Scorned (31 page)

I came out of my seat involuntarily and
knocked my chair back with the suddenness of my movement. Eddy
didn’t move away from me when I stepped up to the railing and I
clocked him hard in the jaw. He stared down at me with those
cat-like eyes and his jaw twitched. Pierce grabbed for me, but I
shook him off.

“Don’t you ever call me that, Eddy. Never!”
My tone was low, angrier than he’d ever heard it. “I don’t care
what you are, who you think you are, or what you’ve gotten away
with in the past. Don’t you
ever
use that word with me.”

His eyes flicked to Pierce. “
I
am
talking to you. Not Pierce.”

Eddy stared at me with eyes that had once
bled with anger, but were now calm and slightly amused. He leaned
his elbows on the railing so we were eye to eye and shrugged.

“Okay. I’m sorry.”

My eyes widened.

Really? That’s all you’ve got? “Okay, I’m
sorry”?

“
Calm down, my sweet. You have
effectively subverted your dominance over him.”

“Get out of my head,” I growled.

Roman held up his hands in mock surrender
and I took my seat next to Pierce, shaking in anger. Pierce took my
left hand under the table and squeezed it. I calmed almost
immediately.

“We’ve already talked about it,” Pierce
said. “We’ve taken care of the situation. She’s not a coward. She’s
just unused to things like this.”

“She’s a coward,” Eddy tried to say
again.

“That’s the end of it.” Pierce nailed Eddy
with a look and they stared. Eddy looked away first.

Eddy helped Dayla put the dishes on the
table and everyone sat down to eat like it was something we did
every day. I said my own little prayer to myself before I helped my
plate with steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, and green beans. I
watched everyone eat for a moment, hoping they were too hungry to
notice I wasn’t.

“Aren’t you going to eat, LeKrista?”

I looked up at Roman. A small smile played
at the corners of his mouth.

“
Jerk.”

Dayla stared at me. “I don’t know if I
should,” I said without looking away from her. Her face went rigid
with anger. “It’s no offense, Dayla, but tell me you didn’t think
about it, and I won’t believe you. It’s not like we have a real
great track record.”

We stared for a moment and I wondered if she
was thinking about all of the nasty tricks she’d pulled on me.

“LeKrista.” I turned at Eddy’s voice and it
was almost kind. By some sick twist of fate, I was sitting next to
him. “Dayla and I spoke before she started cooking. I swear on my
flower shop and everything in it, she hasn’t put anything in your
food.” He nodded at my plate as if to say, “Go ahead, it’s
alright.” I sent another look at Dayla. She still wasn’t happy.

I took a deep breath and tried to ignore all
of the eyes on me. I picked up my fork and started with the mashed
potatoes. I took a few bites before I spoke, because everyone was
expecting something.

“These are really good, Dayla. I love mashed
potatoes.” I forked some more potatoes and said, “Hey, Dayla. Do
you remember that grab bag trick?” It was low of me to bring it up,
especially since Eddy had already seemingly diffused the war
between us for the time being, but I did it anyway because I was in
that kind of mood.

I looked up to see Dayla staring at me
wide-eyed. She was scared of something. Her eyes flicked to Eddy,
imperceptible if you weren’t looking for it.

“What’s the grab bag trick?” Pierce asked.
The room was tense with curiosity. Was I going to tell the story?
Was I not? No one knew for sure. I loved it.

“She came into work one day with this bag
and had all the girls put their hands in and pull out these amazing
foreign chocolates. Naturally, I wasn’t expecting to be offered
any, and I guess that should have been my first clue, but she
offered and I took the bait.” Dayla’s eyes held fear and shock. “I
stuck my hand in, and do you know what was inside?” I paused for
effect. The three men and Bomani waited with rapt attention.
“Razors,” I said. “It was a bag full of fucking razors, so you can
imagine why I would be wary of eating her food.”

“You told me you’d stuck your hand in a box
of roses that were supposed to be dethorned,” Pierce said.

I shrugged. “I know.”

“You’re in trouble,” Eddy said, “that’s
crossing a line.” It took a moment to realize he’d said it in
Polynesian, because I still wasn’t used to understanding so many
languages.

“
Don’t say anything,”
I told Roman.
“This could come in handy. Why do you know Polynesian
anyway?”

Roman didn’t answer, just pretended not to
hear me. Dayla’s eyes bore her hatred for me.

I ate the rest of my meal in silence, while
everyone slowly began to talk around me. Dayla kept quiet too,
periodically giving me hard glances whenever our eyes happened to
meet. I eventually began to wonder if I was in any danger from her,
but I saw the scared, pleading looks she gave Eddy and I wondered
if he would punish her. What kind of punishments did Shifters give
their underlings?

Eddy was the first to stand and take his
plate to the kitchen. He took his time washing his dishes, then
dried and put them away. When he came back to the table, he didn’t
sit down. He looked at me with a certain intensity in his eyes, and
said, “Roman hasn’t fed yet.”

I frowned, because I really hoped he didn’t
expect me to feed him. “What’s he talking about?” I asked
Roman.

Roman shook his head. “This is not
necessary,” he said to Eddy. “LeKrista has proven herself to me
more than once.”

But Eddy shook his head. “Leave now, so you
won’t see it.”

Oh. I get it.

I slumped down in my chair and leaned
against Pierce’s shoulder. He put his arm around me and pulled me
close. When he kissed the top of my head, Roman’s demeanor change
from nonchalant to stoic. That simple act of fealty to my boyfriend
was enough to make him change his mind.

An image of me running screaming from the
room flashed across my vision, but was gone before I could grasp
the whole thing. Roman shut himself off from me, but I knew his
intent. He wanted me to stay now.

When Eddy realized I wasn’t going anywhere,
he shrugged and walked over to Roman. The vampire wrapped his arms
around him.

“You give me life,” Roman whispered softly
to Eddy in another language, then he hissed at me and bared his
fangs just before he struck his neck. Eddy uttered a cry of pain,
and I jumped at the sound. Pierce wrapped his arms around me and
whispered across my ear, “I’m proud of you.”

No one looked away as Roman’s lips worked at
Eddy’s neck, pulling the blood and life from his body. I couldn’t
make myself look away.

Roman held Eddy in such a position that he
could look straight at me over his body and his eyes weren’t
friendly. He was looking for some kind of reaction, some semblance
of disgust. I don’t know what kind of face I made, but when he
looked at me, his eyes lost their fire and he had to close
them.

The feeding lasted a lot longer than I
expected, but I don’t think it lasted as long as it felt. Roman
finally pulled away and lowered Eddy’s limp body to the clean,
white carpet in heap of flesh. Not a drop of blood was lost.

I thought it was over, but I was wrong.
Bomani stood next and went to Roman. He held his arms out to her
with a smile on his face. Roman caressed her cheek and locked his
eyes on hers. “Such beauty,” he said in Africans. “Such
beauty.”

Bomani went to her knees in front of him and
placed her head in his lap. Roman stroked her long hair back so her
smooth, dark neck was bared before he struck at an angle that
looked uncomfortable, but he didn’t have to look at me. The sound
that escaped The Princess’s lips when he struck was a little moan
of ecstasy, and I felt my stomach lurch for the first time. She’d
gone to him willingly, with something so much like loving devotion
that it was almost too much to watch.

I dug in my nails into Pierce’s leg and he
held me tighter. I couldn’t look away because I wasn’t a coward. I
had to watch to prove myself and I just knew I was going to have
nightmares.

This feeding didn’t last as long. Roman let
Bomani go and she dropped to the floor next to Eddy.

Dayla stood next, but Roman put up a hand to
stop her. “That is enough for now,” he said.

“But it takes all of us to-” Bomani tried to
protest, but she was weak and it showed in her voice. Roman cut her
off quickly with a little tap of his pale foot over her mouth. I
thought that was kind of rude. And gross.

“You may go, LeKrista, Pierce. We are done
here for the night. I know you’re very tired. Enjoy the rest of
your evening.”

Pierce and I stood as one and started to
gather our plates, but Roman stopped us.

“Leave them. I will clean them myself.”

We left them and retreated up the stairs
through the kitchen to our room. I think I was in shock, but Pierce
seemed to be handling it just fine. He ushered me along as if I’d
lost my way, and guided me through the bedroom door and into the
bathroom. I found the toilet when I bumped into it, and heaved
until there was nothing left in my stomach.

The willingness Bomani exhibited, though it
was induced by Roman’s mind tricks, was just too much. I couldn’t
imagine someone willing to give up their blood like that, and it
made me wonder just what exactly Tate liked so much about
vampires.

“You alright?” Pierce finally asked. I
nodded and he helped me to the sink so I could rinse my mouth out,
then guided me into bed.

I began to drift to sleep as my body settled
into the comfortable mattress and Pierce had to roll me around to
get the covers pulled down. The comforter was thick and heavy, but
warm and it made sleep come even faster.

When Pierce climbed into the bed next to me,
he wore nothing but his boxers. I started to lay my head on his
chest before realized I was on the side that had been cut up. I
looked up to tell him to switch sides when I noticed that the
scratches had already begun to heal, and that was exactly what they
looked like. Scratches. Not the deep wounds from earlier.

“Pierce,” I said. “Your chest.”

“Hm?” He looked down, then back up at me.
“What?”

“It’s healing.”

He shook his head. “No, it’s not. You’re
dreaming.”

I blinked. “No, I’m not.”

“Yeah, babe. You’re asleep. This is a
dream.”

I frowned. “What are you talking about? Your
chest is healing.”

Pierce shook his head again, but this time
he put a finger to his lips to tell me to be quiet and pointed to
the door. He mouthed, “We’ll talk tomorrow.”

I put my head back on his chest and closed
my eyes.

I woke the next morning and stretched.
Pierce wasn’t next to me, but the bed was still warm where he’d
lain. The drapes on the window were pulled back a little. Just
enough light streamed in to show that it was late morning.

Pierce came out of the bathroom. “Morning,”
he said and sat on the edge of the bed. “Sleep okay?” I rolled to
him and wrapped my body around him.

“Yup. It has been a while since I had a good
night’s sleep. Pierce.” I reached up and touched his lip. The
stitches were gone and there was barely a scar. He caught my wrist
and looked down at me. There was nothing in his eyes to tell me
what he was thinking. I sat up and swung my legs over the side of
the bed until I was standing and I tugged at the hem of his shirt.
Pierce put his arms up and I pulled it over his head.

The claw marks across his chest were now
raised white scars that looked like they’d just knit themselves
together in the last few moments. I ran a finger over the soft,
tender flesh, so stark against his dark skin, and he tensed.

“Pierce,” I whispered again, but he shook
his head.

“Get dressed, love. Let’s go for a
walk.”

I rummaged through the closet until I found
some jeans and a t-shirt and some knee socks. I grabbed a yellow
and purple striped sweater, my new boots and a heavy jacket with a
hood, and met Pierce at the front door.

“Don’t you want breakfast?” Adelina called.
Pierce closed the door before I could tell her we’d be right
back.

“Pierce,” I said, but he was already making
his way up the drive. I followed him and wondered if Roman had
provided snow boots. Pierce led me down the drive and into the snow
paved street. Enough vehicles had driven over it to pack the snow
until it was solid ice.

I caught up to Pierce and slipped my hand
into his. He slowed down a little so I could keep pace with him and
we walked up the snow packed street.

“What’s up?” I asked after we’d walked about
twenty yards from the house.

“Not far enough.” Pierce cut across the
street with me in tow, and we stepped down into a ditch that was
filled with ice.

“Pierce,” I complained as I slid and
narrowly escaped landing on my butt. “What the hell.”

Pierce grabbed me around the waist and
lifted me out of the ditch. The ground under my feet was hard and
frozen and oddly bare. There was no snow in this one spot and the
red dirt crunched and shifted. Pierce was by my side in an instant,
having no problems with the ice and snow.

We rummaged through the woods for half an
hour, climbing over felled trees and sliding across frozen puddles
hidden under the snowfall. At one point, Pierce kicked the snow off
a puddle as he crossed, making it treacherous for me when I tried
to follow his footsteps. I slipped. Pierce reached out to grab me,
but his footing was bad and he slipped too, pulling us both to the
ground. I laughed so hard I snorted.

“Pierce, get off of me,” I exclaimed. “I’m
getting wet.”