He leaned on the table, somehow closer to her now. So close. Too close. The other man came up behind her, his body pressed to hers, his hand on her waist. She wanted to shove him away, but she didn’t dare.
This wasn’t about her discomfort. It was about saving lives. The man behind her slid her empty glass away and replaced it with a new one, then leaned in near her ear, his breath warm on her neck. “Enjoy.” A shiver of unease, much like what she’d felt inside the lab with Derek, rushed down her spine. The first man – Alex – leaned an elbow on the table, close as well. She was sandwiched between them and wondering why she had thought this was a good idea.
“What brings a pretty girl like you to a bar by herself?”
“Boyfriend fucked my best friend,” she said flatly, not sure where the words came from, because she didn’t speak like that. Yet she had now. The words, the piece of her past, had come to her easily – too easily, helped along, no doubt, by alcohol. “She’s my dorm mate. I don’t want to stay there tonight.” He arched a brow. The man behind her slid his hands to her waist. “Drink that drink. It’ll make you forget.”
She could already feel the buzz of downing the other drink. She studied Alex, cast him a pleading look.
“Sometimes a drink isn’t enough.” She grabbed his hand, desperate to avoid letting herself slip into a deeper haze of the booze she knew she couldn’t handle. “Let’s dance.” He wrapped his arm around her and spun her so that her back was against the wall, pressing up close to her. “Kiss me first,” he said.
“Get the fuck off of her,” came a familiar male voice that Kelly couldn’t quite place.
Alex turned sharply but he didn’t say anything. He stepped to the left, away from her and Kelly was shocked to see Detective Wright standing in front of her. Slowly his lips curved into a sardonic smile, before he grabbed her and pulled her against him, sliding his hand in her hair. “I knew you’d come.” She blinked. “What?”
He lowered his mouth just above hers. “I got you your sample from your two boyfriends. Their dealers, you know? I told them my girlfriend wanted to ride me long and hard tonight so you better convince them I meant it.” He tugged her mouth to his and kissed her. It was all she could do not to push him away, not to bite his tongue when it slid into her mouth. And when his hand slid over her breast, she barely contained a scream of fury. Somehow though, she reminded herself that he had a sample of the drug she sought, he’d gotten what she needed to help save lives. She’d endure, she’d survive. Suddenly he released her mouth and grabbed her hand. “Come with me.”
He all but dragged her until they were alone and in a hallway behind the bathrooms. He shoved her against the wall. “Enough with the role playing!” she objected.
His hand slid roughly into her hair and then he buried his face in her neck. A sudden piercing sensation shocked her breath from her. As quickly as the sensation started, he was gone, jerked away from her. She flattened against the wall, her heart pounding so hard she thought it would explode from her chest. She blinked Aiden into focus at the same moment he shoved Detective Wright at another tall, blond male and growled, “Get him the fuck out of here and make him talk.” Her fingers went to her neck, instantly wet. What had he done to her?
Chapter Four
The sorry bastard had bitten her. Though without the sharing of blood she was in no long term danger, but Aiden was furious that she?
?d been hurt. He stepped closer to her. The scent of her blood, sweet and feminine, called to the vampire in him. The scent of her fear, her panic, called to the man. He positioned his body against hers, his thighs framing hers so that he blocked her from the sight of anyone who might enter the deserted hallway behind them.
His hands caressed her cheeks, bringing her gaze to his. “You’re going to be okay, Sweetheart. You have my word.”
“I’m bleeding. He…I don’t know what he did to me.”
“Let me look,” he urged softly, knowing what he would find, knowing there would be bite marks he should never have allowed to happen. He’d resisted playing with her mind, her memories. In turn, he’d almost gotten her killed. He’d given her a weak, too vague, compulsion to call him before acting on a lead.
She nodded, trust overflowing from those gorgeous hazel eyes. The significance of her trust in him, someone she barely knew, given to him after an attack by someone she had known, didn’t escape him.
Given to him when he didn’t deserve it, when he shouldn’t want it, anymore than he should want the attachment he was forming for her. But he did, damn it to hell, he did in a bad way.
Aiden brushed the silky strands of her hair away from her neck, an image of that hair draped over his bare chest impossible to avoid. He wanted her. He’d wanted her from the instant he’d seen her. He tilted her head slightly to one side, dipped his head to the blood seeping down her neck. There was nothing as erotic to a vampire as blood. Hot fire bled through his veins. His tongue slid over the wound, the small droplets of blood teasing his taste buds and his senses with the sweet ruby wine flavor.
“Oh,” she gasped. “What are you — I…”
His hand settled on her waist, his lips moving from the sealed wound to her ear. “Kissing it to make it better,” he whispered, electricity charging the air around them. His cheek slid across hers, his lips lingering just above hers, every nerve in his body aware of her in ways he didn’t remember ever being aware of a woman. Voices sounded just around the corner, approaching quickly, jerking him back to his senses. He cursed under his breath at the distraction and grabbed her hand. “Let’s get out of here.” He didn’t wait for her answer. He’d almost gotten her killed once tonight, he wasn’t doing it again.
She tugged against him. “Wait. No. Aiden, please, I need to get that sample. I need-” His senses tingled with warning and in one swift movement he drew his knife, whirled around to face the incoming attack, and slammed the blade into the chest of a vampire. The body dropped and it didn’t explode into ash. This vampire was free of bloodlust and that was bad, very bad. This drug ring that was going on was well plotted, and well organized.
He turned to find Kelly wide eyed. “You just…you…”
The backdoor burst open and Troy shouted behind him. “Incoming trouble! Move, move, move!” Anything that got Tory, Mr. Bad Ass himself, this riled up was big and Aiden knew it. He sent Kelly a mental compulsion and put her to sleep. He had her in his arms, stepping over the dead vampire, before her lashes fully closed. He exited the club to find Troy’s truck parked at the doorway. Troy was driving the instant Aiden shut himself and Kelly in the back.
Aiden sunk against the seat, cradling Kelly in his arms when he knew he should set her down. He didn’t.
“Talk to me,” Aiden ordered to Troy.
“Six against one. I wasted four of them. Two got away. The detective was one of the two and he’s no good guy. He’s a part of this. I heard the orders he was barking at those bloodsuckers.” Aiden cursed, for all kinds of reasons, but the most important was lying in his arms. Kelly was in the line of fire. “He could have been undercover.”
“He was trying to kill me,” Troy said. “If that’s undercover, it’s too damn deep undercover to suit me.
Mark my word, I saw enough to know that vamp is as high up in the mess as it goes – and that’s a direct path to Andres.”