I had forgotten to grab underwear.In my haste to get away from Rhayden, and to wash the scent of his brother off me, to keep him happy I had managed to forget one of the most vital pieces of clothing. Something which would, in my mind, protect me from the creature I travelled with.Padding through the house, I kept my eye out for the vampire. I did not want him to know I was panty-less. I'd seen the way he looked at me, when I was fully clothed. Going to my bag, I rummaged through it, trying to keep my long night-shirt covering my backside. “Where the fuck are they?”I had packed at least three pairs and they all seemed to be missing...“Looking for these?”My stomach contracted as I turned. Rhayden was leaning against the doorjamb, one of my lace thongs hooked over his index finger, the other two pairs of panties, gripped in his hand. I blinked and stared at him. “Did you seriously go through my bag?”His grin widened. “Just wanted to see what kind of underwear you preferred. Wou
The scrap of lace she called panties fell to the ground with the others, as I launched myself at her. My hands gripped her face, my mouth crushing against hers and I kissed Marley deeply.Her taste was sweet, her hands scrambling for my hips, and I growled as her fingernails dug into my flesh. A soft mewl escaped her lips as my tongue drove into her mouth and her knees weakened.I laid her softly on the cold floor, my body next to hers as I buried my head against the side of her neck, her breath ragged to my ears. Marley’s back arched as my lips travelled along her neck to her ear and I moaned against her skin. “Beautiful, mortal woman…”My mouth moved down her neck, laying wet, cold kisses to her skin and her heart hammered loudly in her chest, igniting a fire within me I'd never felt before. Down over her night shirt, I teased her nipples through the fabric with my teeth, resisting the urge to unleash my fangs on her soft skin.To mark her, would be to place a target on both mine a
“Fucking cock sucking asshole!” I paced the courtyard, resisting the urge to kick Rhayden’s car as I walked past it.Fuck kicking it, I would take to it with a baseball bat if I had a chance.“Fucking prick.”It was supposed to be a kiss. Instead, the vampire had eaten me out in what I could only describe as one of the best fucking experiences of my life.My voice was coarse from yelling at the rising sun for the last hour, while Rhayden was deep within the bowels of the safe house, knocked out cold, in hibernate. All I wanted to do was go in there, drag his sorry ass outside and dance a jig while he burned in the sun.Sighing, I twisted and sank to the pavement, my legs folded underneath me. My head went to my hands, tears threatening to break through and drown me. Why was this happening to me? Surely, I could have found the killer and dealt with them on my own.I should not have been teamed up with the one vampire I could not resist. I wanted to call Abe and confess to what had hap
The brain fog which usually accompanied waking from hibernate, was not there when my eyes opened. The only thing there was... the taste of Marley on my lips. Pure ambrosia.I licked them, a fresh tingle racing through me. I had never tasted blood as sweet as hers.The one smear I had had the night before had been nothing to the gullet full I had now. I was sated. I would not need to feed tonight or even tomorrow night. Now I knew why Absinthe kept her around.Stretching, I eased myself off the hard bed in the corner of the darkened room. My night vision kicked in, the colors we vampires saw in the dark, flashing as I looked around and froze.Just outside, there was a steady thumping rhythm of a heartbeat. Deep in slumber, the heart could belong to Marley. No one else would be game enough to come down into the basement.I moved to the door and spun the wheel, opening it and stepped out into the dark. Turning my head, Marley was slumped against the wall next to the door, curled up in
A phone rang shrilly in the library, and I blinked, turning to the delegates who were being introduced by Tony. I looked back at the library doors, before turning back to my guests. These were the heads of other covens, there was important things to be discussed... but that phone kept ringing, and I developed a sinking feeling in my stomach. Being as polite as possible, I bowed to the other leaders, “I’m sorry, if you’d excuse me for one moment…”I walked into the library and closed the doors. Usually, when entertaining such important guests, I’d let a phone ring out or I’d allow someone else to answer it, but it was my cell. Only two people had the number and they only called it in an emergency.I picked up the device, seeing Marley’s name flash across the screen and held it to my ear. “Marley?”“Abe!” There was fright in her voice, and I sank to my chair, my stomach rebelling against the pack of blood I’d consumed half an hour earlier; because while the human's blood could sate me
I stared at the racks of guns and stacks of ammo.Rhayden travelled the lines of cages and grinned, punching in a code. The doors sprung open, and he gripped the semi-automatic handgun, turning back to me, shoving the weapon into the back of his jeans. “My favorite room, no matter where we are.”“You’re an ass.” I turned from him, looking at the door we had come through. They lycan would be able to break through in a matter of seconds. Rhayden had put us in a god-damned kill box.As if he had read my mind, Rhayden replied from behind me. “Relax Mars, they are not getting in. Wolfsbane.”Wolfsbane only stopped a lycan for so long. It was near fatal to them in werewolf form, but the human side of them, it was merely an irritant.I rolled my eyes and turned back to Rhayden as he held up a knife. Infused with silver, he grinned and stepped forward. “Your favorite weapon.”He crouched, his hand gripping the back of my calf and he slipped the dagger into the side of my boot. His head lifted
Marley was behind me, her heartbeat almost lost in the sound of howling, as the team of hunters sent to rescue us, slaughtered the lycan outside. Her scent still lingered though. Able to break through the smell of fur and blood and it did nothing to calm the animal in me. I would protect Marley with my life, and not just because of what we had done the night before, but because if my brother lost her...My other concern... how the fuck did a pack of lycan find us.My senses heightened, I sought out Vince and his team; a group of seven of Absinthe’s best and deadliest hunters. From the commotion which lifted to my ears, they were still in the courtyard, not having gained access to the safehouse. I just hoped the Lycan had not breached the house either; if they had, I didn't know how Marley and I would go, fending them off.We moved as one, Marley's shotgun trained just over my shoulder, the muzzle next to my ear; if she let it off, I’d be deaf for a week.We came to the corner of the
By fuck my shoulder stung. The gashes which the lycan had ripped into my skin oozed blood through my jacket, shirt and down onto the dusty floor. My hand lifted, covering the ragged wounds, the hot sticky liquid seeping through my fingers and my gaze lifted.Rhayden’s mouth was firmly planted on the lycan’s neck, its thick mangy fur coated in blood. The creature screamed again, as it had when I’d shot it and it tried to grab at the vampire on its back. But there was no use.Vampires latch hold, like a spider with it's prey. Wrapping their bodies about you, holding on until the victim starts to weaken from the blood loss... and yb then, you're fucked. Trust me... I know.Rhayden had a good grip on the lycan, and with the loss of blood from the bullet wounds, and the blood, which was being drained by the vampire, the creature he was attached to quickly weakened. It slumped to the floor, Rhayden still on its back and within a few short moments, all it was doing was twitching.Rhayden lif
My hand went to my mouth, and I looked at Absinthe. Tears were on his lashes, and he closed his eyes, letting the drops slide down his cheeks. “Oh my god.”“Now you know. You know why I didn’t want to tell you about Johan, or where he was. It’s not the fear of you leaving Marley. Honestly, I could live with that, to know you are safe…” He opened his eyes, his irises almost white and I heard the pain and anguish in his voice. “It’s the fear of him taking the one thing—which is worth more to me, than my own immortality. That is what scares me.”My hand reached out to him, and I gripped his hand in mine, squeezing it. “As much as I want to be angry with you, I understand why you did it. But Abe… he has to be bought to justice for what he did.”“I know, and he will. I just need time to make a pla—” The phone rang, making us both jump and Absinthe reached out, pick
My hand went to my mouth, and I looked at Absinthe. Tears were on his lashes, and he closed his eyes, letting the drops slide down his cheeks. “Oh my god.”“Now you know. You know why I didn’t want to tell you about Johan, or where he was. It’s not the fear of you leaving Marley. Honestly, I could live with that, to know you are safe…” He opened his eyes, his irises almost white and I heard the pain and anguish in his voice. “It’s the fear of him taking the one thing—which is worth more to me, than my own immortality. That is what scares me.”My hand reached out to him, and I gripped his hand in mine, squeezing it. “As much as I want to be angry with you, I understand why you did it. But Abe… he has to be bought to justice for what he did.”“I know, and he will. I just need time to make a pla—” The phone rang, making us both jump and Absinthe reached out, pick
“Abe?”Absinthe slowly lifted his eyes, looking at me. “I was wondering when you would get here.”I closed the door to the library, and leaned against it, looking at my dark-haired lover.He looked sad. Lost almost and I sighed, walking over and sat next to him. We didn’t speak for a few minutes.His gaze couldn’t hold mine… that’s when I understood, and my heart broke into a million pieces. “You knew about Johan and Johnathan.”“Yes.”He knew… I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Why didn’t you tell me?”Absinthe’s bottom lip trembled, “Because I knew you would have a one-track mind about it. That it would cloud your judgement.”“What judgement? That he is as crazy as his ancestor—”“Father.”“What?”“Johnathan was Johan’s father
It had been twenty-four hours since the trial, and while things should have been feeling fairly normal… something was niggling in the back of my mind. Something didn’t feel right.I hadn’t seen either Absinthe or Rhayden tonight, but I knew I would probably have Rhayden between my legs any time—“Hey, what are you doing?”I looked up at Rhayden, seeing him standing at the door, arms crossed over his chest. He still sported the remnants of the braids I’d done the night before, and I smirked, returning my attention to the device in my hands. “Recovering from your brother.”“Was he rough with you Mars?”There was not an inkling of concern in this ass’ voice, and I rolled my eyes at him, flipping him off, which earned a chuckle. After Absinthe had fucked me three times, and sent me insane with pleasure, we’d laid quietly and not spoken. I had been drained, not only mentally,
I waved to Othello as his entourage took him out of the mansion grounds to a hotel owned by our kind, which would house him and the other coven leaders for the rest of the night.There was no fucking way I wanted them in my mansion any longer.It had been a rough night.There were moments where I thought I would have to fight Mathias, or tear my brother off him. But in the end, justice prevailed and Marley was safe.Speaking of Marley.I turned and walked back into the mansion, seeking out her scent.I knew she would be with Rhayden. Hopefully not impaled on him again. That, I had only just barely tolerated. While I knew they fucked, I didn’t want to see it.There.Turning to one of the four parlors in the lower halls of the mansion, I stopped at the doorway. Marley was sitting a small armchair, Rhayden at her feet and she was… was she braiding his hair?I chuckled as the pure bliss on my brother’s fac
The vampire at the end of the table had everyone’s attention. Even his so-called supporters stared at him as if he had just sacrificed a small child in their presence.Mathias sat down and leaned back in his chair, looking at us all. “It wasn’t Johnathan.”Wasn’t…? this guy was just so fucking negative. What the actual fuck?“It was. I saw the tatt—”“It wasn’t.” Mathias snarled, crossing his arms over his chest. “It was his brother. Kendrick didn’t like the fact his brother had been slaughtered by Absinthe.”“I did not slaughter him. He attacked me.” Abe spat and Mathias rolled his eyes.“Whatever. Kendrick said Absinthe had no right to ruin his family’s legacy like he had. Johnathan’s final wish was to destroy his own coven, kill out the bloodline. He never liked the fact he was a vampire. Never accepted what he
You could have heard a pin drop in the room… well, you could only hear my breathing, and I thought that worse. Why the fuck did I have to be surrounded by dead things?“Mathias, you called this trial, I call for you to make the opening address.”My attention turned to the man at the end of the table. Surrounded by other vampire coven leaders, Mathias tried to look impressive as he stood. But in reality, I could see what a weak creature he really was, and I wondered if he had been like this when he had been human; because I could tell with the fang marks on his neck, he wasn’t born a vampire like my lovers.Mathias leaned forward, his knuckles going to the table as if to be intimidating, and glared at me. “This human, killed one of my Senior Coven, without evidence of any wrong doing on my member’s behalf. She needs to be punished for it. And I would gladly punish her if you cannot.”He was kidding, right
I walked beside Marlene, Rhayden on her other side, as we moved through the quietened mansion toward the library and to her fate.This was going to be a shit show.I could feel it in my bones.Never in the history of the vampire nation, had a human stood trial for killing a vampire. They were usually dealt with quicker than this. Slaughtered, or drained of their blood, or left in the wilds to die. This whole situation was unheard of and the fact it was happening to our human, set my teeth on edge.This could go one of two ways.Marley would be found not-guilty, in which she would be free and we would be able to continue on how we had been.Of she would be found guilty and her life would be forfeit; and I would not be okay with that. This meeting could potentially be the death of my beautiful lover, and I had to decide if I would stand for it.Would I allow Othello end Marlene’s life?No. I knew I wouldn’t.An
My heart fluttered. God damn it. Again?I hated serum so fucking much. My head pounded, and my eyes slowly opened.Absinthe and Rhayden were leaning over me, their hair curtaining their beautiful faces. I smiled, reaching up and stroked their cheeks, my touch melting the tension from their features as they looked down at me.“My boys…”“Marley.” Absinthe cooed, leaning down. He gently pressed his lips against mine, before Rhayden did the same.“We thought we’d lost you Mars.”“I’m not going anywhere just yet.” I smiled, moving to sit up and Absinthe helped, propping pillows behind my back.Rhayden smiled, looking to his brother as he climbed from the edge of the bed. “I’ll go tell Othello she’s awake.”Absinthe nodded, turning back to me as Rhayden closed the door. “You left a dead Lycan on Othello—”