by Lexi Blake
For the first time Dev actually looked sympathetic to the vampire. “He was extremely sick. You probably should avoid that part of the forest. He didn’t want you to know, but I think we should all understand that even a vampire of Marcus’s age can’t keep going without blood forever.”
“I’ve purged the faery horse’s blood,” Marcus assured everyone. “I think it was affecting my emotional control and that is why I attacked in such a fashion. I gave in to certain impulses I should have ignored.”
“What do you mean you haven’t fed in days?” Kelsey stood up and faced her mentor. At least that was what she’d called him. “You’ve only been missing for one day.”
A long sigh issued from the vampire. “I didn’t feel like eating. Don’t push this. I’ll be more cognizant of what I’m doing. I’ll hunt when I can. Devinshea assures there is plenty of game in the woods. I’ll hunt in the old ways.”
“Animal blood won’t sustain you the way human blood will,” Kelsey insisted. “Damn it, Marcus. You were weak and you healed both me and Summer and got in a fight with a man horse. You need to properly feed.”
She started to roll up her sleeve.
I had a problem with that. I didn’t want to have a problem with that. Having a problem with that was ridiculous because I’d only recently met Marcus Vorenus, and he’d proven to be far more than I wanted to handle. Still, the thought of Marcus sinking his fangs into the lovely Kelsey set me on edge.
He stepped back and I could see that those fangs were out. “Absolutely not. You’re pregnant, Kelsey. I would not feed from you for that reason alone. I told you. I’m not completely in control.”
He was hurting. It was easy to see. He hungered.
“Marcus, I told you I would do it,” Dev began.
“And I told you I would rather end my existence,” Marcus growled back.
“Don’t be so damn stubborn,” Dev argued.
“I’ll do it,” I heard myself say.
The world seemed to stop as his eyes found mine, and I realized there was no going back.
Chapter Fourteen
Zoey
I pulled the covers around my son and leaned over to kiss him goodnight. It was almost midnight and I was feeling far calmer than I had all day. The bag of holding was hidden in my closet and I was certain that no one could find it except me and my father. Sarah had already taken a quick look at it, though she’d been forced to do it with the book in the bag. When she’d tried to take it out, it had vanished in her hand. She could still feel the book, still hold it, but it became invisible.
Only Lee could see that book. It had been invisible to my father’s eyes, too. I needed time to figure out how it was warded and why my human son seemed to be the only one it was vulnerable to. It wasn’t like I could parade the rest of the children by to see if there was an age boundary. As I got the kiddos ready for bed, my mind was whirling with how I would figure it all out.
The most important thing was I now had leverage. If Myrddin persisted in this business of kidnapping my friends, I would find a way to torch his book. Or I would trade it for Dev, Kelsey, and Marcus.
If Myrddin didn’t kill me first. I thought I had some leverage there, too. Despite the hold he had over Danny, I doubted my husband would let his advisor murder me.
Choose her.
Gray’s words made my gut knot. That had been his advice to Daniel, and after thirteen years of marriage and a whole bunch of children, he shouldn’t have needed that reminder.
It was precisely why I wasn’t going to tell him or anyone else where I’d hidden the bag. After Sarah left, I’d moved it just in case. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Sarah. She was a witch, and I’d seen so recently the effect Myrddin could have on powerful witches. The way Nimue was acting put me on edge.
“Is Papa coming to say good night?” Rhys asked. He shared a room with his twin. I’d offered them separate rooms when they’d turned ten, but they’d declined.
Lee sat up in bed.
“I’m hoping he’ll be home in the morning,” I said, my heart in my throat. I wasn’t lying about that. I hated not telling him the total truth, but if I could give him one more restful night, I would.
Rhys proved he was far more trusting than his brother. He sighed and snuggled down. “Okay. Hopefully he gets in before school. I have a soccer game after. He promised he would come.”
He was used to his fathers being busy. After all, they ran the supernatural world. It wasn’t surprising for Dev or Daniel to be out of touch for a bit. And sometimes they had to miss a soccer game or a school play. I put a hand on his head. “I’ll be there no matter what.”
His lips curled up. “I know that. You’re always there, Mom.”
That last bit was said with a hint of rebuke. I’d been told that one day they would appreciate my overbearingness. “Expect that to never stop, kiddo. ’Night.”
I looked over to Lee, who was frowning my way. He didn’t like not telling Rhys everything, but he’d agreed to give me the rest of the night before bringing his siblings in. Fen was already asleep. I’d had a cot brought in, but he was curled up on the big beanbag in a way that made me wonder if he’d made three turns around it before he’d settled in. The kid was more wolf than human, and watching Kelsey raise him was going to be one of the highlights of the next few years.
I kissed Lee’s forehead. “’Night, baby boy.”
“See you tomorrow,” he whispered and I could hear a bit of fear, as if those words were a question.
“Of course you will. Bright and early,” I promised quietly. “Don’t worry, darling. I’m going to make sure everything is perfect. And know that Papa is thinking about you. Always. Go to sleep. I’ll take care of everything.”
He nodded and settled in. Dannan and a few other of the pixies were hanging out as they usually did. Normally I thought nothing of it, but this night I was grateful. They were watching over my boys, and I’d already seen the contingent in Evan’s room. I realized how much I’d come to count on them. Sometimes I thought I was alone, but these loyal creatures were my own army, and they could move mountains when they wanted to.
“Good night,” I said quietly to them.
I turned off the light and left the room. This was my favorite time of the day. Because of our natures, we didn’t put the kids down until after eleven. School didn’t start until noon. We were on a different schedule than the human world. But I was like any mom. I loved that moment at the end of the day when I settled in my little ones, when I knew they were safe and cared for.
Where was Dev? What was he doing? Was he safe? I prayed Kelsey had found him and they had Marcus. The three of them together could handle almost anything.
“Hey, are they asleep?” Daniel stood in the hallway. He looked beyond tired, and I wondered what Myrddin had required of him.
No matter how irritated I was, I couldn’t help but go to him. I wrapped my arms around him and let my head settle on his chest. “Evan and Fen are, but the twins are probably still awake if you want to go in.”
His arms wrapped around me. “I’ll let them sleep. I’m worried if I see them I’ll break down. God, Z, I can’t stand the fact that he’s not here.”
“We’re going to get him back.” I missed Dev, but Daniel spent most of his time with him. We were like many families. We all worked. My work often had me with Sarah or Neil meeting with committees or school officials. Danny and Dev worked together much of the time.
“Yes. We will. I’ll never stop looking for him.” Daniel rubbed his cheek against my head. “I won’t get caught up in life. I won’t let time go by the way I did with…”
I tilted my chin up, knowing exactly where his thoughts had gone. I also knew the well of guilt he could dive into. “It’s okay to say her name.”
“Summer. I won’t be weak the way I was with Summer.”
“You weren’t weak, Danny.” I’d gone over this a thousand times in my head. I had that same deep well when it came to our oldest da
ughter. “We didn’t know she was ours in the beginning, and honestly, even if we had we weren’t ready to raise a magical child. We weren’t in any position to protect her, and she would have been hunted here. I assure you Halfer would have taken her if he could have.”
She’d been part of the contract I’d signed with the demon. Oh, the Light of Alhorra had all been a distraction for what Halfer had truly wanted, which was to force Daniel to work for him, but he’d been a demon who knew a deal when he saw it. That child of light would have been gobbled up if he could have managed it. Or she would have become one more way to control her father.
“I’ll give you that, but we’ve stopped looking in the last few years.”
“We’ve exhausted the possibilities,” I argued. We’d searched and searched and found no real options that didn’t involve a wild-goose chase ticket paid for with one of our souls. “Have you thought about the fact that she would know how to get here? The faeries knew. They would have taught her. She was made of powerful magic. She could have found us, and that tells me something.”
“That she hates us?”
I never said he was the most positive of souls. “That she’s happy. That she feels complete. I still want to find her, but I have some faith. Or time moves weird on whatever plane she’s on and she’s still a baby. Maybe one day when we’re old she’ll show up on our doorstep and we’ll have to deal with a teenager who can shape reality around her. That’s going to be fun.”
“I can only pray that will happen, but in the meantime…”
“We’re not giving up on anyone.” I stepped back and took his hand. “Do we need to go down to the temple now?”
I had to hope Myrddin wasn’t refreshing himself at his place. He would have a whole lot of questions, and I was sure many of them would be directed my way. I had to hope that doing the ritual and pleasing Daniel would be more important than berating me.
“In about twenty minutes. We’re meeting Myrddin and Nim in my office and then we’ll go down to the temple. But I needed something first. Baby, I hate to ask you but Myrddin needed blood. Quite a bit of it.”
I rested my head against his chest and barely managed to not curse. Fucker had taken quite a bit if Daniel’s heart rate was any indication, and it almost certainly was. A vampire’s heart beats fine as long as his blood volume was up. Danny’s was slow this evening, and I imagined he was feeling pretty sluggish. He was worried and his body was weak and tired, something that would set him on edge.
At least I could help in this case. I could ensure he was strong and ready to go if anything dangerous happened.
I took his hand and led him down the hallway back to our bedroom. I closed the door behind us. “You need to feed, Danny.”
“I need you. I need to be close to you.” The words came out low and rumbling from his throat. “God, Z, I know how upset you are with me for letting Myrddin come here. I know you don’t understand, and I don’t have any right to ask you.”
I went up on my toes and brushed my lips against his. I was upset, but he certainly had the right. I was his wife. Just because he was a dumbass who couldn’t see the truth didn’t mean I wasn’t going to love him. I fully expected him to forgive me when he inevitably discovered I’d stolen from his mentor. I could give him this. I needed this, too.
He leaned over and lifted me up into his arms, holding me to his chest. “God, I love you. All these years later and it’s still you.”
“Dev’s in there, too.” One of the best things about our ménage was getting to watch my two hot guys go at it from time to time.
“He is, but that doesn’t make me love you less. You taught me that. It just makes my heart that much bigger.”
“I’m glad because I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that guy on the TV show Dart. He’s really hot,” I said with a grin. Neil and I had watched that show religiously. Sure it was about a dude who took down bad guys by throwing darts, but his abs were perfect. I was married. Not dead.
Danny growled, but I got a grin out of him. “I’ll kill him first, and you won’t even want to know what Devinshea would do to the man. You get two of us and that’s it.” He strode into the bedroom the three of us shared and dropped me on the big bed. “Take off that shirt.”
I pulled it over my head and tossed it aside as I could feel his magic begin to cover my senses. I shoved my slacks, too, because there was no way this didn’t end with me naked. He needed more than blood. His eyes were bleeding to sapphire blue as the vampire part of him took over. I sat on the edge of the bed, staring up at him. He was right. All these years later and he still took my breath away.
His hands found my hair and he tilted my head back, staring down at me. “I love you, Zoey. Don’t ever forget that. I don’t know what Gray meant. I’ll always choose you. You know that, right?”
I wanted to believe it. Here in the safety of our bedroom with our children sleeping close it was easy to think nothing could ever really come between us. We’d been through all the bad stuff. This was supposed to be the good part of our life. I wasn’t arguing tonight. We were both missing Devinshea so much, and I prayed we could fight tomorrow when he was home and Danny was grateful to Myrddin, and I would know the bastard had done it all to get in his good graces. “Of course.”
“It’s always been you,” he said, leaning over and kissing me. He lifted me up into his arms. “And I’ll find Devinshea for us. He’ll be back in this bed tomorrow night. I know it.”
Because he believed what Myrddin was telling him. I let go of the thought because Danny’s magic was making the world seem safer than it truly was. That magic made me warm and soft and ready for my husband. It wrapped us up together until all that mattered was his lips on mine, his arms around me. He shifted so I was straddling him, his back against the big headboard. I felt the scrape of his fangs over my skin and it sent a shiver through me.
With a twist of his hand, my bra was discarded. He tossed it to the side and his tongue dragged over my neck.
“I need you so much, baby,” Daniel whispered against my skin. “I need you to be safe.”
Then he did not need to hear about my day. But I did understand what he was telling me. He didn’t have to say it. If we figured out where Dev was, he would go. “I know, babe. I promise.”
Because we had three children to protect, and they needed a parent. I’d given up my reckless ways years before. With the exception of today’s thievery, I’d become a happy soccer mom who occasionally wore a crown. I tried to keep up a certain level of fitness because honestly, I was required to be pretty flexible, but I wasn’t ready to get into a fight. Daniel was the right person for this job. And I’d made my son a promise.
I let my head fall back, inviting Daniel in.
His arms tightened around me and he struck with flawless accuracy. My whole body lit up with the piercing of his fangs. When Daniel fed, we connected in a way I didn’t with anyone else in the world. In that moment we were perfectly in tune, his heart finding the rhythm of my own and matching it, our breaths in time. I held on as pleasure coursed through my veins, an orgasm rushing through me. I could feel his cock pressing against me, ready for the second part of our exchange. Vampires feed off blood, but they also need the boost they get from sexual energy.
It was also comfort for Daniel. I was languid and happy when Daniel released the vein and flipped us over. He pressed me into the mattress and I sighed as I felt him pull at my undies. They came apart easily and then Daniel was shoving his own slacks down and pressing my legs apart and making a place for himself.
He loomed above me, his eyes finding mine, and I could already see how his skin had warmed. I knew if I’d put my head against his chest, his heart would beat against my ear. There was something satisfying about knowing my blood sustained him. We needed each other in ways most people could never imagine, and that was why even when we were together we felt Dev’s absence.
I shoved aside the thought and concentrated on Daniel. He would need
strength tonight. I was sure Myrddin would put him through a lot, anything to make Danny understand how hard he was working.
Daniel had shoved his slacks down enough that he could thrust up inside me, joining us. Despite the fact that I’d already had an orgasm, the minute he was inside me, my body primed for another.
I wrapped my legs around his waist, grateful for these moments when I didn’t have to think about anything but him. My body was warm and happy, my soul briefly content.
I let it all float away as Daniel made love to me. His body nestled against mine as he worked over me. In no time at all I was clutching his back and tightening around him as I came for the second time. Daniel stiffened above me as he joined me in going over the edge.
He fell down on top of me, his weight a delicious burden. I loved being crushed under him and hearing his breath as he came down from the high. His cheek nestled against mine.
“I love you, Z.”
“I love you, too,” I whispered back.
We held on to each other until it was time to go to his office, each of us praying the evening ended with three of us in bed.
* * * *
Kelsey
“I’ll do it,” Summer said.
Yeah, I knew that wasn’t going to go well. You see, this is another place where I would have sat back and let the queen deal with a bunch of irrational, overly emotional dudes. She was used to it.
But the queen was likely somewhere on the Earth plane freaking out because I wasn’t on the Earth plane. She was probably having to deal with my overly emotional dudes, so I had to handle hers. And the kid.
“You will not allow a vampire to feed off of you.” Dean looked outraged in that way only the very young could be. The early twenties are a time of great righteousness, I’ve found, because you’re old enough to realize the world sucks and should be a better place, but not smart enough to understand that only happens with compromise and tolerance.