Queens and Monsters: A Vampire Shifter Romance (The Blood Falls Book 1)

“I drank too much,” Gigi slurred as Cass and I attempted to help her up the stairs to the Princess Tower.

“Don’t worry about it. You had a shock.”

She whimpered a little. “I want to surgically remove the images from my brain. I should have another drink. Just one.” Just one. Came out more like Jusss-un.

“How about we get you ready for bed and if you still want another drink we’ll get it, okay? But first, some water.”

She paused with one foot on the next to last step. “I love you, Rhysa. You’re my very best friend. Please marry Dray and never leave us.”

Cass fought off a laugh. I shot her a look. “I love you too, Gigi. That’s why I’m here. Now let’s get you into some comfy pajamas, yeah?”

“Yeah. My fuzzy ones.”

While Cass coached Gigi through brushing her teeth—That’s it! Don’t forget your molars! Maybe spit?—I found some fuzzy pajamas and pulled the sheets back. It took us five minutes to get her clothes switched out, then into bed. We each took a side while Gigi curled up into a tiny blonde ball between us.

“Mom and Dad used their last conscious thoughts to make us the way we are. To fight the coming darkness. What the fuck good is a butterfly?” She sounded shockingly sober all of a sudden.

“I don’t know.” I stroked her hair back from her face, relieved to see her muscles relaxing and hear her breathing evening out. “But I’m afraid we’re about to find out.”

“Maybe I’ll be like The Wasp in Ant-man and The Wasp. Maybe I have tiny superpowers I don’t know about yet.”

Cass’s eyes went wide, but she kept rubbing Gigi’s back as she mouthed, “She is sooooo drunk!”

I nodded. “Don’t worry about that. Your parents knew what they were doing. When the time comes, you’ll know too.”

“But how do you know that?” She snuggled deeper into her pillow, so close to sleep, while I took in a deep steadying breath.

“Because I’ve been living it ever since I met you. I had no idea about any of this, and yet here I am, figuring it out every day. You will too. I know it.”

Her hand reached out and patted my thigh. “You’re doing so good. I hope one day you get to be whoever you want to be. You deserve it.”

I gulped at the reminder that the life I was living right now wasn’t fully by choice. I had a role to play and until it was fulfilled, Destiny and The Plane would be pushing me down a path I didn’t choose.

“I think she’s asleep,” Cass whispered.

She was. Just barely. Her breath was even and growing deeper with each second. When we were sure she was fully out we filled a glass of water and left it on the nightstand, then turned out the lights and left her to rest.

“Well this has been…a night,” Cass whispered as we reached the stairs. Below we could see the shadows of the stragglers around the fire outside. Downstairs a couple made out in the shadows, but none of the out-in-the-open sex I’d grown somewhat used to at the House of Axl.

“It definitely took a few turns I wasn’t expecting.”

“Aunt Bethany is beside herself. Dray won’t speak to her. I don’t know what to do.”

“Give him some time. He needs to process. He’s a quiet, slow processor.” I had a feeling it would take him days—weeks if there was a war to distract him from dealing with these new details—before he came to terms with how he felt.

“I know…it’s just…it’s hard on all of us. Him and Gigi more than the rest of us, but we’re a family. We usually deal with things together.”

She made an excellent point.

“How about this. Give him tonight to plan and be angry. Tomorrow I will convince him to have a family meeting. You prepare everyone else for emo-Dray to make a reluctant appearance. I have a feeling that even if he shows up angry, it will do him good.”

Cass smiled a little and her shoulders dropped a centimeter or two in relief. “Okay. Yeah, sounds like a plan.” Then she snorted. “Emo-Dray.”

“Tell me I’m wrong.”

She shook her head. “Can’t do it.”

At the bottom of the stairs we stopped. “You will all get through this,” I assured her. “When you all come together you can get through anything. This is no different.” I really hoped I was right.

“I’m wiped. See you in the morning?”

“Breakfast should be interesting!”

She laughed nervously before hurrying off while I wandered around looking for Dray. The group had dwindled down considerably. There were still a few small packs leaned together discussing battle strategy or even just enjoying a glass of wine. I searched the barn, the yard, and the main rooms of the house. I was about to give up and go up to the treehouse alone when I saw light coming from the library.

Pausing at the door, I listened to the voices inside, recognizing Dray and Saoirse immediately.

“Will twenty-four hours be enough for everyone to ready up?” Dray asked.

 “We can’t blink and go wherever we please,” a woman said.

I peeked through the crack in the door and saw a woman with thick, dark hair like Lou’s speaking.

“Maybe we can work together on this,” Saoirse said. “We can use our Magic to get there, but earlier today Rhysa shifted with me to our library. Between the shifters ability to transport through the Plane and our Magic, perhaps we can all get there quickly.”

Dray held up his hand. “Even we can’t shift that far that quickly. If we take twenty-four hours to get ready and another twenty-four to meet at the rendezvous point, we can attack from there in two days’ time. Help will be given to anyone who requires it. All hands and abilities on deck. Agreed?”

The woman nodded. “We’ll ask for help getting our best warriors there early. The rest will arrive by normal transportation.”

The woman agreed, as did Saoirse.

“All right then,” Dray sighed. “I’ll see you all in forty-eight hours.”

The room cleared of everyone except Dray. “You going to hide out there all night?”

I cringed. Of course he knew I was out here creeping on him. “Just waiting my turn.” I slid around the door and into the candle-lit library. Somehow it was even prettier this way.

“How’s Gigi?” He looked tired. His eyes had a bleary sheen to them and his cheeks were hollow.

“Drunk as a skunk, but asleep. She might be a little hungover in the morning.”

“It takes a lot to get us drunk.”

I came to a stop beside him and rose up on my toes to plant a kiss on his prickly cheek. He bent the last little bit of the way, scooping his arm around me at the last minute to pull us together. I sighed from relief. “Are you next?”

“Me? No. I’d rather get lost in you, if you’ll have me.”

For a night, I’d gladly let him bury his feelings in sex. “Of course.”

“Then let’s get out of here.” The next thing I knew, we were back in his bathroom, only it was nearly pitch black now. “I need to wash this day off me and you seem to enjoy the looks of this bathtub. Care to soak and let me stare at you?”

Get the twin view of a naked Draygus Wren and the moonlit mountain forest outside the picture window? Hell yeah. I could do that. “Let me draw the bath first.”

He nuzzled behind my ear then let me go. While I prepared the bath, he lit a handful of golden candles around the room. Just enough light to see by, not enough to cause a glare and cut out the view of the trees. As I sank into the steaming water, Dray stepped under the shower. And sure enough, every chance he got, he stared at me with appreciation, his cock lengthening and thickening as it rose in front of him.

That sent a shiver of excitement through me and, just for fun, I decided to tease my nipples. “You know, you could stay right there, but come join me like you did before.” I splayed my legs the way he’d splayed me in the tub.

He growled, the noise echoing off the shower tiles, the window, the sinks. No amount of rugs or towels could dampen the sound of an aroused full-blooded samhain. “Why would I do that when I can enjoy the view from here? And then actually fuck you? Plane sex is fine when we have no other options, but I’d rather be inside you.”

My inner muscles quivered and I felt myself grow wet. “Well then.”

His chin rose. “Keep touching yourself until I can get there.”

My gaze flicked from his cock to the view outside as I tugged and rolled my nipples. I felt my clit swell in the heat of the steaming bath. Dray turned off the water, but instead of joining me, he toweled off, then picked up the sponge and began to wash me, beginning with my feet. He moved up my legs, between my thighs. I moaned as he thoroughly cleaned my folds and center, so close to climax when he moved away, up my stomach to my breasts, then shoulders and chest. He squeezed out the sponge and came to stand behind me. Then he massaged my breasts before taking my nipples between his fingers.

“Good?”

I arched into his hands. “Very good.”

“I love having you in my mouth, but knowing you feel all of this? So very sexy, Rhysa.”

I had to admit I’d become a little addicted to the game between numbing and feeling. Teeth and mouth versus fingers. It was always a little different and I never knew what to expect next.

One hand slid down my belly to my clit, where he massaged, stroked, and explored until he reached my center, then he slid a thick finger inside. “You are so wet. Even in this bath I can feel you all silky smooth.” He kept going, massaging my ass. My hips bucked up for more and he slid another finger all the way back to my rear clit. I saw stars and began moaning uncontrollably.

“There it is. You’re right there. Come for me.”

I shattered in a soft, quick orgasm appetizer of what was to come. While I caught my breath, Dray moved around to the side of the tub. “I want to feel your mouth on me.”

I sucked in a nervous breath as I wound my fist around the base of his cock, turning in the tub to lick his swollen head. When I looked up, his eyes were wide and black, his jaw slack, the muscles of his neck and shoulders tense.

“Fuck, what a sight,” he whispered. “I need you in a bed.”

I toweled off with record speed. Then I was on my back on the bed as Dray drank from my thigh, his fingers exploring again, bringing me back to a state of arousal and keeping me there. Not letting me up or down until he had his fill of me.

“Your turn,” he said as he moved up onto the pillows, pulling me into his arms so that my breasts pushed up against his chest and our legs tangled together. He had one arm down my back and another dancing down my stomach to my sex.

Since I was quickly losing my mind, I licked his throat and sank in before I forgot what to do next. His hot, powerful blood burned on the way down and a moment later, flooded my veins and my desire for his body tripled. I became obsessed with sex, seeing, feeling, wanting nothing but to be with Dray as much as possible.

“Oh fuck, you’re thirsty,” he groaned, slipping a finger inside as his palm massaged me. At the same time his other hand began to massage my rear clit.

I ground against his hands until I couldn’t drink another drop, licking and then arching away so that my breasts were now on display.

Dray didn’t waste a second of invitation, his mouth coming down on me, but using only his teeth to tug on my nipple. I writhed in his arms as he did just enough to keep me high as a kite, but not enough to come again. One finger pressed into my ass as the other stroked inside my center. His teeth captured my other nipple.

I couldn’t hold back and another, more intense orgasm rolled through me, my inner muscles squeezing his fingers so that the pleasure kept moving through me in waves for at least a minute, maybe two.

“What a beautiful orgasm,” he groaned, his eyes almost pure black with lust. We were both so deep in it, between the high emotions and the blood, our lust had gone nuclear.

And that’s when I had the wild thought. One Dray was devastating, what if there were two? The way he was touching me made it feel like there were two of him, one in front and one behind. One teasing my breasts and stroking into my core, the other behind, holding me up and fucking me from behind.

It was an incredible combination.

And then suddenly I was quite warm and Dray froze. “Why the fuck am I looking in a mirror?”

I forced myself to focus enough to open my eyes and look around. The reason I was so warm was because there were now two identical Drays. One in front of me, holding me just the way he always was, and now another behind me. They moved separately. “I can see you from both sides,” Dray whispered. “I can feel you everywhere. Rhysa…did you split me in two?”