No Escape From Destiny (7 page)

Adrian whispered, “Shhhh,
cardia mou
, please stay still. You are going to hurt yourself if you move too much.”

She stilled but did not relax. She looked through her lashes at him, tears streaming down her face. Then she asked the strangest question. “Why do you keep calling me
cardia mou?”

“It means ‘my heart.’”

“I know what it means, but why do you keep calling me it?”

He looked at her, baffled. “You know Greek?”

“Some, my
pappou
taught me some when I was younger. I don’t remember a lot, but I remember him calling my
yiayia cardia mou
all the time.”

Adrian
looked up at
Nikkos
. “Did you know she was Greek?”

“I knew she had a Greek name from her ID, but I didn’t know she would speak it.”

“I don’t speak it well, I told you, just some words from when I was younger.”

Adrian
looked back at her. “What is your name, little one?”

She looked like she didn’t want to tell him, but since
Nikkos
had her ID already she had no real reason to try and keep it from him. “Anstice Karra”

Adrian
just stared at her. He couldn’t believe it. “Do you know what your name means?”

“Yes, my
pappou
told me when I was younger.”

He still continued to stare.

“Why are you staring at me?” she asked.

Adrian
turned to look at
Nikkos
. He suddenly understood that what
Nikkos
didn’t really want him to know was that the female had actually died and been brought back. His friend nodded his head and confirmed his fears. Tears welled up in
Adrian
’s eyes. His female had died and come back from the other side. He looked back at her. She looked confused. “Have you ever died before?”

She looked even more confused at his question. “Of course not. If I had died, I wouldn’t be here. What are you talking about?”

Adrian tightened his arms again before speaking. “It is true, all true, one who will rise again, you died of your injuries and were brought back.”

“Yeah, okay. I died last night, was brought back, and am now awake and able to move and talk, yeah right. Let me guess, your blood is magic and will save me?” She held up her hand to stop
Nikkos
from talking. “Let me guess, I’m gonna turn into a vampire now, right?”

Nikkos
lowered his head as if in shame.

Oh gods, this was not going so well. If he told her the truth, she would probably panic or think she was dreaming again, but she deserved the truth.
Adrian
didn’t know everything, but he told her what he did know. “We don’t know what our blood will do to a human, but you will not turn into one of us.”

At least he hoped she wouldn’t, but he wasn’t really sure. No human he knew of was ever given their blood. It was against their laws. The only reason Mikhaila had done it was because no one argued with
Nikkos
.

“If anything, you may have heightened senses and some adverse reaction to the sun. As you can tell, you are healing quite rapidly. We’re not sure if the effects will continue after you are healed, but your body’s chemistry is probably changed forever. The one who gave you blood will probably be connected to you and be able to find you, no matter where you are, from now until the day one of you dies.”

The last was said with a great sadness. Anstice looked worried. He continued, “I know you don’t believe any of this and probably think you are dreaming again, but I assure you, you are wide awake, and this is all very much the truth. We are not much different than you. Actually, I have been studying both our races, and we are very similar. That is why
Nikkos
was able to give you his blood. Our body chemistry is very close, only off by a few DNA. We will have to do some blood tests when you feel up to it to see what, if anything, has changed with you. And you may have to be careful going outside in the sun for a while, but as long as you stay with us you won’t have to worry about that anyway.”

“Why not? Are you going to keep me locked up?”

“Not exactly. Most of us cannot go out in the sun without being severely burned, so there is no access to the outside from this house during the day except in emergencies.”

“Well, consider this an emergency. I need to go home. Let me out and I’ll just go, and you won’t have to worry about me anymore.”

Nikkos
stood up and glared down at her. “You’re not going anywhere. Accept it!” he said with a growl. With that, he stalked out of the room, saying over his shoulder, “I’m going to get Mikhaila.”

Oddly enough, she seemed to be more afraid of
Nikkos
than Adrian, who she was lying next to naked. She seemed to relax and might have actually been comfortable lying there with him. She closed her eyes and looked like she was trying to relax her body.

The little female seemed to be accepting things better than he thought. At least she was relaxing a little and letting him hold her. He didn’t really want to disturb her, but his arms were in pain from holding her so tight to keep her still. He slowly loosened his arms, ready to tighten them again if she tried to get away. When his arm was just loose around her shoulders, she did move, but it wasn’t to get away. It seemed to be to get closer to him as she snuggled up to him, buried her face into his chest, and let out a soft sigh.

Everything was right in the world. He had his female in his arms, and she was accepting him. Now what to do about his friend? He had never been more confused in his life. Up until last night, he had known exactly what he wanted, the male that had just left. He was in love with him and wanted to spend his life with him. Now all he wanted was this little human next to him, and he had no idea what he wanted from
Nikkos
anymore. Friendship?

They had been best friends for so long, but now
Nikkos
wanted more. Well too bad, he was too late. He’d had his chance, and now it was gone.
Adrian
was where he was meant to be, and this was where he was staying, no matter what his friend wanted.

Chapter Seven

Nikkos
wanted to cry when he left the room. All the female could think about was getting away from them, and all they could think about was protecting her. Maybe if Mikhaila could give her something to help her sleep a little, she would come around to the fact that she was going nowhere. He couldn’t believe that he had snapped at her. He turned around and wanted to go back and apologize.

He waited at the door for a few minutes, trying to collect himself and clear his vision. Marcus called him back to report his findings at her small apartment. No signs of anyone else living there, adult or child, only a very large boxer that didn’t seem to like him very much. He still made sure he fed him before he came home, though.
Nikkos
told Marcus to have some servant go out and get some of her clothes, personal items, and the dog and bring them back to the mansion. As he hung up, he stared at the door. Time to go back in and deal with his female.

When he opened the door he saw the most amazing sight, the two of them nice and cozy with one another as if they had slept together like that for centuries instead of mere hours. He silently shut the door behind him and crossed the room toward the bed. They had both fallen sound asleep in the few minutes he had been out in the hall. Maybe
Adrian
was right, maybe she was his female after all and
Nikkos
was
just jealous. They looked so right together that he had to wonder if what he thought before was true or not.

He had spent so many hours watching them sleep that he thought he had come up with a reason for both of their behaviors. He and Adrian both seemed to think she was their true mate, which could be very dangerous for both of them. Males of their race were very territorial and did
not
share their female with anyone. But maybe, just maybe, the real reason they both thought of her as theirs was because they were all true mates. The three of them. They all belonged together, and it took this little female lying there so content to bring the three of them together.

That was his theory, anyway. Gods he hoped he was right, because if not, he was going to lose
Adrian
forever. And after tasting Anstice’s blood, he couldn’t let her go. He stood for a long moment looking down at the two. He carefully reached out and swept a stray lock of hair out of
Adrian
’s face. His lashes fluttered a little before he opened his eyes. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you, go back to sleep.”

“Have you slept at all?”

“Yeah, a little, in the chair after you two were where you belonged and comfortable.”

“You need to sleep, too. I‘ll take her to my room so you can have your bed back.”

No way was
Nikkos
allowing him to leave his bed
.
It took him too long to realize that was where he belonged, and he wasn’t losing him now. “I’m fine. I’ll sleep when you are up and around. Until then I’m not leaving your side.”

“I can take care of myself. You need to sleep, and by the looks of it, feed, too.”

Nikkos
couldn’t argue that part. Since giving blood to both of them, he knew he couldn’t wait much longer before he became dangerous to someone. At the thought of feeding, his fangs lengthened and throbbed. He couldn’t help but stare at his friend’s pulse beating so strong in his neck. He could smell his blood and the little human’s also. They both smelled so delicious.

“How much blood did you give her, anyway?”

“Enough, hopefully,”
Nikkos
replied.

“And how much did you give me?”

Nikkos
just stared. He didn’t tell him that he had donated to him too, but somehow he knew. “How did you know?”

“I could taste you on my tongue as soon as I woke up. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t think you would take that news too well.”

“Why? We have taken from each other when we were injured before.”

“That was a long time ago, before…” His words trailed off, and so did his eyes.

Nikkos
hadn’t felt comfortable feeding from
Adrian
after he realized
Adrian
was in love with him. “Yeah, well things are different now, so it doesn’t matter. You are welcome to take from me anytime you need.”

He reached his free arm out and offered his wrist to
Nikkos
. “I promise it won’t be weird anymore. I have found where I belong and know now that we are and always will be only best friends.”

Nikkos
couldn’t breathe. “Please don’t say that. You know you don’t mean that.”

Adrian
looked him straight in the eyes. “Yes, I do. I never imagined myself with anyone but you. Now I know that was all just a silly little crush, and I’ve found my one true mate.”

Nikkos
started to tremble. “Silly little crush?
Silly little crush?”

His voice got so loud the little human started to wake, but
Adrian
comforted her and whispered that everything was fine, and she settled immediately. He glared at his friend.

“Keep it down, you are scaring her, and yes,
silly little crush!
That was what you told me long ago, and I finally have smartened up and realized you were right all along.”