Nevermore (Crossbreed Series Book 6)

While everyone resumed their late-night soak in the hot tub, Christian and I ventured upstairs to my bedroom. He took a seat in the desk chair while I changed into a pair of sweats and a tight shirt with long sleeves.

“You should have been a writer,” he muttered.

I sat on the bed and put on a pair of socks. “What do you mean by that?”

“You’re the queen of cliff-hangers. Are you going to tell me about your necklace or keep me hanging for another century?”

I flipped my hair out of my shirt and crawled across the bed to face him. “Now it’s your turn to get cold feet, and it might make you regret that tattoo.” I sat cross-legged and stared down at his bare feet. “Crush hired a bounty hunter to track Fletcher.”

“Don’t be telling me fibs.”

“He barely had enough information to go on.” I scratched my nose and then tucked my hair behind my ears. “The price to hire a good one is steep, so he borrowed money from a loan shark. Not just any loan shark, but Breed. This guy’s a lion Shifter and runs the operation with his brothers.”

“Is he stark raving mad?”

“He probably couldn’t get that kind of a loan from a human.”

Christian pinched his brow. “I told him to let it go, that we had everything under control. I didn’t give him any details, Raven.”

“I know. All he had was a basic description and something about lamb shanks.”

Christian held his hands in a prayerlike gesture. “And how much does he owe?”

“That’s where it gets messy. General—the loan shark—wants one million. That’s not what Crush owes, but you know how these guys operate. I gave him a large advance, and because I got it so quickly, he decided I could easily get my hands on more.”

Christian leaned forward and leveled me with his eyes. “And am I to guess that the money came from Lenore?”

“Yep. And now I owe her a favor.”

Christian flashed his fangs and looked away.

“It’s too late to do anything about that now. She wasn’t exactly fond of a payment plan.”

“And the necklace?”

“The only way I can get that much money on short notice is an auction. I weighed all my options, including asking Viktor.”

“No, that would have been a mistake.”

“Which is why I ran out of options. I know it’s not what you imagined when you gave me that necklace, but let’s be honest—you didn’t buy it for me. You bought it for her. I can’t keep something you bought for another woman.”

“You could have asked me for the money.”

“A loan like that isn’t like borrowing fifty bucks. That’s not the way I want to kick off our relationship. And to be fair, I didn’t know where our relationship was heading when all this was going down. We were in the middle of an argument, and I was still pissed at you about my father. Besides, money is the number one reason for couples splitting up, and I don’t want money to drive a wedge between us. Not now, not ever. Neither of us likes being in anyone’s debt. Anyhow, this makes more sense. The necklace is worth a lot of money.”

“It was yours.”

“No, Christian. It never was. Even if she doesn’t want it, the necklace still belongs to Lenore. You gave me your heart. That’s all I need. Not a sparkly gem around my neck. Especially not one meant for someone else. Someday you can give me something meant for only me, but right now I need to save my father. I transferred his debt to me, and if I don’t pay the loan shark off, he’ll go after Crush. That’s how these guys operate. Are you okay with this?”

He leaned forward and laced his fingers. “Aye. Your da is more important.”

“I’m not saying he’s more important than you, but he’s more important than a necklace that I didn’t earn. I don’t think you really want it either. You should have sold it years ago, but you didn’t. You gave it to a woman you barely knew to get it off your hands. So we should do something good with it—something that matters.”

“When do you owe him?”

“By Saint Patrick’s Day. Everything’s going as planned. Lenore’s assisting with the auction, but since they won’t open it up to outside parties who haven’t gone through their approval process, she has to put her name on it.”

His eyes flicked up. “For what? Another favor?”

“No. Sixty percent.”

“Sixty!” He sat back and gave me an incredulous look. “That fecking whore.”

“Do you think we can get two and a half million?”

He shook his head. “The papers it came with are long gone. It depends on who’s there. Collectors like to be notified in advance so they can make the trip from the far corners of the world. Not everyone appreciates the value of some antiques. An item is only worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it.”

I reached for the watermelon lip balm on my bedside table and ran it over my lips as I fell into my thoughts. What could we possibly do to alert buyers in a short amount of time? “Maybe Wyatt can put out the word on the black market. It’s a long shot since this isn’t an illegal trade, but maybe it’ll attract a few interested parties.”

“Do you know the date of the auction?”

“No. Lenore is supposed to let me know.”

“When she does, let me know. I’ll have Wyatt put up the notice straight away.”

“Thanks for understanding.” I fell back on the bed.

“And why would you think I wouldn’t?”

“Because elders love telling you what you’re doing wrong.”

“Ah, so I’m an elder now, am I?”

“Can you light a fire?”

“I’ve been told.”

I snorted as he got up and went to the fireplace at the foot of the bed. After opening the flue, he put wood on the grate and got a fire going with a little tinder and kindling.

The candle I’d left burning on the bedside table stopped flickering, and the flame lengthened into a tall ribbon of light.

I gazed up at the ceiling with a heavy heart. “This could be our last night together if Viktor orders a memory wipe.”

A luminous glow brightened the room, firelight suffusing the walls and reflecting off the lattice windows.

Christian stood up and gazed down at me with awareness burning in his bottomless eyes. Tingles awakened me as he slowly unbuttoned his pants and took them off. His black boxer briefs were tight and sexy. I imagined he must have been quite the street fighter in his early days judging by his magnificent body. And yet the only time I ever saw him working out was when he was practicing fight maneuvers with Niko.

When he pulled down his underwear, his cock sprang free. “’Tis a shame you took off those tight little shorts.”

“I thought you liked a woman who covered things up.”

“You know why I don’t like those little wrappers on candy? Because they get in the way of what I want.” He reached for my sweats and slowly pulled them off, exposing my big white panties. “Jaysus wept. Those are the biggest pair of knickers I’ve ever seen.”

“Got them on discount. You don’t like?”

He climbed over me and snapped the elastic. “You could fill these with helium and enter a parade.”

“Should we do this in here? Someone might—”

“They’re downstairs.”

“What about a hotel?”

“A hotel is for whores,” he said, stroking me between the legs with his dexterous fingers.

My breath hitched as I felt the most pleasurable sensation. “We could put a blanket in the back of the van.”

“Sweetheart, we would do so much damage that they wouldn’t be able to repair the axle.”

Christian’s lips grazed my inner thigh, and his hot breath felt sinful. I sank into the bed, the sheets swallowing me like quicksand. When his fangs lightly pricked at the juncture of my thigh, I moaned with need. I tunneled my fingers through his dark brown hair, my Vampire nature begging him to taste the desire coursing in my veins.

The log snapped in the fireplace and made me jump. Christian hooked his fingers beneath my panties and pulled them off.

“Damn these infernal clothes,” he said, looking up at my long sleeve.

“It’ll give you something to work for.”

He knelt at my feet and lifted one of my legs before propping it over his shoulder. Christian kissed my ankle while petting my inside thigh. There were so many things I wanted him to do to me that my imagination couldn’t keep up.

“Show me how you can pin a man with your legs.”

Not one to turn down a challenge, I hooked my other leg around his neck and locked my ankles, pinning him to the bed and tightening the gap between my thighs where his head was. While his face turned blue, he shifted his head and slid his tongue in deep.

I cried out from the unexpected sensation and relaxed my hold. Finally having him here, in my bed, was hotter than I could have imagined. Christian showed no mercy as he pleasured me. Flushed with desire, I fisted his hair as he did things with his tongue that set my body on fire.

My heart raced.

I couldn’t breathe.

When I neared climax, he suddenly flipped me onto my stomach. I turned my head to the side, feeling his hands stroking my ass. A ripple of excitement snaked up my core with a single spank.

“You’ve been a naughty girl,” he scolded. “Parading that wolf in front of me.”

“He’s just a friend—”

Christian ripped my shirt up the back, and I closed my eyes. “Do you know how jealous I was, watching the way he touched you? His hands on your body where only mine belong.” Christian’s mouth landed between my shoulder blades, and his tongue slowly traveled up to my nape as he swept my hair to the side. “And you looked ravishing in that tight dress. Miles of skin, no bra, and that sweet little arse just begging for me to touch it.”

I lifted my ass.

Christian pressed his hips into me and hissed. “You’re a bad girl, Miss Black. Did you kiss him?”

“Almost,” I admitted.

He parted my legs, his mouth against my ear. “Confess. Tell me every detail of what happened between you two.”

I was about to burst, the need for him overriding all rational thought, including lying. “He was naked.”

“And hard?”

“Yes,” I whispered.

Christian wedged his hard cock between my legs, resting it against the wet folds that ached for more of him. “This hard?”

“No,” I whimpered.

“And then what did he do?” Christian nipped my earlobe, and I was certain he’d drawn a drop of blood by the way his body shuddered.

“He leaned in to kiss me.”

Christian reached beneath me and palmed my breast. “What were you wearing?” His fingers pinched my nipple, causing a sharp sting of pleasure to race down to my core.

I squirmed, trying to stroke myself against his length. “Panties and a bra.”

“Jaysus,” he breathed, sliding himself in deep. “Did you want him?”

“No.”

He pumped once, and it felt like a streak of lightning rippling through my body. “Did you touch him?”

“No.”

He thrust again, and I trembled with need.

“Did he make your nipples hard?”

“No.”

Christian pumped five times, and when he stopped, I nearly splintered into a million pieces. “Who do you fantasize about in your bed when I’m not there?”

“You. Only you.”

“Aye, Precious. That’s what I want to hear.” This time he continued at a torturously slow and steady pace.

My body hummed with desire, and sexual energy pooled in my hands.

“The next time I see you wearing that dress at a party, I’m going to take you into a room, close the door, lift the hem above your hips and fuck you hard.”

“How hard?”

His rhythm quickened, and his breath heated my neck in the most delicious way. “So hard that you’ll never remember another man’s name.”

The bed slammed against the wall. I clutched the pillow and flung it to the floor so I could grip the edge of the mattress.

“Tell me you’ll never see him again,” he demanded.

“I can’t.”

“Promise me.”

“I only want you. He means nothing.”

Christian was a beast on my back, so restrained as he tried to be gentle. But a Vampire wasn’t meant to be gentle. I wanted him to be rough and unleashed, so I pulled his hand to my mouth and sucked on his thumb. The sucking sensation roused something primal in him, and when he groaned, I tightened my core muscles all around him.

He finally pulled his hand away. “Don’t bite me, Raven. No blood, but you can suck all you like.”

“I want to suck on more than that.”

“Mmm, next time.”

Would he trust me enough? Did male Vampires avoid oral sex because of the fangs? Images swirled in my head, and every scenario excited me.

Christian pulled out when I rolled onto my back. He stripped away the remains of my shirt, and though I was hot, my nipples hardened when exposed to the cool air. He noticed and took delight in the way my body responded to temperature changes, something that his didn’t do.

I drew up my knees with him between them. “You like it when people watch, don’t you? Does that turn you on?”

His mouth parted as he slid inside. “Aye.”

When I first joined Keystone, I saw him having sex with a woman at the club. I caught a flash of excitement in his eyes, and he didn’t shy away from it. When we had sex in an alleyway not too long ago, the idea of voyeurs had aroused him. Christian wasn’t difficult to read when it came to his sexual turn-ons. Everyone had their own kinky fantasies.

I ran my hands down his back. “So maybe at the next party, when you take me into a private room, you don’t close the door. Leave it open before you bend me over a table and pull up my dress. Give them something to watch.”

His brows drew together. “Are you talking dirty, or is that an offer?”

I gripped his ass and forced him to pound into me faster. “Hurry up. The door isn’t locked. Someone could walk in at any moment.”

He groaned and fell over me, our bodies rubbing together as he buried himself to the hilt.

“Do you want Switch to watch? Show him how good you make me feel?”

His eyes blazed, and I knew that was a definite no.

“People we know aren’t invited,” he growled.

I licked his neck. “What about the bounty hunter? She’s kind of sexy.”

Christian was pumping faster, our skin slapping in a frenetic rhythm as I felt myself nearing climax. “Would it bother you?”

“She was coming on to me.”

“And how did she do that?” he breathed.

“Said she wanted to rub herself all against my tits.”

Christian cursed under his breath, and we were in a frantic race to the finish line. My climax kept me on the edge, tiny pulses of pleasure teasing me but never intensifying.

“We could pay her to just sit there and watch,” I whispered in his ear. “Maybe she’ll get excited by what she sees and touch herself. Would you like that? Seeing a woman turned on by you making me come?”

He pounded into me so hard that I could no longer speak.

“What does she look like?” he rasped.

“Short blond hair, full lips, knee-high boots, no bra… Oh God, Christian. I’m coming…”

I threw my arms around his neck as he rose up on his hands and found his release. My head tilted back as he kept rocking into me, and when his fangs pierced my breast, I came so hard that I shouted his name.

Pleasure rocked me to the marrow, and the pulses just kept coming in unrelenting waves. When I finally let go, I became entranced by his eyes. Was this the first time I’d enjoyed him without the help of blood to match his strength?

He placed a chaste kiss on my lips before lying next to me and nuzzling his face into my neck. Christian didn’t strike me as the nuzzling type, but there he was, nuzzling away.

Out of breath, I tangled my legs with his. “You owe me a new shirt.”

“I’ll buy you ten more, just so I can rip them off.”

“I just bet.”

“Do you think me a pervert?”

I kissed his forehead. “I’ve always thought you were a pervert. Ever since I first came to Keystone and you searched my bag so you could play with my panties.”

He scooted down and palmed my breast, his tongue drawing small circles around the nipple. “I don’t want other women.”

“I didn’t ask.”

His scruffy beard brushed against my nipple when he lifted his gaze. “And why is that? You don’t care enough to be jealous?”

“I trust you. That means I don’t have to ask. But if you ever break my trust—”

“You’ll bury me alive?”

“No, but my father will. Do you trust me?”

“Aye.”

I tugged on his earlobe. “Do you normally interrogate your lovers during sex?”

He propped his elbow against the bed and rested his head in his palm. “I’ll have a man-to-man chat with Switch another time.”

I lifted my head. “Are you serious? I thought that was just part of your dirty talk.”

“A man has a right to know his competition.”

I reached for the other pillow and propped it behind my head. “Switch isn’t competition.”

Christian circled his finger around my navel, and I shivered. “As long as he desires you, he’s competition.”

“I guess that means I have to keep my eye on Lenore.”

“Can we not say her name while I’m still basking in the afterglow?”

“Fine. Glow away.” I stroked his hand, which was resting over my middle. My fingers traced across the smooth silver ring that encircled his middle finger. The man who created it had used magic to set the onyx stone in place so it wouldn’t break, especially since Christian was a Vampire. “Do you ever take this off?”

“I’ll remove it from my finger when I’m nothing more than a heap of bones in a crypt. And even then it’s not coming off.” His tongue explored my nipple. “Your lips taste like watermelon today.” When his warm mouth closed around my breast, I shut my eyes.

“Would you have been jealous if I’d kissed him?”

Christian licked under my breast and traced his way around. “I can’t control what happened before tonight, but from now forward, your lips belong to me.”

“My lips have always belonged to you.” I rolled on top of him, and we fell into a deep and sensual kiss. One that began feather soft and deepened with love.

“Again?” I asked, feeling his arousal. “Maybe we need to talk about sleeping arrangements first.”

He nibbled my bottom lip. “Since when do you sleep?”

I folded my arms across his chest. “I meant for tonight. We don’t know what Viktor will do in the morning, so let’s be romantic for one night and do all the things that lovers do.”

He reached back and locked his fingers behind his head. “The fire’s lit. The bed is warm. I don’t see any reason to move.”

“So you don’t want to sweep me off my feet and carry me away to your spider-infested room?”

“I’ll have you know I cleaned away all the webs. I can’t help it if a few arachnids survived. I don’t spend as much time in my room as the rest of you do in yours.”

“Do you ever get bored from not sleeping?”

“A few hours isn’t a curse. I’ve learned to keep my mind occupied, and I’ve also learned to shut it off. It’s the Vampire’s version of sleep. We sit very still and empty our minds. Thoughts are exhausting, and they can drive a man mad.”

I tugged his beard. “Since we’re doing this, I have a few rules.”

“Have you now?” He cocked an eyebrow. “And what’ll those be?”

“Don’t ever say to me again that a lady shouldn’t curse. A lady shouldn’t do a lot of things, but you don’t seem to mind me swearing in bed. If you can’t handle a few fucks, then I’m all out of fucks to give.”

He chuckled. “Spoken like a true Graves.” He flexed his biceps on purpose to flirt. “Agreed. What else?”

“If I’m in the bathroom, you stay out.”

“No showers? Now that’s a bloody shame.”

“I don’t mean in the shower or bath. There are some things people shouldn’t see.”

Amusement twinkled in his eyes, but he kept a straight face. “Agreed. Is that all?”

I softly kissed his lips. “No more hiding our affections in public. If you want to kiss me, then kiss me.”

His hand came behind my neck and pulled me in for a deep kiss. Christian’s other arm wrapped around my waist and rekindled a primal hunger.

I pulled away before we got too distracted to finish our discussion. “What about you? Any rules?”

He smiled wolfishly. “No onions before bedtime.”

I touched his Adam’s apple. “I’m serious.”

“And I’m not? I’ll have to dunk your head in the new hot tub to get rid of the smell.”

“My hair might get stuck in the jets. I’ll drown.”

“’Twould be a shame. Especially since you’ve never taken me in your mouth.”

“You’re not afraid I might nick you with my teeth?”

His sharp fangs slowly descended, and he gave me a hot look. “I’ve never had oral sex with a Vampire, so I can’t say one way or the other if it’s something I should fear or desire. Maybe someday.”

I scooted down and licked his nipple. “Why wait?”

Christian closed his eyes.