Page 39 of Queen Takes Knights
I had to know. I slid a finger deeper and found wetness. Not her desire, though. My skin knew her blood. Cells in my fingers were already eagerly trying to absorb her essence, her blood, her power through osmosis.
Fuck.
I swept her up against me and sent Daire an urgent warning.:Get the fucking car.:
I didn’t stop to look for him, but raced for the exit, ignoring the fire alarm that sounded. Tires screeched as the Jaguar came tearing down the alley, slowing only enough for me to jump in. In moments, we were a red blur racing down the freeway.
Shaking, I held her on my lap, fighting back my urges. These urges went way beyond desire and sex to animalistic mating. No wonder I’d been on edge all fucking day. No wonder I wanted to tear even Daire limb from limb. And no wonder she’d been so anxious about staying out after dark.
“Sorry,” she whispered, in a small voice that fucking wrecked me.
I tipped her face up and pressed my forehead to hers. “Don’t you ever apologize for something you have no control over.”
“But this is bad, right? The monsters are worse than ever when I have my period.”
My throat felt like I’d swallowed razor blades. “It’s a fucking miracle you lived through a single period, Shara. I mean it. This is not a regular occurrence for Aima females. I had no idea you were menstruating or I never would have suggested a trip outside your house. We need a nest more than ever.”
“How often do you bleed?” Daire asked from the driver’s seat.
She blew out a sigh. “Every fucking month. That’s why I moved so often. I’d run during the day and find a new place to hole up for the night, but when I’m bleeding, no place is safe for more than a few hours.”
“Every month?” Daire sounded like I’d wrapped a fist around his throat and was slowly choking him to death. “Fuck. Rik, how…? I can’t…?”
“Yeah.” I carefully set her off me onto the seat so we weren’t touching. Or I was going to be buried to the hilt right here in her mother’s car. “Quick Aima biology lesson. We’re vampires, right? So you can imagine what blood is doing to us.”
“Even…thatblood?”
I had to breathe deeply, counting to ten. My head kept turning toward her, my body trying to turn in the seat, reach for her, touch her. It was absolutely involuntary. I flattened my palms on my thighs and focused on my hands…
Mistake. Huge. Because I could see her blood on my right hand. The only thing that kept me from licking it off and coming like a hurricane all over her was the unease and hint of disgust in her voice. “Yes. Even more so. Because that means you’re fertile.”
“Aima women don’t have regular periods.” Daire seemed to be faring a little better than me—but he had to have the gas pedal pressed to the floor as fast as we were flying. “When they’re ready to conceive a child, they go into heat and bleed. That’s their bodies’ way of attracting Aima males. As a queen, your blood is already a heady aphrodisiac that carries all the nuclear punch of Isis’s legacy. Now add in menstrual heat, and we’re going to fucking lose our minds, Shara. Seriously, I don’t know how we’re going to survive.”
Sweat trickled down my forehead and my hands throbbed from gripping my own thighs. “Let alone monthly.”
Daire let out a sound suspiciously like a whimper.
“I’m half human though,” Shara said, her voice quivering. “Human women are glad when they get their period—that means they’renotpregnant.” Her breath caught and her voice elevated an octave. “Does that mean I could get pregnant? Now? Or does it mean I’m human enough that I’mnotpregnant? I love you guys, but I so do not want a baby right now.”
My breathing was quickly becoming a desperate wheeze. “That. Would be. Disastrous.”
“No nest,” Daire ground out. “Fuck. We are so screwed. We need help, Rik. Bad.”
For the first time since finding our queen, I suddenly wished we weren’t alone. Because he was absolutely correct.
We were fucked.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Shara
The more freaked out my men became, the more I wanted to laugh. Even though I was scared shitless. If these two magnificent, powerful men were scared, I was fucking terrified.
I reached down and felt around in my jeans Daire had tossed in earlier to find the phone Gina had given me.
“Your Majesty,” Gina answered immediately. “How may I be of assistance?”
“I need to see a doctor. That we can trust, who knows about our kind.”
