Chosen by Sin (15 page)

“Cy, help me,” Jes shouted.

Cy was already halfway to her, giving her the aid of his greater weight
and muscle to restrain the individual on the table. As Dex stepped closer, he
could see the patient was a shape-shifter. Sucking sounds emanated from the
open wound in its chest and blood frothed against Jes’s surgical gloves. The
shape-shifter’s features, normally uniform and white, were tinged blue.

“What happened?”

“He’s been shot. I’ve found the entry and exit wounds.” Swiftly, she
tore open a plastic wrapper of field dressing. “Listen to me,” she said to the
shape-shifter. “Breathe out and hold your breath. I need the air to be out of
your chest before I seal this wound. Do you understand?”

The shape-shifter didn’t answer; hell, Dex didn’t even know if he was
conscious.

Jes watched his chest, then flattened the dressing over the wound right
after he exhaled and before his chest rose again. The sucking sounds ceased.
She nodded to the woman who was assisting her, a werewolf who kept glancing at
Dex with a curious expression and… He immediately bristled at the hint of
disdain he saw. It was so common, something he almost always saw when he
encountered a full-blooded were, but it still bugged him every single time.

“I have to close the wound.” Jes glanced at Dex. “I’m sorry, but I’m
going to be a while. Cy, can you take Dex inside?”

“Isn’t there someone else who can do this? You look ready to collapse,”
Dex asked. He looked at Cy, who shrugged.

“I’m not medically trained. Are you?”

Dex knew enough that he could have triaged the chest wound in
preparation for a surgeon to take over, but that was about it.

“I’m fine. I’ll be inside soon,” Jesmina insisted. “Go.”

Her words were curt and dismissive. Dex frowned at the air of
indifference and command she was emanating, but she’d already turned away. He
followed Cy outside. His last glimpse was of her swiping at her forehead with
her arm and leaving a swath of blood across her face.

He turned to Cy. “Why don’t you tell me what the hell’s going on? Why
am I here?”

Cy stared stonily at him. “Sorry. No can do. But tell you what. If you
can read, you might be able to figure out some of it yourself. You can read,
can’t you?”

Dex answered the man’s sneer with his own. “How about you read this?”
he growled just before he punched Cy in the face.

***

Rurik had lost track of time and space. He didn’t know what day it was
or what state he was in, or even if he was in the United States anymore. He
suspected he wasn’t, given the various languages he’d heard being spoken around
him, but his consciousness faded in and out and his body throbbed in protest
every time it was invaded by the dark creature manipulating it.

If he could, he’d have gladly killed Dex Hunt. He wished he’d
accomplished the task long ago. That way, the Dark One would have no reason to
be going after Dex now and no reason to use Rurik to try and get what it
wanted.

That was the only thing Rurik knew for sure any more. What the Dark One
wanted from Dex. It wanted his body. Not just because any body would do. If all
the Dark One wanted was a body, he’d be satisfied with Rurik’s. But the Dark
One wouldn’t be satisfied until he’d found a way to invade Dex’s
immortal
body.

When he’d first heard them talking about Dex as an immortal, Rurik had
laughed, but his laughter had choked off really fast, not just because it had
angered the Dark One, but because Rurik had finally put two and two together.

He’d told that bitch of a vampire that Dex’s health had seemed
unnatural. That answer had been in response to her specific questions, which he
now realized had to have been prompted by the same information the Dark One
had.

Wasn’t it just like Dex Hunt to cause Rurik grief even years after he’d
left the Ferals?

Damn bastard.

For a moment, Rurik’s anger pushed a surge of adrenaline through his
veins and he felt hope. That is, he felt hope until he heard the Dark One laugh
eerily inside his head.

It was feeding off Rurik’s hate for Dex, as well as his own anger,
Rurik realized.

In feeding, it was growing more powerful. Its possession of Rurik’s
body expanded and intensified, creeping into the smallest corners of Rurik’s
mind until his vision began to black out and he couldn’t recall who he was
anymore.

“Dex,” he managed to gasp out before he lost consciousness completely.
He no longer thought of Dex as the enemy, but as a male who’d once ridden and
fought alongside him. “Dex,” he muttered. “Beware…the…Demon Tailors.”

After several minutes of giving Dex back as good as he got, Cy
eventually pulled away and dabbed at his bloodied lip. “Fuck. Now look what
you’ve done,” he groused. “Jes is going to have my hide.” He dragged himself to
his feet, walked away, then glanced back at Dex over his shoulder. “Come on.”

Side aching from where Cy had repeatedly punched him, Dex narrowed his
eyes but obligingly followed the other man into the bowels of Jes’s castle. Cy
led him past one lavishly appointed room after another before pausing outside
another set of solid double doors. “You can wait for her here. If you pay
attention, you might even learn a few things.”

With that parting shot, Cy disappeared.

Dex opened the doors and stepped into what was clearly Jes’s personal
library. Floor to ceiling shelves were filled to bursting with books. A massive
trestle table in the center of the room had been strategically placed in front
of a large fireplace. Feminine touches—a vase of flowers here, an ornate
letter opener there—told him this was likely Jes’s haven. A gilded clock
indicated it was half past midnight. Several papers on the desk bore chicken
scrawl writing that, if it was indeed hers, amused the hell out of him. It was
ugly as sin, completely contrary to how the handwriting of an elegant vampire
like Jesmina’s should look. He bet it annoyed the shit out of her, and why
didn’t she have a computer somewhere—

Ah, there it was. A laptop peeking out from a pile of paper and medical
journals. Dex frowned as he spotted several picture frames displayed on a table
next to the desk. Smack dab in the front was a picture of a smiling Jes with
her arms around a broadly grinning Cyrus Mead. It didn’t matter that Jes’s
smile looked slightly sad. All he could wonder was whether this was what Cy had
wanted him to see.

Had Cy brought Dex here so Dex would know Jes belonged to another man?

He wiggled his jaw where Cy had gotten in a particularly good punch.

Right now, he was really wishing he hadn’t taken it easy on the guy. He
should have pulled his knife and sliced the bastard open.

Dex reached out to slam down the framed picture of Jes with Cyrus, but
before he could his gaze caught on a thick book spine just to the right of it.
“Jes’s Otherborn Research” it read, along with a date seventy years earlier.
The print was blocky and childlike.

He pulled the book out, lowered himself into an armchair in front of
the fireplace, and began reading. It looked like a journal a child might keep,
but the handwritten notes—in the same chicken scrawl as the papers on
Jes’s desk—used fancy language and seemed to describe not only the
biology of random Otherborn, but various medical conditions he’d never heard
of.

Minutes ticked by and Dex became more and more engrossed in what he was
reading. When he was done, he selected another book. He was flipping through a
third when Jes walked into the library.

She’d washed up and was dressed in a simple long-sleeved sweater and
slacks, her hair tidily swept back into a low ponytail. His eyes narrowed when Cy
followed her into the room and affectionately tugged on her hair.

Dex stood, trying to resist the impulse to pull her away from the other
male. He couldn’t believe how strongly connected he felt to her. It was almost
as if something supernatural was at work. He’d always had a thing for vampires,
and he’d had an exceptionally strong reaction to this one, but now he wanted to
run to her, sweep her up in his arms, and race away.

His skin prickled with possessiveness as she turned and gave Cy a hug.
It was to be expected, he told himself. The last time he’d seen Jes, they’d
just had hours of mind-blowing sex. It was no wonder his first inclination was
to rip the other man apart limb from limb, something Cy probably knew given the
look of amusement he shot at Dex.

“How’s your patient?” Cy asked Jesmina while still staring at Dex.

“I think he’s going to be okay.”

“Who the hell shot him?” Dex snapped out. Damn if he was going to let
her ignore him any longer. After all, she had brought him here, not the other way
around.

She turned to face Dex. “I—I don’t know. And I don’t need to
know.”

“Why’s that?”

“It’s part of what I promise my patients. I treat without
discrimination. I don’t interrogate. For example, I’m tempted to ask you and Cy
how you both managed to sustain fresh bruises to your faces since I saw you
last, but you’ll notice I’m not asking you that.”

Cy winced but Dex managed not to do so. Barely.

He strode closer to Jes, satisfied when she took a step back and
started breathing faster.

“If you don’t question your patients before treating them,” he queried,
“then how do you know you’re not helping a bad guy?”

She shrugged. “Good. Bad. It’s a matter of opinion, isn’t it? From my
perspective, all life is precious.”

“Seems like a dangerous rule to live by.” Recalling the stuff he’d read
while he’d been waiting, he couldn’t resist asking, “Is there really such a
thing as a centaur?”

“Yes.”

“And saber tooth vampires?”

She nodded. “Believe me, if you were a vampire with that particular
condition, you wouldn’t need to ask.”

Huh. He’d have to ask Knox about it, if only to give the dharmire a bad
time. “Why didn’t you tell me you were a doctor?”

“Well, for one thing, you never asked.”

“True. We didn’t really talk much at all, did we?”

Her mouth firmed and she looked at Cy, who got the message.

“Why don’t I leave the two of you alone?” Cy said, even though he
didn’t look happy about doing it. “I know you have a lot of catching up to do.
Just know that Mr. Hunt isn’t in top form, Jes. We had some trouble and I hit him
with some of my throwing stars. Quite by accident. I already gave him the
proper inoculation and he’s fine, but he’s likely to be weak.”

“Don’t count on it,” Dex shot back. “I feel fine.”

Cy raised a brow. “Still, you used considerable energy while I was…giving
you a tour of the place. Don’t do anything overly vigorous while I’m gone.”

Jes flushed at Cy’s words.

Cy chuckled before gently rubbing her cheek with a knuckle.

Okay, enough was enough. Dex growled, the sound an obvious warning. In
case Cy missed it, however, Dex ordered, “Get your hands off her.”

Cy flipped him a look. “Who’s going to make me?”

“You’ll find out in about two seconds. And this time, I won’t bother
playing nice.”

“Nice, huh? Interesting,” Cy muttered, but he dropped his hand. “Like I
said, I’ll give you two time to talk.”

He left.

Dex and Jesmina stared at one another for several tense moments before
she spoke. “I’m sorry you got hurt. Let me see…”

Dex heard her words. He saw her lips moving as she formed them. But
they were a distant thing in his mind. He found himself walking toward her
without any intent to do so. Saw her eyes widen just before he swept her up in
his arms and took her mouth with his.

She tasted as sweet as he remembered. Even sweeter. She’d welcomed him
before, but not as she did now. Now, she clung to him, pulling him into her
body with an obvious desperation that told Dex she’d thought of him too. His
hands swept into her hair, but he didn’t like the dark strands, missing the
silver that sparkled and shimmered like jewels. He lightly ran his arms over
her, her breasts, her hips, her thighs.

She gasped and it took him a moment to realize she was pushing him
away.

“Wait. Stop, Dex. I—I didn’t bring you here for this.”

He blinked and took a step back, breathing hard, fists clenching.

“I—I need a minute. Please. Let me sit down.”

Taking her arm, he guided her to the same armchair he’d used earlier.

Shakily, she sat down.

He pushed several strands of hair out of her face. “What’s wrong? Are
you sick?”

“Yes, I am. And I need to feed. I need pure blood from an immaculate.
I’ve arranged for someone to come to me.”

“Fast food delivery? At this late hour?”

She gave a ghost of smile. “Something like that. He was supposed to be
here a while ago, before you showed up, but he was delayed.”

“He?” She was going to drink from another male. While Dex was here. And
he couldn’t help the jealousy and possessiveness that once again swirled
through him. This time, considering the guy was nowhere in sight and was going
to be her meal and not her lover, the emotions bothered him. A lot. He had no
true connection to this woman. No rights. Why was he acting as if he did?

“Yes. He’s one of the few immaculates nearby that I trust.”

“How long—”

“I’ve used him a few times only. But he’s young. His blood is very
potent.”

I’ll bet it is. “Why am I here, Jes? And how did you know I was in
France?”

She hesitated and bit her lip. “Listen, Dex, I—”

A young Adonis, blond and tall and muscular, walked into the room. Dex
growled at the interruption, but mostly it was with renewed jealousy. Of course
this was the immaculate she was going to feed from. Only the best for Jes. The
guy was so good looking he even put Caleb O’Flare to shame.

“I’m so sorry I’m late, Jessie.” He held out a hand to Dex. “I’m Raul Merced.”