Burning (5 page)

“Do you think we are going to be able to live under the same roof as those two?” Finn asked, waggling his eyebrows.
 

I laughed, and I felt the need to fan myself again.  “I don’t know.  That was seriously hot though,” I said, biting my lip. 

Finn gave me his sexy, lazy half smile.  He grabbed my hand and we headed toward his new car, a manly SUV.  “So, pretty lady, where do you want to go?” he asked, his blue eyes glittering in the moonlight. 

“I thought you had an entire ordinary date planed?” I teased.
 

He slipped his hand around my waist and pulled my body against his. 
He trailed his nose against my neck.  Shivers raced down my spine, and I wanted to melt into him, but I held back. 

“Chloë, nothing about you is ordinary. I want to take you to that little café
you like so much, but I promised I wouldn’t push.  I know that place is pretty romantic.  We could go to the Chateau, but I don’t want you to think that I’m using you to make anyone jealous, because I know a lot of people from our old dorm hang out there.  Just tell me what you want, and I will give it to you.”

He was pulling me closer to his side of the line, small steps, but I was heading his way.
 

“I know you aren’t trying to get with any of those girls anymore.  You proved that to me when you didn’t hook up with any of them after Grey left,” I told him. 

His eyes cooled for a moment, and his body tensed.  Then he relaxed.  It was forced, but I appreciated the effort he was putting out for me. 

“I told you I was serious about you then, and I still am.
  I won’t screw up again, Chlo.  I want to take this slow this time, but I have one request that might sound contradictory,” Finn began.  I raised my eyebrow in question.  “I want us to promise each other that we won’t see other people,” he finished. 

I tapped my finger against my pursed lips, an odd habit I
had when I was thinking.  “You’re right. That does sound contradictory. 
But
I have, like, zero interest in seeing anyone else, and I’m very okay with you not seeing anyone else either.  So…uh…yep. I’m good with that,” I answered.

Finn exhaled forcefully, like he had been holding his breath for a long time.
  I looked into his electric-blue eyes and saw nervousness melt to relief. 

He squeezed my hand. 
“I could wait forever for you or take this as slow as you need as long as I know that you are here with me.  I just needed to know that you are as committed to giving us a chance as I am.” 

I smiled at him, a little bit of wickedness
playing across my lips.

I placed my hand on his left shoulder and
slowly it brushed across his chest to his right shoulder.  His eyes began to glow, and then they darkened to a deeper blue.  Hmm, it wasn’t only my eyes that changed. Good to know. 

“You could wait
forever, could you?” I taunted in a husky, low voice. 

“Ugh,” he grunted.
 

I laughed, taking in his tortured expression and tense muscles.
 

“You are a little evil,” he rasped.
 

“No
, baby.  I promise I’m very good, and I don’t want to wait forever.  Just a little bit longer,” I whispered.

“Get your sexy ass in the car before I toss you in the back seat and say the fuck with waiting,” Finn growled.
 

I licked my
lips and thought about taunting him a little more, but the flash of his eyes signaled the end of his self-control.  I scrambled into the passenger’s seat and buckled up. 

Finn waited in the same spot for a long moment.  He shook his head like he was clearing out an image and walked around the car
, chuckling.  “Good choice, but the other way could have been more fun.” 

“Oh, it will be.  Just not tonight,” I
promised. 

We decided to go the Chateau, considering how worked up we had already gotten each other before our first date had really gotten started.
He found a parking spot on the corner of the street where the restaurant’s bar entrance was located.  Before we reached the door, he reached down and grabbed my hand.  I looked up at him, searching for his motive. 

He gestured to the restaurant with his head. 
“We may know people in there, but I don’t want to think about anyone except for you.  I don’t want you to think if I reach to touch you that I’m putting on a show.  So we walk in like this, because you next to me is all I care about.”

I
didn’t know what I’d expected when we walked in the front door.  Maybe I’d thought Cynthia, my dorm nemesis, would jump out from behind one of the room partitions.  Blessedly, nothing happened.  Well, the hostess spent several minutes molesting Finn with her eyes before she greeted us, but I couldn’t really blame her there.  It was like a page had turned and the doom that had hung above us before had evaporated.

I slid into the booth, and Finn
slipped in right next to me.  He placed his hand on my leg, just above my knee.  He didn’t move it though. He was trying to slow us down.  I felt the heat burn through my jeans.  It would be so easy for us to combust.  Heat. Fire. Passion.  Everything I witnessed happening between Dean and Anita.  Everything I craved was here, and it was wrapped up in the man sitting next to me.  I swallowed hard.

I was playing with fire, and I might get burned, but a more comfortable warmth was spreading through me.
  The warmth that came with the gut feeling that this was it, he was
the one
, and he wouldn’t hurt me this time.  One small step, one little decision, and I could have forever with him.  I wouldn’t tell him yet, but I’d made up my mind.  Whatever he wanted, I would give him.  When the time was right, I would hand over my heart, my soul, and my forever.

Chapter 3

Uh…
Nice to Meet You?

Grey

I only had a carry-on bag, and a car service met me out front, so about forty-five minutes after landing in St. Louis, I pulled in front of Bridgett O’Connell’s house in Caseyville, Illinois.  I glanced at the clock and cringed.  It was after one in the morning, but I had to collect her and get back to the airport. 

The half-circle driveway had a couple of cars parked out of the way on the corner, and it was obvious that more than one residence took up this modest green home.
  I checked the e-mail I had been sent by Marguerite and realized that the second door on the porch was an apartment.  I knocked softly and was greeted by a rumpled, sleepy, blond elf.  She narrowed her blue eyes at me.

“I’m not inviting you in
, vampire,” Bridgett stated and began to close the door. 

“I don’t recall asking to enter. 
Call the
Council
for instructions.  I’ll wait right here,” I ordered. 

She left me standing on the porch while she padded back into her small efficiency apartment. 
I heard the tone of the numbers as she dialed the council’s information line.  I could have listened to her whispered conversation, but I already knew what she was going to be told.  Basically, ‘Grab a bag and move your ass. The witch hunters are after you.’

“What is your name?” she asked, reappearing in the doorway. 

“Grey,” I answered. 

I was done traveling and bored with this mission.  This girl was a brat, and I knew that she was going to cause trouble for my coven mates.
  I wasn’t pleased at being trapped in a coven with Chloë, but that was because I was in love with her.  I would protect all four of them, even Finn.  That was the nature of a coven, and this girl was going to bring trouble.  I felt it in my bones.  She might come between Chloë and Finn, but I didn’t want Chloë by default.

“Grab some clothes and leave a note with your landlady.  I don’t want anyone searching for you.  We have to hurry to make the takeoff or we will be strand
ed until sundown tomorrow night,” I said to hurry her. 

“Where are we going?” she asked. 

“We’ll discuss that once we are airborne,” I answered. 

“Well what kind of clothes will I need?” she asked as if I were dense.
 

“Same as here,” I answered, purposefully vague.

Carlos was right; she was beautiful.  Bridgett was tall, about five foot nine.  Her platinum hair fell in a straight sheet to the middle of her back.  She was thin while still having a feminine appeal.  Her eyes were the most mesmerizing feature she possessed.  They were an unnatural shade of blue, and they set off the paleness of her hair. 

It was possible that her beauty would turn Finn’s head, and if it did
, he didn’t deserve Chloë.  However, having had the pleasure of Chloë’s attention, I found it hard to believe that even Finn was that stupid.  I was biased, certainly, but no one compared to Chloë’s beauty.  She was Bridgett’s opposite, with her nearly black, wavy hair, and her smooth, tan skin.  Chloë’s eyes were a deep brown that had flecks of dark green that flared to a brilliant emerald when she used her magic. 

Where Bridgett was reed thin, Chloë had a perfectly curved
, athletic build.  Bridgett was everything women thought men wanted, but Chloë was a male fantasy brought to life.  If Finn chased after Bridgett instead of pursuing Chloë, he was the dumbest man on the planet.  I guessed I would get to find out in a few hours. 

Dean

“Hold your horses!” I shouted to the incessant banging on the front door.  I might pound the shit out of whoever was on the other side of that door.  Not only was it seven in the morning, but I had to unwrap myself from Anita.  We had pushed our limits last night after she’d agreed to marry me.  We definitely needed to speed up having that ceremony because I didn’t want to spend another night without her.

“Dammit
, Dean!  Move your ass.  I need some coffee!” a familiar voice shouted. 

“Cooper?” I asked, confused.
 

“Who else would drag you out of bed at the butt
crack of dawn and demand service?” Cooper asked. 

“Every member of our family, and every single one of my friends
,” I responded. 

“Well then
, hurry! You should be used to this kind of treatment by now!” he shouted. 

I finally found a shirt that
had somehow landed on top of my desk lamp and slipped into my jeans.  I ran down the stairs and tossed open the front door. 

“Nice digs
, cuz,” Cooper greeted, pounding me on the back. 

“Thanks
. It’s Chloë’s.  What brings you here so early?  I thought you were in…hmm… I guess I really didn’t know where you were,” I thought aloud. 

“I just got here from Oregon.  I have some refugees for you guys.  Come on
. Help me with their bags,” he said, and I followed him out to his beat-up Ford truck.

Next to his truck stood the most freakishly identical twins I
had ever seen.  They were even shorter than Anita, and at only five feet two, Anita was tiny.  They were probably five feet even.  They both had thick, shoulder-length chocolate-brown hair that was stick straight. 

Cooper tilted his head toward the girls.  “This is Leah and Josephine Broken Feather.  They are the guardians of the Oregon coastal tribes
,” he introduced. 

“Just call me Jo,” the twin on the left said. 

I rubbed my hand through my hair.  “I’m not sure I’ll be able to tell you apart,” I admitted. 

“You’ll get used to us,” the one
who had to be Leah said. 

“I’ll take your word for that,” I replied.

Cooper and I each grabbed a suitcase, and I led the way to the living room.  The twins were obviously shifters of some kind.  That must have been why Cooper had been sent to collect them.  I had heard rumors of supes—supernaturals—being displaced, but I wasn’t sure why it was happening. 

I took a deep breath
. Something about this screamed impending doom.  This visit was definitely not a pleasant surprise.  Anita had only recently stopped trying to gnaw on Chloë.  The injury she’d suffered and the subsequent bloodlust had been difficult for Anita to overcome.  Anita was unique in the world, and I wasn’t sure how she would feel having females of my kind hanging around.

I heard feet shuffling down the stairs, and
I looked up to see Chloë heading for the coffee maker.  Halfway to the kitchen, she turned around, her head snapped up, and for a split second, her eyes blazed green.  She sensed the magic.  “Dean?”

“Apparently we have refugees,” I muttered. 
If she was this concerned by their presence, Anita was going to be distressed. 

“Shifters?” she asked me. 

“Yeah,” I responded and rubbed the back of my neck.  “You don’t think she’s going to be mad, do you?” I asked nervously. 

“Mad
? Mmm…no.  Concerned, hell yeah,” Chloë considered, cocking her head to the side. 

“That is what I was afraid of,” I mumbled.

“Who is going to be worried?” asked one of the twins—Leah, I thought. 

“My fiancée,” I answered without thinking. 

“Your what?” Chloë sputtered. 

I cringed.
“Shit. She probably wanted to tell you that herself.” 

Chloë
hopped and then launched herself into my arms, hugging me tight.  I patted her back and laughed.  “I’m so happy for both of you,” she said.  Her voice was muffled with her face pressed into my chest.

“Go wake up your own man if you need to cuddle,” Anita teased from the top of the stairs. 
Anita appeared next to us in a fraction of a second.  “He spilled the beans, didn’t he?” she asked Chloë. 

Chloë opened one arm and pulled Anita into our hug. 
“This is awesome!” she gushed. 

I smirked. 
This was great. I had both of my girls in my arms, the love of my life and my best friend. 

“Hey, you’ve got
a hold of your girl. Give me mine,” Finn said from the bottom of the stairs. 

“Go ahead and tell him,” Anita whispered. 

My smirk broadened to a full smile. “Anita and I are getting married.” 

“About time
,” Finn responded.  He grabbed Chloë from my embrace and buried his head in her soft, dark waves.  “Mmm, now this is a good morning,” he said in a thick voice. 

“Eh ehm
.” Cooper cleared his throat. 

Anita and Finn finally glanced into the living room, and both of their eyes changed colors like Chloë’s had.
  Finn recognized that there wasn’t a threat, and his eyes dimmed.  Anita’s continued to glow like a feral animal.  A low hiss started in her throat, and her grip on me tightened.  Well, hell.

                            Anita

I narrowed my eyes and felt my fangs scratching at my gums.  There were twins sizing up my man.  Their scent gave them away as shifters.  Dean started rubbing my back, trying to soothe me.

“Your fiancée is a vampire?” one of the twins asked in disgust.
 

“Kind of,” Dean answered lovingly. 

“You can’t be only
kind of
a vampire,” the same girl said. 

The corner of Dean’s lips curved up.  “My girl is special.” 

The twin snorted in disgust.

“Do you have a problem with me?” I asked pointedly.
 

The girl jutted her pointy chin in the air
.  “No offense or anything, but shifters should only mate with each other, especially a strong shifter like Dean.  He has a duty to his race,” she preached. 

My fangs fully emerged at her suggestion that Dean “mate” with someone else.  I slipped into a half crouch and began to slowly stalk toward her.
  I could sense Dean preparing to pounce on me, probably thinking that I was out of control.  Seriously, you try and drink your best friend’s blood a small handful of times and everyone treats you like a loose cannon.  I didn’t want to bite her though. Just frighten her—a lot.

Her sister grabbed her elbow and demanded her attention.  “Jo,” she huffed in a frustrated tone.
  She turned toward me.  “I’m sorry for my sister’s attitude.  Life is too long for us to spend it miserable.  My sister seems to forget that we need your help.  I’m Leah by the way.” 

I straightened up and gave Leah a smile.
  “I’m Anita,” I greeted and extended my hand.  “It’s, uh…nice to meet you,” I finished lamely.  I liked Leah, mostly because she wasn’t checking out my man.  She just seemed uncomfortable and a little sad.

“I think I heard someone say that you are refugees.  What are you fleeing from?” Chloë asked.
 

“The Inquisition,” Leah responded seriously. 

“Really?  Like witch hunts and burning at the stake?” I asked skeptically. 

Cooper, Leah and Jo nodded in response. 

Cooper looked at each of us, studying our faces.  “Didn’t the
Council
call and talk to you about any of this?”  Our blank faces answered that question for him.  He tugged at his thick, brown hair.  “The
Watchers
are collecting young supes that aren’t protected by a coven and placing them all over where they can be protected.  Grey should be here sometime this afternoon with another straggler.  I was supposed to bring you the Broken Feather triplets, but the
Auto-da-fé
arrived in Oregon before I did.”

I glanced at the twins and saw the anguished expression that crossed their faces.
 

“They caught our brother and burned him alive,” Jo said in a grief stricken voice. 

I softened toward her a bit.  She may very well be a bitch, but I would forgive her this once. After all, it seemed she had been through hell. 

“You probably want to unpack and rest. 
I’m sorry to hear about your brother.  We have a guest apartment over our shop behind the house.  It is three bedrooms, which should work out for the two of you and whoever Grey is bringing,” Chloë said, handing Cooper a set of keys.

“Ok
ay, twinkies. I’ll show you to your new digs,” Cooper said, grabbing their bags. 

Dean astutely made no move to help him get them settled.  Without missing a beat
, Finn stepped forward and helped Cooper move the twins into the apartment.  I could forgive, but I wasn’t going to leave Jo alone with my guy.  I was understanding, not a pushover.

Finn

Cooper said that Grey was bringing another “refugee” with him.  I really wasn’t looking forward to seeing that guy.  I at least hoped he would be away until I had managed to make Chloë fall for me again.  Plus, I had a bad feeling about the girl he was bringing with him.  I knew she was going to be an elf, because how else could Grey screw with me?  I wasn't looking forward to this upcoming confrontation, especially after the near catfight between Anita and the shifter.