CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
~
Zeke panicked the moment he walked into the living room and found Darcy gone. The clatter of a plate sent him whipping around to the closed kitchen door, and he tilted his head to one side and listened hard.
Zeke rolled his eyes back in his head before heading for the kitchen. When he opened the door, he found her tidying up the side by the sink; the dishwasher was pumping in water, and the sides were clear. “A woman’s touch…”
“I got bored,” Darcy said, smiling. “Besides, I might need a plate or cup urgently.”
“Now I feel bad,” Zeke said, frowning. He’d kicked himself while stripping the bed and putting on fresh sheets, knowing he hadn’t cleaned the house the moment he knew he had a mate.
“I’m sure that feeling won’t last long,” Darcy said, walking towards him with a wicked grin. “Clean sheets, right?”
Zeke perked right up. “Right,” he said.
“Are you drooling?” Darcy asked.
Zeke’s hand went to his chin before he even thought about it, making her giggle and waking up his brain to the fact that she was playing him. “I could well be.”
“That’s a good sign,” Darcy said, tossing the towel in her hand over her shoulder to the counter. “I’m definitely picturing you naked.”
The hungry growl that rolled through Zeke’s chest was undeniable. He stepped to meet her, wrapped a steel arm around her waist and hoisted her against his hard body. “Why imagine when you can get the real thing?”
Zeke didn’t wait for an answer to claim her lips, kissing her long and hard and explaining in more than words how he was feeling. When Darcy melted against him, he swept her into his arms and headed from the bedroom, kissing her all the way.
~
Lex made it from the driver’s side of the car to the passenger door in record time. Faith’s hand was out and ready to open the door, but he beat her to it. He held out his hand to help her from the car.
Faith looked from his hand to the smug smile on his lips. “Agenda incoming,” she said, mischief dancing in her eyes.
“I feel like there might be some really great lovemaking on the cards tonight,” he said with a cocky grin that Faith had the urge to wipe off his face, but at the same time, it suited him.
Faith slipped her palm against his, allowing him to help her from the car. When he didn’t move aside to let her go, she found herself caught between the open door and him, and she didn’t mind the view.
The sound of a mating howl carried on the air, and Lex watched a slow-to-boil victory smile cross her lips. “Sounds like you might be right about the lovemaking.”
Lex tipped his head back and looked to the sparkling skies above as the stars mocked him. “Timing is a bitch.”
“Don’t you ever get the feeling fate is mocking you?” she asked with a half-shrug.
“Indeed.”
“Me too since I met you,” Faith replied. “Are you going to step aside, or do I have to do a fancy vampire jump onto the roof and roll down the windscreen onto my feet?”
“Do not scratch my paintwork,” Lex berated, instantly moving aside to let her by.
“I see the pecking order of things, Lex, car first, me second.”
“A close second,” Lex said, closing the passenger door and walking behind her to the front door. “And you will always be my favourite one true forever love.”
Faith turned at the door, placed a hand on either side of the brickwork to bar his way, and eyed him. “Only because I will be your only one true forever love.”
Lex took a breath and reached up to scratch his cheek as he considered it. “Well, there is that…”
“I could leave you sleeping outside like an unwanted dog on this very doorstep,” she warned him.
“It’s my house…”
“Ah, no, no, noooo,” Faith said, holding up her index finger and wagging it from side to side. “What’s yours is mine, and what’s mine isn’t really worth having,” she said, shrugging. “But that means…?”
“This is our house,” he said, catching on.
“And as I don’t have magic anymore, you need to open the damn door so I can get a drink,” Faith said.
“It’s open,” Lex informed her.
Faith frowned. “Oh, that’s careless,” she said, turning, grabbing the handle, and tossing the door wide open.
“Not really. You rob a vampire, and I will track you down by your scent and take my revenge…”
“But you will still have been robbed,” Faith insisted.
“Yes, but it’s worth it for the thrill of the hunt,” he said, flicking on the lights before his hand wrapped around her arm. He whirled her back to him, stepping forward and bringing her body against his. “I like the chase…”
Faith broke his grip with a hard slice of her arm before punching him in the stomach. With speed and surprise, she wrapped her lower leg behind his and tripped him back onto his backside on the polished floor. “It’s all about the chase,” she said before taking off across the hallway and up the stairs.
Lex grinned like the cat that got the cream. “Yes, it is,” he said.
~
Heath followed his nose and found his mate in the back garden in a lounge chair, staring at the twinkling stars. As he rounded the chair, he noticed the beer bottle in her hand. “Drinking?” he declared, about to snatch the cold brew when she clutched the bottle to her chest and growled at him.
“Mine,” she hissed.
Heath’s bottom lip quivered as he considered his options. “But, but, the baby?”
True stared up at him. “Really?”
“Really!” he said, a small squeak to his tone that she found adorable.
“It’s alcohol-free beer, you overprotective muppet,” she said, noting his shoulders visibly sank a few inches. “Did you really think I would…?”
“Me?” he rushed out defensively, adding a quick shake of his head. “You – noooo!” He looked sheepish enough that she couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Get your own,” she said, motioning to a coolbox beside the chair.
“Alcohol-free?” he asked, frowning and screwing up his face.
“Nine months and lugging around a bowling ball, I suffer, you suffer; after all, we’re doing this together, right?” True offered him a challenge without a hint of teasing.
“Yep,” he said, wincing as he flipped the lid on the cooler and reached in, happy to find the beer in his hand was real. “But…?”
“Are you going to look a gift horse in the mouth and question everything?” True asked, motioning to the chair beside her. “Take a load off.”
Heath wasn’t about to test his luck and did as instructed. “You know it’s like two in the morning…?”
“You need to be somewhere?”
“The baby needs its sleep…”
“Going forward in this pregnancy,” True said, leaning forward, her gaze locked and loaded on his. “It might be better not to be so…” She paused to consider the word.
“Worried?” Heath offered.
“Anal,” True said in a eureka moment.
Heath puckered his lips as if he’s just sucked on a bitter lemon. “Harsh…”
“But true,” she replied.
“I’ll try to…”
“Be less worried…”
“Anal…”
“And I’m sure you’ll call me out on it if I get too…”
“Anal.” She shot him a grin.
“I can drink to that,” Heath said, flicking the top from the bottle with his thumbnail and raising his bottle.
“Here’s to no-anal,” True said, raising her bottle in a toast just as Heath had gulped beer, which got caught when he choked and came back out of his mouth in a spray. “I might just buy an adult bib when I shop for the baby.”
Heath wiped his mouth and gave her a little side-eye. “You did that on purpose.”
“Of course I did,” True said, chuckling at him. “What did you expect?”
“Fair play.”
“You mated a witch,” True replied. “And made me pregnant; fair play went out the window a long time ago, my friend.”
Heath chuckled as he sat back in the chair and eyed the starry sky. “Moira, Marvin and Nana sent the ghosts away?”
“They should never have been allowed to stay,” True said. “Bloody pirates, it’s all your fault.”
“How was this all my fault?” Heath asked, scowling.
“You got the vampire involved, who got the crone involved, who cast the spell to bring the ghosts and unlocked the veil – ergo, your fault.”
Heath grunted. He guessed in a roundabout way, it was his fault. His shoulders were big enough to take the blame. “Lex had…”
“Nope, all roads lead back to you,” True said, grinning.
“Fine, my fault, but…”
“Nope, take the hit, hold up your hands and admit…”
“Fine, my fault,” Heath grumbled under his breath.
True chuckled. “And still he grumbles.”
“My fault,” he said, pressing his lips together to silence himself.
“And I bet you’re still thinking those thoughts,” True said, enjoying how he was squirming.
“Am not.”
“Now you just sound like a petulant child,” True said, teasing him a little more.
“Fine,” Heath said, his voice pitching.
“You know you’re not going to win this one…”
“I realise that,” Heath grumbled. “And the next, and the next, and…”
“The baby will be born, and you stand no hope of winning after that point at all,” True said absently, waving her bottle in the air.
“Are you sure that has zero alcohol in it?” he grumbled.
“Are you questioning my…”
“Nooo,” Heath said, shaking his head. “How could I? You’ve already won that one, the next, and the next.”
“Sour puss,” True said, giggling. “Mate a witch..”
“Feel the burn,” Heath said.
“Now you’re getting it.”
“Too late to do anything about it,” Heath said.
True turned a teasing grin on him, and he chuckled, “Now, you’re getting the idea.”
Heath sighed. “Can we not have any excitement for a while until the baby is born?”
“You forget, my sister is a vampire,” True said and heard a grunt in reply.
“And the imaginary treasure is still out there somewhere,” Heath said.
“Maybe, maybe not,” True said. “But Faith is still Faith, and she’s not one to sit idly by and twiddle her thumbs when there is mayhem to be had.”
“Maybe Lex could take her on an around-the-world tour…”
“But then she won’t be here for the baby”s birth,” True said, placing her free hand on her stomach.
“The baby?” Heath said, his shoulders up around his ears again. “It’s not like we need babysitters!”
“Babysitting!” True said. “Are you insane? I can’t have a real beer, but my newbie vampire sister is going to babysit our child?”
“No, she’s not!”
“Exactly!” True hissed.
“I never said…”
“Yes, you did!”
“Did not!” True turned a hard glare on him, and he held in place like a deer caught in the headlights. “It might have sounded like I did.”
“When you’re wrong, just say you’re wrong,” True reminded him.
Heath narrowed his eyes – it felt like a trap. “I’m wrong?” he said, more a question than a statement of fact.
“See, it’s not that hard,” True said, chuckling to herself.
“I see eggshells everywhere, and I have bare feet,” Heath said.
“Bingo!” True said. “You did get me pregnant.”
“I didn’t hear you complain…” She shot him a glare, and he swallowed hard. “Yes, I did – and I have nine months of making it up to you?”
“Eight-ish, but who’s counting?”
“I am,” Heath said.
“Huh?”
“Not me,” he said, shaking his head.
“So, you’re not counting the days until you meet your baby?”
Heath’s head fell forward with a low groan. “Can’t win…”
“Chin up,” True said, chuckling. “This too shall pass.”
“Really?” he asked, sounding hopeful.
“Probably not,” True said, dashing his hopes.