Blood at Stake (Warriors of the Krieger Book 2) (10 page)

“I’m fine,” I frowned. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m sorry,” he shook his head. “I took you
like a monster.”

“No, you didn’t,” I assured him, stroking my
fingers down his jaw. I laughed when he took my finger into his
mouth and playfully nipped it with his teeth.

“I’m addicted to you, your scent,” he
smiled. “It drives me wild.”

“Mmm,” I said, closing my eyes as he began
to clean the blood from my neck and the top of my breasts with his
tongue.

“What does ‘mmm’ mean?” he teased, pressing
his lips to the spot between my breasts.

“I feel the same way,” I admitted. “You
smell amazing.”

A knock on the door interrupted our little
make-out session. Ashby quickly redressed and handed me my clothes.
It only took about one second in time for us to be dressed and
totally presentable by the time I said, “Who is it?”

“Jackson,” my bartender said. I walked over
to the door and opened it wide. Jackson smiled warmly at me as he
scented sex in the air, but righted his expression when Ashby let
out a warning growl at my employee. I turned toward my mate and
rolled my eyes. He was just like Dragus was with Charity, staking
his claim with any man who smiled at her.

“What’s up?” I asked my bartender.

“We have a situation,” he said, looking at
the warrior behind me. “Humans in the parking lot. Thought maybe
the
Krieger
could help us disburse them.”

“What’s going on?” Ashby said, immediately
switching rolls from mate to warrior with just Jackson’s words.

“They’re picketing,” Jackson rolled his
eyes. “Some religious group.”

“I’ll handle it,” Ashby said, removing his
phone from his back pocket. He walked over to me and placed a kiss
on the corner of my mouth. “I’ll take care of this and call you
later.”

“Okay,” I smiled.

Ashby ushered Jackson out of the office,
closing the door behind them as they left me alone. I sat heavily
in my chair and winced a little from the soreness of my sex. It was
a deliciously sore spot, and it would remind me all night that he’d
brought me so much pleasure.

Wait!

That little jerk!

He did that on purpose!

Chapter 12

Ashby

I could smell her on my skin as I left the
club. I’d left her with a little something to remember me by while
she worked. I smiled to myself when I thought about how the other
men in the area would react if they came close to her and smelled
my warrior scent on her body. Yes, I’d marked her and left my scent
on her to warn off other men. It was an asshole move, but I didn’t
care. Lydia was
mine
.

There were eight humans outside the club
holding signs. They chanted their displeasure of our kind. This
wasn’t new, but it was getting old. Why couldn’t these people give
it up? Vampires were doing everything we could to live in peace
with the humans, but the ones like this made it harder for us to
live a normal existence.

“
Vamps must die! Let them see the sun!
Fry them in the light!
” Well, those were new. At least they’d
come up with a new set of bullshit phrases to scream to those who
would even listen.

“Jennings,” the human officer answered. This
was a human issue, not vampire. It had to be dealt with by their
warriors, the human police.

“Jennings, it’s
Krieger
Ashby,” I
began. “I’ve got some sign toting humans in the parking lot of
Nights
protesting our existence. Can you send a few of your
men over to handle this?”

“New group of ‘em, huh?” Oliver Jennings was
a good human, and I could actually call him a friend. We’d worked
together for the past few years, and I liked his no nonsense
approach to things. He and I liked things cut and dry. Get it taken
care of and done. No need to beat around the bush.

“Yep,” I laughed. “Just come on out and see
for yourself. I’ll be at the entrance. Unfortunately, I can’t do
anything to get them to move, unless they hurt one of my kind.”

“Bummer, isn’t it,” he laughed. “I’ll be
there in ten with reinforcements.”

“Thanks,” I said, hanging up.

Music filtered out of the club whenever the
bouncer would open the door for an arriving patron. To a human, the
sound would be just above normal volume to their ears. To a
vampire, it would be like going to a live concert and standing
front row. Our enhanced hearing made everything amplified.
Fortunately, we could distinguish other sounds as well.

So, I had no problem hearing a gun discharge
from a truck that was driving by out on the street. I immediately
dropped to the ground. Every vampire in the parking lot, who was
either standing in line or walking toward the building, followed
suit.

An agonizing cry lit up the area as I looked
up toward the sound. I smelled the human’s blood before I even saw
her laying on the ground. My fangs elongated from the sweet
smelling nectar, our life source. I had to bite the inside of my
cheek to resist the amount of blood that was spilling onto the
asphalt just yards away.

I heard the hiss of several vampires as the
scent caught their attention. My feet were moving before I had
another second to think. There were four male vampires who were
stalking toward the source of blood. I held my hands out in front
of me, “Walk away now! You don’t want any part of this. If you even
look hungry, I will arrest you.”

The males froze, seeing a
Krieger
standing there for the first time. Their minds were so focused on
the human blood that they didn’t even see me until I spoke.
Bloodlust was a nasty condition, and if enough was spilt, it could
cause a feeding frenzy. That wasn’t happening on my watch.

My phone was to my ear and it only took a
second before the dispatcher, Taryn answered.

“
Krieger
headquarters. What is your
emergency?”

“Taryn,” I began. “It’s Ashby. I need backup
at
Nights
. There’s been a drive by shooting, and one human
is down. I’d already called Jennings to get him to remove some
picketers. Can you also contact him to let him know he needs to be
here like yesterday?”

“I’ve got it,” she said. “Sending backup
now.”

I hung up and kept my eyes focused on the
vampires. The humans behind me were screaming and trying everything
they could to stop the flow of blood from their fellow picketer. I
could taste their fear and panic on my tongue.

“God damn
vampires
,” one yelled. He
was the oldest of the group. A tall, lanky human with white hair.
He looked to be their leader. A minister? “See what you’ve done! Do
you want this poor woman’s blood? Huh? Does it make you hungry? I
bet you can’t control yourself! Come on! Come take her blood and
show us what real monsters look like! I know you want it! Come.
Take. Her!”

I was seriously considering knocking this
guy out, just to shut him up, but the arrival of Jennings kept this
human from harm. An ambulance pulled into the parking lot right
behind him. Powle and Bastian arrived before the ambulance driver
even stepped foot out of the vehicle.

“What the hell happened, Ashby?” Jennings
cursed.

“After I hung up with you, an older model,
brown Dodge truck raced down the street and fired several shots.
Vampires ducked, humans did not. Got one down, that I can see. I
had to hold back vampires to keep the human safe.”

“Good,” he breathed a sigh of relief. “All
we need is for one of them to go after that woman and all hell will
break loose.”

“I know,” I replied. He ran off to assess
the situation as his other officers arrived. Blue lights flashed
around bouncing off the brick exterior of the building. Other
Krieger
arrived and helped with crowd control outside of the
building.

I sensed her before I even saw her. Turning
around, Lydia was standing at the doorway with the bouncer. Her
hand was covering her mouth in shock at the scene in the parking
lot. Making sure Bastian and Powle had everything handled, I walked
over toward the entrance to explain what had happened.

“Oh my God,” she said, leaping into my arms.
“Are you okay? Did you get hit?”

“I’m fine, love,” I assured her. “Just the
human was shot. I need you to stay inside.”

“No,” she growled. “This is
my
parking lot, and I will be damned if anyone gets hurt at
my
club.” Blood seeped into her eyes from the anger at what had just
happened.

“No,” I growled, showing a bit of blood in
my own eyes. The idea of her being out here when it happened sent a
shiver up my spine. Imagining what could’ve happened sent me almost
into a panic. “You stay inside. It’s not safe out here!”

“Ashby,” Bastian said, coming up on my
right. “I need to speak with you.”

“Stay here,” I told Lydia. I turned to the
bouncer and received a nod, telling me he’d keep her in the
building, before walking away with the other
Krieger
.

“What?” I barked.

“First of all,” he began. “Are you
hurt?”

“No,” I replied, keeping one eye on my mate.
She was mad as hell. So mad that in fact, I could hear her
thoughts.

“
This is my fucking club! How dare he
tell me that I can’t go out in the parking lot! Well, screw him! I
am my own woman, and I will do what I damn well want to do! What an
overprotective, overbearing, Neanderthal, jerk!”

“Did you get a license plate?” he asked,
pulling me back from her internal ramblings. Boy, she was
pissed.

“No. Just a description,” I said, repeating
the information that I gave to Jennings.

“Is this the same truck that Ms. Duncan saw
the night of her shooting?” I replayed her statement in my mind
from the night she was shot. My hands balled into fists remembering
the way she died in my truck. The fear of losing her made my chest
ache.

“I think it is,” I sighed. “I’ll go talk to
her.”

“Good luck,” he said, holding back a laugh.
“Unless you want me to do it?”

“No,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck.
“I’ll do it.”

His rumble of laughter followed me as I left
him standing next to his SUV. I turned and found her standing
there, arms folded across her chest and her tiny jaw was set hard
as she ground her teeth together in anger.

“
Oh, hell
,” I cursed, walking toward
the entrance to
Nights
. When she saw me coming, Lydia spun
on her heel and headed inside. I used my speed to zip past her and
beat her to the office. When she walked in and slammed the door, I
was already sitting in her office chair with my boots up on the
desk.

“Don’t start,” I warned.

“I’m not,” she huffed and pushed my feet off
of her desk. I pulled her into my lap and buried my nose in her
soft hair. The thought of her being shot again made my ancient
heart ache.

“Can you replay the night you were shot? Let
me see what you saw? I think the truck that did that drive by is
the same one that the men were in when they shot you.”

“Yeah,” she shivered. “I’m not going to be
worth a damn after this. Can I let Meadow know I’m going to be
leaving afterward?”

“Go ahead,” I nodded toward the phone. She
would be weak and need blood after using her ability. I’d need take
her back to my home to rest. “I’ll take care of you afterward.”

“Okay,” she said. I pressed her head so that
she rested it against my chest. I tucked her under my chin and
relaxed at the rightness of her in my arms. I’d do anything to
protect her, even if it meant killing someone to get her back to
me. These humans wouldn’t hurt her anymore, if I had anything to do
with it.

“I’m going to replay it exactly as it
happened,” she said, after hanging up with the Meadow. “Are you
sure you can watch it?”

“Yes,” I swallowed, tensing myself to see
the events that almost took her from me, before I even knew she was
mine.

“Okay,” she whispered. Her deep breathing
told me she was concentrating. I felt her mind reach for mine,
touching it ever so softly. And then the images came to life.

I parked and made my way to the back door.
The parking lot was lit, and for some reason it was almost too
quiet. I stopped suddenly, when I heard a slight rustling to my
left. My nostrils flared as I tested the air. My superhuman senses
realized something wasn’t right. The predator in me automatically
tensed in preparation of something bad. Scenting the air again, I
realized that it was not a vampire I scented and definitely not
Lycan or Hybrid. It was human.

The hair on the back of my neck prickled,
and I spun around, grabbing for the door as pain bloomed at the
back of my neck. Warmth spread from that point out to my arms, and
it didn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that I’d been
shot.

My eyes blurred as I turned around and found
two males coming at me fast. They were definitely human and they
had huge stakes hanging off their belts. I heard a whooshing sound,
and a small stake pierced me in the middle of my chest, thankfully
missing my heart.

A younger man was carrying a black bag, like
doctors used to use back years ago. I tried to reach out, but my
right arm didn’t cooperate. I reached up with my working arm and
felt the back of my head. From the agonizing burning, I knew the
bullet had to have been wooden, but it wasn’t Hawthorne. This
burning was worse than that horrible wood that vampires are highly
allergic to and could poison, if not kill, my kind.

My hand came away sticky with my own blood.
The coppery smell fired my senses, causing my stomach to clench
with the need to feed and repair my body from the bullet.

My attackers advanced on me as I tried to
return to my feet. Blood filled my eyes and my fangs burned as they
thickened in my mouth. Humans were not prey, but at the moment, I
wanted their blood.