Redemption (The Penton Vampire Legacy) (33 page)

She’d been too overwhelmed by the night’s events to think much about this new house of hers, but now she sat on the floor and pulled a box open. Who had touched her things, meager though they were? From what she knew of Aidan’s power structure, she’d guess the job had fallen to Will or one of his fams. He seemed to be the all-around go-to guy in the organization, but Krys just couldn’t get a feel for him. He’d been downright calculating when he looked at Lucy last night, but maybe they didn’t like each other. He did seem devoted to Aidan.

Boy, he must think your life is pathetic
. All she’d managed to accumulate since college was a little bit of cheap furniture, a few clothes, the Dinosaur, and a lot of debt. Now she had the clothes and the Dinosaur, and wasn’t too worried about the debt. She’d gone way off the student-loan collectors’ grid.

A knock at the front door jolted her out of her brain fog. She could see Melissa through the sidelight window, and smiled as she welcomed her neighbor. No, her friend. She liked the sound of that.

“Want to go for breakfast before we head to the clinic?” Melissa already wore her Auburn scrubs.

“Sure.” Krys grabbed her bag and followed Melissa to her car. “Like your scrubs—I went to school at Auburn. Did you? Or are you just a football fan?”

“I was in the nursing program there.” Melissa cranked the engine and pulled out of the driveway. “Well, at least I was until I got mixed up with an abusive guy. I’m not proud of this, but you might as well know. I struggled with depression and tried to kill myself before I met Aidan at the free clinic in Atlanta.”

Krys had trouble imagining Melissa in that life, but she herself was walking proof that grim things often hid behind smiling facades.

The spiky-haired waitress at the cafe, Laurel, recognized Krys. “Here with Mark’s better half this morning?” She laughed and showed them to the same booth. Melissa pulled laminated menus from behind the napkin dispenser and handed one to Krys. “Did Mark make you eat the monster meat meal?”

Krys nodded. “I swear, a whole herd of animals died for that platter. You know, you really won’t get anemic from Aidan feeding every other day.”

Melissa rolled her eyes. “Mark just uses that as an excuse to eat bacon.”

Krys looked over the menu and was glad to see items that didn’t oink, moo, or cluck. “I’m thinking oatmeal sounds good.”

Their orders came quickly, and Melissa proved to be a nonstop conversationalist, which gave Krys a chance to ask questions about her new neighbors.

“So you were already with Aidan when you met Mark?”

Melissa crunched her cereal. “Yep. Been with Aidan five years, and Mark and I have been married almost four. Aidan introduced me to his new business manager, and that was it for me. Knew he was the one.”

Krys ran her spoon in circles through her bowl of oatmeal. “I hope this isn’t too personal, but I’ve been wondering. Doesn’t it bother Mark that you and Aidan...” If she was going to stay here, she had to get over this aversion to the lingo. “Does it bother him that Aidan feeds from you? I mean, it’s really intimate.” Not to mention that it had made her ridiculously jealous.

Melissa laughed. “No, it’s intimate but...Aidan’s a good friend. I think he considers me a good friend. That’s all there is, and Mark knows that. He’s been around the vamps enough to know that unless one of them is mated, they really can separate sex and feeding. We’re happy here—or we will be when this Owen situation gets taken care of.”

There was that word again:
happy
.

“While I’m being nosy, can I ask you something else?” Krys fidgeted with the pink and blue sweetener packets on the table, not wanting to look Melissa in the eyes.

“Shoot.”

“I still don’t understand why you stay. I mean, at first, yeah. You owe Aidan and all. And you like him. But this”—she looked around—“it’s not real life. I mean, it’s like hiding out, living in your own little country unplugged from everything outside.”

Melissa was silent so long that Krys finally looked up, afraid she’d made her angry. Instead she looked thoughtful.

“Let me ask
you
a question,” Melissa said. “What takes more courage—doing what’s normal and being miserable, or admitting what you need in order to be happy? Here’s the problem. You have feelings for Aidan and don’t want to admit it because he’s a vampire and he kidnapped you and you think you should be scared. Well, guess what? Screw what you
should
feel.” Melissa took a sip of her coffee. “Sorry, Mark says my brain-mouth filter gets turned off sometimes. I’ve been wanting to give Aidan the same lecture about you but haven’t gotten up the nerve.”

Krys looked at the pink and blue packets stacked in neat piles across the table and realized that she’d emptied the container. She started putting them back in the plastic holder before Laurel came back.

“Why would Aidan need that lecture?” She couldn’t deny that she had needed it. Melissa had nailed her whole dilemma in three or four sentences, and now Krys’s doubts seemed stupid.

“Because Aidan’s a brooder, if you haven’t noticed.” Melissa giggled. “Don’t tell him I said that, either. He’s a good man, but he’ll think things to death and back. He’s so convinced you won’t want to be with him because of the kidnapping and the blood-drinking and all that crap that he won’t even give you a chance to turn him down.”

Krys leaned back in her chair and stared out the window. People walked past the café, stopping occasionally to look in the
window of the little clothing store across the street. All so normal. What Melissa said made sense. If she stripped away what she thought she
should
feel and what she
should
do, if she ignored what society would
expect
her to feel or do, what was left? Aidan and her feelings for him.

“You were right earlier,” she said, looking back at Melissa. “When I ran away, I wasn’t running from Aidan or even from Penton. I was afraid of what I was feeling. It still scares the hell out of me.”

Melissa reached across the table and patted her hand. “We all went through that same thing, Krys. It’s hard to throw out what you’re conditioned to believe or how you’re conditioned to react. But weigh that against what you have and see what sticks.”

When Aidan practically ran out of her room after bonding her, Krys had thought he hadn’t wanted her. But maybe he was just afraid she’d push him away.

“Still friends? You’re not talking to me.” Worry creased a line between Melissa’s eyebrows.

Krys smiled. “Friends. Definitely friends. You’ve given me a lot to think about.”

After breakfast, as Melissa drove to the clinic, she grew quiet.

“Something wrong?”

Melissa shook her head. “Just wishing Mark hadn’t insisted on going on the hunt today. I know Owen’s vampires are down during daylight but it still scares me.”

“I didn’t know Mark had gone with them,” Krys said as they turned in to the clinic lot and parked near the front entrance. “What time are they supposed to be back?”

“Three, at the latest,” Melissa said. “He’ll come by here and stay till I get off, then we’ll swing by Aidan’s for a few minutes before dinner.” She grinned. “I would invite you to dinner with us, but it’s date night.”

“No problem. I’m going to start keeping clinic hours every day while I’m here, and this afternoon I’ll just unpack and explore.” Krys stopped as she opened the car door. “Wait. You’re going by Aidan’s because...” She kept tripping over the words.
Stupid, Krys
.
If you’re going to admit how you feel, you need to be able to say it.
“Because he needs to feed?”

“Yeah, he likes to feed as soon as he gets up for the night. You don’t have to be squeamish about it. It’s just the way things are.”

Krys laughed and hoped her voice was loud enough to camouflage her pounding heart. “I know. I was going to tell you and Mark to go ahead on your date night. I’ll go to Aidan instead and you can both have the night off. I need to be there about five?”

Melissa’s eyes widened. “Four thirty’s better. Are you sure about that?”

“Really, I want to.” Krys felt her face grow hot. She wanted
him
, was more like it. One of them was going to have to finally admit it and take a chance on being rejected.

Looks like it’s going to be me.

S
he was here. Aidan knew before his eyes opened. He didn’t sense Melissa or Mark. Just Krys. Something must be wrong.

He slid out of bed, pulled on a pair of jeans, and jerked down the ladder in the sitting area outside his bedroom. He climbed both sets of stairs in a rush and lifted the latch into the kitchen, pausing only long enough to sense her in the living room, alone.

He padded in on bare feet and there she was, standing with her back to him, jabbing at the fireplace with a poker. She’d started a fire, and it was already crackling, sending out warmth that felt like a caress. Aidan didn’t use the fireplace often, but he liked the feel and smell of it.
Especially with her in front of it.

“Krys?”

She whirled, her hand to her chest, and burst into the throaty laugh that got its usual reaction from his dick. It did its best to stand at attention.

“God, you scared me. You should be required to wear bells or something so you don’t sneak up on people.”

He smiled. “Vampires like sneaking up on people. It’s what we do. Where’s Mel? Is something wrong?” Krys was tightly wound, heart pumping color into her face, the heat on her skin infusing the air around her with her light, sweet scent.

She twisted her hands together. “I told Melissa I wanted to come instead, that you could feed from me. Is that OK?”

She looked so damned beautiful. Her dark hair fell below her shoulders in loose curls, and she wore a red sweater that tested every bit of his self-control.

Krys backed up as Aidan prowled toward her. He looked at her intently, knowing how his eyes had paled and, OK, trying to scare her a little.
If she’s going run from me, she needs to do it now.

Finally he had her backed against the wall next to the fireplace, and he pinned her there with his body.

Last time they’d been in this position, she’d struggled against him. Not today. Her breath was uneven, and he knew she saw the hunger in his face and felt it in his body. “Be sure about what you want, Krys,” he whispered. “Be sure you really understand who and what I am.”

He felt her heart racing beneath his chest and the pulse in her throat visibly quickened. He traced a finger over her neck. “Do you want to leave?”

Her voice surprised him, strong and a little husky. “No. I’m exactly where I want to be.”

“Do you understand that I can’t just feed from you? It won’t be the same as it is with Melissa. I have to be inside you, to have you inside me. Another blood exchange, except this one mates us.”

She swallowed hard and he sensed her arousal. Her nipples pebbled beneath her sweater as he pressed his hips against the juncture of her thighs. Her voice was shaky. “I understand.”

He circled his hips against her and ran his tongue up the side of her neck. “It means you’re mine, Krys.” He kissed her deeply, rocking against her, slow and insistent.

“I want to be yours.” Her words broke off in a moan.

His shoulders shook with the effort of getting himself under control. Slowly he pulled away from her and took her hand. “Come on, then.”

She followed him, not speaking until they climbed down the ladder into the basement and resealed the hatch.

“This is the real mother ship?” She laughed, her voice still a little shaky, and wandered around the room, picking up books, a knife, even one of his hand weights. He leaned against the doorway and watched her explore, his resolve wearing thin around the edges.

She paused in front of his bookcases, trailing her hands across his collection of CDs. “You have really eclectic taste,” she said, smiling back at him.

“I’ve had a lot of time to broaden my horizons,” he said drily, and she laughed again.

Finally, she came back and stood in front of him. “Let me see the lower level.”

“Think about this, Krys. You don’t—”

She covered his mouth with her hand. “I don’t want to think anymore, Aidan. Here’s the deal. If I can admit I want you despite the fact that you’re a vampire and you freaking kidnapped me, surely you can admit how you feel. Unless I’m reading you wrong and you don’t want me—in which case, just say so. I’ll be embarrassed, but you know what? One of us has to get this train moving.”

Moving? Good God. She didn’t realize it, but the train was on the verge of running off the tracks.

He knelt and released the hatch into his subbasement bedroom. He gestured to it and she didn’t hesitate. She just climbed down and waited for him at the bottom.

She took in the polished mahogany and deep colors of his sitting room as he descended the last step and raised the ladder behind him.

“It’s really beauti—”

He covered her mouth with his, and after a second of surprise, she leaned into him, wrapping her arms around his neck, making his body ache for her.

She pulled away and opened the door to the bedroom, giving his brain a second to reengage.
Holy hell.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He had to make her understand what she was committing to before this went any further.