101

Lucas had left that day with a grim expression on his face, he was never one to shy away from a fight but the threat of one of us dying was enough to keep him in his place, to make him promise me that he would stay put and watch Chase’s back. I wasn’t worried about me, I had my team with me and I had Abeloth. Chase wasn’t weak and he was a great fighter but I would never forgive myself if something happened to him because of me.

We were sitting in the dining room and we had learnt some things about the missing children. We had established the points of kidnapping and some sightings that were reported. Tank had tried to follow all those leads and street traffic cameras closest to the kidnapping points. So far we were pretty sure that we had one base of operations. We didn’t want to move too soon but we also didn’t want to wait too long.

“We should inform the Elders of your bond acceptance so they can do the ceremony,” Link said as we all took a well deserved break for the night.

“The timing’s not right,” Megan said as she leaned against me.

“It could take us months to sniff out all the bases of operations with those missing children,” Elio said as he looked at us.

“Hello!” I heard the front door close and I closed my eyes briefly.

I stood up abruptly and walked into the foyer where Cameron stood with his weekend bag and a big ass smile on his face. He had to cancel the previous two visits due to sudden problems at their lair. Brenda had been somewhat relieved and I’d forgotten that he would arrive this weekend.

“Cameron, welcome,” I smiled and shook his hand.

“Are you having a party?” he asked me as he sniffed the air.

“Something like that, we’re all in the dining room,” I said and he followed me there.

“Everyone this is Cameron O’Connell, future Sire of the Chicago lair,” I said.

“Is he part of the team as well?” Tank asked as he looked at him.

“What team?” Cameron asked and I glared at Tank.

“Cameron found his bonded half in my lair, unfortunately she needs some convincing as she was sold to vampires by her previous Sire and held there for months before she was rescued,” I said.

“What team, Ryder? Are you going deep ops again?” Cameron asked me and Elio smiled as he shook his head.

“That’s Tank with the big mouth, Elio over here and that’s Marlo,” I introduced the others.

Everyone greeted Cameron and Marlo looked at him for a long time before averting her eyes. I could see Cameron was a bit uncomfortable as he realized what they were and the way Marlo had been staring at him.

“We’re working on a case for the Elite Unit,” I said as I looked at Cameron.

“Are you all hunters?” Cameron asked.

“Sort of,” Elio said with a smile.

“Are you bullshitting me somehow?” he asked me.

“Have you spoken to Brenda?” I asked him and his eyes lit up.

“I’ll be having breakfast with her tomorrow morning at her house and spend the day there,” he said to me.

“Just be yourself, she will accept you,” Marlo said as she stared at him again.

“I really hope she does,” he said as he filled his glass with scotch.

“She will, I’ve seen it,” Marlo said.

“So back to you and Megan,” Link said and Marlo’s eyes snapped to her.

“No,” she said.

“No what?” Link asked her.

“You should wait before doing the ceremony,” Marlo said.

“Why?” I asked her.

“Trust me,” she said but I could see she was holding something back.

Marlo waited in my office and I found her there after everyone had retired for the night. I wondered what she had seen and I really wanted to know why I couldn’t introduce Megan as my bonded half yet but something in her eyes told me I’d know soon enough.

“What did you see?” I asked her.

“Do you really want to know?” she asked.

“Marlo…” I said as she looked downwards.

“If you introduce Megan now you’ll be putting a target on her back. She’ll be taken and she’ll be broken, broken beyond repair. She won’t come back to you, she’ll die a painful death and you’ll mourn her loss for the rest of your life. You’ll never marry and you’ll never have an heir, you’ll lose this lair and live out your life drowning in the blood of the ones you kill,” she said as her eyes glowed a pure white.

“What the fuck,” I whispered.

“You can’t tell her this either, she needs to live without the fear of being taken. If you tell her this future that I’ve seen, she’ll become paranoid and her death will follow sooner than you think,” Marlo said.

My hands were sweating and my heart was pounding and it felt like it wanted to break free from my chest. The thought of losing her was almost unbearable and even Abeloth was roaring in protest, flapping his wings and exhaling smoke.

“You have many enemies, Ryder, people that smile at you and people that shake your hand. Silently they wish for your demise because of your strength, because Abeloth is feared as well. You need to be careful with who you trust, your circle is now complete, we are your people, we will fight with you until the end. Only when you shed the blood of the last vile dragon will your life return to be filled with peace. Megan is your other half, the half of your soul that you’ve been missing, keep her safe and she will stand by your side until the day you die,” she said.

Marlo turned around and walked out of my office leaving me there with my thoughts and the pang of pain in my soul. It felt like I couldn’t breathe and for a moment I contemplated sending Megan far away from all of this.

“Are you okay?” Megan asked me as I closed the bedroom door behind me.

“Of course,” I said and forced a smile to my face.

“You look kind of pale,” she said and I walked over to her and grabbed her in a tight hug.

“Promise me one thing, no matter what happens you’ll always have faith in me, always believe that I’ll come back for you, that no matter what you hear or what you think, give me the benefit of the doubt, know that I’ll always love you and that I’ll never leave you,” I whispered in her ear.

“What’s going on?” she asked me with a frown.

“Nothing’s going on, I just don’t ever want to lose you,” I said as I kept my eyes firmly shut and rested my head against hers.

“You’re freaking me out,” she said but kept her arms around me.

“You can’t tell anyone that we’ve bonded, Marlo saw something in our future that I can’t tell you, but I need you to trust me that for now this is the best for us,” I said to her.

“I haven’t told anyone outside of our families,” she said and I squeezed her tighter.

“Keep it that way, when the time is right you’ll have the biggest ceremony to announce our bonding,” I said to her.

“You’re beginning to scare me Ryder, it sounds like you think something bad is about to happen,” she said as she pushed herself away slightly to look up at me.

“Nothing’s going to happen, I just need you to believe that I love you and that everything I do is to keep you safe,” I said and forced another smile to my face.

We lay in bed that night and I listened to Megan’s breathing as she fell asleep. Abeloth was on a rampage and I wasn’t sure how long I could keep him content inside of me. He wanted to go kill anyone that could pose a threat to Megan. He had a thirst for vengeance I hadn’t felt in a very long time.

I was still tired the following morning as I watched Megan get ready for work. It was funny how the person that completed you wasn’t always the person you thought you’d end up with. Megan was the first blonde woman I’ve ever had feelings for, hell she was actually the first real person I’d fallen in love with. I didn’t count my relationship with Tia because that was all dark magic and lies.

Megan was so different from women I normally showed an interest in as I tended to go for women with dark hair and dark eyes, tanned skin, taller and skinnier than Megan, but with Megan everything just felt so real and I’d fallen in love with her before Abeloth told me about his theory.

“What are you staring at?” she asked me and I gave her a genuine smile.

“I was just thinking about how lucky you are that you found me,” I said as she laughed.

“Oh really? I’m the lucky one putting up with a dominating Sire full of tattoos and weird piercings, thinking he’s all that,” she said with a laugh as I grabbed her arm and pulled her back to the bed.

“Are you insinuating that I’m the lucky one?” I asked her.

“Of course you are,” she said as I pinned her down on the bed.

“You’re right, I am lucky to have you and I can’t wait to marry you,” I said.

“Whoa marriage? What gave you the idea that I want to marry you?” she asked me.

“I’ll have you know that I’m a very eligible bachelor in our circles, many women would kill to be in your position,” I said to her as I started kissing her in her neck.

“I think enough women has been in my exact position,” she said and laughed as I looked at her in shock.

“Not really,” I said as she narrowed her eyes at me.

“Really?” she asked me sarcastically.

“You’re the first woman to ever sleep next to me, stay in my room with me and the first woman I’ve ever felt the need to possess completely so one day soon you’ll be wearing my mark and you will marry me,” I said to her.

“Not if that’s how you’re going to propose,” she said and I chuckled as she pushed me off her.

“You’ve been talking to my mother haven’t you?” I asked her as I lay back on the bed while she smoothed her clothes down.

“Of course I have,” she said and smiled that secretive smile that I loved.

“Let me guess, she said something along the lines of ‘make him work for it Megan, he acts all tough and bad ass but deep down he’s a real softy, tighten that leash around his neck,’” I said as she laughed.

“Close, but she actually said that I shouldn’t let you mess with me and if having you jump through hoops to make me feel better then I should let you jump and to make your life a living hell before giving in to your demands because you’re just like your father,” she said.

“And to think she’s supposed to be on my side,” I said.

“Sorry to burst your bubble but your mom’s on my side,” she said as she walked to the door and opened it.

“It’s okay you can make it up to me tonight,” I said loudly.

“In your dreams,” she retorted as she started walking down the hall.

“I’m already dreaming!” I yelled.

“It might turn into a nightmare!” she yelled back as I laughed.