No Escape From Destiny (2 page)

Chapter Two

She had been shot, that’s all that
Adrian
could think of, she had been shot for him. His beautiful savior had been shot trying to protect him. She didn’t know who or what he was, or she wouldn’t have risked her life for him.

He looked down at the beautiful woman passed out cold on his chest. When he’d first opened his eyes and saw her standing over him, all he’d thought of was having her for his own and protecting her for all time. He’d done a shitty job of protecting her so far, and if he didn’t get her some help soon then he would never have her.

He knew the second that she flinched and her body fell hard against his that she had been shot. He knew the injuries had to be life threatening, with as fast as she passed out and the blood pouring out of her mouth when she tried to talk.
She must be losing blood fast
. She seemed to know what was going on, too, just before she blacked out. He saw the fear in her eyes and swore he could hear her thoughts. She knew she was shot and bleeding internally and was probably going to die.

No! She would not die, he would save her. He promised he would save her, and he would. Oh, how he wished his partner,
Nikkos
, would get here soon. He set off his emergency locator as soon as he saw the
kynigos
following him. If
Nikkos
would just get here, he could take care of the ones following them on the crotch rockets trying to get the ambulance driver to stop so they could finish the job they had started.

How did he keep getting himself into these positions? He had told Osias that he was tight and could handle going out on patrol by himself after last week’s brush with death. Guess he was wrong. He hadn’t been paying attention when he was jumped and let the bastards get the upper hand. That was why this wonderful-smelling human was at risk of dying in his arms if someone didn’t come to help soon.

If
Nikkos
would just get here soon, they could get her back to the mansion and the in-house doc could use her years of training and save her life. Of course, they would have to find a way to get her away from the ambulance driver, considering he didn’t get himself killed trying to get away.

Adrian had to admit, for a human he was doing a great job of dodging the sons of bitches on the bikes shooting at them. Too bad he hadn’t been just a little quicker on the takeoff, and the little human in his arms wouldn’t have been shot and bleeding out on his chest. Yeah right, place his blame on someone else.

He could feel her blood soaking through his shirt, or was that his? Probably both, but he knew she was losing a lot of blood and fast. He could smell the delicious scent of her, and it made his fangs ache. He had to get her to help soon. He fished around in his pocket to find his cell phone to call
Nikkos
.
Damn them assholes
. They had smashed his phone while they were beating him. He thought maybe she had a phone. Very carefully, he started searching her pockets, trying not to move her too much. Jackpot! He found one in her pants pocket
. Thank you, Hades.
He quickly dialed
Nikkos
.

“Who the fuck is this, and how did you get this number?” was
Nikkos’s
growled response when he answered.

“It’s me, I need you.”

“What else is new? You always need me.”
Adrian
thought to himself, you have no idea. He was in love with
Nikkos
, and they both knew it, but that was not the point tonight. Putting all that aside, he said, “I was attacked. I’m in the back of an ambulance, and I have no idea where.” Before he could continue,
Nikkos
told him he knew where he was, and that he was right behind him thanks to the emergency locator that
Adrian
had activated. “Just let me take care of these bastards and I’ll be right with you.”

“Please hurry, the human was shot. We need to get her to doc ASAP.”

“Fuck” was all he heard as the line went dead.

* * * *

Nikkos
took care of all five of the
kynigos
in a matter of minutes.
Now he just needed to get the ambulance driver to stop so he could get
Adrian
out of there, and he could have the driver take the injured woman to the hospital. Screw what
Adrian
though. They were not taking her back to the mansion, over his dead body. If she died, she died. He wasn’t putting his whole race at risk for one little human
.

Damn, if that driver didn’t stop soon they were going to be back in the middle of the city, and there would be no way of covering any of this up
. He called the number back that
Adrian
had used to call him. “Hey, tell the driver I’m a good guy and to stop the fucking ambulance.”

He heard him talking to the driver, and the driver’s response sounded pretty much like “fuck you” to him. Great, now what was he going to do?

He didn’t have to worry about that long. The radiator finally was going to give up after all the bullets fired into it before he got there, not to mention the three flat tires. The ambulance rolled to a sputtering stop just before they reached the city limits. He pulled the Hummer up to the open back doors and jumped out.

He wasn’t sure who was in worse shape and wondered whose blood was covering the floor, Adrian’s or the little human he was holding onto so tight it was a wonder she could breathe at all. He tried to pry
Adrian
’s arms away from her, but the stubborn fucker would have none of that and actually growled at him.

* * * *

Adrian knew by the look in
Nikkos’s
eyes that he planned on taking him to safety and leaving his human there to die.
My human
? Did he really just think that? He had never thought of a human as his, much less a female human. He liked his own race and only the males. No female had ever made him feel the need to keep her with him like this.

He knew he was in love with
Nikkos
and would give anything in the world to have the feeling returned, but looking at him over the dying human’s head, he just couldn’t let go of her. He wasn’t sure if it was her intoxicating smell or the fact that she’d just saved his life that made him want to take her with them more. He just knew he was not going home without her. “I don’t care what you think. I’m not leaving without her!”

“We are not going to risk ourselves for a human. Besides, have you noticed she’s female? You don’t do females, remember?”

This had always been a sore subject between them.
Nikkos
knew how
Adrian
felt, and he had been trying to push him at females for a while now.
Adrian
just couldn’t see what his friend found attractive about them. All the females of his race were either needy or bitches, and humans were way too weak for him. He wanted a male of his own race to love, and not just any male. Only the dark-haired male with those gorgeous turquoise eyes in front of him would do.

Well, until now. Now he found himself having to adjust the female to the side a little to relieve the pressure that was growing rapidly between his legs. Moving her didn’t help much. When he shifted her weight, she moaned low in her throat, and that turned him on even more. What was wrong with him? She was dying in his arms, and all he could think about was getting inside her.

The way the
Nikkos
was looking at him like he really, truly did care about him, and not just as a friend and partner didn’t help his arousal any. He was giving him that look like he wanted him as bad as
Adrian
had wanted him for so long. He couldn’t believe after all these years loving
Nikkos
, he was now having such strong feelings for someone else. A female someone else. He didn’t know and didn’t have time to analyze it. The female was going to die if they didn’t do something now.

* * * *

Nikkos
knew that
Adrian
was not going to budge on this. He had never seen his friend look at a female like this, and this weak little human at that. What happened to his never-ending love he had for
Nikkos
? He knew that Adrian had a thing for him and wanted to be with him, but
Nikkos
had pushed him away for so long. Maybe
Adrian
had given up.
Nikkos
wasn’t sure why that saddened him so much
. I don’t love Adrian like that, do I?
He had thought about it a few times but just couldn’t see himself with a male.
Shaking off the urge to take
Adrian
into his arms, he decided they needed to get out of there soon.

“Okay, we’ll take her with us, but let me carry her. You can barely carry yourself right now.”

“Be careful, she’s really hurt.”

“I see that. We’ll be lucky if she doesn’t die in the Hummer on the way to the mansion.”

“Don’t say that,”
Adrian
said through clenched teeth.

Adrian carefully shifted her weight over to
Nikkos
, but when he got up from the stretcher they both saw the driver at the back doors on the phone, probably with the police, requesting assistance and reporting his partner being shot and now kidnapped.

“We’re taking her to the hospital. We’ll meet you there,”
Nikkos
told him with a look that no one ever argued with. Although, to give the driver credit, he looked like he wanted to tell them hell no. He must have seen the female was hurt bad and needed to get help now, and the ambulance surely wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Nikkos
carried the fragile little human to the Hummer he had driven to save
Adrian
’s hide. As he was putting her in the backseat on
Adrian
’s lap, he looked down at her face, and all he could think about was having her for his own and protecting her for all time.
What the fuck
? Why was he having this reaction to a human that
Adrian
was intent on saving? And why was
Adrian
so insistent on saving her?

He laid her in
Adrian
’s arms but couldn’t find it in him to let her go. He wanted to tell
Adrian
to drive, and he would take care of her, but didn’t think that was going to happen, the way the other male was looking at his female.
Mine
? Yes, she was
Nikkos’s
female. He would have to thank
Adrian
later for finding her.
Nikkos
reluctantly let go of her and slid into the driver’s seat to get them home.

* * * *

Adrian
was a little relieved to have his female in his arms and headed to safety, but he would not breathe freely until after the doc had worked her medical magic and fixed his precious savior. Her breathing was more shallow with every passing second. He could see the pulse in her neck weakening. He held her tight and prayed to any gods in the heavens and even hell that might be listening that their doctor would be able to save her.

What didn’t make matters any better was that he was injured, too, and desperately in need of blood. Her blood had called to him before she was even injured. When she’d first bent over him in the street, he could smell her and had to fight back the urge to drag her soft, delicate neck down to his mouth. Now, with her blood covering both of them and her still bleeding, his fangs were aching to be inside her vein. Her blood smelled so sweet he needed to have one little taste. He dipped his head down and softly licked the corner of her mouth. He wouldn’t dare bite her and take more blood. He just couldn’t resist the temptation.

Ambrosia! That was the only word for the taste on his tongue.

The taste of her told him all he needed to know. She was his mate, and if he couldn’t save her, even though he didn’t know her, he would not be able to live without her. He couldn’t imagine the idea of losing her after just finding her.

He also did not like the way
Nikkos
had looked at her when he’d carried her to the Hummer. He had looked at her like she was his, and
Adrian
had to pry his hands off her to get him to let go. It was the first time since they were born, five days apart, that he seriously wanted to hurt the other male and wasn’t sure if he could resist, if he ever laid hands on her again. It was his race’s way that when they found their one true mate they had a hard time trusting any other male around her. “Hard time” being defined as wanting to rip the other male limb from limb just for looking at his female.