Amaranthine (Willow Shadows Book 1) (9 page)

The ride home went by fast considering Vega was driving like a maniac. They pulled in to the driveway of Luke’s house in a matter of minutes. Before Vega could put the car in park, Khalida jumped out of the back seat, running full pace into the house. She ran up the stairs to her room, slamming the door and locking it before anyone had the chance to come in. Khalida stood at the door, pressing her palms and forehead against the locked door, tears falling on the floor beneath her as she released all the emotions that she been holding back for weeks.

Today was a disaster.

Khalida realized she put everyone in so much danger. She was careless and obviously didn’t understand what she needed to know about this man/creature that had come so close to them, today. She walked over to the bay window and sat on the cushioned seat of the wide sill. Emotionally exhausted from the events of today, tiredness clung to her eyes. She closed her eyes and leaned against the frame, trying not to worry about Luke or Raze being left behind and all that had happened. When Khalida finally decided to face the facts, she opened her eyes to a night sky that had fallen across the horizon. The storm raged on outside, and the security lights lit up the serene and magical garden below her window, drawing Khalida to the peacefulness that radiated from it.

What the hell was I doing out there, today?

“I’d say trying to get yourself killed,” his voice echoed through the room, startling Khalida.

Khalida jumped in her seat so harshly she was surprised that her skin was still intact.

It was Luke.

She knew he was still angry, and she wasn’t about to turn to face him. She could hear him walking towards her, so she curled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her shins. Khalida peeked out to see him knelt down beside of her. He put both hands on her ankles and turned Khalida to face him.

“Are you trying to get yourself killed?” he said quietly, almost sadly.

She couldn’t stop the sobs that escaped.

“Look at me!” he said a little louder.

“I’m sorry!” Khalida started sobbing uncontrollably, “I didn’t know.”

“If I lose you,” Luke said, but didn’t finish the sentence.

“It isn’t safe for you to be out by yourself. I’ve told you this from the beginning. My mother told you from the beginning, Khalida. You are safe with no one except me if you are not in this house. How can I keep you safe if you won’t listen to anyone?”

“I get it,” she managed to squeeze out between hiccups.

He
took her arms with his hands and lifted her face to look at him. Khalida jumped up, burying herself in him, wrapping her arms around his neck, letting the rest of her angst drain. He stood up, pulling her into his arms. He gently kissed her neck and then her jaw line, moving slowly until his lips found hers, pulling her tightly to him. When he broke their kiss, Khalida buried her head into his chest while she held onto to his waist, just standing there until he spoke.

“I’m sorry for the way I acted, today. I was angry, and I thought the worst until I found you. Our meeting was canceled, and when I came home and saw the car gone, I didn’t even stop. It’s a good thing I still have your blood flowing through my veins, I could sense you. I used that to narrow in on your location. It wasn’t until I was a couple of blocks away that I knew exactly where you were. I know all of this is hard on you, and I shouldn’t have reacted the way that I did. I’m so sorry.”

Khalida didn’t say anything; she just listened as Luke talked, feeling worse with every sentence that came out of his mouth.

“I have a surprise for you,” he whispered softly into her ear.

Before she could say anything, he pivoted and started walking to the bed, Khalida’s eyes following him. Laying there on top of the bed inside a clear plastic bag was the black corset dress from
Envie’s
that Khalida had left sprawled out on the dressing room floor.

CHAPTER 7

K
halida stood looking into the battered antique mirror, studying the
pieces of her hair pinned back, keeping the thick array of curls out of her face, the rest flowing down her back. She applied her make-up at least half a dozen times in the attempt to make it perfect. She always wore her make-up very minimal, but tonight she wore more, highlighting her features. She outlined her pale green-grey eyes with a black, charcoal liner and covered the top lid with a grey eye shadow, pulling off the perfect smoky look she had copied from a magazine ad, Khalida then decided to go with her favorite clear lip gloss instead of a lipstick and used a bronzer instead of blush, giving her skin that natural sun-kissed look she really wanted. With her make-up done it was time to turn her attention to the dress. It was perfect. The dress hugged her curves in all the right places. Never had she worn anything that accentuated her body so tightly. The strappy black heals made her legs look long and lean and, helped assure her that she would be closer to eye level when standing next to Luke.

There was a knock at the door that took Khalida’s attention away from the mirror she had been gazing into going over her appearance. She wanted everything to be perfect. Khalida just wasn’t sure if she looked as good as she had wanted, thinking she would probably pale in comparison to how Luke would look tonight.

Driving the insecure thoughts away, Khalida sighed as she walked to open the door to see Luke standing there with his back facing her. She could see he was fussing over what looked like a set of cufflinks. His hair was styled in a short faux hawk, a black tie hanging in front of an enticing cobalt blue, long sleeved shirt tucked into black slacks, black tuxedo vest in hand. The shirt he chose did a wonderful job of illuminating the light blue specks in his eyes.

“Looks like these are a no go if they refuse to cooperate,” he said, putting the cufflinks into his pockets.

“Wait! May I?” Khalida shyly spoke as she shut the door behind her, holding her hand out.

Luke pulled his hand from his pocket and set them in her hand, “They belonged to my dad.”

Sadness
crept into his low voice. Khalida knew how much his dad meant to him, and it warmed her heart to know he’d wear something so special to this event with her. The cufflinks were little dragons with sharp glistening Sapphires for the eyes. They were shockingly heavy for their size and very impressive.

“You’re absolutely stunning,” he said in a husky voice.

Khalida
kept her eyes down. Not daring to look up into his encasing blue eyes, she continued to work on the cufflinks. She was too afraid that if she looked into his needing, sensual eyes she would turn to mush before they even got to the dance. Too much flattery and her face would be red all night and her perfectly sun-kissed bronzer would be a waste.

“You
look so beautiful, tonight,” he spoke, again, not taking his eyes off her as she worked on the last cuff. She knew he was listening to her unspoken words and knew he’d probably continue with the compliments until she broke down and looked at him.

“Thank you,” Khalida raised her head with an embarrassed reply, “but you’re the amazing one.”

He held on to her hands as she finished with the last cuff. Khalida could feel the muscles in his body tense as she watched him, mesmerized by the eyes that began to glow dark and dangerous.

“I have something for you,” he said, reaching into his jacket pocket as his eyes cooled back to normal. “My mother gave this to me the other day. It belonged to her, and before that, her mother and so on,” Luke turned her hand over, covering Khalida’s palm with his. He placed his palm over hers with his other hand, quickly slipping a ring on her finger.

“Do you realize, Khalida, how we are linked? Do you understand how I feel about you? How much I love you? I would gladly give my life if it meant saving yours. You are mine, Khalida and you always will be, no matter if you want it or not,” he stared so intently at Khalida, his voice not even cracking. He meant every word he said, and Khalida could feel it. Khalida held Luke’s unwavering gaze. Her heart thudded against her chest, and she knew she had the same feelings for Luke as he stood before her, pouring out his heart. Luke moved his hand, looking down. Khalida followed his path, her eyes falling on the most captivating ring she had ever laid eyes on. The white gold band was completely surrounded by a cluster of small sapphires, carefully outlined by a perfect row of oval cut diamonds.

She couldn’t speak. Khalida was at a loss for words and didn’t know what to say. How could she ever show gratitude, not only for this gift, but for how he loved her even though she continued to keep him at arm’s length? Luke and his family had done so much to ensure her and her mother’s safety, and yet, she had nothing to give in return. Khalida could feel the knot wedging itself in her throat as tears threatened to fall.

“Oh, no, you don’t!” Luke said quickly, “You will not mess up that makeup, and seven times of applying is enough!”
He swooped her into his arms, twirling her in a circle before he gently placed her back on the ground.

Khalida couldn’t help but smile. Maybe accepting the fact that he would always know her thoughts wasn’t so bad. At the very least, he would never know what the silent treatment was like, that’s for sure. The lump found its way down and the tears retreated since she was finally able to believe it would be him and her from now on. No decision would be made without the other if she could help it.

“Are you sure you want to go through with this? The dance I mean,” realizing that he might not want to actually go forward with this plan when so much could go wrong.

“Khally, for you, I would go through anything.”

“We don’t have to go if you don’t want to. I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.” Khalida continued to ramble, unsure if she was trying to convince him to go to the dance or discourage him from it.

“I’m not uncomfortable, I’m impatient. In fact, I’m tempted and anxious, fascinated and bewitched.” His eyes ignited fast, a burning blue of desire and hunger. “You should really learn to stop while you’re ahead, Beautiful. I really don’t mind going to the dance, so I’ll have mercy on you tonight, but don’t always push so hard. If I had it my way, that dress would be laying on the floor by now. Have I told you how stunning you are, lately?”

He pulled her in close for a kiss, letting
his hands explored her back, skimming the base of her neck and settling on the curve of her hip, heating Khalida’s skin through the thin material of the dress. Khalida recovered as her knees began to weaken. Every time she was near him, her body reacted, but when they touched like this, Khalida seemed to relinquish all control. She was his to command, to move and feel at his will.

Luke released her from his grasp, seeming very pleased with the sudden confession he had just obtained from Khalida’s thoughts. Her eyes were heavy with want and a lasciviousness that wasn’t like her at all. His eyes on the other hand, were back to normal and filled with amusement.

“To be continued,” he murmured into her ear, “If we don’t go now, we won’t be making the dance, my love,” he said as he started to guide her down the hallway.

At the top of the stairs, Khalida stopped and cocked her head to the side, listening to the ruckus that was going on below them in the living room.

“Think we might escape from here without either of our mothers going all camera crazy on us?” Khalida said hopefully.

“Not
a chance. They have been down there for the last hour with cameras in hand,” he chuckled to a face of distaste and a gloomy frown forming on her face.

Fatin was the first one to snap their picture as the couple strolled down the stairwell. A beaming smile spread across her face with joyful eyes dancing at the sight of her daughter and date, hand in hand.

“You two match so perfectly,” Josephine spoke proudly as she hugged her son tightly.

“Thank you, Mother. Any chance we can get out of here before you two make a fuss?” Luke said jokingly as he hung one arm around his mother’s shoulder.

“Let me think about that. Okay, no. Now go stand in front of the fireplace. The faster we get our pictures, the faster you get on your way,” Josephine retorted wisely.

“Okay, now Luke, place your arm around, Khalida,” Fatin stated, bellowing out orders.

Better follow those orders, sir.

You should learn to behave, my lady.

Maybe once I get a real boyfriend, well, one that will claim me, I’ll calm down a little.

Challenge accepted, squirt.

She let out a small chuckle that made Josephine clear her throat. “Really you two? You can’t control it for five minutes for us to be able to take pictures? It’s fine with me. I have all night to wait, but I assume you want to leave so you can actually make it to the dance?” she scorned playfully.

Khalida smiled for the camera as she clung to Luke. She was still in a daze about his earlier confessions. It wasn’t like Luke to be so openly honest with his feelings. He never denied his love for her, but she never thought he would be willing to lay his life on the line for her. It was a lot for her to take in. She looked deep into his eyes as the camera flashes were still going off, one right after another. She knew she loved him, always had, but now she couldn’t picture a life without him. If he pushed her away again, this time it would destroy her. Worry entered her mind and her chest started to get tight at the thought of him walking away from her, again.

Luke, knew exactly what was running through her mind and making her suddenly tense in his arms. He bent down and whispered so elegantly in her ear that he caught her off guard.

“Forever,” he said simply.

Khalida looking at Luke with surprise flowing in her eyes. She was once, again, speechless.

“Did you hear what I said?” he asked probing her eyes for an answer.

“Yes,” she croaked, trying to clear her throat.

Grabbing her chin, he pulled her close, whispering in her ear again, “Forever, Toot,” gently kissing her before he pulled back.

“Awe, look how sweet they are together! I think we just may be related before too long, Fatin. What’cha think?” Josephine smiled widely.

“I do believe your right,” Fatin responded as she was cut off by Khalida.

“You two can stop now. We actually have a dance to go to sometime before I get grey hair. You two are talking about a wedding, but can we get pass this dance tonight before you start planning?” Khalida whined.

“Yes, let us get past tonight before you give us a wedding and start the grandbaby talk.” Luke flashed one of his infamous grins as he grabbed Khalida by the hand and led her away from the paparazzi wannabes.

“You two can save that talk for a few years…not going to happen anytime soon, ladies.” Khalida said, not even bothering to look at them as she spoke.

Looking back over her shoulder, Khalida lips curled at the edges, “Hey, I thought vampires couldn’t show up in pictures,” she smirked, causing Luke to laugh as they walked out the door.