Crimson Midnight (A New Adult Dark Urban Fantasy Series) (The Crimson Series Book 1) (20 page)

Brandon and Ossian were sat at a
table with cappuccinos and cinnamon buns. It was warm in The Whisper, nice and
cosy. The dim lighting created a mood of serenity for those that wanted to come
and relax in the afternoon.

Brandon had blabbed everything that
had happened– the infatuation with Raven, the sleeping with Raven, and the
being hurt by Raven. After he had told his story, the tears started again.  He
was beginning to feel like a leaky tap.

“God, I’m sorry,” Brandon said,
dabbing his eyes with a tissue. “I can’t help it. I just feel so…”

“You have every right to feel
hurt,” Ossian said. “If you want to cry then cry.”

“It’s not like we were even
together. Anyone would think I’d been dumped.”

“Well, it’s no different really. He
should have been honest with you from the start if fun was all it was going to
be.” Ossian’s eyes were mesmerising in their intensity.

“That’s the thing, he never made
out it was anything. It just happened and we were happy. Nothing was discussed
or anything like that. That’s why I feel so stupid. Maybe I should apologise
for-”

“What for? You do not have to
apologise for what you feel in your heart.”

Brandon was enveloped by an
intoxicating aroma. It smelled sweeter than the cinnamon buns, more edible than
the biggest and richest bar of chocolate. Everything suddenly felt better, like
lying on a warm golden beach with blue sky and crystal waters.  Tranquillity
coursed through him, tickling his senses and his body demanded more. Just as
the high feeling started making him feel a little dizzy, Ossian’s silken voice
snapped him back from his mini-trance.

“Would you like another
cappuccino?”

“DIE! DIE! DIE!”

“What the bleedin ‘ell are you
doing!” Flo barged into the sitting room and gasped at the tableau on the large
television.

Erin dropped his controller in
shock.

Flo reached for the TV remote and
switched it off.

“Aw, mum!” he whined. “I was
winning!”

“What game is that?” She ejected
the disc and read the title. “Halo what? Hang on, I don’t remember buyin’
this.”

“Jimmy lent it to me.” Erin bounced up and down on the sofa. “It’s wicked, mum. I get to wear this suit and I get
to shoot people!”

“You bleedin’ will not!” Flo pulled
herself up to her full height. “Right, I’ll be havin’ that and I’ll be havin’ a
word with Jimmy’s mum an’ all.”

“Aw, mum!”

“Don’t you aw, mum, me! Go get your
bag packed before I change me mind.”

Erin didn’t wait to be told twice,
he rushed from the room to pack his overnight bag.  He’d been begging his mum
to let him sleep over at Tom’s for ages and she’d finally caved.  He wasn’t
going to risk her changing her mind.

Rose inserted her key into the lock
and the door swung inwards, causing her to stumble forward as she was still
clutching the key.

“Sorry, luv. Gotta dash. Be back in
a bit.”  Flo huffed as she hoisted a backpack onto her shoulders.  Erin slipped around his mother and outside, heading for the taxi waiting on the street. 
“This bag is bleedin’ heavy!” she said as she plodded down the steps toward the
car. “You’ll only be gone a night.”

“I know, mum, but I had to take my
iPod and my PS3 and some games. Oh, and my torch.”

“Torch? Never mind, luv.” Flo
turned back to Rose who was looking a little confused.  “Just dropping Erin off for a sleepover,” she explained. “I’ve popped a casserole in the oven, should be
back before it’s done but if it beeps turn it off will you, luv?”

“Sure, no problem.” Rose waved her
off.

She couldn’t hide in her room
forever, any minute now someone would come looking for her and then she’d just
look like a coward.  No, she had to get out there.  Flo had already called her
twice. Dinner was being served.

She heard the thud of footsteps as they
approached her room. Leaping over the bed she swung the door open, making out
she had been on her way all along.  Roman stepped back, eyeing her cautiously

“I’m coming.” She winced at the
sharpness of her tone.

Roman turned on his heel and headed
back the way he had come.  Sighing, she followed him downstairs.

All eyes turned on her as she
entered.  Flo smiled warmly, indicating that she should take a seat.  She
obliged.  A plate of food was put in front of her and she wasted a few moments
pushing the meat around her plate with her fork.

This was ridiculous.  These were
the same men, nothing had really changed. So what if they were werewolves? Big
fucking deal!  She looked up, catching Raven’s eye who was regarding her with
concern.

“So have you sorted me out a mentor
yet?” she asked.  Raven’s face broke into a smile and the gathering seemed to
physically relax.

“Maxwell. You might have met him.
He’s a barman at The Whisper.” Raven said.

“The hunky one?”

Raven chuckled. “The hunky
warlock.”

She grinned. “Great.”

“I hope you don’t mind but I gave
him your number. He’ll be in touch over the next couple of days.”

“You can give my number to as many
hunky warlocks as you like, trust me, I don’t mind,” she teased. “But what
about registering and stuff?”

“Maxwell will take you.”

The table was silent once more, and
then Harold spoke. “So you’re a supernatural…a warlock?”

Rose shrugged. “So, you’re a
werewolf?”

He shot her a grin, which carried
more warmth in it than he had ever shown her before.  It seemed to say ‘you’re
cool, you’re one of us.’ She found herself responding.  She felt it then, that
ripple or awareness, of something more that moved beneath his skin.  She had
felt it the first time they had met.  Was it the wolf she was sensing? Another
aspect to her abilities?  Maybe his wolf was stronger than the others.

Or maybe his humanity was
thinner,
the annoying little voice whispered.

Whatever. She wasn’t going to let
the warm feeling of acceptance slip.  Her gaze fell across Roman and she
suddenly felt terrible.  She had treated him abysmally.  He had been there when
she had needed him and despite his obvious attraction to her he hadn’t tried it
on. She couldn’t punish him for a two-way attraction that was out of their
control. What she needed to do was try to get back to the sarcastic banter they
used to share. She wasn’t really great at the Ice Queen Façade anyway– she was
finding it kind of taxing.  “How’s Thistle?” She directed the question to him. 

He paused, a forkful of lamb half
way to his mouth. His eyes met hers, indicating that he had heard her question,
and then he pointedly continued eating.

There was a moment of awkward
silence.

“Roman, Rose asked you a
question.”  Raven said firmly.

“She did?” He looked up innocently.

“Yes, she did.”

“I must have missed it. What did
she say?”

Raven’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“She asked how Thistle was.”

“Oh, she’s okay. She’ll be over
later.” He continued eating.

Rose hid her smile. Well, she
guessed she deserved it.  He obviously didn’t want to talk to her direct. 
Instead of being peeved she found herself rising to the challenge.  She’d just
have to force him to acknowledge her.

Raven was studying them both over
his pint of water and Rose had the feeling he had quickly picked up on what was
going on. In fact, the others seemed to have too. She wondered if, as a pack,
they had some kind of emotive connection. Could they feel Roman’s frostiness
toward her? 

Only one way to find out.

“Roman’s a little pissed off at
me,” she said, cocking her head and staring directly at Roman across the
table. 

Roman’s hand faltered as he cut up
his meat, but he quickly regained his momentum.

“Tell me,” she directed the table
as a whole, “as a pack can you sense each other’s emotions? Is there some kind
of link?”

Damon was the first to reply. “I
guess you could call it that.  I mean, we can sense when one of us is unhappy
or upset or in trouble, basic shades of emotion, nothing complex like reading
minds.”

“And we can communicate
telepathically when we’re in wolf form,” Kris added.

“And we can always sense each
other, it can get a little claustrophobic sometimes but being alone is worse.”
Harold finished, looking slightly uncomfortable.

“So you can sense that Roman’s
pissed off at me?” she asked.

Roman pointedly continued with his
meal.

“Yeah!” Harold chuckled. “I don’t
know what you did, ‘cos until last night he had a right boner for you!”

Flo looked up shocked, her eyes
flicking from Rose to Roman, noting the flush high on her son’s cheek and the
lack of surprise on Rose’s.

“Zip it!” Roman glared at Harold.

Harold shrugged. “Sorry mate, but it’s
true. We all felt it.”  

Kris coughed, shifting in his seat
and avoiding Roman’s eye. 

Damon simply mouthed a “sorry”.

Roman stood up, pushing his plate
away. “I’ve had enough!” he stormed out of the room.

“Roman, luv?” Flo called after him
uncertainly.

Rose sighed. That hadn’t exactly
gone according to plan. “It’s all right, Flo. I think Roman and I need to talk.
Thanks for the dinner and thanks for making me feel so at home.” She smiled
warmly at the men sat at the table. “It’s good to know that I have some real
friends in this new world I’m stepping into, and I apologise in advance for
anything kooky or stupid I may do.”  She bit her lip, looking over her
shoulder. “And now I think it’s time to fix one of those stupid mistakes.”

Excusing herself she left the room.

She found him in the back garden
sitting on the wooden bench on the decking. 

“I’m sorry,” she said softly.

He didn’t respond.

“I shouldn’t have treated you that
way. I’m not sure why I did really. I guess I was just in shock or something.”
She lied through her teeth, hoping he wouldn’t pick up on it.  She couldn’t
exactly tell him the truth could she? That she fancied him like mad and that
being mean to him was the only way she could guarantee that she wouldn’t jump
his bones, that resisting him was proving harder and harder. 

She took a step toward him,
intending to sit down next to him but stepped back startled as he stood up
abruptly.

“Don’t bother, Rose.” His voice was
thick and tight with emotion. “I know exactly what you think of me. The playboy
slag that’s not good enough for you. You made that clear from the start. And
you know what? I could handle that, but last night I was there for you. I…I
can’t believe I…” He faltered as if unable to find the words.

Her heart twisted painfully at his
words, echoing his torment. She realised she couldn’t do it, she couldn’t hurt
him, couldn’t hide behind the excuses. The Roman that had waited up for her,
the Roman who had made her hot chocolate and listened to her worries was the
real Roman, the one under the playboy façade.  Roman had opened up to her,
something precious, something special and she had inadvertently rejected him.

His eyes glistened in the gloom,
face flushed with emotion. “It’s fun to banter with the human playboy but add
the going furry part and that’s a real turn off, right? I get it, it makes you
uncomfortable-”

Her lips were pressed against his
before she could tell herself it was a bad idea. She swallowed his words with a
kiss.  His mouth was warm and tasted of cinnamon and sugar. She found herself
wrapping her arms around him, burying her fingers in his soft hair as he pulled
her tighter against him, until her breasts were squashed against his hard chest,
groin to groin.  She opened up for him and the kiss deepened, until she
couldn’t think anymore. 

They finally broke apart, both
flushed, eyes sparkling, breath ragged and uneven.  They stared at each other
long and hard, Roman’s hands cupping her face gently, almost reverently.

“Oh, hello.”

Shit!  It was Thistle. Rose pulled
away guiltily.

Thistle’s eyes were wide as she
stared at them both, she looked visibly shaken.

“Thistle I-”

“I’ll see you inside.” Thistle
disappeared into the house.

Shit! Shit! Shit!

Rose finally found Thistle waiting
for her in her bedroom.  She slipped in and quietly closed the door.

Thistle was sitting on the edge of
the bed and gnawing at her bottom lip.  Rose paused, suddenly uncertain.  She
had never seen Thistle like this before.  Thistle had made it abundantly clear
that Roman was fair game but from her reaction downstairs she obviously hadn’t
meant it.  Or maybe she hadn’t expected Rose to act on it.  Rose felt
terrible.  Kissing Roman hadn’t been part of the plan. She had intended to mend
bridges, maybe get back to the comfortable banter of the last few weeks.  No.
Kissing him had definitely not been on the agenda.

“Thistle, I’m so sorry. I…I don’t
know what happened. I didn’t mean…I mean I wasn’t intending…”

Thistle was up in a flash and
hurtling toward Rose.

Shit, this is it
, Rose
thought.
I’m vampire bait!
And then she was enveloped in a tight hug.

“I’m so sorry, so, so sorry.” 
Thistle whispered. “I should have warned you, I didn’t expect this.”

Rose gently pushed her away,
holding her at arm’s length. “Okay, now I’m confused. Why are
you
sorry?”

Thistle sat back down heavily.  “I
know I said it was all right to go after Roman, and it is, we have a very open
relationship. But I couldn’t explain why. Well, not until now, not until you
knew what he was, but then I didn’t know you that well and now I do. I care
about you and I can’t bear for you to get hurt.”  She looked up at her
appealingly.

Rose rubbed her temples, she was so
confused. “I don’t understand.”