by Lisa Daniels
Alaric looked at her with suspicion. “What are you talking about?”
Taking a deep breath, she told him, “He seems to think that you are serious about me because you hadn’t been with anyone in so long. I didn’t think that he was right, but I wanted him to be right.”
“Why?” The voice sounded a little distant and suspicious.
Eva couldn’t look at him. “Because I never thought that I could have something I wanted. My family has always kept me from most of what I wanted, and being reckless kept me from the rest. For the first time in a long time I could almost imagine a future that didn’t revolve around having children and taking care of all the special family members. You guys seem so much happier, more caring than what I am accustomed to.”
“Are you telling me that you might want something more because you want to be selfish?”
Eva looked over at him, an apologetic expression etched into her face. “Yes, and that’s wrong. I'm sorry, I shouldn’t have—”
His mouth stopped hers. Alaric’s hand tilted her head up a little and she began to lean into him. His voice was husky when he pulled back. “Are you sure you want something more than just a passing relationship? Because I have some obligations, and I don’t want you thinking it will be easy.”
“I love a good challenge,” she murmured back at him.
He lifted her off the floor and placed her on the bed.
***
When the sun rose, Eva moaned and moved her body into the warmth at her back. An arm snaked around her and pulled her even closer.
“Good morning,” a voice whispered in her ear.
She smiled and kissed the shoulder next to hers. “Good morning to you, too.”
“Are you trying to start something?”
“Yes.” Her voice was firm, daring him to action.
The next 30 minutes were far less intense but just as stimulating as he explored her body. When she closed her eyes, he backed off. “I dare say that your body needs more time to recover. You are a little less into it than the other night.”
Eva looked up at him. “Sorry to disappoint.”
“You should be apologizing for causing so much concern. That’s what I am disappointed about. From now on, you must be more careful and cautious with yourself. Of that I will brook no argument.”
“I am very good at doing what I’m told.”
“And very good at finding your own unique ways to rebel.”
“I swear to use that only for good.”
“I shudder to think what you consider good.” He kissed her forehead.
“Hey!” Eva sounded upset. “I know what’s good. For me.”
“Then make sure you always do what is good for you.”
Eva shook her head, knowing that she had lost. “Yes, sir.”
“That’s better.” He kissed her lips tenderly. “I’ll make us something to eat, then we will need to head back. You can finish recovering back at the residence.”
“Actually, I would like to come back here.”
He stood up and looked down at her. “That will have to wait. You didn’t come out here to visit me.”
“Serenity will hardly notice I'm gone.”
“Wrong answer.” He shook his head as he strode over to the fire.
“Alright. How about I spend the remainder of my scheduled time at your large place, then when that is over, we come back here?”
Alaric turned around. “That isn’t funny.” His face was almost sad.
“It wasn’t meant to be.” Eva sat up and hugged her knees.
Alaric watched her for a moment. “Are you serious? You won’t go back home after your time is up?”
“The only thing waiting for me back there is Philip, and I can send him the glasses back with all of the horrors on them.”
Alaric dropped the pan and eggs, and was on top of Eva before she had a chance to react. She laughed as he kissed her neck. “What about my body needing to recover?”
“Don’t worry about that. There will be plenty of times where I will have to take care of my family, and your body can recover then. And besides,” he kissed a path down her neck, and she relaxed back onto the bed, letting him slip in between her legs, “Serenity still has you for a few days. You can recover then.”
Eva started to laugh, but it quickly turned into a moan as Alaric grabbed her wrists and held them over her head. It was almost like he was a walking Kama Sutra. Every time they were together, he had a new technique or position. Eva vowed that once she was recovered, she would show him that he couldn’t always have it his way.
Chapter 11
The World Takes a New Axis
When the couple finally reached the large home, Eva felt incredibly tired, almost like she hadn’t slept in over a week. This was actually pretty accurate. Alaric helped her inside as her legs were a little wobbly. “Sorry about that. I should have been a little gentler.”
Eva whispered back at him, “Don’t listen to my legs, I have no complaints.”
He nipped her ear, then murmured, “I will always listen to your legs. They tell me how well I am performing.”
Eva giggled into his chest.
“Is she alright?” Serenity had the door open before they had a chance to ring the bell.
“Just a little tired. It seems like she didn’t get any sleep since her last night here. Don’t worry. She wasn’t injured, but suffered a pretty extreme panic attack. It took a while for her to recover.”
Eva saw the way Ryland was watching them. His eyebrow was arched at her. She smiled up at him feebly, then winked. His brow furrowed at the sight.
Alaric helped her get inside before Ryland stepped forward. “Surely you are tired, too, Alaric. That was a lot of excitement, and what you did could not have been easy. Even Silas was tame by comparison.”
Eva and Serenity turned to look at Alaric. Eva managed to conjure her voice above a whisper. “What did you do? You said that Silas tore off the heads of the guys who shot him. What did you do?”
Ryland smirked, “Well, let’s just say the difference was that Silas’ victims could still be identified as human remains when he was done.”
Eva pulled back a little and staggered.
Alaric’s voice was stern, “Ryland, don’t you have—”
A few familiar voices echoed from down the room. “Is that Alaric?” Silas’ voice was unmistakable. Soon Eva and Alaric were engulfed by their friends. Naomi was very concerned about Eva and insisted on checking her out to make sure there wasn’t something wrong that Alaric hadn’t caught. Despite his best efforts, she managed to pry Eva from his arms and pull her over to a couch.
“Good Lord, Alaric, what happened to you?” Emery’s voice was unusually loud. All heads turned to look at him.
Alaric looked down to see what Emery was talking about, and that was when he noticed a number of bruises. He managed to keep his eyes from darting toward Eva. “The guys didn’t go down without a fight. They had seen what Silas had done to them, and after the arrest a while back, not many stuck around. I’ll have my security team track down the runners, just to make certain, but it is unlikely we will have problems from them. Maybe we’ll even get a couple of years before the next crop rises.”
Ryland leaned against a table, his arms folded across his chest. “Based on the list you gave us, I would say that is accurate, although it was difficult to figure out who you took care of, Alaric. And judging by what I saw, they paid for their transgressions in full. With interest.” His tone was sarcastic, but he was obviously amused.
“Oh, that’s right, you saw his handiwork. What happened?” Silas was looking between them, the interest obvious in his eyes. “I mean, he’s always saying that we should try to do it peacefully when we can. Are you saying that he is finally taking after me?”
“No one is taking after you, you brute.” Ryland gave him a slight push. “I dare say they gave him a reason to go a little crazy.”
“I can’t imagine what.” Silas tilted
his head to the side.
Ryland looked at Alaric out of the corner of his eye, but said to Silas, “You mean apart from shooting you?”
“Oh, right, they did do that. Twice. I might have gone a little easier on them if they hadn’t done it the second time.”
“Ah, yes, they would have been happy just to have been mauled to death. Anyway, you forget that they also kept shooting at the rest of us too, and not everyone there can heal as quickly as you.” Alaric’s eyes looked around at their company to make his point.
Cora gave him a light slap, “Shhh, not everyone here knows about it.”
Alaric shook his head, “No, Naomi knows. Remember, she tried to fix Silas only to be shown that it was unnecessary.”
Cora pulled him down and tried to whisper in his ear, “I mean Eva.” Two other sets of eyes looked at him meaningfully.
“I guess I should tell you that when you sent Eva down to the bathroom the night of the party, you gave her directions to our meeting, not the restroom.”
Cora’s eyes narrowed, then shot open. “Oh my God, I did, didn’t I? I don’t know your place very well! I—well, shit. And she hasn’t run screaming from the place yet?” She looked over at the woman peacefully watching the conversation around them from the couch.
Serenity and Naomi were looking back and forth between Alaric and Eva. Neither of them knew about the encounter that night either.
Alaric took a dramatic breath, “I guess now is as good a time as any, although afterward, I need you guys to promise you will let Eva go to bed. She needs to rest.”
Naomi looked up, “It looks like you are right, although there appear to be places where she hurts. Do you know what they did to her?”
“They threatened to shoot her, and she panicked.”
“That’s terrible!” Serenity sat down next to Eva. “I think we should get her upstairs and when she feels better, I am taking her to the hospital and a therapist.”
“Sorry, Serenity, but I’m afraid it isn’t your call to make.” All heads turned toward Alaric. “Is it alright to tell them?” His eyes were looking directly into Eva’s.
“Which part?”
“All of it. Including about your family?”
Eva slumped forward, “If that will make you happy, alright.”
“Now wait, you can’t just blurt out everything about her personal life—” Serenity stood up and immediately tried to stick up for Eva. She felt a hand on her wrist, and she looked down at Eva.
“It’s alright, Serenity. You’ll understand if you just let him talk.” Eva smiled at her friend, then nodded at Alaric.
He pursed his lips, then dove in. “Well, the reason that she didn’t freak out like most people do when she saw us in our other forms was because her last name is Madison, and yes, that does refer to the people you think it does.” There were gasps from everyone except Serenity and Ryland. They shared a look, and then frowned at Alaric as he continued. “It also means something completely unknown to historians, though, and that is the family are shifters. Birds of prey. So when she saw us, she was actually pretty upset. As in angry, not afraid. She didn’t come out here to get stuck with another shifting family.”
As expected, all heads turned to look at Eva, who tried to sink into the couch. Serenity sat down. “Your family are shifters? This whole time… are you a shifter?”
Eva shook her head, “No, you know my family doesn’t see me as special. Or Rebekah, and a few others. That’s why. We carry the blood, but have no abilities of our own.”
Serenity slumped down. “I didn’t know.”
“I didn’t want anyone to know. Would you have believed me if I had told you? I didn’t want to end up locked up.”
Alaric cleared his throat and everyone looked at him again. This time Ryland was smiling knowingly at his cousin because now he knew where the story was going. Ryland rolled his head around his neck and looked pointedly at Alaric. “One way or another it was bound to happen. Great Aunt Martha was never wrong, and running away was never going to work.” He bent over and helped Serenity off the floor.
“You have no idea just how right you are because that isn’t all. The last bit is pretty important, but I think it is positive for everyone here. Eva and I are planning to get married.”
There was a chorus of disbelief.
Serenity looked like she was going to beat Alaric to a bloody pulp. Ryland held her back. “You are not going to toy with Eva. I warned you—”
Alaric held up his hand and ignored her accusation. “We won’t be getting married right away. I mean, we need to spend a bit more time getting to know each other, but she’s already planning on moving out here. Not much reason to put it off forever if she’s here to be with me.”
Serenity turned and looked at Eva. “Is he for real? Did you agree to this?”
“It was my idea.” She smiled sheepishly.
“You what? Since when have you—” Serenity shook her head. “Well, if it means you move out here and get away from your family, then I am even further indebted to Alaric.”
“Naw. You are the reason she came out here. And by forbidding me to be with her, you made me far more curious. Not that I needed help there. She is quite a pleasure to be around.”
Serenity frowned at him, but Alaric kept on beaming. Finally, Emery burst out laughing, and soon the rest of the room joined in. Giving them a few minutes to congratulate Eva, he finally picked her up and took her away from the group.
Once they were upstairs, he placed her gently on the bed. He lay down next to her, placing his arms across his chest. Turning his head to look at her, he appeared satisfied but tired. “Well, almost everything. I dare say if I had given them the last piece of news, it would have been a little less celebratory.”
Eva frowned, “What do you mean almost everything? I didn’t hear you miss anything.”
Alaric rolled over and placed a hand on her stomach. “I didn’t tell them you are pregnant.” He kissed her on the forehead.
“What do you mean I’m pregnant?” Eva looked up at him.
“Oh, don’t tell me your family didn’t tell you how that happens.”
“No, I know how pregnancy happens, but how could you possibly know that? I haven’t taken a test or anything.”
Alaric rubbed her flat stomach, then held his hand up several inches from it. “I’m a shifter.”
“Oh,” Eva closed her eyes. Her family had heightened sight. Bears would obviously have a better sense of smell. “How long until the rest of them figure it out?”
“It won’t be obvious for them for a few weeks to a month. I could tell the next morning because I have been very careful about it for years. It answered many questions about how the woman’s scent changed, and I have to admit that you are even more attractive. Did not think that was possible.” He gently stroked her face. “Knowing you were pregnant and that you were not interested in moving out here, I knew I had to be responsible. That’s why I left the pill.”
“And I didn’t take it.”
He shook his head. “I didn’t understand why you would take such a risk with a man you had just met.”
“I may not be a shifter, but I still have that innate sense of mating. Meeting you was about all it took. You are ridiculously handsome, more intelligent than the most intelligent people I know, you have a good heart, and you saved me. Several times. Even that first day, it was you who kept me here. I just didn’t think that you would be interested in being with me, so I kept reminding myself that you never meant things the way I automatically understood them.” She kissed his hand. “I would have to be an idiot not to love you.”
Alaric looked down at her, “You have very good taste. I knew there was a reason I wanted to have you from the beginning. Wait,” he rose up on his elbow, “did you just say you love me?”
“I win,” she smiled up at him.
“Oh no, I can still say it more. I love you, Eva. I love you.” He leaned over and kissed each of her eyes, causing he
r to giggle. “Knowing that you are… well, going to be a mother, are you alright with that?” His eyes looked into hers.
“If you would have asked me a week ago, I would have been mortified by the idea. But if I’m being honest, there is nothing about my life the way it was that I will miss. Besides,” she moved closer to him, “I could transfer out here and help you with your work. That would be far more rewarding than anything I could have planned. For the first time in my life, the idea of having several children seems appealing. Maybe because I know that you see me as more than that.”
Alaric leaned over and kissed her, making sure not to get too caught up in it. When he pulled back, the struggle was written on his face, but he hid it well for someone not accustomed to denying himself. “To my family, mothers are very important, so you will certainly not be treated as if that is your sole purpose in life. There has been talk of building a few hours east of here so that members of the neighboring families could have a place to go. I would be more than happy to have you assist with it, if you are interested.”
Eva sat up a little. “Really? Even though I don’t have any experience?”
“I saw your plans, and there is no doubt in my mind that you will do an amazing job. I know a few people who can make sure you don’t go nuts on the design, too. We wouldn’t want them to have something nicer than here.”
“So? If they have something nicer, you will just have to beg me to upgrade this place.”
Alaric smiled and buried his face in her neck. Slowly, he pushed her back onto the bed, his hand stroking her hips. “I know how to beg.” He sighed and moved back up on his elbow. His eyes drank her in as he promised, “And I will never let your family have you back.”
Eva pushed his chest, “Why would you even bring them up?” The image of Ryland saying that Alaric would never allow her to be split from her family floated through her tired mind.
“I’ve put my mind to it, and I wanted you to feel safe. Even though I am not the owner of the business and am not on the board, my word still has more pull in the tech industry than anyone else’s. And I now have all kinds of free time to pick and choose other things that will strengthen my power.”