Darkworld - Hot Water Part 6

He shook his head. "S'ok. You'll get to it." His words were slurred like a drunk's.

Colin pulled her close as they lay on the steps, letting the warm water lap at their tired bodies. As immortals, it wouldn't take long for them to regain their equilibrium. Eden loved how the more she regained her presence of mind, the stronger her mental and emotional connection to Colin became. His disjointed thoughts recalling the bonding echoed in her mind. Experiencing the event through his mind gave her an even greater sense of belonging to him. It strengthened her own conviction that this man was her mate.

Once their energy returned, they got out of the pool and wrapped themselves in towels. Back in the master bedroom, they showered together, still slightly dazed from bonding, and fell into bed. Colin pulled her into his arms and she rubbed her face against his chest in a loving caress.

Mine now. Only mine.

His thought made her smile as she drifted to sleep. Coming home had never been this good.

Chapter Eight.

Colin didn't feel all that different. Being bonded was all about love anyway and he knew he was in love with Eden.

They'd gotten up early and made love again. Colin bit her again, just because he could, not because he needed her blood. It just felt good.

Afterward, they'd dressed and eaten cold pizza for breakfast, washing it down with coffee that Eden made after finding a state of the art coffee machine and French roast beans in the kitchen cupboard. She cleaned up afterward even though Colin protested that he had a cleaning lady.

He drove her to the Antaeus family home where her brother Sean lived. She had clothes, a car and other belongings there that she wanted to collect. Colin worried that going there would upset her, but she seemed cheerful and if it bothered her to be there, he sure as h.e.l.l couldn't tell. As soon as he dropped her off, waving to Sean's astonished wife, he drove straight to Sean's office.

He'd been to Antaeus International a few times since Elysia had hooked up with Declan, but he'd never been to Sean's office. He knew it was on the same floor as Declan's though the top floor. He got off the elevator and headed to Declan's office first. His brother-in-law looked up, amber eyes narrowed, as Colin walked in and shut the door.

"I know you told me on the phone that you didn't have the same opinion about Eden as Sean, but I want to hear it from your mouth while I'm looking you in the eye," he growled.

"I don't know why Sean said that to you, Colin. I love my sister. I always have. I don't care where she works or lives as long as she's safe." Declan's deep voice sounded serious. "If she wants to be with you, I have no objection. She's her own keeper and has been since long before she left this company and moved to New York. In fact, I can't think of very many people I would trust to control her and keep her from doing something c.o.c.keyed, but I think you can handle her."

"We don't need your approval, but I'm glad to have it for her sake." Colin drew a deep breath. "I bonded with her last night."

Declan's eyebrows shot up. "So soon?" He shook his dark head, his expression a little wry. "Well, that's very Eden.

She's quick to make up her mind."

Colin watched his brother-in-law carefully. "I bonded with her. She has not yet mated me. I have yet to see her dragonfire. In fact, I've never even seen her shift." A smile curved Declan's mouth. "You will soon. A dragon cannot keep himself from showing off his dragon form to his mate. It's like trying to keep a little kid out of a candy jar."

"So you and Elysia are okay with this? I'm not gonna have to come back up here and b.l.o.o.d.y your nose?" Colin asked pointedly.

Declan shook his head. "Your sister and I are happy for you both. Holden is too. I called him after you called me.

Frankly, since I knew you would be coming here to talk to Sean, I didn't call either him or Diandra. If I had called Di, she would have called Sean, and I knew you wouldn't want that. In your shoes, I would do the same thing. As my sister's mate, you have every right to call Sean on the things he told you about Eden."

"Where's his office?"

Declan pointed to his door. "Three doors down from mine in the corner." His amber eyes, so like his sister's, glinted with approval. "Good luck."

Colin left Declan's office and walked purposefully toward Sean Antaeus' office. He brushed past Sean's a.s.sistant and pushed the door open.

Sean sat at his desk, his back to Colin, his eyes on the huge window that looked out toward the ocean. "Good morning, Colin. What can I do for you?" he said without turning around.

Colin's mouth tightened. "You can turn around and face me, Sean," he gritted out, his anger rising.

Slowly, Sean spun around in his leather chair. He looked a lot like Declan, but harsher, not as handsome, with black hair brushed back neatly from his face. His golden Antaeus eyes held a cold, hard expression.

"What can I do for you?" he repeated.

Resisting the urge to clench his hands into fists, Colin said, "Why did you lie to me about Eden?"

Sean shrugged. "What does it matter? You know the truth now, don't you? And you love her despite anything I might have said to you. Am I right?"

Colin saw red. The man deliberately pushed his b.u.t.tons! "You're her brother. You should be supporting her and protecting her, not turning your back on her and telling people she's a f.u.c.king worthless dilettante!"

Sean's dark brows flicked up a little. "Why do you say I don't support her? She wanted to leave and I let her go.

That's supporting her decision in my book."

"That's turning your back on her, you f.u.c.king a.s.shole!" Colin roared. "Do you have any idea how bad you've made her feel over the years? The lack of self-esteem she has because you think she's a G.o.dd.a.m.ned black sheep? She's spent all these years thinking she doesn't fit in anywhere, that she's been nothing but trouble to your family. She thinks it because that's what you f.u.c.king drummed into her head for having the temerity to want a career that has nothing to do with this f.u.c.king company!"

An impa.s.sive expression settled on Sean's hawkish features. "Think what you want," he said coolly turning his chair away from Colin.

With a growl, Colin leapt across Sean's desk, the preternatural speed and dexterity of a vampire coming to his aid.

In a blur of movement, he had Sean by the shirtfront, dragging him from the chair and slamming him against the wall.

Sean's golden eyes lit with fire and he pushed away from the wall, but Colin was waiting. His fist shot out and connected with Sean's face. The force of the blow knocked the dragon back into the wall. The drywall cracked from the floor to the ceiling, raising a cloud of dust.

Sean put a hand to the corner of his mouth where a trickle of blood oozed. Colin's eyes glowed red with bloodl.u.s.t.

"If you ever tell another lie about Eden, I will break every bone in your body, you son of a b.i.t.c.h." He took two steps back and when he was sure that Sean wouldn't attack him, he spun on his heel and left the office.

Outside, in the corridor a small crowd had gathered. His bloodl.u.s.t dissipating, Colin saw Declan and Holden Antaeus standing a few feet away. Holden grinned, holding up his hands in a gesture of surrender.

"Don't look at me like that, brother," he chuckled. "I'm on your side. Someone needed to take Sean down a peg where Eden's concerned."

Declan's mouth twitched. "Welcome to the family, Colin," he said.

Eden stared at her sister-in-law mutinously. Despite being Sean's wife, Careen usually had her own opinions on things. This time, however, she spouted Sean's party line and it p.i.s.sed Eden off.

"Why do you have to do this so quickly, Eden? Why couldn't you have come home and just dated Colin like a normal person?" Careen pressed.

Eden closed the last suitcase and heaved it to the floor, ignoring Careen's comment about 'normal'. She looked around her bedroom. Nothing personal remained in the room. There was a stack of boxes by the door and three suitcases. She had another dozen boxes in the garage. She made a mental note to hire someone to pick them all up.

Ignoring Careen, she tucked the smallest suitcase under her arm and grabbed the other two suitcases, hauling them out of her room and down the hall to the landing. She struggled down the stairs with the bulky suitcases, annoyed with her sister-in-law for not offering to help. Not that she would have accepted Careen's help after the lecture she'd had to endure from the woman.

Dragging the cases to the garage, she opened it and dug in her purse for her keys. With a loud beep, she turned off the alarm on the Land Rover. Pulling open the back, she flipped the seats down and tossed her suitcases in. She went back in the house and began carrying down boxes until she'd filled the SUV.

Sweating and angry, she stood on the driveway and wiped her face on the sleeve of her sweater. Everything from her room was either in her car or here in the garage waiting to be picked up by the moving company. Careen still hovered, her next lecture only a breath away. Eden took out her phone, checking it for text messages or missed calls.

She blinked then. Careen held a huge jewelry box in her arms. The box looked like a Swiss chalet. Eden's father had given it to her as a little girl. Seeing it in Careen's arms when the woman had been nothing but a pain in her a.s.s all morning made Eden see red.

Lurching forward, she tried to s.n.a.t.c.h it from Careen. "Where the f.u.c.k did you get that?"

Careen stepped back, out of Eden's reach. "Sean had it put away because his mother's jewelry is in there. He says it's worth a lot of money," Careen said, tilting her head defiantly.

"Arggh! He had no right! That's my jewelry box!" Eden growled and s.n.a.t.c.hed at it again.

Careen tried to hang on to it and they struggled for a moment. Then, as Eden wrested the box from Careen's hands, her sister-in-law hit her. Startled, not knowing whether Careen meant to hit her or whether it was an accident, Eden almost dropped the jewelry box. They both grabbed for it and Eden's cell phone went flying, shattering into several pieces on the concrete driveway.

"s.h.i.t!" she growled, her eyes flashing at her sister-in-law. She put the jewelry box in the front seat of the SUV and locked it, coming back to pick up the pieces of her phone. "d.a.m.n it! Why are you suddenly such a b.i.t.c.h, Careen?"

Careen looked down her nose at Eden. "Sean doesn't think you're being rational."

Eden let out a sigh. Her f.u.c.king brother had a lot to answer for. "Yeah, well you've never spouted Sean's party line before now, Careen," Eden said waspishly. "I used to think you had your own mind. I can see I must have been mistaken." She turned away, calling over her shoulder, "The movers will come to get my boxes tomorrow. I'll see you, Careen."

Eden got in the Land Rover and backed out of the garage, tearing down the drive away from the house where she'd grown up. Careen had p.i.s.sed her off, but she really wanted Sean's blood, so she headed to Antaeus International next.

Careen went in the house and called her husband. "It's done," she sighed. "Her phone is broken."

"Good," Sean replied. "Everything is in place. Are you sure she's coming here?"

"She's really p.i.s.sed off, Sean. And she's just like you. Why wouldn't she be on her way there to tear a strip off you?

It's what you would do in her shoes," Careen said. "You know, I didn't like doing this. I'm happy for her. Why do you always have to be in charge, Sean?"

"It's what I do, Careen. You knew what I was like when you married me."

She sighed again. "Yeah. I knew. I still don't like it."

"But you love me," Sean's voice deepened with emotion.

"I can't seem to help myself," she said wryly. "I'll see you later."

"I love you, Careen."

She smiled indulgently. "I love you too, Sean, but I'm so glad this is the last of your siblings to fall in love."

Sean laughed softly and Careen hung up the phone.

Telling Marius that he'd bonded with Sean Antaeus' sister hadn't gone as well as Colin had thought it would go. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time he'd seen that much emotion on his brother's face.

"You didn't care that Elysia bonded with Declan Antaeus," Colin pointed out when Marius told him he should have thought things through.

"They didn't bond after knowing each other two nights," Marius replied.

Colin's rage, banked after hitting Sean, returned with a vengeance. "What the f.u.c.k do you know, Marius? You've never been in my position! You haven't met your mate yet, so don't tell me what's right and what's wrong."

"I just think you should have waited. I'm not telling you that she's wrong for you, just that I wish you had spent more time with her before you bit her!" Marius ran a hand through his dark blond hair, the gesture filled with frustration.

Colin understood his brother's point, and he could see Marius' frustration. Still, it was none of his business. "Yeah, well you and your golf buddy can go f.u.c.k yourselves. This is none of your business anyway. I only told you about it because I'm sure Sean will be calling to tell you I decked his a.s.s."

Storming out of his brother's office, Colin completely bypa.s.sed his own and headed to his sister's. He threw open the door, not bothering to knock. Luckily, Elysia was alone. She waved at him to shut the door.

Flopping into the big leather chair in front of her desk, Colin frowned at her. "Are you gonna lecture me too?"

Elysia shook her head, but Colin noticed her twisting the big yellow diamond on her ring finger. He wondered at her obvious nervousness.

"No. But you're my baby brother. I worry about you," she replied.

Colin continued to frown at her. Why did they all think he couldn't manage his own life? "No need. I'm a big boy, Elysia, and I have been for a lot of years. I know what I'm doing. Eden is my bloodmate. I'm supposed to bond with her,"

he said.

Elysia sighed. "I don't understand why she didn't bond with you though, Colin. It worries me."

He leaned forward in his chair, holding her gaze. "You think that because Eden didn't mate with me, that she could take off and leave me to die?"

Elysia looked uncomfortable. "I don't think Declan's sister would be so irresponsible, Colin, but she's a dragon. She doesn't understand vampires. Does she know you can never feed from anyone else now?" Her voice sounded troubled and Colin knew her uncertainty had been put there by Marius.

"She understands, Lys. Look, she loves me. She's not going anywhere."

"She told you she loves you?" Elysia asked him point blank.

Now, Colin felt uncomfortable. Eden hadn't said the words yet. Only that she was falling in love with him. Not that she loved him. The distinction was very small to him, but apparently not to his family.

"Both of us are positive we're falling in love," he said with a confidence he suddenly didn't quite feel. If Marius had said this to him, he would have just gotten p.i.s.sed. But because Elysia said them, he started to feel a little panicked.

Usually, his sister didn't listen to his brother unless what Marius said made perfect sense. Colin resisted the sudden urge to take out his phone and look for a text message.

"I hope this works out for you, Colin," his sister said. "Declan and I are happy for you both. When you're settled, will you bring her over for dinner? I want to get to know her."

Colin rose to his feet, feeling distracted. "Yeah, sure, Lys. Soon."

He left his sister's office, again avoided his own, and headed out of the cemetery's administration building to his car. By the time he got in the driver's seat, he had his phone out. No messages. No missed calls. He hit the speed dial for Eden's phone. It went straight to voice mail.

Where are you, love? he called out to her. When she didn't answer, he started his car. Something was up and he just bet it involved that rat b.a.s.t.a.r.d Sean Antaeus.

The last time Eden had walked down this corridor, she'd left Antaeus International's payroll. The last person she'd seen that day was Vahid Delrey. Ironically, the first person she saw today was Vahid.