Vampires of Eden (Alexander #2)

38. Daniel

CHAPTER 3 8

Daniel

T his restaurant, The Wanderer , is something else.

Moody but bright with black and white paisley wallpaper and velvet green tufted booths. Metal bird cages encasing both trailing leafy plants and naked, elaborate bulbs hang from the ceiling, showering the room in complex patterns of light and shadow. The atmosphere is calm as I step inside. Soft jazz music floats through the air just above the static of contented conversation and laughter.

Call me self-absorbed, but I half expected every vampire in the room to stop and stare when I entered. That everyone would immediately identify the trespasser among them. The first-gen vampire wrongfully carrying Prince Alexander Ethan Kendrick’s scent.

No one bats an eye, though, as I’m escorted through the restaurant and toward a narrow archway at the back of the space. A few vampires turn their heads, curiously, but no one breaks their conversation. Nor screams or pitches stones in my direction.

“Right through here.” My guide eyes me curiously, but politely gestures once we reach the open arch. I cross the threshold and Raphael stands just inside, beaming.

“Of course you got here the second I stepped away. Welcome!” Raphael lifts a hand toward a large window. “Your booth is there.”

I glance around and we’re in a smaller, secondary space full of plum tufted booths and charcoal and navy-colored paisley wallpaper. A more mellow, jewel-toned inverse of the outer larger room. Here, all of the booths are empty, except for the one closest to the floor-to-ceiling windows showcasing the spring courtyard beyond the glass.

Alexander stands, his golden-brown eyes transfixed on me as I draw nearer. He’s holding an elegant bouquet of white roses in his hands and he’s wearing the t-shirt I gave him beneath his chic jacket.

He smiles. Lovely and bright. “Hey.”

“Hi.” Lifting my hands to cup his face, I pull him into my body, then kiss him over the luscious and velvety scent of the roses because I’ve missed him and his nearness. I kiss him because I don’t want to keep making the same mistakes—thoughtless errors that make him doubt my feelings. No more hesitations.

When I release him and stare into his face, he opens his eyes and they’re alighted and golden. Of course they are. “Are these for me?” I say quietly, flickering my gaze down to the beautiful bouquet.

“Yes,” he says, matching my tone. “Thank you for having dinner with me.”

“Thank you for inviting me. Why white? Because I’m pale?”

“No, silly.” He laughs. I laugh too as I take the flowers as well as his hand, then pull him toward the booth. The seat bounces as we scoot inside until we’re nestled and cozy.

“White just felt… right,” he says, still gripping my hand and with his eyes vivid and glowing. “A clean slate. Like a new canvas that we can decide to paint whatever colors we want. Colors no one has ever heard of.”

I lean into him, brushing my nose into his. “You’re so poetic. White roses signify new love.”

“And innocence. ”

“I am not innocent.”

He smiles. “But maybe our feelings are? I like that you’re not innocent.”

“Do you?” I tilt, dipping my nose and mouth into the warm curve of his neck. His skin radiates heat like a cloudless summer day.

“Yeah,” he says, his body tensing. “It’s better if at least one of us knows what the fuck he’s doing.”

I laugh, throaty and entertained as I lick the length of his neck. His hand clenches mine as he inhales sharply. “I missed you,” I whisper before licking him again. God, I want him right now.

“I missed you?—”

A loud thud makes Alexander jump and I lift my head. Raphael stands before us on the opposite side of the booth’s table. A bucket of champagne on ice is set in the center and Raphael holds two glasses in his hands.

“Your drinks,” he says flatly and with his eyebrow raised.

Alexander rubs his closed eyes with his fingertips. “You said you were okay with this.”

“Yeah, I said I was okay with getting your drinks and food—not watching the two of you make out for the second time.”

I draw back, confused. “How is this the second time?”

“The driveway,” Alexander says, still rubbing his eyes.

“Ah yeah, right.” I had forgotten about that. How determined I was to eat his face in that moment after he called me out on being paranoid and detached.

Raphael sets the glasses before us. “I’ll be at the outer bar in the main room. I’ll come back in exactly twenty minutes for your food order. Please don’t be sucking face? Do you need anything else right now?”

“No, we’re good.” Alexander drops his hands and his eyes have burned out. He frowns. “Thanks.”

“Anytime.” Raphael’s eyes widen facetiously, then he turns and stalks toward the archway leading to the larger room .

I glance toward my golden prince. “What was that?” Like it’s our fault that he has shitty timing, always.

“I asked him to get our drinks so you wouldn’t be worried about the restaurant’s waitstaff spying on us. He said he’d do it, but now he’s acting like a little bitch.”

Thoughtful. Appreciated. “We have privacy at the vineyard. No waitstaff at all. When are you coming to see me?”

“Sunday. After Kat and Roland’s clinic opening. Maybe… I can spend the night?”

“I sincerely wish that you would.”

“Done.” He grins. “How was the appointment at the opera house? Father texted me and said he got to hear you play! I’m so fucking jealous.” Alexander leans forward to grab the open champagne bottle and pour us drinks.

“Your father was eavesdropping. I didn’t know he was there.”

“ Still . Ugh. I’ve been wanting to hear you play again for so long. It’s unfair that he...” Alexander straightens and blinks as if he’s realized something. Having filled our glasses, he sets the bottle down and turns to me, serious. “How did it feel? Playing the piano after so many years?”

I chuckle, taking hold of my glass. “Did you suddenly realize that my playing today is, perhaps, not about you?”

“Yes. Sorry. How was it?”

Bringing the glass to my lips, I take a long contented sip. I love the way he grows and self-assesses before my eyes. So quickly. It’s sexy as hell. “Good. Cathartic. I hadn’t planned on playing today, but once I was alone and sitting there… I touched the keys and the music just unfurled. Do you know In the Hall of the Mountain King by Grieg?”

“Of course.”

“When I was very young, that was the first piece of music that I made my own. I took liberties and played with the dynamics and pacing—making it richer and more ominous in the beginning. Telling the story of Peer Gynt entering the mountain and facing the evil troll king in my own unique way. I hadn’t played it in forever and it just leapt from within me. It felt incredible.”

I thought that I had lost that part of myself to Josefina. When I was with her, the piano became entangled and muddied with lust and desire. The yearning, pain and rejection. Reconnecting with it today feels like a new start—like these white roses laying on the table. Innocent and pure despite my harrowing past.

I never imagined this. To feel this sparkly, citrusy joy and excitement. To be seen and loved through the eyes of another vampire. To love him sincerely in return.

“It sounds like today was an important experience,” Alexander says, leaning on his elbow with his chin rested against his palm. “Part of your healing?”

I tip my champagne flute to my mouth and finish off the bubbly liquid. As I set the glass on the table, I say, “It was, absolutely. Thank you for giving it to me. For everything you give me.”

Alexander’s mouth quirks up in an ironic grin. “I didn’t give you anything. My father wanted you there because you’re an amazing pianist?—”

He blinks when I press my fingertips against his lips. I speak calmly. “No, Rabbit. I didn’t even want to meet your father, remember? Because I was afraid. But you didn’t back down and you encouraged me. You gave me strength and stood beside me—you always do this.”

Alexander offers me grace after I snap and lose my temper. Patience when I’m being a coward. Kindness and thoughtfulness when he considers my health and well-being. Love and trust when he feeds and allows me access to his mind and essence.

Sighing and with my heart racing, I drop my hand. “You give and give, and I want you to know how incredible you are.” Whispering, I lean in until my nose brushes his. So that my words caress the soft fullness of his lips. “How wonderful you are. And how lucky I am that you’ve chosen me.”

He’s speechless, blinking as I slip my fingers through his hair against the back of his head to pull him into me. I lick the delicious swell of his bottom lip before I take his mouth. There’s no hesitation as Alexander exhales a contented sound, opening to me.

The kiss is ravenous and luscious with our mouths moving and pulling like the deep undercurrents of a vast and dark ocean. Like a storm brewing and threatening to destroy everything in its wake.

My hands thread in his hair and his palms slip tightly around my waist and lower back, cradling me into his body as if he wants to lay me down and have me right here in this booth.

Honestly, I wish that he would.

I was so hesitant about being in this public space with him. But if he started undressing me right now, I would not stop him.

He doesn’t undress me, but his intense kisses leave my mouth and trail down to my jawline, beneath my ear and hungrily into the curve of my neck. He wants me again. To taste me and fill himself with my essence and lifeblood. I know it inherently as I lift my chin. I feel his desire pulsating within the heat of his essence. Raw and beautiful and apologetic. He doesn’t need to be remorseful for wanting me again, but we’ll work that out later. We’ll get there.

“Feed,” I whisper, closing my eyes.

Alexander bites down harder than before and I gasp aloud. My eyes flash with life and heat because the subtle pain of it sends an intense ripple of pleasure straight down my spine. Like fire shooting through my veins and spreading deliciously in my belly, cock and groin.

I can barely breathe because it all feels so good . His mind, emotions and the love he gives as he pulls is so strong and… deep-rooted. Like something he’s held onto for a long time, but he’s finally showing me the edges of it. He’s submitting to the desire and allowing it to pour into and gratify me. To please and exalt me.

He moans as he feeds, wrapping me tighter in his arms and I… I want this so badly— all of it. All of him. But not here. Not like this. I want us to do this privately. Without Raphael interrupting us with his snide remarks. I want Alexander to undress me and I want to feed from him in return. I don’t want to climax in this booth.

The heat of his nature and essence is so heady around us that when I open my mouth, I can practically taste him on my tongue. “Rabbit, wait?—”

He draws away so fast that I might have whiplash. One second, he’s completely wrapped around me—hands, essence, body and mouth. Then the next, he’s not. He pulls back, wide and glowy eyed like I’ve physically punched him.

“I’m sorry.” His chest heaves as he shakes his head. “ Fuck . I went too far—I shouldn’t have?—”

“Alexander, stop.” I lift my hands to hold his face. “Listen—I want this with you. I’m saying yes to you, but not here, alright? Can we do this in private, please? Sunday, when you come to spend the night at the cottage?”

He looks me over, bewildered. “I haven’t hurt you?”

“No, you have not. You’ve never once hurt me. Sunday?”

Alexander inhales a deep breath and blows it out. His chest rises and falls and his eyes slowly return to normal. “Sunday… Goddammit, I got blood on your collar.” He leans in once more to clean and catch the dripping blood.

“It’ll wash out. Probably.”

“You look really nice, by the way,” he says in-between laps with his tongue. “Is this outfit new?”

“Mm. I figured an ugly orange parka probably wasn’t appropriate for a date with the Golden Prince of Eden at a chic restaurant in Central.”

Alexander breathes, chuckling against my skin. I close my eyes and wrap my arms around his shoulders because his presence radiates all through me. “You would have stood out, for sure,” he whispers.

“Right. Besides, I didn’t need it. If I fell down somewhere, hopefully you’d find me?”

He sits up so that we’re face to face and nose to nose. “You have no idea. I’d find you anywhere?—”

“What the hell is going on? What in God’s name are you doing?”

A heavy vampiric presence unexpectedly flares outward, like being rocked by a tumultuous earthquake. Both Alexander and I turn our heads. An older but admittedly refined-looking purebred stalks toward us with a look of consternation. His clothes are well tailored and his thick silver hair is swept back, emphasizing the deep lines in his furrowed brows.

Alexander drops his hands from my waist and sits straighter. “This room is reserved for me. Privately. You cannot just walk in here?—”

“Is that what matters right now, Prince Alexander? Reservations?” The older vampire asks hysterically and with his voice rising. His eyes scan me in a quick assessment and his nose is upturned. “Why are you here with this strange and sickly creature? Why are you touching him?—”

“Lord Cherrington?—”

“Is this some immature attempt at rebellion against our impending arrangement? You, fraternizing with a vampire so grotesquely beneath you?—”

“ Enough .”

My breath catches when Alexander’s eyes flash golden and bright. Not with the soft, loving allure and pull that I’m accustomed to when his alighted gaze is focused on me. This is different. Intense and sharp. Furious.

“You arrogantly intrude in my private engagement,” Alexander goes on. His aura flares hot, heady and thick like lava oozing from a volcano against the older vampire’s cold and heavy essence. “You openly disrespect my guest, openly disrespect me, over and over , when I am a first chair Royal Governing Board member. The sole heir to the Kendrick Clan—founding family of the Eden Peace Treaty. Do you wish to formally challenge my credibility, Lord Cherrington? Is that how I should interpret this constant show of disregard and blatant subversion against my position?”

The tension and pressure between the two purebreds’ opposing auras leaves me motionless, breathless, as if the air has been sucked out of the room and replaced with literal fire and ice. Two elements bucking and pulsing against each other. Raphael jogs into the room and immediately stops with his mouth agape, taking in the silent encounter.

The moment feels like an eternity, but with a blink, Lord Cherrington’s essence backs down. Dissipates as if he’s calling the glacial air back inside himself. He rolls his shoulders.

“I do not,” he says, then clears his throat. Casually, he adjusts the lapels of his jacket. The air of a man who doesn’t understand why things suddenly became so very serious. “I have no interest in challenging you. There is no need for such solemn words, my prince. I only want to express my sincere concern?—”

“If there is no intention to formally challenge me as your superior, then leave,” Alexander says. “This is a private affair. You do not belong, and you have not been invited. Are we clear?”

From the corners of my eyes, Raphael straightens and a sly, pleased grin spreads across his lightly freckled face. Lord Cherrington’s gaze darkens, then lands on me flatly for a moment before he bows.

“Yes, your highness.”

“You are dismissed.”

The older vampire sets his shoulders back, his jaw working as he turns and stalks toward the door. Raphael intercepts and follows Lord Cherrington as he passes. Before he walks through the door, the manservant flips his gingery head around and mouths, “Sorry.” They both disappear into the larger room.

I exhale an audible breath as Alexander leans forward with his elbows on the table. He rubs his palms against his face and up to cradle his head.

“Nice guy,” I say calmly, but my hands tremble as I reach for the champagne bottle to re-fill my glass. “Charming. I think we’re going to need another bottle. Or three.”

As I pour, Alexander shakes his head. He doesn’t speak.

With my glass topped up, I give him and myself a moment to decompress because that was… a lot. I take a long sip and breathe.

Soon, though, the quiet turns awkward. “Penny for your thoughts?”

Alexander drops his hands and sits back hard. He stares down at his lap. “I don’t know what to say. What can I say? I keep apologizing to you—but no matter how many times I apologize, something else comes up.”

Alarmed, I set my glass down. “Rabbit, you do not have to apologize for someone else’s behavior?—”

“Shouldn’t I?” He lifts his head, distraught. “I wanted us to have a fun night out, so that I could show you that Central is not all bad! That we can do this and I can keep you safe, but I couldn’t even manage one night. The things he said to you… I can’t stop that monster from stalking me. How did he even know I was here? Fuck .”

“Well, then, you learned two important lessons tonight,” I reason. “That you can’t control other vampires’ behaviors, and that it isn’t your responsibility to protect me.”

Alexander slouches against the booth and it makes the back of his hair wild. “I don’t want vampires saying and doing rude shit to you because of me.”

I shrug. “It’s inevitable. And it isn’t you, per say. It’s society at large. When I decided to walk this path with you, I accepted this outcome. I knew it would happen. Now you have to accept it… Besides, I’ve heard much worse.” I frown and shake my head as I reach for my glass. What did he even call me? Sickly?

Pretty weak as far as insults go. Do better.

I take another long swig. When I’m done, Alexander has his head turned against the seat. Still slouched and watching me. “I don’t know if I can just accept it,” he says quietly.

“You have to. ”

He sighs. “I love you.”

A hiccup springs from my throat. Beaming, surprised, I blink and swallow. “I love you, too.”

“I don’t want you to suffer because of me.”

My eyebrow lifts. “It’s starting to feel like we’re talking in circles. Are you drunk?”

“No.” He shifts his head forward, looking blankly over the empty room. I hate that the wonderful mood we had is ruined. I resent Lord Cherrington for that first and foremost.

“You pulled rank on that old bastard,” I comment.

“I have never, ever had to do that before.”

“It was sexy.”

“It was weird.” Alexander lifts his hand and rubs his temple. “But nothing else that I’ve said to him has penetrated that thick leathery head of his. It’s like I had to figure out a language that his egotistical and haughty ass would understand.”

“Regardless, it worked. He backed down almost immediately. Well done.” I smile, but Alexander only sighs and drops his hand at his side, as if he’s stuck in an absorbed, despondent state.

I reach and lightly trace the curve of his thigh with my fingertips. “Is it still possible for us to enjoy tonight? It would be nice if we didn’t let him take this evening away from us.”

He turns to look at me again with glassy eyes. “I am sorry.”

“You don’t need to be.”

Alexander nods and pushes himself up straighter. With one hand, he runs his fingers through his hair to quell it. I take hold of the other, tentatively slipping my palm within his. He wraps his fingers around mine and grips me.

“Are you hungry?” he asks.

“I am.”

He takes a breath. “They have lots of options here. Do you have a taste for anything?”

I squeeze his palm. “You.”

This thwarts him from his attempted composure and he blinks. Terrible timing on my part, perhaps. But he’s been avoiding this topic. It never seems to be a good time, so why not now?

“You keep feeding from me,” I say softly, diplomatically, “so when will I have the opportunity to feed from you, your highness? When will you give me consent?” Vampire formalities say that I shouldn’t ask him this question. Eden specific formalities say that my asking a purebred prince this question is grounds for banishment or some other severe punishment.

Damn all of that. He’s bitten me three times and I’m carrying his scent.

Alexander swallows so hard his Adam’s apple bounces in the delicious length of his throat. “Can we talk about this later? Raphael is coming this way and… clearly, I need to pay closer attention to vampires’ movements in this fucking restaurant.”

This isn’t the answer I want. I’m sick of us being interrupted, but I nod and grip his hand in reassurance. “We’ll talk Sunday?”

He nods and swallows again before turning to reach for the menu with his free hand.

“Sunday.”