Thirst [All-American Vampires 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) (27 page)

“Good thing.” He gave her a quick kiss. “So where is Ty?”

“I took them to the great room, and Brady was talking to them.”

“Good.” He linked his hand with hers and strode down the hall and into the great room. Claire immediately spotted Ty and Libby and the two werewolves standing with Brady in front of the big board.

“Tyler Buchanan, you sorry piece of shit, what are you doing here?”

Ty looked up and smiled. “I heard you needed somebody with some brains to help you out, so here I am.”

The two men shook hands and then did that one-handed hug that macho men always did. Then Hawk was greeting Libby, giving her a kiss on the cheek and a big hug. “You’re getting prettier every time I see you. I guess that sorry dog must be doing something right.”

Libby grinned. “Occasionally. I’m having to train him, though, and it’s taking some time.”

Ty added, “I’m a slow learner. So, I hear you’ve got a lady to rescue. What’s the plan?”

Hawk said, “Come out on the back porch with me. Cade’s out there, and he’s really the man with the plan.”

Libby tugged on Claire’s sleeve. “Claire, would you mind if you and I skipped that conversation and maybe had a bottle of blood and got to know one another instead? We’ve got some A positive in the car.”

Claire agreed, looking forward to getting to know the woman better. “Absolutely. I’ve had enough testosterone to last me for a while. It will be great to have some female company for a change.” She turned to Hawk. “Libby and I are going to the kitchen to chitchat while you guys are filling Ty in, okay? And we can sort out the sleeping arrangements with all the extra bodies.”

One of the werewolves spoke up. “We brought some camping equipment. We’ll just pitch a tent in the backyard, and that will suit us just fine.”

Claire was relieved. Space was already tight in the house. It was big, but having to accommodate a lot of vampires who had to be shielded from the sun had presented some definite challenges.

“Okay. Then I’ll just find a spot for Ty and Libby, then.”

“Give them that apartment over the garage that I’ve been using. I can bunk with Brady and Chris,” Ace volunteered.

“Sounds good. I’ll just show Libby where it is and help her get her stuff from her car.”

Hawk nodded and dropped a kiss on the top of her head before leading Ty and the weres out to the porch where Cade waited.

Claire and Libby went to get her luggage, and Claire showed Libby the cozy little efficiency apartment. As soon as that was taken care of, she turned to Libby. “You say you have some A positive?”

Libby smiled and nodded. “Yep. And some tequila, too. Have you ever had a Bloody Shooter?”

Claire grimaced. “Ah, no. I’ve never been much of a drinker.”

Libby hooked her arm through Claire’s and tugged her toward the front door. “Babe, let me corrupt you.”

With a giggle, Claire let Libby pull her outside and to the fancy, red pickup truck that Libby and Ty had arrived in.

“Nice truck,” Claire observed, admiring all the fancy chrome trim.

“Thanks. It’s Ty’s. I swear, sometimes I feel like he loves this damn truck more than he does me.”

Claire studied the truck with a curious eye. “Somehow I doubt that.”

“Well, maybe not quite that much, but he treats it like it’s his baby.” Libby tugged open the door and stepped up into the cab. She reached behind the seat and in a moment was passing two bottles of blood to Claire. “Now, where is that tequila? Ah, here it is.” She stepped back down with a bottle in her hand. “Claire, meet Jose. I’m pretty sure you’re going to like him a lot.”

About fifteen minutes later, Claire and Libby were sitting at the kitchen table toasting each other with juice glasses containing a shot of tequila and a splash of A positive. “Here’s looking at you, kid.” Claire watched Libby lift her drink and toss it back in one quick gulp. “Smooth.” Libby tossed her a grin. “Now you.”

Tentatively Claire took a small sniff of the liquid in her own glass and almost gagged. “I don’t know about this, Libby.” Claire’s life had not been filled with a lot of partying and drinking. In fact, she’d never been drunk. Or even close. She’d had an occasional glass of wine or two with dinner, or some social drinks at business events. That was about it.

“Come on, Claire, go for it. Don’t sip it. Down it. Don’t be a chicken.”

So with Libby egging her on, she took a breath and turned up the glass. It felt like someone had lit a fire in her throat. She couldn’t catch her breath, and her eyes were watering so much she couldn’t see. When she could finally breathe, she coughed and coughed until she thought she might hack up a lung, with Libby laughing the whole time.

At last she was able to speak, and she shot an evil glare at Libby. “That was not funny. My God, you ought to warn people that you’re trying to kill them.” Claire shook her head and then held out her glass. “How about another?”

“Claire, I can tell we’re going to be great friends.” Libby reached out to pour them both another drink.

Claire grinned.

* * * *

“I’m really glad you’re here, Ty,” Hawk told his friend as the men sat down around the table on the back patio.

“I was glad to come. And to tell the truth, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to have a Council Shield here when the rescue went down, just in case any questions came up about the whole thing later. Tell me again how you pinpointed this as the location Claire’s sister is being held?”

Hawk went over the entire series of events and interviews, step by step. Ty nodded when Hawk mentioned the two vampires that Hawk had sent back to Biloxi. “I can’t wait to get them into an interview. No telling what they’ll be able to give us about Simone.” He smiled wickedly. “That bitch is going down if I have anything to say about it.”

Hawk agreed.

Then Ty wanted to know the rest. “All right, now. How are we going to get this girl out?” Since Cade had come up with most of the details, Hawk let him explain to Ty and the two weres the plan to rescue Claire’s sister. Ty nodded his head several times, offering a suggestion here and there to make things run smoother. The weres had a few ideas of their own. Hawk was glad to have them. They had skills and abilities that the vampires didn’t, and he planned to use that to his advantage. After they’d studied and analyzed everything as much as possible, the men finally decided that they’d done everything they could in preparation for Saturday. Cade asked to be excused so that he could go show the werewolves where they would be staying.

Once they’d left the porch, Ty leaned back in his seat, and Hawk felt himself being examined like a bug under a microscope. He arched a brow at his friend. “What?”

“I was trying to figure out how it happened. You know, hell freezing over.”

“Funny.”

“Seriously, congratulations, man. I’m happy for you. I know it’s been hard for you, and it couldn’t have happened to a nicer or more deserving guy.”

“I still can’t believe it. To tell you the truth, it all happened so fast that I’m afraid once all this shit is over, Claire might decide that she doesn’t love me after all.”

Ty snorted. “That’s bullshit. It was fast for me and Libby, too. Sometimes the circumstances dictate the speed. You’ve been together nonstop for the past few days. That kind of closeness is bound to speed things up. I mean, how long does a regular date last? Three, four hours tops? So twenty-four hours would be eight dates?”

“Maybe.”

“No maybe about it, dude. And it’s not like you’re watching a movie or eating at some fancy restaurant. You’re in a life-or-death-type situation. It shows you the real person a helluva lot faster than dancing at a club or walking on the freaking beach.”

Hawk considered what Ty was saying. He was right in a lot of ways. He’d certainly gotten to know Claire and how she felt about things that really mattered in a short amount of time.

“I hope you’re right. Because I don’t think I could let her go now.”

Ty clapped a hand on his shoulder. “I know just how you feel, my friend. Now”—he stood—“let’s go see what the ladies are doing.”

When they strolled into the kitchen, Hawk’s eyes widened in stunned bemusement. Claire was sitting on one side of the table with Libby on the other. Between them were a bottle of tequila and two empty bottles of blood. Claire was listing slightly to one side as Libby lectured her about how to handle a man.

“And if that doesn’t work, you might have to cut him off.” Libby emphasized her statement with a punch into the air that almost sent her tumbling from her chair. “Shit.”

Claire looked horrified. “Will it grow back?”

Libby blinked owlishly. “Will what grow back?”

“You know. His man parts. After you casca…castra…cut them off. I knew vampires had great healing powers, but man, oh, man.”

“No. No. You cut him off from it. Not it off from him.”

Claire looked even more confused. Probably because Libby was slurring her words so badly that it was hard to understand what she was saying.

Ty let out a bark of laughter, and the women turned to look at the men.

Claire just stared at him for a long moment and then turned to Libby. “I like his man parts.”

Hawk rolled his eyes and walked over to where Claire sat, reaching out a hand to prevent her from sliding to the floor. “I think you’ve had enough, sweetheart.” Gently he removed the empty glass from where she clutched it and set it down on the table. Then he cupped her cheek in his hand.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get enough,” she sighed and rubbed her cheek against him.

Hawk stifled a groan as Ty cracked up. “Come on, sweetheart. Let’s get you upstairs.” As he lifted her, he told Ty, “The garage apartment is out the back door and to your right. You can ask Cade if you need help finding it.”

Ty waved him off. “We’ll be fine. Go take care of your lady.” He looked down at Libby where she grinned up at him and rolled his eyes. “I apologize for my wife getting your woman shitfaced. On the bright side, I think they’ve bonded.”

Hawk shook his head ruefully and turned to walk out of the kitchen. Claire wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her head on his chest. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ty scooping up his own sweet burden.

When he reached their room, he crossed to lay Claire down on the bed. As he started to rise, she clutched him tighter. “Don’t go, Hawk. Kiss me.”

Knowing it was probably not a good idea, he couldn’t resist bending down to taste her sweet mouth in a slow, deep kiss that seemed to last forever. He felt his body stirring as Claire returned his kiss, arching up against him and making the most arousing little mewling sounds deep in her throat. He tried to pull back, to break the kiss, but Claire wrapped herself around him like a limpet, her tongue spearing into his mouth demandingly.

Finally he was able to lift himself up enough to separate his lips from hers, and he murmured, “You’re drunk, Claire. Maybe we shouldn’t do this right now.”

“Maybe we should,” she whispered back and ran her hands down his back to cup his buttocks and pull him more tightly against the vee of her thighs, wedging his cock there. “I’m not that drunk.”

She rubbed against him, dropping light kisses across his face and down his neck. Then she bit him on his throat, not enough to break the skin with her fangs but enough to have him hardening even more at the sexual threat. Her hands released his ass and moved around to begin tugging at his belt, trying to unfasten it in the limited room she had. She got the belt undone finally and then went to work on his zipper. She worked it down and slid her hand inside, seeking hot flesh. When she cupped her hands around his cock, he lost it.

Snarling, he took her mouth in a rough kiss, his own hands sliding down across her breasts, pinching the hardened tips through the fabric of her shirt. With a rip, he pulled her shirt apart, buttons flying, and pushed the cups of her bra up so that his mouth could feast on her breasts, licking and biting, sucking them into his mouth with a ravenous need that had her moaning and tossing her head on the pillow. He needed her, needed to feel her flesh closing tightly around his own. He needed her in a way he hadn’t had her before. With a quick movement, he had her pants undone and pushed down around her ankles. Then he flipped her over face down on the bed. He heard her moan and bent to whisper in her ear. “I promised you, sweetheart, that I would have every hole. Tonight I’m going to keep that promise.”

He rose and crossed to the connecting bath and grabbed the bottle of lube he’d put there earlier. When he walked back into the room, he saw Claire’s eyes were open and staring at him. She didn’t look drunk anymore. Instead she looked partly terrified and partly eager for what was about to come.

He smiled wickedly and moved to join her on the bed. Stroking his hand slowly down her back, he allowed his touch to soften, to linger, even though ever cell in his body cried out for more. He bent to kiss her. “You’ll love this. I promise.”

She just nodded and bit her lip. He opened the bottle of lube and let the slippery liquid dribble onto the rounded curve of Claire’s ass. Gently he massaged the lube in, delving between the cheeks of Claire’s ass to slide one slick finger across her anal rose. She flinched slightly, so he asked, “You okay?”

He heard a whispered, “Yes,” so he kept going, pressing one finger against her opening until it slid inside. He began a slow thrusting motion, continuing the gentle movements until he felt her relax into his touch. Then he added a second finger to the first, moving them both in and out of her, spreading them in a scissoring motion to open her body for the coming penetration of his cock. As he continued the movements, he bent and trailed his lips across the silky skin of her back, raising small goose bumps in their wake.

When he thought she was ready, he stripped off his pants and rose to kneel behind her, pulling her hips up and spreading her legs wide apart. He poured more lube into his hand and smeared it up and down his erect cock to ease his entry even more. Then he closed the bottle and tossed it aside. Moving his hand around her hip, he cupped his fingers over her pussy. He stroked over her clit, circling and pinching it, until he heard her moaning and felt her pressing back against him.