A Mate for Gideon(12)

Unfortunately, she also remembered her reaction to Gideon last night and swallowed hard. She had been afraid of him. Even though she had no logical reason to fear him. Jenna knew that he would never lay a hand on her, yet, she couldn’t stop the fear that had coursed through her. She’d become hard wired for over a year to expect the worst from that one person that was meant to protect you the most.

“Earth to Jenna”—Lazarus nudged her again—“What’s up?”

“Um…nothing.” What was she supposed to say? I’m in love with the one person I can’t have? The one person who hates me.

“If you say so.” He shoved a whole forkful of crispy bacon into his mouth.

“I thought vampires didn’t eat very much.”

Gideon smiled around his food and chewed a few times before swallowing. “A liquid diet isn’t enough to sustain this.” He lifted an arm that was about the size of a tree trunk. “I need the blood to slow down my metabolism enough to digest this.” He gestured to his loaded plate.

“I see.” She smiled at him.

“You’ll notice that most of the bulkier males eat. At least once in a while. Maybe not much but some.” He did a fork sweep around the table. She distinctly remembered Gideon eating. Like Lazarus said, not much, but he had eaten. She’d thought he did it just to make her feel more comfortable but he obviously needed the food as well. Jenna looked at the others around the table. There was one vampire to every two or three women. Competition was fierce to try and win the guys’ attention.

There were low cut tops, short skirts and fluttering fake eyelashes everywhere. Jenna had to work not to roll her eyes. She must’ve made a disbelieving noise as she slowly shook her head because Lazarus looked her way. “What?” He shoved a mouthful of eggs into his mouth.

She made a little snorting noise. “This is a total circus.”

“I know.” He growled, shoveling another mouthful in.

“The guys seem to be really enjoying it.” One of the vampires…a really good looking younger guy, actually put his face into one of the women’s cleavages. He actually shook his head in-between her breasts. When his head came up, his eyes rolled back and he groaned. The woman was leaning over to his side with both her hands under the table. Two guesses where her manicured fingers were. One guess what they were doing. “They’re lapping it up. It’s a freak-show circus.” She repeated the sentiment, her mouth falling open.

A sighing noise, at the head of the table drew her attention. One of the vampires had his tongue buried down the throat of one of the women and he was openly fondling her breast.

Jenna’s mouth dropped right open in an all-out gape now and any thoughts about food completely disappeared. “Oh my good golly…”

Lazarus chuckled. “Don’t look so shocked. It is my understanding that you were briefed on how sexual vampires are.”

Jenna nodded. She knew firsthand how sexual vampires were but maybe she hadn’t given much thought on exactly what that meant in this type of setting.

The couple excused themselves, practically running in the direction of the door. Their arms around one another. His big hand on her ass.

Jenna made another little snorting noise. “Please don’t tell me…” Her eyes tracked them as they disappeared. “That they’re going to…”

“Rut?” Lazarus growled. Another rasping chuckle erupted from deep inside his barrel of a chest. “I’d put serious money on it.”

“I’m sorry.” She wiped her mouth with her napkin even though she had yet to eat. “I’m not a prude, but really? None of us know one another well enough for…that.”

Lazarus shrugged. “It’s a matter of testing compatibility. It is a must. A male will not take a female as a mate unless they are compatible. And vice versa as well of course.”

“I guess I expected it to take a few more days at least before…well…before this started happening.”

“Why wait? If a male and a female are attracted to one another and get along with one another then they should rut.” He shoveled the last mouthful of food into his mouth.

“If what you say is true, then you vampires must sleep with a ton of different people.” The thought of Gideon having sex with a whole bunch of women didn’t sit right with her.

Lazarus nodded. He swallowed his mouthful, putting his knife and fork on the plate in front of him. “You could say that.”

Jenna pursed her lips for a moment and took a couple of deep breaths. “I mean, what are we talking here? You have sex with a different partner every few weeks?”