But to you she was the most cruel.”
“She found out that I was paying her medical bills. That’s the reason that she stopped going to the hospital. And her meds too. She stopped picking them up because she knew that I’d been paying her bills.” Daxton shook his head. “Then what? She could have lived had she not been such a stubborn bitch.”
“The doctors found another spot, this one on her brain. They said that they couldn’t operate, nor would the medications that she was currently taking help. There were other drugs, ones that would prolong her life, she told me, but only for a few weeks.
Your mother was tired of trying to live.” Lucian held her while she cried. He knew that she had hated her mother—he would have too—but she had still been her mother.
“When she told him she was finished, she called me. And the two of us sat down and told both Astrid and Nathan.”
“I’m betting that didn’t go over well.” He laughed and said it hadn’t. “I’m sure they wanted her to take the drugs and to live.”
“No. And I’m surprised that you didn’t think this first. They wanted her to pretend to take the meds so that they could sell them and collect the money. They had no idea, and still don’t, that you were paying for it all. They thought, as your mother had wanted, that the government was paying for it.” She asked what they’d said about her dying. “Nothing. Not a single word about her health or how much longer she had, nor did they ask if she needed anything. Your grandmother showed up a couple of days later. By then, your mother was growing nearer to death all the time. Your grandmother, she passed away that evening.”
Lucian didn’t comment. He wasn’t even sure what he could say right now. But when Demi handed him the letter, asking him to read it to her, he knew how much it was costing her to hear the things about her siblings. Things that she might well have known about her brother and sister all along. They were the worst kind of children.
And he was sure they were going to pay.
Opening the letter, he looked over the two pages. The handwriting was shaky, and there were plenty of misspelled words. But he could understand what she was saying and read aloud the last words of Demi’s mother.
“My darling child. I feel that I have no right whatsoever to call you that, but I have been doing some hard thinking. And none of it, no matter how I try, turns me into mother of the year. I know I cannot in any way make you believe that I am more sorry than you will ever believe. I was a horrid mother. Not just to you, but to the other two as well.” Demi laid her head on the table, looking at him as he continued. “I should have been a better person. Not just a parent, mother, or friend, but a better person. But
it is much too late for that now. All I can do now is ask you to forgive me enough to use the money from the lottery ticket to make a difference in a few lives. Not your own—I know that you have no more need of this money than the man on the moon does. But you will know just how to use it to make someone, anyone, feel better than I ever did you.”
Lucian looked up when Moses came into the room. He had glasses of tea for him and Demi, and whiskey for Daxton. The man swallowed it straight down and laughed.
Apparently, vampires didn’t just need blood. Daxton told him to go on.
“Astrid has a child out there too. I know that you’ve hidden away a little girl from your brother. I think that is the smartest thing, among many, that you could have done.
He—I believe he has killed the women that he enjoyed. But this woman must have gotten away somehow. Thankfully. Please, I’m begging you to hide hers away too. I don’t know the details on how she wasn’t able to kill it as she had the others, but I’m sure that you will figure that out.” Daxton stopped him from reading to say that he had all the information she needed if she’d help. Nodding, Demi took the file and laid it down beside her. Lucian read on. “I’m dying. Not that I think you’d care any—I don’t deserve to have you do so. But I do care that you are and have been hurt by your family. I have spoken with your grandmother, another person that I’ve had to beg forgiveness from, and she assures me that you are well and doing a good job of becoming the richest woman in the world. I looked it up, Demi, and you are. I had no idea. But it’s for the best that we didn’t know, especially the other two. They would have easily killed you and taken all you had. I’m sorry, but we both know that to be the truth.”
Demi nodded her head. “About two years ago I was in town for a meeting. I saw
Nathan just as I was getting out of a cab. He didn’t say a word, just came up to me, hit me in the face, then stomped on me until the police came. A few days later as I was leaving, Astrid spit in my face because I had had the nerve to press charges against her brother. Then she too beat the shit out of me.” Lucian asked if he could kill them. “I love you for that, but I can’t have your children if you’re in prison. And they’ll get what’s coming to them.”
Demi said it so calmly, so softly, that he thought it was the scariest thing he’d ever heard. She would get them, and they would pay. He’d bet anything that it wouldn’t be with their lives, but with something that meant more to them. And he was going to have a front row seat to it.
The rest of the letter talked about things that had happened to Demi. Some of them he almost couldn’t read. The others, just as bad, were things that her own mother had done to her. Abrielle Morgan had no more deserved a child like his Demi than she had a breath of fresh air. It hurt him to think this, but he was glad that she was gone.
Otherwise he was sure that something would have happened to bring her between them.
The lottery ticket was discussed. She had until Monday to cash it in. If not, it would be null and void. Daxton said that he’d do it for her, to keep her name out of it, and
open an account. Demi asked him if he’d be in charge of the charity that she was going to start.
“I’d be honored to do that for you, Demi. There are a great many people here in this town alone that are in need of a great deal of help. Even the elderly could use a boost.”
Demi told him that she would get back to him in a couple of days. In the meantime, she wanted him to contact Nathan and Astrid.
“I want to have a meeting with them. And I’d like for both you and Alan Shoe to be there as well. Of course, Lucian will be there, as will his family. I’m not stupid enough to think that I can go into this blindly.” She looked at him then. “Will you marry me? As soon as a license can be secured?”
“I will. And the sooner the better.” Demi kissed him. “Do I want to know what you have planned?”
“More than likely not. But I will tell you so that we can work together. In the meantime, I’m going to find this little girl. I have been keeping up on the life of
Nathan’s little girl. Now that we have a location for them both, we’ll keep tabs on them, from a distance, and make sure that they’re not mistreated nor without what they need.
While they will need more than we’ve given them, I don’t think they’ll ever be mistreated.” She stood up and stood there for several minutes, her mind working, he could tell. “I will have a list of things that I need from you and Alan before we do this.
So, don’t contact them until I have all my ducks in a neat row. In the meantime, go ahead and fix up the account for the money after you cash the lottery ticket.”
When Daxton left, Lucian pulled Demi into his arms. Neither of them said anything, but it felt to him like volumes of words were being said. It was amazing to him how just the touch of someone that you loved could make you feel like you’d been together for...well, he thought, forever.
Lucian picked her up and carried her up to their room. He was going to show her how much he loved her now. Then tomorrow, or even the next day, he’d see what the plans were for the little girls. They were his nieces, he realized, and smiled all the way into the room.
Chapter 6
Lucian put her on the floor. His hands were everywhere, just touching, soothing her skin. Closing her eyes
, she let him undress her. She felt cherished, treasured, and most importantly, she felt loved. And she loved him, with all that she was.
“I love the way your skin feels. So soft and toned.” His tongue went along her spine, and he kissed each cheek of her ass. He massaged her thighs and dug his strong fingers into her hips, all the way, telling her what he was feeling. “You have a great many scars here.”
She stiffened up and he told her to relax, he didn’t care. “My brother put most of them there. And what he didn’t, Astrid did. Please, I need to turn around.” Lucian kissed her again, and her back felt worshiped by his mouth. When she started to turn, he put his hand on her shoulder.
“My bear, he wishes to mark you. May he? Someday he’d like to change you, so that we can roam the forest together. Play in the woods behind our home.” She nodded and the hand on her shoulder shifted slowly. The great claws were the last to morph over his hand. “We won’t hurt you.”
Lucian’s voice was rough, like making his hand into something else had shifted all of him. Not turning when he told her not to, she felt the paw as it moved down over her back, over her ass cheeks again, until it was over the worse of the scars.
The pressure wasn’t too bad at first. Then as he dug deeper into her skin, she felt the pinch of his claws as they scratched over her flesh. Blood moved down her skin, hot and slick, but the pain never took her breath away, never made her want to flinch from what he was doing to her.
Then he scratched her, a long tear to her skin. She left it open as he marked her. Still there was no real pain, and it occurred to her why. He’d licked her skin. Lucian had made it so that she’d not feel the pain as badly.
Turning to look at him, she saw that he was his bear. Moving away now, she stared at him. It didn’t even bother her that she was naked in front of this great big black bear.
Reaching out her fingers, they shook a little, but she touched his face as he seemed to purr at her.
“You’re beautiful.” He leaned his head so that it was over her hand. “I’ve never been this close to a bear before. I mean, who would and still be alive?”
He laughed. It was dark sounding, like he was growling a little. And when he turned her around again, she felt his hot tongue over the wound that he’d created. The feeling electrified her body, made her feel as if she’d suddenly come alive. When his hand touched her shoulder, she did what he’d done, and she leaned into his human hand and told him how much she loved him.
“And I love you. You are mine, Demi. And after tonight, we’ll be one forever.” She said that she wanted that. “Good. The paperwork is finished. We’ll marry in the morning, and you’ll be my wife. But as of now, you are that already.”
He turned her then, kissing her with passion that slightly overwhelmed her. Lucian must have felt it, felt her need to slow down. So, when he kissed her the second time, it was gentle, kind, but no less hungry.
When she was laying on the bed, he stood over her. His cock was hard, straining from his groin. The need to touch him, to taste, was palpable, but he warned her that she’d make him come, and he wasn’t ready for that.
“But what if I am? The thought of you coming all over me has me wet, Lucian.” He grinned at her. “Please. I’m so needy I could just come looking at you.”
“Well, we don’t want that to happen.” He joined her on the bed, his big body covering hers. She spread her legs for him, wrapped her ankles around his thighs.
“Christ, I love you.”
He slid into her, his body filling hers so that they’d forever be one. And when he moved Demi came hard, her entire body feeling the release of it, from her hair to the tips of her toes. When he moved inside of her again, she held on. She knew that he would bring her again and again, but the one that she wanted, the release that she needed, would be epic. It would blow her head off, and she didn’t care. So long as she had Lucian with her, her life would be complete until the day she died.
Lucian worked his magic over her body. Her breasts were suckled hard. He nipped at the tips, making her need double. And when he bit down on her throat, right where the pulse was pounding, she cried out again and again that she needed him.
“I want this to be good for you, love.” She said that he was killing her. “Wait for it. I promise you that it will be more than you’ve ever had.”
“No. Now. I need it now.” Lucian said she was greedy. “Yes, I’m very greedy. Now,
Lucian. I need it now.”
With a short laugh, he pounded her. It was like she’d released a demon in him.
When he bit down, this time drawing blood again, she screamed out his name as the release that she wanted took her not just under, but up and over the moon.
But he wasn’t nearly finished with her. Even as she begged him to stop, her body spent, he moved again, this time gently, making passionate love to her even though her body was broken, and she couldn’t move anymore.
As soon as he took her breast into his mouth, taking it all, she felt her body heat up, her pussy ready for him to take her again. Clawing at his back, her throat too raw to ask for more, he made love to her until she thought for sure he actually was trying to kill her with passion.
“When I come, and soon, I want you to bite me, Demi. Bite my throat hard enough to draw my blood.” She shook her head. “You can do it. Please. I need you to bond with me, and you need to make your mark on me as well.”
His lovemaking became stronger—he was taking her harder than even before.
When he gave her his throat, she cried out when he bit into her. But his throat was right there, his pulse like a call for her. She sank her teeth into him and tasted the heat, the smell of the man she loved.
Drinking him down, she came three times. It wasn’t until he threw back his head, his body stiff with his release, that she realized just how much she loved him. That he
was her all. And when the first splash of his cum touched inside of her, Demi came hard, her body feeling torn apart then put back together over and over, until she blacked out.
Waking, the room was dark, and she looked around for Lucian. He wasn’t in the bed, but his side of the big bed was still warm. When he came into the room from the hallway, she asked if everything was all right.
“Yes, great.” He crawled into the bed with her after stripping off his clothing. “We might have an issue, love. I didn’t realize you were in heat.”
She knew what that meant, but was she ready for that? To have a baby with so much going on…. Demi looked at Lucian when he said her name. The worry was there for him. And she was sorry that she was doubting this.
“I want to have your child, Lucian. It doesn’t matter when, so long as we have as many as we can.” He kissed her; not hungrily, but like he was happy. And when he pulled her into his arms, she realized that he was cold. “Where have you been, in a freezer? Christ, you’re like an ice cube.”
“My bear, he needed to run. And it is turning a little chilly out. Hold me.” She would gladly do that, forever. And as she held him and he her, she thought about a child growing inside of her. “What are you thinking about?”
“The child. I mean, is it a done deal? I know what being in heat means, but just not the mechanics of it.” Laughing, Lucian told her they could do it again if she wasn’t sure.
“I think you might have broken me. But am I pregnant?”
“I can’t tell now. In a couple of days I’ll know. So will the rest of the family. I was thinking that we’d get the jump on things and tell them now. That way we get the pleasure of getting to say it first.” She asked him what would happen if she wasn’t pregnant. “Then we keep trying. You’re going to be in heat for at least ten days. That way if this time didn’t work, we’ll have to keep going.”
“I don’t have any idea why, but I have a feeling that you know positively that I’m pregnant, and that you’re just shining me on so that we will have to have sex several times a day.” Lucian wiggled his brows at her. “Am I going to ha
ve your child? Tell me the truth.”
“Yes, honey. You are carrying my child.” She squealed and got out of bed to dance.
“Had I known you’d have that reaction, I would have told you straight away. Come to bed, love. I need to hold you and our child.”
It was strange, lying next to a man that she was going to marry. And to know that she was going to have his child made it all the better. They laid there until the sun came up and shone into their room and talked. There wasn’t a subject that they didn’t go over until he brought up the scars on her back.
“Tell me about them. My bear, he healed most of them. Until I change you, there will still be a couple of them.” She shook her head, feeling her body tense up just thinking about them. “Demi, it’s a given that I’m going to kill them both if you don’t tell me, to calm not just me, but my bear as well. Tell me so that he can calm down enough to not take me right now and kill the fuckers.”
“I don’t know that you’ll be any less willing to kill them if I tell you.” He leaned up on his hand, his elbow close to her head. “Lucian, they were both so cruel to me. My mother, Abrielle, she wasn’t much better. Are you sure that you want to hear this? I swear to you, they’ll never be able to do anything like this again.”
“No, they will not.” There was something so final about the way he said it, as if he and his bear were making sure that she understood what was going to happen from now on. And when she looked away from him, he pulled her chin around so that she could see him. “Just start with how old you were.”
“Ten. It was cold out. Christmas was just around the corner—I think a week away.
I’d been sleeping outside for the last several days, and I was frozen through.” He asked her why she’d not gone to her grandma’s again like she had when she was seven. “I was chained up like a dog. The collar they had around me was steel. I had had a leather one but had been able to escape that one, so this one was made to last.”
Lucian: McCray Bruin Bear Shifter Romance Page 7
