Page 27 of Black Bird

“Full moon is in two weeks,” he whispered, his breath sending a chill down her spine as he spoke against the back of her neck. Rhaena pressed her thighs together.

“I know.”

She wasn’t sure if he did it out of pity. Wasn’t sure if maybe it was because it’s the way they’ve always been together whenever they were both up to their ears in exhaustion from everyday life, and the fact that neither one of them ever sought out a companion. She decided she didn’t care when he lowered his hands down the front of her shorts and pressed his body against her. His expert fingers grazed over the thin material of the lace that covered the source of all that built up frustration and she couldn’t help herself as she leaned into it. Athan’s chin rested over her shoulder, and he nipped at her left ear.

“Wanna work out?” His voice made her knees buckle.

“Fuck, yes,” Rhaena breathed, closing her eyes and gripping the counter as her head fell back against him. He didn’t say another word and trailed his tongue down the column of her neck, forcefully ripping the shorts and the thong down her hips and shoving her down against the countertop. She growled at him, half-smiling while he held her down by the neck and spread her legs apart with his foot. Her cheek pressed against the cool surface, and she couldn’t stifle her moan when she felt his fingers slide through her slick folds, teasing around her swelling center. Rhaena let her eyes flutter shut and he ruthlessly continued, only slowing when he felt her legs tremble and then he shoved them into her.

“You don’t come until I tell you to.” He purred over her back, his fingers sloshing in and out her drenched cunt. It was all she could do. She couldn’t remember how long it had been since the last time they had done anything. Her rapid breathing was a chore in itself without having to keep herself from exploding as he pushed harder on her neck against the counter. His fingers slid out and she felt him replace them with the tip of his cock. He didn’t so much as give her a warning before he slammed it fully inside her and she cried out.

“Fuck … oh, fuck …” She gasped, tasting herself on his fingers as he hooked them over her bottom teeth and started knocking her into the counter with every hard thrust. He had taken her so hard that the thought of whether or not that girl was on his mind right now left her head completely. Athan was not an inexperienced guy. Just a look from him sometimes could have her squirming. There was no way she could blame any woman for wanting everything he was giving her right now. Especially when the size of him alone could have you surrendering to your body’s natural response the minute he became part of it. She just didn’t want to be without it. If that made her selfish, then fuck it.

He pulled his fingers from her mouth and raised her knee up to rest on the counter, the angle enough to send her screaming while he fucked her into oblivion. It was exactly what she needed. She could hear him groaning and his pace picked up, the force he had on her neck grew stronger. He was getting close.Good.She couldn’t hold out much longer.

“Now, Rhaena. Do it now.” He growled, reaching around her and pinching her clit while he ravaged her from behind. That was it. She let go of everything she’d been bottling up, nearly weeping while she came. He throbbed inside her, cursing impressively when he did the same. His grip on her neck eased off and they stilled, catching their breath while he lowered her knee back down. Poe squawked from the living room.

“Shut up, pigeon!” Rhaena barked, breathing raggedly with her cheek still resting against the countertop. Athan chuckled breathlessly behind her, and she winced when he pulled himself out.

“I need a shower before we start up,” he breathed, his hand grazing her bare hip. Rhaena didn’t move, instead waving a hand behind her while she continued to try and gather herself.

“Go. I’ll make you your coffee.” She smiled lazily, still bent half naked over the counter.

“Thank you,” he whispered, easing off of her back and heading out of the kitchen.

“Thankyou.” Rhaena grinned as she stood up, stretching and catching his wink as he rounded the corner. “Leave the door open so I can get back in.”

“10-4,partner,” his voice trailed off down the hallway.

She’d needed that. And he didn’t have to give it. Rhaena supposed he needed it as much as she did. While it was as satisfying as it always was, something stung when she realized it could be the last time they shared a tryst like this. If something started happening between him and this girl … she’d never come between that. Not if it meant that he could be happy for once in his life. Above everything else, that’s what she truly wanted for him. Her only real friend. She wouldn’t be the thing that kept him from her. And if Dahlia, or anyone else tried to, she’d skin that bitch alive. Rhaena made the decision in that moment that she wouldn’t come down on him for getting too close to the situation—unless it came down to getting them thrown off this case. When Athan found out what she’d learned from EverLife’s CEO today, they’d really have too much to lose.

And depending on his reaction to what it had to do with this girl …

Rhaena pulled her shorts back on, and fixed her damp, messy hair into a knot. She glanced down toward the hallway where she knew he was naked and bathing off every trace of her, and it wasn’t until then that she realized—his scent had changed. It was usually overwhelming … the scent of—well … death. But tonight, when he took her, it was barely noticeable. She crossed her arms and bit down on her lip, pondering that for a moment before she left and made her way into her apartment. As she filled the pot with water she started to wonder about Sarah’s blood. It hit her then.

“Shit …that’swhy they want her.”

It was an hour and a half before the Black Bird tavern would open to the rabble of the public that liked to hide and seek the dark. The made up, uniquely dressed, heavy drinkers and smokers that filled up the dance floor and fell under the spell of scantily clad dancers in cages that hung from the ceilings … and from the many more that prowled the bar looking for fresh blood and sex in the alcoves set within the wall. Times have changed since he’d become a vampire, and Tony Lloyd dismissed the heavy thoughts that danced in his mind as he cleaned and stacked bar glasses and stocked liquor for the evening. He remembered the days when music was real, and there was more of a chance of a woman or a man selling their bodies to the night, rather than selling their souls. He supposed the one thing that hadn’t changed about the times was the fact that ale and whiskey was still more valuable to the world than blood. It was the cost of everything that had changed about that—in currency and in life.

His inhuman strength made carrying kegs effortless as he made his way in and out of closets and storage refrigerators. Some of the coven would come out of hiding for the couple of hours he prepped, none of them ever willing to help him, but all of them eager to listen to the unique sound of his voice when he sang. It was a ritual, he supposed—filling the empty club with old forgotten songs while he worked. The last shred of his happiness and familiarity with his former life. His humanity. His old soul. The lyrics that haunted him from Sinatra and all the other legends that had been replaced by whatever they called this thrashing rubbish that lasted into the wee hours of the morning. He’d forgotten how old he was now. It didn’t seem as if any of that mattered anymore. This was his life. It was really no different than the one he had before, only the taste of a meal from his original home had since turned to ash and was replaced by a dwindling supply of blood from—he didn’t want to know where.

As clapping sounded from a couple of members of the coven, Tony smiled and lowered his head in gratitude. Devin, one of the coven leader’s latest henchmen approached the shiny bar top. Tony glanced toward him and tipped his flat, plaid cap.

“Can I get ya anything before the ruckus commences?” he asked.

“Maybe a song request later.” Devin smiled, drumming his palms on top of the bar. “Coven leader wants to see you for a sec.” Tony paused his wiping and slung the towel over his shoulder, confused.

“She wants to seeme?Why?” A fair question. Dahlia had never given him much thought after she’d rendered him only useful for the tasks she’d turned him for—seeing to the needs of the patrons that walked in and out of her club. That was even when he’d known that some of those patrons, however much he might have liked them, never made it out of this building and he never said a word about it. This was only one of the many establishments that Black Bird had become in the eternity he’d spent running the bar. This one, however, seemed as if it would last the longest as they hadn’t moved in what seemed like fifty years.

“She’s having a small council and has a couple of questions for you.”

“Umm … alright,” Tony agreed nervously, rounding through the opening at the back and following Devin toward the studded door into the lower chambers of the building. They silently moved through darkened hallways, passing room after room that he’d never been in until Devin stopped at one near the end and knocked twice. Dahlia’s velvety voice summoned them inside and one of the other bulky brutes closed it behind them.

“Welcome, Tony.” Dahlia offered him a gentle smile, the promise of death evident with anyone that ever thought to undermine her. “I promise not to keep you, but if you wouldn’t mind having a seat for a few moments. There were just some things that have come to my attention that I needed to ask you about.” Her moon-pale fingers gestured toward an empty chair near the end of a long, ebony table where about six other coven members she recognized as her “council” sat alongside her.

“Sure.” He tried his best not to look intimidated, but in the centuries he’d worked under her, without complaint or request for anything more than the blood needed for him to survive, Tony had never known the vampire queen to need him for anything other than filling glasses and making her money. He straightened his spine and trudged over to the seat, lowering himself into it and pulling the soggy towel from his shoulder when he’d realized it had caught the eye of everyone in the room. “How can I be of service, mi’lady?”

Dahlia’s serpentine smile grew wider, and she rested her elbows on the table, steepling her fingers and staring into him. “Do you recall Athan Kane being at the club for a meeting with me some time ago?” Tony nodded and blinked once. “Do you know him well? Friend of yours?”

---