Fate (The Edge of Forever) (33 page)

“Thank you,” I whispered.

“You’re welcome.”

I stood on my toes, kissing his soft smile. I pulled back slightly, scanning his face then leaned in again. It was slow and tender but I tried to push as much feeling in that kiss as I could, wanting Grayson to know how much he truly meant to me and all the love I had for him, how I wanted to be with him and only him forever.

There was a hard knock at the door, interrupting our moment. Grayson groaned “Who the hell is that?” He stepped out of my embrace and headed toward the door. He opened it and a familiar scent slammed against my senses, hard.

“Hello. I’m looking for Gabriella. Is she here?” 

I sped to the door, pulling Grayson away. “Don’t invite her in.” I turned seeing my mother hovering on the other side of the threshold.

“Perhaps we could talk outside, Gabriella.” My mother gestured, then her eyes took in my appearance. “Maybe after you put on some more clothing.”

I ignored her. Turning to Grayson, I brought his attention back to me. “Baby, could you please go to the bedroom.”

He shook his head, not in a no but in a way that let me knew he wasn’t comfortable with what I was asking. “Gaby, I don’t want to leave you out here with her.”

I heard my mother huff, but I focused my attention on Grayson. I cupped his face with my palm. “She can’t come in and I’m not stepping foot out of this apartment. But she
can
compel you, so it would be safer for us both if you went to the bedroom. Please? You know I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”

He took a deep breath then let it out. Nodding, he turned, heading towards the room.
 

Once he was out of sight, I turned my attention back to my mother. Her eyes glared at my attire, which only consisted of a T-shirt and panties.

“So, it is true. You have given yourself to a human.”

I ignored her statement. “How did you find me?”

She smiled knowingly. “You are my child. I could find you in hell if I had to.”

“And Anton?” I still wasn’t sure how he found me.

Her smile faltered. “He just happened to be in the right place at the wrong time.”

That didn’t make sense to me. It felt like something was missing. “Did he tell you he exiled me?” I spoke through clenched teeth.

She nodded. “He did. He is very upset about the whole situation, Gabriella. He has agreed to forgive you if you come home now.” I shook my head. “Gabriella, be reasonable. This mortal, you cannot be with him.”

“I love him,” I breathed.

“You belong with your own kind.”

My temper rising. “He is my own kind. I love him and nothing you can do or say will change my mind. Goodnight mother.”

“Gabriella, he’s not...” the door slamming in her face cut off her words.

Grayson walked back into the room. “Well, that could have gone better.”

There was another knock at the door. I held my finger to Grayson and he turned back towards the room as I opened the door. “I am really through with this conversation mother…” My words trailed off when I noticed that the person who was standing on the other side wasn’t my mother. “Ava? What are you doing here?”

She smiled sinisterly. “Is this where your human, Grayson, lives?” she asked.

I gaped at her and then it all fell into place. I didn’t believe for a moment that Anton just happened to stumble on me and Grayson. Somehow, Ava must have known. “You…? You did this?”

She grinned more brilliantly. “I have been following you around for weeks Gabriella. You told me to do something if I wanted Anton and so I did. The easiest way for me to get my hands on him was to get you out of the picture.”

“I told you I didn’t want him!” I shouted.

“And I believe you, but he did not. Now he does. I have come to tell you that you are most welcome. You are now free of Anton and can be with your human lover. I must say, that was quite a shock. To know you would rather bed a human over a vampire master?” she chuckled, “What was your loss is now my gain. I appreciate the advice Gabriella. No hard feelings. Now I must return to claim my reward.”

I shook my head in disbelief. How had I not known Ava had been trailing me? “I’ve been exiled,” I spat. “Do you understand that? I can’t come home. I can’t see my mother.”

She turned to me, confused. “Did you really think you could have it both ways? I understand you were given the option several times this evening to return, and each time you refused. You could have come home,” she shrugged, “it just would have meant leaving behind your delicious human pet. Well done by the way. He is delectable.” She spun and headed toward the elevator. “Good day, Gabriella. Perhaps we could have been friends if you hadn’t had what I desired.” She looked over her shoulder just before she entered the elevator. “And exile does not look too bad on you. All those in exile should be so lucky.”

I stood there staring at the spot where Ava had disappeared onto the elevator until I felt the warm embrace of Grayson around me. He pulled me back and shut the door. I spun in his arms to face him.

The moment I saw him, my mind emptied itself off all thoughts but one. Lightning fast, I leaped into his arms, my lips immediately on his. Grayson staggered back a few steps before catching his balance.

“Make love to me Grayson. Make me forget this day.” I moaned against his mouth.

And he did. Slow and tender. He worshipped every inch of my body, before sliding into me. Even then, it was slow and unhurried. His hands glided over my skin. His mouth pressed against my neck and lips. I felt so cherished, so loved. And when we fell apart, our eyes locked watching the other shatter into a million pieces.

***

After the hectic Thursday we had, what with parents, vampires, and vampire parents, we decided to take Friday off to relax. I called Ralph that morning. He seemed fine with it. We weren’t expecting business to pick up until the following week or so. He was working on a bid for some big New York social wedding, but assured me that the real work wasn’t starting until Monday. Once I hung up with him, I called Shawn invited him over for lunch.
 

“Of course, baby girl. You wanna go out? Maybe I can invite Clive along if you don’t think it’s too weird, him eating with his boss’s boss.”

“Actually Shawn, I’m thinking no humans except Grayson since he’s in on the whole supernatural thing,” I said, hoping Shawn would leave it alone and not make me divulge over the phone.

“Oh shit! What happened?” I could hear the concern and curiosity in his voice.

I sighed heavily, “Not now. I’ll explain everything when you get here.”

Shawn arrived sooner than anticipated. I opened the door to see him standing there disheveled and completely out of breath.

“Tell me,” he panted.

I held the door open, gesturing for him to enter. He walked in, and plopped himself on the sofa. Grayson walked into the room, pulling a shirt over his head. I stared for a moment, his body still affected me. Shaking my head clear of my lustful thoughts, I turned my attention back to Shawn, who was becoming impatient for answers.

“We’ve been outed.”

Shawn looked confused for a moment. “Well yeah? After the opening, all of Manhattan knows you two are a thing now.”

I bit my lip. “Your statement couldn’t be more accurate.” I locked eyes on Grayson as memories of yesterday’s vampires flooded back to me.

Shawn’s eyes shot back and forth between Grayson and me. “Am I missing something?”

“A big something,” I mumbled. Taking a deep breath, I continued. “Everyone knows Shawn, including… the vampires.”

Shawn’s eyes widened. He blinked slowly like he was trying to process what I said. “Oh...Shit...!” He drug out. “How?”

I looked at Grayson and blushed. “Um... Anton sorta…caught us together.” I fidgeted through the whole statement.

He looked to Grayson, since I wasn’t making eye contact. “When she says caught...”

“She means caught in a way only suitable for the bedroom.”

Shawn wrinkled his nose at the mention of my sex life. “I know I’m going to regret this,” he mumbled to himself, “but how?”

I looked at Grayson, begging him with my eyes to answer. “Uh... We were out and we were being exhibitionist…”

“Oh God! Nevermind!” Shawn cut in. I couldn’t help but find amusement in his discomfort.
 Shawn’s brown gaze shot to me. “Oh shit! Anton, crazy master vampire, caught you two, while you were...” He gestured with his hands, finally understanding.

I nodded. “Pretty much. We weren’t exactly in the act, just stuff leading up to it.”

Shawn held up his hands. “Eww… TMI.” We all had a small laugh together. Then the room turned serious. “So now Anton wants to kill Grayson?” Shawn asked.

Again, I nodded. “He already tried, but I stopped him.”

“Really?” He couldn’t hide his surprise. “Check it out, badass Gaby taking on a four hundred year old vamp and living to tell about it.”

“Yeah,” I shook my head, still not believing it. There was no way a half breed should have been able to do it. “I’m not even sure how I did it. There’s no way that I should have been able to do what I did. I knocked him clear across the room. Even a full vampire shouldn’t be able to pull it off, unless they were older than him.”

Shawn shrugged, “Maybe it was an adrenaline rush. Like those human mothers that lift cars off their kids?”

“I dunno. Maybe. I guess. And…uh…that’s not all,” I stammered. Shawn eyed me suspiciously. “Apparently, Ava was the one who led Anton to us. She’s been following me around for weeks now, gathering information and waiting for the perfect time to strike.”

“Well she couldn’t have picked a better opportunity than yesterday,” Grayson mumbled. He was right, of course. The only better opportunity would have been Anton finding Grayson buried inside me. I doubted she knew what we were doing when she alerted Anton to my whereabouts. I think with my absence for our date and Anton’s fury because of it, Ava saw it as her perfect opportunity, knowing I would most likely be with Grayson since she had been doing her recon.

Shawn slapped his hands on his knees as he stood. “Well, okay. So the first priority is keeping him,” he pointed to Grayson, “safe.” Shawn turned to face Grayson, “I’m sorry buddy, but you’re going to have to be on lockdown after dark.” Shawn turned back to me. “He’ll also need some bodyguards if he has anything planned at night, but it should only be done if nothing else is available. I know some Weres that can shift at will that would be good for the job. Four should be able to at least put the hurt on a master vamp, if not take him out.”

I nodded. “I’m sorry Grayson, but he’s right. If you can arrange it for during the day, you need to.”

Grayson sighed deeply. “Gaby, I know you’re both trying to figure this out, but I’m not going to hide away from the night the rest of my life.”

I shook my head before he even finished. “And I’m not asking you to. I’m just asking for you to do it for the time being. I need you safe. And I’m sorry to say this, but you can’t protect yourself against Anton.”

“And you can?” he said snidely.

“Well, she did kinda prove it already,” Shawn murmured. I elbowed him in the stomach. He let out a hard grunt.

“I’m going on lock down right along with you. I’m not asking anything of you that I won’t be doing myself. We need to be cautious.”

Grayson agreed even though I knew he wasn’t happy about it.

“Alright Gabs, one really, big, important, detail,” I turned to Shawn as he spoke. “Blood.”

Crap! I don’t know how I could let that slip my mind. It seemed lately, the more I played human with Grayson, the more I was forgetting about my vampire nature. It seemed to not be an issue as much or I had been subconsciously ignoring it. Regardless, it was going to be a huge issue now.

“You can’t feed from Grayson all the time and even if I pitched in... We wouldn’t reproduce blood fast enough to keep you sated. You need what, about a pint a day?”

I shook my head. “I can get by on half, but you’re still right. It would be too long for you both to recoup and the idea of hunting down New Yorkers isn’t very appealing.”

We all sat in silence thinking over things. What to do for me and how I was going to survive without the nest. Then it came to me. I wasn’t sure it would work, but it was the best we had.

“Sunday the blood bank makes its weekly delivery. I doubt they would have remembered to change it.”

Shawn quirked a single eyebrow at me. “You want to rob a nest of hungry vampires of blood?”

“Not all of it,” I rolled my eyes, “Just enough for me. I’m sure with a little bit of effort I can make my own arrangements for blood with the bank after that. I just need something for the immediate future.”

Chapter 17

The Break In

Grayson agreed with Shawn that I shouldn’t go in alone. The likelihood of a vampire being up past sunrise was almost absurd, but I agreed not wanting to be isolated from them both. We had lunch together, talking over the plans for Sunday. After Shawn left, I curled up next to Grayson on the couch, burrowing myself into him like a kitten.