Enraptured (28 page)

“Ian, when she goes back…”

“That’s
not
going to happen.” He kept
his tone light, but Paige’s heartbeat picked up a little.

Ethan inhaled a ragged breath; realization
sank in with Ian’s words. If anyone understood what he was going
through it was Ethan and Isabelle. “What is it?” Isabelle demanded
anxiously.

“I see,” Ethan said quietly. “I’ll be there
tomorrow. Keep yourself safe.”

“We’ll see you then.” Ian hung up the phone
and set it on the scratched bureau.

“Is everything ok?” Paige inquired.

He walked over and rested his hands on her
hips. “They’re fine,” he assured her. “My family worries, a
lot.”

She gave him a wan smile, but her gaze
darted nervously toward his phone. “That’s really sweet.”

He pulled her against his chest and rested
her head there. Her wet hair cooled the skin of his chest. “You’ll
never be alone again.” He brushed the hair back from her face,
cupped her chin, and lifted her face so he could kiss her. The
sweatshirt she’d been holding fell down before her, she melted into
his embrace as he pulled her more firmly against him. “I’m never
going to let you go.”

A shiver ran down her spine. He’d said it
before, but a part of her had still believed that once he finally
managed to screw her, he’d be moving onto his next piece of ass. It
would have broken her heart, but it had been broken many times
before and she’d survived. To hear him say it again, after
everything that had transpired between them last night, eased a
weight from her shoulders she hadn’t realized was there.

He lifted her up and put her on the bed. She
forgot all about everything else when his body came down on top of
hers.

***

Paige placed her bag of clothes on the seat
of the booth and slid in. The waitress who had been flirting with
Ian the other night arrived at her side. “What can I get ya to
drink, hon?” she inquired.

“A glass of water,” Paige replied.

Paige glanced out the window and grabbed the
menu. Ian still stood there, leaning inside the hood of the pickup
as he pulled the oil stick from the engine. She admired his
physique as he moved and the power of his body. The rumble of her
stomach drew her attention back to the menu in her hand. She’d
grabbed a bagel when they’d stopped in earlier, but she’d been more
eager to find some new clothes than to really think about food.

The waitress reappeared with her water and
placed it on the table. “Ready to order?”

“Yes. I’ll take a cheeseburger, French
fries, an order of chicken tenders and a side salad with ranch
dressing.”

The woman jotted down her order before
walking away. Paige turned back around to see Ian still fiddling
with something on the engine. She couldn’t help but admire the firm
curve of his ass in his new, form-fitting blue jeans. She licked
her lips before he turned and enthusiastically waved at her.
Everything about him radiated happiness, he enjoyed life; he made
her
enjoy life in a way she hadn’t before. He made her love
in a way she never had, and loving made her vulnerable. Love had
never brought her anything but sorrow and loss.

Her heart swelled with her love for him at
the same time her insides shriveled with terror. There was still so
much between them, her mortality and his lack thereof. Her father
was still out there, somewhere. Her hatred of vampires had been
absolute before meeting Ian, but she wasn’t above admitting she’d
been wrong. She hadn’t been wrong about her father. He was a
monster who had to be put down.

Ian slammed the hood on the truck closed,
wiped his hands on the rag he’d been using and tossed it into the
bed of the truck. He jogged up the steps of the diner and entered
the cool, dimly lit building. The sight of Paige in the booth with
her head bowed brought a smile to his face. She looked up at him as
he approached; her face lit up, her eyes sparkled. The joy on her
face tugged at his heart and brought an answering smile to his
mouth.

His eyebrows rose at the numerous plates
spread out before her and the already empty salad bowl. “Are you
expecting company?”

She chuckled and shook her head. “I’m
looking forward to eating all of this, but maybe you should pick at
something so I don’t look like a complete pig.”

“Oh no, I’m going to enjoy watching you
devour it. In fact, I’ve got twenty that says you can’t make it
through everything.”

“You’re on,” she said.

He placed an order for a strawberry
milkshake with the waitress when she reappeared. “Are you still ok
with what happened last night?” he asked as she pushed aside her
empty cheeseburger and fries plate.

She glanced up at him with a chicken finger
in hand. An uneasy feeling churned in her stomach, but before she
could speak the waitress returned with his shake. Paige waited for
her to leave before she spoke again, “Yes, are you?”

He grinned at her as he pulled on the straw
in his shake. “I’m so ok with it that I can’t wait to do it again
as soon as we get back to the room.”

“You may have to wait.” He frowned at her
comment. “I imagine it’s much like swimming, wait an hour after
eating.”

A burst of laughter escaped him; his eyes
twinkled as he lifted his shake and sat back in his seat. “I
thought it was a half an hour?”

“This is a lot of food.”

“It is. All right, I’ll give you an
hour.”

“And then?”

“And then I’m going to help you burn off all
of those calories.”

“It’s a deal,” she told him. “Do you think
my father is still around?”

“He’s not within ten miles of us as far as I
can tell,” Ian replied. “But no, I think when I managed to kill
three of his cohorts, he decided to get as far from here as he
possibly could. Do I think he’s probably trying to recoup his
losses before coming at us again? Yes, but I plan to kill him
before that happens.”

It took all she had to force down a part of
her chicken tender. He could be so loving and joyful one minute,
and the next he was completely merciless. She was glad she’d never
be on the receiving end of his wrath. She doubted many would be
capable of surviving it.

She popped the last of her chicken tenders
into her mouth. Hoping to bring his smile back, she held her hand
out to him, “You owe me twenty dollars.”

The saucy smile she gave him was impossible
to resist. Digging into his pocket, he pulled out his wallet and
handed her a twenty. His hand lingered in hers when she took the
twenty from him. “I’m going to give you so much more than
that.”

“I’m betting on it,” she told him with a
wink.

The loud rap on the door caused Ian to crack an eye
open the next morning. He glanced at the clock by the bed, nine
thirty. He was normally up much earlier, but he and Paige had only
fallen asleep a few hours ago, and he’d planned to spend most of
the day in bed, only leaving it to get her something to eat. His
family had had other plans, judging by some of the smells on the
other side of the door. He’d known they’d planned on coming today,
but he’d been hoping it wouldn’t be until later,
much
later.

Another loud knock on the door caused Paige
to stir beside him. Her brow furrowed; her eyes fluttered open and
landed on him. A smile curved her lips, but the next loud knock
caused her smile to vanish, and she bolted upright in bed. “He’s
here!”

Ian sat up beside her when he realized the
conclusion her mind had jumped to. “No.” He rested his hands on her
shoulders, drawing her eyes to him. “It’s my family, it’s not your
father.”

Her mouth parted, she inhaled sharply. “Are
you sure?”

“Yes. I’ve lived with them long enough to be
able to recognize their aromas, believe me, some of them stink.” He
nudged her chin playfully and felt the tension easing out of her
body as she tugged the sheets up against her chest. She glanced
nervously down at the sheets pressed against her and then at him.
“I’ll get rid of them. Stay here.”

“Ian!” Ethan barked from the other side and
knocked urgently on the door again.

“I heard you!” he shouted back. Grabbing a
pair of his jeans from the floor, he tugged them on as he crossed
the room to the door. Ethan’s troubled emerald eyes met his when he
cracked the door open. “Some people like to sleep.” Ethan refrained
from a wise ass retort as his eyes darted past him. Ian lifted his
arm and used his body to block the interior of the room. “Give me
an hour.”

Ethan stepped closer to him. “Brian is with
us; he’s brought a friend.”

Ian’s gaze shot past Ethan, but he didn’t
see anyone else out there. “Who?”

“His name is Ronan.” Something about Ethan’s
tone brought Ian’s attention back to him. Defensiveness rippled
over his skin; his fangs prickled. “He’s like us Ian, but he’s
older, much older.”

“Like us how?” he demanded.

“A born vampire.”

Ian’s nostrils flared. “Do I have to be
concerned about her safety around him?”

“I don’t think so. I only wanted to prepare
you for him. He’s powerful.”

“I’ll be ready for him. Meet me back here in
an hour?”

Ethan nodded and turned away. Emma stepped
out from the shadows of the room next door to join Ethan on the
walkway. Ian caught a glimpse of David by the motel lobby talking
with someone he couldn’t see, before he closed the door. The color
had faded from Paige’s face when he turned to face her.

“Is everything going to be ok?” she
asked.

“Yes, it will.”

“Your brother sounded worried.”

He forced a smile as he ran his fingers
through his disheveled hair. “Ethan has always been that way. He’s
not as bad as Issy, but they take their roles as older siblings far
too seriously sometimes.” Walking over, he sat on the bed beside
her and took hold of her hand. “It will be fine.
No
one is
ever going to hurt you again.”

“What of you?”

He laughed and leaned over to kiss her
cheek. The notion of pushing her back on the bed crossed his mind.
They had an hour, it would help to calm her, and he certainly
couldn’t get enough of her, but he would require much more than an
hour if they got started again now. Reluctantly, he sat back.
“Nothing will happen to me. Now, you’d better get dressed before I
have to tell my brother to come back tomorrow.”

The small chuckle she released warmed him.
She leaned into him and kissed his cheek before climbing from the
bed and heading into the bathroom.

***

The already cramped room became much smaller
with all of the large men crammed into it. She’d already met or at
least seen David, Ethan and Emma, but the other three men in the
room she’d never encountered before. One of them had been
introduced to her as Ian’s younger brother, Aiden. Aiden looked
more like Ethan with his raven colored hair and eyes the color of
oak leaves, but she could see the resemblance between the three of
them. He was leaner than Ian and Ethan, with a whipcord build and
an easy smile he bestowed upon her when they were introduced.

Brian stepped forward and shook her hand.
His icy blue eyes held hers as he flashed her a smile. A strand of
platinum colored hair curled at the corner of one of his eyes.
“Another human, will your family never learn?” he drawled.

“Don’t be an ass, Brian, and let her go,”
Ian warned but truthfully Brian didn’t bother him overly much. He
could be a jackass, and his background was questionable, but Ian
tolerated him better than Ethan and Stefan did. Stefan and Brian
had once been good friends, but they’d had a falling out before any
of them had ever known Stefan. That didn’t mean he liked the man
touching Paige; he didn’t like
any
one else touching her.

Brian released her hand and took a step
back. Paige couldn’t help but smile at Brian and Aiden’s easy charm
and striking good looks. However, she found her eyes repeatedly
drawn toward the taciturn man standing in the corner. There was no
way to avoid his presence. She may be the only mortal in the room,
but he stood out amongst the vampires too.

At six foot he was the shortest of the men;
his presence made him feel like the largest. Her skin rippled from
the force of the power emanating from him. Her heart fluttered as
his reddish brown eyes met and held hers over the top of his roman
nose. She’d never seen eyes quite that color before; they were such
a complete combination of red and brown they appeared to be eyes
the color of a doe’s one-second, and the color of blood, the
next.

Paige forced herself not to shudder, but she
couldn’t stop herself from rubbing her hands up and down her arms
as those eyes surveyed her. “And this is Ronan,” Brian said as he
turned away and gestured toward the man. “He’s the “leader” of our
kind.” With his fingers, Brian created air quotes around the word,
leader.

Ian had never heard of a leader amongst
their kind. If there was one though, he had no doubt it was the man
standing across from him. He knew power; he’d seen what had become
of Ethan in Bermuda. He’d felt it in himself with those vampires at
the cabin. There had been more power within him that he could have
tapped, if it had become necessary to win that fight. Even delving
into those realms that changed the color of his skin and brought
something far more lethal forth, would not be enough to bring down
the man across from him.

Ronan stepped forward and extended his hand.
His dark brown hair flashed in the dim lights of the motel room as
it swayed around his broad shoulders. Paige glanced nervously at
Ian when he took hold of Ronan’s hand. She was afraid the “leader”
may snap his arm in half; he looked completely capable of doing so,
and she’d bet he’d done it more than a time or two in his life.

Then those eyes swung toward her. Despite
her best intentions to keep it from happening, her heart began to
beat faster, and her throat went dry. “And you are the one who
isn’t a hunter, but one of their human allies?”