CONCEPTION (The Others) (26 page)

“Yes.” Eden’s revulsion was immediate. He squeezed her hand
reassuringly.

“You are too weak to hunt safely.” At the word hunt, Eden’s
revulsion turned to horror. Mental images of monsters tearing out faceless
humans’ throats whirled out from her mind.

Deuce glanced over at Dak. “Your terminology needs work.”

Dak merely shrugged, his thoughts hidden behind his
impassive expression and flat catlike eyes.

Deuce tightened his grip on Eden’s hand, preventing her from
indulging the need to move away that pushed at her.

Dak glanced down at his hand and then at Eden before meeting
his gaze. “It is dangerous for her to remain so ignorant.”

“My mate is none of your concern.”

Dak inclined his head. “True.”

“What don’t I know that I need to?” Edie asked Dak, clearly
seeing him as the weak link in the wall of silence around her.

It was a measure of their friendship that Dak remained
silent. As the leader of the Pride, he had more than just Deuce’s feelings to
consider.

“Dak is concerned that your disobedience will bring harm to
the compound.”

“Disobedience? I’m not some child who needs controlling.”

No, she wasn’t. She was human and not used to working within
the strict hierarchy of his people and the Others. “You would prefer that I use
the term independence to describe your behavior?”

She yanked her hand free to slam it on her hip, her fear turning
to the more comfortable outlet of anger. “And what’s wrong with independence?”

The move sent a wave of pain to his already overloaded
senses.

Dak frowned, no doubt scenting the weakness. “Be silent and
still, woman.”

Eden reacted immediately, jumping to her feet, challenging
the Pride leader. “Who the hell are you to tell me what to do?”

Deuce used all of his waning strength to manage the flood of
physical anguish pouring from her body to his.

Dak’s lip lifted in a warning snarl any female of his Pride
would have recognized. He stood, towering over Eden. “Though it is not my
joining ring you wear, I am the one you will listen to.”

Edie gasped and turned red, but didn’t back down. Deuce got
to his feet. The spike of healthy fear surging through her at the lion’s threat
should have sent her behind him. Instead, it drowned under a wave of fresh
anger. Along with that wave came something else, something he couldn’t
identify. Dak snarled again and Deuce yanked Edie behind him. She bounced back
like a ping-pong ball, hitting Dak in the chest with her hands, knocking him
slightly off balance as she snarled back, “I suggest you save those fangs for
someone who’s more impressed with them.”

Her foolishness defied description. No Chosen woman would
ever endanger herself so.

Between one breath and the next, Deuce grabbed Eden and
shoved her behind him. With a flash of his fangs, he ordered, “Stay.” He turned
back, ready to battle if Dak wanted satisfaction. “My apologies for my mate’s
behavior.”

“She is impulsive,” was all the Other said in the face of
the tremendous insult Eden had just delivered, his power banked again behind
the mask of placidity.

“Yes.” Deuce ignored Edie’s disgusted snort. “Do you demand
satisfaction?”

“Satisfaction?” Edie asked, outrage evident in her tone.

Dak glanced around Deuce. Deuce looked down to find Edie
peering around his side, maintaining her challenge of the Pride leader’s
dominance.

He pushed her farther behind him.

The way the other man’s arms folded across his chest in
combination with the smile playing on his lips told him Dak wasn’t done
provoking Edie.

“When a female touches a male of the Pride, it is an
invitation to her bed, and if she is mated, an invitation to fight her mate to
prove his worthiness.”

Edie blinked and stepped a little closer to Deuce’s back.
What in hell had she gotten herself into? From the set of his shoulders to the
placement of his feet, Deuce stood like a man issuing a challenge, throwing off
waves of testosterone like it was candy at Halloween. In front of him stood
Dak, a muscle ticcing in his cheek, tossing back the same invisible challenge
to Deuce. Were they about to come to blows?

“Good God! You can’t be serious?”

Dak smiled a smile that did nothing to ease her nerves as it
showed the edge of his fangs and his personality. “I am debating my options.
You are not displeasing. And you display a ring well.”

She blocked the urge to put her hand over the heavy hoop.
There was nothing for him to debate. “I don’t want you in my bed!”

“Then you should not have made the invitation.”

Good God! Had she stepped back to the dark ages? She pulled
the comforter tighter around her. “I was warning you off!”

His eyebrow rose in a habit that she was finding annoying.
“From what?”

“Hurting Deuce.”

Dak stared at her for second, disbelief, surprise and at
last humor spreading across his face. He shook his head, met Deuce’s gaze, and
jerked his chin in her direction. “I have decided not to accept her
invitation.”

Deuce nodded as if Dak had done him a huge favor, though he
didn’t relax. “Thank you.”

Eden wanted to kick him in the shin. She settled for glaring
at Dak, who shifted the gun on his shoulder. The twitch in his cheek turned
into a smile as he motioned to her. “She is too hard on the ego.”

She couldn’t see Deuce’s face because he kept blocking her
attempts to get around him, but there was no mistaking the amusement in Deuce’s
voice as he said, “Fortunately, she compensates in other areas.”

She did kick him for that. Not hard, but enough to hurt her
toe, and have him grab her wrist and anchor her to his side as she rubbed her
toe against her shin.

Dak took in the exchange and laughed out loud. “May the
Maker spare me from a human mate.”

“She will learn.”

“No doubt.” The glance Dak cast her let Eden know he was
well aware of her distaste at being so discussed. The faint lines by his eyes
expressed his amusement with her reaction more clearly than words. He turned
his attention back to Deuce and his smile faded. “You are not in good shape, my
friend.”

“I will heal.”

“Quick enough?”

“Quick enough for what?” Neither man paid her any attention.

“As fast as I need to.”

“You need blood.”

“Yes.”

“I offer you mine.”

Edie felt Deuce’s shock in the tightening of his body, and
in the thickening of emotion in the air. “The offer is generous.”

Dak inclined his head. “I have my moments.”

“It is not without risk.” Deuce’s tone was cautious, but she
could feel how much he wanted this. There was more than just a food chain going
on here. She looked between the two men. Dak didn’t look any more civilized
than Deuce for the fact that he was wearing khakis. Both were males in their
prime. Both wore the mantle of authority as if it were made for them. And one
was offering his blood to the other.

“The trust must be complete if we are to succeed.”

Deuce nodded, acknowledging the point. “The Chosen are
honored by your sacrifice.”

“I’d prefer no one but you and I know of this.”

“Agreed.”

Dak held out his arm and with the claw that suddenly
appeared at the end of his finger, slashed his wrist. Blood welled and pooled.
Beneath her hand, Deuce went rigid. “Mate, go shower.”

“I don’t want to.”

The eyes Deuce turned on her were wild, the black pupils
swirling with flickering shards of red. His “Do as you are told” reverberated
in her ears, in her mind. She went, the order too dark, too compelling to
ignore. She closed the bathroom door behind her, but before she pulled it all
the way shut, she looked back. Deuce advanced on the other man, the way he
moved, the way he held his head was that of a predator stalking his prey. Dak
stood as he’d been when she’d fled, relaxed, waiting. She shuddered and shut
the door. There were parts of this mate business that were going to take some
getting used to.

Chapter Fourteen

Halfway through her shower, Eden’s mental and physical
strength gave out. She sat down and let the water pour over her head and body.
Too weary, too overwhelmed to do more. She was married to a vampire, had a
half-vampire child, and was living among vampires and werepeople. Her family
was gone, everything she’d thought her life to be was a lie, and there was no
going back. Ever. From here on out she lived as the Others did. On the fringes
of society. Hated or revered, depending on the mindset of the person feeling
the emotion, but never accepted. In her wildest dreams as a child, she’d never
anticipated her life going like this and honestly didn’t know if she could
accept it.

Steam swirled as the door opened. “You will accept it.”

Eden looked up through the water pouring over her face,
mixing with her tears for all that she’d lost, and saw Deuce. He was stronger
now. She could sense it. See it. He’d gotten that way by sucking another man’s
blood. “I thought vampires bit people’s necks.”

“Vampire is a human term. I am Chosen.” He opened the shower
door. “And that is a pleasure reserved for mates.”

“Great. Can’t wait.”

He held out his hand. She didn’t take it, just stayed where
she was, weighed down by the enormity of change. “I don’t think I can do this,
Dusan.”

He stepped into the shower and sat down in front of her. “It
is already done.”

Water bounced off his shoulders and splattered her eyes.
“Maybe the right term would be I can’t accept this.” She pushed her hair off
her face. “Good God, you just sucked the lifeblood from your friend.”

“I was honored by his offer.”

“I was repulsed.”

“That is to be expected, but in time, you will understand.”

“That’s what I am trying to tell you. I don’t think I will.”

His sigh was not unsympathetic. “It is my duty to see that
you adjust.”

“I don’t want to be your duty.” Why couldn’t he see that? “I
don’t want to understand. I don’t want to be weak. I don’t want to be hunted.”
Her voice rose with every syllable until her “I just want to be normal” ended
on a muted scream.

“I know.” Deuce’s calm flowed over her agitation, muting it.
His hand slid behind her head, pulling her into him. “It is my duty to give you
whatever you want, but of all your wants, the only one I can help you with is
to make you strong.” He tipped her chin up. “Will you let me do that?”

She searched his eyes for some sign that he was holding
back. Hiding a secret. She found nothing but compassion. “Do you have to?”

“Your pain tears at me.”

“Then give it back.”

“I cannot.”

“You told me you could do anything.”

“Anything but hurt you.”

“I don’t have the same restraint.”

“It does not matter.”

But it did. It seriously did. “We are so different.”

“Not in the ways that matter.”

“I almost got you killed!”

“My powers are beyond your comprehension, Edie.” He cupped
her shoulders in his palms and let them slide down her arms. “The Pride would
not have taken you.”

“Because he was teasing?”

“Because I would have killed him.”

“He’s your friend.” He lifted her and drew her forward,
draping her hands around his neck.

“You are my mate.”

She balanced her hands on his shoulders and straddled his
thighs as he lowered her onto his lap, the hard ridge of his huge cock sliding
in the folds of her labia, surging through the wet cleft, catching on the ring,
tugging attentive nerves to vibrant life. Her breasts swelled and pushed
outward. Her pussy ached and pulsed in answer to the throb of his cock. The hot
steam from the shower intensified his scent and then hers, until they blended
together—the way her body wanted to be blended with his. So tight and so solid
that not a degree of separation remained.

“A pretty dumb mate.” She dropped her forehead to his chest.
“I all but propositioned your friend.”

Deuce smiled and opened his hands on her back. “Your ignorance
of custom was known.”

“Then why the big deal?” She arched her back and slid her
torso side to side, teasing her breasts with the light abrasion of his chest
hair on their sensitive tips. She was scared and she was confused, and she just
wanted to forget about everything that she had to accept.

“He is the leader of his people. Protocol could not be
ignored.”

“Your culture is so backward.”

“I have often had that thought about yours.” His fingertips grazed
her skin as they traveled the path from her buttocks to her waist, raising
goose bumps in their wake. Desire slammed into her with the intensity of a
brand, strong, unmistakable and familiar. So blessedly familiar. She leaned
into his chest. His arms came around her, holding her close to the heat of his
skin while the warm water poured over her back. She shuddered at the sheer
bliss of being in his arms. She’d dreamed of it the whole time she’d been
trapped in the makeshift lab, made all kinds of promises to God if he’d just
allow her to feel Deuce’s arms around her one more time. She’d needed him so.
Which brought up something she needed to deal with.

When she’d first met Deuce, she’d thought he was human, and
she’d loved him enough to consider marrying him. When her grandfather had used
her to trap him, she’d loved him enough to die for him. And now that she’d
found him again, she needed to know if she could love him enough to live for
him. In his world and on his terms. She slowly inched her hands up his chest,
over the swell of his pectorals. Across the ridge of his collarbone until she
could wrap them around his neck. She pulled herself hard against him and tucked
her face against his breastbone. “Do you remember that last date we had before
everything went bad?”

“Yes.”

“Do you remember how I was?”