DeLeina, Maya - Veil of Seduction [Ambrose Heights Vampires 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) (14 page)

“Look, I know this is hard for you. I’m telling you, according to the lab results, the dose I just administered should do the trick. After we test and officially call it a success”—Eilian paused to glance at his wristwatch—“which is now in about ten minutes, you can prepare for your long-awaited quest. Now, I suggest you spend that time resting and cleaning yourself up. You look like hell.” Eilian got up from the chaise and walked over to Steffan who remained lying on the bed. “And you’ll be happy to know I found her! I have some news to report on her for you since M.J.’s report didn’t give us much on Ryan.”

Steffan sprang up immediately from his position and stood face-to-face with Eilian. “News? I didn’t ask you to do anything that involved her! What did you do? Did you talk to her, go near her, touch her?” Steffan demanded.

Steffan searched Eilian’s eyes. “Do not tell me you fed from her!”

Eilian took a step back and pushed a hand against Steffan’s chest. “Relax. I’ve simply been following her!”

Eilian placed both hands on Steffan’s shoulder to push him back into a sitting position on the bed. “I will excuse your behavior since you have no obvious control. This inborn trait to protect your potential mate, you have to try and control it! Trust me and trust in what I’m trying to do here. Don’t ever think I would do anything to harm the connection between you two. Even though we don’t share the same blood, I consider you my brother.”

Steffan looked down. “I’m sorry, Eilian. I don’t know what came over me. I never felt this way before in all of my years. I don’t like losing control.”

Eilian crouched in front of Steffan. “I know it’s hard, but you have to try and control yourself. Our existence, what we are, we’re predatory by nature. It will always be in us. You have to fight to suppress everything your body and mind tells you to do. She won’t be able to comprehend all of the intrinsic behaviors of a male vampire and how hard you’re struggling to manage it. If you can’t control yourself, you may end up scaring her off and driving her away for good.”

Steffan remained motionless, with his head hanging in regret.

“Between the lack of information in the reports and the fact that Ryan didn’t live in our town, I had no choice. I had to go find her and study her. We need to understand what the connection is with her and the stone. We have to make sure we piece together her relationship and importance to Ryan before you pursue her…otherwise it could—”

“Do you think I would carelessly put my desire for a mate first and potentially cause turmoil in this family? I knew this was something I would have figure out first,” Steffan shouted and interrupted Eilian. Steffan pulled the stone from his pocket and laid it out on the white satin sheets of his bed.

“Eilian, from the moment I first touched this stone on the night I turned Ryan, I made it a point to understand the connection before I pursued anything that was inherent in the touch reaction.”

Steffan rose from the bed, and Eilian straightened from his crouch. Steffan paced the bedroom.

“I told you, Ryan doesn’t recall the stone as ever belonging to him. I entered his mind several times. There’s no one there. I had him hold on to the stone. Nothing sparked for him. I can’t find anyone that he retained in his images or emotion. I talked to Vaughn, and Ryan never made mention of anyone when he came up here to visit. I’m telling you, I did my due diligence before I started trying to connect with whoever had touched the stone within that twenty-four-hour period and projected compatibility onto me.”

“Steffan, we have to be sure…”

“You want to know how damn sure I am?”

Eilian sat on the edge of the bed quietly awaiting Steffan’s response.

“After I was able to acquire her image, her scent, her voice…I projected everything, all of her, into Ryan.”

“And?”

“And still, nothing. Absolutely no reaction or recollection. Nothing. He has no clue who she is.”

Eilian sighed. “Absolutely nothing at all?”

Steffan shook his head.

“Well then, I would certainly say you did everything you could.” Eilian paused for a moment, smiled, and continued, “That makes me even more certain of their connection that I was able to piece together.”

Steffan ran his fingers through his unruly hair and his other hand rested at his hip.

“And you couldn’t tell me you already figured out their connection before I went on rambling?”

“I had to know what your frame of mind was, for your own protection. I knew your connection to her was deep. I didn’t know if you were going to be strong enough to look past your desire to pursue her as your mate or uphold the family’s principles first, you know…look at the situation from an ethical standpoint and think about the impact it could have on Ryan,” Eilian explained.

“After all these years…I thought you knew me better than that,” Steffan said with a hint of resentment.

“I’m sorry to have doubted you, Steffan. I was just looking out for your best interests. But I have no doubts now. You are truly a selfless man.”

Steffan nodded in understanding, his hand crossed over his chest. “Now, what is the connection?”

“She works part-time at that metaphysical shop in town, you know, Mystic’s Mirth, the one Michelle owns?”

“Dominic’s Michelle?”

“Yes,” Eilian responded.

“You are saying Dominic is somehow connected to my mate?”

“No, don’t you see what I am saying? Michelle’s
shop
is the link to the jasper, the jasper that linked you to your mate. Once I found her at the shop, I watched her for hours on end.”

“And,” Steffan said with agitation.

“And you could say Anya knew Ryan pretty well. He was engaged to Anise…her identical twin sister,” Eilian reported with a childlike enthusiasm.

“What? How do you know this to be absolutely true?” Steffan asked.

“At first, I got the sense that
Anya
was Ryan’s wife. But M.J. offered to come with me one day to watch her, you know, help make sense of it all,” Eilian explained.

“Given our past, I am surprised she wanted to help in my mate quest.”

“She holds no ill feelings. I think she is over you,” Eilian responded.

Steffan quickly changed the subject, “What in the hell is wrong with the man? He hasn’t recalled the woman he was engaged to? And, twins…
identical
twins, and he still didn’t recall anything even when I projected Anya’s images in his mind? Did she not mean much to him? Did he just view her as an object or possession? I mean, he put the house in her name, for Christ’s sake!”

“I know, it’s strange, really. He could recall all of his material positions, but no human connections. In fact, I am really tired of hearing about the damn Mercedes he wrecked in the accident. Didn’t you promise to replace it?”

Steffan let out a long sigh. “Yes.” He took a seat on the bed next to Eilian, crossing one knee over the mattress so he could face Eilian. “That was the only thing I could offer to appease him after I told him about the situation with the house. Well, that and the new house he could build to his specifications. That reminds me, is he working well with Richard?”

“For the most part. Although Richard has his moments of frustration. Ryan keeps changing the plans, always saying he wants it bigger than Steffan’s house. He apparently still doesn’t understand that your house serves as the main portal to the underground.”

“By the way, did you remind everyone to use the tunnels while our new mortal resident is out roaming the grounds?”

“They know. Everyone has been briefed. Anyway, about the red jasper. Ryan got the stone from Mystic’s Mirth. Anya must’ve handled the stone just enough to leave a good amount of trace on it, rubbing and clutching it before wrapping it up for Ryan the morning of the accident. I tell you, the timing of her touch on that stone that morning and him dropping in your hands that very same evening was pure luck.” Eilian shook his head in disbelief.

“Rubbing and clutching the stone?” Steffan asked, a look of confusion plainly etched in his expression.

“Yeah, they teach people about the properties of stones at the shop. How to use them, draw out their energy and healing power by rubbing it on an ailing part of the body, rubbing it with your fingers to disperse negative energy, things like that.”

Eilian drew the stone by its cord as it sat between Steffan and Eilian on the white, satin sheet. Eilian dangled it in front of Steffan’s eyes.

“How should I put this? This particular stone is said to have the power of arousal and to promote sexual gratification.”

“You don’t believe that, do you?” Steffan chuckled as he reached for the stone.

“Actually, it’s quite interesting. Ancient shamans believe that stone’s first and foremost purpose is to provide a layer of protection to those around it. The sexuality aspect, however, the power to encourage sexual compatibility, to create arousal and to prolong sexual pleasure, is its secondary power and is only released when there’s a pure connection made between two people who have touched the stone.”

Steffan clutched the stone tightly in his grip. “I never believed in anything like this before.”

“So you’re saying you regularly dry hump the air in the corner of your house and bring yourself to an orgasm in your pants?”

“Good point.” Steffan rolled his eyes.

“Never, ever do that in front of me again,” Eilian stated.

Steffan hung his head in obvious embarrassment as he recalled the moment. “What else did you find out? I mean, what is her day like? What does she do?”

“She only works at Michelle’s store in the morning. By afternoon, she’s busy giving cello lessons in the warehouse district downtown. She plays elegantly and beautifully. Very much up to your standards, you’ll find.”

“Magnificent.”

“On the weekends, she volunteers her time to teach music to underprivileged kids. She even contributed her own money to the program and raised additional funds from donations and grants to purchase all of the instruments for the children to practice on.”

“Wow.” Steffan responded. He felt childish in his response and sat quietly in his reflection.

“Steffan, now hear me out on this.” Eilian paused and chose his words carefully as he spoke. “I’m overcome with a feeling of…unconditional closeness to her.”

“What are you saying?”

“I watched her for days on end because I didn’t get it at first. She felt so familiar to me, so comforting. Then it finally dawned on me. She was projecting
you
. I see so much of your mannerism in everything she does naturally, all the things you do and how you carry yourself mirrored in her. Anya even bites down on her pinky finger when she’s in deep thought like you. But honestly, she’s like-minded in the need to help people, placing the needs of others before anything else. You both are equal in that passion. And the music, my god, the music! There is no question about this. I hold no attraction for her even though she’s clearly beautiful and I feel a strong kinship to her without having met. It’s all because Anya is destined to be a part of our family, as your mate.”

Steffan took in a deep breath.

He said nothing.

There were no words to articulate his emotion, no emotion to convey the depth of his euphoria.

For so long, his existence had been guided by solitude, the darkness his nightly companion. The thought of being liberated of his lonesome enslavement, to live for the purpose of tending to someone else’s needs and happiness, to love with his soul, besieged him. Love was the ultimate possession. All of his wealth and belongings could never amount to what he was about to give and what he was about to receive, unconditionally, without limits and in complete totality.