Taken by a Vampire (Vampire Queen) - By Joey W. Hill Page 0,226

bound to his side. No matter the Council’s preference, he would be as free as any vampire, able to choose Evan’s company or not.

He should have told him that. It might have swayed his decision. Perhaps if he . . . No. Niall would come to Evan before he made his final decision, ask some more questions, because that was the type of man he was. Right now, Evan owed him space.

“I was angry at you, when you asked Daegan if he could take her life.”

Opening his eyes, Evan saw the Scot sitting on one of the garden benches, knees splayed, large hands loosely linked between them as he leaned forward. Evan wondered how long he’d been there. He could have walked up and staked him. Perhaps Niall was right about his need to be more alert.

“Aye, ye do. You’re not closing your mind to me right now.”

“No, I’m not. I did know you were angry about Daegan.”

Niall inclined his head. “I understood it, though. If she’d had enough of a mind to know we were caring for her, year after year, being a burden—no matter that she couldnae ever be a burden to us—that would have been the worst kind of Hell for the lass.”

Evan nodded, but Niall wasn’t yet done. “You had to make that call, because you knew I couldnae do it. While I might enjoy warming her arse, the idea of truly harming her . . .”

“You’re a gentle man, for all your ferocity, Niall. I know that.”

“Am I too gentle to be a vampire?”

Despite the intensity of feeling that held him so very still, only a few yards from the man he cared for more than any other man he’d ever met, Evan smiled. “You know the answer to that as well as I. Your kind of gentleness fortunately does not lie in that direction.”

“No. I guess not. I’ve helped you with your annual kill for three hundred years,” Niall said thoughtfully. “I resolved it for myself, the way a hunter does. The purpose is to eat, to survive, so ye respect the sacrifice. You think about the life taken. Doesnae matter if ’tis a deer enjoying the warmth of a meadow sun, or a bloke thinking about meeting the lass of his dreams when he goes off to a club. When you keep company with vampires, life becomes both more sacred and more temporal. No.” Niall corrected himself. “When keeping company with a vampire like you.”

The bed of moonflowers was between them. Evan noticed a pair of squirrel statuary hidden in their foliage. “What are you thinking, Niall?”

“That day at the stream. Do you think of it?”

“Often.” Evan met his gaze. “I wanted you then and there. Especially when you got hard as a tree branch, despite that fucking freezing water.”

Niall grunted. His gaze fell on the squirrels.

Damn it. The things that needed to be said might as well be popping up on cue card signs, held up by the lawn ornamentation. Glancing across the garden to the infirmary window, Evan saw the staff woman reading by Alanna’s bed, the girl still sleeping peacefully. He wished he’d already marked her, so he could let her hear this. Women took particular joy in being right, and their deceptively compliant InhServ was no exception.

“It’s not in our nature to feel regret, particularly in our dealings with humans. But I do feel that, toward how you came into my service.”

Niall lifted his head. “I was wondering about that. What ye said, about manipulating me. Didnae ken how to bring it up, though.”

“It wasn’t your responsibility to bring it up.” Sighing, Evan spread out his hands in an empty gesture. “You watched Ceana sicken, knowing the disease would never touch you because of the mark I gave you. You watched her die, watched your daughter die, knowing whether it had happened then or forty years later, you wouldn’t be able to follow them for centuries. You were denied the hope of being reunited with them in a mortal life span. There’s a comfort to that aspect of mortality that those of us who are immortal will never comprehend.”

Evan shifted. “And while you were going through that, all I knew was that I wanted you as my servant. I thought myself so magnanimous; waiting for your family to not need you anymore, but in reality I was as much a bastard as the clansman who used your love of your family to put you in that battle that nearly