Always (47 page)

He laughed sweetly against my ear. It was so endearing to hear that deep rumble in his chest. I closed my eyes and inhaled his scent. I knew exactly what he meant about missing my scent.

“
They were fighting, that’s all I really know. Ryan has a female mate called Sophia. Really nasty character.”

Why had Rueben never told me about his problems with Ryan? Had I really been so self-centered not to notice? My lips pulled down into a guilty frown.

Marcus kissed the sides of my lips until I smiled again. “You need to let me wallow in my guilt,” I told him with a giggle.

“
No guilt.” He pulled me closer until there was no telling where he ended and I began. “Just… this.”

“
Us?”

“
Always.”

I leaned my face down until our lips touched. I felt his mouth curl up into a smile. That was definitely something I could live with.

Epilogue

Eva.

“
Is that the end?” I demanded, not believing that she would stop talking. Already.

“
It’s never the end, Eva,” Claudia smiled.

“
Well, what happened?”

“
Marcus and I stayed together.”

“
Obviously.” I rolled my eyes. “Where was Rueben? Did he come back and find you?”

“
Marcus and I stayed in New York.”

“
And David was with Neleh.” The missing pieces started to click together. “With me.”

“
Well, you came a lot later,” she laughed. “We missed David. We were all so close.”

The fire had died out while Claudia was talking. I hadn’t realized how long we had been sitting there. I stretched my arms up over my head.

David had never mentioned Claudia, the entire time at Lexon. All through my lessons about the Letrells, he never mentioned her. She had set the brothers free from Silango; that seemed important enough to mention. And they had once been friends.

“
Did David really jump off the Eifel tower?”

Claudia laughed. She stood up gracefully and in the same movement, she scooped up my uneaten plate of pancakes. “Did you eat anything?”

“
Umm…”

“
You’re going to be hungry later,” she scolded.

“
I ate some of it.” I got up to follow her to the kitchen. My movements weren’t quite as graceful. My feet had fallen asleep and I almost fell when I stood up.

She turned back to me with wide eyes. “Are you alright?”

“
Yeah,” I grinned sheepishly. “Does Marcus like New York now?

She shrugged one shoulder. “He liked it more before Jewell. It’s a little rough over there now.”

“
I remember when we were there; they said that Ryan was still there causing problems. What’s he like? Why does he cause so much trouble? Why doesn’t Neleh stop him?” I fired my questions at Claudia without giving her time to answer.

“
You’re asking the wrong person about Ryan.”

“
You met him.”

“
I only saw him, and that was a very long time ago.”

“
Then, who should I ask?”

“
Rueben.”

Rueben. The one brother I hadn’t met yet. Maybe he wasn’t so bad either. “What ever happened to him? Did he come back? Why did he leave?”

“
He was… captured.”

“
Captured?” My eyebrows furrowed. How could a warrior vampire get captured? Who was strong enough to hold one that didn’t want to be held? “By who?”

“
Humans.” She raised both eyebrows dramatically.

“
Real humans?”

“
There were no fake humans then.”

“
How could they possibly capture him–and hold him?”

“
Ryan and his friends weakened Rueben in a fight and then delivered him into the hands of humans. It’s surprisingly easy to keep them down once they are weakened.” She looked up at me with sadness in her eyes. “At least for a little while.”

“
How did he get away?”

“
That is a story for another day.”

I jutted my lip out into a pout. Before I could ask again to hear the story, Claudia’s eyes brightened. “Marcus is going to be here in a few seconds,” she glanced at me with a small wink. “Dominick too.”

Almost as soon as the words were out, the front door came open. Dominick came in first with a dark scowl on his face. It disappeared when he looked up and saw me waiting for him.

Marcus was smiling before he even came into the room. He went directly to Claudia and wrapped his arms around her waist. She had to stand on her tip toes to even attempt to kiss him.

“
I thought you were coming up to the house,” Dominick accused.

“
We were.”

“
Today?”

“
Claudia was telling me a story.”

“
Hmm,” he half growled.

“
Don’t worry, Dom,” she called happily, “we’re done for today.”

Dominick turned back to me with a smile already on his lips. He pressed his forehead against mine. “You ready to go up to the house?” he murmured.

“
I guess.”

He laughed and pulled me close enough to kiss my frown away.

That night, as Dominick and I were getting ready for bed, I couldn’t stop thinking of all that Claudia had told me. “What are you thinking?” Dominick ordered gently.

“
You know Dominick,” I tried to ignore the way my heart fluttered while he kissed my jaw.

“
Hmm?”

“
Claudia saved you.”

He raised his head up to look at me. “She did.” He surprised me by agreeing with me.

“
She doesn’t even look that strong.”

He laughed. “Looks can be deceiving.”

“
I can’t wait to see Rueben tomorrow.”

“
Why?” he growled.

“
I want to know how the humans managed to hold him.”

“
You mean the Geneva project?”

“
The Geneva project?” Of course.

“
So, maybe you need to talk to Nadia.”

I laughed softly. “Yeah, maybe so.”

“
That’s not until tomorrow, though.”

“
Yeah?”

“
So, we have all of tonight
not
to talk about it.”

“
Mm,” I agreed. When his lips came down to softly join with mine, all other thoughts disappeared.

About the Author

Amy Richie has lived in a small town her entire life. She lives with her three kids and their pet rat Jasper. She began writing in high school but never took it seriously until a few years ago. She enjoys writing because it takes her out of her everyday life and gives life to the people in her head. Amy says: “When I was little I wanted to be a mermaid, then when I was in high school I wanted to be a vampire; now as an adult I’m a writer, which is better because now I get to be both.”