by R. E. Butler
“It was mostly just the blood and SyBl desserts,” Aeryn said, “but there were a few other dessert requests, and I was told that she’d invited some of her family to join in the fun.”
“Normally, they wouldn’t allow that kind of thing to happen to anyone not associated with the coven, but she and her mate got permission from Mishka, and they had extra security during the party as a precaution.”
“Because of the church.”
He nodded as he unlocked the complex’s entrance. He let her inside and then followed, taking her to the bank of elevators. “They do what they can to cause problems for us. Innocents get harmed more often than not.”
“When Cyrus and Cella had their mating ceremony, he heard someone from the church in the woods. The asshole was taking pictures and videos of us.”
Merrix nodded. “I remember hearing about that. Good thing Cyrus has such great hearing.”
“For sure.”
He used a code to open the elevator and another to send it to his floor. “You guys are very serious about security.”
“We have to be.”
“Mishka offered me an apartment here, but my parents were against it. Well, that’s putting it mildly. They were fully against me working at the restaurant, so living in an apartment complex full of vampires was not high on their list of things they wanted to go happily along with. I decided not to fight them, even though the drive from Whisper Creek to downtown is a pain in the ass.”
“I think the apartment is still empty,” he said. “But I’d prefer you to live with me if you were going to stay in the complex.”
The elevator stopped on his floor, and the doors slid open silently.
“Would you?” she asked.
“I wouldn’t lie to you,” he said with a wink. “Not after hearing what a good lie detector you are.”
She grinned, her eyes sparkling. “Tell you what. When we’re ready to be mates, I’ll move in with you. But you have to ask me first and give me something sparkly.”
Using a code, he unlocked his door and held it open for her. “You want me to ask you to be my mate or to move in with me?”
“Both,” she said.
He shut and locked the door and set her bag on the bar. He didn’t have a kitchen per se. He had a refrigerator where he kept SyBl and a microwave for when he felt like heating it. A small sink, but no dishwasher, and no stove or kitchen table. He drank his SyBl at the bar on a comfortable stool while reading the news on his phone.
It was so not the sort of kitchen a gourmet baker would want, which made him think he needed to get it remodeled.
“This is nice,” she said, walking around the family room and looking at his stuff. He had framed pictures of his parents and memorabilia from his army days. She stopped in front of a shelf that held rocks.
She gave him a curious look.
He joined her. “When I was a kid, before Mom married Gennaro, we didn’t have a lot of money, so we couldn’t take fancy vacations or go to interesting places. Instead, we went on a lot of walks. She’d drive us to a park, and we’d walk for hours and talk, and she’d tell me to find one interesting rock to bring home as a souvenir. After she married Gennaro, he took us on a real vacation before turning her, and I still went looking for a rock. By that time, it was a habit.” He pointed to the beige rock with red striations. “It probably seems silly.”
“I think it’s sweet. I used to collect seashells when we’d go to the beach.” She turned to face him. “Who turned you?”
“Gennaro. My mom asked him to, but he wanted me to be sure that I was okay with it. You lose a lot being a vampire, not just sunlight, but jobs that are closed to vampires because of the hours or location. I was already out of the military and working construction, but the company I worked for didn’t hire vampires.”
“I thought they couldn’t discriminate.”
“They’re not supposed to.” He shrugged. “They’ll interview a vampire and put their resume in a ‘file,’ but the file is the trash can, and if they’re asked about job openings, they’ll always say they only work during the daylight hours.”
“That sucks. But some places try to keep shifters out too. I had a teacher in culinary school who didn’t like my kind. He was a real dick, but I still managed to ace his class. After he passed me, I went to the dean of shifter student affairs and had him brought up on charges. He was transferred to another campus and put on probation.”
“Good for you standing up for yourself.” He was proud of her. He would’ve simply put the male through a wall for behaving like that.
She took Merrix’s hand and led him to the couch. They sat, and he offered her a drink, but she declined. “Tell me about being mates. Will I still be a shifter?”
“Of course,” he said. He squeezed her hand. “We’re truemates, and that’s a special bond. When we share blood, it will share my immortality with you. You’ll freeze as you are, never aging. Our lives will be tied together, so if you were to die—which will never fucking happen—then I’d die also, and vice versa. But like I said, that’s never happening.”
“I thought I’d be turned,” she said. “A shifter can’t give their long life to a human, and we can’t change them.”
“Vampires can’t actually turn supernatural creatures. The truemate bond is what will make you like me. You’ll still be you, of course, with your shift and daylight walking abilities, but we’ll be fully mated, and you’ll be immortal.”
“Cyrus was turned though,” she pointed out.
“Yes and no. He was nearly dead, so the vampire blood overwhelmed his system, and he wasn’t turned into a vampire so much as changed into something that’s a mixture of vampire, human, and shifter—the tribrid. That wouldn’t happen to you.”
“Right, because I’m not going to be in a restaurant that gets blown up anytime soon.”
He laughed. “Very true.”
She sighed, and it came out like a purr, which he very much liked. She leaned forward and kissed him. “Take me to bed, Merrix.”
He wasted no time in lifting her into his arms and rising from the couch. He kissed her, loving the way she melted against him, and then he carried her into the bedroom. He had a king bed, and he’d brought out the softest blankets he had in the closet, hoping she’d stay with him. He wanted her to be comfortable, to be glad she’d stayed.
Setting her on the bed, he cupped her face and kissed her again. “You’re so beautiful,” he rasped.
“I’m the luckiest tigress on the planet to have such a sexy mate.” Her eyes flashed from the green he adored to a bright blue.
“I see her,” he whispered.
Aeryn grasped his wrist. “She’s right here. I want you so badly.”
“Me too, sweetheart.”
He teased her lips, flicking his tongue along hers, going in for a deep kiss, and then sucking on her tongue. Need welled within him, his whole body on fire, but he put the thoughts of his pleasure aside to focus on hers. She was the most important female in the world to him, and nothing mattered more than her happiness.
The front of his shirt was jerked open, the buttons flying, and he chuckled as he nibbled on her throat. “In a hurry, kitten?”
“Hell yes,” she said.
He shed the shirt and grinned as she gasped and explored his chest and stomach, her fingers sliding along his muscles. He grasped the hem of her dress and slipped it up her body and over her head. Then he found the clasp for the white-lace bra, which he swiftly undid. Dropping to his knees, he drew her to the edge of the bed, her legs parting to give him room, giving him a tantalizing view of her panties. Tossing the bra aside, he wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her nipples, drawing first one and then the other into his mouth, teasing the tight buds with his lips and tongue until her hands fisted in his hair and she writhed in his hold.
Drawing his hands slowly up her back, he released her nipple and tilted his head for a kiss, which she willingly gave. Then he gently pulled her backw
ard until she sprawled out on the bed. He slipped his hands back down to her waist and pulled her panties down her legs, ducking out of the way so he could free her from them. And then he was between her thighs in a heartbeat, his thumbs parting her pink lips and inhaling her sweet, sultry scent. No one had ever smelled as good to him as Aeryn, and he thought he’d never get enough of her.
Leaning in, he kissed her clit and then licked a slow circle around it. Her hips tilted, seeking more contact, and he grinned.
Eager kitten.
Laying his arm across her stomach to hold her in place, he slid a finger slowly into her heat and sucked on her clit, taking his time to explore every inch of her. He switched places often, tonguing her core and rubbing her clit, and then switching back again. He could feel her restlessness every time he didn’t let her come but switched things up, her nails digging into his arm, and her breathing fast and shallow.
“I’m fucking serious, Merrix!” she shouted when he eased from her clit and pulled his fingers from her heat.
“Aw, you need something, love?” he teased.
“Yes, damn it!” She rose onto her elbow and gave him an incredulous look. “I want you inside me!”
“So eager. I love it.” Love her. Already.
She smiled and reached for him, pushing his head back toward her pussy, and he bit back a laugh. “Yes, I am. Finish the job so we can make love. I’m aching from the inside out.”
“I would never deny my kitten. For long anyway.”
“Bastard.” He heard the smile in her voice and decided he’d teased her enough.
He didn’t waste any time in getting her right back to where she’d been, fingering her pussy and licking her clit. Her whole body shook, and she stretched out, her toes curling against his back and her body heating for him. Her pussy clutched his fingers rhythmically, and her scent deepened a moment before she came, shouting his name and writhing in his hold. He sucked his wet fingers into his mouth and nearly came at the sweet taste of her.
Rising to his feet on unsteady legs, he shoved his pants down his legs, nearly fell over in his haste, and then climbed onto the bed as she hauled herself upward toward the pillows. Her legs parted, and he settled into the cradle of her hips, thrusting into her in one hard press. Her head kicked back, and she cried out as he filled her, giving a few pumps of his hips and enjoying how snug she was around him.
He knew he wouldn’t last long, but he was going to try damn hard.
She wrapped her legs around him and drew him a little deeper inside, and then she kissed him. Their tongues slid together as he pulled away from her body, and they continued to move as one as he kissed across her jaw and down her neck. He gave her a little love bite on her throat, and she shuddered, her arms tightening around him.
“Merrix,” she moaned.
He lifted his head. “I’m right here, baby.”
“Make me yours.”
“What? We’re waiting, remember?”
“I know, I know,” she said, thrashing her head on the pillow. “I don’t want to wait. My cat’s going insane, and I don’t want to bite you if you aren’t going to bite me.” She opened her eyes, and they were clear, bright blue. She touched his cheek with her palm. “Tell me no, and I won’t, but we’re truemates, and I want us to belong to each other in every way.”
“I can’t take it back,” he said roughly, his fangs throbbing.
“I don’t want you to. I want this. I want you. Forever.”
He nodded sharply and began to fuck her a little harder, deeper. “When you bite my neck, don’t just mark me, drink some of my blood. I’ll mix our blood on your neck, and it will seal us as mates.”
“Okay,” she said, her voice harsh and full of need.
He slipped a hand under her hips and lifted her, changing the angle so he was brushing against her clit with every thrust. He saw her fangs elongate and had never seen anything sexier in his life. They came together, his climax shooting hot and hard through him as his cock spasmed over and over.
She snarled before she struck, her fangs sinking deep into his throat. She took a few hard pulls against his skin and swallowed, then released his neck. Then he bit her, drinking her sweet, rich blood. He gathered some of his blood onto his fingers from his own wound and rubbed it against hers. And then something happened that he didn’t expect.
His body locked up in a spiral of deep pleasure that made his vision go dark. At that moment, he saw her life on fast-forward—from her earliest memories as a child to her first shift, to her excitement at working at the restaurant. He could feel how much she liked him from the moment they met, and when she realized they were truemates. As his vision returned, he slid from her, worried he’d crush her as extreme exhaustion blanketed him.
“I saw you,” she whispered, her voice raw.
“I didn’t think it could happen, but we’re beloveds.”
“What’s that?”
“Better than truemates. Stronger.”
“I’m immortal now?”
“Yes, love,” he said. He had the strength to grab the blanket from the bottom of the bed and draw it over them. “You’re my beloved, and I’m yours. Forever.”
Chapter Nine
Jason Finnegan waited for his assistant, Pamela, to bring him a drink. He was scheduled to video chat with his brother, Sean, in ten minutes, and he always liked to have a drink on hand. While he loathed getting bad news, it seemed prudent to have something nearby to numb the anger that would surely come if things didn’t go his way.
Which seemed to be happening far too often lately.
All he wanted to do was kill off every vampire everywhere. See them dying horrible, painful deaths.
Was that too much to ask?
“Here you go,” Pamela said, setting a tumbler of amber liquid on his desk. She straightened and smiled nervously.
He knew why she was worried. He wanted to send her into the lions’ den, so to speak.
“You’ve got something to say,” he said, lifting the tumbler and taking a drink.
“I just...I’d like you to reconsider your plan for me, Jason. I don’t want to do this.”
“It’s not a favor, you know,” he said, setting the glass down on the desk with more force than necessary so that it thudded loudly, and she startled. “We need someone on the inside, and you’re the perfect choice.”
“They’ll know,” she whispered, her eyes alight with fear. “They’ll see right through me and kill me. Or worse.”
Worse would be turning into a vampire, of course. She didn’t want to become one of the living dead any more than he did and shared in his passion for destroying the bloodsuckers. She didn’t want to get her hands dirty, but it was needed now.
“They won’t see through you. We’ve got a secret weapon, remember?”
“The wizard?” Pamela’s voice was a whisper.
Jason nodded and then sat up straight. “He was successful for the first project we brought him in on. He’s with Sean, so I’m going to speak to him about our new plan. Once that goes off without a hitch—which I know it will—then you’ll see that the wizard can ensure the bloodsuckers won’t know you’re working for me. Trust me. Would I allow anything to happen to you?”
She shook her head, but he could see in her eyes she wasn’t convinced. He’d hate to lose her if something happened to her in the coven, but he was nearly one hundred percent certain the wizard would succeed.
Nearly.
The video call program pinged, and Jason made a shooing motion with his hand and Pamela left his office, shutting the door behind her. Jason twisted in the seat to face the screen. He pressed the accept button on the laptop, and his brother’s face came into view.
“Hey, Jason,” Sean said.
“How are you?”
“Okay.”
“Where’s the wizard?”
“He’s outside the office. Listen, I don’t think this is the way to go.”
Jason slammed his palm on the desk. “
You don’t get to have an opinion, Sean. I’m the head of the church, don’t forget. You failed to do the one thing you were supposed to handle—killing the bloodsucker Avery. Not only is she still alive, but we lost two good workers in Jerry and Daria.”
Sean sputtered, “You’re the one who ordered me to kill them!”
Jason waved a hand dismissively. “I can still be pissed they’re gone.”
Sean sat back in his seat and scrubbed a hand over his face. “What do you want me to do?”
“Do you have people ready for the next stage of our plan?”
Sean nodded. “Five—three women and two men.”
“Good. Now bring in the wizard. I want to meet him.”
Sean stood and disappeared from view, returning a few moments later with a tall, dark-haired, lanky man and a stunning blonde.
“Who’s she?” Jason asked.
“She,” the man said, “is my sister, Jude. I’m Lahn.”
“Why is she here? This is a private meeting,” Jason said.
“He wouldn’t come without her,” Sean said.
Jason grunted in annoyance. “Fine. So long as everyone understands what’s going on here.”
Sean nodded vigorously and looked expectantly at Lahn.
“There’s witch glass in the club,” Lahn said, matter-of-factly.
“What does that mean?” Jason asked.
“It means that even I can’t get someone into the club who has the intention to harm a coven member.”
“I thought you were the most powerful wizard in the States?”
The blonde glanced at Jason in annoyance but didn’t speak. She was leaning casually against the wall next to her brother, her thumbs in her belt loops and something shiny like a metallic tattoo on one wrist. Jason turned his attention back to Lahn.
“Well?”