Forbidden Blood (12 page)

“Shit. Give me a sec.”
Vaughn yanked on his jeans and T-shirt. He grabbed his boots and socks before running from the bunkhouse where he lived with Sawyer, Saxon, Zane, Reid, Camden, Phoenix, and Tegan. He jumped into the L & L Construction truck, and Saxon took off. They sped past the main house where his parents and sister lived.

Vaughn had
moved out when he turned twenty-one and started working for his father. He felt he shouldn’t get special treatment just because he was the boss’s son. Plus, living together in tight quarters helped him and his partners bond and understand each other better when on the job.

They lived on five-plus ac
res of land located in Orono, a suburb of Minneapolis. Their home sat on a lake surrounded by trees that gave them privacy. Yet, it was also less than half an hour from downtown Minneapolis where the office of L & L Construction was located.

Saxon drove as Vaughn put on his socks and boots. “So
, where is the old man this time?”

“Some hole-in-the-wall
, Shantytown or something, located in Bloomington. According to the owner, he’s drunk off his ass. Kate is already on her way.”

Kate, Maurice’s daughter,
had left her phone number in her father’s wallet, so she could be called when he got out of control. She was his only family, but he was a big guy, and she couldn’t handle him on her own.

Saxon
pulled up to the bar, and they jumped out. As they walked through the door, Vaughn could hear Maurice singing at the top of his lungs. His gray hair stuck out on his head, and his jeans and white T-shirt were filthy.

Saxon
flagged the bartender and pointed to Maurice.

The bartender
hustled around the bar and over to Saxon and Vaughn. “Thanks for coming. I’m Dan, the owner.” He pointed over his shoulder. “He’s been here all afternoon and evening. At first, I didn’t think the guy would ever get drunk, even with all the liquor he’d put away. Now, he’s plastered.”

“Don’t worry. W
e’ll get him to leave,” Saxon told the owner before striding over to Maurice.

“He was talking crazy, dude. Something about cats taking over the world.”

Vaughn laughed awkwardly. “Sorry. We’ll get him out of your way.” He slapped the owner on the back and walked over to Saxon to help.

Saxon had already convinced Maurice to stop singing and set the microphone down.

“Maurice, hey.” Vaughn snapped his fingers in Maurice’s face. “Hey. You need to come with us.”

The snapping finally caught
Maurice’s attention. “Vaughn, it’s good to see you. You know, I worked for your grandpa for over forty years. No one in construction was better than me.” Maurice used both thumbs to point at himself, throwing his equilibrium off and making him stumble. “Whoa, whoa.” He held his hands for balance and hooted with drunken laughter.

“Yes, Maurice
, you were the best in the business. It was a sad day when you retired,” Vaughn said to humor him.

Every time Maurice saw Vaughn, he would tell the same story.

“You bet your ass it was,” Maurice replied with gumption.

Saxon
grabbed his arm. “Come on, Maurice, let’s get you out of here.”

L
ike an errant child, Maurice tried to pull his hand out of Saxon’s grip.

“Maurice. Maurice. Look at me, please,” Saxon said. Maurice paused to
stare at Saxon. “Now, who do you love more than anyone in the whole world?”

“Katie. My beautiful daughter, Katie.”

“Kate is on her way here. How do you think it will make her feel to see you like this again?”

Maurice heaved a big sigh. “Okay. Let’s go.”

Saxon and Vaughn both slapped Maurice on the back, and as they walked toward the entrance, Vaughn filled Saxon in on his conversation with the owner. Vaughn stopped to apologize again for the trouble and handed the owner some cash to compensate. When they got outside, they saw Kate pulling up. She leaped out of her car and ran up to them.

“Oh, Daddy,” Kate said, her eyes filled with defeat.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” Saxon asked her.

She nodded, and he pulled her aside, leaving Vaughn with Maurice.

“My daughter. She’s beautiful.” Vaughn never really noticed Kate in that way before. He supposed she was pretty. She wasn’t overweight, but she wasn’t skinny either. She would probably be best described as voluptuous.

The word
voluptuous
brought to mind Naya and their time together the previous night. Although Naya was taller and thinner than Kate, Naya had beautiful curves on her.

Maurice elbowed him in the stomach
. When Vaughn turned to him, Maurice had a big smile on his face, and he gave a couple of sly grunts. Vaughn’s thoughts about Naya had put a grin on his face, and Maurice obviously thought Vaughn had been thinking of Kate. He immediately dropped his smile.

“Yes, Maurice, your daughter is very pretty, but I don’t think we’re right for each other. A
lso, I don’t believe she’s interested in me.”

She couldn’t be
with the way she was staring intently at Saxon. With naturally brown-and-blond striped hair, a soul patch, bright green eyes, and the build of a linebacker, the females loved him. Unfortunately for Kate or anyone else, Saxon was not a settling-down kind of guy. Vaughn didn’t really do serious relationships either, but it wasn’t because he was a commitment-phobe like Saxon. Vaughn’s issues had more to do with his family and females wanting to date him for the wrong reasons.

But at least Maurice dropped the subject. He
was staring up at the sky, probably lost in his own intoxicated thoughts. Vaughn was grateful when Saxon and Kate returned.

“Come on, Daddy. Let’s get you home,” Kate said,
helping her father to the car.

Vaughn and Saxon watched them get in
before Kate drove away, and then they headed back to the truck.

Saxon said to him, “After that,
I
need a drink.”

“Me, too. But I think we
’d better find a different bar.”

“I think you’re right.”

N
AYA ARRIVED AT Second Chances Animal Shelter seven minutes before her ten o’clock shift. She knew her parents could never understand why she felt the need to volunteer, especially with animals. For her, it provided an escape. She loved the animal shelter for the same reason she loved going out to clubs. No one knew she was a princess, and no one expected her to say and do the right things.

Animals were even b
etter than humans. Humans judged each other, but animals just wanted someone to love and care for them. It didn’t matter to them if you were the Queen of England or a homeless man on the street.

After she walked through the door, she went to find Shelly, the person
she was replacing for the night. The waiting area in front was empty since the shelter closed at eight in the evening, so she headed for the back and found Shelly in the bird room.

“Hey, Shelly.”

Shelly turned around. “Oh, hey, Naya. I’m glad you’re here.”

“Oh?
Bad day? Or do you have something big planned tonight?”

Shelly laughed. She was a sixty-seven-year-old widow who considered bridge club to be her excitement for the week. “No, Leo is getting restless. I swear
, that cat knows what days you volunteer. He’s been pacing for the last hour.”

“Oh, Leo. Is there anything I need to do immediately? I haven’t been here in a little over two weeks, and I miss him.”

“Nope, me and Elaine took care of everything for now. This was my last stop. You go and see your boy.”

Naya beamed at Shelly. “Thank you, but I’ll help you first.”

Naya quickly assisted Shelly in finishing up the bird room, walked her to the door, and locked it behind her. Then, Naya went to the cat room to find Leo, her very favorite animal at the shelter.

Leo h
ad a special place in her heart because she’d personally found Leo right outside the shelter door two months ago. She’d been letting a few of the dogs out for bathroom breaks when he’d walked right up to her, looking lonely and sad. She’d scooped him up, cleaned him, and fed him, and then he’d slept with his head on her lap for the rest of her shift. They’d been close ever since.

Leo presented a kind of mystery. No
one, including the two vets who volunteered their services, knew what kind of cat he was. They could tell he was an older kitten, but he was already bigger than every other cat in the shelter. He was the only cat in a kennel big enough for a dog, and while his paws were the size of Naya’s hands, they didn’t fit his body, indicating he wasn’t done growing. They’d even considered he might be a big cat that had escaped from one of the zoos, but his description didn’t match any cat in the wild, and there had been no reports of any missing exotic animals.

His coloring matched a chocolate lab, and his eyes were a sea green color. Some
had speculated he might be a sort of hybrid. He was a beautiful cat, but for a time, Naya had fought to save his life. Everyone had been afraid when Leo first came to stay with them. He was big, and they’d worried that he might hurt someone. But she had known otherwise. Leo was a sweetie.

He
was always gentle with Naya, and he quickly became her favorite.

S
ince he didn’t have any identification or microchip in him, she was the one who had named him Leo.

He ha
d, however, come to them with a stunning collar around his neck. They’d later determined the collar was made of silver. Everybody had figured it was probably an expensive dog collar that someone had put on the cat. Yet, in an effort to locate the owner, they’d been unable to find the manufacturer, because it was absent of a brand or signature.

It
hadn’t seemed to bother Leo, so they’d left it on him. That way, when the owner came for him, he would already be wearing it, and no one could accuse them of trying to steal such an expensive piece of merchandise.

That night, when Naya
walked inside the cat room, a chorus of meows filled the room, each feline wanting her to open the door. When she’d first started volunteering at the animal shelter, she hadn’t known if the animals could sense she was a vampire and if they would treat her differently than the humans. It had turned out her fears were silly because they had treated her completely the same, and as Leo had proved, she was actually some of the animals’ favorite volunteer. Now, Naya felt bad she didn’t have time to hold them all every shift, but she would always try her best to hand out attention to everyone. However, she always gave Leo the most.

She went to Leo’s kennel
first. “Hey, boy. How are you?”

He immediately purred and rubbed himself against the door, trying to get close to her. She knelt down, sat on the balls of her feet, and let him out. In his excitement, he almost knocked her down in his attempt to climb on top of her.

“Whoa, Leo. Settle down, boy. You’re going to push me over.” She laughed.

As if he
’d understood her, he backed off and sat on his hind legs. His intelligence was something else she loved about him. She swore that she could see comprehension in his eyes when she talked to him.