"Do you, then?" His voice had gone husky. As she nodded against him, he realized that though he was injured - had been feeling damn near dead - she could stir him to life. "You've only to tell me what you want."
"But I don't want to see certain things. Like you...with another woman."
"Now, this I am no' concerned with. You take my memories, and none before you were memorable in the least."
"I don't know..."
"I do. Every event you described was pivotal to my thinking of you. I remember all of them clearly, even over so much time." When she frowned, he explained, "I think you wake up too soon. That day by the stream, I grieved for no' having you, but afterward I swore to myself that nothing would stop me from finding you. I vowed that I would no' wait for you - I would seek you to the ends of the earth. And in the hotel when we were together, I promised myself I would do whatever it took to claim you, go to any lengths, even if they were no' honorable. I realized that night that you can make me craven for you."
"A-and the others?"
"The necklace? That entire journey home I slept with it in my hand, renewed in my belief that I'd see you wear it one day. And the night I stared at your arse - and you do have an arse I will be thinking of often - I joined you in the shower. When I took you under the water, you whispered in my ear that you dinna think you could live without me."
"I did?" she breathed.
"Oh, aye, and I thought that I'd give anything to hear it again. So rest easy on that score, love. I think this is like mind reading, and a lot of couples I know do that." He frowned. "Though those are usually reciprocal. Will you share things with me as though I had this talent? To keep no more secrets between us."
"No more secrets, Lachlain."
"And we set about getting past my...our memories?"
She nodded eagerly. "We will - "
"Emmaline!" Annika shrieked. Regin, behind her, rolled her eyes at the sight of them together. "Get away from him!"
Emma gasped, seeming embarrassed to be caught in bed with Lachlain. Then her expression turned defiant. "No."
"You can't mean this. We will discuss this when you're better." To Regin, she said, "Take him from here." Her voice was laced with disgust.
Emma tensed. "Don't touch him, Regin."
"Sorry, Em." She drew her sword and swept to the bed in a blur, her sword point under his chin before they could blink. He tensed, but with his injuries and Emma thrown over him, he couldn't react quickly enough.
"Put - the sword - down," Emma said.
"You're out of your head, kid. Why do you want to be with him when you have nightmares about him?"
Annika added, "You need to move away from this...this Lykae."
"I'm keeping" - her eyes flickered - "this Lykae."
"But the nightmares - "
"Are our business." When Regin pressed forward, Emma bit out, "I said no." She backhanded her with phenomenal speed.
Regin flew across the room. Lachlain shot up, head light, and threw Emma behind him. But instead of attacking as Lachlain expected, Regin wiggled her jaw and smiled brightly. "Sixty-five years I've been trying to teach you to move like that."
All of them were insane but for Emma.
Regin spoke to another Valkyrie on the wardrobe who'd come from nowhere and sat blowing bubbles with chewing gum. "Check her out. She didn't telegraph her punch. Finally, I can relax a little."
Annika clasped her hands. "Emma, please be reasonable."
Emma tilted her head at Annika. "What's going on here? The house should've been ruptured by your lightning."
Lachlain suspected Annika couldn't say a lot about this situation since she was now related by marriage to a full-blooded vampire. "Aye, Annika, why no' tell her why a Lykae does no' look so bad right now?"
When Emma frowned at him, he said, "She's agreed to recognize her sister's marriage to Wroth. I think she's figuring that anything is better than him."
Annika gave him a look of pure spite.
"You know what?" Emma said to Annika. "I can see that you're going to accept this - unbelievable, but I can see it. And I'm going to keep my head down and not ask too many questions - "
"Christ! Garreth!" Lachlain shot to his feet, weak and stumbling. Dragging Emma to his side, half carrying her, he lurched out of the room and down the stairs. Regin and Annika followed, demanding to know what was happening.
Inside the half-basement, they found Wroth alongside Garreth, grappling to hold up the ceiling.
The vampire's voice was incongruously calm when he asked, "What kind of idiot would find this a worthy plan?"
In an astounded tone, Lachlain said to Emma, "Your family's adding in-laws like him?"
The vampire's gaze fell to Lachlain's hand clutching Emma's, and he raised an eyebrow. "Indeed."
35
Movie!!" someone shrieked, and to Lachlain's great unease, he heard the Valkyrie begin to stir throughout the manor.
Lachlain was exhausted from his injuries and from having to help hold up the house while a suitable Lore contractor was found who could stabilize the damage. He'd barely been able to stumble back up to Emma's bedroom so they could rebandage each other. He'd sunk into her bed, pulling her down with him with the crook of his arm, just minutes before, and had almost fallen asleep with her resting her head on his chest.
Now he stared, arm tightening around her, wishing he had a weapon, as they filed into Emma's room from all corners of the house.
Some had gotten popcorn, none of them eating it. They curled up on the windowsills, on top of the wardrobe, and one even hopped to the foot of the bed after a casual hiss at Lachlain's legs had prompted him to move them.