ROMANCE: Mason (Bad Boy Alpha Male Stepbrother Romance Boxset) (New Adult Contemporary Stepbrother Romance Collection) (250 page)

“We’re all entitled to think what we like,” I said, not looking at her. I could see her smiling in my mind’s eye.

“You’re defending him.”

“Am not,” I said, giving her a level stare. She shrugged and bit into a peach.

It was almost dawn when I walked across campus. I was exhausted. Boredom was more draining than any kind of work, and the week had been colorless and uneventful. I’d hoped something intense would happen, after last week’s events it had seemed only right that it should escalate to a point. But nothing of the sort had happened.

“Night-crawling?” a voice asked me from the shadows. I jumped and a shiver ran over my body, but Christian stepped into the dim light of the moon.

“We’re all night crawlers, genius,” I said. We were vampires, after all. He shrugged and fell into step with me.

“Should you even be here?” I asked. “Shouldn’t you be at home, or something?”

As far as I knew I was the only senior that stayed on campus. The residences were more for the juniors that were sent here from other academies. If they proved themselves, they could stay, and usually the families then moved closer. I’d been the only one that had had a definite place here from the start, thanks to Kirilov’s influences.

Christian stopped and I did too. He turned to me.

“I just wanted to catch you alone,” he said. “I haven’t really had a chance to talk to you.”

“Oh? Have you found something out?” A shiver of excitement ran through me. But Christian’s eyes remained dark and steady. I realized suddenly how close he was. I could feel the warmth of his body radiating from him. His chest was broad and strong, and about the height of my face. I looked up at him, and he smiled down at me. He lifted his hand and brought it slowly to my face, so he wouldn’t startle me.

When his fingers touched my cheek, the electricity that I now associated with Christian hummed through my veins. My heart beat a tattoo against my ribs, and my breathing was shallow.

His face inched closer to mine. We were surrounded by shadows, and the night was deathly quiet, with no wind to rustle even the leaves of the trees around us. Only one shadow behind Christian moved.

I closed my eyes, waiting for his lips to touch mine.

My brain whirred, putting two and two together. Nothing was supposed to be moving, and I knew the red gleam that had traveled with that dark shape. My eyes shot open.

Christian’s mouth was almost on mine, and in any other circumstance I would have cursed the reason why this kiss was stopped.

But now wasn’t the time.

“Behind you!” I shouted.

I dove past Christian before he had a chance to turn around, and tackled the dark creature to the ground. Hands and feet flashed in the light, and red eyes told me it was the man from the attack a week ago. He was small, my size, but he was strong, stronger than a normal man or vampire.

Still, I fought with what I had. I used my fangs, nicking the skin close to his ear and he gurgled around a strangled moan. Christian was next to me, and he threw himself into the fight, pinning down the man when he managed to get away. He slugged him across the face twice, and then he managed to pin his arms behind his back.

Christian had weight advantage, and by the looks of things, he was even stronger than the walker. That was something spectacular, even for a male vampire.

He was a beauty in battle, all brawn, no backing down. His casual indifferent attitude was replaced by that of a warrior, and he fought with a fluid motion I’d never seen before.

He yanked the man up onto his feet. Blood soaked the front of his shirt, leaking from where I’d bitten him. I’d struck a main artery, as we learned to do as vampires, and he was going to suffer from this one.

“Guards! I yelled. The high wall that surrounded the campus was wide and magic-wielding vampires, the only vampires immune to sun, patrolled it around the clock. Two of them should have heard the struggle, at least, and with my call more should come.

But there was nothing.

“Strange,” I said out loud. “Think you can hold him?”

“He’s not going anywhere,” Christian said, giving his prisoner a little shove to prove his point. The little man scowled and glared at Christian with hatred, but he tried nothing.

“Can you get him closer to the school? I’ll see if I can find someone.”

I ran off into the night. I had to make it fast. Sunrise would be any minute and then we vampires were screwed.

I ran through the corridors, calling out for anyone who would listen, but there was no one to answer. After a couple of minutes the stress about the time drove me back outside.

I walked to where Christian stood with the walker. His back was to me. It looked like they were talking.

As I watched, the walker shifted into eagle form, and flew out of Christian’s grasp

“No!” I called, running the last two steps. It was too late. The eagle disappeared into the night.

“You let him get away!” I cried out. Christian looked annoyed.

“I didn’t think the bugger was going to change,” he said, offended.

I took a deep breath.

“Sorry,” I said. Christian didn’t answer.

“What were you saying to him?”

“I…” he hesitated a moment. Why? “I wanted to find out how he’d gotten in. But he wouldn’t tell me. He was barely coherent, knows more swear words than anything else.

“Bottom of the paranormal food chain,” I said.

Christian nodded and turned to me. He rubbed his elbow.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Just knocked it in the struggle. Battle scars.” He grinned. “Better than drunken ones.”

I studied him. He looked rugged and wild, like an animal. His eyes still had battle lust in them, and they were stunning, liquid and deep like the night.

“We have to get inside,” I said.

“I need to get home,” he said.

“You’ll never make it before dawn,” I said. Already the sky was turning gray, the inky black of night making space for the light.

“You’re right,” he said, looking like he’d only thought of that now. I chalked it up to the kind of night we’d just had.

“Come on, I’ll see if we can find you a place to stay for the day,” I said.

“I’d really like to just stay with you,” he said. When I looked at him again his battle front was gone. He looked a little vulnerable, hunching, sinking in on himself.

At that moment I realized it was what I wanted, too. Christian had been growing on me the past two weeks. But after tonight, seeing him in action… he was a force to reckon with, and power attracted me.

I stood on tiptoes, and tipped my head up to him, letting him finish what he’d started. He bent down and touched his lips to mine. The buzzing that reverberated through my body was different, fuzzy. Softer than it had been before the attack. But it made my body light up, and I leaned into him, relishing his closeness.

“I’d love you to stay…” I whispered, then sighed. “But this is a school, and for having a guy in my room I could get expelled. Let me take you to the floor matron, okay? She’ll sort you out.”

Christian looked unhappy, but he nodded. I led him into the building as the first fingers of sunlight reached over the horizon.

5

The school practically vibrated with the excitement of a good gossip story, and I felt ridiculous that I was the last to find out what was going on when I walked into the doors with Christian at my side.

He’d stayed in a room on the bottom floor of the building, three floors away from me. But I’d been able to sense him the whole day, his presence like a smell in the air, even though I couldn’t compare it to anything and say ‘there, that’s what it smelled like’.

“Adi!” Beth called to me when she saw me, and jogged over to us. She gave Christian a nod, and gave me an awkward hug that paired with a quizzical glance and a jerk of her head towards Christian.

I shook my head, bearably noticeable, but she saw it. We had our ways of talking about people in front of people. Something had happened between us, she understood. We would talk about it later.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“They caught the walker!” she cried out, and a shock of surprise jarred me.

“What?”

Christian had come to life next to me, his face showing an emotion I couldn’t read. It looked like shock or worry, or something that didn’t make sense.

“He’d been wounded, a gash in his neck where he’d lost a lot of blood. The guards had been distracted by someone messing with the security cameras this side of the school—“

So that was where they’d been.

‘”—but when they got back, an eagle lay on the wall. It changed shape as they were watching it. The investigator Cole got identified it as the one that made the attack, it’s prints matching the ones on the blade they’d found.”

They’d found a blade? I hadn’t even known about it. Relief wrapped around me like a blanket. It was over. I didn’t have to play hero anymore. The walker was in prison, and Boris was safe.

“I can’t believe it,” I said. So my bite had been true, enough to stop the creature after all. I didn’t trick myself into thinking for one minute that Christian’s thorough attack helped me. I didn’t say anything about our involvement to Beth. When I looked at Christian, he gave me a knowing smile.

Beth saw another of her friends, and rushed away from us to spread the news even further. I turned to Christian.

“Well, that’s over,” I said to him. “I can’t believe it.”

“Looks like you’re a hero,” he said, planting a kiss on my nose. I wiped it off with the back of my hand and shook my hair out of my face. I reached up so he could give me a proper kiss.

The thrill was still there. I don’t know if I would ever get used to kissing Christian. A strange tingling shot through my body, much like I’d felt the first time I’d seen him. But I ignored it. The danger was gone. I knew that now.

“Adelaide Frost to the office,” the intercom announced, and I rolled my eyes. There wasn’t even a response from any of the students. This was a regular occurrence.

“Maybe they’re going to recognize you being a hero,” Christian said.

“Or maybe I’m just in trouble again,” I answered. He gave me a lopsided grin, and sauntered off towards a group of students that were talking animatedly, no doubt about the walker.

When I reached Cole’s office, Kirilov was sitting in a chair on the other side of the desk. My heart did a little flip.

He was okay.

He had a small line of stitches above his left temple, and the yellow of old bruises colored his skin slightly, but other than that he was the picture of a leader.

“There you are,” he said to me and smiled.

“Mr. Kirilov has requested a private meeting with you,” Cole said to me. “You may use my private lounge.”

Boris thanked him, and Cole left his office. We moved to the corner where there were two armchairs and a low coffee table. Someone had already prepared two cups of tea and a plate of biscuits.

I sat down and grabbed a biscuit, nibbling on it. Boris looked at me with love and affection, different than what he used on his followers.

This love was reserved for me. As a daughter.

“How have you been?” he asked.

“Better, now that I know the walker has been caught.

Boris nodded. “I feel safer. But of course, with someone like you around, I have nothing to fear.” He winked at me. He was referring to me theatrics during the attack.

“If it weren’t for you, I might be dead.”

“Mr. Harris was the hero,” I said.

“But he had your warning to go by.”

We smiled with each other, and Boris took a sip of his tea.

We talked about small things, about marks and teachers and friends. I told him about Christian.

“I haven’t heard of him,” Boris said, frowning. “I make a point of knowing every student that attends the school.”

“He’s new,” I said. “And he’s really nice.”

Boris smiled.

“You like him?”

I looked down at my hands, feeling shy under Boris’s scrutiny. Finally I nodded.

“I think I do. Yes.”

Boris smiled, but his eyes stayed worried.

“I’ll be okay, Boris,” I said, taking another biscuit. “I have to start dating at some point, you know.”

Boris laughed. “I pity the man that has to suffer your wrath,” he joked. “You’re more than a handful.”

“I’m sure the right one will be able to hold his own. Christian will have to prove that he can keep up with me.”

“…and your track record,” Boris added. I made a face. He knew all about my continued visits to the principal’s office.

“Are you sure you’re fitting in here?” Boris asked.

“It’s a bit late to be asking me that, isn’t it?” I answered.

“I know. School is almost over. But this is all you know. It would only be right for you to move on to an elite university. I just want to be sure this is the kind of crowd you want to move forward with.”