Diamond (Rare Gems Series) (4 page)

“
We won’t. Be getting better acquainted, I mean. I have enough on my plate right now.” She fussed with a bag hanging on the back of the door before she turned to him again. “And you didn’t say anything important, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

Anger
pulsed through him for a split second, and he directed it at her. “I think I offered to buy you a sexy nightie and tie you to my bed. Are you telling me that you’ve no desire to have either one? I can assure you that I’m a very generous Dom if my sub is a good girl.”

Thad saw it.
It was quick and hot, but she was interested. He wanted to try out something on her, anything, but right now he was too weak to make her obey or punish her if she were to disobey him. And Thad found he really wanted her to disobey him.

“
I don’t…I don’t play, Mr. Galloway. I don’t think…I know that if I did, you’d be the last man on earth I’d want to do that with.” She was out the door before he could form an answer. She didn’t slam the door behind her, she might as well have for all the effort she put into not slamming it. Laughing, he leaned back on the headboard and thought about little Miss Diamond all pinked up from his hands and paddle. He had a raging hard-on and no relief in sight when Annabelle came in a few minutes later with a tray and his cell phone.

“
I’m sorry I can’t stay but I’ve another pie in the oven. I’ve been experimenting with some of the fruits I picked up at the market.” She set the tray over his lap and smiled. “Will you be all right until I can get back up here? Just call the house phone if you need me. I’ve written it down on the pad there.”

She was gone before he could thank her.
Looking down at the food on the tray made him think she had brought him his dinner too, but when he put the first spoonful of the rich broth into his mouth, he had to have it all. He didn’t think there had ever been a better meal.

He
must have dozed off, because when he woke, his tray was gone and there was a pile of his clothes lying on the chair next to the bed. He took the note off the top and read it.

“
You should want a shower about now, so if you feel like an adventure, call downstairs and I’ll come up and help you. Later. Blair.”

He stretched and felt pretty good
, so he decided to take a shower on his own. He got up slowly because he wasn’t stupid enough to think his leg was as well as it felt and stood up. He was naked, he realized, and wondered if Diamond had undressed him. His cock started to dance a little, and he had to have a stern talk with it before he moved to the bathroom.

“
She’s made it perfectly clear that she’s not interested in us. Not that we won’t try and convince her otherwise, but for now we have to be good.” He stroked his cock, thinking about her being naked with him. “She’s lovely and oh so ready for us.”

He brushed his teeth as the water warmed up
in the stall behind him. He was feeling a little weak but nothing he couldn’t handle. Thad stepped into the spray and thought about his leg and leaned down to have a look at the wound he had gotten in the accident. He nearly fell over when he saw that it was gone.

“
Not healed but gone.” He closed his eyes against the sound of his voice and stood there while the water sprayed over him. He looked down twice more just to be sure, but he was right the first time, there was nothing there, no stitches, no wound and not even a scar.

Scrubbing
his hair with the only shampoo he could find made him think of Diamond again. Christ, the woman was everywhere. But he remembered he was in her bath and things were bound to smell like her. He found himself taking the bar of soap to his nose more times than was necessary as he finished up. By the time he was finished scrubbing his body for the second time he knew he was going to need some help to get out and dressed. But the problem was, he was all alone and his phone was in the bedroom. What a fucking moron he’d turned out to be.

“
Hello?” He heard the voice yet couldn’t believe it for a few seconds. “Are you in here, Thad?”

“
I’m in the shower.” Thad was going to triple Blair’s pay if he’d help him out of this situation and never mentioned it again. When the hand came around the curtain and turned off the water, he nearly wept. The towel being shoved in next made him want to cry like a five-year-old.

“
I thought you’d call me. When Diamond heard the water turn on, she said you’d be stuck in here. After forty minutes of water running she had me come up here.” He heard the laughter. “I’m not going to repeat what she said about you, but suffice it to say, she’s not very happy with you.”

“
She never is.” He wiped the towel over his chest, then wrapped it around his waist. He pushed back the curtain to find Blair in the bathroom with him, but his back was turned. He’d never been so grateful to someone in his life.

“
She’s a bit on the intense side, but then all the Erickson women are. Diamond is a good nurse and knows her stuff. She said you’d be too stubborn to ask for help, and I guess she was right.” Blair handed him back a pair of boxers. “Sit on the toilet. Once you have those on I’ll help you with the rest. I like you and all but not really all that much.”

“
Same here.” By the time he was completely dressed, he wanted a nap again. He also wanted to ask about his wound, but couldn’t hold his head up any longer. While he’d been in the shower with Blair, someone had made the bed, complete with fresh linens. As soon as his head hit the pillow, he was out.

Chapter 4

Diamond wasn
’t having any luck finding a job. Not that she wasn’t getting offers; she was getting those, just not any she could bank on. By the time she was driving back to the house, she’d decided that she’d have to take the job back at the hospital. As much as she hated working for Talley, she needed a job more.

“
Nothing yet I take it.” She looked at Grandmother and shook her head. “Something will come along, you’ll see. Why don’t you go in the dining room and I’ll bring you some lunch? You deserve a nice treat.”

She moved into the room after kissing her grandmother on the cheek. She stopped in the doorway just as she saw who was sitting there.
Diamond did not want to fuck with Thad today. Before she could back out, her grandmother pushed her the rest of the way into the room and told her to have a seat.

“
Diamond didn’t have any luck finding a job today, so I invited her to have something to eat with us.” Grandmother sat a plate in front of her. “Thad was just telling me that he’s going into the office today. He was asking me about you.”

“
Why?” Diamond flushed when her grandmother raised a brow at her. “I mean, why is he asking about me? I’m not doing anything with him. For him, I’m not doing anything for him.”

Thad laughed
, and she felt like getting up and punching him in the face. When her grandmother stood up to answer the phone, Diamond glared at Thad.

“
What are you still doing here? Your leg is perfectly fine.” He laughed as he picked up his sandwich but didn’t answer her. She pushed the plate back and glared harder.

“
You do know that you’ll need your strength for me, don’t you?” She flushed deeper as she remembered what he said he was going to do to her the other day. “I’m remembering a good deal more of what I said to you, and I’m thinking you’re going to love everything. Including the nipple clamps. I ordered them for you yesterday.”

Diamond felt her nipples harden in her bra and shifted on the seat.
The man was nuts if he thought she was going to play in any games with him. She started to stand up when he did as well. They were nearly touching, and he reached out and tugged her to him by cupping the back of her head.

His mouth was so close that she could see his beard coming in.
She wanted to touch him, to pull him closer to her, but she was suddenly afraid to. She knew what this man was to her and had been doing her best to avoid him. Now it looked like she was going to have no choice. When he took a step back, she nearly reached for him, but she heard her grandmother coming and moved out of the way of the door for her.

“
I just got a call from that man of yours again, Thad. He seems to be under the impression that he can speak to me as if I’m some underling of his. I set him right.” She looked around the room at the two of them. “What’s happened? Diamond, have you told him yet?”

“
No.” She started to move out of the room when Thad said her name. “I don’t want to talk about it. It’s not that important. Not to you at any rate.”

“
How about if you let me be the judge of that.” She heard the steel in his voice, but was too overwhelmed by him to be cautious of it. She turned when he snapped her name again.

“
I said it’s not important. I made sure you were going to be all right despite what I know I should have done. You didn’t lose your leg, and everything is just peachy.” She moved back when he took a step forward. “You’ll need to stay away from me. I’m not kidding. I will hurt you if I have to.”

“
Sit down.” She had forgotten about her grandmother being in the room with them. “I said for the both of you to sit down right now. This is not how we treat one another in this house.”

She continued standing.
She wanted out of this room and out of this house before her grandmother said something that would have him asking questions. Questions she was sure would make it so she’d have to tell him he was her mate. And though it had been hard, she’d kept that from everyone else in the house but her grandmother, and she wasn’t going to tell him.

“
What is it about my leg that you fixed?” His voice was calm, but she could feel his temper like it was her own. Taking his blood into her body was doing that. She glanced at her grandmother, hoping she’d come up with something.

“
You have to tell him love. He has to know or you’re going to be hurting long before he finds out on his own.” She shook her head. “Sit down and…. Damn it.”

She left them for the phone again. Diamond was shocked to hear her
curse; her grandmother wasn’t one for a potty mouth as she called it. As soon as the door closed behind her again, Thad stood up and moved toward her. She could see the intent on his face and was almost as much afraid of what he had in mind as him finding out she was a wolf.

She pressed herself against the wall
, but he moved closer still. When he was within touching distance, she whimpered and felt his touch on her arm. She looked at him and saw that he was angry still, but he wanted answers too. She moaned when he touched her.

~~~

Thad moved slowly. For as much as he wanted her to tell him what was going on, the need to touch and be touched by her was driving him over the edge. Her scent, too, one he was sure didn’t come from a bottle or from soap. This time when he pulled her to him he didn’t let her pull back.

“
I want to taste you. Then I want to take you upstairs and fuck you. What better way to spend a hazy afternoon than getting sweaty between the sheets?” She pushed at his chest, but he didn’t let her go. “If I’m barking up the wrong tree, Nurse Ericks—”

“
I don’t bark, Mr. Galloway, I howl. And I’d appreciate it if you’d simply back the fuck up. I don’t want your attention or your speculations on what I should do with my spare time.” When she moved to walk away from him, he reached for her arm. He wasn’t used to people not doing what he wanted and she...intrigued him. But when he touched her, he hadn’t counted on her strength and found himself pinned against the wall, dangling a foot from the floor with her hand around his throat holding him there.

“
You’re lovely when you’re pissed off.” Thad’s head banged hard against the wall in a short hard punch. “If you hurt me badly enough, will you nurse me back to health? Please?”

“
Put him down, Diamond.” Thad knew the voice and the man. “Now, Diamond, put him down.”

Her low growl had Thad
’s cock harden immediately. And when his feet touched the floor, he watched her face, looked deep into her eyes, and was startled to see a wolf there.

His coat was black, almost blue and shining brilliantly.
That’s when he realized the wolf was a female and he wanted to stroke her. He licked his suddenly dry lips.

“
What are you?”

“
Nothing you can handle.” Before she walked away, he pulled her to him and twisted around so that she was pressed against the wall where she’d held him. Need coiled deep within him. Overwhelming and surprising, he wanted to take her right here, right now. Leaning down to her mouth, her breath, hot and sweet, heated his already overheated body. Kissing her was all he could think about.

“
Let me in, Diamond. Please, I need to taste you.” He didn’t wait for an answer, but kissed her, taking all she had whether she offered it or not. And he tasted paradise.

She growled low again
, and he tasted it, felt it. Moving his leg slightly, he moved his thigh between hers and heard her sharp breath when he lifted her against his hardness. Before he could continue, feel more of her, he was suddenly torn from her and sitting on the floor.

He didn
’t move, fear replacing the need. He had no idea why he was suddenly afraid of Blair, but he was pretty sure it had a lot to do with the way hair seemed to sprout over his body. Dark fur moved so fast over his skin that he was sure it had been his imagination. Maybe he might be able to convince himself of that later, but he was still sitting here, and fur still seemed to be dancing along the big man’s body.

When Blair took a step toward him
, he knew he was going to die, but Diamond put herself between him and Blair, and then he was afraid for her. Before he could stand, Sapphire seemed to come out of nowhere.

“
What the hell are you doing?” Thad opened his mouth to answer her but realized she was speaking to Blair. “Didn’t I tell you this was going to happen? Didn’t I tell you several times, I might add, to stay out of it?”

“
He was kissing her and...he had her...they were nearly having sex. Against the wall.” Diamond flushed bright red when Sapphire looked at her. But Blair wasn’t finished. “You should have seen the way he was groping her.”

“
Like you do to me whenever you get the chance?” Thad laughed but covered his mouth when Blair and Diamond glared at him. He wasn’t sure which was scarier at this point. Sapphire told him to get up.

“
Now, we’re going to do this rationally and as adults.” Sapphire pointed to the table, no doubt expecting them all to sit. Well, he wasn’t ready to sit. He wanted to get the hell out of this house and…and do what, he wasn’t sure.

“
I’d do what she says or she’ll make your life a living hell. She’s already pissed because of Morton.” Blair took the chair at the head of the table as he continued. “You should know that we meant to do this under better circumstances. But things have…progressed to the point where it’s a need to know rather than a maybe you should know.”

He sat but wasn
’t happy. “What has he done now? So help me if he’s done anything to this project I’m going to fire his ass right now. He seems to keep forgetting that he works for me, not the other way around.”

Thad nearly pointed out
that they did as well but thought now wasn’t the time to bring this up. Something was going on here, and he thought he was going to need this information if they were this set on him having it. These people he trusted. Thad looked at Diamond when she sat as far from him as she could.

“
We’re wolves, werewolves as a matter of fact.” Thad waited for the punch line to Sapphire’s joke, but she nodded and then looked at Blair as he picked up the story.

“
I’m the alpha to our pack, and Sapphire is my alpha bitch. Actually, she’s as much alpha as I am, but we run this pack together. All of her sisters are as—”

“
Hang on. You’re seriously expecting me to believe that you’re werewolves? That you sprout fur once a month and hunt down humans for food?” He stood up and sat down quickly when he thought of the wolf he’d seen in Diamond’s eyes, as well as the fur on Blair’s body. “This can’t be happening. There is no such thing as werewolves. Next thing you’ll be telling me is that there are vampires in the world.”

“
There are.” He looked at Diamond when she spoke. “There are two of them on your night shift and one on your day staff. She’s a half breed. I met her when I went to Texas to visit Sapphire for a few days.”

“
Prove it.” No more than the words left his mouth than Diamond stood up and changed. He was afraid to move when the large wolf made its way around the table and toward him. And when she stood up on her hind paws and put her front ones on his lap, he watched as she opened her mouth for him and showed him those sharp canines.

“
Diamond, that’s enough. I think he believes you. Go shift and get dressed. But I expect you to come back here.” The wolf dropped to the floor and moved around him again to do just what Blair had told her to do. Thad watched her leave the room and continued watching the door for her to come back and tell him it was all a joke. But one look at Blair’s face and he knew that this was no joke.

“
Diamond nursed you back to health when your leg was infected. Licking your wound of all the poison was all that saved you.” Blair nodded at Sapphire, not really hearing what she was saying. “Do you know what a mate is?”

“
A pair.” She nodded. “I saw her. The wolf. When I was ill. I thought I was hallucinating or something. She healed me because a dog’s…wolf’s mouth is cleaner than a human’s. How the hell does someone find this shit out?”

“
Only another super would know what each of us are. And yes, a pair. But when she took your blood, she formed a connection with you. One that was already there but not formed. When I asked you the other day what she smelled like, I thought she was your mate, but I wasn’t sure. Now, after today, I’m sure of it.” Sapphire took his hand and he jerked from her. He knew that he’d hurt her, but right now he was too close to freaking out.

“
Diamond is a wolf too then.” Blair nodded as Sapphire left the room. “I hurt her. I’m sorry for that, but I can’t…why did you feel the need to tell me today. Why at all?”

“
Sapphire told me you were Diamond’s mate, and then this morning Annabelle said the same thing to me. I can’t make you want her, but she’s your other half.” Thad burst out laughing. “I’m sorry that this is making you uncomfortable but—”

“
Uncomfortable? We’ve gone the hell over uncomfortable and are closely coming up on fucking freaked out. I nearly had sex with…with that.” He felt the surge of anger from Blair but didn’t really fucking care right now. “I guess I can be glad that you told me before I stuck my dick in this.”