Fate (The Edge of Forever) (35 page)

I frowned, running my fingers up his neck, lacing them in his hair. “Grayson, I know that’s how it seems.” He nodded looking down. “But I’ve wanted to do this for a while. I want for you to have some kind of claim to me, as antifeminist as that sounds. I just always thought you wouldn’t agree to it. So I never brought it up.” And I had thought about it. Sharing my blood, I knew was special, but like I said, I never thought Grayson would agree to it. I also didn’t know that the mating aspects applied to humans. I just hoped it worked.

He smiled a true Grayson smile. “I’ve wanted that too, to mark you as mine.”

“So...?” I drew out with my eyebrows raised.

Grayson ran his thumb down my cheek in a soft caress. “So... Let’s do this before the guys get here.”

I jumped up throwing my arms around Grayson’s neck. His arms around my back held me tight against him.

“Let’s go to the bedroom,” I said, after pulling back to look at my future mate’s face. “If just feeding on your blood gets us both all hot and bothered, I have no idea what will happen when the connection is made.”

Grayson nodded in agreement, his eyes darkening. I’m sure he was remembering the hotel opening. I smiled at the happy memory.

Once in the bedroom, we both stripped down. We both knew where this was most likely going to end up. Grayson sat on the edge of the bed watching me as I made my way over to him, straddling his thighs.

“I’m going to bite myself, then you. You won’t need much for this. It’s just the cycle of your blood flowing into me as my blood flows into you.”

He nodded as his hands became busy gliding across my skin, causing me to shiver with anticipation.

I kissed Grayson softly on his lips. “I love you,” I whispered against them.

“I love you more.”
 

With that, I let my fangs fall, striking my wrist. I didn’t like it, I won’t lie, but it made me appreciative of Grayson letting me feed on him.

Once my wrist was pressed to his lips, I opened up the puncture wound on his neck that was a day old. The moment his blood touched my tongue, my body erupted. I needed him to touch me. I wanted to feel him everywhere, inside and out. I took a deep pull for his neck and I realized, I
could
feel him, everywhere. I could feel him on every surface of my skin, in ever particle of my being. What started as a flicker grew into an inferno with every pull. I could feel Grayson, his essence spreading through my body. Without warning my body erupted into the most gratifying orgasm I had ever experienced. Wave after wave came crashing down on me, until I felt I would turn into a puddle and still it didn’t stop. It went on and on for what seemed like an eternity. Slowly, the intensity diminished becoming less and less. I reluctantly drifted back to earth from the heaven I had just encountered, realizing the experience could never be long enough. 

I opened my eyes to find myself panting with blood dripping from my mouth and wrist. I became aware that I was fighting for every breath. Looking down, I found Grayson lying on top of me buried deep inside of me. Somehow through the haze, we had had sex and I hadn’t even realized that we had been doing it. He was drenched. I swiped my fingers through his damp hair, pulling it away from his face and still he didn’t move. I could feel his heartbeat so I knew he was fine, just passed out from exhaustion.
 

I shifted him onto his back and saw he had blood dripping from his mouth and down his neck where I bit him. The wound was still open so I leaned over carefully licking it closed.

Grayson began to stir. “I’m sorry. Did I black out?” he mumbled.

“Yup.”

He tried to sit up but fell back down against the bed with a groan, as he raised his palm to his forehead. “Shit! What the hell was that?”

“I think that was us becoming mated.”

Grayson shifted to his side to look at me. “Was it the same for you? Most intense pleasure before the best orgasm ever?”

I nodded. “Did you know we were having sex?”

His brow pulled together. “We had sex?” He looked down at the bed that was wet with more than just blood and sweat.

“Well hell! I guess that explains this.” He gestured to the sheets that needed to be changed. “You were unaware too?”

“Yeah. I woke up after my orgasm and you were inside me.”

Concern filled his eyes. “Did I hurt you?”

I shook my head, with a smile. “No. You were amazing.”

“We need to shower before...” He was cut off by a knock at the door. “I thought you said we had an hour before the wolves showed.”

“We do.” I looked at the clock sitting on Grayson’s night stand. It showed the werewolves were fifteen minutes late. “We did.” I changed my comment.

We jumped out of bed, scurrying to dress. I beat Grayson, cheating with my vampire speed. I opened the front door of the apartment to see Shawn standing there with three other Weres.
 

Shawn smiled brilliantly at me. “Smells like someone got mated.” He tried to hug me but I stopped him.

“I wouldn’t. I’m in desperate need of a shower.”

Grayson made his way into the living room just as the last werewolf entered. “Gaby, Grayson, this is my little brother Chris.” Chris looked exactly like a younger version of Shawn. “And this is Mike and Fred.”

Mike was a tall blond with dark brown eyes. He was overly masculine in a scary way. Fred looked like he could be Shawn and Chris’s relative. Dark hair. Dark complexion. 

“Guys, this is my best friend Gaby and her new
mate
Grayson.”

“I don’t understand what we’re doing here Shawn. She’s a vampire and he’s human,” Mike said. Shawn glared at him.

“We’re not asking for any favors. We’re hiring you as a bodyguard, which means payment.”

Mike sneered at me. I didn’t know what his issue was, but if he didn’t have an open mind I didn’t want him to be protecting Grayson because when push came to shove, he wouldn’t do what would be necessary.
 

“Shawn?” I asked sweetly. Shawn turned to acknowledge me, “I’m not sure Mike is the right material for this job. And whatever his issue is, I don’t need it affecting keeping Grayson safe.”

“My issue is with bloodsuckers!” Mike snapped. 

I blurred in a blink of an eye, stepping up into Mike face. “Really? Because my mate isn’t a blood sucker! He’s human! He has an evil vampire after him and I need a group to protect him because I can’t be with him twenty-four/seven and I’m not strong enough, even if I could be.”

“And you’re probably the reason he’s in danger. You bloodsuckers bring nothing but trouble.” Mike’s hands balled into fists at his side. I knew my stance was domineering which is what I had been going for. I didn’t back down and I didn’t let it show that his comment had bothered me. Of course, he was right. He looked ready to hit me. 

“Go ahead!” I said through clenched teeth. “Try it. I dare you. I may look tiny but we all know that you’re no match for me without the full moon.”

“I’m sure I could handle myself,” he whispered aggressively. “I’ve heard about you half-blood. You’re the day walker. A vampire masquerading as a human, but the sun can’t hide what you truly are. You think I can’t smell his blood on you? How often do you use him to feed from? You may pretend to be human, but I know you’re nothing more than a filthy, little, bloodsucker.”

The room was utterly silent. A pin could have dropped and it would have sounded like a foghorn echoing throughout the room. I could feel all eyes in the room on me, waiting for my reaction. “Shawn,” I spoke not taking my eyes off of Mike. “Get this fleabag out of here before I handle it myself.” I surprised everyone. No one thought I’d ask for someone else to handle Mike. They all thought I’d handle it with my superior vampire strength.

Shawn moved quickly, pushing Mike for the room.

“Idiot,” Chris mumbled before the front door was even closed.

I stifled a smile. “Either one of you got a problem? If so, let’s address it now.” Both Chris and Fred shook their heads no. “Good. Shawn, we’ll need another.”

“I’ll get on it baby girl. Tonight. I’m making it top priority.”
 

We discussed payment, which everyone involved seemed to agree to without reluctance. We also discussed that Grayson was trying to buy out a night club. He was having a meeting Tuesday to check out the scene. It wouldn’t be as crowded as the weekend which would make watching him easier on the Weres. There was no changing it the time.

“We’ll start Tuesday then,” Shawn stated.

Once the werewolves left, Grayson and I headed to the bathroom, both of us in need of a hot shower. We took longer than normal, letting the water knead our aching muscles. Apparently, having earthshattering, can’t-remember sex does something to your muscles that regular sex can’t prepare you for.

After a quick change of the sheets, Grayson and I fell in to bed. Cuddling to each other, we drifted off into a blissful sleep much earlier than we normally would.

Chapter 18

Death

Events set into motion are almost impossible to stop. One event triggered another in a domino effect. The butterfly effect where one small splash in the water creates a ripple that grows larger as it moves away from the source. A friend being late causing you to meet the love of your life when you would, otherwise have passed right by being never the wiser.

***

Monday, I arrived at work bright and early needing something to distract me from the fact that I was away from Grayson during a time where his life was being openly threatened.

I wanted to stay with Grayson locked up in the apartment forever, but I knew he would never agree to it. Asking him to be home before dark was pushing it. He wanted his independence, not from me but from the situation and I understood that. No one wanted to be told how they had to live their life. And Grayson Alexander was not the type of person to be told what to do. No CEO who started their business from the ground up would.

I rode the elevator up to my floor and headed straight to my desk. After dropping my purse off, I decided to head to the break room for coffee. Deciding I needed a little normalcy, I stopped off by Rachel’s desk to have her join me. Hearing about her human problems I hoped would distract me. I turned the corner to her cubby they called a cubicle, to find it empty. Great! On a day where I needed her babble, she was late. And Rachel was never late. It was just the universe’s way of trying to screw with me again.

I headed to the break room, alone. I grabbed a mug and a single serve K-cup for the Keurig, loaded it up and waited. While I was finishing up the final touches on my coffee, Ralph busted in, startling me.

“Have you seen Rachel?”

I shook my head. “Not this morning. Maybe she’s running late?”

Ralph shook his head this time. “She’s never late. I’m going to try calling her.” He spun around and left. Well, that was a little weird.

Around lunchtime, Rachel was still a no show. “She wouldn’t just quit, would she and not tell anyone?” Ralph asked, jolting me in my seat. “Sorry,” he apologized when he saw I hadn’t been aware of his presence.

“I don’t think so. Rachel is the type of person to tell you what’s on her mind. So if she was going to walk out, she would make it into a scene and if she found another job, she’d be damn sure to tell you why.”

“Oddly, that doesn’t make me feel any better,” he shook his head.

“You’re really worried about her, aren’t you?”

He nodded. “It’s like you said, this is out of character for her. Have you tried calling her?”

“Twice,” I confirmed.

“Look, I hate to ask, but you and she seem like friends. I know your lunch is coming up, you think you can swing by and just check on her? See if anything is going on? Pick up what you want and you can eat it at your desk today. I’d go but it’s not appropriate for a male superior to show up at his subordinate’s home.”

I hated the idea of wasting my break, but Ralph was worried and he didn’t worry easily, plus he was willing to let me eat lunch at my desk which was a big no-no in his book.

“Alright. I’ll head over now.”

He nodded in relief.

***

I hailed a taxi and rode it over to Rachel’s apartment. I had been over a few times to hang out after a hard day’s work. Rachel’s solution for a hard day was a hard drink. I went over to the intercom and buzzed her apartment. After a few moments, the only sound was coming from the city around me, so I buzzed her again. Nothing. So I decided to call Ralph.

“Hey I’m here and I’m buzzing her but there’s no answer.”

He sighed heavily. “I’m going to try calling her again. Something about this just doesn’t seem right.”

“I know. I’m going to try to get in the building. I mean she could have slipped or something, right. I mean that could happen and maybe she can’t reach her phone.”

“True. You get in. I’m going to call her repeatedly. If she’s scanning her calls, I’m going to annoy her into picking up.”

“Will do. I’ll call you back on your office phone since your cell is going to be tied up, if I find anything.”