“You bastard,” I snapped. “You did this onpurpose to keep me from feeding her.”
He frowned. “I admit the fact that Taylorwould be unable to drink from you crossed my mind but that wasnot the main reason I bound her to Victor.” He nodded at thedoorway. “Roderick was.”
“But now she’ll die of thirst,” Iprotested.
“Nonsense.” Corbin frowned. “The blood fromthe chalice will sustain her for a few days until Victor returns toclaim her. And wouldn’t you rather see her go thirsty for a littlewhile rather than being abused?”
He had me there but I was still upset aboutthe sneaky, underhanded way he’d kept me from helping myfriend.
“It’s all right, Addison,” Taylor murmured,giving me a pale smile. “I’ll be fine.”
I didn’t see how she would be but there wasnothing I could do about it now.
“Come on,” I told her. “Let’s get you backto your little cubby. Maybe you can lie down and get somerest.”
“Sounds good to me.” She nodded at Corbin.“Good night, Master. And thank you for protecting me.”
Corbin looked troubled. “I have done thebest I could for you given the short amount of time I had to workin, Taylor. I hope you will be happy.”
“I’m sure I will be,” Taylor murmuredunconvincingly.
“Come on,” I said again, steering her towardthe door.
“Addison.” Corbin’s voice made me turn myhead to see him standing there, frowning.
“What, Master?” I said, not botheringto hide my sarcasm.
“You may spend some time with your friendbut I need you by my side when Roderick finishes his business withLucinda.” He looked at me sternly. “See that you are there.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” I told him. “I’ll bethere all right. I wouldn’t miss the end of our businessrelationship for anything.”
Chapter Seventeen
“Addison, you and I were doing so well for awhile but we seem to have returned to our original animosity.”
Corbin was leaning back behind his desk whenI walked into his office after tucking Taylor into her tiny, narrowcot. Apparently, either Roderick was already finished having sex onhis desk, or he and Lucinda had chosen another place to do thenasty.
“Yeah, well, I tend to get a little hostilewhen someone kicks me out of their place and then arranges for mybest friend to be married to a werewolf,” I snapped.
“Victor is a little rough around theedges,” Corbin conceded. “But he is very powerful and extremelyprotective as well. He won’t let Taylor come to any harm.”
“I guess…” I looked down at my hands. “Iguess I can see your point about that. I just…I worry about Taylorso much. I feel responsible for her because it’s my fault she wasturned in the first place.”
“Oh? How so?” Corbin looked interested.
I told him briefly about going to seeCeleste’s show with Taylor, how I had been warned to keep an eye onher but had left her alone to go to my class.
“If I hadn’t left her, if I had stayedthere—”
“You would be dead,” Corbin said flatly.“Darling, do you really think Celeste would have allowed you to getin the way of having the one she wanted? She would have killed youand taken Taylor anyway.” He came around the desk in one of thosesudden, faster-than-light vampire movements that still took mybreath away. “Addison,” he said, looking into my eyes. “It is timeto let Taylor live her own life.”
“It’s just that her life has been so crappylately.”
I wanted to cry when I thought of everythingmy poor friend had been through. Between being turned against herwill, Celeste’s abuse, the horrific sexual torture Roderick had puther through, and being forced into an arranged marriage, her lifehadn’t exactly been all roses and rainbows for the past fewyears.
“She will be all right.” Corbin took myhands in his and looked at me earnestly. “She is stronger than youthink, darling.”
Immediately my heart began to pound.
“What…what are you doing?” I muttered,looking down at my small hands clasped gently but firmly in hismuch larger ones.
“I am trying to apologize. To “make up” asyou humans say.” He ducked his head slightly to look in my eyes. “Iam sorry I asked you to leave last night, Addison. I was feeling…”He shook his head and gave a rueful laugh. “Well, what does itmatter how I felt? The point is, I felt. Do you know howlong it has been since I have had true, genuine emotions foranother person?”
“Vampires don’t feel?” I shook my head. “ButTaylor—”
“Is still much more human than vampire inmany ways and so her emotions are much closer to the surface. But avampire can, if he or she wishes, bury their emotions to the pointof almost not having them at all.” He looked at me seriously. “Minewere buried for centuries…until I met you.”
“But…why me?” I asked, shaking my head. “Isit just because I look like Janet?”
“You don’t, except for your hair. No, it wasyour attitude. Your fierce temper and your refusal to be afraid ofme.”
“I’m an Auditor,” I pointed out. “That’s myjob.”
“And yet you are the first who wasn’t afraidto do that job. Do you remember the first moment we met? I do.”Corbin laughed softly. “The first time you ever inspected me. Youwere looking for problems at the Fang and couldn’t find any.So you demanded to see my liquor license and when you found it tobe two days out of date, you gave me the highest fine possible andtried to shut me down.”
“I remember,” I grumbled. “I still don’tknow how you got out of that one.”
“Not without considerable trouble andexpense.” Corbin smiled. “Any other Auditor might have given up butnot you—you were determined to make me pay.”
“I want them all to pay,” I whispered,looking down. “To pay for what happened to Taylor.”
“But I am one of them,” Corbin said softly.“And unless I am very much mistaken, you no longer hate mequite as much as you did.”
“Maybe not,” I said, looking up at him. “Butthat doesn’t change what we are. Doesn’t change the fact thatyou’re a vamp and I’m human.”
“I could bind you to me with blood,” Corbinmurmured. “It would make you more durable. Love between us would bemuch less risky.”
“But still completely illegal. And itwould tie us together forever and
