by I. T. Lucas
Reluctantly, they turned around and Nathalie helped Andrew get into a chair. Bridget was quick with her needles and her ampules. “All done.” She taped the little puncture she’d made, then looked up at Nathalie. “Call me or Kian the moment he starts feeling warm. Syssi’s transition started with a fever.”
Chapter 38: Andrew
Andrew woke up feeling great. No back pains, no leg cramps. He stretched, surprised that his feet didn’t bump against the footboard. Had Nathalie taken him to his house last night? He cracked one eye open and was greeted by the familiar painting of a sunset that hung across from Nathalie’s bed.
What the hell? Had he shrunk overnight?
No one had told him that the venom could have such a side effect.
Don’t be ridiculous.
Over a lifespan, a person might get shorter because of the atrophy of disks between the vertebrae. But no one shrunk over the course of one night.
Once the morning brain fog dissipated, Andrew found the explanation was much simpler; the footboard was gone. Another glance revealed that the headboard was gone as well. Damn, now it became obvious why he felt so well rested; the mattress was new and it was bigger.
Sometime after they had left yesterday afternoon and before they had come back last night, Nathalie had gotten rid of her old bed, replacing it with a larger mattress and a box spring but forgoing a frame so it would still fit into her small room.
Last night, Andrew must’ve been too dopey to notice.
What time was it anyway?
And where was his sweet Nathalie?
As he flung his legs over the side of the mattress and pushed to his feet, he didn’t feel any different. Walking to the bathroom, he paid attention to how his body felt, but again could detect no new sensations aside from the lack of back pain.
He peed for what seemed like ten minutes straight, but that too was nothing unusual for him in the morning. Having showered last night before getting in bed, his morning routine was down to brushing his teeth and shaving.
When he got out, Nathalie was leaning against the wall next to the bathroom.
“How are you feeling?” She reached for him, not to kiss him, regrettably, but to put her palm on his forehead.
“I’m feeling great.” He snaked his arms around her and grabbed her ass, bringing her flush against his body. Her lips were so wonderfully soft as he pressed on them with a gentle kiss.
Nathalie palmed his smooth cheek, caressing it lightly, and he was glad he’d shaved. “Anything feel different?” she asked.
“Nope. Except my backache is gone. Thank you for the bed.” He lifted her up and stepped back into her bedroom, closing the door with his foot. “I need to check it out with you in it.”
Nathalie let out a little squeak as Andrew dropped her the last couple of inches, then hopped on top of her.
“Very comfortable,” he teased, resting his cheek on her breast. “And so soft.”
With a giggle, she smoothed her hand over his hair. “I see a bigger bed was not needed after all. Maybe I should send it back.”
He lifted his head. “Don’t you dare. I love it. When did you do it? And how?”
“You can thank Jackson and Vlad. I gave Vlad money and told him where to go to buy it. He borrowed a truck, loaded the new mattress, and together with Jackson they muscled the old bed out and the new mattress in.”
“These guys are worth their weight in gold.” Andrew chuckled. “Especially Vlad. The guy probably weighs a hundred pounds, boots included.”
Nathalie’s lips twitched, but she refused to smile. “I’m sure he weighs more than that. I love those boys. They feel like family to me, not employees. I know I can count on them for whatever, and they know they can count on me.”
“Soon the whole clan is going to be your family.”
“That’s a bit overwhelming to think about. It’s a great feeling, though, to finally have a family. It has been just my father and me for such a long time. I felt so alone.” She whispered the last sentence.
Damn, now she was sad. He had to change the subject quick. “I don’t know how Jackson and Vlad managed to get it in here. The stairwell is so narrow.”
“I took measurements before I chose the mattress. I knew there was no space left for a frame and the only way a queen size would fit was if it was pushed all the way against the wall. Even the nightstand had to go.”
He hadn’t noticed it before, but instead of the three-drawer cabinet, a tiny round stool served as the new nightstand.
Andrew wondered what Nathalie had done with the lingerie she’d kept in there. There was no room in her small closet for any additional items. That was one of the reasons he went home every morning to shower and change before work. There was nowhere to put any of his clothes except for a pair or two of underwear and socks.
They should really move into his house or even the keep. Now that he was about to become an immortal, and Nathalie soon thereafter, there was no reason why they couldn’t.
He wasn’t going to talk about it now, though, not after she’d gone to all that trouble to make him comfortable. Which reminded him that while he was doing all this thinking, he was squashing Nathalie under his weight. With a sigh, he rolled off her and lay on his back.
Nathalie pulled the comforter up and cuddled up to him, resting her head on his pectoral. Her hand snaked under the lapel of his robe and she started playing with his chest hair. “All this extra space and I’m still crowding you.” She chuckled.
Andrew took hold of her heavy braid and brought it forward, putting it on his stomach. “You’re not. I love having you close to me like this. If I were wearing pants, I could tie your hair to a belt loop and make sure you don’t go anywhere.”
A smile tugged at the corners of her lips. “Kinky.”
Was it? Nah, just him being a possessive bastard. Fortunately, or unfortunately, his tastes in sex were of the vanilla variety. Unless a booty obsession counted as kinky. Then yes, sign him up. Not any booty, though, Nathalie’s.
He palmed a cheek and kneaded. “Do you need to get back to work? Or can you spare a few minutes?”
Nathalie’s hand abandoned his chest and traveled south, turning his cock from semi hard to rock even before she touched it.
“I definitely have time for this. I’ve been horny ever since last night, watching you fight Kian was so hot. You were so sexy. My warrior.” She collected the bead of pre-come that had formed on his tip, lubricating her up and down strokes.
Andrew snorted. “Piss-poor warrior. I lost before it even began. I’m surprised Kian managed to get aggressive enough to produce venom.” It had been quite humiliating, the ease with which Kian had had him subdued.
“Oh, I don’t know. You got him down to the mat first. I thought it was very impressive.”
Her hand kept stroking, and his brain was losing the ability to think about anything other than getting her naked and pushing inside her.
“Let get this off you.” He tugged the hem of her shirt up, and she did the rest, tossing it to the floor.
Andrew unclasped her bra and latched onto a nipple before she even shrugged the thing off, his hand going inside her pants straight to her slick core.
As he put a finger in her, Nathalie gasped, pausing in the middle of pushing her pants down and letting her hands fall by her sides.
“Oh, God, Andrew, I love it when you’re like that,” she breathed.
“Like what?” He added another finger.
Nathalie licked her lips. “Impatient, aggressive, going all alpha on me.”
Andrew chuckled. “You read too many of those shifter romance novels. I’m not an alpha, or a beta, or any such nonsense. I’m a man, not an animal.”
He growled as he took her other nipple between his lips and pretended to chew on it.
Nathalie giggled. “Are you sure about it?”
“Grrr…” he growled again, lifting his head and letting his tongue loll from the corner of his mouth.
&nb
sp; “You dog,” she teased.
That gave him an idea.
Nathalie on all fours, her gorgeous, heart-shaped ass up in the air and him going at her from behind—doggie style.
Oh, yeah. That was exactly what he wanted.
Andrew reared back to his knees and discarded his robe. Nathalie looked disappointed to lose his thrusting digits, but not for long. He flipped her over, pulled her ass up, her pants down, and pushed inside her all the way in until his balls slapped against her butt.
Holding on to a pillow, Nathalie stifled a moan and lifted her ass higher to meet his thrusts.
Sexy Nathalie loved doggie style, and she’d just admitted that she loved him impatient and aggressive.
Andrew was going to give her exactly what she wanted.
Holding on to her hips, he started with a few slow thrusts, letting her stretch to accommodate his intrusion, then pounded into her without holding anything back.
With no bed frame to bang against the wall—Andrew biting his lips hard enough to draw blood and Nathalie drowned her moans inside the pillow—the smacking of his balls against her sweet, upturned ass were the only sounds in the room.
Dimly, Andrew was aware that he was being selfish, that gripping Nathalie like that would bruise her skin, and that the punishing force and tempo of his thrusts wasn’t as fun for her as it was for him.
When she gasped and convulsed, her powerful climax took him by surprise, her spasming inner muscles squeezing so tight that he had no choice but to follow in an explosive rush. Smashing his mouth on her shoulder, he kissed and sucked on her skin to keep himself from biting down. With no fangs and no healing venom, he would’ve only brought her pain.
But hell, he craved it.
Chapter 39: Anandur
“Good to hear you’re feeling okay. Call me if there is any change. I mean it, Andrew. The smallest, most insignificant thing and you haul your ass over here. “ Kian clicked off the call and put his phone down on the desk.
Kian’s expression was severe on good days; now the added lines on his forehead made it thunderous. He was worried, and so was Anandur. Syssi’s transition was still fresh in his mind. It had been a fucking nightmare.
Anandur scratched at his beard. “I gather that Andrew is feeling fine.”
Kian’s fingers started thrumming a beat on the surface of his desk. “Yeah, but so did Syssi at the beginning.”
“Michael’s went smoothly.”
Kian sighed. “He is also half Andrew’s age. I don’t think I’ll be getting any sleep until this is over.”
He wasn’t the only one. Anandur’s gut was sending him distress messages ever since Andrew had announced his intent.
“How is Syssi doing? She must be going crazy.”
As always, with the mention of his wife, Kian’s expression softened. Well, not always. Not if the bastard misconstrued something as disrespectful towards her.
“She is worried, but surprisingly she is taking it better than me. She puts a lot of faith in her premonitions about Andrew.”
“Maybe you should too.”
“You know me. I’m an old skeptic. It is what it is. What did you want to talk to me about?”
Anandur was happy to change subjects. “Lana. She is willing to spill in exchange for protection for her and the rest of the crew. New names, new identification, and most importantly, American citizenship. Money is optional, but I promised her we will give them something to tide them over until they can get jobs and support themselves.”
Kian snorted. “We can add them to the Hawaii group. They can manage the hotel’s dinner cruises.”
Anandur’s eyes brightened. “This is perfect. It’s their ultimate dream come true. Geneva is going to love it.”
Kian’s fingers increased their tempo. Had he been joking about it?
Fuck! Probably.
“I don’t know if you’re serious or not.”
“Oh, I’m serious. But all I can give them are fake identification cards. I can’t give them a real American citizenship, you know that.”
Kian couldn’t, but perhaps Anandur could. He wasn’t above using a thrall here and there to get what he needed.
“But do I have the okay to offer them all the rest? Including the dinner cruiser in Hawaii?”
“It would depend on the information they provide. If they give us enough to catch Alex and charge him with human trafficking, then yes.”
An offer this good would be too tempting for them to refuse, even without the coveted citizenship.
“I’ll go talk to Lana and get back to you. But I know they’ll take it. You’re offering them all they’ve ever wanted.”
As soon as he was out of Kian’s office, Anandur texted Lana, but the message didn’t go through. Perhaps she’d turned her phone off because Alex was onboard. Which would make it tricky to talk to her. He would have to send someone with a note to her, telling her to get in touch with him.
The old truck he’d been using for his undercover work was still parked next to his baby, and Anandur smoothed his hand over the Thunderbird’s flank before getting inside the clunker.
This would probably be his last day driving the thing, and he couldn’t say that he would be sorry to part with it.
He parked outside the marina, stuck a baseball cap on top of his mop and a pair of sunglasses on top of his nose, and headed toward the Anna. Not that Alex would have trouble recognizing him behind the impromptu disguise, if he saw him. With Anandur’s uncommon height and coloring, it wasn’t as if he could easily get mistaken for someone else.
Keeping his nose down, Anandur walked over to the old boat Lana had been looking after while its owners had been away. Two boats down from it there was a spot where he could get an unobstructed glimpse at Alex’s yacht.
Damn, it wasn’t there.
Anandur’s gut clenched with worry. Lana would’ve left him a message if they were heading out. Something was up. Perhaps the real sleuths could tell him what was going on.
Anandur dialed the number and after a few rings the guy answered. “Melvin here, what can I do for you?”
“What’s going on? When did the boat leave?”
There was a moment of silence. “How the hell should I know? Your boss told us to pack it.”
Fuck. Alex was on to them.
“When?”
“Two days ago, and I’m still waiting for my final payment and the bonus he promised us.”
“Did he call you? Or did he show up in person?”
“Was right here. Walked up to the van and shook hands with me. Told me it was all a big misunderstanding and that he’ll settle the bill and add a twenty percent bonus.”
“And it didn’t seem odd to you that he approached you like that? How did you know it was him? It could’ve been anyone.”
“I’m not some bloody rookie, I asked for the case number. He recited the whole thing.”
Yeah, right. Alex had either pulled it right from the guy’s head or just thralled him to believe that he had. Either way it wasn’t the guy’s fault.
“I’ll talk to you later.” Anandur hung up and dialed Kian.
“What’s up?”
“Alex is on to us and the Anna together with her Russian crew is gone. He approached the private eye, pretending to be you and told him to go home. It was two days ago.”
“Fuck.” Anandur heard something hit the wall. “We’ve been so busy with everything else that I didn’t even think to check with them. I’ll try to get a satellite location on him. In the meantime, I’m sending Guardians to his club and to his estate.”
Anandur would bet his left nut that Alex wouldn’t be in either of those places. The guy had realized he was under investigation and hightailed it out of town to who knew where.
“You should put a freeze on his clan account. Not that it would do much good given the money he is making off his trade, but it would make me and you feel better.”
“I’ll have Shai do it right away.” Kian clicked off.
Fuck, fuck, fuck. Why hadn’t he put things in motion sooner? Who knew what Alex had done to the crew, or was going to do? Anandur’s only consolation was that the girls were tough as nails and would put up a fight. The seven of them together might have a chance against one guy, even an immortal one. If they got to him before he thralled the hell out of them, that is. Then again, the women were naturally suspicious and even more so lately. It would be difficult for Alex to thrall someone who was actively resisting.
Did Alex possess a strong thralling ability? Anandur had no idea, but he hoped the scumbag didn’t. That would give Lana and her friends a chance.
He walked over to the old yacht that had served as Lana's and his love nest for a while. One of the owners was sitting outside on a folding chair, reading the Los Angeles Times. Anandur put on a charming smile. “Hey, dude.”
The guy lifted his head. “Lana’s guy. How can I help you?”
“I’ve been away for a couple of days and now I see that the Anna is gone. Any idea where? And when they are coming back?”
The guy shook his head. “Sorry. I wasn’t here when they left.”
“When you see Lana, could you tell her I was looking for her?”
“Sure will.”
“Thank you. Tell her to call me, would you?”
Fat chance of that, but he wasn’t going to leave any stone unturned.
The guy nodded and went back to reading his newspaper.
When Anandur got back to the keep, he headed straight to Kian’s office. Given the grim look on his face, the news wasn’t good.
Anandur flopped into a chair across from Kian’s desk. “Lay it on me.”
“Alex basically went poof. His club was sold a week ago and is under new management, and his estate wasn’t his at all. It was leased, and apparently he hasn’t been making payments for the last couple of months. It seems our boy was planning his exit even before we started our investigation.”
“What about the satellite?”
“Still waiting. But that’s a long shot. My only hope is that he will stop to refuel somewhere. We are lucky to have someone like Turner we can turn to for help. He has snitches everywhere and they’ll be looking for the boat.”
