Read Hunter by Night for Free Online

burns was wheeled past in the hall, surrounded by a gaggle of staff in white coats and colored scrubs. Probably attacked by wizards, probably urgent.
    Her eyes burned but she held back the tears. Yes, others had urgent needs, but she was here with a starving infant who needed his blood drawn. If she and Eamon hadn’t already been forced to wait through the entire day after the baby’s checkup, she’d simply go home to the royal estate and tell her son’s pediatrician that the old windbag could put his growth charts in his pipe and smoke them. She didn’t want to have to bring her child back to go through this torture all over again.
    She glanced at the clock, large and luminous against a green-and-white wall. Eight in the evening. How was it possible that they had been here for more than fifteen hours? The balls of her feet begged for mercy, but she didn’t dare sit. Movement kept the baby calm and asleep, and she’d been told strictly not to feed him until they could draw his blood. Not feed a six-month-old baby . Didn’t these monsters know what they were asking?
    What a nightmare.
    “Theresa?” A large hand gripped her elbow.
    At her startled jerk the baby jolted awake, arms flung out wide in a T. He wailed in her arms with his mouth open wide. His budding fangs peeked through inflamed gums.
    “Damn.” Theresa bounced and patted, uttering shushing noises into her son’s ear. God bless the mother who’d given her that Happiest Baby on the Block DVD.
    Little Eamon, poor thing, shoved a balled-up hand into his mouth. Fat tears rolled down his face. At least he wasn’t screaming.
    “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake him.” The kind, green eyes of Xander, one of the king’s fighters, smiled down at her. He’d watched over her and the baby for a time, after her mate had been killed in a wizard attack.
    Theresa shook off her surprise and bounced with baby Eamon, humming to him once more. She’d been using her power to induce sleep when needed. After using it all day, though, she struggled to stay upright. The baby snuggled against her again, awake and hiccupping, but quiet. He stared at Xander with his wide, wet, black eyes.
    “Wow, he’s gotten so big. May I?” Xander reached out before Theresa could think much about it and calculate the probability that Eamon would cry again at being handed to a stranger. But he didn’t cry. He stayed wide-eyed and staring as the large vampire held him up and then pulled him to his dark T-shirt-clad chest.
    “That’s amazing,” she said. “He’s been crying practically all day. I wouldn’t expect him to take to a stranger so easily.”
    “But I’m not a stranger,” Xander murmured as he touched his finger to Eamon’s nose. His eyes crinkled at the corners, and his cheeks dimpled when he smiled. “I don’t suppose you remember me, little guy. I held you a few times when you were just born. You were so small and fragile, I was practically afraid to pick you up.” He lifted Eamon and gave him a light pretend toss, eliciting a giggle from the baby. “You’ve gotten heavier now, huh?”
    Oh, God. Inside, it was all Theresa could do not to burst into tears. After the night and day she and Eamon had gone through, pacing the brightly lit halls with her hungry child that she’d been told not to feed, feeling so alone and helpless… She fought to keep herself together in front of him.
    Xander stopped jiggling the baby and turned to her. “What’s wrong, Theresa?” Who would have thought such a powerful vampire, with his rough hands and tattoos and six feet of muscle, could speak in such a gentle whisper?
    She shook her head. “We’re fine. I’ve been waiting for him to have some blood drawn.” She glanced at the clock. Eight-thirty. Back over to the lab door. The tech had been gone forever. She didn’t even know whom to ask at this point… “They said they needed to find someone who has experience with small babies.”
    “No.” He gripped her arm,