Page 64 of Unholy Gambit: Checkmate in Blood
Axel nodded. “Then I’ll need a home with guest quarters, so I have my own flock handy. I’ll prefer straight male shapeshifters, as I won’t be having sex with them, only feeding from them.”He knew this meant the recruiter likely had a few possibilities Marco had decided against, since he wouldn’t be interested in paying room, food, and college tuition for someone he couldn’t fuck.
“Julian will be texting the contact info for a Realtor. She’s the wife of the bikers’ President, so treat her with respect.”
* * * *
Meeting with the local Master Vampire still wasn’t anywhere near as nerve wracking as dinner with his Aury’s parents. For starters, Axel doesn’t eat, and it took a lot to convince Aury’s mother that he did, indeed, love her food.
Perhaps her experience with the Celrau, and then having memories rewritten by Axel, all those years ago had made her less susceptible to suggestions, but he had to work harder to make her see him eating, to believe him when he told her what a great cook she is.
But it looked like they were going to have dinner with her parents every week, not a problem in the winter, but it might be hard to explain why he couldn’t arrive until later when summer arrived.
Axel stopped to purchase wine he thought would go best with Mrs. de Saint Claire’s beef bourguignon. For his first dinner invitation, she’d made roasted leg of lamb, and his Aurélie had tasteddivinelater that night. He couldn’t feed from her on this night, but he took small sips when he injected his special orgasm cocktail into her, and he’d certainly do so later.
Epilogue
Eleven Months Later
Aury woke to the sunshine at nearly noon and couldn’t help her smile. She was deliciously sore from a night with her vampire.
She made her way to the kitchen, pulled the leftover Coq au Vin from the fridge, nuked it, and sat to eat it.
One of the people Axel paid to live in the guest cottage was in a culinary program at the local college, and she got to eat the fruits of his education. Three men lived out there, all shapeshifters, and they took turns feeding Axel, since she could only do so about every six or seven weeks, depending on how well she ate, and how quickly her body bounced back.
Shapeshifters could feed him multiple times per week.
Food, shower, and then a tutoring lesson — not her teaching others, but her mentor teaching her.
It’d been a crazy year on the chess circuit, and at twenty-four years old, she’d made it to the World Chess Championship Candidates Tournament. Making it into the deciding tournament washugefor a twenty-four-year-old. It’d put her in the top nine chess players on the planet.
She hadn’t expected to win, her personal goal was to place in the top five, and she’d wound up third, which made her arguably the fourth best chess player on planet earth. At twenty-four.
She’d still be going to the World Championship, though. Not to play, but she’d received a special invitation to help with the official broadcast.
Life with a vampire meant she had her days to do her chess stuff — being tutored and tutoring others, keeping her channel active. She was also taking a martial arts class with Ruby, and was possibly addicted to hot yoga.
Axel was gone the first week of every month, though that could be a little flexible, if he needed to travel with her, or if they had a special occasion she wanted him home for.
The night they’d moved into the house they’d chosen together, tucked beneath the soft gray skies of a Tennessee winter, he’d gone to bed with her, given her more orgasms than she could count, and then whisperedmineagainst her skin as she drifted off to sleep, and meant it in the most sacred, human way.
Together, they’d built a quiet rhythm.
By spring, they had a second bedroom that smelled of books and cedar and laughter.
Ruby was, of course, given a key and a bedroom of her own. She still keeps her apartment, but she spends more nights with them than she does her place. She’s farther from the natural eagles here, so she can change and fly more often.
Since the first time Aury had seen her friend undress, turn into an eagle, and fly away, she’d fallen in love with her Ruby’s bird form. It wasn’t unusual for Ruby to hang out in a tall poplar tree near the house, and Axel had hired contractors to build a roof-level deck, along with a door out of the attic to access it. It’d turned into a favorite breakfast spot for the two women over the summer.
And her Axellovedto feed her. For a vampire, he spent a lot of time with farmers — buying fresh strawberries, local milk and cream, goat cheese. He’d even found a source for locally grown beef, though she later discovered Ruby had been the one to clue him in about that.
Aury loved feeding her vampire, too. Since she couldn’t do it often, she tried to make it super-special when she could. She’d go days eating the foods she knew made her blood taste the best — steaks, eggs, cheeses, with very little veggies and nothing processed — so she’d be as savory and delicious as possible.
Sometimes, she watched when he fed from the shapeshifters. It was hot in a way she couldn’t explain, drinking them down, settling them comfortably with a bottle of grape juice, and then walking her into another room, lifting her dress, bending her over the mattress, and slamming into her.
When she’d finished all of her chess business for the day, she went to their downstairs luxurious master bathroom, so he’d be able to come to her when he rose.
She was soaking in the tub when she felt the moment life came back into him.
His mind immediately touched hers, and she went all warm inside.Still. Every day. Every time.
