“That’s it. Drink,” he said in a tight voice.
She moved her head to let up, but he held her there.
“I’m fine. Take all you need from me.”
She continued to drink and wondered when he had last fed. She worried she would take too much.
As if he had read her thoughts, he said, “Don’t worry. I fed two days ago.”
After taking a bit more, she withdrew her fangs, licked his wound, and sat up. “Thank you for giving me your vein.”
“You’re very welcome.” He took her hands in his. “You know, you are the only female to ever feed from me. I like knowing that my blood is in your body.”
He brought her thumb to his mouth. He cut the pad on his fang and drew it into his mouth. He looked her in the eyes as he sucked, and the sensation between her legs became stronger. He ran his tongue over the cut and released her.
“And now, yours is in mine.”
Arianna was completely taken aback by both his actions and his words. “I do not understand. I did not think you even liked me. You all but ignore me.”
Emerson cupped her cheek in his hand. “I’ve had to deny and hide my feelings for you, Arianna. I’ve watched you from afar for years, and I have wanted you for a mate for quite a while. I was planning to ask for your hand after Naya was mated.” Vampire tradition required the eldest daughter to be mated first. “I didn’t know I would be the one chosen for her. I’ve suspected you felt the same way about me for some time. When my parents informed me of the arrangement with Naya, I told myself that I needed to forget about you and not encourage your feelings toward me. However, after seeing you in need tonight, I cannot deny my feelings for you any longer. When your aunt and uncle come home, I plan to tell them at the next Council meeting that I cannot be Naya’s mate.”
Arianna sucked in a breath. “But what of Naya? I do not want her to be hurt. I thought you both were developing feelings for one another.”
Emerson laughed. Arianna did not understand what was amusing about her cousin’s wounded feelings.
“We are nothing more than friends. Trust me. Naya loves someone else.”
Arianna gasped.
“You didn’t know?”
She shook her head.
“Have you never noticed that she smells like someone else after she goes out for the night? Even when I see her a few days later, I can sense him. His scent on her is strong.”
“Well, I have noticed her scent has changed. I did not realize it was due to someone else. Poor Naya. She most likely feels like she cannot be with him.”
Emerson brought her head down and gently kissed her lips. “You are wonderful. You’re always thinking of your cousin first.”
When he let go, she brought her fingers to her mouth. That had been her first kiss. Even though she felt bad for Naya, she could not help but feel happy for herself.
“My sweet Arianna, that is the only thing you will get from me until we are properly mated. But after our ceremony, you should plan to not leave our bedroom for a week.”
Arianna giggled for possibly the first time in her life. Could this be what it feels like to be in love?
VAUGHN SAT IN his father’s office for their weekly meeting. They were currently discussing the items on the agenda. Most of the subjects were semi-boring, and he found himself ignoring everyone around him as he thought of Naya instead.
Two weeks had passed since he had any contact with her. There were no visits to Pulse, no phone calls, and no texts. They had truly cut off all communication, and he could admit it. He fucking missed her.
He’d never felt such strong emotions for anyone as he did with her. He’d known she was different, but he hadn’t cared because a part of him already thought of her as his. That same part of him was still pissed about the situation and his inability to do anything about it. She was supposed to be a one-night stand, and instead, she’d left a permanent brand inside him. He couldn’t stop thinking about her.
“Vaughn,” his father said, nearly shouting.
“What? You don’t have to yell.”
“Son, I said your name three times before you heard me. What is going on with you? It’s not like you to be distracted, especially when it comes to work,” Vance said.
“He’s in love, boss,” Zane said.
He liked to open his big mouth, which tended to get him into trouble, but he thought he was a comedian. Everyone else thought he was mostly obnoxious.
Sawyer winced. Saxon rubbed his temples while shaking his head. Camden’s eyebrows rose, and Reid appeared bored. Phoenix’s and Tegan’s eyes widened, and the two women sent each other looks. Vaughn knew they were all waiting for him to go off on Zane, but now was not the time.
When Vaughn’s father turned to look at Zane, Vaughn shot him a look that said he deserved whatever ass-pounding was coming to him once the meeting ended. It wiped the smile right off his pretty-boy face.
His father turned back to him. “In love?”
“Ignore him, Dad. His head is wedged permanently up his ass.”
Vance’s response was to give him the look. All the guys received the look, but unlike the rest of them, Vaughn had been receiving it since he was two years old, so he was now basically immune to it.
“Dad, I’m serious. I spent some time with this girl, but it’s over now.”
Before his father could respond, Uncle Gerald walked in the door. Uncle Gerald was actually his father’s first cousin, but Vaughn and Payton referred to him as an uncle out of respect.
“Hey, everyone. Sorry I’m late,” he said.
Vaughn welcomed the distraction, hoping his father would forget about this conversation.
His father pointed his finger at Vaughn. “This isn’t over.”
So much for hoping.
Vance then turned to Uncle Gerald. “You are twenty minutes late. I expect you had something important to do.”
Uncle Gerald smiled, but it didn’t appear sincere. “I swear to you, I was doing something very important.”
“Would you care to share with the rest of the group?”
“Oh no, I’m not ready yet. Don’t worry though. You’ll be surprised.”
His father eyed his uncle suspiciously. “Okay. I’ll let it go—for now.”
He motioned with his head, and Uncle Gerald sat off to the side.
Vaughn could understand why his father had reservations about his younger cousin. When they were kids, Uncle Gerald had resented Vance for being the firstborn grandson. Uncle Gerald had explained it was part of being young, and he no longer felt that way, but there continued to be something off about him. Vaughn never understood how the two of them came from the same grandparents.
Vance had tried to include his only cousin into the group by making him a business partner, but Vance still owned more of L & L Construction than Uncle Gerald. Despite the fact that Vance had gone out of his way to keep the family together, Uncle Gerald still seemed a little bitter at times. Lately, though, he seemed to be in a better mood. Maybe he’d finally gotten laid, and his surprise was going to be introducing some female to the family.
Uncle Gerald had a teenage son, but he had never been serious with his son’s mother. Due to the lack of babies in his family, her pregnancy had come as a complete shock. However, no one had blamed him for avoiding the woman. The mother was…different. She had primary custody of Brent, their son. Her hands off approach to parenting resulted in a kid who was kind of brat. Although, Uncle Gerald didn’t exactly pick up the slack when it was his turn to have his son. Even though the kid was family, Vaughn hoped Brent stayed far away from the family business.
The meeting resumed, and the discussion turned to a big project coming up in Bloomington, but they were interrupted when Payton rushed through the door.
“Sorry I didn’t knock, Daddy, but it’s important.” She leaned over and rested her hands on her knees as she caught her breath. She must have run all the way upstairs.
“What’s wrong, Kitten
?”
She held up a finger, and Vaughn smiled. It was just like his sister to burst in and make everyone wait instead of being ready before she walked in.
She stood and took a deep breath. “Okay. Daddy, I was out shopping at the outlet mall up in Albertville, and I saw six Lowells there. They weren’t all together in one group though. Don’t you think that’s odd?”
The Lowells previously owned half of L & L Construction. The company had been started by Vance’s father and Dwyer Lowell’s father. When they had first opened shop, they had run the business out of a shed until it had grown into a large business. The Llewelyns and Lowells had gotten along for years without any problems, but about ten years ago, something had started to go wrong. The main problem had been the shoddy work completed by the employees hired by Dwyer. They had begun to lose customers, jobs, and money due to the poor feedback. After several years, it had come down to family or them, and the Llewelyns had basically run the Lowells out of town.
The last the Llewelyns had heard, the Lowells had scattered themselves all over rural Minnesota. Dwyer still owned shares in the company, allowing him to receive some money to live on. However, being forced to walk away from the business must have hurt Dwyer’s pride. Since Dwyer retained the shares, the name remained L & L Construction. Also, Vaughn’s dad hadn’t wanted anyone to think they were trying to trick customers into obtaining their business by changing the company name.
Now, his father and he were forced to question what a bunch of Lowells were doing back in the city. Albertville lay toward the outskirts of Minneapolis suburbs, so the Lowells were barely in their territory. So, the Llewelyns had to wonder if the Lowells were just visiting and doing some shopping or if they were up to something else. If they were just visiting, why had they appeared to be hiding on the outskirts? And why were there so many of them? It was definitely suspicious.
“Females or males?” Vance asked.
“All males, Daddy. What would they be doing there? Shopping with no women?”
“That, my daughter, is a great question. Thank you, Payton, for informing us. You’re excused now.”
Payton’s excitement left her, and her face fell. He knew it upset her that their father wouldn’t let her be a part of the meeting, especially when she was the one who had brought them the news. But she submitted and left the room quietly.
Their father wasn’t being mean on purpose. He was just old-fashioned. Yes, he had females working for him, but they weren’t his only daughter. And their mother was nothing like Payton. She didn’t want anything to do with the business or meetings. She would rather be quilting, knitting, or reading. But she was fierce in her own way. Vaughn had once seen her drag a kid off by his ear after he’d hit Payton when she was young. No one messed with Lilith Llewelyn’s family. Plus, she had to be strong to be married to Vance Llewelyn.
Vaughn wondered what he would do one day when he took over. Would he be like his dad or have a more modern approach? Would Naya want to be included in the business? Or would she rather sit back and not be involved? She was a lady, but he believed she would want a say in things. Plus, she was smart with a college education. She would probably have some good ideas as his partner.
Shit. What the hell am I doing?
His thoughts had turned toward Naya again. No matter how many times he’d told himself that it was over and she would be married to someone else soon, he couldn’t stop thinking about her. An inner part of himself said they were supposed to be together, and it wasn’t ready to let her go.
He told himself to focus on the meeting. He didn’t want his father to catch him tuned out again. Once had embarrassed him enough. He hoped when they were done here, his father would let the whole thing go.
“So, it’s decided. We’ll send a couple of you out to see if anything is going on. Until they do something threatening, we’ll leave them alone. In fact, when you go there, try to remain hidden. Do not confront them. Understand?” Vance said.
Everyone nodded.
“Okay,” Vance said, “on to the next item on the list. I received a call from Carla Thompson. Has anyone heard anything about her boy?”
Carla’s son, Max, was fifteen years old, and he’d gone missing in May, almost four months ago. He had stayed after school to talk with some friends. Then, he’d headed home after saying he was going to be late. It was the last anyone had seen of him. None of his friends had heard from him, and all his typical local hangouts had been checked. The local police had no leads either. There had been no sign of him. It was as if he no longer existed.
“No, boss. We still ask around and make phone calls all the time, but no one has heard from him,” Phoenix said.
The group of them were doing everything they could to help the family, but they hadn’t discovered anything new. The longer he was out there, the harder it would be to find him.
“Have you checked all the shelters?” Vance asked.
“Yes. We’ve checked every shelter and hospital we could find in the area. We have nothing,” Vaughn said. “I’m sorry, Dad. I wish we had more for Mrs. Thompson, but we’re stuck.”
“Damn it.” His father ran his hand through his hair. “I don’t want to tell his mother that we don’t have any news. She’s heartbroken as it is.”
They all sat there and wished they had more to offer. No one wanted to tell a mother that she has to eventually stop looking and accept that her son might never come home.
His father rubbed his temples. “Well, don’t give up.”
There was a rounding chorus of, “We won’t, boss.”
The meeting broke up soon after. Everyone filed out the door with Vaughn following close behind, but then his father grabbed his arm.
“Stay a minute, will you, son?”
Shit. “Yeah, okay.”
“Sit down.”
Vaughn obeyed and attempted to tamp down his irritation.
“About what Zane said—”
“Dad, I already told you it’s over. Can we just—”
His father held up his hand. “You will listen to me for a minute. Then, you may talk. If there is some girl, your mother and I would like to meet her. You don’t have to keep her away from us. She’s going to meet the family sooner or later. We’ll have to find out whether or not…we get along with each other.
“I know we’ve never really talked about you and the women you’ve associated with before, but I think the reason is your mother and I already knew the girls you dated in the past. As far as the females we haven’t met are concerned, is it because you’re worried about introducing us to each other? Do you think we wouldn’t be accepting of others? I don’t want you to be worried about us meeting her, especially if you’re serious and really care about her.”
“I do like her—a lot. But it really is over.” This time, Vaughn held up his hand. “And it’s not because of you and Mom or our family…or because she doesn’t like me. Some things in her personal life prevent her from dating me. She’s not happy about the situation either.” He shrugged. “But what can you do?”
“Well, I’m sorry, son. Are you okay?”
“I’ll be fine.” Vaughn met his father’s eyes. “Do you think you’d be open to someone from the outside?”
“First, don’t feel like you have to wait for me to ask you about stuff. You can come to me anytime. Second, I would like to think your mother and I would give anyone a chance. Just because we usually stick with what we know doesn’t mean we have to. I’m not a monster. I want my only son to be happy.”
Vaughn smiled. “Thanks, Dad. I appreciate it. I promise, if I need to talk, I won’t hesitate.”
His father returned his grin and patted his shoulder. “Good. Now, go and find Zane.”
Vaughn smiled as he stood. He walked to the door but then paused before exiting. “See ya, Dad.”
“Bye, son.”
As Vaughn walked down the stairs and out of the house, he felt good about his relationship with his father. However, it was also
bittersweet to know his parents would have tried to accept Naya, but they would never get the chance. Maybe once he found Zane and kicked his ass, Vaughn would feel better. He smiled at the thought.
NAYA SAT ON the couch, watching TV. Lately, she’d been feeling tired and unmotivated to do anything.
She didn’t consider herself sick. It was more like she wasn’t her usual self. Besides feeling exhausted, she had also been having problems with her appetite. Nothing sounded good, and the thought of food made her queasy, except for steak and chocolate milk. She liked steak and ate it occasionally when cooked medium to medium-well, but lately, she preferred her steaks rare. And she had been drinking chocolate milk by the gallons.
The smell of food was the worst. Although she was a vampire and had an increased sense of smell, it had been even more enhanced recently. She’d finally asked the chef to stop cooking anything with eggs because there was nowhere in the house to hide to escape the stench.
Despite her new aversion to food, her increased steak consumption had caused her to put on extra weight. She knew a lot of red meat wasn’t good for humans. While vampires didn’t have the same health problems as humans, maybe a large amount of red meat wasn’t good for vampires either. She probably should be concerned about her weight gain, but she couldn’t muster up the energy to care.
Her reaction, or lack thereof, to her weight and decreased appetite was most likely due to her melancholy. She missed Vaughn terribly. She’d told him not to contact her since it was for the best, yet she would find herself checking her phone all the time in case she’d missed something from him. How pathetic am I?
Tell a boy not to call and then be upset when he doesn’t. Add another symptom to the list—emotional mess.
Also, for a few weeks, she had been neglecting her volunteer work at Second Chances. With everything going on in her life, she just hadn’t had the enthusiasm to go. She’d felt incredibly guilty and wondered if Leo was okay. She hoped she would feel more like herself soon, so she could at least visit. Talking to Marilyn was also on her ever-increasing to-do list. Naya continued to avoid her and the job offer, but she would have to address it eventually. She would love the position, but the future vampire queen wouldn’t work for a living.
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