Stubborn sod. But I was more stubborn, which was why I wasn’t willing to drop my earlier question. Softly, I coaxed, “Tell me why you don’t want to go to your mother’s funeral.”
Instantly, his entire body stiffened. “I just don’t.”
“You must have a reason.”
He shrugged. “It’s not important. She’s not important. You are.” He brushed his lips against mine. “I love your mouth.”
“Jared.”
He exhaled a long, heavy, tired sigh. “Why do you want to hear about it?”
“Why don’t you want to tell me about it?”
Another sigh. He lifted me from his lap and placed me on my feet. When he was upright, he stepped away, releasing me completely. Just like that, I felt cold. Not simply because his body heat was gone, but because I literally felt frozen out. “We’ll talk about it another time. Right now, we have other things to concentrate on.”
Although I wasn’t satisfied with that response, I said nothing as he headed for his bedroom to begin packing his things. One thing I could be sure of was that his relationship with his mother had been somewhat strained, but that didn’t mean that her death was necessarily good news. And if he did find it good news, he’d undoubtedly feel guilty about it − that was the way Jared’s mind worked. The last thing I wanted was him hurting, especially during the week of our Binding.
But I’d noticed the determined set to his jaw; it wouldn’t matter how much I pressed him right now, I wouldn’t get any answers. Fine. If he needed to think that I was going to drop it, then I’d let him think that. I’d lull him into a false sense of security where he thought question time was over, and then I’d probe again when his guard was back down.
Maybe that was a little ruthless, but Jared could be his own worst enemy sometimes. He needed to talk, and maybe even vent. So that was exactly what I’d make him do.
And he thought trying to freeze me out would actually work? I almost felt sorry for the daft sod.
CHAPTER TWO
(Jared)
Studying the abandoned bungalow – which happened to be in Ohio – I had the strongest urge to hoist Sam over my shoulder and teleport her back to The Hollow…but then she’d probably whip the f**k out of me. And not in a hot, dominatrix kind of way. That was something I knew from prior experience. She especially liked to whip my earlobes when I upset her. That hurt like a motherfucker.
With Sam being so feisty, I’d been expecting her to be pretty pissed at me for repeatedly dodging her questions. But she wasn’t. Or, at least, it seemed like she wasn’t. There had been no insults, no abruptness, no silent treatment – nothing. I’d even half expected her to say I couldn’t move into her apartment, purely to make a point of just how pissed she was. But she hadn’t.
What she did do – and was still doing even now – was watch me in a way that f**king freaked me out. Her expression was patient, expectant, and intense; like a predator waiting for just the right moment to pounce on its prey. She was sneaky like that.
I kind of liked the sneakiness, though. On anyone else, I wouldn’t. But Sam never behaved sneakily in a malignant or spiteful way. Oh she could be merciless at times, but never malicious in any sense of the word. One of the things I couldn’t help but love about her was that you always knew where you stood with her. There were no games, no lies, and no passive aggressive behaviours. She was straight, and blunt, and real.
It hadn’t been until Sam that I realised I’d been kind of lonely, hiding behind an inflated ego that hadn’t really been all that inflated. Well of course I’d been lonely – what else was going to happen if you avoided forming any type of connection with another person?
It was bad enough that I had a blood-link to Magda. That damn link meant that I could never really escape her unless I bonded with another vampire, replacing the link with another. But claiming a woman would have meant forming another connection, and until Sam, I hadn’t even considered it. But, then, there had never been anyone like her in my life before. And she was staying in it.
In the beginning, I had feared what I felt for her, feared the strength and intensity of it. But not anymore, because I knew without a doubt that if I ran from this connection, I’d never find anything like it again, I’d never find anyone like her again. That wouldn’t have meant I had to spend my life alone – I could still have had a relationship with a person who didn’t have what amounted to power over me. But honestly, what was the point of giving your life to someone if they didn’t feel essential to you, if they didn’t feel part of you?
That was what she was to me − essential, necessary, vital…which was why I didn’t want her in potential danger. In truth, my instincts told me that this wasn’t a trap, but when it came to Sam’s safety, I didn’t want to risk it. Unfortunately I didn’t have a choice in the matter, because the stubborn bitch had refused to remain behind. What I’d never tell her was that, although it pissed me off when she disregarded me like that, I perversely liked that she didn’t always give me my own way. I’d always liked that about her.
The fact was that since becoming Heir, everything had come easy to me. But Sam had never done what the other women did; she hadn’t been wowed by my position, she hadn’t thrown herself at me so she could say she’d slept with ‘the Heir’, and she hadn’t blindly obeyed me. Instead, she’d been patronising and disrespectful, and God help me, I’d found it sexy as hell.
Of course, I’d have wanted her regardless. She intrigued me on every level; had wriggled through my mental walls without either of us even knowing. She also didn’t take any of my shit, which was why she was here with me and the squad, scoping out this damn place, instead of safe at home.
“I know this probably won’t make you feel any less irritated,” began Chico, who was squatted beside me in the thin forest that bordered the building, “but I don’t get the feeling that this is a trap. Still, it’s bothering me that there are only two guards. Making a place look easy to infiltrate is one of the oldest tricks in the book.” As he always did when in deep thought, he started stroking his Johnny Depp style moustache and goatee. I noticed that he was repeatedly clenching his free hand, and guessed that he was most likely eager to use his gift and emit some poisonous thorns from his palm.
If it was a trap, we’d soon find out. Denny, as one of his animal-mimic abilities, was able to make his body go soft as liquid much like a sea cucumber. Stuart, as a Shredder, was able to explode into molecules and travel in that form. This made both squad members excellent spies, and gave us a huge advantage at times like this. “We’ll know more when Stuart, Denny, and Damien get back.” Well, technically Damien was with us – in body, anyway. His astral self, however, had gone for a wander.