Taken by a Vampire (Vampire Queen) - By Joey W. Hill Page 0,211

the new location was Lyssa’s pointed way of showing her firm grip on the Council leadership didn’t require the smoke and mirrors of ghoulish surroundings. The thought gave Evan grim amusement, and a grateful heart, given the queen’s support of Alanna’s preservation.

True to Debra’s information, the staff infirmary had a large picture window overlooking a section of the vast gardens. The hospital bed was far more comfortable than the necessary gurney cot they’d used in the soundproofed room. Debra had tucked a comforter with a sea green pattern of ocean waves over Alanna, so she was no longer swathed in institutional-style bedding. Niall brought in a flower arrangement Evan knew he’d pilfered from one of the opulently appointed Council bedrooms, but he decided to ignore its origins.

The Scot sank into one of the guest chairs, one that Debra had made sure could accommodate Niall’s considerable bulk. The lab tech missed nothing. Evan wondered if she ever slept, since he’d never come into the lab during the past three weeks when she wasn’t here, or at least close by, running an errand for her Master. He expected Brian would be lost without her. He knew the feeling.

Niall put his hand over Alanna’s pale, slim one on the covers. “What do ye think?” he asked gruffly.

“I think she didn’t fight this long and hard to leave us now. She’s just exhausted.” He shifted his gaze to Niall’s haggard face. “She’s not the only one that needs sleep. Go to bed, Niall. I’ll watch over her.”

“You first. Ye look far worse than me. ’Tis three hours to dawn.”

“It wasn’t a request.”

Niall gave him a nasty look, but Evan reached out, gripped his neck in one hand. “Go to sleep, man,” he murmured. “She’ll think she’s gazing at a corpse, she wakes up and sees your face right now.”

Niall nodded to a nearby cot. “I’ll sleep there.”

“You’d be better off in the quarters they provided for us.” The quarters both of them had barely seen except to change clothes. “I’ll be with her, Niall. I promise. I won’t leave her side.”

Niall looked down at his hands. Evan could tell the man was struggling with something. He could have looked in his mind, but Niall was right; he was as exhausted as his servant. He waited for him to say it.

“I cannae leave, Evan. I’m not trying to be an arse about things. I’m afraid she might wake up, and say something, and that will be it. I’ll have missed it. Ceana . . . she died when I was outside taking a piss. Twenty seconds, maybe, and she was gone. I didnae ken . . . maybe she said something. Maybe she would have cursed me.”

“For being a good husband, a loving father, a man who stood by her?”

Niall lifted his head. When the Scot leaned forward, touched Evan’s face over Alanna’s thin legs, hidden in the quilt, Evan stayed still. During the past twenty-two days, there’d been no Master or servant, just two men enduring something unbearable. It was a hell he never wanted to experience again, but he had a feeling it would replay itself on a nightmarish series of works. Marcus would call it his Dark Period and try to force him to wear Goth clothing at gallery openings.

The Scot’s mouth curved in a tired, grim smile. “You’d look like shite with a safety pin through your eyebrow.”

“I should hope so.” Evan closed his eyes despite himself as Niall’s fingers slid to his jaw. The Scot had such remarkably gentle hands. They could also be rough, passionate, demanding. Evan always countered the demand with demand of his own, forcing submission in their pleasure, for that was a vampire’s nature, and Niall relished the fight, but this was simply a moment to savor. There was no energy to do anything else, but the quietness of it felt right.

Niall rose. “I’ll go, then. Aye, I’m being foolish. You’ll wake me if she . . .”

“Count on it.”

Niall nodded, then turned. Evan watched his servant move to the doorway, but once there, he stopped. He didn’t turn, but his unsteady voice came clearly over his shoulder to Evan.

“These past few weeks,” he said, “waiting on her, praying, hoping for her, wishing I could tear that bastard apart, I could see the same thing happening to you. Yet until today, until she woke . . . I reached out tae you because I needed your strength.” The Scot straightened, faced him. “You’re nae the biggest