FIVE

“Oh, I hope so,” he said and she laughed.

“That too, but you know what I mean.”

He nodded. “Do you need me to do anything special while you lay the wards?”

“No. But, Aidan, are you helpless when you are sleeping?”

“Well, not totally, but the zenith of the day is when I’m weakest. I can be awakened but it’s very hard for me to be up and around. It takes an extraordinary event—a lot of adrenaline—to make it happen.”

“Okay, the reason I ask is because I want to place the strongest wards in the place where you are weakest. So let me do your bedroom first. You can be out here or in there, it won’t affect me,” she said absently.

He lay across his bed and watched as she drew sigils in the air and softly spoke the words of the spell. He felt the air knit together as she marked the space. She moved out of the room, providing extra warding at the ceiling, windows, door and walls of his room and then worked her way through the rest of the apartment. After nearly two hours she sat down on his couch, exhausted. He sat next to her and pulled her into his arms. “Thank you,” he said against her hair. He felt a sense of comfort with her that he’d only had with his family. He felt utterly safe with her, like he’d known her forever. He knew that he loved her and that she loved him as well. It was disconcerting and yet it felt utterly natural.

“You’re welcome. Tell me about yourself,” she said against the skin of his throat. His pulse jumped as her lips moved over the jugular vein.

“Are you all right? You seem tired.” He pulled the bandage back and examined the wound. “It looks good, it’s almost gone. That must be some kind of supercharged herbal concoction.”

“My aunt is a gifted healer. It should be gone by morning. I don’t feel anything wrong at this point. I just need to take care of myself tonight.”

“What can I do to help?” he asked.

“I’m tired, I’ve worked a lot of magic today, more than I ever have before. I’ll be fine, I have some herbs at my place. If I burn them as I sleep they aid me in recovery.”

“Then let’s get you back to your place and get that started.” He stood and picked her up, cradling her against his chest.

“Hey, I can walk!”

“I know, I like holding you like this. It’s not a chore.”

“I’m heavy.”

He snorted in disbelief. “Even if I were a mortal man you wouldn’t be heavy, but I’m not mortal, I have quite of bit of strength, I can handle a little bit of a woman like you.”

He walked out, locking the door behind him and they took the stairs back to her apartment. He took her inside and set her down.

“Are you trying to ditch me?” she asked him with a grin as she pulled out the bag of healing herbs she’d picked up at the shop earlier that week. The special mixture was one that she always kept around, it helped to relax her, to purify her spirit and the air. She filled the teakettle with water, put it on the flame and placed a cheesecloth bag filled with the herbs in a teapot and then took the rest and placed them in a special burner and lit it, saying a brief spell for healing and cleansing. Within moments a sweet, refreshing smell was in the air.

“Ditch you? Because I didn’t ravish you on my couch? Not at all. You don’t know how much I want you, how much I want to be with you. I just want you to take care of yourself.”

She turned to him and walked into his arms. Looking up into his face she said seriously, “I do know, I feel it too. It feels so natural to be with you, like I’ve known you forever. I’m not one to be silly over men, I date very rarely and I’ve never felt very deeply about anyone other than the members of my family. I bumped into you seven hours ago and suddenly I feel so…” she sighed, searching for what it is she felt. Aidan put his finger to her lips. “You feel love. That I make you whole. I make you feel fulfilled in a way you’ve never imagined you could. You didn’t realize how empty you had felt until you looked into my eyes and that emptiness was gone,” he said softly. She nodded.

“I know. Because I feel it too.” His eyes seemed to see right to her heart, to her soul. The kettle began to hum and she poured the water into the teapot to steep. “Can I get you anything? You look a bit pale yourself.”

“I haven’t fed. I need to.”

She thought for a moment and went to him, kneeling between his thighs. “I can help. Take my blood. At this point, I’ve done enough checking to be sure it hasn’t been tainted.”

His eyes bled to the amber color they’d been earlier. He could smell the sweetness of her blood, he knew that she wasn’t infected by the darkness. He swallowed, pushing his intense desire for her down, needing to put her first. “No, you’re tired from working. If I took your blood it would only make you more tired. I have some donors here in town, people who willingly give me blood. I’ll go to one of them when I’ve seen you to bed.”

She turned away and stood up, bustling around the kitchen. He could feel her broadcasting jealousy as she worked. He felt her confusion and resentment. He’d never been able to sense emotions like that before. He went to her.

“Lee, what is it?”

“It’s stupid.”

He tipped her chin so that he could see her face. “No it isn’t. Talk to me.”

“Well, you said sex and blood were very close for vampires.”

He nodded, still not understanding why she was so upset.

She gave an exasperated sigh. “I know I don’t have any claims on you but I don’t like the idea of you having a sexual anything with anyone but me.” She crossed her arms, looking miserable.

He laughed and the velvety sound caressed her skin, causing her nipples to tighten and warmth to radiate through her body. She widened her eyes at him, her lips parted. He leaned in and kissed her softly.

“Lee, darlin’, yes, it’s true that it’s a bit sexual when I feed but it’s just part of the process. For the donor, it’s an incredible sexual rush, an extraordinary climax. It’s why the donors like to donate. For me, it’s more like a rush of euphoria. If I’m sexually attracted to the donor it usually does move into sex but it won’t be like that tonight or 24

Triad

ever again. It’s nothing like how it will be between you and me when we make love because you’re my mate and they’re donors. There is more than just blood between us, there’s heart, soul, connection.”

“That’s supposed to comfort me?” She hated feeling such turmoil. She’d never felt this sort of jealousy. “Look, never mind, you have to have it to live and I’d rather have you alive and sort of having sex with someone else than not alive.”

“But it’s not sex, not really.” He had rarely taken human women as partners for a reason. He found them very hard to understand. A female vampire knew what it meant to feed.

She rolled her eyes. “Only a man could say something so dumb. People climax, you said. One person making another person climax, that’s sex.” She sighed. “Look, how would you like it if I got another man off? If simply by my doing something to him he had an outrageous orgasm, and I got off on it too?”

He frowned, not liking the thought of her getting anyone off but him. “It’s merely a side effect of the feeding.”

She drank her tea and the color began to return to her face. He watched her, satisfied that she’d recover. The sweet herbs in the air made him feel cleansed and calm.

“I can just not feed tonight. It won’t be a big deal,” he said, hating that she was feeling jealous.

“Don’t be silly, Aidan. You’re pale, you need it. I’ll get over it, I’m a big girl. I just don’t want to hear about it or know who any of your donors are.” The sluts, she thought darkly.

“I hate that you feel bad. I don’t want any other woman. For me, from the moment I saw you it’s been you and you only. The climax is a result of giving blood, aside from that, it means nothing to me. I do appreciate my donors, of course, they do me a great honor by sharing their blood with me, but you are mine. You complete me in a way that, in the two hundred and forty-five years I’ve been alive, I never thought possible. Please don’t feel that I’m cheating.” He pushed a curl back behind her ear. She nodded, her eyes were still sad. “I don’t, truly. It’s just going to take some getting used to. I should go to bed now. I have to work with my mother and great-aunt tomorrow and I need to be rested.”

He pulled her into his arms. “Let me help you. Let’s get you into the shower and into some pajamas. Once I’ve tucked you in I’ll go.”

She quirked a small grin at that. “You’re going to help me get in the shower?”

“Well, I’ll stand guard outside the door to be sure you don’t fall or anything. I don’t know whether I could stand to walk out your door tonight if I saw you naked.”

“How much blood do you need?” she asked, a sensuous thickness in her voice. He shook his head vehemently. “No. I need more than you can give and I want our first time to be free from worry.”

She gave a pretty pout and he took her bottom lip between his teeth. One of his incisors nicked the fullness there and her blood touched his tongue. Her taste exploded into his system. She was rich and deep and velvet, she was power and light and goodness, she was sex and love and siren and angel. He moaned deep in his throat, his tongue sweeping over the cut, drawing more of her essence into his body. She clutched at him, her hands in his hair, her tongue running over the sharp edges of his extended incisors, inciting him further. She was so wet, so soft and slick with wanting him that she was sure her panties were drenched. She ground herself against him, aching to make contact, needing him desperately.

He could feel how much she wanted him and it was driving him wild. She was so alive under his hands, so soft and beautiful, so sexy. He wanted nothing more than to sink his teeth and his cock deep within her right that moment. But she had expended so much energy that he was worried about her. With all of his willpower he stepped back, holding her away from his body.

“You taste like the finest wine, the sweetest chocolate, the earthiest ale. You intoxicate me, Lee.” His voice seduced her without his even meaning to. “I have to go now, before I take you here against the wall, despite your weakness.” He kissed a finger and pressed it to her lips. “I’ll call you in the late afternoon tomorrow, when I get up,”

he said softly and was gone before she’d even blinked.

* * * * *

Aidan called his grandmother in Chicago when he got home from feeding.

“I’ve found her, Nan. She’s a witch. God, Nan, she’s so beautiful, small, almost fey and powerful, so powerful you can feel it just standing near her. I have never felt this way about any woman. You won’t believe this, but she lives right below me.”

His grandmother chuckled. “It just means I was right, you and she are meant for each other. And of course she’s powerful, you need a powerful woman at your side. Didn’t I tell you to listen to those dreams?”

“Thanks, Nan, you were right and I’m so glad. I’m just sorry I’ll only have a human lifetime with her.”

But all she would say was, “Don’t be so sure. I’ve got to go, love, the sun has risen and I need to call my broker. I love you. I’ll make plans to come down your way to meet this girl, shall I?”

“I love you too, Nan, and yes, I’d love for you to meet her. She’s incredible.” He hung up, going into his studio to work. He could feel Lee’s essence in his apartment, the wards she’d placed were like protective arms around him.