by S. K. Yule
“Leaving already, brother?” Aiston quirked a brow.
He ignored Aiston. “Pleasure to meet you.” He gave Wilhemina a slight bow. “Dinner was amazing as usual,” he called out to McKayla on his way past the kitchen.
He went to the gym in the basement and changed into his workout clothes. He was going to beat the hell out of some poor, unsuspecting punching bag tonight.
Chapter Nine
“Mother! To what do we owe this lovely surprise visit?” Ashe kissed Marilena on the cheek.
She smiled up at him. He was an amazing, honest, loyal man. All of her sons were. They had obviously not taken after her. Her heart ached, but she hid it well. This was not going to be a lovely visit, but she had no doubt it would be the biggest surprise of her children’s lives.
“I need to meet with you, Aldin and Aiston. When would be a good time?”
“Aiston is out with Avril this morning. After breakfast, she suckered him into going shopping with her, but I believe we will all be available this evening after dinner.”
Marilena nodded, not quite trusting herself to speak without her voice cracking from the grief eating away at her insides. Her sons would probably hate her after the meeting. She’d be nothing without them. They were her life, and her own actions were going to be the cause of their scorn. She had no one to blame but herself.
“Is something wrong?” Ashe asked.
“We’ll talk later.” She hugged him and prayed he’d be able to forgive her for the lies and deceit.
He nodded as she left him to make her way upstairs toward the nursery to peek in on Marcus. She found her beautiful grandson sitting on the floor playing with some wooden blocks adorned with bright colored letters and numbers while McKayla sat in a chair across from him reading. He was a miracle. She’d never thought Ashe would get a second chance at happiness. She quietly closed the door and made her way to Estril’s room. She still couldn’t bring herself to go inside, but standing at the door somehow made her feel close to the daughter that was forever lost to her.
After a few moments, she made her way back toward the rooms she used when she was at the estate, but stopped abruptly. She turned and raised a shaky hand to tap on the closed door. A few moments later, a beautiful redhead answered. A beautiful, familiar redhead.
A shiver ran the length of Marilena’s spine, and the blood in her veins turned to ice water.
No. This cannot be happening. She looked at the woman again and her heart sank. Things had just become ten times worse. She had been determined to keep her last secret, the last ace in her hand, the last defense she had against the prophecy to herself. Not even Ragnor knew. No one knew other than a few select people, people who she’d carefully compelled to guard her secret with their lives.
She took a quick peek into the girl’s mind and barely kept herself from swaying. The glimpses of memories she’d caught sent a shiver of dread down her spine because she was certain she was staring at Aldin’s destiny.
She’d always figured if the time came when she’d have to divulge the details of the last effort she’d made to keep her sons safe, Uriah couldn’t possibly hate her any more than he already did. But now…now not only would her betrayal place another wedge between her and Uriah, it would directly involve Wilhemina, which could potentially lead to Aldin turning his back on her for good as well.
“Hi.”
“I’m Marilena. I’m Ashe, Aldin and Aiston’s mother.” She cursed Fate for making what should have been a happy meeting a dark cloud of warning.
“I’m Wilhemina. Ebony’s friend.”
“Nice to meet you. I didn’t mean to bother you.”
“You didn’t bother me. I’m glad to meet you as well.”
How could Fate be such a heinous bitch? What had she ever done to the old biddy to deserve so much ire?
“I must go now.”
“I hope to see you later,” Wilhemina called as she left.
Marilena didn’t answer because tears were threatening to choke her. Things were moving too fast, and she’d tried everything in her power to stop the prophecy. She was finally beginning to consider that Ragnor might have been telling her the truth the whole time. He was as helpless to stop the inevitable as she.
* * * *
Ashe frowned. He had a gnawing, bad feeling in his gut, and his instincts were rarely wrong. His mother was hiding something, but what could Marilena possibly have to tell them that would be all that horrible?
“Hey.”
Small hands came around him from behind, and he sighed. He turned and wrapped Ebony in a tight hug. His beautiful viata amant, the one he’d almost been stupid enough to lose, could soothe him with a mere glance of her green eyes. She had saved his soul from hell. She’d saved him. He bent and kissed her softly.
“Hey,” he whispered.
“What’s wrong?” Her brows turned down.
She’d only been a vampire for a short time, and he was amazed at how quickly she’d adapted, learned to use her heightened senses, and embraced what she now was. She was amazing in every way. She was the very air he breathed. The memory of almost losing her flashed through his mind. It still had the power to nearly cripple him when he thought of it. If he lost her? He closed his eyes quickly to clear his head. He couldn’t contemplate going down that road.
“I don’t know. Mom is here and she wants to talk to me and my brothers tonight.”
“And you are stressed out about this why?”
“You know me too well.” He smiled down at her.
She reached up and cupped his cheek. “I will never know you well enough. Nothing will ever be enough with you,” she whispered.
Heat shot through his body and straight to his cock.
“I’m sure it’s nothing. Besides…” He shrugged. “I have more important things to do at the moment than worry about what my mother wants to talk to me about.”
“Such as?” she asked.
He scooped her up into his arms and turned toward the stairs that led to their bedroom.
“Such as making love to the most beautiful woman in the world.” He kissed her, not missing a step as he started up the staircase with his prize.
“Mmm. Since you are the most gorgeous man in the world, I’ll take you up on that offer.”
“I will always love you.” He groaned and kissed her again.
“And I will always love you, Ashe.”
* * * *
Aldin kicked the heavy bag again and sand flew across the room, pelting the wall-length mirrors. He grunted in satisfaction. He’d gone through three bags last night after dinner, and now he’d claimed a fourth. Unfortunately, no matter how hard he’d pushed his body to exhaustion, he couldn’t get Wilhemina out of his head. He finally quit denying that he wanted her, but that didn’t change the fact that she was not for him.
She was innocent, sweet, naive, and he…was not. He’d end up appalling her in the bedroom. She’d only gotten a taste of his dominant nature at Drake’s. Once she had a glimpse of the real him, she’d run screaming in the opposite direction. He punched the split bag and put another tear through the thick leather.
“Wow.”
He spun with his fists instinctively up in protection mode. Wilhemina stood in the doorway of the gym with an open mouth. How in the hell had she snuck up on him? No one had ever done that. Ever. Because you were too busy being a whiny bitch in your own head to hear her.
“Fuck,” he muttered as he lowered his hands.
“I didn’t mean to startle you. I was taking a break from writing and decided to look around a bit. Ebony said it was okay.”
“Of course.” He turned and reached for the bag he’d just demolished.
They kept several filled bags in the back since it wasn’t an uncommon practice for any one of them to work their frustration out in the gym. Being vampires with above human strength—way above—it wasn’t uncommon for the equipment to get destroyed. He lifted the bag off the chain it hung from as if it weighed
nothing and started for the back room to get a new one.
He realized his mistake when she gasped. Son of a bitch. He was used to only other vampires being in the house and not having to be careful about showing his advanced traits. He doubted many men could lift a filled heavy bag—especially not the special order, extra thick, four hundred pounders they had—and was positive none of them could carry it around like it was a mere sack of groceries. While Wilhemina may not be the punching bag type, she wasn’t dumb. She had to have some idea that the bags were heavy.
He decided the best method was to shrug it off and act as if it were nothing. Best defense when a human saw something they shouldn’t? Don’t give indication that anything out of the ordinary happened, and they will begin to doubt what they saw or make excuses for it. Besides, maybe she was simply impressed by his muscles. Egotistical much? He stomped down the urge to snort.
Maybe it was more a wish that she found his muscles impressive. Stop it. It’s not going to happen. When he came back with the new bag, he was surprised that Wilhemina was still there. She was now circling the boxing ring.
“Want to go a couple rounds?” She smiled shyly at him and put her small fists up.
He wanted to go a couple rounds all right, but not in the boxing ring. When he leveled his gaze on her, she giggled nervously.
“Just kidding,” she murmured. “I’m sure the outcome wouldn’t be good for me.”
It would be a lot better than she thought because he wouldn’t lay a hand on her. Not one in anger anyway. Although, she was still probably right about the outcome not being good for her if he did get his hands on her…and fingers, and mouth, and—stop it!
“Stop what?” She jumped.
Her presence had rattled him to the point that he hadn’t realized he’d spoken out loud. Although, he could have sworn he’d only been arguing with himself inside his own head.
“Nothing.” He gave the newly hung heavy bag a quick test jab. Satisfied, he bent to pick up the towel he’d tossed on the floor beside it to wipe some of the sweat off from his intense workout.
He glanced at her again and his blood heated. She had on a dark brown, form-fitting knit top that hugged her breasts in a way that made him envious of the fabric. He had to clench his fists to calm the tingle of need in his fingertips. Her dark pants fit snug around the indentation of her waist before flaring out and clinging to the fullness of her hips. His mouth went dry and his cock twitched at the memory of the luscious body that lay under those clothes.
“Aldin, I, um, wanted to apologize for the other night at the club.”
Her cheeks turned bright red, and he found the fact that she still blushed endearing. And why the hell was she apologizing? He’d mauled her, and she was saying sorry? “What the hell do you have to apologize for?”
“I—I didn’t mean to lead you on,” she said with indignation burning in her eyes.
“Yeah, you should be sorry for that.”
Tears pooled in her eyes, and he fought back a groan.
“Don’t worry. I won’t bother you again.” She turned and ran from the gym.
Son of a bitch. He hadn’t meant to insult her, had only meant that she shouldn’t have pulled the seductress act on any man. As bad as it had turned out for her with him, it could have been much worse. Most of the predators that hung out at Drake’s wouldn’t have walked away from what she’d been offering even after discovering her innocence.
* * * *
Wilhemina swiped at the tears as she hurried down the long hall toward the stairs. Damn this place for being so huge. She wanted to get to her room and shut the world out for awhile.
When she’d walked in on Aldin in the gym, she’d nearly passed out from the sudden whoosh of air that had left her lungs. The only piece of clothing he’d been wearing other than his shoes had been a pair of black sweatpants that hung low on his lean hips. The light sheen of sweat covering him had enhanced every muscle on his gorgeous body. Mr. Sexy hadn’t quite covered his description accurately. He was more a God’s-gift-to-women type.
He was huge. Broad shoulders. Broad chest. Thick arms, and a damn six-pack carved from granite. The man was seriously cut, and she’d been speechless when she’d found him half-naked in the gym. His presence was commanding even from across the room, and she’d practically drooled on her shoes before he’d noticed her watching him. She seemed to almost drool on her shoes a lot lately. She could hardly believe he’d been the one she’d given her virginity to, hardly believed he found her attractive enough to take it.
But when she’d tried to apologize to him, he’d made it perfectly clear that it had been a huge mistake on his part. Nothing hurt worse than finding out the first man you slept with hadn’t really wanted you. She was a grown woman. She had purpose in life without a man, but she had at least hoped the first man she’d been with wouldn’t regret having sex with her.
She was almost to the steps when strong arms came around her, spun her, and pinned her against the wall. She looked up into Aldin’s turbulent turquoise eyes and gasped. If eyes were capable of storming, that’s exactly how she’d describe his at this very moment. As if to validate her description, a low rumble of thunder rolled through the house.
“What are you doing?”
“Why are you crying?” His voice was quiet. Angry.
“I know I deceived you at Drake’s, but I wanted to apologize and move on. I wanted to put it behind us since I’m staying here. You could have accepted my apology. You didn’t have to be rude and hurtful and make sure I was aware that you didn’t want me.”
“Didn’t want you?”
She nodded. “I get it. You’re gorgeous, and I’m not—”
“Don’t say it. I meant what I said. You are beautiful. And if I didn’t want you, I wouldn’t have—” He blew out a long breath. “I meant that you shouldn’t have been playing the seductive siren. You have no idea what kind of men frequent Drake’s. Most of them are not gentlemen and would not care about your innocence. You deserved better than a quick rutting in the back room of a club.”
His body was pressed against her, and his hands splayed on each side of her head. His chest was level with her eyes, and she had a sudden urge to lean forward and lick his nipple. His nostrils flared, and she looked up into his dark face. Did he somehow know what she was thinking? No. Impossible.
“I don’t regret picking you, Aldin. No matter how it happened or where. I don’t regret it being you. You may wish it didn’t happen, but it was one of the best experiences of my life.”
He bent closer to her, their lips only an inch apart. “I wanted you, Wilhemina. I don’t regret being with you either. I only regret the circumstances. You deserved better than I gave you.”
His closeness was making her legs go weak. She wanted to climb up him, kiss him, rub against his wonderfully hard body.
“Stop.” His low voice jerked her from her trance.
“Stop what?”
“Stop looking at me like that!”
Her eyes skimmed his body when he backed off a couple of inches and noticed that another particular part of him had gone hard. She licked her lips and met his eyes once again. Another rumble of thunder rolled through the house, and she threw caution to the wind. She stood on tiptoe, wound her arms around his neck, and pulled him down to her waiting lips. She touched her mouth to his, and an instant later, he groaned and kissed her deep and hard.
She thought he should have smelled bad from being all sweaty from his work out, but his scent was delicious and sent her senses reeling. His tongue stroked deep then grew demanding. She moaned and arched into him, rubbing her body against his in invitation. His hand came down and covered her breast, and when he pinched her nipple through her top, she gasped at the pleasure that shot straight through her and centered in her core.
He cursed under his breath and spun her around. Her nose nearly touched the wall, and Aldin’s huge frame pressed against her, crowded her from behind. She pushed back into him and h
e growled.
“Stop.” His low command instantly stilled her.
“Why?” she choked out.
“This is why you deserve better. You don’t know me,” he whispered against her ear. “I’m not sweet and gentle. I don’t tenderly make love to women. I like to be dominant and rough in the bedroom.”
His admission should scare the hell out of her as inexperienced as she was, but his words had the opposite affect. He was warning her, was giving her a reason to stay away from him, but she didn’t care what his tastes were in the bedroom. She wanted him, plain and simple. Something told her that no matter how dominant and rough he liked to be, he would never hurt her.
“I don’t care.”
He rotated his hips and ground his hard cock against her ass. “You should care. You’re not for me, Wilhemina. You’re too gentle, too naive.”
“You won’t hurt me, Aldin.”
“How do you know?”
His words were laced with something that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.
“Now you’re getting it, sweet Wilhemina.”
How did he do that? It was as if he could sense what she was feeling. Read her thoughts.
“Am I interrupting something?”
Aldin released her instantly.
She turned on shaky legs and came face to face with one of the most beautiful women she’d ever laid eyes on. Tall, blonde, legs up to her neck, model perfect. Everything Wilhemina was not. She didn’t miss the subtle look of guilt that flashed in Aldin’s eyes. Was this an ex-girlfriend? Or maybe not an ex at all?
Jealousy tore through her, and she didn’t like the feel of it one bit. It was an emotion she wasn’t used to, an emotion that he seemed to provoke from her with ease.
“I’m Alaina.” She extended her perfectly manicured hand.
“Wilhemina.” She shook Alaina’s hand.
“What are you doing here?” Aldin asked.
“I’m here for our lesson, or did you want to cancel?” She smiled and looked from Aldin to Wilhemina and back to him.