Alex looked up at Lazarus. “I hope you’re right. I really do. They wouldn’t try and keep us apart or try and force me to have an abortion if I’m pregnant. Would they?” They stopped walking at the base of the stairs.
Lazarus’ eyes turned dark. It was as if great big storm clouds had descended. “Not a fuck! If you go, I go.”
She nodded. “I think as long as we stick together then we’re going to be just fine.”
Lazarus smiled and kissed her. A soft brush of the lips. “We’re going to be just fine, Alexandra. I can’t fucking wait to see you ripe with my child.” Still hand in hand, they began to climb the stairs.
Alex put a hand to her belly. She needed to stop doing that…at least until she was sure. “I might not be pregnant.”
“If not, then you will be and soon if I have anything to say about it,” a low growl belying how serious he was about that.
It lifted her spirits to know that he would’ve wanted this anyway. They made their way down the hall.
Wait.
What?
The door to her room was open. Lazarus stopped dead. He cocked his head and his nostrils flared. “What the fuck…why are…?” He growled and dropped her hand while moving towards her room in long strides. Alex had to jog to keep up. She turned into her room just behind him.
“Look who decided to join the party.” Brant raised his brows and folded his arms. “You, Miss Stone, have some serious explaining to do.”
“You have no right to go through my things.” Alex felt her blood run cold as she spotted her cell phone on the bed.
“I smelled a rat. I did some digging and it looks like I was right on the money.” Brant’s eyes narrowed.
Shit!
Alex took a deep breath. She would tell the truth. Hopefully Lazarus would understand…he had to. A weight lifted from her but at the same time, a feeling of dread took residence.
****
What the fuck!
Brant had better have a serious fucking explanation for all of this or Lazarus was going to do a damn sight more than just break his nose. Gideon had let the male off easily for what he had pulled with Jenna. This time, he would not be so lucky.
“I told you that it was a misunderstanding. Why didn’t you listen to me? Get out!” He didn’t care that Brant was his king. The male had no right to do this. No fucking right.
Allison’s eyes widened. The two males pouring through Alexandra’s things stopped what they were doing and turned to look. No one spoke to the king in that way and got away with it but he didn’t give a fuck. Her clothes were strewn around the room. Drawers were upended. Her toiletries were spread across the dresser. It was a fucking mess.
“Due to the stressful nature of this situation, I’m going to let that slide.”
Lazarus pulled in a breath and opened his mouth to talk but Brant put a hand up. “Shut the fuck up for just a second while I fill you in on the details. Once I’m done, you would be most welcome to speak. I urge you to think carefully before you do though.”
Lazarus pursed his lips, his hands curled into fists at his sides. This had better be good.
“Like I was saying earlier…” Brant strode towards the window and casually looked outside. “I smelled a rat. All of the females received in-depth training. They were made to sign contracts and agreements. One of the areas of training and clauses within the contract was that all females would be on birth control for the duration of their stay. Condoms would be used if the birth control was compromised in any way. I’m not going to get into detail, but we were thorough. This should never have fucking happened.” When he turned, his eyes were dark and his jaw twitched, belying his anger.
“Please let me explain.” Alexandra looked from Brant to Allison and back to Brant again. She refused to meet his gaze. Fuck! It was like his gut was twisting, like his veins were icing up.
“A misunderstanding…” Brant paused, his brows were raised. “I think not. This was no misunderstanding. When Miss Stone arrived at the gates, it was unexpected. One great big oversight. A fuck-up of note. My instincts told me not to allow her in and I should’ve listened.” He turned to Allison. “As is cursory, did you go through the check list with this female before allowing her admission? Was one of those checks to make sure that she was on birth control?”
Brant’s personal assistant nodded her head. She opened the notebook and flipped through the pages until she found the one she was looking for. “Yes, I did.”
“What was her answer?”
“She told me that she was taking birth control. I remember clearly and as you can see, the box is ticked as well.” She turned the book in Lazarus’ direction but he couldn’t seem to focus on the words.
“Good,” Brant growled. He folded his arms. “You asked the female if she had attended the training?”
“I did, and she said that she had.” Allison’s calm, professional demeanor was in tatters. Her lip quivered. She fidgeted. Her eyes darted from Brant to Lazarus and back again. “I should have double-checked. I can’t believe I didn’t double-check.”
Brant ignored her ranting. “Did you ask Miss Stone if she had signed the contract and nondisclosure agreement?”
Allison nodded, she chewed on her bottom lip. “I did, yes. Though, I’m afraid she lied, again. Why did you lie like that?” She finally turned to face Alexandra who was white and trembling.
No! This wasn’t happening.
“Why did you lie?” Lazarus asked, surprised when his voice came out sounding calm and even.
“I was going to tell you…” Her eyes were wide and pleading.
Fuck!
Lazarus’ heart sank. The ice in his veins solidified. In that moment he realized that he had still been holding onto hope. Hope that this had all been some kind of a misunderstanding. That his future mate…the female that was most likely pregnant with his child had not lied to his king, his people, to him, but she had. What else had she lied about? Did she even have feelings for him?
Lazarus roared, he turned and punched a hole right through the wall. He took a couple of deep breaths, trying hard to calm himself down. When he finally had enough of a handle on his emotions he turned around. Alexandra was crying softly.
It cut him just as surely as a blade to his heart. Lazarus swallowed hard and tamped down on his wayward emotions. To think that even with all of this going on, his first reaction was to go and comfort her.
“I think I can fill in the blanks…you can correct me if I am wrong, Miss Stone. You planned this all along. You intentionally didn’t show up with the first batch of females for the training. It was your plan all along to arrive, unannounced, acting the part of a mistreated candidate.”
“It’s not true,” she blurted. “That’s not true, Lazarus…I promise you.” Softer this time.
Lazarus grit his teeth. How could they trust her? He wanted so badly to believe her, but how could he?
“You hoped to slip in. Hoped that you would get away with it. You were damned lucky. I just can’t understand how you hoped to get away with it indefinitely. You do realize that the moment you switched your cell phone on, we would have picked up the signal?”
Lazarus stared at the device on the bed.
“Your plan was to get in and find a way to stay in. You seduced Lazarus in the hopes that he would pick you so that you would be able to stay. You don’t have actual feelings for him, you have strung him along and made him think that you did so that he would take you into the next round. A cold-hearted ploy if I ever saw one.”
Shaking her head, her gaze dropped to her feet and her tears fell harder.
Lazarus made a noise of anguish. He couldn’t help it. It felt like his heart was fucking shattering into a million pieces.
“I don’t think you planned on becoming pregnant…it’s a serious fuck up.” Brant clenched his jaw and paced back to the window before turning back to face them.
Lazarus could feel how his chest rose and fell, how his heart fucking raced. The urge to tear up the room. To break down every brick of this building tore at him.
“I’m sorry,” Alexandra whispered. “Things changed…my feelings changed.”
“No! You saw an opportunity, Miss Stone.” Brant growled. “You had planned on writing a story for your paper. You planned on using your cell phone to send it when the time came. You didn’t sign a nondisclosure agreement like the rest of the human females, so you were in a position to make it happen.” Brant picked some nonexistent lint off of his jacket. “What you were really hoping for, Miss Stone, was an exclusive? Something no one else would get. An interview with the vampire kings. Your hope was to be able to get all the inside information and it looked for a while there like you were going to pull it off. We were all playing nicely into your hands. It didn’t really matter either way though did it?” He picked up the cell phone on the bed. “You would’ve sent the story to your contact on the outside anyway. Your being here was never about finding a mate but always about the story.”
Everything fell into place. That nagging feeling. Lazarus covered his face with his hands. He was panting, so close to fucking losing it.
“It’s true.” Alexandra sniffed loudly, using the back of her hand to wipe her face. “My initial intention was to get the story. I wasn’t here to find a vampire mate. Things changed though. I never planned on falling in love, on even having sex for that matter. That’s why when Allison asked me about the birth control I just said yes. You have to believe me…” She moved to stand in front of Lazarus, grabbing his arms. “The day that you found the article was the day that I decided not to go ahead with it. I still had to try and get the story, but it wasn’t going to be behind your back. I told you that it was important to me. I never lied to you about that.”