It Was Fate Ch. 08

Annabeth was sitting back in Collin's all too familiar office, on his dark leather couch. It wasn't exactly the place she wanted to be at the moment. This was the place Collin basically told her she was his mate and where they shared their first kiss. And now she had ruined it all with her selfishness and off the charts issues. She needed to fix this. She sighed and exhaled some regret as she watched Collin as he sat behind his desk, with his feet up, making phone call after phone call; every once and a while he'd sneak a glare at her and it wasn't a happy look in his silver eyes.

He finally slammed the phone back into the holster and stood up. "Let's go." He commanded standing up and waiting for her while running his hand over his short blonde hair. She stood up and walked over to him and unconsciously tried to take his hand, but he jerked away instantly and wouldn't look her in the eye. She prayed he would just take her hand and tell her it was all going to be okay, but she had heard what he said: "my friends don't exactly get the treatment my mate does." He meant every word too.

She trailed behind him as exited the office floor with her head facing the ground. She just really wasn't in the mood to meet the gazes of the vampires working in that office. The only time she looked up was to smile at the frizzy haired human receptionist, Leo. He still cowered a little when Collin passed from their little traumatic experience a few days or so ago. It was hard to believe it had been barely a week since she had met Collin and traumatized poor Leo with Collin's more vicious side that did anything but traumatize her. She needed to file away a note mentally to ask about why Leo worked in vampire headquarters.

Annabeth followed silently as Collin met with James in the elevator. James wore his normal preppy attire, which today included khaki pants and a tucked in white button down that was rolled to his elbows. He kept sending disapproving gazes at both Collin and Annabeth the whole ride down to the lobby and the entire walk that ended with sliding in the back of a black car with dark tinted windows.

The drive to their destination was short, but awkward. Spending five minutes rubbing knees with the very man the mildly hated her and his best friend wasn't exactly how she wanted to spend any of her time this overcast afternoon.

They exited the car the opposite side they all entered and now Collin dragged her to her feet by her elbow. He didn't loosen his grip as they walked into the building. She knew he was still terribly possessive of her, but didn't want to give her luxury of actually holding his hand. Ass.

Suddenly, as they entered the brick building she felt terribly underdressed. Men wearing suits and ties and women wearing business suits scurried around the room. To think about it she was the least dressed up person in there. Collin had on black pants and a blue button-up and all she had on was jeans and a white blouse. The arm that wasn't being dragged wrapped itself around her middle self-consciously.

Annabeth felt like she was in a hurricane of office workers as they swirled desk to desk and filing cabinet to filing cabinet faster then she though they should be able to move in finely polished leather shoes and high heels. Collin finally dragged her out of the mayhem and into a more quiet area with a single dark wood desk and then finally into a conference room.

Only two men sat at the table, one sat at the head and the other beside him. Ah, now she knew where they were. They were in the government building. And those two old men at the head of the table were the governor and the mayor of this city.

The old men stood. "Collin Sangue and James Allenton," the governor smiled and shook their hands and then turned to Annabeth as the mayor did the same.

"Annabeth Wolfe," She introduced herself taking the man's hand with a polite smile and repeating her actions with the other.

Quickly they all sat down and the mayor began speaking with his hands even before his mouth could catch up. "Where's that scary fellow, um Alec was his name?" He asked.

James laughed. "He's temporarily on guard duty defending an important asset." He smiled. Annabeth still couldn't get over how beautiful vampires were when they smiled.

"I see," The old man said smoothing his tie, "now down to business boys. You say you want to completely evacuate nearly an entire square mile of city and residential area?" The man raised an eyebrow raising his hooded eyelid with it.

"Less want and more need." Collin said strictly his business face on. "You see here," He pulled out a map from a manila folder on the table in front of him and uncapped a red sharpie. "Here is the rogue pack that needs extermination," He stated circling a large area in the state preserve. "This is going to be our home base for now as we call in some reinforcements for this fight," He told them circling Sangue Suites on the map. "So, this area here," He boxed in the area between the hotel and the tree line, "will need to be evacuated for the people's safety. These rogues don't think much of humans and wouldn't care to kill a few during the battle."

"I see," The governor said and sat back in his chair with a loud squeak. "Do you have a detailed plan to cover this all up?" He folded his wrinkled hands in his lap.

Collin laughed, of course he did. He slid a white folder down to the front of the governor. "The nuclear power plant had a small leak and you need to make sure the area is safe for people again." He said simply.

"Ah, but what about noisy news 'copters that want a view of this 'leak'," The man asked stroking his chin, which was covered with gray stubble.

"Give the workers Friday off and show them a barren nuclear plant." Collin explained. "The rest of the specifics are in that folder. And I mean everything." Collin stood up. "Thanks for your time gentlemen. You promise to get that area evacuated and we'll promise to take care of this issue."

"One last thing Mr. Sangue," the mayor finally spoke up, "when I spoke with you at the beginning of the week you had said you'd been monitoring this pack. What happened to this so called one man mission you had described you were supposed to be able to complete."

Collin laughed a dry humorless laugh. "I greatly underestimated the pack numbers, sir." Annabeth watched James smirk out of the corner of her eye. "Now gentlemen I have many issues to take care of."

Collin didn't have time for lollygagging. They were out of their as fast as they got in.

--

The lush green scenery quickly faded to beautiful oranges and reds as Emma stared out the deep-tinted window of the truck they had been given. The colors of the leaves weren't the only things that were changing. The landscape gradually become hillier as the day also gradually slipped away. It was 7 PM and the temperature had moved from a comfortable 72 to touching the lower sixties as the day light came to an end.

So far this ride was mainly a quiet one. Alec was definitely not a talker and she wasn't the type to strike up a conversation with a person let alone a vampire. The silence was awkward for the first hour, but now it was comfortable and she at least had the radio playing to fill it.

They had only stopped a few times for rest stops, to get her food, and once to gear up a little. It would have creeped her out that he seemed to also know when she was hungry or had to had to pee if she didn't know about his little ability. She tried to control her thoughts, but that only made her think about things she really didn't want to think about like Alec in many stages of undress.

They had stopped at a camping supply store and Alec made sure she was outfitted with warm clothes. She couldn't see how the current weather could call for all the warm clothes and blankets, but she didn't verbalize her argument. She wasn't much in to arguing about things she could careless about. They also had a cooler in the back with food, a couple cases of water, extra blankets, other necessities, and full gas cans.

Emma was in a good mood for the most part, but she didn't know why. Her life was a mess and her entire pack was dead or missing. Her only comfort was the fact her life was so fast paced at the moment she had no time to think about it. She secretly feared the moment she found herself bored and let her mind drifted to her reality. Yet, for now her mind was on trying to figure out Alec and fear for the war that was getting ready to take place.

Her mind was on overdrive and she found herself drifting off while tilted back in her seat.

--

Kadence sat in a similar situation, except she sat in the passenger with her arms crossed and her jaw clenched. She couldn't stand Eli. He was a bossy arrogant ass. All he had done so far on this trip was order her around and of course she argued no matter what he had ordered her to do. He sat there driving, his own jaw clenched in frustration. She wanted to throw her hands up and run away all ready, and they weren't even to their safe house where they would be spending the next seven days.

"Are all vampires this infuriating?" She asked staring straight ahead. Kadence wasn't one to keep any of her thoughts to herself.

He didn't answer. This woman was content in driving him crazy.

"You're not gonna talk to me anymore Eli?" She fake pouted and looked at him.

That's the only way he could keep his sanity. At first verbal sparring with her was kind of fun. He hadn't met a woman who could keep up with him, but now he was tired and more than a little stressed. His clan was about to take on the previously thought smallest pack to biggest pack of rogue werewolves in the East and all he could do was protect this quick tongued girl.

She was suddenly more serious. "The next stop we should stop and get some board games."

"Good idea." He caught himself answering before he remembered his pact of silence. She didn't reply with some snide comment though. The silence filled the truck again.

--

After following Collin around the entire day Annabeth was exhausted and actually excited to head back to Collin's room and sleep. After the meeting with the Governor and Mayor, Collin dragged her down to this gigantic vampire gym in the basement to greet at least 100 serious faced vampire men and women. She was surprised he could handle that.

She had held her tongue all day and needed to say what she wanted to say all day. The door slammed behind her and she found herself alone with him, but not for long, he didn't waste a second to take a sharp right turn into the bathroom and close the door behind him.

Annabeth though about what to do for a second and then decided she wasn't a pansy. Without hesitation she slipped into the bathroom after him and found the bathroom already steamy and a pile of clothes on the floor. Slowly Annabeth disrobed and placed her clothes on top of his and tip-toed over to the shower. She was both naked and about to put herself out there; she didn't know which was worse.

"I can hear you, you know?" Collins voice suddenly broke through the steamy bathroom. Her eyes snapped to his foggy outline of his body in the glass shower wall.

She didn't say and word, but instead slipped through the doorway and into the shower. It took her a second to get over the nakedness, but at least his shower was large and she was far away from direct contact with him. She couldn't help herself as she watched a stream of water travel down his face, down his muscled chest, and over the contours of his abs as it slipped between the 'v' of his hip bones. She ripped her gaze from the stream of water before it travelled someplace she was less familiar with.

She took a deep breath and willed herself to say something. "I-I need to talk to you." She finally managed to say, crossing her arms over her breasts and trying to keep her eyes from traveling south. She was frozen beside the entrance and wasn't moving anywhere soon.

"First of all, I don't talk to my friends naked in the shower." He said voice hard, trying to stay mad at the beautiful naked woman in front of him. He saw that way she unconsciously licked her lips as she looked at him. It nearly gave him an instant hard-on. He had to struggle to control himself already and she hadn't even touched him.

"I don't care." She said lowly trying to maintain focus. No matter how much of an ass he was she still lusted after him. "I want to tell you a little something about me."

"I'm listening." He muttered impatiently working soap into his hair and walking out of the water and motioning for her to take her turn. She reluctantly tiptoed under the rain showerhead. Then quickly slipped out and began shampooing her hair as he replaced her spot underneath the showerhead.

She took another breath and began. "Everyone I love either leaves me or dies. That's just how it is with me, okay?" She admitted voice rising with the emotion in her voice. He ran his hands down his face and opened his eyes. Collin watched her as she violently washed her hair. "So, if you're not with me you won't leave or die."

They swapped places again and she soaped up her body quickly and was rinsing off by the time he began speaking.

"You're telling me you left me before I could leave you or die?" He raised a suspicious eyebrow as he crossed his arms across his chest. Her logic was infuriating. He wasn't even going to comment on the 'everyone I love' part of her sentence.

"Yes!" She exclaimed.

She crossed her arms again as he uncrossed his and approached her. The distance was closed quickly and he took both of her wet forearms in his hands and forced them away from her body. "Why don't you understand?" He said eyes suddenly intense. "I will never leave you and if you asked, I wouldn't fight in this war either." He just stared down at her awaiting her reply his grip a little more than snug.

"I have one last reason." She stated voice a little lower. He nodded and she opened her mouth to speak, but then shut it again. His eyes made her feel weak. She kept opening and closing her mouth like a fish out of water.

"I'm not going to bite. Tell me." He soothed in that voice she had craved all day. It scared her how his tone of voice could calm her the way it did.

"I think, I think I love you." Her voice cracked on the last hurried words.

That's what he wanted to hear. The grip on her arms didn't drop, but did loosened. He relaxed his face so she couldn't read him, yet kept his eyes on hers. Then, for a split second she could have sworn his eyes flashed to red, but then they were back to silver and they were on her face intently. There were finally emotions on his face she could read, happiness and a little lust. His eyes flashed from her lips to her eyes and in the next second his lips were on hers.

He didn't wait or tease her like normal. No, his tongue entered her mouth and she followed his suit. She made a small grunting sound in pure pleasure as his hands each cupped a breast and he teased the now hard nubs with the pads of his thumbs. His rough hands slid down her until they were wrapped around her waist and roughly holding her against him and then pressed her into the wall, hard. He wanted to feel every inch of her against him.

Her hands balled into fists in his hair as he merciless pulled out all the tricks that she loved the most. He lightly nibbled at her bottom lip with his fangs and she let out a little moan of pleasure in which he muffled with his lips. This was heaven. The feel of his warm hard muscled body against hers, the smell of his masculine scent swirling around her, the taste of his passion, and the sight of the lust in his eyes had her insides turning to mush. When she was in his arms the world suddenly wasn't so cruel anymore.

Suddenly, a knock on the door rattled through the steamy bathroom. It caused Collin to make an inhuman growl of frustration. He broke their kiss, but then kissed her again for a couple seconds. Ruefully, he released her and turned

"I'll be right back." He said softly. She couldn't help but watch his erection bob as he walked out of the shower. It was hard to believe she could affect him like he affected her.

--

Alec grumbled to himself. The path to their safe house was a little more than over grown. He could barely see the old dirt path to the house. He was exhausted and frustration on top did nothing to help with his temper. Just as he lost all hope his high beams illuminated a small log cabin with vines completely concealing it. If he wasn't looking for it he would have missed it. It wasn't like Emma was much help. She sat curled up in the passenger seat asleep; which he found quite amazing considering how bumpy the two mile ride out here had been.

He threw open the driver's side door and jumped on to ground, smashing the weeds beneath his brown leather boots. The cold air hit him suddenly and he was thankful he was immune to weather. He softly shut the driver's side door and left it running. He locked it with the keys as he walked up the stone path. Looking around he slid his key into the lock and then entered the pass code on a pad situated on the door. The door unlocked audibly and he slid in the small house.

He wanted to thoroughly check this place out before he brought Emma in here. He flipped on the light switch and the room came into clear view. It definitely was a small cabin. On the far wall of the cabin against the right wall was a queen sized bed covered in some type of furs and two bedside tables on each side of the bed. Then, to the left of the bed on the other wall was a small kitchen with a refrigerator and gas stove. Lastly, against the wall the front door was on was a fire place with a light brown leather couch and matching arm chair situated around it. Another fur of some type lied between the furniture and fireplace.

After thoroughly checking the great room he wondered into the only other room, which was the small bathroom. All it had was a toilet and stand up shower. Pleased that they were alone in the forest and cabin he slid out the door and unlocked the truck. He opened the passenger side door and picked her up before she could unceramoniclly tumble onto him. Her eyelashes fluttered, but she didn't awaken. Yet, she did press herself against him as the cold air assaulted her bare arms and legs.

It sickened him that such powerful creatures like werewolves would be after such a defenseless creature. That only increased the feeling that she was his to protect. His vampire was really getting into this and he knew that only helped him with this job. The girl in his arms was worth one hundred grand in his bank account and he needed to make sure she came back without a scratch. Well, not that he needed the money.

He kicked open the door and set her down on the bed. He first pulled off her flip flops and then pulled the fur and sheets down and picked her back up and slid her beneath them. Her head fell to the side on the pillow and he couldn't resist brushing the hair from her face.

What the hell is wrong with me? He thought as he headed back to the truck and locked it moving with inhuman speed. Maybe he was just sex starved. That made sense. Locking the house up, he began undoing his belt. Throwing his boots and jeans followed by his shirt into a pile by the couch he decided he'd unload the stuff in the morning.

He could barely suppress the sigh of contentment when his body hit the bed. He rolled to his side and closed his eyes. Yet, Alec didn't even have time to fall asleep before Emma wormed her way over to him.

"I'm freezing." She murmured her voice husky from sleep. She was very desperately cold. The kind of cold you cuddled with a vampire to warm up cold.