In the tunnel outside the cave, Julian halted in front of Connor, his crooked smile daring him to comment.
Connor raised a hand in mock surrender. Jerking his head, he moved away from the doorway of the cave until he was certain Rebekah would not hear them.
Running his fingers over a lump of rock protruding from the tunnel wall, Connor gouged it out and held it in his palm. He polished its surface with his thumb as he said thoughtfully, “Marius says news of Seren’s birth is out, and to expect outsiders to visit the hive.”
Watching Connor’s pale fingers eroding the hard stone to a handful of gravel, Julian said, “So soon? News travels fast.” His green eyes sparked with disappointment. “Not entirely unexpected, although, a little more time would have been good.”
“Greg and Oscar have the evacuation drill down pat. The panic room is hidden behind a false wall, and once they are inside, even the keenest vampire senses will not detect them.” Connor’s narrowed eyes glittered in the dim light. “Seren is developing fast, perhaps three times faster than a human child, and I would prefer to wait until she is full grown before we are forced to leave London.”
Julian nodded sharply. He was fiercely protective of his little devil-daughter, as he affectionately called Seren. Somehow, God-daughter did not seem appropriate. “We have that time, I am sure of it. Your display in the arena won you the unconditional support of Captain Gerrard and the guardsmen. I believe London is the safest place for Seren, right now.”
“Marius gave me an easy time of it when I dodged the question of conception. He and Alexander have come down on our side, it would seem.” The handful of gravel fell in a controlled shower onto the ground, punctuating Connor’s thoughts. “You know, when I found Rebekah dying of hypothermia, desperation drove me to bathe in boiling water, anything to save her.”
The ghosts cluttered his gaze as he looked Julian in the eye.
“We will find a way,” Julian said firmly.
“I have no intention of becoming Frankenstein, Julian. It may sound ridiculous, but I cannot get the image of oven-baked vampires, and deep-frozen humans out of my mind. I will not let that happen.”
“Even if nothing really changes,” Julian said, “and our efforts center on fending off hostile interest in the eco-shelter and safeguarding Seren, it is pretty much where we were before. Business as usual.” His grin rode a wave of sudden exhilaration. “But, as you once said, I’d swap a hundred years of boredom for one moment of this feeling, in a heartbeat, if I had one.”
“You’re right. We’ll find a way.”
“For me, this feeling,” Julian ruefully acknowledged, “has more to do with Leizle, than anything else.” He assessed the solid wall of Connor’s naked chest and the puddle of water forming at his friend’s feet, and said, “For now, at least, I think we both have better places to be than here.” As he turned away, the bulkhead lamp lit up Julian’s sudden smile. “I’ll catch up with you at the hospital tomorrow.”
Connor returned to the cavern, and stopped on the threshold. Rebekah was feeding Seren, whose teeth grated over the metal collar of the bottle as her strong tongue worked to fill her throat with blood.
“You’re here,” Rebekah said softly. “I’ve missed you.”
“I love you,” he said simply, and the sun rose for him, right there, in that moment. Her smile washed over him, and the dread he had been holding onto fell away. He crossed to her side, sank to his knees beside her, and leaned over to steal Rebekah’s smile with a deep kiss. A laugh vibrated in his throat as Seren kicked him firmly in the gut. “Getting stronger every day,” he murmured against Rebekah’s lips, closing his eyes and resting his forehead gently to hers.
“Getting bigger every day, too” she whispered, placing the spent bottle on a side table.
As his palm moved to cover Rebekah’s cheek, Connor pulled back to look into her eyes. The sadness in their depths was not unexpected, but he asked anyway. “Uncle Harry?”
She swallowed noisily. “Oscar says he’s not coming.”
Connor was not surprised, because he had visited the man himself. Uncle Harry was a scientist, first and foremost. While he was genuinely pleased to know Rebekah was happy, he was also a coward, and facing his culpability was something he chose not to do. Instead, he had embraced the new challenges of helping Seth’s community, deciding to stay and help them improve their environment.
“He’ll come around, honey,” Connor said gently, “He’s just having a hard time dealing with his own guilt.”
Rebekah was surprised at Connor’s empathy for Harry. “Hey, who’s the human, here?”
He grinned, “What can I say? I have everything I need, right here.” He embraced her carefully. “I guess I can afford to be generous.” Connor looked down into the slate gray eyes of his daughter. “Isn’t that right, Seren?”
Rebekah laughed gently as Seren gripped Connor’s hand and smiled back at him.
“Why don’t you go and have a bath, I got this,” he said as he scooped Seren up in one arm, rose fluidly to his feet, and helped Rebekah up out of the chair. “I’ll settle her down. I think she may need human sleep tonight.”
Rebekah frowned. “You’ve been here five seconds. How can you know?”
Connor pretended to frown as he said in a dark, mysterious tone, “I can read her thoughts.” As Rebekah’s jaw dropped open, he reached out a fingertip to close it. “Well, her brain waves, anyway, now, go.”
He watched her graceful stride until she disappeared, and then he gazed down at Seren. “Well, kiddo. How about giving me and your mama a bit of alone time?”
Seren obligingly fluttered her eyelids until they closed, and Connor was left to wonder. Does she understand my speech, is she reading my mood... or?
Seren was perfect. Her black hair and porcelain skin had the dramatic, vampiric contrast of her father, but her face flushed to pink when she cried. Her sleep pattern was not yet established. It was not every night, and it was apparent by the way she fell asleep suddenly, as though her consciousness stepped over a precipice and into the abyss, that she could not do without it. Sleep deprivation in humans leads to hallucinations and can culminate in death. So, it looks like Seren has human sleep to juggle as well as the vampire sleep centers, but, we know nothing yet for sure.
An hour later, Seren was asleep, and Connor and Rebekah were alone. She was where she wanted to be, in Connor’s arms, and as always, she was in heaven and he was in hell.
Lying out on his back with Rebekah tucked into his side, her palm laying on his abdomen made concentrating on anything else impossible. Connor wrestled with his darkest desires. He was happy they had found the solution to Seren’s conception, but he still had irrational fears about putting Rebekah through it again.
He slowly infused his lungs and the core of his being with her scent, drowning in the storm of electrical impulses firing inside her head like a firework display which ionized the air, and he knew. She’s up to something.
Lying with him now, Rebekah was a woman with something on her mind; her plan, to assault Connor’s virtue. Her fingers twirled the dark, downy hair dusting his stomach, following the trail downward. Although his body remained stone still, he began to pant, and she smiled as she pressed her lips to the wall of taut muscles.
“It’s been almost two months.” She rested her chin on his chest to look up at him, and his hooded gray gaze burned into her softly pleading eyes. “Please, Connor.”
A growl rumbled through him. “But, what if we’re wrong?” He knew he was just playing for time, not wanting to hurt her. As a clinician, the facts confirmed the melding of their core body temperatures as the answer. But, the man, the lover in him, was superstitiously cautious about loving her before she had recovered physically. I could not bear it if I hurt her.
“Don’t stay, then, just love me a little.” Rebekah moved over him, trailing kisses up to his throat, and settling her thighs over his hips. She took his still face in her palms, staring deep into
his eyes, feeling that she was winning as his black pupils ate the gray away to silver threads. “Please, Connor.”
Her tongue snaked into his softened mouth, and his body braced beneath her.
Connor knew she had him; her honeyed scent tore him open, and even in deep revival sleep, his hunger was burning out of control. “I’m sorry,” he murmured.
Defeat settled on her face for one heartbreaking moment, until, on a deep inhalation which filled his lungs with her scorching aroma, he sat up slowly. Lacing his fingers into her hair at her nape, he firmly grasped her hip and lowered her onto his urgent body, groaning as he felt her melt around him, and his gaze locked to hers.
“Sorry?” she husked as his arousal chased the breath from her body.
“Mmm,” he murmured, his voice deep with testosterone-washed desire. “I was thinking about the bruises you’re going to have in the morning. As you say, it’s been a long time, honey.” Ecstasy stirred a turbulent current in the depths of his ice-gray eyes. As she began to move, he filled his hungry heart with the vision of her naked perfection. Molding his hands to span her waist, he muttered hoarsely, almost to himself, “I’ll try to be careful.”
Rebekah was exactly where she wanted to be – Connor making love to her, his obvious rapture swelling her with deep satisfaction, her daughter sleeping, safe and sound, and so, for now, nothing else mattered.
THE END
SURVIVAL Page 38
