Chapter Twenty-Three
As I lay in bed, with my wife sleeping in my arms, I could almost forget my worries. I smiled as her eyes slowly opened. “How are you feeling this morning?”
“I’m still tired and nauseous,” she replied weakly. “I just don’t know what’s wrong with me.” She sounded so innocent.
I chuckled. “Are you sure you don’t know what’s wrong with you?”
Her brow furrowed, and then her eyes widened. She sat up in bed and put her hands over her belly.
I couldn’t contain my laughter.
“How long have you known?” she asked.
“Only a few days.” I sat up and placed one of my hands on top of hers. “Our son is very strong. I’ve never sensed energy from within the womb before. At first, I thought you knew, and I was waiting for you to tell me. Then, I was just amused.”
Excerpt from Roman Draksel’s blog
Tempest had always loved being outdoors. In fact, it was one of the few indulgences she allowed herself growing up. It was there she was able to truly relax. It didn’t matter what the weather was like. She loved the hot sun caressing her skin. She loved to stick her tongue out and catch snowflakes. Not that she’d seen a snowflake since moving to the San Francisco Bay Area. On days like this, she enjoyed the mist like rain. It was cold and slightly uncomfortable, but she was still thoroughly enjoying herself. Admittedly, she hadn’t found many chances to get out and hike in the last few years. That was another thing she needed to change.
Aiden had taken her to Muir Woods where they wouldn’t get signals on their phones. He’d needed to relieve some tension, too, and this was something they had in common.
Despite having lived in California for more than fifteen years, Tempest had never been to Muir Woods. When they’d first arrived, she’d doubted Aiden’s wisdom. The place was packed with people. They’d woven through the crowded area just past the parking lot and made their way up a narrower dirt path. From there, they ran into very few people.
“Are you getting cold?” he asked as he looked over at Tempest in her jeans and UCSF t-shirt.
“A little,” she admitted, “but I don’t mind. I wish I had my hiking boots with me. It’s a little slippery today.” Tempest and her family didn’t feel the effects of the cold as much as humans seemed to. She rarely even wore a lightweight jacket.
“You didn’t tell Ivy to bring them?” he asked with a teasing smile. “I’m surprised you had her bring any clothes with as many as you bought while you were out with Caitlin.”
“Are you complaining about how much money I spent?”
He shook his head. “Nope, I wish you’d bought some more useful clothing.”
She stopped walking up the dirt path and turned back to him. “Such as?”
“A French maid costume,” he offered helpfully.
She snorted. “Oh, yeah, I’m sure Drew would have liked me walking around in a French maid costume.”
“I was thinking you’d stay in my room. A slave girl outfit would have been even better. Maybe some handcuffs to make it more realistic. I could keep you chained to the bed as my sex slave.”
“Keep dreaming,” she said with a snort before turning to continue walking.
“Don’t worry. I will,” he assured her. “In fact, I might buy you a slave girl outfit.”
He reached out and pulled her to a stop so he could nuzzle the side of her neck.
“That sure is growing in fast,” she remarked as she rubbed the hair on his chin. “What made you decide to grow a beard?”
“I didn’t like the idea of your sister shaving me.”
“Well, you could shave yourself now.”
“Do you want me to shave it off?” he asked.
She turned and studied him. Aiden had been attractive when she’d first seen him with his clean shaven face. With the beard he looked just as sexy, but he had a wild look to him. It was funny because she’d never been attracted to men with any type of facial hair before. She really didn’t want him to shave it. She shook her head. “I like it. Just don’t let it get all scruffy like some crazy old biker.”
“Maybe I should get a motorcycle to go with the beard,” he mused.
“I don’t think so,” she told him before she started walking again. “Having seen you drive, it’s obvious you haven’t adapted to transportation technology.”
“I don’t like cars,” he argued as he walked up behind her on the narrow path. “I like flying. I might like motorcycles.”
She stopped and looked over her shoulder. “You can fly a plane?”
“And a helicopter,” he added.
She shook her head in disbelief. “That I did not expect after seeing you behind the wheel of a car.”
Apparently, he agreed his driving left something to be desired because he didn’t ask her to elaborate. It wasn’t just the string of profanity that came from his mouth when he drove that bothered her. She could deal with his cursing the other drivers. It was the way he insisted on staying just below the speed limit and seemed almost afraid to merge. Most of all, it was the way he held the steering wheel with both hands so tightly his knuckles were white.
Tempest turned around at the top of the hill and gave in to the temptation to touch him again. It was funny how she found Aiden driving like an old lady endearing. She ran her fingers through his hair. “Are you going to grow your hair long again?”
“How did you know I had long hair before?” he asked in genuine surprise.
“You keep trying to push it back or run your fingers through it,” she explained.
He nodded. “I’ve really been regretting cutting it short because I hate looking like all my cousins. I always looked like my father, but it didn’t bother me. People occasionally thought we were twins, which is why I grew my hair long in the first place. Still, it’s one thing to have one person around who looks like you. It’s another to be surrounded by half a dozen or more at any given time.”
She laughed. “I can’t imagine looking like my mother’s twin. That would be creepy. Since we age so slowly, we could be mistaken for sisters, but certainly not twins. Isaiah has longer hair, but I guess you wouldn’t look like him because he wears the glasses.”
“Isaiah gets too distracted to have it cut. He probably remembers two or three times a year and then it’s neatly trimmed for a while,” Aiden explained. “My hair kept getting progressively shorter in the year I lived with my cousins. I’d just started to grow it out again before I got kicked out. I’m not sure what possessed me to cut it after that. While trying to fit in with my cousins, I lost a lot of my identity. I started to dress like them, and I even started trying to hide my accent. We moved to this country about a century ago, so my accent wasn’t quite as pronounced, but you could still tell I was Irish.”
“How can you remember when you moved here but be so vague on when you were born?”
“I remember when we moved here, because it was shortly before prohibition. Mam was fit to be tied when she heard they wanted to outlaw whisky.”
His lips curled into a distant smile and Tempest suspected he was seeing his mother’s face clearly in his mind. He was adorable when he referred to his mother as Mam.
He leaned down and kissed her. Tempest felt the usual rush of heat from his touch. She started to lean into him, but he pulled away and grinned at her. “Tease,” she accused, giving his belly a light swat. “So, why try so hard to be like everyone else? You hardly seem like a conformist.”
“I’m not, and that’s probably why I failed so miserably at fitting in.”
“You should have been yourself instead of a Draksel clone,” she suggested. “You seem to get along pretty well with Justin as yourself.”
“Yeah, I figured that out, Miss Smarty Pants. Before I got kicked out, I’m not sure Justin wanted to get to know me. He had Isaiah, and they didn’t seem interested in expanding their social circle, but that could have been my own insecurities talking. Nathaniel was likable. He had no sense of humor, but he w
as fair and tried to take care of everyone. He and his brother were very close, so he didn’t really hang out with anyone else too often. That left me with Drew and Dominic.”
“I’ve met Drew, so I can see why you didn’t want to spend too much time with him,” she told him.
“He’ll grow out of some of it,” he assured her before adding, “I hope. Until then, I can’t stand being around him for very long. I was left with Dominic. We’re about the same age, and neither of us have any siblings, so we should have a lot in common. It didn’t take me long to realize something was off with him.”
“How do you mean?” Tempest asked.
Aiden struggled to find the words to explain what he meant. “I’m not really sure what made me uneasy around him. At first, I thought it was me. We both liked being around humans. We both used our accents to get laid.” Aiden flushed when he realized what he’d said.
“I already knew you did that,” Tempest told him.
“That obvious?” he asked.
“Yes. So, let me guess. You figured you just didn’t like being around someone who was too much like you.”
“Exactly!” he agreed. “I was starting to avoid him more shortly before I got kicked out. After I left, I heard Dom nearly killed some girl. He was feeding on her energy so often, she nearly died.”
Tempest’s jaw dropped. “You can kill people with this energy stealing thing?”
“Not normally, but he was abusing his relationship with the girl. It was kind of my fault,” he admitted.
Tempest was having trouble believing that. She knew Aiden felt guilty, but she was sure he wouldn’t have allowed something like that to happen, if for no other reason than self preservation. “Why do you think it was your fault?”
“I met her first and introduced her to Dominic,” he explained.
“So? Did you know he was going to harm her?” she asked.
“I knew he was going to use her,” Aiden confessed. “I didn’t expect him to see her more than once. It seemed harmless enough.”
“I take it she’s okay now?” Tempest asked.
“I guess so,” Aiden admitted. “It’s another big secret in the family, so I only have the few details Justin let slip.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Tempest told him. “You can’t blame yourself for other people’s actions.”
Aiden smiled down at her. “I get the feeling you need to take that advice more often, too.”
She gave him a sheepish grin.
“This is nice,” Aiden mused. “We should do more stuff like this. not just hiking, but going places and spending time together.”
“Like dating?” Tempest asked.
“That is how it works, right?” he asked with a teasing grin. “Normally, I use the kidnapping technique with women, but we could try dating.”
“What sorts of things do vampires do on dates?” she asked. “Stalk virgins?”
“Nah,” he replied. “We leave the virgin stalking to witches. They need them for sacrifices and things like that.”
“True,” she agreed thoughtfully. “Sadly, virgins are hard to come by these days.”
“I’m glad you decided to stay,” he told her as he pulled her to a stop.
Tempest sank into his arms and sighed. “Me too.”