“I can’t lose another medic. They’re too hard to find. Get another virgin.” And seriously? She was a virgin? No . . . way. Then again, it would explain a lot. Like the pesky purity and innocence he’d been sensing.
“A sacrifice means nothing if it isn’t important. She’s important to this club, and therefore, perfect.” Fade lowered his voice to a dark, dangerous rumble. “There will be no more discussion on the matter, but to make sure you don’t fuck me over, I’m sending Budag to keep an eye on you. After you secure the site, you will return there with her and torture her to death.”
Since the demon wouldn’t be swayed, Nate’s only choice was to play along. For now. “As you wish.”
If Fade got his way, Lena would be dead next week. But he wasn’t going to get his way. Nate was. As soon as Nate returned from his trip, he’d make sure Lena couldn’t be sacrificed.
Because she’d no longer be a virgin.
Chapter 7
Lena had been employed at Thirst for four days now, and her time here had turned out to be a bust. Nate had gone missing, the door to his office locked so she couldn’t explore whatever lay behind the wine rack, and aside from that creepy Fade guy lurking around with a seemingly keen interest in her, she hadn’t uncovered anything even remotely unusual. Nate and Marsden ran a tight ship, and anyone who broke rules, from employees to patrons, paid the price. They didn’t even allow drugs in the place, which, according to Shade and Wraith, wasn’t normal for a place like this.
Something else that she didn’t think was normal was the way Marsden hovered, appearing out of nowhere to run interference when Fade got too close to her. Nate’s assistant also made sure she had everything she needed, and once, he even asked if she liked hamburgers. If she hadn’t been here in an undercover capacity, she’d actually enjoy working in the club.
Then there was the package Marsden had delivered a few minutes ago. She’d opened it, thinking it contained medical supplies. Her eyes had stung at the sight of the new stethoscope inside . . . an extremely expensive stethoscope with a gold-plated chestpiece and eartubes. There was no note, but she knew the gift was Nate’s doing, and his act of generosity leveled her. He understood her silly attachment to the one that had belonged to her father, knew that if she bought one, it would almost feel like a betrayal.
Nate had saved her that pain, and she was having a hard time holding onto her belief that he could be the monster she’d initially believed him to be.
“Nice necklace you have there.” Con, a blond vampire mated to Eidolon’s sister, Sin, stood in the doorway to the medical office, one shoulder propped against the doorjamb. All of the Sem brothers, as well as Sin, had come to check on her, and Eidolon called her every day when she was at home. Today Con had drawn check-on-Lena duty.
Lena smiled down at her new stethoscope. “Standard issue around here.”
“Uh-huh.” Con let out a dubious snort. “Even E doesn’t have one like that. You selling organs on the black market or something?”
“It’s not that expensive.” She looked up from disinfecting the exam table that had been bloodied by yet another drunk idiot who picked fights with bigger guys. “And I don’t need a babysitter. I’m doing fine by myself.”
Her father might have kept her completely secluded and sheltered, but in the nearly three years since his death, she’d gained some healthy independence. She’d forced herself to try new things and go to new places, and she hadn’t regretted a minute of it. Activities that appeared scary were never as bad as she’d thought, and she’d even done the human club thing with her roommate once. She hadn’t gotten brave enough to hit an underworld club yet, but after seeing how Thirst was run, she was ready to give it a try.
“I’m not babysitting,” Con said. “Just checking on you. We all wish we had more time to devote to this, but with the way the underworld is churning . . .”
He didn’t have to say anything else. The world was on the verge of Armageddon, and there were a lot more important things to deal with than a fight club that was only one of hundreds, maybe thousands.
“I get it,” she said. “I appreciate all your help.”
“Yeah, well, we might have something for you soon. Wraith is looking into whatever Gladius is. He sent a message just before I got here. Said he has a lead, asked for an hour to squeeze some dude for info, but he indicated that this is the break you need.”
Con’s news should have put her on the moon, but instead, all she felt was dread. As much as she wanted to find those responsible for killing her brother, she wanted Nate to not be one of them.
She pasted on a smile. “Great. Can’t wait.”
Con’s keen ears must have picked up the sound of footsteps, because he said quickly, “We want you back at UG. Eidolon will give you a raise.”
“I’ll match it and add 20 percent,” Nate said from behind Con, and her heart gave a little flutter. The stupid thing seemed to have missed him.
“We want her back,” Con said, not missing a beat.
Nate stepped inside the medic office, his blue-black hair gleaming under the harsh lights. “She’s mine.”
Con cocked a tawny eyebrow. “Yours?”
“Thirst’s,” Nate ground out. “I’ve come to promote her, in fact.”
“Is that so? Convenient timing.”
Nate’s ebony brows slammed down over eyes that darkened dangerously. “It’s my club. My timing conveniences me, and me alone. When I want something, I get it.” He shifted his gaze to her, and his eyes darkened more. “And I want her.”
There was no mistaking the heat banked behind those long lashes, and Lena’s breath caught. No male had ever looked at her the way Nate did, and she liked it.
Con, however, did not. He went taut, as if preparing to defend her, his silver eyes flashing like razor blades, but quickly, she put herself between them with a casual smile and took Con’s forearm.
“I’ll walk you out,” she said cheerily. “It was nice of you to stop by. Tell Eidolon I’ll consider his offer.”
A barely audible rumble sounded behind her, and a tingle of pleasure skittered over her skin at the possessive quality of Nate’s growl. Even if he only wanted her for the club, it was nice to be valued. Oh, she knew that UG valued her, but here she had fewer supervisors and more autonomy. It was . . . cool.
Remember why you’re here, idiot. Vaughn is dead. Right. Talk about a cold splash of water.
Con stopped at the doorway. “It’s okay, Lena. I can find my own way out.” His gaze shifted to Nate, and he bared his fangs before returning to her. “Just take care of yourself. If you need anything—” once again, he gave Nate the you’re-dead-if-you-harm-her look “—anything at all, you know to call.”
“I know.” She went up on her toes to kiss him on the cheek. “And thank you.”
Con strode away, and when she turned back to Nate, once again, her breath was stolen from her lungs. Dressed in faded jeans and a navy T-shirt that clung to every sculpted muscle like shrink-wrap, he stood next to the exam table, his black mane cascading down his back and around his shoulders in a shimmering waterfall, his big body vibrating with lethal power. He was . . . magnificent.
“Is he your lover?” Nate’s voice was deep, husky, and she shivered with feminine appreciation.
“Hardly. He’s mated to my boss’s sister.”
“I’m your boss.”
Damn. Nice screw-up. “Of course you are. It’s just that I worked there for a long time, and it’s hard to get used to the fact that I’m not there anymore.”
He didn’t look convinced, but he said nothing. Instead, in brutal, heart-pounding silence, he strode to the door and closed it.
The click of the lock was the loudest sound she’d ever heard, and she actually jumped like a twitchy rabbit.
Riveted by curiosity and the mere sight of him, she watched as he wheeled around and closed the distance between them. As he looked down at her, his expression was a curious mix of hunger and regret that she
didn’t understand.
“Now,” he said softly, “we finish what we started in my office.”
Nate was fucking lit. The time he’d spent in the jungle at the site of the new fight club had worked him into a knot of nerves and need. He’d long ago determined that the more primitive the environment, the more his baser instincts surfaced.
It didn’t get more primitive than the South American rain forest.
Thanks to the make-out session in his office with Vladlena before he left, he’d already been coming out of his skin, but then the trip to the steamy jungle jacked him up even more. Standing beneath ancient trees, on soil touched only by beasts as he inhaled the clean, unpolluted air that smelled of rain, plants, and a jaguar that had passed recently, had made him vibrate with pure, animal desire. He’d wanted to hunt, to feed, to mate.
He’d understood the moment he’d set foot on the site why Fade had chosen it. There was an elemental power at play there, and no underworld creature would be able to resist it. A gladiatorial arena placed on the soil would become the demon equivalent of the Roman Colosseum, and with the blood sacrifice to bind evil to it . . . it was conceivable that the land could be claimed in the name of Sheoul—or hell, as humans called it.
The very idea was horrifying, but right now Nate was having trouble concentrating on anything but the female in front of him. He was so aroused, so on fire that he expected to see smoke from the friction of his clothes on his skin. Finding her with that asshole vampire, their relationship so familiar, hadn’t helped. Nate had wanted to destroy the male, deliver his fangs to Vladlena on a necklace, and then rut with her on the very ground where he’d won the battle.
And wasn’t that sexy. He nearly rolled his eyes. Damned jungle had turned him into a caveman.
Running with the caveman thing . . . he got all testosterone-buzzed at the sight of her wearing his gift. It might be a mere stethoscope, but she’d accepted his offering, and for some reason, it made him want to beat his chest and drag her into his lair. Instead, because a sliver of civility had pierced through the jungle haze, he gripped her shoulders and pushed her against the wall. She didn’t protest. Not that he expected her to; the scent of her desire filled the room with her special perfume, ratcheting up his need even more.
But ultimately, this wasn’t about his desperation to get between those toned thighs. This was about saving her from an excruciating death on an altar—a death he was tasked to be responsible for.
No, he couldn’t profess that he didn’t want this for himself—he’d been unnaturally obsessed with Lena since she walked into his office. Even her virginity should have been a turnoff. He’d avoided virgins like their veins ran with holy water instead of blood. But in Lena’s case . . . damn. A purr vibrated his chest at the thought of being her first, of laying claim to her the way no other male had.
Of taking her for his own and keeping her.
Except that couldn’t happen. This would be a one-time thing, because if Fade even suspected that Nate wanted her, she was dead.
Or worse, if Fade found out that Nate had been the one to take her virginity. And Nate was well aware that there could be worse.
Shoving that thought out of his mind, he cupped the back of her head and lowered his mouth to hers. Again, she didn’t fight him. In fact, she opened for him, her hands coming down on his ass to pull him closer. He was already hard—hell, he’d been hard for days—and her soft belly cradled his aching erection with just enough pressure to be considered torture.
Man, he wished he could take his time with her, could ease her into her first time, but the clock was ticking, and when this particular hourglass ran out, so would her life.
Inhaling raggedly, he palmed her fine ass and lifted her so her legs were around his waist and his cock was in contact with her core. They both groaned at the sensation, and as he slid her up and down while rocking into her, her groan turned into a soft cry of pleasure. He spun toward the exam table, because while he couldn’t seduce her properly in a soft bed, he could at least make sure her first time wasn’t against a wall or on the floor.
“Need to be inside you,” he murmured against her lips. “Need to make you scream my name.”
“Yes,” she breathed. Her back arched, and her hot center rubbed him so perfectly, so sweetly, he damn near came right then and there. “Wait . . .” In his arms, she stiffened. “No. I can’t.”
“You don’t have any patience.” He nipped her jaw, then licked the tender skin there. He couldn’t wait to be at her throat, taking her inside him as he moved inside her.
Her palms flattened against his chest, and before he could put her on the table, she writhed hard enough to make him lose his grip, and her feet hit the floor. “I’m not having sex with you.”
“Yes,” he said roughly, “you are.”
He seized her by the waist and hauled her against him, one hand going to her scrub bottoms’ drawstring. The storm of lust gathering inside him intensified, a raging force of nature fueled by the residual stir of the jungle, unquenched thirst for Lena, and a carnal instinct to possess the female he’d had in his sights for days.
Lightning fast, she hauled off and slapped him. “Release me.” She didn’t wait for him to obey. With a surprisingly vicious stomp on his foot, she threw herself backwards, crashing into the supply tray and knocking metal instruments everywhere.
She didn’t get far. “Dammit, woman!” He caught her around the torso and pinned her between his body and a cabinet.
Son of a bitch. This couldn’t have gone worse, but it was too late to turn on the charm, and he knew it. He’d never forced a female in his life, and he wouldn’t cross that line now. But he’d do what he had to in order to save her life. Steeling himself for her response to what was going to be the most dickheaded thing he’d ever said or done, he wrapped his fingers around her throat and bared his fangs.
“You’ll sleep with me, or you’re fired.”
Her throat convulsed beneath his fingers and her eyes shot wide open. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me. Fuck or flee. Your choice.”
She began to tremble, and gods, he felt like a bastard. “You . . . asshole.”
“Guess that’s your answer.” He released her and stepped back. “Pack your shit, turn in your uniform, and never come back to this place. Do you understand me, Lena? Never, ever return.” He wheeled around and yanked open the door, stopping when a miscellany of medical supplies pelted his back.
“Go to hell, Nathan.” She beaned him with her stethoscope, which fell to the floor next to his feet, sprawled like a dead snake. “Go. To. Hell.”
Not a problem, he thought, as he exited the office. He was already there.
Chapter 8
Vladlena stood in the medical office like a dolt, stunned to the core. Dangling from her fingers were the set of keys she’d lifted off Nate when she’d realized what he wanted from her and how serious he was about getting it.
What didn’t sit well with her was the sickening knowledge that had she been able to have sex with him, she would have. He wouldn’t even have had to threaten her. She’d have been his for the taking.
Gods, she was an idiot.
She looked around at the supplies scattered on the floor, some of them a result of her clumsiness, some from hurling them at Nate. How could he have turned into such a coldhearted bastard like that? The answer smacked her upside the head with a big, fat, duh-stick. What else had she expected from someone who was most likely pitting fighters against each other in death matches?
The reality was a welcome cold fist to the solar plexus. Anger and hurt collided, but panic quickly overshadowed the mix. She was out of time. If she didn’t find the fight club now, she never would.
Eschewing stealth, she crossed the dance floor, stalked down the hall to Nate’s office, and knocked loudly. No answer. She tried the door. Unlocked. So she didn’t need his keys after all.
She placed them on the desk, but before she did anything stupid,
she made a quick call to Underworld General and left a message with the triage nurse. After hanging up, she tripped the secret door. It swung open with no more sound than a whisper of air, revealing exactly what she’d both hoped and dreaded to find; a passageway.
She took one deep, bracing breath, and started down the stairs.
At the base, she became aware of her surroundings, that they were nothing but a cold, claustrophobic tunnel of cement and stone. As she walked, the sound of cheers rose up, growing louder, until she couldn’t hear herself think, but she could definitely feel her stomach churning.
It was real. It was all real, and Nate, that . . . that . . . dick . . . was smack dab in the middle of it all.
Rounding a corner, she caught sight of an opening ahead. A mass of bodies blocked her view of whatever was beyond, but if the snarls, growls, and grotesque wet thumps were any indication, she’d found the fight club. Unwelcome visions of her brother being in the middle of all this assaulted her brain, and she squeezed her eyes closed and halted for just a moment.
Get it together . . .
She started moving again, pushing her leaden feet forward, and too late she noticed the two sentries standing just outside the entrance. Her heart tripped over itself, and so did her feet, but thankfully, even as she fell forward out of the tunnel, one of the big males merely grabbed her, smiled, and released her into the crowd. Apparently, they were there to prevent people from entering the tunnel, not leaving it.
The air was ripe with the scent of blood, lust, and fury. Quickly but carefully, she eased through the crowd, searching for the public entrance. Once she found that, she could get the hell out of here and back to Underworld General to report the location—
A hand came down on her shoulder, and she whirled, drew a harsh, startled breath when she came face to face with Fade, whose eyes were glowing crimson.
“You don’t belong here, little girl,” he grated.