Bane (The Devil's Roses #2) 1

She looked down at him, "That was real."

He nodded, "I figured. The dreams I have about you aren’t like any other dreams I've ever had."

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry because it cost me everything. I just wanted to help people. I never saw what would happen, I couldn’t see the whole picture just the pain."

He put a hand up stopping her rant, "Ari, I know in my heart you are my mate. My wolf side isn’t fooled by your magic, I know you in the core of my being. I know I love you."

Her breath stopped, her stomach dropped and her heart raced, "What?"

He nodded, "I know you, through it all my wolf remembers everything. When I shifted and I was with you in the hallway I remembered things there was no way I should remember."

A smile crossed her lips, "You love me still?"

He reached one of his huge hands to her. She took his hand letting him pull her down onto his lap. His lips brushed hers softly as if remembering he needed to be slow with her. She pressed her face up against his letting the kiss take over. His hands roamed her back pulling her into him.

He stood up lifting her off the ground cupping her ass and wrapping her legs around him as he walked up to the house.

Ari pulled back looking at him and smiled, "I love you Lucas."

"You don’t really have any choice in the matter. My wolf loves you which is pretty much the end of the discussion."

She laughed seeing how serious he was.

Chapter Thirty-Two- I Love You Like The Last Donut On The Plate

Aimee

She shoved another donut down her throat.

"That's really disgusting love."

She sneered at Dorian.

Aleks put a hand on her arm, "Aimee what's wrong? Why are you eating like that? You never eat."

She sighed, "My dad thinks I'm dead."

Aleks rubbed her arm, "Sweetie it's okay. It's for the best. He's safe if they don’t know who he is."

Dorian rolled his eyes, "You know for a nerdy little space camp girl you've gotten very dramatic in your afterlife."

She growled at him, "Not right now Dorian."

He raised his eyebrows and took a jelly donut from her plate.

She looked at his hand like she should either bite it or slap it.

"I'm saving you from heartburn later."

She started to laugh like she'd lost her mind.

"Would you like to go for a walk?" Aleks looked concerned.

She shook her head, "I'm going to eat my donuts and then I'm going to play WOW cause I'm still a giant nerd at heart and then I'm going to kill some dark ones. I'll feel better tomorrow."

Lydia stormed into the kitchen, "Aimee is there a reason a police officer is roaming my bloody driveway looking lost?"

Aimee looked at Dorian who started to laugh, "Oh sweet lord Aimee you really have the worst luck."

She looked at Aleks who looked hurt and vanished with a whoosh of warm air.

She stood from the table realizing of course Shane wouldn’t have believed her dead. She'd hoped. She walked outside of the entryway to see him walking back and forth like a caged tiger.

His eyes looked hollow and dark, not the Shane she was used to seeing.

"Shane." She looked around confused, "How did you know to come here?"

'I dreamt of this place. I just knew you would be here." His voice cracked.

"I'm sorry Shane."

"I knew you weren’t dead. Your dad called, sobbing. I was upset for a second when I thought that your body had been found but when he told me that the medical center called I knew it was fake." He looked angry.

She walked toward him feeling the donuts coming back.

"He's so broken Aimee. I've been writing him for the last year pretending to be you and telling him how you were getting better. Now he's all alone. Why?" He spit his words at her.

"I'm being hunted. They'll kill him to get to me."

"Oh bullshit Aimee. You can't leave for a year and half and not be my girlfriend anymore and not be with me and still make me feel like this."

She looked him deeply in the eyes, "Shane think about it from a police officer's perspective. They can't get to me here but they can get to my family and use them for bait."

He threw his arms in the air, "God dammed Aims, why the fuck did you ever have to go? God dammed."

She flinched, "I made a mistake. He can't pay for the rest of his life for what I did."

His gaze seared through her, "He's paying Aimee, I'm paying, we all are paying. You think he will ever get over this? He's had no closure. You think I will ever love anyone as much as you obviously love him." He pointed to the house, "You had to fall in love with him. You did that and everything else has been a disaster."

"I would have died. Is that what you would have preferred? It's never been about him. Would you have liked the happy ending being me in liver failure in front of my father a year ago?"

"Of course not but this isn’t a solution either. I'm miserable because I love you. Your dad is miserable because he thinks you're dead and you're here living the life with Aleks."

She felt her hands spark, "LIVING THE LIFE, FUCK YOU SHANE."

He stepped toward her grabbing her face and kissing her as hard as he could. Her lips pressed against her teeth hurting her. She didn’t fight him, he hands were on fire wanting to suck his soul from him. His hands gripped her nearly ripping her skin.

He pulled back screaming, "I WANY MY CHANCE. I WANT TO BE APART OF WHAT YOU ARE."

She stepped away from him sobbing trying to whisper, "I want you. I do. I just don’t want them to come for you, to use you to get to me."

He shook his head as a tear rolled down his cheek, "I won't leave. I wont be apart of that lie unless I am apart of your life." He pointed in the direction of Port Mackenzie.

She nodded, "Okay. Okay." She sniffed wiping her face. She stepped into his embrace and whispered and spoke hastily, "They watch me at all times. I need to end it with you right here and now and you need to leave. I will come to your room tonight at your moms. We will find a way but we have to be smarter than yelling in a driveway for all my enemies to see."

He whispered looking around them, "Your dad is getting to a bad place too Aimes. He's scaring the shit out of me. I think he would do better knowing the truth."

She swallowed hard, "I cant."

"Try."

She pushed him back shouting, "Go home Shane. I'm with Aleks, I chose him a long time ago. I cant be with a human it's too dangerous. Just go home." She turned away from him and shook her head. She stormed into the house and closed the door. She watched him get into his truck unharmed.

"I'll go ride with him."

She turned to see Aleks, he was trying desperately to hide his pain. She nodded, "Thank you."

He smiled, "I owe you that at the very least Aimee." He was gone filling the air with the warm wind. A smile found it's way to her lips as she thought about him sitting in Shane's truck cloaked, the two of them on a three-hour road trip. She was glad Shane wouldn’t be aware of Aleks. She realized then the depth of Aleks' love, he would do that for her knowing it would never get him anywhere or bring him anything.

She wished for a small moment she could love Aleks the way he needed and deserved to be loved, her life would be considerably easier with Aleks than it ever would with Shane even though she knew it could never be. Her heart had chosen its path, she just had to make it happen. Her stomach twinge thinking about the night that would come. She hadn’t been with anyone since the last time she'd been with Shane. Anticipation filled her as she walked to the bath, "Annabelle I need that rose oil bubble bath."

Chapter Thirty-Three- Nephilim

Ari and Aimee

The dark night smelled sweet as the streets steamed from the last rain still fresh on the ground. Ari looked at Aimee and nodded as they entered the minivan they had been told to take as the exact number of kids had not yet been confirmed. The minivan was a precaution if there were too many and Aimee couldn’t wink everyone.

They knew nothing about the children beyond they were special and the dark ones wanted them, dead or alive.

That was of importance to Lorri, she wanted whatever Daniel wanted and she would have it first. Currently the kids were staying at a government facility. No doubt the government was miss using them as they were special in some way.

The drive was short as Aimee had ordered the van dropped to a location close to their destination.

The large warehouse looking building had very few windows and almost no doors. They surveyed the area for nine hours straight, watching cars go in and out nearly all black and shiny new cars with flags or plates they knew to be important people.

As dusk began to settle in the sky Aimee knew their window to complete their mission would be very narrow. They approached the building winking the entire way. Ari smiled at Aimee as she flashed a hand past the scanner. The door lock blinked green but she tried hard not to feel smug, people had grown a lot cleverer and some of her kind had been captured before. God only knew or rather didn’t want to know what the humans had done to them. They slowly stalked in looking around seeing the crates and forklifts firstly and then the rest of the huge cement room with the feel of an industrial shipping area. It appeared to be a huge government warehouse filled with crates and of course the special children they knew would be kept invisible.

A black metal door stood behind one of the forklifts looking ominous. Aimee knew instantly it was a certain rock, obsidian. A door made of granite like rock seemed silly but she remembered something about immortals being blocked by certain metals and stones. She panicked a little as she imagined the other side of the door hoping her powers would work on it.

Ari whispered, "Can you get us past it?"

Aimee bit her lip, "No I don’t think so. It's obsidian, devils rock. Flash your hand."