The Rebel Queen (Outlaw 1)

I wondered if my dad would be waiting for me. I hoped so. I hoped he would be holding open that door he’d spoken of.

I even tried to call Oliver Day to me. I hadn’t seen my so-called guardian angel in a while. I supposed he was out of practice when it came to me. My life had been boring the last several years.

Good. It had been good. I’d gotten to raise my babies for eleven years, and now I was so grateful for every single one of them. For every day. For every stinky diaper and mess I’d cleaned up. For every breakfast we’d had and dinner where we’d sat around the table. I was grateful for sleepless nights and soccer games.

I was grateful that they would be okay.

I don’t know how long I sat there. I seemed to float on memory until I finally felt his hand move against mine.

He took his first breath as the day died—as the night began.

My son reborn.

He would be magnificent, and I wished I could see him when his father took him through his turn.

Lee’s chest moved, and his hand slid from mine.

“What happened? Goddess, that’s a lot… Okay that’s weird.” Lee turned over and got to his knees, his hand sliding the eye patch off his face. “Wow. Peripheral vision, how I missed you.” He sat back, a look of wonder on his face as he stared at me. “Momma, you are so beautiful.”

I glowed for him now. He could see something I could not. I reached out and cupped his cheeks. “Your scars are gone.”

We might have a minute or two before the blood lust kicked in. I wanted to stop time and stay right here. We could stay in this moment forever.

“I know this light.” He reached out as though he could touch the glow that surrounded us.

It was already starting. He wouldn’t be able to help himself. This was why it was dangerous to be a companion. “Sweetie, I need you to know that whatever happens, it’s okay. I love you. I will love you no matter what. I need you to listen to me. When I’m gone, you’re going to have to run.”

“Where are you going?”

“Don’t joke. We don’t have much time.”

He frowned and then he was the one touching my face, his thumbs brushing away my tears. “Momma, don’t cry. Don’t be afraid of me.”

I wasn’t. I was. I didn’t know what I was. “You have to get out of the building for your dads to find you.”

“We’re meeting Uncle Neil, and then we’ll go home to Frelsi. It’s going to be okay. I’m sorry I scared you like that. But I’m good now.”

I watched him carefully. “You don’t feel it? You’re going to lose control soon.”

He seemed to think about that for a moment. “No. I’m not. Though I really do need to eat.”

I took a long breath. “Lee, I’m here for you. When it happens and you can’t resist the light, it’s okay.”

He stood, his hands on his hips. He was covered in blood, and I didn’t know if he realized it but his fangs were out and they were huge. “Are you telling me it’s okay to eat you?”

I looked up at him. “You won’t be able to help yourself. No new vampire can resist the light.”

“This light?” He took a long breath as though he could smell the light around him, sense it, feel it on his skin. “I was born in this light. It’s funny. I grew up feeling it but I didn’t realize what it was. I thought it was affection, love, and it is, but it’s the light, too. I was raised in this light, Momma. I would never dishonor it. And that hunger I should have is there, but I’m certainly not going to kill my mom. Do you have any idea what that would do to my psyche?”

I managed to get to my feet. I had no idea what was happening. “Are you all right?”

“He’s fine, Your Highness.”

I practically screamed as that deep voice spoke and I turned. Lee stepped in front of me but then I realized who it was.

Grayson Sloane stood in the living room dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, his dark hair curling slightly at the base of his head. The dark prophet looked like any guy walking the streets of Dallas below us with the exception of his pitch black eyes. It let me know he was here in a fully professional capacity.

“How did you get in?” Panic threatened to take over. “Did the wards fail?”

“The wards can’t keep a prophet out,” Gray explained. “You know we watch history’s more interesting moments. This particular moment was one of my first prophecies.”

I frowned and managed to move around my son who might not have to drain me since now Gray was here and hopefully he still had some blood. Lee could eat him instead. “Yeah, I remember some of those. A freaking trick and a trap? You could have mentioned I would lose twelve years.”