obby feared he would lose Olivia forever. He couldn't guarantee J.L. would survive the transformation. Sometimes human bodies rejected the change, and if that happened now, he would be responsible for killing her friend.

And regardless of the outcome, wouldn't Olivia be repulsed by the gruesome act he was about to commit?

"Give him some room." Connor shooed everyone back.

"Ye should step into the hallway," Robby told Olivia. "Ye doona want to see this."

She shook her head, and a tear rolled down her cheek. "I'm not leaving."

Robby was tempted to argue, but there wasn't any time. He leaned over her friend, closed his eyes, and breathed deeply the scent of blood. The primitive urge was always there, usually well-controlled, but this time he surrendered to the lust for blood. His gums tingled. With a hissing sound his fangs sprung out.

He was barely aware of Olivia's gasp. He sank his teeth into J.L.'s neck. He drained the last of J.L.'s blood from his body, and then, instead of stopping, let his vampire saliva seep into the wound.

Angus had described the process to him before, but Robby had never had occasion to use it. He could only hope he was doing it right. If he was, J.L. would defy death and slip into a vampire coma.

"Ye did it, lad." Angus touched his shoulder. "He's in a coma."

Robby sat back with a relieved sigh. He glanced at Olivia, and her eyes widened with alarm. Bugger. His fangs were still out. He was repulsing her. He wiped the blood from his mouth and focused on making his fangs retract.

"What happens now?" she asked.

"He'll either come out of the coma or he'll die," Angus told her bluntly, then looked at Robby. "Give him a few moments to adjust before ye proceed."

The room grew quiet except for the moaning of a few wounded escaped convicts.

"I need to call an ambulance," Barker said.

"No' yet," Angus replied. "We have to let Whelan handle this."

"We'd better erase their memories before they go back to prison," Connor said.

Barker kicked at a pile of dust. "Some of these dead vampires were escaped prisoners. Why didn't they teleport away like the Malcontents?"

"They were newly turned," Emma explained. "They hadn't learned how to teleport yet. I doubt they even realized they had the power."

Robby took a deep breath. Time to proceed with the next step. He removed the dagger from the sheath on his calf.

"What are you doing?" Olivia asked.

"I have to feed him." Robby's eyes misted with tears. "If he rejects my blood, he'll die. I will have killed him."

She touched Robby's arm. "Whatever happens, it won't be your fault. You've done your best."

He gave her a wry smile. "Still trying yer therapy on me?" He sliced his forearm and hissed in a long breath. Blood oozed from the wound. He pressed the blood against J.L.'s mouth.

Nothing happened. Drops of blood dribbled down J.L.'s cheek.

"Come on, lad." Robby grazed his wounded arm against J.L.'s nose to make sure he caught the scent.

J.L.'s nostrils flared.

"That's it." Robby held his arm above J.L.'s mouth. Drops of blood landed on the closed lips. "Drink, lad."

Olivia leaned close, with tears glistening on her cheeks. "J.L., please. If you can hear me, you have to drink."

More drops plopped onto J.L.'s mouth, staining his pale lips red. His mouth opened.

"That's it." Robby pressed the wound to J.L.'s mouth.

A shudder racked J.L.'s body. He suddenly grabbed hold of Robby's arm and sucked.

"It's working." Robby blinked back tears. He hadn't lost J.L.

Now if he could just hang on to Olivia.

Olivia perched on the edge of a bed where J.L. was resting. Robby had teleported her back to Romatech, while Angus had brought J.L. They'd placed him in one of the bedrooms in the basement.

She'd cleaned the blood off J.L.'s neck. To her amazement, the wounds were actually healing. Robby had explained that a Vamp's body could heal during death-sleep.

Robby and Angus had then teleported back to Kansas City to hunt for Casimir and make sure Whelan cleaned up the mess at the storage unit.

Alone with J.L., Olivia recalled how difficult the transformation process had been on Robby. He'd suffered both physical and emotional pain. His eyes had glistened with tears. Would he have to do the same process on her someday?

She slipped into Robby's room next door to take a shower. Then she rummaged through his chest of drawers for something that wouldn't fall off. She ended up with a pair of flannel pants with a drawstring she could cinch tighter. She topped it off with a T-shirt that reached her thighs.

She went back to J.L.'s room to keep him company. He was still in a coma, so he wasn't aware of her presence, but she needed to be there.

An hour later Robby strolled into the room. "I brought you some clothes from yer apartment." His mouth twitched when he saw she'd already changed.

"Sorry." She tugged at the baggy T-shirt. "I helped myself."

"They look better on you than me." He walked over to the small fridge and removed a bottle of blood. "Tomorrow night at sunset you'll need to be here with a glass of warm blood ready for J.L."

Robby set his bottle in the microwave. "In fact, ye'd better have several glasses ready. He'll awaken with a terrible hunger, and he may be tempted to jump you."

Olivia winced. Poor J.L. He was going to be in for a shock when he woke up.

"I'll be awakening next door." Robby removed the bottle from the microwave. "I'll come here right away."

She nodded. "Thank you for saving him."

Robby sighed. "He may not like being Undead."

"It's better than dead." She perched on the bed next to J.L.

Robby took a long drink. "There is a process for changing Vamps back into mortals, but 'tis verra dangerous."

"You - you could become mortal again?"

"Nay." He settled in the easy chair. "It requires a sample of yer blood and original DNA from when ye were human." He motioned toward J.L.'s bloodstained clothes. "We have that for J.L., but 'tis impossible for us old-timers."

"Oh." She tried to hide her disappointment.

He gave her a wistful look. "I'm afraid ye're stuck with me the way I am."

She took a deep breath. That was what it all boiled down to. Could she accept him as he was? Could she accept the consequences of her acceptance when it meant she might become a vampire, too, someday?

"How did it happen to you?" she asked.

Robby took another sip from his bottle. "I was a soldier back in 1746. Dougal and I went to fight for Bonnie Prince Charlie and the end of English tyranny. We lay dying on the field of Culloden as the sun set. I was drifting in and out. I thought I was imagining it when a voice asked me if I wanted to keep on living so I could fight evil."

"And you said yes."

"Aye." Robby drank some more. "'Twas Angus who asked the question. I dinna realize at the time what I was agreeing to. I just knew I dinna want to die."

"Of course you didn't," Olivia whispered.

"Angus changed me, and Connor changed Dougal." Robby finished his bottle of blood and set it on the table.

She frowned. Robby was being macho and completely glossing over the pain and fear he must have experienced. "I guess you had to bite people back then?"

"Aye, but I was careful never to hurt anyone. I tried to go back to my farm, but I could only farm at night. And my wife - "

"Your what?" Olivia stiffened.

His mouth thinned. "I had a wife and daughter. They were repulsed by my new condition. Mavis taught my little girl to run from me for fear I would bite her."

"I'm so sorry." Olivia didn't need empathic powers to know this had caused Robby a lot of pain.

"Then I learned that during the day while I was hiding in a cave in my death-sleep, Mavis declared me dead and took a new husband. A bloody English soldier."

Olivia winced. "This is why you value loyalty so much, isn't it?"

Robby arched a brow. "Are ye being my therapist again?"

"I'm just trying to understand you." Now she knew why he hated betrayal so much.

He glanced down at his bloodstained T-shirt. "I need to wash up. I'll be back soon." He strode from the room.

She thought back on his story. He hadn't asked to be a vampire. He'd only wanted to stay alive. And he was using his prolonged life to fight evil. There was no denying the fact that Robby MacKay was a good, honorable man.

And she loved him.

She couldn't bear to wound him with rejection. She couldn't let him feel betrayed all over again.

She rose slowly to her feet. She was going to accept him. And love him, no matter the cost.

She eased into his bedroom and locked the door. She could hear the shower running in the bathroom. She glanced up at the surveillance camera to make sure it was still turned off.

She padded into the bathroom. He was soaping up in the clear shower stall, his back turned to her. Rivulets of soapy water meandered down his strong back and tight buttocks.

She sighed.

He turned and his eyes widened. He cracked open the door. "Are ye here for the view, or did ye need something?"

With a smile, she pulled his baggy T-shirt over her head and dropped it onto the floor. "I do need something." She tugged at the drawstring holding up his flannel pants. "I need you."

He leaned back into the water spray and turned the water off. He looked at her, his eyes glinting with a reddish tint. "Olivia, I canna play at this. If I take you, I willna let you go."

"Good." She wiggled the flannel pants over her hips and let them drop. "Because I'm not letting you go."

He burst out of the shower and swooped her off her feet.

She laughed. "You're all wet."

"Ye will be, too." He tossed her on the bed and landed beside her.

"Do ye know how much I love you?" He kissed her brow, her cheeks.

"About as much as I love you." She ran her hands into his long, wet hair.

With a growl, he took her mouth. She opened and welcomed his tongue, stroking it with her own. She invaded his mouth and tested the sharpness of his fangs against her tongue.

He pulled back. "Careful with those."

She smiled. "I'm not going to live in fear of you. And you don't have to keep punching holes in my pillows."

His eyes widened. "Are ye saying ye're no' opposed to a wee nip here and there?"

She laughed. "That depends on where."

"Oh aye." He cupped a breast. "There are definitely places I would never want to puncture." He brushed his thumb over her nipple.

She shivered, and her nipples pebbled.

"Och, now would ye look at that? Is there no' a lovelier sight in the world?" He leaned over and sucked a nipple into his mouth.

The rasp of his tongue sent goose flesh shimmering down her arms and legs. Heat pooled between her thighs, and her core felt empty and aching with need.

"Robby." She dug her fingers into his back.

"Are ye rushing me, lass?" He trailed kisses down to her belly.

"Yes, yes, I am." She wrapped a leg around him.

He slid a hand between her legs. "Do ye know what happens when ye rush a Vamp?"

"I...no." She closed her eyes, enjoying the slow and gentle exploration of his fingers.

"Ye might end up with me moving at vampire speed." Suddenly, his fingers were rubbing her as fast as a vibrator.

She squealed. "Oh my gosh. That's...that's..."

She spiraled out of control and shattered with an orgasm.

"Oh my..." She pressed a hand to her chest as she struggled to breathe.

His mouth tilted up. "So maybe we should slow it down a wee bit?" His hand returned to its more leisurely pace.

"You rascal," she breathed. "You're good at every speed."

With a grin, he buried his head between her legs and continued his languid exploration with his tongue.

She moaned and writhed in motion with him. This time the climax hit her without warning. It was sudden, deep, and thorough, pulsating through her with throbs that stretched on and on.

She was so sensitized that when he plunged into her, she came again. And she wanted more. She couldn't get enough of Robby. She wrapped her legs around him and met each hard thrust. The pace escalated, becoming frantic and frenzied.

He licked her neck, and it ignited spasms of pleasure. With a shout, he climaxed with her. She felt a small pop on her neck as her core clenched rhythmically around Robby.

When her breathing and heart rate returned to normal, she realized what had happened. "You bit me?"

"Just a little." He licked the wound, and she shivered. "I couldna resist marking you. Ye're mine now."

She hugged him tight. "I'll always be yours."