"Did I hurt you?" His worried eyes flicked over my bruised face.
I shoved his shoulder back. "Stop it...I'm fine. Stop worrying about me and kiss me like you mean it. You don't need to hold back."
He raised an eyebrow at my command, then grinning, he leaned in and ardently kissed me. His cool tongue stole my breath for a second, until I got used to the new sensation. His mouth moved to my neck, and I let out a blissful sigh as heat rushed in to replace the chill left by his lips, tongue and breath.
His hands slipped down my shoulders to the cotton tank top I was wearing. It was only then that I realized I was in my pajamas, pajamas that had been packed away in Teren's car, the car that had been abandoned somewhere between our house and the ranch.
"Ummm...where did these come from?" I asked.
My voice came out a little husky, and a low growl escaped Teren's throat before he answered with, "What?"
"My clothes...our stuff?"
He stopped placing kisses along my throat and looked up at me. His eyes were smoldering, and I had to bite my lip. "Gran and Great-Gran got my car last night, while I tended to you." His eyes flicked down to the mattress and his voice softened. "They also took care of...the farmhouse and the camper."
A shudder passed through me that had nothing to do with Teren's body. "Oh," I whispered. His eyes returned to mine and he searched my face, concerned. "I'm fine," I said immediately, before he could ask. "Are you?"
He took a moment before answering. "I am."
His soft lips returned to mine, before following the path his hands had taken down my tank top. He lingered on my chest, feeling my body react to him through the fabric of my light shirt. Scrunching the material up, he began trailing kisses down my ribcage to my stomach. Groaning, I ran my fingers through his hair again. With a swift, cool lick in-between each kiss, his lips traveled across my stomach. After he went past my belly button...he paused.
I was about to beg him to keep going, when he softly spoke into my skin. "I'm so sorry, Emma." I lifted my head to look down at him. He raised his head to look back at me and pain was in his eyes. "I'm so sorry I couldn't give you a baby. I know how much you..."
Sitting up, I grabbed his face; my sore joints protested the swift movement. "You didn't fail, Teren...that was stolen from us." I searched his sad face. "It was taken from us, okay. You have nothing to feel sorry for." I kissed him as he started to nod. Lying back, I pulled him over my body. My hand ran to his shorts and started pulling them down.
Breathing heavy, he broke away from my lips. "They can hear." He shook his head. "They won't be leaving me out of earshot for a while...sorry."
I brought his lips back to mine. "Then they can listen...I don't care." I stopped kissing him and stared at him intently. "I had to watch you die...almost twice. I'm not letting a little thing like modesty get between us again."
He matched my intense gaze with one of his own. "I can't believe what you did for me."
I realized then, that he did indeed know exactly what I'd done for him, even if he was choosing to play along with my version of events. I rubbed his cheek with my thumb. "There's nothing I wouldn't do for you, Teren...nothing."
His intense gaze softened into one filled with love, and he slowly shook his head. "You were wrong about one thing."
"Hmmm?" I ran a finger along his strong, stubbly jaw.
"I'm not better than you. No one's better than you." I gaped at him as I realized that not only did he know exactly what I'd done...he'd heard me do it. He'd heard everything. He knew everything.
He started to open his mouth, with what looked like an apology on his lips, but I cut him off. "Don't you apologize for my choice. I don't need it or want to hear it...ever. If I had to do it over again, I would change nothing." I grabbed his cheek. "Nothing, Teren."
He kissed me then, and for a moment, I let myself forget that we'd just been through a horrid ordeal. That, while I put on a brave act for him, I was deeply remorseful for having taken a life, even a twisted one like that man's. That my life was now a touch more complicated with a dead boyfriend. That my body hurt everywhere. That we weren't entirely alone here at this ranch, or even in this room. I let all of that go, and all that I let touch my mind, was everywhere this amazing man in my bed was touching my body. And for the rest of that morning, a morning that I had been so sure last night I'd never get to see, Teren did his best to make me forget everything but him.
And he succeeded...over and over again.
****
We stayed at the ranch, recovering and adjusting to Teren's new lifestyle. His family sent the help away, claiming a family emergency was shutting them down for a while. I was sure they'd cleaned up the Wagyu slaughter before sunrise, and none of the hands were even remotely suspicious of the family, but, as we'd painfully learned, you can never be too careful.
Well, I wasn't entirely sure about none of the hands suspecting. I'd happened to be coming down the staircase when Peter had been saying goodbye to Jack and Teren. Teren had shaken his hand and Peter had looked at their shaking hands the whole while, with an expression on his face like he was doing math in his head.
When they'd released, he'd clapped Teren's shoulder and left his hand there for a long time as he'd searched Teren's face. Teren had looked a bit uncomfortable under the scrutiny, and Jack had even coughed once into his hand, but Peter had only continued searching Teren's face.
Finally, he released him and smiled. He glanced at me as I hit the bottom step and then back to Teren. Peter's voice was rough, but very kind, when he told him, "I'm sure everything will work out just fine." Teren tilted his head and was about to speak, but Peter turned and left the home.
I'm not sure if Peter suspected anything, but he was no dummy, and he'd worked for the Adams for a while, I'd been told. Teren also told me that Peter rotated the men he brought in with him and kept them under a tight leash while they were on the property, never letting them stray into the fields after dark. I'm no genius, but it seemed to me that Peter Alton knew exactly what the Adams family really were...and he protected them the only way he could.
Once Peter and the hands were gone, and we were alone here on the ranch, his family was morose around me. Sure, they threw on we're-glad-you're-alive smiles, even Halina, which surprised me at first, but there was an air of sadness that filled the home. Their dreams of future children had died that day, right along with mine. No one mentioned the loss to me. I think they sensed that I'd burst right into tears if they did. But I saw the occasional sweep of their fingers under their eyes, or a body blurring from the room, if I entered at the wrong moment. They were mourning right along with me and I appreciated that at least I wasn't alone in my grief.
After a couple of days, the need to call my sister and let her know about the ordeal I'd just survived was too great. I called her early in the evening on a phone in the library, where I felt like I had some semblance of privacy...even though I didn't. I promised myself that I'd be strong and not cry. I didn't make it past, "Hey, sis."
Brokenly, I told her the story of how we'd been kidnapped and how we'd gotten away. I told her as much detail as I thought she could handle, only telling her that, in the end, Teren didn't touch me and we'd gotten away from the man. I was pretty sure the women in Teren's family knew the truth about our escape, especially Halina and Imogen, who had cleaned up the mess. I'd forgotten, in my haste to get away from that nightmare with no trace of us left behind, that a couple of the vampire women in the family had experience in cleaning up crime scenes. Halina in particular had a lot of experience.
My sister listened to my story in shocked silence and just as I was sure she was no longer on the other end of the phone, I heard the sounds of someone rustling around. "How do I get there?" she calmly asked.
"Ash...I'm fine, you don't have to-"
"Some jackass just tried to kill my sister! I'm coming over to see you, even if I have to drive around aimlessly to do it!"
I was about to tell her that we could get together in a few days-I was still really black and blue and I'd rather be healed a little more before she saw me-when Teren poked his head into the room. I twisted my lips at the intrusion and he quickly said, "I'll go pick her up."
I blinked and automatically repeated that to Ashley, without thinking too much about it. Teren blurred from my sight before I had a chance to even say "wait" and Ashley, sounding both pleased and nervous, said "okay" and hung up the phone. I hung up the empty line and wondered how that conversation had gone so much differently in my head.
Almost two hours later, the family and I were standing in the parking lot, watching the lights of Teren's car bounce along the driveway. Filling myself with confidence, I walked over to where Halina was leaning against her sports car.
She looked over and smiled crookedly when she noticed my approach. I harbored no ill will towards Halina, but she wasn't exactly the most comfortable person to be around and she had an odd sense of humor. Nothing made her grin more than scaring the crap out of me and I was pretty sure she'd love to make my sister wet her pants.
In my most menacing tone, I firmly told her, "I will drag your sleeping ass out into the sun, if you so much as drop a fang at my sister. Play nice."
She gaped at me, surprised, and as I looked around, I saw that the other vampires were gaping at me too. I straightened my shoulders and focused my eyes only on Halina's. She started laughing suddenly, and slung a cool arm around my shoulder. "I like you more and more every day."
The rest of the vampires laughed. Jack even joined in, after Alanna leaned over and whispered in his ear. So, when Teren's car finally stopped and he stepped out to walk around and let Ashley out of the car (such a gentleman...even dead), it was understandable that he was shocked to see Halina's arm still draped over me.
Laughing at the look on his face, I walked over to his car and waited for him to help Ashley out. Then I engulfed her in a ferocious hug. She hugged me back just as tight. "Don't ever get yourself almost killed again," she whispered into my hair as she sniffled.
I pulled back to examine my horrifically scarred sibling. She was the most beautiful sight I'd ever seen. "I won't...I promise."
Ashley traced the outline of the bruising around my eye with a broken sigh and a slight shake of her head. A tear dropped down her cheek as she looked over at Teren. At the same time, they both smiled at each other. I was sure my sister had had some words for him in the car, both complimentary and admonitory, but they seemed to have come to a mutual level of love and respect for each other. Whatever fears my sister had for him and me, had hopefully dissolved with the knowledge that even facing death, Teren hadn't hurt me. He'd never hurt me.
I introduced my sister to my extended family. They each took her in with a warm embrace and no outward show of fear or disgust for her appearance. These were people who were used to out of the ordinary and they had a threshold for weird higher than most. My sister's disfigurement was nothing worth more than a cursory glance; noted, then forgotten. Even Halina gave her a genuinely warm smile and something seemed to pass between the two women when they hugged. It was almost like they shared an instant connection; two women who'd had a horrible fate thrust upon them at too young of an age-outcasts from the world, trying to find their places in it.