Tegan's Power (The Ultimate Power Series #4) (23 page)

Ethan’s face grows
angry. “He blew up my club! Of course I’m not in control.”

My gut instinct is to
get away from him when he’s like this, but I don’t do that. Instead, I stay and
keep touching him.

“A club is a club.
There are many more clubs in the world. It’s inconsequential. Theodore is
obviously running out of ideas, and resorting to using bombs when he has so
much magic is the act of a desperate man. Surely you can see that, right?”

The anger in Ethan’s
features dissolves. “Yes, I see that.” His strong hands slide along my neck.
“You are wise beyond your years, my love.”

“No I’m not. It’s just
easier for me to see clearly because anger isn’t clouding my vision.”

Ethan moves me so that
my back is pressed flat against the tiles and his arms are penning me in. Drops
of water trickle down his perfect torso, distracting me from the conversation.

His eyes are watching
me with intensity. “Your friends could have died tonight if I had chosen
incorrectly. You should be just as angry as I am.”

“Yeah, maybe I should.
I guess I’m just sick of being so full of emotion all the time. I want to not
feel anything for a while.”

I trail a finger down
his wet abs, lingering just above his pubic bone. “And speaking of that, how
could you not tell which heartbeats were human and which were vampires?”

His face becomes an
indiscernible mask. “Theodore had spelled them silent. There might as well have
been ten dummies presented to me, for I could not hear a thing.”

“Oh. Well, I’m glad you
guessed right. And I’m glad Lucas jumped in front of the bullet for Amanda.”

“He owed her that,” he
whispers, his eyes now focused on my chest and my rapidly hardening nipples.

“Yeah, he did,” I
whisper back right before he picks me up and pulls my legs around his waist. I’m
perfectly situated for him to slide his cock right inside me, and when he does
I cry out loudly at the exquisite invasion. He shuts off the water and carries
me to the bedroom, still inside of me. When we reach the bed he puts me down
carefully, moving in and out torturously slow.

Then he rises to his
knees and uses his nail to cut a line down his wrist. I’m too lost in the sex
to tell him no, and when he holds it over my lips and a single drop trickles
out, I can’t help but to lick it up with my tongue. Even that one drop fills my
body with a maddening sense of pleasure. I feel my scrapes and cuts healing
already.

Ethan presses his wrist
to my mouth now, his hips moving quicker, and I latch on to the open wound. I
moan as the first full gulp hits my system, but that’s all I allow myself to
take. I can sense him becoming frenzied with lust when I drink from him, and I
know that this process does just as much for him as it does for me.

I lick the blood away from
his skin and then pull him down for a kiss.

When he comes inside of
me he whispers endless declarations of love and I fall asleep wrapped in his
arms, covered in blood and sweat. I wake up in the middle of the night, which
is something I don’t normally do, but I find myself abnormally starving.

Sneaking downstairs, I
prepare myself a gigantic grilled cheese sandwich, devouring it almost as soon
as it comes off the Breville sandwich maker and burning my tongue in the
process. Rummaging through Ethan’s cupboard, I find an array of fancy
ingredients, so I begin experimenting. I make grilled cheese with truffle oil,
grilled cheese with cured bacon, grilled cheese with ham and apple, grilled
cheese with pesto and tomato, eating them all ravenously. I’ve never been
hungrier in my life, and I figure it has something to do with the blood I drank
maybe?

By the time I’m finally
full I find myself sprawled out on the couch in the living room, too stuffed to
make it back upstairs. Alvie is the first one up in the morning and he laughs
when he finds me half asleep on the expensive sofa, which probably cost more
than I used to pay for rent in a year.

“Did you and lover boy
have a tiff or something? What are you doing down here?” he asks in bemusement,
tying the belt on his black silk kimono.

“I got hungry in the
middle of the night, ate too much and fell asleep. Don’t tell anyone, it’s
embarrassing.”

Alvie continues to
chuckle as he goes to the kitchen to make coffee. I sit up and a strange
feeling comes over me. It’s like I’m exhausted and full of energy all at once.
Well, that’s what I get for stuffing my face like such a pig last night.

My stomach lets out an
audible gurgle and then queasiness takes over. Oh no, I’m going to vomit. I
race up the stairs to the bathroom and slam the door shut. Seconds later I’m
crouched over the toilet bowl, heaving every scrap of those grilled cheese
sandwiches back up.

At least thirty minutes
later my stomach has finally calmed down and I splash water over my face to
cool off. I think I might have a temperature. Or maybe I’m just hung over? I
mean, I did drink an awful lot at Ethan’s party, and it doesn’t matter how
expensive the alcohol is, it all feels the same the next morning.

There’s a knock on the
door followed by Ethan asking, “Tegan, are you alright in there? I heard you
throwing up.”

“I’m fine. Just really
hung over.”

There’s a smile in his
voice now. “Ah, well, I’ll make you up a good cure, shall I?”

“Depends on what it is.”

“Raw eggs and milk,” he
answers and I groan.

“Jesus, are you trying
to make me sick again?”

The door opens and he
scoops me up into his arms. “Come, my darling, get some rest and you’ll be
right as rain.”

“What I don’t get is
how your blood hasn’t healed up all my ailments. I think I might be developing
a resistance,” I whine.

“One does not develop a
resistance to vampire blood, especially not mine. Besides, you didn’t drink
that much.”

A minute after Ethan
has tucked me in bed, Delilah comes strolling into the room without knocking.

“Brother, I was
wondering if I could have a word with you…” she begins but trails off when her
eyes lock on me. She stands there stiffly and simply…gapes at me.

“Of course, what is it
you want to speak about?” Ethan looks at her curiously.

“Oh, what? Never mind,”
she says and hurries to my side. “Oh, God, Tegan! Oh, shit!” she mutters as she
runs her hand over my sweaty face before turning back to Ethan.

“How could you be so
foolish?” she hisses.

“Delilah, don’t take
that tone with me. Now, what has you so riled up?”

“I thought your senses
had been bettered not dulled, brother. Are you so blind that you can’t see?
Look at her, see how she sweats, see how her skin is tinted with a blush, how
she practically glows all over?” Her hand moves from my face to my chest where
it rests just above my heart. “Hear how two hearts beat instead of one?” she
whispers.

My head is thumping
with an ache, so I don’t immediately get what she’s talking about, but Ethan does,
and he smiles the biggest smile I’ve ever seen.

“What’s wrong with me?”
I ask just wanting her to get to the point.

Ethan answers for her.
“You’re pregnant,” he beams.

Okay, it’s a good thing
I’m already lying down, because now I feel like I might faint.

All my Blind Ambition
Left me Deaf with Perfect Vision

Finn

“Please tell me you’re joking,” I say,
rubbing my tired eyes and staring at Delilah like she’s got two heads.

She carefully spoons a
lump of sugar into her teacup, Ira sitting beside her. Gabriel and Alvie are on
my side of the table, both wearing identical expressions of shock.

“I know a dhamphir
pregnancy when I see one, and Tegan’s showing all the signs. The two of them
have been shagging like bunnies anyway, so this is the obvious outcome.
Although I had thought my brother would be a little more careful. He knows how
dangerous it is for a human to become pregnant with a vampire’s child.”

“But Tegan’s not entirely
human,” Gabriel interjects. “Perhaps that will help, give her a better chance
of surviving the birth.”

“Here’s hoping that’s
true,” Delilah replies and I can’t take it any longer, I have to broach the
subject nobody wants to bring up.

“Has she considered
aborting it?” I ask in a low voice and Alvie lets out a gasp. Delilah stares at
me like I just spit in her face.

“No, she
hasn’t…considered that. But it doesn’t matter anyway. An abortion poses the
same amount of danger as childbirth in this particular case.” She lowers her
voice. “And a word of warning, don’t go around saying anything like that in
front of my brother. Children are, um, a touchy subject for him.”

“Ethan has had a number
of children in the past,” Gabriel explains and I’m surprised he knows this.
“All of them died.”

“Oh,” I mutter and look
away. It’s kind of disconcerting when you discover the people you’ve labelled
as shallow actually have depth. Cristescu has a whole history that I’ve never
even thought about before.

A moment later there’s
a knock at the front door and I use it as an excuse to escape the awkwardness my
big mouth created. I finish off the slice of toast I’d been eating and stick
the other in my mouth, because, you know, I’m a growing boy.

When I reach the door I
open it to find a tall, dark haired man standing on the step. He’s wearing a
suit you’d see in the front window of a designer department store and his blue
eyes are intense. One thing I know for certain is that this is a warlock, and a
powerful one at that.

There’s no point
pulling out a weapon when the person you’re pulling it out at has magic, so I
simply stand there and wait.

The man closes his eyes
and a little shimmer sweeps over his face before he opens them again. “Finn
Roe, it’s a pleasure to meet you. May I come inside?”

I lift a hand to stop
him as he takes a step closer. “State your business first.”

“I am Roman. My
granddaughter Tegan must have told you about me, no?”

Not a warlock then, not
even a really powerful one like I thought. A sorcerer.

“Uh, yeah, she did.” I
glance over his shoulder and down the street. There doesn’t seem to be anyone
else around. I consider telling him to wait outside until I consult with the
others, but there’s really no point in that. I doubt a closed door will be much
of an obstacle to a man like this.

“Come on inside,” I say
stepping out of his way. “I’ll go and tell Tegan you’re here, but she’s been
sick this morning so she might not be up to visitors.”

“That’s quite alright,”
Roman replies. “If she is ill then don’t bother disturbing her. I came because
I need a couple of volunteers. Today I will endeavour to take Emilia Petrovsky
from Theodore, and I will require the help of at least two able bodied men. I
also sense that there is an elf staying on the premises. Am I correct?”

I narrow my gaze at
him. “You’re not wrong.”

“We will need her, too.
She was the one Michael Ridley had been holding hostage, yes?”

“Do you always speak in
questions?”

“I do when I require
answers,” he says, stopping to stare at me blandly.

I let out a sigh.
“Yeah, she’s the one Ridley kidnapped. What do you need her for?”

Roman smiles now. “She
will be our decoy.”

“I don’t like the sound
of that.”

“You don’t have to.
Just trust me when I say it will work.”

I lead Roman into the
kitchen where I introduce him to everyone else. Gabriel and Alvie both stare at
him like they’re meeting a celebrity and Delilah gives him a cordial smile.
Roman takes a seat at the table and explains why he needs to get Emilia in
order to break the barrier spell she cast around the city. I inform him of
Rebecca’s recent abduction, so he alters his plan slightly to include rescuing
her also.

Just as we’re
organising for me, Ira and Allora to accompany him to the place where he
believes Theodore is hiding out, the shit hits the fan…well almost. Cristescu
enters the room.

“What do you think
you’re doing here?” he asks Roman coolly.

“I’m sure you already
know,” Roman replies. “You can hear everything that is said under this roof.”

A deadly silence
ensues.

“Get out.”

“I’m here to help my
granddaughter, and you for that matter. Please don’t allow your petty
insecurities to get in the way.”

Cristescu looks like
he’s trying to calm himself down when he replies, “The last twenty-four hours
have been eventful for us, Sorcerer. You’ll excuse me if I am highly strung.”

Roman wears his bland
expression again. “Of course.”

Another God-awful
silence. I decide to get the show on the road by arranging the last of our
plans for the day. Cristescu seems relieved that I’ve decided to take the reins
and agrees that the plan is a good one. Once that’s all taken care of I go to
check on Allora. She’s in my room getting dressed after having a shower. It
puts me on edge and alerts every protective instinct in my body to ask her to
go into a dangerous situation like this, but I know it can work. I also know
that I’ll do everything in my power to keep her safe.