Could I Be A Werewolf? [BOOK 2]

I laughed, but it was breathless. "If you were, I'd be coming right now."

I was egging him on, and he knew it. I didn't want slow Bane, who drew everything out and kept me on my knees for hours. I wanted fast Bane, who drove in hard enough to leave marks and couldn't say anything besides "Peaches," "fuck," and "mine."

And as if he'd read my mind—which he, uh, had—Bane shifted his body, straightened himself, and thrust in hard. My back arched, I scratched at the tiled floor and writhed against him.

We stayed in that bathroom past sunset, I came more times than I could count, and it was wonderful. Just...hmm...wonderful.

Chapter Ten: All Hail the Queen, King, and Then Another Queen

"Thank you so much again, Thea," I gushed as I hugged the alpha tightly.

She smiled and smoothed my hair back as we parted. "You're welcome, Peaches. And you can come here anytime."

Lorenzo snorted beside her. "She might take you up on that offer, Thea."

I rolled my eyes at the Lorenzo, but I still reached up and gave him a hug. I expected him to pull back or away, but he lifted me off the ground and squeezed me back. "You're not too bad, kid."

Wow, had the Alpha just said something nice to me? Lorenzo put me back down and Bane's hand wrapped around my waist instantly. I felt a growl reverberate through his chest. "Thanks, friend."

It was another few minutes of hugs from the kids and tearful goodbyes before we were in our Buick, waving as we drove away. Bane had his hands on the steering wheel as he navigated us through the mine shaft. I was happy that the alpha had allowed us to move our cars onto his property and shown us the secret entrance. Of course he hadn't taken the wards for coming in off, so a beta had had to move the cars, but we were fine going out.

I leaned over and rested my head on Bane's shoulder. The last 48 hours with my husband had been great. Now that the tension between us had simmered down and only little things like me not wanting to be a queen were the issue, we were good. The only reason we were leaving anyway was because the pack had only been a temporary thing until I (a) figured out what I was or (b) learned how to fight and think a little before I spoke. It had been more like a boot camp than a prison towards the end.

"So, where are we going now?" I asked. Were we going to a shifter island, or a faery kingdom, or what? Bane seemed to have all the info on the paranormal happenings, and now that I knew a little more about my powers and felt a little more comfortable in my skin I was up for an adventure.

"I was actually thinking the beach," he said quietly as we rumbled through the tunnel. Bane couldn't speed through for fear of it collapsing, so for once I wasn't in crash position. If he drove like this a bit more often, I might feel more comfortable doing other things in the car.

"What things?" he purred, fingers tightening on the wheel.

I chuckled and leaned up to lick the shell of his ear. "Why are we going to the beach?"

He groaned low. "I was thinking a vacation away from all of this might be nice. A honeymoon, if you will."

I leaned back and gaped at him. I did a little dance and then hugged him. The car veered for a second before he straightened it. "A honeymoon! Let's go down to Disney World. Oh, how 'bout Key West?"

Bane chuckled. "Wherever you want to go, habibiti."

I was busy planning our Disney and Key West trip, and telling Bane that we should probably get a Disney Vacation Club membership because I wanted to go down all the time and take cruises and see the world and stuff, when we finally made it out. Sunlight hit our windshield and blinded me for a second. The mine had been dark, lighted only by scattered worker lights.

We began to go down the mountain, Samantha and Luther following in a Tesla, and Casper in his blue Prius. I stared out at the trees as we made our way down. "Are Samantha, Luther, and Casper going to come with us?"

Bane smiled and gave me a quick glance. "If you want them to."

I thought about that. Doing Disney was a lot of fun with more people. There were the nightclubs in Downtown Disney, the cruises, the theme parks. Maybe for the first week or two, having Samantha, Luther, and Casper there would be fun, but I expected to spend a few days curled up with Bane in our bed.

I shrugged. "Only if they want to come."

I felt Bane's hand on my thigh as we picked up speed, and I maneuvered myself into crash position yet again. "Alright."

We had just come off the mountain, going a good fifteen miles over the speed limit, when something hit us. Thank goodness for crash position, because our car flipped and we tumbled sideways for a good while before landing. My eyes were wide, there was glass everywhere, and all the airbags had gone off. I was hyperventilating. "Holy shit," I whispered.

We were right side up but the car was totaled, with steam coming out from under the hood. Suddenly my door was wrenched open, and a pair of arms were unbuckling me and pulling me out. I fought like a wild thing before Bane's scent hit me. Bane had this unusual smell, like exotic oil, something from the Middle East, probably Egypt.

He used his vampire speed to take us a good ways away from our totalled car. I leaned on him, gasping in air, shaking. I'd thought I was going to be kidnapped again. And it was only then that I realized how badly Ariel's kidnapping had affected me. I think it was the surprise, being caught off guard, that was the worst.

"What happened?" Luther zipped over to us, Samantha in his arms. Casper was there a second later, looking at the wreckage.

Before I could even open my mouth to try to explain, Bane was suddenly ripped from my arms. I watched as two blurs went at it in the road, forest all around us. Casper moved in front of me, and I saw his fangs lengthen and his body tense. Cool hands closed around my own, and I looked over to see Samantha clutching onto me. I looked into her eyes, but I didn't see fear there. I saw cool determination. If someone tried to attack us, she'd open her mouth and let all hell loose with her witchy powers. I shuddered as her memories came back to me. I had no doubt she'd do it, too.

I heard grunting, laughter, and I turned back to the fighting blurs. They were moving at hyper speed, just jumping, rolling, smudges against asphalt. And then it stopped. Well, I mean, they stopped. Bane was on top, his knee pressed into the other vampire's stomach, hand around his throat.

I pushed Casper aside and went to Bane. I stopped when I heard his voice, not directed at me, but at the person underneath him. "A simple hello would have sufficed, Zenobia."

I blinked in surprise as feminine laughter hit my ears. The woman underneath Bane didn't struggle against his restraint. "I alway like to make an entrance, brother."

I blanched. This was Zeno? This crazy bitch who almost killed me in a car accident was Bane's sister? The woman turned her head as much as she could toward me and glared silently. "Bitch is unnecessary. And you would not have died. If Bane really cared about you, you would have lived. And look, you did."

Bane sighed and let the woman up. "How long have you been waiting?"

The woman climbed to her feet and dusted off her khaki capris and maroon blouse. "A couple days. Damn dogs wouldn't let me come up to see my big brother."

I took a good look at Zeno. She was hot, like most supernaturals I'd met, but she had a sort of spicy heat to her. She had long, thick, curly brown hair that reached her butt. Big breasts, fat ass, and almond shaped eyes that had that come hither look to them. Her skin was much lighter than Bane's, almost a toffee color; and despite a slight Arabic accent, she didn't look a thing like my husband.

"That is because we are distantly blood related." Zeno turned to me and tossed her hair.

Then she was in front of me, looking me up and down. "So this is the girl I've been hearing so much about."

Bane was in front of me the next time I blinked. "What is it you want?"

Her voice was sweet and I bet—though I couldn't see with Bane blocking me—that she was pouting. "To see my brother's new wife, of course, and test her mettle."

Bane went rigid when Casper stepped up beside him. I wondered why, but in the next instant I got my answer. The next thing I knew Zeno's legs were around Casper's hips, her fingers were deep in his hair, and her tongue was down his throat. Wo-ha-oah. Uh-huh, get it, Casper!

"Peaches." Luther was in my head. "Get into my car, now."

His voice was worried, rushed. Yeah, Bane's sister seemed a couple cards short of a deck, but she also seemed kind of fun. The type of girl you took out drinking, but you made sure to hide her car keys. I had friends like Zeno, and I knew how to deal with them.

I blinked again; Zeno was in front of me, I was away from Bane, and she was licking her lips. "I am sure you have never met a person like me."

"If you touch her— "

Zeno laughed harshly, the kind of laugh I'd tried for many of times but just sucked at. "You will do what?"

"Kill you."

His sister scoffed. "Kazaab, you would never do that." Zeno turned and looked at me. "Are you ready, little queen?"

Awh, she thought I was little. That was the nicest thing anyone had ever said to me. "For what?"

She blinked, looked at Bane and then back to me, a frown marring her perfectly arched brows. "Our fight, of course."

Chapter Eleven: It's About to Be a What? Peaches Fight!

Bane stepped towards us. "That is an ancient practice I have—"

"It is a practice between queens. You have no say here, Miliki," she interrupted. Oh, she was gonna get herself hurt if she kept interrupting Bane. "You want her to be one of us, yes?"

Bane growled and tried to argue. "She's not ready."

Zeno sidestepped me and stood toe-to-toe with her brother. "The moment you claimed her as your wife you also marked he as queen. Didn't you?"

His jaw clenched.

Zeno sucked her teeth and continued. "This is a tradition that surpasses even your rule, brother. Step aside or I will kill her for your interference."

His voice was low, eyes narrowed. "You will kill her anyway."

She laughed and I got a strange feeling that she wasn't at all like I'd first thought. Forget missing a few cards; this woman was using a joker and calling it a deck. "She still stands, Miliki. Had I wanted her dead, she would be dead."

I watched Bane's jaw tighten and lock. A victorious smile crossed Zeno's face before she turned back to me. Victorious? I meant to say savage and evil. I didn't really believe her whole "if I wanted her dead" bit, because she was looking at me like her fangs might accidentally slip into my neck and rip out my throat.

"Don't worry," she said, but it didn't really comfort me. "It is only a fight to see if you are worthy to be queen."

Oh, so there really was no getting out of this, huh? A memory of Bane saying, "your actions tonight will have consequences," came back to me. I'd been an idiot and we'd had to be married, thereby leg-shackling us together until one of us bit the big one. Had this been one of those consequences? Fighting his crazy vampire sister?

"I'm sorry, why are we fighting again?" I wanted to know what was going to be put on my tombstone. Here lies Peaches, who got in a fight with a vampire because the chick didn't like her hair.

"I actually like the purple." Zeno smiled as her fangs came out.

I touched my hair. "It's supposed to be red." I was beginning to think the purplish-lilac color wasn't from my shampoo at all, but another secret talent making itself known. Great, just great.

"We are fighting so that I can ensure you are fit to be queen of the Middle Eastern and African vampires. It wouldn't do well to pass the torch on to someone who could not carry it and would bring about the kingdom's destruction."

"So it's a test." My voice was incredulous. Where was the freaking rule book or list of all these stupid tests? I needed it in hardback form so I stopped being surprised.

She shifted her feet. "Of sorts." And then she launched herself at me. Chit-chat time was definitely over.

I didn't block her first punch because I suspected it was more of a test punch anyway, to see how good I was. And I got to see how good she was, too, because when she punched me I skimmed her mind.

She does not look very special. I took the punch, grunted, and glared at her. I was hella special.

I focused, tried to calm myself down so my emotions didn't change my eye color. Luther had told me that vampires didn't try to read minds when they were fighting, because they were usually fighting vamps so there was no point. That, and if they were fighting humans, humans reacted more on instinct.

My greatest weapon, Luther had told me, was that I could read minds. I knew where Zeno was going to attack me and when she was going to attack me. I skimmed her mind often, careful not to go too deep. Something told me that showing this vampire any of my powers could put me in serious danger, and her next thought only solidified that. He said she had special powers. Maybe he was wrong.

I was wheezing, my ribs were cracked, and everything hurt like a bitch. Yeah, I could see why she thought I didn't have anything special. Why get pummeled if I had powers to protect myself. Because I didn't trust Zeno, and I'd take a punch over showing her my powers. What if she knew what I was? What is she wanted to use me? All my powers defended whatever special thing I had, and I wasn't about to take the chance in thinking Zeno was all rainbows and sunshine.

Zeno paused, and I cleared my mind and returned to things that wouldn't get me in trouble. "Can we take five?" We hadn't even been fighting for ten, but whoo, that girl knew how to throw a punch.

She eyed me. "How do you keep dodging my attacks?"

I slapped my hands on my knees and looked up at her. "Is that what you think I'm doing? 'Cause from where I'm bent over in pain, that isn't the case."

Zeno still looked hot-to-trot and gorgeous while my hair had come out of its haphazard bun, blood was on me, I was bruised and swollen, and my clothes were torn. I hadn't been able to land a single hit, and usually I could hold my own in a catfight, but than, she was a vampire. I should have suspected pain was gonna be the name of the game.

I watched her tilt her head, shrug her shoulders, and then attack me again. The new round of hits I just couldn't block, and my speedy healing wasn't fast enough. She jumped back not even a minute later and I was on the ground, coughing up blood.

"Uncle," I wheezed and coughed. "Uncle."

He must be wrong. I skimmed the thoughts from Zeno's mind. She has no powers, just smells different. I will make this quick so that Bane won't interfere. She's not worthy to be called queen.

And that's when I knew playtime was over. Zeno used vamp speed to attack me, but I plucked her actions from her mind. She was going for my heart. I was still on the ground so when she came at me, I kicked out my leg, tripped her, and rolled away. I paused in my roll, saw that she was down, and didn't even think as I spit acid at her back.

Bane's sister screamed as I continued my roll, then climbed to my feet once some of the damage she'd inflicted healed. She was on her feet too, clawing at her back. Her mind was a whirl of pain, and I watched red bleed into the light brown of her eyes.

She charged me the next second. I turned my head like a sprinkler and spit acid, hoping to catch her. I heard her scream and I stopped.

"Argh!" Her cries were deafening, but I knew I didn't have a lot of time. If I hesitated, she'd get up and really kill me.

I was quick, using everything I'd learned from Luther and Casper in the last week. I charged her, kneed her in the gut then crushed her to the ground with a hand at her neck, turning her head. "Tell me I won or I'll acid you again and let it eat through your spine and kill you."

The woman clawed at me, trying to throw me off. I gripped her tighter. "Tell me!" I opened my mouth. I was not dying today. Hell no!

"You win! You win!" she screamed and I pushed away from her.

Blood spurted from my mouth a second before warm arms wrapped around me. Ugh, everything hurt. Pain was my best friend, and I hated the bitch. Fighting with Zeno was nothing like fighting with Casper. What had he been doing? Love taps?

I coughed up blood as my body tried to piece itself back together again. I didn't heal as fast as vampires, but I healed a lot faster than humans. A shallow cut took about thirty seconds to heal instead of the instantaneous healing vampires had. Broken bones took about ten minutes, and organs? I didn't know about those. Point was, I'd be alright in an hour or so, but right then I would have traded my soul for a titanium body that had no nerve endings, or an instant fix-all for the pain.

"I'm sorry, habibiti," Bane whispered to me.

"It's okay," I forced out as my wounds began to heal. Don't get me wrong, the healing was just as painful, but hey, at least I was healing. Thank goodness for small mercies.

Chapter Twelve: Don't You Say It!

I tried to look on the bright side. I wasn't dead. I'd paid Zeno back for every punch, and I wasn't dead. Yeah, that was a big one. I wasn't sure if I'd come back if I died again, and I wasn't about to take that chance. The road was clear for the entire time both Zeno and I spent healing. It wasn't like a bunch of people traveled on backwater roads where "Forbidden" signs for a mine were posted, so we were relatively safe from prying eyes.

It was about half an hour before we were both healed enough to head back to the cars. Apparently, I had done a real number on Zeno, because even healed, she looked a hot mess. Half her hair was growing back, along with one eye and half her face. A couple of other places were growing back, too. Overall, I was pretty proud of myself.

Bane called up to Lorenzo and Thea to let them know about his totalled car, and then Bane and I rode with Samantha and Luther while Zeno—yeah, she tagged along. She'd been driven, so she didn't have a car—rode with Casper.

As soon as we got in the car and started driving, I spoke. "We're not trusting her, right?"

"We are," Bane said beside me.

"Huh? Cause I thought—ya know, reading her mind and everything—she was trying to kill me."

"She was."

"But that's, like, a good thing?"

"Zenobia's methods are...archaic," Luther supplied from the front seat, eyes catching mine in the rearview mirror. "And even if she had killed you, there's a chance you would have come back."

"I don't like chances."

No one said anything and I realized that no matter what Zeno had done we were trusting her, so I'd need to get over the whole she tried to kill me thing sooner rather than later.

I sighed. "Does this mean we're not going to Disney World?" If that was the case, I was going to be super bummed.

Bane had his head turned away from me and he seemed to be listening to something. I watched his lips move, but I couldn't hear any sound come out. I tapped his shoulder. "You listening or just talking to yourself like a crazy person?"

He looked down at me. "I'm talking to Zenobia and Casper."

Oh. "Hey, why didn't she change her name to, like, Hot Pocket or something?" I was terrible at coming up with names, and I was hungry. I was always hungry nowadays, but I was especially hungry now. I usually got a buffet amount of food after training with Casper, but there was no food in Luther's car because Samantha was a dainty thing that didn't eat very much, unlike me. When I'd tried to go and get the duffle bag of snacks from our only slightly burning car, Bane had rolled his eyes and thrown me into the back seat. He really didn't understand how hungry I was. He'd figure it out when I started biting off his head.