Chapter 19 #2
And then he’d hinted that he wanted to be a family again.
Not just with her, but with Aunt Selene as well.
According to Daniel, once upon a time her mom, her dad, and Selene had been inseparable.
Neither Allie’s mom nor Auntie Sel had ever said anything about the good times Daniel insisted they had, but both women pointedly avoided talking about Daniel at all after he disappeared.
Maybe it had been too sad for them to share happy memories about her dad when they didn’t know what happened to him and thought he was probably dead.
Her mom always seemed very sad on the rare occasions Daniel did come up in conversation, which made Allie reluctant to ask about him.
It had been easier to pretend he’d never been important.
Why make up a perfect dad if she was never going to really know him?
She did have fond memories of surprise visits, parties, and presents.
And she had to admit, it was pretty cool he’d been in a band that toured around the world.
Would it be so bad if he and Aunt Selene became friends again? And eventually, maybe, something more?
At first that idea struck Allie as super weird, but her dad kept saying that close friendships could grow into love, and he had so many compliments about Auntie Sel.
How happy he was that she was taking care of Allie, how loyal a friend she’d been to Allie’s mom.
The more he talked about him and Aunt Sel, the better his suggestions sounded.
And now she couldn’t stop thinking about how nice it would be to make a family that linked the past and the future.
Was it wrong to want to have a dad who wanted to be in her life as much as Daniel seemed to?
Yeah, the vampire thing was . . . not great.
But he’d also explained a lot about the prejudice werewolves have toward vampires.
That the wolves told lies about vamps to turn other paranormals against them.
It was all about power, Daniel said. From what Allie learned in her history classes, that rang true.
Daniel wanted to take her and Aunt Selene to Europe, where they could visit towns ruled by vampire covens.
Places he swore were more beautiful and luxurious than she could imagine.
Where, as his daughter, she’d be treated like a princess.
It sounded so silly she wanted to laugh out loud, but a part of her craved that kind of attention.
To feel special and magical. Especially since the werewolf rules meant she had to wait ten years before she could join the pack and become Josh’s mate.
Daniel agreed with her that it was an old-fashioned, stupid requirement.
If she were in love, what could be more important?
He treated Allie like her opinions mattered as much as, if not more than, his own.
Their conversation had knotted her up inside.
She was thrilled by his attention and the promises he made, but guilt poked at her because she knew Josh would be unhappy that she’d seen him.
Keeping her dad’s visit a secret felt like she was betraying her boyfriend, but she knew if she told Josh, he’d find a way to keep Daniel from seeing her. She didn’t want that to happen.
Knowing her aunt hooked up with Fenris at the Beltane celebration messed everything up.
She didn’t understand why Aunt Selene had changed her mind about Fen so suddenly.
Hadn’t she told Allie she wanted to wait?
That it was too soon for her to get involved with someone she didn’t really know?
But then she turned around and spent the whole night with him!
They hadn’t even had a real date, had they?
She worried her aunt had been lying to her all along because she didn’t want Allie to have sex with Josh.
That was so unfair, and she was a little angry about it, but mostly she was confused.
She just wanted to talk to Aunt Sel and find out what was really going on.
“Allie.” Josh appeared on the path. Bannock and Ewan were nowhere to be seen.
“Everything okay?” she asked. From the look on his face, it wasn’t.
“We need to talk.” He sat next to her. “How close are your aunt and Natalie Lyon?”
Allie was certain her heart stopped beating for a moment. “Why?”
“Something very unpleasant is about to happen.”
Selene and Fen settled into a booth at Midnight Broil.
She decided that breakfast sounded about right after all, and this diner was the only place in town that served it twenty-four hours a day.
She looked at the menu and pushed her hair back from her forehead.
It was still damp from the shower, but she’d been too hungry and distracted to bother drying it.
She was still distracted. It was difficult to think about what she might like from the menu. Her mind kept wandering to the things Fen had done to her in the shower. Good things. Wickedly good. Impossibly good.
Sneaking glances at him across the table as she perused the menu, she already wanted more. She couldn’t get enough of him.
Not for the first time, a part of her wondered if she’d been in a car accident on the drive up from LA, and now she lay in a coma dreaming up this wondrous world, this incredible man.
Accepting that this new, magical reality was real never seemed to get easier.
Real or not, her mind was humming with ecstasy, and her body crackled with desire and joy.
“I like to see you looking so happy.” Fen reached across the table to touch her hand. “Is it truly because of me?”
She nodded, blushing, and curled her fingers around his.
He gave her that slow smile she couldn’t resist, and her heart sped up.
She caught herself speculating about whether it would be out of the question for him to strip her clothes off and ravish her in the booth.
Then she realized that given he was Fenris Hall, wolf king of Avondale, the restaurant would probably politely clear out and leave them to it.
That shouldn’t have been such a tempting idea.
She lightly squeezed his hand and then pulled her fingers away from his, determined to behave like a sane person.
I never should have read that stupid book. Too many bodice-ripping scenes are stuck in my head. Sure, keep telling yourself that, Selene. You know the book has nothing to do with it.
“Coffee?” A pale-faced teenage waiter hovered alongside the booth and cast nervous glances at Fen.
“Yes, Tom,” Fen said. “Thank you.”
“For me too,” Selene added, peering at their server. Something about him was familiar . . .
“Great.” Tom bobbed his head and scurried away.
Selene laughed at his abrupt departure. “Do you always make wait staff act like that?”
“No,” Fen replied with a wry smile. “He’s a vampire. They’re a little more skittish around me than others.”
Selene stared after the waiter. “Vampires work here?”
“Only the night shift.”
“Of course.” Selene laughed ruefully. “I’m still getting used to all this.”
“Be patient with yourself.”
“It’s happening a little too fast for patience,” she said.
“I suppose that’s true.”
Tom reappeared with two mugs of coffee.
“Are you ready to order?”
“Selene?” Fen gestured to her.
“Sure.” She scanned the menu. “I’ll have the steak and eggs. And a side of bacon.”
She frowned. She never ordered steak and eggs.
“How would you like your steak?”
“Rare,” she replied automatically and frowned again. She always ordered her steak medium.
“And the eggs?”
“Um . . . scrambled. No wait, over easy.”
Tom jotted down her order. “Hashbrowns or home fries?”
“I don’t need any sides,” Selene told him. What was up with her today? She loved hashbrowns. Especially the crispy edges. But at the moment they sounded gross.
“Mr. Hall?” Tom looked at the werewolf.
“Another order of bacon and an order of sausages.”
Tom raised an eyebrow. “Would you like anything else? Off the other menu?”
“No, just what I already mentioned.” Fen inclined his head. “Thank you, Tom.”
“Of course, Mr. Hall.” He took their menus, jerked forward in something that almost resembled a bow, and then walked away.
“What’s the other menu?” Selene asked.
“They have special items that paranormals can eat,” Fen said.
“Like raw meat?”
“Yes.”
Not weird, Selene insisted to herself. I already knew that’s what werewolves eat. Don’t freak out because the diner has a secret menu with raw meat on it and probably other stuff I shouldn’t think about.
“You can order,” she said. The idea of a slab of bloody meat on Fen’s plate was far less repulsive than she would have thought. “I wouldn’t mind.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“You’re not?” Her stomach wouldn’t stop rumbling, convinced that if it quieted, Selene might ignore it. If she was this hungry, how could Fen not be? Wouldn’t he need to eat more than she did? Maybe she was wrong in presuming werewolves had enormous appetites.
“We hunted last night as part of the rite,” he told her. “I’ll be full for a while.”
“You hunted,” Selene said, considering the implication of his statement. “And you ate what you hunted?”
He nodded.
“What did you hunt?”
“Deer.”
That’s pretty normal, I guess. Don’t think about Bambi’s mom, Selene. Don’t go there.
“Why did you order more bacon and sausage?” she asked.
“I suspect you’re hungrier than you realize.”
She laughed. “I already ordered more than I’ll ever eat. I’m hardly a vegetarian, but I never eat this much meat. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
He didn’t say anything, and he wasn’t smiling, but his eyes were.
She took a sip of her coffee and ran her tongue over her lips. “Speaking of the rite, I have another question for you.”
“Ask away.” Fen leaned back, slinging one arm along the top of the booth.
Selene suddenly wanted nothing more than to crawl beneath the table and snuggle under that arm.