Rogue Darkness by Dianne Duvall

Melanie smiled. “Sure. If you have any questions or concerns, call me.”

“Thank you.” Once more, he gathered Nicole into his arms.

Jared rested a hand on his shoulder. “Ready?”

He nodded.

Seconds later, he stood on his front porch. Sean blinked. He was so used to Seth and Richart teleporting him home that he’d expected to end up in his living room.

He frowned as a thought occurred to him. “How did you know where I live?” Jared hadn’t plucked the information from Sean’s thoughts, had he? Like many others in the Immortal Guardians world, Sean did not like telepaths scouring his thoughts at will. And since Jared was as old as Seth and boasted almost as many gifts, such would be a simple task for him.

Stepping back, Jared shrugged. “I followed Tessa here when she came to apologize.”

Sean studied him. “Why?”

“I felt her anxiety and was worried about her.”

“Oh.” He could think of nothing to say to that. “Okay.”

The front door opened. Cliff and Emma peered out at them.

“How’s Nicole?” Cliff asked as the couple stepped back.

“She’s okay,” Sean told them. “Seth healed her, and Melanie gave her a transfusion. But she’ll be loopy for a while and needs to rest.” He turned to thank Jared, only to find the porch empty.

That guy was so weird.

Cliff seemed unsurprised, probably because he’d spent so much time around Jared at network headquarters that he was immune to the ancient immortal’s idiosyncrasies.

Emma offered Sean a kind smile and touched his arm. “Let’s get her settled.”

Nodding, he carried Nicole to her bedroom.

As soon as he laid Nicole on the bed, Emma booted him and Cliff from the room so she could clean Nicole up and put some comfortable PJs on her.

Sean took a quick shower while he waited. He would’ve preferred to pad around barefoot, wearing only boxer briefs and a T-shirt afterward. Nicole always encouraged him to wear whatever he would’ve worn if he’d lived alone, adding that she wanted him to be comfortable as long as he kept his goods covered, which made him smile. But he donned sweatpants in deference to Cliff’s and Emma’s presence and topped them with a soft, well-worn T-shirt.

Since Emma wasn’t immortal, it took her a while to tidy Nicole and get her settled. Cliff distracted Sean as best he could. But even a pizza the size of a freaking wagon wheel couldn’t halt Sean’s pacing.

At last, Emma opened Nicole’s bedroom door.

Sean darted in, nearly bowling her over.

Emma smiled. “She’ll be okay, Sean. She’s just sleeping.”

Even though the logical part of him knew that, the rest was shaken by how close he’d come to losing her and wouldn’t relax until she opened her eyes and made some smart-ass crack that made him laugh. “Thanks, Emma.”

“Would you like me to stay with her?” she asked tentatively. “I’m not sure how loopy she’ll be when she wakes up. If she needs to go to the bathroom…”

“No. We’re good. Thank you though.”

Cliff nodded. “We’re going to head to bed early then. Yell if you need anything.”

“I will. Would you hit the light on your way out?”

“Sure.” Cliff switched off the overhead light. “Goodnight.” He and Emma headed up the hallway to the spare bedroom. A moment later, their door closed.

A light in the adjoining bathroom kept Nicole’s room from falling into complete darkness, not that Sean needed it to see as he wandered around the room he rarely entered. Nicole kept it as tidy as the rest of the house. Like Sean, she disliked having to waste time looking for things when she needed them, so everything had its place. He closed the bedroom door when he came abreast of it and dragged her favorite reading chair closer to the bed. Sinking into the cushions, he took her hand in his.

Almost childlike by comparison, it was still tan from the long hours she’d spent in the sun during the summer and felt disturbingly fragile. She kept her nails trimmed short so they wouldn’t interfere with computer work or combat training. Unlike the women Sean had dated in the past, she never painted them. Nor did she wear makeup. He had always liked that about her. With Nicole, what you saw was what you got. No surprises. No pretense.

He drew his thumb across the back of her hand in a soft caress. Sean had only held her hand once before, when he’d posed as her British boyfriend. And she had intertwined their fingers in a comfortable grip that had tightened whenever she laughed.

Now her slender fingers remained limp in his grasp.

Nicole sighed in her sleep and turned onto her side, facing him.

She looked so sweet. And innocent. Vulnerable. Not at all like she could kick his ass, he thought with some amusement. But damn, she was tough. And stubborn. So much so that she would probably insist on continuing her Becca ruse after she awoke.

“Hardheaded,” he murmured with affection, the criticism lacking any heat. It was difficult to blame her for doing something he would do himself if he could.

“Who is?” she murmured.

Sean sat up straighter. “You are.”

Her lids fluttered and lifted. Her eyes rolled around like a drunk’s, then focused on his face. Both pupils were dilated, the chemical in the vampire’s bite still coursing through her veins. Seth might be able to heal injuries, but he couldn’t—as far as Sean knew—remove chemical substances from someone’s blood.