A Mate for Lazarus(12)

“You can’t mate with a vampire and not let him drink from you. It just doesn’t happen that way. None of them will choose you to go into the next round.” Sarah shook her head. “You have nothing to be afraid of. You should have been told that in the training and I have seen it firsthand.”

Alex had to grit her teeth to keep herself from saying anything more. It wasn’t happening but she wasn’t about to argue with Sarah about it. These women were here for a whole different set of reasons than she was. She had to pretend that she was one of them though. “I guess I’m just a little nervous.”

“I’m also really nervous.” Sarah smiled. “Everyone was nervous to begin with.” She chewed on her bottom lip for a few beats. “Trust me when I tell you that they are not nervous any more. Were you by any chance invited to go picnicking this afternoon?”

Alex nodded. “Yes, I was.”

“You didn’t happen to see Lance, did you?” Her cheeks turned red.

“Who? Sorry, the only people I’ve met so far are King Brant, his PA Allison and Lazarus.”

Sarah pulled a face. “Lazarus, as in the seriously big guy with the hundreds of weapons hanging all over him? The one that growls and grunts so much that it’s hard to hear what he is saying?”

“That sounds like him, yes, except he only has a couple of weapons…hardly hundreds.” For whatever reason, Alex felt defensive of Lazarus. “He growls and grunts quite a bit as well, but…” She shrugged. “It’s pretty easy to hear what he’s saying.” Most of the time. He had a gruff way about him which she thought was pretty sexy…stop Alex.

“Oh my god…did you go to the picnic with him?” Sarah raised her brows. “No, you couldn’t have. Did you…go with Lazarus?”

Sarah was really nice, and really sweet, she was also seriously irritating. “I did.” Alex left it at that, not wanting to open any cans.

The blonde clasped a hand over her mouth, her eyes widened. It took a good couple of seconds for her to compose herself. “No wonder you’re afraid of letting a vampire drink from you. You probably saw him drinking blood. He does that…all the time. Glasses of the stuff.” She pulled a face. “He’s pretty over the top. Don’t let Lazarus scare you. The others are…civilized.”

“He is a vampire.” Alex snapped back. “It’s what they do.” She could feel that she was frowning. “You just told me to let one of them drink from me.” She had to work not to pull a face herself. It didn’t seem right considering the direction the conversation had taken. “Straight out of the vein is fine, but out of a glass is uncivilized? That’s a double standard.”

Sarah shrugged. “I suppose you’re right.” She smiled. “My friend Jenna really likes Lazarus.”

“Oh…” Why did she sound so deflated? “Where is she then?” Hopefully she was…ugly or a really terrible person or something. Not that it mattered. At all. It didn’t. “Are they like toge–…don’t worry about it…” No! She wasn’t doing this. Alex found herself looking around the room anyway. Women were coming and going. Headed to their rooms or to the pool area. Tall, short, some were fair like herself and others had dark skin. Then there were those that were somewhere in-between. The only thing that they all had in common was curves. It looked like boobs, ass and thighs were a vampire thing.

Sarah frowned. “Are Lazarus and Jenna to…what?” She looked confused for all of two seconds and then she smiled. “Together? Is that what you were going to say?” Sarah shook her head and laughed.

Alex was appalled to find that she felt relief. What. The. Fuck?

“No. They’re friends.” A shocked look crossed her face. “I guess he isn’t as…I don’t know…caveman….around her.” She looked up. “Maybe he isn’t as bad as I thought. She hangs out with him a lot. You like him…I can tell.” Sarah narrowed her eyes, pretending to see right through her.

Alex needed to play it cool. She was one of the girls. Trying to snag herself a vampire. “He’s hot and ridiculously alpha…” She bit down on her bottom lip and then nodded. “Yeah, I guess I like him.”

Sarah squealed. “You need to meet the others as well.” Her eyes clouded. “Just stay away from Lance…please. It’s all I ask.”

“Who’s this Lance? Are you guys…an item?” Then she remembered that Sarah hadn’t slept with anyone yet. “Do you want to get together with him?”

Sarah’s face became pinched and her eyes clouded. “I really like him, so I’m hoping…” She shrugged. “He didn’t ask me to the picnic. He seems to be spending time with a lot of different girls.”

“Just dating though right?”

Sarah chewed on her bottom lip and shook her head.

“More than just dating? Is he sleeping with a lot of the girls too?” Alex raised her brows.

“It’s not like he’s in a relationship with any of them. I’m pretty sure they mentioned in your crash course that vampires are highly sexual. They need to test…compatibility before settling down. That means lots of sex with various different people. I’m pretty sure he’ll stick with one woman when he chooses for the next round. I hope he asks me out soon or it’s going to be too late.”

“I wouldn’t count on it, Sarah.” Alex took in her forlorn expression. “Are you saying that all the vampires are sleeping around? That this is one big…” May as well say it like it was. “…fuckfest?”

Sarah shrugged. She didn’t say anything, which spoke volumes. No wonder Lazarus was so forward with her. He was expecting her to just put out like all the rest. The big asshole may have fucked half the women in The Program but he so wasn’t getting her. Her cheeks felt hot and she ground her teeth. Why the hell was she so angry about this anyway?

Dinner was in two hours, she was going to take a long bath to try and calm down. So what if the vampires were manwhores. So what if Lazarus was a manwhore. She would have to deal. Nothing had changed. If anything, this knowledge would make it easier for her. It would make the no sex rule easy to follow.

“What are you wearing tonight?” Sarah asked.

“I’m not sure.” Alex quickly answered. She hadn’t thought that far ahead. Thankfully she’d thrown one or two nice dresses into her bag as an afterthought. She didn’t have a clue what to expect when she arrived. She was still in shock that they had actually let her in.

“Make sure it’s sexy. Vampires prefer it if women don’t wear underwear.”

Alex chewed the inside of her cheek. “I’m sure they do.” What kind of women were these anyway? Like hell she wasn’t wearing underwear. The vampires could go to hell. Lazarus could definitely go to hell.

“It’s just, you only have two days to pique some interest. You don’t want to be out of here like the rest of us.”

“You sound like you include yourself as one of those leaving.”

Sarah pulled a face. “I really hope that Lance asks me out. I don’t expect miracles though, but you never know.”

Alex didn’t know what to say. It sounded like this guy, Lance, was a real piece of work. Sarah would be thankful in the long run that he hadn’t chosen her. Even if she didn’t know it herself. Alex touched the other woman on the arm, feeling sorry for her. “I’ll see you later.”

****

Heels in her left hand and her clutch purse in the right, Alex ran down the hall. Why the hell did she let herself lie down in the first place? She’d felt much better after a long soak in the tub. There still had been plenty of time to get ready so she decided to lie down and watch a little bit of television. It was better than letting her mind wander. The problem was, that it kept wandering into places she didn’t want it to go. Places that included a certain tall, dark and handsome vampire. She didn’t want to think about Lazarus. Period.

She hadn’t expected to fall asleep and certainly hadn’t expected to stay asleep for over an hour. Dinner had started twenty minutes ago.

Oh hell!

She was new. Had yet to meet…almost everyone. She was also very late. Dammit. One of the things that Allison cautioned on was tardiness. It seemed that vampires were well organized and that everything ran on a tight schedule. This included all of the activities within The Program. This dinner, was one of those scheduled activities.

Alex picked up the pace, the muscles in her calves and thighs burned. Her breath came in choppy pants. She was sweating dammit. Little black dress…check. Hair and makeup…check. Accessories to match…check. Sweat…double-check. The last one, she could’ve done without.

One of the guards at the door looked at his watch as she approached. Yes, bozo, I’m late so sue me. She sucked in a deep breath, resting her hand on the doorknob. Alex pushed the door open and stepped into the room.

The dining hall was beautiful. Complete with marble floors and crystal chandeliers. Large, gold guild paintings hung on the wall. Her mouth dropped open at the grandeur. She was so busy admiring her surroundings that the door slid from her hand and crashed closed behind her.