United Service (32 page)

She sat up, pulling her feet from his hands. “Sterling, I will stay with you forever, but I haven’t said yes to being your wife.”

He needed to explain. “When writing the initial agreement about the Colony, the team I belong to, and the federal government, certain provisions were made. Things like turning humans and having them join the team, future children we might have, and of course any future spouses.” He considered how exactly to explain this. “Originally the government drafted the word spouse into the contract, but the verbiage was changed to the word mate.”

Kate’s eyes narrowed. “Why did they change the wording? I always thought they were the same in our culture.”

The truth embarrassed Sterling to admit, but he wanted no secrets between the two of them. “They changed the wording because of me.”

“I don’t understand. Doesn’t it mean the same thing? Being a spouse just means a human wedding was performed.”

“No. It’s not exactly the same thing. Legally you can only have one wife or husband at a time. With my special needs, my ability’s side effect, the term mate is like a wife, but implies multiple women. Think of it as long term girlfriends that live with you.” He took a breath and continued, “With the amount of women needed to keep me sane, a wife was deemed impossible to satisfy all of my needs, especially if I were to impregnate her and be unable to enjoy her sexually.”

He paused momentarily, allowing his words to sink in. Thankfully, he had been honest with her about his needs and past women. She only nodded as though she understood. He then continued, “Every member of the colony may only take one mate to live with them here in Fang Manor.” He noticed her eyes furrow, so he explained, “It’s what we’ve nicknamed this house. I said it as a joke, but the name stuck. Anyway, my contract states that I may take as many as three mates with the condition of renegotiating that number at any time in the future if more are needed. No official wedding needs to take place, but I do have to formally declare you to be one of my mates so you can live in the house with me.”

“Well then,” she said taking a breath and looking around the room. Her voice cracked as though in fear as she asked, “What number am I?”

“What? The only one.”

She nodded, but not in agreement. Her body was stiff and tears welled in her eyes. “The first of three then? Or the only one now that the older human ones have died off?”

“No,” he protested as he reached out and unclenched her crossed arms so he could hold her hands. “You are the only mate I want. There will never be anyone else. There’s never been anyone else. I swear.”

“But what if we have children and your side effect forces you to seek out another mate? I’m not going to share you, Sterling.”

He loved how possessive she became. “I won’t need anyone else.” He caressed her cheek and gazed into her eyes. “Your touch alone heals me. You bring my body to peace, even without the sex. I’ll miss making love to you when you’re nice and round with our child, and afterward when your body is recovering, but I love you and I will never be with anyone else. My heart belongs only to you.”

He kissed her forehead and sensed the relief she felt off her skin. “There is a form the federal government will need both of us to sign which declares you as my mate. My father, as our group leader, also has to sign the form and approve it.”

Her eyebrow rose, “What do you mean a form?”

“It’s not a marriage certificate or anything like that. It means you can live in this house with me and blood will be provided for you courtesy of the government, just as it is provided for me.”

Her hand quickly came up, the flat palm facing him. “Are you asking me to move in with you?”

“Well, yes. If that’s okay with you. I guess we could move somewhere else if you want.”

Kate scanned the room. “Things are moving fast. Let me think about all of this.”

He considered kissing her when she stifled a yawn. “It’s late.” He stood up and set the alarm clock on the nightstand. “Do you want something to sleep in? I can get you a T–shirt or something. Sorry, but I don’t own any pajamas.”

“What do you normally sleep in?”

He removed his shirt and tossed it on the chair near the bed. He flashed a smile and answered her. “I sleep in the nude. Always have.”

She eyed his entire body as though mentally undressing him. “My hands are numb. Help me undress and I’ll join you in the middle of the bed.”

Sterling knew neither of them had eaten since this morning, and his hunger pains were growing. Even though they both needed some sleep, he found her too beautiful to ignore, and he really did want some blood. “You’ve never experienced blood lust before, have you?”

“No. My barrier prevents it from coming on.”

“With your barrier down I think you’ll enjoy it. It’s like Viagra for vampires, not that I think we need such help, but it should be fun.” He went to his small refrigerator to bring back syringes of blood. He heated them in the small water bath that sat atop the refrigerator.

He massaged her hands as he waited for the blood to warm up. He noticed her eyes turning black, and he knew his were already black as well. This time he was going to remember to wear a condom. He set a brand new box on the nightstand and helped her to undress. She regained feeling throughout her entire body by the time the blood was ready for consumption.

His father would be expecting noise from Sterling’s room tonight. That would be another button to press that would upset the man about his love life, and Sterling didn’t want to disappoint the man. Sterling did think to warn Kate about the thin walls, but he loved to hear her moan and growl. Now that she was a bit more healed, she was definitely going to be loud tonight, he would see to that.

Kate and Sterling slept late. The day was a Saturday. Many members of the Colony would be around and not in the city, hard at work. Sterling wanted to introduce Kate to everyone. Sure, she had met several of them at the campsite, but did not have an opportunity to really know them. Family was important to Kate, and if Sterling wanted to change her mind about marrying him, he thought this was the best way. She needed to see his family as her family.

He pinned Kate’s hands and feet, which would always bother him, but she wanted to make some phone calls and couldn’t be by his side every minute. The two walked down the first set of stairs. Sterling pointed down the long hallway towards the row of shut doors. “The house has only bedrooms and bathrooms on this floor. Downstairs is the kitchen, living room, and my Aunt Sulie’s bedroom.” When the two reached the bottom of the stairs, and were standing in the large living room, Sterling added, “The basement contains a conference room, medical clinic, spare bedroom, and computers.”

Kate managed well with her pins, although she was a bit clumsy on the stairs. “Your home is beautiful. It’s wonderful that you can live together like this.”

They found Jackie and her kids in the kitchen having a late lunch. The stench of human food filled the kitchen, which caused Sterling to gag slightly, so he focused more on the aroma of the coffee brewing. “Hello, Jackie. I would like to introduce you to Kate. Kate, this is Jackie and her kids Sinclair and Nicole.”

Kate nodded a hello, but Jackie got up from the solid wood table to shake her hand, “Hello Kate. Nice to meet you.” She rubbed her belly as she took her seat once again.

“When are you due?” Kate asked, looking at the hugely pregnant female vampire.

Jackie signed. “Girl, I’m past due. I’m so ready to deliver this baby, but she’ll let me know when she’s comin’.”

“You already know the baby is a girl?” Kate asked.

“Mmm hmm, this is baby number three. After a while you don’t want to be surprised. You want to be prepared.” Jackie nibbled on a slice of cheesecake and moaned softly. “I’m going to miss eating once this baby comes. Overall, I don’t miss a blood only diet, but one of the few perks of being pregnant is enjoying human food. You crave the stuff.” She scraped the plate with her fork and finished the cake. “Can’t believe I won’t even like the smell of cake again once I pop this kid out.”

Kate glanced at the two children in the room, and kept quiet, but Sterling knew what she wanted to ask.

“Jackie was turned, same as her husband William. As such, they can each claim two kids in their family lines. Of course, the first two are half–breeds like me, so their children, if they’re not human or half–breeds, will claim the family line.”

Kate turned to glance at Sterling. “I never even thought to ask about your family line, Sterling.”

He shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t care about such things. Our kids will be purebreds and can enjoy full protection from the Council, as well as all Council’s other meaningless crap.” The expression on Kate’s face told him the Council was important to her, so he quickly said, “We can claim one in your family line and one in my father’s. It’s not a big deal, Kate.”

Jackie smiled. “My, my. Already talking about kids. Who would have thought.” Jackie struggled once again to get up. “I brewed some decaf. Would either of you like a cup?”

“We’ll help ourselves, Jackie,” Sterling said. “Please, sit down. Can I get you anything?”

“Nah, I’m fine. The exercise will help get this baby here sooner anyway. I’m waiting for Sulie to come back. I want to ask her if the baby is coming today or not.”

Sterling spotted Kate’s confused expression, so he reminded her, “My Aunt Sulie can tell you your medical condition.”

“She’s the lady that looked over the kidnapped kids, I do remember her.”

Jackie nodded as she poured herself another cup of decaf. “That’s right. She stayed the night with those kids. She was particularly worried about the transitioned boy. The parents of all the kids were to fly in by now, so she said she would be home tonight. She can tell me when this one is ready to be born.” Jackie let out a deep breath. “
If
I make it until tonight.” When Sterling walked towards her, she held up a hand. “No. No. I’m good. No contractions or anything yet. Just me being too dang tired. Besides, when Sulie left she had told me I still had a while to wait.”

The two kids finished their lunch and placed the dishes in the sink. “You two go and watch a movie or something,” Jackie told them. “Stay around the house and don’t go anywhere. Your father should be around here somewhere.” Jackie took a seat at the table and motioned to Sterling and Kate. “Come sit down.”

Setting a coffee mug in front of Kate, Sterling said, “You haven’t met William, Jackie’s husband. He didn’t come to the camp with the team because he wanted to be here for Jackie.”

Jackie took a sip of her coffee. “I hear you were the nanny that witnessed one of the kidnappings.”

“Kate is going to give a statement to Dixon and Brandon today,” Sterling told Jackie. Turning towards Kate, he explained, “Dixon and Brandon are our team directors.” Sterling looked at Jackie. “Would you like to lie down? You look tired.”

“I think I will put my feet up. I’ll go join the kids for a movie.” She stood up and looked at the mess in the kitchen. “I can’t leave this mess though. The maid is off this week.”

“I’ll clean up. Go lay down.” Sterling ordered. “You need your rest.”

“Thank you, Sterling. Boy, you sure are in a good mood. I can’t remember you being this happy.” She then looked over to Kate. “It was nice meeting you, dear.”

Once Jackie was gone, Sterling started collecting the dishes from the table. “Just relax, Kate. I got this.” He placed the dishes on the counter next to where several others were stacked. He reached for the dish soap and started filling the sink.

“Now, isn’t that a picture,” Kate said.

“What do you mean?”

“A man doing housework. This doesn’t happen in my family.” She noticed the pristine dishwasher next to the sink. “Why don’t you use the dishwasher?”

“I don’t know how to use it. Besides, there aren’t many dishes. I’ll wash them by hand.”

“Seriously? Come on Sterling, it’s not that hard. Here, I’ll show you.” She walked over to the dishwasher and started loading the dirty dishes. While she showed him which dishes went on top, which on the bottom, she asked, “So Sulie can tell a lot of medical information just by looking at someone? That’s an amazing gift. I guess everyone got something cool but us.”

Sterling smiled, “I think our abilities combined are amazing.”

“True,” she giggled back to him.

His mind filled with the many reasons their abilities together were a sheer delight, but he quickly refocused. He needed to focus on family and integrating Kate into it. “My Aunt Sulie’s ability is convenient.” Reaching over to her, he stopped her as she loaded a glass into the top of the dishwasher. He paused to think about how to ask his next question delicately. “Do you always remain at your base age?”

She bit her lower lip and confided, “My father lists me as handicapped. He is in tight with the Vampire Council and has always made sure that I have plenty of blood. I can only feel hunger pains when my barrier is down, which means I’m usually hungry at night, but I’m asleep, and then I wake up because I want to eat something,” she motioned with her hands in a circular pattern. “It’s a whole circular thing with me walking up, being in pain, and then sitting there paralyzed and hungry. My father claimed me as handicapped so I don’t have to go through such a hassle.”