Night Hungers (22 page)

Actually, other than the stubborn arrogant way he acted all the time he was really nice.

She had to smile at that because she knew he probably thought the same things about her.

Moving along the sky toward her lair Zane saw the world below her in a different view than she had before. While the colors were not as bright as they were when she was human, they still looked more…well, more, she supposed. There were wolves playing below her and their scent called to her. She saw the plants differently too. For as much as she wanted to believe it was the moonlight she knew it was Aiden and his mating with her. And just like that he was moving through her mind.

“I’m sorry I pissed you off earlier. I didn’t…that’s not true. I did mean what I said.

But I worry about you. I know in my head that you can take care of yourself, hell, take
care of all of us, but I need to protect you.”

“I’m not used to answering to anyone but the queen. She and I…well, we don’t
always get along. I guess I could be more—I’m not stupid, you know. I know enough to
come in out of the rain and not to take on more than I can handle.”
Which was almost true, but she did try. She could feel his laughter at that and wanted to yell again. Instead, she took a deep breath and spoke again.
“Are you always going to be this irritating?”

“Probably. But you must admit I’m not boring.”
She laughed at him.
“Where are
you, love? Are you close to the mansion?”

“Still in Chicago. I should be home in another few hours. I was just enjoying the
night and flying high in the sky. Why? Is there something wrong?”

“No. Nothing wrong. Let me come to you. I can be there in a few seconds. I’d very
much like to spend some time with you.”

Did she want that too? To spend some time with him outside of his lair? She wasn’t sure, but told him to come to her anyway. When he appeared below her seconds later she dropped to the ground and shifted to herself. He smiled at her and her heart flipped.

“You make that seem so easy, so fluid. And I can’t hold my animal for long, maybe a couple of hours. How will I learn to shift like you do and not feel like my bones are breaking?”

She simply stared at him. He could do what she did. Shift, talk to the earth, and—

“How do you know that you can’t shift like me? I mean, you have my weapons and you’ve used some of the things I’ve transferred to you. Have you tried to shift and hold it?”

She could tell by the look on his face that he had not. She walked around him and tried to see him as anything more than the panther he’d been before. She knew that he could be a hawk; he had those memories in his mind.

“I guess I haven’t. Even when we’re together, you sort of overwhelm me with your ability. I guess I’ve never given it much thought as to what I can do with what you’ve given me.” He put his hands on her shoulders and held her away from him. “I have to concentrate on my animal like—”

He was suddenly a large black cat. Zane couldn’t help but laugh at the shocked expression on the panther’s face. “I think you have that down.”

“It was as fluid as you. I mean, Christ, there wasn’t even the slightest bit of pain.

Usually when I shift to something I’ve never been before, it’s painful even for me.”
He rubbed his large head against her leg as he continued.
“I’d very much like for you to shift
into your cat and let me have my wicked way with you.”

She was tempted, but in the end told him no. “We have things to do with your master and playing in this field will not only get us into trouble, but could likely have us darted as escaped animals from the zoo.” She rubbed his fur. “Now shift to something small. A house mouse.”

“Will I have to be human first?”
She felt the energy as he asked
. “Can I go from this
to whatever I want in the same way?”

“Yes. You might find it necessary to shrink to something smaller quickly. I’ve used it to go through cracks in walls and then become something larger if need be.” She watched the fur along his arms shift to a lighter color and then he was a tiny mouse.

He shifted into several animals in a very short time. She could feel his hunger but without her being up to par, which she nearly was, she couldn’t feed him. When they took to the sky she knew that her life was forever changed.

~CHAPTER 23~

Aiden didn’t want to do anything but take Zane against the nearest hard surface and pound his cock deep inside of her. But they had to get ready for tonight. He was sure if he didn’t at least show her he could be helpful she would leave him at home and go off on her own.

He knew that the other weapons were on his hips and the ones along his body. She’d told him that he would be able to be dressed and pull them. He’d wondered about that and was glad to know he didn’t have to remove his pants to use them. But being able to shift and to hold it, he knew that this was probably the greatest thing he’d gotten from her.

Besides her as his mate.

When she’d reached up and pulled her own blade from her back he watched her as she moved. She was fluid in this as well, moving gracefully though the grass as though it was second nature for her to swing a heavy blade. This, too, was something he needed to learn. The way that she moved, the way that she made everything she did seem a part of her rather than simply a weapon she used. He came up behind her and wrapped his body to hers.

“Show me, Allison. Show me how to dance with my sword so that I can help you when you need me.”

When she stretched out her arms with her blade in her right hand he moved along them with his arms against her. His blade now in his left, he touched her but didn’t crowd her as she moved.

“The blade, like all the others, will be an extension of your arm. Just as you use your ability to shift, you’ll need to be proficient in this as well. You will need only to think about it, where you want it to go, what you need it to extinguish. Your thought is its command.”

Aiden felt it then, the connection. It was a part of him, like the opening and closing of his hand. The sword moved in precise movements that looked like he knew what he was doing. He grinned. Good thing one of them did.

“Don’t think about it as a sword but as your hand. See what it does? I can toss my blade in the air.” Suddenly, hers was flying across the forest and embedded deep into the ground. “Then I need only to ask for its return and I have it.” The blade came at them in a spinning motion, pommel over blade until it landed in her hand again pommel first.

“Christ.” He hadn’t moved away from her when it came at them and was glad that he hadn’t. He would never have felt the power of its return to her body otherwise.

Aiden took a deep breath and asked his blade to land where hers had. There was a small tingle in his arm then the blade was in the ground.

Zane had turned and looked up at him a smile so radiant that his breath caught.

Aiden suddenly realized he was in love. In love with his mate. Cupping the back of her head, he brought her mouth to his for a kiss.

As far as kisses went it was quick, but it was powerful. Her answering moan rumbled through his body and it was everything he could do not to turn her into the shelter of his arms and take them to the ground. He pulled away and leaned his forehead onto hers.

“You are by and far a major distraction to me, but one that I’m looking forward to spending the rest of my life with. I love you, Allison. I know that my timing could be better, but I really love you.”

The look in her eyes made him pause. She looked terrified for several seconds then she looked away. He started to ask her what was wrong when she spoke.

“I don’t know what I feel about you. I’ve never…you know what I am, what I’m capable of, yet you still say that. I’m…no one has ever loved me before, or I them. I’m not saying I won’t love you. I just…I don’t know how.”

Aiden decided he could live with that, for now. She hadn’t said she hated him and to him that was better than he expected a few days ago. He had willed his sword back to him and it was safely in his hand before he thought about what he’d done. But apparently Zane didn’t. She laughed outright and turned to give him a hug—the first one she had ever given him, or anyone that he knew of, since she’d met him.

When they landed at the master’s home he felt better. Hungry, but better. When they entered the household Duncan was there was a packet of blood for them both as well as a steak, nearly raw for Zane.

“The young miss was injured sire. I felt as if she would benefit more from this than you would.” Duncan was a treasure, Aiden thought, and shook the man’s hand.

~~~

Simon set up men at each door at the bus terminal at two in the afternoon. He didn’t want to take the chance of missing that Sara person by her coming home early and him not getting her. He couldn’t believe how incredibly stupid her husband was to give out the information on when she was going to arrive and that she was driving home. The meeting with Aaron would be the topping on the cake and his idea to kill the vampire was all planned out.

“If you miss her then not only will I cut you to pieces, but your entire family will become donors for my next projects. I won’t tolerate failure again, do you understand me?”

The wolf standing before him was new. He’d come to him late last night looking for a place to sleep and had killed three of Simon’s best men before settling down on a pallet near the fire. Simon asked him to come to him first thing this morning and he’d made him in charge of the mission.

“I will serve you as you deserve. The men are at each gate waiting. I’ve given them the picture of the target and they also know that failure will not be an option. That if they miss her I will kill them, but not before they watch me kill their young.”

Simon knew he’d made the best choice. This man was a brutal killer and he was huge too. Simon thought maybe he might have to get some of his sperm and see if he could breed more just like him. Dismissing him Simon settled down at the table and looked over the new plans for the lab.

Sara was going to be the golden goose. Not only was she going to carry the seeds of his future child—he’d only just decided that—but she was also going to be the mother of all the army he was putting together. He mentally rubbed his hands together in anticipation. Yes, he was close, closer than he’d been all those decades ago when Tim was in charge.

It was four o’clock when he started for the mall. He didn’t want to miss the look on MacManus’ face when he realized that his wife wasn’t coming home to him and that he was going to die as well. Simon had three men already set up at the mall to subdue the vampire and was confident that things were going as planned. When he got to the restaurant at a little before five he sat in the corner near the entrance to watch for the vamp. Simon wasn’t really sure what he looked like, but knew without a doubt that he’d be able to pick the stupid man out without any problems. It was nearly an hour later when he realized that the vamp didn’t know what he looked like either and could very well be sitting at one of the tables right now waiting for him. Simon pulled out his cell phone just as it rang.

“I’m running a bit behind. I just realized that I haven’t a clue that I’m looking for and was wondering if you could please give me a description of maybe what you have on to help me out once I get there?”

Simon grinned. Okay, give the man points for thinking like he did. “Of course. I should have thought of that first. I have on a navy blue polo and gray dress slacks. I have dark hair and I’m sitting near the place that sells those delicious pretzels.”

Simon looked down at the napkins in front of him. He’d had six of them since he’d sat down and wondered if he had time for another. He loved the fact that no matter what he ate, it didn’t seem to hurt his body much. He was eyeing the counter again when MacManus spoke.

“I have on a black silk shirt and black dress pants. My hair is dark and well; it’s very long and loose today. My wife, she likes it down, and I wanted to please her.”

Simon nearly snarled at the vampire, but caught himself before he did. He didn’t want to give the man reason for not coming at this point. Simon looked at his watch. In about twenty minutes it wouldn’t matter anyway. Sara would be his.

“Of course you do. I look forward to seeing you soon then.”

After they hung up Simon sat there for several minutes trying to regain control of his temper. Sara was going to be his, not this stupid vampire’s. Simon couldn’t believe how much it bothered him that his man, this
it
, was thinking he could be a husband to someone like Sara. Simon grinned as he made his way over to the pretzel place again. He was going to have fun making her forget about her husband, not that he thought it would be a problem.

After ordering another triple order of pretzels and also a large Coke, Simon made his way back to his table to eat. He laid his cell phone on the table beside him and waited for the call from David, his wolf from last night.

~CHAPTER 24~

“I’m at the bus station now. I have my men at each point watching the wolves that work for Sinclair. Are you sure we can’t just kill them now and be done with it?”

Aaron laughed at the man on the cell phone. David Wolff had thought the plan was good to a point, but the thought of the rogue wolves running lose just “curled his tail,”

he’d told Aaron.

“No. Not yet at any rate. I don’t think you told me how you got in so close with Sinclair so quickly. I thought the plan was for you to just become a part of his crew.”

David, Bradley’s brother and a cop, had volunteered to infiltrate the Sinclair wolf pack and become the ears and eyes for Zane and the others. When he’d contacted his brother at noon to tell him that he’d not only gotten in, but he was now the head wolf in charge, Zane was thrilled. She had been in constant contact with him since they’d shown up at the bus station.