Hauling the six-foot-five vampire back to the clan’s headquarters while trying to keep him alive hadn’t been easy, but Riker had been determined to save the guy. No one should go through what he had and not live for revenge. It had taken Myne a week to recover enough to speak, and when he had, his story of escape from human captivity had shaken everyone in the clan. The story about how he’d gotten his name had done more than shake them. It had rocked them all and reinforced every prejudice they’d ever felt about humans.
“What’s your name?” Riker, perched on a stool next to the other male’s bed, drew the cup of human blood away from his lips and waited for him to speak.
“Myne.” It was the first word he’d spoken since arriving at the clan.
“Odd name.” Riker reached for the small pitcher of blood on the bedside table and refilled the cup. “What’s it mean?”
Myne’s lip curled into a silent snarl. “That’s what the man who bought me called me. ‘You’re mine, you fucking cur. That’s your name from now on. Myne.’ ”
Jesus . Riker fumbled the cup, splashing crimson fluid all over the floor. “You don’t have to worry about that anymore. You’re safe here.”
“No one is safe.”
Forcing himself to stay calm, when what he wanted to do was hunt down the fucker who had so cruelly named Myne, Riker went at it from another angle. “What was your birth name?”
In an explosion of movement, Myne levered himself up and clamped his hand around Riker’s throat. “The humans took everything from me,” he rasped. “My clan. My brother.
My fangs. My name. Until I get all of that back, you’ll call me Myne.”
“You got it, buddy,” Riker choked out. “Now, do you mind letting me get some air?”
As if he’d used every drop of energy he’d had to sit up, Myne collapsed onto the pillow, panting, his eyes glazed over.
“I . . . owe you.”
Myne had passed out, not waking again for two more days. They’d become fast friends after that, but they’d never spoken about his name again. Myne rarely talked about his past at all, and when he did, information came out in bits and pieces, and he never answered questions.
Riker gestured for Myne to enter. “Have poachers been sighted nearby?”
“No, but Baddon and Aiden found what they suspect to be a trap. We’re going to check it out. If we don’t do it tonight, we’ll lose our chance.”
With the full moon tomorrow, all external affairs needed to be handled before every male in the clan got wound up with the feeding frenzy. Riker nudged open his weapons closet with his foot. “What’s the trap?”
“An injured human in a gully.”
Taking homeless humans off the streets and leaving them, bleeding and injured, in the woods was an oldie but a goodie for poachers. Healthy, experienced vampires wouldn’t fall for it, but there were a lot of vampires who either didn’t know any better or were starving and saw an injured human as an easy meal.
This close to the moon phase, vampires were even more careless.
“I’m in.” Riker shrugged into his weapons harness and started loading his pockets with all the fun, sharp toys necessary for this particular game. “Extra points for poachers wearing jewelry?” Poacher jewelry was usually made of vampire body parts.
Myne grinned. “You know it. Ten extra points for nailing the leader.”
“Excellent.” Riker clapped Myne on the back as he strode out of the room. “I need to work off a little steam, anyway.”
Somehow, though, Riker had a feeling that no matter how much steam he worked off, it wouldn’t be enough to get his mind off Nicole.
Chapter 17
The hunt was a success. Overnight, two vampire
poachers had been eliminated and two poachers eaten . . . poachers who had been after different quarry: deer.
Riker and Myne had heard the shot, and they’d found a couple of drunk humans laughing over the body of a dying deer they’d shot out of season. The two bastards didn’t even have the decency to put the poor animal out of its misery.
They’d made a fi ne meal. And the deer, humanely dispatched, would make a fi ne meal for the clan. Riker and Myne had left the deer poachers alive, since it was doubtful they’d report the attack on them, given their illegal activity. The vampire poachers, however, had been drained and left on the forest fl oor for the scavengers.
What hadn’t been successful was Riker’s attempt to get Nicole off his mind. Making matters worse, the pull of the full moon, now nearly upon them, wreaked havoc with his hormones, and whenever he did think about Nicole—which was always—she was naked. kissing him. Licking him. Putting those full lips on every sensitive spot on his body.#p#分页标题#e#