Blood Mates

The Bridge

Alaia hated being picked up like she was five. But as she walked to her car, she turned one last time and watched Jasper get into his truck with his friends. Smiling a little, Alaia got into the black town car and as she settled on the leather seat she glanced to her left.

“Evening Stolvic.” Erik Stolvic was her father’s most trusted advisor. Another of their kind, he stayed a town over and kept tabs on things for her father.

“Evening young miss,” The Ukrainian man greeted in his thick accent. “Why did my father send you today? Stolas would have been just fine.” Stolas, another guard who lurked around protecting them usually had the privilege of fetching her.

Stolvic looked at his boss’s daughter and smiled a little, “Well sorry to disturb the routine, but I like my job. I’d rather not be fired for defying my boss the simple task of collecting his daughter.”

Alaia inhaled and fought annoyance, “Right.” When they got to their new home, Alaia could see the final touches on the renovations were done and their house was clear from mortals.

The gates slammed closed behind the car the moment it was in the driveway. Two shadows immediately skirted around following its arrival, looking to see if there was any danger.

Alaia walked into her house and found herself enchanted as usual. The entrance to the house was grand, you could see the hall leading to the kitchen, and the hall going down to the basement.

Walking up the master staircase, Alaia started to climb the stairs to her room when her brother appeared suddenly beside her. “Dad wants to see you.” Alaia nodded and followed her brother, “What’s going on?” Loren shrugged as he gave her a one-armed hug, “No clue.”

When they got into her father’s study, they found him talking to their mother in hushed voices. Loren’s mate, Haven, was there already waiting and after joining his mate, Eric Knight began to speak.

“Family. We’ve officially settled into our new home. So, I wanted to touch base with you all.”

In that same moment, Jasper jumped into the freezing cold lake and groaned happily as he swam around. AJ and Stella both watched him mortified shouting how he was going to get sick. But Jasper just laughed and taunted, “Wussies!”

And as he swam deeper in the water, Eric Knight looked at his wife, “We want to try to stay here as long as possible. Traveling too much is going to make us noticeable. So, we’re hoping, the rest of this year if possible?”

Looking at Loren and Haven, Eric told them, “I know you two are going to the college in the town over. So, you two won’t be seen that much, so it shouldn’t be any issues there.”

And then eyes were on Alaia, making her wilt in guilt as her dad asked, “Alaia, can you control your thirst? If not tell me now.” Alaia met her dad’s eye and confidently told him, “I can.”

Eric nodded and turned his back to them as he looked out his window, “So far we’ve gotten a warm welcome. They’ll start to expect us out more and more so we’re going to all have to make efforts with someone.”  

Suddenly Eric’s brother appeared, belching, the hundred-year-old vampire wiped his chin of blood as he grumbled, “Do I gotta do it too?” Eric frowned at his little brother annoyed, “Yes Desmond, you have to do it too.”

As Jasper climbed out of the water, got dried off, and curled up in sweats, a hoodie, and a blanket with a battery heater. AJ set up the projector as Stella hooked up the laptop.

Ten minutes later they were watching a scary movie as Eric faced his family with the task at hand, “We need a family who can show we’re good people who just like privacy. Someone who’ll become an alley to the family while we’re here.”

Eric smirked as he directly told his daughter, “I understand you made friends with the boy whose father renovated our house?” Alaia slowly nodded and Eric clapped his hands gratefully, “Excellent, then you’ll invite them to dinner then.”

Alaia looked at her dad surprised as her mom stood, “You’ll be the bridge sweetie.” Sophia told her carefully, “The rest of us don’t have ties like you do. And the women here,” Sophia’s face scrunched up, “Well let’s just say I’ll be sleeping during the day.”

Alaia swallowed hard in fear as she thought of lies to tell.  She wanted to help her family, but if things went wrong, she could be setting Jasper and his father up for being hurt. Or worse…

But as Alaia thought turbulent thoughts, Eric put a hand on her shoulder gently, “Sweetie, your friend won’t come to harm here. We just need help fitting into our new town.”

Alaia nodded quickly not wanting to disappoint him, “I’ll do it tomorrow. I just need to find out where he’ll be.”

Eric snorted as he sat down at his desk, “He’s a small-town boy, in a small town, and tomorrow’s Saturday. I think you should wait until Sunday.” Alaia face scrunched up in confusion, “Why?”

Laughing, Eric reminded her, “Because then he’s going to be with the rest of the town doing what small towns do best,” Pointing to the ceiling Eric told her, “Praying.”