by R. E. Butler
He nodded. “When a human changes to a vampire, the change is dramatic and instantaneous. But for a shifter to become immortal, nothing changes at the start. You will be harder to kill. You’ll be faster, heal quicker, and your senses will be even more heightened than they are from your shifter genes. But we’ve been in the chamber since the attack and you haven’t had an opportunity to stretch your wings, so to speak. Once we’re outside, you may find yourself feeling quite different.”
Rage called for them, and she rose onto her toes and kissed Vex. “Thank you.”
“For what, sweetheart?” He rested his hands on her waist, squeezing lightly.
“You’re very sweet to me. You’re careful in a way that Rage isn’t. He’s more aggressive, you’re... I don’t want to say softer, but you’re sweeter. Kinder. It’s the difference in your personalities. You take time with me, and I appreciate it. I have so many questions banging around in my skull. I’m thankful you’re willing to talk things out with me.”
He brushed his lips over hers. “As similar as he and I can be at times, we’re also opposites in many ways. But make no mistake, we’re both very serious about your safety and happiness.”
“That I have no doubt of.”
They joined Rage in the bedroom. Her mates were wearing black trousers, military boots, and black t-shirts that hugged their muscles.
“I’m sensing a theme with your clothing.”
Vex looked down at himself. “It’s kind of a uniform.”
“I’m not complaining. I was just wondering what you’d wear if you took me on a date.”
Like she’d seen them do before, they looked at each other for a moment and then looked at her.
“We’ve never been on a date,” Vex said.
Her heart swelled. “That’s too damn adorable,” she said, letting herself be folded into their dual embrace. “You’re not telepathic, right?”
“No,” Rage said. “Why do you ask?”
“You guys kind of stare at each other silently and then one of you speaks, as if you’ve had a conversation.”
Vex chuckled. “Three hundred years will give you an insight into anyone.”
“So, in three hundred years I’ll be able to look at you both and we’ll know what we’re thinking?”
“I think you can read us like a book already,” Rage said. “But yes, as time passes, it gets easier to read people. Not just Vex and me, but others, too.”
“Cool.”
“Would you like us to take you out on a date?” Vex asked. He tipped her chin until she was looking into his eyes.
“Yes. I want the whole experience, and I want to get married, too. Not right now, of course, but eventually. I want us to belong to each other in every way.”
“We’ll give you everything you desire,” Rage said, his voice sweeping over her like a caress.
She let out a soft growl. “Talk like that means we won’t be leaving the chamber. Let’s hit the road before I try to put my thoughts into action.”
Vex chuckled and kissed her, and then Rage kissed her. She loved the little shocks of arousal that shot through her body whenever they kissed, as if they were a source of power for her libido. Rage opened the door to the chamber and they stepped out into the hallway.
“As we told you yesterday, the family lives down here,” Vex said as they walked toward the elevator at the end of the hall. “Everyone has their own chamber. No one is allowed down here except for family members and their mates. Or someone they take under the fang.”
Rage pressed the button for the elevator and she heard the whir of the mechanics as it moved down toward them.
“What’s under the fang mean?” she asked as the door opened silently and they walked inside.
“When a vampire chooses someone to feed from exclusively,” Vex said.
He explained it was intimate in a way that feeding from the club’s food wasn’t. Once a human was chosen to go under the fang, they lived with the vampire and didn’t feed anyone but them. She searched their shared memories, wondering if they’d ever done that with anyone.
“No, beloved,” Rage said. “We’ve never done that.”
“How did you know I was thinking about that?”
“You make an adorable face when you’re searching memories,” Vex said.
She giggled and then sobered. “I’m glad you never did that with anyone. It’s one thing to watch you in the memories feed from beautiful females, it would be another thing for me to see you living with someone like that.”
Vex nodded. “We understand.”
“Mishka and Brone are mated. Are any of the other family members mated?”
“Just us,” Rage said.
The doors opened, and they walked out into the hallway that led to the coven’s offices. “What about under the fang?”
“I’m taking someone under the fang,” Cella said as she stepped out of an office. “At least I hope so. I’m on my way to meet him.”
Cella walked with them out into the reception area and stopped at the desk.
“It sounds like there’s more to taking someone under the fang than just wanting to?” she asked.
Cella nodded, sitting on the edge of the desk. “He’s already paid food, so he’s passed a thorough background and medical check. But to start with, I’ll have to move into one of the coven’s cubicles for a few weeks until I’m certain that he and I are compatible in this way.”
The cubicles, Vex explained, were for coven members who wanted to live at the club. There was a large open space filled with small rooms built with portable walls used in offices. The cubicles contained a bed and a wardrobe. Because the coven was large, not all of them could live at the club. Mishka owned other properties and businesses in Northern Ohio, and while most of the vampires in the coven chose to live and work at one of them, some lived in homes of their own choosing and worked at jobs that weren’t related to the coven.
“Can the coven members bring dates home to their cubicles?” she asked, while mentally taking notes to better explain the coven living situation to Cinder.
Cella smiled. “As long as they’ve passed a background check. This isn’t just a place we work, it’s our home. Although we have numerous safety measures in place, allowing coven members to bring in anyone they like, whenever they like would just be plain foolish. The last time a coven member dated someone, he stayed at her home during the day and eventually moved in with her. They’re mated and married.”
“Do you have a vampire wedding coordinator in the coven?”
Vex snorted with good humor. “You’re adorable.”
“It would be practical,” Angie said. “The coven could have a department dedicated to parties of all sorts, from weddings and showers to birthdays.”
Rage screwed up his face in confusion. “Why would you need a party for a shower?”
“A bridal shower,” Angie amended. “Or a baby shower, but I suppose those are few and far between.”
Cella nodded, sadness flickering in her gaze. “Immortality comes with its limits. Imagine if we could all have babies who were in turn immortal. We’d run humanity out of existence.”
“Interested in starting a party business in the coven?” Vex asked, giving her an encouraging smile.
“I don’t know,” she shrugged and then leaned on his shoulder, linking their hands. “I haven’t thought much about the future past you meeting my family.” While she liked a good party, her passion was art. She loved to paint and had recently begun working with clay to model realistic animals.
“First things first, then,” Rage said.
Vex nodded. “But whatever you choose to do, if anything, we just want you to be happy.”
“It’s always amazing to watch vampires who formerly appeared to have nary a romantic, sweet bone in their body find their beloveds,” Cella said with a chuckle. “Maybe that will be in the cards for me someday.”
Angie looked at her mates and smiled. “It’s wonderful.”
“We’ll
be back,” Vex said. “The security team is meeting us in the garage so we must get on the way, wouldn’t want to keep the in-laws waiting.”
Angie shivered, a little bit of fear pooling in the pit of her stomach.
“Don’t worry, beloved,” Rage murmured, curling his finger under her chin. “All will be well. At the end of the day, you’re ours and nothing else matters.”
Angie glanced at Cella and said, “Good luck with your man tonight.”
“Thanks. Good luck with your family.”
Rage took Angie’s hand and walked toward the glass doors. Two guards she’d come to know as Bellamin and Dylan swung the doors open ahead of them. Angie’s sharp hearing picked up Vex speaking to Cella.
“I’ll make arrangements for renovations right away,” she said.
“After your meeting, of course,” he said.
Cella nodded. She gave a wave to Angie as Vex joined them at the door.
They headed down the hallway toward the underground garage. “Renovations?” Angie asked.
“We’re going to make Rage’s bedroom more of a home for us,” Vex said.
Her heart swelled with love. “Really?”
“Of course,” Rage said. “We want you to enjoy being in the chamber. It’s different living underground for shifters and humans than it is being aboveground.”
“We can’t give you a view of the woods, but we can make it as comfortable as possible,” Vex said.
They’d only been together for a day, and already they were planning for their life together. She was humbled. And a little turned on.
When they reached the garage, she found a half-dozen vampires waiting for them, including two family members – Temple and Traz. She’d only met them briefly, but they were part of Vex and Rage’s vampire family and that meant they were her family, too. Behind the two family members stood four coven members.
She looked up at Rage. “Is this because you’re walking into pack territory and unsure of what will happen, or because Alli and I were attacked?”
Rage dropped his gaze to her. “Both.”
Vex spoke to the group. “Let’s go. Night is wasting.”
Her mates took her by the hands and led her to a dark green SUV. Vex opened the passenger door of the second row and she climbed in. He joined her, sliding next to her on the bench seat. Rage walked around the vehicle and opened the door on the other side, sitting beside her. They buckled up while Traz climbed behind the wheel and turned on the engine.
She glanced behind her and saw Temple get behind the wheel of a dark silver SUV and the other vampires joined him. No one made any move to leave the garage, and Angie was about to ask what was going on when several other vehicles pulled away from parking spots and headed out of the garage.
“Decoys,” Rage said. “The family has made changes to the security around the club’s parking lot as well as the surrounding blocks, but it doesn’t mean that there aren’t people working for the church who are watching for anything unusual.”
“Like a couple of SUVs heading out together?” she asked.
He hummed.
“Not for nothing, but have you considered vehicles other than SUVs?”
Traz chuckled. “Unfortunately, when we have groups who need to leave together, the SUV is the best choice. But these, unlike your fallen angel friend’s sedan, are outfitted with bulletproof glass and other security measures that help in the event of an attack.”
“That’s good to know,” she said.
Their SUV left the underground garage sandwiched between a midsize SUV and what looked like a station wagon straight out of the 80s. They headed away from the highway and took side streets until they were satisfied they weren’t being followed, and then they hit the highway and headed toward pack territory. She sat between her mates, their strong shoulders caging her in and their hands entwined with hers. As the darkness blurred by the windows, she recognized where they were when they turned off the highway and made their way through town.
A pang of sadness hit her. Would she be welcomed back or told to leave immediately? Would Adam allow vampires to join the pack on the full moon, or would she be cut off? She had no idea what had transpired during the day between her parents, Adam, and the pack. Her brother, no matter that he was her flesh and blood and had promised to always have her back, was alpha and there were rules and laws that he had to obey to keep the pack happy. There were wolves in the pack who hated vampires and would potentially protest any – even two who were truemates – joining in the pack on the full moon.
She wasn’t even sure if Adam would recognize her mating.
Rubbing the space between her eyes with her thumb, she let out a deep sigh and leaned against Vex, giving Rage’s hand a squeeze. “I’m glad you’re here with me.”
“We wouldn’t be anywhere else,” Rage said, his tone filled with promise.
She could feel the connection to the pack as they neared the meeting place. It wasn’t as strong as it had been before she mated with Vex and Rage, and she suspected it was because she wasn’t mortal any longer. She now shared memories with vampires who were centuries old and was tied to the largest coven in the Midwest. She was still a wolf, but she was also other. An immortal. One foot in both worlds.
The unpaved service road jostled them as they moved, slowing as they neared the place where Angie was to meet with her pack. A figure stepped out into the middle of the road, and it took only a moment in the wash of the headlights for her to recognize her cousin.
“That’s Brick,” she said as the SUVs pulled over to the side of the road and stopped. “He’s my cousin and also second-in-command.”
“He doesn’t look happy,” Vex said.
Her mind flitted to the conversation in the kitchen, when he’d suggested she needed to find someone to mate with. She wondered if the serious and slightly sour look on his face was because he also remembered that chat. He’d promised to keep her secrets, but she hadn’t trusted him. If he’d put two and two together then he’d know she’d been hiding a very large secret.
Rage cleared his throat. “We’ll go out with Angie. Stay by the vehicles.”
Traz nodded. “Good luck.”
Her heart in her throat, Angie followed her mates out of the SUV, smoothing her trembling hands down her borrowed clothes. Straightening her shoulders and grasping onto her wolf for a shot of confidence, she took Vex and Rage’s hands and strode with purpose toward her cousin.
“Brick,” she said, stopping a few feet from them.
His eyes narrowed as his gaze pinged between them. “The alphas are waiting.”
Such a cold response from a family member! Her stomach felt like it was filled with lead.
Following Brick, they walked off the road and headed toward the old shed, which she could see was illuminated by lights. She quickly counted a dozen pack members, some holding spotlights, gathered around Adam, their parents, and Cinder. Brick joined Adam, folding his arms over his chest.
For a moment, no one said anything. They’d gone so still like statues that she wasn’t even sure the wolves were breathing.
Then her mother closed the distance between them and hugged her tightly. “The angel came to the house with a redheaded wiccan and talked to us about what happened. We’re so thankful you’re safe.”
Relief flooded Angie. At least her mom was happy to see her. “Because of Alli, and my mates.”
Her mom took a step back and was joined by her dad. “Well, introduce us.”
Adam growled and her mother hunched her shoulders and winced. Her father looked over his shoulder and said with a sharp tone, “That’s unnecessary, Adam. No matter that you’re alpha, we’re meeting our daughter’s – your sister’s – truemates. This nonsense with the show of force is ridiculous.”
There was a collective gasp from the pack members, and Angie was tempted to step between her parents and her brother and take his angry glare on herself.
“Alpha,” she said, her voice wavering slightly,
“please stand down. I don’t want anyone to get hurt over this. We have a lot to discuss and being at odds isn’t helping anyone.”
Adam’s gaze clashed with hers. She could feel his power as alpha, his supremacy over her shift. Although she could feel it, she wasn’t compelled to answer to him. He was her brother, but he was no longer her authority. Something had happened to her wolf’s opinion of who was her boss and it wasn’t the wolf glaring at her angrily. It was the golden-eyed vampire who lead the coven. Becoming Vex and Rage’s beloved mate had changed her on more levels than just her mortality, it had changed her fealty.
Cinder put her hand on Adam’s shoulder and whispered in his ear. His eyes narrowed and then he snarled, baring his teeth. His shoulders slumped slightly and he exhaled.
“Fine. You heard your mother, Angie. Introduce them.” Adam’s tone was still hard-edged, like he wished he could bodily separate her from her mates and force her to bend to his will.
Without losing her grip on their hands, she gestured as she spoke. “This is Vex and this is Rage. They’re my truemates, and I’m their beloved mate.”
Angie released her mates’ hands as her father approached. He shook their hands while introducing himself. “I’m Craig and this is my mate, Lucy. Alli said you were instrumental in saving Angie’s life during the attack. Thank you.”
“It’s our responsibility to ensure her safety,” Rex said.
Adam, Cinder, and Brick closed the distance between them, and Angie’s parents stepped aside. Cinder hugged Angie. “We’re glad you’re safe.”
“But are you?” Adam asked. The question was lobbed at her, but he was staring at her mates.
“We’ve made changes to the security at the club and the surrounding area. She’s safe with us,” Vex said.
“She wasn’t in danger until she snuck away and surrounded herself with... your kind,” Adam said.
Angie resisted the urge to roll her eyes. And also to remind Adam that she was an adult and could make her own choices.
Rage stiffened next to her. “We were caught off-guard before. It won’t happen again.”
Her mother turned and faced Adam. “Let’s go to the house to talk. I don’t think we should be standing here at the edge of the territory for a family chat.”