Darkest Risings (10 page)

“I
must go now.”

“I
hope to see you later,” Wilhemina called as she left.

Marilena
didn’t answer because tears were threatening to choke her. Things were moving
too fast, and she’d tried everything in her power to stop the prophecy. She was
finally beginning to consider that Ragnor might have been telling her the truth
the whole time. He was as helpless to stop the inevitable as she.

* * * *

Ashe
frowned. He had a gnawing, bad feeling in his gut, and his instincts were
rarely wrong. His mother was hiding something, but what could Marilena possibly
have to tell them that would be all that horrible?

“Hey.”

Small
hands came around him from behind, and he sighed. He turned and wrapped Ebony
in a tight hug. His beautiful
viata amant
,
the one he’d almost been stupid enough to lose, could soothe him with a mere
glance of her green eyes. She had saved his soul from hell. She’d saved him. He
bent and kissed her softly.

“Hey,”
he whispered.

“What’s
wrong?” Her brows turned down.

She’d
only been a vampire for a short time, and he was amazed at how quickly she’d
adapted, learned to use her heightened senses, and embraced what she now was.
She was amazing in every way. She was the very air he breathed. The memory of
almost losing her flashed through his mind. It still had the power to nearly
cripple him when he thought of it. If he lost her? He closed his eyes quickly
to clear his head. He couldn’t contemplate going down that road.

“I
don’t know. Mom is here and she wants to talk to me and my brothers tonight.”

“And
you are stressed out about this why?”

“You
know me too well.” He smiled down at her.

She
reached up and cupped his cheek. “I will never know you well enough. Nothing
will ever be enough with you,” she whispered.

Heat
shot through his body and straight to his cock.

“I’m
sure it’s nothing. Besides…” He shrugged. “I have more important things to do
at the moment than worry about what my mother wants to talk to me about.”

“Such
as?” she asked.

He
scooped her up into his arms and turned toward the stairs that led to their
bedroom.

“Such
as making love to the most beautiful woman in the world.” He kissed her, not
missing a step as he started up the staircase with his prize.

“Mmm.
Since you are the most gorgeous man in the world, I’ll take you up on that
offer.”

“I
will always love you.” He groaned and kissed her again.

“And
I will always love you, Ashe.”

* * * *

Aldin
kicked the heavy bag again and sand flew across the room, pelting the
wall-length mirrors. He grunted in satisfaction. He’d gone through three bags
last night after dinner, and now he’d claimed a fourth. Unfortunately, no
matter how hard he’d pushed his body to exhaustion, he couldn’t get Wilhemina
out of his head. He finally quit denying that he wanted her, but that didn’t
change the fact that she was not for him.

She
was innocent, sweet, naive, and he…was not. He’d end up appalling her in the
bedroom. She’d only gotten a taste of his dominant nature at Drake’s. Once she
had a glimpse of the real him, she’d run screaming in the opposite direction.
He punched the split bag and put another tear through the thick leather.

“Wow.”

He
spun with his fists instinctively up in protection mode. Wilhemina stood in the
doorway of the gym with an open mouth. How in the hell had she snuck up on him?
No one had ever done that. Ever.
Because
you were too busy being a whiny bitch in your own head to hear her.

“Fuck,”
he muttered as he lowered his hands.

“I
didn’t mean to startle you. I was taking a break from writing and decided to look
around a bit. Ebony said it was okay.”

“Of
course.” He turned and reached for the bag he’d just demolished.

They
kept several filled bags in the back since it wasn’t an uncommon practice for
any one of them to work their frustration out in the gym. Being vampires with
above human strength—way above—it wasn’t uncommon for the equipment to get
destroyed. He lifted the bag off the chain it hung from as if it weighed
nothing and started for the back room to get a new one.

He
realized his mistake when she gasped. Son of a bitch. He was used to only other
vampires being in the house and not having to be careful about showing his
advanced
traits. He doubted many men
could lift a filled heavy bag—especially not the special order, extra thick,
four hundred pounders they had—and was positive none of them could carry it
around like it was a mere sack of groceries. While Wilhemina may not be the
punching bag type, she wasn’t dumb. She had to have some idea that the bags
were heavy.

He
decided the best method was to shrug it off and act as if it were nothing. Best
defense when a human saw something they shouldn’t? Don’t give indication that
anything out of the ordinary happened, and they will begin to doubt what they
saw or make excuses for it. Besides, maybe she was simply impressed by his
muscles.
Egotistical much?
He stomped
down the urge to snort.

Maybe
it was more a wish that she found his muscles impressive.
Stop it. It’s not going to happen.
When he came back with the new
bag, he was surprised that Wilhemina was still there. She was now circling the
boxing ring.

“Want
to go a couple rounds?” She smiled shyly at him and put her small fists up.

He
wanted to go a couple rounds all right, but not in the boxing ring. When he
leveled his gaze on her, she giggled nervously.

“Just
kidding,” she murmured. “I’m sure the outcome wouldn’t be good for me.”

It
would be a lot better than she thought because he wouldn’t lay a hand on her.
Not one in anger anyway. Although, she was still probably right about the
outcome not being good for her if he did get his hands on her…and fingers, and
mouth, and—
stop it!

“Stop
what?” She jumped.

Her
presence had rattled him to the point that he hadn’t realized he’d spoken out
loud. Although, he could have sworn he’d only been arguing with himself inside
his own head.

“Nothing.”
He gave the newly hung heavy bag a quick test jab. Satisfied, he bent to pick
up the towel he’d tossed on the floor beside it to wipe some of the sweat off
from his intense workout.

He
glanced at her again and his blood heated. She had on a dark brown,
form-fitting knit top that hugged her breasts in a way that made him envious of
the fabric. He had to clench his fists to calm the tingle of need in his
fingertips. Her dark pants fit snug around the indentation of her waist before
flaring out and clinging to the fullness of her hips. His mouth went dry and
his cock twitched at the memory of the luscious body that lay under those
clothes.

“Aldin,
I, um, wanted to apologize for the other night at the club.”

Her
cheeks turned bright red, and he found the fact that she still blushed
endearing. And why the hell was she apologizing? He’d mauled her, and she was
saying sorry? “What the hell do you have to apologize for?”

“I—I
didn’t mean to lead you on,” she said with indignation burning in her eyes.

“Yeah,
you should be sorry for that.”

Tears
pooled in her eyes, and he fought back a groan.

“Don’t
worry. I won’t bother you again.” She turned and ran from the gym.

Son
of a bitch. He hadn’t meant to insult her, had only meant that she shouldn’t
have pulled the seductress act on any man. As bad as it had turned out for her
with him, it could have been much worse. Most of the predators that hung out at
Drake’s wouldn’t have walked away from what she’d been offering even after
discovering her innocence.

* * * *

Wilhemina
swiped at the tears as she hurried down the long hall toward the stairs. Damn
this place for being so huge. She wanted to get to her room and shut the world
out for awhile.

When
she’d walked in on Aldin in the gym, she’d nearly passed out from the sudden
whoosh of air that had left her lungs. The only piece of clothing he’d been
wearing other than his shoes had been a pair of black sweatpants that hung low
on his lean hips. The light sheen of sweat covering him had enhanced every
muscle on his gorgeous body. Mr. Sexy hadn’t quite covered his description
accurately. He was more a God’s-gift-to-women type.

He
was huge. Broad shoulders. Broad chest. Thick arms, and a damn six-pack carved
from granite. The man was seriously cut, and she’d been speechless when she’d
found him half-naked in the gym. His presence was commanding even from across
the room, and she’d practically drooled on her shoes before he’d noticed her
watching him. She seemed to almost drool on her shoes a lot lately. She could
hardly believe he’d been the one she’d given her virginity to, hardly believed
he found her attractive enough to take it.

But
when she’d tried to apologize to him, he’d made it perfectly clear that it had
been a huge mistake on his part. Nothing hurt worse than finding out the first
man you slept with hadn’t really wanted you. She was a grown woman. She had
purpose in life without a man, but she had at least hoped the first man she’d
been with wouldn’t regret having sex with her.

She
was almost to the steps when strong arms came around her, spun her, and pinned
her against the wall. She looked up into Aldin’s turbulent turquoise eyes and
gasped. If eyes were capable of storming, that’s exactly how she’d describe his
at this very moment. As if to validate her description, a low rumble of thunder
rolled through the house.

“What
are you doing?”

“Why
are you crying?” His voice was quiet. Angry.

“I
know I deceived you at Drake’s, but I wanted to apologize and move on. I wanted
to put it behind us since I’m staying here. You could have accepted my apology.
You didn’t have to be rude and hurtful and make sure I was aware that you
didn’t want me.”

“Didn’t
want you?”

She
nodded. “I get it. You’re gorgeous, and I’m not—”

“Don’t
say it. I meant what I said. You are beautiful. And if I didn’t want you, I
wouldn’t have—” He blew out a long breath. “I meant that you shouldn’t have
been playing the seductive siren. You have no idea what kind of men frequent
Drake’s. Most of them are not gentlemen and would not care about your
innocence. You deserved better than a quick rutting in the back room of a
club.”

His
body was pressed against her, and his hands splayed on each side of her head.
His chest was level with her eyes, and she had a sudden urge to lean forward
and lick his nipple. His nostrils flared, and she looked up into his dark face.
Did he somehow know what she was thinking? No. Impossible.

“I
don’t regret picking you, Aldin. No matter how it happened or where. I don’t
regret it being you. You may wish it didn’t happen, but it was one of the best
experiences of my life.”

He
bent closer to her, their lips only an inch apart. “I wanted you, Wilhemina. I
don’t regret being with you either. I only regret the circumstances. You
deserved better than I gave you.”

His
closeness was making her legs go weak. She wanted to climb up him, kiss him,
rub against his wonderfully hard body.

“Stop.”
His low voice jerked her from her trance.

“Stop
what?”

“Stop
looking at me like that!”

Her
eyes skimmed his body when he backed off a couple of inches and noticed that
another particular part of him had gone hard. She licked her lips and met his
eyes once again. Another rumble of thunder rolled through the house, and she
threw caution to the wind. She stood on tiptoe, wound her arms around his neck,
and pulled him down to her waiting lips. She touched her mouth to his, and an
instant later, he groaned and kissed her deep and hard.

She
thought he should have smelled bad from being all sweaty from his work out, but
his scent was delicious and sent her senses reeling. His tongue stroked deep
then grew demanding. She moaned and arched into him, rubbing her body against
his in invitation. His hand came down and covered her breast, and when he
pinched her nipple through her top, she gasped at the pleasure that shot
straight through her and centered in her core.

He
cursed under his breath and spun her around. Her nose nearly touched the wall,
and Aldin’s huge frame pressed against her, crowded her from behind. She pushed
back into him and he growled.

“Stop.”
His low command instantly stilled her.

“Why?”
she choked out.

“This
is why you deserve better. You don’t know me,” he whispered against her ear.
“I’m not sweet and gentle. I don’t tenderly make love to women. I like to be
dominant and rough in the bedroom.”