Benic didn’t know which he enjoyed more.
Kele had been so unsure and shocked when he pressed his lips to hers. The kiss was an impulse. She seemed so…alone hiding in the garden, watching Ahote take another female to bed. How could her pack waste such potential? There was untapped strength in that shifter, and he wanted to set her free.
Inacio went limp in his embrace and unbalanced Benic. Taking one more swallow, the vampire stumbled to set his incubus on a cot by the wall, the rich taste lingering on his tongue.
“So soon?” Inacio clutched him tighter. “You’ve been gone for weeks. You should need more. Have you fed from another?”
“No.”
The incubus was deathly pale.
“How is it that you can fuck anything with legs while I’m away yet can act so possessive of me?”
Inacio’s eyes narrowed. “Who?”
“No one. I fed from no one.” Benic turned his back on Inacio. “I don’t have time for dramatics today. Thank you for feeding me so promptly.”
The dusty glass slides he required were set next to the microscope. He listened to Inacio roll over on the cot, too weak to storm from the room, and Benic cleaned one of the slides to use. “I just need to examine a sample of blood then you’ll have my undivided attention.” He glanced at him over his shoulder.
Inacio sprawled with languid grace on his side. “It’s been a long while since you’ve spent time in here. What is the occasion?”
Benic retrieved the vial of blood. Tipping it back and forth, he watched the ruby liquid roll—such a simple thing to gaze upon with the naked eye yet it held vast, microscopic secrets. After he set a drop on the slide, he placed it under his priceless microscope.
As he examined the cells, his dormant knowledge returned as if he hadn’t left his studies. At first glance his heart stilled. Susan’s blood didn’t appear different. How could an unknown species from another world be so similar? He pinched the bridge of his nose and stared into the microscope again. Not a different world. It was the same world but a different dimension.
They were the same at this level of biology. He needed to search deeper. More tests had to be run. He filled another thin vial, cranked the spinner and set it into the contraption. Once the red blood cells were separated, he could test for smaller things like hormones, antibodies and electrolytes.
Soft snores grabbed his attention. He twisted around.
Inacio had undone his shirt and the laces of his pants but slept soundly.
“What am I going to do with you?”
Chapter Seventeen
Last night’s funeral had left Susan wiped out. Drained. Finished. None of her past projects had such stakes as high as this one. If she didn’t succeed, people would continue to die. This kind of strain sucked. How did doctors live with it?
She wandered the quiet den. Most of the sick were children. The marrow in her bones turned to ice in the early morning sun, and she tried to generate heat by rubbing her arms. Peder had offered her his pallet for the night. He’d be awake taking his turn with the ill. However, there were a lot of empty pallets in the rooms she passed, and the reason behind it drove away the solace of sleep.
Whispers carried through open doorways, too soft for her to understand yet their worried tones were clear. Were they saying goodbye? If not, maybe they should.
The sand squished between her bare toes, a hint of the night’s cool still present. She wandered between the canyon walls. She had breathed more fresh air in the last few days than in the past year on Earth.
Her aimless meandering brought her to the massive wooden main gate that kept the wild things of the forest from entering and eating her. She ran her hand over the surface. The wood was smoothed with age—not a single splinter tugged at her skin. Except wild creatures lived within the den and they might wear civil faces but she’d seen their feral halves.
“Leaving?”
The deep voice sent a shiver through her soul. She didn’t understand how he had such an effect on her. No other man had ever sent her heart racing at the slightest whisper. She spun around. “What are you doing here?”
“Guarding the den. You?” Sorin strolled around her until he blocked the gate. His long hair shone with the faint morning light and cried for a good brushing.
“I wasn’t leaving. I think better on my feet.”
“Ahh… Maybe you should take your thoughts away from the gate.” He pointed back toward the dead-end area of the canyon.
She set her hands on her hips before she used them to smack some sense in him. Alpha or no alpha. “Would you stop me if I wanted to go?” After spinning around, she stomped away but it was difficult barefoot in the sand.
A whisper of movement, which she sensed more than heard, followed. “Pay no attention to what the Payami said about me. I’ll keep my word. You’re not a prisoner, but it isn’t safe outside by yourself.”
“What do you mean?” She twisted around.
Sorin halted before running her over, leaving a hair’s space between them. “I’m not a dog. I’ve never mistreated anyone. If you want to return to the Payami, I’ll find someone to escort you, but I have to remain here.”
“Why do they think so badly of you?” He stood so close. She could barely breathe.
“Most people don’t trust Apisi. We have a bad reputation.” In the dawn shadows, she could only see the outline of his body as he shrugged, and the eerie glow of his wolf’s eyes. “My father was a tyrant.”
She resisted the urge to lean forward and close the minute distance between them. The male had the social skills of a drill sergeant, and hers were starved from neglect. She waited in the heavy silence but Sorin didn’t share any more information. “Sorry to hear that.” She shoved her toe into the soft ground.
He had buried pack members only a few hours ago. He needed a therapist, not a physicist. Susan recognized the weariness in his eyes though. “Do you have any tea?”
“In the kitchen, on the shelf above the potatoes.”
“Come and show me. I don’t know where the damn potatoes are.”
“We have limited guards on the wall. I should—”
She grabbed his hand and pulled. The Chrysler Building weighed less. “I don’t think an invasion is imminent. You sound like you need tea.” Hell, he sounded like he could use a hug, a massage and a good night’s sleep.
He allowed her to pull him to the kitchen where a small fire still burned in the hearth. She filled a pot with water while he retrieved the tea.
“I don’t know anything about the Apisi.” She hung the pot over the flame.
His stiff back was turned to her.
“It means I have no preconceptions. No opinion one way or the other about your pack. From what I’ve witnessed, you all appear very caring.”
He tossed some mint-scented leaves in the heating water.
The silent, strong act was becoming stale. He hid so much behind that mask of indifference, but she’d glimpsed the sorrow at the gravesite, heard his distress when he asked her help, and received a moment of his kindness on the top of the mountain. Combined, she suspected that was the real Sorin. Not this distant male.
She rested her hand on his shoulder. “I never doubted you.”
He withdrew from her touch. “You appeared terrified every time we met for someone so full of trust.”
“You snatched me from—from…” What exactly? Safety? Not really. Kele’s pack wanted to beat her and Ahote to bed her. “Then you insisted on climbing the cliff face. What were you expecting? Once we made the deal and set terms, I knew you’d keep to your part.”