"I hate you."
"As you deserve to."
"No, Dar. I don't. If you had never performed that fucking ritual, I would be standing here now, knowing how I felt about you. Now, I don't know if the feelings are even mine. You have no idea what that is like."
"Being bound to someone without their consent? You're right, Master. I wouldn't have any clue about that."
"Sarcasm? You're going with sarcasm?"
He sighed. "What would you have me do?"
"Sarcasm is never the answer."
He wisely said nothing, but the look he gave me spoke volumes. Like Encyclopedia Britannica volumes. One through thirty-two.
"Fine. I bound you, you bound me. But at least, my bonds didn't involve feelings!"
"Are you stupid?"
"What the fuck did you just ask me?"
"Are you mentally deficient?"
That feeling of wanting to punch him in the face became more than a feeling. In fact, I smiled when the knuckles of my right hand shattered against his jaw. The pain was worth sending him crashing into my kitchen. At least he didn't dent my new fridge.
The door to my bedroom opened. Josie and Candace's door opened, and they all came pouring out. At least I couldn't see Shea and Yuki behind me, and Delron had the sense to stay in his room.
Dar got up off the floor and snarled at me. "You wish to fight? Why? Because you know you are just as guilty as me?"
"What the fuck are you talking about?"
"You do not think your little bonds forced feelings on me? You think you are innocent?"
"Yes! What the fuck are you talking about?"
He looked behind me. "Yukina. Tell her."
"Tell her what?"
"How you feel?"
"I think you're both insane."
He narrowed his eyes at her. "Please."
I heard her sigh behind me. "Fine. He's right."
I looked at her over my shoulder. "About what?"
"When you bound us. There were…feelings…involved."
"Like what?"
"Love."
"What?"
"Love."
"I heard you, Yuki. What the fuck are you talking about?"
"I love you."
"Uh, thanks?"
She shook her head. "Not in a sexual way, and these feelings didn't develop over time. I'm saying the moment I tasted your blood, I was in love with you. We have a need to protect you, but it's also a want. And while I need to be by you, I also want to. Always. Does that make sense?"
It made a lot of sense, and that was the problem. I was being a hypocrite again. I hated being a hypocrite, it made me feel like a politician. "Yeah." I walked past Yuki and Shea, into my bedroom, and shut the door behind me, locking it.
I stripped and threw back the covers of my bed, crawling between them and burying myself in their warmth. I'd had enough world for the day. If it needed anything else from me, it could kiss my lily-white ass. As I lay there, cocooned away from reality, the incessant knocking started.
Not even remotely wanting to talk to Dar, I tried Yuki instead. Who's knocking.
Shea.
Tell him I want to be alone.
The knocking stopped.
"Remember how I told you I had a wine that could make pain go away?"
I lifted the cover off my head. Shea was holding out a glass of wine in front of my face. "Yeah?"
"I thought you could use a glass."
"I drink that, and the world goes numb-numb?"
He chuckled. "No. You will still feel, you just won't care."
I grabbed the glass from him and motioned to the other side of the bed.
He shook his head, smiling softly. "I just wanted to give you that. I know you want to be alone."
"I did. But then you went and did something sweet for me. Now I don't want to be alone."
"If you are sure," he said doubtfully, but walked around the bed and sat down, putting his back against my headboard and tucking his knees up by his chin.
I sat up, not having the ability to drink wine lying down. It was probably a good thing I couldn't. I might never have gotten out of bed again. "Thank you, Shea."
"You're welcome, my Queen."
"Why do you call me that?" I took a sip of the dark red liquid in my glass. I nodded appreciatively at the taste, not too dry, not too sweet. Kind of like me.
"Because you are."
"Nope. Not royalty. Just a Dot."
He sighed. "You are far from just anything. You are extraordinary."
"At screwing up."
"You are upset. You often belittle yourself when you are. It is very…frustrating."
"Then explain to me. Why do you think I am extraordinary? Why do you think I'm worthy to be your queen? They better be damn good ones, because I have a million reasons why I'm not."
"You have been visited by the goddess numerous times. Most high priestesses will go their entire very long life without a single visitation. That, in and of itself, should be more than enough to convince anybody."
"Or I screw up so badly she has to help."
"You sealed a portal going through all the realms to Gehenna, banishing hordes of demons while using a firetruck as a weapon."
"I got lucky."
"You faced an entire kingdom of elves, practically alone, just to find a clue about your father."
"I died."
"You saved an entire clan of vampires from an evil creature, just because they asked for your help."
"Got bit pretty bad. And poisoned."
"Your coven was broken. You healed them and gave them a sense of purpose, while rooting out an evil and saving lives."
"Didn't save them all. And I got blowed up."
"Everybody loves you."
"Everybody?"
He nodded.
"Are you saying you love me?"
"I am. And I do."
"So, what you are telling me, is you call me queen because you're biased."
"I may be biased, but you're difficult."
"I am."
"Is there no way to cease your aimless self-depreciating rambles?"
"You could kiss me."
"I could?"
I set my glass of wine down on the nightstand. "You should."
"I shall." He moved forward, getting on his hands and knees, crawling to the end of the bed. While I had a superb view of his ass in leather pants, he was going the wrong way.
"Um, Shea? My lips are up here." I pointed to them.
He looked over his shoulder at me and gave me a grin. "Silly Queen. You did not specify where I should kiss you."
"Well you passed all the fun parts."
"I took it as I should kiss you everywhere."
"Oh."
He pulled the cover off my legs, leaving most of me still under the warmth of the blanket. I knew about foot fetishes, but up until that moment I never understood the pleasure of having someone gently kiss your toes. A soft moan escaped me as my toes spread.
He gently ran his lips over the top of my foot, backing up slowly as he worked his way to my ankle, up along my calf, and finally, my knee as he lifted my leg from the bed. Turning around he moved between my now open legs and lay on his stomach, staring up at me adoringly. I wanted to close my legs and keep him trapped there forever, he was so frigging cute, sexy, beautiful, sweet, and most importantly…mine.
"You are so beautiful," he whispered and placed a gentle kiss on my thigh. Then another, and another, and another, working his way upward toward his goal.
"You are, too."
"May I be handsome?"
"Oh, you're that, too. But you are beautiful to look at. Even a male lion can still be beautiful."
His smile was my reward. As were the dozens of tiny kisses he was placing all over my skin. I lifted my other leg off the bed and spread myself for him.
When he reached the top of my thigh, he kissed the crease between my leg and lips, gently and lovingly before he began to taste my skin with the tip of
his tongue. My breath caught and my back arched. "Mmm, Shea."
I felt his warm breath before his lips found my open wetness. He kissed the entrance and let his mouth trail up, pushing back my hood and sucking my already swollen nub between them. His tongue glided across it and my lazy pleasure turned into a burning need.
"Fuck, that feels good."
"This?" He used the tip of his tongue and dipped inside me, dragging my own moisture up and using it to make my clit slick. His tongue danced around it, letting the edge lightly caress my flesh. It was ecstasy. I spread my legs open further and he scooted closer, bringing his arms under my legs and back over my thighs. He gave my most sensitive spot one long last lazy lick before dipping back down and forcing his tongue inside me.
His nose was in the perfect position to keep rubbing me while he began to slowly thrust his tongue in and out. "Oh, fuck." My hips began to quake against his face, which only drove him inside me further. "You're going to make me come."
His lips slid into a smile against me as I started to groan. My fingers found my own nipples and began teasing them gently. His right hand let go of my thigh and slipped beneath me. I bucked as his finger collected the juice that had escaped his mouth and dripped down. Half expecting him to slip it inside my ass, I cooed as his fingertip slid over the opening, wetting it and letting the sensitive flesh push me over the edge.
I let loose with an expletive that lasted the length of my orgasm before collapsing back into my pillow and grinding myself against him, shuddering and smiling.
He placed one more gentle kiss on my clit and smiled up at me before resting his head on my thigh. "Thank you for dessert."
"That's quite the sweet tooth you have."
"With as sweet as you taste, I would be more akin to a bird draining the nectar from a flower than a child with candy."
"Now I want you to pollenate said flower. Come here."
"Did we just unwittingly make a bird and bee joke?" He chuckled softly, the vibrations sending shivers through me.
"Yours might have been unwittingly. I totally meant to wittingly do that."
"You did, did you?"
"Yep. I deserve more kisses. Much higher. And I want you in me."
"You do." He slid off the end of the bed and pushed his trousers down, stepping out of them. His loose shirt completely hid him. I almost mewled, I wanted to see him so bad.
"Hurry," I said with a cracking voice.
Instead of undoing the multitude of buttons, he untied the cuffs and lifted the shirt off his head. I smiled as he came into view. All of him. The tattoos only added to his statuesque appearance.
He crawled back between my legs and trailed kisses up my stomach, over each breast, and at the bottom of my neck. I felt the tip of him nudge my opening as he softly growled at my neck and playfully nipped my flesh. I laughed and pulled him against me and gasped as he slid inside. He was as surprised as me. His playfulness faded as he hissed in pleasure. "You are hot around me. So warm and wet."
"Not so bad yourself, Mister."
There was a flash of light as all his tattoos ignited at once, casting blue light across my room and making the walls almost glow.
"Woah."
He lifted his head and looked at his arms. "They are all glowing."
"Yeah."
"Every day, something new."
"Yep. Life is never boring around the old Dotmeister."
He chuckled and kissed me while he curled his arms under me, gripping my shoulders and pulling himself even further into me. He started slow and steady, but the longer we kissed, the faster his hips moved. I stopped kissing him when the pleasure became too much and I started moaning in time with his thrusts.
"Too fast? Too hard?"
"Hell no. Fuck me harder, Shea."
He lifted himself off me and knelt, the tip of his cock still inside me. He drank me in for a moment and then reached down under my legs and hooked them with his arms, pulling them up as he leaned forward. When he drove himself back inside, his name became almost unintelligible as it flew from my lips.
The position he had put me in was driving me insane. His cock curved upward and with the arch of my pelvis he slid across the tender area just behind my pubic bone. I started shaking. My eyes rolled in my head. I fought to keep consuming oxygen while I screamed his name repeatedly. My whole existence centered around the orgasm rolling through me, shattering me. With one final grunt he slammed himself against me and I felt him twitching inside me as he came.
"Thank fuck," I managed to whisper as he slowly lowered my legs and put his head against my shoulder.
"What?"
"Just glad you came," I answered, breathlessly.
"Me, as well."
"I don't think I could have taken much more of that and lived. Write that position down. That was pretty fucking amazing."
"No need. It shall be engrained in my memory, forever."
I smiled next to him, still unable to open my eyes.
Still inside me, he pulled the comforter back over us as we lay there and slowly drifted to sleep.
Chapter 9
When I woke, I was alone. I could almost still feel him in my arms, on my chest, sleeping peacefully. Smiling at the feeling, I stretched lazily and got up to find my clothes.
Then the whole night before came crashing back, and the last place in the universe I wanted to be was in the kitchen with Dar. Panic began to seize my chest. I hadn't been totally in the right, but I wasn't in the wrong, either.
"Fuck."
Welcome back.
Morning, Yuki.
Just morning, not good morning?
You're brave, talking to me before coffee.
Just wanted to let you know it's safe to come out of hiding.
Was it not safe?
Dar went for a walk. No need to be an ass about it. She abruptly severed the mental conversation. I winced from the whiplash. It was the first time either of them had done it to me.
"I guess I was being an ass."
Yes. You were. And I can still hear you. Vampire ears, remember?
"Oops." I sighed and pulled on my hoodie and sweatpants, throwing on some warm fuzzy socks for good measure.
Taking one last deep breath, I headed into the center of my own home, still feeling unwelcome. Yuki was standing in the kitchen, brewing a cup of coffee.
"Is that for me?"
"If you want it."
She reached up and pulled another mug out of the cupboard. She hadn't been making it for me. I frowned. "That's okay, I'll make it."
"Suit yourself."
"Okay, Dar I get. Why are you pissed off at me?"
"Gee. I don't know. Probably because I was up all night consoling your other familiar."
"No."
"No what?"
"No. You don't get to be pissed off at me. I fucked up, but more importantly, he fucked up worse. He did some mumbo jumbo on me and practically made me his wife."
She pulled the mug out of the machine and set it in front of me. "I'll give you a couple of minutes to realize just how fucking hypocritical that statement was."
She left without brewing herself another mug.
I stared after her, wanting to tell her she could go suck the clots from a dead baboon. I wanted to, but I didn't. Arguments can swing in two directions. Either you are completely right, and the person you were arguing with comes to realize that fact and humbly comes and apologizes for being in the wrong. Or, you realize you were completely fucking wrong, and don't want to admit it, end up packing up all your stuff, and living in a yurt in Central Asia to avoid apologizing to the person you wronged.
I saw some nice yurts on HGTV…
"Fuuuuuuuuck!" I was overly loud.
Yuki spun around, looking for an enemy. Josie and Candace shot out of their room at my outburst. Even Delron came out of Yuki's room, blinking in the bright sunlight.
"What?" Yuki practically shouted her question.
"I'm an asshole."
Josie scoffed, grabbed Candace and went back in her room.
Delron sniffed the air and stared at the mug in my hand. I pointed at the machine behind me. "Help yourself."
"You're now just realizing that?" Yuki was being snide. I didn't know she knew how.
"Yeah. Well, sometimes it takes a crabby-assed vampire to point out the error of your ways."
She smiled and nodded, not even bothering with looking indignant.
"How the hell do I fix this?"
"Say it with me now…I'm sorry, Dar."
"I will. Where did he go?"
"As soon as you went in your room, he shifted into dog and started pacing around the house. Shortly after your first orgasm, he started pawing at the door. The mind blowing one caused him to shift back."
"Shit."
"No, he rubbed one out while crying."
"He did what?"
"What did you think would happen? You have no idea what happens to us when you're getting your jollies. In tears, he sat on the couch and got his rocks off."
"You're kidding… Please, tell me you're kidding."
"I wish I was."
"What did you do?"
"Angrily got mine off. If I didn't think the goddess herself would have come down and smote me, I'da kicked down your door and slapped the shit out of you. There's cruel," she paused and held out a hand at chest level. She reached up with her other hand and held it about a foot above her head. "And then there is what you did to Dar last night."
"Fuck."
"Yep. That's what you did."
"I didn't even think–"
"That's just it. You don't. Ever."
"You're lucky I deserved that," I said and sighed, putting my mug down and sliding down to the floor, back to the counter. I probably would have stayed there until my flesh rotted from my bones in a couple hundred years, but the burning need to make things right kind of overwhelmed me. "How do I fix this?"
Yuki sat down beside me. "Apologize to your friend, Dot."
"I'm sorry, Yuki."
"Your other friend."
"I know. I was apologizing to you, too."
She nodded and leaned her head on my shoulder. "I won't pull any punches. Seeing him like that last night broke my heart. Good thing I really don't need one."
"I suck."
"I know."
Fifth Essence: A Reverse Harem Tale (Lovin' the Coven Book 5) Page 8
