Sara yawned behind her hand and smiled at something Roland said. It was late, almost midnight, and Nate, Tristan, and Chris had already retired for the night. I’d expected Sara to go to bed hours ago, considering how tired she was, but she seemed determined to stay up with everyone else.
I took her hands and tugged her to her feet. “Come on,” I said, leading her from the room.
“Where are we going?” she asked without resisting.
“You’re going to bed. Everyone will still be here in the morning.”
Roland and Jordan hooted as we left the room. The fact that Sara didn’t blush at their teasing comments told me how tired she was. She was quiet as we walked up the stairs and stopped outside her bedroom door.
When she turned to me, I pulled her into my embrace. She wrapped her arms around my waist, and we stood holding each other for a long moment.
“It’s late. You should get some sleep,” I said softly.
I was reluctant to let her go, but we’d have all day tomorrow together. Even with everyone here, Eldeorin’s house was big enough for us to find a few minutes alone together.
“Stay.”
My stomach did a little flip at her unexpected request.
She quickly blushed and looked at my chest. “I don’t mean…”
I tilted her face up and brushed her lips with mine. “I know.”
As much as I wanted her, I knew she wasn’t ready for anything more intimate. When I made love to her, it would be she who initiated it, and she wouldn’t be falling asleep on her feet.
I opened her door and followed her into the room, closing the door quietly. She turned around and faced me, twisting the hem of her sweater in her fingers and looking so endearingly flustered I couldn’t help but laugh softly.
“Get ready for bed. I’ll just stay until you fall asleep.”
She smiled and grabbed some clothes, going into her bathroom to change.
I walked around the room, looking at her things: a sketch pad on a small table, an iPod and ear buds on the dresser, a hoodie slung over the back of a chair.
At the balcony, I stopped and listened to the Pacific through the slightly open door. She’d told me once how much she loved the ocean, and I never realized how much she must have missed it in Idaho.
The bathroom door opened, and I watched her enter the bedroom and look around for me. My eyes moved up her bare legs to a familiar navy blue T-shirt that hung almost to her knees. If it hadn’t already been my favorite shirt, it was now after seeing her in it.
“I wondered what happened to that T-shirt,” I said.
She toyed with the bottom of the shirt, and I almost didn’t hear her response.
“It’s really comfortable.”
I stalked toward her, and she backed up. When we got to the bed, I didn’t miss her small intake of breath when I reached around her.
Smiling, I lifted the covers. “In you go.”
I pulled the covers over her then kicked off my shoes and lay beside her on top of the blankets. I lifted my arm over her head in silent invitation, and she moved over to snuggle against my side with her head on my shoulder.
Closing my eyes, I played with the end of her hair as I let her soft breathing lull me into a light doze.
“Nikolas?”
“Hmmm?”
“Why haven’t you yelled at me for leaving Westhorne?”
My eyes opened, and I frowned at the ceiling. “Do you want me to yell at you?”
She sighed. “No, but you’re taking this too well. Are you being nice because I was sick?”
I swallowed a laugh. “Yes, but don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll give me more reasons to yell soon enough.”
She fell silent, and I wondered if she was waiting for me to say more.
“I was furious when I found out you’d left, and all I could think about was what could happen to you out there. I always want to keep you safe, but after the attack I couldn’t think of anything but getting you away from there.”
I looked down at her, wishing I could see her face. “I’m sorry I made you feel like you had no other choice but to leave. I want you to be able to come to me about anything.”
“I’m sorry I left the way I did. I was upset about the attack, and all I wanted to do was fight back,” she said hoarsely. “It hurt when you and Tristan said you were taking me away to hide, especially after people were hurt and killed because of me.”
“You’re not responsible for what happened that night.”
“I know, but it’s impossible not to feel guilty when some of my friends were killed by vampires who were after me. And I knew it wasn’t going to stop and they’d keep coming. Sooner or later, someone I love will die and I can’t live with that.”
Her voice cracked. “I had to do something to try to end this. I should have told you what I knew about Madeline instead of going after her without you. I kept telling myself I could find her and that she’d run if she saw the Mohiri. But the truth is, I needed to be the one to find her. I needed to feel like I was in control of my life again.”
I’d known from the beginning this was as much about Sara’s fight for independence as it was about finding Madeline. Since I met her, I’d been driven by my instinct to protect her, at all costs. First, I took her away from everything she knew and brought her to Westhorne. When that didn’t prove safe enough, I made the decision to take her to Russia without talking to her first. I’d never stopped to think that I could be the one hurting her the most.
“You’ve spent most of your life taking care of yourself, and I’ve spent mine protecting others. It’s not easy for either of us to go against our nature. I didn’t realize how much I was pushing you to change yours until you left.”
“And now?” she asked quietly.
She wasn’t going to like what I said no matter how I worded it. “I won’t lie to you. I’m not going to try to take you away, but I can’t stand to see you in danger either. You’re a fighter, but I’m an experienced warrior, and I’m going to do what I have to do to keep you safe.”
Her body tensed. “I understand why you feel so protective, but you have to see that I’m not helpless.”
“I never thought you were helpless. I just don’t think you’re ready to face what’s out there.”
Her powers were growing and one day soon, she’d be a force to be reckoned with, but she hadn’t seen a fraction of the ugliness in the world.
She pulled away from me, but I gently refused to let her go. “Let’s not fight,” I pleaded.
She lay against me again.
I pressed my lips to the top of her head. There had been a time when our disagreements ended with her yelling and walking away from me. We were making progress.
“You should go to sleep. I don’t want Nate and Tristan shooting me dirty looks tomorrow when you can’t stay awake at Christmas dinner.”
She yawned and snuggled against my side. “You’ll stay until I fall asleep?”
“I’ll stay until I hear snoring.”
“I don’t snore,” she retorted.
I grinned at the indignation in her voice. “Like a motorboat.”
“I do not snore!” She punctuated her words by poking me in the ribs.
Her playful touch sent warmth through me, and I had to grab her hand before she started something I wouldn’t want to stop.
“Okay, it’s more like a kitten purring,” I said, laughing. “Did I ever tell you how much I like kittens?”
I must have said the right thing because she laid her arm across my stomach and tucked her body as close as the blankets between us would allow.
I waited until I heard her breathing even out before I moved to slip out of her arms. She made a soft sound of protest and threw a leg across mine, her arm tightening around my waist.
“I don’t want to leave you either,” I whispered to her.
She sighed happily in her sleep, and I wrapped my arms around her again.
“Okay, five more minutes, and then I have to go.”
* * *
“What the hell?”
A loud, angry male voice jerked me from sleep, and I looked at the blue walls and billowing white curtains in confusion. Then I felt the warm body nestled against me – or actually, on top of me – and I realized where I was.
I looked down as Sara raised her head, and her wide eyes met mine.
A slow smile spread across my face at her sleepy confusion. With her hair wild around her face and her lips still swollen from sleep, she was ravishing.
“Morning,” I murmured roughly.
“What are you doing in her bed?” Nate demanded loudly, reminding me what had awoken me from the best sleep I’d had in ages.
Color flooded Sara’s face, and she moved off me to bury her head in a pillow. “Oh God,” she moaned.
I slid off the bed and looked for the shoes I’d kicked off last night. I picked them up and turned to face Sara’s irate uncle standing in the bedroom doorway.
“Good morning, Nate. And Tristan,” I added as he appeared behind Nate.
“Nikolas,” Tristan said with a smile.
Nate took a step into the room. “I know you two are in a relationship, but this is inappropriate. Sara just came out of some faerie…coma. The last thing she needs is –”
“Nothing happened!” cried a muffled voice from the bed. “Tell them, Nikolas.”
My lips twitched, but I didn’t think laughter would help the situation. Schooling my expression, I addressed Nate.
“I walked Sara to her room and stayed to talk. I meant to leave, but I fell asleep.”
Nate wasn’t appeased. “And you had to get into bed with her to talk to her?”
“No, but I haven’t seen Sara in a long time, and I wanted to hold her for a while.”
I figured honesty was the best option. I respected Nate more than most humans I’d met, and I considered him a friend. I also knew he didn’t understand Mohiri bonding or a bonded male’s need to touch his mate. But I wouldn’t apologize for spending the night with her. That would mean admitting we’d done something wrong, which we hadn’t. Not to mention Sara was eighteen, an adult in both the human and Mohiri worlds.
“He was on the bed, not in it,” Sara clarified.
“That doesn’t make it right,” Nate told the form beneath the covers. “Why are you hiding in there? I want to talk to you.”
“No way. I’m not doing this again.”
“Again?” Nate glowered at me. “What does she mean by that?”
“It’s nothing. She fell asleep on my couch one night back at Westhorne.”
I decided not to mention the part where she’d been drinking and ended up sleeping on top of me. I loved her favorite sleeping position, but I probably shouldn’t mention that either.
“I might have embarrassed Sara when I showed up at Nikolas’s apartment the next morning,” Tristan said.
“Hmph,” Sara muttered, drawing smiles from Tristan and me as we remembered his disastrous attempt to talk to her about sex. Again, not something to share with Nate in his current mood.
“It was all quite innocent,” Tristan assured Nate. “I’m sure this is as well. Nikolas wouldn’t try to –”
“Gah!” Sara shrieked. “Out. Everyone out of my room, right now.”
“You two leave,” Nate said. “I want to talk to Sara.”
The bed covers moved, but Sara didn’t show her face. “You too, Nate. I am so not talking to you about this.”
“Sara…” he began.
“Out,” she said again. “Or I’m not coming out of here until tomorrow.”
It was an empty threat. I knew there was no way she wouldn’t spend Christmas with him and the others. But it worked.
Nate sighed. “Okay. We’ll talk later. Do you want breakfast? Heb made all your favorites.”
“No thanks. I’m not hungry.”
Her stomach growled loudly in protest.
I leaned down to whisper to her. “Liar. I’ll send Heb up with some food. Something tells me you’re going to need your strength.”
She groaned and burrowed deeper in the bed. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”
I laughed softly. “See you soon.”
Straightening, I walked around the bed toward the door. Nate didn’t move until I’d left the room and headed downstairs to the kitchen. I found Heb and asked him to bring something to Sara. The dwarf was eager to help and hurried to prepare a tray for her.
Sara came downstairs an hour later, and we all spent the day lounging around and stuffing ourselves on Heb’s endless supply of food.
Nate didn’t say anything else about finding Sara and me together, but he kept shooting me looks every time I went near Sara. I understood his anger. He’d raised Sara as his daughter, and she’d always be a child to him.
I almost laughed when I walked into the dining room for dinner and saw Sara already seated between Nate and Tristan. She scowled when I smirked and took the chair across from her.
“The food looks amazing,” Tristan said, reaching for a platter of roast goose. “The cook outdid himself.”
“Yes, everything looks so good.” My eyes met Sara’s. “I don’t know where to start.”
She blushed and picked up the mashed potatoes. The heavy glass bowl almost slipped from her hands, and I leaned across the table to grab it. My fingers grazed hers, and warmth coursed through me. Her small intake of breath told me I wasn’t the only one affected by the touch.
“You guys going to hog the potatoes or share them with the rest of us?” Roland asked with a devilish smile.
“Let me.” I took the bowl from Sara and spooned a generous helping of potatoes onto her plate. Taking some for myself, I passed the bowl to Peter, who sat beside me. Then I reached for the prime rib, which had been cooked to perfection. I asked Sara if she wanted some before I put a slice on her plate.
Heb really had outdone himself. In addition to prime rib and roast goose, there was a ham, a whole roasted salmon, and every side dish you could ask for. The dwarf knew how to feed a party of Mohiri and werewolves.
I wasn’t the only one making sure Sara’s plate was full. Tristan and Nate took turns placing food from almost every serving dish on her plate until she held up a hand to stop them.
“No more.” She laughed and waved a fork at all the food before her. “I’m going to explode if I eat all this.”
Peter grinned. “But what a way to go.”
Roland cut into his prime rib and sighed. “I’m going to miss Heb’s cooking when we go home. He’s spoiled me for normal food. Do you think he’d consider coming with us?”
“Do you really have to go?” Sara asked, toying with her food.
Peter grimaced. “Dad’s orders. Trust me, if we could stay, we would.”
“Yeah, I don’t even want to think about what he’s going to do to us when we get home,” Roland said.
“Will he beat you?” Jordan asked. “I read that some Alphas do that when a pack member disobeys them.”
“Maxwell would never do that,” Sara declared. “He’s tough and he can be scary when he’s angry, but he wouldn’t beat someone.”
“Uncle Max prefers the ‘work you until you drop’ form of punishment,” Roland said. “I don’t know what will be worse, him or going back to school and trying to catch up.”
“Ugh. I forgot about school.” Peter groaned. “Thanks for ruining my appetite, man.”
Everyone laughed and the mood at the table lightened, even with Nate’s occasional scowls in my direction. Fortunately, by the time dessert came out, he seemed to have forgiven me. That made Sara happy, and anything that made her smile made me happy too.
That night, I walked Sara to her room, and she looked around as if expecting Nate to pop out and start scowling again. I pulled her into my arms and kissed her tenderly before I said good night. I was disappointed, but not surprised when she didn’t ask me in. She’d been pretty embarrassed that morning, and she clearly didn’t want a repeat.
Two days after Christmas, Tristan and Nate went back to Westhorne. Sara was down for a few hours, but Roland and Peter cheered her up. She told me she hated to think of the boys leaving too, and she got a sad look in her eyes whenever someone brought it up. I was glad Jordan was staying on with us so Sara didn’t have to lose all of them at once.
The next week went by quickly. Jordan, Chris, and I had moved back to Eldeorin’s on Christmas Day, but Chris and I spent the days next door, getting the place ready for the warriors arriving after New Year’s. I saved my evenings for Sara. We were rarely alone, but I enjoyed being with her no matter what we were doing.
I’d planned to spend time with her and get to know her better at Westhorne before everything happened with Nate and then the attack. Here, Sara was safe inside the faerie protections, and I didn’t need to worry about her. I could do my job while she trained and got stronger. And I’d finally be able to court her as she deserved.
Every night, I walked her to her room and kissed her good night as if I was dropping her off after a date. She didn’t ask me to stay, and I didn’t ask to come in. My Mori was impatient to claim its mate, and so was I, but I was determined to let Sara set the pace.
One person I was happy not to see that week was Eldeorin. Aine came by once a day to visit with Sara, but Eldeorin stayed away. He was supposed to come back in the next few weeks to begin training with Sara. I wasn’t sure what that entailed, but if it helped her master her power, I’d put up with him.
Roland and Peter left us the day after New Year’s to drive back to Maine. The same day, a truckload of equipment arrived along with the first warrior unit. Chris and I spent all day next door, helping to get the command center in order. By that evening, we had all the systems up and running.
It felt good to be doing familiar work again, and I didn’t realize how much I’d missed it until I was back in the middle of it. I wouldn’t be going out on jobs as much as the other warriors, but I’d still see some action. At one time, that would not have been enough for me. Being with Sara changed things.
The next afternoon. I came back from the command center to start Sara’s combat training, and I found her and Jordan standing near the pool, which was almost frozen solid. The look on Sara’s face told me her first day of training with Aine hadn’t gone as she’d hoped.
“What happened?”
“Sara froze the whole thing in like two seconds,” Jordan said.
“Incredible.” I knew Sara could use her power to warm the water around her enough to keep her warm, but to freeze a twenty-thousand-gallon pool?
“No, it’s not,” Sara said glumly. “I wasn’t trying to freeze it, just lower the temperature a little.”
“Ah, come on, you have to admit it was funny.” Jordan grinned at me. “Chris had his legs in the water. Luckily, he has demon speed or he’d be a popsicle right now.”
“Lucky him,” Sara muttered.
Jordan let out a small laugh. “Sara was in the middle of the pool, and it took her a while to get free. She’s still a bit peeved.”
Sara scowled at her. “You would be too. I think my butt is still numb.”
A chuckle escaped me, and I couldn’t stop my eyes from dropping to her jean-clad backside. I was tempted to ask if she needed me to warm her up, but her glare stopped me.
“I suck. I can’t even control my own power anymore,” she grumbled, disheartened.
“It’s only your first day of training, and Aine said it wouldn’t happen overnight. Give yourself some time to get used to it.” I laid a hand on her arm. “You can do this.”
She gave me a grateful smile. “Thanks.”
