As she took in her reflection in the long mirror on the back of the door, her hair still freaked her out. But overall, most warm-blooded males would like what they saw, even warm-blooded vampires. Of course the irony wasn’t lost to her, yet another indication that she’d come to see Lucian’s world in a different light.
Still, she needed and wanted to go home.
Lucian, I’m coming out now, but I think I should warn you, my hair’s all cropped off. I’ll probably look a little strange.
I don’t give a damn about your hair. I just want to look at you, to know that you’re okay.
I’m fine. Her heart, on the other hand, told a completely different story.
Taking a deep breath, she pulled the door open.
She was grateful for two things: First, that Lucian was alone, and second, that his eyes lit up when he saw her, but quickly fell to half-mast as his gaze drifted slowly down her body then back up.
Oh, shit, she was going to miss the vampire bad.
* * *
Lucian did not recognize the feelings that poured through him in wave after wave as Claire moved in his direction. Yes, her hair was short, but that wasn’t what he reacted to. He saw only the woman who had piggybacked him safely over a path that probably would have killed him otherwise. He saw the woman who had thrown a disguise in Siberia, getting herself cut up in the process, but allowing him to get them both back safely to The Erotic Passage. He saw the woman who had rescued him from the Dark Cave system by taking on a proximity-enforcing blood-chain.
She’d thrown herself in the path of danger repeatedly on his behalf and he didn’t deserve it, not even a little bit.
Oh, Lucian, you’re such a fool.
She ran to him, and he caught her up in his arms and held her against his chest. His throat felt tight, an utter betrayal of every intention of holding it together so that he could let her go. She needed to get back to her life, her real life, not this nightmare world of his that had cost her so much.
Claire.
He felt her tug her hand free and knew she wiped her cheeks. How the hell was he supposed to get through this? In the span of three nights he’d come to feel as though he’d lived a century with her. Damn blood-chains.
I know. Damn chains.
She hugged him in response, occasionally swiping at her cheeks. So how stupid does my hair look?
He finally released her, but he couldn’t see her hair. All he saw was Claire, the woman who had come to mean more to him than he’d ever thought possible, though he had no way of explaining that to her.
But she truly looked worried. Women worried about stuff, a lot more than men did.
He lifted his hand and slid his fingers through her short hair. “You look beautiful, and I truly could not give a f**k what length your hair is. It got burned off saving my ass. I’ll treasure what I see right now for as long as I live.”
“That’s a long time, vampire.”
He nodded slowly. A long time to live without this human.
He swallowed hard. He needed to feed. Warning tremors had been sitting offshore ready to blow in and swamp him hard for the past couple of hours. But he was sick of feeling this awful need, remnants of the blood-madness that each battle situation kept igniting.
“You need my vein, don’t you?”
He nodded. “I can feed elsewhere, Claire. You don’t need to keep donating.”
“The hell you’re going to use some other woman, so long as I’m around.”
Her eyes crinkled with amusement but he couldn’t respond in kind because all he could see was SANTA FE blinking like a shoddy hotel sign, over and over in his mind. Right now he hated the city and never wanted to see it again, or think about it, or picture Claire living there without him.
She stepped back just a little, but took his hands in hers. “We have to say good-bye, don’t we?”
He nodded. “We both know it’s for the best.”
Her gaze shunted away. “And nothing material has changed except that we both have what we want, what we needed from each other: You have the weapon, and I know now that my friend is dead.”
“I can take you straight home from here, if that’s what you want.”
She gave a small cry and landed on his chest again, throwing her arms around his waist. I don’t want that, not yet. Not yet.
He petted her head and dammit if he didn’t have tears in his eyes as well. He felt like he was losing his best friend and his lover in exactly the same moment. You can stay as long as you want.
She held on to him and he felt his T-shirt grow damp. She stayed squeezing him hard for a long time, maybe until her arms started aching. “Claire, I’ll do whatever you want. Anything, just name it.”
She finally drew in a deep breath and relaxed her grip. But without letting him go, she looked up at him. “I’ll tell you exactly what I want. I want you to take me back to Uruguay, where we’ll both be safe. I want to have a couple of steaks, maybe a salad, definitely a bottle of beer each, something dark, rich, imported.”
He nodded. “I can do that.”
“I’m not done.”
The smallest smile tugged at the corner of his lips. “I hoped like hell you weren’t.”
“I want to feed you one last time, then I want you to make love to me, really make love to me, because this is going to have to last the rest of my life, got it?”
He wanted to say something profound, even to beg her to stay with him forever, but all he could do was nod.
“Was there anything else you needed to do here? Talk to Gabriel?”
He shook his head. “Everything’s settled. He’s holding the weapon for me until I can get the trap laid for Daniel.”
“Is his Ancestral crew going to help?”
Lucian shook his head. “No, and I didn’t want him to. This is between me and my father.”
“I guess we can go, then. I’ve said my thanks to Gabriel’s staff.”
Lucian nodded. “Ready to fly?”
She responded with a dip of her chin.
Knowing it was possible Daniel would have Gabriel’s Pharaoh system watched, he took off south, shooting high into the air then heading west to South America. Within the space of four powerful seconds, he brought Claire into his living room, a simple place with a wood table and chairs, a bright, multicolored table runner, and tall solid wood chairs.
He didn’t say anything else to her, but he set about pulling steaks from the fridge and the makings for a simple salad. To his surprise, yet not, Claire joined him and silently washed and tore apart lettuce, chopped tomatoes and cucumbers, and put the salad together.