Heart of Stone - Book 2: Hearts Collide
Chapter 5 - Aubree (Part 1)

The darkness was consuming her. Normally, the darkness of sleep didn’t bother Aubree but something shifted during the night. The warm embrace of sleep turned cold. Her skin crawled and she couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched. A chill shot through her as if someone with icy cold breath blew down her neck.

When the red eyes appeared, she tried to scream but couldn’t.

The forest materialized but it was too dark to see anything. She didn’t need eyes to see it though because she could feel it. The sinister feeling dissipated when a feeling of warmth and calm began to spread through her. The eyes faded when a soothing voice began to drift in through the darkness.

“Aubree?” It was Gwen. Her voice was louder and clearer the second time she said her name. “Aubree?”

Light broke through the darkness, dissolving the forest around her and the dread that gripped her. She squeezed her eyelids together before opening them.

Rain splattered gently against the window and although the room was blanketed in darkness, she could almost make out Gwen’s silhouette. Sitting by her side, Gwen rubbed her shoulder the way a mother would comfort a child having a nightmare. Aubree squinted at her, wondering why Gwen was in her room when she remembered that Gwen was staying with her.

Before she could ask, Gwen said, “You were tossing and turning a lot in your sleep. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

Pressing the heel of her palm to her eye, she rubbed each one with a groan. Were these nightmares going to be a frequent occurrence now? “It’s okay. This one wasn’t as scary as the last.”

Gwen’s eyebrow peaked. “Oh?”

Aubree looked away, her cheeks growing warm at the thought of Stone entering her last nightmare and killing the vampire and waking up next to him with her hand in his.

As if somehow reading her mind, Gwen asked, “Do you want me to send for Papa?”

Aubree could feel her cheeks heat up even more. As tempting as it was to see him again, she didn’t want to be a nuisance.

She shook her head. “No, it’s okay.”

“You sure? He’s not too far. I’m sure he won’t mind. He has to come back soon anyway for the car.”

Aubree caught herself chewing on a fingernail and jerked it from her mouth. Why was he still in the city?

She glanced at the alarm clock next to the bed. It was shortly after five in the morning. Was he in the city hunting vampires? She was afraid to ask and shook her head instead at Gwen.

“You sure?”

Aubree nodded.

After a few more reassurances, Gwen left her alone to sleep but she couldn’t. Her mind kept flitting from one thought to the next. Stone. Dan. Vampires. The accident. The cycle repeated.

She remembered all the good times with Dan. Their first summer together filled with picnics, bonfires with college friends, and trips to Michigan Lake complete with sandcastles and beet-red sunburns.

Then there was their first fight. How stupid it seemed afterward.

How insignificant all of it seemed now.

Soon, the gray sky began to lighten between the crack in the curtains and the red numbers on the digital clock glowed seven in the morning.

She couldn’t pull herself out of bed. It felt like everything that had happened in the last few days had finally caught up with her. Her body ached, especially her head and her heart. It was all she could do to lift her head when she felt that all familiar presence sending tingles up her spine.

A shadow loomed on the other side of the ajar door. Her brows furrowed. “Stone?”

Pushing the door open gently, he stepped into the dark room. “T’is I.”

She cocked an eyebrow. T′is?

She pulled herself up on her elbows. “What are you doing here? I told Gwen that you didn’t have to come.”

“Gwen has nothing to do with me being here.”

“Then,” she swallowed, her heart thumping away in her chest, “why are you here?”

He stepped to her bed. The smell of rainwater wafting to her as he neared and paused before her. Settling down on his knees, he touched her cheek with his knuckles, wiping away the tears that had trickled down over the last couple of hours.

She couldn’t make out his face in the darkness but she didn’t have to. She could feel the comfort in his touch and despite his lack of response, she knew that he had come for her. Somehow, he knew that she was in pain. Either that, or he couldn’t leave the city without seeing her first.

She closed her eyes as he pressed his forehead to hers, breathing in his rain-sodden scent. The tension in her body relaxed with each breath. Inhale. Exhale. His breathing fell into sync with hers, blowing hot and heavy on her face as her stomach fluttered in response.

He reached up and dug his fingers into her tangled bed-head of hair, sending tingles through her scalp and down her spine. “You have no idea,” he rasped, “what you do to me.”

She trembled at the sound of his voice, unable to fight the tantalizing effect he had on her. The fluttering in her stomach twisted into a ball of fire in her core, the flames licking dangerously low.

She had some ideas because his hesitation was making it harder for her to breathe. “Stone?” Why was he here?

“I won’t kiss you again,” he whispered huskily, “until you are mine.”

Swallowing, she nodded, chiding herself for the way her body responded so strongly to him. One minute her heart was aching, then as soon as he showed up, she relaxed. The tension departed and in its place was desire. Desire to be entwined in his arms, his lips on hers...

Her heart skipped a beat as she pushed images of her and Stone getting more physically intimate to the back of her mind.

She couldn’t think about him in that way yet. It was bad enough that she was getting more emotionally involved with Stone and while still being engaged to Dan. That, in itself, wracked her with guilt.

You still hardly know him, her conscience reminded her.

Pulling away from him, his scent continued to occupy her senses but was less intrusive. His breathing slowed with hers as she snuggled back into the bed. She watched him hesitate for a second before reaching out and brushing strands of hair from her face.

“Feel better now?” he asked softly.

She nodded, the movement sending more tingles up her spine as his fingers brushed against her scalp.

“Good.”

“Is it because of that bond thingy that makes everything feel so intense?”

In the dim light, she managed to make out the nod of his head.

“Why is that?”

“It just is.”

So helpful. Maybe Gwen could explain it better?

“What happens now?” she asked to break the silence that fell upon them.

“You will go to the police station to claim your belongings any time after nine o’clock. Gwen has the address. The car you drove was totaled so there will be some paperwork for you to sign. Then you will pick up Dan from the hospital when he gets discharged. What happens after that is up to you,” he said.

She nodded, a little surprised that he went ahead and took care of business regarding her car, not that she would have known what to do about it. One less thing for her to worry about. Good thing Dan still had his car in the underground parking lot.

“And you?” she asked.

“I have a few calls to make when I get home. Tune into the six o’clock news tonight, okay? I don’t want to alarm you but you need to stay informed about what’s going on.”

That didn’t sound ominous at all. “Um, okay?”

“We fear that...” He sighed. “We fear that the vampires will try and retaliate. Soon. We don’t know when. We don’t even know how bad things are going to get. I have to convince my connections in the government to use the media to our advantage to try and keep humans indoors and out of harm’s way at night. You will hear about gang wars taking place but that’s our cover.”

Aubree’s eyes widened and she pulled herself up from the bed. Her heart rate kicked up a notch as she covered her mouth with her hand. “Oh my god, are you serious?”

She thought he nodded again. “We can’t be too careful. I don’t know what Carina has planned but I am certain that she will try to form an army. She’s had it in for me since I killed Gerald. Adranus tipped her over the edge.”

What he said was beyond her cognition but she knew that she had to trust his judgment.

“If I could take Carina out now, I would,” he said. “However, I can’t replace her in the city. There are too many places for her to hide. And with all the rain we’re getting, all traces of vampires have been washed away.”

He sighed, a sound of exhaustion as Aubree chewed nervously on her bottom lip. She played a role in all this too, she knew. If she wasn’t Stone’s mate, she wouldn’t be a target.

“I should go.” He rose to his feet. “I only came to make you feel better.”

Bending down, his hands found her cheeks once more and he rubbed both of them with his thumbs, as if to make sure no more tears had fallen.

“Thank you,” she could barely muster as his thumbs continued their soft caresses.

He pulled away, his face unreadable in the shadows. “I am just a phone call away.”

She nodded, already missing his closeness as he went to the door and stepped out.

Damn, she was in deep.