Chapter 34
ELI
“We hurt her feelings.” I kicked a pebble with my booted toe and watched it skitter across Main Street Circle, stopping when it hit the other curb. The afternoon sun glinted off the asphalt and I squinted, not appreciating the sudden glare. “I shouldn’t have laughed, but the way she interpreted cowboy just caught me off guard.” I called up my dragon’s heat and warmed my chilled skin. The sun might be shining, but the breeze was colder than a witch’s tit and I wore only a short-sleeved shirt. A storm would hit soon. I could feel the air pressure changing.
“Neither of us should’ve laughed. It was an idiot move and we deserved the ice block she stuck us in,” Miles said, agreeing with me wholeheartedly.
“It was funny though.”
Miles chuckled under his breath. “It was fucking hilarious. Hopefully, Calliope’s clothes will help. I don’t think she was very keen on those flip flops.”
I sighed and took in a deep breath of the tantalizing scents coming from the cafe. The sweet scent of honey and BBQ rode the icy breeze. The brownies must’ve put meat in the smoker last night for it to be smelling so good now.
We reached the door to the cafe and I pulled it open for my brother. Miles walked in ahead of me and ducked his head, narrowly missing the little brass bell hanging over the doorframe.
Several Lycans sat at two pushed together tables to my right and I stepped toward them, recognizing Kieran. “How are the damages to the neighborhood?”
Kieran took a sip from his pint glass and then looked up at me. “About half of the houses along the outskirts are totally demolished. Luckily everyone listened and escaped into the shelters. No one was hurt.” His Scottish accent at one time had been out of place in Sanctuary, but now we were all quite used to it. Liam and Brogan said he came over from Scotland a few years ago when meddling humans decided to go on a hunting spree and killed his family.
“I’m glad to hear everyone is safe. Please let my brother and I know if we can help with repairs.”
“Aye, will do.” Kieran nodded. “I believe Rose already took care of whatever expenses were incurred.”
“Eli,” Miles bellowed from the counter across the dining room.
I excused myself from Kieran’s table and strode across the room to stand at my brother’s side. “What is your problem?” I hissed at him under my breath.
“You need to order so we can get back to Calliope’s.”
“What happen to letting her have time to chill there with the siren?” I grabbed a menu and looked at it absently. I didn’t need a menu. I wanted whatever it was they were cooking out back.
“Hey boys,” Maven popped up from behind the counter. Her long purple hair was gone, replaced by a bubblegum pink short cut. I knew it was her though and not her twin, Raven. Maven was the flirty one.
I refused to act startled, even though the little pixie had totally thrown me when she stood up. How they snuck around like they did still amazed me.
My brother was less tactful and gave her a half growl of exasperation.
“What’s cooking? I could smell it all the way across the circle.”
“Depends. We have a lot cooking,” she said, a grin spreading across her face. “But I know you guys just want the BBQ.”
“We need to order for Diana and Calliope, too. Anything special on this week’s menu?” I asked, laying down the red piece of paper with the latest concoctions for the cafe.
“I have just the thing for her after the BBQ. Corinne made her favorite apple pie yesterday and I’ve got one big slice of it left. I’ll be right back.” Maven squealed and disappeared through the swinging kitchen door.
I turned around and leaned my back against the bar. The cafe was bustling for the middle of the afternoon. Rose sat against the wall with Erick and Bailey at a table, laughing about something. The Lycans were deep in conversation about rebuilding and what materials needed to be ordered. The door swung open, ringing the damn bell. I didn’t like bells and neither did my brother. Something about the way the sound rang out bothered our ears.
Travis and Garrett McLennon walked in. Both nodded their heads in my direction before heading over to speak with Rose. I didn’t try to listen in—I didn’t need anything else to do right now. All I wanted was to get some food, collect a happy wife from Calliope’s shop and figure out how to catch Diana up on a thousand years of history. I had a feeling that we weren’t going to get anywhere as a family unit until she felt like she had solid ground to stand on in town.
We just needed to be patient. We could do that. Drakonae lived for millennia. In fact, no one was quite sure how long we could live. What was a little more time?
“Alright, boys.” Maven came barreling out the swinging door carrying a large brown paper bag filled with the most delicious smelling BBQ we’d had in Sanctuary in months. The tangy scent of the vinegar in the sauce on the meat, mixed with the sweetness of the apple pie, and the warmth of the yeast rolls. I wiped the corner of my mouth to make sure I wasn’t drooling.
“Thank you, Maven,” Miles said, handing her about a hundred Texas Republic credits.
Banking changed when the US came apart at the seams fifty years ago. The dollar ceased to exist and now each of the five Republics used currency called credits, named after each Republic. They were still valued about like a dollar had been. Before the collapse, a dollar had barely been worth picking up off the street. Rose didn’t charge anyone for food, the money for the meals went to the waitresses like Raven and Maven and the cooks. We all paid for the food when we paid into the town hall from our businesses.
It was an ingenious setup and worked for all of us. Most of us were as old as dirt and had made billions of dollars over the years, Rose included. The Lycan’s were really the only ones I knew of that lived closer to a human lifespan—still most would live nearly three hundred years. But they used their talents wisely and made good money, always working together for the good of the pack. They worked hard around the town and Rose paid them well for their help. She had a way of always making sure everyone felt as though they were pulling their weight and deserved the space they took in Sanctuary.
I followed Miles out of the cafe and we trudged back over to Calliope’s shop. The wind had increased and I felt the first signs of a wintry mix falling here and there. If the weather continued this way, Sanctuary would be covered in a layer of ice by morning.
“Maybe the weather will keep Xerxes men at bay a while longer,” Miles said, rapping gently on Calliope’s red door.
“It would be nice. I’d like to spend some time with Diana, without worrying about freak’n grenades being launched through the bedroom windows.” I stomped my feet and breathed out some heat, warming my chilled skin.
The door swung out, and Calliope’s curvy form filled the doorway. “I hope you are both ready to apologize for being assholes,” she hissed under her breath.
“You don’t have to rub it in,” I grumbled, stepping up and shouldering past the irate siren. Calliope needed to get laid soon. She was only this grouchy when she’d been ignoring what her body needed. “We know we were jerks.”
I walked into the center of the store and stopped, breathless at the vision before me. Diana’s snow-blond hair was loose, falling in soft waves down her back. The top she wore hung in a deep cowl at the back, showing off her flawless cream-colored skin. The long flowing skirt was light blue and brushed the tops of her toes. The midnight purple fabric of the shirt shimmered in the light as she looked up, catching my gaze in the mirror before her. Those ice blue eyes touched my soul. I could feel her love. I knew we’d been forgiven, but I also knew that she’d been deeply hurt.
“I’m so sorry, Diana,” I said softly, setting the bag from Rose’s on the carpet.
Miles moved forward with me and we surrounded her.
“Please forgive me, my love,” Miles asked. “We forgot so quickly how overwhelmed you must feel right now.”
“We were so excited to have y
ou back—to really have you back. We completely ignored the fact that everything about this world is foreign to you,” I continued.
She nuzzled her face to the hand Miles had raised to brush through her silky hair.
I ran my fingers up and down the bare skin of her uncovered back and felt a shiver run down her body. The scent of her growing arousal had my dick hard and straining against the crotch of my jeans.
“I have a lot of catching up to do,” she whispered. “In bed and out.”
The last four words were barely audible, but they punched the air right out of my lungs. Thank the gods we hadn’t completely screwed this up.
“Would the three of you like me to just leave for a few minutes so you can get it out of your system? Or can we eat the dinner that Eli so carelessly left in the middle of the floor?” Calliope’s snark broke the moment.
Diana began to laugh. A sound I hadn’t heard in so long. A sound that I would’ve done anything to hear again … and now she was here. She was happy. Or at least beginning to be happy. We had a long way to go. Knowing that we might have a child trapped in the Veil was unsettling, though I tried to remind myself that the likelihood of him or her still being alive was small.
“Let’s eat. I can’t wait to show you some of the wardrobe Calliope picked out for me. I do hope I didn’t spend too much money.” Diana glanced up hesitantly. “We did go through a lot of items.”
“We have more than enough money to spend on you, love,” Miles said, jumping forward to assure her.
A smile stretched across her face and she once again beamed as if the light of the sun radiated from her.
“Miles is right,” Calliope added. “These boys could buy the whole shop and not feel the slightest tug on their wallet.”
I chuckled as Diana’s eyes widened.
“Are you royalty in this world as well?” Diana asked.
I grimaced. It wasn’t something anyone knew about us. Not even Rose knew our entire history.
“Royalty?” Calliope drawled. “Should I be calling you Lord and Master?”
She jested with her voice, but her brown eyes darkened with curiosity as the siren in her came forward.
“Miles and E—”
“Diana,” I interrupted. “Our past isn’t something we like to discuss.”
Diana’s eyes opened wider and she nodded, understand passing between us.
“You can’t just leave me hanging like that, honey,” Calliope said, slipping between us to Diana’s side. “A girl needs a little juicy gossip.”
“I spoke out of turn. When Miles and Eli are ready to talk about our lives in the Veil, then I will do so freely with you first. I promise.”
Calliope clucked her tongue like a disappointed mother hen, but a wide smile spread across her face. “Then I will look forward to that day, honey.”
She turned back to my brother and me and winked. “Why don’t you three take that big bag of dinner and go back and enjoy it at your place. I have a few errands to run.” Strolling over to the counter, she picked up three large shopping bags and walked them over to Miles. “These should get her started. Your wife has excellent taste. I think you will especially enjoy the lace.”
Chapter 35
DIANA
I yawned and stretched out my arm, whacking a pillow in the process. When did I get in bed? The last thing I remembered was eating one of the best meals I’d ever had and falling asleep between Miles and Eli on a giant piece of furniture they’d called a couch.
Squinting, I looked around the familiar room. I was back in Miles’ bed. Dark paneled walls and crushed velvet curtains blocked out all the sunlight. I didn’t think I’d slept that long though. It shouldn’t be dark yet.
I walked to the window, pulled back the heavy fabric, and stared out into an ugly gray, overcast sky. Billowing black clouds filled the sky and in the distance I could feel the thunder as it rolled closer and closer to the town. Lightning flashed at the horizon, making itself known as well. A smattering of rain splashed against the windowpane, but I knew it was only the beginning.
Miles and Eli must’ve carried me up after I fell asleep. I wished they’d stayed with me. Glancing back at the giant bed, I wondered where they were. They’d more than made up for laughing at me earlier, both of them being sure to explain everything they thought might be new to me. I appreciated it. For me, the worst thing was feeling so out of place. I didn’t know how to act. I didn’t know what I could say or not say.
My husbands had aligned themselves with this Lamassu, Rose, but they still withheld some of their past from her. How was I supposed to know who knew what? I was so out of sync with them. We hadn’t been together except that once to end my heat cycle. I desperately wanted to be with them. Both of them.
Calliope had given me some ideas and I was eager to see if my men would go for it. They were the ones who had built a sex club into this fortress, after all.
I wandered across the room, admiring the various sculptures and furniture pieces Miles had collected for his bedroom. He’d always loved handmade art. Nothing had changed. The bed was custom built and as sturdy as the wild oaks that blanketed the sides of the Brechin mountains back home. He had a lovely mahogany desk set over to the other side of the room and several floor-to-ceiling bookcases packed with beautiful volumes. The floors were covered in soft carpet and the arched ceilings highlighted the excellent architecture of the building.
Pushing open a heavy wood-paneled door, I stepped into a palatial marble palace of a wash room. Biting my lip to keep from squealing like a five-year-old girl, I tiptoed across the cool white marble floors. Nothing could keep me from running my fingertips along the edges of the milky marble counters and the bronze spigots. Two large mirrors had been placed on the wall above each sink. In the center of the room was a shower enclosed only by glass. A bath lay next to it, sunken into the floor.
It was amazing and I wanted nothing more than to strip naked and relax. We had nice washrooms in the palace of Orin when I’d lived there with Miles and Eli before … but nothing compared to this.
I slipped from the loose clothing I wore and let it drop to the floor in a small pile. Sex could wait a little longer. I needed to take a bath first anyway. It only took a moment to figure out the handles on the large tub and soon I had it halfway full of steaming hot water.
But, before getting into that nice water, I needed to remove the unwanted hair from the rest of my body. I stepped into the open shower, waved my hands over my skin from the waist down, frosting every single one. The air I generated was so cold it crystalized the hairs and they just brushed right off, leaving every inch of me as smooth as the marble floors.
Shaking off the last bit of the frosted hair, I left the shower and climbed carefully down into the sunken bath. The hot water soothed my cold skin and I sighed, relaxing on a seat cut into the side of the bath. Leaning my head back against the rim, I closed my eyes and thanked the gods for getting me back to my mates.
It broke my heart to know I’d left a child back in Orin, but I needed Miles and Eli as much as they needed me. We were linked. Joined by the sacred bond of our people and we existed solely because of each other. When Drakonae mate, it is for life. Some couples are two. Some are three. I’d seen four brothers share one Drakonae female. But when the bond was forged, nothing would break it but death. And the death of one brought on the human deaths of the others. It must’ve been terrifying to Miles and Eli, wondering when and if the Incanti would choose to kill me. Choose to end Miles and Eli’s human lives as well, turning them into vicious beasts without the aid of a human conscience to still their wrath.
I could only assume the Incanti preferred the long-term torture verses finishing us off completely.
It didn’t matter now. I was here. They were here. We were safe from the Incanti for now.
“Diana?” Eli’s voice called from the bedroom.
“In here,” I answered, my voice echoing through the cavernous wash room.
H
e appeared in the doorway a moment later and smiled when he caught sight of me in the bath. He stalked forward, his gaze drifting down from my face. The water was clear and everything was visible. But, I wanted more than just a fuck. I wanted to play.
If he thought he was going to coax me out of this heavenly water for less than an adventure in this Castle’s basement, he was wrong.
“I see you didn’t have any trouble with the bathroom fixtures.” He sat down on the edge of the bath and slipped his hand beneath the surface of the water, drawing his fingers lightly along my satin-smooth calf.
“None at all.” I flicked some water at his face and he scrunched his eyebrows.
“What was that for?”
“You looked dry.”
He snorted a laugh and reached deeper into the bath.
I shrieked and slithered away to the other side, narrowly avoiding his fingers trying to slip between my legs. The damn man was trying to feel inside me … I glared up at his face.
He merely smirked and wiped his wet hand off on his shirt.
“I was just going to see if you were wet, love.”
Sneaky bastard. I couldn’t help the smile that tugged at the corners of my mouth.
“Where’s Miles?” I asked, trying to change the subject and stall.
“I’m not enough for you?” He grinned, feigning hurt feelings.
He was more than enough. And if it weren’t for the hot water keeping my skin in a constant blush, he’d know just how aroused I already was. My sex ached and my breasts felt heavy. I wanted his hands on me. His mouth on mine. But I had to control my need. I wanted to play.
Not that I wouldn’t be perfectly delighted with a romp in Miles or Eli’s bed, but I wanted to experience something they had been enjoying for a good many years without me. The way Calliope had described the submissive role made my insides throb. I wanted to have that experience and I wanted Miles and Eli to know that I was interested in exploring that lifestyle with them. At least in the bedroom. Bossing me around elsewhere was never going to fly. It never had.
Sanctuary, Texas Complete Series Box Set Page 42
