5 Darkness Falls (17 page)

And that settled it. I guess I was going to Canada. I would give Auggy and Kalel a courtesy call, maybe let Drex and Sanders in
on it
too, but I wanted it handled quickly and quietly. No thunder of soldiers
advancing
on her. I wanted to catch her off guard, unarmed. There was only one man I could trust with this approach: my dad.

My gut twisted as I thought about getting into a plane and flying away from her. With her stomach rounded and
filling out
nicely, it was a daily reminder of what I was fighting for
,
why I was going and why the secrecy was necessary. She didn’t need to be handling this. She didn’t need to be doing half as much as she did. I knew if I mentioned anything, I wouldn’t be able to keep her from going with me. For her protection, she couldn’t know.

I pushed away from the desk. As I stood to go pack, I caught sight of the scattered pile of notes on the dining room table. My chest tightened, my
stomach sank.
They, he, she, whoever
,
was too close to all that I held dear.
I didn’t want to admit it.
As much as it killed me, I was going to have to ask him for the favor. Drexel and Sanders
made
a good pair, but under the current conditions, I wanted
– needed -
an extra pair of eyes to watch
over
and
protect the mother of my child.

Chapter 15

Lexi

One day later…

Kellan got up from his computer. I watched as he padded towards the door without checking the security monitor; he
must have been
expecting
this
guest. I’d spent yesterday with Gabi and Mel; they’d chased me around the office, talking my ear off as I studied camera feeds and a new list of properties, so I knew the earliest they would pop up would be tomorrow.

“Thanks for coming,” Kellan said.

I frowned as I listened. The second his scent hit me, I was on my feet. I watched as Kai
entered the room.
My heart sprinted in my chest and the baby moved inside me, reacting to my excitement.

Kellan joined Kai, standing beside him. They both looked at me as I
stared at
them. Kellan had finally cut his hair, making him stand out
.
Wait, why were they standing there together?
My heart slowed as worry knotted my stomach. Something was going on.

“What’s going on, guys?”

I turned, startled when Drexel emerged from his room.

“You okay?” he asked pointedly. His eyes swept the area before honing in on both vamps. Drexel’s eyes
conveyed skepticism.
“Good
luck, Baby C
akes.” He chuckled as he closed his bedroom door.

Kellan glanced at Kai before
approaching me.
He placed his hands on my upper arms, rubbing them gently in a soothing up and down motion. “I asked him to stay with you while I’m gone.”

I was plagued with fear.
Kellan was hiding something from me. I’d suspected as much over the past few weeks, but I hadn’t seen anything when we connected. Whatever it was
,
he kept it locked up tight…
which
mean
t
he didn’t want me to know for a reason.

I
wrestled free from his
grip. “Where are you going?”

His features tightened. His eyes never turned away as he regarded me. “I have something I need to take care of before the baby gets here.”

“We have twenty more weeks for that. Why now?” I crossed my arms over my chest.

He pursed his lips, sighing deep. “I’m not waiting until the last minute. This needs to be taken care of sooner rather than later.”

I narrowed my eyes, anger rising. It pumped through my veins, burning like acid, as my pulse kicked up. He was keeping secrets. I was carrying
his
child
,
and he was keeping secrets from me.

“Please calm down.” His voice was a rushed plea as his gaze traveled over me in anguish.

Without looking, I knew I was glowing.
Dang it, Sir Staten
.

“Leka.”

Instinctively, I responded to his call,
looking directly at him.

“Why don’t you go change
,
and I’ll take you out?” H
is
tone was appeasing; the slight pressure on his lips confirmed it.

I could tell he was trying to distract me. I could tell he was
determined
to get my mind off  Kellan and onto something new. I could tell he was
just
looking out for my well
-
being, intending to help me let go of all that had me glowing.

I looked at Kellan. His face was solemn, his expression one of pained sorrow. Slowly, he nodded his head. “Go. I promise to be safe.”

I
snapped,
leaning into him. “If you get yourself killed, I hope you go to hell.”

Tears stung my eyes as I quickly retreated to the bedroom.

***

Kellan

I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. I couldn’t fuck this up. I couldn’t let her down.

An immense pressure
bore down on
my chest as I considered her action. There’d been an angry fire in her eyes when she delivered
the final
verbal blow. I couldn’t help but stop and
question
if that was how I looked every time I blew up at her. I couldn’t suppress my guilt; if the pain she’d inflicted with that one line was even a smidgen of the pain she’d felt every time I lashed out
…
then I did deserve to go to hell.

Damn, I was such an idiot. I saw the
pain
in her eyes; I heard the anger and fear in her voice.
To watch
her suffer
,
and then
,
be
com
e
her punching bag was brutal. How the hell could I have put her through that so many times? I
really am
an asshole.

Damn if this wasn’t a reality check for me.

“I’m going to check on her,” Kai announced.

I turned towards the vamp. He was biting his tongue
, but I could see
the storm brewing in his eyes and the intensity of his features as he glared at me. There was a hard glint in his brown eyes that spoke volumes.

I didn’t look away, accepting his silent threat. “Thanks,” I muttered.

He started towards the bedroom, but stopped. He angled his head back to me, but kept his gaze down. “For her sake, don’t get yourself killed.”

I watched as he slipped into the bedroom, closing the door behind him
. The implication of
his words jarr
ed
me and
left me standing there frozen.

***

Lexi

I huffed in frustration, tugging down on my tight shirt. My belly bulged out beyond the hem
.
Tears cascaded
down my cheeks as I
looked down.

Emotions swirled in my chest, landing in my stomach. It seemed like I was gaining too much weight
too
quickly.
Because everything fit so tight,
I couldn’t help but panic that I’d go back to the way I was before, to the old, overweight me.

It didn’t help my confidence
any
that Kellan had been
steadily
pulling back over the past couple weeks. He
had become so
distant.
While he
didn’t
entirely
withhold affection, it was given
more
as an afterthought, like he
’d
realized he should
have been
do
ing
something and then
reacted obligatorily.
He no longer act
ed
on his instincts
or
on his emotions,
this was
probably
meant
to protect me from
his
outbursts. Or hell, it could be that he was
still
acting on his emotions
,
but his feelings for me changed after seeing me start to balloon up again.

I jumped when I felt his touch. Where
has my head been
these days? I wasn’t as aware as I was before, as alert. I was so
easily
lost in myself
-
in my warped mind
-
that I
was
miss
ing
too much, even the simple
st
of
things
.

I rapidly swiped at my tears before I look
ing
up at Kai. I gave him a
meek
smile, trying to hide it all.

His eyes reflected the truth back at me though. He saw it, and he was worried. He moved his hand to cradle my head as he leaned in and kissed my forehead. “You’re still beautiful.”

I rolled my eyes. “You don’t
have
to be nice.” I gazed down at my protruding stomach. It wasn’t a perfectly round shape yet. Kellan argued that it was, but my belly weight sat
more
like an egg, heavier
on
the bottom half. I was waiting for it to start jiggling any day now.

“Look at me,” he ordered.

I bit my lower lip, lifting my
eyes to meet his.

“I’ve never lied to you, have I?”

I couldn’t fault him there. He’d always been truthful with me, opting not to speak at all when he didn’t feel
like
he could be brutally honest. “Sorry,” I muttered.

I focused on my closet. I
t was
full of clothes
…
that didn’t fit.

“Put on some shoes
,
and I’ll take you shopping.”

“But my belly is hanging out.”

I gave a tough
yank
on the bottom of my shirt again, but the black tank refused to stretch
anymore
to meet my capris, especially since my lower belly was
now
hogging the length of them
and
typically
they
sat just over the largest part of my hips. There was a good four inches of my belly exposed, and it wasn’t sexy or cute.

Kai stepped back and removed his shirt, revealing a plain white tee beneath that
looked nice with
his dark jeans. He passed me the pale blue shirt he’d been wearing. “For the record, I think you’re beautiful just the way you are. If it was up to me, I wouldn’t cover up
any part of you
.”

I turned my back to him, slipping off my tank and replacing it with his shirt. His shirt hung off of me. It was comfortable and smelled deliciously of him. “Thanks,” I said
, facing
him again.

He chuckled, his eyes sparkling. “It looks cute on you.”

I felt
color filling
my cheeks
.
  I moved away, slipping on a pair of flip-flops. My hair was already off of my neck
. My
very casual ensemble
was complete
.

Kai slipped his arm around me, escorting me out to the living room.

Kellan’s features tightened at the sight of us. He glowered at Kai, but to his credit, he didn’t say anything. My bra hadn’t revealed anything a bikini wouldn’t have shown when I changed. Regardless, I was still a little ticked at Kellan for not telling me anything about his mission. If I’d done the same to him, he would have flipped out.

“How long will you be gone?” I asked, remaining at Kai’s side.

He swallowed hard as he faced me. “I’m not sure.”

Rage
began rising
within me. I rubbed my stomach. How could he leave us? My rambling thoughts hit me hard
, jabbing
between bouts of frustration. I wasn’t angry because he was leaving; I was scared that he might not come back. Why would he risk that? Why would he walk right into the arms of chance?

I ground my teeth. Why was he doing this? I scowled at him. “Well
,
I’m not sure if I’ll be here when you get back then,” I barked
, stomping
off towards the door.

I heard Kellan growl
, clearly he was annoyed.