Chapter Twenty-Four

Hunter tried about a thousand times to think of exactly the right thing to say as he drove them through the night toward Alice’s home.

Tried and failed.

She just sat silently, staring out the window into the darkness.

Charlie was curled up in the backseat, sound asleep. Apparently, terror, danger, and breathing fire wore a dragon out. Hunter idly wondered if the fact that he hadn’t quite killed the warlock was something that a Minor demon would be proud of—or regret.

“What does that mean, anyway?”

Alice sighed but slowly turned her head to look at him. “What?”

“If Charlie is a Minor demon, what does a Major demon look like? A giant dragon? A scary monster, like the demons we’ve seen in movies and stuff?”

She said nothing.

“I mean, there must be a reason they’re called Minor, right? I just wonder what it is. Meara will probably know.” He realized he was babbling, but he couldn’t seem to stop.

Alice still said nothing.

When they pulled up to the gate, the werewolf security team opened it, and Hunter drove in, then stopped and rolled down the window.

“Hey,” a bald, muscular werewolf said. “I’m Ian. Things have been completely quiet here.”

“Hunter. Did your alpha fill you in?”

Ian nodded. “We’re on the alert for this doctor and any of his thugs, in addition to the Chamber. That white-haired hacker vampire sent photos of Kurchausen and all his known associates to our phones.”

Alice finally stirred. She leaned over the console. “Hello, Ian. I’m Alice,” she said, her voice polite but frighteningly empty. “Thank you for this. I hope you won’t have to be here long.”

“Doesn’t matter how long. We’re going to get these bastards who dared to shoot our Max,” Ian said, a hot orange glow flaring in his eyes. “We’ll keep you safe, too, ma’am.”

She thanked him, but her voice held only desolation. Hunter drove on and pulled around the side of the building, then put the car in park.

“We will protect you,” he told her.

She didn’t even look at him, and he cast about furiously for something to say—something to do—that could pull her out of the terror or depression or fatalism that was slowly but surely carrying her deeper and deeper inside herself.

Further and further away from him.

“Alice? What do you want?”

She clutched her hands together in her lap so tightly that her knuckles turned white, and then she looked up at him, her green eyes huge in her too-pale face.

“I want to have sex with you.”

…

Even an hour later, when they were finishing up the chores for the shelter, Alice still refused to discuss her declaration that had damn near knocked him off his feet. He was trying to be patient and let her speak up at her own pace, because…well, because everything.

She was an innocent, and he was a vampire.

She was everything good and pure and kind, and he was a monster.

She was unbelievably stressed and probably terrified, and he was damn sure not going to take advantage of that. He’d had to rush straight to the basement and retrieve a few bags of blood just to deal with the effect of her statement—he didn’t want to think of what the actual act of making love to Alice would cause.

He could hurt her.

No. He’d die before he’d hurt her. Probably best to stay far, far away, once he knew she was safe.

He watched her move along the aisle of kennels, graceful and so beautiful. He was damn sure not going to take advantage of her, no matter how much he wanted her.

Charlie, who’d hopped into the rescue and made straight for Ajax’s kennel, was now asleep curled up next to the German shepherd. They’d checked on, fed, and settled everyone else, even Ferret Bueller, who’d spent a good ten minutes using Hunter as a climbing gym and grooming his head.

Hunter’s phone buzzed in his pocket, and he put down his cleaning rag and answered it.

“It’s Edge,” he told Alice. “Edge, I’m putting you on speaker. What’s up?”

Edge’s jubilant voice came through loud and clear. “Who’s brilliant?”

“Albert Einstein,” Hunter said promptly.

“Yeah, but he’s dead. Who’s—”

“Just tell us, please,” Alice said, her voice strained. “I’ll be glad to feed your ego afterward.”

There was a silence, and then Edge laughed. “Okay. Sorry. I get carried away with my research sometimes. So, good news. You don’t have to worry about Kurchausen, at least for a little more than a week. I have confirmation that he’s at a high-level, mandatory, meeting in England at the Chamber HQ until a week from Monday.”

Alice collapsed back against the counter behind her, catching herself with her hands before Hunter could grab her. “Are you sure?” she asked. “Really sure?”

“Absolutely. More good news? We found the house the warlock was using, and his laptop was in it—plus, one of the wolves found his phone where he’d thrown it into the woods when he saw us coming. According to his texts and emails, and confirmed by Zela, they were the only two the Chamber sent to Savannah this time.”

“This time,” Alice echoed, biting her lip. “Is this an ongoing battle?”

“Unfortunately, yes. We’re going to have to find a way to end this. It may mean going to England.”

Hunter shrugged, then realized Edge couldn’t see it. “It is what it is. I’d go to England or France or the freaking North Pole if it would end the threat of the Chamber once and for all.”

Alice reached out and put her hand on Hunter’s arm, touching him for the first time since they’d returned to the shelter. “Does this mean we’re safe? We’re not under attack?”

“That’s what it means. At least for now,” Edge said. “We’re keeping Reynolds’s security company under contract, here and at your place, until we catch Kurchausen. But yes, it looks like we have a good week of freedom from these bastards.”

“Thank you,” Alice said, her voice steady in spite of how her body was shaking like a leaf. “Thank you so much.”

“You got it, ghost girl. Remember, you’re not alone anymore,” he said gruffly, and then he ended the call.

Hunter stared at his phone in shock. “Evidently you’re not just a ghost whisperer; you’re a vampire whisperer. I’ve never heard Edge be so nice to anybody before.”

Alice pushed past him, raced down the corridor between the shelter and her house, unlocked the door, and ran up the stairs. He followed her at a more sedate pace, locking doors as he went, and then climbed the stairs, following the heart-rending sound of her hiccupping sobs.

“Alice?” He pushed open her slightly ajar door and walked in to find her curled up on her bed.

“I’m sorry,” she gasped, her voice muffled by the pillow she was clutching. “I was being so strong, but it’s like the sudden relief from fear has hit me harder than the fear itself.”

“Sometimes that’s exactly how it happens.” He thought back to a few of the more difficult fires he and his crew had fought. “The adrenaline can hold you up until the crisis passes, and when it drains out of you afterward, there’s nothing left but exhaustion and nausea.”

She sat up, her hair a mussed red cloud of curls around her face, her eyes sparkling with tears. “I need to blow my nose. Do you want to have sex now?”

He clamped his lips together against the laughter trying to escape, leaned over, and snagged a tissue box from her bedside table. She took one and loudly blew her nose, took another and wiped her eyes, and then jumped up to discard the tissues. When she caught sight of herself in the mirror, she gasped.

“No wonder you don’t want to have sex. I look scary!”

He couldn’t fight it anymore. He dropped his head into his hands and started to laugh. “Oh, Alice. Sweetheart. I don’t think I have ever wanted anything more than I want to make love to you. But this has been a hell of a long night, and emotions are high. Why don’t we just—”

“Watch TV?”

“Sure. Why not?” He took her hand and gently pulled her down to sit in his lap, and then he kissed her reddened nose. “Any ideas on what to watch?”

“Buffy the Vampire Slayer?”

…

They were halfway through the first episode, in which Buffy and her mother moved to a town with the improbable name of Sunnydale, when they heard a vehicle drive up outside.

Alice, snuggled up close to Hunter’s deliciously warm and muscular body, groaned at the thought of stirring. Especially now, when it was almost dawn and he’d need to sleep soon.

“What is it?”

Hunter’s phone rang again. He held it up before answering, and she saw Meara’s name.

“Hey, Meara. What’s up?”

“You, apparently. It’s very close to dawn, little brother.”

“I know,” Hunter said, pulling Alice closer to him. “I’m off to my fancy basement accommodations any minute now.”

“Not so fast,” Meara said. “The van that just arrived? I sent a few things over with a friend of mine. Alice, please let her in and then just get out of the way and allow her to do her thing.”

“How did you know I was here?” Alice said.

“I could hear you breathing. Hunter, didn’t you tell her about superior vampire senses yet?”

“We’ve been a little busy,” Hunter said drily.

Alice smiled at him and then looked at the phone. “Who is your friend, what is she bringing, and why should I get out of her way?”

“Because she has a few comfort items for Hunter, since he’ll be staying with you for a while. I assume you heard the good news about your evil doctor, but I’m guessing Hunter wants to stay with you for now, just in case.”

“Definitely,” he said, his cheerful expression intensifying into blazing heat as he looked into Alice’s eyes. “So, so much.”

He leaned toward her, and she met him halfway. Just as their lips met, the doorbell rang and Meara loudly cleared her throat.

“Au revoir, my darlings. I’ll see you tonight.”

“Tonight?”

“Girls’ night in. Movie night, I think Ryan said. Later.” And with that, Meara clicked off, just before the doorbell rang again and someone pounded on the door.

“I’m coming,” Alice shouted, frustrated for so many, many reasons. She started to stand, but Hunter caught her wrist and pulled her back to him. When she overbalanced and landed in his lap, he caught her, laughing, and then he captured her mouth with his own again, as he had done several times while they watched television.

But this kiss was different. Deeper.

Somehow…more.

She stopped trying to analyze it and kissed him back, running her fingers through his silky dark hair. She kissed him with longing and wanting and need.

She kissed him with hope—the tiniest kernel of hope that she’d been right to consider Savannah her new home.

She kissed him, and it was a revelation of heat and passion and a blazing hot need that she’d never experienced before in her life.

When she finally stopped, only so she could breathe, she leaned her forehead against his.

“I didn’t know,” she said wonderingly. “I never dreamed it could be this way. Kissing. Touching. It’s magical.”

He kissed her again, fast and hard. “It’s definitely magical with you,” he groaned. “So magical I just want to get you naked.”

She bounced up off his lap and grabbed the hem of her sweater, ready to rip it off over her head. “Yes! Let’s do that right now!”

BOOM BOOM BOOM.

Hunter blew out a breath, looking as horribly frustrated as she felt. “I guess we’d better get that. If it’s a friend of Meara’s, she’ll stand there all day.”

“Fine,” she growled. Then she stomped across her small sitting room and flung the front door open. “What?”

The neatly dressed older woman standing on her porch didn’t turn a hair at Alice’s rudeness. She held out her hand. “I’m here to set up the basement for a Mr. Evans, dear. I’m Janice Street, Street Designs. Meara sent me.”

Alice shook her hand, stunned, and then Janice turned and loudly whistled, which must have been the signal, because two large men hopped out of the van and started carrying furniture and rugs into the house.

“Which way to the basement, dear?”

Alice silently pointed to the door.

“Thanks. Now don’t worry about a thing; we’ll be out of your hair in no time.”

Alice turned back to Hunter in a panic when Janice Street walked off. “Meara hired an interior designer for my basement?”

Hunter shrugged. “Hey, the closest I’ve ever come to an interior designer was when somebody turned on HGTV at the station. Maybe she’ll know what that knocking sound in the walls is, though.” He started to follow Janice and her crew down the stairs.

Alice just stood there, fairly certain that her life had spiraled completely out of her control.

“What knocking sound in my walls?”