Happily Ever Bitten

by Lexi C. Foss

  I circled her throat with my palm. “You attacked a guest of my court,” I said slowly. “I have to punish you, Zay.”

  “I thought… I thought he…” She swallowed. “I recognized his scent.”

  I sighed. “Zay, that’s not a reason to attack a man in front of everyone. I’ve taught you better than that.”

  Her eyes took on a faraway gleam. “I wasn’t thinking.”

  “No, you weren’t,” I agreed, my thumb circling her pulse. “Look, I’ll talk to Yakariah and see if I can work something out between all of us. But I need you to stay here, okay? If my mother catches you before I can solve this, she’s going to flog you in front of the court.”

  It wasn’t an empty threat. My mother still ruled the kingdom, and she wouldn’t care about my blood bond to Zaya. A guest had been wrongfully threatened. The Queen of Noxia would punish accordingly unless I somehow convinced her I’d already handled it.

  “Okay,” Zaya whispered, her spirit seeming to shatter with that single word. “I won’t go anywhere.”

  “Promise?” I asked, needing to be sure.

  She nodded. “Yes.”

  I brushed a kiss against the corner of her mouth. “Thank you.” My lips hovered near hers for a fraction longer than they should have. I wanted to really taste her. To know her intimately. To tighten my grip around her neck and fucking devour her.

  No. My spine went rigid with restraint as I forced myself to release her throat and take a step back. Save it for her dreams, I told myself, my heart skipping a beat in my chest.

  Not trusting myself to utter another word to her, I left my suite.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Happily Ever Bitten

  Copyright © 2020 Anna Edwards & Lexi C. Foss

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This book may not be redistributed to others for commercial or noncommercial purposes.

  Editing by: Outthink Editing, LLC

  Proofreading by: Katie Schmahl, Julie Robertson, & Jean Bachen

  Cover Design: Anna Spies of Eerilyfair Design

  Cover Photography: CJC Photography

  Cover Model: Dominic Calvani

  Published by: Ninja Newt Publishing, LLC

  Digital Edition

  ISBN: 978-1-950694-09-9

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Prologue

  1. Grigory

  2. Zaya

  3. Grigory

  4. Zaya

  5. Grigory

  6. Zaya

  7. Grigory

  8. Zaya

  9. Grigory

  10. Zaya

  11. Grigory

  12. Zaya

  13. Grigory

  14. Zaya

  15. Grigory

  16. Zaya

  17. Grigory

  18. Zaya

  19. Grigory

  20. Grigory

  21. Zaya

  22. Grigory

  23. Zaya

  24. Zaya

  25. Grigory

  Epilogue

  Rebel Bitten by Lexi C. Foss

  Easy Rumba by Anna Edwards

  About Lexi C. Foss

  Also by Lexi C. Foss

  About Anna Edwards

  Also by Anna Edwards

  “When you said you wanted a favor, you never mentioned a dead halfling,” I drawled, staring down at the broken female in Adrik’s arms.

  “Because I knew you’d say no,” my best friend replied. “Now that you’re here, you won’t refuse.”

  “Refuse what?” I asked him, not sure I wanted the answer.

  “I need you to help her.”

  “Why?”

  “Because she’s Valora’s best friend.”

  I arched a brow. “Valora, as in the female queen you’re supposed to seduce and eventually kill?” It was all part of Adrik’s grand plan for revenge. Make the Queen of Caluçon fall in love with him, then steal her power and use it against her husband, Necros—the bastard who destroyed Adrik’s former kingdom.

  “Yes.” Adrik didn’t elaborate beyond that, but I caught the twinge of secrets in his dark gaze.

  “That is still the plan, right?”

  “Yes,” he repeated.

  “Then why am I helping you save a halfling?”

  “Because it’ll help me woo Valora.”

  I grimaced. “You did not just use the word woo in a sentence.” Seduce, I could accept. Woo, however, no. “Since when do you woo females?”

  “Look, I don’t have time to debate this with you,” Adrik retorted. “I need your help with the halfling. Necros had her brutally raped in front of the entire court, all to bring Valora to her knees, then he tossed her out into the fields to die alone. This was after having her family slaughtered at the borders. It’s too much, Grigory. I can’t convince Valora to love me if her emotional state is fucking shattered.”

  I eyed the female in his arms once more. He’d wrapped her in his coat, but I suspected she was naked beneath. I leaned down to listen for her pulse. It barely registered, her heart hanging on by a thread.

  Many believed Adrik to be a demon of Noxia because my mother had adopted him soon after his birth, but he wasn’t a true Noxia demon. Which meant he couldn’t save her.

  I could.

  My blood was eternal.

  “I can’t promise anything,” I informed him softly. “She’s only a halfling, and a Graystall demon at that.”

  My kind was vampiric in nature; we thrived on the essence of others.

  She came from a race that dealt justice in a variety of ways, their powers varying depending on which bloodline they came from.

  “I’ll see what I can do,” I added, holding out my arms.

  He gently handed her over, her slight weight hardly a burden. Her head fell against my chest, revealing a face that had lost its beauty, thanks to the monsters in Necros’s kingdom.

  “I really hope you kill that bastard,” I told Adrik.

  “I will.”

  “Good.” I adjusted the female in my arms slightly and cringed at the sight of bruising between her thighs. “What’s her name?”

  “Zaya,” Adrik murmured.

  “Zaya,” I repeated softly, tapping into the workings of her mind just enough to offer her some peace. It was the least I could do if she ended up dying, and from skimming the violence on the surface of her thoughts, that peace would be very much appreciated.

  Yet something else lurked beneath that initial layer, enticing me to go a little deeper.

  Anger blasted me in the next moment, her conscious roaring to life with a fury and a vow for vengeance.

  “She wants to live,” I marveled, surprised by the vehemence inside her.

  Most females would have fractured as a result of what had happened to her, but this one desired a second chance. She wanted to paint the world in blood. And I found that I wanted to give her that opportunity. More, I wanted to help her achieve it.

  Hmm, I hummed to myself. All right, little warrior.

  I nodded to Adrik. “I’ll do my best.”

  “I know. That’s why I called you,” my best friend replied. “Keep her safe.”

  Safe, I repeated in my mind, gazing down at her. Why did that term feel oddly appropriate?

  It wasn’t unt
il later, after I’d given her several pints of my blood, that I figured out why that word had resonated so deeply within me.

  It’d been issued as an edict, one I interpreted as a personal vow.

  Because as I watched the female regain her coloring, her body healing beautifully in my bed, I realized… I’d just made her mine.

  And some part of me wasn’t the least bit disturbed by that.

  Which scared the fucking shit out of me.

  Because I didn’t want to own a female or be responsible for one. I liked my life the way it was. Besides, I had other obligations to tend to. And this woman wasn’t one of them.

  Yet I felt the pull even now…

  My blood sang through her veins, just as her essence breathed life into mine.

  We’d completed a transition of sorts, one that would allow her to thrive. Yet it tied our souls together in a way it shouldn’t, thereby linking our fates.

  I might not have wanted to claim her, but on some level, I had.

  And now I’d spend an eternity fighting it.

  Eighteen Months Later

  That skirt was a fucking sin. If it inched up any higher on Zaya’s thighs, I’d have to kill every male she passed on the street. As it was, they were all thinking about fucking her.

  And she didn’t have a damn clue.

  She’d forgotten pretty much everything I’d spent the last year and a half training her to do. Case in point—she hadn’t even sensed my presence behind her yet.

  I knew the woman was up to something when she snuck into my mother’s quarters and took one of her portal charms. I just never expected her to teleport here, to the human realm, of all places. Nor had I anticipated her cutting off all her hair and dying it blue. It looked good—pretty much everything on Zaya did—but it also made her incredibly noticeable in this little town in the southern United States.

  Seriously, of all the locations for her to venture off to, she had to pick Alabama.

  As if the Underworld wasn’t hot enough, this place burned like hell in the summer.

  I shook my head. What are you up to, little warrior? I wondered, tracing her steps.

  She paused as if she could hear me, but I knew she couldn’t. The link between us was locked down tight, except when she slept. That was the only time I allowed either of us to play. But she was very awake now, which meant she was firmly off-limits.

  If I even thought about touching her, Valora would have my balls. And pissing off the Queen of Nova did not appeal to me in the slightest.

  Although, sometimes I thought the risk might be worth the reward. Especially when Zaya bent over to fix the strap on her shoe.

  I nearly swallowed my tongue at the sight of all that creamy flesh, the bottom of her ass peeking at me from beneath that sinful skirt.

  A groan caught in my throat, yearning ripping through my abdomen at the too-tempting sight. Maybe she did know I was behind her, lurking in the shadows, and this was her way of punishing me.

  If that were the case, I accepted the reprimand because, fuck, that was hot.

  Whatever game she wanted to play right now, I was up for it.

  Except she straightened and continued walking, suggesting the display hadn’t been for show at all, just a nervous little fix of her strap.

  My teeth ground together as I resumed my stalking, my eyes narrowing as she crossed the street to head into a bar called Sloppy Joe’s.

  Seemed like an adequate description of her current mission because this was all incredibly sloppy.

  I stepped in a few minutes after her, half expecting her to be waiting on the other side of the door with a grin, but instead found her sitting at the bar with her legs crossed in a picture of pure temptation.

  Every human male had his eyes on her thighs as if waiting for the fabric to inch just a little higher.

  I clenched my hands into fists and found a corner table with poor lighting overhead. As a Noxia demon, shadows tended to lurk around me naturally in the human realm, so I pulled them to me now, hiding in plain sight.

  Zaya didn’t notice.

  She was too busy making eyes at a human a few feet away.

  What the hell? I thought, furious at the sight of her flirting. Zaya never flirted with anyone. Except with me sometimes, but I suspected she considered that to be bickering more than flirting.

  What are you up to? I wanted to ask her but instead continued to observe as she drew her painted nails across the human’s forearm, seducing him with her subtle movements.

  I’d taught her some of those but had meant for them to be a distraction when desiring a different kind of prize.

  From what I could tell, she was using them to get laid.

  Yet I caught the glint of silver on her thigh, just the tip of a knife, before she tugged the skirt down to cover the edge.

  Hmm. Interesting.

  Just last night I told her she wasn’t ready for this, yet here she was, flirting in a bar with a knife strapped to her leg.

  I’d helped her gather the names of all the remaining demons who had survived Queen Valora’s attack on Caluçon last year. Zaya had combed through them, identifying three who had participated in Necros’s sanctioned attack. Then she’d shared those identities with me last night, saying she wanted to kill them all.

  My response had been clear and concise. “You’re not ready.”

  Well, it seemed she’d taken that as a challenge to move ahead with this insanity.

  Except she’d chosen a human target, not a demon.

  I tapped into his thoughts—mortal mental barriers were weak and easy to break—and attempted to learn more about him.

  Immediately, I hated him.

  Because he was picturing Zaya beneath him with his hands around her delicate throat, squeezing the life out of her while he fucked her to death.

  The table rattled beneath my fist, my anger vibrating down my arm so violently that the flimsy wood threatened to shatter.

  I swallowed, reining in my ire, and focused on Zaya. What are you doing? I wondered at her, nearly taking down the wall I’d erected between us to demand she respond. But I’d constructed the barrier to protect her. She’d been through enough already without my accessing her mind.

  Hell, the dreams were bad enough.

  I really needed to stop going to her, but every time she cried out at night, I couldn’t stop myself from answering the call.

  Fuck.

  This was bad.

  Everything about her damn well slayed me.

  I pulled out my phone and sent a message off to Adrik—not for the first time—expressing my annoyance over this entire situation. I’m supposed to be ascending in less than two months. Yet here I am, in a human bar, babysitting your damn favor, I told him. I hope you’re pleased with yourself, asshole.

  I set the phone down and signaled the waitress for a drink. She saw me just fine, while Zaya remained utterly oblivious, lost to her target.

  Seriously, I’d taught her better than this.

  Was she even aware of the cameras? All the eyes on her? The men fantasizing about fucking her against that damn bar?

  I nearly growled but instead forced a smile for the pretty blonde approaching me. Her jeans coated her long legs like a second skin, just like her tank top that left little to the imagination. In another life, I would have been interested. But since Zaya entered my world, I’d been a little too focused on the petite little blue-haired demon.

  “What can I get you, sugar?” the blonde asked.

  “Whiskey. Neat.” I gave her a label I caught from the bar.

  “Sure thing,” she drawled, her Southern twang kind of adorable.

  But my eyes immediately returned to Zay.

  She had her palm on the man’s thighs, her body angled in a way that exuded interest. I sighed. This was going to be a long fucking night. Because I suspected she was about to make a mess, one I’d be forced to clean up.

  Fucking responsibilities.

  As if I didn’t have enough of
those floating around my head.

  Leave it to Zay to add more to the pile.

  Little brat, I thought, studying her legs again. Maybe I’d spank her later. No, that would just end in us naked in my bed.

  Regardless, she had my full attention for the evening.

  Just as she did every night.

  My phone dinged, alerting me to Adrik’s incoming reply. I assume you’re talking about Zaya?

  What other favor could I be talking about? I shot back.

  What’s she up to now?

  I think she’s hunting a human, I replied. She wants to take down the other demons who assaulted her. She thinks it’ll help her recover. What my little warrior failed to realize was that she’d been recovering every day since the attack, her heart and spirit growing stronger with every breath.

  And you disagree? Adrik asked.

  I think she’s about to create a mess in the mortal realm that I’ll be forced to take care of on her behalf, I returned. And no, it won’t help her feel any better.

  So she’s practicing the art of killing, he clarified.

  Pretty much. While part of me admired her for it, another part was livid.

  How’s she doing so far?

  She has no idea I’m watching her from twenty feet away, I typed back to him. What does that tell you?

  That she needs more lessons.

  Exactly. I put my phone away as my drink arrived. I set a few dollars on the table, wondering if Zaya had even thought to bring mortal money with her before setting out on this venture, and took a sip of my whiskey. The alcohol burned going down my throat. But it didn’t burn nearly as bad as the throaty laugh she released in response to whatever her conquest had just said.

  She never made that sound with me.

  While I knew it was all for show, I found myself longing to replicate the action.