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  “No.”

  Niki drove her claws into Dasha’s wounded shoulder. Howling, Dasha raked her claws across Niki’s belly and they crashed to the floor, tearing and biting.

  “Stand down,” Drake growled at the thrashing Weres. She grabbed Niki by the neck and yanked her off Dasha. Whipping Niki around, she pinned her against the wall. “Now is not the time, Imperator.”

  Niki’s eyes were wide, wild. “Let me go.”

  Drake shook her. “Look at me.”

  Niki shuddered, her eyes rolling.

  “Niki,” Drake murmured. “Niki, look at me.”

  Niki’s agonized gaze fixed on Drake’s, and she moaned. “Prima, I failed. The Alpha, Lara…I failed.”

  “No, Niki. You didn’t.” Drake pulled Niki’s face against her neck. “You’re ours. Don’t you know that?”

  “Please.” Niki closed her eyes and slumped against Drake. “Please let me go.”

  “Never. Go sleep somewhere. Your job is done tonight.” Drake kissed her forehead and released her. “The Alpha will need you soon. Be ready.”

  Niki turned wounded eyes to Sophia, and Dasha took a protective stance in front of her.

  “Go, Niki,” Sophia whispered.

  “I’m sorry,” Niki murmured.

  As soon as Niki disappeared, Jody let Lara slide slowly down the wall until she rested on the floor, her head hanging between her knees. Jody ran her fingers through Lara’s soaked hair and looked at Sylvan.

  “My Vampire needs to feed.”

  Sylvan nodded. “I will send someone to you.”

  Jody leaned over, lifted Lara as if she were a child, and cradled her in her arms. She headed toward the splintered door. “I will see that she harms no one.”

  “I’ll feed her,” Sophia said. “Lara won’t hurt me.”

  “You don’t know that,” Dasha growled. “She almost killed Niki.”

  Sophia paled.

  “Not you, Sophia,” Sylvan said. “We can’t risk injury to one of our medics.”

  “What about me?” Dasha said.

  Sylvan shook her head. “Get Max.”

  “Jody’s hurt,” Becca said.

  “The Vampire can take care of herself,” Sylvan said.

  Becca’s temper snapped. “She’s trying to save your guard! How much blood does she have to shed for you before—”

  “I meant,” Sylvan said calmly, “she knows what she needs. When she tells us what that is, I’ll see that she has it.”

  “If you wait for her to admit she needs anything, she’ll be dead.” Becca sidestepped Sylvan and marched toward the room where Jody had disappeared. “You know what? I don’t have to play by your rules.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Before she lost her nerve, Becca strode down the hall toward the room where Jody had taken Lara. The doorway was ringed in splinters, resembling a gaping maw filled with rows of jagged teeth. A shark’s mouth waiting to swallow her or rip her to shreds. Two steps into the shadow-filled room, she halted abruptly.

  Across the room, Jody knelt with her back to the door beside a plain metal-framed bed. The rumpled sheets were stained with dark patches of what Becca could only imagine must be blood. Lara was nude and lay curled on her side, her arms wrapped around her middle, her legs drawn up, her face a visage of pain. Jody stroked her hair and murmured something in a low, gentle tone. Jody’s shirt was so soaked in blood, only the crumpled white collar indicated what color it had been. The stake was gone. Jody must have pulled it out. How could she still function? She must feel pain. God, was she able to shut out all the emotions that defined humans—fear, pain, need, desire?

  Was she truly that different? Could she be immune to those feelings and still be capable of compassion and tenderness? Because Jody was tender and caring. She’d been compassionate with Lara from the moment Lara had been shot. And she’d been protective and concerned for Becca in Nocturne. Jody was heir to a powerful dynasty—she didn’t have to be a police detective. But she was. She did her job because she cared.

  “You need medical attention,” Becca said, taking another step closer. She wouldn’t believe Jody didn’t hurt.

  Jody had felt Becca coming before she’d reached the doorway. A brush of warmth against the back of her neck, a bright tingling in her nostrils, a rush of energy in her blood. Human. Prey. Yes. But more. Becca. “You can’t come in here.”

  “I’m already in,” Becca said. “Let Elena or Sophia check your back. You could be injured inside.”

  “I’m not.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I know. I can’t leave Lara right now.” Jody turned Lara onto her back and rested her palm lightly between Lara’s breasts, holding her down with the force of her mind. She could have controlled her without touching her at all, but she’d been where Lara was when she’d first come into her power. She hadn’t been as mindless, but her control had been erratic for the first few months, and her father had kept her restrained. She had been helpless with hunger and wild with need. She remembered the aching isolation of being abandoned, being a victim of her own consuming urges, immobilized and deprived of any contact. Imprisoned in solitude so absolute the last vestiges of sanity eroded like sand in the wind.

  She vowed then never to inflict such agony on another being. She had planned never to turn a human or a Were, and without offspring born or turned, she would never need to torture a Vampire. She’d been so careful to monitor her blood servants for any sign of addiction and to replace them well before they reached the point where she would have to turn them to save their sanity. But she hadn’t counted on saving a life and inadvertently altering one forever. Looking at Lara now, she wondered if the newling would thank her when she finally regained awareness, or try to kill her. Regardless of the outcome, she wouldn’t leave her Vampire alone and in pain. “You should not even be in the Compound with her like this.”

  “You’re still bleeding,” Becca said. “I can tell from looking at you that you don’t have a drop to spare.”

  Jody swiveled away from the bed, keeping one hand on Lara. Becca stood framed in the rectilinear glow of golden light slashing through the shattered doorway. Her body was a dark silhouette, strong curves and gentle promises. Instantly, all Jody’s urges converged at once. Hunger gnawed at her insides. Hunger for blood, hunger for the scent that teased her mind and frayed her control. Her clitoris was soft, silent, but she knew the first rush of Becca’s blood would make her come. Her throat ached and her gums throbbed. Her incisors unsheathed. She was so hungry, and Becca was so close. “Leave while you still can.”

  Becca didn’t retreat, but knelt beside her, her fingers warm against the back of Jody’s neck. “I can’t. Every time I turn my back, you’re almost getting yourself killed. I get that you’re immortal, but…” Becca’s fingers drifted into her hair. “You’re not all right. You’re shaking.”

  “Becca,” Jody whispered. “You don’t know what you’re risking.”

  “I know I can’t walk out of this building right now. Max is on his way. I remember him, he’s huge. Can he feed you both?”

  Jody shuddered. She needed the blood, but she wanted Becca. She’d never had trouble separating blood from sex. She didn’t feed to come. She fed to live. Orgasm followed feeding, a biological afterthought. Now the promise of sexual satisfaction was as hollow as the act. She needed to feed, but she wanted what she couldn’t have. Sex without blood. Without Becca’s blood. “Lara is taking every ounce of my control. You’re not safe around me.”

  “Yes, you said that before. Funny, you’re the last Vampire I’d ever expect to be all talk.” Smiling, Becca touched Jody’s cheek with her fingertips. “What would happen if I gave you my blood? Just this once.”

  Jody groaned and closed her eyes. She couldn’t keep looking at the pulse pounding in Becca’s throat. Just the few seconds of hearing the blood rush through the great vessels in Becca’s neck had filled her mouth with hormones. Chemicals that would keep the bite wound open w
hile she fed, stimulants that would stream into Becca’s system—soothing her even as they ignited her nerves. Becca’s fears, perhaps even her revulsion, would be lulled while the hormones flooded into her brain and forced her to a shattering climax. They would both come, and it would mean nothing. “I can’t.”

  “Why not?” Becca inched around on her knees until they faced one another. She skimmed her fingers along the edge of Jody’s jaw. “You’re the first Vampire I’ve met who resists taking blood when offered. Michel wasn’t even invited, and she…”

  “Michel?” Jody’s mind clouded with fury. “When did you see Michel?”

  “At Nocturne this morning.”

  Jody gripped Becca’s shoulder, fear warring with anger. “I thought we agreed you wouldn’t go there again.”

  “No, you pronounced. I never agreed to that. I told you I wouldn’t go without an escort, and I tried, I really tried. I needed to get inside, and I was working out how I could do that safely when the Viceregal and Michel invited me in. I was safe with them.”

  Jody laughed grimly. “You can’t be that naïve. Safe with either of them? The most powerful Vampire in the Western Hemisphere and her enforcer? What did Michel do?”

  “She didn’t do anything. She just assumes too much.”

  Jody let go of Lara and grasped Becca’s chin, turning her face first one way then the other, peering at her neck. “If she bit you, I will kill her.”

  Becca grasped Jody’s wrists and pulled Jody’s hands away from her face. “Stop that. Even if she did, what would it be to you?”

  “No one is going to bite you.” Jody struggled not to claim her then, not to bury her incisors in Becca’s neck and inject her essence into Becca’s blood. She wanted to drink her, bind her. “You won’t be safe in the places you insist on going unless you’ve already been claimed. I claim blood rights over you. No one will bite you except me.”

  “Does that mean we’re engaged?”

  Jody gritted her teeth. “It means exactly what it says. No Vampire will feed from a claimed host, not without risking death.”

  “Well, I don’t intend to belong to anyone. And I’m certainly not going to give up my rights to someone who’s not even interested in utilizing them. I refuse.”

  Jody shook her head. “You can’t. The host has nothing to say about it.”

  “Host? Are you sure you don’t mean slave?”

  “As soon as I make it known that I have claimed blood rights, you’ll be safe. I should’ve done it—”

  “I don’t believe in empty threats. You’re not going to claim anything, especially something you’re too afraid to take.” Becca grasped Jody’s face in both hands and kissed her.

  Jody’s senses filled with her. Searing heat, unbearable sweetness, pounding tendrils of power slid into her mouth and down her throat. Her belly heated, and hunger clawed up her spine. She groaned and grasped Becca’s shoulders, opening her mouth and allowing Becca’s tongue into her mouth. Becca should have been afraid, but she wasn’t. Her tongue searched for Jody’s, plunging deeper into her mouth, her tongue forcefully stroking over Jody’s.

  “Be careful,” Jody murmured. Her incisors were bared, dangerously sharp. “Don’t cut yourself. If I taste you, I won’t be able to keep from drinking you.”

  Becca played her tongue over Jody’s incisors. “Maybe I want you to.”

  Jody groaned and jerked her head away. “Becca, don’t.”

  “You taste so good.” Becca caressed her palms over Jody’s chest, her fingertips outlining her clavicles and trailing down the inner curves of her breasts. “Just tell me what I’m feeling is real. Tell me you’re not doing anything to me, that this is only us.”

  “I swear to you,” Jody murmured, stroking the backs of her fingers over Becca’s breasts. “You’re not enthralled. But you have to stop.”

  Becca pressed closer, straddling Jody’s hips as they knelt on the floor, her crotch coming to rest against Jody’s. “I was so worried outside in the hall. So afraid something would happen to you.” She kissed Jody’s mouth, her neck, her throat. “I know you’re hurt, but all I can think about is having you inside me. Just touch me. Don’t bite me, if you don’t want to, but God, touch me…”

  “I can’t touch you and not bite you.” Jody’s hands shook as she gripped Becca’s arms and held her away. “And if I bite you, the next time you want to kiss me you won’t know if it’s your desire or the call of my blood to yours. What will you think then?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t even know if I care.”

  “You’ll care.”

  The light from the hall was suddenly blocked, and a thick shadow cast across the floor. Jody snarled and pulled Becca against her side, shielding her with an arm around her shoulders.

  “It’s Max,” Max said from the doorway. “I’ve come to help Lara.”

  “Go now,” Jody said to Becca, standing unsteadily. She helped Becca to her feet. “Do whatever you came here to do with the Alpha, then leave. You’ll be safer.”

  “Stop talking as if you’re the enemy.”

  Jody grimaced. “Are you sure I’m not?”

  “Yes.” Becca rested her hand on Jody’s hip. “Can you at least go see a medic now?”

  “In a few minutes.” Jody took a deep breath. Pointless to hide the truth. “I can’t go anywhere until I feed.”

  “Will you feed from Max?”

  “Yes, if he’ll let me. Please. Go away.” Jody shuddered, cramps nearly bending her double. Lara thrashed on the bed, the smell of Jody’s need rousing her. Jody motioned to Max. “Take your shirt off. Leave your pants on if you don’t wish to couple with her—”

  “No,” Max said sharply, pulling off his T-shirt as he approached the bed. “She wouldn’t want to, if she could choose.”

  “Then just open them and lie down. Hurry.” Jody had trouble getting the words out, her throat was so constricted. He smelled of earth and forest, filled with power and life. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could go without collapsing or attacking someone. Attacking Becca. “I have what I need,” she said to Becca. “More than you can give me. Go.”

  She should go. She knew she should go. Jody had been very clear. I have what I need.

  Closing her eyes, Becca touched her lips with her fingertips. They were so sensitive, she could still feel Jody’s kisses. She ran the tip of her tongue along the inside of her mouth, over her lips. She didn’t taste blood. She wished she did. God, what did that mean? She’d kissed her—wanted the kiss. Wanted more. She hadn’t lied. She’d been terrified during the conflict in the hallway. Jody had been horribly hurt and could have died any number of ways. So could any of the others out there. Becca wouldn’t have wanted any of them to die, but only losing Jody would’ve torn apart something inside her. Why?

  Jody was trying as hard as she could to drive her away. How many times did a girl have to hear she wasn’t wanted to get the message? But she couldn’t get the feel of Jody’s hands on her out of her mind, out of her body. Jody’s hands had shaken. She’d never been with a lover who had wanted her that much.

  Maybe Jody’s desire was just for the blood. Maybe that’s all Jody had wanted. But if that was it, why hadn’t Jody taken her blood? And why the hell had she offered? She’d never had the urge to share blood in the two years she’d known of the possibility, even though every time she witnessed Vampires feeding she was not only fascinated, she was aroused.

  A groan from across the room brought her eyes open wide. Max lay on his back in the center of the bed with Lara crouched over him, naked, straddling his denim-covered thigh. Crimson rivers welled from four long scratches down the center of his massive chest. Lara leaned down and licked the blood, and he groaned again. Jody, her back against the wall on Max’s far side, stroked Lara’s back, her pale hand seductively delicate against the Were’s dark bronze skin. Jody looked across the room, and her gaze locked on Becca’s.

  Jody’s voice whispered through her mind. This is what I am. Is th
is what you want?

  Becca’s belly tightened as Lara’s sex swelled and throbbed. The ache moved deeper, tightening as Max’s erection pushed up against his jeans. Jody’s incisors gleamed against her lower lip, lava swirling in her eyes. Hunger, aching hunger. Jody’s hunger.

  Becca’s thighs trembled, and she locked her knees to keep standing. She was Max, she was Lara, she was need. She found her voice but could barely whisper. “Stop it.”

  Go. You don’t want this.

  She should go, but she couldn’t. Couldn’t force herself to walk away, not while her heart pounded between her thighs. Not while Jody’s need was so huge.

  Max growled and pulled Lara’s face against his neck. Jody’s hand glided down the center of Lara’s back and over her ass as she leaned closer and kissed Lara’s temple.

  Max turned his head toward the door, exposing more of his neck for Lara, and his gaze drifted over Becca’s face. He seemed calm, totally unafraid. When Lara gripped his shoulder and drove her incisors into his neck, his body arched and his eyes sparked gold. His mouth parted in a grimace, but his roar was one of pleasure. Lara rode his thigh, her naked breasts against his chest, the sounds of her swallowing loud in the thickly silent room. Max’s breathing grew harsh and fast, his chest and belly heaving. Lara snarled, her hips bucking, her claws leaving dark tracks down his belly.

  Becca looked beyond them when Jody rose to her knees, her face stark. Max reached out an arm in her direction, and Jody caught his massive wrist in her hand. She shuddered, a blade in danger of snapping.

  “Feed,” Becca whispered. Jody stared at her, sanity slowly bleeding from her eyes. Becca couldn’t bear the pain. “Feed.”

  With a snarl, Jody bit down into the bend of Max’s arm, opening his brachial vein. Her body jerked. The two Vampires fed, and Max moaned. Lara writhed and drenched him in her essence. His face half-shifted and he came.

  The intimacy was crushing, and finally Becca had to turn away.

  Chapter Sixteen