Haven (27 page)

The silence stretched on too long for me.

I opened my mouth to ask again, but the doorbell rang. Stella, who was closest to the door, didn’t move or glance up from her magazine, indicating our visitor posed no threat.

I pushed back my chair, but Dom touched my arm. “I’ll get it.”

He strode to the door, opened it and stiffened. “You’re not welcome here. I don’t invite you in. So beat it.”

Tony and I exchanged a look and stood in unison, hurrying for the door. I’d never heard Dom sound so much like Lorenzo. So hostile, but why? Dom’s tall body blocked my view. I heard car doors slamming and knew Paolo and Greg had hopped out of their car. Not good.

I tried to open the door wider. “Dom, who’s here?”

He resisted my pull. “Stay out of this, Carina.”

“Dude, what’s going on?” Tony pulled on the door, too.

“Move so we can see.” Impatience colored my voice.

“Back off, you two,” Dom snarled.

“What’s your problem?” Tony asked, perplexed.

“Back off!”

My temper flared. “No,
you
back off. Whoever is out there isn’t life threatening or you wouldn’t still be standing there, alive and kickin’, so what’s
your
problem?”

“
He’s
the problem. He’s not welcome here.”

“Who—?”

“It’s him.” Faith hovered in the living room. “The Key.”

I gave her wide eyes. My mouth didn’t know whether it should grin with glee and excitement or grimace with worry and nervousness. Kai laughed at my discomfort and flopped onto the couch next to Stella. She gave him a withering look that should’ve made him bolt, but he was too busy laughing at me to notice.

“You,” I pointed a finger at Kai. “Shut up.” Then at Faith. “And you, stop calling him that. He has a name. Please use it.”

Faith bowed her head. “Alexander is here.”

“Yeah.” Nervous bees buzzed in my gut. On the one hand, I was glad my lame voice mail message hadn’t scared him away, but on the other hand I still had my doubts and basic control issues to contend with. Why was he here? How had he known I was at Adrian’s?

I focused on Dom. “Get out of the way. Let him in.”

“No.”

Alexander chimed in. “One. This is Adrian’s house. You have no authority here.” He sounded calm and confident. Pleasant even. The mere sound of his voice made me shiver.

“Two,” Alexander’s tone darkened. “Adrian has already opened his home to me. I can enter any time I please. Three. Do I need to spell out number three for you?”

A chill ran down my spine. There it was. The thinly
-
veiled threat.

My stupid brother ignored it. “This is a family
dinner. You have no business with my sister. So get the fuck out of here.”

“You heard the man.” Paolo. On the porch. Greg would be
there, too, and both would have weapons drawn. Trouble.

I glanced at Stella. She rolled her eyes and shook her head. Okay, my would-be bodyguard wasn’t going to help with this one. Double trouble.

Tony whacked Dom on the back. “Stop being an asshole. Let the man in the house. I invited him over.”

My eyes widened and I mouthed, “What?”

He grinned. I gave him my best
I’m-gonna-kill-you-later
glare.

Dom didn’t respond to Tony’s little revelation, other than cursing in Italian.

I had to do something fast before things escalated further. I didn’t want anyone to get hurt. “Stand down, Paolo. You, too, Greg,” I yelled out the door, hoping they would obey but knowing they probably wouldn’t. I grabbed my brother by the shoulders. “Dominico Emilio Pietro Tranquilli.” I hoped the use of his full name would snap him out of it. “Move aside now or I’ll make you move. Haven’t you heard? I’m super strong now.”

Dom snorted and rounded on me. Straightening to his full height, he stepped into me.

I jumped back and glared, fists on hips. “What the hell is your problem? You’re not the king of this castle, you’re so not my father, and you’re close to losing your big brother privileges. I don’t know what stick crawled up your butt and turned you into psycho-freak-boy, but you have zero say in who I date. So get over it and get out of my way.”

My brother bristled and moved forward, invading the hell out of my personal space. I stood my ground. Kai jumped up off the couch, but Faith held him back. Stella hadn’t moved a muscle. She, like me, didn’t believe my brother was a real threat, but still, how had we ended up here? Dom never behaved like this. He was the quiet one, always calm and cool, never one to throw a temper tantrum. That was my department. And Lorenzo’s.

His jaw clenched. “He’s not a who. He’s a what. An It. He’s a fucking vampire, Carina. You don’t date the vampires.”

Tony snorted in disbelief. “Dom, what the—?”

I shook my head. My mind raced with the bazillion reasons why that was, without a doubt, the stupidest thing Dom could say to me at this moment, but all I managed to utter was, “Are you nuts?”

His face reddened. It was clear he hadn’t meant to say any of that. He’d lost control and now he regretted it.

Too bad. I wasn’t letting him off the hook. “Apologize.”

Dom’s scowl deepened but he remained silent.

“You were beyond rude, Dom. Own it and say you’re sorry.”

Dom cursed again in Italian. Tony pulled him away from me. Dom allowed Tony to drag him through the dining room and into the kitchen.

“I guess this is a bad time,” Alexander said.

“No, I’m sorry about that. Please come—”

In.
My breath caught in my throat. Alexander leaned against the doorjamb, relaxed and confident, unperturbed by my brother’s aggression. And
w-o-w,
he looked fantastic. Custom-fit, I’m-a-rock-star,
black blazer, black T-shirt, distressed designer jeans, also black, stylish rubber-soled black shoes. I had no words other than,
Yum. Hot. Mine.

I smiled. He smiled. Just like that, the doubt and panic bothering me earlier disappeared.
Poof
. Gone.

Yay.

He said something. His perfect, kissable lips moved, but I only heard my lust screaming,
I
want him
. I flexed my fingers, my skin tingling with the urge to grope him. My gaze swept over his thick brown hair, tousled by the cool evening breeze blowing in the door, took in his sparkling blue eyes and thick lashes, caressed the curve of his proud cheekbones, his strong jaw, and those full lips before sweeping down his well-dressed, long and powerful body and back up to that handsome face.

He stared at me, bemused.

Oh. Right. He spoke and my reply was to ravish him with my eyes. I gave my head a little shake to clear it and get a grip on my raging hormones. “Sorry, what did you say?”

His smiled, flashing his perfect, white teeth—no fangs at the moment—and my heart tap-danced in my chest.

“You were saying,” I prompted, voice breathy.

“I said,” he straightened and sauntered my way. “You look great.”

I let out a girlie sigh, my hormones demanding,
Jump him. Take him now.
Thankfully, at the moment, only my hormones were in play, no trippy pulse of power tried to explode out of my gut, and no power pulsed from him, either. Not even a tickle. Did this mean we might have a normal date tonight? Then again, normal didn’t apply to either of us. The half-breed and the vampire. The sexy, sexy vampire with the killer smile and rock-hard body.

He stopped in front of me, lips curled upward. I was doing it again, lost in lusty thought, forgetting to talk.

Stupid brain.

“Uh, thanks.” Oh smooth, real smooth. The blood rushed to my face.

“You’re welcome.” Now Alexander gave me the once-over and I shivered from his heated look.

“May I?” His hand rested on my waist.

My girlie bits twitched and clenched. “Huh?” Impossible to think with him staring at me, his warm hand touching me. He was too close, too yummy, just too, too much.

“Your piercing. May I?” His fingers hovered near my belly, waiting for permission. I liked that a lot. I nodded, mouth dry.

Alexander placed his forefinger on the top gem of the barbell, and circled it, round and round, as if he touched something far more intimate. And lower. His finger trembled where it touched me, his taut body seeming to vibrate with a need to match my own. A sharp inhale on my part made his other hand tighten its grip on my waist.

My body surged with heat, muscles twitching, aching to jump him. But if more of him came in contact with more of me, I wouldn’t care my brothers lingered in the next room, that Kai and Faith and Stella lounged mere feet away. I’d do it, jump on his body, wrap my arms and legs around him and devour him with lips, hands, teeth...with every part of me.

I slid my hand over his, pressing it against my stomach. His eyes snapped up from their study of my belly, locking with mine. He pulled me against him. Right where I wanted to be.

“Carina.” His lips grazed my forehead, his breath warm against my skin.

My heart pounded in my chest, our hands pressed together between us. If I tilted my head, we would kiss, if I tilted my head it would be over and nothing, no one, could stop what happened next, if—

A thud from the dining room made us jump. Dom slammed the salad bowl against the table. He picked it up and retreated to the kitchen without a backward glance.

Tony, still in the kitchen, called via the pass-through. “You two lovebirds want a drink?”

“Sure.” Dazed, I worked hard to switch gears.

Dom entered the dining room and continued clearing the table.

I frowned in his direction. Guess our fight wasn’t over. Alexander and I pulled apart. Faith and Kai joined us, exchanging polite hellos with Alexander. I appreciated their effort. Stella, a permanent fixture on the couch, shared a look I couldn’t interpret with my guy before returning her attention to the magazine on her lap.

Tony approached bearing two wine glasses. “Cabernet for my lil’ sis and blood for you.” He handed the glass to Alexander.

“Thanks, Tony.” At least one of my brothers knew how to play nice. In the kitchen, the refrigerator door slammed.

“Drama king,” Tony muttered, rolling his eyes.

I gave Alexander a faint, resigned smile. “Sorry, I need to go deal with Dom.”

I followed Tony into the kitchen.

Dom slouched in a chair at the table holding a glass and a bottle of wine. He poured himself a hefty dose and downed the entire thing as we approached. I joined him and put a hand on his arm when he went to pour another. The last thing we needed was a drunk, crazy Dom. Or a drunk me, for that matter.

I put down my glass. “Hey.”

Silence.

Tony tried next.
“Dominico, che cosa c'è che non va?”

Dom snorted. “Wrong, he asks me what’s wrong.” He shook his head, avoiding our stares. I squeezed his arm and he rewarded me by putting a hand over mine.

“This isn’t how I pictured our reunion dinner.” His voice was subdued.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Your head is fixed and you’re all you again. I wanted, we wanted—” His expression twisted in pain. “One night. Just one normal night, one damn family dinner before they—before you found out the truth. I mean, more of it.”

Tony chimed in. “Yeah, Lorenzo wanted us to tell you about uncle Maurizio. Thought you’d take it better if we told you the dad part.”

Well, that explained why Lorenzo was so upset earlier when Thomas and Jonas dropped the big daddy bomb on me.

“Sorry to tell you this, but I don’t think a different messenger would’ve made any difference for this particular message. My uncle is my dad. My dad is a vampire. It doesn’t get any weirder than that.”

They were silent. Dom patted my hand. “I’m sorry Carina.”

“For what?”

“Everything.”

“
Everything
is not your fault, big brother.”

“Okay, then I’m sorry for being rude to your friend.”

I gave him a skeptical look. “Oh, yeah?”

He scowled. “Okay no, no I’m not. I don’t want you dating him. You’re human.”

My brow arched. “You sure?”

He narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean?”

“Uh,
hello
, vampire daddy? Didn’t we just cover that?”

Dom dropped my hand. “No. You’re human.” His brown eyes flashed angrily, jaw set in a stubborn line.

“Wake up, Dom. I’m not your garden variety human. Again I say,
vampire daddy
.”

He continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “You’re human and you don’t date the monsters. Especially
not
that
one. He’ll ruin everything. He’ll change you.”

“What do you mean? Are you referring to the key thing, and my so-called destiny as some kind of preternatural ninja warrior chick? Because yeah, been there, already got the memo on that one.”

“But he’s a vamp—”

I held up a hand. “Alexander is not the problem. In fact, he’s the reason I’m not insane right now. Or dead. You heard about the restaurant fight, right? He saved my life, Dom.”

Not quite the gospel truth. Alexander had played a part in healing me in the aftermath of the fight, but saved my life? No. Stella, Thomas, and Jonas received that credit. But Dom didn’t need to know. My dear brother needed to calm down and stop acting like some prejudiced jerk.

He shot to his feet, toppling his chair. “You’re my sister. You’re alive and I want you to stay that way. He’s not. He’s dead, Carina. You don’t date a corpse.”

“Well, apparently mom did.”

Oh, shit.

Dom yanked me out of the chair, shaking me so hard I yelped. “You bitch!”

Tony tried to pry him off. “Stop, you’re hurting her!”

I was too shocked to fight back, but it didn’t matter. A blast of air preceded the arrival of Alexander and Stella. Alexander grabbed Dom’s wrists and stopped him from shaking me, but Dom wouldn’t let go.