Arthur turned his face over and a genuine smile came to his lips as he stared at his lover. He brought one of his large hands up and stroked Knight’s cheek, leaning close for a tender kiss. “You’d better,” he whispered against Knight’s lips. “Because it would be a bit awkward if you didn’t, considering how much I love you.” They rested their foreheads together in a loving embrace. “I’m sorry I disrespected you. I don’t ever want you to feel belittled by me.”
A squeak came from me when I put my fists to my mouth, ruining the moment and turning both of them towards where I still sat on the carpet, staring like a drooling idiot.
Knight tossed his chin at me. “Get over here.” I happily did, lying between them, cuddling into Arthur’s body and holding Knight up to mine so I could kiss his lips over and over.
With Arthur down more than a few notches, we went back to the board and Knight was just pulling his shirt over his head when there was a knock on the locked doors. Arthur opened it and Anastasia strolled in like this was a normal day.
“That was tedious. I had to wait for you to finish and there wasn’t anything for me to do except look at every book in the library here. I’ve read half of them already. Is there anything in there that wasn’t published over three hundred years ago?”
Arthur straightened his shirt only to discover it was on backwards and he tried fixing it where my mom wouldn’t see. “Sorry about that. The making you wait part, not the books.”
She shrugged and went back to her perch on my desk, face in her journal. “If the sex doesn’t take at least half an hour it’s not worth doing.”
“Mom!” I shrieked, turning beet red.
“You get so upset when I mention your sex life. Were you this uptight before, or is that new?”
“I had kids in the house before now, so no, I wasn’t always saying out loud how bomb their dicks are and how they make me pass out when I orgasm.”
That brought her up over the top of her journal, eyebrow raised with interest. “The kids aren’t here yet, I’d love to hear this story in depth. Right now.”
“NO!”
After threatening to throw the box of tacks at her, she went back to her notes and I sat on the floor looking up at the board, trying to pick up that thought again that I’d had before. There were only a few spots on the map without marks, and one was staring out at me like a sore thumb. It was so obvious, I felt like the dumbest person on the planet when I stood up and walked closer to confirm my suspicions. Everyone else noticed, stopping what they were doing to look at me.
“Babe, what’s up?” Knight asked me, getting up from the coffee table.
I held a hand out for Arthur to give me one of the sharpies, and when he did, I uncapped it and reached up on my tiptoes to draw a giant circle around England, then I pointed to it with the pen. “He’s there.”
Anastasia came to stand beside me. “How do you know?”
“It’s where my Order used to live, the very place where we abandoned Alistair and the other turned vampires when we moved here in the 1800’s. They mentioned it before in my time, how much it made them hate us. What better place to stay than one we would never look at?”
“The castle is still standing?” Arthur asked, crossing over to one of the cabinets behind my desk and opening a drawer to flip through the documents inside.
“I think so. We technically still own it, we just moved out. I bet Othello kept it just in case we had to come back. I haven’t been there in…” I raised my eyebrows, thinking back to the day so long ago when I left my home and childhood behind. “Three hundred years.”
“I thought you left in the 1800’s?” Knight asked, doing the math in his head.
I waved the marker at him absently. “I was off with Olivier for a century, fucking prostitutes and seducing debutantes.”
Arthur stopped for a second, looking up at me with curiosity about that last bit, but he went back to the papers until he produced the one he was looking for and brought it to us. “The deed to the castle, it’s still there.”
I took it when he was close enough and scanned the page. “Looks like there’s a grounds keeper, or there’s an assigned one, at least. I don’t know how much grounds keeping he can do when he’s…” My heart stopped and I looked up with horror. Meeting Arthur’s eyes, I turned the paper around and held it out to him, putting my finger at the spot that changed everything. “Estinien is the grounds keeper.”
“So?” he said, not getting it yet.
“Estinien can’t be the grounds keeper of my Order’s castle. He’s the head of his own Order so he’d never do such a menial task, not to mention he lives in Australia. There’s no way he’d travel there for upkeep unless he had a reason.” Anger pooled inside me, so intense I saw red. “He’s been under my nose this whole time, in this time and the other one, playing me like a fiddle and ruining the world like it meant nothing to him when he stood by our side and fought with us like he gave a shit. God damn him.” I emphasized my anger by kicking the board over and it slammed into the carpet, spreading tacks everywhere. “I’m going to wrap my hands around his throat until he stops breathing, and then I’ll burn his filthy corpse piece by piece as I rip off his limbs.”
“Red flag,” Knight whispered in the silence that followed my tirade.
I felt no shame. Only rage.
“I’m not trusting a single person outside of this family and Olivier. Estinien might’ve been at the head, but we don’t know how many of us were part of this, and if Alistair knows we’re coming, we’re dead in the water. Arthur, make sure Renard and Cameron are taken to safety, I don’t trust them around us since they’re still human. When you’re back, I have another mission if we can spare someone.” He was off without another word, my dutiful soldier. “You,” I said, pointing the pen to Knight. “We need to clue in my other parents and make sure they’re either coming or going, I don’t want them here either because Clara is human. It would be ideal for them to stay with Renard and Cameron, but I don’t trust my father with people he doesn’t know. He might drain them in their sleep because they smelled like pea soup.”
“A wise choice,” my mother noted beside me, watching Knight leave after I was done. “You’re quite the leader. They don’t even question you, they just hop off to obey. I don’t know how you won them over to you so quickly, it’s like, and I say this ironically considering the circumstances, there’s magic at play.”
I smiled, looking down at the floor. “In the other time, they used to insist they would’ve fallen in love with me no matter how we met. I thought they were wrong, but it seems they were correct.”
“Do you miss them?” she asked, surprising me.
“They’ve been gone for five seconds, I’m fine.”
“Not these versions of them, the other ones. The ones that you spent so many years with. The Knight you married, the Arthur you longed for for so long before finally having him in your arms. The men you have now aren’t the same ones you left.”
“Maybe not,” I conceded, and I let the question wash over me until I was sure of my answer. “Only… Last night, Arthur told me something he’s never said to me before. Not in sixty-seven years. And Knight has never been this open in front of me. He told me he thought Balthazar was hot, he’s never said something like that before. Of course I’ll miss the men I spent so much time with, but…” I sighed and held myself with my arms. “It’s still them. They’re still with me. I’ll always carry those memories, they’ll never fade, and that means neither will the other versions of the men I love.”
“Hmm,” she said quietly, contemplating me like she usually did before she responded.
Arthur returned, coming up to me and kissing my forehead before reporting. “Renard and Cameron are off, they’re going to spend time with your former companion, Galen. His vineyard should be safe.” I nodded in agreement. After all this was over, I’d have to spend some time with Galen and tell him about everything I’d been through. He’d been dead for a long
time in my old timeline, seeing him again would make me very happy. “What was the mission you needed?” he asked, bringing me out of my head.
“Right, that. I need someone to go find Knight’s sister. If Alistair starts recruiting turned vampires, hoping not, her rogue coven might be in danger. Last time all of her friends were killed, she didn’t take too kindly to us after that. I’d rather Knight never go through seeing her that hurt. If someone could go find them and keep them safe, I’d be grateful.”
“Actually,” Arthur started, making me raise my eyebrows at him. “I’ve found someone you might be interested in seeing. Ever since you told me the names of vampires we knew, I’ve been on the lookout for them. Some aren’t born yet, but I had a bit of luck a few days ago.”
I wiggled a finger at him with a squint. “I’m not liking this constant secret keeping you’ve got going on for dramatic effect. Can we shelve that personality trait?”
He glared at me, almost looking like he wanted to roll his eyes. “Do you want to see or not?”
“Fine, whatever, let’s go.”
He led me outside the office and I felt something in the pit of my stomach when we got closer, something I’d felt a long time ago when Knight suddenly appeared in a crowd before me, not quite as dead as I’d thought.
Standing in the foyer was a gangly teenager, looking barely old enough to have a driver’s license. He was staring up at the ceiling with his mouth wide open and I didn’t recognize him until he turned and look right at me.
Dominic.
He’d been Kitty’s mate in the future, the boy with the blonde hair and the duel-toned eyes, one blue and one brown. He looked so young, so vulnerable looking. I’d known him as a man capable of protecting my daughter. This version of him made me want to check his temperature and put him to bed early.
He grinned warmly at me, also something different for him, and launched off in his Australian accent. “How ya goin’? You must be the sheila Arthur was banging on about. I’m Dom.” He held his hand out for me to shake and I didn’t miss him trying to look at my chest when he thought I wasn’t paying attention. Arthur turned rigid, noticing a few vampires coming into the foyer to see who was talking so loudly, and he led us back into my office for some privacy, shutting and locking the doors behind us. Dom raised his eyebrows at Arthur flipping the locks but he didn’t comment on it.
“Sorry,” I said to him, resisting the very powerful urge to hug him. “We don’t know who to trust right now.”
Turning, Arthur got right to it, no foreplay or anything. “We believe your leader Estinien is a traitor.”
Dom laughed, which wasn’t the reaction I was expecting. “If you’re trying to put the wind up me, you’re gonna have to do better than that. Estinien’s a seriously dodgy bloke. What do you want me to do?”
Arthur’s skeptical eyebrow raise was monumental. “As my leader said, we don’t know who to trust right now. You’re one of the few we do, so we’d like to recruit you to be a Hunter.”
“Whoa, a vampire Hunter? Noice.” He stopped, realizing something I knew he’d bring up. “But we’ve never met before. You don’t know me from a bar of soap, how can you tell if I’m a fair dinkum or not?”
“I’ve heard good things about you from your Order,” I said without missing a beat. “We’ve been in contact with them since the Council was killed, and your name came up several times.” Dom looked like I’d just made his day, like no one had ever believed in him before. He straightened his jacket with a large grin on his face.
“Your first mission as a Hunter will be finding a rogue vampire coven and protecting them if a threat comes.”
“Epic!” Dom responded in excitement.
Arthur got out the paperwork to make Dom an official Hunter and eyed the teenager walking about my office, commenting on just about everything he could see. “You’re sure about him?” he asked, handing me a pen to sign the papers. “He looks like he’s never even kissed a girl. I’m not sure I’d trust him to watch an egg.”
I elbowed my lover and leaned over to sign the contract. “He’s just young. He’s going to grow into a fine man, just you wait. You trusted him with my daughter’s life before, I know you wouldn’t have done that lightly.”
Leaning in to kiss my temple, he deferred to my wisdom by letting Dom put his signature on the papers, but I could see him grumbling about it internally. The fact he was shutting his mouth at all spoke volumes. I waited until Dom had left before I slowly approached Arthur, running a single finger up his bicep.
“It’s terrifyingly sexy when you do what I say,” I purred, waiting for him to stop straightening the papers before planting myself against him.
He looked down at me, fire and ice on his scarred face. “Time and place, love of my life. We literally just had sex.”
Grinning, I stood up on my tip toes and nuzzled our noses together. “Maybe I want you again.” Our lips joined in a kiss full of longing, only interrupted with someone coming into the office.
“I leave for five minutes and you’re already making out.” Knight came up behind me, hopped up onto my desk, and held me against him so we were both facing our lover.
“We have to rally our troops,” Arthur said, a flicker of heat remaining on his face even though he was trying to be all business now. “Since most of the vampires here are too soft, present company…” He debated on how he was going to finish his phrase, either implying I was a weakling or admitting I was at his level.
“I kicked your ass before, choose that word wisely,” I reminded him with a raised eyebrow.
“…excluded,” he finished, almost rolling his eyes. “Keep quiet, I’m planning. That means we have to rally the Hunters and anyone else who is qualified. Olivier is bringing them all here but it might take time, especially considering we can’t let anyone know we’re doing it.”
Knight’s hand slipped beneath my shirt and he started massaging my breast, making sure Arthur could see. “We could meet on the Lycan reservation. None of the vampires would go there willingly yet.”
Arthur noted that with an appreciative glance and got his phone out to text someone. “That’s good, that will work fine. Good thinking, umm…” He trailed off and started looking a little red.
“You were going to say ‘love’ weren’t you?” I teased with a wide smile.
He narrowed his eyes at me and went back to the texting. “Shut up, your teasing is going to get you in trouble.”
“Not like I’ve never been punished for it before,” I countered, meeting his eyes as Knight’s hand squeezed my breast, but we both broke off into giggles under Arthur’s stare and couldn’t keep it up.
Despite our immaturity, the corner of his mouth lifted and I could’ve sworn he was trying not to laugh. “You two are something else, I swear. I’ve never seen a couple more alike in my life. It’s no wonder you fought so hard to get him back.”
We both erupted in cutsie baby noises that ran Arthur out of the office before we could finish our meeting.
The battle for our future
After several days of covert planning, we were just arriving at the Lycan reservation, ready for our army to join us. Though we were now at peace with the pack, not everyone we passed looked happy about it, and we met more than a few rude looks before Alexander appeared at their meeting hall with a welcoming smile.
“Arthur, Knight,” he said in greeting. “We’ve set up the hall if you two would like to make sure everything is in order.” They went up to the door, turning when I stayed behind. “Lisbeth, I’d like you to come meet someone.” We followed him inside the meeting hall, and I marveled for a second time at the tall, vaulted ceiling made of beautiful, raw wood.
Standing in the middle of the room was Simon and his parents. Both of them were hesitant as we approached, but they tried to keep their faces polite.
Alexander stood between us and held out a hand to me. “Simon, this is Lisbeth.”
I stared down at the small boy in bittersweet
wonderment. He still looked so much like my Jason.
“You’re the vampire that saved me,” he said with a smile.
“It’s nice to meet you, Simon.” I faltered, swallowing down tears that were trying to come out.
“Alexander says you’re nice. He says you don’t want us to fight anymore. Is that because of your son?” He’d remembered what I said to him at the crosswalk, but just hearing him say it made me long for my children that much more.
Knight pulled me against him, holding me close as I tried not to cry. Simon left with his parents soon after, but not before they stared at us in confusion, a werewolf and a vampire in love. Knight held me when the Hunters arrived and all through Arthur’s strategy meeting, kissing my head and warming me right to my center.
With our plans made and everyone ready, we stayed at the reservation overnight to make sure the Hunters behaved themselves.
In the meeting hall amongst dozens of sleeping bags, I lay between two of my lovers, warmed from both sides. More than a few of the Hunters had been giving us dirty looks during the meeting, but Arthur silenced them all into submission so they wisely kept their comments to themselves.
“Is it weird I miss Balthazar?” Knight whispered with his lips against my forehead.
Arthur’s arms tightened around me. “I do too. You’re sure he doesn’t like men, babe?”
“There is a reason for this reality to exist, and it’s this conversation right here,” I mused with a smile. “He can’t get it up for a man. Incubi don’t work like that.”
“A shame,” Arthur pouted, nibbling on my ear. “Maybe the Bicus can throw us a bone so then I can throw him a bone.”
“Shut up, Arthur!” one of the Hunters complained loudly. “No one wants to hear about you boning an Incubus.”
“The next person who talks will be babysitting Lisbeth’s crazy dad,” Arthur shouted, and the room went dead silent from the threat.
“You’re so commanding, it’s very sexy,” Knight whispered, kissing Arthur above my head.
The Born Vampire series: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance (The Complete Series, NSFW Edition) Page 98
