“Gwen, are you okay?” Fiona asked with worry inflecting her tone.

“What happened?” I murmured, closing my eyes against the lingering waves of nausea that wafted through my stomach.

“I don’t know. One minute we were talking, and the next your head lolled back and you passed out,” Fiona said, “You scared the shit out of me.” A bottle of water was held out in front of me and when I looked up, I noticed it was Micah holding it. I grabbed it, thankful to be able to wash the dryness out of my throat.

Aiden slipped a hand under my legs and another around my back, lifting me up. He carried me into the living room and placed me on the sofa. It was a lot more comfortable than the hardness of the kitchen table. He sat down with me, propping my legs onto his lap.

Everyone filed into the living room, observing me like I was something strange to them. Self-consciously, I realized I was still in my blue bathrobe, and that my legs were mostly uncovered. I adjusted the robe, not wanting Micah or Wyatt to see any more of my exposed skin.

“Did you guys find anything out about the woman in the park?” I asked the brothers, assuming that was why they were here.

“I called them,” Fiona answered, “I was really scared, I didn’t know what was happening to you.”

I nodded my head, “I’m not sure what happened.”

“What do you remember?” Aiden asked as he rubbed my feet. I thought back and came up blank for an answer. I hadn’t ever experienced anything like that before.

“There was a shadow, a ghost, I think. It was like the kitchen disappeared and I was standing in an abandoned house,” I said, not entirely sure how to describe what had happened. It was one of those instances where “you had to be there” to really understand.

“Gwen, you don’t have psychic abilities. You’ve never been able to see ghosts before,” Micah said, with a questioning glance.

“I know what I saw, Micah,” I retorted, even though he was right.

“It was Aura,” Fiona said, drawing our attention to her, “She jumped into your lap when it happened and she wouldn’t let any of us get near you.”

“It doesn’t work like that. I draw energy from her, she doesn’t project the spirit world at me,” I said, unable to make the connection.

“Perhaps she can, this was just the first time a spirit wanted to get in contact with you. When Aura finally got her off your lap, that’s when you regained consciousness.”

It made sense; Aura was my link to the spirit world. But I couldn’t figure out who would want to contact me, or why? The spirit hadn’t said anything other than the voices it projected into my mind. Aura must have made the connection when I started petting her, sneaky cat.

“Someone has been watching me, they’re going to kill me,” I whispered, replaying the voice I’d heard.

“What?” Aiden asked, “Who’s going to kill you?”

I shook my head. “Not me, that’s what the spirit said.”

This whole situation put me out of my comfort zone. Sure, I was a witch, but I wasn’t a spirit seer. Now that I’d had a taste of what those witches went through, I held a new level of respect for them.

It was late, almost midnight, and everyone was looking a little exhausted themselves. I felt horrible that I was the reason for their sleepiness, excluding Aiden who didn’t sleep at night.

“Thank you guys for coming over, but I’m fine. You should go home and get some sleep,” I told Wyatt and Micah. Relief showed on Micah’s face, who most likely was feeling uncomfortable at being around me and Aiden, in the very same apartment he used to visit.

“Are you sure?” Wyatt asked.

I nodded my head and gave him a reassuring smile, “Yeah.”

“Okay, then Micah will pick you up tomorrow night around six. Good night, guys,” Wyatt said. Micah looked between Aiden and me and gave a short head nod, then followed his brother out the door.

Fiona said she was tired and slipped off to her bedroom, but I expected she was giving me alone time with Aiden. I was actually tired and not interested in spending any quality time with Aiden at the moment. Whatever I had went through drained me.

My legs were still resting in Aiden’s lap but he sat rigid, as if touching me might turn him to ash. I pursed my lips and gave him a questioning glare, “Something wrong?” He shifted to look at me and his eyes went black as coal. Vampires’ eyes only went black for two reasons, anger or horny; I would bet my entire savings that it wasn’t the latter.

“I waited patiently for you to come to your senses over that dog, and I even believed you when you said this case had nothing to do with him. But what I can’t understand is why is he going to be picking you up tomorrow night when you’re supposed to be going to Rush with Fiona?” Aiden asked, his tone as cold as the December snow.

To say I was shocked would be an understatement.

“You might try asking nicely first before you go all black-eyed on me!”

“Yes, Gwen please tell me, why is Micah going to pick you up?” he asked in a sarcastic, but pleasant voice.

“He’s going to Rush with us, on an investigation we need to do. There is nothing between him and me anymore and your insecurity isn’t very attractive. For the record, you and I are not an item either. I agreed to go on a couple of dates with you to see if we could become more, so don’t get your boxers in a twist,” I snapped, not at all in the mood to deal with a grumpy vampire.

He pushed himself between my legs and paused just inches from my face. I could see my reflection in his onyx eyes, and my heart tapped harder with either anticipation or fear, I wasn’t sure.

He tilted his head a little to the side and spoke against my lips.

“Once I have claimed something, I don’t let it go easily, and I’ve claimed you.” His breath caressed my skin as his words did funny things to my center. I knew Aiden, and he wasn’t malicious or controlling in any form of the word. Vampires tended to be really territorial, and this vampire had declared me as his. I wasn’t entirely sure how I felt about Aiden’s words. On the one hand, his lust for me was hot as hell, but on the other hand, I hated that he made me feel like property. Before I could think of a snide comeback of my own, he kissed me. His lips were soft at first, like a breeze against my skin. But when I didn’t kiss him back, his lips demanded cooperation. When he kissed me that way, I knew he meant what he had said, that I was his. This wasn’t just lust overtaking his emotions, it was passion.

My libido overthrew any anger I had. I kissed him back with as much passion as he gave. I wrapped my arms around his neck and held him closer; afraid he’d vanish if I didn’t. He broke away from my swollen lips, showing his fangs had descended. He quickly pulled me up and onto him, his hardness yearning to break free underneath me.

Untying my robe, he licked his lips as he appreciated my bare breasts.

“You are absolutely delicious, my Gwen,” he said. His hands cupped my ass while his tongue did circles around my excited nipples. I moaned through my desire and arched my back, sending my lower region to press harder against his erection. He growled deep in his throat and I felt the tips of his fangs scrape against my skin, sending fear to overthrow my lust.

I tried to get off his lap but he pulled me back down and, placing his hands on my hips, moved me against himself. Fire rocketed from in between my legs and up throughout my body.

What was it that I was afraid of again?

With vampire speed, he picked me up and before I realized it, we were in my bedroom. Aiden set me on the bed and watched me with unadulterated need. He stood at the footboard and watched me so intently, I started to scoot towards the headboard. Before I could reach it though, he grabbed my leg and pulled me, so that I was lying flat on my back, with my robe wide open, clad in only a black pair of panties. Starting at my ankles, he ran his hands the entire length of my body, sending every nerve ending to sit up and pay attention.

“Aiden, I don’t think this is the right time for this,” I reluctantly told him. He was in the process of pressing kisses up my leg and spoke against my skin. “I’ll need a good reason if you want me to stop,” he said, as he continued to kiss my inner thigh. He was dangerously close to the one spot that would make me lose all protest. I enjoyed him for a few more seconds but pushed through the fog of horniness.

“It doesn’t seem like our first time should be right after I come back from being unconscious and with my roommate right next door.”

He groaned and hesitated, as if it were pure torture to stop his seduction. “I’ll only stop on one condition, otherwise I’ll have you so fast your head will spin,” he threatened.

“What’s the condition?” I asked with caution.

“Say you’re mine and only mine. Tell me that I’m the only man who can taste you.”

His words only turned me on more, was that his plan?

I took too long to answer so he stripped off all of his clothes in record time and I gasped at seeing him completely naked. His length was impressive and had me second guessing why I wanted to stop, Fiona wouldn’t hear us if we continued, right?

He grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet, causing our naked bodies to press against each other, so that his massive erection teased my stomach.

“Aiden,” I said in warning.

He turned me around so that my back was pressed against his chest and reached a hand around to slip his fingers under my panties, as he played with the dark curls.

“Stop, Aiden,” I told him, but my tone lacked conviction.

“Say it, Gwen and I’ll stop, or perhaps you don’t want me to?”

If I said it then he’d win, he would get me to admit that we were actually a couple and I was his. Being very competitive, I had trouble with losing. But if he kept playing between my legs, I wasn’t going to be able to stop this and I could hear Fiona in the bathroom, which meant she would be able to hear us. Call me crazy, but I don’t like witnesses when I am intimate with a guy.