A Slash of Savagery (Wiccan-Were-Bear) (4 page)

“So it’s like a salt line?” Cella asked from behind them.

“One that can’t be easily erased,” Arissa said.

The trolls went to work cleaning up after Arissa thanked them for their help and Brone said, “I’d like to walk you back to the offices.”

“Okay.”

He didn’t know what to say to start off the conversation.  He felt oddly impotent with his words.  He’d never been one to talk much about anything.

The guards opened the doors for them, and Arissa stopped in front of the desk.  Cella said she would return for her shortly and disappeared with Rage through the door that led to the offices.  Arissa looked up at Brone.  “Why didn’t you talk to me that first night?”

“Mishka forbade it.”

She snorted in disbelief.  “Couldn’t you snap him in half?”

He felt a smile curve at the corner of his mouth.  “If I wanted to leave the coven, yes.  It was difficult for me to leave you that night, but I had no choice.  I vowed myself to Mishka’s service.  He is my master.”

She hummed in her throat, gazing up at him.  He found himself once more at a loss for words.  Slowly she rose onto her tiptoes, her body brushing against his, and he lowered his mouth to meet hers.  Electricity jolted through him as their mouths parted and their tongues touched, and he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.  She made a soft sound in her throat, a hum of pleasure, and he deepened the kiss.  The taste of her was like sweet honeyed wine, and he wanted to taste her again and again.  She clutched his shoulders and twisted the fabric of his shirt in her hands as the kiss went on, their tongues stroking and tasting.  She curled her tongue around one of his double fangs and he groaned.  She smiled against his lips and pulled away from the drugging kiss.

“What am I?” she asked with a breathy whisper.

“My mate,” he answered simply.  They were possibly the two truest words he had ever spoken.

Her hands clenched tighter in his shirt and she said, “I don’t know what to do now.”

Cella cleared her throat nearby, and Brone lifted his upper lip in a snarl as she said, “For starters, I need to talk to you about your job duties.”

Arissa blushed but didn’t pull away.  Instead, she leaned her cheek against his shirt and sighed deeply.  “You’ll find me after work so we can finish?”

He growled softly and inhaled her sweet scent.  “We’ll never be finished, beloved.”

Reluctantly, he released his hold on her.  Giving Cella a good glare for interrupting them, he was surprised when she stuck her tongue out.  “As if you’d kill me with your new mate standing right here.”

“I can always kill you later.”

Cella rolled her eyes dramatically.  “Promises, promises.”

“No one is killing anyone,” Arissa said and then winked at him before turning her attention to Cella.

Brone walked out of the reception area, looking forward to the end of the work day so they could pick up where they left off.

Chapter 7

Cella turned to Arissa with a grin when Brone left.  Arissa’s heart still pounded and she could still taste him — a heady, sweet, and dark flavor — on her tongue.  A part of her wanted to run down the hallway to him and continue the kiss, but the other part of her — the non-tingling one — knew that she was supposed to be working and therefore needed to act like a professional.

“How old are you?” Cella asked, sitting on the edge of the large wooden desk.

“I’m nineteen plus one, so technically I’m thirty-one.”  Wiccans had what was referred to as “long life,” which meant that they aged one body year for every twelve years that passed following age eighteen.  “You?”

“I was turned at age twenty-three, three hundred years ago by Mishka.”

“You’ve been in his coven the whole time?”

She nodded.  Cella was beautiful.  Blonde haired, blue-eyed, and curvy.  She looked as though she could have been a model.  And judging from the time that they had spent together that evening, Arissa knew they would be good friends.

Arissa had known that her main job would be as the receptionist for the coven during their working hours, which were from sunset to an hour before sunrise.  The offices, and the club, were open seven days a week.

Cella showed her how to work the phone system, schedule appointments, and order supplies.  Arissa practiced transferring a few calls and then hung up the phone, smiling.

“What’s so funny?” Cella asked.

“I’m a vampire secretary. Or, I guess, a secretary to vampires.  Sounds like the title for a romance novel.”

Cella grinned, her fangs flashing.  “I supposed it does.  As you get used to things, Mishka will increase your responsibilities with the coven, but the most important thing you can do is help to keep everyone safe.”

“I haven’t met any of the mates yet.”

“Vampires are very protective of their mates, especially after the attacks.  The mates usually work with their vampires and keep out of the more public areas of the club.  No non-mates are allowed in the chambers except for someone brought ‘under the fang’.”

“‘Under the fang’ is when you choose someone to feed from exclusively?”

“Right.  It’s usually, but not always, a pre-cursor to a mating.”

Arissa let that roll around in her head for a moment.  Cella chuckled.  “What you and Brone have isn’t usual.  You’re beloveds.”

“He said that earlier.  I thought it was just a term of endearment.”

“Beloveds share an instant bond.  It’s like love at first sight but on steroids.  In the old days, he probably would have just slung you over his shoulder and taken you to his chamber, but Mishka has rules.”

Arissa liked the idea of being slung over his shoulder.  Cella returned to her own office, and Arissa found herself at the reception desk alone, save for the two guards standing just outside the glass doors.  The next two hours passed quickly as she answered the phone and took messages.  Her heart raced in anticipation of talking to Brone when the offices closed for the night.

Mishka came out to the front desk just minutes before her shift was over.  “How were things tonight?  Are you overwhelmed?”

“Not at all.”

He paused and the weight of his golden eyes settled on her.  She held his gaze, curious at the intensity.  After a long moment, he cleared his throat and said, “I understand that you put a protection spell on the club.”

“A ward, yes.”

“Thank you.”  He inclined his head in a bow and then swept out the glass doors and disappeared down the hall toward the club.  She felt Brone come into the room.  She hadn’t heard him, but she could feel him.  Turning quickly, she stood and moved into his embrace, letting out a sigh.  “That’s better.”

“Much.”

They stood in silence for just a minute and then he said, “Sunset is in an hour.  It’s time to talk.”

He took her hand, entwined their fingers, and walked out of the office with her and down the hallway toward the elevator.  Her heart began to hammer in her chest as excitement raced through her.  The doors opened and they stepped into the elevator.  Brone released her hand and stepped to one side of the compartment.

“Did I do something wrong?” she asked.

His eyes were bright purple when he lifted his head.  “I am very close to taking you here, in the elevator.”

She looked around the smooth mahogany walls and eyed the control panel.  “Okay, but push the stop button first.”

His mouth dropped open in surprise and then he shook his head.  “It’s too tempting for me to want to bite you, to make you my beloved, and I can’t.”

“Why?”

“I promised.”

She arched a brow.  “Promised who what?”

The doors slid open and he stepped out, waiting for her to do the same.  She joined him, and they walked down the corridor.  “I promised Mishka that I would not bite you until Sunday so that you would have time to heal on your days off.”

He stopped in front of his chamber door and entered a code.  It beeped and he pushed the door open.  He flicked on the light switch, and sconces hanging on the walls illuminated the space.  “Please, come inside and we can talk more.”

The door shut after she stepped inside.  The chamber was similar to hers but more rustic.  Aside from the two electric sconces flickering on the walls, the room was devoid of any sort of modern conveniences.  An oil lamp sat on a small table next to an enormous bed that was covered with dark furs.  A tall cabinet stood against one wall next to a doorway that led to his bathroom and closet, the same as in her chamber.

She turned in a slow circle.  “I’m not sure I’m so crazy about Mishka being up in our business.”

Brone released a frustrated sigh.  She faced him, letting her eyes drift down the length of his body.  He was tall, maybe close to seven feet, broad and muscular.  She’d been attracted to men before, found them handsome and engaging, and her last boyfriend had even been a model.  But she’d never been so singularly entranced by a man before.  Not like this.  Since she’d seen him that first night, she had thought of little else besides seeing him again.

“I have double fangs, and when I feed, my tongue emits a type of venom that, while it numbs the skin, it also slows down the healing process.  Even a rapidly healing supernatural creature, like a wolf, would not recover as quickly from one of my bites.  I can’t say for certain that when we bond together and I bite you, that you would heal quickly and it would mean you not being able to work until it healed.”

She stepped closer and tilted her head back so she could look into his eyes that were flashing from blue to purple.  “I’m confused.  Let’s start at the beginning.”

He glanced toward the wall and she followed his line of sight to a clock.  The sun was going to rise soon.  “Do you die at dawn?” she asked.

A tiny smile curved up the corner of his mouth and her heart began to pound.

“Do you mean to ask if I die each day, if I’m inanimate until the sun sets?”

She nodded.

“I do not die at dawn.  We’re not undead or soulless monsters.  We have been changed to vampires from our human form and are immortal, but otherwise we are the same as we were.”  He lifted her hand and placed it over his heart.  “My heart isn’t beating anymore, but if it did, it would only beat for you.”

“That’s…awesome.”

“I’m not a monster.  I’m just a man who happens to be a vampire who happens to have a beautiful, beloved mate.”

His arms slipped around her and he pulled her close, until their bodies touched.  They needed to talk — she knew that — but she couldn’t think straight with him so close, the scent of him filling her nose and her body humming with arousal.  “Beloveds are different than traditional mates, Arissa.  We’re connected on a level that defies explanation.  Instant.  Powerful.  Deep.  I want to sink my fangs into your neck and mark you as mine, share my blood with you so that we are truly bonded, and make love to you for hours upon hours.  But dawn is coming, and I want to have time to love you right.”

She exhaled a shaky breath and said, “We’re virtually strangers, but I feel like I’ve known you forever.  I would let you do all those things because I feel like we’ve been together for ages, not that we just met a few days ago.”

He pulled her closer, lifting her off the ground easily, and turned, setting her on the bed.  The fur under her hands felt real, and she brushed her fingertips across it while he straightened and stood before her.  “I want to be romantic for you, but I don’t know how.  In my time, a date was something you ate, not something you did.”

She grinned.  “I like being the first, but I’ll point out that we work all night and you sleep during the day so I don’t know when we’d go out.”

He paused for a long moment and said, “I didn’t ask you.  I should ask you.”

“Ask me what?”

“Ask you to be mine.”  He dropped to his knees in a heartbeat and grasped her hand with his large one.  “Will you be my beloved mate, Arissa?  Let me make you like me and stay with me forever?  I vow to be ever at your side, to protect you from harm, and take care of you for all eternity.”

She stared into his eyes and was overwhelmed by the sincerity she saw in the depths.  Here was a man who could snap her in half with two fingers or do anything he wanted to with her because he was so much stronger than she was, and he was asking her to be his.  Aside from the overwhelming attraction coursing through her, she found herself liking him and wanting to be with him.

“I’ll be yours, Brone.”

He pulled her from the bed onto his lap and kissed her tenderly. 

Chapter 8

Brone had not brought someone into his chamber to sleep before.  In his early days, he had taken women wherever he felt like it, but he had always reserved his bedroom for his own personal use.  Having Arissa not only in the chamber, but also in his bed and his arms was a first for him.  Another of many firsts he had experienced since he saw her outside of the witch store.  Her weight was slight against him, a warmth that he had not experienced before but he wanted to enjoy every day.

He’d planned to spend the hour before sunrise talking to her, but instead they’d kissed.  For so long that he felt as though he knew every inch of her sweet mouth by memory.  All her things were in her chamber, so when the time drew close to dawn, he sent her into the bathroom to clean up and gave her one of his shirts to wear to bed.  After stripping, he climbed into bed and waited for her to join him.  She had not wasted a moment after she came out of the bathroom and slid under the covers with him, drawing close.  Her hand rested on his bare chest over his heart and one of her legs was resting over top of his.

Closing his eyes with an inaudible sigh, he felt the tug of the day as the sun began to rise.  He hadn’t seen a sunrise in so long, but he was always aware of it.  The rise and fall of the sun was something that all vampires felt to the core of their beings.  New vampires could not control their attention to the sun and went to sleep immediately.  Older vampires could stay up longer or awaken at any point, so although the myths surrounding their people said that they “died” each night at dawn, they were very aware, basically just sleeping.

She had pointed out earlier that they didn’t have much time to date because of their work schedules, but he wanted her to know that she was more important to him than work.  He would find a way to carve time out just for them during the night hours so he could show her how important she was.

Because truly, there was no one more important to him in the world than the beautiful redhead in his arms. 

* * * * *

As the sun set and the night fell, Arissa turned over in Brone’s arms and looked at him.  Her hair was mussed and her eyes were bright.  She covered her mouth as she yawned.

“Good morning.  Or, wait, evening.”

He stroked his thumb across her cheek.  “Is my beloved a morning person?”

“Who me?”  She batted her eyelashes exaggeratedly and said, “Besides, I can’t be a morning person at night.  So you landed yourself a night owl.”  She looked thoughtful.  “Are there owl shifters?”

“None that I have ever met, but I’m certain there are shifters of many varieties all around the world.”

She hummed and said, “Cool.”

Rolling to her back, she stretched, wiggling a bit and making small, squeaking noises.  She sat up and looked back at him.  “I was supposed to be at work at sunset since I’m not a vampire.  I think I’m late for my second day of work.”

“I’m certain it’s forgivable.  And besides, your circumstances have changed.  When Mishka made the schedule for your position, he could not have comprehended that the person filling the job would become mate to one of the coven.”

“If I were the mate of someone outside of the
family
, would the rules be bent for me?”

“Probably not.”

She hummed again.  “I guess I won’t complain as long as no one thinks I’m taking advantage of the situation.”

He snorted inwardly.  As if anyone would complain about
his
mate.

He walked her to her chamber so she could get ready for work and then returned to his own chamber to ready himself.  He was waiting for her outside of her chamber when she emerged a half hour later.  She looked tempting in a short skirt and tight top.

“Your eyes are flashing,” she said as he pressed his hand against one elevator door to keep the compartment open for her.

“You’re beautiful.”  The door closed and he inhaled her sweet scent.

Her cheeks pinked with the compliment, and he wanted to stop the elevator and take them back to his chamber.  Pressing the stop button on the elevator, he closed the short distance between them.

“You do know that I find you very tempting, yes?”  He laid his palms flat on either side of her head, leaning close.

“Yes.”  She whispered the word, tilting her head back and staring up at him, her eyes filling with longing and heat.

“You are more important to me than any vows I have ever made.  I have never broken a promise, but I would break one for you.”

Her hands latched onto his arms and she squeezed.  “I’m here because the mates are in danger.  If we go back to your chamber and…mate, then I might lose my job, which I don’t necessarily care about.  But the mates will still be in danger, and I do care about that.”

He bared his teeth.  “He would not take your job.”

Her hands massaged his biceps, and she looked at him earnestly.  “I want you in the worst way, Brone.  No one has ever captivated me the way that you do.  But it’s important to me that the mates are safe.  I said I would take this job, and I need to do it.  It’s Tuesday night.  It’ll be Sunday in a few more days and then we can be together.”

He pressed his lips to her forehead and felt her tremble.  “You are a treasure, beloved.”

She eased against him, her hands sliding around to his back and anchoring herself to him.  “You are to me, too.  I don’t want you to break your vows to Mishka, no matter how much I want to be your mate.”

Curling his arms around her, he held her close for several minutes, enjoying the sound of the beat of her heart. Then he pressed the button to send the elevator to the first floor so they could continue on to work.

He left her at the desk, kissing the top of her hand, not really wanting to leave her side.  But her words about the mates being in danger made him realize that she also could be in danger.  He strode down the hallway to Cella’s office and found the female working at a laptop.

Cella raised her eyes.  “What can I do for you?”

“I want to arrange a meeting between the mates and Arissa.  It’s important to her that they are safe and she can’t do that if she doesn’t know who they are.”

“I hadn’t thought of that.  Tonight?”

“After Arissa’s break.”

“I’ll get on it.”  Cella reached for the phone on her desk, and Brone headed to his own office.

Sitting down behind his desk, he logged onto his laptop and began to review the security footage taken during the day.  Brone was head of security for the coven and the club.  During the daylight hours, while the coven slept, security patrolled around and within the club.  The First Church of Humanity had only once tried to attack the coven during the daytime, and they had discovered that the myth of vampires being dead during the day was incorrect.  A handful of humans had been slaughtered in the melee, and the church had tried to involve the government and have the coven members arrested.  The human government, however, had sided with the coven and arrested many of the humans who had broken into the club.  Now, the church seemed to be watching the club and attacking those who left the premises.

His thoughts darkened and he lifted the receiver on his phone and called the front desk.

“Yes, Brone?” Arissa answered.

“You are not to leave the club at any time without an escort.”

There was a short pause and then she chuckled.  “You’re so bossy.”

“I don’t want you harmed.”

“Okay.”  She let out a little sigh and said, “I don’t have to leave until after next week, when I’m supposed to work Sunday and Monday nights at the shop.  I’ll have to leave before sunset.”

He was tempted to tell her that she could not leave before he woke for the night, but he never wanted her to feel as if she was a prisoner with him.  He knew that she had responsibilities with the witches that she needed to honor, and that included working two days a month at the store.

“I’ll make sure you are properly guarded on those days when I am still sleeping.”

“You don’t like it,” she said softly.

“I would not have you leave my side at any time, beloved.”  He had not spoken more truthful words.

Her voice was a bare whisper when she said, “Where have you been all my life?”

“Too far, but I won’t be far away again.”

* * * * *

Brone looked up from his desk when Arissa entered his office.  Her stomach rumbled and she giggled.  “I’m hungry.”

He frowned, realizing that she had not eaten anything before starting work.  Standing, he walked around the desk and cupped her face.  “I’m not being a good mate.”

“Oh?”  The corner of her lips curved up slightly.  “I think you’re doing a good job so far.”

“You’re hungry.  I forget that you need to eat.”

“It’s been awhile since you ate three squares a day, though.  It’s understandable that you wouldn’t think of it.”

Biting back a snarl, he said, “It is my duty to see to all of your needs.  Don’t coddle me for my errors.”

“You’re adorable.”  Her nose wrinkled as she smiled and her eyes danced.

Temple stood just outside of the office and chortled loudly, clearly having overheard Arissa’s term of endearment.  Brone bared his fangs at the male, whose laughter cut off abruptly.  “Sorry.”

“I’ll keep the sweet nothings to a minimum,” she said, making the motion to zip her lips.

Kissing her forehead, he gestured for her to leave the office with him.  “You may call me whatever you wish.”

“If it’s all the same to you, I’ll just call you ‘mine.’”

He’d never had much reason to smile.  Several lifetimes’ worth of pain and suffering, death and blood.  But Arissa made him
want
to smile.  Made him want to embrace the happiness that brewed inside him.

She walked next to him down the hall, and they turned into the break room.  Since the
family
didn’t eat, the room contained no furniture aside from a counter, microwave, and a refrigerator that housed bottles of SyBl.  Once Mishka decided to bring a human to work within the family’s offices, the room had been updated with human comforts in mind.  A round table sat in the center of the room with four padded chairs around it.  A second refrigerator now contained human-appropriate food.  A flat-screen television was mounted to the wall, and the remote sat in the center of the table.

Brone pulled out a chair for her and pushed her into it gently.  Then he walked to the refrigerator and opened it.  The on-staff cooks provided food for the humans and other non-vampire personnel who worked in the club, and they were now providing Arissa with meals for her mid-shift break.

He put the plate into the microwave and set the timer to reheat it. Then he turned to face her.  “What did you normally eat for your first meal?”

“Just coffee.  Maybe some fruit or a muffin if I’m feeling peckish.”

“I’ll make sure you have those things before we leave the chamber, as well as your evening meal.”

“It’s weird to eat breakfast at night, but I’m getting used to it.  And you know you don’t have to do anything special for me.”

The microwave beeped, and he pulled the hot plate from the interior and shut the door.  Setting it in front of her, he tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and said, “This is simply me seeing to your needs.  Don’t ask me to stop, because I won’t.”

“Okay.”

He fetched utensils for her from a drawer and then took a bottle of SyBl from the fridge and opened it.  The bottles were made of dark glass, but he worried she would be turned off by the sight of him drinking synthetic blood.  When he asked, she promised that she wasn’t and even took the bottle from him and sniffed at the opening, declaring that it smelled only vaguely like copper.

“I wouldn’t change what you are anyway, Brone,” she said as she cut up the chicken on her plate.  “I don’t know how all this beloved stuff works, but you’re my mate and that means I accept what you are.”

Her acceptance of his nature was not something he’d contemplated affecting him, but it did.  He accepted what she was, but it was far easier for him to accept her Wiccan nature that she came by genetically than for her to accept his vampire nature.  That she did, and so quickly, told him just how special she was.

The SyBl tasted quite bland in comparison to real blood.  Synthetic blood had been around for many years, created in a lab by vampires who were afraid that eventually the vampires’ food would die out and they’d starve.  Brone had not taken to it for many years, choosing instead to drink nightly from humans, but that became a hassle as the tide of public interest in vampires switched from general wariness to genuine desire to be changed.  There was a romanticism associated with vampires now that Brone had thought would never happen.  Starry-eyed human females and males came into the club nightly, hoping to find a vampire who would be willing to turn them.  It did happen from time to time, but was still quite rare.

He settled the now-empty bottle on the table and looked at his mate as she ate her meal.  “I wanted to talk to you about this weekend.”