Free PARANORMAL: Tamed By My Alpha Vampire (Vampire Billionaire Alpha Male Paranormal Romance) (BBW Multicultural Mail Order Bride Short Stories) by KELLY IRIS

gone. I know you don’t keep up with the news, but we’re at war. They’re taking everyone they can to the meat grinder, but I won’t be one of them. I have to disappear for a while, get off the grid, but I promise you I’ll come back. As soon as they lose my scent or this damn war ends, I’ll be back. Wait for me, baby. Love, Axel.”
    I looked down at the digitally handwritten note. It would have to do. I had to put as much distance between myself and this place as I could before they showed up to haul off all the men. I placed the tablet back on the surface of the fridge and walked back to the bedroom as quietly as I could.
    I stood over Jacob’s crib and gently touched his soft cheek before planting a kiss on his forehead. It could be years before I would be able to safely return. He would grow up without me, without his father. I had no other choice, unlike my deadbeat dad who walked out on us; I was trying to avoid him losing a father entirely.
    I turned and walked over to Jackie. She was sleeping peacefully. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever laid eyes upon. I wanted to stay and protect her, protect Jacob, but I couldn’t. They would haul me off like some criminal in a week and I would never see them again. I leaned down and kissed her on the cheeks.
    “I love you baby,” I whispered.
    She replied with a few soft sounds that barely resembled words. She was fast asleep. I reached over to the picture frame on our nightstand. It was both of us on our first date. I took her to the beach and we posed for that picture with the sun setting in the background. It was my favorite picture of us, I couldn’t leave it behind. I took the picture out delicately and placed it in my pocket.
    I fought back tears as I stood up and walked to the entrance of our apartment. I didn’t feel good about any of it. This wasn’t the right thing, but it was the only thing I could do. I walked out and closed the door behind me.
    Out in the parking lot was Jackie’s old station wagon. She had gotten it from her parents so the thing was ancient compared to the cars surrounding it from recent years. Parked next to it was my motorcycle. While it was also old and technically illegal because it used a combustion engine, it had class. A small gas can hung from the back of it as gas stations were few and far between.
    They didn’t do much to enforce the rules about combustion engines; otherwise Jackie and I would have been out of our vehicles a long time ago. People still drove them, and gas stations, albeit small ones, could still be found in the corners of small towns.
    I climbed onto the motorcycle and placed the keys into the ignition. This was it, the first day of the rest of my life. I turned the key and the engine roared. It barked and growled, nothing like the quiet and meek engines we used in modern cars. No, this was a thing of beauty. I slid my helmet on and drove off. I didn’t know where I was going. Anywhere but here I suppose

Chapter 3
     
    Jackie
     
    Y ou never think about the day the person you love leaves you, mostly because there’s such a large part of you that knows it will never happen. Maybe I was naive, but I believed Axel when he said he was going to stick around. I remember, when I first saw his digital note on the fridge, my knees went weak.
    I grabbed my phone and called him repeatedly, but he didn’t pick up. My first reaction was pure anger. He was being selfish; he left us behind so he wouldn’t have to join the military. Either way, he would have been taken from us, but if he was going to run, he could have at least taken us.
    Then there were nights where I finished a bottle of wine after Jacob went to sleep and I thought about how he had no choice. He promised to come back, after all. I didn’t know if I still loved him or hated him, honestly it depended on the time of day. One thing was certain though, I couldn’t raise Jacob alone. Axel had transferred everything he had into my bank account