I cocked my head. “And just what would make me agree to drop my shield? There’s no point in threatening me. You can’t get inside this shield to reach either of us.”

“No,” he allowed, “but I can always ask Moira to make the squad’s sleep more permanent. She can do that, you know.”

“I don’t believe you. I think you’re just calling my bluff.”

“Do you really want to take that chance? Do you really—” He gasped as two strong hands manacled his ankles. Lying on the ground behind him was a drained-looking Reuben. Orrin managed to kick him aside, but it didn’t matter because Reuben had touched him long enough to have the desired effect.

“My good squad member there has the ability to temporarily amplify a person’s gift,” Jared told Orrin. “He can also make it temporarily weaker. You feel it, don’t you? See how quickly you’re becoming substantial?”

Orrin peered down at himself and smiled. He was beyond weird. “It’s an admirable gift.” He focused on me, losing his smile. “I suppose you’re going to kill me while my gift isn’t working.”

I pursed my lips. “No. But someone else is.”

Jared locked his hand around Orrin’s throat and dragged him inside the house.

“If you’re looking for the child—”

“Don’t worry, Orrin, the baby is safe and sound,” assured Jared as we stopped inside the kitchen. “I’m not sure I can say the same for Moira, though.”

He definitely couldn’t say the same for Moira, considering that Jude was in the hallway holding her beloved knife and that it was dripping with blood. Looking a combination of irate and keyed up, she slowly began advancing toward us. Her gaze never moved from Orrin, who Jared was holding directly in front of him, presenting him to Jude.

“Good ole Moira won’t be joining us,” she told Orrin when she came to stand before him. “Which is a shame, really, because I’d happily kill her twice. If you’re thinking that the memory guy might run to your rescue, I’ve got news that’ll kill that dream. He jumped into one of your SUVs about five minutes ago. Couldn’t get away fast enough. You just can’t get the staff these days, can you?”

In a rather sluggish movement, Jude ran the tip of her blade down Orrin’s chest, over his navel, and continued downwards. It finally came to a stop when the tip was pressed against the space between his bollocks and his arse hole.

Orrin gulped. Of course he did. Right at that moment, Jude looked far from sane…and fully capable of relieving him of his crown jewels.

Shakily, he asked, “Who might you be?”

“That’s not important,” Jude told him calmly. “What’s important is that you’re in agony when you die. It’ll never match the kind of agony I went through when my child was taken from me. No, nothing can match that. But it can certainly be damn well close.” And then, as if to demonstrate that, she thrust the knife upwards.

Jared winced, though not in sympathy with a screaming Orrin. He winced again when she twisted the knife before withdrawing it. Damn, that would hurt.

“I’ll take it from here,” Jude told us, though her gaze hadn’t left her victim.

Had I not seen what an accurate shot she was with that knife, I might have worried about leaving her alone with him in case he tried to fight her off and make a run for it. It was like she and that knife were one entity.

Understanding that she needed to do this – and do it alone – in order to find some measure of peace, I gestured for Jared to release Orrin. The vampire dropped to his knees, still crying out in agony. “It should be about an hour before his gift begins to strengthen again,” I told Jude.

Still, she didn’t look away from him as she spoke. “Then I’ll make those minutes count.”

Taking the hand that Jared offered me, I allowed him to lead me out of the house towards where our squad was lying, still dozing – and snoring, in some cases. It seemed that Reuben had returned to dreamland.

As we were walking away, we heard Jude speaking again to Orrin. “Do you know what’s great about how quickly you heal? It means I can do this to you over and over again before I finally kill you.” By the sound of his squeal, she had just made that evident.

I was pretty sure the next hour was going to feel very long for Orrin.

It was impossible not to balk as I watched Harvey repeatedly poke his arm through the hole in Damien’s stomach. Both seemed to think it was absolutely hilarious. The hole was slowly shrinking in size now that his body was healing, but it would be a few hours before it finally closed over.

They were the only squad members who weren’t lying on one of the infirmary beds around them. The others hadn’t yet woken from Moira’s induced sleep, but their wounds had healed nicely.

Antonio came to my side, frowning at Reuben. “I do not think I have ever heard anyone snore so loud.”

“Me neither,” said Jared as he came up on my other side. Tension was still thrumming through him and I had a feeling he was thinking, just as I was, that if Moira’s gift had been to induce a fatal sleep as opposed to a temporary one, the squad would be nothing but ashes now. It was scary to think that no matter how well we trained them, it might only take a vampire with a unique gift to kill them all − and us, for that matter.

Antonio exhaled heavily. “It is a relief to know that the operation has been put to a halt, but I still have to locate the couples who purchased the human babies who were taken from their mothers.”

I doubted that that would be an easy feat. “I take it you’re sending Sebastian?”

Antonio nodded. “Once he returns from finding the brothers, I will do so. I have sent out a message to all vampirekind that if these couples give themselves up to me, they will not be punished with death. If they do not do this, however, they will be executed once Sebastian has hunted them down – and he will hunt them down. That is something that I am certain about.”

“What are you going to do with the babies once you have them?” asked Jared.

“The only thing I can do: I plan to hand them over to human authorities. Of course it is not possible to return them to their mothers, but they still have fathers and other relatives. It is up to the humans to return the children to the right families − that is something I have no control over.”

“Poor Jude,” I said quietly, looking at the woman in question, who was at the other side of the infirmary. She hadn’t spoken a word since we got back. “Every single cell of her must want her daughter back even though she understands it can’t happen.”

“Yes, it has to be heart-breaking.” Antonio sighed.

“Do you think she might stay, if we asked her?”

“If that is your way of requesting for a place to be made for her here, then yes.”

Nodding my thanks at him, I walked over to where she sat beside Chico’s bed. I’d noticed that they spent a little time together, but there was nothing going on between them as far as I knew. “Hi.”

She smiled at me, but it wasn’t a full smile. “Hi.”

“How do you feel?”

She blew out a breath. “Tired. Tired in too many ways to count. You know, I didn’t expect that I’d feel better afterwards, so it’s no surprise that I don’t. But I guess I’m…relieved. I feel like I got vengeance for Holly, for the life she should have had.”

“For the life you both should have had,” I corrected.

“It’s weird. Now that it’s over, I don’t know what to do. For so long, I’ve been running on a need for vengeance. Now that I have it, I feel…”

Seeing that she was struggling for words, I offered, “without purpose.” She nodded. “You could stay. You could make a place for yourself here.”

She glanced fleetingly at Chico. “Thanks. Maybe.”

I doubted that she truly would stay. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Jude spent her life watching over her daughter, looking out for her from a distance. That was what I’d have done in her position.

Feeling that Jared was behind me, I turned to him.

“Ready to go?” At my nod, he took my hand in his and teleported us to the living area of our apartment. There, he pulled me to him, fitting me against him. Trapping my gaze with his, he slid both hands into my hair. “You’re okay.”

And that was no little thing, given just how powerful those vampires had been tonight. “Yes.”

“If you had been one of the people lying on an infirmary bed, I really don’t think I could have taken it.” Of course he couldn’t have taken it. He’d been pushed to his limits so many times already this week.

“But I’m not. I’m fine. And I’m here. With you.”

Then he was on me. Mouths fused together, tongues tangling, teeth biting, we stumbled through the apartment − stripping as we went. We had only gotten as far as the kitchen when Jared ended the kiss. “I can’t wait. I need this.” With an impatient growl, he tore the only remaining clothes from my body − my jeans and panties − and slammed me against the kitchen cupboards. Just as impatient, I ripped open the fly of his jeans. His c*ck was hot and throbbing in my hand as I pumped fast.

He rested his forehead against mine. “Harder.”

When I gave him what he wanted, he groaned loudly. But it wasn’t long before he tried pulling my hand away. I resisted.

“I want inside you,” he growled, again tugging at my hand. This time, I let him go. Then with our mouths again meshed together, he slid his hands to the back of my thighs, lifted me, and placed me on the countertop. When his probing fingers discovered that I was wet and ready, a growl of approval rumbled its way up his chest. “Just how I like it.” Angling my h*ps just right, he slammed home, and my muscles rippled around him. “Christ, Sam.”

He held himself still, giving me a minute to adjust to him, but I didn’t want that minute. I scratched at his back. “Move, move, move.”

He did. There was no teasing this time. His fingertips bit into my skin as he gripped my h*ps tightly, possessively, and punched his c*ck in and out of me. All the while, he groaned into the crook of my neck, whispering about how good I felt, about how amazing I was to him, about how much he needed to feel me come apart around him.

He wouldn’t have to wait long for that, because the tension was quickly building inside me, burning me hotter and hotter, and sending me closer and closer to finding my release. But I didn’t want to find it yet, didn’t want it to end so soon.

Obviously sensing that I was fighting it, Jared sucked on my earlobe and began circling my cl*t with his thumb. “Let go.”

I shook my head, trying to pull his hand away from my clit. The sod wouldn’t let me. “I don’t want to come yet. Please.”

Ignoring me, he continued toying with my clit. “Give me what I need, baby. Come all over me.”

I might have continued to fight it, but then his teeth sank deep into my neck, sending me hurtling over the edge and screaming. He didn’t pull back after a few swallows the way he usually would. Instead, he kept on drinking, drawing out my orgasm. Only once I slumped against him, totally satiated, did he − with one final hard thrust − come deep inside me.

I wasn’t sure how long we stayed locked like that, as I was pretty much drifting to sleep when he spoke.

“I love you, baby.”

I smiled lazily against his shoulder. The fact that he didn’t say it often only made it all that more fulfilling to hear. “And I love you,” I more or less slurred.

“As much as I want to kill the brothers for what they’ve done to you, I was glad of it tonight. Glad you had that extra strength and power. They said that, didn’t they? They said that what they’ve done would be something I’d one day appreciate. They were right.”

Frowning at the bitterness in his voice, I lifted my head, seeking his gaze. “Hey, if you want the truth, I was glad as well.” Not that I wanted to stay a hybrid, but it had certainly been an advantage.

Looking at me curiously, he shook his head in what seemed to be incredulity. “Since the first night I met you, you’ve had me messed up. You’re my weakness − pure and simple. But you’re also the only thing that I really couldn’t live without.”

“You won’t have to,” I assured him. But I knew as well as he did that with two sociopaths out there, wanting to get their hands on their ‘project’, I wasn’t truly safe.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

(Sam)

“Will you bloody relax, woman,” Fletcher repeated for, like, the twelfth time as he flopped onto the sofa beside me.

Trying again, and failing again, to stop fidgeting, I huffed. “How exactly am I supposed to relax when it’s my Binding ceremony tomorrow evening?”

“Well that’s what this little Pamper Party was for.” He gestured to the numerous females that were leaving my apartment after having given me several spa treatments. But even after a full body massage, some reflexology, a holistic facial, and an Indian head massage, I was still tense.

Not that the women weren’t good at what they did. In all honesty, I wasn’t a big fan of spas and massages, but I’d found these treatments surprisingly enjoyable. I simply wasn’t relaxed. But, seriously, could anybody blame me for that?

I let my hand delve into the bowl of hazelnuts on the coffee table. One of the best parts of this little get together had been the nibbles, pastries, and cakes. Oh and the Butlers in the Buff who had served the snacks and NSTs…they’d certainly been a nice addition.