by Moira Rogers
The sun had already dropped below the edge of the forest, but Adam had no trouble making out the small cluster of buildings that obviously made up the main bulk of Red Rock. Dirt roads wove into the trees, and lights flickered here and there through the branches like fireflies. The town showed its share of wear and tear, visible even at a distance, but it was easy to see the dream underneath. An old-fashioned, small-town sanctuary. He could have been looking at Bedagi Creek, if Bedagi Creek had been on top of a mountain instead of nestled in the Great North Woods of Maine.
A blonde in jeans and a flannel shirt watched them as they drove down the main street, one hand shading her eyes from the dwindling sunlight. Joe waved at her through the Blazer window, and she smiled broadly as she approached the SUV.
“The town’s doctor,” Dylan said, distracting him from the act of coasting to a stop. He had to slam his foot down on the brakes and nearly rear-ended Joe’s vehicle before he managed to park the car. The blonde’s gaze flickered to him and, for one moment, all he could see in her face was pure, undiluted strength, the kind that came from living through hell and getting up on the other side.
The dark hunger inside him stirred, attracted to the strength of her in the same way the young alpha female in Bedagi Creek had called to him. But he’d known Emily from childhood, leaving his hunger for power strongly tempered by an utter lack of desire. The blonde burned with magic so bright it could turn a man inside out, and had a body that might make him willing to go through the pain, if it meant getting a chance to touch her.
“Oh shit.”
Adam jerked his attention to the rearview mirror and glared at Dylan. “Got a problem, puppy?”
Dylan refused to avert his gaze, which was most of the reason Adam liked the kid. Dylan didn’t care if the man staring him down could break him in half, he’d do what he thought he had to and damn the consequences.
Apparently now he thought he had to be a nosy bastard. “Cindy’s not going to let you snack on her. And if Joe or Keith catches you eyeing her like you’re thinking about it, they’ll get Buffy on your ass.”
“Excuse me?”
“They’ll kill you really, really dead.”
Not an inconsequential threat, but Joe and Keith were still youths, neither of them fifty years old. And Adam hadn’t been thinking about blood for once. Which might be worse. “Mind your own damn business, Dylan.”
The doctor leaned close to Joe’s window for a few more moments, then nodded and began to walk toward Adam’s car. When she drew closer, he could see the brittle tinge of wariness in her eyes.
Judging by the way the couple in the back separated and surged to opposite sides of the seat, little—if any—of that wariness was directed at him. Adam jerked the keys from the ignition and pushed open the door with a small sigh of relief. He tossed the keys on the front seat and glanced at Dylan. “If the car needs to go somewhere else, you take it.”
“Sure thing.” Dylan opened his own door and climbed out, a cautious smile on his lips. “Hey, Cindy.”
“Dylan. Hi, Sasha.”
“Hi.”
Cindy turned to him and held out one hand. “You must be Adam. Gavin’s told me a lot about you.”
Touching her was asking for trouble, but he did it anyway. Her hand felt small in his, but not soft. She wasn’t Sasha, with her fragile delicateness. Cindy’s smooth skin hid strength, maybe even a hint of danger.
It turned him on more than a little.
“Cindy.” He smiled, the wide, easy grin he used on the rare occasions he wanted a woman to smile back. “So you’re the doctor Sam told me about.” A small lie, since he didn’t think Sam had told him more than that she had a doctor.
She arched an eyebrow and laughed. “The first thing Gavin told me was that you’re a charming, horny bastard.”
Son of a bitch. It figured the old wolf knew him well enough, even after all this time, to know the sort of temptation Cindy would present. “Gavin hasn’t forgiven me for flirting with his wife in the early eighties. He holds a grudge.”
“Right. He and Sam are at my place. Come on, I’ll show you.” She turned on one heel and walked across the street, her hips swaying with each step.
He was still watching those hips when Dylan spoke up from behind them, his voice worried. “Did something happen? Did someone get hurt?”
Cindy spared them only a quick glance over her shoulder. “Gavin’s not feeling well.”
It was the one thing guaranteed to drag Adam’s attention away from the way Cindy’s jeans hugged her ass. Her tone might have been casual, but he’d heard the minute strain, the way her voice came out a little flat. Amusement died and he caught up to Cindy in two long strides. “Then let’s go.”
Her house proved to be close to the center of town, a smart placement for their doctor, he supposed. It seemed like a nice enough little home, but on the inside it looked more like an office. Chairs and a couch lined the walls of the entryway, and the two rooms he could see into could best be described as clinical.
Cindy ignored them both, instead leading him down the hall, past the kitchen into a comfortably homey room where Gavin sat in a recliner, his face ashen.
He’d kept up with Gavin by phone, infrequent calls every month or two, Adam’s only real contact with the world past Bedagi Creek. The last time he’d actually seen Gavin had been over a quarter of a century ago, when his oldest friend had arrived in Maine with a sweet-faced young woman with too many scars and too much power. Time had still been kind.
Gavin and time had had a falling out at some point in the last thirty years. His friend looked old. Rundown and worn out and half-dead. He looked up and grinned when he saw Adam. “’Bout time you showed up.”
Adam had to fight to smile and keep his voice light, burying his worry deep. “Just biding my time. Figured Sam would leave you and shack up with me if I waited long enough.”
“In your wildest dreams, Dubois.” Gavin jerked his head to the chair beside his. “Have a seat. Never thought I’d get you out here.”
Adam sank into the chair. “Never thought I’d come. But what can I say? Only you would send a moon-crazed wolf, a witch and their boyfriends out to fetch me. You got my attention.”
“Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, doesn’t it?” He leaned his head back and turned his grin to the blonde. “Cindy, love. Tell Sammie I can have a beer, would you?”
“Hell no.”
“You’re a harsh woman, Dr. Shepherd.”
“Mmm.” She winked at Adam over Gavin’s head. “May as well get the truth out there before your guest starts to think I’m a nice lady.”
Adam stretched his legs in front of him, grateful for the chance to do so after so long trapped in a ridiculously small car. “Trust me, Dr. Shepherd. Gavin here is hoping I’ll think you’re a nice lady. Never much fancied them.”
“Cindy can handle the likes of you,” Gavin grumbled. “And she is nice, in spite of that.”
“Mm-hmm.” He met Cindy’s gaze. “So what did the old bastard do to put himself in this state?”
“The old bastard is sitting right here.”
Cindy ignored him. “Had another heart attack. It’s one of the hazards of being an old bastard.” Again, a thread of tension bled through her nonchalant words.
“Another heart attack?” Adam looked back to Gavin. “Hell, man, how many have you had?”
“Three.” His friend fidgeted with the upholstery covering the arm of the recliner. “It’s like the lady says. I’m not as young as I used to be.”
Neither was Adam, but time had a way of passing him by in his tiny remote cabin. Before young Emily had taken a shine to him, he’d gone for months at a time without seeing anyone besides the casual bedmates who came to him to feed a man’s hunger as well as a vampire’s.
Footsteps sounded in the hallway, and Adam got another shock when Sam stepped through the doorway. Granted, few women well into their seventies possessed Sam’s strong body and ageless comp
lexion, but worry had left its mark on her face and fear in her eyes.
She hid it well as she swooped down to kiss his cheek. “Welcome to Red Rock, you impossible man.”
Flirting with her when Gavin looked like he had one foot in the grave seemed like overkill, but he didn’t know how else to handle the shock of seeing two of his oldest friends looking old. “I thought we agreed you’d leave this sorry ass and come live with me. I waited twenty years.”
“Only twenty? You’re too impatient.” Her voice sounded strained, and Adam felt the first stirrings of panic. Nothing put that edge of fear in Sam’s voice. Combined with the doctor’s tension, it painted a sorry picture for Gavin—and for Red Rock.
Cindy leaned close to Sam, one comforting hand on the taller woman’s shoulder. “I have to head to Keith’s and check on Joe. Radio if you need anything, and I can be back here in a minute.”
“Thanks, Cindy.” Sam squeezed her hand, and Adam caught the look that passed between them. Samantha considered the doctor a friend, someone from whom she’d accept support, and it said more about Cindy’s inner strength than anything else he’d seen.
His attraction to that strength made it so much harder to watch her leave.
It took Cindy five minutes, halfway down Main Street, to stop trembling.
You’re doing it again, damn it. It was the only explanation. She was letting her hormones overrule her good sense, indulging an attraction to an unsuitable man.
The pull had been there, instant and undeniable, and she wanted to kick herself for flirting with him. He was attractive, tall and dark and rugged, but there wasn’t time for that sort of thing. Not with Gavin sick and Keith taking over and a new threat in Helena.
Not just any threat—a vampire. And she’d do well to remember that Adam Dubois had come to Red Rock to teach them how to fight that threat.
“Cindy!” Dylan appeared from between two buildings. “Hey, I was just dropping the rental car off at Sam and Gavin’s. You headed to Keith’s?”
“Yeah, I want to make sure Joe’s okay.” Seeing Dylan jolted her a little. She wasn’t pining over him, and she certainly didn’t begrudge him his happiness, but he’d been her lover not terribly long ago. “What about you?”
“That’s the plan.” He sounded different, more confident. Whatever had happened in Maine had healed some of the slowly bleeding wounds he’d come to Red Rock with a few months before. She could see it in his face as he glanced at her. “What’s really going on with Gavin?”
She’d told Keith because Sam had asked her to. Sam hadn’t asked her to tell everyone. “The stress, mostly. I think Keith’s going to be taking over a lot of things.”
Dylan frowned. “If it’s not my business, just say it’s not my business. Don’t lie.”
She blew her bangs out of her face with an exasperated breath. “Okay, Dylan. It’s none of your business.”
“Fair enough.” He stayed silent as they reached the end of the street and turned toward Keith’s house, his boots crunching loudly on the gravel. It wasn’t until they’d passed another two houses that he cleared his throat. “So. We brought a vampire home with us.”
“I noticed.” At least the deepening shadows cast by the setting sun might hide her blush. “Gavin seemed happy to see his friend.”
“He’s…” Another pause, and this one felt apprehensive. “Watch out for him, Cindy. He may be friendly with Gavin, but he’s dangerous. The kind of dangerous you don’t see coming.”
“You think he’s out to get me?” Even as a joke, the words felt illicit. “Should I string garlic around my neck?”
He dropped his gaze—only for a second, but long enough to acknowledge she was far above him in the pack hierarchy. “I’m just saying, power makes him hungry. Sometimes he looks at Brynn and I know he sees food.”
“Yeah, well. If he tries to suck my blood, I’ll punch him in the balls. How’s that?” Not that she was making any promises if he wanted to put his mouth anywhere else.
“Never should have doubted.”
“Uh-huh.” Cindy stopped walking and shoved her hands in her pockets. “I appreciate that you’re trying to look out for me, Dylan. But you can’t do that anymore, not for a while. You know that, right?”
“Wasn’t all that great at it before.” He turned to face her and grinned. “I get it though. And I’m sorry. Don’t beat me up.”
“Right.” She jerked her head back toward her house. “What’s his story?”
Dylan shrugged and resumed walking. “Vampire. Old, maybe older than Gavin. We found him making a living carving handmade furniture in a cabin that barely had running water and electricity.”
“Should be right at home in Red Rock, then.”
“Guess so. Don’t think he’s been out in the world in a while. You should have seen him trying to manage the rental car.”
Laughing felt too much like mockery, and Cindy’s amusement faded quickly. “I’m just thankful he came. Gavin could use an old friend around right now.”
“Don’t get me wrong, I kind of like him. Joe, on the other hand…” Dylan trailed off uncomfortably. “Those two are never gonna be friends.”
If there was tension there, she needed to know. “Did something happen?”
It took Dylan a second too long to answer. “No. Adam’s careful not to look at Brynn most of the time. But back in Maine he made it clear that the way she got turned is going to make her vampire bait. And not in a ‘be my queen of the night’ sort of way. More like, ‘yum, dinner’.”
If the raw power appealed to vampires, it was no wonder. Brynn was half-feral, wild with it. “I imagine Joe wouldn’t be too fond of that.”
“Doesn’t seem like it. And I don’t know if he’s thought ahead, but I have. It means Brynn can’t be involved in whatever goes down in Helena. She’s too big a target. And unless Joe’s willing to transfer her bond to someone else, it takes him out too.” Dylan kicked at a rock and sighed. “No wonder Gavin feels like shit. Things are looking pretty damn dire.”
“What kind of shape is Joe in now?” Joe was proud and a little pigheaded, but he also possessed a refreshing pragmatism. If he was in no shape to fight, it wouldn’t be hard to convince him he’d be better off tending to Brynn.
Dylan flashed her a weary smile. “You’re the doctor. I guess you’ll have to tell me.”
“Of course.” She didn’t want to keep walking toward Keith’s house. She didn’t want to hear the details of what had happened, see the extent of Joe’s lingering injuries. She wanted to go home and climb into a hot bath.
Fingers brushed her arm, a tentative touch that only lasted a moment. “You okay, Cindy?”
Not long ago, Dylan’s touch would have been more than welcome. Now, she shied away from it. “I’m exhausted. We all are.”
“I just…” His voice trailed off, as if he knew there was nothing he could say. Not anymore. “Let’s go. Joe’s waiting for you.”
Guilt made her tremble. She’d been the one to end things, and it wasn’t fair to punish him for it. “I’m sorry, Dylan.”
“Don’t be. Things are awkward. Just means we’re… Well, maybe not human. But normal.”
Cindy stopped walking and rubbed her hands over her face. “Tell me one thing. Tell me you’re happy.”
“I am. Not just living. I’m happy.”
The truth of the words was written on every line of his face. He wore a contentment that hadn’t been there the last time she’d seen him, and she dragged in a relieved breath. “Then that means us splitting up was the right thing to do. That’s enough for me.”
“I’m glad.” He tilted his head toward the road that led to Keith’s place. “You ready to face this?”
Not in a million years, but there was no avoiding it. “I need to check on Joe, and we all need to talk.”
“Yeah we do, but cheer up. We brought souvenirs.”
And a vampire. She almost told Dylan she’d prefer the cheap trinkets, but the image of Adam D
ubois’s flashing green eyes rose in her memory, giving lie to the thought. “Let’s go.”
Chapter Two
It was after midnight when Cindy dragged herself home. She’d refused to allow anyone to walk her, needing the time and solitude to steel herself for the long night to come. Gavin might have been sitting up and talking that afternoon, but that level of activity would have taken its toll, left him weakened.
God only knew how his body could fail him next.
She pushed through the back door and stopped short when she caught sight of Adam at her kitchen table. “Hi.”
He paused with a forkful of mashed potatoes hovering in the air. “Hello.”
“Don’t let me interrupt.” She hung her jacket on the wall in the entryway and nodded to the plate of leftovers before him. “Verna made the meatloaf and potatoes. Best in three states.”
Adam set down his fork and rose. “You hungry? I could heat some up for you too.”
“No, God no. Sit.” She turned to the refrigerator, using the seconds it took her to fetch a bottle of water to steady her hands. He moved with slow deliberation, a careful concert of movements that unsettled her because it was all too easy to imagine that sort of attention turned on her.
The chair scraped over the floor as he settled into it again. “Sorry for invading your kitchen, but Sam drifted off and I didn’t have the heart to wake her.”
“Don’t sweat it. She needs the rest.” Cindy took a gulp of her water and sat across the table from him. May as well get it out there. “What about you? Do you need anything?”
Amusement flashed in his eyes. “Salt and pepper?”
He was a smartass, but she’d asked for it with her vague words. She retrieved the salt and pepper shakers from the shelf above the tiled backsplash behind the stove. “You’ll have to indulge me with a few silly questions. I know nothing about vampires.”
“I eat. I sleep. I don’t burst into flame in the sunlight.” If he had fangs, his smile didn’t show them. “And sometimes I drink blood.”