“Mesmus. Nifty little chemical I’ve seen him use before.”
“One day, you will have to tell me how you met him.” Kindara’s hand brushed her stomach unconsciously.
“I will. Where is he?” He had no doubt she knew exactly where that demon bastard was. Malickus had invoked an ancient demon law that stated that any demon of royal blood, especially a demon king, could take a female as his chosen mate—his gamata—without her permission. And those bonds would form almost instantly. It was a bond just as strong as a Rajni bond.
No doubt Kindara was starting to feel that. To almost love him.
“He’s with Jade now, I think. He was worried about her.”
Barlaam stood. The idea of his female with an Incubus king didn’t sit well. Even with Malickus bonded to Kindara.
“Wait. I need to finish telling you.”
“Then walk with me.”
She shot him her characteristic irritated look. He smiled, glad to have her back, healthy, and in one piece. He had been worried for her.
“The mesmus. He used it on me.”
Barlaam stopped walking and faced her. “Damn it. Was it consensual? What he did to you?”
“It was. At least… three hells, Barl, I took my clothes off willingly.” She smirked at him when he winced. “The gamata thing wasn’t exactly by choice, though. But the mesmus? It killed the pain, and I know I had a concussion. When I woke, it was partially gone. By the next time I woke, the concussion was gone completely.”
Barlaam stilled. “What are you saying?”
“Simple. The demon mesmus actually healed my concussion. No pain. When I should have been in complete agony for weeks.”
“Nothing of this world can heal our Kind that way.”
“But like the demon said, he is not of this world. I think that’s the answer we’ve been looking for.”
“We need to find your demon. I think we need to have a talk.”
“No kidding.” Kindara smiled, a full Kindara smile like he had not seen in years. “I think…I think this is exactly what I’m supposed to do.”
22
The next time Jade opened her eyes, it was to hear arguing over her head. Well, Mickey was arguing. Joselyn was signing like crazy. She didn’t speak often, though she could. Joselyn just preferred to sign.
“Can you two stop? My head is hurting.” Jade told the two of them when they finally looked at her. “What are you doing in here, anyway?”
—You worried me, Joselyn signed.
Her sister had always been overprotective. Jade signed back quickly. —It’s just a little headache. And exhaustion. I haven’t slept since you got vampire-nabbed.
She sat up quickly when she realized Joselyn and Mickey weren’t the only ones in the room.
There were two vampires—Cormac and Theo—and Rathan. Cormac was glaring at Rathan like he wanted to rip him apart. All from the side of the bed Joselyn sat on. “What are you all doing in here? I don’t remember issuing an invitation. And…where exactly is here again?”
“Barlaam carried you here after you practically passed out on us,” Mickey said.
Yeah. Him. The one vampire she wanted to see right now. Well, maybe not right now.
She at least wanted to fix her hair first. Put on clean clothes. That kind of thing.
A woman had to make a good impression on the vampire she was supposed to live with forever, after all. “I…haven’t really slept since you all disappeared. I found Joselyn’s stuff everywhere and she…and your contacts and…Em’s cat…and…”
Tears welled again. Her sister hugged her, and Mickey hugged the both of them.
“We know,” Mickey said as Rathan glared at the two vampires—who at least looked contrite. “We…figured it would be you who would find us missing. Joselyn told us about your call.”
“I…” She didn’t wish they had listened. What had happened was supposed to have happened. She knew that.
Maybe it was the goddess Mickey refused to believe in. Or maybe it was the Fates her friend Loren spent so much time talking about. But it had happened in the right way.
It had just scared her to the bottom of her toes.
But it had brought her to him.
Now if she just knew where he was…
As if by magic, the door opened, and two more people entered.
Then there he was.
And she felt more than just awkward. “Well, looks like the gang is all here.”
He stepped closer to the bed. She was able to tune everyone else out for a moment. He was here now.
23
“How are you feeling?” She was beautiful. Barlaam wanted to make everyone else in the room disappear just so he could stand there and stare at her for as long as he wanted. Her cheeks weren’t as pale as they had been. Her eyes were clearer.
Just exhaustion, then. And shock. “I see you are having guests over.”
“It’s a bring-your-own-root-beer party, big guy.” She stretched, much like a little cat, and blinked up at him. He vaguely registered Theo suggesting they leave Jade alone with the healers.
The demon protested—he wanted one special healer to leave with him. He pointed out that only one healer was needed now.
Hard to argue with his logic.
Kindara left, bickering with her demon the entire way.
Barlaam was starting to get the idea that she liked snipping and snapping at the demon. And the demon liked putting her in situations where that could occur.
The demon had been a manipulative bastard two hundred years ago—it’s what had saved their asses. Malickus apparently knew all of Kindara’s particular hot buttons already.
He waited until the door closed behind them all. “Well…”
She blinked up at him. “Well. Isn’t this awkward.”
“How are you feeling?” He wanted to lean down and taste her. The sight of his female in a bed, the fact that they were completely alone, the fact that he had waited for four hundred years for this little blond creature…He could see signs of the Fae blood her grandfather had forced into her body years ago. In the ears that were slightly higher than the typical human’s. The eyes were more tip-tilted than normal for a human.
Humans were rather plain creatures for the most part.
Most Dardaptoans were made to reflect their goddess, so he had been taught hundreds of years ago. “I am Barlaam…”
“I know exactly who you are.” Thin arms crossed over her chest. She did not take her eyes off of his. “You’re him.”
“What do you mean?”
“Why play games about it? You’re the vampire I’m supposed to be with.” She sat up more fully but kept the blankets between them. “All we need to figure out is how that’s going to work.”
“It’s not going to work at all,” he said bluntly. He hadn’t expected such a direct acceptance of who and what he was. Not from a young human girl like her.
A flash of hurt went through the green eyes. “Why?”
She bit her bottom lip, the only outward sign of her nerves.
“Because you are too damned young. You’re barely more than a babe.”
“I’ve been called a babe before—but probably not the way you mean.” She shot him a flirtatious look, but it didn’t hide the anxiety. The hurt that he had caused.
“I…you are too young. The conversion is far too painful. If you even survive.” Which she probably would, thank the Goddess. The Blanches Dames and Lupoiux blood she already possessed would offer her some protection. But the sheer amount of pain…he was not ready to put his female through that.
The thought that she would be hurting absolutely terrified him.
Now he understood exactly why Rydere had practically been frantic the first morning after he’d converted his Emily. The idea of Jade even getting so much as a papercut terrified him.
“Why wouldn’t I survive? I’m tougher than I look.”
“I have no doubt about that.”
He couldn’t help h
imself. Barlaam settled next to her on the bed. His hands trembled. He fought the urge to touch her. “I—”
“You’re afraid.”
“Damned right.”
“Or…you don’t want me specifically?” A second of hesitancy, of insecurity, went through her eyes. “I get that I’m not exactly…I don’t know anything about you.”
And there it was, exactly what he hadn’t understood about Rydere and Emily, Joselyn, and the others. She could not give up all that she was, all that she knew, for a male like him. “No, you don’t.”
“I can learn. I’m not used to giving up. My dad didn’t raise a coward—or a quitter.”
“My world is not what you want.”
“It’s not just your world anymore.” She pushed the blankets back and stood.
He towered over her, though she was above average height for a human. She pressed her hands against his chest. Right over his heart. “If you don’t want me, why are you here?”
“Because I couldn’t stay away.”
He couldn’t stop himself. Four hundred years he had waited for this female. Barlaam wrapped his hands around her waist and lifted her.
Until her lips met his and he tasted his female for the first time.
24
She’d been kissed before. She might have been waiting for the perfect guy before she did anything more than kiss, but she had been kissed before.
Maybe she had only been fifteen at the time, but she still remembered what it had felt like.
It had felt like nothing like this.
Her hands went to his shoulders and she just clung. His hand dropped to her rear and he cupped her there. Barlaam pulled her tighter against him.
Jade didn’t mind at all.
In fact, kissing him felt absolutely perfect.
He pulled back, with a curse. “I’m not going to do this.”
“Why? Give me one good reason why we can’t? I’m not saying no. I’m not going to say no. I’ve waited five years for you.”
“And I’ve waited four hundred for a damned girl barely into adulthood.”
She flinched back at the fury in his tone.
Talk about killing the mood.
She tried to think of something to say, something that would get through to him.
But it wasn’t like she really knew him. She didn’t even know his last name. Or what he was really like at all. He could be a vampire serial killer, for all she knew.
He pulled away.
She didn’t stop him. The guy didn’t exactly look too thrilled to be kissing her.
She fought the hurt that caused. “I think you’d better go. My dad is looking for me now. I don’t want him to find you here. Not until I know what to tell him about you.”
“You don’t have to tell him a damned thing about me. But I need to speak to him about some things. Some things that happened long before you were born, little girl.”
“There you go, talking like an antique again, grandpa. Well, I like older men. Vampires. You’d better leave before I jump you. Or force you to be my mate. Or whatever you call it in vampire land. You know, like your brother did my cousin. Like Cormac did my sister.” Jade had her pride.
Maybe he didn’t want her. Maybe he was the best man for her. But that didn’t mean he had to be the only man. Her cousins and sister had been meant for the vampires, but only Mickey had been a virgin before she met her vampire. Emily and Joselyn had both had relationships through the years. She thought Mallory had, too. Before what had happened to her eight years ago. Maybe even since then. Jade had never asked.
If they had been destined for vampires, but still had relationships with other men, then so could Jade.
She didn’t want a vampire that didn’t want her. “Leave, please. And lock the door on your way out. Never know when a vampire is going to walk in and try to take me away from everything I know. I’d hate to be one of the crowd. See you around, big guy.”
25
Barlaam ran into her father as he stormed out of the suite and down the hall. He could not stay in his own suite, not with her just across the hall. Not now that Barlaam knew how she tasted. How she smelled. How she felt in his arms.
She’d felt like perfection. Like she was exactly where he was supposed to be.
“Is my daughter ok?” Taniss asked. He’d stepped directly into Barlaam’s path. He was six inches shorter and about fifty pounds lighter. But all of Barlaam’s senses went on alert as he smelled the Lupoiux.
Lupoiux and Dardaptoans had been enemies for thousands of years. It was hard to tamp down the instinctive response to knowing a Lupoiux was anywhere near his female. “She rests. I believe it is just exhaustion and fear.”
He nodded. The eyes were as green as his daughter’s. That disconcerted Barlaam for a moment. “No surprise. Jade was the first to realize her sister was missing. They are extremely close.”
“I am sorry she had to go through that.” Barlaam couldn’t resist a look back at the suite. “But she should heal just fine.”
“There are scratches on my niece Michaela. Demon scratches. I recognized them.”
“Shojo and Midreno attack a few days ago. But she was relatively unharmed.”
“That normal around here? I’ve only seen about a dozen demons in twenty years.”
“It wasn’t normal at all. They came for her, but it’s not common knowledge. They wanted to keep her from having her daughter.”
“I’m not certain I want Jade so far away from me, then. I’m across from Joselyn.” The wolf leveled a look at him. “I understand you’re the one who brought Jade here?”
“Yes. She will be well-guarded in my family suite.”
“Still, I want her moved nearer to me.”
The idea of her being clear across the resort didn’t sit well with him. Not after what had happened to Theo’s female. “No. She stays here.”
The wolf bristled, growled. “Who are you to stand between me and my daughter?”
Who was he? Just the male chosen by the goddess to protect Jade for the rest of his days. Hers. He would never take that lightly. “She is my female.”
The wolf’s arms rippled, and fur appeared. Barlaam’s fangs extended.
“You are not taking her now. She is far too young for this.”
“No kidding. But no one will keep me from protecting her. She stays right where she is at.”
“And then what? My daughter has spoken of a vampire for years.”
“I know.” Barlaam shot a look back to the suite. “I am he. No other.”
“Then why are you not with her, claiming her like your Kind does?”
“Do you think I want this for her? The pain of conversion is intense. And your elder daughter and two of her cousins barely survived it. Jade is not fully human, but it will still hurt her. I can’t watch her go through the pain at twenty-two years old. She’s too young. She has her whole future ahead of her. I will not change her world. Not like my brother did to her cousin. Or Cormac to her sister. I will not take her choices.”
“What do you mean she’s not fully human?”
Barlaam hesitated, but it had already been said. “I found files in your father’s research. On her, and several of your nieces and nephews.”
“What did you find? What files?” The wolf had tensed. “What did he do to them?”
“He experimented on them. He shot Dames Blanches Fae blood into your daughter. She’s not fully human. She’s part Fae. And I scent Lupoiux when I healed her. She will survive the conversion, but it will hurt her. How can I ask her to go through that?”
The wolf nodded. “Jade was conceived two weeks after I was first bitten. I knew that affected her in the womb. I thought it explained her…differences.”
Barlaam nodded. It did. The wolf wouldn’t have fully changed immediately. “She should have been born a twin.”
The wolf shook his head. “The pregnancy started off as a twin, but the baby was stillborn. The cord…he was a boy.”
Had the Lupoiux been fully converted at the time of conception the babe would have survived. Two weeks would have made the difference.
And the wolf still grieved that babe. It was written on his face. The fur had subsided as well. Jade’s father was around fifty, but he did not look like a fifty-year-old human. “I am sorry.”
“I’m not familiar with Dames Blanches Fae,” the wolf admitted. “I knew Jade was different. But I’m not exactly certain what that means for her.”
“Dames Blanches are the white ladies of legend. They are very reclusive and can be almost invisible unless one knows to look for them. And they are highly knowledgeable in all things—they tend to soak up knowledge from elder witches and Druids and Nellanas like sponges. They may even draw those Kinds to them. And they are highly gifted as prognosticators. I also sensed Sebastos blood within her veins. But I do not know how that is possible. It is possible your father used a drug cocktail containing the blood of several Kinds on your daughter.”
The wolf flinched. “I never knew. I want to see the other files. Now.”
Barlaam hesitated again, then nodded. The wolf deserved to know. Taniss’s family deserved to know what the old bastard had done to them, too. “They’re in my office.”
“Lead the way.”
Barlaam stopped one of the guards just outside the entrance to the Dardanos suite. “Fealix, you are to message me directly if the blond human female leaves the wing.”
The guard’s confusion was clear. Never had a guest of their family been so closely watched. At least not in this century. “Barl?”
“She is my female, and she is still human. With the recent problems we have had, I want to know where she is at all times.”
“Of course. And congratulations.”
Barlaam nodded. He would never deny her. He couldn’t. To do so would be to deny his very being. “Thank you.”
“You are taking quite a few liberties, aren’t you?” Taniss asked. “Has my daughter given you permission to make these decisions for her? She’s very independent.”
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