Jared (16 page)

She shook her head. “Can’t.”

“Yes, you can. Just a little nip.”

“It wouldn’t be a little,” she gasped.

“I’m a big man.” His lips brushed her ear, sparking
enticing shivers. “I can give you all you need.”

The temptation was there. As well as the fear. What if
he made her sick? Worse, what if taking his blood didn’t make her sick but it
did what Jared’s had? What if it shortened her ability to last between feedings
even more?

The next pain gathered. Her fangs extended. She opened
her mouth. What did any of that matter? Anything was better than this.

With a shocking abruptness, she was yanked out of
Creed’s arms. She landed softly in a snowbank, staring up at the night sky.
“Get your fucking hands off her.”

Jared. She pushed herself up on her arms. Not an easy
task with the snow collapsing beneath her. He was facing off with Creed, the
broad set of his shoulders reflecting the dark seething quality of his energy.
Jared was an extremely intimidating sight when angry. But across from him,
Creed wasn’t looking like any sort of slouch. He matched Jared for height and
breadth, and as far as sheer aggression went, he was also on par. If things
came to a fight, it would be bloody and vicious and long, because both men were
lethal predators, and both, judging from the way their energies clashed against
each other, were prepared to fight to the death. She couldn’t let that happen.
Raisa dug her fingers into her stomach, as if through physical force she could
hold the pain back long enough to function.

“Who the hell are you to tell me what to do?” Creed
snarled.

“Her protector,” Jared snarled right back.

Creed snorted. “Is that what you’re calling it?”

Jared’s snarl vibrated down her spine. “Yes.”

“Were she were, your brand of protection would not be
allowed.”

Like a kick in the gut, Creed’s meaning took. The
weres thought she was Jared’s whore. Suddenly the men’s interest took on a
whole different light.

“Raisa’s not a were,” Jared growled.

“She can choose to be.”

“And then what?”

Creed smiled, his canines gleaming. “Then you can
expect her man to come call.”

“You?”

“Yes.”

“You’re not compatible.”

“So you say.”

“Is that true, Raisa?” Jared asked over his shoulder.
“Are you compatible with Creed?”

She wasn’t a fool. There was more at stake than a
simple answer to the question. And as fuzzy as her thinking was, she wasn’t
going there right now. “What’s true is I’m not sitting in this snowbank
anymore.”

Snow crunched as Ian came up beside her. “Nor should
you have to.”

She held out her hand. He took it, pulling her out. He
didn’t stop when she got to her feet, but gave an additional tug, sweeping her
into his arms as she stumbled. “The two of you can fight over whose right until
you bleed stupid, and if there’s anything left, you can present it to the
Council.”

Raisa slipped her hands over Ian’s shoulders, feeling
uncomfortable doing so. He was not the sort of man who inspired warm touches.

“Relax. I don’t bite pretty little vamps when they’re
down.”

“And when they’re well?”

He smiled a wicked smile that made even her tired
heart flutter. “Then it’s up to them.”

She stopped with her hands halfway to his neck. “Oh.”

“You, however, are safe. We established last night
that we’re not compatible.”

Yes. They had. He shifted her in his arms. She
clutched at his neck. It was awfully quiet behind them. “Are they killing each
other?”

“No.”

She leaned her head against his chest as another pain
gathered. “I didn’t mean to cause a fight.”

“You didn’t cause a damn thing.”

“Ah.” The small cry escaped her determination to be
stoic.

“How bad is it?”

“Not that bad.”

The look he cut her as they reached the porch was
skeptical. “Anyone tell you, you’re a poor liar?”

“I’ve mentioned it a time or to,” Jared said in a low
drawl, leaning around them to open the door. His eyes were more green than
blue, and around him, his energy flailed with barely contained rage. As his
gaze met hers, that energy changed direction, lashing out at her with blinding
speed. She flinched back against Ian’s chest.

“Back the hell off.” Ian growled.

Jared pushed the door open. “And leave her with you so
you can play knight in shining armor? I don’t think so.”

Ian shouldered past him. “You’re being an ass.”

“And you’re overstepping your bounds.”

“I’m leader here. I have no bounds.”

“You’re holding my woman.”

“I’m holding an unclaimed woman who needs to feed.”

Ian placed her on the couch. She curled there in a
fetal ball as they argued around her.

Ian knelt beside her. “I’d offer you my blood if I
could.”

She grabbed his hand, squeezing in an effort to
contain the uncontainable. Her “Thank you” came out a whimper.

“Get the hell away from her.”

Ian’s hand paused on her cheek. He didn’t move away.
“Do you want to deal with him now, little vamp?”

“Unless you want me to rip your throat out right now,”
Jared snarled, “you’ll get the hell away from her.”

Unless she wanted bloodshed, Raisa didn’t see where
she had much choice, as much as that scared her. “I guess.”

Ian studied her face for a heartbeat more. His head
canted a bit to the side. “Jared is ticked right now at all the males around
you, but he won’t hurt you.”

“Speak for your Goddamn self.”

Ian shook his head. “He is also an idiot. No one would
blame you for sending him packing.”

Raisa could feel Jared’s frustration and his need. It
beat at her in relentless waves. She could also feel his guilt that she hurt.

“I don’t want to send him packing.” She reached over
Ian’s shoulder and held out her hand, palm up in an invitation. Jared took it,
his grip surprisingly gentle as he took Ian’s place, his thigh muscles
straining the fabric of his pants as he squatted down. His hand slipped under
hers, cradling the convulsing of her stomach muscles. “I thought we were
finished with all this.”

“Me, too.”

Another pain hit. Her stomach contracted. Energy
pulsed through his hand. It didn’t help. She turned her face into the cushions
and screamed breathlessly, releasing the pain, frustration, and sheer
inevitability of her existence.

“Come here, sunbeam.” Jared’s arms encircled her,
tugging her off the cushions and against his chest. Shards of pain splintered
off the knot in her stomach, sparking new flames of agony to burning in her
chest, her arms, her legs. Her fangs ached. Her talons sank into his shoulders.
He winced. The scent of blood tainted the air. A hand came into her line of
vision, closing over Jared’s shoulder. Ian pulled Jared back, ignoring his snarl.

“You can’t afford the blood loss right now, Jared.”

“Tough.” He ripped his shirt open. He lifted her head.

“I can.” Creed volunteered, meeting her gaze over
Jared’s shoulder. Little red flicks of flames danced in his eyes.

“You’re not compatible,” Jared snapped.

“As her mind opened to mine, so will her body.”

Jared stiffened. “Get him the hell out of here, Ian.”

“Short of killing him, I don’t think that’s possible.”

“Then kill him.”

Creed snorted. “It’s not so easy to kill me, vamp.”

Raisa moaned as both males’ energy came at her. Both
strong, yet so different. She wouldn’t have a prayer of keeping them out of her
head, and she didn’t know how she would deal with that chaos on top of what she
had already endured, but then a third interceded, slipping between her and
them, forming an impenetrable wall that didn’t touch her, yet blocked Jared and
Creed. She glanced at Ian as the men swore at being blocked.

“You can deal with them later.”

Yes, she could. “Thank you.”

He motioned with his hand. “For now, you must feed.”

She shook her head. Ian’s shield rippled with
displeasure. “Weres do not allow their women to suffer.”

“Neither do vamps,” Jared snapped.

She squeezed Jared’s hand and took a careful breath.
The scent of Jared’s skin was so close—spicy, male underlaid with the
intriguing scent of musk. She could hear the beat of his heart. With every
thump, his blood whooshed through his veins. All the blood she needed. She
curled her lips down over her fangs. She shook her head. They didn’t
understand. “No.”

“Yes,” the three men snapped in unison.

“Why?” She gasped as the clench of agony eased to
bearable. “So I can feel good for an even shorter time, next time?”

“I’m not going to allow you to suffer, Rai,” Jared
snarled.

Creed was equally emphatic. “You will feed.”

She shook her head. “It’s not up to either of you.”

Creed cut a glare at Jared. “A mate would take better
care of her.”

“Since she doesn’t have a mate, she’ll just have to
deal with me.”

Creed’s tone was implacable with resolve. “A were
would not wait on permission.”

Neither was he, Jared decided. Another shudder racked
Rai. The muscles in her abdomen wrenched with the inner agony she was trying to
shield. Beside him, Jared could feel Creed and Ian’s impatience, their
instinctive need to protect a female. It matched his own. And Creed, at least,
wasn’t going to last much longer in a passive role. He’d always been a
ruthlessly straightforward man. And now he saw Raisa as his potential mate. He
wouldn’t be able to let her suffer without intervention.

As her mind accepted me, so will her body.

Jared’s vampire howled at the thought of the were
offering his blood to Raisa. Of her bending that pretty little head, of that
sunshine hair spilling across the were’s dark skin, of those plump lips
parting, those little fangs piercing before she partook of the offering.

She was his. Only his blood should pass her lips. Only
his arms should come around her. He focused his energy and thrust through Ian’s
shield, shattering it, guiding the shards back into the two weres’ minds,
forcing them back as he ruthlessly plunged into Raisa’s. Pain greeted him with
greedy hunger. Despair trailed in its wake. She thought this was all there was
for her. That the few minutes she’d had of pleasure were part of her punishment
for her past. Another blinding burst of pain blocked from him the memory of the
reason she thought she deserved to be punished.

Jared brought her mouth to his chest as he punched
through his skin with his talon, letting his blood smear across her lips.

Her moan vibrated against his chest. He didn’t care
about the resistance in her, the need she had to protect herself for the future
she saw looming. All he cared about, all his vampire demanded, was that she not
suffer any more right now. He would force her to accept anything in order to
make that happen. Nothing mattered more than that. With another brutal thrust
through the fogging layers, he found that primitive part lurking within her
vampire and brought it to life with one word: Feed.

Her fangs scraped, stopping his heart with the sheer
pleasure of anticipation as he waited that split second before they sank deep,
and his heartbeat took off, the ecstatic whisper of Yes racing with his blood
from him to her and then back as her energy intertwined with his, ebbing and
flowing with her hunger, going deeper each time, not drawing back quite as far
after each blending. He wrapped his arms around her, hunching his body over
hers, shielding her from the view of the others.

“That’s it, sunbeam. Let me make you feel better.”

Let me take care of you.

The last went no further than his own mind.

Her strength built as his dwindled.

“She’s taken enough, Jared.”

Whereas Ian’s comment seemed to come from a distance,
Rai’s protest exploded into his mind with crystal clarity.

No!

He stroked his mind over the wild protest. All you
want, sunbeam.

She could have anything she wanted of him.

“Jared, that’s enough.”

He lifted his head and snarled at Ian. The reach of
Creed’s hand was just a blur of movement, but he caught it, lashing out with
his talons, snarling with satisfaction when he connected and the scent of were
blood filled the air. Raisa needed him. They would not interfere.

“Stay away.”

“I can’t.” Creed’s mind slipped through the crack in
his anxiety about Rai, flowing with a smooth skill uncommon in a were. More
energy blended with Creed’s. Ian?

She’s taken enough, Jared.