We stayed together. If there had been three of us, we’d have split up. Four would have been perfect. But it was just Micah and me. Better to be together than alone in case my assertions about how many Vampires we’d see were wrong.

My monster sensors were going crazy. I could feel the Vampires and Werewolves in the area. This close, I wasn’t sure exactly how many they signaled. It was a good thing I hadn’t had these abilities when I actually lived with the monsters. Those had been given to me in Genesis so I could fight Icahn’s battles for him.

I’d have gone mad if I’d had them before.

The lights dimmed, flickered, then came back on. Not surprising. Vampires didn’t care if their humans were comfortable. Electricity was spotty in these places. They only had enough so the humans could do whatever job they were supposed to be managing. Why waste the energy?

Quiet voices caught my attention, and I pointed. Humans were talking. We didn’t want to rush in. They might be the wrong kind of humans, the monster helping, crazy scientist kind. Micah motioned for me to get against the opposite wall from him. I signaled back and moved silently.

We rounded the corner together, my stake out and Micah’s hand on his machete. That was, of course, the other option. Werewolves in their human form could talk, too. I was glad he’d been thinking more clearly than me.

On the other side were cages filled with men I could only guess were the males from Geronimo. Three Werewolves in their human forms were there, wandering around. Conversation ceased, and then the battle was on.

I had one second to hope that Micah stitched me up really well before my machete was off my back and I darted left to avoid being struck. The pain in my arm and chest proved helpful. It reminded me to pay close attention, to not get lost in the fight. Keith had taught us all that. Keep your senses through the adrenaline. It was how we won.

I backed into the wall, raised my machete and took off the fucker’s head. I braced for more, but Micah had the other two down already.

He nodded at me. So far, not a single Vampire.

I raised my hand to get the attention of the men in the cages. “My name is Deacon. This is Micah. We’ve come from Geronimo.” That wasn’t exactly true. Only one member of Geronimo knew we were here. “We’ll get you out of those cages shortly. First, we have to get rid of your Vampire friends.”

One man crawled forward. “I always knew this day would come. Thank you.”

“Not quite done yet.” I looked at Micah who had gone quiet in the way he sometimes did. I had yet to figure out why that sometimes happened. “Do we let them out before we go for the Vamps?”

He shook his head. “If we don’t win, they’ll hunt them down and kill them for disobeying. This way, it’s not their fault. See what I’m saying?”

I did. I turned back to the men. “Give us a minute.”

I hated to leave them in there, but if we failed, they would be worse off. They could at least tell the story about the two guys who had tried to save them.

What an incredibly difficult situation those guys faced. Knowing the Vampires would come back, having to comply for the sake of their families.

When I lived in one of these places, the Vamps had spent their days in a large room, all together. The idea being, I guessed, because it wasn’t like I could ask, that they had strength in numbers when they were less than at their best during the day.

That was true this time, too. What was different, however, than where I’d grown up, was there were two water tanks, giant ones that stretched from ceiling to floor. A human walked back and forth in front of them, speaking into a recorder. Inside the tanks were two dead human females. The Vamps made no moves to harm the live human in front of the tanks.

I’d heard about this from Rachel, but I’d never seen it. The Vampires could be controlled by humans thanks to a drug in their food supply—the humans they kept in cages. Presumably, it was put in the food of their human population. That meant at some point, I’d had it in me. I hated that thought.

The Vampires needed the drug or they died. Since it was only the scientists in possession of it, they got a free pass around the Vamps.

“Little more than twelve.” Micah didn’t keep his voice down. “More like fourteen.”

I shrugged. “Whoops.”

The scientist jumped back. He was a tall man, around Micah’s father’s age, with red hair and blue eyes. He squealed like a little child, and we hadn’t done anything yet.

He pointed at us, jumping up and down. “Get them.”

The Vampires turned in our direction. Daytime drowsy, they weren’t going to be moving so fast.

“Seven and seven,” Micah said to me. “Let’s see who gets done first.”

It would be him. I could beat back these Vamps, but since I was still injured, it wasn’t going to be at racing speed. I gripped my stake and ran for the Vampires.

I staked one that hadn’t moved then darted toward the next one who was barely inching at me. Micah was finished. I heard his cry of done while I took care of number three.

“That’s great, man,” I called out to him. “Subdue the creepy doctor over there.”

“On it.”

I finished. Four and five were easy, my stake plunging into their nearly dead flesh easily. Six and seven took some time. They’d woken up enough in the battle that they took a little maneuvering. I ended up jumping onto the last one’s back—maybe this would be a signature move from now on—and plunging my stake into its heart from behind.

I almost dropped the stake, which made me laugh. As the creature turned to dust, I went down with it, hitting the ground. When I pulled myself up, I still had the stake in my hand, but it had been close.

I turned to Micah, who held the dead scientist in his arms. It took me a second to reconcile what I saw with what I’d expected to see. Micah didn’t usually kill humans unless he was attacked. In battle, he’d taken out some of Icahn’s. But that was it.

“Hey, man, I didn’t expect you to kill him.”

He rolled his eyes at me, dropping the scientist. “He had something in his mouth. He chewed on it, and it killed him. I don’t kill humans unless I must. You know that. You sent enough after us when you worked for Icahn.”

I’d heard they all thought that. “I never sent any. He didn’t ask me to strategize. Are you kidding? That ego? That’s not on me.” Keith’s death, yes. War, no.

“So they didn’t want him caught.” Micah got to his feet. “Glad to know actually, that you didn’t help him in war.”

I shook my head. “He liked the look of me with him. It made for good propaganda. That’s all.” It had been a completely boring time followed by abject horror.

I walked to the water enclosures. The two women were bloated. It was hard to make out their facial features. I touched the glass. “What is happening here?”

Micah sighed. “What do you want to bet the last visitors to Geronimo were women?”

And they’d been coming for us next…

Micah touched the other enclosure’s glass. “Rest in peace, ladies.”

Before I let the men out of their cages, I wanted more of a look at this place. Leaving Micah behind, I walked around, taking in expected sites. Cages. Blood rooms. The place where they kept the infirmed Vampires—who would die on their own now. I wasn’t going to bother with them. Big areas to hold humans. All of it I’d seen before.

What caught my attention was the map on the wall. Someone not Vampire had put it up. It showed several Vampire enclosures and the tunnels that led to them. There were hundreds and they all converged here.

I stared for a moment. Although it was empty, we hadn’t chosen just a random Vampire place to raid. This was a central location. Sometime very soon, the rest of the undead would notice we had been here.

We’d saved Geronimo’s people but we might have opened the door for bigger problems.

Micah came up and read the map, too.

“Plans will have to be in place. That is, if we’re staying. We did what we said we’d do. Or we will any second. We could go.”

I cleared my throat. “You can go.”

He nodded. “You and I both know I’m not leaving you. And you’re not leaving her.”

“I hate that you’re right.”

He patted my shoulder. “Don’t. I’ve never been close to being in love. I’ve never been in real like. I want it. I just can’t seem to get it. No one is right, which tells me there’s something wrong with me and not them. Sex is dull.”

I stared at him for a long second. How much to confess? “I wouldn’t know. Not really.”

“Ooh.” He grinned. “Deacon is going to have a lot of fun soon. Almost jealous about that, too. Might have been nice to wait for the right one.”

I looked down at the floor. “Assuming she still wants me. She might be using me for this or something else then be done.”

Micah shook his head. “Girl loves you. She’s got some screwed up stuff to work through, but she loves you. Sorry, Deacon. It looks like this was for real.”

“Then… I’m not sure I can make her happy.”

He furrowed his brow. “She seems pretty naturally happy when you’re around. I don’t think you’ll have to work that.”

“Don’t be a jackass. I mean in bed. I don’t know what I’m doing.”

He blinked. “You know the basics, yes? What goes where? Do you need a picture?” I shoved him, and he laughed, holding up his hands. “It’ll work itself out. Most natural thing in the world, and assuming you stick with each other, it only gets better over time. Or so I’ve been told. I don’t stick around long enough to know.”

I waved my hand. “Enough.”

“Right. Let’s go get her father out of that cage.”

Her father. I took a deep breath. Maybe I’d score some points seeing as I came and rescued him? I wasn’t exactly wonderful with family. Never had been.

The men were shaky but relieved as we rushed them through the woods. I’d hardly had a word with Lydia, which wasn’t surprising. She hadn’t seen her father for months, and they weren’t going to have to go back to the cages. Of course, the town had lost its free supply of things the Vampires provided. I hoped the women back at home would still see this as a plus.

She’d been relieved to see me. I’d caught her gaze for a second before she was embraced. In that moment, I’d known—she had worried the whole time. It was nice to have even a second of mattering to someone in this world. If nothing ever came of this, I’d had that.

My body ached. We returned to cheers, tears, and happiness. Lydia gave a lot of explanations, and soon, shouts of ‘prophecy’ were everywhere. The Warriors would come and help. We’d done that.

Except I wasn’t anyone’s fulfillment of prophecy. What I needed was to rest and to figure out how to make them safe for the next attack. Because there would be a next attack.

We were on our way back to our cabin when we ran into a redhead. She wanted Micah. It was clear, right away. He smiled at her. Post-fight was, I’d been told, a great time to go at it. I’d never known. Without a backward glance, he took her hand and was off. I’d see him in the morning. Maybe. Perhaps late afternoon…

In the cabin, I heated water over the fire and took a lukewarm bath. I changed my bandages and crawled under the covers of my bed. I closed my eyes and inhaled. Lydia’s springtime smell was still on my pillow. It had been really, ridiculously nice to sleep with her.

A knock sounded before the door opened a crack. “Deacon?”

It was Lydia. I sat up. “You okay?”

She closed the door behind her, locking it. “Are you? I came to help. You were limping the whole way back.”

“I’m sore, but I’ll live. Shouldn’t you be with your family?” Wasn’t that what families did?

“My parents need to be together, alone. Mom’s not going to get better just because Dad’s home. They need time before she’s gone. I’d like to be anywhere but there. Little privacy and all that. Charlie’s asleep so…” Her voice trailed off. “Is it okay that I came here?”

I lifted up the sheet. “Sure.”

She kicked off her shoes then stripped down to only a white slip. I might have quit breathing for a second. Last night, she’d stayed dressed. Of course, I was in just my boxers, too.

Lydia crawled in next to me. Her skin was chilled from outside, even with her coat on, and I quickly wrapped us both up in the blankets. The fire crackled across the room, still blazing, and I hoped it would last most of the night.

“Micah’s with Cherie?” Her voice was low.

“Yes.”

She rolled over, wrapping her arms around me and pushing herself against my side. “Oh, Deacon, thank you. Thank you for saving everything and everyone.”

It would take the Vampires more than twenty-four hours to get ready—probably much longer—to assault us. “For now. We have to talk about it tomorrow. But, yes, tonight we are safe from them.”

She kissed my shoulder. “I love you. I know, too early to say that. I know, not okay. But I’ve got to say it. Sometimes I just have to say how I feel. Pretend I didn’t say it if it bothers you.”

It didn’t bother me. Just the opposite, actually. I really liked hearing her say it. No one told me that before. Maybe my parents when I was younger. Certainly not as I remembered.

I spoke, just letting the words out for once. Not worrying about being judged or who would hear them. Lydia wanted to know me? Well, there I was. “The problem with saying it too soon is I’m afraid you’ll change your mind, that you’ll take it back. That the words will vanish and with them the feeling of hearing you declare that to me. You can’t say something like that to a person like me then stop feeling that way. I’m starved for things others take for granted. I think I might expire from the loss of them if I let myself believe you meant them to begin with.”

She lifted her head, leaning on her elbow. “I’m not ever going to take them back. I’ve never said them to anyone but family before. You take your time to believe them. They’ll be right there. All yours.”

Lydia kissed me so sweetly. Her lips were soft. Every single bit of her was soft. This time, it was my turn to sigh. I kissed her back, our mouths fusing together. She tasted like honey. I could drown in her and not be unhappy at my ending.

I rolled to my side, drawing her closer so we could be pressed front-to-front. Neither one of us rushed. We might have kissed for hours. Heat pressed into my groin, and I got hard, painfully so. Still, I didn’t want to do anything but kiss her. Well, I did. I’d have to be dead to not want more. Even then, I might crave her. But what I really desired more than anything else right then was the closeness. The feeling I could connect to her, mouth-to-mouth, was all I needed. The fight had worn me down. I didn’t think I could manage to figure out the rest right then, even if she wanted to.

Finally, she pulled back, her gaze on me. I could see her perfect features in the light from the now dying fire. “You’re tired. I can feel it coming over you.”

“Sorry.” I didn’t want to disappoint. “I can wake up.”

She shook her head. “Let’s sleep.”

That sounded good. Even with my hard-on making movement awkward. “Sounds good, beautiful.”

“Do you think I’m beautiful?” Her smile would have lit up the world. “I guess that’s stupid. I shouldn’t care.”

I touched her chin. “I think you’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen.”

She pressed her forehead to my chest. “I’m not, you know. I mean, I’m fine to look at. But I’m not the most beautiful person you’ve ever seen. If you think I am, then I’m just going to roll around in that emotionally for a bit.”

Her words were slurring together. I smiled. “Now who’s tired?”

“I worried the whole time you were down there.”

I kissed her forehead. “Sleep.”

She closed her eyes, and so did I. Darkness came fast. I wondered how I’d ever sleep without her again.

I dreamed about sex. When I was a teenager, that happened a lot. Still did sometimes but not as much as it had back then. This time, it featured Lydia. She was naked on top of me, riding me. I was close, so close I was going to come and…

I opened my eyes. The room was quiet, Lydia’s small sighs as she slept next to me the only sound in the still dark room. My cock throbbed. I needed relief, and I needed it soon. I took a deep breath, my hand coming down on my erection through the slit in my boxers. I totally didn’t want to jerk off with her lying right there. It would be awful for her to wake up and find me doing that.

Lydia rolled over, her eyes opening. “You okay?” She had that husky voice thing happening again.

I cleared my throat. There wasn’t going to be a great way to get out of this situation and we’d promised each other the truth. “Look, I’m hard. I’m really frickin’ hard. I was hard before we conked out, which you must have felt, and dreaming about you only made the whole thing worse. I’m going to have to take care of it. I’ll just go”—I didn’t know where exactly—“and take care of it. Then I’ll come back and…”

“No,” she interrupted me. “Don’t go anywhere.”

“I’m not really cool with jerking off while you watch, gorgeous.” There was a certain excitement to that but not right then. It was too soon or something.

She reached out in the darkness, her hand finding the top of my erection. “Let me.”

I sucked in my breath. Her hand was soft but firm on top of my cock. “Lydia…”

She scooted closer. “I’ve never done it. Ever. Show me. I want to.”

I heard excitement in her voice and that was why I agreed. I hadn’t expected this, not at all. I took her hand in mine and directed her fingers like I had, strangely enough, with the stake. She took to my silent direction fast, and soon, with just the right amount of pressure, she stroked me. Up and down. I hissed in my breath.

“Good?” Her voice was low, sultry. Lydia sounded like a woman who knew she had turned me on. I loved the timbre of it in her voice.

“So fucking good.” I didn’t even care I’d cursed. She squeezed a little harder and my hips came off the bed. “Shit.”

She pumped me hard, picking up speed. I groaned. I was going to come, and it was going to be fast. I warred with my body’s need for release. I’d never get this moment again. There would only ever be one first time for us to find intimacy together, and whether or not I ended the night between her thighs, this was that moment.

I wanted it to last.

My cock had other ideas. I exploded around her hand, spilling like the desperate man I was. I cried out her name. My ears rang.

I had to catch my breath. She held onto my erection until I was done. Her eyes were huge. I tried to swallow. Had I absolutely ruined the night for her?

Then her mouth was on mine. She kissed me, over and over. I still could hardly breathe. All I could do was chase her while she led.

Finally, I pulled back. “Thank you.”

She shook her head. “Can we do that again?”

I laughed. “Lydia, you have no idea… I can’t even begin to explain…”

Well, actually I could. I’d heard guys talk about this a lot. “Do you touch yourself?”

Her cheeks pinkened. “Sometimes. I don’t get a lot of privacy.”

“Okay if I touch you?”

She nodded. I kissed her hard, rolling her over until I was on top of her. She still had on the slip, and I wasn’t going to take it off, not tonight. Although I was soaked, I still had on my boxers. Tonight was just touches. I trailed my hand down her slip until I could tug it up a bit. She had undies on underneath. They were in the way. I tugged them down. Her breathing picked up, her eyes wide.

“Deacon, I want you to touch me. I’m also nervous.”

I wet my lips with my tongue, watching her as she spoke. She was so lovely in her vulnerability. “I’ve never done this before, beautiful. I might not do it right. I’m nervous as hell.”

“Really?” Her eyebrows shot up. “You’ll only have been with me?”

I pushed her hair off her forehead. “We’re not going to get that far tonight. But, yes, I’ll only have been with you. We have to talk more about what to do before we go further than this. I don’t want to get you pregnant.”

She shook her head. “Not yet.”

I couldn’t even go there in my head. I slipped a finger inside of her. She made the slightest moan then giggled. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to laugh. I do this when I’m nervous. I…”

I moved my finger inside of her until I found what I was looking for. The smallest nub waited for my attention, and I gave it a gentle rub. She cried out, biting down on her lip. Yes, that was it.

Lydia didn’t give me any verbal directions, just sighs and moans when she seemed to like what I was doing. Soon, I found a rhythm. Her moans got louder, and she shut her eyes. My cock hardened. Was there anything more exciting than this? She was so sexy.

I picked up my speed, and her hips started to jerk against me. Lydia arched her neck, her head back. “Yes. Oh, Deacon, yes.”

It didn’t take much longer. She was wet, hot, soft, and mine. Lydia came around my finger. I kissed her when she found her completion. I never wanted to stop.