High Stakes (31 page)

Happiness that he'd found her, love, glimpses of his very long and lonely life were sent to her to show Alexis that she was special, the one, his only.

Knowing it was time—her grip strong, her body warm again, her eyes rolled back and dilated with pleasure—Ethan broke her suction on his wrist. She whimpered, but her eyes focused on him, and she smiled.

"I heard your thoughts."

"Yes."Ethan"checked her wound, saw that it was healing already. "How do you feel?"

"Much better.The pain is going away and I don't feel so weak. And everything feels sort of sharp and neon… you know what I mean?"

He nodded, relief turning his stomach sour. He hadn't realized how fucking frightened he'd been until now, when it looked like she was okay. Ethan carefully hid those fears from her and gave her a smile. "I know exactly what you mean. You're going to have a few days of adjustment, but then I have a feeling you'll be enjoying your newfound vampire powers. Just think how fast you can karate kick me."

She gave a laugh, wiping at her mouth with her finger, catching a stray drop of his blood. The finger went into her mouth and she licked it, her eyes dilating with desire. "Mmm, I like the way you taste."

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Ethan was shocked at how hard that made him. He'd never seen a mortal take to the change with such… nonchalance.

"Later, after you've rested, you can taste all of me."

Her fingers marched down his chest. "You wanted to do me, didn't you? I could feel Chief here…" She brushed over his erection."And could feel in your mind that you wanted to get nasty on me."

"That's the first time that's ever happened to me during a change. You have a strange effect on me."

Ethan tried to work up some embarrassment, but it just wasn't there.Relief, pleasure held top spot, followed by lingering shock, growing excitement.

She was his.Forever.

Alexis smiled, her normally green eyes sharpening to a sparkling emerald. "Good. Let's take a shower together and explore that strange effect." She was still smiling, her fingers working on him, but she also gave a rattling cough.

"You need to rest," he told her, stilling her touch on his erection before he moaned. "Your body has been through a trauma and needs to recover."

Currently, his body was going through its own trauma of lust, but he could ignore that for now. Even if his whole being urged him to take her, mate, push out all of the fear, the agony he'd just suffered watching her bleed to death, and join in desperate sex.

"Fine," she said. "But after I take a little nap, you'd better be prepared to initiate me in the ways of vampire sex. I have a very healthy curiosity. Can you hear my thoughts now? I want to understand all things vampire."

Ethan kissed her forehead. "No, only while our blood was mingling. And I'll show you all things vampire, have no fear. But the very first thing we're going to do is get married." He wanted to claim her, let the world know she washis, move her into his apartment and his bed permanently. "I'm holding you to your words, you know."

Before any of that, on a much less pleasant note, he needed to take care of poor Kelsey, as soon as he could force himself to let go of Alexis.

She wiggled in his arms. "I don't plan on reneging." Then she ran her fingers over his mouth and sighed.

"Thank you for saving me."

"Trust me, it was my pleasure." Ethan bent down, touched her mouth with his. Love, passion, devotion poured from him into her, and she gasped as they tasted each other, blending teeth and tongue, blood and desire.'

Vampire to vampire, mate to mate, this kiss was of tangled tongues, urgent relief, electric strength, and focused love.

"What the hell is going on?" Seamus asked in shock.

"It's about time you got here," Ethan said, turning to glance at his old friend.

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Seamus ran his hand through his hair, his cell phone clutched in his grip as he took in the scene. "Oh, shit, I don't even want to know what happened here, doI? "

"Probably not," Ethan agreed. "But you have to know. Alexis had an appalling discovery." He gestured to Kelsey. "I need you to take care of Kelsey, please, and we need to know why she was put here like this. A vampire drained her."

"Oh, my God," Seamus said, his voice stunned. "Why?"

"And it was a vampire who stabbed me," Alexis said, sitting up and brushing her hair back off her shoulders.

Seamus made a choking noise.

Ethan took one look at the bra and panties Alexis was wearing and peeled off his suit jacket. Throwing it around her shoulders, he told her, "Why don't you go take a shower, love?"

"That's a great idea." She winced when she stood up, and shook out her ankle, but then she just clutched the jacket around her bloodied midsection and walked toward the bathroom as if she hadn't been injured at all.

"She was bleeding out," Ethan told Seamus. "There's no wayEMTs could have saved her."

Seamus was glancing over Kelsey, checking her neck and shoulders for puncture wounds. "You don't have to justify yourself to me, Ethan." He locked his dark blue eyes on him."Seriously. I'm sure you did what you thought was right."

"Thanks, Seamus. That means a lot." Ethan thought about a life without Alexis. "I know I did the right thing. I'm sure of it."

He knelt down beside his old friend and rubbed his jaw. "How long do you think Kelsey's been without blood?"

"Eight hours, maybe more." Seamus shook his head in disgust. "Who the hell would do this? It only looks like one vampire. Only one set of teeth."

"I don't know. And I can't imagine why either. Kelsey was absolutely harmless." Death in mortals was hard to see, but Ethan was used to it. Butvampires… death was rare, and it hit hard, especially when it was someone as young and vibrant and full of life as Kelsey had been.

The brutality of the crime was shocking and offensive. "Someone wants to put this on me."

"Not if I have anything to do with it." Seamus pressed a finger to Kelsey's neck. "Don't worry. You deal with guiding Alexis through the change. I'll take care of Kelsey."

Ethan got up todo just that , but he paused. "Have you seen the Frenchman?"

"No. Why?"

"Just wondering."Ethan reflected on the bites onBrittany .On Corbin's research for the cure.

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On why Atelier had been banished in the first place, and what that might mean for now.

Alexis wished she could actually see herself in the mirror. So far, that was the only downside to the vampire deal. It was her wedding night and she couldn't possibly tell how huge her ass looked in the white sheath dress she was wearing.

Then again, maybe that was a good thing.

"Are you sure I look okay?" she askedBrittany for the twelfth time. "This is the only time I'm going to get married and I want to make sure Ethan doesn't scream when I come down the aisle."

"You look fabulous."Brittany pulled Alexis's hand off the back of the dress. "Stop touching your butt, you're making it bunch up."

Alexis dropped her hands and took a deep breath. "Okay, I'm cool. I'm fine. I'm just committing myself to one man for the rest of eternity. Somehow I never saw this twist in my life a month ago."

Her sister smiled, pressing the backs of her pearl earrings more firmly into her lobes. "I always thought you were the kind who would get married forever. You're loyal. Once you commit, you stick. I'll probably be the one who ends up divorced three times."

"Don't say that, Brit." Alexis watched her sister, still amazed that with her enhanced vampire senses, she could smellBrittany 's skin and blood, shampoo and eye makeup, lip gloss and deodorant. It was a miasma of odors and her nose hadn't yet learned how to deal with them all. She also could hear, not necessarily thoughts, but feelings from people.

Brittanywas happy for Alexis, but she was sad for herself. Alexis could feel her confusion, her loneliness, her worry that she was being left behind.Her fear that Corbin was responsible for what had happened to Kelsey.

"Have you seen Corbin?" Alexis asked casually, putting lipstick on with a hope and a prayer. She was probably creating the rings of Saturn around her mouth.

Brittanyreached out and took the tube from her and applied it on her with swift, sure motions. "No, I haven't seen Corbin, and I don't think I ever will. He wanted blood from me and he got it. I think the sex was an accident, and I don't blame him or anything. I mean, I was the one who turned things in that direction. And I certainly do not for one minute think Corbin had anything to do with Kelsey. He's just not that kind of guy. Rub your lips together and pop."

Alexis obeyed, hating the feeling of wetness on her mouth. "Seamus thinks he did it."

"But why would he put her body in Ethan's room? That doesn't make sense."

"So he wouldn't get caught."

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Brittanyshrugged in her lime green sundress. Alexis couldn't believe any woman could pull that look off, butBrittany looked fantastic.

"Trust me, Alex. Corbin wouldn't do that."

"Ethan doesn't believe me that the vampire slayers are more than just a hoax." Alexis stepped into her shoes. "But last night I got a message saying I was being expelled from the group because I no longer fit the definition of a slayer. That's just too weird to be a coincidence. First they found me, now what if they know I was turned?"

The whole situation was alarming enough that it was preventing Alexis from truly enjoying her time with Ethan. It had only been a week since she'd almost died and had become a vampire, but it had been crammed full of activities and details like taking a brief leave of absence from work to recover from her injuries and to get married. She fully intended to stay at the prosecutor's office as an off-site legal consultant, at least for a decade or so, but she did need an adjustment period to the changes.

She had put her house up for sale and would be moving her furniture into storage for the time being.

Living in the suite with Ethan was a temporary solution—she'd already informed him living in a casino was not going to cut it for her, and they needed to buy a house together.

In the midst of all those newlywed decisions, she was adjusting to a new fondness for nighttime, blood, and learning to control her strength so she'd stop ripping doors off the hinges. She had to admit, that was the coolest part. She was like the Bionic Woman, which more than made up for the fact that she was so damn short.

"I don't know how they could have found you, and if they really are vampire slayers, did they have anything to do with Kelsey and the attack on you?"Brittany readjusted her dress bodice. "You know, Ethan and Seamus aren't really listening to us on this one… I think we need to investigate on our own. I need to prove that Corbin didn't do this. Maybe I'm just an idiot, but I can't stand the thought of him being all byhimself or worse, accused of a crime he didn't commit and punished. His work is really important and he needs to continue it."

"And I don't want you in any danger, Brit, which is what I'm worried about with these slayer people. I think you're right. We need to do some checking around on our own." Hell, she was an attorney. She knew how to gather facts.

"I tried to call Corbin but he's shut me out."

"You mean you can call him mentally? Telepathically, I mean, mental sounds kind of weird."

"Yes. Corbin can hear all my thoughts unless I concentrate really hard on shutting him out. And when I called him before, he came to me, but now he's not answering."

Alexis didn't like the way that sounded. "Maybe there's a reason he's not answering."Like he was injured or in danger or something. "Ethan can't read my mind at all… he's says I'm too stubborn."

Brittanydidn't laugh like Alex was hoping she would. Alexis squeezed her sister's hand. "Don't worry.

We'll find Corbin. But first, I guess I need to go get married before Ethan sends his goons after me."

Brittanymanaged a smile. "Those bodyguards of yours are really scary. But I guess when you're the
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president'sfiancee , they're necessary."

"Yeah.Ethan still can't get over the fact that I sent them away the night I was stabbed." She shivered just remembering the fear, the pain. "But I keep telling him if I hadn't been so intent on seducing him, I wouldn't have been stabbed and wouldn't be a vampire now. So this really all worked to his advantage."

She bit her lip and got the nasty taste of lipstick on her tongue. "Are you okay with me being a vampire, Brit? I know you wanted to save Ethan from eternal damnation and all that…"

Brittanygave her a hug. "That was before I knew that no one here is damned, or soulless. And I'd much rather have you as a vampire instead of not at all. I can't imagine life without my big sister taking care of me."

"Just let anyone try and hurt you now." Alexis embraced her in return. "I'd have kicked their asses before, but now I'll kick their asses and make them wet their pants in fear. It'll be great, though you might just want to tell your future boyfriends not to mistreat you."

Brittanyrolled her eyes and pulled back with a smile. "You're all talk." She went to the door. "Now here comes the bride and all of that."

Alexis was going to try and really play this whole wedding/bride thing down, but she had to admit she was actually pretty excited. For a woman who'd spent half her life thinking she wasn't ever going to get married, she was really damn happy now that she was.

Ethan was… well, everything. He was amazing. Caring, considerate, intelligent, fair,sexy .Sexy.And sexy.

The vampire sex was killer. No pun intended. Every orgasm was like a regular one times twenty. And when he licked and bit her… well, she couldn't even think about it without getting turned on, which probably wasn't a good thing before facing the minister.