Scarlet Heat (Born to Darkness) (9 page)

“All right,” he said, letting it drop. “But I
really don’t want you going out in the sunlight again—you scared the hell out
of me just now.”

“I was pretty scared myself,” I admitted. “I
never would have gone out of the house in direct sunlight, though—I only went
out this morning because the sun wasn’t really all the way up yet. And I wanted
to coax you in and get that awful trap off your paw.”

“That’s another thing,” he said, frowning at me.
“I warned you that my Wolf might be dangerous to you—might see you as the enemy
or prey. You shouldn’t have risked letting me in.”

“I
had
to,”
I said simply. “I’m a vet—or I was going to be, anyway, before Celeste came
along and turned me even though I didn’t want to be turned. I can’t stand to
see an animal in pain. I had to help you.”

He gave me a grim look. “You’re lucky I didn’t
take your face off.”

I gave him an arch little smile. “You were too
busy eating bacon—three packs of it.”

“Three packs?”
He stared at me in disbelief.
“You let me eat
three packs
of bacon?
Fuck, woman—my cholesterol is going to be through the roof.”

I shrugged. “It was the only way to keep you busy
while I treated your paw. Besides, you didn’t strike me as the kind of guy who
worried about things like cholesterol. If you did, why would you have three
packs of bacon in your fridge in the first place?”

“There was a sale at Publix,” he grumbled. “That
precooked stuff—it keeps forever.”

“It does as long as you don’t turn into a huge
hairy wolf and gobble it up all at once,” I said solemnly, trying not to laugh.

Victor looked at me and I could see his defenses
crumbling. Suddenly, he gave a snort of amusement. I pressed my hand over my
mouth but couldn’t hold back a giggle, which made him snort again. Before I
knew it, we were both nearly crying with laughter.

“I don’t…don’t know why it’s so funny,” I gasped
at last, wiping my eyes. “But if you don’t eat bacon when you’re a wolf, what
do
you eat?”

“Game mostly,” he said, shrugging. “Sometimes I
leave something out for myself—you know, in case I didn’t catch anything. But I
would never leave out that much bacon—I got no fucking self control when I’m
the wolf. I don’t know when to stop.”

I shook my head. “That is so weird. You leave out
food for yourself?”

“Yeah, well,” he said defensively. “Some nights
are better hunting than others. And all that running around in the woods works
up an appetite.”

“No, no—I don’t mean weird in a bad way,” I said
hastily. “I just meant…the way you talk about your, uh, wolf—it’s almost like
it—he—is your pet. A pet that lives inside you, I guess, and only comes out at
night during the full moon.”

“He’s more than a pet—he’s the other side of me.
And he comes out a lot more than that,” Victor growled. “He…sometimes I get
stuck in that form. As the wolf. That’s why I told you not to expect me back
anytime soon.”

“So
that’s
why
you were able to stay a wolf even after the sun came up,” I said thoughtfully.
“I wondered about that. Can you turn any time you want?”

He nodded. “Could do it right now if I wanted to.
But then I couldn’t guarantee when I would change back again. Probably tomorrow
morning. The sun being up helps
some
.”

“Is that normal, I mean, for a were?” I asked,
before I thought about it.

Victor’s eyes went abruptly hard.

“I have…” He cleared his throat. “I have a
condition. Called Moon Sickness. That’s what enables me to turn whenever I
want, even in the daylight hours, and keeps me in the wolf form for longer than
usual.”

I sensed I had hit a raw nerve.

“I’m sorry,” I said apologetically. “I didn’t
mean to say you weren’t normal—of course you are.
I’m
the one who’s messed up.”

“What are you talking about?” he asked, frowning.
“You seem fine to me.”

“Oh, no,” I said emphatically. “I’m a
terrible
vampire. That’s why Celeste
hated me so much. She said I was the most hopeless person she’d ever turned.”

“Well, it doesn’t sound like you much wanted to
be turned in the first place,” he pointed out. “It’s hard to be good at
something you hate. But you don’t seem like you’re doing too bad to me.”

I sighed. “Thanks but I can’t do
anything
. I’m no good at finding a
vein—or I wasn’t until Corbin showed me. And I know it hurts when I bite
people.”

“It’s not so bad,” he said politely. “I mean, it
hurt a little last night when you took from my wrist. But this…” he rubbed the
spot on his neck where I’d bitten him. “Hardly hurt at all.”

I felt cautiously pleased. “I am
trying
to get better,” I said. “I’m
learning how to heal the wounds I make too. But there is one thing I don’t
think I’ll ever be any good at.”

“Which is?” He raised an eyebrow at me.

“Glamour.” I sighed. “You know, controlling
someone’s mind? Putting a suggestion in their thoughts or letting them see a
fantasy—”

“You mean glam-sex?” he interrupted.

I nodded. “I can’t do that at all. And honestly,
even if I
could
do it, I wouldn’t
want to. You should hear all the disgusting things people want you to
describe—it’s like being a phone sex operator except you’re actually
seeing and feeling
the things they want
you to talk about. Ugh.” I shivered.

Victor looked thoughtful. “I can see how it would
be fucking nasty with some jerk you didn’t even know. But it doesn’t sound so
bad if you were with someone you wanted to be with.”

“Yeah, well…” I sighed and looked away. “It’s
actually the best way to get blood from a human but I’m no good at it.”

“Which means that once you and I, uh, go our
separate ways, you’re going to be starving again?” He frowned at me.

I stiffened. “I’ll get by.”

“But you shouldn’t have to. Look, why don’t you
practice?”

“Practice—how?”

“On me.” He shrugged. “Weres have a natural mind
shield but I could let it down enough to let you in.”

“Well…” I looked at him uncertainly. “I don’t
know…”

“Just try it,” he urged. “You seem to be getting
better at the biting thing—at least from my point of view. Maybe you can get
better at all of it now that you’re someplace safe. Someplace you know nobody’s
going to hurt you if you mess up.”

He had a point and I was sorely tempted. I
had
been doing better at what my friend
Addison called ‘the vampire basics’ lately. Maybe Victor was right. Maybe I
just needed a little practice.

“Okay,” I said at last, making up my mind. “But
this will have to be a strictly G-rated fantasy. I’m not up for anything else.”

“I know it.” Victor gave me a level look.
“Believe me, I’m not offering to let you glam me because I want to cop a mental
feel or anything like that. I just thought you could use the practice.”

“Thanks.” I smiled at him. Despite his rough
exterior he really was turning out to be a nice guy.

“Okay.” Victor cleared his throat. “So how do we
get started? I’ve never done this before.”

“I haven’t either—not successfully anyway,” I
admitted. “But I think we just hold hands and look into each other’s eyes.”

“Okay.” He held out his hands to me and I took
them, feeling my pulse flutter at his touch. God, he was so
warm.
I leaned forward and looked into
his eyes, which honestly wasn’t easy to do. They were a deep, chocolate brown
and so
intense.
I felt like he was
the one looking into me and not the other way around.

“Now what?” Victor asked, as we continued to
stare at each other.

“Um…concentrate on dropping your shields.” I
wished my voice didn’t sound so breathless. “And then tell me…tell me what you
want to see.”

“Hmm…what I want to see.” I could see a small
smile twitching around the corners of his mouth.

“G-rated,” I reminded him hurriedly.

“Right. G-rated. Okay.” He nodded. “What I want
to see is you, standing in front of me wearing that same dress you had on the
night we were bonded.”

“Oh, that,” I said, remembering the cream-colored
gown he was talking about. It had clung to me in long, silky waves, emphasizing
my curves. I hadn’t known why Corbin had ordered me to wear it until I entered
his office and found out I was supposed to be married to a complete stranger.

Not so much of a stranger anymore,
I heard Victor rumble inside my head.

With a little shock I realized I had done it—I
was in. Inside his head. Or he was in mine. Whatever—this was my first
successful glam-session. Or it would be if I could manage to project the images
he was asking for.

I concentrated hard for a moment and then Victor
and I were standing in the small back room at
Under the Fang
where we had been blood-bonded almost two weeks
before. I was wearing the cream-colored silky gown and the white rosebuds in my
hair and Victor was dressed as he had been also—in the too-tight black jacket
Corbin had loaned him for the occasion.

Hey, come on,
I heard him say.
At least put me in a tux.

Oh, okay.
I concentrated again and there
he was, looking surprisingly suave in a tailored black tux and bow tie.
Better?
I asked.

Victor growled approvingly.
More like it.

Now what?
I looked around the room,
wondering what else he would ask me to show him.

We didn’t have a very long ceremony,
he pointed out.

No. And no reception, either,
I said,
wondering where he was going with this.
Want
me to conjure a wedding cake? If I can make it real enough you should be able
to feel and taste everything. I can even make a buffet table filled with
nothing but bacon. For that matter, I can make you a buffet table
out
of
bacon.
I was trying to joke, trying to defuse some of the tension of being
inside each other’s minds but it didn’t seem to be working.

Not interested in any of that.
Victor’s mental voice
was rough.
But there is one thing we
skipped—the part after Corbin pronounced us bonded.

What do you mean?
I looked up at him quizzically.

I mean this.
Victor stepped forward and took
me in his arms.
The part about kissing
the bride.

Suddenly his mouth was on mine, hot and sweet— incredibly
gentle but urgent at the same time. For a moment I let myself melt against him,
giving in to the kiss, to his strong arms around me, pulling me close to his
big, hard body. And then I realized what I was doing.

“Oh!” I gasped aloud, losing my concentration. I
pulled back from him, breaking our connection both mentally and physically. The
scene we had created together vanished, leaving me sitting in only a t-shirt on
the brown leather couch, staring into his eyes.

“Sorry,” he murmured.

I blinked, trying to clear the glam-vision from
my head but it didn’t want to go somehow.

“Why…why did you do that?” I asked at last.

He shrugged. “I was kind of sorry I didn’t get a
chance to do it the day we got bonded. Did it bother you?”

“I…wasn’t expecting it. That’s all.” I stood up
from the couch abruptly. “Look, I should really go do something with my
clothes. I can’t, uh, run around in just your t-shirt the whole time I’m here.”

“I wouldn’t mind.” His warm brown eyes traveled
up and down my body slowly, making me blush and cross my arms over my breasts. I
was starting to get those feelings again—just as I had after I had fed on him
the night before. What the hell was going on? I pressed my thighs together
tightly where I was suddenly achy and hot.

“Victor…” I frowned at him and he shrugged.

“Hey, sorry. Can’t a guy admire his own wife?”

“I’m not your wife—not really,” I reminded him. “This
is just an arrangement and after the three months are up we’ll go our separate
ways—just like you said.”

He frowned and sighed. “Yeah, I guess I did say
that.”

“You said it because it’s true,” I said and
cleared my throat. Okay, it was time to put our little glam-session behind us
and get practical here. “So where are your washer and dryer?” I asked.

“Out in the garage but you’ll have to let me do
your laundry—there are too many windows out there.” He gave me an apologetic
look. “I’m sorry about that, by the way. Didn’t know I’d be having a vampire wife—uh,
houseguest when I designed this damn place.”

“It’s okay,” I told him, shifting from foot to
foot. The glam-kiss we had so briefly shared kept replaying itself in my head
and I was really starting to feel an urgent need to get away and have some time
on my own. “You couldn’t have known that Corbin would force you to marry some
crazy second-rate vampire girl.”