Chapter One

by Jaden Sinclair

  Jaden Sinclair

  glimpse between his legs, and the sight quickly caused her to salivate. He pulled a sheet over, covering that part of him up, and she gave a silent thank you.

  Clearing her throat, she put on some gloves and started to inspect the long gash circling from the inside of his thigh around to the outside top of his leg. The sheet he covered himself with was in her way, which meant the shroud over his manhood needed to go. She steeled herself to not gawk at his dick. Great! Nothing like a little pressure when I have to stitch up a handsome, mega-sexy man.

  “This is definitely going to need a lot of stitches.” She turned to get the pack and opened it, making sure to keep her eyes and mind on her work, not the body spread out before her. Man, I would love to crawl up on his lap and just let him hold me.

  Mistake one—he looked up at him.

  Mistake two—he looked right at his dick again.

  His eyes watched everything she did, looking where she looked. Hooded, shielded, coco colored eyes, but not shielded enough that she couldn’t see a bit of desire.

  She gave him a quick smile, picked up the syringe to give him a local in a couple of different places around the wound to help with any pain. He didn’t even flinch when she stuck him. He didn’t hold onto the sheet when she moved it away either. Surprisingly, the shot she gave him did nothing to bring down the size of his dick. Shit, he’s huge!

  “I guess with all you’ve had going on this evening, a stick with a needle isn’t anything.” She chuckled, laying disposable towels around his leg. Working hard to make it appear natural and not on purpose, she made sure one of the towels was big enough to cover his crotch.

  “Why are you so nervous around me?”

  “Am I?” She began to stitch, keeping her eyes and mind on the work at hand.

  “Yes.”

  She stopped to look up at him. She couldn’t read him as clearly as she’d like to, but she did feel something stir inside her.

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  Ambrose stormed into the clinic. He was pissed; his face red with his anger in a way Claudia had never seen him before.

  “What happened?” Ambrose demanded.

  Shadow yelped, Carissa sat up, and Claudia went back to stitching up Dimitri’s leg.

  With Ambrose’s appearance in the room, his voice seemed to do what the drug she gave Dimitri couldn’t; his cock slowly went back down.

  “Shadow is benched,” Doc Ivy stated, busy wrapping an elastic bandage around his chest. “One broken rib and three cracked.”

  “They took the worst of it,” Carissa stated. She still held an ice pack up to the right side of her face. “They had rigged the building to blow. I’m pretty sure with the intent of taking all of us with it.”

  “Yeah,” Dimitri growled, “and pretty boy over there, tossed a bomb at it. He made the fucking thing go up even worse.”

  Dimitri started up, but Claudia quickly put her hand on his leg, holding him. He looked down at her and immediately eased back in place.

  “How bad is he?” Ambrose asked Claudia.

  “I’m working on his leg now; haven’t seen his back yet.” She stood up, putting the stitching on hold for a second. She walked around the bed, took hold of his shirt and cut the ripped shirt from his back trying not to reopen the wound or cause more bleeding.

  One long gash went from his left shoulder, across the middle of his back to his right hip. It wasn’t nearly as bad as it looked. Only one small section was deep enough to require a few stitches.

  “Not as bad as the leg,” she told Ambrose.

  He gave her a nod as she went back to stitching up the leg wound.

  “If you wanted me without any clothes, all you had to do was ask,” Dimitri said softly, pulling the remnants of his shirt off his arms.

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  She jerked her face up to his quickly, holding her breath. Dimitri smiled a little, his eyes sparkling. He was joking with her!

  He chuckled softly. “Sorry. Trying to ease the tension. You don’t have to be scared of me. I don’t bite unless asked to.”

  Claudia let out the air she held and smiled back. “So, if someone asked you to drink from them you would?” She went back to work, trying to make the stitches as small as she could.

  “Well, I guess that would depend on who was doing the asking.”

  She didn’t look up at him or make any further comments, forcing herself to keep on working. Once she was finished with his leg, she cleaned it up, and wrapped a bandage securely around it. Pulling off the gloves, she stood up, reached for another set, and stopped when she saw him watching each move she made.

  With a quick smile, she put a new set of gloves on and moved to his back. He sucked in air into his lungs quickly when she first touched the wound to clean it and held himself stiff until she finished. Fortunately for him, only the spot in the middle of his back needed stitches and just a few.

  “Very nice work, Claudia,” Doctor Ivy came up behind her, inspecting his back as she finished. “Dimitri, you shouldn’t have much scarring on your back if any at all.

  Claudia is my best when it comes to stitching someone up.”

  He turned his head, looking over his shoulder at Claudia, making eye contact.

  Claudia got a chill that went right down her spine. Trying to act as if everything was normal, she cleaned up the mess then walked away as if nothing was wrong with her when she was anything but calm.

  Something unusual was happening, something she couldn’t shake off.

  She was slightly attracted, if not more so, to the Guardian, a dead end attraction.

  Guardians didn’t bond.

  * * * *

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  Dimitri watched her go, not giving a damn if the doctor noticed his interest or not.

  There was something about Claudia he couldn’t put his finger on. Well, something other than the desire she raised in him. That was something he recognized easy enough when he got that hard on from no more than her touching him.

  “She’s quiet,” he finally said when he noticed the doctor closely watching him.

  “Had a hard time,” Ivy helped him to lie back on his side. “One of the many who watched the breeds kill her family. She stayed hidden in the house for weeks before Julian found her.”

  “And?”

  “And it took me months to get her out of the shock,” Ivy went on. “She’s a great girl.

  Shy, keeps to herself, but I’ve begun to notice this spark she has.”

  With some dread, he watched her pick up a syringe, fill it from a vial, and rub alcohol on his arm before sticking him. His first instinct had been to refuse it, but as much as he hated drugs, they were sometimes needed.

  “This will help you sleep.”

  He nodded, feeling the effect of the drug quickly. Dimitri didn’t fight it. He closed his eyes, sighed, and let the sleep take him away.

  “Daddy!” She ran to a fallen man on the ground. He was covered in blood, eyes closed, and more blood pooled around him. “Daddy, no!’ she screamed, dropping to the ground, draping her body over him.

  Outside she could hear gunfire and screams. Inside she was surrounded by death.

  Raising her head, she looked around for her brother.

  “Tom!” she called out, looking around. What she saw had her crying out again.

  Not too far away from her father her brother lay dead, his eyes open, staring at nothing, and laying in his own blood. She crawled to him, and right next to his body was the Guardian who brought him home. Both gone.

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  She sat on her knees, her hands and face covered with the blood of her family. Off in the distance, she could hear footsteps of someone else coming, and when she turned her head to see, a breed smiled at her.

  His face was a yellow color. Saliva ran down the side of his mouth, and the red of his eyes seem
ed to light up when they saw her. He took a step toward her. BAM! Blood and whatever else that might have been inside its head hit her in the face, covering her with gore and more blood. The arm of her father dropped to the ground forever. “Hide,”

  he told her, his voice faint. His last breath sighed out of his body, and he took it saving her life, leaving her alone without a family.

  Dimitri jolted awake and gasped for breath. He sat up in the narrow bed, wiping his face, feeling for the blood or brain matter. Nothing was there but his own sweat. The sheet covering him was drenched with sweat, not the blood he woke thinking it was. His first rational thought was he’d had a nightmare, but after he calmed down he knew better.

  He experienced what she did, through her eyes.

  Flinging the sheet off, he swung his legs over the side, sat up, and leaned forward to cover his face with his hands. His leg and back throbbed, but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle. After all, he’d been in worse shape before too many times.

  Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, Dimitri swore he could feel her or, more accurately, taste her in his mouth. That small amount of blood he’d drunk for the test Ambrose ordered seemed to be enough to start the link between them. He hungered to taste it again. But thinking about it brought up the cold hard fact, if he drank her blood again, then he would more than likely be tempted to bond with whoever it was out of the six. That was something he wasn’t about to do despite Ambrose’s orders. He wouldn’t do that to any woman.

  But I can feel her. Her blood runs in my veins.

  The clinic was quiet and pretty much empty. Shadow lay quietly in a bed far away from him, and Carissa had been allowed to leave.

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  “Can’t sleep, mate?” Shadow’s low voice came across the room to him.

  Dimitri shook his head. “You?”

  “Hurt too fucking much.” Shadow groaned and sat up slowly. “Doc said it’s going to take me a week to heal.”

  Dimitri had to laugh. When it came to them being hurt, the only thing that mattered was how long it would take to heal. The worse the injury, the longer the healing process.

  With their accelerated metabolism a week for anything broken, couple days when stitches were required and so on.

  “Yeah, well, you had the pretty one working on you,” Shadow added. The statement had Dimitri sitting up straighter. “Wouldn’t mind having some time with her. She’s sweet.”

  “Hands off, Shadow,” Dimitri growled low. “Too young for you.” And too innocent.

  “And since when did you get all honorable on me, mate?”

  Yeah, when? “Has nothing to do with being honorable.” Dimitri sighed, rubbing his face. “She’s been through a lot and doesn’t need some dipshit with a sexy accent trying to charm her out of her pants.”

  “Sexy accent? Didn’t think you cared, love.” Dimitri flipped him off and stood up.

  Shadow laughed. “You’re not going to leave me here alone? Here I was hoping we could snuggle later on.”

  “Shadow, you need to get laid.” He winced when he took a step. Damn if his leg didn’t hurt like a son-of-a-bitch.

  “Ain’t that the truth, but me thinks so do you, mate. You’ve been a bit grumpy.”

  “I’m not grumpy.”

  The snap to his voice made Shadow laugh, grimace, and hold his chest. “Yeah, and I’m a fucking virgin again. You are one big ass grumpy bastard.”

  “Finished yet?”

  “Maybe Carissa can—”

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  Dimitri cut the statement off with a deep, loud growl. He bared his fangs, and Shadow instantly backed off, hands up in the air. “Chill man. Only messing with you.”

  He had to get out of there. Which was just what he was going to do.

  Limping as he walked, Dimitri left the clinic as fast as his body would move him. He left wearing nothing more than his boxer-briefs. He didn’t know what time it was, but the way he felt, he figured it was a few hours before night. He made it to his room and sighed with relief when he closed the door.

  A large bed made up in black silk sheets was pushed over to the right side of the room, up against the wall. Shelves on the wall held many of his favorite books and nothing much personal. A plump black leather chair was opposite the bed with a lamp on an end table. Like all the quarters for the Guardians, he had a private bathroom, the door on the far side of the room. He went straight there, stripped, and took a nice hot shower, closing his eyes in bliss when the water beat over his head.

  He felt the knife slice deep into his wrist, blood slowly spilling out into the sink of running water. The lights were turned off, everyone was sleeping but her. She was worried about him, but at the same time shocked at how fast the pain built. She had to repeat what she’d done a few hours ago, which meant she was going to have to find her vampire. Her blood was building to a degree that bleedings weren’t going to be enough.

  The knife dropped, clattering against the sink. Tears fell. The drops mixed with the blood, the pain reaching an even higher pitch. One sob slipped free of the lips pressed so tightly together.

  Dimitri suffered the pressure also. He looked down and frowned. He clenched his own wrist, squeezing it in the same manner of the girl whose eyes he saw from.

  A bloodmate was suffering— his bloodmate.

  Maybe I can heal her.

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  Dimitri shook his head, turned the water off, and reached for the towel. He dried off, wrapped it around his waist, and went to the sink and mirror. He stared at himself, seeing the same man as usual, but he also saw a stranger looking back at him.

  How long can I keep doing this? How long can I keep being alone?

  He didn’t have an answer and figured he’d never have one. Shaking his head, he turned from the sink, dropped the towel, and pulled on a pair of loose fitting shorts. When he heard a sound that shouldn’t be in his room, Dimitri stiffened.

  With caution, he turned off the light in the bathroom and slowly opened the door a crack.

  “Claudia,” he gasped. Claudia jumped at the sound, turned around, and quickly hugged herself. “Jesus, you scared the shit out of me.”

  “I’m sorry,” she rushed out.

  “What are you doing in here?”

  “Oh, I—um, thought—um, that I’d bring you the clothes you left in the clinic.” Her face heated up, and she kept her arms wrapped around herself.

  Dimitri had a nearly uncontrollable urge to run his hands through the silk of her hair.

  He wanted to feel her body pressed against his own, to sink his teeth into her throat at the same time he sank his cock into her body.

  But he was able to hold it all back, at least until her eyes traveled over him from his eyes to his toes. Up and down they went as if she was inspecting him. Her pupils expanded in interest when her gaze stopped below his waist, and he knew without a doubt she stared at his crotch. The damn thing was waking up and getting bigger.

  He cleared his throat, and her eyes snapped back up to his face, and she tried to smile. “Thanks.”

  “You know, you really shouldn’t get the stitches too wet.” She went up to him and stepped behind him. He stiffened when she touched him. “Too much dampness and they might bust open or get infected.”

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  “I’ll keep that in mind.” He couldn’t stop himself from closing his eyes and taking her soft scent into his lungs. Being so close to her, he also picked up something else. “Did you bleed yourself before coming here?”

  “No—yes, I mean.” She shuddered quickly. “Sorry. I can’t seem to talk when I’m around you,” she whispered low.

  He wasn’t sure if he heard her right and said, “Excuse me?”

  “I should go. This isn’t really proper.”

  Claudia turned, started for the door, but before reaching it, she doubled over, grab
bed her stomach, and moaned. Dimitri rushed to her side, catching hold of her arms before she fell over.

  “You’re swollen,” he stated, turning her to the bed and helping her to sit down on the edge. He knelt down at her feet, holding onto her, ignoring the pain in his leg from stretching the stitches. “You shouldn’t be this swollen if you just bled yourself.” He could tell that the pain seemed to keep its hold on her and in turn she held her breath. “Claudia, you need to breathe through it.”

  Another wave hit, and she did double over, falling into his arms, resting her forehead on his bare shoulder. She panted and whimpered loudly, and Dimitri held her through it.

  “I’m okay,” she told him softly, pushing away from his shoulder. “It’s going away. It does this sometimes. I guess I didn’t do the bleeding long enough.”

  Dimitri looked at her face closely. He could see she wasn’t sleeping from the bags and dark circles under her eyes. The way her body was still swollen after a bleeding told him the pain was present more than she was telling. She was at the point where if she didn’t get a vampire to feed from her soon, she was really going to start suffering.

  But why should she tell him anything. They barely knew each other.

  He picked up her arm, holding her wrist between his finger and thumb. He brushed his thumb across the vein beating hard and steady.

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  “I think you’re at the point when the bleedings aren’t going to do you much good,”

  he stated. God, her skin is like silk, and she smells so damn good.

  “I’m okay now.” She pulled her wrist from his hand. “You should rest and come back tomorrow night for the stitches to come out.”

  She stood up, and he went up to his feet. “Will you be the one taking them out?”

  Her hand was on the knob when she looked back at him. “If you wish.”

  He smiled, one of the first real smiles he had given anyone in a very long time.

  “Sure. Sort of enjoyed dropping my pants for you.”