by Kell Amber
Quentin frowned as he tried to untangle the complexities of vampire relations. “So we should eliminate anyone you sired as a guilty party?”
“Not necessarily. If someone hates me enough, they might think it worth the pain. Now, do you need to do some sort of telepathic message to Grevin to let him know you are fine? I can’t guarantee my people will think to tell him.”
Quentin pulled out his cell phone. “I could just call him.”
A short conversation later and Quentin put away his phone. He let his gaze travel up and down Jaks’s body. “Now, about that bonding….”
Quentin couldn’t deny he’d been holding back before, hoping the vampire would change his mind. The level of commitment Jaks required scared Quentin down to his soul.
“It’ll be all right, my sweet. I’ll take excellent care of you.”
“Uh-huh.” Quentin eyed Jaks. “You think I’m going to sit around like the little lady and expect you to take care of me?”
Jaks placed his hands on Quentin’s hips, leaving a foot separating them. “I want you to be whoever you want to be. I just want to be a part of it. Now, how about you stop being so stubborn.”
Quentin should argue. He was planning on it. Yep, any minute now he’d tell the tall, sexy vampire that he wouldn’t be accepting his terms…. Maybe after one more kiss.
Quentin made the first move, stepping into the space Jaks had put between them. “I’ll take care of myself. I don’t need you to fight my battles. I need you to be by my side.” Quentin couldn’t stress too much how he wouldn’t be coddled. He’d taken care of himself most of his life. Growing up with a single mother created an independent spirit he refused to give up over vampire idiocy.
Jaks slid his fingers across Quentin’s face as if mapping it for a quiz later. Quentin thought he could feel every dip and ridge of Jaks’s fingerprints as he traced his face. Heat began to build, warming him deep down and then spreading like tree limbs throughout his body.
All thoughts were pushed out of his mind when Jaks invaded Quentin’s mouth with his tongue, tasting all Quentin had to offer and coming back for more.
At first, Quentin let Jaks have his way, responding but not taking control. He didn’t wish to trigger Jaks’s hunting instincts—not when he hoped to lure the vampire into his bed.
Jaks lifted his mouth, allowing Quentin time for air. “Where’s your bedroom?”
“At my apartment.”
“Then why did you come here?”
Quentin sighed. “Because my first instinct was to think of home.” He looked around the small living room. “And no matter how long I’ve been away at college, this is still home.”
Jaks grinned. “That’s sweet. Now teleport us to your place. I need a horizontal surface to show you properly how much I want you.”
“I like how you think.”
Quentin grabbed Jaks and teleported to his bedroom. Before Jaks could comment, Quentin shoved. Jaks toppled backward onto Quentin’s bed. Quentin stood and admired his new lover for a few moments and then stripped off his shirt.
Jaks jumped up and immediately began removing his own clothes. This was no sexy striptease meant to titillate a new lover. They were both too hungry, too needy, and in too much of a hurry to prolong the buildup. If either of their clothes were usable after this, it would be a minor miracle.
Quentin slid onto his bed, naked and willing. His cock bobbed ahead of him like a divining rod seeking his mate.
“You’re gorgeous,” Jaks said, his voice hushed and worshipful. “I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect mate.”
Quentin could feel the burn on his cheeks. He wasn’t used to compliments on his looks. His mind had garnered more than a little interest, but his face and body weren’t as highly prized.
“I’m glad you’re happy.” After all, Quentin was the last guy Jaks would ever have sex with.
“Oh, I’m very happy.” Jaks crawled onto the bed until he lay beside Quentin.
It was hard to concentrate on banter when sleek skin and firm muscles were on display. Quentin could barely focus on his next thought, much less string together consonants and vowels into coherent words. Giving up on verbal communication, he slid a hand behind Jaks’s neck and pulled him closer. This time, Quentin was the aggressor. He rolled them until Jaks lay beneath him. Quentin sighed against Jaks’s mouth, at the full-on contact of warm bodies sliding together. Damn, nothing had ever felt this good. He moaned against Jaks’s mouth as he kissed him, ending the embrace with a playful bite of Jaks’s bottom lip.
“You don’t want to be toying with a vampire, my sweet.”
“I don’t?” Quentin raised his eyebrows, teasing him with a smile. “I think I might.”
“When you bite me, I’ll bite back.”
“Promise!” Quentin needed to be bitten. He had to know what he was getting into. If he couldn’t handle Jaks’s needs, then they’d have to come up with another solution to their bonding. At this point, Quentin still needed some reassurance that this might work out, after all.
“I will always keep my promises to you, my mate. You will be the one person with whom I will always share the truth.”
“Good.” Quentin slid down Jaks’s body, kissing as he went. He lapped and bit at Jaks’s right nipple until Jaks growled and plunged his fingers into Quentin’s hair to pull him away. “Sensitive?”
“I didn’t think so until now,” Jaks growled. Jaks’s canines had descended and lust gleamed in his eyes.
Quentin’s ego took a boost, shooting up to the height of the stars in the sky. He scooted down farther, intent on tasting his prize.
A soft tune interrupted his goal.
“Do. Not. Answer. That!” Jaks demanded.
“I have to. It might be the hospital.” Quentin’s stomach sank as he searched his pockets to find the little device.
Quentin grabbed the phone and quickly pressed the Connect button before whomever was calling gave up. “This is Quentin Heart.”
“Mr. Heart, this is Patricia from Anders General. Your mother has taken a turn for the worse. We thought you might want to come and see her.”
Quentin remembered Patricia. A big woman with brown eyes, a sweet smile, and a Latina temper when one of the doctors said something she didn’t like to a patient.
“Thank you, Patricia, I’ll be right there.” He hung up and took a long, gasping breath. As much as he’d prepared for this, he would never truly be ready for his mother’s death.
“What happened?” Jaks sat up, wrapping his arms around Quentin.
Quentin jolted at the feel of a hand on his shoulder. In his grief, he’d forgotten about Jaks. He wiped the tears away with his hands. “My mother isn’t doing well. I don’t think she’ll live much longer.”
The nurses didn’t say that, of course, but they’d never asked Quentin to come by before. It didn’t take a genius to read between the lines.
“Get dressed. I’ll go with you.”
“Really?” Quentin stared at Jaks, who collected his clothing.
“Of course. If you are going to be mine, I have to share your life. I’m not only with you for your teleportation skills.”
Quentin snorted. “You don’t like teleportation.” He’d noticed that when Jaks rubbed his stomach the last time they’d traveled.
“But I like you.” Jaks kissed Quentin’s forehead. “Get dressed.”
After all of Jaks’s declarations of love, his act of going with Quentin to see his mother touched Quentin the most. Words were all well and good, but actions spoke a thousand times louder.
Quentin recalled Jaks’s words earlier. “Do you still think she could be a vampire?”
“I can ask her if you’d like. I won’t make the offer without your say-so. She’s your mother.”
Quentin nodded. “I’d like you to ask her.”
“And if she chooses not to become a vampire?”
“You think she won’t?”
“She’s your mother. What do you thi
nk?”
Quentin thought it over as he slid on his clothes. “I really don’t know.”
“Then let’s go and see. If she says yes, I’ll have you bring one of my people back to the hospital to change her.”
“Okay.” Quentin tried to conquer his fear. What if his mother didn’t want to be a vampire? How much worse would it be to know she could have been saved but had chosen to die instead?
Jaks moved up next to Quentin. “I’m ready.”
Quentin stomped his foot into his remaining shoe, then stood. Without another word, he grabbed Jaks’s wrist and teleported them to the hospital entrance.
They arrived just outside the emergency room doors. Quentin quickly walked to the elevator and from there to the oncology wing. His mother’s room was only a few doors down from the elevators.
She glanced up as they entered. “They didn’t have to call you,” she whispered. All color had drained from her thin face; her skin tone rivaled the pallor of the white sheets.
“I can’t stand the thought of you being alone.” And dying. Quentin didn’t say the last aloud, but the silent statement drifted between them.
She stared at the vampire. “Who’s your friend?”
“Mother, this is Jakinson, the master of the local clan.”
“Nice to meet you, Master Jakinson.”
Jaks picked up her left hand and kissed the back of it. “A pleasure to meet you too, Mrs. Heart.”
Quentin’s mouth almost dropped open when he saw the blush on his mother’s face. “Mother, the nurses say you aren’t doing that well. Jaks has offered to have one of his vampires change you so you can stay with me. What do you think about that?”
Her gaze went from Quentin to Jaks, then back again. “I-I don’t know. Would it hurt?”
“Yes,” Jaks admitted. “I’ll not lie to you. The transformation can be quite painful, but it will kill the cancer in your body and you will live forever at the height of your beauty. If your son is anything to go by, you will be magnificent.”
Quentin’s mother licked her lips, nervousness all but pouring off her. “I-I don’t know.”
“Come on, Mom. Would you rather die?” Frustration had Quentin’s voice rising.
“Of course not, but if my other option is drinking blood, I’ll have to think it over.” She closed her eyes. “I just don’t know.”
Jaks spoke softly. “I completely understand your wish to consider all aspects of the transformation, Mrs. Heart. However, your son will be quite devastated over your death, and I’m sure you want to spare him that pain.”
Quentin would have kicked Jaks for using unfair tactics if the vampire hadn’t spoken the absolute truth.
His mother gnawed on her lower lip as she considered her options. She lifted her lashes and kept switching her attention from Quentin to Jaks and back again.
Quentin sat in the chair beside her bed. “Mom. I don’t know what I would do in your place, but I can tell you I’d rather you were a bloodsucking vampire than dead.”
She gave him a sad smile. “You were always such a good boy, even as a child. I think you’d do just fine without me.”
Quentin’s heart sank. Jaks squeezed his shoulder in support.
“However, I refuse to die before I get to see you married. And for that alone, I will accept your offer, Master Jakinson. Make me a vampire.”
“Let me make a phone call.” Jaks pulled out his phone as he walked out of the hospital room.
“Are you sure about this?” Quentin couldn’t imagine her as a vampire, but he didn’t want to imagine her funeral either.
“Yes. I want to stick around and see you become the man you were meant to be. Life hasn’t always been easy. This would give me a second chance.” Her voice might be shaky with exhaustion, but her eyes told the truth. After thinking it through, she really did want to be transformed.
Quentin held her right hand between his. “If this is what you want, then this is what you’ll get.”
“We need to take her back to my house,” Jaks said. “We have the ability to change her there.”
“You can’t transform me in the hospital?”
“No. They won’t know all the procedures. Besides, this way we can have another member of my clan change you.”
“You don’t want to do it?” she asked.
“I don’t think you want your son’s lover to be your vampire sire, do you?”
Quentin’s mother appeared to think it over for a few minutes and gave Jaks a wry look. “No, I guess not.”
“Quentin, can you teleport us back to my house?”
“Yeah, not a problem since I broke the wards. But is it safe?” Between the storeroom and the bomb, Jaks’s home didn’t exactly feel protected.
“I’ll have my most trusted men taking care of your mother. We can leave again once we make sure she’s settled.”
Quentin didn’t know what to say about Jaks’s naiveté. Anyone who’d seen at least one century shouldn’t believe things would magically work out. “Do you want to get dressed first, Mom? Or do you want to keep wearing this snazzy gown that ties in the back?”
“I’d prefer to dress, but I don’t think I have the energy to do so,” she confessed.
Quentin concentrated on her clothes. With a wave of his hand, he transformed them into a pair of jeans and his mother’s favorite gypsy shirt.
“Nice.” She smiled at him.
“Are we all set now?” Although Jaks smiled, Quentin could hear the impatience in his tone.
“Yes. If you could carry her?” He didn’t want his mother hitting the floor as soon as they transported. He’d never held someone during travel.
Jaks scooped up Quentin’s mother with a sure, gentle touch. “Ready.”
Quentin wrapped a hand around one wrist from each of them, then released his magic. Seconds later, they landed in Jaks’s entryway. “We need to set new wards that only allow me teleporting access,” he groused.
“He’s right. You should make sure other wizards can’t just pop in. Make them use the front door.” His mother smiled.
Quentin shook his head at her, then turned to Jaks. “Who’s doing the transformation?”
“Braed.”
“Really?” Quentin didn’t get the impression Braed particularly liked him.
“He’s one of the few I’d trust with your mother.”
Quentin didn’t think that said good things about Jaks’s trust in his people.
The vampire in question stomped down the stairs, wearing his usual glowering expression. The scowl vanished from Braed’s face, however, when he spotted Quentin’s mom.
“Hello, beautiful.”
“Um, hello.”
Jaks introduced them. “Braed this is Trina Heart, my mate’s mother and the woman you agreed to transform. Trina, this is Braed, one of my most loyal clan members. He’ll take good care of you.”
“My pleasure, Trina,” Braed took her hand and kissed the back of it. “I look forward to showing you the vampire way.”
“That’s not all he wants to show her,” Quentin muttered. Braed flicked a glance over to Quentin but didn’t say anything, no doubt keeping in mind he was flirting with Quentin’s mother. “What do we need to do?” Quentin asked.
“Nothing,” Braed said. “You two get out of here before you are attacked again. I’ll take care of your mother, Quentin.”
“Attacked!” Trina said.
“Thanks.” Quentin glared at Braed. “We’ll talk after you’re vampirized.”
“Vampirized?” Jaks handed Quentin’s mother over to Braed, who cradled her as if she were someone precious.
“Transformed, whatever.” Quentin waved a hand to indicate all-encompassing vampirization.
“It is a sacred change from human to vampire,” Braed said, scowling.
“If it was so sacred, how come Glenn was abandoned?”
“We’re still looking into that,” Jaks reassured him.
“How is he?” Quentin asked.
“Keep your hands off my man.” Jaks’s tone was low and dangerous.
Glenn blinked at him a moment as if not understanding the issue. “Quentin, when did you get together with Mr. Tall, Dark and Growly?”
Quentin couldn’t stop the smile spreading across his cheeks. Glenn was healthy and as perky as ever. “You know how it is—I get a lab, a grant, a vampire.”
Jaks pinched Quentin’s ass, making him squeak.
Glenn laughed. “I see he knows how to keep you in line.”
“Glenn! How was it?” Mrs. Heart asked.
“Incredibly painful at first, but then it fades to a low ache. I feel really good today. They let me drink some wizard blood. It didn’t seem much stronger than regular. I bet it wasn’t yours,” Glenn said, staring at Quentin.
Jaks wrapped an arm around Quentin’s waist and glared at the smaller vampire. “Quentin’s blood will never be your problem.”
“Okay, buddy, I get it. Keep my hands off the pretty wizard.”
Quentin sighed. He was quickly becoming tired of being the bone of contention Jaks gnawed on whenever anyone got too close.
“Keep us informed,” Jaks said.
Quentin hated the idea of leaving his mother, but with the way Braed was eyeing her, she’d be safe.
“You take care of her, or I’ll hex you,” Quentin told Braed. He smiled when Braed lost a bit of his cocky attitude.
“I’ll watch out for her,” Glenn promised.
Despite his pale complexion, little seemed to have changed from Glenn’s usual manner. His upbeat personality appeared to have stayed intact.
Jaks squeezed Quentin tightly. “We need to go.”
Quentin almost asked why, but a kiss pressed to the side of his neck reminded him of what they’d been doing when the hospital called.
“You think it’s all right to leave her?” he whispered to Jaks.
“I’ll be fine,” his mother replied.