Draven's Crossing: Tempestuous Crossings (9 page)

“Rose?” Draven murmured. “Rose?”

“Hmm?” She lifted her head a small bit. It felt so heavy. It dropped back to his chest.

“Shit.” He struggled beneath her. She wasn’t sure why. It was so comfortable to lie there. Sleep tugged at her. Closing her eyes, she allowed herself to drift. The blackness closed in. Not afraid, she allowed it to cocoon her.

* * * *

Draven wrapped his arms around her waist and held her close as he struggled to get them both upright. Fear held him by the throat. He called out, using his connection to Hamilcar to summon one of his most trusted friends. The black dragon appeared at the door. His eyes widened.

“Help me. We need to get her to bed.” Draven’s heart beat so hard he feared it would burst through his ribcage. Hamilcar scooped up Rose and headed toward what Draven assumed was the bedroom. He watched as Hamilcar settled Rose on a cream colored silk duvet. Her eyes remained shut.

“Is she—” He couldn’t get the words out, refusing to say what was on his mind.

“Heartbeat is a bit sluggish but there. She’s alive. Fucking hell, Draven what did you do?” Hamilcar looked at him, worry in his gaze.

“She asked me to feed on her. Gave me permission. I should have said no. Did I take too much?” He shook his head and began to pace.

“I’ll summon the doctor. Shall I teleport her over to your house? Much more discreet that way.”

“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.” Tears welled in his eyes at the thought that he’d hurt her or nearly killed her. “Yes, get the doctor. But dress her first. I’ll be along shortly.”

As he hung his head, he felt a sense of shame descend on him. Never had he lost control and now, with the one woman he wanted most, he’d screwed things up. Flavio appeared at his side holding out his clothes. “We’ll clean up, Drav. It will be okay. She’s alive.”

He glanced at his friend. “But I…I turned into a monster.”

Flavio said nothing, which confirmed his worst fears. After stripping off the condom and disposing of it, he got dressed, not caring about washing up. “Clean up the apartment and then come to the house.”

With a heavy heart, Draven left and drove back home without Rose, his mind on her health. By the time he pulled into the garage, he didn’t have the energy for anything else. His sole concern was to take care of her and make things right as best he could. Ross met him at the door, a phone in his hand.

“The police chief, sir. He says you’ll want to know what they’ve found.”

Draven looked at Ross then the phone. Disgust and anger filled him. “Not now, NOT NOW!”

Draven threw the offensive item at the wall and stalked upstairs to his bedroom, hating himself. Neither man had done anything wrong. “I acted like a fucking child. Shit.”

After running a hand over his face, he headed to his bedroom. He was relieved to find Rose there, her eyes, much to his shock, were open.

“Jesus, can’t a girl get any sleep around here? By the way, I threw up on your Persian rug.”

Joy exploded his chest. Not bothering with waiting for the doctor’s okay, he gathered her in his arms and held her to him.

“I’m going to throw up on you if you don’t release me in a second. Oh God, don’t feel good. Bathroom?”

He let her go and watched as she scrambled off the platform bed and looked around.

He pointed at a door. She ran toward it and rushed inside.

Hamilcar entered the room with a wizened old man trailing behind him. “She’s awake?”

“Yes. As soon as she comes out, please give her a full physical exam. I want to make sure she’s in perfect health.” Well, as perfect as she can be.

Rose came stumbling out of the bathroom looking pale. She groaned and climbed back into bed as if she owned the thing.

“How are you feeling, beautiful?” He moved to her, pulled up the covers, tucked her in and brushed back her hair.

“My stomach doesn’t like me, and I think there’s a pink elephant on the ceiling.” She blinked a few times.

“There’s a doctor here to make sure you’re okay, and that I didn’t hurt you too badly or take too much blood, or both.” He placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. “Do you want me to stay?”

“Do I have to get naked?” She yawned, which he found adorable.

“Yes, just to make sure.” The doctor nodded.

His body tightened at the thought of her being nude again. Hamilcar had dressed her in a silver chemise. Her hair was a wild tangle of curls. She smelled of sex, sweat, cinnamon, and vanilla with a hint of sourness. His fangs ached. Shaking his head, he pushed away his desires and focused on her.

“And then I can shower?” she asked.

He hated that she would be washing his scent off of her body, but he nodded. “Fine. You should go shower. There’s no way in hell I’m repeating tonight. I’m too damn hungry and tired now. You can just feed me.” He heard her stomach growl.

Hamilcar made a coughing sound that caused Draven to lift his head and glare at the man. The black dragon shrugged.

“I’ll be back, honey.” Placing another kiss on her forehead, he exhaled and straightened. “Please take care of her. Hamilcar, go see the Police Chief, apologize to him for me, and tell him I’ll be calling in a few minutes.”

Draven left the room. After rushing through his shower and routine, he dressed in a pair of silk pajamas and left the bathroom through a private entrance that led down a short passage to his office. With a sigh, he sank down in his chair feeling exhausted. He picked up his phone, hit speed dial, and waited. The Police Chief answered on the first ring.

“I’m so sorry for my behavior. It was inexcusable.”

Silence on the other end made him think the werewolf was pissed with him.

“Sorry, Drav, Hamilcar just filled me in. I understand. I’d be in a pissy mood too if my mate was sick and it was my fault. Totally fine. Okay, my people have been working quickly and quietly over this. Don’t want the media, namely, Isadora Jones, sniffing around here complicating things.”

Draven hid a smile. Despite the Police Chief’s annoyance, he figured the werewolf had a soft spot for the Crossing Times lead reporter.

“As I suspected, the victims are vacationers from a neighboring town. I’ve contacted their police department, who is sending someone over to help in the investigation. They were apparently vampire obsessed fanatics who wanted to hang with the local crowd instead of sticking to the tourist routes. After canvassing the local haunts and showing their pictures around, we know that they all left the various local pubs alone, picking up no one, so we have to assume that they were chosen as soon as they got to the more low traffic areas. Based on the info we got from their local police, they were middle class and their bosses said they were on vacation. As far as friends and family knew, they didn’t know each other. Basically, we’re fucked. We have nothing to go on. May as well be dealing with Jack the Ripper here.” The squeak of springs told Draven that the werewolf leaned back in his chair.

“Damn, and the Council will want an update come sunrise.” Draven ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t need this crap. We could go to the media with what we know. Be honest and ask the public for answers.”

“Aw, shit, Drav, why?” Torger whined.

“I’ll handle it. You don’t have to say anything.”

“You know that won’t work. They’ll want to ask me dumb questions after I’ve said we don’t have any leads.” He sighed. “Fine, organize a press conference. No questions.”

Draven smiled. “I owe you, man.”

“No, you don’t owe me anything. Let me do my job. Get me out of the freaking bachelor poll, and I’ll owe you something.” He hung up.

Draven chuckled. He was in that poll, too. He got up, headed downstairs and found his butler cleaning up the mess of the phone.

“Let me do that. I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have thrown it or yelled at you. I was being an asshole.”

“It’s all right, sir. I understand. Ms. Rose is a very special woman. I saw her when she came in and became worried myself.”

“I don’t deserve a pardon. I’ll replace the phone.”

“Already done. I believe the doctor is waiting in the parlor to speak to you.”

“Thank you.” Draven bowed to Ross and headed for that room.

With trepidation, he entered the parlor and prayed for good news. Just because Rose had been awake didn’t mean he hadn’t screwed up. The doctor looked over at him while tapping away on his phone.

“She’s fine. Will need a lot of sleep. For a first time donor she’s recovered remarkably well. Feed her, make sure she gets rest and don’t drink from her for, I’d say three to four days to help build up her supply. She’s a fighter that one. Good luck. Have her come back on day three for a check-up to make sure there aren’t any side effects.” The doctor slid his phone in his pocket, nodded and headed out the door.

Relief lifted the weight of guilt off Draven’s shoulders. With much lighter steps than before, he headed to the kitchen and put together a platter of food before returning upstairs to make sure she ate something.

Ross stopped him on the steps. “Sir?”

“Yes, Ross?”

“The doctor gave these to me before he left. I assume it’s to help Ms. Rose recover. Do you want to give her the dosage now or in the morning?”

Draven took the bottle. “I’ll take them to her now. Thank you.”

On the way to the bedroom, he rehearsed how he was going to apologize.

He pushed open the door with his hip, entered the large room, and started the apologies.

“I’m so sorry, honey. It won’t happen again. I swear. I won’t feed from you ever again.” He walked toward her, waiting for an answer. When she said nothing, he became worried again. Placing the tray on the end of the mattress, he took her in. She was settled against a mountain of pillows. The blanket was tucked around her, and she looked pissed.

“I can’t get out of here,” she grumbled.

“Huh?” There was nothing holding her as far he could see, although the duvet did seem a bit tight around her.

She wiggled under the sheet, and he saw the problem instantly. Rose could barely move under the covers.

“The doctor told Ross to tuck me in. He thought I might fall out of bed or suffer some sort of dizziness. Ross tucked me in too tight, and I need to use the bathroom again. Ugh, help.” She began to writhe under the blankets, making him think that she was going to hurt herself if he didn’t step in and do something. After moving the nightstand, he then tugged the duvet out from under the mattress and helped her down from the bed.

“Just make sure he doesn’t try to shove a pea under there and stack up more mattresses.” She rushed toward the bathroom door and slammed it shut.

Smiling, he loosened up the sheets and blanket, switched on the TV, and grabbed some paperwork to look over while he waited. When she returned, he sat on her side of the bed with a file, looking over the details of a zoning request for a new park.

“I have your food and medication. Hop in, and I’ll tuck you in again. I promise not too tight.”

She looked skeptical, but got in bed anyway and allowed him to tuck her in and place the tray on her lap.

“So, what happens now? You’ve fed from me. Can you like track me or something? Find me wherever I am? Read my emotions? Know my thoughts?” She dug into the stew. Her eyes brightened, and her body relaxed against the pillows. “I think I just had a stew-gasm.”

He raised an eyebrow.