Page 13 of Make Me Bleed (Sanctuary #2)

CHAPTER 12

RESCUING

“ H ang on.” His eyes spark. “So you’d be the one robbin’ the cradle then.” Hank purrs. Wait. Can a bear purr? I don’t know, but I can’t describe the sound he makes any other way. “An older woman takin’ advantage of a young, innocent virgin like me… it’s naughty. I like it .”

Virgin… I knew he would have to be. I only hope that he understands what I mean when I said I wasn’t an innocent because I haven’t been a virgin in almost as long as he’s been alive.

Do I tell him that now? It doesn’t seem right to mention my previous lovers while I’m lying in Hank’s bed, and I wonder if he thinks the same because he oh-so-casually changes the subject.

He trails his hand over my shoulder. “You hungry? I could make breakfast… or I could be breakfast.”

My mouth waters. “I wouldn’t say no to a sip.”

“I was hopin’ you’d say so.” He pauses for a moment. “But do ya eat? I’m not judgin’ you if ya do or not, but you’re my mate. I don’t really know too much about vampires, obviously. I’ll give you my blood, but if you need real food, I’m happy to provide that.”

Something about his earnest tone has a genuine smile tugging on my lips. “I eat. Not often, and usually it’s more out of a societal duty because I’m sharing dinner with someone, but I don’t need to. Not like I need blood.”

“Good to know. So, uh, where do you want to do this? ‘Cause we can stay in the bed, or I can bring you to my workshop. I have chairs I’m building in there.”

“Workshop?” I echo.

He nods. “Yup. Like the carving I made you. I’m a whizz with a knife. That’s the bear in my, I guess, knowing how to use my claws. Not too shabby with some hammers and a nail, either. I build furniture for the locals, and get enough money to survive out in the woods.” He nudges me with his knee. “If you’re worried about your male providin’ for his mate, I’ve been waitin’ a long time for you to come along, Lise. I’ll make you happy.”

Somehow, I don’t doubt it.

His body is thrumming, waiting for me to take his blood inside of me. Probably because it’s the only way he can right now, but if I feed from him in this bed… that’ll change pretty quickly.

For that reason, I tell him, “Maybe we should go to the workshop.”

Hank sighs. “Yeah. I reckon you’re right. Come on. I’ll show you?—”

He goes predatorily still. His honey-colored eyes darken to a burnt orange shade as his body bows forward, the shifter still in his skin though he grows impossibly bigger.

Uh-oh.

“Hank?”

His nostrils flare. “Fire. And a wolf.”

I don’t even have to ask what he means. Like the house in Dyea mine now, this den belongs to Hank. If he senses intruders, he’ll know before anyone. And with his shifter senses, he’ll be able to smell them, too.

Fire and a wolf.

Bridget and Conall.

“My friends,” I tell him.

Exhaling roughly, he scrubs his palm down his face. “Yeah. I know, darlin’. You ready for the rescue party?”

Of course he knows. The first time he came after me, it was Bridget and Conall who kept him away from me.

Which is why I pat his meaty shoulder and say, “I’m not the one who’s going to need rescuing, honey bear.”

My light-hearted comment—and the use of that nickname—has him grinning at me. “If you think so.”

Before I can retort, Bridget’s magic-amplified voice booms around me; thanks to her mastery of the wind, it echoes and finds us even in the cave.

“Elise! If that bear stole you, I will light his ass up!”

Instead of taking that as a challenge from the fire witch, Hank grins. “Well… guess I better go put on a shirt.”

Knowing Bridget like I do, actions speak louder than words sometimes. Which is why, after Hank pulled on another t-shirt, ran his claws through his shaggy hair, and even shoved his feet into his boots so he could make a good second impression on my best friend, I looped my fingers through his so that we could walk out of his den hand-in-hand.

At least, that was my plan. Taking Hank’s gigantic mitt in mine, his hand swallows mine, his bulk dwarfing me as I take two steps for every one of his to keep up.

It doesn’t matter, though. His bed is in a side cave that leads to the actual opening I first saw. Once he guides me through, he lets me step in front of him so that I could bring us both outside where Bridget and Conall are waiting.

Bridget already has a ring of fire around them, showing off her temper. Conall’s hands are flexed, his claws on display. If Hank really did vamp-nap me, these two are prepared to get me back.

Of course, since he didn’t do anything except rescue me from my own fears and recklessness, it’s a little bit much.

I nod at Conall, a regal gesture that will get through to the wolf. For Bridget, I just sigh and left my hand. Hank follows the movement, raising his arm at the same time so he can show her that he wasn’t dragging me, but rather holding my much smaller hand the only way he could.

Just in case she needs further proof that I’m staying here of my own free will, I tug on Hank’s hand.

He glances down at me.

I tug again, murmuring, “Come here, honey bear.”

He doesn’t hesitate again. Bending his knees, he drops low. With my free hand, I cup as much of his chiseled jaw as I can, then press my lips to his cheek.

Conall relaxes. Bridget dims her fire. Her wolf mate rubs her upper arm, giving a look that must get through to her even better than my display because Bridge huffs.

“Okay, fine.” The ring of fire winks out. “I won’t light him up today. Happy?”

Immensely.

If I thought that Bridget would see that I was safe and sound and not being held captive by my bear, then go off on her merry way with Conall, then I didn’t know her at all.

No surprise, then, that she refuses to leave until I explain what happened. And since this is Bridget, I do. I give her the same amount of details as I do Hank at first, hoping that that will satisfy her.

It doesn’t, and I figured it wouldn’t, but it was worth a try.

“I understand how you ended up here. Following your bond and running to your mate when you were in trouble… that’s part of having a shifter as your partner. I get that. But I know you, Elise. To get you out into the dark… we’ve watched our fair share of horror movies. You’re the one who always scoffs when the idiot heroine wanders off because he ‘heard something’. There’s something more to it?—”

“And so what if there is,” cuts in Hank. “You’re her friend, ain’tcha. Maybe you shouldn’t be bullyin’ my mate into tellin’ you when she’s had a fright.”

Bridget looks impressed that Hank is standing up to her. Impressed, and a little embarrassed that he scolded her. “You’re right. I’m sorry, Elise. It’s just…”

“There were traces of that human scent,” Conall says in that flat ‘head of security’ voice he has. “I caught it the other day. Just traces because… and I don’t say this to be offensive, Elise… but vampires stink like corpses. Like meat. It’s so powerful, and it overlays the woods near your place.” Conall’s gold eyes flicker toward Hank. “Bear msk, too. But I’ve gotten a hit on the human scent enough to know it’s been by a handful of times over the last couple of weeks. None of it’s too fresh, but if you heard something…”

How can it not be fresh? I heard Peter last night.

Didn’t I?

Bridget and Conall have a point. They were worried that something happened to me. A vampire’s scent is very strong, especially to wolf shifted, so Conall was able to follow my trail all the way to Hank’s den. What if it isn’t Peter? What if it’s a witch hunter who is searching for Bridget, and my own trauma created his voice at first?

Either way, I have to tell them the truth. After all, how can Bridget’s mate save her like mine did me if he doesn’t even know what the threat could be?

So I do. And maybe I did it because I wanted Hank to know what he was signing up for, agreeing so readily to be my mate.

Hoping they won’t interrupt me, I explain how I’ve been sensing someone watching me from the trees behind my house. I hurriedly add that I know when it’s Hank, and that I appreciate the big bear wanting to keep sentry over me, but it wasn’t Hank. It was someone else entirely?—

I gulp. “He called my name last night.” I glance at Bridget. “Unless I was imagining it, it was Peter.”

The air whooshes right by Bridget, sending her copper-colored curls dancing around her face. “Peter? Here? In Alaska? You’ve gotta be shitting me.”

“It was his voice. But when I went off to confront him, I couldn’t find him. And the dark…” A lump lodges in my throat. I’m still holding onto Hank, though we’ve all moved away from the mouth of his den to have this conversation. Right now, I squeeze him, needing that connection.

And then, in a much quiet voice, I admit, “When I was three, I was trapped in a coffin my nanny decided the baby vampire deserved. For days in the dark… I hate it now. Enclosed spaces. Not being able to see or to breathe… and that sensation hit me last night before I could find Peter. That’s why I collapsed. That’s why I ran to Hank.”

He runs his thumb over my fingers. “That’s right, darlin’. ‘Cause you know you can always count on your mate.”

“You can count on us, too, Elise,” Bridget says. “If Peter’s here, Conall will find him. No unauthorized visitors allowed in Dyea, right, babe?” She tugs Conall’s sleeve. “You’ll take care of it.”

“If he’s out there,” Conell says solemnly, “he’ll wish he wasn’t.”

“We should go now. If Elise heard him last night, maybe there’s a trail to follow.”

Conall nods.

Bridget glances at me. “You coming?”

Oh. I… as much as I expected that to be the result of my telling them about Peter, I guess I just didn’t realize that she would want me to go back with them.

And why wouldn’t she? As far as Bridget knows, I’ve been avoiding Hank. I still hadn’t made up my mind about what I was going to about our bond, but as my stomach drops at the idea of walking away from him at this very moment, I had to admit if only to myself: I always knew what I was going to do.

I tighten my grip on Hank’s hand. “I think I’m going to stay a little longer.”

Bridget’s forehead furrows. Conall, on the other hand, looks from Hank to me and back.

He nods at the other male. “You’ll take care of her?”

“She’s my mate.”

To the gathered supes, that’s enough of an answer. But sometimes Bridget reacts as though she’s still a human.

Like now.

“You’ll protect her? Feed her? Keep her warm? Vampires get cold, you know. You have fur. Elise doesn’t.”

“Bridge—”

“It’s okay, Lise. I got this.” Unentangling our hands, he hooks his elbow around my neck, tucking me close to his side. “You’re her friend and I respect that. Maybe you don’t know how far I’ll go for this female. For my mate. You see, she’s not a prize. She’s not prey. She’s the one thing that makes me feel like more than just a beast. She’s worth more to me than my entire life, and I’ll lay it down for her if I have to. You know why? Because, without my mate, I don’t have one. Will I protect her? You bet your ass I will.”

He’s not done, either.

See, some shifters would take that as an insult. Suggest to a predator shifter that he can’t shield and protect his mate? They could take that very personally and react as such.

But Hank… my sweet honey bear… the male who saves me again and again… he nods solemnly this time.

“Now all that’s assumin’ she needs me to, sure. But Lise… she’s the kind of female who doesn’t even know how powerful she is. She could tear my heart out of my chest—and I’d thank her for holding it for me in her dainty hand. After all, she’s my mate. It belonged to her the second she bit me.”

How? I ask myself. How did I get so damn lucky that this male is my beloved?

He barely knows me. Apart from what he could glean from watching me, or from the emotions that come through a blood-bond, we’re still strangers. But how can we be? I feel like I’ve known him my entire life.

Even better, I have the rest of it to get to know him.

He’s mine. That’s all that matters. He’s mine —and I’m his.

Bridget points at Hank, her pretty face done up in an amused grin as she chuckles. “Know what? You’re not so bad, are you?”

Hank bows his head. “Just tryin’ to be worthy of Elise here.”

She nods in approval. “Yeah. Yeah, seems like you are. Good. It would’ve been a shame to incinerate you. Conall?”

“Yeah, Red?”

“Let’s leave these too alone.” Her grin turns lascivious. “God knows I didn’t want company when we were newly bonded.” With a wink, she waves at us. “Details, hon. When this is all over? You come home and I want details.”

I know she’s teasing. Hank might not, but I do—only as the mated couple start to walk away, I remember what Conall said about scenting vampires by my place. Obviously, he means me, but that’s not the only vamp who’s been sneaking by my house.

And when he finds out that I’ve gone to visit my beloved…

I take a deep breath, then call out, “Julian.”

Bridget frowns while Conall goes instantly alert, both of them turning to look at me.

“Julian,” echoes Bridget. “That blondie vampire?”

Behind me, Hank chuffs.

I swallow. “Yes. Just, um… keep a closer eye on him, Conall, would you?”

Vampires have a tendency to be autocratic. Just like how shifters are possessive and demanding—and Cadre knows that Bridget is as fiery as her magic—vampires are lofty and commanding, always expecting to be obeyed.

Papa is like that. So is my mother. Thorn most of all, though Julian is a close second to the leader of my former Fang City.

And then there’s Hank. My honey bear who just claimed me again in the sweetest way possible…

Conall nods. “Got it.”

Good.