Tempting Gray - Untouchables 02 (17 page)

Grayson was badly injured so it was decided she’d
drive. With the help of Kane, the mysterious mercenary who’d saved their lives,
Arabella and Grayson finally got on the road and a safe distance away from the
casino.

The scent of his fresh blood filled the car. “We
have to get you healed up. Who’s your healer?” she asked steadily.

His shoulders shook with dry laughter. “We don’t
have one.”

Her eyebrow flew up at that. “You mean to tell
me one of the wealthiest and most famous vampire families in the world doesn’t
have a doctor on call?”

She peered at him. He sat hunched in the
passenger seat. They’d grabbed his clothes and he’d pulled them on gingerly
before they finally made it out of that hellhole.
I can’t believe I’m not
dead
.

“I don’t want to go back to the estate yet.” He
wasn’t looking at her and he wasn’t saying much. Surely the man must have a lot
going on right now. He’d just killed the second Donato son. He’d taken vengeance
for his
bruid’s
murder tonight. But that still didn’t solve many of the
problems they had. Such as the father, Vincent. He would learn of his second
son’s death and surely retaliate.

“Okay, I have an idea. Just sit tight.”

After a long, quiet drive back to her pack,
Arabella pulled to a stop. Sophie Brandenburg was the pack healer. An older
woman with long graying hair, forever caught in tangles around her head, met
them outside. Sophie stood shorter than Arabella’s five-four and forever wore
the same flower printed dresses. Tonight her dress had blue flowers on a white
background. She wiped her mouth using the shoulder of her dress.

“Is that you, Ara? What’s brought you all the
way up here?”

Sophie lived quite secluded on pack land. She
preferred it that way. Or otherwise she’d have every pack member with a simple
headache banging on her door. This far out made them think twice about abusing
her powers. Only serious matters came here. Especially as late as it was.

“I have a little problem.” She opened the
passenger door to reveal the bloodied mess that was Grayson.

Sophie gasped at the sight, then shook her
head. “Well let’s get him inside.” She sniffed and made a disgusted face. “He’s
a vampire. Don’t know how much help I can be with one of his kind.”

“I’m sure we can figure something out,”
Arabella said.

Grumbling, Grayson pushed their helping hands
away and stood himself. He wobbled and ended up leaning on her to help get
inside. They followed Sophie up into the cabin. The home was small and cozy
with a warm fireplace that crackled with life and the fresh scent of homemade
bread recently baked. It always made Arabella feel good to be here.

She was panting beneath Grayson’s weight. She
saw him sweating and struggling to keep his weight off her but he was too hurt.
After everything they did to him, only parts of it she’d been able to watch,
she completely understood. She sat him down on the spare cot Sophie used for
patients.

“Let me wash my hands,” Sophie said, disappearing
into the kitchen. Water turned on a moment later. “Tell me what happened in the
meantime.”

“I don’t even know where to begin.”

Sophie entered the room again, drying her hands
on a towel. “Vampire,” she said to Grayson. “Why don’t you tell me what happened?”

Grayson’s eyes had drifted shut. At the mention
of his name, they opened. “Stabbed repeatedly in the abdomen with a silver
blade. Hacked across my back with a hatchet also made of silver. Electrocuted,
shocked, hit and whatever else they did that I can’t remember. I’m fine.”

Arabella snorted. “Fine, my ass. You’re not
fine. He’s badly injured and he needs help. Can you help, Sophie?”

The healer shrugged then sat on the cot. She
started removing his clothes, much to his denials. “Shut up, young man, and do
as I say. You don’t want to see me get forceful.” That calmed him enough to
allow Sophie and Arabella to take his clothes off. The bloody, hurt mess that
greeted them was not a pleasant sight.

“I just need time to heal,” Grayson said, his
voice a croak. “And blood.”

“Time you have. What we don’t have is blood.”

Arabella straightened to her full height. “You
don’t have any spare blood around here?”

Sophie was shaking her head. “I’m a Were
healer. I’ve never had need of spare blood. But I believe I know a way to help speed
up the healing process. I’ll be back.” She went back into the kitchen.

Arabella stared down at Grayson. “You need
blood.” It was fact. One she hadn’t thought of. She’s wasn’t a vampire, so
requiring blood wasn’t something she was used to.

“I’ll heal enough without it.” He grimaced as
he tried to find a comfortable position, which apparently was impossible.

“You should have let me take you to the
Blackmoore Estate. There’s plenty of blood there.” Something beguiling in his
dark brown eyes softened her heart. “I don’t know what to do,” she whispered.

“Come here,” he said softly. She started to
lean down to him, her chest full with emotion. But then Sophie swept back in to
the room whistling the theme from
Gilligan’s Island
.

“All right, here’s what I can do for you and it’s
not as much as I’d like. First off, I don’t keep supplies of blood lying around
and I think you’d be hard pressed to find any local Were who has any either.
Obviously you’re a vampire who’s lost a lot of blood and it needs to be replenished.”

“Right, so you can help then?” Arabella asked
hopefully.

“What I can do is make you a brew.”

Grayson started to try to sit up but his wounds
made that difficult. “I’m not drinking any of your brew.”

Arabella knelt by his side. She did not give
him her friendliest look. It had been a very long day and she was just happy to
be alive. All she wanted right now was a nice warm bed and lots of sleep. But
the night still wasn’t over and right now, in her crazed mind, that was his
fault. “You’re drinking it.” Her voice brooked no room for argument.

He must have seen the determination on her face—because
she was
not
budging on this. Nodding, he took the ceramic mug with the
saying
YOLO
written across it. Arabella chuckled at the
You only live
once
cup.

He sniffed the cup like it might contaminate him
if he got too close to it. He reared back. “It smells awful.” His stomach
heaved which only made him grunt in pain.

“It will help you to heal much faster so you
can get home to your own people.”

“Please,” she said, meeting his gaze.

He drank the contents of the cup in one
swallow, never breaking their connection. He finished and handed the cup back
to Sophie. He only gagged once to keep it down. A smile came over her and she
couldn’t keep herself from kissing him on the lips swiftly. “Thank you,” she
breathed again him.

Sophie groaned as she stood. “
Oooh
, damn
knees are always giving me a hard time. I’m going to bed now. My room’s in the
back. Ara, girl,” she looked around at the small cabin and shrugged, “sleep wherever
you can find space.”

Arabella looked down at the cot Grayson
currently occupied. It was double wide and used to accommodating big, injured Weres.
Now it had one half-naked vampire who she was pretty certain she loved. She
wasn’t ready to fully become aware of her new realization, but it was there
waiting for her. And it didn’t surprise her in the least. In fact, she had the
opposite reaction. Pure joy at finally understanding that she loved him, she
could love him, and she did. Whether or not he could ever reciprocate those feelings
was another matter entirely. And one that terrified her to find out.

Sophie left them and the room grew quiet save
for the crackle of the fire. Grayson lay his head back on the pillow as he
stared at the fire across the room. There was blood everywhere. Muttering
something to him, she went into the bathroom to grab some washcloths. She wet
them with warm water and returned. She began with his face, wiping the streaks
and dirt away.

“How do you feel?” she asked softly, not
wanting to disturb the quiet atmosphere.

“Like I got the shit beaten out of me.”

She laughed then clamped her lips together. “I’m
sorry, that was rude. I didn’t mean to laugh. It’s not funny.”

One corner of his mouth curled up into a grin. “It
was funny.” He sobered. “They hurt you.” His jaw stiffly grinded to the side.

“No, I just got a cold shower. I’m fine.” He
coughed but that soon turned to rich laughter. The kind she’d never heard him genuinely
make. It was a beautiful, contagious sound that had her laughing with him.

“You have this ability to take terrible
situations and think about them positively. I can never do that,” he admitted.

Which popped the question: why was he being so
candid with her? This wasn’t like him, smiling and laughing at her, being
honest and even sharing personal thoughts. This was not the Grayson she knew,
only the one she’d loved when she’d seen glimpses of that side of him. She
began cleaning her way down his neck and chest. And that’s where her focus
became fine-tuned.

In her life, Arabella noticed that when a man
saw a good-looking woman his eyes would usually widen and he’d end up staring
at her, dumbstruck. Sissy had recounted numerous tales, and Ara had even been
present for a few of them, where Sissy’s jaw dropped at the sight of a gorgeous
man. Well, Arabella didn’t have that problem. In fact, she didn’t entirely
understand it. She supposed she was just different like that. Her problem was different.
When she saw a gorgeous man, she clammed up. Her eyes wanted to avert away from
the gorgeous man and not look him in the eyes. Why she felt this strange sort
of cowardice, she didn’t know. Grayson had that effect on her. Though she was
much older now and more mature. She could hold his gaze, smile, and maybe even
flirt with him. But the power of his attractiveness still overwhelmed her.

His chest was a wall of sculpted muscle. A
spattering of hair covered his torso thinning down to a thin trail that
disappeared beneath the cover Sophie had pulled over his lower half. Such a shame.
His shoulders were defined, pronounced with muscle that carried down into his
arms and even his hands which clearly showed strength from a life of hard work.
His nipples were dusky brown flat rounds with a little nubbin she wanted to
kiss and nibble on herself. He had defined pectoral muscles that brought a
whole new dimension to his already incredible body.

Using the washcloth, she wiped away dirt and
blood. She rinsed the cloth when it needed to be cleaned and left no inch
dirty. Arabella took great care in washing his hands and pulling out the dirt
beneath his nails. He’d fought hard tonight and killed men. Now she felt like a
warrior’s wife after battle, cleaning her mate and trying to repair some of the
damage.

“I hate the black in your hair,” he said. He
spoke lazily like he was basking on a warm afternoon in the sun—then again he
was a vampire and certainly
never
did that. Sometimes she forgot he wasn’t
like her. He’d never eat a dinner she cooked. A pang of disappointment struck
her.

“Yeah, I know. I don’t do the exotic dark
beauty look very well. I’m more a sneakers and ponytail kind of lady.” Still,
his comment shouldn’t hurt her feelings, but it did.

“I prefer your natural color. I’ve never seen
anything like it.”

Then again he could take a bite out of you.

At the thought, her blood pumped hard, warming
her skin and making her flush. His bite, though brief and strained earlier, had
been a unique experience, that’s for sure. She wouldn’t be forgetting it any
time soon.
Or ever.
No way. She wanted him to do it again, but she
wanted it when they weren’t shivering cold and covered in blood and filth. She
wanted his bite when
he
wanted it. Already she could imagine how
wonderful it could be and wanted to sigh.

She laughed nervously and dropped his hand,
afraid she might start kissing his fingers or rubbing her cheek against him
like a cat if she didn’t stop. “Thank you. Both my parents were blonde. I’m
actually a little surprised I never came out darker like all my other relatives
who are brunettes.”

“It’s perfect how it is.

Her eyes bugged but she got it under control as
she continued to clean around his abdomen. Here she had to be careful of his
wounds. Being a vampire, it didn’t matter if they sanitized the wound with alcohol
or applied medication to it. He would need a fresh supply of blood to regrow
and heal, especially quickly. Whatever was in that brew surely would help.
Sophie was an incredible healer. But that also begged the question—what was in
that brew?

Because Grayson was staring up at her with a
smile on his face and look that said he wanted to kiss her. He was making it
awfully hard to try to breathe like a normal person.

“Thank you for saying that. I’ve always found
my hair problematic.”

He scoffed as if he found her statement
insulting. “How? It’s beautiful like sunshine. It makes me want to touch it.”