104

I parked the truck in the street and walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell. I could hear footsteps and then the door opened and Megan’s father, Kurt, stood there looking at me. He was part of my father’s lair, a professor at the university and her mother was a nurse.

“Good evening Mr. Greer,” I said and extended my hand.

“Evening,” he said without shaking my hand and turned around and left the front door open.

“I guess he doesn’t like you for some reason,” Abeloth mused and I grinned.

“You think?” I asked as he chuckled.

I closed the door behind me and followed him through to the dining room where Megan’s mother, Mary, her sister, Sharice and her father now sat. I kissed the top of Megan’s head as Kurt’s eyes followed me.

“Good evening Mrs. Greer, Sharice,” I said and sat down opposite Megan.

“I’m so glad you could join us Ryder, please call me Mary,” she said with a genuine smile

“Thank you for having me,” I said and returned her smile.

Megan was looking intensely at her father and shook her head as she turned towards me and granted me a beautiful smile. Her father said grace and he started dishing up. Megan stood up when her mother did and she took my plate as I smiled at her.

“He can’t dish up for himself?” Kurt asked as he looked at her.

“Dad…” Megan said as she finished up and handed me my plate.

“Thank you,” I said to her and tried to keep my expression neutral and my eyes from changing. Abeloth didn’t like this man and I wondered what his problem was.

He kept glaring at me and I could feel the unease coming from Megan. Her mother tried to initiate conversation and asked questions about my lair. I’ve had just about enough of his insulting behaviour because no matter what he thought, I was a Sire and it was not part of my DNA to be insulted like this.

“How are you coping with being a new Sire and running a lair?” Mary asked me.

“I have a great team, Linda runs the office and Link who’s my second in command deals with the business side,” I said.

“So what do you do if everyone else works their ass off for your lair?” Kurt asked me.

“I’m involved in our town, the upkeep of it, job creation and new business opportunities,” I said to him.

“Megan told us about those girls you rescued from the vampires,” Mary said as she glared at Kurt.

“One of the girls is Linda’s daughter, I’m just glad we found them alive,” I said.

“So you play hero while others do the dirty work for you?” he asked me.

“What exactly is your problem Kurt?” I asked halfway through dinner as I put my knife and fork down on the plate.

“My problem is that Megan’s ended up with a playboy who has no intention of moving forward because he’s already got everything he wants,” Kurt said and basically spat out the word ‘playboy’.

“You don’t know anything about me,” I said to him as I glared back.

“I know that you haven’t proposed, I know that you haven’t introduced her as your chosen mate, I know that you two are living together and I know that you have no intention of giving her more than what you two are right now and it’s despicable for my daughter to be treated this way!” he said angrily.

“Dad!” Megan said loudly as she looked at him.

“No Megan, he needs to man up!” he said and pointed a finger in my direction.

I stood up from the table, my eyes flashing between green and yellow because Abeloth was on the verge of ripping him apart. Mary sat with her mouth open and even Sharice looked shocked at his outburst. Megan had also stood up as she moved between me and her father.

“I’ll see you at home Megan,” I said as I calmly placed the napkin on the table, “thank you for dinner Mary.”

“Ryder…” Megan said as I walked past her to the front door.

“See, he can’t even face me!” Kurt yelled and I stopped in my tracks.

“He’s a Sire Dad! You don’t know what goes on in our private life! You have no idea what he’s doing or what he’s busy with! You just assume you know everything!” Megan said angrily.

“Where are you going?” he asked her.

“I’m going home because Ryder isn’t my chosen half he’s my fated half and we’ll do things our way when we feel ready to do them,” she said still sounding angry.

“Megan, if you leave here tonight don’t expect us to come running when he rejects you like he did that other girl!” he yelled at her.

“If you ever talk to her like that again I will end you,” I hissed in his ear as I held him against the wall by his throat. His eyes held fear for me and I slowly let go of him.

I walked back to the front door as Megan took her purse and turned towards her father, “I guess this is goodbye then.”

“Megan…” Mary said pleadingly.

I took Megan’s hand and opened the front door and walked with her to her car. I kissed her on her forehead and held her tightly as I felt her emotions take over. I could never reject her but I couldn’t tell her why I couldn’t introduce her now either and she just took the brunt of my secret.

“I love you,” I said as I opened the car door for her.

“I know,” she said and I waited until she had started her car before walking to the truck.

I followed her home and parked the truck next to her car. I felt guilty but also elated that she had stood up for me but I didn’t want her to be sad or hurt. I’d never tell her what to do but her father had gone too far with me and by law I could have him punished by Lucas.

“I’m sorry,” she said as we reached the front door together.

“Don’t be, you didn’t do anything wrong,” I said as I took her hand.

“I can’t believe he just said all those things,” she said.

“He’s wrong you know, I do love you and I won’t ever reject you,” I said to her.

“I know you won’t but he does have a point,” she said and smiled sadly.

I followed her upstairs to our room and I sat down on the couch and watched her as she started getting ready for bed. Sometimes I wish she could take a peek into my soul and just see what I felt for her and how I saw our future.

“Do you think I’m stringing you along?” I asked her.

“Can we talk about this another time? I don’t want to fight,” she said and I stood up.

“Why would we fight? I’ve never lied to you about anything,” I said.

“Not telling me the whole truth is almost worse than lying, you ask me to trust you without you telling me why, what else is my family supposed to think, we found each other, recognized the bond and now we’ve consummated that bond but still you’re holding back,” she said to me as I stood there not knowing how to answer that.

“What exactly has your father been telling you the whole day?” I asked her.

“Is he wrong? Do you really think that people don’t look at me as your next plaything? You have a reputation Ryder and everybody in this lair knows I live here, people can smell you on me, do you know what they say when they think I can’t hear them?” she asked.

“We have a plan Meg, you know this, I have every intention of introducing you as my bonded half to the Elders,” I said to her.

“The timing will never be right, there will always be some assignment, someone that needs saving, some rogue group that needs to be killed,” she said and stood up. She had packed a bag somehow without me noticing.

“Where are you going?” I asked her as I noticed the bag in her hand.

“I need some time alone, to think about all of this, about us,” she said and walked out of the bedroom.

I sat back down on the couch and placed my hands behind my head. It wouldn’t help my cause even if I managed to stop her from leaving. I couldn’t tell her truth because her dying would be the end of me as well, I loved her too much to lose her like that.

“You’ll figure it out halfling,” Abeloth said as I closed my eyes.

“Yes I will,” I said.

“She’s safer away from us,” he said sadly.

“I know and that pisses me the hell off,” I said to him.

I could feel her pain as well as she drove away and I had to stop myself from running after her, dragging her back inside the house and locking her up so she couldn’t ever leave again. It was difficult to even breathe normally and Abeloth wanted to kill someone, anyone.

I was pacing the halls of the house knowing full well that I wouldn’t be able to sleep after this shit storm that her father created and I wanted to hurt him, but then Megan would be mad as hell. No matter what he said or did he was still her father and I knew for a fact that if someone touched Lucas I’d stop at nothing to kill them in the most brutal way possible.

I stopped in front of the drinks cabinet in my office and smiled. Just a few drinks, I thought. I needed a clear head for tomorrow morning when I drove to Springfield to lay the trap for Albert and his lair. I was slightly shocked to think that he was involved with something sinister, them not being rogues and all.

Wentworth kept calling me and I knew that they had found Joe’s body, I’d been avoiding him for two weeks now. I wasn’t a liar and if he asked me outright if I killed him I’d admit to it. That would be a shit storm to handle as well.

My goal was finding the ones responsible for Felix and the bastards taking these children. My phone pinged and I checked the message as it came through. Megan had swiped her card at a motel. I was glad that she was safe at least and this way I could keep track of where she was.

“You know drinking alone signifies that you might have a drinking problem,” Elio said as he stood in the doorway of my office.

“What would you know about it?” I asked him.

“Why did Megan leave?” he asked me and I smiled at him.

“Her father’s an asshole and he filled her head with all kinds of bullshit today,” I said to him.

“Ah the bond recognition,” he said and I nodded.

“She needs time to think,” I added.

“Never a good sign my dear friend but you two have something special, I’m sure you’ll work it out,” he said.

“Marlo saw something in our future,” I said as I refilled the glass.

“Care to share?” he asked.

“If I announce our bonding now she’ll be a target. Someone will take her and she’ll die, I can’t tell her about it and I can’t take the chance that something will happen to her,” I said.

“That is quite the fucked up situation to be caught in,” he said.

“No shit Elio,” I said to him.

“Well then we’ll drink the night away,” he said and emptied his glass.