his gaze on Archer. “I see why most of your children defend the girl. For some, it’s because they find her interesting, others have grown attached, and one loves her, while the other lusts to have her. But you… you I can’t figure out. Why do you defend this girl knowing what is inside of her. You are their leader and your first priority should be the welfare of your family. I know you believe the girl is now your child, but surely you wouldn’t protect her at the sake of your other children. What is her appeal to you? Is it carnal? Spiritual? Is it…”
He stopped speaking suddenly as his eyes widened and a sneer spread across his lips. “Oh, I see now. How… quaint.”
“Leave it alone, brother,” Hagan said quietly as the group started to disperse. Archer, I noticed, had yet to move as he continued to face Oleif. “This is their business.”
Oleif chuckled as he resumed his seat in the overstuffed chair, his eyes still on Archer.
Archer finally turned away from him and went back into the kitchen; he never even looked my way.
Seamus sat back down beside me and patted me knee encouragingly. “Ya feelin’ better?”
I quickly shook my head, my mind in a whirlwind of thought. Oleif had been given permission from Hagan to spar with me and the thought made my upset stomach even more upset. There was no way in hell I stood a chance against him and I had no doubt he’d seriously injure, if not kill, me. On top of that were the words Oleif had said to Archer. Some of my new family put up with me because they thought I was interesting, some were attached. It was easy to figure out who loved me; that was Trey of course. I liked to think of him as my ‘brother from another mother’. But who was the one who lusted after me? That has to be Archer, I thought silently. But then I remembered Oleif had questioned why Archer put up with me, so the one who lusted couldn’t have been him. What the hell? I wondered as I sat up and looked around the room. At that second, Lochlan looked over from his domino game and gave me a wink. Ah… of course. It had to be Lochlan, the notorious flirt. His advances had always seemed like harmless jokes at the time and if it was him who indeed lusted after me, I was pretty shocked. I guess I had just never taken him seriously before. While I liked Lochlan and thought he was incredibly funny and a nice guy, I didn’t have any romantic feelings toward him whatsoever. He was absolutely gorgeous, don’t get me wrong, and I was a sucker for a red head, but he really wasn’t my type.
I heard the doorbell ring just then and jumped in surprise. In the month that I had lived here, no one had ever used the doorbell before. I stood as Trey went to answer it and prayed it was food. If I didn’t eat soon, I was sure I would die from the pain of my hunger alone.
I heard the sound of Trey greeting someone and then several pairs of footsteps as the door closed and they walked further into the house. My mouth instantly watered when their scents and heartbeats hit me.
I must have made some sort of sound because Archer was instantly next to me and had his arm wrapped around my waist. “Hold your breath and silently count to twenty. Do not allow your eyes to betray your hunger or you will scare them.”
I nodded my head and closed my eyes as I leaned my head on his shoulder. I did exactly as he instructed while he greeted them warmly and exchanged pleasantries.
“Vanessa,” Archer said next and my eyes flew open to see the curvaceous, bottled redhead step forward. I had seen her before at The Mausoleum. She had fed Archer once and it had made me incredibly jealous when I naively thought they had slept together. “I wasn’t expecting you. What are you doing here?” he asked as I felt a low growl start at the back of my throat. As far as I was concerned, she’d be feeding Archer over my dead body.
Archer quickly pinched my ass, reminding me to behave, as he continued. “I specifically asked for Mona, Jason, Chris, and Bethany today.”
“Well,” she purred as she flipped her long red hair over