Leave it to Jared to lay logic over calm, regardless of the consequences.
Caleb cut his brother a glare. “You need to leave.”
“I’ve already invited you to make me.”
If he didn’t have Allie to worry about he’d give Jared the knockdown-drag-out he was asking for. “I didn’t know you were into watching.”
All that got was the rise of Jared’s brow. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me.”
That was true. In the last two hundred fifty years Jared had gotten damn secretive about things. “She won’t appreciate your presence.”
“She’s not my concern.”
“She should be.”
Beneath him, Allie twisted and said, “She is still here.”
Caleb patted her cheek with his fingertips to let her know he’d heard, never taking his eyes from his brother. “If she goes, so do I.”
“I know, which is why I’m not trusting your judgment in this.”
“Caleb?”
He looked down. Allie’s face was screwed up into a knot of pain and determination, her blue eyes dry and dark in her face. She was dehydrated. “Will you two stop fighting and come up with a compromise all of us can live with?”
“Caleb’s the unreasonable one. He won’t share.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You’re going to need more blood than one person can supply.”
“Yuck!”
The twitch of Jared’s mouth was the only indication of his lighter side. “Yuck or not, it’s the truth. Combine that with the fact that Caleb’s a possessive son of a bitch, and first blood is binding, and you have the fixings for a disaster.”
Caleb tucked Allie against his chest. “Trust me, Allie.”
Jared’s “Don’t” yanked her back faster than a lasso.
Her hands pressed against Caleb’s ribs, small white indicators of her fragility. “You’re smothering me.”
He let her pull back an inch. With what he was beginning to understand was her customary inclination, she turned that inch into a mile, wedging her shoulder into his gut and wiggling until she could see Jared again. “I can’t hold out much longer.”
“I know.”
“You have to work this out.”
Jared’s raised eyebrow was the only reaction to the order. “I’m willing.”
Allie’s nails sank into Caleb’s forearm, spicing the air with a heavier scent as she looked up at him. All that incredible inner strength was reflected in her gaze as she begged for the impossible. “Please.”
Caleb shook his head. It was more than he could stand, watching her give herself to another. Take from another. “I won’t let you die.”
Her hand opened over the five crescent cuts from her nails, closing the wounds from the sting of the air. “And I can’t kill you.”
“If you’re done with the melodrama,” Jared interrupted, “I’ve got a solution.”
No sooner had he finished the statement than Allie crumpled under a new wave of pain. Caleb held her through the bone-wrenching spasm, his determination slipping its grip under the reality of the situation. She could die from this. He held her head to the side as she gagged, bringing up nothing, just enduring dry heave after dry heave until he couldn’t take it anymore. He’d give her whatever it took to make this stop. He braced his palm over hers, supporting her through the next spasm as he asked his brother, “What’s your plan?”
Jared stepped away from the door, coming closer, his eyes not straying from Allie. Though his expression was blank, Caleb knew her suffering tore at him. Jared had a soft spot for women and children.
“If her first and last blood is yours, your problems are solved.”
“And in between?”
“She’ll suck on me.”
It was a compromise. He and Jared had always been close, sharing responsibility and retribution equally. This would be just one more thing in the bond they couldn’t shake. Inside, his beast roared a protest. No man should know pleasure from Allie but him. With every bit of his sanity, he fought it back. It was a hard battle, the overwhelming possessiveness of his vampire side finding an ally in his human nature. Her next moan tipped the balance.
Promise me.
He’d given his word. He couldn’t let her suffer anymore. And he couldn’t give her any more future trauma. He’d learn to cope. Nothing, not his pride or his tenuous relationship with his brother, mattered more than Allie.
With a sharp nod, he gave his permission. Jared took that last step forward. Caleb ripped a gash in his right pectoral muscle, feeling his brother’s mental strength join his, encouraging Allie to feed. Blood flowed like a river.
Allie gasped and lurched forward. The press of her lips to his skin set flame to his own lust. Her fangs grazed, pressed, and then entered. She fed tentatively at first, letting his blood merely flow over her tongue rather than actually drinking.
Caleb felt the exact moment the beast leapt to life within her. Every muscle in her body clenched and her mind sprang for his, wrestling his for control, her lust tapping into his, building it, relying on the primitive thrust of emotion to create a wedge she could utilize, more instinct than finesse in the maneuver, but that didn’t diminish the power behind it. Allie wanted control.
He dropped his head back against the wall, passion consuming his determination. “She’s strong.”
“Hell, brother, I knew that going in.”
Caleb shook his head, desire soaring with every lap of her tongue, every hot burst of suction. “Not like this.”
Caleb pulled Allie’s mouth tighter to his flesh, before yanking her thighs apart and pulling her down on him. He felt the hot bolt of elation shoot through her as they connected intimately, the denim of their jeans no barrier to the heat that bound them, centering them both on all that mattered; the passion between them, the emotion. The elemental exchange was as vital as breathing to their kind. Her bite grew ravenous, demanding, brooking no resistance as her body rocked violently on his. He gave her none, letting every pulse of her hips draw him toward completion. Allie could have whatever she wanted of him—his blood, his seed, his life.
“Fuck.”
He ignored Jared’s exhalation and shoved his arm aside when he would have pulled Allie off him. Arching his hips, he gave in to her demand, growing to her need, smiling with satisfaction when she whimpered as he countered her motion, snarling when Jared reached for her again. “Not yet, damn it.”
“Now.”
“No!” The order came too late, Jared had her out of his arms and up against his body. Her face glowed white against the black of Jared’s shirt as her head fell back over his arm. The feral wail of disappointment that rose from her throat echoed his own loss. Caleb lunged into the space between them. Jared leapt back, his reflexes undiminished by blood or mate lust. His grip shifted to Allie’s neck. Not with passion, but intent.
“Try it and I’ll kill her.”
Caleb pulled up short. One thing about Jared, he never bluffed. He would kill Allie if driven to it. Caleb closed his fists around the certainty, using it to hold at bay the driving instinct to reclaim his mate. Allie struggled in Jared’s grip. Whether she was fighting to get away or to get to Jared’s neck, he didn’t know. It didn’t really matter. “Let her go.”
Jared shook his head. “Either it goes as we agreed, or I’ll end it now.”
Caleb believed him. His rational side even agreed with the plan, but that didn’t stop the vampire’s violent reaction to having Allie torn from his arms. Nor did it stop the near compulsion to see the man holding her gutted and dead. His brother. He buried his fangs in his lip, cauterizing the inner wound with physical pain as he said, “Get it over with.”
“Turn around.”
That was asking too much. “No.”
“Jesus, Caleb, don’t do this to yourself.”
Blood dripped from his chin to his chest, joining the sluggish river already flowing from his wound. “Do it. Now.”
On a harsh “Son of a bitch” Jared ripped his right wrist open. Blood spewed in an arc, splashing the side of Allie’s face as she turned and capped the source. After an initial grimace of pain, Jared’s expression went blank and his energy withdrew, hiding behind a wall of determination. Against his body, Allie writhed, bloodlust so mixed up with physical lust that Caleb knew the two were indistinguishable.
Mindless. Insatiable.
There was no way in hell that Jared was immune. Caleb had felt Allie’s strength. Knew, even though he couldn’t see or feel it, that Jared’s body responded to the feminine lure of hers. The knowledge almost dropped him. She was his mate. No one else’s—his. Jared looked up, his hazel eyes swirling with silver lights, the only indication of his distress. “Take her.”
For vital seconds, Caleb couldn’t move, bloodlust still rushing through his veins, every breath an agony, his vampire side screaming for justice, and then the fog cleared. He stepped forward, the relieved flicker of Jared’s lids a bullet to his soul. After all they’d been through, Jared hadn’t been sure he’d stop her.
Caleb wrapped his arm around Allie’s waist. His other hand cupped her chin, applying pressure to her jaw, holding Jared’s gaze as he did so. “Brothers to the end, remember?”
Jared grunted as Allie clung. “She’s going to complicate that.”
“Never that much.” Caleb squeezed harder. Hell, was she going to make him break her jaw? “Give over, Allie.” She shook her head and growled.
Jared, unbelievably, laughed. “Sounds like a kitten biting off more than she can chew.”
The last syllable had a vagueness Caleb didn’t like. Allie was taking too much. He leaned in against her back, cuddled her into the cradle of his thighs, and moaned as she rubbed that soft ass against him. Letting his blood drip over her shoulder in a potent lure, he whispered in her ear, “That’s right, Allie girl. It’s me. Come here, and I’ll give you everything you want.”
The slightest of relaxation in her jaw muscles was the sign he’d been waiting for. She looked at him from the corner of her eye.
Brushing his lips against her ear, he murmured, “Remember me, baby?” He pressed back against her, countering the movement of her hips with his own, seducing her with his mind, his body, his voice. “I’m ready to ride whenever you are.”
She leapt for his chest, her arms going around his neck, her soft whisper of his name a balm to his soul.
“Hell, I’d be insulted if I had the strength to spare.” Jared slumped against the wall, closing the wound on his wrist as he slid down.
Caleb ignored Jared, more focused on the miracle of Allie exerting her human side in the midst of bloodlust. Damn, she was strong.
“Come here, baby.” He pressed her face to his chest, dropped his head until his cheek met hers, and felt her confusion, mixed with horror and lust. “It’s all right, Allie girl. Whatever happens between us, I want it, and it’s all right. Let yourself go.”
“I’m sorry.”
He lifted her against the wall. “Don’t be sorry.” He didn’t want her sorry. “Just wrap your legs around my hips and let me see exactly how wild you can be.”
“I’ll be on the other side of the door if you need me.”
Caleb didn’t spare Jared a glance. He wouldn’t need him. Allie was his only concern. Her fangs sank into his chest, her hips searching as her ankles locked behind his back. Wild, impetuous, and utterly feminine, she burned him to the core, made him angry, made him ache, made him long. Her hands slipped in the blood on his neck. She gasped and grabbed at his shoulders. He gave her a little bounce, switching his hands to her hips, sinking his fingers into the lush curve of her buttocks, granting her the support she needed. He slid one hand farther down, extended his talon, and slit the seam of her jeans before reaching for his zipper. “Now, sweetheart, let me see that wild side.”
“YOU’RE not a dud.”
It wasn’t the most resounding accolade a man ever heard whispered in the afterglow, but it was pure Allie.
“That’s good to hear.” Caleb leaned his head back against the wall down which they’d slid during those last few frantic moments and drew a hard-won breath into his lungs. Against his side, Allie was breathing just as hard. He cracked his right eyelid. “Any particular reason you thought I would be?”
“It was a concern.” Her shrug smoothed her breast up his sweat-slicked chest. His body tightened anew, too wrapped up in the previous pleasure to understand that he didn’t have enough “oomph” to saddle up again. Allie was a demanding woman when she got going. He stroked his hand up her back. He’d have to get her going more often.
“It’s just that you racked up a lot of ‘I owe yous’ over that last month and I wasn’t sure you could make good on them.”
“The other night didn’t convince you?”
“The other night I was under the influence.”
He cracked his other eyelid. “The hell you were.”
Allie glanced up from where she was watching her finger create designs in his chest hair. He cupped her shoulder in his palm, smiling as she curled tighter against him. Her thigh rode up his in sweet invitation. “I wasn’t?”
“No.”
The tug she gave his hair stung. “Well, then . . . Wow!”
“I’ll agree with wow.” The smile came to him surprisingly easy. “You, Allie girl, are one demanding woman.”
“Hey, I wasn’t the one holding you up against the wall.”
“Now that would be a sight, you holding me up.”
There was a pause. “Could I? Now?”
He opened his eyes all the way. “Now that you’re a vampire?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “Men get a lot stronger, but I don’t know about women.”
“Aren’t there female vampires?”
Oh yeah, there were. “At least one.”
“Only one?”
“That’s all I’ve ever seen.”
Allie shook her head. He’d only seen one female vampire? As easily as he’d converted her, others had to have converted many more. “That doesn’t make sense.”
“That I can’t help.” The pad of his thumb touched the center of her lower lip. Despite the fact she felt sated to her bones, her pulse still quickened. What was he? Part magician?
His smile broadened.
“You are so not reading my mind.”
“Just a little.”
“There’s no such thing as a little when it comes to that.”
The pressure on her lip increased. “Yeah. There is.”
Which brought up another point. “How come I can’t read your mind?”
“You can’t?”
She closed her eyes and tried. Nothing. “Nope. The only thing rattling around in there is me, myself, and I.”
“Sounds like it’s crowded enough.”
She leaned into his big body. Despite the fact there was no give to the man, he was quite comfortable. “This is really going to suck, Johnson, if I don’t get some of the perks that go along with being a vampire.”
His thumb pulled her lip down. Cool air wafted across the inner lining. “It’s different for everyone.”
“How so?”
“We all got strong, but each of us got different . . . perks, as you call it. Jared got the ability to control minds. Slade became smarter than a bedridden librarian. Jace is super strong and can go three times as long as the rest of us without feeding.”
“And you?”
“I, my sweet Allie girl, got the best gift of all.”
“Me?”
His smile was indulgent, the caress of his thumb a sultry promise. “That, too, but I can walk in sunlight.”
A vampire who could walk in sunlight? “You realize that just totally trashes my whole early childhood education in paranormal science.”
“You get educated in that?”
She nodded. “Every Saturday afternoon, and crash courses around Halloween.”
; His thumb slid between her teeth, riding the syllables. “You watch TV.”
“Don’t you?”
The smile at the corner of his mouth told more than his words. The man wasn’t nearly as serious as he’d like her to believe. “Slade insists.”
She snorted at the grudging note in his voice. He was such a liar. “And you just go along for the ride.”
“That’s about it.”
“You are so full of crap.”
“You don’t believe me?”
She snuggled her head into his shoulder. She was so tired.
“I have yet to meet a man who isn’t addicted to ESPN and the remote control.”
His laugh bounced under her cheek. His thumb tucked under her chin and his fingers curved behind her skull. “No one gets the remote from Jace.”
“And you?” She was definitely more interested in his habits.
“I like football and the rodeo.”
She opened her palm over the curve of his pectoral, twining her fingers into the tight curls on his chest. “And music videos? Men always love the near-naked women strutting through those.”
“How do you know so much about men’s habits?”
Was that jealousy? “With six older brothers, a girl picks up a lot.”
“Six?”
She opened her palm, rubbing it over the hair-roughened surface, savoring the tickle. “Yup.”
“Damn, in my day those brothers would have kicked my ass from here to Cheyenne for even daring to look at a woman like you.”
“Hmm, they still might.”
“And I’d deserve it.”
“You ever think, sometimes things work out the way they’re supposed to?”
“No.”
She guessed she shouldn’t be so surprised by his disbelief in fate. It wasn’t a widely held concept in the eighteen sixties. She smothered a yawn against the hard muscle of his arm. “So, what about the music videos? Do you watch them?”
“As long as the sound is off.”
She smiled and gave him more of her weight, relaxing completely. “I like it that you don’t lie to me.”
“How do you know I’m not?”
How did she know? She didn’t know for a fact, but she was sure. “Instinct.”
Caleb Page 11