Sanctuary (Blood Bound Book 9)

Chapter 1-2

The furniture was well used but in a comfortable way. When it was originally bought, Nick was sure it would have cost a fortune. Now, the deep purple almost black upholstery was beginning to show signs of wear and he smiled when his finger brushed against a tiny rip that had been sewn closed with black thread.

His eyes lit up in appreciation at the display of medieval weapons on her wall. She didn’t strike him as the type that knew how to use them for anything other than décor, but he was alright with that. He’d never cared for girls that come across as bad asses… they made it hard for a guy to play the hero.

Walking over to the computer desk, he carefully moved the few items around trying to find some clue about where she’d gone. Turning on the computer, he cursed softly when he saw it was password protected.

“Well hell,” he griped and started to turn away when he saw something still sitting on the printer tray. Reaching for it, his eyes lit up when he saw it was a corrected flight itinerary… to New York. She’d canceled one flight and rescheduled another.

“So, you left a day earlier than expected,” Nick said and briefly played with the idea of hopping on the next plane to New York but quickly changed his mind. He didn’t even know where she’d gone once she’d arrived there.

Nick put the itinerary back where he’d found it and leaned against the sofa arm behind him. It still bothered him that those vampires had been stalking this place and wondered if he should stick around until she was due back. He toyed with the idea, trying to come up with a good reason for staying.

The store was pretty safe as long as it was daylight, but it wouldn’t hurt to keep it company at night. Gypsy’s return flight wasn’t until tomorrow evening and her security upstairs sucked as far as he was concerned… though downstairs was about as secure as she could get.

Nick c****d a dark eyebrow... that settled it, he was gonna stay the night and guard the place. His gaze slid toward the back room that was sectioned off from the rest of the huge bomb shelter. There were countless strands of crystalline beads hanging to form a wall. Nick sharpened his eyesight seeing through the slim lines into Gypsy’s bedroom and bath.

Moving purposely through the bead wall, he headed into the bathroom and took off his jacket and shirt. Dropping them into a neat pile on the floor, he washed the blood off of his hand and picked up the shirt to examine it. There wasn’t any blood on it but the jacket sleeve had some on the end of it.

Turning the cold water back on, he used the hand soap to wash out what he could before wringing it out and hanging it over the shower rod. He looked down at the bathtub and smirked at the size of it.

His Gypsy had a garden tub large enough for four people to sit in comfortably. Images of her taking a bath all by herself made him sigh and he conveniently put himself in the picture with her.

Shaking his head, he went into the bedroom to look around and arched an eyebrow at the California king bed. It was obvious that Gypsy liked some things big and he grinned as a wicked thought steamrolled through his mind. Walking to the foot of the bed, he spread his arms out and fell face first into the softness.

*****

Warren walked into the main half of the club and shook the drywall dust from his hair. It was a process getting the new extension done, but at the speed things were going it would be ready just in time for their Halloween Masquerade. He had just entered his bathroom to take a shower when his cell phone beeped at him.

Picking up the device, Warren frowned as he read the text message from Kat. Shaking his head with a heavy sigh, he turned off the water in the shower and headed down to Moon Dance’s main room. At least he hadn’t already been in the shower when the text came through… it wasn’t every day Kat texted him with a ‘911’.

When he emerged from the side door, Warren quirked an eyebrow at the state Devon was in. His brother was in his jaguar form with his eyes clenched tightly shut and appeared to be in a great deal of pain. Kat stood over him with her hands on her hips giving him what sounded like a lecture.

The serious expression on her face told Warren that this really was bad. He glanced toward Quinn who was obviously gaining a lot of enjoyment out of it… if the smirk the cougar wore was any indication.

“You need to pay attention to what Kriss told you,” Kat said. “If you don’t, you’re gonna be like this for a while and I’ll feel absolutely no sympathy for you.”

She crossed her arms over her chest exasperated with her brother. Trevor had been gone at least twenty minutes and her bone head of a brother still couldn’t stand up. She questioned Trevor’s ability to calmly walk away. She was sure Trevor felt the same way Devon did… but knew he wouldn’t be moving around if he was thinking bad thoughts about Devon.

She glared at Devon when he growled at her, “Don’t you growl at me. At least Trevor has the semblance of mind to stop thinking like that.”

“Why is Devon on the floor?” Warren asked as he walked across the room.

Quinn smirked from his seat at the bar, “It appears that Envy is pregnant with Trevor’s baby and Devon wants to kill Trevor for it.”

Warren made a face at Quinn since none of that explained why Devon was wallowing on the hardwood floor.

“She was already pregnant and didn’t know it when she mated with Devon,” Kat sent a glare at Quinn for being so vague. “None of them knew it until Envy passed out and Mrs. Tully ran tests to be sure. Now, because the baby belongs to Trevor, Devon wants to kill him.”

Warren squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose. While that explained a few things… it still didn’t answer his initial question. He sighed and decided to repeat himself, “Why is Devon on the floor?”

“He’s on the floor because Kane has Trevor and Devon under a… spell,” Kat shrugged for lack of what else to call it. “Now, when Trevor or Devon tries to hurt each other, or if they even think about hurting one another… they’re reduced to this.” She spread her hands out indicating the i***t on the floor.

Warren frowned, “Let me see if I caught all of that. Devon is angry because Envy got pregnant before she met him and he wants to kill the father of her baby… but he can’t because Kane was smart enough to put him under a compulsion spell?”

Quinn shrugged, “That’s it in a nutshell.”

“Smart man,” Warren muttered then shook his head wondering why he hadn't already gotten word of this from Michael instead of hearing it from Kat. He leaned against the bar and stared thoughtfully at his brother for a moment.

The situation was rather funny, but at the same time he couldn’t believe Devon’s train of thought on this. It was obvious his brother wasn’t thinking very clearly. If Devon did kill Trevor, then where would that leave Envy’s baby. Not counting the fact that Envy would always resent him for it… for denying her child the chance to know its real father. This above all else… angered Warren.

“Leave him, he’ll figure it out.” Warren’s voice was cold.

Kat winced, “Ouch, that’s pretty brutal.”

“You said they’re reduced to this state when they think about killing one another,” Warren repeated waving his hand at Devon. “The only logical thing would be to stop thinking along that line. We can’t force Devon to change the way he thinks. If he loves his mate however, then he’ll stop acting like an idiot.”

Warren watched Devon’s ears flatten against his head and a not so friendly growl rumbled across the room. An answering rumble from Warren silenced the growl and Devon lowered his eyes to the floor before squeezing them shut again.

There wasn’t anything Warren could do to save him this time. This was something Devon needed to learn for himself… or maybe he did need his big brother’s help in this. A slow devious smile pulled at the corners of Warren’s lips as it dawned on him just how to fix this problem.

“I know that look Warren,” Kat said quietly… already feeling sorry for Devon, “and don’t you dare think about it.”

Quinn’s smirk returned, “Should I start carrying a camera with me at all times?”

“Yes,” Warren said.

“NO!” Kat shouted at the same time.

Warren stepped closer to Devon, towering over his jaguar form. “So what if Trevor’s seed is growing deeeep inside of Envy,” he prolonged the word ‘deep’ on purpose just to cause Devon to react… it worked. “The way I understand it… they slept together for months before you ever laid eyes on her.”

Devon screamed and jerked trying to get away from the pain.

“Making love all the time,” Warren continued and tapped his fingers to his chin thoughtfully. “Yeah, I’ve heard that can cause a baby or two,” he smirked wondering how long it would take Devon to become immune to the taunts.

Devon’s temper had forced him into his jaguar form and because of that his animal instincts were pushing him to strike out at the male that was trying to steal his mate. Devon’s head whipped around toward the door and he fought the pain as he started pulling himself across the floor toward it.

“And just where do you think you’re going?” Warren asked. He grabbed Devon by his hind legs and started pulling him across the floor. “Trevor came to this club thinking you were a killer… are you trying to prove him right? And what do you think would happen if you did manage to kill Trevor? Do you think Envy will thank you and run into your arms?”

Devon actually growled up at Kat as he was drug by her. He dug his claws into the floor leaving long scratches in the new tile. Kat watched helplessly as Warren dragged Devon down the stairs into the dance pit, his body thumping on each step.

Quinn put his hand over his eyes and started laughing but abruptly stopped when Kat smacked the back of his head.

“What,” he said unable to hide his smile. “It’s brilliant. By the time Warren is finished with him, Devon will be completely numb to the topic.”

Kat glanced back toward the stairs Devon had been drug down. “Don’t underestimate Devon’s stubbornness,” She remarked. “How would you feel if I was pregnant by another male right now?”

Quinn sobered at the buzz killing thought, “I’d advise you to tell Kane to brush up on his spells… he would need more than one.”

Kat blinked in surprise at her mate then sighed softly. Well, at least he’d stopped making fun of Devon.