Reaper's Lily

27

Kaiden's P.O.V:

I drove to an empty parking lot for a church, parking, and sighed heavily when I shut off the engine. I didn't have to look at Lily to feel her guilt for "making me" take her away from my family. My adopted parents were soulmates, so they knew I was always going to put Lily first. As usual, I knew my brothers would smooth things over with our grandmother for me so there was no worry there. Whereas Milena and Liam were concerned...they'd better be praying it was me that dealt with them and not the grim reaper the next time I saw them.

I felt her emotions simmering down to a mask that was hiding guilt and pain. I stared out the windshield, not daring myself to even look at her. I heard her trembling breath as she said my name in a whisper which made me turn my head to look to see her staring at me with the guilt present on her face.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, then looked away from me.

Why was she apologizing? I told her that this was okay. I asked her, "Why are you apologizing, baby?"

"I made you look like an ass with my small fight with Liam and Milena," she was now staring out her window.

Was she guilty for the way she might have made us look in front of my parents and grandmother?

I only scoffed, and said, "You don't need to feel guilty about the dinner, Lily. They've seen me in worser situations than what you think you might have shone."

"About the interrogation," she started, and turned her head slightly to look at me. She asked me, "What happens during it, besides you being a human polygraph test?"

"I only know what I've already told you," I reminded her, and she only nodded weakly. I sighed, reaching my free hand, then placed it on her head. I reminded her once more, "If my grandmother is handling the interrogation alone, the better my chances are to keep everything from trigging your PTSD. I won't let anything happen to you, I swear on my life."

"I know," she gazed into my eyes, and I felt her confidence in my ability to protect her. She then asked, "Does this mean your family doesn't like me if you're here with me and not with them?"

I let my hand slide down to rest on her shoulder, and said, "I don't give a fuck if they like you or not. You're my soulmate, and they will learn to live with it if they don't like you. They know better than to attempt in telling me what to do."

"Why do you sound like me with my family?" She joked.

I gave her a smirk, "I guess we're more alike than you give us credit for, darlin'. Now, I'm starving and we're going to finish enjoying this night out."

"I have a bruise on my jaw, Kaiden. What if people think you hit me?" She pointed at her cheek that was still slightly red from Milena's slap.

"Fuck 'em," I grinned, then moved my hand to cup her chin. I turned her head to look at the slap mark more, then said, "She got you good, baby. You gonna be okay?"

"I think it was a slight payback for her neck," Lily admitted, then I let her chin go as I started the car back up.

I joked darkly, "Then I'll have to kick Liam's ass as payback then."

"Why Liam?" Lily sounded surprised.

I drove out the parking lot as I said, "I was raised to be an upstanding southern gentleman, Liliana. I wouldn't hit a woman unless she was trying to kill me."

"So, if I came at you with a knife, you'd kick my ass?" She wondered, and I only mentally grimaced at the thought of doing that to her.

I admitted as I stopped at a red light, "Even then, I wouldn't kill you. I'd probably let you stab me in the heart before ever trying to kill you."

Lily's emotions seemed to accept that answer as she leaned back into her seat with the light turning green. I started to wonder if Milena and Liam hadn't tagged along, would we still be at dinner with my family? Would my parents love her the way they loved Gia and how they might be in love with Aimee? Did my grandmother really approve of Lily for me? Her approval wasn't much since the bond was starting to set in stone more and more, but it was the little kid in me that wished for her to see what I always saw in Lily. What would we be like if I had just kept her with me right after I saved her? Or if I ran back to her the week I realized she was my soulmate, would we be in a better place? Would she be in a better place mentally and not this broken shell of what she used to be?

Glancing at her one more time, I wondered if what Liam said was true. Was this human, who happened to be my soulmate, not actually human? I had to find out who or what she is. If not for my sanity, then for her own. I looked away from her, driving, and Liam's words were haunting me in the back of my head.

Her blood is too addictive to vampires. Not most humans have an addictive blood type for vampires which made me wonder about her more and more.