Enemy Mate

by L. J. Red

  She glanced up for confirmation and Eden nodded. “Well, they will take longer to heal. Any wound inflicted by a vampire upon another vampire doesn’t heal as fast as normal wounds will, but don’t worry, your healing should kick in once you have a little blood or food in you. Any preference?” she raised an eyebrow.

  “Um… food please,” Eden said hesitantly. She still wasn’t comfortable with blood drinking unless she really needed it.

  “I would recommend something high in iron,” Dr. Patil said as she efficiently wrapped her wound. Eden found it unsettling to watch Dr. Patil treat and clean her wound. She was totally fine dealing with other people’s injuries, but the sight of her own blood made her feel uncomfortably woozy. She turned away, looking for a distraction. She found one. Talon had stripped off his suit jacket and shirt, and his muscled back was rippling as he efficiently scrubbed the blood from his hands. Her gaze lingered on the muscles of his back, dipping low to the waist of his pants. She swallowed roughly as desire thrummed through her, her eyes going lower, the curve of his ass, the thick breadth of his thighs, the sheer unrivaled strength of his body, all hardness and masculine grace. Fuck, what was wrong with her? Why was she reacting like this? Like her hormones were in overdrive. It wasn’t like her. She shifted uncomfortably.

  “Don’t worry, almost done,” Dr. Patil murmured, and Eden blushed, realizing Dr. Patil had assumed she was reacting to the wound, not to her body’s treacherous reaction to seeing Talon without a shirt. She needed to clear her mind, but that was even harder to do when Talon returned to the bed. He’d found one of the t-shirts Dr. Patil had mentioned and was hovering dangerously close, the thin T-shirt doing very little to disguise the shape of his muscles under the cotton. Eden’s mouth went dry and her fingers ached to touch.

  “All done,” Dr. Patil said, shocking her back into awareness.

  “Thank you,” Eden said.

  “Not at all.” Dr. Patil stepped away. She glanced at Talon. “No exertion,” she said warningly, glancing between them, and Eden blushed harder when she realized Dr. Patil hadn’t mistaken her reaction after all.

  “Oh no,” Eden protested, blushing furiously, her cheeks hot, hoping her dark skin would hide her reaction. “It’s not, that is… we’re not going to—”

  “I don’t need to know,” Dr. Patil said, raising both hands. “It’s between you; just take it easy for a little while, okay?” Eden was far too embarrassed to manage more than a stumbling agreement and Dr. Patil nodded, fixing Talon with one final sharp look before walking out.

  Eden didn’t dare raise her head, gathering the thin sheet between her fingers and pinching at it. She should get up and leave, but Talon was standing right in front of her, blocking her way to the door.

  “What’s your name?” His voice broke the silence. His intense gaze was fixed on her

  “Eden,” she said, and a shiver went through him.

  “Eden,” he repeated, and hearing her name in his mouth went straight to her core. She swayed toward him and his eyes darkened. He came closer, resting his hands on either side of her on the mattress, hemming her in. She caught her breath at the pressure of his presence. He leaned in, pressing until his hips touched her knees, then gently easing them open. She felt raw, vulnerable, but yearning for more, to be closer to him, her thoughts swirling and drifting away, desire taking their place, unthinking, instinctive. She lost herself in her body’s demands, shifting toward him. Heat radiated from his body into her. It didn’t make sense. She thought vampires were cold; Riker was always as cold as the grave, and since she had been turned, she had been freezing, like all the heat and warmth of her life had gone out of her. And yet now, in this moment, she was warm, not just warm, but hot, burning up with desire. She needed more. She needed to feel him against her, his hard body pressed against her own.

  Eden tilted her head up, barely aware of what she was doing, her heavy gaze dragging over the fullness of his lips, his inviting, red lips. Fuck. That clever, mobile mouth. She wanted it on her hot skin. “Please, touch me,” she moaned, wild and wanton.

  His arms bracketing her pulled taut, as if he was straining against a great weight, his entire body a rigid line. His eyes flashed and Eden shivered at the intensity of desire burning within them. Could that all really be for her? Then the thought whirled away as his eyes fastened on her lips hungrily and sheer need drenched her, seeping into her very bones. She could barely think through it, easing closer and closer toward him, the gap between them closing, the air thick with desire. She edged forward, swaying into him, arching up as he bent down toward her.

  Chapter 8

  A loud knock echoed through the room from the door behind them.

  Talon’s muscles were locked rigid. The bond called to him. Desperately he railed against it, trying to pull away from Eden. He groaned, even just repeating her name in the privacy of his own head went through him like a lightning bolt. His eyes fell shut. Fuck, he was so hard he ached. He wanted her. Needed to feel her around him.

  “Talon,” Lucian called his name from behind him and Talon’s eyes snapped open. He needed to leave, needed to listen to his leader’s command, but instead, his eyes caught Eden’s.

  She blinked slowly, her gaze fogged with desire. The bond was working its will on her as well. Only she had no idea what was happening to her. God, he needed to get control over himself. He didn’t want this; he needed to remember that. This bond was unwelcome, unwanted.

  Lucian sent a deep, implacable call through the Bloodline bond, and just as he had used Eden’s hidden presence in the club to break free of Lucian’s grip, now he did the reverse. Reaching for Lucian, his Bloodline, the cool darkness of the Shadow, he tore himself away from the soulmate bond, finally breaking his paralysis and taking one halting step away from Eden. Talon dragged in a deep breath and forced himself to take another step, and another, until he reached the door. He barely made it into the hallway before he pulled to a stop, unable to go any further. Lucian followed him, deep anger in his gaze, but Talon barely noticed, struggling with the raging battle within his skin.

  “We’re doing this here?” Lucian asked, seeing Talon draw to a stop.

  Talon grinned, trying to put a brave face on it. “Here’s as good as anywhere.

  “Fine,” Lucian said, and slammed the door behind him. “What the fuck did you think you were doing, ignoring my order and throwing yourself at Radiance like that?”

  “I was thinking I would take those bastards out,” Talon said, feeling his wild rage rise at the memory.

  “So, you thought you’d just commit suicide, is that it?” Lucian snarled

  “I thought I’d take down as many of our enemies as I could while I was doing it,” Talon gritted out.

  “Not good enough,” Lucian said. “You don’t get to throw your life away—”

  Talon surged forward. “What, I’m supposed to wait around until you decide to take it from me?” he shouted.

  Lucian glared back, his eyes burning. “You’re supposed to step back from the edge,” he roared, slamming Talon against the wall. “You’re supposed to pull back before I’m forced to do something I’ll regret.”

  “I can’t!” Talon raged.

  Lucian said nothing, and the echoes of Talon’s voice faded away. They were both panting from exertion, Lucian’s hands solid against Talon’s shoulders. His eyes darkened. “You haven’t gone that far, Talon,” he said, his grip turning from restraining violence to a reassuring hold. “Trust me, brother, you haven’t gone that far.”

  Talon sagged against Lucian’s grip, the fight finally going out of him. “You don’t know,” he said, shaking his head. “The darkness within me…” He looked up into the eyes of the man who had brought him into the Shadow. The one vampire he respected like no one else. “One day,” he said grimly, “you will have to kill me.”

  Lucian finally released him and took a step back, a hollowness in his gaze, but he masked it and straightened. “Not today,” he said firmly, “
and the next time you feel yourself slipping, you come to me.” He faced Talon down, staring into his eyes with a grim intensity. “You come to me,” he said again. “You don’t throw yourself on some harebrained suicide mission, understand?” Talon said nothing. “Do you understand?” Lucian repeated, gripping his shoulder.

  Talon didn’t want to make that promise when he knew he couldn’t keep it, so Lucian’s question remained unanswered. Eventually, Lucian released him with an angry growl. “You’ll be missed,” he said. “Don’t you see that?”

  “The Shadows will continue without me.”

  “The Shadows won’t be the same without you,” Lucian corrected. He took a deep breath. “Enough. Our tempers are both too high for this right now; we will speak of it at a later time.” He glanced toward the infirmary door. “The vampire, who is she? Talon growled and stepped to block the door despite Lucian making no move toward it, and a spark of realization appeared in Lucian’s eyes. “She is your soul—”

  “No,” Talon snarled, “she’s a Radiance vampire.”

  Lucian frowned. “Roman turned her?”

  Talon shrugged. “Roman or one of his lackeys. She was there, in Bloodchase, the Ravager club.”

  “And you brought her here. Why?” Lucian was insistent.

  Talon glanced away, uncomfortable. Lucian let the silence grow, and Talon knew he was doing it deliberately, waiting for Talon to fill it. He snarled, the words exploding out of him. “Yes, you’re right. Yes. I felt… something… a bond between us. But…” He shook his head. “There has to be a way to break it.”

  “Break what?” Lucian asked with a wry tone to his voice.

  “The bond,” Talon gritted out, feeling like the words were being dragged out of his throat, leaving his chest raw. “The soulmate bond,” he said finally, looking up and locking eyes with Lucian, a desperate anguish on his face. “She can’t be my soulmate. I can’t let the bond form. She’s Radiance. She’s the enemy. I have to find a way to break the bond.

  “There is no way.”

  “There has to be!”

  Lucian shook his head. “Perhaps somewhere in the archives you will find a record of a broken bond, but…”—He raised his hand as Talon surged forward—“I urge you to reconsider. It doesn’t matter who she is, or who turned her. She is your soulmate. Something in her calls to you and something in you calls to her. That bond is precious; don’t turn away from it. I speak from experience. You don’t want to lose this chance.”

  Talon shrugged, turning away. “She doesn’t deserve a chance,” he said. “I want nothing to do with her.” And he forced himself away, back from the silent knowledge in Lucian’s eyes, away from the infirmary. Every step was agony, the bond dragging at him, calling him to turn around, but he refused. He ignored it. He would defeat this enemy too. He would find a way to break the bond.

  Chapter 9

  Eden stared out the window at the sweep of the Sanctuary’s gardens, cloaked in the darkness of the night. They were silent and still, the lights of the city spread out behind them. She couldn’t believe she had her own room at the Sanctuary, a guest room, sure, but still. She would never have guessed this was how she would end up after the fight in the alleyway. The past few nights had been like a dream. She turned back to look at the room. She could fit her entire apartment in just this one room, and still have space left over. A bedroom each for Hope and herself, a sitting room, a palatial bathroom, it was luxury.

  They even had servants. May had explained about the vassals, human servants who looked after the vampires’ needs during the daytime. At first, Eden had assumed the vassals would be treated like crap. Forced to work for no pay, enslaved to the bite, until May had let slip that she used to be a vassal, that the posts here at the Sanctuary were well paid and desirable. People actually came across the country to work here. At least, they had before the vampire turf war had broken out across the city. Eden sighed.

  The turf war between the Shadows and the vampires who made her, not just the Ravagers, but the Bloodline they belonged to—Bloodline Radiance. Eden hadn’t even known she belonged to a Bloodline. There was so much she hadn’t known.

  Perhaps that was why no one had come to interrogate her as she’d expected them to do. Perhaps they realized it’d be a waste of time. Riker told her nothing. Maybe May had reported Eden’s confusion and ignorance of vampire politics; maybe that was why she hadn’t seen him since the day in the infirmary when they had almost kissed. Eden stood abruptly, running her hands through her hair. No, that can’t have been it. He didn’t want to kiss her. She must have interpreted it wrong.

  The door to the sitting room opened and Hope walked in. Eden looked up. “Hey.” She smiled. “How are you doing? Were you hanging out with your friends?” she asked, meaning some of the vassals that had taken to inviting Hope along with them on their breaks. Turned out the Sanctuary wasn’t just a bunch of living quarters; they had a gym, a cinema room, and even a swimming pool, or at least so Eden had heard. She’d barely explored their floor, too afraid the other vampires might take it as an invasion of their territory, but Hope, as a human, was free to roam where she liked. Only, when she looked at her sister, instead of the happy expression she’d expected to see, Hope’s face was drawn and angry. “My friends?” she asked. “They’re not my friends,” she snapped. “My friends are back home. Back in Bloodchase, probably having an awesome time without me.” She placed her hands on her hips. “When are we going back home, Eden?”

  “To Bloodchase? To the Ravagers? Hope, are you crazy? That’s not home. The Ravagers are evil—”

  “Evil? Yeah, sure, you’ve been drinking the Kool-Aid,” she scoffed. “The Shadows are the ones who are evil, always creeping around watching, like that Talon guy who was in the alleyway and killed Max so brutally.”

  Eden frowned. “He saved us, Hope. Max was going to take us to Riker.”

  “So? What’s wrong with Riker?” Hope said.

  Eden swallowed down the response she wanted to make. She didn’t want Hope to know how bad Riker was. She didn’t want any of that evil to touch her little sister. “I didn’t know you didn’t like it here,” she said after a moment when she could control her voice again.

  “Well, I don’t,” said Hope. “I hope we leave soon.” She walked toward her room.

  “You’re going?” Eden said. “You only just got here. I thought maybe we could spend some time together.”

  Hope turned back to her and rolled her eyes in a way that made her look very much like a teenager rather than the young woman she was.

  “It’s nighttime.” She pointed at the windows “I’m going to bed. You know, like a human does? You’re so obsessed with keeping me away from the Ravager vampires I would have thought you’d remember that,” and before Eden could respond to her, she’d disappeared into her room, slamming the door behind her. Eden walked up to the door, then hesitated, not knowing what to say. She’d had no idea Hope was unhappy. She was a terrible sister.

  Eden looked around the room. Maybe she just needed to get out of these rooms for a little while, she thought, still smarting from the fight. She pushed open the door and went down the hallway, picking a direction at random.

  Slowly, Eden wandered through the halls, peering into empty rooms whenever she passed open doors. Gradually, her worries about Hope faded to the back of her mind. Everything in the Sanctuary seemed so fancy, so luxurious, she had to pinch herself to make sure she was really awake. It was nothing like she had imagined. She’d expected some kind of horrible, dark space with low ceilings and creepy Gothic architecture, but this place was well lit and bright, giving the impression of daytime, despite the dark night. The atmosphere was quiet, but welcoming. She supposed it made sense; it was called the Sanctuary after all—a place for vampires to come and find help and rest.

  The guestrooms were on the upper floors, so she gradually made her way downwards through the public receiving rooms on the ground floor, past the silent libraries and reading roo
ms, down to the basement. Heavy, thumping music traced faintly through the air, and Eden followed it, the music twining with a strange urge deep in her chest, a calling, yearning pull that led her all the way to two large double doors at the end of the hall. Pushing them open, she realized she was in the gym. The place was state-of-the-art. All the machines were shiny chrome and black leather, but empty. There was only one being used, someone at the back of the room lifting weights. At first, she couldn’t see who it was; the other machines blocked her view, but as she got slowly closer, she realized with a sense of inevitability that it was Talon.

  He was stripped to the waist, his muscles rippling as he lifted more weights than she had ever seen any of the Ravagers lift. She’d forgotten how strong the Shadows were. The memory of Talon ripping Max apart flashed through her mind and she stepped back.

  She’d thought he hadn’t noticed her, but the moment she stepped back he moved forward, swiftly placing the weights back and stretching to standing. His muscles rippled under his skin, his body slick with sweat, his long dark hair curling in a thick braid across his shoulder. Eden swallowed, her throat suddenly dry. The moment their eyes connected was like a slingshot and Eden was pinned, unable to move as he stalked toward her. Fuck, she was more turned on than she had been in her life. Her breath grew uneven and she felt weak, light-headed, desperate with desire that seemed to come from nowhere, all focused on Talon stalking closer, his masculine scent and the unmistakable intent in his dark, dangerous eyes. Shocked at the force of his gaze, Eden started to take another step back, but he moved faster. Before she could move again, before she could blink, he was standing directly in front of her. She gasped. There was no air, nothing to breathe, his sheer male presence took up all her senses.

  He halted barely a hand span away, his muscles bunched as if he were fighting against an invisible barrier. He couldn’t be feeling the same urge to close the distance between them, surely? It was all in her head. Her reaction to his impossibly sexy body. It made sense that she wanted to climb him like a fucking tree. He was a sex god. She was just Eden. No one wanted her enough to battle their own body. No, it was all in her mind. He probably wasn’t even aware of the effect he had on her. Surely, he wouldn’t stand so close if he did, wouldn’t look at her with those magnetic, dark eyes. Her breath came shallow. He wasn’t doing it for her. He didn’t want her.