by Ivy Carter
“Like hell you will.” She stomps her foot in outrage.
Tristan suddenly groans and starts to turn over onto his side. I quickly will a pair of black pajama pants onto him. He would have turned onto his side dislodging my lower body that is currently hiding his bottom boxer clad half from Jessa’s eyes. Binding clothing suddenly appearing out of nowhere wakes Tristan. His eyes pop open and he looks around.
“Oh! Why did you have to go and hide the goodies?” Jessa laughs so hard she starts to snort. I just shake my head. She is either high or up to mischief. I am leaning toward the latter.
“What the hell?” Tristan sleepily mumbles aloud.
“Exactly.” I respond while laying my head back onto his chest. Snuggling in. He idly starts to stroke my hair with his fingers.
“Not that you two don’t make a pretty picture.” Jessa smirks while waving a camera at us. Oh hell no. That was the clicking noise that woke me in the first place. The damn wench was documenting my morning after sleeping in a bed with another man. I scowl at her and am about to speak when she pops off again. Jumping from foot to foot. Hyper as all hell.
“Com’on. Get out of bed. Mommas hungry.” She whines at me. Showing me her fangs.
“Do I look like a snack bar to you?” I screw my face into a mock angry glare.
“Well I tried Gavin first, but he threw a book at me. He wouldn’t even gimme a nibble.” She pouts. A surprised shout of laughter shakes me as Tristan guffaws. I raise up on my elbow and smile down at his laughing face.
“Well at least someone is happy this morning.” Jessa spouts while still wiggling in her boots. “When we arrived home late last night we thought WW3 was going on up in here. Until we heard Ells there start to snore. Even then I still wanted to check on you.” She tells me with an innocent smile. That does nothing to mask her wicked glee she is getting out of trying to me blush. “Sebastian wouldn’t let me though.”
“Well I am glad someone can finally keep you on a leash!” I laugh when she takes a flying leap for the bed. Damned and determined to tackle me into submission. I wave my hand above my head making a barrier around the bed. She bounces off it like she would if she had landed on a trampoline. She bounces back landing hard on her ass as she hits the floor.
“Ouch, you hag!” She whisper shouts.
“Why are you trying to be quiet Jessa? Where is Sebastian anyway?” She shakes her head waving at me with both hands to be quiet. Maybe I was speaking a little loudly. But she must be up to something if she is sneaking into my room.
“What are you up too?” I ask her as I idly run my hand up and down Tristan’s torso. Scratching his abs lightly with my nails. Enjoying the muscles tightening under my administrations.
“Like I said I am hungry.” She tells me trying to look innocent.
I push myself up out of Tristan’s lazy embrace. I grab the sheet to once again cover us.
“Tell me.” I tell her with all the seriousness I can throw into my tone.
I feel Tristan sit up behind me. He wraps his arms tightly around my waist. Pulling my back up against his bare chest.
“Sebastian wants to talk to you. He has news that is in his words ‘is of a delicate nature’ that he wants to speak to you about.” I just groan. Wondering what is heading my way now.
I feel Tristan stiffen before he lets go of me and starts to get out of the bed. I reach for his hand. Grasping it firmly within my own.
“I want you with me.” I tell him while looking into his eyes. He was a comfort to me last night. I won’t turn him away now.
“Are you sure, angel?” I smile and hear Jessa let out a squeal and an Aww sound. Silly.
“Absolutely.” I again tell him with all seriousness. Trying to convey how much that I want him with me through my eyes. Tristan nods once then slips back into his former spot behind my body. I look back to Jessa’s smiling face.
“Jessa, go pop a blood bag and give us a minute, yeah?”
“Fine.” She pouts out as she fairly stomps her tiny booted feet out of the room.
Chapter 8.
“We need to talk.” Tristan tells me while crawling out of bed. He takes the top sheet with him. Wrapping it around his waist as he stands by the edge of the bed looking down at me. As if he expects me to say something.
“Yeah, I guess we do.” I utter out. I really don’t know what he wants from me. I know exactly what I want. But it’s hard for me to say it out loud. Especially since I am still feeling the echoes of a very crushing blow. Jaxx. I shudder as his name runs rapid through my mind. Crushing all of myself confidence. I look up at Tristan as he waits patiently for me to begin.
“I know what I want. I know exactly what I want.” He nods for me to continue. “I want for you and I to try for whatever this is that is brewing between us. I only have one condition. I can’t have sex with you I can’t do that until I am truly mated with my other half. There also won’t be any sharing of you with anyone else, for however long you want this to last. Those are my conditions. IF this is what you want from me also?” I tell him all of this while staring at the red fitted sheet still attached to my bed. I feel a hand grasp my chin and start to draw my gaze upward.
“Is this all you want from me, the comfort that I can give you in his absence?” Tristan asks me in his usual gruff voice.
“No.” I whisper that one single word. That simple word breaks the façade Tristan had adopted at the beginning of this ‘talk’. Now he is sporting the most radiant smile. “I care about you. I would never have allowed you to stay last night if I didn’t care.” I whisper. Still mesmerized by his gorgeous smile.
Tristan leans forward bracing his hands on the side of the bed. Bringing our faces, lips almost within touching range. The he whispers the most beautifully heart wrenching spoken words that have ever been uttered to me.
“If you open your heart, Ella. Even just a crack. I swear with everything that I am that I will never again let you fall.”
A single tear tracks down my cheek in response to his words. I nod and grab each side of his face with my hands pulling him down to me. Touch my forehead to his. Looking deeply into his black exquisite eyes. “I will try. That is all I can promise.” I whisper before I slam my mouth to his. I force my tongue into his mouth twining it with his. Laying back onto the bed and pulling him down with me. I run my fingers through his hair, scratching lightly at his scalp with my nails. Pulling a low moan from deep within Tristan’s throat.
BANG! BANG! BANG! “I told you that Sebastian wanted to talk to you. I can hear him moaning from down the hall. Get dressed. Now.” She sings the last part. Then I hear her stomping off down the hall and can’t stop the burst of laughter that explodes out of me.
“She always has the best damned timing, doesn’t she?”
“She is quite unique.” He smiles that smirky smile at me.
“You know one day…You can tell me how you came to know her?” I phrase the last as a question. While still running my fingers through his hair.
“Someday.” He responds as he pushes himself off the bed.
“You are coming with me, right?” I ask feeling a little vulnerable suddenly. He raises one eyebrow at my question.
“You want me there?”
“Please.” I tell him in a shaky voice. “I just don’t know how much of this I can take before I explode. Your touch calms me.” I tell him honestly.
“We are going to have to work on your control, my lady.” He chuckles.
“No more of this ‘my lady’ stuff. I am yours but in no way am I your better in anyway. Yeah?”
He simply nods in response. But I can tell that this is going to be hard for him. Fighting this formality that he has toward me. Especially in public. You can read the hesitation in his eyes.
“Welp. We had better get moving before we anger his prissiness. “I clap my hands together putting on a brave face.
“It is okay to show fear, angel. Especially when we are alone.” Tristan takes my hand pullin
g me to the standing position in front of him.
“I have never been good at opening up and showing what’s on the inside.” I shake my head as I say this. “But with you, I will try. That’s all I can promise.” I tell him once more as I stroke his high cheek bone.
“Then I will take that.” He brushes his lips lightly against mine sealing my promise.
I close my eyes and imagine that I am wearing a bright blue tank top with black linen board shorts. Then I will it to be. I feel the soft fabric sliding along my skin clothing me.
“Now that should be a sin.” When I raise my eyebrows in question. He answers. “To cover such exquisitely formed beauty.” This time he does cause a full body flush. Tristan chuckles at my reddening cheeks.
I close my eyes once again and imagine him wearing a tight pair leather pants with a blue faded t-shirt. Tristan looks down at himself then back to me.
“Leather again?”
“Well it does encase you superbly.” I smirk in response.
I walk into the bathroom to run a brush through my hair and secure it to the top of my head in a messy bun. Brushing my teeth is on the menu. After my mouth has thoroughly cleansed, I hand Tristan my toothbrush with a raised eyebrow.
“You’ve already explored every region of my mouth with your tongue. You might as well borrow it.” I shrug.
“Indeed.” He says with a chuckle as she takes the toothbrush. It is strangely intimate watching each other go about daily morning rituals such as this.
After Tristan has finished, I grasp his hand and start to tug him toward the door before I get any other ideas into my head and drag him back to bed instead. My thoughts must be plain as day upon my face because he takes one look at me and laughs once more. Guys! Sheesh. When did I become so easy to read?
Chapter 9.
When we reach the outer door leading into the front room, I get an ominous feeling deep in the pit of my stomach. I stop suddenly. Tristan almost runs into my back. I take a deep breath and still myself for what I know is going to be a complete fuck all moment. Tristan takes my shoulders from behind.
“We don’t have to go in there. You don’t owe anyone anything. Whatever is waiting in there for you can wait as long as you want it to.” He squeezes my shoulders to reassure me that this is my choice.
I straighten my spine. Whatever is waiting on me I can handle it. I reach up with my right hand and grasp Tristan’s. I give it a squeeze.
“Well it’s now or never. I have never been one to run from anything.” I shrug trying to appear nonchalant. When I am anything but. Sebastian has a nasty habit of bringing surprises home that aren’t always welcome.
Tristan’s only response is to kiss the nape of my neck. I feel him scrape his fangs against my skin as if in dark promise of things to come. I shudder wondering how it will feel to have his fangs buried deeply inside of me. My response to his behavior earns me a darkly sensual growl. I turn my neck and look over my shoulder.
“Later?” I ask with raised brows.
“Indeed.” His damn smirk is going to cause to me to have a permanent blush. Pfft. Damned men.
The wood flooring of the front room is cold against my bare feet as I walk in. Now I wish I had at least slipped on some flip flops before I left my room. I hear Tristan stop suddenly behind me. I can suddenly feel anger flowing off him in waves. I turn to look at him and see that there are black flames dancing in his eyes, and he is staring very intently at something across the room that I must have missed. Turning around and trying to figure out what has set him off was a bad idea. What I see… Who I see sitting on my brother’s sofa with the hands clasped together tightly. This sight almost makes me lose my mind.
I feel my eyes start to glow. My skin takes on a pearlescent sheen that it does when my full power flows to the surface. Time seems to have stopped and I am rooted in spot staring at my fated life-mate. Former fated life mate? Holding hands with another woman as if they are the happiest couple the Mother Goddess has ever brought together. I can’t seem to take my eyes from their entwined hands. That’s when I notice the matching Celtic bands that they are both wearing. The rings are made in a very intricate design. What do those rings mean?
Time starts up again when the happy couple rises to their feet, never unlinking their hands. Then they surprise me and drop to their knees.
“My lady.” Jaxx and his woman intone in the reverent tone. Not once looking up.
I finally take my eyes off the couple and search the room for the Lord Leech that must have brought them here. To my family’s home. What was he thinking?
I spot him leaning against a side wall that houses some of my brother’s books in the walls built in shelves. When he sees my face, he seems to shrink back a bit before lifting his chin and visibly straightening his spine. Big mistake. Showing defiance when he has done this. The very thing that would hurt me the most in the world…Big fucking mistake.
Sebastian makes as if to take a step in my direction and I freeze him in stasis. I do this without even a thought. By the look on his face my using one of his favorite tricks isn’t going to go over well. Then I hear his voice in my head.
“He doesn’t know who you are Ella. Someone has wiped every memory that he might have had of you. Or the time that he has spent with you. All he knows is that he was made to complete a mission for Valkery’s father. He had to do this in order to save Selene. As soon as he made it back to the clan compound his memories were wiped. He and Selene were reunited then.”
I don’t speak back to Sebastian mentally. I can feel him trying to fight his way into my psyche. Trying to break free of me. But it is time he learns that he is in no way a match for me. Vampire Lord or no.
I give the rest of the room a quick glance. Jessa is standing against the same wall that I found Sebastian standing. Her face a mask of anger and frustration. Whether it is pointed at me, or her mate. I have no idea. Gavin is curiously absent.
I wave my hand in Sebastian’s direction letting him free of the stasis spell. When he starts to speak aloud. I put one finger up in warning. I am looking down at my feet taking deep calming breaths trying to leash the onset of my quickly climbing temper. Someone stole everything that I once held truest and dearest to my heart from me. My Life-Mate was a lie. Someone sent to spy on me? But for what reason? Questions I will soon see answered. The deep calming breathes don’t seem to be helping. The furniture in the room starts to rattle seemingly on its own.
I hear a quiet whine of dismay coming from the blonde woman still kneeling on the wood floor in front of the couch. Neither she nor Jaxx have moved from their prone positions.
I feel someone grasp my shoulder with a firm touch. Feeling a calming energy flow through me cooling the inner fire boiling inside my veins. I turn my head once more looking behind me. Tristan is standing in the same spot fire still burning within his gorgeous eyes. Anger riding him so brightly that I can feel it. Anger on my behalf. I reach back and entwine my hand with his. Pulling on it so he will step forward to my side. He will never again walk behind me or kneel in deference to me. I am his. Whatever that entails. However long it lasts. As soon as he is at my side I lean over and kiss his sculpted cheek gently. Feeling his unshaved face against my sensitive lips. I pull back and smile at him in thanks for so many things. Squeezing his hand tightly I turn to face the still kneeling happy couple.
Chapter 10.
“You may rise.” I tell them in an indifferent tone. My mask is firmly in place. The echoes of pain that this man has caused me is battering at me like a fierce storm. But none of my inner torment can be seen outwardly.
They both rise to their feet. Neither ever letting go of the other. Their hands still clasped together. I wonder why?
“Why do you not unclasp your hands?” I ask in complete monotone.
When Jaxx begins to speak. I wave my hand in his direction.
“Not you. I was asking your companion.” I look to the scared young woman clinging to him as if for dear life. She r
eminds me of a scared rabbit. She is beautiful in a completely innocent way. I can see her inner light shining out of her clear and true. She bares no malice in her soul.
“We are just recently reunited. Upon my mate’s return to me, we had a Binding Ceremony preformed. So that we may not ever be separated again.” She whispers in a melodic voice. It is almost as if she is singing as she speaks. I simply nod my head as if in understanding showing none of the impact that this blow has dealt to me.
“Why have you come here?” I ask her once again with no emotion in my voice.
She takes a deep breath as if visibly steeling herself for the fight of her life. Clinging even tighter to her mate. HER BONDED MATE. That phrase rattles and bounces through my psyche like a damn ping pong ball. I look into her wide crystal like blue eyes and read true fear there.
“We have come seeking your blessing for two things, my lady.” She whispers so low that I can barely hear her. I look over at Sebastian and he is shaking his head as if he has no idea what this is about. Yeah. I’ll greatly enjoy taking care of his ass later.
“You may go on.” I wave my hand in her direction. Feeling impatient at her hesitance.
“We, Jaxx and I have come seeking refuge. Seeds of darkness have sprung to life within our home. Our clan has turned it’s back to the teachings of the light, of the Mother Goddess. We could not remain.” Holy... This cannot be happening. I look over and try to read Jaxx’s stoic face, but he is showing no emotion at the sight of me. As if I am truly a stranger to him. I see awe in his eyes when he looks at me. But no recognition of any kind.
“And the other favor you have come for?” I take a deep breath and wonder what the fuck else they could want from me. She woman hesitates. “What is your name?” I pop out. Startling her even more.