Love's Choices Read online

  “I have to update Alastair and the others, but I’ll see you at dinner?” Nero asked as I met him back at the vehicle to grab the last of it.

  “Yeah, we can take it to go and watch in the lounge. It’s three hours,” I said, moving closer with a smile. “Thanks for the trip. I really had fun and not because it was New Orleans.”

  “I did as well,” he murmured, kissing me gently. “And I’ve been many times. None of them have been as much fun or exciting. It was your being there.” I got another kiss. “And I love my alligator.”

  I threw back my head and laughed, having trouble not dropping what I was holding I laughed so hard.

  “What alligator?” Gaius asked when Nero was gone.

  “We had alligator for dinner after we got there, and he likes it. When we went shopping for souvenirs, I got him a cute stuffed New Orleans one. It was a gag.”

  “Cute,” he said, not sounding like it was at all.

  Norris shot me a nervous look, but I decided to ignore whatever was up with Gaius.

  After everything was put away and I changed, Norris drove us out to where everyone was working, Gaius coming along. I brought the bag of beads, handing them out to all my friends, most of them laughing hysterically, especially Norris who had planes on his beads.

  I gave nice ones to Dimitri and Matteo; even if they were my trainers, they got me through everything and I liked them.

  “Oh no,” Wally groaned as I headed to Alexander, my friends knowing me too well.

  I pulled out one of the strings with the huge beads. Not the super huge ones, but like each bead fit in my hand size. He shot me a funny look and accepted them as I smiled sweetly.

  “You’ve got the biggest balls here being the boss, so you get the big beads,” I explained.

  “Verge, you are—never change camps,” he chuckled, shaking his head. Then he really laughed, which was rare for him, and I noticed he looked lighter, happier. I guessed working with Nicholas Sutton and Marissa was helping him and Dimitri. Good, they deserved to be happy.

  I joined up with Zibon’s group as he directed pre-trans bringing over rebar rods to the construction teams so they could do the part they knew best and not get bogged down with the back and forth and fetching. Groups of post-trans were doing the same with rebar mesh, all needed to get the foundation of the tunnels in. I wanted to ask him about his house and learn more about that since I’d missed it.

  But he gave me a funny look when I reached him and then quickly looked away.

  “What’s up?” I asked after dragging him off.

  “I don’t know,” he admitted, looking nervous. “Something’s different.”

  I realized why he’d be so upset or what could make that happen. “With my gift?”

  “Yeah,” he sighed, and I took a chance given the opening.

  “I was thinking of talking to the others and figuring out if any of us want to know, taking that pressure off of you if you’re willing to tell us instead of letting it be this thing.”

  “I’m fine with telling as long as no one gets mad at me if I’m wrong.”

  I shrugged. “Nothing in life is certain. I think we all know that, and if not, we can pound people.”

  He chuckled. “Yours is coming, and I think fast. I don’t know why, though. Did something go wrong in New Orleans?”

  “No, the trip was great. I think what the ancients were saying about us getting them when we feel comfortable makes sense too. Think about it. Why would our bodies push us into that next step if there wasn’t help? I would think it would be survival instincts to do when there was the most help.” I gestured around to sort of make my point. “So what is it? Just spit it out.”

  “Infrared. Something with your vision. It’s not auras like Matteo, but I keep wanting to say you’re getting infrared or like ultra vision like Hawkeye. That’s what he’s got, right?”

  “No, I think his only super power is Jeremy Renner is hot,” I muttered. “Still, I get what you’re saying. That’s not bad.”

  “Yeah, perfect for you,” he chuckled, shaking his head. It was true. I might suck at swords, but I was badass with a sniper rifle. “So the trip went well?”

  “Oh yeah,” I purred, wiggling my eyebrows at him. “Why didn’t you tell me Nero was designing your house? I had no clue he was awesome architect guy until we were in a meeting.”

  “He asked me not to make it a big thing.” Zibon shrugged as if not getting it either. “He wants you happy and didn’t want him being nice to me to turn into something like he was doing it so you’d like him.”

  “How can he think he’s not just as good of a soul as I am?” I asked more to myself.

  “If you figure that one out, let me know because Alastair’s the same. They don’t see it. So much death and darkness for so many thousands of years, and I think all they can see of themselves is the marks it’s all made.”

  “Deep. Preach it louder, Zen master.”

  “Dick.”

  “Oh yeah, but I’m a dick who got you upgrades on your new house so it won’t cost as much. And all it cost me was playing with some human Nero knows, and shit, we had fun.”

  “You’ve got to tell us everything,” he demanded, his eyes wide.

  I leaned in and pressed my mouth right to his ear. “I fed from humans. Nero taught me how.”

  His breath hitched. “Alastair said he’s teaching me too. How was it?”

  “Powerful,” I said after a moment. “Thrilling. Terrifying. I’m not sure I would ever do it without a buddy, but I felt like a weight lifted off me that I know how now or could. You know? Like I’m less scared of everything outside the gate.”

  “That would be nice. Yeah, it’s all too scary.”

  Yeah, it was, and that was a good way to put it, so I changed topics. “We got a bunch of king cakes to share. They are so fucking good.”

  “Of course you’re thinking of sweets, goof.” He cleared his throat and leaned in closer. “You should talk to Nero about his designs, what they’re thinking for the development. It’s awesome. I mean, I know I said we should do it, that humans do it and we could get away with it, but they’re taking it to the extreme. They’re going to hide so much in these mansions, I mean suites and room for so, so many vampires.

  “It’s a chance to keep lots of us safe. One huge place they’re modeling after some insane guy’s idea called Chateau Pensmore that’s bigger than the White House, and in there they’re going to have the main hub, including movie theater, night club—all the stuff that could cause trouble if publicly listed and people threw a fit they couldn’t go there like regular businesses. That was all Nero’s idea.”

  “Awesome,” I agreed, totally having a new level of appreciation for him. “I know some of it. I helped in New Orleans to find some of the fun they would bring in now and again.” I let him guess what I was talking about, and his eyes went wide. “Yup, hot guys and girls coming for a week to parties here and there, thinking of rich digs and sweet gift bags. No cell phones, and confidentiality waivers signed like those parties would have.”

  “Shit, it’s going to be totally awesome living here.”

  “Yeah, you mated the big, big boss.”

  “Not why I mated him,” he snapped.

  “Hey, I know that,” I grumbled, giving him a shit look.

  “I know,” he sighed, shaking his head. “I got some shit from a few post-trans saying I was the ‘Starter Wife’ and—I didn’t mate him for that. Yeah, I like getting spoiled, but him wanting to spoil me and love me like that is what won me. Not the stuff.”

  “Yeah, I get it.” I chuckled when he gave me a disbelieving look. “I do. It’s not the money Nero spent but that he was so worried about me when I freaked out landing in the cockpit, he was rushing around to find me a ginger ale, ready to change plans for the trip. It was him making sure I tried warm beignets because he wanted me to experience it all in a short trip. He loves seeing me have fun, smile, and experience everything I want to.”


  “You’re falling for him,” he said, and I noticed a head snap to look in our direction that made me wince. That was not something I wanted said around Gaius.

  “I don’t know. Maybe? We talked about our families, and he listens to me. He doesn’t make me feel—I feel important to him. But it’s new. I don’t have to come to any decisions, right?”

  “I wouldn’t ask me. I lost my mind and mated a man I barely knew and didn’t know I’m a stepdad because of that.”

  “So yeah, that’s rough and makes it good to go slower.”

  “I guess his ‘kids’ are awesome, though. And they’re Helios’s age, so yeah, that’s crazy. He got in touch with them, and they’re coming, I guess. Not terrifying or anything.”

  “I think I’d be more afraid about the fact he loved a woman enough to have kids with her,” I blurted, freaked out for him to have to compete with that.

  He shook his head, looking calm about the whole thing, so they must have discussed it in detail. “It wasn’t like that. It was a family alliance thing, and he offered her protection. They’re friends still, but it was never like that. He speaks super well of her, but like I would you. Yeah, they had sex, but it was always for the alliance, and they both did want kids so, yeah. I guess she’s coming too. People are holding off until something at least is built to stay at.”

  “Oh boy, more people coming and lots more crazy. Norris was telling me about Marissa and Proximo and—”

  “Gary flipping shits?” Zibon chuckled, slapping his hand over his mouth until he calmed down. “I mean he flipped shits. He was ranting about he’d sex Lynx up until Lynx would mess with Proximo’s car and kill him that way if he messed with Marissa or was a dick. He just went off when he saw them together until Lynx about dragged him away. Proximo was really cool about it, though, nodding and taking it. Gary’s dad hurt Marissa, and he’s scared she’ll get hurt again.”

  “Aren’t we all?” I sighed. “Nero did say that they’d be good together. That Proximo needs someone like Marissa. I’m a bit afraid if the ancients are all pairing up, it might draw scarier ancients thinking that we’re mating grounds or something. That could be dangerous.”

  “Yeah, but so is not having any of them around. I feel safer with them, don’t you?”

  “Without a doubt,” I agreed, letting him go when someone called his name. I hurried to work with my pre-trans, noting the way they seemed a bit sturdier after a few weeks of hard work and being at our camp. The first one that had died right as they’d arrived had freaked them out, but then one of our pre-trans had his transition and survived. I think that showed a lot of them that we knew what we were doing and not just the hype.

  Hey, at least it dedicated them better to the program.

  When we took a break for lunch, I went over to Gaius but saw he was talking with Basilia, so I was going to join my friends. They both stopped and looked at me, and I felt about two inches tall that I interrupted. “Sorry, we’re taking a break and Gaius said he wanted to see me. I—we can talk later.”

  “You can join us,” Basilia said easily, nodding to the cooler by them that I could sit.

  “You guys aren’t all that approachable, and it seemed serious talk,” I muttered as I sat with my food.

  “We’re not used to this many people, this amount of liveliness,” she explained. “It’s a bit much, if I’m being honest.”

  “We weren’t this exciting before you guys,” I assured her, smiling when she did.

  “You were saying about what you found,” she pushed Gaius, leading the conversation back.

  “Yeah, so we got over a billion dollars plus—”

  I choked on my pop, some of it coming out my nose when I coughed, which seriously hurt. They both gave me weird looks as I tried to get it together, apologizing. “The cartel thing? Seriously?”

  He smiled like he’d won something, happy I was interested. “Yeah, I got one group to go after another group with Morggyan’s help, and we loaded up the planes. It’s a billion dollars in US cash we deposited in the Caymans account for the development to pay for the supplies and stuff. We brought back two pallets of gold once we called in one of the pilots here, Tadzio, to give us a hand. She stayed because she said the art was divine and was taking that stuff.

  “Having the Ashton connection was a huge help because he’s got cruise ships that he sent to help us load it all, and we can slowly bring it in and not get eyes. But also, he’s taking possession of the drugs, can dispose of them because of his company. We’re keeping the pot.”

  She snorted as if to say duh.

  “I’ve never smoked pot. Does it really work with us?” I asked, lowering my voice, which they seemed to find amusing. “It’s illegal here.”

  “So is killing cartels,” Gaius mock whispered, but I could tell he was just teasing me, not being a jerk, and that made me smile. I liked it when he was playful.

  “What else did you score?” I was totally into the conversation as I stuffed my face, listening to all the guns, weapons, grenades, and bullets. They were stripping the places bare since we could use all the stuff, including cars, four-wheelers, boats—the works. Wow.

  “Once we get all the good stuff, she’ll torch it,” he rounded out. “The furniture was horridly tacky. Not even stuff that could be melted like that crazy man’s gold palace crap, but just, oh, so gross. Everything was fake animal prints and penis light fixtures. I’m not kidding. They were—that man liked his cock.”

  Basilia snorted. “All men do.”

  “Not enough to make penis lights,” I argued, hearing Gaius said something similar, and we smiled at each other. “That’s just gross.”

  “Agreed,” he chuckled. “And all the wood was spray painted with gold paint. Or silver, but all you had to do was scratch a chair and—so damn tacky.” He started laughing, and it was a nice sound. I was glad he had some fun.

  We worked hard all afternoon and called it when the sun started setting. No reason to risk anything bad given everyone was chipping in. I was impressed actually, I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen it, someone always missing or handling something else. It was like everyone showed up, even people switching for guard shifts to take breaks or cover to help.

  It was nice. Like a real community, and we needed to feel that.

  “Oh, brownies,” I purred when I got to the cafeteria and saw boxes of them, selecting a smores looking one and taking a big bite.

  “No!” several people shouted or growled.

  My response? Hide the evidence in my mouth, stuffing the rest in.

  “So he eats the whole thing instead of spitting it back out?” Basilia drawled. “For the love of…”

  “Spit it out,” Dimitri ordered at the same time I swallowed it.

  “Sorry, didn’t mean to steal,” I muttered, glancing around at all the upset faces. “Seriously, what’s wrong? I thought these were some of what we brought back.”

  “No, they’re from Gaius’s trip,” Nero growled, coming over to me. “Did you have to eat the whole thing?”

  “Sorry.” I really didn’t get what was going on.

  “They’re funny brownies, Verge. That’s why we were trying to stop you.”

  I frowned. “They tasted fine. They’re not expired.”

  “See? I wasn’t the only one who didn’t know what that meant,” Wally bitched at Roarke. “And I told you to cover them up.”

  “Who would think he’d just snag any treat without thinking or asking?” he grumbled.

  All my friends raised their hands, Mark trying not to laugh. “He’s sort of infamous for it.”

  “I am,” I giggled. Wait, giggled? Yes. I did. And then I giggled some more, my eyes going wide.

  “You wanted to try pot, you got it, kid,” Basilia chuckled, shaking her head as she went for the food line.

  I opened my mouth to ask what she was talking about and burst out into giggles as it sank in. “Funny brownies, I get it. They make everything funny. That’s smart!”

>   “Let’s get some food in you,” Mark snickered, moving his arm around me. “And seclude you before you end up dancing on the tables naked or something.”

  “No, I had so much wild in New Orleans it was supposed to be an easy night. I mean, there was so, so much sex. We double stuffed some humans and danced and ate and had more sex and sex, and fuck, so much sex and the whole trip was food and sex and fun. Did I mention I had a lot of sex? I was impressed with my dick. I mean, it just kept going and going and—”

  Mark’s hand slapped over my mouth. “Oh good, you’re a rambler when high. You couldn’t be a quiet, mellow one, huh?” I answered with his hand over my mouth, and he only sighed. “Food. Food helps.”

  “Can we have smaller pieces to handle him?” Wally asked as he came with us. “I don’t think they should be that big of brownies.”

  “Most break pieces off,” Dimitri informed us. “Not stuff a whole pot brownie in their mouths like that. Idiot. At least his system will work through it faster than a human’s. Get his favorites and make him eat so he doesn’t get sick.”

  “On it,” Lance and Wally said as Mark brought me to a table and made me sit.

  “This is fun,” I giggled, smiling brightly. “I get why humans do this. It’s like being easy breezy, everything’s totally good in the hood.”

  “Oh boy,” Nero chuckled as he sat down. The moment he did, I was on his lap. “Feeling friendly?”

  “I did that?” I asked, assuming he’d pulled me there. “Oh. Hi.”

  “Hi, love,” he murmured, hugging me. “You goofball. How was working today?”

  “Good. Everyone helped. It felt like we were a big family and all want good change and to help and have some fun because we had fun too, and I really liked it, and I think we should do more like that, and Gaius told me all about the cartels and what’s going on there and—”

  Nero kissed me, which was a good way to shut me up. “You’re so adorable like this, but you needed an easy night, remember?”

  “Because of all the sex we had,” I purred, smiling at him. “I liked all the fun we had. I really had fun with you.”