Grace propped herself up on one elbow. Following several "showers" Aiden had finally deemed her clean enough, and after a quick snack for her, they'd retired to his bed.
"Aiden?"
"Yes, poppet?"
"What exactly do you mean when you refer to me as being 'MINE' in that way you do?"
Rolling over, he traced his fingers lightly over her exposed nipple, plucking at the hard pebble when it strained towards him.
She shivered, a now familiar ache settling low in her belly. Slapping his hand away, she scolded him. "Stop trying to distract me, and tell me."
"Why ever would you think it means anything?"
She arched a delicate eyebrow. He was stalling again. The question was, why? What was he trying to hide from her?
When she didn't answer him, he tore his gaze from her breast to peek up at her. Upon seeing her mulish expression, he sighed in surrender and mimicked her pose so they were eye to eye.
"Do you want the long story, or do you want me to get straight to it?"
"Straight to it, for now. Long story maybe later."
"All right." He took a deep breath. "I say that you're 'mine' because you are. Literally."
She wrinkled her forehead in confusion. "Like a girlfriend?"
"Like my fated mate for life."
"I don't understand," she said.
Sitting up and leaning back against the headboard, he pulled her up with him, lifting her leg around until she was straddling his lap.
Grace felt him hardening beneath her bottom and her eyes widened in surprise. Again? Seriously? Dating a vampire sure did have its perks. But she was digressing.
Grabbing his wandering hands and holding them flat on her thighs, she ordered, "Explain."
He finally gave in. "I'm just going to lay it on you, all right?"
"All right."
"As I believe you know, I'm a vampire."
She nodded.
"And there are times when vampires run across a human that the gods have deemed to be their perfect match and they decide to make that person their fated mate. And no matter how he fights it, he's destined to be with that person for the rest of their unnatural lives."
"But, how does that work? A vampire lives much longer than a human, right?"
"Correct. But the vampire would feed their human some of their magic vampire blood, and that person will stay young and healthy until death do they part. The vampire's death, usually."
"And what happens to the human after the vampire dies?"
"The human will no longer have access to the magic blood and they will begin to age again as they naturally would."
"And how does a vampire know who their mate is?"
"The vampire knows as soon as they taste their humans blood." He cocked his head at her.
Grace's mind was spinning. "So, you won't know that I am, in fact, your fated mate until you drink from me."
"Technically, yes," he said.
"And my blood will tell you that I am 'yours'?"
"Yes, well, that will just confirm it actually. I was relatively certain the moment I met you."
"So, why didn't you take me up on my offer when I told you to go ahead and do it?"
He lifted a lock of her hair from where it lay on her breast and rubbed it between his fingers. "I didn't feel right doing that to you without you knowing what all it would entail between us."
She was Aiden's fated mate? That was why she'd been so attracted to him?
At first she'd just assumed it was because there weren't many other guys around that measured up to him. But being here, around all of these other beautiful vampires, had disproven that theory. Even meeting Brock, the single, hot, but annoyingly single-minded werewolf, hadn't rocked her boat.
Only Aiden did it for her since he'd scared the hell out of her that day and almost made her lose her Mojo. Even having a demon inside of him didn't deter her attraction, though if she had any sense at all, she would've ran for the hills the first chance she'd gotten.
"There's one other thing," he said.
"What?" she asked curiously.
"Once I've had your blood, I'll be unable to drink from anyone else."
Her mouth dropped open. "Ever?"
"Not ever," he confirmed.
"What would happen to you?" she wondered aloud. "If you didn't have access to me?"
"I would weaken day by day until I died the true death."
Grace stared at him in disbelief.
"But if you never drink from me, that can be avoided?"
But he just shook his head. "It will happen, eventually. There's no sense at all in fighting it. I watched Nikulas try. It nearly drove him mad." He shrugged. "Our paths are fated, love."
"So, there's no way to get out of this?"
"Not that I'm aware of, no."
How could he be so calm about all of this?
"You're telling me that your very life is all in my hands now?"
"Once I've had your blood, yes."
"Your LIFE?" She pushed herself off of his lap and his bed and started yanking open drawers, searching for something to cover herself with. She couldn't have this conversation naked. She just couldn't.
"Grace, love..."
"What am I supposed to do with that, Aiden?" she yelled as she yanked one of his tee shirts over her head. She covered her face with her hands. "Gods."
He was standing in front of her before she realized he had moved. Pulling her hands gently away from her face, he forced her to look up at him."I am truly sorry. I've known for some time that this was how it was with us, but I hesitated to say anything because I wanted to protect you."
He scratched his head and then rubbed his hair hard with his both hands until it was sticking up all over. "Thing is, poppet, I have a bloody demon inside of me. How can I ask you to be with me?" His features hardened with determination. "I'll fight it until I can't anymore. For you."
Grace saw the pain in his eyes and took a breath. If she was going to be honest with herself, she knew she wanted to be with him. She'd known since that night at the shelter when she'd come back from making the deal with the Suits, the guilt at what she'd done eating her alive inside. Maybe even sooner than that.
"Please trust me, Grace. I'll find a way to get us through this."
Trust me, Grace.
Listen to me, Grace! You can't trust a vampire. Ever!
"I need some time," she whispered.
He opened his mouth to say more, than seemed to change his mind. Instead he just nodded.
Picking up the pile of clean clothes Emma had lent her from the dresser, she said, "I'll just go sleep on the pullout since Brock is gone."
"There's no need for that. Stay here with me," he pleaded.
But she shook her head. "I need some time alone, Aiden. Please. I won't be far."
He rubbed his forehead. "No, love. You stay in here. I'll sleep out there."
Pulling on a pair of running pants, he strode out of the room, pausing at the doorway to tell her, "Just call if you need anything. Or when you come to your senses and realize that you love me and cannot go a second longer without sacrificing yourself to my lusty vampire needs."
She giggled as he closed the door, but her laughter faded fast as she sank onto the edge of the bed, and the full impact of what he'd just told her hit her full force.
"Wow," she said aloud to the empty room. "Gives a whole new meaning to the words "safe sex, doesn't it?"
Aiden smiled as he heard Grace giggling, and pulled the door closed behind him. She would come around, he told himself; she just needed some time to digest it all. Barging back in there now would just muck everything up again, no matter how he ached to be near her.
At least she hadn't kicked him out completely. Or left the apartment.
He glanced out the window on his way to the office and the location of his temporary lodgings. The sun would be coming up soon.
Maybe the wolf would come back and pick a fight when he found him in his bed.
Ah, see? There was a bright side to everything. He briefly wondered if Grace would be upset if he added his head to his collection?
Somehow, he didn't think she'd be fond of that idea. He sighed. Well, he'd better get used to having the old "ball and chain". His life was about to change forever. No longer will he be able to run off whenever he wishes and wander into a fight somewhere or shag a pretty female.
Retract that last part. He'd still be shagging a pretty female. The loveliest female he'd ever had the honor of being with.
He smiled, wondering how long she would need to think about things.
Suddenly, his blood began to hum in his veins. The smile left his face and he rubbed the center of his chest, his brows drawn together in confusion. What was this strange feeling? It seemed vaguely familiar...
Then it came to him, and he realized what it was he was listening to, but it wasn't a song he wanted to hear. It had been so long since anyone had evoked this power over him, he was a bit taken aback at first.
He was being summoned, and it wasn't by Luukas.
Bloody hell. It couldn't be!
The humming grew stronger and more painful. Stumbling over to the phone, he hit the fast dial.
"What's up, man? We were just heading back up that way," Nikulas answered.
"Nik..." he rasped, then groaned as the pain became more severe. The demon, Waano, stirred unhappily inside of him.
"Aid? Aiden? What's wrong?"
Aiden could hear Nik's pounding footsteps as he began to run.
Unable to hang onto it anymore, Aiden dropped the phone just as the front door slammed open.
"Aiden!"
Grace ran from the bedroom just as Nik got to him.
"Keep her away!" he hissed.
"Grace, stay there!" Nik ordered.
His eyes rolled back in his head and he jerked backwards, his spine nearly twisting in half as the agony of his blood flowing through his veins hit him with a whole new level of pain.
Waano roared with displeasure within him, his presence rising from whatever depths he'd hidden away in.
Aiden gripped the front of Nik's shirt.
"He's coming, mate," he rasped. "I can't stop him. She's calling me, and him...I can't stop him."
"Who's calling you?" Nik asked just as Emma arrived at a run.
"Leeha...the bloody bitch."
"Leeha?" Emma exclaimed.
"Emma, take Grace and get the hell out of here. Go! Now!" Nik yelled when she didn't move fast enough.
"I'm not going anywhere," Grace insisted.
Aiden begged Nik with his eyes as he writhed in pain on the floor, no longer able to speak without crying out like a girl.
"Grace..." Emma started towards her.
"No! No! I'm not leaving him!"
"Just take her to the other room," Nik told Emma. "And call Keira. Keep Luukas away from here. No matter what."
Aiden saw Grace dig in her heels from the corner of his eyes. There was no help for it. He was going to have to kill her, just as soon as he was finished dying.
Another pulse of burning pain pounded through him, and Waano began to unfold, stretching into Aiden's limbs, polluting his cells.
What is this?
It's Leeha. She's calling us to her.
An angry breath blew through him. I'm growing weary of her.
"Nikulas," he managed to choke out. "Get away from me."