Page 4 of A Drink of Destiny
“They’ve never gone out of fashion where I come from. We’re to present three to our mate to prove we are strong enough providers.”
“You’ve given me one. You gave me blood and stopped me from turning around and eating that wolf. Mori? I think that was his name anyway.”
“Mori can be a lot. He keeps visiting this dead guy from what I hear. He’s the son of this shaman guy and all that.”
“Yes, Xenos. I had wondered,” I nodded. “Hopefully, I don’t have to duel that bear. I’d rather not.”
“I’ll eat him too,” I said, and my lion roared inside his inner sanctum, gnashing his teeth to display just how large his curved canines were.
“I think we should go to Pierce’s. I don’t think it’s wise to stay where I’ll be working. Of course, all my stuff is back in the car.”
“Shit,” I swore under my breath. “I just—”
“Wanted to get me out of there before someone wanted to play vampire slayer?” he asked, quirking up his eyebrow.
“Something like that. I don’t know how much Nic told you, but he went through hell around the time he met my cousin and no one on any world is allowed to put you through hell. Should we go back to your car?”
His phone vibrated inside his pants pocket.
“That’s probably Pierce now wanting to know who I ate at his mate’s bar.”
He showed me the screen with Pierce’s name before answering on speaker phone.
“Did you respond to him or was the bartender just yummy?” Pierce asked in lieu of hello.
“I didn’t bite the bartender,” he shook his head.
“Alvis, I have it the security camera. Raiel opened the door to come into work, and you bit him,” Pierce said, sounding more confused than angry.
“Do you work at the bar?” Alvis asked, covering the phone with one hand.
“Yeah. I was on my way to work. Derk is just going to have to make it work without me. Tell him if he’s not nice I’ll just put in my notice since I’ve fulfilled the prophecy.”
“What prophecy?” Alvis asked, his eyebrows rising high on his head.
“A fortune teller told me I’d meet you while working at a bar on Earthside,” I said.
“Hello? Alvis?” Pierce’s voice rattled out of the phone reminding us he was still there.
“I bit the bartender,” Alvis said pressing the phone back to his ear. “The hot one. The lion. The sabertooth lion?” he sniffed again. “Something more than just lion. Never mind, that’s not your business. Yes, I bit your mate’s employee. He’s mine.”
I loved the possessive words rolling off his tasty tongue as they echoed my thoughts. Alvis was mine now and I’d shred and devour anyone who stood between us. How could I not? He’d been alive so long waiting for me. I wasn’t a spring duck, but he’d waited longer than I ever imagined anyone waiting.
I reached out and put my hand on his knee, testing the waters. Back home, I’d seen more than one alpha cat nearly lose a finger from touching their mate before they were accepted but Alvis wasn’t a cat. He was a vampire, and he’d already sampled my blood. Instead of taking a swipe at me, he rested his hand over mine and squeezed it as Pierce rattled on. I lost track ofwhat he said because Alvis’s scent buried itself in the deepest pockets of my lungs and nothing else mattered.
He hung up the phone and said something I didn’t catch the first time because I was lost in watching his quick, graceful movements.
“Huh?” I said, sounding as smitten and addle brained as I felt.
“We’re going to Pierce’s. We can pick up my car later. I think the best course of action is to go somewhere there aren’t many people for me to strike out at. On a typical day, I’m not violent or blood driven. Today isn’t typical but I can feel the blood lust in the back of my throat already. Not for you in particular. Mates don’t drink to kill but in general. In general, I think I should drink people who look at you.”
“I’ll poke the holes for you,” I grinned as my cat rubbed against my ribs from the inside as he tried to reach our mate.
Chapter Five
Annila
My life has devolved into a waking dream. Sometimes I hear the cries of my newborn grandson nearby. Sometimes Nic speaks to me. Sometimes his mate. I barely know his mate but I know he’ll do whatever it takes to keep Nic and the baby safe. The future generations are secured but I can’t come back. She won’t let me. There was a price for her help that I didn’t know about until it was too late. She let me come back to watch my grandson being born but then she snatched me back up again. Somedays I think she’s mad. She paces and growls about her own grandson born not so long before mine. Her son doesn’t want to be a dad. He doesn’t want to be involved in her grandson’s life at all, and she’s done something – or perhaps many somethings – and the baby’s carrier doesn’t want her around either. I knew what she’d done once upon a time but now I can’t remember any of it. Only that she believes the baby’s carrier is evil. I don’t think he is. He helped me get out of the hospital so that I could stop Tops from coming after my son.
