Escaped the Night (32 page)

He leaned in, gave
me another quick kiss
and
with a dreadfully sluggish walk
, headed
over t
owar
ds the door. He looked back as he pretended
the door was too heavy to open. I smiled at his comic attempt to buy us s
ome more alone time. He grinned
and then straightened himself up as he opened the door.
“Yes, how may we
assi
s
t you?”

Meriel
stood
in the doo
rway. “Good morning you guys,” s
he said smirk
ing
, giving Jayce a nudge.

“Good morning
to you
, Meriel.” H
e
nudged
her
back.

Her reaction assured me
that
she
was ple
ased I had
spent the night with Jayce in his room. Nothing h
ad really happened between us, just a
few kisses and
snuggling.

“So?
” Meriel
acted
juvenile
as she stood
around the doorway. We knew
what she was digging for,
h
oping to find out some news about what was going on
between
us.

I shot Jayce over a thought.
‘
Don’t let her in on anything. Let her mind wander for a bit, it’ll be fun to keep her guessing.’

Jayce and I never said a word, remaining completely composed.

Finally
, she had enough of the game and
piped up, “
I guess, this means you
two
are back together
now
.
Are you guys coming downstairs any time soon, or are you
staying
locked up in her
e
forever?” She flashed her big beautiful smile at us.

I laughed and she
look
ed at me confused.
I
decided to
confess
my earlier proposal
. “I tried persuading
him to stay in here forever
,
but
sadly
he turned me down.” I
bumpe
d Jayce with my hip a
s I
pout
ed
.

“Jayce
, is this true?”

“Act
ually Meriel,” I interrupted,
before she could blast Jayce for not
accepting
my offer. “
We were just
on our way
downstairs. I wanted to check
in
and see how e
veryone else was this morning.
I’m quite excited
,
we made it through
the night without any unwelcome
guests.”

“Yes, we all made it the
entire
nig
ht.” She shot Jayce a look
I
wasn’t supposed to notice.

I pretended
not
to
see and
turned my attention to Jayce
,
who was
grinning
smugly at her.
I shook my head. They were like siblings, poking and prodding at one another, just to see who could be more annoying.

“Hello? You guys?” I tried
breaking
up the unintentional
mind war
I’d created
. “Well, is
n’t this fun?” I rolled my eyes
, standing there invisibly
.
I
waved my hand in their faces only to get no
response.
C
learly neither
one was
paying
attention
to anything else around them
. What were they saying?
Finally,
I blurted out, “Also
,
my aunt and uncle should
be stopping by
pretty
soon.”

“Really? That’s great,
” Meriel responded
.
“
C
an’t wait to see them.
”
She
shot Jayce
a
glance
,
spun around and
headed
downstairs.

I gave
him
a look of disapproval
.
A mind war was totally unfair because
I had no idea what was being said.
Was it good? Bad? He smiled and
his
brown
eyes sparkled
as he teased me with another kiss. O
vercome by his presence,
I forgave him and
we followed
after
Meriel.
The three of us joined the others
who were
gathered in the
living room.

Today was different because e
ve
ryone sat in different places. Species mixed together and e
verybody seemed more relaxed and comfortable
as they chatted
with one another. The laughs
were a sure sign
—
things were going well
. As s
oon as they noticed Jayce and me
,
the room
broke
in
to
a round of cheers and whistles.
I turned a brilliant shade of red, as did Jayce.
I was h
appy they
all
approved,
but
seriously,
the
se
rounds of
appl
ause were
going to have to stop
or
we would all
risk the possibility
of
us
dying
from embarrassment.

We sat down together
. It felt really good fit
ting in
with everyone
. T
hey
’d accepted me for who I was and
I didn’t need to pretend I was something I wasn’t.
I just had to be myself.
I wore
the world’s biggest sm
ile across my face because I
couldn’t hold it in. I was
so
incredibly happy
being
surrounded by my true love and dear
est
friends.
I listened in as everyone resumed his or her previous discussions.
As the morning crept on
ward,
m
y thoughts of Daray faded
,
as
di
d the memory
of my dream.

Meriel, Terran and the
three shifter girls
decided
to make the most of the daylight and head
down to Mystic Beach
.
Shea and the remaining
fairies said they
’d
join the girls
and
promised
to
be
back before dusk.
So this
left Jayce,
Garrison
, Aiden, Kaleb, Makan and Kael. The house was clearing out.

My protectors decided to stay close and get caught up on some of the sleep they’d missed out on by keeping watch.
They figured i
f the
y
went to bed now, they’d have plenty of energy to keep guard again
to
night.

Kael
let out a loud yawn
as he
stretch
ed
. His muscles flex
ed
with every move. With his
toothy smile
,
he said
,
“Yeah, you g
uys got it right. Sleep now, kick
parasite butt tonight.” Punching
his fist into his hand,
he let
out a
loud bellowing laugh.

So now
it was
Aiden, Makan, Jayce and I
remaining
.
Jayce shot Aiden a look
, and
soon
he and Makan headed
in
to the kitchen.
We were
alone again.

He leaned over and planted his electrifying kiss on me.
I couldn’t keep my lips off him. I needed him. I burned for him.
We started
getting lost
in our passion,
as if no one else in the world exis
ted
. The sound of someone clearing
their
throat broke up
our moment.
Flustered,
I
looked
over
to see who
had interrupted us
.

Aiden was a bit red,
more so than usual. “Sorry guys,” he sai
d. “We
’ve got
company.”

“
Who is it?
” Jayce asked
, breathing quite heavy.

“I b
eliev
e auntie and uncle have arrived.
”

We
j
umped up off the couch. “Right. T
hanks
,
Aiden
,
for not letting them all the way
in
.”
I
fixed
myself
quickly. “Do I look okay?”

“You look perfect.”

I
walked out of the living room and headed to the front of the house.
I saw them standing there,
looking around
,
clearly taken back by the grandness of the house. It ma
de me smile. I was relieved
someone else had the same reactio
n as I did when I first arrived. Their
eyes
moved over the room, scanning
the artwork and décor.
Noticing me, they
rushed
over
.

“Sh
anntal, i
t’s so good to see you,
” Auntie Steph
said as she
and Uncle Dane took turns hugging me. Auntie Steph took a step back. “Nice place. I can’t believe a bunc
h of kids live here.
It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before except, we
ll…”

Uncle Dane and I
giggled as we waited
for her to continue her statement.

“
A castle.
Yeah, it
’s like
a fairy tale castle.
I swear I ju
st saw a place like this
in the movie I went to
the other day
.” She took another step back
to
admire the beauty of the house.

Jayce
made
his entrance. “It’s nice to see you again
,
Dane.
Oh, t
his must be your lovely wife Steph that I’ve heard so much about.”

Jayce injected his thoughts.
‘I knew she’
d be easy to win over
, even
before I
met her. Now look...
there’s no
need
to try. She’s putty in my hands.’
He walked over,
leaned in and
kiss
ed
her hand. “A pleasure to meet you
,
Steph.”

She giggle
d and went a shade of pink I’d never
seen her wear before. It made me smile. I wasn’t
the only girl that was putty in
his hand
s
.

“Come on in. L
et
’
s
have a seat in the liv
ing room, it’s more comfortable,
” Jayce offered.