A Mate for Lazarus

by Charlene Hartnady

  “That is correct.” He squeezed her hand. His eyes looked a little crazed and his skin looked taut. “I’m barely holding on. We need to talk and I don’t want to hurt you. It would be best if we remained outdoors and in public view. You might need to sleep in your own room tonight as well. We are not mated, you couldn’t possible handle the things I…” He cleared his throat, glancing at the vampire woman.

  “That bad, huh?”

  He nodded, looking like he was in pain.

  “Okay, let’s go for a walk.”

  He gave her a tight nod. They said their goodbyes to Eleanor and walked in silence until they were outside and on the magnificent lawns that surrounded the castle. Lazarus gripped her hand tightly in his.

  Chapter 15

  “How are you feeling?” Lazarus asked.

  She had to laugh. “Nervous, excited, scared, happy, sad. A mixed bag of emotions. You?”

  He looked down at her and smiled. “I’m happy and excited about the prospects of you being pregnant. My only fear is that you are not with child.” He stopped, turning to face her and took ahold of her other hand as well. “If it were up to me, Alexandra, I would take you back to my suite and do everything in my power to ensure that you do become pregnant.”

  She pushed out a shuddery breath. “Okay, now you’re scaring me. We’ve only known each other for a couple of days. This is just too quick. Although I’m feeling things for you that I shouldn’t be feeling…not this soon…this”—she gestured between the two of them—“might not last. Whirlwind relationships rarely do.”

  Lazarus grinned. “Vampires can very quickly decide on a future mate. A few days…it’s a long time. Trust me, Alexandra, we know. I know that you are the right female for me.” He looked so sincere. It made her feel a bit better knowing that he was so sure. If she made herself stop thinking for a second and listened to her heart and her growing feelings for this vampire, she was sure that she would find that she was inclined to agree with him.

  Alex smiled up at him. “So we’ll know in a couple of days then?”

  Lazarus nodded. His pocket began to vibrate and his phone began to ring. He released her hand and pulled the device from his pocket. Without even looking at the screen, he gave her an apologetic glance. “I’m sorry…I need to get this, it’s my king.”

  “My lord,” he said, as he put the device to his ear. Lazarus swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple working. He sucked in a deep breath as he listened to the person on the other side. “That is correct.” He glanced at her for a second before looking away. “It was a misunderstanding. Everything is under control. Alexandra is my future mate.”

  Future mate.

  Oh hell.

  Although he’d alluded to it, he’d never actually said those words. Alex should be running in the opposite direction. She should be screaming loudly. This was crazy…it was just too much. Instead, she stayed right where she was, she even held Lazarus’ hand that much tighter. They would get through this. Everything was going to be okay and what was meant to be would be. Panicking and stressing were not going to help.

  “I chose her yesterday. She is mine and would’ve been mine regardless.” He paused, listening. “Yes. Thank you, my lord.” Lazarus pulled a face. “I will keep you updated.”

  There was talking on the other end.

  “I realize that. It was in no way intentional. Like I said earlier, it was a misunderstanding. We will use birth control going forward…at least until we know for sure.”

  Lazarus released her and ran a hand through his hair, looking frustrated. “Okay. I understand.” He ended the call and huffed out a breath. “Eleanor informed the kings. They’re having a small panic session, which is to be expected. I had hoped to break this to Brant myself but hey…” He shrugged. “What can you do? They are concerned that you did this intentionally to ensure that you would secure a vampire. They are worried that you may have had an ulterior motive. That you did this on purpose.”

  She must have looked worried because he put his arm around her. “I know that is not the case. They will figure that out for themselves soon enough.”

  She nodded, feeling a lump rise in her throat. Although she hadn’t been totally honest with him, she had at least told him that she wanted to do the story but it was a part of the plan. The kings knew it as well. This whole pregnancy thing and her exclusive with the vampires were totally unrelated. She did need to come clean…at some point though. There was no way she and Lazarus could start a future together otherwise.

  Alex yawned. Her lack of sleep and all of this worrying was taking its toll on her.

  “I’ll take you back to your room. You can shower and rest up and I’ll go and have a chat with my kings. Try and see if I can calm them down. So far, things have not worked out according to plan.” He chuckled. “It’s pissing them off. Please do me a favor and don’t take anything to heart. Brant means well but he can be a total dickhead at times. He might say something and I don’t want it to upset you.” They began to walk in the direction of the hotel.

  “He would be well within his rights. I was supposed to be on birth control and I wasn’t. I should’ve told you but I didn’t want to get kicked out. I totally get that he’s upset.”

  Lazarus shook his head and smiled. “My really good friend York, one of the ten, ended up falling for a female that was outside of The Program. The kings had a shit fit but they came around. York and his mate are trying for a baby and Cassidy might even be pregnant already.”

  “Really?” It was amazing how much better she felt knowing that she wasn’t alone. Someone else was going through this too.

  “If you both end up pregnant, you could be there as support for one another.”

  She nodded.

  “Anyway, my point is that York defied the rules and so did Gideon. And then there’s us...” He pulled his lower lip between his teeth for a few beats. “Not everything and everyone fits neatly into a small little box. Things don’t always go according to plan. In fact, sometimes things go horribly wrong. Hidden beneath all of that wrongness is sometimes something so right, so special. My kings will understand.” He kissed her forehead. “They will have to.” They walked into the hotel lobby. It was eerily quiet now that most of the women had left. Jenna was so thankful that Sarah had decided to stay…at least for the time being.

  Alex looked up at Lazarus. “I hope you’re right. I really do. They wouldn’t try and keep us apart or try and force me to have an abortion if I’m pregnant. Would they?” They stopped walking at the base of the stairs.

  Lazarus’ eyes turned dark. It was as if great big storm clouds had descended. “Not a fuck! If you go, I go.”

  She nodded. “I think as long as we stick together then we’re going to be just fine.”

  Lazarus smiled and kissed her. A soft brush of the lips. “We’re going to be just fine, Alexandra. I can’t fucking wait to see you ripe with my child.” Still hand in hand, they began to climb the stairs.

  Alex put a hand to her belly. She needed to stop doing that…at least until she was sure. “I might not be pregnant.”

  “If not, then you will be and soon if I have anything to say about it,” a low growl belying how serious he was about that.

  It lifted her spirits to know that he would’ve wanted this anyway. They made their way down the hall.

  Wait.

  What?

  The door to her room was open. Lazarus stopped dead. He cocked his head and his nostrils flared. “What the fuck…why are…?” He growled and dropped her hand while moving towards her room in long strides. Alex had to jog to keep up. She turned into her room just behind him.

  “Look who decided to join the party.” Brant raised his brows and folded his arms. “You, Miss Stone, have some serious explaining to do.”

  “You have no right to go through my things.” Alex felt her blood run cold as she spotted her cell phone on the bed.

  “I smelled a rat. I did some digging and it looks like I was right on th
e money.” Brant’s eyes narrowed.

  Shit!

  Alex took a deep breath. She would tell the truth. Hopefully Lazarus would understand…he had to. A weight lifted from her but at the same time, a feeling of dread took residence.

  ****

  What the fuck!

  Brant had better have a serious fucking explanation for all of this or Lazarus was going to do a damn sight more than just break his nose. Gideon had let the male off easily for what he had pulled with Jenna. This time, he would not be so lucky.

  “I told you that it was a misunderstanding. Why didn’t you listen to me? Get out!” He didn’t care that Brant was his king. The male had no right to do this. No fucking right.

  Allison’s eyes widened. The two males pouring through Alexandra’s things stopped what they were doing and turned to look. No one spoke to the king in that way and got away with it but he didn’t give a fuck. Her clothes were strewn around the room. Drawers were upended. Her toiletries were spread across the dresser. It was a fucking mess.

  “Due to the stressful nature of this situation, I’m going to let that slide.”

  Lazarus pulled in a breath and opened his mouth to talk but Brant put a hand up. “Shut the fuck up for just a second while I fill you in on the details. Once I’m done, you would be most welcome to speak. I urge you to think carefully before you do though.”

  Lazarus pursed his lips, his hands curled into fists at his sides. This had better be good.

  “Like I was saying earlier…” Brant strode towards the window and casually looked outside. “I smelled a rat. All of the females received in-depth training. They were made to sign contracts and agreements. One of the areas of training and clauses within the contract was that all females would be on birth control for the duration of their stay. Condoms would be used if the birth control was compromised in any way. I’m not going to get into detail, but we were thorough. This should never have fucking happened.” When he turned, his eyes were dark and his jaw twitched, belying his anger.

  “Please let me explain.” Alexandra looked from Brant to Allison and back to Brant again. She refused to meet his gaze. Fuck! It was like his gut was twisting, like his veins were icing up.

  “A misunderstanding…” Brant paused, his brows were raised. “I think not. This was no misunderstanding. When Miss Stone arrived at the gates, it was unexpected. One great big oversight. A fuck-up of note. My instincts told me not to allow her in and I should’ve listened.” He turned to Allison. “As is cursory, did you go through the check list with this female before allowing her admission? Was one of those checks to make sure that she was on birth control?”

  Brant’s personal assistant nodded her head. She opened the notebook and flipped through the pages until she found the one she was looking for. “Yes, I did.”

  “What was her answer?”

  “She told me that she was taking birth control. I remember clearly and as you can see, the box is ticked as well.” She turned the book in Lazarus’ direction but he couldn’t seem to focus on the words.

  “Good,” Brant growled. He folded his arms. “You asked the female if she had attended the training?”

  “I did, and she said that she had.” Allison’s calm, professional demeanor was in tatters. Her lip quivered. She fidgeted. Her eyes darted from Brant to Lazarus and back again. “I should have double-checked. I can’t believe I didn’t double-check.”

  Brant ignored her ranting. “Did you ask Miss Stone if she had signed the contract and nondisclosure agreement?”

  Allison nodded, she chewed on her bottom lip. “I did, yes. Though, I’m afraid she lied, again. Why did you lie like that?” She finally turned to face Alexandra who was white and trembling.

  No! This wasn’t happening.

  “Why did you lie?” Lazarus asked, surprised when his voice came out sounding calm and even.

  “I was going to tell you…” Her eyes were wide and pleading.

  Fuck!

  Lazarus’ heart sank. The ice in his veins solidified. In that moment he realized that he had still been holding onto hope. Hope that this had all been some kind of a misunderstanding. That his future mate…the female that was most likely pregnant with his child had not lied to his king, his people, to him, but she had. What else had she lied about? Did she even have feelings for him?

  Lazarus roared, he turned and punched a hole right through the wall. He took a couple of deep breaths, trying hard to calm himself down. When he finally had enough of a handle on his emotions he turned around. Alexandra was crying softly.

  It cut him just as surely as a blade to his heart. Lazarus swallowed hard and tamped down on his wayward emotions. To think that even with all of this going on, his first reaction was to go and comfort her.

  “I think I can fill in the blanks…you can correct me if I am wrong, Miss Stone. You planned this all along. You intentionally didn’t show up with the first batch of females for the training. It was your plan all along to arrive, unannounced, acting the part of a mistreated candidate.”

  “It’s not true,” she blurted. “That’s not true, Lazarus…I promise you.” Softer this time.

  Lazarus grit his teeth. How could they trust her? He wanted so badly to believe her, but how could he?

  “You hoped to slip in. Hoped that you would get away with it. You were damned lucky. I just can’t understand how you hoped to get away with it indefinitely. You do realize that the moment you switched your cell phone on, we would have picked up the signal?”

  Lazarus stared at the device on the bed.

  “Your plan was to get in and find a way to stay in. You seduced Lazarus in the hopes that he would pick you so that you would be able to stay. You don’t have actual feelings for him, you have strung him along and made him think that you did so that he would take you into the next round. A cold-hearted ploy if I ever saw one.”

  Shaking her head, her gaze dropped to her feet and her tears fell harder.

  Lazarus made a noise of anguish. He couldn’t help it. It felt like his heart was fucking shattering into a million pieces.

  “I don’t think you planned on becoming pregnant…it’s a serious fuck up.” Brant clenched his jaw and paced back to the window before turning back to face them.

  Lazarus could feel how his chest rose and fell, how his heart fucking raced. The urge to tear up the room. To break down every brick of this building tore at him.

  “I’m sorry,” Alexandra whispered. “Things changed…my feelings changed.”

  “No! You saw an opportunity, Miss Stone.” Brant growled. “You had planned on writing a story for your paper. You planned on using your cell phone to send it when the time came. You didn’t sign a nondisclosure agreement like the rest of the human females, so you were in a position to make it happen.” Brant picked some nonexistent lint off of his jacket. “What you were really hoping for, Miss Stone, was an exclusive? Something no one else would get. An interview with the vampire kings. Your hope was to be able to get all the inside information and it looked for a while there like you were going to pull it off. We were all playing nicely into your hands. It didn’t really matter either way though did it?” He picked up the cell phone on the bed. “You would’ve sent the story to your contact on the outside anyway. Your being here was never about finding a mate but always about the story.”

  Everything fell into place. That nagging feeling. Lazarus covered his face with his hands. He was panting, so close to fucking losing it.

  “It’s true.” Alexandra sniffed loudly, using the back of her hand to wipe her face. “My initial intention was to get the story. I wasn’t here to find a vampire mate. Things changed though. I never planned on falling in love, on even having sex for that matter. That’s why when Allison asked me about the birth control I just said yes. You have to believe me…” She moved to stand in front of Lazarus, grabbing his arms. “The day that you found the article was the day that I decided not to go ahead with it. I still had to try and get the story, but it
wasn’t going to be behind your back. I told you that it was important to me. I never lied to you about that.”

  He brushed her off. Lazarus couldn’t stand her touch, and yet at the same time he wanted to pull her into his arms and believe everything she was saying. It was so fucked up. He couldn’t think straight.

  “I was going to tell you.” Alexandra’s voice was shrill. “I swear.”

  “When?” He growled. Not sounding nearly as in control as he had before.

  She shrugged. Fucking shrugged.

  “You had every opportunity!” He roared. Alexandra flinched and he tried to calm the fuck down and failed.

  “At first I couldn’t because I was afraid of getting kicked out and then I was afraid of losing you. It’s been a stressful day…I would have…soon. I swear.” Her lip trembled and he had to resist the urge to run the pad of his thumb along its seam.

  Lazarus swallowed hard. His throat felt clogged. It was like he was choking. “I don’t know if I can believe you. Getting close to me was all about the story…the exclusive.” His hands were shaking so he clenched them. “You might be carrying my child. Do you want to do a story on that too?”

  “What?...No…no I don’t.” She put her hand to her belly.

  “Did you even mean it when you said that you wanted to keep him?” His voice cracked. “Don’t even answer…I wouldn’t believe you anyway.”

  Her face crumpled. “Please…Lazarus…give me a chance to—”

  Thank fuck the door was open or he would have torn it from its hinges. Lazarus practically ran from the room. He took the stairs four at a time. He ran and ran, until the sweat dripped off of him, until his chest burned. Until his legs gave out. He couldn’t escape the pain. It stayed with him, its claws in deep.

  Chapter 16

  Alexandra tried to stop the tears. Dammit! She didn’t want Brant to see her like this. Weak and broken. If only this had gone down another way. Why had she been such a damned coward? It wasn’t like her. Maybe because for once, she had so much to lose. The story…the exclusive…it didn’t matter.