Chapter 3

“Vitals are excellent. Can you make a fireball for me?”

Thad’s doctor, Greg Brayden, stepped back from Tyra’s seat on the edge of her bed and gave her that detached but expectant look all medical professionals seemed to have practiced to perfection.

Thad still didn’t trust her worth a damn, but they had managed to broker an agreement: if Brayden cleared it, she could go back on active duty. More importantly, back to the shelter. She had some serious unfinished business there.

“Brayden, my powers are fine.” Well, that was the biggest, fattest, baldest lie she had ever told. Truth was, the initial burst of energy she’d gotten from that gulp of Anton’s blood had been blown on her teleporting from the homeless shelter to her bedroom at her brother’s royal estate. Since then, her body had resisted her with every move. If she flexed her powers again, she would sap what little get-up-and-go she had left. Instead of heading straight back to the shelter once she was finally free of prying eyes, she’d be forced to rest up first.

“It never hurts to check.”

She batted her eyelashes a little. “You don’t want me to overtire myself, do you, Doctor?” When all else failed, a little flirting and levity rolled into one should work, right?

“A small one will be fine.”

Or not.

Brayden rested an elbow on her tall chest of drawers and gave a friendly smile. His thumb clicked the switch on the pen light he’d been flashing in her eyes. On. Off. On. Off. Waiting. It was clear that he didn’t intend to take no for an answer.

Tyra grabbed a fistful of her rose-colored comforter. This whole business was getting old. “Jeez, Brayden. Even you don’t trust me now?”

“No, that’s still me.”

Tyra’s head and neck made a slow swivel. Everything was a little stiff from that week-plus-long nap. Thad stood stock-still in her bedroom doorway with his forehead creased down the center and his shoulders jacked up to his ears. His hands were jammed into the pockets of his fatigues.

She didn’t need her supercharged abilities to know that Thad was still pissed off about her disappearance. He used to stand that way when he was mad that she wouldn’t play with him as a child.

“Thad, come on.”

“Make a fireball for the nice man, and then you can go back to your regularly scheduled habits of neglecting yourself until you collapse. Maybe the next time you’ll be lucky and not wind up in torpor for days while our entire military is out combing the streets for you.”

Don’t hold back, Thad. Tell me how you really feel.

“Thad, I have apologized. I was saving lives.”

“Any of our other fighters could have carried those unconscious vampires, Ty.”

“I thought I could handle it.”

Thad’s nostrils flared. The anger melted off his face, but what was left behind had her feeling like an even bigger shit-heel than she already did. Deep lines traversed his face, and in the early morning gray of her bedroom, the shadows accentuated dark hollows in his cheeks and under his eyes. It brought home what a strain her disappearance had put on everyone, and it also reminded her of the way that Anton had looked when she’d woken up.

It still seemed impossible that he had kept a vigil by her side the whole time. That was the stuff of fairy tales. Or the stuff of newspaper headlines that started “Dead Body Found…” So much depended on Anton’s true intentions.

It still seemed impossible that she could trust him.

“Look, Ty. You are strong, stronger than most of us. I think it’s easy for us all to forget that the flip side is how easily your fuse blows. This isn’t the first time you’ve pushed your limits too far. It’s only the first time you’ve gotten into real trouble for it. If you want to keep fighting, I need to know you can be trusted to tag out before you become a liability.”

Tyra opened her mouth and then closed it. Open. Close. Like a gasping, gaping fish. There was no way on earth that she could explain the reality: yes, she had pushed the envelope, but she hadn’t gone over the edge until one of their sworn enemies had confessed to a recent stint of wizard stalking and then professed his love for her. Cuh-razy.

Her eyelids were at half-mast, but she held Thad’s intent look. “I promise, Thad.”

The icy blue of her brother’s stare was immutable. No, she was talking to Thad the king now. Her baby brother had grown up while she was away on her unscheduled vacation. And in part, she had forced that on him.

So, okay. She would play nicely for right now. Tyra focused her mind and a tiny flame flickered in her palm, nothing more than a tea-light votive could power. But lo, there was fire.

“Is that all you can do?”

She narrowed her eyes at Brayden. “You said a small one was fine.”

He smiled evenly. “I’m just trying to assess your energy levels.”

Tyra made a point of sitting straighter. She held out her hand again. A moment of intense concentration and the heat of her palm built, gathered, and fanned out until her palm and all five fingers were engulfed in flame. She blew it out with a puff of air, shaking her hand to clear the smoke trail.

Let’s see how he likes them apples.

“Don’t need to be a show-off, Ty.” Thad came forward. His few inches of height advantage and scornful glare were sufficiently intimidating when he stood over her like that. He turned to Brayden. “Got everything you need, Doc?”

Brayden’s head bobbed. He backed out quietly. Ever the polite gentleman, the young doctor made a point of turning the knob on his way out so the door closed with little more than a subtle tap of wood against the frame.

Tyra’s hand dropped to the bed. Damn, she needed to lie down now. She was going to regret that little display she had made. Originally her hope had been to head straight back to the shelter once she was free from prying eyes. She rolled her head around on her shoulders, pretending to unkink tired neck muscles, while she surreptitiously checked the clock on her bedside table. She’d already been gone from the shelter overnight. Maybe she could make it a power nap.

Thad’s shadow fell over her. He sat next to her and hooked an arm around her shoulder, pulling her sideways for a too-tight squeeze. Perhaps her baby brother was still around after all.

“I was so worried about you. I’m glad you’re back, Ty.” Another quick squeeze around her shoulders and he jumped to his feet, heading for the door. “I can see that you’re exhausted. Get some rest.”

She gave her best effort at returning his smile. “I’m glad to be back, Thad.”

Lying to him like this made her ill.

***

Alexia raced through the forested grounds surrounding the estate, feet pounding the ground beneath her. She sped as fast as her legs could manage, her chest burning and her breath gasping in shallow pants that echoed in her own ears like a chugging locomotive. Her nose and lungs burned with the effort of drawing breath, and her heart burned like it might explode out of her.

Dawn broke overhead in a wash of pinks and grays. She was human, so the sun’s rays wouldn’t hurt her, but the royal estate was eerily dead for miles during the day. Creepy and lonely, especially outdoors. As the only person living in a community full of vampires, she was all stocked up on creepy and lonely as it was. These vamps might not be the kind of pasty undead creatures you saw in horror movies, but she was constantly reminded of her outsider status.

The back of the mansion loomed up ahead, and the double doors of the rear entrance beckoned to her. Almost. Almost. Almost…

Alexia’s hand smacked the keypad and punched in the now-familiar security code automatically. By the time the little indicator light had changed from red to green, her other arm had reached to wrench open the door. She slipped in and pulled it shut behind her as quietly as she could. The heavy drapes that covered the windowed doors were down for the day to keep the sun out, and it was a struggle not to feel suffocated when they hit her in the face.

“Oh, God,” she whispered to herself.

Hands braced on her knees, she needed all of her willpower not to collapse right there in the back hall. It was a good thing the household was all in bed asleep by now.

Alexia straightened and tugged the hem of her shirt up to wipe the sweat from her face. Her lungs burned, but she could breathe.

“Shouldn’t be out by yourself past dawn, Alexia.”

“Holy shit, Lee.”

She jerked her top down to find the source of the voice, even though she recognized it right away. The few times she had heard him speak were enough to burn it into her memory. Her haste caused her to lose her footing, and she fell with an extremely unladylike thud against the pristine white wall.

“Jesus Christ. You scared the crap out of me.”

Thad’s bodyguard was very much as she remembered him: tall, broad, and extremely unnerving. He stood against the opposite wall with his arms crossed over his chest. His normally tan skin was sort of ashy, and he looked quite tired but otherwise as gorgeous as before. Damn him. The hall chandelier cast a dim yellow glow, and a sheen of water dotted the top of his marine-style haircut like he had showered recently. Instead of what she thought of as his badass street-fighting clothes, jeans stretched across his muscular thighs and a soft, gray waffle henley shirt almost gave him the appearance of casual.

Almost.

He used his chin to gesture toward the door. “What were you doing out there?”

Like it was any business of his. “Jogging. Where the hell have you even been?”

His brow creased and his blue-green eyes narrowed at her. “That wasn’t jogging. Jogging is what folks do at the park with their dogs and their headphones and their velour tracksuits and shit. The way you barreled into the back hall was a scene in a horror movie where the big-chested airhead runs to escape the masked man with the chainsaw.”

Alexia sucked down some more oxygen and pushed away from the wall, stepping toward him with all the bravado she could muster despite over a foot in height difference between them. Her pulse gave an extra hard kick when she got close to him.

“Seriously, Lee. You have been gone for like a week. You left without any word to anyone, and Thad has been going out of his mind. Everybody has. Does he know you’re back yet?”

His head dipped. “Not that it’s any business of yours, but Tyra and I got back to the estate last night. We decided it was best to get cleaned up and rested before we announced our presence. I just came over from her place.”

“Tyra’s back too? And you stayed with her last night?” There was no reason in the world for that to bother her. None. At all.

“That she is.” Lee pushed off and started to turn from her. His boot steps left subtle impressions in the flowered carpet. “Listen,” he continued. “I mean it, Alexia. You shouldn’t be out by yourself during daylight hours.”

Nnng. You could have played music with her tightly strung neck muscles. No freaking way was he telling her what she could and couldn’t do, or when she could or couldn’t do it. She took a step and planted her feet wide, making a grab for his arm. Her fingers barely snagged his shirt, but that was enough to irritate him, judging from the flash in his eyes. Score one for the short girl.

“What the hell are you talking about? I’m on a two-hundred-acre estate that is protected by both a human security system and vampire hoodoo. What could possibly happen?”

Truthfully, thanks to a growing problem with insomnia, Alexia’s sleep cycles were wacky these days. Typically she was back inside the mansion before it was fully light outside. She’d poke a fork in her own eye, though, before she defended herself to Lee.

He shrugged. “Can’t be too careful.” He reached out and chucked her under the chin. Like a kid, for fuck’s sake. “Already had to use my blood to save your ass once. Don’t go wasting it by being stupid.” And with that, he turned again and headed down the hallway.

Alexia was speechless. God damn him. She snorted quietly. What an unbelievable asshole. So Lee had saved her life and ever since then she’d had some sort of stupid little crush thing going for the big bastard. But he was an arrogant jerk and she was so over it. She threw her shoulders back and straightened her spine to begin the long march down the hall to her room.

The confident display felt important even if he wasn’t there to witness it.