Page 29 of Immortal by Morning (Argeneau #37)

“It is too soon for me to explain about immortals to Abril,” Crispin protested pacing back and forth in front of Lucian on

the driveway. He had brought Lilith out to relieve herself after they finished their meal. Roberts had taken her for a walk

that morning as soon as they’d all returned from the hospital so that Crispin could stay to watch over Abril. The man had

offered to do it again this time as well, but Crispin had wanted to stretch his legs and said he’d do it himself. He was now

wishing he’d let Roberts take her, because it would have helped him avoid Lucian, who had followed to talk to him and insist

Crispin explain the situation to Abril. “I have not had enough time to gain her trust and affection.”

“She told you about her childhood, about her running away, and her history pretty much to date. She trusts you,” Lucian said

firmly.

“Maybe, but—”

“And I can see from your memories that she has experienced the shared passion with you more than once already,” Lucian continued. “Your chances are fair that she will accept you and not need to have all memory of you erased.”

“Fair is not good enough,” Crispin snapped. “I have waited a long time to meet my life mate, Uncle. I am not going to lose

her now.”

“Her not knowing what she is dealing with here and taking the correct precautions could end with her dying,” Lucian growled.

“I shall make sure that does not happen,” Crispin insisted. “I will keep her safe.”

Lucian rolled his eyes with exasperation and pointed out, “You are away from her side right now.”

“The other men are with her,” Crispin said defensively.

“Are you sure? Perhaps she has excused herself to go to her room to change clothes, go to the bathroom, or take a shower to

wash the blood out of her hair.”

When Crispin’s eyes widened in dismay at the possibility, Lucian said, “You will do as you wish. And she is your life mate

to lose. But do not come crying to me if she sneaks Lilith into her car and drives off as she considered doing earlier before

I controlled her mind, veiled her memories of what was said, and made her relax enough to remain here.”

Horror following the dismay, Crispin shoved Lilith’s leash at Lucian and hurried back inside the house.

Until now he’d had no idea that Abril had considered running away.

He supposed he shouldn’t be surprised. It was how she’d handled her situa tion as a teenager.

But then she’d had little choice in the matter.

Her options had been to run away or be forced to marry a man—a boy really—she hadn’t wanted to, and who, apparently, would have taken his fists to her with impunity.

But Crispin hadn’t even imagined she’d consider grabbing Lilith and fleeing him .

He would never harm her. She was safer with him than anyone else on the planet. He needed to make that clear to her.

“He didn’t!” Abril said with amusement, speaking loudly so that Cassius could hear her from where he waited in her bedroom.

While she thought it a bit ridiculous that Crispin’s brother insisted on standing guard while she tried to wash some of the

blood out of her hair, the memory of her terror last night when she’d woken to the man in her bedroom had convinced her not

to raise a fuss about it. She definitely felt safer knowing he was out there than she would have felt being alone. Abril didn’t

think she would be comfortable sleeping there after what happened, but then doubted she’d be comfortable in any of the bedrooms

here now, even with all these men here. Unfortunately, she wasn’t sure what to do about that yet.

“He did,” Cassius assured her. “Crispin followed our youngest sister around on her dates for years before our father stepped

in and made him stop. Although, frankly, I am not sure what danger he could have thought she would be in. She could have bench-pressed

every one of the young men she dated.”

Abril chuckled at this, imagining Cassius and Crispin’s sister as some large Amazon.

Her head now filled with an image of an Amazon bench-pressing a scrawny guy, she lowered the washcloth she’d been using and leaned closer to the bathroom mirror.

She’d felt the crusty blood in her hair when she’d rested her head on her hand at the island.

Feeling around then, she’d discovered that the dried blood seemed to be all over on that side of her head.

Much to her relief, she’d managed to remove most of the blood in the hair around the bandage. But she winced as she looked

at the covered wound. All she could see was a bandage in the middle of her hair, but it was obvious they must’ve had to shave

some of her hair away to stitch and cover it. That did not make her happy as she considered how bad it might look to have

a bald spot once the injury got to the point where the bandage could be removed.

Straightening with a sigh, Abril decided to leave that worry for another day, tossed the washcloth in the laundry basket,

and turned to walk out of the bathroom into the bedroom where Cassius sat on the end of her bed. She was just about to suggest

they return to the others when Crispin appeared in the doorway, his gaze moving from her to his brother.

“Is Lilith done already?” she asked with surprise, her feet taking her to stand in front of him.

“Lucian has her,” Crispin murmured, his hands reaching for her as if he could not resist. One brushed a tendril of hair away

from her cheek, and the other glided along the skin of her arm.

Swallowing, Abril almost leaned into the touch, but Cassius’s voice reminded her of his presence as he said, “Do you need time alone to talk to her?”

“Yes,” Crispin growled, but much to his surprise, instead of then leaving, Cassius merely narrowed his eyes on him. Crispin

knew at once that he was reading his mind, and probably picking up on all the things he wanted to do to Abril to ease what

he had to tell her. He was thinking that if he full on made love to her first, maybe she would not reject him right away when

he told her what he was. But Cassius blew his plan all to hell, simply by reminding him, “Dani said she is not to have any

excitement until she is recovered.”

Shoulders slumping, Crispin let his hand drop away from her arm and nodded at his brother. He had forgotten that. He would

not risk Abril’s health by making love to her right now. Which meant he had to take the chance, and tell her without sex to

help ease the way.

Crispin didn’t like to think of himself as a coward, but in that moment, he certainly felt like one. Terrified of losing her,

instead of leading her out of the room to somewhere where they could sit and talk seriously, he suddenly recalled something

else Dr. Dani had said, and suggested to her, “Maybe you should take a nap. We can always talk later, and Dani did say you

should be resting.”

“Yes, she did say that, but I only woke up an hour or so go,” Abril protested.

“It has been two hours and thirty-six minutes,” Crispin said, glancing at his watch.

“And it is already four o’clock. We will be starting supper in a couple of hours.

If you take a nap now, you should be well rested for the meal and then we can talk after dinner.

Maybe while we walk Lilith in the front yard. ”

Abril had started to frown at the suggestion at first, but that began to ease now. He’d apparently somehow made it sound reasonable

to her. And perhaps it was. Frankly, he couldn’t tell. He was just scrambling to find a way to woo her and keep her safe at

the same time.

“All right,” she said suddenly, and then she glanced briefly toward the window and added, “But maybe I’ll just lie down on

the couch in the living room.”

Crispin didn’t argue with her. He suspected she might be nervous of sleeping in here after the attack, so he merely nodded,

and followed her out of the room. He had ushered her to the couch before he considered that she might want a pillow and blanket.

Crispin immediately turned, intending to go back to fetch those off her bed, but paused when he saw Cassius coming out of

the room with both items in hand. It seemed his brother had thought of what he hadn’t. Giving him a grateful smile, Crispin

took the items, placed the pillow on the couch, got Abril settled on it, and then covered her with the blanket.

“There,” he said, offering a gentle smile. “You rest now. I shall wake you up in time for supper.”

“Lucian will not be pleased that you have avoided talking to her,” Cassius commented as they headed to the kitchen.

“Lucian can kiss my ass,” Crispin muttered, with irritation. “It is not his life mate he is risking by insisting this conversation

takes place now.”

“True,” Cassius said mildly. “Besides, at least this way you have gained yourself some time to figure out the best way to explain things to her.”

“Yes,” Crispin agreed, but wasn’t sure there really was a best way.

“It is possible the bodies in the garden are the victims of the immortal who broke in last night,” Decker was saying as Cassius

and Crispin entered the kitchen.

“That is more than likely true,” Lucian agreed. “It still does not explain why the immortal would attack Abril. The bodies

in the garden have been discovered. Attacking her could not have been to prevent that. In fact, the attack is the only thing

that suggested this was rogue related,” he pointed out. “With the information we have at the moment, attacking her will gain

them nothing.”

The men were all nodding at that when Decker noticed their arrival and asked, “Has Abril said anything that might suggest

she has any connection to immortals?”

Crispin shook his head and peered at his cousin with curiosity. He’d expected Decker to head back to Toronto with his wife,

Dani, when she’d finished with Abril and left. However, he’d remained behind to help out. Which he did appreciate and hoped

Decker knew that. Even as he thought it, Decker caught his gaze and nodded solemnly, obviously having read his thoughts. Before