Tracey H. Kitts - Lilith Mercury 1 - Red (35 page)

The woman fell limp to one side and I turned my attention to Marco as I retracted my claws.

“I had no choice,” I explained.

Luther stepped forward. “She’s right. Amy attacked Lilith on her way to the kitchen.”

It was nice to have back up, but I hadn’t asked for it. It made me wonder if Marco wouldn’t have taken my word alone.

RED

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“I gave her a choice.” I motioned back to where she lay. “This is the choice she made.”

“I see,” Marco finally responded.

About that time, the before motionless Amy rose to her feet and ran at me, her mutilated cheek hanging back horribly from the bones of her face.

“You goddamned bitch,”
she screamed, her voice deepening with the beginnings of the change.

I grabbed a nearby chair and hit her with all of my strength across the face. The chair splintered and her neck flopped nauseatingly to one side. She hit the floor with a loud smack.

You could have heard a pin drop as I turned back to Marco and said, “I’m sorry for killing one of your wolves, but she left me no choice.”

“I agree,” he said grimly, looking down at Amy’s body.

There was more I wanted to say to him, but it was not for the prying eyes that surrounded us to observe. I was truly sorry for what I’d been forced to do, but I wasn’t about to let her kill me.

Luther reached over me and I felt a sharp pain in my back. He held up a large bloody piece of glass and asked me, “Didn’t you feel that?”

“No,” I looked at the glass in amazement. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it,” he said absently.

My back felt warm and I knew that it was blood pouring from the wound. I looked around and saw I had fallen on a broken bottle. It must have been knocked from the table when she had lunged at me. Damn. It hurt, but I wasn’t about to show weakness to that crowd.

“You still hungry?” I asked Marco.

He looked stunned, but nodded as he said, “I’ll come with you.”

Luther gestured toward the body on the floor at our feet, “I’ll take care of this.”

Marco and I walked through the door behind the bar and into the kitchen. What had become club Red had at one time been a small restaurant and still had a very nice kitchen, complete with a large freezer at the back. Without a word I walked all the way to the freezer before I let myself get upset.

“Son of a bitch,” I slammed my fist into the stainless steel door.

“Red, are you alright?” Marco snatched up my shirt and began to examine my back.

“You mean other than the gaping wound in my back? Yeah, I’m fine,” I snapped.

“There’s more glass here,” he said.

“Great.”

He went to a closet in the back of the room and took out a huge first aid kit.

“Wait. Can you do this upstairs?”

“Yes,” he paused looking confused.

“Then let’s go upstairs. The longer we spend down here, the more they’ll think I’m having to depend on you to patch me up.”

He eyed me critically for a moment before putting the first aid kit back.

RED

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“Are you sure you’ve never been around a wolf pack before? You certainly seem to know what others would take as weakness.”

“I’m just very self conscious. Now, let’s get what we came for and walk back upstairs.”

We hurried and got the breakfast supplies that we’d come for in the first place.

Whether or not we were going to eat remained to be seen, but I’d be damned if I let them think that some crazy shewolf had interrupted my plans. So, I was losing blood. I’d live.

On our way back, I refused to let Marco support me at all, but didn’t object when he said to at least let him carry the food. Once we were inside his office, my knees began to buckle. He dropped everything on the desk and nearly ran to me.

“Damn it, Red. What’s wrong with you?”

“I landed on a broken bottle remember?”

“You know that’s not what I’m talking about. You’re losing a lot of blood.” He scooped me up like I weighed nothing and carried me into his apartment.

“You know, it’s not a sign of weakness to let the alpha male take care of you. It’s an honor not many are ever afforded.”

“I feel so special,” I smirked.

Marco gave me a nasty look, but I could see the concern behind his dark eyes.

A minute or so later, he put me down beside the tub and started striping the pajamas off of me.

“What the hell?”

“I’ve got to find all of the glass,” he said.

I stood there topless while Marco fished several more pieces of glass out of my back and tossed them onto the countertop. Next, he tried to lead me to the shower.

“Wait a minute, what are you doing?”

“I need to clean the wound. The easiest and least painful way to do that is to rinse your back in the shower. Then I can stitch you up.”

“I need stitches?”

“A few.” He took off his robe and flung it into a chair in the corner.

“Marco, I am not getting in the shower naked with you.”

“Fine, you want me to get in with my clothes on?”

“I can wash the wound myself. Just stand by the door.”

He stared me down for a moment before agreeing. Once I stepped inside the shower and tried to bend over to slide the pants off, I found that it pulled the gash in my back and caused not only more bleeding, but intense pain.

“Marco?”

“Yes?”

“Could you take my pants off, please?” I was utterly humiliated.

“I’m sorry, did you actually ask for my help?”

“Don’t be an asshole now. I think I just ripped something else loose trying to undress myself. You can gloat later.”

Marco stepped inside the shower, reached around my back and removed my bra.

He took hold of the pajamas at my waist and kneeled at my feet, sliding the silk pjs down RED

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with him. To my surprise, he didn’t ogle me or make any obscene remarks, but he did watch while I turned on the water.

“Just stand where the water can hit you. I’ll get a towel.”

When he came back a few minutes later and stood on the other side of the half wall divider, I was beginning to feel dizzy. I didn’t even care anymore that I was naked.

I just wanted to lie back down.

I walked to where Marco held the towel out for me and stepped into his arms.

“It’s just not right,” I griped.

“What’s

that?”

“You having to take care of me.”

“Get over it.”

He sat me on the side of the tub with the towel clasped to my chest, but my back exposed. In a minute he was back with an even bigger first aid kit than the one downstairs.

“Do you keep those everywhere?”

“You’ve obviously never spent time with a werewolf before.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Can you see me walking into an emergency room? First thing they’d want to do is blood work. Guess what? I’ve got a virus they’ve never heard of before. Holy shit, it’s a werewolf,” he said.

“Not that they could identify it that quickly, but I see what you mean.”

He pulled out a needle and thread.

“You want this straight, or would you like something for pain?”

“That depends. How many stitches do I need?”

He looked at my back again before answering. “Several.”

“What have you got?”

He named off several things, all of which were strong enough to take down a horse, which was what most werewolves needed for it to be effective.

“Just pick one before I start to heal with these all crooked,” I said finally.

He handed me some pills and a glass of water. I took them unquestioningly.

Within about ten minutes they were working. That’s another good thing about having a fast metabolism. Pain medicine might not last as long, but it worked fast.

When Marco began to run the needle through my skin, I felt a slight tugging sensation, but no pain. He had obviously done this before.

“What did you land on exactly? This was way too much glass for a beer bottle.”

“It looked like a giant mason jar.”

“Shit,” I heard him clip the thread.

“Yeah, well at least it’s not in your back.”

“Do you scar?”

“Not since my attack,” I said.

“Good. I’d hate for something so stupid to ruin such beautiful skin.” He leaned in and pressed a kiss on my shoulder. “All done. You still hungry?”

My stomach growled before I could answer. “Actually, I am.”

RED

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Marco led me into the bedroom where he helped me slip into one of his silk robes.

This one was black and reached to my ankles. My back felt stiff when I moved and I dreaded trying to drive home. Of course, it was still storming outside, so that might be a while. Hurricane Alistair had moved further upstate and would shortly be downscaled to a tropical storm, but the weather was still awful.

I sat at one of the barstools in the kitchen and watched Marco cook breakfast.

After setting a plate of eggs, bacon, and toast in front of me he asked, “How quickly do you heal?”

“It depends on the injury. Light bruises and minor stuff is usually healed over night. Cuts, like the ones on my back may take up to a week. Why?”

“I may know of a faster way for you to heal. That is unless you want to drive home with stitches in your back?”

“Well, I’d prefer to avoid it,” I said around a mouthful of toast. “What’s you’re idea?”

“Sleep with me,” he said, while he got some juice out of the fridge.

I started to choke on my eggs and he added, “I mean literally,
sleep.
” He handed me a glass of juice and I gulped it down. “Still got your mind in my pants, Red?” he chuckled.

“I really hate you.”

“So you keep saying, but you didn’t hate me very much last night.”

“I was cold.” It was a weak defense.

He laughed. “Sure, and we weren’t lying on top of a thick comforter. Whatever helps you sleep at night, Red.” He winked.

After breakfast, he suggested that we lie down while the pain killers were still working and I would be able to fall asleep more easily. When we got back into the bedroom, he started to strip.

“Whoa! Wait a minute! What are you doing?”

“Can’t you ever just trust me?”

“No, I want an explanation.”

He sighed resignedly. “Injured wolves recover faster with rest. Their recovery is also speeded by the nearness of pack members.”

“What’s that got to do with you getting naked?”

“It only works if I can touch your injury with my bare skin.” The way he spoke those last few words did something for me. But then again, just looking at Marco did something for me. I had no idea how I could lay in a bed with him,
naked
. I wasn’t entirely sure I could control myself. And through the fog of sedation, I wasn’t sure I wanted to. The one thing I was sure of was that if I had sex with Marco, I would regret it in the morning.

“Marco, I don’t know if I can lay here with you naked.”

“I promise to hold back.” He seemed serious.

“Hold

back?”

“You’re not the only one with sexual powers you know. For some werewolves, it just comes with the territory.”

“And you’re one of those werewolves?”

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He nodded with a sexy smile.

“I knew you were trying to seduce me.” I pointed a finger at him.

His laugh floated over my skin and gave me chills. “I’m not the one who’s in denial,” he said.

I took a deep breath and decided that for both our sakes, I should be as completely honest as possible. “I’ll be straight with you, Marco. Even if you do hold back, there’s only so much I can take.” It griped my butt to admit how he affected me, but it was true.

His smile was everything you’d expect the devil to be as he responded smoothly,

“You’ve got ten stitches in your back, Red.”

“You’ve obviously underestimated the effect you have on me.”

Marco’s smile began to fade, and there was a tenderness in his eyes that made me want to trust him. “Can’t you just let me comfort you?”

“I’m not sure,” I whispered.

“Didn’t you find me comforting last night?”

“I certainly did, with all of your clothes on.”

He laughed. “At least give me a chance. I can control how much of my power that you feel.” He opened his arms and reached for me. “You’re not mine to protect …

you’re really not mine at all, but you’re here now, and I need to be near you.”

I stepped into his embrace and wrapped my arms around him. Marco was bare from the waist up and I pressed my face against the soft hair on his chest. It hurt to move my arms because it flexed the skin over my back, but I didn’t care. The soft warm skin of his back was too irresistible not to caress. As I ran my hands over his muscular arms, I rubbed my face against him like a cat. Marco had the most amazingly well built physique. He was muscular without being overdone. In every way that was observable to the naked eye, Marco was just right.

He reached into the front of the robe I was wearing and slid it down past my shoulders.

“Let me help you, Red.”

He slid the robe down around my waist and I didn’t stop him. As Marco ran his warm hands over the cuts on my back he looked at my face even though my breasts were exposed. I appreciated the eye contact. Marco’s touch was like a drug to me and I felt weaker the more he touched me.

I placed my hands just over the sinuous curve of his hips and pressed myself against him. The way the hair on his chest felt pressed against my bare breasts was all I had imagined it would be. In my mind I was taken back to that first night when I’d seen him in the club and later handcuffed him to a chair for questioning. That evening in my hotel room I had dreamed about Marco and how good it would feel to touch him this way. But my dreams which were usually so vivid could not compare to the reality of having him hold me like that.

After a few minutes, my back felt less stiff and I told him so.

“Now do you believe me?” he asked lazily. Apparently I wasn’t the only one that our contact was having a drugging effect on.