Castilla was the first to snap out of it, but the respectful look on her face was promising. It was how she used to look at me when I was on the Council making all the decisions. “Arthur, would you please escort Lisbeth out while we discuss her testimony?”
We both left the office and stood in the waiting room where I paced the floor again while Arthur stood guard at the door like I was going to rush in at any moment and kill someone.
“That thing you said about making you wait for six months, that was what happened last time, isn’t it,” he stated, watching me with his blue eyes.
“Yep. Nearly went insane from being locked up too. You were my jailer, and let me just note that you sucked at it. You gave me men’s body wash to clean my hair with.”
“Sounds like me.” I snorted and turned to pace again, my anxiety rising at the thought of being locked up again when Knight was still out there not knowing who I was. “I’m guessing I changed over time.”
A smile crept over my face as I remembered the way he used to look at me. “You cherished me. You used to kiss my forehead like I would shatter into a thousand pieces if you kissed it too hard. You were gentle when I needed you to be. And… a little less gentle when I needed you to be.” My eyes flicked to him and back before I could see what expression he had after that.
“That also sounds like me,” he said, almost teasingly. When I checked his eyes again, he had a look on his face that made me weak at the knees.
“You tease me and I will shamelessly make out with you until you like me again,” I warned, turning so I couldn’t see him and stepping across the green carpet.
“Stop that, you’re going to rub the carpet raw.”
“I have to pace, I’m nervous. If they put me under house arrest again then I can’t find my other husband.” I crossed my arms over my chest and turned again, looking up when Arthur sighed loudly.
“I’ll be right back.” He went inside Othello’s office, leaving me alone to ruin the carpet with my worrying. He didn’t return until at least ten minutes had passed and I’d resorted to chewing on my claws in addition to the pacing. Othello and Marie were with him this time.
“The Council has agreed to absolve your crime. You are free to go,” Othello said with a triumphant smile I did not return. Instead, I smiled at Arthur, certain he had done something to sway their decision. He was already warming up to me, he’d be mine in no time. “Arthur, you’re free to leave whenever you choose to. I’m sure the Hunters will need you back.”
Arthur refused to meet my hopeful stare, making my stomach drop in terror that maybe I hadn’t succeeded in winning him over as well as I thought I had. We’d only been together for maybe an hour, and last time it had taken almost a year. Maybe if I showed him my boobs…
“I have some things to do, so I’ll be leaving immediately,” was his answer, and I almost burst out crying. Othello dismissed us and Arthur walked past me out of the waiting room, but I was up on my heels and following him until he stopped in the foyer. “You’d better pack fast if you want to come with me.” I raced off to my rooms and didn’t even bother changing out of my sports bra and yoga pants, just grabbed the bag I’d already packed and then I passed him still waiting in the foyer on my way to the kitchen where I grabbed one of the communal coolers and filled it to the brim with blood packs. I’d barely even stopped to breathe in case he left without me, but he was still there when I returned completely out of breath. He quirked an eyebrow at my frazzled state. “Your hair is messed up.”
“Oh pssh. Let’s go.”
Reluctant werewolf
I was completely beside myself with anxiety. Going from what the witches said, Knight was in Kansas, near where I would’ve met him in a week or two if I’d let everything progress the way it had before. Arthur only mildly complained when I stopped at a particular car dealership and found my Excalibur waiting for me, the small blue car that had carried me to safety in my escape from Arthur’s clutches. Now I would’ve given anything to be in his clutches.
Naturally, I bought it, and unfortunately had to pay them to send it back to the Order because it wouldn’t fit everyone, providing we convinced Knight to come back with us. I had another car in mind for picking him up. We continued driving until we reached the second car dealership right outside of Kansas, and we bought the Impala that Knight had made me buy, the one he never stopped drooling over like it was a pair of breasts.
Before we stopped anywhere after reaching the Kansas state line, I texted the witch Isabelle from the number she gave me, and she confirmed the town Knight was in, which conveniently was the one we were about to enter. I pulled into the small city and I could barely focus on the road or the speed limit as I looked around for the coordinates Isabelle had given me that turned out to be the nearby state park, more specifically the public showers. After using my senses to check around for humans and finding none nearby, Arthur walked into the men’s showers with me right behind him.
“What are you doing, this is the men’s room,” he hissed at me, pushing me away with his hand.
“Need I remind you, I’ve seen both of you naked,” I whispered back, and ignored his protests, rounding the corner to a row of urinals on one side and a row of stalls on the other that both led to the showers. One of the showers was running and my steps slowed as I tried not to picture Knight naked under a steaming hot spray of water, with his tanned, muscled body and the five scratches on his stomach that always made him moan when I ran my fingers along them. “I should mention something else,” I said quietly, but Arthur’s senses were already picking up Knight’s scent and his reaction was to grab my arm roughly and pull me in the opposite direction of where Knight was.
“Your other mate is a fucking werewolf?” Arthur accused, slamming me against the wall between two urinals. “When were you planning on telling me that you want to fuck the enemy?”
I pulled off from the wall and held my ground in the gross bathroom that smelled like sweaty piss. “He’s not my enemy. He’s never been my enemy. In my time, Lycans are my friends.”
“I don’t care what you did in your future,” Arthur informed me, and then he pointed towards the showers with a grimace. “I’m never inviting that shit werewolf into anything, much less my bed.”
“I never said you had to, and don’t you dare talk about him like that!” I yelled back, and even though I wanted to sock him right in the face, I was two seconds from kissing him so hard he’d pass out, but the shower turned off and footsteps came closer to us.
“What’s going on in here?” Knight stood in the tiled doorway holding a towel to his waist with his long, black hair dripping onto the floor.
Fuck it.
I ran across the bathroom and only stopped when I had my hands around his neck and was pressing his warm lips to mine in a kiss I would’ve died to have again. He passionately kissed me back, too in shock to do much else, until his nose kicked in and he shoved me away with disgust.
“The fuck are you doing? Get away from me, bloodsucker,” he sneered, taking a step back. I tried to follow but Arthur had stepped beside me and put a finger in my belt loop to keep me in place. Knight observed my companion, his anger and disgust sobering at the sight of a vampire that could kick his ass. “I don’t want trouble. This isn’t vampire territory, I’m free to be here.”
I couldn’t help myself, I took a step towards the love of my life and said the first thing I could think of to get him to listen while Arthur held me off with my belt loop. “Your sister Merrick is alive.”
Knight’s face went still and wary. “How do you know that? What game are you playing?”
I had to make him see. I couldn’t go another moment with him looking at me like I was repulsive. “I’m not playing, I know everything about you. Your name is Jason Knight Trimble, you were born in Texas in 1842. You served in the Civil War and your mother died while you were gone.” I kept trying to escape Arthur’s finger until he pulled me up against his chest, locking me in by his a
rms, and tears rolled down my cheeks at the look on Knight’s face from the sight of me, his enemy.
“You should get dressed,” Arthur told him, dragging me back until we were out of the bathroom and I was sobbing against Arthur’s arms in the warm sunlight. “Stop crying, he’s not going to leave. You saw his face when you mentioned his sister. He wants to know what you know.” Even though I was terrified Knight would just escape out the back door of the bathroom and leave us, Arthur was right, because a few minutes later Knight emerged from the facility holding his duffel bag and wearing his typical black shirt and blue jeans outfit. “I’m going to let you go, but don’t try getting close to him again.” I nodded and Arthur slowly released me.
“You two going to explain what you’re doing here talking crazy shit about me?” Knight asked, watching us carefully. I opened my mouth several times but nothing came out, and Arthur pulled me back when I tried to bolt off to Knight’s arms again.
“It’s a little tough to explain,” Arthur offered after I hadn’t said anything for several minutes, mostly because I was caught between tears and needing at least one of them to hold me close. “Basically this woman here, Lisbeth is her name, claims she’s from the future, one where you and I are her mated husbands.”
Knight laughed, and the sight of it brought me from tears to a smile, even though he was laughing at me. “And you believed her?”
Arthur’s shoulders went up in a subtle shrug. “She made a compelling argument. She knew something about me I’ve never said to anyone else. I’m sure she’s got one for you as well.”
Knight’s look of expectation made me sorry I’d chosen this particular secret, but I let it out anyway. “Your dick grew bigger when you became a werewolf.”
His eyes widened and he looked away to retain his dignity in front of another man. “Wow. You’re right, I’ve never told anyone that. Not exactly something you want women to know.” Looking back to me, his brown eyes were turning my stomach over in a flurry of butterflies. “This future. We had sex?” I nodded, but his cold look in my direction made my smile droop. “I’d never touch a vampire like that.”
Oh, but you did.
“You were mated with him too,” I noted with a sniff, pointing to Arthur.
Confused, he scrunched his forehead up. “We —me and him— were lovers?”
“Well, yeah. You kissed a few times before it got a little… further than that.”
“Gross.”
Arthur was immediately offended. “Gross? I can assure you my prowess is anything but gross.”
“I don’t even like boys,” Knight said, which was an argument I’d heard before I found him kissing Arthur and it went out the window.
“You kissed that guy once during the civil war, remember that?”
“Oh my god, how many secrets did future me tell you?”
I leaned in closer and whispered, “All of them.”
“Terrifying, isn’t she?” Arthur said, making me swipe my foot at his leg that he easily deflected.
We hadn’t won him over, but Knight slowly relaxed as much as he could around us. “So what do you need me for, other than fucking, and I will note that is not on the table.”
Pout.
“I need to save the world. And in order to do that, I need men I trust by my side. Meaning you, and Arthur here. Also a few others. Mostly you two.”
“What do I get if I help you? Not that I will, because saving the world seems a bit of a stretch considering you’re vampires,” he sneered, making Arthur bristle at my side.
“Tell me again why I have to be polite to him?”
Instead of answering, I pulled out the paper in my pocket and carefully approached Knight to hold it out to him. “This is the location of your sister’s coven. She’s a vampire.”
He looked disgusted but it passed quickly, his eyes darting to my hand holding the note. “And you’ll tell me where she is if I help you?”
Watching him carefully, I took one step closer until he could take the note from me. “Your sister isn’t a bargaining tool.”
“I clearly failed to teach you the art of war,” Arthur grumbled, but Knight took the note before I could change my mind, not that I would have.
“I’m under no obligation to help you, you know that, right?” he said as he stuffed the note into his pants pocket.
“I know.” Being so close to him, his scent washed over me and I studied the planes of his face, the way his cheeks curved, the way his chin dipped, all parts of him I’d had so long to memorize.
He dropped his eyes, rubbing at his neck. “Don’t look at me like that.” My feet recoiled one step back and I turned my eyes down to my shoes. “How long were we together in your time?”
I answered without looking up because I feared my tears were about to return. “Sixty-six years.”
His sharp intake of breath brought my eyes up to his waist, since the expression on my face was bothering him. “You stayed with me for that long?”
“I would’ve stayed with you forever.” I took his silence as my cue to take more steps back until I could see Arthur on the side of my vision.
“So, what’ll it be, werewolf?” Arthur asked him, and my pulse shot off with worry that this was all pointless and Knight would never agree to come with me. I felt sick right down in the depths of my belly, my saliva turning hot and salty when I swallowed.
“How will your kind not attack me if I agree to come with you?”
“One of us will have to bite you,” Arthur answered.
Knight’s nose wrinkled again in disgust, but he waved a hand at me. “I’d rather it be her.” He kept the hand out, giving me permission to approach him, but he held it up when I was close. “Do not kiss me again.”
I nodded and he clenched his fists when I stepped up, so close I could reach my hands up to take his massive shoulders in my small hands. I stood up on my tip toes as he leaned down, and being this close to him made me want to cry until I passed out.
My breath hit the skin on his neck and goosebumps formed on the surface. I almost didn’t want to bite him because it would mean I’d have to go back to keeping my distance, and I wanted him in my arms for hours, but I had to hurry up before he changed his mind.
My fangs dropped down and I massaged the shoulder muscles under my hands so he would relax when I bit into his neck, marking him as mine, and I pulled a mouthful of his sweet, hardy blood, so rich and sweet it brought tears to my eyes, before his hands gently pushed me away. I quickly turned so he wouldn’t see me licking my lips to get the last droplets of him off, but Arthur was free to see the turmoil on my face. Swallowing, I swiped my nose and sniffed, then I faced Knight again with a smile.
“I’ll lead the way.”
Knight’s low, appreciative whistle at the Impala made my heart soar, until he climbed into the backseat and stopped talking. Arthur was also silent, leaving me unable to think about anything except touching Knight’s skin again. I’d worked myself into a fever pitch by the time we stopped for the night, having driven all day to find Knight. As soon as we got inside our hotel room, I ran into the bathroom with my bag and curled up in the little closet where they kept the complimentary ironing board and all the towels.
My insides were a raging inferno, I was primed on the edge, and neither of them wanted me. We just needed time, that was all, but I’d let, if only for a second, the dread to come back in, the dread that was telling me this wouldn’t work, and I’d save the world but at the cost of my happiness.
Stupid fucking witches, fucking everything up.
A door slammed and then there was a timid knock on the bathroom door.
“I’ve sent him for food,” Arthur told me through the door. “You can come out.” Only I couldn’t move. I wanted to stay in the closet and just sleep there so I wouldn’t have to see Knight looking at me like I was repulsive. The door opened and Arthur’s shadow fell over me where I was sitting clutching my legs to my chest. “I don’t know what to say to make this b
etter.”
“You know exactly how to make this better,” I mumbled against my jeans. More tears were coming when he grabbed my arm and hauled me off the floor to stand in front of him, backing me up until I hit the wall of the closet. My body lit up again and the struggle on his face was overcome when he reached a clenched fist out and used it to grasp my hip. My face was a waterfall of tears, looking up at his icy features and longing to reach out for him.
He opened and closed his mouth several times until he finally decided what he was going to say to me.
“This is only sex. We’re clear on that, right?”
Oh, god, yes.
In an instant, he was flush against me and I craned up to kiss his lips, needing, always needing more of him. He crushed my mouth with his, biting at my skin and holding me in place against him, and gods he was already so hard for me. I rocked my hips forward, running my belly along his length and he hissed against my lips, capturing them again as he shoved my pants down, helped me out of them, and lifted me up against the bathroom wall, cradling me in his powerful arms.
He released my lips, pulling his cock out of his pants and lining himself up with my entrance, and I leaned in to lick slowly up the scar on his cheek that he answered with a thrust deep inside me. I was already so wet, so ready, it wouldn’t take long for me to explode against him, and I felt it rising as he started a rhythm against the wall, slamming my back into the concrete with every push of his cock.
Moaning against his shoulder, I nibbled on his ear and planted kisses on his scar before he roughly grabbed my hair and pulled my head back until my throat was exposed to him. He ran the tips of his fangs down it, making me so close to climax I was going to lose my mind. I got enough control of my head back to smash our lips together as I went over the edge and pulsed around his cock over and over.
He didn’t stopped thrusting into me until my orgasm was over and he jerked his hips a few times, groaning against my lips as he came inside me. We slowed our movements and stood locked together, catching our breath, and I couldn’t help myself.
The Born Vampire series: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance (The Complete Series, NSFW Edition) Page 88
