Burning

by Carrillo, K. D.

  “I want you Anita any way, every way, forever. Only you, exactly as you are,” I vowed.

  “You are the sexiest and most romantic man alive. How did I get you?” she said breathlessly. Her tiny hands were stroking the side of my face and running through my hair.

  I turned one of them over and laid a kiss on her palm. “That’s easy. I was made for you, and you were made for me.”

  “Yes,” she said with conviction.

  My eyebrows scrunched together. “Yes to what?”

  “I’m ready Dean. I want to marry you. I don’t need to think anymore. I’m ready.”

  I was probably going to kick myself for this, but I had to ask. “What changed your mind?”

  “You. Always you. When I’m afraid, you protect me. And when I’m worried, you comfort me. You even save me from myself when I’m determined to get in my own way. I just needed you to love me even when you saw the darkest parts of me. I shouldn’t have doubted you or us. I trust you, and if I get lost in my head again, you’ll lead me back out.”

  Chloë

  Finn and I sneaked past Dean and Anita, who were kissing passionately on the living room couch. If they kept that up, the house would burn down around them. I felt the need to fan myself after witnessing that. I hadn’t been on a date, let alone kissed a guy since Grey and I had broken up. Finn and I had remained just friends for the entire second half of our freshman year.

  I’d loved Grey. Yes, loved as in past tense. He’d left me right after promising to give us a chance. I’d been confused, pissed, and then nothing. I’d just let it go. I was tired of the same argument we kept having. Basically, he believed we weren’t meant to be. It pissed him off, but he’d accepted it. He said that he loved me, but obviously it hadn’t been enough to fight for me. I wanted more. I wanted the heat that I’d just seen in my living room. I wanted to feel consuming passion. There was only one man who made me feel like my blood was boiling in my veins, and only he could end the torture.

  I wanted Finn. I was tired of fighting how badly I wanted Finn. Thank God he stopped dating after our battle with Alexander, Simone, and my backstabbing sister, Angeline. I would have become unhinged if he’d paraded another cheerleader or intelligence-challenged co-ed past me.

  He’d said that he wanted me, that he cared about me, but I’d been afraid that he would freak out on me when it got too serious. I’d needed him to prove to me that he wanted me with the same intensity and devotion that I wanted him. This might have been a stupid idea, but it was such a small step to take. One date. Maybe there would be more, but tonight, we would focus on this one date.

  “Do you think we are going to be able to live under the same roof as those two?” Finn asked, waggling his eyebrows.

  I laughed, and I felt the need to fan myself again. “I don’t know. That was seriously hot though,” I said, biting my lip.

  Finn gave me his sexy, lazy half smile. He grabbed my hand and we headed toward his new car, a manly SUV. “So, pretty lady, where do you want to go?” he asked, his blue eyes glittering in the moonlight.

  “I thought you had an entire ordinary date planed?” I teased.

  He slipped his hand around my waist and pulled my body against his. He trailed his nose against my neck. Shivers raced down my spine, and I wanted to melt into him, but I held back.

  “Chloë, nothing about you is ordinary. I want to take you to that little café you like so much, but I promised I wouldn’t push. I know that place is pretty romantic. We could go to the Chateau, but I don’t want you to think that I’m using you to make anyone jealous, because I know a lot of people from our old dorm hang out there. Just tell me what you want, and I will give it to you.”

  He was pulling me closer to his side of the line, small steps, but I was heading his way.

  “I know you aren’t trying to get with any of those girls anymore. You proved that to me when you didn’t hook up with any of them after Grey left,” I told him.

  His eyes cooled for a moment, and his body tensed. Then he relaxed. It was forced, but I appreciated the effort he was putting out for me.

  “I told you I was serious about you then, and I still am. I won’t screw up again, Chlo. I want to take this slow this time, but I have one request that might sound contradictory,” Finn began. I raised my eyebrow in question. “I want us to promise each other that we won’t see other people,” he finished.

  I tapped my finger against my pursed lips, an odd habit I had when I was thinking. “You’re right. That does sound contradictory. But I have, like, zero interest in seeing anyone else, and I’m very okay with you not seeing anyone else either. So…uh…yep. I’m good with that,” I answered.

  Finn exhaled forcefully, like he had been holding his breath for a long time. I looked into his electric-blue eyes and saw nervousness melt to relief.

  He squeezed my hand. “I could wait forever for you or take this as slow as you need as long as I know that you are here with me. I just needed to know that you are as committed to giving us a chance as I am.”

  I smiled at him, a little bit of wickedness playing across my lips.

  I placed my hand on his left shoulder and slowly it brushed across his chest to his right shoulder. His eyes began to glow, and then they darkened to a deeper blue. Hmm, it wasn’t only my eyes that changed. Good to know.

  “You could wait forever, could you?” I taunted in a husky, low voice.

  “Ugh,” he grunted.

  I laughed, taking in his tortured expression and tense muscles.

  “You are a little evil,” he rasped.

  “No, baby. I promise I’m very good, and I don’t want to wait forever. Just a little bit longer,” I whispered.

  “Get your sexy ass in the car before I toss you in the back seat and say the fuck with waiting,” Finn growled.

  I licked my lips and thought about taunting him a little more, but the flash of his eyes signaled the end of his self-control. I scrambled into the passenger’s seat and buckled up.

  Finn waited in the same spot for a long moment. He shook his head like he was clearing out an image and walked around the car, chuckling. “Good choice, but the other way could have been more fun.”

  “Oh, it will be. Just not tonight,” I promised.

  We decided to go the Chateau, considering how worked up we had already gotten each other before our first date had really gotten started. He found a parking spot on the corner of the street where the restaurant’s bar entrance was located. Before we reached the door, he reached down and grabbed my hand. I looked up at him, searching for his motive.

  He gestured to the restaurant with his head. “We may know people in there, but I don’t want to think about anyone except for you. I don’t want you to think if I reach to touch you that I’m putting on a show. So we walk in like this, because you next to me is all I care about.”

  I didn’t know what I’d expected when we walked in the front door. Maybe I’d thought Cynthia, my dorm nemesis, would jump out from behind one of the room partitions. Blessedly, nothing happened. Well, the hostess spent several minutes molesting Finn with her eyes before she greeted us, but I couldn’t really blame her there. It was like a page had turned and the doom that had hung above us before had evaporated.

  I slid into the booth, and Finn slipped in right next to me. He placed his hand on my leg, just above my knee. He didn’t move it though. He was trying to slow us down. I felt the heat burn through my jeans. It would be so easy for us to combust. Heat. Fire. Passion. Everything I witnessed happening between Dean and Anita. Everything I craved was here, and it was wrapped up in the man sitting next to me. I swallowed hard.

  I was playing with fire, and I might get burned, but a more comfortable warmth was spreading through me. The warmth that came with the gut feeling that this was it, he was the one, and he wouldn’t hurt me this time. One small step, one little decision, and I could have forever with him. I wouldn’t tell him yet, but I’d made up my mind. Whatever he wanted, I would giv
e him. When the time was right, I would hand over my heart, my soul, and my forever.

  Chapter 3

  Uh…Nice to Meet You?

  Grey

  I only had a carry-on bag, and a car service met me out front, so about forty-five minutes after landing in St. Louis, I pulled in front of Bridgett O’Connell’s house in Caseyville, Illinois. I glanced at the clock and cringed. It was after one in the morning, but I had to collect her and get back to the airport.

  The half-circle driveway had a couple of cars parked out of the way on the corner, and it was obvious that more than one residence took up this modest green home. I checked the e-mail I had been sent by Marguerite and realized that the second door on the porch was an apartment. I knocked softly and was greeted by a rumpled, sleepy, blond elf. She narrowed her blue eyes at me.

  “I’m not inviting you in, vampire,” Bridgett stated and began to close the door.

  “I don’t recall asking to enter. Call the Council for instructions. I’ll wait right here,” I ordered.

  She left me standing on the porch while she padded back into her small efficiency apartment. I heard the tone of the numbers as she dialed the council’s information line. I could have listened to her whispered conversation, but I already knew what she was going to be told. Basically, ‘Grab a bag and move your ass. The witch hunters are after you.’

  “What is your name?” she asked, reappearing in the doorway.

  “Grey,” I answered.

  I was done traveling and bored with this mission. This girl was a brat, and I knew that she was going to cause trouble for my coven mates. I wasn’t pleased at being trapped in a coven with Chloë, but that was because I was in love with her. I would protect all four of them, even Finn. That was the nature of a coven, and this girl was going to bring trouble. I felt it in my bones. She might come between Chloë and Finn, but I didn’t want Chloë by default.

  “Grab some clothes and leave a note with your landlady. I don’t want anyone searching for you. We have to hurry to make the takeoff or we will be stranded until sundown tomorrow night,” I said to hurry her.

  “Where are we going?” she asked.

  “We’ll discuss that once we are airborne,” I answered.

  “Well what kind of clothes will I need?” she asked as if I were dense.

  “Same as here,” I answered, purposefully vague.

  Carlos was right; she was beautiful. Bridgett was tall, about five foot nine. Her platinum hair fell in a straight sheet to the middle of her back. She was thin while still having a feminine appeal. Her eyes were the most mesmerizing feature she possessed. They were an unnatural shade of blue, and they set off the paleness of her hair.

  It was possible that her beauty would turn Finn’s head, and if it did, he didn’t deserve Chloë. However, having had the pleasure of Chloë’s attention, I found it hard to believe that even Finn was that stupid. I was biased, certainly, but no one compared to Chloë’s beauty. She was Bridgett’s opposite, with her nearly black, wavy hair, and her smooth, tan skin. Chloë’s eyes were a deep brown that had flecks of dark green that flared to a brilliant emerald when she used her magic.

  Where Bridgett was reed thin, Chloë had a perfectly curved, athletic build. Bridgett was everything women thought men wanted, but Chloë was a male fantasy brought to life. If Finn chased after Bridgett instead of pursuing Chloë, he was the dumbest man on the planet. I guessed I would get to find out in a few hours.

  Dean

  “Hold your horses!” I shouted to the incessant banging on the front door. I might pound the shit out of whoever was on the other side of that door. Not only was it seven in the morning, but I had to unwrap myself from Anita. We had pushed our limits last night after she’d agreed to marry me. We definitely needed to speed up having that ceremony because I didn’t want to spend another night without her.

  “Dammit, Dean! Move your ass. I need some coffee!” a familiar voice shouted.

  “Cooper?” I asked, confused.

  “Who else would drag you out of bed at the butt crack of dawn and demand service?” Cooper asked.

  “Every member of our family, and every single one of my friends,” I responded.

  “Well then, hurry! You should be used to this kind of treatment by now!” he shouted.

  I finally found a shirt that had somehow landed on top of my desk lamp and slipped into my jeans. I ran down the stairs and tossed open the front door.

  “Nice digs, cuz,” Cooper greeted, pounding me on the back.

  “Thanks. It’s Chloë’s. What brings you here so early? I thought you were in…hmm… I guess I really didn’t know where you were,” I thought aloud.

  “I just got here from Oregon. I have some refugees for you guys. Come on. Help me with their bags,” he said, and I followed him out to his beat-up Ford truck.

  Next to his truck stood the most freakishly identical twins I had ever seen. They were even shorter than Anita, and at only five feet two, Anita was tiny. They were probably five feet even. They both had thick, shoulder-length chocolate-brown hair that was stick straight.

  Cooper tilted his head toward the girls. “This is Leah and Josephine Broken Feather. They are the guardians of the Oregon coastal tribes,” he introduced.

  “Just call me Jo,” the twin on the left said.

  I rubbed my hand through my hair. “I’m not sure I’ll be able to tell you apart,” I admitted.

  “You’ll get used to us,” the one who had to be Leah said.

  “I’ll take your word for that,” I replied.

  Cooper and I each grabbed a suitcase, and I led the way to the living room. The twins were obviously shifters of some kind. That must have been why Cooper had been sent to collect them. I had heard rumors of supes—supernaturals—being displaced, but I wasn’t sure why it was happening.

  I took a deep breath. Something about this screamed impending doom. This visit was definitely not a pleasant surprise. Anita had only recently stopped trying to gnaw on Chloë. The injury she’d suffered and the subsequent bloodlust had been difficult for Anita to overcome. Anita was unique in the world, and I wasn’t sure how she would feel having females of my kind hanging around.

  I heard feet shuffling down the stairs, and I looked up to see Chloë heading for the coffee maker. Halfway to the kitchen, she turned around, her head snapped up, and for a split second, her eyes blazed green. She sensed the magic. “Dean?”

  “Apparently we have refugees,” I muttered. If she was this concerned by their presence, Anita was going to be distressed.

  “Shifters?” she asked me.

  “Yeah,” I responded and rubbed the back of my neck. “You don’t think she’s going to be mad, do you?” I asked nervously.

  “Mad? Mmm…no. Concerned, hell yeah,” Chloë considered, cocking her head to the side.

  “That is what I was afraid of,” I mumbled.

  “Who is going to be worried?” asked one of the twins—Leah, I thought.

  “My fiancée,” I answered without thinking.

  “Your what?” Chloë sputtered.

  I cringed. “Shit. She probably wanted to tell you that herself.”

  Chloë hopped and then launched herself into my arms, hugging me tight. I patted her back and laughed. “I’m so happy for both of you,” she said. Her voice was muffled with her face pressed into my chest.

  “Go wake up your own man if you need to cuddle,” Anita teased from the top of the stairs. Anita appeared next to us in a fraction of a second. “He spilled the beans, didn’t he?” she asked Chloë.

  Chloë opened one arm and pulled Anita into our hug. “This is awesome!” she gushed.

  I smirked. This was great. I had both of my girls in my arms, the love of my life and my best friend.

  “Hey, you’ve got a hold of your girl. Give me mine,” Finn said from the bottom of the stairs.

  “Go ahead and tell him,” Anita whispered.

  My smirk broadened to a full smile. “Anita and I are getting m
arried.”

  “About time,” Finn responded. He grabbed Chloë from my embrace and buried his head in her soft, dark waves. “Mmm, now this is a good morning,” he said in a thick voice.

  “Eh ehm.” Cooper cleared his throat.

  Anita and Finn finally glanced into the living room, and both of their eyes changed colors like Chloë’s had. Finn recognized that there wasn’t a threat, and his eyes dimmed. Anita’s continued to glow like a feral animal. A low hiss started in her throat, and her grip on me tightened. Well, hell.

  Anita

  I narrowed my eyes and felt my fangs scratching at my gums. There were twins sizing up my man. Their scent gave them away as shifters. Dean started rubbing my back, trying to soothe me.

  “Your fiancée is a vampire?” one of the twins asked in disgust.

  “Kind of,” Dean answered lovingly.

  “You can’t be only kind of a vampire,” the same girl said.

  The corner of Dean’s lips curved up. “My girl is special.”

  The twin snorted in disgust.

  “Do you have a problem with me?” I asked pointedly.

  The girl jutted her pointy chin in the air. “No offense or anything, but shifters should only mate with each other, especially a strong shifter like Dean. He has a duty to his race,” she preached.

  My fangs fully emerged at her suggestion that Dean “mate” with someone else. I slipped into a half crouch and began to slowly stalk toward her. I could sense Dean preparing to pounce on me, probably thinking that I was out of control. Seriously, you try and drink your best friend’s blood a small handful of times and everyone treats you like a loose cannon. I didn’t want to bite her though. Just frighten her—a lot.

  Her sister grabbed her elbow and demanded her attention. “Jo,” she huffed in a frustrated tone. She turned toward me. “I’m sorry for my sister’s attitude. Life is too long for us to spend it miserable. My sister seems to forget that we need your help. I’m Leah by the way.”