Cassie shot a look at Vera who threw up her hands and said, “Fine, fine. I’m going to the bathroom. Any and all sex talk about my brother needs to be done now. I don’t want to hear a peep about it when I get back.”

As soon as she was gone, Alison bounced in her seat. “Oh my God, dish the details. That man is huge.”

Sarina rolled her eyes. “All the Kategan men are huge, Ali. Darien is just...a little more imposing. It’s all that bad attitude he carries around him.”

“He’s not all bad though. He’s actually really sweet. After the...thing with Conlin he was there when I woke up. He carried me down to Rome’s room so I could be with him.” She had a soft, happy smile on her face that Cassie was completely jealous of.

“He doesn’t even like me,” she blurted out.

“What? Of course he does. Why do you say that?” asked Sarina. She blushed.

“No, he doesn’t. He’s tried to get me to leave from the moment I woke up. I refused because he just intrigued me. And okay, he’s really, really sexy. I’ve never met a lykaen before him.”

“Wow, really?” Alison asked.

“Really. He’s only trying to help me now because...because we,” her face burned hot and finally she had to look away.

“Because you guys had sex? Was it amazing? Seriously, do tell. Because Rome is just devastating in bed. I can hardly keep my hands off him, honest.” Cassie thought on the couple of times they’d had sex. It’d been smoldering, sexy, passionate, and beautiful.

“I loved it more than anything,” she finally said softly. The girls smiled at her and sighed at the same time. Just then Vera came back to the table with her fingers plugged in her ears.

“Is it safe?”

They all nodded. “All right let’s get out of here,” Vera said.

“So what are our plans for today?” Boy did it feel weird asking that.

“Clean up these dishes, then it’s off to a Twilight and Harry Potter marathon at Sarina’s place until the sun goes down enough that we can start drinking without looking like crazy people.”

Cassie looked at Sarina. “But what about you?” Sarina patted her rounded belly lovingly.

“Don’t worry. I’m in a milk faze, so tonight I’ll be having my share of chocolate and strawberry milk.”

“Cassie, would you be a doll and go start the car. It’s getting chilly out lately and me and the baby just can’t stand it.”

“Sure. See you in a few.” Cassie left the girls to clear up their lunch while she went out to Vera’s car. She smelled him the instant before he slammed her into the trunk.

She spun around, her heart beating painfully hard in her chest. All the blood drained from her face.

“I’ve found you, Cassandra. How easy you are to track now that I know you’ve been fucking that lykaen. Do you think he can protect you? Is that why you’re hiding behind him like a scared child?”

She shook her head. “N-no.” Suddenly she heard the girls inside leaving the kitchen. “You have to get out of here now. Please,” she said desperately.

He only stood there, even as their footsteps got closer and closer. Any minute now and they’d all be in danger. He’d kill them all without a single regret.

He smiled at her, his fangs terrifying in that moment. “We’ll be together soon, Cassandra.” He grabbed her chin in a bruising hard grip. “And you will never leave me again. I know where you are now. There is no hiding from me.”

Cassie’s eyes filled with tears at the pain. The door opened, and he let go of her and sprinting away in the blink of an eye.

“Cassie are you all right?”

“Fine,” she said numbly. The girls crowded around her.

“What happened to your chin?”

“Why do you look so scared?”

She shooed them off with false smile. “It’s nothing. I just tripped and hit the concrete. Sorry I didn’t get the car started for you, Sarina.”

She waved it away and hugged her tight. Cassie hesitated, then hugged her back. They all piled into the car, and she wanted nothing more than to run and hide.

Chapter 12

“It’s good to have you back,” Vane said, clapping Darien on the back.

A smile tugged at Darien’s lips. It felt good to be back, though he didn’t say so. He’d be leaving just as soon as everything was taken care of with Cassie. There was no use in hurting his family any more.

Rome took a swig of his beer and said, “You can’t fix your problems by staying away, Darien.”

“Maybe I can’t, but I can’t fix them staying here either.”

Rome shrugged a big shoulder. “How do you know that when you never even tried? The thing happened with Dana and then you were out of here so fast, none of us were even sure what happened.”

Darien ground his teeth together. It was none of their business. It wasn’t then, and it wasn’t now.

“Did you love her that much?” Vane asked. There was no hostility in his voice, only curiosity. Still, Darien hated him for asking. Because right now he was being pulled apart inside over that same question.

“I wanted to mate with her.”

Vane grimaced and chugged some of his brew. “Ouch.”

Darien couldn’t help it, he laughed. His brother’s response was so inadequate, so surprisingly underwhelming that all of them burst out laughing. It almost felt like old times again. Before the mess in his life happened.

“I understand a bit of what you’re feeling,” Rome said. A hard, shadowed look crossed over his eyes. “When I found Alison at Conlin’s...I’d never felt that kind of fear before. To know that at any second someone else can take her life from you. She almost died.”

Three hard knocks sounded at the front door. Vane hollered for whoever it was to come in. Darien let out the breath he’d been holding. There was a reason why he’d left the pack. He sure didn’t want to have some long conversation about his feelings with Dana and the baby.

“Jacks, it’s about time you got here. I thought you were always a prompt man,” Rome taunted. Jacks grinned big.

“Yeah well, Vera called me at the last minute and said she needed a kiss and another six-pack of that damn lemonade she likes. So I stopped by and gave it to her.”

“TMI, bro,” Rome said. Jacks grinned and plopped down in a chair by the fireplace.

Darien sniffed the air then turned to him. “Since when are you a vampire?”

“See, you’ve missed out on all the cool stuff. Some vampire clan tried to steal the Kategan land. They also tried to kill me and your sister. In the process, I now have fangs and your sister gets to spend her nights with me for the rest of her life.”

“TMI,” Darien agreed, “but I am very happy for you and my sister. I’ve never seen her so happy.” The vampire Jacks was practically beaming as he grabbed a beer out of the cooler on the floor and popped it open.

“Damn right.”

“So what do you want to do about the situation with your woman, Darien?” asked Vane.

“She isn’t my woman,” he automatically said. Three sets of eyes turned to stare at him, then each of them burst out in a roar of laughter.

“Right,” Rome said.

“Whipped,” agreed Jacks.

“Goner,” Vane said.

Darien growled, his beast slashing its claws across its cage. “Fuck off.”

“Who are you kidding besides yourself? We’ve all seen the way you look at her, touch her. You’re practically mated with her already,” said Vane.

“Enough!” Darien roared. The room quieted, leaving only the crackling of the fire and Darien’s hard breathing.

Lesser beings, lesser men wouldn’t have had the nerve to speak to a ripping mad lykaen, but the Kategan men weren’t lesser men.

“You know, Darien, you’re right. We’ve had enough. Do you think it’s been easy for us to have our brother gone? While you’ve been away drowning yourself in misery we’ve had horrible and incredible things happen to us. I wanted my brother to be there for that. Your selfishness took that away, not only from me, but from Rome and Vera,” Vane said.