not be beholden to you for anything.” Gregor scuffed the bottom of his shoe on the stoop. “You scared him. He began plotting your death. It was the only reaction he was capable of having. That wasn’t a show of courage, but giving someone who’d made himself your enemy the chance to do the right thing was.” He held the glass to his lips, but before he drank he said, “I am ashamed I went with him to Pittsburgh.”
Johnny considered what it must have taken for Gregor to admit that, and was inspired.
“Though you lack experience, I believe you will be a good Domn Lup because your courage is unquestionable. And because you have not lost all compassion.” He paused. “The old Rege had no mercy. His power made him bold, and he mistook his boldness for courage. They are not one and the same. Perhaps having power for so long, he forgot. I was beginning to.”
“What do you mean?”
Gregor scanned the sky. “I’ve been Omori all of my adult life. I’ve been disposable—under the paw of my betters, their tool and their weapon. I’ve been very comfortable with that. Until now.” He met Johnny’s gaze squarely and said, “You’re not like them. You make me see what the wæres could be. I don’t want to be expendable anymore. I believe you’re going to change everything, and I want to live long enough to enjoy it.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Menessos’s lips hovered over my wrist. His warm breath on my skin sent a heated caress down my legs.
The barest of kisses touched me, and with it, he invoked our master/servant bond and kindled my flesh. It felt like a ghost of him was kissing the nape of my neck. My body felt lithe and warm and supple. My hips undulated and a heavy sigh escaped from my mouth.
As his fangs pierced me, a heady arousal coursed through me. It tickled the backs of my knees. It stroked under my breasts. Deep inside, it set my spine afire. I moaned softly as the fuse on my desire burned down, wondering if Menessos was getting under my skin—with more than his fangs, that is.
For a long minute the wave of bliss enveloped me, held me aloft in idyllic, aching need. I writhed in my seat, shifting my hips and feeling that if he would just give me a single caress I’d explode in ecstasy. . . .
Menessos ended his feeding as he’d started it: with a kiss. My blood smeared under his lips. He held my hand tenderly as the bleeding slowed, and his tongue flicked over my skin gently, not wasting a drop.
Coming back to myself, I discovered that we’d steamed the windows of Johnny’s new car.
Then headlights shone from behind. A blue Corvette passed us and parked right in front of the Maserati.
Zhan spoke with us briefly, then returned to wait in the Corvette.
It was close to 4:00 a.m. when Johnny made it back. He was sniffing before his backside hit the seat. He shot me a quizzical look, so I said, “It was feeding time.”
I showed him my wrist. It had scabbed over nicely. Johnny put the car forcefully into gear. “Home or haven?”
“Home,” I said. With Menessos here there was no need to force a confrontation with Goliath. “Zhan will follow.”
On the main road, he said, “Give me the details.”
“We have approximately twenty hours,” Menessos said. “Maybe a little more, before the shabbubitum arrive.”
“Shabbubitum?” Johnny asked. Irritatingly enough, he pronounced it perfectly the first time.
Menessos set about explaining to Johnny everything he had told me before.
The information clearly irritated Johnny. We’d been on I-271 for miles and he’d been driving safely, but I could sense his tension ratcheting up.
“So because you two got busted over the mark, three vampire chicks are gonna stir up shit for me?”
“You needn’t worry unless the
“So what are you doing to ensure they don’t?”
“I’m trying to leave, but it seems there is no viable way to claim that option. If she simply bore my mark, this would be of no concern to VEIN. The fact that I wear two of hers is everything here.”
“Two?” The speedometer needle pitched to the right, and inertia snuggled me into the seat.
Shit. “Johnny.”
“Two?”
I crossed my arms as if that would defend me, but I was guilty as charged. “I did it when I staked him. It —”
“You mean when you kissed him?”
I felt his words like a slap. I twisted in my seat to glower at Johnny. “I was about to kill him. He was laying down his life to save our asses—”
“Oh, well,
I set my jaw and continued through clenched teeth. “It wasn’t a kill in haste or anger or in self-defense. It was outright murder, and I didn’t want to do it. You were under the water with Fax, and I was so scared—”
“That you kissed another man.” Though I’d have thought we were at top speed already, he made the engine roar and go even faster.
I remained silent for a long second. He already knew about that kiss. He’d seemed to understand before. I growled, “Yeah, I kissed him. And I staked him. Then, I put a second mark on him. It was an effort to make sure he came back because—like it or not—we need him. There was no guarantee, but I did what I thought was right, and I don’t regret it. That’s more than I can say for Cammi’s lip-lock on you.” I sat back.
From the backseat, Menessos chuckled and said again, “Ah,
The ritual, the sex, the late hour, the argument and the blood donation were a hard-hitting combo that had me yawning as we rolled up my gravel driveway. There was a glow behind the mini-blinds of Mountain’s trailer near the barns, and I wondered if the Beholder—he was a once-marked member of Menessos’s court—was still awake or was up early.
His porch light flickered on, the door opened, and Ares bounded across the yard. The black Great Dane pup circled the car to greet me with all the tail-wagging enthusiasm a pup could have. He tried to get Johnny to play but had to settle for some vigorous head-scratching.
By the time Mountain rounded the corner of the garage, Zhan was rolling up the driveway. The Corvette either couldn’t keep up, or she didn’t have the nerve to try. Personally, I doubted it was the latter.
Mountain’s low voice rumbled a happy, “Good morning to you all.” A hulking figure with a round face and eyes like pitch, he was formidable in appearance, but he was in fact a big teddy bear. He offered friendly acknowledgment to each of us, but the last one, for Zhan, was conveyed with something softer and more secretive. I caught the drop of her gaze in reply. She tucked her hair behind her ear, and her cheeks rounded with a small smile.
“Menessos,” I said, to draw his attention and keep him from picking up on what I already knew about his Offerling and his Beholder. “There’s less than three hours until you retire for the day.” I kept talking as I headed for my porch. “Do you intend to head back to the haven for that? It’ll shorten our time to plan.”
“I will rest here.”
I opened the screen door. “That’s good because—” My words cut off midsentence when, before my key even neared the dead bolt, the main door swung open an inch.
“Because why?” Menessos asked.
“My door’s already open,” I said, backing away.
Suddenly, Johnny put himself between me and the door and was backing me off of the porch.
Menessos
Johnny and I moved forward as one. And stopped as one. The moment waned awkwardly, then Johnny extended his hand chivalrously and allowed me to go first. Peering cautiously inside, I discovered Goliath Kline
