“You can’t really believe that, do you? I know that Bancroft is in awe of you. The fact that you can find nests for him and tell him what is going on inside of them is something he is proud of for you. Kelly thinks you’re the seventh wonder of the world.” She asked him what he thought of her. “That you’re the most beautiful creature ever born. That you’re smart and snippy all rolled up into one fascinating bundle. I love the way your eyes blaze when you’re upset. The way you stomp when you’re thinking. You don’t have the need to empty your head when you’re thinking of something. You’re brutally honest, which is wonderful to me. I know where I stand and how you feel, no matter what. When you say something to me, I know whatever it is, it’s from your heart and not your mind. Also, when you have an issue, you have no trouble asking for help and making sure that when you have finished getting help, you thank the person for their part in it, as well as make sure they get credit. I could go on if you wish.”
“No. That’s enough.” Looking around the pond, she told him things about herself that she’d never said to anyone before. “I can look into a home and other places while never leaving where I am. See the future on investments that I will put money into. So long as I share my wealth, it’s all right with the magical world. It’s been the only thing that has kept us afloat after Robert died. I couldn’t do too much, as you can well imagine. People would have noticed things. If nothing else, humans are not happy if someone has more than they do. Robert was like that to the very end.”
“I’ve done some investigating on him. Just to see if there were some policies out there that might have been overlooked. He wasn’t employed much. And when he was, it wasn’t for very long. The reason they had no insurance at the time of his death, and your sister is—well, was—paying that debt off is because he never took the time to work at one place long enough to get it.”
“I told you once that I didn’t care for him. That’s not true. I hated him. He took advantage of Pfeiffer at every turn. You’re right about his unemployment record. Robert couldn’t hold down a job if he had a gun to his head. He wasn’t lazy…he just felt he was above menial things like making a living. He would have gladly drained her dry of money and time. The girls and I were never a part of his life. Even though I’m about the same age as her daughters, she had them despite Robert telling her he didn’t want them around. That having me there all the time was bad enough. Rachel and Sally didn’t care for him either. They didn’t hate him, but they didn’t care for him.” Don sat down on one of the many benches she’d put in this area. She sat at the water’s edge. “I don’t feel guilty for not helping him to live longer. I think even Pfeiffer was sick of him by then. After he was dead, it was easier to help her out when she needed it. Which, after the girls left home to do their own jobs, I still lived with her. To keep her safe.”
“Did you have trouble even though few knew where you were?” She nodded, then looked at him. “Something is holding you back from making a commitment to me, isn’t it?”
“Yes. There are still people out there trying to locate me. They know I exist, but not where or who I am. If I were to commit to you, as you called it, you’d be in danger as much as my sister has been all these years. As well as the others. All of them would be targets to get me to blackmail Melisandre.” She could tell he was thinking hard on that. “I can understand that it’s a lot to take on. And so that you’re aware of it, I can take your meeting me from your mind. At least the part where you will know that I’m your mate. I don’t want any—”
She found herself on her back, him atop of her again. This time she didn’t struggle but let him hold her. It might well be the closest she got to having him touch her. The look on his face was hard for her to read. Harder still for her to think that he might not care about what came with loving her.
“You’ve held this secret for long enough, don’t you think?” She asked him what he meant. “Making sure that others around you are safe while you take on the ones who are after you all alone. You aren’t alone anymore, CJ. You have me. An entire kiss should you wish it. I’m sure that even Melisandre would give you a company of warriors should you but ask. I’m here for you, love. Will be there beside you or in front of you when the time calls for it. You may well be able to take memories of you from me, but my heart will only beat for you. I will wonder forever, should you do that, who has touched me in a way that gives me such sorrow that I cannot find you, can’t remember your scent or the touch of your skin. I might well not remember you, but this place in my heart that belongs only to you will wither and die when I cannot find you.”
“Oh, Don. You have no idea what your words have done to me.”
The magic around them seemed to wrap them up. A cocoon-like feeling made of love and happiness lifted them up higher and higher. When Don took her mouth, putting all his passion into the kiss, she knew on every level that he was all she would ever need from this day forward.
Chapter 3
Don wanted to make love to her, needed to feel her body next to his, a part of his own. To claim her as his mate. Not because it was written that was the way his kind took a mate, but because he wanted her, her heart and soul. Thinking of taking her back to the bedroom he’d been using, he heard his name called, then CJ’s. Don snarled aggressively at the person.
“I am sorry, my lord, but the meeting is about to begin. It is imperative that you both attend.” He told the man to go away. “I cannot. I have been sent to bring you to the meeting, and I cannot disappoint or go against my queen.”
He looked down at CJ. She had the strangest look on her face—glazed eyes, her mouth turned up in a smile. When he leaned down to kiss her, she turned her head away. Pain shot through his heart as if she had actually staked him.
“If you kiss me right now, I’m going to come screaming your name, and then there is no way in hell we’re going to make it to this meeting.” She looked at him. “I kid you not, Don. I’m so very close to losing it that one touch, and I’m a goner.”
Standing up, he felt like he was ten feet taller. The pain that had nearly doubled him over was now a good feeling, wrapping around his wounded heart and mending it. Pulling her up from the table, he pulled her to him, and with a quick kiss on her nose, he moved to the door to open it. He nearly let his beast go when he saw what was on the other side.
“We’re coming.” The guards were standing there, their weapons out and their body armor so bright it was nearly blinding to him. CJ walked by them and into the room, but he stood his ground. Looking at the man in front, Don let his beast go long enough to realize that he and his men would surely die if they attacked him.
“I’m sorry, my lord.” He pulled himself together then walked by the men. The man in charge stopped him with a hand to his shoulder. “We were not to harm you but to make sure you were not delayed because of someone holding you. I swear to you, it was never our intention of harming either you or the Lady CJ.”
“She’s that important to you?” The guard looked in her direction, then back at him before nodding and telling him that he was just as important now. “Why? What does she have that makes you think to come into a room with a vampire and his mate?”
“There are many that would take her to get to our queen. A great many more would lose their lives should that happen. The queen will stop at nothing to return her to her home should she be taken, but with you at her side, we all rest a little easier.” The man, he told him his name was Daniel, smiled. “We didn’t worry overly much when she was alone, my lord. She is what the queen calls feisty. Scary if you ask me, but we still will die for the two of you.”
As he returned to the big room, he looked around again, this time with an eye on security. He could see guards where he’d not before. There were warrior faeries flittering above them. Some were standing in front of paintings, so they were camouflaged. The people walking around serving drinks and small snacks were armed. Even at the ba
lcony, he could see men and women with a quiver of arrows at their back, their eyes on the people below them. Before he could look more, someone tapped him on the shoulder.
“Do you see any place where I am lacking, Donald the Warrior?” Don bowed before the queen, and she smiled at him. “When will you understand that I don’t need that sort of treatment from you? You have been and forever will be my friend. And now you are my family.”
“I will forever think of you as a friend as well, Melisandre, but first and foremost, you are queen of all faeries.” He smiled at her when she frowned. “How about I only pay reverence to you when we are in a public setting? Then when we’re alone, I’ll try not to show you so much.”
“If that is the best I can get from you, then I shall take it.” They both looked where laughter came from the front. It was CJ and a group of small children. “When she comes here, they are the first people she asks after. They look forward to her coming as well. She brings them things to play with, and when she’s able, CJ will sit and read to them until they go to bed.”
“She tried warning me off. I was told she’s hunted even now.” Melisandre told him the magic she’d been given would keep them both safe. “I won’t be bargaining for her life. If they have her and want you in some way, I will stop at nothing, and I do mean nothing, to keep the two of you safe.”
“Thank you for that.” She looked at him, and he could see fear there. “She is all I have in the way of family, Don. And like you, I would do anything to keep her safe. Having you as a mate, it will help her in many ways she’s not thought of. But I do fear she will be hurt before she uses what is rightfully hers.”
“The magic.” She told him that was it. “If it will help her, I’ll work with her on it. I’ll also share with her everything I have.”
“Good.” She laughed. “I don’t envy you that task. She isn’t just stubborn. I do believe when the word is looked up, it has her description there, as well as her set face when she’s upset.”
“I’m all right with that because she is stubborn, but she’s not stupid. I think if she got in over her head, she’d ask for help.” Melisandre said he was right about that. “I’ll talk to her after this meeting. I’m sure you’re about ready to begin, aren’t you?”
“Yes. You’re not going to be any happier than her when you find out what you’ve gotten. Also, I would suggest someone talk to her sister, Pfeiffer. She will get a little of this as well because she too could be used as a way to get to us.” He asked her why she was afraid of anyone getting to her. “There are people out there, in my realm as well as yours, that believe my magic is only for show. That I’m not needed anymore. With computers and the like, they believe they’ll be able to do my job in less time and with less effort. Of course, they have no idea what sorts of things would cease to be if I were to disappear. You too would perish if not for the magic I put to the earth.”
He wasn’t entirely sure what that would entail until he was seated in the large room. Looking around, he saw the faeries there and tried to equate what they did with the flowers that would affect him. Then it hit him. There would not only be no more flowers but bees would no longer be supported. Gardens that fed the people he had needed to feed from would perish, and the people would starve. There would be no more animals either. Grass would wither and die. Even trees needing to be pollinated would die as well without the magic of the faeries that were a part of the queen’s arsenal. Don didn’t know what these other people were thinking. He realized he needed to do something to get the word out. Tell people that fucking with the queen would profoundly affect them all.
Don only half-listened to what Melisandre was saying. He would tune into what was going on for a few minutes and then go back to his thoughts about the world. Things, he knew, were going to end badly if someone didn’t do something soon. Very soon. When CJ poked him in the ribs, he looked around, and everyone was staring at him. Standing up, he smiled to the group.
“I’m sorry. I was thinking about something that has come to my attention. The people we’re worried about the need to be able to understand what they’re doing by fucking with the queen and her job.” CJ told him that was what they were talking about. “Good. Then I’d like to head up a program or something that would get the word out as to what happens to the world if there is no one to start the process of pollenation. Because essentially, that is what keeps all of us alive.”
“You have it figured out yet?” He told Bancroft he was only just now thinking of the timeline of the death of the world as anyone knows it. “That’s a pretty harsh way to put it. You believe that?”
Don explained to the group what he’d been thinking about, all the way through their lives ending with the demise of the world itself. He could tell by their faces that they hadn’t thought of that either. That a simple thing like bees not being able to get to the nectar of the plants could end everything.
“I’m in. Also, you can count on anyone else you think you might need in the way of vampires. This is much more important than just a few trees dying off.” Don thanked Bancroft. Everyone said they’d help as well. Melisandre hugged him tightly, then he sat back down.
“Now that we have the most important thing discussed, I’d like to go over the magic all of you have received. None of you will have lost whatever you were before this came to you. If you were a vampire before this, you will continue to be one. However, now you will be able to shift into anything, living or not.” She looked at him. “Don, come up here, please, and I’m going to demonstrate on you.”
He wasn’t sure about this and told her so. After she called him a baby, he smiled at her as he bowed before her when she told him to behave. Then she told him to think of any animal, any of them, and shift.
All he could think about at that moment was a hawk. It was his favorite of all the creatures of the earth. It had beauty, poise, and killer instincts that rivaled his own. When everyone applauded, he took a moment to realize that he’d done it. He was a hawk.
Someone asked if he could fly, so he took to the air as if he’d been born to it. As if he knew exactly what to do to make it happen. Don was able to soar throughout the building and around the heads of the people below him. Stopping when all he wanted to do was go out into the fresh air, he landed before Melisandre, and this time felt the need to bow before her for what she’d given him. Even if he never flew again, it had been the best few minutes he’d ever felt.
“As you can see, whatever it is you’re shifting to, you’ll have complete knowledge of how to make the bird or anything do what is needed.” She thanked him, and he shifted from the hawk to himself without any issues. He was also fully clothed in what he’d had on prior to shifting. “There are a few things I’d like to go over. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you this, but you might well learn more by trying things than you will if I were to go over each bit of magic.”
They spoke about things he’d been thinking about, things like helping Melisandre when she needed it. The queen told them about payment, which he sort of got lost in. His thoughts were mostly centered on the upcoming project he had to start.
By the time he was ready to get back home, he had so much going through his mind that he thought he might be better off carrying around a notepad and pen. CJ told him he could easily use his phone, but he’d never been that good with electronics and favored using a stationary phone instead. Mostly because he would forget where he put his phone and have to either replace it or retrace his steps for hours, only to give up.
When they were back at the house, he realized it wasn’t nearly as late as he’d thought it was. He knew there was a time difference when going into the other realm—CJ had told him that. However, it was only two in the afternoon, and he asked CJ if she wanted to go and look at homes with him.
“Unless, of course, you wish to live with Bancroft for the rest of our days.” She looked so horrified that he burst out laughing. �
�All right. I’ve been looking around for Fergus a place to stay and found a few that you might like. We’ll need staff, and it’s my understanding that we’ll use faeries for that. Melisandre said it would be safer for all of us if we were to have them around more often.”
“I’ve been looking as well. I didn’t think of us living together when I started out. I had just decided I didn’t want to live with Pfeiffer anymore. And after I have a talk with her about all this, she might not want to even live around here anymore either.” He asked her if she really thought that. “I don’t know. I think I’m hoping for the best but planning on the worst-case scenario.”
“If it will help, I can go with you.” She said she wasn’t sure what would help. He hurt for her in this. “Whatever you need, I’m there for you. However, I’d not wait too long. She’ll have magic. How much or even what she can do will be a surprise to her no matter how she finds out.”
They decided to get it over with. First, they stopped by the home he’d been looking at and got out to look around. The realtor was going to meet them at seven tonight, so they wanted to get a little sneak peek at it now. He was blown away by what she’d thought of in a home for herself.
“According to the information, it has fifty acres around the house that is all good soil. Not that it would matter all that much. Once I moved in, it would have been very good anyway. The other faeries or I would have fixed that for me. Well, us, I guess.” She read off the things she had on the place as he walked up to the circular front porch. It wrapped all the way around the house and was wide enough to have plenty of chairs for sitting. “There is a fishing pond out back. Also, a barn that I’m told needs to be repaired in places. It has electricity, as well as heat and air. The river runs through the property in several places, and there is a boat as well as a boat house that would be ours.”
Donald: Dalton’s Kiss: Vampire Paranormal Romance (Dalton's Kiss Book 3) Page 5
