Under Orders (5 page)

Jonathan
nodded once, and encouraged, she rushed on, the words now tumbling out of her
mouth.

“And you’re
right. It seems my father did not know everything. I loved him with all my
heart, but I wasn’t blind to his faults, and neither was my mum. She was going
to leave him, you know, before … before the accident. I’d heard them arguing
when I couldn’t sleep.”

She yanked on
her restraints, blinking furiously to stem the threatening tears from falling.
She hadn’t thought about that night in years, the memories too painful to
process. Jonathan made a rough sound at the back of his throat when a lone tear
did spill down her cheek, and in a few swift tugs he’d untied her arms. Her
ankles followed, and he gathered her up against him, his hand in her hair, one
arm around her waist, and simply held her.

Cocooned by
his big body she felt safe, cherished even, and she buried her face into his
shoulder.

“You don’t
have to tell me this, little one.” His voice rumbled against her cheek, and she
nodded her head.

“Yes, I do. I
haven’t told anyone, not even Grand-pops. Dad hit Mum that night. It wasn’t the
first time, but this time was the worst. And I wished, I wished with all my
heart that he would die. And then the next day, Mummy took me to Grand-pops,
and they went on one of their trips, and they never came back.” She choked back
a sob, and he tilted her head up. Jonathan kissed the tears off her face with
such tenderness it made her cry harder.

“Don’t. It
was my fault. I …. I wished him dead, and I killed Mummy, too.”

The menacing
growl erupting from him at her stuttered words made her jump. Fear coiled her
muscles, and she would have clambered off his lap had he not stopped her.

“Your
father’s death is not your fault, little one. He brought that on himself. I
should know. I was there.”

He froze as
though he realized he’d said too much, and this time when she pushed against
his chest he released her.

“What do you
mean, you were there?” The words came out as a choked whisper, as a new
scenario dawned on her, one too horrifying to contemplate. “You said you hadn’t
killed anyone. Was that a lie? God, what have you done? What are you? Who are
you really?”

He didn’t
look at her, a faint flush creeping across his high cheek bones, and she
pummeled his chest in frustration.

“Damn you,
answer me.”

“I was under
orders, little one. Orders to watch over you. When a slayer as obsessed as your
father was procreates, the council has a decision to make. Let that child live
or eliminate the future threat to us all.”

He smiled
grimly at her sharp intake of breath and caught her still flailing hands in
his.

“A watcher is
assigned to assess that child. That watcher was me. I’ve been the voice in your
ear, the shadow flickering across your consciousness, from the minute you took
your first breath, until they day your father killed my entire family.”

“What?” He
couldn’t mean what he’d just said. That would mean…

“You heard
me, little one. He massacred them all in their sleep. None of them ever harmed
a human being in their life. Your mother pleaded with him. He’d left her in the
car, and she tried to save my sister. She was the same age as you, and by all
accounts, she’d run out of the house. In his rage he killed them both.”

“No.” Anna
clamped her hand over her mouth at the inhuman sound she’d just made. But his
grim words had woken the monsters inside. Her nightmares weren’t dreams. They
were snatches of reality, projected to her, as seen through the eyes of her
dying mother.

“I wasn’t
there to save them, because I was with you. You saw it all. Woke up screaming,
and your grandfather ran in about ready to stake me. When he realized what was
happening he made a bargain with me. Erase all your memories and kill the
bastard who stole your mother from him.”

He ground his
teeth, and the sadness radiating off him broke her heart. Tentatively she touched
his cheek, and he shook her off.

“I couldn’t
be your watcher after that, not that you needed one anymore. The other part of
the deal was to leave you alone. Something I stuck to until you walked into
that conference room.” He smiled ruefully and ran a hand through his hair.
“Your Grand-pops will stake me for sure this time when he finds out.”

Despite the
gravity of the situation Anna laughed, and his eyes narrowed.

“Grand-pops
couldn’t stake a plant, let alone you, and besides … I—I … wouldn’t let him.”

“Going to do
it yourself, little one?”

“No, of
course not.” She glared at him, and he smiled and tucked a lock of her hair
behind her ear. Such a simple gesture, but one that her mum used to do all the
time, and her eyes filled with tears again. She rapidly blinked them away and
chewed her bottom lip between her teeth.

“Don’t do
that, little one. It makes me want to bite you and claim you as mine.” The
words were hoarse and told of his need for her as much as his hardening cock
under her ass and the way his fangs ran out.

A shiver of
anticipation went through her, and she couldn’t tear her gaze away from those
canines. He held himself perfectly still when she ran her index finger over
them, and tingles spread up her arm. Calm settled over her, the knowledge that
all was as it should be, and she could almost see her mum smiling at her
through the mists of time.

“It is
ironic, is it not?”

He frowned at
her, and again she giggled.

“What is
ironic, little one?”

“Us,” she
said. “Assuming you want there to be an us, and you didn’t just say all those
things earlier to get into my knickers.”

He framed her
face in his hands and touched his forehead to hers. Their breaths mingled, and
Anna shut her eyes, letting all her worries drift away. She couldn’t explain
this bond to herself, let alone anyone else, but there was nowhere else she’d
rather be right now than here in the arms of her very own vampire.

“There are
things I still need to tell you, little one, but never doubt that I meant every
word I said. I swore to protect you from the minute you were assigned to me.
You opened your eyes, and I was lost.” He smiled and kissed her nose. “Finding
you again after all those years, and to see the beautiful woman you have grown
into.” He stopped and pulled back to study her, the depths of emotion in his
crystal clear gaze making her chest feel tight with longing. “You have no idea
how much self-restraint it took for me to not just fling you over my shoulder
and storm out of that room, ethics be fucked. But I had to expose Brian, and I
had to clear this with the council. Contrary to popular belief, we are governed
by strict rules of conduct. It’s what keeps us all safe and existing in harmony
with humankind as much as we can. You had enough uproar in your life already
without me adding to it.”

“And if I
want your kind of uproar in my life?” she asked, shifting on his lap.

He groaned
and wrapped her long hair around his hand, forcing her head up, and exposing
her neck. She held her breath when he ran those lethal looking fangs up and
down her pulse point. Her blood rushed in her ears, and she tried to free her
hands, but he held them securely in his other hand.

“Then you
have it, for all eternity, little one. All you have to do is ask.”

He kissed her
and shifted them until she sat straddling him, his cock nudging her entrance.
She moaned and lifted herself slightly to let him slide home. His hands dug
into her hips holding her still, and they stayed locked, looking into each
other’s eyes, seeking confirmation of the feelings pulsing between them.

She rocked
her hips, grinding herself against him, and he swore and took over.

“Anna, you’ll
be the death of me, you know that, right?”

She smiled
and tipped her head sideways to offer her neck in silent submission. He
hesitated for only a moment before his fangs sank in, and Ana saw stars. Joined
together as closely as two people could be, she rode the waves of sensation, as
every thrust of his hips, and every sip he took cemented the bond between them.
Release, when it came for both of them, stole their breaths, and they collapsed
on the bed, holding each other until they fell asleep.

The last
conscious thought invading Anna’s brain was his whispered, “I love you, little
one.”

She sensed
rather than saw his smile in response at her answering thought.

“I love you.
Now get out of my head and let me sleep. I think you broke me.”

Epilogue

“Stop
fidgeting. You’re making
me
nervous.” Jonathan held his hand out and
pulled her out of the car in one fluid move. He turned her around, and they stood
facing the impressive old house together.

Dread filled
Anna’s stomach, vying to destroy the bubble of happiness she had been in since
Jonathan had claimed her. They had not made it out of his hotel suite at all
that weekend. She had made her excuses to her Grand-pops, not ready to explain
the nature of her relationship with Jonathan. Despite her assurances to him
that her grandfather would not stake a plant, she wasn’t at all sure what Grand-pop’s
reaction to her dating a living, breathing vampire would be. He had lost his
family to that race after all, and here she was, as good as married to one.

The bond they
had created could not be broken. Every time Jonathan drank from her, her life
span extended. Already she could feel the changes in her body. Her hair was
softer, her skin smoother, and that niggling back injury she’d carried for
years after a riding accident did not plague her anymore. Her hearing was
sharper, and she had perfected her mind conversations with Jonathan to such a
degree that folks looked at her funny when she burst into peals of laughter at
something he’d whispered to her consciousness.

The dratted
man loved to tease her, and many a boring business meeting had taken on an
entirely different meaning in her head. Anna had been deliriously happy for the
last month in fact, but her time was up. She had to tell Grand-pops about
Jonathan, and not even to herself would she admit how nervous she felt at the
possibility that the two most important people in her life could end up hating
each other.

Somehow she
got her feet to move, Jonathan’s hand a reassuring presence at her back, and
she pushed open the heavy door left open as usual. Jonathan clucked his
disapproval.

“I know. I
keep telling him, but he won’t listen. Anyone could walk in.”

“Hardl
y anyone, Anna.”

Her eyes
widened in the gloom of the long hallway, as she stared down the barrels of a
shot gun. Her beloved grandfather stood on the bottom of the unused stairs, his
grey eyes trained on Jonathan with unwavering directness. The heavy gun in his
hands was rock steady and ready for use, she noticed.

“Grand-pops,
what on earth are you doing?” she asked, instinctively moving in front of
Jonathan to shield him as much as she could. Not that he was letting her.

He stepped
around her putting himself in the direct line of fire.

“Wooden shot
I take it? Enough to bring me down and enable you to take my head?” Jonathan
put his hand up to silence Anna, and she complied immediately. He was in full
alert don’t-mess-with-me-mode, which was sexy as hell in the bedroom, not so
much when he was facing her grandfather who seemed intent on killing him.

“I told you
fifteen years ago if I ever saw your kind near my granddaughter again I’d kill
you with my bare hands. I have enough of the slayer’s weapons left. I may be an
old man, but I will not let you corrupt my Anna.”

“Grand-pop,
I—”

“Let me
handle this, little one. Go and wait in the car for me.” Jonathan interrupted
her.

“No.” Anna
crossed her arms and stamped her foot. “I am not going anywhere, and you two
can stop this macho bullshit right now. Grand pops, put that gun down before
you fall down. I’ll make you an Earl Grey, and we’ll discuss this like
reasonable people. There is no need for violence, and if you kill the man I
love, I will never forgive you.”

Two pairs of
eyes settled on her, one blue, one grey, eyebrows raised in disapproval, and
Anna glared at them both.

“I love you
both. You’re the most important people in my life, and this is my fault. I
should have told you straight away, but I knew you would react like this. I’m
not Mummy, Grand-pops, and I’m not under the influence or whatever you want to
call it. You’ve raised me to know my own mind, to know right from wrong, to
make my own choices, and my choice is Jonathan. He isn’t like the others. All
the things that Dad drummed into us were half-truths at best.
 
Jonathan helped me to research him. He wanted
to be turned, you know. But the vampire he loved said no. It’s against the
rules to turn a human, so he killed her. And then he couldn’t stop killing. He
became obsessed, turning against the ones he once wanted to be like.”