She sat back up and threw her legs over the side of the bed, cupping her face in her hands. No! This was not going to happen! She would call Catherine in the morning and figure out what her next move should be. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something had happened to Angie, and that her asshole of a boyfriend was playing some sick, twisted game, trying to punish her for trying to help her escape him. These types of men thrived on the feeling of power that they got when they played their games.
She sighed heavily and kicked off her shoes. When had her life become so complicated? She snorted, shaking her head. The answer to that question was easy…..when she had run into Marcus LaGrange in the kitchen that night. He came in and turned her comfortable little world upside down. Now it seemed as if everything was spinning completely out of control!
Liz unconsciously traced her finger along her lips, which were still tingling from his kiss. What was wrong with her? She was becoming a whiny little putz! It was as if everything that she had ever conditioned herself to feel flew straight out the window when she was near the man. She found herself letting her guard down, as she had never done before. She wanted to be herself around him, and not this closed off person that she had become. She wanted to laugh and joke with him…to touch him. Oh, how she wanted to touch him.
She slipped out of her dress and headed to the bathroom, thinking that a nice long bath might just be the thing to clear her mind. With all the worries and thoughts floating around in there she highly doubted it, but it was worth a shot. At this point, anything was worth a shot. She knew that there would be no sleeping again tonight, and she most likely was going to end up looking like a prune!
Marcus closed the door to his room, ignoring the overwhelming desire to go to Liz and taste her sweet lips once more. Christ, he was actually trembling with need, and he knew that this was not what he needed right now. Elizabeth could very well be in danger, and whether or not it was the same vampires that he was looking for, that thought did not sit well with him. Neither did the way that his body had responded to hers as he had held her in his arms. Never before in his long existence had he felt such a rush of want or desire run through him. It had been like a sonic boom.
He ran his fingers through his hair and all but growled at the empty room. He was definitely not in the market for feeling what he was feeling when he was near Liz. “Shit,” he spit out, realizing that he didn’t need to be near her to be consumed with thoughts of her. She invaded his every waking moment, and even his damn dreams were haunted with visions of those sapphire eyes!
He paced the room, trying desperately to work off some of his frustration. He was twisted in knots and didn’t like it in the least. He heard the water start in her room and groaned at the thought. She was so close, yet so far away. He tried to force away the vision of her nude form sinking into the tub, a soft, contented sigh slipping through those amazing lips of hers, and he felt his body respond. Crap!
Marcus grabbed his phone and called Desmond, hoping his brother could distract him. After the fourth ring, the call was connected and he was pleasantly surprised when he heard Abby’s musical voice.
“Marcus!” she squealed, and he could feel the tension leaving his body instantly. “I miss you!”
Marcus burst out laughing, her mood, her happiness…just her lifting his spirits immediately, and once again, he was reminded of just how lucky his brother was.
“Abby, how are you?” he asked, a smile spreading across his face.
“Wonderful! I’m an enormous tub of goo, but I feel great!”
“I’m sure you’re not,” he laughed. “I’m certain that you are as beautiful as ever. How is my soon to be niece treating you?”
“Ugh!” She groaned. “She’s an active little bugger! She moved for the first time last week, and I swear, I thought your brother was going to faint.” She giggled, and he swore that he could feel her utter happiness through the phone. “I really believe he thought that there was an alien in there or something. You men! I swear.”
Marcus tried desperately not to laugh at what he could only imagine was his brother’s reaction, but he just couldn’t! All he could picture was Desmond’s horrified expression. “Speaking of, where is my brother?”
“He’s in the shower,” she replied happily. “He and Luke have been doing some renovations, and he was all kinds of smelly.”
“How are Luke and Katrina?”
“Well, Luke is about to bust a vein because Kat insists on referring to the baby as Norbert, and he is freaking out because he says no son of his is going to be saddled with a name like that.”
“Norbert?” Marcus questioned with a snort.
“Yep. She has no intentions of actually naming the baby that, of course,” she laughed. “She just loves to drive Luke crazy every chance that she can.”
“I can only imagine,” he murmured, as another wave of homesickness swept over him. Damn, but he missed his family.
The smile slipped from his lips as the thought of what it would be like to take Liz home with him flitted across his mind. Would his family accept her? Would she be happy? Shit! He silently reprimanded himself. He damned well better stop even thinking those thoughts! That was something that was never going to happen. He couldn’t even toy with such ideas! He did not do relationships.
“How are you, Marcus?” Abby asked, noticing his sudden change of mood.
He sighed tiredly. “I’m good,” as he said the words, he realized that they sounded forced, even to his own ears, and wished that he could take them back. Abby was not stupid. She was very adept at reading people.
“Liar,” she said, proving his point, but her tone was filled with affection. “Spill it, buster.”
“There is nothing to spill,” he replied. “It’s been almost four months and I’m still not any closer to finding this bastard then I was when I started.”
“You know that is not what I mean,” Abby huffed. “What’s going on with your…friend?”
“Brianna?”
Abby chuckled. “Marcus LaGrange! Your evasiveness will not work with me. Now, give.”
Marcus rubbed his hand across his eyes. “Geez, Ab. I don’t know. There’s nothing going on.” Even as he said the words, he knew that they sounded lame, and he had to force the memory of holding Elizabeth in his arms…of tasting her sweet mouth, from his mind. Mortal his mind screamed at him. Not to mention the fact that he had a gut feeling that he could easily come to care for her if he let himself–but that was something that he refused to even consider. His heart had died a long time ago, in more ways than one, and there was just no resuscitating it.
“Hmm,” he heard Abby mumble. “Not buying it.”
“Abby, she’s a mortal,” he replied softly, though there was a firmness in his tone.
“Yeah, yeah…and I’m a Fey, and Kat’s a Witch, and… should I go on?” She laughed.
He grunted, shaking his head. How could he make her understand? How could he make her see that he just couldn’t let himself face that pain again? To lose someone was just too hard. He shook his head and plopped down on the edge of the bed, feeling as if he were losing his mind. He was fighting an inner battle between what he knew he needed to do, and what his entire being was telling him he wanted. And what he wanted, if he was going to be honest with himself, was to spend every damn waking moment with Elizabeth. Damn it to hell!
“Marcus, you can’t let the past hinder your future. Believe me, I know.” She sounded exasperated, and he knew that it was because she cared for him so much. He wondered how it was that he had been blessed with such an amazing family. What had he ever done to deserve the people in his life? He was a coward. Afraid to care for someone because of the pain that is might cause, it didn’t matter that it could also bring so much happiness.
He rested his forehead on his hand and tried desperately to clear his mind. There were just too many factors preventing him from taking that chance. She was a mortal for God’s sake! She would never understand wha
t he was. She would be terrified of him and….that wasn’t even his biggest problem.
“So, tell me what scares you so much?” Abby asked, and he felt an uncomfortable tightening in his gut.
“There’s just too many to list,” he replied softly, his voice low and tortured.
“Marcus, you lost your fiancée a very long time ago. And as tragic as it was, things are different now. You can’t keep shutting yourself away. What happened to you was not fair, but you can’t let it prevent you from experiencing something that could quite possibly be amazing.”
Marcus grunted into the phone. “It’s not just that. Christ, Abby. We have rogue vampires running loose, a body that was practically shredded, and…” He broke off, not being able to voice the nagging fear that was eating at him. He gut twisted again, feeling as if it were in a vice.
“And, what?” she pushed, not about to let him off the hook.
“And…and I think that the bastard is targeting her, and maybe it’s because of me. And, Jesus! She’s a mortal, and that means fragile. What if I…” he broke off, unable to utter the words–What if I come to care for her and I fail her?
He heard Abby gasp, and a part of him immediately regretted voicing his concerns to her. “Why do you think that?”
He explained smelling vampire on her that night, then the text. The neighborhood that she was being led to was filled with supernatural beings of all sorts, and not exactly the warm and fuzzy type. He didn’t know for certain, it was just his gut instinct, and he made sure to let her know that. He didn’t want her to worry, and he knew that she would. Abby was almost as bad as Desmond with her protectiveness of those she loved.
“Well, then you need to stay as close to her as you possibly can,” Abby reasoned. “I think you might be overreacting…but…it seems as if nothing in our lives has ever been simple.” She chuckled slightly, and he whole-heartedly agreed.
“What is my brother worrying about now?” he heard Desmond say, and rolled his eyes. Shit! He had finally talked him into staying where he was, and now…he knew for sure that his brother would need more convincing to stay put. Great…just great!
“Marcus is just worrying over not being able to find the rogue, it’s nothing really,” he heard Abby say, and wished that he could jump through the phone and hug her! He knew that Desmond would know that she wasn’t being completely truthful…but there was hope.
“If he needs us to come,” Desmond said, “The house is ready.”
“I don’t think he needs us just yet,” she murmured. “Do you?” she asked, directing her question to Marcus.
“As of right now…. no. But tell my brother that he will be the first to know if I do. And, thanks, Abs.”
She laughed lightly, but he could detect a hint of worry in her tone. He knew that she wanted to help as much as Desmond, but she also knew that he needed his space right now. “If you need anything, Marcus, please promise to call.”
“You know that I will.” With that, he said his goodbyes and set his phone on the nightstand, not feeling any better.
“So, tell me, my love, what is really going on?” Desmond asked, walking over to Abby and gently nuzzling her neck, his hands slipping around her middle and tenderly caressing her growing belly.
Abby leaned her head back against his chest, sighing with content, that ever present calming effect that he brought blanketing her immediately in its warmth. “He’s trying to fight the feelings that he has for this woman,” she explained softly, her eyes sliding closed as Desmond continued to slide his lips along her neck. “And, he does have feelings for her. You’d have to be deaf, dumb, and blind not to hear it in his voice. He cares. More than he’s willing to admit.”
“Mmm. What else?”
Abby laughed lightly and turned to face him, her expression growing serious. “He thinks that she might be a target of the rogue.”
Desmond stiffened slightly. “Damn it,” he muttered, not liking this news in the least.
“Now, don’t go getting all worked up just yet,” she soothed, cupping his face in her hand a moment before gently kissing his lips. “He needs some time. Marcus isn’t dumb, my love. If he needs us, he’ll call.”
Desmond snorted, his eyes darkening just a bit. “You would be surprised, my love. Darling, Marcus wants to help everyone but himself.” His brows furrowed with concern. “He carries quite a bit of guilt over what happened to Josephine, and I fear that if he does have feelings for this mortal…he might let his heart rule his head, and we can’t take the chance that he could make a costly mistake.”
“Have a little faith,” Abby murmured, although there was an inkling of fear beginning to gnaw at her with Desmond’s words. For some reason that she couldn’t quite explain, a sense of dread was falling over her. An overwhelming sense of…loss.
“I do, but I think we should speak to Lucas and Katrina and see how they feel about this.” He kissed her, his lips lingering just a moment, before turning and dropping his towel. He walked over to the dresser and pulled out a pair of jeans from one of the drawers, and began to dress. Abby watched him, a smile twitching at her lips and that ever present heat warming her body. Her mate had changed so much in the time that they had been together. He was more relaxed, open. And, she found that Desmond had a wicked sense of humor.
Desmond slipped into his jeans and looked over his shoulder, his eyebrow quirked and a smirk appeared on his lips. “Enjoying the view?” he asked on a laugh.
“Always,” Abby giggled.
“Well, I say we go,” Luke ground out, pacing the living room like a caged animal. He stopped and stood in front of Desmond, his eyes snapping fire. “If this bastard is after this mortal of Marcus’s, then there is no telling what he will do. He’s a sadistic bastard.”
Desmond nodded his head, looking at Abby, who sat quietly beside him, her brows furrowed in concentration. He knew that she was on the fence about going against Marcus’s wishes. “We don’t even need to let Marcus know that we are in town,” he said thoughtfully. “We can lie low and…just keep an eye out.” Desmond hated that they needed to do this, and knew that Marcus would be livid, but his family’s safety came first. If Marcus was indeed beginning to care for this mortal, and something were to happen to her…it would destroy him.
“I agree,” Kat piped in. Her dreams of Marcus were happening more frequently, and it was beginning to un-nerve her. She never remembered the dreams, only that she felt such deep pain when she awoke–as if she had had her heart ripped out.
“I’m in,” Harper added. “I mean, we can stay on the down-low and be close in case he needs us.”
“Abigail?” Desmond urged, wanting her input. He felt her indecision and worry, and needed to make sure that whatever decision they made, that she was in on it one hundred percent.
Abby sighed and distractedly rubbed her belly. “I think you’re right,” she whispered finally, her eyes locking with her mate’s. “I would never forgive myself if something happened.”
“Then, it’s decided. We’ll leave in the early morning, before dawn.”
“Nice!” Harper laughed, “New Orleans!”
“This is not a pleasure trip, Brat,” Luke huffed. His nerves were strung tight. He had felt Kat’s tension radiating off her like a damn storm cloud for the past week, and all that she would tell him was that she was worried about Marcus. He knew that there was more, but she was not being very forthcoming, and it was driving him nearly insane.
“I know,” Harper replied. “It’s just that I’ll be glad to get away from Caleb for a while. I’m telling you, that pain in the ass follows me around like a damn puppy and it’s starting to really get…”
“Harper,” Kat breathed, her eyes huge. Harper turned to look in the direction that Kat was staring and her mouth dropped open. Caleb stood in the doorway, his face a mask of hurt and anger. Without saying a word, he turned and left the house.
“Oh, crap,” Harper breathed, her face turning beet red. “I…I didn’t me
an…it’s just that he’s always there…and…Oh, crap!”
“Don’t worry,” Luke said, shaking his head slightly. “I’ll talk to him.”
Harper nodded, and stood, feeling like a complete asshat. She hadn’t wanted to hurt Caleb, it was just that he always seemed to be right at her heels, and with trying to adjust to all that had happened, it grated on her nerves. Harper enjoyed her alone time, and with Caleb always under foot, it just never seemed possible. “I’m going to pack,” she mumbled under her breath before standing and leaving the room, hating herself quite a bit.
Chapter Nine
Marcus stood out on his balcony, staring out at the gardens, his face set in a stubborn frown. He had found it impossible to get any rest at all and his mind was a jumbled mess. He heard Bri come home, turned, and walked inside, hoping that she had found something out from Sebastian.
She and the vampire had been spending quite a bit of time together as of late, he thought with a smile, and Marcus found that he really liked the man. He liked the way that he looked at his friend. Marcus could see the affection in his eyes when they fell on Brianna, and he wished that they would quit being so damn stubborn and just admit how they felt. Marcus chuckled in disgust at himself. So easy to tell everyone else what to do with their lives, he thought. He shook his head and headed downstairs to find his friend.
He found her in the kitchen, raiding the refrigerator. She grabbed a couple of beignets and popped them into the microwave. She turned to find Marcus brooding in the doorway. “Shit!” she shrieked. “You have got to stop sneaking up on me, LaGrange! I swear to God I am going to put a bell around your neck!”
“Sorry,” he mumbled, walking into the room and sitting down at the table. “Has Sebastian heard anything?” he asked, toying with the sugar bowl that was set out in front of him.
Bri studied him silently a moment, her eyes narrowing. “Not much. They are trying to identify…the body,” she replied with a gulp, having heard just a few too many graphic details from Sebastian as to the condition of said body. In fact, she was still feeling just a bit queasy, and was now having second thoughts about the beignets that she was heating.
Marcus' Mortal Embrace (Book 3) (The Supernatural Desire Series) Page 10
