by Aliya DalRae
She reached for his waistband, deftly worked the button and zipper, and he gasped when she slid her hand inside. She wrapped her long, graceful fingers around him, squeezing as she slid her thumb across his head. “What must I do to divest you of your clothes?” she gasped.
Nox growled as she continued to tease him. “You first,” he said, eager to see all of her bared before him.
He leaned her back and fumbled with her snaps and zipper, slid her pants down her legs, and grabbed her shoes at the heels on the way, removing everything at once. And there she was, beautiful, naked, her pale skin shimmering in the moonlight, her fiery red hair a tangled pool of flame that framed her perfect face. He paused a moment to admire her, but when she placed the hand she’d removed from his pants between her own legs and groaned, it was back to business. No way he would let this picture of perfection pleasure herself. Not tonight. Tonight, she was his to gratify.
Nox stood quickly to rid himself of his clothing and knelt between her legs in a heartbeat. He gently removed her hand from his treasure and slipped her fingers into his mouth one at a time. His cock jerked when he tasted her essence, begging to get in on the action, but Nox wasn’t quite ready for that.
He wanted to see this beauty undone.
He lowered himself to her breasts again, taking his time as he reminded them that he was there. Rachel lifted her hips to him, silently begging, but he had other things in mind. He kissed his way down her belly, nipped at her hipbone, then stopped at the crown of that exquisite V.
“Nox, please,” she begged, her hands fisted in the blanket as she once again lifted her hips, offering herself to him.
He slowly kissed his way those few extra inches until he found the bounty he sought. She lay before him, open and quivering, slick with her wanting. He placed a finger inside her and she moaned, pushed herself against him until he removed it and placed it in his mouth. “Mmm.”
“Nox.”
She sounded so sweet, so desperate, and the little tastes he allowed himself were not enough. He wanted her on his tongue, in his mouth, and he wasted not a second more. He started at the back and laved her with his tongue, licking, consuming as she squirmed and begged. When he reached her clit, he wrapped his lips around her and sucked, rolling the sensitive nub around with his tongue.
Rachel gasped and bucked, but he held her in place, his hands on her ass. She was going nowhere until he’d had his fill. Way too soon, she cried out, slipped her hand in his hair and pulled him tight against her as she screamed her pleasure into the starry night.
When she collapsed in his hands, Nox licked her again, wanting more, but she screamed and pushed at him, denying him further exploration.
“Inside. Now.” She was gasping for air, but her desires were clear.
Nox slid up the length of her, pausing only to give those lovely breasts a nip and a suck. Then he kissed her, hard. She opened for him immediately, slipping her tongue into his mouth. She raised her hips to meet his, wrapped her legs around his ass, and slid all that wetness against his throbbing cock.
“Now, Nox,” she whispered against his mouth. “I need you, now.”
“Then now it will be,” he said. He angled his hips, slipped inside her and his world exploded. Surrounded by her heat, he knew that everything he’d experienced in his lifetime had led him to this moment. All the misery and pain, the despair—it was all part of a cosmic plan that would bring him here, naked and wanting in this private glade with a female he would love for the rest of eternity.
Rachel arched her back, pushed her hips against him, pulling him inside her until there was no distinguishing them as two separate entities. They were one, one being, one soul, and he would forever be bound to her.
Together they rode the wave of passion, the rise and fall of their bodies a tsunami of hope and acceptance. Of love.
Rachel sank her fangs into his neck, and that first pull nearly sent him over. She drank from him, as he’d longed for her to do, stopping only long enough to say, “Take my vein, Nox. Take it because you want it, not to heal you, but to Link us together.”
Then she was back at his throat. He thought of her blood, the taste of it, the magic, and he could not resist the offer. With a deep thrust and a mighty roar, he bit her, sharp fangs sinking into silken flesh. She groaned against his skin, her lips working his vein as her core tightened around him, and together they slipped over the edge, falling, tumbling into an abyss of ecstasy that left them trembling in each other’s arms.
Rachel nuzzled his neck, licked at his vein, and Nox realized he’d been wrong before. This was his true heaven.
Chapter Forty-Eight
T hey walked back to the inn arm in arm. The moon had reached her zenith hours ago and even now sought to end her journey at the horizon’s edge, forcing them to abandon their love nest and return to the real world. They’d made love several times, pausing long enough to feed each other from the basket the proprietor’s wife had provided, to sip wine straight from the bottle. Then they devoured each other, consuming flesh and blood in an erotic dance that neither would soon forget.
“So, what now?” Rachel asked, the picnic basket swinging in her free hand.
“Now, I will take you to my bed…”
Rachel groaned, but squeezed his waist, and Nox laughed.
“I will take you to my bed where we will sleep until the sun sets again. You, my lady, have worn me out.” He kissed the top of her head as they stepped off the path and into the inn’s manicured garden.
“You’re not the only one tuckered out,” she smiled, but it was a pale representation of the emotions running through her.
She’d loved her husband, her human mate, more than life itself. He’d been the center of her world for decades, their devotion for each other incomparable. But he was also stubborn, refusing to accept her offer to change him. Unlike human women, a Vampire could turn a human male, and though his life span might not have equaled that of a born Vampire, their time together could have been extensive. But he insisted that he was born with an expiration date, and he didn’t want to tempt fate by trying to change that. Because she loved him, she allowed him to choose, but that did nothing to alleviate the unquenchable sorrow she felt when he died.
The day she laid him to rest, buried him in accordance with his beliefs and practices, she’d vowed never to give her heart to another. There was no way she could put herself through that kind of pain again. As Vampires were in short supply in Detroit, at least any she would deem appropriate mates, she promised herself a life of solitude.
And she’d been happy. Leave it to her brother to screw all that up. Had he never visited her, she would have been content to live out her days in her dead husband’s mansion, a recluse. But Harrier had needed her, their niece had needed her. She supposed she would have to thank them both somewhere along the way.
Nox stopped and turned her to face him. “In case I didn’t mention it, I love you, Rachel.”
She looked into his eye, so sincere, and she felt the tug on her heart, that little pull that told her she had found her home. Not in Maine, of course, but in this male. This gorgeous, strong, beautifully flawed male. “I love you, too, Nox.” She stood on her toes and kissed him lightly on the lips. “Always.”
He smiled and took the basket from her, which now held empty containers and a very rumpled blanket. “I’ll return this to the mistress of the house,” he said. “And I’ll meet you at your room. Be prepared to join me in mine.”
He kissed her again and set off for the kitchen.
Rachel stood in the garden for a moment, overwhelmed by the love she felt, and the direction her life had taken. She stared into the sky at the multitude of stars twinkling above, and marveled that she could be this lucky twice in her life. Only this time, she would get to grow old with her mate, in their own time, together.
You should get moving, Nox’s voice sounded in her head, and she smiled. If I arrive before you, I might become agitated. If I become agit
ated, I might have to work off the tension in some way. And by some way, I mean by fucking you until you scream my name so loudly, it wakes the entire house, so...
Fear not, male of mine. I’m on my way. Only, perhaps I wouldn’t mind so much if you were a tiny bit agitated.
His laugh tickled her mind, and it was with true joy in her heart that she ascended the stairs to her room. Once there, she contemplated the ins and outs of agitating her lover. In the end she hid around the corner and waited.
Chapter Forty-Nine
W hile Mason and Harrier had no problem returning to Ohio in the helicopter that had come to their rescue, Nox didn’t share their enthusiasm for another flight so soon. The proprietor at the inn was happy to loan them an old Lincoln he’d had retrofitted with sun proof windows for their return trip, and Nox jumped at the offer. Rachel whispered “Where you go I go” in his ear, and that settled it. Raven and Jessica opted for ground travel as well, and while Nox would have been thrilled to spend eight or ten hours alone with his mate, he understood their reluctance.
Rebecca, for whatever reason, chose to forgo a long car ride with her sister and fly to Ohio with the others. Rachel said she’d always been closer to Harrier, but the way that female went on about the crash, Nox would have expected Rebecca to walk the entire way home before flying again.
Rachel also reminded him how high maintenance her sister was, so they celebrated the potential for a ride with very few stops.
Of course, they’d forgotten about Jessica. She was seven months pregnant, which Nox learned was the equivalent of having your bladder shrunk to the size of a pea.
Despite their hourly bathroom stops, the ride home was pleasant, and managed mostly in the dark. Once they pulled into the garage underneath the Compound, Raven and Nox both let out identical sighs. It was good to be home.
They walked to the elevator, light on luggage as it was all at the bottom of the Atlantic, but heavy on love, both couples more than thrilled to be back on their own turf.
As they exited the garage elevator and waited for the residential lift, Nox couldn’t stop staring at Rachel, still amazed that she was willing to call this one-eyed broken Vampire her mate. They were all smiles until the elevator doors opened and Rachel’s face fell. Nox looked up to find two very disgruntled tween-agers parked on the lift floor.
Talon and Phire jumped to their feet the minute they saw them, their faces stained with the remnants of tears. “How could you?” Phire stared at Rachel, the look in her eyes all the accusation one needed to know what she meant.
“We’ll…take the next one,” Jessica said and pulled Raven back with a not-our-problem look.
“Good luck,” Raven said to Nox as the elevator doors closed them in with the young.
Talon stood in the corner, his arms folded across his chest, his face a picture of betrayal. “We thought you loved us,” he whispered to the floor, refusing to look at his aunt.
“You said we could stay with you forever.” Phire was falling more toward angry. “You said this was our home and that we’d never have to leave. You said you loved us, like we were your own.”
Rachel dropped Nox’s hand and knelt before Phire. “All of those things are still true.”
“Not according to Her,” Talon spoke to the mirrored wall. “She said She’d come for us, that this was just a vacation and She was back to be our mother again.”
Nox could feel the anger seething through Rachel. He didn’t need that special connection they shared to know that Rebecca was going to get her eyes scratched out. There were two things in Rachel’s life you didn’t mess with, and they were both standing in the elevator. She reached for Talon and pulled him to stand beside Phire as she took the girl’s hand.
“First of all, I’m sorry I wasn’t here when she arrived. We’d agreed to meet with you together first. I should have known better than to trust her. This was not the way I wanted you to find out she was here. Second, you aren’t going anywhere. I can’t fight the fact that she gave birth to you, but if she thinks she’s going to leave here with you, she’s sorely mistaken. I will fight her for you, for both of you,” she said, looking each in the eye in turn. “If she wants a relationship with you, and that’s something you can abide, we’ll work something out. But as far as I’m concerned, you are mine, and I will always fight for what belongs to me.” Rachel looked up at Nox, caught his eye, and said. “Always.”
The elevator had made its ascent and opened up on their floor. Nox held the door for them and Rachel coaxed the kids from the little box of a room. “You promise?” Talon asked, and Rachel took them both into her arms.
“I not only promise, I will swear an oath to it.”
Both children threw their arms around Rachel, and when his eye met hers, he knew he was looking at his new family. Not just her, but the kids as well.
And Nox really, really liked what he saw.
They covered the short distance to the suite together, though the children dragged their feet, stalling to avoid the inevitable. When they reached the door, Phire took a deep breath and said, “Well, I guess it’s now or never.” She reached for the door knob, then stopped and turned to face Nox and Rachel.
“Wait a minute.” She looked from one to the other of them, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Were you holding hands?”
Nox smiled as the blood rose in Rachel’s face. He stepped through them to open the door and winked at Phire on the way by. He figured the confrontation between his love and her sister wouldn’t be pleasant, but the smile on Phire’s face was enough to convince him it would all be worth it in the end.
Chapter Fifty
R achel woke with a strong body wrapped around her and a need for so much more. She turned in Nox’s arms, and he eased his hold enough to allow the change in position, but not enough for her to get away. As if she would want to.
With her face against his chest, her arm slung over his waist, she cuddled closer to him as he re-secured his embrace. She could stay like this forever, and if there were any kind of gods out there, she would. She nuzzled his shoulder, kissed him there, then nipped him ever so lightly. His soft groan made her grin.
The confrontation with Rebecca had not been pleasant, but in the end her sister had capitulated and agreed to leave the children alone if Rachel wasn’t there to supervise. The kids seemed good with that arrangement, and though Rebecca left without too much grumbling, Rachel feared the struggle wasn’t over. It was a horrible situation for the twins and she hated it for them, but it was something they would all have to learn to live with.
Once she was sure her sister was gone, she and Nox gave the kids instructions to bar the door with furniture if they had to, but to let no one in until they returned. Phire grinned like a Cheshire cat, being way too smart for her own good, and they both promised to brush their teeth and go to bed early. Rachel doubted that last part, but they were good kids. They’d be fine.
The minute the door closed behind them Nox picked her up, practically threw her over his shoulder, and carried her off to his suite two floors up. They spent the day in each other’s arms, alternating wild monkey sex with bouts of rejuvenating sleep. By her calculations, the current sleep portion neared its end, and sex was definitely on the agenda.
She bit him again, this time a little harder.
Nox growled. “Female,” he whispered, “you’ll be the death of me. You do realize we can have wild monkey sex for the rest of our lives?”
Rachel laughed. “Of course I do, but I want it now.” Her eyes sparked, and emerald light filled the room as she kissed her way down his chest, tickled her tongue along his happy trail, then pulled his already impressive erection into her greedy mouth.
Nox groaned, this time with pleasure, as he raised his hips to meet her lips. She looked up the length of him, all that hard muscle and soft skin, and it nearly took her breath away. His hands were in his hair, fisting handfuls of inky silk, and she envied him that sensation. She wanted to feel all of him, all at
once, every moment of every day. He wore a patch over his ruined eye, even though Rachel insisted it wasn’t necessary, not when they were in bed, but he was adamant. She hoped that one day he wouldn’t be self-conscious of his scars, but that was a battle for another time.
Right now, she wanted all that hard and hot somewhere else. Nox groaned when she released him from her mouth, but those groans turned feverish when she straddled his hips and slipped him inside her. He sat up, gripped her ass as she wrapped her legs around him. He thrust his hips up again, drove himself deeper, and claimed her lips in a hungry kiss.
“Mine.”
Epilogue
S eptember gave way to October, with the humans beginning their descent into the holiday season. They tried to convince themselves that it started with Thanksgiving, but Nox new better. Halloween was the true beginning and based on the level of decorations popping up all over Fallen Cross, he believed it to be bigger than the other two holidays combined.
On his last patrol, Nox realized that an entire year had passed since Helmut Fuhrmann first brought him and his brood to Fallen Cross, to destroy the very people he now lived with, loved. It was difficult wrapping his mind around it now, the person he’d been, the things he’d been forced to do, all just a few short months ago. Most of the time, he didn’t even try.
With his legs stretched out in front of him, Nox lounged on a deck chaise he’d pulled into the shadows to get away from the ruckus of the end-of-the-season party Jessica decided was in order. She’d taken to calling it a Survivor Party and had arranged the whole thing in order to celebrate all of them being alive and together in one place. Generally, these sorts of deals were held at her farmhouse, but Raven said she wanted to include everyone this time, Soldiers too.
So, while Nox, Raven, the Warriors and their mates hung out on the deck behind the Legion Manse, a horde of Soldiers shouted and cheered from the barracks courtyard a half mile away in the depths of the Compound. If their party was anything like what Nox and the others enjoyed, there would be a ton of food, games, and music.
