A Vampire To Watch Over Me [Vampire Coven Book II] (17 page)

Tavish floated to Meg, and Laken could hear him trying to stem his rage. She was shaking so violently, Laken was surprised she was still seated. “You were almost killed; do you hate us so much that you won’t even call your vampire to save your life?”

“What vampire?” she whimpered.

“The name of your vampire,” Tavish snapped.

Meg looked thoroughly confused. “I don’t have one. I’m all alone. I don’t know where to sleep, so I sleep under the trees, but it rains so much and it’s so frightening in the dark, with no ceiling. I’m not used to being outside, but the main hall is closed for the vampires’ use and I can only go in when it’s time to eat. No one but Nora talks to me and she chose you over me. I thought, at least if I’m ignored out here it’s because I’m all alone. Not surrounded by people who ignore me on purpose and pretend I don’t exist.”

Now Tavish looked confused. Laken came forward and took Meg from the limb she sat on into his arms. She was terrified and looked so alone and defeated; her tears flowed like a river. Her arms fluttered in the air until, out of desperation, she wrapped them around Laken’s neck and clung for dear life. She sobbed against his neck. How could this have happened?

“Tavish, wasn’t she given to a vampire? Who brought her back?” Laken asked.

“Dash.” Tavish and Laken slowly drifted to the ground. “Dash has been away. He asked me to find her another vampire. I was just so busy…”

“Nora is still out there.” Burke brought their attention back to the task at hand.

“Oh no.” Meg whimpered. “She’s the only one who ever talks to me.”

“She is out here because of you.” Burke scowled. “You purposely placed yourself and two other breeder females into this position. It comes dangerously close to treason.”

Meg’s face went a deathly pale; she knew what treason was punishable with—except Tavish wouldn’t kill a breeder female. All humans knew what the strong wooden boxes on the coven were for, apparently so did Meg. The last person held in a box was Jarrod, Mercy’s cousin, prior to being dropped over the wall for the Anivamps before they roamed the coven. It had been over a hundred and fifty years since a female was trapped in a box. No one liked the idea. Meg’s heart hammered so hard Laken was fearful she would die of fright.

“
Enough.”
Tavish’s voice boomed. “We can lay blame later, but it’s come to my attention there are extenuating circumstances. We may all be at fault.”

“But…” Burke spluttered out the word.

“This may be my coven, but we are all responsible for the health and well-being of each individual, regardless of who they belong to. We have already suffered one tragedy with the ice dwellers—let it end now.”

Laken nodded and Burke had the decency to look guilty. Tia’s death was a blow to the coven. The vampires had failed to help her; it looked as though they had failed Meg as well. Tavish was right.

“Spread out; Laken take Meg back to the coven and hand her over to Caine,” Tavish demanded. But first, he took Meg’s chin in his hand and his glowing white eyes gazed into hers. “You will be safe.”

“I was promised that last time. It was a lie; I was all alone in a strange new place. It was no wonder Tia died.” Meg tried to struggle from Laken’s grip; Tavish kept hold on her chin.

“You will never go over the wall again,” Tavish commanded.

“No, of course not. Being alone hurts but those creatures are hideous.”

“Until Dash returns, you are mine,” Tavish informed her. “If you are afraid, you
will
say my name and I will come to you.”

Meg stilled, she looked skeptical, but Laken couldn’t blame her. For weeks, she had wandered the coven alone and unnoticed, avoided. Perhaps now, Meg had some insight as to how Honor felt in the ice dwelling. It was a hard, sad lesson to learn. Laken gripped Meg tighter; Tavish released her chin and Laken took to the sky with Meg. She wrapped her arms around him in a death grip.

* * * *

“Did you find them? Are they alive?”

Honor watched as Laken strode into the room. She had been lying nude in the warm room, on his bed, staring at the ceiling. In the ice dwelling, Honor could on occasion see the ice ceiling, when the fire was stoked and the light bright enough. It had been beautiful; it looked like the polished glasses she now drank her juice from. The ceiling in Laken’s room was boring by comparison. It was flat, rectangular and there was nothing to speculate about anymore, Honor knew what the sky looked like now. Yes, this world was stunning, but there was something to be said about the outstanding originality of ice and snow. There was beauty in cold, when it took fantastic shape and form. At this moment, Honor was missing it.

“They are still searching for Nora,” Laken replied.

“Tavish blames me,” Honor said and sat up. “Will he hurt me?”

Laken was beside her in seconds. “Never.”

“I’ve heard rumors, Laken,” she began with worry. “I can’t be locked up in a box, I’d rather die.”

“You will not be locked up and you won’t die.” Laken snarled.

The clothing he wore hit the floor. He came at her fast. He came at her like the vampire he was—powerful, hard, huge and full of domination. Laken took hold of her entire body; there was no part that didn’t feel his strength, his emotion. He didn’t need to prove she was his—she knew. What she didn’t know until this very second was that he would never allow anyone to hurt her, not even another vampire. Honor felt it in his touch; she was astounded, and worried.

Honor had always wanted to be loved, but she knew it came with a price. Her father had died bargaining for her safety. What would it cost Laken? What price would Laken pay for her safety and his love? It was no wonder both love and hate were four letter words.

Laken’s hands were firm as he squeezed and kneaded her soft breasts. Honor’s back arched when he latched onto a taut bud; his teeth razed over her nipple until she cried out. He dragged his body down the length of her, with his arms overhead still working her breasts, while she gripped his wrists and wiggled beneath him.

For long, agonizing, heated moments, he licked at her. He laved her belly button before moving to her hip and gently biting. When his feet hit the floor, he wrapped his hands around her waist and pulled her down to meet his hips; he spun her onto her belly. Laken had never used such strength with her. It was frightening—and thrilling. Honor’s legs were spread and the bottoms of her feet only hit the floor for a second before he plunged into her heat, making her scream as she was thrust up onto her toes.

The punishing hold he had on her hips made her groan as he pounded himself into her at a dizzying pace. Honor could barely breathe; she made quick shallow pants. Each thrust of his hips and Honor was tossed higher and harder until she could no longer feel the wood beneath her feet. She dragged herself up onto her elbows and looked under her. Laken was a blur of movement; Honor could see the fast bobbing of her breasts as he rode her. Higher her hips were pulled until she realized Laken was floating, taking her with him.

Honor fisted the sheet within her hands, her face lowered to the bed and she bit at the soft blanket to muffle her endless scream as orgasm after orgasm bombarded her entire being. Soon she was lifted too high, her hands were forced to release the sheets and Honor watched as the bed slipped farther from her grasp. For long moments, she remained suspended high in the air with Laken’s frantic breaths filling her ears. Her hands hung limp with her vulnerability until Laken floated back to the ground. Finally, Laken began to slow his frantic pace; his hands roamed her bare bottom. Honor slumped forward, feeling the hard wood under her tip toes, and when Laken slipped his magnificent cock from her, he picked her up and the two lay side by side on the bed.

“I know what love is, Laken,” Honor whispered.

“Do you?”

“It’s making sacrifices for someone; it’s unconditional. It’s a feeling that grips your heart when you are with someone and away from someone. No matter where the person you love is, the need to see them in your thoughts takes your breath away. I know why my father spent his last breath on bartering to save my life. It was the cruelest thing Talek ever did to me. I should have heard my father call out to me, not Talek. My father should have told me he loved me, to be good and that everything would be all right.

“Instead, he had to yell to Talek to do the right thing. He spent his very last moments alive trying to save the one person he loved the most in the entire world. We never got to say goodbye.”

Honor could feel the tears streaming down her face. Laken wiped them away with his fingers. “Your father was a good man.”

“So are you, Laken. You are worth loving.”

Chapter 11

Tension was high as all forty-two vampires presented themselves in the main room. The curtains were drawn and all humans had been sent to their rooms with strict orders to stay put. Laken watched as Tavish strode to a table and jumped up on it to been seen by all. Near the table, his wife Mercy held their small son, Galf, in her arms. Tavish assessed his family of vampires.

“We all know why we’re here,” Tavish began.

“Because Laken’s female went over the wall and was never punished,” Burke yelled.

Laken was annoyed. Burke had found Nora, a little worse for wear but unharmed. Yes, she had been frightened, but she hadn’t lost the baby.

“Honor never sent those women over the fence; they all went on their own,” Laken yelled back.

“They went because they felt they had nothing to fear,” Burke said in retaliation.

“And whose fault is that?” Dante boomed and glanced pointedly at Tavish.

“Mine,” came a small clear voice. Mercy stepped forward. “The fault is mine. I encouraged the Anivamps over the wall because I wasn’t allowed to read to the other humans. I was desperate to share my knowledge with someone or in my case something. We all have benefitted from the Anivamps. They bring even more laughter and love into the coven.”

“Meg going over the fence was my fault,” Tavish said.

“No, it was mine,” Dash said. He had returned, with six other vampires who had been hunting, hours earlier. “I should have realized how busy Tavish was; I shouldn’t have just dumped my new female in the coven and taken off to hunt another continent away. We all take for granted Tavish will watch our charges when we are away. We just pick up and leave. I think the blame rests with us all.”

“Dash is right,” Laken said, stepping forward. “Honor was already in a dark place emotionally, if Tavish had punished her and locked her up, she may have ended up like Tia.”

“Which was my understanding,” Caine said. “Honor’s sanity was hanging in the balance; I will not allow one of my patients to be placed under duress. Ice dwellers don’t understand our rules. The females, especially, are never allowed outside their dwellings, and when they’re brought here they are twice as terrified; some had never seen the sun—as was with Honor. They are expected to breed; they are told to go outside when both of those things were taught to be treason. Do you even understand how terrifying this all is to them?

“Burke, you’ve never been responsible for an ice dweller, until now. You have never had to cope with the fear Laken has taken on. Nora was older and had seen the outdoors; at one time she’d had the protection of a mate until he died. She had grown up with a mother and father, Honor hadn’t. Have you ever offered to help Laken?”

“We don’t need help with our charges.” Burke scoffed, but he looked unsure.

“Maybe if someone had helped me, Tanya wouldn’t have turned to rogue vampires,” Rhett said somewhat bitterly.

“Or me, when little Perrin made her way over the fence last year,” Ryker said thoughtfully.

Laken hadn’t known the great big Viking had felt that way. He understood Rhett’s anger about Tanya and his feelings of betrayal, but to hear Ryker express annoyance was rare in the coven. Perrin was a deaf child belonging to Ryker’s female ice-dweller, Kia. The three year old had made her way over the fence and was found by Druid, just like Meg was. The idea was a revelation—Druid was more of a help to Tavish than the vampires when it came to watching all the humans.

All of the vampires had duties, but it was understood Tavish was sire. Tavish’s word was law, but once more the laws were changing, and if they didn’t adapt, there would be dissention in their midst as there was now. Laken admitted to feelings of some jealousy when he watched Tavish toss young Galf into the air and knew Tavish had a son. Mercy was a vampire and would rule at Tavish’s side; what if one day Laken wanted a wife? Were there other vampires who were feeling the same way Laken was?

“Word of mouth isn’t enough to keep the humans from going over the wall,” Tavish said. “They are all now curious.”

“What do we do?” Ryker asked.

“We do what we did before; we show them the danger,” Tavish said. “We’re going to round up Cronos and bring him back. We’re going to show each human in this coven why they are not allowed over the fence.”

Laken sighed. Honor still had nightmares about her meeting with Cronos. If every human was given a glimpse, it was going to mean a lot of sleepless nights for some time.

“Even the children?” Dante asked, he looked worried. “Tavish, showing six little girls that monster is going to scare the shit out of them. Do you realize the nightmares they’re going to have?”

“Yes, I do,” Tavish replied. “That’s why we are all in this together. If one of us isn’t sleeping—none of us will.”

There was a whole lot of groaning going on in the main hall. Laken didn’t know whether to laugh or be furious. He had already done his time consoling Honor—it looked like he was back on boogey man chasing duty.

Damn.

Burke was glaring at him. “Laken, this is your fault. We’re all going to be babysitting an entire group of humans for weeks. I hope you’re happy.”

Laken chuckled. “Well, there is nothing more important than my
Honor
.”

* * * *