Embrace the Heat (31 page)

Zane turned just long enough to give Raven a
flirty wink. “There were lots of hot vampires out there fighting
today. I figure I should try this feeding thing and see if I want
to come visit the little kit more often. Might be a fun
distraction. In case you didn’t know, shifters really like strong
women.”

“If I didn’t know you liked women, I might be
jealous of you feeding Simon,” Layla said as she let Simon help her
into the jeep.

Zane laughed. “I like males too, and yours is
quite the male. Don’t worry, I can tell he’s only into you. We
don’t encroach on the mates of others, most of the time at
least.”

Simon laughed. “I hate to say it, but I don’t
want to kill him nearly as much as I did when I first met him.”

“How do we do this?” Zane asked.

Simon shrugged. “Throat is better, but a lot
of people prefer wrist because it’s less personal.”

Layla wanted to insist on the wrist, but she
bit her tongue. For some reason she felt even more possessive of
Simon at that moment. It wasn’t about Zane, more about the need to
protect him from everyone.

“Better go for the wrist so the little kit
doesn’t open her wound again,” Zane said and offered one to Simon.
“She’s protective right now because you’re injured.”

Norah brought over supplies to clean Zane’s
wrist which was full of blood, probably human and turned vampire.
The human blood wouldn’t bother Simon, but the turned vampire blood
could make him sick if he consumed enough.

Simon’s fangs slid into Zane’s wrist, and
Zane closed his eyes and moaned. Simon kept his eyes on Layla the
entire time. She could see his energy quickly returning. When Simon
went to pull away, Zane tried to stop him. Realizing what he was
doing, Zane pulled his hand back and ducked his head. When he
looked up he had a sheepish smile on his face.

“Sorry, I got a little carried away,” Zane
admitted.

Simon waved off his apology. “That’s okay.
Your blood is even stronger than Layla’s. I feel much better
already. Thank you.”

“You can repay me by introducing me to some
of the available vampires when I come to visit,” Zane said. “I
really don’t have a gender preference.”

Raven muttered something about how they would
likely regret that.

Simon just laughed. “Are you looking for
something permanent?”

“My father would force me to change and skin
me,” Zane said. “Just looking for some fun. Man that feeding thing
was incredible.”

Layla looked annoyed. “Why did you have to
make him enjoy it?” she asked.

Simon chuckled. “You think I made it sexual
for him?”

She nodded. The vampires could do that, and
it’s why so many humans volunteered to donate on a personal
level.

“I like a little pain,” Zane explained. “It’s
a shifter thing. We’re kind of rough in bed, as I’m sure you
already noticed.”

The others joined them, and Layla was glad to
see that Danny was safe. Connor was helping move the badly injured
and determining who needed blood first. Once that was settled and
blood was being donated to a few, he made his way over to the
jeeps.

“Did they take Ian?” Connor asked as soon as
he got there.

Simon shook his head. “Ian was stabbed in the
heart when we were fighting. The humans said to kill him and take
me. There was a lot of blood,” Simon said and looked down.

Connor nodded. “Head back with the first
group. Once I get the injured stable enough to transport, we’ll
head back.” He grabbed Raven and kissed her roughly. “Be at home
when I get there,” he practically growled. “I will not be happy if
I have to go looking for you more than once today.”

Raven stroked his cheek and hugged him
tightly. “I’m sorry about Ian.”

Connor nodded and started to leave.

“I’ll help with the injured,” Norah said and
followed him.

Connor turned and shook his head. “You’d be
wise to go back home too. Rand is seriously on edge after the
fighting.”

“Rand can kiss my ass,” Norah huffed and
stormed past Connor.

Connor merely sighed and followed her.

“Let’s go home,” Simon said.

Norah was bandaging a wound when she sensed
Rand behind her. Even if her body didn’t react so strongly to
Rand’s scent, the air practically vibrated with his tension. Under
normal circumstances, fighting did that to vampires. This was even
worse, because he’d been pissed at her for leaving the settlement
before the fighting started.

After the bandage was in place, she smiled at
the vampire she was helping. This was one of the newer trainees,
and it had been quite a day for him. “You did great today, and that
wound should heal quickly.”

“Thanks,” he said with a grin.

“Head over to the jeeps and see if they need
any help before you’re transported back,” she told him.

After the vampire walked away, Norah turned
and put her hands on her hips. “You can yell at me later,” she
said. “Yelling won’t change anything though. I did what had to be
done.”

Rand didn’t say anything, merely crossed his
arms in front of his chest and waited for her to continue.

“I know you wanted to come back to the woman
you left behind. Instead, you came back and the woman you’d married
was gone. This can’t be easy for you. It’s not your fault you were
gone for a year, but it’s not my fault I changed because of it. The
thing is, I like who I am now.”

Rand’s lips curled into a small smile, and he
grabbed her arm to pull her against his chest. “I like this woman
too. You scare me,” he admitted. “I’m terrified of losing you, and
I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to wishing you’d just stay home
where it’s safe. Even though that’s true, I’m proud of you. Seeing
you fight today, made me want to take you against a tree. Hell, I
want to take you about a dozen ways right now.”

Norah’s cheeks flushed. “That sounds like
fun.”

“Then let’s get home so I can show you all
the ways I want you.”

Norah smiled at him. “I love you, Rand.”

Rand grabbed the back of her neck and bent
forward to kiss her. It was a long hard kiss. When he finally
released her, Norah was breathless and needed Rand’s support to
keep from falling over. “You’re mine,” he said simply.

All she could manage was a breathy,
“Yes.”

“Finish up what you need to do,” he said
gently and walked back to help Connor load the injured into jeeps
for transport.

Norah smiled as she watched her husband walk
away. There was no denying it; she loved that man.

Simon was too exhausted to follow through on
his promise to pleasure Layla when they got back to the settlement.
The exhaustion wasn’t so much from the injuries as it was the
memories of what had happened. Those memories would haunt him for a
long time. Layla also wasn’t fully recovered from her injuries and
needed rest.

Waking up with Layla by his side was a
relief. She was curled against him on the side away from the brand.
Zane’s blood had healed the brand enough that it didn’t hurt
anymore, but he still didn’t want it exposed. As much as he tried
to believe he’d moved past his youth, this whole thing proved he
still had a lot to work through. The time had come to do something
about his demons. Simon’s past had affected too much of his life
over the decades.

“What are you thinking about?” Layla asked
sleepily.

He looked over at her, surprised by his own
desire to share. “That was where they kept us back when we were
blood whores. Not that building. Most of the original buildings
were burned to the ground during the rebellion.”

“I know,” Layla said and stroked his chest.
“Norah told me. Being there must have made things worse.”

“I never talked about what happened to me
back then. Not to anyone. It’s not like we all sat around and
discussed our own personal hell. Mostly, we didn’t want it to
interfere with our rare moments of peace. Still, no one kept things
a secret, except me. None of my friends know what happened to me.
They don’t know what I did.”

Layla continued to stroke his chest and
abdomen in a comforting gesture.

“The ones who wanted to fuck me weren’t the
problem. Well, not the biggest problem. Of course, I hated being
used. I was pretty and attracted attention young. Eloise held them
off for as long as she could, but the owner was a greedy bastard
who wanted the money I could bring in. No one beat me or marked me
in any way because the owner didn’t want to have any marks on me. I
was one of the best treated blood whores at the reservation. That
made me feel guilty when I started to see the stuff they did to
Shelby. She was the next to be forced to whore herself. The bruises
didn’t stand out as much on her skin, so there weren’t many
restrictions on what the humans could do to her.”

“That wasn’t your fault,” Layla assured him.
“You didn’t decide how they would treat you or Shelby. There was
nothing you could have done.”

Simon nodded, but he wasn’t really sure he
agreed with her. “Ironically, the only time I was treated really
poorly, Eloise killed the man. One of the regulars wanted to act
out a public rape fantasy in front of his friends. That sort of
sick stuff was pretty common, but I’d never been forced to
participate before. I didn’t even know any of the vampires saw it
until Eloise told us she’d killed the asshole. That was the day we
rebelled. Our choices were to fight, or let them kill Eloise.”

“Those humans were scum,” Layla muttered.

“That was far from the worst thing that
happened to me,” Simon said. “Roger was the son of the owner of the
reservation, and he was obsessed with me. Sex was never what he
wanted from me. He just liked screwing with my mind. He’d make
other blood whores come in and do things for me, or try to force me
to beat them. They would beg me to do it because they knew they’d
suffer more if I didn’t. Roger would have made it so much worse for
them. The reason I couldn’t talk to anyone about what happened was
I felt like one of the bastards who abused my friends. I was one of
them. No matter how much I hated it, my body reacted. My body
enjoyed the pleasure the other blood whores gave me against their
will.”

“That’s why you were so upset when he wanted
me to give you a blow job,” Layla said.

“I felt like I’d been sucked back into the
hell of my childhood. There I was, helpless to do anything to stop
it from happening. Even worse, I had that stupid brand on me,”
Simon said.

“I could kill Roger for what he did to you,”
Layla grumbled.

“Hopefully we’ll get the chance,” Simon
said.

“How did Roger get one of the collars? I
thought they only had them here.”

Then Simon realized he hadn’t told anyone
about Narissa. “Damn! I forgot to mention this to Connor. Narissa
took them. She was going to trade three wood nymphs to Roger for
me.”

“That bitch,” Layla grumbled.

Simon quickly got out of bed and started to
look for his phone before remembering it had been taken from him
when he’d been captured. “We need to go talk to Connor and Raven.
They’ll need to warn the wood nymphs about what happened and make
sure the guards know to detain her if she shows up here.”

Raven was glad she was working at the school
today. After two weeks of being in Fangri La and then all the
drama on her return, she needed a less stressful day. Seeing the
kids always made her happy.

She was surprised to see Narissa hurrying
after her. “Wait up, Raven!” she called out.

Raven gave her a tentative smile. After their
last encounter, she hadn’t expected to see Narissa at the
settlement. “What are you doing here?” Then a thought occurred to
her. “You aren’t here to see Simon, are you?”

Narissa shook her head. “Simon made his
feelings perfectly clear,” she said. “I won’t come here looking for
him again. There’s an injured wolf nearby and I was hoping you’d
help me with him. After what I said, I wouldn’t blame you for
saying no, but I don’t think he’ll survive until I can get another
nymph linked to the wolf.”

“I’ll get Connor,” Raven said.

Narissa caught her arm. “He’s just outside
the gates and in a lot of pain.”

Raven hesitated. The wolf wasn’t Narissa’s
animal, so she wouldn’t be able to help with the healing. Still,
Raven didn’t completely trust Narissa’s intentions after their last
meeting. Narissa obviously wasn’t fond of her.

“Listen,” Narissa began, “I’m sorry about the
way I acted before. At the time, I was jealous and hurt, but that
was no reason to take it out on you. I want us to be friends. Even
if we can’t, you shouldn’t make the wolf suffer for what I
did.”

Raven nodded and headed toward the gate with
Narissa. Narissa led her out of the settlement and a little way
into the woods before stopping. She scanned the area, looking
confused and worried. “He was just here.”

The problem was that Raven didn’t smell a
wolf. Then she felt the sting of the dart in her neck. She hit the
call button on her phone and prayed Connor would answer. Her finger
worked to turn the volume all the way down so he wouldn’t be
heard.

“What are you doing?” she asked in a groggy
voice, fighting to stay conscious.

“I’m trading you for Simon. As soon as I get
the vampire three wood nymphs, he’ll give me Simon. I know it would
have been easier to get three young ones from the community, but I
like the idea of you spending the rest of your life as a prisoner,”
she taunted.

Raven laughed weakly. “Joke’s on you. Simon
is back at his house right now.”

Narissa’s face contorted with rage. “Liar!”
she spat out. “I saw him. I was there when they branded him. He’s
mine now.”

Raven wanted to say more. Wanted to argue,
but the words that came out were barely intelligible, even to her.
“Home now.”