Court of Ivy and Desire

I'm Sorry

Trey

Maybe I was too harsh on her. She hasn't said a word to me outside of talking about her linage connection to the war and how these other vampires wanted to hurt her. Maybe I should go apologize—or not. Dammit, why do I even care? I didn't like vampires and that should've included Maya, but for some reason, I felt guilty about how I cut into her. The silence was so loud. A day has passed and things were still tense between us. It was like an unspoken animosity and I couldn't shake the feeling that she could only trust me as far as she could throw me. It was my fault and I knew I needed to put this behind us because we had bigger problems ahead.

I found Maya practicing her supernatural abilities. Her eyes glowing a red although she hasn't fully shifted trapped me. They were beautiful, like rubies sparkling brighter when sunlight shines upon them. I shook my head to focus on the goal. I cleared my throat and she glanced over at me. "Hey, can we talk for a minute?"

She stopped and shifted back. "What is it, I'm busy?"

I hesitated, trying to search for the right words. "I wanted to apologize for the way I spoke to you. You didn't deserve that. I know you have questions about me—hell maybe you even doubt my trust, but I should've been more transparent."

She raised a brow. "Transparency would've been a great start. Things are not adding up. I know the military has taught you many things, but let's be honest, you're hiding something."

I nodded my head. "You're right and I get why you want to know. It's just that..it's a touchy subject. I want you to know that I'm not hiding things to deceive you, Maya, but there are parts of my experiences in the military that I can't tell you yet. It's traumatic."

Her expression softened and she let out a sigh, lower the guard she had up. "It's frustrating because I know you've dealt with betrayal." She walked closely and grabbed both of my hands. "But I will not betray you."

I nodded grateful for her words. "I believe you. And—I want you to know that you make it hard for me to hate you," I chuckled. Maya was different. She wasn't like the vampires I've encountered during the war. If I didn't already know that she was a vampire, I would've thought she was human.

She scoffed, her expression softening. "I don't hate you either. I guess you're not that bad."

"So, can we start over?" I smiled.

"Sure," she beamed. "I'm Maya Miller, vampire princess of Ivy Court." She held out her hand. She couldn't be serious. I arched a brow at her causing her to urge me to introduce myself. I playfully rolled my eyes and shook her hand.

"I'm Trevonte Hamilton, a human and former military officer, but my friends call me Trey."

"Trevonte, huh? I like it," she smirked.

"Please just stick to calling me Trey," I begged. She had a playful glint in her eyes.

"Only if you let me call you Vonnie for today."

I frowned at the name Vonnie. "Hell no, you tripping." She burst out laughing which only added fuel to my annoyance—although I wasn't really annoyed at her. I was just glad we were back in a good place.

"Please, Vonnie?" She playfully begged before she ran past me.

The tension from earlier conversations finally dissipating. My playful mood took over as I decided to chase Maya around the room, our laughter filling the space.

"That's not my name!" I yelled out. Maya quickly darts around the room, her movements graceful and agile. I followed as closely as I could, my determination to catch her evident in my playful grin. Suddenly, Maya's foot slips on a loose floorboard, and she starts to lose her balance. Quickly, I caught her as she began to fall.

"Gotcha, princess." Maya's breathing increased as she finds herself wrapped in my arms, our bodies pressed close together. In that moment, something ignites within her and in me as well. Her eyes glow with a fiery red hue, betraying the arousal simmering beneath the surface. My body acting on its own accord, causes my gaze to flicker to her lips. Suddenly, my head was moving closer to hers. Her scent was intoxicating and she was a beautiful woman. Her long hair was pulled back so that I was able to see her entire face. She had a small cute dimples on both cheeks. She looked youthful and despite what she's been through, she looked happy.

Before our lips could meet, there was a sudden noise from outside the hideout interrupts us, breaking the spell. We pull away from each other, our breaths coming in ragged gasps as we tried to compose ourselves.

"Stay here, I'll go check it out."

Of course she would be still be stubborn. "No, I'm coming with you." I didn't have time to argue with her, so we both headed outside to see another woman standing by a tree.

"Maya? Maya Miller? I knew you were here."

I frowned as I glanced at Maya. "Do you know her?"

"No." Who was this lady and what the hell did she want?

-

Maya

"I'm sorry, who are you?" I asked with an unsure expression.

The woman smiled. "I'm Lila Simmons. I sensed that you were here. It's so cool to see another vampire here. But damn girl, you are a wanted vampire!"

"Great another vampire," Trey mumbled.

"What did you say?" Lila asked, although I'm sure she heard him.

I nudged him. "Don't mind him. He's a grumpy old man."

"You're way older than me, Princess?" Ignoring him before I punched him, I focused on Lila.

"Anyway, are you a pureblood, too?" I felt a sense of kinship with Lila, although I'm not sure how she's connected to me. There are things that looked familiar—same color eyes, dark hair, although hers was a little shorter. She was also a lot more cheerful.

"Yes and no," she answered.

"What does that mean?" Trey wondered.

"I'm a hybrid and I'm Maya's long-lost cousin." My what? I never knew that I had more cousins than the ones I met. And she's a hybrid.

"Hold on, we're cousins?"

She nodded. "First cousins in fact. Your dad and my mom were siblings." I wasn't sure what to say or do. I knew we needed to talk privately so, Trey invited her inside of our hideout.

We sat on the sofa staring at each other as Trey brought over some water and sat next to me on the couch. Lila's eyes shifted to Trey and my territorial side made me scoot closer to him. Chill girl, you almost kissed him and now you're acting like a jealous girlfriend.

"Okay, so where have you been all of this time?" I inquired. It didn't make sense that she would pop out all of sudden. I couldn't even sense anything negative about her, but after the shifters tried to manipulate me, I wouldn't put it past them. So I kept my guard up.

"As I said, I've been hiding since the war. My family ruled in Evergreen Court, while yours ruled Ivy Court. When we heard about the war, my family moved from Evergreen Court to Vine Court up north. We tried to reach you guys to come with us, but you never received any of our messages. We knew you and Malcolm was not aware of who we were so we didn't want to show up unannounced. I came back as the war was ending and heard some things about what was going to happen to Ivy Court."

I wasn't sure if I should believe her, but something was telling me that I should. Maybe she could be the link to know more about my lineage. She said that she was hybrid, maybe she could tell me more about our vampire bloodline and what she knew about another possible war.