Safe Hex With a Vampire (15 page)

Tempest bit Aiden’s shoulder as her second
orgasm ripped through her body. Then she heard him groan as he gave
one last thrust.

“Dear God!” Justin said from the stairs.
“You have a room upstairs, use it!”

Aiden looked up at him, annoyed at the
interruption, but he supposed that he was having sex in the foyer
during the middle of the day. Then he looked around. The place was
trashed. The vase that had been rattling was shattered. The table
was tipped over and now on the opposite side of the room, and the
chandelier hanging above them was swinging back and forth.

“What did you do?” Aiden asked Tempest,
feeling a little dumbfounded.

She buried her head in his chest and
mumbled. “I was a little excited.”

Aiden had to admit that he felt very pleased
with his life at that moment. He set Tempest on the ground and
worked on getting his clothes back in place.

“I told you someone would see us,” she
accused as she checked to make sure she was completely covered.

“Don’t worry,” Aiden assured her, “He just
got here.”

“I wish,” Justin grumbled. “I’m going to
start carrying around a spray bottle for you two.” He looked at
Tempest with even more open curiosity than he had before. “I really
would like to discuss the genetic link you found. No one in our
family can do this sort of thing.” He gestured to the mess around
them. “Would you mind if I took a sample of your blood?”

She looked at Aiden and he smiled because
she was silently asking for his opinion. It was a good sign.
“Justin is a really good doctor and he knows a lot about that DNA
stuff. He would probably be willing to share some of his
information with you.”

“I’ll think about it,” she said. “For now, I
need to call my sister. She’ll be worried about me.”

Aiden looked at Justin. “Any chance you can
get Drew to leave?”

Justin thought about it. “Probably not
willingly, but I could always kill him and bury him out by the
creek.”

He sounded so serious that Tempest looked at
him like he’d just sprouted a second head.

“You don’t know him as well as I do or you’d
think it was a good idea,” Justin explained. “I’m not really in
charge so I can’t just send him away. He was only planning to stay
another day or two until he met your mate.”

“I’d think that Drew would want to leave
after the scare Tempest gave him.” Aiden said thoughtfully.

“Drew has a huge crush on her now,” Justin
said. “If I didn’t hate him so much I might feel sorry for
him.”

Drew’s crush annoyed Aiden and he had no
idea why. It wasn’t like Drew was competition for Tempest’s
affections, but he didn’t like the idea of Drew hanging around
Tempest at all. “Don’t tell Uncle Roman about her yet. It should be
her choice when, and if she wants to meet him. I’m pretty sure she
will after she gets used to the idea.”

Justin nodded. “Why not? I keep everyone
else’s secrets in this family.”

“Did you just refer to me as his mate?”
Tempest asked with narrowed eyes.

Justin had the good sense to look
embarrassed. “I’m sorry if that sounded crude. Caitlin will tell
you that it’s because I’m a prick.”

“You are,” Caitlin said as she walked down
the stairs. “What the hell happened down here?”

“What were you doing upstairs?” Aiden asked
in return.

Justin flashed a very satisfied smile and
Aiden laughed.

Tempest smacked Aiden’s arm.

“I’m going to call Ivy. Give me your phone.”
Tempest put out a hand and Aiden gave her his phone.

“So is anyone going to tell me what happened
down here?” Caitlin asked again.

“Is anyone going to tell me what happened up
there?” Aiden shot back cheerfully.

“I will,” Justin offered with a raised hand.
His normally dour cousin’s almost playful mood amazed Aiden.

“You’re both pricks,” Caitlin muttered.

“Speaking of pricks,” Aiden started, but
Tempest’s glare made him reconsider teasing Caitlin anymore.

“Men are idiots,” Caitlin said. Her change
in demeanor came as a surprise. When she’d come in earlier, she’d
been in a rage that could have made Tempest look
sweet tempered. Now, she appeared completely calm, almost
bored.

Tempest nodded. “I couldn’t agree more.”

“Can you believe that these two are hundreds
of years old and still acting like adolescent boys?” Caitlin asked
as she graced them both with a condescending sneer.

“Hey! I resent that remark” Aiden said.

They ignored him.

“Do you want to go shopping?” Caitlin asked
Tempest.

She looked at Aiden, and he was annoyed to
realize that she was going to leave him. “Sure, just give me a few
minutes to call my sister. I don’t suppose you have any clothes
that would fit me around here?” she asked the men.

“We still have Hannah’s stuff,” Justin
said.

“There is no way she could wear Hannah’s
clothes,” Caitlin said. “Hannah’s boobs are huge, and Tempest’s
aren’t much bigger than mine. Seriously, the woman must have worn a
D cup before she got pregnant. I don’t even want to know what she’s
wearing now.”

Justin cleared his throat. “They
were
huge,” he corrected.

Caitlin flushed and nodded. “That’s what I
meant.” Then she turned her attention back to Tempest. “We’ll buy
something while we’re out.”

“Give me money,” Tempest said to Aiden. When
he raised an eyebrow in question, she added. “You are the one who
kidnapped me. I don’t have my wallet or clothes. I think you can
buy me something to wear until Ivy can bring my stuff over. As you
may recall, I bought clothes for you when I kidnapped you so it
seems only fair that you do the same for me.”

Aiden handed her his wallet. “Bossy witch,”
he muttered.

“Good boy,” Caitlin said with a smile. “I’m
impressed that you already have him so well trained.”

Justin laughed at Aiden’s obvious
embarrassment.

Tempest punched in Ivy’s number from memory.
She was actually surprised that she remembered it at all. There had
been a time when she’d remembered everyone’s phone numbers. Now,
with cell phones she just told her phone who she wanted to
call.

“Hello,” Ivy said, not sounding at all
worried.

“Ivy, it’s Tempest,” she said.

“So,” Ivy started and Tempest could hear the
smile in her voice. “I take it this is Aiden’s number.”

Tempest felt her cheeks getting warm. “Yes,
I’m with Aiden. There’s no reason to worry.”

Ivy giggled. “Oh, I wasn’t worried. When I
noticed that you were both gone, I assumed that you’d gone off
somewhere together.”

“Actually, I hadn’t planned to go off
somewhere with him or I would have told you,” Tempest said with a
little irritation in her voice.

“I kidnapped her!’ Aiden shouted.

Ivy laughed so hard that she must have
dropped the phone on the floor, because around the laughter Tempest
heard a drop and then muffled scrambling.

“This really isn’t funny,” Tempest said as
she put some distance between herself and the others in the
room.

“Yes, it is,” Ivy said breathlessly as she
tried to contain her laughter.

“Fine,” Tempest said with an exasperated
sigh. “I will talk to you about the details later. I’m going to
stay here for a little while to get to know some of our cousins and
maybe go meet our grandfather. You’re welcome to stay too. Either
way, I really would appreciate it if you could bring my phone and
some clothes and supplies for me to stay here for a week or
so.”

“No problem,” Ivy said. “I’ll try to make it
there today, but I may not be able to get out of here until
tomorrow. We’re still trying to wrap up the details from the
ceremony last night and I have an appointment this afternoon.”

Tempest suddenly felt guilty for staying
away when she knew there was so much work to get done. “Maybe this
is a bad time for me to be away from the center.”

“We can handle this without you,” Ivy
insisted. “You haven’t had any time off in years so don’t even
think about coming back.”

“Okay,” Tempest said reluctantly. “I’m going
shopping today so I’ll pick up a few things in case you can’t make
it here today. I’ll have Aiden text you the directions to the
house. Thanks, Ivy.”

“Try to be extra nice to Aiden,” Ivy said in
a teasing tone.

Tempest gave Aiden a seductive smile and
said, “Don’t worry; I’m being
very
nice to Aiden.”

Ivy was still laughing when Tempest hung up
the phone.

Seeing the security this human ceremony gave
Claudia is what changed my mind about marriage. It changed my mind
about many things. Claudia was right. We had grown complacent. We
had lived by a village that allowed our differences because the
people feared us. That security was gone now. Failing to fit in
with the world around us could easily result in our deaths.

Excerpt from Roman Draksel’s blog

Tempest was really glad she had decided to
go shopping with Caitlin. There were moments when Caitlin made her
feel old, but in general she really liked her. It made her realize
that she had been so wrapped up in her work that she didn’t really
have any friends. It was also nice to have someone to talk to about
Aiden and his family. As an added bonus, Caitlin already knew that
Aiden and Justin weren’t human so she didn’t have a hard time
accepting Tempest’s differences. Of course, as Tempest understood
it, Caitlin must have some differences of her own or Justin
wouldn’t be pursuing her.

They were sitting outside of a small café,
having dinner. They had shopped, gone for pedicures, and Tempest
had gotten her hair cut. It was a relief to have her hair short
again. It was now in a stacked bob that went just past her ears.
She couldn’t resist the urge to flip it every once in a while. As
much as it pained her to admit it, she really hoped Aiden liked
it.

“So, what’s the deal with you and Justin?”
Tempest asked.

“He’s stalking me,” Caitlin said. She
sounded much less annoyed than most women would about a stalker.
Caitlin was wearing her bored expression. Tempest was sure that she
wouldn’t have agreed to go out with Caitlin if she hadn’t seen her
more animated earlier that day. Most of the time, Caitlin seemed to
work hard to school her features into a mask of indifference.

“What happened this morning?” Tempest asked
just to make that mask slip.

Caitlin shifted uncomfortably in her seat.
“I’m pretty sure I encouraged my stalker.”

“He seems nice, just a little uptight,”
Tempest said to make Caitlin feel better about her situation.

“He’s an arrogant jerk,” Caitlin insisted
and then she blushed. “I always thought he was too uptight but I’m
beginning to rethink that.”

Tempest leaned forward. “Was it good?”

Caitlin gave her a wicked smile. “I’m
getting a little excited just thinking about it.” Then her face
sobered. “I’m really nervous about going back to school next week.
We’re on semester break and I have no idea how this is going to
affect our relationship in class.”

“Maybe you won’t have any classes together,”
Tempest said helpfully.

“No such luck,” Caitlin said. “He has his
brother hack the system to find out what classes I’m taking so that
he can take the same ones. This has been happening for three
years.”

Tempest laughed. “He certainly is very
dedicated to his stalking.”

“You have no idea,” Caitlin said as she
buried her head in her hands. “All of that was before I showed him
any encouragement. I just don’t know what to do now.”

“Why not give him a chance and see where
things go?” Tempest asked. That thought made her frown because it
was kind of hypocritical. She was trying hard to avoid any
emotional attachment to Aiden, but telling Caitlin to give Justin a
chance. Yep, she was a hypocrite.

Caitlin thought for a moment, her brow
furrowed. “I’m not really sure why I keep fighting him so much. He
can be an uptight prick, but I think part of the reason I avoid him
is just habit. I mean, I’ve been avoiding the man for three years.
The other part is harder to explain.
He . . . intimidates me a little.” She seemed
embarrassed to admit that fact. “I don’t know why he does, and that
just makes it worse. He also makes me lose control. I still can’t
believe I stormed into the house today. I don’t lose my temper with
anyone else.”

Tempest nodded her understanding. She also
prided herself on self control. The fact that Aiden’s presence
caused her self control to diminish so rapidly was
disconcerting.

“So what’s the deal with you and Aiden?”
Caitlin asked.

Tempest shrugged. “I just don’t know. He
wants more than I think I can give him.”

It was Caitlin’s turn to nod her
understanding.

Tempest suddenly felt the taint of evil in
the air. She looked around, trying to find it.

“What’s wrong?” Caitlin asked, obviously
sensing her anxiety.

Tempest wished that Ivy was with her. This
was Ivy’s specialty. Tempest could sense the malicious presence,
but it faded in and out. “Something isn’t right,” she said, not
sure how to explain it to Caitlin. Maybe this was another reason
she didn’t have friends. They just didn’t understand her.

In that moment, she knew that Caitlin would
make a good friend. Her hand came up on the table, and Tempest
glimpsed the pepper spray she was concealing. Caitlin was alert and
focused on something they couldn’t see. The look in her eyes
reminded Tempest of Ivy’s expression when she was reaching out to
feel the emotions around her.

“Are you an empath?” Tempest asked
quietly.

“Sort of,” Caitlin said but didn’t
elaborate. Tempest supposed she had a right to her own secrets. “To
your left, but it’s moving away from us now.”

“Do you know anything else about it?”
Tempest asked.