13. CATALINA

THIRTEEN

catalina

Fortunately, the 24-hour animal shelter asked me to come in on short notice to fill in during the evening shift, giving me the perfect excuse to avoid the turbulent shit going on in my head. Mainly, the fact that I was being ‘watched day and night’, whatever that meant. I believed it even though I vigilantly kept an eye out for anyone following me, but to no success. On my drive over to the shelter, I’d squeezed the steering wheel in a death grip and my shoulders hadn’t relaxed since I arrived. I tapped my fingers on the front desk surface, my mind staying on the havoc causing vampires. Plural. Something about Tobias and Asher pulled me into their rotation and fantasies spawned in my brain at an alarming rate. Especially after the mention of sharing a woman. My fixation felt wrong, but right at the same time. At my increasing fascination, I could only conclude I’d become a blood-whore.

These emotions were a complete shift from the fear that normally haunted me. Indigestion burned in my throat, so I took a swig of the water.

No more mulling. I’d been thinking about what kind of woman she had been to inspire them sharing her, and I couldn’t wrap my head around it as much as I tried. What was so special about her ? Wait a moment. Plastic crackled under the pressure of my hand.

I was jealous. Absolutely not. There was no need to be jealous of someone else—especially a dead vampire woman.

“Cat!” I jumped at the shout, straightening in the chair so quickly that it rolled back.

The urging tone told me Leroy was hailing me down, not randomly calling out at a cat. I’d already requested they simply use my full name, but it hadn’t stuck. I followed Leroy’s voice through the door to the end of the hall. He grunted as a Shepard mix jerked between his legs. He swiftly got a hold on him again, but I stayed on edge to catch the dog if he tried making a run for it.

Sweat beaded on Leroy’s forehead.

“Can you switch out his food while I take him on a walk?”

“Sure.” I skirted the edge of the hall, but the pup was too busy barking at nothing. I’d only been asked to man the front desk in case we received calls, but I’d already had to help around a little here and there with the animals.

I swiftly switched out the food as the barking faded. After a swift inspection, I left the cage slightly ajar and made my way back to the front.

The door dividing the office from the holding stalls snicked shut. I propped my fists on my hips to survey the neat desk, there wasn’t any more I could clean up. As a volunteer, I didn’t have much of a say with anything other than organization, so I’d been making the most of twiddling my thumbs up here. A touch on my neck had me whirling, but there was no one in here. I rubbed my neck. The draft in here . . .

“Catalina.” I stumbled back frantically looking side to side.

A palm pressed over my mouth, cutting off my scream. My chest heaved when I saw nothing in front of me. I stumbled back, almost tripping before something that felt an awful lot like a palm, pressed on my spine.

“Hi, Pet.” I could hear the humor in Asher’s tone. My eyes rounded. “Don’t freak out... more than you have.”

Asher was here. Invisible. I backed up until I was up against the wall, searching in front of me but could see absolutely nothing.

“How?” I hissed, still sweeping my gaze around, hoping to see something, anything, a ripple in the air, but no.

“It’s my ability.” I could practically hear his shrug. Hands coasted to my wrists and he pressed them into the wall at my back. I bit back a moan.

“Are you okay, Catalina?” George rushed into the lobby. He was the shift manager and the one to call me in to help . . . he was also a little handsy.

All he could see was me, plastered to the wall, with my arms flat as I panted. I jerked my hands free and flattened them to my side. Stepping forward, I swung my hand, trying to shoo Asher away inconspicuously. My fingers smacked something and the breath from a soft grunt brushed my ear and my face heated.

“Yes, sorry, I just needed a second.” I cleared my throat.

George scratched his neck, nodding quickly.

I yanked on the door to the office, but he cleared his throat.

“Cat.”

A soft hiss near my ear made a tremble coast up my spine and I licked my lips.

“Could you come to my office please?” Seemed like a rhetorical question, because he brushed past me and pulled open the door for me to trail after him. I carefully stepped forward, not wanting to slam into an invisible vampire.

Once inside, I approached George where he leaned on his desk, legs out and affable smile on his lips. I’d put him at a few years older than me. I kept a few feet away from him in case he started getting too touchy as he’d been with every interaction I’d had with him, and there hadn’t been many.

“How are you holdin’ up?” He smiled, but somehow it didn’t reach his eyes, or maybe I just couldn’t tell because they’d dropped to my boobs.

“Good,” I said, trying a polite smile. With Asher unseen and hovering near, I was too on edge to be more talkative.

“Good, good. Seeing as you’re new around these parts, I’ll take you out to dinner this weekend to thank you for all the help.” He straightened from his slouch. In that one step he took, I could reach my arm out and touch him with my fingertips.

Whatever I was about to say got stuck in my throat when a firm grip flattened on my belly. Fingers dug into me as if Asher wrapped a hand around my waist. The harsh touch softened as he trailed down to my thigh. It was light and teasing. Another hand lightly cupped one of my breasts.

My teeth clicked together.

I worked on keeping my attention on George.

“I...” Asher caressed my mound, the tip of his fingers dragging across the front of my pussy. The slow rub against my clit shot electricity through my body.

I sucked in my cheeks and crossed my arms over my chest, dislodging the teasing nipple touches.

“Are you okay?” George’s eyebrows furrowed.

“Yep,” I squeaked.

“I’ll be sure to treat you to a good meal,” George continued, stepping close enough to invade my personal bubble.

Blunted teeth grazed across the side of my neck and a soft whimper slipped free.

George reached out to touch me, probably to squeeze my shoulder as he’d already done, but this time, he didn’t make contact. His hand froze mid-air and a sudden, ear-splitting crack rent the air and his face contorted in agony.

“George?”

He whimpered, sweat beading. I connected the dots. “Asher, no,” I gasped, throwing my hands up in the general area I could only imagine he stood. As my palms connected with a torso, he appeared. George released a choked scream that cut off as Asher twisted his arm with the barest of movements. Another ear-splitting crack of bones cut him off.

I hugged myself to Asher’s raised arm, but even with all the weight I used to try to get him to let George go, he didn’t budge. His expression remained affable, but the lowered eyebrows and ticking jawline hinted at his irritation.

“Stop, please,” I begged, clinging onto his arm. “Please.”

Asher’s tongue lashed across his lower lip and his pupils had expanded. Evil stared back at me. There was no care, no emotion, a lack of . . . everything humane in those blue eyes.

“Just for you, Pet,” he dragged George higher, closer to his face. “You fell and broke your arm. You do not remember the last few minutes. You never had a conversation with Catalina nor have you ever seen me. Leave my sight.” He released George who staggered backwards then flicked his hand up as if shooing a fly away.

George stiffly walked out, hugging his arm to his chest, gaze unfocused and dazed.

“Why would you do that?” I choked out, breathing hard, hugging myself as I backed away from him. Asher blinked at me, mouth twitching up at the corners.

“Silly, Pet. I protect what is mine.” The low words rang in a matter-of-fact tone.

Protect? He would protect me . . . a knot of emotion swelled in my throat . . . I’d never been protected by anyone. His words settled over me like a blanket and I hated how good it felt.

Asher stepped to me and I put up a hand up to halt him since my brain hadn’t stopped whirling. All the strange emotional reactions were swamping me.

“Wait,” I mumbled. He forcefully shoved me back, so my ass dug into the desk. The rough shove quickened my heart rate to the point that my throat tightened. He easily maneuvered me, forcing my back to him until his front was flush to my spine.

I couldn’t push any words out as instinct to escape kicked in. The room seemed to get smaller, like the walls were creaking closer to smash me under them. Run. Run. My pounding heart echoed the word through my veins.

An arm lashed around my chest while the other hand unbuttoned my jeans and slipped into my panties. His warm hand grazed my belly on its slide downward.

“Shh, Pet. It’s just me. Your friendly neighborhood vampire, here to pillage your wet pussy.”

I choked out a laugh, caught off guard.

“That’s a bit of a stretch, no?” I said with the last of the air struggling in my chest. He hummed and it skittered shivers down my spine. Blazing heat throbbed through my core, and my thighs spasmed to close and apply more pressure between my legs.

Searching fingers grazed my clit and moved past it with a rough rub before sliding into my pussy.

“Pet is so wet for me,” he purred, pleased. I hated that he was so right. His fingers had to be drenched, but I couldn’t stop wanting him.

I sucked in a harsh breath and desire consumed my paralysis. I sank back into him, wanting this . . . wanting everything he offered. My panicked heartbeat calmed under his gentle coaxing.

My body just gave in to him. I slumped, resting the back of my head against his torso.

“This is his office,” I panted, enjoying this too much to shove him off. I rubbed against the bulge nudging my ass. “Someone is going to walk in.”

His long fingers pressed into my clit, rolling softly. I whimpered and arched against his palm with my eyelids fluttering. A dull ringing echoed through the closed door and I gasped, straightening to pull away, but he resisted. It was no use. Panting, I slumped against him, cradled, so close . Maybe being a blood-whore wasn’t too bad . . .

“Vampire,” I moaned low. “If I don’t answer the phone, someone else will come.” And I didn’t want anyone else facing them. I’d be the one to blame for bringing evil to their door. After a moment of hesitation, his grip loosened, and I extricated myself to exit the office space.

A low chuckle followed me as I stiffly walked back to the front desk. I needed to get a hold of myself. I slapped my palm on the desk surface and gripped the pen. It creaked in my palm.

An invisible, hyper-sexual vampire almost killed my boss, and I was all a-flutter over him. I scoffed, shaking my head down at a blank notepad. The pen tip dug into the paper, and I forced my fingers to relax. The phone had stopped ringing, which was fortunate because if I’d answered, I would have been panting.

Helping here was supposed to keep me away from my mercurial neighbors, but if Asher hovered around, that would defeat the purpose.

A poke in the middle of my back made me jerk to the side and the pen skidded across the desk. A big black mark scratched across the page. I whirled to no one there. I could imagine the smirk he had though.

Annoying vampire kept pressing my buttons. He was lucky I wasn’t stabbing this pen into his eye. I scowled at the empty air behind me and dropped into the rolling chair. Fingertips grazed my shoulder, pressing into the tight muscle.

“How long are you hanging around?” I tried to not move my lips with the query.

“Whenever you’re ready I’ll hitch a ride with you.”

I scoffed. “Have you dismissed whoever you had ‘keeping an eye one me’?”

“It’s for your safety.” Whatever he was selling, I wasn’t buying. Honestly, I doubt he believed it himself with the humor seeped in his voice. ‘Friendly neighborhood vampire’ my left toe. This was all about control and keeping me under their thumb.

The ridiculousness of the situation shot me into a laughing fit. This was not my life right now.

There was no light at the end of the tunnel though. They needed me to help them find their vampire friend. That descriptor sounded off. Did vampires even have friends?

“Tell me about Ren,” I burst out, sounding slightly crazed.

His hand settled on my neck, thumbs pressed into my muscles again, and I melted into the seat as he kneaded. I bit back my whimper. He was so confusing. On one side, he seemed flippant and almost considerate, but on the other was the vampire that had forced me to the desk to shove his fingers into my pussy.

“Ren is a bit of a dick?—”

“Like Jax?”

Asher chuckled. “A different way than Jax. Ren is calculated, you’d think he’d learn with all those centuries under him . . .” He clicked his tongue disapprovingly

“Centuries...” My lips felt numb. “How old is he?”

“He was turned in the mid seventeen hundreds at thirty-five.”

“ Holy shit— ” I coughed into my fist. Right. Vampires—Immortality and all that jazz. “And the rest of you?”

“Tobias and Bastien are the oldest.” Tobias looked to be around my age, twenty-six, but Asher mentioned Tobias being a priest in the sixteenth century.

“Tobias looks young.” I said it more to myself than to him.

“He was turned while he was younger.” Well, that made sense. “Jax and I are the youngest born seventeen-eighty-two and turned when we were thirty-one.” Those were a lot of ancient numbers. He’d also mentioned another name.

“Who is Bastien?”

“You don’t need to worry about him.”

“There’s a lot of people I don’t need to worry about, huh,” I muttered.

I read between the lines he was skirting. Like he told me to not worry about the woman they were with too. “Why are you answering all my questions? Because I won’t live long or because I’ll be a blood-whore?”

“Who taught you this phrase?” His fingers twitched against my shoulder. I hated how his voice conveyed he didn’t take anything I said seriously.

“Unless that’s been your plan all along.” I said through gritted teeth. Well, jokes on him, I was already a blood-whore.

His ministrations paused for a beat before resuming. “Would it be such a bad thing to be my blood-whore?” Every cell in my body froze. I couldn’t breathe anymore.

The rubbing on my shoulders paused again. “Just playing with you, Pet.” He chuckled and his sweet breath brushed against my cheek. “I will keep you nice and safe.” There was that vow again that made my entire body clench with longing. His sweet breath caressed my ear, enflaming lust through my senses. “After all, I want to savor fucking you.”

“Oh.” It came out as a breathy sigh. His lips pressed into my cheek. I couldn’t trust what he said as much as I ached to, so I would continue with planning my escape from this vampire infested town.