Heart of Stone - Book 1: Fighting Fate

Stone picked up on some commotion inside Aubree’s apartment. Although he tried to not listen in too closely, he picked up on a sense of panic and worry.

Focusing his senses on her unit, he strained his ears to hear Aubree tell her boyfriend that she’d be back as soon as she could before the door shut.

Sucking in a lungful of air, he looked up at the darkening sky above.

He told her not to leave her apartment after dark. Why did she refuse to listen?

The air rushed out of his lungs as he exhaled and pulled himself up from a sitting position under the trees.

He had circled the block three times since her boyfriend came home. He couldn’t sit around and listen in on them together, even if the walls of the apartment building did block out most of the noises inside. He tried not to think about what they were doing in there and gave them privacy as he focused his attention on the neighborhood.

Quite frankly, he didn’t want to think about what they were doing. The thought of that male even touching Aubree erupted a long, low growl from within him as he clenched his hands tightly into fists.

With night setting in, his skin started to crawl with anxiety. It wasn’t a full moon tonight, but he had a feeling that the bloodsuckers would be out and about. They had killed a few last night, but they still hadn’t found Carina yet.

Gunner relieved Gwen on border patrol and Gavin would be coming shortly for the night watch. As he tromped to the front door of the building, his hands shoved into the pockets of his leather jacket, Stone mentally told his son to remain hidden in the vicinity of Aubree’s apartment complex when he got there.

He would make sure she got to her destination and back safely.

As she stepped out the front door, staring at her phone in hand, he was already about a dozen yards away. Wearing a light clay-gray fake leather jacket and faded blue jeans, she paused in her tracks almost immediately and looked around to see him approaching. She appeared startled as his long strides closed the distance between them before she could wrap her head around his presence.

Gaping, she managed to spit out, “Wha-What are you doing here?”

Her boyfriend’s peppery scent hit him full-force and he strained to maintain a neutral expression instead of grimacing from the stink. That little bastard put his hands all over her and—

She didn’t give him a chance to even respond and continued talking, her voice rising in intonation. “Have you been standing out here all day?” she demanded, her eyes growing large with surprise and disgust. “What the hell? That’s really creepy and disturbing. Does Gwen know you’re doing this?”

Ignoring her demands, he withdrew his hands from his pockets and crossed his arms over his chest. “I told you not to leave your apartment after dark. What are you doing out here?”

With a scowl, she shook her head and stepped around him when he stopped a few feet away. “Nothing that concerns you. Go away before I call the cops. I’m getting sick of you turning up everywhere I go and stalking me.”

Shrugging, he ignored her hostility and followed a few paces behind her. “I wouldn’t have to be here if you went back home.”

She turned on her heels and glared at him. Huffing and putting her hands on her hips, she said, “Well, if that’s all that you care about, then you’ll be happy to know that I’m going back to Chicago this weekend.”

Despite the sudden drop of his heart into the pit of his gut, he maintained a nonchalant composure.

That was what he wanted all along; for her to leave and never come back. It shouldn’t bother him, but it did, and he inwardly cursed the pull of the matebond for it.

“Good,” he said, his voice low, masking the hurt that now gripped him. “Glad you finally saw things my way.”

He clamped his mouth shut before he said anything else equally stupid.

Why did he even open his big mouth anyway? Imbecile.

Growling under her breath, she clenched her hands into fists at her side and spun around. Marching forward, she continued to make her way across the parking lot to her car in the reserved parking area for residents.

Not wanting her to leave in a huff, he pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. He’d said something completely idiotic, and now he had to make up for it. He couldn’t let her walk away now, not with darkness setting in and vampires creeping out of their hideouts. He had to make sure she got there and back safe and sound.

“Aubree, wait,” he called out as he continued to follow her. “Where do you need to go? Let me give you a lift.”

“Thanks, but no thanks,” she hissed through clenched teeth. “I’m perfectly capable of finding my way around, thank you.”

He glanced at her cell phone gripped in her right hand and noticed that the screen was still on and had what looked like a map on it. Where was she trying to go at this hour? Most places were closing up in fifteen minutes. Wherever she needed to go in such a hurry, he could help.

“Look, most places will be closing soon. I know the area. Tell me where you want to go and I’ll give you a lift.”

“I said, no thank you.”

She didn’t even bother to look back, which pissed him off. The least she could have done was turn and face him.

He quickened his pace so he could walk next to her.

She refused to look at him, and instead locked her jaw and fixated her eyes on her purplish-gray Ford Fiesta a few yards ahead.

Unlocking the car doors with the remote on her keychain, she reached for the handle when he planted his hand firmly on the door, preventing her from opening it.

“Reconsider,” he said in a low voice.

She looked up at him with a glare. “Look. I’ve had enough of your attitude, enough of your stalking, and enough of you. Go away, get out of my life, and get out of my head.”

“Get out of your head?” He peaked an eyebrow at her.

She had the look of a deer caught in the headlights of a car when she realized what had slipped out. Looking away, her hair fell down in her face as she continued to pull on the handle of the door, but was unable to yank it open because he was still putting his weight against it.

Had she been thinking about him too? Despite having a boyfriend, did her mind still linger on him even though he’d been far from a gentleman since they first met? How much had the matebond been affecting her? He wanted to know—needed to know—just how deep things were forming.

When she didn’t respond, he hesitated, knowing that if he didn’t move, he wouldn’t get the answers he wanted from her. He put a hand on her shoulder and gently coaxed her enough to turn toward him. She still kept her gaze lowered, making her look almost fragile in her petite frame.

“Aubree?”

“I don’t have much time,” she said in a small voice, her eyes turning back to the door handle. “You said so yourself. So, drop it, okay? Forget it.”

“Then, may I accompany you?” he asked in a softer voice.

She sighed, brushing her hair back behind her ear. “Fine. Tell me how to get to the nearest pharmacy that’s still open at this hour.”

He nodded, lowering his hand from her shoulder when he’d much rather brush her hair back himself, cradle her face in his hands and draw her face up to his. “I can do that.”

Stepping back, he removed his hand from the door and headed around the hood of the car to the passenger side. Through the corner of his eye, he caught Aubree shaking her head, a distraught look on her face as her eyebrows furrowed.

She climbed in the driver’s seat as he opened his door and climbed in. Her car was small, simple, and perfect for someone as petite as her, but he felt awkwardly cramped in the small quarters, even when he put the seat back as far as it would go.

“They keep making cars smaller and smaller,” he grumbled to himself as he buckled his seatbelt.

She put the car in reverse as he tried unsuccessfully to make himself more comfortable.

“So, where to?” she asked, her eyes on the road ahead.

“Make a right out here,” he told her.

As she drove, he listened to the sounds around them. Gavin reported back to him that he was almost there and hadn’t picked up anything suspicious on the way. Night hadn’t fallen yet but it was close. There was still a hint of pink in the western sky where the sun disappeared, but it would only be a matter of minutes before darkness swallowed them up. He could feel himself growing antsier to get her back home as soon as possible, safe and sound.

She looked equally tense next to him as he guided her to a twenty-four-hour drug store. Only when her eyes settled on the glowing sign for the store, did she relax, rolling her shoulders back and the creases in her face disappearing.

“Thank god,” she murmured under her breath as she pulled into the parking lot.

“What are you looking for?” Stone asked, a rough edge evident in his voice.

Shifting in his seat, he hoped that whatever was so urgent wasn’t made of rubber. He did not want to imagine her mission outside at night was related to her and her boyfriend having another rambunctious round in the sack.

The very thought of her having sex with someone else bothered him. In an effort to maintain resilience, he controlled his breathing at a deep, steady pace, and pushed all thoughts of her getting hot and heavy from his mind. He had to stay calm, and he had to keep his cool.

She isn’t yours, and she never will be.