Pick Your Poison Read online

  Soon his thumb popped free and I felt his index finger circling my tight rosette, teasing my back passage. Once I’d relaxed enough, his slickened thumb pressed down, using just enough pressure to slowly pop in, nothing more.

  The pressure was just enough, added with the bit of extra sensory foreplay I picked up randomly via our bond to top everything off, and as his cock rammed my sweet spot, I was off, screaming my release.

  Divit followed shortly after, bellowing hoarsely as his fangs released my shoulder.

  Slumping against me, still connected intimately, we lay that way, smooshed atop the bed, both of us loath to move.

  “I’ll get them checked if you stop acting like a madwoman, making me think you’re rejecting me,” Divit mumbled into my neck. “Deal?”

  “Deal,” I mumbled back. A moment passed in silence and then, “You still have those glittery pants?”

  “Sweetheart, you couldn’t even pay me,” was his muffled reply, his voice half growl and all gruff as he reached down, lifting himself up, and slapped my ass.

  “Hah. That’s not exactly a no.”

  “Not a yes either, sweetheart.”

  “Oh... I dunno, I think we could come up with some sort of an- Ah! No! No tickling! I’m sorry! Stop! Please! Divit!! No! I give! I give!”

  “Say it like you mean it, love. Say it like you mean it. I don’t think you mean it,” he taunted, cackling like a madman as I screamed and squealed.

  “I mean it! I mean it! I’m going to pee!”

  “Hah. You can’t pee, you’re sort of dead/undead, by your own admission. Nice try, though.”

  I paused, shoulders still shaking. “Then where does all that blood go?” I wondered aloud.

  “Hell if I know.” Divit shrugged. “Keeps us going, I suppose, like fairies and magick dust. Don’t question every little thing, love. Sometimes you just have to believe, have faith, you know. Just go with it.”

  “Wow, look at you, getting all philosophical and crap. Where’s the regular Divit, my grumpy mate, and what have you done with him?”

  “That’s it, you cheeky twit,” my mate mock growled, “now you’re going to pay for that.”

  “Oooh. I’m terrifi- Ah! Divit! No more! No fair! Help! Help!”

  “No one ever said you had to be fair to win.” Divit grinned triumphantly, gazing down at me with nothing short of adoration.

  “Does that mean I can torture you back?”

  “No.” Pinning my hands at my sides, just in case I got any funny ideas, he proceeded to plant huge love bites along my neck and across my shoulder blades, tickling the flesh with his tongue.

  I laughed and giggled, squirming until he rolled me over, melding our lips and our hips expertly to thoroughly shut me up.

  Burn it up

  “So... you two are an item now, huh? Like, mates... That’s crazy.” Callie’s fingers picked at an unidentifiable speck on her water glass as she slowly set it away from her.

  Tapping my pad with my pen, I nodded slowly as I leaned against the booth. This reconciliation had been slow in the making but long overdue. It was time we made up.

  “Yep.” Rehashing the blatantly obvious—fun, with a capital F. I tried not to fidget in place, squirming at the mere mention of the word mates. There was a finality to it, saying it out loud—an eternity, as my vampire lover so eloquently puts it—I had trouble wrapping my head around. There were so many things to work out still, to think about, and, yes, we had forever, but what about now? Right now?

  “How is that working out for you, my friend?” Spira tapped the table to catch my attention, her long talons clacking noisily across the scuffed top.

  “Uh... as good as could be expected, I guess.” It was better than good—it was fantastic—but the pessimist in me was terrified I was somehow going to screw it all up. We fit, like funky shaped puzzle pieces—that talk, with foul mouths and no singing capabilities whatsoever, making this comparison kind of uber ridiculous and slightly stupid, and maybe insane, and yet... it still fit.

  My hunky corpse groom and I rotated between verbally bashing each other and tearing it up between the sheets, mostly. It was our way. A small smile curved my lips. I couldn’t ask for more.

  And yet... My smile fell. I find I’m still holding myself back and I don’t know why.

  “It is like an arranged mating, procured through cursing,” Stefan put in mildly, a note of unease in his voice as his gaze drifted out the dust lined window.

  “No one is talking to you.” Callie sniffed, lifting her menu to block the necromancer from her view, missing the stiff look that crossed his face.

  Plucking the menu from her hands, he smirked, slapping it down on the table. “You’re talking to me right now, Callendra, dear. And really? How long must you be like this?”

  Lips pursing, Callie huffed petulantly. “As long as I want.”

  “I wouldn’t go that far,” I muttered. “It’s not like he forced me or anything.”

  “Didn’t he, though?” Mary’s compact clamped shut with an audible snap and she flashed me a wide, ruby red lipsticked grin.

  Callie made an unhappy noise in her throat, grumbling, “It wasn’t supposed to be like that. I had no idea.”

  To which Mary responded with a raised brow as her brown eyes flooded black. “So you say.”

  Short, curled black horns bursting from her forehead to peek out from beneath her bangs as thick tendrils of smoke curled from her nostrils, the demoness’ eyes narrowed shrewdly.

  My gaze darted between them as a glaring match ensued. Mary’s jet black flushed eyes bore into Callie’s electric blues as magick spiked the air.

  “Uhm, are we still talking about me?”

  “I’m afraid not.” Stefan met my gaze over their heads, shrugging.

  “I don’t follow.” Setting my pad in my apron and my pen behind my ear, I crossed my arms over my chest.

  “Didn’t expect you to.” Picking up a swizzle stick to twirl it in the air, levitating it between the two women as their eyes spit fire at each other, Stefan put a finger to his lips.

  The stick spun faster and faster, unbeknownst to the bickering pair, and the warlock let it go with a flick of his finger, grinning suddenly when both women yelped and ducked as it split off and went flying.

  “Alright, so fill me in.” My sneakered foot tapped the dingy, checkered floor impatiently as I glanced at the clock. Only ten more minutes and my shift ends, I thought, a sense of nervous anticipation I didn’t quite understand filling me.

  Chuckling under his breath as the tabletop thumped, rattling as it lifted and fell, the sound of slapping could distinctly be heard, followed by feminine bickering, and Stefan sat back, completely relaxed, as if right at home in the midst of the chaos.

  “Oh, you!”

  “Why, I!”

  “Meddler!”

  “Tramp!”

  “That dress makes you look fat!”

  Gasp. “You take that back!”

  “Make me!”

  “Grrrr. Well, that lipstick makes you look like a prostitute! A desperate one!”

  Gasp.

  Smoke started curling up from beneath the sides of the table, sparks shooting off, and I took a step back. “I’m not getting involved in this.” Shaking my head, I went to retrieve the fire extinguisher, just in case.

  The petty bickering continued.

  “Ow!”

  “OW!”

  “You ruined my life!”

  “Oh, puh-lease! You ruined your own life long before I ever came along!”

  As I made my way back out the fire alarm went off and I grimaced. “Don’t worry, D,” I called. “I got-”

  Daunte came charging past me with a heavy bucket in hand, a gleeful look on his face as a wide grin split it. “Move it, bitches! Fire!” My boss man let out an unnaturally deep, unholy laugh, more diabolical chuckle than anything, running up to the booth to chuck the entire contents of his bucket at them.

  Callie and Mary screamed
bloody murder, while Spira and Stefan scrambled, shouting curses as they tried to get out of the line of fire, but it was no use. Daunte got them all with one well-aimed bucket toss.

  “Steee-rike!” the de-horned demon crowed, rattling the windows as he whooped, pumping his fist high into the air, and jumped.

  Callie and Mary crawled out from beneath the table, with all the appearance of make-up smeared, bedraggled kittens, really pissed off ones, glaring at D as they tried to right themselves.

  Daunte picked up his bucket, chortling, but had to give the pair a double take.

  Leaning in, he whispered, “Oh, damn, baby girl, who’s your friend?” Daunte turned and grinned, flashing Mary a set of deep dimples. Jerking his chin, he waggled his brows. “Well, hello there, hotness. Where have you been all my life?”

  “Sucking souls,” I put in helpfully, smiling sweetly when Mary gave us a look of pure disdain.

  “You’ve ruined my outfit, asshole.” Mary seethed, stomping her foot, ignoring Spira’s good-natured chuckle as the dragoness wrung out her long locks.

  Daunte wasn’t bothered in the least. All flirt and no subtlety whatsoever, the decommissioned demon didn’t know when to leave well enough alone. “Name’s Daunte, and you are?”

  “Byron’s. Mine.”

  At the deep, gravelly voice snarling at his back, Daunte’s brows shot up. Glancing at me as he peeked at the angry werewolf through the corner of his eye, he hooked a thumb over his shoulder.

  “She has a mate and you didn’t tell me? What gives, little buddy?”

  “Dunno. This is all kinda news to me.” Turning to Byron, I asked the grumbling wolf, “I thought you guys mated to tie packs, to reproduce, and the Alpha Bitch was a formality, like a nice way of saying the boss’ mistress.” Or pack bicycle, if the Alpha wishes to share, but I wasn’t going to say that aloud. Mates were simply mates, and while they didn’t have a fancy title, they held the place and significance of their other half. An Alpha’s mate was right up there with them in the pecking order, and mated pairs didn’t stray from one another, defeating the purpose of pack mistresses once they settled down.

  “That’s all I’m good for, isn’t it?” Mary made an angry noise in her throat at that, picking up her purse, and stomped past me. The door opened and slammed shut moments later, the demoness’ angry curses echoing into the night.

  “It is,” the Alpha replied, his wolf-like gold gaze shifting to meet mine.

  “So then... she is available? Will be available in the foreseeable future...? What’s the deal here?” Daunte turned to meet Byron’s gaze levelly, smiling in the face of the werewolf’s wrath as Byron let off a deep snarl.

  “Not very smart, broken horn boy.” Spira shook her head as she vacated the booth, slipping past Daunte to jab him in the chest hard enough to make him grunt before making her way to a relatively clean table. “And you will be giving us the pizza and drinks, and whatever else we shall wish, for free for this.”

  “Lucifer’s loins, you’re mean.” Daunte’s gaze followed Spira as she slipped into a booth seat. He nudged me as his grin returned. “Hey, dragon lady, you look fine when wet. You single?”

  “Oh, my god, dude!” Slapping a hand to my forehead, I groaned.

  Callie giggled at the look on my face as she dabbed herself down with napkins, shaking her head at the insufferable demon I labored for.

  “Nobody wants you. Nobody’s interested.” Smacking D on the shoulder, I half pleaded, half hissed, “Boss man, give it a rest already and go back to the kitchen. Please.”

  A familiar scent filled my nostrils as the bell jingled over the door, bringing with it a sense of homecoming I gravitated towards, and my head snapped up.

  “And I’m out.” Untying and peeling my apron off, I smiled, shoving it into Daunte’s wide chest as Divit came strolling in.

  “What the heck, woman? What are you- Oh.” Daunte’s expression instantly went flat and he muttered dryly, “It’s here.” Shoving my apron into the bucket, he bared his teeth at Divit as he lumbered past, grumbling to the kitchen.

  “Daunte,” Divit greeted coolly, smiling tightly.

  “Asshole that’s trying to steal my favorite employee,” Daunte muttered petulantly, baring his teeth as he slapped the swinging kitchen door open. The bucket hit the wall with a thwap, flying back, and I shook my head.

  “I’m your only employee.”

  “The only permanent one!”

  “Hah! You wish!”

  “Oh, like you’ll finish all those stupid classes you signed up for!” the rage demon fired back, thrusting a finger up in the air. “And what are you going to do when you’re done, work at a twenty four hour dentistry?”

  “Uhm, yeah.” Duh. “Hello, vampire.”

  There was a long silence and then a loud huff. “Oh, right. Pfft. Well, leave me then, chuh, why don’t you!”

  “Like you’ll miss me.”

  “I might!”

  “Hah!”

  “Piss off!”

  “I will, then!”

  “Then I’ll see you tomorrow, freak!”

  “Right after my class, punk!”

  “I’ll be waiting!”

  “I’m sure you will!”

  “Alrighty then, bye!” Charging back out, he snatched me up in a quick hug, shoving Divit back as he butted his forehead with mine, careful of his horns.

  Glaring at my mate, he stuck his tongue out and grunted at him before plopping me back on my feet.

  “I love you, you little shit. Never change. Ditch the neck biter, maybe, but don’t ever freaking change, baby girl, do you hear me? I need you, you little freak.” Pointing at his eyes and then Divit, he mouthed, ‘I’m watching you, glitter-pants,’ as he blew him a kiss and slowly backed up.

  Grimacing, Divit glanced down at me. “You had to tell him about that, didn’t you?”

  “Oh, come on.” Smiling apologetically, I chuckled and gave his shoulder a little pat. “Glitter-pants isn’t so bad.”

  “Yeah, stud muff- Ah!” The sound of the bucket thumping around in the back banged seconds later, followed by dishes crashing and Daunte cussing up a storm. “Damn! Shit! Fuck! I chipped a horn!”

  Letting out a deep sigh, I rolled my eyes. “Drama queen, I swear.” Staring up at my vampire, I smiled. “You ready to go?”

  “Almost. You forgot something.”

  “I did?”

  “Yes.”

  “What’s that? My purse? I didn’t bring it. Just nabbed my keys and my wallet today.” Patting myself down, I couldn’t think of a thing.

  “This.” Divit wrapped his arms around my waist, his head dipping low as I stood on tip-toe, my chin lifting to nip his lips as our mouths met.

  My fingers wove throw his hair and I sighed as he tugged me back. “That’s not necessary, you know,” he teased, his fingers trailing down the side of my throat as I shivered and leaned closer.

  “Eh? Oh, that. Yeah, I’m over it. I’ll sigh if I want to, buddy. My body, my noises.”

  “Unless I procure them from you?” he murmured huskily, a wicked note in his voice that my insides turning all warm and gooey.

  “Gah! Get a room!”

  “God, damn-” Clenching my teeth at the interruption, I growled. “Cover your ears.”

  Divit’s eyebrows shot up. “Why would I want to-”

  Cupping my hands over his ears for him, I hissed. “Because of this.” Suctioning my hands tight, I bellowed, “Shut up, Daunte! No one asked you!”

  “I’m, like, a thousand years old, woman! That’s elder abuse or some shit!”

  “Oh, cry me a river!”

  Divit chuckled, peeling my hands back to kiss my palms. “You’re a beast, sweetheart. Tangling with ornery demons. Tell me, does your stamp club know?”

  “Pfft, no, and I’m not telling them, either. And besides, D is a lamb,”—a fire breathing, temper tantrum throwing lamb—“I am so close to getting Martha to trade me for that rare Elvis I can taste it.”

/>   My vampire lover’s eyes crinkled at the corners as he cupped my face in his wide palms, tipping my face up to meet his for a leisurely, drugging kiss. “You’re cute when you geek out on me. Did you know that? It’s sexy.”

  “Mm. Yeah?” Batting my lashes in a ridiculous imitation of Mary, I smiled impishly when he snorted. “Maybe. What do I get if I keep talking?”

  “Lame!” Daunte snorted as he popped his head back through the door. “You’ve ruined her, glitter-dick. I say you should have let her join that strip club, or naked knitting or something, not stupid stamps. Who gives a shit about stamps?” Pulling a face, he shook his head disgustedly. “No fucking fun, man. You’re ruining my little buddy, blood sucker. Ruining her.”

  “I second that, the room thing! Not the naked knitting, strippers, or the stamps. No one cares about that!” Stefan called from across the restaurant, seated next to Spira.

  “Oomph!” There was a hard grunt and Divit and I turned to see Stefan clutching his stomach, grimacing as he shot Spira and Callie accusatory looks.

  “Shut up, Stefan. Nobody asked you!” Callie barked sharply, grinning as she whipped back around to wave us on. Wiggling her fingers, she leaned over the back of the booth to watch us. “Sorry. Continue. Don’t mind us. You two were saying?”

  Tugging my vampire man’s hand, I tilted my head towards the door. “Come on, my cold hearted lover boy. Let’s ditch these nutjobs and get the hell out of here.”

  Divit tossed me a sexy smile, his fingers giving mine a gentle squeeze, and opened his mouth to speak.

  “Hey! I resemble that remark!”

  “Oh, my god, Daunte! Shut! Up!” Hissing, my fangs dropped and my fingers clawed.

  Divit scooped me up then, tossing me over his shoulder, and marched out. “And that’s enough playing with the demon for today, I think. Say bye to Daunte, sweetheart. You can murder him tomorrow.”

  “Bye! Drive safe, bitches!” The rage demon scream-shouted, cackling as I screeched in response.