Forbidden Hunger by R.L. Kenderson
Twenty-Five
When Vance had selectedSaxon and Ram as the ones to go to the fight tonight, Ram had been looking forward to doing something outside of the bunkhouse…and away from Siya. He needed to clear his head, and he wanted to do that without someone reading his every thought.
He also wouldn’t have minded doing a little fighting. Not only was he a trained Guardian, but he was also tall and muscular. He was sure that he could take on any civilian who challenged him.
Unfortunately, Frank hadn’t shown up, so he wasn’t as foolish as they had hoped.
Hunter’s contact, Trey, had been there, but he didn’t seem to know where Frank was, and Hunter and Quentin could only ask so many questions without making Trey suspicious. Eventually, they’d had to leave when the crowd started to thin. They hadn’t needed Trey wondering why a bunch of guys were standing around, not betting and not paying attention to the fights.
The only good thing was, they had been able to locate Trey’s vehicle and put the tracker on it. Whether or not it would lead them to Frank and Monica remained to be seen.
Once they left, they went to a nearby twenty-four-hour café and waited for the tracker to move.
Even though they could be called away at any time, they were six full-grown males, so they ended up ordering enough food to feed a dozen humans. Once the server walked away with a look of shock and awe on her face, Ram turned to Hunter.
“Hey, can we go outside and talk for a minute?”
Hunter looked slightly surprised, and Ram didn’t blame him. They had never been very close, but Hunter was the only other vampire around, and Ram had questions and time to kill.
“Sure.”
His mate didn’t protest or ask questions, but Hunter still told him he’d be right back.
Once they were outside, Hunter waited patiently for Ram to speak.
“I apologize for getting personal, but has Quentin ever drunk your blood?”
Hunter blushed but answered, “Yes.”
“That means, he can feel your emotions and everything, right?”
“If I let him.”
“So, he reads about as much as other vampires do?”
“Probably less but not by much.” He tilted his head to the side. “Why do you ask?”
Ram fell back against the side of the building. “Well, shit.”
“What’s going on?”
“You heard how we’re protecting Saxon’s mate’s friend?”
“Yes.”
“Siya and I had sex. And I was caught up in the moment and fed her some of my blood. Not much. Just a bit from my thumb.”
“A very small amount. I understand.”
“And now, she knows everything I’m thinking. Like everything. I can’t block her, and even though I’ve drunk way more of her blood, I don’t get the same in return. I can sense her feelings like I can with anyone else, but it’s not as strong as what is happening with her. I thought maybe it was a non-vampire thing because I don’t know what else it could be.”
Hunter crossed his arms over his chest as he moved to stand next to Ram. “I could be wrong, but if what is happening with Siya was simply a non-vampire thing, I think Dante would have warned us since his mate is a shifter. He protects his mate, but something like that could really mess with our security. And I don’t know about Princess Naya, but I feel like she would have mentioned it, too. Or her mate would have. Vaughn is just as protective of Naya as Dante is of Phoenix.”
Ram kicked a small rock at his feet. “Yeah, I already came to that conclusion myself. You were my last hope.”
“Maybe it’s our fault,” Hunter said.
Ram lifted his head. “What? How do you mean?”
“We’re constantly underestimating humans. They don’t live as long, they’re not as strong, their sight and sense of smell is weaker. Maybe this is their way of evening the playing field. Or biology’s way. Obviously, your human has no control over this.”
“You got that right. She told me to go away because she couldn’t handle my thoughts.”
“It sounds like you have a few options then.”
Hearing this perked Ram’s hopes up. “What’s that?”
“First, you’re probably going to have to tell Dante and Vance, no matter what. That part is not an option because you know they need to know this.”
Ram rolled his eyes. “Yes, I realize that.” He wanted Hunter to get to the good stuff.
“You’re going to have to stay away from her until your blood leaves her body, which is going to take a while since she’s human and her metabolism is slower than ours.”
“Fuck.” He hadn’t thought of that. “Dare I ask what the second option is?”
“You’re going to have to mate with her. If she’s your mate, she can have access to that crazy head of yours all she wants. It will be her right. But you’re also going to have to try and train her to block you and work on your own blocking since you can’t seem to keep her out.”
“That sounds like a lot of work.”
Hunter laughed. “Not if she’s worth it.”
Ram looked the other vampire in the eye. “What would you do?”
Hunter’s mouth dropped open. “The fact that you’re asking me that means a lot. But I can’t make that decision for you.” He turned and looked through the window of the café. “I can tell you what I would do if it were Quentin. One hundred percent option two. But if it were anyone else, I would go with option one.” He turned back to Ram. “I guess you need to figure out if Siya is your Quentin or not.”