Aidan reached mentally for her mind, wanting to make her death as painless for her as possible. Shocked by her resistance, he took a warning step toward her. She was incredibly strong. Her mind had some kind of natural barrier, resisting his will. Instead of placing the child on the sand in front of her as he had directed, she pushed the boy to one side, picked up a large piece of driftwood, and launched herself at Aidan.

He sprang forward, swiping the staff from her hand. The impact cracked a bone—he could hear it, see the pain in her eyes—but she didn’t scream. Evidently she was beyond screaming. He reached for her, intending to end her life before she suffered further. She struggled, still resisting his mental compulsion. He bent his head to her throat.

She was so small and cold, shivering uncontrollably, and his every protective instinct leapt into being, feelings he had never before experienced. He wanted to cradle her close, shelter her in the warmth of his arms. His teeth pierced her soft throat, and instantly everything changed for him for all eternity. His entire world. Colors whirled and danced, nearly overwhelming him with their beauty and vividness. His body reacted with a wild urgency he had not known he was capable of feeling, not even in the old days, when he still had emotions.

Her blood was hot and spicy, a sweet, addicting feast giving nourishment to his depleted body. The hunt and fight had cost him strength, and he had not fed this night. Her body shared its life-giving fluid with his. He was aware on some level when her struggles ceased and she rested passively against him. He lifted her easily into his arms, cradling her against his chest as he fed. Then something hit him hard across his legs. Startled, he closed the wound with a caress of his tongue and turned to stare down at the child. It was a measure of his current bemusement that he had all but forgotten the boy, had not even heard his approach.

Joshua was furious. He struck the hunter across the legs a second time, swinging the piece of driftwood as hard as could. “Stop hurting my sister! You were supposed to come and save us! She said you would come if we held on long enough. You were supposed to help us, but you’re just like him!”

Tears streamed down the child’s face. Aidan could clearly see that the youth had blond hair and blue eyes. The colors nearly blinded him. He looked down into the ravaged face of the woman in his arms. Her heart was laboring, slow, her lungs fighting for air. She was dying.

“I amhere to help you,” he murmured softly, almost absently, to the boy. He reached inside himself, found a calm, tranquil pool to rest in, and sent himself seeking outside his own body and into the woman’s. He could not believe he had found her after all these long centuries. But it must be. Only finding his lifemate could bring about these astonishing changes in him.

She was fading away, not fighting anymore. His will surrounded hers. You will not leave me. Take my blood, which is freely offered to you. You must drink in order to live.

Her mind moved away from his. Her spirit was still strong enough to evade his compulsion. Aidan changed tactics. Your brother needs you. Fight for him. He cannot be without you. He will die.

With one fingernail he slashed the heavy muscles of his chest and pressed her to him. She resisted at first, but he was relentless, surrounding her, herding her will, battering at the barrier until, in her weakened state, she gave in to his enthrallment and fed.

“What are you doing?” Joshua demanded.

“She has lost much blood. I must transfuse her.” Aidan planned to erase the child’s memories of this nightmare. A satisfactory explanation would not harm him at this point. The boy was very brave and deserved to hear anything that would ease his terrible fear.

It had taken careful tracking of the vampire to find him. He always left a bloody mess behind yet remained one step ahead of his hunter. The night before, Aidan had arrived too late. He had gone to the restaurant on the cliffs, tracking the disturbances in the air, but Paul Yohenstria had already killed an elderly man, ripping his heart out and leaving behind a corpse too hot to allow the police to discover. Aidan had disposed of the body and made certain the vampire’s three female victims would never be found. But he had lost the undead’s trail just before dawn. Still, he had been certain he was nearing his lair, and finally he had found and destroyed him.

Now he had no choice but to burn the vampire and take these two lost ones back to his home. For this pitiful, disfigured woman was clearly the mate he had been seeking these eight hundred years. His astonishing responses to her proved it. He had no idea what she was like, or even what she looked like, but she had brought his body and heart back to life. This was the one.

“What is your name?” Aidan asked the child. It seemed kinder than merely reading his mind. Not that he had given great thought to kindness before.

“Joshua Houton. Is Alexandria going to be all right? She looks so white and horrible. I think that bad man really hurt her.”

“I am a healer for my people, Joshua Houton. I know how to help your sister. Do not worry. I will ensure that this bad one can never hurt another living soul. Then we will go to my home. You will be safe there.”

“Alex is going to be upset. Her suit is ruined, and she needs that suit to get us a great job and lots of money.” Joshua sounded forlorn, as if he might cry at any moment. He was looking up at the hunter for solace.

“We will get her another suit,” Aidan assured the child. He gently stopped the woman from feeding. He needed strength to transport all of them back to his home, and it also took tremendous energy to heal another. He would have to find time to hunt this night for sustenance.

Aidan placed Alexandria on the sand and pulled Joshua gently to her side. “She is very ill, Joshua. I want you to sit right beside her so she can feel your presence and know you have not been harmed. She will need us to take care of her for a while. You are a big boy. You can handle that, even if she says things that are scary, can you not?”

“Why would she say something scary?” Joshua asked suspiciously.

“When people are very sick, fever can make them delirious. That means they do not know what they say. They can be afraid of people or things for no real reason. We have to stay close to her and make certain she does not harm herself.”

Joshua nodded solemnly and sat down in the wet sand beside Alexandria. Her eyes were closed, and she didn’t respond even when he bent down and kissed her on her forehead as she sometimes did to him. Sand and salt caked her skin. Joshua stroked back the wet strands of hair gently, singing softly as she often did to him when he was sick. She seemed very, very cold to him.

Watching them together brought a lump to Aidan’s throat. They looked the way a family was supposed to look. The way Marie, his housekeeper, had looked at her sons as they grew, the way she looked at him and he could never reciprocate. Sighing, he went about the grim business of disposing of the vampire’s remains. Vampires were always dangerous, even after they were dead. He had extracted the heart, but even now it was pulsating, broadcasting to the undead its location, that the vampire might reunite its form. Aidan concentrated on the sky, built a storm in his mind, and created a whip of lightning that sizzled and danced as it struck the ground. Flames rushed along the path of crimson, leaving behind black ashes. The vampire’s body shriveled. Blue and orange flames whirled together, and a low shriek seemed to rise above the wind.

The smell was putrid, rank. Joshua held his nose and watched wide-eyed as the vampire simply vanished in the black, noxious smoke. He was shocked when the hunter held his hands in the orange flames. The flames didn’t burn him. Aidan tiredly wiped his palms along his trousers before turning back to the little boy trying so hard to guard his sister on the beach. A faint smile softened the hard line of his mouth. “You are not afraid of me, are you, Joshua?”