She felt his pain, watching and guarding something you loved from a distance for five long years, never having it quite within your reach. Her heart broke for him and the guilt returned. She had essentially been the reason for his pain.
“No you weren’t,” he said firmly out of the blue.
She looked startled then realized he was listening in again.
“James,” she said as she threw him a look to get out of her head.
“Sorry,” he smiled sheepishly. “Old habit, I do it without realizing.”
“So let me get this straight, you listened to my thoughts for five years.”
“It sounds so bad when you say it that way,” he laughed softly.
“Well?” Ally wasn’t going to let this go.
“Not all your thoughts, not even the majority to be honest. I only listened in when I lost track of you or if I thought you were sad about something. I was only trying to keep you safe.”
“I know James, but from now on no breaking and entering if you don’t mind.”
He laughed hard. Ally’s sense of humour was one of the many things about her that he loved.
“You might want to tell Adele the same thing. I’m not the only one who was eavesdropping.”
“What! Her too?” James held back another laugh he could practically see the flames coming out of her ears.
“What’s so funny?” she turned on him.
He threw his hands up in a mock surrender, “Nothing my little spitfire.”
Her mouth dropped open and she started to laugh, she did have a short temper and she secretly liked that he called her on it.
“So no more eavesdropping from anyone,” Ally said firmly all the while planning to get her own back when she was able to read minds.
“I agree to that.” He paused before continuing, “There is something I want to clear up with you though. You are not the reason for my pain. I love you Ally I won’t deny that but it’s not your fault that I am hurting. You have enough courage to stand up and say that you aren’t ready yet. You want to do it when it’s right for you and I admire that.” He said as he took her hand in his.
She looked at their hands touching and that familiar wave of dizzying desire was trying to overcome her senses. He appeared to be suffering from the same affliction.
“How do soulmates get anything done when every time they touch, look at one another or seemingly are in the same room feel this?” She asked quietly, not wanting to ruin the moment but wondering all the same.
“I would suggest at first they spend a lot of time,” he cleared his throat, “elsewhere…”
“Elsewhere?” she said confused, then it dawned on her he meant they spend a lot of time in the bedroom at first. She blushed from head to toe at the thought. She wasn’t completely innocent but there had never been any man in her life that had tempted her enough in that area. Come to think of it, with James lurking in the shadows she had a feeling that even if there had been someone he wouldn’t have gotten all that far with her.
Ally hadn’t thought about being intimate with someone all that much in the past but suddenly it was all she could think about. The most alluring images floated through her head and she imagined what it would be like to be with James. She knew it would be unlike anything she would ever experience with anyone else and she was suddenly glad that she hadn’t given it up to just anyone. It was something special that she had kept unconsciously for this man.
She flicked her gaze back to James and she saw he was thinking something along the same lines.
Ally felt like she was going to melt under the heat coming from his gaze. Those eyes were looking at her with something akin to a predator stalking its prey. The colour had changed from emerald to a deep green that would have blended in perfectly with the grass beneath them. He lifted his hand from hers and moved it to cup her cheek. James moved in slowly, as if testing the waters but unable to control himself any longer.
He was mere centimetres from her lips.
“Stop me Ally,” he whispered, “because I can’t hold myself back anymore.”
“I can’t,” she whispered back and moved in to close the distance between them.
It was all the encouragement he needed, he let all the pent up passion and desire flow from his lips to hers. She gave back all that she received and matched his desire with her own. They both felt like they would go up in flames at any moment and neither would have cared. James felt something shift in Ally, she was awakening in ways that she never knew she could. It drove him further and higher than he ever thought possible and it was only going to get hotter as they continued further.
He pulled her closer and gently laid her back on the blanket. His hands were reverently and gently making their way all over her body. It was like nothing Ally had ever felt before, she never wanted it to stop.
“Ally,” he groaned. “You need to stop me before we go too far.”
She could feel the heat burning her up inside, she wanted something, needed something but she didn’t know what. “Not yet,” she said breathlessly.
He was losing control he could feel it, soon there would be no turning back.
The urge for soulmates to bind their union was incredibly strong. James could feel Ally losing the battle. He had to find a way to stop. This was not how he had planned on doing this. He loved having her in his arms and touching her the way he was, it was painful to even think about pulling away but he had too.
“Ally,” he warned her, trying one last time to get her to make him stop.
“James, I can’t fight this and I want you.”
He groaned with pure lust and pulled himself back enough to break the contact.
She looked at him startled then realized why he had sounded so desperate. His eyes had become two black onyx’s staring back at her. Desire had almost taken him over completely and there would have been no going back. She knew that he felt things stronger than she did, but she hadn’t realized how far apart they were in the strength of the feelings. She admired him for pulling back when he looked like he might explode at any moment.
James looked at her and shook his head, “I’m sorry Ally.”
She was concerned about him. James appeared quite shaken up, “What for?”
“I almost lost control and that’s not what I had planned on doing. I said I wouldn’t rush you.”
“You weren’t the only one rushing,” she said making light of the situation in an attempt to make him feel better.
“No but I knew what would happen. I just couldn’t resist you.”
Ally felt the heat begin to rise again and she felt warm and fuzzy from the compliment.
He locked eyes with her. “Ally,” he said with a shaky breath. “I can sense what you feel remember?”
“Yeah I remember but what’s that,” she trailed off realizing that he felt her desire rising again. “Sorry…I didn’t mean it.”
He laughed at her words despite feeling breathless from desire. “I know little one, I know.”
“Is there any way we can be around each other without feeling like this? We are going to drive ourselves insane.”
“There is only one way to lessen, actually lessen is the wrong word these feelings will never diminish but you can control them better once you well…” he left off gesturing to the scene of the crime from a moment earlier. He couldn’t bring himself to even say the words.
“Right, so till then we are walking pressure cookers,” she laughed softly.
“In essence,” he said agreeing with her analogy.
She stared thoughtfully at the loch in front of her, the sun was beginning to hide behind what looked to be thunder clouds, they were moving at an alarming rate.
“James, do storms have a habit of sneaking up on you this country?” she asked.
“They can why?”
She pointed towards the clouds approaching them in the sky.
Something seemed off about them, he looked harder and sent out his senses to detect if an
ything was amiss. It took about thirty seconds for him to realize that they weren’t storm clouds, they were danger.
He grabbed Ally and ran to the horses. She was seated on the horse with her hands on the reigns before she had even registered that James had moved. She looked up and he was on Cooper opposite her.
“Oh god, what is it?” she asked suddenly terrified.
He looked her in the eyes and said very firmly with a touch of compulsion for her to remain calm. “Ally, we are in danger. You need to ride destiny as fast as you can back to the manor. I will be right behind you.”
He could see the stark terror in her eyes.
“I will protect you Ally,” he said with such conviction she could do nothing but believe him. “Trust me! Are you ready?”
She nodded in acknowledgement. “Then ride like the very hounds of hell are on your tail.”
Ally looked away and kicked her heels into Destiny’s side and she took off with a start. She was moving so fast that she was almost flying! Destiny knew instinctively where to go, so Ally gave the horse her head and focused on getting back to the manor. She looked back her a few times to make sure that James was behind her as he promised. He was following but his face was covered in terror, not for himself but for Ally. He knew what was hiding in those clouds. She could hazard a guess but she didn’t know for sure.
James watched Ally riding fast and hard in front of him. Ally had been the one that spotted it.
What is wrong with me? James thought. He had lost all focus on keeping Ally safe and had become focused on bedding her it would seem. He groaned internally with frustration.
James turned back to check that they were still in the clear but it appeared they weren’t.
He called out to Ally, “Whatever you do, don’t look back little one.”
Ally heard what he said but ignored it, when someone said that you had no choice but to look.
She turned around and wished to god she hadn’t.
Chapter Eighteen
JAMES ROLLED HIS EYES. HE WOULD have been better off not saying anything at all. Women! he thought to himself. He was trying to save her the terror of seeing what was chasing them.
The vampire in pursuit appeared to be human, apart from the fact that he was running ridiculously fast.
James didn’t recognise him or have any idea as to how the creature managed to learn the location of Ally.
That was something to figure out at a later date. He manifested a fireball in his hand and threw it behind him at the vampire to slow him down. The creature dodged, but the fireball hit him on the shoulder, momentarily throwing him off balance. He righted himself in a second and was back in pursuit.
James looked forward to Ally. She was a mixture of fear and awe. He felt pride run through him that he had impressed her. Oh good god he thought, I am acting like a school boy when we have a vampire hot on our heels.
He focused back on the task at hand. James threw another fireball behind him and this time he managed to score a direct hit to the heart. It wouldn’t kill him but it was enough to make him back right off and gave them the chance to make it back to the house. James didn’t know how many there were or if they had already made it back to the house and doubled back finding them by mistake. Part of him didn’t want to know.
The thought of anyone at the house being hurt make him physically ill. When these people came to him as servants and friends he vowed that he would protect them and keep them safe from harm no matter what. They had to get back quickly to get Ally safe and make sure everyone else was ok.
Ally blocked everything out once she saw James hit the vampire in the heart, things were serious and they needed to get back to the house as quickly as possible. She was terrified but she forced herself to look back a few times. This was a good chance to see what she would be up against. Meeting Vincent was one thing, seeing a vampire in action was something else entirely. She knew that Vincent was a hell of a lot more dangerous than this vampire chasing them but she hadn’t seen Vincent displaying his full potential, he had only been toying with her. As she thought back over the night she understood why James had snapped at her on the plane. He knew what she was up against and up until this moment it hadn’t been clear to her.
She accepted the betrayal by James and her Grandmother. It made perfect sense now. Who would want to tell someone they loved that this was their future. She couldn’t stand there and say she would have done it differently because she knew that she wouldn’t have. She would protect those she loved with her dying breath and looking at the vampire once more she realised that it might be just that, her dying breath.
It was time to stop playing around and working things out in her head. She needed to work with James and learn how to fight them, it was more important than their relationship right now. She knew he would agree with her. They both understood the importance of her role.
Ally hated that she was seeing this but no-one could have asked for a better introduction in dealing with a vampire. It was a lesson that she had needed to learn.
She felt focused and determined. Her path in life was right in front of her and she was jumping on it. These vile creatures needed to be removed from this earth. Humans wouldn’t stand a chance against them without the immortals guarding them.
She felt anger towards the immortals that had fled. She knew that wasn’t fair but she couldn’t help it. They had a role to fill as well and damn it all, if she was going to hold up her end of the bargain then they bloody would too! Ally decided she would contact each one personally if she had too. Surely being the prophecy girl had some kind of pull with these people.
They had been pushing the horses hard and fast for half an hour and finally Ally could see the fences surrounding Carlisle Manor coming into view. They were almost home almost safe. She glanced back again to see James was almost beside her. The vampire had disappeared behind them.
“Come on,” he yelled. “We have to jump. I won’t stop to open the gate. Can you do it?”
“I can,” she replied firmly.
“Let Destiny do all the work, just hang on,” he advised.
“I know what I’m doing James,” she snapped and urged Destiny to go faster. The gate was almost upon them. She let Destiny have her head again. The horse knew what to do. Ally trusted her.
James watched in terror as Destiny and Ally approached the gate. He felt the relief rage throughout his body that they had cleared the jump easily. James had backed off a bit to give her room, now he urged his own horse faster and let him jump the gate.
He called to Ally to keep going. “Don’t stop until you see Logan or the stables.”
She nodded back to him.
Logan came running around the corner of the house his relief was visible upon seeing Ally and James. He had heard two horses thundering towards the house and people yelling. Logan didn’t know what to make of it but he had a feeling it wasn’t going to be good.
Ally stopped when she reached Logan as instructed and jumped off Destiny. She handed over the reins and waited for James to catch her up to her and do the same.
“Is everyone alright?” James asked breathlessly, once he jumped off the horse.
“Aye, what’s happened?” Logan asked his eyes wide with concern.
James sighed with relief. “We had an uninvited guest on our ride.”
“A vampire?” Logan asked shocked.
“Aye, a vampire.”
Logan scratched his head in thought. “How would they know where you live, let alone where you were?”
“I don’t know but I intend to find out,” he said not even trying to hide the fact that he was visibly shaken and very concerned for everyone’s well-being.
“Hold on” Ally said, as something rather obvious occurred to her. “It’s daylight.”
James and Logan both looked at her and said, “Aye.”
Ally rolled her eyes, “Aye” she mocked. “What the hell is a vampire doing running around in the daylight or is that a myth?�
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James looked at her in awe. He had been so consumed by the fact that a vampire was chasing them that he hadn’t even noticed that crucial point.
“No little one, that’s not a myth. They shouldn’t be running around in daylight as you put it.”
“So why were they?” she asked.
“Remember your dream, they descended upon the village in a fog, today it was a thunder cloud. What had they done to become our equals?”
She thought back over the dream, it dawned on her, “The immortal blood.”
“Aye, back then they only would have known about a few things that it would grant them. That was fifty years ago…”
She finished the thought for him. “So you think now that they have had fifty years to experiment and perfect things they have discovered they can get about in daylight?”
He looked at her full of pride. “That is exactly what I’m thinking.”
“Hmmm, that’s not a good thing,” Logan said with obvious worry.
“Logan, my boy, don’t worry. I will take care of it,” James said with confidence and slapped him tenderly on the back.
“Aye James,” he said as led the horses to the stables to tend them.
Ally and James started for the house. She took his hand and held it in hers, “Let’s go find Gran and tell her what’s happened. She might have some ideas that will help us.”
He stopped and looked at her. “Are you alright? You seem very calm and although I’m impressed with how you handled things out there and just now, it worries me.”
She smiled and said, “I came to a few conclusions on the ride back home.”
“You will have to tell me later.”
“I will.” They turned and walked up the stairs to the terrace and inside to the kitchen.
Sophie walked into the room just as they were arriving. “Back already?”
Immortal Prophecy (The Immortal Prophecy Saga) Page 18