Caleb (24 page)

With
a slight shake of his head, he touched the feathers. “But not nearly so much
fun.”

This
close she couldn’t miss the fatigue tightening the skin around his eyes and the
slight pallor underlying the naturally dark color of his skin. He was
exhausted. “I think my need has gone way past fun.”

It
was killing him, and Caleb didn’t even have the survival instinct to save
himself.

His
hand skimmed the feathers back. It tickled. He took advantage of her flinch to
cup his hand around the back of her neck. It rested heavily there for a second
before he adjusted the weight, then it became a lingeringly soft caress of heat
and security as he pulled her into his chest. His “You’ve got a hearty
appetite, for sure” ruffled her bangs.

She
tilted her head back for the descent of his mouth. The man was always touching
her, kissing her. And damn—she closed her eyes as his lips moved over hers,
brushing, probing, parting for the flick of his tongue that always sent a shot
of pure lust through her—he was really good at it.

His
breath puffed into her mouth. “Glad you think so.”

She
didn’t even open her eyes at the comment, just tilted her head a fraction more.
“Mmmm, was I projecting again?”

His
tongue teased the corner of her mouth, the shudder that went through her
inspired the smile she felt press into her cheek. “Yeah.”

“I
guess I’ll have to work harder on getting that under control.”

“Don’t
bother on my account.” Shivers joined the shudder as he traced his way across
the supple terrain of her lip, using the sensitive inner lining of her lower
one as a guide, not stopping until he reached the other corner. He announced
his arrival with another taunting flick of his tongue. Her knees buckled. He
held her up with a hand at the back of her neck, keeping their lips in play
with nothing more than the hunger for more. She kissed him back, standing on
tiptoe to increase the pressure.

“Okay.”
She caught his lower lip between her teeth, let his shudder blend into her
desire as she bit down gently, and spoke around it. “I’ll keep my motivations
strictly selfish.”

Another
laugh, another airy caress, and then the warmth of his hand down low on her
back, sliding lower. “You do that.”

Her
body softened at the play while her mind sharpened, building to that point of
hyperfocus that reduced her world to only him. After two weeks, she was getting
used to this aspect of their interaction. She leaned her hips into his.

“Oh
for Pete’s sake!”

Allie
jumped at the interruption. Caleb steadied her, pulling her close with the hand
at the base of her spine, turning them so his big body shielded her from view
as the brothers entered the room. Another set of footsteps heralded someone
entering behind the Johnsons. Derek?

“They
need to get a room,” Jace added to Slade’s exclamation.

“They’ve
got a room, and if they don’t start using it, I’m going to start thinking these
displays are an invite,” Derek drawled.

Caleb
growled—a deep rumble that reverberated against her cheek. She shook her head,
which in her current position resulted in little more than rubbing her cheek
against his chest. Keeping her voice low, she said, “He’s just yanking your
chain again.”

Her
feathers ruffled as he bent his head and whispered back, “Then he can enjoy the
consequences.”

From
the set of his jaw, consequences translated to a fistfight. Men were so
predictable.

“Actually,”
Jared interjected, “I don’t think he is.”

Allie
closed her eyes. Damn vampire hearing. No matter where she turned or what she
did, someone was always watching or hearing her. It was getting on her nerves.
“You shouldn’t eavesdrop.”

The
stroke of Caleb’s hand down her back didn’t soothe her irritation.

“Let
it go, Allie.”

“No.”

“I
don’t think any of us can afford to,” Slade said, an abnormal tightness in his
drawl.

Against
her, Caleb stiffened. He lifted his head. Cool air wafted over her forehead
where his cheek had rested. She sighed. The moment of intimacy was gone. She
stepped back. As always there was that moment of resistance before Caleb let
her go.

“What’s
on your mind?”

Jace’s
eyebrows went up, echoing the surprise on all the men’s faces as her feathers
came into view. “Feathers on your head?”

She
had no reason to feel defensive. But she did. She also felt inadequate and the
biggest burden a person could be. She folded her arms across her chest. “I was
bored.”

“And
you thought feathers would liven up the day?” said Slade, whose keen eyes
probably saw more than she wanted.

No
way was she admitting she’d tried to shift and gotten stuck. “It was a start.”

“Blue
feathers?”

“They
reflected my mood.”

Caleb’s
gaze homed in on her, setting the mark to burning again. “You were blue?”

She
rubbed her thumb over the irritation. “Why would I be depressed? I have a whole
compound of men waiting at my beck and call, ready to fulfill my every need if
I but deign to communicate it.”

Derek
closed his eyes for a second, his mouth settling in a decidedly sensual grin as
he rocked his chair back on two legs. “Now there’s a picture to carry a man.”

The
temptation to tip his chair the rest of the way back tugged at her foot. Caleb
had no such reservations. With a heft of his boot, the were went back and over.
Derek landed with a crash that made her jump but didn’t even earn a glance from
the other men. As one they stared at her, reading her face, probing at her
mind, searching for the truth. Pain bloomed in her head. She pressed her
fingers to her temple. “Stop it!”

Immediately,
the probes backed off, but the brothers still stared. She glared at them. “What
is it with you all? I can understand Caleb worrying, it’s his nature, but the
rest of you need to get lives. You’re way too involved in our relationship.”

“She’s
right.”

Jared
was the last one Allie would have thought would take her side.

“Which
brings me to my previous point.”

A
glance at Slade’s face told her more clearly than words that she wasn’t going
to like what he had to say. She reached out and Caleb caught her hand. She let
him bring her into his side. From the look on the brothers’ faces, she was
going to need some bracing.

“Spit
it out,” Caleb ordered.

“Your
relationship is affecting everyone.”

“How
so?”

“I
wasn’t sure at first, but as time goes on, it can’t be ignored.”

Caleb’s
deep breath pressed his ribs against her shoulder. “What can’t be ignored?”

Slade,
Derek, Jared, and Jace exchanged a look. The silence stretched to a tense
thread and then Jace sighed and said something so ugly, Allie had to ask him to
repeat it. His green eyes, two shades lighter than Caleb’s, met hers.

“We
want you.”

Caleb
snarled and shoved her behind him, her stumbling compliance just part of the
recoil from the announcement that left her reeling. They wanted her? The
whisper just slipped out. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“No
it doesn’t,” Jared pronounced flatly.

“No
one wants to want her,” Jace added.

The
room suddenly felt too small. “Gee thanks.” She took another step back, staring
at Jace, feeling as though she’d never seen him before.

Caleb
went with her, pinning her between the wall and his broad back. She didn’t
think he was aware of what he was doing. He was completely focused on the other
men, the tension in his body signaling his readiness to fight.

“Speak
for yourself,” Derek interjected over her sarcasm. “I’m more than happy to want
her. What I don’t like is this building need to do something about it.” He
raised a brow at Caleb. “If I’d known sharing blood with you would have this
kind of side effect, I would have passed.”

For a
second there was no sound in the room except the sound of controlled breathing
and the creak of wood as men shifted in chairs. Finally, Caleb asked, “Are you
all feeling this way?”

Allie
buried her face between his shoulder blades, not wanting to know the answer to
his question but helpless to resist the opportunity. She bunched Caleb’s shirt
in her fingers. “Don’t tell me—they’re all nodding, aren’t they?”

“You
just told me not to tell you.”

“You
know darn well that was a figure of speech.”

“You’ve
got a fancy way to dress up everything.”

“Just
answer the question.”

“Yes.”

She
pressed her head into his spine. “This can’t be good.”

“No,”
Slade agreed. “It’s not.”

“Does
this have anything to do with my increasing need to protect her?” Caleb asked.

“I
think so.”

“Any
idea why?”

“I
know it’s tied into the mental energy we can all share at will, and it’s
obviously tied to instinct, but why it’s spreading like fever, and why it’s
increasing proportionally to her blood intake, I can’t say.”

It
just figured that the first time Slade had a theory on her difference it had to
be one that scared her spitless. Allie stepped back against the wall. “The more
I want blood, the more you all want me?”

A
disconcerting emotion tickled her spine. She looked around the room, taking in
the faces of the men, their hard expressions, feeling like she’d never seen
them before. It took her a moment to figure out what it was. Fear. She was
afraid of them. The shadows from their hat brims deepened the glitter in their
eyes to a sinister cast. The width of their shoulders took on more meaning, the
strength of their hands more threat.

She
folded her arms across her chest. She wanted to take another step back, to run,
but there was nowhere to go. Nowhere she could hide from this—from them.
Nowhere she could hide from herself.

“Why
is everything so different with me?”

Slade
sighed. “You’ve tossed a stick in the spokes of what we know for sure.”

Not a
settling observation. Then again, nothing during the last month had been
settling. She touched Caleb’s back, needing him to move so she could leave.
Beneath her fingertips, his muscles were stiff cuts of aggression. Pain and
determination rolled off him in waves. If the brothers’ statements felt like a
betrayal to her, what must he be feeling? He’d cared for his brothers his
entire life. With them, he shared a bond so close he had brought them with him
into immortality rather than lose it. With Derek he shared a friendship close
enough to make him all but a brother. Bonds like that had to work both ways.
The Johnsons and Derek might doubt that, but she didn’t, and someone had to do
something to bring that fact to the fore before everything went to hell in a
handbasket. Since they were in this predicament because of her, it was up to
her to get them out.

She
stepped around Caleb, dodging his grab. His eyes bored into her back as she
took four shaky steps to the table. She pulled out a chair beside where Jared
stood. He stiffened. Her heart skipped a beat. This close she couldn’t get away
if he went all primitive on her. Caleb growled. A glance up showed Jared’s jaw
muscles knotted and his gaze skirting his brothers’. Unease filled the room.

Allie
jabbed her elbow in Jared’s side. His brows snapped down along with his chin.
She matched him glare for glare. She might not be able to do the slightest
vampire thing, but she could handle men, and these five were going to be
reasonable if she had to beat it into them.

“I
don’t care what voices are muttering in your head, Jared Johnson. You may be an
arrogant ass, but you’re Caleb’s brother. There’s nothing in this world that
could make you betray him, so stop glaring at me like you’re some sort of
threat.”

She
grabbed the chair seat and tugged it forward. It caught on a floorboard,
slipping out of her grip. Before she could tug again, it moved. A glance back
showed Jared pushing it in.

“You
sound damn sure.”

For
once, arrogance didn’t lace his tone.

“I
am.” She accepted his help with the chair, sitting down with as much unconcern
as she could muster.

“How?”

“It’s
a gut thing.”

He
blinked. That flicker of emotion that crossed his face could have been relief.
She hoped it was. The fact that he took a seat at the other end of the table
wasn’t encouraging.

“Don’t
dismiss her gut instincts,” Caleb said, coming up behind her. “They’re what had
her saving my ass while I was in wolf form.”

Derek
whistled. “Those are some instincts.”

“And
they tell you we’re not a threat?” Jace asked.

No,
they were telling her to run, but none of the men needed to hear that. “None of
you would betray Caleb.”