Longed-For Hunger (12 page)

* * * * *

Denger walked away from Nyx’s apartment and ducked around the corner of the building next to it. Not seeing anyone around, he flashed himself back to his personal quarters. The mood he was in, he didn’t want to run into Blythe or Desiree. When he’d returned from the bookstore wondering what the hell he’d done to push Nyx away, they had taken one look at him and brought him to the kitchen to talk. Thinking maybe one of them could help him figure out what he’d done wrong, he’d told Blythe and Desiree how Nyx seemed to be avoiding him. Neither one of them had been able to offer him any good advice other than not to give up on Nyx, but also to give her some space if that was what she needed right now.

Denger still didn’t have a fucking clue how he was to manage those two things at the same time. Knowing what Nyx meant to him, he couldn’t exactly stay away from her. Her rejection was eating at him. Not giving up on her meant he had to somehow get her to either see him or talk to him. That required him not to give her the so called

“space” Blythe and Desiree thought Nyx might need. By the gods, he was confused. Weaponing up for another night of hunting the undead, Denger hoped like hell he ran into a whole shitload of them. Right about now, it was the only thing that would help him feel more like himself.

91

Marisa Chenery

Chapter Twelve

A week. It’d been a damn fucking week since Denger had last seen Nyx. She still hadn’t returned his phone calls and going to her apartment got him nowhere. He didn’t even bother to go to the bookstore. It didn’t take a genius to know that would only end up being a dead end as well.

The forced separation from Nyx was eating at Denger, making him unfit company for anyone. He’d probably snapped at everyone at least once. And it didn’t help matters that his blood hunger had reached the point where it was clawing at his guts. He’d held off finding a donor to feed from but he couldn’t hold out for much longer. In another few days, he’d be feeling it bad.

He knew the risk he would be taking if he did feed from a donor. At this point in their relationships with their mates, both Mehen and Set hadn’t been able to feed from anyone but them without suffering painful consequences. If Nyx was truly his mate, and he was starting to wonder if he’d been mistaken about her since she was having no problems shutting him out of her life, he would suffer the same kind of pain. But he had to do something.

Right after dinner, another meal he found he couldn’t stomach, Denger left the headquarters and headed downtown. He still had a few hours before he and his fellow warriors would go out hunting. He decided now was as good a time as any to do what he had to do.

Once he parked his Mustang, he headed for one of the bars. It was a bit early for some of them to be open, but not all. Finding one, he stood out front until he caught the eye of a woman, a slim brunette dressed in a short skirt who had showed up at the bar with a bunch of other women. When she gave him an interested look, he quickly 92

Longed-For Hunger

slipped into her mind and planted the suggestion that she wanted to make a call on her cell phone and to tell her friends she would meet them inside afterward. When the other women left her, he then planted the suggestion that she follow him. Without saying a word, he led her to the back of the next building. Once they were out of sight, he took her in his arms. She went up on her toes and pressed her lips to his. Denger kissed her back but got no enjoyment out of it. Her lips didn’t feel right beneath his. He didn’t even like the feel of her against him but he fought his aversion. Leaving her lips, he settled his mouth on the side of her neck. He grazed her skin with his fangs but they refused to drop. He felt nothing. No anticipation of the feeding and no arousal that usually came with it. It just felt all wrong. When the woman shuddered in his arms and moaned, Denger came close to changing his mind. He would do this. He had to. Nyx had left him no choice. Closing his eyes, he brought her image up in his head. He forced himself to pretend it was her he held, not an anonymous donor he’d picked up. That worked. His fangs extended and he sank them into the woman’s neck. She cried out, rubbing herself against him while he fed. The instant her blood hit his stomach, the cramping in his gut became three times stronger. Another mouthful and it had him gasping in pain. Denger released her neck and swiped his tongue over the bite mark to heal it. He then forced the woman to look at him. It took only a couple of seconds to wipe him and his biting her from her mind. Once finished, he sent her back to the bar to be with her friends with only the memory of her making her call.

In more pain then when he’d left, Denger returned to his car and drove back to the headquarters. He’d just fucked himself royally. He needed Nyx more than ever. He’d gone from painful but still manageable blood hunger to the extreme in a matter of minutes. Before finding his mate, that would have taken months to come about. Now only his mate’s blood would appease it.

After parking his car in the docking bay, Denger went to the door that connected to the living area and punched in the code on the security pad. Then under that, he 93

Marisa Chenery

pressed down on the piece of rock set in the wall. The door clicked open as Denger licked his finger to heal the miniscule wound Ra’s gift had left behind. He shut the door behind him. Denger let out a groan and held onto his stomach as a particularly vicious cramp gripped his guts. He leaned back against the closed door and shut his eyes, forcing himself to breathe through it.

“You fed from a donor, didn’t you?”

Denger opened his eyes and looked at Takan who now stood in front of him. The warrior had moved so silently Denger hadn’t heard him approach. “I didn’t know what else to do. A whole week has gone by and Nyx still refuses to see me. I haven’t got a fucking clue how to fix it.”

“Look at me,” Takan said.

Even though the other warrior perpetually had his hair hanging in front of his face, Denger met what of his gaze he could see. The sensation of falling into Takan’s eyes alerted Denger to the fact that Takan was having one of his visions. He kept his gaze locked with him as Takan lifted his hand and placed it on Denger’s chest over his heart. Just another thing he did when he had a vision. It supposedly helped him to see his visions better.

After a few seconds, Takan lowered his hand and stepped back. He shook more of his hair into his eyes. “If you leave things how they are now with Nyx, you will lose her. Go to her now and explain what you are.”

Denger pushed away from the door. “Don’t you think I would if I could? She won’t let me near her.”

Takan shook his head. “You’re thinking like a mortal, not one of Ra’s Chosen. A locked door is no obstacle for one of us. If she won’t see you, then place her in a situation where she has no choice but to.”

“Damn, Takan,” Denger said. “Sometimes you can be as cryptic as Ra. But this time, I know exactly what you mean.”

94

Longed-For Hunger

Takan seemed to stiffen at Denger comparing him to the sun god. “If you understand, then I suggest you do it.” He then backed away. “I’ll tell Mehen you’ll be a little too busy to hunt tonight.”

Denger watched Takan go. He hadn’t realized that being compared to Ra would be a touchy subject for him. Pushing that bit of information away, more concerned with what he planned to do, he flashed himself outside to the front of the headquarters. At a brisk run, it didn’t take him long to reach Nyx’s apartment building. He walked up to the front entrance and used his mind to unlock it. Stepping inside, he let the door close behind him before he took the steps two at a time to her floor. Making no noise as he walked to her door, he leaned his ear against it. The sound of her television told him she was indeed home. Taking a deep breath, he used his mind to unlock the locks one at a time. He grasped the doorknob, turned it and pushed the door open.

Nyx stood in the middle of the living room, her face completely white. “What are you doing? How did you get in here?”

Denger frowned. This, he hadn’t expected. Nyx wasn’t just upset for some reason, she was scared of him. He took a step toward her. “You shut me out. You didn’t leave me much choice.”

She held her hands out in front of her to ward him off. With each step he took toward her, she took one back. “What do you mean? Are you going to kill me now?”

That brought Denger to an instant standstill. “Kill you? Of course I’m not going to kill you. Why on earth would you think that? I could no more harm you than I could rip my own heart out.”

“I…I saw you kill that man. You stabbed him and then he just sort of disintegrated.”

“Shit,” Denger said under his breath. “I had no idea you saw that. It wasn’t what you thought you saw.”

95

Marisa Chenery

Nyx shook her head. “I know what I saw. And what was with the fangs? I noticed you had fangs.”

Denger scrubbed his face with his hand. No wonder Nyx had avoided him. To a mortal who had no clue as to what hunted them in the dark of night, seeing an undead being taken down would look like a murder in their eyes.

“If you give me a chance I’ll explain everything,” he said in a gentling tone.

“So you admit you have fangs. Show them to me.”

“I don’t think that would be a good idea right now, Nyx. You’re already upset.”

“And you don’t think I haven’t been driving myself crazy for this past week wondering if all I saw was actually real and not some kind of delusion? I need to see if I didn’t imagine you having fangs. That I haven’t been reading so many vampire romances that I have now lost my marbles and I’m picturing the man I had started to feel something for as one.”

Denger gave her a closed-mouth grin. “You like vampires, huh? Even though I’m not one, I guess you’ll like these.” He opened his mouth and allowed his fangs to extend to his bottom lip.

“Oh God,” Nyx said weakly. “You
are
a vampire.”

When her face got even whiter and she seemed to weave in place, Denger crossed the remaining distance between them and caught Nyx before her knees gave out. He gathered her close and carried her over to the couch. Sitting, he arranged her so she sat across his lap.

“I guess that wasn’t such a great idea after all,” he said, rubbing his hand up and down her arm. He cupped her cheek and forced her to look at him. “I’m not a vampire.”

“Then what are you?” she asked in a quiet voice.

“I’m one of Ra’s Chosen. The Egyptian sun god picked me, along with my other fellow warriors, to protect mortals from the undead that would steal their souls. An 96

Longed-For Hunger

undead is what you saw me take out that night. They are what mortals first called vampire. They have no souls and are literally the walking dead.”

“Mortals? You mean you’re…” Nyx couldn’t seem to finish the sentence.

“Immortal. I was once mortal like you until Ra picked me to be one of his warriors. He gifted me with immortality and a few other things.”

Nyx’s hand shook when she lifted it and placed it on his chest. “If Ra is real, a real ancient Egyptian god, then how old are you?”

“Centuries. Remember when you asked me if I’d seen the pyramids when I lived in Egypt? Well let’s just say I was already one of Ra’s Chosen when they were being constructed.” When she didn’t say anything but continued to stare at him, he said,

“Talk to me, Nyx.”

She swallowed. “So you’re an immortal warrior protecting mortals from the undead.”

“Yes.”

“Why me?”

Denger blinked at the sudden change of subject. “What?”

“If you’re this gifted warrior, why did you pick me to…date? I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not all that special. I’m sure you could have found a woman who comes with a lot less baggage.”

He brought up his other hand so he held her face in both his hands. “Oh, but you are special to me. And you will always be. Already you mean more to me than anyone else ever could. You’re my mate, Nyx. You’re the woman I’ve been waiting to find for thousands of years. I’ve been alone for far too long. You’re the one who will make me feel whole.”

97

Marisa Chenery

Chapter Thirteen

Denger could have knocked her down with a feather right then and there.
His mate?

This immortal warrior who had lived for thousands of years called her his mate. Her mind was still having a hard time digesting what he’d told her about his not being a vampire, and that an ancient Egyptian sun god had handpicked him to protect mortals from the undead, the real vampires. It was almost too much for her mind to take in. But seeing his fangs extend, that was something she couldn’t explain away. Right now she couldn’t see them but Nyx knew they were still there.

She ran her gaze over Denger’s handsome face. He really was one of her vampire heroes who had walked off the pages of one of her romance novels. Only he wasn’t a vampire, he was one of Ra’s Chosen. It was all so surreal. Being held in his arms again showed how much she’d really missed him. She wanted to snuggle closer, burrow her way under his skin and not come out. But she wasn’t quite ready to let their relationship start up again where it had left off. She needed more answers.

“How do you know I’m your mate?” she asked. “We really don’t know each other that well. Though I have the feeling you know more about me than I do you.”

“At first, I knew I would find you soon when my blood hunger increased. That’s the first sign. But I didn’t know you were the one until I literally ran into you in front of the bookstore. I looked into your eyes and I knew.”

“I’ll admit you made an impression on me then as well. You’re the first man to spark my interest in that way since Derek died. But that still doesn’t mean we’re meant to be mates. And what is your blood hunger?”

“It’s my blood hunger that is saying you
are
my mate. Even though I’m not one of the undead, I still need to feed on blood to stay strong. Usually a once-a-week feeding 98

Longed-For Hunger

from a donor of my choosing would be enough. Now since I found you, my need for blood has increased. My need for your blood and only your blood.”