Bite Me if You Can (20 page)

To be honest, he had no idea what to expect next. From anyone. Rachel, who normally just glared and glowered at him, seemed to be trying to help. Thomas, who normally would have jumped around at his beck and call, was avoiding him. And Leigh... well... he didn’t have a clue what to expect from her. First, she’d taken this all much better than he’d expected, and now she was having fits over almost biting someone.

“Lucian,” Rachel said quietly, drawing his attention back to her. “When I first met you at Lissianna and Greg’s wedding, I thought you were the meanest, coldest son of a bitch on the planet.”

“Thank you, Rachel. I do try,” he said drolly.

Her lips twitched with amusement at his sarcasm, but she reminded him, “You threatened to have me killed if I didn’t toe the line and lie about what Pudge had done.”

“He tried to kill Etienne and nearly killed you instead,” Lucian began impatiently. “All we wanted you to do was—”

“It doesn’t matter.” Rachel waved it away with some impatience of her own. “The point is I’ve been angry with you ever since then.”

“Yes, I did notice,” he said dryly.

“But,” Rachel continued determinedly, “not so angry that I haven’t seen your position in this family.”

Lucian’s gaze narrowed. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, you are the strength and backbone. Everything you do—including threatening me that day—you do for your family and your people. I’ve seen it,” she argued, as if expecting him to deny it. “They all look to you for answers and strength, and you give them both in spades. You do whatever it takes—hard, mean, or just plain nasty if necessary—to keep them safe and protect them.”

Rachel shook her head. “And you do it alone. It must be a heavy burden. Don’t you think you deserve someone to share that burden with at the end of a long day?”

Lucian looked away, touched by her words and the sadness he saw in her eyes. It was unexpected from Rachel.

“And this isn’t just about you, is it?” Etienne asked, making his presence known.

Lucian and Rachel glanced sharply to the side as he moved up the hall to join them. He stopped and put a hand on Lucian’s shoulder, his expression solemn as he said, “Think of Leigh, Uncle.”

When Lucian stilled, he continued, “Leigh doesn’t realize how long a long time can be alone. We do. You more than I.” He looked sad. “I only had three hundred years alone, but you’ve had ten times that. I’ve never understood how you’ve stayed as human as you are so long without a mate. But you have. I don’t know if Leigh’s that strong. I know you can’t read her, but we can. She’s lonely already.”

“But she doesn’t have to be,” Rachel said.

“Okay, you can stop,” Lucian said dryly. “You had me convinced already without bringing on the guilt of leaving Leigh without a life mate.”

The couple beamed at him, and Lucian rolled his eyes, then narrowed them when he noticed that Rachel’s smile was fading, concern taking its place.

“What?” he asked, wary again.

“I just—I’m worried that Leigh might prove a bit resistant.”

“What?” he asked with amazement. He had been so wrapped up in his own reluctance to acknowledge Leigh as his life mate, he hadn’t considered that she might be less than enthusiastic herself. “Why?”

“When her grandfather died and Leigh was suddenly alone in the world, she married a man who turned out to be an abusive jerk. Leigh blames herself for that. She feels she was weak in needing someone and is determined to prove that she can be strong, that she doesn’t need anyone. She’s afraid of making another mistake.”

Rachel had obviously done a lot of digging in Leigh’s head... and—since he couldn’t do it himself—he was grateful for it, Lucian acknowledged, then frowned. “How do you suggest I convince her otherwise?”

Rachel bit her lip. “I think you’ll have to prove to her that you’re trustworthy, that you aren’t someone who is going to hurt her, and aren’t a mistake.”

“How?”

Etienne raised his eyebrows at his wife expectantly even as Lucian asked the question, but she remained silent for so long that Lucian felt sure she didn’t have a clue until she said, “I think your best bet with Leigh is to sneak up on her.”

Etienne peered at her with disbelief. “You just finished saying that Uncle Lucian had to prove himself trustworthy. Now you’re saying the best way for him to do that is to sneak up on her? What kind of logic is that?”

“Women’s logic,” Lucian said wryly, and received a glare from Rachel for his trouble.

“I don’t mean—” Rachel began, then shook her head. “I—”

“I think the easiest thing to do,” Etienne interrupted when she floundered again, “would be for us to explain to her about life mates and then tell her that Uncle Lucian can’t read her, or control her, and so”—he shrugged—“he is her life mate.”

“I think that would be a mistake,” Rachel said at once, her voice firm. “I think a straight on approach would be a mistake with Leigh. I think she’d run from that, raise her defenses and back off emotionally.”

“Then what do you suggest?” Lucian asked dryly.

Rachel pursed her lips as she thought, then said, “I think you have to approach her in a nonthreatening manner, as a friend, or a teacher.”

“Hmmm,” Etienne murmured. “The teacher idea’s good. She has to be taught to control her teeth and so on. That would be a good approach.”

“Okay.” Lucian nodded. He could do that, he could train her in her new abilities and skills, and teach her to differentiate between food hunger and hunger for blood. Teaching her how to control and read minds and how to feed on a living human was also necessary. If an emergency cropped up, the immortal had to know how to do it properly without causing pain or injury. They also had to know when to stop feeding so they didn’t accidentally kill their host. He wouldn’t necessarily like it, but he could do it. “And then what?”

Rachel and Etienne exchanged a glance, then she sighed. “I’m not sure. I’ll think about it, though. You start with that and I’ll come up with something else.”

Lucian nodded slowly. The training would take a while, he supposed. And he’d think, too, see if he couldn’t come up with some way to approach her as well.

“I guess we should leave,” Rachel said. “I have to head to work soon.”

“I have some work to do myself,” Etienne said with a nod, then glanced at his uncle. “We’ll think about this and—”

“Greg!” Rachel blurted, and both men glanced at her with blank expressions.

“Lissianna’s husband Greg?” Etienne asked with a confusion equal to Lucian’s.

“Yes,” she said, suddenly excited. Lucian didn’t think that boded well, and was sure of it when Rachel explained, “He’s a psychologist. He’ll know how best to approach Leigh about it. We should get him over, let him talk to her, get a feel for what she’s like and—”

“No,” Lucian interrupted firmly.

Rachel blinked in confusion. “Why not?”

Why not, indeed? Lucian thought. The answer was that Gregory Hewitt was even less fond of him than Rachel. The man hadn’t yet forgiven him for taunting him into going through the change without drugs. There had been no choice with Leigh, since he hadn’t had any drugs available to him on the plane. However, with Greg’s turning, there had been drugs available, but he’d taunted the man into proving himself by going without them.

In truth, Lucian hadn’t expected him to stick to it, but Greg Hewitt had proven himself as stubborn as any of the Argeneau men. Ever since then, however, Greg hadn’t been overly fond of his new uncle. It was bad enough having Rachel and Etienne help him with this problem. Lucian didn’t think he could bear the humiliation of Lissianna’s husband knowing he needed help landing a woman as well.

“I’m sure he’d understand,” Rachel said sympathetically, and Lucian growled under his breath as he realized she’d read his mind... again.

“In fact, I don’t think he’s really angry anymore, and reading your thoughts would probably make you two closer. He’d understand—like I now do—that you’re a great big marshmallow under all that bluster and crust.”

Lucian’s eyes widened in horror at this accusation, his mouth working but nothing coming out as he sought for some response strong enough to express his dismay at her altered opinion of him. A marshmallow? He wasn’t a damned marshmallow! He was cold, and mean and hard enough to do what had to be done when others faltered. He was a damned warrior, had slain both mortal and immortal down through the ages with sword, knife, mace, spear, lance—

“I think we’d better go now,” Etienne said, eyeing his uncle warily as he took Rachel’s elbow to lead her quickly up the hall. They were at the stairs before his nephew glanced back to add, “We’ll call you later, after we’ve thought of ways to handle Leigh. And after you’ve calmed down.”

Lucian simply glared as the pair made good their escape.

“Lucian?”

He turned slowly, his anger slipping away as he saw Leigh standing in the door to her room. Her nose had healed and she’d washed her face. She looked about ten years old standing there with no makeup on and in Etienne’s clothes.

“Yes?” he asked gruffly.

“I think I’m going to lie down for a while,” she said. “I thought I should let you know.”

“That’s fine,” he said at once. “Sleep is the best thing for you at the moment.”

Lucian glanced toward the stairs as he heard the front door close behind Rachel and Etienne, then glanced back to add, “I’ll be in the library for a while. I have some calls to make, but I’ll check on you in a bit.”

“There’s no need to check on me. I’ll probably only sleep for an hour or so,” Leigh said with a smile as she turned back into the room, then paused to add, “Bastien asked me to have you call him when you woke up.”

“Thank you,” Lucian murmured.

The door had barely closed softly behind her when the door to his own room opened next to it and an older woman came out, dragging Marguerite’s vacuum behind her.

“Oh, hello,” the woman said on spotting him. “You must be Mr. Argeneau.”

Lucian stared blankly. He hadn’t a clue who the woman was.

Seeming to recognize that by the expression on his face, she smiled wryly and said, “I’m Linda. From Speedy Clean? We—”

“Oh, yes, yes,” Lucian said, giving his head a shake. He’d entirely forgotten about the cleaning people.

“I’ve done all the rooms up here but this one,” she announced, approaching the door he stood in front of. “I’ll just do it now, then move downstairs.”

“There’s no need,” Lucian said. “This room is fine. Besides, Leigh is sleeping in there now.”

“Oh, all right. I’ll just head down to help Andrea with the main floor, then.”

Lucian watched her head downstairs, then turned to the door before him. He stared at the wooden panel for a moment, then reached out to touch it.

His life mate lay on the other side. Countless millennia alone and now he had a life mate. All he had to do was convince her of it.

Leigh slept through the night. She hadn’t expected to. It was only afternoon when she’d lain down, but it was early dawn when she woke up... And she was starved. This time there was no mistaking which hunger. It was both. However, the minute she sat up in bed and saw the little refrigerator, the very thought of the bags inside made her teeth protrude.

She opened the door, lifted one out, then grimaced before popping it to her teeth. The consumption of blood was the one thing she disliked about her new state. It was also the one thing she couldn’t change, so she decided not to think about it as she sat waiting for the bag to drain. Determined to fill up and prevent anything like what had happened in the kitchen the day before, she had three bags in a row before crawling out of bed. She’d come far too close to biting that poor cleaning girl and didn’t think she could live with that.

Leigh dressed in the clothes she’d worn the day before. She would take a bath or shower later and change into clean clothes—preferably Lissianna’s this time—but right then what she wanted more than anything in the world was something to drink. Well, really, she wanted food in her belly, but a cup of tea would have to do for now, she thought as she ran a brush through her hair.

With no makeup to put on, she supposed she was ready and headed for the door. Her tongue ran over her teeth as she went. It would be lovely to be able to brush her teeth again. And soon she would, Leigh assured herself as she left her room. Today she’d be able to go shopping.

Bastien had promised that her bag should show up today, and she was excited at the prospect of having it. It meant she would no longer be so dependent on Lucian and his family. She could make calls on her cell phone rather than run up the long distance charges on Marguerite’s phone. She could buy clothes instead of borrow them. Purchase herself the shampoos she liked, some makeup, a toothbrush, toothpaste...

Leigh almost shivered with excitement at the thought of once again having things that were her own. She could buy food too, she realized, an idea almost as attractive as having her own clothes. She’d never made those cookies she’d planned on yesterday, and hadn’t eaten in... she wasn’t even sure how long it had been. She suspected that might be part of the reason she was sleeping so much. From what she could tell, Lucian didn’t seem to eat at all and did well enough, but she—and her body—were used to real food, not just liquid nourishment.

Leigh didn’t run into anyone on the way to the kitchen, but hearing the television as she passed the closed living room door, she supposed Lucian was in there. After filling the electric teakettle in the kitchen and turning it on, she wandered back to the living room, intending to say good morning.

Lucian was seated on the couch, feet crossed on the coffee table and head hanging back. He was snoring up a storm. She smiled with amusement, then glanced at Julius, splayed out on the couch beside him. The mastiff was flat on his back with his paws up in the air, head shifting against Lucian’s leg, making little whimpers of pleasure. He was obviously having doggy dreams.

Chuckling softly, Leigh walked to the TV and shut it off. The lack of sound woke Lucian, and his head snapped up abruptly.

He peered blearily around the room and said, “What?” in a confused voice, as if she’d spoken to him.