Let the Day Begin

Abel

 

Abel woke and did it because he felt Delilah getting agitated.

He opened his eyes, feeling her body tucked to his, back to front, his arm draped around her waist.

He tightened his hold and opened his mouth to say something to wake her when her words of three days before came to him about trying to get in her head during a dream.

He closed his mouth and his eyes, tipping his head forward to rest his forehead against her crown. He made his attempt, using his abilities to control her mind by telling her to let him in her dream.

He got nothing. She simply shifted in his arms as she normally did when she was having a dream.

He’d never tried to control anyone’s mind while they were sleeping, so he tried a different tack.

As a test, he ordered her to find his hand and hold it.

Instantly, she did, but she did this still asleep.

And still dreaming.

That meant he could get to her. He just needed to keep trying.

“Bao bei, let me in,” he whispered, curling his fingers around hers and repeating his words to her mind.

Nothing.

Let me in your dream, he again ordered.

Her movements became more agitated but whatever was going on in her head was not his to have.

He tightened his hold on her hand and tried again, shouting, Lilah, let me in!

Instantly, he saw it in his head. A street. Blood. Bodies. Delilah there, several feet in front of him, her back to him. A man down the street from Delilah. Classy, haughty, a look on his face that was an amused sneer. A vampire.

The man looked beyond Delilah, saw Abel, and gave a start as his chin jerked back in shock.

Delilah turned and Abel’s eyes went to her, his body growing taut at the fear etched on her face. Fear so extreme, even in a dream, he could taste it.

She saw him, lifted her hand his way, and screamed, “No!”

A bright blue flash obliterated everything and he was out of her mind, back in bed, gripping Delilah to him in a hold that he forced himself to relax or he’d break her fingers.

“What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck?” she chanted, moving in a way he knew she wanted to turn, so he let her go and she did so, facing him, eyes open and scared.

“I was there,” he told her.

“Where?” she asked on a soft pant, her breath coming fast, the fear still clinging, making the air around them heavy, sticking in his throat.

“Your dream,” he answered.

“Shit, I dreamed again?”

Fuck, she didn’t remember.

“Yeah.”

She shook her head on the pillow, but it wasn’t in the negative. She was just doing it, probably to clear the fear that still had a hold on her.

“A street. Bodies. Blood. You standing there. A vampire with you,” he explained her dream.

“You got in?” she asked, her eyes growing wide, and he held her gaze.

“You don’t remember?” he asked back even though he knew the answer.

She shook her head again.

“Nothing?” he pressed.

Her eyes went unfocused as her body stayed tense and he waited. He was used to this whenever he’d ask her to try to remember her dreams.

She refocused and relaxed against him. “No, baby, nothing.” She pushed closer, her hand on his chest between them. “But you got in?”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “Saw what I said I saw.”

“Blood. Bodies. A vamp?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he confirmed.

“A good vamp?”

“Not even close.”

He felt her shiver and gathered her closer.

“Was Leah there? Sonia? Callum? Lucien?” she went on.

He shook his head.

Her brows drew together. “Just me?”

Just her. Just her, an evil vampire, and a street full of dead humans.

Abel did not like this.

“Just you,” he said quietly.

“Why would I be alone?” she asked.

“No clue,” he answered.

“I wouldn’t,” she told him, pressing even closer and pulling up so her face was near his. “I wouldn’t, honey. No way would I be alone. You wouldn’t let that happen. None of The Three would. So this dream can’t be premonitory.”

He hoped like fuck she was right.

He didn’t reply.

“It’s just me freaking out about all the shit that’s going down,” she assured him.

It could be.

Though, no shit was going down.

They’d been at the compound now for a week and dick was happening.

Not dick, precisely.

He was training with Callum and his family.

Lucien and Stephanie were working with Xun and Wei.

Chen and Jabber were getting better.

Hook had caught the eye of some female vampire two days earlier. They’d then disappeared behind her door in the south wing and no one had seen them since. All they knew was that four bottles of Jack had been delivered to that room, as well as sandwiches, steak dinners, made-to-order omelet breakfasts, and a bottle of caramel syrup. 

So they actually did know what was going on between those two. Abel just refused to think about it even though Delilah thought it was hilarious and shared with him that she was glad her father had found someone with whom he could “pass his time.”

Poncho had left days earlier, saying he had an errand to run, but Abel knew it was to go back to New Mexico to meet with his aunt. Abel had gotten progress reports, including the fact Poncho made it home safely. He had to pass some test that involved a goat and a snake (he didn’t give specifics and Abel didn’t ask), and once he did, Abel would hear from him again.

With Hook hooking up and Poncho gone, Moose had lost it the day before, unable to be cooped up, even on a twenty-five-acre compound, not without his crew there to help pass the time. Jabber didn’t do it for him considering Moose was not a man prone to bedside vigils at all, but definitely not when they included listening to a biker bitch about how he wasn’t allowed to move around, have a smoke, or down a bottle of Jim Beam.

Moose had roared off on his Harley, saying he’d be back after he found himself some bourbon, a brawl, and a bitch.

Other than that, and the fact that they’d heard nothing from Serena and Yuri had disappeared, according to Gregor “to see to something important,” zero was happening and Abel was feeling like Moose.

He was restless.

If it wasn’t for Delilah’s insatiable need for orgasms, Abel’s need to give them to her, and Callum’s training, he’d be going out his mind.

He sensed the same with Delilah.

What they had was not the wild and free she wanted.

She was wild, that was certain. She took his dick and gave back all she could any way he wanted. She was up for adventure. She was up for anything.

And he loved that.

But outside of her getting off in another way, that being watching him transform to wolf and train—something she didn’t hide seriously turned her on—and the minimal training in basic moves that Xun and Wei were giving her, Leah, and Sonia, there was nothing wild and free about eating off fine china and fucking in a bed that some human servant made for them after they left it.

“Abel?” she called, bringing him back to her.

He gave her his attention, rolling to his back and pulling her on top of him.

“Yeah. Maybe it’s nothin’,” he muttered.

She slid her hand up to curl it around his neck and dipped her face close.

“Something’s gotta give for my man,” she said softly.

She sensed he was restless too.

“Big place. Still feel caged,” he admitted.

“Maybe they’ll let us out to do some day-tripping,” she suggested.

“Rather feel caged than have you an open target.”

Her face got soft at his words and she muttered, “I hear that. Still sucks.”

“Yeah,” he agreed.

She shifted her hand so her thumb ran the edge of his lower lip, and not surprisingly, his cock responded to her touch.

“Take your mind off it by sucking your big, beautiful dick,” she offered, her gaze heating, her lips curled up.

She was good with her mouth. She was good with everything. So he was not going to refuse.

“Like that, pussycat,” he murmured and watched her green eyes flare.

His mate. His temptress. Abel had known a lot of women in his life, including some who could go a few rounds and not lose the mood or their energy, but he’d never had anyone like Delilah. A woman who matched his appetite. A woman who wanted it all the time, with no boundaries.

Wild and free.

She dropped her head and kissed him, her sweet tongue sliding between his lips to play with his. A tease. A dare.

Abel let her have the first before he took the second. He tensed one arm around her and drove his other hand in her hair, slanting his head and taking over, demanding it all.

She gave it to him.

When he let her break it, she gave him a sexy smile that made his balls draw up before her face disappeared in his neck.

He shifted the pillows behind his head and shoulders so he could watch as she moved her mouth down his chest, making her way to the target. He spread his legs, cocking his knees to give her all access.

She didn’t disappoint. She never did. She fucking loved his cock. Worshipped it. Lavished it with attention, tongue, suction, hand, taking him as deep as she could. So deep, when he was inside, he could feel the back of her throat with the tip.

He watched her blow him, gritting his teeth and gripping the inside of his thigh with one hand, balling the sheets in the other, doing both in order not to move his hands to her head, hold her steady, and thrust into her mouth.

When she replaced her mouth with her hand, started jacking him, and moved to gently draw his sac into her warm, wet mouth, he was done.

“You want my cum on my stomach, keep that shit up, pussycat,” he growled and watched her lift her head.

She’d released his balls, but her hand kept jacking him.

“You wild, Abel?” she whispered.

“Close,” he gritted, and she grinned, eyes languid, lips wet and swollen from his kiss and her blowjob.

Fuck.

“I want you wild, baby,” she kept whispering.

“Might lose control,” he warned, ending on a groan when she guided his dick to her mouth and sucked hard at just the tip.

“I like it like that,” she told him after she released him and before she blew on his sensitive head.

He gripped his thigh harder, his entire body tensing.

She sensed it, he knew it when she turned her head and sank her teeth into the flesh of his inner thigh.

At the sting, a nonverbal snarl ground up his throat.

Her eyes came back to him and he almost lost it at the greed and power shining bright in them, searing his skin with the intensity.

Then she lifted up to her knees in the bed and slid them wide, still jacking him. Her gaze locked to his, she stroked hard, tugging from the root, as she slid her hand down her belly and between her legs.

He knew she found the right spot when her head dropped back, her hair swaying all the way down to her waist, her lips parting.

“Jesus,” he grunted, no longer able to hold it back, surging his hips up, thrusting into her hand.

Her head dipped forward, her gaze unfocused and hot as fuck, only just managing to catch his.

She whispered, “Wild,” then worked him hard as she worked herself and he watched it all, her hips moving with her fingers, riding them, fucking fuck. It was so magnificent he shifted to his knees, hooked her behind her neck, and drove into her tight fist. “Yes,” she breathed.

He bent his neck so his forehead was to hers.

“In a minute, gonna fuck you so hard, you’re gonna taste me.”

“Yes,” she panted.

He gripped the back of her neck harder and took her mouth, fucking her fist, feeling her move as she rocked her hips into her fingers, whimpering down his throat.

That was all he could take. He grasped her hair and heard her gentle cry as he used it to whirl her around and shove her face in the bed. Her ass up, he mounted her and commenced rutting, just as he liked it, just as his mate fucking loved it.

She came in about three seconds.

He came three minutes later but only after he took her there again.

He gave himself a few beats before he dragged her up, impaled on his cock, and sat back on his calves, his arms around her.

She turned her head and pressed her forehead into his neck, wrapping her arms around his, her fingers curling around his wrists.

“Now we can let the day begin,” she said quietly.

He felt his lips curl into a smile and twisted his neck until he found her mouth.

“Now we can let the day begin,” he agreed.

Then he kissed her before pulling her off his cock, out of bed, and into the shower.

* * * * *

“You’re a fast learner,” Ryon said after they transformed to human behind a hedge.

The hedge was where they’d leaped out of their clothes three hours earlier in order to begin training.

Before he bent to retrieve his jeans, Abel’s eyes slid to the balcony where Delilah, Sonia, and Leah were sitting and watching. The reason for the hedge. His woman was intimately acquainted with his dick, but he wasn’t real hip on the other two being even a modicum of the same. Further, the other men, particularly Callum, had a lot to write home about in regards to their manhood. Delilah liked big dicks so he wasn’t fired up about her seeing the others’. He was relatively sure the rest of the wolves felt the same.

When she caught his gaze, Delilah gave him a finger wave.

Fuck, she was cute.

He grinned at the ground, shaking his head.

“Thanks,” he muttered in response to Ryon as he nabbed his jeans and pulled them on.

“You’re favoring your claws to your teeth,” Callum noted quietly. Abel looked to him, now buttoning his jeans. “I know your instinct is to use your hands,” he went on, “but wolves deliver the kill with their teeth. Remember, incapacitate with your claws, Abel. Go for the kill with your jaw.”

Abel nodded before he bent to grab his tee. He yanked it over his head as he sensed Lucien’s approach. He twisted his torso, catching Wei and Xun moving to the women on the balcony as he did so.

Obviously Lucien was done with them and it was time for his brothers to train the women.

He twisted further and watched Lucien walk toward the pack of wolves.

“I’m off,” Ryon murmured, clapping Abel on the shoulder. “Good session,” he finished and sauntered away.

“Later,” Caleb said before he bent to grab his boots and socks and walk away.

Calder just gave them a jerk of his chin before he followed his brother.

Lucien nodded to them as they passed him and Abel looked back to the balcony to see the door closing on Sonia. Leah and Delilah had already disappeared inside. Lucien had stopped close to him and Callum by the time the door shut behind the queen of the werewolves.

Abel focused on Lucien as he said, “I just had a conversation with Gregor in the hall on the way here.”

“And…?” Callum prompted.

“Nothing,” Lucien reported.

“What, is Serena engaging in a reconciliation fuck-a-thon with her phantom while the world hangs in the balance?” Abel asked impatiently. “Jesus.”

Callum’s lips twitched.

Lucien’s did not.

“Asked him where the fuck Yuri is,” Lucien told them and doing so got their undivided attention.

“Did he share?” Abel asked.

“Said Yuri had an idea on where to get some information, but so far, Gregor’s heard nothing from him,” Lucien replied. “He said if nothing comes of it, nothing comes of it. If something does, he’ll report it to us as soon as he knows.”

“That’s vague,” Callum muttered suspiciously.

“That and annoying,” Lucien agreed.

“That vampire has both those down to an art,” Abel noted, bending to grab his socks and yank them on.

“He does,” Lucien stated and waited until Abel had his socks and boots on and had straightened before he continued, “Is Lilah dreaming?”

Abel nodded. “Had one this morning. She suggested a few days ago I try to get in her head while she does it since she isn’t remembering. It was a good suggestion. Took a couple of tries, but I got in.”

It was then Abel had both their attention, but it was Callum who asked, “You got in her dream?”

“Yeah, couple of seconds of it,” Abel confirmed and shook his head. “Not thinkin’ she’s even got that dream shit happening to her like the rest of us.”

“So the dream had nothing to do with our situation?” Lucien asked.

“It did, but it doesn’t make sense, seein’ as in it, she’s on a street littered with dead human bodies, but she’s alone. She pointed out no way that could come true since she’d never be alone, and she’s right. Not only wouldn’t I let that happen, neither of you would either, not to mention Gregor, her father, and a dozen other people.”

“Just a bad dream,” Callum muttered.

“A street with dead human bodies?” Lucien asked.

Abel nodded. “That and some vampire. They seemed to be facing off. He saw me, but she forced me out of her dream before I could catch anything.”

Lucien stared at him, his stare acute, and stated, “The vampire saw you in her dream.”

Abel tensed at what he was feeling coming off Lucien and replied slowly, “Yeah.”

“And she forced you out?” Lucien asked.

“Yeah,” Abel repeated.

“How did she do that?” Lucien pressed.

“Turned, saw me, lifted her hand, shouted ‘no,’ then we were both awake,” Abel told him.

“The vampire, did you know him?” Callum queried, and Abel looked to him.

“Don’t know any of them except the good kind and the dead kind, but the last I don’t actually know since they got dead before I could get to know them,” Abel answered.

Callum looked to Lucien speculatively so Abel did too.

“What?” he asked.

“What did this vampire look like?” Lucien questioned, and Abel shrugged.

“Blond. Lean. Tall. Think he had blue eyes. Know he had asshole written all over him,” Abel told him and then tensed at what he now sensed coming from Lucien. “What?” he snarled.

“I need you to come with me,” Lucien declared.

“Why?” Abel asked.

“Please, just come with me,” Lucien said, his voice going low.

Abel looked to Callum, who was watching Lucien. “You know what this is?”

Callum turned his gaze to Abel. “Perhaps.”

“Either of you gonna share?” Abel asked.

“My father is blond, tall, and lean,” Lucien stated, and Abel looked back to him.

“So?” Abel prompted.

“So, he’s also the leader of the rebellion,” Lucien shared, and Abel’s entire body strung tight.

He had to be fucking kidding.

“You consider sharin’ that sooner?” he bit out.

“Actually, I have,” Lucien returned calmly. “However, telling someone who you need to trust you implicitly that the immortal behind a faction of others like him, who wish to obliterate the world as we know it and execute unspeakable acts, is your father is not something that engenders trust.”

Abel scowled at him but made no comment, seeing as he spoke truth, so Lucien drew in a breath and continued.

“Trust like that has to be earned. Unfortunately, I was in a difficult position for I’d hoped to make inroads with you, but I also had to do it making a decision that had no right answers. Keep from you something that would mean you wouldn’t trust me not only because of what that something was, but that I was keeping it from you. Or share something dire with you upon first meeting that would make it difficult for you even to begin to trust me.”

“I hope, brother, that you can see Lucien’s dilemma,” Callum put in quietly.

Abel didn’t take his eyes from Lucien.

The fuck of it was he could see Lucien’s dilemma.

He didn’t respond so Lucien kept talking.

“I have a photo of my father on my iPad inside. I’d like you to look at it and tell me if that’s the man you saw in Lilah’s dream.”

Abel didn’t move.

He stated, “I’m taking it the apple fell far from that tree.”

“I’m eight hundred and twenty-three years old and not one day in all those years was a day where I felt even a modicum of warmth for my father,” Lucien returned.

Abel felt his body relax and his lips curl up. “So you hate him.”

“He’s despicable and this is only the latest in a very long history of him proving just that,” Lucien replied.

“In other words, you hate him,” Abel said again, and finally, Lucien smiled.

“Yes, Abel. In other words, I hate him.”

“Right, then let’s go see this picture,” Abel muttered.

Lucien nodded and turned, Callum and Abel following him into the house. Abel and Callum waited in one of the dozen living rooms the place had while Lucien went up to his and Leah’s bedroom to get his iPad. He did this with vampire speed, which meant they waited about five seconds.

Abel was feeling no humor when he looked at the photo of the man on Lucien’s tablet.

This was because it was the man in Delilah’s dream.

“What the fuck?” he whispered.

“Fuck,” Callum also whispered.

Lucien just drew in an annoyed breath.

Abel focused on Lucien. “She’s dreaming of someone she doesn’t know.”

“Yes,” Lucien agreed.

The seconds of the dream he saw and felt, the slaughter, Delilah’s terror, raked through him.

“This means whatever the fuck that was might happen,” he bit out.

“None of the dreams have come true, Abel,” Callum reminded him. “Except the good kind that Sonia and I or Lucien and Leah have had.”

This did not make Abel feel better.

“She was terrified in that dream,” Abel told him. “She reeked of it so much, I tasted it and I was only in that dream for a coupla seconds.”

Callum’s jaw tightened, but he said nothing.

“He saw you,” Lucien said, taking Abel’s attention back to him.

“Yeah,” he confirmed.

“Be careful, Abel,” Lucien warned, his voice low and heavy. “In war, anything can happen. I cannot imagine a scenario where anyone, especially you, would allow Lilah to be in that situation by herself. That said, there are many forces at work here and anything we do, as frustrating as it is, we must proceed with caution.”

“What you’re sayin’ is, I should let her have her dreams and not try to get in again,” Abel deduced, and Lucien nodded.

“We’ve learned that our dreams can cause harm. If Lilah’s aren’t harming her, and she isn’t remembering them, then there’s no reason for you to try to get in,” Lucien said.

“Because some bitch of a witch somewhere has got the power, or some other supernatural shit might be goin’ on, and they’re usin’ Lilah and her connection to me as a channel to lure me in and maybe do me or both of us harm in her dream,” Abel guessed.

“I don’t know,” Lucien replied. “But as I said, I would be careful.”

“So what if they get frustrated that they aren’t gettin’ to me and they step things up with her and her dreams do do her harm?” Abel asked curtly.

“Then you go in, but you do it with me close so I can mark you and pull you back,” Lucien returned.

“You can do that?” Abel asked.

“I’ve no idea,” Lucien answered. “But I can attune myself to you, or her, so I’m relatively certain I could pull one or the other of you out of a dream state.”

Abel’s eyes narrowed. “Relatively certain?”

“It’s all we have,” Lucien said quietly.

“Fuck,” Abel clipped.

“We need to move,” Callum growled, and Abel and Lucien looked to him.

“What?” Lucien asked.

“We need to move. We need to do something,” Callum ground out. “We need to take the offensive to them. We need to hunt them, inactivate their soldiers, dismantle their infrastructure. We can’t have them manipulating dreams. We can’t give them any in to get to somebody. And we can’t sit around on our asses for eternity.”

Obviously, Callum was feeling restless too.

“With due respect, Cal, it was you three days ago who advised caution,” Lucien noted carefully.

“That was three days ago,” Callum shot back. “Now there’s a possibility one of The Three can be murdered in their beds without the enemy even penetrating the outer wall. So my advice has changed.”

“And how do we start doing that?” Abel asked.

“We begin to gather intel, doing it aggressively by giving them a target,” Callum answered.

Abel’s entire frame went wired. “Delilah’s in enough danger. I won’t have her in more.”

“The women stay here. We’ll be the targets,” Callum told him. “Whoever comes after us, we take them down but not out. If we have a prisoner, he or she can be interrogated.”

Finally. A plan. Not a great one, but it was something.

“I’m in,” Abel stated immediately, and Callum grinned.

“Wolf,” he whispered.

“Whatever we do must be meticulously planned,” Lucien added.

“And vampire,” Callum said on a smile.

Lucien settled in, crossing his arms on his chest, but he didn’t contradict the king of the werewolves.

“I’ll go extract Hook from his vampire,” Abel said.

“I’ll find Stephanie,” Lucien stated.

“I’ll get Ryon and my brothers,” Callum put in.

“We wait until Xun and Wei are done with our mates to fill those men in,” Lucien declared. “Our decision will not be popular with the females. My sense is that it would be far easier to deal with all three after the fact, not before.”

“Agreed,” Callum replied.

“Got a problem with that,” Abel muttered, and Lucien looked to him.

“I know Lilah has issues with you leaving without her knowing where you’re going. Of course, I hesitate to advise you to lie to your mate. Destiny has chosen certain types of women for all of us, and when we return from this, not one of them will make it easy. But prior to going, if you share with Lilah you’re training on the grounds but away from the house, perhaps that will eradicate any pain she might feel because she’ll think she knows where you are.”

Abel didn’t like it, but he also didn’t like hanging around waiting for shit to happen. He knew himself and he was quickly getting to know his mate. Wild and free. They both wanted it. Wanted it in a way that their current situation couldn’t last long before something had to give.

And maybe Lucien was right. If she thought she knew where he was, she’d have peace of mind and the men could get out and do something.

Therefore, he said, “It’s worth a shot.”

Lucien nodded and murmured, “Then let’s go.”

Without hesitating a moment, that was what they did.

* * * * *

Yuri

Of course, she had to be beautiful.

Yuri disliked using his skills on females who were beautiful.

Even so, he held her by her throat, suspended several feet up from the floor against the wall. He put enough pressure on for her to fear the oxygen depletion so she couldn’t focus on magic.

And she felt the fear. He smelled it. It permeated the air all around them. And staring in her blue eyes, with her dark hair framing her heart-shaped face, he wanted to rip into her throat and taste it.

When those eyes clouded over and her nails clawing at his hand fell away, he dropped her. She slumped to her side at his feet, drawing in weak, ragged breaths.

“You try me further, I’ll drain you and find another witch,” he warned, tipping his chin only slightly to stare down his nose at her.

Feebly, she lifted her hand to her throat but moved no further, outside of sliding her eyes up to catch his gaze.

Her voice was rasping when she whispered, “You are as they say you are. Ruthless.”

“I am as I need to be to save my sister, my people, your people,” he retorted.

“Right, your sister,” she spat weakly. “Another vampire who no doubt stood by, smiling, during The Burning Times.”

“My sister is a wolf,” he informed her coolly.

She blinked.

“If memory serves, The Burning Times ended when the werewolf king, McDonagh, intervened with The Dominion on behalf of your sisters,” Yuri went on. “And my sister is married to McDonagh’s son and was born a mere thirty-seven years ago. She doesn’t even know what The Burning Times are.”

She pushed up to a hand, her voice stronger and completely disbelieving when she noted, “It’s impossible your sister is a wolf.”

“Much has happened in the last several hundred years,” he returned. “But factually, you’re correct. My sister cannot be wolf. Essentially, she was adopted, which might not make her blood, but she’s still my sister.”

It was then that Yuri had to admit to a mild sense of admiration when, even in her current situation, she didn’t let it go and snapped, “You nearly annihilated my species.”

“I did nothing of the sort,” he returned. “At the beginning, I was busy feeding and fucking. At the end, I was listening to my father petition The Dominion on the witches’ behalf in support of McDonagh’s intervention. I’ve never touched a witch in my life until tonight, and further, I’ve never had an issue with a single one of your kind.”

“Even so, we endured four hundred years of persecution and genocide at the hands of your kind,” she hissed.

“And the members of The Dominion who championed that were removed and executed,” Yuri shot back. When she opened her mouth to again speak, he continued, “Now, as enjoyable as it is debating history with you, as I shared with you earlier, matters are quite urgent.”

“I remember,” she stated sarcastically. “The end of the world as we know it.”

“You’re aware of The Prophesies,” he reiterated, which he’d mentioned before their tête-à-tête degenerated.

Though, their tête-à-tête didn’t start on a good note. The second she got out of her car, she saw him as vampire and fled, necessitating him pursuing her, which was an immensely easy task even if she did throw magic his way as he did it. He was still twenty times her speed and strength, and she was young, nowhere near the height of her powers.

Nevertheless, even though he chased her only from her car to her home, this taking approximately ten seconds, it was irritating and shaved away a minute edge of his patience, something that was paper-thin on the best of days.

With all that, there wasn’t much conversation to degenerate.

However, when he cornered her in the living room of her home, she again tried to conjure magic rather than listen, which eradicated any patience he had left.

“Of course. And apparently, in order to explain your unwarranted attack, you wish me to believe that they’re coming true,” she replied as if she didn’t believe him in the slightest.

“They are.”

“Right,” she muttered, pushing up further, and Yuri regarded her.

Long, dark hair with a lustrous sheen and attractive wave, the mass of it curling over her shoulders and down her chest. Big eyes that were a startling blue with a midnight edge to the iris. More than ample breasts from which he would very much enjoy feeding. The same with her thighs and ass. A musky scent that would not normally be his preference, but mingled with her residual fear, as well as her courage, he couldn’t help but find it alluring.

With the restrictions on vampire feeding finally lifted, if this was any other time, and indeed if he were not vampire and she were not witch, he’d take her, making her enjoy it. He’d start with her inner thigh, close to her sex, so he could feed at the same time he watched his fingers thrust deep and listened as excitement overcame her fear.

“Uh, I don’t have to read minds to see you’re looking at me like I’m your next meal,” she pointed out, taking his attention from where it had fixated on the pulse in her neck and bringing it back to her eyes.

“I’m hungry,” he warned. “And you’re immensely beautiful,” he went on, seeing her blink again at his words. “And you smell magnificent, like blood and earth and wind, fear and bravery. I want that taste on my tongue,” he told her with blunt honesty and watched as her eyes grew round. “So perhaps we can hurry this along so my control doesn’t snap along with my patience.”

“You’re hungry?” she asked, the fear edging back, but he couldn’t help but notice there was a hint of curiosity.

“This mission is important and dangerous, so I left my concubine behind.” He ignored her wrinkling her nose, not only because he didn’t like the indication she found his use of a concubine distasteful, but also because it was annoyingly adorable. “This means I haven’t fed in three days.”

It also meant he hadn’t fucked in three days. Since the restrictions were lifted, he, like all other vampires, took advantage. And after five hundred years of having the sweetest blood to be tasted in his mouth, blood that came from attractive women who very much enjoyed his feeding to its fullest (when he could not), he took everything a concubine could offer, not only her blood.

But he wasn’t doing this now.

Which was yet another reason he was in a foul mood.

At his words, her eyes got huge and she pushed against the wall, whispering, “Oh my God.”

Yuri sighed and forced them back on track. “A witch. In this town. Twenty years ago. With a blessed athame that can scar an immortal. A name and address would be useful.”

He watched her head twitch and he knew she knew of whom he spoke, something that wasn’t surprising. Since he began hunting witches, when he sensed this one, he knew she was the one he’d approach—the only one he’d found who was young enough to be malleable and old enough to know what he needed to know.

So he crouched and she pressed deeper into the wall. He could hear her heart thumping hard and fast in her chest.

“A name,” he pushed.

“Scar an immortal?” she asked.

“A hybrid vampire wolf.”

That time, she jerked her head side to side in a sharp negative. “There are no such things.”

“There are. I’ve seen him. Spoken to him. Fought at his side when someone tried to kill him and his mate along with the others who make The Three.”

“You’ve got to be lying.”

Bloody hell.

He threw out an exasperated hand. “Why would I be lying?”

“Because if he exists, The Prophesies actually are coming true.”

Yuri clenched his teeth.

She stared at him. Then she did it harder. Finally, she squinted at him so hard he thought she’d have an aneurysm.

Watching this, it caused Yuri to have the contradicting desire to shake her because she was being aggravating, smile at her because, regardless of how maddening it was, it was still adorable, and kiss her, mostly because it wasn’t just adorable, it was damnably adorable.

Suddenly, her face went slack and she breathed, “Holy crap, The Prophesies are coming true.”

He had no time for this.

“Stop being charming and tell me what you know,” he ordered.

Another blink and a breathed, “Charming?”             

He bent closer so his face was in hers. However, she simply stared into his eyes, no longer pressing back.

“You know of the athame I spoke of,” he bit out. “Now, you can choose to tell me who possesses it, or possessed it twenty years ago. Or you can choose to force me to extract that information from you. What you can’t do is take time to make your choice since I don’t have time. So choose now.”

“Extract it from me?”

He shrugged. “Waterboarding, flaying, skinning, tearing your fingernails out by their roots, pulling your teeth out one by one, burning, pressing, choking, or I could feed from you while I play with you, denying you your climax until you tell me what I wish to know,” he shared.

“Climax?”

“Orgasm,” he clipped.

Another blink.

Bloody fucking hell.

“Witch—” he started to warn.

“You didn’t get them all,” she declared, and he pulled back an inch.

“Pardon?”

“There were witches who held power that you didn’t burn or drown. You didn’t get them all. None of the ones who’d survived held the power of those your kind swept from the earth, and they have been using the powers they have left to hide for centuries. But that isn’t it. The important thing the vampires missed is that you didn’t destroy the implements.”

Fuck.

“The athame,” he murmured.

She nodded. “I know who has it. I know who used it on the hybrid. I didn’t know he was a hybrid, but the story went viral after she’d messed it up. She’s a little, well…out of it because she didn’t succeed in her mission and they were pissed and didn’t hide they were pissed. They went loco and didn’t care who knew it. But they have it. They actually have several blessed instruments that it isn’t real great they have. They sent her on that mission. They’re a coven. A powerful one. You’re fast and strong, but they have protections no way you’ll get through. You could bring a hundred vampires and you’d all burn.”

He drew in breath through his nose as he stood.

While he contemplated this new dilemma, she pushed to her feet and he noted what he hadn’t had the opportunity to note before: she was petite. She couldn’t be taller than five foot three. As he was six-one, he towered over her.

Another contradiction for he usually preferred statuesque women who met his height, or close to it, in heels. However, there was something immensely attractive about her stature and he was beginning to understand the escalation in the already-rabid protection that was his nature that Callum had toward Sonia. Sonia was small for a wolf, shorter, and when Callum met her, slimmer (though, Callum had seen to the last without delay, filling out his sister’s curves as was wolf).

Yuri had never felt protective of a female in his entire life, but regardless of the fact that he’d just been choking her, right then, he couldn’t deny he felt it with this witch.

He also couldn’t deny that he enjoyed the feeling.

He kept her pinned close to the wall simply by not moving as he buried these feelings that, at that time, he didn’t have the luxury to explore.

“You wanna save the world?” she asked softly, and he focused on her.

“I’m not hunting witches for the fuck of it in the middle of a global crisis,” he returned.

She nodded, then asked another question. “It was really the hybrid?” 

Yuri scowled at her for he’d already given her that information.

She studied him and she took her time doing it.

“Time is of the essence,” he drawled. “By my calculations, you have approximately three seconds to contemplate your desire to assist me before I make the decision for you and force you to do so.”

She straightened her shoulders and held his gaze. “You’ll need me to get to that coven.”

“And have you lead me to my burning?” he asked and shook his head. “I don’t fancy that.”

“Okay,” she said, throwing out a hand. “I’m not a big fan of vampires, and my mom would be, like, super pissed if she knew I was even thinking this, but for some messed up reason, I believe you.”

“That reason might be because I’m telling the truth.”

At his words, she smiled and he wished she hadn’t done that. It lit her eyes and made her smell like nothing but blood and sunshine and happiness, and he wanted that taste on his tongue so much, he felt it in his cock in a way it was not a desire, it was a need.

He made a warning noise in his throat.

She kept smiling. “And Mom would lose her mind if she knew I was gonna help you.”

“And you’ll be doing that by giving me the names of the witches in this coven and their location,” he prompted.

“Nope.” She shook her head. “I’ll be doing that by taking you to the witch who attacked the hybrid and helping you talk to her so you can get her story. Then I’ll be taking you to the coven and getting you in so they don’t burn you to oblivion.”

He opened his mouth to tell her she’d be doing nothing of the sort, but she kept going, lifting her hand to point her finger at him and assuming a severe expression that was far from severe and a lot closer to adorably amusing.

“No waterboarding,” she warned.

“Witch—”

“Or flaying, fingernail tearing, tooth pulling, or any of that other stuff you said. We talk, I do some hocus pocus, we get her story. But I’ll warn you now, she’s cuckoo.” She lifted her hand higher and circled her finger at the side of her head. “They did a number on her when she failed. But rumor on the witch vine is that she wasn’t all there before she went on that mission. So it might take some doing. We just have to do it without waterboarding.”

Yuri took a step back but didn’t retreat further. He simply did it so he could more comfortably cross his arms on his chest.

“And how am I supposed to trust you?”

“I don’t know. Isn’t that what trust is? You just give it and, abracadabra, it’s there.”

His brows snapped together. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”

“It’s still true.”

“I’ll repeat, that’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard, but this time I’ll share that’s the case and I’m bloody six hundred and ninety-seven years old.”

Another blink, this one coming along with her full lips parting.

“Witch—” he tried again.

She stuck out her hand, interrupting him. “I’m Aurora.”

For fuck’s sake.

“Please tell me your witch mother did not name her witch daughter Aurora,” he clipped.

Her hand dropped and her expression betrayed hurt when she said quietly, “She did.”

He looked to the ceiling, partly due to exasperation but also irritatingly due to the fact he didn’t like to witness that expression, especially with the knowledge he gave it to her.

Once his eyes were to the ceiling, he muttered, “Bloody hell.”

“They’ll kill you,” she said softly, and he looked back to her to see she’d rearranged her features, hiding them behind a vacant mask, and Yuri found that even more difficult to witness. “They’re witches. And since they are, has it occurred to you that if they’re conniving to trip The Prophesies one way or another, they would never, not ever, ally themselves with vampires?”

It hadn’t.

It should have.

Yuri said nothing.

“They’re planning something else,” she continued.

Brilliant. They did not need to contend with angry, conniving witches along with everything else.

Yuri again clenched his teeth.

She wasn’t done and she straightened her shoulders when she continued, “So, you need me. I’m young, but I come from a long line so I’ve got juice. I also know people and they have juice. I can speak for you and get you what you need without anyone dying, most especially you.”

He examined her. She was still wearing her mask, but she couldn’t hide it all from him. There was a hint of fear but a stronger hint of excitement. And, again, courage. Her heart was beating steady and strong, if fast.

Her gaze was unwavering.

Fuck it.

“I’m not one to be trifled with,” he warned at the same time he capitulated.

She lifted her hand to her neck, which was marked with the red welts he’d given her, and fuck him, he had to fight back a flinch.

“I got that.”

He tilted his head to the side. “This is dangerous for you.”

“In a variety of ways, least of which is teaming up with a vampire, and since my kind seriously hate your kind, that’s saying something.”

“Then explain why you’re doing it,” he demanded.

That got him yet another blink. “Um, well, I guess to save the world. I know a fair number of humans. It’d suck if they were enslaved and forced to exist for the whim of demented immortals. And Lord knows what that coven has in mind. They’ve been chewing on centuries of rage and that’s never a good thing.”

At least with that she unquestionably spoke the truth.

“So you’re assisting me as well as giving me your protection,” he stated.

“Yes,” she confirmed.

“If that’s the truth, I also give you mine, to the death,” he returned, and her head jerked.

“Is that a vow?” she asked.

“It is,” he answered firmly.

Her eyes again grew wide and she breathed, “A vampire vow?”

She clearly knew that no vampire would break a vow, not for any reason. They’d kill to keep it, or die for the same reason.

“I am vampire and I just verified it was a vow, so yes, obviously, it was a vampire vow,” he answered unnecessarily.

“Well then.” The mask slipped as a smile dawned and her hand came out again. “We just became a team.”

Heaven help him.

He stared at her beautiful face, then he stared at her small, lovely hand.

Slowly, he lifted his and curled his fingers around hers, engulfing her hand in his.

She didn’t let him go as she asked, “What’s your name?”

“Yuri.”

“Promise me something, Yuri,” she said, still holding his hand.

“What?” he asked.

“When you meet my mother, be cool. No choking or the like. She’s already gonna flip. I’ll talk her around, but there’s no talking around choking, and…erm, the like. Not with my mom. She’s awesome, but I’m sure it won’t surprise you that vampires are not her thing, like at all. She’ll be big on helping to save the world, but she won’t pretend to like doing it with a vampire.”

Yuri did not like where this was going. “And why would I meet your mother?”

She continued to hold his hand but lifted her other one and his tightened around hers when she flicked out her fingers.

A profuse scattering of pink and blue particles flew from her hand and twinkled for but a moment before they exploded into hundreds of butterflies that drifted about the room, lighting it with a glow from their shimmering gossamer wings. Then they exploded in miniature fireworks and disappeared.

Yuri was six hundred and ninety-seven years old and it was one of the most beautiful things he’d seen in all his history.

Slowly, he turned his head back to her when she tugged his hand.

He found her grinning even as she leaned in, her mouth moving.

“Because I have juice, but my mom…” Her grin turned into a smile he definitely felt in his cock. “She rocks.”

Bloody…fucking…hell.