by Honor James
“No we can’t just set an alarm,” Kristjan gave her a horrified look. “Good Gods, woman, the match is on the other side of town and with most of the AEDA staff there.” He shook his head.
“There wouldn’t be anyone available to get to you here if there was trouble. And we volunteered, Luna. We knew there would be sacrifices and we were more than willing to do so to keep you safe,” Volker told her.
“Why?” she asked with a frown. “Why would you choose to keep me safe? Neither of you know me. We never met.” People didn’t go out of their way for her. They never had and they never would. She wasn’t wanted and she knew that. If she was there would have been a family come forward to claim her when she turned up nearly dead.
“Why not?” he asked, meeting her gaze dead on. “A group of us were asked and we volunteered. Oh, we had a bit more information than that, but it was still our choice. In time.” He smiled slightly. “In time you’ll understand, Luna.”
“I don’t know. I’m starting to doubt my sanity in pretty much everything so I doubt I will understand much when they put me back into the asylum,” she mumbled and stood to take her plate to the disposal. Scraping off what little she didn’t eat she set the plate and silverware to the side and smiled. “Now then, bring me your plates so I can do dishes, please.”
Kristjan brought her his plate and passed it, and the silverware, over. “You are perfectly sane, you shouldn’t be so worried, Luna. In time all will be revealed and it will make a lot more sense.” Leaning in closer to her he brushed his lips to her ear. “Just know that we will always watch over you, no matter where you or we are,” he said quietly. Drawing away he padded out of the kitchen leaving her with Volker at the table, watching her much too closely.
The way that Kristjan had spoken, his breath at her ear had her whole body flaring to life. There was that damn sizzle and burn along her spine again but she shivered instead. Oh it was a good feeling, a very, very good feeling actually. She turned to look at Volker and smiled. “Well, bring me your plate, Volker, so that I can get dishes done and then maybe we can all watch a TV program together? Movie, something?”
Pushing to his feet Volker moved toward her, plate in hand, slowly. His movements were fluid as he stalked toward her. “Kristjan will be getting some sleep. I have the first shift so it’s just you and I, Luna. To do whatever you wish for the next couple of hours before you give into the need to sleep.”
Luna looked at him and cocked her head to the side. “Boy if that is not a loaded suggestion I don’t know what is. There is a great deal to do with someone as beautiful as you.” Luna’s eyes went wide after she spoke and she shook her head. “I didn’t mean that.” Even as she said it she was nodding though, negating what she said. “Crap,” she muttered. Seemed she said that singular word a lot with these men but it also seemed she stuck her freaking foot in her mouth more often than not too.
“You are definitely an interesting woman, Luna Black,” he said, amusement curling his lips just a little. “Finish with the dishes and then we will watch a movie. I will behave myself, if that’s what you want, by staying on a completely different piece of furniture the entire time.”
Luna laughed and shook her head. “That might be a good thing since I can’t seem to keep my hands or thoughts to myself. And seriously, no one has the right to be as freaking beautiful as the two of you are. You are both like night and day but gods you are beautiful,” she whispered and then flushed again. “I swear I think I need a freaking muzzle.”
“It would be a crime to cover up such a lovely mouth,” he told her, his smile growing a little more. “Besides, it’s incredibly refreshing to have a woman speaking her mind so freely. Too many humans are much too guarded in their words and come off as cocky, condescending or just plain idiotic. Never apologize for speaking your mind, especially when it’s as complimentary as it’s been.”
“Usually I don’t talk much,” she blurted out as she began to do the dishes. “Like seriously people thought I was mute for a while because I don’t talk but with the two of you. Crap on a cracker I can’t seem to keep my mouth from running off at the seams telling you just how sexy you are and how freaking much I’m ready to toss myself at you. It’s freaking humiliating.” Great, she said that aloud, didn’t she? She turned to look at him and the smug look. “Crap.” Again with that word.
He was smiling now, not a lot of teeth, but he was definitely smiling. “Damn woman, you are fucking amusing as all get out. I think this is going to be the most enjoyable assignment I’ve ever volunteered for. Why don’t I give you a little break and go get the chairs in place for a movie so you have a couple minutes alone? Will that work for you?”
“I think that’s a seriously great idea.” Luna waited until she was alone and shook her head. “Crap.” Again with that word but it was as if her brain had short-circuited and she couldn’t formulate another word to use at the moment. Then again, maybe that was it. Maybe she had fried herself enough that she was brain dead now or something like that. “Well no, if I were brain-dead I wouldn’t be offending these men by all but drooling over them. I wouldn’t be eating and thank god I wouldn’t be talking. Maybe I can find duct tape somewhere to tape my mouth closed. I heard it can fix everything, maybe it will fix my freaking broken filter on my mouth.” Nonexistent more like it, she thought with a snort.
“It won’t.” Volker’s voice drifted to her quickly followed by a chuckle. “Hurry up and get in here or I’m picking the movie, and you might not approve of my choice.”
Chapter Five
He looked up when she finally joined him. She’d taken a couple extra minutes to get herself under some rough semblance of control. Maybe. “We actually have a decent selection from the looks of things. They loaded us up with pretty much everything out there, movie-wise. I’ve seen a bunch of these but you can pick whatever you’d like,” he told her and handed over the remote.
She looked at the remote and shook her head. “Sorry but I don’t touch electronics. Didn’t you notice that I have all kinds of old-fashioned stuff that they had to dig out of archives for me? If I weren’t so good they wouldn’t have bothered, but trust me, I’m that good.” She blushed as she realized her words and rubbed her hands over her face. Pulling her feet up under her she smiled. “You choose. I will watch just about anything. Do you mind tossing me that throw that you have over there please?” She was getting chilly, hated that she got cold at night but she did. Then again during the night the dreams came, the nightmares of some unknown and wild place. Of people she didn’t know, and blood. There was always lots of blood.
Nodding he reached around and then passed over the thick throw. “How about this?” he asked, pulling up a selection on the screen. “Some explosions and some romance, should be a half-decent blend to keep us both from dying of boredom.”
“Well let’s hope so.” She covered with the blanket and sighed. “It smells like you. It smells marvelous,” she whispered as she lay her head against the side of the plus chair and looked to the screen and then him. “I need to tell you something.” Now there were nerves in her voice, odd he thought because she hadn’t held anything back until now. “If I begin to fall asleep, don’t be surprised when I have nightmares. Just.” There was hesitation in her before she whispered, “Don’t let me hurt you?”
“Don’t worry about it. It takes a lot to hurt me,” he told her. Hitting the remote the movie loaded up and the opening credits started. Another button on the remote and the room lights dimmed. Then he tossed it aside and slouched down in the chair. “If you fall asleep I’ll move you up to your room. No sense having a crick in your neck to add to the joys of waking in a strange place.”
“No.” She sat up and looked at him. “Look, I don’t know why I shock people and why I haven’t shocked you but please don’t touch me. I don’t want to hurt you by accident. I guess that it’s worse when I’m sleeping, like the charge builds up or whatever. Between that and me killing computers because I am p
ractically an old-fashioned fridge magnet, please don’t.” Her worry was clear in her tone. She was afraid she would actually hurt him.
He was staring at her and shrugged. “Fine,” he said softly. “If that’s the way you want it I’ll leave you. Movie’s starting.”
He pointed to the screen. Shifting in his seat he put his booted feet up on the corner of the coffee table and pointedly ignored her from that point on. It was what she’d wanted, wasn’t it?
Luna sighed and shook her head. Before she could stop herself she said, “I didn’t say that to be mean or shut you out. I just don’t want to hurt you. I have a feeling I would never recover if I somehow hurt you. Ever. I don’t know what it is about the two of you but you affect me, a great deal. I don’t want to harm you.”
“Who says you even could?” he asked, his voice low and mildly distracted. “You haven’t yet, not even a little,” he added, throwing her a look. He lifted a brow and waited as he sat, unblinking, watching her.
“True,” Luna admitted. Which stymied her. “If I do though, would you be able to forgive me?” Even if she couldn’t forgive herself. Luna did something that she hadn’t thought she ever would. She moved from where she was sitting, pulled her blanket with her and climbed into the lap of the overly large male in the room. Resting her head on his shoulder she covered them both and sighed. Closing her eyes she whispered, “What is it about the two of you?” Even as she whispered those words she rubbed her cheek to the bare skin of his neck.
He was stiff for a long time after she plopped her ass into his lap. Then he seemed to relax and wrapped his arms around her under the blanket. “I could tell you but I doubt you’d believe me this early on. Ask me that again in a couple of days once you realize we’re not running away, no matter what you say, Luna.”
“I hope you are right.” Luna let out a yawn and snuggled closer. She hadn’t realized she was tired, but here she was in this Vhampire’s arms and feeling decidedly content and relaxed and felt herself drifting off toward sleep. “Because I don’t think I want to let you go,” she whispered as she drifted into that haze of sleep and prayed that the nightmares would remain at bay.
“I usually am.” The last words that followed her into her sleep.
* * * *
“Good morning,” the words were a deep rumble under her ear when she stretched a little.
“Oh, she is waking up.” That sounded like Kristjan. “About time. I thought for sure she was just going to keep on sleeping the day away.”
“She just wasn’t ready to face us again is all. I hear a rumor we’re rather scary,” Volker said. “But it is only a rumor so who knows.”
“You, definitely. I can see you as being described as scary. You get that whole serial killer vibe going now and again, freaky.”
Luna stretched under the blanket and sighed. She smiled then. “What time is it anyway?” She so wasn’t touching the part about the whole serial killer vibe. That wasn’t what she got from either of them men. Oh, she had no doubt that they were bad boys, but they were bad boys that made her panties wet and made her want to jump them in desperation and need. Yep, she was seriously screwed and knew it.
“It’s just after eight,” Volker told her. He gave her a little squeeze and then shifted around a bit. “You slept the night through without even a peep. But you really need to get up because I really need to visit the boy’s room. Especially since you kept wiggling around in the last hour and made me realize this fact.”
“What?” She flushed and then all but fell out of his lap. Looking at both of them with shock she shook her head. “I slept that long? Seriously?” She hadn’t slept that long. Well since waking from her coma. Since that time she barely would get two hours, if she was lucky. “What did you do to me? Not that I’m complaining because man I feel wonderful, but seriously. How did you do that? Can you teach me?” Sleep, who would have known she would have felt this great after a long sleep like she had?
“You closed your eyes and slept.” He frowned down at her. Standing he bent over, took her hands, and pulled her up to her feet. “Did you hurt yourself?” he asked, quite seriously, as he stared down into her eyes.
She shook her head and looked up at him, dumbstruck. “No.” That word was whispered as she was lost in his gaze. “I’m fine. It’s just I never sleep that long. The nightmares have never stayed at bay for that long. Not since waking from my coma. I never get more than a couple hours, if that.”
“Well, obviously that issue’s been fixed,” Kristjan said to her. “Come on, let’s go and get you some coffee and breakfast.”
“I’ll meet you in there,” Volker said. Touching her cheek gently he let her hands go and then bolted out of the room.
Laughing softly Kristjan moved up next to her. Bending he grabbed up the blanket and tossed it over the chair. “Come on, let’s get the coffee going otherwise he’ll be really grumpy after he feeds.”
“Right, okay.” She moved up to Kristjan’s side and looked up at him with a smile. “I haven’t felt this refreshed, this amazing in, well, in my recalled history,” she said simply and slipped her hand into his. Amazed when she didn’t shock him. “Wild. Volker said that there was a reason why I felt safe with the two of you, why I didn’t shock you. Do you know what it is? He wouldn’t tell me.”
“I definitely know and I’m not telling you either. At least not until he says I can tell you,” he smiled at her. “He really is a mean bastard,” he shrugged. Putting a hand on her back he guided her to the kitchen and a seat at the counter. “You said yesterday you don’t like to do coffee so did you want some juice or milk instead?”
“I would like some cranberry juice if you have it.” Luna watched Kristjan moving around and liked what she saw, a lot. He was a large man, but moved as if he were the most graceful of swans. It was intriguing to her. “A hint maybe? Because I’m completely flummoxed here. Since I woke in that hospital I’ve been shocking people. Even before I woke I was. From what I was told the nurses had to come in with rubber gloves on because I radiated so much energy. It was likely from the blast that was left over on me, but it’s never really dissipated.” Or she was told it was a blast from a chemical factory that had hit her and many others. No one knew who she was though, her fingerprints, DNA, nothing came back as a positive match and no one had placed a missing persons report on her, so she knew she had no family. She was likely homeless at the time, or so she was assuming at least. The nightmares though, those told a different story, one she had never fully grasped sadly.
“A hint?” He frowned at her. Tipping his head, likely in thought, he collected some of the red juice she so loved, and poured her a large glass. Setting it in front of her he leaned his hands on the counter. “I can give you a hint. You won’t like the hint though,” he warned, and then he smiled. One that was all teeth. “Here’s your hint. It will change your life, forever. Now, are you into eating bacon or do you prefer something less meaty for breakfast?”
Luna just looked at him. She wanted to hit him but found herself giggling instead. Shaking her head she full-out laughed and finally forced out. “Heavens. You boys are seriously nuts. I doubt that anything could change my life more than it has been. I’m a pretty boring person.” She shrugged and then added, “Bacon, totally bacon. I love that stuff. I know it’s so bad for you but goodness I think that there is a bacon god because that has got to be from heaven.”
“Then bacon is what we will have. What are your thoughts on waffles? We have some of the premade batter, thankfully, since I’ve never managed to make it right even though I never stop trying. Bacon, waffles and,” he peered into the fridge. “We have a fruit bowl too,” he lifted it up to show her and looked her way.
“Do you have peanut butter and syrup?” At his look she shrugged. “I love waffles with butter, peanut butter and syrup on them. Not so much a fruit girl though.” Something about fruit tasted odd to her, she couldn’t handle it at all so she typically stayed from it.
�
�This fruit is from the other side of the Veil, it’s actually better than the stuff the humans call fruit.” Closing the fridge door he walked, with the bowl, to her. Setting it down he pulled the lid off and then, snagging a fork, he handed it to her. “Give some of these a try. Watch out for the dark purple ones that look a lot like grapes, they are very juicy and a bit bitter but are a nice complement to the bright red slices.”
She looked at the fruit, and oddly enough the scents had her closing her eyes and the memories of a woman’s laughter, men’s growls and a soft touch filtered through. She couldn’t quite capture what it was, but it was…nice. It felt, it felt like she was in a cherished place. Flashes came to her, here and there but finally she opened her eyes, her head beginning to pound where the metal plate was in her skull and knew she had pushed too far. “And the bright red slices, are they okay to try alone?” she asked as she fished one of them out with the fork to look at, smell and wait for his reply.
“Of course, it’s a very sweet fruit, tasting a bit like fresh strawberries with something a little extra, like a spice of some sort. You will quite enjoy it, even if you aren’t a fruit lover,” he said. He began to pull out pans and get set up. He plugged in the waffle pan and then started on the bacon.
“Okay, I am going to trust you but if I get sick I’m so making you clean it up.” Fruit did not agree with her. She had tried it all on this side of the Veil and all of it made her ill. Touching the fruit to the tip of her tongue she was surprised at the taste. She smiled, a slow and small smile, but took a small bite all the same. The flavors that seemed to explode in her mouth had her closing her eyes and moaning, literally, in reaction. “Oh Gods. This is so good.” She took the entire piece into her mouth then and chewed happily. “It tastes amazing but”—she knew this would sound weird—“feels like a memory.” She whispered. “Odd.” She began to rub at her temple and head, the pounding there behind the metal increasing each time she tried to force whatever memory it was that she was having out.
