Big Game (The V V Inn, Book 3)

by C. J. Ellisson

  I’m dying to ask her about the sexual encounter with Naomi, but had a feeling if I brought it up she’d want to talk about the moment in the woods she witnessed… and reminding her of my indiscretion didn’t seem prudent.

  A small smile lights my face at the thought of Candy’s wolf’s teeth snapping at my ass yesterday. She was interested in me for a good long while and I had no idea. I still can’t believe I thought I was gay. Fucking pheromones.

  She said she understood my loyalty to the vampire and didn’t have an issue with it. Could that be true? My heart swells at the mere thought of having someone for myself, outside of the loving couple… a true mate of my own. Would she consider moving here and join my growing pack?

  Geez Louise. Listen to me. I sound like a chick. I shake my head at the desperate thoughts. Placing more importance on the evening than I have any right to. Best thing would be to wait and see how things develop. Maybe if I suggest she stay for a few weeks this summer that might be more of a safer approach.

  I slide off the couch to kneel on the floor next to her. The mysterious shifter lies on her side, an arm curled under a throw pillow. Her breathing sounds low and steady, like in a deep sleep. My gaze travels to the dip of her waist, noticeable even through her bulky men’s clothes. Before I can stop myself, I reach out and place a palm on her jeans-covered hip. It’s not creepy to touch her without her knowledge if I don’t actually molest her, right?

  Warmth spreads through me as I softly mold my hand over her feminine curve. She feels slender and athletic. I’ve always admired a woman who stays in shape. Okay, I’m being creepy now. I need to stop before I do anything else and seriously regret it.

  I pull away the offending hand and glance back at her slumbering face. Her eyes are wide open and she’s staring at me with a thoughtful look. Crap! Tell me I did not just get caught doing something that falls precariously close to illegal.

  “Er… umm… I…” I say, frozen in my guilt.

  Candy lifts her head and leans forward. “Shh….” She softly places her lips on mine and gives me a tender kiss. I press closer, deepening the contact, and cup my errant hand around the back of her head. In a moment that’s over far too soon for my taste, she pulls back and flashes a sly smile. “Do you normally feel-up sleeping women on your bosses’ couch?”

  No longer ashamed of my actions, I grow bolder and push the envelope even further. “Are you sure that was feeling you up?”

  Her eyebrows lift. “Maybe it wasn’t.” The confident young woman leans back and stretches, reaching her arms past the pillow, pushing up her breasts to strain against the shirt buttons. When she glances to see if I’ll take the bait there’s a clear invitation on her face. I could be dead wrong, but in the dim light from the kitchen it looks like she wants me to go further.

  The devil inside, aka the raging boner painfully shoving into my thigh, encourages me to take the leap. Not wanting to appear like some callow youth groping her at the first opportunity, I lean in near her neck, where the top two buttons of her shirt lay open. Taking a deep breath, I fill my senses with her unique spicy musk.

  The aroma clearly is not male or female, but somewhere in between. While in this form she definitely smells more like a chick—at least, that’s what I tell myself as I trail soft kisses down the exposed flesh and slowly edge my lips under the loose fabric.

  She feels silky under my touch. When I gently suck her skin into my mouth, her breath hitches and her heart thumps faster. Before I have a chance to decide how far to go, she pulls her arms back down and opens a few more buttons.

  “It’s not ‘feeling’ if you don’t use your hands, now is it?” She spreads her shirt wide, revealing two hard nipples sitting atop beautiful breasts. My breath catches in my throat as the slit of my cock weeps in my pants. Those tits look pretty enough to fuck.

  Never one to disappoint a lady, I gently cup her sexy offering, determined to make sure if I feel her up, I do it properly. When I lower to taste one dusky peak, she arches to press herself deeper into my touch.

  I pull the tightened flesh between my lips and tease the ridged peak with my tongue. A low moan comes from the languid shifter, encouraging me to continue. My warm palms squeeze her flesh and press the two globes together, creating a channel I’d love to slide my prick through. I flick my tongue over one nipple then reach for the other one, closing my hot mouth over the aroused areola and loving it like I did the first.

  Her voice rushes out on a husky sigh, “Now that’s more like it, Jon.”

  I chuckle inside, my humor radiating like a low grumble that vibrates against her skin. By the shift of her hips on the couch, she likes the added sensation.

  I pause in my ministrations to clear my lust-soaked brain. What am I doing? How far do I want to take this?

  The sexually frustrated man within wants to rush headlong into whatever Candy might be offering, but the calm inner alpha who Vivian left in charge raises his unwelcome head and reminds me quite pointedly of my responsibilities.

  Supernatural hunters. A dead werewolf. Several injured Weres. The arrival of Cy due to sabotaged communications.

  A heavy sigh issues as I pull away from the tempting display and draw the young woman’s shirt together.

  Her eyes hold a question, a slight tinge of uncertainty coloring the depths. “Is something wrong?”

  I shake my head. “Not in the way you think.” I kiss her one last time, lingering over her luscious lips, leaving no doubt that I do indeed want her.

  “We’re in the middle of a situation here, you know that. As much as I might like to push it all aside and spend hours exploring every inch of your body, I can’t. Another of Vivian’s vampires was scheduled to land before dawn and I left instructions for them to wake me,” I glance at the clock, “in ten minutes.”

  Candy sighs and nods her head. She reaches to button her shirt and I brush her hands aside and complete the task myself, taking my time and running my fingers over her skin while I’m at it.

  “How do you want to play this?” she asks.

  There’s wariness in her expression. I wonder how many times she’s revealed her true self to someone she’s interested in and they’ve rebuffed her. It can’t have been an easy game she played when she chose to disguise herself as a man.

  I smile, eager to take the pain from her eyes and try to inject a little humor in the situation. “What—are you assuming I’m worried about people thinking I’m chasing a guy? Don’t I look confident enough to you that I can pull it off?” I sit back on my heels and strike a body builder pose with my upper body. “Surely they will quake at my manliness and keep their thoughts to themselves.”

  Candy laughs softly and sits up, swinging her feet off the couch to rest on the floor next to my knees. “You’d do that for me?”

  I think back on the hours we spent talking in the dark last night. She knows about my dedication to Vivian and didn’t berate me my choice or try to convince me to leave the vampire—which is way more than the last few woman I’d been with ever did. Diana’s thinly veiled jealously leaps to mind. I found it surprising she was able to keep it in check whenever she was around Vivian. Good thing she doesn’t work in the main building. Lori from Romeo’s pack was more vocal in her opinions on my choice.

  “Yeah, I would.” I tilt my head to the side while I examine Candy. “But I think this is your choice. You’ve presented yourself as a guy in Romeo’s pack. It should be you who decides who you want to be as we move forward.” I clear my throat before speaking my next thoughts, unsure of myself but not wanting to mislead her. “Although, when we’re alone, I’d prefer you to be yourself… you know… as a woman….”

  She laughs loud, and takes my hand. “Are you sure about that?” She winks to soften her implication. “I could have sworn I saw you checking out Spike’s ass a little too closely, once or twice.”

  Heat burns my face at my remembered confusion. God, I thought I was going crazy. I think I had almost convinced myself I migh
t be bi. For a fleeting moment I picture the slim and athletic Candy naked, a woman in every sense of the word, except for an erect cock jutting out from her hips. The image doesn’t repulse me like I thought it would.

  If I’m perfectly honest with myself, I have to acknowledge the past times I’ve tried to seduce Rafe with my werewolf pheromones. Granted, the purpose was to get into Vivian’s bed, but the truth is there, nonetheless. “I won’t deny I’m curious about your form-altering… er… ah… abilities. But I have no idea how far or fast I’d be ready for changes.”

  She nods. “That’s fair enough.” Candy glances to the dark living room windows. “I have no problem revealing my true self to Romeo’s pack…” Her voice trails off. She looks back at me with a touch of worry on her face. “But the ladies might not be too happy when I do.”

  It’s my turn to laugh. The sound spills into the air like I haven’t laughed in ages. Tears gather in the corners of my eyes, “Oh man, how many of them did you go down on?” Picturing this attractive woman on her knees between the thighs of any of those gorgeous Weres gets the blood flowing to my cock again.

  She shrugs, unsure of herself. “I was lonely and they were willing. We both enjoyed ourselves. I never took it beyond oral sex.”

  “You think that matters? If they consider themselves straight they might really be pissed.”

  She looks me right in the eye. “We had a president who said it wasn’t sex. We’ll just have to see, won’t we?”

  Her strength is admirable. She’s willing to face the unknown by revealing herself to her pack to spare my image of being with a man. I tug her hand and draw her closer to me, placing my free hand behind her head to pull her lips to mine. The kiss is over quickly, but it has the desired effect for both of us—we’re ready to face the outcome to see what could be between us.

  “I think you’re amazing,” I say.

  “And I think you’re freakin’ hot,” she says with a smile. “Want to do that muscle pose for me again, big guy?”

  I get to my feet and pull the brown-haired beauty with me. “Let’s get some coffee going first. Then, I’ll show you my moves.”

  Her infectious smile warms me as we head into the kitchen. I never expected this moment and I want to cherish it for as long as I can.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Rafe

  “Should we let him live?” A man’s voice cuts through my haze of pain… it sounds like Lucas.

  “He could prove useful down the line,” Cora answers.

  “I don’t like it,” Lucas says. “I’d rather we kill the troublesome bastard now and be done with it.”

  “Patience, my dear, patience.” A snort sounds nearby. “Look at his body. He could prove an entertaining distraction while we torture his wife.”

  The boxer briefs I slipped on before sleeping are the only thing between me and the bare floor. Coldness seeps into my flesh, reminding me, despite my discomfort, that I am well and truly alive. If I hadn’t had so much of Dria’s blood earlier my neck wouldn’t have been able to heal before I bled out. My low moan when they moved my prone body from our suite gave away my status. They bundled me deeper underground in the Seat of Darkness, to depths I’d never traveled with my wife on our many visits.

  The air smells stale and old, as if the room was left empty for a long time. Weak light shines from an overhead bulb, the exposed wire indicating it was added after the stone walls were originally built.

  I can’t feel Dria in my head, due to the silver hood they placed on her, but I have no doubt she’s still alive—especially after hearing that bitch’s last comment. Dria’s way too valuable for them to kill. If they try and use her abilities they will find out what Mikov discovered centuries ago—no one can control a true manipulator against their will. At least, not for long.

  A chill runs down my spine when I recall Dria killed her second husband to escape her first seethe’s clutches. The situation was different, though, and I don’t think the same fate applies for me. The pair in front of me will likely be my undoing rather than my wife.

  “Come now, Rafe,” Coraline’s sickly sweet tone cuts the air. “We know you’re awake. Quite surprising how you healed from that fatal wound. A lesser man wouldn’t have succeeded.”

  A male voice speaks before I stir from my position on the floor. “Or he could have just had her blood. It would speed the healing.”

  “Good point, Justin. The real trick is—does she know he had enough or does she think he’s dead?”

  I raise my head to examine the occupants of the room. Lucas stands next to the blond, curly-haired bitch, both dressed in all black, as befitting their stealthy attack. A tall, lanky man lounges against the wall. His body language appears nonchalant, but his keen gaze rests on me, curiosity burning in its depths.

  “If her screaming and thrashing were any indication,” Lucas says, “I doubt it. She looked like a rabid dog in need of putting down.”

  Justin’s face tightens with distaste, and he looks away. I wonder who he is, how he got dragged into this mess. His skin tone is too vibrant and tan to be a vampire, unless he was changed very recently. And if he was a new fledgling I doubt he’d be trusted enough to be with this group here.

  Feigning a weakness I don’t feel, I slowly pull myself into a seated position, my back to the stone wall. Cora tracks my every move, her eyes glittering with intensity. “Have you wondered how you were both caught so easily?”

  Justin glances at me on her comment, his expression pinched. Is that guilt on his stoic face? I have a pretty good idea he must have been involved in them getting the jump on us. I grunt a non-committal sound, hoping Cora will reveal more in her desire to lord her superiority over me.

  “There are secret passages in the aboveground Tribunal buildings. Perhaps they were built centuries ago for the inhabitants to roam freely and avoid the sun.” She lifts a shoulder. “Or maybe they were hidden servant corridors. I’m not sure.” The blond vampire stalks forward, leans down to haul me to my feet and throws me into a nearby chair. “Either way, they let us into your suite.”

  Her explanation doesn’t cover why neither of us sensed them enter our quarters, nor is Dria easily taken by surprise. Lucas claps a hand on Justin’s shoulder. “Add the skill of a wizard to the mix and Dria never had a chance.”

  I glance at the tall, brown-haired man. Why would an experienced wizard with enough power to trick a vampire Dria’s age, if even for a moment, get into a fight like this? His hair brushes his collar and lays lank against his forehead. He’s dressed in black jeans, clunky black boots, and a black button down that has seen better days.

  Justin straightens under my scrutiny and shifts his weight to his other foot, avoiding my gaze. Money or blackmail is my best guess. Which means he could be reasoned with, if I get him alone.

  Out of nowhere, Cora’s hand sails through the dimly lit cell and lands hard against my left cheek. My heads whips to the side, a slow trickle of blood runs down my chin. I look up at her perky blond visage, for the first time feeling true hate running through my blood. I will make this bitch pay for what she’s planning. The question will be in the timing.

  “That’s better, Rafe. I see my love tap has brought some spark back into you.”

  Justin’s discomfort gets the better of him and he leaves the cell, closing the door behind him. Cora and Lucas share a look and Lucas shrugs. She bends down and brings her eyes close to my own. In a moment I feel her force of will probing against my mental shields, seeking entrance.

  She’s either trying to see what I know by directly invading my mind or is about to place compulsion on me to answer her questions. The training Dria and I have done over the decades holds and I don’t feel the other woman’s insidious presence invading my mind.

  “We’re going to ask you questions about your wife and you are going to answer all you know.” Her mental strength feels immense and I probably wouldn’t have been able to keep her out if I hadn’t had Dria’s blood last night.
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  “Okay,” I play along, unsure if she knows she’s not in control. A lie can’t hurt and I can try and string them along while revealing very little.

  Cora’s features smooth out and a hint of relief flashes in her eyes before being quickly hidden. “Good.” She paces to the far end of the room and back, eagerness vibrating in her movements.

  “Is Alexandria a manipulator?”

  “Yes,” I answer immediately. They already know it so confirming it can’t do her any more harm this late in the game.

  A smile forms on the delicate face of the vampire who hates my wife beyond reason. “I always knew she must have had an edge when she hunted.”

  Professional jealousy can’t have been her only motive, even she couldn’t be that vain and petty. It’s got to be something else. I’ll be damned if I tell her Dria can’t mind control a vampire she’s never met and that her kills as an enforcer were legitimate ones based on skill. It would only piss her off more.

  “Do you know of others with her abilities?”

  “No.” That one didn’t require any lying, either. If there are any vampires with her precise skill level I’ve certainly never met them.

  Cora stalks over and trails her gaze up and down the exposed flesh of my body. Interest glints in her eyes. I worry she might take things farther than I’m willing to fake. In what looks like a quick decision she straddles my lap. Her dark jeans rub across my thighs as she settles her weight onto me. I’m not tied to the chair, but if I make any move to hurl her off me, it would be quite apparent her compulsion didn’t work.

  I have to wait her out.

  Besides my underwear, I’m still wearing the metal watch that never leaves me. They didn’t think to remove it, and that small slip could be their undoing. There’s a thin razor wire coiled inside the housing behind the watch face. Using it will be tricky and risking it now with two of them in the cell would be plain foolhardy. Best to wait for an opportunity to present itself.