Taken by a Vampire (Vampire Queen) - By Joey W. Hill Page 0,221

most deserving of the vampire ranks. Lord Belizar himself had said those words. Evan was fiercely proud of her.

Then, when she went to her knees, he wanted to tell the Council they could go straight to hell. He and Niall were keeping her. But of course the world didn’t work that way.

For this moment, though, the world could be what he wanted it to be. He savored the sight of the two of them together. He expected she was the one who’d talked Niall into taking off the shirt and plaid, so he wore just the kilt, letting her lean against his bare chest, trace his dragon and the third mark beneath. Niall could wear a suit handsomely, but Evan had always preferred him in the kilt. Niall eschewed a tartan, preferring the solid black or gray. Given that he’d been one of the broken men who lived on clan land, but was not of that clan’s blood, and the fact that his landlord and clan chief had sacrificed him on a battlefield, Evan understood it. Yet he wore Evan’s dragon tattoos . . . and Evan’s mark.

Even after all these centuries, Evan carried a great deal of his father’s religious practicality. Judaism was a thinking man’s religion, all said and done, and the idea of a vampire and servant being bound in the afterlife had seemed illogical to him. For the first time he understood, whether it was truth or not, that notion had probably been born from fervent wishful thinking, by vampires who felt for their servants as he did.

Straightening from the door, he went to them. Alanna’s gaze immediately turned from the window. She didn’t move, however. She wouldn’t disturb Niall’s rest, but more than that, she was braced for the news, her pale face and sad, shorn head making his heart tighten. She’d known they wouldn’t choose him, that there was no possible way in the hierarchical world of the vampires that would be acceptable. But he hated that she’d hoped enough to look so crushed now by the inevitable news.

When he squatted to his heels so they were eye to eye, she swallowed. Firmed her chin and lifted it. “I love you, Master,” she said quietly.

Reaching out, he traced her thin, ravaged face. Once fed and healthy, her hair grown out, she would be beautiful again, in the way that all men appreciated, but he agreed with Niall. Her bravery, resolve and sheer character would never make her anything less than mesmerizing to him.

“That’s good. Because you’re going to be with me a very, very long time.”

Her gasped cry woke Niall, such that he almost toppled her, coming out of it ready to fight. Evan caught hold of him and Alanna to steady them both, but as he held them there in the chair, he was gripped by a sheer ebullience that was entirely unvampirelike. Fortunately, Alanna saved him from acting upon it, because she flung her arms around him. Her joyous embrace told Niall what had happened, and now the Scot’s grin brought warmth and light to every corner of the room. He gripped Evan’s shoulder, but Evan saw a different knowledge in the man’s eyes. A tightness rose into Evan’s throat as he heard Niall’s private thought to himself.

He won’t be alone. He’ll have her.

When Alanna pulled back, Niall tugged her hair, teasing her, even as the three of them kept that connection, arms tangled, hips touching. Evan had dropped to one knee to keep Niall settled and to prevent Alanna from being dumped on the floor, so his braced foot was between Niall’s splayed ones.

“So,” the Scot observed. “I have a lot to do. I have tae teach ye to be more insolent, so Evan will not get spoiled by your excessive subservience. And then I’ll have to teach him how to give ye a proper strapping, because he’s far too soft-handed about it.”

She had a response for that, one that made Niall laugh, but Evan didn’t hear it. He was poised on a precipice, one where his pleasure in their reaction could easily be turned to a cold weight, given the other news he had, but he wasn’t of a mind to wait on the blow, if it was going to come.

“Actually, you might be around to do those beatings yourself for a while, if you’re up for it.”

Alanna stopped in midsentence, her attention snapping to Evan. Niall seemed unperturbed, but lifted a brow. “What, Brian’s cooked up a way to