Her father put his head in his hands. “This is not happening.”
Meena stared at Bhaltair, waiting for him to say something. He merely glanced away. She flexed her arm, the very one that had been broken at the library. It was nearly healed as well. “Why do you keep calling me your woman? And why do you keep saying I’m yours? You’ve said the word mine more than once tonight. And why is Whitney saying we’re mates? I know what mates are. I grew up around supernaturals all my life. If we were mates, we’d have already figured that out long ago, right?”
He said nothing and refused to look at her.
She tensed.
Whitney hooted. “Hot damn, I think Dickhead did figure it out, at least on some level. How long have you known?”
The muscles in Bhaltair’s neck twitched. “We’re nae mates. We can’t be.”
Hearing his rejection stung more than it should. She wrapped her arms around herself and lowered her head. He didn’t want her.
“Meena,” her father said tenderly. “I fucking hate him. Say the word and I’ll kill him. I can see how upset his words made you.”
“What happened here?”
Meena glanced up as her grandmother, a full-blooded Fae, came rushing into the exam room. Thankfully the facility catered to supernaturals, so it had oversized rooms. They’d have never all fit in a normal one. Meena wasn’t sure how old Aine really was, all she knew was that her grandmother looked like she was in her twenties and always would. She was also very petite but packed a lot of power in that small frame.
Her long, wild red curls bounced about as she hurried toward Meena, brushing right past Stamatis.
“Oh, sweetheart, I heard whispers from the trees of an attack on someone I love. The minute I put together that it was you, I feared the worst. Nature made it seem as if you were on death’s doorstep. You don’t look bad. A bit roughed up, but certainly not as if you’re dying.”
Meena gulped and glanced at Bhaltair, then back at her grandmother. “It was really bad, Grandma. I’m pretty sure I was going to bleed out on the spot. Bhaltair saved me.”
A large, rather knowing smile spread over Aine’s face. “Did he now?”
Meena knew the woman well. She was up to something. She reached out fast, taking hold of Aine’s wrist. “Grandma, no. Don’t make a bigger deal of this than it is. Bhaltair only did what he did because he’s Grandpa’s second-in-command. There isn’t anything more there. He’s made it very clear that I’m not his special someone, and you already know he sees me as too human to bother with.”
Bhaltair grunted. “Meena.”
Aine continued to smile in Bhaltair’s direction. “Is that so? You don’t see her as your special someone? Odd. I could have sworn you saw her as a mate, as nature had intended, but that you were simply too stubborn and bullheaded to realize as much. And each time you did begin to suspect, you talked yourself out of it because of your loyalty to my husband. So, really, I always just thought you were an idiot when it came to my granddaughter and something of a coward in regards to your feelings for her, but what do I know?”
Meena jerked. “Grandma?”
Aine focused on her. “You’ve been through a lot on this night. And I can sense your hurt and pain with Bhaltair. What happened?”
Meena didn’t respond. She didn’t have to.
“Dickhead just stated very publically that she isn’t his mate. So while she got a verbal claim in one breath from him, he rejected that claim in another,” stated Whitney, his normal lighthearted approach to things missing from his words. “Stamatis isn’t going to have to kill the dickhead. I’m going to do it for him. If you’re lucky enough to find your mate after being alive for centuries, you don’t fucking reject her. You don’t push her away for anything.”
“Oh, sweet wolf,” said Aine, compassion in her voice. “All of you stubborn alpha males think that, right up until you meet your mates. Then the stupid kicks in and look what we’re left dealing with. Men. Natural-born morons.”
Meena shook her head. “I’m not Bhaltair’s anything. And he’s not my anything. Can we stop talking about this now? It’s weird enough that I kissed him and the whole mine thing. Can we just let it go?”
Aine narrowed her gaze. “What whole mine thing?”
Meena glanced at the floor, already knowing that while vampires couldn’t read her mind, Aine could.
Aine gasped and then clapped. “Oh, Bhaltair, you did it! You exchanged blood with her and laid verbal claim to her during a heightened state of passion? I always wondered if the addition of Stamatis’s line of vampire would alter how the girls’ claims would work. I see it did. They apparently do not require the full act of sex for a claim to stand. They simply need the blood exchange, the passionate moment, and the verbal claim to all happen together.”
Meena tensed. “Grandma, would that explain the elastic bands I felt forming between him and me? Why I felt like I was being connected to him mystically?”
Her father eased closer to her, looking like he was dying to say something. He moved past Aine and drew her into his large, powerful embrace. “Baby girl, I’m so sorry that you were attacked. I’m sorry I wasn’t there to protect you. And I’m sorry that asshole of a mate you have is being this way to you. Also, I’m sorry he’s your mate.”
“Pretty sure Labrainn feels the same in regards to you being his daughter’s mate,” said Whitney from the sidelines. “Megan is his baby girl and there is no way he’s happy she got you as a mate. Shocked he isn’t here forcing me to hold him back from Dickhead too.”
Aine nodded. “But Stamatis is slowly growing on him. I believe my husband is not here now because Bhaltair has blocked the events of tonight from him. They share a deep connection, and I believe Bhaltair, whether aware of it or not, understood my husband’s fierce need to protect his granddaughter would have outweighed his common sense. He’d have forced the two of them apart, much like I’m sure you want to do, Stamatis.”
Her father hugged her tighter. “I want to gut the prick, but right now I’m only worried about my baby girl.”
Meena squeezed him. “Daddy, I’m fine. Bhaltair did what all of you would have wanted him to. He protected me, and he saved my life. Please be nice to him. It’s okay that we’re not mates. That doesn’t make him a bad person. It just means he’s not the man for me.”
Aine perked. “And who is the man for you? A certain tall good-looking wolf shifter?”
Her father whipped around and pointed at Whitney. “Touch my daughter, and I’ll rip your fucking throat out.”
Whitney paled. “Hey, I would never dream of it!”
Aine laughed. “Not him. Rudy.”
She knew about Rudy?
Meena yelped. “Rudy! He was going to meet me at the library, but he never came. Ohmygod, those things might have attacked him too. We have to go back. We have to look for him.”
Bhaltair snarled. “I do nae care if yer wolf was eaten by them. Yer nae going back there and yer nae to see him again. Am I clear?”
“Oh, look, he can speak,” added Aine with a wink. “Does someone not like the idea of Meena with another man? Is someone jealous?”
“Grandma, how do you know about Rudy?” asked Meena, easing out of her father’s hold and standing. Her clothing was covered in blood and ripped up. She knew she looked a mess, but she didn’t care.
Aine flashed a knowing smile. “There isn’t much I’m unaware of.”
“He might be hurt. Make them go and check. Please.”
Her father formed a T with his hands. “Hold up. Her wolf? Rudy? What the fuck is a Rudy? Explain.”
Whitney pulled a chair out from near a small desk and straddled it. “This is getting good.”
Meena made a move to head to the door, but she wasn’t quite as fully recovered as she’d first thought. She fell forward, and her father and Bhaltair lunged for her. Bhaltair beat her father to her, dragging her to his chest and steadying her.
She stared up at him. “You have to he
lp him.”
Chapter 8
Bhaltair found himself holding Meena close, wanting to whisk her far away and bed her. He wanted all the things having her as a mate promised. But they were not to be. She couldn’t really be his. Aine was mistaken. It was rare, but it happened. And Meena was only worried about her shifter. Nothing more. “Meena, he wanted to bed you, lass. I’ll nae help him. I’ll kill him with my bare hands.”
Her father roared, “He wanted to what?”
Whitney beamed wider from his seated position. “Seriously, this gets better and better.”
Meena pushed out of Bhaltair’s hold, hurt flashing in her green eyes. “At least he wanted me.”
Bhaltair wanted her more than he’d ever wanted anything. How could she not know as much? “Do you nae think if I could, I’d be the man to take you? To show you endless pleasures? To lose myself in you? To make you mine for all eternity?”
Her mouth fell open, and she stared at him. He was a bit shocked by his words as well, so he couldn’t blame her, but they were the truth, and he wouldn’t take them back. Grinning slightly, he touched her chin with his index finger and closed her gaping mouth. He ran his finger over her lips. “Lass, you cannae possibly think I do nae share the pull to you? That I do nae want you?”
Her look said that was exactly what she thought.
Foolish woman.
He continued to trace his finger over her mouth. “I serve yer grandfather, and yer father would nae be pleased with me either if I acted on my feelings for you.”
“No. I would not,” Stamatis said from the side of the room, surprisingly standing on his own, not being held back. “But I’m smart enough to know when it’s out of my control, and if Aine is saying what I think she’s saying, it’s really fucking out of my control.”
“Daddy, I’m not his mate. I’m human,” protested Meena.
Dr. Sambora cleared his throat. “About that. As I was saying before, Meena, the anomalies in your blood are anything but human. I wouldn’t classify you as human any longer.”
Aine clapped once more. “Oh goodie! It worked. When Bhaltair claimed you, it triggered your latent gifts.”
Bhaltair’s gaze whipped to the fairy. “She’s pure, untouched by man. She’s nae come into her powers.”
“Bhaltair, you are stubborn and blind when it comes to my granddaughter. You always have been. And you really don’t listen very well. I clearly stated sex wasn’t a requirement for everyone.” Aine approached, tugged on him, making him bend, and then she kissed his cheek. “I love you and, in time, her father will come to terms with what was decided long ago.”
“Do nae speak in riddles, woman. She is nae mine,” he said, his anger growing, his demon threatening to come forward. “I love her with all of me, and to tempt me with the possibility of a future with her is beyond cruel.”
“You love me?” asked Meena, digging her fingers in to his side.
“Bhaltair, on my honor, she is yours. I’ve known since Megan was expecting her, but I knew better than to speak the words out loud for fear I would change destiny,” replied Aine. “You and Meena have always been mates. She just needed to come of age for you to be able to claim her as your own, and you’ve done as much now.”
“I dinnae bed her,” he said, holding his woman in his arms. “I wanted to, Aine, I still do, but I would never disrespect Labrainn so.”
“I know. You’ve said as much. It’s easy to see that you’re struggling so much with all of this that you’re missing so much of what is going on. I stand by my alpha males are morons when they meet their mates statement.” Aine smiled. “You’re so loyal to my husband that it’s clouding your judgment and your thoughts. And I believe that is what has really kept you from claiming Meena before now—when she turned eighteen. Your blood exchange, coupled with your verbal claim and the kiss was what the two of you required. You can bed her later. That is a bonus. And my husband has no say in the matter now. The claim is done. I can sense Meena’s powers growing as we speak.”
Confused, he shook his head. “I was under the impression Meena would only come into her powers if she were to be sexually active. And there was only a slim chance even then that she’d have any latent gifts.”
Aine winked. “There is always a workaround, old friend, and you found it.”
He stared blankly at Aine, positive the fairy had lost her mind. Aine had sat everyone down when Megan, Meena’s mother, had come into her gifts, explaining how that came to be—because Megan wasn’t fully Fae, her powers remained latent until she became of age and sexually active. No one ever mentioned workarounds.
Aine laughed, her focus on him. “You look so lost, Bhaltair.”
He moved his hands over Meena’s arm, searching for signs of injury. There were none. Aine had been correct. Meena was healed, and that meant she was coming in to her powers. “I do nae understand.”
“Take her with you. Keep her close. I suspect many changes are going to be coming at her from all directions. She’d want you to be the one with her. No one else.” She faced Stamatis. “Do not fight him on this, or you will lose your daughter forever. She will be forced to choose between her father and her mate. In the end, a father cannot win that choice.”
Stamatis moved closer, took a deep breath, and extended his hand to Bhaltair. “I guess this means we’re family now. I still think you’re an asshole.”
“Och, I do nae like you much either.” He took Stamatis’s hand and shook it.
The two men nodded and then Meena rushed at her father and hugged him. “Daddy, thank you for being nice to him. But between you and me, I think Grandma has gone around the bend. I’m not Bhal’s mate. But I do like seeing the two of you get along.”
Stamatis kissed the top of her head. “Stay with Bhaltair for now, Meena. Do not return to your dorm, our home or your grandparents’. I’m not going to risk you being attacked again. I’ve got Regulators on campus now working with PSI to track down leads. We will check on this Rudy guy. Not you. Not Bhaltair. I want him close to you at all times.”
Whitney stood and grinned. “You do realize he’s going to shag your daughter, right?”
Stamatis twisted and punched his friend in the jaw.
Whitney grinned and rubbed the spot. “Worth it.”
Aine groaned and then looked at Dr. Sambora. “You seem quiet.”
“Happy to see one of us find their mate,” he said, his voice somber. There was a story there for sure. “I’ll leave you all to this. I’m going to go run more tests on Meena’s blood.”
Aine headed to the door. “Bhaltair, take her to your farm. She’ll be safe with you there. And stop being so afraid of your demon side around her. It loves her too. Oh, and congratulations on the union. Megan and I will plan a party to celebrate it.”
Meena gulped. “She is so weird. Can I shower, and does someone have clothes I can change into?”
Whitney turned and grabbed a set of surgical scrubs Sambora had brought in earlier. “Here. Doc gave you these. There is a shower at the end of the hall.”
“Thank you.”
Chapter 9
Bhaltair drew his car to a stop outside the two-hundred-year-old farmhouse and cut the engine. Meena hadn’t stirred on their journey to the safe location. She’d fallen asleep in the car after saying very little to him. He’d listened carefully for sounds of her breathing and heart rate the entire drive. He still wasn’t sure what Aine was up to, but his demon trusted her logic.
That should have been enough to send him screaming in the other direction. For centuries after he’d first been turned into a vampire, his control over his demon had come via Labrainn’s assistance. Labrainn had been powerful enough to help control Bhaltair’s newly sired self.
He doubted highly that Labrainn could control him now. No. Bhaltair could have been a master vampire himself long ago, but he’d stayed by Labrainn’s side out of loyalty. The man’s do-gooder ways had annoyed Bhaltair at first. And truth be told, Bhaltair had not care
d much for Aine in the beginning, believing her to have cast a spell over his master. But he’d eventually learned the truth. The only spell cast was that of love and mates.
Nothing nefarious.
And with one kiss to Labrainn, Aine had managed to reform not only him, but Bhaltair and the other vampires loyal to the man. The big bad vampire and his men ended their wicked ways, pulled out of the view of others, and began living and acting as though they were mere humans. They had lived lives away from any who had known them when they’d ruled by fear for so long that Bhaltair had become used to deceit for the greater good. That was why he’d purchased the farm, set out on the edges of Labrainn’s territory. The farm had been barely standing when Bhaltair had driven past it and felt a sense of calling and duty to return it to its once glory days.
And he’d spent over twenty years doing just that. As he thought about when he’d made the offer and bought the farm and all the land on it, he stiffened.
He’d done so when Megan was expecting Meena.
His gaze snapped to Meena. Often when he’d sneak away to work on the farm, he would think of one day residing there with a family of his own. Of what it would be like to see children filling the halls, laughing, playing and filling the home with joy, as a home was meant to be. In recent years, since she’d come of age, Bhaltair would envision Meena there as well, her belly swollen with his child as he chased around their other ones.
He shouldn’t have been surprised Aine knew of his farm renovations and that it was now inhabitable. He’d not told anyone that he’d been working on it. She was that powerful. Hell, the bloody woman probably knew of his desires to have Meena live with him and grow large with his babes.
It was a fantasy he clung to, desperate for it to be true, though he’d known it never could be. Yet here she was, with him at the farm, showing signs of being more than human. He didn’t dare hope Aine was right—that they were mated now and she was his for eternity. He couldn’t. There was no way he’d be able to stand thinking he could live his dreams only to find that not to be the case. It would crush him, and in the end he knew his demon would win the internal struggle, and he didn’t want that.
Taming the Vampire: Over 25 All New Paranormal Alpha Male Tales of Contemporary, Military, Shifters, Billionaires, Werewolves, Magic, Fae, Witches, Dragons, Demons & More Page 49
