A Mate for Lazarus (The Program Book 3) (20 page)

“Your plan was to get in and find a way to stay in.
You seduced Lazarus in the hopes that he would pick you so that you would be
able to stay. You don’t have actual feelings for him, you have strung him along
and made him think that you did so that he would take you into the next round.
A cold-hearted ploy if I ever saw one.”

Shaking her head, her gaze dropped to her feet and
her tears fell harder.

Lazarus made a noise of anguish. He couldn’t help
it. It felt like his heart was fucking shattering into a million pieces.

“I don’t think you planned on becoming pregnant…it’s
a serious fuck up.” Brant clenched his jaw and paced back to the window before
turning back to face them.

Lazarus could feel how his chest rose and fell, how
his heart fucking raced. The urge to tear up the room. To break down every
brick of this building tore at him.

“I’m sorry,” Alexandra whispered. “Things changed…my
feelings changed.”

“No! You saw an opportunity, Miss Stone.” Brant
growled. “You had planned on writing a story for your paper. You planned on
using your cell phone to send it when the time came. You didn’t sign a
nondisclosure agreement like the rest of the human females, so you were in a
position to make it happen.” Brant picked some nonexistent lint off of his
jacket. “What you were really hoping for, Miss Stone, was an exclusive?
Something no one else would get. An interview with the vampire kings. Your hope
was to be able to get all the inside information and it looked for a while
there like you were going to pull it off. We were all playing nicely into your
hands. It didn’t really matter either way though did it?” He picked up the cell
phone on the bed. “You would’ve sent the story to your contact on the outside
anyway. Your being here was never about finding a mate but always about the
story.”

Everything fell into place. That nagging feeling.
Lazarus covered his face with his hands. He was panting, so close to fucking losing
it.

“It’s true.” Alexandra sniffed loudly, using the
back of her hand to wipe her face. “My initial intention was to get the story.
I wasn’t here to find a vampire mate. Things changed though. I never planned on
falling in love, on even having sex for that matter. That’s why when Allison asked
me about the birth control I just said yes. You have to believe me…” She moved
to stand in front of Lazarus, grabbing his arms. “The day that you found the
article was the day that I decided
not
to go ahead with it. I still had
to try and get the story, but it wasn’t going to be behind your back. I told
you that it was important to me. I never lied to you about that.”

He brushed her off. Lazarus couldn’t stand her touch,
and yet at the same time he wanted to pull her into his arms and believe
everything she was saying. It was so fucked up. He couldn’t think straight.

“I was going to tell you.” Alexandra’s voice was
shrill. “I swear.”

“When?” He growled. Not sounding nearly as in
control as he had before.

She shrugged. Fucking shrugged.

“You had every opportunity!” He roared. Alexandra
flinched and he tried to calm the fuck down and failed.

“At first I couldn’t because I was afraid of getting
kicked out and then I was afraid of losing you. It’s been a stressful day…I
would have…soon. I swear.” Her lip trembled and he had to resist the urge to
run the pad of his thumb along its seam.

Lazarus swallowed hard. His throat felt clogged. It
was like he was choking. “I don’t know if I can believe you. Getting close to
me was all about the story…the exclusive.” His hands were shaking so he
clenched them. “You might be carrying my child. Do you want to do a story on
that too?”

“What?...No…no I don’t.” She put her hand to her
belly.

“Did you even mean it when you said that you wanted
to keep him?” His voice cracked. “Don’t even answer…I wouldn’t believe you
anyway.”

Her face crumpled. “Please…Lazarus…give me a chance
to—”

Thank fuck the door was open or he would have torn
it from its hinges. Lazarus practically ran from the room. He took the stairs
four at a time. He ran and ran, until the sweat dripped off of him, until his
chest burned. Until his legs gave out. He couldn’t escape the pain. It stayed
with him, its claws in deep.

Alexandra
tried to stop the tears. Dammit! She didn’t want Brant to see her like this.
Weak and broken. If only this had gone down another way. Why had she been such
a damned coward? It wasn’t like her. Maybe because for once, she had so much to
lose. The story…the exclusive…it didn’t matter.

She’d
become the center of Lazarus’ world. Seeing the look of utter devastation
written in his eyes was enough to bring her to her knees. Alex covered her face
and made a sobbing noise.

“Please
spare us, Miss Stone. Lazarus is gone so you can stop with the theatrics.”
Brant sounded bored.

Fuck
him! “I’m upset about this, okay? I’m allowed to cry. You don’t have to be such
an asshole about it.”

“You’re
upset because you were found out.” His voice hardened up.

“Bullshit.
I love Lazarus.” Her eyes widened as she realized what she had just said. “I
fucking love him,” she said louder as she wiped her tears away. “I came here to
get an exclusive, one way or another. It was never my intention to hook up with
anyone. I used Lazarus…at least it started off that way but I fell head over
heels in fucking love with him. I’m more than likely pregnant with his child.”

Brant
clapped. The sound reverberated around the room. “You should be an actress
instead of a journalist. Save your speeches…I’m not interested.” Brant thrust a
thick document into her hands. “Here…if you care anything for Lazarus then you
can prove it by signing this.”

She
looked down at the contract and non-disclosure agreement. The documents she
should have signed before entering vampire territory.

“I
will have some drugs delivered to you shortly. Progestin-only EC most commonly
known as the morning after pill. You must take the pill immediately.”

What
the fuck!

“The
drug is ninety-five percent effective in preventing pregnancy. We can only hope
that it is effective if a female is pregnant by a vampire. The specialist I
spoke to feels that it should be the case.”

She
shook her head and narrowed her eyes at him. “You can forget about it. No
damned way. If I am pregnant, I am keeping this child and that’s final.”

Brant
gave a disappointed shake of the head. “So you plan on milking us for child
support?”

“I
don’t want anything from you. Not a damned thing.” She threw the documents on
the bed and turned to Allison. “Please, can you pass me a pen?” Then she looked
back at Brant. “I will sign your documents as proof to you that this isn’t
about the story anymore. I stand by my advice that you should find a good
reporter to tell your side of the story.” She paused, but Brant kept his mask
perfectly in place. “Then I will pack my bags and leave…you never have to see
me again. I don’t want anything from you.” She repeated the last because she
could see that he wasn’t buying it.

Brant
removed a pen from his pocket and handed it to her. It was gold and heavy.
Probably real damned gold. “A wise decision. As for leaving vampire territory,
we will wait until we know for sure if you are pregnant.” He paused. “If you
are with child then I am going to have to insist that you stay as a guest. It
wouldn’t be safe out there. This would be your new home.”

“You’ll
hold me against my will?”

“Take
the damned pill.” He narrowed his eyes.

“Fuck
you!” It came out as a hard whisper. “I won’t.” She was shaking, she was so
angry.

“Then
we wait and see. If anyone finds out that you are carrying a vampire child…” He
shook his head. “You would be murdered. Your baby kidnapped…is that what you
want? There are no human doctors out there that can give you the care that you would
need. What about the birth? Had you even thought that far?” His eyes blazed.
“No, Miss Stone, we would not hold you against your will, but due to the
circumstances you would be forced to stay nonetheless. Please let us know if
you start to crave blood. We’ll give it ten days before you will be free to go
if there is no sign of a pregnancy.”

He
held her gaze for a few seconds before turning to his PA. “Make sure that she
signs the thing and then bring it to me. Put a guard at this door twenty-four
fucking seven. She is not to go anywhere unattended. We can’t trust her for
shit.” Brant gave her a curt nod and walked out.

Allison
sighed. “That went well considering.”

“Well?”
Alexandra choked out a humorless laugh.

“The
room is mostly still intact. Brant and Lazarus didn’t tear into one another.
For what it’s worth.” She locked eyes with Alex. “I think I actually believe
you. I’m glad I’m not the one in your shoes though.” Allison shook her head.
“You are going to have an impossible time convincing Lazarus. We’re an honest
bunch. We don’t know how to handle deception.” She stuck the tip of the pencil
she was holding into her mouth for a few seconds. “That’s why I believed you so
easily at the gate. I didn’t think for even a second that you were lying.”

“I’m
really sorry, Allison. It was never my intention to get you into trouble. I’m
not normally such a…” She couldn’t say it.

“A
liar?” Allison raised her brows.

Alex
cringed and nodded her head. “I messed up.”

“Yes,
you did,” Allison said. “I will have to remember going forward how deceptive
humans can be. It was a lesson learned.” She smiled. “Brant is issuing condoms
to all the males still left in
The Program
.” She smiled even bigger.
“They are going to be pissed. Going forward, no rutting without a cover. I
believe your human saying is - no glove, no love.”

“Oh
shit. This is all my fault.”

Allison
nodded. “You played a part in it but it isn’t all your fault. We should not
have been so trusting. Things do go wrong. The intention was to have mated
couples have offspring, not single females. We do not want this to happen again
in the future for whatever reason.”

It
made Alex want to bury her head and cry. She would give Lazarus some time to
cool off and then she was going to find him. He had to talk to her…give her a
chance to explain without Brant twisting everything.

****

Lazarus
dragged his sorry ass back to his suite. His shirt clung to him. Sweat dripped
down his forehead. His body ached but it didn’t come close to reflecting the
pain inside. He kept on seeing Alexandra’s face. The way her eyes lit up when
she looked at him. The little sounds of contentment she made when he kissed
her. How fiercely she held onto him when he had made love to her over and over,
like she never wanted to let go, like she wanted to crawl inside him and become
a part of him. It had all been a lie. A ploy.

The
only reason she was with him was to get inside information on
The Program
.
That’s why it had often felt like she had an agenda. He’d asked her more than
once why she was even here. More damned lies. Lazarus had thought that this
baby was a blessing, a gift. A sign of their love. He scrubbed a hand over his
face. The child was a mistake. An accident. It hurt him even to think those
words.

Lazarus
grit his teeth to keep from roaring again. He flung his door open. Brant sat on
the sofa. The male gave a nod. Lazarus shut the door. “You look like shit,”
Brant said.

“It’s
fucking nice to see you too,” Lazarus growled. He wasn’t in the mood.

Brant
rolled his eyes. “Let’s cut the bullshit. I’m sorry this happened to you. We
have made changes within
The Program
to prevent something like this
happening again. Alexandra was an oversight. We trusted too willingly…it’s not
going to happen going forward that’s for fucking sure.”

Lazarus
folded his arms. Brant was making a half-assed attempt at apologizing to him.
He would let him finish and ask him to leave. It wasn’t Brant’s fucking fault,
or the fault of
The Program
. Lazarus had been stupid to allow himself to
fall so quickly. There had been plenty of alarm bells which he’d conveniently
chosen to ignore and now he was paying the price. Alexandra had done this, she
was the one that was to blame.

Brant
rose to his feet. “We can only hope that the human is not pregnant.”

Lazarus’
whole body tensed. He couldn’t stand the thought of there being no child, yet
the thought of her pregnant scared him half to fucking death as well. He
nodded.

“The
problem is that she probably will become pregnant.”

Lazarus
nodded again unable to talk. His throat was so clogged, his mind spinning.

“I
have told her that she will need to remain on vampire territory until we know
for sure, if she is not with child then she will be free to go…Hell, I’ll
escort her out my-
fucking
-self.”

Lazarus
grit his teeth. The thought of Alexandra leaving was unacceptable to him, yet
he didn’t want anything to do with her. Not a damned thing. Only, that wasn’t
true. She was a liar and had selfishly used him yet he still wanted her, still
loved her. He was a fucking idiot.

Lazarus
nodded a third time, praying that Brant would leave. He didn’t want or need any
company.

His
king must have sensed his frame of mind because he rose from the sofa. “Let us
know if you need anything. Zane has relieved you of your duties for the coming
period—”

“No!”
Lazarus growled. “I am perfectly capable of doing my duties.”

Brant
held his gaze for a long time before finally nodding. “Fine. If there are any
problems then come and talk to either Zane or myself.”

He
nodded. Like fuck that was going to happen. Lazarus would carry on, he would
find a way to live with a piece missing from his soul. There was no other way.