The Warrior Vampire (23 page)

“No.” Naya's word cut through her cousin's panic. “It's volatile, but I can control it.”

Luz's disbelieving laughter echoed off the bare walls. “Control it? Pretty ballsy coming from someone who just took me to task for being cocky. You heard what I heard. There's no controlling that
magia
. It's
oscuro
. It'll kill you if you try to control it. I think we both know there's only one way to get rid of it.”

A ripple of fear trickled through the tether that bound him to Naya and soured the air. “That's not going to happen, Luz.”

Her eyes went wide with disbelief and Ronan stayed rooted to his spot on the carpet, his arms wrapped around his mate. He tried to put her at ease as best he could and pushed calm emotion through their bond. Calm that he didn't necessarily feel.

“Fine.” Her jaw took a stubborn set, making Luz look more like Naya's twin than her cousin. “Sorry, tall, dark, and vampy. No hard feelings, but I don't have a problem with killing you before the mapinguari takes you.”

Luz drew a citrine dagger from behind her, almost identical to the one Naya carried. She jumped into action and Naya shouted, “No, Luz! He's my … my mate.”

On the one hand, Ronan's heart soared with her admission. On the other hand, Luz looked as though her head might launch right off her shoulders.

“Unless you're thinking about starting a polygamist cult out in the forest somewhere, you'd better rethink that statement. Because if Paul finds out you're saying crazy shit like that, he's gonna have your ass.”

“Luz—”

“Don't even start with me, bloodsucker.” She pointed her dagger at his face. It glowed an angry yellow as though echoing her emotions. “I don't know what you've told her, but you need to quit with the crazy talk. Wait—” Luz looked at Naya, horrified. “You didn't actually let him sink his fangs into you, did you?”

Naya's silence sparked Ronan's ire. Was it so shameful to admit that she'd given him her vein? A string of angry Spanish followed, and Naya volleyed back, breaking away from Ronan's hold as she rounded on her cousin. Luz brandished the dagger for emphasis, pointing it at his face as she continued to shout. The sun would be up soon. Another night wasted. Another day spent in useless unconsciousness.

Another twenty-four hours living with this damned dark force inside of him, slowly trying to claw its way out.

“That's enough!”

Having grown up with a sister, he knew that this fight between them wouldn't end until someone drew blood, and Ronan wasn't interested in playing referee. The two stopped immediately and turned. Naya looked annoyed while Luz flashed an amused grin.

“Don't get your fangs twisted, vamp-a-licious. This is
familia
business.
Prendé?
”

“Oh, I understand,” Ronan replied. “And since your argument is with
my
mate, and about
our
current situation, I think that your business includes me.
Prendé?
”

*   *   *

No one outside of the elders ever put Luz in her place. Ronan not only took her snarky comments in stride, but also had managed to shut her up with a few terse words. Impressive.

“It has to feed, Naya.” Just because Ronan had shut her down didn't mean she wasn't going to keep running off at the mouth. “And once it's consumed him, it'll move on to the next host. We have to banish it. Now. Before it gets any stronger.”

“Don't you think I know that, Luz?” A chill snaked over Naya's skin and she instinctually reached for Ronan, twining her fingers with his as though it was the most natural action in the world. As long as they touched, she could keep him calm. Calm kept the magic dormant. “But he doesn't have to die. No one else needs to die. I just need to sort it out, find a way to beat it at its own game.”

“Magic isn't sentient, Naya.” She was getting pretty tired of Luz treating her as though she needed to be schooled on the nature of magic. “It doesn't think. It doesn't feel. You can't outwit it. It's like fire. It consumes and it destroys if it's not properly contained.”

True.
“Luz, go home.”

“Oh no. No freaking way, Cuz.” Luz shook her head with so much emphasis it was a wonder it was still connected to her neck. “Town is crawling with little black kitty cats out looking for you and your boy toy.”

Naya's spluttering laughter escaped despite her attempt to remain stoic. “Exactly. I need someone to run interference. If you disappear, Paul and Joaquin will turn to Santi. He'll cave like a Las Vegas casino on demolition day. No one can know about this place, Luz.”

“Santi's game is tight. No way is he going to rat you out. You have a plan. I can see it in your eyes. Knowing you, it's risky and not a little dangerous. And you're on crack if you think I'm going to let you do anything on your own.”

Ronan's grip tightened around her fingers.
Ouch.
“She regularly harbors a blatant disregard for safety, does she?”

“Oh,” Luz scoffed. “You have no idea.”

“Really?”

By Ronan's stuffy response, Naya sensed that putting her life on the line in the name of protecting innocent people from dangerous malevolent magic didn't fill him with pride and joy.

“I'm always safe,” Naya interjected. Even at her most reckless, she followed protocol. “And stop trying to change the subject. All I need is for you to keep Paul and Joaquin off my back at least for a couple of days.”

“A couple of days?” If Luz's eyes bulged any bigger, they'd fall right out of her head. “I'll be lucky if I can keep them off your back for a couple of minutes. We don't live in a metropolis, Naya. We're talking a few thousand people. The fact that Paul doesn't know about this house is a damned miracle.”

Not if you considered the fact that Naya had cast a concealment charm over the place. “He's not going to find me here. But if you go off the grid, too, it's going to throw up a red flag. He sent you after me, didn't he?”

“Yeah, but he also sent ninety percent of the pod after you, too.”

“I'm not leaving. Use Santi to throw him off.” Luz pulled her cell from her pocket. “Better yet, I'll take care of it.”

Before Naya could stop it, Luz was jabbering away to Santi. Ronan stiffened beside Naya and she turned to face him. Luz's presence was a buffer. Naya didn't have to worry about throwing herself at him when her cousin was there to run interference. And what did that say about her that she actually needed a chaperone to keep her from attacking Ronan like an Atkins dieter in a room full of chocolate cake?

“We need to talk.”

His severe expression caused tiny butterflies to swirl in her stomach and she had a feeling she was in for an ass chewing. And really? What gave him the right? She'd been a tracker and hunter for decades. Had been taking care of herself from the time she was a girl. The Bororo life wasn't an easy one by any means and her responsibilities within the pod didn't leave room for weakness. She was capable, damn it! Strong. She didn't need a male to worry or fuss over her.

She left Luz to her conversation with Santi and followed Ronan into her bedroom. She opened her mouth, more than ready to lay into him, when he grabbed her by the arms and hauled her against his wide chest. His lips brushed hers, a soft, open kiss that drew a contented sigh from her. So much for putting the vampire in his place.

“The sun is about to rise,” he murmured against her mouth. “And I want to taste your mouth before I'm forced to sleep.”

The words, spoken with so much heat, made her melt in his embrace. She kissed him again, a glancing of lip to lip. “I thought you were angry with me.”

“Oh, make no mistake.” He ventured down, crossing her jawline and dipping to her throat. His fangs scraped the delicate skin and she shuddered. “I'm
furious
with you. But I know better than to give in to my ire right now.”

“The magic feeds on negative emotion.” Naya's voice was thick as his tongue flicked out, so hot against her throat.

“It does. I feel it rise up when I'm angry.”

“I guess that means I need to keep you happy.” Was it wrong that she wanted him to bite her? To sweep her up into that frenzy of sensation that caused all rational thought to take a vacation from her brain?

“If you want to keep me happy, don't send your cousin away.”

Naya pulled away and studied his guileless expression. “You can't be serious.”

“If I could meet this Paul now, I'd wring his neck for allowing you to hunt alone. Taking backup doesn't prove that you're weak, Naya. It shows that you're smart. Only fools and characters in horror movies go it alone.”

She bristled at the implication in his words.

“Gods, but you're a willful female.” Ronan stroked her hair and brushed his thumb along her temple. “I'm not saying that you're foolish, either. Just promise me that you won't make a move without having someone at your back.”

Naya sighed. “Whatever.”

“I'm going to take that as a yes.” Ronan took her by the hand and led her toward the bed. “Lie with me until the sun rises.”

Ronan was a male who expected nothing less than to be obeyed, and where he led she found herself helpless to not follow. Naya didn't want this tenderness, the soft emotion that urged her to take down her walls. The tether that bound them drilled through her cold apathy, and despite her best efforts to keep him at bay, Ronan had wormed his way into not only her soul but also her heart.

She lay down on the bed, tucking her back against Ronan's chest. He hooked one arm round her waist and rested his mouth near her temple. “Luz is telling your friend Santi that she's afraid I'm going to use you as my own personal Slurpee,” he said with a gentle laugh.

“You can hear her?” Naya had assumed that all of Ronan's senses were keen.
Impressive.

“She thinks I'm using mind control on you.”

Leave it to Luz to jump to the worst conclusions. “Can you do that?”

He idly kissed her temple, the outer shell of her ear. “More or less. But I doubt it would work on you.”

Ronan was more powerful than she'd given him credit for. Vampires had their own magic, it seemed. Magic she couldn't comprehend or understand. “Why don't you think it would work?”

“You're strong willed. Your magic is
powerful
. More so than mine.”

Naya's chest swelled with emotion. For most of her life, she'd felt so weak. Her magic seemed paltry in comparison to the Bororo males who were stronger, their senses sharper. She'd wanted the ability to shift when she was a girl. Run through the woods with Joaquin and Santi. See the world through the jaguar's eyes.

“I don't feel powerful.” She felt like a slave. Trapped in a life she didn't want to live and tired of blindly following orders that she'd begun to question. What scared her most about Ronan's sudden presence in her life wasn't the mystical tether that pulled at her soul or the way he evoked raw emotion and a magic she'd never known existed. It wasn't the instant emotional connection or ease at which he put her. She understood the importance of mate bonds. Knew how they forged a male and female together. No, what truly terrified her was the glimpse of a life outside of everything she knew. A life that she'd never, ever be allowed to live.

“You are so powerful, Naya. The very essence of life.” Ronan's voice became lazy and thick. “And I will tell you every day until you believe it.”

The arm holding her went limp as the first rays of sunlight peeked through the blinds. Naya disentangled herself from his embrace and took the comforter off the bed, draping it over the window as a safeguard to block any daylight from coming in. Her gaze wandered back to the male sleeping like the dead, his well-muscled frame taking up the bulk of her bed. So tall that his feet touched the footboard.

She crossed the room and leaned down over him, brushing his tawny locks from his forehead. “I'm going to fix you, Ronan,” she murmured against his skin. “I promise.”

 

CHAPTER

20

“Okay, what the fuck is going on? I know I told you to sow some oats, but I didn't think you'd plow the field with so much gusto.”

Naya fixed Luz with a stern eye and placed her hands on her hips. She brought her finger to her lips and shushed her cousin as she eased the door closed behind her. Who knew how much vampires heard when they slept?

“You think he's using mind control on me?” Naya hissed.

Luz was taken aback, but she recovered quickly, masking her expression with passivity. “Well, is he?”

“Do you actually think I'd be able to answer that if he was?”

“Good question. I never thought of that. I should do a cleansing ritual on you, just in case.”

Naya shook her head and plopped down on the couch. She was too damned exhausted to stand in the middle of the living room and fight. “Luz, seriously.” Naya rubbed at her temple in an attempt to banish the painful throb that settled there. Her body was overloaded with magical energy and it needed to be released.

“I
am
being serious.” Luz settled down beside Naya, tucking her legs underneath her. “I've never seen Joaquin so pissed off. He told Paul that the vampire was controlling you.”

Naya let out a soft snort. Of course Joaquin would have opted to see it that way. Anything to save face and preserve his injured pride. “Joaquin found us in a … um … compromising position.”

“Doggie-style?” Luz asked, waggling her brows. Naya should have been appalled, but Luz's questions only managed to steer her thoughts down an erotic path. Warm magic tingled on her skin and Naya rubbed at her arms as though she could banish it. Luz's eyes grew wide. “Holy shit. No wonder you're banging him.”