Noose (Road Kill MC #1) (48 page)

Cole chuckled. “Rachel, the prophesy tells of two Druid women who are kin. That the older will guide the younger. She will be the confidant to the queen. A helpmate of sorts.”

I was Holly's sister? I mean... I'd noticed the resemblance but no way. I was adopted, there were no other relatives. I told them that. Vehemently denying relation.

“I was adopted too,” Holly said.

We looked at each other.

Elias and Josiah said in unison, “Protection.”

“What?” I asked harshly, my hands planted on my hips.

Elias came forward and I scooted back a little toward Cole. He stopped moving. “We have spoken much and think that there is a contingent of Druids that know of our kind. Actively seeking secrecy by hiding pure offspring.”

“Okay, say that's true. Then where are all the others?”

Cole interjected, “They may be breeding themselves. Keeping things quiet.”

“But that doesn't make sense,” Holly said. “If I was so important then why would they give me up?” She swiped a tear away and Zach curled his massive body around her protectively.

“They may not have known. It was probably the best contingency they had. There may be more 'soulmates' amongst those pure Druids that are hidden from us. More that could be with their vampire mates. If it were not for this faction,” Andrew elaborated.

“What does this mean for me?” Holly asked, pleading for an answer that wouldn't be what she thought it might.

“To be perfectly blunt, the arms that hold you are the ones you will reside in. But you are destined to be the mother of vampirekind. For that outcome, this one must claim your virginity, then allow the three of us to spill our seed within the ripeness of your womb, sealing your destiny forever.”

Holly looked at them in horror.

When Elias saw her expression he said, “Was the dream share really that awful?”

Holly's face became red as Zach said, “What if I do not want to share her? My one true mate?”

“What if your sons could be daywalkers? Vampires of the sun?” Josiah asked, brows to his hairline.

Zach was quiet for a heartbeat, thinking of the enormity of what that meant for their race.

Cole spoke up, his voice ringing with finality, “I have not said the last.”

All eyes were on him.

“The queen will begin a new coven, a coven of one who is not Reaper, the rest will be of Reaper bloodline. And most importantly, the Book says that she shall be as a beacon to other Druids, her light casting a call of such brilliance and sound, that all will answer.”

The room lay silent.

Holly was overwhelmed and put her head in her hands.

I was pretty sure when she'd gone to study group a few months ago, she'd never planned on being a queen.

Queen of the vampire.

CHAPTER 7

safe

The house was old and drafty, roomy.

But the vampires warmed our chilled flesh.

I hadn't really gotten used to where we were yet. Not running, living a life that seemed like a dream. Even with as modern as I thought I was, the Reapers, and Zach, had an ancient logic, which they applied.

The house stood above Seattle, the city buildings and their twinkling lights winking back at us as we worked in the kitchen, Holly and I.

She cut vegetables that only we would eat. I sliced the tender cut of meat into long strips that would stir fry up into the fajita mix they'd become.

Holly paused in cutting, looking at me over the steam from the frying pan, butter and an aromatic mix of spices wafting through the kitchen, rising to the ten foot ceilings above. “I'm scared,” she said, using the knife to slide the remainder of the veggies off the wooden cutting board and into the pan. It sizzled as it made blunt contact with the buttery heat.

I turned, placing a hand on my hip. I lifted a shoulder in a half shrug. “I trust Cole. They didn't traverse a frozen landscape of two thousand miles if they weren't serious.” I searched her eyes.

“I had a plan, Rachel. A life!” Holly said in a loud huff.

I thought of my life in the cubicle, my cat, my stuff... it just seemed so long ago. Had I been happy? I thought... I'd been content. That was the most accurate assessment of my former life I could make. But how to convey that to a nineteen-year old woman.

A woman that was actually my sister.

I felt my face soften. “I understand. Nine years ago I was your age. I had the world by the testies.” I squeezed my hand into a fist and Holly giggled, turning to stir the meal into cooperative completion.

“But,” I spoke to her back, her hair a black sweep between her shoulder blades. “It wasn't some great adulthood. I had a best friend that was superficial and we were looking for different things. I had a job I could barely stand...” I let my sentence trail off. “
Here
we are unique. In
this
life, with the vampire, we matter for what we are in a way that others can't. We have purpose.” I smiled suddenly, feeling the caress of one of my deep dimples. “And then there is the lifespan advantage!”

Holly glowered. Taking the food and pouring it into a bowl, I then loaded the tortillas with the guts of the meal, ladling a spoonful of sour cream and salsa.
Perfect
, I thought, watching the colorful goodness of orange and red peppers steam on our waiting plates.

We sat down on the bar stools by the elevated breakfast bar as Holly picked at her food. “I don't know if I wanna live forever. I don't know if I want to be a queen. I'm nineteen. A few months ago the most I had to consider was what class to sign up for.” She swiped a tear that had fallen, threatening to land on her food.

I folded my hands. “Listen, I know this is really overwhelming but this is what it is. If we believe what the vampire say about the prophesy, the Druid lineage, all of it, then, this is where we were meant to be. And believe me, I'd rather be with these dudes than that creepy Alexander.”

Holly shuddered, thinking about the stories I'd told about my short stay in that coven. “There would've been no choice there. Free will, gone. Here, you will be a queen. You will be respected and they'll be devoted to you.”

“I just want Zach,” Holly said flatly.

“Okay, so it's not so hot that they all have to have sex with you for this,” I put my fingers up and made air quotes, 'ritual of royalty'. But, it could be worse. Even Zach has conceded it.” I stared into her eyes, so like my own it was eerie. “It doesn't mean he's not doing the alpha male jig and having big cows and stuff.”

Holly laughed despite herself, sticking her first mouthful of food in her craw and chewing thoughtfully.

“Look at it as a task you have to accomplish,” I said with mirth. I held up my hand and started ticking off the points, “You have to have sex with four males. The first one, your soul mate, will take your virginity. Then each subsequent male will grovel before you sexually, doing all in their power to bring you to orgasm, while you watch their hotness in the throes of passion.” I laughed and continued, “I think it may be something you can bear?”

That got the grin out of her I was hoping for.

“I'm scared,” she said again.

“They won't hurt you, obviously.”

“I know, but I've heard...” she began.

“It is,” I answered for her. “But that only lasts a little while and they'll be priming the pump, so to speak.” I grinned and she returned it.

“You'll see,” I said, scooping the juices that were running out of the tortilla and taking a messy bite. We looked at each other as we ate, then I looked at the clock.

Time was moving toward the big ritual. Holly a virgin no more.

For me, I was quaking with anticipation of finally being bonded forever to Cole.

CHAPTER 8

Queen

Holly looked resplendent in her flowing gown of white. Josiah, Elias, Andrew and her true mate, Zach, stood in front of her.

It was like a weird wedding. But, unlike other weddings, this felt more real and right than any I'd ever attended.

We'd spent hours in a bath, talking and getting Holly ready. After trying a million different hairstyles, in the end, simple had been the order of the day and Holly looked perfect, blue highlights shining in the sweep of raven-colored hair that graced her body, falling nearly to her waist.

Zach came to her and took her hands, Cole presided. In his grip was a thick book, darkened to a deep bronze with age.

He began, reciting a ceremony designed to give the Vampire hope. A species separate from humans, but forced to live among them. At the top of a food chain that was too great in number to conquer and too necessary to exterminate.

When he finished Zach took Holly's face in his hands, giving her a chaste kiss, cradling her head like a fragile egg. She pressed her body against his, the blackness of his attire in sharp contrast to the whiteness of hers. He wrapped her in his arms and, picking her up in a classic cradle hold he strode to their matrimony chamber.

*

Holly was more nervous than she'd ever been in her whole life. She sat on the edge of the bed as Zach turned the lock. She had completely put the Reapers that she'd have to share her body with before long out of her mind. Right now, she was concentrating on the male that would give her pleasure.

The
rogue
.

Warmth pooled in the junction between her thighs and she scissored them together subtly as he drew near.

Zach laughed low in his throat. “It is normal for you to become aroused with my nearness.”

Holly blushed. There were no secrets either. He could smell her arousal, her eagerness.

Zach crawled across the bed taking his large palm and pressing it to the back of her neck, drawing her face close to his. His lips hovered over hers, his breath cinnamon and spice.

Consumable.

When he closed their flesh in an embrace of lips that slid into tongues, Holly's breath came short and fast.  Zach undressed her before she was even aware of it, her gown at her waist and her breasts falling out like ripe globes with erect pink tips. Zach didn't let them beg for attention but blazed a trail of kisses from her swollen mouth and wrapped his lips around the sensitive nipple, suckling it until Holly moaned with desire, her hips wiggling underneath where his lay in the cradle of her body.

He took her moan for the invitation it was and tore the gown off the rest of the way, settling his nakedness against her core, the hot folds of flesh already wet with her honey, waiting for his final entry.

But he took his time. Zach did not wish for her first time to be a rushed affair. He settled in between her thighs, releasing her nipple with an abrupt pop that left her gasping, the cooler air of the room teasing it to hard erectness. Zach let one hand ride that hard point while the other began to work the bud between her folds, the pleasure button opening like a subtle flower, the sweet fragrance of her filling his senses, making his head spin with the exquisiteness of her.

She was made for him, all of her, and he for her. From the top of her head to her pinky toe and Zach was determined to make the most of it.

“Please...” Holly began. “Please put your finger in me...” she grabbed his hair with her fingers, pushing his face down until his tongue had replaced his finger and he began a slow pull and suck of her clit, her hips pressing a rhythm in his face that made him growl his pleasure against her glistening secret flesh. He did what she asked and after feeling the maidenhead of her innocence resist the blunt end of his finger he plunged his finger just shy of breaching that tender barrier. When she thrust her hips to receive him more deeply, he inserted a second finger and pushed and pulled while his tongue worked circular magic against her sensitive nub.

Holly felt herself building toward a liquid release. When the wave of pleasure reached to the shore of her body, she shouted into the stillness of the room, the moment transcending any physical pleasure she'd ever experienced. Her knees fell open and with languid respite, she watched Zach as he positioned himself above her and began to guide the blunt head of himself inside her untested entrance, made wet by his attentions.

When Zach reached her barrier he looked into her eyes, upon seeing the invitation light their depths, he surged inside her.

Holly gasped at the pleasure/pain sensation as his shaft rocked into the tightness of her wet channel and surged through her resistance. The accordion-like flesh pulled against him as he slowly withdrew. She could feel the slide of him and the erotic pleasure he could give her as she relaxed into his sensuous rhythm, matching it with her own.

Zach felt her relax against the soft assault of their flesh meeting and rocked inside her again, the third thrust putting him against the entrance to her womb. His cock throbbing with the need to release he pulled out and seeking her acceptance he said, “Please, I need to...”

Holly nodded, she knew what he wanted and she was ready, the initial piercing of her pussy melting away into constant pleasure as his prick stabbed her hot core, the tightness of it a velvet glove on his shaft.

Zach began a light punish of her pussy, thrusting deep, pulling out and continuing, he pressed up on his hands, his shoulder muscles bunching as he began to hammer into her and she met him with each thrust.

Holly could feel that delicious throbbing pulse.

Once.

Twice.

Zach thrust deeply a third time, shuddering as his hot seed poured into a pussy that exploded around his shaft, each pulse stronger than the last, sucking the seed from deep inside his prick.

Without pulling out he collapsed on top of her softly, tucking her in against him, their flesh still married head to hip. Her softness melding with the hard length of him.

Zach squeezed his queen's face against his chest and closed his eyes, having never felt a synchronicity as complete as this moment held for him.