Day Into Night (The Firsts Book 16)

by C. L. Quinn

  Will lifted her fone from her hand and keyed something in. Afterward, he handed it back to her, kissed her, a far too chaste kiss, and went through the balcony doors.

  As soon as he was gone, the moments on the balcony with him felt like a fantasy. Suddenly, without tangible evidence, Will was already a ghost again.

  Lifting her fingers to her lips, Olivia tried to remember every second with him just now, every word he spoke.

  “Liv? Are you okay? You’ve been gone awhile, I was worried.”

  Olivia turned to Corri, trying to decide whether to tell her about the bizarre event. Without a conscious decision to do so, she realized she didn’t want to tell anyone about Will yet. If he was an illusion, a magical creation in her mind, she wanted to hold on to it a little longer.

  “Sorry, just needed some fresh air and ended up ruminating. You know what that’s like. Have the entrees been served?”

  “And how. Koen really knows how to bring it.”

  “He always has. Let’s go feast.”

  Outside Serenity Tower, after a wonderful evening of drinks, food, and wickedly funny conversation, Koen and Bas said goodbye to Vaz, Corri, and Olivia under the pavilion cover before they got into their car.

  It was always sad saying goodbye to friends and family.

  “I’ll get back to France soon.”

  “Tam will be happy to hear that. Even though she was here for the baby’s birth, she already says it’s been too long.”

  “I’ll text her and tell her to come back and stay a while. I have a newly decorated apartment suite at the end of the hall that will be just right for her and Marc.”

  “She might come at once. Take care of my little guy and make sure he isn’t riding that godawful bike too soon.”

  “I think we have a little while before we have to worry about that, Koen. À bientôt.”

  “À bientôt.”

  At the top of the tower, grateful to be home, Olivia slipped out of her high heels as Corri followed her into the apartment.

  “You’re sure you’re okay.”

  “Cor, I’m fine. Bridge and I’ll probably have some ice cream, watch an old vid, and close up for daylight.”

  “I can stay. You seem…troubled.”

  “My friend, I’m good. I’m going to get into my comfies and hug my son. Go home to your mate.”

  “Hey guys! Good party?” Brigitte came from Olivia’s bedroom wearing a slinky dress and boots.

  “Good eats. I brought you three of Flights best entrees.”

  “Yummy. But can you stash them for me until tomorrow? Russell called and I’m heading to his place now that you’re home and I’ll probably stay the rest of the night and day there. I just feel very horny tonight. Must have been that sexy vid I put on after Jasper fell asleep.”

  “Thank you for staying with him. It was nice to get out, but it’s still tough to leave him.”

  “He’s fine. Sleeping like a little trooper. Good night, ladies.” Brigitte lifted a lightweight overnighter and headed out.

  “You too, Corri. Tell Vaz goodnight for me. It’s because of his brilliant insight that we finally got to celebrate tonight.”

  “I’m so glad we did. Get some rest. I’ll see you tonight.”

  After the usual end-of-day hug, Olivia headed to her bedroom to make sure her sleeping baby was still sleeping comfortably.

  Curled up, his soft dark hair sticking out in all directions, she gently smoothed it back down, well aware that in no time, it would be all wild again. From birth, he’d had too much hair, and now it had some length, and had already thickened. Long, soft strands so like his father’s sifted through her fingers.

  Sighing, she looked at her fone. If she searched her contacts, would there be a new listing for Will? Or were those moments with him on the balcony at Flights really only the fantastic imagination of a lonely mind? Had he really been there? Had he left a number?

  Finger hovering over the button, she gave herself one last second to believe, just in case…and then touched the contacts button.

  There, in black letters on a blue field, the name Will and 8 digits beside it. He’d told her to let him know when she wanted him to come.

  “He’s real,” she whispered to her sleeping son.

  Moving back to her living space and beyond it to the balcony, she sought the sky and stars, cool air, in her place of peace. Will was alive!

  No hesitation this time, she pressed the button, and it seemed like it took a million years to connect through, but then…

  His voice came through the tiny box, sparking tears.

  “Olivia.” Strong, alive, beautiful. “May I come to you?”

  “Right away. Just come through the door, everything is unlocked for you. You know where I am?”

  “I know. I’m close and I’ll be with you very soon.”

  “Okay.”

  After staring at her fone for long seconds, she placed it on a table and wandered back inside.

  Nine minutes later, her door slid open and there he was. Will was in her apartment, near her, near their son that he did not know existed. A night of revelation and explanation…love, maybe, hope? An interesting night, at least.

  Olivia moved toward him. This time she had a moment to search the man who came back from the other side. He was bigger than Will had been before, his hair even longer, even fuller and wilder. He wore a black short-sleeved tee shirt and black denim pants, both too tight, like Will would have before. This newly resurrected man was Will, but ramped up, vampire big, muscles harder, more heavily defined, certainly more powerful.

  All that mattered to her was that he was back. She went into his arms instantly, he gathered her close, lifting her from the floor, their heads buried into each other. How long they stayed that way, they had no idea, but just that closeness was all they needed.

  Finally, Olivia slipped to the floor, took his hand, and led him to a curved seat on the balcony where the only light was what traveled out from the living space.

  “Will you tell me what happened, where you’ve been, what you’re doing? Will, I asked this question before, and I realize I sounded hostile, but when it seemed like you’ve been back some time, I don’t understand why you never let me know. Why you didn’t come to me? Unless you didn’t want to be with me anymore.”

  “I always want to be with you. Forever, make no mistake about that, but there is a very real reason I didn’t, couldn’t, come to you. Okay, here is the tale. Yes, I’ve been back for a while. Months. Part of the time I stayed in the healing cave, where this transformation happened. Part of the time I was training to become a soldier of the earth. More than what I was with the other warriors. My magics are obscenely powerful now. I’ve been all around the world with Eras and Burra, protecting the earth, the land, the people, all life endangered by events we stopped.”

  “But you couldn’t let me know?”

  “I wouldn’t let you know. Olivia, you are my heart. When I knew you had been through my death, my funeral, and had gone home, when I knew that you were beginning to heal from my loss, I couldn’t come to you because I didn’t know if I could stay, or what the universe wanted from me. Olivia, I would come to you through fire if I had to, but not if it hurt you.”

  “So you’ve been here almost from the beginning?”

  “I think so, yes.”

  “Okay. Wow.”

  Shoving off her seat, Olivia moved to the wall to look out over the city. He’d been here so long and she hadn’t known. All those months, she’d carried his child and he had been out there, oblivious.

  The universe, destiny, the living planet, all played a part in their lives and she did understand. “You were trying to protect me.”

  “You had a life to live, and for all purposes, I didn’t know if I could ever be part of it again. Why contact you to say that I could never come to you?”

  Turning, Olivia, arms crossed, leaned against the wall.

  “So why did you? Why come now?”

&n
bsp; “I had a messenger.”

  “Messenger? Who?”

  “That’s a tale. I was walking along a river in Austria when a little boy followed me. He was about five, bright, friendly, a beautiful child. He asked me why I hadn’t come to him.”

  Olivia’s heart beat faster. What did he mean? A five year old child? A boy?

  “He told me his name was Jasper.”

  The air blew out of her, and she panted. “Jasper?”

  Will was beside her, his hands gentle on her upper arms, holding her still. “Do I have a son?”

  Tears streaming now, she nodded, over and over, because the words wouldn’t come. All she could think of was the bizarre manifestation of Jasper five years older, across the world, asking his father to come home.

  Now, both dumbstruck, dealing with what they’d each learned, Will led her back to the lounger and set her on the cushion. He dropped to his knees in front of her.

  “It’s true, then?” Tears had filled Will’s eyes, streaming down his cheeks too. Olivia pushed into his arms.

  “He’s so perfect, Will. I guess he already knew you were alive.”

  “How could…could he have done that? I thought I had dreamed him up.”

  “He’s fifth generation first blood, he is capable of that. Projecting his future self to you, the emotional tie so strong, he found you no matter where you were in the world. Will, come with me.”

  Standing, she took his hand and led him through the big living space, down the brief corridor, and into the biggest bedroom he’d ever seen. Everything was soft colors and light except for a corner of the room, dark now, but he could see bright colors on the walls and a huge fabric bin on the opposite wall filled with stuffed animals and toys.

  “He’s right here, and yes, his name is Jasper.”

  Stepping up to a white crib, Will peered over the lowered railing at a tiny baby, asleep, breathing softly, little hands over a head covered with lots of dark hair. Instantly, his hand went to him, his fingers exploring through the thick hair and over the perfect tiny skull.

  “Jasper?”

  “Yes. A reminder of you. I wouldn’t let your memory die.”

  “Thank you. We made him. You and I.”

  “He’s happy. Healthy, of course. When he wakes, he’s going to be so happy to find you here. Will, you’re going to be an incredible father. If you want to. If you stay.”

  If he stayed.

  Scooping Olivia into his arms, he swung her around.

  “If I stay? I’m staying, fuck the universe. My family is my heart, my life, my mate and my son, nothing will take me from you two. I am here and yours until the world ends, Liv. If you want me?”

  Olivia’s tongue invaded his mouth, her hands tugging hard on his hair, the pain exquisite, as she kissed away any doubts. “If I want you?”

  Wiggling free, she dropped to the floor and pulled him to her bed. “I want you, this very second, Will, don’t even think about refusing me on any technicality. If you say you want to give me time, that you can wait until I’m ready, or any other shit like that, I’ll hurt you.”

  He was underneath her and naked before he could respond to the demand.

  His eyes moved to the dark corner where the white color of the crib glowed.

  Will shoved Olivia off him and picked her up, carried her to the balcony, and lay her on another lounge out there built for two. “Fuck, no, I won’t refuse you, but, that kid is just too self-aware for a baby. Not in your bed, not now.”

  “Fine.”

  Pushing him back against the lounge, she slid down to the bottom, his cock in her hand, perched over him. Her tongue dived to run a course around the tip before Olivia lifted her head, her eyes boring into his.

  “Humans have weak scents, did you know that? The pheromone levels are low, so that sexual identifier usually doesn’t affect a vampire much, but you…yours, is intense, and, uh, unique. When you rose from that pool the night we met, your scent struck me almost as much as the erotic image of this body dripping with water.”

  Olivia nipped up and down the edges of his cock, and it jumped in her hand. She moaned. “I have never purged your scent or image from my mind, it’s embedded on my soul. I still smelled your scent even after you were gone.”

  Will couldn’t control the loud groan that tore from him when she pulled him into her mouth, all the way, closing around him, her tongue sliding along the back, teeth nipping as she moved around from tip to base, up and down, down and up, while he fingered her hair and lay back to centuries of skill. Pressure built fast as she drove him to explode, tickling the sensitive skin, the head soaked, until his orgasm hit hard. As she drew away, she nipped him again with sharp teeth, the pleasure/pain striking once again.

  “Liv…” he barked out.

  Moving up to stretch out alongside Will, Olivia nuzzled beneath his hair and bit his ear too. “I’m overdue for my blood meal. I would love to taste you.”

  “I think you just did.”

  “Ummm, I did, but now…”

  “Bite me, Liv. I am yours.”

  “Oh, you’re mine, Biker, that’s been settled.”

  Swinging a leg over Will, bare skin to bare skin, the feel of Olivia’s body moving against his, her heat pressed to his spent cock, she lowered to nuzzle beneath his neck. Just as his lips went around a nipple, her fangs sunk into his neck, another pain/pleasure sensation hit him in the groin, his cock filling again. The sound of her pulling his blood into her body, Olivia pressed to his cock, her opening right there, he started to thrust to get inside her, but she resisted, using her superior strength to capture his legs as she finished feeding.

  Had he ever been more aroused? The feeding had shot him into overdrive and he could feel her need too, wet and breathing hard, and yet she slipped off the lounger and walked into the apartment.

  “Follow me.”

  Will lay still for a moment, his hand on the now hard organ between his legs, not sure if he could get off the lounger. Desire pushed him, sliding to the edge, lifting on shaking legs to enter the living space where he saw his naked woman disappear down another hallway. She’d said follow and he had no choice. Three doors led off the hallway, all closed except the last one.

  As he moved through the hall, he palmed the head of his penis, still in his hand as he came around the doorway and saw the most amazing sight.

  Olivia, stretched out on his Harley, her legs open, waiting for him. He’d been wrong when he wondered after the feeding if he’d ever been more aroused…this, Olivia, waiting, ready for him to enter her, on his bike, this was it.

  “Fuck me, Biker.”

  Moving toward the bike, legs still shaky, harder than he’d ever been, he swung his left leg over the seat of the bike, facing the back, and facing Olivia, her full breasts in his face, his cock perched on the leather just an inch from her.

  “I never forgot one detail of you, but, gods, woman, you’re even more incredible than I remember.”

  “That’s because nothing beats having someone you can touch and taste. Like this.”

  At the same second she scooted toward him, Olivia pulled him forward, then Will took over. He scooped her buttocks into his hands and lifted her to meet him as he thrust his cock into her, all the way until he couldn’t bury himself any deeper. Her hands on the seat supporting herself, Olivia lifted to him as her head dropped back, lost in the ecstasy, then raised it up to watch the thick wet organ moving in and out of her. She rode him until she was almost there, then stopped, holding him inside as deep as she could.

  After feeding from Will and now capturing him inside her, the blood bond, the sexual connection, and his sudden thrust brought her home and she came so hard, she held tight to the side of Will’s bike to keep from falling off. Olivia’s orgasm brought Will with her and he did the same, struggling to make sure that neither he or she, or the bike, went over onto the floor.

  Olivia collapsed back onto the seat, her eyes moving back to Will’s face, no more than 12 inches
from her, a face that she was sure she’d never see again, which hit her with a force that shook her.

  Will saw her emotions crash, tears in her eyes, knew they were joy that he was there, knew that they held fear too.

  “Liv, Liv, it’s all right. I’m really here and I’m not leaving you or Jasper. We have earned this, the chance to be a family. I love you, Olivia, more than anything I’ve ever expected in my life, and I already feel the same way about our son. Baby, it’s all okay now.”

  Her arms so tight around him, they hurt, Olivia held on, and even though she believed what Will said, that the universe had kindly given him back to her, the loss still felt too raw. And somewhere in her mind she didn’t trust the universe to allow him to stay.

  “Will, please don’t let them take you back.”

  “They won’t. I won’t. I’m your mate, Olivia, I plan to be here with you for a great many centuries.”

  With a nod, she pushed him back, using her hand to wipe her eyes, and punched him in the gut. “See to it that you don’t break that promise.”

  “I’ll do that. Liv, you have to be exhausted.”

  “So do you. Please stay here.”

  “Wasn’t planning to leave.”

  “Good. Come.”

  Sliding off the bike, Olivia, resplendent in nothing at all, walked to the doorway and turned back to Will when she saw he lingered. “Coming?”

  “That’s a leading question and perhaps an invitation? Yeah, I am, but Liv, thank you for saving my bike. It really has been my one companion through nearly my entire life.”

  “It meant so much to you, Biker, so it became important to me too. I had her cleaned and serviced before I brought her up here. I was going to give her to Jasper someday.”

  “I couldn’t think of a better memorial for my son. So, I’m still following.”

  Olivia turned again and headed down the hall, this time, Will right behind her. As they entered the living area, she stopped to look back.

  “Can you live here? This high above the earth?”

  “I think I can. I’ll have to return to the ground, and sometimes to the caves, but I’ll always come home to you.”