Page 107 of Wedlock (Vampire Bachelor Games #3)

The Thai resort is everything I remembered from my last date with Falcon on The Games, and more.

The heat, the food, the beach, it’s all still magical. The only difference is, it’s all mine. The past six months had been wonderfully healing for me, Yin and the children, and I shouldn’t want for anything more, but deep down, I do.

‘I want him.’

Tonight I watch the children playing on the beach under the full moon, and wish, as I have every night since our arrival, that my heart didn’t feel heavy — that I could get over the vampire I’d left behind and move on with my life.

“Content?” Yin asks as she draws slow circles in the sand, circles so similar to the ones I’d once drawn in the Japanese sand garden, right before I’d found the Life Token that saved us both.

“Getting there.”

“I think it’s going to take time to stop being afraid. To stop looking over your shoulder and instead look to the future,” she says gently. “For both of us.”

“It’s been six months,” I sigh.

“Yes.”

She continues drawing in the sand and I study the fine streak of grey at her forehead, barely perceptible to anyone who didn’t know her well, but clear to me. It had appeared after Phil passed.

“Do you still think of him?” I ask her quietly.

“Yes. I wonder what I could have done differently. If I could have forgiven him as he hoped, and gone back to him. If he would be alive today had I done so. It’s a false hope, though. Do you still think of your vampire?”

“You know I do. I’m not as good at hiding my feelings as you, Yin.”

“I’m very glad to hear that,” a deep voice says from behind us.

Gasping, we both jump to our feet and spin to see Falcon standing, hands in pockets, barely three feet from us.

“Please, sit down,” he says quietly, sauntering close and sitting on the powdery white sand. “I don’t mean to alarm you.”

“Falcon,” I whisper, sitting down beside him on the sand, as directed, my knees suddenly weak. “Alarm isn’t the word I’d use for seeing you here.”

“Disgust is closer,” Yin growls, “and pity.”

“You pity me?” He cocks an eyebrow.

“I pity those with mental health issues,” she snaps.

“There’s no doubt I’m sick,” he shrugs, “not in my head, though. In my heart.”

“You don’t have a heart,” she snarls. “You’re a serial-killing stalker.”

“Last time I looked you weren’t far from being that yourself,” he snorts.

“Yin,” I sigh, signalling to her to rein it in as the twins approach.

“Hello, children,” he smiles at the pair.

Both kids stand close to me. Suzume holds a sea urchin she’d found earlier. Talon has nothing but a naughty grin, and I realise why as he spits a mouthful of seawater at Yin.

She shoots me a quick ‘get rid of him’ glance as she rises to chase my boy.

“Come here, you little rascal!”

Falcon and I watch as Talon zips back to the surf, presumably to get more water, pursued by Yin and a giggling Suzume.

As they leave, he turns to me, his expression serious.

“I wonder that I didn’t notice the first time I met her that she has your eyes, Angie, but then, I might have just assumed they were passed down through your family.”

“They were,” I whisper.

He shakes his head as he stares out at the dark sea.

“I know she’s mine. I know Tiger is Sophie’s son. It’s taken me months of investigation, but I’ve finally unwound the knot of lies and secrets surrounding me and mine.”

‘I know,” I sigh, keeping my gaze on the children, not daring to meet his eyes. “I knew you wouldn’t give up that easily.”

“I’ll never give up on you,” he murmurs. “I think you know that. Perhaps that’s why you don’t seem surprised to see me,” he adds quietly.

I smile and shake my head.

“Since you knew exactly where I was, I assumed you were either thinking of some other way to prevent any possible daughter from being taken by The Families, or rampaging around on a bloodthirsty quest to destroy any future threat.”

I don’t let on that I’d also wondered now and again, if he might have given up on me, on us, although deep down I hoped not.

Still, I’d scoured the papers and gossip magazines for any news of a ‘royal engagement,’ relieved every time I didn’t see one.

His visit puts an end to that possibility and, although fraught with endless possibilities for terror, eases the ache I’ve had in my heart ever since our last conversation.

He reaches over to take my hand.

“Bloodthirsty quests are my thing,” he chuckles.

“I know,” I laugh quietly.

I turn from the view to look at him. He’s as handsome as ever, and just as sincere as the last time I saw him.

Tonight he’s wearing jeans and a white linen shirt.

He looks magnificent, although I notice there are a few lines on the side of his eyes, worry lines, that I hadn’t noticed before.

Or perhaps it’s just the light. Either way, my fingers ache to trace them.

Did you dread my visit, Angie?”

“Dread, anticipate,” I murmur, “the feelings seem to go hand in hand whenever I think of you.”

“I feel the same,” he says gently, “I never know what you’re going to say, or do.”

“How frustrating for you,” I quip sarcastically as I roll my eyes.

He laughs.

“On the contrary, I find it invigorating.”

I shake my head and try not to smirk.

“If it’s any consolation,” he changes the subject, “it took me longer than I expected to find out your secret this time, because I’m somewhat rusty when it comes to following trails and leads.”

“You’d usually ask Jag for that, I guess.”

“Yes, and with him telling me he’s ‘too busy being Amish,’ to help, I had to start from ground zero and follow a barely perceptible trail.”

I smile at the idea of Jag actually being Amish, but I know he left Adam’s farm months ago.

He left the day we spoke on the phone and they haven’t heard from him since, and neither have I.

It’s something that pains me, and I’ve often wished I still had him as a friend to call and ask advice, especially now the twins are beginning to take an interest in blood no longer delivered in bottles.

But I know, given his confession that he still loves me, that it’s better we distance ourselves, if that’s what he needs.

Falcon clears his throat, bringing me back to the now.

“Did he tell you I was coming?”

“I didn’t need to be told,” I shrug. “I knew you’d pursue me. You’re not a man to accept being left easily.”

“No,” he murmurs. “I’m not that man.”

“And yet, I meant it when I said goodbye.”

“Circumstances have changed,” he sighs.

“Yours might have,” I shrug, “but nothing has changed for me. Have you considered the offer I made you?”

“Offer?”

“Yes, to have Talon come live with you after my death.”

He frowns.

“Have you considered my offer to abdicate and live an ordinary life with you and the children?”

“I told you, I can’t do that.”

“Angie, surely you don’t fear my mother any longer? I’ve scuttled her plans for you and our daughter and she accepts that. There’s no reason for you not to return to me.”

“Your mother,” I raise both eyebrows. “You said she was imprisoned.”

“She is, of sorts,” he shrugs.

“Of sorts? I hope she’s secure?”

He shakes his head, avoiding my question.

“She’s revealed everything to me. She’s sorry, Angie. She’s working hard to make things right.”

“Is she?” I snap. “And where is she right now?”

“She’s in the West Wing. But I allow her out nightly to spend time with Tiger.”

“I see. You’d trust your son with her? After what she did?”

He frowns.

“Her plans for our daughter are diabolical, I know. I don’t expect you’ll forgive her any time soon, and neither will I. But…”

“I’m not talking about our daughter, Falcon. I’m talking about her poisoning your son.”