Eye of the Storm, page 25
part #10 of Promise Me Series
I knew damn well that Theo wouldn’t have a meeting on Saturday. So what else did he have planned? I tried to cover my suspicion quickly, but Theo was getting better at reading me.
“I have to fit in target practice on Saturday,” Theo continued carefully. “Too many of the foxes have been using my increased absence during the days to let their practice slide. So I need to evaluate everyone, and get them practicing again. Which by the way, you need to consider doing more often, too.”
“You’re right,” I said, meaning “I’m sorry.” He nodded, his blue eyes looking troubled. Then he was gone, taking our sleeping son upstairs.
Maybe I should do more target practice. I hadn’t done any in a long while. I probably couldn’t hit the broad side of the barn anymore if it was more than fifteen feet away.
“Teleport back, Sar,” Danial said affectionately, coming closer. “I’ll be seeing you soon, darling.”
I gave him a hug and a kiss, and teleported back to Hayden. Devlin, Lash, and a sleeping Venus were waiting for me on the couch. The surrealism of going from one vampire lover, their best friend who I’d also been intimate with, and a child of mine to another set of the same was so intense for a moment I couldn’t move.
“Come sit!” Devlin said excitedly, beckoning to me. “You’re missing the best part.”
They were watching one of the Saw movies. “Thanks, I’ll pass,” I said, yawning. “It’s been a long day.”
“You’re right,” Devlin said, taking Venus from Lash as he untangled her arms from his legs and whip. “We should all head to bed.”
I gave him a funny look. Since when did Dev think bed was good at this hour?
“Sar, I don’t have any ‘arrangements’ to make this week,” Devlin said carefully. “I plan on keeping your hours, to a great extent. Venus also needs to be up in the day, and I want to spend time with her. So even though it goes against my nature, I’m going to try sleeping most of the nights, and being awake for a good part of the days.”
“Me, too,” Lash said, nodding. “I can’t guard you both if I’m sleeping. And it makes sense if there is an attack on Devlin or Hayden, it will happen during the day.”
“Because Ulysses will figure him asleep?”
“That, and in daytime, he only needs to get Devlin outside Hayden’s walls to burn him in the sun,” Lash said grimly. “But don’t worry. Titus and Rip have erected a magical barrier around Hayden, reinforcing the stone and mortar. It would take a nuke to crack her walls, Sar, and barring that, someone would have to get in here to place an explosive, to bring down the roof or the walls. And no one is getting in here past me, or Titus.”
Reassured by his words, I relaxed a little. “Bring her to me, Dev.”
Devlin came to me, Venus in his arms. I kissed Venus softly on her forehead. She didn’t even stir in Devlin’s arms. “Have only good dreams, daughter dear,” I said fondly. “Know you are loved very much.”
Devlin gave me a soft look, and then headed upstairs. I went first to grab a cold glass of water before following them to bed. I’d gotten in the habit here at Hayden, but it had been hard to remember at first. Ghost and Darkness were passed out on the kitchen floor. I woke them up, and let them outside. As I waited for them to finish, Lash came up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist as he rested his chin on my shoulder.
“Did things go well at Danial’s?” he hissed softly in my ear. “You seem much calmer than I thought you would be. Did you talk to the female cougar?”
How did he know that I’d planned on talking to her? Did he know me that well? Maybe.
“Jenny doesn’t want to have his child, so I’m doing better,” I replied. “But I learned Sundown is pregnant. Terian’s going to marry her, so it’s good, but I’m worried for her.”
Lash was quiet for a few minutes. I watched the dogs and gave them a few moments to play. They hadn’t had anyone to walk them that day, and I reminded myself that here, there was no one who’d do that for me. Maybe I could convince Serena to go with me on walks...
When Lash spoke, the words out of his mouth were the last ones I expected him to utter. “Would it have bothered you to have a child out of wedlock? You were married to Theo, and Oathed to Danial and Devlin, when you had their children.”
In Dev’s case, that wasn’t technically true, but I got what he was saying, that all three fathers had been very involved in the pregnancies, and in their children’s lives. Besides, what Lash was really asking didn’t have to do with any of that. He was asking if I’d have been upset if I hadn’t miscarried our baby; to be pregnant by him and living here with him while having no real lasting commitment from him.
Should I tell him I loved him, that because of that it wouldn’t have been like it had been with Devlin, where I’d been for all intents and purposes forced into it? No, because I wanted to tell him very much, and I was just looking for an excuse to tell him, hoping for some stupid romantic fantasy. It’d just make things more complicated. The truth was if Theo had left me, and I’d been having Lash’s child, it would have bothered me to be pregnant and not married. I knew women did it all the time, but I remembered growing up without a father, and it still made me sad, to think that I had never seen him smile, that I had no memories of him. Being pregnant and living with Lash here at Hayden would not have been the same as being pregnant and married to him. But the idea of being married to him, a man like him, was another whole separate issue, one I didn’t want to get into at that moment. What in hell should I say? There were so many things I could say that sounded judgmental, or too personal.
Lash was still holding me, but he hadn’t moved, waiting for my answer.
Tell him the truth; just say it agreeably and very briefly. “I think like you do,” I said finally. “A child needs both their mother and father. Terian’s marriage to Sundown is a commitment to both her and his child.”
“I’ve never been married,” Lash hissed. “I’ve had women who I’ve known for years, some I fu...was intimate with for years, but it’s not the same thing. I was never going to marry any of them, or commit to them.”
I let the dogs in, mentally scrambling to find some words to say back to him.
“But not all women want that,” I said, shrugging. “Some just want a good time, the same as some men—”
Lash let out an angry hiss. I looked up at him in confusion.
“Sorry, I thought you meant that as an insult to me,” Lash replied. “But I can see you didn’t. And it’s fair, anyway. It’s true that I wasn’t looking for romance with any of my former lovers, just sex. But I was always clear about that with them—that I never wanted more than that.”
His cold cut-and-dry attitude was repellent, to say the least. Not only had I heard enough, it was time to change the subject. “Is anyone listening?” I said softly as I could, interrupting him.
Lash took me outside quickly, and closed the door almost all the way behind us. “No one will hear us, over the wind,” he hissed. “But hurry up and talk, as I’m freezing my balls off out here. What do you have to tell me that can’t be overheard?”
“Look,” I said uneasily. “I need some help, if you’ll give it to me.”
“Who?” Lash said.
By his eyes and the stance he immediately slipped into, he thought I wanted him to go after someone. “Not that kind of help,” I whispered. “But I can’t get the surgery, Lash. Titus gave Stephen that forgetting spell, and I can’t wreck it, or Dev might hurt him. And Theo’s not cooperating—”
“You want me to get you protection?” Lash said, to my relief not laughing or rolling his eyes. “Birth control pills?”
“I’m sorry to ask, but—”
“I’ll pick some up tomorrow,” Lash said, nodding. “Do you have any allergies? Is there a particular brand?”
I wondered how and where he was going to get them and then decided it was better not to know. “No and no. And I’m sorry to ask—”
Lash led me inside, and shut the door behind us. “Sar, I told you I’d help you. And even if I didn’t owe you my life, I’d still help you with this. Though I don’t understand why you just don’t say something to Theo. Surely if you told him, he’d help you? For that matter, so would others we both know. I’m not the only one you could ask for this, so I’m naturally wondering, why are you asking me?” Lash stared at me hard.
“For the same reason I don’t say anything to someone else, either of them,” I said quietly. “I don’t want any more. They do. And even if I did, this is the worst time with Ulysses looking for vengeance. I have enough to worry about, without one that can’t defend itself.”
“I understand. Say no more,” Lash said, nodding once. “I’ll meet up with you tomorrow. Now I’ve got to go check on Theoron before I turn in. He is learning fast, Sar, but he was badly hurt by what we worked on earlier, and I want to make sure he healed okay.”
When he mentioned Theoron’s injuries, I immediately wanted to go myself to see him. But it was better to wait until morning, when T would be healed. I knew if I saw him hurt, I’d tell him to stop training. My son needed this, maybe more now than ever before. Lash’s training hadn’t seemed that important, back a few weeks ago. Now, it might save T’s life.
“Good night, then,” I said gratefully, giving Lash a light kiss on the right cheek.
“Good night,” he said seriously, “and next time you want to aim more to the left, and down a little.”
I looked at him in confusion for a minute, and then we both cracked up laughing.
Walking upstairs, still chuckling, I found Devlin in bed waiting for me, annoyed. “No more kissing, or anything else with him, Sar,” he said in a dangerous tone. “He has Gina, and you have Theo, Danial, and I. I am recovered enough to take care of your desires, to say nothing of Danial or Theo.”
I was very, very glad we’d gone outside to talk. Clearly, Devlin had been listening to us.
“Sure,” I said, taking off my clothes, and sliding in beside him.
“Just ‘sure’?’” Devlin said searchingly. “You aren’t going to protest?”
“Why? You’re right. It’s probably better for both of us, anyway, if we don’t touch or kiss. I just miss —”
I clamped my lips tight together. Shit. At least no more sentiments had slipped out.
“What is it exactly you are missing?” Devlin said, his tone dripping jealousy.
Chapter Seventeen
I stayed quiet, my mind racing for a non-offensive answer.
“Sar, tell me what you miss, and I’ll provide it for you. As I told you before, I can be anything you want me to be.”
I thought about leaving, but for where? He’d come after me, anyway. I didn’t speak.
“If you are embarrassed to say it, I can surmise it. Titus can give me a potion that will make my tongue as his is,” Devlin said delicately. “I can—”
I should’ve known he’d think that it had to do with sex. “I am sexually sated with what you do already,” I said, trying not to smile. “You don’t have to do—”
“What do you miss, then?”
Devlin was not going to be put off. I’d better think of something quick. He was getting angry.
“Answer me, Sar. Right now.”
“It’s not sex,” I blurted out. “It’s always about sex with you. I’m not missing sex!”
Well, I was a little, as Lash had been so very good at it, but for the most part that really wasn’t it. I missed being with Lash himself. I was missing being intimate with him, being close to him, and sharing quiet banter with casual touches that were both comforting and still erotic as hell. I missed his sense of humor. And that was much, much more important to me than just good sex. But I could not admit that, not without starting one hell of a fight.
“I’ll ask you one last time. What are you missing with him?”
I had to say something that was true, and yet not so revealing.
“I miss the easier times from the last part of the summer. I miss the sun, and laying with him on the rock, and feeling it warm on my skin—”
“Ah,” Devlin said, mollified. “I know what you mean. I miss the warmth of Rio myself. This winter has set in faster than any I can remember, and I remember a good few.” He held me closer. “I’m sorry I can’t take you to a warmer climate for the winter,” he said, kissing my brow. “But it’s too risky. We will go next year though, if you like.”
I looked at him, hesitantly euphoric. “You mean it? I wouldn’t have to be here, with the snow, and the ice, and everything?”
“Of course not, if you didn’t want to be,” Devlin said, giving me a generous smile. “Venus would love the beach, I’m sure. I know Lash would like spending the winters in a warmer climate.”
“But he said here was home that night you marked me, that he didn’t want to leave—”
“Why are you always interested in him, in how he feels?” Devlin said, angry again. “Why aren’t you interested in pleasing me?”
I didn’t reply. There was nothing safe I could think of to say.
“I am sorry,” Devlin said finally. “I know you must have questions about some things that you heard us say that night, Sar. Excuse my ill temper. I’m feeling overwrought from Diana—”
“Did you turn her?” I asked, even though I didn’t really want to know if he had.
“I kissed her at length, but didn’t take any of her blood,” Devlin said, holding me about the waist as he eased his blond curls down on my breasts. “She’ll sleep until dusk tomorrow, being partly turned as she is. Ulysses has until Sunday night to come to me. Michael was able to locate me a cell phone number for Ulysses, and I left him a clear message, on what I expected, and what would happen to Diana if he didn’t agree.”
I caressed him gently, and he sighed under my ministrations.
“I don’t want to hurt her,” Devlin said, kissing my fingertips as they passed close to his face. “But I’m probably going to have to. Heather was a featherbrain, but she was a good girl at heart. She just didn’t think things through, and it led to her death. But I made her a vampire because she wanted it and I liked her, not to punish her. Diana won’t feel the same, when my blood wears off her, no matter that she pleaded with me over and over tonight to make her my ‘immortal bride’.”
“It’s such a waste,” I said with disgust. “She never asked for this.”
“No one ever does,” Devlin said ominously. “But often, misfortune strikes anyway.”
* * * *
The next morning, I discovered that Devlin and I were not alone in bed. Danial had joined us sometime in the night. I awoke in his arms, and he awoke with me, as he usually did. Danial was at my back, and Devlin was still in my arms, cradled against my chest.
“Good morning, Love,” Danial said softly, running a fang tip down the side of my neck.
“Stop that,” I said, giving him a smile.
“Kiss me, then,” Danial said, hungrily. “It was all I could do to give you time with Theo last night. I wanted to have you to myself.”
I looked over at Devlin’s sleeping form lying half on me, and then pointedly back at Danial, saying with my eyes that he didn’t have me all to himself.
“Dev’s going to sleep for a while yet,” Danial said, helping me move Devlin off me gently. “Why don’t you and I go get you some breakfast? I hear T downstairs in the kitchen, getting some cereal for himself.”
If so, that meant it was about eight, and T wouldn’t be alone down there. But I was hungry enough that didn’t matter. I put on my robe, and Danial put on Devlin’s. I mused if he’d done that to ensure Dev would stay upstairs, but decided he knew Devlin better than that. Being naked wouldn’t stop Devlin from coming downstairs, if he wanted to.
We went downstairs to find T eating some cereal alone in the kitchen. He was surprised to see his father, but happy, too. I was just glad to see he was uninjured. I got a bagel toasting, and some fruit out for myself, and Danial pulled out a chair and sat down and began talking to T. Business quickly turned to training.
“Dad, do you want to come and watch Lash and I spar? I’m getting better every day.”
“I need to sleep, my son,” Danial said, putting his hand on T’s shoulder. “But I would like to see you demonstrate what you are learning later, if you wouldn’t mind. Maybe against Theo—”
“T is not to teach your cat anything he learns from me,” an angry hissing voice said. “It was a condition of my agreeing to teach him.”
I turned to see Lash in the doorway, baring his hooked snake fangs at Danial.
“I did promise,” T said, nodding. “But come watch us, Dad—”
Danial opened his mouth, baring his own fangs at Lash. “I will do what I—”
“Lash, would you mind, if Danial and I came to watch you and T, just for a few minutes?” I interjected. “We won’t stay long. I understand that you want to keep your secrets, and Danial and I are grateful to you, for teaching our son.”
Lash looked over at me, his eyes snake eyes, unreadable. “If you like, Sar,” he hissed finally. “But hurry, as we have a lot to do, and I’d prefer you only stayed for the very first part.”
“We’ll all come,” Devlin said, striding into the kitchen fully dressed. “I would like to see how my nephew is progressing. Sar, why don’t you and Danial get dressed, and meet us there?”
Lash nodded. “We’ll wait.”
Danial and I headed upstairs. Danial tossed on some clothes of Devlin’s. They fit, the brothers being close to the same size. Just as we were opening the bedroom door to go back downstairs, Devlin shouted, “God damn him!”
Danial and I ran downstairs to see Devlin looking lividly into a square foot box. Lash was sipping some water in a chair, looking thoughtful.
T looked a little confused. “But Dad’s here—?”
“What is that—ugh!” Danial said, stopping in his tracks as he looked into the box.
T handed me a piece of paper. “Look.”
Dalcon,
It was quick for him, compared to what it will be like for you. Set my sister free, unharmed, or the next ashes you get will be Danial’s.
