Chapter Seven
Rapid-fire footsteps clacking on linoleum brought Hadley up from her chair. Closing the magazine she was browsing through, she quickly stepped out from behind the first floor nurses’ station.
Toni, dressed smartly in black slacks, low-heeled pumps of the same color, and a lightweight cardigan in speckled heather gray, moved with long, purposeful strides down the hospital’s main corridor.
Walking beside her was Ţărână’s largest physical being, Toni’s brother-in-law, Nyko Brun. He was carrying a boy of about three. His son, obviously—the black-haired toddler was the image of his father…well, if his father hadn’t been so scary-looking.
Of all the community scuttlebutt Marissa had managed to share with Hadley after court today, hearing that Nyko was married was the news that lifted Hadley’s brows to her hairline. She tried to pretend her uncouth reaction was surprise over the community finding another extremely rare Royal Dragon—the only type of women the half-demon Brun brothers could mate with—but, honestly, Hadley was mostly shocked over any woman wanting to marry Nyko. With his heavy brow, anvil for a jaw, and black, arching teeth tattoos littering his entire upper body, including the circumference of his neck, he wasn’t exactly the type of man a girl dreamed of marrying someday. But, also…in all fairness, if Hadley thought back to her time here, once she’d gotten used to Nyko, she’d found him to be pretty loveable.
“I gave Breen enough sedative to induce a near coma,” Toni was saying to Nyko as the two of them stopped at the nurses’ station. “Are you sure that won’t be sufficient?”
“Definitely not.” Nyko was adamant. “The half-bond will push Breen’s predatory side to fight its way through conventional medication. You need to dope him up with an enchanted drug.”
“You didn’t require such drastic measures when you were in a half-bond.”
Nyko snorted. “Only barely, and I’m not a Pure-bred like Breen.” The toddler reached up and tugged on his father’s big ear. Nyko’s head skewed sideways, and he grinned at the boy, then transferred the smile to Hadley. “Hi, Hadley. Welcome back.”
“Thank you,” she responded warmly. “It’s good to be back.”
At the sound of her voice, the toddler stared at her with liquid-eyed interest.
“Goodness, I’ve seen so many cute kids since I’ve been back, I’m getting light-headed.” She reached out and tickled the baby’s belly. The boy broke into a smile, displaying four sturdy teeth. Adorable! “What’s his name?”
“Mihail. It’s the Romanian form of Michael, although if you ask my wife, he’s named after Mikhail Baryshnikov.” Nyko chuckled.
“Any more of these at home?”
“A fifteen-month-old and a three-month-old. Both boys.”
“Three children! Already!”
Nyko beamed. “And my wife Faith is pregnant with a fourth. Although that one was an oops.”
Hadley tucked in her chin. “Really? I didn’t think Vârcolac couples got blindsided with those kinds of surprises.” The vampire way of making babies was a pretty obvious process: when a Vârcolac male scented his mate’s fertility, he was thrown into a semi-conscious “procreation mode”—a state during which he had sex with his wife, over and over, until the deed was done. Afterward he fell into an exhausted three-day hibernation period. With this kind of clear-cut activity going on, it was difficult for a woman to miss when she got herself preggers.
“Normally, that’s true,” Nyko agreed. “But several months ago the community received a batch of defective ovulation sticks, so a lot of women were wandering around town ovulating without knowing it. Six were taken down by their husbands and impregnated”—Nyko grimaced—“a few in some pretty awkward situations, before anyone figured what was going on. We had to segregate the town—women on the south end, men in the north—while we fixed it. Some are calling it the Great Ovulation Disaster.” Nyko’s smiled reappeared. “No disaster for me, though.”
“That sounds—”
Toni gusted a breath. “Can we put off the baby talk till a later time? Where’s Shaston, Hadley?”
“Oh. Uh…” Hadley moved her hands in a jerky way, flustered by Toni’s impatient tone. Ţărână’s leader generally wasn’t abrupt, but the topic of babies was a sore one for her. According to more of Marissa’s scuttlebutt, Toni and her husband, Jacken, were fighting over whether or not to have more children.
“They’ve been having problems on and off for the last several months,” Marissa explained as they meandered down Main Street toward the hospital. “Toni wants to have another baby, but Jacken won’t consider it, not after—” Marissa eyed her askance. “That’s right, you weren’t here for what happened, were you? How long did you live in the community, anyway?”
“About five months.”
Marissa nodded. “Well, Toni almost died giving birth to their daughter, Shaw. It scared ten years off Jacken’s life.”
“Jacken…scared?” Hadley couldn’t picture it. As she remembered the dark, hard-faced man, he never showed much emotion, certainly not anything close to fear. He was only one step down on the scary-ladder from Nyko, his forearms marked with the same arching teeth tattoos, and his black eyes capable of bringing on bouts of spontaneous fainting in others.
“In his completely rock-like Jacken-way,” Marissa said, “but, yes. What pisses off Toni the most is that he won’t even discuss it with her. He just shuts her down every time she tries to bring it up.”
“How awful.” Hadley was well-schooled in most of the pitfalls of a troubled marriage, and lack of communication was a biggie.
“Hadley?” Toni prompted, the question shaking Hadley from her thoughts. “Do you know where Shaston is?”
“Oh, yes. Sorry.” Hadley cleared her throat. “She went off to get some medicine.”
“Off where? We stock the medicine here.”
“I’m not sure.” Hadley spread her hands. “It seemed funny to me, too, but I don’t know how things work around here yet.” She checked her watch. “She’s been gone for a good forty-five minutes.”
“Look! Bear!” Nyko’s son pointed to a framed picture on the wall beside the nurses’ station.
Most of the pictures in the hospital were kid-friendly. This one was of a teddy bear in a bow tie.
“Very good, Mihail,” Nyko encouraged.
Toni’s brows started to pull together. “When was the last time anyone checked on Breen?”
“Shaston and I both did right before she left.” Hadley pointed down the hall. “She taped a note on Breen’s door.”
Toni marched down the hallway, Hadley and Nyko following. Toni snapped the note off the door but barely glanced at it. “This isn’t Shaston’s handwriting.” Shoving into the room, Toni flicked on the lights.
Somebody was definitely sleeping in the bed.
Toni strode over and whipped the sheet off Breen’s—
Not Breen.
Shaston, drooling.
Hadley’s mouth sagged open.
“Well.” Toni tossed the note aside. “This can’t be good.”
“Oh, dang,” Nyko said in an undertone.
“Daddy! Sticks!” Mihail pointed at a glass jar of tongue depressors set next to a sink.
Nyko pulled out a stick and gave it to his son.
“How is it no one reported this? Someone in town had to have spotted Breen. Or mansion security, what happened there?” Toni seemed to be throwing these questions out to anyone who would answer them.
Neither Hadley nor Nyko did.
Exhaling expansively, Toni focused on Nyko. “I take it there’s no chance Charlize and Breen haven’t had sex?”
“If Charlize said no and was firm about it.” But Nyko looked doubtful.
So did Toni. “Yes, well, Charlize didn’t exactly strike me as a woman who is particularly liberal with her nos, much less firm about them.” She paused. “Breen wouldn’t force himself on her in his half-bond state, would he?”
“Absolutely not,” Nyko insisted. “But he’s not capable of leaving her, either. He’ll move heaven and earth to convince her to be with him.”
Toni rubbed her forehead. “And he’s had forty-five minutes to work on her.”
“You warned Charlize not to sleep with Breen,” Nyko asked, “outlined the consequences?”
“Of course. But I didn’t get the sense much was going in. I didn’t push it, because Charlize seemed overwhelmed and I thought—between the heavy sedation and the bindings—we’d keep the two of them apart.” Toni swatted at one of the leather cuffs, hanging loosely open and minus Breen’s ankle.
Mihail wielded the tongue depressor around like a sword, and Nyko leaned aside to avoid getting clobbered.
Toni sighed. “I guess I’d better go to the mansion. See if I can salvage anything from this mess.” She didn’t look too excited about the idea. She took a hypodermic needle off the metal tray, noted it was empty, glanced at Shaston, sighed again, then set it back down. The cell phone on her belt hummed. She unhooked it and checked the caller ID, then pressed the speaker button. “What’s up, Alex?”
Alex…? Oh! That’s right. Toni’s computer geek brother.
Alex’s voice came out through the cell phone’s speaker. “Thought you should know a woman is screaming in the mansion. Loudly, since it’s coming from the third floor, and I’m down here on the first at my desk and can hear it just fine.” There was a weighty pause. “It sounds like, uh, sex screaming, so, you know, I wasn’t sure if I should send in the on-duty warriors.”
Toni’s eyes closed and stayed that way for an extra-long moment. “No, Alex, no men. I’ll head over right now.” She jammed the phone back on her belt, spun on her heel, and left without another word.
“Bummer,” Nyko murmured, although whether he was saying it over Breen and Charlize’s predicament or because his son had just urped all over his shirt, Hadley couldn’t tell.
* * *
Breen the Wildman needed to go.
It had to be at least three in the damned morning Charlize’s time by now, and considering she’d just undergone some serious pussy rammage, ho-wrecker sex, she was beyond frigging worn out. Gulp down a snack. Take another quick shower. Crawl into bed. These were the only things she wanted on her agenda right now, and at this point in her exhaustion, all right, get the hell out, was about all she felt inclined to say to Breen to push him to do exactly that. Plus he was—
A knock sounded at the door.
Breen snapped ramrod straight in bed and growled like a German shepherd.
Charlize gritted her teeth. Him being back to his short-fuse watchdog act was also getting real fucking old. Snatching the sheet off the bed, she wrapped it around her naked body and stalked across the room to answer the knock. Jerking the door open, she—
Great.
Toni Parthen.
Ţărână’s leader stood in the doorway with an expression on her face somewhere between irritated and painfully resigned. “You had sex with Breen.”
Jesus. Was this a town full of starchy assholes or what? “Yes, thank you. Anything else?”
Toni rubbed a forefinger across the bridge of her nose. “Unfortunately, yes, there’s a lot more.” She sighed. “Earlier I told you that you and Breen needed to be kept apart, Charlize, because he would try to complete the bond between you two. That has now occurred.”
Charlize exploded air out of her lungs. “Look, not that it’s anybody’s business, but we didn’t tie each other up, okay? We just had good, old-fashioned starchy sex.” Not true, but nobody needed to hear about how Breen’s pile-driver moves had turned her crotch into pudding.
Toni frowned. “Tie up?”
“The bondage part everyone seems to have their panties all wadded up about…you know, BDSM play?”
Toni’s expression froze. She stood there for a three-count, looking floored. “I have no idea how to answer that.” She angled around Charlize, moving past the doorjamb into the room. She strode by Breen, who was now partially zonked out on the bed, and sank down in the desk chair. “I need a minute.”
Charlize closed the door and waited for ten seconds. She flung a hand out. “What?”
Toni paused another couple of seconds. “As I tried to explain earlier, the combination of being bitten by Breen and having sex with him would be like you two getting married, only the marriage would be—”
“Dammit!” Charlize interrupted. “Would the people around here please wake up and join the twenty-first century! Just because Breen and I had sex doesn’t mean we have to get married.”
“You already are married,” Toni returned. “We call it being bonded—that’s what a bond is. Breen’s cells have now undergone a biological transformation, changing his internal makeup so he will forever be dependent on your blood and your blood alone.”
Changing his internal makeup so… “What are you even talking about?” Charlize jammed a hand on her hip. “Maybe biology’s not my strongest subject, but I certainly know that shit like you’re saying doesn’t really happen.” What does this woman think, blond hair and big tits equal a moron?
Toni’s tense shoulders moved up and down, as if she was taking a breath while counting to ten. “I realize all of this is difficult to comprehend, Charlize. When I first came to the community, it took me a while to truly understand everything too. But right now I need you to pause, draw a breath, and take a moment to acknowledge that this man”—she gestured at Breen—“has fangs. I know you know that. You’ve been bitten by him at least twice.” Her gaze strayed over the bruises on Charlize’s neck and collarbone. “You’ve enjoyed the pleasure of fiinţă, the elixir that comes out of his fangs. You’ve experienced actual, quantifiable evidence to confirm that Breen doesn’t belong to the class of homo sapiens, like you and I do, but rather he is a different species of human being, in this case one known as Vârcolac.” She paused to draw what seemed like a refueling breath. “So, yes, you’re right, the kind of biological transformation I’m describing to you doesn’t happen to regular human beings. To vampires, however, it absolutely does.”
“But…” Charlize stopped talking as pieces of Marissa’s tell-all rose in her memory. These people have a lot of special abilities and some interesting genetic differences from “regular” humans, but for now, the important thing…
Waitaminute. Charlize gaped at Toni in open-mouthed, dawning horror. Wait just a fucking minute.
“What I’m saying to you can and does actually happen, Charlize. You are permanently bonded to Breen. You’re now his mate for life.”
Her horror became like a physical entity in her throat, a tumorous lump, throbbing, strangling, choking. She couldn’t breathe, and panic swam into her eyeballs. His mate for life…
“I’m not making this up to mess with you,” Toni promised. “I give you my word.”
Charlize clawed at her throat and found some air, but then oxygen started entering her lungs too fast. Hish, hish, hish—once she made this noise, Toni leapt up and grasped Charlize by the shoulders, propelling her around and making her sit instead.
Charlize bent forward in the chair, her hands convulsed around the armrests, her toga-sheet sagging low on her breasts. Through the tops of her lashes, she saw Breen upright in bed. She couldn’t read his expression—he didn’t have any—only that he didn’t look zonked anymore. You are permanently bonded to Breen. Oh no… Oh-fucking-no. “What do I do?” she gasped out. “I don’t know what to do.” A sharp feeling of alarm sat at the back of her tongue like a pincushion.
Toni held out a water bottle to her.
Charlize hadn’t even noticed her go to the mini fridge to get it. She took the bottle and looked up at Toni. “You probably think I’m a total idiot.” Maybe blond hair and big tits did equal a moron. “I just couldn’t…it’s like the manual is written in binary code, and I’m really tired right now, and…and…”
Toni’s expression turned sympathetic.
“What do I do?” Charlize repeated hoarsely.
“Why don’t we discuss options for the future later?” Toni said. “For now, you have to stay constantly at Breen’s side. It takes a Vârcolac a full week to go through The Change, and Breen needs you nearby during the entire biological process.”
“A-a week…?” She blinked rapidly, the movement of her lashes stirring several caught strands of her hair. Then it hit her. “Waitaminute, what?” She tore the hair out of her eyes. “I’m stuck with this guy for a week?” She’d never spent an entire night alone with a Fuck4Fun man in her life, probably no man, much less a week. “No way. I’m not staying locked away with him. This guy was just supposed to be a fun lay.”
Toni’s expression tightened back up a little. “If you leave Breen, he’ll follow you wherever you go in the community and try to kill any male who crosses your path. For the safety of the people of Ţărână, that can’t be permitted.”
Charlize jumped up. “Then I’ll leave the community altogether.” This place was falling way short on its predicted entertainment points, anyway.
Toni shook her head. “Leaving wouldn’t be practical, Charlize. You’d just have to return every five days or less so Breen could feed. Remember how I said he’s dependent solely on your blood now?”
“But…” Charlize stopped. There was no but. Toni had said that.
“And if you leave completely,” Toni went on, and on, “Breen will go into a blood-coma within seven days and die. So, I’m sorry, but living elsewhere isn’t really a viable option for you anymore.” She paused. “Unless you’re okay with being responsible for Breen’s death.”
Charlize set her mouth. “Oh, why, yes, that sounds like absolute funsies, and no fucking pressure at all—right?—having someone’s life in my hands.” How well had that worked out for her before, huh? She fisted her fingers in her toga bedsheet as the image of the diesel truck roared across her mind, tires smoking and screeching, blood so red it was black painting the grill.
The gruesome memory stoked the heat already roiling beneath her emotions, and she rounded on Breen with a snarl. “You fucking piece of shit! You knew this was going to happen.”
The man didn’t say anything—of course not! He was a heartless drone.
“Breen wasn’t able to stop himself,” Toni explained in a neutral voice. “He was acting on instinct.”
Charlize dragged the back of her wrist across sudden tears, streaking a long pattern of wetness along the flesh of her cheek.
Breen stared at her tears like he wanted to beat them up.
“You can move into Breen’s apartment after you pass the test on Vârcolac culture,” Toni offered. “There’s still more for you to learn from the manual.”
Of course there is!
“Then at least you’ll have more space and access to a kitchen.”
“Well, goody for me,” she fumed. You are permanently bonded to Breen.
Permanently.
PERMANENTLY!
Whirling on the small desk, Charlize snatched up the community manual. She didn’t sit in the chair and hunker right down to the task of studying it.
She whipped back around and hurled it at Breen.