Aaron's Kiss Series Boxed Set (Books 1 - 7) by Kathi S. Barton Page A

would all just step....” She tried to step back and close the door in his face.
    “Turn around, Sara. Now.” He took another step toward her and felt his fangs drop in anger. His anger was turning him, his dark side was showing, and his beast was rising.
    Aaron needed to make her understand it was not her he was angry at, but at the person who had done this to her. Mine, his mind screamed at him, and he wanted to hurt whoever was responsible.
    Aaron growled to Duncan to get them out, all of them out. He, too, had caught the horrific details in the mirror, Aaron saw. As Duncan turned to usher the group away, he noticed April pale and Demetrius’s own anger pulse through the room. It seemed everyone now knew the extent of her injuries.
    “I’ll not leave just yet, Duncan, old man. Something is going on and I want to hang out for a bit. You understand?” Aaron heard Colin say to Duncan.
    “Colin, go with Duncan please. I’ll deal with this. I’ll explain when I come down shortly.” Aaron did not take his eyes off Sara. She had backed all the way into the bathroom. Now she was standing against the far wall.
    Aaron knew that Colin would not go far. The two had become fast friends during the seventeenth century when a still human Colin had taken a beating for a young woman who had stolen bread for her small child. It had touched something human in the vampire’s soul. Colin near death, Aaron had offered him eternal life in exchange for him helping to serve and protect the then Master of the Realm, a respectable vampire by the name of Vlad deMorass.
    Aaron was beyond caring what anyone said or did now; all he could think about was this badly beaten person in front of him, and how much he needed to heal her, to touch her, and Christ, he needed to taste her.
    “Duncan, I want you to call Thomas Reilly, and have him get over here right now.”
    “Yes, My Lord. I’ll call him immediately. Sire? Is there...I mean....” Poor Duncan, he thought. He was as lost as Aaron was.
    “No, Duncan, I’ll take care of her. Just call Thomas for me, please. Tell him to hurry.” The door clicking closed resounded through the room.
    “No, please, don’t do this. I’m used to this. It’s fine, really. I’m okay, much better in fact. It’s not what you think, honestly. I want to go. You can’t make me stay. I need to go. I can’t let him find me here. There’s too much at stake. Just, I’m begging you to give me my clothes and I’ll go away. He’ll kill you. Please?”
    Aaron watched as tears streamed down her face. His first instinct was to let her go, anything to stop her crying. But he could not.
    “I think someone has beaten you, love, that’s what I think.” He moved closer as he spoke until she cringed against the wall. “Sara, honey, turn around and let me see the extent of your injuries. I won’t touch you, but I need to look at them.”
    She started shaking her head at him. “Okay, so it is what you think. Why? What can you do? Can you make the hurt go away? I want to go now. You have no rights over me, do you hear me? I want to go away from here.”
    She stiffened suddenly and he jerked around to defend her. Anger boiled into the room from the man he’d forgotten about. Colin.
    “Who will kill him? Aaron, what’s going on?”
    He hid the grin that fought hard to turn into a laugh at the sight of Colin standing there. Colin was holding his broadsword in his hands, at the ready, in a pair of khaki shorts and an Ohio State Football t-shirt.
    “Colin, please go with the others. I will explain in a moment. I can take care of this.” At least Aaron hoped he could.
    With a cool look toward the girl through the bathroom door, Colin left.
    “And you aren’t going anywhere. Not now. The doctor will be here soon, and then we are going to talk about this. Sara, I really need—”
    “He will find out where I am again. I won’t be able to protect her this time either if he does, don’t you see? I can’t let him