Page 7 of The Union
He thrust his hips toward me, urging me to take control and to do as I pleased. I lowered my head, pumping him, and when I lightly licked the tip of his cock, he grunted so loud the walls shook.
A knock on the door startled me out of my lustful reverie.
“Layla,” Jo said. “The blood is ready.”
I briefly closed my eyes, practicing some yoga breathing as I cleared the cobwebs from my head and ignored the throbbing between my legs. “I’ll be out in a minute.” I would give anything to make that dream come true right about now. To have Sam standing in front of me, naked or not. His arms around me. His lips on mine. His woodsy scent seeping into me.
I had to find the man who owned my heart. The man I was hopelessly in love with.
I checked myself in the mirror.Holy hell.I was pale—whiter than the snow outside. My auburn hair looked as though it had been through a Category 5 hurricane. I pulled Sam’s leather strap from my long, tangled locks. The one he’d given me right before he dashed off to patrol the airport. I dragged the strap under my nose and sniffed. A hint of his scent lingered, and a soft moan rushed out. Before I tortured myself, I tied the leather strap around my wrist. Then I splashed water on my face, hoping I could infuse a little more color into my cheeks and wash away my ghostly appearance. But the tepid water did nothing for my blue eyes, pale skin, or chapped lips that looked like shattered glass.
Despite that, I straightened and kicked my self-pity to the curb. I was strong, resilient, determined, and faced things head-on. I had to believe I could rise above adversity no matter how many curveballs were thrown at me. Otherwise, I would lose the fight before it began, and I didn’t like losing anything.
3
LAYLA
Jo handed me a glass of warm blood when I walked out of the bathroom. “How are you feeling?”
I shrugged, raising my glass. “I’m worried that we don’t have enough of this.”
She leaned against the counter. “I’ll call Dr. Vieira in a minute. We should have some of Sam’s reserves. But if we don’t, you might be able to drink mine. In addition to our twin status, Sam and I have nearly identical DNA as vampires.”
I rested my shoulder on the bulkhead across from the bathroom. “Whatever helps the baby.” Which was the only reason Iwasdrinking the sticky red stuff.
Tripp’s voice drifted our way.
Jo glanced past me as I followed her line of sight.
Tripp closed the cockpit door, nodded at us with a concerned expression, then exited the plane.
I pouted. “I don’t think we’re taking off anytime soon.” The snow was falling steadily. The wind was a factor, and with the cold temps, the plane probably had to be deiced before takeoff. A heaviness settled into my limbs, my heart, my entire being. The longer we stayed, the less of a chance we would find Sam. “That means our search for Sam has to wait.” I took a swig of Sam’s blood and couldn’t help but pout. It was the first time I was drinking from a glass and not from his wrist. I briefly closed my eyes and imagined Sam smoothing a hand over my hair and whispering in my ear that he loved me, exactly as he had done at Jo’s house in Maine. That day had changed everything. I’d known then I loved him but couldn’t say the words.Stupid me. What if I don’t get the chance to tell him how I feel?
“We might know exactly where he is,” Jo announced.
I almost dropped my drink as hope sprouted like weeds after a hard rain. “Really? How? His cell phone?”
Her shoulders twitched in a light shrug. “Yes and no. Sam has a microchip implanted in him.” She pointed to a spot on her lower right back. “I do too.”
I bit my bottom lip. “Oookay. Is that a vampire thing or military?”
She flipped her hair over her shoulder. “It’s some weird law we have within our government, although most, if not all of our kind, don’t have chips. But those that work within our government do, like my father. But when Sam and I first turned, my dad gave Sam and me some story about how it was required. I think deep down, he was worried that we would be kidnapped, and he wanted a way to find us. But most of our adversaries know we have them, and they either deactivate them or scramble the signal.”
I finished off the blood. “Let’s hope either his phone or his chip comes through for us.”
Jo held out her hand. “Do you want more?”
I gave her the empty glass. “I need to pace myself. We should check with Dr. Vieira on how much he has in reserve.”
She whipped out her phone and put it on speaker.
Dr. Vieira answered on the second ring. “Jo, how did it go? Did you find out any intel on the cobalt oxide and where the Aberdeens purchased it from?”
One ingredient in the drug that I’d used at the vampire club the night I’d met Sam was cobalt. At the time, I had no clue what was in the drug that the man who hired me to capture Sam had supplied. Or that the drug had been given to my benefactor by my father before he’d died.
“Sorry, I didn’t,” she said. “Too many things happening. Sam has been taken by ex-special forces. Well, we think they’re ex-military. But that’s not why I’m calling.”
Dr. Vieira expelled an exasperated breath. “Please tell me Layla is okay.”
