Feral Instincts (The Feral Series) (21 page)

Daniel
leaned closer to Teagan and began to poke at the frayed threads of his fragile
control. “Dam, looks like some little vampire has been sucking on Joseph
tonight. Maybe I should find myself a little vampire to play with too. I hear
their females are amazing in bed. Well not just in bed, on the floor, against
the wall…”

“Shut
up Daniel or I will shut your dam mouth for you.” Teagan’s eyes glowed blue and
Daniel could see him hide his claws in his clenched fist. It was just too easy.
He opened his mouth to keep poking at Teagan when suddenly he had to bite back
a squeal of pain. Teagan gripped his thigh, his claws had torn through his
jeans and were puncturing the muscle of Daniel’s leg.

“Okay,
okay, I’ll shut up.” Teagan kept up the pressure to make sure he had made his
point before abruptly releasing Daniels leg.

Somehow
Teagan managed to remain in his seat until the meeting was over. Storming out
of the door, he was the first to leave as he put as much distance between
himself and Joseph as possible. He didn’t know where he was going but he needed
to get as far away from Claymore as possible. He especially needed to avoid
running into Ava. In his current state he wasn’t sure what he would do when he
saw her again.

In
his mind he knew that this was his fault. He had pushed her away and he had
known that she would need to find someone else to feed from. Dam it why
couldn’t it have been some little human though instead of the dam vampire.
Heading for the garage, he borrowed the keys to one of the SUV’s. Sliding into
the driver’s seat he started the truck and pulled out into the circle drive.

Ava
took a deep breath and turned her face to the gentle evening breeze. The wind
teased her ebony curls and flipped the curly ends over her shoulders. The huge
mansion loomed behind her awash in the shadows of the night. With a shiver she
pulled the sleeves of her lavender sweater over her hands. She didn’t plan on
staying out long. She just needed a moment of quiet before going inside to find
Victor.

Turning
to head back inside, she missed the first step of the front porch and had to
grab the iron banister for balance. With a huff she sat down on the cold brick
step to rest for a minute. “Welcome back, clumsy old Ava.” She hated being weak
again. She was in bad shape and she knew it. It had been five days since she
had last fed from Teagan. She was half frozen again and she was so tired she
was barely functioning. She was simply going to have to toughen up and feed
from a human. She needed Victor’s help.

It
was time she started dealing with reality. She was going to have to live out
the rest of her life as a vampire and she was going to have to learn how to
feed from someone other than Teagan. That’s all there was too it. Her mind was
made up… so why did she feel like she was betraying him?

“Who
were you talking to?” Joseph’s deep voice startled her.

“Oh!
Joseph. You scared me.”

Joseph
had parked his motorcycle in the front circle and was just getting ready to
head back home. He had been offered a place to live at Claymore but he and
several of the other guardians preferred living outside Claymore’s gates.

“What
are you doing outside?” Seeing how she had her hands pulled into her sleeves
for warmth, Joseph slid his leather jacket off and wrapped it around her
shoulders before sitting next to her on the step.

“Oh,
thank you.” Ava was grateful for the warmth and took a deep breath. She knew it
was silly but his jacket just smelled good. It was a combination of Joseph’s
scent mixed with leather. “I just needed some fresh air to clear my head for a
minute. Did you just come from a meeting or something?” She had seen some of
the other guardians leaving the building earlier.

“Yes.
We had a meeting a few hours ago and I stayed to go over a few things with
Victor. There was some trouble at Howler’s tonight and I just needed to bring
everyone up to speed. It wasn’t anything that involved Salvatore but Victor
needed to know the details just the same.”

“What
kind of trouble? Is everyone okay?”

Joseph
rubbed at the ache that was forming between his eyes for a moment. “Liam and
Alex were both shot and are recovering from their injuries.”

Ava’s
blue eyes looked at him in concern. “Oh, my god. Are they okay? How did that
happen? Were you there?”

Joseph
groaned at her rapid fire questioning. He explained briefly what happened and
tried to answer her questions without scaring her with the details.

“Oh
my gosh, that’s terrible. Poor Liam, and Alex must have been so scared. Where
are they now? Is there anything I can do?”

“They
are both staying here tonight in the infirmary, under Doc Randall’s care.
Liam’s a big man but it’s still going to take him a while to recover from six
gunshot wounds. Doc Randall says one of them grazed his heart. He is hopeful
that he will recover but it’s going to take some time.”

“Alex
has two gunshot wounds and Doc plans on keeping her here overnight, after that…
she will come home with me for a while… “ Joseph cleared his throat and
suddenly looked uncomfortable. “Liam has gotten himself involved with some bad
people and I’m going to need to look out for her until he is back on his feet
again.” Joseph knew he was leaving a lot out but Ava had enough to worry about
right now. He didn’t want to burden her with his trouble.

Ava
looked at Joseph in surprise. She had noticed the bite mark on his wrist when
he took off his jacket but didn’t think it was her place to ask him about it.
Who had he fed? “Well, if she is in danger, who better to watch out for her
than you.”

Joseph
snorted in answer.
Ya, who better than to take care of a defenseless female
than him. Worse than that, she belongs to one of my best friends. Liam had
better get back on his feet fast.

After
the attack they had brought both of them here to Claymore so Doc Randall could
take care of them. Alex was improving but not as quickly has he would have
liked. She had lost so much blood and he had only been able to get her to take
a small amount from him. He had wanted to check on her after Doc Randall had
looked her over but the Doc had insisted he not bother her and let her rest. He
hadn’t liked it but he didn’t want to fight with the man that was taking care
of her. Doc had insisted that he go home and get cleaned up. He told him that
he could see both Liam and Alex tomorrow. Dam it, he didn’t want to wait until
tomorrow.

Ava
could see Joseph’s black mood and reached out to rub his arm in comfort. “Don’t
worry Joseph, I’m sure they will both be fine.”

Pushing
away images of Alex lying helpless and wounded on the hospital bed, Joseph
returned his focus to Ava. She was beautiful as always but she seemed tired.
There were circles under her eyes and she was even paler than usual. “Why do
you look so tired little one?”

“Oh,
that.” Ava waved her hand dismissively. She didn’t want to unload her problems
with Teagan on Joseph of all people. “I’m fine. I just need to feed I guess.
I’m going to take care of it right away. Don’t worry about me.”

“Ava,
you have to take better care of yourself. You have waited too long.” Joseph was
concerned, had she stopped feeding from Teagan?

“Joseph,
can I ask you something?”

“Of
course.” Ava nibbled on her bottom lip while she thought.

“Well,
when vampires feed, is it normal for your heart rate to match the person you
are feeding from?”

Joseph
looked at her curiously. “No, this is not something that normally happens when
we feed. It is something that sometimes happens between mated couples though.
It is a blood bond,
cor ad cor loquitur
. It’s believed to be the sign of
a true mating. Some believe it is a sign that you are with you the one person
the fates have chosen for you. Only then will the heartbeats match.”

Ava
looked even paler than before and looked at Joseph in shock. “Ava, why are you
asking me this?” Joseph was suddenly concerned. Could she have experienced this
with Teagan? Joseph quickly dismissed the idea, it just wasn’t possible, not
with a Lykan.

Ava
realized she was spooking Joseph and tried to sound like she really wasn’t all
that interested. “Oh, it’s nothing. I was just curious because of something I
heard a couple at the bar talking about. I should really let you get going. I’m
sure you would like to go home for a bit.”

Ava
stood and handed Joseph his jacket. “Maybe once you have Alex at your place I
could come over to keep her company for you sometime.”

Joseph
stood and put his jacket back on. “I’ll ask her. She might like that.”

Ava
gasped as Joseph grabbed her and hugged her tight for a minute. Gently he
tilted her chin up to look at him. “You must promise me that you will take care
of yourself.”

“I
will. Don’t worry about me.”

“Don’t
be afraid to come to me if you need help.”

“I
will. Thank you.” She smiled sweetly at his concern and Joseph released her.
Once she was safely inside again he headed towards his motorcycle. With one
last glance at Claymore he swung his long leg over his Harley and fired it up.
His thoughts filled with a curvy redhead he pulled down the curving driveway.
Apparently Liam had kept a lot of secrets. One way or the other he planned on
getting to the bottom of it.
  

Instead
of finding Victor, Ava had returned to her room after her talk with Joseph. Her
mind was a tangled mess. She didn’t know what to do. Should she go to Teagan?
Ava hopped up from her bed and started pacing. She still didn’t know why he had
become so angry and kicked her out of his room that morning. She knew that she
was partly to blame for that. He had tried to talk to her several times but she
had been avoiding him. It was childish, she knew, but her feelings were hurt
and she had needed some time to lick her wounds.

Ava
suddenly grabbed for her dresser and she lost her balance in the middle of her
pacing.
Dam it! I hate feeling like this!
Sitting back down on the bed
she bent her knees up and wrapped her arms around her legs.

If
she was honest with herself, she missed him terribly. She loved being near him.
The night she had slept besides him, she had finally felt… safe. Then in the
morning, when she had awakened to his hands on her body, it had felt amazing.
It probably would have gone a lot farther had Teagan not gotten angry with her.
Dam it… for the first time she had
wanted
it to go further.

That’s
it, she was going to talk to him. She wasn’t ready to give him up. She knew he
could never really be hers to keep but she intended to make the most of
whatever time they had together. If there was one thing that losing her mom had
taught her it was that life was short and you had to make the most of it while
you can. Ava’s life had also come close to ending with so many things that she
had yet to experience. Unlike her mom, she had been given a second chance. Ava
rose and headed for her door before her new found courage left her. She wasn’t
going to have any of those experiences while hiding in her room.

Teagan
growled at the soft knocking coming from his bedroom door. He was in no mood
for company right now. He had driven himself to the nearest bar once he had
left Claymore. His plan had been to burn the image of Ava feeding from Joseph
out of his mind with alcohol. He had half-heartedly considered picking a fight
with someone but with no one but humans around he was afraid he might accidentally
kill one of them. He had sat at the bar for a while, ordering back to back
shots while the bartender watched in awe. Foolish man had tried to cut him off
but with a snarl from Teagan he quickly changed his mind and kept pouring the
shots for him. It took a lot more to get a Lykan drunk than it did a human.
Several shots later he got tired of the nervous glances he was getting from the
humans at the bar and decided to head back to his room.

He
had only been back at Claymore for a few minutes when Daniel had appeared at
his door and passed him a bottle of Jack Daniels. When Teagan had looked at him
in surprise, Daniel had just shrugged and said he had got it for himself but
after seeing Joseph at the meeting he figured Teagan was going to need it more
than he was. He had tried to get him to come in and share it with him but
Daniel had taken off saying he had someplace to be.

The
whole situation was kind of strange, Daniel was definitely not the generous
type and had never been concerned for anyone but himself but Teagan definitely
appreciated the bottle of Jack. Pouring himself a glass, he sat back in one of
the arm chairs in his room and propped his bare feet up on the table in front
of it.

About
a third of the way through the bottle, Teagan’s dark brooding was again
interrupted by soft tapping at his door. “Dam it!” He rose to his feet with
only a little bit of swaying. Then with an angry growl he stormed to his door
and jerked it open. “What!”

Ava
let out a little squeak of surprise and put her hand to her chest, trying to
keep her heart from jumping out of her chest.