Free Darkness Falls by A.C. Warneke Page A

eyes darting to Jack. He still loved her, she could see it in his eyes that also burned with guilt and remorse and fear.
    “Feryn will be furious.”
    “He’s already furious,” she muttered. “But there’s no reason to tell him anything just yet. I’ll talk to him once I’ve figured a few things out.”
    “Malorie.” Jiro’s tone was low in warning as he placed his broad palm over her stomach.
    Putting her hands over his, she gave him a watery smile, “It’s not like there’s anything he can do, Jiro. He wouldn’t risk losing his child.”
    Jack’s pain filled gasp echoed in the room and when Malorie looked at him he looked like a man who had just seen the end of the world and he was the only one left standing. His eyes dropped to her stomach before he turned around and stalked out of the bedroom, anger and despair chasing after him.
    She looked up and met Jiro’s amused expression, which only made her frown, “I don’t want to hear a word from you.” When he opened his mouth, she slammed a hand over it and shushed him, “Not a word.”
    He shook his head even as his eyes sparkled with dark amusement.
     

     
    In the kitchen long before anyone else had gotten out of bed, Malorie screwed up seven batches of pancake batter before she managed to make a dozen nearly edible pancakes. After Jack had stormed out of her room and presumably found a place to sleep, Jiro also vanished back to wherever he came and she was left alone with her thoughts and Feryn’s memories. They were all jumbled up in there and it was strange and wonderful and terrifying.
    Feryn was ancient and he hadn’t always been the man she fell in love with. He had seen things, done things, that she couldn’t even begin to fathom and it made her nervous because he had been with countless women, he had disdained humans, he had created vampires, and his experiences were all up in her head. She was pregnant with his child and she had barely scratched the surface of his life and she was afraid of what else she’d learn.
    “Mommy!” Toby’s sweet little voice called out as she set the last of four plates on the table. She had no idea if either Jiro or Jack was planning on eating with them but she was going to be prepared just in case.
    Kneeling down, she held out her arms and was nearly bowled over as Toby threw himself at her, hugging her with all of his might. “Hey, baby. Did you sleep well last night?”
    “Yes,” he grinned and she had to catch her breath because there was no dark cloud hanging over his head any more. It was as if he was finally being given the chance to be a child and the awareness of how much he had blossomed these past weeks made emotion well up in her chest. She wanted to hold onto him and keep him in this moment so that he never had to know such darkness again. But he was a six-year-old boy and he soon squiggled out of her arms and climbed up onto the chair. “We’re having pancakes for breakfast? Awesome.”
    She chuckled as she put a few onto his plate and let him pour the syrup while she kept an ear open for any sound that might indicate her dead husband or her mate’s brother were about to join them. Sitting down next to Toby, she cleared her throat. “Um, we’re going to be taking a trip with Uncle Jiro.”
    Putting the fork down with the bite of pancake he was about to take, he stilled and looked at her. The lightness that had been there just moments before was already fading as he solemnly asked, “Where are we going?”
    “New York,” she said with forced cheer, hoping her smile didn’t look like a grimace. “I’m hoping to track down your grandpa and that’s his last known location so that’s where we’re going to start.”
    “Okay,” he nodded, picking up his fork and slowly bringing it up to his mouth. As he chewed, his expression was thoughtful as he watched her with those big brown eyes, eyes that were so similar to Jack’s. God, was she doing the right thing in dragging him all over