by Jayha Leigh
“Wait a minute. You’re a Carolina fan, aren’t you?” Fyodor asked.
“Damn skippy, little boy. Now recognize and bow down.”
After seating Aloha, Ianikut watched as she said grace and selected food. He didn’t tackle his own food until she began eating. During this time, Tosya asked her how she came to be injured. Relaying the story, Ianikut’s brothers alternately laughed and gasped.
“I can’t believe that you’d take a spill merely to prevent denting your car,” Zhenechka said.
“Stop it. How can you say such terrible things about my precious baby?”
“What’s wrong with your ankle? I noticed that you’re still limping a little bit,” Zhenechka inquired.
“Hmm, I snapped my Achilles a few years ago. Every now and then, it reminds me to put the cape on, before I attempt to save the world.”
“How the hell did you manage that?” Antosha asked. “That’s not an average injury.”
“There’s nothing average about Aloha,” Ianikut interjected.
She smiled her agreement as she casually answered Antosha’s question. “Fight.”
“I just don’t see you starting a brawl,” Vyacheslav said.
“And normally I don’t, but the men that we were fighting didn’t share my respect for leaving people the hell alone,” she replied, helping herself to more grilled chicken. Since she was focused on her food she didn’t mark their sudden stillness.
“You fought men…as in plural of man…as in the gender that is not female?” Ianikut asked.
“Mm hmm.”
“And?”
“What? It’s a long story.”
“We have time,” Vyacheslav replied.
“Picture this,” she paused. “You thought that I was going to say ‘Sicily’ didn’t’ you,” she joked. “Tobacco Road, during the height of football season, and the beginning of basketball season. Lots of tourists in the Triangle and the Triad as the area is saturated with colleges and universities. You can literally go homecoming hopping. Y’all went to Duke. You know how it is. We take up residence at one of the local sports bars because it’s ground zero for all of the good stuff that’s going down, and they have the most banging fruit slushies. So alumni are out having a good time, when an argument jumps off. From the digs being thrown, I just knew it wasn’t going to end well. The bartender tries to diffuse the situation but before she can talk some good sense into them total chaos broke loose. No one has any regard for the fact that guys are jumping on women that didn’t have jack to do with it. Well, you’re not going to sit idly by, while some guy is straight whipping your ass. So, hey, sisters are fighting back, but it’s still too many guys versus women, so I jump in to even it up a little bit. Some other chicks jumped into the fray and it was a free-for-all in that joint.
When all was said and done, not one of those woman-hitting bastards was standing on his own power. All anybody ‑‑ our dads, the police, and the patrons ‑‑ said was that we should’ve just minded our own business, but dammit as humans, we’re each other’s business. That woman was somebody’s little girl, somebody’s sister. Nothing about the perverse situation was right and I know that as a black woman sometimes the only way to get justice is to go get it yourself.”
She paused to inquire, “Is there any more tzatziki sauce?” After dumping more on her food, she noticed the silence and proffered an apology. “Sorry, sometimes I drag out the soapbox without noticing.”
“No apologies needed. Please continue the story,” Tosya implored.
“Not much more to tell than that. Every time my grandmomma sees me limping she cries and my dad gets pissed all over again. I know deep down that their sorrow and rage stems from the fact that they cannot stomach that their child was exposed to the injustice that permeates society. But I can live with the pain. It’s a testament that I truly stand for truth and justice ‑‑ not merely in theory, but in reality. Whenever I forget the reality that comes along with not only being a woman, but with being a certain type of woman, all I have to do is take a look at this scar that runs along my Achilles and remember. And I know that I’m not alone in feeling that. Each one of the Posse girls has a testament somewhere on her body backing that up and none of us regret it.”
* * * * *
Although Ianikut had an inkling of what had happened at the infamous fight that Atlanta was pretty closed-lip about, before Aloha told him the story he’d never had a clear picture. For that he was grateful. He and his brothers were angry. Had Aloha been focused on them instead of her food, she would’ve noted the looks on their visages and known what a vampire looked like in full-blown rage. Trying to keep his rage under control, Ianikut used his preternatural speed to make it to the nearest bathroom. Once there he did something that he had never done in the whole of his adult life ‑‑ he vomited. And while he vomited, he considered his revenge.
When he returned to the table, Aloha jumped up and placed her hand on his forehead. “Ianikut, are you ill? Do you need to lie down?”
“I’m okay, angel. What about you?”
“Actually, I’m feeling a little tired. I think that I’ll rest for a bit, but when I get up, I have dibs on the plasma.”
Ianikut thought it was cute the way his angel thought that he was going to let her attempt the stairs after the story she’d just shared. Scooping her up, he cradled her to his massive chest.
“Okay, you might want to warn a chick when you’re about to do that,” she breathed.
“Consider yourself warned then. Whenever you’re around me you’re subject to being pulled into my arms.”
“Is there a particular reason for that?”
“Because I want to. As the master here, it’s my privilege to do as I please.”
“You might be master here, but remember that you’re not my master. You don’t rule me.”
“I’d never attempt such a thing, angel moya. I don’t want to rule you; I only want to please you.”
“Oh, I like that.”
“And you will really like moaning my name.”
“Possibly, but you’ll like screaming my name even more,” she threw back.
Ianikut imagined the catalyst that would lead to him screaming her name and he grew hard. Pausing in his ascent up the stairs, he leaned down and took her mouth. Groaning, he took her scent into his nostrils and her taste into his mouth. The sweetness that permeated her person almost overwhelmed him. She tasted like raw sugarcane and smelled like cotton candy. He literally shook from desire. No other woman had ever affected him thusly. Aloha metaphorically drove him to his knees. Surprisingly, he wasn’t scared; he was determined. Determined to have her ‑‑ regardless of what he had to give up.
“Mine,” he proclaimed when he released her succulent mouth.
“Don’t you have to fight for me or something before you make such bold statements?”
“I wouldn’t hesitate to do such, angel, but no other male would challenge me.”
“Oh, you don’t think that I’m worth it?” She sassed.
“You’re more than worth it, angel moya. However, challenging me for what’s already mine is not only stupid, but also imminent death.”
“Well, damn. Thanks for the clarification,” Aloha replied.
“I live to please you, angel moya,” he said as he gently set her upon her feet.
Ianikut had good intentions ‑‑ really, he did, but that was before his angel decided to tempt him. Aloha didn’t allow him to simply put her down. She slowly slid down his body. It was one of the most erotic experiences of his life. He was on sensory overload, and his body fairly burned where her lush body came into contact with his. Her moans sounded like the most amazing aria; the picture of her with her eyes closed, her head thrown back, and her full bottom lip gripped by her teeth rocked him to his core.
“Damn,” he moaned while reveling in pure pleasure. “Angel, you have to step away so that I’ll be able to stop.”
“Where’s your famous control?” Aloha tau
nted while wisely retreating a few steps.
Ianikut crowded her before answering, “You’re the one thing that tries my control, angel moya.”
“I’m not a thing. Thank you very much.”
“You’re the only thing, angel,” he declared as he gently grasped her wrists, and pulled her forward into his strength. Instead of immediately ravishing her, he took a few moments to simply hold her. Using his beautiful hands he finger-combed her braids before taking her mouth as if he alone commanded time. And she kissed him back as if she believed he did. Nibbling on her lips, he feasted on her mouth. He continued kissing her until she ceded to his mastery and whimpered her surrender into his mouth. Ianikut laughed in triumph but it wasn’t long before he realized his error. Aloha slid her hands under his shirt and scraped her nails over his nipples.
“Angel,” Ianikut pled.
“Ianikut,” she entreated.
“I can’t be gentle right now when I want you this bad,” he explained. “When I take you, angel, it will be nothing less than total ravishment.”
“Well, ravish me gently.”
Pushing her back on the bed, Ianikut slowly removed his clothes. Although he was aware that women found him attractive, he reveled in Aloha’s appreciation. Not a vain man, he knew that he would always remember how she looked at him. She looked at him like she looked at the television when she was playing her PlayStation 3, and one simply couldn’t dream of a higher compliment.
After allowing her to look her fill, he climbed on the bed and unhurriedly removed her clothes in between deep kisses. He left her clad in her scant bra and panties because Aloha completely bared to him was a temptation he couldn’t resist. Turning her on her back, he gently lifted her injured ankle and kissed his way over the scar before traversing the rest of her body kissing away all of the sore places and every place in between. When he finished tasting all of her skin, he placed a kiss at her temple before gently wrapping her in his embrace. Pulling the sheet over them, he paused when he heard her quiet sigh.
“Is that a good sigh or a bad sigh?”
“It’s a good sigh. You’re good at tucking me in.”
“It’s a good thing because I’m the only one who has the right to do it.”
“You’re so possessive.”
“That I am, so don’t forget that, angel,” he whispered in her ear and pulled her tighter.
Feeling the evidence of his desire pressed into her back, Aloha gasped. “Ianikut,” she purred.
“Be good, angel moya,” he admonished.
“Just give me the chance,” she returned.
Ianikut prayed that she would heal fast.
* * * * *
The rest of the week flew by too fast for Ianikut’s peace of mind. Though he desperately wanted to make love to Aloha, he had to give her time to heal. He knew that he’d be hard-pressed to hold back once he started making love to her because he had wanted her for so long. It was also imperative that he give his petite angel time to accustom herself to everything that he was: a massive and powerful dominant male. Large by human standards he was also extremely powerful even by vampire standards, and dominant as befitting the son of the current king. Once Aloha accepted him, he wouldn’t let her go ‑‑ ever.
Chapter Ten
While Ianikut anxiously waited Aloha’s complete healing, the berserker had received a yes to his marriage demand. The Norseman wanted to marry Atlanta yesterday and couldn’t prod her to the altar fast enough. The next two weeks were a flurry of activity for all involved in the wedding party. Atlanta’s mother gave him a “don’t make me come over there” look and a better-do list. While everyone else ran themselves ragged planning her wedding ‑‑ which was several months away ‑‑ Atlanta busied herself with the management of her football fantasy league.
“Do you plan on helping out with your wedding?” Ianikut asked in a snit.
“I offered to get the napkins. If anyone wants me to help out any more than that, they can put that under the category of ‘too fucking bad.’ The only thing that I’m required to do is walk my beautiful self down the aisle,” she said between bites of cheesecake.
“Obviously, you’ve hidden the fact that you’re an evil incarnate from the berserker, else he wouldn’t be so damn eager to marry you.”
“Yeah, he would, because I’m devastating in the bedroom. While you’re over there in need of one good ass-whipping, you might want to consider how stunning Aloha will look in her gown, and how Steele’s brothers will react to her beauty. Like Steele, none of his brothers minds a little coffee in their milk.”
“Aloha’s mine!”
“Sure she is, but you might want to consider letting Aloha in on your little secret, especially considering that she’s due to begin her sabbatical at the end of the month.”
“What sabbatical?”
“The one she takes every year about this time.”
“She didn’t tell me.”
“And is there a ring on her finger requiring her to do so?”
“Not yet.”
“Well until there is, shut the fuck up.”
“Sometimes I fantasize about pushing you off of a cliff.”
“And when you think you can kick my momma’s ass, go ahead and try it.”
The thought of angering Atlanta’s mother caused him to shudder. Southern women didn’t care how old you were, how successful you were, or how big you were, there was never a time that they would hesitate to kick your ass. “Why is Aloha leaving?”
“Possibly to retain her status as call-in champion of the Southeastern region, or maybe because she’s a grown woman and she can do that.”
Growling in his throat at Atlanta’s less-than-helpful answers, he asked, “How long will she be gone?”
“For a while. After a quick pilgrimage to the shrine where techno-geeks worship, she’ll grab her trusty laptop and go into seclusion.”
“When will she return?”
“Right before the wedding.”
“You’re telling me she’s going to be gone from August until November?”
“Glad to see that you learned to count while at Duke.”
Ignoring her sarcasm, he continued. “I’ll put a stop to that.”
“So wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
“Why not? Aloha going off by herself has international incident written all over it.”
“No, that’s only if Reign and Zuri accompany her. Right now wreaking havoc is the furthest thing from Aloha’s mind; she’s working on getting her doctoral dissertation together.”
“I didn’t know.”
“There’s plenty you don’t know about Aloha. Being her best friend, I know how her mind works. She’ll engross herself in her laptop, immersing herself in a land of zeroes and ones. A few months later after a stellar diet of Skittles and energy drinks she’ll realize that she has an itch that needs scratching. Maybe she takes her handy vibrator with her, and maybe she finds a hot man to have computer sex with.”
“Maybe I’ll hunt that motherfucker down and beat him to death,” he promised.
“Why?”
“Because Aloha’s my woman.”
“Again, perhaps you should tell her this.”
“I have.”
“Then make her believe it.”
“Oh, I will. While I’ll leave her to work on her dissertation in peace, I’ll also leave no doubt that she’s my woman,” he said as he stalked off. He paid no attention to Atlanta’s smirk; he simply considered the warning he was about to deliver to Steele, and by proxy his brothers.”
* * * * *
A week later, Ianikut finally tracked down Steele.
“Berserker?” he asked without preamble.
“Vampire?” Steele matched the vampire’s insolence.
“If you want the men in your line to live, warn them that Aloha is off-limits.”
“My, how the vampire realm has deteriorated when one has to beg a berserker to leave his woman be.”
“Yo
u try my patience, berserker.”
“As your kind have tried the patience of every paranormal creature for centuries.”
“All vampires are not the same.”
“Ah, but all berserkers are. Keep that in mind.”
“There has never been a war between our kind,” Ianikut warned.
“And if there is one now there will be many, many fatalities,” Steele parried.
“Well, then, as leader of your people, perhaps you should do all within your power to maintain the peace that exists between us ‑‑ as uneasy as it is.”
“Perhaps, you should cease provoking me to insure the continuance of your kind.”
“Ah, there goes that infamous berserker arrogance.”
“Is it arrogance when you speak the truth?”
“What does a berserker have that a vampire doesn’t?” Ianikut snarled.
“Other than devastating good looks, superior intellect, and speed? I don’t know, but I know one thing that this berserker has that you don’t. I have a categorical claim on my woman.”
“Berserker, you go too far, and one day, I will remedy your insolence and show you the error of your ways and your erroneous thinking, but today is not the day. And while you may think you have a categorical claim on that witch you call a woman, you have yet to get her to the altar.”
“I advise you to watch your tone when you speak of my woman, especially when there is only one woman who is her equal.”
“And that woman would be Aloha.”
“Actually, that woman would be my mother, but only because she had the good sense to birth such an impressive son.”
“Obviously, what they say about blondes holds true. You are surely a few sandwiches short of a picnic to believe that.”
“Vampire, I tire of this conversation. What is it that you want other than a dissertation on the superiority of berserkers?”
“Aloha belongs to me.”
“So you keep saying.”
“I’m warning you, berserker.”
“And I am warning you. Stake your claim, vampire or she is fair game.”
* * * * *
After trekking to Silicon Valley to kick it with some of her fellow geeks, Aloha holed up near the university where she worked diligently so she could fly to Japan and catch the Tokyo Game Show in September. In truth, she was all but done with her dissertation, but she needed the isolation. She had things to think over. At thirty-two years of age, she’d accomplished a lot but she was going through some kind of crisis. Not having the verbiage for it; she only knew that she felt lost. She’d done the school thing and would soon have her doctorate degree conferred upon her. Currently, she was doing the business thing and was a partner at a successful sports bar and restaurant. Being friends with Victorious, she’d done the travel thing and had even embarked on the road trip to end all road trips. By most measuring sticks she was successful, but she felt sadness as if she’d rushed through life and was now done. What was left to do when you’ve done everything on your to-do list? To a twenty-year-old that list had seemed impossible to get through, but to a woman in her early thirties it seemed lacking.