Wanton With a Vampire (24 page)

“It’s not,” Drew said in a tired voice.

“Do you have any idea who he is, so we can
find his parents?” Alek asked.

“It would seem he’s mine.” Drew turned the
young boy in his arms around to face Alek, and there was no
mistaking the fact that he was a Draksel. The light blue eyes and
dark brown hair were an exact match. Whether he was Drew’s was
another question.

“Who’s his mother?” Alek asked.

The little boy whimpered.

“Let me take him,” Trish said, holding out
her arms. “I’ll see if I can get him settled into bed.”

Drew hesitated and looked down at the boy.
“He’s afraid of the dark. I had to keep the light on inside the car
the whole drive over here.”

Trish nodded and took the little boy. With a
sigh, he snuggled into her arms. “That’s a strange birthmark,” she
said, when the back of his much too big shirt slid down some.

Alek’s head jerked in the direction of the
boy. “Let me see that,” he said and slid the shirt down more to
reveal a birthmark that looked vaguely like an arrow on the boy’s
shoulder. “You have a rare talent for fucking things up, Drew. Go
ahead and put him to bed,” Alek told Trish.

Alek watched Trish disappear up the stairs
before turning his attention back to Drew. “Who’s the mother?”

Drew shrugged. “Must be this girl I was
involved with when I was seventeen.”

“Where is she now?” Alek asked.

“I don’t know,” Drew admitted. “My mom said
she dropped Hunter off and left. Naturally, I hadn’t mentioned
anything about my mom’s hobbies to the girl, so she had no clue how
dangerous that was. My mom said she had Hunter with a nanny after
that. I don’t know what’s true or not. My mom might have killed
Hunter’s mom.”

“Let’s hope like hell she didn’t kill the
boy’s mother. The simple fact that the boy is half hunter is enough
of a problem.”

“Half hunter?” Drew asked.

“That’s what the birthmark means. The only
ones born with it are born to be hunters. Not everyone in their
line is born with that mark. It’s just our luck that your son is
also a hunter. That boy could be the beginning of a very big
problem. You didn’t know his mother was from a hunter family?”

Drew shook his head. “Molly didn’t like
talking about her family. She felt like they were pushing her to be
someone she wasn’t.”

“And you took advantage of her insecurity,”
Alek accused.

“Molly was my friend,” Drew said quietly.
“She had a birthmark like Hunter’s, but I didn’t know what it
meant. I guess that means she knew what I was all along.”

Alek paced the room while he swore. Their
tenuous peace with the hunters relied on them not making trouble,
and Drew impregnating a hunter counted as trouble. Technically, it
shouldn’t have been possible. Only a select few in the hunter
families were born hunters, and everyone knew what they were from
birth because of the birthmark. From a young age, hunters were
trained to find and kill vampires, even now that they had a truce.
Hunters were also sterile. In older times, their families
classified everyone as hunters or breeders, and they might still
use those terms, for all Alek knew.

“How could you have been so careless as to
have unprotected sex with a psychic female? At seventeen, you knew
the facts of life. I get that you might not have recognized the
mark of a hunter, but you had to know she was psychic.”

Drew shrugged, looking down at his lap.
“Honestly, I had no clue she was psychic.”

“You couldn’t have missed that fact when you
fed on her.”

“I didn’t take any of her energy,” Drew
mumbled.

Alek snorted. “Yeah, right. You don’t have
sex if you can avoid it. You only do it to get energy. Now I’m
supposed to believe you didn’t feed on this woman?”

When Drew looked up, he was obviously
embarrassed. “Like I said, Molly was my friend. She was weird, like
me. Her family wanted her to be something she didn’t want to be.
Sex just sort of seemed natural when we were comforting each other.
I look down on most humans, but this girl really got to me. I’m not
saying we were in love or something stupid like that. We really
were just friends comforting each other. Hell, I don’t even know
where she lived. She always said her family would kill me, but I
just assumed it was because they didn’t want some guy banging their
daughter. One day, she disappeared, and I never saw her again. At
the time, I figured her family found out about her sneaking out and
grounded her. Months went by with no word, and then I got moved out
here, so I never saw her again.”

Alek was quiet for a long time. “This is a
mess,” he finally said.

“No shit,” Drew said with a snort. “I’m too
fucked up to raise a kid.”

In that moment, Drew seemed much older, and
Alek could see the potential of the man he would grow into. There
might come a day when Drew would be a good father, but he was right
about being incapable of doing it now.

“We’ll find a family to take care of Hunter,”
Alek assured him.

“You or Noah,” Drew said quietly.

Considering Drew’s hatred of Noah, that
surprised him. He was even more surprised that Tempest and Aiden
weren’t on Drew’s list. Then again, Drew was in shock and might not
be thinking clearly.

“What happened with your mother?”

“When she called me, I heard a kid crying in
the background. That’s why I went out to meet her. She said she had
a surprise for me, which was a fucking understatement. When I got
there, I found Hunter with her, and it reminded me of how she used
to drag me along for her kills when I was a kid. Hunter was
terrified, so I told my mom I’d help her deal with the woman’s body
to get her to leave the room. I didn’t want Hunter to see me slit
her throat. I had to do it.” He looked helplessly at Alek.

Alek opened his mouth to speak, but he
couldn’t think of anything to say in that moment. What was the
protocol for comforting someone after they killed their crazy
mother? “I was going to kill her when I found her,” Alek said,
regretting the words as soon as they left his mouth. “I’m not very
good at this sort of thing,” he admitted. “All I can say is that
you did the right thing. What you said before about none of us
being there for you while you were growing up is true, and I’m
sorry. Hell, I can’t make up for that, but I’m here for you now if
you need me.”

Drew nodded, but he didn’t look
convinced.

“I’m going to let Trish know we’ll be out for
at least a few hours,” Alek said.

He wasn’t surprised to find Trish in his bed
with Hunter cuddled by her side. She was humming softly to the
little boy who was clinging to her.

“I’ll be out for a few hours,” he said. “Will
you be okay?”

“We’ll be fine,” Trish said without taking
her eyes off of Hunter. Alek swallowed the lump in his throat at
the sight of Trish with Hunter. The realization that she was too
good for him settled in like a lead weight in the pit of his
stomach.

Forcing his mind back to the task at hand, he
closed the door and headed out to dispose of the bodies.

It was after nine when Alek got back from
helping Drew, and he was exhausted. He was pretty sure Trish was
already up for the day when he walked in the front door. Dealing
with the bodies hadn’t been the hardest part; it had been getting
Drew back to Sofia’s house. What Drew had wanted to do was drive
all the way back up to Seattle to tell Andrei what he’d done. Pain
in the ass or not, Alek couldn’t let Drew do that. Andrei wasn’t
likely to handle the news well. Alek had always believed his
youngest brother was a little off. Then again, you’d have to be to
stay with a woman who tried to kill you on a regular basis. Alek
would decide how to deal with Andrei later. For now, Drew was with
Sofia. If it were anyone else, Alek would pity them, but Sofia
adored Drew and would take care of him. Thankfully, Drew hadn’t
mentioned Hunter to Sofia, because Alek didn’t want to get stuck
explaining why Hunter was with Trish. Sofia had never been the
maternal type, but there was no telling how she’d react to her
favorite grandson becoming a father.

After what he’d just dealt with, Alek wanted
nothing more than to see Trish. Now that the danger with Phoebe was
over, it was time to talk about their future. Despite what they’d
agreed upon, there was no way what they had could be just a casual
fling. He loved her, and somehow, they’d make things work.

Trish had reluctantly agreed to let Justin
examine Hunter. For his part, Justin had reluctantly agreed to let
her stay in the room for the examination. That is, until the big
jerk kicked her out for accusing him of being mean to Hunter.

Now, she sat in the kitchen with Caitlin,
impatiently awaiting Hunter’s return.

“I don’t know how you put up with that bossy
man,” Trish muttered.

“In Justin’s defense, you were making it
somewhat difficult for him to do his job,” Caitlin said.

“Traitor,” Trish said under her breath.

“I’m curious about what’s going to happen now
that Phoebe’s no longer a threat,” Caitlin said, sounding only
mildly curious.

Trish shrugged. “I’m not really sure what the
family’s going to do. I suppose someone will have to tell Drew’s
father.”

Caitlin let out a frustrated puff of air. “I
meant, I’m curious about what’s going to happen with you and
Alek.”

Trish shrugged, refusing to look at Caitlin
because Caitlin could easily read her true feelings, and they were
something she wasn’t ready to deal with. “Obviously, I no longer
need to stay at this house, so I suppose I’ll head home. I still
need to talk to Alek about Hunter, but I’m really hoping Hunter can
go home with me.”

“Really?” Caitlin asked, sounding genuinely
shocked. That made Trish smile because it took quite a bit to shock
Caitlin.

“I know he’s only been with me for a few
hours, but we bonded. Who else is he going to live with? Hannah and
Noah have their hands full at the moment. The same is true for
Aiden and Tempest. Lydia and Roman wouldn’t be good guardians.”

“That’s an understatement,” Caitlin said.
“They actually make me and Justin look like a good choice, and we
all know I’m not ready to play mommy.”

“Hunter seems comfortable with me, so I was
thinking he should stay with me for the time being.”

“Are you planning to stay at the condo? Or
will you and Alek be getting a bigger place?” Caitlin asked. “How
do you think Alek will feel about having Hunter?”

Trish swallowed her pain before responding,
doing her best to keep her voice as light as possible. “You know as
well as I do that what I have with Alek is just sex. We aren’t
setting up house together.”

“Alek cares a lot about you,” Caitlin
argued.

Trish shrugged, refusing to meet her friend’s
eyes. “I know he cares, but that doesn’t mean we’re meant to be
together. You said it many times— Alek is the ultimate man-whore.
He’s not the type of man I’m going to plan a future with.”

She was really proud of herself for holding
it together as long as she did. Honestly, saying the words caused
something inside of her to crack.

“Ah fuck,” Caitlin said when the tears
started. While Caitlin might not like being in this situation, she
reacted right away and wrapped an arm around Trish’s shoulders as
Trish sobbed quietly for several minutes.

“Trish, you need to talk to the man,” Caitlin
insisted. “Tell him how you feel.”

“Absolutely not,” Trish said, pulling away
with a sniffle. “I won’t make Alek feel bad about any of this. We
agreed up front that this was just a fling, and he hasn’t changed
his mind in such a short time. Man-whore or not, he’s a good man
and wouldn’t willingly hurt anyone.”

“I’ve been trying really hard to block out
everyone’s emotions and thoughts,” Caitlin said. “Even so, I catch
glimpses of things. Please, talk to Alek about your feelings.”

Trish was fully prepared to argue when it hit
her that Caitlin had likely picked up on Alek’s feelings with her
empath abilities. Of course, that might be wishful thinking on her
part.

“If you don’t at least try to make things
work, you’ll spend the rest of your life wondering if you made a
huge mistake,” Caitlin said, surprising Trish with her insightful
words.

“I’ll talk to him,” Trish relented.

“Why are you crying?” Hunter asked as he
tugged at Trish’s shirt.

Wiping the tears from her eyes, Trish smiled
down at the little boy who had so quickly stolen her heart. “I was
just thinking about something sad. How was your checkup?”

Hunter looked over his shoulder, shooting a
glare at Justin. “I want a different doctor. He’s not fun at
all.”

Trish laughed and hugged Hunter. “He may be
grumpy, but Justin is a very good doctor.”

Hunter mumbled something against her shirt
that she couldn’t make out. It was probably just as well since it
sounded like an insult aimed at Justin.

“In my defense, I wasn’t expecting to see any
little boys today,” Justin said.

“And you’re naturally grumpy,” Trish
added.

“She’s got you on that one,” Caitlin said. “I
think you should make Hunter an ice cream sundae to make up for
being so mean to him.”

“I like ice cream,” Hunter said
enthusiastically.

“Fine,” Justin said, looking more than a
little put out by the whole thing.

If Hunter’s laughter was any indication, he
found Justin’s moodiness amusing.

“Why don’t you go see if Alek’s back yet?”
Caitlin suggested.

Trish nodded. “Okay. I guess you’re right
about me talking to him.”

Caitlin raised an eyebrow and gave her a
haughty stare. “I am always right.”

Getting his emotions under control wasn’t
easy after overhearing Trish’s conversation with Caitlin. When
Trish had said he wasn’t the type of man she could build a future
with, it had nearly broken him. It was a miracle that he’d managed
to make it back to his room without putting his fist through a
wall. He’d been a fool for believing things were going to work with
Trish. Hadn’t he heard Trish and her friends refer to him as the
ultimate man-whore enough times to know she wasn’t serious about
him? Like an idiot, he’d allowed himself to fall for yet another
woman who was looking for a better man. Apparently, he’d never
learn his lesson.