Kristie Cook - Devotion

"So you do know." It wasn't a question. He knew and refused to tell me. Usually, I'd let it go, not wanting him to relive any pain or guilt from his previous life, but unlike his other memories, it seemed as though this one had to do with us, not only him.

He jumped to his feet. "Furniture's here."

I heard the truck about a mile down the road.

"You said anything for me," I pushed.

"Not this! It's not worth it, Alexis. Trust me."

He strode toward the door, and I sprang up. "You can't keep secrets from me, Tristan!"

He turned on me, his face hard. "You'd really invade my private thoughts?"

"No! I meant we're married, that we're in this together. We can't survive with secrets. We need to trust each other."

His face softened, and he wrapped his arms around me.

"I'm sorry." He kissed the top of my head. "But I do have secrets, my love, things you really don't want to know."

"If they have to do with us, with our daughter, then I do want to know. Anything that might help."

He sighed. "It won't help, ma lykita. It'll only make things worse. Please trust me on this."

The doorbell rang, and I had to let it go. For today, anyway, because the rest of the day was full of furniture deliveries and cable installers, then Tristan setting up the television and Internet service. And, finally alone with only Dorian sleeping soundly in the other room, we were able to make love. Another reason for choosing to live away from the colony was that I didn't have to worry about anyone hearing us–with their sharp ears or minds. Only Normans surrounded us, so if my thoughts reached out farther than our property, they'd only think they were having good dreams. We couldn't get too crazy–the sounds of our bedroom being destroyed would wake Dorian–but we still broke our new bed. Owen would have to fix it, and I had to brace myself for the embarrassment … but it was worth it.

"Hey, Mom," Dorian said sleepily the next morning, snuggling between Tristan and me on the floor, Sasha under his arm. "What happened to your bed?"

Um …

"Mom was jumping on the bed and got out of control," Tristan answered with a grin.

I bit my lip to keep from laughing … because it was very near the truth.

Blossom came over nearly every day with another to-die-for cake. She usually dropped the cake off and chatted for a few minutes, but once the following week, with the guys out on the beach, she stayed, and we had some girl time. It was strange for me. Besides Mom, I hadn't hung out with a female since I was ten years old.

"You're going to make me fat," I mumbled through a mouthful of strawberries and icing.

"You can't get fat," she said matter-of-factly. I gave her a questioning look. "When you sleep, your cells regenerate, and your body goes back to exactly the way it was after the Ang'dora."

"Uh, yeah, right. Is that common knowledge, though? I mean, around the Amadis?"

She gave me a sheepish grin. "Not exactly. When I found out an actual Amadis daughter had moved in, I did some research, you know, to find out exactly what you are. You're really kind of badass–vampire, Were, mage and angel all rolled into one. Of course, you could eat an entire cake every day and not gain an ounce, so that makes me want to hate you. But … well, I can't. You're too cool."

I stared at her in disbelief. She researched me? Well, then, that gave me permission to research her … even if it wasn't exactly the same method. Within a minute of listening to Blossom's thoughts while she talked, though, I felt ashamed, yet fascinated. I'd never heard a mind work so fast.

I'm so freaked out, this investigation will be the death of me, but I just hope Eduardo doesn't get dragged into it–the image of a man with dark hair and eyes showed in her mind–he's so great and hot and even though it was his idea, asking me if there was a spell to make tits larger, I was the one stupid enough to see if I could create one and it's a good thing I used myself as the guinea pig because anyone else would have killed me!

She barely paused before moving on.

I still need to figure out that last ingredient to the potion that should cure the neighbor's cough and hopefully it will turn out better than this enlargement spell, if I can just control myself, but it's so dang exciting to create new stuff and I know I'm a good witch–wait, no, I'm a great witch!–just a little enthusiastic is all, like with these boobs, and, really, everyone needs to get over their stupid fears because I like Alexis and the rest of them.

"So what are you doing this weekend?" she asked without a break in the conversation–that's how fast she processed all those thoughts.

I pulled completely out of her head, my own spinning. "Going out of town, I think. My mom's coming, though, so plans might change."

"Yeah, I know." She chewed on her lip as she looked out the window. "She's coming to investigate me."

So … she's honest.

"I got a little excited with my experiment and ended up with these." Returning her gaze to me, she smushed her breasts together with her hands. "I didn't mean to. I was pretty happy with my girls before, actually. Now they're way too big. They get in the way all the time, and it's impossible to find cute tops that fit right. But Eduardo–he's the vamp who owns the coffee shop on Captiva–likes them, so maybe it'll be worth it. He's really yummy. You'll get to meet him sometime."

"Yeah … sometime." If the natives ever let us come into town.

"Of course, you have Tristan. Major yummy. I think it's so sweet that you're real soul-mates, a match made by the Angels. I wish they'd do something for me." She sighed wistfully.

I picked up our cake plates and took them over to the sink, debating whether to mention Owen, but I wasn't sure how interested he was in Blossom. Not my business. It'll happen if it's meant to.

She asked me for some pointers for dealing with Mom and Char, and I told her to be truthful, because Mom would know anyway. Then she chatted about how exciting it was to meet all of us, especially two Amadis daughters … and ranted on about several other things, too.

"So where are you going this weekend?" she asked, coming full circle.

"Um … I'm not sure. Either Daytona or a bike ride to Lake Okeechobee." I wasn't exactly lying–Tristan still hadn't decided if we would visit the witch coven in Daytona or the Okeechobee wolf pack first–but it wasn't the full truth, either. I wanted to trust her, but I didn't know yet. Trust never came easily to me, not since I was a kid and people hurt me one too many times. And right now, I wasn't sure I could trust my own mother, let alone some witch I'd just met. She was probably safer not knowing, anyway.

"Well, I hope you can go," she said. "I'm from Daytona, and it's always a lot of fun. And Okeechobee must mean a Were bike rally, which can be a blast. And you look like you could use some fun."

"I hope we can go, too, but I don't know how much fun it'll be," I muttered.

"Oh, it will be, especially if you go to the bike rally. Wait, maybe not–there's a full moon this weekend. That wouldn't be good. You should go to Daytona."

"Ah, dude, I missed Blossom," Owen said, eyeing the cake as soon as he, Tristan and Dorian walked through the door. I shooed Dorian back outside to clean the sand off his feet.

"Sure did, by about fifteen minutes." I retrieved more dessert plates. "I don't think you're her type, though. She seems to prefer the dark and quiet type. You know, dark hair, dark eyes … undead."

"Ew. She's a vamp-tramp?"

"A what?" I laughed.

"A vamp-tramp … someone who's not a vamp but likes to do them. It's disgusting." Owen shuddered, then he shook his head. "What a waste. Ah, well. She's too thin and too … uh … endowed for my liking, anyway. And then there's that mole on her cheek and how fast she talks and …"