Big Thank you to Once Bitten, NotSoSweet, CarlyJo and Dark Fairy79 for the great reviews!! It was so great to hear from you. :) And Happy New Year everyone. I am sorry this was late... again. :( I hope you like it...

...She felt like she was screaming in the dark, no one understood...

...No one was listening...

Chapter Twenty Six

Nicholas looked longingly at Nya's slim back as she slept facing away from him. They hadn't spoken about her mother's arrival, and subsequent stay in the ranch, but he knew it was all Nya had been considering recently.

Even though he had sworn to respect her privacy, he couldn't bare being apart from her mentally. He couldn't even envision how human couples could manage it. To be unable to hear the unspoken thoughts and feelings that were never said aloud but made a person unique. He couldn't bare to miss any of them, especially when he could see pain in her eyes and wasn't able to share every moment with her.

Sighing he ran his finger tip lightly down her exposed back, feeling her delicate spine beneath her tanned, golden skin. He wished she would speak to him about her thoughts, and he didn't have to creep into her mind.

They weren't exactly fighting, ever since Nya had slapped him outside the bedroom door they had left the subject of her mother completely, even though she was now sleeping in the cottage, Violet used to stay in. Nicholas hadn't been physically hurt by the slap, it was the pain he saw in her eyes, and the fact that he had done something to cause his lifemate to want to strike him in pain and anger. His stomach clenched and his lungs felt empty as he remembered the touch of her skin against his.

Nicholas in all honesty had no idea what to do.

He had no previous experience of caring for a woman or for that matter, making her happy when she was sad and hurting. So ever since Nya had invited him back into the room, he had relied on his instincts and listened to the beast.

Although his first instinct was to remove the threat to Nya's happiness, he knew that killing her mother wouldn't solve the problem, so instead he listened to the other cravings. He kept Nya safe. In his bed most of the time.

Even though they didn't talk, he kept her warm, piling the bed with more and more blankets. He knew Nya could control her own body temperature as a Carpathian, but a part of him needed to create a place for her to hide and feel secure. It was an insane impulse, but one he didn't doubt. He would pull her to him as she slept and feed her.

But mostly, he kept her safe.

He didn't delve into her mind too often, he tried to restrict himself, but he couldn't bare her tears. He would only delve into her mind, making them one, when she cried.

He shared her torments with her and held her. Then he would tuck her under one of the million blankets and lie by her side. He knew she wanted to be alone, and since he couldn't bare to be parted from her, he tried to break himself of the desire to have her sleeping curled against him. He had become accustomed to her form beside his, he craved her safe beside him, her breath feathering over his chest. But he knew she needed to be alone with her thoughts.

They had been like this for two risings. Never talking to one another, just lying side by side, as Nya went over her memories and slowly overcame them. At least, he hoped that was what she was doing; Nicholas wasn't sure how much more of Nya's pain he could take.

His finger travelled once more up the length of her spine, before she sat up abruptly. Nicholas hand reluctantly became a fist as he pulled his hand back and just watched her as she pushed her hair away from her face. He wished he could see her, but all he could see was the creamy expanse of her back and hips. Her eyes were out of his sight. And that pained him more than any physical injury could.

He watched in agony as she slipped out of their bed and walked naked into the bathroom. He cursed his body as his blood burned at the sight of her. He turned his head to stare at the ceiling as he tried to quieten the beast and blood pounding in his ears. He didn't want to think of his needs when she was so distraught, it pained him that his body was so treacherous. But he couldn't control his impulses. He wasn't just a man, and Nya wasn't just his lover. She was his one, he burned for her, and would burn for her, for all eternity.

He heard the bathroom door click shut seconds before the shower was turned on. He swore he could picture her in there with the water cascading over her skin... Nicholas moaned as the image of Nya in the swimming pool rushed over him and knew it was time to go for a run... a long long run.

Nya stood beneath the warm jets of water and for the first time in two days since her mother's arrival, she felt herself.

The last two days had been a chaotic mix of tissues and tantrums, and she still wasn't sure why Nicholas hadn't gotten annoyed with her. Standing in the shower, she remembered when she had been crying silently in the night, he had held her so tightly, she had stopped crying simply because she could no longer breathe. The gentle way Nicholas had spread kisses over her hair, before he had pulled back and simply laid beside her. She had felt so guilty that she had been unable to tell him how much that had meant to her. No one else had ever held her as she had cried.

She hadn't even spoken to him.

Nya sighed to herself, she wasn't going to lie around like this forever, and it definitely wasn't her style. The two day 'cry-fest' had gotten everything out, she had relived every painful experience, and after crying for the pain of it all, she had woke today feeling more alive than she had before. Fresh and ready to start again.

She wasn't past her childhood, but she wasn't going to dwell on it another second. Two days of finally facing it, was more time than she wanted to spend on something painful, she wanted to focus only on the future. And right now her future was a bundle of sexual torment in the other room.

Stepping out of the shower, Nya shivered at the cold air against her warm skin, as she wrapped herself in a large white towel. First she should sort things out with Nicholas. Thank him for helping her through the last few days. Then she would go and tackle her mother.

Walking into the bedroom, Nya was surprised to find Nicholas gone. All that remained in their bed was a single red rose. Nya bit at her bottom lip as she tried to imagine the conversation she would have with her mother. At the moment, all she had was an awkward "Hi".

Nya truly dreaded the conversation. She knew too well, how often her mouth was separate from her brain...

Nya crossed over the grass as she walked towards the cottage. The heat of the day was still present in the air, and for the first time in forever it seemed, she wore her own clothes and not one of Nicholas's shirts. Nya walked, even though her legs began to feel more and more like jelly.

Just walk in, hear what she has to shout at you, and leave...

She probably wants money for something...

A thousand different reasons for her mother staying here were running through her mind. None were that she actually wanted to see her only daughter. Nya could almost laugh bitterly at that. No that wouldn't be the reason. She loved her mother, but she had learnt the painful lesson many years ago that her mother did not share that same love.

Nya stood before the cottage door, and breathed in deeply. This is it...

Your mother is on the other side of that door...

Nya clenched her fists, and breathed deeply again. How could it be this hard?

Her hand unclenched as she stretch forward for the door handle. Turning the door knob, she entered the small cottage...

Nya wasn't sure if she was happy or sad to find her mother not inside.

Nya had never been in the cottage but as she looked around she realised fully why her mother was here. The cottage was beautiful, and far larger and cleaner than the hovel her mother was used to. Nya was sure she could fit her apartment in town and her family home in just the living area of the cottage. The place was huge. The furniture looked antique and expensive, and Nya cringed at the thought of how much of it would be missing when her mother moved on. But at least Nya now knew the full reason for her mother's visit.

It must have been a dream come true, when Nicholas De La Cruz had turned up at her home. Nya gasped at the realisation that Nicholas would have seen where she had grown up.

Tears flooded her eyes, and a blush covered her cheeks at the thought of Nicholas knowing the full extent of her past. She was embarrassed and ashamed at the same time. Embarrassed that Nicholas knew about her past, and had seen it first hand, and ashamed that this bothered her.

She wasn't the type of person who was ashamed of herself or her past.

She was a strong person.

Nya thought over that statement, she wasn't being herself with this entire situation. The crying in bed for two days was unnatural for her. The embarrassment. None of it was her style.

Nya walked out of the cottage, careful to close the door behind her, as she walked back to the ranch. Why was she acting so out of character?

Maybe it was the joint surprise of meeting and then killing her father, and then her alcoholic mother's sudden reappearance. And if that wasn't enough to send a girl a little mad, the fact she was now a vampire could top off that cake.

Nya breathed in the night air, and caught the scent of something she had long since forgotten. Cup cakes! Nya smiled, it had been so long since she had smelt food. Although it made her feel quite queasy, the smell brought back memories. Not good ones, but memories just the same. She had baked cup cakes at school once, when her and her mother had still been in America. She remembered clearly the mess they had made on the living room wall, where her mother had thrown them, when Nya had shown her baking.

Walking over to the open door, Nya watched as a young girl rushed around the kitchen. A small white apron around her waist, flapped around her skirt, as she ran back and forth between the kitchen counter and the fridge. An assortment of ingredients littered the side, and by the looks of things, the young girl was planning to feed an army. Nya looked over to the oven and saw some cupcakes browning nicely. A little too nicely.

Nya frowned slightly as she saw how brown they were becoming. They would burn soon...

"Hi" Nya spoke as she stepped into the kitchen, her eye on the oven. "I'm Nya. Do you want me to get those for you?" She pointed towards the cupcakes, and after learning the girls name was Ginny, Nya smiled and got the cupcakes out of the oven.

"How do they look?" Nya glanced down at the baking tray in her hands. If she was honest, they looked burnt on the outside, but she would bet her last dollar they were uncooked in the middle. The oven must be too high, she thought, as she placed the tray down on the side.

"They look great" She smiled at Ginny.

"Good. Colby said she would help me, but her cooking..." Nya grinned mischievously as she watched Ginny look both ways before continuing "it's not that good. She burns everything." Ginny scrunched up her nose with a look of disgust that got Nya laughing.

"So I got someone else to help me" Nya had the mental image of Zacarias or Rafael cooking in an apron and grinned at Ginny.

"I can't imagine Rafael in an apron"

Ginny laughed and shook her head. "No, Adrienne"

Nya froze.

Adrienne. Her mother?

Her mother was baking.

Nya didn't even notice the way Ginny was looking at her. And couldn't hear her, when she asked if she was OK. All she could see was her baking getting thrown, when her mother was here baking with someone else.

It touched a nerve Nya hadn't released was still there. And before Nya could leave, her mother walked into the kitchen. Smiling.

Nya couldn't believe it. Her mother was smiling.

She looked so much younger, like she used to look in the photos Nya had seen.

Her mother stopped smiling as soon as she saw Nya.

Typical...

"Nya" Her mother's voice was a mere whisper of sound, but it shattered Nya completely. Nya's nails dug into the counter top to keep from running. Or worse, cry again in front of her mother.

"What are you doing here?" Nya wasn't sure if she was asking about the cooking, or her mother's visit but the question was out before she could censure it. But then controlling what she said was never her forte.

"I was helping Ginny with baking. Wasn't I, petal?" Nya watched as her mother smiled at Ginny, and played with one of Ginny's curls. And Nya was speaking long before her brain had kicked in.

"Petal? Petal?! What about me? When did you bake with me?"

Nya was horrified that she had spoken those words, and worse that she had screamed them across a kitchen with people to hear them.

"Nya... I ... Please stay here, bake with us"

"This isn't about the baking!" Nya shouted so loud she was sure her voice would be horse the next time she tried to use it. She turned away from her mother and bracing herself on the counter behind her, and looked out of the window.

"Nya, I know I wasn't a very good mother to you. But understand I was under the influence of... of something dark. I can't understand it. Every time I tried to reach out for you, it poisoned me against you, against myself."

"Understand? You try to understand what it was like for me! I had no childhood, no mother!"

"Listen to what I am trying to tell you, Nya!"

"No!" Nya spun around and pointed at her mother "You listen! I am trying to rebuild my life, I am happy here. If you take anything from that cottage, from this family I will never forgive you. I have no idea why your here. I love you mum, but I can't handle any of this anymore!"

"Handle what anymore?"

Nya laughed bitterly. She felt like she was screaming in the dark, no one understood. No one was listening.

"The drinking. The insults. The drugs. None of it!"

"Nya, it's over now. Nicholas healed me. He took the darkness away" Nya could see the belief in her mother's crystal blue eyes. She looked so hopeful.

"It's not over for me" Nya whispered, her throat felt tight with her emotions. She was praying she wouldn't cry.

"We can talk... try to make this work..."

Nya shook her head at her mother. "You won't even say you're sorry will you? You never would. Not when you hit me, or left me at the supermarket. Not when you forgot to feed me. Spat at me, and my friends. Was sick over the headmasters car-"

"Stop! I know" Adrienne had her head in her hands.

"You don't know. Mum, I understand there was a darkness hanging over you. But you had to have let it in. It doesn't take hold that easily. If this was my daughter, I would fight the devil himself before I put her through what you put me through. Never would I give in to it. The whispers and poison. Never!"

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry" Her mother whispered the words, as she pulled her hands down from her face.

The tears in her eyes were real and seemed genuine.

But Nya had seen it all before.

But in her heart Nya knew she would fall for it again. This was her mother.

She would always believe in her, even though she knew every single time she would be disappointed. Again and again.

Before Nya could stop herself she was holding her mum. Letting her cry on her shoulder. It was more than her mother had ever done to her. But then, two wrongs don't make a right.

"I will make it better I promise you, Petal" Nya closed her eyes and hoped those words, where true.

"How is Nya?" Nicholas turned and looked at Rafael standing in the study doorway, his arms braced on either side.

Closing the book he was flicking through and replacing it on the shelf as he sighed. "I don't know"

His whisper was a whispered confession. He hated to admit that he had no idea how his own lifemate was. He hated that he had granted Nya the time to deal with this herself. Even as he spoke the words he could feel the pain burning within her.

"She will be OK, Nicholas. She just needs time. She needs to find closure with her mother"

Nicholas nodded, the rational side of him agreeing, while the other side of him was busy planning possibly ways to get rid of Adrienne. "Did I do the right thing?"

"Questioning yourself, brother?"

Always, Nicholas thought to himself. He wasn't like his other brothers; he had no natural talent with women. His brothers had made it look so easy. Nicholas sighed. It was not easy!

"My intentions were to make Nya happy, and yet all it has ultimately done is cause her pain"

"Currently it is causing her pain, but ultimately, she will be happy. She needs this. Colby thinks so."

Nicholas looked over at his brother "Colby think so?"

"Its all she has been talking about" Rafael sighed as if to emphasis just how often Colby had been talking about it "She cares a lot for Nya. She is our family now. She doesn't want her hurt, but she knows she needs to face this, one way or another"

Nicholas nodded, before a flustered Ginny came skidding into the study. Nicholas and Rafael both raised eyebrows at the state of Ginny, there was flour coating the girl from head to toe.

"Nicholas. Nya and Adrienne are fighting in the kitchen" Ginny was out of breath as she spoke to Nicholas. Her words rushed.

Nicholas jumped out of his chair and became mist instantly. He travelled over the house, and moved into the kitchen. He saw Nya shouting. Her nails dug into the table, and his soul crumbled. He had been the cause of this anguish. He had been a fool.

How could this ever become right?

Nicholas watched as Nya and her mother's awkward hug came to an end. It wasn't awkward on Adrienne's side, she seemed genuinely embracing her daughter. It was Nya who was holding back, unsure of her emotions. And it was Nya that Nicholas was concerned with.

Nya smiled shyly at her mother before excusing herself from the kitchen, Nicholas followed her mentally through the lobby and once she had started up the stairs he materialised in the corner behind Adrienne.

He starred at Nya's mother and knew she had to leave. He had made a grave mistake bringing her here. One he knew he had to rectify.

"Adrienne, I think it would be better if you leave" His voice was loud and unexpected in the room, but Adrienne wasn't startled by the voice. She didn't even turn around to look at him.

"I know what you are, Nicholas De La Cruz. And I see now what you have done to my baby" Adrienne's words were cold, but her voice was full of emotion. Fear and anger mostly.

Delving into her mind, he saw that she knew what he was. A Carpathian. But the vision she had in her mind was of a monster. A monster who had seduced her daughter into his world.

"I am married to your daughter. She is my world. Never worry for her well being, I have placed it above all others. She will be protected always."

"I don't believe you" Adrienne turned to Nicholas with pure determination in her eyes. "I haven't been there for my daughter, but I won't let anyone destroy her like I was. You won't corrupt her. Not as long as I am breathing"

Nicholas admired her courage and her want to protect Nya. Even as the beast raised its head, at the threat to separate him and Nya. Nicholas held back the instinct to smile like the predator he was. A quick flash of deadly fangs and blood red eyes. But he held back the instinct, and remain motionless on the kitchen tiles. A statue of calm, when the beast was sharpening its claws and eyeing the woman's jugular.

"I would never change Nya. I would never destroy her or corrupt her. You have my word." Nicholas stepped closer to Adrienne and noticed the flicker of fear cross her crystal blue eyes. She did fear him. Even though part of him roared with delight, part of him disliked the thought of her being afraid of him, when he would give his life to save hers. "Adrienne. You need to leave"

He didn't add any embellishments, he stated the obvious. She was the cause of Nya's pain. He could no longer stand this woman's presence in their home.

"No..." Adrienne's eyes lost all fear and tears swam in her depths. "Listen..." She licked her lips nervously before continuing "I know me and Nya haven't had the best start. But I will try. We agreed a moment ago that I could try. Please Nicholas..." Her hands clasped together, her fingers entwined as she begged "Please let me try."

Thank you for reading :) I hope you liked it. Please leave a review... :)

Take care... x x x