A few others nearby nodded.
Kraft finished his drink, his thirst quenched. A low meow and a scratch across his belly reminded him he wasn’t alone.
He watched as a bowl of milk slid down the bar and stopped in front of him without spilling a drop. The kitten climbed up his body, using him as a scratching post.
“Ow. Here, damn it.” Kraft pulled the clingy thing away and placed Shadow by the milk.
The little kitten drank a lot more than something of that size should be able to ingest, including the second and third bowls that arrived.
“What the hell are you, cat?”
Shadow looked at him then turned back to his meal, ignoring Kraft as if unimportant.
“Bastard.” He turned at the sight of Mormo, standing a few people down from him at the bar, arguing with some dark-haired, divine-looking fuck in a toga. Not Norse, but maybe belonging to a Greek or Roman pantheon.
“I do not owe you a drink,” Mormo snapped. “Stop following me around.”
“Sweet cheeks, I hate to break it to you, but we need to talk. And yes, you do have a stellar personality and just the nicest ass, but we’ve got problems.”
Kraft grinned, entertained. He would have settled in to watch Mormo’s head explode—if the color of his eyes and scent of his anger was anything to go by—but a commotion from behind him stole his attention.
“Grab him,” Khent yelled.
Kraft saw the lycan they’d been questioning for a week slung over the back of a great big, shifted direwolf, this one larger than a typical lycan in shifted form. “Berserker?” he yelled to Khent, who nodded.
Khent’s dead crow flew after the escaping lycans, but the giant one turned and ate the bird in one bite before running again.
“You’ll die for that,” Khent pledged, getting ready to work some death magic, Kraft could tell.
“Khent, no,” Hecate ordered.
“Stay here, cat.” Kraft ran after the lycans down a hall that emptied of people and just kept going. Had to be part of Hecate’s weird border magic, since she was a guardian of crossroads after all.
The berserker looked over its shoulder at Kraft, its blue eyes brilliant in a face covered in ash-gray fur speckled with black. It seemed to recognized Kraft, or at least, the wolf part of him knew something strange centered around that lycan carrying their prisoner. Unfortunately, the pair were sucked away, and Kraft somehow came to a standstill in front of Hecate back in the bar.
He wavered, trying to find his footing. “What the fuck?”
“Watch your tone, nachzehrer,” Mormo warned, flipped off the toga-wearing god next to him—who winked at Kraft before disappearing—and turned with Kraft to face Hecate. “My lady, I do believe our lycan prisoner has left the building.”
“I know.” She sighed. “And I was just getting to like her.”
“Wait. Her?” Kraft scowled. “The lycan I played with was male.”
“Yes, he was. But that’s not who we were after.” Hecate drummed her fingers on the bar. “Now Kraft, tell me about Orion and Kaia. Exactly what’s going on upstairs?”
“I’d rather talk about the lycans.”
Mormo frowned. “Mistress? What’s this about Kaia?”
She laughed. “Dear one, we’ve got another dreamer. Orion has mated the sea witch.”
Wait. Sea witch?
Mormo and Kraft said as one, “What?”
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FOUR
Orion woke feeling sore but happy. And he didn’t do happy.
Not feeling happy sounded right in his head. The need to tamp down his negativity and present a bright face to his mate wasn’t there, not like it had been before.
He sighed with relief, turned, and stared at a very naked Kaia.
He froze.
She smiled and traced a finger down his abdomen to his belly, where his cock stirred and stiffly pointed at the creature he wanted like no other. Still. As if they hadn’t spent the entire night fucking until the sun had sent him into a death sleep.
But now, as the sun set, he stared into eyes pricked with blue and smiled. “I feel crabby about life.”
“Good.” Her smile widened. “I’m still not drinking blood and killing people because it’s fun.”
“Uh, okay.” Had they agreed she should do that? He couldn’t think because she followed her finger with her mouth, which settled on that very happy part of him pointing at her.
She took him between her lips and started sucking.
He held her head, dreaming, obviously, but rode out the pleasure as she blew him, taking him to the back of her throat while she cupped his balls and dragged her nails up and down his thighs.
The need to fill her wouldn’t leave him, and he yanked her off him before he came and flipped her to her back then shoved inside her pussy, pounding hard to fill her while she seized around him and moaned his name, milking him dry.
“Fuck, Kaia. Oh man, I can’t...” He jolted, coming again, the pleasure unrelenting.
Finally able to function, he blinked his eyes open and stared into Kaia’s beautiful face. At least, he thought it was Kaia.
“That was amazing.” She smiled, then frowned. “Orion, what’s wrong?”
It sounded like her. It still looked, smelled, and—
“You bit me.” She gasped.
—tasted like her. But... “Kaia. You’re different.”
“Huh?”
“Your hair.”
She touched her head. “What about it?” She lifted a strand and stared. “What the heck is happening?” She pushed at his chest, and he withdrew, sad to leave her warmth but way too concerned to have another go.
Or so he told his randy dick.
He followed her into the adjoined bathroom and stared over her head at the mirror.
“I’m whiter than a ghost.” Her hair glowed.
“You’re still you.” He felt weak with relief but refused to show it. “Thank the Night. I thought I was having a sexy nightmare. Not cool.”
“Vampires dream?”
“Apparently.” He ran his fingers through her hair. “Okay, I’ll say it. You do look a little like your mom. But you’re different enough that I know it’s you. And not just because of your kind eyes.”
She softened. “Thank you.”
“Or because of your sweet ass.”
She rolled her eyes.
“But because I feel you inside here.” He put his hand over his heart. She turned, and he took her hand and put it where his had been. “Feel me. I’m in you.”
We’re one.
She smiled.
“I’m still cranky too.” He felt really happy about that, more so when she laughed at him. “I know, I sound like a dope. But I need to be me with you.”
“I understand.” She twirled her hair around her finger and stared at it. “And I guess I need to be me around you. I think I’m Becoming, Orion.”
“You mean you Became. All night long.” He felt pretty proud about that fact and laughed when she blushed. “Sorry. That was crude.”
“But that’s who you are, yeah yeah,” she grumbled, adorable.
“Oh crap.”