Page 33 of Happily Undead in Dark River

Still sounded treacherous to me.

Sometimes, we just floated in companionable silence for minutes or hours. I floated on my back and stared at the stars through the trees, Tex floating next to me.

“I think I’d like to see my parents,” Tex whispered.

I wrapped my fingers in his. “They won’t be hard to find. They’re probably praying in church for your mortal soul,” I said, failing to keep the scathing note from my tone.

Even Brody made a rude noise. Tex held my fingers. “No, I mean my real parents. Whoever gave me this ability, gave me my python.”

I sat up until I was treading water. “Really?”

He nodded, though he didn’t sit up. Where the hell would we even start? Could I even go with him? I ground my molars. That was a stupid and selfish thought. It didn’t have anything to do with me. If he wanted to find his parents, we would find them. He would go, whether I could or not. We would figure things out, together.

“Okay,” I said softly, and it had an air of finality about it. We would do it.

“Okay, Pup,” Brody whispered. “Rainey, come here. You look hungry.” That was a lie. If anyone looked hungry, it was Brody. Which was ridiculous because we had literally spent all afternoon having sex in his huge California king bed. I didn’t want to think about why he needed a bed that huge before me.

My fangs punched out as I caught his scent. Okay, maybe I was a liar. I was always hungry for these guys. I swam lazily toward him, feeling like a languid sea monster. He grabbed my arms and pulled me closer. I wrapped my legs around his waist, clutching him close to my body. I leaned my face into the crook of his neck, licking the sulphuric-tainted water from the column of his neck. He moaned softly as I sucked his vein between my lips. Then I slid my fangs into his throat, slowly drawing his blood into my mouth.

I’d come along way in a few months. When I was first turned, I’d gulp him down like he was a juice pouch. But now I savored the taste of his blood against my tongue, the buzz of the magic that swirled through me. He tasted different from Tex, his Alpha magic stronger. I moaned and pulled away, slicking my tongue over the wound in his throat. No matter how much the inner predator wanted to drink him until I was gorged with his delicious blood, the woman that loved him wanted nothing more than to take care of him forever. I turned on his lap, giving my butt a little wiggle against his hard-on. I reached for Tex, dragging him closer to me. He kissed me until I was breathless, then tilted his head to the side for me. I licked the snake tattoo, swirling my tongue over its head. “Do you feel like you have two souls?” I asked him, not moving my lips from his skin.

“Mmmhmm. He’s getting louder now, and some of the things I’d do before make more sense. Coming to find you in Canada. My love of eggs and red meat. How I loved to lie in the sun even though my pale ass skin burns if I’m out there for more than ten minutes. They were all things that he, my python I mean, wanted but could never voice. He was trapped inside.”

I bit down gently on his tattoo and he hissed, but it was a pleasurable sound. I wished I had X’s pleasure-venom right now. At least I could give them something back for letting me literally survive from their blood.

Tex dragged me from Brody’s lap, and I wrapped my legs around his body, trusting him to keep us afloat as I drank him. I felt him nudge himself against my panties, and make an infuriated noise. “Why are you not naked?” he whined and I laughed against his throat.

Something brushed past my ear, biting me.

“TEX! Down!” Brody yelled, and Tex was dragging me under the water. I unlatched from his neck and held my breath as we sank into the inky water, deeper and deeper until we finally hit the bottom. I looked up and saw the moon wavering above us. I looked at Tex who’s cheeks were puffing out as he ran out of air.

I sealed my lips over his and blew my breath into his mouth. Theoretically, it would still be oxygen, right? Not like my body knew how to metabolize it now. It seemed to be enough, and I wrapped his hand in mine and half walked, half swam to the edge of the pool. My eyes adjusted quickly to the darkness after all vampires were creatures of the darkness. When I reached the ragged edge of the natural pool, I slowly ascended, dragging Tex up with me, trying to make as little disturbance in the water as possible. When we broke the surface, Tex was gone, but his snake was there, its body coiled around mine protectively. I told my heart not to panic. He wasn’t constricting. He was holding me as gentle as a lover's arms. This was my Mate, just as much as Tex was. I stroked my hand down its wet scales, which made them feel almost slimy in the sulphuric water. His tongue flickered in the air, tasting for danger. My ears didn’t hear anything. I couldn’t see any Vampire Nation Enforcers anywhere. When something huge walked through the surrounding woods, I tensed and Python Tex reared back. A huge tiger walked into the moonlight and I instinctively knew it was Brody.

Tiger Brody snarled, and Tex loosened his grip on my body until I could climb up and out of the hot springs. “What is it?”

The tiger shook its head, snarling at Tex. Tex transformed back to a man.

“He said someone tried to shoot you,” he reached out his fingers and brushed my ear. He pulled back and his fingers were smeared with blood. My blood. I was still bleeding? That was odd; vampires healed unnaturally fast. Tex gripped my hand. “We have to go. Now.”

Tiger Brody leaned down and picked up something in his massive jaws. Honestly, he was huge. It was an arrow? What the hell? He rumbled something at Tex again, and Tex looked at him incredulously.

“I’m not riding you, dude.”

Brody snarled, showing his fangs, and Tex dropped his head immediately, tipping his neck in that weird shapeshifter show of submission. “Okay, okay.”

He climbed onto the tiger’s back, his injured pride soon giving way to a stupid kid grin. “I’m riding a freakin’ tiger,” he crowed, and I laughed and shook my head. Until Brody grumbled and started running faster than a car. I hightailed it to catch up, and the trip back to Brody’s house took all of three minutes as we cut through the forest. I could see why Brody wanted him to ride on his back, neither Python Tex or human Tex could run that fast.

Brody herded us both up his porch and through the front door. Then he roared so loudly I was worried it would shatter the windows. He strode into his house and slammed the door with his big tiger butt. He was beautiful in the foyer light.

I reached down and stroked his fur. “Who’s a pretty kitty? Oh, you are. Yes, you are,” I cooed, and Brody transformed under my hands until I was petting something distinctly lower than his head.

I was waiting for Brody’s inevitable cheeky joke, but when I looked up at his face, it was fierce and scary.

“What’s wrong?” I asked as Tex reappeared wearing pants, throwing some to Brody too.

He dropped the arrow on his hall table to slip on his pants.

“Ash arrow. Someone tried to kill you tonight.”

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