mates?”
“He’ll kill me, Sasha!” I wanted to get pissed at the accusation, but the fear in his voice stopped me. He was petrified of Aaron, and I could understand that from his point of view.
“Aaron didn’t react to you like the other vampires, Imogen. He was defending you.”
“Yeah, until he tastes me then he’ll drain me,” he cried out.
“No! Aaron wouldn’t do that. I saw how different he was with you than Conley and his crew. I bet the fact that he’s your mate overrules what vampires normally feel toward fairies. Please give this a chance! Don’t make me choose between my mates, I can’t do that. We’ll figure out a way to make sure you’re safe and he stays in control, okay?”
He nibbled on his plump bottom lip for a moment. “I concede that he didn’t act like the others, but you have to understand why I’m not trusting him yet. I’ll stay and try if you really want me to, but until I do trust him, I’m not being intimate or alone with him.”
“I think that’s fair.” He reached out for my hand then, and I brought his to my lips. “Thank you, baby.”
“You’re worth the risk, Sasha. I just pray it doesn’t get me killed.”
“Me, too.” Yeah, I couldn’t fathom why I wanted to curl in a ball and cry.
We were silent the rest of the drive, and I sighed in relief when we pulled into Avery’s driveway. I felt horrible when I’d called him for a place to stay, not wanting to impose. But what other choice did we have? Trey’s house with his mates wasn’t big enough to accommodate three adults for more than a night.
I shut off the truck and got out, hugging Imogen and kissing him quickly when I helped him out. Aaron joined us as well but kept his distance, still looking as sad as any person could. I didn’t blame him with the way everything was going down.
“Brother,” Avery said with a soft smile as we walked over to the front porch. I went to him, taking the comfort he offered. I instantly felt better when he hugged me. It was a same litter thing.
“Missed you, kiddo.” We all had our playful names for each other. Avery was the youngest of the litter, and the smallest, so it worked for him.
“Missed you too, big guy.” It always cracked us all up that we came from the same litter and were so different in some ways. Avery was almost as short as Imogen’s five-four and here I was six-three. And while Avery and I shared the same tigerlike orange hair and green eyes, but that was about all we shared when it came to looks.
“I talked to Kody, and he filled me in. How are you holding up?” He was also the most sensitive of all of us. It might have been from his years in captivity and everything he’d been through though I remembered him being kindhearted when we were kids, too.
“Confused? Happy I found my mates but not sure what fate was thinking by one being a fairy and the other being a vampire? Exhausted and hungry as well.”
“All understandable,” he said before turning to my mates. “I’m Avery Donovan, these are my mates, Ty and Cord. Welcome to our home.”
“Why are you whispering?” Imogen asked as he shook my brother’s hand. Once again, I was an idiot.
“We have three daughters who are sleeping.” The love in my baby brother’s eyes at simply mentioning his children warmed my heart. He deserved that happiness a hundred times over.
“For now.” Ty chuckled as everyone exchanged hellos. “They’ll be up probably in an hour for their morning feeding.”
I glanced at my watch. “Their feeding is at six in the morning? Wow, I’m not sure how you guys do it.”
“With lots of love and patience.” Cord snickered. “You guys just want to crash, and we’ll get you unloaded and everything tomorrow?”
“Yeah, that sounds great,” I answered when Imogen and Aaron nodded, looking as tired as I felt.
We got settled in, and my heart broke when Aaron went to one guestroom and Imogen and I to another. He said he understood and we