Astrid's Wish (3 page)

“Yeah, let me get him.” Quinn pointed to the front living room.

“Go in there and have a seat while I fetch him.”

Klaus waited until Quinn moved out of view before going into the sitting area. He took a seat on the love seat closest to the window. It truly was a beautiful place to live. The town seemed nice and quiet and away from the hustle and bustle of the city. From living in New York for so long, he forgot what it was like to be in the country. He welcomed the silence. It fed his soul.

“I’m sorry about Trevor slamming the door in your face. He’s weird like that sometimes,” Ben said as he came into the room.

Klaus stood and clasped hands with him. Ben was a good guy.

Unlike his father, he had manners. “No worries.”

Ben waved to the couch. “Please, have a seat. Let’s talk before I bring Astrid in here to meet you.” Ben brushed his hand through his long hair. “Klaus, I’ve never had any issues with you, but Astrid is
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very sensitive, almost childlike. Please, please take it easy on him.

He’s had a hard life.”

He nodded. He wasn’t that much of an asshole to be cruel to a person who had been held prisoner. But in saying that, he was still dealing with a witch, a witch who could very well be a ticking time bomb of magic, ready to go off at any moment.

“I have no intentions of being rough with him, but, Ben, you have to understand I do have to question him.”

“Yes, I know. My father wants to find Asher, and he isn’t above using an innocent to get what he wants,” Ben accused. “I won’t allow you to take advantage of Astrid. I will not.”

“Remember who you’re talking to, vampire.” Klaus stood to his feet. “I didn’t come here to hurt anyone, but I do have to talk to this witch. The reasons why have nothing to do with your father’s personal agenda. It’s the council’s procedure, and you know it.” He hated to pull rank on Ben, but no one spoke down to him. And he sure as hell didn’t like the implication he was Benedict’s errand boy.

Ben stood as well. “I know, Klaus, but you do have a reputation.

And let’s just say it’s less than stellar.” Ben’s voice continued to rise.

“A trail of bodies is usually left in your wake.”

Klaus flinched on the inside. Once again, his method on handling wayward paranormals had caused him not to be trusted.

He had learned long ago that some people weren’t worth saving.

Once a person had tasted pure evil, they’d come to crave it. And when they did, more often than not people died due to their horrendous addiction. Klaus didn’t like killing his own kind. He loathed it. When he was younger he had petitioned to have a program to rehabilitate these individuals, but the idea was shot down. The reasoning was evil couldn’t be redeemed. After being gutted by a man who had been his childhood friend, he understood the decision the council had made.

Even after all these years he could remember it like it was yesterday. He had been given orders to execute a man for killing a family of vampires. Vampires weren’t on Klaus’s favorite list of
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paranormals, but that didn’t mean they deserved to die. When he received his orders he read through them, and the name of the man in question was a good friend that grew up on the farm next to his family’s land. He was for certain the council had made an error. But they hadn’t. The sweet boy who he knew growing up had been replaced by a killer. A killer who had no inclination for being saved.

It took Klaus almost dying to realize the council was right. He hadn’t started wanting to have to kill others, but in the long run it was either them or him, and he refused to be a victim.

Klaus took a step forward and bumped chests with Ben. It might hurt his feelings to hear the cold, hard truth, but he wasn’t going to tell Ben that. “It’s a dirty job, but someone has to clean up these messes. And if not me, then who?” He bumped Ben’s chest again.

“You couldn’t stomach the shit I have to do all for the greater good. I only do the bidding of the council. If you don’t like the way I handle something, take it up with them.”

“What’s going on in here?”

Klaus looked from Ben’s face to the small man entering the room.

His looks favored those of the vampire who answered the door. Ben stepped back from him and approached the man. He protectively wrapped an arm around the man’s shoulders.

“Miles, this is Klaus, the witch the council has sent to talk with Astrid and give you and Trev the mark of the Warriors of the Light.”

Ben motioned him forward. “Klaus, this is my mate, Miles.”

Klaus stepped forward slowly. Before he reached out to shake Miles’s hand, he waited for the okay from Ben. Having a mate was a sacred thing and caused hormones to run high. Any little thing could be taken the wrong way. To touch another’s mate could be deathly to a person’s well-being.

Ben nodded, and Klaus stretched out his hand for the smaller man to take. “Hello, Miles, nice to meet you.” The silence was deafening in the room. “Congratulations on your mating.”

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Anger lit Miles’s eyes. He crossed his arms over his small chest and stood glowering at him. “Don’t play coy with me. I know who you are, and you are not taking Astrid away.” He stomped his little foot. “I don’t care how powerful and mean you are. You will have to go through me first.”

Klaus wanted to giggle at the show of courage Miles displayed.

Not many men or paranormals would ever speak to him like that. The man had balls.

“Miles, you can’t say shit like that.” Ben threw a hand over his shoulder toward Klaus. “Especially to him. He’s on the council.”

“Your council, not mine,” Miles spat back to his mate.

Klaus moved to lean against the arm of the couch to get a better seat for the show. There appeared to be trouble in paradise. That was one good perk to not having found his mate. To be held at the mercy of another’s bidding all in the name of love?
Fuck that
. Klaus wasn’t ready to give up control of his life just yet.

“Baby, it is your council now, too, remember?” Ben poked at Miles’s upper lip, showcasing the small fangs.

The smaller man smacked at Ben’s hand. “Whatever. You may have to bow to this guy”—Miles jerked his chin in Klaus’s general direction—“but I don’t.”

Ben rubbed his mate’s shoulders in an attempt to calm him down.

To watch the pair was really quite sweet. Seeing these two men together made him long, just a little bit, for that sort of connection with another person. That unconditional love could become a drug.

To know you would never be alone had to be priceless.

The sound of running feet had Klaus turning in the direction of the entryway. In a flash, another small man, smaller than Miles, dashed into the room and behind the vampire. He held on for dear life around Miles’s midsection. The house seemed to be infested with teeny tiny men.

“Please don’t fight,” the newcomer whined.

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Klaus peeked his head around, trying to get a better look at the man. His voice sounded of angels singing, light and soft. His eyes blinked shut at the whimsical sound. It was music to his ears.

Where did that come from? I must be more tired than I thought.

Klaus gave a quick shake to his head. He needed to get rid of those useless thoughts. The guy barely looked sixteen. The last thing he needed was to bed a young guy who would fall in love with him just as Klaus was falling out of bed. “Love ‘em and leave ‘em” was his motto.

“Miley.” The man tugged at Miles’s shirt.

“Miley?” Klaus snorted. He laughed so hard he doubled over at the waist. When he looked up, Ben and Miles were staring at him. He coughed into his hand to mask his merriment. “Sorry about that, but you have admit that’s a silly name for a grown man.

Ben and Miles continued to just stare at him. Okay, maybe some people had no since of humor. The way they glared at him made Klaus feel like he was the one on trial here. He wiped his sweaty palms down his pant legs. “Is this Astrid?”

The small man squeaked as he clung to the back of Miles’s shirt.

Every few seconds he would peek over at him from his place behind Miles. If the situation wasn’t so serious, Klaus would love to continue to laugh and joke with the guy. The man didn’t appear dangerous, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t.

“Yes, this is Astrid.” Ben stepped beside Miles, blocking Klaus’s view of Astrid. “He gets frightened easily.”

“But I’m sure you’re used to people being scared of you?” Miles snapped. “You probably get off on it.”

Miles sure didn’t like him. Klaus sat back on the couch’s side arm. He was tired and hungry and didn’t feel like going ten rounds over a man who may or may not be dangerous. The sooner he got this over with, the sooner he could get some rest. This area was nice and quiet. Klaus wouldn’t mind hanging around for a few days to catch up on his sleep.

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“Yes, Miles, I’m used to people being scared of me.” He met Miles’s eyes, daring the man to look away. “But I find usually it’s only the guilty who fear me the most. So tell me, does this Astrid have something to feel guilty for?”

“Fuck you, you asshole!” Miles advanced on him, but Ben grabbed him around the waist, cutting off his path. “You know nothing of what he’s been through. To say he’s guilty of anything is the crime.”

Klaus stood as Ben, with an angry Miles hanging in his arms, stood in front of him. He glanced over Ben’s shoulder to get his first real look at Astrid.

He stumbled back against the couch as all the air in the room got sucked out, as if from a vacuum. Nothing but the sound of his heartbeat filled his ears. The blood in his veins boiled, burning his flesh from the inside out.

“Hair and complexion of fair,” he whispered as he took a step toward Astrid. “Slight of height”—another step—“a smile that could lighten the darkest of rooms and eyes so blue you could swim in the deep depths.”

Had his mother’s words from so long ago come to pass? Had his dream been a premonition of things to come?

Klaus stopped when he stood directly in front of the witch. He studied the frightened man. Astrid trembled terribly from having him so close. Slowly, he reached his hand out to touch the peaches-and-cream skin of Astrid’s cheek.

My dear boy, I see struggles coming your way. Be prepared, my
son, you must be willing to fight for what you want most.

His mother’s words rang in his ears. Klaus dropped his hand. He scowled down at the young witch. Fate always had a way of catching up to a person when they least expected it. And it tended to fuck things up.

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“Shit!” Klaus shouted. “Fucking hell.” He banged his hands down on the window ledge. “Why? Why? Why?” he asked no one in particular.

His mother had died years ago, and so had his father, so he couldn’t ask his mother for her advice on how to handle the situation or at least decipher the cryptic message a little better. What kind of struggles were coming his way? What exactly was he fighting for? He wished he knew. The bond had already begun to form between him and Astrid. There was nothing he could do to stop it. Stupid fate.

The muffled sound of crying broke through his resolve. He turned to see Astrid running out of the room with Miles not far behind him.

His instincts said to give chase and try to take away his mate’s sadness. But self-preservation told him to stay the hell away. Living for nearly fifteen hundred years made a man weary of everyone. Even a cutie that probably only weighed a buck ten soaking wet, and that was being generous.

“What the hell?” Ben motioned to where Astrid and his mate had just ran out of the room.

Klaus tried to swallow past the lump in his throat. What could he say? He was here to do a job, not to find his soul mate.

* * * *

“Astrid,” Miles said as he chased him down. “Astrid, please stop.”

Astrid raced up the stairs and to his room. Once there, he flopped down on the bed. Tears streamed down his face. He could taste the salty wetness as he gasped for air. The strange sensations running through his body confused him. The man named Klaus scared him, yet for some reason beyond rational thought he wanted the big man to encompass him in his strong arms and promise to take care of him. He just couldn’t understand what was going on.

He had been up in his room reading like Miles had said to do when he felt like something was pulling him out of his room. Not
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knowing what else to do, he allowed the invisible string to pull him along until it led him downstairs. He followed the sensation into the front seating area where a tall man stood arguing with Ben and Miles.

His insides went all mushy, and his knees got wobbly. The man’s shoulder-length, auburn-colored hair lay lazily around his face. Astrid wanted to run his fingers through the thick locks to see if they were as soft as they appeared. But the man’s large arms that crossed an even larger chest kept him from going any closer. So he hid behind Miles and Ben, sneaking peeks a little at a time.

He couldn’t understand these feelings stirring in his stomach. Not knowing what it meant, he became frightened. The man was a witch sent from the council to question him. So he must have large amounts of power if the council trusted him. And from what Ben and Quinn said, the council governed over all paranormals, and what they said went.

All the laws and council business didn’t mean anything to him.

Until a few weeks ago, he didn’t know they even existed, let alone a whole world outside of the room Malcolm had kept him locked in. He hated being scared of everything, but he didn’t know any better. The life he lived with Malcolm taught him one thing, and that was to be afraid.

“Astrid, buddy, don’t cry,” Miles said in a soft tone.

Astrid rolled over and hugged Miles around the waist. He buried his face into Miles’s shirt and continued to cry.

“I know that man down there is scary, but we won’t let him hurt you.” He let Miles pull him up until he sat upright. “Or take you away.” Miles smiled. “We’re a family, Astrid, and remember what I said about family?”