Page 6 of Happily Undead in Dark River

He reared back, his eye screwed closed but his grinning mouth still coated in my blood.

I gave him a death glare. “Thanks for the orgasm, but next time, you should ask. This isn’t the tenth century, Asshole.” With that, I wiped my blood from his bottom lip, stuck it in my mouth and sashayed out of the room like I owned it.

As I shut the door, I could hear X’s happy sigh. “I think I might love her.”

Then I heard the unmistakable thud of someone’s fist connecting with flesh. I guess X was feeling better.

I was back in front of Bert and Beatrice’s diner before Walker caught up. His face looked grim, but he twined his fingers in mine. “Which one of you hit him?” I asked lightly.

Walker made an unhappy humph. “Both of us. I’m usually against unnecessary violence, but that guy only responds to a fist.”

I smiled softly at Walker, the pacifist, and I wondered if he was right. I’d only met X a few times, but there were brief flashes of something soft in the man that was tough as a craggy mountain. But I didn’t contradict Walker, as I hopped onto the back of his bike. “I’m sorry he ruined our date,” I whispered as I rested my cheek against his back.

He cupped a hand over where mine joined around his waist. “No matter. I have millennia to go on a million dates with you. I intend to make each one better than the last. So I guess I should thank X for setting the bar really low,” he said on a low chuckle.

I grinned against his back. “At least it was memorable.”

I missed his response as he kicked the Harley into life, its low rumbling purr soothing my frayed nerves. Walker took the long way home, driving around in the darkened shadows of Dark River, which was now comforting rather than terrifying. Finally, he surprised me by pulling up in front of my cottage instead of his. He slid from the bike, picking me up and placing me on my feet. Apparently, a roaring orgasm and then a long ride on a bike make your thighs a little flaccid.

Speaking of flaccid… “Are you going to come in?” I flutter my eyelashes, hoping I looked coy and not like I was having a seizure.

He wrapped my hand in the crook of his elbow and walked me to my door. “Not tonight, Raine. I should get back and see what X’s arrival means for the rest of us. He’s never the herald of good times. Besides, tonight was amazing, but it wasn’t quite perfect. And I want it to be perfect.”

I grinned at him, “And I can wait. Goodnight, Walker. I had an amazing night, despite the blood and gore.”

“Me too. Actually, there’s one more thing.” He stepped closer, crowding me into the closed door. He slid his hands down my spine and under my ass. Then he pushed me against the door, his lips a fraction from my own. “Just one more thing.”

He pressed me hard into the door as his lips devoured me like a starving man. His fingers curled in my hair, holding me still has his tongue plundered my mouth. I kissed him back, tangling my tongue with his and grinding my hips against his very obvious erection.

Finally, he let me slide down his body and I whimpered. “One day soon, Raine. One day very very soon.”

Then he was back on his bike, kicking it to life and roaring away like a bad boy that he wasn’t. Damn.

The door suddenly opened behind me and I fell backward into the arms of a grinning Brody. “Well, that was kinda hot right there. I’m beginning to see what the Drifter and the Pup are always talking about.” He took a long lungful of air. “But you smell like sex and blood. I mean, not unusual in Deadsville, but the blood doesn’t belong to any of the usual suspects.”

I slipped off my heels and walked into my kitchen. Mine. I still couldn’t believe it. “It’s been quite a night.”

He poured me some more wine. “Mmm, I heard. Tex called me when Judge skipped out like his tail was on fire. Something about X and bleeding to death? I’m guessing that wasn’t figurative considering he’s already dead?”

I downed the entire glass of wine in one gulp, and Brody obligingly refilled it. “Uh-huh. He was close to being re-dead. He’s okay now. Okay enough to suck a pint of blood out of me and give me an unexpected orgasm with his tongue venom.” When Brody raised his eyebrows, I sunk back into my wine. “It’s a long story.”

Brody just laughed. There wasn’t a jealous bone in that one’s body. “Well, if you add him into your happily ever after, it’ll be interesting to have two venomous partners in your harem.”

“What?”

The front door opened and we both whirled around. Tex slipped through from the darkness, his hair mussed from the wind or whatever he and Judge had been doing before X decided to drop dead on the floor of the diner. I was always amazed when I watched Tex navigate the house, or navigate life in general. He walked directly towards me, even though I hadn’t spoken. Sure, being half shapeshifter had helped supplement his lack of sight, but even when he was a kid, he walked with the same confidence as the sighted.

He headed right for me and I waited still, desperate for the hug that I knew was coming. Of all my lovers, er, life partners, Tex was the most affectionate. And I craved his touch in the same way he craved mine. He reached me and wrapped me in his arms like he was trying to make us one person. He nuzzled my neck and I kissed his head. “Hey. Did you walk here?” He let out an affirmative raspberry on my neck and I giggled like a schoolgirl. It truly was embarrassing. “You know I hate it when you walk alone. You’re basically a delicious snack in a town filled with dieters who have bad impulse control. It would only take one lapse in judgment and they’d steal you from me forever.”

It was a disagreement we’d had a couple of times already. I loved the town, but they were all predators and I could only trust them so much. Especially now. The thought of losing him, losing any of them, made me agitated.

And like always, Brody somehow just knew what I was feeling. Like he had a direct line to my emotions. “The Pup is fine, Rainey. But the sun is coming up, and I think we should all go get some sleep, what do you say?”

I nodded and twined my hand in Tex’s. I stepped toward Brody and kissed him softly on the lips. Tonight I was brimming with an appreciation for the good-natured Shapeshifter Alpha. “Let’s go to bed.”

I led them both to my bedroom, even though Tex had his own, and Brody helped me undress, unzipping my little black dress, and unhooking my garter belt and stockings. He groaned a little as he rolled them down, but didn’t make a move. He just took care of me. God, I loved him, even though he was going to break my heart into a billion pieces one day soon.

Tex’s nose twitched. “Why are you sad?”

---