Page 45 of Pleasantly Undead in Dark River

I laughed. “You got it.” Then because I couldn't help it, I dragged him into the kitchen and kissed the hell out of him. The pups and the store had consumed all my time, and I missed my Mate. Both of them.

“We’ll get someone else to watch the pups tonight. Me, you and Brody will go for a run in the sunrise, what do you think?”

He kissed me one last time, bending me back a little over the arm banded tightly around my lower back. “I’d go anywhere with you.”

I believed him with my whole heart. Soon enough, all my guys had bustled off home or to their own jobs, and it was just me and Nico, and the town of Dark River. It felt good to have a purpose. Like I belonged somewhere.

I was Raine Baxter, Business owner and citizen of Dark River. And for the first time, I was completely happy with that.

The next weekwent too fast. There were three more suitors who wanted to ride the succubus bus, but they all left easily. Though one guy with eerily pale hair and eyes glared at me the whole time. It was seriously off putting, but Nico was enough of a deterrent. I’d gotten used to the strange vampires turning up on my doorstep, but I hoped it ended soon.

I was exhausted, waking up early and going to sleep late, I barely saw anyone outside of the bedroom. Brody had gone back to the Packlands for a couple of days to deal with some things, which meant Tex was in charge of the kids during the day, although both X and Judge had taken a day off to help him out. I was completely jealous of their ability to daywalk.

When Brody had returned from the Packlands, he’d had a teenage girl in tow.

She looked a little like Brody, with his high cheekbones and full mouth. I’d briefly wondered if he had a love child, until he introduced us.

“Raine, this is Everly. She’s Kelly’s daughter.” Well that explains the resemblance. “She’s moving here to help you in the shop, and to help us with the pups during the day.”

I looked between Nico, who’d come to stand beside me, and Brody. “Surely the Town Council couldn’t possibly be happy about that?”

Nico nodded. “You need some free time from The Immortal Cupcake, and having more connections to the pack is never a hardship. It's good for public relations.”

I looked back at Brody. “Kelly okayed this?”

It was Everly who spoke. Well, snorted. “I don’t want to spend the rest of my life in Nîso. They won’t let me go to the city by myself, so this was a compromise. Though how a township of vampires who want to eat me could possibly be considered safer than the city is beyond me.”

I couldn’t help my smirk, because she wasn’t wrong. “She makes a decent point. You guys smell delicious. Are you sure you want to take that risk?”

Brody shrugged. “They are fine with Tex, and now the pups. I have faith in them, and if not, well, Everly is Kelly’s daughter after all.”

I didn’t know what the hell that meant, but I let it go. I let out a shuddering sigh. “Thank God. I don’t think I could handle working from sundown until sun-up for the rest of eternity.” Everyone looked relieved then, and I realized they thought I was going to throw a tantrum about it. They didn’t appreciate how exhausted I was. How much I missed everyone. “Welcome aboard. Are you going to live above the cafe?”

In my old apartment. The one where I’d nearly killed Walker. But it was still warded against vampires. Well most vampires. The only one that was a threat to Everly was dead though.

The girl looked excited, and I realized she was probably a year or so younger than me. I just felt a million years old. Dying will do that to a person.

Brody scruffed her hair and she looked wildly annoyed. “She can help out with the pups too, so we can have a bit more free time. Babysitting her cousins, so to speak.” Everly groaned, but there was a smile on her face.

“Hell, I’m in. Welcome to Dark River, Everly.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

It was my date night with Walker, and he’d come over straight after work. He was mouthwatering in his uniform, and I grinned at the handcuffs still on his belt. Handcuffs in a town of vampires seemed kind of redundant, right? But apparently they were magic infused silver that sapped the strength from any paranormal being.

Tex and Judge sat on the couch, Nico was at his house, and X was doing God knew what. Probably building a Frankenstein in his clinic. Brody was back with the Pack, again. Apparently there was shit going down in the Shifter world that needed his attention, but I missed my Shapeshifter Alpha.

We went to Walker’s house and he ran me a bath as he cooked dinner. I mean, not the typical definition of a date, but I needed it all the same. The time alone to just relax. I floated in the hot water, its cloud of bubbles tickling my nose, I let out a shuddering breath. Yeah, I definitely needed this, and Walker knew it.

When I emerged an hour later, Walker was in a pair of low slung jeans, his hair combed back and his feet bare. He’d decorated the dining table with candles and there was wine chilling in a bucket. It was romantic as hell, and it made me a little misty. Even though we were committed, he still made the effort to be romantic.

Okay, so maybe having seven mates wasn’t all bad. I was only dressed in one of his button down dress shirts, the sleeves rolled up, but he looked at me like I was the most amazing thing he’d ever laid eyes on. I tried not to think about how much of that was me and how much of that was my succubus blood, instead taking it as what it was. Two lovers staring at each other in awe.

“Raine…” he breathed. “I made food, but suddenly I’m no longer hungry for marinara.”

I flushed. “It smells delicious though.”

He was in front of me in the blink of an eye. “Not as delicious as you,” he groaned as he swept me up into his arms and walked me toward the couch. He sat down, his hands running up under his shirt over my lace covered ass.

---