Afterlife

by Dannika Dark

  “There’s a waste receptacle by the bed, you know.”

  I noticed his shadow in the doorway. “I wasn’t sure when you were coming back, so I wanted you to know I’d been here.”

  The door closed behind him. “I always know when you’ve been in my bed, Precious.” He strode to the table and tossed the wrapper into the trash.

  “How?”

  Christian bent over and put his mouth to my ear. “I can smell your blood.”

  That sent tingles where it shouldn’t have.

  “Since when are you a fan of the brassiere?” he asked, lifting my shirt over my head.

  “I can’t interview grieving families with my tits out.”

  “’Tis a shame. They’re fine tits.”

  “I tried to find you this morning before we left. Where did you go?”

  He tossed the shirt on the floor. “Shifters aren’t fond of Vampires on their land.”

  “You could have stayed in the truck.”

  “To what purpose? I’ll go with you tomorrow on the rogue cases. How’s that? Now tell me about your day at the office.”

  I lay back and locked my fingers behind my head. “Two completely different deaths. One woman died in bed. Her boyfriend and the Relic said it was her heart. The second death was a young guy who fell off his motorcycle.”

  He unzipped my jean shorts and slid them off. “Hardly sounds suspicious.”

  “They found the bike in the middle of the road. No skid marks, no front-end damage to the bike, nothing to indicate it was hit by another vehicle.” I yawned and crawled all the way onto the bed, my head just below the pillow.

  Christian rounded the bed to the left side and sat against the headboard. “Motorbikes are death machines.”

  The wood snapped in the hearth and split in two, sending a shower of sparks up the flue.

  I turned on my side and propped my head in my hand. “He was wearing a helmet.”

  Christian frowned. “That’s peculiar. A Shifter would heal his wounds unless he was knocked out. Any other injuries?”

  “The usual scrapes you would get, but his father didn’t mention anything out of the ordinary. Their alpha suggested internal injuries. I guess it’s possible he could have passed out from the pain.”

  “Aye, but eventually he would have woken up and shifted. Even a broken neck isn’t enough to kill a Shifter. If something knocked him unconscious, he was out long enough to die. No blood?”

  “Nothing obvious.”

  Christian stroked his beard, his eyes fixed on the wall ahead. “I don’t see how they could be connected even if they were foul play.”

  “I guess the Packmasters thought it was enough to look into. They’ve seen it all, so maybe something just doesn’t feel right in their gut. I said I’d look into it, but I didn’t promise to solve it.” I rested my hand on his inner thigh and gave it a light squeeze. “I’m glad you’re coming with us tomorrow for the rogues. We only have one pack—you can sit in the truck for that one.”

  “I’ll not squeeze into that infernal contraption between two women.”

  My hand slid upward, and I cupped him. “Sounds like every man’s fantasy.”

  Christian’s onyx eyes drank me in as I massaged him. “You’re my fantasy. You and you alone.” His breath hitched when I unzipped his pants.

  “Don’t you like people watching us?”

  He chuckled. “Aye, but not someone I know. That would be like my sister watching.”

  “Too bad you don’t have a window in here.”

  “Why? So you can jump out of it?”

  I scooted closer and freed his cock. “So you could take me in front of that Chitah,” I said, stroking his hard shaft. “I bet he’d like to watch.”

  Christian tensed all over. Teasing was one of his favorite pastimes. It was a game between us to see who had the most willpower. There were nights both of us wound up going to bed completely unsatisfied because of our competitive nature. That made every single encounter between us even more explosive.

  I circled my tongue around the blunt head.

  “Careful, now. That tickles.”

  “Show it to me.”

  Knowing what I was referring to, Christian crossed his arms and threw off his shirt faster than I could track. I wanted my eyes on that big, beautiful raven tattoo while I took him into my mouth.

  Christian stroked my hair. “Jaysus,” he breathed.

  I loved all the smooth and rough edges of Christian Poe. From his sharp tongue to his soft look. From his hard muscles to his pliant lips.

  I fell into a slow rhythm, just the way he liked. When his eyes hooded and shoulders tensed, I drew back and let him see my fangs. Christian’s dark eyes went wild, his fangs punching out in response.

  I stroked him from base to tip. “Do you want it?”

  Without answering, he reached back and gripped the top of the headboard. The wood creaked from the pressure of his tight grasp, and his muscles were solid.

  So much power.

  So much control.

  When my sharp fangs grazed the tip, he hissed. Vampires never got winded, but Christian’s chest rose and fell at a rapid pace as he gazed down at me like a feral creature—an image that would have terrified most with his deadly fangs and bottomless black eyes. I moved down the shaft to that lovely patch of skin where his leg joined to his hip. My fangs throbbed, hungry for his blood. Eager to please him, eager to please myself, I got on my knees and yanked his pants down to his ankles.

  Christian groaned.

  I sensed his anticipation as I softly kissed his skin, searching for just the right spot—the one he had shown me. My other hand stroked him fast and furious.

  The headboard snapped.

  Fear kept him from touching me. The fear of breaking my bones or crushing my skull in a moment of passion. There was only one way to level the playing field.

  I drove my fangs deep down until blood filled my mouth.

  Christian’s sharp groan hung in the air as I drank deep and continued stroking him. I braced myself for him to flip me onto my back and fuck me hard. That was how we played this game.

  But he didn’t. He stretched out and let me take control.

  He was actually going to let me drink until he climaxed.

  God, yes. His blood united us, and I could feel his lust. It only heightened my desire, and with each swallow and each stroke, I could feel him getting closer and closer, the biting pulse of arousal at his fingertips.

  I also felt a swell of Vampire power rising within me.

  After licking the wound closed, I sat up, crawled onto his lap, and watched him snap my panties away as I reached to put him inside me.

  His eyes were that of a depraved man as I rode him. Hard and fast. As if my life depended on it.

  Christian gripped the back of my neck and pulled me down. The moment his fangs pierced my neck, it felt as if my eardrums were vibrating. His blood was coursing through me—ancient blood. The blood of his maker and every Vampire before him. Everything went still as he slid down on his back and I draped myself over him.

  Christian drank greedily, his arms encircling me. The moment his tongue swiped over the wound to seal it, I yelled out, the sound filling the room and probably the hallway.

  I sat up and studied his lips. Not a single drop of blood in sight, but it clearly intoxicated him judging by the way his lustful gaze settled on my bra. He made no attempt to remove it or tear it to shreds even though I knew he wanted to see my nipples, to taste them. To prick them with his fangs just enough to tease. But instead, he memorized their outline against the white cotton.

  “You’re a fecking goddess,” he said, his hands on my thighs.

  “Do I have to move the heavens to make you come?”

  “Ladies first.”

  And there we were, back in the game of who could hold out the longest. Once blood entered the picture, neither of us lasted long. We didn’t do it all the time, but it intensified everything.

 
I pinched his nipples until he bared his fangs at me. “The next costume ball we go to, we’re dressing as a llama.”

  He gave me a quizzical stare.

  With my palms on his shoulders, I leaned in and slowed my rhythm. “That way you can fuck me from behind in the middle of the room with everyone watching.”

  “Won’t people wonder what the back end is doing bumping up against the front end?”

  I kissed his mouth. “Stop overthinking it.”

  His breath came in rapid pants against my lips as he chortled. When he saw my stunned reaction, his chest rocked with laughter, tears streaming from the corners of his eyes.

  I sat up and gave him a baleful look.

  “Jaysus, I can’t help it, lass. Don’t be cross with me.”

  “I thought you liked the dirty talk?”

  He wiped his eyes with his palms. “Your dirty talk just took a left turn at the intersection of Stark and Raving Mad.”

  I playfully ran my finger down his chest. “Says the man who once told me I tasted like the Dead Sea.” Falling out of the mood, I caught my breath and relaxed. “Sorry. I guess I’m distracted.”

  “I can see that.” With Vampire strength, Christian lifted me up and laid me down beside him, still erect but no sign of disappointment on his face. No feelings hurt or desire to finish what we’d fallen out of. Christian didn’t believe in forcing desire, and if he knew how to read blood as well as he claimed, he probably sensed my distraction mingling with the passion. If my head wasn’t all the way in the game, he wasn’t in a hurry to play.

  And that was what was so great about our relationship. No forced expectations. No hurt feelings. No petty arguments. Maybe it was the blood connection, but everything between us felt natural and easy.

  I watched him pull up his pants and then kick off his shoes. Christian was a man of mystery. Most people would have gotten undressed, but he wasn’t one for lying around naked all the time. Not unless I was his blanket.

  Which was a shame. Christian had a remarkable body I loved to admire.

  He adjusted my pillow before lying on his side, head propped in his hand. “What’s on your mind? You’re anxious.”

  “Maybe we should just lie here for a while and bask in our failures.”

  He circled his finger around my navel. “I’m as satisfied as a man can be. Now tell me what vexes you.”

  I crossed my ankles. “Blue and I did something today I’m concerned about. We went to see a sleuth and wound up releasing a chained woman. Well, she was in bear form.”

  “And you were caught,” he said, twisting his mouth to one side.

  “They weren’t too happy about it. Tensions flared, but nobody died.”

  “Well, thank the heavenly angels for that. I wouldn’t envy the task of picking your carcass out of a bear’s teeth.”

  I slapped his chest. “Who said I’d be the one to die?”

  He arched an eyebrow. “How many bears?”

  I stared up at the ceiling. “Just fourteen.”

  He let out a single, sharp laugh. “Just fourteen, she says. And now you’re worried they’re coming after you. Is that it?”

  “You know how fragile the male ego is. Normally I wouldn’t worry, but I’m going to be in Shifter territory for a while, and it’s possible I might run into them again. I’m not sure I’d even recognize all their faces. Everything happened so fast.” I turned on my side to face him.

  “Worry not, lass. I’ll not let anyone harm you.”

  My finger traced the raven’s wing that spread from his arm to his chest. “You would die for me?”

  “That’s what heroes say, and I’m no hero.”

  “Then what are you saying?”

  He lifted my chin with the crook of his finger. “I’ll slay for you. Any man or woman who tries to end your life will answer to me.”

  Those weren’t empty words. Christian had killed hundreds for Lenore.

  “I’m not asking you to kill for me. I’m not asking you to do anything but… rub my feet,” I said on a stretch.

  A crooked smile appeared. Christian kissed the tip of my nose before sitting up. “It looks like I’m not the only one who got my fangs into you,” he said, running a finger over a swollen mosquito bite.

  “Apparently your blood wasn’t strong enough to heal the itch. What kind of Vampire are you?”

  He pressed his thumbs into the arch of my foot and stroked all the way to the ball. “The kind who can make a woman orgasm from a mere stroke of his hand.”

  I rolled onto my back so he could get a better angle. “Some days I wonder if I’m cut out for a job like this.”

  “You pull your weight.”

  I looked up at the ceiling where shadows danced. “That’s not what I mean. I’m not used to going to a job unarmed. If I didn’t work for Keystone, I would have taken on those bears. Every last motherfucker. Even if it killed me. We couldn’t even do that. Viktor’s expecting an investigation, not a body count. I’m going to screw this job up someday. Big time.”

  “I’ll not lie,” he said, massaging my toes. “Going clean isn’t easy. I struggled with it for years when I worked as a guard not to kill the person I was guarding or their numpty companions.”

  “What kept you from it?”

  He rested my foot on his shoulder and rubbed my calf. “I suppose a desire to do something good in this godforsaken world. It’s an honor to guard another man’s life.”

  “So you thought every life saved would make up for one you took?”

  He kissed my ankle, his beard tickling my leg. Christian kept his eyes on mine even though I was half naked and open to him. “You’re fighting against instinct when you have rules to abide by. Once you master self-control, you’ll make the right choices in every situation. Even if it’s one that breaks the rules.”

  “So I should have taken on the bears?”

  He laughed darkly. “I didn’t say that.” Christian rested my leg next to him and slid over me, his nose touching mine. “You have to weigh all the risks and choose your moments wisely. Sometimes that means taking a rain check. An immortal learns patience, and the earlier you master that trait, the better it will serve you. These are things I can teach you.”

  I kissed the corners of his mouth. “What else can you teach me, Poe?”

  “Fetch me a candle, and I’ll show you.”

  Chapter 11

  Because we had a long list of names, Blue and I decided we’d cover more ground by splitting up over the next few days. The booked appointments and locations made it difficult to question more than a few people a day, so that would shave our time in half. I handled the rogues, and since Blue had more experience with animal groups, she managed those. After our recent fiasco, we both agreed not to go alone, so we took our respective partners.

  I wasn’t sure who wound up with the shorter end of the stick. Blue and Niko had a serious confrontation with a family of tigers who thought the higher authority was trying to confiscate their land. Yesterday Christian and I met with a bodyguard who lost his brother. The conversation was going well until I asked if his brother had any enemies. He got fidgety, Christian tried to charm him, and all hell broke loose when he shot us with a semiautomatic pistol and fled. As much as I wanted to chase his ass down and return the kindness, I let him go. Sunlight healed my wound, and Christian’s bullets popped out a few minutes later on their own. He was more peeved about the holes in his shirt than he was about getting shot.

  Christian glared at me as we entered the club.

  I smiled. “I don’t know why you’re still upset. Most of your clothes have holes in them.”

  “Aye, but that one was new and expensive.”

  “Shouldn’t have worn it on the job,” I said, pulling the door open.

  The evening crowd was dancing as if it were their last night on Earth. The tables were full, and thirsty patrons encircled the oval-shaped bar.

  “You’d think she would have picked a more discreet place to talk about
the death of a loved one,” I said quietly.

  I loved that I didn’t have to yell over the music with Christian. But that also meant not muttering smart-ass remarks under my breath, which I had a tendency of doing.

  A flirty Mage flashed up and blocked my path. “Can I buy you a drink?”

  Christian shoved him across the room. “No.”

  I nudged him as we kept walking. “That’s one reason I hate flaring in a Breed bar. I understand why we have to do it, but then I have to deal with all these light-horny bozos who just want to bind with me. No, thanks.”

  Christian’s hand rested on my lower back. When we reached the bar, I scanned the patrons, searching for our fourth and final appointment.

  “How will you know if she’s here?” Christian asked.

  “She said she’ll be in a red leather jacket at the bar.” I found myself standing on tiptoe and leaning over to look at everyone’s attire.

  Then I spotted a pretty brunette with bright-red lips that matched her jacket. As I signaled to Christian that I’d found her, a redhead grabbed his ass and didn’t let go. I nonchalantly wrapped my fingers around her wrist and gave her a sharp electric jolt before moving on. Christian must have heard the gasp, because his head turned, but I tugged him forward.

  “Are you Harper Nichols?” I asked the woman.

  She slowly turned on the stool, her black skirt riding above her knees. Harper wasn’t young, but she wasn’t old either. In human years, she looked to be in her forties. “You’re from—”

  “Aye,” Christian said, cutting her off so she didn’t announce to everyone in the bar that we worked for the higher authority. Nothing would clear out a room faster. “Did you reserve a private room?”

  “No need,” she said, rising off her stool. “Follow me.”

  When we reached the far end of the club, Harper chose a corner booth and took the bench against the wall. I didn’t like having my back to people, but I reluctantly sat in the chair across from her, Christian to my right.

  Harper set her white wine on the table and took off her jacket. “I know you asked to meet privately, but I don’t know you. A girl has to protect herself. Would you like to order a drink first?”