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Chapter 24 – Josh
The woman was goingto be the death of me. Yes, I was totally aware that I was only her employee, someone to feed and protect her as needed, but my feelings for her were so much more.
I cared about her from the very depth of my soul, and my need to protect her was almost obsessive. What I had to remember was that I wasn’t free to voice such things in public. It had been a long time since she had spoken down to me like she had in the hallway outside the conference room. Maybe if we had been alone, she might not have been as strict with her words, but they had the desired effect that she was striving for. She put me back in my place.
That didn’t mean I had to like it. I also didn’t like the fact that Hugh had shown up at the club. He had no right to be here. I didn’t like the man, and it wasn’t just that he had an interest in Kristin. Something about the man bothered me.
When he took her blood, a tiny part of me was prepared to hide my glee that he was going to drop to his knees and keel over. Only that didn’t happen. He seemed to not only tolerate it but enjoy it. What the fuck? How as he able to do that? Was her blood not toxic to humans as we had thought? That was the only possible explanation I could come up with at the time. I would speak with her later, when we were alone, and I could be open with her.
I felt her tension when we first entered, and then I felt her control take over. That was one of the things that I respected so damn much about her, was her ability to remain calm and in control, no matter what.
I wasn’t surprised that she froze the place, however, seeing the slight glow on her hands had my lips parting in awe. The connection between Kristin, Angelina and Hugh had added something to her ability. A small part of my mind dwelled on that as the rest of me stayed in focus. As Adam came up the stairs and she stepped away from us, demanding us to remain where we were, I thought I’d lose my mind.
She was never supposed to lock us down. Ryker, Conner and Jett were just as pissed, and Paxton wasn’t very happy with it either. She had even locked down her sister and her human, although if need be, her sister could break out of her hold. Could he?
I personally knew that Kristin harbored a deep-seated hatred for Adam. I had been there when she had learned of Julian’s death. It was also believed that he might have been involved in the death of Trent, but no one was ever able to confirm that. How she remained so in control while that filthy animal put his hands all over her body was a mystery to me. I would have wanted to take his head off if it had been me.
But that was the difference between us. My first thought was to protect her, and myself. To take out anyone who had ever hurt either of us. I tried so hard to break the control she had over me, but at the same time, I knew that she was doing it to protect us. Had we not remained where we were, we all would have been at her side, and people would have been hurt, possibly killed. Most of those killed would have been the partygoers here at the club, and she would not allow that. It was her job to protect them, as she protected us.
The moment Adam and his cohorts were gone, I was in her face. Livid with having been held back, and to hell with being put in my place. When we got back to the hotel tonight, I was going to have words with her.
Inside the transport, the question was brought up about Hugh, and the shock of hearing he was a reborn weighed heavily on me. I now understood the attraction between them. Kristin’s blood had found a common link, it wasn’t that he was a male she found herself interested in, but a vampire who had not been unleashed yet. That was how her blood had not hurt him.
Lucky fucking bastard, I thought to myself as I glared out the window. I should be happy for her, be glad that we had found a proper man that she could possibly mate with. One that would strengthen her, and please her. Yet, I wasn’t, and it was my own damn jealousy that I could never be enough to her that caused that.
Back at the hotel, Kristin said goodbye to Hugh. No kiss, no hug, just a quick goodbye and that she would talk to him later, and that he should remain quiet about what he saw tonight. Would he? I wasn’t so sure.
I followed her into the hotel and to the elevator. I expected her to hit the floor for the conference room, but she asked to be taken up to her apartment first.
“I thought you would want to speak to the elders.” Angelina said.
“I need a shower first. I have to get this nasty scent off me.” She growled.
I laughed under my breath, and we remained quiet until we got to the top floor. I followed her out of the elevator and into her apartment. She glanced back at me once, “Go ahead, tell me how disappointed you are in me. How pissed off you are that I held you back.”
She began to remove her clothing on her way to her room and I paused just outside her door, “I am pissed. What if something had happened?”
“It didn’t.” She told me as she dropped her blouse to the floor and kicked it into the corner.
“Yeah, but what if something had, Kristin. You locked all of us down and his men were all moving around easily. They could have come up the stairs and staked us all.”
“Had they made one move, I would have released you all.” She stated.
“How would you have known if they did? You were too busy getting it on with Adam. I thought you hated that man.”
Her face turned toward me slowly as she dropped her bra to the bed. “Do you think that I was not aware of what all nine of them were doing downstairs.”
“Nine? There were only seven.”
“Oh, no, there were nine. Two more were below you behind the stairs, you couldn’t see them, but I could feel them, Josh. I knew what they were doing and feeling. They would not have made a move without Adam telling them to, and he had been instructed to give me a message, not kill my sentinels.”
“He could have had his own agenda.”
“He could have, and he did. He wanted to tie me down and rape me brutally. That is his thing, but he wouldn’t, because he has been compelled to do one thing. Give me a message and then leave and bring it back.”
“He was compelled?”
“Of course, he was,” She replied and stepped out of her pants. I forced myself not to check her out as she stood there in only burgundy panties. I had seen her naked a thousand times, and most times it didn’t affect me. Tonight, I had the urge to show her how I felt again. Maybe place my own bonding scent upon her. The little bit of blood that she had left in my body could still be felt. It would connect us stronger than how we already were.
