Page 62 of Santa's Wish
I laughed at his explanation. "Should I fear them, too?"
"Never become too complacent. My children and I will be watching."
I shivered as Empress Marcella's presence left me again. This time, it felt permanent. "I think she's gone for good."
"She knows I'll keep you safe and fed." Santa pulled me to his side again and kissed my temple. We sat there so long the bench warmed to our body heat, which was saying something for two vampires.
"She said I should stop hiding who I am," Santa whispered. He turned to me. "My name is Nicholas."
I grinned. "I kinda figured. Enid told me."
He looked shocked that the witch knew his real name, but then he sighed and dropped his head back on my shoulder. "She learned it when she strengthened my warding spell. The original caster used my real name."
"It's not a huge leap to Santa," I said. "Saint Nicholas."
"I'm no saint."
"Most of the supernatural folks in this city would disagree with you," I said. "The shifters love you. Everyone I meet has a story about how you funded their school, gave them a place to stay when they first came to Boston, or provided food and clothes to the halfway houses."
"Penance," he said. "That doesn't make me a good person."
"The empress forgave you," I reminded him. "Are you going to stop funding all your causes tomorrow, now that your penance has ended?"
He snorted. "No."
"See?" I kissed his cheek. "You are a good person."
He coughed some choice words into his fist and changed the subject. "So. Empress Marcella. What was it like having her tag along? I only had the pleasuretwice, for a few minutes at a time. She's been in your head for a week."
"I didn't think I'd like her being in my head," I said. "Now, I think I kinda miss her."
"Did she talk to you often?"
"Not really." Most times, I didn't know she was there. "I could sense her emotions sometimes, though. She was really smug when she discovered the history between you and Cassius."
He shivered and pulled me tighter to his side. "She knew the vampire who helped me. She said she was older than the mountains, but she had to be joking, right? Humans aren't that old."
"Not on earth, anyway."
If side-eye could kill …. "You sound like those creepy guys in tinfoil hats."
His side-eye became a full-on stubborn glare when I turned his head toward me. To make him forget my silly comment, I kissed him. I showed him everything I couldn't say, not yet.
"Let's get you home and see what else you feel like doing with that mouth," he said.
"I thought I needed Dr. Bredlow to clear me for sex."
He blew a raspberry into the air. "Dr. Bredlow would make us wait just to spite me. And I didn't mean sex, exactly. More kissing?"
"More kissing sounds divine."
We raced home, with me following Santa across streams and through dense woods off the highway. Each obstacle gave me more confidence as I easily dodged or leaped over branches, swerved around tree trunks, and even uprooted a stump I hadn't seen in my way. All that, and I arrived at home without a scratch on me.
After that, we didn't stop with kisses. We fucked like feral animals wrestling for dominance. Santa topped me first, but it was my turn after a few minutes. Even my recovery time was faster as a vampire.
By the time morning came, we were both all fucked out. When my heart started to slow, I knew what the empress had known upon leaving my head. Bloodlust wouldn't be a problem now that I'd replaced it with the sexual lust I felt for Santa. Lust, and so much more.
As a human, my emotions had always been far more garbled than the simple language of numbers. Now, I swore I could understand my own emotions as well as I could balance a checkbook or figure percentages. I was in love with the most charming vampire on the eastern seaboard. I had all the time in the world to convince him to love me, too.
