by Lauren Dane
Her chin lifted with stubborn defiance. “I have to go to work. That isn’t negotiable.”
Nate shot Rhett a look that told him to shut up and he did.
“All right. Just please take the Jag. Don’t risk the bus. We’ll be in when we get up and have fed. We can talk more tomorrow about everything.”
She nodded and dug some sweats and a long-sleeved T-shirt out of her bag. “I uh, I need to go to the bathroom to clean up and brush my teeth.”
“Oh sorry, honey.” Rhett pointed to a door. “Right through there.”
She hurried off and took a quick shower, standing beneath the hot water and trying not to think. When she came out she was doubly glad her eye had healed to take in the astounding fact that her bed had two very naked men in it and they were both happy to see her.
She choked off a gasp and put her hands up in front of her. “Whoa! Even if I didn’t have to think over a whole lot of things—including the fact that you two are vampires—I’m dead on my feet.”
“All we want to do is sleep with you,” Rhett said. “Hold you.”
“For now anyway,” Nate added with one of his salacious grins.
“Do you, um, die at dawn?” She didn’t think she was up for sharing a bed with two dead naked guys. Then she gave a nearly hysterical giggle at the thought.
“No, we sleep. A deep sleep and we’re not dead. Come on, snuggle in.” Rhett held out a hand to her.
She was so easy. She took his hand and crawled in between them, screwing her eyes tight lest she go blind looking at the impressive merchandise on display just for her.
“I set the alarm for you for three. Is that all right?” Nate asked as he snuggled into her back, an arm around her waist.
“Yes,” she said and sounded more breathy than she wished to. “Thank you.”
“There are towels and soaps, shampoo, that sort of thing in the bathroom. I suppose you saw that already. We’ll be sleeping so we won’t see you until after your shift starts. I’ve written out the code numbers for the security system and the keys to the house and the Jag are with the note.” Rhett’s voice was sleepy as he moved back toward her, pushing her back into Nate who was, whooo! still happy to see her.
“I really can’t take your super expensive sports car.” Dear god, that damned car was worth more than she made in three years!
“Do you have a driver’s license?”
“Yes.”
“Fine. You’re taking it and don’t argue.” Rhett reached back and took her arm, pulling it over his stomach and entwining his fingers with hers.
She was out of her mind to be doing any of this but boy did it feel good. She’d allow her senses to take over when she woke up later.
* * * * *
“Hello.”
Holly found herself staring into pretty blue-violet eyes and sat up quickly, looking around. She wasn’t in bed with Rhett and Nate anymore.
“Don’t panic, you’re dreaming. Wow, you look so much like us.” The fey-looking redhead walked closer, cocking her head.
“What the hell is going on?”
The redhead laughed. “I see you have our attitude too. I’m Lee Charvez, your cousin.”
“Charvez? Two men tried to kill me last night because of you people. Who are you and why are you in my dream?”
“You’re well then? What happened?” Lee looked concerned.
“Oh you wouldn’t believe me if I told you. I’m fine, staying away from my apartment for the moment. Back to my question. Who are you?”
“The Charvezes? We’re your family. Your mother was my mother’s cousin, the daughter of my great-aunt, your grandmother, Elise Charvez. I’m in your dreams because it’s my gift. I’m this generation’s witch dreamer.”
Holly’s face blanked at that chunk of incomprehensible information. “A what?”
“Do you know nothing of your heritage? Of your gift?”
“Who the hell are you to talk to me that way? Your precious family couldn’t be bothered with a pregnant fifteen-year-old! Tossed her out like garbage. How dare you judge me!”
Lee put her hands up in surrender. “I’m so sorry about that. We’re all sorry about that. But it’s not what you think. Tante Elise looked for you and your mother for years. I’m not judging you, honest. We want you to come home to us. We want you to know us, we want to know you. We want to protect you.”
“If she was so sorry why let her daughter get kicked out to begin with?” Holly crossed her arms defensively over her chest.
“We want you to know the story from our side. Please, come to us. Tell us where you are and we’ll arrange to get you here in New Orleans. What’s your name? Where are you? We want to make it up to you. You have a family that loves you. Your mother is gone, isn’t she? My grand-mére, your great-aunt, she says that she can’t feel your mother’s light anymore.”
Sickness spread through her gut. The last twenty-four hours had been more than a bit too much to deal with. Lee sensed it and touched her cousin’s arm. “I’m sorry. I’d be a mess if I lost my mother. Please, tell me who you are, come to us. If you want, we can come to you. My sister Em and her husband Con are Fae, they could come to you in seconds. We just want you to know we’re here and that you’re wanted. Aren’t you curious?”
“I don’t know what I am! No, wait! Yes I do! I’m pissed. I’m hurt. Scared as hell. Tonight I was attacked, saved by vampires. Yes, I said vampires! The guys who tried to kill me disappeared in front of my eyes. I drank blood. Oh god, I drank blood! Someone drank my blood. I’m in bed between two naked men, vampires—oh god—who say I’m their one true mate or somesuch. And my cousin pops into my dream to say ‘hi, come home now’. This has been quite the day. I gotta tell you, Lee, I’ve had about enough of today.” She finished out of breath and no small amount hysterical.
“Vampires? Mate? Wait, mates?”
“Yes! I know it sounds totally absurd but it’s true, I saw their damned teeth, I drank a bit of blood from Nate and it healed me. I can feel them both, right now, as if they are inside of my head.”
Lee smiled. “Oh, chere, you need to come to New Orleans to see us. Bring your men, I can’t believe you’ve got two.” She laughed, delighted.
“What? So you don’t think the pudgy cousin can snag two hot men?”
“No. And you’re not pudgy, not that it matters because to vampires mates are mates, period. And to you too, especially if there’s been blood exchanged. I’m laughing because I have two men. One of them is a vampire. It must run in the family. Aidan would love to meet you—that’s my husband the vampire. My other husband, Alex, is a wizard.”
Holly’s eyes widened and she stepped back.
Lee’s sharp eyes noticed. “What? Tell me.”
“They said that the magic on the blade smelled male, that it was wizard magic.”
Lee’s smile faded. “Blade? Who said that? You must come to us. We can protect you. New Orleans isn’t an affiliated city, vampires of all castes are allowed here. Please.” Lee took her hand. “What is your name?”
“Holly. And what is affiliated?”
“Holly, can I call you in a few hours? After you wake up? We can set up the details for you to come down here. Aidan will arrange for a plane to pick you three up and fly you here. You can stay at our home or with my parents.”
“I can’t just up and leave. I have a job, bills to pay. I don’t have private planes! I have a studio apartment that is now trashed.”
“Let us help you! It’s what family is for.”
Holly let out a disgusted sound at that. She willed herself free of the dream and sat up, awake, heart pounding.
It was nearly noon, she’d had five hours’ sleep. She looked down and saw the two naked men and closed her eyes against their appeal. She scrambled up and quickly put on clothes and snatched up her bag.
She had to get away, had to think, and she couldn’t deal with vampires and witches and wizards. She grabbed the note with the security codes on it—even though she had to get
away from the men, she didn’t want to leave them unsafe. On her way out she left a note of her own, thanking them for helping her and telling them she needed some space and time alone to process everything.
Chapter Three
Back in New Orleans at her house, Lee came back to herself and sat up with a sigh. She looked at her grand-mére and her sister and shook her head.
“Her name is Holly. She thinks we abandoned her and her mother. Someone tried to kill her last night.” She looked at Alex. “With wizard magic.”
Alex raised his eyebrows. “How did she know? Did they leave any kind of evidence behind so we’d know what family they were from?”
Lee let out a long breath. “Two vampires saved her. There was a blade involved, apparently. I’m guessing it was they who knew it was wizard magic. They also told her that she was their one true mate.”
Em let out a startled laugh. “She gets two men too?”
Con tugged on her ear. “Hey! One of me is two of any other man.”
She turned and kissed his chin. “You’re absolutely right, gorgeous.”
“She’s a bit overwhelmed. Had a big twenty-four hours. Being attacked, finding out vamps exist, being told they were her mates, exchanging blood, having some total stranger pop into her dreams telling her to come home. I almost had her until I told her that we’d help her because that was what family is for. Boy did I push a big button.”
She turned to her grand-mére. “Elena is dead. Holly is devastated. She has no idea about her magic, about us.”
“We have got to get her here. With this threat from the wizards, she’s a target with no one to protect her.” Grand-mére’s voice was filled with emotion.
“I’ll try to dream walk again tonight to see if I can connect with her again.” Lee sighed. “I just hope I’m not too late.”
* * * * *
Rhett came awake first, being the older vampire. He turned and inhaled where Holly had slept. Her scent filtered through his system, calming him, centering him. He looked at Nate’s sleeping face and a familiar but suppressed heat bloomed through him. He had never been much for other men but he had to admit that when Nate made the comment that he and Rhett were supposed to be together in some way with Holly as the bridge, it had intrigued him. He’d felt some level of attraction for Nate for several years. Imagining what the three of them would do together made him ache.
Putting it aside for the time being, he sat up and went into the bathroom. A hot shower would warm him up and take his mind off the very erotic scene in his head.
Nate came pounding into the room a few minutes later.
“Hey! Knock!”
“She’s gone!” Nate held her note in his hand.
Rhett turned the water off and grabbed the towel Nate tossed him. He took the note, read it quickly and wanted to punch something.
“Visit from her cousin? Time alone? What the hell is going on?”
“I don’t know, Rhett, but I hate the thought of her out there alone.”
“She has to go to work. You could see how tight her financial situation was just by looking at her place last night.”
“Let’s go.”
* * * * *
Holly felt physically ill. Just being away from them made her feel awful. She’d been aware when Rhett woke up, he’d been so content and happy. She felt his arousal when he’d showered. Nate’s hunger for her when he’d awoken was enough to make her weak in the knees. She could also tell when they saw her note because first there was confusion, then anger, hurt and resolve.
They were coming for her and she had to go but she had no idea where. Her apartment was a mess, a new door had been ordered and a temporary one was up to protect her stuff but it wasn’t a secure situation. She’d been trying to figure out where to stay since she’d come to work early and a grateful Roy had put her on shift immediately. She couldn’t ask to stay with him and his wife, it was simply too dangerous. But Nate and Rhett were getting closer so she made up her mind.
“Roy, I’m not feeling well,” she apologized and it wasn’t a lie.
He looked at her with concern, reaching out to feel her forehead. “Then go on home. I’ll call in someone to pick up the rest of your shift. You do look tired.”
“Thank you.” Fighting back tears, she quickly gathered up her coat and the bag she’d taken from the house and headed out the back door to jump on a bus headed downtown.
She rode, watching the night deepen as she transferred and headed south, toward the airport and the less expensive hotels there. She would use some of the money she had laid aside for books next quarter. She had no choice and right then, she just needed the time and space to figure out what the hell to do.
Choosing at random, she checked in to a cheap hotel and sat in the dark, staring at the walls as the pain clawed at her insides. She felt their rising panic as the time passed without finding her. She was afraid to sleep and have her cousin back in her mind. She was so weary and lonely. In the back of her mind, she knew she should have been outraged by everything that happened to her in the last weeks—afraid even—but there was nothing but the exhaustion of spirit and emotion.
Wishing for oblivion and reprieve from the pain in her gut, she crawled between the sheets she curled into a ball and let sleep wash over her at last.
* * * * *
Rhett and Nate stalked into The Roanoke and knew immediately that Holly wasn’t there. Nate went toward the back and Rhett headed toward Roy. He wasted no time and used his voice.
“Where is Holly?”
“She wasn’t looking well. Said she was sick and went home about fifteen minutes ago. Who are you?” Roy’s eyes were slightly glazed as Rhett’s voice took over but his concern for Holly was strong enough to ask. It impressed Rhett and reassured him that she had a few people in her life who cared about her.
“Will she be in tomorrow?”
“That girl needs every penny she can get. Not much short of having a limb fall off will keep her home two days in a row, I’d wager.”
The precarious nature of Holly’s life hit Rhett once again and more anxiety ate at him. “She’s in danger. If she comes back in, you will call me at this number.” Rhett handed him a business card and Roy nodded as he took it, putting it into the register drawer.
Rhett thanked him and motioned toward the door. Nate saw and went outside to meet up with him.
“Well?” Nate paced.
“He says she didn’t look well and went home sick about fifteen minutes ago. He was genuinely concerned about her. The bond is partially formed, she’ll be in pain without us.” Rhett shoved a hand through his hair. He hated the idea of her hurting, even if he was hurt himself that she’d run off. For a human, a partial bond would cause something akin to withdrawal pain that would worsen as the hours passed. She’d given blood to him and taken from Nate, the circuit between them was half completed and her need for them—and theirs for her—was based on a physical need as well as an emotional one. They had to complete the binding as soon as possible for all their sakes.
“Let’s go to her place. I can’t believe she’d be so stupid as to go back there.” Nate slammed back into the car and Rhett got in on the driver’s side.
But she wasn’t at her apartment and the state of the place was concerning. The door was flimsy and would be of practically no protection for her. But her scent, while strong enough to let them know she’d been back there that afternoon, was cold.
Rhett called their assistant-bodyguard-man of business, Jax, and arranged for him to get her stuff boxed up and moved and to be sure the manager didn’t give her any trouble and they headed back to the car.
“What now? I know from following her the last month that she doesn’t have any places she could go other than the boss and she’d never bring any danger down on him or his family.”
“And it’s clear that she doesn’t have a lot of money so if she ran, it couldn’t have been very far.” Nate was agitated. He hadn’t fed and his need for her�
�to be assured that she was safe—rode him hard.
“Let’s get fed and then we’ll continue to search for her. If we can’t find her tonight, we’ll get Jax to assign some of his men to watch for her during daylight. Damn it, I can’t believe we hadn’t done that already. I just didn’t think she’d do this.” Rhett reined in his frustration. “Her boss seemed to think she’d be back tomorrow. We’ll have some humans assigned to watch the tavern during the day and keep her safe and in place until we can get there to grab her.”
“Oh is that woman in for it when I get hold of her,” Nate growled as they pulled away from the curb. He was furious at her for running and putting herself in danger. Angry with himself for not thinking to put human bodyguards on her. Hurt by her rejection of them but understanding that she would, knowing how hard it must be for her to face all of the stuff she’d had thrown at her in such a short period of time.
After a quick stop to feed, they drove all over the county looking for any sign of her. Rhett could feel a whisper of her through the link he’d formed by taking her blood. He felt her aching fear. It made him frantic. Nate just sat, quiet and steady, looking out the window, breathing in the night air, hoping for a stray scent of her—anything to aid them in finding her.
Daybreak rode the horizon and they both felt her at rest at last. Hoping for the best and without any more options, they headed back home and arranged for people to watch for Holly at the tavern during the daylight hours when they couldn’t be there to protect her.
* * * * *
When Holly awoke she felt like she’d been run over by a truck. Her muscles ached, her skin itched and her eyes hurt. It was like the worst case of the flu she’d ever experienced.
All she could think about was Nate and Rhett and how she’d probably scared them to death. What the heck was she going to do? She couldn’t run forever. She couldn’t keep spending money she didn’t have on this motel and hiding.
And really, she wasn’t the type for hand wringing and indecisiveness so she knew she needed to face her situation and at least talk to Nate and Rhett face-to-face and work it out.