by Scott, Talyn
“Of course not!”
Rock would never back down. Never. Nothing anyone could say or do would deter him, especially Blythe and her outrage. She was his. Rock had the means to provide for anything she wanted, and he would spoil her rightly. He would feed her, bathe her, and service her body until she was sated nightly. All of those things and more were his honor. “You will learn my touch, Blythe.”
“Your touch?”
“Take deep breaths, Blythe,” said Sixten softly, keeping his eyes locked on Rock. “In and out.”
“I wanted one night without blood and guts and drama,” she complained, her trembling hand palming her forehead. “I’ll go inside.”
“No!” Bane, Sixten, and Kash said in unison.
Rock’s body lit up. To his werewolf’s pleasure, Blythe dropped, spun out, and then made a mad dash for the back sliders, totally avoiding the side door they all thought she headed for.
“Stop running!” Bane issued a stern warning. “Oh, fuck,” he added when Rock took off after her, “she just...” Bane glared at Sixten. “Have you explained anything about werewolves to her?”
“Been a little busy, Beta. I know he won’t ever hurt her, right?” Sixten jumped on Kash, holding him down on the deck. “You’re the one who’s supposed to be holding me down, buddy.”
Bane gave Kash a thorough once over before answering Sixten’s question. “No. But his Beast may play, especially if she keeps this up.”
“She won’t go far. Blythe always hangs her toe on the leg of that chaise,” Sixten said with a shake of his head, and in the next second, she did. Rock scooped her up with one hand, righting her to stand. This time, she backed away from him slowly until her calves met the next chaise. Kash hissed a clear challenge Rock’s way. “Kash, don’t,” Sixten pleaded. “We’re relying on unreliable Druid tattoos to save her. They're all she has going for her…unless she mates him.” He took in three steadying breaths. “If you want her to live, then don’t. If I can temper my possessiveness so she can move from the unreliable to the reliable, why can’t you?”
“Fine,” Kash hissed.
“Blythe,” Sixten called her, jumping off Kash’s back and moving closer. “He’s still Rock, remember? He helped save you the other night. He’s just different this way, and you’ve witnessed it firsthand. Yes, he’s a werewolf, but he’s never hurt you, angel.”
“Nor will he,” Bane said quietly, backing away towards the marsh.
Blythe pushed away Rock’s hand, her face pale and furious. Her pulse notably throbbed at the base of her throat. Despite the strange, uncomfortable moment, Rock grew thirsty for her blood and he heard Kash swallow loudly.
“Don’t move away from me again,” Rock cautioned, somehow simmering to mid-trans, a transformation that remained between his werewolf and his human façade. “I don’t think I can control myself if you do.”
“C-control yourself?” In the next second, Blythe transformed herself into a living statue. Faint pallor and all, she still managed to be defiant, “I don’t believe you’ll hurt me, but I need room to breathe.”
Rock understood her confusion. Smelled her fear. Earlier, when she walked out on the deck, Blythe assumed the Habalines were coming for her again. They probably were. Then she faced something she hadn’t counted on: her werewolf mate. What a way for him to claim her. She walked out to find him covered in blood while perched in a tree, of all things.
What’s more? They’d known one another since she was a teenager, and Rock had tried to turn her away from Sixten on numerous occasions, most of them recently. Not that she should blame him for that. But Rock knew she wouldn’t forget his protests regarding her vampire anytime soon.
“Room to breathe, it is. But you won’t do it from out here.” He gestured at the bloody carnage. “Sixten wants you inside the house, resting. I’m in complete agreement with him.”
“Resting?” Her eyes were glassy, looking everywhere but at him.
Still in mid-trans, Rock released another growl - he couldn’t help it - pulling Blythe against him. Her tiny fists came against his chest, a natural fighter, but she didn’t push him away. He wanted to fight all her battles, take the fear from those extraordinary eyes. Soothe her with his body until she drifted into a peaceful sleep. Lowering his head, he sniffed her hair, brushing his lips across the top of her head. She stood so small in contrast to his monstrous frame, her fingernails digging into his forearms.
There wasn’t any way for Blythe to fight their connection, their draw to one another. They were unequivocally tethered. And if he could have ordered a perfect mate for himself, he still wouldn’t have come up with anything close to the perfection now in his arms. He wanted to drop to his knees and thank God for a generous gift he wasn’t sure he deserved.
“You belong to me,” he whispered, his breath blowing her midnight hair back. “We will talk things through, work things through, not run from them. I may… not look like the werewolf of human folklore. I don’t walk on all fours or grow fur. However, there’s one human legend regarding werewolves that's true. Never run. You won’t like what happens when I catch you.” Stupidly defiant, she then tried to twist out of his hold. “And I will catch you.” Rock nipped her chin with his canines, not breaking skin. A clear warning from his Beast to his female in an effort to slow her down, calm her. Which only seemed to piss off Blythe, but he was unable to hold back the inherent action.
“I won’t run again, because I don’t want to be caught!”
Rock was calling bullshit on that one. “After your subjugation under Marchii Gianni, you fear what I bring?” he asked, shaking his head. “Blythe, you recognize me as your mate. I know that you do.” When she said nothing, he demanded, “Answer me.”
“Tonight, I do.” Short breaths left her throat, her chest heaving. “After all these years, Rock, you just figured this out? That I belong to your werewolf?”
“We’ll discuss that in private.” Without leaning away, Rock gave her a searching stare, up close and personal. He salivated, wanting to run his tongue over every inch of her flesh. “I’ll make a promise to you, one to a mate that I cannot break: By a long shot, you will be happier with me, than you were without me.” He cupped her chin, wanting to press his lips to hers. “I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life, and I’ve lived for centuries.” Along with that private discussion, he wanted their first kiss to be private, as well. Instead, he trailed her jaw with his nose, before sniffing against her throat. Right then, he found the perfect place to mark her.
“You shouldn’t make promises to me.”
“I can and I will. You are my female, born for me.” Her heart rate doubled, adrenalin spiking. Adrenalin always called predators and he couldn’t risk her in any way. When she opened her mouth again, Rock cut her off with a simple command, “Your heart rate will slow. You will calm yourself.” To his surprise, Blythe went completely limp. Scooping her up, Rock cradled her soft body, a woman’s body, against his hard chest. He shook his head, concerned over her palpable exhaustion. “Yeah, bed’s a good call for you.”
With his Beast’s magic aiding her body, only then was Rock composed enough to lower down into his human façade, understanding that she couldn’t take off again or call predators with her adrenalin.
After a wide mouthed yawn, she said, “Where’s my Sixten?”
“He shifted into a hawk and he’s watching you like one.”
“What?” Another yawn. “I want to see,” her voice dropped to a whisper, her eyes clouding over.
“I’m right here, moja láska. He’s kidding, you know. Small birds aren’t my thing.” Sixten put his head between them, taking her lips in a gentle kiss. The one Rock wanted to give her, but if he tasted her mouth right now, he’d probably end up bending her over, pinning her and then pounding into his mate in the way of males. Even so, he enjoyed watching her lips move with Sixten’s kiss. When he didn’t think he could grow harder, he did. Popping out of his zipper was a given. She trie
d to get down, but Rock held her under a specific compulsion made solely for her.
“I don’t know what’s going through your mind, Rock,” she complained sleepily. “But this is my home with Sixten. Really, the only true one I’ve known since my parents' deaths. I’m home…I want to stay home.”
“You want to stay here, so be it.” Rock looked pointedly at Sixten. “She considers this as her home yet she cannot live here without attracting shifters.”
“Pardon me, but lately, my wife cannot go underground without losing it,” Sixten grated, though his words remained soft. Rock understood he wasn’t used to explaining his care in regards to his wife, but Sixten was taking this better than his Beast would have. “Don’t you think I’ve tried to nestle her underground? I’d do anything for her, anything to keep her safe. Alive.” Sixten’s hands were fisted at his sides, his breaths leaving in escalating bursts. “I even had this house warded by a Shaman, a deal with the Devil made just for Blythe.”
“I see the spells,” Rock retorted, smelling Blythe’s hair again while carrying her back to the open side door. “I can pick every spell apart, one by one, chewing them up and spitting them at your feet. So far, none of them is good enough.”
At that, Sixten appeared impressed. “So you’re one of the few wolves who can unravel intricate Druid spells.”
"Unravel and ravel, take your pick." He waved a hand over the doorway, parting an invisible barrier, and stepped inside with Blythe in his arms. After Bane had taken a quick phone call, he and Kash were in a tight huddle, suddenly discussing something, their faces tight with concern. Whatever was going down, Bane would have to carry on without Rock for the next two nights. He could ask Heath to fill in.
“Most any Druid spell?” Sixten asked specifically, bringing him back to the conversation at hand.
“I know my fair share,” he replied, “And we have to do better than this. Really, you have your home spelled against pure blood werewolves and pure blood shifters, but any vampire or mixed blood can come in here. In all of two seconds, I, a pure blood werewolf, am standing in your kitchen." Through the window, Rock nodded as Bane gave him a thumbs-up and misted away.
“Blythe and I have to get inside our own house - we're mixed bloods. Furthermore, as far as vampires are concerned, I’m not keeping him out.” Sixten gestured at Kash before stepping through the threshold. When Sixten turned back to Rock, Kash misted away, following Bane. “My wife needs rest.”
Rock frowned, staring down at her high cheekbones. Her eyelids had closed and her dark lashes fanned out to perfection. “I can sense what she needs. I’ll put her into your bed.” Without a doubt, his Beast could sense everything Blythe needed, Rock’s soul anchored by hers. “Point the way, vampire.”
“I don’t know if she’s ready for you to tuck her in.”
“I’ve dishonored her by frightening her.” Rock didn’t think when he’d crushed her to his chest, demanding her acceptance while she was reeling in shock. “I will honor her in this way, seeing to her rest as I protect her. I’m sure you know that it’s our way.”
Blythe’s eyes snapped open, her body still relaxed but her brain in overdrive. “Seeing to my rest? That’s not necessary.”
Just when he felt guilty for overwhelming her, again Blythe attempted handling him. Not happening. Rock touched her mind, speaking in a private way. I walked your dream tonight. Sixten and I weren’t the only males in it. Do you want to discuss this now?
She narrowed her cognac eyes, wondering how Rock knew, but made the choice he expected. “I guess…seeing to my rest…sounds fine.”
“You’re going after him?” Rock asked Sixten.
“Going after whom?” Sixten looked affronted.
“Kash looked a little green,” explained Rock, “took off in a hurry.”
Briefly, Sixten closed his eyes, his hand reaching out for Blythe. Their fingers intertwined intimately. “You really expect me to leave Blythe here alone…after everything she just saw and then found out…about you?”
“She’s not alone.” Rock said evenly. “I’ve got Blythe. What about Kash?"
“What about Kash?"
“So quick to dismiss him?”
“As far as Kash is concerned, I’ve dismissed nothing, werewolf.”
He looked between Sixten and Blythe. “You two are treading water about something this important?” He hadn’t missed the possessiveness Kash had shown with Blythe, or the way Sixten overlooked his friend. And considering the dream Blythe had tonight, her subconscious was calling out to the Vojak as much as she was calling out to her werewolf. Whether she understood it or not, Kash felt her need for his Species as much as Rock felt her need for his Beast. Maybe she was too ashamed to admit her growing feelings for Kash. For sure, Blythe wanted Kash in her bed. “Secrets open rifts, leaving everyone involved vulnerable.”
Sixten’s eyebrows drew into flaxen slashes. “Now’s certainly not the time.”
“Obviously, I’m not challenging your rights as her mate. If you were challenging mine, you would have done so fifteen minutes ago.”
“Yes, I’ll accept you as my co-mate.” Whispering lips across Blythe’s knuckles, Sixten offered selflessly, “I’ll do anything for the only love I’ll ever know.”
“Then whom are you challenging, Six? Think about it.” Rock ignored the stream of tears that left Blythe’s eyes, even though they tore at his heart. “You can check on Kash while I’m with her. Why not offer me your trust. It's not as if I haven't earned it. Repeatedly. Hell, I risked my life to save hers, before I even knew Blythe was mine. Just saying."
"He’s right. I'll be fine, Sixten." Blythe offered. “If something’s up with Kash, go,” she said, wiping at her cheek. “He never stops helping us. Lately, that's all he seems to do. If he needs you for whatever reason, go to him. I think you’re his only true friend.” She smiled encouragingly, though her lips wobbled. “I just hope it won't take too long before you come home."
"Okay," Sixten agreed reluctantly, "I've trusted the Vojaks to guard you when I wasn't around. Leaving you with your werewolf mate should be a breeze, right?” Though his expression said the opposite. “I’ll be back here before you know it."
“As long as it’s before dawn, we’re good,” Rock said. “After that, I have to oversee a prisoner’s release into your Coven’s custody over at the joint faction facility. Bane can’t relieve me of that, he’s needed elsewhere.”
“I have no intentions of staying out the rest of the night,” Sixten scoffed.
"Go quickly so you can come back sooner." She blew Sixten a kiss as he misted upstairs to change clothes.
"Which way to your bedroom?" Rock asked his mate.
"If you let me walk, I'll show you."
Swallowing laughter, he asked, "Let you walk when I finally have you in my arms? No way.” Rock watched as her tiny nostrils flared.
“By the way,” she countered, pointing a finger at his nose, “your efforts in trying to handle me will backfire.”
“Backfire? I don’t think so.” He couldn’t help himself. A rumble escaped his chest, his Beast amused at her sauciness when he could clearly smell his mate’s sex dampening in response to his proximity. “By the way, don’t challenge me, mixed blood, unless you can negotiate on an even playing field.” He leaned down and sniffed her throat, rubbing his nose across her jawline in a distinctly wolfy way. “Don't give me that look, either. All females enjoy a werewolf’s style of negotiating, and believe me, baby, so will you.”
Chapter Two
Kash solidified in the alleyway dividing INKS and Six Feet Under with two things on his mind. By dawn, he hoped to have at least one of them resolved. He ran a hand through his spiky hair, thinking he needed to get it cut, when he turned the corner and spotted a stunning vampiress waiting just for him on the sidewalk. Kash raised his chin, fang flashing an invitation. Without hesitation, she fell into step with him, both walking the front length of Ryan’s club in communal silence.
&nbs
p; No matter how many times he came here, he couldn’t come to terms with the long lines snaking out from the entrance. In all his years of Vojak service, he never understood why humans flocked together, herding body against body, in order to taste the edges of darkness while inebriated.
Those standing around hadn’t a clue what true darkness was, or they wouldn’t be here around his kind. Down below, underneath Six Feet Under, a playground for a vampire’s every fancy existed, a blood drinker’s dream world. Where flesh, blood, and bone covered the floors, a place where human nightmares lived. Not that they allowed mortals there. If somehow they made it past Ryan’s covert entrance, they would never leave alive. Maestru and Qudir had turned their backs on the goings on there, looking the other way for years, since humans weren’t typically involved. They all agreed on one thing, though, it was far better to keep certain vampires’ tastes off the streets and down below. In fact, that was Qudir’s unending motto.
Crushing a fifty into the bouncer’s meaty hand, he strode in without hesitation, bypassing those grumbling in line. With a glance up, he found pretties dancing in cages, dangling before flashing strobes in a smorgasbord of optic pleasure. None of them held a candle to Blythe.
“Thanks for coming on such short notice,” he said to Sheila, rolling his eyes over everything but her.
“How could I say no?”
Everyone knew the word no rarely left her lips. Sheila shared intimacy with many Vojaks, a groupie of sorts, although Kash had never been inside her. Even though she had offered countless times. She curled her hand around his forearm, her weaker power sliding up his arm. And it wasn’t one of those times where something wrong felt so right. She just felt all wrong, period. Still, both walked in another pointed silence until they reached the west side of the club.
