by L. E. Wilson
"Grace," Emma tapped her on the arm to get her attention. "This is Nikulas Kreek. Aiden is his best friend."
"Nice to meet you," Grace told him as she shook his hand. "I'm sorry to just show up like this, I didn't know where else to go."
"Don't worry about it." He grinned at her, all white teeth and sparkling blue eyes. "Any friend of Aiden's is a friend of mine. Besides," He ruffled the top of Emma's curls. "My Em here didn't really give me a choice."
Emma looked at Grace and said without shame, "It's true."
Remembering her friends, Grace introduced them. Heather still looked a bit shell-shocked, but otherwise seemed to be taking the revelation about Brock pretty well.
Keira walked over then with Luukas and they did the introductions all over again. Grace noticed that whereas Nikulas was quick to smile and easy to talk to, his brother only spoke when necessary and kept his emotions tightly reined in.
Unless he was interacting with Keira, then it was easy to see everything he felt for her in every touch or nuance of his voice. He came alive when he was with her.
Nik clapped his hands together, "Cool. If we're done with the how-do-you-do's, let's get the hell out of here. We can talk more once we get home."
"Brock, I'd like you to come to our place when we get there," Luukas told him. It wasn't really a request. "I need to know more about you before I'm completely comfortable having you here with us."
"Join the club," Grace mumbled.
Heather smacked her on the arm and rolled her eyes.
Great. She was still defending him. Apparently, she wasn't weirded out as much as Grace had hoped.
But Brock just nodded once. "Of course."
"All right, let's go," Emma said.
The ride to their apartment building in Seattle was silent except for Nik and Emma, who pointed out landmarks and told them some of the history of the city.
"Have you ever been here?" Emma asked Grace and Heather.
"I'm from here originally," Grace told her. "But I was young when we left. I don't really remember it."
"And I'm from Pennsylvania originally," Heather said.
Keira turned around in the passenger's seat. "No way! That's where Emma and I grew up."
Heather smiled at her. "Small world. I knew I recognized those accents."
They arrived at the apartments, and Luukas pulled into the underground garage. The guys helped them all out of the car and then Nik led them to the elevator and up to the top floor.
As they followed Luukas and Keira into their apartment, Keira pointed out the restrooms and the kitchen. "Help yourselves to anything you'd like."
"I'll pull out some stuff for sandwiches," Emma said. "That ok?"
Brock told her, "That would be awesome. Thank you."
And then the three of them stood awkwardly in the middle of the large apartment while she got the food ready.
After they'd eaten and washed up a bit, Luukas called Brock into his office to talk while Grace and Heather sank down onto the couch across from Nik and Emma. Keira took the last chair.
"Is there anything else I can get for you guys?" she asked her guests.
They both shook their heads and thanked her.
Nik scooted forward to the edge of his seat and rested his elbows on his knees. "So Grace, why don't you fill us in on what's going on?"
"Don't you want to wait for Luukas?" she asked.
"Nah. I can tell him everything when he's done interrogating the wolf." He grinned widely as he said this. "I almost feel bad for the guy."
Heather raised her hand. "Yeah, can we get back to that part? About the guy I had every intention of putting out for being a werewolf? Seriously?"
Grace turned to her friend. "Do you want the quick version or the long one?"
"Quick is fine for now, since Nik is waiting for your story, and you can enlighten me more later."
"Okay." Grace took a deep breath. "So, I'm a witch, and so are Emma and Keira. Brock is a werewolf. Nikulas and Luukas are vampires, and so is Aiden. Aiden is also possessed by a demon."
"Wait, what?" Nikulas asked.
Emma gasped beside him, while Keira closed her eyes and dropped her head.
"Good God," Heather said. She sank back against her chair cushion, visibly deflated.
"Yeah," Grace responded, knowing exactly how she felt.
Nik stood up and flashed over to the window. When he came back, his voice was tightly controlled. "Aiden isn't Aiden anymore?"
"Oh, no, he is," Grace was quick to reassure him, patting Heather on the back. Her friend's eyes were about to pop out of her head at Nik's burst of speed. "But he's sharing his body with a demon named Waano. He doesn't come out very much though."
Nik sank back down onto the couch, and took Emma's hand.
Keira leaned forward. "You mean to tell me that Aiden survived one of Leeha's possessions, while still aware and fully functional in his body?"
Grace nodded, "Yes. It seems so."
"I think you'd better tell us the whole story," Nik suggested.
And so she did. She told them everything Aiden had told her, and everything that had happened since she'd met him.
When she was done, you could've heard a pin drop.
Finally, Nik raised his head. His eyes were glowing and his features were sharp. "You just left him over there?" he gritted out.
Grace's heart pounded in sudden fear. "I told you, I didn't mean to! I was trying to get us both out of there alive, but those things showed up..."
His lips pulled back, revealing his fangs, and Grace heard Heather's sharp intake of breath.
Emma laid a hand over his, and murmured something to him under her breath.
"She did the best she could," Keira told him. "Sometimes that's all you can do." Her eyes were sad and filled with compassion when she looked back at Grace. "So, we don't know where Aiden is now?"
Grace shook her head. "No. But Brock said that 'friends' of his had shown up to help him after I left. I assumed he meant other werewolves?"
"That would be the guys Nik sent to find Aiden," Emma said. "The ones I asked you about earlier."
"But where are they now?" Nik asked the room in general. "I haven't heard anything since they arrived in China."
"I wish I knew," Grace told him.
Luukas and Brock came out of the office. "When the others get back, we won't be able to interfere, but I'll put in a good word for you."
"Thanks," Brock told him. "I appreciate that."
Luukas gave him a nod.
Nik and Emma exchanged a glance, and then Emma said, "It's nearly 2am. Why don't the three of you come down to our place with us. We have plenty of room. You can get cleaned up and get some rest." She looked over the girls. "Between me and my sister, we can find some clean clothes for you guys."
"Thanks." Grace and Heather said in unison.
Nik stood up and looked at his brother. Luukas nodded once, and Nik did the same.
He eyed Brock's six foot seven inch frame. "I may have something large enough for you left at my place from Cedric. Emma can get it for you."
"That would be great," Brock told him.
Leaving Nikulas to fill Luukas in on what Grace had told them, Emma took the three of them down to their place.
"You guys can stay in Aiden's room," Emma told Grace and Heather as they entered the apartment. "Brock, we have a pullout in the office you can crash on."
"Sounds perfect," he told her. "Thank you."
"Help yourselves to anything you want. There are clean towels in the closet there if you'd like to shower, and lots of food in the fridge. I'm going to go back upstairs. Keira's been helping me with my magic."
"Your magic?" Heather asked.
"Yup," she answered. "I had no idea I had any 'witchy powers' until just recently. But I'm learning. Oh, and Grace..."
Grace turned from the window to face her.
"If you're not too tired, maybe you can come up in a little while and we can compare tricks?"
"Sure," Grace grimaced. "But I'm warning you now, I don't have very many. My 'witchy powers' are pretty useless, honestly."
But Emma just smiled. "Well, we'll just have to see about that." With a wave, she left them to their own devices.
"I got first dibs on that shower, and I'm going to need every drop of the hot water," Heather announced, then headed to the bedroom she and Grace were staying in, her arms full of the clothes Keira had shoved at her as they were leaving her place.
The bedroom door slammed shut, leaving Grace and Brock alone.
He cleared his throat. "I'm just gonna go into the office and crash. I'll shower later, when the water has had time to heat up again."
"Brock, wait." Grace grabbed his arm as he walked by. "I know I already thanked you for getting us out of there, but I want you to know that I truly mean it. Everything else aside, I really do appreciate what you did." Feeling rather like an ungrateful child for how she'd been behaving towards him, she glanced up at him a bit sheepishly. "I still don't know what it was exactly that made you follow me, but I'm very glad you did." She shrugged one shoulder. "I owe you one."
Brock was silent as he looked down at the floor, but only for a moment. "You can always repay me by letting me kiss your friend," he teased.
Grace barked out a laugh. "Good try."
He suddenly got serious. "I would never hurt her, Grace."
The smile dropped from her face, and she narrowed her eyes.
He sighed heavily. "I know you don't know me. You don't know where I came from or what kind of male I am, but please believe me when I say that I am not a guy who would do anything to hurt a sweet girl like Heather. Not on purpose." That sexy grin of his came back full force. "And believe it or not, I'm glad that she has a friend like you. A friend that cares about her so much that she would threaten a werewolf if he so much as looked at her the wrong away."
Grace scowled up at him. She didn't want to like this guy, she really didn't. But he was making it kinda hard not to.
"Flattery will get you nowhere with me."
"I know. I respect that about you."
They were quiet a moment, and then he said, "So, what do you say? Just one little kiss. It doesn't even have to involve tongue..."
"Eww. No. Forget it."
He gave up all pretense of kidding around. "You know, I don't really need your permission. Heather is a grown woman, and I know you're her friend and you're just trying to watch out for her, and I respect that. But come on, Grace. You're being a bit hypocritical here, don't you think?"
Grace looked away. He was right. Who was she to tell her friend she couldn't hook up with a manly werewolf when she'd been getting all hot and heavy with a vampire that practically made her orgasm just by looking at him?
She studied him, trying to get past...whatever it was that was making her so against him being with her friend. But she couldn't. There was just something about him...something that made her wary. And it wasn't just that he was a werewolf. If that were the case, she'd have run far, far away from Aiden the moment she'd figured out that he was no longer completely human.
"No. I'm not being hypocritical. I'm not acting this way because of what you are. I'm acting this way because I don't trust you. I couldn't even tell you why. I just don't."
"Grace..."
"Stay away from my friend," she told him emphatically.
They were standing less than a foot apart, eyes locked in a silent battle of wills, when suddenly Brock disappeared.
One minute he was there, large and brawny in front of her, and the next he was just...gone.
Stunned, Grace blinked and looked around. Then a small noise to her left caught her attention. She turned to find Brock on the floor. An infuriated Aiden was straddling him, and he had his hands around his throat. One look told her he was in full "kill-the-wolf" mode.
"Aiden! Stop! Dude, what are you doing?"
His response to her question was to tighten his grip around Brock's throat. A spine tingling hiss followed. It made her hair stand up on end, and she wrapped her arms around herself and shivered.
Brock's face was bright red as he struggled to breathe, and his large hands were around Aiden's wrists, but he wasn't fighting back. Why wasn't he fighting back?
"Aiden!" Grace knelt on the floor directly in front of him, sending up a silent prayer to the gods that she'd get through to him without having all of that anger turned on her.
"Aiden," she said more calmly. "Please, let him go. He hasn't done anything wrong." When he didn't respond, she reached out and touched his face with tentative fingertips.
Without releasing his grip on the wolf's throat, he closed his eyes and turned his face into her palm. A few seconds later, she heard Brock wheeze in a breath as Aiden's grip loosened just enough for him to get some air.
"Aiden..."
Bright grey eyes, glowing with need and anger, flashed up to hers.
"You are MINE," he growled.
Grace dropped her hand from his face, taken aback.
"Um..." She wasn't quite sure how to respond to that declaration.
Leaning down until his face was barely an inch from Brock's, he pulled his lips back and bared his fangs. Another eerie hiss filled the room.
"She is MINE," he growled at the other male.
Brock's mouth moved as he tried to speak. After a few tries, he finally managed to rasp out, "Understood."
Grace looked from Aiden to Brock and back again. Finally, she reached out and tugged at Aiden's arm. "Aiden, please. He saved me. He saved me and you're hurting him."
Grey eyes locked onto hers and he cocked his head to the side.
"Yes, he saved me." She answered his unspoken question. "I probably wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't for him. He even got me safely to Seattle. Let him go."
She breathed a sigh of relief as his features lost some of their feral sharpness and his glowing eyes dimmed a bit. He was listening. Thank the gods.
Grace watched anxiously as he released his grip from Brock's throat and stood up. She bent down over the werewolf, "Are you okay?"
Keeping a wary eye on Aiden, he nodded.
She helped Brock to his feet, or at least she tried to. He was a big guy, and she wasn't sure how much help she actually was. His neck was already bruising from the death grip Aiden had on him.
Brock immediately pulled away from her when Aiden flashed his fangs at him and took a seat at the kitchen counter.
She spun around to Aiden. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
He scowled down at her. "What's wrong with me? There was a bloody werewolf threatening you!"
"He wasn't threatening me! Well, he kind of was, but not the way you think."
Aiden suddenly stilled. Leaning closer, he took a deep breath, and his lip turned up in a snarl. "I can smell him all over you."
"What?"
"Hey, man," Brock started, putting his palms out in a gesture of peace. "Nothing is going on here, I swear."
Aiden's stare nailed him to the chair. "Sod off, dog," he gritted out.
Brock lowered his hands slowly to his lap.
"You know, luv," Aiden told Grace. "If you'd wanted me to clear off, you could've just said so."
"Aiden, I didn't..."
But she never got the chance to finish her sentence. He was gone just as suddenly as he'd shown up.
Chapter Thirty-One
Leeha paused mid-stroke, her hand tightening on her hairbrush.
He's back.
Her Aiden was back, and he was close by.
Dropping the brush onto her vanity, she stared at her reflection. Her pale skin was flushed, her blood-red eyes roiling with emotion.
He was back. She threw her head back and ran her hands down her neck and her collarbone, over the mounds of her breasts and her flat stomach, until they came together again between her thighs.
Gods, she could feel him. Everywhere.
A maniacal smile lit her features. She knew he wouldn't have left her forever. No
t her Aiden. Her Aiden was special. He cared about her. He would never leave her.
And now she could invite him to come to her.
She could feel his blood calling to hers like a siren's song. She could feel his mood, his emotions, and his angst.
A frown marred her smooth features. Why was he upset?
Unused to the privileges attained by becoming a creator, she forced herself to still and concentrate on the foreign emotions flowing through her, emotions that were not her own. Gradually, she learned to filter through them, separating the different feelings, picking out the bits and pieces.
She felt anger, yes. But she also felt sadness, frustration, protectiveness and...possessiveness. The type of consuming possessiveness one would only feel for a mate.
Her heart withered in her chest. No! It could not be!
Aiden would never succumb to that fate. He would always be available to her. Always searching but never finding one that would replace his lust for her. That was his part of the curse she'd had Keira place on all of Luukas' Hunters, and she'd even managed to weaken the Master vampire himself.
Luukas would be mad the rest of his unnatural life, unable to tell nightmares from reality.
Nikulas would kill any female he loved the moment he fed from her.
Shea would never be able to enjoy the touch of a male without excruciating pain.
Christian would spend his nights seeking carnal relief with female after female, enduring the never ending urge for sex, or suffer the agony of his decision.
Dante would always be in darkness, like the monster that he was.
And Aiden. Aiden would never be able to truly love another. Would never lust after another more than he did her. Though he may enjoy others, just as she did, he would always be hers in the end.
Rising from her stool, she wandered over to the window. Looking out over the pine-covered valley from her temporary mountain home, she tried to think of how these feelings he was having could be possible.
Her jaw suddenly clenched and her fingers tightened on the windowsill.
That bitch.
Why hadn't she seen it the moment Luukas had overcome his fears, to come back to the place where he'd been beaten and starved for seven years to save the one who had allowed it to take place?