Henri looked like he wanted to protest, but sighed instead. “You’re right. She has to grow up sometime.”
I wanted to laugh. I mean, Reece wasmyage, late twenties, and he was only just now realizing she needed to grow up. It dawned on me then thatthiswas the reason Reece had taken the job. For one, she seemed to have a very compassionate heart, and two, at the Leto Villa, she was always under the thumb of her dad, who was also our head chef. Here, she could spread her wings, have the kitchen all to herself, and have a very handsome employer to ogle. Win/win.
I said my goodbyes and walked outside with Henri, Mesmer, and Zian. Two of whom crowded around me tighter than a tick on a hound. I showed them my space bubble, and they both looked at me like I was crazy. “Come on, guys! Space bubble! Breathing room!” I pantomimed the space around me currently taken by hulking forms and tried to shove them away from me. “A girl needs room to breathe!” I protested when they refused to budge.
Zian snapped lazily at me, and Mesmer just flat out ignored me. Overprotective, hulking brutes. “Just wait, I believe in paybacks.” I sulked.
“Forgive them for trying to keep you alive,” Draven said, suddenly at my side.
“Oh sure, you move forhim,” I growled at Zian, who sneezed at me in answer.
I sighed.
“I’m feeling a little overwhelmed right now. And I’m scared. They attacked us again, and I feel like simultaneously hiding my head in the sand in the hopes that all of this will go away, and going on a Rambo streak with guns strapped to my chest and grenades attached to my belt. My emotions are all jumbled.”
Draven smiled. “As amusing as that would be to see, try to let us help protect you. It helps us feel manly and like were are the smallest bit necessary.”
I appreciated that they tried to protect me very much. In fact, it was what was keeping me alive during all of this craziness. I shuddered. I was not a fan of murderous vampires. I could barely handle the one in my life thatwasn’tin a constant murderous rage.
I glanced up at Draven. “Sure. I can let the big, powerful protectors feel needed. My gift to you guys,” I teased. “But it’s only to help your self-esteem! Not because I might need it.”
Mesmer looked like he was trying really hard not to crack a smile. “Don’t chip a tooth fighting back a smile there, Mes.”
He cuffed the back of my head lightly, exactly like a big brother would, and I smiled.
Ahh, family.
Chapter12
Draven & Mia
“Idon’t understand why you have to be there tonight.” Mia said.
I cocked an eyebrow at her. “We were just attacked not seven hours ago.”
“Iknowthat! I was there! But I already have Mesmer, and Rhys will stay with me at the club.”
I wanted to smile, but knew that would be the wrong move. Mia was very adamant that she could do things for herself. I knew it stemmed from her raising herself through her late teens and working her fingers to the bone to provide for herself, but in this, she was wrong. I admired her tenacity and determined spirit, but I wouldn’t be letting her out of my sight anytime soon. Every time we had a close call, I had the horrible thought thatthiswould be the time that I would lose her.Thiswould be the moment my enemy took her from me, too. It drove a spike of fear into my belly, driving me to seek more and more desperate measures to keep her safe.
Currently, she had four guards tailing her, as well as Mesmer and myself, and two trackers that Mesmer had cleverly hidden in her personal things. One in her phone, the other in the lining of her purse.
She also had Rhys, to whom I had recently expressed my appreciation for saving Mia’s life by gifting him with a townhome. It had surprised me when he’d accepted it. I think Mia had something to do with it. Something about it being in a pretty part of town, and was within walking distance to her favorite doughnut shop, Diggity Dog Doughnuts. (The doughnut shop was owned by wolf shifters, who thought the name was hilarious. I found it less so. It didn’t make the doughnuts sound appetizing.) Also, because I knew Mia would be with Rhys a lot, I made sure there was security on the premises of the townhome I gifted him. I think that was one of the key reasons Rhys had accepted it. He loved Mia. He didn’t want to see her get hurt.
I downshifted as I hugged a corner on the turn and gazed at Mia, appreciating her beauty.
I found it mystifying when others talked about the dreadfulness of getting older; that you started feeling it as you hit the triple digits. I’d found it to be untrue, and I’d been in quadruple digits for a while now. Our minds were so fascinating to me. My mind still felt young, like I was in my 30s. I wondered, sometimes, if we eternally felt young. That it was just our experiences that aged us. What if you’d been given a body that didn’t age, and a mind that felt perpetually youthful, like with vampires? What age did that actually make me?
These thoughts and more crowded my mind as I looked over at Mia. I knew my mind was picking this apart because of my attraction to her. The discrepancy in our ages had troubled me for a time, but only until I realized that vampirism was akin to drinking from the fountain of youth. I would never look old. And my brain still felt youthful. The only thing that had perhaps aged was my soul. But that was, to my mind, a good thing. Experience was an excellent teacher.
Since my wife had been slain, I’d been attracted to different women. But I’d never acted on it because the more I’d gotten to know them, the more I’d become certain that Charisse would be the only love of my life, and that all others would forever pale in comparison.
But when I was around Mia, she became evenmorebeautiful to me. There was a sparkle in her eyes that hinted at the mischievousness that lurked beneath. She was warm and caring and she made me laugh. She brought me out of my thoughts and out of my secluded shell. All she had to do was ask, and I practically jumped at the chance to take her places, just to be around her.She brought warmth to my life. To me. All the parts of me that had shut down after Charisse died were coming to life again.
It left me reeling, but reeling in a good way.
And it left me justifiably terrified.
Which brought me back to tonight.
