“Wow. Wait…are we distantly related?”
“No. You’re of Italian descent, but I’m an Austrian. It’s something I looked into years ago, and that’s how I learned the story of my life and the fortune my family left me. My full name is Wilhelm Alaric von Jager. Now, my title is Lord Jager and you are Lady Jager. We have a large estate which produces enough crops and animals to feed the area and ourselves while funding our lives.”
“Speaking of food. Are you going to teach me how to hunt?”
“Of course, although, I’m certain I don’t need to, my sweet Allegra.”
On the way back from a productive hunt, I ask a question that’s been running in my head since he mentioned his past, “By the way, what happened to the guy who left you in the lurch?”
“Oh, as crooks do, he got caught up in other messes and pissed off some bad people. He was found killed with a gunshot wound in a river.”
“Yeah, so karma came for him.”
Chapter 10
Alaric
The setting of the sun on our third day of paradise marks the end of our trip. It’s time for us to return to Manchester to speak with her father and then go to my castle in Bucharest. They have a lot to work out. I owe Alessandro everything, but Allegra is my mate, and I have to take her feelings into this.
“Alaric, I know we’re going to see my father, but I want to ask you something first.” She rubs her hands together nervously looking away from me.
I press my thumb to her chin and lift her gaze to meet mine. I’m guessing that this has to do with her father. I kiss her forehead, then respond honestly, “Anything. I can’t lie to you.” She realized the other day that she can sense my emotions, too.
She bites the edge of her bottom lip before asking, “How was my father all this time? Was he living up the vampire life?”
I give out a little chuckle. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to laugh because it’s not funny, it’s sad. Your father from the time I met him talked about you sparingly, but he had the strangest need to follow you around. It took me a few months after my change to realize that he was your father. He was miserable and hated any time we lost track of you.”
“What if it was just because he knew I was the last hunter?” This is the shit that makes me want to kick his ass. I know it was hard for him to stay away, but the truth is hurting and confusing her.
I hold her close to me, snuggling on the small sofa near the fireplace. “My sweet Allegra, he wanted to tell you the truth for so long. It hurt him, shamed him that he had to pretend to be dead because he had become the hunted.”
“Have you ever bitten a human?”
“Only once,” I say, cupping her cheek and rubbing my thumb over her soft skin. “You are the only one. Your father taught me how to hunt and eat animals. Food doesn’t hurt us like they believe. It’s just not very sustaining. A lot of the nutrients are cooked out of human food. We need much more to have the speed and muscle move the way we do.”
She jumps off the sofa and moves to the window, and I follow, standing behind her. “Should I forgive him?”
“That’s an easy answer for me. I never had a family. Your father became mine that day he came to help me. For you it’s different.”
“Okay, I see your point. In all honesty, I don’t want to be angry with him. I want to put it aside and pretend it never happened, but mentally, I know that I shouldn’t.”
“You shouldn’t hold onto anger if it’s not true anger. You’re told that you should like red because of your black hair, but you hate it, right?”
“Yes,” she stammers out.
“Well if you can forgive him. Who’s to tell you that you’re wrong for it?” I ask wrapping my arms around her waist and gently resting my chin on her head.
“I suppose you have a point. Thank you, Alaric.”
“Hey, I’m here because of him. I wouldn’t be with you, so I owe him everything,” I whisper in her ear as I hold her close to me.
She turns around in my arms and looks into my eyes. It is only for a moment, and I feel deprived when she lowers them. “Well, my dear vampire, I love you, and therefore I suppose he has a good reason to be forgiven.”
I tip her chin up to look at me, and I incredulously ask, “You love me?”
She blushes and steps away from me, dashing to the other side of the cabin and leaning against the window pane. She looks up at me and says, “Yes, you seem surprised. I think I loved you as a teenager when you were still just a young man.”