Chapter 7 BPOV

I couldn't believe this was happening. It had been nearly two years since the whole coven left, and now is when that was gonna come back and bite me in the ass like this? I knew Victoria was still an issue, but I didn't know the rest of that. Not sure I wanted to know the rest of that.

It was when Peter asked if I had any questions that my eyes snapped up from the floor to look at him. I took another moment before I tried to talk through my tight throat, but I got the words out as I nodded. "Why are you offering me all of this?"

A small smile finally came to his lips, and his own voice softened. "That's the answer to ya previous question I told ya you would need to come to on ya own, but I'll tell ya this... I don't think you ready ta die. Didn't think it then, still don't think so now."

Crossing my arms and dropping my eyes again, they spotted a light stain on the rug. I wasn't sure what to say here, so I started with the first thing that came to mind. "I don't want to die. I don't deserve to." I looked back up at him, but his head was tilted to the side. "I didn't do anything wrong, Peter, they did."

He nodded slowly as he pushed himself up from his leaning position and made his way back across the space. "I know it. They know it, too. So does Aro, which is why he let me step in the way I did."

I looked at him as he took a seat where I had been sitting. "But why? You don't know me... or at least I don't know you."

It was like a flip was switched. He grinned at me again, just like he had before we came in his office. "Sure ya do. You was just a wee little thing then, though; maybe four. You wandered away from ya mama and got yaself lost. I found ya hiding under some bushes, cryin' somethin' awful. You was so worked up, ya couldn't remember where ya came from, or where you was even tryin' ta go for that matter. Gotcha calmed down, and gotcha home. We sat on the steps waitin' for ya mama to get back, cause she was out lookin' for ya."

A felt a frown pull at the corner of my lips as I thought back, then I blinked when the memory surfaced. "I remember that." Looking back at him, a huffed snort came out. "I made you play jacks with me."

He nodded as he leaned back in his chair. "I knew then I was gonna be seein' ya again, and I knew it was gonna be for some fucked up reason. Didn't know it was gonna be because my kind, though. If I had, I prolly woulda kept an eye on ya to stop this shit before it started. You was a doll, more afraid of whatcha mama was gonna do than anythin' else."

I bit the corner of my lip as I thought about that, cocking my head when I spoke again. "So, you're putting your life on the line because of an hour spent playing jacks that happened over fifteen years ago?"

He slowly shook his head, his own eyes seeming to go distant, his voice changing. "Naw, Darlin'. It ain't cause a the game. It's cause a you. You was the first person in over a hundred and twenty years that looked at me without fear. You was scared, and you came right to me. Sixteen years later, you all grown up, scared, and again, came right to me." He chuckled as a smirk pulled at his lips. "Slightly different set a circumstances, though."

I snorted. He could say that again. Still, I scratched my arm, unable to help being a smartass to try and lighten the mood a little bit. "Wanna go sit outside and play jacks while we wait for whoever wants me dead to show up?"

There was a deep, rumbling chuckle in his throat as he stood up. Peter then took a step to the side so he was standing right in front of me, setting his hand on the top of his desk, and trapping me between his arms. He was so close I could feel the coolness of his skin and smell his scent. It was a combination of sawdust and tobacco. It was certainly the scent of a man, and it made my head swim slightly.

He bent at the waist so he was eye level with me, a glint in his ruby orbs that made my heart stutter. I saw his smirk widen and his tongue glide across his teeth. "The only way to you is through me, Little Sugar. You was young, so you don't remember... but I do. I promised ya I wouldn't let anythin' happen to ya, and I always keep my promises. This time shit slightly more complicated than ya gettin' lost after dark, but on my life I'ma get ya through this with your heartbeat intact. I swear it."

With a sigh, I turned away, looking off to the side. After a moment, I shook my head. "What's the point? Demetri said..."

I was cut off by the feel of his icy skin against mine. I hadn't felt vampire flesh since Edward left, so it kinda startled me when his crooked a finger under my chin, silencing me as he turned my head back to look at him. There was a level of seriousness I have never seen before in eyes. Even though his voice was quiet, it held the same kind of emotion. "The point is you wanna keep it, and until you say otherwise, that's what's gonna happen. Yeah, Demetri is one hella tracker, but his ability don't work on me because my mind don't work the way a normal mind works. He can't do his little mind meld shit he do with others with me. He only know where we are 'cause I told 'im. We leave here, he ain't ever gonna find us if I don't let 'im. I told you, you safe here with me."

In his eyes, I could see the truth of his words, but I've been told that before when it wasn't true. So, with another sigh, I licked my lips. "I guess we'll see."