As she'd been left? Selfish and weak.
He lowered his head. Hadn't he secretly thought the same of Jon? When he'd taken Cammie into his arms, seen her crying and not been able to comfort her? "You don't understand, brother. Centuries alone. Then she was there. My light. My Ada. I cannot, will not, be without her."
His brother's last words to him.
But what of his brother's child? Had abandoning her been so easy? And would he have made the same choice? No.
An uncomfortable truth. Perhaps he and Maya were more alike than he'd originally thought.
Maya huffed out a hard breath. "Look, your brother-that's none of my damn business."
That didn't seem right. Adam opened his mouth to reply.
But Maya continued, talking fast, "The girl, she's my business. We've lost two days here. And I really hate to tell you this, but you know that little whispering voice in my head? Well, let's just say that Nassor is starting to turn up his volume."
Fuck . "How soon until he rises?"
"Don't know, but soon ."
If they didn't find Cammie-
"Something else you need to know." Her lips tightened. "He's close. Very close to us. The vamps wouldn't have taken Cammie far from Vegas, because the bastard is in the ground here. "
Not enough time.
"What do we do?" He asked, feeling, for the third time in his life, absolutely helpless.
Maya's shoulders straightened. Her chin tipped into the air. "Why, we hunt, of course."
Of course. But where, how? A very loud thunk sounded from the bathroom, followed immediately by the sound of rushing water.
What the hell? Adam tensed. An intruder. Someone had managed to get into their room.
The dragon started to growl.
Maya cursed. "Damn idiot. I told him not to be screwing around in there." She marched toward the bathroom, shoved open the door.
Adam followed right on her heels.
"You just don't listen, do you?" She snapped.
And Adam blinked, stunned to see a tall, muscled male standing, soaking wet in the shower. One gleaming handcuff was locked around his left wrist, the other looped around the now slanted and streaming showerhead.
"Uh, Maya?" He should have heard the guy sooner. How had he missed picking up on his heartbeats? His breaths. Unless-
One of the guy's eyes slowly rotated to stare at him.
Chameleon.
She glanced at him, shrugging. "Guess there was one other thing that I needed to tell you."
No shit.
CHAPTER 9
"Glad you two finished f**king around!" The man shouted, yanking on the handcuffs as the water streamed over him. "Now get me the hell out of here!"
You have to be quiet. You can't make a sound.
Now Maya's words made sense. Too late.
Not that he really gave a damn if this guy had heard him taking Maya. He'd never been the shy type and Maya sure as-
"You broke the pipe, you idiot!" Maya stalked closer to the chameleon, shaking her head. "Now, Max, didn't I tell you not to jerk around in here?"
Max? "You handcuffed me in the shower and left me while you f**ked!" The veins on the guy's neck stuck out.
Maya shrugged. "At least I haven't killed you, yet ."
Max's mouth opened and closed like a fish. Rather fitting, considering the amount of water surrounding him.
"Maya…"
She didn't glance back at him as she said, "You were pretty out of it when we left Blood Rock, so you probably don't remember our little friend taking a drive with us."
"You knocked me out! Dragged me here-"
Her hand shoved against his chest, sending him slamming back against the tiled wall. Water soaked her arm and fingers. "Do you remember what happened the last time you pissed me off? 'Cause you wouldn't shut the hell up?"
The chameleon gulped and then a gleam lit his eyes. A gleam of hunger. "You bit me." Said on a sigh. He licked his lips.
Every muscle in Adam's body tightened. He remembered the heady rush he'd felt as Maya's teeth pierced his neck. The hot pleasure.
He knew by looking into the chameleon's eyes that the bastard had felt the same way.
Adam was across the room before he knew it, jerking Maya away and glaring at the chameleon as he snapped, "Tell me why I should let you live." He spared a brief glance for Maya. He'd deal with her later.
Tasting another, while he was near. Hell, no, that wasn't the way things were going to work.
A hot ball of fire lodged in his chest and as he tasted the ashes on his tongue, Adam recognized the fury for exactly what it was.
Jealousy.
He didn't want Maya near another male, much less drinking from him.
She was his. It was time she realized that fact.
"I'll tell you why," Maya said as the chameleon gaped at him. "Because he's gonna lead us to Cammie."
The chameleon shook his head, those strange eyes of his bulging. "No! I told you, I-I don't know where they took the girl."
"Ah, but there's a lot you do know," she murmured. "And you're going to tell us exactly what we need to hear." Maya was pressed close against Adam's side. There was anger in her voice. Steel.
She'd tasted the bastard. Adam's hand lifted to the chameleon's throat. There. He could feel the small pinpricks on the skin.
Her mouth. On him.
A haze began to cover his eyes.
"I was weak," she whispered the words in his ear. "So were you. I couldn't risk taking from you-
not then."
So she'd taken from another.
Her fingers stroked his shoulder, as if-as if she were trying to soothe him.
Damn if it didn't work. The fingers he'd clenched around Max's thin throat began to relax.
The man drew in deep, shuddering breaths.
Adam stepped back. The water continued to stream down.
Max's hand dangled from the cuff. "I gave you my blood. It helped you-healed you."
Why had Maya needed healing? "Your hands-I saw what happened, how they changed." He licked his lips. "If-if you transform me, I'll tell you everything."
Because everybody wanted to be immortal.
Maya sighed. "What makes you actually think you're in the position to bargain?" Before he could answer, she said, "I'm not like those sadistic freaks you were working for. I'm not going to dangle forever in front of you in return for getting what I want."
What they wanted, Adam thought.
"There are two ways to do this," Maya said, raising her voice again. "Either we bite and claw the truth out of you-"
For the first time since he'd met her, Adam let his claws out. Long, gleaming. Several inches longer and a hell of a lot sharper than hers.