Vampire Instinct by Joey W. Hill

in strong arms. It was a remarkable thing to be carried by a woman, but that was a fleeting thought, for they were bearing her to a bed and oblivion. It was a place she shouldn’t want to go, but her spirit was racing ahead, eager to take her there.
    For just a while, she wanted to leave behind everything she knew she still had to face—including one implacable vampire who thought her children were better off dead.

4
     
    “ W OULD you like to explain what the hell you’ve gotten me into?”
    “Would you like me to fly to that godforsaken island to teach you some manners?”
    Mal knew it was midmorning on Danny’s side of the world, but he’d informed the housing staff they needed to get their Mistress’s ass out of bed to answer the damn phone before he came halfway around the world to drag her out of it. Therefore, when he heard her not entirely empty threat, delivered in a mix of Aussie and Brit temper, it helped him rein in his own a bit. She was above him on the feeding chain, and while she didn’t go out of her way to emphasize it, her tone suggested he was pushing his luck this morning. After all, his present situation was the result of him owing her a tremendous favor. However, given his current frame of mind, he thought when this was over, she’d owe him.
    “You didn’t tell me everything about her.”
    “Yes, I did. I assumed you would know that someone who’s endured what she has would present some challenges. Oh, I forgot. You’re male and need it spelled out with a bloody crayon.”
    He winced. Yep, he’d chosen the wrong tack. Sometimes, living with his cats, he did forget how to play nice with others. He bit back a sigh. “I apologize, my lady. It has been an . . . unexpected few hours. My manners aren’t what they should be.”
    She was silent; then he heard a matching sigh. “Apology accepted. Perhaps I could have prepared you better, but I wanted you to form your own impressions and see if they match my own. So tell me what they are so far.”
    “First, let’s be sure we’re still on the same page, because I’m not so sure we are. I was supposed to evaluate the fledglings, see if they have any meaningful chance of surviving in our world. If not, I have the discretion to give them a merciful end.”
    “That’s correct.”
    He tightened his lips at the short answer. She knew there was more to it, damn it, but she wanted to see if he’d seen it. A blind man could have done so. “You didn’t tell me the girl’s life depends on theirs.”
    “She’s not marked by them. There’s no chance . . .”
    “Lady Danny.” Danny didn’t particularly care for honorifics between them, so he used the title deliberately. “Are you blinding yourself out of sentiment for her, or are you testing me to see if I’m as clever as you remember?”
    “You have the discretion to send her home as soon as you feel her presence is no longer necessary.”
    “Hedging, my lady. I’d have been happy to turn her pretty ‘arse,’ as you call it, right back onto that plane. But she wants to stay, and she’s being fairly insistent about it.”
    “I’m glad you think she has a pretty arse. It means you’ve taken the stick out of yours long enough to notice something other than your cats.”
    “Danny.”
    The female vampire blew out a breath, so ferociously it sounded like a fitful gust of wind through the static-laden connection. “Damn it, you stop hedging. What do you think?”
    “I think she’s recovering from a severe trauma. Actually, no, she’s not recovering. She’s hiding from it, making the well-being of these fledglings her obsession. She looks like a ghost, barely able to stand on her own two feet from worry. Kohana says she fell asleep before she could eat. From those nicely shaped breasts of hers, I can tell she used to be a bit more of a handful. A good wind would blow her away.”
    “Yes, she was very appealing. A nice, generous arse and breasts that were more than a handful. Tiny