Cherishing Destiny (A Dangerous Destiny) (20 page)

So he followed along with Kate and Elvis after the breakfast
dishes were done.  Kate led him to a small cabin at the edge of the
settlement.  Tarps were strung on top of poles, trying to shelter some of an
extensive herb garden.  The mud and standing water between the delicate plants
explained the rickety looking set-up.  It also looked as if someone had
gathered supplies and was starting construction on a sizable greenhouse. Ryan
watched as a young woman came around the side of the house, with a tub full of dirt
that she had apparently been using to transplant some of the half-drowned
plants into.  Her hair was dripping wet, and she looked a little half-drowned
herself.  She started when she saw them, and Ryan didn’t miss the fact that her
mouth drew into a tight, thin line when she realized who it was.  Kate and
Elvis didn’t notice or chose to ignore the look and were smiling broadly,
wrapping her in hugs that nearly made her drop her tub of transplants. 

Kate made the introductions and both Ryan and Lily muttered
unenthusiastic greetings without actually looking at each other much.  Without
giving the young people a chance to protest, Elvis made some excuse for a hasty
departure and Kate suggested Ryan stay to get to know Lily a little better. 
The Alpha pair hurried off with their heads together, whispering. 

Lily gave Ryan a look of resignation and without saying
anything carried her tub to the back door of the house where she left it on a
covered porch and kicked off her muddy boots, before holding the door open for
him to enter.  The back door opened into a kitchen, and Ryan noticed that there
were dozens more containers of all types scattered around the room with sad
looking little plants growing in them. 

Lily noticed Ryan’s perusal of the room, and she explained,
“It took me four years to get that garden the way that I wanted, with most
everything I use regularly.  Now, this weather is killing all of my hard work. 
I’m afraid that this is the best I can do until the greenhouse is completed.”
She waved her hand vaguely around the room, indicating the clutter of makeshift
planters. 

Ryan tried to look sympathetic to her situation, and he
actually was but, he was so uncomfortable that he didn’t know what to say.  He
resorted to the obvious. “So, you are a healer.” 

“And a midwife,” she added, but seemed far from interested
in having the conversation. 

He looked at her and found that she was frowning at him and
had her arms crossed in front of her.  He felt a little irritated that she
should act as if he had anything to do with this set-up.   He was as unhappy
with the arrangement as she seemed to be.  It wasn’t personal, but he didn’t
feel like he was ready for this type of commitment.  Most wolves mated for life
and even though it wasn’t set in stone, it might even be expected that they
would remain together.   

Ryan checked out the woman he was expected to be mated to,
truly looking at her for the first time since he arrived.  She was not
unattractive but, not classically beautiful either. Her hair, which was wet at
the moment, was long and pulled back in a loose braid.  He guessed that it
would be a few shades lighter when it was dry, making the color a dark blond. 
Her eyes were a warm brown, but had just a little fire in them when she was put
out as she was just then. She was of medium height with a slender waist and
curves that suggested healthy child-bearing.

Lily noticed his scrutiny and seemed to get even more agitated. 
She raised her hands in the air and asked him, “Would you like me to turn
around so you can get the full view?”

“Look,” he answered, “I don’t know what you want me to
say.  None of this was my idea.”

“Fine, so it wasn’t your idea,” she announced while
starting to shed her wet clothes right in the middle of the kitchen.

“What are you doing?!” Ryan felt as if his mouth had been
hanging open the entire time he had been back to the settlement.

“The timing is right, so let’s just get this over with, if
that’s okay with you,” she looked anything but happy about the suggestion, but
she was standing naked in her own kitchen with gooseflesh rising on her wet
skin and her nipples hardening in the cool air.

“What?”  Again Ryan’s words failed him.

Lily walked straight up to him and started undoing his belt
and jeans. “Do you need a little help to get started?” she asked in all
sincerity.  The look she gave him was all business, and she had his pants
around his knees in seconds.  Without another word, she dropped to her knees
and pulled his mildly responding member into her mouth. He almost fell over in
his shock and his pants bunched around his knees didn’t help.  He wasn’t sure
he wanted to enjoy this, but his traitor cock was responding to Lily’s
attentions with growing enthusiasm.  As soon as she held him, hard and ready,
she stood up and faced him for a moment with an expression that said she was
trying to decide what to do next. Abruptly, she turned her back to him and
leaned over grasping the back of a chair that was nearby.  Her soft, round
backside was pressed up against him, and he groaned with the sweet ache in his
swollen shaft.  

Ryan grasped her hips and started to push her away from
him. “Lily, we don’t need to do this right now,” He found himself saying.

“Please! Just do it!” Lily almost shouted, and Ryan could hear
her on the verge of tears. “I want you to do this, now,” she said more quietly.
 

Ryan wanted to continue his protest, but he wasn’t sure if
he would hurt her more by rejecting her or by accepting the situation as she
had.  She leaned back against him harder, and he guided himself to her soft
folds, parting them to find her slightly moist and ready enough to take him as
he pushed his way into her tight, warm depths.  They quickly found a gentle
rhythm, and if she wasn’t enjoying it, she at least relaxed into the motion and
grew wetter as he filled her. 

Part of Ryan wanted to end this quickly for both of their
sakes, but his mind was racing and confused and he wasn’t even close to climax. 
He wanted to finish, but he also wanted, at the very least, to make the
experience pleasant, if not passionate, for her. He tried to put the circumstances
out of his mind and give himself over to the sensation.  He ran his fingers
across her smooth back and around to cup and gently massage her firm ripe
breasts.  Her taut nipples teased against his palms, and he let his thumbs flick
over them, making them pucker and harden even more.  He pinched them softly and
squeezed the swelling breasts underneath.  He heard her breath catch and he
knew she was responding to his touch.  He felt her tighten around his slick
hardness, and he let a hand slide down to find her hidden bud with his
fingertip.  He circled it, gradually moving faster until she was hard and
panting, pushing against his stroking fingers.  They moved together, breathing
hard and taking their pleasure. He felt her climax and, for a moment, felt
regret that they had not done this face to face so that he could have seen the rapture
of her peaking.  He gave himself over to the physical and felt his buried manhood
pulse with his own climax. 

Lily rested her forehead against the back of the chair as
she caught her breath.  She had not expected to enjoy any of this.  She
resented the interference of the Alphas in her love life. 
What love life?
My love will never be mine.
  She felt the tears gathering again in her
eyes.  She loved someone, but he was already mated and while she knew that he
admired her, she also knew that he would never be with her. 

Ryan withdrew from her, and she could hear him pulling up
his pants and buckling his belt.  She felt a little guilty for not paying more
attention to the rest of him, especially after he made a point to please her. 
They never even kissed, and now the silence between them was awkward.  She
straightened up and wiped the tears from her eyes.

“Lily, I’m sorry about this,” Ryan seemed flustered and uncomfortable.

“None of this is your fault,” she replied. “But, if it is
okay with you, I’d like to be alone now.”  She picked up her clothes off the
floor and walked out of the room, leaving him standing there feeling stupid and
powerless. 

He left and went immediately to gather some supplies and load
the horses.  The sooner he was headed back, the better.

Twenty
-four

Alex and Reginald arrived in Syracuse without further
incident.  It didn’t take long to find out that the elder Vampire they were
seeking was Samuel Gates.  Alex could scarcely believe that it had only been a
few weeks since he had been socializing at a reception with Gates.  Alex knew
that it was the night of the Solar Storm, but the memory of a formal party was
so out of place now that it made it seem like an age ago.

Gates and most of the Vampires that had taken up residence
in Syracuse were staying in upscale homes in a gated community.  Several of the
homes had been destroyed, but many were in decent enough shape to repair and
inhabit.  Alex felt a little put out when he had to identify himself to a
Vampire guard at the gate house and be cleared to enter before anyone would
tell him how to find Gates.  This process took a while since they had no phones
or radios and they sent a messenger on a bike. If Alex had ever forgotten how
he disliked Gates, this was a terrific reminder.  He could have thought of at
least a dozen other elders he would have preferred to see in charge.

A uniformed guard, armed with a sword and a crossbow,
arrived at the security gate in a pedi-cab driven by an obvious subordinate. 
Alex found the sight to be so out of place as to be comical.  He waved an
impatient hand at the guard to lead the way, and he and Reginald followed on
their mounts.  When they reached a large columned home, Alex handed the reins
to the pedi-cab driver and told him to wait.  The guard frowned at Alex’s presumption
of authority, but didn’t dare say anything to a Vampire as old as Alex was.  He
escorted Alex through the columns and to the front door.  Alex noted that one
of the columns was cracked and crumbling, and he wondered how well the others
would stand if the one gave way.  He entered behind the guard and Reginald
followed behind.  They were taken to a gigantic marble floored room that must
have been a ballroom at one time.  At the far end of the room, opposite the
extremely tall double doors, was a long table, set sideways so that the man
sitting behind it appeared to be seated at an oversized desk since there were
no other chairs around it. 

Alex didn’t wait to be invited or directed.  He strode
purposely down the length of the chamber until he was standing directly in
front of Gates, seated on the other side of the table. 

“Alexander.  How wonderful that you have survived and are here,”
Gates managed to sound smug. “I hope your lovely wife has fared as well.”

The last time Alex had seen Gates, he was lusting after
Aurora, like a lecherous cretin.  “Aurora is fine.” Alex did not offer up any
details.

Gates gestured to another guard standing against the wall
to the side of the room. “Get Mr. Lake a chair and be quick about it.”  He
managed to make it seem as if the lack of seating was some kind of unplanned
accident and was most likely the fault of some incompetent underling.  He
certainly did not offer any kind of chair to Reginald and barely looked at him,
still standing quietly behind Alex. 

Reginald looked at Gates, however, and was surprised to see
the very elder that he had told Alex about as having visited Devereux and
rescuing the Witch from Salem.  He wanted to be able to whisper the information
to Alex, but held his tongue as he could not reasonably do so, without acting a
fool.  Besides, it seemed that Alex already had the Vampire’s measure and
didn’t care for him either. 

Alex always began to feel dirty after too long in the
presence of Samuel Gates.  Gates was only eleven hundred years old to Alex’s
two thousand and Alex had sat on the council much longer.  It was within his authority
and perfectly acceptable for him to make demands of Gates as he wished.  He did
not wish to wait for his chair to be fetched so that he might sit across the
grand desk from Gates like a supplicant. 

“I would like someone to arrange someplace, other than
here, for us to stay.  I would also like to be taken somewhere here that I may
freshen up.  Then I will be happy to meet with you privately where you can give
me a full report of what you know.  I will send your man back to you to let you
know when I am ready for you.” Alex examined the dirt under his nails as he
spoke.  There was no question of him being obeyed.

Gates looked as if he had swallowed something sour, but he
only answered with, “Certainly, how rude of me not to notice your weariness.” 
He said the word like it was weakness.  Alex let it pass, and Gates called to
the guard that just reentered the room with a chair and relayed Alex’s
instructions. 

Reginald made sure not to let anyone see him smile, when he
followed Alex from the room. 

Alex was shown to a guest suite with an adjoining sitting
room.  The fireplaces in both rooms had been lit, and warm water was brought
for washing.  When Alex felt that he had removed the worst of the road mud and
dirt, he noticed an old fashioned razor complete with soap and a shaving brush
on an antique vanity with a wash basin inset.  He ordered fresh, hot water and
filled the basin, spreading the lather across his cheeks with the brush. 
Reginald peeked in from the sitting room and saw what Alex was about, and he
stepped up behind Alex and peered at him in the mirror.