Gypsy Rising (All The Pretty Monsters Book 5)

by Kristy Cunning

  My head lulls to the side, and he groans in the back of his throat, as he sucks a spot on my throat he loves to drink from.

  “You’re the only vampire who has ever drank from me,” I point out.

  “Only because no other vampire has needed blood in your presence, and only because you started it by breaking my curse,” he sulks.

  I end up kissing him, because I thought I was making them special, and now he has me questioning if I’ve done as much as I thought I had to in order to prove that.

  Sometimes I forget how broken they all are, because they’re so…top-of-the-food-chain and all.

  I feel his stupid grin against my lips, as my arms go around his neck and pull him down—

  “Sorry to interrupt!” Shera shouts as she knocks. “But Jasper is fussy and we’re all a little busy at the moment.”

  Arion turns to glare at the door with blacked out eyes, and I wrap my legs around his waist just to keep him from doing something evil while he’s pissed.

  “Where the bloody hell is his mother?” Arion snaps.

  There’s silence for a minute. “Boss? Why can’t I smell you? I thought the wolf was in there,” Shera says through the door, trepidation in her tone now.

  Arion frowns, glancing down at me and then back at the door.

  “Fuck’s sake, Shera, come in. I can smell your fear from here, but Violet’s doing very well in giving me a splendid reason to stay less hostile.”

  My legs tighten around his waist a bit more to be safe, and his lips twitch, as he restrains a grin, pressing down on me more, as he toys with my hair.

  The door gently swings open, and Shera walks in, pushing Jasper in his mobile bassinet. Her eyes move between us, possibly because we’re both naked. Immortals don’t get too offended by nudity and sex, but when alphas are involved, everyone worries what their punishment will be for interruptions.

  Shera grins when she sees how very intimately we’re placed, probably getting the wrong idea.

  “It’s nice to see the two of you spending some quality alone. I’ll just take Jasper back out with—”

  Jasper screams so loud the glass of one of my mirrors shatters, and we both lock our gazes to the babe. Someone cleaned up my bed, my room, and even replaced the broken wall and mirrors in my absence. Now the process of breaking mirrors starts over.

  Arion is off me without so much as a warning, and Shera startles when he suddenly has Jasper in his arms, sniffing at him.

  “Go,” he tells Shera, who frowns over at me as I begin to tense. “Don’t say anything about this,” he adds.

  She doesn’t dawdle, hurrying out of the room.

  He sniffs along Jasper’s neck, causing the tension in my body to ratchet up.

  “If you even dare think about feeding—”

  The vampire recoils and shoots me a horrified look. “What sort of monster do you think I am?” he asks very seriously.

  Jasper makes a gurgling noise, his small hand landing on Arion’s cheek in a way that would melt my heart…if the alpha vampire wasn’t acting so suspicious.

  Every day, I mute Jasper’s scent more and more with my apple products. Yeah, I haven’t told them about that small revelation just yet. I’ve learned so much these past five months. Most of it seems really important, but I’ve yet to discover why.

  However…Jasper’s scent is really strong for an infant, according to Leiza. Hence the reason I started muting it. Strength instills fear, and fear motivates horrible actions.

  Arion’s gaze flicks to me, and I realize it’s my tension that has him being so suspicious.

  I’m such an idiot.

  He smiles like he’s caught me in a lie. “My sweet monster. What are you hiding from me?” he muses. “Babes don’t scream and break mirrors. And you look like I’m going to sniff out some dirty little secret,” he adds, pressing his lips to the top of Jasper’s head, eyes never leaving mine.

  I’m struggling between the image of him holding Jasper so delicately, seeming so paternal, and wondering what happens if I’m honest with him.

  “Do speak up, sweet gypsy monster. No one’s close enough to hear you,” he adds, moving toward my bed. “Not with Emit’s new mating scent all over you, confusing their senses.”

  He takes a seat next to me on the new bed, stretching his legs out in front of him. I cover up his lap with a sheet just to distract myself and to keep his naked body from being the wrong sort of distraction.

  Jasper’s wearing his new onesie I bought him, face scrunched like he’s trying to get to sleep.

  Arion cradles him against his chest, and my heart starts pounding in my ears when his eyes widen. My stomach churns with dread as the sound of Jasper slurping resonates in my ears.

  “Violet, why is there an infant shifter drinking from me with impossible fangs?” Arion asks in a calm tone, even as a harsh exhale is expelled from him.

  I swallow thickly, trying and failing to come up with anything at this moment. So much for me being awesome enough to keep secrets from someone like Arion.

  I honestly don’t know why Jasper drinks blood. Shifter’s drink blood, but they don’t have fangs. He’s sort of…unique. Unique beings also tend to motivate horrible actions.

  Seriously, so much has happened, and I thought I was better at keeping secrets than I am. They keep asking questions they shouldn’t know to ask.

  I’ve been so careful. I really am naïve, aren’t I? Somehow, I consistently underestimate the four of them.

  My mouth opens and closes a few times, as Arion slants his eyes toward me, patiently and expectantly awaiting an answer. Jasper feasts on the vampire alpha like he’s a delicacy.

  “Not even my betas can drink my blood without painful vomiting after just one single drop, but this kid is lapping me up like I’m a treat. Shifters don’t have fangs,” Arion goes on, gingerly patting Jasper’s back as the unique baby greedily drinks more. “This lad doesn’t seem to have any problems taking my blood, and you don’t even seem surprised by that.”

  Wringing my hands, I drag the sheet up to cover my body, eyes flicking to the baby in the vampire’s arms.

  “Are you going to hurt him?” I can’t help but ask, since I can barely breathe around the growing knot of dread.

  Arion holds my gaze, letting Jasper continue to drink.

  “I don’t go around killing babies. I do, however, make it my business when there’s a creature acting out of habit and out of the realm of the ordinary. Even babies would sense my blood is dangerous—if babies ever had fangs. What is Jasper?”

  He clicks his tongue as Jasper detaches and lets out a baby burp that sounds entirely too adorable.

  Arion’s dark eyes are still on mine when I lift my gaze to meet his again.

  “Half shifter. Half vampire?” I guess. “His mother won’t speak to me at all about it.”

  The words are spoken so quietly that I wonder if he can hear it at all.

  “Completely impossible,” he counters, eyes narrowing down on Jasper in a way that has me decidedly ready to retrieve my—er…the baby.

  “How about I hold him for a little while?” I suggest, reaching over.

  Arion pulls back, settling down on the bed a little more, as Jasper’s eyes sleepily close, and he flattens his cheek against Arion’s bare chest.

  “I’d say he’s perfectly content with his latest meal holding him,” he drawls.

  Did Ivannah not feed him the blood today? What the hell?

  “Who’s the vampire?” he asks.

  “I thought it was completely impossible,” I grind out, hating that I don’t trust him with Jasper. “As I said, his mother isn’t speaking to me about it. She’s trusting Sanctuary will keep them both safe, despite the…uniqueness he has about him.”

  I also hate how natural he seems to be with him. I’m still a bumbling neurotic head case when it comes to holding such a tiny person.

  Poor Jasper has no idea he’s curled up on the chest of a psychotic, powerful, immortal vampi
re.

  When Arion just stares at me patiently, I exhale again.

  “I’m serious. She’s given me absolutely nothing,” I state quietly, inching closer.

  “She wanted you to raise him, am I correct?” he muses, lovingly kissing Jasper’s tiny head with a deceptively tender touch.

  My eyes stay on the vampire, waiting for some sort of trap or manipulation.

  At my nod, he says, “Then it’s an alpha vampire.”

  I snort. “How do you come up with conclusions like that?” I ask on a tired sigh. “Alphas are sterile.”

  “Marta had you,” he reminds me quietly, staring down at Jasper a little differently.

  “Touché,” I confess on a tired sigh. “But I genuinely don’t believe it’s an alpha.”

  “Stop staring at me like I’m going to eat the lad,” he says with a slight growl, looking truly offended by my obvious urge to snatch Jasper from his arms. “I’m proud of the fact I’m not that much of a monster.”

  I bristle, shrugging a shoulder.

  “How am I supposed to know what is or isn’t off limits with you?” I volley, slowly easing back, my tension lifting.

  “You’re well cared for with four Heads of their respective Houses vying for your attention and giving you your dream,” he goes on, gesturing around him.

  To that, I glare. “I distinctly remember you sitting on your asses while the rest of us worked to make this dream come true,” I inform him, quietening my voice quickly when Jasper makes a fussy sound.

  Ignoring my comment, Arion plays with Jasper’s small toes, as he continues.

  “There’s not a lot we wouldn’t do for you. Including keeping such an innocent babe safe at your request. However, Violet, if he’s truly the child of an alpha vampire, this could mean a great—”

  “He’s a powerful beta and not an alpha,” I interrupt, exhaling harshly. “Shera seems pretty certain of this.”

  It’s then I see the withdrawn, almost broken look in his eyes as his lips thin. Shit.

  He had hope he could create a child, and I ruthlessly yanked that hope away without meaning to.

  “But like you said, I’m the child of an alpha,” I add to attempt to recover some of that hope I had no right to take away.

  Who knew the ruthless vampire wanted to be a father?

  I almost want to call Shera back to take Jasper away just so I can console Arion now.

  He clears his throat and blinks, adjusting on the bed, as he looks away.

  “Guess I got carried away with assumptions. You’re the daughter of a Portocale immortal who is a different breed of immortal altogether,” he counters quietly.

  “And I don’t have a womb,” I go on, letting Jasper wrap his fingers around just one of mine, as I lean over on Arion, resting my head on his shoulder.

  My eyes catch the reflection in the mirror. The sheet is tucked under my arms and loosely draped over his lap. Jasper is resting his head on Arion’s reclined chest, already peacefully snoozing, while facing me with his inexplicably cute, scrunched-up expression.

  It’s the weirdest domestic moment—a vampire alpha and a Simpleton pureblood omega with an impossible shifter/vampire baby, who has a hearty appetite for immortal blood, all lying together like one big family.

  I catch a glimpse of the softest expression I’ve ever seen on Arion’s face, as well as the far-off look in his gaze.

  “What did Marta do to deserve you?” Arion finally asks quietly, eyes on Jasper. “We were meant to be sterile for the rest of our unnatural lives.”

  His lips brush the top of Jasper’s head, and I start to worry he’s just fallen in love with the baby whose mother is withdrawing more and more. Every single day I have to convince her she’s the best mother for her own son.

  I haven’t been here in three days to do that, and she’s apparently gone missing long enough for Jasper to be hungry enough for blood to snatch up the first available source.

  Arion’s eyes widen like something has occurred to him, and he purses his lips, as he kisses Jasper’s head again.

  “Emit will be along shortly. I’ll take this babe with me and let you get some rest.”

  I shake my head immediately. “He can’t leave the grounds, and you said that way too abruptly for my comfort, if I’m being honest. I’ll just keep him here with me. He usually sleeps well after being fed right from the source,” I tell him, sticking my arms out.

  Arion’s lips curve in a sly grin as he arches an eyebrow at me.

  “Easy, sweet monster. The lad is certainly safe with me. Not even Idun would be so foolish as to hurt an infant. It’s against the universal law. One I had put in place, and was easily agreed with by the majority vote. It’s why the lad’s mother even got to survive to begin with. Children are a coveted thing among those who live forever with no hope of bearing their own.”

  I drop my arms, relaxing a little.

  “Even when those children are an impossible existence?”

  His gaze rakes over my face. “Considering the last impossible being I stumbled across is possibly my salvation, I’m not exactly worried what the future holds with him. He’s under my protection as family to an Alpha. It’s the same protection I’ve extended you since the day you dragged me from my own personal hell.”

  He leans over, his lips catching mine off guard, and my hands move to cup both sides of his face like I simply can’t help myself.

  He nibbles my bottom lip, and I feel like a wishy-washy ass when I actually get annoyed at him for breaking the kiss. As abruptly as it started, it’s over, and he’s standing with Jasper in his arms.

  Doing some amazing one-armed dressing with the smooth motions of a practiced professional, he cradles Jasper in strategic ways, never putting him down. I’m actually impressed with how effortless he makes it look to dress himself while holding a baby.

  In the next instant, he puts Jasper in the bassinet, confusing me, since he is fully dressed now and doesn’t need to—

  My breath catches before that thought can finish, because the hella fast vampire is once again between my legs, and his face is hovering over mine.

  “If I hadn’t fallen in love with you that first day you spotted me, as Vance drugged you and painted your toes, I would have fallen for you the day you threw yourself at my feet and freely gave me your throat—without one ounce of regard to the personal cost to yourself—to break a curse that has tormented me for centuries,” he says on a quiet breath, eyes intently on mine.

  It’s so intense that my legs tremble around his waist, the fabric of his jeans grazing my sore inner thighs.

  He drags his finger down my cheek, his gaze trailing the skin he touches.

  “After spending so much time unseen, desperately seeking a way out of that miserable fucking coffin, and finding such an adorably naïve gypsy with a heart so big she’d fall for anything?” he asks, both insulting and complimenting me.

  I think.

  His lips brush over mine, as my foolishly fickle heart speeds up.

  “I don’t have a soul, Violet,” he says like he’s reminding me of that, gaze connecting with mine again as his look grows serious. “In theory, I can’t love. Yet I love deeper than all three of the others combined.”

  He presses down farther on me, and I swallow thickly. Even though my poor vagina is abused and sore, every inch of me craves to feel him inside me.

  “It’s because I gave up everything I valued for the sake of love. There’s no question, by anyone, that I sacrificed the most. Never once did I break my loyalty for those many, many years. In return, I was made a mockery by the woman I loved, and used without reward, to the point where I have no feelings—good or bad—remaining toward her,” he tells me.

  The words sound so honest that I tremble beneath him. A tear rolls down my cheek, because I almost feel bad for how good that makes me feel. It’s as though that’s exactly what I needed to hear from him, and I…am so fucking confused right now.

  “To say I love you is q
uite the understatement. I was never allowed to speak those words to Idun, because…she finds love to be something different than you do. She demands complete submission, no matter the personal cost or loss of dignity.”

  His hand stills its descent on my neck, and his hand slowly closes around my throat. My heartrate kicks quicker, and my vagina forgets she needs a break.

  His dark grin curves up on one side of his mouth, as his gaze stays steady on mine.

  “You’ve completely surrendered to me once. I really loved it, Violet. I want it again,” he whispers as he leans in close and runs his lips along the skin of my throat.

  His grip tightens a little more, fingers pressing firmly against the side of my neck. My legs tighten on him, and I find myself rocking against him, desperately wishing he’d stayed naked.

  “And again,” he says even softer, gently gripping my hip to tilt my body more perfectly against him, providing some glorious friction with my next rock.

  “And again,” he says so softly I barely hear the words, seconds before his lips cover mine.

  I kiss him so hard that it hurts, and he hungrily—and greedily—drinks in every ounce of fire in the kiss.

  “It’s all I’ve craved since that day,” he murmurs against my lips, even as I fight to resume the kiss.

  He effortlessly fends me off, keeping power over me, even as his lips tease mine with the barest of touches.

  “If you want me on my knees, I’ll happily get on them for you right now. But what I want is that surrender. I’m already your monster. I want you to be mine in return.”

  I think I’d agree to anything at all just to have him inside me right now. Fortunately, Jasper picks that moment to whimper, and the spell is broken.

  Oy vey. How did I forget he’s in here?!

  Arion smirks at me like he can read my mind, and I can see all the smug arrogance in his dark eyes.

  “I don’t need to hear the words to know you love me, Violet. You really should start seeing the bigger picture. Whatever you want from me, I’ll give it to you in spades. You’re the best prize I’ve ever found, and I’ll not give you up.”

  He’s off me in the next instant, and a chill settles over me in a way that leaves me feeling bereft and unsated. I want to slap him just for confusing my already confused head.