by Eve Newton
“You’re adorable,” I reply, kissing her nose. “Enjoy your midnight swim?”
She frowns. “How do you know about that?”
“I wasn't spying on you if that’s what you’re insinuating,” I chide her, not insulted. “But you snuck out of here for a while and came back smelling clean and fresh and of the outdoors.”
“Eww, gross!” she shrieks, sitting up and bashing me in the chest as I laugh. “Are you saying I stank when I left? Fucking Vampire senses!”
“The scent of blood, sweat and cum was all over you. It was highly erotic.”
“So, you’re saying you prefer me smelly?” she asks, scrunching up her cute nose.
“I don’t care what you smell like or how you look,” I reply, taking in her wild, tangled hair. “You are perfect any which way.”
Her horrified look when she shoves her hand into the wild curls makes me guffaw and sit up. I plant my feet on the floor and lean forward to dig through my jeans pocket for a pack of smokes. “You mind?” I ask, holding them up.
She shakes her head, climbing off the bed to examine her reflection in the huge, mirrored doors of the closets. “I look like an absolute mess. This is what you get when my hair dries naturally, in bed.”
“You are stunning, Strawberries, don’t fret,” I say, pulling the lighter out of the other pocket and sticking the cigarette in my mouth, ready to light up.
“Where’s Lloyd?” she asks, looking around.
“He had something to do,” I say vaguely. I’m not going to be the one responsible for telling her what I overheard, not spying, I might add. I can’t help my super hearing and seriously, those arseholes should try to remember if they’re having whispered convos on the stairs.
“Oh,” she says, slightly disappointed but doesn’t question it, thank fuck.
She sidles over to the window that looks out over the side grounds with a sly look. She throws the heavy curtains open, drowning her naked body in sunlight.
“Come to me,” she purrs.
I swallow and stand up. I’ve been dreading this moment. I’ve been set on fire by the sunlight before and it wasn’t to my liking. I’m not eager to repeat the experience. I clench my fist, feeling the ring dig into my skin.
Lilith reaches up to tweak her nipples, letting out a little moan of pleasure.
“You don’t play fair,” I point out, taking the still unlit cigarette out of my mouth and throwing it on the nightstand. I approach her cautiously. I hover on the very edge of the patch of sunlight. Lilith is within arm’s reach of me, naked, gorgeous, inviting me to step into the light and ravage her.
I hesitate, frozen by a fear that is unnatural to me. It’s like standing on the edge of a cliff shrouded in a fog so thick you can’t see your hand held up in front of your face. You don’t know if the next step will have you plummeting to your painful demise or if you’ll have missed the bullet in the game of cliffy Russian Roulette.
“Don’t you want me?” she pouts, upping her torment of me by dropping her hands to her pussy and sliding her fingers through her lower lips and over her clit.
“Fuck, love. You have a lot of faith in this trinket.”
“My mother wouldn’t let you burn,” she murmurs, circling her clit, her breathing getting slightly heavier as she turns herself on.
“Fuck this,” I growl and take a giant step into the sunlight, with a roar of either victory or death. I grab her upper arms and slam her against the window, dragging her leg up to wrap around my waist, and impaling her on my cock.
“Fuck!” she cries. “Yes!”
I pound into her, the fear I felt melting away in her soft, wet heat.
“Lily!” I groan and shoot my load quickly out of pure relief of not being on fire.
She gasps and wedges her hand between us and onto her clit to bring herself the climax that she promised herself earlier and that I failed to deliver. She shudders in my arms, her eyes closed in bliss as the orgasm courses through her.
“You are the most exquisite creature when you do that,” I murmur, twisting my fingers into her tangled hair.
She giggles breathlessly. “I prefer it when you do it to me,” she chides gently.
“Sorry, I couldn’t help myself,” I say, lifting her up off my cock and setting her on her feet next to me.
“How does it feel?” she asks, gesturing to the window.
“Bright,” I complain, squinting my eyes. “Strange and bright.”
“But, yay! You are now past your limitation.”
“Yeah. I’m going to get showered and changed. I’ll leave you to sort that mess out.” I wave my hand at her hair with a soft smirk.
“You ass!” she shrieks and runs to the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.
I silently leave her room and slip into mine next door. It is completely dark which soothes the ache in my eyes from the sunlight. It’s been an inordinate amount of time since I could stand in the sun and not burn. The uncertainty is there now over whether it is something that I truly want for me, and not because of Lilith. I know I have to do this to be there for her when she needs me. I can’t be hiding in the shadows if she is in trouble, that much is clear.
My thoughts are interrupted by my phone buzzing in the nightstand drawer. I frown and cross over. There is only one being who knows the number to that phone that is still alive and I’d rather it be one of the dead ones who was calling than my sire.
“Jules,” I answer shortly. “What do you want?”
“Ax,” she purrs. “Is that anyway to speak to the woman who made you?”
I roll my eyes and bite back the acerbic comment. I was over this shit decades ago, but she hangs onto the sire bond as if her life depended on it. I know I lied to Lilith before about not having anyone she need be concerned about, but Julia is just something I don’t want to think about right now.
“Need you to speed up the reason for this call, Jules, I’ve got shit to do,” I say, sitting on the bed and leaning my elbows on my knees.
She heaves a theatrical sigh that is so like her. Italian, gorgeous, fiery and a flare for the dramatic that would make the Royal Shakespeare Company go green with envy. “I miss you. Where are you?” she whines.
“Nowhere you can find me,” I state.
“That is just…rude!” she spits out her temper flaring suddenly as it does, before it goes back down. “I want you.”
“Sorry, love but we are done. Completely and for good this time. Don’t call me again,” I inform her and pull the phone back to hang up, hearing her screech, “Who the fuck is she? I’ll rip her insides…”
“Bye, bitch,” I mutter and end the call. I’m too on edge to deal with her. This spell is looming, me being outside under the actual fucking sun at noon is only a few hours away and if Mason and Lloyd’s conversation is anything to go off, we are in for a world of shit headed our way. Lilith won’t let Mason be the center and he won’t let her. It’s going to be a Mexican stand-off with me stuck in the middle but firmly on Mason’s side. No offense to the dick, but I’d much rather he dies than Lilith, if that’s what it’s going to come to. I grimace at the phone as it vibrates again and then I switch it off. For good measure, I take it into the bathroom and throw it in the basin with the plug in and turn the taps on. The phone buzzes, gurgles and then crashes, leaving me with a sense of relief that Julia isn’t going to keep harassing me, something that I already know will piss Lilith off if she finds out. No way is she fucking this up for me before we’ve even really begun. However, I also know my sire. She will track me down and I’ll be expecting her to land on the mansion driveway in a few weeks’ time.
Shit for another day.
Today we have enough to deal with and whatever has gotten Julia off her arse to call me for the first time in months is something that can be dealt with another time when we’ve kicked some Hunter arse and wiped out as much of this threat as we can.
Chapter 39
Lilith
After a quick shower, I dry off and stare i
nto my closet for something spell appropriate to wear. I decide on a pair of black jeans, a loose, off the shoulder top and black ankle boots. I don’t know why; I have a feeling in the pit of my stomach that things might go sideways. Philip has been in my head, and if it’s anything to go off, Mason’s as well. He could know about the spell for all we know.
A few minutes later, after tying my hair up into a messy bun, a style I rarely use but want my hair off my face today, I make my way downstairs to the kitchen. I’m hungry for blood and it’s making me edgy.
I reach into the fridge for a bottle and then blast it in the microwave for a few seconds just to take the chill off. Leaning against the kitchen counter, I take a small sip, relishing the flavor, wishing that I could hunt with Axl again.
All is quiet in the mansion for a change. Everybody is probably nervous about this spell and its repercussions. I know I am. So, I’m startled when the kitchen door opens and Mason strides in, coming to a dead stop when he sees me.
“Hey,” he says, his eyes lingering on the blood bottle for a second.
“Hey,” I mutter. “Listen, Mason, about last night…”
“None of my business,” he says, holding his hands up and backing away a step. “What you do with your boyfriends is up to you.”
“Erm, what?” I stammer, my cheeks heating up when I realize that he somehow knows about me, Lloyd and Axl and what we got up to a few hours ago.
“What?” he stutters back, looking horrified as if he just stepped in a huge pile of dog shit.
“I meant about Philip and what I said about turning him to our side!” I exclaim and turn around, throwing the empty bottle into the sink as I will my cheeks to deflame. Fuck, how is it that this man as the capability to turn me into a blithering idiot?
“I know you have your reservations…”
“No, it’s a good idea,” he says quickly, interrupting me again. “He is…”
“He is what?” I ask quietly.
“Starting to see things differently, I think. I don’t know what happened to him, it’s weird.”
I lick my lips, my nipples going hard at the memory of Philip’s blade brushing past my skin as he sliced my t-shirt open.
“Hmm,” I murmur and then gasp as Mason steps up right behind me.
I close my eyes when he places his hands on my shoulders, his skin hot against my bare left one. I want so badly to turn into his arms and kiss him, it’s clawing at me, but I’ve thrown myself at him and been rejected enough for one lifetime. He’s explained he’s not ready and I have to accept that. He trails his hands down my arms, lightly skimming over my heated skin. I stand completely still. Something has caught his attention and made him respond to me in this way. I wouldn’t move an inch even if Philip had a stake pressed against my heart.
“Lilith,” he breathes in my ear before his lips pass over the nape of my neck, making me shiver in rapture. With more pressure, he grabs my hips and pulls me back into him, grinding his very erect cock against my backside.
“Ah,” I moan.
He flicks his tongue out to lick me quickly before he growls, “You are mine.”
He steps back and I spin, not ready to let him go yet, but he’s gone, through the kitchen door.
I know I shouldn’t go after him but what just happened has changed things. I touch my fingertips to the base of my neck where he licked me, feeling the tingle skitter across my skin. I gasp when the realization hits me. He responded to the crescent moon shaped birthmark on the back of my neck. He saw it and he knew it meant something. Something deeper than being just Fated Mates. His body reacted instantly and instinctually when he saw it. He wouldn’t have known it was there before. I barely remember it because it’s on the back of my neck and almost always covered by my blonde waves.
“Fuck this,” I mutter and lunge for the door, shoving it open and running through the dining room to catch up with him.
“Mason, wait!” I call out, seeing him open the front door and step outside. Using my Vampire speed, I burst through the doors out into the grounds to see him in the distance, stripping off, preparing to shift.
“Mason! Wait!” I shout again.
He turns to me, his face etched with so much torment and pain, yet the heat and desire in his eyes is overwhelming. I falter. Whatever the birthmark means to him, he still isn’t ready to be with me, but if I had any doubts, he has given me everything I need to know with the three possessive words he growled. I am his. I just have to be patient and wait for him to come to me.
I clutch the neckline of my top in a death grip and back away, letting him know that I’m not coming after him. His face softens slightly but then he turns and shifts to his Wolf form, bounding off in the opposite direction. I know in my heart that this birthmark is something to do with my Wolf form. When all of this spell thing is over, I need to do some digging into the history of my great-grandmother, find out what all of this means. And maybe, just maybe, I will ask Mason to help me try shifting. I must be able to, there must be some part of me that needs it even if I can’t recognize it yet.
Contemplatively, I walk back into the mansion and close the door behind me.
“Lilith,” Hannah’s voice cuts through my thoughts like ice. “You sure are collecting several men, aren’t you?”
“Hannah,” I growl, not in the mood for her shit. My gaze cuts over her face. She looks terrible, like she had the fight of her life and barely survived. “Are you okay?” I ask, switching my resentment for genuine concern.
“Please,” she scoffs. “Like you care. Save your false concern for those you can still fool with your good little girl act.”
I rear back as if slapped. “It’s not an act, of course I care, Hannah. You’re family.”
“Whatever,” she spits out. “You don’t give a flying fuck about anyone but yourself. Taking what you want, no matter who you hurt in the process.”
I grit my teeth, any worry I had for her flying out of the window at her harsh words. “You clearly don’t know the first thing about me,” I say steadily. “I didn’t steal Lloyd from you. You were through ages before we discovered our feelings for each other, so just don’t, okay? Not today.”
My heart is hammering, echoing in my head with every beat. I don’t need this bash to my confidence today, to what I think I know about myself. I’m a good person; I do care. She is being mean and hateful. I’m not a thoughtless asshole. I know I’m not.
“Oh, poor little girl,” she mocks me. “Some Queen,” she adds under her breath, sauntering away in the direction of the kitchen.
“Bitch,” I mutter and stalk through the drawing room and into my office. I slip inside and close the door, leaning my forehead against it and then jumping a mile as Uncle Jacob says my name.
“Fuck’s sake!” I grit out, turning around. “How did I not know you were in here?”
“Naturally cloaked,” he points out. “Remember?”
“Yeah, I forgot your need for subterfuge.”
“Ouch, Lil. Who bit you on the ass this morning? Wolfie not playing nice?” He grins at his own remark, but I just roll my eyes and make my way to my chair to sit down behind my desk. I glare at him sitting in the opposite chair. “What’s up?” I ask, stuffing pleasantries and diving straight in.
His face goes serious, making me groan.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, what’s up?”
“The spell,” he says. “We need to make a slight change. I’m here to convince you to just go with it and don’t interfere.”
“Well, gee, that doesn’t sound fucking ominous. C’mon, J. Spill it.”
He gives me a wry smile. “Shoulda known that wouldn’t be enough.”
“You know me better than anyone around here. All the details, please.”
He sighs and rubs his face with his hand. It’s only as he does this that I see how tired he is. Usually so full of energy, he looks completely drained.
I lean forward in the chair. “J? What’s going on?”
; “Your mother had a vision that you weren’t at the center of the circle,” he says steadily, too steadily, like it’s rehearsed.
“No?” I ask lightly. “Who then?”
“Mason,” he replies, only slightly avoiding my eyes.
I raise an eyebrow and purse my lips. “Oh? How come?”
“You know your mother’s visions. She sees what she sees, the interpretation is up for debate.”
I snort in agreement. “Okay, that’s true, but…something smells fishy here. What aren’t you telling me?”
“I’ve told you everything,” he says, but I know he’s lying. I know him about as well as anyone around here. He can fool those he isn’t close to, but those bright blue eyes are dull with this lie.
“How does this affect the spell?” I ask, seeing the relief on his face as I don’t appear to question him further about Mason’s involvement.
“It’s tricky but not impossible, being that you two are more than separate entities,” he says.
“What does that mean?” I ask with a frown.
“Fated,” he says shortly. “You are like puzzle pieces that fit together.”
I find it curious that he didn’t say something stupid like two halves of the same circle or whatever. He clearly knows way more than he’s letting on about this bond that Mason and I clearly share.
“And the rest of the puzzle?” I ask astutely, reading between the lines.
“Isn’t it obvious?” he asks with an uncomfortable laugh.
“Humph,” I mutter and look away, embarrassed everyone seems to know about my personal, i.e. sex, life around here.
“So, I’m not to interfere with this change? It kind of diminishes my role though, doesn’t it? I’m the Queen, the supposed center of this circle.”
“That’s something your ego is going to have to get over,” he says glibly.
“Nice,” I mutter. “Why don’t I just hand my crown over to Mason, make him King of all the World?”
“Snarky, I like it. But you aren’t exactly in a position to name him King of the World, Lil,” he says with a smirk which alters his features back to his usual confidence. It only convinces me more that something isn’t right, or at least something major is being left out of this conversation.
