“She may not know what she wants yet, but it sure as shit isn’t you!” Jared hissed.
“I didn’t see her putting up much of a fight when I kissed her, and I can still smell how turned on she was. I know you smell it, too.” Dante responded feeling triumphant.
The comment which was meant to further incite Jared’s anger actually served the opposite purpose. Yes; he could smell the lingering scent of her arousal but, being able to read her thoughts, he knew the response was to him and not Dante. He would have loved nothing more than to tell Dante as much, but he didn’t want to reveal his advantage to his competition. That, and the fact that he was fairly certain that Cami would be less than pleased when she realized he had been reading her mind.
“As you seem keen on pointing out, I may be young, but last time I checked, you shouldn’t have to hold a blade to a woman’s throat just to kiss her. She may not have fought, but she didn’t kiss you back, either,” Jared stated, turning his attention back to Cami as he gently stroked her cheek, his eyes full of concern over her lack of response. Even her thoughts had remained silent.
The small touch finally bringing her to her senses, Cami’s eyes snapped open and she jumped up and sped to the door before either man could protest.
“I’d appreciate it if you both would stay the fuck away from me. I don’t need either of you speaking for me and, just so we’re clear I don’t want either of you or anyone for that matter,” she uttered without so much as a glance back at them.
And just like that, she disappeared
CHAPTER 10 - A Glimmer of Hope
Back in her quarters, Cami closed the door and leaned back against it, letting her body slide down to the floor.
What the fuck just happened? she thought as she brushed her fingertips over her lips where Dante’s had been only minutes before. In nearly two hundred years of living, that was the first time she had ever been kissed by a man other than her father. Even in all her fantasizing about Jared, which included a lot more than kissing, she hadn’t acknowledged that somewhat pathetic fact.
She knew most people thought she was cold; the other members of The Elite referring to her as ‘the ice princess’ behind her back. That was probably to be expected, considering she only had one friend amongst her colleagues, and even that relationship wasn’t a close one. Maybe she was a little frigid; she had always preferred to think of it as putting her duty first, but she knew deep down it was mainly her fear which kept her so closed off.
She had lost her brother for so many years because of a love he hadn’t even met yet. Now that he had found her, what had it gained him? Barb was dead, he and his woman were missing, probably dead as well, and everyone else he loved was in hiding. In the end, love equaled pain and she wanted no part of it.
Cami stood and took a deep breath, the smell of cinnamon and vanilla and something inherently male filling her nostrils as she did.
This is fucking ridiculous, I can still smell him. “Snap out of it, Cami,” she whispered to herself heading towards the bathroom.
She jumped slightly at the light knock against the door behind her, but stayed silent; holding her breath, knowing who it had to be on the other side.
Shit, she thought as she looked back at the digital panel, realizing she had neglected to engage the soundproofing.
“Hey, Cami; I’m really sorry about all that. I don’t know what I was thinking, but I just wanted to come and make sure you’re okay,” Jared said through the door, unsure if she could even hear him.
He didn’t know what he was thinking coming to her room now either. Since the first day on the compound, every time he got within a hundred feet of her, she would take off, but he just couldn’t help himself. She was like the sun and he was pulled towards her by an invisible force akin to gravity. Every day, he secretly followed her to the training facility to watch her work out and listen to her trying to combat all of her frustrations about her brother, and him. It was an invasion, he knew that; but while a part of him was ashamed, he needed the reassurance that he was still in her thoughts as much as she was in his, even if she wasn’t ready to admit it yet.
After what felt like an eternity, Cami finally responded. “I’m a soldier; not some fragile little girl, Jared. I had Dante completely under control before you showed up. I can take a few licks. I’ve been fighting longer than you’ve been alive and I don’t need you or anyone else to protect me. Now if you don’t mind, can you leave me alone so I can take a shower?”
Shit! Now she was thinking of being naked around Jared and had no doubt put a similar thought into his head. He hadn’t made much of attempt to mask his feelings for her and she didn’t know how much more she could take. The little cat and mouse game between them had been going on for far too long and the whole situation pissed her off. She was no mouse, but damned if she wasn’t always running from him.
Employing the only strategy she had to combat her feelings for Jared, she grasped a hold of her anger. Anger was so much easier to deal with than whatever it was he made her feel. Anger she understood; anger she could use.
Without waiting for his answer, she went into her private bathroom, shut the door and turned the shower on full blast; silently willing him to take the hint and leave her alone. But when she looked in the mirror and touched her lips again, her heart and body ached for something entirely different. Before she could stop herself, just for a moment, she wondered what it would have been like to feel Jared’s mouth there instead of Dante’s.
✧
“You seem to be in a good mood, my son,” William said as he looked up from the pile of papers he was reviewing.
Jared flopped down in the chair across the desk from his father, the shit-eating grin he’d gotten when he saw Cami’s vision of kissing him still plastered on his face. As irresistible as the temptation was, he blocked her stream of consciousness and walked away when she started to undress. It would have been too much of an invasion; one he guessed she would be unlikely to forgive and when he finally did see her, he wanted it to be her choice; a gift, not a stolen glance through her thoughts.
“I guess I am,” he replied simply as he replayed the image in his mind.
“I see; I suppose any young man would be happy about that,” William laughed, shaking his head in an attempt to clear the images from his mind. Having been concentrating on his work, William’s relaxed mental shields had allowed some of Jared’s thoughts to slip through.
“Is it fair to say you have made some progress with the lovely Ms. Kline?”
“Not exactly; but at least I know she was thinking about something other than being angry with me. I have a new problem though; another soldier, Dante or something,” Jared said, his jealously flaring as he said the name.
“Ms. Kline is a beautiful woman; you have to know you were not the first man to pursue her, nor will you be the last. All you can truly hope for is that you are the one she accepts,” William responded as he started signing papers again.
“Dad; you do realize what year it is, right? I know you’re old, but you don’t have to talk like it all the time.”
“Old habits, my son, very old habits, but I will do my best to speak with a more modern dialect. Is that cool?” William asked sounding rather awkward in his attempt.
“Yeah, Dad; it’s cool, and sure, I knew other guys would be interested, but it’s a whole different thing to see it happening. That bastard kissed her, but she only let him because she sensed me and got distracted.”
“And how did you respond?” William asked suspiciously.
“I know I shouldn’t have interfered. I’m sorry; I just lost it for a minute.”
“Jared, as a member of the High Family, you cannot afford to act so impulsively. Our people are entering very perilous times and we must set an appropriate example,” William responded firmly, though he fully understood his son’s impulse, possessing a rather jealous nature himself, when it came to Rebecca.
“I know; it was stupid and it just made h
er mad. She has feelings for me, I know it; I see glimpses of it whenever I’m around her, but she fights it so hard and I don’t know if it’s because she feels guilty or because she’s afraid. Maybe it’s both,” Jared said as he ran a hand through his hair. He definitely understood her guilt. Though his parents hadn’t told him about Alexa until he was nearly eight years old, he felt as though he had been waiting his whole life to find her. Yet when the time finally came, he couldn’t see anything but Cami. And now his only sister was missing, and still his thoughts were consumed by another.
“Anything truly worth having is worth fighting for, my son,” William said with sympathy. “I must admit that, while I am happy for you, I do envy you finding your mate at so young an age. Your mother makes me whole and I spent centuries feeling lost without her. If Ms. Kline is your true mate, I am confident you will find a way to convince her.”
Jared stood and made his way to the door. “Thanks, Dad,” he said receiving a knowing smile from his father before he sped off. As he passed through the corridor, his mind drifted back to Cami in the training center, remembering the fluid, graceful moves of her lithe body. He was thankful to arrive at his suite as the images sent his blood rushing south.
He flopped down on the bed, putting his arms behind his head as he laid back and let the images play, thoroughly enjoying the things she did to him until a vision he had hoped to forget jumped to the forefront of his mind. Jared felt the heat of anger rushing over his body as he relived the moment when Dante stole something which should have belonged to him; a moment which should have been his, and his alone. Cami’s first kiss.
Realizing that he was literally shaking, Jared sat up in an attempt to calm down. It was the same way he’d felt before he’d foolishly attacked Dante. As much as it injured his pride to admit, the much older vampire could have easily kicked his ass and then some. More than that, interfering made it look as if he thought Cami was too weak to protect herself. Though he knew he didn’t feel that way at all, his actions told her a different story; a story which made her more angry with him than ever.
The anger was a defense mechanism for Cami; that much was evident. It was her go-to emotion whenever her attraction to Jared overwhelmed her. Lying there thinking, Jared didn’t know what it was going to take to get Cami to stop fighting and let him in; but he was damn certain he would wait as long as it took.
CHAPTER 11 - Deadly Discovery
Alexa’s ethereal form followed closely behind her mate as he was led into Lucias’s office. Despite the overt silence, Alexa could hear Lucias’s thoughts loud and clear. She wasn’t certain if the ability was something common to anyone who passed on or if it was a continuation and amplification of the power from when she was still alive. After all, vampire thoughts had been beyond the reach of her telepathy when she lived.
As they moved, she strained to keep her focus on Ethan; his stream of consciousness having remained curiously quiet since he’d wakened. It then dawned on her that she couldn’t hear him because he wasn’t thinking of anything; his mind functioning like a blank slate waiting to be written on by the one who held the chalk.
She was amazed by the ease with which she accepted this new state of being. Of course, before, she had expected to disappear entirely, to be forever lost in the black of nothingness while her body rotted in the ground or was reduced to ashes. Any form of continued existence felt like a gift. She rejoiced in the thought that she could stay close this way, see Chloe grow up, have a small piece of all the things she was resigned to lose. Yet somehow, deep down, she knew it could not last. The light would call upon her again and she would eventually become powerless to resist its pull.
When the door to Lucias’s office closed behind her, Alexa heard a familiar voice call out to her.
“Hello, sweet child.”
Alexa turned to see a rather hazy version of a familiar face.
“Barb!” she yelled out, though she wasn’t certain if the sound was only in her own mind or if Barb was really even there. Either way, if she had still been in a corporeal form, Alexa would have tried to throw her arms around the sweet woman.
“It is mighty good to see you, girl. Been a tough week,” the old woman said with a touch of sadness in her voice.
“Is this real?” Alexa asked, her voice full of wonder.
“As real as anything else,” Barb replied simply.
“What is this place? Where are we?” Alexa questioned; not sure if she meant in the spiritual sense or the actual location of the facility where Ethan was being held.
“You and I, we’re neither here nor there at the moment. We’re in the space between planes.”
“What does that mean? What planes?”
“There’s the plane of the living for when we’re in our bodies, and then there’s the plane of the dead for the soul. I’m simplifying; of course it’s a little more complicated, but that’s nothing for you to worry yourself with.”
“What’s on the other side, in the place for the dead? Why aren’t we there?” Alexa pressed further.
“I reckon you already know why you didn’t pass on; don’t you, child? You wouldn’t let him go, and you were right not to; there’s still work for you to do in that life.”
“But how can I go back? I died days ago and I’ve tried to talk to him, to touch him like this, but he can’t feel me. He can’t hear me.”
“Ah, don’t you fret about it; that’ll get worked out shortly. But before then, I want you to come with me; you need to see some things here.”
“I’m afraid to leave him; he’s barely hanging on in there. I still feel the bond, but it’s so faint. I’m not sure it can withstand any distance,” Alexa said, looking back to Ethan as he sat across from Lucias, in silence.
“Distance doesn’t mean anything here; you can move from one place to another with just a thought. So long as you don’t pass through the light to the other side, the bond will remain and grow stronger. That’s the way it is for true soul mates,” Barb assured her.
“I can go anywhere?”
“Any place you can hold in your mind.”
With that, Alexa’s thoughts immediately turned to Chloe. “Then I can go see Chloe now,” she said, her aura practically vibrating with anticipation.
“You’ll be back with our sweet baby soon enough, but I need you to stay here with me a bit longer. Don’t worry child, everything is going to turn out right as rain; just follow me,” Barb said before her form disappeared through the closed door. Alexa hesitantly followed, having to make multiple attempts before convincing herself that she could, in fact, pass through the solid door.
Barb led Alexa on through Lucias’s facility, passing by various rooms with observation windows. They paused momentarily to look in each one, revealing soldiers training with a multitude of weapons, before moving on to another wing which appeared to be a science lab. In those rooms, the views were far more disturbing.
“Take note of all of this,” Barb said as she led on. “The information will be important when you go back.”
“Go back? What do you mean?” Alexa asked just before she started to feel a strange tug. “Barb, what’s happening to me?”
“Don’t fight it, child. It’s time now and don’t you worry; I’ll keep an eye on our boy while you’re gone. Even in this form, I still have some power,” she replied as Alexa’s form slowly disappeared.
✧
Cami stepped out of the shower into the fog filling the room. She had practically scalded herself in an attempt at distraction after the fiasco in the training center. As she looked in the mirror across the bathroom, her skin resembled that of a lobster, but the angry pink glow was fading quickly as her body’s rapid healing kicked in.
She pulled a towel from the hook next to the shower and stepped up to the vanity for a closer look at her face. There was no denying how closely she resembled her mother, whose beauty was revered amongst their kind; but unlike her mother, Cami did nothing to accentuate it. With the exception
of Ethan’s wedding, she always dressed in black fatigues, kept her hair up tight, and never wore any makeup. Her only feminine indulgences were the perfume she applied sparingly, and the skimpy lingerie she wore beneath her combat gear.
Redemption of Fate (Fate Series Book 2) Page 10
