Page 7 of Vampire's Choice

Lord Brian ran the research centers in Savannah and Berlin, studying the strengths and weaknesses of vampire kind, helping to contribute to their survival. Even so, he hadn’t been able to predict when Ruth’s development would cease. His best guess was during her second century. Most vampires continued to strengthen as they aged, enhancing their ability to survive and prosper.

“She is not the first to have the issue,” Brian had told them. “I will not tell you his identity, but there is one well-placed vampire, four centuries old, who has adapted and so far overcome the issue by developing his wits and intelligence. Cultivate those traits in her.”

“If only I hadn’t been so determined not to tell anyone.” Elisa’s voice had that broken note Mal wouldn’t tolerate.

He lifted her chin. Catriona had told Mal his servant’s faceted eyes were the color of indicolite, a tourmaline. Adan’s Fae servant and mate had given Elisa a necklace with them once as a birthday gift, proving it. Except Elisa’s eyes had even more facets, thanks to all the emotions that brought them to life.

Her thick brown hair was clipped back, but it clustered in silken waves around her face, tempting him to pull the clip loose so he could spool those locks around his fingers, ease the tightness of her soft lips.

“No. That choice was mine,” he told her. “I forbade you to tell anyone about the pregnancy, especially once we realized you were carrying two babies. I knew it would make you a target for other vampires. They would have tried to take you, cut the babies out of you when they were ready, so they could have them.”

As he thought of such vampires, his grip tightened. If any of them had come after Elisa, Mal would have done anything to stop them. And it wouldn’t have been enough.

The shadows that replaced the fire in his heart clung to his next words. “I could only protect you so much here. It was my decision, Elisa. Our daughter paid the price for it.”

“No.” Elisa pulled herself out of her own castigation. “You didn’t know what would happen. And you did permit me to tell Lady Danny, when I became worried at what I was sensing.”

Lady Danny was the only other vampire he’d known to have come from a twin birthing. As soon as she’d heard Elisa was carrying twins, she alerted them to the danger they’d never thought to consider.

Better late than never.

Ruth had been a frail child who’d given them a lot of harrowing moments during those first few years. But she’d pulled through.

Because they were honest with their children, Mal and Elisa had struggled with the decision they’d ultimately made, not to tell Adan and Ruth why Ruth had been born so much weaker than her brother. They saw no purpose to it.

His Irish flower, his atsilusgi, put a hand on Mal’s arm. “Her Da looks after her and loves her,” she said staunchly. “He would do anything to protect her. Just as your dear mother did for you, God rest her.”

A sore point, but one that hit the right target. His mother had sacrificed her life for him on the Trail of Tears.

“Right, then.” Elisa squared her shoulders. “So Ruth will be joining the Circus and protect a lass who needs protection. Sounds like a fine adventure.”

Day to day, Elisa had educated Brit and a touch of Aussie in her accent, because that was how she’d been raised, as a house servant. However, over the years, she’d purposefully reclaimed even more of her Irish heritage, including in her speech. He understood that need.

Mal drew her close, putting his mouth on hers. He made the kiss the kind that took them deep inside one another, where they danced together in a night sky of stars and shared history, love and loss, laughter and tears. All theirs.

When he lifted his head, her hands were curled against his biceps, her fingers stroking the tattoo there of a lioness, batting at feathers inked over the contour of the muscle.

“Just like every cat brought here, we work with what we have and give them the best possible chance of a good outcome. We’ll do the same for Ruth.” He said it for his own benefit, as well as Elisa’s. “I have faith in her. She has her mother’s stubbornness and strength of will.”

Elisa’s eyes twinkled. “Aye. Her mother’s stubborn will.”

With a mock stern look, Mal lifted her onto the split rail and slid his hands under her skirt. Her knees parted for his demanding touch, her blue eyes darkening as he put himself against her. “I’m going to take you right here,” he murmured. “I want to see your eyes reflect the stars, and hear you cry out for me. You are irresistible.”

“That’s what Kohana used to say about Ruth,” Elisa spoke breathlessly as he stroked her clit, and slid several fingers inside her sweet cunt. Ready for him. Always ready for him.

Then there were those gorgeous, full breasts. He’d suckle them until she came for him again.

“Oh…”

“What did he say exactly? Tell me, Elisa.”

He loved to watch her struggle to obey a command in such a moment. Her exasperated look was touched with desperate humor. Her nails dug into his biceps again. “He said the man whose heart Ruth captured would need all the help he could get, to resist her.”

Kohana had been Mal’s second marked servant, for decades the thorn in his side, and his closest friend. He could well imagine the big Lakota Sioux making that wry comment. Mal gave her a dark look. Plus an admonishing pinch for her barely suppressed smile. “One crisis to deal with at a time.”

She was leaving the island.

Ruth’s mind spun like an upended turtle on a busy highway. She needed it to slow down, but after the conversation she’d had with her father, there was little chance of that.

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