Trusting His Vampire Lord

by Violet Joicey-Cowen

  * * * *

  Cracking under his fingers brought Raff out of his memories. Water flowed over his face as he looked up. His fingernails had turned to claws as black as his hair and broken the tiling of the shower in several places. His fangs had lengthened, and his vision was red-tinged, too. He had to make a conscious effort to shift everything back. I’m not going to be owned by someone. I can’t. Ves is going to have to accept it.

  Raff straightened and reached for the shower gel. He scrubbed himself as thoroughly as he could, twice, but still detected a trace of Ves’s scent when he was done. Admitting to himself that short of ripping a few layers of skin off he would have to live with it for a couple of days at least, he rinsed off for a final time, washed his hair, and finished in the shower.

  * * * *

  A few days later, Raff had to hunt Freddie down to check in and see how he was doing after the miracle that had happened during the storm. Miracle wasn’t overstating things.

  Freddie had gotten in an accident a few years back, before Maurice had taken over the coven, and because he had found his mate but been separated from him, he hadn’t been able to drink his mate’s blood and heal properly. Freddie had spent several years in a wheelchair as a result. The mates had found each other again recently, but he hadn’t drunk any of Sol’s blood until the night of the storm when he’d gotten into a second accident. The second one nearly killed him, but he had come out of it fully healed, including his spine. It was taking some time to recover the strength he’d had and for the nerves to recover completely, but he was getting there.

  “A phone isn’t much use if you don’t keep it on you, Freddie.”

  Freddie jerked his head around to look at Raff. “What?” He patted pockets for a minute. “Shit. Sorry, Raff. I think I left it back at the house with my chair. I’m used to having the pockets and bag on the back of my chair to carry things around in.”

  “You want to keep walking?” Raff gestured at the scrubby grass between the trees all around them.

  “Sure. What’s up?”

  “Nothing. Just wanted to check in and see how you were doing.”

  “Hmmm…”

  “What?”

  “You can check in by text. Or email. Or one of several other ways. I might not have my phone on me, but I’d have replied when I finished exercising my newly working legs. But you felt the need to come see me in person.”

  “You’ve been busy with Sol a lot. Can’t I just want to see my friend? You’ve been staying with him almost every night since the storm.”

  “Speaking of that. I wanted to thank you,” Freddie said, more seriously.

  “Thank me? For what?”

  “Sol told me what happened. He was too scared of losing me to be rational, especially with us having been apart for years. His lion was running on pure instinct and wouldn’t let his more logical human side run the show. If it wasn’t for you taking charge and telling the others and him what to do, I’d probably be dead.”

  Raff didn’t know what to say to that. “I…”

  “You don’t have to say anything back. I just wanted you to hear it.”

  “I couldn’t lose you, Freddie. Not again. Not for real this time. We spent a year not knowing where you were or what happened to you, then three years at the hands of that madman, and a few years after that learning to live again. We thought you must be dead, why else couldn’t Daniel find any trace of you? We never thought to get him to check the coven we were sent to, then left again. How could we have known you were there, but away at the time? Andre and I, we’re so happy to know you’re alive. You don’t know. You can’t.”

  Both were silent for a few moments, thinking of the friends they had lost. Raphael, Andre, Frederick, Kourey, Bastien, and Guillaume had grown up together. Except for immediately after the coven leader mated, vampire children were few and far between, so it had been an almost unheard-of thing for six of them to be so close in age, and that went for any coven, not just theirs. Now there were only three of the six of them left.

  “Yeah, okay,” Freddie said quietly. “You know, if I’d known where you were. If I’d known what you and the others were going through…”

  “Don’t do that to yourself. You couldn’t have known.” Raff tried to throw off the melancholy mood. “So how are you anyway? How are your legs doing?”

  Freddie latched onto the change in subject with a grateful look. “Stronger. I can walk a bit farther every day. I don’t think it’ll be long before I can get rid of the chair altogether.”

  “Yeah? That’s great. And how are things going with Sol?” A not-so-faint hint of arousal flooded the air around them. “That good, huh?”

  Freddie tried to smack Raff on the arm, but he nearly overbalanced. Raff caught him and folded Freddie’s arm around his to give him some stability. “Shit. Didn’t realise how long I’d been out here. I’m about at my limit for now. Do you mind if we sit for a bit?”

  “Sure.” Raff gestured at a smooth spot on the ground. They walked over slowly, and he helped Freddie to sit. He wasn’t sure Freddie needed the help, but Raff needed to help.

  “So, Sol. Yeah, couldn’t be better.”

  “Are you blushing?” They were over a hundred years old. What could he possibly be blushing about?

  “No!” Freddie squirmed. “I’m not embarrassed—I’m turned on. Shit, Raff, being mated? To Sol? Yeah, we fucked when we first met years ago, and it was good, but this…I’m horny all the damn time. My dick hasn’t worked for years. I haven’t felt it for years. It’s like being a teenager again. All I have to do is get the slightest hint of his scent, or think about him, and my dick’s harder than any of the damn building materials he uses. Marble and granite included.”

  Long past worrying about overshares, Raff didn’t bat an eyelid. “I’m glad you were both able to sort things out.”

  “What about you?”

  “What about me?”

  Freddie had that look in his eyes. The one that said he wasn’t going to let it go. “You know what. You and Ves. When are you going to ‘sort things out’ with him?”

  “Freddie, you weren’t there when Maurice joined the coven, or when he took over. We’ve told you bits and pieces of what happened, but…the things he wanted to do to me.” Raff shivered at the phantom claws scraping across his skin. The tongue slithering up the back of his neck, marking him with a scent he didn’t want while multiple hands held him immobile. “I can’t be owned by someone. I can’t.”

  “Christ, Raff. No, I don’t know what you went through with him. But I do know Ves. He’s nothing like that. Ves is a good man. He’s a great leader to his coven and a good friend to me. His sister’s a bit of a nightmare, but even she’s not bad, just wild. Please, think about giving him a chance. At least don’t close yourself off to the idea completely. You’d be missing out on something that could be amazing with a really good man.”

  “I’ll think about it.”

  Chapter Four

  Ves

  “But it’s in the middle of nowhere,” Annette whined.

  “It’s Cumbria, not Outer Mongolia, Annette. There’s several towns, one of which is pretty large, and a city all within half an hour’s drive distance. Plus, a lot of villages. It’s not like you’re being abandoned on a desert island to fend for yourself for the rest of time.”

  “But it’s boring up there.”

  “How would you know? The only time you’ve been in the area is three years ago when you visited the pack. That was only for a few minutes, and you still managed to set the place ablaze.”

  The petulance cleared off his sister’s beautiful face as if by magic. “Oh yes, Jake is just edible.” She licked a fang and smirked. Her look spelled trouble.

  “He’s mated, Annette, as you know very well.”

  “A woman can still appreciate the view.”

  “As long as viewing is all you do. His mate nearly ripped your head off last time.”

  Annette made a dismissive gesture.
Her nails were painted a glossy green, so dark they might appear black to a human, and between that and the points she had them filed into, they looked like talons. “Pah, he’s human. What could he do to me?”

  “I’m not so sure about that. He didn’t smell entirely human to me. Regardless, you know better than to mess with a mated pair or piss off our allies. Especially when my mate is a member of their pack. I need this. I need to be closer to him.”

  The pout came back. This time accompanied by a scowl. “Fine. I don’t have to like it, though.”

  “Noted, but can you cool the attitude a little? It’s unsettling the whole coven, and everyone’s fractious enough as it is with the upcoming move. Now, would you please go ask Eddie to come in?”

  Annette’s immaculately clad form flounced out, though how she managed it in six-inch heels was anyone’s guess. Ves watched her go, praying to any god who would listen that his sister didn’t cause too much trouble with the upcoming move. It had been a few months since Ves had been to Whithowe-cum-Carden and spoken with Perry and just as long since he’d seen his mate. The purchase of the property they intended to live in had gone through, and Allan had put a few people to work on one of the smaller buildings straight away. Now the place—they had taken to calling it the Lodge—was habitable and had sunproof rooms for sleeping, even if it wasn’t all that pretty yet.

  “His Lordship requires your assistance,” Annette declared in a voice too loud to be accidental as the staccato beat of her heels travelled along the corridor. She wanted Ves to hear her, and he had to grit his teeth not to react.

  “Hurricane Annie on the warpath again?” Eddie strolled into the room a moment later. He raised an eyebrow at Ves and then shut the door behind himself at Ves’s nod.

  “She’s as delightful as ever,” Ves responded dryly, irritation abandoning him in the face of his second’s more relaxed attitude. Eddie had never understood Ves’s need to placate his sister but had always humoured him and followed Ves’s directions. He’d gone along with Ves’s urge to protect her, keep her safe and happy no matter what she pulled. But then Eddie didn’t know about Mathieu. Ves was reaching the end of his rope, though, and he had to protect the rest of the coven, too.

  “What’s rattled her cage this time?”

  “She still isn’t happy about the move but is looking forward to being closer to Jake.”

  “Oh dear. Has he been warned?”

  “I think Daniel’ll have him covered.”

  Eddie sat in one of the chairs and leaned forward, bracing his forearms on his knees. “So, what’s up?”

  “I need you to go around and speak to everyone who was willing to move ahead of the rest and help with the refurbishment and construction. Allan says the first building is at least dry and the sun-shielding is installed. I’ll be back and forth to oversee things. I’ll need you here when I’m there and vice versa. I hope you’re ready to do a lot of driving.”

  “Always, my liege.”

  “Cut it out.”

  “Sorry, boss. It’s just too tempting when you get all ordery.” Eddie grinned lazily at him.

  “Yeah, yeah. Get on with it, then.”

  Eddie wandered out with the same relaxed attitude he had entered the room with. The man was almost annoyingly laid-back most of the time, but he was the one Ves would choose to have at his back in a fight or any other emergency every time, which was why he had made the man his second. Eddie saw more than his laconic attitude would have you believe. Maybe if he had been around when Annette had been growing up, things might have been different…

  Ves got on with opening and replying to emails. He’d finally heard back on the last of the other properties he’d put offers in on, and it had been accepted. Offers a fair way in excess of the asking price tended to do that. He now had seven new places, plus the one they were in the process of refurbishing, that they planned on moving into. Allan had enough work coming his way to keep his construction company busy for years, as did his wife with her interior design business, loosely connected to Allan’s.

  The last thing he had to do that day was fire off an email to Perry, letting him know he would be going up in a couple of days to check on progress on the new coven house. He’d only seen the place the once, and hideous as it was, he had been able to see the potential that had brought the place to Sol’s mind when Freddie had first asked him to go through property details with him. He asked when Perry would be able to meet with him and suggested a couple of the dates during the time he would be in the area.

  His phone rang while he was in the process of clearing up his office and putting everything away for the night.

  “Feeling a little formal this morning, are you?” Perry’s warm voice rumbled down the phone at him, still a little scratchy from sleep.

  “Sorry, I guess I was.” Ves thought over the email he’d sent to Perry. It had been a little starchy. “I’ve been in the office all night, paperwork and emails.”

  “Never ends, does it?”

  Ves barked out a laugh. “No.”

  “So, that email. You wanted to have another meeting when you’re up here? I know we had to put off that one you wanted with all the business owners. Is that the one you want to schedule back in?”

  “Yes and no. Sorry about having to put it off, by the way. I had to fly over to France to meet with a couple wanting to join my coven. Now I’m back, but I’m wondering if it might be better to wait another few weeks until we have enough living quarters done up for us all to move in. Allan says enough’s been done to one of the buildings that it’s liveable, even if it isn’t all that civilised yet. We still need furnishings, beds, kitchenware, all that, though. As soon as there’s somewhere to sleep, I’ll be able to stay there long enough to get meetings done. This time around I just wanted to check in with you. We’re going to be living in fairly close proximity for at least ten years, Perry. I want us to be on good terms.”

  “As do I. There’s several leaders I’ve met since we got them all out of the warehouse who you couldn’t pay me to be around, but I think we’ll do all right.”

  Ves hung up after scheduling a few things with Perry. He was getting up to leave when footsteps approached hurriedly, and someone hammered on the door.

  “Come in, Verain.” Ves sat back down. The scent of the man through the door scratched at Ves’s nerves. Something was wrong.

  The man looked harried when he pushed the door open. “Sorry, Ves. We’ve, uh, we’ve got a bit of a problem. Dori and Annette are going at it.”

  “What? Why? What the hell did my sister do to push your wife that far?”

  Verain flushed. “She’s been…coming on to me, lately. It’s happened before, and Dori let it roll off her back, but we…we just found out she’s pregnant.”

  The implications flickered across Ves’s mind’s eye. Dori, sweet, gentle Dori. Pregnant female vampires were extremely protective of their mate and family. Dori took it a step further when carrying and turned into a hell-beast if anyone even glanced at her mate sideways. They only had one other child, and the entire coven remembered what Dori had been like. Annette foiled in anything wasn’t pleasant, and Ves had made very sure she’d be able to protect herself. Fuck.

  The chair he’d been sitting in crashed into the wall behind his desk as Ves threw himself from the room and along the corridor as fast as he could, Verain hot on his heels. The sound of screams, crashes, and swearing erupted from the other end of the mansion as they ran.

  Shit, even humans will be able to hear that from outside.

  Calm, sweet, and placid Dori had Annette pinned by the neck against a wall when Ves and Verain skidded into the hall. Annette kicked stockinged feet out at Dori. “Stay away from him, you bitch!” Dori growled. She lifted Annette away from the wall and slammed her back into it. Plaster cracked, and pictures to either side of the pair jumped and rattled around.

  Annette managed to hook a leg around Dori and flipped the pair of them away from the wall. They rolled across
the floor, hair and limbs flying. Dori came to rest on her back with Annette in her face. “You don’t get to do that to me. No one does that to me ever again.”

  Annette had raised her hand, claws extended, and was about to strike when Ves grabbed her around the waist and hauled her off Dori.

  “No, you don’t.” Ves fought to subdue her for a minute, while Verain did the same with his wife. Dori had jumped up and gone for Annette the moment her weight had lifted off Dori’s body. “Stop it, the pair of you,” Ves roared.

  Both women were shocked into silence, and then started yelling in unison.

  Ves let go of Annette and stepped in between her and Verain and Dori. He made a cutting motion with both hands. “I said stop.”

  They paused for a briefer moment before starting up again.

  “With both of you yelling, I don’t care. Annette, shut up. Verain, take your wife to your rooms. I’ll be by to talk to you both later. Dori, you’re not in trouble. Congratulations, I know you’ve been trying for a long time.” He didn’t spare them another glance but turned to his sister. “I asked you to cool things down. Why’d you have to start that, Annette?”

  “Me?” she shrieked. “I wasn’t doing anything. I was just talking to Verain when she jumped me.”

  “You were doing a damn sight more than talking to him, and you damn well know it. Or you were trying your hardest. Stay away from mated couples, Annette. It shouldn’t be something I need to say, but here I am, being forced to say it again anyway. She’s pregnant, Annette. Dori’s pregnant. She’d have had every right to tear you apart for trying it on with her mate even if she wasn’t pregnant. You just thought because she’s Dori that she wouldn’t make waves and you could go merrily on your way, doing whatever you want. Well, not anymore.” He took hold of Annette’s elbow and dragged her along corridors and upstairs until they got to her room. He opened the door and shoved her inside. “Pack a bag. Don’t bother with any dressy stuff.”