"You sure can. The potatoes should be cooled by now, you can make the potato salad." she says with a warm smile, and I can't help but wonder if her words of no matter what would still be true if she knew.
I grab the potatoes, and everything else I need from the refrigerator, and lose myself in the motions of it, just enjoying the quiet comforting presence, and trying to be present for my family.
The laughter of the Bello's children makes me feel lighter as I help Maddie carry everything out from the kitchen and lay it on the tables that are out here. My dad, Nate and Abel are all manning the grill, beer in hand, while my brothers and Creek mess around with the kids, playing what I think is meant to be football.
I smile, wider than I have in a while as the sun shines down on us, not a cloud in the sky, and appreciate everything that I have.
"Grubs up!" my dad yells and like a swarm, everyone descends on the tables Maddie and I just laid out, while Dad brings over trays of burgers, chicken and steak. Creek comes up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and hugging me. Blush stains my cheeks as he kisses the top of my head, both our families watching.
Shock covers their faces momentarily before they smile and get back to the food.
"About time." Colt smiles cheekily. "Maybe now he'll stop brooding."
"Shut up, man." Creek laughs and squeezes me tighter. I try to not let panic overrun me at his declaration to everyone without us having spoken about it. I guess after the other morning, with our history, he just assumed. He couldn't know how complicated everything in my head, my heart, is.
"You okay?" he asks, and I try to relax my stiffened state. "Yeah." I smile up at him, and he kisses me softly. I sigh into his kiss, gentle but hot enough to make my toes curl. "Let’s get you something to eat." He smiles down at me
and I nod. He takes my hand and leads me to the other side of the table, passing me a plate before starting to fill his own. Maddie catches my eye and makes a love heart sign with her hands and I shake my head with a grin, trying not to blush again. I add some food to my plate, and Creek adds extra helpings while I roll my eyes. I am never going to eat this mountain.
"When did this happen?" Dad asks as we sit down next to him.
"This time you mean?" Nate laughs next to him.
"She hasn't gained all of her memories yet, this could be dangerous," my dad says to him, concern evident on his face.
"I'm fine, Dad. I've remembered some. Not all, but I'm okay. We're okay." I say squeezing Creek’s hand, realizing the truth of my words as I say them. We will be okay. Even if he rejects me for my choices, I know I have to tell him. And if he does, it will hurt, but I will still be okay. I think.
"Hmmmm," he gripes, but goes back to eating his food. "Took long enough, especially after last week," Bauer says as he sits opposite us and I just shake my head. My family has the tact of a freaking sledge hammer.
"Shut up, Bauer," I whisper shout, looking around thankful no one else is paying any attention.
We sit and eat, my hand in his, and just enjoy the company around us. Enjoy the peace, because I fear there won't be much of it in the next few months.
Twenty-Three
I don't have to patrol tonight, god knows there's plenty of people scattered out there doing it right now. I find myself back at the abandoned hotel. Hoping to see Kain, but knowing it’s not likely. Trying to trigger another wave of memories. If he is the one who told me the truth about the change in the relationship of the factions, surely he is the one to trigger the memory of why. Unless he never really knew.
I don't know what I'll do if that's the case, but I head into the abandoned hotel anyway, not really paying attention to my surroundings, too lost in my own head.
"What are you doing here, Remy?" I spin and come face to face with someone I don't recognize, but that voice. I know that voice.
I keep quiet, still while he watches me, and I realize he was the Dracul I heard in here the other week before Kain found me. "Who are you?"
"You wound me, Remy. You don't remember me?" he says, a hand on his chest, taking a step back as if truly wounded by my words and I laugh.
"Always the joker, my friend," Kain's voice echoes through the hall. "She is only two and half months into the awakening. It is lucky she remembered me, otherwise we might have all been dead the other night."
The stranger looks back at me eyes wide. "You were hunting us?"
Kain’s footsteps draw closer until he is stood between us, and I shake my head. "I was searching for my friend’s necklace."
He nods, piecing it together.
"Luc, here is my second. And a dear friend. You can trust him as you would trust me," Kain tells me as his arm wraps around my waist, holding me close to his side.
I smile at him, and his grin grows wide. "Oh, this is going to be so much fun."
He rubs his hands together at his words and Kain laughs. "Do not tease her, she might not be awakened fully, but she will remember eventually."
"Oh, the fun we three had," he sighs reminiscently. "The adventures we had. Do you truly not remember?"
I shake my head and his smile falters.
"So be it, if it doesn't come back in time, then we shall regale you with the tales of past, while making new memories!" he says with a glint in his eye.
"I'd like that," I tell him honestly. "But we have a problem."
"What is wrong, mon chérie?" Kain asks and I pull away from his side.
"Roman is here, I, well I ran into him a few nights back, and I remember..."
"Love, I know of your relationship with Roman, as well as the others. I told you I didn't always find you in time."
"But the three of you are all here now. All at once. What am I to do with that? Creek basically paraded me around as his in front of the Hunters today. I cannot lie to him, but my heart can't let you go either."
"I will say it as I have said before. I will share your heart, so long as you will have me. Mine belongs solely to you, always and forever. I will take whatever piece of you I can."
His words make my heart swell, knowing that no matter what, he will be at my side.
"I could not ask that of you."
"Sure you can," Luc says with a laugh and I roll my eyes at him.
"You do not ask, my love. It is offered willingly. I will not let you go again." I nod at his words, unsure what to say.
"I cannot promise the others will be as willing, but I have seen how they love you. I think you may be worrying about things that do not matter, or will not matter once you are honest with yourself and with them." Would having all three of them, really be a possibility? Would it make me selfish to want more than one, but not allow them to find another, because fate knows that the more I remember, the worse my jealousy grows.
"Thank you," I say, and walk back into his open arms. "Now that's all cleared up, do you want to come with us?"
"Where are you heading?" I ask, knowing I will say yes regardless.
"Quiet," Kain says sharply and I practically hold my breath. They both go so still, sensing something beyond my Hunter capabilities.
"Shit," Luc hisses. Kain looks at him, talking in that way that only people who have known each other lifetimes can. Luc nods subtly, before moving closer to us.
"What’s going on?" I ask quietly as Kain lets me go and flashes away from us.
"Rogues. So many Rogues." Luc says. "We need to get you out of here."
"I will not run from a fight Luc. Not when you both hurl yourself towards it. That is not who I am."
"I know, but I had to try. He will kill me if anything happens to you under my watch." He hands me a sword from his belt, before palming the other.
"It’s not what you are used to, and probably a little heavy, but since you are practically unarmed, this will have to do."
I curse myself for not arming myself before coming here, the idea of it still foreign, though I don't think I'll forget again in a hurry.
"How many?" I ask quietly as I follow h
im up the stairs to the next floor as swiftly as I can.
"At least fifty," he hisses. "They must have scented him." "Why are they attacking him? He is their leader."
"Not everyone appreciates the way of the Dracul. Some people rebel against the Hunters’ tyranny, blaming Kain for its longevity. Think he is unsuitable to lead, despite his history, because of you. That his feelings are tainted and that his duty to his own kind comes second." He shakes his head. "It is ridiculous, but the murmurings of mad men have raised riots and rebellions throughout history. It is why there are so many rogues right now. The houses numbers are shrinking, we are still a force, but they are gathering, much like your Hunters."
His words barely leave his mouth when he darts forward as a Dracul rushes us. He grabs the rogue by the throat and tears with his claws, blood pooling on the floor beneath him faster than I can blink.
"They are coming." The only warning I get before the front doors burst open and the hall is flooded with bodies. Half rush forward, off into the direction that Kain fled, the rest up the stairs towards us.
I shut down the thoughts in my mind and give myself over to the Hunter instincts that guide me, slipping into that killing calm. I rush forward to meet them, the sword an extension of myself. I cut through one of them, and two surround me, I cuss myself again for not having brought my own weapons.
They charge at me, and I fly backwards from a force at my back. It takes a second to realize that Kain now stands where I stood, and the two Dracul are already headless. I blink, watching as if mesmerized as the man who has been so gentle with me, becomes the man legend talks of. In the time it takes Luc to dispatch of the two Dracul with him and join me, Kain has torn through the rest of them, like a man possessed. Covered in blood from head to toe, he faces the last standing rogue.
"How dare you come here, to my home, and attack me!" His voice bellows, the foundations of the hotel practically shaking at the force of the sound.
The Dracul almost curls in on himself at the shout, but Kain does not stand down. He grabs the rogue by the neck and lifts the man into the air. I watch as he squeezes the rogues throat, cutting off his air. Not enough to kill him, but enough to make him hurt.
"They said you had betrayed us. Sided with the Hunters. That’s why so many of us are disappearing." The words come out scratchy, as he tries to speak around the lack of air. "Kain." I sigh, his eyes dart to me, the amber ring of his eyes having overtaken most of the blue. He turns back to the rogue, squeezing tighter before throwing him back.
"Go back to whoever he is, and tell them that I was merciful with you tonight because of a Hunter. She is who saved your life. As for the missing Dracul, I am here searching for them. Why would I be here if I were stealing them away? Fools!"
The rogue nods, on his knees cowering. "Get out of my sight."
The man scampers down the stairs and out of the hotel. "Well, this was messy."
Luc laughs and I shake my head. "Much as I appreciate your brute strength, you didn't have to pull me from the fight." I tell Kain, hands on my hips, trying not to lose my cool.
"Uh-oh. You're in trouble again." Luc laughs and leaves us, I'm assuming to get someone in to help with this mess.
"I know you can fight like the best of us, mon coeur. But I could keep you from harm, and so I did. You have not yet awakened fully. I could not risk you so casually." I huff at his words.
"What is it with stupid alpha egos keep telling me I'm not ready to fight," I grunt and he walks over to me slowly.
"I am sorry, Remy. I did not mean to offend you."
“Fine, its fine. I'm being a brat, I know it, you know it. Luc knows it." I hear his laughter ring out and it makes me smile a little. "I'm just sick of being in this in between place."
He moves to hug me before realizing the state of him and stopping. I laugh at him, the Dracul who needs blood to survive, not remembering he is dripping with it.
"We should get out of here," he says, and I nod.
"Luc, do you have things sorted?" he asks, and Luc's voice reaches us from wherever he is in this infernal place.
"I do. Have fun kids." I laugh at his words and shake my head.
"Would you like to come with me, Remy? We are staying in a hotel not far from here. I can get cleaned up, and then we can talk."
"I would like that." I smile at him and he shrugs out of his suit jacket, using it to wipe the blood from his hair and face.
"That will have to do for now." He smiles at me and lifts me into his arms, as I try not to think about the blood.
"Close your eyes. It's been a while," he says with a wide smile, showing his fangs. I close my eyes, and hold on tight. Wind wraps around us, so tight I think it might collapse my lungs. It only lasts a few minutes, but then we still, and I open my eyes to darkness. Kain places me down, and then I hear the click of a light switch, the room lighting softly.
"I'm going to go get cleaned up, make yourself comfortable," he says smiling down at me, his eyes back to the bright blue I've come to recognize. I nod and he strolls across the suite and into a door on the opposite side, which I can only assume is the bathroom. I shrug out of my cloak and kick off my boots. Some people would say heeled boots are no good for running or fighting. To them, I say two words, fight me. I strip off my jeans and tank, the blood basically dried now, but still pretty gross.
I head to open the door closest to me, hoping to find a closet, and smile when I come across neatly hung clothing. I grab one of the white shirts and slip it over my shoulders, so long it covers me to just below my ass. I smile at my reflection and run my fingers through my hair to de-knot it as much as I can.
I sink into one of the chairs that looks out of the window, the city lit up below us, so many lights and such a pretty view against the black of the night sky, listening to the sounds of the shower. Anticipation building in me, the low burn in my stomach growing as I wait for him.
I watch as he pulls open the door to the bathroom, steam pouring out, revealing his flawless figure. The contrast between his pale skin and dark features coupled with the hazy mist of the room gives him a mystical air, a presence beyond this realm. He’s fascinating and delectable, mouth- watering and mysterious. Mostly, he’s all mine.
I sway across the room to him, stopping just outside of his reach, my eyes unable to stop from trailing up and down his body.
"I think you have some drool, just there," he jokes, pointing to the corner of his lip and I stick my tongue out at him.
"You come face to face with all of that and not drool a little," I tell him as I stand, and he does a double take, realizing I'm wearing his shirt, and not much else.
"I prefer the view I have, thank you very much," he says, the bulge in his boxers twitching. In a fraction of a second, he pulls me against him, his tongue is licking my lips, his teeth capturing my bottom lip, slowly pulling it away before releasing.
“Well, I suppose I shouldn’t drool too much,” I shrug, playing it cool and knowing very well that I’m about to light a fire under his domineering ass, “I’m surrounded by bodies like yours a lot.”
I don’t have time to take my next breath as I’m slammed into the nearest wall, his body flush with mine, his naked chest heaving with desire.
“Is that so?” he asks, his gaze roams my face and travelling down my neck, stopping at my chest. “You know, you look rather tasty in my shirt,” he croons, his fingers nimble as he meticulously unfastens each button, “I’m suddenly starving for you.”
As he pushes the shirt off my shoulders, it falls off my arms and pools at my feet. He hooks his thumbs in my lace panties and snaps them off without a care or a thought. He’s not rushed, he’s enjoying the slow burn, the anticipation game. Loving the way it’s making me lose my mind.
“Do you know what happens, Remy, when you try to tease the beast inside me?” he asks, quietly and calmly as though asking about the weather.
“I think I might,” I sass back knowing he’s going to fuck it right out o
f me.
Reaching behind me, I unfasten my bra and let it join my other clothing on the floor and stand there, at his mercy, naked and trembling with need. “I think I like it when your beast comes out to play.”
His hand is suddenly at my jaw, holding me a prisoner of his lust, his beast dancing in the pupils of his eyes. The bite of pain as his fingers dig into my skin makes me wet, it calls to my inner wanton, my woman that needs to be fucked like her life depends on it.
“Oh Remy, the things you say…” his words trail off as he places both of his large hands on my ass, turning and sitting me down on the countertop, the mirror behind me and sink to my right.
“Lie down, little minx," he whispers, already pushing me down, his palm on my chest, so I'm resting on my elbows. My ass as the edge of the counter my legs open wide for him to see every inch of my hungry pussy. "Now put your head back and watch me while I punish you with my tongue," he commands, dropping to his knees with one fluid movement.
Punishment?
In what world would him eating me out be considered a punishment?
I didn't have time to ponder that question when his fingers dug into my thighs and his mouth attacked my lower lips like a starved man. With my head tilted back, all I saw was the movement of his dark head rhythmically bobbing up and down, mimicking the sensation of his tongue licking from bottom to top. The barrier of the mirror made the sensations more erotic somehow. The view more sensual.
I felt his thumbs separate me, opening me up for his viewing and tasting pleasure. Every touch, every breath was in his control. Every feeling I had, was of his making. When he reached my clit, I could feel his fangs extend, the pinch making me tremble with anticipation. Taking a gulp of air as I felt his tongue lap up the hard nub, nothing could have prepared me for the intensity of that first bite on my engorged clit. My entire body lifted from the counter and if not for Kain's hold on me, I might have fallen to the floor, my entire being melting as the orgasm rips through me.
A Crown of Blood and Bone: Paranormal Romance (The Shadow Walkers Saga Book 1) Page 22