by Dee Carney
Still sobbing, the man leaned forward, hands flailing as he tried to collapse into the waiting chair. Bast managed to step to the side at the same moment and somehow, the wheelchair decided to simultaneously teeter on one large wheel. The man slipped and a thick, wet sound belched into the air. He began to scream, a high-pitched, spine-curling keen of pain, and Bast sharply turned his head away from the sight of organs and other matter that bulged from the now gaping wound.
“Go!” he shouted at her, already starting to run in Alice’s direction. It came out as a boom of noise, drawing Antaeus’s attention. Didn’t matter though. Antaeus was waylaid by the hospital employee, the injured man and his friend trying to shove the wheelchair back inside. Between the screaming, blood and gore, all of them moved in clunky uncoordinated starts and stops. None in sync. All three, hell, maybe even Antaeus himself, panicked by the sudden turn of events.
Bast couldn’t be bothered to linger to watch the outcome though. By the time he reached Alice’s side, he pulled her into his arms and took off at a dead run. Destination to be determined.
Forefront on his mind was getting away.
And then turning Alice into a vampire.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Bast opened his eyes, almost jerking upright before remembering where they were. Alice’s breathing, bordering on snoring, drifted from beside him. Arm draped across her middle, even in the exhausted coma they’d fallen into, he had to know she was physically there. With him. Always.
The motel clerk hadn’t batted an eye when they’d stumbled in just before dawn. He’d taken one look at the couple, made Bast sign here, here and here and fork over a couple hundred dollars when a credit card was not about to happen. With a Council executioner on their tail, Bast wasn’t about to make it that easy for the guy. Get real.
Stopping to rest while on the move might not have been something he would have normally done, but Alice was running on empty. He hadn’t fed or slept in more than a day, either. If they’d kept going, he would have made a mistake. And they just didn’t have time for that. Not now. Not when things had reached this level of chaos and uncertainty. Even now it pained him to gently rub her shoulder, arousing her to wakefulness.
“Wake up, princess.”
Her mumbled words colored the air blue.
“I know you’re tired,” Bast soothed. “But we’re not safe here.” Not like he knew where they would be safe.
“Eight hours,” she groaned. “That’s all I want! We can’t have been here more than three or four hours yet. Can’t we sleep a little bit longer?”
Almost six hours had passed, actually. Way more than he should have spared. “Not yet. Not here. I promise you’ll get to rest, but we have some things to do first.”
Alice struggled to sitting, hair plastered to one side of her face. “Christ, like what?”
Bast sat up too, allowing his hands to drape between his thighs. Face cast down, he searched for the courage to say the right words to her. An eternity of self-doubt passed, only to be overtaken by a rush of pride and possessive love. He tilted his face toward hers, taking a moment to brush away those sticky strands of hair. Faint purple lines circled beneath her eyes, but he didn’t find any hint of annoyance lingering in them. “You need to decide what you want. You have to know for certain.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I want you with me for always. As my lover. My mate. My wife.” What little sleep lingered in her expression wiped away with a blink. Something within her gaze softened, and it made his heart swell.
Confusion made her frown slightly. “But the Council, I thought they have to—”
“Fuck the Council, Alice. If you’ll have me, and please God have me, agree to be with me for the rest of our lives...I am begging you for your most precious gift. For the gift of yourself. I swear to you that I’ll cherish it always. Trade in your human life to become part of a stronger yet equally flawed family. In return, I will love you with everything I have and with everything I am. I will be yours until you tire of me.”
She touched his arm. “I could never tire of you.”
Bast shook his head. “You could. And that’s why I need you to be sure. Take your time and think about this. You might be thinking that death is scary and something you don’t want to face in the near future, but hundreds of years from now, you might regret not being able to leave this body so easily.” He’d already explained to her that vampires were not immortal, but even he admitted that some days it didn’t feel that way. Some days, when he was tired and blood-starved, it felt as if he’d lived one day too long. He’d spare her that lamentation if possible. “And like you know, we’ll be doing this without Council approval. When they discover your creation, and they will, we’ll have little choice. We will be hunted and always on the move. Always looking over our shoulders. Always facing the possibility of being executed.”
He ran out of words. The only ones he could conjure now spoke of danger and death. Of the harsh existence ahead of them. Bet those authors who wrote about vampires and their exotic sex lives wouldn’t know what to make of the last part of his speech. But he had to tell her. Had to warn her. For all he knew, maybe even within days of turning her, they’d be facing Antaeus and his stakes.
“I’m scared.” A shaky declaration said after a lengthy pause.
“I’d be more scared if you weren’t.”
“Will it hurt?”
His fingers curled around hers. “Not if I can help it. Do you want me to explain how it works?”
“Based on the way you’re looking at me, I don’t think I want to know in advance.”
He hesitated. There would be one tough part. Something she would not conceive of on her own. “I can’t help you choose what to do. You have to decide if you want to become a vampire with me. You decide if you want to hear the details of how it works. Any question I’ll answer as honestly as I can. If you can’t decide now, then that’s okay too.”
“It’s not going to be pleasant, is it? The turning part.”
“Certain parts aren’t, no. Whether I tell you now or you just wait and see, I need to know that I’ll have your complete and absolute trust in what happens.”
No hesitation this time. “Of course,” she said with a smile.
It fell away when Bast hardened his expression. “Complete, Alice. I need to know you’ll come out on the other side, with the understanding that I did exactly what needed to be done.”
“You want this so badly. What happens if I disappoint you? What happens when you grow tired of me? I’m nobody special, but you want to spend the rest of your life with me anyway. I hog the covers at night and can only cook, like, three things. Only two of those well. I have no fashion sense and don’t know how to be all high-falutin’ like you around your high-profile friends. Can you really be happy with someone so simple?”
“If the next hundred years are anywhere close to the past week, then yes. And hell yes.”
Alice studied him with a disbelieving gaze while nibbling on her thumbnail. Neither spoke.
In another time, he would have spent months, years if necessary, wooing her right. Slowly coaxing her and loving her until she loved him equally in return. If things were different...
“Yes.”
“Are you sure? One hundred percent, sure?”
“Yes, I am your friend and your lover. And yes, I want also to be your wife for now and always. As a vampire, if that’s what it’ll take. And that
’s what it’ll take, because I don’t know how much longer this old body of mine will hold out. So yes, Sebastian. Do whatever needs to be done.” She released an unsteady laugh. “But make it quick before I lose my nerve, okay?”
Bast nodded, hastily reviewing every step in his head. The last one he skipped for now, not knowing how he wanted to tackle it. He slid off the bed. “Remove your clothing,” he ordered.
Swinging her legs off the bed as well, she replied, “I thought you were turning me into a vampire.”
“There are some very enjoyable aspects to being turned. You’ll see.” An unrepentant grin followed.
Alice giggled while rolling her eyes.
When she lifted the shirt to reveal a flat, bare belly, Bast was immediately distracted from what he was about to do. Difficult to take his attention away from the woman who revealed a purple bra, all covered in lace and frilly things. The cut-out pattern teased him with blush-colored hints of her nipple, but no matter how long he lingered, they didn’t divulge the full secret. She leaned forward to push down the jeans from her hips, which made her breasts spill into the cups of all that purple, filling them completely. Standing upright disintegrated the effect, but the view of her stepping out of pooled denim stretched to her full height, hips and breasts covered in pretty lace was heart-stopping.
Christ, yes.
She reached behind her and a moment later, the bra no longer fit her in a snug hold. Instead, the material gaped before fluttering to the ground altogether. Rounded breasts, nipples already tightening, incited a rush of blood through Bast’s veins. By the time her fingers hooked into the straps of lace on her hips and pushed them down long legs, his cock had swollen to almost full mast. Licking his lips barely helped the dearth of moisture on them as his gaze swept over her nudity, taking in every exquisite inch of skin, including the down-covered juncture between her thighs.
“On the bed,” he whispered, throat drying.
He forced himself to remember that she was sick and had been hospitalized only hours earlier. His lust would have to wait. Still...
When she seemed comfortable, Bast crawled over her. Elevated on his forearms, he kept his weight from smothering her but reveled in the bounce of heat between their bodies. There was so much trust held in her deep blue eyes, it was almost enough to make him change his mind. To not subject her to what might be a mistake.
But no. The mistake would have been to not spend eternity together when it was possible. So Bast kissed her. It would be the last kiss she experienced as a human. One that gave her a final chance to cling to her old life and reject him.
Alice’s fingers pushed into his hair, her other hand lighting on his jaw to hold him in place as she returned the kiss. Their tongues stroked and tangled, their passion rising. She breathed heavily into his mouth, her body arching beneath his, touching breast to breast. Her teeth nipped at his bottom lip and the sharp pain aroused him that much more. As she spread those creamy thighs, inviting him to thrust into the warmth of her pussy, he almost came undone.
Instead he focused. Hands stroking over her body, inciting her reaction to him. He wanted this to be something special for her. A time she treasured and remembered forever as being worth every second of hurt he would inflict on her.
His mouth moved from her lips, spreading kisses over her chin and then down her throat. The jumping pulse beneath her skin raced a little harder, a little faster as his mouth approached. He could smell the scent of her readiness and it inflamed him with the same eagerness her blood did. Incisors aching in painful anticipation lengthened even further.
She tensed a split second before his teeth punctured her jugular.
So very, very sweet.
The taste of her blood so precious and delicious, Bast opened his mouth and pulled harder. Alice moaned, twisting beneath him, rubbing against his swollen cock. He rocked his pelvis against her, brushing against her clit. Always pulling more of her precious gift into his throat. Tasting her. Loving her. Alice shuddered, crying out as an orgasm left her trembling beneath him.
Quickly, Bast pulled away from his source and bit into his own wrist. Before Alice could protest or even figure out his intent, he pushed the new wound onto her mouth. He sunk his teeth into her again as quickly as he’d left. She bucked, seating him further in the cradle of her thighs, but then almost immediately she relaxed. He waited for perhaps too long, but there, felt the swipe of her tongue over the puncture. A few more seconds passed before a little pressure from her mouth tightened over his wrist.
Her lips were stained by the time he took his hand from her. There was a green tint to her face, but she’d ingested his blood. All it took was a little bit. Licking the wound closed took him only a second.
Very good. Now came the hard part.
“Trust me, Alice,” he said. “I love you.” With deliberate slowness, he placed the same hand over her mouth and nose. Eyes meeting hers, he applied pressure until he felt her body stiffen. And then he squeezed a little tighter.
She was so brave, his Alice, as realization sunk in. He knew the moment she understood his intent to control her breathing from the way the fear crept into her face. She tried to hide it and might have from any other person. From him she could hide nothing.
For the first thirty seconds or so—an eternity by whatever measurement he used—Alice remained still. Another ten seconds, and he could feel her begin to pull away. Each time, she brought herself back under forced control, but Bast imagined her lungs were beginning to question why they weren’t receiving a new exchange of air. By the minute mark, he could see her fingers clenching the bedsheets. She lasted another twenty seconds or so before her legs began to thrash.
“I love you... hold on...” His reassurances didn’t calm the frantic clawing that followed, grappling at his forearms, nails scraping his skin. Her hands wrapped around his wrists, pulling with a force he didn’t think she possessed, certain to leave bruises. He understood her body’s desperate attempt to breathe. The will to live overrode any other natural instinct.
Full body weight pressing down on her, he did his best to keep her from hurting him or herself. God, he wanted to look away, to not witness the moment her life ceased to be. Instead, he kept his gaze trained on hers. “Don’t fight it, baby... Almost over.”
She didn’t listen to his words. He didn’t know if she could even hear him. Alice’s body twisted and writhed, her legs kicking at his. She repeatedly threw her head back, trying to dislodge his grip, but Bast held on, knowing that if he stopped, they’d only have to go through it all over again.
His heart lurched when a final flash of pain-confusion-relief flooded Alice’s features. Her eyes looked at his, understanding and accusation mingling within them, before her gaze shifted beyond him. They glazed over, seeing everything and nothing. He kept that mutinous hand in place another heart-rending minute more before lifting it.
Head lowered to her chest, he waited for a beat to announce she hadn’t left him. When none came, no matter how hard he strained, Bast pushed aside the despair and lay next to her. He fought every internal demon and some he didn’t know that existed—every self-doubt and recrimination, every bit of worry about himself as a man, a vampire and now a dragon—and prepared to wait.
It was done.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“But an inheritance from whom?” Sebastian cried. “I don’t understand the secrecy and whispering. W
hy won’t you tell me about him? How did he acquire all of this? I am a bastard and you are a whore, and those words are truer because you hide him from all of us.”
Aurora Kent kept her gaze on the table, her long, elegant fingers sifting through the gemstones. Her hand remained steady as it drifted through the diamonds, rubies, emeralds and other various stones, some as large as her palm. Others the size of her fingernail.
She separated two brilliant blue stones from the piles. With a slight tremor beneath her words, she said, “Now tell me, of these two, which should be sold and why?”
Her clipped British accent used to soothe him as a child, but now with so many unanswered questions lying between them, Sebastian viewed it as another way to classify their differences. Other than their hair color and an existence based on blood, he was nothing like his mother.
Sebastian stalked toward her and leaned into her space, using his presence to demand she look up and acknowledge him. For God’s sake, just once, he wanted her to treat him like the man he’d become and allow him to face the whisperings of the vampire community with pride, instead of resigned shame. To his frustration, she made him learn about finance, gemstones and a multitude of other tasks and things that couldn’t possibly help him. Not when all of this belonged to him.