Haven

by Celia Breslin

Arousal rocked me at his words and sizzling stare. I moved into him almost vampire quick and it startled him. “Carina, what—?”

  “Shut up and kiss me.” I grabbed his head and pulled his mouth to mine.

  Our lips met for a slow, gentle kiss. I’d expected an explosion, two comets colliding, painful power fireworks, not this careful, thoughtful exploration. Maybe he was right. Maybe he could handle it, me, us. Maybe with his help, we’d keep my feral side boxed up tight and be two normal people enjoying the hell out of each other.

  He nipped my lower lip. “What are you thinking?”

  “This is nice.” I curled my fingers in his hair, pulling gently.

  “Yeah.” His hand slid under my shirt and cupped my breast, thumb grazing the nipple through my bra. The bud hardened under his touch and he chuckled, a confident, male sound, the sound of possession. She’s mine, it said.

  And you’re mine. I settled one hand on his hard ass, the other slipping between our hips seeking my prize. His breath caught in his throat, his hard length pressing against my hand. But there was too much denim in my way. I went for the zipper.

  “We should stop.” He grabbed my hand, expression pained. He wanted me, but fought it.

  “No.” My eyes locked with his, demanding. Don’t fight me. I want this, want you.

  “Stella is here.” He put some space between our bodies and grasped my hands, threading our fingers, palms touching. The air between us pulsed and crackled.

  “I don’t want to stop.” I was wet, ready. Need pushed me through the magnetic, energized air until my breasts rubbed his chest and my hips ground into his erection.

  We both groaned at the contact.

  “I don’t want to, either, but...” His hands tightened around mine. I was getting to him, but he remained too controlled, such a good vampire. Forget good. I wanted naughty all over the big bed behind us.

  “Then don’t.” I shoved him onto the bed and straddled him before he could even blink. Awesome. New and improved strength and speed—handy. I pushed his arms into the bed on either side of his head and leaned down for a kiss.

  His lips parted, eyelids at half-mast. I had him. I’d won.

  My stomach growled.

  Amusement crept across his face. I giggled like a silly schoolgirl and buried mine in his shoulder. Gee, body, way to shatter the lusty mood. Still, it was funny.

  Alexander hugged me. “Hungry?”

  I laughed and nuzzled his neck. “Apparently so.”

  He rolled us over and pinned me to the bed. I squealed with delight. We grinned at each other like two goofy teenagers. It was an innocent, comfortable, happy moment, but something passed through his eyes, his joyous expression replaced by a thoughtful one mixed with tenderness and a healthy dash of disbelief. He gazed at me like I was the most precious thing on the planet and he couldn’t believe this was real and I was his. I felt the same way and was sure my expression mirrored his.

  It hit me then. Bam.

  We. Are. Married.

  My mouth dried as the concept sunk its sharp teeth right into the meat of me.

  Holy crap. We were freaking married, bound not by some piece of flimsy paper but by blood. And blood is forever. You can’t get a divorce from it. No court of human law, no piece of paper could ever dissolve what we had done with our blood, with our power, with the very essence of who we are. This was it. Done deal. No pause. No do-over. No way back. I’d said as much to my friends about their choices. Now it hit me how true those words were for the two of us.

  Exhilaration and terror roared through me.

  Alexander donned his expert blank face and observed the emotional show on my expressive one. Under that mask I knew he felt it, too, the enormity of what we’d done, what we were doing, what we could never undo.

  He reached into one of the shopping bags near the bed and pulled out my red T-shirt. “Dinner date?”

  I nodded. “Okay.” Yeah, let’s ignore the ginormous eternal love elephant in the room. Good call.

  Alexander rolled off me and sat up in one quick, agile move. I took the shirt from him and slipped it over my head, averting my eyes while he stared a hole in the side of my face. I pulled my new jacket from its shopping bag. A small white box came out with it, landing on the bed.

  Oh, I’d forgotten about that. I plucked it up and handed it to Alexander. “This is for you. It’s from Naoki’s on Haight.” Sudden shyness made my cheeks heat up. “He’s a friend of mine from university. He does women’s clothing and accessories, but he has a small line of cool men’s stuff, too.”

  Alexander opened the box, but didn’t touch the bracelet.

  “It’s white gold.” I fished it out, draping it around his wrist. My hands fumbled with the clasp. Nerves. Oh-my-god-we’re-freaking-married nerves.

  Alexander helped me close it then leaned in for a sweet, soft kiss. “Thank you.”

  “Thank you for the flowers.”

  “You’re welcome.” He cupped my face and kissed my forehead, the tip of my nose, my lips. Yum. The urge to run away screaming in a girlie what-have-I-done panic faded.

  After a delicious eternity, he pulled back with a shaky laugh. “If we keep this up, we’ll never get out of here.”

  I batted my lashes at him. “What’s your point?”

  He sobered. “You need to eat. Then we should talk.”

  Nineteen

  Stella drove us down the hill. Alexander and I rode in back, holding hands and staring out our respective windows, neither of us inclined to talk. Good thing, since I didn’t know what to say.

  I like you a lot? I’m cool we shared blood and bound ourselves together for all eternity?

  I tried to convince myself everything was fine. I’m a cat, Adrian said, able to land on my feet no matter what. It didn’t matter I’m only twenty-five, half human, half vampire, evil’s current favorite target, and newly bonded-slash-married to a hot, undead guy I’d just met. It would all work out.

  The Mercedes swerved quickly around a corner, throwing me against my seat, tightening my seat belt. “Stella,” I complained.

  The car came to an abrupt stop in front of Banzai on Irving Street. The restaurant occupied the bottom floor of a nondescript, two-story brown building. From the unassuming exterior, one would never guess the city’s best sushi awaited us inside, but it did—the sizeable crowd waiting outside a testament to that fact.

  Stella switched off the engine. “I will wait here.”

  “You can’t stay here. It’s the white zone. You know, drop off, pick up, make it snappy, as in, don’t park here unless you want a big, fat ticket.”

  “I will wait here.”

  I shrugged. Of course she would park in the passenger loading zone. And use vampire mind tricks on anyone who dared harangue her about it. Why had I bothered to protest? Silly me.

  I stepped out, surveying the clusters of people loitering on the sidewalk, a good indication of a long wait. “Maybe we should go somewhere else.”

  “No worries.” Alexander escorted me through the crowd and into the restaurant.

  As expected, it was packed. Alexander weaved us through the patrons in the small waiting area, to the host station. Lily, one of the owners, greeted us. She was a tiny woman and I had to bend down so she could grace me with her customary kiss on both cheeks.

  “Where have you been, Carina? We haven’t seen you since your birthday,” she scolded me.

  “Sorry, Lily, I’ve been a little busy.” My friends and I frequented her restaurant since our college days, so of course she’d noticed our absence.

  Lily tilted her head and gave me an appraising stare. Her outfit—crisp white blouse, black pencil skirt, black glasses on a silver chain—gave her a stern headmistress vibe, but I knew the generous heart hidden underneath the no-nonsense fashion, and my grin widened. She donned her glasses and leveled her shrewd gaze on Alexander. The appraisal lasted so long I fought not to giggle like the teenage girl who’d brought the bad boy home to meet the pare
nts.

  Lily called out something in Japanese to Sam—short for Samuru—her husband and co-owner. He stood behind the sushi bar passing a small plate of nigiri to an eager customer on the other side. I waved. He raised a brow at Alexander and nodded at me, a man of few to no words.

  “I have a table for you. Come.” Lily escorted us to a corner window table sporting a small reserved sign. She seated us and picked up the sign.

  “Enjoy.” She offered a warm smile to me, and a curt nod to Alexander.

  When she departed, I focused on my date. “How did you manage this? They don’t do reservations here. Well, unless you buy out the whole place.” I should know. My private birthday party here was a blast.

  Alexander shrugged. “I have my ways.”

  “Vampire mind tricks?” Anger made my voice loud. I didn’t like the idea of Lily and Sam being mentally abused by vampires.

  “Careful with the volume.” Alexander scooted his chair closer to mine. Our legs touched and I moved away, but a firm hand on my knee pulled it right back against his.

  “Answer my question,” I snapped.

  His hand glided up my leg and my crankiness disappeared. I stared into his blue eyes, saw his lips move, but only heard my pounding heart. I wanted his hand even higher, massaging my clit. My core twitched.

  Alexander leaned in. “You didn’t hear me, did you?” His breath fanned my cheek, making me shiver.

  “Stop it,” I whispered, eyes wide.

  His seductive scent taunted me, begged me to bury my face in his neck, breathe him in and lick the spice from his skin, bite down on the vein pulsing under the surface, slide my teeth in and free that red goodness.

  Crap. My inner feral vampire cavewoman wanted sex and blood and didn’t care we sat in a crowded restaurant. The still sane part of me rasped, “Don’t do that.”

  “Do what, exactly.” His tongue flicked my cheek.

  My head shot back and smacked into the wall.

  Alexander’s grin vanished. “Shit, I’m sorry. Come here.”

  “No.”

  “Please, trust me. I’m sorry. I didn’t expect the blood lust to rise again so soon. Come here. Let me help.” He gripped my arm, but I shook him off.

  “It’s not just blood I want.”

  “I know.”

  “And we’re in a public place.”

  “I won’t let anything bad happen. I promise.” He held my hand and this time I allowed it.

  I closed my eyes. “I feel all of them. The people. Like a pounding in my head, a flavor on my tongue.” My eyes flashed open. “We should go.”

  Power crackled in the air, making the hairs on my arms stand at attention. I looked up, half-expecting to see Stella, but Lily approached our table. Not your average human, my inner voice stated.

  Her power pulsed against my skin. “Do you feel that?” I whispered.

  Lily unloaded a tray of miso soup, edamame, and a large black sake server with two matching cups. She poured us both a drink then covered our joined hands with hers and spoke in Japanese.

  The world tilted and righted itself. Or had I imagined it? Judging by Alexander’s surprised expression, he’d sensed it, too.

  She bowed her head. “Better now, yes?”

  The urge to pounce on the human diners and drink their blood disappeared. What the—? I nodded.

  “Good. I’ve also placed a privacy wall around your table. Now I’ll bring your next course.” She left without awaiting our reply.

  I tossed back my sake in one go. “What just happened?”

  “Lily is a witch. A powerful one.”

  “A witch.” Stunned, I refilled my cup, downing the second drink as fast as the first. “But she can’t be. How did I miss that?” Or better yet, how had little-miss-psychic Faith missed it?

  Alexander gave me a wry grin as he repeated, “Lily is a witch. A powerful one.”

  Right. In an effort to roll with this latest groovy punch, I changed the subject. “Okay. Back to my original question—how did you get this table? They don’t take reservations here.” Since she was a badass witch, he hadn’t used mind control.

  “She takes them from our kind.”

  Oh, that again. “Of course she does.” I poured myself a third cup of sake.

  Alexander covered the cup. “Edamame?”

  Good call. I was a lightweight and hadn’t eaten in forever. I dragged a salted pod between my teeth to release the beans inside. Next up, miso soup. Warm, salty goodness. I polished off half the bowl and fished out the tofu cubes with my chopsticks.

  “How long has she known about you guys? And me.”

  Alexander shrugged and took my hand to kiss each knuckle. I bit my lip. If he kept that up, I’d forget what we were discussing. Wait, what?

  Lily arrived at our table with wakame salad and tuna and salmon tartare with guacamole and shrimp chips. Yum.

  “Thanks, Lily.”

  Lily nodded. “Sashimi or nigiri?”

  “Nigiri, please.”

  She patted Alexander on the shoulder and left.

  I gave him a crooked smile. “She likes you.”

  He shrugged. “I guess.”

  “Have you been here before?”

  He eyed my food. “No.”

  “Okay, that’s even more impressive.”

  He glanced up. “What is?”

  “That Lily likes you.”

  “Ah.”

  “Seriously. It took us a while to soften her up. Of course, when my friends and I first came here, we were in college and fairly boisterous.”

  “Boisterous?” Alexander echoed.

  I shrugged. “Okay, loud and obnoxious, all right? But hearts of gold, of course. Lily eventually figured it out.”

  Alexander laughed.

  My grin faded. “But wait, if she caters to you guys, does that mean there were vampires here whenever we were?”

  Alexander shook his head. “No.”

  “How can you be sure?”

  “One word. Thomas.”

  I tapped my chopsticks on the tabletop. “Oh, right. My power mad, puppet master uncle.”

  “Yep.” Alexander agreed.

  I laughed. “And you’re friends? You sounded chummy back at your place when you were chatting downstairs.”

  “We are.”

  “But he’s so bossy.”

  “Yes.”

  “And old.”

  Alexander grinned. “Absolutely.”

  “And annoying.”

  “Sometimes,” he chuckled and sipped his sake. “And loyal, ruthless, and protective of those he loves.”

  “Oh, that would be me.”

  “Yep.”

  I poked my seaweed salad with the chopsticks. “Okay, fine, so no fangs allowed wherever I was. You’d mentioned that already about me and my club, too.”

  “Right. Plus, I’m sure what Thomas did to your head made you unable to see one of us, even if we passed nearby.”

  “So if someone were here and I came in, they’d beat a hasty exit? And the mind block acted like a blindfold.” I frowned at the thought of such a manipulation.

  “I think so. Then there’s Lily and her magic.”

  “Ah.”

  I dug into my food. The seaweed salad was delicious, vinegary with the perfect amount of red chili flakes for a little kick. I wolfed down most of it before tackling the tartare tower. A little dab of guacamole on a shrimp chip, plus a healthy mound of diced tuna and salmon equaled mouth-watering goodness. I devoured three more helpings.

  Alexander went for his third cup of sake. “Kiss me.”

  I froze with another chip a bite away from my open mouth. “What?”

  “I love sushi. Especially tuna and salmon.”

  I returned the chip to the plate, untouched. “Oh, you want a taste.”

  He nodded.

  We leaned forward at the same time. He kissed me, licked my lower lip before his tongue pushed inside. “Damn, that’s good,” he murmured. When our kiss became less
about food tasting and more about our mutual lust, he pulled back. I gave him a playful pout and picked up the loaded chip.

  “Seconds?” I teased.

  His lips quirked. “I’ll wait for the next course.”

  I finished off the tartare tower and most of the salad. The nigiri arrived while I sipped what I swore was my final cup of sake. Lily knew the size of my appetite and provided me with four perfect bites, two hamachi, two unagi.

  I pointed at the fish. “Yellowtail or eel?”

  “Yellowtail first, eel second, please.”

  I picked up a hamachi piece dipped the rice bottom in soy sauce from the dipping bowl and ate half of it. My eyes watered and a burning sensation invaded my nose. I plopped the uneaten half on my plate. “Wasabi bomb.” I reached for my sake, but Alexander pulled me into a kiss. I soon forgot about the fire in my nose.

  “Unagi, please.” Alexander murmured between nibbles of my lips.

  My hand reached blindly for my sushi plate and came up with the unagi. “Eel chaser.”

  I lost track of time for a while, my whole world consisting of Alexander’s lips on mine, his tongue in my mouth, his hands warm and firm on my thigh and lower back. When we came up for air, we both panted, more than a little amped up.

  “We should go.” My voice was breathy. Want him naked.

  “Yes.”

  We breezed by the host station and neared the exit when a small but strong hand grasped my arm and stopped me.

  “Sam? You have my credit card number on file, right?” I’d left no money on the table and I couldn’t think of any other reason Sam would’ve come out from behind the sushi bar.

  Sometimes, if my friends and I were the last clients left standing at closing time, Lily would invite us to stay. She’d fire up the karaoke machine and only then would Sam leave his post and join the staff for drink and song. Well, the rest of us would sing and Sam would grunt and nod and down vast quantities of sake. I didn’t know what to make of him now, though I suspected he wasn’t a threat.

  “You see everything now,” his deep voice rumbled. “Now, master yourself and you will master the dark enemy.”

  I blinked at him, this small, somber man I’d known for several years and now saw a much grander warrior.

  Not just my friendly neighborhood sushi chef.