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I eyed him, equal parts exasperated and impressed. It’s not easy for a human to stand up to a vampire. That didn’t mean I was going to indulge him any further.
“No,” I told him, and nodded at Nathan. “Bring Eden’s and my bags to the other suite.”
I waited only long enough for him to deposit the baggage inside the suite door, then closed the door behind Nathan, leaving me alone with Eden. In the hall Rio sputtered angrily until he was cut off mid-sentence. Adrian had probably applied some kind of hold to his throat. Adrian wouldn’t hurt Rio, just rough him up enough to teach him that when we gave him a direct order, he obeyed—or else.
I put him from my mind and turned to my sleepy-eyed prisoner.
3
Eden
Talon’s wolf-brown eyes roved over my body. He unbuttoned my suede jacket and gathered my loose cotton shirt in his hands. It pressed against my abdomen, revealing what the looseness had concealed. The lighting was low, but vampires have vision like cats. I knew he could see every detail—my full breasts, my noticeably rounder belly.
“When were you going to tell me?” he asked.
I lifted a shoulder, let it drop.
“Yeah,” he said. “That’s what I thought.”
My gaze slid from his. I wasn’t proud of what I’d done. Leaving without telling Talon he was going to be a father had been wrong. Yeah, I’d been desperate, but it had still been wrong.
“I’ve got to pee,” I muttered.
He released me and I turned, making my way down the dimly lit hall and pushing open the first door I came to. A frosted-glass sconce came on, illuminating a lux silver-and-black bedroom. I dropped my jacket on the massive black-lacquer bed and hurried into the attached bathroom.
When Talon tried to follow, I shut the bathroom door in his face. He rapped on the thick wood.
“What?” I jerked down my pants and underwear, lowering myself to the toilet seat with a sigh of relief.
“Just…tell me if you feel faint or anything.”
I briefly closed my eyes. Now he was being nice, but I knew it was only because of the baby. Somehow that hurt more than the cool disdain.
“I’m fine,” I gritted. “You didn’t have to call a doctor.”
He grunted and didn’t say anything else, but I knew he remained outside the door. Standing guard.
I finished and zipped up my pants, leaving the button undone. I was tall and wide-hipped enough that I wasn’t in maternity clothes yet, but it wouldn’t be much longer.
I took my time in the bathroom, washing my face, running my fingers through my hair. Then I placed my hands on the marble counter and stared at my reflection.
Jesus Murphy. I looked like crap. Pale, with purple smudges under my eyes and a pinched look around my mouth, like I was forty-three, not twenty-three.
Stress and pregnancy weren’t a good mix. Talon showing up out of the blue tonight didn’t help, but I couldn’t blame it all on him. I’d been stressed for months.
First, I’d found out I was carrying the baby of a vampire who’d vowed never to mate with a human because he didn’t want a dhampir spawn. Then I’d let myself get roped into spying on the other thralls, including a thrall that Brien, now the syndicate’s new primus, had fallen in love with. And after that, I’d run, leaving everyone I loved behind.
Talon knocked again. “Eden?”
I heaved a breath, weary clear to my bones.
“You made your bed, now lie in it.” Why did I hear my mom’s voice whenever I messed up?
I wiped my hands, straightened my spine. “Coming.”
The duffel bag was on a plush armchair, my jacket folded neatly on top. It was the only chair in the bedroom, so I sank onto the bed’s velvet coverlet instead.
Talon dropped his leather jacket on top of my stuff and prowled closer, stopping with his booted toes an inch from mine. God, he was sexy. Dark-haired and broody, his jaw shadowed with stubble. A navy T-shirt hugged his powerful torso and biceps, and a menacing shark tattoo, the mark of a “made” man in the Maritime Syndicate, curved around the side of his neck.
