by Jaid Black
He loved her—he was in love with her, and the last week they’d spent together, making love and hunting together, talking about nothing and everything, laughing together—all of it had only further solidified their special bond. And the lovemaking. Oooh the lovemaking…
As her hourly need came upon her, Nancy allowed her form to shimmer and transform into her other, kor-tari self. She grinned, her fangs exploding from her gumline as she did so.
She heard her mate awaken from behind her, roused by the scent of her arousal. His lips formed a snarl as he bared his fangs and shape-shifted, growling as he exploded in the air toward her, their bodies clashing.
Nancy hadn’t mated Vorik while in kor-tari form since the evening she’d emerged from her cocoon. She hissed when his sharp nails dug into her flesh, deciding to immediately remedy that oversight.
To hell with going back to earth. Her eyebrows wriggled.
Naughty Nancy was home at last.
Epilogue
Ten Yessat years later
Nancy F’al Vader, nee Nancy Lombardo, grinned down at the tiny newborn pup feeding at her breast. She’d delivered five litters in ten years time, though her first and last birthings had produced only one son apiece. Thank God.
Nancy still grimaced when she remembered the long, painful ordeal of the fourth birthing two years past. She had delivered five sons in that litter. Five! By the time the runt had made his way into the world, his tiny gargoyle body emerging from between her legs and taking flight, Nancy had begun to feel like a vending machine.
She smiled at the memory, recalling the way her tiny son had flown into her arms the minute he saw her, snuggling against her body and sighing contentedly. The same as another son, her youngest son, was doing now.
“He is perfect,” Vorik murmured, his silver eyes finding his Bloodmate’s dark ones. He glanced back down at tiny Xorak and gently ran a finger over the small kor-tar head. “Just like thy mother.”
Nancy snorted at that. “You’re just trying to get in my good graces,” she teased. “So I don’t throw you out of bed again.”
He grunted at the recent memory, not having a care for it. “Can I help it if I go off into snoring fits after you’ve sated me in the bedfurs?” His eyes narrowed, flicking from silver to crimson. “Verily, ‘tis a crime and a travesty to deny me thy body, vorah.” His hand slashed definitively through the air. “I will never allow thus again, whether or not it causes me to snore.”
She harrumphed, reveling in the debate. She couldn’t help it. The lawyer in her, she supposed. “You gargoyles are all alike,” she goaded him. “If ya can’t take the lovin, stay out of the oven.”
Vorik bent his dark head and nipped her on the shoulder, eliciting a yip. And a shiver. When his face reemerged into her line of vision, his expression was solemn. “Jesting aside, little one, I thank you for yet another beautiful son.” He kissed the tip of her nose, then smiled. “I love you, Nancy,” he murmured.
He pronounced her name Nawncy—always made her smile. She ran her hand gently over his jaw. “I love you too, Vorik.”
Later that eve, when all the pups were abed, Vorik joined her in their bedfurs with a wolf-eating grin on his face, a dimple popping out on either cheek. “Shall we play the yenni game anon, little one?”
Nancy ran her tongue seductively across her lower lip. She knew how much Vorik loved the yenni game. She would pretend to be a starving, voracious alpha yenni at market, while her Bloodmate played the role of the horny virgin trader desperate to feed her. Not too far off base from how they’d originally found each other, she thought bemusedly.
She wiggled her eyebrows at him. “I think that old sword is around here somewhere.” She snorted. “You remember my sword? The one you mistook for a yenni tail ten Yessat years ago?”
Vorik chuckled at the memory. “Aye.”
Nancy smiled at her Bloodmate, vastly contented. With him. With their sons. With herself. With life.
She was glad she hadn’t taken that job in Alaska. Very glad indeed. Life was beautiful.
Enough said.
If you have not yet purchased this title and would like to support the work of these authors, please visit http://ellorascave.com/honorbox.htm to contribute to our Honour Box. We thank you for your support.
Also At Ellora’s Cave:
Ellora’s Cave
www.ellorascave.com
