Once Bitten, Twice Shy

by Wood, C. C.

  Lex watched me, his expression tender. His stroking fingers tugged lightly as he combed them through my hair.

  “This is what I want,” he said. Then…nothing.

  I waited before I asked, “And?”

  He grinned. “This. You and me. Together. Nothing else matters to me.”

  My breath backed up in my chest. Holy cow.

  He continued to blow my mind. “I know you love me and want to be with me. I also want you to know that I love you and I will take you however I can get you.” He stopped, letting me digest his words. Before I could finish, he went on, his face turning serious. “Will I want to turn you eventually? Yes, but I can give you time, years if I have to. I want you to be ready before we take a step we can’t take back. I know what I want for myself, but I want you to be certain of your feelings before you change your entire future.”

  I was seconds away from hyperventilating because my breathing was so fast. “What do you want for yourself?” I asked, unable to stop the question from tumbling out of my mouth.

  “To be with you forever.”

  Those unabashedly romantic words from such a big, intimidating man made tears fill my eyes.

  “How can you know that?” I asked. “We’ve only known each other a few months, and mostly in passing.”

  Lex smiled at me again. “I have lived so many lifetimes, little one. I have made mistakes. In that time, I’ve also learned a great deal. Most importantly, I have learned how to recognize what I want. I knew, the first moment I saw you and spoke to you and heard the thoughts that you used to project so loudly, that you were mine.”

  While part of me wanted to swoon at his words, the twenty-first century woman raised her eyebrows, “Yours?”

  He chuckled. “Yes, you are mine. You belong to me.” He kissed me lightly, even though I was trying to pull away a little. “And I am yours. Everything I am belongs to you.”

  I loved hearing that from him. The swoon that threatened at his previous words came back full force. In order to cover how touched I was at his words, I quipped, “Well, I guess it’s okay as long as it goes both ways.”

  Lex’s face grew serious. “There are things we need to talk about, Ivie, about what’s going on amongst the vampires. You need to know what we’re facing.”

  For the first time, Lex wasn’t excluding me because I was human. He was finally going to tell me what was going on.

  “You don’t think that it’s too dangerous to tell me?”

  He shook his head. “They came for you even though you knew nothing. I know the way Cornelius works and he would know that we didn’t share information with you. He sent his men anyway.”

  The small bloom of hope in my chest withered. Okay, so he still viewed me as weak. Even though he said he loved me and that he would give me time, it still stung.

  “Tell me what you’re thinking, little one.”

  My eyes jumped back to his. “Nothing. Just wondering what they wanted me for since I would be pretty worthless to them.”

  Lex was back to scowling. “Worthless? I don’t believe that’s what you were thinking, though we will be discussing your word choices in a little while. Now, I want you to tell me the truth, and do not forget what I said I would do to you if you lied to me.”

  I sighed. While our play had been fun, I was a little afraid to see what Lex would do to me if I pushed him.

  “Sometimes, I feel like you see me as weaker, well, less valuable than you because I’m human,” I murmured. “You don’t tell me things and you try to keep me under lock and key. It, um, makes me think that you see me as inadequate.”

  His expression was thunderous. “That is not what I’m doing at all. I want to protect you. Your safety is more valuable to me than my own. I withhold information because it will keep you safe.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. Did he seriously believe that bullshit? It hit me then that, for all his smooth, urbane appearance, Lex was a man born almost a thousand years ago. He didn’t think the way a 21st century guy would. In fact, his attitudes were very progressive for a man of his era, but still archaic by modern standards.

  I sighed. It looked like I would have to educate him. Something told me that a man alive for nearly a millennia would be more difficult to train than any twenty or thirty-something year old guy I’d dated in the last few years.

  “Lex,” I said in order to get his attention. “I’m going to tell you something that will make your life easier when it comes to me.”

  His eyebrows lifted but he didn’t say anything.

  I took this as an invitation to continue. “I don’t see your silence as protection, Lex. I see it as you not considering me an equal in our relationship. Women of my generation expect equal partnership.”

  Lex stared at me for a moment before he threw his head back and laughed. He roared with laughter until I started to get irritated. I poked him in the ribs.

  “Hey, I’m being serious. Laughing at me is not the best way to get on my good side.”

  He stopped chuckling long enough to kiss me. “I’m sorry, little one. You are very funny. Of course I see you as an equal in our relationship. Why wouldn’t I?”

  I pouted a bit. “Well, you are close to a thousand years old. I thought maybe your thoughts on women were a bit antiquated.”

  Lex grinned and I could see he was trying not to laugh. “Ivie, in the vampire culture, women are just as dangerous and powerful as men. While the general attitude of most vampires my age is that women do not have as much power as the men, they know better. They may not admit it, but to forget that fact would lead to their death much earlier than they would like.” He grew serious. “Still, you have to understand that I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe, even if it means keeping you in the dark about certain things. I would do the same for Conner or Finn.”

  Before I had a chance to argue, he rolled us both out of bed and smacked me playfully on the ass.

  “Now, I’m going to get a fire started while you get dressed and make us some coffee.”

  As he left the room, I rubbed my ass cheek and decided not to point out how sexist his directive was in case he decided to spank me again.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Since Lex had yanked me out of bed against my will, I considered ignoring his directives and just climbing back into the warm bed. I realized quickly that this was probably not the best idea, so I threw on a pair of comfy plaid pajama pants that I found in my suitcase. I also pulled on a pair of socks to protect my feet from the cold floor. When I went into the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth, I noticed that Lex had turned on the heater in the bathroom.

  After I finished my morning routine, I walked down the hall and heard the merry crackling of a fire. I saw that a pile of firewood had been brought in and sat to the side of the hearth. The front door was slightly ajar and Lex was nowhere in sight. I assumed he was getting more firewood.

  I went into the kitchen and started digging around in the cabinets until I found coffee. As I looked around, I realized I had coffee but no coffee maker. I opened several cabinet doors before I gave up.

  The front door swung open and I turned to see Lex coming through the door with another stack of firewood in his arms. He kicked the door shut behind him and went to put the wood down by the fireplace.

  “Um, Lex?”

  “Yes?” He wasn’t looking at me as he threw another small log on the fire.

  “Where’s the coffeemaker?”

  He glanced up at me then. “What?”

  I lifted the canister of coffee and shook it. “I have coffee but no coffeemaker.”

  Like any other man I’d ever met, he immediately came into the kitchen and started opening cabinets, searching for the machine. I sighed and set the can down on the counter top. I watched as he did exactly what I had just done. Which meant he opened every door and looked on every shelf.

  After a few moments, he pulled out a weird carafe that I recognized as a French press. I hadn’t even notic
ed it.

  “I think this is our only option,” he said, setting the press next to the stove.

  I stared at it. Though I knew what it was, I’d never used one before. “I have no idea how that works,” I said.

  Lex chuckled. “Then I guess I’ll do the fire and the coffee.”

  I nodded and went to the fridge to see if there was anything I could make for breakfast. I didn’t hold a great deal of affection for the process of cooking but I could at least make some eggs and maybe some toast. I found the fridge stocked with the basics; eggs, cheese, milk, butter, and deli meat. There was small jar of mayonnaise and a container of mustard also.

  I grabbed eggs and cheese and figured I could throw together some scrambled eggs. I was pretty sure there would be bread somewhere in the kitchen, so I would make toast to go with it. While Lex put water in a small pot to boil for coffee, I started the process of making breakfast.

  As I broke eggs into a bowl, I glanced at him.

  “Can I ask where we are?”

  Lex faced me with surprise on his face. “What?”

  I started beating eggs with a fork. “Well, last night, you wouldn’t tell me where we are, and this morning you said you would let me in on what’s happening. So, the first thing I want to know is, where are we?”

  He looked at me with the strangest expression on his face. “Okay. We’re about five miles south of the Oklahoma-Kansas border, north of Bartlesville.”

  I nodded even though I had no idea where Bartlesville, Oklahoma was. Though now I understood why it was so cool here. It was late October and we were much further north than Dallas. Lex grinned at me as though he understood exactly what I was thinking.

  “What else do you want to know?” he asked.

  I seasoned the eggs and poured them into the warm pan. I began to stir them with a spatula as I thought about what I wanted to know. Honestly, I wanted to learn everything.

  I decided to start with the immediate issues first and go from there.

  “Why did that vampire come after me and who is he? I thought you said he was dead.”

  Lex took the pot off the stove and poured the boiling water over the coffee grounds.

  “The man you saw yesterday is Claus Hoffmann. He isn’t the vampire that kidnapped you with Donna. That was his twin brother, Johann. Johann is dead. I know it for a fact because I killed him myself.”

  The shiver that went up my spine at his words had nothing to do with the cool temperatures and everything to do with the icy rage in his voice.

  “Finn and Conner explained about The Faction, correct?”

  I shrugged. “A little. They didn’t go into a lot of detail.”

  “Well, originally, we thought they merely wanted vampires to reveal themselves and reign over humans in some sort of twisted monarchy. While that is a major part of the plan, there is more. They not only want to control humans, they want to rid the world of mixed-blood vampires.”

  I really didn’t understand that. “What?”

  Lex began the process of filtering the grounds out of the liquid before he answered me. I didn’t push because I could tell he was gathering his thoughts.

  “Mixed-blood vampires are those who were turned. Some vampires can be born, but most couples try for decades before that happens. Something about the differences in our blood make it more difficult for the females to get pregnant. Our species would have died out long ago if we hadn’t begun to turn humans.”

  I would have to ponder that later. Basically, he just told me that humans not only served as food for vampires but also saved their species by turning.

  “If The Faction has their way, then Conner, Finn, and I will all be killed. Only Asher would remain because he was born a vampire.”

  I had only met Asher in passing a few months before, but that was something I had not known.

  Lex grabbed two mugs out of the top cabinet and poured coffee into them as he continued to speak. “And I am almost certain that any pure bloods that oppose these changes will be taken out of the equation as well.”

  I accepted the coffee cup he handed. “So you’re talking about vampire genocide perpetrated by other vampires? That sounds a little far-fetched,” I said. “I mean, why would they want to do that?”

  Lex leaned a hip against the counter opposite me. “Why would anyone want to elevate a certain group of people? Hitler, for example. Part of his policies were pure madness, but, really, his main motivation was the accumulation of power. Cornelius wants power. Not just over humans, but the entire world.”

  I honestly didn’t understand why anyone would want that kind of headache. I mean, it sounded like the goal of a villain in an Austin Powers movie. Sure, it sounded like a sexy job title, but the actual work would be a pain in the ass.

  He distracted me from my internal tangent by speaking again. “There are quite a few natural born vampires that share Cornelius’ feelings.”

  I sipped my coffee, surprised that Lex had added just the right amount of sugar and milk. “But vampires aren’t immortal, right? And humans outnumber you. What’s to stop them from ganging up on The Faction and taking them out?”

  Lex nodded. “That’s a fair question and a smart one. We aren’t sure what Cornelius intends to do to prevent those actions from humans, but there has to be some sort of plan in place.”

  “Well, I still don’t understand how I play into it,” I said.

  Lex sipped his coffee and appeared to be contemplating my comment. “The most logical reason would be to use you as leverage against me. Claus is eager for revenge over the death of his twin and Cornelius wants to further his agenda amongst our kind.”

  Holy shit. This Claus guy wanted to kidnap me as part of his revenge against Lex. Considering the things his brother had threatened to do to me, I was scared shitless about what he might do in order to punish Lex. I had to set my cup on the counter because my hand began to shake.

  To put it in words that Donna used on a regular basis, shit just got very real.

  * * *

  After I finished making our breakfast, I asked Lex a few more questions about the current situation and vampire history. He was an excellent teacher. I mentioned this to him, and he said that he usually taught vampire history to those who wanted to be turned.

  I was pleasantly surprised when he helped clean up the kitchen after we ate. I mentioned this to him, which made him laugh.

  “Little one, I’ve been alive for hundreds of years. The first few decades after I was turned, I took care of myself because I didn’t want to risk the staff discovering what I am. I know how to cook, wash dishes, even wash clothes. The only reason I have a housekeeper now is due to my duties as a Council member and running my nightclubs. Though I would prefer to have my privacy, I do not have the time to do those things for myself any longer.”

  I was shocked by his words. Most of the men I knew couldn’t remember to put their dirty socks in the laundry hamper, much less use a washing machine. And forget about cooking and doing the dishes. They left that to their wives. I found it amazing that Conner and Lex were so domesticated considering the eras they were born. Women were little better than slaves during their time as humans.

  Maybe I had misunderstood Lex’s thoughts on our relationship more than I realized. By his behavior the last few hours, he did value me and see me as a partner rather than a possession. Several of the things he did that upset me were done out of a desire to protect me from harm rather than viewing me as weak. I really was an idiot for not talking to him about my concerns earlier.

  Once the kitchen was tidied, I followed Lex into the living area and settled on a chair near the fireplace as he added more wood to the fire.

  “So what now?” I asked.

  After he threw the last log on the blaze, he stood and brushed his hands together. “We need to stay here for a few days until the security at my home is tested and updated. The specialists Conner and I hired aren’t sure how they got through the gate without setting off the alarm
s or ringing the house. It shouldn’t have been possible for them to get so close to the house without alerting you or the security firm I hired.”

  I nodded. “What are we supposed to do for the next two or three days then?”

  The expression on Lex’s face became deliciously wicked.

  “We play.”

  I swallowed hard as heat rushed through my body. Even dressed in a plain black t-shirt and broken-in, faded jeans, Lex projected power and sophistication. I started to stand from my chair, but he shook his head.

  “Stay there. Do not move unless I tell you. Do you remember what to call me?”

  I nodded.

  Lex’s brow furrowed and he growled, “That’s five.”

  “Sorry?” I asked.

  “That’s another three. I just reminded you how to address me, Ivie.” His voice was stern.

  Shit. “I’m sorry, Sir.”

  He nodded. “I would say you get another five for insincerity, but I think eight will be enough to gain an honest apology for being disrespectful. Do you remember your safe word?”

  “Zebra, Sir.”

  I started to ask him what he was talking about, but remembered just in time that I wasn’t supposed to speak unless he asked me a direct question or to say my safe word. I swallowed hard again and watched as he moved the coffee table off the huge braided rug that was surrounded by the sofa and two chairs. Then he walked to the armchair opposite of me and sat down, crossing his leg so that his right ankle rested on his left knee.

  “Strip and get on your hands and knees, facing away from me,” he commanded.

  Now that the fire was burning brightly, the room was much warmer, but, still, I shivered. Without rushing, I stood and removed my shirt and bra, followed by my pants, undies, and socks. When I turned to get on my hands and knees, my back to him, I hesitated.

  “Now, Ivie,” he stated.

  I bit my lip and lowered myself down onto the rug, getting into position. I felt extremely vulnerable and exposed.

  “Spread your knees further apart.”

  I moved my legs another couple of inches. Suddenly, his hand gave my inner thigh a light, but still stinging, slap.