by Jade White
“We could have trouble tonight.” He noted, glancing out of the curtains that he had just closed before walking around the house and closing every other window, making sure it was clear and covered by the heavy curtains she used. “We should be careful, but I don’t think that they’re going to come in. I don’t think that they’d risk making me a martyr.”
“You seem really confident about this.” Dom’s voice was hesitant, like she didn’t quite believe it.
“I don’t think that vampires are stupid. They don’t want to be the target of a war with the shifters united against them. What they don’t know is that if they hurt you, it’s going to be the same effect. Let’s eat. All we can do right now is wait and see if they’re going to be stupid.” Gregor sat back down in the easy chair and reached for another slice of pizza. “We’ll be fine.” He promised, even though he didn’t quite sound like he believed it himself.
“I should do something. I need to stop this.” Dom was highly disturbed by the entire situation. “I have to strengthen my protections.”
“We’ll be fine. Before you start casting again, you need to eat something.” His words held concern for her safety. “You’ve already expended quite a bit of energy doing what you did earlier, right now you have to get some strength back.” He spoke in a calming tone, emphasizing her safety and how much it meant to him with the solemn necessity of his words.
Dom picked another piece of pizza up out of the box; she chewed slowly and swallowed, thinking about what she could do.
“You should lie down. You look exhausted.” Gregor’s words were worried. “Go lie down and I will be there in a few minutes to make sure everything’s alright.”
Dom knew how tired she was. “OK, I’ll go lie down.” She answered, worried that if she did anything else it might hurt the baby. She walked back to the bedroom and stripped out of her clothes. She pulled on a nightshirt and crawled beneath the covers. She stretched and yawned as she heard the refrigerator door open.
Gregor joined her, after glancing toward the curtained window he sat on the edge of the bed.
“I’m sorry that I brought you into this.”
“You didn’t force me to be a part of this.” She told him, gently trying to help his guilty conscious.
“I’m going to stay the night, and if they don’t leave you alone, I’ll find a new place to stay.” He touched her hand, running his thumb across her knuckles.
He leaned in to kiss her and she didn’t pull away from him. She warmed under his touch and wrapped her arms around her. When he pulled his face away from her he felt her start to shake again. “I know you’re frightened. I’ll protect you.” His hand brushed hair out of her face, punctuating his words.
“I’m not frightened.” They both knew that it was a lie, but it was a lie that she had to tell herself in order to keep herself together. “It’s just that people keep grazing the edge of my protections. It makes me feel vulnerable.”
He dipped his head to kiss her again, this time lightly on the cheek. His thumb brushed the side of her face once again. She loved the sensation that always accompanied his touch. She could feel the vampires closing in, grazing her defenses, but his touch distracted her from that. His kiss moved to her lips. “I can stay in here tonight if it would make you more comfortable.” He offered.
“That would make me feel a little better about it.” She told him, whispering against his lips.
He undressed, down to his boxers and climbed into bed with her. He held her, feeling her body press against his body and couldn’t stop his body from reacting to her touch. She felt him move against her and she reciprocated the motion.
He groaned. “You’re going to drive me crazy moving like that.”
She turned around and kissed him, her arms wrapped around him. His hands ran up and down her body, eventually settling on her hip as he deepened the kiss. There weren’t a lot of other places that this unorthodox pair fit together, but here, entrenched deeply into each other’s arms.
It felt right, so pure and honest that it couldn’t be denied.
It might have been the effect of the spell or some strange version of love, but in that moment neither of them cared. They touched each other, feeling their bodies react to each other. Feeling their forms wrap around each other. Dom’s leg was up over his waist and he enjoyed the moment. “Dominique.” He moaned her name.
“I love the way you say my name.” She whispered in his ear and he shuddered when her hot breath grazed the skin of his neck. He slipped his hand under her nightshirt, putting it onto her buttocks. The smooth skin felt amazing under his hand. She drew in a quick breath and the noise spurred him on a little more.
His arm started to move, bringing his fingers closer to his intimate parts. The movements thrummed against her, bringing wetness flowing from her. She writhed and moaned against him and he was encouraged by the motions. He slipped a finger into her, moving it in and out while she enjoyed his touch. Her panties were moved off to the side, allowing him access to her most intimate parts. She began to kiss on his neck, fluttering her lips against his skin. He groaned into her shoulder blade, allowing her to slip her hand into the front of his boxer shorts. She wrapped her hand around him, and started to drive him crazy.
He growled with lust and flipped her over, placing his body above hers. He shifted, moving his boxers down off of his hips. He positioned himself at the entrance, ready to thrust himself into her. She arched her back under him, pushing her body closer, begging without words to feel him inside of her. He gave her what she wanted, thrusting into her with a need that he had never felt before. Her lips parted, gasping as he filled her. “Gregor.” When she moaned his name it drove his need even stronger. He started to move slowly at first, enjoying her reciprocal movements. She mirrored his desire, wanting nothing more than to make love to him in that moment. Their bodies possessed each other. Moving rhythmically and in perfect unison, each of his thrusts was met with one of her own.
She whimpered into his shoulder, giving in to the passion that they were feeling. She groaned under him and he captured every moment of it in his mind. He captured every memory, hoping to make the moment last forever.
It wasn’t going to last forever; it was going to end eventually, and that ending happened sooner than either of them wanted. Their bodies were calling the shots, moving them ever closer to the crest that would end the moment. It was bittersweet to think about, this moment, the one that they could truly communicate in would be over soon.
It didn’t stop the motion however; their bodies still needed the release that they were speeding towards. The thrusts were getting more frantic, less rhythmic as they approached the precipice of desire.
They finished the climb at the same time, screaming into the night, needing to feel the touch. He spilled himself into her, needing to leave a piece of himself behind. When he finished, he noticed the tears in her eyes. “Why are you crying?” Dom couldn’t answer. She just couldn’t bring herself to tell him about the baby. Instead she cried as she felt the minor incursions plaguing her senses. She cried as he held her, hushing and letting her get the frustrations out. He was worried about what this meant. “Did I hurt you?” He asked her, and she shook her head. It wasn’t anything that he had done, but she had to find a way to tell him. She thought about blurting it out, but she didn’t know how to say it, and whether or not he would run away from her. Her father had run.
*
She dreamed about the man that she had never met while she slept that night. She awoke, groggy, her sleep constantly interrupted by the vampires grazing the edges of her property. “Did you sleep well?” He was smiling at her, looking down from his place propped up on his elbow.
“Not well enough, I’m afraid.” She stretched and climbed out of the bed. “I’ve got to check on my plants.”
“Let’s get dressed, I’ll go with you.” Gregor hopped out of bed, eager to move and help her with anything she needed. They dressed quickly and Dom looked out
the window into the back. The devastation was mind boggling Her greenhouse was shredded and torn down in places. The glass was shattered in every pane and she just stared. Every plant was ripped out of the ground, destroyed, smashed and demolished.
“What happened?” She asked, still in shock.
“They must have come a little closer than you thought.” Gregor looked worried. “They destroyed everything. I’ve got to see what I can save.” She burst into motion, flying out of the door and starting to sort through the devastation. It was similar to the devastation caused by various natural disasters, but it wasn’t until she got out of house that she got to see the true extent. There was nothing living in her back yard. A white powder had been sprinkled on the remains and the faucet that was attached to the hose was broken off. Water was spraying everywhere, dissolving the white powder and seeping it into the ground. It didn’t look like anything was going to be growing in the ground here any time soon.
Chapter15
She wanted a chance to clean up, but she didn’t get it. She turned off the water to the spilling faucet and walked back into her house to answer her trilling cell phone. She saw the caller ID and had a sudden thought. What if they had known what happened? She chastised herself, she knew that there was no way they could have known, she had just found out. She answered.
“Hello.” Her voice was short and curt. It was obvious that she felt she had better things to do with her life at that moment and this call was just a waste of her time.
“Is Gregor still there? He’s not answering his phone.” It was Anna again. The woman had obviously taken offense at the frustrated manner in which the younger woman had answered her phone.
“He’s here. We were just outside dealing the damage. I’ll go get him.”
“Wait a second, what damage? Was someone hurt?” Anna’s voice grew soft with concern.
“No one was hurt, but someone destroyed my entire garden.”
“I’ll send out investigators, but you have to get into the office and stay here for a bit. Bring Gregor with you. They’re ready to sit down again and hammer out the fine details.” Anna’s voice was hurried. She wanted her pregnant employee to get in to the office where they could protect her.
Dom thought about what had happened in the first set of talks. “I’m not sure I’d be any safer there.” She reminded the woman of indeterminate age.
“We’re going to put you in a room that the shifters can’t get into. You’ll be fine and can listen to the talks over the intercom.” Anna’s words were rushed. “You need to get in here now.”
“I’ll get moving. Give me a few minutes to get us on the road.”
“Don’t worry about eating. I’ll make sure there’s something here for you guys to eat. Get dressed and get here.” The hint was subtle, but it wasn’t surprising. Anna had amazing senses that served her very well in her line of work. It was almost like the woman was omnipotent at times.
Dom hung up the phone and stepped back outside. She saw Gregor working carefully, piling trash and what he believed was salvageable into different piles. He was diligent and considering each piece, wanting to save as much of her garden as possible. She watched for a long minute, seeing him work to save her dream and her life before she interrupted her. “We need to get going.”
Gregor nearly jumped as he turned around to face her. “Are we going someplace safe?” He asked.
“No, well yes, I have to take you to the office. They’ll have breakfast out there and a set of investigators coming out to see what they can find out.”
“Do you think they’ll be able to track down who did this?” Gregor started to walk inside.
“I don’t know, but if anyone can, they can.” Dom reassured him as the shifter reached into his suitcase to pull out something to wear that day.
“Do you think we have time to take a shower?” He asked as he noticed the smell of sex that still lingered around them.
“I don’t see why not, as long as we hurry.” Dom tried to stay calm; she didn’t want him to get upset when he had to go finish the peace agreements between the local shifter clans. Gregor climbed into the shower and was out less than five minutes later. Once Dom had finished her shower she felt significantly better. She climbed out the shower and examined the dark circles under her eyes while her hand rubbed her stomach. She still couldn’t believe that there was a baby in there. She got dressed in a hurry and walked out of the bathroom to see Gregor holding her purse. The sight of the big tough man in front of her carrying her handbag made her smile.
“I’m glad to see you laugh.” He said as he handed her the bag and opened the door for her. They got out of the house and into the car safely.
“So far so good.” Dom noted as she started the car and pulled into the street. They drove all the way to the office and entered through the same old janitor closet, exiting into the room full of cubicles. They made their way through the maze of people on the phone or working on computers and went into the back of the room.
Gregor walked into the conference room and the guard at the door directed Dom as to where she would be listening to the conversation. She walked inside just in time to hear Gregor’s voice coming from the speakers. “Oh, this looks delicious. They’re treating us well.” His voice held a hint of a joke. The others in the room laughed along with him, there was obviously something quite amusing about the spread of food. “I’ll get someone to bring us some sausage or bacon. We’re not built to be vegetarians.” Dom felt herself laughing along as she surveyed the food in her room. It was a beautiful buffet made for everyone in attendance, and it had an over abundance of breakfast meats.
“I think that this is their food.” Dom pointed to the table.
“At least some of it is.” Another attendee muttered. He obviously wasn’t extremely happy about the thought of giving up the sausage on his plate. She could hear Gregor asking the guard to check to make sure they got the right food.
It didn’t take long for several people to come into the room and start rearranging the food and that would make everyone happy. There was an equal amount of vegetarian options now in both rooms, along with a good selection of breads and eggs and meat. Dom licked her lips and grabbed a plate to dig in. “That was a brilliant move of his.” Someone else in the room noted.
“What do you mean?” Dom asked him.
“Gregor had planned this last night. He wanted to help establish a better rapport with them or something like that.”
“That makes sense.” Dom sat down at the table to listen to the talks.
“Have we gotten anywhere on the land?” Gregor asked the other shifters in the room with him.
“We’re letting them live there for now.” Dom knew from context that the wolf was speaking.
“There hasn’t been any fighting.” The coyote was happy to report the fact.
“Well then, let’s see if we can get this hammered out. It’s a very simple process in which each party gives something and each party wins.” Gregor explained. Dom could picture him standing at the head of the table, looking at the two men sitting near him.
“After breakfast.” The coyote must have been licking his lips at the savory aromas that were emanating from the table.
“Yes, let’s eat.” The wolf agreed seeming just as hungry as the coyote.
“Since everyone seems to be in agreement, who am I to argue? If this keeps up I might just be able to go home early.” Gregor’s pleasant demeanor rang through in his voice. Dom didn’t know if she was imagining it or not, but she thought that she heard a slight edge under his good humor. If it was really there, she knew that it was because of the vampires that might be threatening these talks. She wondered as she ate how long it would take him to bring up the threats that had been happening for the last day.
They finished eating, or at least were slowed down because Gregor started to talk again. “Well, now that we’ve got some food in our bellies, I wanted to tell you about something I’ve recently found out.”
“What’s that?” The coyote asked. You could almost hear him panting for the information as he spoke.
The wolf’s response was much more measured. “Is there a problem?” He asked. Dom could hear him chewing through the speaker.
“We seem to have some others that are interested in the talks.” Gregor’s voice was deadly serious. The lightness of his previous words was gone and Dom could almost see the goofy grin leaving his face, only to be replaced by a scowl that indicated how much danger everyone was in.
“Who?” The coyote asked.
“Is it the vampires?” The wolf asked. His voice grew quiet.
“Yes.” Gregor’s answer was firm. “Did you know anything about this?” He asked.
“They threatened my mate.” The alpha wolf admitted. “They caught her outside of the grocery store and told her that if I came to these talks they would kill her and my children.”
