Page 22 of Blood Lost

“I need to know where to tell Scott to meet me. I assume you don’t want him to come here.”

I laughed at their reaction of speaking over each other. “Yes, there are blood bags in the kitchen,” I said to Dec, then turned to Eli. “He can meet you a half-mile from the boulders in the woods. Will you be able to bring the supplies back yourself, or do you need someone to help?”

“I could probably use your help.” Eli made it a point to request me. I would have sent Declan. I hated the thought of him being here with our girl by himself. But Eli was good at reading people. If he felt that she was safe, I knew that she would be. I could lock the door to her room from the outside to make sure he stayed out while we were gone, but if she needed something, that could get ugly.

“Send Scott a message and set up a meeting time. These are the coordinates for the clearing past the boulders.” I scribbled the numbers on a scrap of paper and shoved it at Eli. “While he’s doing that, we should figure out sleeping arrangements. Delilah is in my room, which means I’ll be taking the room on the left.” I pointed to the room I had selected for myself.

“That’s fine; I’m planning to camp out next to Delilah’s door until she wakes up. I’ll take whatever room you want to put me in. I’m sure it will be the furthest from her anyway.” Declan smirked at me knowingly. Good, he knew that I wasn’t a fan. That would make things easier.

“Nah, I’m taking the furthest room; you can have the one to the right of D’s room. Vik might not trust you, but I do. D says you’re important to her. I’m not worried about it.” Eli said flippantly while tapping away at his phone. I knew that he wouldn’t take it out of airplane mode until he was ready to send the detailed message to Scott. I glared at him for giving his room to Declan. That was not what I had planned.

I needed to check on Mike’s progress at Midnight, but I knew that Eli would veto a call or text. I typed up an email and saved it in my drafts. I knew him well enough to know that Eli wouldn’t go long without connection, so I would wait and email him when he was set up again. There was probably some new gadget that Scott would bring that would get the internet up and running while hiding our location. Eli was always making useful things like that. I guessed that I would need to find a use for the new guy since both Eli and Delilah had seemed to become attached to him already. I couldn’t convince her to get rid of Eli, and with her personality changes, I was sure I would fail in chasing Declan away.

I would just have to learn to share. That didn’t mean I had to like it. I finished my email draft and a few others that would need to go to critical members of my company. Then I checked on Delilah. She was still out cold. Her color was returning, and her breathing was steady. Those were good signs that she’d be okay. Now we needed to find out who was responsible for all of this.

“Scott will meet us in an hour. I figured we can head out a little early and scope the area to make sure he’s not followed.”

“That will also give us a chance to discuss a few things,” I responded under my breath, hoping that Declan wasn’t paying attention.

“Hey, if you guys want to talk about me, just say so. I can make myself scarce. Or we can have a conversation together like adults.” Declan sounded as if he were scolding a naughty child. Something about his tone made me like him just a little better.

“We don’t know you, so we don’t trust you,” I spoke just loud enough for him to hear. It was ridiculous to have this conversation when we all knew how we felt. It was impossible to trust someone you’d just met.

Eli held up his hands. “Wait. That’s not entirely true. You saved our girl. I trust you with my life. Just because Vik is feeling bitchy, that doesn’t mean we were going to talk about you.”

I knew from their expressions that my own had given me away. “Fine. I was going to talk to Eli about you. It’s not a crime, you know. This is my bunker, and the two of you come in here like you are the ones who own the place. I don’t like it. To be fair, I don’t really want any of you here, except Delilah.”

“You son of a bitch. Is this how all of us being with Delilah is going to be? If so, I’m out.” Declan growled. I glared at him, waiting for the challenge to come. I knew that we would end up fighting. I just thought it would happen after we’d spent more time together.

“Stop. Both of you. This isn’t what Delilah wants. And it’s not going to help her.” Eli stepped between us. He turned to Declan first. “You need to back down. Just because he’s being a dick, doesn’t mean you have to let him get to you.” Then my friend turned on me. “And you. If you don’t stop baiting Dec, you’re going to have to deal with me. I mean it. This stops now. No more snarky comments, no more veiled threats.”

I nodded, stepping forward as if to shake Declan’s hand. They were both staring at me with distrust in their eyes. It didn’t matter what I did now; it would be the wrong thing. So I took a swing. My fist connected with Declan’s jaw before Eli tackled me to the ground.

“What is all this commotion?” A soft voice echoed through the room. I didn’t have to look up to know that Delilah was awake and had seen my indiscretion. This was going to be impossible to fix. “What the fuck were you thinking, Viktor? You can’t just go around hitting people when they disagree with you. And you can’t be cutting off hands for touching me, and you can’t order people around. You don’t own any of us. Do you understand?” Her words tore through me. It was like having the old Delilah back.

She walked over to Declan, still glaring at me, then pressed her hand to his cheek where my fist had connected. “I’m sorry he’s a jerk. He had me thrown in a cage the first time I met him. I promise if you give him time, he’ll grow on you.” She pressed her lips to his cheek, and I growled.

“As for you, mister, you’d better not let me see this kind of behavior again.” Delilah was authoritative and angry. The combination had my dick standing at attention.

Chapter 27

Declan

It was a good thing Delilah had come in the room right after Vik sucker punched me. I would have torn him apart. From the look on her face, I was confident that she knew it. She glared at him while she chewed him out about it. When her eyes met mine, I saw the fear she was trying to hide. Eli wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close and whispering in her ear. It was as if he could sense her emotions on a greater level than I could. I stifled a laugh as Vik looked shocked and turned on by her outburst. That guy had issues.

Who was I trying to kid? I would be turned on by Delilah tearing into me, too. That didn’t mean that his behavior was justified. Part of me wished they would just challenge me to a fight and get it over with. I knew it was coming. At least with that, I knew I had a chance to impress Delilah. She probably wouldn’t want me to kill them, though. Besides, I kind of liked Eli, and I respected how protective Vik was.

After Eli let go of her, Delilah growled at Vik, then walked over and embraced me. I expected a quick hug, but she held on as if her life depended on it. “Are you okay, mo chroí?”

She looked up and cupped my cheek where he’d slugged me. “I’m fine. How’s your face?” Delilah stretched up and kissed my cheek gently. It must have been bruised for her to be so worried.

“You tell me; I can’t see it,” I smirked at her, and she couldn’t help but laugh at my joke. I forgot that we weren’t alone and leaned down to kiss her. She didn’t seem to care and let me work my tongue into her mouth to tangle with hers. I moaned against her lips, and someone cleared their throat. I was sure it was Vik, but it was enough to pull us out of the moment.

“We have to go retrieve the supplies that Scott is bringing. I asked him to drop them by helicopter so he could check out the area and report back to me.” Eli turned to Vik. “I know I said I wanted to scope the area out, but I was just going to talk to you about your issue with Dec. Now that all of that is out in the open, there’s no reason to hide my reasoning.”

“What, you’re on his side now?” Vik accused, clearly angry that he’d been chastised like a child. He stomped to his room and slammed the heavy door.

“Vik,” Eli called as he started to go after him, but Delilah held up a hand.

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