by J. R. Ward
"You don't need to worry," she said softly. "I won't let anyone get to you today. You're safe."
Ah, hell. She was melting him. She really was.
He cleared his throat. "Thanks. But it's you I'm worried about. Mary, last night we were attacked in the park. You lost your purse, and I have to assume my enemies got it."
Tension shot down her arm, traveled through her palm, and hit him in his chest. As her anxiety spiked, he wished there was some way of bearing the fear for her, taking it into himself.
She shook her head. "I don't remember any attack."
"I hid your memories."
"What do you mean, 'hid'?"
He reached into her mind and released the events of the night before.
Mary gasped and put her hands to her head, blinking in rapid succession. He knew he had to explain quickly. It wasn't going to take her long to process everything and jump to the conclusion that he was a killer worth running from.
"Mary, I needed to get you home so I could protect you while I waited for word from my brothers." Which still hadn't come through, goddamn it. "Those men who attacked us, they aren't human, and they're very good at what they do."
She settled onto the floor with no grace, as if her knees had given out. Her eyes were wide and sightless while she shook her head.
"You killed two of them," she said in a dead voice. "You snapped the neck of one. And the other you…"
Rhage cursed. "I'm sorry that I got you tangled up in all this. I'm sorry that you're in danger now. And I'm sorry I stripped your memories—"
She pegged him with hard eyes. "Don't do that again."
He wished he could make her that promise. "I won't unless I have to in order to save you. You know a lot about me now, and that puts you at risk."
"Have you taken any other memories from me?"
"We met at the training center. You came with John and Bella."
"How long ago?"
"Couple days. I can give you those back, as well."
"Wait a minute." She frowned. "Why didn't you just make me forget all about you before now? You know, take everything."
As if she would have preferred that.
"I was going to. Last night. After dinner."
She looked away. "And you didn't because of what happened in the park?"
"And because…" God, just how far did he want to go with this? Did he really want her to know how much he was feeling her? No, he thought. She was looking totally shell-shocked. Now was hardly the time to come clean with the happy news that a male vampire had bonded with her. "Because it's an invasion of your privacy."
In the silence that followed, he could see her working over the events, the implications, the reality of the situation. And then her body let on the sweet scent or arousal. She was remembering how he'd kissed her.
Abruptly, she winced and frowned. And the fragrance was cut off.
"Ah, Mary, in the park, when I was keeping away from you while we—"
She held her hand up, stopping him. "All I want to talk about is what we do now."
Her gray eyes met his and didn't waver. She was, he realized, ready for anything.
"God… you're amazing, Mary."
Her brows lifted. "Why?"
"You're handling all this shit really well. Especially the part about what I am."
She tucked a piece of hair behind her ears and studied his face. "You know something? It's not that big a surprise. Well, it is, but… I knew you were different from the moment I first saw you. I didn't know you were a… Do you call yourselves vampires?"
He nodded.
"Vampire," she said, as if trying the word out. "You haven't hurt me or scared me. Well, not really. And… you know, I've been clinically dead at least twice. Once when I went into cardiac arrest while they were giving me a bone-marrow transplant. Once when I came down with pneumonia and my lungs filled up with fluid. I, ah, I'm not sure where I went or why I came back, but there was something on the other side. Not heaven with the clouds and the angels and all that jazz. Just a white light. I didn't know what it was the first time. The second, I just went right into it. I don't know why I came back—"
She flushed and stopped talking, as if embarrassed by what she'd revealed.
"You have been to the Fade," he murmured, awed.
"The Fade?"
He nodded. "At least, that's what we call it."
She shook her head, clearly unwilling to go further with the subject. "Anyway, there's a lot we don't understand about this world. That vampires exist? It's just one more thing."
When he didn't say anything for a while, she glanced at him. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"You are a wahlker" he said, feeling as if he should stand up and bow to her, as was custom.
"A wahlker?"
"Someone who has been to the other side and returned. Where I come from, that is a title of distinction."
A cell phone's bleating turned both of their heads. The sound was coming from inside the duffel.
"Could you hand me that bag?" he asked.
She leaned over and tried to lift it. Couldn't. "Why don't I just give you the phone?"
"No." He struggled to his knees. "Just let me—"
"Rhage, I'll get it—"
"Mary, stop," he commanded. "I don't want you going in there."
She recoiled from the thing, as if it were carrying snakes.
With a lurch he put his hand inside. As soon as he found the phone, he cocked it and put it up to his ear.
"Yeah?" he barked, while partially zipping the duffel shut.
"Are you okay?" Tohr said. "And where the hell are you?"
"I'm fine. Just not at home."
"No shit. When you didn't meet Butch down at the gym, and he couldn't find you in the main house, he got worried and called me. Do you need a pickup?"
"No. I'm cool where I am."
"And where's that?"
"I called Wrath last night and he didn't get back to me. He around?"
"He and Beth went down to his place in the city for some private time. Now where are you?" When there was no quick answer, the brother's voice dropped lower. "Rhage, what the hell's going on?"
"Just tell Wrath I'm looking for him."
Tohr cursed. "Are you sure you don't need a pickup? I can send a couple of the doggen out with a lead-lined body bag."
"Nah, I'm good." He wasn't going anywhere without Mary. "Later, man."
"Rhage—"
He hung up and the phone rang again immediately. After checking caller ID, he let Tohr go into voice mail. He was putting the thing down next to him on the floor when his stomach let out a grumble.
"Would you like me to get you something to eat?" Mary asked.
He looked at her for a moment, stunned. And then had to remind himself she didn't know the intimacy she was offering. Still, the idea that she would honor him with food she had prepared with her own hands left him breathless.
"Close your eyes for me," he said.
She stiffened. But she lowered her lids.
He leaned forward and pressed his lips softly to hers.
Those gray eyes popped wide open, but he pulled back before she could.
"I would love it if you would feed me. Thank you."
CHAPTER 22
As the sun came up, O riffled through the building sketches that covered U's kitchen table. He spun one around.
"This is what I want. How fast can we get it up?"
"Quick. Site's out in the middle of nowhere, and the facility's not going to be hooked to any municipal utilities, so there's no need for a building permit. Putting together the wall supports and throwing some exterior clapboards on a fifteen-hundred-square-foot space won't take long. Installing the storage facilities for the captives shouldn't be a problem. As for the shower, we can divert the nearby stream easily and install a pump to provide running water. Supplies like hardware and tools are all generic and I've kept the board lengths standard size to reduce the amount of
cutting. Gas-powered generator on site will provide electricity for the saws and nail guns. It'll also give us light if we want it. We'll keep that long-term."
"Give me the number of days."
"With a crew of five guys, I can have a roof over your head in forty-eight hours. Provided I can work them into the ground and the supplies come in on time."
"I'm going to hold you to two days, then."
"I'll start getting what we need from Home Depot and Lowe's this morning. I'll split the supply orders between the two. And we're going to need a small bulldozer, one of those Toro Dingos with the interchangeable bucket and hoe setup. I know where we can rent one."
"Good. This is all good."
O leaned back to stretch his arms and idly parted the drapes. U's house was an anonymous split-level deep in soccer-mom territory. This was the part of Caldwell with streets named Elmwood and Spruce Knoll and Pine Notch, where kids rode their bikes on the sidewalks and dinner was on the table at six every night.
All the happy-happy, joy-joy made O's skin crawl. He wanted to torch the houses. Put salt on the lawns. Chop the trees down. Level the place until it couldn't resurface. The impulse went so deep it surprised him. He had no problem with destruction of property, but he was a killer, not a vandal. He couldn't figure out why he gave a shit.
"I want to use your truck," U was saying. "I'm going to rent a trailer to hitch on. Between the two, I'll be able to take delivery on the boards and roofing supplies in batches. No reason for the Home Depot folks to know where we are."
"And the stuff for the storage units?"
"I know exactly what you're looking for and where to find it."
An electronic beeping sounded.
"What the hell's that?" O asked.
"Reminder for the nine-A.M. check-in." U took out a BlackBerry, his blunt fingers flying over the little keyboard. "You want me to e-mail your status for you?"
"Yeah." O focused on U. The lesser had been in the society for 175 years. He was pale as paper. Calm and sharp as a tack. Not as aggressive as some, but steady.
"You're an asset, U."
U cocked a smile and looked up from the BlackBerry. "I know. And I like to be used. Speaking of which, who are you going to give me for a crew?"
"We're going to use both prime squadrons."
"You're taking all of us off-line for two nights?"
"And days. We'll sleep in shifts at the site."
"Fine." U looked back down at the thing in his hand, fingering a little wheel on the right side of it. "Oh… shit. Mr. X is not going to like this."
O narrowed his eyes. "Oh, yeah?"
"It's a blast e-mail to the Beta squadrons. I'm still on the list, I guess."
"And?"
"A bunch of Betas were hunting last night and ran into one of the Brotherhood in the park. Of the five of them, three are unaccounted for. Get this, the warrior was with a human female."
"Sometimes they have sex with them."
"Yeah. Lucky bastards."
Mary stood over the stove thinking of the way Rhage had just looked at her. She couldn't figure out why offering to cook him breakfast was such a big deal, but he'd acted as if she'd given him a tremendous gift.
She flipped the omelet over and headed for the refrigerator. Taking out a plastic container of cut fruit, she spooned all there was into a bowl. It didn't look like enough, so she grabbed a banana and sliced it on top.
As she put the knife down, she touched her lips. There had been nothing sexual about the kiss he'd given her behind the couch; it had been all about gratitude. And the mouth-on-mouth action in the park had been deeper, but the distance on his side was the same. The passion had been one-sided. Hers.
Did vampires even sleep with humans? Maybe that was why he held back, instead of it being some kind of power play.
Except what about the hostess at TGI Friday's? He'd definitely sized that woman up, and not because he'd wanted to buy her a dress. So clearly his kind had no problem being with another species. What he had no interest in was being with her.
Friends. Just friends.
When the omelet was finished and the toast buttered, she rolled a fork up in a napkin, tucked the twist under her elbow, and took the plate and the bowl into the living room. She quickly shut the door behind her and turned to the couch.
Whoa.
Rhage had taken his shirt off and was leaning back against the wall, inspecting his burns. In the glow of candlelight, she got a serious look at his heavy shoulders, his powerful arms, his chest. His stomach. The skin over all that muscle he was carrying was golden, hairless.
Trying to keep it together, she put what she was carrying on the floor next to him and sat down a few feet over. To stop herself from staring at his body, she glanced at his face. He was looking down at the food, not moving, not speaking.
"I wasn't sure what you liked," she said.
His eyes flipped up to hers and he shifted so he was facing her. The frontal view was even more spectacular than the profile. His shoulders were broad enough to fill the space between the couch and the wall. And the star-shaped scar over his left pectoral was sexy as hell, like some kind of brand on his skin.
After a good beat or two of him just staring at her, she reached for the plate. "I'll get you something else—"
His hand shot out and gripped her wrist. He stroked her skin with his thumb. "I love it."
"You haven't tasted the—"
"You made it. That's enough." He picked the fork out of the napkin, the muscles and tendons in his forearm working. "Mary?"
"Hm?"
"I would feed you now." As he spoke, his stomach let out a howl.
"That's okay. I'll get something for myself… Ah, why are you frowning like that?"
He rubbed his eyebrows, as if ironing out his expression. "Sorry. You couldn't know."
"Know what?"
"Where I come from, when a male offers to feed a female from his hand, it is a way of showing respect. Respect and… affection."
"But you're hungry."
He brought the plate a little closer and tore off a corner of the toast. Then he cut a perfect square out of the omelet and placed it on top.
"Mary, eat from my hand. Take from me."
He leaned forward, extending his long arm. His teal eyes were hypnotic, calling her, pulling her forward, opening her mouth. As she put her lips around the food she had cooked for him, he growled in approval. And after she swallowed, he came toward her again, another piece of toast suspended between his fingertips.
"Shouldn't you have something?" she said.
"Not until you are full."
"What if I eat it all?"
"Nothing would please me more than to know you are well fed."
Friends, she told herself. Just friends.
"Mary, eat for me." His insistence had her opening her mouth again. His eyes stayed on her lips after she'd closed them.
Jesus. This didn't feel like friends.
As she chewed, Rhage picked through the bowl of fruit with his fingertip. He finally chose a slice of cantaloupe and held it out to her. She took the piece whole, a little juice escaping down the side of her mouth. She reached up with the back of her hand, but he stopped her, lifting the napkin, brushing it over her skin.
"I'm finished."
"No, you're not. I can feel your hunger." This time half a strawberry came toward her. "Open for me, Mary."
He fed her choice morsels, watching her with a primordial satisfaction that was unlike anything she'd seen before.
When she couldn't take another bite, he made quick work of what was left, and the moment he was done she picked up the plate and headed to the kitchen. She made him another omelet, filled a bowl full of cereal, and gave him the last of her bananas.
His smile was radiant as she laid it all out in front of him. "How you honor me with this."
As he ate in that methodical, tidy way of his, she closed her eyes and let her head fall back against the wall. She was get
ting tired more and more easily and felt a stab of cold terror because now she knew why. God, she dreaded finding out what the doctors were going to do to her after all the tests were in.
When she opened her eyes, Rhage's face was right in front of hers.
She jerked back, banging against the wall. "I, ah, I didn't even hear you move."
Crouched on all fours like an animal about to spring, he had one arm on either side of her legs, his massive shoulders bunched up from bearing the weight of his torso. This close, he was huge. And showing a lot of skin. And smelling really good, like dark spices.
"Mary, I would thank you, if you would let me."
"How?" she croaked.
He tilted his head to the side and put his lips on hers. As she gasped, his tongue penetrated her mouth and stroked her own. When he shifted back to assess her reaction, his eyes glowed with the promise of ecstasy, the kind that would boil her bone marrow.
She cleared her throat, "You're… welcome."
"I would do that again, Mary. Will you let me?"
"A simple thank-you is fine. Really, I—"
His lips cut her off and then his tongue took over again, invading, taking, caressing. As heat roared in her body, Mary gave up the fight and savored the mad lust, the pounding in her chest, the aching at her breasts and between her legs.
Oh, God. It had been so long. And it had never been like this.
Rhage let out a low purr, as if he'd sensed her arousal. She felt his tongue retract, and then he took her lower lip between his—
Fangs. Those were fangs nipping at her flesh.
Fear threaded through her passion and thickened it, adding a dangerous edge that opened her even further. She put her hands on his arms. God, he was so hard, so strong. He'd be so heavy on top of her.
"Will you let me lay with you?" he asked.
Mary closed her eyes, imagining them going beyond the kissing to a place where they'd be naked together. She hadn't been with a man since well before her illness. And a lot about her body had changed since then.
She also didn't know where his desire to be with her was coming from. Friends didn't have sex. Not in her book, anyway.
She shook her head. "I'm not sure—"