6. Natalia

I pusha wayward strand of shoulder-length hair behind my ears. "I'm not going."

The vampire's jaw tightens with irritation, looking to Michael or one of my brothers to fix this.

"I don't have time to talk her into letting me save her life, when Lucas is on the loose."

Michael gives him a nod and turns to me. "There is no choice in the matter right now, Natalia. You'll go with Master Oradea. Roman assured me you'll be in good hands. And he's right. In this battle with the rogues, he has the ability to keep you safe. That's what's important right now."

Marcus and Antonio don't seem a bit convinced, both seemingly about ready to explode. The vampire looks to me as though I should hop to it and get going. When I don't move, it's as though he can feel my heart race and wants to put me at ease.

Master Oradea sighs outwardly. "I have an estate with plenty of space, right outside the city. I typically live alone with Elda who manages the home, and our staff, but right now we have guests for the duration. Overmaster Descallia and his mate, Lucianna, along with four other masters and their mates are staying with me, so there will be plenty of people to keep you company. Lucianna and a couple of the others were human before they were turned. There is no reason to be scared to go with me."

My heart slows, and the erratic pulsing on the side of my neck begins to settle. Seemingly satisfied, Oradea turns to Michael. "It would be best if she came with me now. Are you able to send someone to my estate with her belongings?"

I draw the line at this. "If they were going to hurt me, they would have done it last night. I'll play along and come with you, but I can certainly pack for myself."

His dark eyes penetrate me with their intensity while he talks to my brother. "I don't have time for this. If I'm to keep her safe, she needs to listen."

I don't care how powerful he is. I'm not about to be bullied by the big-ass brute. "Are you always this infuriating? Just take me by my apartment. It will take me half an hour to pack, and then we'll be on our way."

He flat out ignores me and looks to Michael. "I don't make it a habit repeating myself. Do something with your sister, or I will."

My eyes flash with anger. You don't scare me. What are you going to do, vampire?

He smirks. I can hear you, enchantress. I'll turn you over my knee and paddle your little ass if you don't get moving.

An image of him tossing me over his knee while caressing my ass one minute before it heats my seat languishes in my mind. Holy hotness! I push the image quickly from my mind. After a night of tossing and turning, thinking of nothing but him, I refuse to waste another minute on this nonsense because there is no way I can be attracted to a brute like him. It just can't be.

Michael clears his throat to step in, but Oradea puts up a hand. "I think your sister and I have an agreement now." Oradea turns to me with a smug glint in his eye. "All set?"I huff at the infuriating beast, spin on a heel, and leave him to follow me out the door, hoping that I at least have time to send them a text and tell them what to pack before they go get my things.

We've barely made it out the door before remorse for my bad behavior settles in. It's not the vampire's fault that I've managed to land myself in the middle of a vampire war, or that my brothers are the most overbearing men I know, and he is trying to do the right thing for a lot of people, mainly me. I suck in a breath, letting myself calm, as we head out the door.

I wait until we're outside, away from my brothers, before I turn around. "I didn't ask for any of this, but I do appreciate you taking me under your wing, so to speak, and protecting me. I didn't mean to sound ungrateful back there. Everything just caught me by surprise. The fact that my brothers think coming with you is a good idea means they are taking this very seriously. It must be killing them that they can't protect me themselves. I'm sorry for the way I acted."

His dark eyes survey me, and he doesn't make me grovel or feel bad about my behavior although he probably should. "Apology accepted. I'm parked over here." Oradea walks me to a sleek black Maserati that comes to life with a touch of his remote. Once I'm settled into the bucket seat, he closes the door and walks around to the other side, sniffing the night air before getting in.

"What were you doing? That sniffing thing?" He buckles his seat belt, then looks at me strangely for half a second. I'm not sure if he intends to answer or ignore my nosiness, but then he turns toward me. "I was trying to catch the scent of the shifters. They let off a mangy scent that you can smell for miles away. They were the ones protecting Lucas last night. There are many of them who have turned to the rogue's camp, and they're dangerous."

I'm quiet on the ride back to his estate, taking it all in, but as we approach tall iron gates covered in moss, my heart begins to race. He stops at the gate and flips a lever on the dash that opens the wall in front of us and turns to me. "There's nothing to be scared of. No one beyond these walls will hurt you. They will do everything in their power to protect you. People like you are the reason we began fighting the rogues and the witches. We didn't want to see innocents hurt during a time when it happened frequently."

Thoughts of my younger days, with my mother and grandmother settle in my mind. "I probably soaked up every unimportant piece of drivel and lore that exists about them. My grandmother was obsessed with witches."

The sexy brute exhales. "You don't say."

"Yeah, ask me anything. She spent her whole life teaching me that stuff. It was her passion. So, tell me, why are you fighting the war with the rogues, really? How did it start? The only thing I know about vampires is that you believe land that belongs to the witches belongs to you."

His jaw sets tight as he pulls through the gate, and we make our way down the winding drive, under the large three-story house, and into the garage that holds at least a dozen cars. He comes around to open my door before he says a word. "There was a time when all the pureblooded vampires would kill any human around and drink their blood. Now we process it and get it a million different legitimate ways without killing a living soul. The rogues want to go back to the way it used to be. So, like I said, you're more than safe at my estate. I'm not going to let anything happen to you, as long as you follow my rules."

I give him a shy smile, and my chest constricts. It's one thing to be willing to fight to the death for a noble cause such as theirs, but it's an entirely different feel altogether when you know the vampire is fighting to save your own. It's humbling in a way that I have a hard time even understanding myself and am dying to talk to Chara about. And not just to talk about how incredibly handsome this very tall, muscular male specimen is and what it's doing to my already overactive libido.

Mother nature is saying it's time, and the dark-eyed devil just happens to appear in my world at the very same time, and I just happen to get stuck with him as a protector, out of the sight of my brothers. A slow smile spreads across my lips. I blame you, destiny.