She cupped his cheek with her bleeding hand and tenderly pressed her mouth to his. He quivered, eyes flaring wide, as our queen sucked him down, draining him. Not of blood. But his magic.
When he didn’t try to save himself, I knew him as true Blood. Even though his magic kept him alive, he gave it all to her without hesitation. He collapsed against her and Daire, a dead weight. Lifeless. The spark blown out of his eyes.
She smeared her blood on his lips. “Fly back to me, Nevarre. Your queen has need of you.”
Invisible wings fluttered past my head, as if his soul came back to her call. His chest rose, his eyes focusing on her as she pressed her bleeding palm to his mouth. When she finally lifted her hand, his heart beat so loudly I could hear it. He laid back beside Daire and she crawled over to him, taking him inside her, sinking her fangs into his throat. Taking her fifth Blood.
Yes. I thought fifth very hard at Leviathan who stood watching our queen use us one after another, feasting on our blood, giving us hers. Guillaume and Xin knelt on either side of her. Holding her as she took her pleasure. Offering their mouths. Their hands. Their blood. Whatever our queen desired.
Mighty Leviathan, king of the depths, was beneath Shara Isador’s notice and certainly not worthy of being counted as Blood, no matter that her blood fueled his strength and saved his miserable life.
Unless and until he deigned bare his throat for her, I would not count him as Blood.
Panting, she settled back on Nevarre’s hips, arms looped around Guillaume and Xin. Daire curled around her front, nuzzling her breasts, though he made room for Nevarre when he recovered enough to join in stroking our queen. They kept her off the frozen ground, using their bodies to comfort her. To shield her. As a Blood should.
She still burned with need and thirst both. The circle was complete—though not in her Blood. But she didn’t call Leviathan to her.
She called me.
Shara
“Alpha.”
One single word that meant so much.
I don’t know why I had worried for Rik’s safety. It was ridiculous, a moment of weakness, of doubting myself. Maybe part of Leviathan’s beast had whispered those doubts into my head. Because one thing I knew for certain: I loved Rik.
I loved them all. And my love was enough to keep them all alive and well and safe. Love was enough. More than enough.
With love, I would bind them to me, strengthen them, and we would be invincible. With love, I would defeat my enemies.
And with love, I would take my king.
On his knees behind me, Rik wrapped his arms around me. He pushed into me, dick hard and big and ready to give me what I wanted. What I needed.
My Blood pressed close, all touching me. So many hands. Rik’s big palms, granite tenderness. G’s scarred, damaged hands. Xin’s silent, deliberate touch, a wolf revealing himself to me, only me. Daire’s playful flirt and tease, still feline even though he hadn’t shifted. And now Nevarre, his long, elegant fingers reminding me of a musician plucking strings on a harp.
At that thought, music filled my head. Earth music. The sound of creation. The Mother nurturing Her plants, animals, and children. Living things growing, expanding, changing, dying, only to fuel another generation. Birds on the wing. Leaves rustling in a gentle breeze. Stars sprinkling diamonds across a black velvet canvas. Distant comets and planets spinning, singing the same endless tune.
Frosted grass cracked beneath his feet as he came to me. Still a man, though his dragon roared and rolled in his bond.
He fell to his knees, hard and graceless. Defeated. By nothing but my steadfast determination to let him choose whether to accept the love I offered or not.
“My queen.” He swallowed hard, his voice breaking. “The only boon I have left to offer you is my true name, Mehen. But if you wish to call me Levi I will answer your call without fail.”
In his bond, the mighty, furious dragon stretched out his neck, braced for my sword to fall. Still and quiet at last. Surrendered. He fully expected to die.
I lifted my bleeding hand to his mouth and his eyes flared with pain. He had dared a small glimmer of hope, but had feared it was too late. He’d been hurt so many times. He’d fully expected to fall in his death spiral, and this time, I would allow him to crash on the rocks below.
“If you fall, I will always catch you.”
“Why?” he ground out, his eyes blazing with emotion.
He needed to hear the words aloud. Only then would he truly believe.
I leaned toward him, my Blood moving with me, supporting me as one. “Because I love you.”
And I sank my fangs into his throat.
33
Shara
Only I could end up in a bloody orgy underneath the stars on Christmas Day.
I couldn’t even begin to put into words exactly how okay I was with that.
“We should do this every year,” Daire said, flashing his dimples at me. Somehow he’d wiggled around to get his head in my lap. His favorite spot.
“I couldn’t agree more.”
Headlights approached the house, driving up the long, winding drive from the main road. We all scrambled up like guilty teenagers before Gina could catch us naked as jaybirds on the front lawn. Too late. She yelled after us. “We’re serving Christmas dinner in the main house in fifteen minutes!”
Daire and Xin raced to the guest house. I groaned. How were we all going to be presentable in fifteen fucking minutes? Wait, how did she even get through my circle?
I realized why before anyone could answer. Gina was mine. My blood lived inside her. Of course my nest would allow her in. I’d built the nest with Winston inside, so he could pass back and forth. Frank would be able to come through. What would happen if one of the other guards needed to approach me?
Rik swept me up into his arms. “They won’t be able to cross until you allow it.”
My two new Blood walked on either side of him. Guillaume brought up the rear.
“I guess we should make introductions,” I said, blushing a little at the thought I’d been intimate with this new man and he didn’t even know our names.
“No need, my queen,” Nevarre replied cheerfully. “Daire, Xin, Mehen, Rik, and the legendary Guillaume de Payne. I gleaned their names from your bond easily enough.”
Guillaume’s gruff voice drew my gaze over Rik’s shoulder. I’m pretty sure silver glinted in his hand, but I couldn’t be sure. Where would he hide knives if we were all naked? “You’ve heard of me, then.”
“Indeed.”
“I wonder why we’ve not heard of any Nevarre?”
“Who was fucking dead?” Levi replied, an edge of his voice. Or rather Mehen. That was going to take some getting used to in my head.
“My tale is nowhere near as interesting as Leviathan, king of the deep, let alone the headless knight, Desideria’s executioner for hundreds of years.”
Guillaume grunted. “You might have a point.”
I called the crazy amount of blood we’d smeared all over each other and gave us all a quick dip in magic so we could get dressed. Daire helped me into a red velvet dress with a plunging neckline deep enough to bare several bites on my throat. I thought about bleeding enough to heal those bites, but I didn’t want to make them disappear. I didn’t care who saw them. I wasn’t ashamed of what I was, and the people who were here knew exactly who they were sitting down to eat dinner with.
“Shara fucking Isador,” Daire whispered, kissing my shoulder. “Our vampire queen, last daughter of Isis.”
All the guys dressed up. Well, for those of us usually in jeans and a T-shirt, wearing khakis, sweaters, or button-down shirts was some fancy shit. I turned around and saw what Nevarre had put on and my tongue glued to the top of my mouth.
A kilt. A motherfucking kilt.
Daire sauntered over to him. “From her reaction, I think you need to give me one of those.”
“Not on your fucking life.”
By the time we started
walking toward the main house, it’d started to snow, huge fat flakes that would make excellent snowmen. Or snowballs. And yeah, Daire had already thrown one at Rik’s head. Of course he missed, because nobody would hit our alpha with a snowball and live to tell the tale.
Gina opened the door, dressed in a beautiful shimmering golden dress. “Shara, let me introduce you to Timothy Winston, your new butler.”
He was the most dapper silver-haired gentleman I’d ever met, dressed in a checkered navy suit with a double row of buttons and red bowtie. He tapped the heels of his perfectly polished black dress shoes together and swept into a crisp bow over my hand. “Your Majesty, I’m delighted to make your acquaintance at last. I hope everything has been to your satisfaction.”
“I—” I couldn’t answer. I was too overwhelmed.
He’d somehow found the time to decorate for Christmas. A tall pine—root ball intact so we could plant it outside—stood in front of the staircase, glittering with decorations and lights. More fresh greenery and lights lined the grand staircase and the mantel above the fireplace, which housed a crackling fire. He led me into the next room—my formal dining room. The massive table I’d seen online was loaded with candles and fresh flowers and pine boughs and wine and food. Goddess, the food! A huge roast of some kind, a turkey, a ham… Several kinds of pie. Dishes I couldn’t even identify but smelled incredible, making me literally drool.
They’d managed to find people to make this much fancy food, on Christmas Day, no less.
I would have burst into happy tears—but I was too fucking hungry to waste time crying. Though I did throw my arms around Gina and then kissed Winston’s cheek. “It’s incredible. Thank you so much. I never dreamed you’d be able to pull so much together on such short notice.”
“Oh dear,” Gina exclaimed. “Winston, we need another place setting. Our queen has called another Blood.”
They scurried around the table, shifting a few things around and laying down another place setting.
Someone knocked on the door, and Winston immediately went to admit Frank. He hesitated, looking uncomfortable and stiff, like he counted himself as an employee, not my family. Even though he’d given up his old life to move with me.
“Frank!” I smiled, beyond pleased to see him. “Thanks for coming.” I kissed his cheek too, and the gruff ex-soldier blushed.
Seated at the head of my table, with Rik to my right—naturally pressed tight with one big arm wrapped around my back—and Daire on my left, with the rest of my new family around me, it was all I could do not to cry. Everyone was laughing, talking, and eating. Nevarre regaled Guillaume and Frank with a crazy war story that had my stoic knight throwing his head back, roaring with laughter. Xin and Daire tore through dinner to see who could get to dessert first. Evidently Mehen highly approved of Winston’s tailor and had requested an appointment.
Gina caught my gaze and smiled, lifting her wine glass. “A toast.”
Everyone stopped talking and picked up their glasses.
“Merry Christmas to our queen, Shara Isador.”
My Blood all stood, except Rik, tight to my side, and saluted with their glasses. “Long live our queen.”
When Rik said our, he slid his right hand up my thigh beneath my dress and kissed my shoulder. I shifted my legs apart, inviting him higher.
And he compiled. Gladly.
Merry fucking Christmas to me.
By the tenth toast of the evening, or morning, since it was almost dawn, we’d moved into the living room. Dark paneled walls reflected the Christmas lights and another cheery fire distracted from the water-stained ceiling that would need to be repaired. “Long live our queen.”
Our queen. I saluted them with my glass and took a small sip of champagne that cost more than I’d made under the table all year cleaning hotel rooms. I’d seen the receipt lying on the kitchen counter. Thousands. Of dollars. On alcohol.
Just for this Christmas party. It still boggled my mind.
Watching my Bloods’ antics, though, I’d pay a hundred times that amount if needed to keep the smiles on their faces. A thousand. Nevarre started to sing a bawdy tune—in gorgeous baritone—and I couldn’t take my eyes off him. Though the kilt certainly contributed to my attraction as much as his singing.
A motherfucking kilt. Goddess. Every time I saw him, I had to stare.
I couldn’t stop thinking about what was under that kilt.
I’d had a taste of him already when I closed the circle, but it had been too rushed. I’d been more concerned with making sure the king accepted me as his queen than sampling a new Blood.
“You have two new Blood.” Mehen’s low voice came from my right side. Though not too close. Not with Rik at my back.
My big alpha Blood cradled me between his thighs, my back pressed against his chest. His favorite place. My favorite place. He wrapped his huge arms around me, surrounding me with his heat and strength. His entire body was one gigantic muscle, ripped, hard, raw power at my fingertips.
I might have two new Blood, but we still didn’t know either of them. Not really. I’d tasted their blood and yeah, I’d fucked Nevarre. I’d fucked all my Blood on the front lawn.
Except for Mehen. The one I’d trusted the least from the start.
Even now, Rik looked at him, eyes heavy with warning, his bond humming with intensity. He would welcome a reason to rip Mehen’s head off with his bare hands.
I didn’t turn my head to look at him. “Do I? Or are you still here under protest?”
He chuckled, a low rumbling growl like his dragon made—right before he’d planted his massive paw on my stomach and tried to drain me dry. “I can protest and still be Blood.”
That last word came out a bit choked, as if his dragon had been feasting and got a bone stuck halfway down his throat. He didn’t want to be my Blood, not really. But he’d adopted a fatalistic acceptance. It was too late. He was fucked. Trapped by a queen. Enslaved, in his mind. So he might as well enjoy the fucking. Even if he was still furious about the trap.
That he himself had set.
I stood and the room instantly fell silent, all eyes swinging to me. Gina and Winston both came to me, ready for their orders.
“Thank you for a wonderful, unforgettable evening, but I’m ready for bed.”
Gina gave me a hug. “Of course, Shara. It was fantastic to have our first Christmas here with you.”
Winston kissed both my cheeks. “Welcome home, Your Majesty. I’m so thrilled to be here with you at last. Are there any special meals you’d like to have when you awake?”
I couldn’t imagine eating another bite at this point after we’d all gorged on the incredible feast they’d brought in for dinner. “Not really. Coffee, maybe some toast or something light. I’m usually not very hungry when I first wake up.”
“We’ll just play it by ear, then, until I’m familiar with your favorite foods. But please, if there’s anything specific you’d like, don’t hesitate to let me know.”
“We live to serve,” Gina said.
And they meant it.
We walked outside into a winter wonderland. It’d snowed five inches since we’d gone up to the big house for dinner.
Xin shifted to his ghostly silver wolf immediately. :By your leave, my queen, I’ll run the property and look for fresh tracks.:
I nodded and he disappeared. Literally. His gift of invisibility worked whether he was a man or a wolf.
“I can check from the sky,” Nevarre said.
“Good idea.” At Rik’s words, Nevarre leaped into the air and black feathers exploded out of him. With a throaty caw, he soared out over the forest toward the river. “Guillaume, Daire, guard close to the guest house.”
All of them looked at the man walking on my right, their distrust written on their faces. Rik didn’t say it explicitly, but he wanted them close enough to help protect me from Mehen if our lovemaking got out of control. I didn’t think they’d be needed. Not because I trusted Mehen all that much…<
br />
But because I trusted Rik’s ability to protect me implicitly.
A surge of heated lust mixed with pride in his bond. :Even an alpha can be vulnerable when his queen has her fangs in him.:
“I hate to admit he’s right, but your alpha has a point.” Mehen gave me a sardonic yet elegant shrug. His eyes glittered and his bond weighed heavy in my mind. His dragon was silent in the bond—but tense. Like he was hiding in his den, watching unsuspecting prey slowly coming near him. “I can’t believe I’m actually saying this, but if you have any intentions at all of taking me to your bed, you should leash my beast now. I’ve never been able to keep from shifting when the dragon wants out to play. And he will want to play with you very badly indeed.”
“Maybe Rik should fuck him into submission first.” Normally my cuddly purring warcat, Daire’s words shocked me.
Even more, Guillaume grunted in agreement and Rik seemed to be considering it.
I sharpened my voice. “No one gets fucked into submission around here. Nothing happens to anyone against their will, especially in my bed.”
Mehen didn’t seemed bothered at all. In fact, he looked up and down my almost seven-foot tall alpha as if considering the possibility himself. “I’m game. It wouldn’t be against my will.”
“You can’t be serious.”
Staring at me with those dark emerald eyes, Mehen licked his lips and I had the distinct impression of his dragon crouched, ready to pounce. “Remember when you saved me? Even dying, I tried to lunge up to tear your throat out. He grabbed me by the neck and squeezed until I submitted to you. You didn’t think that was hot?”
Rik’s voice rumbled deeper, as if his rock troll stirred. “And when you had both Daire and me the first time. I restrained him for you so you could torment him at will. I know you thought that was hot. I sure as fuck did.”
“Me too,” Daire purred.
Eyes blazing with heat, Mehen took a step closer and Rik rumbled a warning, like he always did. But because of this discussion, I couldn’t help but hear a sexual heat to that sound.
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