CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Every night. I was ending up in Alexius’s bed every single night.
He left really early this night. He’d been frustrated with his work the night before, getting home earlier than expected and clearly distracting himself with me.
I heard him talking to Maria about a place where these unknown vampires were resting, but he didn’t explain anything to me, and I didn’t ask.
He also didn’t ask me what I was doing tonight.
Which I was glad for because I was meeting Henry and didn’t want to lie to Alexius or suddenly explain that I had found my uncle and was trying to figure that out.
Alexius didn’t need anything else to worry about.
He was running out of time to find these vampires, and now there were human bodies being found.
I had witnessed a kill. This wasn’t good.
I did feel guilty and somewhat lonely. A week of hiding Henry was one thing. A couple of weeks while nothing was happening, fine. But now, it just made me begin to feel guilty and lonely with the information.
Henry had invited me to his place, but I convinced him back from that once again.
Instead, we settled on a park close to his home.
It gave me a chance to decide if I wanted to cross the threshold of neutral third-party places to somewhere more familiar.
I also took note of how it was only a thirty-minute drive to get there. We had been closer than we thought.
I parked and found a park bench to sit on. Henry had said he would walk over tonight, so I waited, keeping my eyes out for him.
He walked up with a smile, sitting next to me.
“You know, I heard something insane at Wren’s last night,” he said instead of a proper greeting.
“I can only imagine. What is it?” I put my hands in my pockets, stretching my legs.
“You and Alexius went to a werewolf party last night.” Henry chuckled as he shook his head. “And that wasn’t the craziest part. You were there and so was your brother. Declan was at this party? Tell me Wren was lying.”
Fuck.
“Yeah… No, Wren wasn’t lying to you.” I sighed and had to quickly decide how caught up I thought Henry needed to be.
The easiest thing would be the next thing Wren probably knew and kept to himself so far or would know soon.
“Declan is dating a werewolf. We’ve needed to discuss some safety things for him and her and me.
She didn’t know about me. I didn’t know about her.
It’s been tense. Alexius and Callahan are being the mature adults.
She makes me want to strangle her sometimes.
” I chuckled sardonically. “Though so does Declan. I worked so fucking hard to keep him out of the troubles of the nest when Mom died and I was alone, only for him to accidentally fall in love with a fucking werewolf.”
“So, you knew Declan was in Los Angeles,” Henry said softly. “I thought you didn’t know and figured I wouldn’t bother you with your brother if you weren’t interested in attempting to have a relationship with him.”
“Why do you think I would take a vacation to Los Angeles? He’s my brother. We still game together.” And I hated how I wasn’t surprised Henry had always known and just not said anything. We had both been dancing around the Declan conversation, but now I could.
“You never approached him, did you? He’s never mentioned it.”
“No, I’ve never bothered him. He doesn’t know I’m here.
I looked into it after what happened with Jacob’s nest. I heard news that I knew was you but didn’t want to admit.
Made me wonder what happened to Declan, only to find out that he was here in the same city as me.
I was glad to know he was safe on this side of the country after everything I heard come out of the situation there. ”
“Has anyone ever asked you about it? People must know you used to be part of the nest?”
“No, actually. I never really invited that sort of conversation, preferring to live in the present, you know?”
“Oh, yeah, definitely.” I nodded. “You know, I was worried about telling you about Declan. Just… old wounds, angry with you still about never coming back.”
“I understand. And I wasn’t sure what path you were going to take as a vampire.”
“You know, Declan and I have joked about me being the new you to his future kids, if he has them,” I said, smiling, feeling a huge weight off my chest now that Henry and I were past one more barrier.
“You know, I wasn’t going to bring up the werewolf party tonight. Or Declan. I wanted to ask something more personal tonight after… you know I’m in Maria’s nest, right?”
“I do.”
“So… I heard what happened at the club,” he said, clearly dancing around the conversation even as he opened the topic up for discussion. “Alexius being a bit controlling… domineering from the looks of it to people around you two.”
“Ah…” I nodded slowly, going back to that moment, that event. It happened over a week ago now. I had seen Henry since then, but he was now bringing it up.
“Do you need to get out of that? I know you said that you like the job and stuff, but… I’ve never seen you with him. The few public appearances have either been official or don’t look good for him. I want to make sure you’re sure you don’t want out.”
“Oh…” I was trying to find words. Henry was a couple of centuries old, at least. He’d probably understand. Maybe he wouldn’t be grossed out hearing about Alexius and me.
“You know there are rumors about Alexius and me, right? That night… things kind of boiled over between him and me. We finally made the rumors true… He was jealous of seeing me flirt a bit with someone else, and I was pissed off that he kept sending me mixed signals about whether he was interested or not.” I trailed off, opening and closing my mouth several times as I tried to think of a way to tell Henry it was okay.
“I like that he can be that way. The domineering… dominant sort of man. It’s hot.
It pissed me off in the moment, but it’s hot.
And if I had shut him down entirely that night, it would have stopped, but I didn’t…
Because I’ve wanted to sleep with him since the day I met him. ”
Henry’s nostrils flared, either in disgust or anger. I wasn’t able to pinpoint what emotions he was dealing with on his face.
“He’s ancient. He’s so much more powerful than you. He shouldn’t be…”
“He and I had that talk,” I said quickly.
“And I don’t care. I don’t care how old he is or how powerful he is or who he knows.
If I say no, he’ll stop. That I do know.
Because he thought the same thing. He probably still does somewhere in the back of his mind, but yesterday he was practically parading in front of the werewolves that we’re sleeping together. ” I smiled. “And I quite enjoyed that.”
Henry sputtered, his eyes wide.
“Everly…”
“No, no. We’re not discussing anything you might be thinking of saying as if I don’t know what I’m doing or who I’m sleeping with or who I’m rubbing elbows with.
I think I know him better than most vampires at this point.
I live down the hall from him, which is more than pretty much all living vampires can say.
Is he still enigmatic and confusing? Absolutely.
Is he still somewhat dark and mysterious?
Sure. Could he kill me before I could blink?
Yes, but most vampires could, and he’s had plenty of time to do that while I’ve lived in his house and turned it upside down with new upgrades and redoing the security and stuff. ”
“So, you consign yourself to be his plaything? Why? Because he used some other vampire’s blood to make you a vampire? He didn’t even sire you properly.”
“He only ever sired Jacob, and he thought I was getting the better option being an Orphan… and I agree with him, Henry. I do. I’d hate for someone to actually take my free will away just because they gifted or cursed me with immortality. We’ve had this discussion.”
“But you have no vampire family! No name, no connections.”
“I have Alexius, who then taught me to be a vampire. And I know Isaiah, and I get invited to the blood club by Maria. I went to a summit of ancients that vampires like me shouldn’t be and rubbed elbows with some of the oldest vampires in the world.
I have connections. They are connections that matter to my goals. ”
“And what really are those goals?”
“To kill every vampire who had a hand in Jacob’s death because that led to the death of my mother,” I answered, not blinking or looking away from Henry.
“And what about family? You talk to Declan. This puts him in danger.” Henry was growing more animated.
“I know. We’ve had that discussion. He’s under the protection of Callahan’s pack now.
He is dating one of Callahan’s werewolves, Henry, remember?
Plus, Alexius and I found some justice for the werewolves in Alaska.
The Tribunal Alpha felt he could help in return by protecting Declan before that relationship even started. ”
“How did no one ever know about him and a werewolf?”
“Her father is high-ranking, but she isn’t.
She’s my age. Born a werewolf… and with a silver spoon from my impression of her.
” I rolled my eyes. “And sure, it fucking annoys me that I worked so fucking hard to protect him in Maine from the supernatural problems just for him to date a werewolf here.” I groaned, wanting to rant properly.
“He’s out here thinking about marrying her and how much he loves her, even after learning she’s a werewolf.
That’s why I flew out here! He wanted the ring Dad gave Mom.
” I rubbed my face. “And if they get married, I’ll be supportive, the best sister I can be for him.
But damn, sometimes it feels like a kick in my teeth that he’s still seeing her after I worked so hard to keep him away from the vampire problem. ”
“He’s too good for a werewolf,” Henry muttered.
“Agreed, but you know what? Declan can do whatever he wants. He’s the older brother, and I’m not going to try to parent him.
That’s not my job. The two people who could tell him he’s stupid are gone.
Plus, he really likes her family, too.” I looked up to the sky.
“He’s all like, ‘You know, the werewolves are warm while vampires can be cold, and I really like it’. ” I looked at Henry. “Sorry. Ranting.”
“Don’t be. Sometimes family disappoints us, as you and I both know.”
“Yup.”
We talked about nothing important after that for nearly an hour. What his neighborhood was like, what other places he was hoping I would see in Los Angeles. The only thing that interrupted us was a call I got.
“Oh, that’s Alexius. This could be sensitive. Hold on,” I said, jumping up and walking out of range of Henry’s hearing. I answered on the fourth ring.
“Hey, Alexius. What’s going on?”
“I was wondering where you were tonight,” he asked softly. “I saw you weren’t at home. I stopped in to grab something, and you aren’t here.”
“Oh yeah, I’m, uh, hanging out with someone.”
Alexius didn’t say anything, and I closed my eyes, realizing how that sounded.
The guilt came back. He took a deep breath that was picked up by the mic, which told me he was trying to comprehend and figure out what the fuck I meant because I certainly wasn’t seeing someone else the way it accidentally sounded.
“I found my uncle,” I explained. “We’ve met up—”
“You found Henry Abbott?” he asked sharply.
“Yeah. We’ve met a handful of times when I haven’t been with Declan, and you’ve been out, so I figured… I’d spend some time trying to reconnect or just figure it out.”
“Are you with him right now?”
“No, I stepped away to take this call.”
“I need your help with the job,” he said softly. “Tonight. Camera work. It’s your expertise.”
“Oh, okay.” My heart thumped hard. What? Alexius’s visceral negative reaction immediately pulled me into work to get me away from Henry. “Can you explain—”
“In person. Get here so we can get this work started.”
“Yes sir,” I muttered and hung up on him. He didn’t want me for the mission. He was yanking me away from my uncle, and I didn’t understand it.
Walking back to Henry, I saw him on his phone as well.
“I have to go. Work,” I said to my uncle.
He put his phone away, sighing. “Called away, huh? Well, you… probably won’t listen to any complaints I have about that. We’ll reschedule?”
“Definitely!” I waved, then started walking to my car, my thoughts spinning as I wondered what Alexius was thinking, forcing me to walk away from a simple hangout with my uncle.
He used to be really supportive of me finding him or dealing with him however I wanted to deal with him.
Alexius had tried to help find him but never could.
I believed Isaiah had helped and was stumped.
Did Maria just hide him and refuse to engage?
Did they even ask her if she knew of him?
Since Isaiah was a control freak, it was probably the second. They probably never even asked her.