Enemy Mine (5 page)

opened up into. Placing his palm against

the other biometric scanner—one that also

read his lower vampire body temperature,

not just his palm and fingerprints—he

opened the heavy metal door and entered

first.

He paused for a moment, inhaling

scents and listening for heartbeats. A lot

of supernatural beings could mask their

scent and even their heartbeat, but he was

almost a hundred percent sure they were

alone. Still, he did a quick sweep of the

five bedroom place before retrieving

Melina from the front door.

He steered her down the long hallway

that branched off toward bedrooms and

opened up into the living room. The living

space directly connected to a giant kitchen

with all new, state of the art appliances—

kind of pointless to have considering his

kind didn’t need to eat. They did and

could, especially in social settings to put

others at ease, but it wasn’t a necessity.

From the amused look on Melina’s face

he could tell she was thinking the same

thing. When she shivered, all traces of his

own amusement fled.

Stroking his knuckles down her cheek,

he reveled in the feel of her soft skin.

“Are you okay? What happened back there

to make you so weak?” He’d had to pull

out a chunk of glass from her head—the

thought made his hands curl into fists—but

it shouldn’t have weakened her to the

point that she’d needed his blood.

Something flickered in her eyes but it

was gone so fast he wasn’t sure what to

make of it. Wrapping her arms around

herself, she shrugged. “I was in a car

accident.”

“There’s more to it though, isn’t there?”

She swallowed hard and shook her

head. “No.” She’d make a terrible poker

player. Those big green eyes of hers

flashed with guilt, but he didn’t have the

heart to grill her.

Not when she was covered in her own

blood and looked ready to fall over from

sheer exhaustion. “Come on. I’ll show you

where the shower is.”

Gratefulness filled her expression as

she followed him. It only reaffirmed he’d

made the right decision not to question her

further.

Once she was showered and rested,

however, he wouldn’t show restraint.

* * *

Melina stood under the powerful shower

jets of one of the guest bathrooms in

Kiernan’s condo. From what she gathered,

he lived on the entire top floor. It was

only seven stories up, but she didn’t plan

to go out to the balcony anytime soon. She

and heights did not mix.

She’d tossed her dress onto the shiny

white tile of the bathroom floor. She

almost felt bad because the place was so

pristine. Like a freaking hotel. No warmth

or personal touches anywhere. Just

abstract paintings pictures dotted various

walls. And everything was so masculine.

The warm water coursing over her was

like heaven. Thanks to Kiernan’s blood

she felt almost like new. A little tired, but

not like she should have been. For a

moment she’d been tempted to tell him

about her natural healing abilities but had

held back. It wasn’t common knowledge

and her father would be incredibly angry

if she told a vampire about it.

The upside of her gift was that she

could heal most animals, humans, shifters,

and pretty much any supernatural being—

unless they were too far gone like the

sweet mastiff from earlier that day. In

worst case scenarios it drained her to the

point of incredible weakness, and it took a

long time for her to heal. It was the reason

she’d become a vet as opposed to entering

another medical field. Healing animals

didn’t drain her nearly as much as other

beings did.

Once she was sure all the blood was

washed clean, she stepped from the giant

glass and stone enclosed shower and

slipped on the fluffy blue robe Kiernan

had left for her. Since it was almost her

size and definitely too small for him, she

wondered who it belonged to but pushed

down the unfamiliar feeling of jealousy.

Kiernan had the ability to make her

claws unsheathe without doing a damn

thing. All she had to do was think about

him with another woman and she was

ready to claw someone’s eyes out. It went

so against her personality it shocked her to

her core.

“Find everything okay?” Kiernan’s

deep, familiar voice made her jerk around

from drying her hair at the mirror.

She placed a hand over her chest. “I

didn’t even hear you.” That surprised her.

With her heightened senses she should

have, but she’d been too wrapped up in

her own thoughts.

His dark gaze traveled from her face,

practically caressed her covered breasts,

then dipped all the way to her painted pink

toenails.

Unable to stop her physical reaction,

her nipples beaded almost painfully.

Almost as if he knew, his lips curved up

slightly as his eyes landed on her face

once again. “I turned this back on and it’s

been ringing nonstop since you got in the

shower.” Sighing, he held out her cracked

cell, as if it was the last thing he wanted to

give her.

Frowning, she took it, looking at the

cracked face. “I didn’t think it was

working.”

“I didn’t either. Looks like it just got

turned off in your struggle.”

She’d need to replace it but she was

thankful it worked. Now she could at least

call her family and tell them she was all

right. After what happened she knew she

should probably go home to the safety of

her pack, but she didn’t want to. They’d

keep her under lockdown and she loathed

the thought of living like that. At least with

Kiernan she’d have some freedom. “Do

you think . . . I could stay with you?”

His eyes darkened to a midnight black

as he nodded. He growled low in his

throat in answer.

Something about that look made her

entire body flare to life. She’d been on the

receiving end of his focus once and it had

threatened to overload her senses. To find

herself there again made her body tingle in

raw sexual awareness. But first . . . “Did

you plan to use me because of my family?”

“No.” The answer was so immediate

she had no doubt of the truthfulness. Not to

mention she couldn’t smell the bitterness

of a lie. His next words surprised her.

“What I want from you has
nothing
to do

with your pack. And when I think about

you, I’m sure as hell not thinking about

anyone else. I don’t like shifters—or I

didn’t until I met you. It’s not exactly a

secret, but I don’t want to use you. At least

not in the sense you’re asking about.

However, I do plan to use your body for

all sorts of . . . things.”

Things.
The dark note in that single

word sent an erotic thrill through her. One

that made the heat between her legs grow

until all she could think about was taking

off her robe, stepping into his arms, and

letting him push deep inside her.

Considering the way he was practically

undressing her with his eyes she knew he

wouldn’t reject her. Before she could

contemplate anything, her phone buzzed in

her hand. The number on the screen

surprised her. It wasn’t a member of her

pack, but Irene, a human woman from a

homeless shelter downtown. Melina knew

her friend wouldn’t call in the evening

unless it was an emergency.

She immediately pressed the talk

button. “Hello?”

“Melina, thank God! I need your help.

One of the teenagers who bounces in and

out of the shelter has been shot.”

Hating that Kiernan could hear every

detail of their conversation thanks to his

extrasensory abilities, she turned to the

side, trying to give herself the illusion of

privacy. “Why haven’t you called the

police?”

“He’s here with two of his friends.

They both have guns and are refusing to let

me call the cops. They’re not going to hurt

me but they said if I tried to call the cops

they’ll leave. He doesn’t have much time

and I thought . . .” Her voice broke. “He’s

hanging out with the wrong crowd—local

gang members—but he’s such a good kid.

I thought maybe you could help him with

your gift.” She whispered the last part.

Irene was one of the few people who

knew what Melina could do. She

volunteered with the other woman, and

Melina had needed to use her healing

powers more than once in Irene’s

presence. Not even Melina’s pack knew

the human was aware of what she could

do, and she planned to keep it that way.

Shooting Kiernan a glance over her

shoulder, she bit the inside of her lip.

“Give me fifteen minutes.”

“Thank you so much. Use the kitchen

entrance at the back, that’s where we are.”

After hanging up, Kiernan gave her a

dark look. “You’re not going anywhere.

Not with shifters out to kidnap you.”

“I have to. I’m sure you heard my

conversation.” He nodded. “Then you

know I have to go. Do you have any

clothes I can wear?”

Growling under his breath and sounding

more like a shifter than a vampire, he

turned, motioning with his hand for her to

follow. Hurrying after him she followed

him to what she assumed was another

guest room. It wasn’t covered in his

distinctive, wild scent.

He jerked open a door to reveal an

oversized walk-in closet. “I don’t know

what’s in here but it belongs to some of

my cousins. Just grab what you need.”

Crossing his arms over his chest, he

leaned against the door frame as if he

planned to watch her.

“Uh, I need to get changed.”

“I guess you better hurry then.” His

voice was full of sin and sex.

She could waste time arguing with him,

but decided to just drop her robe. There

wasn’t time, something he knew and was

capitalizing on. She couldn’t really fault

him because if she had a chance to see him

naked again . . . No time to go there.

Kiernan sucked in a breath behind her

as the thick robe hit the floor. She smiled

to herself. Served him right for refusing to

leave. Feeling incredibly exposed, but

also powerful that she could evoke

reactions from a vampire as sensual as

Kiernan, she grabbed a plain long-sleeved

black T-shirt and tugged it over her head.

She was very aware that she wasn’t

wearing any underclothes but she didn’t

see any lying around. She didn’t relish the

thought of wearing a stranger’s underwear

anyway.

After shimmying into a pair of dark

jeans, she turned to find Kiernan had gone

impossibly still. She felt her cheeks heat

up at the blatant lust in his eyes. He

looked like he wanted to take her right on

the closet floor. “You insisted on staying,”

she said quietly.

“I did.”

She swallowed hard but forced her

eyes away from him and onto the closet

floor. The space was packed with a

ridiculous amount of name brand clothing,

purses, and thankfully shoes. She scooped

up a pair of flat boots and slid them on. It

felt weird without socks but oh well. They

needed to be gone ten minutes ago. “Thank

you for taking me.”

He gave a curt nod as he exited the

closet with her. Wearing all dark clothing

and with his height, he looked so damn

intimidating she was glad he’d be with her

facing the gang members. Not that she

worried about some human kids being

able to hurt her, but some of those kids got

jacked up on fae or demon blood. It not

only gave them super strength, it made

some of them go out of their heads.

“So what’s this gift your friend was

talking about?”

She shrugged as he opened the front

door into that gorgeous marble entryway.

“I’m a doctor. I might work on animals,

but I’ve helped her before with some of

the kids from the local
barrios
. They’re too afraid to call the cops and they know

Irene won’t narc them out to anyone. If she

trusts me, they’ll trust me too.”

He shook his head. “I can’t believe

your father is okay with that.”

Shooting him a quick glance, she gave

him a tight smile. “He doesn’t know.”

Jaw tight, he just shook his head. The

elevator dinged as they reached the ground

floor and she resisted rolling her eyes at

him. She did not need another male in her

life telling her what to do or judging her

actions. He stopped in front of a car.

“What’s this?” she asked.

“All these vehicles are property of my

coven.” He swept his hand out at the array