Fateful 2-Fractured (29 page)

His lips puckered, she knew he wanted to
protest but somehow resisted. She left the room before he changed
his mind and said anything else.

She suspected Richard had told Ethan about
her plans, but apparently he decided to wait until morning to
confront her about it. She was relieved he chose not to bring it up
right after hunting, when he wasn’t in the best mood. “We can’t let
you go alone,” Ethan said the next morning.

“It makes sense that I would. If I don’t act
like I’m invincible, they’ll figure out I’m not.”

“Which you are not.”

She rolled her eyes. “It’s just one tube of
paint. It won’t take me that long and I’ll take the red beast if it
makes you feel better.”

“What would make me feel better would be for
you to go with several men to watch over you.”

“Fine, send them in separate cars. They’ll
be close enough to help if there’s a problem, but I’ll be surprised
if anyone attacks me at the art supply store.”

* * * * *

Danielle tossed her purchase onto the
passenger side seat and then paused when she heard a shoe scuffle
along the rocks in the parking lot. That sound was too close. She
turned, and was confronted with a psychotic-looking male holding a
knife. He looked too haggard and unhealthy to be a vampire.

Feeble ... and easy for her to defeat ...
even while she was a mortal, and even while she was pregnant.

With his free hand, he shoved his matted
blond hair from his face, as his other hand, clutching the knife,
trembled. His gray-blue eyes appeared lost, violent, and
unpredictable as he shifted his gaze from her face to her bag. His
posture was slouched and menacing. The man had to be drunk or on
drugs, and probably needed her money to purchase more. She knew his
intentions. Still, she couldn’t help but be surprised by the fact
that he meant to accost her in broad daylight!

The man lunged toward her, and grabbed for
her purse. She responded just as she’d been trained to do. She
blocked his knife wielding arm, grasped his wrist and twisted. She
cringed when it cracked. She’d broken his wrist, and he wailed in
pain as the blade dropped from his grip.

Next, Danielle stepped out, and swung him
into the side of the Humvee, wrenching his fractured wrist to his
back. His head bounced off the frame, and he grunted. With one kick
to the back of his knees the man crumpled. As he fell, she shoved
him so that he would land face down. And as soon as he met the
pavement, she jammed one knee between his shoulder blades to make
sure he stayed that way.

Less than a second later she noticed her
guards taking hold of the assailant’s arms, just in case.

“Call the police,” she heard Merrick
say.

“Already done,” answered Cedric.

“I’m gobsmacked,” said Richard. “That was
brilliant!”

“Wow, mon chér! You took out an armed man
while laden with a babe. Incredible!” the guard with the French
accent said. She still didn’t know his name.

“Not really,” she argued, “I don’t think
he’s all there. And he appears to be wasted.”

“Which would make him more dangerous, in my
book,” said Merrick.

After a few moments of the men babbling on
about how impressed they were, she could hear the sirens as the
police neared, and considered the many large men standing around
her. “I think some of you should faze back into the bushes. This
may look really strange to the police.”

They looked around at each other. “She has a
point. We look like a bunch of fools standing around while this
slip of a young lady holds the villain in place.”

More than half of them disappeared and the
others pretended to be witnesses when the authorities arrived.

* * * * *

“Apparently that made the news,” Ethan said.
His tone was thick with concern and fury as he ground the words out
through a set jaw, muscles pulsing.

“That just means that they’ll be more fooled
into thinking I’m a vampire, right?” Danielle said, hoping to calm
him.

“Why didn’t you guys get to her faster? She
shouldn’t have had to deal with this on her own,” he demanded. His
overprotective nature was really showing again.

“We were on our way, she just simply dealt
with the cur so fast and efficiently we weren’t actually
needed.”

“Ethan, don’t be upset. I’m fine. I had no
idea there was a serial, daytime mugger on the loose. Plus, he
wasn’t really that hard to defeat—” She feared that if she didn’t
get him to calm down about this she just might be stranded inside
this house for the remainder of her pregnancy, if not longer.

“Yes, he was quite unhinged,” Cedric
said.

Ethan winced at that.

“Cedric, not helping. Ethan, he was just a
little drunk—”

Merrick jumped in. “He seemed completely
foxed to me. And not just with liquor, drugs as well.”

Danielle sank further into the sofa and
moaned when Ethan’s knuckles turned white.

“I sure wish I’d witnessed this,” Max
muttered, as he entered with Nadia. “I’ve always wanted to see how
she fares against a real threat.”

“He wasn’t a real threat!” Danielle argued.
“He looked like he was about to keel over anyway.”

“Danielle, you’ve done a huge favor for so
many women around here. On the news, they said this man had
attacked several ladies while they merely shopped. You’re a
hero.”

“You’re not helping either,” she muttered to
Nadia, then swept a look over Ethan’s face, trying to interpret the
emotions raking across his features.

“Truth be told, it was quite impressive,”
The Black Prince added, his eyes twinkling with admiration.

“I know what she’s capable of!” Ethan
shouted. “She just shouldn’t have to! My wife shouldn’t have to
apprehend mad thieves without aid!”

For some reason, this screamed comment
struck her as funny, and she started laughing. The others joined
in, and then so did Ethan after a long hesitation.

Chapter 19

Or Worse

Danielle walked in on Ethan doing the budget
or bills again. And this time he wasn’t wearing glasses….

“We need to go out, socialize, see my
parents, anything,” she said, tired of being cooped up inside.

A line formed between his brows.

“Wouldn’t we do that if we were both
immortal?” She tried again.

He appeared to chew on that for a moment or
two, and then lifted his gaze. She clutched onto the edge of the
desk to keep from crumbling to the floor. A combination of
pregnancy and vampire magic ... so not fair….

Ethan chuckled softly, and motioned for her
to sit with him. “I suppose we could invite them over for dinner. I
could cook,” he offered.

She settled onto his lap, and then said,
“What about going out to eat? You went out with me before, to put
on a show, can’t we do that for my parents?”

“I think the show that’s more important at
the moment, is the show of immortality, and what if someone notices
that you’re enjoying the food more than a vampire should?”

“Mmm, right.” Of course she saw his point
and it was a valid one. But after the mugger incident Ethan had
been even more paranoid with her safety. It was kind of starting to
drive her a little batty.

“And you have been seen hunting with me in a
group.”

Her eyes rounded when the comment pulled her
mind from her thoughts of freedom, of being normal.

“Merrick’s wife is about your size, we’ve
had her dress up as you when we’ve been out, and we’ve gone in
groups to add to the confusion.”

“Where is she staying?”

“She and many of the other’s wives are
staying at a home a few blocks away. They didn’t want to spend this
much time away from their men.”

“All because of me.” She felt the sting as
the guilt smacked her in the face.

“No, because of
us
.”

“Why do they care? Why do they bother?
They’re still doing all of this for free, aren’t they?”

“Yes, But this is war…”

War still wasn’t something she fully
understood, and because of that Danielle chose to accept his
reasoning and let the matter drop. “Is it hard for that many
vampires to hunt around here? And remain hidden?”

“It’s a plus that we’re basically surrounded
by mountains here. It makes it easy ... but there are also problems
with having wildlife so close.”

“Such as?”

“Well, you remember the pixies, don’t
you?”

Danielle shivered as goose bumps sprang up
along her arms and neck. “How could I forget? Are they here?”

“We haven’t seen them, but that doesn’t mean
they’re not out there.”

“So that’s why you don’t want to take me out
on the town?” War and Pixies....

“Precisely.”

She exhaled and twisted around on his lap to
face the laptop. Danielle grabbed the sides of it and slid it
closer. “Mind if I check eBay to see if my paintings have
sold?”

Ethan shifted and tipped forward, setting
his chin on her shoulder. “Go ahead.”

The web browser popped up on the monitor
when she clicked on the little icon, and then she went to her
seller’s page. She gasped and squeaked. “They sold! All of them!
And with several bids!”

Her husband laughed against the back of her
neck, which tickled. “Good for you, darling.”

“Let’s see where I need to mail these…” She
leaned forward, unable to believe what she was seeing. “Colorado?
What?”

“Hmm,” Ethan said. “Didn’t you tell me
earlier that the guards didn’t want you to sell your work?”

“Yes, the prince—”

“Looks like he’s your buyer.”

“Why would he do that?”

Ethan didn’t answer that and she twisted to
face him. A couple of conflicting emotions appeared to be dwelling
in his expression. Irritation being one of them, and she wasn’t
sure about the other.

“Are you bothered by that?” she asked
him.

“Should I be?”

“I don’t know.”

“Should
you
be bothered by it, Danielle? You told him
you wanted to sell the art.”

She thought about that. “Well,” she
hesitated. “I did get the money I wanted. So I suppose we both
should be happy, right?”

Ethan didn’t look happy about it at all, and
the old jealousy and suspicion had filtered back into his tone when
he asked, “Do you think he really wanted the art, or did he
purchase them for another reason?”

“I hope he didn’t do it for that other
reason…” Was Richard interested in more than just her safety? “I
need to ask him about it. Will you come with me?”

Helping her from his lap, Ethan stood. “I
need to hear his reasons as much as you do.”

They made their way down the hallway to
where the men could be heard talking.

“I can’t believe how hard it was to get
them. There was a user called fairyfanatic247 who really gave me a
fight.” That was Richard, and he had to be talking about the
auctions.

“Plus you had us bidding against you to bump
up the price.”

“That too,” Richard paused. “I was beginning
to think you wanted to steal the blue fairy from me, Merrick.” His
tone deepened and the sound had taken on a dangerous quality.

This sent Danielle into a fit of giggles.
Merrick was mid-sentence with, “My wife would have liked it,” when
their guilt-ridden gazes traveled in her direction at the
sound.

“Very well, then, you may have it,” Richard
muttered to Merrick from the corner of his mouth.

“Why?” Danielle asked, and she wasn’t
talking about why Richard was giving one of them to Merrick.

“Are you distressed about it?” Merrick
asked.

“Well, no, not really. I guess if you
got what you wanted, and I got what I wanted, then it’s all good?
That is
if
you really wanted
the art? Do you really want it?”

Both Richard and Merrick started nodding.
“It will cheer the home the wives are staying in,” the Highlander
said.

“And I wasn’t fooling when I said I liked
your work,” said the prince.

“You paid for shipping, would you like that
refunded since obviously they won’t actually be shipped
anywhere?”

“No, keep it.”

“But—” She halted her argument, because she
could see that the prince was stubborn enough to not listen, so she
shrugged her shoulders and said, “All right then, but what are you
going to do when I want to sell more?”

“We’ll decide that after we’ve seen the
work.”

* * * * *

That night Ethan decided to go hunting after
she’d fallen asleep, but she woke up with that feeling that she
wanted something to eat but she didn’t know what.

Danielle slipped out from under the covers
and shrugged into her robe. Then on the way to the kitchen she felt
as though someone was watching her and tossed a look over her
shoulder.

She shrieked when she found Richard right
there only inches away and automatically stepped back. Her hand
rose to her heart, and her eyes dropped to the floor. “What are you
doing?” she asked, barely having enough breath to get the words
out.

“Just keeping you safe, sweeting.”
When he used words like “sweeting,” it really
showed
his age.

“From what? I’m inside—”

“That’s no guarantee.” He stepped closer and
she took a couple more steps back as Ethan’s warnings flowed
through her thoughts. Was Ethan right? An impression that she
needed to be protected from Richard more than anything else swirled
up from her imagination along with the natural instinct to defend
herself. But she couldn’t defend herself against him, and that
reality stung. Yes, she had some skills ... skills that did her no
good when it really mattered. Fighting off the medieval prince
wouldn’t be anything like fighting a feeble, mortal, loser.