He wrapped a hand around the back of her neck and stepped back so he could look in her eyes. “I am an incredibly old vampire, Juliana. I have only gotten that way by being ruthless and self-centered. If I only wanted you for the power our union gives me, I simply would have taken you. I could keep you locked up in a cell in the house, pulling you out only when I had use for you.”
He said it so matter-of-factly, so emotionless, that she didn’t doubt his words were true. Rather, she didn’t doubt he’d try to keep her locked up somewhere. “Good luck with that.”
He tightened his grip on her neck to make sure he had her attention. “Do not doubt what I tell you. If you proved difficult, I could keep you drugged. Your cooperation is not needed to increase my power, only your touch. The very fact that I left should prove to you that I care for you.” His eyes remained locked on hers. “Step back from the situation. Imagine me as every other vampire you know. What would they do to get what they wanted?”
She ran a hand through her hair and sighed. “I’ll think about it and I’ll try to quit thinking the worst of you, okay?”
He smiled. “I couldn’t care less about me. You need to quit thinking the worst of yourself.”
She gasped. “I don’t.”
“Yes, you do. Or you wouldn’t find it so difficult to believe I want you simply because you are you.” He dropped his hand from her neck. “We’ll leave this conversation for now as the others are waiting, but we will return to it.” He led her back into the infirmary.
As soon as they entered the room, her boss and the elemental straightened from where they leaned against the edge of a bed, scowls marring their features. Juliana’s face flamed red and she took a step away from him. He arched a brow wondering where her mind was taking her. No one would think they’d been having sex in the other room. For one thing, they weren’t gone long enough. For another, he hadn’t made her scream. A smile crossed his face at the thought.
“As we were discussing before you two disappeared, did you witness the extraction?” The man’s voice was short and he sounded tired. “Knowing Juliana, there wasn’t a lot of finesse involved. The doctor still can’t get Nathaniel to respond. The more he knows the better.”
She frowned. “I’d like to see how much finesse you manage to have when you’re dealing with a demon-ridden werewolf.”
He gaped at her having heard them, accusation written all over his face. He knew Thomas had given Juliana the blood she needed to heal.
Thomas took his bride’s hand and squeezed it in warning before he spoke. This vampire was beginning to be a nuisance. Thomas needed to see who his sire and coven leader were. If they couldn’t get him in line, Thomas would do the job himself. “Unless I am mistaken, and I am not, the Council has yet to ban the exchange of blood between bed partners.”
The fact that Juliana hadn’t shared his bed in years was irrelevant. She was his mate, and that overrode everything else. Unfortunately, she still didn’t seem to want to share that information with anyone, so he was forced to talk his way around it. He glanced at his bride to find her face an even darker shade of red. She wanted to be healed. This was the price she had to pay.
Her boss looked between them. Finally, he dropped his head forward. “My apologies, my lord.” It was about time the man started to show the proper respect.
He turned to Juliana. “Walker Norris, please explain the process by which you extracted the demon from Walker West.”
The unexpected formality made Thomas frown.
“Well, I shoved him into a pool filled with holy water. The demon poured out of his mouth in cloud form. Not a lot to it.” Irritation sizzled under the surface of his mate’s voice.
“And how did you dispose of the demon?” The words were clipped.
“I sprayed it with a mouthful of holy Irish whiskey then sliced it with my sword,” she said. “It was a screamer. That’s how my ears got busted.”
The lesser vampire was visibly stunned. “Holy Irish whiskey?”
“Don’t ask,” the elemental said with a shake of his head.
She shrugged. “Holy water tastes metallic to me. The whiskey? Not so much.”
Her boss licked his lips and arched his brows. “May I ask why you felt the need to put it in your mouth at all?”
“Because I get a better spray that way, cover more mass. It’s not exactly convenient to carry a squirt bottle around.”
He stared at her for a moment before shaking his head. He started to pace. “I don’t understand why Nathaniel won’t wake up. We can’t find many injuries. Certainly nothing major.”
“Maybe he’s just tired,” she suggested. “He’s been running around in his half form for days.”
“The drugs they’re giving him should override any natural fatigue his body would be feeling. The brain scans indicate that only the deepest parts of his mind are active.”
Thomas cared nothing about the wolf, save he was Juliana’s friend, but he wondered at the wisdom of this modern medicine. What was the harm in letting a patient sleep, letting his body recover at its own speed? Currently a doctor was examining a range of machinery while another took the wolf’s vitals manually. A third sat near his head and held his hand. It seemed a lot of activity for someone that probably just wanted to be left alone.
“He’s hiding,” Juliana said, her voice quiet.
“What?” her boss asked.
“He’s hiding,” she said again. “He probably retreated into his brain when the demon took over and now he either doesn’t realize it’s safe to come out or he’s having trouble making the trip.” She made her way over to the group surrounding her friend. “Hey, Doc? What do the case histories say on host recoveries? I know you’ll have read them all by now.”
The doctor looked up with a frown. He cupped Juliana’s face in his hand and turned her head, shining a light in her ears. “Can you hear already?”
Her face burned again and Thomas chuckled. Knowing his bride, she was cursing her fair complexion right about then.
“Yep. All better,” she said, not giving any further explanation.
“Turn around so I can see your back.”
She turned so the doctor could complete his examination. The man lifted her shirt and ran fingers over the now unmarred flesh.
“This is incredibly quick healing, even for you. And there’s not even a scar.” When he continued to run his fingers over the skin, looking for any imperfection, Thomas made his way quietly to the other side of the room.
“Is there some way I may be of assistance?” he asked, stepping in front of them.
Juliana bit her lip and he could see the amusement in her eyes. “He’s the doctor, Thomas.”
He arched a brow. “Indeed. I assure you that you will find no trace of injury, doctor. My blood is rather potent.”
The man’s hand quit moving. “Your blood? But I thought... Oh, I see.” Finally, he lowered her shirt and stepped back. “I was merely checking on the welfare of my patient.”
“Of course you were, Doc, and I appreciate it. Now case studies. What do you know?” Juliana asked.
“Not a lot unfortunately.” He tugged on his goatee and leaned against the wall. “You know most of the hosts don’t recover. I’ve found three where the host came around completely.” He gestured to large, cluttered desk at the side of the room.
Juliana moved over to Doc’s desk and snatched up the papers on top of the pile. Three hosts all fully recovered. The first was a selkie from Alaska. He’d plunged into the Arctic Ocean after the demon left him and immediately came to. The second was a light fae that had been in the middle of a fire when the demon fled. The heat and flames had apparently woken the host up. And last was a human that fell off a building. By the time he landed on the jump cushion the fire department had set up on the street, he was himself again.