I knew what Paige’s warning meant; knew that Lazarus was about to leave before Marco could burst into ashes. Shield back up, I dived at Lazarus and his two vampires, knocking them so hard with my shield that they all toppled over. Then I dropped the shield, bent over Lazarus, and stabbed him in the throat with the object that Marco had given me.
His vampires lunged for me, but I’d already instinctively pulled my shield once again.
I backed away, giving Lazarus the room to stand. It didn’t matter now if he teleported away. The damage was done. Marco knew that, which was probably why he was again laughing; the sound was weak now.
Hand to his throat, Lazarus swayed. “What have you done?”
I held up the syringe. “As Marco said, an eye for an eye.” And I was cruel enough to carry through with this plan.
A tremor ran through Lazarus. “No,” he breathed. Eyes beginning to glaze over, he turned to his vampires. “Kill me. Kill—” A sudden force pulled him backwards at least ten feet…and right into Harvey’s waiting arms.
Surrounded by my squad and with Jared at her side, Sam looked at Lazarus in disgust. “Yeah, that’s not gonna happen. You’re going to suffer exactly the way you deserve. You’re going to suffer the way all those other vampires suffered before you. But not in the name of science, in the name of vengeance.”
Marco smiled at her. “I might actually like you now.” His head slowly turned to face Imani as I took her from Paige and brushed a kiss over her forehead. “You’re a lucky bastard, you know,” he said, his voice fading fast. “You kept her safe, in the end. Keep doing that.” He burst into ashes.
Lazarus instantly doubled over in pain, which made grim satisfaction settle deep in my gut. If that made me sick, whatever. He’d hurt Imani, he’d started this war, and he was the cause of too many deaths. He’d had this coming for a long time.
“She all right?” Sam asked me, though her eyes were on Imani.
I nodded. “Calling Lazarus’ blood when she was already tired sapped her of what energy she had left.” But she’d done it, confident that I wouldn’t let anything happen to her while she was vulnerable.
“So we have Imani to thank for the force-field falling?” asked Jared.
Again, I nodded. “Battle over?”
Sam took a cleansing breath. “Battle’s over, The Order’s no longer an issue, Lazarus is in custody…and I seriously want Imani’s ability to call blood.”
Jared rolled his eyes. “Does that surprise anyone here?”
Everyone shook their heads, smiling. Sam just snorted.
CHAPTER TWENTY
(Butch)
One hand braced against the tiled wall, I fisted the other in Imani’s hair as she sucked my cock like it was covered in cream or something. She knew exactly how to use her tongue, knew exactly what I liked and how I liked it. And she gave it to me every time.
The hot spray of the shower pounded on my skin as she hummed and moaned around me, bobbing her head up and down while raking her nails down the backs of my thighs. And when she swallowed around my cock, taking me even deeper, I felt my balls tighten. “Stop.”
She did, smiling as I pulled out of her mouth. She looked damn pleased with herself.
“Up.” I helped her stand, hoisted her up, and pressed her against the wall. She locked her legs around my waist, arching into me. “Ready?” I knew the answer to that, because I could smell how ready she was; knew that if I slid my finger between her folds, I’d find her dripping wet.
At her nod, I dropped her hard on my cock. She gasped, head falling back against the wall as her slick muscles squeezed me so hard I was surprised I didn’t see spots. She was so tight it should have hurt, so hot it should have burned. But nothing felt better than being balls-deep in Imani.
“Eyes,” I growled. They opened as I pinned her hands above her head, wanting to look at the Binding knot on her third finger while I fucked in and out of her. It was something I often did. “Don’t make a sound until I say you can.” Not because I didn’t love hearing her little moans and gasps, but because having no outlet always made her wind tighter.
Her eyes narrowed, even though I knew she loved the challenge. “Just fuck me already.”
I pulled back and thrust hard, shoving my cock as deep inside her as it could go; groaning as her body pulsed and contracted around me. Her mouth fell open, but she didn’t make a sound. “Good girl.” I hammered in and out of her, brutal. Relentless. Giving no reprieve. Taking everything. “Made for me.” She was. No one would ever make me think differently. I craved her, needed her; I knew I always would.
Tilting her hips a little, I thrust harder. She inhaled sharply. I shook my head. “Not a sound.” Eyes blazing with frustration, she tightened her muscles around me. If that was supposed to be some kind of punishment, it didn’t work. “Do that again.” She did.
Growling against her mouth, I gave her lower lip a sharp nip, sipping at the few drops of blood that seeped to the surface. “Did you know that I get hard every time I look at that knot on your finger? It says you’re mine, you belong to me. You always did, Imani. Always did.” I gripped her hip with one hand, slamming her down on my cock each time I thrust upwards. “Let me hear you.”
A loud moan tore out of her throat. “I’m gonna come.”
“I know. I can feel you getting tighter and hotter.” Her dazed eyes flicked to my throat. “You thirsty, baby? Give me what I want, and then you can feed from me.” I slid a hand between us and found her clit with my thumb. “Say it. Baby, say it.”
“I love you,” she breathed.
“Good girl. Take what you need.” Groaning as her teeth sank down hard, I thrust deeper and faster. Her body clamped around my cock, contracting and milking me and taking me over the edge. I exploded with a growled, “Love you, baby.”
Shaking and panting against my mouth, she smiled. “I like feeling you come through our bond.”
“Same here.” I kissed her hard, deep, taking her taste inside me. Since Binding a month ago, I’d become more possessive and protective than before—something neither of us would have thought possible. Surprisingly, it didn’t wear on her and she didn’t give me shit over it. In fact, she mostly just smiled about it. She got me, and she let me be. Until I pushed too hard, of course, which was really only fair. “What does the bond feel like? I’ve felt you run your psychic fingers over it.”
“It hums with some kind of energy. Feels light and crisp, but also very strong.” Her hands lightly pressed to my face. “Let me just say that you never have to worry I’ll ever pluck on it like a banjo string. I’d never use our bond to hurt you.”
“I know. Just like I know you’d never sever it.”
(Imani)
I smiled. Deep down, I’d worried that he wasn’t fully secure in our mating for the reason that I was able to cut the bond. After all, his past had left him believing that people didn’t stick around for long. I was concerned that worries would always lurk deep inside him, even when it made no sense. “Never,” I confirmed.
Our Binding ceremony had been a huge celebration during which his squad played pranks and my squad got so shit-faced there was another catfight. Sam joined the fight this time, to Jared’s utter dismay.
Dean, aka The Prick, had left The Hollow a few weeks before the ceremony, which Butch had decided to view as a Binding gift from Dean to us. It would have been nice if Butch’s exes had left with him, but my luck didn’t stretch that far. To be fair, though, Jen’s warning appeared to have made a difference, because it had been a while since his ex-one-nightstands had tried flirting with him.
In addition to the Binding, a lot had happened since the battle. Firstly, each and every member of The Order had been totally destroyed, including Marvin who Sam and Jared executed via V-Tube as an example to our kind that leaking information was an extremely bad idea. Considering his death hadn’t been quick or easy, I was assuming the message was clearly received.
Lazarus, too, had suffered an agonising death. He hadn�
�t even gotten halfway through the transition before he’d started to weaken and age dramatically while going pretty much out of his mind. Not that I’d seen any of this for myself. But Butch had visited him several times and found a dark joy in watching him suffer the way I had suffered. In fact, my squad—including Keeley, who had recently joined—had also paid the bastard the occasional visit.
Annalise, who claimed she had no idea that her brother led The Order, was devastated by his death and also by the discovery that he was responsible for what happened to me. She had taken over from Lazarus as the leader of the nest and destroyed his lab. She’d also gotten the codes for The Order’s compound so that we could get inside the place without setting off any bombs. The place had long since been reduced to a pile of rubble.
It had been weird to hear that Marco had died in his efforts to save me from Lazarus. Butch, being seriously possessive, had worried that I’d be sad about my Sire’s death. On the contrary, I’d found some kind of closure in it, though I was confused by his self-sacrifice. I had to wonder if he’d gotten tired of this life and saw that as a way to go out with a bang—a way that might also redeem him for taking my human life.
Butch agreed but, in his opinion, nothing would make up for that, just as nothing would excuse what Lazarus had done. There had been a lot of casualties from the battle, and a ceremony had been held to commemorate the members of the legion who had all died doing what they loved. If it wasn’t for Paige, there would have been many more deaths.
Sam had wondered if dragon shifters might, given their general dislike of vampires, use the deaths of all the mercenaries as an excuse to start a war between the species. Andres had assured us, however, that there would be no retaliation. So far, there hadn’t been.
In fact, things were once again pretty quiet. But no one was complaining about it this time, not wanting to tempt fate. Our training sessions were the only action we got. During those sessions, my strength and speed had improved to the extent that they were very close to what they had been prior to the transition. My fangs had seemingly gone for good though, along with the amber tint to my irises.
Slipping out of me, Butch set me on my feet and tapped my ass. “If you’re still going to the movie night thing, you better hurry.”
“Why do you always call them movie night things?”
“Because they’re not really movie nights.” He turned off the spray, stepped out of the stall and grabbed us both a towel. “They’re just an excuse for all you girls to get together and get smashed with Fletcher and Norm.”
I wrapped a towel around me. “That’s so not true.”
“And you’re such a shit liar. Tell me there’ll be no drinking.”
“There’ll be a little drinking.” I’d learned that I could still get drunk providing I fed from an inebriated vampire, which was usually Paige.
“We both know that you’ll get shitfaced and I’ll end up having to come for you.”
I huffed. “You’re wrong.”
(Butch)
For some reason, whenever I found the girls drunk, it was almost always the same: they’d all kicked their heels off, they were all convinced they weren’t drunk, and they were all acting weird.
One would be dancing on her own, one would be eating, one would be asleep, one would be laughing for the sake of laughing, one would be cursing her ex, one would be crying about nothing while others comforted her, and one would be sprawled on the floor, singing to herself totally off-key.
Tonight was no exception.
Salem and Chico appeared at Fletcher’s apartment just as I arrived. A singing Ava was so plastered that her mate had to carry her home by a fistful of her shirt. Chico just threw a struggling Jude over his shoulder while she threatened him with dismemberment.
Lifting my chin at Fletcher and Norm, who were snuggling on the sofa, I crouched beside Imani. How she’d fallen asleep on the coffee table, I didn’t know, but my girl could sleep anywhere. “Wake up, baby.” Taking her hand, I traced her Binding knot. “Come on, open those pretty eyes for me.”
Her lids slowly flickered open, and she gave me a dazzling smile that hit me right in the chest. “Hey, whatcha doin’ here?”
“Why do you think I’m here, baby? I’ve come to get you.” Just like I’d known I’d have to. She was lucky she was cute when she was hammered.
“Wanna know a secret?” She lowered her voice. “I like that you call me ‘baby.’”
I smiled. “Yeah?”
“Totally yeah.”
“Good. Ready to come home?”
She pouted. “S’early.”
It was actually way past dawn. “Time to go.” I scooped her up. “Say goodnight to everyone.” She did, though she was still pouting. I carried her home in vampire speed, lay her on the bed, and gently began to strip her.
Without even opening her eyes, she said, “Dude, you’re seriously hot. You know that, right?”
I chuckled. “You might have said it once or twice before.”
Her eyes fluttered open. “You make me happy. You know that too, right? Like, super-duper happy.”
I had to smile. “Yeah, I know.” I still had no idea how I was doing it, though. “And you make me happy, so all is good.” I pulled the covers over her. “You need sleep.”
“But the night is young.” Her nose wrinkled. “I’m hungry. Let’s make beef noodles.”
I might have said yes if she wasn’t half-asleep. “Okay, baby, I’ll do that.”
“You’re the shit, Richardson. The shit.” Then she passed out. She was gonna have a bitch of a headache at dusk. “It’s a good thing I love you, Imani Prince. More than anything.”
EPILOGUE
(Jared)
Keeping my arm tight around a swaying Sam to support her weight as we neared our home, I said, “Maybe you should pass on movie night things in future.” It was always the same: she got smashed, lost track of time—or simply didn’t give a shit what time it was—and I was forced to go find her.
Her aquamarine eyes narrowed and cut to me. “They’re not movie night things.”
“Well they’re not movie nights.” They were excuses to get blind drunk without mates and boyfriends hovering around. “Our squad agrees.”
She almost tripped over nothing. Quickly righting herself, the picture of dignity, she cleared her throat. “I’m all right.”
I sighed. When I’d reached Fletcher’s apartment and saw the drunken state she was in, I’d offered to carry her but she’d point blank refused. This wasn’t an uncommon occurrence. She was as stubborn when she was hammered as she was when she was sober. “Let me just carry you, it’ll be easier.”
She straightened, affronted. “I got this.” But she didn’t have it at all.
I sighed again. “You’re going to fall, and it’ll be your own fault for drinking alcohol like it’s going out of fashion.”
“I’m not rat-arsed. Just a bit on the tipsy side.”
I snorted. “Sure, baby.”
She stumbled again. Throwing out one arm, she declared, “Seriously, I’m all right.”
It would be annoying if it wasn’t so amusing. I guided her up the wooden steps to the wrap around porch of our beach house. “Let’s just get you inside.” I’d planned to put her to bed and strip her, but she shed her clothes one item at a time as she unsteadily made her way to the bedroom.
Sinking into the mattress, totally and deliciously naked, she lifted a brow. “You’re not naked. Why are you not naked?”
Slipping off my jacket, I took a moment to drink her in. I knew every inch of that body, knew every sensitive zone and every ticklish spot. Sam might say she wasn’t ticklish, but she was talking shit. The truth was that she just didn’t relax and let her guard down that much for many people.
She examined her Binding knot. “Have you noticed how often Butch traces Imani’s knot, as if reminding himself that it’s there? It’s sort of sweet. I didn’t think he had it in him.”
I smiled down at he
r. “You’re taking credit for him going after Imani, aren’t you?”
She blinked, the image of innocence even when she was decadently spread out before me. “Why would I do that?”
“Maybe because you urged Marla to proposition him the night Imani split up with Dean.” My tone dared her to deny it.
She exhaled heavily. “I wanted him to see just how much it was Imani that he wanted. And it worked, didn’t it? He did us all proud and bucked the fuck up.”
I crawled on the bed, leaning over her and bracing my hands either side of her head. “It was nice of Dean to leave The Hollow. Or, should I say, it was nice of you to kick him out.”
She slid her hands under my shirt and up my chest. “I didn’t kick him out. I just strongly suggested that he bugger off and let them live their lives in peace.”
“Just like you strongly suggested after he cheated on Imani that he shouldn’t try to win her back.”
“Well—”
“And just like you strongly suggested to every single one of Butch’s exes that they back off.”
She huffed. “I want to secure the happiness of my squad members. Is that so bloody awful?”
“Not awful.” Smiling, I kissed her. “Your matchmaking skills failed with Paige and Stuart.”
She frowned, appearing offended. “I had no hand in them getting together. I wasn’t surprised when it went wrong; they don’t suit each other at all. Paige needs someone a lot different than him.”
I arched a brow. “And I suppose you know exactly who she needs, don’t you?”
“As it happens, yeah.”
“And I suppose you’re going to meddle, aren’t you?”
“Well it’s fun and it works.”
Giving her my weight, I nipped her lip. “I can think of a better kind of fun.”
Her eyes gleamed. “Yeah? Do tell.”
“It involves your legs hooked over my shoulders, my cock deep inside you, and my teeth in your skin.”
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