We packed up our things later that day and prepared to head to Colorado. My mom teared up the way she always did when I headed back to school. She never changed, but it was okay because I got watery-eyed too and tried to cover it with a yawn.
“Judy, Bryan, it has been perfect as usual,” Caroline said and hugged them both. Caroline used to only call them Mr. and Mrs. Adams, however they read her the riot act saying she was like family, and if mom and dad wasn’t going to be used, then she was only allowed to use their first names.
With everything going on in our lives, leaving made me worry about my parents’ safety. The only thing that made it easier to say goodbye to them was knowing James’s father would be watching out for them. I didn’t particularly like Marik, but he was the leader of all the Protectors, so he was competent at what he does.
We told my mom and dad that we were visiting James’s family home for the last part of our winter break. James insisted on buying my ticket as the vampires had everything planned out already. I pouted about that, but they ignored me. Like Caroline, they all seemed to be well-off and acted like it was no big deal to spend six hundred dollars for a flight to Colorado. Whenever I did try arguing, they brushed it off and told me it was nothing.
I tried to accept it. I knew there were plenty of battles to be had with them, and I had to be smart about which ones to pick. Money was one I could let them have.
My parents and I always drove to Mineral Point when I headed back to school, so arriving at the airport with James, Caroline, and Nick instead felt strange. I couldn’t remember the last time I had even been on a flight. We got through security in no time, and the flight wasn’t a long one at all. Soon we were in a rental car heading to some remote cabin that I’d only heard James mention once or twice in the time I’d known him. He said he had trained there and his grandfather had turned him there. I also knew that his parents and grandfather didn’t live very far away from each other. Colorado seemed a random place for them to gather.
“How did everyone end up in the US anyway? Weren’t the Protectors with the bloodline in Germany?”
James smiled, almost proudly. “Marik was born only days before my grandfather was turned. My grandfather sent him and my grandmother to the states when whispers of threats to the bloodline began spreading. America was as far away from Germany as he could get. It was dangerous for them to travel without my grandfather, but perilous to stay lest they be discovered. When the Great Battle was over, my grandfather was the sole surviving Protector. Your ancestor had saved him, and after that, he knew he had to save her in return. He knew he had to take her away and there couldn’t be a trace of her, or she’d be in danger. When he could, he reunited with my grandmother and Marik, bringing your ancestor along with him.”
I was always in awe of James when he spoke of the past. The way he opened up and his willingness to teach me about the long shared history between our ancestors made me feel closer to him. “Where at in America?” I questioned, not wanting him to stop.
He flicked his eyes towards me, his smile spreading at my obvious enthrallment. “They started off in Jamestown. My grandfather and grandmother raised your ancestor as their own. Her name was Cianna. She and Marik grew up close. Apparently, they were practically inseparable even with a five-year age difference. They all moved to Colorado when Marik was a teenager to begin training. There were others that my grandfather had begun turning by then, trying to rebuild the Protector legacy.”
James usually referred to his father as Marik. While I loved listening to the history, he made his father sound like just another part of the story, like someone he didn’t even know. The thought made me sad, and I noticed James had stopped talking.
“Cianna is a pretty name,” I commented, trying to distract him from any negative thoughts.
I wanted to know more, ask James what he meant by Cianna and Marik being close, but since he hated talking about his father, I stopped myself. I smiled at him in thanks and turned my attention outside the window to watch the snowy landscape as we passed through.
We drove for three hours. The car tilted up on a steep road, and I was surprised at the lack of a path in front of us as we made the trek uphill. I tensed once as the car felt like it slid, but it was quickly corrected, and I saw James smirk at me.
“She goes after the bad guys without a second thought, but tenses in a car on an icy road. What will we do with you?”
I crossed my arms over my chest in a fake glower, but couldn’t stop the grin that spread across my face at his teasing.
We pulled up to a large, isolated log cabin minutes later. We hadn’t really passed anything for miles, so to come up across the place surprised me. It really was smack dab in the middle of nowhere.
When we stepped out of the car, everything was silent. Snow seems to have a way of making that happen, dampening any and all sound. Pine trees were sprawled out as far as I could see. The untouched snow around us added to the stillness hanging in the air. It was beautiful, and I smiled to myself as Caroline spoke aloud what I had been thinking.
“I always forget how peaceful it is here,” she said, shutting the car door softly behind her.
Nick looked like he was pausing to take it in for a moment, too. I glanced around again. Closing my eyes, I breathed in deeply. It smelled like James. It was just like I’d told him, pine and snow. When my eyes opened, James was watching me. He looked at me questioningly.
“It smells like you,” I remarked sheepishly.
“I told you, I was turned here.” His warm smile made my stomach drop as he stood there, surrounded by the snow-covered backdrop.
“Is this your grandfather’s house then?” I asked. Would I meet him?
“Was. He’s dead.”
I stopped walking abruptly. James had never mentioned that his grandfather had died. I had just assumed he was still alive. James just nodded signaling that it wasn't really something he was going to talk to me about so I didn't push it. It did leave me wondering why he’d never mentioned it though.
Instead of questioning James, I turned my eyes to take in the sight of the cabin in the woods covered in snow. It was breathtaking. It looked like we’d stepped into a painting. I couldn’t wait to see what the place looked like lit up.
"James, it's beautiful here," I said, unable to hide my awe.
He looked over at me. "It's the one place that actually felt like home, until recently."
The way he said it was so different than his usual tone. It was wistful and wanting. James usually sounded stronger, and it was hard to imagine something truly getting to him. I smiled at his remark and wondered if Mineral Point was home now to him.
We walked inside the cabin and James flicked on the lights. The place was just as stunning inside as it was out. The main room was open and spacious. There was a fireplace in the center with the most comfortable looking couches I'd ever seen surrounding it.
There were three bedrooms along the perimeter as well as the kitchen. James informed us that the media room was in the basement. There were no stairs besides the ones that were to the right of the entrance leading down, so the basement was the only other part of the house.
For being a small place, it certainly felt expensive. There was state-of-the-art everything in the main room and kitchen. A flat screen TV hung on one of the walls of the living room. The kitchen was equipped with a top-of-the-line stove, microwave, refrigerator, a wine cooler, and a mini fridge.
"Who lives here now?" I asked, trying to take everything in.
"Protectors can use this as they wish. Mostly it's only higher ups and me, or Marik, occasionally," he said as he continued turning everything on.
“You are a higher up, James,” Caroline replied nonchalantly, as if it was silly for him to categorize himself otherwise.
He didn’t acknowledge the comment. Instead, he walked back over to me and took my hand. "You know where everything is. Make yourselves at home." He nodded over towards Nick and Caroline. He tugged at me, pulling me away and maneuvering me down the hall towards one of the bedrooms. "This is my room.” He pushed the door open and I stepped into his world.
There was a picture of him and his grandfather and another of him and Nick pinned up to a bulletin board above a sleek, metal-framed desk. No other pictures could be found in the room, but there were books lining a black bookshelf in the corner opposite his desk. I remembered seeing books at his place in Mineral Point, too. There’s just something sexy about a man who reads, I thought. A computer sat on the corner of the desk, but there was nothing on the walls. It looked plain, but tidy.
"Neat freak," I teased, and he smiled that gorgeous, perfect smile. I was heated at once. "Should we christen your bedroom?" I raised my eyebrow as seductively as I could, but my voice came out in a stammer.
He looked at me with a warm and loving glance under that cute quirked eyebrow, then ran a finger slowly across my collarbone and pressed his forehead against mine. "I’d love nothing more, but I don’t think you’re ready for that. Not yet.”
I was going to retort that I actually was ready, but was overcome with self-doubt almost immediately. Normally, this would not have been my reaction and I could feel it was something outside of my control tugging at me. The stupid hormones that came along with this ridiculous gift were getting the better of me once again. Where was Caroline to tell me I was being irrational?
Chewing the inside of my cheek, a nervous habit that I wished I could kick, was drawing James’s attention so I turned away towards the bookshelf to shield myself from his careful gaze. I walked closer to the books and pretended to be browsing through them. Instead, I continued to think about how I wasn't as good as Emma or he would have tried to be with me already. He had slept with her, and if they had dated as briefly as he had implied, then that didn't give them long to be getting to know each other before they did. Emma hadn't held back the details of their intimacy.
I frowned. "You don't want to?" I said, hurt, finally turning towards him.
James walked over to me shaking his head as if my question was absurd. He took my chin and tilted my head up. "Of course I want to, Ariya. You're not easy to say no to."
"And she was easy to say yes to?" I asked, pulling away from his tender grasp. I hated being that girl, the insecure and jealous one. I despised it, actually, but the feeling was strong. He was my first serious boyfriend, which didn’t help things, and on top of that, I didn’t know how I was supposed to act.
I knew he could tell I was talking about Emma and his brow creased at my statement. He looked furious, but then again, he also looked hurt.
"Emma? You think I had sex with Emma?" he questioned, and I could hear the hurt more in his voice now.
"She told me about it and rather enjoyed giving me the details, too." My voice was quiet, and I realized I was embarrassed to have this conversation with him. I didn’t want to talk about how he slept with someone I’m related to. It felt wrong. I shifted uncomfortably.
"And you believed her?" he asked.
My eyes shot up to meet his. "You...you didn’t?" My voice squeaked as the question came out. Emma lied? Duh, Ariya, I thought. She always lied. How many times had Nick and James said it was brief thing that happened with her?
"Ariya, we went out twice. We kissed once. What did you think? I told you it wasn't long that we were together. We weren’t even together," he continued babbling in a fit of frustration that was quite unlike him. “I swear to you, nothing like that happened.”
"She was so convincing though.” Relief flooded through me as I processed his words. He shook his head and brushed his fingers across my cheek. I was on a roll so I continued trekking down the path we were on. “Have you ever?” I would be foolish to think in two hundred and fifty years that James had never had sex. He was a walking advertisement for women's fantasy’s everywhere.
To his credit, he didn't get uncomfortable with the question. "Yes," he said, actually hiding a smile.
"How many times?" I asked, curious for more information from him, but trying to come out with my questions in a calm and unconcerned manner.
He hesitated, tilting his head as he regarded me. "A couple,” he smirked before continuing. “Do you mean how many women?”
I nodded.
“Eight. All vampires."
Eight was a lot less than I would have thought for someone that looked like a walking sex ad. "Did you love them? How did you know them?" I took the plunge, wanting to know everything.
He looked at me for a moment, as if deciding whether or not to tell me, and then sighed. "I'm not proud of it. Believe it or not I was a gentleman before I turned. I was focused on my job and wasn’t interested in relationships. The first time was soon after I turned. Everything is different. You feel more, experience more, and want more. It’s a powerful feeling, when you first turn.”
I waited, looking at him expectantly as he paused. It was too late to take my question back now. I silently braced myself for the rest of his answer and nervously bit the inside of my check again as discreetly as I could, hoping it would go unnoticed.
“The first time was a one night thing, and like I said, I'm not proud of it. Two were vampires I dated for awhile. It didn't work because I was focused on my job. The rest were just random.” His eyes flicked to mine almost as if he were ashamed. He didn’t need to be. We hadn’t known each other then.
Heck I wasn’t even alive, I added wordlessly.
“Besides that, there hasn't been anyone. I know I keep saying it, but I've been focused on my job, Ariya."
"You’ve only been intimate with eight women?" I asked, shocked.
He smiled, again, more seductively this time. "No, but that is all I've had sex with, though."
I nodded catching his drift and hating that I did. "So is it because I'm not a vampire?"
He'd never had sex with a human, he’d admitted that much, so perhaps that was what was holding him back with me. Although, Caroline told me Nick loved it when she was human, so I wasn’t sure why it would be an issue. It was that, or he was still on his whole hang up from last year about the bloodline not being able to mix with the Protector line, which was stupid since we knew that wasn’t the case.
"No, it's not. Ariya, I told you I want to. I know you though, and I know that you haven't had sex before. I want you to be sure, and I don't think a whim decision in a cabin would be what you imagined. Plus, I don't think we should yet." He walked up and kissed me hard. "But, that doesn't mean we can't do stuff." He smiled wickedly and threw me onto his bed.
I couldn't help laughing before he quieted me with his lips. All the previous self-doubt was gone. James made me feel like I was special. His kiss made me feel like there was nothing in the world he wanted more than me. I felt adored, which, up until him, was something I thought of as simply an out of reach, fairytale feeling.
His lips pressed to mine, and while the force of his passion made the kiss hard and needy, his lips were full and soft. His tongue traced the outline of my bottom lip, and he pulled me on top of him. My hair fell in my face and he brought his hands up to hold it back and tugged gently to get my attention.
“I don't know how I lived in a world that you weren’t a part of for so long. You’ve changed me, Ariya. I’ll do anything to keep you safe.”
His words wrapped around me like a blanket, and in that moment I knew, he was it - my soulmate, the one, whatever the words were. We were created for each other, and I wasn’t going to let that be taken from me by anyone.
I bent down, taking his lips in mine, trying to convey that I felt exactly the same way. James’s hands slowly inched up my leg and cupped the back of my thighs, pushing me into the hardness that now drew all my attention. It took everything in me not to start dry humping him like a fifteen-year-old faced with their first sexual encounter; you know, the one where it doesn’t register that clothes aren’t supposed to be worn during such activities. Fortunately for me, he was way past those years, proving that point as he worked his hands teasingly over my thighs and towards the button of my jeans.
“Take them off,” I said hoarsely.
He took his freaking time with the task, much to my frustration. He watched my agitation, which only seemed to goad him on more. My gaze followed his finger, while I tried desperately not to shiver as he ran it around the waistline of my jeans, dipping it in just enough to leave me about to beg for more. He lifted me so that we were standing next to his bed as he ran his lips over my neck and tugged my jeans slowly down my legs. His movements were torture, and as soon as they were low enough, I kicked them off and jumped, wrapping my legs around his waist, desperate for some kind of friction. He knew exactly what he was doing, and it was turning me on even more. I was sure he knew that, too.
He grabbed the nape of my neck with one hand and my lower back with the other, crushing our bodies together. Again, way too slowly, he lowered me to the bed, crawling over the top of me seductively. Then, before I could realize what was happening, he flipped me over so that I was on top of him again. He began moving his hips in a rhythm that brought me impossibly close to the edge considering James was still fully clothed. Everything was new to me, the passion and intensity, all of it. I felt different with James. I was always shy before with guys, and while I still wasn’t a sex goddess by any means, once he locked me in his embrace, I was never afraid.
I pulled away from his lips in order to breathe. Gasping, I rocked back up and away from him, throwing my head back. His hands slid under my shirt and around my stomach. Holy hell. I lost the ability to be coherent as he continued with his hands down my body, touching me as if he were an expert, never once stopping his hips from grinding in to me.
My treacherous breathing picked up, following the intense rhythm of our bodies, giving away how unaccustomed I was to this kind of intimacy. He pulled me down to his mouth and rained kisses down my neck, biting my ear lobe gently.
In my heated state, I lost track of time. I don’t know if the pleasure he unleashed in me lasted seconds, minutes, or hours, but it was long enough to have my whole body tightening around his until I found my release. His mouth was back on mine half way through my fit of convulsing and he held me tightly.
“James,” I gasped in again, shuddering, and collapsing against his chest.
When I opened my eyes, he was grinning up at me. “Feeling better?”
“Oh, hush,” I scoffed, feigning anger.
When my body finally calmed down, I tried to snake out from his grasp. More than anything, I wanted to return the favor and give him some relief. However, his arms locked around me, stopping me from getting anywhere.
Pouting at him, I knew fighting him was useless. He wouldn’t ever let me do anything to him. It was something I didn’t understand, but the first time I asked, he said to drop it and that he needed some time. He claimed he was more than happy to spend every night watching me come apart. What he didn’t seem to comprehend was, I wasn’t happy with only that arrangement, even if it was earth shattering for me.
I sighed, but he ignored me, holding me tightly in his grasp and running his hands through my hair.
I lost track of time, as I usually do with him, and was only snapped out of the trance by the feeling of James’s lips kissing my forehead. I was turned over and seconds later he dangled my jeans off his finger next to the bed. I snatched them, feeing a slight blush come over me, but it was nothing I couldn’t handle. I jumped up and shimmied back into them.
“Let’s go find Caroline and Nick.” He grinned again and walked out giving me a moment to figure out how to compose myself enough to be in public again.