Page 102 of Wedlock

“You did well, don’t second-guess yourself. This is the kind of thing you’re going to have to get used to if you insist on staying in the world with our boy.”

“Get used to?” She whispers.

She breathes in a deep, ragged breath, her eyes not leaving mine, and it takes every inch of my self-control not to pull her into my arms and kiss her until she’s no longer trembling from shock, but from desire, as she once had.

Yin’s arrival stalls any such actions.

“Step back, Vampire,” she snaps.

“She’s in shock,” I mutter.

“And whose fault is that? Who forced her hand?”

“You did,” I scowl, “when you shot me. My guards were ordered not to use lethal force and to simply hang back and ensure I was safe.”

“They did a shit job,” she sniggers. “If Angie hadn’t shielded you, you’d be dust now.”

“And if protecting Angie wasyouraim,” I shrug, “you were equally as shit. Look at her.”

We both look at my wife where she stands, almost statue-like, her face as white as marble.

“I’m guessing that was her first kill?” I murmur.

Yin’s expression changes from furious to worried.

“Angie, are you OK?”

“I’m OK,” she squeaks, her words completely at odds with her body language.

I shake my head.

“We need to get you inside.”

Angie nods and I step forward, but Yin spins angrily towards me.

“Don’t think for a minute I’m going to invite you into our house. Get out of here!”

“Yin,” I sigh, “you and Angie are an impressive duo...”

“Cut the crap, Falcon.”

I look her right in the eye as I speak, so there’s no misunderstanding my sincerity.

“It’s not going to be enough.”

79

I’m shaking so much that I don’t even notice as he takes the gun from my hand, but when he draws my face to his and meets my eyes, my trembling begins to subside, and I feel my heart begin to slow down a little.

He may be the source of all the commotion, the reason I’d had to shoot four men who I’d actually thought were vampires, but it turns out were humans. But for some reason, when he stands close, I feel safe.

This is something I’m going to have to examine at some point, but right now I’m appalled that I took people’s lives. Appalled, but also a little proud of myself. After all, Yin’s been training me for years.

When I’d first escaped Falcon’s world I’d been pregnant, so all my training had been in shooting, but in these past few years she’d also helped me learn a few martial arts moves. To be honest, I’m terrible at hand-to-hand combat; my strength definitely lies in weapons. Yin said this was OK, provided I was prepared to use them.

Up until tonight I’d secretly doubted that I ever could unless it was against someone I truly loathed.

Now, curled up on the couch, a cup of hot tea in hand, I’m acutely aware that the vampire sitting beside me had forced me to become a bona fide murderer.