She ran her fingers through her hair and cursed. Stupid stupid stupid vampire. Why did he have to be so good at tracking?
Melody’s feet were beginning to hurt and she’d been walking for almost two hours by the time she found the public transit station. The last city bus had parked for the night hours ago, but they kept the station open regardless. Sure, there were plenty of homeless folks and shady characters dotting the benches, but what choice did she have? She was exhausted. She was broke. She was cold.
Feeling more than a little sorry for herself and more than a little hungry, she sat down miserably on an unoccupied bench and closed her eyes.
It didn’t take long for her to doze. In her light sleep, she could feel the dropping temperature and huddled against herself, trying to block out the chill. It wasn’t helping. She wrapped her arms around her legs and rested her head on her knees and had just fallen into a deeper sleep when the chill in the air vanished.
It was warm. Gloriously warm in the bus station and Melody felt like she could sleep forever in this sort of comfort.
Except she was moving. And that spicy scent was back. Shit.
Her eyes snapped open and her fears proved true. Aksel was carrying her, cradling her with an arm around her shoulders and one behind the back of her knees.
“You’re not very good at hiding,” he smiled at her and Melody began to fight him, cursing his name and demanding he put her down immediately.
“Can’t do that, kitten. Not that I’d want to if I could, anyway. Sleep now, princess,” he murmured and placed the most chaste of kisses on her forehead with his full, warm lips. The effect was instant and beautiful and the urge to sleep was overwhelming.
“Asshole,” Melody managed before she drifted. She distinctly remembered the rumble of his rich laughter against her body as he carried her.
Chapter Four
At 30,000 feet above the Earth, hurtling through space, Melody looked like an angel. Still passed out from his little stunt trick, her head hung limply to the side of her seat and her pretty mouth was open as she breathed deeply.
Aksel felt a little pang of guilt as he loaded her on the Arkos private jet, but not enough to let her go. No, something told Aksel that he’d probably never willingly let Melody go her own way now. She was too vulnerable, he reasoned. Too exposed. And she was so important to the leader of the Arkos clan and his wife that Melody was just another liability out on her own and it was Aksel’s job to take care of any weakness that could affect Kai.
Add to the pang of guilt the twinge of soreness from her attack on his crotch. He laughed at the memory now, how she’d caught him completely off guard and used it to her advantage, but at the time he saw stars and was fairly certain he’d never walk, or fuck, right again.
She awoke with a fury. They’d landed nearly an hour ago and still the woman slept. Aksel had just begun to worry that he’d gone overboard with it when she mumbled in her sleep next to him in the car. They were on the ferry that would take them to the Arkos island and he didn’t want to disturb her just yet. He stayed beside her the entire time.
Aksel watched as her eyes popped open and darted from side to side as she took in her surroundings, which were obviously completely different from the bus station she likely last remembered.
“What the— “she began before she saw Aksel, at which point she went full banshee on him. “What the hell have you done, you psychotic asshole?”
She threw fists and feet at him and it took Aksel a few moments to get her appendages under control and subdued. He watched her wild eyes and erratic breathing slow eventually and he loosened his grip just enough that he wasn’t hurting herself.
“Orders, princess,” he said simply and released her.
Melody was looking at her surroundings now. Taking in the water. The ferry. The distinctly Mediterranean coastline. She let out a defeated sigh and rested her forehead on the dash in front of her. He didn't know where the thought came from, but he suddenly wanted to comfort her when he realized the shaking of her shoulders was from her silent crying.
But Aksel was a warrior and didn’t know what to say to comfort a woman.
“Stop that,” he said instead. “It won’t help anything. You’re wasting your emotions on eventualities.”
He didn’t mean to sound so cruel and inwardly, he winced at the hurt on her face. But his words were true and the faster Melody got over whatever was making her act so strange, the better.
“How long until we reach the island?” She asked miserably a few moments later. They’d gotten out of the vehicle and were watching the shoreline disappear.
“Less than an hour,” he replied. Her tears were dried now and Aksel couldn’t help but notice the look of resolution in her eyes. Good. She needed that sort of spirit to survive in his world.
He was about to ask her if she was hungry when a giant explosion on the horizon shot flames into the sky.
Both of them jumped back away from the railing. Aksel watched as the dock they’d just been on became engulfed in fire. He had no evidence, but he knew what this meant. New Dawn had meant to attack the ferry and had arrived too late, it seemed.
They’d meant to blow up the boat carrying diplomatic heads of clans to another round of meetings. And they’d nearly blown up Melody in their attempt. She stared out across the water, a look of shock evident on her features.
“Oh my god,” she whispered. “All those people waiting…”
He whipped out his cell phone from his back pocket and gave Kai advance warning.
New Dawn had struck again.
Chapter Five
Ember was all tears and runny noses when Melody arrived on the island.
“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god,” she said through the deluge of emotion as she squeezed the air out of Melody.
“I missed you, too, big sis,” Melody managed before Ember squeezed again.
“I should beat your ass,” Ember started as she held Melody at arm’s length away from her. “What the hell?”
Kai and Aksel were in the room, so Melody just shook her head, promising her sister answers at a later time. Ember understood.
“Hungry?” Ember offered Melody an array of food, but her stomach wasn’t settled after the ferry boat ride. Or, you know, witnessing a domestic terror attack. Aksel had explained the recent ramping up of New Dawn atrocities and she’d shook with fear at just how close she’d been to being blown to smithereens.
Melody assured her sister that she was just tired and needed rest. Ember told Aksel to show her sister to her room, which was conveniently next to and joined by an interior door to, his room.
“There’s too much going on to have you in a wing by yourself,” Ember said when Melody protested. “Aksel is going to keep you safe as long as you’re here.”
Melody wondered just how long that would be. She didn’t have many options for escape at the moment and she worried that with each passing day, her secret would be more and more obvious.
When they arrived at her door, Aksel stopped and handed her a key tied on a pink ribbon.
“I have a key. Your sister has a key,” he said, nodding to the door. “Nobody else knows you’re here and nobody has access to your door. Don’t open it for anybody but Kai, Ember, or me—understand?”
Melody let out a frustrated breath.
“You make it sound like I’m a hostage,” she said miserably.
“Just think of it like you’re my special guest, princess,” he said with a wry smile Melody wanted to slap off his face.
She shut the door behind her and exhaled, long and slow. The room was gorgeous.
Of course, it was. Forget all of the hotels and crappy motel rooms she'd been hiding out in, Malakai Arkos sure knew how to live.
Her “room” was really a suite of rooms connected by huge, open French doors. Her bedroom had a balcony that overlooked the Aegean Sea from at least two stories up. Her bathroom was bigger than any of her previous dwellings in the past couple of mo
nths and it had a tub that had its own computer brain.
There were white marble and gold fixtures everywhere.
And her closet.
Of course, Ember had prepared for her and filled the closet from back to front with any and everything Melody might possibly have ever wanted.
She sighed. More than anything, Melody wanted to relax. To be happy here. But something wasn’t right. Something a little bigger than New Dawn. Something that had a whole lot to do with the feelings Aksel brought up in her that she just wasn’t prepared for.
She sunk down into her bed and closed her eyes. Despite having slept for the entire plane ride over from the States, she fell into a blissful sleep and dreamed about Mediterranean coastlines.
A week later, she was just getting used to things on the island and with Aksel when it all flew out the window. Each morning he’d walk her to breakfast, sometimes with Ember and Kai, sometimes just the two of them. Then she’d be free until lunch to wander around the island and explore everything it had to offer.
He would find her, no matter where she’d gone to, sometime in the afternoon and walk her back. She had gotten used to his presence. Expected it even. So when he didn’t show up one evening as the sun set, she found it a little peculiar.
Walking back to Kai’s compound alone, she noticed a feeling in the pit of her stomach that was new. She missed having him there with her.
Inside, the compound was in a flurry of activity. It seemed more crowded to Melody, too. Ember found her outside the large dining room and linked her arm through Melody’s.
“Who are all these new people?”
“Some of the Japanese clans arrived this afternoon and a special group from Scandinavia,” Ember said cryptically and with a hint of a smile. “I think they’re related to Aksel somehow. He’s been with them all afternoon.”
That explained his absence, Melody noted a little bitterly.
Ember had to play hostess next to Kai for the formal dinner taking place. One of the personal attendants helped her get dressed in her room, choosing a pale blue strapless mini dress that seemed custom fit for Melody with her raven tresses and red lips. The young woman styled her hair and put a few finishing touches of makeup on before leaving.
Standing in her bathroom accessing herself in the floor length mirror, Melody was surprised at how the low-maintenance look suited her. Sure, she was dazzling by any means, but for the first time in a long time, she felt pretty.
At the dinner, she was seated next to Ember who was at the left hand of her husband. Kai was at the head of the table and directly to his right sat Aksel. Directly next to Aksel sat the reason Melody’s entire night had gone to hell in a handbasket rather quickly.
They had yet to be introduced, but where Melody was understated and minimal, this glamazon was tall, tan, and stunningly blonde. She was obviously from the Scandinavian clan and when she bothered to cast Ember or Melody a bored glance, she saw the woman had the same beautiful blue eyes that Aksel did, suggesting some kind of genetic similarity. But the way the woman would rub his forearm and whisper in his ear from time to time, Melody noted, was anything but sisterly.
She kept her eyes on her plate as much as she could and choked down her food, which all suddenly tasted bitter to her.
Later, when the plates were cleared, the delegations took turns approaching Kai and Ember introducing themselves. Melody watched from the side and noted who she guessed to be true allies of the Arkos clan and who were seething underneath the masks at having to attend.
At last, Aksel led the impossibly tall group of three Scandinavians toward Kai and made the introductions.
“This is Hegel, my surrogate father,” Aksel said, beaming with pride as the older man clasped hands with Kai.
Aksel motioned to the tall, blonde Chris Hemsworth-lookalike.
“This is Bjorn,” he said. “One of my closest friends since childhood.”
Kai and Bjorn greeted one another and suddenly all eyes were on the Glamazon. Melody swallowed hard.
“And this is Thala— “he began. Aksel’s eyes darted to where Melody sat and she saw a flicker of hesitation in them. Luckily for them all, Thala finished for him.
“I’m Thala—his fiancé.”
Melody sucked in a quick breath and tried to blank her expression, but the news had come like a cheap shot to the gut. The air in the room was suddenly thinner, colder. She swallowed hard and tried to look anywhere but at Thala or Aksel.
In the corner of her eye, as she stared hard at a painting of a cliff against a seashore hanging high in the room, she swore she could feel Aksel’s eyes on her. Imploring her.
Look at me, he seemed to say. Melody swore she was hearing voices. Curling her hands in and out of a tight fist, she wanted nothing more at that particular moment than to run. Run from the room. Run from the island. Run from Aksel’s life.
The gathered party exchanged pleasantries and soon it was time for Melody to be introduced.
“This is my sister-in-law,” Kai said, as he presented Melody to the Scandinavians. She shrank before their assessing gazes, suddenly wishing she could disappear into the Persian carpet under her feet.
She didn’t want any of this. Not the feeling of inferiority this Thala had brought up in her. Not this strange sense of longing she felt whenever Aksel, a suddenly incredibly unavailable man, wasn’t around. She didn’t want ideological crazies bombing every place she visited and she didn’t want vampires. Period.
With the tears stinging her eyes and sudden sense of panic bubbling up, Melody made pathetic excuses about feeling unwell and ignored Ember and Kai’s offers to assist her back to her suite.
As she moved past him, Aksel said her name.
Fighting the urge to pause and look at him, Melody kept walking and didn’t stop until she locked her own door behind her.
Chapter Six
Aksel had an entire Google calendar full of things to do. He had people waiting on him. Expectations weighing on him. Everyone wanted something from him.
Except Melody. She hadn’t one time asked him for something and now, in the middle of the shit show his life had just turned into, when he should be concentrating on tradition and duty more than ever, he kept thinking about the woman asleep on the other side of the door in his room. She’d been stunning that night. Her dress was simpler and less complicated than every other woman in attendance, but she shone bright above the rest from the moment he laid eyes on her. Melody had always been pretty to him but now was stunning.
“You’re different,” Kai had said one morning when they went over plans to rebuild the dock and beef up security. No matter what they did, New Dawn seemed to be two steps ahead of them in terms of exploiting their weaknesses.
“How so?” Aksel asked, raising an eyebrow.
“It’s hard to explain. You’re more focused? Impatient? Demanding?” Kai was laughing as he spoke. “It reminds me of when I finally owned up to the fact that Ember was my mate and that I couldn’t go through life ignoring her anymore.”
Aksel knew where his old friend was going with this and suddenly, he didn’t want to hear it.
“Do you think it’s because Thala is here now? Do you think your vampire has recognized its mate?”
Aksel couldn’t ignore the sense of dread that Kai’s question caused in him. He didn’t know much about vampire mating practices, but he was pretty damn certain that the mention of someone’s mate wasn’t supposed to make them groan awkwardly and look for the nearest exit. Truth be told, he spent as little time around his betrothed as he could possibly get away with.
“It could be,” Aksel responded to Kai’s question with the most generic response he could come up with when, in fact, he knew his vampire was not responding to Thala as his mate. That was all part of the damn problem.
It’d been a week since Thala sucked the air right from the room with her ill-timed revelation. First, he hadn’t planned on the Scandinavians showing up to the meetings—they never interacted mu
ch with the Order. And second, he really wasn’t certain Thala was still counting on the betrothal that’d been yoked on them when they were both young. He sure hadn’t. Aksel had assumed that he had plenty of time to get out of it before the issue would ever come up again. They were immortal—what was the hurry?
But damn it if she hadn’t had a look of sadistic pleasure on her face when she announced that they were engaged. And he’d watched her keep her ice blue eyes on Melody with every word she uttered. He wanted nothing more than to reassure Melody that there was more to the story and he wasn’t even sure why he wanted to make the situation clear to her. He just did. Thala was a political alliance that his mother, the queen of the Scandinavian enclave, insisted on. By denying Thala’s family the union they sought, he could single-handedly bring down the tenuous peace in the northern countries that had existed for less than a generation.
He sat up and rubbed his hands over his face. He couldn’t get a clear thought in his head and the fact that Melody had even acted hurt after that shit show of a night made it all the worse. It’d been like a knife through the damn heart watching her pretty little face crumble at Thala’s words. And she’d cut herself off from him entirely. She avoided him and ate by herself when he was stuck in negotiations. He tried to catch her at her familiar haunts around the island but she wasn’t there.
In truth, he hadn’t owed Melody anything and what was between them was two months and half a world behind them. But he couldn’t stop thinking about her.
Needing a quick distraction, Aksel decided at the spur of the moment to go out to the ocean and cool off. The walk was short and before long, he was under the waves and finally feeling somewhat normal. Things would go back to normal for him once Melody got herself on her feet, Aksel reassured himself. They had to.
At the thought of her name, Aksel felt something new. An urging. Alarm. A slight sense of panic that began in the center of his chest and radiated outward.
The Vampire´s Secret Baby Page 2
