Sorry, his ass! Or hers, because it was her ass that was bare. She showed him her canines, then continued dressing.
He continued to watch.
“Why were you at Chan’s?” she asked, managing to slip on the sweats and pull the T-shirt over her head. But each move cost her. Her head pounded. Harder.
Chase looked at her phone. “Let’s get your shape-shifter here.” He pushed a button.
Pain shot from her neck down her spine. Unwilling to let him start more trouble between her and Steve, she grabbed for her phone. Chase caught her hand. Her pain intensified. She didn’t have the strength to pull away. Her knees gave, and she fell against him. He wrapped his arm around her and held her there. Why did he feel so warm, and her so cold?
“It’s okay,” he whispered in her ear. “We’re going to make it through this.” She felt his hand move gently against her back.
It was not okay!
She managed to push away, caught herself on the counter, but her whole body ached. Muscles she didn’t know she had clenched. Tears filled her eyes. Yup, this was how it had felt to be turned.
“Hey, Steve,” the panty perv said into the phone, while looking at her. “This is Chase.”
Della could swear she heard Steve’s voice angry.
She tried to get the phone again. Chase caught her with one hand, gently, nothing rough about his touch. He didn’t have to be rough. She didn’t have the strength to fight him. But she resented that his touched came so tender.
She fell back against the counter again. Breathing hurt.
“Shut up and listen,” Chase seethed into the phone and studied her with empathy. “Della’s running out of time. I’m taking her to Holiday’s cabin. Meet us there. I know what I’ve got to do to save her, but I’m going to need your help.” Chase hung up.
Della stared up at him. “What’s happening?”
“Do you remember being turned into a vampire?” he asked.
The fact that he knew what she felt scared her, confused her. “Yeah. Why?”
“There are a few lucky, or in most cases, unlucky vampires, who get to do it twice.”
She shook her head. “I’ve never heard of that.”
“You wouldn’t have. It’s rare.” He reached for her. “Let’s go.”
“No!” She held up her hand. “Not until you explain.”
He frowned. “Okay, fast version. Of the hundred bloodlines proven to carry the virus, there are six who are prone to rebirthing.”
She tried to think around the pounding in her head, the pain clenching at her shoulders. She thought ofthe rash. “The same thing happened to Chan?”
Chase nodded.
“You did it,” Della accused. “You poisoned us or something.”
“No.”
She had just enough clarity to notice he didn’t blink. So was he telling the truth? Did she even have enough wits about her to judge that?
“Here’s the thing,” he continued. “Less than three percent of Reborns survive. But the few who do, have tenfold the power. Thankfully, a study done by a doctor associated with the Vampire Council found a way to up the survival odds.”
“What way?” she asked.
“You bond with another Reborn.”
“Bond? Bond how?”
“A complete transfusion. You take the antibodies of someone who survived. It’s the same premise used to create vaccinations. But in this situation, it links the two vampires. They become almost a part of each other. It has been compared to the relationship shared by identical twins or perhaps soul mates.”
She tried to wrap her head around everything he said. She stared at him. “You are a Reborn?”
He nodded. “Good thing we like each other, huh?”
“I don’t,” she snapped. “I don’t like you.”
He leaned in. “Your heart doesn’t lie, Della Tsang.”
So maybe she liked him, but … “I don’t want to be bonded with you.” Her heart didn’t jump this time. She wasn’t sure she wanted to be bonded to anyone, but if she did, there was a shape-shifter she had her eye on.
Chase sighed. “Honestly, at first I wasn’t all that crazy about it myself, but let’s make the best of it.” He held out his hand. “Come on, let’s get this done. The sooner we do this the less we’ll suffer.”
“We?” she asked. What was this “we” crap? He obviously wasn’t hurting.
“I’ll go through the process with you. When I get your blood.”
Her mind raced. He was going to suffer … willingly? He had to be lying.
She didn’t take his hand. “I’ll get Kylie to heal me. I don’t need you to … call her.” She motioned to her phone.
“Healers are wonderful,” he said, “but they won’t work on this. For the past five hundred years, the few Reborns who survived had to sit back and watch their entire families die. Being as powerful as they were, they brought in witches, wizards, and the most talented healers. With zero success I’m afraid.”
“How do you know so much?” A charley horse latched on to her chest, and she could barely breathe. Her knees started to give.
“After going through it myself, I took an interest in finding out what it was all about.” He moved in and swept her up in his arms. “Time to go.”
She put her hands on his chest as he started out. “I don’t want this.”
“You’d rather die?” He stepped out on the porch. The cold wind stirred her hair. She shivered in his arms.
“Maybe I won’t die. Maybe I’ll be one of the three percent.” Just like that she remembered, Take me instead.
Maybe God had needed that extra soul after all.
“Those are really bad odds.” Chase lit out, full flight, and without ever running.
He flew faster than the wind, holding her to his chest as if she was something he treasured. She wasn’t his to treasure.
He landed in front of Holiday’s cabin and walked in as if he owned the place. He laid her down on the sofa. There was a table with some medical stuff set out, as if he’d already been there.
Another pain hit; this one shot from her neck down her back. It felt as if her spine were breaking. She gritted her teeth to keep from crying.
When it passed, she gasped for air. He brushed a hand over her forehead. “You don’t have to be brave. I know it hurts like hell.”
A second later, she felt a damp cloth move over her forehead. The gentle touch reminded her of Chan. He’d been there for her. The first time. That’s when something occurred to her. “It doesn’t work,” she said.