Bite the Bullet (Bitten Book 5) (14 page)

T
hough my feeling
wasn’t necessarily a premonition, it was still dead on.

As soon as I started outlining the general plan, the room erupted in loud refusals. I remained standing beside Conner’s desk, waiting for the commotion to die down.

As the room quieted, I looked around. Lex and Calder looked angry. Finn and Kerry appeared to be considering what I’d suggested. Asher and Conner were obviously resigned. The only vampires in the room smiling were Duncan and Donna. They both looked amused by the whole show.

I knew how dangerous it was for three of the Five to be together, but I also knew that Cornelius wouldn’t strike unless he was confident of his victory.

It was Kerry who spoke up first after the initial uproar faded. “I think Shannon has a valid point and a solid foundation for a plan.”

Calder glared at her. “She might, but Ricki is pregnant.”

“With a girl,” I commented.

All of their heads swung toward me.

“What?” Calder asked. “How did you know that? She’s not far enough along yet…”

“I saw it.”

He stared at me in disbelief. “In your dreams?”

“They weren’t dreams, Calder. They were visions. I saw parts of our future. You’re having a daughter. I can promise you that both she and Ricki will come out of this completely unscathed.”

Calder visibly hesitated, then exhaled. “No,” he stated, shaking his head. “You can’t ask Ricki to do this. I can’t allow it.”

“
Allow?
” Donna asked.

I closed my eyes and bit back a laugh. It appeared we were going to have this conversation again.

“And exactly what do you think she would say if you told her you wouldn’t
allow
her to be involved?”

Calder glared at her. “I realize Ricki is an independent woman, but she’s pregnant with our child. I think I have a say in what she does.”

Scoffing, Donna looked at Kerry and me. “See, this is the problem with falling in love with alpha males. They think they can just make decisions for you and you’ll be oh-so-grateful that they took the trouble out of your delicate little hands.”

Kerry snorted, then coughed, and I knew she was hiding a laugh. I managed to school my face into an expressionless mask, even though I agreed with Donna completely. All of our mates were completely alpha. They were accustomed to taking charge, being in control.

Conner moved to Donna’s side and put his arm around her, pulling her close. I wasn’t sure if it was an attempt to calm her down or to remind Calder that he couldn’t throttle her.

Finn spoke up. “Maybe you should ask her what she wants to do, Calder. Ricki is an intelligent, reasonable woman. She’ll make the right decision.”

Calder frowned at Finn. “You know she’ll want to do it.”

Finn lifted a brow at him. “Will she? Well, I’d say it was her choice, wouldn’t you?”

A low growl drifted across the room. Finn and Calder stared at each other and I could feel the tensions in the room building.

The spell was broken by Lex. “I’ll talk to Ivie, and make no mistake I’m going to try to talk her out of it, but she’ll make her own decision.” He looked at me. “You know she’ll want to help, so please take care of her.”

I nodded. “Nothing will happen to her. I swear it.”

“I’m more than willing to do it,” Kerry stated.

I’d never doubted her for a minute. Of all of us, Kerry was the most powerful, which might have had a lot to do with why Finn didn’t seem as concerned as the other males.

“You know I’m in,” Donna chimed in.

Calder growled low in his throat again. “I’ll discuss it with Ricki, but I’m going to do everything I can to prevent her from being involved in this.”

“She already is involved, Calder.”

I glanced over at Asher when he spoke because he’d voiced exactly what I was thinking.

The werewolf merely shook his head, refusing to answer aloud. After nodding to the rest of us, he left the study. I heard him open and shut the front door behind him.

“Ricki will bring him around,” Kerry murmured.

I hoped she was right.

“I need a drink,” Donna groaned, walking over to the chair that Calder vacated and dropping into it. “It’s been a fucking stressful week.”

“Me, too,” I commented, leaning a hip against Conner’s desk.

“I’ll go open a bottle of wine,” Duncan offered.

As he left the room, Donna called, “Make it two!” She paused. “Maybe three.”

I heard Duncan’s chuckle as he crossed the foyer into the kitchen. Asher moved to follow him.

“I think I’ll give him a hand with those three bottles.”

I watched him leave, eyes narrowed. Asher was a nice guy and often helpful, but he knew perfectly well that Duncan could handle a few bottles of wine.

I caught Conner looking at me out of the corner of my eye and turned my head toward him. “What?”

He smirked. “Asher just wants to make sure that Duncan understands the lay of the land.”

Frowning, I asked, “What do you mean?”

It was Lex who clarified. “He knows how Duncan feels about you. Asher wants to make sure that it’s clear to Duncan who your mate is.”

“How Duncan feels about me? Exactly how does he feel about me?” I asked.

“You didn’t know?” Donna asked. “Damn, that vampire is better at hiding his feelings than I thought.

I looked at her in surprise. “Seriously?”

She nodded. “Oh yeah.”

Just when I was thinking Asher didn’t let his testosterone do his thinking for him, he had to do something like this. Surely he knew I didn’t reciprocate Duncan’s feelings.

“I believe it’s called
staking a claim
,” Finn stated, his voice filled with amusement.

“Oh, sweet baby Jesus,” Donna muttered. “Why don’t you just poke her with a stick? It’d be less infuriating.”

I lifted my hands. “You know what, it’s ridiculous. I’m not even going to acknowledge it. I’m just going to ignore it because getting all pissed off and busting into that kitchen will make
me
look like the irrational one.”

I lowered my hands, crossing my arms over my chest. Everyone in the room looked at me in silence.

“Oh, fuck it,” I mumbled, straightening up from the desk and stomping out of the room.

Once I left the study, I made an effort to move silently across the foyer. I could hear them speaking as I got closer.

“I know she isn’t for me,” Duncan said. “I think she’s beautiful and I care for her deeply, but I’ve always known it wasn’t meant to be.”

“I have to say I’m glad to hear it,” Asher replied. “You’ve been a good friend for years.”

Duncan was silent for a moment. “You do understand, however, that if you hurt her, or don’t treat her right, we’ll have a problem.”

I rolled my eyes at his words, even though they warmed my heart. He was a good guy for a big, dumb Neanderthal vampire. I was too far away from them to sense their emotions clearly, but neither of them seemed truly angry, so I didn’t feel the need to intervene. I also felt no guilt about eavesdropping because this was a ridiculous conversation.

“Are you threatening me?” Asher asked in a low, tense voice.

“Absolutely.”

The silence stretched out between them for a long moment and I lifted a hand to thrust the door open. Apparently, even centuries old vampires didn’t evolve past pissing contests.

Before I could enter, Asher responded.

“I’m glad she has someone who cares so deeply for her.”

Duncan didn’t speak, but it was clear that the conversation was over because I heard a cork pop on a bottle of wine.

On silent feet, I backed away from the door and snuck back into the study.

“Did you set them straight?” Donna asked with a sly grin.

I scowled at her because I knew she’d been watching me listen at the kitchen door. “No. They were perfectly civilized. There was no chest thumping or dick measuring, so my presence wasn’t needed.”

Kerry and Donna laughed. Lex, Finn, and Conner just shook their heads and grinned at me.

Duncan and Asher returned to the study, carrying three open bottles of red wine and glasses.

“Maybe you should forget the glass and just give Donna the bottle,” Conner quipped.

“I’m sure that’s supposed to be an insult,” she replied, “But I don’t care. It sounds like a good idea to me!”

The fine tension that had been a part of me for months eased as Asher and Duncan poured the wine and we all drank. This afternoon was the first bit of normalcy I’d had since I moved out of my condo and into the safe house.

I intended to enjoy it as long as I could, because, even if I knew we would emerge triumphant, what was coming wouldn’t be easy.

A
s we got
ready for bed, Asher gave me a sideways look.

“I know you were listening earlier.”

Distracted, I didn’t comprehend what he was talking about. “Huh?”

“While Duncan and I were talking in the kitchen, I knew you were listening.”

That got my attention. “You did?”

He nodded, a smile quirking the corners of his mouth. “Why were you eavesdropping?”

I shrugged. “Because it seems incredibly ridiculous for you two to be talking about me as though you make decisions for me. Who I’m with is my choice, not yours.”

I tried not to ogle him as he stripped off his shirt because I wanted to stay focused on our conversation. It was proving difficult because I hadn’t seen Asher naked until a couple of days ago. Now, I found myself fascinated by the play of muscles beneath his skin.

“But it isn’t.”

His words snapped me right out of my trance. “Excuse me?”

He was grinning at me as though he knew the effect he had on me. “It’s not mine either,” he continued.

Glowering at him, I asked irritably, “Then whose is it?”

He moved across the room to stand in front of me, rubbing my upper arms with his hands. “Fate. Destiny. God, or in Kerry’s case, the Goddess, who knows. When I was born, I was made to be yours. Just as you were made to be mine when you came into this world.”

“I wish you wouldn’t say stuff like that,” I stated, my eyes moving to the sleek line of his collarbone.

“Why?”

I squinted at his throat when I heard the laugh in his voice before lifting my gaze to his. “Because it makes it impossible to stay pissed off at you!” I grumbled.

His grin became a full-blown laugh. I relished the sound because it was rare. He didn’t laugh often. “I’ll remember that for the future,” he murmured, lowering his head to touch his mouth to mine.

The kiss began as a light, gentle caress but quickly exploded into something more.

Our bodies were plastered together, the heat of his torso burning through my thin tank top. Asher’s palms cupped the back of my head as he tried to pull me closer. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and lightly scraped my nails over his scalp.

Tongues dueling, we staggered over to the bed and tumbled onto the mattress. Asher rolled on top of me, sliding a hand beneath the hem of my top and up my body to cradle my breast.

I arched into his caress, moaning into his mouth as his fingers closed over my nipple and tugged sharply. He sat up, kneeling over me, and dragged my tank top over my head.

Rearing up, I wrapped my arms around his ribcage and threw him to the side, twisting until I sat astride his thighs.

Then I touched him. I ran my hands along each of his shoulders, tracing my fingers over the slope of his collarbones. Asher stared up at me, his beautiful blue eyes bright and glowing. My hands met at the base of his throat and I trailed them down his chest, lightly dragging my nails over his pectorals.

My hands moved down his abdomen and I watched in awe as the muscles contracted beneath my fingertips. When I reached the waistband of his jeans, I popped the button and slid down the zipper, revealing the waistband of his navy briefs and the sharply delineated muscles of his lower stomach that disappeared beneath the fabric.

Framing his hips with my hands, I ran my thumbs along the edge of that V. Asher sucked in a sharp breath as I leaned down and tasted those muscles with my tongue.

I yanked at his jeans, shocked as the material ripped apart in my hands. “Oh my God.”

Asher looked down at me and laughed. “No need to take out your frustrations on my clothing.”

“Your attire offended me.”

Grinning, I crouched over him as he kicked off the torn remnants from his body and shoved the briefs down his legs.

“Come here,” he growled, gripping my ass and pulling me down on top of his body.

Our mouths met but the desperation was muted now. There was a tug at my hips and I heard the quiet tear of my underwear before it was gone, leaving us skin to skin.

“I liked those!” I exclaimed, rearing up away from him.

Asher smiled. “Yes, but I bought those for you.”

“So? They were rapidly becoming my favorite.”

“I’ll buy you ten more pairs,” he assured me, pulling me back down into his embrace.

His hips surged up, the ridge of his erection grinding against my center, and I forgot all about giving him a hard time. Well, at least verbally.

I felt my fangs extend as his mouth moved down my throat to my chest and my head fell back. My hips rolled against his as I sat up to straddle him and his upper body lifted to follow my movement.