Lydia's Secret (The Secret Series Book 1) (11 page)

The child’s eyes were huge as she stared back at Madison in fascination. “Are you Miss America?”

Madison looked surprised. “That’s funny; I was just about to ask you the same thing.”

“You thought I was Miss America?” Jacie responded with a giggle.

“I sure did.”

The little girl slid from her chair and moved to stand next to Madison. She reached up and touched a few strands of the redhead’s hair. “I wish I had long red hair like yours.”

Tears sprang to Lydia’s eyes against her will. She had never heard her daughter say anything remotely close to what she’d just confessed to Madison. Her legs felt weak, and she had to sit on the foot of the bed to keep from collapsing.

Lydia watched a display of emotions move across Madison’s face. “Hmmm. We’ll see what we can do about that after breakfast. If your mom says it’s okay, of course.”

Jacie’s gasp of joy made Lydia’s heart sing. Jacie ran toward the bed as fast as her little legs could carry her. “Please. Can I, Mom?”

Lydia stared down at the excited look on Jacie’s upturned face. For a moment, everything was right in the world. Her child didn’t have a dreaded cancer. Her beautiful hair was once again long and shiny, blowing in the breeze as she ran through the park, chasing butterflies…happy and whole.

Snapping back to reality, Lydia shifted her attention to Madison to find tears swimming in the woman’s eyes. She decided she liked the redhead after all. Even if she had the man of Lydia’s dreams.

“You can go after you finish your breakfast,” Lydia agreed, kissing the top of her daughter’s head.

Jacie sprinted back to the table and climbed up onto her chair. “I’ll be ready as soon as I finish eating,” she stated while snatching up her fork.

Madison stood and made her way toward Lydia. She glanced at Jacie over her shoulder. “Take your time. I won’t leave without you.”

Chapter Twelve

Lydia stood as Madison came to a stop in front of her. The leggy redhead’s height was intimidating enough without Lydia looking up at her from a sitting position. “Thank you for that.”

“You’re welcome. Max told me she has leukemia.” A suspicious wetness crept into her eyes. “I lost my youngest brother to cancer when he was only twelve years old.”

“I’m so sorry for your loss,” Lydia whispered around the lump in her throat.

“Almost done,” Jacie announced, breaking through the fog of emotions building inside Lydia’s chest.

“Will you excuse me for a second?” Lydia fled to the bathroom and turned on the cold water. She splashed her face again and again, hoping to ease the pain inside her heart. Children, no matter what age, didn’t deserve to die. They were supposed to grow up, fall in love, and live long, happy lives.

After standing in the bathroom enough time to get her emotions under control, Lydia opened the door in time to find Jacie dressed in jeans, brown fur-lined boots, and a pink sweater.

“I’ll have her back before lunch,” Madison informed Lydia before taking the child’s hand and heading toward the door.

Lydia pasted on a happy smile. “Have fun, baby. I’ll be right here waiting for you.”

Madison stopped with her hand on the knob. “If you’d like to take a tour or just walk the grounds, let me know and I’ll send Max up here to escort you.”

“That would be nice. Thank you.”

* * * *

Max appeared at the door twenty minutes later with a toothy grin and a walkie-talkie clipped to his belt. He turned the squelch down slightly and held out his hand. “Would you do me the honor of touring the grounds with me, my lady?”

Lydia laughed. The kid was cute with his big brown eyes and shaggy haircut. He would definitely give the ladies a run for their money when he grew up, she decided, noticing his snug-fitting jeans and cowboy boots.

She laid her hand in his. “Is it safe out there?”

“Well, the vamps sleep during the day, so you’re safe from them.”

“You say that like there are things other than vampires to fear.”

He walked with her down a long hall to a big silver door similar to the one they came through the night before. “There are.”

The morning sun shone in Lydia’s eyes as she stepped out into the crisp, clean air. She squinted against its blinding light reflecting off the lingering snow. “What sort of things?”

He seemed uncomfortable with her question. Still, she persisted. “Max?”

“Well,” he murmured, closing the door behind them. “There are demons, witches, warlocks, fallen angels, shifters—”

“Shifters really exist?”

“Unfortunately, yes.”

She thought about that for a minute. Supernatural creatures roamed the earth undetected, leaving the world completely oblivious to their presence. She wondered how many she’d come in contact with or passed on the street. A shudder passed through her. “Have you ever met one personally?”

He wouldn’t meet her gaze.

“Max?”

His head lowered until she no longer saw his eyes. “You’re looking at one.”

For some reason, his declaration didn’t horrify her. Possibly because of everything she’d been through the past twenty-four hours, she wasn’t sure, but looking at his profile now, it somehow made sense.

She brought her hand up to the side of his face, shocked she wasn’t afraid. She knew Roman wouldn’t trust someone with her care that would harm her. “Hey…”

He slowly lifted his gaze, and the insecurity she saw there tore at her heart.

“Please don’t be scared, Miss. Hughes. I would never do anything to hurt you.”

She smiled to ease his anxiety. “I’m not afraid. You’re a wolf, aren’t you?”

A surprised look entered his eyes. “How did you know?”

“I’m not sure. A lucky guess, I suppose.”

His posture relaxed some and he returned her smile. “You’re pretty cool for a human.”

Lydia chuckled. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“It was meant as one.” He held out his arm. “It gets slippery in places with the snow melting.”

Looping her arm in his, Lydia walked with him along the overly wide sidewalk. “Wow. This place is huge.”

“It’s a lot bigger than it appears.”

Lydia wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but decided to let it go. “The wall surrounding it seems to go on forever.”

“He has close to eighty acres here.”

Her mouth fell open. She couldn’t fathom how much money it must have cost to have the wall built. And the fortress? She would never be able to wrap her mind around that kind of price. “He has a very expensive compound out here in the woods. I can’t imagine how he explains this to the IRS.”

“I guess when you’re as old as Roman, you can come up with a million diversions…everything from sleight of hand to illusions.”

Lydia shook her head. “It’s beyond my comprehension.”

“Would you like to see the springs?”

“Sure,” she replied, following him off the walkway and onto the snow-covered grass. “Won’t it be frozen?”

“It’s a hot springs. It never freezes.”

Lydia put her hands in her coat pockets and trekked along beside Max through the chilly Atlanta air. The compound was breathtaking, surrounded by giant trees and rounded shrubs. One would never guess a vampire resided inside its walls. Or a wolf, she mused, side-eyeing her companion.

The place had a mystical feel about it, a natural beauty that somehow seemed at odds with its bars and guarded walls. The building itself was nearly the size of a hotel, but the grounds… Ah, the grounds went as far as the eye could see.

A layer of fog hung suspended in the air, waiting to be burned off by the sun’s powerful rays as they broke through a tree line. Lydia’s breath caught. She’d never seen anything as magical as the scene before her. “Oh, Max…”

Large white boulders rose from the ground in a semicircle to form a cave that rested above a turquoise blue pool of water. Steam bubbled up from its depths, escaping in a cloud of mist that disappeared into the fog.

“Isn’t it nice?”

“It’s amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Max laughed. “It’s a great place to take a nightly swim. Come on. I’ll show the greenhouse.”

Lydia could only fathom how grand that would be. “Lead the way.”

* * * *

Lydia stepped out of the shower and wrapped her hair in a towel as she stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. Her life had changed overnight. She’d been attacked in a park, learned that everything from vampires to werewolves existed, and almost lost her heart to a man that wasn’t really a man after all.

Vampire
. Could she really love someone that was not even alive?
Or is he
? She wasn’t sure about anything anymore. He’d felt alive to her when he’d licked her on the couch the night before. She pushed the thought aside before she was forced to take another shower.

Thinking about the day’s events, Lydia blinked back tears remembering the look on Jacie’s face when she’d arrived back at the compound with Madison, wearing a red wig and big-girl makeup. The joy in her daughter’s eyes would remain with her forever.

Lydia made a mental note to take Jacie on a tour of the grounds soon. If she knew her daughter, there would be no keeping her out of the hot springs.

She would make sure Max went with them since he was a better swimmer than either of them. According to him, he swam nightly through the caves below the springs as a form of exercise.

Learning about Max’s life had been surreal. He’d been born into the shifter world, not
changed
as some were. Lydia couldn’t believe there were such things as creatures creating other creatures. She rubbed at her neck where Simon’s fangs had come so close to penetrating her in that alley. What if he’d bitten into her flesh? She shivered and sat on the edge of the tub to put on her boots.

Her mind drifted to what Max had told her of his people. Slaughtered by vampires. Everyone, including his parents and three-year-old sister had been ripped to shreds before his eyes.

Her heart ached for him…for all the pain he’d suffered, for the time he’d spent on the streets, but mostly for the loss of his family.

What kind of man Roman must be to take in a child and care for him. And not just any child, but one that had been born his natural enemy.
He’s an anomaly to be sure.

After applying a little makeup, she blow-dried her hair and returned to her room.

Jacie sat on the bed watching cartoons from an overly large television mounted on the wall. Her big blue eyes stretched wide as she noticed Lydia. “You’re so pretty, Mama.”

Lydia tickled her daughter’s feet. “Not half as pretty as you.”

With a giggle, Jacie scrambled back against the headboard, jerking the covers up to her neck. “Someone’s at the door.”

“Come in.” Lydia had been so lost in her daughter’s sweet laughter, she hadn’t heard the knock.

Madison entered the room wearing a white sweat suit and sneakers. Her long red hair was twisted up into some kind of messy ponytail, and she wore no makeup. Lydia inwardly groaned. The woman was still beyond gorgeous.

“Maddie!” Jacie squealed, jumping from the bed.

“Hi, sunshine. Are you about ready?”

The little girl came to a halt and dropped to her knees, jerking the skirting up at the side of the bed. “I have to put on my shoes.”

Madison’s lips twitched. “I agree. You can’t very well walk around with grocery-store feet.”

Jacie’s tinkering laugh warmed Lydia’s heart toward the redhead even more.

“Can you tell us where we are going?” Lydia inquired, slipping a pair of gloves into her coat pockets, just in case.

Madison pursed her lips. “It’s a surprise.”

“I love surprises,” Jacie cried before going into a coughing fit.

Lydia was at her side in a second. “Easy, baby.” She tenderly rubbed her palms up and down Jacie’s thin back. “Deep breaths. That’s it.”

“What can I do? Is she okay?” Madison hovered close, wringing her hands.

Lydia met her concerned gaze. “See that black bag on the floor next to the nightstand?”

At Madison’s nod, she continued, “Look in the side compartment and grab her inhaler.”

“She has asthma?” Madison questioned, rushing to rummage through the bag.

“The treatments break down her immune system, leaving her vulnerable to things such as bronchitis. She keeps a bad cough lately, but as long as she can breathe and isn’t wheezing, I don’t give her the meds.”

Madison dug out the inhaler and handed it to Lydia. “So, it’s just a precaution?”

Lydia nodded and knelt in front of her daughter. “Take a deep breath.”

Jacie opened her mouth, slowly inhaling as her mother rested her ear against her chest.

Relieved that her bronchial tubes weren’t swelling, Lydia lifted Jacie’s small body and sat her on the edge of the bed. “Let’s get those shoes on, and see what big surprise is waiting for us.”

* * * *

Simon Le Blanc swirled the snifter gently in his hand, watching as the light-brown liquid stained the sides before settling into a small wave along the bottom of the glass. Food or drink wasn’t a necessity to his kind; he just loved the taste of brandy. Always had.

Standing in the den of his rented home, he pulled the curtain back and gazed out into the approaching darkness. Twilight was his favorite time of day, when shadows loomed and he had a brief moment to enjoy what dim light wasn’t threatening to burst him into flames.

The red glow of Jeanie’s taillights progressed down the drive until they disappeared altogether. A smile touched his lips as he thought of the look on Roman’s face when he realized he’d been outsmarted again. Simon would have possession of the Hughes child by the following evening, and the power he’d always wanted would finally be in the palms of his hands.

His mind drifted back centuries to a time of freedom and power. Roman and Svetlana had ruined everything he’d worked so hard to gain. Castillo was responsible for the loss of Ione’s virginity, and Svetlana was guilty of taking her life, the very power within Ione that Simon needed in order to be free.

He let the curtain fall back and pushed his memories aside. He would acquire his revenge the old-fashioned way. Through blood.

Ah, yes
. He could almost taste the cursed Barbatus blood on his tongue that very moment. His fangs tingled in anticipation of sinking into the well of life he’d been craving for two thousand years.

Simon didn’t relish the thought of kidnapping the little girl. In fact, he’d ordered Jeanie to take her upstairs and out of his sight upon her return. No, the Hughes child was a means to an end for him. He would use her to lure his most sought-after possession into his lair…Lydia.

The last hint of light blended with the darkness, flooding the room in shadows. Simon watched his silhouette dance along the walls as he advanced toward an antique mirror standing in the corner. He brushed some dust from the glass and gazed at his reflection.