with her. That thought had brought his dick to full attention. He had planned, and waited, knowing his time would come. His freedom had been right around the corner, it always paid to be prepared. Then the day would come he could kill the stupid bitch for putting him in that hellhole to begin with.

  He’d never been more thankful for his newfound knowledge as when he went to attack his bitch’s friend, and she threw up more of a fight than he’d expected. For being such a small thing, he would have never believed she could put up such a fight.

  Thankfully, he’d kept his cool and at least remembered the incantation before he really lost his temper. Now that he’d shown her who was boss, all he had to do was sit back and wait. He had no doubt she’d go running to her friend the moment she was released, then he could truly have his revenge.