He tossed the loaded Glock onto the table. Whatever the answer, he needed to keep his mind on the blood of another today. Within the hour, he and his brothers were going into the tunnels for a training exercise and a strategy session to make sure there was no escape for Dare and his recruits next time.
He lifted his gaze to Leza’s and said resolutely, “Perhaps I saw something that wasn’t there.”
Leza didn’t say anything for a moment; then her eyes softened and she nodded. “Perhaps.”
Alexander returned to his work just as a knock on the library door echoed through the room. “Come,” he called.
Leza was packing up her medical bag when the
veana
entered. Along with the strips of fabric tied around her throat and wrists, she was dressed in jeans, a white sweater, and had a lovely, obliging smile affixed to her face. She was admittedly beautiful, and if Alexander sensed it correctly, had a sharp brain as well. But she might just as well have been dim and unappealing for all it mattered to him. The woman with the blueberry eyes, yielding heart, and damaged soul so like his own possessed him now.
The
veana
inclined her head and smiled confidently. “Alexander?”
He inclined his head. “Hello, Bronwyn.”
Leza glanced from one vampire to the other, then slung her bag over her shoulder. “Alexander, if there are any changes, send for me immediately.”
Alexander nodded. “Thank you for coming.”
When Leza left the room, Bronwyn went over to the couch and sat down. “Sorry to disturb you.”
“It’s no disturbance.” Alexander noted that the
veana
didn’t seem at all nervous holding his gaze. She wasn’t for him, that was certain, but it didn’t stop him from feeling a good deal of respect for one with such a strong backbone.
“I assume you know why I’m here,” she said, crossing her feet at the ankles.
“You think we are true mates.”
“I do.”
“Nicholas told me of your work with bloodlines, genetic codes, DNA—how you believe we are a match. He also mentioned that you have nothing to show us that documents this claim.”
“Actually I do”—Bronwyn sat up taller as she explained—“but the document also reveals information I’ve collected for a private client of mine. I’m not able to share it with anyone at this time.”
“How interesting and inconvenient,” Alexander said.
“I know, but I assure you our blood, our genes are a match. I wouldn’t be here, come here without seeing the proof on paper.”
Alexander lifted his chin, showed off the brands on his cheeks. “You see my mark?”
“Yes.”
“And you have this mark on your skin?”
Her eyes dimmed, just a hair. In fact, if Alexander hadn’t been studying her so closely, he never would have noticed the chink in her confidence. “I haven’t found it yet. But that means nothing. As you know,
veanas
can develop their marks later, or sometimes the mark is so hidden—”
“I feel no connection to you, Miss Kettler.”
Bronwyn stilled, her gaze locked to his.
Alexander sighed. “I apologize for my bluntness. But you must understand, I won’t be mating. Ever.”
“May I ask why?” she said tightly.
“A true mate is responsible for giving love, sex, blood, yes?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t believe that the first exists, the second I can have without mating, and the third . . . Well, let’s just say that after years of being starved, having to beg for even a drop of blood, I would never allow anyone to have that kind of control over me again.”
She took a moment to digest this; then she stood up, nodded at him. “I understand. But regardless of your strong feelings, I still ask for these three weeks.”
Alexander nodded. “Of course.” Perhaps he was more like Nicholas than he thought. The old laws were deeply imprinted within him as well.
“And maybe in time you will come to see—”
Lucian busted in then, cutting off Bronwyn’s words with his mere presence. His gaze searched out his brother, completely unaware of who else was in the room. “I hope you’ve loaded us down because after that show at the restaurant I’ve got a real hard-on for that Impure.”
“Hello, Lucian.”
The pale, cruelest Roman brother turned at the sound of Bronwyn’s voice. His lips pressed together in a thin line as his almond gaze moved over her.
“Puritita,”
he muttered.
Bronwyn flinched and said tightly, “Don’t call me that.”
“Maybe you should remove the cloth from your neck and wrists, then.”
“You know I cannot.”
“Right,” Lucian drawled evilly. “The
credenti
has a tight hold on its
virgini
.”
“Shut it, Lucian!” Alexander commanded, but Bronwyn didn’t need his defense.
She stalked over to the terrifying albino, all six-foot-five, two hundred and twenty pounds of him, and stabbed her finger into his rock-hard chest. “Just because we want to hold on to the traditions of our kind, care for our families, and save ourselves for our true mates, does not mean we’re unenlightened idiots.”
Lucian’s mouth curled into a mocking smile. “Actually, that’s exactly what it means, princess.”
Bronwyn muttered something, then turned away from him and faced Alexander once more. “Thank you for speaking to me. If you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to Edel. We have work to finish.”
“Of course.” Alexander watched her go, banking her visceral response to his brother—no fear in those emerald eyes, only the heat of fury and the scent of sexual interest.
Lucian was already at the weapons table, sharpening a long blade and complaining. “I fucking despise the
Puritita veanas
of the
credenti
.”
“Well, don’t despise her too much,” Alexander said, thrusting a Glock into the waistband of his pants. “I need you to stand in for me with this handfasting thing.”
Lucian jerked to face him, knife poised in his fist. “What?”
“You heard me,
Duro
.”
“No. Hell no.”
“Lucian—”
“Get Nicholas to do it,” Lucian said brusquely.
“He’s good with propriety and society. I swear he still has ties to them, emotional or something.”
Alexander shook his head. “Nicholas is busy.”
“Doing what?”
“Tracking Trainer and Dare.”
“Screw that!” Lucian roared, plunging his knife into the table. “I’ll find the location on those two assholes and Nicky can take the
veana
.”
The blade stuck there, swaying, as Alexander spoke low and slow. “I need your help and you
will
do this for me.”
“Why? So you can fuck the human?” Lucian sneered. “You’re as bad as Dare.”
Alexander was in Lucian’s face in under a second. Chest to chest, nose to nose, two sets of fangs bared. “You speak of her to me in that manner? To me? A morphed male?”
“No,” Lucian said. “I speak that way to my brother, who has shit for brains, as of late.”
“Watch yourself, Little Brother, before your tongue grows entirely too wicked to remain in your mouth.”
Hissing, Lucian pushed Alexander off of him and returned to his knife, yanking it from the table. Brawn to brawn was not Alexander’s preferred way of dealing with his younger brother, but despite the fact that the
paven
had become too defiant for his own good lately, times had changed. They were no longer a democracy. The Order was back in their lives and they were at war—fighting a battle against a new race of vampire, and he, Alexander, as eldest of their family, was running the show.
He pointed at Lucian with his favorite Egyptian dagger. “You will do this for me. Watch out for her, protect her.”
Slightly more conciliatory now, Lucian grumbled, “She’s a pain in the ass.”
“Good, then you won’t touch her.”
Lucian snorted. “Yeah, like that’s ever stopped me.”
“You will not touch her,” Alexander repeated.
An evil grin spread over Lucian’s features. “What if she touches me first?”
Alexander shook his head. “You’re still such a fucking
balas
, you know that?”
“ ’Evening, ladies.” Nicholas walked in, joined them at the weapons table. He grabbed two guns, sank them into his waistband, picked up a tribal spear, and said, “Ready?”
“I know I am,” Lucian said, heading for the door.
“Did you get a location on Dare?” Alexander asked Nicholas as they followed. He’d decided to keep his meeting with Cruen to himself. No new information had been given and with how his brothers felt about him going to the Order alone, he wasn’t about to drop that bomb if he didn’t have to.
Nicholas grinned. “Better. A possible residence.”
Alexander flashed his fangs. “Nice.”
“Yes,” Nicholas agreed. “But don’t forget. The human is mine to kill.”
Out in the hallway, Alexander corrected him. “Our main target is Dare.”
Lucian snorted.
Nicholas narrowed his gaze on Alexander as they headed toward the entrance to the tunnels. “Why does it seem that you wouldn’t be all that pleased to have Tom Trainer executed?”
“Because he wouldn’t,” Lucian muttered.
“Shut it, Luca,” Alexander growled.
“What’s the deal?”
“Get a clue, Nicky,” Lucian said, pulling the door to the tunnels wide and barreling through.
Nicholas stopped Alexander before he could enter. “Alex?”
“We’re going to be late,” Alexander said through clenched teeth.
“Duro?”
Nicholas pushed.
Waiting for them a few feet ahead, Lucian exhausted a breath. “The human’s dead and Alexander has no excuse for keeping the woman here.”
Alexander’s jaw tightened.
Nicholas let out a defeated breath. “Shit, no. Alex, you can’t keep her. She doesn’t belong with you—or to you. She will be your downfall. And possibly ours as well.”
Eyes blazing with fury, Alexander let loose. “Kill the motherfucker, Nicky. Rip out his jugular and feast, for all I care. I’m just saying Dare needs to be the priority. Now, if you’re both done busting my balls, let’s move,” he said, stalking past them. “Dillon will throw a shit-fit if we’re late.”
Nicholas hesitated for a moment, then shrugged his shoulders and took off after his brother down the dark passageways lined with Impure guards, as always, their eyes trained on the stone floor.
Sara was dreaming. And in her dream, Tom Trainer was sitting beside a very large, very handsome man on a sofa she didn’t recognize in a room with blue walls. Tom’s mouth was buried in the man’s wrist, and his cheeks pulsed as he took deep pulls from the man’s vein. As if he’d heard something, Tom released the man and sat up. Blood stained his lips and chin. To Sara’s sleep-infused mind, her former patient looked different—older, chiseled in feature and more clever around the eyes.
Beside Tom, the large man moaned a little, as if he were in pain—but a sexual pain, and he pulled Tom toward his chest and kissed him tenderly on mouth.
Suddenly, the focus on the dream lens in Sara’s mind expanded and she could see the entire room. Now the blue walls displayed photographs of couples having sex, but they were not inanimate, they were alive, moving. On the rugs surrounding the couch and Tom and his lover were men and women engaged in sex. Sara watched as after one female had finished being serviced by her male another female took her place.
Sara’s body responded to the images. Heat pooled in her belly, then drifted lower, and her legs began to tremble. With a flash, like lightning to the mind, the room disappeared and Tom’s face sat before her, his features larger than life. When his mouth opened no sound came out, though his voice seemed to echo in her head.
I will fuck you, Dr. Donahue. Then I will kill you.
With a gasp, Sara came awake. Sweaty and disoriented, she sat up and looked around the room, saw the chair against the table and the uneaten food, and the view of the city lights out her window.
Oh God. Thank God.
Alexander’s house. SoHo.
“Sara? What is it?”
She turned and breathed a sigh of relief. In the dark, she hadn’t seen him, hadn’t known he’d come back. But there he was beside her, his large body so near, ready to protect her both in body and mind.
She lay down, her arms going around his neck, her face burrowing in his chest. “Hold me. Jesus. Just hold me tight.”
She knew why she was dreaming about Tom; it was normal for her fears of him coming after her to be worked out while she was asleep. But the sexual nature of the dream had felt so real. Her lower half ached with it.
“You’re shaking.” Alexander wrapped his arms around her and pulled her even closer against his warm chest. His shirt was off and he wore sweats on his bottom half, but it did little to stop her from feeling his erection against her belly, stiff as marble and pulsing. Her skin tingled, desperate to be touched, and she arched her back. Alexander’s hand slipped from her lower back to her bottom, gathering her against his hip, and when it did, he felt something there that made his cock jump.
“Not fear that has you calling out, is it?” he growled against her neck. “Were you dreaming about me?”
Sara didn’t know what to say. She didn’t want to tell him about her dream, not now, not yet, not when it was so fresh. The conflict her body was under made her irrational and selfish and all she wanted to do was to have his hands on her, in her.
She pressed her hips forward, her core squeezing against his thigh. “Alexander . . . please ...”
Alexander gave a soft chuckle as though she’d just affirmed his query, and he kissed her ear as he slid his fingers from her backside all the way down the soft, wet trail to the opening of her body. “Is this what you want?” he whispered, his fingers finding the sensitive spot his tongue had lapped at hours earlier.
Sara moaned softly. “Yes.”