Serpent's Desire_A Reverse Harem Urban Fantasy

by Tansey Morgan

  “We’ll discuss this in private, Leo. There is also another matter I want to talk to you and Nicolai about, but now isn’t the time.”

  I watched for any hint of the Keeper’s aura manifesting around him, but it didn’t. Neither did Leo’s.

  “Get some rest,” the Keeper said, “Dante, you’d better come with us too. This is important.”

  Dante nodded, and then he and the Keeper began to make their exit, with Leo following behind them. Even though I couldn’t read his aura, I got the impression there was more he wanted to say to me; a lot more. And that was fine. There were a few choice words I wanted to throw at him, too, but couldn’t.

  The guys and I all congregated in the center of the room. Aiden was still looking pale, and a little off balance. Liam had a split lip; a yellow and purple bruise radiated from it like a cloud on an alien sky. I wanted to ask about it, find out if it hurt, but now wasn’t the time to do that. I could tell by the look on everyone’s faces, they wanted to talk about whatever the hell had just happened here and back in town.

  What I really wanted to do, though, was ask Aiden, “How are you feeling?”

  “I’m okay,” he said, “Don’t worry about me. What happened to you?”

  “Too much, but we’re all okay, we’re all intact. You heard everything, right?”

  “I did. I didn’t like any of it.”

  “I don’t either, but what can we do? I think I’m right about this. I have to be.”

  “If someone’s hunting the women down, and that someone isn’t connected to the werewolf or the vampire incidents that have happened in your life, then we aren’t just fighting one war—we’re fighting two.”

  “Three,” Liam corrected, “If you count Leo.”

  Aiden winced. “I feel like I should apologize for the way he’s behaving.”

  “Why?” I asked, “You aren’t him, and you don’t answer to him. We know that.”

  He nodded.

  “At the very least,” Raph said, “We’ve shown this cult that we know who they are.”

  “Right,” Vik said, “Cults are at their strongest when they have anonymity on their side. We haven’t exactly unmasked them, but we know they’re out there, and we have at least one name. That should help us track their movements, assuming our friend Konrad still goes by that name.”

  I shook my head. “I doubt it,” I said, “But that was his true name, and if there’s one thing I did learn from the books you gave me—and I learned a lot, trust me—it’s that there’s power in a true name, even if you don’t use it anymore.”

  Raphael grinned. “He will have a hard time hiding from me, I guarantee it.”

  I nodded. “Good, that’s going to help us.”

  “Do you have any idea what happens now?” Aiden asked.

  “Now, I suspect we all get some rest,” Vik said, “I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted.”

  “That sounds like a good idea to me,” I said.

  Vik squeezed my shoulder as he walked past me. Raph did the same, but I held his elbow and smiled at him as he went to follow Vik out of the room, leaving Liam, Aiden and me in the living room together. I walked up to Liam and brushed my thumb against his lip. He winced, but only slightly.

  “What happened there?”

  Liam glanced at Aiden, grinned, then looked at me. “Dante asked me to create a distraction, so I did, and I got a fat lip out of it. No big.”

  “No big?” I arched my eyebrows, then let my hand rest on his cheek. Then, slowly, I tipped my head toward his and gently kissed his lower lip; only a slight peck, a connection of the lips and nothing more, but enough to convey warmth, and care. I opened my eyes and looked at him as our lips parted, and when he smiled, his face brightened up. “Get to bed, yeah? I wanna talk to you in the morning.”

  “You wanna talk to me? About what?”

  I smiled at him, but didn’t answer his question. “I’ll see you then.”

  Liam nodded, then made his way out of the room, leaving Aiden and I alone in front of a crackling fire.

  “That was—”

  I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him deeply, pressing my body against his and pushing him onto the sofa with the momentum. I sat on him, then continued kissing him, feeling the heat, the current, between us begin to rise. When the temperature got too hot, I let the kiss simmer down and broke away to look at him, flicking my long hair over my shoulder and smiling.

  “Hi,” I said.

  “Hey…” he said, looking confused. “What was that for?”

  “Nothing,” I said, “I just missed you. Is that okay?”

  His hands resting on my hips were doing things to my body, but I knew I couldn’t have him again, so I reeled myself back in and tried to shut myself away from the emotions, but I failed miserably. One of the advantages of being a succubus was this ability to feel things, physically, that I had been missing out on my entire life. One of the disadvantages was not being able to turn off the want.

  “I missed you too. I got worried when I was told you had left the mansion.”

  “I couldn’t stay. I would have driven myself crazy. You too, probably.”

  “Doubtful. I would have just had to make sure you were entertained.”

  “You and I both know that isn’t possible on a prolonged basis.”

  “Speaking of which… what was that with Liam?”

  “What was what?”

  “You kissed him.”

  My heart started to race now, not because of how warm I was starting to feel inside of my own skin, but because I was about to put Dante’s theory to the test. “I kissed Raph, too,” I said. “I… did more than just kiss him.”

  Aiden stared into my eyes. “And… how do you feel?”

  “I’ll feel better once you tell me what I did was okay.”

  “Do you need my permission?”

  “I already had your permission and encouragement. What I’m looking for now is reassurance. I need you to prove to me that you meant what you told me back at your cottage the other night.”

  Aiden licked his lips, took a deep breath, then arched his neck up and touched my lips with his. “I meant it,” he said.

  I smiled and chased his lips, urging them open with the tip of my tongue and melting into him. Looking at him once we had stopped kissing again, I saw myself staring at a guy who I knew was just as damaged as I was; someone who carried baggage with him wherever he went. But he had never rejected me like Dante had. He wouldn’t.

  “Can I stay with you tonight?” I asked.

  He nodded. “But only if we can stay in your room. I want to spend the night in the mansion tonight.”

  “I can live with that.”

  I lifted myself off him and helped him up, then we walked up to my room and slipped into bed together. We didn’t do anything that night, we just slept, with me tucked into his body and his arm around my waist. I couldn’t remember the last time I had shared a bed with a man this way, it may have been years, but I it felt good to allow myself that opportunity again.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  A Surprise Trip

  Morning dawned, and as consciousness returned from the place where it goes to rest, I noticed my bed was emptier than it had been when I laid in it. Panic seized my throat and squeezed it shut, restricting my air-flow to little more than short, struggled breaths. I sat upright and looked around the room. Quiet, bright, and cold. Aiden wasn’t next to me. Had I imagined him being there? And if he wasn’t in bed, then where was he?

  I heard the faucet in the bathroom squeak, then heard the hiss of water rushing out of it, and my heart relaxed.

  “Aiden?” I asked.

  “Morning,” he called out from the bathroom. “How’d you sleep?”

  “I slept okay,” I said, letting my head fall back on the bed. “How about you? Feeling any better?”

  “I feel great.” The faucet squeaked again, ceasing the flow of rushing water. “I’m hungry, though. Do you wanna get brea
kfast?”

  “Sure. What time is it?” I checked my phone. It was quarter to eleven. “Shit! We slept for like twelve hours.”

  Aiden laughed. “I think we needed it, don’t you?”

  “God, yes.” I saw him step out of the bathroom out of the corner of my eye, but something about his walk wasn’t right. Then I turned my head, and a giant fist wrapped itself around my mouth and pressed my head into the pillows. My heart immediately began to pulse wildly, causing my vision to blur and shake, but even despite all that I couldn’t mistake the man pinning me to the bed with his massive fingers.

  It was Konrad.

  “Do you think you can hurt us?” he asked. I squirmed and kicked, but it was no use. “You cannot hurt us, snake, and just like the serpent in the garden of Eden, we will find you, and we will cut you, and cast you out into the hell where you belong.”

  I tried to scream, but managed only a mumble. Konrad grinned and tightened his fingers around my face, so much so I felt the bones begin to crack. I shook my head hard to try and knock him off me, then bolted upright, gasping for air. Aiden was there, holding onto my shoulders and staring at me.

  “Lilith,” he said, his voice urgent and concerned, “Are you alright?”

  “Oh… shit… that was just a dream,” I said, gently touching my face with my fingertips. My head was throbbing, my heart was pounding, and I could still hear Konrad’s voice echoing in the back of my mind. It had all been a dream, but it felt somehow much more real than that in the aftermath of this awful nightmare.

  “You’re with me,” he said, “Everything’s okay.”

  I let my head rest on his shoulder for a moment, then got out of bed and checked my phone. It was almost eleven in the morning, and there were no messages for me to read. From anyone. Everyone had gone to bed and stayed there, or so it seemed. I turned to look at Aiden again as I set my phone down on the nightstand.

  “What do you think?” I asked, now that I had recuperated from the shock, “Breakfast?”

  Aiden nodded and started to get out of the bed, when someone knocked on my bedroom door. He froze, and I looked at him, alarmed. I put one finger up against my lips. There was another knock, more forceful this time. Whoever it was needed to talk to me.

  “I’ll let you get that?” he asked, his voice low.

  I nodded, then moved over to the door. When I glanced over my shoulder, I saw Aiden had disappeared into the bathroom. When he was gone, I opened the door and saw The Keeper standing there, looking fresh, clean, and smelling good. He smiled. “Good morning,” he said.

  “Hi,” I said, returning the smile.

  “Sorry to intrude… do you have a second?”

  I nodded, “Sure, come in.”

  The Keeper stepped into the room and I shut the door behind him. Folding my arms in front of my chest, I asked, “So, what’s up?”

  “Last night, after Leo, Dante, and I left you, we met with Nicolai and talked about a lot of things. Dante was able to straighten a few things out, but Leo also raised a number of valid points concerning the idea of locking the mansion down.”

  “You’re going to do it?”

  He shook his head. “I’m not going to do it, but not for the reasons you think.”

  “Okay, what’s the reason?”

  “Remember how we told you there are centers like this one all around the world?”

  “Yeah, I do.”

  “We’ve been invited to go to another center.”

  “Invited? What do you mean?”

  “I’ve been in talks with many of the other Keepers regarding what’s been going on. Last night, the information you were able to provide really shed some light on what could be going on. I relayed that information to the other Keepers, and the one in London suggested we go and visit them.”

  “In London?”

  I had always wanted to visit in London, and up until last week the possibility was only a dream. The train stations, the tower bridge, the underground; a trickle of excitement found its way into my heart, and I nodded.

  “Alright,” I said, “Sounds good. When do we leave?”

  “I just need to tell Leo, since he’ll be taking over operations while you and I are gone and—”

  “Wait, we’re not all going?”

  The Keeper frowned. “No, why would we all go?”

  “Well, I just… I assumed we would, you know.”

  “I’m afraid that isn’t in the cards. I don’t want this to be an extended trip.”

  “Why not? Why are you and I the only ones going?”

  He sighed. “The London Keeper wants to meet you, that’s all. He’s curious.”

  “Curious? I’m not a mystery.”

  “But you are. You’re a succubus, and that’s rare. Incredibly rare.”

  I shook my head. “I’m not going. Not unless everyone else comes with me.”

  “Everyone? Who is everyone?”

  “Everyone, including Dante.”

  “Lilith, I just don’t have the time to—”

  “George,” I said, using his real name, “I really don’t feel comfortable leaving them behind. If I get to leave then they should too; it’s an opportunity for us all to meet other supernaturals.”

  Another sigh, this on long, and full of frustration. “Okay,” he said, putting his hands up in a gesture of surrender. “I’ll see what I can do.”

  “Good enough for me.”

  The Keeper headed for the door again, and then left the room without saying anything else. When he was gone, I turned to look at the bathroom and found Aiden standing in the doorway.

  “That was interesting,” Aiden said.

  “Yeah, I think so too, but hey, we’re going to London.”

  “Why did you really ask to have us with you?”

  I walked up to him and kissed him lightly on the lips. “Because I didn’t want to spend time away from you. Away from any of you. Is that selfish of me?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t think it is. I wouldn’t want you to go. We’re all gonna be grateful for the opportunity. Especially Vik; he may get to visit his family again.”

  “Right. See? Everybody is happy.”

  “Everyone but Leo. I can’t imagine he’s thrilled with the idea.”

  “Stop worrying about Leo and think about yourself instead, okay?”

  Aiden nodded. “I’d better go back to my place and pack a bag.”

  Thanks for reading! Book 3 will be ready for purchase in December of 2017, so don’t forget to check back in with Tansey! Sign up today to Tansey’s mailing list to keep in touch, receive updates, and occasionally take part in great contests and giveaways!

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  About the Author

  Tansey is an up and coming author of Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy novels with a REVERSE HAREM twist. If your kind of books have magic, danger, strong, powerful females, and more hot guys than you could sink your teeth into in one sitting, then you've come to the right place!

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  Also by Tansey Morgan

  The Last Serpent

  Serpent’s Touch, #1

  Serpent’s Desire, #2

  SERPENT’S DESIRE

  The Last Serpent

  Book 2

  Copyright © 2017 by Tansey Morgan & LJ Sampere

  Visit: www.tanseymorgan.com

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