Beauty Bites

by Mary Hughes

  “Oh yes!” She laughed and they kissed.

  It was beautiful and poignant, and coming on top of the roller coaster of the past few days, made me long for my own taste of Happily-Ever-After.

  I tugged on Ric’s arm. “Maybe we should give them a little space.” I tipped my head toward my bedroom.

  Complex emotions passed over his face, pain and joy intermingled. Then it resolved into yet another smile, this one intimate and only for me. “Good idea. I have one more thing to discuss with the Viking—go ahead and wait for me?” When I hesitated he added, “I’ll tell you all about it when I come to you.”

  “Okay.” Sure, I was curious. But as much as Ric was a male of image and sizzle, I’d learned to trust that what he said to me was the truth. He’d explain. I got up to head for my bedroom.

  Bo slid his arms under his wife and lifted her. “If you have questions for me, I’ll put Elena to bed first.”

  “Hey,” she said. “I’m not a child. I don’t need putting to bed.”

  He looked down at her, and all the love in the world lit his eyes. “And did you get any sleep last night, worried about your friends?”

  “Well, no.”

  “Exactly. You need to rest now, for the baby’s sake as much as your own.” He strode off to their bedroom.

  “That looks like fun. Shall we?” Ric scooped me up in his arms.

  My stomach swooped, making me laugh. “Yes. Definitely.”

  Nikos nuzzled Twyla’s neck and started purring.

  “Fine,” Aiden said mournfully. “Leave me alone in the living room. I’ll just stuff cotton in my ears and plug my nose.”

  Nikos ignored him. His purr grew louder and his fangs flashed against Twyla’s dark skin.

  “Hey.” Aiden’s head swiveled toward them. “Aren’t you…?” He nodded at their bedroom. “Where I can’t see?”

  Twyla grabbed Nikos’s belt and undid it with a quick saw. A zip later his pants fell to the floor. His erection strained for her.

  Aiden slapped a hand over his eyes. “While that was slick, I’d rather not have seen how hairy Spartans aren’t.” He stood and started toward the lakeside door. “I’m going to go try to burn that image off my retinas.”

  “Don’t go outside,” I said. “The sun’s up.”

  “That’s the idea.” He strode for the front door without uncovering and only barely managed not to smack into a wall.

  I laughed as Ric carried me across the threshold.

  Inside the bedroom he set me gently on my feet. “I’ll be right back.”

  “I know.” I stripped off my tight top and was pleased to see his eyes fall out of his head. “I’ll be waiting.”

  By the time Ric tore his eyes away from Synnove’s beautiful breasts…and it was a measure of how important what he had to discuss was that he did…Nikos and Twyla had thankfully vacated the living room and the Viking had returned.

  “So what is it?” Bo asked. “Questions about the Iowa Alliance? More intel on Nosferatu?”

  “More personal than that, I’m afraid.” Ric picked up the bottle of wine, shook it to judge its fullness, or rather lack because it was nearly empty, tilted the bottle to his mouth and drank off the rest. “How do you do it?”

  Bo raised one brow and sat on the couch’s arm. “Do what?”

  “How do you let Elena go out and risk her life night after night and stay sane?”

  “Oh. That.” Bo grabbed another bottle and had his own slug. “I don’t. Stay sane, that is. But it’s not like I have a hell of a lot of choice. Being a detective isn’t just Elena’s job. It’s who she is.”

  “I understand letting her go up against humans. But does she ever face off against vampires?” Ric shuddered at the memory of Synnove with Nosferatu at her throat.

  “All the time. It’s not a question of ‘letting her’. Wish it were.” Bo took another slug. “She wants to be a vampire, you know. Sometimes I think that would make it easier on me. But the chances that she’ll end up dead instead of turning…I can’t take the risk.”

  Ric frowned at the other vampire. “You risk her dying on the streets, or in a vampire fight, but you won’t risk trying to turn her?”

  “I can protect her on the streets. Watch out for her in a vampire fight. We don’t know what makes a successful turning. I can’t protect her from something I can’t see, don’t understand. But that’s not why you’re asking, is it?”

  “No.” Ric took a deep breath. “When I was a young vampire there was another girl…not like Synnove, but still, I loved her like a sister. And I was forced to abandon her. For nearly two hundred years I’ve felt guilty over that, and worse. I’m scared shitless I’m going to fuck it up again. I don’t just love Synnove. She’s my heart, my life.”

  “Short answer? You do it because you have to. You let her be an adult and take her own risks because anything less is damaging to her.”

  “But I don’t let the humans in my household take half the risks she does!”

  “Because the rules are different for a partner,” Bo said patiently. “For all that individual humans may be friends, you and your household are more like employer and employees. There’s equal commitment and an equality of tasks but there’s not equal responsibility. You protect them, end of story. If they choose to, they can leave your protection, but then they’re no longer part of your household. It’s not that way with a partner and a mate. A partner is your equal in responsibility. And a mate is forever.”

  “Shit.” Ric snatched another bottle.

  “Agreed.”

  The two males sat in silence, drinking occasionally from their bottles.

  Then Ric said, “Why can’t I protect Synnove like I do my household?”

  “Because if the shit’s flying you can compel a human in your household. Even the immune ones, you can command and they have to obey—or leave your protection. You have final say. You try that with your mate and I guarantee you’ll be ball-less within a week.”

  “But when I see her walk into danger…I want to grab her, cart her away and lock her up forever.”

  “Can’t. She’s her own person, Holiday. You can watch out for her but you can’t smother her. Honor that.”

  “But what if it turns out like Eloise?” Ric’s voice cracked, his veins freezing at the thought of Synnove in Nosferatu’s clutches.

  Bo met his eyes. “Your best friend is one of the world’s top assassins. Your lady is connected by blood to the Iowa Alliance. You have resources you didn’t have then. But there’s more.”

  “More?”

  “Thor’s hammer, Holiday. You were a kid then, right? Your only weapons were masks and tricks. You’ve emerged from behind the mask now. Synnove helped. She’s strong, and you’re stronger because of her. Trust her.”

  “But—”

  “No. I’ve got to get back to my wife. And you…well, just go to your mate. Join with her. Wonderful things await you if you accept her as your partner.”

  The bedroom door clicked open. I shifted nervously on the bed. Before, one thing had led to another. This was the first time I’d be seducing him from scratch.

  Well, not counting the dreams.

  Ric came in. The instant he saw me in the black lace lying on the bed, his eyes heated to violet.

  My smile was as hot.

  Maybe it was the beauty of seeing Twyla and Nikos finally joining as they were meant to be, two parts of the same whole. But when Ric came to me and kissed me so sweetly that it was like drinking honey, it drove everything from my head but me want. I tore at his shirt.

  He stood at the side of the bed and misted naked, his muscular body reappearing in an ephemeral swirl, his form a galaxy of stars.

  Then he was solid and stretching his long muscled body out next to me. His hand ran like sweet oil along my arm, my breast, my thigh. I dewed everywhere he touched.

  We came together in gentle sighs, drinking each other’s breath, fingers brushing damp skin. His tender touch loved me. The se
nsitive pads of my fingers found roped buttocks.

  And once I was aroused everywhere but the tiny patches covering my nipples and mound, he smiled at me with masculine knowing, warmly intimate, and opened my bra with one flick.

  His mouth closed over my nipple like a prayer. He suckled, lightly, but the corresponding sensations rode me deep. The heat of lust was no less for being kindled slowly. I wanted him with everything I was.

  So when he spread my legs, muscular shoulders filling the gap, I stopped him. “I’m ready for the next step.”

  His eyes, rising from between my thighs, searched mine. He didn’t pretend to misunderstand. “Sunshine, I don’t have protection.”

  “So? Twyla said v-guys aren’t fertile. Well, except with their mates.”

  “Yes, exactly.” His gorgeous azure eyes were so serious.

  I blinked. “Wait, no, what?” Heat of a different kind rose in me. “No, you can’t mean…I’m not your mate. We’ve only known each other a few days.”

  “Synnove.” He sat and took my hands in his. “We don’t know each other yet, not the kind of knowing it takes a lifetime to achieve. But you’re immune to compulsion, and you smell and taste like mine. My mate.”

  I blurted, “Then why did you tell me to marry someone else?”

  He sighed. “That was what Bo and I discussed. I want so much to do right by you, but it kills me to stand by and let you put yourself in danger. And I don’t have the best track record. That’s why I pushed you away. But I knew it even then, I think. From the top of your brilliant blonde head to the ends of your elegant toes, from the beauty of your honest mouth to the tips of your strong, clever fingers, you’re my match.” He sighed again. “Bo calls it being a partner. Whatever it is, I want it with you. I may screw up, but I trust you to help straighten me out. We have several lifetimes for potential to become fact. I want to spend those lifetimes with you.”

  My eyes prickled at the heartfelt truth in his words. I sat up too, and clasped his hands in return. “You know, I came here because I was at a crossroads in my life. Medicine, the thing that had once saved me, had failed me. I’d always thought only content is important. You showed me I was hanging onto an image of myself that never really existed. I was never simply a plain girl. Real life is always more complex. Messy. Real life is always lived. Sizzle, steak, isn’t what’s important. What’s important is going after what you want the most with everything you have.” I paused, searched his eyes. “Even if you have to give something up.”

  His smile twisted. “Are you trying to let me down easy? You’re giving me up to go after medicine?”

  “No. I want you and medicine. And I’m willing to give up my old ways to do it. I used to believe only brains mattered. But this matters.” I kissed him. “And this.” I freed my hands to clasp his head and kiss him, longer. “But most of all, this.” I dropped one hand to his lap, to grasp his pulsing erection. It leaped in my hand as if overjoyed. “I’m ready to make this connection with you.”

  “No matter the results?” His breathing was unsteady, and he seized my arms as if he were in danger of falling.

  “Well…” I smiled against his mouth, “…I’ll just have to take a break nine months into my residency.”

  “Sunshine.” He pulled me into his arms and kissed me so deeply I thought he’d crawl into my mouth. “I’ll watch our baby while you finish your training.”

  He laid me back on the bed and slowly released his weight onto me. I rejoiced in his heavy body imprinting mine, hard muscles claiming their place on the softness of my breasts and belly. Pressing most insistently was his long, thick cock, pulsing eagerly against my leg.

  I opened to him, mouth and arms and thighs. He fitted me even closer, his tongue inside my mouth, his chest and ribcage filling my arms, his erection nestling snug against my vulva.

  He rolled his hips, thrusting the smooth length of his cock along the groove of my sex. It caught my clit and sent shock waves through me. He did it again. Little wows of aftershock throbbed.

  His dark purr vibrated against my ribs. He rolled back to thrust again. The head popped between my slick lips and lodged, a promise of fullness.

  I tightened everywhere, breasts, belly, thighs. I grabbed his lats, fingers digging into hard muscle. My legs curled, my feet scrubbing the backs of his thighs. I wiggled under his weight, trying to settle him more firmly inside.

  He groaned. “Synnove.” He raised his mouth from mine.

  I opened my eyes. He braced on his forearms over me, breathing hard.

  His eyes met mine. “I love you. I want to bask in your sunshine, forever. Be mine, and I will be yours, now and always.”

  The image imprinted on my heart, and it was no illusion. “Now and always. I love you too.” I paused. “But I’d love you even more if you were inside me.”

  He smiled, and this smile was male satisfaction and trembling anticipation, overlaid with joy. “As you wish.”

  His first thrust possessed me utterly. His second rocked me into the mattress.

  He set up a regular rhythm, hard, insistent thrusts that demanded I rise into joy with him. Sweet tension built in me as heat slicked the skin between us. His hands framed my face not my breasts, his fingers twined in my hair; his washboard abdomen and his powerful pecs abraded my nipples with delicious friction. My hands slid down his lats onto his buttocks and I urged him deeper, telling him without words that his pleasure didn’t have to wait. His thumbs smoothed my cheeks and his gaze was totally on my face, telling me that he’d wait for me to come first. And that he’d wait as long as it took.

  That unspoken testament of his love shook me and broke my hold on control. I held his hips for my own pummeling, churning against him until I was ready to shatter.

  And then I did. Pleasure crested over me, around me. Through me. Waves of pleasure beat like heat on a summer’s day.

  Ric rolled faster into me, a locomotive gearing up for its final run. “Sunshine. The feel of you, slick, hot, is enough to destroy me. May I?”

  He could have been asking anything but his tongue ran the length of one fang and I knew he wanted to bite. I lifted my chin to expose my throat.

  Hands in my hair, hips hammering mine, he pressed the tips of his fangs into the tender flesh of my neck. His cock swelled with release. As the last twangs of my orgasm shivered through me I began to throb with renewed anticipation, on the cusp of something even more shattering.

  He bit down. His fangs pierced my skin like live wires. My blood ignited.

  He thrust his cock to the hilt. I opened to him, taking every inch of him, sucking him in even deeper. He roared and began to come.

  A second climax burst through me, brain and body shaking with it. His body quaked with mine.

  He began to lap at my neck, tongue rough and hot. My blood sang, claiming him. Feeling him claim me.

  He wrapped me in his arms, rolling his hips to draw out our pleasure. His tongue pressed against my neck. Gradually the hammering of my heart in my ears gave way to his more gentle purr.

  Wrapped in each other, we relaxed into sleep.

  As dusk darkened the sky, I awoke to a feeling of wellbeing I hadn’t experienced since The Incident. Maybe not ever. Wrapped in Ric’s powerful arms, the scent of his warm skin in my nose, the sound of his heartbeat under one ear and the lake’s far-off gentle lapping against the pier in the other, it was one of the most peaceful and contented moments of my life.

  But peace only lasts so long before necessity takes over. I rolled off him. “Be right back.”

  “Where are you going? Oh.”

  I slipped on his shirt to visit the bathroom.

  Elena met me as I was coming out. “My turn. Then I have some news that may affect all of us. Go get Twyla, would you? She’s not answering my knock. Well, not with anything but moans.”

  I glanced into the living room. Bo was pacing. Aiden watched him with dark eyes, expression blank but I got the impression he was worried. Seeing Bo’s hunched sho
ulders I got worried too. I went to get Ric.

  Twyla didn’t answer my knock so I pounded on the door with an empty bottle of merlot for nearly a minute. Then she opened, looking like someone had slugged her stupid with a happy bat.

  Made me rethink my whole relationship thing with Ric. I’m not vain, but I never wanted to look that idiotic. But I was happy for her.

  I went to sit next to Ric on one of the couches, tucking my legs under me. Twyla emerged with Nikos and they snuggled on the other side of the couch. It was still shocking how gaunt he was, how old he looked. But Twyla didn’t seem to care and nobody said a word.

  Elena came out of the bathroom, and got right down to business. “I just took a phone call from my counterpart in the sheriff’s department. You remember the trolls? There was an irregularity with one of their phones. A file the size of a video was sent to an unknown party. To an untraceable number.”

  “A video of what?” Hairs rose on my nape as I remembered the eavesdropper, who’d returned to see Nikos’s vampire blood pull Elena from the brink of death.

  The confirmation was in her eyes. “The video itself was erased from the phone so we don’t know for certain. But yeah. I think we can be pretty sure it was the recording of the forest incident.”

  “What do we do?” Twyla asked.

  “I called the Ancient One,” Bo said. “Asked him if any of his techies can trace the call. He’s putting Steel himself on it.”

  Twyla nodded. “If anyone can pull a miracle out of his ass, Logan can.”

  “Until then,” Elena said, “we can only keep our eyes open. And wait.”

  That was the only dark spot on a wonderful, triumphant day. After a hearty dinner, Ric drove the two of us to Chicago.

  “Where are we going?” I asked.

  “You’ll see.”

  He pulled into the parking lot of the hospital complex where I’d done my surgical rotation.

  I stared out the window at the red brick and concrete children’s wing where The Incident had started the whole sequence of events. Had it only been a little over a week? “Teddy is here.”