Dream Warrior: (Dark Warrior Alliance Book 1) (12 page)

She looked to her front door and confusion buffeted her. Why were Santiago and another guy with gorgeous multi-colored hair waiting outside her apartment with a leather couch and matching chair? “Um, what is going on? And, who is he?”

“Hey there,
Chiquita
. How are you doing?” Santiago gave her an awkward hug, since Zander refused to loosen his hold, and kissed her bruised cheek. “This is Rhys, and O said he can’t sleep on your old futon, so I brought him a couch-bed to cushion his hemorrhoid-ridden ass.”

She furrowed her brows and looked at Orlando. Her brain was sluggish, but memories of her attack slowly trickled in. “We aren’t leaving you alone after what happened today,” Orlando informed her.

Relief had her sagging further against Zander. “I’m so glad I don’t have to tie one of you to the futon to keep you from leaving. I can’t be alone tonight. I saw what he wanted to do to me in his eyes and…” She shook hard as the reality of how close she had come to being raped and murdered sank in. She stiffened as the image of the two vampires being killed by Kyran returned with a rush. There was no mistaking the way vamps flashed on fire and turned to dust. Panic surged through her at the thought they knew about the horrors that stalked the night. Her heart began a staccato beat. Could they know about her involvement with SOVA?

She met Bhric and Kyran’s gaze and put all of her gratitude into her words. She was grateful for what they had done regardless of anything else. “I would be dead right now if not for you guys. I owe you my life. I don’t have much but when I’m feeling better I want to cook you dinner.” They bowed at their waists like knights. These were the oddest men. They looked as if they could tear you to shreds and not lose any sleep, yet had this regal bearing that spoke of honor and loyalty.

Bhric spoke quietly. “We were only doing our duty.” He straightened and his lazy smile had her lips tilting. “But, we willna turn down a home-cooked meal.”

“You guys are so weird,” she said. Her relief was potent. They didn’t know about SOVA, or they would be handcuffing her, not making plans with her. She lifted her head and kissed Zander’s cheek, then wiggled in his arms. “Let me down, please.” He let her slide down his torso and her eyes flew wide when she felt the unmistakable evidence of his arousal brush against her hip. She did not have the energy to remind him that they were only friends.

She fumbled with her keys and staggered. Her equilibrium was non-existent at the moment. Before she fell down, strong arms wound around her and Zander held her against his chest as he opened her door. She shuffled into the apartment.

She watched while the others quickly removed her old futon and brought in the new, leather furniture. She was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to go to bed, but she had promised to eat something. She would choke down a sandwich then take more pain pills and sleep for a year.

Zander reached around her and pulled items out of the bags Rhys had set on her table. He opened a Styrofoam container full of gyro meat and cut it into small bites. “Here, you need to eat this and drink this orange juice before you can rest. You lost too much blood.” She noticed the tension around his mouth and jaw and ate every bite he fed her.

She was sending him mixed messages allowing him to feed her. She was broken, but she wasn’t paralyzed. “This doesn’t change anything. I appreciate you taking care of me and feeding me, but…” She let the rest of the sentence trail away. She had made her position clear.

“Doona fash over me. ‘Tis good to see you eat,” he murmured against her cheek before kissing it. Shocked, she realized she had eaten most of the food, despite the fact that it tasted horrible. She had been too preoccupied with whatever was happening between her and Zander.

She turned her head and listened to the guys banter while they sat on her new furniture and ate. She barely recognized her apartment. She contemplated how Dalton would not recognize it, or her life. Both had been transformed. A flat-screen adorned the wall between her colorful Mexican blankets. A small cabinet beneath it held her new Blu-Ray player and movies. Now, the futon she had picked out with Dalton was being hauled away and replaced by a toffee-colored, leather sleeper-sofa and matching chair.

She jumped up and raced out to her bedroom as her black hole pulsed painfully. Overcome with grief, she needed to be alone. Would this nightmare ever end?

Zander had remained at Elsie’s side from the moment he entered her hospital room, and had yet to subdue his emotional upheaval. When his mate had thanked his brothers, saying she would have been dead if not for them, an invisible razor sliced his insides to shreds. He was grateful for his brother’s intervention, but it was his job to protect her, and he had failed.

He stared longingly at her closed bedroom door. The muffled sobs wrecked him. He couldn’t bear her grief. An irrational pang of jealousy and hurt coursed through him over her feelings for Dalton. It did not help that he was tortured, beyond comprehension, by the mating compulsion. He still felt the electricity that burned him from holding her in his arms.

He had fed her and now, he had to leave and get away from her tantalizingly, sweet scent before he gave into his desires. Every moment close to her made his need grow. He stalked out of the small apartment. He wanted to be alone, but his brothers followed him out. No one was leaving him alone in his agitated state.

“I need to go by Confetti and feed before we head home,” Bhric advised as they made their way to Zander’s car.

Kyran bypassed the Jag, walking straight for his Denali. The SUV’s interior lit when he unlocked the doors. “You got this right, Bhric? I’m heading to Bite. I’ll catch you back at Zeum,” Kyran said before he opened the driver’s door and climbed in.

Bhric cursed Kyran. Kyran had been going to the seedy brothel for too long and Zander hated it as much as Bhric. Something cold and remote descended over his brother after each visit, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to reach him. Zander watched a piece of Kyran’s heart and soul die with each escapade. He feared that one day Kyran would be unreachable. But, Kyran wasn’t his main concern at the moment. He had more than he could handle with his worry for Elsie.

“I wish he’d stop going there. There are plenty of females at Kill’s joint who would love to hook up with one of the vampire princes,” Bhric said as he headed to the passenger door.

“Here,” Zander tossed his car keys to Bhric, “you drive. I’m going to drink the blood Jace took from Elsie and until I understand the effect my mate’s blood has on me, I doona want to be behind the wheel.” His heart leapt in his chest.

“Should be interesting,” Bhric waggled his brows and unlocked the doors.

The moment he was in the passenger seat of his car, Zander ripped open the small, soft-sided cooler that held the key to his survival. “Fucking Rhys,” Zander cursed, shaking his head at the plastic cup embellished with tiny, black bats included in the bag. At this point he didn’t care if he drank it from a baby bottle, he needed her blood.

He trembled as he brought the straw to his lips. His body went taut as he took his first sip of his Fated Mate’s blood. He jolted with a rush of the strongest energy he had ever felt. His skin tingled with little currents running from his head to his toes. His cock stiffened and his orgasm hit before he blinked. Holy. Fucking. Goddess. He took a second sip and his vision sharpened even more. He heard a mouse scurrying several blocks away. That was the second time that night his mate had caused him to orgasm. Supreme satisfaction settled in his heart. Bhric laughed and backed out of their parking spot.

It was good to be king and drinking his Fated Mate’s blood. One drink and he was addicted to not only the taste of his mate’s blood, but the power boost it provided him. He had always felt strings tethering him to the Goddess and the earth, but they paled in comparison to the life-line Elsie had become for him. That bond he had previously felt became an unyielding bond to the one female he would never be able to live without. He savored every sip of the succulent blood.

He contemplated licking every drop from the cup, but was sidetracked when a new awareness blossomed as her blood flooded every cell and altered him fundamentally. His mate’s blood was a GPS beacon. At that moment, he discerned that Elsie was west of his location, approximately nine miles, and was stationary. Incredible!

He looked down and smiled. “Thank the Goddess I carry extra clothes. I need to change before we go into the club,” he reached around and grabbed the extra leathers on the back seat.

Bhric chuckled, “Apparently, the legend about a mate’s blood is true. ‘Tis good the realm didna see their king just now. The look on your face when you busted a nut would have shocked the most stalwart female. It was brutal and savage. Pure ecstasy, I’m jealous. Not that I want my mate.”

Zander enjoyed the way his brother’s gaze turned contemplative. He would love to see the effects a Fated would have on someone like his brother, who enjoyed females too much and too frequently. Zander had never found gratification from random couplings, which was why he had only had three females over the past two centuries. Nothing had brought him fulfillment until he found his human mate.

The fact that she was human mattered less and less, except it made him fear for her safety. But, oh what she made him experience…

Bhric pulled into the parking lot, and he quickly changed his pants. With a spring in his step, he followed his brother into the club. The fact that Elsie only wanted to be friends marred his excitement. She never wanted a relationship with him and was fighting the mating compulsion with everything she had. Fear of never being able to claim Elsie haunted his joy, but he refused to give up. He would claim his mate or die trying. He imagined all the different ways he would claim her, spiking his arousal again.

Zander stood at one of the bar tables thinking of Elsie and chastised himself when Lena came up behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist. He had been distracted by fantasies of his mate again. His body recoiled when Lena trailed her hands down his hard abdomen to cup his erection. His body screamed out against the contact.

“Looking for me, I see,
mon amour
. Mmmm, hard as always. I can’t get enough of you, either. Come with me, I have a treat for you,” she purred. His erection deflated. Her lovely smile quickly turned into a pout.

No other female would ever touch him intimately again. For once in the past few days, his body and his mind were in accord. Both refused to respond to any but Elsie. And now, Lena’s honeysuckle perfume made him sick, the slightly astringent notes made his stomach roil. Fake, his mind screamed.

“Nay, Lena. ’Tis for my Fated Mate and I willna be going to any room with you, or any other female, ever again. I have found my heart and soul, the one made for me.” He didn’t want to be cruel to Lena. After all, they had been having sex for two-hundred years, but he truly had no feelings for her. Now that he had experienced a real connection with Elsie, he could not imagine going back to the empty sexual encounters that had comprised his life.

Lena’s surprise was evident as her eyes flew wide. Her mouth gaped as she tried to respond. When she did, her anger and disbelief were obvious in her tone. “If you’ve found your mate, why has there not been a proper announcement about the curse being lifted? And, why are you here prowling the club?” Her dark-brown eyes turned to his shaft and she reached out to stroke him.

“No, I believe that you are mistaken,
mon tresor
. I’m the one for you. You have to know that, feel that in your heart like I do.”

His shaft did not react to her attention or words. Not even a twitch. In fact, his flesh was crawling inside itself to get away from her touch. He gently brushed her hand away. “Lena, I’m sorry, but you are no’ the one for me. ‘Tis a true miracle, the Goddess has blessed me with my Fated Mate.”

She narrowed her eyes but gentled her voice. “I’m sorry,
mon coeur
. Your news took me by surprise. I’m happy for you. I’m upset that we will not be together again, but I want to see you happy. I would do anything for you.” His instincts rang with alarm at the calculating look in her eyes.

Shaking his head, he responded to her. “I havena made an official announcement. My mate is not in a position to complete the mating right now. She has been a target of the skirm. I canna put her in the spotlight and at more risk. My Dark Warriors are helping me to keep her safe.” He clenched his fists against his fear and anger. “This war with the demons and their skirm is far more dangerous than it’s ever been. The announcement will be made when we are ready to move forward with the mating.” Not wanting to be so close to her, he took a step back, placing more space between them.

“
Dieu
, she must be human if they are helping you protect her. I would have thought the Goddess would have given a vampire mate to the Vampire King. But, never mind that. Tell me how I can help. You know females, especially human ones, are different creatures and require special handling,
n’est-ce pas
? I assume she knows nothing of Tehrex Realm, or the war and world, she is about to rule. I could be her guide to the supernatural. Your Dark Warriors are great for sex, but this is not a job for them,” Lena remarked, a mischievous gleam in her eyes.

Not going to happen. He held any further thoughts and feelings close to his heart. Telling anyone, let alone Lena, that Elsie fought the skirm nightly, was a bad idea. And, he was not about to entrust his mate to this female.

“I appreciate the offer, Lena, but I have everything under control. I doona need your help. I may no’ know much aboot females, but I’m certain having someone that I have fucked in the past, befriend my Fated Mate, isna a good idea. Besides, I have her soul to guide me.” He turned from her and took his leave of the club entirely.

Putting the exchange with Lena out of his mind, he thought of Elsie and how devastated she had been. She had lost her car and job in one night. He had vowed to take care of her. There was one thing he could do for her before sunrise. He jumped into his car and headed back across town.

*****

Elsie rolled over in bed and groaned. Pain shot up her arm. It had woken her several times during the night, and she was exhausted. She had papers to write and new challenges to compensate for. Better get to it. She sat up and flung her feet over the edge of her bed. Her body felt like it had been run over by a semi. She needed an energy drink and a pain pill, pronto.

Dutifully, she grabbed the sling from her nightstand and carefully put it on. Getting her arm into the contraption was a teeth-gritting experience. She stretched as much as was possible and stood up to retrieve her medication. She swayed on her feet.

After she regained her balance, an envelope on the floor by her bedroom door caught her eye. What was that? Pulling her broken arm close, she bent over and picked it up. The letter felt heavy in her hand and had an odd lump in the middle. Something slid into a corner when she tilted it. Curiosity peaked and she tore it open. Her jaw hit the floor. Inside, she found two pieces of paper, a note and a car title, along with a car key.

“For the love of Buddha! A car!” she screeched. And, not just any car. According to the title, it was a Jaguar XKR-S. She rushed to her window, breaking the metal mini-blinds in her haste to check her parking spot. It was Zander’s fabulous, metallic-grey convertible that he had driven her home in the night before.

It glinted in the early morning sun. With shaking hands, she opened the crumpled letter. The elegant, masculine script reminded her of the Renaissance time period as she felt the familiar zing course through her body as she read the note.

“I considered giving you an armored tank to keep you safe, but the sleek design of this car reminded me of your sensuous body. It can handle curves almost as well as I can. And, the supple, leather interior made me think of your soft skin. I canna express how sorry I am that I wasna there to protect you. Always yours, Z”

She was flabbergasted. She had no idea how long she stood there staring at the note, before her mind started working again. He was apologizing for not protecting her. He blamed himself for her injuries. And, he had given her a car. An expensive car!

She threw open the bedroom door and stormed over to a sleeping Orlando. “What, in the name of all that is holy, is wrong with Zander? He gave me a car? Who does that shit? I can’t accept this, it’s too much. No one gives a gift like this without expecting something in return. You have to tell him to come pick it up right now,” she shrieked. She didn’t give a shit if she was being rude or waking him up, this was too much.

Orlando rolled over and blinked open tired eyes. She could have sworn his eyes were glowing emerald. Her mind stuttered at the half-lidded, heated gaze he shot her way.

“What is it with you two waking me up? I do need sleep, you know,” Orlando grumbled, breaking the spell as he sat up. When the sheet fell to his waist, she prayed he was clothed beneath the covers and turned her head in case he wasn’t. Now, if he were Zander she’d be praying that he was naked as the day he was born. And, may even tear the sheet away. She couldn’t seem to get her mind out of the gutter lately.

“Ah,” Orlando muttered, “I see you found the envelope. First of all, no one tells Zander no. And second, are you crazy? It’s a kick-ass car, accept it. He gave this to you with no strings or expectations, El. He was worried about your safety.”