“I also heard him arguing on the phone, telling someone he was turning you over to Hayden to keep people safe. I guess he was talking to the witch who did your tattoo,” Shayla explained. “Anyway, I hit him over the head and tattooed ‘traitor’ on his forehead before I slit his throat.”
Phoenix was having trouble processing what her cousin had just said.
“Phoenix, you need to get out of this area,” Shayla insisted. “Hayden is still here, and he’ll kill you if he finds you. For all we know, that witch may have told others that you’re here.”
Phoenix was clutching the phone and trying to make sense of what she was hearing. “Why are you doing this?” she asked Shayla.
“You protected me,” Shayla whispered. “You also protected the baby. Now, I’m going to protect you.”
“You don’t need to protect me,” Phoenix argued. “Where are you?”
“Why?” Shayla asked, sounding paranoid.
“Because I want to help you,” Phoenix insisted. “Tell me where you are, and I can bring you here to keep you safe.”
“If you want to help me, then run before it’s too late.” Shayla ended the call.
It came as no surprise that Shayla didn’t answer when she tried calling her back.
“Damn!” Phoenix shouted, tossing her phone across the room. Things had just gotten even worse than she’d imagined they could.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Isaiah had trouble finding Phoenix when he got back to Nathaniel’s, so he decided to text her, rather than waste time searching.
I’m back. Where are you?
Her delay in responding worried him, but eventually his phone buzzed.
I have no idea. I’m with Drew. We were going to watch a movie.
His phone rang, and he was surprised to see Drew was calling.
“Where are you?” Isaiah asked by way of greeting.
“I’m in the gaming room,” Drew told him. “You need to get over here. Seriously, the call Nixie got was totally fucked up.”
Without waiting for Isaiah’s reply, Drew ended the call.
Isaiah hurried down the hall to the gaming room, which quite honestly didn’t get much use unless someone wanted to watch television. Nathaniel had gone through a video game phase, but it had only lasted a few months. Isaiah wasn’t going to pretend he didn’t play video games, but he preferred to play them in his room.
Phoenix looked somewhere between bewildered and panicked as she paced the room.
“Why don’t you sit down so we can figure this out?” Drew suggested, sounding, of all things, concerned.
“What’s going on?” Isaiah asked.
“Shayla called,” Phoenix began.
“Hunter’s mom?” he asked, and when she nodded, he continued. “Where is she? We can bring her here. Trish may be a problem, but she doesn’t live here, so we can work around that.”
“She’s out on a killing spree,” Drew chimed in, sounding morbidly cheerful.
“One murder isn’t a killing spree,” Phoenix argued.
“They all start with just one,” Drew pointed out with a shrug.
“Can we start at the beginning?” Isaiah asked.
“I’ll give you the short version,” Phoenix told him. “Do you remember Mitch?”
“Tattooed guy who was threatening you?” he asked.
“That’s him,” Phoenix confirmed. “Shayla somehow learned that Mitch was going to tell Hayden where to find me.”
“Fucker,” Drew muttered.
“What he said,” Isaiah added. “So, Shayla killed Mitch?”
Phoenix nodded.
“I guess this explains my father’s attraction to her,” Drew remarked. “He always had a thing for the lunachicks.”
“Lunachicks?” Isaiah hadn’t heard that one before.
“You know, lunatic chicks,” Drew clarified. “That girl’s a psycho.”
“Shayla is not a psycho!” Phoenix insisted.
“No offense, babe, but I know crazy, and that chick jumped the couch,” Drew argued.
Isaiah decided not to say anything because he wasn’t entirely certain Shayla was crazy. “So, she did it to protect you?”
“It sounds that way,” Phoenix replied.
“Do you think Mitch was going to betray you?” Isaiah asked. He saw the pain flash in her eyes and knew she wanted to deny it. “Bastard,” Isaiah muttered.
“It’s not like that,” she insisted. “Mitch was just trying to protect his brother.”
“By letting you get killed,” Drew added. “Some friend.”
“You’re right,” she admitted.
“You know what we should do?” Drew asked, completely blasé about the situation.
“I’m afraid to ask,” Isaiah replied.
Drew chuckled. “C’mon, I have great ideas.”
Even Phoenix snorted.
“What’s your idea?” Isaiah asked.
“First, we should get Roman and Alek to make sure Trish and the kid are moved someplace more secure. I know you got their new place set up pretty good with security, but you weren’t expecting anyone to be hunting them down.”
“That’s actually a good suggestion,” Isaiah admitted, unable to hide his surprise. “Hayden may not know about Hunter, but I don’t think we should risk it.”
“After that, we should hit the club where those hunters Justin and Caitlin ran into hang out,” Drew continued. “Trish told me she’s seen one of them in that area several times since then. Granted, she hasn’t been out much since she took the kid in, but she has a friend working there who might be able to let her know if that hunter’s still going to the club on a regular basis.”
“Are you out of your energy-sucking mind?” Phoenix practically shrieked.
“Yes,” Isaiah answered for Drew. “Although, I agree that involving the local hunters is a good idea.” When Phoenix looked at him like he’d also lost his mind, he laughed. “I’m even more shocked than you that Drew had two good ideas. Even one comes as a surprise to me.”
“I have lots of good ideas,” Drew shot back. “You just don’t know true genius when you see it.”
Isaiah decided not to argue the point. They had too much that needed to get done. “I’ll call Roman first so he can make arrangements to get Alek and Trish someplace safer. I’m not sure if he’ll want to move them here or out of the area. Then, we’ll figure out the best way to track down the local hunters.”
“No!” Phoenix insisted. “We cannot involve hunters in this.”
“You mean, because they think you killed your aunt and uncle?” Drew asked.
“Yes, and I’m pretty sure that will be enough to have them trying to haul me back to Seattle rather than helping me,” Phoenix told them.
“We have to try something,” Isaiah argued. “It’s probably best if we go without you.”
“I’ll go with you,” she relented. “I’m tired of running, and even if they drag me back to Seattle, it will still be better than constantly looking over my shoulder.”
Isaiah cupped her cheek and leaned forward to brush his lips against hers. “I won’t let them take you,” he promised.
“I’ll go hunt down Justin and see about finding the hunters,” Drew offered.
“I can do that after I talk to Roman,” Isaiah insisted.
“Nah,” Drew waved off his suggestion. “I heard him telling Caitlin what a bad girl she’s been, so I’m hoping to find them playing some kinky games to give me something to jerk off to later. My spank bank’s been kind of empty.”
“Were you always this obnoxious?” Phoenix asked, and Isaiah was surprised to see the smile on her face with all she’d been through today.
“Nah, I can rein it in when I’m trying to get in some chick’s panties,” Drew explained on his way out of the room.
“I think he was trying to make you laugh,” Isaiah mused. “Christ, it always shocks me when Drew does something nice.”
“He’s really not as bad as you th
ink,” she argued.
As scary as it was to admit, Isaiah was starting to believe that. Then a thought suddenly occurred to him. “If you’re a hunter, I didn’t need to buy more condoms when I was out. I can’t get you pregnant, and neither of us can get an STD. Why’d you buy a box when you don’t need them?”
“Humans should use them, and I was pretending to be human,” she explained.
“I could have been in you with no condom,” he mused.
Phoenix raised an eyebrow at his sudden change of subject. “That’s really what’s on your mind, after everything else that’s just happened?”
“There’s very little that can make me stop thinking about being inside of your body,” he assured her.
Phoenix was fighting her smile. “You sure do know how to sweet talk a girl.”
“Wanna go back to my room and see my pocket protector?” he asked with a grin.
This time, Phoenix lost her battle to hold back her laughter, and Isaiah felt warmth flood his body as he realized he’d do just about anything to make this woman happy.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
It was her second day in Isaiah’s home, and Phoenix was surprised by how uneventful it had been so far. Isaiah had left Phoenix alone in the room with the video games and the large television while he made phone calls to try to track down Hayden. Phoenix was sitting in front of the television, flipping through channels.
“How is your anxiety?”
Phoenix looked over at Justin. That wasn’t how people usually greeted her. He’d just walked into the room with, what looked like, a black carry-on bag over his shoulder and asked about her anxiety.
Her reaction must have shown on her face because Justin chuckled. “Sorry. I’m not very good with social niceties,” he admitted.
“At least you don’t look as irritated as you did the last time I saw you,” she remarked, turning off the television. “I get the impression you don’t want me to be with your brother, not that I blame you.”
Justin cocked his head to the side and studied her for a moment. “I’m actually glad my brother found you. He’s alone far too often, and I’ve been worried about him since I found Caitlin.”
“Ah, so you’re one of those people,” she stated.
“Which people?” he asked.
“You’re the kind of person who wants everyone to be in a relationship because you are,” she replied.
Justin seemed like he was going to deny it, but he looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding. “Maybe not everyone, but I do want my brother to find the kind of happiness I have. It’s hard since neither of us have ever been very social people. Having to hide what we are from most people makes it even harder for us to socialize.”
“I can understand that,” Phoenix said with a sigh. “I get the feeling you didn’t track me down just to make small talk.”
He shook his head and set the bag down. “I honestly came to talk to you about your anxiety. That wasn’t just an attempt to start up a conversation.”
“Why?” she asked.
“I’m a doctor,” he explained.
“And you think you can help me with my problem,” she finished for him.
“I can try,” was his response.
“Do you know much about hunters?” she asked him.
“A little,” he told her. “I know your bodies react differently to medications, and human anti-anxiety medication wouldn’t do anything for you. We have similar issues, and some of it has to do with how quickly our bodies flush out medications and toxins.”
“So, you understand why I’ve never been able to take anything.”
“I’ve had some success treating psychiatric issues in our family,” he explained. “It began with just coming up with an anesthesia we could use, and then I started working on other medications. I’d like to run some tests and consult with my cousins, Ivy and Tempest. Ivy is a clinical psychologist and Tempest is a doctor. If you’re okay with it, I can get Ivy out here today or tomorrow. I’m hoping she can come with us to the club when we meet the hunters, to help if you have any issues with your anxiety.”
“Your cousins?” she asked, before realizing what he meant. “Oh! You mean cousins by marriage.”
“They’re related by blood,” Justin corrected her.
“That’s not possible.” While she wasn’t an expert on vampires, she knew they only had male offspring, making it even harder for them to continue their bloodlines since they also couldn’t get just any human female pregnant.
“I would have agreed with you until recently. Our female offspring aren’t the same as us, but they have some pretty amazing psychic abilities. Ivy is an empath, like my wife. She can help you regulate things so you don’t have a panic attack with the hunters around.” He paused before adding, “Caitlin can help you if Ivy can’t make it, but she’ll be a complete bitch the whole time because she hates getting too close to people.”
“You people are really strange,” she muttered.
“But we grow on you,” he added with just the hint of a smile.
“That you do,” she admitted with a laugh.
“Why is that so funny?” he asked.
“I still remember the day I was supposed to start training as a hunter,” she began. “My uncle kept telling me how it was okay to learn to kill vampires because you’re all dangerous and could easily end up going on killing sprees.”
“The irony of that statement is that there was a vampire in the Seattle area who was known for going on killing sprees,” Justin pointed out.
“Drew’s mom?” she asked.
He nodded. “Yep, she was a sick human being who never should have become a vampire.”
“Then why did everyone just leave Drew with her?” she asked, feeling angry on her friend’s behalf.
Justin sighed. “I could give you a bunch of excuses for why we ignored that situation as long as we did. I could tell you all about how they were far enough from us that we didn’t see what was happening with Drew, or any number of other lines.”
“You all messed up,” she finished for him.
“Pretty much,” Justin agreed. “No one realized she was taking Drew out with her until after he moved down here, and by then, he was so messed up that we all just avoided him, for the most part. That’s not a good excuse, because we should have noticed what was going on and dealt with his mom sooner. We were hunting her down when Drew ended up having to kill her. That shouldn’t have happened, and we all share the blame for it. As much as I hate to admit it, I feel a lot of guilt over that some days.”
“You don’t like Drew, do you?” she asked.
“No,” Justin admitted. “I was the one to deliver him, the first person to hold him, and I left him in that situation. So, I should feel some bond with him, but he’s made that impossible for me.”
“It’s mostly because of me,” Isaiah interrupted, and it wasn’t until he’d spoken that she noticed him standing in the doorway, watching them.
“How long have you been here?” she asked.
“I just got here,” he replied.
“My brother is good at sneaking up on people,” Justin told her.
Isaiah gave her a sheepish smile. “I wasn’t trying to sneak up on you.”
“I’m glad you’re here,” she admitted, returning his smile. “So, how is it your fault Justin hates Drew?”
“I didn’t say it was my fault, just that it has to do with me,” was Isaiah’s cryptic response. “I promise to tell you another time, but it’s not something I’m ready to talk about.”
“Fair enough,” she replied.
“Don’t you have a wife that needs you?” Isaiah asked Justin.
“I was hoping to get some blood samples from Phoenix first,” Justin told him.
“Later,” Isaiah said, without taking his eyes off of her. The intensity of his stare was making her hot and achy. She suddenly wanted Justin out of the room just as much as Isaiah did.
“I’ll lock the door on my w
ay out,” Justin told them, grabbing his bag and heading out of the room.
The sound of the door shutting prompted Isaiah to close the space between them. Dropping to his knees in front of her, he kept his hands at his sides. “How are you doing, with everything that’s going on?”
“I’m handling things better than I would have expected,” she replied. “By this point, I figured I’d be ready to lose it, but it seems vampires are comforting to me. That’s probably proof I’ve lost my mind.”
“Can I get you anything?” he asked, still not touching her. “Food. A bath. Chocolate. Wine. A massage. Anything you need, I’ll get it for you.”
“I need you,” she breathed out, leaning forward to brush her thumb across his lower lip. “I need you in me, making me feel alive, making me think about something other than death and people hunting me.”
Chapter Thirty
There was no way Isaiah could say no to Phoenix’s plea. Leaning forward, he claimed her mouth in an urgent kiss, loving the way she fit perfectly against his body as he guided her back onto the plush sofa. Everything about Phoenix was perfection, and he couldn’t seem to get enough of her. Each time, he was more desperate to have her than the last.
“I need you so much,” he breathed against her lips. “Unfortunately, we don’t have time for all the things I want to do to you.”
“Why?” she asked in a breathy voice that made him even harder, something he hadn’t been sure was possible.
“Roman is on his way back here,” he murmured, kissing her neck, as his fingers slid under the edge of her shirt.
Phoenix stiffened, and Isaiah knew he was a complete idiot for mentioning his uncle.
“I just killed the mood for you, didn’t I?” he asked with a sheepish grin.
“That wasn’t one of your finest moments.” Her sweet smile took his breath away. “Your uncle makes me a little nervous,” she admitted.
“Roman makes us all nervous,” he assured her and then sat down on the sofa beside her.
“Why is he coming back here?” she asked, cuddling into his side. “Has he decided I’m too much trouble?” While she was trying for a light tone, Isaiah could tell she was worried that Roman really was planning to send her away.
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