“No. I’m tired, and I detest hospitals.”
“All right. I’ll take you home. Oh, about that…”
“What?”
“You’re staying with me at the clubhouse for a few days…or weeks. I’m not sure how long yet. Just to be safe.”
“That’s the only reason? For my safety?”
“Well there’s that, and I…I want you there. Look, I understand you already said you’re not looking for—”
Angel put her hand over his mouth. “Yes, I’ll come on one condition. Well, more like three”
“Which are?”
“Jet, Marley and Spencer. They’re my fam.”
“Dogs, huh? Among bears?”
“Take it or leave it,” she added, and brushed her lips against his.
“Silas will probably kick my ass out for saying yes, but fuck it. You’ve got yourself a deal.”
28
Epilogue - Angel
Six Months Later at the Clubhouse
“Put your hands above your head and lace your fingers together.”
How the tables had turned. Angel did her best to ignore her shaking fingers, and swallowed past the sudden tightness in her throat. She wondered how she had ever pulled off the mistress act. Giving Axe control made her much more excited than when she called the shots.
What was supposed to be a few days’ stay at the clubhouse had turned into practically shacking up with Axe. The scary thing was she couldn’t be any happier. She especially loved that her pets were delighted to romp around outside instead of being cooped up in her tiny apartment. Even Mom had come to like Axe. Well, Mom liked seeing her more relaxed and less stressed, so she accepted him, knowing he had a hand in helping her find a balance.
That was the last thought that ran through her head as Angel focused on the way Axe fixed her hands together, then secured her to his bed post with neckties that he was supposed to be wearing on the job. At least they were being put to good use. He straddled her at the waist, and paused, just gazing down at her. In this position, it was hard not to look at his groin. He noticed her eyes darting down from his face, and the bulge behind his fly seemed to grow.
Axe groaned, and Angel licked her lips, instinctively lifting her head to get closer.
He shook his head. “None of that from you tonight. You’re going to lie back and be at my mercy. I’m going to do and say things you’ll probably never hear me repeat for the rest of your natural life. Can you handle that?”
“Yes,” she answered in a steady voice, even though at the moment, the only thing keeping her from rolling her hips for some much-needed contact was his bulky muscular weight holding her steady.
Nodding, he climbed off the bed and stepped over to his chest of drawers. He dug around in his sock drawer, and turned to face her with his hands behind his back.
“What’s in your hands?” she asked, silently wondering how kinky Axe was going to get tonight. They had never used toys or objects, other than mild bondage play, like tonight with her hands bound.
“Something I got for you. Except you can’t take it off once I put it on you.”
“Like ever?”
“Exactly.”
“God, please don’t tell me it’s a dog collar. My skin chafes easily. Plus I think my head librarian will probably warn me that it’s against the dress code.”
Axe rumbled out a laugh. “It’s not.”
“What is it, then?”
He returned to the side of the bed and took a seat beside her. She noticed the audible inhale of air into his lungs, but no exhale, as though he was holding his breath. One hand came out from behind his back, revealing a gleaming engagement ring with a large princess cut diamond solitaire.
“Marry me, Angel.”
Her eyes bulged out of her head, and her hands fought to pull out of their bindings so she could sit up and not pass out before she got the chance to give him an answer.
“Oh my God!” she shrieked. “You’re actually proposing to me? I never thought you’d ask me to marry you. I mean, with the whole badass biker thing, I figured we’d just, you know, shack up, and maybe get another place, and a few more dogs. Oh my God, you just asked me to marry you. I just can’t believe it,” she fast-talked until she had no idea what she was saying, but she couldn’t stop herself either. “I have to phone Sonya to tell her the news! We’ll definitely need a couple of extra bedrooms for when Asher and Annalee come for a visit, and maybe a study for my books, or a walk-in closet, although I’d much prefer a spare room just in case we have a kid or two, or a cub. I never thought to ask you about how that worked with this gene thing you mentioned. Is it like—”
Axe pressed a finger over her lips. “Shhhh. Maybe I should have tied you up and gagged you to get a simple yes or no answer,” he teased.
“Of course I’ll marry you,” she said against his finger. “I love you so much, Axe.”
“And I love you.”
“Can you untie me so I can kiss you right now?”
Axe stretched over to the bed post and slipped the ring on her wedding finger.
“Not until I’m done with you tonight.”
The End
Cursed Mate
A Standalone Novella
from the Fated Moon Series
(Includes Axe and Angel’s Wedding)
Bella Love-Wins
1
Vincent
I finished my feeding.
The rich, sweet blood from her wrist still coated my lips and tongue.
“Thank you for your service,” I told her, covering the wound where I bit her with a large, square adhesive bandage. Straightening my sport coat, I rose from the sofa. “I don’t need more tonight.”
I stepped over to my office desk and turned on the reading lamp. Even at this distance, the scent of the Gentry’s blood still overpowered me, curling up into my nose, reminding me I was still hungry. This Gentry was new. She was too weak. Draining her of any more blood could kill her. Still, the urge to feed was ever-present as I opened the side drawer and retrieved a wad of bills to pay her.
“This is for you,” I said gently, and pressed the large fold of bills into the curvy, sweet smelling woman’s hand.
“No problem, sir,” the Gentry answered, looking down at the cash. “But I think you made a mistake.” She counted the money. “Wow. This is more than twice the standard rate.”
I nodded for her benefit. My last Gentry never had a problem with being paid extra.
“It’s fine,” I told her, noticing a drop of blood on her t-shirt. Licking my lips self-consciously, I cleared my throat. The bone-deep hunger was not sated, but it would have to do.
“Awesome! Thanks.”
“You may leave now. I will call on you again soon.”
“Yes, sir. Any time at all! Thank you so much.”
I helped her to her feet, and she staggered, further proof she couldn’t handle my needs. No wonder some of my fellow vampires requested two or three Gentry at a time.
“Please help yourself to the juice in the kitchen before you leave. You’ll want to replenish your fluids.”
“Okay, I will.”
“You can also rest a while. There’s a sitting room down the hall. Please relax there before you go. Trying to walk in your state may not be safe.”
She nodded. “Thanks for being so generous!”
As she left the room, the young woman muttered under her breath that the extra cash would be a huge help with rent for her apartment in Red Ridge, Arizona. She chattered on that she could probably spare the extra cash now to fix her car, which she complained had broken down on the side of the road somewhere here in Mesquite, Nevada. She probably didn’t realize my kind had highly attuned hearing. To me, the money was insignificant. The Gentry played a major role in our survival. Blood bags weren’t always accessible or enjoyable, and for many of us, feeding on unwilling humans was too barbaric to carry out, no matter how fiercely our primitive urges drove us to hunt and kill.
&n
bsp; The young lady managed to get herself to the hallway and in the direction of my mansion’s kitchen. She was sure to be dizzy come dawn. I winced at the thought, wiping the corners of my mouth with a handkerchief. It had been over three hundred and fifty years since I was turned, and I still didn’t have a taste for blood. I gave up on trying to get used to this repulsive need to feed a long time ago. Aside from it puffing up my dead tissues to make me look living again, there weren’t any other benefits, and certainly nothing about it pleased my pallet. I heard her exchange pleasantries with one of my servants, and I relaxed. Good. As long as she was in their hands, I wouldn’t have to worry about her getting home. My driver would take her back to Red Ridge, less than half an hour away, once she was more herself.
Usually, I wouldn’t indulge in taking sustenance from a human. I stuck to a large stock of fresh blood bags that I was able to secure from a local hospital—as long as I kept up with my donation checks—so the cooler in the basement was ready whenever I needed a meal. This weekend coming up was different. On Saturday, I would be best man at a friend’s wedding, which in itself was not of serious consequence. I was happy for my most trusted friend, Axe, a bear shifter in the Beartooth Brotherhood Motorcycle Club. He was getting married to his human girlfriend, Angel. The real problem was they were getting married on Halloween weekend—in Las Vegas.
A shifter-human wedding. On Halloween. In Vegas.
With a full moon coming.
And I was best man.
A vampire.
What was wrong with that?
Everything.
Which was why I needed to feed on the Gentry’s warm, rich blood. Feeding on a live being was most effective in sating my hunger, so doing it now would keep me strong while I walked among humans. I could only hope to avoid all wolf shifters, werewolves and hunters this weekend. A smirk rose up on my lips as I thought of what Axe’s MC President, Silas, thought about my chances of getting through the Halloween weekend unscathed.
According to him, I was already fucked.
2
Sonya
My phone rang the second I stepped off the plane and walked into the airport terminal. After traveling for almost twelve hours across nine time zones, I was beat. All I wanted was for Angel to pick me up and take me to the hotel so my body could adjust to the jetlag. So why was she phoning from her work phone line at this hour? Not a good sign.
“Hi Angel,” I answered. I got to one side of the large corridor to avoid the surge of the international arrivals crowd, all rushing to get through customs and immigration.
“Hi Sonya. How was your flight?”
“Uneventful. I just landed. I’m heading over to get my luggage now.”
“Awesome.”
“Angel, hun, please tell me you’ve swapped your work number with your cell phone, and that you’re just outside the arrivals level waiting for me.”
“Yeah, not quite. About that…”
“You’re late, aren’t you?”
“Sorry hun. I was all set to be there at two in the afternoon. I even took the day off. But remember Pattie-Jean in Archives? I think I told you she’s pregnant with twins?”
“Yes. What about her? Oh, did she go into labor already?”
“She wasn’t due for two more weeks, but her babies came last night. Don’t worry, the newborns and mommy are doing well, but I’m covering her hours until four today.”
“I’m glad to hear they’re well, hun. That’s okay, hun. I think I can manage.”
“I’ll be at the hotel by dinner hour at the latest.”
“No worries. I’ll get a cab to the hotel. The Strip is less than fifteen minutes away.”
“No no. Don’t do that. I’ve already arranged a ride for you.”
“Oh, that’s great! I’m so beat, I can use all the help I can get with my luggage.”
“How much did you bring? It’s only a weekend, you know.”
“Trust me, I know. Get this. The big boss decided to wait until two days ago to tell me he was relocating me from Bulgaria to … wait for it … to Wyoming.”
“What?”
“I had precisely a day and a half to pack up all my worldly belongings to bring with me … which you know isn’t much, but it’s more than two suitcases.”
“Wow. Where in Wyoming?”
“The Killpecker Sand Dunes, but I’ll be stationed in Rock Springs.”
“That’s not too far from me.”
“Well, it’s eight or so hours’ drive from Red Ridge.”
“That’s way better than before. You’re two states over, instead of two continents. I think it’s great.”
“It is. I’ve missed you guys. I missed my pack too, but definitely you and my brothers.”
“So no more puberty karma, then.”
“It’s Pobiti Kamani, Angel,” I told her, giggling for a second at her pronunciation. “And that’s right. No more Eastern Europe desert stints for a while.”
“I never understood why an American forestry company even has employees like you working out in Eastern Europe to begin with.”
“Conservation Science has no real boundaries, hun. We’re losing forests all over the world, and studying deserts give us some insight into how to use land spaces, and protect forests and the environment at the same time. I probably wouldn’t have to leave Europe at all if it weren’t for all the instability in the area.”
“I hear you, but I’m still glad you’ll be closer. More girl time for us. So anyway, Axe’s best man should already be at the airport to pick you up.”
“Uh, Axe’s friends? I’m not so sure that’s a good idea.”
“Why not? You don’t know any of Axe’s friends.”
“True, but Axe is a bear shifter. We wolves aren’t huge fans of bear shifters … and vice versa.”
“The best man isn’t a shifter at all.”
“He’s not?”
“Nope.”
“What is he, then? A regular old human like you?”
“Honey, I’ll have you know that I’m neither regular nor old,” she joked. “About the best man, his name is Vincent. Is it okay if I text you each other’s numbers so he can tell you where in arrivals to meet him?”
“Sure,” I told her, noticing that she had neglected to give me a firm answer to my question on what Vincent was. Still, although I’d brought it up, I wasn’t up for extending this conversation about supernatural or preternatural beings on my cell phone while I was standing in an airport terminal.
“Great. He’ll be in touch soon. He can also get you settled in at the hotel.”
“Aren’t the reservations in your name?”
“They are, but … Vincent … he owns the hotel. Well, the chain.”
“He owns the Regal Mount hotels? The five-star chain with hundreds of locations worldwide? And he’s Axe’s friend? Strange.”
“Yeah. He’s a nice guy too. We’ll get the formal introductions all sorted out when Axe and I get there this evening, okay?”
“Sounds good. Oh my gosh, Angel. You’re getting married tomorrow! Do you need me to work on anything when I get in?”
“No, sweetie. You’re off the hook. It’s a tight schedule, but everything’s set. Tonight, we’ll have dinner and get the families together. Tomorrow morning, we’ll make a quick stop at the chapel and hotel ballroom to make sure everything is ready for the wedding and reception. After that, we’ve got a few hours at the spa for hair, makeup, massages … the works. We’ll have a couple of hours to get me in my gown, then the ceremony, pictures and the reception back at the hotel.” She took a breath. “Easy as pie, right?”
“Wow. That’s a lot to do in precious little time.”
“It is. Be glad that we got the shopping for your bridesmaid’s dress out of the way.”
“No kidding. I still don’t know how that online bridal site did such a great job on it. It fits like a glove.”
“It’s the magic of internet shopping.”
“For sure. Hey,
what about the bachelorette and bachelor parties?”
“The bachelor party was last night. Axe decided to get wild and crazy at the clubhouse. He’s not too keen on mixing booze and bears here in the city.”
“I’d bet.”
“So you and I have to fit something in … tonight after dinner.” She chuckled. “Are you ready for male stripper dick in your face?”
“Uh … I’ll let you take the hot seat. It’s your night! And I’ve got a stack of dollar bills all ready for whatever you want.”
“I’ll be sure to put it to good use.”
“I have to say … the guilt is getting to me that I couldn’t do more. I mean, this has probably been the easiest maid of honor job in the world.”
“Don’t worry. I’m just glad you could make it from Siberia to be here.”
“Bulgaria, but whatever. The spa sounds perfect. I still can’t believe it, hun. I’m so happy your wedding day is almost here!”
“I’m relieved to hear you say that, hun. I know I was adamant about having this ceremony on Halloween—”
“And on a full moon, hun. In Vegas, no less.”
“Yeah. It’s just the weekend means a lot to me … you know … with Dad.”
“No need to explain, love,” I told her, already hearing the sadness in her voice. She had lost her father just days before Halloween when she was only five. That was the only year we didn’t go trick or treating. Every Halloween after that sad day was more of a memorial to his memory.
“Thanks, hun… If it’s any consolation, Axe is more anxious about it than you.”
“I’d bet. We need to make sure no one shifts by accident tomorrow is all. Sure, it’s Halloween, but hell, a pack of bears roaming the Strip with a few humans and a lone wolf, let’s just say it does not make for convincing costumes.”
She chuckled, and I could picture her smiling face from the gregarious sound. “Maybe I’ll dress like a circus animal tamer, complete with a whip and one of those unicycles for Axe to ride.”
Bruised MC Bear (Beartooth Brotherhood MC Book 3) Page 17
