Her eyes light up and she climbs up on my back. She’s got a good tight grip and we descend the ladder together. With a few rungs to go, I leap down clutching Annie against my back. I turn my head to make sure she’s all right.
Her eyes are bright and she wears a wide grin. “That was fun.”
Elizabeth rushes toward us and Annie opens her arms to fall into her mother’s embrace. The powerful moment weakens my legs briefly.
Annie starts to cry. “I’m sorry, Mommy.”
Elizabeth clutches Annie against her chest while her eyes stay fixed on mine. “Thank you. Thank you.”
It’s a private moment that doesn’t involve me. I’m not part of this. I tug my suit jacket closed, satisfied I did the right thing and step away. Elizabeth reaches out to me and grabs my hand to join the embrace with a strength that makes me wonder, is she really that ordinary?
Later that night when Elizabeth and Annie are asleep, I slip out of the house and into the backyard to call Elijah, my allegiant’s computer hacker. I don’t call in favors very often and I never needed Francisco’s weapon experts. Tomas procures and stores high powered machine guns, whereas sweet pretty Reese prefers any blade with a sharp tip. Those two are also particularly annoying to be around. They bicker constantly. According to Elijah they only shut the fuck up when they’re naked. How he knows this is not a follow up question I need answered.
“Hey, haven’t heard from you at this hour in a while,” Elijah answers in lieu of a hello.
“I need a favor.”
“Shoot.”
“Do you think you can hack into a school’s employment database?”
He scoffs. “Which school?”
I give him all the information while I stare out into the darkness, remembering the vampire who spied on Elizabeth.
To Elijah’s surprise, there is a layer of protection he didn’t expect, but he gets in regardless. “Farley, you said?”
“Yes. Text me the—” I stop. What if my phone is taken from me? I won’t be able to get to Elijah in time to thoroughly bleach it. “Just tell me the address. Don’t text me.”
I’m grateful it’s on a main road and I won’t have to put it in my GPS, either.
“What’s going on, Alex?”
“It’s better you don’t know.”
“No problem. Oh, Francisco is trying to reach you. He has it in his calendar to call you.”
“Okay, thanks.” I turn but stop and square my shoulders. “You have access to his phone?”
“Hardly.”
My voice drops to an incredulous hiss. “You broke into Francisco’s phone?”
“And yours. It’s how I know he hasn’t gotten a hold of you. There’s no meeting in your calendar.”
I run a nervous hand through my hair. I have to trust Elijah, even if I don’t care for his methods. “Okay. Thanks, have a good night.”
I put the phone in my coat pocket and go back inside the house. For an hour, I pace in the living room still unsure of what I want to do about Farley.
How would a human father go about this? Once I get my hands on this man, I worry I won’t be able to control myself. The confrontation this morning obviously sent him into enough of a fit to risk his job. Some people are unhinged. Elizabeth said she was more worried that I was a crazy lunatic who liked to drink blood instead of me being an actual vampire. There must be something to that.
As both vampire and a lunatic, I climb Elizabeth’s stairs and when I’m in her bedroom, I lay my body across hers. Only she can help me decide.
She twists around, her hair spilling in front of her face. “Hey, what’s—”
“I have the driver’s home address.”
Her eyes widen. “How did you get that?”
“It doesn’t matter. Stop me.”
“What?”
“Stop me. Or tell me to go and do what I was made to do.” I won’t do anything without her consent.
I can live with killing a man who harmed the woman I love.
She swallows and our eyes connect. God, she really understands me. Who I am and what I’m about. Her breath is ragged. She wants that man hurt as much as I do. Does she have the restraint I can’t seem to find at the moment?
Her blue eyes flicker to mine. “He’s not worth it.”
“Not worth what?”
“Losing you.” Her arms come up and she holds my face to kiss me.
Soft at first but the anger and fury that she compressed boils up to the surface. Fast and hot. Her nails dig into my skin causing pain, but I don’t care.
I tear my coat off, the seams ripping under my hands as I leap off the bed to close the bedroom door.
Chapter 15
“Stephen will be here any minute,” Elizabeth says the moment I walk in the door on Wednesday afternoon. “He called from the Turnpike.”
“Okay.” I spin around, confused at her anxiety. He’s taking Annie to his family’s house in Connecticut for Thanksgiving. It was planned for weeks. “Do you want me to leave?”
“No. Yes. I don’t want you to leave.” Her face flushes with worry that is so palpable it kicks up my venom. “I just don’t want to put you in a strange position.”
“Why would this put me in a strange position? I do meet new people, Elizabeth. Every day at the hospital and when I cover for a doctor at your practice. Every semester there’re new students. What?”
She peers at me with her arms crossed. “And how many men have you met who were the ex-husband of a woman you were sleeping with?”
“Uh, none” I run a hand through my hair. “Point taken.”
“Okay. Okay. Sit.” She points to the couch like I’m a dog.
“I prefer to stand,” I say and when there’s a knock, I answer the door, since, well, I’m standing right here.
Stephen is not what I expected. When Elizabeth told me he was a Marine, I pictured tall, thick bodied, and a shaved head. Annie’s father has a slender build and a head full of dark brown curls which flop against his forehead as he shrinks off the porch like he thinks he’s at the wrong house. “Oh hey. I’m here to pick up my daughter. Who are you?”
Smiling, I say, “I’m a friend of Elizabeth’s.”
~ ~ ~
I step back to watch how this plays out between Alex and Stephen.
Even if I remove the vampire element, this has the potential to be really awkward. Stephen hasn’t met a man in my life, yet. He never had to walk around DC and think about another man reading his daughter a goodnight story. Never had to see me with another man and wonder, is he better in bed?
To compare himself to someone as gorgeous as Alex has got to be an instant ego crusher, yet my ex is polite. “Stephen Kastner. Nice to meet you.”
Alex mastered futzing with props to avoid handshaking. “Same here, excuse me,” he says, holding his phone and walks away.
“That was rude.” Stephen turns to me.
“He’s a doctor. He gets calls all the time. Don’t take it personally.”
“A doctor, huh?”
“Yep.” I swing my arms loose now that I see I worried for nothing.
Stephen’s eyes sweep back in Alex's direction. He removes his sunglasses to say something to me, but Annie appears at the top of the stairs.
“Daddy!”
“Hey, pumpkin.” He takes her into his arms and every time I see them together like this a warm feeling pours over me.
I was concerned the move back to Princeton would affect their relationship. It’s important she bonds with her father. With Alex in the picture now, I must be extra diligent so she’s not confused about her feelings for either man.
“Is this everything you want to bring?” I hold up Annie’s pink luggage and rattle off a list of paraphernalia
I know she can’t live without even for a couple of days.
Alex sneaks a peek at us pretending to be absorbed in his fake call. I know he’s taking in Stephen’s scent and listening to every word we say with his bionic hearing.
Having Annie to myself for weeks at a time can be exhausting. Whenever she leaves to be with her father though, an ache settles against my chest and almost every time I cry.
“Ready to get on the road?” Stephen asks her.
“Yes!” My daughter is full of excitement. It’s possible she gets tired of me and our routine too.
I step out of the house while sliding my coat over my shoulders and walk toward Stephen’s car. Tears well up as Annie climbs into the back seat. Alex magically appears behind me and steadies me. A slight growl rumbles from deep in his chest, because my pain distresses him.
I buckle Annie in the car as Stephen lingers off to the side when my daughter whispers, “Can Alex build me a treehouse?”
I release a gulp of laughter, grateful for the mood lifter, but Annie is serious. I blink and say, “I’ll talk to him about it this weekend.”
“Okay.” She smiles.
“You have a wonderful time. Say hi to Nana and Pop for me.” I touch every inch of her body to make sure she’s secure.
“I like Alex, Mommy.” Her words turn my head and her serene smile floors me.
“Yeah. I like him too,” I say, even though I’ve fallen in love with him.
~ ~ ~
I lie to so many people and when my brain draws that line of who knows the truth and who doesn’t, I don’t like that Annie is not on the same side as her mother.
If I had powers like Loren, I could control Elizabeth’s mind and make her feel heat instead of ice whenever I touch her. Then she’d be on the other side of the line too and I would be alone.
“Can we get on the road?” Annie’s father asks.
“Sure.” Elizabeth kisses her daughter and closes the car door, but keeps her hands pressed on the window for a moment before she steps back and leans into me.
Stephen drives off and the ache in Elizabeth’s heart releases a bitter scent, I’m grateful I don’t smell it too often. She takes a moment before she faces me. When she does, I smell the child on her lips, sweet and full of love.
In a broken voice, she utters, “There’s something about when I hand her over to him, I feel . . .”
“You feel what, my darling?” I move a loose hair from her eyes.
“I feel like I failed.” She kicks at some scattered dried up mulch that blew into the driveway. “Like I should have stuck it out. Things just got so bad, Alex. I wasn’t strong enough to deal with the years of separation. When he came home, he just wasn’t very nice to me.”
“I learned a lot about humans since I became vampire. More than when I was human, and even as a doctor. Just as I smell your sadness, I smell hatred and duplicity.” I cup her elbow until she faces me. “There was none of that from him just now. Only love. The same as your love, okay not the same. A mother’s love will always—”
Elizabeth crushes her lips against my mouth. I envelop her in my arms as her body molds against mine and I kiss her back. Urgently. I only satiated part of my need the night before. Regardless of how she gives herself to me, it is never enough.
“Thank you,” she says after she pulls her lips away and touches my face.
“So, what do you want to do tonight?” I tug her toward the house.
Classes at the university are cancelled because of the holiday.
Regardless of what she says, I already know what I’ll do to her until dawn.
~ ~ ~
My father and I spent Thanksgiving with Theresa’s family.
Even if I was ready to introduce Alex to everyone, the colossal trays of food would make him queasy. For the first time, I didn’t stuff myself like a turkey. I ate light so there was no apple pie rolling around in my stomach when he took me with reckless abandon later that night.
It was the first time we made love in the house without Annie and, well, my Alex got a little out of control.
To take a break, I suggest he come with me to do some early Christmas shopping.
On Black Friday.
In one of the country’s busiest malls.
What a mistake.
I’m ashamed that I need a break from Alex’s body. He’s been on top of me nearly nonstop. Not that I mind, but I fear he will tire of me. Not literally, of course. He can climb Mr. Everest several times in an hour. It’s mentally I’m concerned with. There has to be a point in which he’ll ask himself, Why am I bothering with this human?
While I’ve not met a female version of his kind, I can only imagine how gorgeous they are. Given they share his nocturnal desires every night, how in the world could I compete? I quickly talk myself out of these doubts, since this vampire had a hundred years to figure out women.
Walking through the mall parking lot, I stop and laugh.
“Something funny?” he asks, tugging me close to him.
“I’m bringing a vampire to the mall,” I whisper. “How hysterical is that?”
“Hilarious.” But Alex turns very serious. He stops and examines me, including bringing my scarf up closer around my ears. “It’s cold.”
The forecast buzzes about a big snowstorm.
“How can you even tell if it’s cold?” I ask figuring it’s okay since he brought it up.
“I can feel things, Elizabeth. My body isn’t impervious to physical sensations. Or did you think I was faking it last night?”
“I hope that wasn’t a show for my benefit,” I respond, feeling a slam of heat against my neck thinking about Alex contorted in erotic agony.
The full awareness of what he physically experiences is not entirely in my grasp yet. If he feels pleasure, certainly he feels discomfort. Or pain. I’m alarmed at how much that concept bothers me. Alex in physical pain.
He holds my hand and sneers at the wave of bodies beyond the glass doors. His grip tightens almost to the point of pain. Before I wince, he senses my discomfort and apologizes. “Sorry.”
“What’s wrong?” I ask before we go in and I tug him away from the throngs coming in and out.
“Too many people. My instincts will be clouded. All I care about is keeping you safe.”
“Alex, it’s a mall.” I say this even though I know we don’t live in that world any more. Attacks can happen anywhere. “Why don’t you concentrate on the people. I assure you, I know my way around and can deal with a little pushing and shoving.”
Of course, once we’re inside Alex doesn’t leave my side. I wouldn’t expect him to deposit me in the middle of chaos and leave to survey the security system. The more I get pushed around and elbowed, the louder he growls. I keep having to put my hands on his chest to reassure him I’m okay and to relax. If it’s possible for a vampire to relax.
After the excruciatingly long line at the Apple Store waiting for a ‘genius’, I’m relieved to have my last gift for Annie. Then I see the line to pay.
As we approach the mile-long string of people, Alex who clearly reached the end of his patience says, “I wish you would let me purchase these items for you online. We could have avoided all of this nonsense.”
Without much thought, I respond, “Alex, I’m not going to let you buy my Christmas presents for me.”
An ice-cold hand on my elbow tightens to a level that stops me from walking. In the heat of Alex’s passion, he grabbed my waist, my ankles, my thighs, and, of course, my breasts. The pressure on my skin now however tells me that at least during sex he manages a level of restraint.
Apparently, that’s impossible for him at the moment. I stop to address what is happening. I assume my disgust at being handled so brutishly in a public place shows on my face bec
ause as soon as our eyes meet, the grip loosens.
“Yes?” I ask, giving Alex my full attention.
With his hand still on my arm, he pulls me to a quiet corner. Gently. “Because you’re a human, I accept many things about you Elizabeth. I accept that you must sleep and that you must eat, even though the smell of human food sickens me.”
“What does that have to do with the long line?” I ask, pointing.
“I also accept that you have a daughter and that your allegiance will always be to her first and that I will be second. I accept and respect that you have a job and that your time is limited for me. I accept that I cannot just show up at your house on a Saturday afternoon and fuck you on the floor like an animal. As I would like to.”
Lately, he creeps into my bedroom in the middle of the night confessing it’s hard for him to be away from me. Under ordinary circumstances, I’d consider it an incredibly romantic declaration, but it’s the vampire in him. I’m his and it’s in his nature to guard me.
I just don’t like the way he’s speaking to me right now, even when that last part sent a thump between my legs and now I’m wet. “No one asked you to settle, Alexander.”
“Settle?” He grinds his teeth and the smell of metallic acid wafts out of him. Pulling me deeper into the corner, he says with a sneer, “You are the most forbidden fruit in my world and you think I’m settling?”
I swallow taking in his explanation, but say, “So what are you getting at?”
“I accept everything about you, Elizabeth. I ask you to accept one thing about me.”
“And what is that?” I ask, matching his tone.
“I am vampire. You are my lover. As such, you are my responsibility. If I offer to take care of you, I expect you to accept my generosity.”
Sounds like an offer I am literally not allowed to refuse. Before I respond with my quippy retort, my phone rings.
Alex frowns at my buzzing purse and releases my arm. “Answer your phone.”
Drawing Bloodlines (The Princeton Allegiant Series Book 1) Page 13
