Page 27 of Happily Undead in Dark River

He looked like he wanted to scream. Instead, he shifted into the fox that I had seen the very first time I met him, nipped and licked at my fingers and then took off in the direction of the Town Council building.

Judge kissed me, and then Tex. A look passed between Judge and X, and it was half plea, half threat.

Finally, X nodded. “Let’s go, Snakelet. Gotta get our girl home.”

Tex frowned, again looking like he wanted to protest. So X leaned down and picked him up as well, running through the back streets of Dark River like a blur. We made it to Walker’s cottage, and X let himself in.

“Didn’t think the Sheriff would mind a little change of location.” He placed both me and Tex down on the couch, moving around the house, locking doors and windows, like that would keep the Enforcers out if they decide to come for me.

Tex was back to pacing. “Don’t haul me around like I’m some fucking burden. I can protect her too. She’s my mate.”

I put a hand on his arm, I didn’t know what to say to reassure him. He stilled but was vibrating under my palm. X scoffed. “You may be her Mate, but in this situation, you are a liability. You are the most fragile creature in this whole fucking town, and she loves you so much it basically shines out of her arse. Relax, Snakelet. No one doubts that you are fierce. You are a rattlesnake in a world full of honey badgers.”

I wanted to laugh that he just equated vampires to honey badgers, but good sense told me that laughing at this moment would be bad.

Yep, Tex was basically humming with anger now. A long sigh escaped X. “Fine, Snakelet. If you can get the upper hand in a fight with me, not even beat me mind you, then I will no longer carry you around like a big girl's blouse. In your human form. A snake is not going to be any good at carrying Raine away from danger, no matter how much she likes something long and hard between her thighs.”

“Hey!” I protested, but X ignored me.

Tex’s hands flexed, and he nodded once. Shit. He was gonna get his butt kicked. But his eyes did this weird thing, they flashed and the pupils slit. Had he just snaked out a little without shifting? Was that even possible?

He waited, his hands flexing, watching X with an eerie calmness. Then he struck; there was no other term for it. One second he was coiled and waiting, the next he was across the room, launching himself at X. But X was a skilled fighter and expected the move. He danced out of the way with minimal movements, like a bullfighter. Tex twisted his upper body in a way that was not even close to being human, and punched a surprised X in the face. He split his lip, but X spun away again before Tex could follow up with a second hit. He grinned as blood ran down his chin. The smell of X’s blood made my own burn. I wanted to taste it.

X was on the other side of Tex quicker than I could follow, and had him by the throat and pressed against the wall. I launched myself toward them, but I noticed that he wasn’t holding him hard. Tex had a grip on X’s shirt, but it was pretty useless. X grabbed both his wrists and pinned them above his head, releasing his throat. He pressed him there with his body, keeping him basically immobile. Oh boy.

“Enough.” His voice was cool and authoritative and did wild things to my lady bits. “Partial shifting is quite the talent, Snakelet. If I open that pretty mouth of yours, am I going to find fangs?”

He lifted his hand to cup Tex’s cheek, his thumb rubbing along his lower lip until it dragged the plump flesh down. His teeth had indeed lengthened into fangs. Not just two either. A whole row of sharp needle-like teeth.

“Holy shit,” I whispered, but they both ignored me.

X was staring down at Tex with a cool expression. “This is what I mean, Tex. She loves you enough to try and protect you from even me. She loves you, so you’ll always be a liability and a savior. It’s a role you have to abandon your pride for, because she needs you more than she needs any of us.” He grinned. “But you did good, popped me nicely in the mouth,” he laughed, and the blood was still flowing down his chin. Tex must have punched him hard for that not to be completely healed by now. I wanted to run my tongue over it, to taste X. Something about watching X pin Tex to the wall, and the scent of blood in the air was intensely erotic. I spotted the moment Tex was calm enough to realize it, as his nose flared and his eyes looked at me over X’s shoulder. They were still slitted pupils, but as I watched, they rounded back out to his beautiful unseeing orbs. His whole body was tense, but his own body was subtly arching toward the giant former Enforcer. X looked over his shoulder at me, and his grin got impossibly more wicked.

“I think your girl likes it when I have you helpless, Snakelet.” He leaned forward and paused, no doubt in my mind that he was about to kiss Tex. He waited for Tex to protest, or move his face but judging by the hard bulge in Tex’s jeans, he’d be waiting for a cold day in hell before Tex moved away. He pressed his lips hard against Tex’s, a punishing kind of kiss that had no softness but was all heat.

I might have moaned. X grinned, and it was a wicked expression. “Come here, Raine.” My feet were moving towards him before I even consciously meant to. He turned his face to me, lifting his chin. “You wouldn’t mind cleaning this up for me, would you Love? I got my hands full.”

I pulled his face down closer to me because the man was a giant. The blood curled just under his chin, and I licked at the trail, tracing it back to its source. His blood was like an inferno through my veins, and I moaned again. When I got to the cut on his lip, I sucked it into my mouth, making it bleed more until it was coating my tongue. He gave a low grunt of his own, and I grinned. Then I ran the tip of my tongue over the wound, healing it right up.

X gave me a hooded gaze. “She smells good, doesn’t she?” He looked back at Tex. “On your knees, Snakelet.” Tex hesitated, his eyes fiery and his jaw set. X gripped his face, running the pad of his thumb along Tex’s sharp cheekbone. “Kneel,” he said softly, but the command was still there.

I watched Tex’s face for any sign that this wasn’t what he wanted. He looked hesitant, but his eyes were burning and he was so hard I was worried he’d make mincemeat out of his dick in the zip of his skinny jeans. Finally, he shuddered and knelt in front of X. He was the perfect height to take X’s dick in his mouth, but when Tex reached eagerly for the front of X’s tactical cargos, he stilled his hands. “Not me, Snakelet. Her. Pleasure your Mate.”

My knees went to jelly at those growled words. Tex turned his face, sucking in deep breaths of my scent. He pivoted on his knees, but I was a lot shorter than X, so Tex’s face came up just past my navel. He lifted my shirt and ran soft kisses down the curve of my stomach.

I moaned when his hands went to the waistband of my pants and gripped his hands. “Oh my god. I don’t want to say this, but we have to stop. I can’t do this right now, it wouldn’t be right. Angeline is out there being interrogated, Brody and Judge are trying to get her back, and I’m here about to climax from watching you guys doing… ” I waved my hands in an encompassing fashion, “doing whatever this is. We can’t.”

X nodded once, and Tex nuzzled my stomach soothingly. “Okay, Love. We’ll wait for a better time and place.” He ran a hand over Tex’s mussed head. “But one day soon, this will happen,” he said softly. “And I can’t wait.”

He helped Tex to his feet, and we all shuffled from foot to foot, except X who seemed completely satisfied with himself despite the huge hard-on. I dragged my eyes from his crotch with great difficulty. The taste of his blood still lingered on my lips.

“We should have tea,” I said overly brightly to try and counteract the weirdness. Instead, I just sounded loud and awkward.

X laughed, and the sound rippled over me like a caress. “Let’s do that.”

Tex heaved a sigh. “Make mine Long Island.”

Every time the house creaked,which happened quite frequently, we all tensed, but no one returned for three hours. It was the longest three hours where I read the same paragraph of my book over and over again. When Walker came in, his shoulders curled in defeat, I knew it was bad.

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