Ache (Vampire Beloved Book Three)

by R. E. Butler

  “But then you still don’t have someone to be food manager,” Kelly said.

  Mishka waved his hand dismissively. “I’m not worried about that in the least. Cella can continue to manage it until we find the right person for the position.”

  “You should take the job that you want,” Harmony said. “Not the one that you think you should take, but the one that feels right.”

  “Can I let you know tomorrow?”

  “Of course,” Mishka said. “In the meantime, Bellamin, you have the week off so you can enjoy your mating. Things have been very hectic since you met and mated, and everyone should have the time to enjoy themselves in this situation.”

  “Thank you,” Bell said.

  They said goodbye and left the office, greeting the family members in their offices on their way out. As they reached the side exit, he said, “What do you want to do, beloved?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “I don’t necessarily mean for the job choice. I mean what do you want to do right now?”

  “Oh!” She smiled at him and gave his hand a squeeze. “I want to go get that bracelet and see Selma. I texted her earlier and she’s home tonight.”

  “That sounds like a plan. Let me call for a car and security to escort us. Do you want to see Margot too?”

  “She asked me to work one more shift for her. I don’t want to do that on our honeymoon, but I’d like to do that next week. Will you be very upset for me to be gone during the day?”

  “I’m sure it’ll drive me batty, sweetheart, but it’s something you need to do and I’m not the sort of male to stand in the way of you doing what you want.”

  “I’ll have Aram, but also some guards too?”

  “Of course. We do have daytime guards that work for the coven. I’ll ask Brone to assign people for you, and then I can meet you there as soon as I’m able.”

  “I’d love that. I’ll be tired as hell though, staying up all day like that. And I’ll miss our snuggle time.”

  “It’s one of my favorite parts of the day.”

  They walked across the street to the apartment complex and once she grabbed the bracelet, they were met at the curb by Traz and Lake, one of the coven members. They stayed at the sisters’ apartment for several hours, Selma squealing excitedly at the bracelet.

  “This thing must be worth a hundred thousand dollars.” Her voice was breathless, her eyes gleaming, as Kelly fixed it onto her wrist.

  “I have no idea. But it’s old, that much I do know.”

  Selma hugged her tightly. “Thank you so much for thinking of me. I can’t believe the crazy stuff that happened to you.”

  “It’s something, right?” Kelly leaned back against Bell as they sat on the couch. “It means that you and I are distantly related to one of the most well-known covens in vampire history.”

  “Crazy.” Selma shook her head. “I have some good news myself.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah, I gave my notice at the club.”

  “You did? What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to go back to school and finish my business degree. It’s about time I got serious about my life. I can’t keep partying all the time. Nearly losing my job at the club was a wake-up call. The school has a work-study program, and I qualify for financial aid. I’m going to move into a smaller place close to campus, so I don’t have to worry about the rent with you gone.”

  “I could keep paying my half.”

  “That’s not fair to you. Besides, it’s about time I stood on my own two feet.”

  Kelly hugged her sister tightly. “I’m so happy for you.”

  “Thanks. So we’ve got thirty days to clear out this apartment, and if you could help me move that would be awesome.”

  “You bet.”

  Aram yawned at Kelly’s feet, his mouth wide, his teeth shining in the overhead light. “He’s not subtle,” Kelly said with a chuckle.

  “You’ve got a pet dragon, it’s so damn cool.”

  Kelly looked at Selma and rose to her feet. “I wanted to grab a few things from my room. The coven provides clothes, so you can go through my stuff and whatever you don’t want I can donate.”

  “Oh, can I have your black jean jacket?”

  “Of course.”

  “You’re the best, sis.”

  “I am. I totally am.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Kelly and Bell had taken the week off for their honeymoon and moved into the chamber under the club. Even though she’d never expected to live underground, she loved it. She took Aram up to the roof every day for exercise while Bell waited in the stairwell out of the sun’s rays. The family had accepted her with open arms, and she cherished every one of them.

  She worked her final shift at the bookstore the Monday after their honeymoon was over, and she’d enjoyed the time she spent with Margot. She’d miss seeing her friend every day but knew that she could visit anytime she wanted.

  An hour after sunset on Tuesday, she officially started her job as curator for Mishka’s storage facility. Mishka was even talking about building a vampire museum and letting her be part of that. Considering how much false information was out there about vampires, it would be wonderful to have a place where humans and shifters could go to learn about their history. She was sure there were a lot of vampires who didn’t know much about their own kind.

  Kelly smiled as she greeted Atlas at the storage facility. Bellamin had just carried in the satchels from the cave, and she was looking forward to really going through everything.

  “How’s it going at the bear den?” she asked, giving Atlas a hug.

  “They’re a lovely group of people,” he said. “Their community is amazing. Anything anyone needs, they simply provide it.”

  Atlas lived near the Centaurs in the Medes Realm, and they had a similar arrangement among their herd. Atlas wasn’t technically a Centaur, because he couldn’t keep his human torso and have his horse body. He could only be human or Pegasus.

  They walked into the main room of the storage facility. At Mishka’s request, Brone had set up a new security program for the facility so she could use her thumbprint to open each locked door. She and Atlas put paper booties on over their shoes, and Aram sat patiently while she put smaller ones on his paws. Then they headed into her new private room, which had a brass nameplate on the door that read “Kelly’s Antiquities.” Bell set down the last satchel on the table in the room and smiled at her before pecking her cheek.

  “I’m going to patrol outside and then I’ll be at the guard station at the front door going over the new protocols that Brone set up. If you need me, text me.”

  “Will do.”

  She opened the satchel that contained the books. She’d picked them randomly from the carved bookshelf in the cave. There were at least a hundred more books she’d left behind, but many of them were written in languages she didn’t speak, so they’d take time to arrange for translations.

  “I wanted to give you back your ring,” she said, pulling it off her finger.

  “Thank you,” he said. “It’s all I have to connect me to her. I’m thankful it helped protect you.”

  “Trust me, I’m very thankful for that too.” She smiled at him, and then she said, “But I think I found something in the cave that belongs to you.”

  She pulled one of the other satchels over where she’d stashed the sparkly things that had caught her eye. While she hadn’t had time to poke around in all the satchels, she had dumped out the contents of this one the other night when she and Bell were enjoying their time off together, and she’d been drawn to a small wooden box.

  She found the box in the satchel and handed it to Atlas. He gave her a curious look and twisted the latch, lifting the lid. His eyes widened as he gasped, removing the ring from inside the crushed velvet interior.

  “It’s Jovina’s ring. How did you find it?”

  She accepted his tearful hug, her eyes stinging at the sweet emotion on his face. T
aking a seat in one of the straight-backed wooden chairs Bell had brought in for them, she shrugged. “When we were filling up the satchels in the cave, I was just trying to get finished as fast as possible so we could get home. I wasn’t looking for anything in particular.” They’d designated the satchels for different things—books, gold and jewels, jewelry, weapons, and miscellaneous antiquities including an amazing jewel-encrusted goblet. “I went looking for the bracelet I’d picked out for Selma and found this box. It just called to me. I knew immediately it was her ring, but how it got into the cave I don’t know.”

  “Magic, I suppose,” he said, scrubbing the tears from his cheeks. “When she was killed, it must have disappeared to the cave for safe-keeping. Thank you.” He looked at it for a long moment and then he held it out to her. “I’d like you to have it.”

  “I don’t think I’m supposed to have it. I think you should save it for your beloved.”

  “I’m a Pegasus,” he said, frowning. “We don’t get beloveds.”

  “Well, whoever your mate is, I think the ring should be kept in safe keeping for her. It’s got Jovina’s memories tied to it, but yours also. It’s a magical link to your past that’s incredible. I already have the memories in my mind, even without the ring I can still access them. You said you felt there was a reason for you to stay here in this realm, and while I think part of that might be because we’re family, the biggest reason I believe is because someone is waiting for you here.”

  Atlas put his sister’s ring in the box and patted the top. “I believe you’re right.”

  “So you’re staying in this realm, then?”

  “The bears said I could stay in their den as long as I liked. They put me up in a guest tent, and I’ve been helping train their young warriors. If and when I do meet my mate, then we can decide together where we’ll live.”

  “Maybe she’s a bear.”

  “Perhaps,” he said. Then he shook his head. “I’m immortal, though. Even with shifters’ long-life, I’d still outlive her and that would be a hell all its own.”

  “True. I wouldn’t want to be immortal while Bell aged, however slowly. I’m sure destiny knows what you need in a mate.”

  He picked up one of the books and looked at the spine. “Did you believe in fate before you and Bellamin met?”

  “Not particularly. I thought it was fantastical, you know? The stuff of romance novels and not real life. But now, I think the most wonderful things that can happen to us do so when we’re open to them.”

  * * *

  The night that Kelly and Bell moved into the chamber, Mishka called them into his office.

  “The chamber is to your liking, I trust?” Mishka asked from behind his big desk.

  “Very much so,” Bell said.

  Kelly nodded. “We love it, thank you so much. I’ve never lived underground before, so I wasn’t prepared for how quiet it is. We can really hear Aram’s stomach growling when he gets hungry,” she said with a chuckle.

  “Excellent. I’m just waiting for… oh, here she comes,” Mishka said. He rose to his feet as Harmony strode into the office, a beautiful smile on her face.

  “Sorry, my love, sorry,” she said, giving him a quick kiss. “I got distracted with song lists.”

  “No worries,” he promised. The couple faced Bell and Kelly, and Mishka said, “I asked you to come see me tonight because I wanted to make you an offer.”

  Harmony rolled her eyes. “You sound like a mobster right now.”

  He chuckled and smiled indulgently at his beloved. “While I’m not a mobster, I am the master of this coven and head of the family. It was always my intention to keep the family small. If I let every Tom, Dick, and Harry into it, then it’s not special, and I want to keep it that way.”

  Kelly glanced at Bell, wondering where Mishka was going with the conversation.

  “Traditionally,” Mishka continued, “only family lives in the chamber and only the seven original members are actually in the family, their beloveds are members through mating and not members in their own right.”

  “Which is something we’re considering changing in the future,” Harmony interjected.

  “Exactly,” Mishka said. “Exceptions have been made recently – Cyrus is a member of the family due to his tribrid nature and you two have been allowed to move into the chamber. But neither of you are family members, and Harmony and I decided that we’d like to change that right now.”

  Kelly looked at Bell in surprise.

  “Really?” Bell asked. “I don’t know what to say, except thank you.”

  “We did talk to the other family members,” Harmony said, “and everyone agreed that you two becoming family members was the right thing to do.”

  “But why?” Kelly asked.

  “You’re descended from one of the most famous covens in our people’s history, which makes you special all on your own. If you’re willing, I’d like to make you both family members.”

  Bell and Kelly both spoke at the same time, “Yes!”

  Harmony and Mishka laughed. “We’ll have a special gathering to celebrate,” Mishka said, “but consider yourselves family members as of this moment.”

  Kelly hugged Harmony and then Mishka, and Bell shook both their hands.

  “We can’t thank you enough,” Bell said. “It’s an honor.”

  “You’re very welcome,” Mishka said.

  They thanked them again and left the office, arms linked and faces bright with smiles.

  “Did you expect that?” Kelly asked.

  Bell stopped in front of the elevator and pressed the down button. As the machinery whirred to life, he said, “I had no idea he’d do something like that. It was enough that we were able to move down to the chamber, but to be added to the family wasn’t even on my radar.”

  They stepped into the elevator and as it began its descent, she stepped into Bell’s arms and smiled when he hugged her tightly.

  “It was really sweet of them to include us in the family. Now you don’t just have a sister-in-law, but you have a whole bunch of brothers and sisters in the family.”

  “That’s true,” he said. They walked down the hall to their chamber. He opened the door and swung her up into his arms before he stepped into the room. “It was a twist I didn’t expect, but I’m glad for it. Now we both have lots of brothers and sisters, including a thousand-year-old assassin and a tribrid.”

  She tilted her face for a kiss. “It’s wonderful. But right now, I just need you.”

  “Whatever you wish, beloved,” he said, his voice dropping low and a sexy smile on his lips.

  * * *

  After a long week spent in the storage facility cataloging the books and items she’d taken from the cave, she’d discovered one of the books was a diary that belonged to Jovina. Atlas read it first, and then gave it to Kelly, and after she read it, she cataloged it into the computer as a personal journal related to the coven. She hoped to find more journals among the books, so she could learn more about the history of the coven.

  “Hey, you look amazing,” Bell said as he walked out of the bathroom.

  He’d offered to take her out somewhere special on their night off, but all she’d wanted to do was go to the club for a drink and dance with her sexy beloved. They hadn’t been inside the club among the dancers and food and loud music since the night they met, but she could think of nothing better than snuggling up with him and having some fun.

  “Thank you,” she said. She’d met with the coven’s clothing designer after their honeymoon was over, and she’d outfitted her with comfortable but stylish clothes to wear to the storage facility—mostly dress pants and pretty tops, with the occasional long skirt thrown in for good measure. She’d also given Kelly some sexier clothes to wear whenever they went to the club because most every woman who worked for Mishka dressed in tight, revealing clothes. Before she’d become Bell’s beloved, she hadn’t really cared to dress sexy. She spent her days surrounded by books and liked to be comf
ortable. High heels and tight skirts hadn’t appealed to her. But with Bell’s memories and her newfound family history, she’d grown more confident. She wasn’t a bookstore mouse hiding behind shapeless clothes because she didn’t care. She was a fierce female with a beloved who liked to see her looking sexy and confident.

  And she felt that way, right to the center of her being.

  Tonight, she’d chosen a dark purple tank dress that had a slit up the thigh, the material clingy with a sheen that would glow under the laser and strobe lights within the club. Her tall, strappy heels brought her a few inches closer to Bell’s mouth, as he put his arm around her back and drew her to him. He kissed her sweetly, and she smiled against his lips and tugged on his tie.

  “You’re looking pretty dashing.”

  “I got you a surprise.”

  “Oh?”

  “Well, two of them, actually.”

  He dropped to one knee and lifted his hand, a solitaire diamond ring between his finger and thumb. “We’re beloveds, Kelly, but I want us to be together in every possible way, and that means I want you to be my wife. I love you from the depths of my heart. No one has ever meant so much to me, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for us. Will you marry me?”

  Her eyes stung with happy tears. “Yes!”

  He pushed the ring onto her finger and rose to his feet, catching her in his arms and bending her back slightly, planting a kiss on her that devastated her senses and made the whole center of her body light up.

  Next to them, Aram made a curious noise, and she chuckled as their kiss broke. Her dragon could sense when she was emotional, and he always made worried, clucking noises at her, as if asking if she were all right.