After Sundown: Redemption (9 page)

Christian knew, without a doubt, he could take her. He could seduce her body to the point that she was pleading with him to make love to her. But he didn’t want it that way. Not with Alyssa. He had to know she wanted him.

“Alyssa, are you sure? Tell me now,
palomita
, because if we continue, I won’t be able to stop. Do you understand?”

Alyssa nodded, but he waited patiently. He wanted to hear her make this decision. Say the words. Her eyes pulled at him, the heat in them screaming her desire.

“I need you to tell me, Alyssa. I won’t go on until I know for sure that this is what you want.”

“I want you, Christian. Don’t stop.” Her voice was throaty, filled with passion.

He needed no other urging. With a growl he let the predator in him loose. Alyssa was his.

Chapter Five

Christian slowly worked Alyssa’s pants lower. Her skin felt like the silky material of her suit. He splayed his fingers over the soft curve of her stomach. The image of a baby growing inside her came crashing into his consciousness. His hands stilled their exploration. His body shook as unfamiliar emotions washed over him. He had never thought about children before. Why now? How did this mortal affect him so profoundly?

Alyssa squeezed her fingers tightly in his hair. She made needy sounds in her throat. He hardened to the point of pain. His thoughts reverted to only hunger and need. She pulled his head to her body. The scent of green apples and sunshine filled his senses. Wrapping his hands around her waist, he pulled her closer. He skimmed his lips and tongue over her skin, savoring the taste of her. Moving lower, he got lost in the delights of her body.

The sound didn’t reach him until he felt Alyssa stiffen. The persistent rap rubbed him the wrong way. He raised his head and glared at the sound. Someone was knocking on Alyssa’s apartment door. Christian growled. He pressed closer to her and his hold tightened possessively.
She Is Mine!
That thought pounded over and over in his head as the beast threatened to overtake him.

Not now. Not
now
! Alyssa needed this, needed Christian in a way she had never experienced before. To stop would be difficult, even painful. The feel of his mouth, lapping at her, his hands holding her tight, his silky hair beneath her fingers. It was too good.

She thought about ignoring the knock. Maybe whoever was pounding on the door would go away. The knocking continued, louder, until it became a frantic staccato that she feared would never stop.

“Alyssa? Honey, are you in there?”

Alyssa’s shoulder’s sagged in resignation. She had to answer the door. She had forgotten that she promised to meet her aunt here after her speech. And knowing her aunt, if she didn’t answer the door, it wouldn’t be too long until she called the police. Ever since Alyssa’s mother committed suicide, her Aunt Joyce had become the proverbial protective mother hen. Most of the time, Alyssa appreciated her aunt’s concern, but now was definitely not one of those times.

With a groan, she reluctantly pulled her hands from Christian’s hair and tried to push away from him. His only response was a soft growl. She looked down as he slowly raised his head. She gasped. The black pupils of his eyes had become red. Dilated to the point that almost no white showed. Nobody she knew was in those eyes. They were cold and empty. A shiver slid down her spine. Two elongated teeth protruded when his lips curled into a snarl. Alyssa stood as still as possible. Knowing somehow that if she moved, it would make things worse.

A loud knock sounded at the door again. She almost jumped. Christian’s gaze narrowed warily, watching, waiting for her to try to bolt.

“Alyssa, are you there? It’s Aunt Joyce. Open the door. Is everything okay?”

Christian’s gaze swung from hers to the door. She felt his whole body shudder. Then he slowly loosened his hold. It seemed hours before he finally dropped his hands to his sides. Alyssa felt relieved and bereft at the same time. Slowly she backed away. Christian continued to watch her with cold eyes. She feared he might jump up and grab her again. Instead, he dropped his head into his hands and groaned. The sound was filled with pain. His face was now hidden behind the strands of hair she had ruffled with her fingers. It fell around him like a silky curtain. She had the urge to go to him. Run her fingers through his mane. Make the pain go away.

Another knock broke the spell.

Alyssa adjusted her clothing and strode towards the door.

“Just a minute, Aunt Joyce,” she called out.

She placed her hand on the doorknob, but didn’t turn it. She took a deep breath. Counted to ten, then turned back towards Christian.

He was gone. Startled, she did a quick sweep of her apartment, but found no sign of him. He had left her apartment through some way other than the door. That chilled her as she let her aunt in.

“Alyssa, why didn’t you—look at you! You’re shivering! What’s going on?”

Her aunt’s concern warmed Alyssa somewhat, but she still couldn’t shake the feelings created by Christian. It was like he had become something else, something not quite human. She knew, of course, on a conscious level that he had already admitted to being a vampire. But that knowledge and seeing the actual phenomenon were two different kettles of fish.

Without answering Alyssa turned around and walked away. Her legs suddenly felt shaky. She collapsed on the couch with a loud sigh. Too much had happened too fast. She needed to get a handle on things, but she wasn’t sure how. Her aunt closed the door, sat down beside her and placed her arm comfortingly around Alyssa’s shoulders. The warmth and love Alyssa felt encouraged her to talk.

“Christian just, uh, left.”

Alyssa wasn’t prepared to explain exactly how.

Her aunt’s expression turned shrewd and a little smile played on her mouth.

“Christian? Oh, Mr. Galiano.”

“Yes, he brought me home a little while ago.”

“I see.”

That was her aunt’s only comment.

Alyssa continued.

“The evening went fairly well. Except for the fact that I fainted.”

Her aunt’s brows furrowed with concern.

“Fainted? You’ve never fainted in your life, sweetie. What happened? Are you feeling ill?”

“No, I’m fine. And the strange thing is I don’t remember what happened. All I recall is being by myself in my room at the auditorium, then waking up in Christian’s arms.”

Her aunt raised one eyebrow and her smile widened.

“You woke up in Mr. Galiano’s arms?”

“Yes.”

Her aunt said nothing. She merely waited silently, with an expectant smile on her face. Alyssa resisted saying anything more, but when her aunt kept smiling and waiting, she finally gave up with an exasperated sigh. Her aunt wasn’t going anywhere until she filled in her experience with some details.

Alyssa told her the rest of the story, except for the most intimate parts and the part about Christian’s disappearance. She wasn’t ready to analyze either of those events, yet. It was always like this with her aunt. Even though Alyssa was the trained therapist, her Aunt Joyce always knew how to get her to talk.

From the time she was a small child, her aunt had been there to help her through the rough times. Not her mother, who was often “sick” in her room with one malady or another. Not her father, who thought being a parent meant criticizing his only child for the things she wasn’t good at, and trying to force her to do what he felt she should. Her Aunt Joyce had always been the one who took time to listen and understand.

Even after her mother’s suicide, when Alyssa had closed herself off from the rest of the world, her aunt had managed to get through to her. Alyssa had become numb after her mother’s death. Too scared to let her feelings in because she knew they would be filled with pain and guilt.

Pain because her mother was dead. Pain because she hadn’t loved her daughter enough to stick it out in this world. And guilt. Because Alyssa hadn’t seen what was happening to her mother. It didn’t matter that she was a teenager, it didn’t matter that her mother was the adult. She should have seen what was happening and helped her mother before it was too late. But she hadn’t. And Alyssa had known that if she let those feelings in, they would eat away at her, until she didn’t know what would be left. So she blocked out the rest of the world—her friends, her overbearing father and even her beloved aunt.

Her withdrawal lasted three months. Her father had tried yelling at her, over and over. But that only had made her withdraw further. Alyssa didn’t do her schoolwork. Her grades dropped. She never went out with her friends or had them over. After the first two months, all but a couple of them stopped calling. She just sat in her room, trying to hold back the tidal wave of emotion that was building inside of her. Whatever it took, she was determined to keep everything inside, until she felt like she was going to explode. But she refused to let herself lose control. That’s what her mother had done. And look what happened to her.

Her aunt had left Alyssa alone during that initial period. Looking back, she wasn’t sure why. Maybe her aunt felt she needed the time to adjust, or maybe she just wasn’t sure what to do. Either way, at the end of three months her aunt had had enough. She stormed into the house and told Alyssa’s father to get out and only come back when she called him. He had refused. Alyssa sat in fascination, watching their exchange. She would never forget the look on her aunt’s face as she gently led Alyssa to her room and quietly asked her to stay there until she came to get her. She had never seen her aunt look so angry.

She closed Alyssa’s door and her aunt and father had a monster of a fight. Alyssa had tried not to care. Tried to keep herself in that numb world she had found, but her aunt’s furious face and raised voice had caught her attention. She couldn’t hear much of the argument, but she did manage to catch her aunt yelling the words “jackass” and “incompetent” in the mix. She was shocked by the fact that her father hadn’t put up much of a fight. He was a born and bred drill sergeant. Talking softly wasn’t one of his fortes.

But that day he was pretty quiet. He yelled back a couple of times, but mainly it was a defensive statement like, “I did no such thing” or “That’s not true”. And that was that. Not too long after, Alyssa’s father came to her room and mumbled something about going out for a while and leaving her with her aunt. He gave her a kiss on the cheek. As he pulled away, she saw the one thing that made her forgive him for some of the wrongs he had done in the past and the ones he would do in the future. A tear slipped from his eye and ran silently down his cheek.

Before that day, she had never seen her father cry, or show much emotion other than anger. Even after her mother’s death. Alyssa had always thought it was because he was a drill sergeant and they just didn’t do that. But in that second, as that tear fell, she discovered something. Her father was human. And for some reason, that helped her feel a little better.

Her aunt did the rest. After her father left, she coaxed Alyssa from her room and into the kitchen, which was the one place where Alyssa and her mother had spent the most time together. She sat Alyssa down at the table, poured them both a glass of iced tea and sat across from her. Her aunt reached across the table, took her hand in hers and gave it a light squeeze.

“I miss your mother, Alyssa. I miss her so much my heart hurts. She was my sister and I loved her dearly. But she had a lot of problems. Problems that had nothing to do with you or what kind of daughter you were. Those issues had been with your mother even before you were born. She had been offered help in the past, but chose not to take it. Only she could have helped herself. Not you, not me, only her.”

After that her aunt kept quietly holding Alyssa’s hand. Saying nothing. Just looking at her with the love and concern that had always been there for her.

Alyssa’s carefully fortified damn broke. It started quietly with silent tears running down her face. Next the tidal wave rolled over her. Her shoulders shook and she sobbed uncontrollably. At some point her aunt came around the table and put her arms lovingly around her. She didn’t say anything, didn’t try to shush her, or tell her everything was okay. She just silently held her, until Alyssa couldn’t cry anymore. Until she felt like she had poured everything that had been bottled up inside of her out onto that kitchen table.

Alyssa would never forget what her aunt had done for her. She had saved her from herself. A piece of her soul had disappeared the day her mother killed herself, but her aunt had helped her keep the rest.

* * * * *

Christian was not happy. In fact, he was damn uncomfortable as he drove back to the office. And not just in the physical sense, although he did have to keep adjusting his slacks during the drive. His body did not want to calm down. It had been on full alert with Alyssa at her apartment and getting it back to normal proved difficult.