Night Hungers (7 page)

“I’m going to remove the bullet. You have to lay still. I’m not...we’ve both been hit, but silver doesn’t harm me like it will you. I have to have your permission and a trade. I need for you to give me something and accept what I’m about to do for you. Do you understand?”

Aiden was starting to feel the silver poison his body. “Yes. I...your name. Can you tell me your name?”

“Allison Zander. Everyone calls me Zane. Do you have a trade? You need to think it up quickly. I can’t help you without it.”

“I don’t have anything of...I don’t know what you need or want. Tell me...give me a choice, please?”

Aiden was fading quickly, so he nearly missed the whisper through his mind.
“You
can ask her for a boon. A favor, one to use for later that she cannot refuse.”

“You’ll owe me one, Zane. I’ll collect in the future—if I have a future. Please, save me.” Then everything blacked out.

~~~

Closing her eyes, Zane poured her energy into the wound. The first thing she did was stop the bleeding. It would do her no good to save him from the bullet if he bled to death on the floor.

Zane could hear the others talking, but paid little attention to them. She needed to focus all of her energies on him, what she was doing and on the area surrounding the house and its occupants.

The bullet had lodged between his ribs and she had to break one to get the silver bullet out. Not moving her hands from his bloodied side, the bullet suddenly popped out of the hole it had entered and dropped to the floor. Throwing back her head, Zane gathered energy from the air and a little from Aaron to pour back into the blood of Aiden.

Chasing down the poisoned blood proved to be tricky, but it wasn’t long before she could feel that it was all gone. Slowly backing out of his body and back into hers, she began the process of mending the rib and closing the wound. She couldn’t give him blood, but she knew that when he was able to feed next, he’d be as good as new.

Moving away from the vamp on the floor she just managed to back to the counter behind her before she felt the first wave of weakness move over her. “He’ll need to feed when he wakes. The poison is gone. I don’t think he’ll have any problems once he feeds.”

Zane started to rise, but thought she’d just sit a moment longer. Moving her hand to her thigh she could feel the bullet moving its way out of her muscle. Soon it would be gone as well.

“What happened here, Zane? Who did...you knew it was going to happen. You came here to save us. Who was it?” Aaron asked as he pulled a linen towel down from above them and pressed it to her wound.

Zane could feel the anger boil off the master and wanted to smile. He was furious and yet his voice sounded like he’d just ask her what time it was. This man had a great deal of control and Zane was impressed.

“The same people who had that man kidnapped from the other night. I don’t know how they knew you had anything to do with it, but apparently somewhere there is a leak.

My boss is going to know what I know, which isn’t much. I have a blood connection to him.” She pointed to the man on the floor she’d just saved. “And I felt them coming toward him. When I got here, I realized that Mrs. MacManus had to be my first priority.

I’m sorry about your kitchen. I hope you have good insurance.”

Aaron looked around the kitchen as though he’d never seen it before. It was a mess.

What hadn’t been destroyed by gunfire had been destroyed by falling debris. Duncan was already sweeping things up and muttering about the roast he had in the oven and how it would never do now.

“You know, fuck the kitchen. Tell me what is going to happen n—wait, what did you mean that Sara had to be a priority? Whoever did this was out for her? I’ll kill the son-of-a-bitch!”

“No, nothing like that. They were only after you and I guess whoever happened to be next to you. No, Mrs. MacManus is pregnant. As soon as I...are you all right?”

Aaron was looking at her strangely. She didn’t know what she’d said to make him look like he’d just won the lottery, but she supposed it was better than the anger he’d had earlier. When he suddenly got up and pulled Mrs. MacManus into his arms she guessed it was the baby. Soon after, they left the room. Zane looked up at Duncan when he handed her a glass of blood.

“Thank you very much, Mr. Duncan.” She drained it in one gulp. “I don’t suppose you have some juice, do you? I can drink that in a pinch if you have it.”

Duncan looked at her oddly then asked, “What sort of container is a pinch, Miss Zane? I believe we have all kinds of glasses and cups, but I do not believe I have run across a ‘pinch.’”

Zane grinned. “Just a regular glass then. That’ll be fine. Then I’ll take him...what’s him name anyway?”

“Master Aiden St. James. He is brother to Master Tristan and brother-in-law to Mistress Bailey. I believe he is staying here. I can lend you a hand if you so desire. I cannot lift him, but I can lead the way to his lair.”

When Duncan handed her the full glass of orange juice she drank it straight down. It really wouldn’t help her much; she would have had to drink the entire gallon for it to even make a dent in what she needed. But she stood anyway. Reaching down to pull Aiden over her shoulder, she staggered slightly and had to hold onto the wall several times on their trip to the lower levels. When Duncan managed to get the door open with her help, Zane wasn’t sure how much longer she would be able to go without rest and blood. When she put Aiden onto his bed she held onto the post of it while she watched Duncan fuss with the man and the blankets.

“Miss, if you do not mind me saying so, you look as if you might be all done in. You could stay here tonight. There are plenty of beds and if you require a sub room, that could be arranged as well. This family is greatly indebted to you.”

Zane looked at the bed. It looked soft and inviting. She didn’t much care for the man there, but the thought of resting even if only for an hour or two, would be well worth being next to him.

“If you could just let me rest for an hour, I’ll sleep here. He is out and won’t notice me. I’m very tired and weak, but I’ll be out before he rises, I promise.”

“I doubt Master Aiden will mind. You did manage to save his life as well. When you are ready to leave I will make sure that you have an ample breakfast to send you on your way with. Have a good rest, Miss Zane.”

As soon as the door closed behind him Zane started having second thoughts. She had never shared a bed with anyone before and was slightly nervous now about sharing one with the huge vamp. She looked down at him in his slumber.

Aiden was very beautiful. Zane supposed that wasn’t the correct word for a man, but it suited him. His dark hair, loose now from his tie at the back, hung down in a cascade of dark silk. The color reminded her of dark, rich coffee she had seen at a few of the coffee shops she’d been by. His eyes, closed now in sleep, were a deep blue with silver around the edges. She knew that when he was pissed, which was what he was around her most of the time, they would darken to the deepest red. His face was a classical one. High cheekbones, long strong jaw. His nose looked like it might have been broken at one time; there was a small bump right in the middle that gave him a devil-may-care look. Long lashes, as dark as his hair, fanned over his cheeks.

When she felt herself reaching for his shirt to open, just to see if he was as solid as he looked, Zane staggered to the bathroom. She wanted to be gone before he woke and if she stood around gawking at him like a lovesick kid she’d still be here when he did.

Turning on the shower tabs and realizing that the shower must have been used recently, she flushed when she realized that it had been him.

Her own wound was still bleeding, though not nearly as bad. She cleaned it as best she could and after wrapping a towel around her body, went into the bedroom, closing the door to the bathroom behind her. The room was black as pitch, but her eyesight was as good as any vampire’s and she moved to the bed without once popping her toe against anything. Taking the towel off and tossing it toward the chair, she pulled the blanket up and over her nude body. Exhaustion hit her hard and before she knew it, Zane was sound asleep.

~CHAPTER 8~

Aiden pulled the warmth closer to him. He thought he’d never had a softer blanket than the one he had right now. And it smelled delicious, like his mother’s flower garden in the last summer nights. When he moved his hand down he froze. Opening one eye he looked at his “blanket.”

It was Zane. Zane was in his bed and wrapped around him like a comforter and...Christ! She was naked. Moving his hand a little more, he realized that her breast filled his hand. Filled it fully and the hardened nipple was just between his fingers.

Before he could stop himself, he gently rolled the hard peak between his thumb and finger and nearly groaned out loud when she arched against him.

Still rolling her nipple in his fingers, he shifted his body so that she was now facing him. He wanted to take her nipple into his mouth and sample the wonderful treat, but he also wanted to explore her more before she woke. He grinned a half grin, knowing full well that if she were to wake now she’d more than likely put the bullet back into his body and leave it there. When he pinched it a little harder she moaned in her sleep.

Aiden was rock hard. His cock needed relief from his pants and needed to be buried deep in the woman in his arms. Closing his eyes, and without taking his hands off Zane, he willed his shirt and shoes off. He thought about his pants too, but knew that he was pushing his state of undress as it was. Besides, if he were honest with himself, he was actually afraid of Zane. She was a formidable woman.

Reluctantly removing his hand from her luscious breast Aiden smoothed his hands down her body. Her skin was warm, almost hot. He loved the softness of it, the way his hand felt moving along her skin.

That’s when he noticed the tats on her body. There were several weapons on her, all lethal-looking with a great deal of artwork and a tremendous amount of detail.

Along her entire right side from the breast bone to her hip was a long knife. Even in the darkened room, he could see that it was silver. The handle was curved and bejeweled-looking. He wondered what had possessed her to have such a tattoo put on her body.

Aiden wondered if this was like the knife Aaron had described when he’d told them about the cave.

That was when he noticed the one on her hip about two inches below her hipbone. It was of a Glock, one of the smaller ones. Running his hand over her skin and the tat he was amazed at how hot it was, and how detailed. Moving his face toward her neck and the warm flesh there Aiden did moan this time. It was deep and hungry-sounding even to his ears. He knew the exact moment Zane woke up and felt him there.

“If you bite me, you’ll die. If you don’t remove yourself from my body, you’ll die. If you linger too long, you’ll die.”

Not much in the way of payoffs, just bad news he thought, and snuggled deeper into her neck and licked the pulse beating there. Her flavor, the taste of her, nearly had him throw her on to her back so he could take her. He raised his head and looked down at her.

“You’re in my bed, naked. You can’t expect a man not to take advantage of that, can you? You are luscious, has anyone ever told you that?”

“No, they’ve never seen me nude before. Get off me, you big lug. I have to get up. I need to get out of here and find who shot up the master’s home.”

Zane was a virgin. He didn’t know why that both thrilled and terrified him, but it did.

He leaned down to her mouth and brushed his over hers. Her hot breath fanned over his face and he couldn’t think beyond the need to taste her.

“Zane, let me kiss you. Give me your mouth, give it to me, please?” Her sigh nearly undid him. When she shifted he moved closer still. Then he stopped.

“I will shoot you. This gun is loaded with silver and a silver liquid is inside each bullet. Let me up right now or I pull the trigger. I did ask you nicely, now I do it my way.”

Aiden moved back but didn’t let go of her. He recognized the gun. He glanced to her hip and saw that the one there, the tattoo, was missing. All that was left was the empty holster. Aiden looked into her eyes before he spoke. “You can pull that free of you as a weapon. You are never unarmed, are you? Are the others, the other tattoos, the same?”

“Yes. I have a blade at my side and one on my back. There are stars along the back of my hairline that are razor sharp. There are ten of them stacked with ten stars each.

Behind each ear is a magazine for this gun and the one on the other size. They are stacked ten each as well. My ankles are wrapped in silver chain. Now that you’ve an inventory of my weaponry, I’d like for you to let me go. I have to go to work.”

Aiden moved back more, bringing her with him, the gun included. When she sat up over his waist he put his hands on her hips and held her still. He didn’t even look at the gun and ignored the fact that it was pointed at his chest. All he could hope for was that as his mate, she wouldn’t be able to harm him.

“I want to bury myself deep inside of you, Zane. But I can wait for you. You are my mate, mine for all time. I’m sure that you know that I tell you the truth. I can’t help but protect you, keep you safe. I also know that with you, it will be different. You are as much a predator as I. But I need to know that you are safe.”

Zane shifted slightly over him and he couldn’t stop the groan of need that rippled through him. Her wet heat now centered over his cock and though he was still clothed, he could still feel her. Looking down were she covered him he could see her tight curls glistening with her juices. He couldn’t help himself, and before he knew it his fingers were tracing the line of curls that covered her.

“Stop... please, don’t touch... please stop this, Aiden. I don’t want this and you...ohyesohyesohyes!”

Aiden flicked his finger deep, touching her tiny nub over and over. Her gun went to her hip and disappeared back into her holster, he assumed. When Zane leaned forward her hands splayed over his chest, he pressed his thumb and finger deep into her soft lips and opened her to him. He leaned up and held her to his body even as he tormented her clit. She started to ride his cock, soaking it with her copious amount of cream.