Stealing Fire (Bad Boys Of The Underworld Book 5) (8 page)

He stood up at the same time she did, and for a second they almost touched. Her head barely came up to his chin, and he couldn’t stop himself from leaning in and inhaling her scent.

Nothing special. No perfumes or fancy creams.
Yet he still couldn’t get enough.

She tensed at his proximity, and he moved away before she realized he was sniffing her. He figured she could only handle so much weirdness at a time.

“We’re good, right?” she asked, eyes firmly on the ground.

“You’re done. I’m sending this in today and later in the week, we’ll probably go to a medical center in the city and have some more tests done.”

“Can’t wait,” she muttered as she walked by him.

He stood alone in his study, only the lingering scent of Ella to keep him company. Soon the banging of machine guns sounded from the entertainment area.

He looked down at the blood in his hand. “This had better work,” he growled.

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I
t really was one of the strangest weeks of Ella’s life. It was a whirlwind of fear mixed with the nervous energy of doing something new. Cade and Dean made it their life’s mission to show her a good time, no matter how much she was determined to hate them.

And, God help her, it was starting to work. They would do anything and everything she asked as long as it fit within Lucian’s rules. Any movie she asked for, they would teleport to the store and buy. Not only that, they’d watch it with her. She watched
The Notebook
three times in a row just to see if they would cut her off. By the third viewing, they were quoting the lines, usually with crazy accents, and cheering every time Rachel McAdams took her clothes off, but they didn’t complain.

They brought her books and clothes and anything else she wanted. In the evenings, she would be ushered back to her room and warned to stay inside or else.

They never specified what the “or else” was, but their tones made it sound so serious.

Which was strange, because nothing Cade and Dean ever said was serious. They were always smiling and joking. As if the three of them were friends on vacation.

But then Ella would remember. They weren’t friends or old acquaintances. They’d kept her father there against his will, and now she was unable to leave. To clear her head, Ella would go for long hikes—with one of the guys right behind her, of course. At least they would hang back and give her the illusion of privacy for her to sort out her clustered thoughts.

Had Ray officially hired his niece to replace her? Was Dad okay?
He hadn’t seemed too injured when the police found him, but anytime someone lost consciousness it could be a sign of a serious problem. Besides, he wasn’t a young man anymore. Whenever she asked Cade or Dean about her father, they told her to talk to Lucian.
Fat chance.

Lucian was usually around somewhere, but he rarely spoke to her. He would say “hello” in the halls, but she would look anywhere but at him and he wouldn’t say any more.

So when he tracked her down in the middle of one of her hikes, she knew something was up. “What do you want?”

Lucian raised a brow at her hostile tone. “How can you possibly be so grumpy on such a beautiful day?”

She set her hands on her hips. “Don’t be dense. Say what you came to say.”

“Your blood tests came back. Feel like a field trip?”

She shifted on her feet. “What did they say?”

“The doctor’s exact words were ‘interesting.’ He wouldn’t tell me much more than that. Wants to see you in person. Are you up for it?”

Ella moved past Lucian, making sure to keep a few yards between them at all times. “I love how you phrase it like a question when we both know I have no choice.”

“There’s always a choice,” he said quietly from behind her.

“When you’re backed into a corner, there’s only one direction to go,” she muttered, refusing to say anything else.

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A
s they walked into the hospital lobby an hour later, all heads turned. Ella hung back, letting Cade and Lucian lead the way and take all the glory. They were the ones attracting all the attention anyway.

She was pretty enough, but it took a lot of time and effort to get back into show-stopping condition. Lucian and Cade were just that way naturally: the perfect cross between a male model and NFL linebacker.

Without stopping at any check-in desks, Lucian turned down one of the hospital corridors. After a few twists and turns, he let her into a normal-looking checkup room. Lucian turned to Cade. “Keep an eye out in the hall. Let me know if you hear anything.”

Cade nodded and left.

Ella looked around the room for something to distract her, trying her best to keep her gaze from the oversized male next to her. She had nothing to say to Lucian, and she couldn’t imagine she’d want to hear anything he had to say. She’d been able to live in the same house as him for a week and he’d barely acknowledged her presence.
What was a few more minutes of awkward silence?

She picked up a pamphlet about diabetes and flipped through the pages.

Ella didn’t think it possible, but Lucian actually looked uncomfortable.
Did he feel as on edge around her as she felt with him?

“Stay here. I’m going to find the doctor.” He abruptly left the room.

Stay here
. As if she had a choice.

She flipped through the rest of the pamphlet, learning more than she ever wanted to know about insulin injections and blood sugar levels.

She wanted to check her watch or a phone for the time, but Lucian didn’t allow her either of those items, so she was out of luck. A few more moments passed, and there wasn’t a word in the exam room she hadn’t read, more due to the lack of literature than the time passing.

She probably hadn’t been waiting more than ten minutes, but it felt longer. She inched the door open to peek into the hallway.

“Impatient much?” Cade stood watch outside the door.

“Why are you out there? Can’t you guard me from in here?”

“Miss me already?” he said with a sideways grin that probably got him all the girls.

Ella snorted. “Just wondering what’s so scary here.” In truth, she’d grown used to Cade. Her captivity would’ve been endless days and nights of confinement if not for Dean and Cade. They kept her amused and smiling, even if she didn’t want to.

It was pointless to be bored and alone when her main source of amusement was only a few feet away.

Cade glanced up and down the hallway before he turned back to her. “This is our first public trip with you. If anyone found out what we’re trying to do, they might plan an attack. Dean and a few others are on call if we need reinforcements.”

“Right. You mean the,” she paused to lower her voice for an overly dramatic whisper, “vampires?”

Cade raised a brow. “Laugh all you want. When you’re fighting for your life against one, you won’t think it’s so funny.”

“That’s why I have you, right? Aren’t you doing my fighting for me?”

“I am doing this for the sake of my species. Not for you at all.” He winked.

Ella shook her head at his endless peppiness and glanced around at the sterile, white surroundings. “Hospitals creep me out,” she muttered.

He shrugged. “Hospitals are fine. Doctors give me the shivers.”

“Something can scare you? I didn’t realize you were afraid of anything.”

“Hey! Being scared and creeped out are two different things. I’m just saying, I’ve seen more limbs chopped off by doctors than saved.”

She frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“I’ve been in a war or two.”

“Like what? You can’t be older than thirty.”

One side of his mouth ticked up. “Try three hundred thirty.” Her mouth dropped open. “Three hundred and thirty-four years, to be precise.”

“You can’t think you’re three centuries old!”

“I don’t think it. I know it.”

She thought about all the implications. “How old does that make Dean and Lucian?”

“Dean’s just a baby. He’s two fifty.”

“Two
hundred
and fifty? As in years? That’s a baby to you? What about Lucian?”

Cade stared down at her. “Don’t ask questions you don’t want the answer to.”

Footsteps sounded at the other end of the hall and, without looking, Ella recognized Lucian’s confident gait. “Quit playing around and tell me.”

Cade looked over her shoulder and nodded in greeting to Lucian. He leaned in close, whispering in her ear, “North of seven hundred.”

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T
he cold stethoscope was pressed to Ella’s chest and a quick shiver rushed through her. Something about sitting in the small room surrounded by two men made her feel naked even though she still wore her tank top and jeans.

Designer
tank top and jeans. Everything the boys brought her was top-of-the-line and made from quality materials she’d never even heard of. She wished she could hate the clothes, but damn if they didn’t look great on her.

How did the pants manage to hug her thighs and butt so tight without giving the slightest hint of a muffin top? Maybe it was magic.

She really wished she could think that sarcastically.

The doctor moved the stethoscope away.

“Hear anything interesting in there?” she asked.

He tightened his lips. “No, but I doubted I’d find two hearts or anything. You don’t really look like a Time Lord.” He burst out laughing.

Ella turned her blank stare to Lucian. A faint grin curved his lips. “You don’t watch
Doctor Who
?” he asked.

“Doctor What?”

The doctor put down the stethoscope with a little too much force. “I don’t think I can help this one.”

Ella frowned as she tried to figure out whether he was joking. The doctor certainly was a strange one. He reminded her of Dad a bit, but younger. Probably mid-forties or a well-maintained fifty. He had a scruffy blond beard and bright blue eyes.

Beneath his white coat, he had a big build Ella was more used to seeing on gym rats than doctors.

“Lucian—he knows about you, right?”

Lucian nodded. “Not that he wouldn’t anyway after your subtle way of asking.”

“That’s your problem. Is he human?”

The doctor turned around with a rather threatening needle in hand. “‘He’ is standing right here and I’m very human. Why do you ask?”

She shrugged. “Seems like no one’s human these days,” she muttered.

He stepped toward her with the needle, and Ella instinctively leaned back. “Whoa. What’s that for, buddy?”

He grimaced, apparently not happy about having to work with someone who was afraid of needles.
Well, tough luck.
She wasn’t exactly a fan of having needles stuck in her, so they would just have to deal with it.

“I need a small sample of blood.”

She shook her head. “No. Lucian took a sample of my blood a few days ago. That will have to hold you over.”

Lucian put a hand on her shoulder. She wasn’t sure whether it was more to comfort her or hold her in place. “He needs some more. It won’t be that bad.”

“Easy for you to say.”

“I’ve had much bigger objects than that shoved into me,” he insisted.