Anticipating, Chapter 26

(Hands, aka: One Very, Very, Very Long Evening…Part B)

 

In one quick move, Cara turned from the counter and pressed a long sharp knife against Anderson’s throat.  He immediately stilled and his eyes bulged as a thin line of blood seeped from his skin.  His hand still clawed into her shoulder.

“I would suggest you remove your hand before I remove your insolent head, jackass.  Understand?”  He gulped carefully.

Cara pressed the knife a bit further into his flesh and repeated, “Understand?”

Unholy glee lit Godric’s face.

“Yes…ma’am,” the stunned Were whimpered as he slowly removed his hand.  The motions encouraged more blood to seep from the shallow cut to his neck.

“Sarah, you ok?”

The female Were huffed, then replied, “Yeah, I’m fine.  You?”

“Peaches and sunshine, honey.  Can you call the guards and have them notify DesChamps en route?  It seems we have a potential situation.”

Sarah grabbed her phone and immediately dialed the Mark’s number, then asked, “Potential?”

Cara laughed, and it was not a pretty sound.  “His head may potentially land on the floor, and what a fucking mess that’ll make.”

Godric was ecstatic with relief.  What an amazing mate she would be!  He was still in full temper, but seeing his Cara so ably defend herself from the insolent pup was…arousing, to say the least.

Sarah laughed appreciatively then started talking when Mark answered.  After a quick word with him, she hung up so he could then call his packmaster as he and Elise hurried to the house.  Cara maintained both the stare-down and the knife’s position.  Anderson barely dared to breathe as blood slowly ran down his neck.  Godric paced and seriously considered installing light-tight shutters in the main living areas of the house.

After Sarah hung up, Cara asked her to locate either zip ties or duct tape, or both.  After some duct tape finally appeared, she had Sarah bind his ankles, knees, wrists, and mouth very, very securely.  Afterward, Cara calmly knocked him out by smashing a ceramic platter over his head.  She said he would be easier to care for that way.   They left him where he landed.

Mark and Elise arrived less than two minutes later to take over a different sort of guard duty.  The guards decided the unconscious Anderson would be less bothersome in the laundry room off the kitchen, so they moved him there.  His landing was none-too-gentle.  They each made themselves something to drink then took up their unexpected posts.

Cara washed her hands and popped some ibuprofen…her shoulder was throbbing.  She then bleached the bloody knife, and resumed preparing the salad.  Sarah washed her hands and popped some painkillers, too.  She had landed hard against the woodwork.  Then she put the bread on to broil and proceeded to watch it carefully.  Non-garlic garlic bread can burn in an instant regardless of unconscious insane Weres.

Godric tested the bond and was surprised to find Cara in a predominantly peaceful, happy mood.  Her anger was still evident, but she appeared to be well.   He would find out more later.  He then heated and downed two bottles of the fetid blood substitute.  It was going to be a long evening.

After the salad and bread were prepared, the ladies gratefully sat down for a break.  Sarah quietly piped up.  “Cara, you do know that if you were to allow Mr. Godric to claim you publically, things like this wouldn’t happen, right?  With his reputation, no one would dare even look at you wrong, much less harass you.  And from what I’ve seen, I definitely think he’s got claiming you on the mind.”

Godric swiveled his head around to stare at the screen.  This…could get good.

“Claim?”  Cara was confused.  “What does that mean?”

Sarah laughed, a low, feminine sound showing her understanding of such things.  “As a Were, there are a lot of vampire things I don’t know, but I do know this.  To supes in general, and especially vampires, claiming means much more than the human boyfriend/girlfriend relationship.  A claiming isn’t as strong as a pledging, or a strong bonding, but it carries a lot of weight in the supe world.  Simply put, it means that only he would have the right to your blood and sex, and that he would have the right and obligation to protect and care for you.”

Cara blushed scarlet and stared intently at her coffee cup.  “Ok, I get the sex part, and maybe the blood part too, but…clarify the rest please?”

The female Were explained, “Ok, if a vampire were to come in here tonight and take a liking to you, he could claim you and technically there’s nothing any of the other vampires here could do about it.  No one in their right mind would try, of course, since Mr. Godric is one of the oldest and strongest vampires in the world, but still, technically they could.  If Mr. Godric claims you, and you then carry his scent, you would be safe from any other vampire or supe in the world having anything untoward to do with you since you would be considered ‘his’.  Bothering you would carry penalties up to final death.”

Godric knew it was not exactly that simple, although as a brief explanation, it would do.  But, somehow, he just knew…oh, yeah…the bond.  In 3…2…

“His?  What do you mean I’d be considered ‘his’??”  Cara was fairly certain she didn’t like that part.

Godric smirked, relieved he was not on the receiving end of that temper.  Yet.

Sarah just laughed.  “Yup.  If a vampire claims you, to the supe world you really are considered ‘theirs’.  I don’t think it’s quite like being considered personal property or whatever, but yeah, it’s pretty old-fashioned.  But then, most supe customs are old-fashioned.”

“Gaaagh!  Sounds like it.”  Cara tried her best to stifle the little voice in her heart whispering that maybe it would be kind of  nice to be considered ‘his’…so long as the ‘he’ in question was Godric…

Unbeknownst to her, the bond was telling Godric exactly the same thing.

Sarah allowed her to ponder this new information as they puttered around the kitchen.

About ten minutes later, the sun finally set, and Godric appeared. DesChamps rang the doorbell a moment afterward.  Elise came from the laundry room to let him in.

Godric did an excellent job of feigning surprise at the stench of Were blood hanging in the air.  His partially retracted fangs fell.

His eyes flew to Cara, “Why do I smell Were blood?  What has happened, ma petite?”

Even as he growled his words, he obeyed his instinct and gathered Cara in his arms to inspect for damages.  Logically he knew she was fine – had seen so with his own eyes – but instinct has little to do with logic in times such as these.

He sniffed – Were stench befouled his lovely Cara, and it was all he could do to not carry her off to his quarters, strip her down, and rub his own scent all over her body.  The urge to mark was strong, but the time was not yet come to claim her as he intended.

Cara tried not to let his roaming hands distract her, but it wasn’t easy.  He seemed to concentrate his touch on her shoulder where Anderson had grabbed her.  She didn’t mind a bit…the memory of Anderson’s touch was disgusting.  She raised her hands to his chest in an effort to calm him.

“Oh, everything’s ok now.  Anderson was an ass, so I kind of cut him.  He’s in the laundry room.  You’re out of duct tape, by the way,” Cara calmly added.

Godric laughed.  He couldn’t help it.  His fangs were out, snarls were still threatening to erupt, and yet…he laughed.  She had such a way about her.  He tilted his forehead to meet hers.

“My love, you must tell me what you have done with the duct tape and why you cut that insolent Were.  Please use lots of words…I wish to hear them all.”

Everyone laughed, albeit a bit nervously.  They were fully aware of just how much damage an enraged vampire could do…especially Godric.

Cara laughed, then snuggled closer.  She couldn’t help it; Anderson had truly freaked her out and the controlled stability of Godric felt so damn good.  He seemed to instinctively know this because he immediately hugged her tighter and tucked her head into his shoulder.

She took a deep breath of his scent, then explained, “Anderson is in the laundry room benefiting from the duct tape.  Earlier this afternoon he came in the kitchen all cocky and insulting, then he got mad at me because I wouldn’t flirt with him.  He was really weird – he kept getting worse and worse!  He raised his hand to hit me and…”  Her explanation was interrupted by a chorus of growls from Godric, DesChamps, Elise, and Mark, who made his opinion known from the laundry room.

Godric held her so tight she almost couldn’t breathe.  She started rubbing her hands over his back to try to soothe some of his fury.  It surprised her just how furious he was over such a small thing; she wasn’t used to people being angry on her behalf.  Godric silently noted her surprise.

She cleared her throat.  “I, um, I had a feeling he was going to try something, so I had the knife I was using ready just in case, and sure enough, he let his stupid shine through.  He came at me, and Sarah tackled him.”  Cara looked over at DesChamps.  “Sarah really stepped up, DesChamps.  She’d make an awesome body guard!”  Sarah flushed with pleasure.

“Then, after he slung her off, he came back up and grabbed me so I held the knife up to his throat and made him stop.  I kind of let him bleed a little in the process.” she finished hurriedly.

“That son of a bitch!”  DesChamps was pissed.

Cara was surprised.  She leaned away as far as the ancient vampire would allow and spoke to the packmaster.  “You’re not mad at me?  I did kind of cut him some…”

The glare Godric gave DesChamps told DesChamps that he’d best not be displeased with his woman.

“No, Cara, not at all.  It’s Anderson who’s going to pay.  He had no right to lay a finger on you.”

Sarah spoke up.  “No, sir, he sure didn’t.  Cara had him backed down before I even had a chance to get back up – she’s that quick!  But he certainly deserved it.  He was acting awfully weird.”

Cara giggled.  Godric raised a brow at her not-very-contrite face as she gazed into his still-fiery blue eyes.  “I kind of broke a platter over his head.  It might have been overkill, but I didn’t want to risk him shifting.  Well, and it was fun, too.”  She shrugged her shoulders, then winced as the motion brought back the ache in full force.

Godric instantly noticed.  He had seen the Were grab her shoulder, but did not realize he had hurt her.  “You hurt!”

She grimaced, then said, “A little.  When he grabbed my shoulder, he dug his fingers and nails in.  I took some Advil; it’ll be ok if I’d just quit moving it.”

Godric was torn between demanding to see the wound and killing that damn Were.

Cara raised her other hand to cup his cheek.  “I’m ok.  Really.”

He stilled for a moment, then focused intently on her shoulder.  “Anderson drew first blood,” he growled.  Sure enough, a small drop of blood had seeped through her top and left a tiny stain.

He met DesChamps eyes and both males nodded.

They all heard Anderson suddenly start banging around the laundry room like a large booted worm.  Godric’s not-fully-retracted fangs snicked back out and with a snarl he was gone.  All the supes in the kitchen looked to see the reaction of the only human in the room.  The human just lightly shrugged and started making a pitcher of iced tea.  She figured the Were deserved some quality time with the ancient vampire.

The sounds soon coming from the laundry room indicated a need for new appliances.

When Godric arrived in the laundry room, he nodded dismissal to Mark, who had been guarding Anderson.  Mark closed the door to the room, and sat at the kitchen table.  Judging by the look on the vampire’s face, he wouldn’t be through any time soon.

For a long moment, Godric simply locked eyes with the deranged Were.  His first instinct was to break every bone in the mutt’s body, then end him.  But…Cara said the Were was acting “weird”, and he had to agree.  From his own observations the situation had escalated too quickly.  Interesting.

He would follow his first instinct, but he would allow the insolent beast to live for now.   He would explore the likely causes of such behavior…while his bones healed.  The bastard had been insolent toward Cara since the first moment he met her.  Such disrespect toward his future mate would not be tolerated.  He bent to remove the duct tape.

Fifteen minutes later, a rather satisfied Godric emerged from the former laundry room.  He had left the bastard alive, barely, but had very much enjoyed breaking every large bone in his body.  He also seriously doubted the dog’s ability to further his species.  And he knew at least one cause of the Were’s belligerent behavior.  He would need to speak with DesChamps soon.

Suddenly, though, he was anxious about Cara’s reaction to that side of his nature.  Self-defense she could understand; retribution, he feared, would be foreign to her.  There was no way her innate kindness would allow her to understand, much less appreciate, the instincts that defined his most basic behaviors.  He kept his eyes lowered as he approached her; he dreaded to see the look on her face but needed to start on damage control immediately.

A warmed bottle of disgusting blood substitute appeared in his line of sight.  Startled, he glanced up, and melted into Cara’s warm, sweet gaze.

Cara of course knew the instant Godric exited the former laundry room.  From all the noise she’d heard, she wondered if Anderson still lived, but found she didn’t much care.  When she looked over at Godric, she figured he’d be Mr. Happy Macho Vampire Dude; she didn’t expect him to appear…anxious?  Worried?  Then she realized that all the other supes in the kitchen were surreptitiously watching her…like they were gauging her reaction?  Huh?  Weird.

She couldn’t figure out what he was so down about, but, according to all the noise she’d heard, he’d spent a bit of energy, so she heated him up a blood.  Maybe he was just tired.

His eyes were so full of relief when they met hers; so full of relief and awe and warmth and something she refused to classify.  He accepted the bottle then placed it on the counter, and pulled her into his arms.  One moment she was standing on her own, the next she was pressed into the counter by a very happy, very horny vampire determined to slowly count every one of her teeth.  Thrice.

His hands skimmed over her ass then one hand cradled the back of her neck while he deepened the kiss.  His other hand held her tightly to him as his tongue plunged slowly, over and over.

She groaned quietly as she slid one hand into his hair and moved the other one to lightly trace his ear.  His growled his pleasure and ground his arousal into the receptive warmth of her body.

Sensing things were about to get out of hand, DesChamps loudly cleared his throat and asked Sarah for something to drink.

Totally ignoring the appreciative snickers from the Were contingent, Godric eased back from the kiss to gaze into Cara’s flushed face.  His burning blue eyes dilated a bit when she licked her kiss-swollen lips but when she would have lowered her head shyly, he tipped her chin up and stroked her cheek.

“Ah, Cara-mia, you astound me to no end.”  His countenance radiated sheer joyous relief.  Bemused, she smiled sweetly at him and blushed.

DesChamps morosely inhaled the delicious aroma of the lasagna, then loudly stated that he might as well tend to the trash.

Cara cleared her throat and suggested leaving the trash in the wrecked laundry room till after dinner.  Everyone, especially DesChamps, readily agreed.

Noticing Godric’s intent focus on Cara, Sarah offered to serve dinner herself and suggested the other woman take a break.   Godric agreed on Cara’s behalf, and immediately scooped her up in his arms without giving her time to protest.  He smugly sat on a sofa in the den with her safely ensconced on his lap.  He needed the extended contact after the upheavals of the afternoon.

At her surprised squeal and subsequent glare, Godric stated quite firmly, “What?  As if you would have voluntarily taken the break you needed?”

She snorted.  “Looks like we’ll never know, now will we.”  Then she giggled and relaxed back into his hard chest and strong arms.  She needed the peaceful shelter she found only in Godric’s arms more than she cared to admit.

A few minutes later Isabel and Scott, then Ryan and Alaric, arrived along with the rest of the Weres coming for dinner.  Everyone immediately noticed the atmosphere in the common rooms, the slight but lingering stench of spilled Were blood, and the ancient vampire sitting on the sofa with his human in his lap.  The last part surprised them least.

Easily countering Cara’s sudden half-hearted, semi-embarrassed efforts to rise from his lap, Godric briefly covered the events of the afternoon to the newcomers.  Isabel was livid, and Scott, Ryan and Alaric weren’t far behind.  The Weres were angry and looked to their packmaster for instruction.  Cara blushed.  Her squirming had produced unanticipated results in Godric’s lap.

Sensing her friend’s discomfort but unaware of the exact cause, Sarah made her a cup of coffee and brought it over to her.  Cara was very much appreciative.  She took a good sip, and sighed.  She then slowly, and with somewhat more movement than necessary, leaned forward farther than required to put the cup down on the low table in front of the sofa.

In silent retribution, Godric repositioned her to sit sideways on his lap.  He then proceeded to lightly ghost his fingers up and down Cara’s arm and thigh while speaking to his vampires about the Were problem, Cara’s need to visit her apartment, and then generic Council business.

It wasn’t very long until Cara truly relaxed into Godric’s light embrace.  The rumble of his chest under her ear was surprisingly comforting…his light stroking of her arm and thigh so soothing…soon she was lightly dozing up against him as the afternoon’s stress slowly receded.  He could not have been more pleased with her response, especially as it enabled her to miss DesChamps eventually dragging the bleeding, battered Were out the back door.

About an hour later, and all too soon in his opinion, Godric had to get up.  He needed to go to his study and finish that night’s business so they could get on with the night’s other plans.  He stroked a finger over the curve of her cheek to wake her up, and smiled softly when she pressed her face further into his chest.  He nosed her hair and inhaled her scent deeply before speaking.

“Come, Cara, wake up, love.”

“Hrumph.”  She chuckled quietly. “But I don’t wanna,” she teasingly protested. She rubbed her nose against his chest, inhaling his scent for a long moment, then slid off his lap to stretch.

He rose with her, then, suddenly more serious, he hooked a finger under her chin to tilt her face up.

“Are you ok, my dear,” he asked quietly.

Cara smiled slightly, and nodded as she flushed under his scrutiny.  “Yeah,” she all-but whispered, “I’m ok.  A little frazzled, but it’s over.  I’ll probably have more nightmares tonight, though.”  She shivered, but smiled to negate any worry.  Godric didn’t buy it for a moment.  “I still need to go to my apartment and see what the Destructo-Weres did.  I’m not looking forward to that,” she said pensively.

“We will go as soon as we finish some business.  Maybe in an hour or so?”  She nodded.  He placed a slow, sweet kiss to her forehead, enjoined her to eat something, then went to his study.

Cara briefly wondered how he knew she hadn’t eaten, but forgot about it as she inhaled some lasagna.  She was worried about her things…she really hoped most of her stuff was ok.

She and Sarah quickly cleaned most of the kitchen, and she eventually convinced Sarah to go home.  While she enjoyed the female Were’s company, she knew she was tired from the events of the day, plus…she liked spending quality time with her iPod, too.  Their relationship had been suffering lately.

The “house vamps”, as she’d mentally started calling them, had one-by-one slowly finished their discussions with Godric and had naturally started gathering in the den.  When Isabel finally left Godric to his own devices in his study, she entered the den to find three sets of amused vampire eyes trained on a slightly-dancing, slightly-off-key-singing Cara in the kitchen.

She had to laugh.  There was just something about her human friend that attracted attention whether she wanted it or not.  A few moments later Godric emerged from his study and immediately noted the other male vampires’ interest in his Cara.  His low growl refocused their attentions elsewhere.

Isabel snickered as she wandered into the kitchen to heat a blood and chat with her friend.  She hadn’t been able to spend nearly enough time with the human she owed so much.

Cara turned and saw Isabel, so she shut her music off and patted the table in invitation to sit and chat.  She wiped her hands, made a cup of coffee, and joined the female vampire.  She also pretended not to notice Godric’s eyes tracking her every move.

“We’ve been so busy I haven’t had a chance to speak with you lately.  How have you been?”  Isabel got the conversational ball rolling.  She was concerned with all the recent events affecting her friend, and…she really wanted to know how things were progressing between the human and her Maker, but didn’t want to be obvious.  From what she herself had seen, things were progressing rather slower than she had first thought.

Isabel also knew well that at least one set of vampire ears was listening in on her conversation.

Cara laughed.  “Well, except for having my apartment ransacked and being manhandled by an ass, fine!”  Isabel snickered with her friend.

“I’m so glad you were here last evening instead of at your place.  Did you sleep well last night?”

“Oh, definitely!  That has got to be the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in.  I really appreciate Godric letting me stay here.  I dread to see what my apartment looks like now.  I’m just thankful there aren’t little bits of me scattered around in it!”

Not everyone appreciated Cara’s dark humor.

Across the den, Godric blatantly eavesdropped on the conversation between his child and the woman who was fast becoming the center of his universe.  He was pleased to see them reconnecting, and gladly delayed their departure to give them more time to chat.

Alaric, Scott, and Ryan were obviously curious about her, but as they knew of his silent claim, they would never encroach on his territory.  He rolled his eyes.  Their eavesdropping was less than subtle.

His phone beeped a text, signaling the completion of Gervaise’s Council errand.  Odd how no one missed his company that evening.  He took a moment to ponder Gervaise’s less than stellar attitude of late, then shrugged.  Gervaise was indeed useful, but also completely expendable.  The churlish vampire had barely been in the same room as Cara since the incident.  Godric preferred it to stay that way.

A little while later, Isabel reluctantly noticed the lateness of the hour and suggested to Cara that they should head on over to her apartment.  After taking a human moment and dashing upstairs to grab her purse, Cara went to the den and was surprised at the number of people there.

Godric was serious when he said that they would go in force.  Godric, Isabel, Alaric, Mark, Elise, Chad, and the Were whose name she never remembered were discussing strategy when she walked up.  The ancient vampire was in full authority mode, determined to have a plan in place just in case of problems.

If it were up to him, he would simply have his vampires pack up everything salvageable from the apartment and move the boxes into his home where Cara could sort through them in safety, but…nothing with Cara would ever be that simple.  He knew she had to go to the apartment for two excellent reasons:  she needed to see the kind of damage their enemies could wreck, and she needed to see that her home was no longer inhabitable.

Regardless of how well she defended herself from Anderson’s unwanted advances and two of the four Weres attacking his child, he had a strong suspicion that she did not take her safety quite seriously enough.  She would not always have the advantage of surprise on her side, and her commendable bravery could easily get her killed…or worse.

He also needed her to come to terms with living in his home permanently.  He was ever more convinced that she was meant for him.  He could not explain it, but the need to have her close, to provide for her care and safety, grew nightly.  The sooner she came to accept living in his home, making it ‘their’ home, the better.

Cara walked over to stand beside Isabel, and when she glanced over, Cara held up her keys and snorted.  “I don’t know what good these are going to do me with no door to unlock.”  Isabel patted her arm in sympathy.

“I don’t believe your keys will help much.  After the Were pack left, Darwin, the vampire watching your apartment last night, arranged your door as best he could.  I understand DesChamps instructed two of his Weres to replace the door today.”

She nodded, and Godric came over and put his arm around her shoulder.  “Ready?”

She leaned into him briefly, exhaled forcefully, then “Yeah, as I’ll ever be I guess.”

A short while later the two large black SUV’s pulled up in front of Cara’s apartment.  Godric asked Cara, who rode with him, Isabel and Alaric, to wait in the vehicle until the area was secured.  She decided to listen to the excellent suggestion and waited nervously with Isabel.

A moment later, DesChamps pulled up and parked behind their vehicle.  He had another Were with him, and they were both carrying boxes.  He tapped the SUV’s window, and Cara cracked the door to speak with him.  “Godric took the keys so I couldn’t roll down the window.  What’s up?”

“We brought some boxes so you could pack some stuff up while you’re here if you want.  It’s pretty bad inside, though, so be warned.”

“I was afraid of that.  Thanks for the boxes – I appreciate it!  Is the coast clear yet?  I’d love to just get this done and over with.”

DesChamps surveyed the area, then motioned for his Were to go in and ask.  A moment later, they got the all clear, so the two females exited the SUV.  Then, much to Cara’s surprise, DesChamps picked her up and rushed her inside.  Chad and the Were who came with DesChamps took up their posts outside.

Cara’s jaw dropped. She took a long, slow look around, truly horrified by the senseless destruction.  Everything in the living room was damaged.  Computer…tv…plants…even the curtains were demolished.  Amazingly, though, her books and notebooks seemed ok.  They were slung around all over the place, but didn’t look ruined.  She grabbed a box and started picking them up when Elise offered to take over.  She thanked her, and ventured into the kitchen.

Pots, pans, dishes, utensils, coffee machine parts, cans of food…the small kitchen was a total mess.  She had no idea a bag of flour could travel so far.

Godric came up behind her and pulled her to his chest as she surveyed the devastation.  He kissed her neck as he wrapped his arms securely around her.  Gratefully she leaned back into his embrace for a long moment.  Once she found her fortitude, she patted his hand, grabbed a box, and started gathering recognizable objects.  At least the Destruco-Weres didn’t take the time to dent the pots or bend the silverware.  The Were she didn’t know silently offered to take over.  Knowing that they were wanting to get through as quickly as possible, she smiled gratefully and left him to it.

Her bedroom was just as bad.  Here, she didn’t even pause, but went back to the kitchen, grabbed a garbage bag, and started gathering her strewn clothing up as fast as she could.  Most of it wasn’t ruined, just scattered all over the place.

A few moments later, Godric entered her now-former bedroom to check on her progress.  She just had to ask, “Did you leave the washer and dryer in one piece?  Looks like I’m going to need them.”

“I will instruct Beck to purchase new ones tomorrow.  They…did not survive.”  He quirked his brow and shrugged.  “They were in the way.”

Cara had to laugh.  She could just imagine the state he left them in.  She knotted the filled trash bag, handed it to Mark to put in the SUV, and in short order had another one filled, knotted and stowed.

Next she filled her laundry basket with shoes and various odds and ends.  Godric caught her attention when she stood back up to survey the room.  With a distinctly measuring look, he ‘solemnly’ held up a pair of her panties…tiny, red, lacy panties.  Face on fire from her blush, she reached to snatch them from his hand…only to see him tuck the offending garment into the front pocket of his jeans with a wicked, wicked grin.

Mentally muttering to herself about 2100-year-old teenagers, Cara shook her head and finished filling the laundry basket and then another box with whatever wasn’t broken in her bedroom.  She dreaded going into the bathroom…she could see the trail of broken glass and knew it wasn’t good.

Sure enough, very little was salvageable.  She carefully stepped through the glass shards to rescue what she could while Godric watched vigilantly from the doorway.  It didn’t take her long to give up.  Besides, she was getting a bit antsy…they’d been there almost half an hour already.

Godric and Cara returned to the kitchen to discover that Isabel and the Weres had done an excellent salvage job.  Remnants of broken glasses, mugs, dishes, and appliances were swept into a corner, and what safe food stuffs remained were set out on the counter.  Cara sighed at the mess, then calmly removed the filled bag from the trash can, put a clean bag in, and started loading it up with usable canned and dry goods to take to Godric’s house.   At Alaric’s questioning look, she just shrugged.  “No sense letting it go to waste if it’s not hurt.”

After handing off the very heavy trash can for Mark to load into the SUV, she went back into the living room with a big plastic bowl to see if she could save any of her plants.  Their poor little broken bodies were scattered everywhere, but she managed to save quite a few of them.

She had just stood back up from retrieving her fallen keys when some instinct stilled her movements.  Godric, who had never let her out of his sight, noticed and was by her side instantly.  A moment later, every vampire and Were present suddenly erupted into fangs, growls and hisses as a pack of unfamiliar wolves burst snarling into the apartment.

Furious, Godric immediately placed himself between Cara and the wolves coming straight for her.  As he lunged at the first attacker thrusting his fist through the wolf’s heart, Isabel and Alaric rushed over to cover her thus freeing Godric to rain hell down on the snarling, snapping wolves.

Mark and Elise shifted into their wolf forms and started their attack.  She didn’t see DesChamps…he must be out front fighting alongside Chad and the other Were.

Cara edged over to the nearest corner and crouched down.  Sounds from the brutal fight outside merged with the bloody, sickening chaos inside until it was hard for her to separate the two.  She sat the bowl with the plants in it down, readied her mace, grabbed a broken table leg and was thankful her only neighbor in the building was almost deaf.

She could barely identify Godric, his movements were far too fast, but she certainly heard him.  The frightening power in his snarls and growls filled the air as growing piles of bloody, furry body parts littering the room gave testimony to his skill and fury.  Every so often a wolf would land with a loud whimper abruptly cut short.  She stopped trying to track him after seeing him shred a wolf with his fangs.

Alaric and Isabel fought the few wolves who evaded his rampage, kicking and biting and ripping off arms and legs and heads.

How large was this pack?  The wolves just kept on coming!  Every time the noise level died down a bit, more wolves came.  Then more!

Sharp pain ripping through her shoulder and arm drew Cara’s attention away from watching Isabel rip the head off the wolf who had just jumped at the vampiress.  Cara screamed and maced the black and tan wolf directly in his gaping mouth, then slammed the table leg down hard on its snout.

The wolf was dead the next second when Godric, bloodied, snarling, blue eyes blazing, grabbed its neck in one hand and snapped it before throwing it through the wall behind her.

He paused just long enough for her to shout, “Not life-threatening – go!”  She held the edges of the long, deep gash on her arm together as best she could.

The scent of her blood incited the remaining wolves to reckless insanity.  Finally, after what seemed like hours, total silence abruptly descended.  Godric suddenly materialized in front of her.

He crouched down and gently lifted her arm to survey the deep gash.  Without saying a word, he drew her into his bloody lap, bit his wrist, and held it to her mouth.

“Drink,” he commanded…pleaded…

Gazing into his worried blue eyes, cherishing his bloodied face, she tried desperately not to think about what she was about to do.  Resolutely, Cara closed her lips around the wound on his wrist and slowly but steadily drew his blood into her mouth.  Shocked, she realized that his cool, thick blood tasted nothing like her own.  Disjointed words like ‘chocolate’ and ‘wine’ and ‘spice’ floated through her mind as she swallowed his healing life-force.

After several long draws, his bite healed itself.  When he started to reopen his wound, she stopped him.  “It’s ok, I can feel me healing,” she whispered.  “You don’t need to lose any more blood.”  She could see through his torn shirt where a long gash of his own was healing.

She noticed the intensity of his focus on her arm…specifically, the blood on her arm.  Knowing a bit about vampire etiquette, she offered it to him.  His eyes flew to hers, and the need she saw floored her.

“Here,” she encouraged.  Stealing himself against the ambrosia he feared her blood to be, he proceeded to clean and heal her arm with a tongue as soft as a kitten’s.

Lust, blood and otherwise, burned through Godric.  He had fought well defending his woman, and the urge to claim and drink from her warred with his mantle of civility.  He could not allow himself to take from her, not yet, not while she was still healing from her wounds.

Pride for his woman sang through his blood.  He had seen centuries old vampires wilt under stress of battles half as fierce as this, yet Cara…his Cara…had wielded what weapons she could find  and defended herself quite adequately even when hurt badly for a human, especially a human female not accustomed to combat.

Ahh, finally the bothersome wounds on his chest were almost healed.  He needed to check casualties, assign damage control, call in the cleaners – but all he wanted to do was hold his woman…taste his woman…claim his woman…

He needed to get her away from this place to the safety of his home ere aught else happened this night.

“Isabel, you are well?”

“Yes, Master.  The only casualties are Mark and Chad, and they will heal in time.”

“See Cara and the injured Weres back to the estate now.”

Isabel immediately helped Cara stand from Godric’s lap and assisted her out the door.  She instructed DesChamps to help load the injured Weres into the black SUV, and immediately thereafter they departed.

“Alaric?  Report.”

Alaric ducked back into the living room from outside.  “Master, there were no witnesses.”

“Run a perimeter check just to be certain.”  Alaric sped off.

“DesChamps?”

“Except for Mark and Chad, all my Weres are fine except for the usual cuts and bruises.  But, I have some bad news.  Two of their attack force escaped toward the end.  They turned coward and ran off.”

“Fuck!  Call in your best trackers this instant.  Do not kill.  They must be contained and interrogated.”

“Yes, sir, on it.”  DesChamps whipped out his cell.  A minute later, he reported that three of his next-best trackers were en route.  Elise was in no condition to chase after the runners.  Non-lunar shifting plus a quick, brutal fight took a lot out of the Were.

Godric could tell through the now-strong bond that Cara was healing.  Tired, hungry, and uncomfortable, but healing.  He knew his child would care for her as she needed, and that the supe doctor would visit.  Not trusting himself to be alone with her just yet, Godric, along with Alaric and DesChamps, stayed at the apartment until the cleaners arrived.

Finally, he allowed himself to go home and check on his mate.

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**And…their evening STILL isn’t over…{*cheeky grin*}…**

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Next to:  Chapter 27

Back to:  Chapter 25

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