Once Bitten

by Tina Glasneck

  Enough with the games.

  To get a different outcome, I needed to do something different.

  “What are the rules of magic here?”

  “There is one main rule we must always follow: this supernatural world is to remain a secret. We are unable to share it with anyone. Listen, Leslie, you have many questions, but first, you must sleep. Accept this gift which I can give you, a gift of peace.”

  “I don't want peace. I want answers.”

  “Tomorrow, the sun will reveal all. Until then, you must understand that there is much you don't know and will learn soon enough. Not from the mouths of others, but from experience. When you rise again, your questions will be answered.”

  “And why can't you tell me now?”

  “Because dawn is on the horizon, and I, too, must sleep.” He rose and paused at my seat. He went to walk by me, and I felt the slightest of shivers move through me as if a puff of energy had left his body to crash into my own.

  How was this possible?

  “Since you are my mate, what am I to call you? What’s in a name, my dear? Everything. For the true name of the dragon has the power to bring it to your feet.” He walked me back to my room, in silence. No one stopped us. No guards were stationed outside of my room. But whatever this was between us, a part of me wanted it to grow. I turned the doorknob and opened it.

  Alistair leaned in close and whispered his name for me into my ear, his breath warm on my cheek. His skin smelled of the forest. So close, I stared into those golden eyes and felt the magic and thrill of him being near. I unceremoniously bit my lip, leaned forward, and placed a chaste kiss on his cheek. Maybe this could work out…

  “When you are ready, then we shall see where this is allowed to go.” Alistair stepped back, bowed his head, and turned around. I watched him leave, and after a while, he glanced back. That was a good omen, indeed.

  “He's your eternity.” Gran suddenly appeared at my side.

  “Have you been waiting to pop out to come say something?”

  “Well, I’ve been waiting. I will never understand you, girl, or why you didn’t let him swipe everything off that table and show you what the gods made him with. Mm.”

  “Gran! You grew up during a very repressed time. How is it that all you talk about is my shagging this guy?”

  “Didn’t you just answer your question? Plus, between all of the hot and heavy looks, I’m just happy I didn’t walk into a room smelling of sperm. It must be hard to get out of a dining room tablecloth, I’m guessing. I don’t know how dragon sperm is—if it would be more human than beast.”

  I stuck my fingers in my ear. The last thing I was going to consider was my gran’s biology lesson on Alistair.

  “He’s all man, Gran.”

  I didn’t know about love, but interest was building, and although I wasn't usually that type of girl, the more I laid eyes on him, the more I wondered if I could become her after all. This place, this man, the secrets—all offered and rolled out on a red carpet.

  “Well, if that’s the case, you’ve already ridden the dragon. Now, you need to find a way to ride that man. It is the cost of your survival, dear. It’s time to screw the pooch, and I’m going to show you how!”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Alistair

  “I’m surprised you just let her walk away.” Killian sat stirring the fire with a poker.

  Alistair entered the library and barely closed the door before Killian began his talk. “Is this when you give me that brother-to-brother talk about how I’m to woo this woman?” Alistair asked. “I think you gave enough pointers while I was on the boat.”

  “I didn’t think you were a wooer?”

  “I’m not, but I have to make sure that she fits here.”

  “That’s the least of your concerns.”

  “My job is to—”

  “I’m going to stop you right there. If you don’t find out who attacked the woman in town and killed her, you are going to have a revolt on your hands. Everyone is pointing at the new vampire, and you don’t want to see it.”

  “What are you suggesting?” Alistair asked.

  Killian cracked a smile and pulled his leather coat further around him. “Well, she’s going to need an alibi, and what better alibi than for her to be in your bed?”

  Alistair groaned.

  “Hear me out.”

  “You’ve been dealing too much with the American Order to think that I’d just hop into a sexual relationship with her. That would be scandalous.”

  “Well, it will also be scandalous if the house rises and decapitates you, but that is all on you if you so decide.”

  Alistair shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “It will have to lead up to that. I’m not going to head to her room, knock on her door, and say, ‘Well, my dear, to keep you safe, let’s shag.’”

  “Even I wouldn’t say it like that. You have to talk about her beauty and try to heat up the oven before you try to roast the turkey.”

  Ever since they were young, Killian had always had his way with the females of the house. Maybe it was his bad-boy aura, shaggy hair, and the fact when he got upset, he’d bare his wolf-like canines. Women fell all over him because of his brooding looks, while for Alistair, no interest could be discerned until they learned of his status. Then, of course, everyone sought the high position at his side, but no one ever truly wanted him. Except for Rose. He shuddered at the thought.

  “I have a plan that will let you keep one head and get the other polished.” Killian smiled unreservedly, his face filled with mirth.

  “Don’t be so crass.”

  Killian chuckled. “You’ve been feeding her fish, and more than likely since you gave her your blood as the sea serpent, and not in your shifter form, that is why she can only eat the sea creatures.”

  Alistair groaned. He should have thought of that. In his haste to make things right, he’d taken tons of fish from the river they’d had and given them to her. Now, that was all her body could digest. “She must be starving?” Worry spiced his words.

  “That is where you come in. She is now a pescatarian, and that means she can eat the fruit of the sea. Take a platter upstairs to her and seduce her. But you mustn’t let her bite you or drink from you again.”

  Alistair frowned. “If that is part of the vampiric ritual, what is the harm? We are already tethered to one another.”

  “Should she drink from you again, that could create other issues that we don’t know of.”

  “Such as?”

  “She is the seer, able to absorb the traits of other supernaturals. What would it mean if, through her bite, she also absorbed the part of you that made you a god, son of Baldr?”

  “So, I could face losing my immortality until I heal?”

  “Yes. Even more, in that state, she would be virtually unstoppable. Do you know enough about her to even commence the greatest woo of your lifetime?”

  Alistair’s gaze fell on the paperback he’d been reading and re-reading. “Yes, dear brother. I think I have a way in.”

  Alistair carried the platter filled with freshly prepared sushi, along with the latest algae-based cocktail the chef had concocted, and Leslie’s book. This was his one shot. He paused before her door.

  He didn’t want to consider that his being here had less to do with the thought of those under his care usurping his authority. Nor did it have to be about any outside threat. There was only one reason: Leslie.

  He liked how her skin smelled like lavender. Her eyes lit up with warm flecks, like the most beautiful of amber, and that smile… He tried to catch himself. Dragons were loners. Until this mission, he’d spent most of his time either swimming in the Lochs and seas around Scotland or tucked away in the Highlands, but now, he couldn’t find the strength to swim away. She’d given him a purpose.

  And that damn book.

  How could her Ivan be me?

  He took a deep breath, adjusted his shirt, and tapped on the door.

&nbs
p; “Come in.” Her voice was filled with light.

  Light could show paths, reveal hidden treasures, and even the slightest glimmer could break through the expanse of darkness.

  He crossed the threshold. “I thought you might be hungry.”

  He’d never expected to find her seated on her bed, legs crisscrossed in a pair of black-and-white polka dot, long-sleeved pajamas, with thick fuzzy socks, while wearing a turmeric yellow face mask.

  “Uh, I’m sorry, I must be intruding.”

  Leslie jumped up. “Oh, no, I couldn’t sleep, and your pantry had enough of everything to make this mask. Turmeric can be so expensive, but I was happy to find it in your fully stocked kitchen. Makes me want to do some YouTube videos, or maybe post an online review on the benefits of turmeric,” she rambled.

  “Since you weren’t able to eat, I had the chef prepare something that might go down the hatch a little bit easier. Do you like sushi?” He placed the platter on the table near her bed where she stood. He then raised a brow. “New clothes?”

  “Reva dropped them off for me. She said that it would help me acclimate to life here if I had my clothes. There’s nothing like having fresh undies, and ones that I don’t have to wash out every day, hang up over the shower rod, and … I’m doing it again. I tend to ramble when I get a little nervous.”

  “Am I making you nervous?” He could see she weighed her options, deciding if the truth would be his reward.

  “Somewhat, but that has a lot to do with this change and new world. You’ve lived this life for much longer than I have. But up until recently, none of this existed to me, and I didn’t believe it ever could.”

  “I wanted to talk to you about that. I’ve been reading your book.”

  She smiled. “My book. You, a big, brawny, manly man. You’re enjoying my little romance?”

  “Actually, yes. I think I can help you get your facts correct. You have a great grasp of dialogue, but your paranormal facets need to be straightened out a bit.”

  She chortled. “You do know all that came from my imagination.”

  “But it didn’t.”

  “Whoa, I’m not a plagiarist.”

  “No, dear. It would appear that, as the seer, which you’ve always been, you’ve been able to tap into something that binds us. Your handsome hero, I fear, is me.”

  He heard the air whoosh from her lungs. Her eyes grew the size of silver dollars, and her mouth gaped open.

  “No, that … that can’t be true. Ivan is not a dragon.”

  Alistair took a step closer. “Would it be so bad for me to be your inspiration?”

  “Take your shirt off,” she demanded. “Take it off now.”

  “Uh, I think you’re moving sort of fast to my getting naked.”

  Sure, I’d seen his yummy backside, but that was just a preview to the whole package.

  “If you’re the hero of my book—who just stepped off the pages—then I need to see for myself.” He slowly began to pull his T-shirt over his head. “I feel like I need to dance with all of this.”

  “Don’t make this even weirder.” She moved closer to help him. His shirt slid off his shoulders.

  “Turn around. I need to see.”

  Leslie

  This was like being hit over the head with a hammer. I’d thought I’d created Ivan from my mind, but no, it was from a shared memory.

  For once, I didn’t care one bit about his naked chest.

  The bittersweet truth smacked me in the face. I was even more of a failure than I thought, and it hurt.

  My entire life, I’d had these stories inside me, and I believed it had to do with my discovering Gran.

  “The gods have always looked down upon you,” Alistair reassured me.

  “Bollocks, as you’d say. I’m not just an empty vessel to be filled with someone else’s purpose and dreams. I have my own. I breathe, I live, and now, you’re taking all that away from me. I’ve only wanted this one thing, and just like that, you’ve erased it.” I snapped my fingers, hearing the panic in my voice.

  “Leslie, that is not why I am here.”

  “You came here only to be an ass to me. To take away the one thing that meant something to me. I fought tooth and nail to get my name on that cover—and it’s not even my real name. Instead, I hid behind a name they said was more marketable. Something catchy. Something that people could remember, spell, and generic enough to be on any shelf. All of the hours spent, and I could have just had you dictate it.

  “I worked eighty hours a week, alone, in the dark—eyes straining to type against the glaring white backdrop, with cramping hands, and it was all for nothing. It’s not my story, but yours.”

  “You're foolish.”

  “Excuse me?” My voice spiked with his accusation.

  “You are. I’ve not taken anything from you. You’ve recreated my world and brought back memories I’d not taken time to recall in ages. It was almost like a poet’s prayer, to hear my father’s words again. To see my mother. Those are things that can’t be so easily nullified.”

  “I don’t know what to do.” Every which way the wind blew, it carried my emotions with it. He was insufferable.

  “You are going to remain the fabulous woman you are and realize that it is you who have made me the most fortunate of men, as not only have I been favored by your presence, but also with the knowledge that you indeed see me, understand me. And maybe one day, you could learn to love a simple, empty, broken man like me.”

  He said man, not dragon, and a part of me feared what this paranormal world might bring with it on this broken road of love.

  “I have nothing to offer you. I don’t understand this world and am not interested in knowing anything about it. I know the others don’t like me and aren’t interested in getting to know me, either.”

  “It is not you, love.”

  “Pray tell. What have I done to acquire their disdain? They don’t have a problem with Gran. I’m sure she’s going to find a way to the light at the end of this entire situation as though she’d walked in a church, prayed, and had a heavenly epiphany, while leaving me behind. And me? I’ll still be stuck in between these two worlds.”

  “We can go and converse with my grandmother if that might help.”

  “What is she going to do? Tell me how to make fish soup?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “I’m sure the goddess Freyja would indeed get a chuckle out of that.”

  Whoa, did he say the goddess? I knew enough about Norse mythology to know Freyja wasn’t a weak, simpering woman. A combination of the qualities of Aphrodite, warrior and servant to none, Freyja mastered the arcane like no other, even having taught the All-Father Odin magic. Indeed, so powerful that she had her own hall of the slain. Not too many gods could boast such a reputation.

  “As long as she can make it so that we can work this out, I might try it.” The sight of sushi called my attention when my stomach rumbled again.

  “But first, let’s eat.”

  I plopped a piece of sushi into my mouth and waited for any sort of disgusting side effects. When nothing happened, it didn’t feel so much like death after all. I’d eaten at some of the best sushi places in Manhattan. This was the creative fusion dish of the moment. At least it was better than blended fish parts and blood. Blech.

  Food had never tasted so good. Spicy tuna, delicious wasabi. I stuffed my face, not even sure if I swallowed, to be honest. Finally, I leaned back and rubbed my tummy. “Oh, I don’t think I can eat another bite.”

  “You are adorable.” The more he said it to me, the more I believed it. What woman didn’t enjoy a delicious feast followed by compliments?

  “Ha! If that’s your come-on line, then we need to work on it. “He stared at me through starry eyes, and I had to ask, “If you find this turmeric mask attractive—”

  “And what if I do? Have I abated any concern that you might have?” He reached out and touched my face, then placed his thumb in his mouth. “I might just start liking t
urmeric after all.”

  “There you go, being charming again.” I hadn’t expected him to meet my challenge. I thought that would have been a natural barrier. He pulled me into his warm embrace.

  “Hold that thought,” I said, and jumped up. If I was going to be kissed by this man, then we weren’t going to worry about a yogurt and turmeric mask. I stumbled to the bathroom and scrubbed it off my face, revealing a great natural glow.

  “You can do this, Les.” My Lamaze breathing was back with chipmunk cheeks, as well as the inchworms that crawled in my stomach. A wave of nausea hit me, mixed with anxiety.

  Gran popped into the bathroom. “You know he’s there waiting for you.”

  “Yes, I know.”

  “Then fix yourself up. Pluck, shave, spray—freshen up, dear. You don’t want him to be turned off by your unkempt forest.”

  “Gran! Are we having this conversation?”

  “You’ve changed in front of me before, and I know that look hasn’t been around for a few decades now. No one likes pubes. Of course, back in my day, the men were so happy just to get some, they didn’t mind like these men today. I was thinking since I’m doing a little bit of flashing from corporal to incorporeal, that maybe I can find a way to get myself updated, too.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Oh, the black is so gloomy. I don’t feel gloomy here, but I do have tons of questions.” A cigarette appeared out of thin air again in her long, thin cigarette holder. “But, we can talk about all of that after you boink him.”

  “Gran, you can be insufferable at times.”

  “Don’t go getting upset with me. That’s not going to do anything with making your libido go zippity, zappity, zoop. I’m trying to make things better. You’ve been tossed and turned so much in life, and he could be so good for you if you’d only let him.”

  “Good or not, you are not to be in that room to assess his technique.”

  “Not even a peek? He won’t know.”

  “No,” I declared. I needed to put Gran in time-out.

  “Okay, okay. I’ll behave and explore more of here and see what I can discover to keep you safe from the rising coup.”