by Talyn Scott
“Everyone says, huh?” He shifted uncomfortably. “I’ll admit I zone in on the dangerous when I go at it.” Rock leaned forward, his Beast suddenly swirling over his body, making his skin glow in random places.
“Otherwise, a very long life can be, uh, tedious, is that right?” Bane said as he made his way to the door. “Unless you start attending rights to mate, buddy, life will definitely stay tedious. Find your girl and change your nefarious ways.” Bane shut the door behind him.
“I see this shit rolling off you, man,” Ryan said quietly. “I could offer to make Dakota Undead, but Maestru would kill my parents. It’s his favorite threat as far as I’m concerned.”
“What the hell are you talking about? I would never want Dakota turned Undead. That’s the exact thing I’m worried about with your selfish Coven Master.”
Ryan would be the first to admit, he was worried, too. “Anyone can see that you want her.”
“No,” Rock answered sadly, shaking his head. “Anyone can see she wants me, and I sure can smell it. Dakota’s intentions are clear, and I feel lousy about that. She’s Blythe’s bestie and we’ve all remained fairly close since you guys were in high school. At least until Sixten showed up again.” He shrugged apologetically. “Sorry, but it’s not my nature to trust a vampire. Speaking of which, the vampire standing too close to Dakota is a ruthless, powerful bastard, and I’m not having it. I owe it to Dakota to protect her, especially since she can’t protect herself. Clearly, I understand immortal politics, and you’re in no position to help her.”
If Ryan’s chin hit the floor, he wouldn’t be surprised. He doesn’t want Dakota? He’d take his word for it. He had no reason to argue. Though through all Rock’s admission, there certainly was an omission. “Maestru and Sixten are causing you this added tension?”
“Enough to irritate me, why?”
“You’re always dark, Rock, but nothing ever really bothers you. You are conditioned to this life-altering…mindless shit those of us from a younger generation are just learning to deal with.” He brought his fingers to his lip, picking at his piercing. “But for months, something’s got you beat. Like I said, I figured it was Dakota. I mean. Not that I keep tabs or anything, it's been a while since I saw a female on the back of your motorcycle.”
“It’s something personal and the only way it concerns you…is that it may come between us. So leave it, Ryan. I’m done, and I’ll deal.” A quiet minute stretched between them before Rock got back to business. “For tonight, ask Maestru to send several of your Coven’s strongest females to Six Feet Under and I will have all the protection coming they need.”
Ryan caught a spark of nasty anticipation flaring behind Rock’s celestial eyes, the otherworldly glow settling across his sharp cheekbones. “And if a few Habaline freed straggle in there like we think they will?”
He opened a mouth equipped with oral weapons, nearly startling Ryan though he had a comparable pair of his own. “Then they’ll be staring down the serious end of my canines.”
Chapter Seven
A Proper Goodbye
Dru misted inside his sprawling Captiva Island Manse, a home he shared with his beautiful wife and two other co-mates who were full blood werewolf males. All the hurricane shutters were down. Not that it would stop shapeshifters, but if they thought no one was home, all the better.
Arian had his butt plastered to their bed, his jean-clad legs splayed out, and his long fingers digging in the sides of their mattress. His bare torso flashed werewolf tribal markings quickly shifting beneath his skin in random, quirky patterns. Some immortals mistook them for tattoos, Dru knew better. Their presence denoted his co-mate as a powerful Nordic pureblood, descended from potent Were royalty. By the speed at which the colors moved, Arian was either highly agitated or extremely horny. Dru took a quick inhale, the scents of a true, loving home washing over his palate. No sex lingered in the air, so Dru was betting on Arian being horny, well mostly. Considering their feisty Renee, anything could be up in the air at any given moment, especially fur.
Arian nodded a greeting, keeping it quiet so Dru could sneak up on Renee. He inclined his blonde head wearily toward an opened closet and said, “You cannot pack all of that, my mate.”
“Now, Arian,” she attempted to handle a nearly three-hundred pound werewolf without a lick of fear. Usually, Renee had no trouble whatsoever handling any of her men, in and out of the bedroom. “Surely you can spare some room in your bags?”
“In my bags?” He sniggered. “My bag needs to dump gazillions of swimmers,” he muttered more to himself than to her. Then his blue eyes clouded over. Shadows shifted behind Arian’s incredible irises, his Beast pacing back and forth inside him, longing to break free and dominate his given mate. A grow left his outsized chest, low and sexually menacing. A sound only a werewolf could make. Dru had heard it many times as he walked the Sanibel Island marsh, or when he and his co-mates made love to his wife. Dru shook his head. Renee dismissed that particular growl much too easily, and she would figure out her mistake very shortly. He looked down at his Tag Heuer and estimated. Probably within five minutes, he figured. Arian continued to argue since Renee had not heard or had not responded to his bag comment. “I’ll trade you,” he half-teased on a grating rumble, his werewolf’s way of playing with its mate. “One suck-off”- after he removed his fingers from the side of the bed, Arian then moved them over his thick bulge absently -“reserves a spot inside my suitcase for one of your extra outfits. Open toed shoes with a heel higher than four inches get a free ride. Oh, and naughty lingerie, including my favorite red lace thong, gets a place of precedence inside my carry-on…or maybe my front pocket, depending on my mood when we board.” He winked at Dru, smiling crookedly through lengthening canines.
Nearly crippled with exhaustion, Dru still managed to glide around the corner in vampiric speed. He would have made it, too, if it were not for tripping over Julius, Renee’s lard-ball of a cat. He braced his hand on the wall, stopping himself from tumbling over. Normally impossible for a vampire to be this clumsy, yet he was at a disadvantage from overwork and no blood. Julius snapped his tail straight up, which everyone knew was kitty-speak for ‘go to hell’. Dru narrowed his eyes shrewdly and showed Julius how a true predator reacted to an insult such as that, hissing and baring his fangs in a way that made Julius’s orange coat stand up all over his pudgy body. The little troublemaker ran for his life, well, waddled. But his moves were the fastest Dru had seen since he first met the feline. So there. No, he should not take pleasure in scaring anything under thirty pounds, but, this time, he could not find a way to stop himself. Although Renee turned a blind eye, Dru long ago discovered that innocent, cutesy creatures always spelled trouble, and Julius was a walking disaster.
“That cat’s such an asshole,” Arian muttered quietly, agreeing with Dru’s unspoken thoughts while still poised on the bed. “Yesterday, he used my new golf bag as a scratching post before he knocked it over and dumped a nasty load in it. I swear to the big man upstairs that if Renee hadn’t distracted me in a way only she can, I would be flossing my teeth with orange fur by now.”
“What did you say, Arian?” Renee yelled from the back of her closet.
“Nothing,” he answered, “You must have heard Julius’s stomach growling.”
“Not funny,” she said irritably. “I put him on that diet kibble the vet gave me, but he hates the dry stuff.”
“What male wants anything dry?” He quietly asked Dru before calling out to Renee, “Honey, have you considered leaving Julius behind on your trips to Starbucks?” Arian went on, while Dru neared the closet again. “Those cake pops aren’t the best thing for his figure and kitty car rides aren’t helping the roadster’s upholstery any. Julius pees when you stop short, which, incidentally, you do every time you make it to the other side of the causeway.”
“Those pelicans dive too close to the windshield, and God help me if I have the top down,” she huffed. “How can they confuse a big metal
box with a tiny fish?”
“They’re not confusing anything. You are.” Arian unzipped his pants, his broad head peeking out as he relieved the tension. “It’s the highlight of their day to make humans swerve their cars into one another on a bridge, so why fall for it? Just keep driving. If they don’t get out of their own way, oh well, better them dead than you.”
“You think every creature is cunning, Arian.”
“Oh, I know every creature is cunning, especially me.”
Dru stood at the door and watched his Bride tossing clothes around in her cavern of a walk-in. Inky hair tumbled halfway down her back, eyes of fresh mown grass widening in agitation. “I’ll agree that you’re cunning, but you always want to please me.”
“I know where this is going and I don’t want to hear it again,” chided Arian while Dru enjoyed the view.
“Try listening for a change!” Her bare foot started tapping the ceramic tile.
“Keeping this up equals a red ass,” he warned, his voice lowering a husky octave.
“Come on, Arian, tell me why I can’t bring the babies to Norway,” she implored on an angry gust, referring to her collage of furred, domesticated pets since they had no younglings of their own yet. “Seriously…,” she lost her breath when she caught sight of Dru. “Oh” – hangers and clothes hit the floor and her hands fluttered to her chest - “finally, the good doctor is home.” A split-second after that, arms crushed his neck, pulling him tight against her small, curvy frame. Full breasts flattened against Dru’s hard-planed chest and his hormones kicked in on cue, spiking a hard-on that he was surprised to feel when he remained incredibly low on blood – a born vampire’s lone food.
“Only to see you off,” he whispered pensively, his fangs lowering over his bottom lip. No Species vampire tolerated any separation from his Bride.
“Bane and Arian have kept me locked in the house.” She ran her fingertips through the hair on the back of his head, feathering the tightly clipped layers.
“I know. Though for reasons not out of cruelty, precious. Never that,” he promised. “And you haven’t been cooped up that long. You see… those who are roaming need mixed-bloods such as you. And you understand how your protection is paramount for your mates to provide. Besides, once you are overseas, you will be exhausted from running around while sightseeing. Arian will enjoy showing you his homeland as you meet his family.” Dru licked his claiming mark, running an unusually dry tongue down her jugular. Fuming over how life dictated that his wife was set to fly out in a manner of hours, headed around the world, though relieved this presently dangerous area would not have a chance to harm her. Just like her sister, the werewolves’ queen, Renee had also been abducted. None of her co-mates would go through that horror again, no matter the sacrifice. At this moment, Dru was already feeling the sacrifice, though she was still in his arms. Daggers of loneliness pierced his tired soul with the thought of not waking up tomorrow with his mates.
“The Coven has other doctors, come with us,” she pleaded, pulling his face up with her small palms. His arms tightened around her, pressing her body to his. Moving her delicious mouth against his lips, she slid her greedy tongue inside, seeking and sucking. Time to love one another on a physical level had escaped them lately.
Arian was the only mate traveling with her. Two of his brothers were traveling alongside them as extra protection against any errant shapeshifters. Dru and Bane had no other choice but to stay home, working through this current crisis minute by minute. Actually, after Renee left, home was out of the question for both of them. As the Coven’s lead physician, Dru would remain at the Marco Island location, overseeing the healing Vojaks, which would be far easier on him mentally after Renee relocated to her safer location. Bane, on the other hand, would be here and there, as usual, a Beta spread far too thin amongst the Pack. Demands on him never ceased.
“Although I live to spoil you, my wife, on this matter I cannot indulge you. I have to stay here. But let’s say goodbye properly, shall we?” However, he would not make love to her with others’ blood on his body. Since she had more energy than he did, maybe she could soap him up. “Want to wash me in a nice, luxuriating bath?”
“Is that a rhetorical question?” She lowered her hands to his ass, squeezing. “I’d never pass on an opportunity to feel you up.”
“Feel anything you want,” he groaned, lifting Renee one-handed and tossing her over his shoulder before gliding to their enormous, shared bathroom. Dru yanked her shorts off, hearing a rip here and there as her thong left her body. He had the money to buy her any replacements required, so he was not too worried about disposable clothes.
A crazy-sized tub centered the room, flanked by a back-glossed wall winding out in a half turret. Normally, an incredible view of the gulf would be staring back in hues of aqua, though not on a day when the shutters were down. He kicked off his boots and placed her on the ledge of their unique tub. Resembling a split coconut with an onyx shell, its luminescent, plum-colored interior came to life with intricate, inlaid fiber optic lighting. It was outrageous and sexy, matching his girl’s spark of life, and well worth the exorbitant price Dru paid to see Renee’s appreciative smile when she bathed. Arian was behind them, starting up the steaming, liquid pleasure with his Were mind while dropping his jeans on the shiny floor. Its ebony marble mirrored their hungry bodies perfectly. Water erupted from three unique onyx faucets measuring around eight inches in width, designed to fill the tub rapidly for their nefarious purposes.
“A little more light, please,” Renee asked. Dru had made her immortal during their vampiric mating ceremony, but most of her senses were still as weak as a human’s was, including her vision.
Dru stared at a sconce centered on the left wall and candles flickered to life. His gaze skimmed back to Renee, his irises darkening as flames painted an erogenous glow over her milky skin. “In the early fifteen hundreds, Durer painted a nude simply entitled Eve.”
“Is that your way of saying I’m leading you down a wicked path? Look”- she held up her palms, a teasing laugh escaping lush lips - “no fruit. I swear.”
“I’m saying Durer got the name of the temptress wrong, Renee.” Buttons and snaps hit the hard floor, bouncing around right before his clothes followed them. “Care to entice your husband into sin?”
“It’s too late for that,” she murmured, arching a brow the color of a raven’s wing. “You’re thoroughly debauched.”
“Spread your legs.” He ordered after Arian stopped the water. Its edge lapped her trim ankles, leaving room for their larger bodies to join her without overflowing water onto the floor. She opened them, the room’s glow spreading to her waxed mons.
“Wider.” Dru wanted to see everything before he delved deep.
Her lips curved upward as her knees pointed in opposite directions, hiding nothing and baring everything. Arian eased behind her, supporting her back so she could relax for them. A red lace bra remained on her stunning figure, straining with her amazing breasts. Arian cupped the heavy mounds, slowly twirling his oversized thumbs right over her twin points.
“That’s it, baby,” he coaxed, stroking his mammoth erection up her back. “Take nice, calm breaths and we’ll be inside your warm sweetness before you know it.” He pressed a hot kiss on the sensitive flesh beneath her ear.
“Renee?” They heard Bane bellow from a floor below. “Where’s my little one?”
“Doin’ the nasty in a tub full of dangerous males,” Arian whispered back, nodding his head, his nearly white hair startling in the dimly lit room. Bane’s acute hearing could pick Arian’s words without him yelling in Renee’s ear.
The North American Beta misted up just in time to fine Arian taking Renee’s bra off. “I expect a corner of your suitcase after this,” she negotiated on a moan, but Arian decided negotiations were long over. He brought her wrists behind her back, thrusting her breasts out for Dru.
Dru’s bare body slipped through the inviting bath water as he zeroed i
n on his prize. Weary fangs dripped in ardent gratitude. He loved biting on Renee’s toffee-colored nipples, suckling threads of blood through the small nicks he made with his oral daggers while she screamed with unparalleled satisfaction. Instead, he licked them, bringing one to a stiff peak before turning and doing the same thing to its mate. Staring up her delicious chest, he enjoyed seeing her lips parting on another soft gasp. He drew this nipple to the back of his throat, rolling his expert tongue under the silky flesh until she bit down on her bottom lip. A fragrant drop of blood pebbled on her lip, gleaming in the candlelight. On that vision, Dru released her breast with an audible pop.
Arian let go of her wrists and brought his hands around to roughly pinch her glistening nipples, carefully delivering a sharp pain she always needed. What Dru really needed - he thought while molding her tightening flesh around Arian’s busy hands - was to sink his sharpest teeth into her creamy, inner thigh. There, he would use his skilled fingers to shatter her while drinking her crimson essence.
“The Beta is having difficulty allowing your trip,” Bane said in a rumbling voice indicative of his rising Beta Beast. He stopped and winced, rubbing his temples. More than likely, Dru thought, his werewolf was pounding his skull, wanting out. However, Bane would hold it back to enjoy this last time with Renee before they were reunited. Although none of them knew how long they would be apart.
“I’m with him,” she said on a low moan, wrapping her thighs around Dru’s waist and attempting to lower her core on his erection. Dru stopped her in order to wait for Bane. “Please, I need it.” She panted desperately, and then Dru could not resist.
He penetrated her body, sliding high until he could go no further. A drawer slid open, followed by Bane pitching a small container of lube at Arian’s awaiting palm. Dru gently spun them, with him leaning against the tub’s edge so Arian could spread the gel over her puckered opening. “Hold still,” grumbled Arian when she jiggled over Dru’s cock, encouraging him to move. Centuries on this earth had taught him patience, but he would be the first to admit that he was losing it. “I’m working it in, Doc. No matter how many times we go in, she’s always tight past that little ring.”
