Aegleaca’s arrival would throw them all into turmoil, and with good reason. Last time she had been here...no, he wouldn’t contemplate that thought. Eva wasn’t Lottie. History would not repeat itself, but he still wanted Eva as far away from Aegleaca as possible.
Eva stirred in his arms when his softening cock slid out of her, and spinning her around he kissed her. The way she responded to him, soothed the insistent ache in his gut, and he deepened the kiss until she clung to him breathless and pliant.
He broke the kiss with a grin at her wide eyed and flushed expression, and steered her onto one of the stools, while pulling his trousers back up.
She flinched when her bare ass made contact with the stool and he laughed. The shy smile she bestowed on him made him fall in love with her all over again, and he almost blurted his feelings out loud, but turned round and busied himself in finishing off the breakfast she had started. By the time he’d poured them both a coffee, and placed the heated pancakes in front of her, he had his emotions back under control, and gave her an approving smile when she attacked her food with a considerable amount of enthusiasm.
“Hungry?” he asked, and she grinned up at him and stuck her tongue out.
“I can’t think why. Wouldn’t have anything to do with the amount of exercise you subjected me, too, would it now, Sir?”
Amusement bubbled up inside of him at her sassy attitude, and he shook his head and raised his coffee cup at her in silent salute.
“I didn’t hear you complaining, girl.” He winked at her, and Eva shrugged her shoulders. The faint blush that stained her cheek bones was the cutest thing ever, and he reached across to lace his fingers through the hand she wasn’t using to eat with. She squeezed his digits and a comfortable silence fell between them as she ate.
When the grandfather clock in the hallway struck seven, she frowned, and her gaze dropped to her mating mark on his shoulder.
“Why is that not healing?” she asked, and worried her bottom lip with her teeth. “And do you mind?” Her expressive eyes sought his and they clouded over with worry, until he raised their linked hands to his lips and kissed her knuckles. A shudder went through her, and she visibly relaxed.
“I don’t mind at all, myshka,” he said. “In fact, I rather like it. I just regret the fact that you can’t openly wear my mark.”
Her free hand darted to her neck, and she frowned when it seemed to dawn her that it was gone.
“I told you, I will not make you choose, and considering where you’re going tonight, I figured you didn’t need to have to explain that visible reminder of who you’ve spent the last few hours with. I’m leaving the ones no one else can see, however. Don’t want you to forget who you belong to.”
He smiled at her sharp intake of breath, and the way she shook her head.
“As if I could. You’re my mate, after all, as fucked up as that is.” She grinned impishly when he frowned at her choice of words. “And, yes, I know you don’t like me to cuss, but there is really nothing else that sums this up, so punish me later if you must, but it had to be said.”
His cock twitched at the thought of punishing her, and he shook his head and smiled at her.
“Perhaps not, so I’ll let this go for now. Need I remind you that I have a long memory though?”
Eva’s smile lit up her face, and his chest tightened at the affection he read in her golden eyes.
“Oh, I am counting on that, Sir. I wish I didn’t have to go to this thing tonight, but they’ll have a fit, if I don’t show up, and—”
“It’s okay. I want you to go. In fact I want you as far away from here as you can be.”
Her eyes widened at his interruption and he knew his accent had thickened in his agitation. The mere thought of Aegleaca and Eva in the same room tied his gut in knots of apprehension. Something of his inner turmoil must have shown on his face, because Eva got of her chair and straddling him, snuggled in close. He tightened his arms around her, and let the sound of her heartbeat soothe his worries.
“The phone call?” she asked, and he gently pushed her off him. Her face dropped when he started to pace the floor, and she wrapped her arms around herself and sat down on the stool he had just vacated. To her credit she didn’t pry, just watched him and waited for him to talk.
“Yes, that was Aegleaca.” At her confused expression he stopped pacing and faced her. “My maker, she’s on her way here with my sisters.”
Chapter Nine
Eva’s head spun at that revelation, and she struggled to draw air into her lungs. She couldn’t have heard him right, could she?
“You’re bringing more vamps here?”
He frowned at her and shook his head.
“Not by choice, myshka,” he said and flinched when she swore under her breath and glared at him, but she was so pissed at him right now, it overlaid everything else. How fucking dare he? To explain one of him was bad enough, let alone more of them. So much for him not making her choose between her job and him.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” she asked. “You’re letting them come here, aren’t you? You know what that means. Everyone will go on high alert, and how is that not going to interfere with my job? Damn you.”
His low growl of annoyance sent shivers down her spine and the submissive inside groaned at his disapproval. She wanted to throw herself at his feet and beg his forgiveness, but the Protector won out, and pushing her shoulders back, she raised her chin and stared him down. They weren’t in a scene right now and this was important. This didn’t affect just the two of them, but everyone in Cumbria, shifters and humans alike.
“I take it she is like you?” she asked. “You know all that walk in the sun, and need to feed lots shite. I can’t let that go. I can’t.”
Dimitrius’s sigh in answer made her feel all kinds of wretched inside, and he ran a hand through his hair and shook his head.
“I know you can’t, but I’m going to ask you to turn a blind eye for now.” He held out his hand to stop her when she was going to explode at him, and a wry smile kicked up one corner of his sinful mouth, when she slammed her mouth shut.
“Trust me, I don’t want her here. I don’t want her anywhere near you, especially after the last time she was…” He let his words trail off, and Eva’s heart skipped a beat and then turned into a jackhammer at the flash of pain that crossed his features.
“After the last time, what? Please tell me, Sir?”
Dimitrius resumed pacing did nothing at all to reassure her, and she knew she wasn’t going to like what he had to say.
“The last time she was here, she killed my submissive,” he said, and Eva froze. She couldn’t have heard him right, could she?
“What?” That one word came out as a whispered croak, and she held her hand out to stop him when he crossed the distance. “No, don’t you dare touch me right now. What do you mean she killed her? Why? How? And that’s the woman whose clothes are still in that room upstairs, right?”
At Dimitrius’s grave nod Eva swore, and her eagle was all but ready to shift and gouge that unknown maker’s eyes out.
“Yes, though those dresses were never worn by Lottie. She didn’t like them.” He smiled at Eva’s frown.
“But they are gorgeous. Why wouldn’t she wear them?”
“Lottie’s tastes and mine didn’t match up on lots of counts. I liked that about her.” A grim smile kicked up his features. “You’ll have noticed, I kinda like sassy subs.” The heated look he threw her had her squirm on her seat, despite the situation, and the fact that they were discussing one of his ex-lovers and subs. Not only that, but one that clearly had meant something to him. On the heels of that came relief that those dresses had never been worn by her. It was the main reason why she had chosen to wear one of his shirts, and not one of the beautiful dresses, because she hadn’t wanted him to think of this other bird when he saw her in one of them.
Eva mentally shook her head at herself, and forced herself to listen to his exp
lanation.
“Anyway, Lottie had her own motifs for seeking me out. She wanted me to turn her. Something I didn’t agree to. When she realized I wasn’t going to change my mind on that, she threatened to expose me. Aegleaca decided to eliminate the threat once and for all. She never liked Lottie.”
Eva concentrated on the simple act on keeping on breathing, all too aware of the careful way Dimitrius studied her from under hooded lids.
“And you simply let her kill this Lottie?” she asked, and his jaw tightened. “What if this maker of yours doesn’t like me? Are you going to let her kill me, too?”
He looked utterly furious for a moment, and his fangs ran out with an audible click, and before she could blink he stood in front of her. One hand wrapped around her throat, the other buried painfully in her hair, he held her immobile as he studied her. The deep growls emanating from his chest really shouldn’t turn her on, but lord help her they did. Her animal didn’t care about the circumstances. This man was her mate, and she wanted him, would always want him regardless of who he was or what he did. Some of those inner revelations of hers must have shown on her face, or perhaps he just read her emotions because his anger fled as quickly as it had appeared, and releasing his hold on her neck, he nuzzled into it.
“Damn you, girl, if I’m not going to spank that ass raw once this is all over with.” He let her go and stepped away, and Eva had to grab the table for support. It was that or jump him, and that wouldn’t get them anywhere.
“If Aegleaca harmed one hair on your head, I would rip her apart with my bare hands, maker or not,” he said, and Eva gasped, even as the warm glow of his love wrapped her in a comforting cocoon. And it was love that shone out of his black eyes right now. As if to prove his point, he stepped closer again, framed her face with his large hands and rested his forehead on hers. She snuck her hands over his, and drank in his scent. How long they stood like that, she couldn’t say. It felt like an eternity, but eventually she cleared her throat and putting her hands on his chest pushed him away.
“Careful, now, you almost sound as though you care,” she said, and his sardonic smile was back in place when he looked at her.
He shrugged his shoulders, and winked at her, before he sobered.
“Maybe I do care. The point remains that I don’t want you near her, and she will not be a threat to the village. Aegleaca needs very little blood to survive, and she has her own humans to feed from.” He ran a hand through his hair and frowned. “As for my sisters, they’ll behave themselves, and besides they’re too young to walk in the sun, so they’ll be no threat to anyone.”
He paused and resumed his pacing with such speed that Eva felt quite dizzy.
“So, if she’s no threat, why are you so agitated, Sir?” she asked and he swore and turned back round to face her. When he didn’t reply, Eva rushed on. “This Lottie, did you care for her?” she asked, and she held her breath, when he frowned.
“Yes, of course I did,” he finally said, and her heart sank.
“Not enough to save her from your maker though?”
Dimitrius crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head.
“I don’t form attachments to humans. It never ends well. Besides, Lottie brought her demise on herself. Personally I would have just erased her memory and let her go, but Aegleaca prefers the old ways. She doesn’t give second chances.” He smiled grimly at her sharp intake of breath.
“I told you there’s no such thing as a good vampire, but having said that, I will not risk you. Aegleaca will eventually move on again. Sooner, rather than later I hope. We just didn’t part company on the best of terms after Lottie, that’s all.”
“Then why is she coming here?” Eva asked and his expression grew forbidden again.
“She says it’s to clean house, but I suspect she’s found out about you.”
* * * *
That conversation played on Eva’s mind all through Mrs. H telling her Halloween tale. Stood against the back of the crowded room, Eva took in the shifters and Protectors alike. Even the aloof Sasha growled menacingly when Mrs. H reached the part where she was almost killed by Angelique. That vamp had always been the epitome of ancient vampire in Middle Brook’s eyes, and from the sounds of it she was a mere baby in comparison to Dimitrius and certainly that Aegleaca. Dimitrius had explained that she was one of the original vampires. He wasn’t sure how old she was, but she had already been ancient when she’d found Dimitrius.
Jealousy made her crunch her teeth together at the thought of Dimitrius and this woman. It was clear that he cared about her a great deal, had once loved her, because, by his own admission, she had turned him at his request.
To know that he was even now entertaining his maker and her friends in his house made her stomach churn in disgust, and she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was putting all of them in great danger by not informing the council of the vampires in their midst.
However, the thought of betraying Dimitrius’s trust burnt a hole in her heart. She couldn’t do it. He was her mate, the man she loved with every fiber of her being, and despite his protestations to the contrary, she knew he had a good heart. Actions spoke louder than words. It was those thought processes that made her ask the question at the end of the evening, as everyone was taking their leave.
“Can I ask you a question, Mrs. H?” she said.
“Of course, my dear.”
“If Angelique was that powerful, why did she offer to make a deal in the first place? I mean, she could have just let you die, and then fought her way out of that cave, no?”
Ronan, Tina, Leon, Rebecca, and even Sasha turned back round to look at Mrs. H at that question and she nodded.
“Yes, you’re right, of course, she could have, but where would have been the fun in that? She might have gotten hurt, and she would have had no hold over Henry. This way, she knew he would let her go, and she could have her fun torturing us from afar. We never once forgot she was still out there. It caused many a row between Henry and Rebecca, when she became a teen and wanted to stay out.” Mrs. H glanced at her daughter, and Rebecca gave her a watery smile. Her husband’s hold on her tightened and the lion shifter growled low in his throat.
“It was all part of the game for that thing. She was evil through and through.”
Eva worried her bottom lip again and sighed.
“I see. I was hoping she might have done it in a rare show of compassion, maybe?”
Mrs. H’s eyes sharpened and Eva squirmed under the intensity of her gaze.
“Are you asking me if vampires are capable of feelings, my dear?”
“I guess,” she mumbled. “They can’t all be evil, right? There must be good ones, too?”
The village elder sighed and patted her arm.
“Well, I suppose anything is possible, my dear. But if there are good vampires, I sure haven’t met them yet. Now, run along my dears, and have a safe trip home.”
Eva swallowed the rest of her questions, and all the protectors as one sniffed the air, when they stepped outside. Nothing was amiss, and Eva breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe Dimitrius’s makers’ visit would pass by unnoticed after all, and no one would need to know about the ancient vampires in their midst.
She’d had enough explaining to do about her new bike. She got the distinct impression none of her fellow Protectors bought her muttered insurance pay out come back, but one sharp comment from Ronan had put an end to any further discussion. You simply didn’t argue with the bear shifter. Ronan spirited his human mate Tina away the minute they were outside which left Sasha and Leon hurling insults at each other. Eva pulled Rebecca to one side to check she was okay, and Mrs. H’s daughter smiled and pulled her in for a hug.
“Yes, just worried about mum, that’s all. Is everything all right with you?” she asked. “You seem preoccupied. I know that look. Come on, spill. You’ve met someone, right?”
She giggled when Eva couldn’t suppress her blush of guilt, and hugged her closer when she whi
spered, “Yes, I have, but it’s complicated.”
Rebecca rolled her eyes and glanced briefly at her husband, before she settled for glaring at Sasha. The panther shifter was in a particularly belligerent mood, and Eva wasn’t surprised to see Leon step between Sasha and his wife. Rebecca’s powers were still limited, but she could do some damage if she wanted to.
Sasha roared off into the night, and having said her good byes Eva followed suit. The urge to ride over to Dimitrius consumed her, but she had promised him to stay away and to let him handle this his way, so she headed for home instead.
Mind you, her eagle had made no such promises, so she shed her clothes and once shifted soared in the air. She would have to settle for watching over her man from up above, but at least she would get some idea of what the hell was going on.
A sleek black Porsche convertible sat next to his Jag, together with a rather plain looking van, and Eva swooped lower until she sat on the branch of the oak tree that afforded her an unrivalled view of Dimitrius’s formal living room. What she saw turned her stomach and made her want to gouge the bitch’s eyes out.
* * * *
Dimitrius froze mid bite of the human Aegleaca had insisted he’d feed from. His girl’s fury hit him straight in the gut, and made the blood coating his tongue burn like poison. Of course she wouldn’t stay away. Since when did Eva ever do as she was told?
He retracted his fangs from the young girl’s wrists, and licked the wound to seal it. A disappointed moan came from his maker’s latest toy, and he absentmindedly patted her naked thigh. Standing up he scanned the dark gardens instead, relieved to find no trace of Eva. She was still there. He could sense her as clearly as if she stood next to him, but at least she had the good sense to stay hidden. No doubt she was in her eagle form perched high in a tree, seething at what she was witnessing.
The Vampire's Protector [The Protectors 4] (Siren Publishing Classic) Page 10