Wild and Free

by Kristen Ashley

  “What does that mean?”

  “The good part is they can sense if one or the other is in danger, even know where they are or are able to get to where they are without actually knowing where they are,” he explained.

  “That is good,” she noted.

  “The bad part is that Lilah feels pain, quite significant pain, if Abel is away from her and she doesn’t know where he is. They also both experience what Lilah refers to as ‘hyper-jealousy’ if they even think of one with another that is not their mate.”

  “I would say we would experience that too, if it was in a wolf to be with another outside his mate,” she pointed out.

  “Well, it’s not. However, you had others before me, and I did too. We both knew this and it was far from welcome, but for them, their responses are more extreme. Abel explained he’d not even known Lilah a day when she flew into a rage at his mention of ones before her.”

  “Strange,” Sonia murmured.

  “Indeed,” Callum agreed.

  “Do you know what that might mean?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “I’ve no idea, baby doll. We can just hope we have time as Leah’s abilities increase and you practice with yours, so that Lilah will come to understand hers and they’ll be useful.”

  “Mm,” she murmured, and when she did, Callum lost interest in their conversation.

  “Time for bed,” he declared.

  Her head gave a slight jerk. “I’m in bed, wolf.”

  “Then time for me to get in it with you and turn you over my knee.”

  Her eyes said one thing, her lips said another. “You’ll not be spanking me.”

  “No, I won’t,” he confirmed. “But I will be doing other things to you.”

  The message in her eyes deepened as he saw the tip of her tongue slide out to wet her upper lip.

  “Get rid of your nightie,” he ordered.

  “Yes, my king,” she said on a breathy false grumble.

  He straightened from the bed to take off his clothes.

  She got to her knees and he watched as she pulled off her nightie.

  It was then Callum wasted no time joining her and turning his queen over his knee.

  * * * * *

  Abel

  Lilah was lying naked on top of him after he’d made her come for the fifth time that day.

  And she was bitching.

  “Why can’t I have something cool, like being able to speak in your head?”

  “Maybe you’ll get somethin’ like that,” he responded in an effort to get her to quit bitching.

  It was like he didn’t speak.

  “Or talking to animals?”

  Abel decided this time to say nothing.

  “All I’ve got is the ability to give good sass.”

  “And you got that down,” Abel muttered, and she focused on him in order to narrow her eyes.

  “And be clingy,” she hissed. “What’s the good of that?”

  “You cool it and be patient, we might find out.”

  She glared at him.

  He had shit to do and he needed her asleep so he could do it. Therefore, he had to deal with her mood to get on with it.

  He also had to give her something, something she needed, something he had no idea he’d withheld until she told him.

  And he was hoping, in giving it to her, he’d kill two birds with one stone.

  So he set about attempting that, taking one of her hands from where it rested on his chest and lifting it.

  “Abel—” she started and he had no clue what she was going to say but she snapped her mouth shut when he kept lifting her hand until he touched her middle finger to where he knew the scar began on his forehead.

  “She started here,” he murmured then slowly slid her finger across his forehead, down through his broken eyebrow, and picked up the scar on his cheek. He kept going, trailing her finger to his jaw where he stopped but held her finger there. “She ended here.”

  She didn’t look pissed anymore, thank fuck. She looked something he wasn’t sure he liked much more, but it was better than pissed.

  She looked sad with a hint of angry.

  He lost her look when she leaned up and put her lips to the start of the scar on his forehead. Her hand cupped his jaw and his cupped hers as a thrill chased down his spine while she traced the scar with her lips until she had to move their hands away to get to the end.

  Delilah’s touch, how it made him feel, he wouldn’t have been surprised if he went to the mirror, looked, and saw the scar was gone.

  He didn’t reckon that actually happened, but in his gut, the touch of her lips had a different kind of healing power that meant almost the same thing.

  Finally, she slid her lips to his and looked in his eyes.

  “You’re awesome,” she whispered.

  “So I’ve been told,” he whispered back.

  “You beginning to believe it?” she asked.

  “Maybe,” he answered.

  He watched her eyes smile.

  Then he asked, “You good to go to sleep, or do I need to fuck you again?”

  The smile in her eyes got brighter before she closed them to press her mouth to his. Then she, broke away to settle over him, snuggling close, her face in his throat.

  “I think I’m all fucked out,” she replied.

  Abel grinned at the ceiling as he wound his arms around her.

  “For today,” she finished.

  That was when Abel tightened his hold and started chuckling.

  “It’s been a good day,” she said softly.

  “Yeah,” he agreed.

  “Best part, outside the bestest best part, was telling your family and my dad about the bestest best part. That we can be together, literally forever.”

  That had been the best part, outside the part where they learned they could be together forever.

  After they told them, Jian-Li had excused herself, but Abel knew she’d begun crying. Fuck, even Hook had lifted a hand to squeeze the bridge of his nose before sweeping his thumb and a finger under his eyes to hide the wet gathering there.

  Delilah’s dad got it. He’d sorted it out way before Delilah did and his relief was extreme, for the both of them.

  Delilah cuddled closer. “So Snake died for forever love. It was beautiful before. But now…” She sighed. “Now maybe I can start to understand the gift he gave me. Gave us. And settle into it.”

  Thank Christ.

  Abel kept her held close as he replied, “Yeah, baby.”

  “We’re gonna be happy,” she told him, sounding like she was getting sleepy but still sounding convinced.

  He hoped she was right.

  “Yeah,” he agreed.

  “Wild and free and happy,” she kept talking.

  “Yeah,” he repeated.

  “For eternity.”

  He rolled them to their sides but kept her close as he whispered his final, “Yeah, pussycat.”

  She drew in breath and let it go.

  In five minutes, she’d relaxed, asleep in his arms.

  Abel waited fifteen more to make sure that sleep was deep.

  Then he carefully extricated himself from her, rolled off the bed, tugged on his jeans, and moved silently to and through the door.

  He walked five doors up the hall, stopped at one, and knocked.

  It was opened in thirty seconds by Poncho, who was like Abel, wearing nothing but faded jeans, his hair a mess, his eyes alert.

  “Everything okay?”

  “Not really, but there’s nothing new that isn’t okay. Just need a chat,” Abel replied.

  Poncho kept his eyes sharp on Abel and guessed, “My auntie.”

  “Yes, and no,” Abel told him. “See, found out today that the vampires killed off a bunch of witches a long time ago.”

  “Fuck,” Poncho mumbled.

  “Right. So it’s likely they’re not hip on helpin’. The thing is, it wouldn’t hurt to have one on our side. So yeah, I need you to get in touch with y
our aunt. But I need you to be cool about that. I need you to see where she’s at with this supernatural shit before you tell her you’re neck-deep in it. Only when you know she isn’t gonna fuck us will I talk to the others and see if we can make an approach.”

  “Consider it done,” Poncho stated instantly.

  “Poncho—” Abel started.

  “No.” He shook his head. “Don’t need to say more. I dig this has to be handled. You got my word I’ll handle it.”

  Abel looked into his eyes and nodded.

  Poncho jutted his chin down the hall. “Get back to our girl.”

  “Right, later.”

  Poncho gave a short salute and a “Later, amigo.”

  He was closing the door before Abel turned down the hall.

  As silently as he’d left their room, he returned, carefully gathering Delilah in his arms after he pulled the covers back over his body.

  Unconsciously, she snuggled deep and relaxed in his hold.

  That was when Abel took a breath and let it go. He did this hoping Poncho could handle it and hoping Delilah would get some ability, and not only so she’d quit bitching. He also did it letting the sheer brilliance of all he’d learned that day wash through him (and there was a fuckload he’d learned that day about who he was and the fact it was far from monstrous).

  Then he closed his eyes and went to sleep, doing it further hoping a dream would come.

  Not like the dream come true he held in his arms.

  Any dream they could use to help them stop evil so he and Delilah could live wild, free, happy…

  And forever.

  * * * * *

  Gregor

  Gregor sat at the desk in the compound’s study, tapping his fingers, his eyes to edge of the desk, his mind filled.

  “It’s impossible,” Yuri said from his seat in a chair across from him.

  “I know,” Gregor murmured.

  “His senses are acute, wolf and vampire. It’s impossible he hasn’t run across at least one of our kind in two hundred years.”

  Gregor lifted his eyes to his son and stopped tapping. “I know, Yuri.”

  “He’s been protected, and not by a family of loyal Chinese,” Yuri declared.

  Gregor sighed.

  “He was saved from that witch,” Yuri said quietly.

  “He was,” Gregor agreed.

  “We can trace her. We have a date and a place. We can find out who she is. We might also find her.”

  Gregor kept his eyes to his son. “Do you think another immortal would happen upon a witch attempting to dispatch the only known hybrid and she’d survive?”

  “No,” Yuri replied. “Especially since it wasn’t just another immortal. It was his mother, or his father, or both. There’s no chance they allowed her to survive. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t look for her. She might have people. People who may know things. People who I can make talk.”

  Gregor’s attention on his son became acute.

  Yuri was hotheaded. He was also passionate. It was uncanny since it was not vampiric nor was it inherited from his father or his mother, who showed less emotion than even Gregor.

  He was almost like a wolf.

  But he was not wolf. He was vampire, a vampire with a variety of skills he’d honed over his centuries so that he was uniquely gifted in using them.

  “Find who you can find,” Gregor said quietly. “And make them talk.”

  He watched his son’s slow smile.

  Then he watched his son straighten from the chair and move to the door.

  Only when he had it opened did Gregor call, “Yuri?”

  Yuri turned back and lifted a brow.

  “Be careful,” Gregor whispered.

  Yuri nodded once.

  Then he disappeared.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Destiny Fuckin’ Loves Me

  Delilah

  I walked down the street cautiously, my stomach roiling with nausea, blood and bodies everywhere. On the streets. In the doorways to the shops. Necks gashed open. Throats ripped out. Limbs ripped away.

  They were all gone. Every last human.

  Save me.

  This couldn’t be right. This couldn’t be what they wanted. This was worse than we’d expected.

  They needed humans to survive.

  So why were they killing them all?

  “This is a warning.”

  I whipped around at the voice and saw him standing in the middle of the street.

  A vampire. Handsome. Proud.

  Evil.

  “This is what we can do. This is why they will submit,” he went on.

  “Where’s Abel?” I asked.

  “He will sacrifice himself for you.”

  I felt my insides freeze and it was agony.

  The vampire smiled like he knew he’d caused me pain and liked it. “You won’t have forever. You won’t even have tomorrow. You will only have a lifetime of mourning.” His head cocked to the side. “Don’t worry, it won’t last long. It’ll only be a human lifetime.”

  “No!” I screamed.

  * * * * *

  “Bao bei,” Abel called, gently shaking me.

  My eyes opened and I saw him leaning over me. Instantly, I latched on, holding tight, pressing deep.

  Abel rolled to his back, keeping me close.

  “You had another dream,” he murmured.

  “Yeah,” I agreed.

  “You remember it?” he asked.

  I searched for it.

  Nothing.

  “No,” I whispered.

  “Try, pussycat. It might be important.”

  I tried but still got nothing.

  “It’s gone,” I told him.

  “That’s okay,” he replied softly.

  “Did I say anything?” I asked.

  “Just screamed ‘no,’” he shared.

  I lifted my head to look at him. “Screamed?”

  “Yeah, you sounded scared and I don’t like that for you, Lilah. But still, part of me wishes you’d say more so I might be able to get a lock on what’s happening.”

  I didn’t like me screaming in my sleep either, not for me and not for Abel, but I agreed.

  “Maybe I can get hypnotized or something so I’ll remember,” I suggested. Abel said nothing so I asked, “You don’t think that’s a good idea?”

  “The situation we’re in, not sure I want anyone controlling your mind.”

  At his words, it hit me.

  “Do you think you can get in there?”

  His brows drew together. “What?”

  “When I’m dreaming. Do you think you can get in my head before I wake up? Use your mind-control abilities, see what’s happening?”

  He shook his head. “Never tried that. Not sure I can even do that.”

  “Maybe you should try it.”

  He studied me for a second before muttering, “We’ll see, next time you dream.”

  “Okay.”

  “We got a big meeting today, baby. Best get up.”

  I sighed and repeated, “Okay.”

  But Abel didn’t let me go.

  He rolled me to my back, him on me, his eyes to my neck where he also put his finger, trailing it like a whisper along my pulse point.

  “First, I wanna feed.”

  I felt my body relax and my lips smile.

  He looked to my mouth, then to my eyes, and his got lazy.

  “You wanna take care of me,” he said quietly.

  I so did.

  “Yeah,” I agreed.

  “My Lilah’s sweet, warm blood…for eternity.”

  My head tilted on the pillow and I lifted a hand to his neck and stroked his jaw, feeling the ridge of his scar against the pad of my thumb, loving how he gave that to me.

  But still, his words made a thought occur to me, so I asked, “Will it get boring?”

  “No.”

  I didn’t believe that.

  “You sure?”

  “You taste like you every tim
e, but you also taste different. Sometimes it’s richer. Sometimes it’s thicker. Sometimes it’s more tangy. Sometimes sharp. Sometimes sweet. Don’t know what’s happening in you to make it that way, but it isn’t like I’m eatin’ steak for every meal. It’s a variety, depending on the time of day, where your mood is at, whatever.”

  “Wow. That’s cool.”

  “Yeah,” he grinned. “Cool.” Then he dipped his head and ran his tongue along my neck. I shivered while he whispered there, “Sometimes I get Lilah cotton candy.”

  I felt his tongue again and slid my hand from the side of his neck into his hair.

  “Sometimes I get Lilah nectarine.”

  I felt his tongue again at my neck, but the numbness was invading.

  I wasn’t numb at my ear where he whispered, “Sometimes I get creamy Lilah.”

  “Abel,” I breathed, squirming beneath him, thinking he was about to get seriously creamy Lilah.

  He slid a hand low on my belly, almost there but not there enough.

  “What’re you gonna give me today, pussycat?” he asked.

  “Don’t know,” I answered.

  He slid his hand an inch lower. “Want me to find out?”

  “Yes,” I panted, clutching his hair and lifting my hips as best I could.

  “Whatever you want, baby,” he murmured, sliding his nose down my jaw as he slid his hand lower.

  Then he found out.

  And whatever it was for him, for me, it was awesome.

  * * * * *

  “You nervous?”

  We were walking down the hall toward the dining room where we were going to have a breakfast meeting with our Save the World Posse.

  I looked up at Abel and answered, “No, are you?”

  “No,” he replied. “You just seem…not right.”

  My head jerked. “Not right?”

  “You were right when I was drawing from you and doin’ the other things to you,” he said, and I grinned. He was not grinning. “Before that and since, you’ve been off.”

  I stopped outside the door to the dining room, stopping him with me. “Off how?”

  “Can’t get a lock on it, but it’s like you’re tweaked.”

  “Lots of shit is going down, Abel,” I reminded him.

  “Yeah,” he muttered. “Probably just tweaked myself and reading too much into it.”

  He started us moving toward the door but stopped instantly, shoving me behind him as the air shimmered and a woman suddenly formed in front of the door.