Jude Stephens (22 page)

“
I love you.” As I said the words
a vibration began in our entwined hands. We looked at each other
with wonder. Then the moment was broken when my stomach
growled.

Alex jumped out of bed and began getting dressed
“Let’s go get my woman some food.”

We went downstairs to a restaurant in the hotel
called Kachin which Alex explained to me was an ancient city in
Myanamar.

When we walked in I spotted Mark and Cheve at a
table with none other than the beautiful Myaing.

“
Damn,” Alex said as he spotted
her.

“
Don’t worry Handsome. I really
don’t care if she’s here or not. I’m not threatened by her.” And I
wasn’t. For the first time in my life I felt secure in my abilities
and in my man.

“
Hi guys, can we join
you?”

Cheve and Mark both stood and Myaing gave me a dirty
look. Alex and I sat down and immediately Myaing put her hand on
Alex’s chest and leaned into him.

I gave the little tart a steely look and said, “Take
your hand off of my mate and stop acting like a tart. How old are
you anyway? Did no one ever teach you any self respect?”

Everyone at the table stilled. I didn’t care if they
all thought I was rude or not.

Cheve was the first to say something, “You mated
with a fucking vampire Wren?”

Alex’s face registered shock.
Myaing on the other hand looked as if she was going to spit nails.
At me.

“
Alex, close your mouth. Are we or
aren’t we mated?”

Alex said, with no small amount of reluctance,
“Well, not exactly. We are bonded. Being bonded is like a marriage
ceremony. You say the words and exchange blood and you are tied
together always.”

I was confused “What is mating then?”

No one spoke. I began to get angry when Myaing said,
“You are too stupid for my Alex. What do you think ‘mated’ means?
It means you fuck until you breed. Geez, she really isn’t very
bright Alex.”

“
Shut the hell up, Myaing!” Alex
said.

I stood there and thought about
it. Okay now I could see the difference between being bonded and
mated. Hell no, I guess we weren’t mated. I started to let everyone
know I was not really mated to Alex when realization struck. I
remembered Janel telling me about the meeting with Annika. Annika
had said tell the Sensay to stay away from my
mate
and my brother. Roberto and
Annika had a child.

Chapter 22

I thought I would be much more upset about it than I
was. It angered me that Roberto slept with me when he had the
equivalent of a wife and child, but the hurt that I thought I would
feel just wasn’t there. My eyes met Alex’s and I could read the
relief on his face.

I shrugged “Bonded or mated it makes no difference.
The point is Myaing, Alex and I are together so get over it.”

Myaing pouted and said to Alex, “Do you really
prefer this mousy girl compared to me?”

I saw Alex look at Myaing, who even I had to admit
was breathtaking, with her straight long black hair and exotic
green eyes. Not to mention a body that was nothing short of
voluptuous.

Alex replied, “There is no comparison, Wren is my
heart. There is no other for me.”

Cheve made a rather rude sound. I
on the other hand felt like crying. His words made my heart skip a
beat. I really wanted to drag him back to our room and make love to
him the rest of the night but there was work to be done.

After ordering some dinner, I turned to Myaing “Do
you know Janel Atwood?”

“
Unfortunately I do. She’s a
bitch!” Myaing spat.

I laughed. “That’s her. Do you know where she
is?”

“
Probably where she is every
night, at the clinic,” she answered.

“
What clinic?”

“
There’s a
clinic on the other side of the island that
treats The Evolved. Janel volunteers there. She
usually stumbles back here about 10 a.m.”

“
Thanks, Myaing.”

Myaing said rather nastily, “Actually I think she
only volunteers there because the doctor is hot. She’s probably
doing him.”

I looked at Alex, “You actually slept with this
thing?”

Alex shrugged while Myaing stood up fast and
said,

“
How dare you! I should tear you
to shreds.”

“
You can try.”

Cheve chuckled and said, “Now things are getting
interesting. Cat fight. Literally.”

Alex sighed “Myaing, Wren is a Sensay.”

Myaing took a step back. I could tell she was
reassessing me. She took some deep breaths and then a shocked look
came over her face. “I apologize. I didn’t know. Alex, it was nice
seeing you again. Please excuse me.” She turned to leave but swung
around. “Please don’t tell my Father of my disrespect.”

With that she high tailed it out of there. “Well,
that was interesting.”

Cheve asked, “Who is her Father?”

Alex answered, “Her father owns this hotel and
several others around the world. He caters to The Evolved.”

“
Is he an Evolved?” I
asked.

“
Yeah, as is Myaing. They are
Chinthes.”

“
And that is?” I probed

“
A creature evolved from the
feline family. Many centuries ago they guarded temples. They are
very good with protecting people or things, thus why they run
hotels for The Evolved. Who more needs protecting than
us?”

I thought about what he said. It seems The Evolved
were very good at using their abilities to their advantage. Already
I was learning about this secret world in which I was unexpectedly
thrust into. It was all so fascinating, but right now I really had
to concentrate on finding Roberto, keeping everyone alive and
getting a hold of Janel.

Our food arrived, and while we ate, we made our
plans. Alex would have to go to sleep soon, so Mark and Cheve and I
would wait up for a little while to see if Janel showed up. I had a
feeling that Janel is where I should start.

After dinner, I walked Alex back up to the room. I
intended to only stop in to grab a light jacket, but as soon as we
entered the room Alex pulled me into his arms.

“
Alex, I have to get back
downstairs. I want to take

Bullet for a walk and the guys are waiting.” I
gasped as he began kissing my neck. His tongue darted out and
swirled around my ear. My knees felt weak. It took every ounce of
willpower I possessed to break away from his embrace.

He leaned his long body against the door. He was in
his usual attire of blue jeans and crisp white shirt with the
sleeves rolled up displaying his muscular forearms with a
smattering of blond hair, something that for some reason drove me
wild. His large hands hung by his sides. Hands that I knew were
capable of soft caresses and mind blowing orgasms.

Looking at him, I forgot how to breathe. The hunger
in his eyes was fierce. He pushed himself away from the door and
sauntered towards me. When he reached me, he took my chin between
his thumb and forefinger and tilted my head up so he could softly
bush his lips across mine and then said, “Go Baby, before I change
my mind and drag you to bed.”

I ran towards the door, but not before he added,
“Tonight I will not only drag you to bed, but I may just tie you to
it.” At my gasp, he just chuckled.

I hurried downstairs trying really hard not to
picture what Alex had said.

When I met the guys in the lobby I heard Cheve say
“See? You owe me twenty bucks!”

Mark pulled a twenty out of his wallet and handed it
to Cheve.

“
What is that all
about?”

Cheve laughed. “Mark and I made a wager as to how
long you would take to tuck the fucking vampire in.”

I felt my face flame “Is that what you do in your
spare time? Try and embarrass me?”

Mark and Cheve both looked abashed. As I walked
toward the entrance I smiled. That would get them. Let them think
they had hurt my feelings. I called to Bullet to follow and went
out into the coming dawn.

Just as we exited a car screeched to a stop in front
of us. I heard the click of a gun being cocked and immediately
ducked. I pushed Bullet with all of my strength so he wouldn’t get
hit.

I heard a bullet whiz by just to my right so I knew
I only had a second to decide which direction to roll. Figuring
they would compensate by aiming more to the left, I rolled toward
the right and heard more bullets fly a few hairbreadths from my
body.

I also heard Mark and Cheve come storming through
the doors. Mark was impressive as he came out with his gun drawn
and was firing back with a deadly calm. Cheve in the meantime had
thrown himself on top of me. Bullet had come back to crouch in
front of me. The car took off with tires screeching and Cheve
rolled off of me and pulled me up.

“
Are you okay? Did you get hit?”
he said as he looked me over.

“
No. I…” I began when I heard Alex
say my name from the doorway. I turned and he was standing there in
just his jeans. The look on his face was one of pure fear. I ran
over to him and wrapped my arms around him. He was
shaking.

“
It’s okay Alex. I’m all right.
They didn’t hurt me.”

Alex took my head in his hands, “I heard the shots.
I ran down here as fast as I could. God Baby…all I saw was Cheve
lying on top of you. I didn’t know if you were hurt or not.”

“
I’m okay, Sweetheart. Look. No
wounds, not even a scratch.”

Alex looked like he was beginning to feel the
affects of the topor. “Alex, I’m okay but you’re not. Let’s get you
back up to the room.”

He held on to me as we rode the elevator. I wasn’t
too sure if it was because of his forced death sleep that was
creeping up on him or the fact that I had almost gotten shot. When
we went into the room Alex lay down on the bed, and as I tucked him
in he grabbed my hand, “Please be careful. Sometimes I hate what I
am. I should be able to be with you, to be a help to you, and
instead you are tucking me into bed like I’m a baby.”

My heart broke at his disgust with himself. “Listen,
Alex. You are what you are. Just as I am what I am. Neither of us
asked for this, but here we are. Besides, I love all of you. Man
and vampire together. I can’t imagine living my life without ever
experiencing you biting me.”

Alex smiled. “It’s all about the sex with you isn’t
it? You just love me for my very big and sexy fangs don’t you?”

I laughed. “Yep…that’s it. Now you
know my dirty little secret. I got a fang fetish. Mmmm maybe later
you’ll let me play with them.”

The smile faded from Alex’s face replaced by a look
of pure lust and then he was out, as his death sleep overtook him.
A knock sounded on the door. I opened it to find an angry Mark and
Cheve standing there.

Cheve looked over at Alex and saw
that he was out “Wren, I don’t like this. I say we pack our bags
get Bullet, leave the fucking vampire and high tail it out of
here.”

I gave him the best dirty look that I could muster.
“First of all, stop calling him the fucking vampire. I have
feelings for Alex and we are together, so you better get used to
him. Second, we are not leaving until we find Roberto.”

Cheve rolled his eyes, but said, “Okay, but this
better happen fast. I don’t like you having to be out in the open
here. You’re like a walking bull’s-eye.”

Before I could answer another knock sounded on the
door. Mark drew his gun and Cheve stood deadly still ready to
strike if necessary.

“
Oh for goodness sakes look
through the peephole,” I said as I went to the door and did just
that. I let out a squeal of delight as I threw the door open and
pulled Janel into the room. “Finally. I’ve been waiting all night
for you. Myaing said you were working at the clinic. You have to
tell me all about it.”

“
Whoa. Slow down. How much coffee
have you had?” Janel eyed me suspiciously.

“
Not that much,” I said
defensively. I hugged her hard.

“
It’s so good to see
you.”

Hugging me back she said, “You too…hey! What the
hell?”

Taking a step back and looking me over she said,
“What have you been doing? You look like Zena Warrior Sensay!”

I laughed. “It was all Cheve’s doing.” I said
nodding my head towards him.

Janel looked in his direction, “Holy Mother of
Pearl! What else have you been up to on that island of yours?”

As was Janel’s usual MO she started to make a
beeline for the sexy Cheve when she glanced at the bed and saw Alex
lying there. “Okay…Olivia, are you aware that there’s a vampire in
your bed?” Chuckling she asked, “You don’t have anything too kinky
going on here, do you? You always seemed too prissy to have a
threesome going but hey who am I to judge?” She turned and saw
Mark. “Okay now I know you wouldn’t do three at a time.”

“
Will you stop?” I said happy to
have her and her teasing up close and personal. I couldn’t help
hugging her once more “It’s so good to see you. It seems like a
life time ago since we left Buffalo doesn’t it?”

We were quiet for a moment both of us thinking about
how much our lives had changed in six months. Having met in college
and working at the same hospital back in Buffalo we had grown close
in the dozen years we’d known each other. How could we know that
out lives would change forever with one weekend trip to Atlantic
City?

“
Yeah, Buffalo was a lifetime ago,
but I’m not sorry how things turned out. I love learning about The
Evolved. The world is full of interesting people isn’t
it?”