Undying Hunger (4 page)

“Hey there, sis.” Elle’s hand brushed Alex’s arm. “I almost missed you.”

“Hey.”

“What’s going on?”

“I’m fine.” Alex shrugged.

“You don’t look fine.” Elle’s brow wrinkled. “Were you downstairs in headquarters?” She nodded in the direction from which Alex had come.

“Why?” Shit. Elle was like a dog with a bone when she had something on her mind.

“I’m surprised to see you coming from that direction of the house. That’s all. You never go down there.”

“Maybe it’s time I do.” Alex shrugged once more and sauntered back into the kitchen. “Is there coffee?” No matter how many centuries she lived, Alex couldn’t imagine ever outliving her taste for the dark brew. And right now, she really could use a cup.

“Yup. Just finished,” Michael replied.

At that moment, Eve strolled into the kitchen wearing a white cotton robe and a pair of flip-flops. “Morning, Michael,” she said, pausing behind him to grab a mug and pour a cup.

“Good morning,” he said. “You heading outside for your morning swim?”

“Yes, I do enjoy watching the sky brighten as I get in a few laps,” Eve said. “A girl’s got to keep her shape.” She laughed and flexed her free arm.

Watching the sky brighten…
How wonderful would it be to experience a sunrise once more? Alex lowered her eyelids, recalling how the horizon would burn with the fiery brush strokes of a South Carolina summer sun. Yet she would never experience that again. Neither she, nor her sister.

However, Eve, being the only born-vampire, could survive in daylight. Having become close friends over the past several months, they had discussed Eve’s differences from a typical vampire. She could tolerate sunlight and she could knock out her opponent with a mental pulse. Eve had also shared how she could implant vivid telepathic images in the minds of people and had done so once, to an enemy—crippling him. But it was her ability to walk in the sun that had made her a target in the vampire world back in Europe. Thank God, Guerin and Kenric had located her when they had and brought her back to the States, where she was safe among the Enclave.

“Wish I could join you,” Alex said. “I could use the exercise and the distraction.”

Eve rounded the counter. “I would love that, too.” The softening of her expression telegraphed the sincerity of her words. “I’m sorry. I hope you don’t feel as if I am boasting about going outside at this hour?”

“Don’t worry about it.” Alex smiled. “I didn’t take it that way.” Eve had been nothing but kind to her ever since they’d met. There wasn’t a cruel bone in her body, despite who her mother had been.

“Neither did I, Eve,” Elle added. “Please enjoy your swim. I mean it.” Elle gave one of her best vicious glares, daring her to say otherwise. But it was laughable. Her sister had never been intimidating. At least not to Alex. Elle was a softy when it came to her.

Chuckling, Eve started back toward the rear of the house. “All right. Maybe we could all take a dip later on this evening?”

“Maybe,” Alex said. “We’ll talk later.”

“I’ll take you up on that,” Elle called out.

“Sleep well, ladies.” Eve waved over her shoulder.

And that was Alex’s cue to slip away from Elle and grab her own cup of coffee.

“Okay. Now that Eve’s gone.” Elle came up behind her. “Don’t try to deflect me. You know that won’t work. What’s really going on?”

“Nothing, all right?” Alex reached up and snagged a mug from the shelf. “I’m just tired of being everyone else’s problem. I need to learn to take care of things myself.” That much was the truth. She was sick of allowing life to happen to her. It was time she took the reins and controlled her own destiny.

“What the hell is that?” Elle grabbed Alex’s arm, and the cup dropped onto the granite with a loud
pop
of ceramic against stone, right before Elle yanked her limb closer for inspection. Her sister stared down at the residual indentations of the bite marks to her wrists. The wound was already about half its original size, but one could easily discern what the pink impressions represented. And if the observer was a vampire, how recently it had occurred, as in the last half hour.

Glancing up, Elle looked over at Michael, and Alex followed her gaze. The thirty-something male stood there in his usual attire of ripped jeans and a graphic T-shirt, this one reading
Face it… You know you’re impressed
.

“Will you give us a few minutes alone, please, Michael?” Elle tightened her hold on Alex’s arm. A subtle message that said
you’re keeping your ass right here
.

“Sure thing,” he said and sheepishly nodded, a few sandy-brown waves dropping onto his forehead. He tossed the towel in his hands onto the counter then strode off toward the front of the house. Michael really was a nice guy. Funny, too. Someone perhaps in her earlier life she might have wanted to get to know better. A time before she’d been turned into something that, if unleashed, could drain him like a juice box. She closed her eyes and mentally shook herself. But her ship called humanity had sailed into the horizon more than a year ago and would never come again.

“You want to tell me what this is all about?” Elle’s gaze darted between Alex’s wrist and her. “Every one of the warriors in this house is mated, and as far as I know, not injured. So I’m pretty damn sure it wasn’t one of them who did that.”

“Leave it alone, Elle,” Alex grumbled and jerked her arm back.

“What were you doing downstairs?”

Trying to tell her sister to mind her own business was like spitting in the wind: a waste of energy. Closing her eyes, Alex inhaled, needing every ounce of calm she could muster. Elle would never understand why she’d agreed to Markus’s deal. Hell, she barely understood it herself.

“You’re scaring me, Alex. My imagination is running wild here.”

“I had a run-in with Enrique tonight.” Alex dropped the first bomb, then resumed pouring herself that cup of coffee.

“Come again?” Elle said. “Marguerite’s former commander? When? How?”

Alex faced her sister, leaned her rear against the counter, and took a sip of the hot brew.

“And what does that have to do with why you were downstairs and how you ended up with a bite on your arm?” Elle crossed her arms.

“Seeing him stirred up a few images—flashes, really,” Alex said and sighed. “These blanks in my memory…I thought I could live with them, Elle.” She shook her head. “Move forward and try to ignore the holes, but I can’t,” she whispered. “It’s driving me crazy.”

Her sister’s palms brushed her shoulders. “I’m so sorry,” she crooned. “I wish I could help.” Her touch fell away. “What happened with Enrique? Did he say or do something, or was it just seeing him that triggered the flashes?”

Alex swallowed hard and weighed how much she should actually reveal to Elle. She didn’t need her going off on Markus if there was the slightest chance that he’d still tell her something. If Elle and Arran ganged up on him, he might clam up—permanently. Yet how was she supposed to explain the bite to her wrist?

Pivoting back around, Alex clasped her sister’s hand. “Are you positive there’s nothing more you can tell me about my time spent in Marguerite’s lair?”

“Like I’ve said, we found you with Markus. He was the one who’d turned you and had apparently been caring for you.” Elle cocked her head, her expression questioning. “Is there more going on here?”

“Enrique wanted me to tell Markus hello.” There was no reason to go into detail with Elle about the sick bastard’s full message. Repeating his words about Markus’s claim on her would only upset Elle even more, and there was nothing her sister could do about it. After everything Elle had been through, being turned against her will while freeing Alex from Markus and Marguerite’s clutches, she didn’t need to hear all of Enrique’s nonsense.

“Did you go see Markus?” Elle pulled her hand free and squared her shoulders. “Is that why you were downstairs?” The pulse at her sister’s neck throbbed, lifting the flesh in time with each beat.

“Calm down,” she said. “I just wanted to ask him some questions.”

“And how did that go, as if I need to ask?” Elle scoffed. “Wait.” She sobered and snatched Alex’s wrist. “Is he the one who did this?” Her eyes flashed a second before her pupils enveloped the white.

Oh shit. This was getting out of hand. “It’s not what you’re thinking.”

“I’ll kill him,” Elle shouted and spun. “I’ll make damn sure he never puts his hands or anything else on you ever again!”

“Stop!” Alex grabbed her, halting her before she could get away. “I agreed to do it.”

“You did what?” Elle whirled on her. “Why would you allow him to touch you?”

“We made a deal.” Alex ran shaky fingers through her hair, pushing it back out of her eyes. She could do this. “After I delivered Enrique’s message, I asked him to tell me more about what happened. But of course, Markus wanted something for answering my questions.”

“That bastard,” Elle spat. “I can’t believe you went through with his blackmail.”

She couldn’t either. It had been crazy. “I know. But after running into Enrique…” Alex smoothed her palm over her sternum. The knot of frustration sat behind the bone, and sometimes the pressure drove her mad. Persistent. Yet just out of reach. And she was helpless to do anything that would give her relief. “I had to try, Elle. Of all people, I’d think you’d understand. The not knowing…days of my life I can’t remember. I can’t stand having gaps in my memory like this.” She shook her head. “I’m so damn frustrated,” she said, her voice tight, cracking. Dammit. She had to get past this. “And I’m sick and tired of feeling like I’m not in control of what’s happening to my body. I thought after I’d finally gotten away from that bastard our mother brought home, I’d be safe.” Alex laughed, but it was that sick kind of chuckle that bubbled up from your gut that had nothing to do with humor. “But the joke was on me, huh?”

“You have no idea how much I wish I’d been there and saved you from that asshole. Our mother—Anita—should have never allowed that to happen,” Elle bit out, her voice hoarse. “She should have never let him stay there.” A solitary tear flowed down her sister’s cheek. Alex probably should be the one crying, but her tears had dried up long ago. All the sobs in the world wouldn’t repair the damage in her heart and inside her head. Ever since they’d been little girls, Elle had always possessed the bigger heart. She may have been the tomboy, but inside, Elle had been the rescuer, endlessly trying to fix Alex’s problems for her. But this was something Elle couldn’t make better.

“It’s not your fault, and Anita’s dead.” Alex cleared her throat. “All that crap happened a long time ago, and no one can change it. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

“That’s exactly why I think you should leave this alone, Alex. Don’t go digging up what’s already over and buried.” Elle palmed Alex’s cheeks. “We don’t know for sure if Markus had anything to do with this or if it’s traumatic amnesia. You’ve been through enough pain.”

“You’re not the one having to live like this.” Alex covered her sister’s hands with her own. “My gut says it was him, and I’ll be damned if I allow him to get away with this. I can’t change the fact that he turned me, and I may not like what’s revealed. But one way or another, I’m going to find out what happened, and why, when he let me go, he felt compelled to take another piece of me.”

Chapter Four

Enrique drew one more sip from his donor’s vein, then lapped at the puncture sites, sealing the wound. He wouldn’t want him to slowly bleed out, allowing a decent Calyx to go to waste. Especially since he still enjoyed the male’s services.

Sliding his cock free from the human’s warm depths, Enrique uncoiled his fist from the man’s hair and lowered onto the mattress. He rolled onto his back as his lover groaned and eased down into a prone position next to him.

“You seem in a particularly good mood this evening.”

“Yes, I am.” Enrique grinned.

“Whatever has put this smile on your face must be pretty damn good.” The man pushed up onto his elbows. “Because this is the happiest I’ve seen you since we lost Marguerite…and Markus disappeared.”

A growl vibrated in the back of Enrique’s throat at the mention of the traitorous vampire’s name. By kidnapping and turning the Enclave’s human female last year while Enrique had been away scoping out a new location for Marguerite’s lair, the bastard had somehow led the warriors straight to them. The Enclave had killed his Mistress, and instead of dying with the rest of Marguerite’s minions, Markus had disappeared with the self-righteous pricks.

And seeing as Alexandria hadn’t denied Markus’s presence among the Enclave when Enrique had mentioned his name to her, Enrique’s suspicions were confirmed. Marguerite’s former commander had returned into the fold of his prior master.

How very nice that Kenric St. James had welcomed his prodigal warrior back into their sanctimonious little group.

Markus should have slit his own throat instead of leaving with that pathetic excuse for a band of vampires.

“Ah, Christian,” Enrique began, forcing the past back into the recesses of his mind, in favor of the present. He rolled onto his side, facing his current lover. He threaded his fingers into the ginger’s hair and cupped the male’s nape. “It’s been an enlightening night. While I was out, I ran into some old friends, and in the process, I made a very special new acquaintance.”

“Really?” The human’s brows lifted over pale green irises, drawing attention to the inked swirls that wrapped his right eye. The male was definitely striking. An added bonus to keeping the Calyx alive and healthy. It really was a shame most of Marguerite’s Calyxes, trusted humans who took pleasure in serving as vessels for vampires, had scattered after her death.

Enrique rose from the bed and padded over to the large oak desk on the other side of his basement apartment. The chilled, damp air of the room skated over his nude flesh, lifting the hairs on his body. At the desk, he rounded the corner and yanked open the closest drawer. Flipping through the stack of materials on top, papers scattered as he searched for one in particular.

“There,” he breathed. On the bottom of the compartment sat a small manila envelope with the red letter
M
penned in the corner. Enrique pulled it free, flipped it over, and thumbed open the flap. Tipping it up, he shook the contents into his waiting palm. A lone photograph, weathered on the edges from its battle with time, tumbled into his hand. Enrique stared at the image of the lovely dark-haired female and smiled. “I knew there had to be a very good reason Marguerite kept you hidden.” The woman captured in the image had an uncanny likeness to his former Mistress, and looked amazingly similar to the female warrior he’d seen taking down one of his DEADs this evening. But of course, she would, since she was the daughter Marguerite had somehow managed to procreate with the master of the Enclave, Kenric St. James.

Christian pressed his chest against Enrique’s arm and trailed his fingers down Enrique’s spine. The heat of his lover’s spent cock brushed Enrique’s thigh, the reminder of its presence reawakening his own shaft. “May I ask who that is?” he murmured in Enrique’s ear.

Putting his lust aside for the moment, he looked up at the other male. “She’s the key to obtaining everything I ever desired.”

…

“Well damn,” Kenric said and dislodged his wrist from Markus’s fangs. “Appears I should have sent Alex down weeks ago, if that’s all it took for you to start acting like you wanted to live.”

Markus swallowed the last traces of the master vampire’s blood, stood, and brushed past him. He rolled his shoulders, already sensing the strength returning to his body. It had only been twenty-fours since Alexandria had fed him, but with the addition of tonight’s full meal from Kenric, his vision had already sharpened and his pulse was a roaring waterfall inside his head.

“What makes you think one has a damn thing to do with the other?” Markus scrubbed a palm across his mouth.

“You’re so full of shit.” Kenric huffed. “Your sudden about-face has everything to do with her.”

“For Christ’s sake.” Markus turned, facing Kenric. “Who are you? Dr. Phil?” He crossed his arms. “Since you seem to know so much, why don’t you enlighten me about what you think is going on here?”

Without warning, Kenric lunged, fisting Markus’s shirt, lifting him up by the material, and slamming his back against the wall. “I can tell you what’s
not
going to happen again.” Kenric’s upper lip curled, his fangs fully extended. “And that’s you putting your hands on Alex.”

Markus closed the distance between them even more, putting them nose to nose. “Or what?” The question blurted out of his mouth before he had a chance to reconsider whether or not he should stab at the coiled viper before him.

“Dammit, Markus!” Kenric curled his lips in disgust. “Are you so far gone that every word out of your mouth has to be a lie or an attempt to make me want to kill you?” With one hand, he seized Markus by the throat, holding him in place. “Did you think I wouldn’t smell her blood the second I walked in this cell last night?” The Enclave’s master shoved him even tighter against the wall. “Did you believe I would be so unobservant and not see the mark on her wrist, even though she tried to hide it?”

Of course Kenric had picked up on nearly every detail of what had gone down between him and Alexandria. “All right,” Markus said. There wasn’t any reason to attempt and deny it any longer. “You’re right.”

One dark brow lifted on Kenric’s forehead.

“Taunting you has become a reflex—a nasty habit I can’t seem to break,” Markus said. “Stifling it is like trying not to pick at a scab that you know you’d be better off leaving alone yet, damn, you just can’t resist making it bleed.”

“You associate me with a scab?” A grimace twisted Kenric’s expression as he released the hold on his neck and lowered his arm. “How pleasant.”

Shrugging, Markus added, “Well you have to admit, my time here with you and the Enclave is sort of like a healing wound.”

“I think you have that backward. Your time with Marguerite is the wound you need to concentrate on healing.”

“Point taken.” Markus nodded.

“Now,” Kenric said and reversed his step, putting some much-needed space between them. “As I was saying about you and Alex. It was clear that more than a heated chat had taken place in here before I’d walked in. But I didn’t bring it up in front of Alex because there was more riding the air than the smells of anger and frustration.” Kenric swiped a hand over his face. “And it wasn’t your scent alone filling the room.”

There’d been no need for Kenric to remind him of that fact. Her pheromones were forever imprinted inside his brain. His mouth watered. Even though Kenric’s blood had washed down his throat only moments before, Markus could still taste Alexandria on his tongue. Marguerite’s blood had been a powerful obsession, but nothing had prepared him for the effect of one sip from Alexandria’s vein, and he had no idea how the hell he was supposed to forget. How he was so supposed to pretend every molecule in his body didn’t want more. Need more. And inside what was left of his heart, he knew he wasn’t referring to only her blood. He wanted all of her—in his bed and out.

“I haven’t forgotten how possessive you were over the female,” Kenric said.

“I sired her.” Markus shrugged. “I take care of what’s mine. What can I say; I’m a protective kind of guy. It’s my nature.” He smirked.

“Well then, I suggest you take that need of yours to protect and focus it elsewhere.” Kenric stepped in, his gaze locking with Markus’s. “After what you put that female through… Do her this one small favor and leave her alone. You owe her that much.”

Hot lightning surged through Markus’s veins at Kenric’s words and the master’s implication that Markus didn’t realize the true depth of his sins. The other male had no idea how deep the caverns actually ran. But Markus did, because he’d dug every one of them with his own hands. Yet none of them did he regret more than what he’d done to Alexandria. And he owed her a hell of lot more than his absence from her life could ever make up for.

“She came to me, Kenric,” Markus said, shoving his hands in his jeans pockets and moving away.

“I remember. But if she returns—”

“She wants answers, and she wants me to fill in the gaps.” Markus glanced over his shoulder at the master.

“And you getting to sink your fangs into her one more time was Alex’s payment for doing just that? A little give-and-take arrangement that you came up with?”

“In a way,” Markus said. “But she didn’t like what she got in exchange.”

“You lied to her,” Kenric flatly stated. “And she walked out of here without a damn thing.”

“Did you expect anything different?” Markus eased in closer to his former commander. “Like you said, after what I did to her, do you really think I’d be so willing to spill my guts? Fuck, I was the one who did her the favor of going all Magic Eraser on her memories in the first place. So why would I want to undo all that?”

“Perhaps because you know hurting her wouldn’t end with Alex. It would combust and spread through this house like a wildfire. And after the way you’ve responded to my attempts to save you, after the things you’ve said and done since you’ve been back inside these walls, causing more pain to what’s left of this Enclave is something that would be too tempting for you to resist.”

“Not everything is as black and white as you think.”

“Is that so…” Kenric crossed his arms and squared his shoulders as if preparing for battle. “What am I missing here?”

“Enrique is sniffing around.”

“Tell me something I don’t know,” Kenric snapped.

“Did Alexandria tell you that he threatened her?”

Kenric’s arms fell back to his sides. “No,” he said, his tone dipping low. “She and I haven’t talked since last night. What the hell did he say to her?”

“Nothing specific. Basically that if I wasn’t more careful with her, I’d lose her.”

“As if he’d ever be able to touch her within the protection of the Enclave.” Kenric flashed the fangs hidden beneath his upper lip. “He’s nothing without Marguerite’s minions to back him up, and they scattered once she was defeated.”

“You’d be surprised what Enrique is capable of once he’s set his mind to a goal.” Markus understood that statement all too well, since he’d experienced being the object of the male’s obsessions. For a second, his mind flickered back in time to when Markus had held Alexandria in his possession and Enrique had revealed his hand.

“You know what I want,” Enrique stated. “The game is quite simple, really. And either you decide to start playing, with me, or I go to Marguerite and tell her all about how your priorities have changed. Make the right choice here, and we both win.”

For years, Enrique had been under the tutelage of the master manipulator: Marguerite. The male knew how to get what he wanted, and before Marguerite’s untimely demise, that had been Markus. And for a short period, in order to protect Alexandria, Markus had given in to Enrique’s blackmail.

Bile surged to the back of his throat at the memories of their encounters, but if he had to do it all again to keep Alexandria alive, he would.

“I guess you, better than most, would know, since he’d been under your command during your time with Marguerite,” Kenric said, pulling Markus back into the present.

“Exactly,” Markus said. “I know how Enrique thinks.” He eased onto the seat of a straight-backed chair and crossed his legs. Shit. How had he not seen this coming? He swallowed hard, forcing the coiled fist of apprehension back down into his gut. “With this new possible threat,” he began, “and as you put it earlier, seeing as the Enclave is somewhat depleted, I believe you need me.”

“Excuse me?” Kenric took the chair on the other side of the small table. “In what way do we ‘need’ you?”

“With the Enclave having lost Logan last year, and since I’m no longer here, you’re down two males.”

“I can do the math,” Kenric snapped. “Spit it out already, Markus. What are you getting at?”

A year ago, he would’ve bet his left nut that what he was about to admit would never pass his lips. But if he didn’t do it and something happened to Alexandria… There wasn’t any other way.

“I want back in the Enclave.”