Christian. What the hell am I doing?
Lying back in the bed, he stared at the ceiling for a very
long time, trying to reconcile with himself what he had just
done. Hoping it was just a vampire thing and not part of
who he real y was. Actual y, Michael hated knowing this
wasn’t the first time the little nagging voice that appeared in
his head was making him doubt himself. As Christian rol ed
over and threw an arm across him, Michael didn’t remove
it. Rather, he kept gently caressing it until he drifted into
sleep.
CHAPTER THREE
You can’t run.
Your past will bite you on the arse at some stage.
Waking up around midday Christian panicked. The
sensation of something pressing down upon him was
overpowering. It felt as though there was someone else
besides Michael and himself in the room, someone just
waiting and watching. Someone who wished to cause them
both harm.
Letting his senses wander, he tried to locate exactly
where the feeling was coming from, but it disappeared as
fast as it came. It terrified him enough to want to wake
Michael. Deep down, Christian knew whatever he had felt
was pure evil. He lifted his cheek off Michael’s chest and
tilted it so he could whisper into Michael’s ear, pleading
with him to wake up. It stil amazed him that in the week
since Michael, Doyle, and he had faced down the guys in
the park he had woken each evening wrapped around
Michael. Luckily he had always managed to get out of bed
before him so he wasn’t sure Michael even knew.
A shiver raced along his spine as Michael only half woke
as he turned, wrapped his arm around Christian, and pul ed
him in for a deep kiss. In amazement, Christian froze at the
contact, pul ing away after a moment, though for one brief
second, or maybe twenty, he had responded and
thoroughly enjoyed it. Pushing the thought aside, Christian
started shaking Michael awake.
The weirdness struck him as important, and he knew he
needed to tel Michael about the strange presence he had
felt. Yet he couldn’t explain it wel , not when the kiss was stil
fresh in his mouth and especial y not while he wanted
another. As the feeling of being watched came again
Christian clamped his shaking hand over Michael’s mouth.
The fingers of his other hand pressed firmly to his own lips
in sign for silence. He leaned in a little more as Michael’s
hand froze against his back, holding him close as Christian
searched the room.
“What?” Michael whispered when Christian final y moved
his hand enough to al ow Michael to talk.
“There was somebody in here watching us. I’m not lying. I
swear it.” His voice stil shook slightly, but his hand had
moved from Michael’s face and now rested on his chest; he
knew Michael would be able to feel it trembling.
“Who?” Michael’s gaze drifted around the room.
“I don’t know. It woke me up. It was the strangest thing. It
scared the crap out of me.” Christian felt idiotic. Maybe it
had just been a dream and no one had been there at al .
Maybe this just was a reaction to Charm’s odd bit of poetry
the other week. Or maybe it had kicked off another very
realistic dream. He had been having a lot of them lately. He
fucking hated those dreams.
“Sorry, I guess I just freaked,” Christian said, feeling like
a complete loser for acting like he had.
“Did you see anyone?” Michael pushed himself into a
sitting position. He studied Christian’s face and Christian
thought just maybe Michael believed him, and it made him
feel less of a idiot.
“No. It was just a feeling, but it was enough to wake me
up.” Christian let his gaze wander around the room, trying to
find something to prove he wasn’t losing it. Warily, he
watched as Michael slipped out of bed and walked quietly
to the door without even bothering to dress. Should he
fol ow? And why didn’t Michael even comment on the fact
he was naked as the day he was born? Sitting up, he
looked at Michael, who pressed his eye to the slight crack
in the door as he pul ed it ajar and he peered into hal . Then
he opened it al the way and Michael slipped out into the
hal , leaving him to wait in their room. Christian breathed a
sigh of relief. And he felt his briefs fil ing with his hard-on.
Something that he couldn’t quite grasp a hold of was
pushing at the edge of his mind as he thought about
everything that had happened since Michael had come into
his life. Suddenly it hit him — Michael had never once
asked him about his the scars covering his body. Just the
thought of them made Christian stare down in shame at the
wreckage adorning his skin. How he hated seeing them.
Actual y, he was glad Michael hadn’t asked because he
was ashamed to admit he didn’t know how he had gotten
them. Every time he tried to think about it he got a massive
headache, so he tried not to think about them at al . His
thoughts came back to the here and now when the
bedroom door opened.
“I didn’t find anything in the house,” Michael said as he
came back into their bedroom. He crossed the room to the
windows, slightly parting the curtains and peering outside.
Through the open window Christian could hear the
neighbour’s kids playing in the street. It al seemed so
normal, which gave him pause to wonder if maybe he was
going crazy.
“I’m not making it up,” Christian pleaded, wanting so
badly to be believed. “There real y was somebody here.”
He tried not to ogle at Michael’s naked form standing at the
window, mainly because he didn’t want to be caught doing
it, or get a punch to the head for enjoying the view.
Michael closed the curtain and turned, “I believe you.”
Averting his eyes, he stopped himself from staring at
Michael’s half-hard cock as it hung heavily between his legs
nestled in those soft dark curls. He only knew they were soft
because he might have accidently-on purpose, once or
twice, run his fingertips through them for a few moments at
a time while Michael slept. His fingers itched to do it again.
Biting his lip, he wondered why Michael stil hadn’t asked
why he had been the only one to wake up naked. In his
defence, Christian had ful y intended to put Michael’s
boxers back on last night. But they were too drunk to find
them, so he left him naked after pul ing off his clubbing
clothes. Wel that and Michael’s body was nice to perv at,
which he had done a lot of last night, looking and maybe a
little bit of touching.
“I real y do.” Michael tilted his head and Christian felt a
deep blush creep up his throat and face. He had been
caught. Damn it!
“You do?” Christian was both surprised and relieved.
One of the others would have just dismissed this as
/> nonsense. He was sure the others only tolerated him half
the time because he was a vampire — one of them.
“Of course I do,” Michael said as he returned and sat on
the bed, pul ing the sheet across him as he did. It amazed
Christian how Michael never seemed to feel self conscious
when he was naked.
“Why?” Christian had to ask. He felt a little confused
about it al and a naked Michael sitting next to him wasn’t
actual y helping his brain think any clearer.
“Because you believe it to be true,” Michael shrugged.
“And besides, my mother always said to trust my instincts.
Right now my gut is tel ing me to believe you. So it’s what I
am going to do.”
For some reason Christian didn’t know how to respond
to that. He studied Michael and wondered why Michael had
never pressed for them to get separate beds. Was even
aware of how many nights they had slept in each other’s
arms? Should he tel him they had just kissed? No, it was
better left unsaid. He didn’t want Michael to suddenly get
uncomfortable and want to change things. Because he
liked the way things were between them. Maybe Michael
did too.
Slowly relaxing, Christian didn’t think as he impulsively
threw his arms around Michael’s neck and kissed him on
the cheek. “Thank you for believing me.” Christian lay back
down and sighed. It felt nice, having someone who trusted
him and didn’t argue and tel him how idiotic he was being.
It wasn’t his fault weird shit seemed to fol ow him around.
Closing his eyes, he sighed as he felt Michael brush the
hair off of his forehead. The gentle touch was enough to lul
him back to sleep.
Once Christian was truly asleep Michael left to do a
more thorough search of the house. He hadn’t wanted to
admit to Christian he also felt something was not right.
Though to be honest, he wasn’t sure what he was feeling,
but it was odd and it definitely had a creepy factor to it. This
time he pul ed on his jeans before leaving the room. He had
been too embarrassed to ask why he was naked, just in
case he had done something stupid while drunk. It wouldn’t
be the first time; he shuddered as Gina Montgomery
flashed into his mind. If he had a do-over she would be one
mistake he would never repeat. Ever!
“I had a dream about you and it scared the fuck out of
me.”
As he walked slowly down the hal , Michael was startled
when Charm spoke closely behind him. Fuck, she had
scared the living shit out of him. Clutching his stil -bare
chest, he glared at her.
“What was it?”
“The creator… He knows you’re here. He’s been
watching you. You are what he fears, and he hates you for
taking what was his. You wil be his undoing.”
Charm looked confused, yet Michael knew she was
scared because she was shaking.
“Tel him how you feel,” she continued. “You wil need him
in the end. In my nightmare the creator was terrified of you
and him getting close.” Michael gave her a sceptical look
and she rol ed her eyes at him. “I never said it made
sense.”
“Him who? Who am I tel ing how I feel?” He noticed her
hands were trembling.
“I think you already know the answer to that.”
It made Michael wonder whether Charm’s dream was
just a twisted nightmare or whether it was some sort of
omen. Reaching out, he gently took her hand in one of his.
He wanted to offer her some kind of comfort as she was
stil shaking and he gently caressed the back of her hand
with his thumb. They pul ed apart as Kerr spoke from
nearby.
“What’s going on?” Kerr glanced at the hand Michael stil
held within his own before his eyes rose to their faces.
“Nothing,” Charm replied before turning and walking
back into her room, shutting the door with a bang. Michael
just shook his head.
“What’s wrong with her?” Kerr asked as they both stared
at the closed door.
Needing time to work out what to say, Michael shrugged
his shoulders as they headed toward the kitchen. “She had
a nightmare about me.” He turned and glared when Kerr
started to chuckle.
“What?” Michael demanded. It wasn’t even fucking funny.
Stil Kerr didn’t speak.
“Answer me, damn it.”
“What do you want me to tel you?” Kerr asked in al
seriousness.
“I just want the truth. I’m tired of al the bul shit. I didn’t
choose this way of life, someone took away my rights.
Honestly mate, she just scared the fuck out of me when she
told me about her dream.” Michael gestured back toward
Charm’s room.
“I don’t know what to say,” Kerr shook his head. “She is
just as much a mystery to me as she is to you.” Kerr rubbed
a hand over his bald head. “She is who she is. But to be
honest, we have been al having weird dreams lately about
you.”
“Do tel .” Michael arched an eyebrow.
It felt weird for Kerr to study him and Michael saw his
anger and frustration rising. Stil he didn’t understand why
he was stil pissing Kerr off so much.
“Doyle seemed to know a lot about you. Long before it
happened he knew that you were going to become one of
us. Real y, thinking back he was the first one to dream
about you.”
“And here I am!” Michael said with just a little bit of
sarcasm thrown in. Maybe it was the reason why Doyle was
so standoffish with him. “You know it is kinda freaky how
you have al been dreaming about me and I didn’t even
know you people existed.”
Kerr rol ed his eyes and gestured toward Michael. “And
here you are,” he repeated just as sarcastical y as they
entered the kitchen.
Grabbing Charm’s packet of cigarettes off the end of the
counter, Michael lit one before sitting down at the table.
Kerr pul ed a couple of beers out of the fridge. He sensed
Kerr wanted to tel him something and he knew it had to do
with why he seemed to be angry with him. Michael thought
he would make it easy and get the bal rol ing.
“Why are you so pissed off with me? What have I ever
done to you?”
Silently he waited as Kerr watched him for a moment,
probably deciding what to tel him. “Charm seems to think
there is something to these dreams we have al had. She
insisted Chris and Doyle needed to be the ones to watch
you the night we brought you home. Between her and Chris,
it has been a freaking bizarre year.” Kerr shook his head,
and Michael felt for him.
Michael took a mouthful of beer before he spoke. “Did
you think any of these dreams are real?”
Kerr nodded, “The consensus is you wil protect us al .
You wil have three great loves within your life span and two
of them wil be within our family. Your first true lov
e wil be
family.” Kerr sipped his beer as he watched Michael
closely. Michael saw the smirk tugging at the corner of
Kerr’s mouth. “As wil be your last.”
“Who?” Michael felt a little embarrassed as he took a sip
from his drink. His mind’s eye was picturing the only woman
living in the house.
There was no denying Charm was beautiful — her eyes
pul ed you in and held you into her spel and terrified you al
at the same time. And yet… somehow you were drawn to
her anyway. Like a moth to a flame. But being in a
relationship with her would be scary as fuck. He seriously
doubted he would survive such a crazy arsed love. Maybe
there is someone I just haven’t met yet, he thought. But by
the look on Kerr’s face he knew he was very much
mistaken.
Kerr grinned like a maniac and it worried Michael.
“Christian wil be your first, but, not your greatest. Your
greatest love wil also be from the family. Before you ask,
no one has told me who. I don’t know whether anyone
knows or if the person knows and just doesn’t want to admit
it. Maybe we wil have others come and join the family. I can
tel you it isn’t me.”
Choking on the mouthful of beer he was just about to
swal ow, he spat most of it back out over the table. He
coughed so much Kerr had to pound on his back, while
laughing madly.
“Arsehole!” Michael coughed.
“Don’t worry; I think it may be one dream which is wrong.
It’s not like we have a lot of practice in this sort of thing. In
the three years we have al been together, this is the first
time that we have had connected dreams — dreams
featuring you. When I saw you and Charm holding hands, I
thought…” he left it hanging.
It made Michael feel good when he realised he could
make Kerr even just a little bit uneasy or maybe jealous just
by being here. “You thought I was trying to seduce her,”
Michael finished for him. He smiled because Charm would
probably have knocked him on his arse if he had tried to hit
on her. He didn’t think she would be open to the idea of
being intimate with him, even if she did look at him weirdly
sometimes.
“Wel , yes. I did,” Kerr said a little bit sheepishly. “But
maybe the dreams aren’t wrong. You did protect Chris last
night and even managed to get him home without too much
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