“What I’ve done and with whom has never been your concern, nor will it ever be,” he grumbled. Hegel sighed.
Thala came to sit on the arm of Aksel’s chair and draped an arm over his shoulder. She smelled like jasmine and honey. Floral. Feminine. Almost too much. The cloying smell of her perfume made his skin crawl and he stood quickly to walk to the other side of the room, crossing his arms and pretending to study some of the ancient artwork on the walls.
“Let me put it to you in a way that we are all clear,” Hegel said as he looked at Aksel. His voice was harder. The lines in his face sharper. How had Aksel missed the drastic change in his mentor? “You are honor bound to Thala and we will not break the contract for any reason. Should you choose to dishonor yourself and our family, we will look to the Order for recompense and judgment. Think carefully about your actions over the next few days. Breaking a covenant would have dire consequences for both you and the human."
He’d felt the storm brewing since his former family stepped foot on the island and there it was. At least the stakes were clear now. Good. Aksel liked to know where he stood in battle.
He opened his mouth to reply but stopped. The pull in his chest was back and this time, no tamping on his part would deny it. Nearly half-crazy with irritation and anxiety, Aksel made a quick excuse instead and left.
She was gone.
Not just out for the afternoon or somewhere on the beach amusing herself with shells like she normally did, Melody was gone.
Ember was distraught, more so than usual and Kai soothed her the best she could. He gave Aksel a pointed look, telling Aksel to follow him.
“She’s gone,” Kai said.
Aksel nodded. He knew that already. The tug he felt earlier became an all-consuming gnawing in the very center of him that had him running in circles through the compound looking for Melody.
“Do you need me to find her?” Aksel asked.
Kai hesitated. Why? Why wouldn’t Aksel find her?
"I can send one of the others. Logan is on the island and is good at tracking," Kai said quietly, looking at his shoes. "You have other complications to deal with."
He meant Thala and what chasing after Melody would mean. Kai was doing his best to be diplomatic.
“Shit.” Kai cursed vehemently, surprising Aksel. “I can’t do this to you.”
Kai was in the middle of some sort of internal war and Aksel was witness to it.
“What is it?”
Kai gave Aksel a long, steady look before speaking.
“I promised my wife that I would not say anything,” he said. “But if it were me, you bet your ass I would expect you to tell me.”
Aksel frowned. What was he talking about?
“Tell you what, Kai?”
Kai took a deep breath and slowly blew it out. Meanwhile, Aksel felt like he was coming out of his skin while his closest friend took his time getting to the point already.
“Melody is pregnant.”
Aksel was immobile. Time froze. Was that what was so different about her? There was a new smell to her, and a new softness he’d noticed. And the sleeping and the illness. The fuller breasts he’d noticed a few weeks ago. It made sense. But the father—who was the child’s father? Could it be—
“It’s yours, Aksel,” Kai said unsteadily. “The child is yours. I know you’re in the middle of your own personal war right now sorting out an upcoming marriage that has serious implications. But I wouldn’t have been able to look you in the eye if I’d kept that from you.”
The air left his lungs and his legs wobbled beneath him. He took a steadying breath and simply nodded. He hardened his face into his formidable pre-battle glare and spun on his heel to the door.
“Where are you going?” Kai called after him.
“To bring back what’s mine.”
Chapter Nine
God, she was miserable.
She thought a little time and space away from that frustratingly gorgeous Viking vampire and his equally statuesque kinsmen would do her well, but she was wrong.
She missed Aksel every single moment of the nearly two weeks she’d been away. She moved often, this time, determined not to be found so easily, and to make it more difficult for Ember and whoever Kai sent to track her, she doubled back to Greece every few days.
It was a torrential downpour outside in Athens on a particularly miserable night and Melody was chasing her tail trying to single out a single repeating user that accessed the network multiple times over the past year. Clues were everywhere, but none of them were lining up in a cohesive way that could lead Melody to any place logical. She still couldn’t help Kai crack the leaks to New Dawn.
Frustrated, she let her face fall into her hands and tried not to cry out.
Shit.
Pacing around the tiny shoebox of a room, she fought the urge to tear her hair out or climb the walls. She was feeling claustrophobic and needed fresh air. A knock at her door stopped her in her tracks and she tensed. Her landlord was a particularly greasy guy prone to knocking on the door if he saw her light on. She’d fallen for it once and nearly had to threaten bodily harm to get the guy to leave. He was a creeper, no doubt about that, and she was starting to wonder if he didn’t operate like some low-rent neighborhood pimp the way he seemed to only rent to single women in his building.
Call it intuition. Call it hyped up spidey senses, but as soon as Melody felt the stinging sensation at the base of her neck, she knew she needed to leave. The landlord knocked a few more times and she saw the shadows of his feet underneath the bottom of her door disappear and reappear at least three times. While she waited, she quickly threw together her meager possessions into a backpack and waited. Tensed to move as soon as she heard his door down the hall close behind him.
It took nearly an hour of the creep wandering back and forth between their doors and incessant knocking and whispering “are you awake, yeah?” through the wood before he gave up and picked another victim.
Melody didn’t hesitate and hit the hallway almost at a run. By the time she hit the sidewalk outside, she was running and when she heard the asshole’s voice calling her back, she ran even faster.
Had something worse been about to happen back there? What had that incredibly strong feeling of danger been about? Melody figured it had to be something to do with her Terzi blood surfacing more and more, and for once, she didn’t fight it.
Checking her bank balance on her phone, Melody decided that for one night, she'd check into the most opulent hotel in Athens that she could find. It took a few searches online and a fairly long cab ride, but she finally got herself to the front desk of the Opal, a marble and gold embossed nightmare of overpriced food, Egyptian cotton sheets, and traveling businessmen. Fine, whatever. At least she'd be safe.
Melody nearly choked on her own tongue at the price for a single night, but she swallowed down the panic and paid the clerk. Her room was on the ninth floor and one shiny glass elevator ride later, she was swimming in the most luxurious bed linen she’d ever felt. Within the hour, Melody was chin-deep in bubbles in the room’s Jacuzzi tub.
Knocking at the door, Melody's most hated sound in the Universe by now, startled her. Her mind raced. Had the landlord followed her? Was it Ember? One of the rich foreign businessmen she'd passed in the lobby?
She wrapped herself in a towel and peeked through the peephole. Nobody was in the hallway and outside her door was a room service spread. She opened the door and looked down the hall in both directions—not a soul in sight. She was just about to shut and lock the door when the aroma of garlic and pasta wafted up to her. It smelled like heaven. She closed her eyes and contemplated her next move.
“Fuck it,” she said and wheeled the cart in. Just to be sure, she called the front desk and asked about the food.
“Your husband sent it to you, madam,” the young man at the front desk replied.
“Seriously?” Melody laughed. “I don’t have a husband. This must be a mistake.”
> She heard the sound of keys tapping as the clerk checked his computer.
“I’m sorry, Miss Terzi,” he said. “But the order was for you, and we can’t take it back once it’s gone up. It would just go to waste—enjoy it and leave it in the hallway. We’ll come by and take the dishes later.”
Fine. She would. But first, she would finish her bath and take advantage of the free two-piece collared pajamas, fluffy bathrobe, and plush slippers.
All bathrobed up with her slippers on and her hair twisted in a towel, Melody tucked into her food and found a movie in English she could settle into. She twisted the "husband" riddle around in her mind and promised herself to check more into in the morning when she checked out.
When she was finished, she kept the teacup and saucer and put the rest of the cart outside. She wasn’t stealing it—but she was going to use it with her coffee maker in the morning. It was just too pretty to send back now.
A third knock on her door that night interrupted her movie, but this time she was certain it was the hotel employee looking for their drinkware.
“I didn’t steal it! I’ll give it back tomorrow!” She yelled, a little defensively, through the door. Damn, they took their china seriously around here.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, princess,” came a familiar voice through the door that made her legs weak. “But you need to let me in.”
Aksel.
Panic surged through her that he’d found her. It was quickly followed by a sense of joy that he was right outside her door. And then regret—that she’d been dumb enough to fall in love with an unavailable man who’d been duty-bound to return her to the Arkos island.
“No thanks, Viking,” she called, her voice calmer than she was. “Please go away.”
She heard his soft chuckle through the door and fought the urge to move closer to him.
“You want to have this discussion like this? Right now? Because we’re having it, whether you like it or not.”
What conversation? What was he talking about?
“Sure,” she bluffed.
“I know you’re carrying my child, Melody.”
It was suddenly impossible for her to stand and she gently sat on the bed behind her. Her world was closing in on her. Was he here to take the baby from her?
“You can’t have my baby,” she said quietly, her voice quaking. “You can’t take him from me.”
There was silence through the door for a moment. Melody gripped the blankets beneath her.
"I would never do that, Melody," he said. "And you belong to me, where I can take care of you both."
Her heart fluttered, but her mind was resistant.
"I don't want to be the third wheel in your marriage, Aksel," she said. "Even if you feel beholden to me because of this, I don't want that life. And you belong to the Order. With someone like Thala."
The words killed her to say, but she felt it was the truth. Thala was gorgeous and royal and politically savvy and eloquent…and the list could go on. Melody was just…Melody. And pregnant. That didn’t exactly make for the best match.
"I don't belong with Thala," Aksel said. "I belong to you, Melody Terzi. My heart knew it the first day I met you. My brain just took a little while to catch up."
She drew in a sharp breath as the tears started to form in her eyes.
“It’s not that easy, Aksel,” she said. “You can’t turn your back on your family or your obligations.”
A light thud punctuated the silence where Aksel must have punched at the door with his fist.
“Listen to me, princess. You and that baby are my family. You two are the only obligations that I am grateful and willing to have as of about two weeks ago,” he said. “You’re my true mate. Tell me you’ve realized it by now? How do you think I can track you around the world with no problem whatsoever? I’m good at what I do, but I’m not that good.”
He paused a moment and Melody stood up. Nearing to be closer to him as he said the words she’d been grappling with for weeks now.
“You’re my true north,” he said softly. She leaned her forehead against the cool surface of the door. “Wherever you are, my heart follows. I can’t deny it, even when I try. Now let me in or I am going to shatter this door into a million pieces and make them charge your credit card for it.”
Melody unlocked the door.
Chapter Ten
He strode through the door and kicked it closed behind him like a Norse god. Without giving her a chance to say anything or even take the towel out of her hair, Aksel scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the bed where he gently laid her against the pillows.
She tried to speak, but he held up a hand, stopping her.
Reverently, he pulled at the layers of clothing that covered her midriff and bared her rounding stomach. Gently, he ran his fingertips across the surface of her abdomen before nearly covering it with his entire warm palm. Instinctively, Melody put her fingers in his hair and caressed him as he laid a cheek against her belly. She was far enough along now that she could feel the baby’s movements often, so it was no surprise when he bumped hard enough against his father’s hand for Aksel to feel it, too.
“It’s a boy,” Aksel said. It wasn’t a question. Melody nodded. She’d felt the same thing too. She watched as Aksel’s face clouded with emotion and when she saw the glistening dampness in the corner of one eye, she was nearly undone herself.
“I’m sorry,” she croaked. “I tried to stay out of your way. This whole time.”
"Silly girl," he whispered as he leaned up and placed a warm, chaste kiss on her lips. Melody was on fire from the simple, quick contact. "I needed you with me. This whole time. No more talking, though. I need to thoroughly reacquaint myself with this amazing little body that I'm going to have and to hold for the rest of eternity."
That sounded an awful lot like a familiar wedding vow.
“What?” She asked.
Aksel rolled his eyes in mock annoyance.
“You’re terrible at the quiet game, princess,” he said. “But since you asked, yes. To have and to hold. For eternity, if you like. For one lifetime if that’s what you want. But I’m marrying you tomorrow. And I’m fucking you tonight.”
Melody’s body stirred at the dirty language. God, she missed his filthy mouth.
“What about…” She began, but he cut her off by parting her lips with his tongue and assaulting her mouth with his. She’d wanted to question him about his engagement. The threats she’d received from Thala. All of it.
Aksel seemed to know what she was asking before she could form the words.
“It’s over. It has been for weeks, foolish princess. I’ve been with you in every stupid fleabag room you’ve rented across Europe keeping you safe while you came to your senses. But I can’t stand it anymore. I need you. I want you. I’m having you again and again and again…and then I’m marrying you.”
He spoke the words against her mouth and she moaned as he ran his hands up her side and over her breasts.
“Enough with the clothes, Terzi,” he said, stopping. “Enjoy that for one more night, by the way. Tomorrow you will be Melody Sorenson.”
She laughed and explained that part of her freak out when she discovered she was pregnant was the shame that she didn’t know her baby daddy’s last name.
“Not many do, actually,” he said, pulling impatiently at the waistband of her pajama bottoms. “Now can we lose the clothing?”
In a flash, she was naked, laid out on the bed beneath him. He’d kept his boxer briefs on and when she went to say something about it, he stopped her with a swift capturing of a rosebud nipple in his teeth. She hissed in response and arched her body up toward him. He obliged her silent request and went to work on the sensitive areolas, move from one to another. Sucking, nipping and pinching with his teeth and lips.
Aksel trailed a line of kisses down her belly and pulled her knees apart. Melody smiled at the memory that he was really, really good at this part.
His tongue darted across the most sensitive part of her and she grasped.
“This is mine, isn’t it?” He growled.
She writhed against his mouth as he teased her, unable to answer.
“Say it.”
Again, she shuddered under his tongue’s assault as it slid across her clit. When he abruptly stopped, Melody let out a frustrated squeak.
“Tell me who this body belongs to,” Aksel demanded.
“It belongs to you, dammit!” Melody grunted and moaned when Aksel picked up the assault again.
She bucked against him and he doubled down on her, pinning her hips in place as he brought her to the pinnacle.
Certain that she was going to rip apart at the seams, Melody gripped Aksel by the air, urging him on.
He took her to the pinnacle, and then he pushed her over.
The orgasm was intense and it was fast and before she could mutter a word or form a single coherent thought, she watched as Aksel freed himself and his huge erection from his shorts. He had a wicked gleam in his eye as he moved up her body.
Without speaking, he slanted a brutal kiss against her mouth and with a free hand, he propped her hips beneath a pillow.
“Mine,” he whispered between kisses as he brought his weight onto his elbows and hovered above her. “And I’m yours.”
That alone shattered an already blissfully broken Melody and she wrapped her legs around Aksel’s torso, hooking her knees behind his lower back—urging him forward.
Aksel didn’t hesitate long.
Surging forward against her core, he pushed through to the very center of Melody and her body sang with the sensations his body created within hers. Careful not to crush her body beneath his, he managed to keep any pressure off her while he drove into her like a jackhammer, muttering erotic nothings the entire time.
“I’ve dreamt of no one but you…”
“…needed to bury myself so deep inside you…”
“…will fuck you forever, wife...”
Aksel was a certified pro at dirty talk and it wasn’t long before he had her pushing the boundaries of another epic orgasm again. Part way through, Aksel effortlessly lifted and turned Melody so that she was on all fours and Aksel was taking her from behind.
The Vampire´s Secret Baby Page 4
