Chapter 23

Talon struck out for the SUV with a long, easy stride. I curled drowsily into his hard body. If only it could always be like this.

Here in the woods he wasn't a tough-ass Maritime lieutenant, and I wasn't a disgraced thrall on house arrest. We were just Talon and Eden.

"You…warm me. I can't explain it. You just do."

My heart turned over when he said things like that. When he noticed I was getting tired or that my back hurt.

I kept coming back to what Twilight had told me about how upset he'd been after I'd left. Obsessed, she'd said.

Maybe it was true? And if so, maybe I hadn't totally fucked things up between us?

Because tonight, he'd taken me on a date. There was no other word for it. A first date, because we'd never gone somewhere like this, just the two of us.

Yeah, we'd gone places together when I'd been his thrall—to clubs or parties—but always as part of a group of other vampires and thralls. Never alone, and especially not somewhere so intimate, so clearly special to him.

He'd shown me a piece of himself tonight, a piece I suspected few people had ever seen. I hugged the memory to myself like he'd given me a bag of gold.

Maybe we were finally getting back to what we'd had? Or…even more?

We reached the SUV, and he opened the door and helped me inside, then handed me my mittens before stowing the rest of the stuff in the back. When we emerged onto the main road, the ocean was spread before us, the full moon splashing light on the dark waves.

"It's so pretty tonight," I murmured.

"You want to stop?"

"Yes, please." I turned my head to smile at him, tired but not wanting the evening to end.

"No problem." He pulled off the road onto a grassy cliff, angling the vehicle so we could look out. Fifteen meters below, the water heaved like a living thing, the surf's muted boom reaching us even through the closed windows.

"I missed the ocean," I confessed. "The salty air, the sound, the way it never looks exactly the same…"

His left brow lifted. "I thought you hated Lilith Island."

"I don't hate it. It's home, after all, but sometimes it feels so…claustrophobic. Everyone's related to everyone else. Everyone knows your business."

"I know," he said drily.

"Yeah, I guess you do."

"So you've heard the stories?"

"About you and Cain? Yes."

I was too young to have known them as kids, but I'd picked up pieces here and there. People had been a little afraid of them even then. They drank too much, got into fights, broke hearts. Beautiful, fucked-up boys.

He grimaced. "We were assholes."

I tilted my head to the side. "Back when you were a teenager, did you want to leave?"

"No. Well, maybe I would've, but my mom—" He shook his head. "Cain, though—he was on his way out of here. He'd already moved out of his uncle's house and was staying with me and my mom. Then Prima Lenore offered us a better deal. We were in the island jail at the time, by the way."

My jaw loosened. "Seriously? Why didn't I know that?"

The deal Talon and Cain had made with Brien's mother had become part of island lore. The year they'd turned twenty, she'd offered to turn them into vampires and bring them into the syndicate. In return, they'd be Brien's personal bodyguards. They'd sworn a blood oath to protect Brien.

However, this was the first I'd heard they'd been in jail at the time.

"We don't like to advertise it." A wry smile. "But we deserved it—we were out of control. Out all night, picking fights for no reason except to prove what hard-asses we were. A little breaking-and-entering, like people wouldn't guess it was us. The chief of police finally locked us up for a month to scare some sense into us. Made us share the same cell, too, the prick. A few nights before we were supposed to be released, the cell door opened and there was Prima Lenore. Turned out she was looking for a couple of guys with our skillset."

"That's why you're helping Rio, isn't it?" I said slowly. "Because he's a kid without enough options, like you were. Maybe you hired him to ensure my good behavior, but you didn't have to hand that money over to him."

True to his word, Talon had transferred the entire hundred grand I'd received from Eugene into Rio's account.

"I didn't need the fucking money," was his growly reply. "You know that."

But I was on to him now. Unbuckling my seatbelt, I leaned across the console and squeezed his hand. "He likes you, too."

Rio's original prickly wariness of Talon had morphed into respect. The money had helped, but he clearly looked up to Talon, saw him as something of a mentor.

Talon shrugged that off to consider me. "Tell me something, Eden. When you left, why did you leave behind all your jewelry? I thought you liked it."

I retreated to my side of the SUV. "I did. I loved it. All of it."

He'd given me earrings, a necklace, a couple of bracelets—gorgeous, one-of-a-kind gold pieces studded with gemstones. Emeralds, sapphires, chalcedony, blue topaz... He'd said he liked me in blues and greens because they brought out my eyes.

"Then why not take them? You could've pawned them, taken the cash."

I rolled my lips into my mouth. "It didn't feel right."

"Why not? Those were gifts, no strings attached. You took Smith's money, and I assume you had plans to access the money you earned as a thrall."

"That's why it didn't feel right. Those were gifts—I hadn't earned them. And I didn't want your gifts."

"I see." He turned back to the ocean. With the moon lighting only his right cheek and the edge of his jaw, I couldn't read his expression, but his mouth was turned down, his body language stiff.

He was upset, but it didn't feel like anger. It felt like hurt.

Strangely, that encouraged me. Up until now, I hadn't believed I could hurt him.

"No," I said, "you don't see."

A soft, frustrated exhale. "Then explain it to me."

I toyed with my mittens. He didn't understand, and he wouldn't unless I told him what I'd overheard. My instinct was to bury it, pretend it hadn't happened. To "keep the peace." That was how my parents dealt with painful truths. Hell, burying the body—literally or figuratively—was a Lilith Island tradition.

"I—" I shifted in my seat.

"You're not comfortable." Talon reached for the gear shaft. "I'll take you back."

"I heard you and Cain," I said lowly. "When we were in Quebec City this summer."

Talon sat back. "And—?"

"At a party in Primus Régis's garden." My voice was louder now. It needed to be louder. I wanted him to hear every word. "You were talking about a pact you'd made."

He rolled his lips in. "Oh."

"Yeah. You said that I was a thrall, nothing more. Which I knew, I guess. But you also said the last thing you wanted was to sire a dhampir." A laugh grated from my throat. "Not what I wanted to hear when I'd just found out I was pregnant. That was like a—well, you can see why I didn't want your goddamn jewelry."

The anger and hurt spilled out, shocking even me. I twisted the mittens in my lap, lungs burning. I filled them with a breath before finishing more calmly, "I didn't want anything from you. I just wanted out."

He swore under his breath. "That's why you took the money to spy on Twilight."

"That's right. Not that's it's an excuse, but I wasn't thinking clearly. And then I was in too deep." This time my laugh was sad. "The worst of it is, you weren't wrong. A dhampir son will be a drag on you."

"I didn't mean it like that."

"Then how did you mean it?"

"Don't move." He unbuckled his seatbelt and jumped out of the vehicle. "I want to do this face to face."

A split second later, he was opening my door and turning me toward him.

"Let's get something clear." He slapped his hands onto the seat on either side of my thighs. "I do not think our son will be a drag on me. I never thought a dhampir spawn would be a drag on me. This was about him, not me. I wanted to mate with a pureblood for him—and because it's better for the syndicate, yeah, but that wasn't my main reason. I know what it's like to have to fight your way up in the hierarchy, and it's even harder for a dhampir. But I was wrong, okay? I should've never made that pact with Cain because now that dhampir son is a reality, I don't feel the same. And I promise, our son will have every possible advantage."

A cautious happiness filled my chest as what I'd heard last summer rearranged itself. "You mean that," I stated.

"Fuck yeah, I do." His hands moved to my shoulders, his dark eyes burning into mine. "I swear it on Prima Lenore's grave. We're already making changes so things will be different for dhampirs."

I nodded. "Twilight told me."

"Then you know it's really happening."

"But what if he doesn't want to join the syndicate? What happens then?"

"I can't make any promises about where he'll be in the hierarchy." Talon loosened his grip on my shoulders but kept his hands where they were. "That's up to him—dominance isn't something you can predict, or force. But I give you my word that our son will receive the same training as a vampire spawn. And if he chooses not to join, then I'll set him up in any business he wants. Or pay for him to go to university if that's what he prefers."

"Swear it." I grabbed his wrists. "I want you to swear that, too. Swear on your sire's grave that whether he joins the syndicate is up to him. That he'll have choices."

Talon stiffened; I'd insulted him. But this was too important. It wasn't just my life, it was the baby's.

"By Prima Lenore's grave," he said, "I swear that our spawn—both this child and any future spawn—will get to choose whether he joins the syndicate. And what he does as an adult is up to him, as long as he's not sitting around on his ass…or stirring up trouble like his old man."

That last part made me smile. "Thank you," I said over the pointy lump that had gotten lodged in my throat.

With Talon—a syndicate lieutenant—in his corner, my little guy would have a powerful advocate. And I liked that Talon had brought up the possibility of more children. I wanted at least two.

That left the other part of what I'd overheard, the way he'd dismissed me like I was last week's garbage. "Eden's a thrall, nothing more."

I slid my teeth sideways. Wanting to ask but afraid to hear the answer.

"What?" His gaze jumped between my eyes. "Talk to me."

I let go of his wrists. "What about me? Did I misunderstand that part, too?"

He straightened from me, his hands gripping the top of the door frame. "Eden…"

That hesitation—that I'm sorry, but… grimace—said it all. I pressed my lips together. "Got it."

"I don't want to lie to you. You're special to me, you know that."

A special thrall, he meant.

The prickly lump expanded until it was pressing against my heart. "Right. That's what I thought."

"Eden…"

"Please." I lifted my hand, palm out. "I just want to go. It's late. I'm tired."

He eyed me for another beat, then expelled a breath. "Okay."

We drove back in silence. Talon stopped in front of the carriage house garage. As we waited for the doors to slide open, his fingers opened and closed on the steering wheel.

"I want to be a good father," he said. "You'll have to help me on that. I didn't have the best example, growing up."

It took a second for that to sink in. Then my breath hitched at the hint of vulnerability. He was such an alpha that it had never occurred to me that he might worry about what kind of father he'd make.

"Both of us will be learning on the job, right? Poor kid." I made a face, still hurt but trying to lighten the mood.

"You might be learning," he said, "but that kid is lucky to have you as a mom."

"You think so?"

The garage doors had opened, but he made no move to pull inside. "I do, yeah. You're going to be great. Look how you are with Rio—the kid worships you. And you have parents that acted like parents."

"What d'you mean?"

"I mean they're actually parents." He stared out the windshield, giving me his profile. "They took care of you growing up instead of the other way around. Don't get me wrong, my mom loves me. I think even Esposito loves me in his own way. They were just too young, you know? I didn't know it when I was a kid, but I was an accident."

My heart dropped to the sole of my hiking boots. "Oh," I said in a barely audible voice. "Like our baby."

"Yeah, but I want him. I did from the start." He turned to face me. "He's not an obligation. Neither of you are. I wanted you to accept my blood bond. I need you, Eden. But love…" He fingered the shark tattoo on the side of his neck. "I'm a vampire, you know? Love is so…human."

Jesus, the more he tried to explain, the worse he made me feel. "It's okay. Really."

He worked his jaw from side to side, then, with a tight nod, drove the SUV into the garage. "You've been back a month now," he said, shutting off the engine. "Go ahead and set up a visit with your parents for Saturday. I'll have Brien's PA arrange a ride for you."

Maybe he was feeling guilty, but whatever. I'd take it. I was feeling bruised inside and I really, really wanted to see my family.

"Thank you, I will."

"Don't thank me." He unbuckled his belt, then leaned over the console to brush his lips over mine. "You've earned it."

I'd earned it? My heart folded in on itself. Way to put me in my place.

He must've felt my recoil because he touched his forehead to mine. "I want you to be happy. Can you do that?"

I dragged in a breath. "I'm trying," I said.