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“Really, Colette? Would I be proud?” There was something about his voice that was far from friendly as he continued to smear the paste on his skin.

“I handled both Tristan and the human girl for you this morning… what was her name again… that creature who took my part. Kendra that’s it.” Aleksi finished coating himself with the cream and tossed it back to
Colette, who fished a thermos out of her bag and tossed it to him. Standing next to one another they could have passed for twins. Only Aleksi had almost a foot of height over Colette, she had a dimple in her chin whereas he didn’t and Aleksi’s eyes were narrower and more serious looking. “They both think I pulled you away last night after you met Kendra. You know familial bonding. They’d never question the business of the last two links to their precious Vlad. And if Elizabeta rears her ugly head we can just say he called to us.”

Aleksi didn’t say anything, he just opened the thermos and started drinking as he leaned against the door frame. I watched as the slight pink blush returned to his skin. It took a while for me to notice that he was staring at me.

“They pushed back rehearsal on stage to four. So you have plenty of time to finish up here, or to introduce me to your servant.” Even as Colette
rambled, Aleksi’s eyes stayed focused on me and I couldn’t help but to shiver. There was enough heat behind those eyes to melt ice.

“Colette, this is Autumn Darling, my servant. She is a
doctoral candidate at the University
and a Graduate Assistant. Also, she dances with abandon and plays the cello.”

“I love your name! It’s a fairy tale nam
e, like Aurora or Prince Desire,” Colette gushed as she smoothed her turtleneck.

“Th-thank you.
” I smiled at her as I walked into the kitchen. I opened my mouth to offer them something and then closed it again.

“
I own a place around the corner. If you two need a space to carry out this little forbidden affair, I would be more than willing to let you meet there.”

“No,
” Aleksi’s voice boomed abruptly, scarcely giving her time to finish. I turned from my coffee maker and looked at him. That artful face of his was twisted into a scowl.

“It wouldn’t be like last time. I’ve accepted that we’re never going to share those blissful moments of me being collared by you ever again. Oh! Look at her face, that look is priceless!” She giggled and Aleksi sighed.
Are you sure you want to be wrapped up with him?

“She’s not really my sister, she’s my third cousin. Elizabeta liked that we looked so much alike and for a time made us fuck each other for her amusement.”

“But our Sire is the same, so we are closer than blood siblings in that respect. We share an eternal
mother and an eternal father. And we’re the only two who can hear him and his whisperings. Like right now, Seer… seer… protect the seer.” She sighed softly and smoothed her bun.

“And I will.
” Aleksi declared with a sigh.

“We will, beautiful Aleksi. We will keep her safe. If he wants her safe, I’m going to keep her safe. Without his influence we wouldn’t be dancing now, we’d be collared and naked and still Elizabeta’s pets.”

“Ever daddy’s little girl.
” Aleksi grumbled out as he licked the ring of the thermos.

“Family is very important to me, you know that. When I was
orphaned,
I always wanted a brother and a mother and father. And when I was turned I got that… in a way.”

“Indeed.
” Aleksi pouted out. He twitched his head to the side.

“This, Autumn, is the difference between the French ballet and the Russian ballet. The Russian ballet, especially the Bolshoi is notorious for whoring out their dancers. It makes them suspicious of any sort of affection. Let him fuck you hard, crawl for him, kneel for him. But whatever you do don’t tell him you love him, it’ll just confuse him.” I shifted uncomfortably and went back to my coffee.
See?!

“Colette!” He barked her name and I heard him moving around, his footsteps thudding on the floor.
Oh look, you’re a supporting character in your own story.
I scowled at Miss Manner’s revelation and sipped my coffee

“I was just telling her the truth,” Collette giggled out. “She deserves to know how cold you are, she is your servant after all.”
Say something! Get them out of there.

Taking a deep breath, I put my coffee cup down and sighed. There were footsteps behind me, familiar footsteps but still I jumped as hands closed over my shoulders. I knew those hands. I glanced up at Aleksi, he was smiling at me, and I could see that thick white film on his skin from the sunscreen. He leaned in and I shivered as I felt his cool breath on my throat I quivered and stifled a soft moan. His tongue traced over my ear and his hands slid around my waist.

“She
has no clue what I’m capable of,” He breathed into my ear, as he pressed his hips forward—he was certainly hard now. “She has no clue what I want.” He practically moaned as he continued to press his erection against the small of my back.

Again I could feel his pleasure, and my knees went weak and I actually slipped away from him.
Smooth
.
He still caught me, but I was inches from smashing my head on the counter. A soft chuckle left his lips and Colette giggled.

“I should probably head back to the
theater. Aleksi, do you need me to grab your sun gear out of your trunk?”

“Mhm.
” He purred as he continued to stare down at me.

“I know that tone, and you should probably take a step away from Autumn. Because as much as I’m sure you want to throw her down and claim her, I can’t protect you from that. This is easily explained away
and even Elizabeta would buy it. But Elizabeta will feel the first time you have sex with your servant, and so will Vlad. Hey, maybe it’ll wake him up! Sex with a Seer… it’ll probably give us all something.”

Aleksi reached behind me and grabbed his keys off of the counter. He tossed them to Collette and returned his hand to me. I glanced at her for a moment, even as Aleksi’s hands found their way into my robe. Those lovely graceful fingers of his sought out my salivating slit between my thighs, and he traced along the crevice between my nether lips. He was so careful with his movements, he teased me expertly the pad of his finger just grazing my clit. I writhed against him and he chuckled darkly.
She’s still in the room, Autumn. Pull away!
I blushed deep crimson with the realization, but I didn’t move to stop him. He stopped on his own just as I felt that warmth spreading through me as my body started to tense and my hips started to move. He stopped just as I was on that edge and he held me close as he smoothed my robe back into place. I heard the door close then and that familiar rattle.

“Unfortunately
she’s right, we can’t have sex,” He grumbled.

“O-oh.
” I shivered out, my body was still humming from the orgasm I was denied. “I…I-I have t-to work on my dissertation.”

“I’ll leave you tickets at will call.”

We were quiet after that, Colette returned and he put on his sun gear and they left. The apartment felt disturbingly vacant with him gone, so I decided to do what I told them I was going to do, work on my dissertation.

Within the hour, I was at the campus library sequestered away in a study room with stacks of books and my laptop. However, I couldn’t focus. My mind was still on edge from Aleksi’s teasing, I couldn’t get comfortable—my body was hyper aware of everything. I stared at my laptop screen and the number of pages written, seventy-six. I sighed heavily and tapped my fingers on the desk. I kept going back to my outline and rereading my prospectus, but I couldn’t think of anything to write. There was a knock on the door and I near to jumped out of my skin. Admittedly I was preoccupied with not so clean thoughts of Aleksi, so I flushed beet red as I scrambled to the door.

Shockingly enough on the other side of that door was Garrett. I actually thought about not opening the door even if he could clearly see that I was on the other side.
Open the door, Autumn. He actually stood up for you at dinner.
I opened the door and slipped on my best happy to see you smile. That smile, however, slipped into a smirk as I saw the outfit he was wearing. Garrett always looked great in jeans, and since technically I wasn’t with Aleksi I could still appreciate him, right? And Aleksi said he didn’t expect me to be celibate.
He also said to stay away from Garrett.
But he wore tight, worn jeans and a simple black t-shirt. Over the t-shirt he wore a blue-gray pea coat, I remembered when he bought the coat—I was there.

“Well hello there.
” I laughed nervously.

“Hello, Angel Face.
” He smirked at me and those green eyes twinkled. He entered and I closed the door behind him.

“How did you find out I was here?” I asked as I turned the chair in front of my laptop around and sat down.

“My amazing powers of reasoning.” He chuckled as he took a seat in one of the other chairs. “You weren’t at your apartment, and I knew you weren’t at the theater. So I knew you had to be here. This is your room after all. I even recall one night when I brought you food here, and we ended up on that table… naked.” He chuckled again and I shook my head.

“
Well, I don’t think that’ll happen t-tonight.” I felt my face flush as I ran my fingers back through my hair.

“I didn’t think i
t would, I was just…reminiscing.” He smirked at me and I smoothed my skirt.
You should probably ask him to leave
.
“I know you’re too polite to ask why I’m here, but I know you’re thinking it. I really needed to talk to you, and yesterday you agreed to talk to me.”

“Oh, I just forgot. I got a late start, and I’m a little
bit behind on my dissertation. I have a meeting with the committee and my advisors in a few weeks.”

“Ah, academic stuff. I never understood how you were friends with Kendra. You’re too smart for her. Leslie I get, she’s smart shit. Kendra is all… make-up and boys.” I blinked at him, I never left the house without make-up on, or my hair done as close to perfect as possible. I brought my fingers up to the small little pearl at my throat and rubbed my thumb over the smooth surface. “Not that there’s anything wrong with wearing
make-up… there is something wrong with Kendra’s preoccupation with it.”
If he only knew the truth about what’s going on in your head, Autumn.

“Kendra and I are friends because….” I trailed off and pursed my lips, my thumb continued to rub at the pearl
on the thin gold chain.
Why the hell are you friends with, Kendra?
I blinked and pursed my lips. “I guess proximity and time…I’ve known her for seven years. Even if she does horrible things, it just seems like she’s always been there. It’s actually kind of odd that she’s not now. Why are you friends with Kendra?”

“I’m not. I moved in with her because she was easy access pussy. Oddly enough, I’ve never had sex with her. When we first started dating she tried to cling to me like a spider monkey, but I neve
r wanted to. Unlike some people.” He snickered and I shifted uncomfortably.

“Well you said, you wanted to talk to me?”

“Yeah…” H
e trailed off and sighed. “I wanted to explain why… I was so out of control for a while there.” It was his turn to shift uncomfortably. He scratched the back of his head and took a deep breath.

“Okay…
well, talk.”

“Werewolves.”
—what?—
“When first turned go through a period of hormonal influx. We’re told during this time to warn our human partners and move out. I was an idiot, and I thought I could control myself.” He sighed and shook his head. “I thought I was different. It turns out I’m not. Anna knew… because Anna is one too and she took advantage of the fact that I hadn’t had my first change and my body was still adjusting. She and a couple of others coerced me into bed and it just had a snowball effect.”

“Is that why you went to Europe?”

“No, I was given the offer before. I only took it because we broke up… and it was a disaster. It was all a disaster. If I could redo all of
it, I would.”

“So you’re a werewolf?”
Way to go, Captain Obvious.

“Yeah.”

“How did it happen?” I ran my fingers through my
hair and tilted my head to the side.

“I wasn’t mauled or anything, I... went out after the last performance of Sleeping Beauty, and I was on my way to my car
. There were some guys in the parking lot fighting. I was a little drunk so I tried to break up the fight and I got scratched. As far as infection stories go, I have the lamest by far. People get mauled by Ronin’s, attacked by lovers, scratched during sex. I got scratched trying to break up a fight.”

I nodded slowly, more memories from Sex Ed. flashed before my eyes. I remembered “The Dangers of the Werewolf” they showed the nasty stuff there. Mauled corpses in beds, and then the tagged on after thought that the chance of transmission is very low during sex if you use protection. But you should never have sex with a werewolf near the full moon—apparently they lacked control and could change mid-orgasm. Werewolves have been a known reality since the 1700’s. But as well-known as it was it still had as much of a stigma tied to it as HIV. Oddly enough, Vampires were seen as a novel curiosity and Werewolves as something horrific.

“So you’re alright now?” I asked shifting in my seat.

“Mhm, I’m fine now. I had my first change two weeks ago
… my body fought hard so it took me a little longer than most. Our clan had someone’s body fight it for ten years… but it always wins.” He wet his lips and sighed.