Page 115 of Wedlock

“I just wish…”

Our conversation is interrupted by shouting and the sound of furniture smashing next door, and we rise together and dash for the door.

As we reach the living room I see Jag and Falcon being held apart by my father and Adam, and I shake my head. Both vampires are bleeding from cuts to their faces, and both are breathing heavily.

My eyes stray to the broken crystal vase on the floor.

“Oh, no.”

“I apologise,” Falcon says solemnly. “I’ll pay for all the damage, naturally.”

I shake my head. Mom might say these vampires love me and that my children and I are part of this world, but wherever they go, violence follows. This is not the future I want.

“Money doesn’t fix everything, Falcon,” I snap. “That vase belonged to my grandmother. Mom loved it. One day, it would have been passed down to me. It’s irreplaceable.”

“I’m very sorry, Mrs Martin,” Jag says, turning to my mother.

“Both of you, get out. Stay out,” My father growls.

Falcon nods and heads for the door, and I follow quietly.

“Not you, honey,” Dad says gently.

I turn around.

“I have to go too, Dad. Hopefully it won’t be so long before my next visit.”

“When?” Mom asks, her expression worried.

I smile and hold up my phone. We’d exchanged numbers earlier, as I had with all my family members.

“Only a call away, Mom.”

She hugs me tightly, whispering, “it will all work out,” and I nod as a lump forms in my throat. She and I both know that’s a long shot, at best.

As I head to where Falcon waits by the helicopter, I pause to touch Jag briefly on the shoulder. In his own way he’s still protecting me and mine, and I owe him for that, even if his motivation is for a love that can never be.

‘What a twisted web of bullshit I’ve found myself in. Jag loves me, Asumpta loved Jag, Revna loves Falcon, Falcon loves me, I love Falcon, but I love my children more.’

Stepping on board, I wave to my mother and, as we fly away, keep my eyes on their disappearing forms for as long as I can.

Eventually there’s nothing left to see, and I lean back in my seat and turn to Falcon.

“Angie,” he says quietly, “it’s unpardonable that your visit ended on that note…”

I shake my head.

“Don’t. The last ten minutes can’t erase the hours that went before. You have no idea how much I needed that. Even if you and Jag did spoil it towards the end, the night was magical.”

“I lost my temper,” he sighs. “If you’d told me he was there…”

“There’s a great deal I can’t and won’t tell you, Falcon,” I murmur, my resolve hardening since their fight. Yes, he loves me, I concede that. And yes, I love him, I admit that. But Jag’s right. My family still needs protection from those who seek to harm me, and they always will while I associate with my husband. Falcon has enemies like Spider, he has frenemies like the Princess, and in between he has people like his mother. And I’d like to think my kids could enjoy a family dinner without people punching each other’s lights out and destroying the furniture. One day my children might need othervampires around them; one day they might even find themselves embroiled in the world their father inhabited, but that would be over my dead body. And the only way to ensure they had at least one human lifetime of sound, good upbringing, is if I end things with Falcon right now.

Mom was wrong. Love wouldn’t find a way, not this time.

“Falcon…”

I’m about to tell him that enough is enough, and I can’t see him any longer, when he leans forward and pulls the silver pin from my hair, allowing my curls to tumble from the bun I’d had them restrained in tonight.