Page 42 of Those That Defy the Realm

The bond to my new pack is something I am not choosing to think about. It’s settling now that others have officially joined, my vampire is more satisfied that the leaders are not in imminent danger. But prolonged periods away will no doubt take its toll on my headspace, as well as Rory and Ty’s.

It’s going to be tested sooner than I’d like too. My agent wants another meeting about my next novel. One she’s insisted I’m in the capital city for. It’ll only be a short trip, a few days, but when I return, Ash won’t be here anymore.

Frustratingly, I have to leave the day before he does. We’ve only got a couple more days together and as per our deal, it means our fling is coming to an end.

A fling. What a stupid word. I hate it more and more each time I’ve managed to meet up with one or both of them. We’ve done pretty well, considering our schedules and the fact we’re keeping our rendezvous completely under wraps.

But over the last week, each kiss, each touch, has come with an end note of the pain to come. Each orgasm is like drinking the finest wine you’ve ever tasted. A full body experience, with a richness so potent it’s like tasting the sunshine which grew the grapes it was made from. Only, once you’ve swallowed it, it turns bitter on your tongue.

None of us have mentioned it, although we all know the date is looming. I have no idea whether either of them even feel the same. I want to believe Ash has the same growing sense of a storm that I have. There’s been several occasions where the heat in his eyes when he looks at me or Claire has said that he wants us on a deeper level than purely as a method to get off.

Claire is harder to read. She still has a hesitance about her, despite her being forthcoming and open when asked direct questions. Confidence radiates out of her, yet the more times I get her naked the more I feel it’s a facade. It’s in the moments where she’s post orgasm and coming down that this vulnerable side takes over, one that seems to reach towards my soul. But it’s gone as soon as she recovers. Whilst she is passionate and free with her body, at least to us, I can’t help the sense that she is guarding her true self.

Ash has seen it too; I spoke to him about it the other day.

The first time they’d hooked up without me felt odd. Not negative per se, I wasn’t jealous that they were seeing each other without me, I didn’t feel threatened by it. I’d fucked them both individually before it happened, on a few occasions, so I’d only be a hypocrite if I did have an issue with it.

What I was curious about though, was how Claire was when I wasn’t around. I wondered if my ghosting act had hardened her towards me. Had my initial screw up led to a permanent cage around her heart for me?

I’d asked Ash in a more subtle way; after all, we’d agreed to zero feelings. But even if I was ignoring the deeper emotion that both of them were starting to carve out in my chest I could happily admit that I cared for them both. Anyway, Ash told me what they did, and that he’d had the same thoughts about our female. It was reassuring in some ways, but made me want to push harder to get Claire to open up.

But now I’m about to leave and our arrangement is ending.

Scrubbing a hand over my face, I lean back on the desk chair where I’ve been sitting for the last few hours. It’s a makeshift space in one of the rooms in the ranch house. A sort of hot desk room we quickly cobbled together so that not only I could work, but Ty could continue his pursuit of other packs and Rory and Claire could put together the plans for the redevelopment.

Claire got the job, the one she was prepping for when we’d arrived in Froan. And she’d already made her new boss extremely happy by landing a client with a big project and a sizable budget.

Us.

Rory made it clear that the contract came with Claire as the lead designer on the remodel, so they’ve been spending a lot of time together as they get started on the details. Having watched them together a few times as they talk about blueprints and room mapping, the cracks in their friendship are starting to heal. I have no base to go off on how close they were before but from speaking to both Rory and Claire separately I think they’re both cherishing this time.

Closing my laptop, I stand from the cramped desk, stretching out my tired muscles before picking the laptop up and exiting the room. I head down the corridor to my room. Well, the one I’m sharing with Antares and Bartie, an older vampire that joined from Adicious’s pack. It’s cosy to say the least. But with work starting on the downstairs and the outbuilding, we’re currently all sleeping in the rooms upstairs, as well as having the office space and another room where we’ve moved the fridges for blood packets and put some sofas to create an attempt at a hangout spot.

It won’t be for too long, these tight conditions. But seeing as the renovations are quite extensive it made sense to do the whole downstairs in one project, alongside the outbuilding which is being turned into more sleeping quarters so everyone gets their own rooms.

Opening the door, I find Antares lying on his bed, which is a mattress on the floor in between the two actual bed frames. He’d sulked about the middle spot for a few days, but I’d won the bed fair and square and neither of us would make Bartie sleep on the floor. He might only be slightly over middle aged, but he was like an elder to both of us seeing as we’re both under a century.

My plan, having finished some book editing, had been to freshen up, drop my laptop back in my room and maybe go hunt down Ash. Claire, I knew, was with Rory this afternoon, shopping for colour schemes in the city, accompanied by Atlas and a couple of others.

I slightly assumed one of those would be Antares. Seeing as he was going to be living here permanently, I knew he absolutely would have strong opinions on the decor.

“How come you’re not in the city with the others?” I ask, stashing my laptop into its satchel and taking a seat on the end of my bed.

“I don’t know how to act around him, Henry. As soon as Ty put him on bodyguard duty for Rory, I couldn’t go. If she comes back with something hideous, however, I’m telling you, I’m out.”

Grinning at the correctness of my assumption on his thoughts about the interior design, I decide to goad him on it. And to keep the conversation from going to the heavier one of the mate bond he felt as soon as he met Atlas, one which hasn’t seemingly been reciprocated. “I bet she chooses a chequered pattern for everything, maybe something in bright yellow for your room.”

He springs into a sitting position. “Don’t even joke about it.”

“Seriously though, Rory invited you along. Why haven’t you gone?”

“Didn’t you hear me? He’s there!”

I had heard him, but I’d chosen to ignore the comment about Atlas. Having had the same repetitive conversation with Antares daily since the night we took ownership of the ranch, I didn’t want to get into it again now. But from the pointed look Antares gives me, I’m not getting out of it.

“And why is spending time around him such a bad thing, surely you want to be around him?”

“I do. Desperately.”