"Don't you dare leave me now, Danielle!" he barked sharply. He must have been pissed, if he used her actual name. "I need you here with me. Please stay," he pleaded in a gentler tone.
"Distract me. I feel like my chest is caving in. It hurts," she begged through the depths, as her breathing became shallower and shallower.
He must have gotten the message, because a movie clip began to play in her head, complete with sounds and smells. He showed her the night of the party. The night he spent in her bed. Holy hell! She'd looked like shit when he'd taken her out of Kayden's car. Chase had brought her to her room and tried to leave, but she asked him to stay. He showed her everything from that night, and she was mortified by her behavior. He had been so good to her that night when she really needed it. Now he was caring for her again.
Time passed slowly. Eventually, she was able to open her eyes. She was wrapped in Chase's arms, his face in her hair. His hot breath on her neck sent chills down the entire right side of her body, and she moaned a low, hoarse sound of contentment. His head snapped up and his eyes, the perfect blue-green color of summer, popped open. Relief washed over his expression, and he kissed her gently, but with heat. Delicious, wet heat that was a far more potent drug than the one she was recovering from. The delicate brushing of lips became a deeper, needier tangling of tongues that went on until they were both panting, but this wasn't the time for more than that. Dani could feel Chase's need to protect and cherish her and that meant more to her than she could express, but somehow, without her saying the words aloud, she knew he felt it and understood her gratitude.
"You scared me to death. I thought I was losing you, Lovely. Please don't do that to me again."
She felt so safe and protected in the haven of his arms, as he held on tightly and told her of the affection he held deep in his heart. She had already known, after hearing his mind chatter earlier, but hearing him say the words to her face was enough to make her heart explode. Chase wanted her to know, before they separated again, that he wanted her to be his. He wanted her to be his Lovely alone, with no others between them.
"I will protect you and care for you always, if you'll agree to be mine. I know you have a boyfriend, and I'll give you time to take care of that unfortunate issue." A flash of anger crossed his face when he spoke of Lucas. "I swear, I'll make you so happy you'll never miss the guy who left you alone and made you cry. I'll never hurt you, my Lovely."
They laid there for hours, talking about nothing at all and everything they wanted from life. They were still very young at twenty-one and twenty-four years old, but conversation eventually turned to the future. They both wanted several kids, having both been only children. Neither of them wanted that for their kids. He wanted a huge house on plenty of property with security for the kids to run and play without worry of outsiders harming them. The word outsiders echoed around her mind. Her mother was considered an outsider to her father's family. Dani pushed those thoughts away. She didn't want to return to reality yet. She just wanted to be there with Chase for as long as she could and forget all of the unanswered questions swimming in the back of her mind.
They held each other in silence, touching and being touched, kissing and inhaling each other. It felt like they were imprinting themselves on the fabric of the other's being. A connection forged in those peaceful moments of loving and being loved as never before.
The illusion of being the only two people in the world was shattered by the sound of arguing from somewhere beyond the closed bedroom door. Everything was still a bit cloudy when she lifted her head, but there was definitely a girl yelling profanities in the hall.
"Don't tell me I can't see him! You're the one who needs to get out, asshole!" the voice screeched.
A deep male voice replied, "I'm telling you that you don't want to go in there, Sam. He's gonna be pissed you're even here, and somebody's head is gonna roll for letting you in."
Chase cursed under his breath. "Just relax, Lovely. I'll handle this. There's no need for you to be disturbed. Just rest." He made no move to leave the bed. Instead, he snuggled in closer. The door flew open.
"Don't call me Sam, you prick!" A beautiful platinum blonde in heels and a dress so short it was more like a long shirt burst into the room, and Chase's friend followed, trying to get a handle on her. "What the hell are you doing?" the blonde bellowed from the doorway.
The noise hurt Dani's head and made her nauseous. She turned her face into Chase's chest and tried to cover her ears.
"What are you doing in our bed? Get your filthy hands off my mate!" she hissed at Dani.
That cleared all the clouds from her mind. Dani looked at Chase with a wide-eyed question, but his attention was on the blonde intruder.
"This is not your bed," he remarked dryly.
"She's your mate? What does that mean?" Dani was confused, but Chase just pulled her back to his chest and kissed her forehead.
"She's not my-"
"That means he's mine, you idiot! We're going to be mated!" the blonde hissed at Dani, cutting Chase off.
"Chase, are you engaged to her?" Dani felt betrayed. He didn't deny anything; instead he turned an angry scowl on the blonde.
That was all Dani needed to see! She was getting out of that domestic dispute. Slowly, painfully, she got herself to a sitting position as Chase tried to stop her progress.
"That's right, you little slut, get your shit and go!" the blonde insulted.
Kayden tried to hold her back from the bed.
"Kayden, get her out of here now," Chase ordered while pushing Dani back onto the bed. "You need to rest. Please stay in bed."
"Oh, I'm not going any damn place until that bitch is gone! You can count on that!" the blonde barked. "And what the hell is up with her hair? You're into freaks now, Chase?"
Just then Kayden lost his grip on Sam, and Chase leapt from the bed to stop her.
Dani got a good look at Sam then. Her irises were jet black, and she sported thin, curved fangs. Oddly familiar looking, she thought. Dani obviously wasn't the only black-eyed freak around. She was a vampire, just like the nightmare in high heels. The pieces of the puzzle were coming together for her now.
Neither Chase nor Kayden were frightened or even seemed surprised by the woman with fangs and black eyes. It stood to reason that both of the men were also vampires. Christ, was the town full of them? This development made her VIP treatment at the club make a hell of a lot more sense as well. It was also possible that all vampires had telepathic ability like she and Chase had shared. She just didn't know. But now wasn't the time to figure it all out. She and her mother were going to have a long talk.
Stiffly rising from the bed, Dani was mortified to be standing in nothing but her panties with bandages wrapped around her ribs, as three other people in the room argued. The blonde was trying to get around Chase and Kayden to reach her. Her pants and shirt were cut into shreds on the floor. She supposed they'd been cut off out of necessity to treat her injuries.
The blonde was really pissing her off with all the shouting, and Dani's head was splitting. Her vision sharpened, and she figured at that moment she probably resembled the blonde a bit. Frustrated, she screamed, "Shut up!"
The struggling, yippy blonde instantly fell silent and still. She just stood there with a blank expression on her face.
Chase and Kayden looked at the girl, then at Dani, and then at each other. Chase snapped his fingers in front of Sam's face, but she didn't flinch.
"How did you do that?" Chase gaped.
"Cool trick! Can you teach me?" Kayden asked excitedly.
"Get me some clothes? Mine are cut into pieces," she asked Chase, before turning her attention to Kayden. "Could you get Nightmare Barbie out of here while I get dressed, please?"
Kayden guided the silent and dazed-looking girl out of the room and shut the door. Chase stood and stared at her in amazement.
"How did you do that?" he insisted.
"Fine, I'll get some clothes myself. But don't worry; I won't take your fiancée's clothes." She tossed the statement over her shoulder and entered the huge walk-in closet that actually did have some girl's clothing.
He followed and located a T-shirt and a pair of running pants she could cinch up around her waist.
"You don't understand. She's supposed to be bonded to me. It's an arrangement between our parents. I didn't ask her to be my mate," he tried to explain as she pulled on the clothes with him looking on.
Her head swam. What a strange way to put it. Mate? Bonded? She guessed these were vampire terms she would need to assimilate.
Leaving the closet to search for shoes, she asked, "Are you, or are you not, going to marry that girl?" She cut straight to the quick, because she didn't want to hear any excuses.