I threw him off me and surged across the room breathing hard. He sat on the floor shaking his head. “Macyn,” he asked tentatively, his hand reaching out towards me.
“No,” I yelled. The word sounded like a shot in the room. “No, I can’t do this. You are a Vampire! The enemy! I can’t do this.” My arms crossed over my bare chest. I looked around desperately searching for something anything to wear.
He stood and took a hesitant step towards me, “Macyn, please.”
“NO,” I yelled again. “Where the hell are my clothes?” Tears started to fall from my eyes I didn’t even know where they’d come from. My hands were shaking I couldn’t believe what I’d almost done. I hugged my torso, tightly.
His eyes clouded with despair. “Macyn,” I shook my head violently. He sighed, “I will get you something.” He dropped his hand, his eyes searched me one more time, and he turned and left the room. I ran back to the bed and snatched the sheet off the bed. I wrapped it around me and sank into one of the chairs. My skin burned where Dayton had touched me. My body wept for what I had turned away. I had almost betrayed everything I was supposed to stand for.
I really was unworthy.
I wept into my hands.
A sound near the door drew my attention. Dayton stood in the doorway. He was dressed and immaculately groomed as if he hadn’t just been rolling around in the sheets with me. He held a stack of clothing in his arms. “I brought some different things so you would have a choice.” His tone was measured and sure. I really didn’t like him much right now. How could he be so calm? He set them down on a table near the chair I was perched in. “I’ll be in the next room when you are clothed.” That was all he had to say before he left. I stared after him. What is wrong with me? I was angry he wasn’t still worked up. I had no right to be angry. I went through the clothes he had left and was angry to find they were women’s clothes. I had no right to get angry, I told myself, again! I dressed in the borrowed clothing and somehow managed to get my raging hormones under control.
True to his word, Dayton was waiting in the next room, which was like a little antechamber to the bedroom. He leaned against the far wall. All casual grace, I wondered if he still felt as hot as I did. “I don’t suppose my wallet survived either,” I asked not looking him in the eye. Yeah, I know I was a coward, a big fat coward but there it was.
He reached into his back pocket and held out my wallet and my cell phone for me. Great now I just had to cross the room and take them from him. Only I really didn’t want to get that close to him.
I could do this.
I was tough. He raised one of those soft black eyebrows at me.
I was so out of my league. I strode across the room and took them from him.
He grabbed my arm and pulled me against his body. My free hand smacked into a firm wall of warm muscle. “This is not over between us Macyn. I will give you time to accept it but you are mine,” he said softly. A bass rumble against my hand.
I jerked away from him. “Keep dreaming Vampire,” I said steadily and left as quickly as my feet could carry me.
Laughter followed me down in the elevator Run, run as fast as you can AoD.
Shut up! I hissed again and threw up my shields. My motorcycle was waiting right outside the door for me. The doorman handed me the key. I headed home without another word. Tears streaming down my face, I was a mess. This was not how an AoD was supposed to behave. I tried to tell myself I had just had a near death experience but if that excused my behavior how did I explain what had happened in my bedroom earlier?
Chapter 13
My phone rang as I pulled into the driveway. “Mace,” I answered.
“Hey kiddo, how are things,” my dad asked. Ha, let me repeat Ha.
I did what any red-blooded American girl would do when talking to her daddy on the phone I talked shop and avoided sexy Vampires. “Good, I took down a whole Shifter pack tonight.” It was the truth I had he didn’t need to know I’d nearly had sex with a Vampire afterwards, not just any Vampire but Dayton Tameron.
“Really,” he sounded surprised. “What kind?”
“Bear,” I said succinctly and why the hell did he sound so surprised?
“Really, was it a small pack?” What, he didn’t think I could take on a real pack by myself I had, damn it.
“No, it was a five man pack. Well the youngest one got away but I took down the rest.” I wonder if I sounded as annoyed to him as I did to me.
“Mace honey I’m sorry I shouldn’t have said it that way. It just isn’t very often that an AoD takes on a whole bear pack by himself and walks away. They are one of the toughest packs well bears and lions. I’m proud really; I am just worried about you. Were you hurt badly?” his voice was truly laced with concern. So, I forgave him.
How do you tell your dad well sure I almost died but don’t worry your archenemy, my nearly lover, the Vampire took good care of me? “Yeah, there was an AoLi nearby so I was taken care of.”
“An AoLi in San Fran,” I could hear the question in his voice. “There isn’t an AoLi in San Fran, Macyn.” He sounded so very sure of that.
“Well there might not have been before but there certainly is now. Cause he stitched me up and put me back together,” I snapped. This conversation was starting to piss me off. First, he didn’t believe I could do my job now he didn’t believe I would know an AoLi when I saw one.
“Macyn, you swore you’d stay away from Tameron,” He yelled. What, he knew?
“You knew,” I yelled myself. “You knew he was an AoLi? How come you never said anything? Damn it dad I thought we swore to be honest with each other.” I yelled like I had held up my end of that bargain. “How the hell does that happen anyway? He is a Vampire how can he be an AoLi?” Laith came out of the house and tilted his head at me. I slapped my finger to my lips the last thing I needed was my dad questioning me about the Shifter brother he didn’t know I had. He nodded and went back inside.
My father sighed, “He was, is the progeny of an AoLi and a Vampire. He seemed Ao until he went through the ascension, for a while he was a completely normal AoLi then the blood lust started in. Now he’s just a Vampire like the rest of them.”
“No, not just a Vampire like the rest of them dad he can heal that gives him an outrageous advantage over the other Shadow-born! Oh, and it gives them the advantage over us too. He can tear us up and heal up his troops,” I went into the house. Laith had set out several peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
“Did he hurt you Macyn,” he asked concerned again.
“No, damn it, he didn’t; he healed me. Then he tried to seduce me. You should have told me just how powerful he was. You withheld information from me and I have paid a pretty high price for it Dad.” I mouthed thank you at Laith he nodded again.
“I know. I’m sorry baby, it’s just, well we were very close at one point. It is hard to talk about. He was once the closest thing I ever had to a brother. Wait did you say he tried to seduce you,” yeah focus in dad.
“He was your year mate,” I interrupted. I so didn’t want to discuss my almost sexual experience with Tameron.
“Yeah, I’m sorry Mace I should have warned you just how dangerous he was. Did he really try to seduce you,” he sounded surprised. There he went pissing me off again, I knew I wasn’t gorgeous like Deanna but I had some nice attributes, some.
“Yes, it might surprise you dad but I am a pretty good looking girl.” I laughed, a harsh sound, he had hurt my feelings weren’t daddy’s supposed to tell you how you were the prettiest little girl ever, even if you looked like you’d been hit with the ugly stick, a lot. Maybe some of my self-esteem issues weren’t my fault after all. When I spent my entire life trying to compare to women like Deanna and my mother how could I not fall short. “How are things in Peru,” I asked wanting to change the subject.
“Good, Deanna and I found an Ao she is helping us out we’ve taken down about six of the twenty three Shifters here. So, it’s progressing pretty good.
I’ll be home as soon as we can just avoid Tameron until then, okay baby.”
“Yeah,” I said swearing to myself I would do just that avoid Dayton Tameron, check. Only I was still aching where his mouth had touched me and if I closed my eyes, I could still smell him, “Night dad.”
“Night baby,” He answered and the phone went dead.
“Hot date,” Laith asked. I glared at him. “So you don’t even like Tameron but you’re hot for his bod right?”
I so didn’t want to have this conversation. “I really don’t want to discuss this.”
“I have a point I swear.” He held up his hands like I held a gun on him. I nodded my head just a bit. “When a Shifter enters adulthood, they go through a change not unlike the one you are going through. We also become sexually active for the first time. Our hormones completely rule us for a time. Maybe that’s what you have going on I mean it could be perfectly normal. Pops just forgot to mention it because you guys are so close to being human and human men don’t like to think of their little girls as sexual beings. Next time your old man calls ask him if you can talk to his lady friend ask her if it’s normal. It’ll make you feel better if it is.” He shrugged and I stuffed a sandwich into my mouth and thought about what he’d said. Damn, now I was getting sage wisdom from the furry what next?
“Are you like living here now,” I asked not sure of what else to say.
He gave me that lopsided grin. “Until you don’t need me anymore sure, I don’t have anywhere else to go although your hot friend offered me her spare bedroom. I’m afraid Donovan would kill me in my sleep he could do it too, he’s a hard ass.” He picked up the dishes and started filling the sink.
I frowned, “I beat him up once.” I said needing an extra little ego boost.
He smiled, “Really? I’d a liked to see that he’s a big Vampire and I’ve seen him fight he’s like a wrecking ball.”
I sighed, “He wasn’t expecting it. It was before my ascension I think he just expected me to sit tight and wait for help, not kick his knees in, bust his nose, and run like hell.” There the truth was out there.
“Still,” he laughed, “he must have been pissed.” I shrugged I guess he was.
I was worried about Laurna but didn’t know what to do about it other than hunt down Donovan and he hadn’t really done anything wrong. Well he’d boinked my best friend but that really wasn’t a kill worthy offense especially since she had been totally willing. “I took out Orson’s pack tonight,” I told him. He stopped dead. Not that swaying stop humans do but a dead stop like he’d been frozen there.
“By yourself,” he asked.
I growled these men were really starting to piss me off. “Why does everybody say that like it’s a huge surprise I am the AoD am I not?” I slammed my phone down and grabbed another sandwich.
“Yeah, yeah, you are I just wow, girl your tough.” Respect filled his tone this time.
“I let one of them get away,” I admitted. “The young one he just looked so scared and I couldn’t kill him while he cringed in fear like that. My father will probably think I’m a big fat failure,” I sighed. I felt like a failure but when I close my eyes, I could see that kid cringing waiting for the final blow and I didn’t see any other option.
He turned towards me smiling from ear to ear. “I think you rock.” He said loudly and scooped me into his big arms for a tight hug, “You know AoD isn’t exactly synonymous with mercy and you were merciful tonight. That kid you spared this was his first outing he hasn’t even had time to live yet. You did a good thing.” He assured me while he squeezed his arms around me. “Mom would have been proud even if your dad isn’t. She was the most merciful person to ever exist.”
“Yeah,” I pulled away from him. “I’ll remember that when that kid knifes me in the dark someday.” I climbed the stair feeling a world of confusion.
I carefully peeled back the bandages and was shocked to see the myriad of blue, yellow, and green that is a healing wound. He really had healed me well. I didn’t have a single mark to show they had broken the skin. I looked like I’d been beaten with something blunt about two weeks ago instead of cut to ribbons earlier tonight.
I hadn’t even thanked him. Great, now I felt guilty about that. I was screwed. I showered and climbed into bed. I still felt achy and I don’t mean just the bruises. I closed my eyes and saw those amber eyes as he crawled up the bed toward me. I opened my eyes quickly. I swear I could smell cedar. Great I wondered if insanity ran in my family? I spent hours trying to sleep but every time I closed my eyes, I saw Dayton Tameron. His perfect features, the soft expanse of his flesh across his belly, his hard muscled chest. I gave up an hour before dawn and went down to the gym. I worked the elliptical for about an hour my iPod turned up to top volume.
Laith scared the crap out of me when he tapped my shoulder. I leapt from the machine and crouched in a defensive position while he laughed his ass off. “It’s not funny,” I said resentfully.
“No, I never saw anything so small get such good airtime before unless it was thrown by a bear,” He continued to laugh his head thrown back his black eyes sparkling with merriment. Too bad it was at my expense.
I made a face at him and turned off the iPod. “Is there a reason you’re sneaking up on me or you just miss stalking things,” I wiped down with one of the little towels we kept for that purpose.
He grinned, “well I thought if you weren’t gonna sleep and I wasn’t gonna sleep we could kinda umm, spar, I wanna see how well that AoD you call daddy trained you to fight my kind anyway.” I looked like he was worried I would reject him.
I wasn’t going to. He actually had a good point, fighting an actual, Shifter would show me where I needed work, and obviously, I needed work because those bears had torn me up, literally. “Yeah, that’s a good idea,” I took position not waiting for him to get over the shock. And he was shocked I could see it in his face.
Two hours later Laith and I stood in the kitchen. He held an ice pack to his left eye and I was sporting a limp, blood was leaking from several places in my leg. My belly was so bruised I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to bend to sit and he hadn’t even used his claws. He had curled his hand in and given me, what he’d called a love pat. I called it a bruising punch. “Sorry about the stomach,” He said for the fifteenth time. I wasn’t, my dad had been taking it too easy on me. He hadn’t done me any favors. But my brother didn’t seem to have the same affliction and while he wasn’t going at me all out claws draw I was bruised enough to know he could kill me. He could kill me and make it look easy.
I took the carton eggs out of the refrigerator, “Make it up to me; I like em sunny side up,” I winked then winced what the hell had I done to my eye?
He took the carton from me. “I can’t believe they left you here alone and you can’t even cook for yourself,” his expression one of utter disgust as he turned on the stove and cracked the eggs.
“I go to a lot of restaurants. I don’t need to know how to cook.” It wasn’t like this was the dark ages and their wasn’t a McDonalds on every corner. I crouched down near a chair trying to sit without actually using the muscles in my stomach. It didn’t work so good finally I took a deep breath and plopped myself down. Yipe, I was breathing hard but I was sitting and for the first time in hours, I wasn’t thinking about Vampires who had no business looking quiet so edible.
He shook his head clearly disgusted with me but hey, big brothers are supposed to disapprove right. “I think we’re gonna have to go shopping so I can keep up with your diet I don’t think even new Shifters eat this much.”
I pointed toward the garage, “We have a walk-in freezer in the garage it’s fully stocked.” I traced salt circles around the little breakfast table with my forefinger.
He looked toward the garage. “Fully stocked, what does that mean for an AoD? I bet it means we could feed the neighborhood with what’s in that thing as long as we don’t have to feed you.” He turned his head back over his shoulder so h
e could wink at me.
I laughed at him. I was really starting to like this brother thing. “Yeah, well I’m a growing girl.”
We had breakfast and went to bed. I needed some sleep and was finally in a place where I could sleep without thinking inappropriate thoughts about evil sexy Vampires.
Laurna woke us both at about three pm. I would have been cranky except she brought more food and Starbucks mmmm; you can’t stay mad at a girl who brings you the best coffee, can you? She also brought three bags of men’s clothing from the mall, all in Laith’s size. “I noticed you didn’t have anything with you and figured it was all part and partial of the whole exiled thing so I went shopping for you. Oh and Ashley says it’s the last time I’m allowed to ever shop for another man so it better be good enough,” She winked at him, her expression one of amused adoration.
He stood in the hallway staring at her like she’d grown an extra head. “Why would you do this for me,” he asked gripping the bags in a death grip. His knuckles were actually turning white. Pain showed through his black eyes.
She didn’t seem to notice. “It’s not a big deal; I have a gift for figuring out where to invest my money. So I have a lot of it and I like to shop.” She gushed at him, “Ohhh, try the blue shirt it’s going to look so awesome with your eyes.” She moved toward him and started to dig through one of the bags only to stop dead. She took three large steps back. “Sorry! Ash didn’t care for that at all.” She wrinkled her nose at us, “it’s part of his charm. So I don’t mind.”
Laith dragged in a deep breath through his nose his eyes turned that freaky gold for just a second then he seemed to gather in on himself. Finally, when he seemed to find whatever inner peace he’d been looking for he smiled down at her and winked, “It’s alright if you were my woman I wouldn’t want you near any other male either.” His grin was infectious. I reached into the bag and pulled out a blue silk shirt. “This one,” The fact Ashley and Bouncer-Vamp were the same guy was still freaking me out a little but I couldn’t deny I was attracted to Tameron so what was a girl to do? Not a damn thing that’s what.
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