Page 19 (1/2)

As we entered the city and the pull got deliciously stronger, I couldn&039;t think any companion I could only squir strained, and point her to the direction where I felt hi annoyed that I had no apparent self control I wanted to snap at her, "Back off! Have you ever felt this? Didn&039;t think so! I&039;h to put that azine ca to keeplot, and with vague grunts and directives, I got Starla to go into it As she put the car in park, I felt Teren co towards me That&039;s when I lost it

I hopped out of the car before she even got the chance to shut it off I only took three steps in the diulfed in cool arers locked in his dark hair, holding hiet away His hand clenched and unclenchedoff the loose painting sweats I earing We panted in each other&039;s ain, how our nature wanted us to be - together

As a lol rumbled up my throat and Teren&039;s cool hands slid overfrom behind me With a concentrated effort, Teren pulled histhe desire to return to my lips, he looked over my shoulder Then I saw his control nearly instantly snap back into place Mine wasn&039;t quite there yet As he straightened and stared at Starla, my lips attached to his collarbone and my hand traveled down the front of his slacks Hey, I wasn&039;t just fighting the pull I was a seven nant chick, with a hot husband and an acute desire

But Teren had lost his, looking over le and Starlainside his slacks He looked down at ently pushedeyes enveloped , I nodded in his hands that I was better Frouuys have the bond well under control"

I turned to face her, about to tell her where to go, when suddenly the door leading to the stairs burst open Hot Ben ca his stoh his highlighted hair and shook his head "God you&039;re fast, Teren"

I blinked at seeing him and Teren answered my unasked question "I called hi on" His brow furrowed as he looked back at Starla and then over to my sister, she waved as she stood at the back of Starla&039;s car

Teren shifted his attention back to Starla as I heard Hot Ben sidle around to his other side and ask hi Ben, Teren narrowed his eyes at the reen ones were faintly glowing in the diloould have been hardly noticeable, easily dis for To a partial valoas unmistakable Teren&039;s mouth dropped open

"You&039;re"

She extended a hand to hi for asped beside Teren and stared at Starla with a look of complete wonder on his face Teren&039;s face sort-of matched Ben&039;s as he stared at her, for a led it in front of his face, her lips twisting in annoyance at being ignored, and he finally woke up frorasped it

Both of his hands enclosed over hers and his eyesat the sight Teren had waited so long for thistome" His voice was nearly reverent as he said that, and Iwouldn&039;t let Teren down He&039;d built upmore of his kind in his head, and so far, she hadn&039;t been what I&039;d been expecting

A little taken back by his reaction, she pulled her hand away "Yeah, well, you&039;ve been causing quite a stir, poking your finger in every vamp nest you can find" She raised an eyebrow "That sort of thing doesn&039;t go unnoticed"

Teren straightened his stance, shaking his head lightly "I had good reason"

Starla&039;s eyes flicked to ht up to speed on that"

Teren stepped towards her, arers barely brushed her arot to her Suddenly, he was shoved back And by shoved back, I mean he was pushed thirty feet and landed harshly on his back As he smacked his head to the pavement, Hot Ben pulled a stake from his pocket and moved into a defensive crouch My sister screamed and backed up a step I teetered on my feet, not sure if I should run to Teren&039;s side, or run to my sister&039;s Indecision held me in place

A part ofTeren Only, it wasn&039;t Starla who&039;d tossed hiotten that Starla wasn&039;t alone Teren&039;s seeuard Ben and I eyed the i in the space Teren had been, having blurred into a battering ram, the moment Teren had stepped up to Starla He was taller than Teren and wider too His hair was a light brown thatbrown eyes, and he was dressed in head-to-toe black, like he thought that was an inconspicuous outfit Crouching down in a protective stance in front of Starla, his fangs were dropped, as a lol broke the sudden silence of the room

Starla&039;s "muscle" was aheart to be heard in his barrel-sized chest But he had to be only partially va daylight hours

Teren popped up from where he&039;d been tossed aside and zipped back to thehi on the vampire It took quite a bit of effort on my part, since Teren was a little revved up Hot Ben ca back Teren&039;s other arhed and walked around her protection, thu his chest with her hand

"Down, boy," she ed her shoulders "Sorry, he doesn&039;t liketouched" Her turquoise eyes flicked to me, then back to Teren "You can understand?"

Teren shot the ain on Starla Ashley came up beside lad she was here, and wishing she was far away His voice irritated, but a forced patience in it, Teren bit out, "I was just going to ask, if you can help us?" His voice and face softened as he looked over at me and then back to Starla "Can you help her?"

Starla looked between the two of us as her bodyguard behind her crossed his arhed and shook her head "Not me, but you should speak with Father He sentwhat you&039;ve done," she shook her perfect head of hair disdainfully, "he will definitely be interested in yoursituation"

Teren nodded eagerly, the thought ofhis irritation at being thrown across the rooum and indicated the car with her head, I looked over Teren&039;s body He seeht?" I asked, as Starla got back in her bi back to his black car on the other side of the lot "Yeah, I&039;ht his eyes back to reat, Emma"

Over Teren&039;s shoulder, I watched Hot Ben causally put his stake back in his pocket I had the feeling he was always ar where the big vaone She was fine with Teren, and fine with the tiny, unassuuy had freaked her out I could smell the fear on her

As Ben moved to walk to his car, presu hi in front of hily fast in front of hi the way Putting my hands on his chest, I searched his blue eyes "Teren and I can handle this" He i I shook ers into his skin "No, pleasetake Ashley holanced over his shoulder at my brave, scarred sister She was deterh withterrified her Ben looked over at her too, his body sluracious aroundher any differently than he did any other friend His eyes took in her slight fra her elbows, locking her arms around her body Her eyes flicked over to htly - it was a forced one

Hot Ben glanced over at Teren, who nodded, having heard that entire conversation, and then turned back to irth to wrapIn my ear he whispered, "Be carefulboth of you"

We stepped apart and I nodded at hiain He stepped back fromhe would take his assign Ashley fro by her side all night, just in case For the millionth time, I could have kissed Hot Ben

Teren held out his hand for h in exasperation, and mutter that ere all worse than her pa her, I took Teren&039;s hand His cool fingers giving th, I walked up to the car Ashley walked up as well, as she noted that it was tiently put my hand on her shoulder as she moved to open the door

"No, Ash Not this time"

She sputtered and shook her head at rab her shoulders "I love you, Ashley, and I know you love me You don&039;t need to do this to prove it to me" She shook her head and started to say she wasn&039;t, when I interrupted her "I know, and if I were in your shoes, you&039;d have to pryto her wet cheeks I stroked the roughness of her scars, ignoring the odd feeling skin

"This is soether, alone" I leaned in close, resting my head on hers "I love you, but I can&039;t have you there with me I need to know you&039;re safe" My voice trailed away as emotion cut it off I felt Teren&039;s hand coreater respect for hi so yourself in danger

Ashley started to cry in earnest, but eventually nodded I pulled away fro her I loved her, I kissed her forehead As Teren and I got into the car, I watched Hot Ben coly She twisted and held hih the , his jaw clenched as he nodded at Teren again

Starla started the car and snorted as she pulled away "God," she muttered "Overdra the two of you to certain death" She started to laugh as she pulled out into the street and Teren and I gave each other uneasy glances in the backseat

Once it was clear eren&039;t staying in the city, Teren leaned forward in his seat to talk to Starla Clutchingus?"

Starla popped a bubble and looked at him in the rearview mirror "LA," she said casually

Teren nodded and sat back in his seat, his cool side edging right up to er&039;s seat, dug out her bug-like sunglasses, and turned the radio up Soured she was discouraging us frohed and leaned into Teren, happy that at least, for once, ere doing this little adventure together Teren sighed as well and kissed ainst a sore spot and I adjusted in eles? That was several hours frorateful that once the sun set, Halina would blaze her way to us She wouldn&039;t have time to run back to the ranch, but Teren and I could find somewhere for her to hide It would just be nice to have our "muscle" with us

After a few silent miles, Teren shifted to look at me I pulled away froht streahted his eyes thatday "You smell like paint" A corner of his lip lifted after he said that

I smiled and subconsciously rubbedon the nursery You should see itit&039;s beautiful" My eyes watered at that I wasn&039;t sure why Maybe the thrill of preparing to see my babies, or maybe the fear that I may never razed over the surface I could hear his skin sliding across rease, lingering on his fingers "You smell likethe underside of a car"

Starla snorted at that and popped another bubble Teren ignored her, sot " He dropped his hand from y"

I grabbed his hand, lacing our fingers "Did it help?" I asked quietly, knowing his workout was more to relieve stress than exercise,crookedly "Not really" I sighed and leaned in to kiss hih from Starla, who turned the music up even louder, we kissed for a fewa break, Teren pulled back and whispered, "I&039;m sorry I didn&039;t tell you about Carrie"

I pulled back, surprised at the road he&039;d decided to take our conversation down I noticed Starla stop shtly, but mainly I focused on Teren His eyes ide and res to be sorry for latelyyou pick that?" My lips lifted at the corners as I looked over his face

He s the humor in my mouth and shook his head too "I just felt like that one was still lingering between us" He shrugged "I don&039;t want to walk into this with anythingbetween us" His face turned serious when he said that

I cocked my head and then nodded He continued when he saw that I understood his reason for bringing this up again He sighed and ran a finger througha fleck of paint out of it "I should have told you, but everything with us just happened so fast We never really had the &039;exes&039; speech, and it was such a long tiht myself "I know" I mentally added that we still needed to have that talk - I had a few questions, especially about hi" female vampires - but I didn&039;t want to have that conversation with Starla listening And I wasout of this unharazed atof the wo to push back my jealousy, I asked, "Why did you let her remember? Why didn&039;t you tell your family what happened?" My hand went up to stroke his cool cheek and his eyes lifted to hed as his eyes flicked between mine "II just" His voice trailed off as he shifted his vision overdown the interstate on our way to the largest city in the State, where the elusive group ofhis vieithfor a response

His eyes caed "I knew Great-Gran would take everythingand she was the first girl who loved irl I loved" He sed, like he hated telling ly and he continued "If it were up to methey&039;d all have their memories That was Gran and Great-Gran - protect the faic in that, but back then, I&039;d have preferred if they all reain, his eyes watering "With CarrieI just wanted someone out there to remember that they loved me once I just wanted one person to remember me"

I sed at the look on his face,"I remember you I&039;ll always remember you," I whispered

"I love you soto mine

After a brief kiss, I pulled back "I knohy your fairls had to bealtered, but why does Halina take it all? Can&039;t she leave so at least?"