Blood, Body and Mind (9 page)

“
He isn’t going to answer you. It’s ultimately my decision who works for the people I protect. Now, sit your butt back down.”

She ignored him and turned to look at April.

“
Mrs. Carlovetti. Do I still have a job? I understand that you have to answer to...him. But I have to ultimately answer for myself.” She gave Aaron what she hoped was a look of disdain, but she did not think it had the intended effect. He just laughed at her.

Sara stiffened in response. Not from the laughter itself, but the feelings it stirred within her. She felt his laughter throughout her entire body. At that moment, she would have done anything to get him to do it again. It felt like a touch, a caress down her spine and through her core. She wanted him to pull her close, kiss her like he had in the kitchen. Touch her breast, her nipple. She wanted, no, she needed him to touch her. The kiss in the kitchen had not been enough, not nearly so.

Putting everything she had within her to work, she immediately built a wall around her feelings, her emotions. If he knew how he had made her feel, she knew that she would never be able to leave this house again. And right now, she was not sure she wanted to.

Aaron crossed his arms over that massive chest of his and answered her. “You will be able to keep your job so long as I’m satisfied that you aren’t a threat to what I’m here to protect. I have to make sure all the vampires in my realm are safe. I’m sure you understand.”

She turned to glare at the man. If she had not staked him by morning, it would be a miracle, she thought.

“
Like you protected them the other day? Like you made sure that Mrs. Carlovetti and her child were safe? You brought those men to them because you are so full of yourself that you couldn’t go out without a guard.” Her voice was calm and controlled, nothing like the turmoil running through her body. He brought out such emotions in her. Most of which she did not completely understand.

She knew she had gone too far the moment he moved toward her. She turned to run from him. She only got as far as the door when he was on her. As before, instinct kicked in and she fought back.

Just as he pushed her against the wall, she slammed down both wrists hard against the wall to arm herself. Twin blades were instantly in her hands, as before. As she swung the first blade in an arc toward his chest, he jumped back, narrowly missing having his gut sliced open. She marched him back, swinging the blades to and fro. Sara knew she could kill him with a single slice, but could not make herself do anything more than back him away. He took a few nicks to his clothing, but nothing to cause him to lose blood.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, someone had her face down on the floor, a large weight holding her in place. Unless she could flip him off of her, she would not be going anywhere. Her head exploded with pain. Dizziness, then weakness slammed into her. Within seconds, blackness swam in her vision. She could feel herself sliding away, and there was nothing that she could do about it.

~
CHAPTER SEVEN~

Colin lifted his body from Sara’s, scanning her for injuries in much the same way she did when searching a room or other people. He assessed extent of her injuries and was not happy to know that he had caused a concussion, and her wound, yet again, was open and bleeding.

“
Shit! She’s bleeding again. So is her head, Aaron. I’m afraid she has a pretty good concussion this time on top of everything else.”

Colin rolled to his back. He was pretty sure that there would be hell to pay for this.

For the third time in as many days, Dr. Reilly was called in to have a look at the little human. And just as Colin had predicted, Thomas was royally pissed.

~~~

“
You want to tell me why my patient is currently upstairs sporting a nice concussion, more cuts, and has had my stitches pulled out again?”

Aaron knew that Thomas would blame him. Of course, he was at fault, but still...

“
Please, tell me that you didn’t have anything to do with this, or so help me God…” Thomas continued.

“
Sara tried to attack me, and Colin only meant to get her away. He was protecting me.” Aaron thought that this should be enough to make his point, but apparently it was not.

“
What, by running her down with a freight train? You do realize she is mortal, don’t you? Prone to damage from, oh let me see, everything sharp, hard, and fast? I don’t believe this. I just don’t fucking believe this. What the hell were you thinking, or were you? You do have a brain in that thick skull of yours, don’t you?” Thomas snarled at him.

Aaron was getting angry himself. He did not want her hurt anymore than Thomas did. Aaron knew that he had provoked her into attacking him. He had been aggravating her in one way or another since she had walked into the hangar days ago. He just could not seem to help himself. It was either have her pissed off at him all the time, or he was going to throw her over his shoulder and take her to his lair. She affected him in ways he did not understand.

Sara had said that she’d had a...momentary lack of good judgment. Did she want to live now? If so, then why? And most importantly, why now? Damn it, she was driving him crazier every day.

“
If you keep this up, she...will...die. Is that the plan here? ‘Cause if it is, just stop calling me in to patch her up again.”

Aaron turned away from him and growled, “No, damn it, I don’t want her to die. She needs to live. I think...she may...well, damn it. I can only smell her when she’s unconscious, so I’m not sure yet. Damn stubborn girl.” Turning back to his friend, his bewildered mind raced. “What the hell am I supposed to do with her, I ask you?”

Thomas stared in confusion. He waited for Aaron to continue. Then, suddenly, his eyes lit up with understanding.

“
Holy shit, she’s the one? She’s your mate?” He started laughing. “Oh, this is too funny. You have yourself mated to a human who hates your guts.”

Heat welled up in Aaron’s veins. He tightened his fists. “I don’t see what is so fucking funny about any of this. Do you think I want this to be happening just now...with her? She’s human!”

Thomas stopped laughing and blurted, “What the hell does that have to do with anything, I ask you?”

“
I don’t need this. What am I supposed to do with her if she is my mate? I have a whole realm to organize and make work. Do you have any idea what the last master did to the people here, what he took as his due as their leader?”

“
Yes, I do,” Thomas said somberly. “He was a horrible, sadistic man who should have been challenged years, if not centuries ago. As your mate, Aaron, she would be able to help you. Isn’t that the way of our kind? Our mates are chosen to complement us, to be a ‘mate’ to us in all ways. What have you told her?”

“
Nothing.” Aaron turned away with a wave of disgust. “And I don’t plan to either, not until I have some answers from her.”

Thomas decided to stay the day within the mansion. Sunrise was very soon, and he wanted to be there to make sure that they left her alone for at least a few days, he had told Aaron.

Later that night, Aaron was sitting in his office when there was a small knock at the door. He wanted to ignore it, but was worried it might be about Sara. “Come in,” he finally said.

“
May I have a word, master?” April barely came across the threshold and would not look him in the eye.

“
It’s Aaron, April, please call me that. What can I do for you?” He motioned for her to have a seat in the chair across from his messy desk.

He had inherited the mess on it and the one in his realm when he had killed Carlos. He had not thought of either for several hours now.

“
I’d like to know what you plan to do with my friend Sara.”

Aaron was surprised by the question, but more so by her tone. The timid woman was suddenly gone and in her place was a fierce protector. He wondered if she even realized it.

“
What do you mean, ‘do with her?’ I think I’ve made my position very clear on this; she will give us the answers we need to ensure our safety.” He smiled to himself when she flushed slightly.

“
I would like for you to let her go as soon as she is able to be on her own. I want her to go back to work for us, and not be bothered again. She has gone through a great deal in the past few days, saving your life notwithstanding. If you would like, I’ll take full responsibility for any and all actions in the future. I just want her to be safe.” April was begging for Sara’s life, he realized. She thought he was going to kill her.

Aaron leaned back in his chair. He had been sitting at his desk for nearly an hour just thinking about the girl upstairs. It had been two days since she had been hurt again, and according to Duncan, who checked on her nearly every hour, said she had not moved once. He himself had been in to check on her several times a night just sitting in the big-armed chair next to the bed, and was more than a little worried. Not about her—no, Thomas was a good doctor. He was worried about what she would do when she found out he was her mate.

“
I don’t think I can do that, April. She knows a great deal about us. She can do a great many things that haven’t been explained. I appreciate you wanting your friend safe, but you must also understand my position in this.”

Her being my mate notwithstanding,
he thought.

“
Sara knew all this and a great deal more before she saved our lives.” She pointed out to him.

“
True, but we didn’t know that then. She has made herself known to our kind now, April. She killed several of our kind. I realized why she did it. I do. But what if she were to...” He stopped when she suddenly stood.

“
No! All that would have made it much easier to kill any of us, had that been her intentions. You must agree that had she wanted us dead, she could have just let those rogues take us out, or saved Demi and me and let them kill you. But she didn’t. She saved your life in addition to ours and my child,” she snapped at him. She then stormed out of his office, slamming the large oak door with a resounding bang.

Later that night, as he had for the past several nights, he stood over the bed looking down at his mate. He wanted to lie down beside her and hold her close to his body. He wanted to be beside her, inside of her. He wanted her with an intensity that was near tangible. But there was too much unknown between them for that to happen. He had no choice—he had to let her go, but he would keep an eye on her.

~
CHAPTER EIGHT~

Sara woke the next morning. Her body ached. She did not believe that there was one inch on her that did not hurt in some way. She wanted to get up, needed to really, but did not have the strength to do it. She had little choice but to ring downstairs and ask for help. She picked up the dark blue phone on the table next to the bed. At the dial tone, she pressed four for Duncan. He answered on the first ring.

“
Good morning, miss,” he answered in way of a greeting. She smiled at his obvious chipper tone.

“
Mr. Duncan, I was wondering if you could help me to the bathroom. You don’t have to come up now if you’re busy. Just, you know, whenever you have the time.” She hoped it was soon, as she really had to pee.

“
I’ll be right up. Can I bring you something? Dr. Thomas said that you can only have liquids for now. How about some nice tea or some broth, maybe?” There was so much hope in his voice. She so did not want to think about anything liquid right now.

“
Maybe later, after…I think after my shower. I like tea.” She liked iced tea without sugar, but did not want to think about that either.

Within two minutes, Aaron was knocking at her door. When she told him to come in, he opened the big door and went right to the bed beside her.

“
What are you doing in here? Where’s Duncan? He said he was coming up.” He, of course, ignored her questions.

“
Let me see if I can get you something to wear first. There should be a robe hanging—ah, here it is. Can you stand at all, Sara? There’s a good girl, up we go.” If she did not need to use the bathroom so badly, she would just stay where she was.

Aaron was very careful with her, for which Sara was very grateful. She felt the pull on the stitches again and was careful how she moved. Once she was completely upright, she stood for several seconds until the room stopped spinning before she moved on.

Sara looked up into his eyes. Aaron was an incredibly handsome man. And when he smiled, like he was doing right now, her heart kicked up a notch and her body responded like it was starved for him—some part of him.

“
If you keep looking at me like that, I’m going to finish what we started in the kitchen, Sara.” He moved his mouth closer to hers, just close enough that she could feel his warm breath gently move across her skin. “I want to kiss you right now, taste you, but I fear that I won’t be able to stop once I start.”

“
Why?” She was not sure if she was asking him why he wanted to kiss her or why he would stop once he started.

Aaron did not answer, but pulled back from her just as Duncan came into the room. She did not look at the other man. All she could focus on was how suddenly hungry she was for a taste of him as well.

“
Duncan, could you please see that our guest gets to the bathroom? I have...other business that requires my attention.”