As she lifted one arm around his neck she leaned towards the crook of his neck, he felt her teeth pierce his skin; it pricked at him before he was awash in pleasure. He knew the pleasure Imogen felt as she tasted his blood coursing through her mouth, she groaned.
For him in that first bite, Theo felt the ecstasy of the bond between them and knowing that some of him was in her. She moved away and he slowed, he could see the horror in her eyes.
"Oh god Theo I am so sorry I don’t know why I did…." He didn’t let her finish before he kissed her.
"I could have stopped you, but know this Imogen, if you do that to another man, I will kill him and then you" he was completely still now, she looked deep into his eyes.
"I won’t be like this with another man ever so it’s a moot point."
Satisfied with that he slid back so that he was almost out of her, then slammed into her with such possession that she cried out loud
"don’t ever forget that," he continued pounding into her, Imogen cried out as the orgasm overtook her, he joined her as he spilled himself into her body. As he lay there panting, he kissed her hard, slid out of her and pulled her to him, if only they could stay just like this, he had always thought the sex between them would be good but he was wrong this was like dynamite.
Her hand was playing with his tattoos, tracing the scars and patterns "tell me what you are thinking Theo."
With a sigh he answered "I wish we could stay like this forever."
"Tell me about the scars, you know everything about me but you have always stayed closed about you and how you got these. I want to know Theo."
He closed his eyes the room was dark, her head rested on his chest, "my parents were from different species, my father was a wolf from a pack about 200 miles from here, and my mother was a witch. My father’s pack wouldn’t let my mother live with them, my mother’s coven wouldn’t let my father live with them, so they left. Silver, even then was known to be tolerant of those that are different so they came here. Leyland accepted them here, partly because my mother was pregnant with me, but also because he had known my father many years ago."
He could hear her breathing but she didn’t interrupt him at all "anyway I was born and things seemed okay, but by the time I was 2 years old, some of the women had noticed my mother seemed to have a variety of different bruises. They made a note of these and eventually they took their concerns to Sylvia, who in turn went to Leyland. My father was confronted and admitted that he had hit my mother; he tried telling them she provoked him, but in pack that isn’t enough of a reason, he was beaten and then kicked out. My mother and I were provided with a safe haven here."
The images were running through his head like he was that little boy again "we were here together for the next 5 years, I was known to be a clumsy child, always falling and bumping myself, in fact Sylvia took me to get an eye test when I was 6 thinking that I was the first wolf to be born with bad eyes. What they didn't know was that my father had been provoked, I have never hit a woman but I believe my father had no idea what he had taken on with my mother and he couldn't cope. She had these rages, they were so intense and the slightest thing would spark her off, anyway after my father left she had no one else to take it out on, so she turned to me.
He shifted slightly on the bed, kissing the top of Imogen's head "to look at her you wouldn’t believe it, on the outside she was this shy, timid woman, she would help anyone, she befriended some of the women and helped them out by making potions and chanting spells to aid pregnancy and such. But when those doors closed she was a monster, by the time I was 4 I learned not cry when she lashed out, not to make too much noise. I was a 4 year old walking on egg shells, slowly it got worse, most of the time the bruises were hidden where people couldn’t see, by the time she was breaking bones she had told everyone how clumsy I was. When I was seven she beat me so badly I spent a week in bed, she told everyone I had fallen out of a tree, that time I heard an angel singing to me. From then on I heard the angel a lot more when I was in pain. Then I broke her vase, it was some sort of family heirloom, I remember she was calm, so calm, which scared me even more. I went to bed as normal and then woke when I felt something wet hit me, the smell was wrong, she was throwing gasoline at me, then she lit the match and left."
"Oh my god Theo" he could feel a wetness on his chest and realised they were Imogen’s tears "don’t cry baby it’s fine."
"What happened then?"
"Well it should have killed me, until now I could never work out how the burns only scarred one side of me. After that I went to live with Ben."
"What do you mean until now, how did you survive?"
With a laugh Theo continued "tonight I found out that I have had a guardian angel for a long time, someone who protected me as much as they could, she watched me grow up and limited the damage I would have done to myself and those around me, I was an angry young man for a long, long time."
"Who?"
"You won't believe it but it's the Goddess of War, she was with me throughout my life, she couldn’t stop what my mother did, but she loved me like a mother should, she took me to her home today, you should see the pictures she has, my first day at school, my graduation, me fighting, me shifting to wolf, us, Celia, everything. Do you know my tattoos were images she gave me and each of them has a meaning, a kind of protection? This one here protected my heart until I met my soul mate, you."
Imogen had sat up and was watching him, the tears were falling and then he realised his own face was wet "oh Theo your mother, how could she? No wonder you don’t trust easily, oh god I am such a bitch, you must both hate me, I keep screwing up your life."
He sat up and faced her "I don’t hate you Imogen, I love you, and as for War she actually thinks you are a strong, brave, woman, but she also agrees that you need to find who you are for us to be together. That is why I am going to go away for a while, if I stay I won’t be able to let you do that, so I am going where War sends me."
Imogen looked panic stricken "what if you get hurt, I can’t lose you Theo, it would break me in two and it isn’t worth it, I will be fine we can find a way to make it work" she kissed him, "please stay."
Theo saw the pain in her eyes but knew what he needed to do, "I can’t Imogen, I am doing this for me too and I need to work through my own issues."
"We can do it together" she was pleading.
"It will be okay Imogen, this is what we are meant to do, but if anything does happen to either of us, you need to make sure Celia stays here, the pack will protect her. If anything happens to me, you make sure you return here, let Ben support you, promise me. I mean it Imogen, promise me."
He watched the indecision on her face before she answered "no."
"What?"
"I said no, I will not make that promise, so you need to do whatever it is you need to do and get your butt back here to me and Celia, the only promise I will make is that I will come to wherever you are to kick your ass if you don’t come home to me."
Theo laughed, this woman had the ability to make him laugh and cry, and he loved her with everything in him. He lay down with Imogen wrapped around him, he tucked the duvet around her body and slept the rest of the night, it was the best sleep he had ever had.
Chapter 11
Imogen was pacing the kitchen, Celia had gone to school, she was upset at Theo going but he had spent the morning with her and she seemed happier. Imogen however was not; she was desperately trying to think of a way to get HER here.
"You wanted me?" Imogen turned to see the Amazon lady behind her, War clearly knew when she was wanted.
"I uh thank you" what did you say to a Goddess you had just been mentally cursing, could she hear a person's thoughts?
"For what?" This woman was shit scary, she stood there in leather trousers and top, red hair flowing.
"For Theo when he was little, he told me last night, thank you for caring, for making him feel that an adult wanted him, looking out for him" damn she was crying again, she
watched as War came towards her, patted her cheek.
"I did it for Theo and he was worth it."
"I do love him you know, you must be pissed that I keep hurting him, I am sorry, I just….i just don’t know what to do?"
"You stay on your course, Imogen. I know you love him, I know you hurt too, and you both need to walk your own paths. That day he brought you and Celia out of that building, I saw your strength and knew you were the one for him. I don’t have children but Theo was my child from a distance, then you were and now that you are both adults I watch over Celia, well I do when you two are behaving enough to let me."
"Really?" Although she chuckled, Imogen felt better knowing that she was watching over Celia.
"Really and before you ask why I didn’t intervene with the vampires, the answer is simple, this is what is meant to be. You need to work with the uptight vampire leader, find your own destiny."
"Will you take care of him, protect him so he can come back to me, please" Imogen couldn’t believe she was being comforted by the Goddess of War.
"In as much as I can I will, but I will also protect you and Celia where ever possible."
Imogen couldn't help herself, she hugged her with everything she had, initially she was met by stiffness but then War returned the hug.
"Just a word of warning Imogen, you are somewhat stronger than you used to be and if I had been a mere mortal I would now have broken ribs" giggling Imogen pulled back.
"Your man is about to arrive to say goodbye so dry your eyes," with that she was alone in the kitchen and Theo walked in.
"Imogen baby are you okay?"
Wiping her eyes she nodded "of course I am just worried about you. Have you packed everything you need?"
Theo didn’t answer the question but wrapped his arms around her she rested her head on his chest, "I can’t believe I have you after all of these years and within a week everything has gone to shit, I love you so much Theo."
He kissed her and inside her body melted, her toes curled, there was so much love and passion in that one kiss "I have to go Imogen, if I don’t move now I never will, don’t forget you are mine and I will come back to claim what is mine, whether you are ready or not."
"I will be waiting" with that he kissed her again and left. As he shut the door she felt herself crumple to the floor, it was like he had taken her heart with him, it hurt so much, she just laid down and sobbed, she cried for everyone she had lost, for everyone she could still loose. She was so immersed in her grief she didn’t hear the door open, she only felt the hands stroking her hair from her face, she looked up to see Lucky, Ben’s wife sat on the floor next to her, she was also crying.
"Oh Imogen I am so sorry" she laid down behind her and wrapped her arms around Imogen. Even though Imogen normally shied away from touch she was grateful for the comfort while she continued crying on the kitchen floor.
Chapter 12
They all met in Ben’s kitchen, there were ten of them in total, everyone was geared up, it had been a while since Theo had seen so many weapons, shit even Sylvia had a selection on knives in her bag, although she argued these were for cooking. All they needed now was War who promptly materialised.
"I have been checking on the status of the situation, so far your mother and her group are steadily heading for the Romani's, the Romani’s seer is helping them prepare, but they have no idea what is coming. She has however predicted your entrance so they are preparing accommodation."
It was Connor who stepped forward first "would it not make better sense to intercept them on their way and reduce the risks of innocents getting hurt?"
"That does make sense, however they have surrounded themselves by innocents, every town and village they pass through they take a minimum of two people with them, most are females but there are some children and the occasional other. That is why you need to teach the Romany’s your knowledge and skills and help prepare them for when they arrive, as she sends her men to take out the villagers you can reduce their numbers gradually lowering the risks to the innocents and yourselves."
Theo thought about this "you do know we will go after the innocents don’t you, there is no way we will leave them to suffer."
She smiled at him and moved forward to kiss him on the forehead, "I never doubted that. Now are we ready to go?"
"Not quite."
War turned to Ben who was still unhappy at being left behind, "you are taking some of my best warriors, some of my best friends and my parents, therefore I want daily updates from you in person and a guarantee that if we are needed you will come for us. It goes against pack to let some go off and leave some behind. Mated or not they are still important to us."
Theo watched War smile at Ben "you think to make demands of a goddess?"
Ben nodded and she continued "that is why I like you and will comply with your request. I would also like to thank the vampire for joining your men, in return during this battle you will have the ability to walk in the day light unaided."
She was talking about Darius, he was a vampire who had lived with the pack for decades, even though it was a myth that Vampires couldn’t go out in the sun, there were some restrictions. They could manage some exposure to the sun, but any exposed skin would result in horrendous burns, the older they were the longer they could manage, Darius was pretty old, but still had to keep his skin covered.
Theo, Ben, Connor and Darius had been close friends for centuries and Darius just seemed to move onto the land and was now considered pack. If they had to fight an enemy, Darius was with them. He worked for the Paranormal Task Force otherwise known as PTF, a strand of the police that was developed when other species came out as part of society. However Darius’ boss Bastian was also a friend of the pack and therefore him joining them was not a problem. Although Ben had been very much against Darius being part of the PTF, Darius enjoyed his work. Ben just didn’t like the idea of Darius deliberately putting himself in danger, without the protection of his friends.
Darius nodded "there was no way I was staying behind, so I thank you for this gift, to be able to sit in the sun having been unable to for some many centuries is a gift for me."
War nodded her agreement "tomorrow you will also be joined by Mitch, however he is otherwise engaged with more than one person again, it seemed a shame to interrupt him just yet, but when he does join you can you advise him that I am impressed by his virility and I will not fail to inform the other goddesses" that raised a few chuckles.
Mitch was a warrior for the gods and goddesses, sent to Earth for some unknown reason; he was also part of the PTF but was pulled away from duty when the gods or goddesses called. Theo had seen him in action and he was a good warrior, one Theo was glad to have by his side, although Mitch would not be happy knowing the Goddesses were yet again watching him in his quest to sleep his way through the women of New York. Unsurprisingly he and Nicky had been good friends.
"I think it’s time to go, if you will all join hands, form a circle around me with your belongings in the middle we shall leave."
A few looked a bit apprehensive but followed Theo’s lead and as soon as the last hand linked they found themselves in the middle of a heat wave. As Theo looked around he saw they were in the middle of a village square, he could see and feel people peering out of windows. The village was surrounded by bush and trees for miles but the sun was baking down on them. Watching Darius shed his sweater and then t-shirt, brought a smile to his face, his friend was clearly happy with the arrangement.
"Do you know Theo if I died right now I would die a happy man."
"Ah Spain, I have always loved Spain" with that War was gone; there they were 10 men and one woman, a pile of bags and trunks in the middle of a hot and foreign country. A woman walked out of this large Mediterranean looking house, painted orange the house looked like it belonged to the land.
The Kiss of a Vampire, the Heart of a Wolf (The Silver Series) Page 10