The Bite Before Christmas (8 page)

“I'm immortal. You should have let me handle him,” Katricia snapped, suddenly straightening to move to the sink.

“Fine. Next time a bear's around and you come out bellowing like a female moose drawing its attention, I'll let the damned thing eat you,” Teddy growled irritably as she returned with a dish towel. When she began to mop at his chest, he winced against the pain and ground out, “Are you sure you want to do that? You're wasting good blood. Maybe you should just lap it up while it's on offer.”

When Katricia raised her head and glared at him, Teddy grimaced and then gave a slight shrug, which made him wince again as he said, “It's perfectly good blood and your delivery hasn't arrived yet. Besides, it runs all the way down my legs. Could be fun to have you lick it up. It would certainly distract me from the pain.”

When her eyes widened incredulously, he closed his eyes and leaned his head back, muttering, “Ignore me. I think I'm delirious. Must be the aftereffects of that damned dream I had.”

“
We
had,” Katricia corrected solemnly and continued to mop at his chest.

Teddy struggled his eyes open and forced his head back up to stare at the top of her head again. “We?”

“It was a shared dream,” she said without looking up, her concentration on trying to clean up enough blood to see the wound better, but the blood was still oozing out.

“A shared dream?” he echoed, a slow smile replacing the pain on his expression. “So we
are
life mates?”

Katricia merely nodded, her concentration on his wound, and Teddy grinned like an idiot for a moment, but then frowned and sighed.

“Well, doesn't that just figure? Turn out to be a life mate and die before I get to enjoy it,” he muttered with disgust and then drew in a hissing breath when she gave up trying to clean away the blood and pressed the cloth firmly to his chest and stomach to try to stop the bleeding.

“You're not going to die,” she said grimly, pressing harder on the wound. “I'll turn you. It will be fine.”

“You need blood for a turn and there isn't any here. You can't turn me,” Teddy said gently, and then forcing his head up and eyes open again, he took in the fear on her face and forced a smile. “Don't worry, I'm too ornery and stubborn to die.”

Katricia didn't appear much reassured. Teddy supposed it was because his voice seemed to grow weaker with each word and they both knew they were empty anyway. He was pretty sure he was going to die. In fact, he was growing cold, which could be shock, but he suspected was loss of blood. He was bleeding out, Teddy thought, letting his eyes drift closed again.

“Maybe you should put another log on the fire. It's getting cold in here,” he muttered wearily just before darkness claimed him.

Six

T
eddy woke up warm in a bed with just a sheet covering him to the waist and a mess of blankets gathered below his feet where he'd kicked them off. This was how he was used to waking up. However, he didn't recognize the room he was in. The light was on, revealing soothing pale blue walls similar to his bedroom at home, but the furnishings were all wrong. The two dressers and bedside tables were all a light wood, the windows were covered by ice-blue blinds instead of his own, darker blue drapes, and the bed he was in was king-size and damned comfortable.

He also wasn't alone in the bed, Teddy noted, peering at the woman lying beside him in bed. Katricia in the overlarge T-shirt she'd been wearing in their shared dream. Even as he peered at her, she murmured sleepily and rolled toward him, flinging her arm over his chest, a chest that didn't have gray hair sprouting out of it, he realized and lifted his head to look himself over. His chest was wide, his pecs defined, his stomach flat and missing the bit of a pot belly he'd gained over the last couple of years as age crept up on him. Now his skin stretched tight over muscle and bone, and a light mat of dark hair had replaced the gray hair on his chest, as well as on his arms . . . and his legs, he saw, shifting one out from under the sheet. His arms and legs were also as taut and sculpted, as they'd been when he was younger.

And he wasn't feeling a single ache or pain. Normally, he woke up to a stiffness that settled in while he slept, and it took a bit of time and some moving around for that to pass. He wasn't suffering it now though. In fact, he felt damned good. Full of energy and . . . hell, he had a morning stiffy, too. Hadn't had one of those in a while, he thought with a grin.

That was when Teddy realized he was dreaming again. Must have passed out, he thought. He was probably still slouched in the kitchen chair with Katricia working over him, trying to save his life. It couldn't be a shared dream, because while Katricia was wearing the same T-shirt, he'd still been his sixty-four-year-old self, not the strong, healthy specimen he'd been as a soldier. So he had to be having his own dream now.

Either that or he was dead and this was heaven, Teddy supposed. He wouldn't have thought he could have Katricia with him in heaven, since she was probably still alive, but he guessed maybe you got what you wanted in heaven, and if so, this would be it. Katricia and a bed. Teddy was pretty sure that was definitely heaven for him.

The thought made him smile faintly. Just a day ago, he would have said that heaven to him would have been a nice walk through the woods with Elvi, like they used to do as teenagers. What a difference a day could make, he thought wryly and then glanced down to Katricia as she murmured sleepily and shifted her leg along his under the sheet. Her bare leg against his bare leg, he noted with interest. He wasn't the only one interested in this fact. Little Teddy showed his own fascination by perking up as if trying to look around under the sheet.

Teddy lowered the hand that had been resting up by his head and ran it lightly over Katricia's back on top of the T-shirt. The light touch made her sigh and start to roll into it, and he quickly lifted his arm away to keep it from being trapped against the bed as she rolled onto her back. When she then lay still, he eased onto his side and peered at her. She looked sweet and innocent in her sleep, with none of the wicked humor that often peeked out of her expression when she was teasing him. He actually kind of missed that. Teddy liked that streak of naughtiness in her, the sexy smiles, the teasing glint in the eyes as her gaze raked his body, the unapologetic glee in her expression as she hit him with a snowball or trounced him in cards. The uninhibited pleasure she had expressed over the simple fare they'd had to eat, and the pleasure they'd briefly experienced in their shared dream.

Katricia brought the young Teddy out in him, the man who enjoyed life and wasn't so burdened down with responsibilities. He'd grown cynical after years of being a cop, but she made him feel like the world could be a good place. She made him feel alive again . . . which was pretty ironic, since he was probably dead, he supposed. But it was hard to care much about that when he was here with her. Whether it was a dream or heaven, he didn't care. He was ready to enjoy it.

Smiling, Teddy plucked at the sheet covering them both from the waist down and drew it slowly away until her bare legs were revealed. He then kicked it off himself as well as he gazed over her. Teddy had noted before that she had an athlete's body, and now found himself unable to resist sliding his hand over the top of her near leg, starting just above the knee and running it up to the hem of her T-shirt where it ended at the top of her thighs.

Katricia breathed out a little sigh and shifted onto her side again, facing him as his fingers drifted over the taut, muscled leg.

She could have been a runner, he thought, moving his hand from the leg that was now closest to the bed and shifting it to rest on her upper leg. He slid it upward to her hip, pushing the T-shirt ahead of it, and his gaze skated over every inch of skin revealed as he continued to push the light cloth upward. It was large and loose, and he'd pushed the cloth up to the underside of her breast before she moaned and rolled onto her back.

Teddy followed, bending over her to claim the far nipple as his fingers pushed the cotton over the mound. He drew it between his lips and suckled at it, his eyes widening incredulously as the action sent pleasure tingling through his own body. It made him suckle harder, and then graze it with his teeth, which just intensified the sensations running through him, and he moaned, vaguely aware of Katricia releasing a sleepy moan of her own.

Releasing her nipple, he lifted his head to peer at her, but she was still asleep. Her mouth was parted now though, and her breathing was shallow. Watching her face, he slid his hand to her breast, covered it, and gently squeezed, then squeezed again before catching the nipple between thumb and forefinger and tweaking it lightly.

Katricia moaned again, her head turning on the pillow, and Teddy had to bite his lip to keep from moaning with her. Damn, he was experiencing her pleasure, he realized. Like a life mate was supposed to be able to do. This had to be heaven, he decided and lowered his head to her other breast and began to minister to it with his mouth as his hand released her first breast and slid down across her stomach to dip between her legs. She was warm and already wet. He wasn't surprised; little Teddy was certainly excited by the sensations coursing through them. The little trooper was already standing at attention, but straightened even more as Teddy slid his fingers over Katricia's damp skin, sending shaft after shaft of pleasure through them both, exciting them further.

Teddy had been with a lot of women in his day and had always considered himself a generous lover, but damn, he hadn't realized just how good he was. It was no damned wonder he'd never wanted for female companionship.

The arrogant thought ran through his head as he let his mouth explore her body, laving and nipping his way from one breast to the other, but he stopped thinking altogether and simply allowed himself to feel and experience as his mouth followed the path his hand had taken and began to lick its way down her stomach.

Katricia woke up gasping for air and making little panting squeaks of sound. Her body was burning up from a fire centered between her legs. For one moment, she simply lay there, staring at the ceiling of the bedroom in her cousin's cottage as wave after wave of passion poured over her, but then she recalled how she'd got there and why and concern pushed enough of the passion aside to allow her to look for Teddy.

She supposed she shouldn't have been surprised to find his head buried between her legs, causing the fire eating her alive; nothing and no one else had made her burn like he did. But Katricia was surprised. She'd sat up with him for more than twenty-four hours as he'd gone through the turn, feeding him bag after bag of blood to get him through it, terrified through most of it that between his age, the injury he'd sustained, and the amount of blood he'd lost he wouldn't survive. When the worst of it was over and he still lived, Katricia had finally allowed herself to sleep, but she'd climbed into bed next to him to be sure he didn't wake up alone and confused. The last thing she'd expected was to find him—

“Oh God,” she gasped, her thoughts scattering as Teddy pushed a finger up into her even as he continued with what he was doing. The pleasure that rolled through her then was so overwhelming it was almost terrifying. It was too much. She couldn't—

“Teddy!” Katricia cried, grabbing his hair and tugging almost viciously in her desperation to make him stop. She couldn't catch her breath and felt like she was drowning in the pleasure he was causing. It was slamming through her body and crashing into her brain in repeated, pitiless waves, and then he responded to her tugging, stopped what he was doing, and rose up, moving up her body. But her respite was short-lived, because then he was sliding into her even as his lips claimed hers.

Katricia groaned into his mouth. It had been a long time since anyone had been inside her body and he felt so damned good there. Her arms and legs wrapped around his shoulders and hips, and she held on for dear life as he thrust into her. If she was going to drown, at least she wouldn't go alone, Katricia thought, clinging to him with everything she had, even her lips. Her mouth was almost suctioned to his until he broke their kiss and moved his lips to her ear, muttering, “You smell so damned good.”

Katricia merely groaned and nuzzled his ear back, nipping at it as his body pounded into hers. When she felt his teeth sink into her neck, her eyes blinked open with surprise, and then she screamed as a final, redoubled wave of pleasure crashed through her, a tsunami that rolled through her mind, dragging it under to the murky depths.

K
atricia woke up some time later and opened her eyes to find herself peering over a blood bag at Justin Bricker's smiling face. Frowning around the bag in her mouth, she half sat up, and then paused to catch the sheet that started to slip off of her naked body. Glancing around, she saw Teddy lying on his back next to her, with Anders holding a bag to his mouth as well. He was still unconscious.

“You let him bite you.”

Katricia turned to peer at Bricker at that comment. He actually tsked as he said it, and she scowled at him around the bag. She hadn't let Teddy bite her, he'd caught her by surprise. Not that she'd minded. It had been . . . well. . .

“Well, indeed,” Bricker said dryly, obviously reading her mind. “But he's new to this and doesn't know when to stop biting. You'll have to explain that it's not good to bite until his turn is done. And then when he does bite, it should be more of a love bite than an actual bite-and-suck. Cripes, he must have taken a quart from you before he lost consciousness. You were both dead to the world when we checked on you and this is the third bag of blood I've given you.”

Katricia frowned at this news, and then, realizing the bag was empty, tore it from her mouth and glanced to Teddy again, asking, “Is he all right?”

“He'll be fine. He just needs a couple more bags and he should be good,” Bricker said soothingly, handing her another bag. “He's still turning, and taking in your nanos when he bit you . . . Well, you know that's not good.”

Katricia nodded and slapped the bag of blood to her fangs. Every immortal had a certain number of nanos in their body, the perfect amount to keep them at their peak condition. It was the first things the nanos did on entering a new host: they assessed the situation and began to use up blood to reproduce, while at the same time repairing any life-threatening injury the host might have, and then they started right into the major changes. It was a painful process, and she'd had to watch Teddy writhe and scream for nearly a full night and day as he went through the worst of it.

But Teddy wasn't fully through the turn yet. There were still changes to be made in his body and it would continue for several days or even weeks. During that time, he would need extra blood to sustain the changes . . . and adding to that burden wasn't good. That was what Teddy had done by biting her. He'd taken her nanos into his body. Suddenly infusing himself with more of them had forced his own nanos to work extra hard to process them, using extra blood. In the meantime, until eradicated, the extra nanos had been using up blood as well. This wasn't a good thing for any immortal, really, but it was very bad for a new turn still in the process.

As for her, he'd definitely taken an unhealthy amount of blood from her if she'd needed three bags to even regain consciousness. She would have to explain these things to him so he didn't do it again while they were alone. It wouldn't have killed them, but it would have left them incapacitated until someone came along and found them. Fortunately, Bricker and Anders were still here to assist them this time, but—

“He's coming around.”

Katricia glanced to Anders at that announcement to see him removing the latest bag from Teddy's mouth. Her gaze slid over Teddy's face, noting that his eyelids were twitching as if his eyes were moving under them.

“It's late. Nearly dawn. Is there anything you want before we retire?” Bricker asked, taking her empty bag from her when she removed it from her teeth.

Katricia shook her head and forced her eyes away from Teddy to offer the two men a smile as they moved to the foot of the bed. “No. Thank you, though.”

Bricker nodded and turned to lead the way to the door, saying, “We'll leave the cooler here for now in case you need it again. We'll check with you before we leave at sunset.”

Katricia nodded, but her eyes had already returned to Teddy and she heard rather than saw the two men leave the room. The sound of the door closing was what brought Teddy's eyes open. He peered at her blankly for a moment, and then glanced around the room with a moment's confusion before relaxing.