Page 41 of The Wolf She Shouldn't Desire

“We don’t know much if anything about her, Jordan. She’s still a vampire and Zander and his coven could be friends or allies with hers. We start asking questions that get back to Zander and his goons, they might think we are planning something against them and up their antics. I just want you to be careful.”

He doesn’t know that I know her more than he realizes. A lot more. But I can’t tell him that or he’ll become suspicious, and I’m not ready to tell anyone just yet about Talia and I when Talia hasn’t decided if there could be a her and I.

“I’ll be careful,” is all I can say.

“Good.”

Chapter 20

Talia

I sit in my secret oasis with one empty bottle of whiskey sitting at my feet and another in my hand.

Zander has been to the coven house almost every day since my father threatened Danny, forcing me to agree with his arrangement with the devil himself. Accurate since I feel like I have been living in hell for the past two weeks. Today was especially difficult, leaving me feeling defeated and with no control over my life. Father doesn’t seem to care for what I want or have to say and has even taken to ignoring my presence in the meetings. Zander has been a condescending dickhead who thrives on misogyny, despite the fact that I am the one who has been taking care of coven business both inside and outside the coven house walls as my father’s right-hand man and everyone in this city fear’s my name not his. On a few occasions, if my father had not been there, he would have likely lashed out at me physically. He’s never had the chance but the gleam in his eyes tells me he would definitely would without blinking an eyes, but he is trying to stay in my father’s good graces I can imagine. I know once I’m living with Zander and not my father that will change. I doubt my father though would have put up any fuss considering he has hit me a few times himself, but Zander doesn’t need to know that.

Danny and the Fab Four have been trying to come up with a way to get me out of this situation, but with every plan they come up with, I find some flaw in it that puts me, Danny, or all of them in harm’s way. I won’t do that. If it was just me, I may have risked it but not them. I have few people who I can honestly call friends or family and those five I would give my life for. I could never risk them being harmed, and my father knows it. Daily he reminds me of the consequences if I think about not following through with his plan and the arrangement with Zander.

I bring the whiskey bottle up to my mouth and chug half the bottle. The alcohol burns as it goes down. Too bad it can’t dull my senses or numb me like it does humans. The motion and spirit of it is going to have to suffice. It tastes good at least. Tilting my head back, I look up at the stars. If only I could fall into the dark sky where no one could touch me or tell me what to do with my life.

“God,” I groan. “Stop being so pathetic, Talia.”

“You’re far from pathetic darling,” a warm male voice intrudes, causing me to jump in my seat slightly.

Turning, I see Jordan walking through the bushes with a small smile on his face. Damn it, that’s the second time now he has snuck up on me here. His eyes scan over me and then lift to connect with mine when he tilts his head to the side in question. “I didn’t think vampires could get drunk.”

“We can’t.”

“Well, it looks like you are giving it a good try.”

“Do I get an A for effort, then?”

He chuckles as he moves towards me and comes to sit on the bench with me. “Rough day?”

“That’s an understatement.” I look back up towards the sky so he doesn’t see the misery I no doubt can’t hide in my eyes.

“You want to talk about it?” he asks gently.

“Not even a little,” I sigh as I take another huge gulp of whiskey.

I see out of the corner of my eye that he nods and then looks up at the sky as well without saying another word.

The night air is filled with the subtle sounds of rustling leaves, crickets singing to each other, and an owl who calls out in inquiry to the night. It’s peaceful but does nothing to calm or distract me from my current situation at home like it usually does.

Suddenly, I jump up from the bench and start pacing back and forth in front of the bench and in turn in front of Jordan.

“What are you doing here, Jordan?”

He doesn’t say anything, and I stop in front of him to face him directly. He sits there with his arms crossed, staring at me in a contemplative manner. After a few more seconds, he stands up and walks the short distance towards me. Without warning, he grabs my face and kisses me deeply. Our lips dance together softly but deeply and our tongues intertwine as we consume each other. I sink into the kiss just enjoying in it this one moment. When he pulls away, a small whimper escapes me and briefly I move with him in an attempt to not let him stop the kiss.

“I came looking for you,” he whispers. “I haven’t seen you in weeks and wanted to make sure you weren’t avoiding me…again.”

The reasoning behind avoiding him in the past hits me like a bucket of ice cold water. I jerk away from him quickly, as if an electric fence has shocked me.

“Sorry, but my world doesn’t revolve around you and your ridiculous demand to not run from you, but I haven’t been avoiding you. Either way, you shouldn’t have come looking for me.”

“Is this another ‘this is my space, and you weren’t invited’ situation?”

“No,” I hiss at him. “This is a ‘I’m freaking tired of people not listening to me and what I want and instead doing what they want, sofuck me’ situation.” By the last word I am yelling and it echoes briefly around us.

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