“Ignore him, he doesn’t know what he’stalking about,” he whispered in her ear. His mind opened up to her,bathing her in love.
She knew how much he cared for her, but shestill struggled to shake off the jealousy clawing at her. Taking ashuddery breath, she tried to relax against him, but her heightenedvampire emotions were making it extremely difficult, if notimpossible for her to do so. Her fangs tingled; Ian’s jaw lookedextremely tempting to punch right now.
The only thing holding her back was howunreasonable the urge was. He’d done nothing wrong. She alreadyknew about his past, but where it had caused the green eyed monsterto only rear its head before, now it caused the whole damn monsterto burst out of her like the scene fromAlien. She couldactually feel it eating at her belly.
Her teeth ground together; Ian pulled hercloser when she began to shake. She uncurled her fingers and dugthem into her thighs. “Easy,” he murmured.
Taking a deep breath, Paige forced herselfto focus on the comforting heat and scent of him in an attempt tocalm herself. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” shewhispered.
“You’re a new vampire, your emotions areenhanced. It’s going to take you some time to get used tothem.”
“I know.” She couldn’t shake the rattlingher system had taken. “Maybe I shouldn’t be around so manypeople.”
“You’ll do fine. We’ll keep you away fromcrowds…”
“In Vegas?” she blurted.
“We can turn back,” he offered, torn betweenif he wanted her to say yes or no. It wouldn’t end if they leftnow; he knew that. As soon as she felt secure enough, she wouldreturn to hunting for her father, and right now they had the upperhand. He had no idea how many vamps her father was traveling with,but he knew none of them were as powerful as the vampires withthem.
This had to be over so they could starttheir life together, so she could finally know peace and security,but he wasn’t going to put her into a situation that made her feeluncomfortable or caused her to crack and attack someone. Neither ofthem would forgive themselves if such a thing happened.
“I can’t turn back, not now, not when I’m soclose,” Paige replied. He could feel the easing in her mind as sheregained control of herself. “He’s haunted my nightmares and been aconstant looming presence for the past four years. I can’t livelike that anymore.”
He’d tear her father limb from limb whenthey found him, and he’d enjoy every second of it. Bloodlustthrummed through his fangs; saliva rushed into his mouth. For thefirst time, he actually felt gleeful about the idea of killingsomeone. Apparently being mated had calmed him in some ways, buthad brought sadistic urges to the forefront that he’d neverexperienced before. He shut part of his mind off to her, unwillingto let her see this violent side of him.
“As the guy who’s still in complete control,for now, can I make a suggestion?” Aiden asked.
Ian stopped at a red light and turned towardhis brother. “What?”
“Now hopefully neither one of you crazylovebirds jump on me for this one, but Paige can stay somewhereelse while we… Well, maybe not you either,” he said with a pointedlook at Ian. “Therestof us find him. We know what he lookslike, and apparently Brian’s a vampire homing device; it shouldn’tbe too difficult for us to locate your father and take himout.”
Ian could already feel Paige gearing up fora big old no, feel her mind rebelling against Aiden’s suggestion.Aiden’s idea had been reasonable, but he had to admit he wanted tobe there when they found the man who had tried to kill Paige andtormented her so ruthlessly.
“If he sees me, he’ll come for me,” Paigesaid. “He may run from a group of male vampires.”
“But he won’t get far,” Aiden said.
“But someone might get hurt in the process.I trust myself around people more than I trust him. I can, andwill, get through this.”
Ian hit the gas when the light turned green.They continued down the main thoroughfare, following the limocarrying David, Ethan, Emma, Ronan and Brian. David, Emma and Ethanhad originally flown to California and been met at the airport byRonan and Brian. From there they’d been driven into town by the carand driver Ronan had arranged for them. The driver was human, butRonan had control of his mind, and he would remember none ofthis.
David and Ethan had no idea if Brian andRonan had come from California or flown into the airport also. Iandoubted Ronan would answer where they had originally come from ifasked. They could have all fit into the limo, but he wanted to keepthe pickup for a little longer; it had really started to grow onhim. Besides, he knew it would be easier on Paige not to be aroundso many others right now.
“I love Elvis,” Paige said as they neared awedding chapel advertising Elvis as the minister. Lights flashed onthe billboard proclaiming the special being offered for the week.Images of Elvis flashing within the lights made it look as if hewere actually dancing.
“Really?” Ian inquired. He could hearTeddyBearplaying as they stopped at another redlight beside the chapel.
“Yeah. My mom loved music and she playedeverything, but Elvis was her favorite. When we were still movingaround a lot, she took me to Graceland. It was bizarre in there,but really interesting, and I got so I liked him a lot moreafterward.” Aiden looked at her as if she’d said she liked to eatdog poop for breakfast. “He’s really good,” she insisted. “Farbetter than your boy bands.”
“I donotlisten to boy bands,” Aidensaid with a playful wag of a finger in her face.
Paige rolled her eyes and laughingly pushedhis finger away. She couldn’t help but smile at him, as for thefirst time in her life, she felt like she had an annoying littlebrother. “Anyway, Elvis is one of my favorites,” she continued.
“Favorite enough to be married in a chapelby him?” Aiden inquired.
“It’s the only way I ever pictured gettingmarried,” she replied with a laugh.
Ian adjusted his hold on her so he couldlook down at her. “Are you serious?”
