Sins of the Undead Patriot (24 page)

The Rowley part was true, but she wouldn’t be so foolish with Vaihan again.

Chapter 26

The elevator doors opened, and Vaihan strode toward Marty, who stood at the nurse’s station. The nurses around the desk gawked at him, wide-eyed, then averted their gazes. They mistrusted him, not that he blamed them. Every news station was reporting on the events of the evening. Guests at the party spoke of the fear in Leera’s eyes and speculated that he was the cause. When presidential officials were asked for a statement, they declined. None of that mattered to him at this moment.

Marty turned at his approach. “She’s awake and stable.”

What would he have done if she’d died? His rash decision could have cost her life. “Thank you.” Vaihan wrapped his arm around him and squeezed.

“If you hadn’t thought to rinse her out, she wouldn’t have made it.” Marty stepped into the hall. “Her age and relative state of health helped.”

What did he mean? “Relative?” Nothing about her scent hinted at health problems. Had she failed to tell him something?

“She lost an ovary in her late teens–ovarian pregnancy–and suffers from endometriosis. Otherwise, a clean bill of health. I’ll clear her for release tonight.” Marty tucked the chart under his arm and scooted over to shield him from a passerby. “What happened? This isn’t like you.”

Not the him Marty knew, but the careless one who’d knocked his sister off a cliff to her death. “I let things get out of hand with her. I can’t trust myself to be in control.” How ironic, when after centuries of hating his existence, he’d come to accept what he was. When he was with Leera, he wanted to be a man. Not a creature. “I need to speak to her.”

“She asked for you.” He pointed down the white-tiled hallway. “Second door to your left.”

No matter what happened, he had to hold it together, despite the fact that he wanted to shower her in kisses. Would she blame him for what happened?

He needed to end their involvement. Vaihan pushed the door open.

Leera sat reclined with pillows. Curls framed her pretty face. Dark circles marked the delicate skin beneath her eyes. Her scent carried more than a hint of the toxin–of him.

Why was she alone? “Where is Peter?”

“Meg started labor, so they are giving her drugs to stop her from having the baby.” She crossed her arms.

One more horrid thing to come from this. The two of them wouldn’t work. No matter how he felt about her.

“I’m sorry.” Tears filled her eyes. “This is my fault.”

“No. It’s mine. I never should have trusted you.” The signs were there. Her quick willingness to accept him. Her speedy need for physical contact, and how she pushed his boundaries. Then there were the hints he denied to himself.

“What?”

“There were signs, but I didn’t heed them. The faint smell of another man on you. I should have questioned, but I trusted you. Then when Rowley hit me, your scent lingered on him. The sweetness I too have tasted. Do you love him?”

“I can’t put into words what it is I feel for Rowley.”

“Did you see him after you’d asked me to be exclusive?”

She shook her head. “Not in that way.”

“Was this your way of showing him how much you love him? You’d discredit Vaihan Louchian to show your terrorist boyfriend how much you love him. Well it worked.”

“How can you think this of me? I made love to you. I don’t understand.”

“I thought we were sharing something meaningful, but that was a game to you. Why else would you pull me into a bathroom at a party for sex, with a number of guests and friends of Rowley McKie’s there?”

“My birthday party. Birthday sex with the man I love and, I thought you felt the same way about me.”

As much as she believed her words, they were lies. If she loved him, her scent would have changed faintly. An endorphin that human females let off when pairing would have been released in her blood stream. “You see, that’s the problem. I’m not a man.” Didn’t she get that no amount of wanting could change him?

“I didn’t mean it like that. You worry about being undead, yet I’ve never once treated you differently.”

“I am different.” The idea of being equal but not the same was a hard one for people to grasp. “I don’t know why I came here. I didn’t want to believe you’d betray me.”

“It’s not like that.”

“Then what is it like, Leera? Were you trying to die?” Why hadn’t he seen this? Of course, it made sense. She would use him to end her life and leave him to deal with the guilt of believing he killed her. “You’re suicidal.”

“Not consciously.” She covered her face with her hands. “I didn’t plot out to put you or myself in this situation, as it turned out.” She lowered her arms and pressed her head against the top part of her knees. “If I didn’t give serious thought to how self-destructive my request was, I’d be foolish.”

Normal women didn’t seek out poison.

“The sweet taste of the toxin buzzes inside me. I’ve never felt anything like the euphoria that consumed me. Every sensation, amplified to the point of ecstasy.” She held out her trembling hand. “I’m wound so tight because my body craves more.”

The need would only grow more difficult to control. “You betrayed me, and I can’t trust you. Whether you were doing it to hurt yourself or to impress McKie is irrelevant. The results are the same.” To protect her, he’d end things now. No dragging this out, or putting her through an added media circus.

“How can you say that?” She shook her head.

“When you touch me, I’d always question your motives. No one can live under that kind of scrutiny. I’m freeing myself of my obligation of exclusivity with you. You’re free. See however many men as you are interested in.” He rose.

Tears spilled from her dark brown eyes. “Vaihan.”

No matter how much he wanted to go to comfort her, if he didn’t turn and leave, he’d never find the strength.

“I wish you happiness.” He pushed the door open and walked through.

Chapter 27

Rowley opened the door to Devin’s place. Every media outlet was looking for Leera, so he’d taken her to the one safe place he knew. Even his place was too risky. The media would track her down there. She held tight to his chest and the bag the “good” doctor gave him in case she grew frantic from withdrawal. No part of him trusted a doctor praised by those creatures, but he was the only man experienced with such high-level doses of the toxin.

Not a word had passed between them. If he opened his mouth, hurtful words would come out. The creature would suffer for what he’d done to her, over and over again. The undead did feel pain.

Why didn’t she listened to his warning about what would happen? Maybe she’d done it to make him pay. Hadn’t he hurt enough, though, having to watch her
love
another man for over a decade? He longed for the games to end between them.

He shut the door and guided her back to the master bedroom and onto the bed. Devin had done as he’d asked, tidied up and provided clean linens.

“I’ll get you some water so you can take one of the pills to relax.”

“I don’t want any more drugs.” Face pressed to the pillow, she waved him off.

“It’s too late for that.” He stormed to the kitchen. Bracing himself with his hands on the counter, he took a few deep breaths. “Keep it together.” Last time he’d lost his head and drove her away. Into
its
arms. He filled a glass and returned.

Huddled up, she lay beneath the massive burgundy duvet and shivered. “It hurts. I hurt everywhere.”

He grabbed the bag, took out the bottle with the big green pills, and removed one. “Here, take this.”

“God. I told you, no more. I feel sick.” She cradled her core.

“Take the God darn pill, or I’ll force it down.” With his palm opened, he held out the medication.

“Fuck you, Rowley.” Leera shoved his hand away.

“If you had, you wouldn’t be in this fucking mess.” He set the items on the nightstand and grabbed her by the shoulders. He wanted to shake her. Rather, he knelt and leaned his head against her chest. He couldn’t ease this pain for her. This was only the beginning.

She pushed against his shoulders. “I did fuck you. Have you forgotten what that cost me? Because I haven’t. What good man would want me when I’m broken inside? Asshole.” Tears spilled from her eyes.

“None. I made sure of that, didn’t I?” He met the hate in her eyes. “I’m not a good man, but I am a man, and I have never stopped wanting you.” He took hold of her hand, brought it to his cock, and stroked up and down.

“You’re disturbed.” She tried to yank her hand back. “How can you be aroused at time like this?”

He held her hand in place. “You like to play dangerous games?”

“What’s wrong with you?” Despite her protests, the hard peaks of her nipples pressed to the thin cotton shirt the hospital provided her.

She enjoyed rough sex. “Tell me you aren’t turned on.” He lifted her forearm to his nose and inhaled. The sweet stench left behind by the toxin soiled her. The wasteaways he’d found hooked on the drug all carried it. “You smell of its poison.”

“Why are you giving me a hard time?” She angled her body away from him. “First Peter, and now you.”

Rowley clutched her hand. “Do think this is a hard time? You nearly died. Your brother’s wife went into labor. You’re suffering for the next taste of the toxin.” With her hand to his face, he pressed her flesh to his cheek. “I’m a junky too. Since you climaxed for me I want my next fix. The big difference is, my addiction won’t kill me. You push me away only to take a creature into you, why? I’m starting to see a pattern. You like males that are poison to you.”

“Because of you. You ruined me.” She shoved his chest with her palms.

Best-case scenario was for him to push her to an emotional breakdown. She needed to deal with whatever was causing her to hurt herself.

“Not enough, since other males still want you.” He hooked his hand in the waist of the scrubs the hospital had given her. “I’ll make sure this time that no other man will want you.”

Leera clutched the material. “Rowley.” Tears slipped from her eyes. “Stop.”

Flooded with the fear of nearly losing her, he yanked the fabric. “What do you want me to stop? My need to have you, or you wanting me?” Nothing but complete surrender from her would calm him. The reckless games she played had nearly cost her life. He grabbed her legs and flipped her over.

She crawled away. “Why are you doing this?”

“You’re mine.” He held onto her thighs. “You need to be reminded of why you’d promised to love me forever.” Halting her flight with his weight on her torso, he unzipped his pants and withdrew his hard length.

“What is this, some predatory male marking thing?” She struggled to force him off her. “You can’t stand to know he was inside me?”

As a matter of fact, he couldn’t. “I want to wipe the awareness from my mind that it knows your most sacred flesh.” He spat in his palm, brought his hand to his erection. With a few strokes, he lubricated the head and shaft. “I’m reclaiming what’s mine, Lee-lee. You.”

He lowered her ass to his erection and pressed the tip to her dark opening. As the tight space expanded to his intrusion, he slipped his other hand around to her wet labia and forced more of himself inside her. “This is the only way I can put a stop to your recklessness.”

“Get off me.” She took hold of the other side of the bed and pulled. “You said,
when you are ready, I won’t need to take
.”

“I was wrong. Maybe this is what gets you hot.” He yanked her back and intruded into her vaginal opening with two fingers. “You’re soaked.” In and out, he pumped, coating his digits in her juices. “Tell me you don’t like this.”

She gasped. “This isn’t right.”

“No. What isn’t right is how long I’ve waited.” The length of him parted the tight entrance. “I won’t stop until you deliver a no with meaning.”

A soft gasp made her breath hitch. “Tell me no.” Oh, how he wanted to drive into her, but instead he controlled his invasion. “Lee-lee?”

A grunt of encouragement came from her as she surrendered to the unavoidable path he’d set for them.

“Relax, Lee-lee. I’m finally going to hold true to my promise to take care of you in every way.” He kissed between her shoulder blades.

Fingers sunk into the duvet, gripping it, she molded her body to the bed. He thrust, burying his shaft in her, and she moaned. The thumping of her clit with his every caress encouraged him to play with the jewel as he rammed into her.

Tonight he’d see to his pleasure too. With his lips to the nape of her neck, he kissed a trail. “I love the way my cock looks inside your ass.” Using quick pumps, he built to his release. The air held the scent of anal sex. A third finger stretched her insides, and her juices dripped down his hand while he worked in and out of her. “Your pussy is so hot for it.” At the edge of his climax, he slowed his motion.

Rowley wrapped his other arm around her, clutching her breast and lifted her to his chest.

Head back to his shoulder, she whimpered. The lines of her body contoured her bones. From beneath her, he pushed in while his slick fingers circled her nub. Faster, he strummed her center of pleasure. He flexed his cock inside her ass.