Kathi S Barton - [Aaron's Kiss 04] (4 page)

She was slumped in the chair at an odd angle and her leg, the one that was, or had been, bleeding was ramrod straight out from her body. He looked at what she had in her hands and noticed that she had picked up some of his papers.

When he glanced at the desk, he noticed that she had taken it upon herself to organize some of the piles he had haphazardly thrown all over it. The piles she had started were in date order and in neat stacks. They were also in alphabetical order by company. He was not sure how long she had been in there before succumbing to the blood loss, but she had gotten more done in that time than he had been able to accomplish is the five years he had been Master of the Realm. He just couldn’t seem to get a handle on the amount of mess that had been left to him when he had taken over from the previous master.

He looked back at the girl and was surprised to see her eyes open. They were the most startling shade of purple Aaron had ever seen, like a rich amethyst with the sun streaming through it.

“I…I would like to go home. I need an address to have…to have someone come and get me. Can you tell me where I am? And I…my gear, where is my gear?” Aaron looked at his son to see if he knew what she was referring to. When Mac shrugged, Aaron turned back to the girl. “I want to go home. I...I don’t feel so good. You’re very nice-looking, did you know that?”

“I don’t think you’re in any shape to leave just yet, young lady. Your pulse is very weak and you’ve lost a great deal of blood. I’m going to pick you up and take you back to your room, and then I understand the doctor is coming to check on you.” Aaron spoke to her slowly and calmly, even though his heart was pounding in his chest.

He had opened himself to her and found her to be in incredible pain, and much weaker than he had first thought.

“Don’t touch me! I don’t like to be touched. I don’t want to stay. I want my gear now.”

Aaron could feel the her energy draining from her and her burst of anger just then had taken a great deal more out of her than she had to spare. “Mac, I want you to go and get whatever she came here with, and bring it to me now, please?” Aaron didn’t take his eyes off of the girl, but calming her down was imperative. Her heart rate was slowing to a dangerously low rate now and he was not at all sure the doctor was going to make it. “And tell Duncan to call Thomas and get him here ASAP, all right, son?” Mac was off like a rocket. Aaron knew that Mac would do just as he had asked.

Aaron also knew that like him, Mac would be able to hear her heart rate slowing and her body weakening.

“Miss, I need to get you to a bed. You’re going to die if we don’t get you medical attention immediately, do you understand?” Even as he was talking to her, he was leaning in to pick her up, sliding his arms beneath her legs. He felt her try to struggle to get away and he wondered at a fear so great that even this close to death one would try to get away from a simple touch. The effort cost her a great deal, opening the wound that he could tell had started to heal. He could smell the spurt of fresh blood and felt its warmth spreading onto his shirt. Before he had even had a chance to lift her completely, she was nearly unconscious again. But what she had said before slipping away would haunt him for months.

“If your wife would have left me alone, I’d already be dead, you know? I want to be dead. I’m so very tired. Just let me go…you have no right to…I’m not any of your concern. There isn’t...anyone left to care for me.”

~CHAPTER FOUR~

Tucker James was not a happy man, or in this circumstance, a happy vampire. He had been trying to get to see the master of this realm for nearly two weeks now and today, when he had an appointment, he was being stood up. Tuck, as some called him, was hungry too.

It seemed that there had been some sort of a medical emergency and he had been put into the little room and forgotten about. He stood up to leave. It had been nearly three hours since his arrival and he needed to either make contact, or leave the area. It was the law of this realm to report to the master immediately if one wanted to move into his realm. That was fine and dandy if a person could let him know somehow before he discovered it on his own and killed you, Tuck thought with a frown. Of course, he had heard that Master MacManus was a fair man and that was, more than anything, what Tucker wanted.

Tucker walked into the main hallway to look around. He had been led down this hall when he came in and wanted to see if he could find the man who had let him in—

Duncan, he had called himself. But there was no one in sight, so he began walking and followed the noises of the house when he happened upon two kids who looked to be about five or so.

“Excuse me, but can you tell me where I might find an adult, a Mr. MacManus or Mr. Duncan, please? I had an appointment with the master, but I think I might have gotten the wrong day or something. I know that there are things going on, but I’d like to see if I can come back sometime soon.”

“They’re upstairs right now. Come with me and I’ll take you up. Daddy is with her and so is the doctor. Mr. Duncan is beside himself with worry. Daddy said that, not me.

I don’t even know what it means. Sam is hurt and the doctor is here.” The little girl jumped up to take him upstairs.

As soon as she touched his hand, Tucker realized his mistake. She could feel him and everything about him. He pulled his hand free and winked at her. Powers like hers could cause all sorts of problems if the little girl didn’t learn to control them. He felt her touch his mind and he pushed back.

“Thanks, kid, but I think we’d both be better off if you didn’t touch me with your powers just now. I like my secrets just where they are.” She led him up to a bedroom where the door was wide open and everyone was standing around the in the center of the room. Tucker couldn’t see this Sam person, but figured he must be pretty important to the family to have this many people working to save him. He thought it would be great to have someone care enough to go to this much trouble for. Just as suddenly as the thought popped into his mind, he pushed it away.

He had no time for self-pity, not if he was planning to make a fresh start.

“If she won’t take the blood, she will die. I don’t know how many more times I can say that to you. No blood equals death. She’s lost a great deal, Aaron, a great deal. And she’s not human. At least I don’t think she is, but who knows anymore. Since coming to this realm, I’m not even sure what I am anymore.”

Thomas Reilly, Duncan had told Tucker, a vampire and a doctor, had been there for as long as Tucker had, trying to save the girl’s life, it appeared. It looked to him like they were trying to get her to sip from one of them. Vampire blood was very strong and would heal even a human if they could get it into them. And this being was proving to be quite stubborn if the faces were any indication, not to mention the tone of the voices.

“Damn it, try harder, Thomas. She will not die; I owe her for that nice nap she put me in today,” a very beautiful woman said, worry coloring her voice.

“Dad, this man wants to see you. He’s been here forever and ever.” The little girl tugged on Tucker’s arm and practically threw him into the din. He’d completely forgotten about her. A man, the girl’s father, Tucker presumed, stood suddenly from the end of the bed, turned toward his daughter, and frowned. Power and something surged from the man, a power so strong Tuck staggered slightly from it.

“I’m sorry, I completely forgot. As you can see, we have a bit of a problem here. She has been shot and my wife brought her here to heal. But it seems she is just too stubborn to stay put. She’s lost a great deal of blood and now she isn’t cooperating with the doctor.” He might as well have been talking to the floor for all Tucker paid him any heed.

Aaron was looking to the girl as he spoke, so Tucker’s eyes drifted to the figure on the bed. The “
he
” he’d been so sure of downstairs was a very beautiful, very weak
she
.

He took a step toward her, then another before he realized he had walked by the master’s hand that he had extended to him.

“I’m sorry, I...he isn’t a man. She’s...I…” Tucker looked at the master.

Something was wrong. Not just with the girl, the woman really, but with the scents in the room, her scent, as a matter of fact. Tuck didn’t know why, but he suddenly needed to touch her. And her scent was so strong that it surprised him. He was amazed at how strong the urge was to throw everyone out of the room and care for her himself.

He also wanted her. Wanted to mark her and take her as his. That was a terrifying as it was intriguing.

“You’re Tucker James, aren’t you? I’m Aaron MacManus, Master of this Realm. You want to be a part of my realm, if I remember correctly.” Tucker nodded. “This young woman is dying and I’d like to save her life, but she’s being incredibly stubborn. Why don’t you try, Tucker? She needs to have our blood, but she won’t take it, at least from none of us, and we’ve all tried. If we don’t do something soon, she’ll be dead by morning.”

Tucker only heard about half of what Aaron had said to him. The only thing that registered was that she was dying and needed to sip from someone. He knew instinctively that she couldn’t die. That without her, he would die as well.

“No, no she can’t...I...no, she cannot die, sire. I’ll...I would very much like to try and save her. Save her for you. No, she cannot die.”

Tucker moved to the bed and sat down very close to her head. He traced a finger down her cheek and felt that her skin was cold and dry. Tucker reached under her and gently pulled her limp body into his arms, cradling her in his big body and into his warmth; she gave a small, pitiful moan and quieted once more. With a hand under her neck, he tilted her head back as gently as he could. When he had her in a good position, he put his wrist to his mouth and opened his vein with an incisor. Blood welled on his skin, hot and fresh. He put the open wound to her mouth and forced his whole wrist between her pale lips. Leaning in closer, he whispered into her ear, softly begging her to drink from him, to please sip his essence from him. She didn’t move for a very long time, didn’t drink his life giving blood, and barely breathed. Tucker thought he had failed her as well, when suddenly, she swallowed what was in her mouth, then again when his blood filled her mouth again. It wasn’t long before she reached up and held his arm closer to her mouth, but she didn’t open her eyes. Relief so profound surged though his body and heart.

“Thank you, Tucker,” the master said softly. “When you finish here with Sam, could you please meet me in the downstairs living room? It will be at the bottom of the stairs and to the right; we’ll be waiting for you. I can’t thank you enough for this, for helping her. I appreciate it. My family appreciates it as well.” He only nodded at him, but didn’t take his eyes off the woman in his arms. Aaron had called her Sam. And though it was a strange name for a woman, Tucker thought that it probably suited her better than most girly names would. She looked to be hard and tough, soft and sexy. Sexy was an understatement, he thought, but let it go.

Tucker fed her for another few minutes before he pulled his wrist away and sealed the wound with his own saliva. He then picked her up and tucked her into the bed, bringing the thick covers up and over her warming body. He wanted to join her in the bed and to hold her until she was better, but knew that he couldn’t. She didn’t know him any more than he knew her. And being a woman, waking up next to a strange man would be scary. But Tuck did know this, Sam was his mate. Someone he had given up on, and now that he had found her, it was too late.

~~~

Aaron stood at the fireplace waiting for the people in his family, his Kiss, to settle.

He knew they had questions, and right now he was not sure how to answer them.

Tucker had sensed Sam; Aaron knew it as sure as he was standing there. But he also felt his sorrow at doing so. He couldn’t wait to talk to the vampire. He wished he had taken the time to read over the brief letter that Tucker had sent to him a few days ago.

“Want to explain to me why we just left a perfect stranger in our upstairs bedroom with a woman who was in our care? I wasn’t even aware you had someone coming in tonight, yet you let him heal her. Aaron, what are you not telling me?” Sara was relieved that Sam was going to live; Aaron could tell that. His mate wanted Sam to heal so that Sara could kick her ass, but to leave her in the care of a vamp they didn’t know concerned her. He took her into his arms and held her as he spoke.

“She’s his mate. Tucker James came here to ask to be in our realm, and found Sam.

That’s why she would only take from him and none of the rest of us.” Aaron looked to the door just before Tucker walked in.

“She drank, sire. And I have deepened her sleep. I believe she will be fine now.

I…I’ll be going now. I’ve changed my mind. If it would please you, I’d like to stay in your realm for a mere fortnight then move on. I won’t feed from the humans unless they’re willing, nor will I cause you any problems.” Tucker hadn’t looked at Aaron once. But had delivered his speech looking at the floor in a very subservient way. For some reason, this bothered Aaron more than he could say.

“Come in and sit down, Tucker. I think we should talk about what happened between you and Sam, who I assume you
know
is your mate. You can’t leave her now.

You’ve given her your blood. To leave her now would cause you both undue harm and you know that.”

Aaron had always liked the straightforward approach. He saw no reason to change his ways now just because this man cringed at his tone. But it did give him pause, the way this man acted, the way he had behaved.

Tucker glanced toward the stairs and then up at the master before dropping his head again. Aaron reached out to touch Tucker’s mind and couldn’t believe the incredible amount of sorrow there. Pain as well. He could also tell that Tucker was aware of what would happen if he left Sam, but Aaron felt that rather than run from Sam, he was actually trying to protect her from something, or someone. He felt the moment Tucker shut the door on that memory, slammed it shut hard enough that Aaron felt it. Surprised, too, if he was honest. The lock was tight as well as strong.