“There are many ways to be a leader,” Athan said. “And while I wouldn’t particularly care for someone other than Tendra or Idris teasing me like that, I still wouldn’t harm them. That’s not how a king leads.” His gaze darted to Idris. “That’s one thing our father taught us, maybe if he didn’t even believe it himself.”
“I like it here,” Amelia said. “You are all nice, and there aren’t scary guards who try to touch me.”
Idris’s low growl filled the room.
Her little hand reached out and patted his knee. He instantly stopped. “I want you to be happy here, with us.”
Tendra had taken the book from Athan and was scanning the pages. “Um, so, there’s a thing here…” She glanced up at me and ran her tongue over the tip of her fangs.
“What is it?” Idris demanded, his body going tight beside mine.
“So she’s still human, yeah?”
We all nodded.
“So she can have kids.”
Idris squeezed my hand. “Get to the point, Tendra.”
“Her kids will be born as vampires,” she blurted out, staring at my stomach like I was going to shoot out a baby right then. “Um, enhanced vampire babies. Or so it says here. Again, it says it’s legend, but we just brought her back to life based on legend, so I’m gonna say that her giving birth to super-vampire babies isn’t out of the realm of possibility.” She glanced at the spine. “Who the hell wrote this anyway?”
Athan glanced at it, then his eyes drifted to Idris. “Asus’s vampire.”
“Who’s…Oh!” Tendra’s eyes widened.
“What, who?” I asked.
“The Elder, the same one who bit a human and created the line that would eventually lead to…” She pointed her thumbs at herself. “Me. Guy is no dummy.”
Idris’s voice was low. “She’s not having children unless she wants to. Up to her.”
I’d always wanted children. A family of my own. But not yet. For now, I’d enjoy my new family, the one I’d somehow managed to worm myself into, despite my heritage. “Sure, but let’s have a honeymoon period first. Can we do that?”
Idris tugged me to him, and pressed a kiss to my mouth. “We can do whatever you want.”
“Okay, well, how about I eat some more, then you eat, then everyone gives us some time alone.”
His face flushed, and a sly grin stretched his mouth. “Deal.”
Chapter 16
Idris
We shooed everyone out of the room. Even Amelia seemed happy to give us time alone. I made Celia eat some more and she managed half a protein bar and some water before she said that was enough, that she’d take it a bit at a time. I wasn’t thrilled, but understood.
“Your brother isn’t too angry with you?” she asked.
“He’s forgiven me,” I said. “I’m grateful.”
“I look forward to getting to know him better. He wasn’t so happy to know me last time we met.”
I heaved a sigh. “That feels so long ago, and it was only days.”
“A lot has happened since then.” She grinned. She stood up and walked toward me. I didn’t love how shaky her limbs were, and she was still a little pale, but her eyes were clear and bright. She was beautiful.
“That bathroom have a shower?” She pointed to the door behind us.
“Yes, it’s my private bathroom.” I smiled. “Pays to be the king’s brother.”
“I’d like to wash up. I was…kind of dead for a couple hours after all.”
“Yes, go ahead.”
She took a step back, but stumbled, her legs not supporting her weight. I picked her up. “That’s it, I’m coming with you. You can barely stand.”
“Will privacy not be a thing between us?” She smiled at me.
“Not for a bit, not until I know you have your strength back.”
I stripped her in the bathroom, her clothes revealing more pale skin. But her body was working to build up her blood supply, and already her flesh was pinking up again. Her lips were full and red, and the way she kept biting them was making me hard. I tossed off my clothes and turned the silver knobs of my tile shower. I also had a claw-foot tub in the corner, which I never used, but now I imagined Celia lounging there, me sitting on the floor beside her, lazily dangling my fingers in the water while she smiled at me, face flushed from the heated bath.
Right, those were fantasies that might actually come true. Now, though, I had to focus on getting her clean. She gazed around in awe at my bathroom, poking at the tiles with her toes, and stroking my marble sink with her fingers.
I directed her into the shower with firm hands on her naked hips. As she tipped her head back to wet her hair, a small groan escaped her throat. I stared at her tits, her nipples hard and rosy. She sluiced the water through her hair, and I grabbed some soap and worked it into a lather. I ran my hands down her neck, over those beautiful full breasts, her hips, legs. I picked up a foot at a time, working the soap between her toes while she kept her balance with a hand on my shoulder.
I slipped my fingers in the crease of her ass, and her breath coasted over my wet skin. I was hard. It was nearly impossible not to be, not while standing this close to the woman I loved. The woman I’d thought was dead.
She brushed the head of my weeping cock, and glanced down to see it standing at attention. She blinked the water out of her eyes and wrapped her little hand around the base, squeezing and stroking.
I slapped a hand against the wall above her as I dropped my head between her shoulders. I never thought I’d have this again, that I’d feel this, be able to look into her eyes while she touched me. I slipped my other hand down her stomach, and she sucked in a breath just as I reached the top of her mound. I didn’t want to tax her, but fuck, I needed to touch. “Celia.”
“It’s okay,” she whispered. “Touch me. Prove to both of us that I’m alive.”
I reached her pussy, her flesh heated and slippery not from the water, but from her own juices. She moaned again, rubbing her legs together, trapping my hand there.
She stroked me again, and I entered her with one finger. She gasped, her body going tight before she relaxed around the intrusion. “Idris,” she gasped, her eyes falling closed. “Oh, God, that feels so good.”
I pumped in and out of her, rubbing her clit with my thumb. She was wet and squirming against me, those pretty tits rubbing my chest.
I didn’t want to draw this out, and neither did she, we needed it so badly. “Fuck me,” she said, locking eyes with me. “Please.”
I didn’t hesitate. I lifted her up so she could wrap her legs around my waist. With her back against the shower wall, I entered her. Every inch of her squeezed every inch of me, and I nearly came the instant I was embedded to the hilt. I quivered under her gentle hands, the way she stroked my shoulders, my neck, my face. “I love you,” she whispered. “You’re my man. My man.”
With a growl, I pulled my hips back and snapped them into her. She cried out, and then held on as I fucked into her with abandon. I knew this angle was good for her. I could tell with every breathy little whimper she made when I slammed my hips against hers. She shook—her legs, her arms, her entire body, and before I knew it, she was coming on my cock, trembling against me, saying my name, and squeezing my dick so goddamn good that I threw my head back and spilled inside her.
The water was still warm as I washed her again, paying special attention to the area between her legs. She swayed on her feet, yawning and mumbling about wanting to sleep.
I turned off the water, dried her with one of my softest towels off my shelf, and then wrapped her up in a long T-shirt of mine and some underwear Tendra had helpfully brought to us.
I made her eat the rest of the protein bar, and drink some more water, before laying her down in the bed. She smi
led at me sleepily. “I’ll get my strength back soon. Then we can do two rounds.”
I laughed and pushed her wet hair off her forehead. “I don’t care about two rounds. I care about you being healthy and happy.”
“Mmm, well, I’m definitely the second, and we’ll work our way to the first.”
“Rest, little one,” I said. “You need to heal.”
She puckered her lips, and by the time I pulled away, she was asleep.
I now had something to live for. Not just something to fight for, something to live for. A reason to come out the other side intact and whole. A reason not to plunge like a madman into something without thinking first. Every moment had led to Celia. Now she was here, and I’d live like hell to deserve her.
Epilogue
Idris
A WEEK LATER…
“Can you act human?” Celia asked me, turning in the passenger seat of the car to face me.
I raised my eyebrows. “In what way?”
She gestured to me with a hand flung up and down my body. “Less, vampire-like?”
I blinked at her. “I’m not sure how to do that.”
She blew out a breath. “I want you there with me, I do, but there is no way Monica isn’t going to think something is up as soon as all that is Idris Gregorie steps foot into her apartment.”
“I can be inconspicuous,” I said.
She snorted.
We were heading back to Mission. This time we could go the easy way—in a car—because for once nothing was chasing us and wanting us dead. In the week since Celia had been revived, the Quellen had all but pulled out of Mission to seek blood and money elsewhere. We’d picked off most of the Valarian army that still lurked, and some had even defected to join our ranks. Keno was good and dead, as we’d found his charred body the next day.
I believed Celia when she said she loved me. I believed her when she said she was happy with her life at the mansion. But that didn’t stop me from being very anxious over returning to Mission. What if she realized she liked her life better there? What if she changed her mind?
I had expressed this all to Athan, and had expected him to roll his eyes at me or tell me I was being stupid, but instead he’d gripped my shoulder tightly and told me to trust her, to trust in what she and I had. I was trying very very hard to listen to my older brother.
Celia sat beside me in one of our black sedans as I drove into Mission. We didn’t keep expensive cars, as they aroused suspicion when we use them in Mission. This was some Japanese model, and it did the job. I didn’t really care about cars, and didn’t like to drive much anyway.
She was watching my face, but I kept my eyes on the road.
“I’m sorry. I realize you can’t be less vampire-like.”
“I understand that it might be preferable to you to have a human boyfriend who you could live with in Mission, but that is not preferable to me, because then I wouldn’t have you.”
She smiled at that. “A human boyfriend is not preferable to me, because he wouldn’t be you.”
I reached over and gripped her hand. “I will behave.”
“I know you will. I appreciate you coming with me. I have to have some closure. Let Charlie and Monica know I’m okay. Turn in my resignation at my job. I know it’s common in Mission to disappear, but I don’t want to.”
“I’m happy to come with you.”
We left the Gregorie compound shortly after sunset and were in Mission City limits in less than two hours. I never liked the city. We chose Mission for the subway tunnels, not the depressed topside. The streets were quiet, only a few teenagers roaming around before curfew. I drove directly to Charlie’s apartment, where I parked along the curb. I helped Celia out, and she heaved a breath as she gazed up at the window to Charlie’s room before grabbing my hand and walking at my side into the building.
The stairs were sticky with…something…and the walls were covered in graffiti, but Celia assured me this was one of the safest apartment buildings in town. I made a note to talk to Athan about taking some money from our coffers to give to Charlie’s family. Maybe they could get out of Mission, afford better medical care for Charlie. We had a lot of money passed down through centuries in our clan, more than we could spend just about ever—as we had investments. Plus, the interest alone on the vast sum kept us comfortable. Yeah, I’d have to talk to Athan.
Celia knocked on the door, and Monica opened it with her cellphone pressed to her ear.
“Can’t take the extra shift, Charlie has a—” Her mouth dropped open, her eyes widened, and she stared at Celia like she was seeing a ghost. “Gotta go,” she muttered before letting the phone slip from her ear to clatter to the floor. “Oh, my God, Celia!” Her voice was a shriek that hurt my ears, but Celia launched herself into her friend’s arms.
I stayed back, trying to make myself smaller, which was nearly impossible in the small hallway. Monica was babbling. “Where have you been? We’ve been worried sick, and the police didn’t do jack and…” Her gaze cut to me suddenly, like she just noticed me standing there, and she stiffened. “Um…Jesus Christ, who’s the human boulder?”
Celia reached back, clasping my hand in hers. “This is Idris.”
Monica didn’t say a word, only gaped at me. I kept my mouth shut. My fangs descended more when I fed, but they were still larger than a human’s canines.
“Idris?” Monica whispered. Her eyes sliced to Celia. “What the hell is going on?”
“Can we come inside? I’ll explain. I’d like to see Charlie.”
“Sure. Tim’s working, so—” Again, her eyes cut to me, and I got the sense she wasn’t sure about having me in her home.
“Nice to meet you, Monica,” I spoke up. “Any friend like you who means a great deal to Celia means a great deal to me, too.”
She still didn’t look convinced. “Yeah, sure,” she said in a dazed voice, then stepped back to let us walk through the door.
Twenty minutes later I was on the couch next to Celia, and she was shoving something she called a “brownie” into her mouth, while she spent the entire time lying to Monica in a way I knew made her uncomfortable. “So yeah, he’s a friend from foster care and we reconnected. I’m sorry I dropped off the face of the earth for a bit, but I’m back now. Well, I’m back to say goodbye because I’m moving with him.”
“Moving where?” Monica looked suspicious. This human was not stupid or naïve.
“Um, Canada.”
“Canada?” she squeaked.
“Idris likes cold weather.”
Celia hated this, the lying. I could see it all over her face. Her hands were clenched in her lap, and as much as I hadn’t wanted her friend Monica to know the truth—the secret of our existence was important—I knew that Tendra had told her friend the truth.
So I didn’t want Celia to have to lie anymore. Which was why I opened my mouth, let my fangs show and said, “Celia is not telling the truth, at my request, but I can see she hates lying to you, and I don’t want her to have to. So the truth is that I’m a vampire, and she’s going to be my wife, and live with me in my clan’s compound.”
Monica’s face drained of color. Then she looked at Celia. “Sweetie, maybe we should talk in another room.”
Celia wasn’t even looking at her friend, she was glaring at me. “Seriously?”
“Seriously what?”
“I had this whole lie prepared. It took me forever to come up with it. I had to make sure it all made sense and checked out. Now you just blurt out the truth like that?”
“Little one, I can tell it pains you to lie to your friend.”
“Of course it does,” she snapped. “I hate lying. I wanted to throw up on the way here. I was worried out of my mind that I’d screw it up. And now you just go and tell her the truth anyway?�
�� She smacked my arm, hard. “That’s rude, Idris.” She crossed her arms and pouted. “I could have just told her the truth from the beginning and saved myself a lot of stress. Ugh.”
She was cute when she was angry, which was why I lost the battle to stop my smile.
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t smile when I’m mad at you.”
“But you’re no longer the quiet Celia I first met.”
“Yeah, well, vampire assassins trying to murder me in my own home and being saved by another big, bad vampire who I then fell in love with has a way of changing a girl.”
A strangled sound came from across the room and we both looked to see Monica staring at us with a dumbfounded expression.
Celia looked contrite. “Okay, so I lied, and I’m sorry but these vampires are all secretive about the fact that they exist.”
Monica still didn’t say anything, her gaze ping-ponging between the two of us.
“So I can tell you the whole story if you want?” Celia asked tentatively.
Monica nodded and in a strained voiced said, “Th-that would be good.”
So Celia did, her hand in mine the whole time. She told her friend the truth while she held my hand. Monica didn’t believe it, but came around when I showed her my fangs and when I bit into Celia’s wrist.
By the time Celia was finished, Monica looked exhausted, but the color had returned to her cheeks. “I-I’m not sure what to say.”
“You won’t tell anyone, right?” Celia asked.
“Uh, no. First of all, because they’d throw me in a mental institution. And second of all, because I love you. Still, this is…a lot to process.”
“I know,” Celia said.
Just then a small voice drew our attention. “Cee Cee?”
Charlie stood in the opening of the hallway, wearing pajamas with spaceships on them, his feet bare.
“Honey,” Monica said, concern for her son etched in her face as she stood up. “I thought you were sleeping. You should be in bed.”
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