What Rough Beast [Blood Oath 1] (13 page)

"His weres kept me busy for only fifteen minutes, cherie.” Luc crossed his arms over his chest and frowned thunderously. “Fifteen minutes. If I hadn't returned early when I suspected the weres spying on me suggested Garrick wasn't as physically incapacitated as I'd believed... Good God, bebe, what were you thinking?"

She winced, principally because at the time, she hadn't been.

Thinking, that is.

But Luc wasn't nearly done yet. Not by half. He'd been ranting and railing at her since the night before, and his ire had thus far shown little sign of lessening. Kate squirmed in her seat, wishing she'd kept her big mouth shut, and at the same time, fighting the urge to slap him silly. He and Garrick both. The wretches.

"What if I hadn't evaded my were babysitters as easily as I did? If I'd taken ten minutes more to reach you? What would I have found in the library then?” Luc paced the bedroom of their suite, body tense, his steps rigid. “Mark my words—you would've been blood-mating."

"I would not!” Kate protested, though she had no idea what blood-mating was. Didn't sound fun, so no matter how far she'd crossed the line, she was pretty sure she wouldn't have taken it that far. Rather than owning up to her share of the mess, she stabbed an accusing finger at Luc. “We were just kissing until you showed up."

Of course, this was all his fault.

Kate hadn't quite worked out how yet, but she was reasonably confident that Luc and Garrick were entirely to blame.

Luc's snort of disbelief argued otherwise. “You wanted him? So much you couldn't abide three simple rules? Fine. You have him, and I'll tolerate no more complaints about it."

Kate leaped to her feet in righteous indignation. “Freaking werewolves threatened me.
Werewolves
, Luc!"

He rolled his eyes. “They challenged Garrick as your potential mate, not you. You were never in any legitimate danger.” Luc's eyes narrowed. “Linked as we are, you knew nothing would keep me from you if you were at risk."

She glanced away. Did she know that? Really?

Luc flinched. “Kate?” He crossed to her, drawing her into his arms and against his chest.
"I'll always return to you, anytime you need me."
He brushed a rough kiss at her temple. “Mating with him won't change that."

She hugged him to her, comforted by his touch, his scent. She hated that Luc was furious with her and was furious with herself for being so foolish.

"I worry for you, chere, because you were mortal short weeks ago. You don't yet know how our world operates or your place inside it.” He pushed out a long breath. “But your ignorance isn't entirely responsible. You made a mistake, yes, but new instincts drive you.” His muscles uncoiled. “Your vampyr is far stronger than I suspected, but I should've recognized that. You've shown signs from the beginning."

She tipped her head up to stare at him. “Signs?"

"Others have not followed."

Her nose wrinkled. “Other vampires, you mean. But there have been others. Tobias—"

Luc waved a dismissive hand. “He wasn't looking for you. He was running from headhunters and other rogue vampyr. We traveled the same roads to avoid them. Considering how far we traveled to reach Garrick's sanctuary, crossing the path of a rogue was unavoidable."

"But—"

"We've been at Pridemore over a week. The estate should be crawling with vampyr seeking a mate by now, but none have answered the call. Because you are not drawing them."

More vampire voodoo hoodoo?

She blinked at him. “I beg your pardon?"

"It's no mythological power, no ‘hoodoo,’ as you call it.” Luc smiled down at her. “It's simple biological engineering. Vampyr females are rare, an instrument of population control. Too many of us would endanger our human prey population or, God forbid, stir the humans from their complacency to hunt us. What good would be served if all lived, only to die of starvation or worse?

"So, in his wisdom, God created males who cannot survive long into full adulthood outside a pair-bond, perhaps to spare us an eternity of solitude. But there is also a scarcity of women susceptible to the virus. Males who survive infancy focus their entire being on mating: learning skills necessary to protect and provide for a mate, building a sanctuary for her, but most importantly, competing against one another to find her. They absolutely will not stop until they have mated. Or died."

Kate shuddered in quick fear.

Luc mentally chuckled.
"Garrick is old, powerful, cunning. You need never be anxious that he will fail you."

"He will fear it enough for you both."

Kate's lips thinned to a waspish line. She didn't want to think about Garrick. “What does this have to do with me attracting other vampires?"

"Vampyr, cherie. Not vampires."

She cocked an eyebrow at him.
"Whatever."

He grinned. “Females are scarce and after the infection, very weak, but from the moment the transition has ended, females summon males to them.” When she opened her mouth, he touched a gentle finger to her lips to silence her. “Another biological tool of survival. Females need mates as much as our men do."

"I don't need a mate.” She frowned. She didn't like that idea. Didn't like it at all. “Why should I need Garrick when I have you?"

Luc rested his cheek on the top of her head. “I am your guardian, Kate. I gladly give you the blood of my body, and I will fight to the death to protect you. There is nothing I will not do for you. I'll love you until I die."

She fidgeted in his arms, almost wished she could tell him she loved him too. But she didn't. She barely knew him. Worse, she was scared of him. Not as scared of him as she was of Garrick. But a vampire was a vampire was a vampire.

Curiously, though, she believed him. In his twisted vamp way, Kate believed that he did love her. That he would protect her. “Then I don't need anybody else. As long as I have you."

"Finding a ward eases our loneliness, but it only delays the inevitable. In many ways, becoming your guardian has intensified the attraction to turn, keep you for myself. It's what makes mating so perilous, not just to the warriors who fight one another to reach you, but for guardians as well. If I were a few decades older, my temptation might've proven too terrible to resist.” He tipped her chin up with one long finger to force her gaze to his. “You need Garrick. To protect you from me."

Fear slithered through her. It iced her veins and made her head ring. “You wouldn't hurt me.” She gulped. Not Luc. Anyone but Luc. “I don't believe it."

"Right now, no. Thank God for Garrick. He steadies me. He's so damned noble. I'd rather die than disappoint him.” Luc laughed. “But if the temptation grows stronger than Garrick's hold over me..."

He shook his head. “You've taken my blood too often. You're completely vulnerable, your mind an open door to me.” His lips curved, but his smile quavered. “Lucky for us, your vampyr has already chosen, so neither of us need worry. The fact that no other vampyr have tracked us here proves it."

Kate closed her eyes against the anxiety twisting her gut. Luc's Yoda-like platitudes meant little to her. Only the threat. The screaming, terrifying threat that Luc might one day turn against her too. “I don't see what that has to do with anything. We're in a swamp. Nobody's going to find us in a swamp."

"No human,” Luc corrected. “But an unmated vampyr male?” He kissed the tip of her nose.

Her eyes flashed wide.

"For an unmated male, no hiding place is too remote."

Her stomach clenched. “But how?"

"Some of the pull is pheromones. This I know, because I followed your scent down the tunnel at David's stronghold. But I was already close. Scent only pinpoints a female's exact location. The initial draw happens here.” He tapped his head. “The virus awakens some part of the female brain that screams like a siren. We all sense it. We know when a female has become vampyr. We all, from the newest fledgling to elder warrior, follow that signal. Where we are, what we are doing is immaterial. Africa, Europe, Asia, the moment your transition ended, you should have begun luring vampyr the world over to you."

"And therein lies your power."

She averted her eyes from his. Power? What power?

If she had so much power, she'd thus far been able to exercise little of it.

"Garrick found us—found you—before your transition had finished. His senses were so attuned to yours, he tracked you before you should've been capable of calling males to you. Your human mind can't understand it, but he really does love you. There is nothing he wouldn't give you, nothing he would deny you."

Her lips thinned. “Except freedom."

"If doing so wouldn't mean your destruction, I don't believe he would deny you even that."

"He would die. Do you understand? He would set you free if he had the power to do so, though it would mean his death. But he would gladly do it, because you wished it. Do you not comprehend the danger you pose to him?"

She rolled her eyes. “I'm hardly a threat to Garrick."

Luc snorted.
"Because you do not love him!"

"Our males need the hope of the pair-bond to sustain them into full maturity, to prevent them from turning out of despair as Tobias and so many others have, but after the transition, our women feel nothing for us except horror and stark terror."

Kate's lips pursed.

She could hardly argue with that.

"You are hesitant, but the vampyr inside you is not. Your vampyr scented Garrick as one strong and powerful enough to protect you. Your new instincts drove you to take his blood in spite of your apprehensions. And mine. Your vampyr marked Garrick as your mate when you took his blood and she will not stop until you've given him what he needs. Not just your blood and your body, but all of you. Your heart and your mind."

"Garrick couldn't be less interested in my heart. Or what's in my head.” She raised a silencing hand when Luc opened his mouth to argue. “Oh, he's determined to see through the whole mating thing. I'll give him that much. But I—
me
, who I am—I'm an inconvenience. A necessary evil."

"You are no evil to him. Inconvenient? Yes. You aren't the woman he would have chosen for himself, but you're exactly the woman he needs."

Luc exhaled a long breath. “You're right, though. You are extremely necessary to him. Vital. If your mating fails, you can choose another. He cannot. He will die. So God leveled the playing field for us. While mating, your fear will lessen and die, replaced by instincts more fundamental. More basic. Your vampyr will ease your apprehensions until they fritter away and make Garrick as essential to you as you are to him. It's already begun."

She shifted in his arms, anxious at his implacable tone. Luc, who she'd come to depend on in the crazy world she's stepped into, had a core of unbending steel. “Essential? I still don't get it. You've explained the why, but not the what. Not the how."

He frowned. “You refuse to accept what you do not wish to see so plainly before you."

"Tell me!"

He cupped her cheek in his palm. “You will taste our need. I don't know how long—a couple weeks. No more than a month.” He shrugged a shoulder. “Clothing will become more unbearable, too abrasive for your increasingly sensitive skin. The heat need not precede marking. Obviously. You've stripped out of your clothes in your sleep since we arrived—"

"Heat. Did you say heat?” Her heart stuttered inside her chest. “Like a cat?"

"No, bebe. An alley cat will lift its tail for any tom. Your body, your blood will be for Garrick only. Soon, you won't even tolerate me.” His mouth crooked to form a sad smile. “You are for Garrick and for Garrick alone. No other will satisfy you, and your desires, Kate, will be ravenous."

With only the stern warning to remain within the house's interior—unnecessary since she recalled the wolves that prowled the swamp with perfect clarity—Luc left Kate to her own devices. The uncommon freedom should've felt liberating. Between Garrick and Luc, Kate didn't think she'd had more than scattered minutes to herself in weeks. And the house was fun to explore. The place was huge, two stories, with narrow windowed corridors along the perimeter so that the large rambling rooms in the center were protected from the sun.

At least Luc had finally given her that answer.

The virus destroyed some sort of enzyme in her body during the worst of the infection's onset. Without the enzyme, her skin had no defense against ultraviolet light. It wouldn't char her to a pile of ashes like in the horror movies, but the burns could be dangerous for a new vampyr like Kate if competing secondary infections weakened her. Luc promised that she'd be able to do all the things she'd enjoyed before. Beach volleyball. Hiking through the mountains. Baking next to a crisp, clear swimming pool on a blistering summer's day. But her body would take a few years to replace the enzyme the virus had destroyed. Until it did, she needed to be careful. Very careful.

Garrick had designed his home to best protect her tender skin.

He had been careful
for
her.

He seemed to have considered everything, from the basest considerations to the most extravagant. Fresh flowers filled vases. Fabrics draped in lush abundance. Lovingly preserved antiques mingled with contemporary pieces that were as comfortable as they were beautiful.

Her nervous, darting gaze reviewed one room after another, but her attention refused to settle.

Kate's skin felt too tight. When Garrick's sweatshirt and loose pajama bottoms grew too coarse, she returned to her suite to reconsider the clothing the weres had brought for her.

She'd never worn anything so risque in her life.

Her wardrobe had been selected, apparently, to tempt Garrick.

She laughed bitterly.

Did the weres not know she would soon start tearing at him like an animal in heat?

Perhaps.

Only yesterday, she'd shivered inside Garrick's sweatshirt.

The weres had provided suggestive, flirty dresses of the sheerest fabrics—in March—and her skin still felt too hot, too flushed, too...everything.

Tears of humiliation burned in her eyes, but Kate brushed them away with determined hands and reached for a pale blue sundress, the most conservative piece among the lot. Spaghetti straps plunged to a narrow bodice that lifted her breasts and showcased cleavage Kate hadn't realized she possessed. The fitted waist tapered to a V, showing off her flat stomach. The flaring skirt emphasized the curve of her hips, and high cuts in the fabric flashed glimpses of her legs and thighs.