Mitchell surprised him with a hug. “Thank you,” he said. “I knew I could count on you.”
“Always,” Danny assured him. “Ian was a really good friend of mine.”
Mitchell gave a quick nod, looking a little uncomfortable. Danny wasn’t sure if bringing up Ian so soon was a mistake or not. He’d never been good at reading people. He was more the type to annoy people enough that they forgot their problems. Still, he felt like it was wrong to keep dancing around the reality of Ian’s death, or worse— acting like he’d never existed.
“I spent a lot of time at Ian’s house when you lived there, and I consider you my friend too,” Danny continued.
“I . . .” Mitchell’s voice trailed off as he tried to get his thoughts together. “I’m your friend too. If you need to talk, I’m here. I know I’m just a kid and kind of a freak of nature, but I’m a good listener.” Mitchell met his gaze. “You lost Ian too, and I know you’ve been having a hard time. I’ve seen how distracted you are in training, and Layla mentioned that you’ve been kind of distant.”
Even though Mitchell wasn’t really Ian’s son, Danny felt like he had a piece of Ian standing beside him. Ian would have seen that something was bothering him, even if he would have pretended not to care. “Thanks, Mitchell. Believe it or not, I feel better just knowing you care.”
Chapter Seven
After Mitchell left, Danny decided to go for a walk. There was nothing better to do with his time since he’d been ordered to stay away from the training center. Connor thought he needed to relax. Sadly, Shelby agreed with Connor, so even in Connor’s absence, Danny wouldn’t be allowed to train for the rest of the day.
Not sure how he ended up on Ian’s street, Danny found himself staring at the empty house. No one had the heart to remove anything or even think about moving a family in there. This was the same house Ian had shared with his wife and daughter. Danny respected Connor more for realizing it would have been cruel to make Ian move after losing his family. So, Ian had lived alone in a large home in the family section for many years.
When a shadow passed by one of the upstairs windows, Danny was sure he was seeing things. Then he saw it again. Annoyed that he’d left home unarmed, Danny made his way around to the back entrance where he could easily break in. The door was locked, and the windows on both sides appeared undisturbed. He wasn’t quite sure how an intruder managed to get into Ian’s home. Nothing in the front of the house appeared to have been disturbed. Then again, maybe they’d stolen a key at some point.
Danny quietly slipped inside the house and shut the door before taking off his boots, hoping to avoid alerting the intruder of his presence. It was quiet downstairs, but he could hear rustling sounds coming from upstairs. Slowly creeping up the steps, Danny was relieved that the rustling masked his approach. Once at the top of the stairs, he made his way to Ian’s bedroom.
The woman in Ian’s room was so caught up in packing clothing she didn’t notice him coming up behind her, giving him an opportunity to study her. Her clothing was strange, not like anything he’d ever seen others in the settlement wear. A tall redhead with an abundance of curves, Danny was sure he’d never seen her before, but he didn’t know all the vampires or humans at the settlement. That made it hard to decide how to proceed. If the woman was a vampire, she’d be much stronger than him. If she was a vampire, he’d be smart to follow her when she left, instead of confronting her. A human he could subdue.
Deciding it would be best to try talking first, he stepped all the way into the room, blocking the door. “What are you doing in here?” he asked.
Letting out a startled squeak, the woman spun to face him. She looked like a caged animal, and that would make her much more dangerous if it turned out she was a vampire.
“I’m not going to hurt you, but I want to know why you’re stealing from my friend,” he said calmly.
She regarded him curiously. “You’re his friend?”
He nodded. “I was his friend. If you broke in here to steal, I’m guessing you already know Ian’s dead.” Her accent was completely unfamiliar, meaning she was a born vampire who’d contracted the Moon virus in the beginning.
Her eyes scanned the room, obviously looking for a way out.
“Just tell me what’s going on,” Danny said. “Connor is really good at making sure everyone has what they need, so I don’t understand why you’d need to steal. While you’re tall, Ian’s clothes still won’t be a good fit for you.”
She didn’t respond, just looked around nervously. A stack of clothing was clutched in her arms, and a large bag was slung over one shoulder.
Danny decided he should try a different approach. “My name is Danny,” he said cautiously. “What’s your name?”
“Let me pass, Danny,” she said, and Danny suddenly found it impossible to move or even speak. His eyes followed the strange woman as she walked out of the room. As soon as the door closed behind her, he was released from the spell. He raced out the bedroom door and searched everywhere, but the woman was gone. It was almost like she’d disappeared.
Pulling out his phone, Danny dialed Shelby since she was in charge while Connor was away. “We have a problem,” he said as he continued to search the house. “I just caught a woman in Ian’s house, stealing clothes. She was carrying a bag of stuff, so I’m not sure if she took anything else. I have no idea who or what she is, but she’s not human, and I’m pretty sure she’s not a vampire. Before you ask, she’s gone.”
“I’ll be over there to check it out in ten minutes,” Shelby said before hanging up on him.
Looking around Ian’s room, Danny ran his fingers through his hair. “Why the hell would someone want to steal Ian’s clothes?”
Chapter Eight
Kyleigh was still shaken from the encounter with Danny when she returned. She’d been a fool for believing she could just wander around Ian’s house in broad daylight without being noticed. Then again, she was used to being invisible while in that realm. That wasn’t possible in this case because she’d needed a physical presence. Now, she’d been caught stealing from Ian’s home and had made matters worse by using powers that would definitely spark Danny’s curiosity.
This was not good at all. Some might say she was paranoid, but it really seemed like being left to deal with the souls in an area where Ian would likely run into people from his old life was a trap of some sort. To be honest, Kyleigh didn’t know much about the rules for mates because she’d never considered taking one. Why would she condemn someone else to this life? Now, she regretted that ignorance. Was Ian supposed to be confined to this realm? She was pretty sure that couldn’t be right since others claimed their mates were great helpers. How could Ian be a great helper if he couldn’t leave her realm?
So, if Ian was supposed to help, why hadn’t she been reassigned somewhere else? Why keep them close to the people who would recognize him? This was probably going to end very badly. Talking to Oriel would be the smart thing to do, once she worked up the courage to summon him.
“Are those my clothes?” Ian asked, sounding genuinely shocked. “When you said you were going to get clothes, I didn’t expect you to get them from my house.”
“I figured this was the best way to make sure they’d fit,” she explained and handed over the pile of clothing. Then she slipped the bag off her shoulder and set it on the table. “There are more clothes in here, and I thought you’d want this,” she said and opened the bag to remove the photo that had been sitting beside Ian’s bed.
Ian rubbed a finger across the photo of Kate and Sarah. His lips curled into a sad smile. The picture had been taken just weeks before their deaths and had never been hung on his wall. Most people at his settlement didn’t have photos on their walls since it was easy to keep photo albums on phones, computers, and even picture frames that changed the digital print every few minutes. For that reason, it had been hard for Ian to find the equipment to print out his photos. Something about the paper copy made them seem more
real.
“Thank you,” Ian said and cleared his throat when his voice cracked. “You have no idea how much this means to me.”
“I understand,” she said. “For a long time, I wished for anything to remind me of my previous life— well, anything other than regrets. Now, I have days where I can’t even remember what my mum looked like.”
Ian wanted to reach out and hold her, but that seemed wrong while holding the photo of Kate and Sarah. Instead, he decided to change the subject. “Did you have any trouble getting into my house?”
“No, but getting out was a challenge,” she admitted, sounding worried. “Someone must have walked by and noticed me in the house. He caught me off guard and had me trapped in your bedroom. I didn’t want to just flash out in front of him, and I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to get away from him long enough to leave. Obviously, I managed to get out of there, and with any luck, he won’t spend too much time wondering how I did it.”
“Who was it?” Ian asked. “What did he look like?”
“He said his name was Danny. His hair is a dark shade of red, and he’s not quite as tall as you. He seemed nice and kept trying to assure me he wasn’t going to hurt me. Actually, I felt bad leaving the way I did, but I couldn’t very well explain why I was there.”
“Danny’s a friend,” Ian said, “but I’m surprised he was anywhere near my house. He usually avoids the family area, so his friend, Muriel, can’t talk him into holding her baby.”
“People do strange things when they lose someone they care about,” she said, and Ian noticed she was trying hard to avoid looking at him. That’s when he remembered he wasn’t wearing anything but a towel.
“I’m going to put some clothes on,” he said and walked back to the bedroom, shutting the door behind him.
Kyleigh paced the room, trying not to picture Ian stripping the towel off. Having cared for Ian while he was healing, she knew every inch of his body. Of course, it was much different looking at an unconscious man who was near death. Ian had seemed more like a wounded animal than a man. Now that he was feeling better, it was impossible to avoid thinking about him as an attractive man, one who’d brought her to orgasm earlier that day. That incredible body had pressed against hers as Ian found his own release, so she hadn’t been able to help noticing he was larger than the few men she’d been with. Her body clenched with desire.
Thinking about sex with Ian was a bad idea, but she couldn’t help wondering what it would be like. A soft whimper slipped past her lips.
“You okay?” Ian asked, suddenly much closer than she’d expected.
Kyleigh felt her cheeks getting hot. “I’m fine,” she said without turning to face him. The man dressed much faster than she’d expected.
“Are you thinking about what happened earlier today?” Ian asked.
“Earlier today?” she asked, moving to examine the books on the shelves. This was not a discussion she was ready to have.
Ian grabbed one of her books and thumbed through the pages. “We don’t get many books on paper. My friend, Jack has a huge collection, but mostly we read electronic books.”
“I’ve been picking them up for decades,” she admitted while watching him read. “Some of them are pretty old.” With great effort, Kyleigh tore her gaze from Ian and moved across the room to put some distance between them.
“We can’t pretend it didn’t happen,” Ian said softly.
When Kyleigh looked up, she saw Ian’s green eyes focused on her.
“Believe me, I’m not pretending it didn’t happen,” she said and turned away.
“Don’t turn your back on me.” The sudden anger in Ian’s voice surprised her.
Kyleigh turned, her mouth half-open and ready to tell Ian she needed space, when he kissed her. She hadn’t even heard his approach. Ian’s tongue teased playfully, not pushing or demanding anything. His hands remained at his sides, and he was obviously working hard to keep the kiss from progressing too far. That was probably a good thing, since his soft kiss had her longing to wrap her legs around his hips and feel the full length of him inside of her. There was no telling what would happen to her tenuous self-control if he took things further. Actually, she knew very well what would happen.
When Ian finally pulled away, he gave her a cocky smirk, and she wasn’t sure if she found it annoying or endearing. The man definitely knew how appealing he was.
“Now that I’ve got your full attention, let’s talk,” he said, grabbing her hand.
Kyleigh looked down at their joined hands and then back up at his eyes. Ian’s smirk was still in place. “You looked like you were getting ready to make a run for it.”
To her own mortification, she felt herself blush again because that was exactly what she’d been planning to do.
Ian chuckled. “I’ll take that blush as an admission of guilt. Maybe we should start by talking about vampires and our quirks, especially the ones involving sex. Vampires really like the chase, probably because we’re predators. In fact, vampires like the chase so much that if you’d run, I would have chased you and been turned on by the whole thing. Actually, I’m pretty aroused just from thinking about chasing you. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, I find you attractive. I’m not going to lie and pretend this sort of thing happens all the time. Since my wife died, I haven’t wanted any woman. Now, the way I read this is you aren’t ready to have sex with me, which is the only reason I’m cautioning you against running. If I thought you were ready, I’d be pushing you to run so I could catch you.”
Kyleigh’s mouth opened, but no words came out. She was aroused and a little nervous. Then she had to wonder if Ian was saying he’d hurt her if she ran.
“Yes,” Ian said in answer to her unasked question, “there are vampires who would force themselves on you, just like there are humans and every other type of creature who would do the same. I’m not one of them, but I’m pretty sure you’d let me convince you to do something you’d regret later.”
Kyleigh nodded a little too energetically and felt foolish. “It would make me uncomfortable,” she admitted. “What happened earlier embarrassed me a little.”
“Why?” he asked. “Mostly, you were reacting to what I was doing to your mind. You shouldn’t be embarrassed about that. Plus, it’s just sex.”
“I was attracted to you before, which was just plain wrong,” she said. “You were near death and off limits. Then I claimed you as my mate without your permission. What kind of person does that?” The kind of person I used to be, her mind said in answer to her question, leaving her wondering how much she’d really changed.
“A practical person,” Ian said, still holding her hand. “I don’t know what I would have said if you’d asked me about this mate thing. You might have noticed I can be kind of a selfish bastard most of the time. What I do know is that I wasn’t pissed when you told me. Shocked? Yes, but not pissed, because I get why you did it, even more so after meeting that guy who wanted to take you.”
“Arawn frightens me,” she said softly. “He is one of the most powerful and dangerous of the Fae.”
“Who was the other Fae who showed up here?” Ian asked. “He seemed to have just as much, if not more, power than Arawn.”
“Oriel is the other Fae you met,” Kyleigh explained. “They are basically equals, but Oriel is in charge of what I do.”
“That name sounds familiar,” Ian said thoughtfully.
“Oriel is sometimes called Uriel, as in the Angel of Light,” she explained.
“So he’s an angel?” Ian asked, sounding impressed.
Kyleigh shook her head. “No. The Fae were happiest back when people worshiped them like gods. In fact, they played the roles of deities in many religions throughout history. Their names have changed many times. At one point, Arawn was considered a very powerful Fae by humans, and was believed to have ruled the underworld. Arawn loved that name and still uses it because it makes him sound important. Some humans even claimed he was the most powerful of all Fae.
It’s all about image with the Fae.”
“Why would they care what humans think?” he asked. “I’ve got to live with them, and I don’t care what most of them think.”
“At one time, many people believed in the Fae, which increased their power. There’s also the fact that the Fae are petty, selfish, and vain.”
“So, how did that Oriel guy end up being considered an angel?” Ian asked. Kyleigh hated talking about the Fae, but it was preferable to talking about her attraction to Ian.
“Oriel was bored, so he got involved in some war back in the early days of Christianity. Who knows what name he went by back then? The winning side claimed an archangel had come down to help them, proving God was on their side. They called him Oriel, and he liked the sound of it. In some ways, it’s been good for him. At least Oriel tries to do the right thing when it’s not too inconvenient for him.”
“Aren’t there good Fae?” he asked.
“Not really. Try to understand that there aren’t many truly bad Fae either. To the Fae, we’re toys for their amusement. Some of them treat us fairly well, while others don’t care if they destroy one of us because we’re easily replaced.”
Ian’s eyes narrowed. “Arawn would have destroyed you?”
“Probably not,” she said with a sigh. “That likely would have been what I wished for in the end, but Arawn is like a child who wants to hoard all of his toys and bring them out to show others what he has. If I’d gone to him in the beginning, he’d have grown bored with me, and I’d be free now. The problem with Arawn is that I’ve refused him over and over again.”
“So, he’s one of those douche bags who can’t take no for an answer,” Ian surmised. “From what you’ve said, it sounds like you didn’t have much choice when you claimed I was your mate.”
“Of course I had a choice,” Kyleigh argued. “I could have done the right thing. Instead, I selfishly used you to avoid a punishment I deserved. You have every right to be mad. In fact, you should be furious.”
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