Love's Liability Read online

  I realized why he added that, and had the grace to be embarrassed since I’d given him a confused look like what did warriors have to study. “Sorry, I’ve never known young warriors, only Wyrok or ancient bloodlines like Linden. I have no idea what goes on in your programs.”

  He shrugged. “No worries. You only know what you know, and you don’t treat us like idiot warriors, so it’s not upsetting.”

  I snorted as I stretched out the taffy for the machine to keep it going. “People who think in stereotypes are idiots, not those who are physically strong. I get crap all the time, and even if I am gay, that had nothing to do with why I chose my profession like you have to be gay or a woman to want to make treats or food. It’s stupid and insulting. I take everything at face value that I’ve seen with my own eyes.”

  “Good way to live,” he complimented, moving around the end and nodding to the box that was rapidly filling up. I told him to go ahead and try it, smiling when he did and he moaned. “Yeah, mint chocolate taffy is now like my favorite thing ever.”

  “How come you didn’t do this part and did the suckers first?” Zibon asked as he tried a piece too, his eyes going wide. “Fuck, this is good.”

  “Thank you. Hard candy has to be worked with while still warm or it hardens and cracks. Taffy you want cool, so I will leave packaging to the end of a shift or night when I’m tired and it’s easy. I won’t leave it longer than a day even wrapped in plastic though. I get it out fresh since I don’t add preservatives.”

  “So you only make what you have orders for?” Zibon checked, wincing when I nodded. “Does that go over well? I mean, isn’t everyone so used to Amazon two day shipping life now?”

  I shrugged. “You tried it. Wasn’t it worth planning ahead or ordering enough to get your fresh batch for your holiday party? I get a lot of wedding orders too where they pay for huge patches and I ship out the individually wrapped pieces at bulk cost. Party favors for bags and whatnot. I’m not exactly a grocery store big name item where you can get it all the time.”

  “Yeah, I’m tracking. How much do you need to get done for the orders you have before wedding season?”

  “A terrifying amount,” I admitted. “It was why I was such a brat to Proximo about exactly when I had to come and the tiny window of packing to delivering my machines and whatnot. I have another huge shipment of ingredients coming tomorrow. The bright side is that I have enough where I can run batches of the same products all day, which makes it easier than changing flavors and cleaning mixers.”

  “This is the best taffy I’ve ever had,” Danek praised, blinking at me. “And I love taffy. Wow, Zeke.”

  “Thanks.” I flushed at the praise as they all tried it. I glanced over and saw Jayme helping with the chocolate bar making, smiling brightly. “I’m not going to be using the depositor or enrober tomorrow if you want to make a ton of cookies—regular or chocolate covered.”

  “Oh, thanks, yeah, that would be awesome.” He glanced to the side of the garage and sighed. “We might need to talk to Nero about putting in a path between the mansions. Otherwise I’m going to be driving cookie dough down the driveway to up here and it’s still icy.”

  “Whatever works.” I wasn’t going to get all involved in that since I was already such a pain. I also wouldn’t risk him taking my machines back and forth in the snow since they were expensive.

  Everyone seemed to truly want to help and had a few hours to work, so I took them up on it, showing a few of them how to use the starch tray loader and stamper once I got it set up. I explained that it was how gummies were made and right then I would be using it as centers for the chocolate liquors Mark wanted. They were more than willing then as it helped both of us.

  “Smart to have this in the back corner,” Wally muttered as some of the starch spilled on the floor when he turned too fast.

  “It’s not my first rodeo,” I chuckled. In the end I put everyone to work either pulling taffy or watching kettles and everything in between. By the time people were ready to call it a night and offering to clean up, I was ahead of where I had reasonably expected to be on the first day, which was nice. I much preferred to have orders done and announce to our customers that I’d made batches ready to purchase.

  Even if I never had a fully stocked internet store, when I had a store front I could offer more and always. Once the mall was built and I had a store—even if it was only for the community—things would go smoother. Until then it was a lot of dancing.

  “You look exhausted, but you smell delicious, and it is taking everything I have not to gobble you up,” Linden murmured as he moved up behind me as I finished at the sinks that Nero had the construction guys hook up. He nuzzled my neck, and I shivered when his lips brushed that spot under my ear. “Let’s get you to bed.”

  “You planning to join me?” I asked, my tired brain not firing on all cylinders.

  “I’d love to.”

  Wait, I hadn’t meant that as an invitation. “Um, I’m not sure that’s a good idea with the twins, sorry. I… You made it—”

  “I promise they won’t catch me. I move that fast.” His hands moved to my hips, his arms hugging me. “Let me show you I want you for real. Let me hold you tonight when you’re worried and need comfort. Please?”

  I wasn’t strong enough to say no, thinking it was probably not smart to do, but I couldn’t help it. I wanted him. I’d always wanted Linden.

  “Only if you carry me to bed,” I mumbled, my cheeks heating. He didn’t answer, probably assuming I was teasing him. I shrugged. “It was always my biggest fantasy when I was old enough to realize I loved you. I wanted nothing more than for you to not care I was the servants’ son and carry me off to do wicked things to me no matter who was around.”

  He let out a deep, long groan. “You’ll let me be a caveman with you sometimes, won’t you?”

  I felt how much the idea turned him on and threw fuel on the fire. “And I love getting on my knees and sucking cock.”

  He snarled and swooped me up, easily turning off the water for me and holding me with one arm. He leaned in until his nose was against mine. “You suck anyone else’s cock and I’ll kill him. You are mine, Zeke. If we want to play around down the road like other mated couples when we’re in a place that’s secure, fine, but I will kill anyone who tries to take you from me.”

  Maybe most would have found that a bit controlling or too much given we weren’t even officially dating yet, but I loved it. I had always wanted Linden to see me as a man and want me like I wanted him, and now he was. I kissed him, moving my arms around his neck as I attacked his mouth.

  We stopped only to turn off the lights and make sure everything was closed down before he locked the garage with my keys and carried me off. A few minutes later he was letting me into my suite and carrying me to the master bedroom. I’d taken a bath with the boys, but I always showered after work to help me sleep and so I was ready for anything the moment they woke.

  I found out it was way more fun to shower with Linden. He was incredibly tactile, and he never stopped touching me. Plus, he gave me a hand job that was better than a lot of the sex I’d ever had, amazing me and thrilling me down to my toes that we were sexually compatible.

  Well, at least in my mind. He didn’t seem to react to the hand job I gave him as I did to his, and he was very quiet as we crawled in bed. I told myself he was just tired as I was and fell asleep with him wrapped around me as I’d always dreamed.

  6

  Several days later I was freaking out and for multiple reasons.

  First, while Linden was putting me to bed every night, he hadn’t touched me again intimately, just a few chaste kisses, and not sleeping over. I was panicked I didn’t please him and he didn’t want me again.

  Second, a massive order had gotten lost in my system. Actually several. Something had happened to the server, and I didn’t understand it. One of the warriors, Gilroy, said it had to do with the move and the automatic backup on my computer of the webs
ite, and orders had gotten all messed up because my computer hadn’t been online at the moment like it normally was, and things had gone amuck.

  Fuck.

  Third, I was sitting on the first row of bleachers in the training gym with the twins and maybe the whole camp and subdivision as Linden squared off with Danek. There were several other fights going on for demonstrations, training, and apparently a few people needed to work out issues, but I was only focused on the one fight.

  And I knew the twins felt my upset, as they were squirming around and misbehaving. I’d been so stressed out that there was no way they wouldn’t pick up on that and react to it. I simply couldn’t deal with it at the moment and needed backup.

  “Oh dear, this is the crabby corner,” Marissa teased me as she joined us. “And I thought I was going to be the grumpiest one here since Gary’s fighting.”

  “Why is he fighting?”

  She shrugged. “All I know is he’s had an issue with a guy since he was a pre-trans and now that the guy took the opportunity to show Gary shouldn’t be a warrior. He just passed all his tests, and the guy wants to humiliate him, has several times since he started dating Lynx.”

  “Sounds petty,” I grumbled, hating when people cared about stupid shit. The world had more problems than that.

  She nodded, pulling Ethan onto her lap and giving him kisses until he giggled. “There’s a lot of valid upset that this camp and the people have gone through. I think it’s manifested in some ugly ways as they can’t tackle what really upsets them.”

  I sort of understood that, as I’d heard about the attack and issues with the councils. I didn’t know much, but what I’d heard was enough to have me forgive a bit of petty. They couldn’t take on the council as trainees or kill every zakasac, so yeah, they were getting into stupid fights.

  “That’s why I went into sweets,” I admitted. “I hated the stupid shit, and people were just always happy eating chocolate or something tasty. I wanted a world with that.”

  “Sounds like an obese world,” she teased me, giving me a wink. “You care, that’s all that matters. I do in a different way. I wanted to heal and work on getting out stress to help even before I knew I was an empath. You wanted to bring sugar to a world that has too much sour, and I think that’s great.”

  I nodded, worrying my lower lip as I hugged Evan on my lap. He seemed as nervous as I did, mostly because he already liked Danek and Linden. Both of them had been hanging out around us all the time, and they adored the twins, so of course my sons loved them too.

  Hell, I adored Danek too and could have fallen in love with him in two seconds if Linden wasn’t in the picture and in my heart. I knew that. I didn’t want either of them hurt, and I worried about that no matter how many times everyone had said it was just sparring and completely safe.

  Right, because accidents never happened. I mean, it wasn’t even like a boxing ring setup but mats, which someone said was normal for sparring and martial arts, but honestly they weren’t all that thick. Then again, the wood gym floor looked pretty damn hard to land on.

  Bricius was officiating, and while I knew he was good friends with Danek, none of them would cheat for something like this. Still, I was worried.

  And glad the twins couldn’t catch the verbal sparring already going on, as it would have upset them. Danek seemed all about pushing every one of Linden’s buttons, and he was returning the favor. Awesome, really, awesome.

  “Alright, everyone knows the rules and the prize of dating rights to the lovely Zeke,” Bricius announced as both men met in the center. “Land one hit before Danek wipes the mats with you and you win. That’s how fights work, sure, but I get the serious handicap. Oh, and pull the hits or you could punch his head off. At the bell go.”

  There wasn’t like a real fighting bell but Mark’s phone that had the sound on it. Yay technology.

  I blinked, and Linden was on the ground. Shit. Shit, shit, and double shit. He didn’t seem shocked though and jumped right to his feet. Several more hits and I had no idea how this demonstration was educational for anything other than how scary Bricius and his twelve knights were. There was no way the pre- and post-trans were catching anything useful when I couldn’t even see any of it.

  Apparently I wasn’t the only one who realized it.

  “You have to slow it down at least to half speed, Danek,” one of the other warriors who seemed in charge called over.

  “He’ll land a hit then,” he argued but shrugged.

  I sort of saw the next several hits, but still it wasn’t much besides a blur instead of it happening and not tracking it at all. Really, it was terrifying, and I was suddenly very, very glad Danek and they were on our side.

  Even if I had an inappropriate moment to think of what else that speed could be used for. I’d heard some of the others dating ancients discuss it, and since then it had been at the front of my mind.

  Who could blame me?

  Linden was a bit slower to get up this time, Danek taunting him by sweeping his legs out from under him. Then he kept his foot on Linden’s chest to hold him down, smirking and taunting him.

  Ethan started sniffling and covered his face with his hands. I turned to assure him it was okay as Marissa was and realized I shouldn’t have brought them. Evan wiggled off my lap to stand between my legs as I held him there. Ethan got worse, and Evan pulled against my hand. My arm extended with him, thinking he wanted to be closer to Ethan, but he yanked against my fingers as Ethan cried out.

  I blinked. It was a second of my attention being split, nothing more… Except Evan had wanted to go to the fight. I reached for him and realized he wasn’t there, almost to the mats.

  “No!” I bellowed over the crowd and dove for him. I grabbed him and wrapped around him protectively. I heard a grunt behind us and then someone moved over me.

  “It’s okay, I got you guys,” Linden whispered in my ear. “He’s okay, Zeke.” I nodded, not able to move as tears burned in my eyes.

  “Bully,” Evan cried. “Danek a bully!”

  “You can’t leave Dad like that,” I choked out, fear like I’d never felt before. They had moved so fast and with such force that… In my mind I just saw Evan going flying, dead instantly from the contact, even if they just tripped over him. “You have to stay with Dad always.”

  “Sorry,” he sobbed, hugging me.

  Linden managed to get me to sit up, Ethan wanting us as well. He crawled in my lap too, Linden hugging both of us.

  “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry guys,” I rasped, hugging them to me. “We shouldn’t have come. Dad was bad. I’m so sorry.”

  “You’re exhausted,” Seneca worried as he squatted in front of me. “How much sleep have you been getting?”

  “Not much,” I admitted. “I’ve been staying up late, and the twins have been having nightmares, and then I get up earlier than them to get started before we have breakfast. I thought he wanted to comfort Ethan.” I couldn’t stop crying. I’d never lost them in a mall or had put them remotely in danger before, not wandering into a street or anything since they’d started walking. “I’m not used to this.”

  “Being around other vampires?” Linden guessed, sighing when I nodded. “Yeah, he was still far enough away from us if it was normal sparring, but Danek moves so fast you got scared. It’s okay, I promise.”

  “That was an impressive hit you landed when you needed to protect Zeke,” Marissa complimented. She smiled when I blinked at her. “When you yelled and dove for Evan, he heard and kicked Danek off of him and across the gym so he could protect you from potentially getting hurt.”

  “So he wins? No more of this?”

  “You didn’t tell me you were against it,” Linden muttered as he hugged me tighter. “What’s going on?”

  “Do you still want me? Why are you fighting him if you don’t want to date me?”

  “Oh, you tired, tired twit,” he whispered. “I do. Let’s get the twins settled and we’ll talk.”

  “Bully
!” Ethan yelled again as Danek joined us. “Say sorry!”

  “They were just playing, guys,” I explained, not sure how to handle this.

  “I went too far, I’m sorry,” Danek told Linden. “I shouldn’t have kept you down with my foot or taunted you like that.”

  “No bullying,” Evan cried, reaching for Danek. Oh dear, I wondered if he had a crush on Danek like I’d had on Linden at that age. He was acting more like Ethan, but that wasn’t normal for him. Then again, it had been scary, and I was so upset and tired it carried over to him. “Danek be nice always.”

  “Of course, I’m sorry,” he murmured, kissing Evan’s hair.

  When the twins and I settled, I just wanted to go lay down, and it was almost time for lunch and then naps. I stood and took Evan from Danek, giving him a grateful smile for helping, while Linden had Ethan who seemed more worried Linden had gotten really hurt instead of upset Danek was mean.

  “Let’s go have some lunch,” Linden offered, nodding off to the side where a huge sandwich bar was set up for concessions so the cafeteria could have the day off.

  “We need to take it to go,” I mumbled, knowing when the twins had hit their limit. I realized I had too when I simply stared at the food, not able to get my mind to work enough to decide what we needed. Linden had been trying to talk to me, but I didn’t realize that until he cupped my cheek. “I haven’t been that scared since Zara died.”

  “Can you take the twins?” Linden asked someone, and I nodded when I saw it was Verge and Wally who the twins already adored. Right, Marissa said Gary was fighting and would want to stay.

  “I’ll grab a bunch of everything and meet you at Proximo’s,” Falcon offered.

  The second I nodded, I was up in Linden’s arms. I knew I had to be the adult and handle things, but I couldn’t yet, burying my face against his shirt as I clung to him. “I thought I failed her and he would die, that I would die to lose him.”