Destructive Embrace (13 page)

Before I could think too
much on that train of thought, the doors to the library burst open.
I jumped, nearly toppling over the edge of the couch in my startled
state.

Peeking over the edge of
the couch, I groaned when I saw Zeke storming into the
library.

"When were you planning on
telling me that you are with child?" he asked. His tone told me
that he was in no mood for games today, but I folded my arms over
my chest anyway, refusing to give in so easily after all that I had
withstood from this monster of a man. "Tell me
now
, Elyssa!" he roared, grabbing me
by my upper arms and yanking me into an upright
position.

I gasped, surprised that he
would get so rough with me so quickly, and bit down on my lip.
"You're going to hurt me if you continue holding me like this,
Ezekiel," I told him, hoping that my tone was as icy as could
be.

Zeke laughed. "I don't give
a damn what happens to you right now, woman."

"But I'm going to assume
that you do care what happens to the child in my body!" I said,
pulling myself free of his grip while he digested my
words.

He glared at me and nodded
once. "That I do," he whispered. The fury in his eyes was evident
to me but he held himself back. He must have known that if he
unleashed his anger on me, I wouldn't be the only one suffering
from it.

"I only
just
figured it out a
short while ago, Zeke," I said, rubbing my hands over my face. I
was exhausted from being sick, and now I had to deal with a furious
vampire. This was not my day.

"What kind of woman doesn't
know her own body?" he sneered at me, pressing his hands against
the back of the couch and leaning over me. I reclined so he wasn't
so close, carefully managing to keep my balance.

"Perhaps the woman whose
body has changed so much already in the past handful of weeks?" I
spit back at him, baring my fangs at him angrily. He arched one
eyebrow at me, as though daring me to take a snap at him. I was
never one to stand down a dare, so I reached out and slapped him
hard across the face.

"Why do you insist on
hassling me when clearly I should be resting?!" I demanded, rolling
myself off the couch so that I stood opposite him.

Zeke ignored my question.
"Do you at least know whose it is?" he asked. Some of the anger had
drained from his face, replaced by exhaustion. I softened at the
sight, but tensed when I realized that I
had
to answer this
question.

Biting down on my lip, I
began thinking, trying to calculate when exactly it had happened. I
couldn't come up with anything definite. "No," I whispered, turning
my eyes down so I could glare at the carpet, my hands balled into
fists at my sides.

"What?" Zeke asked, leaning
closer to me over the edge of the back of the couch. His fingertips
dug into the fabric of the couch, and I worried for a moment that
his nails would tear through the plush fabric, creating ugly gaping
holes in the beautiful red sofa. "Well?" he asked impatiently,
clenching his hands even harder. "Whose is it?"

I lifted my gaze from his
hands to his face and frowned. "I'm... Not exactly sure," I
murmured, crossing my arms over my chest in preparation for the
onslaught that I was sure to receive.

"...You whore."

"Excuse me?!" I exploded,
hissing at him fiercely. I climbed onto the couch and held his
throat in my hands, pressing down slightly on his windpipe with
both of my thumbs. My nails dug slightly into his skin, but Zeke
didn't flinch once.

"Whore," he hissed, lifting
his hands to grip my wrists, "whore," he repeated even lower,
yanking my hands from his throat and leaning forward. "Whore," he
finished, whispering directly into my ear. His cold breath gave me
the chills, but other than that, I was incensed.

"Well, aren't we mature?" I
said sarcastically, moving out of his range quickly.

He said nothing as he
stared me down, sadness creeping into his eyes with each passing
second. There was a part of me that longed for nothing more than to
make that sadness go away, but the more stubborn side of me merely
stared him down.

"Well, of course you'll
have to carry yourself to term here in the castle, and when the
baby is born and comes into his powers, we'll know whose child it
is," Zeke said. He seemed uncaring, like the outcome meant
absolutely nothing to him. However, I could see right through
that.

Yet my insight into the
softer side of Zeke didn't stop me from continuing to prod at
him.

"Would you still be saying
that if we didn't already know that I
can’t
leave this place?" I demanded,
leaning forward on the edge of the back of the couch expectantly.
His eyes followed my face and stared directly into my own for a
moment while he said nothing. I arched my eyebrows at him, waiting
for his answer.

"Of course I would, you
silly little bitch," he breathed, shaking his head. "My, and here I
was, beginning to think that you weren't stupid after all. How
wrong I was," he chuckled, turning on his heel. As he began to walk
away, I lunged over the back of the couch after him, grabbing his
arm to pull him to a stop.

"You're foolish," Zeke said
before I could demand a real answer out of him. "This baby is one
with Lanistter blood. Of course I would demand that you stay. As
the bearer of a Lanistter child, you are officially a part of this
family now. Even if you wanted to leave, you would not be able to
take the child anywhere without my permission." I gawked at him and
he shrugged, ripping his arm free of my grasp.

"What are you saying,
Zeke?"

He rolled his eyes and
turned to face me. "I'm giving you something to think about. Now
that you are the mother of a Lanistter, you are as much a part of
this family as I am; as Reid was. You carry one of our children.
Therefore you are under the control, so to speak, of the head of
the family. You'll never believe who that is," he whispered
conspiratorially, winking at me. He then rolled his eyes and turned
away from me again.

"I refuse to let some
stupid woman take away a member of my family. So even if Tywin
hadn't found a way to prevent you from leaving – we still need to
figure out why that is, by the way – I would have stopped you once
I found out about," his voice trailed off and he turned to face me
slowly.

The look on his face was
difficult to identify, and I flinched away from him when he moved
closer to me. "Once I found out about this child," he finished, his
words barely breathed out. He set his palm against my stomach
gently, sending warmth through my body, warmth that I didn't
understand.

"Zeke," I said softly. He
looked up at me and made a shushing noise before lowering himself
to his knees.

I gasped when he pressed
his ear to my stomach, winding his arms around me so that his hands
were splayed out over the small of my back. My arms dangled
awkwardly at my sides for a moment before I lifted them to set them
gently on Zeke's head. I ran my fingertips through his short hair
slowly, scratching his scalp gently with my fingernails. He hummed
quietly and I smiled down at him, not that he could see.

Suddenly, he moved away
from me, prying himself off me with a quick push against my hips.
"Sorry," he said gruffly, rising to his feet once more.

I wanted to tell him it was
okay, but suddenly I worried that this was all because of a mood
swing, and I didn't want to ruin the small moment we had
together.

"If this child is mine," he
whispered, facing away from me, "then I want to be a part of his
life. He doesn't have to know that I'm his father, he can believe
it's your deceased Mate for all I care, but he will know
me."

I laughed once, shaking my
head. "Wouldn't he have known you either way, Zeke?" I teased
lightly, darting past him toward the open doors so I could leave.
"After all, you said that the child would not be going anywhere.
That, my good sir, implies that you and your brothers would be
getting to know him very well." I paused, blinking rapidly as I
digested what I'd said. Then I glared at Zeke. "Look at you!
Already getting me to call this baby a 'he'! I may have to throttle
you, Ezekiel Lanistter!" I said, shaking my fist at him.

Zeke looked at me, startled
by my sudden comic outburst, and then laughed, shaking his head. He
walked toward me, still smiling – and such a lovely smile it was...
I had to admit that his smiles made me weak in the
knees.

He wound one arm loosely
around my waist and ducked down to press a kiss to my temple. "In
case you haven't noticed, fair Elyssa, there hasn't ever been a
female born to our side of the family. There is one female in the
American side, but that's from a whole different mother. I can
guarantee you that your child will be male," he said to me,
chuckling. "See you later. Don't forget to feed the newest
Lanistter at least four times a day."

I stood there for a moment,
digesting Zeke's thoughts that the baby inside me would undoubtedly
be a boy. It was hard to doubt the certainty in his voice, and yet
I longed for him to be wrong. It wasn't that I wanted a girl, but I
truly wanted Zeke to be wrong.

"The bastard."

Then his words hit me. Four
times a day. It was logical, I knew; the baby needed nourishment
after all. "But four times a day? He couldn't have meant that I
need to feed it human food, either, though I'm sure that can tide
us over for snacks..." I groaned, tears pricking my
eyes.

I didn't want to feed four
times a day! Drinking blood, while it sated the burning in my
throat and made me stronger, still felt disgusting.

I could only imagine that
feeding from a human would feel much worse. But at the same time,
the thought appealed to me on some level, and my stomach growled at
me.

"Fuck," I groaned, smacking
my forehead with my hand. "I guess I have to head to the kitchen
for a bottle or two of blood... I should also eat while I'm there.
Now, what sounds good?"

I stared at her in awe. Somehow, this
human, who had previously been my victim, was catching me by
surprised in the most pleasant of ways.

We’d been spending time together, as
usual, when I thought that I should probably tell her about the
situation with Elyssa. We were strolling through the garden –
Roxann was delighted by my idea to have a picnic outside – on our
way back to the castle, when I took her hand.

“Roxann,” I began, sighing. My opening
wasn’t the best or brightest, and her look of dread made me feel
awful. “I have something to tell you.”

The woman nodded, and I could see her
mentally preparing herself for whatever news I was about to spring
on her. “Okay,” she whispered.

Inhaling deeply, I held her hand even
tighter, afraid she would try to run off. I could easily catch her,
of course, but if she ran, it probably would break my
heart…

Wow,
I thought.
Zeke the killer going soft
over a human… never thought I’d see the day.

“Well, see, here’s the thing,” I said,
exhaling slowly. “Elyssa is pregnant. We don’t exactly know if the
baby is her with her Mate or… If it’s mine,” I finished in a small
voice, actually ashamed to have to tell this wonderful woman that I
may have been having a baby with my dead brother’s Mate.

I knew it wasn’t the ideal thing for a
woman to hear, especially on a nice cozy stroll home from our
picnic, but I also knew that she needed to know. That I needed to
be honest with her if I had any hope of having a real relationship
with her.

Roxann’s face was impossible to read,
and I braced myself for the worst. When she slowly disentangled her
hand from mine, I was prepared to give up. However, she wound her
arms around my shoulders and hugged me tight.

“You poor thing,” she whispered,
rubbing my back. “As if the death of your brother wasn’t enough…
You made a mistake while you were grieving and ended up with
something that you may not be able to get over. I’m so sorry for
the problems going on in your life.”

I froze. A mistake?

How could I ever think that being with
Elyssa was a mistake?

I didn’t. There was no way in hell that
being with Elyssa in any way shape or form could be a
mistake.

But I couldn’t tell Roxann that without
explaining it all, and if I explained everything to her, then she
may not want to be with me, because of all the baggage that
apparently came with being with me.

“Yes, it’s been a very
difficult time since Reid died,” I said, settling for a half-truth.
It
had
been a hard
time since his passing, but then, I’d wanted to be with Elyssa in
that way since before his passing, so it wasn’t as though I wasn’t
in my right mind.

Plus, the way she’d moaned my name… I
tore myself off that trail of thought before I could give myself
too good of an image and ruin the date with Roxann.

“I’m glad you understand,” I said
quietly, pulling away from her.