Protector Page 2

  She was loving and kind though she presented herself as brave and strong. Oh, she was that too if only I saw it. Only I knew that she loved to read about romantic days and nights of her favorite book characters and lay in the night air to stare at stars that were made into terrific stories of magic and more romance. No one else knew this about her, for I could read her sweet innocent mind. To everyone else, she was fearless and cold. She was nothing like that.

  She knew what I was and even ventured to guess where she was, but she didn’t know who I was. And she wouldn't...till the time was right. Staying in the darkness of the room, I listened to her mind detail me from her perspective and survey my moves. She seemed to like the length of my hair. I didn’t understand a girl’s line of thinking on the whole hair in our eyes look. I didn’t expect this girl to understand how much I loved when her hair moved slightly onto her face just so maybe one day I could be the one to touch her and slid it back behind her ear. She called me mysterious. She was on the right track at least though really she should be more afraid.

  I tried not to stand taller when she reasoned how much she liked my body, but she lost me when she described me as confident. Boy, did I have her fooled. Or rather, I have always displayed confidence to anyone else, but she made me weak. In a way I wanted even.

  What am I thinking? I shouldn’t be looking at the way his backside walks.

  I stiffened to a stop and cocked my head sideways trying to hide the satisfaction that she had noticed me despite kidnappings and forced to be a hostage.

  Dang thoughts! she cursed to herself. And yet I still didn't know really what he looks like. Or do I care! Listen to THAT!

  I surely did, but I didn’t show her the remotest hint of it.

  Before heading to the kitchen to have Claire, my housekeeper and cook to ready a meal for her, I told her, “I’ll be back in ten minutes. Please, be comfortable.” I needed to eat myself. I had no intentions of letting her see that! She seemed to accept that I was a Vampire and what that might include, but seeing and believing are two totally different things. She would be repulsed by me before she even knew me. I knew her preconceived ideas of me, the Vamp leader, and Vampires in general. It wasn’t good.

  A text came in from her father and I assured him of her safety. A curse came shortly before we arrived from the Were leader who still fought me for her. He just didn't get that he was just the backup plan. A safety net if I fail. I will not fail.

  I didn't have to answer him but I told him she was safe.

  As I walked I found that I could still hear her rapidly move through options and even mention the leering Hunter who stayed in her thoughts more than I would care for. That would hopefully change.

  There! He couldn't escape my sight now...

  Escape what? Did she really want to see me that bad? My pride swelled up.

  I found it appealing that I could hear her easier even now. Ever since they assigned me to the kitchens at the Valkyrie court at the precocious tender age of ten, I tested the limits of how far from her I could be to hear her and knew I couldn't in fact go far. Not then, at least. I only thought to test the distance more when I stressed so heavily at the Hunter school. Standing on the edge of the woods like the stalker I was, I found out by accident that I could travel even further and still hear her sweet thoughts. And now, I would test it from above as well.

  And the marks tested my will power. It was crap how my mind centered around every part of her. I couldn’t think of anything else since her father told me to do this. Protect her. And protect her I would.

  The day he approached me about the ill chosen birth born tattoo was like listening to a conversation not my own. Lord Hathown knew I had them too and she shared my marks. Who else knew? I couldn’t ever forget that day. As a young boy of ten I couldn’t react the way I wanted because I could hear her thoughts even then. I knew she would hear mine if I didn’t guard them. I could block her so easily when my mind didn’t stray to hers. But during that conversation, I was solely focused on keeping her safe. Even young and not that enamored with girls yet, I wanted her safe. Their solution was to take me away. That would never happen. So...I solved it. I had an acquaintance who told me about the Vampires. I knew it was the right answer because of the dreams. My mother visited me for the first time that night. And now soon, I hoped to see the one whose own marks from our shared birthday but only if freely given by her.

  Anastacia was lighting a candle when I filled the doorway. All the candles were lit. Her mind was centered around seeing me and not letting me leave again without it. I would give her what she craved. Moving close to her was a rush in itself. Her scent filled me. When she saw me her face lit up like a Christmas tree. You are beautiful!

  She said that to me?

  So are you Kissa!

  She backed up against the mantle of the fireplace analyzing my face as I analyzed hers. Before I chickened out, I winked at her just to throw her off her game. After she dazed out a bit, she gave me a comeback.

  You shouldn't hear me. This isn't right? And why do you keep calling me a damn cat? How do you know my native tongue or that I possibly speak it?

  My hand reached above her head to shield her hair from the too close wick of the burning candle and changed my direction when her face closed up at my nearness. She was scared of me. I resulted to laying a single finger on her shoulder and nudged her toward the sofa.

  Anastacia harbored her feelings about me staying focused on the fact that I kept things from her. She had just met me yet she was demanding loyalty. I doubted her quick acquisition to change.

  “Are you coercing me to do things?”

  That would save time, yes. Make me happy, no. If it was just some attraction and nothing else, it wouldn't matter so much. But I wanted much more than just her body. I wanted all of her. Her sarcasm alone was fascinating to entertain. Her facial expressions that I knew she thought were completely unreadable made me watch her every move.

  “No, you choose at all times,” my deepened by the situation voice boomed louder than I had wished. It didn't 't help that I sounded nervous.

  He looks my age, but definitely elegant. Regal! Hot!

  “Thank you for the compliments, Koshka.”

  “Can I have my ring back? And quit calling me a cat. Just because you can say it in a different language doesn't impress me. I probably know more languages than you.” I copied her body language and that made her angrier like the kitten she was. Now she watched my chest and not my eyes. Wow! No female had ever studied me so much, or maybe I just never noticed.

  Aaaa! she screamed on the inside.

  I couldn't stop the laugh that escaped my lips.

  “At least you can smile,” she scolded me.

  My face contorted to a near snarl, but I held it at bay and teased her instead, “You can have the ring back soon Gato.”

  That is comforting Perro boy.

  She was talking to me freely without her voice.

  So you don't like the idea of me reading your thoughts? And I am a dog now? She had switched to our telepathy just like that. My heart leapt.

  “NO!”

  “No it is!” I smiled loving I got the best of her. Then...then her thoughts reverted back to the Hunter. The growl in my throat was predatory-like. I wanted his memory to be just that, a memory and nothing else.

  I sat in the backless chair and patted my hand on the spot where she would land across from me on the sofa. The seconds passed like a decade as I waited for her.

  She looked me over. Her blazon obviousness was shocking me in all kinds of right. I was hopeful at least. Why she thought to note the black leathers and lack of shoes was odd, but once again, I was struck with the fact that she noticed. The kidnapper. A week ago she still hated. The idea of me. If she had fought me nine to nothing from the first I wouldn’t be here now. Hope had me sitting across from her in my house.

  "What is your name?” she questioned. I watched her eyes so fiercely, my own eyes burned with the kno
wledge of what I couldn’t give her yet. I knew my eyes would give me away the instant she clarified her vision and focused on my own. Her own eyes...distracted me of any coherence. Sincere curiosity that might actually trick her enemies into seeing a dominating female who appears to always get her way. I knew her better, but she didn’t know how well I knew her. How long I have watched her.

  She noted the eye color changes. If she knew what she did to me...what my body wanted of her...she called them sunbursts?

  I’m called Thorn. But you can call me Cas.

  She laughed. “Thorn? And what about Cassius? Was your mother reeling with you in the womb?”

  “I never knew my mother.” I watched my knees, twisting my hands together waiting for her reaction.

  “I didn’t either. Know mine that is. She died having me.” Her hands copied mine.

  “I know.”

  Her eyes flicked up fast. Uh, oh!

  Instead of questioning me she asked, “How did yours die?”

  She could be thinking all manner of things, but she was focused on the fact that those who lost their lives tonight had mothers too. She is not the callus, spiteful one everyone portrays her to be.

  She died in childbirth. I talked to her in my mind because it felt too intimate to share otherwise.

  Leaving the thought out there to mull over, she described instead to me a slow burn that numbs her neck and moves slowly up and down her body when she is near me. She asked me quietly what it was. I told her in the same way she talked to me.

  It’s a sense you have. It warns you when I’m near. I admonished myself for using the word “warns”. It would be seen in a negative context. That’s the last thing I wanted.

  “Why do you speak sometimes and think inside other times?” He may be near my age, but he is DEFINITELY a man. She was telling herself to ignore me after clarifying to herself about my age.

  “Because no one else can speak to me like you.” I could tell her one truth.

  “What do you mean?”

  I can hear most, but they can’t hear me. Only you!

  “Why me?” This intrigued her.

  “We’ll get to that later. For now, let’s have dinner.” I stood. I never listened to anyone. I blocked it all out. It was easy after so long. At first, when I turned from a Valkyrie, I thought something was wrong. I could hear her before and after, but I could hear others now. I blocked this almost immediately but not for unselfish reasons. I couldn’t hear her if I was listening so that left no option for other want or need to hear others. My obsession was right there.

  “I’m not here for dinner. I want to go back. My friends will be worried about me. They will find me.”

  Her walls were still built high enough even with the physical attraction.

  “They will, rest assured. But for now, we wait.” They were frantically running about even as the two of us spoke searching the entire Hunter school for her. Her father would settle it over. They wouldn't find her though and I was the one charged with keeping her safe. So maybe I used my pull to gain that position, but what is a little power without getting the most important part of your life to fall in love with you.

  ...maybe I can get information out of him.

  What do you want to know Kissa?

  “How to talk like civilized people.” She pushed her hair aside her face. She rubbed her thumb back and forth over her ring finger like a nervous habit.

  When I nodded in response her usual cool composure was thrown off with her mind yelling to herself, That’s ALL he does! Nod! Nod! Nod!

  “Civilized. Will Italian satisfy your appetite?” I hid the smile playing on my lips.

  You do know a lot about me, don’t you?

  “Civilized.”

  Hmm! She furled her lip into the perfect lioness snarl and flipped her hair behind her back with the swing of her body. She wasn’t really angry. Now she was teasing back.

  Chapter Three

  I checked in with Lord Hathown before I returned to her earlier, then called Szar for the same account. He would tell me in my own terms. The parts left out, that is.

  Borgon threw a hissy when Lord Hathown approached him with the whys of what went wrong at the party of the century. Since all four factions were aware of Anastacia Anat Hathown’s rise in possible power, all were aiming to have her. What she didn’t know or realize was she was the only female heir in all four factions. My hope is that she would stay strong with the news of it.

  Borgon’s goal included the dirty work of having her for the Hunter throne so he could control it and then spread himself to the other factions. I aimed for the same, but not for the plans they included to do to her. They would make her into a slave. They underestimated her enslaving factor. Little to none would be my guess.

  Hathown alleged he called back who was left alive and regrouped at the newly relocated location. My men and the Valkyrie faction followed them from afar.

  Borgon wanted her or better to be dead. She will not be left alone again. Though he had secretly tried to convince the Elves of her magical uses and the bitter outcomes he exaggeratingly offered if she were to be in power other than at the Hunter court, they were unconvinced. He was only threatened by her amount of power predetermined by her own lost friendly spy, the Hunter Lee, and filtered out as rumors as time went by. When she neared her eighteenth birthday, Borgon attacked her court and I was there to keep her safe. She never knew about the attack or me close by her. She heard me that day. I let it slip maybe even on purpose, but it was only a word. Safe.

  Of course, she had questioned her sanity as she has tonight.

  Yes, she could probably convince a cat to ballroom dance. Yes, she could probably convince an Elf to be her own slave. But that does not mean it is what she wants or what she needs. The Elves were hard to keep angered anyway. They were thankfully not satisfied that she was a complete threat, yet.

  Borgon had failed. Again.

  And then there was the Hunter, Calum.

  His name was bitter on my thoughts even. He stole some of her firsts from me. He was supposed to not be a threat. He was an ally. I only wish I could see it that way in whole for he would make a better leader than his father or the tool who ran it now. Borgon was right under their nose and still remained hidden, though Dr. Green spread light on his ulterior motives to his son recently. Like, minutes ago.

  The Hunter wasn’t happy with her missing and assumed the worst. So Szar made himself available and paid a visit to Dr. Green for a little chat. The Hunter blew up, though Szar used a more vivid description.

  Standing away from the fuming hot-headed Hunter’s office, he overheard the whole scene of him finding out that Anastacia was okay.

  His filthy mouth didn’t stop short of listing what he would do to me. When he was told the original plot that included me and the Were leader posing as assassins to keep from anyone getting her, he went postal. They had no reason to doubt but he did a show of making it sound like it. Now, he knew she was here and it was remedied.

  When the Hunter heard that supposedly he would be the rescuer of the queen to be from me, he was the smug idiot I’d come to see in him. Arrogance would get him dead, not the girl.

  When the Hunter asked his father if he trusted me, Szar relayed this over the phone like he had laughed it out instead of saying it. I cursed the Hunter’s namesake for the rudeness he gave me without knowing me.

  But his father made good on the bargain in the effort to gain her in his court and told his Hunter son that she wouldn’t come to harm in my possession, though the Hunter doubted his father’s true agenda now. And well he should. Too many secrets were held from the Hunter boy in an effort to protect him. It is not like he was a girl. His father should treat him better.

  The Hunter didn’t relent and for that I was gracious and remotely admirable. He wouldn't give up on her so easily now and I could fully understand the connection we held for the same goal.

  And I was torn between what Szar told me they discussed next.
Our marks. We all had them. And the Hunter knew now that secret wasn’t just between her and his monster-sized ego as well as it might include more than the two of them. Take that in your pipe and smoke it.

  I had three days.

  Chapter Four

  I could sense her comfort level starting to grow. A little.

  She examined the dining hall and found it not unlike her own back at her court. She was feeling a little more comfortable with her surroundings though her guard was still up in every way. We sat on the one end of the table Claire had set for us. When she ate the first bite, she closed her delicate mouth and let a whisper of a moan escape. When her tongue darted out to lick the corner of her mouth I was in a wad of pain. She was heaven and I was the cloud trying to get to her as expeditiously. Claire outdid herself. There was fettuccine Alfredo, lasagna, breadsticks, oil and vinegar dip, and her favorite red wine. All of her favorites in fact.

  How do you know what I like?

  “I told you. I know you, Anastacia Anat Hathown.” I paused on the syllables of her name very slowly seeing her watch my mouth. Was she afraid of me?

  “You know, that’s kind of creepy,” she bit into her breadstick and chewed as if shaking off the thought I couldn’t just read.

  What, my mouth?

  After she watched me and chewed for a while longer she asked without talking and breaking her own request, What do you want from me?

  I told her, I just want your time for now. That is all.

  “What do you like to eat?” she pried not missing a beat. If I thought I could put anything past this vixen of sweetness, I’d be lying to myself. “Why are you not eating food?” she asked again when I didn’t answer. What she didn’t figure out right away, she pondered and asked again later. I knew that of her personality.

  “I can eat food. I like food.”

  “So what is your favorite food like my kind of food?”