25
Oliver felt warm breath blowing against his naked chest. The heartbeat of another person pounded against him, and the scent of a woman teased his nostrils.
He’d fallen asleep with Ursula in his arms, and sometime during the day rid himself of his shirt, because he’d gotten too hot. He should have left her bed then, but she had molded herself to him in such a trusting way that he hadn’t been able to tear himself away.
The sun was setting already, and soon the house would be turning into a beehive. It was best that he went back to his room now before Rose and Quinn noticed him in Ursula’s room.
As he gently removed Ursula’s arm from his chest and rolled her onto her back, trying not to wake her, the door opened. Oliver’s eyes shot to the figure standing in the doorframe: Quinn.
“That’s just great!” Quinn said sarcastically. “You couldn’t leave her alone, could you?”
Next to him, Ursula jerked awake, a scared gasp coming from her lips.
“Can’t you knock?” Oliver growled at his sire.
“Damn it, Oliver, did you not listen to anything I said last night?”
“I haven’t done anything!”
Quinn looked him up and down. “Oh, stop lying!”
Outraged at Quinn’s wrong interpretation of the situation, Oliver grabbed one edge of the blanket, wanting to get out of bed, but Quinn lifted his hand in protest.
“Spare me the sight of your naked body!” Then he turned.
“But I’m not—” Naked, he’d wanted to say, but Quinn slammed the door.
From the corridor, he issued one last command. “Get dressed! Samson wants to see you. Now!”
Then his footsteps were swallowed by the rug in the hallway.
Oliver shoved a hand through his messy hair. “Ah, shit!” He looked at Ursula.
Her eyes were wide open in shock and embarrassment. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked you to stay.”
He smiled at her and stroked his knuckles over her cheek. “Don’t be silly. He’ll calm down. He’s just not used to me having a girl over.”
Oliver dished up the explanation even though he knew it wasn’t true. Quinn was worried about what he would do to Ursula if his hunger for blood became too much. He’d made his concerns clear earlier. But that still didn’t excuse him busting into the room without knocking. Something else must have gotten Quinn all riled up.
“You don’t have many girls stay over?”
He bent to her and pressed a kiss on her cheek. “No. You’re the first.” Then he straightened. “And as much as I would love to stay with you right now, I’d better see what my boss wants.”
A frightened look crossed her features. “You’re leaving me alone with them?”
“You have nothing to fear. They won’t harm you.” In fact, she would be much safer with Quinn, Rose, and Blake than with him. At least, none of those three was tempted by her blood. But he kept his thoughts to himself.
With another reassuring look at her, he swung himself out of bed, snatched his shirt from the floor and left her room. He went to his room, and ten minutes later he was ready to face his boss. It wasn’t unusual that Samson wanted to see him. Samson often called him to his private residence to check in with him and see how he was doing. After working as his personal assistant for over three years, Oliver still had an especially close relationship with his boss, even though he was now assigned to other duties.
Unfortunately, this meeting with Samson was damn inconvenient. Oliver had wanted to stop by headquarters to see if he could find out more about what had gone down with those crazy vampires at the nightclub.
Quinn was in the foyer when Oliver descended the stairs. His sire gave him an odd look. Still annoyed about his rude intrusion—which was so unlike Quinn’s impeccable manners—he lifted his chin and glared at him.
“Next time get your facts straight: I wasn’t naked!”
Then he sailed past him and slammed the door, realizing too late that he had parked the car in the garage. “Damn it!”
But he was too proud to turn around and go back inside. Samson’s Victorian house was only a stone’s throw away in neighboring Nob Hill. He would just have to walk there.
Delilah, Samson’s wife opened the door for him when he arrived. She looked lovely as ever and had completely regained her figure after the birth of her daughter Isabelle only six months earlier.
“Hi Oliver, how are you?”
He smiled at her and entered the house, pulling the door shut behind him. “Nice to see you, Delilah. How’s Isabelle? Is she sleeping?”
Delilah sighed, motioning him to follow her into the living room. “I wish! But I’m afraid she’s keeping her father’s hours!”
“Samson wanted to see me.”
Delilah crouched down to the floor where a large blanket had been spread out. “He’s still on the phone. Why don’t you keep me company in the meantime?”
She tossed a little ball in Isabelle’s direction, and the girl reached for it, but a Labrador puppy suddenly jumped onto it and snatched it.
“Coco!” she chided the dog. “You don’t give her a chance.”
But the toddler didn’t seem to mind having been bested by her pet. Isabelle laughed, and it sounded more like a gurgle, but her eyes beamed when she smiled up at Oliver, flashing tiny fangs at him.
“God, she gets bigger every week.” He bent down and stretched his arms out to her. “Do you want to come to Uncle Oliver?”
“Maybe later,” Samson’s voice interrupted him from behind.
Oliver turned instantly and rose. “Samson.”
“Join me in my office.”
Oliver walked along the wood-paneled corridor that led to the back of the house, where Samson’s study was located. As he entered it behind his boss, he was instantly reminded of when he’d worked here as a human. He’d spent many hours in this house, taking care of Samson’s needs and protecting him while he slept during the day.
“Take a seat.”
Oliver sat down in the chair opposite the massive desk that housed two computer monitors and various other electronic devices. Samson took his seat behind the desk and steepled his fingers.
“I called you because we’ve got problems,” Samson started in a calm voice, his expression serious.
Oliver lifted an eyebrow and moved forward on his chair, a sinking feeling rising from his gut. Conversations that started like that never ended well. “Yes?”
Samson rested his arms on the desk, folding his hands as he leaned forward. “I’m disappointed in you, Oliver.”
Oliver’s heart missed a beat. Shit! What was Samson referring to?
“You didn’t follow the orders you were given. The girl was supposed to be on a plane to Washington.”
Oliver jumped up, his heart racing. How did he already know this? F*ck! Who had ratted him out? “Blake! He couldn’t keep his mouth shut!”
“Sit down!” Samson ordered.
Reluctantly, he slunk back into his seat.
“Blake has nothing to do with this. And it doesn’t matter how we found out. The point is: you didn’t follow Zane’s orders, and by doing so, you’ve put yourself in danger.”
“I’m not in danger!”
“You might not think so because you don’t know the whole story, so let me tell you what’s going on: at a raid of a nightclub last night, we apprehended one of the rogue vampires we’ve been hunting for weeks. A second one was destroyed by Cain, but not before that rogue butchered a young Asian woman, leaving her dead. Both of those vampires were showing withdrawal symptoms.”
The wheels in Oliver’s brain were clicking into place. He knew where this was leading.
“They wanted to get high on blood. On special blood that they were addicted to. They’d been feeding at a blood brothel in Hunter’s Point, the very place that Ursula led you to, and that you found empty. When they couldn’t get any more blood from the girls who were being held at the brothel, because they didn’t know where it had been relocated, they started attacking Asian girls.”
Oliver squeezed his eyes shut. He realized what the rogues had been trying to do: find Asian women who had the same kind of blood as Ursula.
“But when it turned out that the women they encountered in the nightclub didn’t have blood that got them high, they went berserk! I don’t want the same to happen to you.”
Oliver met Samson’s intense gaze. “Why would that happen to me?”
“Oliver, Ursula has special blood. It will get you high, and you’ll become addicted to it. We all know how vulnerable you are. And I know you better than most. You can’t be allowed to be near her. One bite, and your fate might already be sealed.”
“No! You’re wrong. I won’t bite her.”
“Please, Oliver,” Samson implored him, his voice more soothing now. “I’ve been told how you look at her. It’s not a secret that you want to sleep with her, if you haven’t already done so. You know what that means. You’ll want to bite her as part of making love to her. And then, you won’t be able to stop. We can’t risk that, because we don’t want to lose you.”
Oliver shook his head, furious. “I’m not like that! I didn’t bite her the first time. I promised myself not to, because I couldn’t go down that road again! I knew I had to be strong. And I was. I am!”
Samson narrowed his eyes, his expression changing. “You knew? You knew all along what her blood does and you didn’t tell anybody?”
Oliver suppressed a curse. Crap! He’d inadvertently blurted out too much.
“Why didn’t you come to me? You should have told me!” Samson thundered.
“I promised her not to tell anybody.”
“She entrusted you with her secret?”
Oliver nodded. “She’s scared of all of you. She told only me so I would help her, but she’s afraid that if you all knew, you’d just imprison her for her blood, just like the other vampires did.” He ran his hand through his hair.
“But you know we would never do that!”
“I know that! But she doesn’t! Do you know what she’s been through? What those animals did to her for three years?” He clenched his fists. “I’m going to kill them for it!”
“You’re not going to do anything right now! From now on you’ll follow orders.”
“If I’d followed Zane’s stupid order, Ursula would be back in Washington and we wouldn’t be any further. Instead—”
Samson held up his hand, stopping him. “Granted, in hindsight Zane’s order was wrong, but given the information he had then, it was the only logical solution.” He leaned over the desk. “I’m not upset that Ursula is still here. In fact, I think she might turn out to be useful in trying to find the nest of those vampires. But what does piss me off is that you didn’t have enough trust in me to come and tell me what’s going on. And that you continued to expose yourself to the temptation of her blood. It’s irresponsible. You of all people should know that an alcoholic can’t be in charge of a liquor store.”
Oliver felt his blood boil. “It’s not like that! I can handle it.”
“For how long? Until you overestimate how long you can go without blood? Until your hunger for it gets too strong? Until you can’t think straight anymore and can only think of sinking your fangs into her neck?”
Oliver felt his gums itch at the very thought of drinking from Ursula, while she was panting beneath him. “She needs me.”
“She’s a danger to you. Have you slept with her?”
Oliver avoided Samson’s gaze. “That’s none of your business!”
“So you have,” Samson concluded. “And you’ll do it again, and what if your control snaps next time? What if you feed from her? You have no idea what her blood will do to you. Zane and the others saw it at the club. Those vampires were crazy. Violent. Uncontrollable. We can’t allow that to happen to you. I’m sorry.”
An icy shiver crept up his spine. Narrowing his eyes, Oliver glared at his boss. “What are you saying?”
“You know what I’m saying. You can’t be allowed near her. She’s off limits for you.”
“You can’t do that!”
Samson gave him a serious look. “Please try to see my side. I didn’t rescue you from a life as a drug addict and criminal to let you slide down into the same kind of cesspit I found you in. You have a promising life ahead of you. Wasn’t that what you always wanted? Be one of us? Become a great bodyguard? Have exciting assignments?” Samson shook his head. “You would be throwing all this away if you bit her and became an addict again. As a vampire, your desires and needs are much stronger. You won’t be able to shake the addiction this time. You won’t be strong enough. That’s why I can’t allow you to see her again.”
Oliver thrust his chin up, ready for a counterattack. “What if somebody had told you the same thing about Delilah?”
Samson pounded his fist on the desk. “That’s uncalled for and you know it! You can hardly compare Delilah with a girl you met two nights ago!”
Oliver jumped up. He knew he was treading on thin ice, but he had nothing to lose. “If I recall correctly, you didn’t know Delilah much longer than I’ve known Ursula before you went all possessive on her!”
Slowly, like a stalking tiger, Samson rose from behind his desk. “I advise you to be very careful about what you say. Another word of insubordination, and I will strip you of your position within Scanguards, and you’ll be back to chauffeuring people around.”
Fuming, Oliver went nose to nose with Samson. “Go ahead! But you can’t keep me from Ursula!”
“I already have. By the time you get home, she’ll be gone.”
Oliver jolted backwards. Samson had tricked him. He’d asked him to his home so the others could grab Ursula behind his back. “F*ck you!”
“You’ll thank me for it later.”
Oliver glared at him, then turned on his heels and ran out of the house, ignoring Delilah and the baby playing in the front room.
He had to make it back to stop them from taking Ursula.