Darkest Risings (30 page)

The
rest of the hunters were positioned in various places around the parameter of
the warehouse. The air was heavy and wreaked of the impending shit storm
blowing their way. According to the prophecy, the uprising would not be quelled
until he and his brothers came into their true blood powers. The possibility of
them coming into those powers became bleaker by the minute.

If
Wilhemina wouldn’t accept him as her
viata
amant
, if Lindsey wouldn’t accept Uriah as hers, they had no hope. Ragnor
had insisted that Uriah and Aldin tell Lindsey and Wilhemina of the possible
consequences their refusal to embrace their mates might bring, but Aldin and
Uriah both balked at swaying either of them with such dire circumstances.
However, the oppressing nature of the outcome if they lost the battle was now
making Aldin rethink telling Wilhimina.

Yet
if she accepted him only because of the uprising, could he live with knowing
he’d played a part in forcing her hand in the matter? His soul screamed yes,
but his heart screamed no. He wanted her to choose him because she wanted to,
because she loved him, not because she felt she had no other choice.

“
Aldin!”

He
scanned the area quickly when Ashe’s voice slid through his mind. Nothing
seemed amiss or out of place. “
Something
wrong?”

“Yes! Get your fucking emotions
under control. They are swamping me down here.”

Son
of a bitch. If Ashe could feel his turmoil over Wilhemina, the rest of the
hunters would be able to. Which meant Trinidad may very well detect their
presence.

“
I lost focus for a minute. It won’t happen again.”

How
embarrassing. He and his brothers had been on countless stake-outs together and
he’d never lost focus. Not once.

“Damn it, brother. Nothing is set to
go down here for hours. Go take care of your ‘problem’ and get back here. We
need your full attention tonight. I won’t risk your life or that of the others
because of your distraction.”

“I’m fine.”

“I’ve been where you are, brother.
Trust me when I say you are not fine. The same kind of distraction over Ebony
nearly cost me my life. Go settle things with Wilhemina and come back. We can’t
do this without you, but we need you focused.”

He
remembered the night a couple years back when Ashe had nearly bled out from an
injury suffered by a drifter. He and Ebony had been having problems and it had
nearly cost Ashe his life. Fortunately, Ebony had still been human and had
freely given her blood to save him.

While
irritated that he’d been caught with his pants around his ankles, he couldn’t
deny that Ashe was right. He wouldn’t want to go into battle with a distracted
hunter either.

“
I’ll be back in two hours.”

“Take three for God’s sake.”
Uriah’s annoyed voice pinged through his mind.

He
took a deep breath and shimmered back to his room. “
Wilhemina! Where are you?”

Since
he had no intention of letting anyone but Wilhemina know he was at the mansion,
he called to her using
minti conversatie
.

“I’m
right here.”

He
spun to find her sprawled on his bed. Instant need shot through his veins, and
he ached to cover her body with his own and slide deep into her silky soft
wetness. The dark blue color of her blouse enhanced the fiery red color of her
hair and showed the perfection of her creamy skin. He slid his gaze lower to
see the long, black skirt that had ridden high on one leg, exposing the curve
of her lower thigh.

“What
are you doing here?”

“I
came looking for you. I guess I fell asleep waiting. I’m sorry for invading
your private space, but I didn’t know where else I might find you.”

He
walked to the bed and sat beside her, not missing the way desire flared in her
eyes as she watched his approach. His cock twitched in anticipation, but he had
things to say before they could make love.

“Honey,
you can come to my room any time you like. You don’t need an invitation.
Besides, I was looking for you as well.”

She
scooted to the edge of the mattress and sat next to him. He smiled when her
feet dangled off the side. His reached the floor with room to spare. She was
tiny, and that made his need to protect her even stronger if that were
possible. She was delicate and could be hurt easily. Humans were fragile, and
even though vampires could die, it would take a lot more to get rid of him than
it would her. He needed her to understand that he couldn’t lose her.

It
was time to lay it all on the line. It was time to tell her that he loved her,
that he wanted her to accept him for what and who he was, that one day he
wanted her to be like him so he didn’t have to worry as much about her
fragility and vulnerability. Though he doubted the day would come that he’d
stop worrying about her. He wanted to spend forever with her, and he was sure
that the term forever meant something completely different to him than it did
to her.

Whatever
she decided, whatever happened, he was resolved to have a clear mind when he
returned to the fight. He only hoped that clear mind came with the relief that
Wilhemina was his.

Wilhemina
couldn’t help but notice the aura of lethalness that clung to Aldin. She wasn’t
afraid of him, but the air of danger that swirled about him was particularly
daunting. Yet it somehow added to his sex appeal. She inwardly rolled her eyes.
How many women had she chastised for going for the “bad boy” type? She eyed him
again.

His
black leather pants, black t-shirt, black duster, and black boots, plus the
fact that he was a vampire, knocked him right out of the “bad boy” category and
firmly ensconced him into the deadly, hands-off, sexy-as-hell,
don’t-fuck-with-me man category. He’d been intimidating at Drake’s the first
night she’d met him, but had he been giving off the dark vibes emanating from
him now? She would have probably run out of the bar screaming when he’d
approached her. Maybe. Probably. Not.

If
there was one thing she was sure of where he was concerned? He would never harm
her. She didn’t get the impression any of those wicked vibes were directed
toward her, but something was wrong. She could feel it, could practically cut
the tension around him with a knife. His full lips were set in a thin line, and
his big frame was taut.

He
said he’d been looking for her. That had been a surprise since he’d avoided her
for the past two days. Maybe he’d changed his mind about wanting to be with
her.

“You
were looking for me?”

He
nodded.

“Why?”

He
stared at her for what seemed like ages before grunting and pinching the bridge
of his nose. “We need to finish our talk.”

She
nodded this time. “We do, but we can do it some other time if you have
something else to do.”

“No.
We can’t do it some other time. I need to talk to you, and I’m fairly certain
you won’t like most of what I have to say. I didn’t want to tell you before
because I don’t want you to feel pressured into making a decision you aren’t
ready to make.”

“Okay.”
A knot of dread began growing in her stomach.

“I
know you are aware of the prophecy.”

She
nodded.
          

“It’s
complicated. The one thing we know for certain is that the only chance we have
of winning is if Ragnor performs the ritual to bring us into our true blood
powers. Without the ritual? It doesn’t look good.”

“How
come everyone is putting such faith in Ragnor? Couldn’t he be mistaken?”

“Since
he is the King of Vampyre, I don’t think so.”

“King
of vampires? Seriously?” This was starting to sound like a bad movie.

“Seriously.
As in the first vampyre—v-a-m-p-y-r-e—to exist.”

“Why
with a ‘y’?”

“It’s
an old term that has evolved over the years. Most vampires as well as humans
use the--v-a-m-p-i-r-e--spelling today. Although the King of Vampyre is a term
referring to one specific individual so it would be disrespectful to rename him
for evolution’s sake.”

“So that
makes him your father in a weird sort of way, I guess?”

 
“In a weird sort of way, yes, but in a
biological sort of way as well.” Aldin chuckled.

“Good
God,” she muttered. “How old are you?” she asked quietly.

“Older
than dirt, honey.” He grimaced.

“Seriously.
Tell me.”

“Closing
in on the seven hundred mark.”

“I’m
going to save that to process later because I don’t think I can wrap my mind
around that at the moment.”

Suddenly,
the conversation with Marilena after she’d been reunited with Lindsey, and the
one she’d overheard in the hallway before Aldin and Uriah had gotten into a
fist fight—before she’d been knocked cuckoo—came rushing back to her. “Holy
shit,” she murmured.

“What’s
wrong?” Aldin frowned.

That
was when her stomach completely dropped out. She placed a shaky hand over her
tummy to try to quiet the butterflies, but they weren’t listening. She stood in
hopes of calming them.

“Are
you okay, Wilhemina?”

“Yes.
But you’ve never explained to me about these drifters that are involved in this
uprising against you.”

Aldin
pinched the bridge of his nose again before sighing.

“Shadowdrifters—we
call them drifters—were once vampires,” he started.

She
listened as he spun an unbelievable tale about souls being traded to Satan in
exchange for the eradication of feelings of joy, kindness, and happiness. While
she doubted her ability to ever fully understand why anyone would do such a
thing, the realization of the danger that was facing Aldin and his family—hell,
for all of them for that matter—suddenly sank in. Terror slid through her veins
like acid, and she fought hard to keep from hyperventilating.

If
drifters didn’t sound terrible enough, the horror of what Trinidad was capable
of doing—was trying to do—could send a grown man sobbing into a dark corner.
How had Aldin and his brothers fought these vile things for so many years and
come out unscathed? The butterflies dancing in her stomach turned to a black
swarm of wasps.

“The
blood the other night on your floor?”

He
nodded.

“That
wasn’t from a nose bleed was it?”

“No.”

“And
you get hurt like that often?”

“We’ve
all been hurt, Wilhemina. It comes with the territory.”

She
barely made her way to the couch before sliding down onto the cool leather.

He
followed and immediately sat beside her before pulling her against him. “Are
you okay?”

“Yes.
It just dawned on me the direness of the situation. I’m your life mate and
Lindsey is Uriah’s. Unless we both accept you as such, none of you will be able
to come into your powers. Those horrible things might win, and we will all be
doomed.” Ignoring the shakiness in her legs, she stood once again and began to
pace. “I worked as a journalist, for crying out loud. My job is to put two and
two together and come up with twenty. This time, I had all of the facts right
under my nose and didn’t bother to see them for what they were. Good thing I
gave up that job. I guess I wasn’t good at it after all.”

Aldin
went to her and stopped her now frantic pacing by drawing her against his
chest. “You’ve had a lot to deal with the past few days. It’s understandable.
With adjusting to your sister’s sudden return, the existence of vampires, and
what was happening between us? You were preoccupied. Besides, you didn’t
understand what drifters are or what they are capable of doing until now.”

She looked
up at him. “Did you come to force me to be with you so you can come into your
powers?” She suddenly pushed away from him. “Please tell me Uriah is not going
to try to force my sister to be with him? Could you do that?” Fear built inside
her, churning the bile in her stomach. What if right now Uriah was forcing
Lindsey to accept him as her life mate against her will? Fear turned to
full-out panic, and her heart raced frantically.

“Hey.”
He pulled her to him again. “No one is forcing anyone to do anything. That’s
not how it works.”

“You
could, though, couldn’t you?”

He
looked down at her and shrugged. “I’m not going to lie to you. Technically, I
guess I could compel you to accept me, but I’m not sure if that would work.
While I’ve tasted you twice, you only gave me permission one of those times. We
would not become mated until the third bite with a blood exchange. Unless you
agree to be turned, it cannot happen. I honestly do not know if I compelled you
to give me permission if the change would take or not.”

While
that knowledge didn’t completely alleviate her fears, it helped some. “And you
don’t think Uriah will try compel Lindsey to accept him?”