by Lauren Dane
“You two arranged to have my apartment moved? Here? Without even bothering to ask me?” Neither man seemed to notice the dangerous tone in her voice.
“You didn’t think we’d let you go back to that tiny apartment where you were unsafe? Not when you’re meant to be with us and when this place is so safe?” Rhett looked so arrogantly self-assured when he said it that she had to swallow a frustrated scream.
Pushing up off the couch, she began to pace. “I can’t believe you just moved my stuff without even discussing it with me. I’m not your child you know! You can’t just make decisions without even bothering to talk to me about them.”
“Are we wrong in thinking you want to be here with us? I know it’s a bit farther from campus than your old apartment was but you can drive. You don’t need to take the bus, although you could if you really wanted to.”
Coherent thought fled as she saw red. She counted to ten and then thirty-five. “In the first place, I don’t have a car. In the second place, I don’t recall being asked to move in here at all. In fact, I don’t recall you two asking me about any of this.” Her teeth were clenched to hold in her anger.
“Holly, you’re our mate, we’re yours. What did we have to ask?” Rhett said, obviously clueless as to why she was so angry. “We love you. Where else would you be?”
“Which leads to the next question. Where are we going to sleep? How do we divide up time?” Nate moved to the couch and put his feet up on the table.
She just looked at the two of them sitting side by side on the couch and snorted in frustration. She wanted to be there and their behavior was well-meant if not totally arrogant and patronizing. Sighing, she looked at Nate’s feet on the coffee table and pushed them off with her outstretched foot. “Jeez, feet off the table!”
“Does this mean you’ll stop being pissed, forgive us our cavemen attitudes and move in here?” Nate asked with a barely repressed smile.
“Damn it! Can you read my mind?” She stomped a foot in frustration.
“Sort of. Some thoughts and emotions come through loud and clear. You know that. We’ve had a few moments like this over the last days. We’ll try not to if we can help it. We want to respect your privacy,” Rhett said calmly.
“If you’d open to us, you’d feel us too,” Nate said and Holly felt the annoyance and hurt in his voice.
Giving a long, put-upon sigh, she turned and walked out of the room. They both jumped up to follow her up the stairs. At the end of the hall she turned back to them. Pointing at Rhett’s door she said, “You’re here.”
He nodded.
Nate tipped his chin to his room when she passed by before walking to the far end of the hallway. “What are these?”
Nate moved toward her to open the two doors at the end of the hall. “Both of these rooms are empty. We can turn one into a study for you, a place to do your homework. The other can be your bedroom.”
“Or our bedroom,” Rhett said. He looked at both of them earnestly. “I liked the three of us in the same bed. I don’t mind having some personal space that’s each of ours, but I’d prefer to all sleep together.”
Holly thought about it. Truth was, she liked waking up between the two of them and preferred the three of them sleeping together every night.
“Okay, how about we have one room be a study and your personal space and the other one can be our bedroom, a place we all share most nights?” Nate was willing to spend most nights as a threesome but he wanted at least one night a week with her all to himself.
“Most nights?”
“Some nights I want to just have it be me and Holly.”
Rhett looked angry for a moment and then nodded. “Okay, but I get one night with her alone too.”
“Uh, hello? Do you two plan on including me in this or shall I just wait for you to divvy me up?” She glared at them both.
Rhett laughed. “Sorry, honey. Do you have any ideas of how we should split up time?”
They spoke for a time about how to have couple time as well as time as a threesome and much-needed solitary time too.
“Why don’t you tell us about the situation with your family and what you want to do while we move your stuff into your room. Which one do you want for your room, sweetness?” Nate kissed her temple.
She pointed to the one that would get the best daylight, they sure didn’t need it.
It only took them an hour to get her room together. When all was said and done, she didn’t really have much. Some of her kitchen stuff would stay in the garage. The important things, the scrapbooks and albums of photographs her mother had made over the years, sat on the large bookshelves.
As she finished hanging up her clothing, Nate sat on the bed and Rhett in the window seat and she told them all she knew of her family. She’d only briefly told Rhett about the dream the night before.
Nate nodded decisively. “Sweetness, we need to contact them and visit New Orleans. It’s safe for us because it’s non-affiliated and you need to find this piece of yourself as well as figure out who is trying to hurt you and why.”
“James, our assistant who took care of the boxing and moving of your belongings, told me that your neighbors said that someone was there during the early morning hours looking for you. They aren’t going to give up and we can’t stop them until we figure out who it is.”
“What if I don’t want them?” She knew she sounded petulant but she couldn’t help it.
“You don’t have to have them, then. But we need to figure this out and they’re necessary to that. We can stay in a hotel. Rhett and I will always be with you. James and Jax, our daytime help, are going to move in for the time being, until we can be sure you’re safe. Jax is a former Navy SEAL and he’s served vampires for the last fifteen years. He came with us when we left Boston. He used to be Gaius’ personal bodyguard so he’s more than capable of helping you when we’re sleeping.”
“A bodyguard?”
“Yes, Holly. Don’t pretend you don’t need one. He’ll drive you to and from work and hang around while you’re there, until one or both of us can be around. This isn’t a joke. Someone wants to kill you and that can’t happen.” Rhett’s face was set, his arms crossed over his chest.
She sighed. She was not going to be one of those romance novel heroines who argued over every last point just for the sake of arguing. The fact that someone wanted to kill her totally freaked her out and she understood that the two men in the room were a part of her life and could protect her. Were her best chance at having a good life, a safe life.
“I suppose I can just call directory assistance for New Orleans. Lee Charvez. You think she’d be listed?”
Nate picked up the phone and handed it to her. “One way to find out, sweetness.”
Sighing, she picked up a pen and a pad of paper from her book bag and got on the bed. Nate rearranged himself so that she was leaning against him while Rhett moved so that he was lying next to her.
She wasn’t overly surprised when Lee’s number was listed. For good measure she got the number for the sister Lee mentioned, Em, as well.
“I’ll call tomorrow. It’s two there.” She reached to put the phone back in the cradle.
Laughing, Nate pushed the phone back at her. “She’s mated to a vampire, someone will be up. Call.”
“Oh yeah.” Grinning sheepishly, she took the phone and dialed the number quickly before she chickened out.
“Hello?” a male voice answered and sex spun through the phone lines. Both men narrowed their eyes at her, feeling her response, and she shrugged.
“Hi, is Lee there?”
“Can I tell her who’s calling?” The voice had an Irish lilt to it. Really sexy.
She had to clear her throat and jumped when Nate pinched her nipple and mouthed, “You’re mine.”
“I’m her, uh, cousin, I guess. Holly.”
“Oh,” his voice warmed up considerably, “we’ve all been waiting to hear from you. Hang on a mo.”
She heard him
lay the phone down and call out for Lee.
“Holly, you don’t know what it does to me to see your body react to another vampire like this. It makes me crazy,” Rhett murmured as he slid a hand up her calf.
“Stop that!” she hissed and moved his hand. “I can’t very well talk to my cousin with you trying to cop a feel.”
She heard laughing on the other side of the connection and realized that her cousin had picked up the phone. “Oh god, sorry,” Holly mumbled, embarrassed.
“Don’t be embarrassed, Holly. I’ve got a vampire mate myself, I know how it works. Man, you’re going to need an industrial-sized load of patience to deal with two of them.”
Against her better judgment, Holly warmed when she heard Lee’s voice.
“I’m so glad you called. Can you come down here and stay a while? Or we can come to you. Whatever is easiest.”
“I need to know who’s trying to kill me and why.” Holly just didn’t know if she could trust the people who’d spurned her mother.
“I know you have very little reason to trust us and a whole lot of them not to, but we really want to know you, Holly. We want to help you. Show you that you have a place in our family. All three of you do.”
“Before I say yes or no, I want to hear straight from my mother’s mother why she let a fifteen-year-old girl be shoved out into the world alone.”
Rhett gripped one of her hands tightly and Nate ran his fingers through her hair, over her scalp, to soothe her.
A soft cry of grief came from Lee and at that moment Holly knew. Tears stung her eyes.
“She’s dead. She was murdered three years ago. She and I were very close, she would have so loved to meet you, to hold you in her arms. She was a beautiful woman. I’m sorry.” Lee’s voice was choked with emotion and the envy hit Holly, sliced through her heart. Her cousin had had the life she should have had. But Holly had lived in run-down tenements and cheap hotels with a mother who hid the truth from her. The loving grandmother was in someone else’s reality.
The walls slamming shut around Holly were so tangible that Nate winced. He could hear the conversation and felt Holly’s pain, her envy and fury.
“She didn’t know, Holly. Her husband, your grandfather, kicked your mother out while your grand-mére was out for the day. By the time she’d gotten back your mother was gone and she couldn’t find her. She looked. All of them looked for you. She divorced your grandfather in her grief. According to my grandmother, she never forgave herself.”
“Look, just tell me who is trying to kill me and why. And how did they know about me if I didn’t even know until two days ago?” Holly wanted to curl up and cry.
Lee took a long pause. “You have to come here. Just come here and we’ll tell you everything we know. Give us a chance to explain things—show you how much we want to know you—and we’ll tell you what we can.”
“That’s blackmail!” Holly sat up, furious. As if these people hadn’t caused enough pain in her life they had the nerve to pull this crap?
“It is and I’m sorry but I can’t think of any other way to get you here and we really deserve a chance. You’re one of us, Holly. Don’t you want to know about your power?”
“Damn it!” All of a sudden her major life decisions were being made by other people and that made her feel helpless and pissed off. “How dare you people do this!” Tears crept into her voice.
Unable to take another moment of her pain, Rhett sat up and took the phone from her. “This ends now. We will bring her but we will not give in to this blackmail in any other way. We’ll stay in a hotel and you can meet us there. You will not upset Holly any more, do you understand?”
“I’m sorry. I don’t want to hurt her but I can’t think of another way. We want to know her. Is that so wrong?” Lee desperately wanted them to understand why she was being so manipulative.
Aidan was trying to take the phone but she knew that that path was a dead end. If vampire guy stuff got tangled up in between her and Holly, they’d never meet. She slapped at his hand and narrowed her eyes at him and he snorted, looming over her.
“You’ve upset my mate. I know your mate must be there, ready to knock you down for the phone, so let’s make this simple, shall we? Avoid the vampire stuff that’s bound to muck this all up,” Rhett said smoothly but firmly. “We will fly to New Orleans on Wednesday and check into The Château. Holly will call you when we arrive and she’s ready to meet you.”
“All right. Please know that should you change your mind, I live in a really large house. A really safe house that’s warded tight enough to hold out a demon. You’ll not be that safe at The Château, even it if is a vampire hotel. We want Holly with us and because you’re her mate, we want you and her other mate as well. We do have a story to tell. She has a big family, we’re very close. It’s difficult for us to know that one of our own is out there, alone and in need.”
“She’s not alone and she wouldn’t be in need if she hadn’t been kept in the dark about her identity,” Rhett said and Holly sighed and snatched the phone back.
“Now that she is on the phone, she is perfectly capable of making her own life plans, thank you very much.” She touched Rhett’s lips gently, she appreciated his protectiveness but she had to do this herself.
“He’s just protecting you, they do that. I understand, I really do. Will you come on Wednesday? Aidan has a jet, he can send it for you, it’s got a special passenger area that’s tight against light but you can fly at night, the time difference isn’t bad. We can pick you up at the airport here, take you to my house or to the hotel, whichever you prefer. I would like you to let me ward your room if you stay at The Château, though.”
Holly let out her breath. “Okay. We’ll fly in Wednesday night. Since we’ll be traveling with vampires and I have no idea what they need to be safe, I’ll take you up on the offer of the special plane but we can arrange our own ride.” She bit back a thank you. Why should she thank the other woman for blackmailing her?
“Great. Oh you won’t be sorry, Holly. We really can’t wait to meet you. There are so many of us who are just really excited to welcome you back home.”
* * * * *
Holly hung up and leaned into both Rhett and Nate, allowing herself a bit of comfort. She eased the door back open a bit and everyone relaxed. She’d been so freaked out but the two of them had fought for her, helped her, comforted and defended her. At that point it was difficult to remember why it was so important to keep them out of her heart.
“Thank you for that.” She smiled at Rhett and he leaned in, brushing a kiss over her lips.
“I’m sorry I was pushy. I just couldn’t stand to see you that upset.”
She nodded. “I got it. I’m trying to get used to it.”
Nate threaded his fingers through her hair and she felt like purring. The normalcy of the moment shook her for a moment.
“Debauching you is going to be so much fun.” Nate chuckled. “I can’t wait to show you off at The Bite.”
She tipped her head back to look at him. “The Bite?”
“It’s a vampire sex club in town.” Leaning down, he flicked his tongue over her fluttering pulse.
“Oh. My. I’ve been sheltered and I didn’t even know it. I uh, well, I’ve never been to a sex club but I trust you. I work four nights a week though, Friday nights until two, Sunday, Monday and Wednesday ‘til midnight. So I won’t always be able to work out stuff like that.”
Rhett took a deep breath—the subject couldn’t be hedged around any longer. “Holly, love, when do you plan to take classes? You’re going to have to give up your job to take classes at night, or work shorter shifts.”
“My classes are all early in the day except for Thursdays when my last class is at four. I don’t need to work shorter shifts. I do my classwork for the week—the major stuff—on Saturday and Sunday afternoon and catch up on Tuesday and Thursday.”
“Honey, when you convert you can’t be out during daylight. You’ll have to
take night classes to finish your degree,” Nate said softly. The moment had arrived, they needed to confront the issue of her converting. He’d wanted it to go another few days but there wasn’t much time before they went to New Orleans and he didn’t want to leave it in the air for another week until they got back.
She got quiet for a few minutes. “I guess I hadn’t really thought of it. I mean, I hadn’t really even thought of conversion even though we talked about it before. I need some time. My entire life has changed and it seems to be continuing on that course. I’m a bit overwhelmed right now. I’m pretty sure you aren’t supposed to make any big life changes while you’re freaked out and overwhelmed. Turning into a vampire is a pretty big life change.”
“How much time?” Rhett asked. “The conversion would make you a hell of a lot stronger. I’d feel better knowing you were safer when dealing with whoever is trying to kill you.”
“By rendering myself helpless and unable to respond for half of the day?”
“Okay, that’s a partial point. But you’re a witch, Holly. You can protect all three of us once you learn more about your power. As a vampire your abilities as a witch will gain in intensity. And most of all, I don’t want to live without you,” Nate said, kissing her fingertips. “I want to have centuries with you. I found you relatively young. I have lifetimes to be with you and I want that. Some vampires never find a mate or find one when they’re already hundreds of years made or born. I’m thirty-nine in human terms—seven years a vampire.”
“We don’t get sick, Holly. Any aches that you might have now will be gone. You will be stronger, faster, safer. Please don’t take too long to make your choice,” Rhett whispered as he kissed her knee.
* * * * *
The next evening she sat with Nate, snuggled into his side as they watched a movie on DVD.
“Tell me about how you became a vampire.”
He threaded his fingers through hers. “I was an FBI agent in Atlanta. Born and raised there. Anyway, I was on this case. A serial killer who’d been working his way across several southern states. I interviewed a witness, Eric VonDriesen.” A smile curved his lips. “Eric was very mysterious. I knew he was hiding something. He had an alibi for several of the killings but I kept watching him.