He brushed her hair away from her face. “Then why are you crying?”
She didn’t know why she was crying actually. Overwhelmed, scared, a million reasons why, she assumed, but mostly because she felt his love in an almost palpable way. “Hearing you say that… it feels real. You’re real. And I’m so scared they’ll hate me and try to tear us apart. I’ve been alone since I was eight and the thought of losing you—”
Derrick placed his hands on either side of her face and kissed her softly, then moved his fingers under her chin, directing her head up to face him. “You’ve never been alone, my love. I’ve always been here.”
“I know.” She sighed. “It’s what kept me going, what kept me in Boston. But what if they—”
“They can’t,” he cut in softly. “Believe me. This is the one thing my family—all of them, even my brother—understands. Even if they are not happy, they know there’s nothing that will change. And my mother will love you. Another woman around...” he trailed off, as if not wanting to finish his sentence.
Kris inhaled a deep breath and whooshed it out, appraising the cold tile and metal around her. If she were in her home, she wouldn’t feel so out of sorts. “If you’re not worried, why did you insist we pack up my house in the middle of the night and come here?”
He dropped his hands to her shoulders, fiddling with the soft threads of her sweater. “I just wanted you with me. In a safe place. Your apartment is too easy to break into. All of my doors and windows have extra security, with reinforced steel and glass. Even a creatus couldn’t break in here.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You think one of them will try to hurt me?” she deduced. “This all happened after you jumped up last night. What did you see?”
Derrick shrugged. “Just a shadow.”
Kris presumed he wasn’t telling her everything, but she also had a feeling he wasn’t going to either. He’d whisked her out of the house so quickly last night her head had spun. Not that she minded being with him all the time, but one minute he was insisting they needed to do something romantic before they went further, and the next he’d had all her plants in the rear of his Navigator. He had helped her pack a duffle bag of clothes and toiletries, but he’d paced the entire time, as if he were all of a sudden in a hurry.
Once they’d arrived at his house, though, he’d carried her items into the spare room. She’d walked right into the room behind him, snatched up her bag, and moved it to his master bedroom while he watched.
After that, they’d cuddled in his bed together, but he’d refused to do anything but kiss her. She’d finally fallen asleep, but had awoken to discover he’d left the room. Following the muted sound and flickering light of the television, she’d found Derrick sleeping on the sofa, remote still clutched in his hand.
Knowing he wasn’t going to confess any more than he had last night, she stepped out from under his hands. “I’m ready.”
“Good. Let’s go,” he chirped, drawing her toward the door.
Derrick’s trek away from the city surprised Kris. She’d assumed his family—as he continually referred to them—all lived nearby. Instead, they drove north then headed west on 495 toward the city of Harvard. She’d been through Harvard a few times. It was a quaint, but beautiful town. They passed the town hall on their route, and Kris couldn’t help but giggle. It looked as though someone had torn the building out of a Norman Rockwell painting and planted it on the main thoroughfare next to the general store and fire department.
With its whitewashed exterior, front porch, and even a crow’s nest on the roof, Kris wanted to pull out her charcoal and tablet and draw for the first time in years. Several apple orchards and farms with riding stables lent a down-home feel to the small town. It was hard to believe such a place existed so close to Boston.
About a half an hour after they’d left his apartment, they turned north again. After several miles of rolling hills, he finally turned onto a dead-end street as indicated by the no-outlet sign. They passed six chalet-style houses on large plots of land. When he reached the end of the road, he turned off to the left, traveling down a gravel driveway. Derrick finally pulled to a stop in front of another tri-level house, nestled between several species of evergreens. A large barn sat off in the distance adjacent to what looked to be a vacant vegetable garden.
Kris lowered her head, gazing out the window to absorb everything. “This place is enormous. Whose house is this?”
“My parents,” Derrick said simply, opening his door and hopping out of the vehicle.
Her heart thrummed in her chest, her earlier nervousness returning, only worse than it had been as she was now here.
Derrick opened her door and took her hand. “It’s okay, Kristina. No one’s going to bite you.”
“Are you sure?” she fretted, gnawing on her bottom lip. “Maybe we should just go. Give them a few years to get used to the idea of us being together.”
He stepped in front of her, lowering his head to her eye level. “Everything will be fine. You’re strong, independent, and feisty. Feel free to be yourself. Don’t let them scare you, especially Vic.”
“Who’s Vic?”
Derrick kissed her quickly, then taking her hand, pulled her into the house. He opened the door and stepped inside. The area they walked into was a den of some sort, with an older, seventies’ style brown sofa and console television. Derrick walked through that area and up a small flight of stairs, passing a hallway leading to several rooms. When they reached the first landing, Kris could see another living area off to their right, only more modern than the room below them. Derrick ignored that area too and walked out a door leading outside again.
As soon as they stepped onto the porch, Kris saw a hundred or so people—creatus, standing in loose circles. Everyone stopped to look—and glare—but then, other than one group of four people, most went back to their subdued conversations, as if not the least bit concerned. She released a short breath of relief as Derrick took her hand and led her down the steps. Her previous nervousness started to melt away at the warmth of his hand wrapped around hers. He wasn’t embarrassed of her, so what was the worst thing that could happen. Even if his brother or parents didn’t approve, it didn’t mean he’d leave her. He had said he’d never leave her and he’d never let anyone take her away. So she had no reason to fret about losing another person in her life.
Derrick made his way to the smaller group, but the entire time they approached, a woman shook her head, her beautiful face contorting with every step they neared. Her hair was long and raven black. Her features, like Derrick’s, were striking, and Kris realized immediately where the myth of Wonder Woman must have begun. She, along with most of the other women, looked like Amazons, tall and utterly beautiful. Kris hoped that she was a sister Derrick had failed to mention. Because if this woman had a romantic interest in Derrick, she might just kill Kris on the spot by the look of things.
The Amazon took a step forward. “I can’t believe you’d bring that tramp—”
“Victoria!” Derrick barked, causing Kris to cringe behind him. So much for being strong and feisty.
A man standing next to the woman patted her arm, whispering something Kris couldn’t hear.
Victoria’s lips drew back, and if Kris wasn’t mistaken, she growled. “You bitch!”
The man, who Kris noticed looked more like Derrick than any other of the men around her, clamped his arms around the woman, and Derrick rushed them, taking the woman’s other arm. Both men dragged the woman away, kicking and screaming obscenities, before Kris could even blink. Kris stood there with tears stinging her eyes, wanting just to seep into the ground. What had she done? She didn’t even know the woman. A chill started at the base of her neck and rushed through her body, immediately making her shiver. Wrapping her arms around her body, she attempted to calm her nerves before she bolted up the stairs to the safety of the Navigator.