Claws and Fangs Read online

  A real vampire. She resisted the urge to faint. She’d been half joking, but the laugh was on her.

  “I’d like to repay you. Name what you want.”

  She hadn’t dated in the five years since her attack, and it definitely made her lonely. It had also made her socially challenged. She was aware of that, even if the one thing that came to mind wouldn’t have been wrong to ask of him.

  She shook her head, refusing to ask him to show her what he wore under that kilt, despite the curiosity she’d had since she’d laid eyes on him. Totally inappropriate and don’t go there.

  “I should be going home now. I’ll leave you to deal with your intruder.”

  Chapter Two

  Blaron regarded the woman, inhaling the scents inside the room. The hunter on the floor wore cheap, offensive cologne and stank of sweat and fear. It nearly masked the sweeter, tempting feminine fragrances of his neighbor. He hadn’t seen her before but he believed her reason for being there. His gaze traveled down her well-worn robe, her shapely legs peeking from beneath the thigh-length material, and her bare feet. She wouldn’t have gone far dressed that way.

  Her face intrigued him. A scar ran down the side of her jaw, another at her temple, and at her cheek near her ear. They didn’t distract from her delicate, attractive features. Her big blue eyes stared at him with a mixture of awe and wariness. He didn’t pick up fear coming from her but her heart raced. He could hear the fast beat, tormenting him just a little. He wasn’t hungry but she tempted him all the same.

  He’d been showering, oblivious to the happenings inside his home until he’d turned the water off. The noise of someone moving around the floor below him had been alarming. The hunter surprised him—Blaron had been careful to hide his identity—but the female stunned him. He knew humans fought crime by watching their neighbors’ homes, but he’d never thought a woman would take on a criminal in her bathrobe. Most would dial for the police.

  She had mentioned being the neighborhood watch. That meant she must have some sort of surveillance to have seen the hunter. It worried him that his senses had failed to notice her scrutiny.

  She took a hesitant step toward him, her intent to flee, but he didn’t budge from blocking the doorway. He wasn’t allowing her to leave until he assessed the threat she posed to his future safety. It was odd that she hadn’t called for assistance.

  His study switched to the hunter on the floor.

  The male lay on his side by the bed, awake now, his arms and feet bound at the center of his back and his terrified gaze on Blaron. He noticed the pile of weapons, and his lips pressed firmly together. The male had intended to kill him.

  He glared at his enemy. “Who are you?”

  “I have friends,” the guy whined. “They will come, evil demon.” The guy twisted his head to shoot a murderous glare at the woman. “They’ll kill your minion too.”

  Confusion made Blaron frown. “My what?”

  The hunter jerked his head at the woman. “Her. Your lover who guards you while you’re in your death sleep. Release me, son of Satan! It’s my duty to send you back to hell!”

  He hid a wince, glanced at the woman, and knew he couldn’t just allow her to stroll out of his home. She’d seen and heard too much. “Good luck with that, hunter. You’re the one who has been caught.”

  “My friends will come, and they’ll kill you and that hideous bitch who feeds you! I can see why she’d sink so low as to protect a monster. She’s one too.”

  Blaron instantly noticed how the woman’s features paled. She lowered her head to allow some of her curly blonde hair to drop forward to hide the worst of her scars, and her shoulders sagged a little.

  Anger hit him instantly that the insulting words had made her courageous spirit withdraw. Only a strong female would attack a larger male and come to a neighbor’s defense, both of which she’d done for a stranger. He admired her for that. She was probably sensitive about her flaws, and he moved before he allowed his temper to cool. His bare foot nailed the rude bastard in the side.

  The hunter gasped from the pain. The sharp kick knocked him against the bed and he blacked out.

  The female raised her head, realized what Blaron had done—and she stared at him with a mixture of amusement and, finally, fear.

  “I detest rudeness from a guest, especially an uninvited one.” He paused. “My apologies, lass.”

  She held his gaze confidently and licked her lips. The sight of her pink tongue darting out did something to his body that stunned him. His cock twitched, filled with blood, and he lowered his sword in front of him to rest the tip on the floor. The flat metal hid his response by keeping his kilt from lifting in the front.

  “Five years ago, I awoke to a burglar who decided to try to rape me at knifepoint. I fought, he sliced my face a few times and stabbed me.” She paused, emotional turmoil making her voice tremble. “I kept fighting. He ended up dying while I survived.” Her eyes glinted with pride. “I’m not so pretty anymore but I’m still breathing. I count that as a win.”

  “I’m sorry for what was done to you. Why did you try to save me?”

  “It sucks being awoken to some jerk intent on causing harm. I’ve had that done to me. You haven’t eaten anyone on the block, I assume you’re bag-fed since you get those nifty deliveries, and we sleep during the same hours.” She hesitated. “I have a live-and-let-live policy. I don’t care what you are as long as you’re not hurting anyone.”

  Shock tore through him once again. She knew what he was, or at least suspected. He could see it in her wary regard. He wondered if she figured it out after disarming the hunter of the weapons used to kill a vampire according to myth, or if she’d guessed long before.

  “You added a bathroom in your attic?”

  Her question came out of nowhere. “That’s what you wish to know?”

  “You sleep up there. I don’t leave my house, so I watch the neighborhood a lot. You come home and go up there before the sun rises. I didn’t see any contractors do work on your home.”

  She did intrigue him. “The last owner had a bedroom and bathroom created up there. It’s why I bought the house. I added a steel door at the top to protect me.” There was no harm in answering her question.

  “Oh. So this jerk wouldn’t have been able to reach you?”

  He glanced down at the hunter. “It’s possible he might have set my home on fire once he realized it’s where I spend my days. Most of us stay underground for extra protection against the sun. I don’t. I would have been trapped. Burned by fire or by daylight if I jumped out a window to escape the flames.”

  “None of these homes have basements.”

  “True enough.”

  “You probably should have bought a home with one, then dug out an escape tunnel in case of fire. I would if I were you.” She gave him a tight smile. “Do jerks like him come after you often?”

  “No. This is the first time in some years since I was found.”

  “You grew lax. I mean, I figured it out, and obviously this guy did too. You don’t want to die.”

  He reevaluated what she said. She knew about the blood deliveries to his home and had taken note of the fact that he hadn’t fed on anyone on the block. Yet she still came to my aid and is giving me advice on how to stay safe.

  It made his cock stir more, the blood he’d drunk before his shower flowing there, and he wondered how vampire-friendly she would be if she guessed how attracted he was to her.

  “Even if you aren’t technically alive, the motto still applies.” She took another hesitant step closer. “Could you please move? I’m up past my bedtime, and I assume you are too. I’ll leave you to deal with him. As far as I’m concerned, I never saw him, this didn’t happen, and you’re just a regular guy. I’m not going to tell anyone about you.”

  “Is that why you didn’t call the police?”

  “I figured they’d find you if they searched the house. I planned to babysit him today until just before the sun went down, t