He limped towards her, clutching his arm to his side, unwilling to give into the weariness invading him or the pain, not now that he was so close to holding her again, to feeling her in his arms where she belonged.
Her head slowly turned towards him and her eyes grew impossibly wide. She was on her feet a second later, running to him as she held her left arm to her chest. Tor gritted his teeth, released his injured arm and held his out to her.
She raced into them and buried her face against his chest, her slender body shaking with the sobs that wracked her. Her good arm went around his waist as he wrapped his around her. She squeezed him hard, pulling a grunt of pain from him as she came close to breaking more of his ribs.
“I thought you were dead.” Her muffled words hit him hard and he sighed and stroked her tangled dark hair with his left hand.
He lowered his head and pressed a long kiss to the top of hers, lingering there and absorbing how good it felt to have her in his arms and know that she was safe. It was no longer an alien and strange feeling.
It was heavenly, like coming home.
She moved nearer to him, as if she couldn’t get close enough, as if she wanted to become one with him. He wrapped his arms back around her and held her as the Law Keepers caught up with them. It was only when they reached him that he reluctantly released her. He wanted to hold her all night.
He wanted to hold her forever, and never let her go.
“We should get away from this place before the human authorities come,” Tor said and the three men nodded. Serge broke away from them and helped Angelica onto her feet.
Eve drew back and rubbed the tears from her face before any of the Law Keepers could notice, using his arms and body to shield her from their sight.
When all signs of weakness were gone, she looked up at him. “Is it over?”
He nodded and held her cheeks in his palms, savouring how good it felt to touch her again and know that she was safe now. He pressed a light kiss to her forehead and then placed his good arm around her, holding her close to him as they started walking.
“I took care of Adam personally… I’m sorry you couldn’t have your revenge with your own hands.”
Eve shook her head, took hold of his hand that dangled over her shoulder and pressed a kiss to his knuckles. “I don’t care. I was going about this all wrong.”
He frowned, not understanding.
She looked up at him again. “I was so blinded by vengeance and hatred that I forgot how to live… I had lost my way and lost myself… and then you came along. You showed me that I was still the same woman I had always been. That I hadn’t changed that night I had become a vampire. You showed me the path and how to walk it, and you made me feel alive for the first time in forever. You made me realise that revenge couldn’t take away my pain or make me happy.”
She slipped out from under his arm and faced him. Her fingers closed around his, the touch sending a thousand volts shooting up his arm and increasing his awareness of her. He fell into her rich dark eyes, right into her soul and the heart she was showing him.
“Tor… you took away my pain… you made me happy.” She smiled and a laugh bubbled free of her lips. “You made me find my ability to trust again… and to love.”
He stared at her, needing a moment to comprehend what she had just said to him.
The three Law Keepers watched him. He snarled at them, flashing fangs, and they moved on, giving them some privacy.
She loved him.
Deep in his heart, he had known that she did, that she had to in order to create a bond with him, but hearing her say it stole his voice and left him dumb.
Her smile widened and another laugh escaped her. “I think I need to spell it out to you.”
She moved closer, pressing the full length of her body against his, and wrapped her right arm around his neck. She drew him down to her and kissed him softly, slowly, warming him inside. He clutched her with his left hand on her hip and deepened the kiss, refusing to let her go now that he had her.
Now that he had caught his bright star.
“I love you, Tor,” she whispered against his lips and he groaned and kissed her harder before breaking away and pressing his forehead against hers.
“I love you, too.” Words he had never thought he would say to anyone but that felt so right as they left his lips. “Are you ready to go home now?”
She nodded.
“I’m ready to go home with you.”
CHAPTER 22
Eve took a deep breath as the black limousine pulled up to the elegant palatial mansion. The large moon cast pale blue light down onto the dark roof, highlighting the tiles and the creamy stone walls supporting it.
Tor placed his hand over hers on the leather bench seat and squeezed gently. She looked across at him and his smile hit her hard, easing away her tension and some of her nerves. He was right here with her and she knew he wouldn’t leave her side. He had promised to remain right beside her the whole time.
She nodded and his hand slipped from hers as he opened the door and exited the vehicle. She shuffled across the seat, took the hand he offered, and stepped out onto the gravel drive. Several vampires stood near the entrance of the building, dressed head to toe in black, watching her with intense crimson eyes.
She swallowed. Tor frowned and tracked her gaze.
He said something in his dark language and the three men moved away, strolling towards the right side of the building where the grounds opened out into a huge expanse of grass.
“Guards,” Tor said to her in English and laced their fingers together. “They were just curious.”
She nodded again and expelled a breath. She couldn’t go getting jittery about every vampire. There were too many. She would probably fray her nerves and go insane. The mansion was buzzing with signatures on her senses, all of them varying in strength. They blurred together in places where larger numbers gathered.
The largest gathering was just beyond the doors ahead of her.
They were waiting for her.
Tor went to move and stopped when she didn’t follow him.
He turned back to her and she looked herself over. What would they make of her? She wore one of Tor’s black sweatshirts over her jeans, and had a white sling supporting her left arm. Tor had bandaged it but it was still healing, the bone slow to mend. That white sling felt like a sign of weakness, a signal to the waiting vampires that she was vulnerable.
Easy prey.
Unable to defend herself.
Her heart clenched, her stomach turning with it, and she almost backed off a step.
A slight increase in the pressure of Tor’s grip stopped her.
Eve looked up at him, seeing in his steady ice-blue gaze that he had been reading her feelings through their bond and wanted to reassure her. He drew her towards him and she didn’t resist. She settled her head against the cool hard wall of his broad chest and let all of her tension flow from her, all of the stress and the fear, focusing on him instead.
He wouldn’t let these vampires hurt her.
She suspected that if they so much as frightened her by mistake they would pay with their lives.
Tor settled his strong arms around her, shielding her with them in a way that pushed the world away, leaving only him and her behind. She settled more heavily against him, seeking the comfort and strength he offered silently to her, finding her feet and her balance again in his embrace.
He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and she nodded to let him know that she was ready at last.
He released her and took her right hand again, his fingers locked between hers, his grip steady and strong.
Eve took her first step towards the mansion she would call home from the moment she set foot in it.
A mansion where her sister waited for her.
Her steps became easier as she drew closer to it, her heart growing lighter, beginning to fill with positive emotions as she thought about seeing Lilith again after all their years a
part.
Someone opened the doors for them and Tor entered ahead of her, blocking her view of most of the large beautiful foyer. When he moved back in line with her, the waiting crowd of vampires closed in, all speaking at once and threatening to overwhelm her.
Tor’s hand shifted in hers and for a terrifying moment she thought he would release her as he had back at the mansion in Amsterdam, leaving her to face the horde of vampires alone.
He didn’t.
He held her tighter and moved closer instead, partly shielding her from the overzealous greeting from her new vampire family.
When several men tried to reach her, Tor flashed his fangs at them and growled low in his throat, the menacing sound a warning even she understood. He wouldn’t let anyone touch her, especially unmated males.
He pulled her closer, tucking her against his side, his grip on her right shoulder firm as he pinned her there.
Eve looked up at him and froze when she smelled a familiar scent. It sent a shiver through her, bringing tears into her eyes, and she swung her gaze towards the vampire standing directly across the foyer from her on the bottom step of an elegant wooden staircase.
They looked so much alike, and both wore black jeans, although Lilith had paired hers with a red jumper. Very casual attire for a ruler of a whole bloodline. Eve stared at her, straight into eyes that made her feel she was looking in a mirror and could see her reflection again, only Lilith had always liked to dye her hair blonde. She wore it down tonight, a sleek ash blonde waterfall that caressed her shoulders.
“Out of my way,” Lilith said and nudged several vampires aside as she made a beeline for Eve.
Her sister dragged her out of Tor’s protective embrace and into her own one, squeezing her tight enough that her left arm ached and throbbed. Eve grimaced.
“Easy,” Tor said in a low, dangerous tone, and Lilith pulled back and raised a dark eyebrow at him. He cast his gaze at his boots.
“I’m kinda hurt,” Eve said as way of an explanation for his behaviour, hoping her sister would understand and not punish him for how he had spoken to her. “Tor probably felt it.”
“Probably felt it?” Lilith clutched Eve’s shoulders and pushed her back to arms’ length, her gaze questioning and searing at the same time. “What do you mean… probably felt it?”
“Perhaps a conversation best had in private, my love?” A dark-haired man dressed in a fine black tailored suit took Lilith’s arm and Lilith looked over her shoulder at him, her eyes as round as full moons.
She stared at him for long seconds, looked from Eve to Tor, and then at the crowd.
Lilith raised her hand and silence fell. “I wish to speak with our dear Chosen Daughter in private, but she is overwhelmed by your greeting and touched.”
“A ball,” someone shouted and Eve tensed and clenched Tor’s hand.
She wasn’t ready for another ball, not yet, not when everyone would expect her to behave and act like their Chosen Daughter. She needed more time.
Lilith took one look at her and shook her head. “Once Eve is settled, we will celebrate her arrival, but we must wait until she has recovered from her ordeal.”
That seemed to placate the murmured requests for a ball now running through the crowd and Eve sagged with relief. She looked across at Lilith, warmed inside. She had forgotten how well Lilith knew her and how attuned to each other they had always been, always knowing when the other didn’t want to do something, or wanted to do something.
Lilith held her hand out to her but Eve didn’t take it. She kept hold of Tor’s hand and followed her sister through the crowd, nodding in acceptance of all the greetings she received as they made their way towards an open wooden panelled door. The dark crimson walls along the corridor on the other side reminded Eve of blood.
Her stomach clenched.
Tor petted her hand and she lifted her gaze to meet his. It stuck on his neck and the pronounced vein there. Her mouth watered. His lips curved into a wicked smile.
He could tease her all he wanted but she knew he was hungry too. They had somehow managed to keep their hands off each other for the past two nights while she was healing her arm and other injuries, and Tor was healing his ribs and right shoulder. She didn’t think they would make it through a third night.
The first had been easy because she had been so tired after the battle at the warehouse and in so much pain that she hadn’t even thought about kissing Tor, let alone anything else. The second had been more difficult but it was the night the three Law Keepers had left Amsterdam, and had insisted on taking Angelica with them.
They wanted to study her and hold her until she had become accustomed to life as a vampire, and until the lords and ladies of the seven pure bloodlines had decided what to do with her.
Eve knew what that meant. They were going to discuss whether Angelica should die. Eve wouldn’t allow it. She meant to petition her sister as soon as she had settled, before the Law Keepers scheduled the trial. Angelica had Tor’s blood in her veins. She was part Vehemens and Eve wanted her new family to take her in. Tor had explained it would be difficult on Angelica. The family wouldn’t easily accept a vampire of mixed breeding.
Not even if Lilith decreed it?
Probably not, but Eve had to try.
They reached a pleasant pale blue drawing room with beautiful antique furniture. A set of armchairs and two couches formed a crescent directly ahead of her, surrounding a large white marble fireplace. The colour of the room reminded her of Tor’s eyes and she snuck another glance at him.
His smile broadened.
Lilith stared at her, the sharpness of her gaze cutting into the side of her face. She dragged her eyes away from Tor and caught her sister’s look of shock. The man beside her, Lincoln she presumed, didn’t look surprised by what he was seeing. He actually looked as if he had expected her to walk into the building hand-in-hand with Tor.
Tor closed the door behind her. Lilith started to pace across the wooden floor. Lincoln calmly rested his backside against a large walnut table off to the right of the seating area. That section of the room looked like a sort of office. There was a lamp on the table, a stack of files, and a closed laptop. Did Lilith do her business from here?
Lilith eyed Tor. “So let’s just get something straight… you’re involved with my sister?”
He nodded without hesitation.
“Probably more than involved,” Eve said and Lilith’s dark eyes leaped to her. She shrugged. “I mean… we’re bonded.”
Lilith blew out her breath and the speed of her pacing increased. Lincoln looked as if he was suppressing a grin. Did Lilith’s reaction amuse him? He had clearly known how things would end when he had sent Tor to her. How?
“Bonded.” Lilith wrapped her lips around that word as if it was new to her and she couldn’t quite comprehend what it meant. “Bonded?”
Tor nodded and squeezed Eve’s hand. “Bonded.”
Lilith’s dark eyebrows drew down. “Did you start it?”
He shook his head and Eve stepped forwards, unwilling to let him sit in Lilith’s crosshairs any longer.
“I did,” Eve said and tipped her chin up. “You’re bonded too, aren’t you? You don’t see me ragging on Lincoln about it.”
The dark-haired man did smile now but quickly covered it by rubbing his knuckles across his mouth when Lilith scowled at him.
“We’re bonded, and soon we’ll be mated.” That announcement made Tor’s fingers flex hard against the back of her hand and intense heat rippled through her when his gaze landed on her. She resisted the temptation to look at him and stared at Lilith. “I realised when I thought I had lost him in Amsterdam that I want what we have to be as special as it should be. I want Tor as my mate.”
“It’s unbreakable once we mate.” Those low-spoken words coming from Tor ripped at her heart and she looked up at him, catching the touch of fear and vulnerability hidden in the depths of his pale blue eyes.
Part of him had thought she mi
ght want to break their bond, even after she had told him that she was in love with him. She had a battle on her hands convincing Tor that what they had was forever and that he belonged at her side and she at his. This bloodline had conditioned him to view himself as the lowest tier in its social structure and she needed to slowly recondition him to see that he deserved to stand at her side, as one of the elite. Their bloodline owed him for his centuries of service and dedication.
“I want it unbreakable,” Eve said in a snippy, playful tone. “I don’t want you getting ideas about slipping back into the shadows and spouting nonsense about not being worthy of me. If I make it unbreakable, you have no choice but to accept that you belong among the elite. This bloodline was wrong to make you think otherwise and I might demand that changes.”
She looked across at Lincoln and Lilith.
“I want Tor’s position as a hunter elevated to the rank it deserves… because you’ll have two hunters now. So either I’m down there in the servant ranks with him, or he’s up here with me.”
Lincoln didn’t cover his grin this time. “I am sure it is well past time that the hunters were acknowledged as an extremely worthy and elite position in this bloodline. We had been considering changing the previous ruler’s social structure, but now we have all the more reason to make those changes. We would not want our Chosen Daughter viewed as a servant.”
Eve nodded, satisfied that she had made her point. Tor stared at her.
“Now that your demands have been met, will you sit for a while?” Lincoln gestured towards the couches and armchairs near the fireplace. “It would be nice to get to know you.”
Lilith was ahead of her, taking one of the seats on the couches. She patted the cushion beside her and Eve was sorely tempted to go to her, but she didn’t want to leave Tor. As if sensing her dilemma, he led her to the couch and waited for her to sit before claiming a seat on the one beside her. Lincoln took up position on the couch next to Tor.
“So things went as planned,” Lincoln said to Tor, a second meaning to his words judging by the amusement flickering in his dark eyes.
“Apparently,” Tor retorted with a grim edge to his expression. If he felt he had been played, he was probably right. Eve suspected that Lincoln had chosen Tor as her escort not only because of his talents as an assassin and his ability to protect her.
Bad Boys of the Night: Eight Sizzling Paranormal Romances: Paranormal Romance Boxed Set Page 122