Kane glanced at the security collar that remained locked around the male’s throat. Clearly, it had been deactivated. “It’s not your fight. It’s not your problem.”
“She’s just a nurse—”
Kane’s dagger hand snapped out and locked a hold on that throat. Baring his fangs, he said, “Loyalty is not earned by station. Something you’d do well to remember, considering where you came from.”
Apex recoiled as if he’d been punched in the jaw. And then he stammered, “Who the fuck are you.”
Kane dropped his grip and pivoted to the white-haired wolven. “Clothes. Weapons. I’ll find a way to pay you back, but I’m done with the talking.”
Callum flared his nostrils and breathed in. He had little frame of reference for what the male’s scent had been before the Gray Wolf had summoned the Viper unto him, the desperate male unwittingly offering himself up as host so he could get a return to health.
The guy had no idea what he’d signed up for.
“Come,” Callum said. “I’ll kit you out. And then your friend and I will join you to get… whoever the nurse is.”
“I’m not looking for your help.”
“Well, you’ve found it, vampire, and the price of what you need is that I come with you and so does he. The choice is yours.”
There was a split second of direct eye contact—and Callum found himself taking a step back. That silver stare… was not right.
But then the male shrugged.
“It’s your funeral.” The vampire looked at his friend—or whoever they were to each other. “Yours, too.”
“This way,” Callum said as he started for the tree line.
When he passed by the shelter that had been loaned to Lucan and his female, he expected the vampire to stop and check in with his fellow prisoner, the one who had worked so hard to free him. His nose wouldtell him exactly where the half-breed who had risked his own life was lying in recovery—
There was not even a pause.
Callum’s den was located in a cave, the entrance of which was camouflaged by a fall of boulders. As he came up to the way in, he glanced over his shoulder. The two vampires were tight with him, and he wasn’t surprised when the one who’d been granted a miracle in exchange for a curse barged right past him, like he owned the place.
Callum stopped the one who’d been called Apex. “Wait out here.”
Fangs, sharp and long… and sexually alluring, at least on Callum’s side of things… made a fast appearance. “The hell with that.”
“Stay here. Please. Unless you want to assess whether he’s physically capable, and if he isn’t, tell him he needs to wait a full day before he should go anywhere?” When there was no response, Callum said dryly, “I thought so. Let me handle this.”
As he pushed against the vampire’s chest, he expected a fight, and he wanted one. It would be an excuse to feel that hard body as they went down to the ground.
“I won’t let anything happen to your friend,” he vowed.
“That’s not your job.”
The testy comeback made Callum smile. “So territorial. I guess vampires and wolven have something in common—”
“Fuck you.”
Callum’s eyes traveled to the male’s mouth. “Is that an invitation.” He leaned in. “Or a demand.”
Under other circumstances, the expression on that harsh face would have been frickin’ hysterical.
“Surprise,” Callum whispered. “And if you have a secret you need to keep, that’s okay with me. I can be discreet when it suits me. Now wait here, please. If he starts throwing rocks at me, I’ll duck and run.”
Pivoting away, he followed the curve of the cave’s neck, until the belly of the underground cavern presented itself. The glowing oil lantern in the far corner illuminated the stark furnishings, the shadows thrown bythe bedding pallet, the stacks of folded clothes on the card table, and the ammunition and weapons boxes long and indistinct. The yellow light also traveled over to the naturally heated spring, the mountain-made pool gleaming at the very rear of the den.
“Do you care what I take,” the vampire said as a statement, not a question.