He jolted back. “You’re just drunk, Cassie. Let me take you to my place and put you to bed.”
“Aaaargh! I am not a child. I am not just drunk. Do not patriotize me. No, I mean patronize. Yeah, that one. Don’t do that because I’m not going to be here forever.”
He stilled. “What do you mean, Cassie?” She looked away from him with a sad, rueful smile that built the pain in his chest near to a breaking point.
“Nothing. I’m going to go now. I just came because I finally had the courage to say something I’ve been wanting to for awhile now.” She wiped her tears with her sleeve and stood a little straighter as she looked him hard in the eye. “I love you, Darien Kategan. I think we met that day by something far greater than chance. Obviously we’ve had our run, and it wasn’t meant to be forever. Thank you for the memories and ado.” She bowed, had to brace her hands on her knees to keep from toppling forward then slowly teetered around and walked away.
The woman had no idea what she was talking about. She was drunk, and when she sobered up she’d apologize that she’d embarrassed herself so badly.
“Where are you going?” Silence met him, except for the scratch of her shoes on the road. “Answer me, Cassie.”
She lifted a small shoulder and let it fall. He growled, grabbed her by the shoulders, and pulled her into his chest. Her eyes flared with need and heat. If her eyes could pack a punch, he’d be on the ground right now. He cupped her cheek in a hand and ran his thumb over her bottom lip. It was so soft, just like everything about her.
He was a rotten, miserable bastard, but he couldn’t stop himself from leaning down and kissing her. Her lips clung to his softly, bittersweet. Her hands clutched his arms like she was afraid to let go. Darien pressed her closer, kissed her harder, trying to express something that he didn’t know how to say.
She pulled away first and something in him wanted to stop her, bring her close again and just hold her. When she looked at him, her eyes were shut off. He had no idea what she was feeling, but no matter how badly he wanted to know, he couldn’t make himself ask.
He walked her back to Sarina’s. The girls flung open the door when they arrived. All of them wore wide grins and glossy eyes, except for Sarina who held a big glass of milk in her hand.
“You’re back! Yay!”
“How did it go? Did you tell you totally love him?” Alison gushed loudly. Sarina shushed her with an elbow to the stomach.
“He’s right there, Ali!”
“Oh, right.”
Cassie turned so suddenly, she wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head against his chest. He saw a tear fall down her cheek. He did the only thing he could think to and wrapped his arms around her. She sniffled against him, making him feel even more like an ass. She didn’t’ deserve someone like him, someone with enough baggage to fill an airport. She deserved someone clean and simple.
She squeezed him tight, then let go and walked into the cabin. He hoped she’d look back, but she didn’t.
Frowning, he looked at the girls. “Tell her I’ll be by to pick her up tonight.” The girls looked between Cassie and him then leveled him with hard glares.
“You fucked up,” Vera said simply. “You know, brother, I used to think you were smart. Obviously I overestimated your intelligence by mucho .”
“Totally,” Alison said, nodding quickly.
Sarina stepped forward and glared feminine daggers at him. Damn these women were like a pack of lionesses. “You better get your shit together before you lose something that not everyone gets a second chance to have.”
“Mind your own business, Sarina.”
She arched a dainty eyebrow then shut the door in his face.
What a night. Darien headed back to his cabin. His gut felt sick like he’d eaten something bad, and his damn chest hurt. He wished he were back in his single cabin in the middle of nowhere.
He looked back at the cabin where the feisty little vampire was and wished things were different. He wished he could give her what she wanted.
Chapter 13
“Tell us everything that happened,” Sarina said.
Cassie took a deep breath that did nothing to steady her or her wobbly head, and told them everything.
Alison was biting off her fingernails by time she finished and Sarina had grumpily chugged her glass of milk. Vera frowned though, shaking her head.
“My brother’s always been stubborn. I don’t know what it’ll take to make him realize that he does care for you.”
Cassie scoffed. “He doesn’t care. The only thing he cares about with me is that his ‘seed is in my belly’. I never should have had sex with him. Then at least he couldn’t use that as some kind of lame excuse.”
“He’d probably just find some other excuse to use as a crutch,” Sarina said.
“Maybe I should go talk to him,” Vera said thoughtfully. Her words were slurred from the amount of hard lemonades she’d drunk.
“Don’t.” Cassie shook her head and the room spun a few extra times with the motion. “I heard your brothers going at him before I got there. Looks like they already had the convo with him. Didn’t make a lick of difference. He doesn’t love me. He doesn’t want me. But I love him.” She said that last with such ferocity that the girls all quieted.
“He’ll come around,” Sarina said stoutly. The others didn’t look so hopeful.
“Hey guys, what does ‘lumara’ mean?”
Everyone looked turned to look at her with openmouthed astonishment?
“Did he call you that?” Vera asked with a big grin.
“Well yes, today when we were in the shower. He was still pretty tired. He’d just woken up, but I’ve never heard that word before.”
The Kategan women turned to grin at each other before turning back to Cassie. “It means truemate or bondmate. That’s a special term we use with some we really love, usually our mate,” Alison explained.
Wow. Cassie’s heart leapt at the news. The fact that he called her this didn’t make her feel better though, it made her feel worse. This only gave her more questions. Did he only say it because he was half-asleep? Did he actually mean it? Maybe some part of him did recognize the connection between them like she did.
Cassie wanted to curl up and cry herself to sleep. Her heart was breaking in her chest and the alcohol was only making the pain more depressing. He didn’t love her. He didn’t even want her. He only cared about making sure she wasn’t pregnant. He’d protect her long enough for that, and then go back to brooding in his stupid little cabin.
Cassie perked up at the thought of burning it down. But he’d built it with his own two hands, he’d just build another. If her declaration of love wasn’t enough to turn him around, then nothing she could do work. The thought was like a blow to the heart.
“I’m gonna go use the bathroom,” Cassie mumbled and came to a shaky stand. The room teetered around her and she grabbed onto the back of a chair to steady herself.
“Careful now. When you get back, we’ll trash the male species and make a list of better, hotter guys we can totally set you up with,” Alison chimed.
The girl’s applauded the idea while she escaped to the bathroom. She tossed the lock on the door and went to the sink to toss some cold water on her face. The water felt frigid against her hot cheeks. She blotted her face dry with a hand towel but couldn’t do anything to staunch the flow of fresh tears running down her cheeks.
She glanced out the bathroom window. The drop to the ground was probably about twenty feet. The distance to the forest was about fifty yards. Even now she could see a sentry guard walking along that area.
Her gut clenched with fear and anxiety. She grabbed her stomach. Or maybe she was just going to hurl?