My pulse hammers and my body prepares to pounce, but my mind screams WE ARE NOT READY FOR THIS. I’m sans weapons and haven’t worked on hand-to-hand combat aside from a few defensive moves.
This was not in the brochure.
I psyched myself up, thinking I was fixing for a fight.
I lied. I’m a big fat nanner, nanner pants on fire, full of shit liar.
Huck raises his nose in the air, sucking in a chest expanding inhale. “I smell fear, brother.” He smirks, glancing between Kerrigan and me. If biker badass is an I gotta have this man demographic he’s nailed it with his wiry long beard, narrow nose, and beady eyes. Not my kinda guy, but hey if Duck Dynasty floats your boat, he’s it. There is a lid for every pot and all that jazz.
“Gentlemen.” Kerrigan pushes to her feet, keeping her stare away from their luring eyes she stands defensively between them and me. “If you’re in search of food, the check-in is down by the shipping bay on the other side of the building. Travel back the way you came, circle around and I’ll meet you there.”
Huck’s hand continues to fondle his beard while Buck’s eyes molest us.
By the time he finishes ogling me, I need a shower to scrub off the dumpster of never-gonna-happen ick. Buck closes the distance between us with his brother hot on his heels. “Why feast on the cheap shit when we’ve got a primo B negative vintage all nice and warm right here, Darlin’?”
While neither man is what I’d favor, as they encroach I see the stretch of denim on their thighs and the way their flannel shirts hug the hulking muscles of their torso. Add in the stupefying effect of their charm and I can see women lining up as dinner.
My eyes scan for anything to use against them while also gauging the distance to the door.
Thanks to my connection with Elon and a spell from Lex, I won’t fall under their charm but I don’t know if Kerrigan is the same. It will suck sweaty balls if they use her against me.
“Feeding from humans is forbidden. If you don’t want to face punishment, I suggest you hurry along,” Kerrigan warns, but they continue to advance until they’re in her face.
Huck wanders around behind me, running a finger down the length of my bare arm before joining Buck. “This one wears a vampire brand.” His glowing eyes grow hungrier. “Look at me, sweet pea, so I can sample the merchandise. Since your mate isn’t near, perhaps he wouldn’t mind sharing.”
I move closer, keeping myself an inch behind Kerrigan’s shoulder, I grab the tail of her shirt to alert her. Sucking in a deep breath, I allow the danger humming in the air to swallow my fear and jump-start my survival tendencies, along with empowering the essence of Odin firing through my veins. Head cocked to the side, I angle my lips in a mocking smirk and stare Buck straight in his bloodlust tinged eyes. Huck is the one throwing shade, but I sense Buck’s the lone brain cell between the two of them.
Several moments pass as we play a life and death match against who will blink first. He’s working his allure so hard I swear smoke tufts from his ears. From my periphery, I spy Huck glaring at his brother in wonderment. From behind her, Kerrigan slips a splintering narrow piece of wood into the hand I have resting on her lower back.
The power of Yggdrasil whispers on my palm. Between breaths Buck flashes behind me, shoving Kerrigan toward Huck, he fists a meaty paw in my hair. I slip the stake into my shorts as he jerks my head to the side, exposing my neck.
Did I mention how much I hate their fanghole speed? Yeah, tracking it is impossible even with my supercharged eyeballs.
His tongue traces my jugular. I fight the urge to vomit. “That one reeks of pussy but seems there might be a bit more to this tall glass of Bloody Mary, Huck. How bout a taste?” It’s more warning than question when I feel the tip of fang on my flesh.
“Allow me to answer that with a head-butt,” I respond, slamming my head sideways into the cartilage of his nose, while my fist connects with his nuts. The strands of my hair rip from his hold, but the satisfying crunch is worth the loss. He pig squeals in pain, recoiling. Kerrigan and I line up back-to-back.
They circle us. Thanks to his vampy-ness he’s already stopped bleeding, but his face is a macabre painting. I raise my arms to a fighting stance, brandishing the stake in one hand. Kerrigan hunches low behind me, still trying to talk them out of continuing.
“Power.” Hucks eyes grow wide. “This one stinks of old energy.” He nods at me. “What ya gonna do with your little stake there, Sugarplum? Ain’t no heart beating in my chest.”
“Ain’t no brain cells working in your skull either, yet here you are,” I mock.
“Nicole,” Kerrigan hisses.
They charge us. A jaguar roar rips from Kerrigan's throat. Before I compute the weirdness, her arms loop through mine locking our elbows.
She hinges forward. My feet leave the ground. My instinct and training read her intent. Legs spread, I tuck my knees to my chest, channeling all my strength into my feet. Arched over her back, I kick, landing a tennis shoe in the center of each hillbilly chest.
They fly backward. She releases me, leaping through the air until she lands in a crouch over Huck. Her skin ripples with iridescent spots and when she releases another hair-raising roar, I spot a line of small, razor-sharp teeth and four elongated fangs in her mouth a second before she rips out the front of his throat.
Buck’s torn between attacking me and helping his brother. I spin the stake in my palm like a baton cupping a Matrix-style, bring it on hand at him.
Oomph. I land on my back, gasping for air with barely enough sense to throw my forearm in front of me as his teeth snap. Pain slices up to my shoulder. I jerk away.
Bad move. When two sharp objects puncture your skin…Do. Not. Yank. My flesh tears, spilling blood everywhere. His entire eyeball turns fire engine red as his brow pops slanting his eyes, his cheekbones angle razor sharp, and bumps line his nose.
He’s feral.
The man vanishes as the Berserker bloodlust consumes him. I’m so amped my speeding pulse sprays blood all over the damn place. He growls, slobbering on my face with each snap of his mouth.
“Get off me,” I scream, wiggling enough to kick him away. He recovers as fast as I do. Crouched with knees bent and one hand on the ground, he’s a hissing rabid mess controlled by the pure need to feed.
“Surrender and I’ll make your death painless, little girl,” he seethes, spraying spit.
“Not gonna happen, mothersucker.” His fingers wiggle and his boot shifts. Minuscule actions, but I read his intent. He blurs, I spring, flipping in an aerial cartwheel over his head. When I land, I stab the stake between his shoulder blades. He drops to the ground, paralyzed. With him subdued, I remember the tiny dagger hidden in my belt buckle.
Yes, I’m wearing spandex booty shorts with a high waist and fashionable belt straight out of an eighties aerobics video. Don’t judge my retro choices because right now it’s on point.
While seeing him prone with hands clawed and monster face is fascinating, his eyes still track me. I pull the knife and kneel over him. “Nothing personal, partner,” I mock his accent, running the blade over the back of his neck to sever his spinal cord. His body convulses, knocking me on my ass before it bursts into a cloud of ash.
“About damn time,” Kerrigan sits with her knees bent, licking the back of her hand. She uses it to clean the blood from her face.
“We can’t all rip out a guy’s spine with our teeth. Thanks for the wood.” I waggle my brows.
She opens her mouth to respond as the door flings open. Geri’s wolf charges forward, sniffing the air, and Lex rolls a ball of light in his hands.
“Is Ranissa okay? I thought this,” I wave my gashed arm, “was supposed to vanish from me and appear on her, so she can do the healing mojo.”
Lex stares at my torn flesh as though it’s one of the wonders of the universe. “Can’t say for sure. We’ve been mixing up magics the last few days, perhaps we blocked your bond? Definitely something we need to figure out.”
>
“I’m not complaining. I hated her hurting because I failed to avoid the snappy, angry puppy.”
“Yes, but it’s part of your uniqueness and invincibility. We must test it in the…” Elon’s thundering bellow cuts Lex’s words and silences the nightlife chatter. The primates in the trees scream like children. In a blur, he’s cradling my bleeding arm in his hand. Fangs extended and eyes swirling a glacial storm, he searches for the culprits.
“They’re dead.” I cup his cheek, willing him to calm down. His heaving breaths slow and his posture relaxes. Lex checks Kerrigan for injuries as Elon slices open his thumb with a tooth, slipping it between my lips. His sweet flavor coats my tongue before gliding down my throat. I grab his hand, tethering myself to him while I lave the digit, sucking away every drop. The tears in my skin pull together, leaving only the stain of my blood behind.
Adrenaline pulses through me from the fight. Elon’s love, protectiveness, and need to inspect my entire body flow along the lines of our exchange. We’ve been apart too long and our bond demands penance. My wanting eyes lock on his as I pop him from my lips. With the fire of a thousand suns burning in his eyes, he flips me over his shoulder. I catch a glimpse of the stairwell and blurring white, then we’re inside his chambers.
Chapter Twenty-One
My back hits the cold steel door. I slide down his body, whimpering from the loss of him between my legs. Elon’s snags his bottom lip between his teeth, his hands working to free me of my tight clothes. The way he looks at me is so primal and sexy.
He hooks my leg on his hip, running two fingers up and down my center, circling my clit with each pass. One plunges inside, I gasp.
“So tight and ready for me.”
My eyes fall closed as my head bangs against the door.
“Eyes open, Love.”
I meet his lust-widened pupils. His foot nudges mine, spreading me wider. His finger slips out, pushing in with two. I tense, digging my nails into his shoulders before relaxing into the stretched fullness.
His face falls to the crook of my neck, the tip of his fang scoring the skin. My breaths grow labored from the pinch of pain and his methodical stroking inside me. He crooks his fingers, angling the direction of his pumps. My growing need for orgasm tightens my stomach.
His thumb stretches to rub my clit as he slips a third finger inside and sinks his teeth into my neck.
“Oh God,” falls from my lips in a guttural moan and scream, my orgasm ripping through me. When the leg threatens to drop me, he removes his hand and releases the suction from my neck.
I free him from his jeans. Fingers wrapped around his thickness, I stroke him from root to tip, spreading his wetness with my thumb. Blood drips down my collarbone, slicking over my chest. He didn’t close the wounds on my neck.
My free hand fists in the black strands dusting the back of his neck. Using my hold, I lower his mouth to my pebbled nipple where a bead of blood teeters. Long black lashes blink up; watching my face while the tip of his tongue flicks the hard nub. I grip his cock harder, stroking faster. His lips close around me as a groan vibrates my flesh.
He licks a path up, sealing the holes with the flat of his tongue. “Turn around, stick your ass in the air,” his hot breath ghosts my ear.
My cheeks heat from how much I love his demanding tone. He sheds his clothes as I turn. Hinged at the waist, I watch him over my shoulder. His hand smooths down my spine, I wiggle my backside, feeling the tickle of his hairy legs on my sensitive flesh.
“Plant your hands on the door, Love. I don’t have it in me to be gentle. Protect your head.”
My hands splay on the metal, slipping from sweat slicking my palms. A loud crack echoes before the sting emblazons on my ass.
Before I voice my protest, he buries his long length to the root, forcing me to widen my legs to ease my discomfort. Hips flush against my ass; his thighs shake.
“Tight,” he grunts. “Fuck, you were made for my cock.”
I bite my lip to keep from screaming, but a whine works free because he’s not moving. Frenzied I roll my spine, easing forward before slamming back. The most glorious tingle rockets through my core from the pain.
His pleasured bellow bounces off the walls. He rings an arm around my waist, grabbing a handful of hair with the other. My neck arches from his tug as his hips slap against me. Trapped in his hold, he completely dominates me. Hard, fast, and desperate, he pummels my insides. It’s all I can do to keep my elbows locked and my head from crashing into the door.
“That’s it, Goddess. Let go.” The thwapping pop of bending metal drowns our moans as my hands embed in the thick reinforced steel door. My orgasm hits hard, drowning me in intense bliss. His hips jerk, seating him at my end over and over. The heat of his cum and loud primal grunt sets me off again. My walls clamp and my drenching wetness soaks him.
I must’ve passed out, because I wake the next morning surrounded by his scent and sweating from his body wrapped around me. Blonde strands hanging in my eyes, I look up from my spot on his chest, meeting his heated icy stare.
An hour and one dirty shower later, we’re in the training room. Elon doesn’t sleep but assures me he’s more than happy to spend plenty of time in his bed with me.
After my too close call with the idiot brothers, we perfect my hand-to-hand combat.
***
Lex and Rika figured out an alexandrite crystal delivered in a shipment from an unknown source was the reason part of our bond failed. Someone hid the rare stone among others of similar color. It might’ve been a coincidence, but since the thing sells for seventy thousand per carat and is impossible to find, Elon believes the sender knew it was our kryptonite. He changed up how the facility receives packages.
I suggested keeping a tiny nugget of the stone in an iron box to use when we have sex to insure Ranissa never shares our experience again. He agreed with my brilliance.
Parker hated how I was unarmed during the attack. Since he still hasn’t shifted, he set his engineering mind on ways to conceal weapons on my body. We also tested varying sizes of Yggdrasil wood since hooking several stakes to my hips might catch the attention of the police.
A toothpick size sliver shoved into anybody part slows a vampire’s reflexes. Stabbed into their brain stem, it paralyzes them for fifteen minutes. Both options allow me time to kill them, grab another weapon, or a larger chunk of wood.
Parker took three of my bras and added a line of filed-smooth pieces along the straps. He also fashioned lined pockets near the underwire where push daggers fit. Good thing I’m large-chested because he also stuck a Shuriken near my cleavage.
My tits are lethal. If I’m on patrol, I’ll have daggers strapped to my thighs, ankles, and upper arms; along with stakes shoved in a multitude of pockets in my ‘patrolling pants,’ Ranissa’s words for the cargo pants Elon purchased for me.
I love the thought into my safety, but hate the ugliness of it all. When I go out, I want to wear the katana swords on my back and hold a stake in my hand. Between my strength and fighting, I shouldn’t need anything else.
To prove my point, we’ve decided it’s time to patrol the streets of Silver Lake. Elon is hoping word will spread of my presence and Carissa will cease her maniacal takeover plans.
Yes, ‘cause crazy bitches always think sensibly.
He sent Trevor and Dusty out in search of the spear. I told him it’s a wild-goose chase and if the damn thing existed it’s buried in a cave where we’ll never find it. But he’s determined.
Ranissa, Rika, and Parker set up camp in the control room after rigging us up carbon fiber bracelet coms infused with magic. Not only can they not be removed from our wrists, but they also allow us to communicate with them, each other, and it has GPS if we get separated.
Kerrigan, Geri, Lex, Elon, and I load up in Elon’s badass matte gray Rezvani Tank. The engine rumbles, eating the road with studded wide tires. He parks in the lot of the local Neighborhood Market, smack dab in the hub of a middle-clas
s housing district.
I eye the cookie-cutter houses, lush yards, porches with swings, and backyards filled with trampolines and toys. Streetlights shine yellow domed patches with only a sliver of darkness in between each beam.
“So are the vamps we’re hunting in league with Rachel Ray and Paula Deen? It’s all the EVOO and butter, right? The key to becoming a Berserker is in the high cholesterol.” Geri and Elon stop strategizing to blink at me in confusion.
Lex pats my head. “Can you think of a better place to blend and feed? Woman loading groceries in the back of the minivan, with kids already strapped in their seats, no one throws shade at the handsome man who stops to help her. If he drinks to deep, she passes out. No worries, she’s just overworked and he’s a good friend of the family. Bored housewife’s getting together for book club, drinking wine, gossiping about the hottie neighbor next door, who has the cutest dog sleeping on his steps at night. Wathe are everywhere. In the grocery, at the local high school football game, delivering your mail. People block out what doesn’t fit in their perfect world box. Recently divorced men and women are prime for turning because if they disappear then they’re a deadbeat who shirks responsibility. Carissa’s army consists of the everyday Joe.”
“Plus, the dangerous side of town is two blocks away. Silver Lake isn’t big enough for boroughs,” Geri adds.
We walk two by three; Elon and me in the front, Lex, Kerrigan, and Geri behind. Lightning bug butts brighten up the shadows, the crickets and frogs chatter up the nighttime silence. An occasional car passes, slowing to ogle the armed freaks strolling down the sidewalk. We cover ten blocks before a police cruiser blinds us with its spotlight. After the number of lookie-loos who crept by, I’m shocked it took them so long.
A stout bull of a man lumbers out of his car, hand hitched on his weapon. Bald with a sizable spare tire overlapping his pants, he leans on the passenger side. “Pleasant night for a stroll?
A Cursed All Hallows' Eve Page 91