I touched the hard muscles of Aric’s uninjured shoulder, knowing Koda was right. Aric would never hurt me, physically. But I feared that one day he’d break my heart. I sat on the edge of the mattress. The bullet wounds had begun to seal shut, but the damage from the hooks still needed a great deal of care. My stomach clenched. “I have to slip the gauze through the holes . . . don’t I?”
Gemini nodded. “And make the dressing changes as they soak through.” He placed a hand on my arm, but jerked it away when Aric snarled. He remained unfazed, despite Aric’s sudden outburst. “Don’t worry, Celia. It will be a long night, but he’ll be much improved by morning.”
“We can take turns,” Shayna said. “Ceel, you look beat. Why don’t you take a nap and I’ll take the first watch . . . ?”
I shook my head but wouldn’t speak to her. Any normal, sound being would have taken her up on her offer. How could I logically explain Aric was mine alone to take care of?
“What’s wrong, dude?”
Koda put his arm around her and led her to the door. “I think Aric would prefer Celia’s touch. Come on, baby. Let’s go to bed. We’ll be down the hall if they need us.”
The room emptied out as I went to work on Aric’s shoulder. The moment I was done, I wrapped him in another warm blanket and took a quick shower. I tugged on a pair of panties, pausing when I caught his body convulsing from the breaking fever. I dropped my robe and crawled into bed with Aric, abandoning the shirt I’d originally planned to wear. I pulled his chilled body against my bare skin. His hand gripped my hip and squeezed before exhaustion finally claimed his weak body and mine.
“Thank you,” he whispered.
• • •
I dreamed of flashing lights just before my cell phone jolted me awake. I rolled to the opposite side, searching blindly for the small, sleek rectangle. My eyes burned as I focused on the blaring glow of the screen. Almost four a.m. I slipped the blankets from Aric’s shoulder. Only an hour had passed, but his blood had already saturated the surface of the dressings.
I shimmied out of bed and gathered my supplies while my iPhone continued to ring, insisting bandages be damned. “Hello?” I mumbled.
“Why did you not inform me you were attacked?”
There were many advantages to having a guardian angel master vampire. Before-the-crack-of-dawn phone calls were not among them. “Misha, you really shouldn’t call at this hour. You’re only reinforcing the creature-of-the-night stereotype your people have tried hard to avoid.”
“Celia.”
“You know, considering your fanged butt woke me, you’re awfully testy.” I yawned. “Besides, I’d figured your spider sense would tell you eventually.”
Misha’s low, deep hiss informed me comic book humor was lost on Dracula’s BFF. I sighed and tried not to bang my head. “Aric was attacked by vampires draining a human.”
“My vampires did not assault that mongrel.”
Aric growled behind me. He’d heard Misha’s voice. And he wasn’t happy. I covered him again with the blankets. “Don’t call him a mongrel. Look, I need to ask, are your vampires all accounted for? Even those new to your family?”
“The play for dominance is over. Those who survived are under my complete control and carefully managed.”
“I figured as much, Misha. But thanks for letting me know.” The planes on Aric’s face had softened, now that his pain had significantly decreased. Relief flooded me down to my toes. If Gem was right, his wolf had started to accelerate his healing. Perhaps by early evening he’d be able to eat.
“None of my keep would have dared to attack you,” Misha said, reminding me our conversation wasn’t over.
“I know.” I smiled into the phone. Despite my natural distrust of vampires, I did trust Misha. I just hoped that trust wouldn’t come back to bite me.
“Tell me more about the attack.”
I tucked the phone against my chin and opened more packs of bandages, lining them carefully along the bed. “There were close to thirty. I’d never seen so many vampires outside the presence of their master. They also dressed like . . . foreigners.” I hadn’t thought about it until I verbalized it, but most of them resembled the European tourists who visited Tahoe. They’d also donned similar clothing—simple dress slacks and shirts. The vamps from Tahoe only wore original designer creations . . . or Catholic schoolgirl uniforms.
I had a thought. “Any chance your master is after me?”
The subtle sound of sliding sheets suggested Misha also had company in his bed. “No. My master credits you with helping to save him. He would not insult you by asking for your heart.”