Cold Reign (Jane Yellowrock #11)(101)

Beast chuffed.

“Want me to finish this one for you?” Eli pulled vamp-killer from thigh-rig.

Beast backed away. With one swipe, Eli took head from Fernand. Blade tapped concrete of floor. Beast lapped blood at edge of neck. Good vampire blood. I/we are healed, but blood is good. Beast likes.

Padded to mate on floor. Was breathing. Heart was beating. Onorio was healing.

Thank God, Jane thought.

Eli stalked like predator to Amitee. Brought down blade on her too. Head rolled.

Beast trotted. Picked up head and carried it to mate. Pressed neck to mate’s lips and blood spilled inside. Bruiser swallowed. Dropped head close by and went back to body. Drank last of blood. Then lay down and groomed blood and meat off pelt. Watched as Edmund stood to feet. Wavered like kit learning to walk. “I may need . . .” He swallowed. “I may require blood to heal.”

“Find a blood-servant, dude,” Eli said. “I’m not on the menu. There is no quid pro quo here.” He toed one of the humans. “This one is still alive. So is that one. Heal them and drink. We’ll have someone to question and you’ll have dinner. Two birds.” To me he said, “Janie, we need to get this guy out of the cage. Suggestions?”

Am Beast. Not Jane.

What am I? Chopped liver?

Do not need liver chopped. Have fangs and claws to chop liver.

Beast trotted to door in cage. Was locked with magical lock. Would need magic key to open. Snorted and lay on floor. Started to groom pelt again. Vampire blood was going bad faster than other prey blood. Tasted bad. Did not understand.

“Jane!”

Jerked to feet. Was command tone from Eli. Alpha roar. Cocked head. Waiting. Jane was inside, thinking. Not listening to Eli. Put head against Eli leg, panting. Littermate rubbed head with hand. Looked tired. “Shift back, Babe. We got work to do. And you need vocal cords and opposable thumbs for it.” Eli went back to puzzle of silver cage.

Beast snorted.

Inside of head, Jane laughed. Sound was catlike. Mocking. At least you got to drink vamp blood. You ate my tacos. What’ll I do for calories to pay for the shift?

Beast snorted again. Trotted to corner where gobag had come off. Picked up gobag in teeth and carried into darkness. Found shadowed place under bed in bedroom. Lowered belly to floor and pulled with paws under bed, pushing gobag in front with paws.

No! Do not! Do not shift under this bed. Dang cat—

Outside, thunder rumbled. Beast chuffed. Shifted.

? ? ?

“I’ll kill you, you dang cat.” I was staring at the bottom of the bed, which was an old-fashioned metal mesh, about a quarter of an inch from my nose. The mattress sat atop it and it smelled musty. A spider had built a web in the corner and the spider, a strange yellow and golden creature with a bulbous abdomen, raced away to the far edge and turned to face me, mandibles waggling back and forth. I wasn’t scared of spiders, but that didn’t mean I wanted to wake up with one.

The shift had been fast, like lightning. My entire body ached. My gobag had somehow gotten back around my neck and it was twisted, holding me in place, nearly choking. I shimmied slowly, wedging my fingers into the mesh with one hand, pulling the gobag with the other. The cement floor was cold and miserable. And I was naked on it. Dang cat.

I squirmed my way out, pulled the blanket off the bed, and wrapped it around me. It stank of vamp and blood and sex and fear, but that was moderately better than being naked and frozen and hungry. Now I was just hungry. I unzipped the gobag and dressed in the long underwear and the unfamiliar magicked cloth armor, feeling the tingly-scratchy on my skin even through the silk long johns. Strapped on the thigh rig, checked the nine-mil and snapped it into the holster. Same thing with the short-bladed vamp-killer. Slipped my feet into the flops. Stuck the Glob into a pocket. There was a box of four Clif bars in the bottom of the bag and I ripped open all four packages and ate them, swallowing faster than I could chew.

I had a sudden memory of the taste of vamp blood and vamp flesh and nearly lost my cookies. Pun intended. I forced the white chocolate macadamia nut down my throat. It tasted nothing like blood. Thank goodness.

I heard a knock at the door behind me, the one the boys had busted through. Eli’s shadow lay across the floor at the foot of the bed, but he spoke from behind the smashed opening, giving me privacy. “You okay?”

Without looking his way I said, “Dressed. And not really. My Beast ate vamp flesh.”

From the corner of my eye I saw him enter and shrug, one of the minuscule gestures that meant way more than a regular person’s shrug. “Why waste protein?”

I looked at him quickly. His face was closed and distant, and I suddenly didn’t want to know what he might have done to stay alive. Instead I reached and gave him a hug. Both arms around him. Both hands, on his back. At the same time. And then I didn’t know what to do. Should I let go? Should I back away? Should I keep waiting for him to hug me back? How many Mississippis did I hug for?

Eli’s chest shook. Again. “Babe?” His voice was quivering and strained. I realized he was laughing. “You frozen in horror? Trying to figure out what to do now that you got me in a strangle move?”

“Pretty much.”

Eli touched my back, his hand slicking down my hair in a single tender gesture. Which somehow allowed me to step away.

“Thanks,” I said.

Unexpectedly, Eli was still laughing, face pulled up in unfamiliar lines. Showing teeth and everything. “That felt really weird,” he said.