“I’m old, and with that there comes certain…gifts.” He looked at the bank again and sighed.
“Do you know what you are asking me to do?”
“No. But I have a pretty good idea. You didn’t just happened upon this scene any more than I did. Do you help her, or do I have to come up with a suitable punishment? The choice is up to you, Nathaniel.”
Bradley heard the challenge in Aaron’s tone and wondered about it. But Nathaniel only
nodded and David took the four of them to the ambulance where Tess was being loaded.
The three wolves Bradley had sent to guard the woman moved to stop the agent and, when Bradley nodded to them, they stepped away. Tremont entered the ambulance and sat next to the bed as Aaron entered behind him. Bradley got into the front with the driver and they took off.
~~~
Nathaniel Tremont leaned down to the woman who was near death and inhaled. Christ, he
thought, his mate. He leaned back against the wall of the moving vehicle and looked at the master. The man was grinning like a loon.
“You know, I’ve often wondered if our mates smelled a way we would be familiar with or if they smelled like something that reflected their personalities. What does she smell like? You will save her for me, Nathaniel. What you do after that is up to the two of you.”
“Saving her won’t make her my mate; it will only make me want her more. You know that
as well as I do. I have no need for one, or the time to train one.”
“Train one? That’s very funny. But it is true, I can’t make you mate with her. But letting her die will get you killed, and I wouldn’t be the only one you’d have to worry about either. Feed her or face me or the wolf up front. You may be older than me, but I can guarantee that I’m stronger.
Healing her for us and for you could get you some major Brownie points with me. And I love giving out points for good behavior.”
Nathaniel stared at him for a minute longer before opening his vein with his fang and
pressing his wrist to Tess’s soft mouth. She was very close to death; he could hear her heart beating softly within her chest. Reaching out with his other hand he tilted her head back and began to rub her throat, trying to get her to swallow. He wondered if he would be punished if she died anyway. Then he felt bad for such a horrible thought.
At first his blood trickled out of the corner of her mouth, then along her chin. He did not think she would take it. Then Aaron reached over him and closed off her nose. She would either swallow to breath or suffocate. She swallowed.
Nathaniel continued to feed her until he could feel her heart responding to the power of his blood. The ambulance had pulled up in front of the clinic some five minutes before, but had not disturbed what was going on in the back, knowing that this was the only thing that would heal her and save her life.
When Nathaniel pulled his wrist away and sealed his open wounds she sighed heavily and turned her head toward him. She did not open her eyes, but smiled slightly. The doors opened and the two men standing there pulled her out on the gurney and rushed her inside.
Nathaniel turned to look at the vampire beside him again and sighed. He had heard about Aaron MacManus of course. Very few vampires had not. Aaron was known as a fair but
consistent master, demanding very little of his people and giving back to them more than they had ever had with the previous master. He did not command often, but when he did his people would do his bidding willingly.
“You could have saved her yourself, you know. I’m not sure how you knew, but you did,
didn’t you? You knew she was my mate so why did you make me do it?”
“Yes. As did you before you got in the ambulance with her. If I gave her my blood she
would always be a part of me. Later, if you decided to claim her, you could take exception to my part of her. Giving you the opportunity to save her leaves her safe and marked. How long have you been chasing her?”
“A couple of weeks now, I guess. She came across my path in Columbus at a job site where I had been working another murder. There was a slaughter of several beings. I don’t believe she had anything to do with the deaths, but she did stay for some time. I’m not sure what she had been doing there, but I followed her scent here tonight. I was curious about her, nothing more. I didn’t plan on approaching her at any point; I just wanted to see what she was.”
“She isn’t human, that’s for sure. Her magic or power is strong and very familiar. She is somehow… I’ll have someone see what they can find out about her. I want to thank you for showing up when you did. Let me know when you decide to leave, if you do leave at all. I would like to try and talk you into staying for a while. It would be nice to talk to someone around my age.”
Nathaniel looked down at the hand the man was offering. He was not sure, but thought the man was mocking him somehow. Nathaniel shook Aaron’s hand and turned to walk away. He
had taken two steps when Aaron spoke again.
“My home is welcome to you while you’re staying here, Nathaniel. There is plenty of room at the moment. The couple who were staying with us has recently built their own home and have only just moved out. You will be happy there. My children will not bother you overly much, and you can get your information about the bank robbery while you’re there.”
Somehow, Nathaniel knew it was not a request, but another command. He nearly refused the offer, but he was in the other man’s territory and did not want to piss in anyone’s oats.
“Sure, thanks. I’ll just look around here for a little while and you let me know when you’re ready to leave.”
Aaron went into the clinic with Nathaniel not far behind.
~Chapter 3~
Tess woke but did not move. She had been in situations like this before. Where she had lost conciseness and woke in a strange place. Opening herself up she knew that one man, a wolf, was in the room with her and that she was in a medical facility of some sort, but not a hospital. There were not enough people for it to be a big one if she was.
There was a pair of handcuffs on her left wrist and another on her left ankle. Her belly was all but healed, just a few tender places here and there. She knew that someone, a vampire probably, had fed her his blood; she could almost feel his energy surging through her veins.
There was also the metallic taste in her mouth. Not unpleasant like it normally was, but there nonetheless. The IV in her right hand was nothing more than glucose so she removed it as she turned toward the shifter.
“Where am I? And who do I have to kill to get out of here?” She was only slightly kidding, but still grinned at his expression.
“The Market Street Clinic and no one, I hope. As soon as you’re released, you can go. Do you remember how you got here?”
“Yes. I killed six men and one of them tried to kill me back. Go figure. Do you know who fed me?”
“Fed you? Oh, you mean healed you. No, I don’t. Some vamp, I guess. I’m day shift.”
Tess sat up and the man rose as well. She looked down to where he had his hand on his
weapon. He flushed and removed it and put his hands behind his back.
“Well, Officer Shift, I’m out of here. It’s been real, but I have places to go.” The cuffs fell off her and she moved to the side of the bed. He came to stand in front of her and she just raised a brow at him. “If you don’t want me to hurt you, then I would suggest that you move.”
“I don’t think anyone expects you to want to leave just yet. They might have a few questions for you. You were cuffed to that bed. How did you…my alpha isn’t going to be too happy if you leave without his permission.”
“I’m sure he’ll get over it,” Tess said as she stood up.
The room tilted a little then righted itself. Holding onto the bed, she reached under the thing and took the big white bag that held her personal things to the bathroom.
Tess looked in the mirror over the sink. She was still surprised every time she saw this version of herself—the non-fae one. Her hair was basically the same only longer. And its color was no longer blue, but black—a shiny blue-black that was thick and heavy. It had some curl in it, a bounce she guessed, when it was short, which is how she wore it when she had been a guard for the Brianal Court. For now her hair was shoulder length and pulled in a ponytail at the back of her head most of the time. It had made it easier to keep out of her face.
It was her face that startled her the most; it was more human than fae. Her ears were rounded and smooth at the top now and, instead of the jewels that marked her, her lobes were now bare of anything. Her eyes were also different. Now they were more oval shaped and wider. She actually liked them. Before the change she had had eyes the color of polished pewter, now they were dulled silver. Pretty, but not hers. Her nose was small and had a slight tilt at the end, marking her for her aristocratic line. Her lower lip was full and looked pouty all the time. It was usually pink because she was forever nibbling on it. Her upper lip, while not as full as the lower, still looked kissable, she’d been told once by someone who thought she should let him kiss her before she killed him. Men. Long lashes swept across her high cheeks and her brows looked perfect even without having to have them groomed. But it was her height that made everyone notice her. She was six foot, three inches in her bare feet.
She would have loved to have time to shower, but knew that she was pushing it as it was.
Instead, she pulled out her clothes and began to dress. She still had her panties on, but took them off. She hated to do it, but there was no way she was wearing them two days in a row—if it had only been two days. She pulled on her jeans, which were covered in blood, but no help for that she figured. Next was her shirt. She was just trying to decide if she could rinse out a little of her blood when there was a knock at the door. Damn it, she thought, time’s up.
“I’ll just be another second. I’m sure that there are other bathrooms on this floor if you need one in a hurry.” She pulled the stained shirt over her head and opened the door to another wolf.
“I’d like to talk with you about a few things before you try to leave, Ms. Knight. And then there is a little matter of you killing nine men. You might need to explain that to someone at some point.”
She glared at the man standing there. Alpha. She could feel his power, the man practically dripped with it, but she was not intimidated—well, not much anyway. She moved past him and pulled her boots out of the bag as she went.
“I did not kill nine men, one was killed by Manchester. And Manchester…he was alive
when I left him. So if he’s dead, then you figure it out.” She sat down in the now vacant chair and started to put on her boots. She was suddenly exhausted and leaned back to look at the man.
She did not carry a purse, but it felt as if all her things were still in the pockets of her pants and in her boots. They had probably thought her too weak to get up and use any of them yet, if what the day shifter had told her was true. Well, she would certainly be able to change their minds on that if they tried to stop her.
“Tansy said a great deal about this savior of hers, how she saved everyone in that bank. And she said that you knew those men were coming before they entered the bank. Care to tell me how you knew?”
“No.” Tess did not feel the need to fill the silences. She actually preferred the quiet over noise. She seldom, if ever, listened to the radio and did not own a television. Not that she could afford one, she thought, but still.
“Then would you like to tell me what you are? I don’t think you’re quite human, yet the wound in your stomach didn’t look as if it was healing. You can pull shadows around yourself and move quickly like a vamp, yet you can be out in the daylight. You aren’t wolf, or at least I don’t think so, but I’ve been wrong before. Not often, but it’s been known to happen. My mate thinks it happens more than I want to admit. Not that I’m correct, but that I’m more wrong than I think. But I don’t believe her. Also, if you tell her, I’ll deny it.”
“Did you just crack a joke? Wow, who would have thought it—an alpha with a sense of
humor? I’ll have to write this in my diary. It’ll say, ‘alpha made a joke and is terrified of his mate.’“ She stood up again and adjusted her boots tighter around her calves. As she strode toward the door, she felt rather than heard the alpha move.
She flipped around so quickly he did not have time to stop his forward momentum and she pinned him to the floor with a blade at his throat. His eyes widened when she pressed the knife a little deeper into his skin. She did not break skin, but she knew that he could smell the silver; the blade was pure.
“I didn’t kill those men. They killed themselves when they walked into the bank armed and ready to kill anyone else that got in their way. Manchester killed Tommy and then Manchester killed himself. Did I have anything to do with that? Maybe. But as far as I’m concerned, they all got what they deserved. Now, I’m leaving and you’re going to let me. There are people looking for me and I would just as soon they didn’t find me. Whatever they want, it’s too fucking late and I…never mind, they can’t find me.”
“I can help you, if you’d let me, Ms. Knight. I’m not without the means to make things happen for you. I owe you for my people’s safety.” She noticed that he had put his hands up as if he were surrendering to her.
“No. You’re fine. The others? It’s too little too late.” She moved off of him, never taking the blade from his throat. When she stepped back he jumped to his feet, but made no effort to advance on her.
Backing her way to the door, she reached blindly behind her as she held the knife out
toward the wolf. She reached for the handle and filled her hand with a man’s cock. Turning quickly, she was pulled into the arms of the most beautiful man she had ever seen.
All she could see was his face, but that alone made her mouth water. His eyes were the deepest blue she had ever seen. And they seemed to see right into her soul. His hair was pulled back from his face, but she could see that it was blond with varying shades of browns, golds, and reds in it. His high forehead gave way to his dark brow, that was cocked at an angle that gave her the impression that they could and would say just as much as his words would. His lashes were long and dark as well, an envy of any woman in their thickness and length. Looking at his mouth made her think of long, wet, sensual kisses and, if he smiled, it would cause a woman’s heart to skip several beats before it kicked into overdrive and made a woman pant with need to taste him.