Ruby (12 page)

Three days ago, Ronny Cochran had been
terminated. The board had had a great many meetings up until then,
going over paperwork, listening to the others tell them what had
been happening. But the real seal was when Mark Harlan sat down and
told them everything that he’d been told by Cochran, and what he
had assumed had been going on. He’d clued them in on the first time
he realized what they were doing, as well as taken notes on the
paperwork he’d been required to lie about when someone, one of the
doctors, needed a reference. Plus, Harlan had been sly enough to
record every conversation he’d had with Cochran and some that he
hadn’t. He’d even gone so far as to record Ruby in surgery just to
catch something that Cochran would say to her that might be
illegal. Harlan had apologized to her several times since Cochran
had been gone, about how he’d been moving Cochran in her direction
just to get some snippets of his conversations with her.

The kicker was Cochran felt as if he
should have been promoted for the money that he saved the hospital
over the year he’d been in charge. He’d stood before the board and
a few police officers and told them that they should be happy he
was getting rid of the riff-raff and saving the wear and tear on
their equipment. Not only that, but he told them he was working on
a book deal to show other hospitals, ones that didn’t cater to the
human refuse of the world, about his methods. Josh had put an end
to that deal immediately after they heard about it.

“
Are you happy?” She
looked at Blair when he asked her. As a smile spread over his face,
her blush deepened. “I meant as his mate, not how he can satisfy
you.”

“
I know what you meant.”
She had to work hard at not blushing again. “And yes, I’m happy. I
wish all this was gone, but I know that he has to be a part of this
to make it work for his friend. And so you know, I’ve accepted the
chief of surgery job.”

“
I know.” Of course he
would. As he stood up, he pulled her from the couch too. He put his
mouth by her ear as he hugged her to him. “I want to give you some
advice. Convert him as soon as possible. I don’t know this Teri
person, but from what Lila has said, she’s a monster and will stop
at nothing to get what she wants. And even though I doubt it’s
Josh, she does want his money.”

She nodded, and he let her go. As he
and Sapphire moved to the kitchen with Lila leading the way, Ruby
made her way to Josh. He pulled her onto his lap as soon as she
started to sit on the love seat next to him.

“
You’re doing okay,
right?” She nodded. “I’m so sorry about all this. I had this grand
plan that we’d have a nice dinner and I’d take you upstairs to
ravish you. Then when we were finished with that, I’d get us a
little wine, then take you again.”

“
You could still do that.
But later.” He buried his nose in her throat, and she moaned. “If
you don’t stop that, I’m going to come, and then where will we
be?”

“
A good deal more
relaxed.” He nipped at her throat again before lifting his head.
“I’ve just had a long conversation with Lila. Well, long for her. I
told her what I wanted to do, and she told me that I should have
done it a long time ago. I’m going to open my firm back up and work
from here. She said she’d come and work with me.”

“
And the hospital?” He
nodded. “What does that mean? You’re not taking the job or you
are?”

“
I am and I have. The
other business will keep me sane. It’s my…I guess you could call it
a passion. I need to help.” This time she nodded. Ruby could
understand wanting to help someone. “I’m going to talk to Blair and
Sapphire too. I think I could make them a great deal more
money.”

They talked about how he was going to
do it, and she loved the idea, but there was still this pall
hanging over them. She thought about what Blair had told her about
changing him and brought it up now.

“
I talked to Blair. He
said to convert you as soon as possible. He’s worried that this
Teri bitch will come in here and try to fuck up our nice little
arrangement.” Josh picked her up and started for the stairs. “Not
now. We have a house full of people. What would they think if they
heard me howling upstairs?”

“
You’ll howl?” She felt
his need just that quickly. “Will you come? Scream out my name as I
plow you? I love the noises you make when I eat you. The way you
moan and cry out.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and held
him to her. She felt his cock harden, stretch as if it needed to be
deep inside of her. When he rocked his hips forward, Ruby moaned
loudly.

“
I want you.” He nodded,
and instead of going up the stairs now, he took her to the back of
the house. As they made their way out the door and onto the deck,
she turned in his arms and wrapped her legs around him. Before they
were to the tree line, she had his shirt off and was suckling at
his nipples. They were going to be naked before they had a chance
to get where no one could see them.

“
I’m going to press you
against the first sturdy tree and fuck you.” She bit him when he
spoke. “Christ, how did I ever live without you?”

The tree he chose was barely in the
woods, but he put her down. Her blouse was torn open and her bra
shoved up. He took her entire breast in his mouth while he pulled
at her pants. When her pants were to her thighs, he dropped to his
knees in front of her.

“
I can’t wait to taste you
as a wolf.” He curled his tongue inside of her while he pulled her
pants the rest of the way off. “Right now all I can think about is
having you come down my throat.”

“
Hurry.” He nodded and
buried his face into her thighs. Ruby came so quickly that she was
still crying out his name when he slid his fingers into her pussy.
He ate her like she was his last meal. Every time she came, he
brought her higher the next time. Her knees were shaking she was so
weak, yet she wanted more. And when he stood up, all she could
think about was his cock inside of her.

“
I want you to suck my
cock.” Eager to do just that, she turned his back to the tree and
opened his pants. There was a thick stain on his boxers, and Ruby
rubbed her chin over him as she freed him of his pants. “Christ,
baby, I’m going to come right now. If you don’t take me in your
mouth, I’m going to come all over you.”

Ruby swallowed him past her throat and
heard him cry out. His fingers in her hair tried to pull her back,
but she wanted him all and dug her fingers into his hips and bobbed
her mouth over his cock. When he started fucking her mouth,
slamming his cock past her throat again, she looked up at him and
nearly came herself.

He was beautiful. Josh had his head
thrown back, and his body was covered in a sheen of sweat. With abs
so tight she wanted to lick them, his nipples were hard peaks that
seemed to beg for her to bite them. When she cupped his balls in
her hand, the incredible heat of them had her moan, and Josh cried
out her name as the first taste of him filled her mouth.

Swallowing as fast as she could, Ruby
drank of him. Josh fucked her this way, his thick cock filling
first her mouth, then her throat over and over, until she thought
she’d die from the pleasure of it. Then he pulled from her and
nearly threw her to the ground. His cock was buried in her before
she could realize what he was doing.

“
Come for me.” Her legs
wrapped around him as he took her. She wanted to come with him,
feel his cum spill into her, but he commanded her to come again,
and she screamed as she let her wolf bite him. Before she could
control her, Josh was on his back. Her wolf consumed her as she
pushed herself away from him.

“
Now.” He looked at her as
her wolf lunged forward. The moment she tore into his hard belly,
Ruby screamed at her to stop. But it was too late for that now. If
she didn’t finish this, turn him now, he was as good as
dead.

The blood poured into her mouth as he
bled out. Every time he whimpered, so did Ruby, but her wolf held
on. When he wrapped his weak fingers into her fur, Ruby looked at
his face and Josh smiled at her. Then he passed out.

It took another hour before her wolf
was ready to release him. The wound still bled and he was weak from
it. She could hear his heart, and it terrified her at how slow it
was, how weak it sounded. Then her wolf laid her large body over
him to keep him warm. Ruby, the doctor, was terrified. She might
have killed him was all she could think about.

What the hell were you
thinking?
Her wolf, of course, didn’t
answer her.
He wasn’t ready for this. He
needed to be told what to expect. I wanted to wait. Needed you to
wait until the time was right.

The answering snarl had Ruby still.
The wolf stayed where she was until Ruby felt someone coming toward
them. Growling low, she turned to look at Quentin and Blair. They
had blankets and a bag, but her wolf would not let them come very
close.

“
We’re going to take him
in the house.” Her wolf wasn’t thrilled about that and growled
again at Blair. “Ruby, if you don’t back down, you’re going to call
my wolf, and he’s not happy with you at the moment.”

I can’t control her. It’s
like she has it in her head you’re going to hurt him. All she’s
thinking about is that she has to protect him at all costs. Even if
she has to kill you both to do it.
Blair
told her to back down or else, then he took a step toward her. Ruby
felt her wolf curl up. Then she flew through the air at
him.

Chapter 8

Bri watched her brother sleep. She’d
never noticed how large he was before, but lying on the big bed,
she could see that her big brother was indeed a big man. Smiling,
she wondered for a moment how he was going to react when he found
out what she’d been up to, what she and Rufus had been doing since
she’d woken in the hospital. Her body burned for her
mate.

A mate. Bri had a mate, and he was a
vampire. Leaning back in the chair, she thought about some of the
things he’d done to her, some of the things she’d done to him, and
she wanted to find him now and see if he was willing to take her
that way again.

Behave yourself. You want
the world to know that you’re wet for me?
Bri grinned bigger.
You get yourself
down here and I’ll show you some more of them things. I done never
seen a woman who could keep up with me and sex.

You’re very good at
it.
He laughed at her and she flushed and
decided to change the subject.
Do you
think that he’ll wake soon? I know that Ruby asks about him every
time I go and see her. But I think she needs him with her, don’t
you?

Poor thing. Never had a
she-bitch do that to her alpha before. Blair was hurt up pretty
bad. Healed, I know, but damn, she was one pissed off bitch.
Bri wasn’t thrilled about the title that Ruby was
called, but it was a fact, not a slur. She’d learned a great deal
about shifters and vampires over the last few days. And what Ruby
had done was unheard of.

Blair had been torn to shreds. When
she’d seen him, it was all she could do not to rush to his aid. But
Rufus had told her that if she touched him, Blair’s mate Sapphire
would kill her. Rufus had held her while they’d worked on getting
him settled. After he shifted, it was as if nothing had happened
but for the scar at his shoulder. It was still there even three
days afterwards.

Ruby said she had no
control over her wolf. That she was terrified that Blair was going
to hurt him. And when she attacked him, it hurt her just as much as
it did him.
Ruby had been hurt pretty
badly, and she was lying in a cell in the
basement
.
No one
thought she was going to pull through if she didn’t shift
soon.
She won’t shift to heal herself. Is
that the only way she can heal? Can’t someone do something for
her?

Her heart is broken up.
Happens when your other half betrays you. Not her mate this time,
but her wolf. Them wolves are a mean sort when they think something
is gonna hurt their one and only. I’m supposing that’s what she
feels happened.
Bri could see that.
Once her mate wakes up, she’ll be better to work
on that. I don’t know what happened out there but from all I heard?
She was wild to kill Blair.

Josh shifted on the bed, and Bri got
up to stand over him. She wanted him to wake up now. She knew that
he’d help Ruby, but he needed this too. They’d told her that he
would need to rest, that his body would need to cope with the
conversion, and she understood that to a point. But she was worried
for Ruby.

Don’t worry about her.
She’s a lot meaner than she looks. Tougher, too, if you want to
know the truth of it. Never had a woman who could cut you to
ribbons like she does with that tongue of hers and then stitch you
right up while she was doing it. She’ll be right as snow in a bit,
you’ll see.
Rufus had told her that he’d
drank her blood. He’d also told her what else he’d done with her.
She knew that he’d done what he had to do for a promise, but she
couldn’t imagine anyone asking for just a climax from her handsome
lover.

You be thinking on those
lines and you’re gonna find yourself flat on your back and me
between those legs of yours.
She shivered
and he laughed.
Let me come and get you,
Brianna. Let me bring you to my lair so I can drink from
you.