“I’ll take a jelly, a Boston crème, a coffee roll, and two of the brown sugar muffins,” Maggie said as she hungrily examined the contents lining the shelves behind the counter. The sweet scent of baking pastries and coffee entangled her in a ravenous trap that had her licking her lips in anticipation of stuffing herself.

Tapping her foot, she was debating a bagel and cream cheese when Aiden placed his hands on the counter on either side of her. He pinned her in as he rested his chin on her shoulder. “Hungry?” he inquired, the amusement evident in his voice.

“Starved!” Not only had they spent another hour in bed, but she’d insisted on getting a five-mile run in afterward. She was fairly certain she could eat every one of the donuts and muffins remaining after the morning rush.

He chuckled as he kissed her neck. Behind the counter, the young woman making her coffee almost dropped it when she saw Aiden. Someone behind them muttered something about getting a room, and Maggie laughed. She wasn’t walking on clouds anymore; she was too famished for that. Besides, it was a long fall from the clouds, and she enjoyed her view from Earth.

Nope, she wasn’t walking on clouds, but she felt deliriously happy as she took the box of goodies from the young man who handed them over. Aiden stepped back and claimed her coffee before walking with her to the register. He dipped into his pocket and paid the woman behind the cash register.

Unwilling to take the time to walk back to the hotel before eating, Maggie settled at a corner table and dug into her box of treats. Aiden sat with his back to the wall, his eyes surveying everyone who entered.

“I called Roger earlier,” she said in the hopes of getting Aiden to relax a little. He’d been tense ever since they’d left the hotel room, and he studied every person they came across like a possible enemy. He was giving her a complex.

“How is he?” Aiden asked without looking at her.

“They’re sending him home today, and someone told him about Walt and Glenn. He said he was okay, but he was lying.”

“And how do you know that?”

She shrugged as she pulled the top off one of the muffins and started eating it. “He gets all impatient and manly when he’s emotional.”

“Manly?”

“You know what I mean.”

He finally looked at her and gave her a small smile. “I do.”

“Anyway, Walt’s funeral was this morning and Glenn’s funeral is tomorrow. I don’t expect to be able to go; the doctors think Roger should rest and stay away too, but—”

“It's a bad idea, Maggie. The funeral will be the prime place for the Savages to stick a human to watch for you. They’ll expect you to show up there.”

She sighed and rolled a piece of muffin between her fingers, creating a ball with it. “I understand, but I have to get back to work soon. I have bills to pay, and I can’t keep expecting my coworkers to cover my shifts. It’s not fair to them, especially since I’m healthy.”

“It’s not safe.”

“I don’t have a choice.”

“I’ll help with your bills.”

“No.”

“Maggie—”

“No. I won’t allow it. I take care of myself.”

“But you don’t have to anymore.”

“I’m not sure what this is between us. I like you, a lot, but I haven’t known you long, and I’m not going to rely on you to support me. It’s bad enough you’re buying my food and paying for my hotel room. I’m not used to this; I don’t like it. Even if we were married, I wouldn’t like it, and we’re not married. I can only do one small step at a time, and you supporting me is not a small step.”

“Fair enough,” he relented.

“Besides, we can’t continue to keep hiding out in the hotel. Are we supposed to spend days, weeks, months there?”

The way his eyes raked her body made her pulse race. “Would that be so bad?”

“For my job and the rest of my life, yes. For us, no,” she replied honestly, and he smiled. “But that’s not the way the human world works.”

“No, it’s not.”

He didn’t tell her the mate bond was a far more binding connection than marriage. If she agreed to complete it, she would realize that on her own.

“I’ve always taken care of myself or pulled my share of the weight,” she stated.

“I’m not supporting you,” he said. “I’m helping you as you’ve helped me.”

She stopped eating, but her fingers continued to pick at her muffin. “How have I helped you?”

“By bringing tranquility to my life.”

“Oh.”

“Not all support is money.”

“True.” She popped a ball of muffin in her mouth.

Aiden’s eyes were drawn to the door when a young couple entered, laughing as they made their way to the counter. He watched them until he was certain they weren’t a threat.

“Okay, so we’re helping each other,” Maggie said. “But we can’t remain locked away forever, no matter how much we both want to.”

“No, we can’t,” he reluctantly agreed.

“So, what do we do next?”

“Why don’t we take the rest of today to enjoy each other and figure that out tomorrow?”

Maggie lifted her coffee and sipped at it as she contemplated this. “I like the way you think, Aiden Byrne.”

He grinned at her and rose to take her hand after she finished the last of her food. Leading her out of the donut shop, he walked with her down to the beach. Maggie laughed when he spun her across the sand as if they were dancing.

When they returned to his room, his phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and glanced at the screen. He recognized his sister Abby’s number. Turning his phone off, he tossed it onto the bureau. It could all wait until tomorrow, he decided as he pulled Maggie into his arms.

* * *

The next morning, a knock on the hotel door drew Aiden’s attention to it. His eyes narrowed as he listened for any indication of who stood on the other side. They’d ordered room service last night, but this morning they’d gone out so Maggie could get coffee and donuts. The housekeepers had come through, cleaned the room, and made the bed while they were out. Rising, he walked over to the door, put his eye to the peephole, and spotted his sister Vicky on the other side.

Vicky placed her middle finger against the eyehole. “Open up, asshole.”

“Shit,” he grumbled before turning the locks and pulling the door open. “It’s good to see you too, Victoria.”

“It always is,” she replied as she pushed past him and strolled into the room.

“What are you doing here?” he asked when Vicky plopped herself onto the chair in the corner.

“I couldn’t resist your jovial company anymore,” she retorted as she bounced on the cushion. “Comfy.”

“How did you find me and why?”

He hadn’t told anyone where they would be staying. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust them, it was that he’d been hoping to avoid this. He wanted time alone with Maggie, and he’d checked in often enough to keep them from searching him out, or so he’d assumed.

“When you shut your phone off, you know it’s only a matter of time before someone in this family hunts you down. We do have the vampire equivalent of a GPS as a brother-in-law, so hunting someone down isn’t difficult.”

“Brian,” he muttered. Brian was the other reason he hadn’t told anyone where he was. If he stopped checking in, Brian would be able to locate him. However, it had been less than twenty-four hours since he’d spoken with Declan. There was no reason for them to come looking for him.

“Oh, don’t be angry with the oaf,” Vicky said with a wave of her hand.

Aiden scowled and closed the door. “Where are Abby and Brian?”

If Vicky was here, then Abby was too.

“Downstairs. Brian’s making sure it’s safe before coming up. I, on the other hand, was far too eager to meet our newest family member to wait. Where is my future sister-in-law? Are you hiding her somewhere?” Vicky asked as she glanced around the room. “Did you scare her off already?”

“In her room taking a shower,” he replied. When they’d returned to find housekeeping in his room, Maggie had gone to hers to shower and call Roger again. “And don’t scare her.”

Vicky’s green eyes widened innocently, and she rested her hand against her chest. “Me?” she asked with an innocent flutter of her lashes. “I would never!”

“I told her she’s my mate, but not that she has to turn to complete the bond.”

“Big detail to omit.”

“She’s had enough to deal with recently. We’ll get to that when it’s necessary.”

“From what I’ve seen of you recently, it’s necessary.”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, come on, Aiden. I’m not blind or stupid. You’ve been walking a fine line for a while. It’s why you joined up with Ronan, after all.”

He’d believed he’d kept his deterioration into madness a secret, but if Vicky noticed, then he’d done a piss-poor job of hiding it. He loved her as much as the rest of his brothers and sisters, but Vicky was probably the most self-centered one in the family. She rarely considered the consequences of her actions.

Unfortunately, she’d almost been killed because of that recently, and it had gotten her abused in a way she never should have been. Self-absorbed she may be, but she was also incredibly loving, and that part of her had taken a beating while she’d been imprisoned by vampires who fed on her.

Just thinking about finding her in that warehouse, chained to a wall with numerous bite marks on her made Aiden want to kill those vampires all over again.

“I didn’t realize you and the others had noticed,” he said. He saw no reason to deny her words. All his siblings may have spent a good portion of their childhoods torturing each other, but they were also each other’s best friends.

“The others have been so wrapped up in their mates and growing families they haven’t detected your increasing withdrawal from us. And the rest of the brood is too young to be a part of this or to understand. As the only unmated vampire left amongst our matured siblings, I did notice.”

Last year, Vicky never would have perceived anything off with him as she would have been too busy hopping from one party and boyfriend to the next. Her imprisonment had changed her more than he’d realized.

Leaning back in the chair, she crossed her legs and kicked one in the air as she grinned at him, but there was something strained about her smile. “Guess I’m the lone holdout, but I’m okay with that. The single life is how I like to roll.”

“You’re lying.”

“Perhaps, but what difference does being mated make for me? Unlike you, I’m not about to plunge over the deep end and into a murderous rampage. I’ll be fine, and Willow will soon be joining me in the ranks of the gloriously single and matured.”

He couldn’t picture Willow, the most tomboyish one of his sisters, reveling in her freedom and maturity as Vicky had.

“You’ll find someone,” he said.

“No, I won’t,” she said with more vehemence than he’d expected. Then, she smiled again and slapped her hands on the arms of the chair. “What is my future sister-in-law like? Declan and Saxon have been pretty mum on the details.”

“Have you met someone?” he inquired, not at all fooled by her abrupt change in conversation.

“No.”

She’d said no, but he sensed she lied.

“Vicky—”

“I bet she’s beautiful,” Vicky gushed, and for a minute he caught a glimpse of the girl she’d once been, pouring over fashion magazines, prattling on about clothes, and dreaming about one day visiting Paris. He hadn’t heard her mention traveling in months.

He’d become the most self-centered of his siblings, he realized with a start. He’d been so obsessed with not falling over the edge, he’d failed to notice Vicky walking a path that might end up as destructive as his.

“She is beautiful,” he said, sensing Vicky needed a distraction of some sort. “And she’s a paramedic.”

“She’s caring too then!”

“I’m here for you, you know. I’ve been a bit lost, but I’ve always been and always will be here for you.”

Vicky stared at him as if she were trying to find words. Finally, she swallowed and nodded. “You came for me in that warehouse. I know you’re here for me. And I’m happy for you, but I’d be happier if you spilled some details on this girl! The others won’t shut up about how amazing their mates are, and I feel like I’m pulling fangs out over here!”

Aiden walked over and bent down. He slid his hands under Vicky’s arms to lift her. She froze, and for a second, he sensed the same thing in her that had been inside him, a revulsion to touch because she didn’t feel worthy of it. Then, she eased against him and draped her arms around his neck.

The clean scent of her filled his nose. He was relieved to note the faint stench of rot clinging to her since her captivity had faded. During her imprisonment, Vicky was starved to the point where she lost control and killed a human. Because of that, she’d born the stain of death on her, but Vicky wasn’t a vampire who killed regularly or took pleasure in it, and time had mostly washed the aroma from her.

“Welcome back, Aiden,” she whispered. “I missed you.”

“One day, you’ll come back too.”

“Oh, I’m like a cockroach, not even a nuclear bomb can keep me down,” she said in a voice that no longer held a teasing tone.

Behind him, he heard a door open. He turned as Maggie stepped into the room. The smile slid from her face, and her expression became murderous. If she’d held a crossbow, he knew she would have shot him.

“I like her already,” Vicky declared and slapped him on his shoulders.