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“My king has spoken to me at length about my options, and I was allowed to spend two months with Presley’s pride while Lauren was in school nearby. I won’t be a carbon copy to anyone, but some aspects of his leadership style appeal to me.”
Lauren sighed. “Nathan sent me Nick during an emotional time in my life. The Amakhosi is a meddlesome lion, but I love him anyway.”
Gavin leaned in, kissed her nose, and sat back up. It was awkward through the uv-blocking fabric, but it was the best he could do. “Can I look up disorganized attachment and learn more about it? Should I?”
He’d gone into two different therapists’ heads and learned what he could about the best way to help Lauren get past her sensory issues, but he hadn’t known to look for how to handle attachment issues.
“There are several kinds of attachment issues,” Lauren told him. “The one most all post-institutionalized children have means they can’t attach at all. Then there’s anxious attachment, which means the kid attaches but is a clingy mess because they expect to be abandoned.”
She took a breath, Nick hugged her tighter a quick second, and he picked up where Lauren had left off. “And disorganized attachment, which means sometimes she’s standoffish and sometimes she’s clingy. I fucked up by pushing her away. I knew it, and I did it anyway. She’s been more standoffish with me since we got back together, and that’s completely my fault. Only time will fix it. She’ll have to trust I won’t do that again, and that means we’ll need to have a few fights where I don’t send her away before she’s going to believe I won’t do it again.”
“Back when you and I were talking so much, when I was traveling for work” Lauren told Gavin, “if you couldn’t talk to me when I texted you, I usually got a call from Queenie, explaining what you were doing, and asking if you should interrupt your meeting or whatever and call me. It meant a lot. You’ve always been there for me, even when you couldn’t be. Well, except for the morning hours, but that isn’t you abandoning me, but the sun taking you from me. It’s different.”
Queenie telepathed Gavin to let him know she was about to leave with Nathan and Kirsten, and he pulled Lauren into his lap and hugged her. “I need to see Queenie off to remind everyone she is mine. Would you like to come say goodbye to your mother?”
“Yeah. I think we’re finished for now, right? And we have two weeks to come up with something we can all agree to?”
Chapter 37
Life surged back into Gavin’s undead body with a cascade of painful electricity, and he forced himself to breathe through the agony.
Six breaths, and he could move. Another six, and he was okay. He sat up, pleased, since it was the third day in a row he’d made it through the pain so quickly.
This appeared to be the new norm — was it better because of the bonding that’d happened to join their little threesome together? Would it get better with some kind of formal ceremony to make it official?
Gavin had a feeling it was more about his personal growth than the bonding. The fact he could open his heart and emotions enough to allow the other two such a personal connection likely had more to do with it than anything.
Could he let them in further?
He didn’t know.
Checking in with Queenie risked alerting Huxley that one of Gavin’s top people was in Nevada, so Gavin resisted the urge. Instead, he telepathed Lauren.Anything happening I need to be aware of?
We have an address — a McMansion on the far left edge of the Vegas outskirts. Gated community. Nathan is working with Ryan and a few others on the best way to get all of us in. Preliminary plan is for mom to flash our team to the desert two hundred yards out, and we’ll use stealth to approach the back of the house while a van pulls up front with the other two teams. They’re expecting it won’t be safe to flash terribly close.
Gavin went into the head of one of the hawk shifters he’d brought and immediately saw the address and an image of the house.
Has anyone told you this is one of Huxley’s homes? He lives on the strip — a penthouse condo where he spends his nights, with an underground facility close enough he can securely bed down for the day, and a suite where he can receive visitors when the sun reigns. However, he has several coterie homes, and he stays in this one when he has a hankering for night golf.
It’s been mentioned.
Gavin was in a sunproof bag lined with mesh that was nearly impossible to cut or stab. He worked through the three inside zippers, layered so one couldn’t easily reach the two innermost zippers. He fumbled a second, releasing the inside mechanism of the oversized faux luggage, and unfolded himself.
His people had closed the curtains and put a lightproof tarp around and over them to be certain no sunlight came in, but Gavin had donned the ridiculous layers required for him to survive in the sun before the dawn had taken him. He wouldn’t risk being without his protective clothing with only a thin polymer barrier protecting him from the lethal rays.
He unplugged his phone from the small charging station and texted Ryan.I believe my input on strategy will be beneficial.
Absolutely. We’re set up in my suite. Can you come to us, or should we pack up and come to you?
Gavin didn’t want to go to them, but it seemed the simpler option.I can come to you. Closed drapes will be appreciated.
His garments and sunglasses protected him, so the closed drapes were more about the psychology of being in sunlight than the actuality of it, but every vampire he knew propagated the idea that their garments were only good for a short time, and it was best to limit exposure to sunlight as much as possible.
Gavin doublechecked himself in the mirror, pulled the blond wig off the Velcro and more carefully aligned it when he put it back on, made certain he had the room keycard, and made his way into the hallway without thinking too much about the fact he was aboveground while the sun reigned.
Forty steps, and Ryan’s door opened as he neared. Another half-dozen steps, and he was in a room mostly lit by artificial lights, sunlight spilling around the curtains but not streaming into the room.
His inner vampire wanted to bolt, but Gavin planted his feet and told Ryan, “There are rules of engagement between two Master Vampires.”
