Ruby (7 page)

Quentin nodded. “Mate. She’s your
other half, the person you will want no matter what. Someone you
can trust more than anyone you know, care for above all others, and
she will…. You remember in high school when you had to have sex all
the time? And you didn’t care who it was, so long as you could fuck
it?” Crude, but the point was made, so Josh nodded. “That’s what
you’re going to get with having a mate. Not all, but that, my
friend, will make it all worthwhile until you realize that she’s
the one you love.”

“
I don’t love her. I will
probably never love her. And all that other crap, I don’t believe
in any of that either.” Quentin told him he would and sooner than
he thought possible. “I don’t think so. That…this is making no
sense whatsoever. You say this woman is my fuck buddy and that I
will fall in love with her? Why? I don’t even think she wants me
any more than I do her.”

“
I’m sure she doesn’t. But
she’ll have no choice once you have sex with her.” Josh shook his
head. There was no way he was having sex with that…well, “goddess”
came to mind, but he wasn’t ready for a relationship. Maybe never
would be. “You say no now, but once you touch her, it will be all
you can think of.”

“
If this is a joke, I’m
not laughing.” Quentin told him it wasn’t a joke. “Okay then, what
about this Rufus guy? Surely he’s not going to try to have sex with
my sister. If he touches her, I’ll kill him. Stake him if
necessary.”

“
He can heal her. Almost
instantly.” That got Josh’s attention. “He’d have to let her drink
his blood, but once she does, she’d be like nothing ever happened
to her. In fact, he’s more than likely giving her enough to bring
her around now.”

Josh stood up, but was pushed back
into the chair by Quentin. He was much stronger than he’d been in
college, Josh thought. But it was the look in his eyes that gave
him pause. The man looked…the wolf was there in him as
well.

“
He’ll never harm her.
Rufus, for all his gruff, is a good man. He loves Ruby more than
anyone, I think, and that…are you okay?” The urge to murder Rufus
was nearly taking Josh’s breath away. When he nodded, then shook
his head, Quentin laughed again. “Yeah, that won’t get any better
either. The need to protect our mates is something that we get from
being with a wolf. I suppose any species. And if another man
touches her, you’ll want to kill them. Trust me, been there, done
that.”

“
I’m freaking out.”
Quentin nodded and stood up. Josh did as well. “Where are we
going?”

“
To see your sister. Then
I’m taking you to see Blair. He’s the alpha, and he’ll need to talk
to you. And so you know, Ruby is his sister-in-law too. Blair is
married to Sapphire, the alpha-bitch to his alpha.” Josh nodded. He
was so fucked right now, and he had no idea what to do about it.
Wolves and vampires. He wanted to ask Quentin if there were others
like him, other…
species
, he called them, but Josh was sort of afraid to ask. It was
enough to try to deal with right now, but to….

“
I want to go home first.
I need to…I need a stiff drink and a place to think.” Quentin
nodded but didn’t speak. “I’m not going to get that, am
I?”

“
No. Two reasons. Ruby
hates the taste of alcohol. Even the smell of it. So I would not do
that if I were you, in the event you get to kiss her…or more later.
Also, just because I tried it, it doesn’t do you any good to try
and avoid this. She’s a wolf, and you’re her mate. End of life as
you know it, but a much better one because of it.”

As soon as they entered the room, he
could see the difference in his sister’s health. Rufus wasn’t with
her, but Josh had a feeling that he wasn’t far. It was broad
daylight, and as much as he didn’t want to believe this stuff, he
had read a little about vampire lore. Walking to the bed, he picked
up his sister’s hand and felt how warm she was now. Looking at his
sister, Josh asked Quentin where Rufus might be.

“
Laying low. Or feeding.
He’s more than likely given her more than he should for this time
of day.” Josh shivered and tried not to think of him, or any man,
biting into his little sister. “Josh, you’re going to be
okay.”

“
So you say.” Quentin
laughed a little, and Josh looked at him. “I’m not sure whether to
be pissed at you for this or to thank you. I have no idea what the
fuck I’m supposed to be required to do because of this shit going
on. Do I run like hell and hope no one catches up with
me?”

“
Blair would. So would
Ruby. We have an excellent sense of smell. And now that Ruby has
sniffed you, she’ll be able to find you anywhere.” Josh wanted to
growl, a habit he’d picked up a while ago. But right now…for
whatever reason, he thought he’d stop that right now.

“
You’re not helping.”
Quentin nodded and didn’t say anything else. “They’re really
wolves. And so are you. My sister is…she’s got a vampire as a
boyfriend. And if I’m lucky, that she–bitch, as you call her, will
not murder me in my sleep.”

“
The good news is, she
can’t cause you harm. Not that Ruby follows rules much.” Quentin
laughed. “She’s a lot like you in that respect. Anyway, she can’t
hurt you. But she can make your life worth living, and the happiest
man in the world with just a little effort on your
part.”

“
And if I don’t? Give it
any effort, I mean?” Quentin shrugged. “You’re telling me that no
matter how much I try to fight this, no matter how many times I say
I don’t want this, it’s already in the works. I’m as good as
married. She and I are soul mates until death do us
part.”

“
Pretty much.” Quentin
moved to the door. “Your sister will be waking soon. I can hear the
strength of her heart beating, and it’s a great deal better than it
was before. Also, I’m going to recommend to Blair that you run this
hospital. I’ve never in all my life known a man who could bring
something back from disaster like you can. And you need this, I
think.”

“
I don’t know a thing
about hospitals.” But the idea was there now, and Josh knew himself
well enough to know that he’d look into running it if for no other
reason than he could. “Besides, I’m pretty sure that once he finds
out that Ruby is pissed at me, he’ll run me out of
town.”

“
Doubtful. Blair is a good
man. The person you have to be afraid of—or the people you should
be afraid of—is Annabelle, Ruby’s grandmother, and Sapphire, her
sister. They give a whole new meaning to making a grown man cry.”
Quentin smiled. “Take my advice and mate with Ruby as soon as you
can. It goes a long way to smoothing the path to a good
relationship with her family.”

“
And mating would be what?
Fucking her?” Quentin smiled and nodded. “You do know that sex is
not the cure-all to everything. I just ended a relationship that
was great sex, but she needed more than me. Two more than me, as a
matter of fact, and one of them was my business
partner.”

“
Did you get what you
wanted out of the ending?” Josh thought about it for a second and
nodded. “Then it was a successful deal. I wanted to keep my company
small and in Texas until I met with Blair and Sapphire. They moved
me up and got me into making more money than I ever thought to
make. Plus, I met Jade and it all fell into place. Angie is as
happy as I’ve ever seen her, and in a few months, we’re going to
adopt a little boy.”

“
And the downside?”
Quentin told him there wasn’t any as far as he could see. “Sure
there is. There’s always a downside when you fall in love. One or
both of you get tired of the other, or it just never gets to the
point where you give a shit anymore.”

“
Not if you fall for the
right person.” Quentin went out the door, and Josh sat by his
sister’s bed. As the day turned into evening, he was thinking about
what his friend had told him. Fall in love? Not likely. Not ever
again.

“
You shouldn’t think that
hard. It will give you wrinkles.” Josh stared at his sister for a
full minute before he realized she was talking to him. It was her
laugh, soft and hoarse, that had him standing up and going to
her.

“
You’re better.” She
nodded, then moaned. “Okay, better is pretty optimistic, but last I
heard, you were fighting for your life.”

Rufus appeared in the room but stood
back. He looked terrified, and Josh wanted to tell him that he knew
just how he felt. Josh wasn’t sure what to do now. Introducing the
two of them seemed surreal, but he did nod in his direction. Bri
turned to look at the vampire.

“
Hello.” Rufus nodded and
moved forward when she spoke. “I know you, don’t I? You were in my
dreams. You were…you spoke to me about living.”

“
Yeah, I was there. I
don’t know nothing about you, but I’m guessing you’re better now.”
Bri nodded and smiled at Rufus. “I was worried for you. But I guess
you’ll be fine as rain now.”

Josh left them alone. As much as he
wanted to talk to his sister, he decided that he needed some alone
time first. And that stiff drink. The closer he got to his house,
the less and less the drink appealed to him. But the thought of the
lips of the lovely Ruby created a great deal of need to taste and
be tasted by them.

“
I don’t even believe this
shit, and here I am thinking way to much about her and babies.” His
cock stretched when he thought of making said baby.
“Christ.”

Chapter 5

Ruby had a few more things to pack up
and she was out of there. So far the only people she’d seen were
Allen, who she’d upset, and Opal, who was at that moment calling
everyone, Ruby knew. Lucky for her, no one knew what had happened
at the hospital.

“
You told me you’d stay to
work until I got someone to cover.” Ruby turned to look at Diamond,
who had Sapphire standing next to her. “And we’ve heard from
Quentin. Congratulations.”

“
Fuck off.” Ruby turned
back to her packing and stuffed a shirt she’d not been sure was
hers into her case. “I don’t care what you think he is to me, or
who Quentin thinks he is, but I’m not having a mate. Especially not
one that has less sense than baby Carter does.”

“
I heard that he paid off
your student loans.” Ruby sat on the bed and looked at Sapphire.
Diamond was gone, but she knew she wasn’t far. They were going to
try and tag-team her into staying. But Ruby was out of there. “What
else has you pissed off?”

“
He put over ten thousand
dollars in my checking account.” Sapphire asked her if she needed
it. “I was overdrawn, but not by that much. And there was no reason
for him to do that either. How the hell did he even find my account
information, much less deposit it into my account?”

“
I could and have put
money in your account without the information.” This was news to
Ruby, but she should have expected it. Her sister could do just
about anything she wanted and usually did. “I just called the bank,
told them the account I wanted to deposit it in, and you had the
money. I think he might have been lucky in that the person thought
it was one of us helping you.”

“
He won’t take it back.”
Sapphire sat down on the chair across from her as Ruby continued.
“I won’t take him as a mate. I don’t have the time or the energy
for one. And I’m pretty sure he has no idea what I am.”

“
Quentin spoke to him.” Of
course he did. Ruby thought if she wasn’t going out of town soon or
he wasn’t married to her sister, she might murder the man. Instead
she got up to pace.

“
I saw my patients today.
Diamond can care for them while they wait.” Sapphire didn’t say
anything, and Ruby turned to her. “What do you know?”

“
The hospital is shutting
down as of the moment the last patient is taken out. The staff, all
of them, will be out of work soon, and the kitchen staff as well.
That’s a lot of mouths for the pack to start to care for. Not that
we can’t afford it, but you did ask. And Jenna refuses help. Just
as you knew she would.” Ruby didn’t want to feel guilty, but she
was pretty sure that’s what her sister had planned on. “Two of the
more critical patients died today, Diamond told me. No fault of
yours…they didn’t think they were going to make it anyway, and
because of the shutdown…well, it was too much for their
systems.”

“
Fuck.” Ruby sat down.
“Why are you telling me this? Is it because you think I’ll just
drop everything and go there? They fired me. I didn’t abandon my
job. I didn’t kill anyone. Hell, Sapphire, I was willing to work
without pay for a few hours a week at the clinic to help out. All
of us were.”

“
The clinic and the soup
kitchen are officially closed. The homeless for the most part
either have to make their way to County or they just suffer. There
is no help for them here. Not unless something happens.” Sapphire
handed her a thick envelope. “I was told to give you this. And no,
I don’t know what it says.”

Ruby stared at it for a long time
before she snatched it from her. When she opened it, Ruby had to
sit down as she read what the letter—letters,
actually—said.

“
They’re offering me the
head of surgery and an office. Plus triple my pay.” Ruby looked at
Sapphire. “You had a hand in this, didn’t you? Or
Blair.”

“
Neither of us. I had no
idea what they wanted until you just told me.” Ruby looked down at
the contract and decided that she’d read it over. But for now she
was still looking at their offer. There was a contract waiting for
her at the hospital where she was headed, but it wasn’t nearly this
good. “What else?”