Long Lost

by Sommer Marsden

  “I could go back there and check things out.”

  For some bizarre reason, the thought of him leaving me—even in Town, with a pack of shifters to watch out for me—made terror rear up in my chest. I shook my head. “Not without me.”

  “You’re not up to traveling now,” he said, looking away.

  “What? What am I an invalid? I’m fine.”

  I wasn’t fine. I was a mess, but I’d be filleted and sautéed before I’d admit it now.

  “You’ve just had a shock. A lot of changes and now this.” He leaned in and kissed my temple. I could tell there was more but he wasn’t telling me.

  “So?”

  “So, I talked to Tyler and he said no, but I’m going to talk to him again. And if need be, then I will simply have you talk to him.”

  I sighed, exasperated. “Talk to him about what, Ellis?”

  “Coming here.”

  I blinked at him as warm, bubbly water bobbed against my breasts. The sensation just from the lapping liquid set my entire body on aroused high alert. I was a pervert, apparently. But when he touched my neck, it got worse. The lust.

  “I want him to come here. To bring the sister. We can watch out for them here.”

  “All of them?” I asked, turning my cheek into his hand when he touched my face.

  “All of them,” he said, reading my mind. “Even the O’Dells. They can all come here until we can ensure their safety off premises.”

  “A vampire, a bear and three humans?” I asked.

  Ellis nodded. His hand slipped lower and he traced the rosy puckered flesh of my nipple. His eyes had gotten dark, his breathing louder. My pussy went soft and ready, my nipple hardened further under his touch.

  “Yes,” he said with a thick voice.

  “Sounds like the beginning of a joke, doesn’t it?”

  “Yes,” he said and took my hand to pull me up.

  I stood, letting him dry me with the towel, his mouth making wet trails immediately after the thick cotton dried me. Ellis settled me on the lip of the porcelain tub and spread my legs. His eyes ate me before his mouth ever touched me. He traced a fingertip along my pink, warm folds and when he slid a finger into me I said, “Take me to bed, Ellis.”

  “In a moment, dear,” he chuckled.

  He dropped to his knees right there in our tiny bathroom. His jeans stark faded blue against the red bathmat. He leaned in, sniffing me gently before pushing the rigid tip of his tongue to my pussy lips. He traced me, he licked me and finally, when I thought I would weep with need, he pushed his tongue to my clit and started to swirl it.

  My fingers curled along the cool edge of the tub as I held on. “Ellis—“

  “Shh,” he whispered against my flesh and the vibration of it all filled my pussy, warming my womb. I felt a tentative first flex of the orgasm to come. He licked me in earnest then, sucking the tender nub of my clit until I gasped.

  Another finger drove into me and he flexed those two patiently—perfectly—against my G-spot so that I chewed my lip to keep from coming. But he synched himself up—fingers and mouth and played me with masterful ease, thrusting his fingers deep and sucking wetly at my clitoris until I came with a sob.

  The orgasm seemed to go on forever. Every time I suspected the tail end of it coming, he nudged a tender bundle of nerves in my cunt and the next spasm hit. Finally, I begged him.

  “Take me to bed, Ellis, please.”

  “But it’s barely nine.”

  “I’m not interested in sleeping,” I said.

  “As you wish.” And then he picked me up caveman style and took me where I’d asked.

  Chapter 3

  When we hit the bed, me all damp and warm, him just downright hot, we both warred to get his pants undone.

  “Let me do it,” I said.

  “You’re too proper. You take too long.” He batted my hands away and got himself bare. All of him naked in front of me—tall and lean and muscled. He always stole my breath with his rugged beauty. As usual, jaw stubbled and with a lock of his too-long hair of indeterminate color in his eyes—he was gorgeous. That hair was a mix of red and blond and brown and it always made me want to touch it. Instead, I touched the hair of the same shade peppered along his broad chest and snug between his powerful thighs.

  His cock bobbed to meet my hand and I smiled and he laughed. “Eager,” he said.

  “Me, too.”

  We still craved each other as much as air and I hoped that never ended. I still woke up dreaming about him even though he was right next to me. And I had stopped dreaming as much of evil men cutting my head off with big knives. I shook the thought away, but at this point, Ellis knew me too well.

  He knew that gesture.

  “None of that in here,” he said. “You are safe, Little Bird.”

  At my nickname, I sobbed a bit. A nickname that he’d given me at our first meal together in my tiny kitchen back home. Where he ate with gusto and I tried to breathe, which seemed impossible at the time from being so close to him.

  “Come on.” He pressed his back to our headboard and guided me onto him so I was straddling his lap. Ellis drew the hot, silken head of his cock along my slick entrance and tugged my hips gently so that I lowered onto him.

  I held my breath, letting it out in little bits as I sank down on his hard length. When he was seated deep, he pushed his hands into my hair and we started to move. Lips locked in a sweet but brutal kiss as he thrust up with tempered force and I pushed down to get him deep. To hold him tight. To feel him in me all the way, filling me—body, soul, mind. When I came he grunted once and scraped his teeth over my pulse and then soothed that skin with a kiss, coming hard and long.

  “You are safe and they will be, too. We’ll work it out.”

  I pressed my forehead to his, his cock still in me, though softening. “I know,” I said. “I trust you.”

  “Hungry?” he asked. In the dark of our room I could still see the bright white flash of his sharp teeth.

  “How did you know?”

  My stomach rumbled. Loud.

  “I’m psychic?”

  “Good try,” I said. “But I believe Samuel said that was me.”

  And every day it seemed to be true. I felt things, knew things, sensed them. And I could feel a strange emotion drifting off my husband. Trepidation mixed with excitement mixed with pure unadulterated joy.

  Weird.

  * * * *

  The next morning I gave it a shot.

  “Tyler, listen to me.” I tried not to sigh or sound frustrated. He’d eat that up with a spoon. Deep down, Tyler would always be my best friend, but he had still yet to forgive me for leaving him to go and be with Ellis. I knew this as surely as I knew the snow was still falling.

  “We are not coming to you,” he said.

  I could picture him. Thin, pale, handsome face set in a stern stubborn look, dark chocolate locks around his sharp cheekbones. Almost too-red lips that always begged to be kissed. And a pissed-off expression.

  “Please, after what happened—”

  “No.”

  “ For Mr O’Dell. For Mrs O’Dell,” I begged. “She’s sick and she’s weak and…”

  “And we have Peabody’s cronies watching out and we have me. I know you’re married to the king of the world and whatnot, but I am still fairly powerful in my own right.”

  “I know that.”

  “Being a vampire and all,” he murmured.

  “I know that. But I can just tell…” I finally sighed.

  How did I tell him that I had dreamt of them coming again. For the sister this time. What was her name? Madeline? And they would try to kill her now that she was the only female on my premises. I dreamt it and still wasn’t sure at this point in my abilities if it was worry or prediction. Samuel had warned me it was hard at first…

  My stomach rippled with nausea and I wondered if it was stress or if it was a stomach bug. It was Christmas Eve of my first Christmas with Ellis. As Ruby and not Susan
my mind reminded me. I did not want to be sick.

  “Stop trying to push it, Ruby. I would die of the stench alone if I were there. Nothing but wet dog as far as the nose could smell.”

  “They are not dogs,” I breathed.

  Ellis walked in with two steaming mugs. “Tell him, if we’re dogs then he’s a leech,” he said conversationally.

  “Har, har, I heard that. Vampire ears and such.”

  “Stop it!” I roared and Ellis jumped. I even heard Tyler make a startled noise.

  I stood there, mouth open, eyes wide. Where the fuck had that come from? I could be hot headed but I wasn’t usually a knee-jerk shouter. Maybe it was my empathic evolution. I’d have to ask Samuel.

  No longer surprised, Ellis laughed like it was the funniest fucking thing ever and handed me a mug. “For you. Unless you want to slug me or something first.”

  I stuck my tongue out at him and he raised an eyebrow. Leaning in, he said right up against my ear. “Careful, Ruby, don’t stick that tongue out if you’re not going to use it.”

  “Hey!” Tyler barked. “I can hear that even if he whispers. Jesus. Yell all you want, Ruby Sue. We’re not coming.” He was no longer startled, just pissed.

  He hung up on me.

  “Damn it!” I said and sipped my tea. Then I yelped because it was scalding hot.

  “Um…careful, hot?” Ellis said.

  “He hung up on me.”

  “He’ll call back. He’ll get over it.”

  “I’m worried. This isn’t just about him and Peabody. There are humans involved in this. Normal ones!” I said.

  “Normal is relative,” Ellis chuckled. “But I know what you’re saying. He’ll change his mind. He’s stubborn and he’s still angry but he’s a good guy under it all. He won’t risk Madeline’s life or Mr and Mrs O’s for that matter.”

  I hoped he was right. We were expecting Samuel Soriano and Roberta from the Diner for Christmas Eve dinner. Maybe I could pick Samuel’s brain.

  Or maybe Tyler will call back…I thought it and felt it and then the phone rang.

  “See,” Ellis said and clicked the button to answer and handed the receiver to me.

  “Hello?”

  “We’ll be there,” Tyler growled. “They just ambushed the girl out front. They were making the rounds in Water Department uniforms. We can’t go around attacking public workers,” he grunted. “But we only smelled his rank canine nature when he was up close and attacking. We got to her in time.” He sighed mightily though he didn’t actually need to breathe at all. Then, “I need to talk to your pet puppy. I need directions.”

  “You do realize that Peabody is a bear? Not canine, but a shifter. An animal,” I reminded him, annoyed and a little hurt with Tyler’s attitude. Then I rolled my eyes and handed Ellis the phone and saw that he had his head cocked. Tyler wasn’t the only one with superb hearing.

  Ellis put the phone to his ear and gave me a cocky grin. “Woof,” he said.

  Chapter 4

  “Look at them all domestic and whatnot.”

  Samuel Soriano was the size of a small trailer and Samoan. He looked like a tan and jolly Santa Claus and when I saw him a rush of affection so great overtook me, I nearly wept. He grabbed me up in a bear hug and whispered in my ear, “It’s okay to get emotional, Ruby.”

  “Thank you,” I sighed and started weeping in earnest.

  Ellis looked up from where he was greeting Roberta, concerned.

  Samuel waved him off. “It’s okay. She’s got a lot of stuff coming at her at once.”

  Ellis nodded when I gave him a weak and watery smile. “I’m not crazy?” I whispered to Samuel.

  “No, Merry Christmas Eve, Ruby. You’re not crazy. You’re…becoming?”

  “That sounds creepy,” I laughed, wiping my eyes.

  “You’re absorbing your powers?”

  “Nope.”

  “How about reabsorbing?”

  I took his giant coat and poured him a nice glass of wine. He took it and winked. “You are maturing with magic?”

  That made me laugh. “Still no, but closer.” I started to pour myself wine but my stomach rolled over and I shivered.

  Right. Tea. Stupid nerves. I wouldn’t feel calm until Tyler, Peabody and Madeline showed up with the O’Dells. But truthfully, since I was dealing with Tyler, I probably wouldn’t feel calm then, just satisfied with their safety.

  “How are things?”

  “Horrible. But not with me and Ellis. That is…” I grinned like an idiot.

  “Great?”

  “Better than great. Awesome.”

  “Good, good,” he boomed. His stomach growled and we all looked up. Samuel was big. Big-big, but not fat.

  “Good lord,” Roberta said. “Come in here. Ruby has snacks laid out. Put something in that thing so it will be silent.”

  We all laughed but Ellis cleared his throat. “Um…Ruby?” he said.

  “He made the mozzarella, basil, prosciutto things. And he made that dip. And he made the fruit platter,” I said.

  Roberta—Bertie to Ellis—looked him up and down and said, “Well, will you look at him. This pretty thing comes along and makes an honest man out of ya and you go from Big Bad to Top Chef.”

  I snorted and then laughed for real when Ellis blushed. “Just eat,” he growled at Bertie but he smiled when she kissed his cheek.

  We all dug in. Well, not all of us. I didn’t. My stomach did not want food. It did not want wine. I just wanted to stop feeling so amped up. Ellis came up behind me and wrapped his arms to my waist, his fingers splayed low on my belly, the fingertips hovering a mere inch from some place I’d dearly like them to be even with a house full of visitors.

  “It will be fine,” he whispered in my ear as our guests chatted over appetizers. “They’ll get here. We’ll set them all up in a safe place. The girl will be looked over and Tyler will get over himself.”

  “God, I hope so.”

  “In the meantime, it’s going to take a few hours for them to get here. Especially in the snow. So calm down a little and try to relax. Okay, wife?”

  “Okay, husband,” I said, turning in the cage of his arms. I kissed him and let him hold me until that winged bird of anxiety in my chest settled down a little bit.

  “It’s okay, Little Bird,” he said.

  “I know.”

  * * * *

  We ate. Okay, they ate, I picked. Ellis did steaks and I had put together a loaded baked mashed potato dish that my mom had always made for Christmas. Mashed potatoes with cream cheese and sour cream and garlic, all baked with a thin layer of shredded cheddar on top. It was decadent and divine and one of my favorite foods ever and…it tasted like ash in my mouth. Instead of all the rich food around me I picked at fruit and watched Ellis watch me.

  “I’m fine. I’m just off. I think it’s all—”

  “Or it could be that you’re—” Ellis started.

  Samuel cut him off with a big booming laugh. “It’s not easy to come into your gifts. Add to that taking down the equivalent of a monster in these parts, getting married, being mated to an alpha and moving from your hometown…” Samuel downed the rest of his wine, his eyes flashing at Ellis and then at me as he smiled. “Gee, I have no idea why you’re stressed or tired or off.”

  Ellis gave a decisive nod. “Absolutely. Is there anything I can get you, Little Bird?”

  “Little Bird,” Bertie sighed. “My God. How freaking romantic is that?”

  Ellis blushed again and said noncommittally, “Yes, well…”

  I blushed too. “He called me that the first night he showed up at my apartment. Because he compared me to an innocent little bird. As if. But it stuck.” I fingered the gold cross at my throat. It was still the place holder for a wedding ring. Ellis had it in the works as he put it, but it wasn’t ready. The necklace had been mine as his former mate Susan, it had become his when Susan was killed, and when he found me again—this time as Ruby—he gave it back when he fell in love wi
th me. Again.

  Think reincarnation is tricky? Try being the reincarnated.

  “How sw—“

  Her words were interrupted by a very violent knock at the door. We all jumped, even Ellis who usually knew someone was coming from a mile away.

  All of him was focused on you. He missed it. Odd…

  Maybe it was just my adjustment to my gifts. Maybe it was distracting to everyone. Not just me.

  “That would be Tyler,” I sighed. “I’m surprised he didn’t just stick his fist through the door. Or rip it off its hinges.”

  “He smells angry,” Roberta said. “Good thing Ellis left word with the Town line guard to let him in. I wouldn’t have,” she laughed.

  “He’s really a good man…man person thing,” I sighed. “He’s a good friend. He’s just working through some stuff.”

  More banging and Ellis stalked toward the door, his lips set in a tight line.

  “Yeah, like your door,” Bertie said.

  We all turned to see them. One pissed off Tyler, one smiling Peabody, one terrified looking girl and the O’Dells. Mrs O’Dell actually wept when she saw me. I went to her, dropping to hug her where she sat perched in her new wheelchair.

  “Ruby, Ruby, Ruby,” she said. “Oh you are a sight for sore eyes.”

  “You too, Mrs O. We’ll take good care of you here.”

  “I’m worried about the girl. Her sister…oh, it was awful.”

  “I know,” I breathed.

  “They…they cut off her head,” she whispered to me.

  My face went numb, my lips cold, my insides slid around oily and slick. Little gems of light bloomed in my vision. Frank had cut my head off once. I knew the horror. “I know,” I tried to say.

  Then, Ellis was right there, pulling me back into a cross-legged position and tucking my head down low. “Breathe, Ruby.”

  I sat that way until the world stopped moving.

  Chapter 5

  “I didn’t mean to—”

  “It’s fine, Mrs O’Dell. She’s not feeling well is all.”

  “Oh that might not have been the best thing to say, was it?”