I tugged him down on top of me and hugged him with all my might.
"You missed me too." His voice was muffled against my neck. It teased my skin and shivers broke out over my body. I felt him smile as he added, "A lot."
It was more than that. Something in me would always yearn for Roane. When I saw him again, that something woke up. It was as if I'd been asleep till he got back and now he was back, everything else woke up too. Did he feel the same? The old question burned in the back of my head…or did he feel it for Talia?
Roane pulled away and sat up. "What's wrong?"
"Talia." I didn't hesitate. I didn't see why I should.
Roane shut down. His eyes had been open and alive. "What about her?"
"You loved her. She held the Immortal thread before me. I can't help but feel that there's a part of her inside of me and that's who you want." Most girls wouldn't have managed the first words, but I was more now.
Roane stood and crossed to a bar. After he poured himself a drink, he offered me one. I shook my head, suddenly cold. Roane moved back to lean against his desk as he regarded me. His eyes were dark. "I loved Talia. I won't deny that."
There it was. I didn't flinch.
Roane added, "I've never lied about that. I did love Talia, but I don't love her anymore."
My eyes shot to his.
"I don't know what you're really asking me, but I can guess. It's not the right time for that, but what I can tell you is that what's between us is between us. You may think Talia is a part of you, but she's not. There's nothing in you from her. She held the Immortal thread inside of her and gave it to you. You've taken the thread and you've become the Immortal. If anything, it should've been that Talia held something of you inside her when I loved her." He studied me when he was finished and then sipped his drink. His throat swallowed in a slow motion.
I gulped. When those eyes were focused on me and intense. When he said words like that, I had to grip the couch to keep myself from launching at him. I wanted to beg him to take me then and there, but I didn't. Then I fought to calm my trembling voice. "Okay."
Roane flashed a smile. "Okay? That's it?"
Someone knocked on the door at that moment. Roane turned his back to me when it opened and I expelled a ragged breath. I tried moving off the couch, but my legs were jelly.
Then Gregory spoke from the doorway, "We have an impending."
Roane didn't move at all, but everything changed
;
danger emanated from him. An alarm bell went off in my stomach and my jelly legs were suddenly as sturdy as stone. I stood, but stayed by the couch. I wanted to go to his side, but Roane wasn't a vampire who enjoyed the comforting damsel. When he nodded with his jaw clenched, Gregory looked at me and then closed the door behind him. He said it all in that one glance. Something was wrong and Roane wasn't telling me any of it.
"What's going on?"
He took my arm and led me to the door. "It's time for you to go."
Hello, I thought we were going to have sex. Now I really was alarmed. "What was that about? Gregory looked at me before he left. He felt bad about something. What is it?"
I dug in my heels and looked directly at him. He had his shields up, he always had them up, but I went through them like vapor. His manner had been a show. He'd been flirting and forcing himself to feel relaxed, but it was the opposite. He had lied about Talia. He still loved her, but there was more. Something had gone wrong with the Roane Council and his insides were on edge, murderous edge, because of it. I slipped out and saw he hadn't a clue that I'd been there.
"You never told me about the council meeting. What happened there?"
His eyes flared in anger. "You stay out of me."
"Then tell me the truth. Tell me what's going on."
"You need to leave." He pushed towards the door, but stopped to grab two daggers and a 9mm. He strapped a sword over his back and when he turned back to me, I didn't recognize the hunter who stood in front of me. I'd seen him in fighting mode, but this was different. There was no emotion, just business. That business was killing.
When he took my arm again, my head snapped back and I felt the Immortal rush through me. She coursed through my arms, toes, veins, and into my eyes. I knew Roane saw my silver eyes when he cursed.
"Do you know?" he asked.
I closed my eyes and lifted into the air. The room swirled around me. Everything moved around me as if I was in the eye of a tornado and then I looked out and saw who approached.
They were a group of vampires. All were heavily armed with weapons, similar swords as the one Roane wore. Wren was with them, but two large Goliath vampires held her arms. Her wrists were bound in greenery. Her eyes were strained and teeth clenched against the pain. I didn't know what was going on, but I knew what side I stood with. Before the thought entered my mind, I was already behind Wren and the two giant guards.
Everyone was in a time warp so no one saw me when I took a knife from one of the guards and cut through Wren's bandages. Her shoulders lifted up as if refreshed. The pain left her and she sprang into action. I pulled back from the group, watching her take the sword from one of them and plunging it into their heart. As they fell, she whirled around and decapitated both of them in one movement. Then she landed on her feet primed for attack as the rest of the group turned in shock. Only a few reacted. The rest paused a second to wonder how she got free. They paused too long.
Roane was already on them. Wren saw him fighting and a crooked smirk flashed over her face before she began fighting with renewed energy. She fought freely without pausing as she sliced and diced through the vampires. Roane killed the same way. He cut down every vampire in his trail, but gave no feeling or thought to any of them. When they were both done, each stood in the middle of the wreckage and looked at the other. Wren smiled shakily as her body trembled in excitement. Her coral eyes looked wild, hyper. Roane felt nothing. There was no emotion in his eyes. Then he turned towards me and I vanished.
I was waiting in his office when they arrived a few minutes later. Wren burst through the door and her adrenalin blasted against me. She was on a high, but when her eyes caught sight of me all that energy faded. It left her depleted and she snarled, "You."
"Me."
She looked the same. I hadn't noticed when she'd been held captive, but now her attention was focused on me. It was intimidating, or should've been, as I studied her in turn. She wore the same leather corset with silver snappings and leather boots. Her eyes snapped in disgust when she felt my appraisal and she flipped those long auburn curls over her shoulders to purse her ruby lips together. "Like what you see?"
"You still look like a hooker." Disdain oozed from my pores.
She drew to her full height and took a menacing step towards me. That's when Roane passed around her to his desk and murmured underneath his breath, "She can make you human…"
It was all the warning she needed. She stopped, snarled again, and swept out of the room. The door slammed shut with enough force to shatter glass.
Then I looked up and met Roane's gaze. Any smart comment I might've made about Wren's departure died in my throat.
His eyes snapped at me. "You want to tell me what you were doing out there when we're still trying to keep your identity a secret?!"
CHAPTER FIVE
"What are you talking about?"
"The Elders know that the Immortal is alive, but they don't know your name. Anyone who knows it's you is either loyal to me or dead."
"Except Lucan and Kates."
"Yeah," he sighed. "Except those two, but Lucan won't say anything. He'll want to keep that information to himself. And Kates is loyal to you, right? She is, right?"
"Yeah." I gulped. "She's loyal to me." And now she'd left for some reason that she wouldn't tell me. He didn't need to know that bit.
"You need to stay away from me."
"What?" I cried out. "You told me to come here tonight. You told me that you wanted to see me and now you're telling me to stay away?!"
Roane looked resigned. "I have to protect you and one way I can do that is if you have no connection to me. They might know the Immortal is here—"
"Who?!"
"Vampires, Davy! All the vampires." He sat now as if surrendering. "The secret's out. Everyone knows the Immortal exists and she's here. I tried to tell the Elders that you left, but they must not have bought it. They know you're here. They might not know who you are, but they know the Immortal is here."
Oh. This was not good. "What does this mean for me?"
He shrugged. "I have no idea, but it's not good for you. My guess is that they'll try to kill you first. When they realize that won't work, they'll capture you and they'll figure something else out. They aren't friendly, Davy. They're scared of you and vampires don't handle fear very well. Everything else is supposed to be afraid of us, not the other way around."
"They can't kill me. Can they?"
"I don't know. Do you even know?"
"No." I looked away. Saren hadn't been helpful with any information. Riddles. Everything was riddles. "So I go and do the normal thing that you wanted me to do before?"
"I don't see any other way right now." Roane's hand rested on the desk and then he clenched it into a fist. "It'd be good if you go. I'm sorry."
With a knot in my throat, I nodded. "When will I see you again?"He looked up and sorrow flashed for a moment before it was replaced with regret. Guilt came next. I knew he wasn't going to answer me so I said, "I know you still love Talia. I saw that inside of you."
He tried to smile, but failed. "I hate that I can't keep a secret from you."
"Trust me. I wished I didn't know half the stuff I do." Then I turned and started to leave. As I reached the door, Roane stopped me.
"Davy…"
I turned and my heart jumped.
He smiled, but it was haunted. "Gregory can drive you back. After that you need to stay away from me."
My heart fell back in place. "Okay."
The Viking vampire was silent as he took me to my dorm. Roane had sent me away. He didn't want to see me anymore. I knew the reason behind it, but it stung. A part of me, the little girl inside of me wanted to fall into his arms and live happily ever after. The rest of me knew better.
"We're here," Gregory said as he put the car into park.
As I was about to get out of the car, I reached over and grabbed his arm. Gregory didn't react. He made no movement, but I knew he was guarded against me. That's when I realized the sound of his little girl's laugh had been tickling my empathic abilities since I'd gotten in the car. I just hadn't noticed it till then.
The laugh came from his unconscious and my empathic sense had reached for it. I met his gaze. "I will turn your daughter back. She can be yours again."
Something shifted inside of him and he jerked his head in a nod. "Thank you."
I nodded back and climbed out.
"Davy," he called after me. I looked over my shoulder. "Please don't make a promise like that unless you are sure you can fulfill it."
I remembered the last time I'd been in a car with him and spoke with honesty. "I have no doubt that no matter what Roane promises, there's going to be another war. I'll be at the center of it and I've got a hunch I'll meet your daughter. I will try one hundred percent to turn her human."
He smiled, shaken.
Then reality clicked with me. "Don't tell Roane I said any of that."
He shook his head. "He'd advise me not to believe you. For some reason, I do."
I wasn't sure how old Gregory was, but he looked old for a vampire. And when he smiled, I wondered when he had last smiled. His face looked cracked until the smile disappeared. Then all the cracks fell back in place and it was smooth again.
"Okay." I waved goodbye before I headed back inside. When I got to my floor, I saw a girl standing outside my room with her nose pressed against the door.
And I thought I was coming back into the world of normal. "Hey, what are you doing?"
She turned with wide eyes. She was a petite girl with reddish hair that was separated into two braids. They hung over her shoulders and touched the suspenders of her blue jumpsuit.
"Who are you?"
"Um." She bit her lip and looked back at the door. Then she looked at me again. Panic filled her eyes and she bolted. A door slammed shut down the hallway almost as soon as I blinked.
"I don't see that every day either."
I
took a deep breath and opened my door. The vision of Emily tangled in a ball of blankets on the floor greeted me. She snored happily and some drool trailed to the floor. I checked the clock and realized that I'd need to put another dose of sleeping pills in her juice.
As I went to the bathroom to mix the concoction in the glass, I heard someone behind me.
"What's wrong with her?"
The weirdo stood in the bathroom doorway
.
She blocked me from the hallway."I can tell something's wrong with her. What is it?"