by R. E. Butler
She chuckled and tipped her face to his for a kiss. He brushed his lips over hers with a soft growl.
“Love you, sweetheart.”
“I love you too.”
When they returned to the club, Cyrus took her hand and walked with her through the garage and into the club offices. “I’ll come back to get you when we’re done for the night. I have something I want to do after work.”
“Okay,” she said, giving him a hug. Before he walked away and left her at the food office, she squeezed his hand. “I’m so thankful things worked out for you with the ambush.”
“Me too. But I wasn’t lying when I said that if it hadn’t worked out, I’d still consider myself the luckiest male ever because I get you.”
“I know,” she said, tapping the space over her heart. “I felt how serious you were.”
He winked and walked away, and she sat behind the desk and checked her messages before diving into work. When the night was nearly over and the offices were closed, Cyrus came to her door and knocked.
“How’s it going?”
“Not bad. I put new ads out for the coat check and food manager positions. They’re using social media to post the ads along with the print and online job boards, so maybe we’ll have better luck. How was your night?”
“Good. We’ll be able to get into the restaurant and start cleaning up after the full moon.”
“I wish the church would have to pay for what they did.”
“Me too. But the better revenge is to carry on despite what they tried to do.”
“I don’t know,” she said, as she rose to her feet. “Revenge is also pretty fun when someone is screaming in pain and terror.”
He chuckled. “True.”
He led her out of the offices and down the hall, where the coat check was dark, and the club was in the throes of being cleaned now that food and patrons had left.
“Where are we going?” she asked, when he didn’t go into the dance floor.
“I want to test the day-walking ability.”
She blinked in surprise. “Oh! Cool. Okay, but how about we don’t go out the front door where there isn’t much security?”
He turned and faced her. “The garage?”
“Let’s go up.”
She took him back to the offices, through several security-coded doors, and up a long flight of stairs to the roof. “Vex and Rage made a sanctuary of sorts for Angie after she decided she didn’t need to be around her pack on the full moon because of her beloved bond with them. They wanted her to have a place to go to be out in nature without having to leave the club.”
At the top of the stairs, she unlocked a security door and they walked out onto the rooftop that had been converted into a beautiful garden, with trees, shrubs, and flowers, strewn among a winding stone pathway. There was a fountain and a firepit in the center.
“Damn,” Cyrus said. “This is cool as hell.”
“I thought you’d like it. I can hang out in the stairwell out of the way of the sun. If you’re not sun tolerant, you can hustle back in here to safety.”
She walked with him while he explored the rooftop and explained that when Mishka built the club, he’d envisioned a rooftop dancefloor and bar as well.
“What happened?”
“It was a security hazard. He didn’t own the buildings in the vicinity, and worried about coven enemies getting to the roofs of other buildings and taking aim at club goers, so he abandoned the plans. It’s nice to see it being used finally.”
She could feel the rise of the sun before the sky lightened, and she kissed him and walked back to the stairs, propping the door open and settling back far enough that the sun’s rays wouldn’t hit her where she stood.
“Even if you’re not able to walk in daylight, you can move things with your mind and that’s awesome.”
“Yeah, but it would be nice if I could be outside in the daytime, in case it was ever a necessity. I saw a show once where vampires put on sunscreen and could be out in the sun. Did you ever try that?”
She giggled. “That’s fiction. There isn’t one strong enough to protect us from one hundred percent of the rays. I did hear of a coven who experimented with substances to put on the skin in an effort to allow them to walk in the daytime, everything from sunscreen to paint to liquid latex.”
“Any of them work?”
“No. The only thing that has any chance of working is to cover yourself from head to toe in clothes, and it’s hard to ensure that not even a sliver of skin shows. Sunlight burns are painful, so most vampires just don’t even bother trying to go out.”
“I get that, I’d avoid it if it hurt too. Which I hope it doesn’t.”
She did too.
He turned and faced the rising sun, and they watched together in silence as it lightened the sky until she had to squint and shield her eyes from the brightness. It took forever for the sun to rise above the buildings, and she was thankful she was back in the shadows and not exposed to the light, even though she worried about Cyrus. She didn’t want him to get hurt.
“That’s bright,” he said, putting his hand up and turning his head away slightly.
“Are you burning?” She was tempted to rush out to him and drag him into the safety of the shadows.
He smiled at her and dropped his hand. “Nope. Not a bit. It’s warm, but it should be because it’s sunlight. It’s just bright. I haven’t seen the sun since we met.”
“How long do you want to stay up here?”
He looked at his watch and then her. “Are you okay? Are you getting harmed at all?”
“I’m fine.”
“How about an hour? I think it’s pretty proof positive that I can walk in daylight, but I’d like to give it time.”
She settled on the top stair while Cyrus sat on a chair and watched the sun. It was the most surreal thing she’d ever done that also bordered on utterly normal for humans. People who weren’t affected by the sun didn’t give it any thought. The ability to walk around in the daytime without causing harm to her body wasn’t something she’d been able to do for three hundred years.
“Do you ever miss the sun?” he asked.
“I did at first. But three hundred years ago, humans lived entirely by the sunlight. There weren’t lightbulbs and electricity to keep us going after the sun went down, just oil lamps and candles. Before vampires were known to humans, we lived outside of large cities and ventured out at night to hunt humans for feeding and we had to handle our business at night or use other supernatural creatures who could be out in the daylight in our place.”
“You must have had to use a lot of compulsion.”
“All the time. We were constantly worried about being discovered and killed. It was strange to come out of the coffin, so to speak, to humans and fight for equal rights, but it makes things so much easier in the long run.”
He hummed and started to unbutton his shirt.
“Not that I’d ever tell you to keep your clothes on, but what are you doing?”
“I figure I should strip and make sure that this experiment is as detailed as possible. If the clothes are helping me tolerate the sunlight at all, then I don’t have a true day-walking ability.”
“Good point. Proceed, sexy.”
He stood and faced her, giving her a strip tease as he shucked all but his boxer briefs. He stretched, the sunlight making his skin look like it was dusted with gold.
“Fuck, I wish you could be out here with me.”
“Me too.”
They talked while the sun shone on him and she sat in the shadows, and even though they had each other’s memories through the beloved bond, she still enjoyed hearing about his childhood exploits and sharing the things she’d learned about herself as she remained youthful thanks to her immortality. When he was sufficiently convinced he was able to walk in the daylight, he dressed and joined her. His skin was warm to the touch and he smelled like a mixture of sunshine, tiger, and vampire.
“We don’t h
ave too long until we’ll be joined as mates in the ambush,” he said, as he opened their chamber door.
“I’m excited.”
“Me too.”
He closed and locked the door, and then the overhead light went out suddenly, the room bathed in darkness.
“Cyrus?”
“Turn around, beloved, I have a question for you.”
She turned around, unable to make out anything in the pitch black. Then a single candle flared to life, followed by others that were scattered around the room. Cyrus was in front of her, down on one knee, with a glittering diamond ring in between his finger and thumb.
She inhaled sharply.
“I want to say something super romantic so that when you remember this moment, you’ll think about how awesome I am to be able to string together a lot of eloquent words. But you know that’s not me. I just love you, sweetheart. From the top of your head to the bottom of your feet, and every inch in between. You’re everything I ever wanted in a mate, and I get you forever, which is the biggest bonus possible. I want us to belong to each other in every way, and that means being married too. So I kneel before you, heart in my hands and this ring in my fingers and ask you – will you marry me?”
For a moment she couldn’t speak.
Then she smiled and held out her left hand. “Yes, of course I’ll marry you!”
He slid the ring on her finger and stood, sealing their engagement with a kiss that left her toes curling with pleasure and her mind spinning with excitement.
“You’re wrong,” she said as he swept her up in his arms and carried her to the bed.
“About what?”
“That was very romantic, and I’m one lucky female to have a beloved like you.”
“Trust me, Cella. I’m the lucky one.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
By the time the full moon rolled around, Cyrus had tested out every possible talent that he could have gained as a vampire, and found himself excelling in compulsion and telekinesis, and had gained some strength and speed that he hadn’t had before. He couldn’t shift under any circumstances, but the tiger and human sides allowed him to retract his fangs, grow claws, and most importantly, be out in the daylight. Not that he had much interest in being away from his beautiful beloved during the daytime, but he had been able to look over the club’s daytime security from outside of the club and offer insight to the family for how to improve things to keep everyone safe.
His parents had outfitted their basement to be light-tight, so that he and Cella could spend the night before the full moon at their home. There was a lot of preparation to be done for the ceremony, and they couldn’t wait until sunset to start traveling to the ambush’s territory.
He left his sleeping mate in the basement with a note and hurried upstairs to meet with his parents. He’d been to many mating ceremonies in his life and loved how the ambush got together to celebrate a joining. Midas had explained that once he and Cella had shown him their respect as king, the others with them had returned to the ambush and promised that having a tribrid and vampire in their ranks would only benefit them, and of course Cyrus agreed. He and Cella were not only immortal, but stronger and faster than the pure tigers. While Cella was bound to the nighttime, he had the ability to walk around twenty-four-seven and would happily help any ambush member in need.
“Happy Mating Day,” his mother said when he walked into the kitchen. “Is Cella still sleeping?”
“Yes,” he said, pecking her cheek. He smelled coffee brewing and went to the pot, pulling a mug from the cabinet.
“I thought you might like to have coffee. It’s technically early morning for you, right?”
He nodded as he fixed a cup. “It took me a bit to get used to being up at night. A lot of it is mind over matter. I just look at the clock differently now. Instead of noon being the middle of the day, it’s midnight.”
His father walked into the kitchen and greeted him. “When you’re ready, we can check out the party prep and then I wanted to show you a house that Midas mentioned to me the other day.”
“A house?”
“Yeah, we’ve been talking about building a place for you two so you can join us on the full moons, and Midas reminded me about a house that’s been empty for a few years. It belonged to Max and Stella. Their son was supposed to move into it when he graduated from college, but he joined his mate’s ambush and hasn’t been back. It’s debt-free, the deed is in Midas’s name, so it would be a matter of transferring it to you and Cella.”
“Does it have a basement?”
“Yep.”
He smiled in surprise. “That would be awesome. We can check it out and then I can take Cella over there after our ceremony to take a peek at it before we come back here for the night.”
“We’re staying at my sister’s, by the way,” his mother said. “I know the upstairs isn’t light-tight, but we wanted you two to have as much privacy as possible.”
He smiled at her. “Thanks, Mom. Who’s coming to help Cella get ready?”
“Me, of course, and Aunt Iris, Aeryn, and Paige. I’ll be knocking on the basement door in an hour to make sure she’s up in time.”
“Sounds good. Thanks, Mom.”
“For what?”
“Being gracious. You accepted my mating with Cella right away and you’ve stood by us, even when we didn’t know what I’d be like after being changed.”
“I’m sure there are parents who’d be upset if their son or daughter mated a vampire, but it’s not our life to live, it’s yours. You get to decide what’s right for you, and there isn’t anything on this earth I wouldn’t do to see that you’re happy and safe. Cella saved your life, and she loves you dearly. I can’t think of anyone better suited to you than her.”
“She makes me a better male.”
“That’s how it’s supposed to work,” his father said.
Cyrus handed his mother a bottle of SyBl. “Would you mind heating this up in a coffee mug and taking it to Cella? She prefers it hot first-thing when she wakes and there’s no microwave in the basement.”
“Of course.”
His father clapped his hands together. “Are you ready?”
“You bet.” He finished the last of the coffee and set the mug in the dishwasher, kissed his mom goodbye, and headed out with his father. The mating ceremony would take place in a clearing that had been set with picnic tables covered in white cloths with arrangements of flowers in glass bowls in the center of each one. He knew his mom had been working hard on the decorations, and he and Cella had helped the night before as well.
“Everything’s in order,” his father said as they surveyed the tigers finishing the prep for the party. “You’ll be getting ready at Aunt Iris and Uncle Theo’s while Mom and the others help Cella. Let’s go look at Max and Stella’s place.”
Before following his father, he thanked the tigers who were working so hard to ensure he and Cella had a wonderful ceremony, and then left the clearing. Several minutes later, they reached a quaint cottage with an arched, wooden front door. His father lifted a potted plant from the stone porch and picked up a key, unlocking the door. Must and dust reached Cyrus’s nose immediately and he sneezed.
“Yeah, it needs some work,” his father said with a chuckle, leaving the door open to let in some fresh air. “But it’s got good bones, and the bonus is that it has a finished basement.”
“I was thinking we could maybe fashion some automatic shutters that would come down at sunrise and go up at sunset.”
“That would be handy. It would be nice if you two could have full use of the house and not be stuck in the basement, even if it is a nice one.”
“At least until we can figure out the windows on the first floor, we’ll have a place to stay.”
“How are you feeling?” his father asked as they stood in the master bedroom, which had a walk-in closet and an en suite bathroom with a claw-footed tub.
“Good. Why?”
“I mean with yo
ur blood needs. If you’re hungry, I’d be happy to let you feed from me.”
“Thanks, Dad. Actually, I’m fine. There was a part of me that was a little concerned about being around so many shifters. It’s one thing to be around a handful of them like when I met with Midas, but this whole group? I didn’t think I’d have a problem, but I’m still learning about myself. As far as feeding goes though, Wyst, a falcon shifter at the club, let me feed from him, so I’m good for another two weeks.”
“You only have to ask, you know.”
Cyrus put his hand on his dad’s shoulder. “I know. Thank you.”
“No problem. Let’s go check out the basement, and then you need to get ready. The afternoon is drawing to a close.”
Once they’d walked around the small, finished basement, Cyrus could tell it would be a good place for them to stay during the full moons. There were hookups for a bathroom, so they could have everything they needed in the basement until he figured out how to make the whole place light-tight for his beloved. After closing up the house, he took a walk around it and told his father he liked it.
“Do you think Cella will?”
“Yeah, I do. It looks like a storybook cottage, like a fairytale creature might open the door and invite us in.”
His father laughed. “I suppose so.”
By the time they reached his aunt and uncle’s house, he had ninety minutes to get ready before he had to meet Midas in the clearing and wait for Cella to arrive. He hadn’t been nervous before and had even scoffed at the idea that there was anything to worry over, but as he turned on the water in the guest bathroom to take a shower, his stomach felt like it was filled with butterflies. Or something more manly than winged, pretty things. Like bats.
When he’d showered and dried off, he dressed in the black trousers that were laid out on the bed and put on socks and shoes. There was a knock at the door, and he called for whoever it was to come in.
Gavin walked in with gold arm cuffs.
“Uncle Theo wanted me to bring these to you.”
