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The sun had set outside, but a nearby streetlah Teren&039;s open s, bathing everything in his rooif I really should stay where he told ate as well I kneouldn&039;t be able to pinpoint the mysterious sound like Teren could, but I was pretty handy in bad situations, if that&039;s what this was

A knot tightened in my stoer now than before his conversion, and he was much harder to kill, since he could now do the super-healy thing that I&039;d been so eager to see as alive, but he wasn&039;t invincible And we kneith certainty that there hack jobs out there anted him removed from this world, just because of what he was So and rubbing my bare arms, I walked over to his closet and pulled down one of his dress shirts It was long on s ht coldness in the air considerably I glanced around his closet (that I&039;d soon be taking over) and looked for anything weapon-like All I saere clothes; Teren really didn&039;t have much in the way of self defense

I tiptoed back to the bedroo the need to be that way anyway The red-orange light of the lamp outside flashed on various hard objects around the roo on his nightstand, his laptop sitting on a chair tucked under hisI didn&039;t see anything great, but if ere going down tonight, we going doinging I settled on an urabbed it With a hand on my stomach, I decided that I&039;d do what my vampire fiance had requested of me, and stay put, for the children&039;s sake I backed into the bathroo my cheap umbrella like it was a sturdy baseball bat

I don&039;t kno long I waited, but it felt like an eternity Teren could search every nook and cranny of this house in a er I was positive so horrible had happened to hi the rigid posture I was keeping the my eyes It couldn&039;t end like this I couldn&039;t have just made love to him and then lost him, all in a matter of moments He was supposed to be mine forever That was the deal We were fated We were destined to a long life of love, happiness, children and grandchildren That hat getting through his hard changeover meant for us - that ere free to love each other peacefully, for the rest of my life Not for him to be whisked away fro"

I felt the tears bri out the different scenarios where sootten the best of him In my head, I watched him die a hundred times over I felt the tears travel down my cheeks as I listened for any sounds that he was okay

Just asto shake fro in the open Panic and fearit around as soon as the figure walked into ister who I inging at until he reached up and calile umbrella It bent a little as he yanked it out ofright in front of ht I&039;d possibly gone mental in his absence As I felt a sob rise in onewith the icy edge of fear still lingering in e of breaking down and he instantly hadme up to cradle me like a child

"Baby, it&039;s okay You&039;re okay You&039;re okay" He repeated it over and over while he walked me back to his bed A hand continuously stroked downmy forehead I held back the stupid tears, but they were coot in next to ht when he moved to cover me with his blankets Once I was safe and cocooned in his bed, my ar his thu to dry my concerned tears, his face took on a look of confused compassion "Emma?" he whispered

Between hiccups and stuttered breaths, I happenedto you"

Understanding, he swept ain "Oh god, I&039;my body to cally fast hopped out of bed and securely closed his heavy curtains The rooain He kept his eyes open, staring deep into low on the whites of his eyes becahter as the room slowly beca eyes It was only apparent if they were soht, and had an al effect, to relax that prey into sub hu influence though and ht absorbed me into his peace I feltones people take while they&039;re sleeping I was so relaxed, that if he had told o to sleep, I probably would have But he didn&039;t try any hypnotic parlor tricks on me - he knew better than that Instead he twisted to turn on the lahtstand

"Better?" he asked, as I blinked in the sudden brightness

Taking in his back to normal blue eyes, I nodded "Yes, sorry I freaked out"

He shook his head and kissed ht I heard" His voice drifted off and he bit his lip After a second he shook his head and sighed softly "I ed "I searched everywhere, inside and outside, but I couldn&039;t find anythingout of place" He shrugged again and heldmy head to his chest "I&039;ainst his skin, ained the worst "You didn&039;t do anything wrong, Teren I guess I&039;m still a littlefrazzledby what happened to us" I said that last part barely above a whisper, hating to even talk about it

He pulled away froainst mine "I would neverlet anyone harrowled that and I relaxed as the strength in his voice gave s were different now He was different - stronger, and any hunter we encountered here on out, would have their hands full with Teren Adaave him a soft kiss "I know, baby I feel safe with you" I whispered, as I laid my head back down on his chest

"And you are safe with me," he whispered as I closedit tolast few moments, I was half-asleep when I responded with, "I know"

Then I was fully asleep

The nextwith the scratchy stubble of Teren&039;s jaw rubbing against o to work, but I could stay and sleep in a little if I wanted, since he&039;d run toanother pair of underwear I chuckled, thinking about last night and considering the fact that when he said "run", he probably meant that literally

With a swift kiss, we parted ways for the day Teren worked an hour before me and was a much nicer alarm clock than I&039;d had yesterday I smiled as I stretched out on his luxurious bed and considered aking up like this every day would be like

After awhile, I got up and walked to the bathroo out in this bathroom came to me and I tried to push it back to the farthest part ofas I tried to be, what had happened to us had been traumatic and the side effects still showed themselves so as Teren tried to be, when he said things like he had last night, the conviction in his voice betrayed his true fear He orried that he would let me down, that he wouldn&039;t be able to stop soain In a way, I suppose he felt like he&039;d let me down before I didn&039;t feel that way There&039;s no way either one of us could have been prepared for what thatat the rose Teren had placed uponmy head at the tiny scraps of fabric he&039;d picked out fordearter belts) and covered up all the sexiness with a relatively chaste looking long gray skirt and fitted black blouse Fixing el, in no ti asave her pretty honest answers about, since the day to day activities there really had nothing supernatural about the her about the wedding I iined how excited she&039;d be, and howprocess Of course, she&039;d be a bridesmaid and of course, she&039;d have an opinion on the dress I held off though, wanting to tell ht was our weekly dinner, I&039;d have the perfect opportunity to tell the about dresses and flowers and Teren&039;s nificent body all decked out in a tux Before I knew it, Clarice was grunting soet caught up already, and Tracey was calling out goodnight and telling me to say hi tosure tonight was still on and letting her know that Teren would be late She knew the real reason why he wouldn&039;t be joining us for a meal, she knew exactly what Teren was, but she also lived with ourme a direct lie As I pulled into the cafe a short while later, I called Teren, letting hi him I wished he was here too

He shared my sentiment and told hed as I hung up the phone with him and cracked openwithout hi hiuys could, like dinners with the in-laws

The hostess greeted lad I was back, and then actually gavehere for awhile and everyone knew us I smiled that my absence over the past feeeks had been noticed, and I&039;d been missed

I&039;d beaten my mom and sister to the cafe, so she ushered lass of water while I waited I sighed and took a long drink of , I leaned my head back on the cushion of the bench seat and listened to the soothing jazz playing softly in the background

I felt the cushion beside me compress and opened my eyes as I turned my head "Rise and shine, sleepy" A horrifically scarred face s I&039;d gone without seeing that face

"Hey, Ash" I exclaierly

My arnored, the hard sections of her skin where the scarring on her face was continued She had a lot of scarring, ed to survive a horrid fire as a child, a fire that our father hadn&039;t survived The effects of that were lasting ones, even after dozens of surgeries, but her physical appearance was only that - physical It did nothing to da a nurse in the burn unit, to help others go through what she&039;d painfully gone through She was in her second year of school and nothing would keep her frooal - not the stares, not the whispers, and not the lack of a love life But, as she pulled apart frolow in her eyes, the same warm brown as mine, I couldn&039;t help but see what Teren had very correctly informed me of once - she was happy Despite all that life had thrown at her, she was happy

"I missed you," I said softly, as I ran a hand down the side of her head that could still grow hair That hair matched my color too I couldn&039;t help but think that we&039;d be near twins if her scars were gone

She snuggled intowohters I bea her just as reat and all, but it wasn&039;t the sa in the sa these two at least weekly, if not raying hair had gone a little grayer in my absence

"We missed you, honey Hoas the ranch?" Her eyes lit up at the ro ranch I thought about the time I&039;d scraped off dead skin from between a cow&039;s toes, but decided to not burst her idyllic picture

"It was great Mo so rinned at hter stoically helping out an ill uilty that my mom had to be told the cover story, but she didn&039;t know the truth and couldn&039;t know it Unlike my sister, she wouldn&039;t handle the fact of me with a vampire very well She was a mom, and she&039;d always be a rayer over constantly worrying over ree that her fears were justified ones, letting her in on the secret would only hurt her In this case, the lie was better, so I slapped a grin onit

We talked about the aspects I could talk about, while our usual waitress, Debby, cahed and enjoyed eneral "aah" went over the crowd as I re a cow deliver her calf Tears ht a couple weeks ago Not over hiross, but sweet No,babies into birth them At least he&039;d have experience

As Debby left with our food orders - and I&039;d shockingly ordered so other than my standard Panini, which had caused a roup, the conversation drifted back to Teren As ue response of "a deadline" Since he worked for a h I don&039;t think Teren had ever been under the gun for a deadline in his life He wasfast

We all dug into our food when it arrivedplate of pasta before me and then it churned for just a second I inhaled slowly throughat a circular stain in the table to distract myself I could not throw up here; that would certainly raise soe of the bench and her scarred body wouldn&039;t be able to scoot out of the way quick enough, if I was going to voht here at the table I closed ed ht, Emma?" My mother asked from across the table

I made myself open my eyes and look at her confidently I was sure I was paler, but I hoped h that she wouldn&039;t notice "Of course, Mo into the food, even thougha tactical error, I sed a hugeon with a story about her friend&039;s daughter running off with aon the sounds of the words, and eventuallyhad switched inside me, my stomach became ravenous and I inhaled my food noisily Mohtly, I murmured, "I missed lunch"

Moments later our plates were taken away and we relaxed with cups of coffee Well, two cups of coffee Having given up coffee treats when I&039;d been trying to get pregnant, I was now es and chatting about Ashley&039;s school load, ere distracted by a squeal down the aisle We all turned to look and my mouth fell open as my heart shifted into overdrive

Teren had just shown up and Debby was thrilled to see him Personally, I think she was always a little too thrilled to see hi that she was married, but what had me full on alarmed was the fact that she had thrown her arms around him like she hadn&039;t seen him in ten years All I could think was - &039;she&039;s touching hie, I started to stand at the table My storeat it was to see him, she proclaimed, "Boy, but you&039;re cold"

I unconsciously tried to squeak past rasp In htened state, I didn&039;t even realize I was squishing her, I was only aware of so in-between him and me