Now she was going to sleep and he was up. But not for long, Justin decided as he reached the bottom of the stairs and started up the hall toward the kitchen. He’d grab a drink and then head right back upstairs to bed and force himself to go to sleep. He’d kept imagining making love to her in the middle of the food court on the table, and he could do that in their dreams . . . and Justin fully intended to—
His thoughts died abruptly as he stepped into the kitchen and took in the state of it. There were pizza boxes and take-out bags on every surface in the room. Some of them were actually open, their contents wholly or half eaten, but most were not.
“What the hell?” Justin muttered with bewilderment, and then gave his head a shake and hurried to the refrigerator to grab and slap a bag of blood to his fangs as he fetched himself a glass of water. He could ask about the fast food-a-thon later, when everyone was up. Right now his main interest was getting back to sleep and ravishing Holly.
That thought made him hesitate and then move to the refrigerator again. This time to retrieve the last IV of sedative mixed with saline that sat on the top shelf. It was a leftover from what Lucian had had brought in to keep Holly under until he could leave on the day they’d brought her here.
Grabbing the bag, he started to let the refrigerator door close, then the bottled water inside caught his eye. Justin eyed it briefly, then set down his glass of water and turned to move to the garbage as he ripped the now empty blood bag from his mouth. Once he’d disposed of the bag, he then returned to the fridge to grab the bottled water.
“Easier to carry,” he muttered to himself as he turned away, and that was important since his next stop was the broom closet to grab the IV stand they’d stored there. After sleeping more than twelve hours, Justin was quite sure he wasn’t going to be able to get back to sleep without a little aid, but he was also desperate to sleep now that he knew Holly would be sleeping as well.
“Man, what I’ll do to get laid,” Justin muttered to himself with a shake of the head as he tucked the IV bag under his arm, leaving his hands free for the bottled water and the IV stand.
He headed back to his room then, hands full of his bootie. Much to his relief, Justin didn’t encounter anyone on the return journey. He really didn’t want to have to explain himself. Fortunately, everyone was apparently abed and sleeping. Once in his room with the door safely closed, he set the bottled water on the bedside table, then quickly set up the IV stand next to the bed and hung the saline bag from it. After that, he nipped into the bathroom to take care of personal matters.
Once back in the room, he approached the IV, only to realize that he hadn’t thought to grab the IV needle, tape and tubing. Clucking under his tongue with irritation, Justin jogged back downstairs for the items, then returned to attach the tubing and primed the chamber, then sat down on the side of the bed.
He had just finished inserting the IV needle in the crook of his elbow and taping it in place when his cell phone began to chirp. One look told him it was Mortimer. While Lucian was the big boss, Mortimer was now the head of the Enforcers, basically his supervisor. It was a call he had to take.
Muttering to himself, he snatched up his phone with the hand not hooked up to the IV and pressed the button to answer the call as he placed the phone at his ear.
“Lucian wants a report on how Holly’s training is going,” was the greeting.
“And good morning to you too,” Justin growled, silently calculating the time difference in his head. It was just after 10 A.M. back in Toronto. Mortimer would normally be sleeping at this hour. “What are you doing up?”
“Working,” was the grim answer, and then he added pointedly, “We’re really shorthanded here, Bricker.”
“I know,” Justin said on a sigh. “Sorry about that.”
“Don’t be sorry,” Mortimer said. “It’s not like it’s your fault. But I’ll be glad when you’re back. You are coming back, aren’t you?”
Justin considered the question. He really didn’t know the answer. If he managed to convince Holly to be his life mate . . . well, he didn’t know if he would be able to convince her to move to Canada. She was from here, as were both their families. But if he failed at claiming Holly as his life mate, he supposed going back to Canada to work was better than hanging around here in the hopes of catching a glimpse of her.
Running a hand through his hair he admitted, “I don’t know, Mortimer.”
“I was afraid you’d say that.” The other man sighed down the line, cleared his throat and then said, “So a progress report for Lucian?”
“Good,” Justin said quietly. “She’s pretty much learned everything she needs to. I’ve taught her all the important laws and she can bring on and retract her fangs. She can also read minds and tonight we’re going to a club to teach her to control minds and feed.”
“So you’re nearly done,” Mortimer said thoughtfully. “And the wooing?”
Justin’s mouth tightened, but he wasn’t surprised at the question. Mortimer wasn’t just his supervisor, he’d been a Rogue Hunter before being promoted and had been his partner on patrol. They were also friends. Finally, he simply said, “She’s married.”
“Yeah, but surely now that she can read minds it will cause trouble with the marriage,” Mortimer said quietly. “Do you think—?”
“I don’t know,” Justin interrupted unhappily. “I just don’t know, Mortimer. She’s receptive in the shared dreams, but the woman is as stubborn as hell. She’s definitely determined to stay married when she’s awake.”
“She’s responsive in the dreams though?” Mortimer asked, and Justin could hear the frown in his voice.
“Yeah. Very,” he assured him. “A wildcat.”
There was silence for a minute and then Mortimer asked, “Does she know the dreams are shared?”
“What?” he asked with surprise.
“Have you explained about shared dreams? Or does she just think she’s having them herself?” Mortimer explained. “Because it doesn’t make sense that she’d be so receptive, as you put it, in the dreams but so determined when awake. I mean I’d think she’d be a little resistant in the dreams too if she knew she was sharing them with you.”
Justin stilled, trying to recall if he’d explained about shared dreams to her. He was pretty sure he hadn’t. In fact, the thought now of doing so was rather alarming. If he explained about them to her and she did become resistant . . . he’d lose the only part of her he had.
“No, I don’t think she knows that,” Justin admitted quietly.
“It might help if you told her they were shared, Bricker,” Mortimer said quietly.
“Or she might start resisting me in the dreams too,” he pointed out.
“She might,” he acknowledged. “But she will also have to reexamine herself and her feelings and acknowledge that she’s attracted to you at least. Then, when the marriage fails . . .”
“If the marriage fails,” Justin said grimly.
“Just think about it,” Mortimer suggested.
“Yeah,” he muttered.
They talked for a few more minutes, with Mortimer updating him on what was going on back in Canada, and then ended the call. Justin stared at his phone for several minutes before setting it down. He then grabbed the bottle of water, opened it, and quickly drank half. If the next couple hours went as it usually did when he shared dreams with Holly, he was going to need the liquid.
Smiling faintly at the thought, Justin reached up to remove the clamp from the IV bag to allow the liquid to start to flow. He then got carefully back under the covers, already thinking about where he should take Holly in their shared dream this time.