Succubus.
Olivia growled now. No succubus bitch was going to sink her claws into Loren when she was around.
Bleu got to his feet and faced the vampire males, his black blade at the ready. The males stared at him for long tense seconds and then flashed their fangs and moved on, guiding their females away.
“Loren.” Olivia reached out to touch his arm and he whirled to face her, his fangs enormous as he growled and knocked her hand away.
He said something she didn’t understand, grabbed her cocktail and drank it in one go. He staggered forwards and dropped the glass, and she saw Bleu behind him, his hand on Loren’s arm, as if he had tried to reach for the glass. It smashed at her feet and she leaped back, bumping into a huge man who caught her and tossed her a wicked grin.
That did it.
Loren erupted, launching himself at the immense male and shoving her towards Sable. Sable caught her and they banged into the other women sitting at the bar. Olivia pushed out of Sable’s arms and tried to grab Loren before he could attack the man, but she wasn’t quick enough and neither was Bleu. Loren slammed a right hook into the man’s face and followed it with a left uppercut.
The dark-haired man snarled, all of his teeth sharpened and ram-like horns curled from behind his ears. He huffed and smoke curled from his nostrils and she swore he grew a few inches.
The man from behind the bar leaped over it and shot his hands underneath Loren’s arms, hooked them over his shoulders and pulled him back. Bad move. He had left Loren completely exposed to the demon.
Olivia rushed forwards to intervene but she was too slow again. Something collided with her cheek, the taste of blood filled her mouth, pain stabbed like a million hot needles across her skull and the room faded to black.
Cool.
Warm.
Hot.
Her cheek was hot. Her brow was cool. Her body was warm.
Noise. Disjointed. Pain. Fragmented. Intense.
Her cheek was hotter.
“Liv?” Sable.
“Olivia?” Loren. Warm. Sweet. Violent. Loren.
“What?” she murmured, wondering what they were doing annoying her when she had been having a really good dream about Loren.
“She’s coming around.” Sable again. Coming around? Had she not been sleeping?
Olivia opened her eyes and frowned at the three familiar faces hovering above her, and the one vaguely familiar one.
Loren looked, different. His purple eyes lacked focus and he had a really big bruise on his cheek. The same cheek as her hurt one. His fingers pressed against that cheek and the pain faded as he touched it, caressed it. The wound on his cheek worsened. The riot in her skull quieted.
“Loren?” she whispered.
“I am here, ki’ara.” He smiled at her but he didn’t look happy.
“What happened?” She looked at the four people and realised she was in Loren’s arms but was on a floor, in a loud flashing room.
“Turns out that Loren has never had booze before and there’s a bloody good reason for it.” Sable grinned when Loren and Bleu scowled at her, and then Loren’s face fell and she could feel his shame flowing over her.
“You were hurt because of me... again. I am sorry, ki’ara. I do nothing but hurt you.” He released her and stood, and she reached for him on instinct, afraid he would disappear again if she let him. She wrapped her hand around his ankle and held on to it, and he looked down at her but remained with his back to her.
She refused to let him go. It was coming back to her now and he wasn’t solely responsible for what had happened this time, just as he hadn’t been solely responsible for all the other times.
She had been the one who had acted like a child when she had seen him looking at those other women. She had been so jealous and angry, and they had been so beautiful. She had felt that he hadn’t been interested in them. There had been a marked difference in the constant quiet flow of feelings that came through the link between them when he had gone from looking at them to looking at her. She hadn’t been able to get it through to her heart that he hadn’t been lying when he had said he only wanted her though and didn’t want any other female, and had ended up shunning him and drinking instead.
And he had done the same.
If she had known he would react as he had, she would never have pushed him. She would have done things differently.
“Loren,” she said and lost her courage.
He looked back at her again and then sighed, stooped and helped her onto her feet. She closed her eyes when he gathered her into his arms and wrapped one hand around her head, holding it to his chest.
The pain was gone but she could feel it in him. He had taken it from her again and that was why he sported a bruised cheek now. Olivia drew back and swept her fingers over the dark mottled flesh.