Primal Cravings (12 page)

“Everything is not always about you.” It was.

“Then what’s wrong with you?”

“You are a mortal female.”

This time she didn’t answer, but he was still caught in the emotional blast of her fury and humiliation. A twinge of guilt for causing this turmoil cut through his own disconcerted reactions.

“I have never—shared my blood with anyone, of any species. To do so is a weakness among Tribe Primes. A perversion, even.”

He’d never shared this with anyone. Sharing it with McCoy was important to him, even if he shocked himself by doing so.

“You’re not a Tribe Prime,” McCoy reminded him. “At least that’s what you keep telling everybody.”

Her voice had returned to the same cold tone she’d always used when she had no choice but to speak to him. Had that been only a couple days ago? Yesterday? He’d gotten used to her being more relaxed and friendly with him. Even sympathetic and teasing sometimes.

Her words caught him off guard. “I
am
Prime of Family Piper.”

“You say it, but do you believe it?”

“I don’t know!”

Who and what he really was was a whirling battle in his head. He hadn’t felt any doubts about his decision to join Family Piper in years, and now all of a sudden—

And what possessed him to constantly blurt out the truth to this woman?

He knew there were some who would say that his emotional
softness
toward McCoy was part of the initiation of a bond between them.
They
were right. He rejected the whole holy grail notion of acquiring a bondmate, but what good would simply saying
I don’t wanna
do if the thing took on the inevitable momentum the experts claimed?

What’s wrong with having a bondmate?
he wondered.

Only to have a blaze of pain go through his head as he recoiled from the idea. He wondered how he could be punishing himself for a mere thought.

“What was it that alarmed you earlier?” he asked.

“Everything about you alarms me,” she snapped back.

He couldn’t stop a smile, though he tried. “No wonder the rest of the Crew calls us the Bickersons.”

“Do they?” She was indignant. “But we haven’t bickered in front of anybody. Have we?”

“I think they
feel
the things we aren’t saying. Don’t you?”

“Yeah,” she grudgingly admitted. Her shoulders hunched with embarrassment. She looked out the windshield, her gaze on the world going by beyond the uncomfortable closeness inside of their metal box.

They lapsed into silence, which Jake knew he should let go on. But he couldn’t leave her alone. “You dramatically clasped your throat as you called upon the goddess.”

She looked at him, rubbing her neck as she did. She had no idea how sexy he found the gesture.

“You drank my blood. Does that—give you power over me?”

“Oh, yes. I am now your master. You are my sex slave. Forever.”

When he glanced her way McCoy’s expression was skeptical.

“Was that a lame try?” Jake asked.

“Completely. I’d prefer a more clinical answer. For example, did your fangs inject me with some sort of chemical toxin?”

“You came, didn’t you?”

She blushed so brightly her freckles practically glowed. A soft spot deep within his dark primal soul found this adorable.

“There’s no need to put it so crudely,” she said.

“We’re both soldiers. Crude comes with the job.”

She ducked her head, then gave him a sideways glance. There was a tiny hint of humor in her aura. “There were multiple orgasms. I wont deny that. And only some of it was from the spell energy. It doesn’t mean we’re engaged, does it?”

“I basted you with sage. That doesn’t mean we’re engaged, does it?”

“No, it just makes you an apprentice witch,” Dee answered.

“Do I get a pointy hat?”

“Not until you graduate.”

* * *

Were they flirting with each other? Dee was half-convinced every conversation they had was downright crazy. Crazy or not, information was shared. She still wasn’t satisfied with what he’d told her about biting her.

“You’re not hungry anymore, right? You don’t need more of my blood?”

“Need it right now? No. Want it?” he hesitated, muttered, “Let’s leave that alone.”

He did want her!

The knowledge made Dee’s heart race. She wanted his teeth sunk in her flesh again. She hungered for the passion, the rush of danger and lust.

She hoped her next questions embarrassed Piper as much as they did her. “Am I going to want to become your sex slave? How do you make a sex slave, anyway?”

“I don’t know how it’s done! I’ve never been involved in anything like that. Never saw it done.”

“Really?”

“Of course, really. I know about it because I’ve been in that Tribe bar. I guess it’s done with a lot of biting and brainwashing. There was a whole lot I didn’t learn about being a Tribe Prime before the Pipers took me in.”

Oh. Okay. Maybe she should believe that his being born a Tribe Prime didn’t make him automatically evil.

Then again, just because he didn’t know his folks’ evil ways, didn’t mean he didn’t want to learn given the chance.

Trust him
, Dee told herself.
But watch your back
.

But her wariness was weakening as her attraction grew. She didn’t know how she was going to stop that.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Eden Wolf had never in her life been afraid of a vampire or werewolf. However, at the moment, trying to stare down a normally mild-mannered mortal psychic historian, fear niggled at her mind. It tried to spread, to knot in her stomach and make her knees shake. She wasn’t going to let it.

“What the hell is wrong with you, Daniel Corbett?” she asked the blond man standing on the other side of the desk. His blue eyes were not glowing, she was almost completely certain of that, but there was something strange…like the sparkling bright pupils were made of shards of glass or ice.

“Stop treating me like a boy! Like I’m useless and faintly ridiculous.”

The words came out as an angry snarl. Every sound that came out of Daniel since he unexpectedly walked into the office had been a snarl. And he’d been pacing around like a hungry werewolf. He was unshaven, disheveled. Not like himself at all. Daniel Corbett was mortal, human, born of a mortal mother. His father was a Clan vampire, but children born to vampires and humans invariably came out human. Well, there were occasional exceptions for daughters of vampires. And there were legends about —

His fist slammed against the top of her desk.

Eden wished she wasn’t alone in the Bleythin detective agency. Her beloved bondmate Laurent and Harry Bleythin were still tying up loose ends on a case. Fortunately, they’d gotten the missing girl out of deadly danger, with the help of the Dark Angel pair she was waiting to show up.

She wished Daniel’s cousin Sidonie Wolf was here. Maybe that was Dan’s problem.

“I know you’re upset about Sid leaving to join the Dark Angels,” she said.

“The hell with Sidonie,” he said. “She thinks I’m a joke. I’m sick of her. I’m sick of hearing about the Dark Angels.” He pounded a fist on her desk again. The wood shuddered. “I’m not good enough for those elite bastards!”

Daniel adored Sidonie! Was he jealous of her new job? Maybe it would be best to get Daniel out of the office before a couple of Dark Angels showed up and aggravated his mood further.

“Would you like something useful to do?” she asked.

“Goddess, yes!”

He grinned fiercely. Eden imagined a tiny flash of fangs. She was no psychic, but even she could feel the terrifying anger bubbling through him. She stood her ground as she reminded herself that she’d been raised a vampire hunter. That she could stake him before he—

But Daniel Corbett wasn’t a vampire!

He did have a very special psychic gift. He could discern an object’s history by touching it. Sometimes this talent could even come in handy, such as the assignment she was going to suggest to him.

She wrote down an address and handed it to him. “This request for your services came in a couple of days ago, but since you didn’t check in, it kind of slipped my mind.”

“What is it?”

“You need to shave and put on a suit and go look at an egg.”

His fist smashed into her desk again.

“Stop that!” Eden said.

“Stop being facetious!” Dan shouted back.

“You’re right. Sorry. A collector wants your expertise in authenticating a gold, enamel, and jeweled egg-shaped box like the Russian Imperial family used to collect.”

“A Faberge egg?” He gave a sharp nod. “I’ve heard of them.”

“Well, this man has one that looks right but doesn’t have any provenance. He wants you to tell him if it’s real. He heard about you from one of your archaeologist friends who believes your gift is genuine.”

“This gift cost me any chance at a career. Which of the bastards who laughed me out of academia threw this bone my way?”

“Does it matter?”

“If I know who it is, I can find him and kill him.”

Eden believed he meant what he said. “Why don’t you go check out the egg, okay? Tell the owner whether it belonged to the Russian Tsar or not.”

“Fine,” Daniel said.

Eden breathed a sigh of relief as the normally sweet guy headed for the door. Which opened just before he reached it. A couple came in, a red-haired woman and a dark-haired male. Eden recognized the man as a vampire. So did Daniel. Every muscle in his body stiffened, tensed as though he were about to pounce on the strange Prime.

The Prime saw something he didn’t like about Daniel, as well. He stepped in front of the woman.

The tension in the room spiked instantly.

* * *

Jake didn’t know what the hell this blond male was, but he instinctively put himself between him and McCoy. The man, fists bunched at his sides, eyes bright with instinctive fury, took a step closer to Jake. Jake fought down the urge to show fang and claw.

McCoy peered around him. She spoke to the woman across the office. “Piper and McCoy,” she said. “You’re expecting us. You’re Eden, yes? I remember that you helped the Angels fight the wildfire up in the mountains. Uh, Joe and Sidonie say ‘hi’. We saw your bondmate Laurent last night, helped him with the—”

Why are you babbling, McCoy?
Jake’s thought demanded.

The mortal male continued to glare at him while Jake gave some of his attention to his partner.

Trying to break the tension! Don’t kill him, okay?
McCoy thought back.

I didn’t start this.

He isn’t well. There’s something wrong with him.

“Weren’t you leaving, Dan?” Eden asked. Her tone rose sharply. “Daniel Corbett! You are leaving!”

Corbett blinked, then his gaze slid to Eden. Some of the agitation drained from him. He nodded, and walked out.

McCoy stepped out from behind him. Her gaze followed Corbett as he left. Despite his inevitable pang of jealousy, Jake knew her instinct was to follow Corbett, to help him. Jake wanted to put his arm around her and keep her protectively at his side.

“We have our assignment,” he whispered to her.

She sighed after a moment. “Yeah. Besides, I don’t think his road crosses ours again.” She added a puzzled, “Whatever that means.”

As long as McCoy was willing to let Corbett go, Jake didn’t comment on any
witchy
stuff.

* * *

Eden came out from behind her desk and walked up to them. “I remember you.” She gestured. “There’s a desk you can use, should you need a desk.”

“It’s somewhere to put our laptops,” Dee McCoy said.

A familiar pleasant tingle went through Eden before she could say anything else. She turned toward the door as it opened.

“Honey, I’m home!” her bondmate declared. Laurent Wolf came in. He was dressed in a long black leather coat, his long silver braid flung over his shoulder.

“Making your entrance with your usual flare,” Eden said, and went into his embrace. It had been two days since she’d seen him, which was two days too long.

Laurent kissed her, asked how their daughter was, and then looked over her head at the two newcomers, then back at Eden. “What are they doing here?”

“You owe them a favor,” she answered. “So we’re helping them save the world, although I’m not quite sure how.”

“Good for us.” Laurent looked around. “Something doesn’t —”, he gave his head a hard shake. He looked at the other Prime. “Does the energy reverberating around the place remind you of anything?”

Piper nodded slowly. He took a deep breath, as though he was scenting fading energy. “Something familiar. Something I should remember.”

“Yeah,” Laurent said. He shrugged. “Never mind, it’s almost faded. Come along, my love, let’s go make out for a while.”

Eden let Laurent take her by the hand and through the door to the back rooms of the office building.

“What’s up?” she asked when they were alone.

“In a minute.”

Laurent’s hands came up under her shirt. His lips touched her throat while his hands caressed her breasts. Eden moaned with pleasure. She leaned against the wall at her back and enjoyed his touch. Anticipation of the prick of his fangs brought her to orgasm even before the slight pain and incomparable pleasure rushed through her. Eden closed her eyes and held on tightly to Laurent. Even two days without this tangling of their two souls and bodies into one had been too much!

Laurent lifted his head too soon for Eden’s liking. She rubbed her forehead against his as he held her close. “Come on, you have to want more than a snack,” she said.

His lips brushed her ear as he chuckled. “I adore you when you’re greedy.” He let her go and rearranged her clothing for her. “I adore you no matter what.”

She tugged at his thick braid. “Let’s go home, Laurent.”

He ran a finger around her smiling lips. “We have work to do.”

“Uh—”

“Yes, I know, that’s your line, and I’m the one who wants to spend all the time in bed with you.” He pointed toward the main office, hidden from view by the closed door. “But today we need to help the pair out there.”