Lydia's Secret (The Secret Series Book 1) (9 page)

“Mama?”

“It’s okay, honey. We’re taking a little ride. Go back to sleep.”

Roman stepped in close and held his jacket over Lydia’s head. He ushered them to the SUV that Max had driven into the front yard so they wouldn’t have far to walk.

Heat drifted out as Roman opened the car door and helped them inside. His delicious scent drifted up Lydia’s nose, sending a different kind of warmth through her body.

He hooked the seatbelt across her and Jacie, snapping it in place. “It’s the best I can do.” He paused. “I’ll ride back here with you.”

Chapter Ten

Roman signaled for Max to drive the instant he climbed into the backseat with Lydia and her daughter. They’d made it out of the house without incident, but the ride to his office in the storm still loomed ahead.

“Is she okay?” Roman gestured toward the burden in Lydia’s arms.

“For now.” She turned to stare out the window.

Touching her shoulder, he brought her focus back to him. “I will not allow Simon or anyone else to come near you or your daughter. I will do everything in my power to protect you both.”

She nodded once before returning her gaze back out the window. The stiffness in her posture and quiet demeanor spoke volumes of the worry she tried to hide, but Roman had seen the fear in her eyes, heard it in her voice. He also knew that fear was not for herself but her daughter.

He decided to give her some time to adjust to her recent decisions. Taking her child and running off in the middle of the night with a vampire she’d just met had to be wreaking havoc on her mind.

Leaning forward, Roman made eye contact with his young driver in the rearview mirror. “Take Stillwood Avenue to avoid any mishaps. There are idiots who may be driving in this mess.”

“As opposed to us?” Max shot back with a raised brow.

A nervous laugh came from his backseat companion. “He has a point, you know.”

“That he does.” Settling back in his seat, Roman covered her hand with his. “You’re freezing.”

“It’s just a little chill. I’ll be fine.”

Roman slid in close, wrapped his arm around her, and pulled her head down to his shoulder. “Turn up the heat, Max.”

“Yes, sir,” the wolf responded, pressing a button on the dash.

The temperature increased immediately inside the SUV, and Lydia’s body slowly began to relax.

“Thank you,” she murmured against his chest.

He peered down at the top of her head, inhaling her sweet scent and fighting the urge to kiss her again. There would be time for that later once she and her daughter were safe.

Roman shook off his thoughts and glanced at the little girl only to find her staring back at him with huge, blue eyes.

“Are you Baltha?”

He couldn’t look away from her eyes. Her frailty and tiny, bald head melted his two-thousand-year-old heart. He had to clear his throat to speak. “My name is Roman. But I do know Baltha.”

She sat up so fast her head bumped Lydia’s chin. “You know Baltha?”

The eagerness in her voice was contagious, and Roman tried to recall every word she’d written in her letter to the guardian angel. “I do. He lives on the North Star and has a pet bat named Fangton.”

“How are you feeling, honey?” Lydia interrupted, running her hand up and down Jacie’s back.

“Good. Mama, he knows Baltha and Fangton.”

Lydia sent Roman a grateful look over the top of Jacie’s head. “I know. Isn’t that great?”

“Are you taking us there?” Jacie asked in an excited voice.

The child looked so hopeful Roman couldn’t bring himself to disappoint her. “It’s snowing too hard to get to the North Star tonight, but I will take you there soon. You have my word.”

Lydia met his gaze, a silent thank-you shining from her eyes. She kissed the top of Jacie’s head and pulled her blanket tighter around her. “Go back to sleep, honey. We have a long day tomorrow, and it’s really, really late.”

Jacie’s answer was a jaw-popping yawn and a stretch. She lay back in her mother’s arms, snuggling deep in her blanket. “Good night, Mr. Roman.”

“Night, Jacie.”

A soft, snoring sound came soon after, telling Roman the child slept. He shifted his attention to Lydia. “This disease she has—”

“Leukemia,” she corrected.

“Yes. That. There isn’t anything more that can be done? I mean…”

She shook her head, misery swimming in her eyes. “They’ve done everything they can.”

“But—”

“We’re being followed,” Max announced, taking a sharp right turn.

Roman’s body tensed and his fangs descended. It had to be Simon or one of Svetlana’s goons behind them. “Try calling Madison again and let her know that you are bringing in Lydia Hughes and her daughter. I will be there as soon as possible. Do not stop until you are safely inside the gates. No matter what.”

Silence.

“Max!”

“Understood,” the young shifter growled, meeting Roman’s gaze in the mirror.

Roman nodded before jerking the door open. Frigid air rushed inside the vehicle in a flurry of snow and ice that was sure to freeze his precious cargo.

“What are you doing?” Lydia gasped, gripping his arm with a strength that surprised him.

“Stay with Max. I’ll catch up with you soon.” Roman jumped from the vehicle and into the waiting blizzard before she could respond.

* * * *

“Shut the door,” Max barked, maneuvering the SUV through the storm like a NASCAR driver on the last lap of a race.

He snatched up a cell phone and pressed it to his ear. She couldn’t make out all of his words, only that he apparently reached someone at the compound.

Unbuckling her seatbelt, Lydia hugged her daughter tight against her chest, slid across the seat, and pulled the door closed.

Max tossed the cell onto the passenger seat. “Now, put your belt back on.”

Lydia scrambled back to her side of the vehicle and buckled up without letting go of Jacie. Everything had happened so fast her mind couldn’t seem to process it all. “What’s going on, Max?”

“Roman will take care of our tail. We’re almost to the compound where you and the little one will be safe. Just hold on.”

“Do you think he will be okay? What if there is more than one of them?” The thought of Roman being hurt, or worse, scared her more than she wanted to admit.

Max glanced in the rearview mirror. “Roman didn’t gain this territory by chance, Miss Lydia. And it doesn’t matter how many there are. They most likely won’t survive the night.”

Lydia pulled Jacie’s blanket tighter around her frail body, grateful that she’d slept through Roman’s leap from the vehicle. Max’s words registered in her brain but did little to slow her racing heart. “I hope you’re right.”

The rest of the trip passed by in a blur as images of vampires bleeding out in the streets played havoc with Lydia’s psyche. Among the many faces rested Roman’s, still and pale with lifeless eyes.

Max’s voice broke through her morbid thoughts, bringing her out of her daze.

“We’re here.” He pushed a button on the visor, and a big black gate slid open to reveal a massive white building with bars on the windows. Lights rested on both corners, spilling out over a yard surrounded by a cement wall.

The site was remarkable with more lights than she could count. It reminded her of something straight out of an Al Pacino movie.
Hello, Scarface
.

Max pulled through the drive, and the gate closed behind them.

“What is this place?”

He pressed another button, and a garage door opened, displaying a duplicate black SUV, a silver Hummer, and a red Corvette. “It’s Roman’s compound—or office as he calls it.”

“He drives a ‘Vette?” Lydia couldn’t picture the big vampire behind the wheel of the little red car.

“That’s Madison’s.”

Jealousy, strong and sure, surged through Lydia with the strength of a train. She cleared her throat, keeping her voice as light and nonchalant as possible. “Madison’s?”

It obviously hadn’t worked if Max’s expression was any indication. “Nothing to worry about there. She just works for him.”

“Oh, I wasn’t worried. Just curious is all.”
In this line of work, she probably looks like a man with muscles bigger than Roman’s.

Max jumped out and opened Lydia’s door, nodding toward a sleeping Jacie. “Here, let me take her.”

“I’ve got her.” Lydia climbed down on shaky legs, her back aching from her recent fall and Jacie’s added weight. The room tilted as she took a step forward.

“Whoa.” To Lydia’s surprise, Max scooped her up into his arms, lifting her and Jacie as if they weighed nothing.

He stopped in front of a large silver door and waved to something along the top that Lydia couldn’t see. The door opened inward to a brightly lit hallway with white walls and black tile floors. It reminded Lydia of a hospital.

The pounding of Max’s boots echoed around them as he stepped over the threshold and stomped his way down the hall.

“You can put me down now,” Lydia suggested when he came to a halt in what could only be described as the Batcave.

“Only if you let me take her.”

Lydia hesitated, staring into Max’s big brown eyes. Something in their depths told her she could trust him. “Okay then.”

Max lowered her to the floor and held out his arms. “I won’t let anything happen to her. You have my word.”

With a short nod, Lydia reluctantly handed over her precious burden. The weight being lifted from her person was instantly gratifying, and her shoulders sagged in relief. “Thank you.”

He sent her an understanding smile that made him appear older than his years. “No problem.”

A door abruptly opened to admit a gorgeous redhead with legs that seemed to go on forever. Her eyes were even more beautiful than her hair, if that was possible. The color was a mixture of smoky amber and whiskey, enhanced even more by her chestnut mane.

The jeans she wore rested below her exposed navel. Her black boots matched a tank top that hugged her breasts and accented her toned arms. The woman was completely breathtaking.

“Perfect timing, Max. I just refilled your doggy bowl.”

She grinned at his answering growl before shifting her stunning gaze to Lydia. “Hi, I’m Madison. You must be Miss Hughes.”

The owner of the red Corvette. Naturally
. There was no way she could compete with someone like Madison, Lydia thought with a pang of jealousy. She wanted to turn and run so bad her foot twitched; she extended her hand instead. “Please, just Lydia.”

“This must be Jacie.” Madison inclined her lovely red head toward the bundle in Max’s arms.

“Are you going to ask twenty questions or let us in?” Max demanded from his dominating height. The kid had to be well over six foot tall.

“Chill out, puppy. I was waiting for Margo to send Ivy back to lock up.” She glanced behind her before waving them inside.

Max shook his head. “Roman isn’t going to be happy about her being out.”

“Well, she needed to feed. And besides, she can’t be more than sixteen years old…” Her voice trailed off, and a shadow passed through her eyes.

Taking hold of Lydia’s hand, Max stepped over the threshold. “I don’t know how old she is, but she did tell me that Svetlana snatched her off the streets.”

“She was a prostitute?” Madison asked, closing the door behind them.

“From what I could gather.” He lifted Jacie higher against his chest. “Do you have their rooms ready?”

“Yes, of course.” She stepped around them and took the lead. “This way.”

They followed the gorgeous redhead down a wide hallway with dozens of doors lining the walls. It reminded Lydia of a Grand Hotel she’d once stayed in as a child.

Madison came to a stop in front of a door that had the number twelve artfully carved above it. She threw the door open and strode inside.

Lydia couldn’t believe her eyes. The room boasted of an antique-looking, king- sized bed adorned with numerous pillows and a down comforter. Matching lamps sat on the nightstands and a huge oil painting hung directly above it. “Is that—”

“A Vincent van Gogh painting? Perhaps.” Madison winked and strode toward a small kitchen tucked against the back wall.

“The fridge is fully stocked. If you should need anything that we haven’t thought of, please don’t hesitate to call. See the gold button on the wall there?” She pointed to an intercom next to the bed. “Just give it a push, and it will reach housekeeping. They are really good about responding quickly.”

After showing her the bathroom, Madison opened an adjoining door and presented Lydia with a magnificent lavender-colored room. “Your daughter will sleep here.”

Lydia held back a gasp. The purple canopy bed was breathtaking with its velvet comforter and pillow shams. A large white bear sat in a chair in the corner of the room, but didn’t hold a candle to the dozens that hung from the ceiling in different shades of purples and pinks.

“As nice as this all is, she’ll be sleeping with me.” Lydia couldn’t imagine Jacie waking in a strange place alone.

“As you wish, but it will be here if you should change your mind.” Madison smiled, moving back toward the kitchen area.

Max trailed over to the king-sized bed and gently laid Jacie’s small form among the overstuffed pillows. Lydia noticed his hand trembled as he pulled the sheet over her and softly touched her bald head. “I’ll just go get your bags.” He left without a backward glance.

“His parents and three-year-old sister were killed a few years ago…”