by Fall, Carly
When the male no longer moved, Aiden dropped the body to the floor. Breathing heavily, he looked at her. She found her knees curling up to her chest, cold fear going through her veins.
He looked over her. “You have blood on you," he said quietly. "Are you hurt?”
She shook her head, unable to answer.
He wiped a hand across his face, smearing the blood that was caked on there.
“I’m not going to hurt you, Holly," he growled as he went for the phone in the kitchen.
No, he wasn’t, and she was absolutely certain of that. He had just brutally killed her attacker, and if they had been working together, he would have just hauled the guy off of her and taken her to wherever himself.
She heard him pick up the phone and dial.
“Thad? Yeah, it’s me. I need a pick-up for two. Yes, I said two. I don’t have time to explain everything now, just get over here. Address? Fuck, I don’t know. Hang on. Holly, what's the address here?”
She tried really hard to find her voice, but it was gone. She just shook her head, and looked at her trembling hands.
“Thaddeus, I’ll call you back.” He hung up the phone and went to her and got down on his haunches in front of her. “Holly, look at me.” Her eyes met his. “We need to get out of here, honey. It's almost dawn. We can’t stay here." He jacked his thumb at the dead body. "Whoever sent him knows where you are, and they will send others. Please, Holly, pull it together for a little while longer and let’s get to safety.”
She felt those damn tears shimmering in her eyes. “Where will you take me?” she whispered.
“My brother Thaddeus's house,” he said firmly. “The place is a Goddamn fortress. No one will find you there. You’ll be safe.”
She shook her head. “I don’t know Aiden. I…I just don’t know if I should trust you.”
His face got hard. “Holly, use that brain. Go over the past few of days. This,” he gestured over to the body, “is not me. I’m not responsible for that male showing up here."
Her gaze traveled over to the corpse, its dead eyes staring at her. Of course, he was right. She had to think logically and not let the fear get in the way. Someone knew who and where she was, and her options were limited. She couldn't leave Reno—the sun would be up in an hour. She had nowhere else to go and no one to help her except Aiden. He was offering her safety from whoever was after her. Somehow, her location had been compromised, but it wasn’t by him.
She drew in a deep breath and focused back on Aiden. She studied his face, looking for a sign that he was lying to her. She thought about the situation and looked for a way that she could lay blame on Aiden, and simply couldn't fine one.
She gave him the address, and he nodded and went to the phone again. After relaying the information to Thaddeus, he came back over to her and stuck his hand out. She put her small pale hand in his large dark one, as if they were making some sort of pact of trust, and he pulled her to her feet.
“You have about twenty minutes to get packed. I’ll stay up here and make sure there aren’t any other visitors.” He gave her hand a squeeze, and she just stood there staring up at him.
“Go, Holly,” he said softly.
She nodded and let her hand slip from his. Before she went down the stairs, she turned and found him staring at her. Even with the blood spatters all over his huge upper torso, bandages and scrubs, he took her breath away. His hard face softened as he looked at her. Not like it did when he talked to his son, but he also didn’t look like he wanted to kill something.
“Thank you,” she said. He nodded once, and she turned and went down the stairs to do a quick pack job. She had the distinct feeling that she would never be living this life again, and she was stepping into a new one.
Chapter 13
As the SUV sped down the highway, Holly’s head ached ferociously. She wondered if they would get to Aiden’s brothers house before the sun fried them, leaving three holes in the pretty light brown interior leather of the car.
After packing, Holly had gone back upstairs. Aiden had opened all the drapes and blinds in the house, making sure that the body and any of the blood around disintegrated at the first light. Holly had written a note to Sara telling her that she had an emergency with a friend in another state, and she didn’t know when she would be back. She left a post dated check for the next month's rent on the slight chance that she would be able to go back and resume her life. A little voice in her head that let her know it was pretty certain that wouldn't be happening.
The SUV had pulled up in front of the house with a screech, and Aiden had escorted her out the door, his eyes scanning the neighborhood, keeping her close and protected, tucked under his massive arm and pressed into his hard body. She felt even smaller next to his big frame, almost overwhelmed. Like he could swallow her up if he wanted.
As she slid into the car, Aiden was almost on top of her. The driver nodded at her once, and took off just as Aiden shut the door. Aiden sat right next to her, his big arm thrown over the back of the seat, his eyes still scanning the neighborhood.
“You want to do that explaining you were talking about?” Thaddeus said.
Aiden grunted. “Thaddeus, this is Holly. Holly, Thaddeus.”
“Hi,” Holly said, looking at the bright blue eyes in the mirror. When she had first gotten in the car, she hadn't noticed him much because of her fear, but now she took a good look. Damn. He was good looking. All that wavy blonde hair, those eyes, the high cheekbones, the broad shoulders . . . yes, he belonged in some magazine, not chauffeuring her around.
In the rearview mirror she saw a smile play in his eyes. “I believe the last time I talked to Aiden you were about to tell me to go somewhere,” Thaddeus said.
“Yep,” Holly said.
“You want to elaborate on that?”
She really didn’t. Her head was spinning, she had blood on her shirt, and if she were being honest with herself, she was scared to death. She couldn’t go there right now.
“Not really,” she said quietly.
“Okay,” Thaddeus said and inhaled deeply. She saw a look of confusion on his face. His eyes caught hers in the rearview mirror and narrowed.
“You two want to give me the lowdown on what the hell put you in my car covered in blood, how Aiden ended up in those bandages, and any other details you feel are necessary for me to understand what the fuck is going on? Like where you've been hiding out for four days, Aiden?”
“Not really,” Holly and Aiden said at the same time. Their eyes met briefly, and Holly gave Aiden a small smile.
“Fine,” Thaddeus ground out, “but let me make this clear. I'm going to know what's going on, where you have been, brother, and who exactly Holly is and what she's doing moving into my house.”
Aiden looked at Holly, a question in his face. She exhaled loudly and shrugged her shoulders. Thaddeus watched the whole exchange in the rearview mirror.
“Keep your eyes on the road, Thaddeus,” Aiden said quietly. “And you might want to step on it. My head feels like I have a blowtorch spitting flames up my spine.”
“Mine too,” Holly said under her breath.
There was more silence as Thaddeus glared at her in the mirror and picked up speed.
“When we get back to the house, okay?” Aiden said. “Let us get cleaned up, get some food and I need some whiskey. Then we'll talk.”
Chapter 14
If someone had breathed too hard on Holly, she would have fallen on her face. She hadn't known what to expect when she accepted the fact that she was putting her future in Aiden's hands, but what she saw was the last thing her imagination could conjure up.
They had pulled up to the base of a mountain that opened up like something out of a Batman movie. Then they got out of the car and went up into the elevator where they stepped into a large room with hardwood floors, a couple of worn leather couches, and floor to ceiling windows. The couches were facing the windows, and it was apparent that the whole purpose of the ro
om was to enjoy the view of the forest below and the mountain on the other side. Just as the beauty of it was registering, a large metal slab that almost looked like a garage door came down over the windows. Dawn must be upon them.
They were greeted by a human female, two vampire kids, and a redheaded male who wasn’t vampire, but he didn’t smell human either. One of the vampire children, a beautiful boy about ten years old with dark hair and the same chocolate skin as Aiden, yelled “Dad!” as the elevator doors opened, and threw his arms around Aiden. Aiden met the boy with the same intensity, catching him in mid-air and giving him a huge bear hug despite the blood and the bandages. As Holly watched in abject fascination at the love passing between the boy and Aiden, a blonde female approached her, her arm around the other child. He looked the same age as Aiden's son, and Holly could tell immediately he was related to the tall blonde female simply because they both had the same bright green eyes. Holly accepted the blonde woman's hug as the boy scampered off to say hi to Thaddeus.
"I'm Emily," the blonde female said.
"Holly," she said, and let herself be led down a hall.
“You can take your time and get cleaned up in here,” Emily said as she led Holly down the hall and into a bedroom. Holly noted that the house was actually built into the mountain, and she wondered how many thousands of tons were over her head.
Usually not one for being led around, as she was the one who did the leading, Holly found comfort in someone telling her what to do. It was simple. Go in the room. Shower. Try to relax. Come out when she was ready for food.
Holly looked around the dark blue bedroom with gray accents. The bed threw out an invitation of luxury and comfort. The dark blue silk bedspread engulfed the gray sheets, and huge gray pillows consumed half the bed. She thought of her chair she had slept in for most of the past few days, and cringed. She longed to stretch out on the huge bed that would swallow her up in a cocoon of silk and softness.
“Thank you,” she said softly, squeezing Emily’s hand and looking up at her. What a surprise. Another woman who was taller than her.
“May I ask you a question?” Holly inquired.
“Of course,” the female said, squeezing Holly’s hand again.
“Are you the human with a vampire female?”
A serene smile came over Emily’s face. “Yes. Yes I am. Thaddeus is my mate.” There was a beat of silence. “So, you're safe here. I’m looking forward to hearing how you came to know Aiden, and what you think of all this vampire stuff. It can be jarring at first, believe me, I know!”
It was obvious that Emily thought Holly was human. And why shouldn't she? No one had laid eyes on a female vampire in many, many years. There were even those of the Vampire Nation that were certain that female vampires no longer existed.
Holly looked at the big bed and asked if they could sit down for a moment. For some reason she couldn't place, she had a strong urge to spill her secret to Emily. Perhaps it was because Emily carried a female vampire.
“So I'm safe here, Emily?” Holly asked.
Emily nodded, looking confused.
"I am a vampire, Emily. And frankly, the last place I would ever expect to be is in the . . . " what should she call this place? " . . . in the fortress of The Council's Dark Forces."
Emily’s eyes widened, a look of shock overtook her face. There was a moment of silence. When she regained her composure, she said, “Of course the protection applies to you, Holly,” she said softly. “I don’t know what Aiden has told you, but Thaddeus is in charge now. There isn’t a stupid breeding plan. There isn’t any reason for you to be afraid any longer.”
Another moment of silence as the women sized each other up. Holly was comforted by the soft tone of Emily’s voice, as well as her words. It was one thing for Aiden to say these things to her, but it was a whole different thing for her to hear it from a human woman who was carrying a female vampire. Her fear ebbed a little.
“Does Thaddeus know?” Emily asked softly.
Holly shrugged her shoulders and looked at the door. “My guess is yes. He was giving me some strange looks in the car. I'm sure he isn’t one hundred percent certain, simply because he hasn’t seen a female vampire in a long time. But he has his suspicions.”
Emily nodded. Her gaze never leaving Holly’s face. “Okay. You tell him when you’re ready. He won’t hear it from me.”
Holly looked back at the human female and had a feeling they could be great friends.
When she was alone, she looked around the room again. She thought about the greeting they had received when they arrived. What she had seen of the house, it was beautiful. Not beautiful in an uptight way, but she could tell everything was top of the line from the lush carpet that lined the hallway, to the leather couches she had seen, and then there was this room. It was beautiful in a comfortable way.
This was not what the Dark Forces were about. She didn't know what she expected, but this wasn't it. If she had given it any thought before coming here, she would have guessed they lived in a cave like a bunch of animals or something, not in understated beauty with pregnant mates and children running around.
Wow. No, she never would have expected this.
Chapter 15
After spending a little time with his son, Aiden went to his room to get cleaned up. He went into the bathroom, caught a glimpse of himself and stopped. Man, he looked like something out of a horror movie. He had done his best to do a quick clean up in Holly's kitchen, and it seemed he had failed miserably. Blood was smeared on his face, his chest and his hands. His bandages were also turning a lovely dried blood brown. He ripped the one off his head and unwrapped the one around his ribs. Shower. He needed water and soap desperately. As the hot water ran over his head, he felt himself begin to shake a little. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
He recognized the emotion that had his nerve endings in an uproar. It was fear. He had only felt fear one other time, and his mind returned to that time. Natalie, pregnant with their child, had gone on a walk about an hour before dusk. She had been attacked and killed, but the baby, Robert, had survived. Aiden remembered the fear that coursed through him when Natalie hadn't returned, the fear that made his gut clench when the sun went down and he was able to go look for her, the terror that immobilized him when he found a puddle of her blood and the hospital called him to tell him she was dead.
When he had heard the thump on the floor and scraping sounds at Holly's house, he had felt the fear pour into his cells. He had flown up the steps and saw Holly pinned beneath that son of a bitch, and when he heard what the male said to her, he lost his shit. Fear was replaced by red hot, mind spinning rage. There was no way that a second female would be hurt on his watch. He had already failed Natalie, and he would not fail Holly.
As he replayed his whole throat-removing scene, he was so glad he had slipped into Sara’s room to feed earlier that night. If he hadn’t, it would have been a much fairer fight between him and the male, and that wouldn’t have been good. In his weakened condition, he could have actually been killed, and then that male would have taken Holly. The thought sent a proverbial ice cube sliding down his spine.
What they needed to figure out was how that male knew where to find Holly. She had survived for so long in the human world, burying her vampire traits, she could easily pass as a human, even to another vampire. So that male had to know not only where she was, but also what she was. Somehow, somewhere, her secret had been tripped up. He would have to have a talk with her about her movements and actions to see where the breach had occurred. She had been with him the past few days, so maybe it had happened before he had taken over her space.
Holly. That was one brave female. For her to be out on her own, living as she was even though she knew the possible consequences, was something to admire. Hell yeah, he admired her. As he scrubbed shampoo through his hair, he thought of her short black hair and those navy blue eyes. His brain took a jaunt back to when he saw the outline of her breasts
through the shirt as she changed his bandages and gave him that stupid IV. Then the way that cute little round ass swayed in those damn Juicy sweats, and her sweet mouth, and the way she had tasted when he kissed her, and…well, what a surprise. A raging hard-on.
He opened his eyes and looked down at the handle jutting from his hips. He turned the faucet to cold in hopes of taming the bad boy down, but it did nothing but make him chilly with a raging hard-on.
“Fuck,” he muttered. He decided to ignore the thing and grabbed the soap. He began thinking about his mother, which should cause anyone to lose an erection, and possibly have the penis retreat into the lower abdomen. She was out of the picture, and still thinking about his mother did nothing except piss him off.
Great, now he was angry and cold with an erection.
He turned the water back to hot, and as he soaped up his chest, his thoughts naturally went back to Holly.
He shut his eyes again, his soapy hand finding its way down his pecs, to his abs, to his waist, and then there it was. As he moved his hand up and down, he imagined Holly in the shower with him. Her hair would be wet, probably standing up in little spikes because the stuff never lay flat, and her cheeks would be flushed from the warmth of the water. She would step into him, wrapping her hands around his waist, pressing her breasts up against him. The water would cascade over his shoulders, down his pecs and then over her breasts. She would stand on her tiptoes, and he would lower his head so she could kiss him gently. Then she would reach down and move her hand up and down his sex. He would easily pick her up and put her against the wall of the shower, thrusting deep into her, her legs wrapping around his waist. Both would moan at the penetration, their mouths moving over each other, their tongues exploring. He would move slowly at first because he never wanted it to end, and then the sex would become more urgent. She would grab his hair and pull his head into her neck, and he would bite her. The taste of her blood would explode into him; the bite would make her hotter. He would move them to the bench where she would ride him hard. As he drank, he would feel the orgasm getting ready to shoot up his cock, and he would feel hers building. Her sweet sex would become tighter, hotter. He would release her neck so he could watch her as she came. She would throw her head back as her sex squeezed around him, her nails digging into his shoulders. His orgasm would immediately follow, rolling up on him in luxurious wave as he filled her, saying her name over and over.
