chapter 18
The house was buzzing like a beehive despite the late hour.
Quinn had been able to convince Amaury and Nina to move into the B&B with them to provide extra protection. Since Nina was human and not a stranger to fighting with vampires, she would be the perfect addition to the daytime protection Wesley would provide. However, accepting Nina’s services also meant having to put up with her overbearing mate Amaury. Not that he didn’t love the guy to death, but the way he hovered over Nina was positively nauseating. Having to watch those lovebirds day in and day out would be grueling.
Cain and Oliver had already gotten Blake settled, putting him on the top floor between their respective rooms. Wesley was in the process of lugging his bags upstairs to take up residence as well.
“Let me take one,” Quinn offered and grabbed one of Wesley’s bags, slinging the strap over his shoulder as he walked up the stairs alongside him.
“Hey this is great.” Wesley let his eyes roam. “What a cool house.”
“It’ll do for our purposes.”
Wesley shook his head. “Could you guys get any more jaded?”
Jaded? He’d never seen it that way, but having lived as long a life as he had, there was little that could really impress him. “This house could have fit three times into my estate up north.”
“Up north?”
“Derbyshire. A few hours north of London.” Quinn wondered why he suddenly thought of his place. He rarely ever went there. In fact, it shouldn’t even belong to him anymore. He’d promised it to Wallace, his sire, for saving his life, yet he’d never come to claim it and had simply disappeared instead.
“You have like a castle?”
Quinn chuckled. “I prefer to think of it as a heap of old stones in dire need of repair.” Neglecting the property for decades hadn’t improved the drafty building in the least. “And it’s definitely not a castle. There’s no moat, no drawbridge, and no wall around it. It’s just a country estate.”
“You Englishmen are funny.”
Wesley stopped in front of a door and set down his suitcase.
“This one, right?”
Quinn nodded, then pointed to the other doors along the corridor. “Cain is next to you, then Blake, then Oliver. Amaury and Nina are one floor farther down, same as Rose and my rooms.”
Wesley opened the door and entered, lifting the suitcase inside. Quinn followed.
“So, it’s true then what the others are saying.”
Quinn raised an eyebrow. He asked the question even though he was pretty sure what everybody was talking about. “What are they saying?”
“That you and her . . . man, she’s quite a stunner. What a figure. And those boobs, not huge, but wow, that cleavage—”
Quinn had heard enough. He shoved Wesley against the nearest wall, flashing his fangs at him.
“You little punk, I want you to listen, and I’m only gonna say this once.”
He paused to take a much needed breath of air, trying to tamp down his anger. It didn’t work. Jealousy had him in a tight grip. Wesley stared at him, his eyes widened in fear, perspiration building on his brow. Yeah, despite the fact that he was hanging out with vampires now, he was still afraid of them. Just as well.
“I will not tolerate any disrespect toward my wife. Another word like that, a wrong look at her, and I’ll have your hide, and not even your brother will be able to save you then. Do you understand that? Rose is mine. She’s always been mine, and she’ll always be mine. I will kill any man who touches her.”
Wesley’s nod came instantly. But whatever he wanted to say was cut short by a sound from the door.
Quinn swiveled on his heels to face the intruder.
Rose stood in the door frame, frozen. She’d heard every word of his possessive claim.
Shit.
Quickly, she tore her gaze away. “I just wanted to ask about the bottles in the fridge.” Her voice was shaky at first, then normalized. “You’re not leaving them there while Blake is here, right?”
“No, I asked Nina to move them.”
“I’ll help her then.” Rose turned and left.
“Rose . . .” he murmured and shoved a hand through his hair, but she didn’t turn back.
Behind him, Wesley pulled away from the wall.
“Sorry, Quinn. I didn’t mean to be disrespectful. Won’t happen again.”
His voice sounded deflated, and the exuberance he’d heard in him earlier was gone. Suddenly, Quinn felt like an ass, robbing him of the excitement this assignment presented for him.
“No hard feelings,” he assured him and looked at him.
***
Rose rushed down the stairs and headed for the kitchen. Overhearing Quinn talk about her in such a passionate tone had sent a thrill through her entire body. He still considered her his, and while she’d always hated any possessive overtones from men, it was different with Quinn. Knowing that Quinn wanted to possess her like this and would kill any man who touched her, was a bigger turn on than she’d ever imagined. The thought electrified her, stirred her in a way nothing else ever had.
She felt flushed when she reached the kitchen and was grateful for the fact that vampires couldn’t blush. At least it would save her from having to explain to anybody she encountered, why she felt so out of sorts.
Pushing the door open, she stepped into the kitchen. There was Nina, rather than dutifully emptying the refrigerator of the incriminating bottles of blood, sitting on the kitchen table, locked in a passionate embrace with one of the biggest vampires she’d ever seen: Amaury. Nina’s legs were wrapped around her mate’s waist, their lips fused together so firmly that Rose had to wonder whether the jaws of life were necessary to pry the lovers apart.
Suddenly the door closed behind her, the sound alerting the two. Amaury whirled his head around, the expression on his face catapulting Rose back against the door.
Good God, she’d never seen such lust-filled eyes. Were all these vampires totally love crazed? First Samson, now Amaury. As if they couldn’t get enough of their mates! As if they truly loved them. Was this even possible? Could vampires love like that? Could they have tender feelings like that? Feelings that were honest?
“Excuse the uh . . .” Amaury grinned from one ear to the other. “ . . . show of affection. But my wife here totally overpowered me. You can blame her.”
Nina let out an annoyed huff and slapped her hand against his shoulder, which had no effect whatsoever on her huge mate.
“Look who’s calling the kettle black!” She clicked her tongue then smiled at Rose. “Don’t mind him. He’s just some big oversized Neanderthal I made the mistake of tying up one night.”
She jumped off the table and rolled her eyes. “Now he’s following me everywhere.”
Amaury snatched her hand and pressed a kiss on it. “You can tie me up any day.”
Uncomfortable about their continued affectionate banter, Rose put her hand on the door handle. “I’d better leave.”
Amaury raised his hand. “No, stay. I’m out of here to help Quinn with a few things. I’ll leave you girls alone.”
He brushed past her and left the kitchen.
Nina’s laugh followed him. “Do you need anything? I was just going to organize the kitchen.”
“Let me help you with that. We need to move the . . . uh . . . bottles, you know.”
Rose figured it was better not to mention the word blood anywhere in the house, particularly since everybody constantly seemed to walk in on each other and overhear things they shouldn’t.
“I was just about to do that when Amaury interrupted.” She walked to the refrigerator and opened it.
The natural poise with which Nina moved and spoke impressed her. Her mate was so much bigger and stronger than she, yet she’d handled him as if she were the one in charge.
“It doesn’t bother you?”
Nina pointed at the bottles. “The blood? No, I’ve never been squeamish.”
Rose smiled. “I meant being with someone who’s clearly so much . . .” She hesitated.
“Bigger?” Nina shook her head.
More powerful, Rose had meant to say, but bigger worked too.
“He would never hurt me. He would give his own life to save mine if he had to. Not that I would accept it, frankly. I’d kick his big butt if he tried that again. But you get the picture.”
“Again?”
Nina waved her off. “Don’t remind me. He almost got himself killed saving me from some crazy v—” She quickly glanced at the door before continuing. “Anyway, I know he would do it again in a heartbeat.”
The clans Rose had lived with had never put such stock in their human lovers, certainly not when it came to the point of protecting a human against one’s own species. That choice was always clear: vampires came before humans. Humans were expendable. While she didn’t subscribe to this mantra herself, she’d seen enough to realize that this attitude was widespread.
“I suppose someone like him is rare.”
Nina shrugged and placed a couple of bottles onto a tray. Rose reached into the refrigerator and followed her example.
“That’s the only way I know them. I think all of Scanguards’ men are like that. Yvette, too. They’re tough, but when it comes to their mates, they’re like little tame kittens or cuddly bears like Amaury.” She leaned closer. “Just don’t tell them that we’ve figured them out, or you’ll get a show of testosterone.”
Rose laughed. She liked Nina. She hadn’t gotten a chance to exchange more than a couple of words at the party when she’d been introduced, but now that she was able to chat with her, she realized more and more that Nina would never let herself be used by anybody, least of all her mate. Which made Rose wonder about one thing: did she enjoy Amaury’s bite?
But she couldn’t ask her that. It was too personal, and it was none of her business. But since Quinn had told her at the party that a bite represented the greatest sexual pleasure a vampire could give his partner, she was intrigued.
Rose had never allowed anybody to bite her and quickly severed any ties to any vampire who’d even made the attempt. Whenever she had to feed off a human, she had put herself into a state akin to a trance, where she would not truly realize what she was doing. She’d separated her mind as much as she could from what her body was doing. She had never enjoyed it.
But now, remembering what she’d seen Samson and Delilah do, and knowing that Amaury and Nina did the same, she couldn’t help but wonder how two human women could remain so happy when at the same time, their mates hungered for their blood on a daily basis. What were Delilah and Nina getting out of this?
“Something wrong?” Nina suddenly asked.
Quickly, Rose pasted a smile on her face. “No, nothing.”
“You haven’t met many like them, have you? I mean—” She lowered her voice. “—vampires who are mated to humans.”
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but how can it work? There’s no balance of power in such a relationship. We’re so much stronger than humans. How can you not feel that you’re in an inferior position?”
Nina chuckled softly. “Because love is a great equalizer.”
“But when he bites you . . . sorry, forget it. I didn’t mean to get personal.”
Rose placed another bottle on the tray and closed the refrigerator door. “Where shall we put those?”
“Rose.”
She looked back at Nina. “Yes?”
“I love his bite. I crave it. I don’t think I could ever live without it.”
“I wish I knew what that meant,” Rose murmured more to herself than as a response to Nina.
When she turned away from Nina, she caught a movement at the door. Quinn stood there, looking at her, his eyes shimmering golden, his lips lightly parted. She stopped breathing, and for a moment she was transported back to their wedding night. He’d looked at her like that when he’d made her his wife. With such love, such passion.
She knew she could trust him with her body. But could she trust him with her past?