No Escape From Destiny (3 page)

Chapter Three

Nikkos
had called ahead to warn everyone in the house that he was bringing Adrian and a human in and they were both injured. No one was very pleased with this news, especially the part about the human. No humans had ever been brought to the home they all shared. But when he pulled the Hummer up to the front of the house, they were ready for him. Marcus and Lucian came down off the steps to help bring the two injured ones inside, where Marcus’s wife, Mikhaila, the in-house doctor, was waiting in the medical room.

They had to have their own medical facilities, because when one of them was injured they could not just go to a human hospital.
Nikkos
jumped out of the driver’s seat so he could get his female out and carry her inside. He didn’t want anyone else touching her. He’d had a hard enough time driving while he knew that she was being held by
Adrian
, and he was his best friend, who he trusted with his life. The whole drive home he could smell the blood covering his hands from carrying her to the vehicle. He knew it was wrong, but he had to taste her. He had a small taste of her blood from one of his fingers and knew in that instant she was his mate.

When he opened the back door,
Adrian
had the female in his arms, ready to get out and carry her into the mansion himself, even though he was extremely injured. Their kind did heal quickly, so he was already in better shape than when
Nikkos
found him, but was still in no condition to carry the female by himself.

Nikkos
tried to take the female, which earned him a low growl from deep in
Adrian
. In all the fights and disagreements that the two had been in,
Nikkos
had never heard that menacing sound come from his friend, well, not directed toward him anyway. Now he had heard it twice in one night, what the hell?
Adrian
was acting as if the female belonged to him and not to
Nikkos
.

That couldn’t be.
Adrian
was in love with
Nikkos
, not some tiny human female. Besides, he had tasted her blood and knew she was his mate. Then it hit him. Maybe Adrian could tell that the female was
Nikkos’s
true mate, and he was jealous because he wanted
Nikkos
to himself and thought if he kept the female from him that he would still have a chance.

Marcus stepped up just in time to stop the two best friends from ripping each other apart over a human. “What the fuck is wrong with the two of you? Give her to me and get your asses inside now!”

Nikkos
was having none of that. He was taking his female to the doc and no one was going to stop him. Unfortunately, it looked as if
Adrian
thought that same way. The two of them faced off while
Adrian
kept his grip on the female. “I’ll take her, back off,” spat
Adrian
at the same time
Nikkos
reached to take the female again.

“You’re hurt and can barely stand yourself. Give her to me, she’s mine,”
Nikkos
replied.

“Yours? Over my dead body!”

“So be it.”
Nikkos
raised his fist to strike his best friend in anger for the first time in their long friendship.

Marcus stepped between them just before it came to blows. “Stop!”

Marcus grabbed them both by the necks until they were turning blue, and
Adrian
almost dropped the female. Lucian came forward and took the female out of
Adrian
’s limp arms and headed up the steps into the mansion. Marcus literally knocked the two friends heads together and told them that when they got their shit together, they should come inside. With that he turned around, shaking his head and mumbling something about “insane children,” to follow Lucian and the unconscious female into the mansion and the medical room.

The two boys stood studying each other for several seconds before either could talk again, partly because Marcus had injured both their throats with his death grip and partly because neither knew what to say. They’d had their differences before and some pretty good fights between the two of them, but never to the point where they were ready to kill one another.
Nikkos
spoke first. “I know how you feel about me, but keeping my female from me will not happen.”

“Your female? No, my friend, she is my female.”

“You don’t even like females. You wouldn’t even know what to do with one.”

“Oh, trust me, I’ve seen you with enough of them that I’m sure it won’t take much to figure it out.” The venom in his voice made
Nikkos
flinch.

So
Nikkos
was right, he could hear the jealousy in
Adrian
’s voice. He knew that it bothered
Adrian
when he was with the many women he liked to keep company with. He saw it in his face every time
Adrian
discovered that
Nikkos
had had yet another female, the look of longing over something he just couldn’t have.

Nikkos
didn’t know what to do. He wanted to strangle his friend for not seeing reason, but he could barely fight the urge to take him into his arms and taste his lush lips. What the fuck was wrong with him, he’d had thoughts about being with
Adrian
before but not strong enough to actually have to clench his hands into fists to stop from reaching for the big strong male in front of him. Visions of the two of them together, naked, sweaty, and straining for breath in his huge bed, kept running though his mind.

Oh sweet lord, what would it be like to give in to his urges and just take this gorgeous male upstairs to his room and do all the things he had been trying not to imagine? He knew that
Adrian
would let him do whatever he wanted to, but he also knew things would change between them and they could never be as they were now. Best friends. Although if they both believed that this female, who was hopefully getting help from doc, was theirs, then their friendship would never survive anyway.

* * * *

Nikkos
was usually so easy to read, but
Adrian
could not figure out what he was thinking. One minute he looked like he was going to kill him, and the next he was seeing what looked like lust in his eyes. It couldn’t be.
Nikkos
didn’t want him that way, never had and never would. He was just seeing what he had hoped to for so long, or
Nikkos
was trying to make him think that so that he would leave the female alone to be claimed by him.

Unfortunately,
Adrian
knew him too well. He knew what the other male wanted with the female. Some hot, wet, kinky sex, and then he would dump her. That was the only thing
Nikkos
ever wanted with women, especially human women, to show them a good time, make them want more, and never see them again. Unless of course she was really good, and then he might call her up for a few booty calls once in a while.

Gods, at one time he would have loved to have been
Nikkos’s
booty call. Hell, who was he kidding, he would follow the sexy male in front of him upstairs right now if he asked him to. Maybe. He wasn’t sure right now. All he could think about was the injured female inside the mansion, but at the same time he couldn’t help but smell the scent of arousal permeating from
Nikkos
. He knew it couldn’t be for him, though. He must have been thinking of the female. Gods, what was her name anyway, he had no idea, but he needed to get inside and check on her now.

Nikkos
shook his head “We need to get in there and check on the female.”

Finally they agreed on something. They headed up the stairs, side by side, into the mansion and up to the medical room. When they walked in and saw the helpless female still unconscious on the table with doc and Lucian standing over her, both of their hands covered in her precious blood, all their differences were forgotten. She lay there, pale. Her breathing was so shallow if their sight and hearing weren’t so sensitive, they would have thought she was dead. “She needs blood,” Mikhaila said, looking at the boys.

“So give her some,” they replied in unison.

“Yeah, like we have human blood just laying around.” Lucian had a smart-ass mouth no matter how grave the situation was.

“Give her mine,” both boys said as they offered up their wrists.

“You both know we can’t do that. It’s against our rules. We cannot give our blood to humans.”

“I don’t care what the rules are, you will give her my blood,”
Nikkos
said through clenched teeth. Mikhaila shook her head, but he knew she was going to do whatever
Nikkos
told her to do.

“Not Adrian, only
Nikkos
,” the doc replied.

“No way! Why not mine?”
Adrian
pleaded.

“You have lost too much blood, and you are in need of some yourself. You give her yours and you may not survive to see whether she lives or not.”

Even though she was clearly right, he argued with the great doctor. “I don’t care. She needs it, so give it to her.”

Apparently his body did not agree with his heart. Just as he said that, he swayed to the side and looked like he was ready to pass out.
Nikkos
had to put his arm around his waist and his other hand on his chest to steady him.

“Oh gods!
Adrian
, sit down. We gotta get you some help now!”

Adrian looked down at the hand on his chest that was quickly being saturated in blood. He had been losing blood at a steady rate, and they all had been so distracted over the female that they hadn’t even noticed. As Adrian watched the blood spread across
Nikkos’s
hand, his knees gave out.
Nikkos
gripped him tighter to stop him from collapsing onto the floor. Marcus brought over a chair and helped lower him into it just before the huge male lost consciousness.

“See, she told you
you
were too injured and needed blood,” Lucian said again with a smart mouth, but it was too late.
Adrian
was out cold.

“Give them mine,”
Nikkos
replied almost automatically. There was no thinking about this. His female needed blood and so did his best friend. Maybe more than friend. He didn’t know. He was so confused. All he knew was that he needed both of them, and he knew somewhere deep down that he would not survive if either one of them died on him.

Mikhaila and Lucian worked for what seemed like hours.
Nikkos
had given so much blood to the two injured that he could barely keep his head up. At some point he must have given in to his exhaustion because the next thing he knew, Mikhaila was standing over him, waking him. “They are both going to be fine. They just need rest. I hear you think she is your female?”

“I don’t know. I’m so confused.
Adrian
thinks she is his. I know she is mine. I have no clue what the hell is going on anymore. I almost attacked my best friend from birth over a human female, and he was willing to give his life for her.” He was rambling and knew it but couldn’t stop. He didn’t dare tell them that he had tasted her blood and knew she was his mate.

“Well, I think if he feels she is his, that they should not be separated. He will heal faster if they are placed together somewhere.” She raised her hand as he began to protest. “Also, I think if she is yours that you do not want her anywhere near another male. So, as you are the only one conscious at this time, where do you want us to put her to heal? Remember, I think it will be good for your
best friend
if he is near her.”

“Put them both in my room in my bed. I will watch over them until they are awake, and we will figure this out then.”

“Are you sure you want them
both
in your bed? I know how territorial you males can be.” She glanced over at her possessive husband as he scoffed at the remark.