The vampire and the wife

Chapter 20

Hunter and I went for breakfast together in a small cafe that was away from the main streets of the city. It was really nice, as it was pretty quiet and Hunter and I talked and laughed about everything again. When we'd finished, I'd tried to pay for the breakfast but he'd point blank refused to let me and he ended up paying yet again. After we'd had breakfast, we went into the city streets to find Annie a present.

It had taken most of the day to find something for her as everything we seemed to find that we thought she'd like Hunter managed to find a reason to not buy it, until he eventually settled on a gift card to her favourite shop. I couldn't help but laugh a little as I'd said that to him to begin with but he'd shot my idea down because he wanted something that was perfect if it was to be from both of us.

By the time Hunter dropped me off at the house, it had started to get dark again. Hunter had got out of the car and walked me to the door, as he'd been on edge about what had happened the last time I'd walked from the car to the door. Even though I'd told him it had been a one-off thing, he'd been pretty adamant about it.

"Thank you for today and last night."

"Thank you." He grinned as he moved a bit of hair that had come across my face. "Next time we will have to sort a small bag with things like a hair brush and all that so that I don't have to ask Jen to bring some stuff."

"So you want a next time?" I asked with a smile that I knew lit my face up as I felt a blush come across my face.

"Mmm, I certainly would like a next time if you wanted a next time too." I bit my lip for a moment as I looked at him and I couldn't help myself. I hoped he wouldn't react in a bad way as I stepped closer to him and kissed him on the lips lightly.

"I'd like a next time too." I told him simply as I pulled away.

Hunter looked at me, unsure for a moment and then smiled and laughed softly to himself as I could see I'd embarrassed him. "To the next time, then." He grinned, then turned around and left me standing at the door. I'd certainly embarrassed him and put him on the spot as I wrapped my arms around myself, hoping there would be a next time after the quick kiss.

I watched him leave and then headed inside to find Dorian and Zack looking me over. "What?" I asked.

"That was a long time just to find out what to get Annie for her birthday." Zack grinned as if he knew something.

"Yeah, well... I ended up running into Jen at the bar." I decided to go with "No, I did not drink." I took off my coat and then kicked off my shoes to see Zack shaking his head and walking into the living room, laughing a little to himself.

"You don't smell like Jen, Ro. Just tell us that you spent the night with him."

"And if I did?" I asked quietly, looking at Dorian a little defensively.

"I wouldn't care because it's not my business." Dorian finished lightly with a shrug. "I told you, you had to move on and get on with your life and if that's with a wolf..."

"So you seem to think we slept together?" I asked as I went into the living room, passing Dorian, to annoy him, as I knew he hated the smell of wolves.

"You've come home in a good mood." Zack offered from where he was standing in the kitchen, putting on the kettle for me. "Drink?"

"Coffee please." I answered with a grin. "So coming home in a happy mood means I've slept with Hunter?"

"That's what Dorian thinks. Personally, I know the smell of sex." Zack grinned. "And it ain't all over you."

I looked at Dorian with a grin. "Marry him." I told Dorian simply and then folded my arms across my chest, looking at Dorian. "I didn't sleep with him. The only company I had in that bed last night was Shadow, his dog."

"Mmhmm, what male invites a woman to his house for them not to have s*x?" Dorian asked.

"Hunter." I answered simply and looked over at Zack, who was laughing. "You believe me, right?"

"Girl, I know nothing happened; like I said, you don't smell like the deed. You just smell like dog and wolf." Zack shrugged as he passed me my cup of coffee. "Although I did see you kiss him, so..."

"Snitch." I muttered, looking at Zack, who began to laugh again.

"If we're going to talk about this like grown-ups, can't you at least shower first?" Dorian complained.

"Mmm, nope. I need my coffee first." I grinned. "Has he been like this all night?"

"Pretty much, until Jen rang and told him you were with her." Zack snitched again as he came in and sat down, pleased to be the referee of our debate.

"Ok, so where were you when I called to tell you about Sarah?"

"Sat on my own in a park, needing some air." I answered honestly. "Then, not long after you hung up, Xander called me." I took a sip of the coffee as I sat down. "Mmm, that is good coffee, Zack."

"Xander called?"

"Mmhmm, to tell me about Sarah."

"The bastard never told me that when he spoke to me."

"Did he tell you he was in the bar with Marie and Claire?" I decided to throw into the conversation. If Dorian was going to be mad at Xander, I may as well give him the full reason to be angry with him rather than just part of the reason. Karma. Screw karma. It seemed like karma had come around and bitten me pretty hard with what had happened with Xander, so what was a bit more bad karma when I was always buried deep in the bad karma already?

"Please go and take a shower." Dorian muttered clearly, trying to hold his anger back on a huge scale. I put my coffee on the table and got up.

"Fine." I muttered and then headed up to the bathroom to go and grab a shower.

As I stood in the shower, I was thinking about when I'd kissed Hunter. What had I been thinking? You weren't thinking. I shook my head a little and put it against the cold tiles, hoping that I hadn't messed up with Hunter after the kiss, as he certain had seemed a little out of it when I'd kissed him.

I turned the water off quickly and got out after wrapping a towel around myself and heading to my room. I got changed into my pyjamas and sat thinking for a few minutes when a knock on the door came. "Come in."

Zack walked in with my phone and a grin on his face as he shut the door. "Your phone made the noise of a text message and I had to grab it before Dorian decided to look."

"Thank you." I took my phone from him to see a text from Hunter. I unlocked my phone and read the message as I felt a little better.

Thanks for last night and today and even the kiss. I'm sorry I reacted how I did; it's been a while since anyone has kissed me like that. Hopefully I'll see you before Annie's party; in case I don't, stay safe and speak to you soon x

"It's Hunter." I looked up at Zack. "Do you think I'm rushing things too fast? I know that is what Dorian is worried about."

"I can't tell you that one." Zack came and sat on my bed next to me and I put my head on his shoulder, frowning a little.

"What do you want out of you and Hunter?" Zack asked simply.

"I don't know." I told him honestly. "At first, it was just someone to understand me..."

"Now, your just looking for someone to take away the pain and numb the last parts that hurt."

"Yeah." I looked at Zack with a sigh. "It was so hard to not go and see Xander and give him a piece of my mind last night and this morning."

"He's not there."

"What do you mean?" I frowned, lifting my head up and looking at him seriously.

"Lord Xander doesn't live in that house any more; he and the staff moved..." Zack seemed to break off as if he were worried that he'd said too much.

"Moved to where?" I asked.

"I don't know Rosa. I just know Dorian came back and said that the house is now empty and he's moved to a new place. Which is why he wasn't too bothered by you being at the pack grounds last night."

I looked at Zack as if everything had come crashing down on me and my warm body seemed to feel as if it were made of ice. "What's going on, Zack? Please, just tell me."

"Rosa, I'm not the best person to tell you."

"Your the only one who is being honest with me right now." I could feel every inch of me breaking all over again.

"I'm only going on what Dorian has told me. He said Lord Xander's master was killed." Hearing those words, I felt all the blood drain out of my face. "Rosa?" My mind seemed to turn over everything as my chest hurt even more. This was what all of this had been about. He'd been too embarrassed that his mate was a human and that his mate would never be able to be his queen when he'd become king.

"Zack... Can you please leave?" I whispered as he put something over my shoulders as I wrapped my arms around my stomach. I honestly felt like I was going to be sick.

"You've gone really pale, Rosa. Do you need something to eat?"

"No... I need to go to bed." I looked up at Zack as my tears began to run down my cheeks. "I understand everything now." I whispered. "Thank you. Can you tell Dorian that I'm tired and I've just gone to bed?" I wiped the tears away quickly as I took a slow, deep breath.

"O...Ok." Zack muttered as he got up. "If you need anything,"

"I'll shout." I told Zack quietly as I put my dressing gown on for extra warmth. I heard my door shut and I broke down into tears. Why hadn't he just been honest with me and told me that he worried about his look by having a human mate rather than a vampire mate? I wouldn't have minded if he'd turned me. I wiped my eyes again and as I did, I remembered his words about not wanting to end my life. I got up, took off the dressing gown, got into bed, curled up, and pulled the cover over my head. I really did feel like I'd wasted all those months for nothing and when I next saw him, I silently vowed that I'd get him to say out loud what I'd just figured out just to put my mind at ease so that I could move on with my life and I'd make sure when we met next that he would be the one walking away hurt, not me.