by Sarah Piper
“But Darius—”
I pressed a finger to his lips. “Haley said he’ll sleep for at least six hours.”
“Are you sure?” he asked, but he was already slipping out of his shoulder holster, setting the weapon on the top closet shelf. His shirt and jeans were next, along with everything else, until he was standing naked before me, fully erect.
I slid my hands over his shoulders, taking in the feel of his smooth, golden skin, marred only by the faint residual scarring from the silver blade. “I haven’t even unzipped my jeans yet, Detective Alvarez, and you’re already naked. So much for your noble protests.”
“If there’s one thing my trip to the other side taught me, it’s not to take anything for granted, and not to wait around for a better moment when the present one is perfectly damn good.”
His mouth was on mine in a heartbeat, claiming me, marking me, making up for all the time we’d lost. Without breaking the kiss, he unbuttoned my cardigan, sliding it off my shoulders, his hands roaming every inch of exposed skin. I kicked off my jeans and underwear, and Emilio lifted my arms up, guiding my hands to the bar that ran the length of the closet.
I curled my fingers around it, holding tight as he kissed me senseless, devouring my mouth, my neck, my breasts, his massive hands and lush lips everywhere at once, heating my blood from a simmer to a boil.
“I can’t get enough of you,” he breathed, kissing my stomach, licking a path from one hipbone to the other. His fingers fluttered between my thighs, teasing me open, his hot breath swirling over my clit. Emilio inhaled my scent, burying his face against my flesh, moaning as he tasted me.
He felt incredible, and part of me wanted to close my eyes and sink into his kiss, let him claim me with his mouth, again and again, teasing and sucking and licking me until my legs trembled.
But I needed him inside me. All of him. And I couldn’t wait another second.
“Emilio,” I begged, sliding a hand into his hair and fisting it. “Kiss me.”
He grabbed my ass and pulled me closer, his tongue sliding inside me, deeper, pure ecstasy, but it wasn’t enough.
“Not there,” I panted. I tugged on his hair, guiding him upward, losing myself again in the pleasure of his mouth as he kissed a path up my stomach, through the valley between my breasts, alongside my neck, my jaw, finally claiming my mouth in another breathless kiss.
As always, Emilio seemed to know exactly what I needed in that moment, what I craved, and as I wrapped my fingers around the bar again, he lifted me up, his hands cradling my ass, guiding me onto the tip of his massive cock. I sank onto him, feeling every inch as he plunged inside me.
“I missed you,” I breathed, my thighs clamping tight around his hips. I held him there, and he buried his face in my neck and breathed me in, slowly rolling his hips as I braced myself on the bar. Despite his earlier hunger, my wolf’s frenetic energy shifted, and once again, he was the slow, tender lover he’d been the first time we’d shared a bed together. With one arm holding me up, he cupped my face with the other, kissing me softly, sensuously, tasting me as if every time was the first. His hand trailed down my throat, grazing my collarbone, my nipple, my ribs, slowly sliding between us. With a soft, gentle pressure, he traced slow circles over my clit, drawing me closer to the edge as he shifted inside me, slow and steady, deliberate.
It snuck up on me, that heat. That deep, dark pulse of pure pleasure, bursting inside me like a dam. As my thighs trembled around him, I held on tightly to the bar and turned my head, biting my upper arm, muffling my cries of ecstasy. Emilio gripped my ass, pushing in deeper and holding me steady, his breath coming out in a sudden rush as he bit my shoulder and finally let go, shuddering against me until he was finally spent.
I let go of the bar and looped my arms around his neck, slowly sliding down his body, kissing him as I went.
My feet had just hit the floor when the closet door swung open, and we both turned with a start to see a smirking, bed-headed vampire looming in the doorway.
“You’ve dragged the wolf into the closet.” Darius glanced around the dark space, his eyes glinting. “Is this some kind of metaphor? Perhaps your subconscious is telling you he’s not the man for you.”
Emilio let out a hearty laugh, his hands still firmly gripping my ass. “Judging from the sounds she was making, bloodsucker, I’m guessing that’s not the case.”
“Yes, I did wonder about that.” Darius stepped fully into the closet, looking around again as if he were considering moving in. “Does she always do that?”
“You tell me.”
“You guys.” I rolled my eyes. “I’m right here.”
“Mmm.” Darius’s gaze drank us in, head to toe and back up again. “Indeed, you are.”
“How are you feeling?” I asked, reaching forward to sweep the hair from his eyes. I didn’t care that I was naked. In fact, standing there in that closet with a still-erect wolf shifter by my side and a mischievous looking vampire in front of me, I was pretty damned turned on.
“Haley said there might be some initial confusion,” I said. It was hard to keep the hope from my voice. She’d also said he’d sleep a few more hours, yet here he was, wide awake and already teasing me. Was that a good sign?
Do you remember? Did it work?
“I seem to recall something about that,” Darius said, offering no further explanation.
“So…?” I gave him an encouraging smile, but my insides were tying themselves into knots. His thoughts were hidden from me, his face a mask. Only his eyes held a glint of their former mischief, the only hint that a bit of the old vampire might have resurfaced
“I’m feeling,” he said, stroking an elegant finger along my cheek, “in the mood for a story. The one where a devilishly handsome vampire spends an evening with an entrancing young witch in his Astin Martin Spitfire in the parking lot of Luna’s café. Are you familiar with that one, love? Because I’d really like to know how it ends.”
Thirty-Six
DARIUS
“Cookies!” she shouted, unexpectedly throwing herself into my arms. I couldn’t help but embrace her, despite the fact that her luscious scent was currently being overpowered by the wolf’s. Her skin was warm and soft, her body curving against mine as if it’d been created to do just that.
“Cookies, huh?” Emilio laughed. “And here I thought she only had eyes for my brownies.”
“No, the story.” Gray pulled back from my embrace and beamed at me with tears in her eyes, her gorgeous smile nearly as bright as the sun. “After the… the car stuff… We ended up inside the café, and you bought me a latte and chocolate macadamia cookies and told me how you loved cheeseburgers and sweet potato fries.”
I nodded, the once-familiar flavors rolling over my tongue again, unleashing flashes of other memories. Black Ruby—the club I owned. Late nights balancing the books, eating the leftover fries.
“Now that you mention it,” I said, “I do love those things. I remember… pieces. It’s just… I’m not sure the spell has taken hold. I’m afraid there are still so many gaps.”
“I know, but don’t you see? It’s just the beginning!” Gray’s enthusiasm refused to be tempered, and I couldn’t help but return her smile. It was absolutely infectious. Regardless of what I’d remembered, I’d spent many hours since our return from the Shadowrealm gazing into the haunted depths of her eyes, wishing I could erase every last worry, every last fear.
This was the closest I’d come to bringing her pure happiness in a long, long time.
“Tonight was just our first attempt,” she continued, her skin glowing. “Haley and I are daughters of Silversbane. With our combined power, her blood magic expertise, and a little more practice, we’ll figure this out, D. I promise you that.”
D. The nickname floated into my consciousness, settling into my chest. That, too, I was remembering.
“Wait, can we go back to that part about the parking lot sex?” Emilio asked, sliding a hand over the curve of her hip. The
man was rock hard, and had made no effort to control or cover himself on my account. “As an officer of the law, I feel it’s imperative to gather all the evidence for detailed analysis.”
Gray laughed, then turned to me again, her eyes shining with fresh hope. “What else do you remember about that night at Luna’s? Any other details, conversations, anything?”
I closed my eyes, traveling back in time to that night, back to the butter-soft leather seats of the car. I was in the driver’s seat, Gray sitting beside me, whispering my name as I kissed the pale skin of her inner arm.
“I’ve tasted you,” I said now, opening my eyes, and I could tell from the surprise in hers that she knew the exact moment I’d just recalled. I’d whispered the words in response to her own breathless utterance: I don’t know how you do that… It’s like you know exactly how to touch me…
“I can smell the blood running through your veins,” I continued now, the words echoing strong and clear in my memory. “Hear the tempo of your heartbeat.”
Then, just like I had that night, I leaned in close, inhaling her sweet scent, my body burning with desire. “I can feel where you ache.”
Gray gasped, and without hesitation, I claimed her mouth. Emilio steadied her hips, kissing the back of her neck, her ear, his soft black hair brushing against my cheek as we both tasted her.
Gray’s hands dipped inside the waistband of my jeans, fumbling with the button and zipper. I was already in a state of intense arousal, one brush of her fingertips had me gasping with pleasure.
“Are you absolutely sure, love?” I asked her. “Both of you?”
All teasing aside, I didn’t want to make any assumptions—not about either of them. I was fairly certain I’d never shared her with the wolf, and though he and the others had assured me time and again that we were brothers, bonded by our deep love for and loyalty to this woman, that didn’t mean I could invite myself into their most intimate moments like this. Especially when my memory was still so spotty, with no guarantees it would ever return.
“There’s nothing I want more,” Gray whispered, her hands coming up to cup my face. “I love you, Darius. And I know you love me, even if you’re still trying to remember how we got here.”
“There’s no need to stand on ceremony with me, Beaumont,” Emilio said, still nuzzling her neck. “You could come back from all this convinced you’re a damned toy poodle, for all I care. You’re still one of us. Still my brother.”
Not wanting to waste another precious second, I kissed her again, giving myself over to her touch. She slid inside my jeans again and gripped me, stroking me with absolutely perfect pressure.
Without warning, she and Emilio knelt down before me, Gray sucking me between her lips, slowly guiding me into her hot, velvet-smooth mouth as Emilio took her from behind, her soft moans of pleasure vibrating across my skin.
Everything inside me came undone. Gray had me at an absolute disadvantage, her mouth on my flesh, licking and teasing with such perfect, knowing strokes I could only assume she’d done this before.
I slid my hands into her hair, fisting her silky curls, my gaze trailing down the graceful arch of her back to the place where Emilio plunged inside her, the muscles of his abdomen rippling with the movement. Everything about the moment was perfect, beautiful, and as he brought her to her second epic orgasm of the night, I lost the very last shred of my own control, exploding in a white-hot burst of intensity, my body shuddering as she brought me back from the dead.
She leaned back against Emilio, breathless and breathtaking, her cheeks dark, her eyes glassy. I sat down on the floor beside them and leaned back against the wall, waiting for my heartbeat to steady.
None of us spoke.
Moments later, the closet door swung open, and a swath of light fell on Gray’s face.
“What the hell?” she gasped, her cheeks darkening further as she scrambled for her clothing. It took her a moment to recognize the figure looming in the doorway, grinning at her like a dammed idiot.
“Who has an orgy and forgets to invite the fucking incubus?” Asher demanded.
“Did it occur to you, hellspawn,” I began, “that the oversight was intentional?”
“Then you should’ve gotten a hotel across state lines, because the energy you three are giving off is like a nuclear sex bomb calling out across the miles.”
“And you felt you had to answer that call because…”
“Because I’m super into sex bombs, bloodsucker.” He stepped into the closet, crowding us. There’d been very little room to begin with. Now, I couldn’t move without feeling the warm brush of someone’s breath on my neck. “Besides, I couldn’t sleep.”
“There are lots of ways to pass the time, demon,” I said. “Perhaps you could play a game of hide-and-seek on the other side of the city. Or better yet, the country.”
“Don’t be rude,” Gray teased, nudging me with her foot. “There’s plenty of room in here for everyone.”
“In where, precisely?” I slid my hand across her thigh, spreading her legs and slipping two fingers across her clit. She gasped, no doubt still sensitive, but her hips rocked into my touch.
That was apparently all the invitation he needed.
With a speed and grace that would impress any vampire, the incubus was out of his clothes and kneeling before Gray, claiming her mouth in a savage kiss.
I took the gentlemanly route and removed my hand from between her thighs, allowing him a turn. He pulled her into his lap, wrapping her legs around his midsection, burying his length inside her. Gray whispered his name, then Emilio’s, then mine, and though we’d only just finished devouring her, she reached for us both again, stroking, teasing, taking. I was instantly hard again at her touch, ready to give her anything she wanted, to take anything she had to offer.
As before, she touched me like she truly knew me.
And for the first time since those damned memory eaters stole my history, I allowed myself the faintest flicker of hope that maybe I’d remember how she liked to be touched, too. That I’d remember not just flashes of stolen moments in the car or in the Shadowrealm cabin, but every precious moment we’d shared together.
On my knees at her side, I leaned in close, kissing my way up the curve of her neck, sucking her earlobe between my teeth, grazing her flesh with my fangs. She arched her back like a feline, rising up on her knees until Asher was nearly completely exposed, then sliding down on him once again, driving the incubus wild. The scent of her desire pulsed from her body, in her blood, in the air, mingling with ours into a divine perfume that had my head spinning, my cock throbbing, my entire body aching for more.
Asher was the first to lose control, setting off a chain reaction that, in a matter of mere minutes, had us all trembling and weak.
Again, we sat in silence, heartbeats and breath and heat cresting, then receding, slowly bringing us back down.
The wave of shared pleasure had only just begun to fade when a hard and most unwelcome rap on the bedroom door had us all scrambling for our clothes.
“Shite,” I mumbled under my breath, at the same time Asher shouted, “Fuck off!”
“Emilio?” Elena called. “Sorry for the interruption, but we’ve got something.”
“Better be something good,” the wolf snapped, but he was already on his feet, awkwardly stuffing his considerable bulk into his jeans and reaching for his weapon on the top shelf.
The rest of us followed suit, spilling forth from the closet and stumbling into our various undergarments and bits of clothing. It was a terrible end to an otherwise magnificent evening, but it was an end none of us would fight.
We all knew the deal. Elena wasn’t banging on the door like a woman offering a round of coffee or even one telling us to keep it down in here.
She was banging on the door like a cop.
“Just got a call from Seattle PD,” she said from the other side, all business. “Two women were just detained after an altercation at Sea-Tac, boarding a flig
ht bound for Toronto. They’re being transferred to Raven’s Cape PD as we speak.”
“We got IDs?” Emilio asked, opening the door.
Elena handed him a folder, her face severe. “Norah Hanson and Delilah Pannette.”
Thirty-Seven
GRAY
“Multiple counts of kidnapping. Human trafficking. Assault. Abuse of a minor by a person in a position of trust. Aiding and abetting a fugitive. Murder one. Forgery. Fraud. And this is just off the top of my head.” Emilio dropped a thick folder onto the table, and the woman cuffed to the chair behind it flinched.
The woman. Staring through the one-way glass into the RCPD interrogation room, I couldn’t bring myself to call the prisoner Norah Hanson. She looked nothing like the leader of Bay Coven. Where Norah had been tall and elegant, with steely-gray hair and intelligent eyes, this woman was easily fifteen years younger, with cropped, jet-black hair, violet eyes, and a scowl that would make most people cross the street just to avoid her.
“My name is Donna Calabrese,” the woman insisted, her voice flat and exhausted. Rehearsed. “I’m traveling to Canada with my daughter. You’ve got the wrong—”
“Save it, Hanson. Your fingerprints don’t lie. And once that protection spell wears off, your face will corroborate the evidence.”
She tried to feign ignorance again, but I’d seen the twitch of her jaw at the mention of the word spell.
Verona had told us that Delilah had come into her shop a while back, using Norah’s credit card to buy a combination of magical ingredients that would only ever be used for a particular spell. According to Verona, that kind of magic was intended to erase a person’s existence by altering the way they looked, their identity, their public records, other people’s memories of them, everything.
We’d gotten lucky that Norah had done the spell in haste. She’d missed a few crucial steps, and while it’d changed her appearance, everything else had remained the same—including her fingerprints and public records. The fake IDs she’d procured for herself and Delilah might’ve helped her slip beneath the radar, but apparently, she and Delilah had gotten into a heated argument on the jet bridge during boarding. An airline employee tried to calm things down, but Norah hit her, and everything escalated from there.