Destiny (3 page)

I perused the schedule. My friend Claire, the headliner, would hold court during peak party hours. She was wildly popular with both the human and preternatural dance crowd. When I’d “come out” to her about everything, it didn’t surprise me she already knew about, as she put it, “
The Real Underground.
”
It was the best kept secret society hiding in plain sight, she said. All the cool people knew that.

I ran my tongue over my always tingling gums. “Damn.”

Adrian shot me a sideways glance. “What, you don’t like it?”

“No, it’s not that. The schedule looks great. Claire’s spot is perfect. It’s just my gums ache like hell. They won’t stop tingling. I feel like a teething vampire baby.”

His big shoulders lifted in a shrug. “In a way, you are.”

I thwacked his arm with the back of my hand. “Comments like that are likely to get you bitten.”

Strong fingers snagged my hand. “Promises, promises.” He pressed a soft kiss on my knuckles.

“Flirt.”

He cocked a blond brow. “Your point?”

My lips curved upward in a smile. “Some things never change.” My eyes slid to the plain gold band on his ring finger. “But some things do.” Not a wedding ring, but a sign of his commitment to Jonas nonetheless. My friend the player had finally settled down to enjoy monogamy with an ancient vampire.

“I don’t know what you mean,” he grinned.

“Liar. So, anyway…”

“Anyway…” He glanced at his watch. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”

My gaze returned to the spreadsheet. “Nope. Looks fine.”

He closed his laptop. “Tick tock, babe, you’ll be late for your date.”

I glanced at the clock above the sink and jumped to my feet, heart skipping with happiness. Time for my daily video date with Alexander.

Adrian’s laughter followed me as I bolted out of the kitchen in vampire hyper speed and ran smack into the stone wall that was Jonas in the dining room, immediately bouncing back and landing on my ass.

“Sorry, J,” I chirped, hopping to my feet in a smooth vampy glide. Yet another perk of my heritage I enjoyed.

“Do not call me J.” He caught my arm as I tried to breeze by him. “Wait.”

I slumped in his grasp, resting my forehead on his shoulder. “Aw c’mon, Jonas. I’m late for my date.”

He whisked us to the kitchen in a blur of speed. His dark eyes glittered with their usual predatory intensity as he watched me. “Here.” He placed something cold and metallic in my hand.

A tiny silver ankh on a delicate chain embedded with what were probably rubies. Blood-red and beautiful. I glanced at the gold one he always wore, and emotion clogged my throat at his unexpected display of affection.

“What is it with you old vamps and gifts today?” I teased.

He plucked the item from my hand. “Titanium and rubies. Turn.”

I lifted my hair and gave him my back. He secured it as quickly as he’d whisked us into the kitchen. The lightweight necklace lay just below my neck, the color and jewels complementing my belly piercing. It was a perfectly timed, thoughtful gift. Leave it to Jonas to reset the balance between dark and light, good gift and bad gift.

“Thanks.” I shot him a smile, but he’d already whooshed to the table and collected the bad gift. The fire in his eyes told me his intent.

“Don’t do it,” I protested, stalking up to him.

“What’s going on?” Adrian interjected, placing a glass of blood on the table for Jonas.

We ignored his worried stare, our gazes locked.

“What do you think I am doing, my little warrior?” Jonas’s soft voice carried a challenge in its depth.

I stiffened. “You’re going to destroy it.”

“Am I?”

“Yes.” I grasped the front of the box and tugged but he held firm. “That’s your job, after all. Destroy anyone and anything that comes after me.”

“Think again, Little Warrior.”

“I know what I want to do with it.” I pulled and this time he let me have it. I strode to the fridge and stored it on the bottom shelf by the eggs and bacon.

“And what is that, Little Warrior?”

The cool metal of the fridge shot chills down my back as I leaned against the fridge. “Lily and Faith return from their witch sabbatical in Sonoma in a few days. I want them to check out the box.”

Lily, my favorite sushi restaurateur and a powerful witch, had closed her restaurant and departed with Faith, my psychic best friend and a white witch in training for witch boot camp. If anyone could unlock the mystery of the box, they could.

Jonas didn’t smile—he never did—but his eyes gleamed with approval. “Continue.”

“We can’t trash the box. It was booby-trapped, so maybe it left a trace of—” I shrugged, “—a magic spell trail or some kind of witch or warlock fingerprints we can follow. Maybe a magical signature? I don’t know exactly what, but there has to be something.”

I pushed off the fridge. “We know he’s not working with Brigid, since we have that evil witch in custody, but if Lily and Faith can find his new witch or warlock, maybe he or she can lead us to Dixon.”

Jonas slid an arm around Adrian and yanked him against his side, but his gaze never wavered from mine. He nodded his approval.
Va bene, my little warrior.

We’ve switched to a mind chat because
…
?

Adrian worries. I sense his distress.

You softie,
I teased, but he was right. I couldn’t feel
Adrian’s distress as Jonas could, but I’d known Adrian longer, intimately, and could easily see the affect our conversation had on him, in the tightness around his eyes and the hard line of his clenched jaw.

I kissed Adrian’s smooth cheek. “Thanks for caring.” I then planted a quick peck on Jonas’s. “Thanks for the prezzie.”

He didn’t respond but I knew he loved the affection. Though only from me or Adrian. Anyone else who dared touch The Executioner
would lose a hand. Or their head.

“Love you, guys.” I bolted from the room. With club business completed and an action plan to trace Dixon in place, I had other business to accomplish—my video date with a six foot three, bedroom-eyed, panty-melting, hot man.

I was so ready for some virtual lovin’.

“Right there, you see?” I sat cross-legged on the bed in Adrian’s guest bedroom, aka my home away from home, facing the headboard and the big bay window behind it.

Alexander’s gorgeous face grew larger as he leaned in closer to his screen. “No.”

“Sure you do.” I mimicked his movement then bared my teeth, giving him a close-up of my pearly whites.

Husky laughter. “Nope.”

I sat back and crossed my arms with a huff. My laptop bobbled on its pillow perch in front of me. “Well, they’re there, I can assure you.” I poked a canine. “It’s pointy. Just not
super
pointy.”

“I’m sure they’re fangtastic.”

I raised my fists in fight stance. “I’d so drop you if you were here.”

Alexander’s sexy as sin lips curled upward, his blue-gray eyes sparking with amusement. “Is that so?”

“Yep.”

He shot me a smoldering, knee-wobbling look. Good thing I was seated.

“Once you have me dropped, then what?” His voice glided like silk over my skin, leaving goose bumps in its wake.

I licked my lips imagining Alexander’s hot body on the bed underneath me, his hard length sheathed inside me,
finally
, for the first time ever. My family worried the sex magic with my one true mate might kill me. Our last near-sex slash near-death bonding experience only fueled their worry. I just might risk it, to feel his nimble fingers tease my clit and tweak my nipples, making me wet and wild with desire while I rode him and edged closer and closer to climax—

“Carina.”

I blinked and refocused on my man, and my hand resting between my legs rubbing my mound through the soft material of my yoga pants.

“Put
my
hand inside your pants,” Alexander rasped.

“What?”

“Imagine my hand. Slip it inside. I’ll do the same. Imagine yours.” Every speck of moisture left my mouth when he slipped off his shirt and stretched out on his bed. He unzipped his pants and freed his erection.
He’s already hard from watching me pleasure myself
. My core clenched in want.

He gripped his length and squeezed. Wow. Not shy. The thought and the visual made me wet for him. I tore off my black T-shirt and tossed it over my shoulder.

His laser gaze targeted my breasts. I ran my thumbs over my nipples, already pearling through the lace cups.

“Bra, off,” he growled, one hand tracing the Celtic heart tattoo on his pec while the other teased his cock.

His husky command made my inner tigress purr like mad.

I ditched the bra, and he growled again in approval. My fingers sought out my needy peaks, and I pinched, sending a jolt of pleasure to my core.

Alexander’s fangs punched out. “More,” he demanded. His heated stare made my center clench with want.

Oh yes, I could do more. I slid my hand down my abs, fingering the titanium bar in my belly piercing.

“Tug it and move on.”

Goose bumps peppered my skin as I complied.

“Perfect,” he rasped, then sucked in a ragged breath when I slipped my hand under the waistband of my yoga pants.

The pleasure of first contact with my slick, wet folds tipped my head back and closed my eyes. Picturing Alexander pleasuring me with his clever musician fingers, I teased my throbbing clit as he would plink the keys of his piano. Tap, retreat, tap, retreat. Repeat, repeat. The pressure built, pushing me near that sweet edge.

“Carina, look at me.”

I forced open my lust-heavy lids. His smoky blue stare trapped me, pushing me closer to release.

“Finger. Inside.” He tightened his grip on his shaft, working his fingers along his length. Fast. Faster.

God, that was hot. Wished it were my hand, touching him. I synced the glide of my finger to the rhythm of his hand. The sensation pulled a moan from my throat.

“Add another, Carina,” he rasped.

Anything, I’d do anything for him. My insides clamped around my two fingers. I dove for my clit with my free hand.

“Come for me now.”

His raw words, my own relentless fingers, all of it spiked my pleasure and propelled me over the edge. A cry escaped me as my body shuddered and twitched both inside and out.

“Fuck.” Alexander growled his release, his gaze locked with mine.

We came watching each other pleasure ourselves.
The thought sent more tremors tumbling through me. Alexander’s expression, the hungry heat in his eyes, told me he shared my satisfaction.

I snagged some tissues from the nightstand and cleaned up while Alexander did the same and closed his jeans.

“Aw.” I pouted.

He shot me a wicked smile that made my toes curl.

I put on my bra.

“Damn,” he complained with a shake of his head.

“So,” I began, unable to keep the satisfied grin off my face.

“So,” he echoed, licking his lower lip.

“That was fun.”

“Fun,” he parroted me again.

I straightened my spine and rolled my neck and shoulders, breathing deep to ground myself in a non-sexual reality. I hadn’t yet mentioned Dixon’s return or the unusual gift the evil bastard had sent me, choosing instead to shelve the horrible until the end of our video date. Since that subject wasn’t the first thing out of Alexander’s mouth when we connected, I knew no one had told him.

I opened my mouth to start the “Dixon is back” conversation and chickened out. “We should do that every night,” I blurted instead. “Come to think of it, why haven’t we? That was so much better than doing it alone.”

Heat crept over my cheeks. Had I just said that out loud? He tilted his head. The knowing expression on his face told me he, too, pleasured himself post-chat.

My eyes widened with understanding. “Oh.”

He gave me a lopsided grin. “Yeah.”

My blush deepened.

He chuckled, a sexy rumble that twitched my insides. “I love it when you blush for me.”

“I don’t.” I covered my cheeks with my palms.

Two months of dating and our fated status as soul mates slash bonded vampire mates, and still he possessed the power to make me react like a giddy teenager. I loved and hated that blushing schoolgirl reaction, but he made every moment with him—online or offline—feel like that first exciting moment when our eyes met across a crowded room, or in our case, across a crowded hallway in a museum. Or like our first touch on the dance floor in my club. Electric. All-consuming. Inevitable.

I used to laugh at my psychic pal Faith whenever she’d talk of
destiny
and
fate
, then one look at Alexander and voilà—game over. Two months in, and most of that spent apart thanks to my meddling family, and I still wanted him with an intensity that stole my breath and heated my blood.

Alexander cleared his throat.

I blinked and shook my head. “Sorry, spaced out there for a second.”

“Uh-huh.”

We couldn’t communicate telepathically like I could with my vampire family, but his smile told me he had a fairly good idea where my mind had traveled.

For the sake of my tomato face, I steered the conversation elsewhere. “Are you ready for tonight’s concert? I know you’ll rock it, as usual. I loved your Chopin pieces from last night.”

I usually watched the live streaming video of his concerts on the WWU, aka The World Wide UnderWeb, the preternatural community’s private online universe. My tech wizards at Haven tried to explain to me how this unique blend of magic and technology worked and why only those who were preternatural could access it, but all I heard was
beeeeeeeeeeeep
. And all I cared about was seeing Alexander in action; those talented hands making love to the keyboard each night for a lucky audience, his body swaying as he played, that one lock of brown hair I love to play with falling over his forehead as he concentrated.