Evading (Regent Vampire Lords Book 4) (17 page)

E
veryone was there
. The whole fucking gang and then some. All the Lords and their mates, of course. Ren, Thane, Manny. All the lieutenants. Hell, even Geoffrey and Rom’s brother, Taiven, were here, huddled in the corner discussing something that seemed serious. And if she wasn’t mistaken, there were a few females from the shelter who she may have grunted at once or twice in passing because she had no choice.

This entire thing was out of control.

It was supposed to be a “small” event, according to Sarah. “Just a few people,” Sarah said. Since when did a few mean thirty? “Just an hour,” she’d told Giselle. They were now going on two. “Just light finger food and a couple of gifts for Jade.” Shit, there was enough food here to feed a small village for a week and presents upon presents littered the entire length of two eight-foot tables, spilling onto the floor all around them. Did babies need all that crap?

Asinine.

She was shaking her head at what she let herself be talked into when Ren moseyed up beside her. “You look like you’re ready to breathe fire,” he mused on a laugh.

“I think they’re doing this on purpose,” she spat back. She’d taken up residence across the room lest she rip someone’s hair out. Three “someone’s” hairs, to be exact. Don’t think she hadn’t thought of it, had it not come with the repercussion of punishment by their mates.

“Doing what?” He knew exactly “what.”

“This,” she whisper-yelled, gesturing wildly around the room where it looked like a party threw up. Muted sheer fabric hung in arches from the ceiling. There were stupid welcome banners, baby blocks, stuffed animals, pink and purple balloons, streamers, and cupcakes that had princess cutouts on top. Fucking princesses. Her daughter was going to learn to wield a sword like a soldier and employ sarcasm as a first language. She was
not
going to be sitting around singing Disney songs, playing with dolls, and emulating The Little fucking Mermaid for Christ’s sake.

Did humans really do this to their kids and each other? It was overkill. Appalling, actually.

“I think it’s cute.”

“Cute? There’s so much goddamned pastel in here I think I fell into an Easter egg.”

“They mean well, Elle.” His voice held an air of amusement, which pissed her off more.

“You’re enjoying the fuck out of this, aren’t you?”

He chuckled without apology. “Just a bit.”

Mike caught her eye and winked knowingly but didn’t make a move toward her. He was hovering over their daughter instead, knowing she wouldn’t want both of them too far away yet also understanding why Giselle had disengaged from this ridiculous melee. It was ultimately for her own safety.

“She’s stunning, your daughter.”

Her tension eased a bit and she allowed a small grin on her lips. “I know.”

“You’re going to be a great mammi, Elle,” he told her quietly.

Breaking her gaze from how sweetly and longingly Analise held her daughter, she looked at her longtime friend—the male responsible for her little slice of happiness. “You think?”

He nodded just once.

A deep breath later, she replied softly, “Thanks for saying that.” She needed the confidence boost.

“Not saying anything that’s untrue.”

No one, except maybe Ren, would have thought this was possible, including her. Yet here she was.

A bonded mate.

A terrified, but elated mammi.

Even fighting the pull to become some semblance of a
friend
with the other females in her life. She had to give in, she told herself. It’s clear they weren’t going anywhere. Her entire world had been upended but in the best possible way.

A sudden flurry by the “queens” grabbed her attention. She watched them hand the baby back to Mike and begin to gather pens and papers and a basket filled with all sorts of baby stuff in it while they chattered away, trying to herd the crowd into chairs. Throwing worried glimpses her way.

Giselle’s skin started prickling. The tight threesome had apparently made Sarah their sacrificial lamb, knowing she was the least likely of the bunch to get her head bitten off, so when Sarah first mentioned a baby shower in passing to Giselle, her immediate response had been no. Well, “when pigs fucking fly,” was more accurate. But when she talked to Mike about it, he swayed her decision.

“It’s for Jade, not you.”

“Oh.”

“Let them do it, baby. You’re gonna have to do a lot of things you don’t want to when you have kids. Might as well start off parenthood with a bang.”

So after she’d educated herself on what a baby shower entailed, she’d acquiesced. But she’d been adamant she didn’t want them going to any trouble and she unequivocally did not want fluff. They hadn’t listened because the entire damn party felt like she’d been dropped into a rainbow forest of gumdrop trees and cotton candy. But she could handle all of this, as nauseating as it was. The one thing she would go ballistic over was the one she’d been especially clear on.

No
games
.

No. Fucking. Games.

So the fact that Sarah was now grinning wide and mischievous did not bode well. For Sarah. Or the other two.

“Uh oh,” Ren whispered. He stiffened and took a big step to his right. Away from her.

“I swear to God if they ask me to—”

“Giselle, it’s time for games!” Sarah quipped, her eyes alight with devilry.

Oh, hell to the thirteenth no. That little witch. “Heads are going to roll. I’m going to murder the mate of a Lord,” she muttered low and even. “You realize you’re going to have to raise Jade, now, right?”

Ren burst out laughing, doubling over, and Mike’s gaze latched onto hers seconds before she blew. One side of his mouth was twisted and his bushy brows were halfway up his forehead.

“Jade,” he mouthed. “Do it for your daughter.”

Fucking hell.

Will he always pull that card?

“Yes,”
his voice whispered in her ear. “
Need to practice a bit on that frown upside-down, baby.”
He chuckled, but this time, it was out loud. Asshole was getting a huge kick out of this.

Jade. Jade. Do it for Jade
, she kept repeating, although she didn’t see what a pointless game had to do with Jade. Giselle was sure it was just to spite her because they knew they could get away with it and she couldn’t retaliate. Directly, anyway.

Blowing out a frustrated breath and containing a massive eye roll, she pushed off the wall she’d been leaning against and headed across the room, stopping in front of her mate. Mike placed Jade in her arms. The instant that beauty’s bottomless green pools landed on hers, she melted into goo and forgot everything else.

She smiled and cooed and humbly kowtowed herself to the precious bundle she held close. She was a different female around her daughter: calm, relaxed.

Well…mostly.

Settling in the corner of the couch, Mike at her side, she pulled herself away from the baby in her arms and pinned her traitorous “friend” with a hateful glare. Friend, her ass. Friends didn’t backstab each other, did they? Cuz it felt like the knife of duplicity was wedged pretty damn deep between her ribs right now.

“I thought I explicitly said no games,” she said tartly to Sarah.

“Did you say that? I don’t remember having that conversation,” she replied smoothly. Bitch’s eyebrows even bent inward to round out her faked confusion. The sharp tang of her lie hung in the air between them and the entire room fell silent. Everyone was holding a breath to see what Giselle was going to do next. But when Rom came to Sarah’s side and slung a protective arm around her shoulder, saying jovially, “Probably not a good idea to egg her on, beauty,” Giselle decided the quickest and easiest route out of here was to just play along.

“Let’s get this shit over with,” she grumbled, bouncing a now tired, fussy girl on her shoulder.

“That’s the spirit,” Sarah replied with a cheeky wink. Kate and Analise breathed a visible sigh of relief, jumping up to begin distributing pens and paper to everyone.

Mike leaned over and the promise he whispered roughly in her ear sent skitters of desire down her spine. “You’re doing real good, baby. Just a bit longer and we can make our escape. Then I’m going to pick up right where we left off before we were interrupted.”

“Yeah?” A fire was already starting to rage between the middle of her thighs at the very thought.

“Oh yeah. But you’ll need to be quiet this time so we can finish properly.”

“And if I can’t?” She taunted him with a grin. Thinking about him gagging her had messed with her head. That’s practically all she’d been thinking about since the second he said it to their daughter.

“I have ways,” he whispered.

“I like ways,” she encouraged, knowing he was reading her thoughts.

He kissed her sweetly on the lips. Before she might have, but now she didn’t even care about the PDA. She liked that he felt comfortable projecting his love for her in public. “You look happy,” he said, his smile lazy.

She glanced around the room, gaze landing on each and every person. Like a hawk, Dev tracked every move his pregnant mate made. Sarah was perched on Rom’s lap. The unmated males grumbled, drinking their beers and eyeing the exit longingly. She could relate. The other females sat together on the loveseat, watching everyone with interest.

They’d all gathered here for her and her mate. It didn’t matter everyone was trying to convince her this was for Jade. Jade would never remember this. It was for
her
. Becoming a mammi was a big deal. It was a moment to celebrate, especially for someone who never had a chance at being one.

“What the fuck, kitten?” Damian protested loudly. “I thought you said we were just going to have a few snacks and watch the Sox play?”

Turns out she wasn’t the only one duped.

“Is that what she told you to get you here?” Rom said, his voice nearly a bark. “I think maybe your mate needs a reprimand.”

“Oh, she’ll get one, all right,” he replied low and dark and promising. Analise just threw an impudent grin his way and moved on, narrowly avoiding the fingers trying to snag her. She had to hand it to Analise. Not one other female she’d ever met could tame the egotistical Damian DiStephano, yet Analise had him square under four-inch stilettos and Damian never once complained. His adoration for her bled through every action. Months ago it made her sick. Now she got it.

Damian caught her watching, offering a small smile. An olive branch, of sorts. It was a big gesture for him. One he’d not have proposed before meeting his mate. Guess mates can change even the toughest of vamps. She would know.

Giselle decided to return it, wanting to put their sordid past to bed once and for all.

These were her people. This was her life, her future. And even though she may not always deserve it, everyone in this room, even Damian, would have her back if needed. They would care for her child as their own if she and her mate couldn’t. For better or worse, this was her family. And for the first time in her life, she was starting to understand the true value of what that meant.

It was something she’d never had. But her daughter would have it. Jade would be raised with adoration and acceptance and respect. She’d have a real home filled with genuine family and unconditional love.

Turning her attention back to Mike, she initiated the press of their lips, this time just as Sarah started yipping about the rules of the game she was forcing down their throats. Even though it irritated the shit out of her and she just wanted to be alone with her new family, she had to reluctantly admit she wouldn’t change a thing about this moment.

Smiling against her mate’s mouth, there was no possible answer she could give but, “I’ve never been happier in my life.”

Giselle wasn’t one for prophetic thoughts but she knew deep in her being that sometimes you have to drown in the darkness before you can bathe in the light. Although she’d been drowning for over a hundred years, she’d gladly do it a hundred more if they were the prizes that waited at the end of her suffering.

Mike and Jade were more than worth it.

P
aranormal Romance
/Erotic

The
Regent Vampire Lords
series:

C
ontemporary Romance
/Erotic

The Colloway Brothers
series:

B
abbles
…

F
irst of all
, a huge thank you to the readers who love my Lords and wanted more of Mike and Giselle’s story. They were never intended to have their own book, but you all fell in love with them as much as I did. Thank you for your infinite patience while I worked to rid myself of other characters so I could give theirs the focus they deserved.

W
hen
I first started writing
Surrendering
, I honestly never meant for Mike to be a reoccurring character in
Belonging
, but I fell hopelessly in love with him. And it wasn’t until
Belonging
that I started seeing the “possibilities” between him and Giselle, so I quickly went back and rewrote parts of
Surrendering
to subtly build that tenuous connection between the two.

G
iselle always had a harrowing story
. It was hard to tell. It was hard to write. It was hard to feel her emotions. I actually shed a lot of tears writing some of her memories and deep feelings of inadequacy so many of us feel because of circumstances beyond our control. She’s crusty, she’s damaged and life’s circumstances honed her tongue and temperament, but the thing I want you to take away from her is that we often don’t know what lies underneath the many layers of the people we meet. We judge unfairly sometimes without knowing the whys. Everyone has a story and sometimes it’s not one you want to hear, but one they lived through anyway. Be kind.

T
hanks
to my beta’s for this book: Tara, Carrie, Beth, and, of course, my hubs for helping me keep facts straight and getting into the guts of this couple. Your input is invaluable!

I
mmeasurable thank
-yous to the bloggers, fans, and authors who share, like, pimp, and support me and my stories.

T
hanks
to the team of people I have behind me who make me look good because God knows I could NOT do this all by myself. No one publishes a book—a good one at least—on their own.

N
ikki
…thank you for smoothing my manuscript to remove my wordiness and horrendous use of punctuation, especially commas!

H
eather Lynne
…I don’t know how I got so lucky to have you in my inner circle and, more importantly, to call you a friend. I love everything about your crazy foul mouth, messy to-do lists, sex-toy reviews, colorful hair, and, of course, that sexy-as-sin voice that will now be put to better use than reading depositions. ;)

L
ast but not least
, thanks to my husband of almost twenty-nine years for being my CFO, my promotions and distributions manager, my research analyst, and whatever else I ask you to help with. Hand to God…there would be no swag without you. I’m slowly but surely letting some of these pieces go so I can focus my efforts on getting all this stuff running around my head down on paper. I love you for your infinite support more than you’ll ever understand!

T
hank
you for taking this journey with me, for buying my book, and for supporting an author you love. Whether that’s me or not, your support of your favorite authors cannot be overstated.

I
f you like this book
,
please
tell your friends, your neighbors and shout it from the rooftops. Hell, tell people you don’t even like! The best thing you can do to support an author you love is word of mouth and LEAVE A REVIEW on Goodreads, Amazon, or wherever. Even one or two sentences or simply rating the book is helpful for other readers. Reviews are critical to getting a book exposure.