Page 26 of Caretaker

Chapter Nine

Amias crouched on the pavement beside me, then lifted me into his arms. “I will move her off the street,” he said when Shane grabbed his arm. “Tend your truck.”

After a second’s hesitation, Shane jumped to his feet and jogged to his truck, and it dawned on me that I’d been hearing honking horns and the impatient, irritated yells of humans for a little while now. Shane’s truck was blocking half the street.

“I was dead,” I said.

Amias said nothing as he carried me to the tiny park across the street. He found a bench and sat down, his arms so tight around me I knew he would resist if I tried to get away from him.

I didn’t try because my body would not have cooperated. My limbs fluttered with reaction, my heartbeat felt timid and thready, and I shook with cold. My grip on reality was precarious. I needed a minute.

“I died.” My teeth chattered when I spoke, and the master tightened his arms a little more.

He seemed incapable of speech.

Shane pulled his truck close, then climbed out and strode toward us. “Get her into the truck. I cranked up the heat.”

“How did you know I was cold?” I murmured, as they hurried me to the truck.

Shane opened the door. “When I touched you, it was like touching ice. That’s how I knew, baby hunter.”

It was the middle of summer, and the night was hot. With the heater cranked, the interior of the truck would have been torture for Shane and maybe even Amias, but they didn’t complain as they wrapped their arms around me and waited for me to stop shaking.

And five minutes later, I went from cold to hot with an unsettling abruptness. “Shane,” I cried. “Turn on the air.”

I was suddenly so hot I thought I might vomit, pass out, or both.

Shane swore and turned on the air conditioning. He quickly shoved open his door to let some of the heat escape, then leaned across and pushed open the passenger side door as well.

I groaned as pain exploded in my head, and I lay almost senseless as wave after wave of agony squeezed my brain. My stomach tossed in reaction to the pain and I swallowed convulsively. I did not want to throw up.

“What the fuck?” Shane asked.

“She died.” Amias’s whispered words were reluctant and heavy with something close to grief. “I felt it.”

Shane slid his arm around my waist and both men held me as though they knew what I needed. As though they needed it, as well.

“I felt it, too,” Shane said. “I felt the absence of her.”

“You are her hunter,” Amias told him. “She is your lady. Your queen. Your bloodhunter.” He turned his head slightly and rubbed his lips against my forehead. “I was unaware of her connection to me.”

I relaxed a little as the pain in my head eased. “You knew we were connected, Amias. You said you were my master.” Surprisingly, uttering those words didn’t send me into a tailspin of rage. Mentally, I shrugged. It just was.

He tightened his arms. “Yes. But I did not know…” He hesitated. “When you died, I was…” He either couldn’t come to terms with it or maybe he couldn’t understand it. Whatever the reason, he was having trouble talking about it.

“If I die,” I said, “will you die?”

He sighed. “No. If you die, I will wish every second of every day for death. What will happen to me if I lose you will be worse than a thousand deaths--and if you knew what we face when we die, you would somewhat understand the magnitude of that awful truth.”

“I sort of do know.” I remembered how I’d felt when the incubus had attacked me. That feeling had not yet faded completely. I shuddered and both men tightened their arms around me.

“Trinity.”

Amias’s voice held a note of worry, and I immediately stiffened. I wasn’t going to want to hear what he was about to say. “What is it?” I asked.

He hesitated. “You must allow me to feed you.”

I gave a snort of laughter, relieved when my head didn’t explode. “Not going to happen. I don’t drink blood. And before you ask, I’m not feeding you unless you somehow manage to free Angus before I get him out.”