Page 91 of Wedlock (Vampire Bachelor Games #3)

“I do,” I bow my head at my shameful answer to my mom’s question. “I’ve tried not to, God knows I have enough reasons not to, but I do still love him, Mom.”

“Not Jag? You’re sure? Because darling, he’s head over heels for you.”

“I know,” I sigh heavily, “but it’s not Jag.”

“Falcon, despite it all?” She shakes her head. “Oh, honey.”

“Yes, despite it all. He’s changed, though, Mom. He’s not the vampire he was, the one portrayed on television, the one I married. Or maybe, I don’t know, maybe the qualities that I originally saw in him are more out in the open now. But we can’t ever be together,” I whisper. “You know why.”

“You say he’s changed?” She frowns. “How do you know he won’t understand if you tell him the truth?”

I shake my head and continue staring down at my hands.

“He’s still a vampire, Mom, still bound by their laws and lore. Even if I could trust him to know the truth about his children, there are powers beyond him that would take over. His mother made it clear that if Tiger had died, Talon and I would have been dragged back.”

“His mother?” She murmurs.

“Yes. And she’s not the only one. I’m sure Jag told you there’s a princess who wants to marry Falcon, and someone who poisoned Tiger…”

“It sounds to me,” she sighs, “like that’s part and parcel of the world you entered when you went onto that terrible show, love.”

“Yes, but who would have known that the royals are so corrupt and disgusting, that there’s so much evil in their world. How could I ever bring up my babies in such an environment?”

“Honey,” Mom places both hands on my cheeks and raises my tear-stained face to hers. “Your babies are vampires. They belong in that world. And as much as I hate to say it, you do too now.”

I shake my head.

“They have each other,” I sniff, smiling hopefully at Mom.

“That won’t always be enough,” she says sadly. “As you know only too well.”

I look into her sorrowful eyes. She’s right, deep down, I’ve always known this.

My twin and I led our own lives, even though I tried to keep him away from the life that eventually killed him: the drugs, the criminals he associated with.

We were very different to one another, just as Talon and Suzume are different.

My brother and I needed more than each other, and one day, my children will need more, too. ”

“I know you’re right, Mom. Yin and I have gone round in circles about how best to protect the children from other vampires.

Yet the reality is that my kids are immortal, and I’m not.

However much I might hope for it, my world isn’t theirs.

I keep thinking that if I want to remain in their lives, I might have to step back into their world. ”

“I wish I could give you advice, darling, but only you can decide on your future, and theirs.”

“I don’t know what to do,” I whisper.

“You’ll do the right thing,” Mom smiles gently and pulls me into a hug. “You always do. You’ve changed, you’re not the girl you were before, you’re Lady Dragonspur now. Surely, if you’ve learned anything from all this, it’s that you can’t run from your problems?”

“Yeah,” I laugh, “I’ve sure as shit learnt that. Talk about frying pan to fire.”

‘After all, I’d run from a bad teaching job into the world of the supernatural. What an idiot!’

“Yes,” she smiles, “but out of that came your babies.”

“I wouldn’t trade them for anything,” I nod.

“And if you truly do love that vampire of yours, then like any marriage, you’re going to have to face all your demons together. Love usually finds a way.”

“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 other vampires 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.

“You should always wear your hair out, my angel,” he says softly.

I catch my breath as he pensively winds a finger around one of my curls.

It glows a strange green, illuminated by the small dash lights visible between the pilot seats at the front of the helicopter.

Slowly, he leans forward, dropping my curl and pushing his hand into the hair at the back of my neck, his eyes never leaving mine.

I’d pull away, but I can’t, I’m mesmerised, just as I always have been by his eyes, his smell, his raw sensuality.

As his lips brush mine my heart begins to race and my breath hitches.

I should stop this, but I remind myself that I’d planned to seduce him earlier to ensure I was no longer a challenge, so I should go full steam ahead.

Even as I think this, I know I’m lying to myself. My lips ache for his kiss.

Reaching up, I place my hands on his shoulders and kiss him, hard. This time, just as I remembered, he takes control, and I open fully to him as his tongue explores my mouth with such delicious depth and intensity, I see stars.

Groaning, his lips never leaving mine, he pulls me onto his lap, pushing my dress up to the top of my thighs so I can straddle him, one leg on either side of his hips. It rips along the seam as he scoots me closer, but just as I start to become lost in the moment, he pulls away.

Frowning, I stare into his eyes as he studies mine.

“Is this what you really want, Angie?”

“Yes,” I moan, leaning forward to bite his lower lip, squeezing him with my thighs.

“Now? Here?”

“Yes!”

His eyes darken and his lips crush down upon mine.

Pressing myself into his hard body, I whimper with unfeigned desire, forgetting all about having to seduce him to help get me out of his system.

He’s like a drug, and one that I want, need , surging through my system.

I moan, my body liquid jelly, as he growls, “you have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do this,” before pushing me down to the seat, tearing my panties off and burying his face between my legs.

I wonder, briefly, what the pilot thinks as I squirm and writhe and beg my husband to stop and ‘take me, take me now,’ but the whomp, whomp, whomp of the blades never falter.

If anything, they add to the intensity of the mind-blowing ecstasy tearing through my body due to the masterful ministrations of this vampire’s tongue, causing me to forget all about the pilot, forget about anything other than the man who grips my thighs as I come harder than I ever have before.

Pulling on his hair, I raise his face from between my legs. It hadn’t taken long, embarrassingly no time at all, and my body is still thrumming, pleasure still pulsing through me as I encourage him forward onto my heaving breasts.

“Falcon, please…”

“No,” he murmurs, his eyes serious as he leans forward, kissing me on the forehead.

“Why not? I want to please you too.”

“You do please me.”

“You know what I mean.”

He’s quiet for a long moment before sighing and sitting up, pulling me back onto his lap.

“We’ll fuck when you’re once more in my castle, and you admit you feel for me as I feel for you, Angie.”

Burying my face against his chest to hide my expression, I try to stop the tears that threaten to overwhelm me. I know, I’ve known it for a long time, try as I might to fight it, that I already feel that for him, I just can’t act upon it.

The fate of my daughter hinges on my distancing myself from the love of my life.

I try unsuccessfully to stifle a sob and, pulling me slightly away, he frowns as he gently pushes my hair from my face.

“What is it? You’re crying?”

I can’t tell him the truth. That I love him now just as I did the first time he’d given me such pleasure. But he’ll know if I lie. So, I tell a half-truth.

“It’s like the last night of The Games,” I hiccup. “You wouldn’t have sex with me then either, in case you got me pregnant, remember?”

“I have no fear of that now,” he murmurs, “we have remarkable babies, Angie.”

‘Yes, remarkable.’

Frowning, I pull away from him and draw my torn dress around my legs as best I can as I search for my panties. His reminder of the reason I’m here, the reason I’d seduced him, brings me back down to earth with a thud.

“Take me home.”

“Angie, what did I say?”

“Nothing. I just, I need to go home.”

Glancing up at him I note the clench of his jaw and I know I’m pushing him too hard, and he isn’t a man to be pushed, whether he loves me or not.

“I’m not taking you anywhere until you tell me what the fuck is going on with you?”

“Falcon, I, we can’t be together. I’m sorry I did, ah, what I did. I wish we hadn’t. It was a mistake. Please, just take me home.”

“You’re sorry?”

“Yes. I thought if I gave you what you wanted you’d stop seeing me as a challenge, and this whole charade could end.”

“Charade?”

His eyes glitter dangerously and, fearful that I’ve overstepped the mark big time, I flinch as he leans past me to tap the pilot on the shoulder and bark out his order for us to go back.

Shaking his head at my reaction, he leans back in his seat and studies me, and I feel once more pinned by his gaze, enthralled, unable to look away as he nods slowly, coming to some, unseen decision.

“I told you I wouldn’t hurt you,” he eventually murmurs, “but I see from your instinctive response that you don’t believe that. You don’t believe anything I’ve told you.”

I shake my head and try to stop more ridiculous tears from overflowing.

“I do believe you, Falcon. I forgive you for the past. In another time, another place, you and I…”

“There is no you and I,” he mutters, “you’ve made that patently clear.”

“Falcon…”

“But just so we’re very clear, wife , you didn’t give me ‘what I wanted’ — I didn’t come asking to date you for sex.

I can get sex at the click of my fingers anywhere, anytime.

I came for more than that. As it turns out, I was clearly delusional to hope for anything more — you’re right, we should end this charade. ”

I say nothing, my heart breaking at the look in his eyes. Tears flowing again at the realisation that this is really it, that I’ve actually succeeded in driving him away.

I should be rejoicing, but my heart feels like it’s going to explode in sorrow.

As the helicopter lands I rise and step out, and he doesn’t try to stop me.

Turning back, I meet his angry glare.

“Goodbye, Falcon.”

He nods, briefly, once.

I stand watching as the helicopter banks and turns before disappearing into the night sky, as I press my fingers to my swollen lips, recalling his kisses. All my memories of his expertise in the bedroom had done me an injustice — the real thing was even more amazing than I remembered.

‘And not something I’ll ever forget.’

Now, leaning down to take off my heels, I straighten up, preparing to make the long walk of shame back up the hill to our retreat.

It’s a few hours til dawn, but I know I’m too keyed up to sleep.

Yes, I’d given my body to him. We hadn’t had sex, but for all intents and purposes, I was no longer a challenge.

Only it hadn’t worked, just as I’d known, deep down, that it wouldn’t.

He didn’t want me only for my body; he’d made that clear.

He wanted all of me. And worse, I’d had to acknowledge that I wanted him too. Wanted what I could never have.

“My mission failed,” I murmur, shaking my head as the tears start again.

“Mine won’t,” a voice I barely recognise whispers from the treeline.