Taken by a Vampire (Vampire Queen) - By Joey W. Hill Page 0,127

at Niall this time as he emerged from that loch, dripping wet, naked. Though the Scot appeared about a dozen years younger than he did now, he was tall and proud, then. Strong, yes, but so thin, his cheeks gaunt. Rage and determination burned in his eyes. She wondered how many times he’d given his family his portion, telling his wife he’d eaten part of the kill while out hunting?

“You see the physical beauty, but you immediately seek what’s below the surface. It’s an admirable quality.” Evan’s lips curved in a poignant expression. “I told him to impress me, and from the first day, he never disappointed. After that first meeting, I left Scotland for another project. I told him I’d be back in six months to check on the results of his scouting for me, but I came back five weeks later. I wanted to see him again, to see if the money I was sending him had improved things for his family. At times, Fate shows her hand quite clearly in our lives.”

Her fingers tightened on Evan’s chest as he gave her another image of Niall, this one of him bleeding to death on a dark battlefield.

“His landlord forced him to fight for the Jacobites, threatening to turn out his family if he didn’t join his army.”

Evan drove away the midnight looters, making it clear they’d pay with their lives if they lingered, but he had no desire to stay on this desolate battlefield under a cloudy nighttime sky, either. He hiked the Scot over his shoulders, a narrower span than Niall’s, but he held him with sure hands and used vampire speed to leave the bloody scene behind. Taking him deep into the wood, he laid him down in a secluded glade whose cushion of grass had provided safe slumber to more than one deer family.

Eyes darkening, he squatted by the man. A gut wound was a horrible way to die. Niall should have been moaning, but he was suffering it in silence, his expression caught between anger, anguish and desperation. Not for himself. Evan already knew enough about this man to know what would make him afraid. And make him fight for his life beyond all reasonable expectations.

He was groping for his dagger. Evan pulled it free and tossed it out of range, before he pushed him to his back again. “It’s me. It’s your wrestling mate, man. Not a bloody enemy.”

He pressed a cloth to the gut wound, trying to staunch the blood flow as those lion’s eyes focused on him. “My family, I cannae die. They need me . . . Ceana, she nae . . .”

The path to what Evan wanted was clear as a paved street to Hell. Fate wouldn’t have lined things up like this if it wasn’t meant to be. Right? His sire would have given him an ironic look through cool eyes, calling the rationalization the horseshit it was, but fortunately Lord Uthe wasn’t here at the moment. “I can help you live. But you’ll owe me something.”

The Scot gazed at the bloody mess under Evan’s hands. “You’re a devil, then.”

“You’re not making a pact with Satan. Though I expect you have enough of a brain to figure that out. Eventually.”

“Will what I owe you . . . hurt my family?”

“No. But it will hurt you. No help for that.”

Vampires didn’t apologize to humans. Evan had once been human enough to understand how arrogant that was, but a vampire was too superior in strength and other skills to ever see a human as an equal. He’d give him the choice to live or die, but that was the only choice he’d offer. Yeah, he was a bloody bastard, wasn’t he? But he wouldn’t see this man die. Even now, with his hand pressed on the gut wound, as if the insistence in his touch would keep the life in him longer, Evan was tempted to commit one of the few vampire sins. Take that one vital choice away.

“Hurt . . . as in pain worse than this?” Niall’s lips drew back in a ghastly smile, telling Evan he cared little about pain to himself, even though he was near convulsing with it.

“The marking will hurt like a son of a bitch, but I’m talking about this kind of pain.” He put his other hand on Niall’s heart. “Choose fast. Better to do this sooner than later.”

“My family . . . I’ll be able to care for them.”

“Better than ever.”