Theo appeared outside the door to his study his body painfully aroused. He took a few deep calming breaths, but it did nothing to alleviate the tension that held his muscles taut. He could still smell that intoxicating scent that clung to her skin, feel the softness of her body yielding to his and her taste, damn but her taste drove him crazy—warm and rich with undertones of honey.
He hadn’t gone to her with the intention of kissing her; rather he had wanted to offer her comfort. She had been broadcasting her feelings quite plainly all day and he couldn’t stand it anymore, but her indifference to him had tickled on his ego and he wanted to prove something, to her, to himself he really wasn’t sure. He just wasn’t prepared for the magnitude of emotion that swelled in him with each thrust of his tongue or each breathless gasp that erupted from her.
He scrubbed his hand down his face. This line of thinking was doing nothing to calm him down.
He could sense the others behind the door and with a resigned sigh he opened the door with just a single thought and strode into the room.
He could tell that they could still smell Millie. Drake’s eyes narrowed in suspicion and Vin stiffened slightly, the lure of her scent still very much a temptation especially to him. Jealously hot and ripe ripped through him with that knowledge, the only thing keeping him from killing the man was because he knew that Vin would not act on his impulse. He had made sure of it.
With his Telepathy he had ensured that each of the members of the household—because he knew without a doubt that Millie’s scent would drive them all crazy—knew that she was not to be touched. They would be affected by her scent, but they would not act on it.
“Theo,” the younger man greeted, with the utmost respect even if he and Theo looked to be about the same age.
Theo nodded and took his seat behind the large oak desk. “What did they say?”
Vincent frowned and looked to Drake. It had to be bad news if he were waiting on him to say something.
“They would consider helping only if you brought her to them,” stated Drake plainly.
“Like hell,” he snarled.
No way was he carrying Millie near any of them. Her scent was potent, far more irresistible than anything he had ever smelled before, it would no doubt drive them crazy and they had far less control than he did. The only reason they would want to meet her was to taste her and the thought of that made anger ride his chest sourly.
Vincent tried not to shrink away from the waves of emotion that radiated off him sent a thrill of fear down his spine. He almost forgot he power that he wielded. He was just so easy-going that one could almost think that he was just another vampire and not the powerful Ancient that he was.
“We’ll find another way,” he ground out angrily and Vincent only nodded.
“What if we don’t have another way?” wondered Drake. “What if his is our only chance?”
“We have to find another way. Taking her to them would be like inviting a lamb to a lion’s den.”
“This can’t just be about one person Theo,” reasoned Drake. “We have to think about the safety of our family, of the town.”
“And we will, but I’m not willing to put her in danger.”
Drake stared at him but Theo was never intimidated by his hard stare. It was Drake who backed down first. The other men in the room quiet. Bastian stood in the corner, always apart, his arms crossed over his chest. He was a man of few words and he was always hard to read but Theo had managed to push past his barriers and enter his mind. He was wildly protective and he wasn’t one to back down from a fight either, Theo could also tell that he felt a kind of kinship to Millie. He didn’t like Drake’s idea any more than Theo did. Vincent was the youngest member of them and was now learning about working with strong willed males so he remained silent just watching.
“There’s been a lot of movement happening. Security is going to be a nightmare,” came Drake.
“Take Bastian and Vin and do some recon,” he instructed to Drake “See if you can find out anything.” Drake nodded and Bastian only pushed off the wall. “Jay and I’ll stay here and secure the mansion. With Katrina here, Millie’s Cloaked from Micah but I’m not willing to take unnecessary chances.”
All the men nodded, moving out of the room save for Drake. Theo looked at him. “I don’t need to hear it Drake. I already know what you’re thinking.”
“Maybe if you hear it out loud you’ll listen to me.”Drake sighed. “Keep in mind that if we don’t find a solution to this motherfucking mess and she dies, it’s going to hurt like a bitch.”
Millie massaged the sudden needling in her temples. She could tell that the rush of emotion that she now felt came from Theo and he was angry. She felt the sudden inexplicable need to go to him, to comfort him but she resisted the urge, things between them were getting complicated very quickly. She looked around at the mountain of books around her and sighed. For most of her life she had hungered for information about the world in which she had lived for so long, now that the information was before her she found herself hesitating.
She cast a long glance at the book that had managed to further condemn her eying the book contemptuously. She didn’t have the strength to go back to reading that one just yet. She didn’t think she had the strength to go back to reading any of it just yet. The walls that had once provided a reprieve from her guilt, allowed her solace from her sleepless nights, now just seemed so suffocating. There was no comfort in the walls of the library it all now just seemed very confining.
Pushing off the chair she leisurely made her way upstairs. She was just going to try and get some sleep, although she knew that was an uphill battle even though it was daylight, but she needed some kind of relief.
Her fingers were digging into the tense muscles at her neck, a long hot shower beckoning her, but her steps faltered when she heard familiar voices and the mention of her name. She followed the sound and came to what she assumed was Theo’s study. The door was ajar and his scent leaked out heavily from the space.
She pushed her palm against the door, widening the opening. She recognized Kate’s figure in a corner of the room, her blonde head absorbed in a book. Theo was sitting was a large oak desk, his shoulders were slumped and he looked tired.
She easily stepped in the room and his head snapped up, his eyes assessing her from head to toes, first as if to make sure that she was alright, and then it was just pure male interest. Millie felt the weight of his gaze deep within her soul and when her eyes met with his; there was a flutter in her stomach.
“Is something wrong?” she wondered softly and Kate rose; now realizing that she was in the room. It was a testament, thought Millie, as to just how distracted that they were if she had managed to reach this close to them undetected. Theo shook his head, but she could feel the weight of his worry beating against her heart. “Theo,” she called softly drawing back his gaze to her face “I can feel that something is wrong, please tell me.”
“It’s nothing,” he answered “Just some security concerns that Drake had.”
“That’s not what you’re worried about,” she returned. "You know I hate it when the both of you treat me like I'm breakable. I'm just as strong as the both of you are."
There was anger in her now, which she welcomed. It was a change from the guilt that was eating at her insides. Lately there always seemed to be a meeting and she was the only one that didn't warrant an invitation. Yes, she was trying to find out more about herself but that didn't mean that she couldn't have spared a few minutes to try and figure out what was going on with her.
"We never said that you weren't," returned Theo calmly.
"Then why are you keeping secrets?"
She could see it in his eyes, he was wondering if he should share the weight of his worry with her, but she was over being left in the dark. She knew that he and Kate saw her as something that needed to be protected, and maybe she did but all that mattered to her now was finding a way to stop Micah and that would only happen when they shared information with her.
“I know that you and Kate think that keeping me away from what’s really going on is some way to keep me safe, but it isn’t,” she started softly staring down at her fingers nervously, it was a confession of sorts “I can feel him he’s a part of me, just as I am a part of him. I can feel his desperation. No matter how far you presume to keep me, I will always be closer to this than anyone else. So you have to tell me."
Kate moved to take the available seat close to Millie a small soft sigh escaping her lips. “We just don’t want you worrying.”
Worrying. She was long past worrying. “I know that. But I will always worry, especially if you don’t tell me what’s going on.”
Kate looked at Theo as if asking his permission, and with a soft nod of his head she spoke. “We are just trying to figure out how we are going to find Micah. We just don’t know where to start.”
“What we need is to find one of the Newbloods and interrogate them,” voiced Theo, his intelligent eyes searching just beyond her for answers, “But we can never seem to get to them.”
“Then use me,” Millie stated quietly, as if it were obvious.
“Absolutely not!” objected Theo sharply, over Kate’s cry of protest.
“Why not?” her voice was calm, void of feeling, even as the thought of being anywhere close to a place where Micah could find her made her sick to the pit of her stomach. “Do you have any other way of drawing him to you?”
“Well no,” hesitated Kate “but we will not use you as bait.”
“I refuse to put you in danger.” Theo’s voice was like steel, his resolve shining brightly in his golden eyes, “We’ll find another way.”
“But not in time,” Millie argued “Let’s face it, this is the only sure way we have of drawing him out, is by using me. The longer we wait the more desperate he will become and that makes him even more dangerous than he is now. And he’ll kill more, just to fill out his ranks. Are you willing to risk it?"
"Yes," he said absouletly.
"I'm not," she countered.
"I am not going to use you as bait."
"I wasn't asking."
"I said no and I won't repeat myself. We're done talking about this."
"Excuse me?"
"Katrina and I will figure this out so you don't have to," he started.
"And what do you want me to do, stay here and knit? It doesn't work like that."
"And I'm not letting you do it," he said with an immeasurable amount of calm.
"I am not a fucking child Theo, you cannot tell me what I can and cannot do. You insist on hiding things from me because you think it's what's best for me. I don't want to be kept. I've been there before and I didn't like it. What I need is the truth."
"Why? So you can use it to hurt yourself?"
Millie stepped back as if he'd struck her. "You are an ass," she bit out storming out of the room.
Kate cleared her throat. She didn't get involved mostly because she thought that Theo and Millie both forgot that she was even in the room but there was something else in their fight. Something that she wasn't sure, no something she knew wasn't going to be a good idea. They both had feelings for each other.
"That went well."
"What the fuck does she expect me to do?" fumed Theo. "Let her put herself in fucking danger like that? I told her that we would find another way, so why the fuck does she have to be so stubborn about this. I am not going to let her do that."
"I understand, but she's right," his eyes sparked at her. "We can't keep making all the decisions for her. She has a right to be in this, to know everything."
"Fuck Katrina. I just want to protect her. Why doesn't she understand that?"
"Maybe you should realize that she doesn't need protection, I've been doing that since I met her and that hasn't really worked out all that well. What she needs now is trust."
Theo was an ass, she thought, an absolute ass. How dare he use something that he really had no idea about as justification for hiding things from her. Two weeks. That was how long he had been involved in her life and now he was speaking as if he had a right to control her actions.
She shoved her hand through her hair and paced the length of the room. There was an itchy feeling crawling under her skin tying her insides into knots.
She was tying the end of her braid when she walked into the gym.
"I'm not in the fucking mood Drake."
"Wow you said "fucking". I wasn't even sure you knew words like that."
"Yeah, well maybe I'm hanging around you too much."
"I'm guessing you're the reason for Theo's mood," Millie narrowed her eyes at him. "Everybody in the house can usually tell when Theo's pissed."
"Anyone want to spar?"
"Sorry, I'm not a fighter," Jay said holding up in hands in surrender.
"I've already gone a round with you, not willing to repeat the experience. "
"I'm not going to take it easy on you just because you're a girl."
"And I 'm not going to take it easy on you just because you're a dick," she returned.
She felt him as soon as he entered the room and she lost her concentration. Drake's feet kicked her from under her and she fell on her back. She shook off her distraction and pushed to her feet. She raised her arms and charged, fueled by a sudden burst of anger. It was unwise to let emotions cloud her judgement but she needed a release. Her movements were swift and it caught Drake off guard - he too seemed slightly distracted by Theo being here - as she attacked.
She punched and caught him in his jaw, stunning him.
"I think that's enough," came Theo's voice and Drake stopped.
She cursed the man as the other filled out of the room. She turned away and unwarapped her hands. She was going to be mature about this and just ignore him.
"Don't give me that look," started Drake wiggling his jaw when he face Theo. "Your girl's got a mean right cross."
"You shouldn't be fighting her."
Drake shot him a bland look. "Don't fucking start on that shit man okay. She's as capable as you or I. Don't coddle her, it's fucking annoying," he griped walking out of the room mumbling more obscenities under his breath.
"Coming to ground me now?" she asked moving away from him, "Or maybe you've come to tell me I can't watch TV or play with the other kids."
"No."
"You know if you don't want me knowing anything, you should just lock me in my room."
"Millie," he took her elbow and stopped her movements. "Will you just look at me?"
She didn't want to. If she did and she saw the concern in his eyes she might start crying, or agree to whatever he wanted and she didn't want that. She wanted to hold unto her anger just a bit longer. It was a safe emotion. If she thought about it too much her depth of guilt and sadness would cripple her. She defiantly raised her eyes and met his; being angry at him didn't slow her physical reaction to him and right now that was a very annoying thing.
His thumb smoothed over the bruise on her cheek. "I'm sorry about what I said, and the way I said it. You're right about being a part of the discussion. I don't have the right to keep anything from you, especially since it concerns you. I'm sorry that I tried."
"Wow," she answered crossing her arms over her chest ignoring his closeness and the flutter in her stomach. "How much did that hurt?"
"Not as much as I though it would. I just don't want you putting yourself in unecessary danger. We're looking for another way."
"And what if you don't find one?"
"We'll think about that when the time comes, but in the mean time, please just give me some time. A week."
Millie sighed but she nodded, the fight draining out of her. He made sense, annoying it may have been but she understood what he meant.
"But that's not what I came to tell you." Her eyebrows pulled together. "You should get dressed we're going to meet some people."
Millie didn't like the sound of his voice or the look in his eyes. "I'm not going to like these people am I?"
"No, you're not."