Blood Mates by K. Grey Page B

at him. He had already made sure he kept his emotions under tight reign so she wouldn’t feel anything else from him. He didn’t want the connection to grow. It wouldn’t be right since he didn’t have any intention of claiming her.
    “What?” he finally asked. He couldn’t stand it.
    “How old are you?”
    “What?”
    “How old are you? I know Lucien is as old as dirt.  I want to know how old you are.”
    “I was born in 1581.”
    “Oh!” she turned to look out of the windshield again. “Who is the youngest?”
    “Holden. He was born in 1843 I think.”
    “That is still old….” She murmured.
    “We live a long time…”
    “I see that. What’s the day?”
    “Of what?”
    “Your birthday.”
    “October 21st I think.”
    “You think?” her eyes shot back to him. “You don’t know?”
    “Birthdays kind of aren’t a big deal after a while.”
    “Oh! That makes sense… I guess... after a couple of hundred it probably gets boring.” she sighed sadly. It was sad to her though.
     
     
    When they reached the apartment building Rhage looked at it and then at her. It wasn’t in the safest neighborhood nor was it a nice looking building. Ava shrugged.
    “It’s what I can afford after paying for school. School is more important than where I sleep.” She told him. Rhage didn’t like it. She deserved the best. It was a two story walk up. An old reconverted brownstone which had seen better days. Rhage didn’t say anything, but nodded his head. Ava watched him walk around the SUV to open her door. She worried about him in the sun. Rhage didn’t know what to think when she grabbed his hand hurrying toward the front door---- then he chuckled realizing she wanted to get him out of the sun as soon as she could. Once they entered the building she looked up at him.
    “What?” she asked.
    “I’m good… you don’t have to worry about me getting crispy...”
    “Better safe than sorry…” she rolled her eyes. When she moved away from him Rhage quickly pulled her back to his side. He liked her being next to him and he rationalized it by telling himself it was for her protection. Ava didn’t argue.  She slipped her arm around his like it was a natural thing to do. Rhage wanted to groan because despite wearing a leather jacket which hung around his legs to hide his weapons he could still feel her body heat… and damn it felt good. He wanted her naked… he wanted her naked now! He even felt his incisors lengthen and his cock was pressing against his zipper painfully. His body was demanding.
    “Where to?” he managed to grunt.
    “There are only four apartments…I’m upstairs across from Jill.” Rhage noticed she was looking toward a door that was closed.
    “What is it?”
    “Mrs. Vaughn, she is the old lady that lives in that apartment. She must be out. She usually is always peeking through her door. I was going to say hello.” She shrugged. “Come on… Jill must be going crazy by now.”
    Rhage kept her between him and the wall as they headed upstairs. When they reached the second floor Rhage realized he only heard a TV. There weren’t any other sounds. He knew he should be hearing other sounds like Ava’s friend in her apartment or people in general. He paused and tuned his hearing even more. He couldn’t even hear Jill’s heart beating or breathing. Something wasn’t right. There weren’t any sounds except for the TV.
    Ava felt him tense up. She knew something was wrong. She slipped her hand into his drawing his attention down to her. She knew not to make a sound so she raised her eyebrows silently questioning him. She saw it in his eyes.  He slowly shook his head.  Rhage reacted without thinking and answered her in his head.
    ‘I don’t hear your friend at all. It’s too quiet. Something isn’t right.’
    Ava’s eyes widened in shock. She could hear him! His mouth hadn’t moved and yet his voice was in her head. ‘I didn’t just hear you…’ she didn’t say anything out