She gawked at him and stuttered out somewords before finally forming a sentence. “Well, isn’t that thecherry on top of this twisted sundae.”
“I won’t do it to you, and I only do it whenit’s necessary.”
“Well, ah… yippee for me and the rest ofhumanity, I guess.”
Unable to resist touching her again, hepushed back a loose strand of auburn hair and tucked it behind herear. She watched him with fascinated eyes but didn’t try to pullaway.
Maggie had been contemplating running awayas fast as she could before he touched her. After training for overa year to run the Boston Marathon with some of her coworkers nextmonth, she’d gotten herself down to a sub six-minute mile. Shecould go faster for sprint distances. He may be an immortal,healing machine, but she could haul ass, and she could run formiles.
That simple touch dissolved her impulse toflee. She didn’t know what it was about this blood-suckingcreature, but she couldn’t resist him. Maybe it had something to dowith the need she saw in his eyes. She sensed it was forher, but she didn’t understand why. Maybe it was the tenderway he caressed her when she’d seen how vicious he could be. Ormaybe it was because it had been so long since anyone touched herwith any kindness, she couldn’t resist it now.
You better start resisting,she toldherself.
“Even if you don’t need money,” she said,and stepped back so his hand slid away from her, “no one is goingto let you enter their store looking like that. If your whole goalis to go incognito for the vampire race, walking around shirtlessand with a gaping wound in your back won’t help your cause. Do youplan on taking out all the security cameras inside the store andalong the way to the store too?”
“You can go into the store and buy aphone.”
“Hate to break it to you, Nosferatu, butIrequire money for purchases, or at least a creditcard.”
Aiden felt the pockets of his jeans, but heknew they would be empty. He’d tossed his cash onto Carha’s table.A sick feeling built within him at the reminder of Carha. Hesuddenly felt filthy standing next to Maggie, as well as ashamed ofwhere he’d been earlier and the reason why he’d been weak enoughfor the Savages to take him down.
His foul appetites had put him in thisposition, and because of it, he’d placed Maggie in danger. “I’llkeep you safe,” he murmured as self-hatred grew within him.
“That means a lot coming from the guy whosucked a pint from me earlier,” she retorted. “Without asking mefirst, by the way. Which I think should be proper etiquette beforesinking your fangs into someone’s throat, just so you know.”
“Noted.”
“Hmm,” Maggie grunted and sent him aside-eyed glare.
It was going to be difficult to get her towarm up to him, he realized, but he’d work on that later. Now, hehad to get a hold of Saxon, let him know what happened, and findsomewhere safe for Maggie to stay. Too much had happened, thebodies of the Savages were too scattered, and too many humans wereinvolved for him to be able to clean this mess up by himself.
“Where do you live?” he asked.
“Like I’m going to tell you?”
“Do you have a phone at your place?”
“No.”
“Magdalene—”
“No one calls me that,” she interrupted.“And I don’t have a landline. I’m not eighty, are you?”
Caught off guard by her question, he did adouble-take before chuckling. “Maybe one day, but I turnedtwenty-five on February twenty-seventh. And how old are you?”
“Twenty-four. Are vampires immortal?”
“Yes.”
“All right. So anyway, I don’t have a phoneat my place.”
Aiden’s hand fell to his empty pocketsagain. He’d always kept his cell in the front pocket of his jeans.“Did I have my phone with me in the ambulance?” he asked her.
“I didn’t go through your coat pockets. OnceI discovered a crossbow, I decided it was best not to touch yourthings.”
“I kept my phone in my pants. Did you noticeit?”
“I didn’t see any phone when we put you inthe ambulance.”
