by Anna Lowe
When she’d fled the East Coast, she thought she’d lost everything.
When the vampires caught up with her in Arizona, she had been a hair’s breadth away from losing her life.
But she hadn’t lost anything, except maybe her ignorance. She’d found, instead. A new life. A good man. A tight-knit community.
So what exactly was she running from?
A breeze made the nearby bushes dance and wave, drawing her attention to the landscape that had fascinated her from the very start.
A minute later, she gunned the engine to life and made a measured turn east. Her breathing steadied along with her pulse as she followed an inner compass, and every mile filled her with certainty. By sunset, she was wiping the last tear from her eye and gazing up at two overlapping circles, swinging in a friendly breeze. There it was, the ranch brand, hanging proudly above the gate. She turned her face to the streaked sky with a faint smile.
This. This place was home.
The music led her right to him after she parked the car and wandered a few steps—east, toward the schoolhouse. Toward a familiar, yearning tune.
It was getting dark quickly, but the schoolhouse lights were on. When she got closer, she pulled up in the path. Something was different. There was half a pile of shingles by the corner and a ladder propped against the roof. The walkway was different, too. The scattered gravel had been raked into a neatly delineated path lined with solar garden lights that spilled cones of light at her feet, inviting her onward. Slowly, she stepped closer, swung open the south side door, and stepped inside, holding her breath.
Her pulse beat harder as she looked around the room. There was no one there, but someone had been in recently because the music was playing, the lights on. And something was new here, too.
Slowly, she picked out the changes, flushing a little with the discovery of each one. The dusty old blackboard was gone; a brand-new whiteboard stood in its place, facing the classroom. The water cooler wasn’t dripping any more. The back right window with the broken pane had finally been fixed, and over on the left…
She got stuck on the next breath. The crooked bookshelf was gone, and an unused desk had been taken away to make space for an aquamarine rug and two beanbags—one green, one blue. A treasure chest stood in the corner, propped open to show the books inside, and the wall was painted with an undersea scene, including… Yes, an octopus reading eight books. She covered her mouth with one hand because it was just as perfect as she’d imagined it. The kids would love it. Even Timmy might sit still in a reading nook like that.
She wanted to plop down on a beanbag and let it all sink in, but that would have to wait for another time. Because her gut was still churning, anxious to find her mate.
Mate. It had a certain ring, now that she’d had a chance to chew on it a while.
She continued out the north side of the room, back under the stars. It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the dimmer light, but then she found him. Cody—sitting on the far end of the porch with his back to the wall and his head tipped back like he’d been counting stars. But maybe he’d given up because his eyes were closed, and there was a beer in his hand. A cold drink at the end of a busy day, she guessed, judging by the amount of work done on the schoolhouse. She stepped off the porch and circled around to face him, her heart prancing and whinnying like an excited filly.
But something was wrong. He was uncharacteristically quiet and didn’t seem to hear her approach.
“Cody,” she whispered then cleared her dry throat and spoke louder. “Hi.” A lame greeting for a moment like this, but her brain wasn’t functioning properly just then.
Cody’s eyes slid half open after a moment of quiet, and his reaction took her by surprise.
He lifted the beer bottle in a little toast. “Hiya, Heather,” he said in a voice that was flat, emotionless, and very tired. Then his eyes closed again.
And that was it.
Heather’s heart crashed. Was she wrong about everything? Was he mad? Was he—
And then Cody went on talking as if he’d never left off. “Christ, now I see you when my eyes are open.” He shook his head hopelessly. “I see you when they’re open; I see you when they’re closed. I see you when I’m sleeping…”
A searing ache went through her when she realized what he meant.
“I see you day and night.” He winced. One hand waved in the air as he squinted up and down her body then hugged the bottle to his belly and shut his eyes tighter than before. “And now I’m talking to you like you’re really there.”
Her knees wobbled, her hands shook. “Cody, I am here.”
“Jesus, I can even scent you. You slay me, woman.” He shook his head then slumped, and it gutted her.
“Cody, I love you.”
His eyes opened but the blue was dull and gray. “Yeah, that’s in my dream, too.” His smile was sweet yet so sad, she could have melted on the spot. “You say that and a whole lot of other beautiful things I could hear over and over again. You look at me like you can see inside. You touch me…” He ran a broad hand along his thigh then let it flop abruptly to the ground. When he continued, his voice rasped. “You say you’ll never leave me and our forever starts today. And I believe it every fucking time.”
She wanted to drop to her knees and hug him like a sobbing child on the playground, but her joints had all locked up.
“Cody, it is me.”
“Sure.” His voice was bitter, his eyes firmly shut.
What else could she say? What would he believe? She scanned the playground, so quiet now at sundown. Normally, it was filled with a dozen excited voices: Becky, with her bubbling laugh. Timmy and his jokes, always grinning ear to ear the way she was sure Cody must have done as a kid.
“Hey, Cody, you want to hear a good one?” she asked on impulse.
Cody let out a sour chuckle that said he was humoring his imagination. “Sure.”
“Where do ghosts swim?”
He didn’t say anything, but his fingers went tighter around the bottle.
She rushed ahead with the punchline. “Lake Erie.”
Cody didn’t move.
She let out an exaggerated huff. “Am I going to have to tell you second-grade jokes all night? It’s me, Cody. It really is. Cody, I want you. Please.”
His lips tightened. So he remembered that line, too. “You want me to what?”
His whisper was a replay of their first night together, and the words alone were enough to send a heat wave through her body.
“I want you to love me back,” she said, as sure and clear as she could make it so he would finally believe.
Though his body didn’t flinch, she saw every muscle tense. Then his eyes snapped open like a light had gone on.
So she said it again, all in a rush. “I want you to love me back. To take me back. To let me say sorry and beg you to let me try again. To listen and learn and figure out—”
He leaped up in one impossibly swift move and buried her in a hug that had no beginning and no end. The air went out of her, but it didn’t matter, not just then. The two of them were hugging and kissing and crying so hard, she couldn’t tell whether the tears were hers or his. Cody was murmuring something, over and over. She was explaining and promising and pleading while the crickets broadcast happy tunes into the night.
When she finally pulled herself together again—at least enough to start thinking about putting together more than a breathless mumble—he was cupping her face in two hands, his eyes damp and shining. “Christ, I thought you were gone.”
She pulled him back into a hug. “I swear you’ll never have to think that again.”
They stood hugging for another minute before their bodies started to melt into each other.
“You can dance to this music, you know,” she whispered. It was Verdi, and opera, but with Cody, anything was possible.
“Oh yeah?” He let one arm slip lower and slid the other higher without releasing his just-dare-me-to-let-you-go grip
.
“Yeah,” she nodded, drying her tears on his sleeve. “Let me show you.”
She swayed right then left in the first steps of a dance she never wanted to end.
“Gotta warn you,” Cody whispered. His lips tickled her ear. “I have two left feet.”
She shook her head because every step he took was just right. His hips snug against hers, his shoulders round and strong, his hands holding her tight. And the only inner voice she heard was the one telling her this was perfect.
“The left foot is mine,” she managed, and if her voice was husky, her heart was soaring like a kite. “The right foot is yours. We’re made for each other, you and me.”
He took over the movement and led her in a slow circle. All she had to do was rest her cheek on his and enjoy, etching the moment into her mind. A moment she’d tell her grandkids about someday.
“I’ve always loved this song,” Cody murmured after the yearning music peaked, then wound down. “What’s it about?”
“This song? It’s about a special place.”
He arched an eyebrow. “A place like this?”
“Home.” She nodded with her nose right up against his chest to breathe him in. “It’s a song about finding home.”
He let out a happy humpf, like he’d known it all along.
EPILOGUE
Eight Months Later…
A classroom was never more gloriously silent than the hour after the kids had waved goodbye and sprinted off into summer. Heather wiped the whiteboard, ending the school year. A familiar step sounded behind her, and two strong arms circled her waist.
“How’s my girl?” Cody murmured, kissing her cheek.
“Good.” She stretched the word out over several syllables, though it still didn’t capture how good good was.
His hands patted her protruding belly. “And how’s my other girl?” His voice caught when he said it, and she had to take a deep breath, too. Him and her, in for the long run together. It was magic.
“Cody! We don’t know that it will be a girl.”
“A bump that beautiful could only be a girl.”
“That’s sexist.”
“Okay, how’s this: a bump that intelligent can only be a girl.”
“Better,” she chuckled as his lips worked her neck, close to the spot where he’d marked her a few months ago. Still tender in a delightfully erotic way.
She turned in his arms. “We’re both ready for summer vacation.”
“Me, too.” He kissed her again.
A bark, and Maxi ran in. A black puppy with oversized feet, and a worthy successor to good old Buddy, the best dog ever.
“Look.” Cody scooped him up. “Aren’t I a good dad?” He held Maxi close to his face, grimacing against a lathering of puppy slobber.
Heather’s heart swelled. You’ll be a great dad. Outwardly, though, she kept her composure. “Yes, well, Maxi doesn’t need diapering.”
“Do you know how many times I’ve cleaned the floor?”
She had to give him that one. He’d been sweeter than sweet these past six months.
“Lady, I’m gonna be Doctor Diaper,” Cody insisted.
“You better be, once I get back to work.”
“Three months. You get three months off work after the baby is born. And then the baby is all mine.”
The man was too good to be true. “You’re not planning to share?”
He set the puppy back on the floor. “Only with you.” He took her school bag and slipped an arm around her shoulders.
Heather turned off the light and gave the room a last look. Arizona had brought her a huge streak of luck, one that seemed to stretch as far as the hills. Janice, the teacher she had been filling in for, had decided to stay in Ohio. The teaching job was Heather’s, for good.
The man, too.
She tilted her head up to the sky as they walked, throwing out her gratitude to whatever gods had engineered all the good surprises in her life. It was a regular ritual for her these days.
They walked, sticking to the shade, taking their sweet time. A cardinal sipped from an irrigation ditch; leaves rustled overhead. The light breeze tasted broad and sweet; promising, even. Cody leaned into her side, steering her left.
“But home is that way.” She pointed right.
He squeezed his lips in a mischievous look. The man was up to something, for sure. “How about the long way around?”
They took it, walking to the edge of the trail to let two oncoming trucks pass. Rae drove the first one with Zack beside her, both of them grinning a mile wide. Heather had to smile as she always did at those two. The stories she hadn’t believed from the kids about midnight hunts and wild chases—they were all true. And the funny thing was, what had once seemed so outlandish was perfectly normal these days.
A second truck rumbled past with Lana waving from the front seat. Heather did a double take. “Wait—Ty didn’t just wink, did he?”
“I told you my brother shows his soft side once a decade or so.”
She snorted. Yes, Ty was a great guy, but he still intimidated the hell out of her. How two brothers could be so different… She wondered if her own kids would be the same, and then laughed out loud.
“What?”
She shook her head. No need to look too far into the future. The present was rich enough.
Maxi ran ahead and rolled in the dirt, grunting like a happy pig. Heather could have done the same, though she’d prefer to roll on Cody. Not that she hadn’t had her share of that these last couple of months. They ambled on, letting the desert do the talking, until they turned a corner and slowed.
The house was right over there, a modest building with a grand view that started with pasture, swept past the hills, and extended to eternity. The house Cody’s father was building for his retirement. Everyone had been pitching in for months now—hoping, perhaps, to hurry the man off the throne. Standing on a small rise on the east side of the community where the sun rose first, it occupied the very spot Heather would have picked for her dream house. Lucky for Cody’s dad, he’d snagged the spot first.
Not that she was complaining. Cody’s bungalow had quickly shed its bachelor pad trappings and become a snug home. Soon, they’d get started on the addition they’d put off while Cody worked overtime on his father’s house. He’d been coming home late, sweaty, and strangely satisfied for a man who’d been laboring for someone else.
“It’s done,” Cody nodded toward the house, hugging her from behind.
She held back a sigh.
He squeezed tighter. “It’s ours.”
Her blood slowed, just a tick.
Leaning in, Cody whispered into her ear. “We weren’t building it for my father. We were building it for us.”
She caught her next breath, and the one after that, and the one after that. All the hours everyone had put in…. “For us?”
“Surprise.”
Her house. Their house. The U-shaped ranch of her dreams. Cody had remembered, all the way back to the day of that geometry lesson in school.
The front door opened and Kyle stepped out, hefting a toolbox. She’d barely gotten to thank him for his role in tracking down the vampires. Looked like she wouldn’t get a chance, either, because she could barely breathe, let alone talk.
Kyle tossed Cody the key and grinned. “Welcome home,” he said, and though his voice was cheerful, his eyes were sad. He said home the way a color-blind man might say rainbow. Then he left quickly—half exit, half escape.
Cody tugged her closer to his side as they watched him go. He sighed a little, ruffling her hair. “A story for another day. Today is ours.”
Forever starts today. Every time she replayed those words, she had to sigh—as she did when Cody led her inside, anxiously watching her reaction. The man gave her goose bumps when he did that—taking delight in her happiness.
He could have showed off and told her how hard he’d worked, how difficult it was. He had every right to point out all the details he
’d sweated into place—the ornate window mouldings, the fireplace built by hand from local stone. But he didn’t. She threaded her fingers through his as he led her from room to room. The man had so much to be proud of, yet he was still good old Cody.
Well, in almost every way. The jokester had been pretty well replaced by the man these days. A good man who knew when to laugh, when to buckle down, where duty started and where it ended. One who’d finally established his footing on his own terms.
Her man. Her mate.
He’d told her everything after that awful night of the vampires. Starting with his father arranging a mate to strengthen pack alliances. The old alpha had a twisted way of wanting the best for his pack.
Somehow, though, things had all worked out, thanks to Audrey. Yes, Audrey, the local man-eater. Heather still couldn’t believe that turn of events. Audrey had transferred to the Westend pack in Nevada, declaring herself ready for a change of scenery and bemoaning the lack of eligible males at Twin Moon Ranch. She’d wasted no time in making a mate of Roric’s oldest nephew. Thus both alphas were placated, even if Sabrina was not. Word was, she was currently angling for a mate in California. As long as the woman stayed clear of Arizona, Heather didn’t care.
Cody was doing it again—rubbing the bite mark on her neck. She cooed under his touch. Scary as the mating bite sounded, it had gone just as he said, only better. They’d been on fire that night, making love as never before. The bite amplified the intensity, sweeping them to the climax of their lives. When they’d cuddled together afterward, he’d gently fingered the mark.
“You could have bitten me any time,” she’d whispered, full of awe. “But you didn’t. Why not?”
“That wouldn’t be right. You had to want it, too.”