Silent Bite-A Scanguards Wedding (1001 Dark Nights) (6 page)

Oliver rolled his eyes. “Which I believe are the nicknames Blake gave them.”

He knew Wes all too well. He would nag and be a total pest until he’d gotten what he wanted. It was better to get it over with. Besides, Wes was right. Giving him a few drops of vampire blood wouldn’t hurt, nor would it be harmful to anybody. After all, vampire blood had great healing properties.

“Fine. But you owe me one and don’t think I won’t collect! Only a few drops. And it’ll be the only time,” he conceded.

Wesley beamed. “I swear!” He pulled a small glass vial just big enough for one fluid ounce from his pocket. “Here, just half-full is fine.”

Still shaking his head, Oliver elongated his fangs, bringing them to full length. Instantly, he felt power surge through him, a result of his vampire side emerging. The lingering scent of Ursula drifted to his nostrils and cocooned him. If she were in the kitchen now, while his fangs were extended, he didn’t think he could resist biting her. The bottled blood he’d consumed at Samson’s had nourished him yet not truly satisfied him. The only thing that could truly satisfy his hunger was Ursula’s blood and her body writhing beneath his.

“Uh, Oliver,” Wesley prompted him, pulling him from his thoughts.

Swiftly he brought his thumb to his lips and pricked it with one of his fangs. He held the vial under his bleeding digit and let it drip into it, watching as the level quickly rose to midway.

“Oh, Oliver, you’re here.”

Oliver’s head snapped to the door leading into the hallway. Ursula’s father stood there, looking somewhat pale.

When their gazes met, Yao Bang’s eyes widened in shock and disbelief. “Oh, no!” he pressed out. “That can’t be!”

Oliver’s forehead furrowed, while Wesley ground out low under his breath, “Your fangs!”

“Shit!” Oliver cursed, but it was too late.

He hadn’t retracted his fangs, and his future father-in-law had seen them. He made a move toward him and noticed him shrink back toward the door. At the same time, Wesley snatched the open vial that Oliver still held in his hand.

Oliver tossed Wes an angry glare. Because of him, he’d exposed himself.

Wesley shrugged. “Wipe his memory then.”

Yao Bang’s mouth opened for a scream, but Oliver was on him before it could leave his throat, clamping his hand over his mouth and preventing him from escaping by clutching him to his body. At the same time, he reached out his mind to the older man and sent his thoughts to him.

You saw nothing. You came into the kitchen for a snack and saw me and Wesley making sandwiches. That’s all you saw. You never saw my fangs. You never saw any blood.

Yao Bang’s eyes went blank, the fear in them wiped away. Relieved, Oliver released him and stepped back.

“Oliver,” Yao Bang murmured, before he staggered a few steps forward, reaching out his arms to grasp for support.

Oliver grabbed hold of him before he could fall, then felt him go slack in his arms. He was unconscious.

“Crap!”

“What did you do now?” Wesley asked.

“I didn’t do anything!” Wiping somebody’s memory didn’t have that kind of effect on humans. Nobody had ever fainted after he’d wiped his memory. This was not right. Something had gone wrong. “Shit, shit, shit!” Ursula could never find out about this. “Call Maya! Now! Get her here as fast as she can. Tell her to take the side entrance so Ursula won’t see her when she comes back.”

Wesley pulled out his cell phone and dialed.

Oliver gently lowered his future father-in-law onto the ground and checked his vital signs, when his sensitive hearing picked up the opening of the front door. He inhaled sharply. Shit! Ursula and her mother were coming back. Panicked, he looked around the kitchen, wondering what to do.

“Why don’t you bring all the dresses upstairs into my room, Wei Ling? I’ll make some tea,” Ursula’s mother said from the hallway, her voice coming closer as she walked in the direction of the kitchen.

“Okay, Mom.” He heard Ursula’s reply, accompanied by footsteps on the stairs.

The kitchen door opened before Oliver could make a decision as to what to do with Yao Bang and how to explain his unconsciousness.

“Oh my god! Yao Bang!” Hui Lian said, running to where he lay on the floor. She stroked her hand over his head. Then her eyes shot to Oliver.

An inadequate excuse already sat on his lips, but he didn’t get to utter it.

“We can’t tell Ursula about this. Promise me.” Her eyes pleaded with Oliver.

Surprised, Oliver pulled back. What did she know? Did she have an inkling that he was an immortal creature and knew what he’d done to her husband? But how?

“He has these fainting spells. The doctors think it’s maybe anemia. But we didn’t have time for more tests before the trip. Oh God, I hoped this wouldn’t happen.”

“Maya is on her way,” Wesley interrupted.

“Maya?” Hui Lian asked, her eyebrows pulling together in confusion.

Oliver put a reassuring hand on her forearm. “She’s a doctor. She’ll check him out. He’ll be fine.” Relief washed through Oliver. Wiping Yao Bang’s memory hadn’t done this to him. He’d looked pale the moment he’d stepped into the kitchen. He’d probably been about to faint even if he hadn’t seen Oliver’s fangs. Still, Oliver felt responsible for what had happened.

“But we can’t have Ursula see the doctor arrive. She’ll be worried. She doesn’t need this in the week she’s getting married,” her mother claimed.

“I’ll distract her and keep her upstairs until Maya is gone again.”

Hui Lian gave him a grateful smile. “Thank you so much. You’re a good man.”

For a moment their eyes locked, and for the first time, Oliver felt affection for Ursula’s mother. She wanted only the best for her daughter and didn’t want to destroy Ursula’s happiness even if that meant keeping things from her. That’s what they had in common. They would both keep secrets from Ursula if that meant she would be happy.

7

Ursula dropped the shopping bags on the floor of Oliver’s room where her parents were staying and plopped onto the bed, kicking her shoes off in the process. All she wanted was to curl up into a ball and hide. She was exhausted and her nerves were strung so tightly, they would at this point snap at the slightest confrontation with anybody. Spending time shopping with her mother had been pure torture.

She stared up at the ceiling, sighing heavily, when the door opened. Immediately, she sat up. A smile formed on her lips when she set eyes on her visitor: Oliver.

“Hey, baby!” he greeted her and pulled her into his arms as he sat down on the bed.

Before she could even utter his name, his lips slid over hers and kissed her hungrily. While he’d always been a passionate kisser, Ursula felt that this kiss was more intense, more urgent than normal.

Oliver released her after several heart-pounding seconds.

“Looks like you missed me,” she murmured against his lips. “Maybe we should be apart more often.”

He growled low and deep. “Don’t tease me. You know how I get when you play with me.”

Ursula couldn’t help but chuckle. She loved it when Oliver went all primal and possessive, when she should despise exactly that character trait in any man. Having been imprisoned for three years by crazy vampires should have scarred her forever so that she never wanted another man to act all possessive about her. But somehow when Oliver did it, it felt right. She wanted to be his. Forever.

Ursula ran her fingers along his neck and saw him visibly swallow when she brushed the artery that throbbed under his skin. “I wish we could start our new life together without all this fuss.”

Oliver pulled back a few inches, looking at her quizzically. “What fuss?”

She made an all encompassing motion with her arm. “This. The wedding, the bridesmaids, the shopping, the flowers, everything.”

“What? But we’re doing this for you. I couldn’t care less about a big wedding. Hell, if I had a say, I’d drag you to a secluded place with a big bed and blood-bond with you right now.”

“I never wanted a big wedding either. But look at it now.” She pointed to the window, indicating the large tent that was being built out there. “I’m not sure I’m prepared for all this.”

“Then why are we doing it?” Oliver pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear, and she leaned into his palm, loving the way his touch comforted her.

“My parents. They want this. They think that if the wedding is perfect, the marriage will be perfect too.” Particularly her mother believed that. Her father could have maybe been talked into something smaller and simpler, but even he had no chance once her mother had made up her mind.

“Our marriage will be perfect. I promise you that.”

Ursula sighed. “But this wedding will be a disaster.” She pointed to the shopping bags. “Do you know how many stores my mother dragged me to so we could find matching bridesmaid’s dresses for the extra bridesmaids?”

“Extra bridesmaids? Are four not enough?”

“Four is a bad number in Chinese. It means death. So when Mom found out, she almost had a stroke! She insists that we have eight bridesmaids because eight is a lucky number.”

Oliver shook his head. “She can’t possibly believe that!”

Ursula rolled her eyes. “You don’t know my mother! She’s superstitious, controlling, a perfectionist and she drives me—”

“Don’t, Ursula,” he said softly, placing a finger on her lips. “Your mother only wants your best. She wants you to be happy and would do anything for you.”

Ursula felt her eyebrows snap together. “How would you know that? You barely know her.”

He smiled. “I just have a feeling. Trust me. She’s doing this for you. Don’t spoil it. I know you’re stressed.”

“Stressed is an understatement. I still have to get all the bridesmaids together for a fitting, and since half of them are vampires, we can’t do it during the day. I’m running out of excuses why it will have to be at night. And then there’s the cake, and Mom wants me to make wedding favors, and we still need to shop for some special table decorations. And then there are the flowers—”

“Stop, baby. I’ll take care of some of those things for you.”

“You would? Really?”

He pulled her against his chest. “Of course I will. It’s my wedding too. How about I’ll take care of the flowers and the cake? You won’t have to worry about that at all.”

Ursula threw her arms around his neck. “You’re the best!”

Oliver grinned unashamedly and winked at her. “I’m the best at a lot of things. Do you want me to remind you?”

She gasped, pulled out of his arms, and shot a panicked look toward the door. “We can’t! If my mother walks in here and sees us, she’s going to give me a lecture on premarital sex, and I’m really not in the mood for that.”

Oliver chuckled. “Your mother is busy in the kitchen. She won’t disturb us for a while.”

“You don’t know her. Besides, it doesn’t take forever to make tea. She’ll be up here any moment.” Ursula hopped off the bed and walked to the window. Below it, the tent was being built even though so far, it looked more like a scaffold used to paint a house rather than a tent. Several men still worked and floodlights had been installed to help them see in the dark. “When will the tent be up?”

She heard Oliver rise and walk to her. Then he pressed his body against her back und put his arm around her waist. “Maybe another day or two.”

“Oliver?”

“Yes?”

“Do you sometimes think back to when we met?”

“All the time.”

She turned her head halfway to look at him. “I’m glad it was you whose arms I collapsed in. You saved me.”

Oliver smiled and shook his head. “No,
you
saved
me
. I was on a downward spiral. If I hadn’t met you that night, I would have slid deeper, until one day I would have fallen prey to bloodlust. I was lucky to have found you.”

She lifted herself on her tiptoes and turned in his arms. “I hope we’ll always be as happy as now.”

“We’ll be even happier once we’re blood-bonded. Then I’ll be able to protect you better.”

His words surprised her. “What do you mean?”

“I’ll be able to sense when you’re in danger because of the bond. And we’ll be able to communicate telepathically.”

She knew all about that aspect of the blood-bond. But some of his words made her ask, “Why would I be in danger?”

He shrugged. “Just saying. If anything ever happens, I’ll know.”

Ursula slapped his shoulder. “Don’t spook me! Nothing will happen. I’m safe here.”

He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Yes, you’re safe with me.”

8

“It’s too tight,” Delilah complained.

She was one of eleven women assembled in the living room of Quinn and Rose’s mansion, eight of whom were trying on their bridesmaid’s dresses. Ursula tossed a glance in her mother’s direction, who was assisting the seamstress in making some adjustments to Yvette’s dress—or rather bossing the poor woman around.

Her mother hadn’t heard Delilah over the din of voices in the room, which was currently off-limits to the men. In fact, Blake had been posted outside the door to make sure none of the workers carrying chairs and tables into the tent would accidentally step inside the room of scantily clad women.

“Let me help you,” Ursula offered and approached Delilah.

Delilah, the pretty dark-haired woman with the green eyes, had a great figure, though she was a little rounder around her hips than some of the other women assembled. No wonder, she was the one who had borne a child a year earlier and seemingly had trouble getting rid of the last few pounds of pregnancy weight.

“Thank you, Ursula. I don’t mean to be complicated, but if I zip it all the way up, I won’t be able to breathe. I can’t squeeze my boobs into this dress.” Delilah glanced at her apologetically. “And I swear I didn’t have any cookies in the last two weeks!”

Ursula chuckled and caught Maya’s eye, who stood close and now approached. Maya let a long look wander over Delilah, then leaned in closer.

“I doubt it’s the cookies, Delilah.” Maya’s eyes twinkled. “If you don’t mind my saying so as your physician, it’s generally not cookies that make your boobs swell.”