A fist bump. Our first fist bump.
Bump.
She hugged Lisbeth again and was gone with the leather biker gang before I could lower my hand. Lisbeth looked over at me and at my still raised arm. Smiling, she walked to me and pulled me into a hug.
“You can put your hand down now.”
“She fist bumped me. She’s never fist bumped me.” I might cry.
Lisbeth’s head only reached my collarbone, like a short little pixie. She looked up at me with her chin against my chest. “Don’t cry. Arthur’s coming.” I cleared my throat and put both arms around my wife as Arthur appeared in front of us.
Surprisingly, he had a sympathetic look for both me and my wife, so much so I thought he might hug us. Did I want him to hug me?
“Everyone is off on their flights, so we’re good to go,” he said, and shaking off my weird thoughts, we all left the airport back to the buses in the parking lot.
5. Going full wolf
Nightfall crept up like a slow crawl I couldn’t avoid. My moodiness had a reason, and tonight I would shift into a wolf and do wolfy things like frolicking in the woods and crap. After several hours of insatiable fucking, I left Lisbeth sated and sleeping in our bed before joining Jason in the living room. He was playing a game on the most current holographic gaming console, and looked up at me when I came in.
“Mom good?” he asked. He didn’t like thinking she would be awake and worrying about us.
“She’s asleep,” I answered, picking up my bag. I had learned to leave my wife content and sleepy before going out for my moon escapades. It took a lot of my energy to sate my lioness, but I’d soon have more than enough to spare. My skin grew goosebumps in anticipation of what the night would bring.
“Good,” Jason whispered as he was powering his console down. Flipping the lights off, we left the house as quietly as possible.
We walked down the street through our little village. A lot of our neighbors were still awake, and some waved to us as we walked by. I smelled barbeque and burning wood chips. My stomach growled at the thought of cooked meat. I was always starving right before a change, no matter what I ate. In this case it was Lisbeth’s soaking wet slit, and I’d indulged myself several times over before she fell asleep.
“We’ll be back to your mom before she knows it,” I assured my son when I saw him looking back to our house.
“I hope my wife is like that someday,” Jason said with a thoughtful smile that was far too mature for his age. “I want her to worry about me. Mom worries about all of us because she loves us. If my wife worries about me, I think that means she loves me.”
I ruffled his dark hair and he dodged the attack. “Very insightful, my young padawan. And you’re right. Women worry out of love. If she doesn’t worry, she doesn’t love you.” We were reaching the end of the road and beyond it was dense forest.
“How many women were you with before mom?” Jason asked. He took a rubber band from his wrist to tie back his thick curls and I did the same with my long hair. The night air felt cold against my neck.
“A few. You can’t really compare it, though. Once you find your mate, everything before fades away like it never mattered. If I saw those women today, they’d be invisible next to your mom.”
Jason smiled at that and leaned in to whisper a secret. “Mom told me about her first. She slept with a French male prostitute.”
I groaned and stepped into the forest. “She should’ve never told you that story. Remind me to complain to her later.” Out of context, that story was fucking hot because it was when she first felt desire, after over one hundred years of life. In context, it involved a prostitute. “Why were you two discussing that anyways? …. Are you… Are you getting jiggy with it?”
He snorted out a laugh. “No, dad. I’m just not a kid anymore. And mom wanted to tell me why you were different for her, how she knew you were her mate, even though she’d had lovers before. She didn’t wait for love, but it wasn’t the same before you.”
“Your mom is a better woman than me, that’s for sure,” I said, my shoes crunching on the forest floor. “You make the choice that’s right for you, son. We’ll support it, no matter what. Boy. Girl. Non-binary. Android. Alien.”
He laughed at me again. “C’mon dad, I’m being serious.”
Deeper into the forest we went, and we fell silent walking beside each other. Jason didn’t have to come with me on my moon trips, as he could change whenever he wanted to like Lycans could. He chose to be there by my side.
When Jason was born, we assumed he would need regular blood even if he was only half vampire, but my hybrid son was more human than vampire and only required blood if he was seriously injured. One time he’d broken his arm climbing a tree, and a quick bite into my shoulder fixed it in seconds. The fact that he preferred to only run with me was comforting. I’d always be here to give him blood if he got hurt.
Side by side, once we found a clearing we undressed down to our underwear and put our clothes into my bag.
“Shit, it’s cold,” Jason complained and gripped himself in a hug for warmth.
“Hey, we’re werewolves, not swearwolves.” But he was right, it was pretty damn cold, even for us.
I hung my bag on a tree limb and glanced up at the sky. Not long now. I felt the moon coming, like an internal alarm inside my body. My skin felt itchy, and my muscles ached with need. Steam shot from my mouth in a ragged breath and I looked to the sky to see Her.
The moon.
She had me in her grip, and there would be no escape. Pain shot through every corner of my body. My joints cracked as my bones rearranged themselves. I tried not to cry out from the agony I was feeling. It was so hard. My hands grew into claws with a pain that felt like they were breaking in half. An audible groan escaped my lips as my face went white-hot and my snout formed. With a pop, my jaw snapped into place, and my transformation was complete. Panting, I looked up at the moon and howled, letting the pain out.
I was Hers once again.
Beside me, Jason had turned into his wolf form and he howled at the moon in harmony with me, echoing my mournful call. Jason was a bi-pedal wolf like me, but he was more wolf-like in appearance. He had more fur, bigger teeth, and his hands were more like paws. I had hoped he would resemble the wolf Lycans so they would accept him as part of their pack, but we were monsters in their eyes, no matter how much they liked us.
I turned to my pup and barked in signal before taking off into the forest. Jason followed me, step for step, under logs, and over creeks. Running helped take my mind off how much my body was throbbing with pain from the shift. The more I ran, the better I felt. Energy started surging through me, erasing how tired I’d felt before from making love to my wife for hours. I kind of felt sad that she wasn’t there because I was already starting to miss her. Maybe I’d bring her along the next time. It had been a while since she’d run with me during the full moon.
Jason was gaining speed on me, his body better suited to running on all fours than mine, but he made sure to stay on my flank in respect for his Alpha. That felt nice to say, that I was someone’s Alpha. Maybe one day he and I would have another wolf running with us, whenever that fourth child from Lisbeth’s dream arrived. Everything would turn out fine with baby number three, because the next baby was mine, and I found myself anticipating it with relish as we picked up speed.
An hour passed and we hadn’t stopped running for anything. I felt free and happy. My chaotic emotions would even out now, thank god. No more whiny, moody Knight. Back to manly me. We jumped over another river bank, sailing through the sky to land on the other side. My paws fell onto wet leaves and I skidded across the mud until I crashed into a tree, slamming my head against the trunk.
Jason was by my side in an instant, whining and sniffing at me for wounds. I felt a sharp pain in my side that was dulled by the adrenaline running through my system. The scent of blood drifted to my snout. My blood. I whined and I slumped to the ground, passing ou
t.
When I woke up, I smelled Lisbeth nearby, and I felt her lifting me up in her arms. Leaves shuffled around her feet from Jason pacing in his wolf form.
“Have a fun night out with the boys?” she joked, her fingers pressing to my wounds. I whined and snorted at her. “Jason, stop pacing. Your father is okay. He’s been in worse scrapes, believe me.” The leaves stopped rustling and I heard Jason’s tail swish back and forth on them. I opened my eyes and saw her beautiful, pale face in front of me. She was so god damn gorgeous, like a goddess in Mount Olympus. People should erect monuments to her, and worship her smoking hot body.
I think I was loopy from blood loss.
“Jason, go get your dad’s bag.” Jason scurried off, leaving us alone. If only I could kiss her with my dog lips. “Jesus, Knight, seriously? We’re not making out when you’re in werewolf form.” Oh, right, she could hear my thoughts with her vampire voodoo powers. “Yes, I can. And we’re not making monuments for people to worship my smoking hot body. Loopy from blood loss, indeed. You hit your head, don’t be dramatic. And I don’t have vampire voodoo powers.” I chuckled through my snout, sounding like a bulldog coughing. Her fingers pressed into my side, feeling the wound. “You’re healing fine, let’s get you up.” Thanks for coming, love. “Always,” she said with a smile and helped me stand on my hind legs. “You’re lucky I can still walk after earlier.” I held out a paw for a high five but she narrowed her eyes at me. “I’m not high fiving that.” Whine.
Standing in my wolf form, Lisbeth’s head barely reached the top of my stomach. I leaned down and gave her a practiced kiss on the cheek with my dog-like lips. She put her arms around my neck and I lifted her up like she weighed nothing.
Mine.
“Yes, I know.” She squeezed me harder and took a deep contented breath. “Mine.” Lifting her head up, she brushed her nose against my wet dog snout. “I’m glad you’re okay.” Footsteps approached, it was Jason with my bag across his hairy shoulders. “Thank you, baby,” Lisbeth told him. She took the bag and ruffled Jason’s furry head, scratching behind his ears and making his foot pump up and down with his scratch reflex. He licked her hand appreciatively when she finished.
Can I has ear scratchies?
She rolled her eyes with a smile. “Yes, you big baby.” Her fingers found the spot behind my ears I liked her to scratch, and my foot pumped up and down too.
Jason snorted at us, doggie language for ‘get a room.’ I growled at him in a friendly manner and launched myself at him for some father-son wrestling. We nibbled at each other and fought to keep the other pinned while Lisbeth watched. My animal side felt the need to show her my strength as her mate, but I held back to make sure Jason stayed safe.
Finished playing, I jumped at Lisbeth and landed in front of her with a huff. She climbed on my back and I took off into the forest with our son behind me.
The moonlight eventually gave way to dawn, and Lisbeth took the small tent out of my bag for us to get inside after we were all human and dressed again. We crashed on the tent floor and instantly fell asleep. It was noon before I woke up. I’d somehow ended up on the opposite side of the tent than my wife, our son stretched out between us. Her purple eyes fluttered open and she smiled at me from behind Jason’s sleeping form.
‘Morning,’ she said inside my mind. Her gaze turned to Jason and she reached out a hand to stroke his cheek and smooth his hair, leaning in to kiss his forehead. He stirred but didn’t wake up, and scooted over to put his arms around her waist, resting his head against her breast as he’d done when he was a child. She kissed him again, holding our son close to her. ‘Come here.’ Moving closer, I snuck a kiss on her lips and got in on that family cuddle. ‘I love you.’ She shut her eyes and started nodding off again, wrapped in mine and Jason’s arms.
I love you too.
6. The epidemic begins
Our little group didn’t make it back to the village until the full moon was over. We slept during the day and ran all night. Three days later, we emerged from the forest and did a walk of shame down the street in our muddy clothes to our yellow house. Jason took his shoes off and waved a hand behind him as he shuffled to his bathroom for a shower, yawning loudly. Lisbeth came up behind me for a hug and she yawned too.
“Such a bad dad, keeping us up all night,” she joked sleepily. “Not my preferred reason to stay up.”
“Mine either,” I told her through my hoarse vocal cords. I was too tired for sex jokes. “Shower, then sleep.” She nodded and followed me to our bathroom to clean up four days of filth. Not even her succulent naked body was enough to rouse me. We used half a bottle of liquid soap before our skin was sparkly clean. I stayed under the water a little longer and kissed her tenderly before she stepped out to put on one of our fluffy robes.
My ears pricked when I heard a knock at the door. Arthur.
“I got it,” she shouted over the water and left the room.
I felt like I’d just done a juice cleanse, as if my entire body had been on edge and now I was finally relaxed. The water ran on my face, washing away the turmoil. Maybe it would wash away those weird thoughts I kept having about Arthur.
Lisbeth’s small knuckles rapped on the bathroom door, interrupting my shower musings. “Knight, we need you.” I twisted the shower handle, cutting off the water spray, and left the shower, grabbing a robe and putting it on before leaving the bathroom.
Arthur stood in the living room with Lisbeth next to him, and she held out a hand for me to take when I approached them.
“What’s up?” I asked him, the look on his face setting my skin ablaze with dread.
“One of the teams we sent out went dark,” he said grimly. Shit, even he couldn’t mask the emotion behind the words. “It wasn’t any of your family’s groups.” The air in my lungs expelled with a sigh of relief.
“Where were they?” I asked, squeezing Lisbeth’s hand.
“We sent them to search Egypt and the surrounding countries, but they hadn’t made it there before communication stopped. I estimate they were somewhere around Italy.”
Lisbeth let go of my hand to grip the collar of her robe, as if it would shield her from all of this. “So Alistair is in Italy?”
Arthur shook his head, eyeing her like he wanted to reach out a hand and rub her shoulder, or anything to comfort her. “We don’t know that yet. We’d have to re-route another group to check, but there’s a chance they could also go dark from whatever got the first group.”
“And then we’d never know for sure,” I affirmed.
“Alistair isn’t the only psycho out there,” Arthur pointed out with a nod to me. “Plus some of the packs still aren’t on our side, even after the alliance was made.”
Leaning against the couch, Lisbeth fluffed up the top of her wet hair in thought. “I’m not sure what we can do at this point. We only have half the committee here. We can’t make big decisions without everyone represented.”
Arthur’s holo-phone beeped and he flicked his wrist to answer it. “Report,” he said into the microphone. I heard bits of the other person talking, a hurried message in a language I didn’t understand, and Lisbeth’s body tensed up as she eavesdropped. Apparently, she spoke the language, and it wasn’t good news. “Wait for my orders,” Arthur told the person and hung up. He gave a grave look to Lisbeth before turning his gaze to me. “Another team went dark. They were in Australia.”
I ran both hands through my dark, wet hair to calm myself. “Dude can’t be in two places at once.”
Lisbeth gripped her neckline tighter. “I’m not making plans wearing a robe. Brb.” She left the room quickly, leaving me with Arthur.
I leveled him with as serious a look as I could muster, and he met it with his own. “Bring Kitty back here now,” I told him. “I know you don’t take orders from me, and that’s fine, but do it for her.”
“I’m surprised you think you have to ask. I already messaged Kitty’s team before I got here. You should get dressed too.”
I saluted him with two fingers on the side of my head and passed Lisbeth on my way out. She was already dressed in a blue cocktail number, complete with heels and jewelry. She always looked classic, and crazy beautiful. I kissed her and quickly closed our bedroom door before pulling on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Jason had joined the group when I emerged again, and Lisbeth was holding his hand, her face paler than usual.
Jason looked worried when he caught my eye. “Is Kitty okay?”
Lisbeth sniffed as quietly as she could. “Kitty is fine. We’re all fine. Let’s go to the meeting hall and see what’s happening.” Still holding Jason’s hand, she marched out the door with all of us behind her, her heels clicking on the pavement. I allowed myself five seconds to appreciate the view of her ass in front of me. More than that felt wrong, considering the circumstances.
We burst through the meeting room doors like Aragorn in The Two Towers. Hades and Balthazar were at the committee table and they hopped up when they saw us.
“Another one went dark?” Hades asked. I almost panicked, but I realized he was asking about the second group Arthur had mentioned before.
Arthur stomped up the steps to the table and shoved open a laptop before typing furiously at the keys. “All teams are being recalled until we find out what’s happening.” He typed more and lifted his eyes for a few seconds to where Lisbeth was, hugging Balthazar tightly. “Your parents are refusing to return.”
She froze in the hug and slowly set her feet back to the ground. “I know. They’re looking for Anastasia.” Arthur made a noise that almost sounded like a groan. Hades wasn’t quite that subtle.
“They can’t bring that murderer here!” he bellowed, puffing up like a white balloon wearing coattails. “We pardoned your father and his bride, but I draw the line at your treacherous whore mother.”
The Born Vampire series: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance (The Complete Series, NSFW Edition) Page 61
