“Were you upwind?”
Ethan thought about it. “Yes. But that would only explain why I didn’t smell them, not why I didn’t hear them.”
“No.” Seth’s brow furrowed. “Even had they avoided crossing Heather’s lawn and been there, lying in wait, you should have heard their heartbeats, the slightest shuffling of their feet or clothing when they changed positions.”
Ethan agreed one hundred percent.
“How distracted were you?” Seth asked.
“I wasn’t that distracted,” Ethan protested. Sure, his mind had been on Heather. But that wouldn’t have shut down all of his senses.
“Were the vampires after you or her?”
“I think they may have been after her. Had they wanted me, they would’ve remained outside and simply overwhelmed me with their numbers.”
Melanie glanced at Ethan. “Not if they thought they could use her against you.”
Seth nodded. “Did they seem to want to kill you or capture you? Bastien mentioned that some vampires think they’ll live longer and be stronger and faster if they exist solely on the blood of an immortal.”
“I’m pretty sure they wanted me dead. They scored enough hits that I would’ve bled out if I had been a vampire. And toward the end there, I don’t think I was far from having my head removed.”
Heather sighed suddenly. “Threw my gun,” she mumbled.
Ethan moved closer to her, stroking the hand he held. “Heather?”
It took her several tries to open her eyes. Then she seemed to have trouble focusing. “Can’t believe . . . threw my gun.” Her words slurred as though she were drunk. “Can’t believe I . . .”
“You can’t believe you threw your gun?” Ethan supplied for her.
She gave her head a groggy shake. “Can’t believe I . . . threw like a girl.”
Seth and Melanie both laughed, then caught themselves and corralled their mirth.
Melanie smiled up at Ethan. “Was she by any chance bitten by a vampire?”
“Yes.”
“I thought so. She’ll probably be a little loopy for a while, then.”
If the chemical the vampire’s bite had exposed Heather to only left her a little loopy, then she had fared better than most mortals did when bitten.
Yet again, Ethan wondered how Heather had maintained enough control to continue firing her weapon with any accuracy after that vampire had sunk his teeth into her.
Heather couldn’t seem to get her mind to focus. Her eyes either, for that matter. When she opened them, the room around her tilted and rolled as if she had just come off a three-day bender.
Voices spoke around her. One female, two male.
And a hand clung to hers. Large. Warm. With long fingers woven in between her own.
“Ethan,” she murmured. Relief filled her when his huge, muscled form leaned over her and his handsome face swam into view.
“Hey,” he said with a soft smile and stroked her hair back from her face.
Heather could have purred like a cat, it felt so good. “Handsome.”
His smile broadened.
Her own smile faltered as her vision cleared and she got a good look at him. The hair above one ear was matted with blood. His face, neck, and clothing were splattered with it.
“You were wounded,” she breathed and clumsily tried to sit up.
“Whoa.” Ethan urged her back down. “It’s okay. I’m okay. Just lie back and rest.”
A pretty brunette in a white lab coat appeared beside him and reached for Heather’s arm, checking a tube that was taped to it.
“Am I in a hospital?” Heather asked. Her tongue felt weird. Thick. She kept slurring her words. And her thoughts jumped around in her head like children in a bouncy house.
“You’re at network headquarters,” Ethan told her.
The brunette smiled down at Heather. “Hi, Heather. I’m Dr. Melanie Lipton. You’re going to be fine. I’m just giving you a transfusion to replace the blood you lost.”
Heather nodded. The room did that tilt-and-roll thing again. “A vampire stabbed Ethan in the back. Would you please check it?” She grabbed Ethan’s shirt with her free hand, intending to turn him around so she could see his back, but two hundred plus pounds of muscle that didn’t want to be budged simply couldn’t be budged.
Ethan’s lips tightened. “He didn’t stab me in the back. He stabbed you in the back, because you threw yourself between us.”
Really? The foggy remnant of a memory teased her. Pain. Seeing the point of a blade emerge from her stomach just before she stumbled into Ethan’s back. “Oh. Right. Good.”
His eyes flashed bright amber. “Good?” he repeated, fury darkening his features. “The hell it was! You sacrificed yourself to save me! What were you thinking? I’m immortal. You’re mortal. Incredibly, incredibly mortal. You would’ve died if Seth hadn’t gotten to you in time! You could’ve—”
“I wasn’t thinking,” she admitted, cutting off his rant. Her pounding head couldn’t take the yelling. “And it never ended that way in the dreams. The vampire always—”
“Wait,” Ethan interrupted. “You dreamed this would happen? You dreamed vampires would attack again?”
“Yes.”
He stared at her. “When?”
Heather wondered why he looked so pissed. “When what?” She could’ve sworn he paused to count to ten.
“When did you dream it?” he gritted.
“Every night for the past couple of weeks.” Fatigue seeped into her like a sedative.
“And you didn’t think to call me?”
Heather closed her eyes.
“Heather?” Pause. “Heather?”
She pried her eyelids open and stared up at the handsome face hovering above her. “Ethan.” She smiled. “You brought me coffee.”
He looked to the brunette.
The brunette pursed her lips. “Did I mention she may be loopy for a while?”
Ethan sighed. “Yes, but I actually did bring her coffee.”
“I thought you hated coffee,” a deep voice rumbled beyond Heather’s view.
“He does,” Heather murmured. “But he wanted to come around the hedges.”
Silence.
The doctor cleared her throat. “If that’s a sexual metaphor, please don’t explain it to me.”
Masculine laughter.
“So tired,” Heather complained. She couldn’t keep her eyes open. “Could use that . . . coffee . . . bout now.”
“Sleep,” Ethan murmured. His lips brushed her cheek. “We’ll talk later.”
“Don’t leave,” she whispered.
“I won’t. I promise.”
Comforted, Heather let slumber claim her.
Chapter Eight
Seth watched Ethan stroke Heather’s hair. The younger immortal was clearly smitten. “What did she mean about the dreams?”
Ethan straightened, but didn’t relinquish his hold on the mortal woman’s hand. “Did Chris fill you in on how Heather and I met?”
“We were all concerned about Cliff at the time, so Chris just gave me the basics. He said she came to your aid while you were fighting vampires in a nearby clearing.”
Ethan nodded. “Heather dreamed the vampires and I would end up fighting there and that she would be dragged into it. Dreamed it exactly as it happened, almost every night for a year before it finally did happen. Apparently she dreamed of tonight’s battle as well.”
Alarms sounded. “Heather isn’t precognitive,” Seth said.
“Did Chris tell you that?”
“No.”
Ethan stared at him for a long moment, then blinked. “Oh. Right. I forget sometimes that you know everything.”
“Smart-ass,” Seth muttered.
“Not really. I’m just a little slow to process things at the moment. It’s been a long night and I’m not at my best.”
Melanie frowned. “Oh, Ethan. I’m sorry. I haven’t even offered you blood. Let me get you some.” She dar
ted away before he could thank her.
“Heather told you she dreamed it exactly the way it happened?” Seth asked.
“Yes. There were no deviations at all. She said that’s never happened before. Except, now it’s happened again.”
Seth studied the unconscious gifted one. It didn’t make sense. Telepaths didn’t have prophetic dreams. Sometimes they were sucked into the dreams of those slumbering in their general vicinity. But Heather had no nearby neighbors and certainly had no neighbors with precognitive abilities.
Seth delved into her mind, seeking an explanation.
The one he found jarred him.
“What?” Ethan asked, his bloodstained face creasing with worry. “Is something wrong?”
Fortunately, Melanie returned just then with a couple of bags of blood she offered Ethan. “Here. If you need more, let me know. And if you’d like to clean up, Bastien always keeps a change of clothes here. He won’t mind if you borrow them.”
Ethan took the blood bags and arched a brow. “He won’t?”
She winked. “Not if I tell him not to.”
Relieved by the diversion, Seth caught Melanie’s eye. “Where is Bastien?”
“Out hunting with Cliff,” she said, her expression sobering. “Thank you again for allowing it.”
He nodded. Seth agreed with Bastien that the violence of the hunt gave Cliff an outlet he needed and hadn’t wanted to take that away from him just yet.
Ethan set the first bag, now empty, on the bed and lifted the second. “How’s Cliff doing?” He sank his fangs into the bag.
Melanie sighed. “He’s walking on eggshells, as if he thinks any slip in control at all will make him lose it again. He’s handling it, though. I think the fact that no one blames him for kicking Whetsman’s ass helps. But after what happened, some of the guards—the ones he inadvertently hurt trying to get to Whetsman—are more leery of him. And he knows it.”
“What about Bastien?” Seth asked. “How’s he taking it?”
Her shoulders slumped a little. “He wakes up every evening fearing this will be the night that Cliff will ask him to end it.”
Seth backed away a step. “I think I’ll join them on their hunt, then. See how they’re doing. Ethan, I want you to remain here with Heather. Stay close. Don’t let her out of your sight. And see what she can tell you about the latest dreams when she awakens.”
“Okay.”
Melanie held up a finger. “You might want to call ahead. For Cliff’s sake.”
Seth nodded. Retrieving his phone, he dialed Bastien’s number.
“What?”
“It’s Seth. I’m on my way, I just have a quick stop to make first.”
“Okay. Thanks for the heads-up.”
Seth teleported to the reception room outside Chris Reordon’s private office. His eyebrows flew up as his gaze fell upon the shapely bottom of a woman who was bent over behind the desk, looking for something in the lowest drawer of a file cabinet.
The length of her gray skirt was conservative by today’s standards, stopping just three inches or so above the knee. But it had ridden up a bit and clung to her like a second skin, outlining beautiful legs that seemed to go on forever despite her diminutive height. The pale blouse above it was a little looser, but still followed the lines of her slender body closely as she moved. The shoes on her feet were . . .
He smiled.
Brightly colored sneakers. This must be the extremely efficient, ever-elusive assistant Chris raved about so much. His “right-hand man” without whom he couldn’t function. Anyone who did whatever had to be done to enable Chris to accomplish the monumental tasks for which he had become known wouldn’t be caught dead wearing high-heeled shoes. Such would’ve hampered her movement too much and—
The woman straightened suddenly, spun around, and fired a weapon at Seth.
A brief prick of pain struck.
Seth glanced down at the dart sticking out of his chest, then met the woman’s widening eyes and arched a brow.
Her full lips parted. “Oh.” She dropped her gaze to his feet and followed the long, long path up to his head. “Oh crap. I . . . I think I may have just screwed up royally.”
Seth grinned. “You must be Kate.” Striding forward, he held out his hand. “I’m Seth.”
She rounded the desk, dismay filling her hazel eyes, and clasped his hand. “I am so sorry, sir. Things have been a little crazy around here lately and . . .” She glanced around. “Can you read my mind?”
“Yes.” Right now it was full of swear words as she castigated herself for trying to tranquilize her boss’s boss.
After Aidan breached network headquarters last year, she thought to him, and broke into Mr. Reordon’s office, I started keeping a tranquilizer gun on hand. Since you guys are so fast—the vampires, too—I thought it would be best to shoot first and ask questions later if I sensed someone had snuck up behind me without making a sound.
Wise reasoning, he praised her telepathically, releasing her hand.
Thank you. I’ve been jumpier than usual since the incident with Cliff. And finding out the Other might be nearby, doing that creepy mind-control thing . . .
She knew about Gershom?
Seth forced himself not to frown. How much do you know about the Other?
She bit her lip. Everything Mr. Reordon knows, she admitted. I can’t help him nearly as much if I’m not privy to all the details. But the information stops with me.
A quick scan of her mind showed him she was completely trustworthy. And totally attracted to her boss.
Seth smiled and plucked the dart from his chest.
“Again, I’m so sorry about that,” she said aloud.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m fine. And don’t think twice about doing the same in the future.”
She nodded.
“Is Chris around?”
“No, I sent him home.”
Seth would’ve loved to have seen that. Chris Reordon didn’t take orders from anyone. Hell, sometimes he even balked at taking orders from Seth.
“He’s been getting by on naps here at the office ever since the Whetsman incident,” Kate continued, “and that just isn’t enough. He needs rest. Is there something I can help you with until he gets back?”
Seth almost laughed. Oh yeah. If Chris ever got his head out of his ass, took a break from his workaholic schedule, and realized what a prize his assistant was, the two would make a perfect match. Kate didn’t ask Seth if he’d like to teleport to Chris’s home and talk to him there. She asked if she could help Seth instead, basically warning him not to bother Chris because the man needed sleep.
“Thank you,” Seth said, “but no. I’ll wait to speak with Chris later. Would you please have him call me when he returns?”
She smiled. And Seth realized she had actually been gearing herself up for battle in case he had asked her to wake Chris or suggested he intended to teleport over there and wake him up himself. “Of course, sir.” She held out her hand. “And may I say what a pleasure it is to have finally met you? I’ve heard so much about you and am so grateful for the work you and your Immortal Guardians do.”
Seth took her hand and, instead of shaking it, brought it to his lips to press a kiss to her knuckles. “The pleasure was all mine.” In her mind, he said, Thank you for taking such good care of our boy. Chris is like family to us.
Her smile stretched into an appealing grin.
Winking, Seth released her hand and teleported to Bastien and Cliff.
The two were seated atop a building on NCCU’s campus. Seth could detect no scent of blood on them, so they must not have slain any vampires yet.
“How’s the hunt?” he asked as they rose and faced him.
“Slow night,” Bastien said, careful to let no concern for his friend enter his voice.
But Seth could see it in the British immortal’s eyes.
Cliff nodded without speaking. The young vampire had been quieter and more subdued since the incident.
“Is something up?” Bastien asked.
“We have a situation,” Seth told them. “I could use your help with it. Can you postpone tonight’s hunt for an hour or so?”
Both nodded, gazes sharpening.
Seth closed his eyes and did a quick mental search for Aidan. Once he found him, Seth touched Bastien’s and Cliff’s shoulders and teleported them to the Celt’s side.
Aidan smiled at them, a tire iron held in one hand. “I thought I felt a disturbance in the force.”
Cliff laughed.
Bastien smiled.
Seth shook his head. “What have you been doing?”
Aidan held up the tire iron. “Helping a lovely woman change a flat tire.”
Bastien arched a brow. “A lovely gifted one?”
“As it happens, yes.”
Seth sighed. “Did you flatten her tire, Aidan?”
“Yes, I did,” the nearly three-thousand-year-old immortal admitted without remorse. Seth had transferred Aidan to North Carolina a year ago when loneliness had driven the immortal to break into network headquarters, violate security protocols, and steal a list of names of female gifted ones in the area. Aidan had hoped that he might be lucky enough to arrange a chance encounter with a woman who could love him and would be willing to transform for him as Sarah had for Roland. A woman who would want to spend the rest of eternity with him.
“Give Chris her name,” Seth ordered, “so he can reimburse her for the cost of a new tire.”
“I already reimbursed her. Tucked some cash in her purse. She just doesn’t know it yet.”
Cliff raised his brows. “So? Any sparks flare?”
Cliff, Bastien, and Melanie were among the few who knew why Aidan now resided in North Carolina.
“Sadly, no,” Aidan told them. “She’s distressingly attached to the mortal man she loves. So, what can I do for you gentlemen?”
“I could use your assistance with something,” Seth said.
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