by BJ Wane
Silence descended on the yard as they all stood around in stunned stupor, the women eyeing their mates closely, assessing their injuries and bloodied clothing, the vampires not quite ready to relax their guard, not trusting that she was actually gone for good.
Damien finally allowed himself to look at Abby, and when he saw nothing on her face except calm understanding backed by the utter faith she has always had in him, he felt like the weight of the world was lifted from his shoulders and he could finally breathe easily. He then looked at each member of the brethren, surprised then grateful to see nothing but the unflappable support they have always given him, not one sign of condemnation on their faces for the death he would always hold himself solely responsible for.
But just as everyone started to move at once toward the welcoming embrace of their mate, the men slowly became transparent, their solid forms turning ghostly, the looks on their faces ones of astonishment and then pain filled resignation as they each caught and held the eyes of their mate as they disappeared from sight.
“Oh my God,” Abby breathed in stunned despair as they stood there staring at the lawn where the men had simply vanished from, leaving behind no sign or indication of where they went or what happened to them.
Chapter Twenty One
Epilogue
One month later
Caitlin went downstairs to unlock the doors, still not used to the earlier hours. After Jon and Luc’s vanishing act a month ago, she found the nights difficult to get through. Not that the days were any easier, but by opening in time for a lunch clientele and turning the bar over to Bobby and her new part-time bartender to handle the late-night crowd, she was able to fall into exhausted sleep for a few hours. She still couldn’t believe they were gone, that they had such an impact on her life in just two short weeks that she was still having trouble coping with their loss after over four weeks of dealing with their abrupt absence. Bobby’s budding relationship which had him positively glowing most of the time, didn’t help matters. She never imagined she could feel jealous of her friend’s happiness, but she did.
Grace and Abby weren’t faring much better, but their frequent visits to the Down and Dirty as well as their Sunday dinners at the plantation the past three weeks had helped them cope with their mutual loss. The rest of the women had spent the day following their mate’s disappearance at the manor, the thirteen of them holding out hope that they would reappear as quickly as they had left. The despair they all felt when they didn’t was almost unbearable, their tears mingling as they hugged each other good-bye, promising to keep in touch as they caught airplane rides home.
Caitlin grabbed paper plates, napkins and forks from the storage room and carried them to the long table she had set against one wall for the small, catered barbeque buffet she had delivered each day. The sudden warm tingling on the inside of her thigh, right where her red crescent shaped mark was startled her and had her pulse leaping with excitement before she remembered her guys were gone. That area had been dormant for the past few weeks, the same as it was before Jon and Luc entered her bar for the first time. What the hell, she muttered irritably as she rubbed her bare thighs together under the calf length peasant skirt she wore. The same skirt and blouse she had worn the night at the cemetery when she had discovered she had fucked two vampires. Ignoring the reaction that did nothing but remind her of the pleasure she had known for so briefly, she finished setting the plates and utensils at the end of the buffet table then headed across the room towards the bar only to be brought up short by the sudden pressure in her nipples and the warm, slick gush of moisture filling her neglected pussy.
Her soft cry was accompanied by the sound of the back door opening. The fact that it was broad daylight out dashed the small burst of hope filling her. Expecting the food delivery, she called out in a shaky, disappointed voice, “I’m ready for you.”
“That’s good to know, darlin’,” Luc drawled from behind her.
“As long as it’s us she’s ready for and not someone else,” Jon added with a wide grin when Caitlin spun around with a priceless look of surprise and pure pleasure on her face, her crystal-gray eyes widening in shock.
“Oh, God, it’s really you?” she whispered incredulously as she drank in the sight of them.
Folding their massive arms across their equally massive chests, they both gave her mock scowls, but it was Luc who asked, “Expecting someone else?”
And that quickly, Caitlin went from ecstatic to angry. Wherever they have been for the past month, it hasn’t been a hardship. They looked the same, identically handsome with their thick, collar length sandy hair and dark chiseled features. She took one shaky step toward them, demanding with a catch in her voice, “Where the hell have you been?” Another step had her questioning, “Why didn’t you let me know you were okay?” The next step had her admitting tightly, “Do you know how worried I’ve been?” The last one had her whispering achingly, “Oh, God, I’ve missed you!” then flying toward them with her arms stretched out, confident they would catch her.
“Shit, Cat,” Jon muttered as she buried her face in his neck, her tears running down his shirt. It was poignant as well as telling to see their feisty, independent woman so vulnerable.
Luc wrapped his arm around her, drawing her to him, telling her softly, “You have to know we wouldn’t have left if we had a choice. Tell me you know that, Caitlin.”
Pulling back, she looked at them out of tear drenched eyes, Luc’s amber eyes demanding an answer, Jon’s hazel eyes drinking her in, then noticed the way they were rubbing their palms down their jean clad thighs. As she registered the significant reaction of their marks, her gaze flew to the bright sun shining through the front windows, a warm, yellow glare that both men seemed to be lapping up.
“What’s going on? How can you…” She took a step back as both of them slowly crowded her until her back came into contact with the bar, the lustful intent gleaming in their eyes making her lose track of what she was saying.
“We’ll tell you what we’ve been able to discern shortly, but for now, let’s just say you’re not going to get to stay almost thirty for decades. I’m afraid you’re going to have to age right along with us.” Luc cut off her gasp with his mouth as Jon went to his knees before her, lifting her skirt and ripping away her panties.
Caitlin remembered the unlocked doors and that she was expecting her lunch delivery then quickly forgot about the risk of an audience when Jon lifted her right leg over his shoulder and put his mouth between her legs. Luc followed by releasing her mouth and pulling down the elastic front of her blouse to bare her breast for his mouth. Their dual assault on her senses was both familiar and new, but her reaction was the same. Within moments of Jon’s lips latching onto her clit and Luc’s closing over one turgid nipple, they had her arching her head back and crying out in bliss, her body convulsing with pleasure only they could give her, pleasure she now had a lifetime to enjoy with them.
Grace took her lunch outside, needing the warm afternoon sun on her face to chase away the chill inside her that seemed to never completely thaw. Taking a seat on a bench that overlooked the small pond in the park next to the library, she watched a few geese take flight, wishing she could fly away from her pain as easily. She didn’t know what she would have done these past few weeks since Jacob disappeared from her life as unexpectedly as he had entered it without Abby and Caitlin’s continued support and friendship. United in grief and understanding, they had clung together at first in the hope that their men would return, then in speculation as to where they were and what they were going through that was keeping them apart, then finally in devastating despair when they had to consider that they were gone for good.
They still kept in touch periodically with the other mates who had returned to their homes, all of them grieving for their loss. Returning to her apartment had felt alien to Grace, the small one bedroom place she had taken such pleasure in making her own no longer feeling like her home. She had to finally admit t
hat it was Jacob who made the plantation feel like home, not the place. To help take her mind off her loss, Grace has been working overtime, volunteering to go to pre-schools and do reading time with the younger children as well as assisting high schoolers with research papers. By the time she got home, she was too tired to eat much and consequently has lost over ten pounds the past few weeks. Who knew, she thought wryly, that all she had to do to lose weight was lose the only person who gave meaning and purpose to her life. She regretted now, more than ever, the lost time it had taken her to accept Jacob as her mate, to allow herself the chance to feel pleasure after Mason had caused her so much pain. If she had it to do all over again, she would have jumped at the chance to be his the minute he had stormed to her rescue.
Leaning her face back, she closed her eyes against the glare of the sun, ignoring her sandwich to welcome the slight thawing of her senses. The distant sound of a motorcycle reminded her of the rides Jacob had given her on his Harley and the pleasure that could be found from straddling the heavy, vibrating machine. She frowned when the mark on her neck became much warmer than the rest of her, a soft, familiar throb that coincided with the sound of a motorcycle coming to a stop and turning off.
Grace refused to open her eyes, refused to give in to the compulsion to look for Jacob when she knew he wouldn’t be there despite what her body was telling her as it slowly came alive with pulsating arousal she had only felt when near her mate. A sob escaped her as she felt a presence in front of her, a presence that had her struggling not to look, had her body on fire with an aching need she had only experienced with one person.
Jacob stood before her, drank in the sight of her. Her peaked nipples were easily discernible through her pink blouse, the flare of her hips in the flowered, knee length skirt a temptation he was hard pressed to ignore. Her blonde hair shone brightly as it curled around her shoulders, but those bright blue eyes that he loved to drown himself in were kept hidden from him by her closed lids. “Open your eyes, Grace.”
Her heart skipped a beat and her eyes flew open in shock at the sound of that familiar, deep voice. With a disbelieving cry, she came off the bench and wrapped herself around him, too afraid this was an illusion to let go. “You have to be real, you just have to,” she sobbed over and over, the feel of his arms coming around her as hard as his cock poking her stomach her first clues he was here again with her in the flesh. “Oh my God!” she gasped as she pulled back, adding incredulously, “It’s daylight!”
Jacob smiled down into her stunned face. “I had the choice of going towards the light or returning to you, Grace. It was a no brainer for me.”
All her questions and confusion were wiped away when his mouth covered hers. Moaning, she arched into him, the ache in her nipples easing somewhat as she rubbed them against his chest, his mouth just as hard and demanding as she remembered, the stroke of his tongue just as arousing as his hands clutching her ass.
“Can you get away for the afternoon?” he asked her when he finally found the strength to release her soft mouth.
“I’ve accumulated so much time off by working overtime I can take all the time I want. Where are we going?” she asked eagerly as she pulled her phone from her purse and sent Clare a text that she was taking the afternoon off.
“Let’s head back to the plantation.” Jacob grabbed her hand and all but pulled her across the grass to where he had parked his bike at the curb. Just like the first time he picked her up at the library, he secured a helmet on her head and settled her behind him, only this time he also wore a helmet. He was no longer infallible and wasn’t going to take any chances with this new lease on life he has been given.
The feel of her soft body pressed against him had him teetering on the edge of his control before they left the city and when he felt her soft lips caressing his neck, her crotch rubbing against his ass, he knew they weren’t going to wait until he reached Damien’s property. A few miles outside city limits, he pulled into a copse of trees, jumped off the bike, made short work of disposing of their helmets and had her back in his arms, rocking his cock against her, mimicking what he intended to be doing in a few short minutes.
“Now, Jacob,” Grace demanded, her urgency and need conveyed in her tone. “Please. It’s been so long.”
“Too fucking long.” Jacob turned her and bent her over the seat of his bike, urgency plowing through him, the need to restake his claim had his cock rock hard and aching. Flipping up her skirt, he shoved her panties down, grabbed her hips and sank his cock into her slick, welcoming heat. The immediate clutching of her vaginal walls around his dick, sucking his orgasm to the surface without delay threatened both his composure and his sanity.
Grace’s body welcomed him back with an explosion of pleasure so intense her world exploded in a fireworks display of color that erased the bleak darkness of the past weeks and welcomed the brightness of a new future.
Damien decided to walk the last few blocks to the Book Nook, enjoying the feel of the spring warmth on his skin for the first time in almost two hundred years as much as he was savoring the anticipation of seeing Abrielle again. He had been shocked to feel his body slowly disappearing after they had vanquished Isabelle, and even more stunned to emerge from a black abyss into a peacefully calming white aura. Being given a choice to follow a being he had no name for into that light had been an excruciating temptation that came in a close second to returning to Abby and the chance to live out the remainder of his human life with her.
Once his decision had been made he found himself back in the yard of his plantation home, along with Jacob, Luc and Jon. After searching the house and discovering a month had passed, they each took off in a vehicle for the city. Having no idea what had become of the rest of the brethren, his first inclination was to reach out telepathically to them only to suddenly realize he no longer had that ability. Speaking mind to mind was only one of the perks he knew he was going to miss from his long existence as an immortal. When Micah and Tasha had come bounding from the bayou to greet him as he headed to the garage, he discovered his lack of superhuman strength was going to be a difficult one to adjust to, especially around his cats.
After calming them down and assuring they were in good health, his urge to see Abby became his topmost priority. Having to pull out one of the four vehicles he owned but rarely drove made him regret his inability to simply teleport where he wanted to go in a matter of minutes the most. Still, he was enjoying his stroll through the streets of his city, finding pleasure in seeing the historical architecture and recalling its past from personal experience, his memory one of the things he apparently was allowed to retain. As he entered the cool interior of Abby’s bookstore, his palm started to itch, the featherlike teasing sensation apparently another bonus he still had.
Walking up to the counter, he smiled at Abby’s part-time assistant. “Hello, Nan. Is Abby around?” he asked her when he didn’t see Abby.
“You’ve been a bit scarce lately, Damien,” Nan accused him. She had been here when he picked Abby up after work and remembered vividly her happiness at seeing him as well as her despondency the past few weeks. Since her obvious melancholy and red rimmed eyes started after he quit showing up for her, Nan had deduced that they had split.
“Unavoidable, but I’m back now. Which I’ll explain to her as soon as you tell me where she is,” he stated coolly, understanding but not liking the rebuke. As if he would ever leave Abby willingly.
Nan gave in, mostly because she knew Abby would want to see him again, if, for no other reason, than to get closure. “She’s in the back, in the storeroom.” Nan watched him head to the back of the store, his stride swift, eager and purposeful, giving her reason to think she made the right decision.
Abby swore as she dropped the small stack of books she lifted out of the box then bent to pick them up, her vision wavering behind unshed tears that never seemed to be far away. Everywhere she went, everywhere she looked she found memories of Damien and had to clench her teeth against
the wave of hopeless, bitter pain that she constantly struggled with. Every time she made the trip out to his property, she ached with knowing he wasn’t going to be there, her pain increasing with each day that passed without his return. Yesterday, when she had met Caitlin and Grace there for dinner, they admitted for the first time that they each thought the members of the brethren had fulfilled their destiny and would not be returning to them. As bitter and heart wrenching as that was to believe, they were all proud of having been a significant part of giving them the ability to rid the world of Isabelle’s evil reign.
Her return to her apartment only reminded her of how they all supported her when she bought the building and started her store. She went to sleep reliving memories of her rescue from her uncle, of the way Damien had taken her under his wing and seen to her every need, of how the rest of his ‘family’ had welcomed her with open arms, true caring and protection. She had loved him as her avenging angel, then as her guardian turned friend and finally as her mate.
Standing, she clutched the books to her chest then stopped abruptly when the side of her breast started to beat in an erotic rhythm she hasn’t experienced in over four long weeks. “Damien,” she whispered longingly, a fragile flame of hope igniting inside of her. She held her breath, her eyes fixated on the open door as that erotic response moved slowly down to her nipples, their stiffening from a sudden ache of arousal sending a similar message to her pussy. The warm gush of moisture greeted her first sight of him in a month, and with a cry, she dropped the books again and launched herself at him, a million questions shoved aside in favor of simply holding him again.
