Caleb (38 page)

Caleb
looked pointedly at the bruises on her neck and the cut on her lip. “I find
that hard to believe.”

“Well,
it might be more correct to say that I didn’t have the stomach for it. I puked
on him when he tried.”

He
smiled. “You
are
full of surprises.”

She
leaned her weight on her elbow, her ability to fake strength rapidly failing.
“Some of them are even pleasant.”

His
gaze narrowed then cut to Vincent. “She’s weak.”

“She
refused my hospitality multiple times.”

Another
wrenching pain doubled her over. Her elbow collided with Caleb’s stomach,
knocking the wind from him. Her fingers slid off his shoulder. The metal table
screamed a protest as her talons scratched over it. Her nose smashed into
Caleb’s shoulder as the scream built in her throat and reality faded.

Beneath
her, Caleb shifted, straining against his bonds. “You need to feed, Allie.”

“Yes
she does.”

“I
can’t.”

“It’s
the only choice you have.”

“No
it’s not.” She held Caleb’s gaze, reaching for him so he’d understand, but
hitting that mental barrier instead.

“I
could always just choose to die.”

She
was close as it was, and part of her was ready. A minuscule part generated by
lack of sleep and escalating pain, but there. Enough to fake intent.

Caleb
narrowed his gaze. Though she couldn’t feel it, she knew he was reaching for
her, too. Not to persuade her, but to command her. The muscle in his jaw
jumped. His hand gripped hers hard enough that bone grated against bone. “No
way in hell, Allie.”

“You’re
hurting me.” His grip lessened slightly.

“I’ll
do more than hurt you if you get stubborn about this.”

“It
would solve everything.”

“If
your death would solve anything, I’d probably just opt to let you die,” Vincent
interjected.

“You
could.” Shaking her bangs out of her eyes, she glared at him. “But you won’t.”

He
nodded. “Not yet.”

But
he was running a tab, she knew. And when the bill came due, if she was still
here, he’d make her pay. Just one more reason to make sure her plan worked.
“Because we have a deal?”

He
inclined his head. “And I am a man of my word.”

“Like
hell.” Caleb jerked at the bonds, the scent of his blood reached her nostrils.
Her stomach leapt and quivered. She raked the split in her lip with her fang.
The spill of her own blood broke the spell.

“Be
quiet, Caleb.”

“Yes,
do be quiet, Caleb. If not for your value as a food source, you’d be dead.”

The
buzz in her head grew to pounding. Lights skittered away from the center of her
gaze.

“Vincent.”
She waited until he took his attention off Caleb. “Shut up.”

His
hand was a blur, but she felt the yank on her hair as he dragged her up until
her face was inches from his. “You, woman, forget your place.”

Her
eyes watered from the sting in her scalp. Her bruised throat muscles ached from
the strain, and her mind reeled from the black violence of his.

“We
have a deal,” she croaked.

“What
deal?” Caleb asked.

She
ignored Caleb. It was Vincent she needed to manage right now. “You aren’t
supposed to stick your nose in.”

Caleb
wasn’t willing to let it go. “Allie . . .”

“We
agreed that I get uninterrupted time with Caleb.”

“I’m
only going to give you so much rope, Allie,” Vincent warned.

“That’s
so kind of you.”

“Allie
girl, that’s enough.” That order came from Caleb.

It
probably was, but she had a hard time with limits. “He doesn’t want to kill me,
Caleb, just rape me, impregnate me, and raise a whole brood of genetically
superior baby vampires with me.”

“Then
let him.”

Shock
stole her breath. Nothing in Caleb’s face suggested he was kidding.

“Whatever
you need to do, you do it.”

“See,
even your lover wants you in my bed.” Vincent let her go with a push. She
stumbled forward. The table edge caught under her ribs, giving her the split
second she needed to catch her balance. She lay there panting for a brief
moment doubting herself until Vincent extended his hand with one of those
flourishes he was so fond of, and smiled smugly.

Sheer
determination got her back on her feet. “It doesn’t matter if the whole U.S.
Senate shows up and votes on it.” She glared at him. “It’s not going to
happen.”

Fingers
touched hers. She looked down, expecting to see anger, not understanding. “You
do what you have to do.”

He
was giving her permission, alleviating her guilt. It was the most horrible,
sweetest thing anyone had ever said to her. “That’s an amazingly enlightened
view for an eighteen sixties sort of guy.”

“How
touching.”

It
was her time to grit her teeth. “Vincent, one more time and our deal’s off.”

Caleb
tapped her hand with his finger. “What was the deal?”

She
stroked her fingertips over his wrist, lingering over the restraints that bound
him, feeling that shivery energy bleeding into her palm. It was more familiar
now. Energy, she was discovering, was a funny thing. A person couldn’t give it
without receiving it, but anyone could take it without leaving clues behind.
Vincent had left her lots of clues.

“My
cooperation in persuading you to cooperate.”

“If
part of the deal was that I’d drink from that son of a bitch, it was a bad
deal.”

“You
need blood. So do I.”

Caleb
jerked his chin at Vincent. “They’ll be putting me six feet under before I
drink from him.”

“You
won’t drink from him, but I’m supposed to sleep with him?”

“You’re
supposed to survive.”

“So
are you.”

“I
don’t matter.”

“Shut
up.”

He
raised his eyebrow. “Would that be your way of declaring your intentions, Allie
Sanders?”

She
gritted her teeth, regretting it immediately when her head pounded as if it was
about to explode. “I repeat, shut up.”

“I
hate to intrude in a private moment, but what Allie isn’t telling you is that
she has an aversion to you feeding from one of the female hopefuls.”

“So
bring on a male.”

“You
made quite an impression on them. None will volunteer.”

The
pounding in Allie’s head increased to a steady pressure. “Our deal is so off,
Vincent,” she gasped.

“That’s
fine. I wasn’t going to honor it anyway.”

Then
why had he brought her here?

“You
still need to feed,” Caleb said, the frown on his face letting her know she
wasn’t doing a good job disguising her distress. With a twist of his hand he
pinched her thigh, the little pain an intimate connection summoning her
attention.

She
shook her head.

“Look
at me, baby.” She did. There wasn’t an ounce of give in Caleb’s expression.
Even bound and pinned he was still a formidable man. “Vincent might not be able
to make you feed, but you can bet that pretty little ass I can.”

He
was putting her in an impossible situation. She couldn’t bear to watch him feed
from another woman, and he refused to feed from Vincent. Vincent was her only
out. “You can make the men let him feed from them.”

“I
could, but . . .” He shrugged. “There’s that matter of your continued
disrespect.”

Inside,
her vampire snarled. She would love to lash out at him, but she couldn’t. Caleb
still had her hand.

She
glared at Vincent while yanking her hand. The man didn’t flinch or apologize,
just stood there in his white robes and asked, “What’s it going to be?”

There
was only one choice. Caleb would have to feed from one of the female hopefuls.
She dug the talons of her free hand into her palm. “Bring on the bimbettes.”

THE
door slid shut behind Vincent.

“Interesting
that he can’t just summon the women here,” Caleb murmured.

“I
thought so, too.”

He
stared at the door, a frown on his face, eyes glowing as he concentrated. “He’s
using a combination of technology and psychic power to control this place.”

She
rubbed her arms. “Is he gone?”

He
turned back. “Yeah.” His gaze narrowed, and he frowned for a different reason.
“How long did they have me out?”

“Two
days.”

His
curse was harsh and to the point. His power radiated over her, looking for a
connection. Another curse when he couldn’t link with her. Caleb’s gaze returned
to her face and lingered on the dark circles she knew were under her eyes. “And
he let you suffer?”

“I
wasn’t exactly cooperative.”

His
fingertips rubbed her thigh through the robe. His lips set in a straight line.
“I’m sorry for getting you into this.”

“I
think I was the one who started it.”

“But
I’m the one who knew better.”

She
didn’t want his guilt. “No one
knew
anything. That’s been the problem
all along.”

She
leaned against his side, letting him take more of her weight, absorbing his
heat, rubbing her hands over those strange bonds. Just taking her time,
thinking about things more important than the sharing that was about to
commence. Like how to decode the energy in the bonds. Like how to forget Caleb
would soon be feeding from another woman.

Caleb’s
whisper reached out to her with the softness of his touch; even without the
mind link, he knew her well enough to recognize that she was worrying. “It’s
not the same, Allie. What’s between mates is different.”

“She’ll
be giving you something I can’t.”

“She’s
chow, nothing more personal than that. I can get what she gives me anywhere.”

“You
can get what you want from me anywhere, too.” She rested her cheek against his
chest, listened to the steady beat of his heart, closed her eyes against the
tightening in her stomach. Before the pain came again she wanted a moment of
peace. Just one.

“You
know that’s not true. When we put this behind us, remind me to paddle your ass
for that bit of doubt, too.”

She
smiled, wanting to shake her head while she was at it, but the moment was too
fragile to risk the disturbance. And she was too tired to exert the effort.
“The way you’re going, you’ll be paddling my ass into the next century.”

“There’s
a thought to keep a man hopeful.”

She
chuckled and rubbed her palm over the bond on his right wrist again, applying
the subtlest of mental pressure. Was that a bit of give? A shot of agony broke
her concentration. She bit down on her lip, trapping the cry in her throat as
the hunger clawed for satisfaction.

The
subterfuge was pointless. Even without the mental connection, Caleb knew what
was happening. The hard edge of his chin pressed against her temple as he
tucked his face to hers. His whisper barely reached her ears. “You can’t keep
this up, Allie.”

There
was a fluctuation in the buzz, a momentary increase in intensity. Vincent
spying from afar? She mentally flipped him the bird. “The alternative isn’t an
option.”

“It
is for me.”

Allie
made her whisper as soft as Caleb’s. “You’re not the one who would have to live
with it.”

Frustrated
power writhed around her at her denial of his wish. The buzzing increased, and
the band under her fingers flickered. Interesting what happened when men
couldn’t have what they wanted. Caleb couldn’t force her to submit to Vincent
to save her life. Vincent couldn’t force her to feed from him to control her
life, and the bands couldn’t withstand the psychic confusion to contain Caleb’s
life.

“Anything
that needs sorting out in the aftermath, we’ll sort.”

“Then
I guess we’re both just going to have to live, but know this, Caleb. If you
die, all promises are off.”

She
could just see him sacrificing himself for her.

“You
have more than yourself to think about.”

Damn
him. “So do you.”

She
glanced over at the door. Vincent would be back soon. They didn’t have much
time. “So, that’s our plan, we both live?”

She
still didn’t have the key to the bonds, and she couldn’t test them too hard
without alerting Vincent. She needed more.

The
door hissed open. She didn’t look up to see what was coming in. Couldn’t.

“Come
the rest of the way up here, Allie girl,” Caleb murmured, his eyes on the being
walking toward them.

“Why?”

“Because
I told you to.”