A Bead of Blood Read online

  Griegs hugged me tightly and kissed my forehead. “The police want to speak with us.”

  I nodded, stifling the sigh that wanted to bubble from my chest because with the job done, I was ready to head home. We walked over to where two uniformed men stood just outside the yellow-taped area of ash. One was young with ebony skin and a shaved head. The other was slightly older, white and balding. The bald one said, “You must be the new Hunter for the state? We got a press release from the Vampire Council telling us to send these sorts of things your way. I’m Cleary, this is James.”

  “Sabrina Stalking Horse and my mate, Griegs.” I shook both of their hands and so did Griegs, who then pulled me closer to him.

  Cleary looked over his shoulder. “These guys took out a dozen humans before you stopped them, including one of our own. Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome, but we’re just doing our job.” I said.

  Cleary nodded, but James frowned, his eyes narrowing.

  “Problem?” Griegs growled.

  James startled, taking a step back.

  Clearing his throat, he firmed his shoulders and said, “Why did you kill them?”

  “Because they were rogue and killing humans for sport. It’s against our laws as much as it is against your laws for a human to go around killing people,” I said.

  “You could have just restrained them, taken them into custody, and allowed them time to cool down so they could make a choice to join a coven before you staked them.”

  Judging from James’ posture, I was betting that someone close to him had become a vampire recently, and he was feeling a little torn about what his or her life might be like.

  “It’s very simple, James. I gave them the option to surrender. It’s not up to me to force people to bend to my will. You can’t reason with rogue vampires, that’s why they’re rogues. If they wanted to play nice, they would have joined up with a coven right away.”

  His mouth pressed into a thin line. “What gives you the right to decide who lives and who dies?”

  Cleary cuffed him on the back of the head. “The fucking Vampire Council, you idiot. Stop mouthing off and go help them keep people back until the cleanup crew gets here.” James shot daggers at me before turning away and joining the other officers. “Sorry about that. His sister was just turned, and she took off with a few other vampires and fled the state. He’s worried about her.”

  Bingo. “You need to caution him about his bleeding heart. He’s the sort of guy who’s going to walk up to a rogue to talk things out and become dinner.”

  “I will,” Cleary said. Griegs suggested that our job was done and it was time to get back to the office.

  I disarmed myself except for the knife on my hip, which was a gift from Griegs, and I sat in the passenger seat as he climbed behind the wheel and started the SUV. He glanced at me and then hooked his hand behind my neck and drew me close, meeting my mouth with hungry, seeking lips. He devoured me, eating my moans of pleasure as if they were food, kissing me long and hard. When the kiss ended and we were both panting, he ran his tongue over his lips and said, “Let’s go home, milani. It’s been a long night.”

  Chapter 8

  I finished up my weekly progress call with Etienne and settled back in my desk chair, propping my stockinged feet up on the desk.

  “You know my brother made that,” Griegs said, coming into the office and raising his brow at my feet.

  I smirked but left my feet where they were. “You had a mother who cared enough about your manners to teach you never to put your feet up on furniture. Mine never took the time.”

  “She must have taught you some things.” He sat on the edge of the desk looking thoughtful.

  “My father did most of that sort of thing. She was too busy with her parties and gossip to worry whether her only child had any manners.” I shook my head. “You’re making me sound bitter. Let me try this on for size — my desk, my rules.”

  “Touchy.” He grinned. “Now, lovely wife, I have a favor to ask.”

  “Does it involve getting naked? I like those sorts of favors.”

  He chuckled. “Yes and no. Your new sisters want to go see a midnight movie tonight. I said I’d find out if you were interested or not.”

  “We’re supposed to be working.”

  “There are no fires to put out tonight, love, and it’s Friday, traditionally a night reserved for dating.”

  “Dating? We’re already married. Shouldn’t we have done that before?”

  “I was too busy making you scream.” His dark eyes filled with wicked promises, and he growled lightly. Picking up my cell, he clicked a few buttons and then said, “Ash, we’ll be ready for the midnight movie. Later.”

  My phone clattered to the desk.

  “I didn’t say yes.”

  “Of course you did. You love the girls so much. You’re like a giggling-Barbie-slumber-party twenty-four-seven with them.”

  I kicked my feet at him and shoved him off the desk. “I am not.”

  His lips spread apart in a slow, predatory smile.

  “Strip.”

  My mouth dropped open. “What?”

  His eye ticked. “I said strip.”

  I licked my lips and arched a brow. “Why?”

  With a half-growled grunt, he lunged at me, snatched me from the chair and threw me over his shoulder. Storming out of the office, he kicked the door to our bedroom open and tossed me onto the bed. His fingers wrapped around the collar of my silk top and ripped it down the middle, the fabric screaming under his strength. My body tightened instantly, heat pooling in my belly, and I grinned.

  “Possessive much?” I laughed.

  Jerking my pants down my hips, he snarled, “We’re not leaving this house until you smell like me.”

  My pants hit the wall when he threw them over his head. Shucking his own jeans, he panted, “Take them off or I’ll rip them off.”

  I wiggled from my panties and bra, shedding the ruined top in the process. “You might have said that before you destroyed my favorite blouse.”

  In two heartbeats, I was on my hands and knees on the bed, his hands caressing the curve of my waist. “We’re going to a mall. It will be full of humans and shifters and vampires we don’t know, who could be looking for trouble. It’s nothing to take lightly.” The heat of his rigid cock pressed against me, and I tossed my head back, gripping the blanket with both hands.

  Jealous? “Are you worried that I’m going to take off with some other guy? I don’t want anyone but you, Griegs. Have faith in me.”

  The hot head of his cock pushed forward, breaching me slightly, before he paused. “I do trust you, milani, with every fiber of my being. But I want you to smell so strongly of the scent of our love that it’s as if you’re wearing a giant flashing sign.”

  He pushed in an inch further, and I tried to press back to take more of him in, but he held me still with his hands on my hips.

  “What would that sign say?” I gasped and arched my back.

  “Taken.”

  He thrust into me, hard and fast, and I cried out in pleasure as his hands tightened their hold and he took me hard. His body slammed against mine, his thighs slapping mine in a pounding rhythm that made the center of my body turn to molten lava and my skin prickle with heat. I closed my eyes, listening to the sound of our bodies pounding together and our panting breaths. He leaned over, covering my back with his, both of our bodies slick with sweat, and palmed the front of my neck. His fangs sank into the crux of my neck, and I shrieked in surprise as an orgasm slammed through me. He pulled his fangs from my flesh and pulled me up with him, tipping my head back against his shoulder as he continued to thrust into me.

  I gripped his arm, raking my nails down his forearm as his thumb caressed my pounding pulse and he breathed heavily in my ear. His other hand left my hip and slid towards my pussy, drawing my silky arousal onto the tips of his fingers and rubbing hard and fast circles around my clit. My fangs elongated in my pleasure as h
e drove me higher and higher towards bliss.

  One of his fangs scratched lightly down my neck, and my body locked up in a spiral of pleasure that made my vision wink and stars explode in my eyes. I wailed his name, and he shoved his wrist into my mouth and I bit down, tasting the rich sweetness of my beloved’s blood as he came, grinding his hips against me as he roared his pleasure.

  The bed shook as we collapsed onto it, and he licked across the wounds he’d made on my neck with a happy growl. We lay locked together until our breathing returned to normal and he lightly slapped my thigh. “That’s better. Let’s get dressed.”

  “Now I just want to cuddle,” I groused when he pulled away from me and practically hopped off the bed. “This is why I don’t like to have sex during work.”

  “Except during lunch.” He wiggled his brows and strode nude across the floor into the walk-in closet.

  I rolled to a seated position and stretched. I felt deliciously aching in all the right places, and it was quite clear that I was covered in Griegs’ scent. It was a very male scent, partly the earthy smell of bears and partly his sexy, naturally spicy scent.

  I joined him in the closet and slipped on a pair of dark jeans, a black tank, and an oversize, lightweight sweater in beige that hung off one shoulder. He went with his usual black everything.

  “Ready, milani?” Griegs asked as he opened the front door when the bell rang.

  “You bet,” I said and smiled.

  We stepped out onto the front porch and walked down the steps where Ash, Axe, Elizabeth, Lynk, Tavian, and Shaylee stood outside of Axe’s new Suburban. Elizabeth said they upgraded because they expected to have a very large family.

  Lynk, Tavian, and Shaylee climbed into the back, with Shaylee cuddled in Lynk’s lap. Griegs and I sat down in the second row with Ash, while Axe and Elizabeth sat in the front. When the doors were shut and Axe started the SUV, the heating system swirled the air around and the heavy scent of sex filled the interior.

  “Holy hell it smells like a brothel in here,” Ash snorted.

  Griegs laughed. “I guess you guys all had the same idea I did.”

  Elizabeth pressed the button to turn on the overhead lights, pulled her hair up, and tilted her head to show mating marks on both sides of her neck. I laughed and flipped my hair to show mine, and we all turned and looked at Shaylee who pointed out hers under the pile of black hair.

  Griegs lifted up his freshly bitten wrist. “Suck it, guys. My baby bit me back.”

  Everyone went quiet for a moment, and then both girls groaned lightly as the men began making demands for bite marks of their own.

  When Axe parked in front of the theater, Griegs and I discreetly excused ourselves from the SUV and stood outside, where the sounds of the two groups were muffled. Griegs hugged me tightly as he leaned against a lamppost, standing in companionable silence.

  When the doors to the SUV opened and the six emerged, cheeks flushed and eyes bright with passion, all four men sporting fresh bite marks on their necks, Griegs and I laughed.

  “We’re real trendsetters, milani.”

  Indeed.

  As we settled into the theater, and I was surrounded by people I considered to be part of my family, I realized just how far I’d come in a short amount of time. Before I crashed into Griegs’ life, I never really thought about myself as a wife or part of a family. I hadn’t understood how a family could be, until I saw Griegs’ family rally around him and welcome me with open arms.

  Griegs had shown me more love in the last few months than I’d known since my father died, Griegs’ family had become what I’d been missing so much these past years. I wasn’t alone any longer. I had my beloved and his family, and I counted myself the luckiest vampire in the world.

  The End

  From the author: I hope you enjoyed Griegs’ and Sabrina’s story. If you haven’t read the first four stories in the series, check them out! I’d love to hear from you!

  Contact me:

  Blog: www.rebutler.wordpress.com

  Email: [email protected]

  Twitter: @rebutlerauthor

  Facebook: www.facebook.com/R.E.ButlerAuthorPage

  * * * * * *

  Also from R.E. Butler

  Wiccan-Were-Bear Novella Series

  A Curve of Claw

  A Flash of Fang

  A Price for a Princess

  A Bond of Brothers

  A Bead of Blood

  The Wolf’s Mate Series

  The Wolf’s Mate Book 1: Jason & Cadence

  The Wolf’s Mate Book 2: Linus & The Angel

  The Wolf’s Mate Book 3: Callie & The Cats

  The Wolf’s Mate Book 4: Michael and Shyne

  The Necklace Chronicles

  The Tribe’s Bride

  The Gigolo’s Bride

  * * * * * *

  Coming in 2013:

  The Wolf’s Mate Series

  The Wolf’s Mate Book 5: Bo & Reika

  Wiccan-Were-Bear Novella Series

  A Twitch of Tail (Melo’s Story)

  * * * * *

  Coming Soon - A Twitch of Tail, Book 6 in the Wiccan-Were-Bear Novella Series

  Natural witch Wysteria has a great life: a job she loves at the new were-animal hospital, a sexy were-tiger boyfriend named Melo, and a place in the wiccan coven that resides in Cleveland. But all is not right in her idyllic life, as dreams of a second mystery lover plague her nightly. She struggles with her growing feelings for the mysterious dream man, certain that whoever he is, he’s meant to be her mate, too. When she helps to rescue someone close to Melo, she finds herself face to face with the man from her dreams. Can she have both men forever, or will she be forced to choose between them?

  Be prepared for plenty of growls, love bites, hot were-tiger loving, and m/f/m interaction. This novella contains scorching hot sex, two possessive were-tigers, the witch who loves them both, and a rescue from hell that will melt your heart.

  * * * * *