Blood Mates (8 page)

Sloane stormed through the tunnels trying to calm himself down. He hadn’t been that furious in centuries. He had learned a long time ago he couldn’t allow his rage get the best of him. He knew what would happen. He wouldn’t allow the rage to consume him again. Once was enough. He lived with what happened ever since.

When he realized Rhage was Ava’s mate and then Rhage said he didn’t want her----- fuck! It infuriated him. He almost lost control. Rhage was a fucking selfish bastard!  Sloane wanted to beat the living shit out of him. Rhage had no idea or didn’t care what a gift he had been given! Sloane did and he mourned her every day since.

Sloane reached the main house and entered the foyer just as Ava was coming down the stairs.  He heard her gasp and her eyes were wide. Not in fear, but surprise.

“What?” he asked. He watched her hand come up and her finger waved in front of her mouth.

“Your fangs are showing…..”

“OH! DAMN!”  Sloane reached up and rubbed his face until he made them retract. “Sorry…” ava nodded. “You didn’t freak out….” He told her with a smile. He knew he would calm down now. He wasn’t about to take a chance in terrifying Ava. He would never do that. Even though she wasn’t a female he could send screaming easily, but if he went into a rage she would do a hell of a lot more than run like hell.

“It just caught me off guard…” she smiled. “I’m good with the whole good vamp bad vamp thing now…” she giggled when she scowled at her. “Yes I know the difference I just like seeing that look when I say it. Lucien and Darius give me the same look too. I think it’s funny.”

“You are warped….”

“Yep…” she nodded wiggling her eyebrows. Sloane smiled shaking his head.

“Sleep well?” he asked. “Any more dreams?”

“Nope…” she answered walking past him. Sloane knew it was a lie.  He didn’t say anything about it, but if Rhage didn’t severe the connection soon Sloane would go to Lucien. He turned and fell in step next to her. “I’m going to help Alfred with breakfast.”

“You know you don’t have to…”

“I know, but I need to do something around here to help out.” She told him.  “If I just sit around I will go stir crazy. This way I feel like I am at least earning my keep in a way.”

Lucien  sat at the table as everyone ate breakfast slowly looking around. He knew something was going on. He just wasn’t sure what. He knew he could easily find the answers by reading the brothers’ thoughts, but he didn’t really like doing that. He respected their privacy and he only did it when he had to. He knew Sloane was pissed off about something. He didn’t have to read his thoughts. Sloane’s posture and facial expression gave that away. He kept clenching his teeth and Lucien knew Sloane only did that when he was pissed off. Rhage and Talon were unusually solemn.  And then there was Holden. He was one of the youngest among them and he was always talkative, but not tonight. He was silent as a mouse.

Most of the brothers were discussing the house Talon and Rhage scouted out during the night and tonight they planned to go into it. Rhage and Talon would answer the questions, but something else wasn’t right. Lucien knew it. He planned on finding out what just like he planned on finding this Dante. After breakfast when everyone disappeared from the dining room Lucien held Sloane back.

“Everything alright, Sloane?”

“For now….”

“Is it something I need to know about?”

“Not yet…”

“Are you going to continue to be vague?”

“Lucien… give me a day or so and then I’ll tell you.” Sloane sighed. “Right now I’m handling it…”

“Alright, but you’re pissed off as hell…”

              Sloane made sure he kept his thoughts blank and the words ‘you would be too if you knew’ didn’t ring in his head too loudly or Lucien would know. He shrugged.

“I’m good… don’t worry about it.”

“You are one of my oldest friends, Sloane. I know you don’t allow your temper to get the best of you.”

“No... I have managed to control it.”

“Yes, you do. You are always the calmest and can kept me in line too…”

“Yeah…” Sloane chuckled.

“So when you need me to lose my temper let me know. Better me than you.”

“Yep… you’re king. You can get away with it better than what I was thinking.”

Ava was doing an assignment for one of her classes Alfred had arranged for her to do online. The man amazed her. The professor was old school and didn’t like doing any of his classes online. He preferred his students to actually come to class and sit in front of him, but somehow Alfred had convinced him to let her finish the semester online. Ava wondered if there was anything Alfred couldn’t pull off.

She was researching one of her topics for a paper when her cell phone rang. She looked around the room for it and found it on top of the Lucien’s desk. Jill’s name and number showed up on the screen.

“Hey jilly….”

“Ava! Where the hell are you? I know you said you were going to be gone a couple of days, but I thought you would be home by now.”

“Oh! I’m still at a friend’s house.” Ava hated to lie to Jill. She had been a good friend to her, but she really didn’t have a choice. What was she supposed to say? ‘Oh! Jill, those twilight movies you drooled over, well honey I have met the real vampire slash immortal hotties and they make those boys look like shit.’

“Ava… I really need your help…”

“Why what’s wrong?” Ava asked. Jill was too independent to ask anyone for anything and she was always doing for everyone else. She was just like that.

“I twisted my ankle at work yesterday. I sprained the damn thing to hell and back.” Jill told her. “you know I have been telling max he couldn’t keep piling all those boxes in the back room someone was going to break their neck one of these days. Well---- that dumbass was me last night. The doctor at the ER said I can’t put any weight on it.”

“Oh! Jilly…”

“It looks like a freaking watermelon shoved into my ankle sideways and it is four different shades of green and purple… it hurts, Ava… I have popped three pills so far this morning.”

“Why haven’t you called David? He should be there with you.” David was Jill’s on and off again boyfriend.

“He is in Seattle on business for a few more days.” Jill sniffed. “I can’t maneuver on those damn crutches they gave me and I can’t even get up to go pee by myself…” Jill began to cry. “Ava… can you come over for a little while. I need your help. You know I don’t like asking.”

“I know…” Ava sighed and looked at the window. It was almost lunch time and the sun was high in the sky. She was safe in the day time. The half breeds couldn’t go out in the sun. Alfred said they would burn up like toast. She wouldn’t have to worry about them. “I’ll be there in a few minutes, jilly.” She told her.

Alfred listened to Ava and knew she was concerned about her friend, but he didn’t like this.  Her safety was top priority. Lucien had told them all Ava was to be kept safe no matter what.

“It should be safe enough, Alfred.”

“I’m not sure about this. I don’t think Lucien would like you going without one of the brothers.”

“But it’s day light. Half breeds would burn up like toast wouldn’t they?”

“Yes they would.” He nodded.

“So none of them would be around. I wouldn’t have to worry about them. It should be fine to go then.”

“Go where?”

Ava swirled around when another gruff male voice spoke behind her. She had thought of just going, but she realized she had no way of going without asking Alfred to take her. She didn’t have her crappy car here. She saw Rhage standing there. He looked pissed off. Hell! He always looked pissed off.

“Her friend Jill is hurt and asked Ava to come help her.” Alfred told him.

“You aren’t supposed to leave the house.” Rhage told her. He hadn’t been able to sleep and suddenly he felt her concern. She was upset. He couldn’t ignore it. He

Had to know if she was alright. He had laid there fighting the urge to get up, but then he couldn’t ignore it. Sloane had told him she had felt him. The knife wound and others things so he was trying to make sure he kept up a mental block so she wouldn’t feel anything else from him, but he couldn’t block or turn it off from her.

“Yes... I know THAT, but Jill is my dear friend and she needs me.”

“And you are supposed to stay safe and that means staying here. No leaving.” He grunted.

Ava rolled her eyes and placed her hands on her hips. “It’s daylight.  I should be perfectly safe…. And let me rephrase it a different way... I’m going. I need to go help Jill. So either Alfred can take me or I will walk… end of story.”

“Don’t be stubborn with me. I will win.” He crossed his arms over his chest meaning that was the end of it as far as he was concerned.

Ava arched an eyebrow at him. “Really? Do I look scared to you?” she already had her cell phone in her back pocket and her shoes were on. He wanted to play bossy with her. OH! She never took orders well! Ask her fine, but don’t order her around like she was a child. She huffed and walked straight toward the French doors that led out to the porch. Rhage grabbed for her arm, but she darted away from him and outside. She didn’t stop until she stood in the sunlight facing him with her hands on her hips. Her foot tapped the wood planks on the porch.

“Dammit!” he growled. He felt her determination and he knew she wasn’t going to give in.

“What would it hurt?” Alfred asked him. “She is worried about her friend.”

“She isn’t safe out there.”

“She would be if you go with her…you could drive one of the SUVs and it shouldn’t take long. Right there and right back…” Alfred then raised his voice so Ava could hear him outside. “Isn’t that right, ava? Straight there and straight back?”

“Yes… it shouldn’t even take an hour.” She said crossing her arms over her chest and tilting her head to the side.  Her foot was still tapping on the wood.

“Fine!” Rhage knew she would indeed go on her own. She was too damn stubborn for her own good. “Let’s go to the garage.”

“You can pick me up around front... I’ll be waiting there.” She turned on her heel and stormed off mumbling something along the lines of. “Pissy dumbass.”

“I can hear you!” Rhage called out after her.

“GOOD! Because you ARE a pissy dumbass!” she called back.

Rhage looked at Alfred when he cleared his throat covering his chuckle.

“Sorry…I’ll get the thicker leather jacket from the closet for you, Rhage.”

Rhage drove the SUV from the garage and around the corner of the house. He clenched the steering wheel tightly. She was standing on the porch steps. He should’ve woken Lucien or Talon or someone else to take her. He should stay the hell away from her. It was the best thing for her and yet he didn’t wake anyone up. He took the thicker leather jacket from Alfred and donned on a baseball cap to protect his head. He had on leather gloves as well. The less he was exposed to the sun the better. Alfred also reminded him there was bagged blood in the cooler if he needed it.

When he pulled up to the porch she hurried and opened the door. She slammed the door, snatched on her seat belt before crossing her arms over her chest to stare out the windshield.

“What the hell are you pissed off about? You are getting your way...”

“Because you are a bossy pissy dumbass and I’d rather Alfred took me because he is better company. You are so pissy... …” she then snapped her head around and glared at him. “AND I know you don’t like me which is just fine, but I won’t put up with a pissy attitude! So just drive!”

Rhage just stared at her for a minute stunned. She thought he didn’t like her.  He knew Sloane said she was already feeling his emotions. She thought the

Feelings she had felt from him was because he didn’t like her! Hell! He wondered what she would think if she knew he’d like nothing more than to strip her naked and fuck her for days. Hell! He would risk burning up in the sun fucking her on the hood of the SUV. Being this close to her that’s all he could think about. His rock hard cock agreed.  He was just staring at her. He couldn’t help it.

“WELL! Drive!” she snapped.

“It’s not that I don’t like you…” he managed to say.

“What?” she asked barely hearing him? He had begun driving down the driveway.

“I just don’t do good moods… I’m not a cheery flowery up beat person.” He grunted.

“So you are just in a foul mood all the time?” she asked arching an eyebrow at him.

“Yep….” He cut his eyes at her. “And for the record this is a stupid idea. You should be in the house where you are safe.”

“Its daylight and half breeds burn up like toast in the sun…AND I’m sure you’re armed for something.”

“Yes, I am…” he never left the house without being armed to the teeth and even in his room he had weapons within reach. He didn’t believe in not being ready for a fight.

“There… see… there’s nothing to worry about.” She waved her hand in the air. “Everything will be fine.”

Rhage shook his head. “Doesn’t your friend have someone else she could call?”

“No…Jill doesn’t like to ask for help so for her to ask me to come is a big thing for her. She has always helped me when I needed her. I can’t tell her no…”

“I can... call her and I will.”

“NO!” Ava snapped. She gave him the directions. “I promised I wouldn’t be there long.”

“I know we won’t. We will be back in an hour.” Rhage knew she was concerned for her friend. She was worried and he could feel it. He had a feeling if he wasn’t taking her she would have tried to go on her own. She was loyal to her friends and he admired that about her. They drove in silence. Rhage had no idea what to say. He wasn’t an outgoing person like Talon. Talon would know the right thing to say or how to talk to her. He didn’t have a clue! Hell the only thing he knew about women was how to fuck em… that’s it… he had learned all he needed to know and he never thought about anything else. And NOW he couldn’t even have a decent conversation with one.

He noticed she was fidgeting in her seat. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

“What if you get burned when you get out? I know Alfred said immortals can stand a little sun, but I don’t want you getting crispy on me.”