Enraptured (29 page)

Paige swallowed in an attempt to wet her
parched throat, but she thrust back her shoulders and extended her
hand. If this man wanted her dead, she would be dead, and there was
nothing anyone in this room could do to stop him. She knew that as
surely as she knew the earth was round. Ian and his family were
strong; this man was stronger.

“I was,” she admitted and took hold of his
hand. A jolt went through her as his power slid over her skin like
an electrical current.

She wasn’t sure if he’d be considered
handsome, certainly not nearly as handsome as Ian or his siblings,
but he was definitely one of the most fascinating men she’d ever
seen. “Was?” he inquired in a rumbling tone of voice.

She couldn’t stop herself from glancing at
Ian. “Let’s just say I’ve realized there are shades of red in the
world.”

Ian smiled at her and wrapped his arm around
her waist. Ronan glanced between the two of them before releasing
her hand and stepping away. Paige didn’t miss Ethan’s subtle shift
that kept his body firmly in between Ronan’s and Emma’s. Before she
knew how it happened, she also found Ian’s body in between her and
Ronan.

“If you ever air quote me again, I’ll rip
off your hands,” Ronan advised Brian.

Brian flashed a grin at the rest of them,
amazingly unfazed by the vampire’s words. “He’s also a tad
testy.”

This time there was no mistaking Ronan’s
eyes were red when they lanced toward Brian. Paige had to give the
man credit, Brian didn’t back away from the fiery gaze directed at
him, but his head did bow slightly. “Don’t screw with me,
Brian.”

Ian pushed her back a step as the hostility
within the room ratcheted up a notch. Turning away from Brian,
Ronan leaned against the wall and turned to face them. “Now, I was
brought here because you were unable to change this woman’s
memories. Is this still something you would like done?”

“It’s not,” Ian answered.

Ronan’s eyes had returned to their normal
color when they focused on her again. “What of you?”

She frowned in confusion. “Of course I don’t
want my memories changed.”

“Of course not,” Ronan purred. “So that
means you will become a vampire, soon.”

In an instant her throat became dryer than
the desert. She glanced at the six vampires surrounding her. Ian
had told her it would have to happen, but she’d been hoping she
could have a month or two, maybe a year or two where she could
remain human. “Soon?” she croaked.

“That’s the only way I’ll allow you to
remain alive,” Ronan replied.

Ian’s body vibrated with power, a swirl of
red flashed like lightning through his sky colored eyes. “That’s
not your choice to make.”

“You’re young, you don’t know everything of
our kind, or even what you are fully capable of, not yet, but I can
assure you this is one hundred percent my choice,” Ronan replied.
“She’s either turned, her memories are changed, or I kill her
myself.”

A snarl erupted from Ian, before she could
consider blinking he leapt forward with the speed of an asteroid
falling to earth. Ethan and David also jumped forward. They grabbed
hold of him and jerked him back before he could get at Ronan. Ian’s
eyes were the color of fire as he glared at Ronan. That strange
reddish black color began to swirl through his skin again.

“What the hell?” David’s mouth hung ajar as
he gawked at Ian.

“It’s what happened to me, in Bermuda,”
Ethan told him in a low voice. “Don’t let him go.”

“I don’t give a
fuck
who you are, you
ever threaten her again and I’ll
end
you!” Ian spat at
Ronan.

“I’ve threatened your mate, so I will let
your insolence pass, but be aware I could kill you and step over
your body without so much as a second thought,” Ronan replied in a
bored drawl that set Paige’s teeth on edge. Her fear for Ian far
outweighed her annoyance with the arrogant head vampire though. She
tried to reach out to grab him, but Brian shook his head warningly
at her. Her hand fell limply back to her side.

“And I thought Brian was a dick,” Ethan
muttered.

Both of Ronan’s eyes were entirely filled
with the color of blood when he looked all of them over. No one
else in the room spoke or moved. Sensing her opportunity, Paige
took hold of Ian’s arm and pressed it against her chest. He relaxed
visibly against her, but his skin remained that strangely mottled
color.

“Ian please, stay by me,” she pleaded.

“Listen to her,” Ronan said with a brief
glance in her direction. “For a human, she’s surprisingly wise.” He
turned his attention to Ethan. “Brian
is
a dick. What I am
is the eldest born of this race, and as such, I am charged with
keeping us safe and hidden from human knowledge. My men and I make
sure you go to sleep at night, content in your world, while we hunt
those of us that lose themselves to the bloodlust, those of us who
become a risk to our existence, as well as the existence of humans.
If something were to befall me, someone would rise up to take my
place. It could be you one day, but you’d have to do more than live
in your bubble of a safe world for that to happen.”

A muscle near Ethan’s eye began to jump, but
before he could respond, Emma wrapped her hand around his arm.
Ronan turned toward Ian and Paige. A low growl escaped Ian when
Ronan stepped closer to them, but Paige refused to release his arm.
She was frightened he would go after Ronan again if she did.

Ronan focused on Ian. “I’m not a threat to
her. Not unless she’s one to us. I don’t harm humans unless it
becomes necessary. I’m not a killer, but watching over vampires has
been my burden for the past thousand years.”

“How do I know I can trust you?” Ian
demanded.

“First, you can smell that I’m not a killer
of humans. Second, I would have killed her already.”

A ripple of disbelief went through his
siblings, as well as himself. They’d never encountered another
vampire with the same ability to detect a killer vampire, from a
non-killer, by their smell before. Any vampire who killed numerous
humans had the distinct aroma of a landfill about them. Ethan’s
odor had changed slightly since he’d killed to keep Emma safe, and
Brian had a very faint aroma about him, but the smell had faded
from the both of them already.

“You can smell the difference too?” Aiden
inquired.

“Any born vampire can,” Ronan replied.
“There is much we can do that a changed vampire cannot. You’ll find
yourself developing and changing more and more as you age. You’ll
also discover we’re sometimes able to break through the normal
rules governing vampires, especially when infuriated or under great
duress.”

“We already have,” Ethan glanced around the
room. “Or at least I’ve been able to do something I never knew
possible.” He pulled Emma closer against his side and held her
there. “When she was endangered.”

Ronan’s eyes flickered over him. “Unexpected
for one so young, but understandable if her life was in
jeopardy.”

Ian’s head tilted to the side as he studied
Ronan. “The mate bond brings these powers out in us?”

“No, age and training can bring it out in
some of us, not all of us. The mate bond can bring it out earlier,
in some of us. Male vampires are more likely to cross these
boundaries, though there are a few women who have been known to go
beyond the natural bonds too. The mate bond is far stronger than
you or I could ever know. However, as born vampires age, their
power becomes strong enough that they can become capable of
breaking the boundaries placed on us at birth.”

Ronan turned his attention back to her.
“Now, if you don’t mind, would you please tell me how you were able
to withstand a vampire’s power of persuasion over you?”

This man unnerved her more than anyone she’d
ever encountered before, but she couldn’t tell him what he’d asked
to know. “I realize the hunters were mainly using me as bait, and
they’re wrong about all vampires being evil, but they’re still
trying to do good. I won’t reveal anything that could be used
against them.”

Ronan stared at her, his strangely colored
eyes gleaming in the light of the room. Beside her, Ian shifted
closer protectively.
Please just kill me and not Ian too,
she pleaded silently when a ripple of color slid over Ian’s
skin.

“And I’m not asking you to,” Ronan replied.
“I try to avoid killing hunters too, unless it becomes necessary.
You are right, they are misguided, but they have their place.”

Paige remained hesitant as she stared at the
man across from her. A man who could tear off her head and punt it
like a football, while whistling Dixie, before anyone in this room
even realized her head had become a field goal.

“I was given something to drink every time I
met with my handler,” she told him.

Ronan folded his hands behind his back.
“What was in this drink?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted.

“You drank something without having any idea
what was in it?” Ian demanded.

She shot him a look. “I was told it was an
energy and vitamin drink that would help with my fighting and help
me to withstand a vampire’s abilities. Nabel said it consisted of
vegetables, fruits and herbs, but I didn’t ask for the exact
mixture or ingredients.”

A vein throbbed to life in his forehead.
“They could have given you anything,” he grated.

“You didn’t live through what I did, Ian.
You can’t know, or understand what it is like to lose someone you
love, to live in constant terror, and then be offered a chance to
avenge that death and find safety. I would have done or taken
anything
they gave me for the chance to have what they
offered.”

He wrapped his arm around her waist and
pulled her close against him. Kissing the top of her head, he
inhaled her fragrant scent as he sought to control the steady
unraveling growing within himself. He didn’t know this Ronan,
didn’t trust him. He could have killed Paige already if he’d truly
wanted to, but having her so close to the man rattled his control.
He’d seen what Ethan had gone through when Emma had been uncertain
about their future together, but he’d never felt that unraveling
he’d witnessed with his brother. He could feel it in him now, feel
rage simmering beneath his surface, the growing urge to kill
something building within him. He didn’t know if he could protect
her from Ronan, and he didn’t like it, not one little bit.

“Do you mind?” Ronan inquired of Ian.

Ian’s upper lip curled into a sneer. “What
do you intend?”

“Only to smell her.”

Paige rested her hand reassuringly on his
chest. “It’s fine.”

Ian didn’t protest when Ronan took a step
closer. The aged vampire leaned over Paige and inhaled deeply. A
low rumble worked its way up Ian’s throat; he somehow managed to
keep himself restrained from making a move toward Ronan, but his
muscles quivered from the effort.

“Hmm,” Ronan murmured. “I smell apples
mostly but also spinach along with acerola berries, the herbs
borage, devil’s claw, and…” His eyes closed as he inhaled deeply
again. “And saffron spice. It’s an interesting combination of fruit
and herbs. One that would aid in your fighting and the soreness
that follows physical combat.”

“Is that combination enough to block us from
being able to change her memories?” Ian inquired.

“I don’t think it’s that combination; I
sense something else inside of her,” Ronan replied.

Paige glanced worriedly at Ian. The hunters
hadn’t been what she’d believed them to be, but had they also done
something to her? “What is it?” she croaked out.

“I believe it’s their blood,” Ronan
replied.

Paige took a startled step back. “No. I
never gave them permission to do that.”

“I suspect that didn’t matter. Not once you
agreed to join their ranks,” Ronan replied and stepped away from
her. “They weren’t going to take any chances you could be persuaded
into bringing a vampire back to where you met with them. They
weren’t so much concerned you would reveal anything about them, I
doubt you know much.”

“I don’t,” she admitted.

“What are these hunters?” Emma inquired.
“Where did they come from? How is it possible their blood could
counteract a vampire’s abilities.”

“They are the mortal version of a vampire,”
Ronan answered. “Vampires got the more demonic side, the
bloodthirsty side when the first humans and demons mated. Hunters
don’t have our thirst for blood; they don’t have the restrictions
some of our kind have when they kill too much, and they can
withstand our powers of persuasion. However, they do age, albeit
much slower than a human, but they will eventually die from aging.
They’re also not as fast or as strong as we are, but they could go
one-on-one with, and survive, a fight with a new vampire. They know
of our existence and have hunted us from the beginning. I’m not
sure if they realize not all of us are killers, but they kill us
all without hesitation.”

“Do they also have mates?” Aiden asked.

“I don’t know. That is what I do know about
them, and only because I have access to all of the documents,
studies, and libraries vampires have kept since our creation. It’s
taken that long for us to know that much about the hunters. I doubt
they know much about us either.”

Ronan looked pointedly at Paige when he
finished speaking. “I really wasn’t told much,” she admitted.

“I believe you.”

Before Paige could stop herself she blurted
a question, “Why do you believe me so easily?”

A small smile curved the corner of his full
mouth. “It’s very easy to tell when a human is lying. However, your
heart rate hasn’t increased, your voice hasn’t changed, no sweat is
beading across your brow, and I smell no heightened body odor from
you.”

A vampire human lie detector, that’s
freaking awesome,
“Well that’s a good thing, I suppose,” she
muttered.