The Waning Moon Page 28

  “What the hell, Raj?”

  “You asked me to come over, but then didn’t answer the door when I knocked. I let myself in.”

  “That explains you being in the motel room, but not in the bathroom.” I wrapped the towel around myself and stepped out of the tub. I was shivering violently now. Getting cold was a really, really bad idea.

  “My apologies, my sweet. I did knock, and when you didn’t answer, I grew concerned.”

  “I need to dry off and dress. Can you…” I flapped my hand at him, and he stared at me until I said, “Raj, leave. Now.”

  He smiled at me, flashing a bit of fang, and said. “I could leave, but maybe you should have someone stay to guard you.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Raj.”

  He pursed his lips in a pout that stirred things low in my belly. “Fine. But there will come a time soon when you will be begging me to stay.” He left me alone. I dried off, put on a bra and panties, and then re-armed myself. I walked out into the motel room to finish dressing.

  “Now you’re teasing me,” Raj said.

  I grinned. “You’re the one who stayed. I’m sure you saw what clothes I had in the bathroom.”

  He smiled, and this time I was positive the fang flash was deliberate. “That is true.”

  I put on thick socks, jeans, a tank top, and a heavy sweater. I was still shivering a bit. “I need something hot,” I said.

  Raj was by my side before I could blink. “I could heat you up,” he said, his warm breath tickling my ear. I stood, frozen, and he leaned in and breathed along the line of my neck. He didn’t touch me, but I felt his heat a hair’s breadth away from my skin.

  “How about coffee?” Isaac said from the doorway.

  I took a deep breath and stepped away from Raj who looked completely unrepentant.

  “Thanks,” I said taking the steaming cup from Isaac’s hands.

  “Spoilsport,” Raj said.

  “What time is it?” I asked.

  “About 4:30,” Isaac replied.

  “You’re here early,” I said to Raj.

  “You called me. If it is in my power, I will always come when you call.”

  Jealousy surged through the bond Isaac and I shared. “You called him?” he asked.

  “I texted him. I was bored, and it was four hours ago. I thought we’d play cards or something.”

  “Or something?” Isaac asked, looking at Raj who was still standing too close to me.

  “He didn’t show; I took a bath and fell asleep in the tub. I got cold as the water chilled. The cold isn’t agreeing with me lately.” My shivering had lessened, but I was still colder than I should be. The dragon’s metabolism was beginning to affect me more and more.

  I thought soothing thoughts at Isaac along with the images of what had transpired between Raj and me.

  He straightened his spine and focused on a point above my head. “Once I’m gone, I won’t hold it against either of you if you find comfort in each other’s arms.”

  This isn’t where I wanted this to go. I opened my mouth to say something to that effect, but Raj beat me to it, “Wolf, you know I harbor…feelings…for your sweet princess, but I’d never take advantage of her grief.”

  “I know you’d never take advantage of her, but I know you want her, and I want you to have her if I’m not here.”

  This was going too far. “Isaac, are you attempting to leave me to Raj in your will?”

  He looked startled. “Nooo…”

  “Then why on earth would you say, and I quote, ‘I want you to have her?’”

  He hemmed and hawed for a few amusing moments before he finally said, “I don’t know. Would you take my possessive alpha wolf and super old patriarchal upbringing as an excuse?”

  “You know that’s never an excuse with me. I won’t beat you up over it this time, but if you ever say anything like that again, I will light you on fire with my brain.”

  He bowed slightly, “I beg your forgiveness, Princess.”

  “Forgiven. This time.” I nodded regally.

  “I must excuse myself,” Raj said. “I find myself suddenly ravenous,” Raj said.

  Isaac held out his arm. “Feed from me.”

  Raj and I stared at him with astonishment. “Are you serious?” I asked as Raj said, “Do not tempt me, my friend.”

  “Would you rather drink from here?” Isaac asked, tilting his neck.

  Now I didn’t even have words for my astonishment. I shared a confused glance with Raj before the vampire answered carefully, “There is only one spot more tempting. What has prompted you to make such a generous offer?”

  Isaac rubbed his hand across his face. “Is it true the more you’ve fed from someone, the easier they are to find?”

  Raj nodded, “It is true, although it takes a minimum of three feedings for me to have an unbreakable connection with someone. Fewer than that and another vampire could negate my connection. Once I’ve fed three times, no other vampire can supersede my claim.”

  “Then I need you to feed from me two more times before the winter solstice. I need you to find me in case Michelle breaks my bond with Eleanor.”

  “How could that happen? I thought our bond would hold until one of us died?”

  “That should be the case, but I haven’t made it this far in life without planning for every contingency. It’s another safety measure.”

  It made sense, and I didn’t mind Raj feeding from Isaac, but the reality of Isaac leaving was approaching too quickly.

  “If I feed from you,” Raj said, “it will be more than the taste I took before. I’m hungry.”

  “I’m ready.”

  I backed away from the bed with my coffee and settled carefully on one of the extremely uncomfortable motel chairs, trying to stay as unobtrusive as possible. Raj was staring covetously at Isaac, his eyes flashing red. Isaac’s were answering with a yellow glint.

  “Isaac, once I start, it will be difficult for me to stop until I am full. It won’t harm you. Not only do you heal preternaturally fast, but I do not need as much blood as a younger vampire. I’ll be gentle, but if you’ve ever been fed from violently before, this may still be…upsetting. I will stop if you ask me to, but it will be difficult.”

  “I understand. For the record, my safe word is pineapple.”

  Raj laughed, and I grinned at them both.

  Isaac continued, “As for the potential for an uncomfortable flashback, there’s a reason I offered my neck and not somewhere else.”

  Raj smiled, flashing his fangs. I looked between the two of them, not getting it at first. And then it hit me. “Oh,” I said. “Huh.”

  The men barely acknowledged me.

  “How would you prefer to do this?” Raj asked.

  “Sitting here?” Isaac waved at the bed behind him and then sat.

  Raj sat next to him, put his arm around Isaac, which was a little awkward due to their size discrepancies, and said, “Now?”

  Isaac nodded. Raj opened his mouth, fully showing his fangs, and then licked Isaac’s neck. Not gonna lie. It was hot.

  “The saliva acts as a topical analgesic,” Raj’s voice whispered in my mind. “I can choose to release it in great enough quantities to have a pleasant hallucinatory effect when it hits the bloodstream.”

  “How pleasant?” I asked out loud.

  He grinned and sank his fangs into Isaac’s neck. “Watch.”

  Isaac jumped. His eyes were closed and although he didn’t look like he was in pain, he didn’t look as though he were having the best time ever, either. That changed quickly. His eyes opened half way and took on the heavy-lidded stare I recognized as supreme arousal. I glanced down at his lap—yep, supremely aroused. He moaned softly. I wanted to go to him—to touch him—but I held myself still. Raj’s drinking slowed down and soon he stopped. He pulled away from Isaac’s neck, and licked the stray drops of blood, healing the entry wounds.

  Isaac stood up and swayed for a minute. I was by his side and wrapped aroun
d him for support in a second. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes, give me a second.” He stood with his eyes closed until he regained his balance and then let go of my arm. “I need a couple of moments.”

  “Eleanor and I will go check on Florence.”

  I started to protest, but Raj grabbed my arm and started directing me towards the door. “Give him a moment, my sweet. He wouldn’t ask if he didn’t need it.”

  I knew Raj was right, but I glanced back at Isaac to be sure. His attention was elsewhere, so I followed Raj out the door.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  “I believe he is going to relieve some of the discomfort my bite caused him,” Raj said, not bothering to suppress his mirth.

  “What do you mean?”

  Raj looked at me. “You saw the physical manifestation of his discomfort.”

  “It looked like he was enjoying himself,” I said.

  “He’s going to jack off,” Raj said bluntly.

  “Ah. I’m missing all the dirty jokes today. That’s not like me.” I squelched the note of hurt that Isaac hadn’t wanted me to help him with that particular problem.

  We went into the camper where Florence was finishing up the food preparation for dinner. “How can I help?” I asked. She looked at Raj and me and pursed her lips for a moment before answering. “Set up a card table in the motel room, and then we’ll start bringing the food in there.”

  “Is there anything we can do here first? Isaac is having some alone time.”

  “For how long?” she asked, sounding exasperated.

  Raj tilted his head, “Not much longer. Please tell us what, besides the table, needs to be carried in. We will gather the items, and by then we should be fine to start working.”

  Florence pointed out everything that was ready, found plates and utensils and serving spoons, and we started the multiple trips to take all the food to our motel room.

  I don’t know how Florence managed to create a full Thanksgiving dinner in a camper, but she did. Turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing, gravy, candied yams, dinner rolls, corn, and cranberry sauce weighed down the flimsy card table. There was enough for an entire army, and since only three of us ate food, I was sure there were going to be leftovers. We uncorked a few bottles of wine, sat down, and dug in. This was easily the best time I’d had in months. The conversation and the wine flowed easily, and before I knew it, most of the food had disappeared. The amount of food needed to feed a couple hungry shifters was a lot more than I would’ve guessed.

  Isaac and I both had fourths (Florence stopped after seconds), and I leaned back from the table groaning in satisfaction. When Florence stood to begin clearing the table, we all jumped up to help. An hour and a soapy sponge fight later, everything was clean and the meager leftovers put away. There was an aura of contentedness. Isaac was sitting on the bed, and I was reclined between his legs. Raj sat near us on a chair, one leg casually swung over the other as he sipped his wine. Florence was in the other chair and had tipped it back to lean against the wall.

  “This is the good life,” I said.

  Florence tilted her head and gave me a look.

  “I mean it. Delicious food and wonderful wine with the most important people in my life.” I sniffled a little. “It almost makes a girl feel emotional.”

  “She’s faking,” Isaac announced.

  “Hey! I have feelings.”

  “All it takes is a good meal and some wine, and you let go of all the self-doubt and recriminations that have been plaguing you since August?” Florence asked.

  “Pretty much.” I settled back against Isaac’s chest again.

  “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  “A feast a month would keep me cheerful. If you could arrange that, I promise to stay happy all the time.”

  “I don’t know about a feast a month, but I promise whenever I do make a meal like this, it will be worth your while.” She stood up and headed to the door. “I’ll be right back.”

  She left and I looked at Raj. “Where’s she going?”

  “Must you always know where people are and what they’re doing? Some people need privacy from time to time.”

  “I doubt she left in the middle of my ‘I love everyone’ speech to jack off,” I said.

  “I missed something,” Isaac said. I twisted around to look at him and tried to raise one eyebrow. He looked confused. I probably did, too, since I still hadn’t managed to perfect that particular expression.

  “I know what you were doing after Raj finished his Thanksgiving Dinner.”

  “Thanks for sharing with the group.”

  “Raj is the one who gave me the heads up.”

  Raj snorted in suppressed laughter.

  “Not everything is a dirty joke, Raj,” I said, trying to sound stern. Before he could answer, there was a tapping on the door. I jumped off the bed and had knives in my hands almost before my feet hit the floor.

  Raj and Isaac stared at me. “It’s Florence,” Isaac said.

  “Why would she knock?” I countered.

  “Because my hands are full. Open the door.” Florence said.

  I resheathed my knives and, after a glance through the peephole to confirm her identity, opened the door. Florence came in with a pie balanced in each hand and a shopping bag with bowls, clean cutlery, and ice cream hanging from one arm.

  “Let me help you,” I said, grabbing the pies.

  “Those are for everyone to share,” Florence said.

  “How on earth did you make pie? This is insane!”

  “I’ve got mad skills.” She cracked a grin.

  One pie was heaped high with beautifully browned meringue peaks. The other had a cross-hatched top crust through which golden peaches and bright purplish red berries were peeking through.

  “What kind of pies?” I asked.

  “Lemon meringue and blackberry peach.”

  “Those are my favorite.”

  “I know.”

  I cut the pies and served them up. I had a piece of lemon meringue first, and it was glorious. Then, because it was there, I had a generous slice of the blackberry peach—still warm from the oven—and a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream.

  “I’ve died and gone to heaven,” I moaned through a mouthful of delicious flavor.

  “You’re easy to please,” Florence said.

  “This is not easy. I’m picky about my pie, and this is the most amazing pie ever.”

  “Thank you,” Florence said.

  After the three of us—okay, mostly me and Isaac—polished off both pies, I ran the ice cream back to the little freezer in our camper. Then I returned to the room, unbuttoned my pants, and laid down on the bed.

  Chapter Twenty

  IT FELT LIKE Thanksgiving had been a bubble in the time lapse of our sojourn in Savannah. We hit it, and it stretched out the day before popping and sending us hurtling much too fast towards the inevitability of Yule. There was so much going on it seemed impossible to contain it all in a few weeks. Cell phone service was hit or miss, even though we still had power in this area of the country. There were emergency bulletins every other day. There were food riots in all parts of the still-lit United States. And although the government hadn’t yet confirmed the rumor that California and now Texas had both seceded, the word on the street was that in Texas, bands of armed vigilantes had given up patrolling the border and were now patrolling for supernaturals.

  It wasn’t as bad anywhere else—or at least not as organized. Most supernaturals had the sense to stay under wraps, no matter what the President had said. I wished either Murphy or Aldea—or both!—had outed their own extra-special status. Of course, if the Fae weren’t part of the announcement, the President really couldn’t say she was of the supernatural class of characters she hadn’t told anyone about. I wondered if she was on my side.

  Most likely, she was on her own side, and I was a means to an end.

  That supposition was proven correct the day after Hanukkah ended when the
President made another special announcement declaring martial law and temporarily dissolving the other two branches of government. She designated Aldea General of the Armies and Admiral of the Navies, which made him the highest ranked military officer, like ever, and meant he not only directly reported to her but the leaders of the individual military branches now all reported directly to him. Since his position was purely symbolic before, this was an enormous change. And with Aldea and the highest ranked officers in each the various branches of the military present to back up her announcement, it seemed strikingly ominous for a woman who’d lived in the land of the free, home of the brave, et cetera, et cetera, for her whole life.

  “Those people aren’t people,” Florence said.

  I peered more closely at the television screen. “Which people?”

  “The generals and admirals, all the military leaders there—none of them are human.”

  “What are they?” I asked.

  “A mix of Fae and vampires, mostly.”

  “No shifters?” I asked.

  “No, but there may be a practitioner or two in there.”

  “Is Murphy seizing power?” I asked.

  “Looks like it to me.”

  “I wonder what her end game is.”

  “Maybe it’s time to have another conversation with Arduinna,” Florence suggested. “She’s there again.”

  “Where?” Either Florence’s eyesight was exponentially better than mine, which seemed hard to believe, or she was able to see or sense auras even through the television.

  “She’s towards the back of the room, near the curtained doorway. She’s still disguised as the President’s Chief of Staff, Seth Greenwood.”

  “Disguised? Or has she always been Seth Greenwood? And how can you tell?”

  “Her aura is a specific shade of red-laced green.”

  I was right about her seeing auras through the medium of television.

  “Do certain types of supernaturals have specific aura colors?” I asked.

  Florence glanced at me in surprise and then muted the television. “Haven’t you noticed?”