Fondness for an Ancient Warrior

Fondness for an Ancient Warrior Part 9

Caius was still furious that Aro had attempted to change his mate before the deadline he had set had elapsed. Aro hadn't even consulted with him about any change in plans. Illyana had not mentioned the attack since then, and that actually worried Caius more than if she had been ranting about Aro's actions all morning. At least that would have been normal for her. The silence worried Caius she may have been traumatized. He said nothing to her, but watched her all the same.

After she had eaten a light breakfast, Illyana had dressed, and without a word to Caius, had gone out to the barn. She wanted to give Mystique a good brushing down while Pietro was at school.

Caius followed her to the barn and decided to tend to Monarch. He grabbed another brush, and entering Monarch's stall, began to brush down the horse he now considered his.

After too long a silence, Caius spoke. "Illyana, are you going to say nothing to me? Please, love, you never hesitate to tell me what's on your mind. Why aren't you saying anything now?" He hung a partially-filled bucket of oats on a hook of the stall wall and gave the large animal a pat.

Caius moved to Mystique's stall and hugged Illyana from behind, his arms slipping around her waist. He leaned closer, kissing her beneath her ear, then asked point blank, " Illyana, tell me what you're feeling. Aren't you upset at all? Aro deserves your righteous anger if nothing else."

Ok, so he wanted to talk about it. She did not. But this was Caius, the man whom she loved and wanted to spend her life with, whether that life was fourty years or four thousand years. If only she could more easily accept it being four thousand years, then this confrontation with Aro would not be an issue at all.

She turned around in his arms, and sat on the straw in the corner of Mystique's stall, pulling him down beside her. "Caius, I wasn't as angry at Aro about what he wanted to do. I could understand his point of view. Humans cannot know about vampires. He thought he was making it easy for you. What angered me was the fact the bastard was enjoying what he was doing to me too much. The more fearful I became or the harder I pushed at him, it just goaded him on, and he didn't seem to care the effect it was having on me." She squeezed his hand hard, the tension inside her increasing. "Caius, he licked my neck, and he was enjoying it! That wasn't part of turning me into a vampire." A shiver of disgust moved through her body at the memory.

Caius struggled to hold in his anger at Aro. Illyana was his mate, and it was his responsibility to change her, when the time came. Caius enjoyed tasting her during their love-making, but again, she was not Aro's to sample in any way. Master of the Volturi or not, he should not have even touched her without her permission. He knew Aro to have an invasive personality when it came to his gift, but this was beyond the pale.

"Do you want to go to Volterra and tell him off? I'll drive." He raised a brow at her, giving her a small smile, hoping she would smile back at him. When she didn't, Caius leaned over and kissed her, his hand caressing her smooth cheek. "La mia piccola tigre."

Illyana couldn't help smiling when Caius called her his little tigress. She felt her getting angry at Aro to his face would mean nothing to him. And if he dared give her one of his condescending smiles she was ranting at him, Caius would have to hold her back physically. "No, I don't want to waste my time. He'll just find some way to turn this around on me. Frail little human who can't stomach the change. Gahhh...I just want to punch the bastard's smug face."

"If you tried, you could injure your hand. I wouldn't recommend it," Caius warned her.

"Can we go somewhere, far away from here, love? Just leave Italy for a while. I'm sure Pietro would watch the farm for us."

"Illyana, If you think to run from Aro, it won't work."

"What do you mean?" she asked. The more she knew about the Volturi, the better defense she might have to use against them, should it come to that.