Bane's Choice (Vampire Motorcycle Club #1) - Alyssa Day Page 0,60

seemed to be growing more and more feral. Bane could hear him crashing against the walls and door in the safe room from all the way downstairs, where he was waiting for Ryan to come out of the bathroom in whatever clothes Mrs. C had given her.

“Ryan. I have to check on Hunter. Stay here.” He sped up the stairs, entirely unsurprised to hear her open the door and follow him. Did the woman ever listen to anybody?

Edge sat slumped in a chair outside the safe room, head in hands, eyes closed. He looked up blearily when he heard Bane arrive.

“He won’t stay down. I’ve given him blood three different times, and each time he sleeps for less time between feedings. It’s full-on day now; he should be out.” Edge shook his head. “Hell, I should be out. But he keeps… Well. You can hear him.”

Everybody could hear him. Hunter was shouting for Bane each time he hurled his body at the wall.

“I should check his vitals, at least,” Ryan said, walking up to join them. She wore a pair of soft black pants that Meara liked to wear for exercising and a loose, bright purple T-shirt that said Savannah Pirate House on the front.

He considered himself a big damn hero for not staring at her lush, braless breasts, barely contained by that soft fabric.

“His vitals?” Edge sneered at her. “He’s a vampire. What comparative data do you have to judge his vitals?”

Ryan bit her lip but stood her ground. “Nevertheless. Maybe I can find some way to help him. It’s agreed that I can study Bane, and only Bane, but maybe there’s something I can do for Mr. Evans. It can’t hurt to at least try.”

Edge suddenly raised his head, sniffing the air, and then his gaze arrowed in on Bane. “You fucked her? First, you tell her our secrets, knowing she can’t be made to forget them, and then you fuck her?”

Ryan flushed a hot red. She wouldn’t have known how keen vampire senses were.

Edge definitely didn’t realize the fine line he was treading.

Bane needed to teach him a lesson. So he slammed his fist through the wall, right next to Edge’s head.

“You will apologize to the doctor,” he said, very quietly—so quietly that Edge’s silver gaze widened.

They all knew what happened when Bane’s fury grew so powerful that his voice turned quiet and deadly.

People died. Vampires died.

Everybody died.

Edge inclined his head. “Yes. I was out of line. Chalk it up to exhaustion and blood loss.” He stood and held a hand out to Ryan. “I’m sorry, Doctor. That was rude, and, worse, you didn’t deserve it.”

Ryan nodded and shook his hand, and Bane had to fight himself to keep from yanking her away from the other vampire.

“I totally understand. Not at my best here, either,” she said, head held high. “I’d still like to check on Mr. Evans, if you don’t mind.”

“Whatever. It’s up to Bane. I need to get some sleep.” Edge shoved a hand through his hair and then headed toward the hall. When he reached the doorway, he paused and shot a narrow-eyed glance back at Bane. “I’m not wrong, though. And you know it.”

And then he was gone.

Ryan touched his arm, and Bane glanced down to see her glaring at him, her cheeks still flushed.

“You could have mentioned that vampires have heightened senses of smell.”

He couldn’t help himself. He leaned over and kissed her. “You need to stay well back when I open the door.” But then, considering her usual response to being ordered about, he continued. “Please. He’ll be able to smell your blood—the bloodlust is extremely heightened during and just after the Turn—and it will make things more difficult.”

She studied his face and then nodded. “Of course.”

“It’s important. He—” Bane’s mind, already prepping his argument, caught up with what she’d said. “You will?”

A thud and a shout from the warded room made her flinch, but then she shrugged. “I’m not unreasonable. If me being nearby will make things worse, I’ll go stand over there. It’s going to make it hard for me to examine him, though.”

“Once he’s asleep again, we’ll see if we can make that happen.”

She walked over to the far wall and turned and leaned against it.

He took a deep breath and opened the door, braced for Hunter to charge him in an escape attempt.

Nothing happened.

He took a cautious step into the room, which had been entirely trashed, from the chair to the bed to the walls themselves, and