Page 19 of Queen Takes Knights
And I wanted Daire’s bite when I came.
I don’t know which came first, his bite or my climax. Maybe Alrik told him through the bond what I wanted, but Daire timed it perfectly. He sank his fangs into me and I shattered. It felt like I had wings, soaring higher and higher into a midnight sky, only to burst into a thousand shining lights.
Awareness came back in pieces. My head was on Alrik’s chest. I smelled his scent of smoke and iron. A heavy weight lay across my legs. I thought it was his thigh, or maybe Daire’s. But then I realized it wasn’t skin against me, but fur.
Blinking my eyes open, I lifted my head. A massive striped black cat lay across my lower legs and against my side, tail lashing back and forth playfully. Large golden eyes met mine and his mouth opened to reveal vicious fangs. He was larger than any cat I’d ever seen. Like a saber tooth tiger on steroids.
Alrik stroked his hand through my hair and I nestled back into his embrace. Daire rubbed his giant head against my side, until I draped my arm across his shoulders. “Do you know what he is?”
:Warcat,:Daire said in my head, his mental voice a deep rumbling purr.
I started to laugh. I couldn’t help it. He licked my flank, his tongue a giant piece of sandpaper that made me gasp. “Sorry. I just realized I went from a simple, everyday human a few hours ago, to learning I’m a vampire and having sex with a giant rock troll and furry warcat. That’s all kinds of fucked up. Uh… literally.”
Alrik laughed, tightening his arm around me. “You haven’t seen anything yet.”
CHAPTER TEN
Shara
I’d forgotten the luxury of having someone to talk to when you first woke up in the morning. Sunlight streamed in through the cracks around the ugly hotel drapes, but I couldn’t tell what time it was. My stomach growled. Loudly.
Snickering, Daire untangled his limbs and brushed his mouth against mine. “Good morning, my queen. Your alarm clock has pronounced it’s time to get up.”
He started to pull back, but I leaned up, kissing him more fully, and he was only too happy to oblige. I came up for air. “Why does my stomach growl for food if I’m a vampire?”
“We eat food for our bodies. Blood for our power.” Alrik kissed my shoulder. “What would you like for breakfast? Daire will grab something while I help you pack.”
I let my head fall back and Daire started gathering up his clothes. “Where are we going?”
“Do you have a safe house? A nest? Anywhere you feel especially safe?”
I couldn’t help but watch Daire pull jeans up his solid thighs, and I sighed with regret when he covered up his incredible ass. He winked at me over his shoulder. “I’ve never felt safe. I don’t stay in any place for long. Three weeks, usually. Sometimes two, sometimes four. It depends on how quickly they find me.”
“I’ll never cease to be amazed at how incredibly lucky we are that you’re still alive.” Alrik didn’t sound amazed—he sounded pissed. “Where did you live with Selena? Before she died?”
I stroked my fingers over his forearm, searching for where he’d torn his wrist for me last night. But there wasn’t even a scar. I had a quivering moment of doubt that my half-human genes wouldn’t allow me to heal as quickly, but I felt my throat where I’m sure he’d bitten me last night, and the skin was completely smooth. Amazing. “We had a big old house in Kansas City.”
“That’s where we should start. We need to find your consiliarius.”
“My what?”
Alrik pulled away and joined the hunt for his clothes too. “Each royal house has a steward, a… lawyer, I guess you would call it. A trustee. Someone who manages the legacy for his or her queen.”
“I’ve got a few choice words for the Isador consiliarius, if we can find the bastard.” Daire shot a dark look at Alrik, who nodded back. “It’s intolerable that you’ve been lost this long. That you’ve had no access to the legacy or your family’s wealth. How have you lived alone this long? Food, shelter, transportation?”
“I work when I can.” I shrugged, avoiding their gazes while I sat up and looked about the room. Daire turned the light on and I groaned with dismay. The room was a disaster. Blood stained the carpet and the linens, and the cheap hotel furniture looked like it’d been tossed about by a tornado. The mattress was on the floor, the frame shattered. The end table was kindling and the flat-screen television looked like someone had hit it repeatedly with a baseball bat. Even the walls looked battered and fragile, ready to collapse under the weight of the roof. “Oh God. When did all this happen?”
Daire tugged on his boots. “When you came into your power.”
I groaned and buried my face in my hands. “It’s going to take forever to clean the blood out of the carpet, and the last of my savings to pay Hosea back for the damage.”
Alrik closed his hands over mine and pulled my hands away. “No. It won’t. First of all, the Isador legacy is rich enough that you could buy this whole state if you wanted to.”
“But—”
He leaned down, a fierce look in his eyes. “You’re the fucking queen of Isador and you clean nothing. You pay for nothing. You worry for nothing. This damage is nothing. We will take care of it.”
“But—”
