Still quiet.
Malachi. What the f.u.c.k was she doing with Malachi?
s.h.i.+t.
f.u.c.k.
Wrong choice of words.
Because then he imagined them f.u.c.king. And he wasn"t sure he could forgive his old friend if he had laid his hands on Sarel"s golden body. Byron was one thing.
Byron was younger than Eli, and Eli was a stronger Master, more dominant. But Malachi- Eli whirled and punched the wall, his fist going through the brick, pain las.h.i.+ng up his arm.
Sarel felt the pain tear up her arm and she cried out, staring down at the unmarred skin.
Malachi was at her side instantly, staring down at her hand. She wasn"t sure, but she suspected the concern in his eyes wasn"t all for her.
Still nothing. Eli narrowed his eyes. Something wasn"t right. Too quiet there. There was little sound of life inside the warehouse...little movement. Too dark, too still.
The unease starting to p.r.i.c.kle down his skin and he almost backed away, listening to three hundreds year of instinct.
But he moved forward, out of the darkness, out of the shadows, and he crossed the street and stalked into the warehouse, unaware that he was being watched. He heard the snick as the door locked behind him, but it was too late. When the fire broke out, he was almost relieved. He would have just sat down and let it happen if he hadn"t seen Jonathan and Lori, Sarel"s little sister tied and bound in the middle of the room, unconscious, helpless, while the fire blazed around them.
Somebody had rigged the warehouse with small bombs. He should have smelled the ingredients they had used. He would have if he hadn"t been so tired, so distracted.
But if he had, he wouldn"t have come in and Jonathan and Lori would have died. Lori had just come to him, only a few months before Sarel had been sent to him, wanting to be his Healer in the small enclave that was growing within his territory. He had accepted, thinking it would be one more thing to draw Sarel to him in time. He had accepted, thus he had placed her in harm"s way.
Launching himself at them as one of the devices behind him exploded Eli lifted them both and ran for the stairs.
The humans would be watching the ground floor windows, but from the upper floor, maybe he"d have a chance.
He came out on top of the warehouse and crouched over them, taking the bullets that came from the right into his own body. Sarel screamed as pain ripped through her. What was going on?
Malachi crouched by her side, sending silent commands to the driver, following Eli"s scent. He knew his old friend and could find him quickly-he only hoped it was quick enough. They had landed moments after Sarel had experienced that first odd pain in her hand and Malachi had hoped they might find him before anything else happened.
That was when it spiraled out of control.
They came to a building that was burning and he ordered the driver to stop. He s.h.i.+fted and reformed into his mortal form on top of the house, taking the one who was shooting at Eli and casually breaking his neck, letting none of his rage show. Taking the unconscious pair in his arms he jumped the two stories down and put them in the car. s.h.i.+fting again to mist, Malachi reformed at Eli"s side and took the bleeding body of his friend in his arms to a.s.sess the damage.
It was nearly total.
Malachi felt his throat close with grief, his jaws ache with rage. Bullets flew around him and he dropped his s.h.i.+elds, sending out a paralyzing fear. A vampire should have a focus, a face in mind, somebody he knew...but Malachi could do many things a vampire shouldn"t have been able to do. Every mind that was focused on harming Eli right now was destroyed, utterly and entirely, in that very instant. Screams of terror filled the air as M alachi jumped from the building again, uncaring of any who saw.
He usually made some attempt to hide his abilities, but nothing mattered beyond Eli right now. What the f.u.c.k did it matter that Malachi possessed abilities that no vampire was supposed to have? He could attribute it to the fact that his mother had been a witch. Now he wished she had been a Healer and he had some more useful magic in his blood.
The bullets had d.a.m.n near destroyed Eli"s heart. If he had been human, there would have been nothing left to save. As it was, Malachi was amazed.
He took Sarel"s wrist, relieved to find a pulse was still there. Fairly strong, even though she was unconscious now. Using his own fangs to rip her wrist open, he pressed the wound to Eli"s mouth.
Thankfully, the blond vampire closed his mouth over the wound of his own accord after a few moments.
Malachi slid his hand under Eli, to cover the gaping wound there and prevent more blood from flowing out.
When Eli"s eyes finally opened Malachi breathed out a ragged sigh of relief. And then he sent out a summons.
Malachi was finally going to get to meet Tori Reilly.
Chapter Ten.
Eli rolled onto his side, staring at Sarel"s still body.
Malachi said gruffly, "Somehow you forged a bond without s.e.x. Or without enough s.e.x. Agnes saw it. I brought Sarel here."
"She doesn"t want this," Eli said.
"She was dying, as surely as you were," Mal said softly. "I saw it with my own eyes. Even without tonight, you both would have died without the other in a matter of months."
Eli wrapped his cold hand around hers and called her.
She was going to hate him.
Tori arrived at the house four hours later and promptly offered her wrist. She joked with Eli tenderly, "I"m a walking blood bank, aren"t I?" She looked at Sarel who lay sleeping in the bed next to him, curling around him, needing his nearness even in sleep.
"Bonded?"
"She doesn"t want it," he said.
"f.u.c.k that," Malachi said harshly. "She loves you."
"She told me, plain as day, she doesn"t want to spend forever with me. And now, we"re both screwed." Eli couldn"t fight off the urge to curl around her naked body, his own aching from the a.s.sault he had taken only hours before. That would all fade, thanks to Tori, within a week or so, instead of months, but for now, he hurt.
"I"m sorry," Tori whispered, sitting by his head, stroking her fingers through his hair. Declan stood behind her, wrapping her wrist with a bandage she wouldn"t even need in ten minutes as he had a stare down with Malachi. The ancient one stared at Tori with gleaming, navy eyes, a hungry, appreciative smile on his lips before he looked back at Declan.
He smiled slowly, moving his eyes from the wolf back to the wolf"s lovely mate who stood studying Malachi with curious eyes. Malachi let his eyes roam over her lithe little body, his thoughts clear on his face before returning his gaze to Declan.
The devilish glint in the ancient"s eyes faded as Eli glared at him. "Time. Eli. Give it time," Malachi suggested from his crouch in the corner, his long fingers weaving his damp, long hair into a braid. His naked chest still gleamed from the shower he had taken just minutes ago to wash the dried blood from his body. He had waited until the last, waiting to see that Eli would be fine before he had bathed.
Even then, he had gone to check on Jonathan and Lori first.
"Time," he repeated absently, staring out the window.
Eli laughed sourly. "I have all the time in the world now, don"t I?" Sarel woke to darkness.
Eli"s bed-his scent surrounded her, filled her.
He filled her.
She remembered the brutal burning pain, and his memories a.s.saulted her; she sat up screaming, her hands pressed to her temples. Gone. He was gone.
Gone.
Eli"s arms came around her and he pressed his lips to her brow and whispered, "I"m fine, pet. I am fine."
Her hands raced over him, feeling scars and wounds.
He flinched and she jerked as an echo of his pain raced through her. "What has happened?"
"We bonded."
"I thought it hadn"t happened yet."
"So did I," Eli said softly, his hands falling away. She caught a faint glimpse of his golden eyes as her own eyesight adjusted to the darkness. He let her move away and he didn"t follow.
She suspected he couldn"t just yet. She smelled another woman on him. "Tori fed you," she said softly.
"Her blood heals faster than others," he replied. From the sound of it, he had lain back down. "Malachi called her. And frankly, I don"t see the point of suffering through weeks or months of weakness if feeding from her can change that."
"Do you love her?"
"What do you care?" he asked bitterly, staring into the darkness. "You do not love me. This bond is nothing more than a b.l.o.o.d.y unfortunate inconvenience to you.
A b.l.o.o.d.y cruel trick that G.o.d and fate played on you. I care for Tori. Very much. We still share a bond, and on some level, I do love her, but more as a friend. I think I could have fallen in love with her if I hadn"t met you.
And been b.l.o.o.d.y miserable, because she belongs to my best friend."
"I don"t want you f.u.c.king her," Sarel said harshly.
"b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l, what kind of b.a.s.t.a.r.d do you take me for?" He laughed but the sound was bitter. "I have no plans, now or ever, of f.u.c.king her again. Unlike you, I would not want to cause my mate pain."
Sarel flinched as the implication sank in. d.a.m.n it, what was she doing? He was going to think she really didn"t care.
Laughing softly, he murmured, "That"s just it, pet. You really don"t."
She froze.
Sarel hadn"t realized just how complete the bond had become. Eli could read her thoughts, but couldn"t yet see inside her soul. Because she did care. d.a.m.n it, she loved him.
But when she turned around to tell him, he had disappeared-s.h.i.+fted into that d.a.m.ned insubstantial mist and left.
He loved that f.u.c.king disappearing act of his. It was very possible for two people to co exist in one house for days on end without seeing each other. To even sleep in the same bed. Eli waited until exhaustion had her dropping before he slid into bed. It took the edge off and he was able to function. Pressing his body to hers filled the hole in his heart, for the day, while he slept, even though he did wonder why she bothered to adapt her sleep pattern to his.
And he wondered why she bothered to seek him out.
He didn"t give a flying f.u.c.k if he looked the b.l.o.o.d.y coward. If he heard her footsteps, he simply s.h.i.+fted and left the room. Tori looked at him with raised brows and knowing eyes when he reformed in the game room, a room he never entered.
Declan was out doing patrol, making sure all was at peace. Malachi had patrolled the previous night. They"d switch off until Eli"s strength had returned.
Settling into a chair to watch Tori and Jonathan play pool, Eli wished he had never accepted Sarel as a student.
"You can"t run forever."
"I find it hard to believe you run at all," Malachi said, entering the room, his dark blue eyes narrow and cool.
He tossed Tori a hot glance but she ignored him. Eli was rather satisfied to see that she was more immune to Malachi than either of the men had expected.
"I"d prefer not to have my heart smashed to pieces again, thank you very much," Eli said, staring up at the ceiling. Maybe he"d go for a ride. It was close enough to sundown. By the time he got the horse saddled, changed clothes...
"You are hiding from the gun?" Malachi asked, confused. "Those men are of no danger. What few lived through the mental blast are mindless now, blathering idiots. Tis unlike you--you have never hidden from danger before. Has your mind been damaged?"
Eli laughed while Tori snickered, sending the older vampire an amused look. "He"s talking about having his heart broken, Malachi. Figuratively," she advised him.
Malachi sent her a withering look. G.o.d forbid the ancient one be wrong, Eli thought with some reluctant amus.e.m.e.nt. Yes, a ride would be good-a slow easy ride. A few more days and his body would be mended and he would tackle the problem of how to deal with Sarel. Perhaps if she would be willing to spend two weeks a month- "Just take her to bed and keep f.u.c.king her until she realizes what a fool she is," Malachi told him, ignoring the arch look Tori sent his way. Malachi wasn"t very pleased about a woman who wasn"t overly impressed with him. Granted, it was tiresome having a woman who fell over her own feet to please him, but a winsome, graceful woman who knew how to pleasure a man was a treat.
"Yes," Eli said sarcastically, smacking his hand. "That is exactly so. Do exactly what put me is this spot and all is well."
Tori smiled and shrugged. "Actually, it may be not a bad plan. But I"d replace the f.u.c.king with some loving.
She does care for you, Eli. The bond wouldn"t have happened without it, no matter what you think."
Sarel glanced over her shoulder and suppressed a sigh.
Exactly who she needed to see.
Tori leaned against the railing, tipping her head back, soaking in the late day sun. "Eli"s going for a ride in a bit. By the time he has changed clothes and gotten the horse ready, the sun will have set. It will be a few hours before he is back, so I have a question for you. But before I ask it, I need to tell you something."
"He is in love you," Tori said.
"I know," Sarel answered quietly, her belly flipping over. It did, every time she thought of it. She had come to grips with it, and in the past few days she had even accepted it. But every time she tried to talk to Eli, he disappeared. Oh, she knew he was there. She could feel him as he slid past her, or scent him in the air around her, knowing he had just vacated the room.
He would be warm around her body right before she woke, and then gone. "I keep trying to talk to him. I"d like to say he won"t listen, but the b.a.s.t.a.r.d won"t sit still long enough for me to find him."
Tori asked, "Do you blame him?" "No." Sarel groaned and let her head fall forward, missing it as Eli ran swiftly from the house to the stab le, moving away from the still painful effects of the too bright sun.
Within the next thirty minutes, it would be safe for him.
But not yet.
"Okay. Here"s my question. Do you love him?"
"Yes," she said. Something inside her broke free and tears seeped down her cheeks and she repeated it quietly, "Yes. I do."
"Want some advice?" Her eyes on the stable, Tori said, "Go to bed. Like as in now. When he comes in, pretend you"re already asleep. You"re a witch, meditate. You can fake it. When he comes in, as I"m sure he will, jump him. He won"t be able to say no. I smell him all over you. I know you share a bed. Once he"s inside you, he won"t be able to not listen to you."