by Riley, Alexa
I hear the pain in his words and I can’t imagine how he came to be where he is today. “You’re right, I don’t know your story and we assume a lot of things. What I can offer you is a place to rest and to share with us what you know. I search the world for knowledge and you are someone we can learn from. I want to invite you into my home and our family. Help us understand what you do and let us repay you for what you’ve done today.”
I glance down at Gordon’s body and watch as it begins to turn to ash. Soon there will be nothing left of him where he lies and it will be as if he never existed. I can only hope the same for the pain in my mate’s heart when it comes to the man she thought was her father.
“Why would I do that?” he asks, and though his voice is still rough, I can sense something gentler there.
“Because even in my darkest times, my family was there for me and it helped me to push through the pain. Do you have anyone like that?”
“I have no one,” he answers simply as he looks around the room again.
“You can stay with us.” I’m surprised when I turn around to see Kane step forward with Juliet at his side. “You’re welcome to use one of our spare rooms. It would be an honor to have you.”
Kane is nearly as big as Grim is, and at first I wasn’t expecting him to volunteer, but now it kind of makes sense. Kane spent most of his time as a vampire as a recluse. His mate has brought warmth to his life, and I think for the first time Kane sees his solitude and pain reflected in someone else. Maybe all of us see a piece of ourselves in Grim.
“I think I might stay for a short while,” he says, reaching out his hand and shaking Kane’s. “Thank you for the offer.”
“I’ll leave you to sort out the details,” I say, looking around to the family. “I’m going to stay here for a few more days with my mate.” I pull Loren to my side and smile at her. “We’ll meet you back at home and we can talk further.”
Grim nods to me and I shake his hand before we walk out of the room. When we make our way up the stairs, Loren leans in and whispers to me.
“Do you think it will be okay that he’s here?”
“There’s no need to fear him, love. Death is a part of life for some people, but not for us anymore. You and I are going to live until the end of time, so think of him as a new friend that might be a little shy for a while.”
“I can’t imagine someone so big being shy.”
I smile at her as I open our bedroom door and close it behind us. “Can’t you? Imagine being alone in the world and not having any family.” I touch her chin and smile at her when I see the realization dawn on her. “He’s not unlike any of us at one point. I’ve heard legends about what he’s capable of, but humans have all kinds of ideas about our kind. Isn’t it better to welcome him to our family than to create an enemy? Look at the way Gordon lived his life and how he chose to rule. I won’t ever tolerate that for our city.”
“I’m still so new to all of this, but I know that beyond anything else, I’m so proud of you and proud that you’re my mate.” I see the look of love in her eyes, along with the stirrings of desire.
“You have all the time in the world to learn what it is I do and what your new role will be.” I run my hands down her body and to her hips as I walk her back towards the bed.
Her eyebrows draw together and the backs of her legs hit the mattress. “My new role?”
“You’re going to be a mother,” I say as I grab the edge of her shirt and yank it off of her in one quick motion. “I’ve found out that humans and vampires can breed together.” She falls back on the bed, and I knee her legs open as I unbutton my pants and pull out my cock. I’m hard and dripping, thinking about making her round and ripe. “You want a family, love, and I’m going to make sure you get it.”
Laying my lower half down on top of her, I slide my cock between her wet lips and thrust all the way in. Her pussy grips me tight. I feel her wet folds wrap around me and I begin to move. I grab her wrists and hold them above her head as I go deeper with every glide of my steel-hard length.
“I need to taste you,” I say as I kiss her lips softly and then trail my lips down her neck. “It’s been too long.” It’s only been hours, but my body already craves the taste of her.
She moans as she spreads her legs wider and tilts her hips up. I suck on her nipple before I kiss the tender skin under her breast and gently graze my teeth along it until I make a small cut. When I taste her, my cock swells inside her and she cries out as her pussy drips.
“Bishop, don’t tease me,” she begs as her legs shake. I know she’s right on the edge of her orgasm, but I want her to say what she wants out loud.
“What do you need, love?” Her sweet taste runs through me and it’s like I’ve been injected with pleasure and strength. I’ve never felt more alive than when I’m inside of her.
“I want to taste you, too,” she cries out as I slow down just enough to keep her on the edge.
“You’ll have everything your heart desires, Loren,” I say. I bite my wrist and bring it to her mouth.
She licks the wound and immediately our connection is sharper and more powerful. It electrifies my body with lust and love at the same time and there’s no more holding back.
I thrust my heavy cock inside her and her body quakes as she climaxes. I can feel her soft pussy welcome my seed. I release what I’ve been holding back and cum inside of her waiting womb. It’s hot and wet and there’s so much I can feel it run out between us.
I’m beyond control in this moment, so I reach down and scoop up what’s dripped out and wipe it across her belly. I want my cum to cover her body and for her to bathe in my scent. I never knew I could be so possessive of one thing, and it just so happens to be my mate. I want her pregnant and bound to me in every way possible, even if we’re already destined for forever.
“I love you so much,” she says as she gasps to catch her breath.
I lick the small wound on her breast and then my wrist before I roll us over.
“I love you more than I ever dreamed possible,” I say as I kiss her lips softly and run my finger through her hair while she nuzzles my chest.
We lie there in silence for so long just thinking about our love and how happy we are. Our connection through our mind is so pure and honest that I don’t have to hide anything from her.
I never understood the research I found on mating and even in observing couples I met. I couldn’t understand the unspoken connection between them, and I know my link with Loren is special. My bond to her is so different; it’s one of a kind. I’ve been searching for everything I could find on mated couples for the past two hundred years and I pull all that forward so she can see how perfect and unique this is.
She sits up and my cock sinks deeper into her as she straddles me. She smiles down at me like I’m being foolish, and I turn my head to the side.
“What?” I ask, not understanding her thought process.
“The fact that you can’t believe this is different is funny to me,” she says as she rocks her hips, and now it’s my turn to moan. “I knew the first time I saw your picture that something was there. And you’ve been dreaming about me since the night you were created.”
I grab onto her hips and hold her steady so I can concentrate on what she’s saying.
“Our connection and what we can share is what makes us great. We have so much ahead of us to accomplish, and together we’ll rule.”
“Forever,” I say as I release her hips and she begins to move again.
“Forever.”
There is nothing that will stand in the way of the world we want to create. Her heart is pure and my body is strong, and with her by my side we’ll have all that we’ve dreamed of.
Even with our new friend Grim living among us.
Epilogue
Bishop
Years Later…
I lean up against the wall as I watch my mate sit in front of the fireplace with our sons fast asleep next to her. Still she keeps on r
eading the book out loud to them. The fire makes her already red hair look even more vibrant than normal. She steals a glance over at me and gives me a smile as she goes back to reading, her hand resting on the swell of her baby bump.
The woman was made to be a mother. I’d lived a long life before I’d found her, meeting hundreds of thousands of people along the way. None ever had the sweet gentleness she carries inside of her. Not only that, but I swear when I’m near her it wraps around me in a calming hold.
I’m still not convinced she isn’t an angel. Such perfection couldn’t be real otherwise. She closes the book and before she can move I’m in front of her helping her to her feet.
“You want a sweet, my sweet?” I lean down, kissing her and feeling her hunger. She always gets a sweet tooth before bed.
“I could go for some of those cookies Ravana dropped off.” She leans up a little, brushing her mouth against mine. “Maybe a little something else,” I growl, pulling her more into me. The boys had been all over her today. Not that I blame them, but I haven't gotten any stolen moments with my mate. We’re going to be making up for that tonight.
“I’ll take the boys up,” I tell her before I steal another kiss from her mouth. It takes everything in me to pull away from her. It always does. I’d almost gone insane with my need for her, thinking she wasn't real towards the end, too beautiful to really exist, but still my dreams and paintings never lived up to the reality of her. When I pull away I brush my thumb along her bottom lip, reminding myself I’ll be back to her in a little while, after I get our boys down.
“Not going anywhere.” She smiles at me. No, I know she’d never leave me. Loren never hides how she feels. The love she has for everyone in the family shines everywhere. Ravana is the protective one, Juliet is good at making everyone laugh, and Dove might be smarter than all of us, but my Loren is all heart and innocence, always looking to the brighter side of things and seeing the good in everything. She’s truly the light to my darkness, the comfort I need.
I knew everyone in the coven feels it, too. Everyone is protective of her and seeks her out whenever they have a problem to talk through. Just like we’d fit with our mates, all of our women have fit together, too. Each brings a strength to our makeshift family.
I pick up each of my boys and carry them to bed thinking how close I got to never having them in my life. But my mate has shown me that no matter how cruel the people in the world can be, still the good is always brighter. She’s an example of that. Even having grown up with a man like Gordon, she didn’t let any of that touch who she is.
When I enter the kitchen I smile when I see the giant plate of cookies in front of her. I stroll over and pick her up, putting her on my lap so I can nibble on my own sweet treat while she enjoys her cookies.
My hand slips over her round belly, resting there possessively. She wiggles in my lap, making me groan.
“Be still if you want to finish your cookies,” I warn her. She doesn’t stop wiggling though. I lift her, placing her on the kitchen counter and spreading her legs to make room for me.
“Maybe I wanted you to have a snack, too.” She leans back. My eyes travel down body to her bare legs.
“Show it to me,” I growl. Still even after all this time she blushes. The sight of her pale skin makes my cock ache. She tentatively reaches down and does as I ask, parting her legs even more.
I have control in all things in my life but her. Before she can get her dress all the way up I’m already on her, feasting on her sweetness like a starved animal. I lick and suck, getting every drop that I can. Needing it.
“Bite me,” she moans, her orgasm already overcoming her. This time I do as she commands. I bite down on my mate. She may have been bitten by the king, but it’s her love that sustains me.
THE END!
Mated to the Reaper
Grim
Three weeks was all I could stand with the coven of vampires. Three miserable weeks with the pain in my chest that wouldn’t go away. What’s it like to be surrounded by happiness twenty-four hours a day? Lonely. Seeing love radiate from mated couples only made me feel more alone in the world than when I was actually alone. To see what I’d never have.
Gordon gave me hope that Bishop held the key to my mate. The dream that I hadn’t dared to put into words blinded all my senses. I went to Bishop thinking he would have what was mine, but I should have known better. I know I’d taken away the chance for Bishop to pay back Gordon for all that he’d done, but rage and hate pumped through my veins like DNA and there was nothing anyone could have done to stop me.
I thought that living among the coven of vampires would somehow teach me to soften my heart. Instead it may have had the opposite effect. By the time I left I was as cold as stone through every part of me and resigned to an eternity on this earth alone. There was nothing left for me in that house, and the longer I stayed the harder it was to be around them.
Besides, I have my calling and there’s no stopping it.
When people whisper in the night about their time on earth coming to an end, it’s me they’re afraid to name. I’m not responsible for every soul on this earth. I can only imagine that task would be a little time-consuming. I’m in charge of the undead. The souls of the secret monsters that live among us belong to me, and when their time is up, it calls to me. Bishop’s soul was knocking at my door the day he found his mate. Gordon was getting just as close, which is why I felt even less remorse about taking his life.
It’s not an easy job, but it’s the one I was born to have. My father before me was the Reaper, and when I was old enough he passed it on to me. For as long as there have been vampires my kind have existed. My mother called it a gift, but it’s always felt like a curse. When it’s time for me to collect a soul it’s because a vampire never found their mate. There aren’t many ways for a vampire to die; it’s either by my axe or at the end of their two hundred years. But either way, it’s with me.
Thankfully there aren’t many of our kind in the world, so I don’t have to track them down often, but it’s enough that I don’t stay in the same place for more than a few months at a time. My father told me that when I found my mate my role would change. He said that when the time came another Reaper would come forward and share the burden so that I could have a family of my own. Even to me, our history is still somewhat hidden and I still have a lot to learn.
I run my thumb along the blade of my axe before I set it down on the table in front of me. I stare into the fire and think about my time with the vampires and how I had to leave. The envy that flowed over me when I looked at the happy couples made my stomach twist into knots. My mind drifts back to the night before I left, and I close my eyes tightly, trying desperately to erase the images that come flooding back.
I’d gone with Kane to speak to Valen and talk about his role as a slayer. He wanted to discuss why he took the lives of the immortals before he met his mate and why he doesn’t do it anymore. I wanted to learn all that I could because I was always the one following around after him and cleaning up his messes. It was going to be a chance for me to have some questions answered, but the second I walked into their house, something changed. A knot formed in my stomach when Ravana walked into the living room. My chest tightened and all I could do was stare at her while my heartbeat pounded in my ears.
I didn’t hear a word Kane or Valen said, and by the time I realized that I’d been staring at her, Valen was already asking me to leave. I’d not only crossed a line with his mate, but I couldn’t defend myself to him or to Kane. The coven had opened their homes to me and made me feel like a part of their family. But I couldn’t get the image of Ravana out of my mind.
I wanted to explain that I wasn’t attracted to her. It was obvious that she belonged to Valen and he belonged to her. I could never come between mates, nor would I ever try. It would be impossible for either of them to allow it. But something inside of me shifted when I looked into her eyes and I knew that night that I had to leave.
<
br /> Nothing has been the same since I left them, but if this is the way it has to be, then so be it. I’ve resigned myself to being stuck out in the middle of nowhere until I’m called to take another soul. My life isn’t like a vampire’s. I don’t have an end if I don’t find a mate. I’m going to walk this earth collecting souls until the end of time.
There’s something inside of me that knows when an immortal is close to death. It’s the reason I’m the Grim Reaper. I can feel it in my bones when one of our kind is dying and it’s time for me to collect. Right now my bones are cold and there’s nothing for me to do but wait.
As I stare into the flames of the fire, I try not to think about being alone or what it felt like when I stared into Ravana’s eyes. I think of nothing else except the blank space of eternity before me.
* * *
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