Arranged Marriage To An Egotistic Vampire... But Which One?? (Book 2)

Finding Out Who The Father Is...

We broke apart from the hug and I took a deep breath to steady myself, thinking that my mother wouldn’t want this for me which is when I started to truly look around the clearing at all of the carnage in front of me, some of which I was responsible, very few that I actually regretted which worried me most. It was the people staring back at me that caught my attention most though. Some stared with blatant fear me, others sympathy and some even pride and awe. I felt no emotions for any of them, in fact I just didn’t feel any emotions just a black numb void where the pain is waiting to grab me when my guard was down. I had to love a vampire’s ability to switch off emotions. I turned away from all of them and started walking alone across the battlefield the edge of the forest when a tiny voice sounded from further back, though I heard it as clearly as if it was whispered in my ear. “Mummy?” I turned to see Annabeth stood next to Darren, who picked her up and stared at me with an unreadable expression on his face but it was clear that he didn’t know who I was at this moment but how could I be upset about that when I didn’t even know who I was anymore?

“Are you coming back?” Annabeth’s voice was a quiet quiver and my chest constricted with the emotions that I was now finding it hard to suppress. She’d lost all of her family and now she was scared of losing me.

“I will always be back for you Annabeth no matter how old you get, it’s just mummy’s got some thinking to do and then got to have a baby before she can come back but as soon as that’s done I’ll be back for you kiddo.” I smiled and she still looked upset but nodded like the little warrior she was. “Besides if you aren’t here then who’s going to look after your dad? I saw you fighting those wolves and after you no one will ever threaten your family again.” She slowly started beaming with pride and I took that as my queue to leave so I turned around and started walking by myself because everyone knew better than to follow me at this moment in time.

One Week Later...

“So what does this mean Rose?” Alex asked me with a frown etched into his face as we sat in the kitchen together after I’d finally built up the courage to tell him what had needed to be said for quite a while now.

“It means that I chose James, Alex. He’s the one I’ve known in my heart from the first time I connected with him that he was the one for me. He’s the one who completes me and fills the void in my heart that I didn’t even know I had. Even when he left me I pined for him and never got over him no matter how hard I tried. It’s him I want to wake up in the morning and go to sleep thinking about. It’s him that I’ll eventually die loving wholly and I have no regrets about that decision.” I let out a deep breath that I didn’t realise I’d been holding through the sheer relief of admitting the truth even to myself.

“One slight problem with that Rose.” I waited for him to continue and he stood up from the stool he’d been sat on and started pacing around making me feel nauseous because the baby was due soon. “Where is he to hear your proclamations?” I was about to answer him when I realised that I really didn’t have an answer for him and he raised his brow at me emphasizing his point which, with the mood I was in, made me want to hit him.

“He’ll be back for the birth of the baby; he’s just giving me a bit of space at the minute.” The truth was that I hadn’t seen James since that day in the clearing and, even though I would never admit it to Alex, I was worried that this time he’d disappeared he wouldn’t be back for me because the thing that made him leave this time wasn’t an order, it was his own desire to do so. The thought of him not coming back scared me the most because I didn’t want to raise this child alone, but that was what I would do if he didn’t come back, no indecision about men anymore for me.

“I hope so, but if the baby is mine Rose then I will not allow you to cut me out of the child’s life for anyone.” Why did that sound more like a threat than a request to not be left out? I looked closer at his face and I saw an anger there that I had never seen before, which was when I noticed through his more opened shirt that he was wearing both Jezzebella’s cross and his own on a necklace together when he’d told me he’d got rid of them both.