by Creator
Kiera blushed. “Thank you.”
She itched to run her hands over his chest, to smooth a wayward lock of hair off his forehead, to wrap her arms around him and kiss him until she didn’t have breath left in her body. Instead, she gave him a small smile and scurried into the bathroom to finish getting ready. If she didn’t, she knew they wouldn’t make it to dinner.
Chapter Nine
Ashton Grove was small, but it had a decent selection of restaurants. Since Kiera had taken the time to wear a dress, Gabriel decided to take her to a family restaurant with a business casual atmosphere. While he owned business casual clothes, he refused to wear them. Instead, he had donned a clean pair of jeans, a white t-shirt and an un-tucked long-sleeve blue button down with the sleeves rolled to expose his forearms. It was as close to dressing up as he was going to get.
As the hostess seated them, Gabriel took the time to study Kiera. She seldom wore very much make- up, but in his opinion she didn’t need to wear any. Her long hair was still slightly damp, but curled around her face, the soft tendrils brushing her cheeks. She had put on a soft petal pink lip-gloss that made her lips look soft and kissable.
Kiera noticed that he was staring. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I was just admiring the spectacular view,” he answered.
Kiera blushed and looked down at her menu. It would still take a little time for her to become accustomed to Gabriel’s constant compliments.
Their waitress came bustling over, a big smile on her face and a sway to her hips once she caught an eyeful of Gabriel. Kiera had to quell the urge to bare her teeth at the woman.
“What can I do for y’all?” she asked, looking only at Gabriel.
Gabriel looked at Kiera, “Sweetheart, do you know what you want?”
The waitress had no choice but to look at Kiera. As Kiera rattled off her order, the women wrote it down on her pad. Turning back to Gabriel, she waited for his order. Scribbling down the meal he had ordered, she flashed him another smile.
“Your order will be out soon. Is there anything else I can get for you?” she asked.
“Just our drinks,” he answered.
The waitress looked a little disappointed, but nodded.
“Ah, alone at last,” Gabriel said after the irritating woman had left. Why was it that no one seemed to realize he was with Kiera?
Kiera grinned. “As long as you remember we aren’t completely alone,” she said.
Gabriel chuckled. “In other words, I can’t take you right here and now on the table?” he asked.
“Gabriel!” Kiera hissed, looking around. “What if someone had heard you?”
“Relax Kiera. No one’s paying any attention to us,” he answered.
Kiera glanced around one more time. “You can say the most outrageous things sometimes.”
“It’s a quirk. I’m sure you’ll come to love it,” he said.
Kiera opened her mouth and snapped it shut. Once again she’d almost blurted out that she loved him. What was she thinking? He would probably laugh, or feel sorry for her. No, it was best to keep it to herself that she had fallen for him, at least for now. Maybe someday soon she would be able to tell him, but right now she didn’t feel ready to take that step.
“You do that a lot,” he said.
“Do what?”
“Look like you’re about to say something and then change your mind. It’s happened at least twice now,” he commented.
She hadn’t realized that he’d noticed. Obviously she would have to be more careful. “I just lost my train of thought is all.”
Gabriel didn’t believe her, but left it alone. He knew she was hiding something, or at the very least didn’t feel comfortable enough to share whatever was on her mind. It galled him that they had made love countless times, were married and living together, but she still didn’t trust him one-hundred percent. What was it going to take to win her over?
The waitress interrupted his thoughts.
“Here we are; the steak and baked potato for you sir, and the meatloaf with mashed potatoes for you ma’am.”
“Thank you,” Kiera said with a smile.
“Do you need anything else?” the waitress asked them.
“Thank you, but that’s all,” Gabriel answered.
The waitress nodded and left, leaving them alone once more.
They ate in relative silence; Kiera concentrating on the note she’d found attached to her bathroom mirror, Gabriel wondering what had been on his wife’s mind of late.
After they paid their bill, they walked out to Kiera’s SUV. Gabriel held the passenger door open for her, closing it once she was in and buckled. Walking around to the driver’s side, he opened the door and slid into the car.
“Is everything okay?” Kiera asked, sensing some tension between them.
He closed the door and looked over at her. “I’m fine, why?”
Kiera shrugged. “I don’t know. It just feels tense between us all of a sudden.”
Gabriel started the car and backed out of the parking space. “You mean ever since I realized you’re keeping something from me?” he asked, mentally cursing himself. Why had he said that? He had decided to leave it alone and let Kiera tell him whenever she was ready.
Her heart nearly stopped. Had he found the note in the bathroom? “What do you mean?” she asked.
“Twice now you’ve acted like you wanted to tell me something and changed your mind. It’s just bugging me is all.”
“I told you had I forgotten what I was going to say,” she answered, getting defensive.
Gabriel sighed. “I don’t want to argue, Kiera. I just want you to feel like you can tell me anything.”
“I know I can, Gabriel. There are just certain things I’m not ready to say out loud yet,” she said.
Gabriel chewed that over for a moment. “I guess I can live with that,” he said.
***
When they arrived home, Gabriel locked up the downstairs and set the alarm.
“It’s still early, did you want to stay down here or go upstairs?” he asked Kiera.
“I think I want to go lie down,” Kiera answered, her voice sounding tired.
He nodded. “After you,” he said motioning toward the stairs.
As he followed her up the stairs, he watched the sway of her hips. Unbidden, desire welled up inside of him, making his pants tight as his erection strained against the zipper of his jeans. Was he always going to act like a randy teenager around her? He had absolutely no control over himself when it came to Kiera.
She reached the top of the stairs and pushed open the bedroom door. Stepping inside, she kicked off her shoes.
Gabriel headed for the bathroom to brush his teeth and give Kiera a moment to herself. He accidently knocked Kiera’s ponytail holder off the counter and into the trashcan. Reaching over to fish it back out, he saw the wadded up note. Curiosity got the better of him and he pulled it out. Opening it, he stilled as he read the words written on the paper.
The vampire had been their house. He’d threatened Kiera and she hadn’t even said anything. Did she think so little of him? Did she think he wouldn’t be able to protect her?
Anger over-took him leaving him shaking and ready to pummel something; anger at the vampire for threatening his mate and anger at Kiera for keeping it from him.
Stalking out of the bathroom, he tossed the note on the bed beside Kiera. “Care to explain that to me?” he demanded.
Kiera nibbled on her lower lip, nervous in the face of Gabriel’s anger. “I found it when I got out of the shower.”
“He came in and left you a note while you were naked in the shower? Did you even hear him?”
She shook her head. “I was going to tell you, but I was afraid of how you would react.”
“Jesus Kiera! How am I supposed to react? That blood-sucking monster broke into our home, threatened my wife, and I’m supposed to what? Sit back and let him take you?”
A tear slipped down her
cheek. “No, I just didn’t want you to worry,” she said in a small voice.
Gabriel sighed, some of the tension leaving him. “I’m sorry for yelling. Do you have any idea what I felt when I found that note? The horror I felt over what could have happened to you? The hurt I felt when I realized you didn’t trust me to protect you?”
“No, Gabriel, it wasn’t that all!” she assured him. “I know you can protect me. I just didn’t want you to worry any more than you already have been. You have enough to deal with right now,” she said.
“Like what?”
“Well, you’ve lived with just your brothers for so long and now you suddenly have a wife thrust upon you, a wife you don’t even know. You have a new werewolf in the area, the garage has been busy; your house is getting turned upside down, you suddenly have way more to worry about than you normally would,” she answered.
Gabriel sat on the bed and pulled Kiera into his lap. “Honey, having you ‘thrust upon me’ as you put it, isn’t a hardship. I like having you around; so much in fact that I’d like to keep you around. That’s why I got so angry about the note.”
Kiera nuzzled him. “So I’m forgiven?”
He chuckled. “Yeah, you’re forgiven. Like I could stay mad at you for any length of time.”
Chapter Ten
A week later, Kiera was standing at the kitchen sink cleaning the lunch dishes when she heard the front door open. She dried her hands on a towel and turned toward the kitchen door.
Austin strolled in like he owned the place. “Hi Kiera; is Gabriel around?”
“Hi Austin, he’s across the street at the garage. You just missed him,” she answered.
He nodded. “I just got back from Tennessee and thought I’d stop by and talk to him for a minute.”
“How are things back home?” she asked.
He shrugged. “About the same, except Thomas is pissed at me for leaving. At first I wasn’t sure he would let me.”
“Could he have kept you there?” she asked.
Austin shrugged. “He could have made me fight him for the right to leave, but he didn’t. He asked me why.”
“What did you tell him?”
“That I just felt it was time for a change. I left out the other stuff,” he answered.
“Have you had lunch?” Kiera asked, trying to be hospitable.
“I grabbed something on the way in town, but thanks for asking.”
Kiera nodded. “Well, if you want to catch Gabriel…” she trailed off, gesturing across the street.
He nodded. “Yeah, I guess I’ll head over there and check in with him.”
Austin gave Kiera a long look, his eyes raking her body from head to toe. “There’s something different about you,” he said, “an energy that wasn’t there before.”
Kiera blushed, uncomfortable with his observation. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Is there something going on around here that I should know about?” Austin asked, picking up the scent of her fear and anxiety.
“Nothing that will concern you,” she answered, ending the conversation.
He shrugged. “Whatever you say, Kiera; just thought I’d offer my help if you needed it.”
“Thank you, Austin, but I’m okay,” she said.
He nodded. “Well, I guess I better go check in with Gabriel. I’ll see you around.”
Kiera watched Austin leave, relieved to not be alone with him any longer. Honestly, the man made her a little nervous when she didn’t have Gabriel around to back her up.
She turned back to the sink of dishes and froze. On the edge of the counter was a long-stemmed red rose with a note lying underneath.
A rose to represent our coming union; the soft petals for your skin, the thorns my teeth; I’m going to savor every drop of your blood.
Kiera bit back a sob. He’d been in the house again! And during full daylight! She knew it was only a matter of time before he decided to stop toying with her; decided to take the game a step further and take her, draining her dry. She could only hope that was all he had in mind. She hadn’t forgotten his threat at her wedding, to “play” with her first.
Grabbing the offending flower and note, she took off out of the house and ran across the street to the garage.
As she burst through the door, Gabriel turned in surprise. He had been talking to Austin, but came to her side immediately at the terrified look on her face.
“Kiera, honey, what’s wrong?” he asked, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
Kiera was shaking and didn’t know how she was still standing. She felt like she would collapse at any moment. “He’s been in the house again, Gabriel.”
“Who has sweetheart?” he asked.
“The vampire; the vampire has been in the house again. He left me another message,” she said, handing him the note and the rose.
“He came in the house during the day?” he asked in shock.
She nodded. “If everything we think we know about him isn’t true, where does that leave us? If he doesn’t have to be invited in and doesn’t have to stay hidden in the day, what will we do? We can’t fight him!”
Gabriel dropped the rose and note, pulling Kiera into his arms. He smoothed her hair and whispered in her ear, “Shh. It’s okay, honey. I promise I’ll protect you.”
“I’m so scared, Gabriel. I’m not only scared that he’ll take me, but what if you’re home when he comes for me? I couldn’t stand it if he did anything to you.”
He hugged her tight. “I’m more worried about what he’ll do to you than what he’d to do me.”
Across the room, Michael and Austin watched them, knowing they obviously needed some time alone, but also wanting to know what was going on. Michael decided to take a chance on incurring his brother’s wrath.
Michael tapped Gabriel on the shoulder. “Everything okay?”
Gabriel nodded toward the note on the floor. “The bloodsucking leech lied. He’s after Kiera.”
Michael swore, scooped up the flower and note, reading it quickly. “So what’s the plan?”
“I honestly don’t know, Michael. The guy is so fast he can leave notes in plain sight when you’ve been standing in the room the whole time. He’s strong enough to rip the door off the hinges. And apparently he can come and go out of the house as he pleases without an invitation and doesn’t have to stay inside out of the sunlight. What the hell do you do when you’re faced with a monster with those abilities?”
“I don’t know, but we’ll think of something. I think it’s time to call a family meeting,” Michael said.
“No, it’s time to call a supernatural one. Austin, Matt, and Cassie should be there too,” Gabriel said, resolve strengthening his tone. It might take all of their abilities to get rid of the vampire once and for all.
“I’m on it,” Michael said, heading for the office to start making calls.
***
Later that night as they were all gathered in the living room of the Victorian, Kiera snuggled with Gabriel, afraid to let him out of her sight.
The two notes the vampire had left were laid out on the table.
“Some of you know that Kiera was chased to the garage on the night I met her. A vampire had caught her scent at the club she had gone to with her friends. At the time, we didn’t understand what was so special about her blood; not until her mother showed up at the wedding,” Gabriel said.
“Kiera’s mother? I thought she was dead,” Austin interjected.
Gabriel nodded. “So did Kiera. It seems her mother was banished from the human realm.” At Austin’s blank look, he continued, “Her mother is a fairy. If I had to guess, I’d say she’s a fairy of royal descent.”
“So the fairy blood is what attracted the vampire,” Cole chimed in.
“Yeah, it would seem so,” Gabriel answered.
Connor shifted in his seat. “So if the vampire is attracted to her fairy blood, what we really need is a full-blooded fairy to lure him away; preferably a f
ew states away.”
“I don’t think we’re going to find a fairy, let alone one willing to be bait,” Gabriel said.
Connor shrugged. “Maybe not, but if Kiera’s mother is a descendant of the royal fairy line, that means her daughter is, too. Maybe what we should be concentrating on is a way to reach their King or Queen.”
Gabriel sharpened his focus on his cousin. “So you’re thinking that if the royal family knows one of their own is in trouble, they might be willing to help?”
“Wouldn’t hurt to try,” he answered.
Matt glanced at Cassie. If anyone knew how to contact the fairies, it would be her father. He looked at Gabriel, “We may be able to find out how to contact them.”
Gabriel looked at him in interest. “Really? Care to share with the group?”
“Cassie’s father knows more about her abilities than he let on. Apparently, her gifts come from his side of the family. Since the ring Stan gave me came from Morgan Le Fey that means Cassie is also of fairy descent,” Matt answered, “although her ancestry goes back to the time of King Arthur and is diluted enough that the vampire probably won’t even notice her.”
“But you think he may know how to contact them?” Gabriel asked.
“There’s a good chance he will. We can ask him and get back to you,” Matt answered.
“Okay, while you work on that angle, the rest of us need to find a way to protect Kiera and the house,” Gabriel said.
Connor and Colin looked at each in silent communication. While all twins had a special connection to each other, Connor and Colin had a few other abilities to go along with it. They might be werewolves, but psychics ran in their family, too.
“What if we put the word out to the other packs? See if anyone is willing to lend a hand… strength in numbers and all that,” Colin said.
Gabriel rubbed his jaw thoughtfully, “It certainly wouldn’t hurt.”
“We’re on it,” Colin said with a nod toward his brother. They had enough friends in various packs across the country that it shouldn’t be hard to get a decent turn-out.