“About four hours,” David replied. It may besooner, as visions of wringing Jack’s neck floated happily throughhis mind.
“I’ll make sure Issy’s out of the housebefore then so she doesn’t bother you when you get here.” Beforeeither of them could respond, Jack hung up.
“That was his way of being nice,” David saidas the screen on his phone went dark.
“I think being nice might have hurt him. Heis amusing.”
“He’s something, but amusing is definitelynot it,” David bit out. “He’s an acquired taste.”
“Kind of like wine?”
“More like stinky cheese.”
Mia laughed and turned to focus on thescenery again. Despite the fact she found David’s easy relationshipwith his friends and Liam’s children delightful, anxiety swirledwithin her. She was going to a place full of vampires she didn’tknow, who were all as thick as thieves. Their bonds with each otherwere intricate and deep. How would she ever fit in with all ofthat?
David would be there to help her get throughit. She would be fine as long as he was there.
She hoped.
CHAPTER 12
David stopped the car in front of a thickwrought iron gate. The black fence spreading out on either side wastwenty feet tall. Not only did it have barbwire going around thetop, but it was also electrified. The lens of cameras glistened inthe moonlight every ten feet around the fence. In between thecameras were motion detectors rigged to go off for anythingweighing more than fifty pounds. With the wildlife around the area,they went off all the time, but he welcomed the heavy security nowthat Mia was there.
Rolling the window down, he leaned out thedoor and punched the code into the keypad. The gate didn’t make asound when it swung open to reveal the dirt drive beyond. Camerasturned in their direction as he drove down the lane. The red mapleslining the road were all bare, but in the summer their powerfullimbs shaded the drive and created a welcoming canopy.
“We moved here as a precaution againsthunters after Ian and Paige met. Even with the vast number of us,we’ve never done anything to draw the attention of the hunters ourway, but we figured better safe than sorry. After what happenedwith you and Vicky, Liam beefed up the security,” he told Mia.
“I’m all for a lot of security,” Miasaid.
“So am I.” After half a mile, David pulledthe car to a stop in front of the old gray shingled farmhouse heshared with Jack, Mike, and Doug.
When David put the car in Park and shut itoff, Mia took a deep breath and opened her door before she turnedinto a frozen, panicked mess who refused to exit the vehicle. Shecould only imagine the wonderful impression that would make oneveryone if she was still sitting in the car come morning. Theywere here now; there was no turning back.
One step at a time.And she knew shehad to take this step. David would stay away if he believed shecouldn’t handle being here, but he’d been doing everything to tryto make her happy and put her at ease. It was time she didsomething for him in return. He wanted her to meet his family, andshe would do it.
Mia stepped out of the car and stretched herback while she gazed at the property. Awe trickled through her atthe beauty of the acres of open land that ended in thick woods,dense with pines. Across the way, the ocean sparkled with the pinksand yellows of the sun setting behind it.
From where she stood, the ocean appeared tobe a good hundred feet down from the cliff at the edge of theproperty. The wrought iron fence across from her blocked anyonefrom approaching the edge of the cliff, but there was a gatewaythere and another keypad both inside the gate and out.
“The section of the fence by the ocean isnewer. I’ve never seen it,” David said to her. “We’d planned tokeep the waterfront open until recently.”
“It’s still a beautiful view.”
“It is,” David agreed, unable to tear hiseyes from her as the setting sun lit her face and eyes.
Mia focused on the main house set in thecenter of the sprawling property. It was a picturesque farmhousewith a farmer’s porch. Christmas lights draped down from the porchroof and were wrapped around all of the poles. The glow of theChristmas lights could be seen through the growing dusk descendingover the day.
“Liam and Sera live there, with their fiveyoungest children,” David told her when he caught the direction ofher gaze.
“It’s so… warm,” she whispered. Her own homehad been warm too, with photos of all of them on the walls and hermother’s collection of elephant knickknacks everywhere. Every yearthey’d strung Christmas lights together, decorated the tree, andhung the stockings on the mantle. She could clearly recall the lastChristmas they’d all spent together, a month before her parents haddied. She hadn’t celebrated Christmas since.
Laughter trilled from somewhere behind thefarmhouse, drawing her attention to a smaller house closer to thecliff. A petite woman with golden brown hair streaked with strandsof honey passed in front of a window. Another woman withmocha-colored skin followed behind her, holding up scraps of clothas she walked.
David stared at Mia as she gazed around theproperty while one of her hands rubbed at her thigh, over her burnscar. The longing on her face tore at his heart. He opened hismouth to tell her she could have all of this, that they could makea life here, but it was something she would have to learn on herown. And she would, over time.
“That’s Emma and Ethan’s house,” David toldher when Ethan walked by the window. “Emma’s friends Mandy and Jillare visiting.”
“Oh,” Mia replied, unsure of how torespond.
