“Thanks, you know, for tailing us. It gets a little crazy, being hunted and all.”
“Hey, there’s nothing we like more than killing monsters.”
Vesper growled, her teeth gleaming against black lips.
“Not all of them are monsters,” Kendra said.
“Of course they are.” He glanced at her keeper, who was still watching them with guarded eyes. “He treating you okay?”
She smiled, even had the nerve to make it look genuine. “He treats me just fine.”
She glanced at her hand. He followed her gaze, caught the glow of gemstones on her ring finger. Diamonds. At least a dozen of them, arranged in the shape of a flower. That was an engagement ring. No, it had a second band wrapped around it. It was a wedding band.
Nick reached for her. Kendra gasped as he flipped her hair back from her throat. Vesper growled, and before he’d blinked, Kendra was standing forty feet away with Alessandro. Vesper planted herself between them, teeth dripping venom.
“We have to go,” Kendra called. “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. You’ll still be here, right?”
To watch over them while the beast lay with his sister? Oh, sure. No problem. He looked at Alessandro pointedly. “I only need one shot,” he warned.
Vesper’s hackles rose.
“You’d have to catch me first,” he said.
And then, they were gone.
Even the vampire’s scent had vanished after him. Nick only had experience hunting younger vampires. He’d never encountered one like this.
He’d seen Kendra’s throat for just a second but he recognized vampire scars easily enough. He stumbled numbly through snow back into the woods, Vesper behind him, whining. A moment later he felt her hand on his shoulder. He turned to see her. Brown eyes were sympathetic.
“I didn’t know,” she said.
“Did your brother know?”
She shook her head. Black hair trickled over her shoulder, covered one bare breast. “Maybe. I’m not sure.”
He pulled out his phone to text Lothar. Vesper, cold without her fur, pressed close to him, watching the screen on his phone. He looped his arms around her then typed.
Did you know?
It took a moment. Nick rubbed her back. “Why don’t you shift before you freeze.”
“I cannot talk to you like that.”
“You’re here, and that’s enough.”
Nodding, she backed away, then shapeshifted. It took her seconds and there was the wolf before him, lean and powerful. As impressive as she was, a vampire like Alessandro could break her. Her brother had almost died once when a vampire crushed his spinal column. His magic was the only reason he wasn’t wheelchair bound for life. Nick didn’t like what this vampire was doing. He was putting Kendra and Vesper both at risk. Nick wanted him gone.
I suspected, came the reply finally from Lothar.
She’s still human, Nick texted back. Mostly human.
Fang marks?
Yes.
She is his mate now, Lothar responded.
How did this happen?
In normal way, I would presume.
Sarcasm, at a time like this? Just one more reason why he and Lothar couldn’t be in the same room together for more than a few minutes without being at each other’s throats.
You let this happen, Nick typed.
I helped keep her alive. I did not plan this.
How long have you known?
I assumed only. Priest confirmed she was acting on own will.
Who marries a vampire?
It does happen.
Well, that was disturbing. We should have stopped it.
Alessandro has had no reported kills in last hundred years, and she acted on own will. Is not our choice. Is hers.
This whole thing used to be so simple, Nick thought to himself. When he’d first met Danielle and found out that he was a Carrier it was as if all the missing pieces of his life had just come together. Then Danielle had left him for Lothar, he became familiar with the idiocy of the Council, and now this.
It wasn’t up to them, huh? They existed for the sole purpose of killing monsters. He glanced at Vesper. She was focused on the forest as she kept an eye out for vampires, tail poised alertly behind her. Did he exist to kill monsters? Or was his life so interwoven with hers that he was for her and her children?
No. Alessandro was a monster. He needed to die. Damn it, but he hated what this vampire was doing to him.
Vesper snorted once in dismissal at the darkness, then came to him, bumping him with her big head. He rubbed his chilled hands against her fur. She was right about it not being the same like this. He couldn’t hear her voice, but he could see the look in her eyes; as if she could see straight through to his soul.
She was with him. And that was enough.
***
Kendra caught up with her breath as Alessandro set her down. Her head was spinning and her stomach nauseous. She held onto him to keep herself upright.
“That was way too fast for mortals,” she said. “You must have been pulling some g-forces there, bud.”
“I’m sorry, habibti.” He looked sorry, but she knew sorry changed nothing. “He got curious,” Alessandro finished.
She laughed at that. This whole thing was unbelievable. “Nick touched me and you panicked.”
“I never panic,” he said distinctly.
“Lothar does that. Goes crazy sometimes.”
“It’s the Territorial Aggression. That is common to their kind.”
“Their kind, yes. But how about yours?”
He refrained from comment. His brow furrowed in thought however, which told her everything she needed.
“You know a lot about werewolves,” she said.
“Know thy enemy.”
“Your enemies used to be my friends.”
He studied her for a time. “I understand, maybe better than you, the sacrifices you make for me.”
She hadn’t said it to make him feel guilty. Too bad it wasn’t possible to reverse time for just a minute and not say something you regretted.
Kendra touched his face, ran her fingers over his beard. This wasn’t easy for either of them.
“It’s okay. Nick has Vesper, Danielle has Lothar. Greg has Steph. My mom has my dad. What do they expect us to do?”
He looked at her like she really had lost it. Sadly, it was a look that was becoming familiar to her.
“Maybe we should go inside now and get you fed,” she said.
“Perhaps that is best for the both of us.”
They took the steps into the inn and were shown graciously to their suite, Kendra embarrassed by the attention. Being a rich bride was out of her scope. She’d be relieved when they left the inn. Then again, she also wanted this night to last as long as possible. For obvious reasons.
The bellboy was tipped. The maid was tipped. They were happy. She was happy after Alessandro closed the door and locked them alone inside.
Kendra took a clarifying breath. “Can we pretend to be broke once in a while, just so I can feel at home?”
He shook his head at her.
“I left debt back in the states, by the way. I still owe on my house, my diner, my car.”
“We can pay them all off tomorrow.” He started slowly toward her.
“Well, okay, then.” She wiped her hand over her leg. “I was thinking I could give my diner to Steph and Greg. Wedding present for them.”
“That would be very generous of you.”
She shrugged. “I’m rich now, right? Might as well share.”
“It isn’t often you talk about your life to me.” He stopped before her.
“Trying to start a new one. I wouldn’t go back to my house now anyway. I can’t live in the Adirondacks after everything. Too scary.”
“Vampires are like vermin. Now and then you have to call an exterminator.”
“Nice one.”
He touched her head. She missed the way he usually touched her throa
t, but right at the moment that would be bad. “Let me, um, change,” she said. “Or how do you want to do this?”
“I’m not feeding with you in the room.”
“I thought so.”
“I’ll do it in the bathroom, behind a closed door.”
“I’ll just be a moment then the bathroom is all yours.” She unzipped their bag and pulled out the nightgown she’d ordered, hiding it behind her back since he hadn’t seen it yet. Grabbing her toiletry bag she slipped into the large bathroom. It had a tub big enough for four people.
“Wow,” she said.
Ignoring as best she could the uncomfortable splendor, Kendra focused on brushing her teeth. Her hair was perfect. Other than a quick combing in the morning, it needed no other maintenance, ever. She undressed, looking at herself in the full length mirror. Looked like her. Kind of. Like an enhanced version of herself. She checked for the scar on her knee from when she’d fallen off her bike and Jason had helped her home. It seemed like so long ago. A lifetime.
The scar was gone.
It was gone? Tears stung her eyes and everything went blurry. She backed into the door, leaning against it, breathing hard. Jason. A wave of panic spilled over her. What was she doing? How could she even consider this? It was him; his attraction, his power that had done this to her. Was she his wife or his victim?
Then she heard Alessandro’s voice at the door. “What’s wrong?” he breathed through the wood.
She wiped her eyes. “Nothing. I just need a moment here.”
“Kendra.”
“Nothing. Just give me some space.”
She sensed him backing away from the door, grateful he hadn’t come barging in there.
“Calm down. Just calm down. You’re only feeling like this because he’s thirsty.”
She pulled the outrageous nightgown she’d ordered over her head. She must have been nuts when she’d picked it out. The gauzy black material flooded down to her feet. She tied off the ribbon at her breasts noticing it was a little small for her, go figure.
Might as well get the humiliation done and over with. Flipping her hair out from under the nightgown she opened the door. He’d turned out all but one light and it took her a moment to adjust. There was just enough for her to see by—to see him by.
His chin jerked up, his gaze working slowly over her, taking its sweet time on her breasts, focusing finally on her face. He crossed over in a blur. Reaching out, he caught a stray tear off her cheek. “You’re so beautiful and I love you, but you fear me, habibti?”
“No, not like you’re thinking. I’m not afraid of sleeping with you. It’s silly.” She looked the nightgown over. “I mean, I didn’t even think to get a wedding gown. Guess we know where my mind was at.”
“I like this better anyway.” He sucked the tear off his finger, eyes closing briefly in pleasure.
“My scar is gone,” she panted. She could feel his desire. Could she, feel him? Oh God, she could feel him. “The one on my knee from when I fell off my bike,” she continued, breath ragged. “Jason walked me home. My bike had a bent wheel. It made this funny thumping sound the whole way home.”
“I’m sorry that any of this had to happen to you.” He took her head carefully into his hands, bent to kiss away the rest of her tears. With a groan, he stepped back from her. “I need to leave you now.”
“I’ll be out here, waiting, of course.”
She walked away, could feel his gaze on her. A moment later his arms wound around her waist from behind. She looked at the ring she’d placed on his finger just an hour ago. When she’d picked it out she’d thought the garnet was perfect. There was one in his crucifix so it matched. Now it seemed ridiculous. The nightgown, the ring. Her marrying a vampire. Everything was surreal and she was having a hard time believing she really was married to him.
“I don’t know what to do for you,” he confessed quietly. “I only have so much to offer.”
Kendra knew it was time to pull herself together. Alessandro was the one who’d been blinded for her just that morning, the one who had kept her alive and human. Who loved her more than his own existence.
Get a grip, you baby!
“I’m okay now,” she said. “You can go. I’ll still be here.”
He released her reluctantly, turned her around to look into her face, probably reading her mood both by her face and empathically. He nodded. “All right.”
Alessandro went to the canopy bed, pulling back the blankets. He returned with the sweetest smile, scooping her, slowly no less, into firm arms. He carried her over and laid her out on the bed.
Bending, he kissed her with cold lips then walked away. He took up their bag. She watched him disappear behind the bathroom door, waiting there in her crazy nightgown, for the monster to come for her.
Victim, lover, soulmate…
Damn it, but she didn’t know.
Chapter Seventeen
Alessandro only had his blood let once, on the night Sha’re had turned him. He could remember now vividly what it had felt like, her coming to him, her scent heavy in the dry air of his stone chamber. After she’d been taken by Amon she’d not come to him at all. Her presence that night had caught him completely by surprise. So beautiful, her firm body of black and gold. Perfection of the flesh.
She’d joined him, Alessandro unable, and in truth unwilling, to resist. He’d known very well what she’d been that night. A goddess who drank blood. He’d made love to her, held her smooth body in his arms wondering, with instinctual fear, what morning would bring for him.
It wasn’t until after he had fallen asleep that he’d felt her teeth graze his skin, felt the sharp pinch on his neck. Heard her swallowing, knew it was his blood she drank.
It had been like nothing he’d ever felt before. The ecstasy. He had once thought loving her was as good as life could get, but he had been so wrong. He knew she was making him her god as she drank, and he embraced it. She’d fed from him freely, nearly killing him for it. He was sure he would have died if it had not been for her venom in his body. He’d lost consciousness, and when he’d awoken, he was no longer the same.
Alessandro looked at the bag of blood in his hand. It had all started with the human Sha’re. She’d stolen his heart. She’d trusted him completely, and he’d given her the best of himself in return. Amon had ruined everything for them.
He turned his senses to Kendra, the sound of her breaths heavy as she sensed his thirst and his turmoil. He now felt intimately her need, understood what it would be like for her when he arched back her neck and his fangs pierced her soft, delicate skin.
He hated himself. His weakness. His need for her in his body and in his life. He needed her, and all he could give in return was the sick, sadistic pleasure of a beast.
Love of a woman had gotten him into this. And now he was using one to make him feel like a man again.
Aggravated, he lifted the bag to his mouth, pierced the chemical tang of the plastic, and drank quickly, ignoring the flavor.
Tossing the first bag aside he took up the second and drank that too. He sensed Kendra, calmer now but anticipating him. As he finished, their desire seemed to meet in the air between them, and then merge. He needed very badly to please her.
He tossed the second bag into the trash. They’d have to hide the evidence, but that was later.
Joining her in the dim room, he saw her start at his presence. She sat up, her golden hair tumbling over shoulders of ivory. Her mouth parted and her tongue slid over her lips. He reached out and she came greedily into his arms. He kissed her, her face tilted to him, his fangs grazing harmlessly her lips and her soft, warm tongue. He wove his fingers into her hair.
Kendra arched her head back even as he held her there. Her pulse was hard against her skin, veins blue-purple, throbbing. He lowered his head, smelling her, taking in the heat of her skin, swallowing convulsively. He grazed his fangs down her throat until he felt his teeth settle against her scars.
She screamed gu
tturally as he slid his teeth under her skin, her hand against her mouth to muffle the sound. Kendra bucked once, her other hand clutching his hair. He’d known it was coming and held her steady in his hands. Alessandro waited until her back had softened and she formed bonelessly into his arms.
And then, he drank.
He savored, relishing her. The other blood was for sustenance only. He felt the pulse of her heart, strong and vibrant, offering life to him.
It was finished all too soon, but he dared not take more from her than the joining of his essence with hers could replace.
She came back to life. She was bone and muscle again, and she was trying to hold his face against her. She wasn’t strong enough to keep him there and knew it, knew she could not control him, or this tide that swept her.
“More,” she demanded.
He found her hand and settled it over the mattress, careful not to move his head and risk tearing her scars. He laced his fingers through hers, holding them there.
Alessandro slowly pulled free, feeling the loss of her when he could no longer feel her heart pounding within him. She was crying and he kissed her tears like they were an added gift on the altar. He pulled off his shirt and eased her against his warm skin to try and comfort her. Her hands came immediately to his belt, working it free. She didn’t want comfort, at least not that kind.
“Kendra stop.” He peeled her hair off her wet face, tried to get her to look at him.
She pushed down his jeans with desperate fingers.
“Habibti, wait.”
She wasn’t hearing him. Irritated, he pulled out of his clothes and tossed them aside.
“I’m not going to take you fast,” he said.
He wanted to have her, and well; in truth needed to be made love to by her more than he cared to admit. She knelt back on the bed in her sheer nightgown, chest heaving against the gauzy black fabric, eyes glazed. She looked him over, and then froze. Her eyes became lucid. She was aware of herself again. Her eyes flicked to his and her face flushed beautifully.
It seemed he’d finally slowed her down.
Alessandro caressed her face, her neck, ran his fingers down both sides of her throat. She sighed when he touched the fang marks, her blood fresh, moist on her skin, a single drop marking a path from one of the open wounds. He swallowed, still wanting her. He forced his focus to her body instead. The man would have to take control before the beast lost it.
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