Wicked Games - Moon Kissed Part 16

"It's been over a month. There's no way he could have survived as Elvira's blood slave. She must have turned him."

"He would have told me."

"Maybe he intends to tell you when you meet. You can't go see him. I won't allow it."

"I'm not asking your permission." She slid out of bed, thinking it was time to get dressed. A woman could not survive on s.e.x alone. Breakfast was in order, even if it was two in the afternoon. "I'm going to see him."

She tugged a loose sundress over her body and took off.

"Then I'm coming with you."

Heloise was not in the kitchen, and Bella was glad for that. She wanted an apple, and a few minutes to think about her friend without the wolf bellowing at her.

Peace was not to be had.

Her lover padded in, wearing jeans and a frown. His limp was always more noticeable when his mood was foul.

"Last time you came along, Seth clammed up." She bit into a juicy green apple.

Don't look at the half-dressed werewolf's muscles. You can't stay angry at the man's ripped abs, and you know it.

"You're staying home, if I have to find a leash," she said.

He snarled. So she'd used one of the bad words. Get over it. "And if I lock you in the bedroom?" he challenged.

"You wouldn't dare."

"I will if it means keeping you safe."

"He's a friend, Severo. Seriously, I'm adjusting to the possessive stuff, but you take it too far sometimes."

"You have no idea what his mind-set is. And if he is a vampire, he is not the same friend you used to know. Don't be stupid about this, Bella. You know better."

She did know better.

Setting the apple on the counter, Bella stretched her arms along it and laid her head on an elbow. "I don't want to believe it." She stared at the framed picture tucked behind the toaster. "Don't you have friends you worry about? Family?"

"I have no family. And friends are few and far between."

"So who is this?" She tugged out the picture and displayed it to him.

His intake of breath made Bella stand up straight. In the picture, a pretty red-haired woman snuggled up to Severo, beaming, as was he. Which had startled her the first time she'd seen it. Severo was not a smiley fellow.

He seemed ready to grab the photo away but wasn't sure how to do it.

"She means something to you. What's her name? And why haven't I met her? Is she an old girlfriend?"

"Enough!" He s.n.a.t.c.hed the photo and studied it for long seconds before tucking it into a drawer. "She's someone I used to know."

"Really? Her picture is everywhere. Over by the TV, in the hallway. Down in the laundry room."

"When have you been to the laundry room?"

"I like to chat with Heloise. Which has nothing to do with the question you're trying to avoid. If she was a lover, I'd understand.

We both had lives before meeting one another. I want to know who is important to you, Severo. Is she to you as Seth is to me?

Talk to me."

He drew a hand over his mouth and jaw, delaying a reply. Looking about, he paced. Always he became antsy when he was riled or scented something wrong.

"She was a lover," Bella decided and took another bite of apple.

"She was not," he hissed. The ferocity in his stare made her choke on the apple. "And this conversation is over."

Chapter 13.

B ella sorted through her few dresses in the large closet, which, surprisingly, held only a few items of Severo's clothing. The man did like his dark jeans and s.h.i.+rts. She guessed that made less work for Heloise. But if he'd lived for so long, surely by now he should have collected a wardrobe.

Or maybe not. Though the house was grand, the man lived a simple life, which she admired.

Yet she still wasn't sure what he did. Something related to buying forested real estate to create a wolf preserve. But how did he make his money in order to do that?

Feeling only a little guilty about leaving for town tonight, she decided she had every right to go out by herself. And it was to meet a friend. He couldn't begrudge her that.

Though she knew he meant well, wanting to protect her. But she needed to keep her life, as she'd hoped she'd made clear to him.

It wasn't as though he didn't have a whole life she wasn't a part of.

That woman in the pictures. She had to have been a lover. Bella could feel it, no matter how much he denied it. And he had called out a woman's name that night the vampires had attacked in her loft.

Did she have a rival for Severo's heart?

Jealousy flushed her chest. And then she realized she was behaving like him, getting angry over something that likely wasn't a problem.

Though she had to admit, Severo's jealousy did make her feel special. No man had ever been so fiercely protective of her. There he went again, making a girl feel like a princess.

The bedroom door opened, and Bella didn't bother to turn around. She wore spike heels, panties and a bra. Let him ogle.

"Her name is Aby," he said.

Bella lowered the red dress she held and turned to him.

Severo, head down, limped a few paces. "She lived with me for ten years before moving out last year. She was...everything to me."

Ten years? And they hadn't been lovers? Now this was interesting. But his edgy tone cautioned her. Don't rile the beast, Bella.

Leave him to simmer.

"Sorry. It seems a sore spot with you. I shouldn't have asked."

"You need to know. I shouldn't hold things back from you, Bella. Know that I try to be as forthright as I'm able."

"I know you do. I trust that you'll tell me what you think I need to know when the time is right. So thanks for giving me that part of you."

He nodded. "I'm going out to look at the car before you leave."

And with that, he was gone.

Bella stared at the open doorway. She had grown accustomed to her lover's constant presence, and so his swift absence p.r.i.c.ked at her heart.

She stepped around the bed and pulled open a dresser drawer by the bed where she knew he kept a photo of the woman.

Ten years.

She traced the woman's face and Severo's beaming smile.

"Will you ever smile so big for me? Or is she always in your heart? What did she mean to you if you weren't lovers?"

A child? A friend? A relative? "Maybe Heloise would know?"

He held the Mercedes' keys and waited for Bella. She had insisted on going into town to meet Seth without him. He knew she'd meet trouble.

After their argument this afternoon about Aby, he did owe Bella further explanation.

It hadn't been an argument. More like him clamming up and not knowing how to face the feelings he'd kept buried for more than a year.

For ten years he had shared his life with her. Now Aby was gone. Stolen by another man.

He'd given Bella what information he could about his and Aby's relations.h.i.+p. It wasn't much. Perhaps he could give her more. But how did he release the feelings that sat in his chest like a black ma.s.s unwilling to be pried out?

It was generous of her to say she would accept what he could give her when he felt right about it. "Bella. My Bella."

"You're not coming along?"

Surprised he'd not caught her scent, Severo hardened his frown. She wore red, and that angered him. Seth was just a friend, he reminded himself. Just as he and Aby had been friends?

He attempted to remain stoic. "No. I promised I would not."

"You won't follow me?"

Well, he hadn't promised that.

"At least stay out of sight, if you do. I know you will follow me."

"I loved her," he said and clutched the keys tightly. "Aby. I loved her. I could have made her my mate, but she didn't want that. I respected her for that."

Bella dropped her purse on the front seat and gave him an expectant look. "You don't have to talk about this."

"I need you to know me."

"Thought we were taking it slow now. I won't meet the werewolf until the next full moon. I don't need to meet the old girlfriend.

Ever."

"She wasn't my girlfriend. She was my..." Even after all these years, he still didn't know how to describe their relations.h.i.+p. "Aby is a familiar. Do you know what familiars are?"

She shook her head.

"They are bridges for demons from their realm to this one. She is a tool. And she's a shape-s.h.i.+fter like me. But familiars s.h.i.+ft to cats."

"Really?"

He could read her thoughts and answered them. "Cats and wolves do not get along, nor should werewolves and familiars. But I found Aby when she was a kitten-rather, the wolf did-and led her home. She had just begun a new life. Familiars have nine of them. They forget their experiences, though, from one life to the next."Aby grew up here, and we were like friends and relatives and lovers. Though we never made love, I wanted to have that relations.h.i.+p. And there were times I could sense the same desire in her, but mostly, she thought of me as a brother figure."

Bella didn't speak, which made the confession easier. Or maybe not.

"She fell in love last year. With a good man. A demon hunter. Someone I did not initially care for, but now I'm glad she loves him."

"Someone you didn't care for? The poor man. I can imagine the rough time you must have given him." Bella's smile soothed Severo's anxiety. "It must have been hard for you."

"It still is. I miss her. She doesn't call often enough. It's been months since I've spoken to her."

"Maybe you should call her."

"No, she's on the road all the time. She and her highwayman."

"Highwayman?"

"He's a demon hunter. Bit of a celebrity in the paranormal realm. I didn't like his c.o.c.ksureness when I first met him. I felt threatened. But we've come to an understanding."

"Sounds like you've decided to accept him, if only because he means so much to Aby."

"That's about it."

He bowed his head, and Bella stroked his cheek. He loved her touch. The warmth of her, standing so close, yet not threatening, felt exquisite. She accepted him.

"Aby is who the wolf thinks about when he howls to the moon, I am sure. They used to get along, the wolf and the cat. It's bizarre to imagine, but we were happy."

She kissed him, barely touching his mouth. "Is it all right, then, with me? I don't want to step on her memory."