by Scott, Talyn
Molly cried out, babbling, though she hadn’t a clue what she was even saying.
“Perfect, lass,” Heath crooned, sucking her shoulder and emptying his semen inside her, after her ass fisted him tightly.
Ail’s claws sprang out, and he ran the backs over her nipples, spiraling her orgasm even higher. She shivered. “So good,” she was hoarse from her cries of pleasure. “So…good.”
Heath made this guttural sound as he slowly withdrew from her for the final time. “I waited centuries for that and it was worth every second I waited.”
“Speaking of waiting,” Ail said, still running the backs of his claws over her breasts. “I smell Dru waiting.”
Molly’s jaw nearly hit the bottom of the tub. “Are you shitting me? Dru heard?”
“Just on the very last,” Ail said, finally opening those navy blues. “But I wasn’t stopping that action for the world, Molly Ballbuster.”
Chapter Seventeen
“When you said that you were going to help me with my errand, I had no idea you were offering your vampiric taxi service,” Molly gasped as Dru released his bite. “Ow, that stings.”
“And I don’t want you riding in a car again, considering the questionable motives of the Gryphs, until this mess is resolved,” Dru replied, “and your males insisted I not make it a pleasurable trip.”
“You don’t need Dru’s endorphins runnin’ through your system when comin’ here, lass,” Heath explained, entwining his fingers with Molly’s as he looked around her old condominium. “That’s why it stings a bit.” They didn’t have long before Wilson came home from work, and Heath wanted to avoid a confrontation. Not because he couldn’t handle a mortal, just the opposite, he could handle him too well – would be sorely tempted to kill him on first sight. And Heath coupled with Ail would be something Wilson shouldn’t walk in on ever.
“You taste somewhat like Renee,” Dru said with a devious chuckle. “Yet you have a bitter edge, similar to an over-brewed espresso. I must say that you’re delicious, but there’s an undercurrent there of which I’m curious.”
Heath scowled. “Brother-n-law or not, I’ve claimed and marked her. Don’t be lookin’ at my lass with bloodlust in your eyes.” He took her other hand and wrapped her tiny fist with his palm. “And a vampire wouldn’t know the flavor of over-brewed espresso, if it bit his bloodthirsty arse.”
Dru laughed heartily. “I have a keen sense of smell. And bloodlust? Really, Highlander, I’m well fed. After all, I munch on werewolf blood daily.” Dru tilted his head, misting away. “I’ll be at the hospital. Call me when you three are ready.”
Ail wasted no time pointing an accusatory finger in her face. “I can’t believe you were going to come here by yourself.”
“I wasn’t.” Molly huffed, whacking his finger away. “I was going to convince the movers to come back with me. Conveniently, Dru read my mind! Picked my idea right from my head,” she said with a shudder.
Heath picked one horrifying thought out of that. “Movers…the humans?” he asked, gaping in disbelief. “Before Dru offered, you were trustin’ humans to protect you?”
Her brow furrowed. “You say humans the same way humans say dog shit, as if we’re something nasty to scrape off your shoe.”
“That’s not what I’m implyin’ and you know it,” Heath argued, hanging his thumb on his belt. His lip curled when her eyes followed his movement. “Remember that bath we just took.” When I claimed your lovely backside like no other.
“Stop,” she whispered, her cheeks taking on an extraordinary blush. He remembered her ass cheeks doing the very same thing.
“Stop what?” Ail stepped behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist.
“Nothing,” she whispered, leaning back against the sanctuary of his chest. “I can’t believe your brother, Mason, is going to load my stuff up in his truck. That’s imposing, don’t you think?”
“If it’s family, you can’t count it as imposin’,” Heath said, kissing her forehead.
“Seriously, you don’t need any of this stuff,” Ail explained evenly. “We can buy you anything that you want. Heath is so freaking old he can buy the world, and since I’m no longer considered a youngling, I get my trust money. And might I say, it’s a bitchin sum.” He shrugged. “What’s ours is yours.”
“This is my stuff!” Molly spun and stood on her tiptoes, trying to meet him nose-to-nose, but even in heels she skimmed Ail’s sternum. She was dressed back in Ail’s shirt and a pair of neon shorts Heath dug up from the gift shop at The Blue Pelican. Before he’d left Miami, he’d asked Tatum to make some phone calls to the local Sanibel Island shops, wanting Molly to have some nice things from her males. His only hope was that Molly wouldn’t create a ruckus when the gifts arrived.
“Mortals cling to their material possessions,” Heath tried explaining to Ail, but he saw the youngling’s Beta blood Beast flaring behind his navy blue eyes, pacing back and forth. Heath knew exactly what was happening. “Ail, she doesn’t realize that you -”
Keeping his eyes fixated on Molly, Ail cut him off, “Don’t want the stench of her ex-husband in our house, that’s what! Take the bare minimum, Molly. A memento…family heirloom, whatever, I can’t stay here for long.” His eyes flicked to Molly and Wilson’s former bed. “This place is getting to me. I swear the dickhead hasn’t changed the sheets since you’ve been here last. I can smell you! I sure as hell can smell him! It’s like he’s in the freaking room with us.”
“I didn’t ask you to come here,” she shot back.
“I told you. He’s been inside you.” Ail leaned down, pressing his forehead to hers. “Good Lord, you don’t know what that does to me…you couldn’t possibly.”
Molly stepped away. “Ail, a few nights ago, you were complaining about having to leave a pair of sure-things you lined up at Six Feet Under. You don’t hear me griping about your past lays.” She raised her hands in a helpless gesture. “Come on.”
“They weren’t you,” he breathed. “To me, no one’s you. You married this, this…” He pointed a shaking finger at the painting above their former marriage bed, depicting their entire wedding party, complete with Jayce and Tatum. “Human,” he sneered the word worse than Heath had, and she immediately bristled with indignation.
Heath couldn’t blame him there. He wanted nothing more than to literally piss circles around this particular bed, but they had to get a move on. Resigning to be the voice of reason, he said. “Pressure has a way of releasin’ itself at inopportune times. As of late, Molly has been through a lot. And, Ail, though you’re no longer called a youngling, you still are. So the urges you’re feelin’, even the unwarranted betrayal, are natural to our kind.”
“You’re not the only one having problems with being here,” she said in a ragged whisper.
Ail’s claws extended, his eyes meeting Heath’s for the briefest of seconds. There was something going on here, a smell, possibly a trail of power that wasn’t unfamiliar. And he had to figure it out. Discretely, he circled his finger in the air, letting Ail know to keep Molly talking.
Ail swallowed thickly. “Tell me about what happened with the dickhead.”
“Hasn’t Bane told you already?” she asked.
“All I know is that he broke your marriage vows, and Bane wants to kill him.” He kept his eyes on Molly while Heath misted about, his tracking senses on full alert.
Molly gritted her teeth. “The day before Arian brought me to Miami I walked in my husband banging his law partner across his desk. Talk about your working lunch. I stood there like a dumbstruck fool, staring on in horrified wonder, blinking rapidly as though the crude image before me would go away. Instead of disappearing, the whole scene moved from being grossly awkward to…” she stalled, tears slipping down her face.
“Release the pressure, Molly.” Heath misted next to her and stroked the column of her throat with one gentle finger, tamping the rage burning beneath her skin.
“Well, from that point, maybe
for a second or two, I went a little crazy. I mean…I cannot recall ever turning violent, but the lines between right and wrong went fuzzy. And…I distinctly remember using my husband’s stapler as a weapon of devious destruction.”
A bark of laughter escaped him. “Not to worry, tis expected of your blood.”
“Ouch.” Ail whistled low. “A typical reaction when it comes to our little Ballbuster. Go on, sweetheart.”
“After I left Wilson’s office, I wandered aimlessly, even stopping at the historical museum to check on a position, for which I applied. I didn’t want to go home so I then stopped at Sven’s Spa for a day treatment and fired up Wilson’s credit card. Second stop was next door at Six Feet Under, not that I ever fit in at the Goth bar. But that didn’t stop all the times Wilson brought me there. Anyway, that was the point, I wanted to escape, didn’t want to be bothered. Discretely, I found a seat at the end of the bar, greeted Renee’s old boss Ryan, and immediately started a tab.”
“With Wilson’s credit card?” Aid interrupted with a grin.
She smiled faintly. “Yeah, why not?”
“That’s my lass,” Heath kissed her cheek. “Continue, please.”
Molly’s wobbly smile slipped. “Not even twenty minutes later, in walked Bane Ruyter, fitting in perfectly where I didn’t. I could have sworn patrons actually appeared frightened, giving him wide berth as he made a clear path directly to me. Of course, seeing as he is Beta, that’s understandable.”
Heath’s face turned cold. “Six Feet Under is swarming with vampires.”
“And a mixed blood inside that place is the equivalent of dangling a chicken over a starving gator,” Ail added, shaking his head. “Before you know it, you’ll be snapped up. You’re just that tasty.”
“Okay, then.” Molly shivered. “Anyway, after I spied Bane, I threw a murderous glare Ryan’s way, figuring he was the traitor.”
“Oh, I’m sure Ryan called Bane to save his own skin,” Ail agreed. “What if somethin’ had happened to you there?”
She tucked a curl behind her ear. “When Bane settled down on the barstool next to me, wielding that serious edge only out shadowed by Jayce Jordan himself. My domineering brother-n-law informed me, in no uncertain terms, that I was going home with him to Captiva Island, because, somehow, Bane had found out about Wilson’s infidelity.” She moved to the top drawer of her chest, rummaging. “But I told Bane Ruyter, in the same no uncertain terms, that he could slow his roll. I wouldn’t enter his mansion of depravity.”
“You told Bane that?” Ail asked incredulously.
“Sorry to insult your brother, but I’ve never gotten along with Renee’s husbands. Anyhow, wielding my vodka-loosened tongue, I told Bane what I thought of him, Arian, Dru, Jayce, and Bren in vivid detail. Then, he laughed in my face. Either he thought I was joking, or he simply didn’t care what I thought of him.”
“Oh, he cares,” said Heath.
She pursed her lips, thinking. “Next thing I remember, I was tossing back tequila shooters with Renee, while watching that movie Mamma Mia. All happenings from inside my sister’s Captiva Island manse, the very place I had sworn never to visit. And I hadn’t one iota how Bane managed to get me there, though I do now. After a while, I let down my guard and cried on Renee’s shoulders, until I drifted into a deep abyss tainted by dream-induced shadows I still cannot understand.”
Ail shot Heath a look of concern. “So Arian convinced you to come to Miami,” he coaxed. Something was off and Ail sensed it, too - both trying to piece together her activities.
Molly moved to the dresser, going through drawer after drawer. “Yeah, I thought that I needed to get away from everything and think. Arian was taking Renee and his brothers to Norway, to visit his grandparents. I begged him to include me, but Arian refused, so Miami it was.”
“So,” Heath spoke quietly, “Gage asked you to bunk with me and my brother, in his old penthouse.” He shook his head, remembering the Gryph’s interference. “You lasted all of one night.”
“Getting away for ‘thinking time’ wasn’t what I thought it would be,” Molly answered, now chewing a thumbnail. “Apart from my estranged husband, I still had a life to come back to and a job I loved.” The job she recently lost due to those damned budget cuts, forcing her into a part-time position. And although Heath didn’t want his female working, he didn’t want to take away anything that made her happy. “And Wilson was refusing to grant me an annulment or a divorce so the fight was on, for months.”
“That particular fight is over,” he whispered with great relief. He couldn’t wait to get her back to the island and under the safety of his body.
“How can I feel that way when he’s done something with my clothes,” she said on a broken sob. “There’s nothing here left of mine.”
“Everything’s gone?” Ail wrapped his arms around her, brushing his chin across her head in a reassuring manner.
“My grandfather’s service uniform... if that’s gone.” She pressed her fingertips to her lips. “Look inside my closet, please. I can’t do it. It should be in a bag to the far left, by the air conditioning vent.” Ail walked into the dark closet without flipping on the light, using his werewolf’s vision. When he came back to the double doors, he closed them tightly behind him.
Heath veered Molly towards the window, wishing he could speak mind to mind with his co-mate to find out what was suddenly wrong. “If Wilson did anything with his uniform, I’ll come at him with a nail gun and make him wish for that flimsy stapler from his desk,” he promised right when she cupped her hand over her mouth.
“Are you going to be sick, lass?” Heath asked, ready to go fifteenth century on Wilson’s arse for upsetting her yet again. “Do you need the lavatory?”
“Yeah, I need…” She gaged behind her hand, her eyes watering. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I don’t feel right. Give me some privacy.”
Heath watched her close the lavatory door behind her and then he heard the rushing sink water. “Ail,” he whispered and misted inside the closet. “What’s…shit.” There were only two things left inside Molly and Wilson’s vast walk-in closet: Her wedding dress, which hung pristinely from an antique wall hook on the wall next to a long mirror and Wilson.
“Thank God, I found him before she did,” Ail whispered. “I texted Mason and asked him to circle the perimeter, see if he picks up on anything.”
“Terje and Rune are watchin’ the skies.” Heath scratched his chin, tilting his head toward Wilson. “I cannot believe that we didn’t smell him.”
“He’s fresh, virtually drained of blood, and his scent’s all over the place here. After all, this is his residence,” Ail recoiled the first time he attempted to check for Wilson’s pulse, but finally managed to press his fingers on his throat. “Gone.” He wiped his fingers on his thigh, making a face.
“That Gryph couldn’t have been your first kill, Ail.” Heath looked for signs of struggle, didn’t find one drop of blood anywhere. “Why the ick factor?”
“He was married to what’s mine.” His Beast flared, illuminating the darkened closet with the glow of burning embers – the colors of fury and hatred. “Even though he’s dead, I still can’t handle it.” He closed his eyes, tamping down his ire. “I don’t even have any sympathy for him. In fact, I should pay off a Species vampire and have him made Undead just so I can kill him myself. To top it off, he’s stark naked. I suspect by what I’m seeing and smelling,” Ail continued with a disturbed expression, gesturing over Wilson’s extremities, “that he died in the throes of sex. Sex with his killer, to be exact, and since I see his…his…,” he stopped and gagged, “I’m guessing Wilson really enjoyed himself. But, hey, I’m a fighter not an investigator. So you go at it with my blessings.”
“For the record, I’m a Tracker. Scoot yourself back and listen for our lass.” Heath moved in, tilting Wilson’s head to the side, examining until he spotted the telltale mark.
“Just as I suspected.”
Heath dropped his hand to his side, clenching his fist. “Tis the same bite as the security guard had.”
“That Chuck guy, from Molly’s work?” Ail asked suspiciously.
“Aye and tis the same smell…same bloody vampire, a Dynasty Vampyr.”
“A Dynasty Vampyr, for real? I haven’t been around enough of them to distinguish the stench from a regular vampire. All the same, Wilson doesn’t smell any differently, besides the spunk, than he did earlier at the restaurant.” Ail chewed his lip, thoughtful. “At the time, I brushed off the smell, seeing as how his former brother-n-law, Dru, is a vampire. Wilson probably met others inadvertently through his and Dru’s association.”
Heath couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “You’re tellin’ me that Wilson smelled like this when he was talkin’ to Molly.”
“Absolutely,” Ail replied with certainty, while holding up his phone and taking a picture of the bite. “I’m sending this to Bane. It’s almost like…”
“The bite is too savage,” Heath finished for him. “He lost control.”
“Yeah,” Ail said while texting, “if that isn’t bloodlust, I don’t know what is.”
A horrified scream rent the air. “Molly!” Heath found her right outside the closet, trembling under the orange-eyed scrutiny of Oycher, a Vampyr Vojak, and Maestru himself. He reached for her in attempts to soothe her, but Ail came barreling out in mid-transformation, aiming for the Coven Master of North America. Heath had no choice but to go into full-transformation and completely release his Beast, just to save Ail’s life. No matter how powerful Ail was, there wasn’t any way he was taking down Maestru unless he aged countless millennia. But if he touched him, Ail wouldn’t have to wait for his Blood for Blood trial, because he’d be dead on the spot.
Atop Ail’s back, Heath roared into his co-mate’s ears, forcing his youngling Beast to submit. He was powerful, so very potent, but so was Heath. Molly continued to scream, only stopping to release strained gasps. He saw Maestru eye Molly’s throat, seeing their claiming marks, and out of nothing but respect, the Coven Master stayed back to wait for Ail to calm down. But it wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. Heath had to clamp his jaws over Ail’s nape, even breaking skin to subdue him.
