Page 7 of Happily Undead in Dark River

Brody looked up at me from where he was kneeling on the floor, pausing to hear my answer. I shook my head, and then remembered Tex wouldn’t be able to see it. “I just remembered I’m dead,” I said softly.

That seemed to be enough, because Brody picked me up and placed me in the center of the bed, and hopped in beside me, curling his overly hot body around my own. Tex hopped on the other side, his body pressed along mine until I was sandwiched between their warmth. By morning, I would no longer be the cold of a Vampire, but like a stone warmed in the sun, I’d feel human again. At least until the night and they left me.

Tex kissed my eyelids, and then my lips. “Sleep, Mika. We’ll guard your dreams.”

With a long sigh, I did exactly that.

Chapter Four

When I woke in the morning, the bed was empty but several voices were coming from the kitchen. I threw on one of Tex’s band t-shirts and walked out into the kitchen. I needed coffee. Stat.

Walker was waiting at the kitchen bench, my favorite mug in hand, and I could have kissed him. So I did. Yay. Standing on my tippy-toes, I pecked his lips, lingering a little. His lips were soft but hesitant, and when a throat cleared behind me I understood why. Maybe I should have worn underwear.

I turned and saw X grinning from behind me. I guess he just got an eyeful of my ass. My cheeks flushed, but I gave him a cool look. “I hope you are here to apologize?”

He raised an eyebrow. “For what?”

I shook my head and took a long sip of my coffee to fortify my patience. “For ruining my date by almost dying. For biting me without asking my permission. For giving me an unwanted orgasm.”

“Is an orgasm ever really unwanted?” He grinned. I pursed my lips and he sighed. “Sorry, Love. For biting without your permission at least. That was wrong. For ruining your date though?” He looked over my shoulder at Walker. “I did get stabbed in the back with a blade that will ensure the wound never fully heals, just for you, so you’ll have to give me some leeway there.”

He didn’t seem in the least bit apologetic. I looked at his hard, scarred face, the tattoos that ran up his neck and down his arms, tattoos, and scars he must have gotten as a human. He must have lived a rough life filled with violence before his turning. Getting a man like that to bend would be almost impossible. But I’d be damned if I didn’t want to try. So, inexplicably, instead of getting mad, I rolled my eyes and went to the fridge to find a yogurt. None of that light crap they make you eat when you diet. A full fat, full cream sugar-laden concoction that was amazing. No such thing as undead diabetes, thank god.

I grabbed a spoon and pointed it at him. “You bring up an interesting point. Why did you get stabbed in the back with the Traitor’s Blade, and how was it for me exactly? We are basically strangers.” I jumped up onto the bench beside Judge, who’d been silent so far. He leaned over and kissed my cheek, and I smiled at my sexy drifter. His midnight eyes ate me up, and suddenly I wanted to be back in bed. That was just the effect Judge had on me. And apparently on Tex, if his twitching nose and hooded gaze was anything to go by.

“Sure thing, Love. But then you gotta explain to me how you’ve bewitched this many incorrigible bachelors. Maybe you have a venomous vag-” Walker cleared his throat, and X grinned. “Tongue. Maybe you have a venomous tongue too?”

My laugh echoed around the kitchen. “Some of us just have a winning personality. You should work on that, X.” I leaned my head on Judge’s shoulder as I ate my yogurt. “What’s X short for anyway? Xavier? Axolotl?”

“Executioner.”

I looked between him and Judge. Pieces started to click. “Judge. Executioner. Who was the Jury?” All mirth left both X and Judge’s faces, which was an answer in itself. “It was Miranda, wasn’t it? Impartial Jury.”

Judge gave a short nod, but X’s face remained shut down. So much history there, a mystery that I wanted to solve but I was convinced I wasn’t going to like the answer. If ignorance was bliss, then sign me up.

“I’m going to assume that Executioner wasn’t the name you were born with?”

X’s lips twitched. “Harry. But Harry is dead, I don’t go by that anymore.” His face was scary at that moment, so I nodded. X it was.

Brody was sitting at the table, eating toast and reading the paper through the whole exchange, appearing oblivious, or at least unconcerned, until he spoke up. “You were saying about how you got the knife wound?”

X sighed, and leaned back on his chair. “I would kill for a cup of tea right now? You got any English Breakfast?” At my blank look, he continued. “Lucius found out that I’d been working with Judge on the side, not declaring all the results of my investigation, namely the issue of you.” He looked me in the eyes and I realized his eyes were a nearly black shade of brown. “He found out that I warned you the Vampire Nation and its Enforcers were coming. He decided it was a betrayal of the code. I’ve been extradited. Banished with a knife in my back. So it looks like I’m bunking with you, Sweet Cheeks.” He looked longingly at my bare legs where they dangled over the end of the bench, though my ankles were crossed so I was being as respectable as a person could be while not wearing pants.

Someone let out a cough that sounded a little bit like, “No fucking way,” and I struggled to keep a straight face. “Judge has a spare room for you, I’m sure.”

Walker was shaking his head. “We need to ask the Council if you can stay first. We are on unstable ground with them already after we kind of forced Tex on them.”

“Hey!” The man in question protested. “I am not an unwanted stray puppy, despite what the Alpha Dick says.”

Brody laughed, punching Tex in the shoulder fondly. Judge kissed my cheek and went over to our tattooed anomaly. He reached down, placing his forefinger under Tex’s chin until he could lean down and kiss him softly. Watching the casual intimacy between the two of them hit me in the gut every time. It was always a weird combination of yearning, lust and something indescribable that filled my chest.

“A completely wanted stray puppy, don’t worry,” Judge murmured.

My eyes drifted to X, and he was watching the scene as well, but his face was inscrutable. He didn’t seem disgusted, or jealous or anything I could easily name. If he felt any particular way about the relationship between Judge and Tex, he was holding it close to his chest.

Everyone else was used to it now. Brody was still reading the paper, and Walker was standing beside me. I hadn’t realized I’d stopped with the spoon halfway to my mouth until he leaned in and stole the spoonful of yogurt.

“Hey!” I whispered, but he just waggled his eyebrows and licked his lips. I watched the tip of his tongue trace his full lower lip and groaned. Seriously. If I had my way, I’d never get out of bed. Too many hot guys in your life was hell on your motivation to put on pants every day, you know? He knew all too well the direction of my thoughts, and his hot look promised that one day he was going to use my body like it was his own personal toy and that I would love it. Yeah, a look could say all that.

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