by L. E. Wilson
Aiden reached a hand towards her. "May I?"
After a moment's hesitation, she placed her healed hand in his open palm. His skin felt warm against hers. She thought vamps would be cold to the touch, their skin smooth and hard, like in Anne Rice's novels. But it was nothing like that. He felt like the human he used to be.
He turned her hand over in his, probing the healed bones with his fingertips. "Amazing."
She tried to pull her hand from his, but he tightened his grip, refusing to release her.
Catching and holding her eyes with his, he slowly lifted it to his mouth, and pressed a soft, warm kiss to the delicate skin on the inside of her wrist. Running his nose lightly along the veins there, he inhaled deeply, smelling her skin. His eyes closed in pleasure as he scented her, for she knew that was exactly what he was doing.
Her breath caught at the simple, yet erotic gesture. She wondered what she smelled like to him. She wondered how he could be that close to the blood he craved and not bite her.
Adrenaline rushed into her veins at the thought, and her heart began to thud heavily in her chest as her body instinctively prepared for flight.
As if he could read her thoughts, his eyes flashed open again to catch hers, imprisoning her where she sat.
Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew that this was all just a part of his allure. It was how he ensnared his prey. At least the logical part of her knew this, but the not-so-logical parts of her couldn't care less. So she sat as still as a statue, unable to move if she wanted to (which she didn't).
He was pure, raw seduction. And she was completely and utterly captivated by him.
Opening her fingers with his, he slowly brushed his lips down her hand, his wet tongue snaking out here and there for a little taste.
A deep, pulsing ache began in her lower belly, increasing with every touch of his lips as he kissed each fingertip in turn. He sucked the last one into his mouth before pressing a final, firm kiss right in the center of her palm.
He closed her fingers into a fist, capturing the kiss he'd placed there.
"It's called a hand kiss," he told her softly. "Now, whenever you are lonely, all you have to do is press your palm to your cheek, and you'll feel my kiss, and know that you are not alone."
How did he know she felt lonely? That she often felt alone even in a room full of people? The loneliness was unavoidable. It had always been a part of her, living away from the coven. It was because she always had to be careful what she said, and what she did. She always had to hide her secret.
But I don't with him.
She gave him a small, tentative smile.
"You don't ever have to be alone again, Grace," he whispered.
Still holding her closed fist, he lifted his other hand and encircled her throat. Leaning in, he pressed a soft kiss on her forehead, and then her nose. With his thumb under her jaw, he gently tilted her lips up to meet his.
He paused for barely a moment, searching her face, asking permission and giving her time to say no.
She didn't try to pull away again, and his eyes glowed with triumph as he lowered his mouth to hers.
Grace moaned at the first touch of his kiss. His lips were warm and supple as they molded to hers, his tongue flicking out to tease her. As his hand moved to the back of her neck to pull her closer, she opened for him, and his kiss went from teasing to raw need in the span of a heartbeat.
Her free hand pressed against the hard muscles of his chest, then gripped the front of his tee shirt as she gave in to what she was feeling. She kissed him back with all the passion inside of her, and reveled in the moans she drew from him as he took it in and returned it to her.
Lost in the feel of his mouth on hers, she groaned unhappily when he suddenly drew away. She tried to resume their kiss, but he turned his face away and tucked her head against his chest and held her there.
"Just give me a moment, luv," he rasped, bunching the back of her shirt in his hand.
They sat like that until their heartbeats returned to normal, and Grace's sanity returned.
Holy shit, what the hell was she doing?
She tried to sit up, and this time he let her do it. Embarrassed, she kept her head down, wishing her hair was unbound so she could hide behind it.
With a finger under her chin, he tilted her face up until she had no choice but to look at him.
"Don't hide from me, luv," he said. "There's nothing to be ashamed of."
"I just...I don't know..."
He gave her a small smile. "It's all right. It was just a kiss."
Just a kiss.
"Is there anything else I need to know?" he asked abruptly, ruining the moment in typical Aiden fashion.
She blinked a few times, a little thrown by the sudden change in him. "Um..." she bit her lip, undecided.
"Poppet," he chided her. "I can tell you're still hiding something. Come now," he ordered. "Out with it."
"Well, I don't know if it has any relevance."
"Why don't you let me decide whether it does or not, all right?"
She twisted her hands in her lap until he covered them with his own, effectively stilling them. "Whatever it is, it can't be that bad. I've been around for a long time. There's little that would manage to surprise me these days. So, just tell me."
Still thrown from his kiss and not thinking properly, she decided he was probably right. Besides, it could have nothing at all to do with anything they were dealing with right now. But then again, it just might.
Pulling her hands out from underneath his, she slid her backpack over to her. Unzipping one of the larger sections, she reached in and unzipped a hidden pocket inside. Pulling out an old piece of parchment paper, she handed it to Aiden.
"Be careful," she cautioned him. "It's very old, and rips easily."
"I can see that." Handling the paper with a delicate touch, he opened it, and scanned the words inside. "Grace, what is this?"
"As far as I can tell, it's an old spell, but I'm not sure for what. However, it must be important. My parents practically came back from the dead to let me know where it was."
He studied the words, barely legible on the parchment. "It's written in a very old language. A language that was ancient before I was born."
"Do you know it?" she asked excitedly.
"Not well," he answered, "Just a few words here and there."
Her excitement fizzled out as fast as it had come on.
"I can't translate it either, but whatever this is, my parents needed me to have it, so it's got to be important. I mean, they literally came back from the dead to tell me where it was hidden in our house."
"Literally?" he teased. "Really?"
"Yes. Literally," she insisted. "They appeared to me in a dream, just a week or so after my mom's funeral, and they were like, screaming at me to knock a hole in the wall by our T.V. So I got out of bed and grabbed a hammer and started pounding on the wall. And lo and behold, there was this fireproof box in there, and it took me forever to find the keys. But I did find them, a full day later, taped underneath the windowsill in their room. When I opened the box, there it was. Just this one piece of paper with words written on it in a language I couldn't read. I searched online for days, trying to find a match so I could interpret the spell written there, but I didn't have any luck. And it's definitely a spell, I can tell by the way it's written."
She stopped babbling long enough to notice that Aiden had become unnaturally still as he stared down at the paper.
"Aiden?"
Nothing.
"Aiden, what's wrong? What is it?"
She touched his forearm to get his attention, and his head whipped towards her in surprise, only she had the strangest feeling that it wasn't Aiden looking back at her.
Dark shadows swirled through his normally bright grey eyes, and his expression was tense.
Grace felt a stab of the pain reflected in his eyes hit her right in the center of her chest. He looked like he'd just lost someone close to him.
He cocked his head, looking her over as if he'd never seen her before.
The hair stood up on the back of her neck. Slowly, she rose up off of the bed, not making any sudden moves, and backed away until she hit the desk chair. "Aiden? Why are you looking at me like that?"
He followed her movements, his head tilted at that strange angle, like she was some kind of new species of insect he was studying.
"Please talk to me," she whispered. "You're scaring me again, dude."
"Did you just call me 'dude'?"
His words were strange...rusty...like he hadn't spoken in a long time and was unused to forming the sounds. And his accent was gone.
"Aiden! Stop it!" she yelled, not knowing what else to do. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
He blinked rapidly a few times and looked down again at the paper in his hands. When he lifted his head again a few seconds later, he frowned at her in confusion.
Had she just imagined the weird shadows in his eyes? She moved closer, and leaned down for a closer look.
He cocked an eyebrow. "Grace? What's wrong, luv? Why are you staring at me like that?" He set the paper down beside him, a crease forming between his brows. "Were you just shouting at me?"
As her heart returned to its normal speed, she shook her head slightly. "No. No. Not at you. I just thought I saw...something." Clearing her throat, she glanced over to the other side of the room where Mojo was sniffing around. "I'd better get him a litter box set up."
She could feel his eyes on her as she walked over to the cabinets and found a box with low sides that had cans of food in it. Putting the cans back on the shelf, she took the box over to the corner by the bathroom door and set it on the floor.
Glancing over at her backpack, which was sitting on the floor by his feet, she hesitated. A small bag of litter was in there, but she was still feeling too creeped out to go near him.
So instead, she just stood there, trying to get up the nerve and telling herself she was being silly.
"Why are you suddenly so afraid of me?" he asked.
She swallowed, and forced herself to look directly at him.
He sat where she'd left him, the paper folded in his hands, his expression concerned. She studied him closely, but saw no remnants of whatever that was she had seen before.
"I'm not," she insisted, striding over to her backpack. Yet she only got as close to him as she had to, and her hands shook as she reached for her pack, sliding it over to her and putting it up on the desk chair to find the bag of litter. Pulling it out, she filled Mojo's box. She scooped him up and placed him in it, and he immediately began digging around to do his business.
She smiled timidly at Aiden. "Close call."
"Mmm," he affirmed, still looking at her strangely.
Chapter Sixteen
"Whit can I do for ye, Nikulas?" Cedric Kincaid, pack master of the werewolves that inhabited the Pacific Northwest, set down his drink and picked up the remote to turn down the volume on the Rugby game he was watching.
"Hey, Ced," Nik greeted him cheerfully. "So, hey! Remember when you guys kidnapped my mate in the middle of the day and nearly got her killed?"
Cedric pulled his cell away from his ear and scrubbed a hand over his face. He was ne'er going tae be allowed tae forget that ill idea for a joke, was he? Although he didna see whit the big deal was. Emma was braw, 'n' it had ended up bein' a good thing that the wolves were there. Between them 'n' the vampires, they'd easily taken care o' Leeha's monsters 'n' gotten Luukas 'n' Marc out o' her lair safely.
He put the phone back by his ear. "Aye, Nik," he sighed. "I remember."
"And remember when I told you that you were going to owe me big time for that little stunt? And you agreed?"
"Aye," Cedric confirmed warily.
Nik's voice got serious. "I need you guys to come through on that promise, man. We heard from Aiden. And I think he's in trouble."
Cedric took his feet off of the coffee table and sat up straight in his chair. Aiden was a good male, one o' his favorite vampire friends. He would agree tae help him even if they didna owe Nikulas a favor.
"Whit dae ya need us tae do?"
"How long's it been since you guys have been to China?"
"China? Aiden is in China?"
"That's what he told me when he called," Nik said. "In Dalian, to be exact."
"Whit the hell is he doing in China?"
He could practically see Nikulas running his hand through his blonde locks like he did when he was anxious.
"We don't know. He called and said he woke up there, but doesn't remember how he got there. He was with a girl at the time..."
"Aye. That sounds like Aiden."
"Right? He said her name was Grace. And now Em and Keira just had some kind of weird witch-vision thing. They think he and the girl are in trouble. They saw them running to that big soccer ball sculpture. Know the one I mean?"
"Aye. I've seen it."
"Em says there's a shelter built underneath it, and they're hiding out in there. And get this. They think maybe this chick Aid's with is a witch, like them. They think she did some kind of magical call for help, and that's why they had the vision. That she's connected to them somehow."
"Do they have kin they're no' aware of? Do ya think she's a Moss witch?"
Nik sighed audibly. "I dunno, man. It's possible, I guess. The way they all scattered years ago. But right now, we need to get them out of there, and bring them both back home. I would go myself, but ya know, with Luuk the way he is..."
"I ken what yer sayin', Nik. Ya dinna need to say any more. Consider it taken care o'. We'll leave first thing."
"Thanks, Cedric. You guys are all right. For a bunch of mangy dogs."
Cedric guffawed.
"But if you ever pull a stunt that puts my female in danger again, I swear I'll..."
Cedric started to protest that comment when he heard Emma smack Nikulas, then her soft voice came across the line.
"Pay no attention to him, Cedric. And thank you so much for doing this."
The werewolf leader smiled warmly into the phone. "Anything for ye, my bonnie lass."
He chuckled at the sound of Nikulas' possessive growl, and ended the call before he could get the phone back from his mate.
***
"Tell me again why we're running off tae do a job that they should be doin' themselves," Lucian grumbled as the wolf pack left the plane.
Fed up with him and his bad attitude, Cedric whipped around to confront him, blocking traffic in the middle of the air bridge.
He stuck his finger in Lucian's face. "Haud yer wheesht!" he hissed. "You ken Nik has his hands full with his brother. A' this is Aiden...our friend. He would do the same for any one of us. And ye fooking ken it."
Lucian's stormy grey eyes darkened with anger just before he dropped them in submission to his alpha.
"I dinna want tae hear another word from ye, ye hear? No' unless it something that's going tae help us get our friend home safe."
Marc shoved past Lucian and shot him a glare as he followed Cedric into the airport.
Duncan stopped beside him and slapped him on the shoulder. "C'mon then. Let's get out of the way. We can fight when we get tae the hotel."
Shrugging off his hand, Lucian shot him a dirty look and walked away.
"Wha'? Wha' did I dae?" He watched Lucian stomp away for a few seconds before following the rest of the pack, mumbling to himself, "Better pull that stick out o' yer arse, afore Cedric shoves it up in tae yer throat."
They acquired a rental car and were at their hotel in less than an hour. When they got to their floor, Cedric said, "Lucian, yer with me."
"I'd rather bunk with Duncan."
"I dinna care." Holding the door open for him, Cedric nodded to the others and told them to meet him in the lobby in thirty minutes before following Lucian inside.
Tossing his overnight bag onto the bed by the window, he turned to Lucian. At six foot seven inches, he had a good few i
nches on the other male, and more importantly, he had physically proven himself the dominant male many times over; hence his position as leader of the pack.
"Whit's the matter wit' ye, Lucian?"
"Nothin' is the matter."
"Bullshite. You've had yer head up yer arse since Marc got taken by Leeha. And ye haven't pulled it back out, even though we got him out with wee harm done. So, whit's wrong?"
Lucian ran both hands through his auburn hair, yanking at the ends in frustration. "I said tis nothing! Why canna ye leave me alone?"
"Because yer in my pack, and I canna have a member of my pack running around half-cocked, ready tae explode at any moment. And I dinna have a clue as tae how come! So, you need tae tell me whit the hell is going on with ye, and ye need tae tell me now."
"Or else whit?"
"Or else I'm going tae stick ye right back on that plane 'n' send yer arse back home 'til we get this thing wi' Aiden taken care of. Then I will come home 'n' deal wi' ye."
"Yer kicking me out of th' pack?" Lucian asked in disbelief.
"Do I need tae?" Cedric retaliated. "Because I'm beginning tae wonder."
"I'm no' leaving the pack."
"You'll have no say aboot it if that's what I decide."
Cedric held his ground in the middle of the room, legs braced apart and arms at his sides, ready for Lucian to lose his temper and come at him. He almost hoped that he would. Maybe then they could work out whatever was wrong with the lad.
But Lucian didn't react as he expected. Instead of losing his cool and raising a hand towards his alpha, he turned on his heel and slammed out of the hotel room.
"Dammit," Cedric swore, and sank down onto the bed. Scrubbing his face with his hands, he pondered what he was going to do with that wolf pup.
He'd better tell the others what had happened. They'd have tae find Lucian now before they could do anything else. Much as he wanted tae let him go 'n' go find Aiden, pack came first.
Always.
Chapter Seventeen
Three Days Later
Grace's newfound fear of him had become quite obvious since the day she'd spilled her secrets. Was she worried that he was going to steal her spell? What good would it do him? He was a vampire for heaven's sake! He couldn't do all that hokey-pokey.