Between the Marshal & the Vampire(15)

He yearned to surge to his feet and kick the lid off the vampire's crate. Watching Vellum burn would be as satisfying as seeing Rhody Beaufort hang for his crimes.

"It hurt at first," she admitted, making Clay's blood boil, "but I don't think he intended it to. He said himself he'd been in a state of hibernation. I think…he was hungry and not thinking straight."

"Mariel!"

"It's true!" she shot back. "The moment he realized he was hurting me—it changed. It no longer hurt. And then he stopped completely and offered to help me against Beaufort's men."

There was more to it than that. She was a terrible liar. Had Vellum hurt her more than she admitted? Frightened her? Probably he'd intimidated her into going along with him, maybe held the threat of her life over her head. Or Clay's life.

"It wasn't the worst experience I've had," she said, throwing his own words back at him, twisted. "I survived it just fine, which is why I believe you and I will survive this trip to Everton. Vellum knows how to take from us without hurting us or killing us. The vampire attack on your friend…Vellum wouldn't do that."

"You barely know him, Mariel! You don't know him."

"Marshal, are you telling me you never had a gut feeling about a person? That you never looked at someone and knew right away whether they'd cause you trouble or not?"

"Sure, I have. I have one right now, telling me Vellum is going to turn on us the minute we're no longer useful to him."

It wasn't wholly true. Clay's feeling about Vellum was complicated and shaded by his past experience with a vampire. Clay's job was to protect Mariel from danger, be it from Beaufort's gang or a creature from Shadow Valley, so it was nigh impossible to relax his attitude toward Vellum. But he had to admit that Vellum didn't fit the image he'd carried of a vampire since discovering Janie's body all those years ago. Clay didn't know what to think of him, except to be wary of him.

"I hope you're not right," Mariel said with a sigh, "or else that means I'm a bigger fool than I thought."

Clay didn't like what the comment hinted at, but there was no time to question it. The lid on Vellum's crate lifted and then slid aside. A moment later the vampire sat up in the twilight gloom.

He looked unruffled, as though he'd laid back mere seconds ago, not twelve hours earlier. Clay searched the other male's features, looking for signs of the monster that he was. He didn't find any, and when Vellum's dark gaze locked with his, it was Clay who had to look away, unease crawling over his skin, though he couldn't say why.

"Did you forget that we'd need to eat or take care of personal business?" he demanded gruffly as Vellum smoothly climbed out of the box.

"I did, and I apologize for that. It's not every day that I travel with humans." Vellum came to them and kneeled in front of Mariel. He laid a pale hand over her shoe. Clay wanted to kick it away, but figured it wouldn't bring about anything good. "I won't forget your needs again," Vellum promised her, sounding earnest and regretful.

Clay was disturbed to realize he was jealous. Why? Did he honestly think a vampire was competition for Mariel's affection?

When she smiled slightly and said, "If you forget again, I'm not feeding you," in a tone that was nearly teasing, Clay curled his hands into fists.

Yes, Vellum had become competition. Clearly when the vampire had taken blood from her, he'd stolen something of her heart as well.

That's all he's getting of you, Mariel. I'll show you what a good man can offer you and hopefully it'll be the very thing you desire.

Once she was untied, Vellum helped Mariel to her feet. He smiled at her and turned his back on her, making a point to prove that he trusted her not to run off. She didn't, moving only far enough into the scrub to take care of her business in private.

Clay's smile wasn't friendly as Vellum kneeled down to untie his binds.

"She told me that you fed from her," he said. "That's all she said, but I know you did something more, something to make her look kindly on you. I want you to know: I won't be fooled by anything you do, vampire."

"Marshal, you feel compelled to make my life more difficult when there's no need. We're all working together to reach our ultimate destinations." Vellum set both hands on Clay's knees, startling him into raising his bound hands defensively before he could stop himself. Vellum gave a sliver of a smile as he slid his palms down Clay's shins to the rope binding his ankles. It was an alarmingly sensual touch. "I'm not a threat, assuming your idea of danger is pain and misery. I'm not interested in presenting that kind of threat. Not at all."

Clay ached to kick the other male out of his personal space, but forced himself to sit still while Vellum undid the ropes. "So what kind of threat do you intend to present?"

Vellum finished loosening the knot and began to work on Clay's wrist restraints. "You tell me, Marshal. Surely you have an explanation for the way your body reacts to me."

When Clay frowned up at him, not understanding, Vellum's smile deepened and he dropped his gaze pointedly to Clay's lap. To his horror, Clay realized he had become hard at some point. His dick was swollen and bent painfully within his trousers.

Why? Mariel was off in the scrub. It wasn't her presence that had sent him off. Which meant…