by I. T. Lucas
“It’s going to be a long list.”
Smiling, Leon pulled Ana into his arms. “It will be my pleasure to provide everything your heart desires.”
As he followed with a passionate kiss, Bowen leaned down and pecked Margaret on the cheek. “You've had an exciting day. Try to get some rest.”
Her gut squeezing, she nodded. “I need to unpack, but I don’t plan on doing much else.” They hadn’t been apart since day one, and the thought of him leaving made her anxious. She cupped his cheek. “I’m going to miss you.”
“Ditto.” He smiled, but his facial muscles were tensed, making his jaw look even more prominent than usual.
“I’m going to wait up for you,” she called after him.
“Don’t. Onegus’s meetings tend to be lengthy.” He opened the door.
Tearing himself away from Ana, Leon followed his friend out the door.
Anastasia let out a breath. “It’s difficult to be apart, but I will have to get used to that. We can’t continue our honeymoon indefinitely.” She cast Margaret a worried look. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I’m glad you convinced me to stay with you. It would have been scary for me to be left alone in a new place.”
Wendy had to go back to the café, and Vlad had a school assignment he needed to work on. If she stayed at their place, she would have been all alone, counting the minutes until Bowen’s return.
Ana smiled. “I’m glad that you are here as well. Let’s check this place out. Do you want me to wheel you around, or do you want your crutches?”
“Definitely crutches. My bottom is feeling numb from sitting down for so long. I need to move.”
Ana helped her up. “There are only two bedrooms in this house, but they each have their own bathroom and are about the same size. Leon says that the decor is slightly different, but I’ve only seen one so far, and we’ve rumpled the bed a little. I hope you don’t mind.”
Margaret was still stuck on the 'only two bedrooms' news flash.
She leaned on the crutches. “Am I supposed to share a bed with Bowen?”
Ana’s forehead furrowed. “Is that a problem?”
“Of course, it is. We haven’t had sex yet. It’s going to be incredibly awkward. Perhaps I should stay with Wendy and Vlad after all. At least at night.”
Ana shook her head. “What are you, seventeen? You are a grown woman, and Bowen is a grown man, and this is not the nineteenth century.”
“I know. But we are not comfortable with each other yet. Bowen says that he wants more, but so far, we’ve only kissed. We need to date a little, get to know each other better.”
“Nonsense.” Ana waved a hand. “You’ve been together twenty-four-seven for almost two weeks. That’s like dating three months. I say it’s way past time for you to take it to the next level.”
“It just doesn’t feel right. Not for Bowen and not for me. Neither of us is ready.”
Letting out an exasperated breath, Anastasia put her hands on her hips. “What are you going to do? Ask Bowen to sleep on the couch?”
“No. I can sleep at Wendy’s place and come here in the morning. It’s only a short walk away.”
It was empty talk, and she knew that. Her defense mechanism was kicking in, trying to protect her from disappointment because she was afraid of rejection.
Grow a set, Margaret.
Was that what Ana would say?
“Suit yourself.” Ana started toward the bedroom. “I’m going to unpack.”
22
Bowen
“I hope they are still awake.” Leon hefted a bunch of grocery bags out of the trunk.
Bowen glanced at his watch. “It’s past eleven. Anastasia is probably awake, but I doubt Margaret is.” He pulled out the rest of the bags and closed the trunk.
It had been a long and exciting day for her, and she’d looked tired when he and Leon had left.
“It’s a bummer that we need to return to work tomorrow.” Leon broke into a fast walk, no doubt anxious to get back to Anastasia. “But at least we are stationed at the keep, so we can see our mothers when they arrive.”
Bowen fell into step with him. “Did you tell Rowan about Anastasia?”
“I’ve sent her a long text from the cabin, telling her the entire story. She can’t wait to meet her. What about you? Did you tell your mother?”
Bowen shook his head. “At first, there was nothing to tell because I didn’t know whether Margaret was a Dormant. And then everything happened so fast that I didn’t have time to even think about it.”
“How about now?”
“I’ll tell her tomorrow, but I wish I didn’t have to.”
“Why?”
Wasn’t it obvious?
Everyone was so excited, taking Margaret’s transition for granted, but at her age, it was dangerous. The clan hadn’t lost a transitioning Dormant yet, but that didn’t mean that their luck would hold up forever.
“Margaret is thirty-eight, Leon, not twenty-five, and besides, we are not at that stage yet. Because of her injury, things are moving super slow for us. I would have preferred to tell my mother about Margaret after her successful transition.”
“Elise is a strong woman.” Leon chuckled. “She had to be to raise a hellion like you. If things get rough, she won’t fall apart. She will help you through it.”
“I know. But I would rather spare her the anguish if I could.” He cast Leon a smile. “After all I put her through growing up, my mother deserves only the best from me.”
Leon laughed. “You were such a troublemaker. Who could have foreseen that you would grow up to be not only a Guardian, but the savior of damsels in distress and an all-around standup guy? When did that transformation happen?”
Bowen hadn’t told anyone the story because it hadn’t been one of his proudest moments. Most of the Guardians were much younger than him and therefore unaware of his past. He’d been an unruly teenager who had run wild, joining a gang of human boys and using his superior immortal strength to become their leader. He’d believed that the mischief they’d done had been mostly harmless, but it could have gotten them in a shitload of trouble. At the time, he’d thought that stealing sheep and chickens was hilarious, and that releasing horses out of the stables and having them run wild was fun. He hadn’t considered the damage they had caused.
“My mother, Onegus, and Annani happened. Nowadays, it would have been called an intervention. I was given a choice between hard labor, working on the addition to the castle, or I could join the Guardian training program, which was even harder. The idea was to keep me busy from sunrise to sunset, so I would be too exhausted to even think about causing trouble. I chose the Guardian force because that suited my overinflated self-image better.”
Leon nodded. “Now I get it. I couldn’t understand why they let you join the force at such a young age. You said it was because they recognized your potential early on. But you lied. It was a punishment.”
“I didn’t lie. Onegus said that I was a born fighter and that the force was my destiny. I was strong for a fourteen-year-old, and I had great reflexes. He put the fear of the Fates in me, saying that squandering the gifts they had given me would anger them. He also told me that I needed to use these gifts to do good and not waste them on stupid behavior that causes much more harm than I’d realized. Then he listed all the potentially catastrophic consequences of my so-called pranks, shaming me and making me feel smaller than a flea. After the scolding was done, he clapped me on the back and promised to put me on the right path.”
Onegus had done just as he’d promised, and Bowen had discovered that being a protector and a savior was much more satisfying than leading a bunch of delinquent hoodlums.
“Didn’t you want to be a healer at some point?”
Bowen shrugged. “I like helping people. If I weren’t built for fighting, I would have turned to medicine.”
Leon snorted. “You’re not studious or smart enough for that. Can you see yourself sitting on your a
ss for sixteen hours a day and poring over books?”
“You’ve got a point. Perhaps I could have been a paramedic. This reminds me that I need to talk to Onegus about putting all the Guardians through some basic medical training. Firefighters are trained paramedics, and if we ever need to pull a similar operation again, our lack of knowledge could give us away.”
“We probably won’t.” Leon climbed the steps to the front porch and knocked on the door with his foot. “And if we do, we can take Julian with us. The training would take too long, and we have more important things to do. But maybe it should become part of the curriculum for the Guardians in training.”
“Good thinking. We don’t need more than one person who knows what to do if a human gets injured. Margaret was lucky that Safe Haven had a nurse who helped her. If not for Shirley and the morphine shot she gave Margaret, she would have suffered needlessly. I don’t think she would have made it to the hospital without passing out.”
“You could have thralled her.”
“True, but it would have been a damn intrusive thrall.”
23
Margaret
Bowen was back.
Through the slightly opened bedroom door, Margaret heard him and Leon unloading groceries in the kitchen, and Ana commenting on what they’d bought.
She should have closed the door. The only reason she hadn’t was the insane soundproofing of the house. When closed, no sounds penetrated the door or the walls, and the bedroom felt like a tomb.
She should have opened the window and closed the door, but it was too late to do it now.
If she got out of bed, Bowen would know that she was still awake, and she wanted to pretend to be asleep. That way, the decision to either join her in bed or sleep on the living room couch would be his, and she wouldn’t have to invite him or comment on it or do anything at all. She could just pretend to sleep.
Damn, she was such a coward.
But it wasn’t entirely her fault. Bowen was sending her mixed signals and confusing her. He claimed that he wanted her, but other than a few kisses, he hadn’t initiated anything.
Maybe Ana was right, and they just needed to have sex and get it out of the way. They both wanted it, but they were both too reserved to go for it.
And then there was the cast.
Margaret had no clue how to maneuver around it, and even if they found a way, the sex would be awkward at best. That wasn’t what she wanted, not for herself and not for Bowen.
She’d had enough awkward sex to last her a lifetime, even if it hadn’t been more than a handful of times. Perhaps Emmett had done her a favor by spiking the wine he’d given her. It had taken care of the awkwardness, or maybe just her memory of it.
Roger, damn him all to hell, had been her first lover, and before he’d turned abusive, the sex had been quite good. After, she’d been too terrified to enjoy it even when he hadn’t hurt her.
As the door opened a little wider, Margaret closed her eyes and forced her breathing to come out deep and even. She hadn’t fooled Bowen, though.
“Would you like some tea?” he asked quietly.
Damn his immortal super senses.
“Sure.” She opened her eyes and pushed up on the pillows. “How did the meeting go?”
Standing in the doorway and leaning against the doorjamb, the light from the living room framing him in a halo, Bowen looked like the warrior he was—big, strong, a rock she could lean on.
“As expected.” He smiled. “Did you manage to rest?”
“A little. I can’t fall asleep.” She ran her hands over the mattress on both sides. “The bed is incredibly comfortable. I don’t know what’s keeping me from falling asleep.”
Liar. She knew perfectly well what it was. She was too nervous about the sleeping arrangements.
“The tea will help.” He pushed off the doorjamb. “I’ll be right back.”
Combing her hair with her fingers, Margaret arranged the blanket, so it covered her breasts. Her nightgown wasn’t see-through, but without a bra, her breasts were a little saggy. They were still nice, nothing to be embarrassed about at her age, but Bowen had most likely seen nicer.
Also, it was cold in the room, and her nipples were standing at attention.
When he returned a few moments later with two teacups, she smoothed her hand over the blanket. “You can turn the light on if you want.”
“I don’t need it.” He handed her the chamomile tea and sat on the bed next to her. “Do you?”
He’d left the door open, so the light from the living room was spilling in, and it was enough to see by. “No, I’m good.” She took a sip from the tea. “It’s just what the doctor ordered.”
Had he left the door open on purpose?
“Anastasia told me that you were concerned about the sleeping arrangements.”
She was never going to speak to Ana again. How could she?
“There are only two bedrooms.” She looked down at the cup in her hands. “It’s not that I don’t want you sleeping in the same bed as me. It’s just that we haven’t been intimate yet, and it seems awkward.”
24
Bowen
“It doesn’t have to be.” Bowen reached for Margaret’s hand. “Forget about what you think the rules are. You and I don’t have to follow any of them. We can share a bed and just hold each other, or we can spoon, or we can lie on our backs and tell each other bedtime stories. And if we feel like kissing, we kiss. And if we feel like touching each other, we touch. I have absolutely no expectations. All I want is to be with you.”
That got a smile out of her. “I want to be with you too. If not for the damn cast…” She lifted her eyes to him. “It’s the cast, right? That’s why you are holding off?”
He nodded. “I might be weird that way, and I know that most guys would have found a way to work around it, but I’m too afraid of hurting you.” He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it gently. “I want our first time together to be special, and I can wait patiently for the cast to come off.” He smiled sheepishly. “Frankly, not so patiently, but I’d rather wait. There is only one first time, and I don’t want to shortchange it for either of us. Are we on the same page?”
“I feel the same way. You know that I’m attracted to you, and if not for my injury…” Margaret lowered her eyes. “I’m not the type who is bold enough to initiate. I wish that I was assertive like Ana, but I’m not.” She lifted her eyes to him. “I can’t make the first move.” She swallowed. “It will have to come from you.”
It was her way of letting him know that he had her permission, but Bowen needed it verbalized better.
“That’s perfectly fine with me.” He kissed her hand again. “As soon as this cast comes off, the wait is over, and you are mine. Deal?”
She chuckled nervously. “Deal. I’m just…not sure that you really want me. I mean, most guys are not that patient.”
Bowen arched a brow. “You think?” He took her hand and put it over his raging hard-on.
Her eyes widened. “Oh, my.”
As Margaret’s feminine scent intensified, his shaft responded by twitching against her hand.
She looked nervously at the opened door. “That’s just…wow.”
“Leon and Ana are in their room. They can’t hear us.” He removed her hand and gave it a little squeeze. “Do you still think that I’m not attracted to you?”
She licked her lips. “Now, I think that I want to do something about it.” She sounded breathy. “May I?”
Her intention was clear, and as he imagined them pleasuring each other orally, his fangs started to elongate, and his venom glands swelled.
Margaret’s breath hitched. “Your eyes are glowing.”
He smiled, flashing her his partially elongated fangs. “Are you sure that you’re ready for all that I am?”
She hesitated for a split second. “Yes.”
Her yes hadn’t sounded convincing, but as the smell of her fear mixed with that of her arousal reached hi
s nostrils, the predator in him clawed to be let up to the surface.
That wasn’t good.
If he didn’t take the edge off before getting in that bed with her, he might do something he would regret, or worse, he might hurt her.
Leaning down, he kissed her forehead. “It was a long day, and I need a shower. You have until I come out of the bathroom to decide whether you are absolutely sure about being ready for me. If you are not, that’s perfectly okay. We can do all those things that I’ve mentioned before. Spooning, or cuddling, or telling each other bedtime stories.”
“Oh, Bowen.” She lifted her hand and cupped his cheek. “How can you be so sweet?”
“Sweet?” He curled his lips back, letting her get a good look at his fangs. “I’m trying to do the right thing by you, but I’m still a predator. You should never forget that.”
“I won’t.” She lifted on the pillows, letting the blanket slide down and expose the swell of her ample breasts. “I like that you are a fierce warrior. I feel safe with you because I know you will never use your strength against me, only for me. You can protect me until I transition and become strong enough to protect myself.”
There would never be a situation in which Margaret would need to defend herself. That was his job.
“There is no safer place for you than this village, and as long as you are with me, which I hope is forever, I will protect you.”
25
Margaret
Long moments after Bowen had gone into the bathroom, Margaret’s heart was still pounding against her ribcage.
He hoped that she would be with him forever?
As what?
His life partner or just a fellow resident of the village?
She shook her head. That was stupid.
Back in the cabin, Bowen had said that they had found love there, and that he believed they were destined for each other. Perhaps it was time she stopped doubting his feelings for her and whether she was worthy of him.
