“How about we eat?” She turned to the table that the food was laid out on. Kaden nodded and took a seat and Tegan did the same.
She put the sandwich down after a few bites and shook her head. “That’s all I can stomach.”
Kaden regarded her with a strange expression. “Did you...were you...fuck.” He seemed to struggled with finding the right phrase and ran a hand through his hair. “When was the last time you ate?”
She pressed her lips together. “I ate a few bites last night, but before that...before I went to the marketplace?” She shook her head. “Except we all know that’s not true.” She growled in frustration. “This is ridiculous!”
“It’s okay, Tegan.” Kaden turned towards her. “Your appetite is just impaired. I’m surprised even as Lucius’ bound human you could go that long without eating.”
He didn’t know what she was. She reminded herself of that and if he didn’t know then there was a reason Lucius kept the information from Kaden. “It’s not just the food. It’s everything. I want to be able to remember what happened. I feel...I feel like something important happened and I’m missing those memories. I feel like I betrayed Lucius.” And the thought made her sick. Had she betrayed the man who saved her life and cared for her? She rubbed her eyes under the glasses. “The fact that I can’t remember the simplest of things...”
He stood and knelt in front of her, taking her hands. “Tegan, somehow we’ll figure it out. You are stronger than you can ever imagine and have gone through so much. This is just another stone in your path. You just...have to have faith.”
She snorted. “A demon speaking of faith.” Yet, his words helped edge back the panic. “Why can’t I remember you?”
“I don’t know. When we first met...it’s outside the time frame that you are missing. So I don’t know.” He looked up and his face fell. “I was just—“
“I know what you were doing.” Lucius stated from the doorway, his voice like ice. Tegan stood.
“I was in a bit of panic. He wasn’t doing anything that crossed the line.” She went to Lucius, wanting to distract him from his anger towards Kaden. “I’m ready to go see my brother.”
Lucius put a hand on her shoulder. “Did you eat?”
“A bit, yes. Were you able to feed? Or do you need me?” She met his gaze through her glasses and something passed through his eyes. Had she not known better she would have said it was sadness.
“I’m taken care of. Let’s go.”
Kaden used a portal to take himself back to his apartment after Tegan and Lucius left. There was no reason for him to stay at the property where he was only reminded of what he couldn’t have. Tegan. He never should have agreed to watching her, but his mating instincts wouldn’t let him get away with turning Lucius down. He hated that he could do nothing for her except hold her when she allowed. She felt their connection, she’d confirmed that when he walked into the media room and she knew it was him.
He closed his eyes and imagined the way her soft hair felt against his skin, the way she curved against him and his cock throbbed. There had been a few times over the centuries he allowed himself release, but nothing could satisfy him as he imagined Tegan could. His mate.
“What on earth are you thinking about?” Cael’s voice entered his room again as she stepped out of a demon portal.
He growled. “None of your business. What are you doing here? I thought we finished our discussion.”
“I want to know what is keeping you here. From the look on your face I would say a woman. An untouchable one, if I know the way your luck works.”
He snorted and sat on his bed. Taking his boots off, he didn’t meet her gaze. The knowledge of Tegan being his mate was one he couldn’t trust with his own sister. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. I stay because I don’t want to lose my head to Aristides.”
“He won’t—“
“That’s what you think. If he doesn’t then someone else will. I’m not safe there, besides this is where I belong.” He couldn’t leave, not without Tegan.
She shook her head. “You’re hiding something from me and I don’t like it.”
“You haven’t seen me in five hundred years.” He rubbed his eyes and laid back on the bed. “You haven’t sought me out, you haven’t given me the light of day since I killed that bastard.”
She huffed. “Because I was scared, what was I supposed to do? Run away from my mate and go with you because you saved my life?”
Well, he would have preferred that since he hated her mate, but there was no need to point that out. “You could have come visit me, at the very least.”
“You don’t understand, you never have.”
“Don’t give me the same story that you’re scared of Aristides because I know you are much more powerful than him. So am I, and if he wasn’t your mate, I’d have killed him by now.” Kaden said honestly and closed his eyes. “Now if you don’t mind, I need some sleep before I have to go back to work.”
“And who are you working for, Kaden?”
He snorted. “You won’t like it, so I’m not sharing.”
Silence followed and her presence left the room. He chuckled. He knew exactly what was going on and he wasn’t going to fall for it. No, he was staying right where he was. He yawned, the long day and late night with Tegan taking its toll on him. He let himself drift to sleep, keeping his thoughts focused on Tegan.
Tegan walked over the frozen ground of the cemetery. The place felt familiar to her, but she didn’t remember the location. Lucius kept a hold of her hand as he guided her. Memories started to flicker in her head, coming here and finding the resting place, she frowned. Shaking her head, she tried to fight off the memory, not wanting to deal with the pain.
“Tegan?” Lucius’ voice cut through.
“I’m okay. Let’s keep going.” She continued to hike up the hill and stopped only when Lucius did.
She studied the mausoleum. The square concrete miniature building stood on the top of a hill. Two stairs led up to a small sheltered porch with white pillars that held up the oversized roof. Vines grew around the pillar giving the place an eerie vibe. The arched doorway held a place with DeBeau imprinted on it.
The cold wind swept around Tegan and she shivered. Pulling her jacket tighter she started to approach the stairs. Something shifted to her left and a man in black stepped around the corner. Lucius appeared in front of her, blocking her.
The man held his hands up. Tegan frowned and took in his appearance. Black clothes, sandy blonde hair, probably early forties, maybe younger. “Joey.” He’d been at the Hunter’s Hospital talking to the doctor. “Lucius, he’s not here to hurt us.”
“I don’t know that.” Lucius growled. “What are you doing here? How did you know to come here?”
Joey took a deep breath. “When Danielle worked for us, she sent us a picture of Tegan in front of this tomb. That was before she met you and Orion.” He glanced at Tegan then to Lucius. “Originally it was thought that Tegan was a donor. She owns a bar that caters to mostly vampires, she was always around one of your kind. When Danielle abandoned her mission, I was passed all her information to find an appropriate Hunter.”
“Which brings you here?” Lucius asked.
Tegan shook her head. “No, he’s protecting us. He didn’t hand it over to his superiors because he knows who is in there.”
“Exactly, I swore to Danielle that I wouldn’t betray the information she found. So I came to check it out myself. Alexander—“
“Danielle’s master.” Lucius clarified.
“Was buried about a mile from here. He’s no longer there, so I thought I’d come over here. I don’t know who is in there, but I can pick up a faint brain pattern. Something that is stirring, and that is how I figured out Danielle was right. That it is an Original that lays here, which means that Tegan is his keeper.”
Tegan shook her head. “No, I’m not. Zaaren doesn’t have a keeper.”
“Tegan...” Lucius wa
rned and she knew he thought she’d given too much information.
“He already knows, he himself is not exactly human. He can...pick information out of people’s minds.”
Joey looked like she had struck him. “How do you know that? Other than the comment I just made.”
“The way you responded to people at the hospital. The way you worked with me, you knew exactly what I feared while you were in there. While everyone was in there. You are why the doctor released me.” She shook her head. “You are not an enemy to us. Not right now.”
Joey nodded. “Hunter protocol demands that I turn this information over, but I won’t. Danielle trusted me with the information and honestly, whatever shit storm is coming, I don’t want to be dragged into it.”
“Tegan, go check on Zaaren. I wish to speak to Joey about Alexander.” Lucius gave her hand a reassuring squeeze then let her go.
She went up the steps and opened the door, slipping in without giving Lucius another look. If Joey had a death wish that was his own fault. She closed her eyes and didn’t hear any sounds from outside, no screaming human. Lucius must have wanted to speak to him about Danielle’s master...not that she could remember who Danielle was. Or Orion. Pain pounded in her head and she put a hand against her throbbing skull.
With a deep breath she banished the thoughts from her head and looked at the coffin in front of her. Zaaren. When had been the last time she’d seen him awake? Right before she went out with Trisha, he got on to her about something, something so trivial now. Then he left her. According to Lucius, Zaaren went to sleep only a month after Markus took her. Abandoning his search for her.
Anger filled her, had he tried harder he could have found her. Could have known where Markus kept her. Zaaren was an Original, the Circle feared him, but he let her stay there, not even bothering to search for her. She gripped the coffin lid, tossed it open and glared down at him.
She’d expected him to have started rotting, but no, something about the sleep and his soul kept him looking fine. As if he was just napping. His hair was white like hers because he interrupted the spell that changed her in an attempt to stop it. His pale skin held a gray tone and she knew he needed to feed. She could feel it. Unlike a sleeping human, there was no rise and fall of his chest.
“You left me and hold no doubt that I am angry at you.” She whispered to him. “From what I understand, last time I heard this news I tried to stab you. You selfish bastard. But I need you right now. Zaaren, there is something wrong with me and the two people who can fix it are you and Markus. I refuse to go back to that monster.”
I can’t go back to that monster. A memory flashed in her mind and a phantom pain at her neck, the flood of panic from being pinned to the floor. She shook her head. “Please Zaaren, I know you can hear me. I need you to wake up. Lucius can only do so much. I need you.” She wiped a tear off her cheek with an angry motion. “How dare you leave me when I needed you.”
She slammed the coffin lid shut and turned to leave the tomb. There was no sign of him waking, no subtle heartbeat, no breathing, and no sense of her brother. This was a waste of time.
Tegan walked out with a sigh and met Lucius. “I’m ready to go home.”
“Any signs of him rising?”
She shook her head. “No and I can’t help that I’m angry with him again.” Running her fingers through her hair she stepped down the stairs. “You and Joey figure it out?”
“Yes, but now I’m afraid we have other problems on our hands. Alexander is either loose in my territory or he’s found someone to take him in. That puts Orion’s mate in danger.”
Tegan shrugged. “Is he part of your territory?”
“He was and he remains an ally to us.” Lucius guided her back out of the graveyard. “So I need to at least warn him.”
Tegan tried to focus on the image in her head that came at Orion’s name, but it was unfocused, fuzzy where the face should be. A chill ran over her and she sensed something. Panic crawled through her, her heart hammered in her chest and her breath caught. A memory assaulted her and her world spun. Chains on her arms and legs, holding her to a table while vampires swarmed around her. The pain of being fed from when there weren’t powers to dull the pain.
Her stomach lurched and she put a hand to it, trying to keep the small amount of food she’d eaten down. I cannot go back to that life. The thought struck her hard. Why were these images from the past haunting her?
“Tegan?” Lucius asked and turned to her.
She swallowed and shook her head. She couldn’t have him near her right now, not with memories like this fresh in her mind. “Don’t touch me, please sir.” She ground out and tried to breathe through her panic. Closing her eyes she tried to conjure up other images, the first one coming to mind was Kaden.
If he had been there he would be able to sooth her. Everything bad seemed to go away when he was near. She could almost feel the warmth of him wrapped around her and his fingers smoothing her hair away from her face. Something in her heart ached at the idea of him not being there to help with this, but just the thought of him chased the ghosts of the past away.
“Tegan?” Lucius ask again.
She opened her eyes and nodded. “I’m okay. I’m sorry, just...I was hit by a memory and the panic overwhelmed me.”
Worry crossed Lucius’ face, his brows drawing together, before his face became a blank mask once more. “Let’s get you home so you can rest.”
She glanced over her shoulder at the mausoleum one more time before walking with Lucius. What did she sense before that sent her into that memory?
Markus walked out of the hall where he kept the humans for breeding only to come face to face with the Father. “Need one to feed?”
“No, I plan on making a special meal tonight. I sent one of your underlings to check on Tegan and Lucius. I think it is time I paid her a visit to make sure she doesn’t remember anything.”
Markus raised a brow. “I’d prefer if you didn’t send my underlings to their death before consulting me. If you want someone to sneak around, I can send Cody back to the United States, then we don’t risk the time differences or my vampires.”
“I can do what I wish, remember that, Markus.” The Father pegged him with narrow eyes. “The time difference will cause no problems, I will just make sure to transport myself back inside the building and not risk the sun exposure here. From the...phone call I just received Tegan is still weak, her and her master were found wandering a graveyard. The underling got there too late to figure out who they were visiting, but I have a feeling it was Zaaren.”
Markus thought the same thing; he’d picked up on images of a grave from Tegan’s mind and he assumed that she was the keeper of Zaaren, but the Original would never do that to his sister. It meant that Tegan would act as the blood supply to ease the blood lust of the Original when he woke. Being fed from was Tegan’s most hated act, which is why Markus had used it against her when she was with him and the demons. “I want to be the one to kill him.”
“Then maybe you should take a trip to the United States with me. I can visit Tegan and you can find Zaaren. Kill him, the underling can give you the name and location of the graveyard. If you fail we’ll have to escalate our plans.” The Father peeked into the window of the hall behind him. “Such a pathetic race.”
Markus wondered if the Father had ever actually been human, but he didn’t have the guts to ask. “We are doing well and have managed to keep things hidden from the Hunters. Cody said they had no idea of something like this.”
“I find it odd that you sound worried if that is the case.” The Father turned and looked at him. “What concerns do you have?”
“If the Originals wake, or their keepers get wind of this than they will put a stop to it all.”
The Father waved a hand and dismissed the worry. “We will take care of them. I doubt they’ll all wake at the same time, even if we kill just one, their power will be lessened.”
So they could hope. Ma
rkus, however, did not want to underestimate what the Originals were capable of. He remained silent and started out of the room, but the Father spoke again.
“Have you made headway with the demons securing their alliance?”
Markus tried not to snarl. “We are, but apparently there is a particular demon causing problems. We cannot have an alliance with Aristides unless we are sure he can control all his people.”
“What is the problem?”
“He’s allied with Lucius and that won’t bode well with us, but Aristides is taking care of it. We’ll have the secured alliance soon.” As long as the general could hold up his part of the bargain, of course Markus could go and just kill the demon. He snorted, that was more attention than he needed and he needed to make sure that the other cracks like planting traitors in Lucius’ territory took hold.
Chapter Four
Tegan looked in the mirror and straightened the black shirt. The fabric clung to her breasts and hugged her stomach and she wondered why she had such a shirt in her closet. When she’d first left the Father, she wanted nothing that would show her off. Now, it seemed that she was more comfortable with the idea of showing off her curves.
On one hand she hated the look, on the other she hoped it would turn Kaden’s head. She loved when he looked at her like he could devour her. He may not have realized he gave her that look, but she did. And it called to her. The jeans curved over her ass just right and were tucked into a pair of boots. When she put her sunglasses on she had the strangest thought that this was normal.
When a knock on the door sounded she grabbed her jacket from the bed and opened it.
Kaden’s eyes went up and down her body and heat went through her. She smiled. “You ready?”
He nodded. “Feeling better are you?” He motioned to the clothes. “Pretty sure that you didn’t go to the grave yard like this.”
No she hadn’t, because she went with Lucius. She hadn’t expected to run into anyone there, but she wanted to dress better for Kaden and maybe, just maybe if she pretended everything was alright it would be. “I’m trying.” Her smile faded a bit and he held his hand out.
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