The Warrior Vampire(92)

“She’s not dead,” Ronan said. “I would know if that were the case.”

“Well, guessing isn’t going to do me a damned bit of good if I can’t track her.”

Luz couldn’t track Naya, but maybe Ronan could. It was a long shot—she’d only taken a small amount of his blood on her tongue. It might be enough for him to find her, however, if he was in close enough proximity.

“We’ll start out in town and fan out from there. Is it possible that any other members of your pod have houses or properties that are secret, like Naya’s?”

“It’s doubtful,” Luz said. For the most part, we’re one big happy family if you know what I mean.”

Somehow, Ronan doubted that. If Naya resented being under Paul’s thumb, there was a good chance others did, too. “Where does your loyalty lie when it comes to her?” Ronan had to be sure that Luz wouldn’t stand in his way if someone from their pod had taken Naya. They were a tight-knit group, and in those circumstances family strife was dealt with internally.

“My loyalty is to my girl,” Luz replied. “Everyone else can piss off.”

Ronan sensed no deception in her words; her scent was clean, reminiscent of a spring forest. Like Naya. His heart clenched in his chest as a fresh wave of anxiety-fueled rage came over him. He would rip the throat from any creature who sought to do her harm. And he would revel in the kill.

* * *

A twinge of pain stung at Naya’s neck. Not the pleasant bite that suffused her with warmth when Ronan fed from her, but more like she’d been zapped by a hornet the size of her fist. Ouch. Her lids were heavy, and though she wanted to reach up and massage the spot on her skin that burned with a pulsing fire, she couldn’t get her arm to cooperate. Gods, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so exhausted.

“Ronan?” Her voice was unfamiliar in her ears, thick and slurred. Even her tongue refused to work correctly as it stuck to her too-dry mouth.

She was answered by silence, and a ribbon of anxiety unfurled in her stomach. Where was he?

The scratch of synthetic fibers abraded her cheek. Not the downy softness of her own pillow. Her last memory was of lying next to Ronan on her bed. Naked, deliciously sated, and feeling more whole and content than she had in her entire existence. Had she rolled off the bed onto the floor? And if so, why was she so damned helpless to get up? Talk about some serious lovin’. He’d rendered her completely useless.

Even the smile that grew on her lips was slow to form. This wasn’t right. Something was seriously wrong with her.

Naya attempted to center her focus, but her mind wandered. A meditative state was essential to draw on her power. Images swirled, and a collage of the past several days played like a slide show in her mind’s eye. Ronan, standing in the rain, magic leaking from his pores and his expression pained. The hard lines of his body as he fought against the silver chains she’d used to bind him to the bed. His fierceness as he fought the mapiguari. The concern and gentle care he showed her by hiding them in the storage container on the pier. The passion that lit his eyes with brilliant silver as he’d made love to her.

Love.

Could she love Ronan? His concern, his protectiveness, and his interest in her that went beyond what she could do and how it might benefit him caused her chest to ache with tender emotion. He’d laid himself bare to her as well, trusting her with the most painful memory of his past. An undeniable connection flared between them, an arc that ran soul deep, and a sense of comfort enveloped her just from being near him.

If those things weren’t the very seeds of love, she didn’t know what was.

Naya tried to open her eyes, but all she wanted to do was sleep. It didn’t matter that the floor was hard beneath her or that her skin was chilled without the heat from his body beside her. Who needed a pillow when exhaustion weighed so heavily? And the pain that pulsed steadily in her neck … yeah, it was a little more than annoying, but maybe she could sleep it off without drawing on her power to heal it.

Sleep would make everything better.…

As she floated toward oblivion, a sense of unease scratched at the back of Naya’s brain. Whatever she was forgetting, it was important. An entire chunk of hours that had been replaced by darkness in her mind. Sort of like the gap of time that was missing from Ronan’s memory.

Where was he? Why couldn’t she move? What in the hell is going on?

The fear that seized her helped to clear the fog that had settled on her brain. Her limbs were still heavy and weak and there wasn’t enough saliva in her mouth to swallow against the dryness coating her tongue. She didn’t bother trying to open her eyes again. Instead, Naya turned her focus inward as she attempted once again to center her power.