by Leia Stone
“Yeah, well, payback’s a bitch!” she growled, her eyes going yellow.
I shook my head. “You’re not like that though, Sage, and you love him. I can smell it.”
She burst out laughing and rolled her eyes. “You can’t smell love.”
I shrugged playfully. “Sure I can. It smells like sunshine, roses and…” I looked around and spied the chocolate fountain our guests were dipping strawberries into. “…and chocolate.”
She shook her head, but she was grinning from ear to ear. “I don’t smell like that.”
“But you do love him. Right?” I knew she did. Out in the Dark Woods we’d had the most honest conversations two people could have. Sage loved him. He was the one for her.
She glanced at Walsh, who hadn’t moved; he’d gone full-on stalker mode, just staring at her. “Of course I do. It’s Walsh.” She sounded mad, like she wanted to stop it but couldn’t.
I nodded, taking in a deep breath. “Rab!” I yelled over the crowd where he was dancing with Daisy. He snapped to attention and walked over, holding his baby girl on his hip. Reaching out, I placed one hand on either of Sage’s shoulders. “Sage Hudson, you are relieved of duty as my second-in-command.”
Her mouth popped open and I could feel the hurt flash across our bond as she stared at me in shock. I swiveled my head to the left, just as Rab walked up. “Rab, you’re my new second.”
He looked surprised, glancing from Sage to me before breaking out into a grin. “Position accepted. Thank you, Alpha.” He bowed and walked away.
“You can’t do that!” Sage snapped, shrugging out of my grasp.
“You forget I am a true alpha, connected with you through a pack bond. I feel you pining over him.”
She covered her chest, glaring at me. “It will go away when he goes away.”
I chuckled. “That’s not how it works, and what if he shows up next time with a new girl?”
Her eyes flashed yellow as her teeth clenched. “I’d kill her.”
I tipped my head back and laughed. “Sage. Sister. Best friend. Go. Say yes.”
Her arms fell to her sides and she seemed to consider it. Pulling her bottom lip into her mouth, she chewed on it for a moment, tossing the idea around in her head. Then she looked up at Walsh.
He was still watching her.
“He’s a wanted felon,” she griped.
I nodded. “And Sawyer and I will be working to clear him of that charge. I’m sure we can dig up crimes on the Vampire King.”
She looked wistful. “I mean I have always wanted to live in the human world for a bit.”
I nodded. “Do it. Go to Liberty Lake, there is a boba tea shop there called BocoPop. Get the oolong milk tea with cheese foam. You won’t regret it.”
She scrunched up her face. “Cheese foam? That sounds horrifying.”
I laughed. “It’s amazing. Come on, Sage. Follow your heart.”
She heaved a big sigh and then turned to face Walsh who was still watching her like a love sick puppy dog.
She put one finger out and pulled it toward her, beckoning him.
He set down his full shot glass, eyes lighting up a fiery orange, like the evening sun. Taking long strides, he crossed the lawn and made his way to her. He wore a dark gray tuxedo and had never looked more handsome. Sage’s deep green, skintight dress clung to her athletic form, and her hair was in a cascade of curls hanging loosely over one shoulder. If I had my camera with me, I’d have taken a picture of this moment. Walsh walked right up to her and grabbed her, dipping her backward as he cradled the back of her neck. Then he kissed her, a movie style kiss. A-holy-hell-is-this-really-happening-in-real-life-kiss. I smiled, happy for their tender moment, and Raven walked up beside me.
“Damn … I wanna be kissed like that,” she said.
I eyed Luka who was definitely tipsy. Werewolves were easy to get drunk, but vampires less so. “Come on, I’ll introduce you to someone, but I can’t promise it will be more than one night.”
Raven followed my gaze and her eyes glittered. “Oh, I’ll take one night of that.”
We both hooked arms and giggled as we passed Sage and Walsh, who were now full-on making out in full view of my wedding party.
I approached Sawyer and he spun, eyeing me with a look of absolute passion. My dress was a fully blinged-out, expensive number that Sage talked me into. There were more crystals and beads on this thing than there were werewolves in the entire world. But I loved it, and I felt beautiful in it.
“Luka…” I approached the vampire. “Have I introduced you to one of my bestest friends in the world?” I held up Raven’s hand and she spun, her tight black velvet dress catching the last of the dying sun’s rays as it accentuated her curves. “This is Raven.”
Luka’s eyes glittered, his nostrils inhaling as he was no doubt smelling what supernatural race she was.
He gripped his glass of whiskey and gave her a devastatingly handsome grin. “I have always had a thing for witches. Dance with me?” He set his drink down and stepped forward, holding out his hand.
Raven beamed, placing her hand in his, and they stepped out onto the dancefloor.
Sawyer faced me then, and holy hell on wheels was he sexy in his black tuxedo. His neck tattoos were sticking out just above the collar and his eyes absolutely smoldered as they looked at me.
“What are you thinking about right now?” I asked as he took me into his arms.
He gave me a devilish grin, reaching out to cup my waist. “Where the zipper to this dress is.”
A genuine laugh pealed out of me as he spun me around, and I sighed in contentment. Reaching out, he stroked the cuffs at my wrist. They were a new wedding set, encrusted with diamonds and pearls, at my request. We might have won the war, but I didn’t trust that history wouldn’t repeat itself. For now, I was going to fly under the radar and just enjoy my life with my beautiful family.
“Wife?” Sawyer gazed down at me tenderly.
“Yes, husband?”
“Let’s have five more babies.” Sawyer grabbed my chin and pulled me into him, planting a sweet kiss on my lips as I barked out in laughter.
Okay, clearly he was drunk because I was closing up shop after two more. Max. But I loved our life and I was excited for our future. We’d started to run this pack as one big family. Sometimes I took a city wolf issue and sometimes he took a Paladin issue, but mostly we kept to our previous packs when being in charge. It would all take time, we just had to figure out where we were going to live… a conversation for another day.
“Are you ready for your wedding gift?” Sawyer grinned.
“You got me a wedding gift? Shit, I suck, I didn’t get you anything.” I winced. I was so bad at this kind of stuff.
Sawyer waved me off and walked over to my mom, who was holding Creek. Taking our son, he brought him over to me and beckoned me toward a lantern-lit pathway that disappeared into the forest.
“Sawyer, we can’t leave our wedding. Where are you going?” I whisper-screamed.
He turned a corner and the path wound to an open … parking lot? My eyes widened at the sight of the freshly laid gravel parking lot; it was full of electric scooters, like the ones from Wolf City.
Sawyer spun. “I cleared it all with Rab and Arrow. We replanted the trees, and the scooters are electric and solar powered so nature wasn’t harmed.” He pointed to a baby pink one with a little side car on it that had a car seat inside. I grinned.
“It that for me and Creek?” Tears welled in my eyes.
Sawyer nodded. “This thing clocks thirty miles per hour. I timed it and it’s only nine minutes to the edge of Wolf City, where we can build one of two homes.” He gestured to the new paved path that led into the forest. There’d been a road between our two territories, and he’d essentially joined them as one and it meant the world to me.
The tears spilled over and my chest felt tight as Sawyer planted a kiss on Creek. “One home there and our little cottage here. We will split the time, f
ifty-fifty.”
I was too choked up to say anything more. Sawyer reached out and grabbed a pink helmet, slipping it over my head.
“What? No, Sawyer, our wedding!” I fussed as he clipped it under my chin and then strapped Creek into his car seat side car.
“We’ll be back in twenty minutes to cut the cake. Everyone is too drunk to notice we are even gone.” He assured me as he stepped over to a matte black scooter.
I grinned. This man and his romantic gestures.
“Twenty minutes! And I better not have helmet hair after.”
Sawyer’s lips curled into a smirk and then he took off on his scooter as I turned mine on and followed after him. The paved road was a smooth and beautiful ride through the stunning thickly treed paladin forest. My gaze kept flicking to Creek to see that he’d fallen asleep in his little car seat. The path was well lit and sure enough, in under ten minutes we approached the edge of Werewolf City.
Zipping out onto the road, I followed Sawyer as he took a left, towards the ruins of what used to be Sterling Hill.
Just as I was wondering if this was really necessary to take us on a tour of the destruction of werewolf city during our wedding, I saw the giant construction cranes moving panels of glass and metal sheet roofing as they rebuilt the school.
He’d started the rebuild already? Emotion clogged my throat.
Sawyer zipped inside the school parking lot, avoiding chunks of asphalt and cracked concrete and pulled right onto the burnt lawn, stopping in front of a brand new building. It was huge, two stories high and there were tradesmen installing doors and windows on the red brick building.
Red brick.
It looked like it was taken right out of Paladin Village Right down to the freshly planted garden beds. It was the only complete building on campus so far, but the others were going up quickly from the looks of it. Yet from what I could see of the materials, they were going to be glass and steel, the usual modern Werewolf City vibe.
“Sawyer?” I parked the bike and turned it off, glancing back to see Creek still asleep.
Sawyer stepped off his scooter and walked over to a lit up sign which had a piece of canvas draped over it. Reaching up, he ripped it off and I stared at the words etched into metal.
Paladin Cultural Studies Building
A sob left my throat as the realization of what this was settled into me.
“I thought Rab and Arrow could teach some classes here. And any of the paladin that want to go to school here can too, but I think most importantly future city wolves need to learn more about our nature loving brethren.” Sawyer said.
I laughed, wiping at my eyes and threw myself into his arms. “It’s perfect.”
He had no idea, did he? He had no idea that he was everything I never knew I needed. The glue to all the broken pieces inside of me. My wolf practically purred inside my chest at that, and I leaned forward, capturing Sawyer’s mouth in a passionate kiss. When I pulled back, he was looking at me with half-lidded, bedroom eyes.
“You’re stuck with me for life now, you know that, right?” I held up my ring finger and Sawyer’s eyes crinkled at the edges as he smiled.
“Lucky me.”
Life wouldn’t be easy. We’d still have challenges running a pack with two alphas and two territories. I still had power-boosting blood that someone might one day want. But we were going to make the best of this amazing life we had, and create a beautiful future together with our son.
Forever.
The End
Did you like Luka? His story is next. Preorder here to find out what happens when a sassy little human vampire hunter tries to kill Luka in Spokane. The first chapter of this series is below.
Vampire Hunter Society (The Dark Bite)
*Un-edited and may change.
I took one look over my shoulder, making sure I wasn’t followed, and slipped down the alley between third street and Grant. Tonight’s mark had been a challenge to hunt and I was going to be sore as shit tomorrow. My fingers clenched the heavy burlap sack as I stepped up to the non-descript brown rusted metal door. Reaching out, I banged three times fast, then once slow, followed by two times fast. A thin eye slit opened but it was too dark to tell who was on duty. Probably Finn.
“Password.” Finn’s gravely Irish voice came through the door in a muffled timbre.
“Daemonium interfectorem,” I whispered.
The metal panel to the right of the door popped open and slid to the left, revealing the hidden keypad underneath. Pressing my right index finger to the pad, I waited for the soft click of the door mechanism to open. My fingernails still had blood in them from the kill and my lower back throbbed from being slammed against the wall so hard.
The door clicked and I took one more look down the alley to make sure I wasn’t followed, before slipping inside.
Finneas Blight was sitting in his chair, crossbow slung over his back with dual guns at his sides. As head of security, Finn didn’t mess around. His legs were propped up on the worn mahogany desk. Behind him the House of Rose crest hung on the wall, perfectly lit up with two sconces on each side. Out of the four vampire hunter houses, House of Thorns, House of Ashes, House of Skulls and of course House of Rose, the House of Rose killed the most vampires per year than any other.
“Aspen. Did ya get yer mark?” His Irish accent was thick. Normally I didn’t dig redheads, but Finn was hot. From his tall muscular physique, right down to the reddish-brown bushy beard. He had a man bun that always rested at the nape of his neck and at thirty-years-old, had that sexy older guy vibe going on. I’d had a minor crush on him when I was seventeen but he was ten years older than me. I got over it though, and he was happily married to Hannah now.
I held up the sack, a few drops of blood staining the bottom and he grinned. “What’s that now, sixty?”
I winked. “Something like that.”
It was actually seventy-three, the most kills for any junior hunter in the society ever, but I was working on being humble, so I kept that to myself.
“Maz is in back, she’ll be happy to hear it.” Finn waved me forward.
I slipped through the dingy entry and into the real entrance of our secret society. Two gigantic marble doors pulled back to reveal an opulent entryway. Rich wood floors, tasteful cream wallpaper and timeless mahogany furniture. Kinsley, the butler, greeted me with a grin.
“Aspen, lovely to see you. Shall I whip you up something to eat? You must be famished after your hunt.”
You never turned down food by Kins and his staff, he was an incredible chef. “Yes please, but just something quick.”
I wanted to shower off; tonight’s mark had been hard and I was battle-weary.
He disappeared into the kitchen as I traversed the well lit halls. I passed the library, nodding in greeting to a few of my fellow hunters, raising the bag to show them my kill. Then I moved onto the dormitory where our hunter apartments all spanned out. The exterior of this building fronted as a non-descript factory but inside it boasted ten floors, fifty apartment buildings, a large dining hall, youth dormitory, training gym, library and much more. The Vampire Hunter Society was Spokane’s best kept secret. We took care of the vampire infestation on the entire inland northwest so that the humans never had to know there was even a problem. Eastern Washington, Northern Idaho and even parts of Montana were well within my territory of hunting.
When I reached the two ornately carved wooden doors to Maz’s office, I straightened my shoulders, brushing my candy apple red hair out of my face and then knocked.
“Enter!” Maz’s singsong voice called out.
I pushed the doors open and she looked up from her desk. “Aspen! Tell me you got him?”
I held up the sack and she thrust her fists in the air, the sleeves of her priestess robe peeling back to showcase toned forearms. Maz was a sixty-five-year-old badass vampire hunter, woman of God, and the leader of the Spokane branch of our society.
She pulled out her iPad and opened up the photo a
pp. “Let me ID him.”
I set the bag down and opened it, peeling the edges back to reveal the head of the dirtbag vampire I’d pulled off of an innocent human.
“He’d been about to drain her,” I told Maz.
She glowered. “That’s him. Got more complaints about this one than any other. You did good. God bless you, dear.” She snapped a photo of the head and then indicated to the incinerator that sat in the corner of her office.
As she typed into her iPad, I walked over to the incinerator and chucked the head into the fire before closing the hatch. The flames flared to life, consuming the demon completely. I used to be affected by seeing them like this, because they looked so human, but then I saw them fight. I saw them kill. I saw what they really were. Monsters.
“That’s number seventy-three for you. Keep this up and I’m going to have to promote you to senior hunter soon.”
I froze... Senior hunter. At nineteen? Maz was in charge of promotions and you didn’t get senior hunter until you’d been hunting for years. My bestie Liv would flip when I told her later.
“I would be honored.” I finally found my voice.
Maz nodded. “The bounty has been wired to your account.” She tapped something on her iPad.
Only about one percent of the human population knew about or believed in vampires, and the ones that did paid us good money to avenge their fallen or attacked loved ones. It was our job to protect the humans from the bloodsuckers but the money we made from hired hits helped us keep the organization going for over a thousand years now.
My phone buzzed with the incoming wire. Five grand.
Score.
“Thanks, Maz.” I headed for the door, tired, hungry and sore all over.
Her iPad dinged as I was walking out. “Aspen? How tired are you?”
I spun, wearing a smirk. She always had a mark for me. Sometimes they took a few weeks to track down, but she always had more. Most of the other hunters within the society were put on patrol, keeping the humans safe from random vampires. Some of the bloodsuckers had fled Magic City and were trying to make a life out here in the human world, others had been here for years but they get sloppy and we catch them. We were well within our rights to wipe them from the face of the earth the second they crossed the line from their little compound in Northern Idaho. But for me, Liv, Vasquez and some of the other elite junior and senior hunters, we got the paid gigs, the marks that had done something horrible and needed justice to be served, and God willing, I wanted to be the one to bring those families closure.