Tendra

As I swam into consciousness, I groaned at an ache in my hip. I was lying on hard stone, my back was freezing but my front…was not.

I blinked my eyes open to see a small fire burning in front of me. I stared at the flames, waiting for my brain to come online.

I was in a cave. Outside Mission. And Athan?

A figure moved, and I squinted to see more clearly. On the other side of the fire, Athan bounced on the balls of his bare feet. He wore only his jeans, his chest glistening with sweat as he shadow-boxed. His shadow loomed large behind him on the rough cave walls.

He was magnificent as he extended those long arms, biceps straining, veins bulging, and he was surprisingly agile for a man that large.

He dropped his hands to his sides, flexing his fingers as he rolled his head. I was groggy from sleep, but my body remembered the feel of those hands. He hadn’t said a word about what happened yesterday and neither had I, because what did I even say? Thanks for the excellent finger bang. It’ll sure make future family dinners awkward.

I wished I could call Ruby. She’d laugh, and ask me if I returned the favor. Which, no, I hadn’t. Because his body language had been very clear afterward. Do not touch.

Brex sensed I was awake and pranced in front of my face. I reached out to pet him, and Athan must have seen me move, because when I withdrew my hand, he was there in front of me, crouched down.

I forgot how fast he was.

“Hey,” he said quietly, the ends of his hair dripping with sweat. “Did you sleep okay?”

I groaned as I tried to sit up. “As well as I can on a cave floor.”

He laughed. “Ah, already acting like a princess.”

I smacked him. “Look, Mr. I Don’t Sleep, you don’t know what it’s like, okay?”

He wrinkled his nose as he rose to his feet. “I don’t. Staying in the same position for eight hours? Giving up consciousness willingly? It’s weird to me.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Don’t talk to me about weird when you’re a vampire.”

He shrugged. “What’s normal to you is weird to me.”

He had a point.

I sat with my back against the wall and stretched out my legs in front of me. He plunked down a water bottle between my legs, then handed me a granola bar. As he sat down beside me, I said, “Thank you.”

“Sure.”

“Brex—”

“He’s been fed. Dish is over there.” He pointed to a small silver bowl along the far wall.

“Oh.” I took a bite out of my granola bar. “So where were you born? How did you grow up? If this is my new normal, then I want to know more about it.”

He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. “I was born in the medical facility on the Gregorie compound.”

“So is this compound self-sufficient?”

“Mostly. It’s not like we keep food rations except for the humans. So we get those delivered about once a month.”

“Okay, so you were born there.”

“Yes.”

“What are your parents like?”

He blew out a breath and ran a hand down Brex’s back. “My father is…a good leader.”

That was it. He stopped talking after that.

“Uh,” I said. “That’s…not really a ringing endorsement for your dad.”

He shrugged. “We’ve never been close. He’s favored Idris for as long as I can remember, and that’s fine. Idris is older, he’s the future of the clan. I’m the blood guard. I don’t matter as much.”

I actually gasped, and Athan’s head jerked toward me. “Don’t say that.” I poked him in the shoulder. “Seriously, don’t say that. You matter. You matter a lot to me, and it’s clear that your clan respects you.”

Athan reached out and brushed my hair behind my ear, a small smile curling his lips. “Thank you for saying that.” He nodded toward my granola bar. “Eat.”

I felt a little pandered, too, like I was a dumb human who didn’t understand vampire hierarchy. But I wasn’t in the mood to argue. Even though I wasn’t that hungry, I dutifully ate and drank all the water. After that, I resumed my questions. “What about your mom?”

“My mother died when I was three.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Do you remember her at all?”

“Dark hair, tan skin. Vanilla scent.” He shook his head. “I knew she was kind, but that’s only based on what some of the longtime servants have told me. My father never speaks of her.”

Yikes. “Were they in love?”

He huffed out a small laugh. “I’m not sure my father falls in love.”

I frowned. “Don’t say that.”

“You haven’t met him. I’m sure you’ll understand after you do.”

Well, that sounded like a freaking blast. I’d never even known my father, so I had no way to commiserate. “Are you close with your brother?”

Athan thought about that for a minute as he scratched Brex’s chin. “We used to be closer than we are. We’re not alike, and our father didn’t foster a close relationship between us. I would say that’s a regret I have in my life.”

I always wanted a brother or sister. “Well, there’s still time. And I’ll be there. I’ll help. I’ll schedule game nights.”

He barked out a laugh. “Game nights?”

“Yeah! Game nights. Uno, Cards Against Humanity. It’ll be fun! I’ll help you guys be closer again.” I would need something to do other than be a blood donor.

Athan was looking at me like that again, with thinly veiled affection. The flames flickered in his dark eyes, and I didn’t want to look away. My mind and body hadn’t forgotten the way he touched me, the things he said to me. While we walked, I’d played that moment over and over again in my head. Had that just been a part of the job to him? Ease the ache? But then…why the dirty talk? “So, about what happened yesterday…”

He cleared his throat, his body immediately stiffening. “I need to apologize.”

Oh, great. Should have seen this coming.

“I didn’t know what else to do to help you, but I took it too far, and said things that I—”

“Don’t tell me you didn’t mean them.” I jumped to my feet and rounded on him. “I’m sure you feel guilty, and I’m sure I should probably feel guilty but I know next to nothing about Idris. So my guilt is at maybe point five on a scale of one to one hundred. But we were both there. We both agreed for it to happen. And it did. So I don’t want you to start apologizing or saying you regret it, because I’ll be resentful, and I need to trust you. Okay?”

Athan blinked up at me, his mouth gaping open. Finally, he shut it, and rose to his feet gracefully. He stood before me, studying my face. He cupped my cheek, his thumb brushing the corner of my lips. “Fine, I don’t regret it, and I won’t apologize. But…we both know it can’t happen again.”

I swallowed, wondering how the hell I was going to deal with my future, when the man I could see myself with was the man I wasn’t meant to have. “If Idris wasn’t—”

“Don’t make me answer that.” His voice was firm, but kind. “You made your request, and this is mine. Don’t make me answer that.”

I nodded, the heat of his palm spreading down my neck. “That’s fair.”

He patted my cheek, then dropped his hand. “I think so, too.” He walked over to the entrance and peered outside. “Sun is setting. Maybe another half hour, then we can get moving again.”

“Okay, I wish I could get clean somehow but…” I pulled my hair back with a hair tie and glanced down at my dusty clothes. “Oh, well.”

“There’ll be some streams you can wash up in. How’s that? We have another night or two before we make it to the compound.”

“That’d be great.” I appreciated him not calling me a princess again.

By the time we put out the fire and cleaned up after ourselves—“Leave no trace!” Athan muttered repeatedly—the sun had set, and once again, we were off.

I ignored the blisters on my feet, and my aching muscles, and I followed my vampire bodyguard through the dark woods.

Athan

I never in my life thought I’d sit in a cave with our Sanguivita talking to her about my family and my insecurities which I’d always kept secret.

Of course, she wasn’t the Sanguivita to me. She was Tendra. With the big cat and the smart mouth. The one who found the courage to run away from Quellen, and fulfill her duty.

I needed to focus. Brooding over her and how I felt wasn’t going to keep us alive.

“What was your training like as a baby vamp?” Tendra asked in a low voice as we made our way around the edges of a large clearing. I scanned the trees and inhaled deeply. I didn’t smell any Quellen.

“As far back as I can remember, I was told my role. As the youngest son of this generation, I would be the blood guard. Once the Sanguivita came of age, I’d protect her.”

A branch cracked under my boot, startling Ten, who gripped my hand and laced our fingers together. My entire arm warmed.

“So what kind of training did you do?”

“Mostly fight training. Bullets do nothing to vampires—”

“I heard silver—”

“No.” I laughed softly. “Silver bullets don’t matter.”

“So how do you kill vampires?”

“The only way to kill a vampire is to sever their heads from their bodies, or cut them so deep, their blood drains before they can heal. Usually a deep slice to the neck does the trick.”

“Ew.” The look of pure disgust on her face made me laugh again.

“It’s the truth.” There were also rumors that the Valarians were developing a type of metal that would burn our skin and that our bodies couldn’t heal. But we weren’t sure if there was truth to those rumors, and I wasn’t about to bring that up now and worry her.

She huffed. “So tell me more about your training.”

“I learned how to use pretty much anything as a weapon. I’m skilled in hand-to-hand combat. I know how to smell our enemies from miles away, and I’m trained to protect with my life if I have to.”

“Did you also learn school stuff, like math and science?”

“I learned basics, yes, although most everything was somehow tied to skills as a blood guard.”

She whistled a low tone. “I see.”

“You were brought up to fight, too.”

“I was but…I didn’t know the purpose, other than to protect myself.”

“That was the purpose,” I said. “To protect yourself.”

She nibbled her lip and stared at her feet as we walked. “Yeah, you’re right. Although I thought I’d be fighting off some horny drunk. Not vampires. Or vampire assassins.”

Brex trotted ahead of us, the moonlight catching off the light strands in his fur. I was interested in his ability to detect the enemy. Was that just instinct? Was he some sort of cat bred by vampires? Either way, he was special and was hands down responsible for Ten still being alive.

Of course, he hadn’t loved me at all when I’d first seen him. Probably accurate since my showing up hadn’t meant great things for Ten’s future.

“I thought you might not show up,” I blurted out.

Ten’s head whipped to face me, her dark hair catching on her lower lip. “What?”

“I told myself if you didn’t show up at dusk, I’d still find you to make sure you were alive.”

“And?”

“And what?”

“Well, then what? If you found me, and I’d decided fuck it. Fuck the human race, I’m going to live on a beach in Barbados until we’re all zombies drained of blood. What would you have done?”

I answered as honestly as I could. “I don’t know.”

Her eyes widened. “Really?”

“Well, I could leave you there, or I could try to talk you into coming with me again, or I could bring you by force. I’m not sure which I’d choose.”

She stopped and rounded on me, still clutching my hand. “You’re telling the truth, aren’t you? You really wouldn’t automatically drag me back. You’d have to decide and it wouldn’t be an easy choice. That’s what you’re telling me.”

I stared into her eyes and answered honestly. “Yes.”

She studied my face. “I believe you.”

“You should.”

“But why?”

“Why not treat you like a blood bank for Idris?”

She swallowed. “Yeah.”

“Because that’s not how I see you. Is that how most vampires in our clan do? Sure, and I’m sorry for that. I did, too, before I met you. But I don’t see you like that now.”

Her lip trembled, and she let go of my hand only to wrap her arms around me. Against me, she mumbled, “Please don’t leave me in that place. Promise me you’ll still be around, to remind me that I’m more than the Sanguivita.”

I placed my hand on the back of her neck and dropped a kiss on her head. “I promise, Ten. I’ll be there.”

She pulled back and dipped her head as she swiped her eyes. Then, with a wobbly smile, she grabbed my hand and we kept walking.

I was happy with the time we were making, so when Ten asked to wash up in a small stream we crossed, I said okay.

I leaned against a tree and ran my hands down over my face, doing my best to ignore the cramping in my gut, the dizziness as I walked. Fucking hunger pangs. I had to power through, though. I’d be okay as long as we stayed on schedule. If we were delayed…I wasn’t sure how I was going to make it. Fuck.

As Ten approached the edge of the stream, I realized I hadn’t thought this through. I didn’t know she’d be stripping down to nothing and wading into the stream. Her pale skin shone in the moonlight, her heart-shaped ass so goddamn perfect, I couldn’t look away. She’d pulled her hair back, but some strands curled around her neck. She dipped into the water up to her waist, then looked at me over her bare shoulder. “I thought you’d turn away.”

I sat down on the bank and chewed on a piece of grass. “I have to watch you. That’s my job, after all.”

She lifted her eyebrows. “Just your job, huh?”

“Yep.” The flirting in her tone was making me hard. Still, I didn’t look away, not while water dripped down those bare arms. I cocked my head. “You want me to turn away?”

She shook her head. “No. Makes me feel safe when you watch me.” As she faced away from me again, I heard her mutter, “Makes me feel other things, too.”

“I have good hearing, you know,” I called to her.

Her laugh rang out in the stillness of the night. “I know that.”

Fuck it. I stripped down, too, as she sloughed water over her skin, and I splashed in behind her. She whirled around, sinking below the surface so only the tops of her full breasts showed.

The cool water woke up my body a bit, and even though I was hungry, I had to admit it felt good to clean up. Ten grinned at me, and I wished I had the freedom to grab her and pull her close, to suck on those full lips, to reach between her legs and listen to her come again.

I hadn’t ever coveted much in life for myself, but I sure as hell coveted Tendra Parrish.

The aching in my gut grew stronger, and I rose to my feet in front of her, not worrying about covering myself. Her eyes widened as they took in my body. “Time to go, Ten.”

I splashed to the shore and began to dress. When I was finished, I turned around to see Tendra stepping into her underwear. She covered her ass, then those perfect breasts with a black lace bra. Every bit of skin she covered, I mourned. But I also thanked her, because the temptation of her was too much, especially when she flirted back. When she was completely dressed, she turned to me. “All right, I’m ready.”

I began to walk, and soon the sound of her footsteps followed me. Once we were walking again, she said, “Thanks for that. I feel better. Do you?”

“Sure,” I answered. I brushed my hair off my forehead and blew out a breath.

“Are you feeling okay?” she asked.

“Why?”

“You seem a little off? Your color, too.”

“I need to feed,” I said bluntly, the willpower it took to control the hunger pangs and my hunger for Ten zapping my energy. “I’ll be okay as long as we don’t meet any delays.”

“What happens if we do?”

“I’ll have to call Idris. We’ll need help and backup.” Hopefully he had the problem back at home taken care of.

She blinked at me, her expression tensing with panic. “Athan—”

“It’s okay.” I squeezed the back of her neck, cursing myself for worrying her. “We’ll get there, all right?”

She didn’t look convinced, but dipped her head. “Okay.”

I gripped her hand and we continued on.