Wait, Am I A Zombie? [BOOK 3]

"It was the same for me." The words were whispered in my mind, a slight catch mixed into them. "I am hard and I am flawed. I know this. But never doubt that you mean more to me than anything."

I didn't doubt it. Not for a second.

Samantha and Luther popped in front of us in the next second, and bane couldn't stop the involuntary snarl or step back he took from our friends.. "I'll ward your rooms." She looked at me, and something moved in her brown eyes. Maybe it was that power I knew she had but she kept on a firm leash. "No one else disturbs you tonight."

Oh, I had no doubt she'd deliver on that promise too. I smiled and nodded. "Thanks, Samantha."

The witch smiled softly, another of her grandmother grins. It really did look weird on the teen-looking girl. Luther and Samantha looked like summer sweethearts, young and naive. I think it was part of their charm, but also their weapon.

I watched her turn and step into her husband's arms.

"Luther." Bane's voice cut off their departure.

Luther lifted his head and I caught a quick look at his eyes. They were blood red, the same red I'd seen the first time I'd met him. Samantha was siphoning off power, but I couldn't understand how or why.

The Merchant lowered his gaze and sighed deeply. "You might remember I am not your enemy, Miliki."

"Are we sure of that?" Bane said quietly. "Sides are easy to switch. Integrity easy to lose."

Luther glanced up, and I watched a look I wasn't really sure how to decipher crossed his face. Red eyes switched to me, even though his words were directed at Bane. "I don't think you truly believe that, Miliki."

There was a message in there, but if he thought I was coherent enough to understand it now then he was an idiot. I was running on fumes. No. Past that.

Samantha whispered a soft "Good night," and then they were gone. A gust of wind mixed with a black night.

Seriously, when did I become a poet?

Bane continued walking and I didn't even think about the fact that he was carrying me with less effort than I used with groceries. "Maybe around the same time you became a zombie."

I tucked my head against his chest. "I'm not a zombie."

I closed my eyes as he sped us down the hall to the elevators we'd come down on. "Really?" He stopped, pressed the down arrow, and waited for the lift. "You look the part."

I knew it wasn't a compliment. I glared up and him and slapped him lightly. "Aren't husbands supposed to always say their wives look fabulous?"

He stared down, and I noticed more red bleed into the brown of his iris. "I thought they were also supposed to be honest with them."

I rolled my eyes, but smiled. "White lies, Bane. Learn how to use 'em."

"You don't like when I lie."

"White lies are different. They don't hurt; they bolster."

The elevator bell sounded and he climbed on. I wrapped my arms back around his neck. He smelled good. Heavy. Whatever oil he'd used this time was more, uh, pungent. Was that the right word? Whatever, it was stronger.

"I will... try to be honest," he said so quietly, if I hadn't been pressed up to his chest I'm not sure I would have heard it. "But fear is a difficult thing to shake."

"What are you afraid of, Bane?" Vampire King and ancient warrior that he was, I found it impossible the man had any remaining fear.

His smile was beautiful and sad. "The power you hold in those tiny hands."

It felt like no time at all before we were finally in our hotel suite, and Bane put me down. I swayed on my feet, but he caught me. "You need to rest."

I waved off his concern as I trekked to the bedroom and kicked off my clothes on the way. "I need a shower."

The bathroom reminded me of the same one we'd stayed at in Vermont. Black heated marble, and big enough to double as a room. The noticeable differences were the shower that was just a half-pane of glass, and the heated towel rack embedded in the wall.

I slipped off my thong and lace bra—things that I'd sort of been hoping Bane would rip off me at the end of the night—and walked into the shower. I turned it on immediately, closed my eyes and let the slowly heating water wash over me. Man, did I feel dirty. Disgusting. I'd take rolling in a tub of crap over having some dead guy's blood on me any day of the week.

I didn't have to turn my head to know when Bane slipped behind me. I knew he was there. It was his smell.

"I'm not wearing any cologne."

My eyes popped open and I looked over my shoulder. I almost drooled. Dark naked skin, corded muscles, and a thick, heavy—I snapped my eyes back up to his face. "What do you mean you're not wearing any cologne?"

I hadn't just been smelling things—if that was even a thing. He always smelled exotic, spicy, ancient. It wasn't like he woke up and sprayed something on, it was an oil. It was against his skin.

"It is my skin."

Huh?

Bane leaned in and crowded the small space of the shower. "That scent. It is me."

I turned fully in the small space, and he backed me further in until the shower knob hit my back. The water was scalding now, running mostly over Bane but splashing me. The man didn't seem fazed in the least.

"What are you doing?" I squeaked when he leaned even closer. I never squeaked! I never shrunk back or got—OMG, no!—wet from being cornered. Not like shower wet, but like two good rubs away from coming wet.

Bane leaned closer. "Nothing."

Well! That was a lie if I ever heard one.

"Really?" I couldn't feel the water anymore, which was weird because I was in a shower. The only thing I could feel was that knob digging into my back. I'd have a bruise in the morning, that was for sure. "'Cause it kind of feels like you're cornering me and getting ready to eat me like the wolf in Red Riding Hood."

He smiled, but it was all fang. Was that supposed to be comforting?

Bane leaned down and used a tongue that, I swear, was longer and hotter than usual to lick drops of bloodied water off my cheek. "I'm sure you'd like to be eaten, habibiti."

His hand was suddenly between my legs, parting my lips, flicking my clit. I gasped, and my hand slammed against the glass. Bane chuckled and his tongue snaked out to lick more bloodied water off my shoulder. "See. Cream." He pulled his fingers out and showed them to me. Long, dark fingers glistened with my fluids. "I think you're dying for me to eat you."

I watched him lick his fingers clean, and I was pretty sure I'd never seen anything so base. Wow. Bane was a lot of things, but he'd never been a tease, never been so... blunt during sex. Apparently that was about to change.

"What's gotten into you?" I whispered.

Anger flashed across his face before he was just... gone. I blinked, and my legs were suddenly up. Nothing was holding me up but Bane's hands and shoulders. I moaned, cried out, and lunged forward as he lowered me onto his face, legs draped over his shoulders, with my arms wrapped tightly around his head.

How was he doing this? I didn't have time to think about it before his tongue was suddenly in me. No preamble, no teasing. Nada. I bent low and the water hit my back, scalding hot. I screamed as his fangs rubbed my clit. His tongue wiggled inside of me, practically vibrating every which way, and hot water burned my back. My vision blurred, darkened. Then it returned, too bright. Everything stilled, everything hurt, and someone was screaming. Ohmygod, someone shut that woman up! Or call the police. Was she getting murdered?

It took me a second to realize that was me screaming, coming, screaming some more. Hot damn. Pleasure and pain blurred. The burning at my back healed slowly but was then burned again, and I was coming. Holy crap. I looked down at Bane. His back, and the back of his neck, were a mess of red marks and blood. I'd carved him up with my nails.

He pulled back, and his hands were under me again, holding me up instead of his shoulders. I looked down through the water cascading over my face and falling off my lashes. Or were those tears? I couldn't tell. Bane's face was pained, naked desire mixed in. "I thought I died when I couldn't find you."

What? I didn't understand what he—

My hand slammed into the glass and it broke. No, I broke. Shit, we both broke. Bane's head was back in between my thighs, except his fangs were in my clit and he was sucking, feeding from me, making me come. I moaned. I cried. I lost my ever loving mind.

Chapter Fourteen: This Mad House of Ours

I'm not sure if I ever did get clean in that shower. Mainly because I passed out while Bane was still going down on me and getting his midnight snack from my, ahem, private place. I blushed just thinking about it. But I did feel clean so I was pretty sure my husband had patched me up and gave me a good scrubbing.

That was what I was going to tell myself, anyway.

I stared up at the ceiling in our bedroom as I lounged naked on the bed with my hands on my stomach. I was dry, I was sort of rested even though I probably hadn't been out for more than half an hour, and I was content. "Bane?"

"Hmm?" I felt the sound rumble against my side and my thighs clenched. "What is it, habibiti?"

I didn't look at him. It hurt sometimes. I wasn't sure why, but looking at Bane after sex was like looking at a lion relaxing while being a gazelle. It was unnerving. I was totally naked and defenseless during sex; I think Bane was, too, but that animal part of him was still there. Possessiveness wasn't just a trait for him: it was him. If pissing on me would get his scent all over me better than screwing my brains out, I had no doubt he'd do it. "What do I smell like now? I mean, with everything that's happened—do I smell different?"

He readjusted in the bed, turned and looked at me. I still couldn't meet his eyes. "You smell sharper, more complex. Sex at its core, most elemental form."

"And what form is that?"

"Life," he said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Sex is fun but it does have a purpose. Furthering a species, sustaining life."

"Sex and life."

"My two favorite things."

I finally looked at him, dark brown eyes with red bleeding into them. He was hungry. I smirked, feeling entirely too satisfied with myself. He'd used too much energy.

"Is it a bad thing though?" I had this irrational fear that with every new talent or thing that popped up, someone was going to discover what I was and it wasn't going to be something that I wanted to be. It didn't make sense to me that no one had heard of an acid spitting, purple-haired creature before. And what if I was the last of whatever I was? Why had I been hunted or killed? Did I have something inside me that was in high demand, or was it that I was evil?

Bane rolled over on top of me and braced his arms on either side of my head. "You're not evil." His smile was crooked. "You might be brass and ballsy, a little inept at times, and have a very short attention span, but you are not bad."

I ignored the inept part and all the other bad stuff he said about me, because I heard the end sentence that he didn't say. And even with all of that, I love you. The words were in Bane's mind, flowing out to me from his thoughts.

"I—" I stopped, the words blocked in my throat by his manipulation and lies. Now wasn't the time. "Say it. All of it."

My husband sat back and pull me up so I was sitting on his thighs, arms twined round his neck. "Georgia Elaine Kent. Peaches. My wife, my queen."

Damn his voice sounds serious. A shiver raced down my back at the enormity of his words, the weight sinking and settling. "Forty-one days ago I watched you stumble around an empty college campus. In the span of a heartbeat you fascinated me. That intrigue morphed into obsession, possession, worry, fear." His hands tightened at my waist, a hint of pain and fear. "I was afraid someone would take you. Afraid you would find out that I wasn't anything you needed."

He drew a breath as I waited, eyes clouding with unshed tears. This was huge. This was all the emotion and all the little truths that made up the capital ones. Time slowed and I could see the dust mites dance in the air. Breath came heavy and dug deep. My father telling me he had cancer; that moment was imprinted. Not quite the image, that was a little fuzzy at the edges, but the feeling was beating strong and alive in my memory. This would be one of those moments. It was in the air, my husband's grip, his eyes and all their apologies and demands.

I let out a slow breath and listened to him continue, "But you were incredible. The more time I spent with you the more I realized that you were it. There has never been anyone in the world as chaotically put together in the most brilliant display of life."

I was straight up crying now, and Bane was just holding me.

"You are my heart." His smile was absolute brilliance. "Habibiti, I love you."

Leaning forward, I slanted my lips over Bane's and kissed him with all the feeling I couldn't yet put into words. Before, I would have said them in a heartbeat, understanding the connotation but not truly grasping everything behind it. Now? When I told Bane I loved him, there wouldn't be a shadow of a doubt to the damn certainty of that statement. He wouldn't just get the words but their intent.

Love didn't spring into existence like in the movies. There wasn't a 'first glance' thing. We were animals. Instinct led us. Curiosity and desire propelled us. I was interested in Bane because he was a talking cat, attracted to the vampire because he was smoking hot, lusted after him because he made me stronger, never set limits, challenged me. I also hated him a good portion of the time because he was kinda a douche who lied. But the good outweighed the bad, and the bad was something we were working on together.

I arched, desperate for more than words. I needed all of him. "Do you have condoms?"

"What?"

"Condoms," I bit, leaning away to watch his expression. I was way too horny to play games, but not horny enough to forget him trying to make me a baby mama.

"I do. Of course, I do."

"Not 'of course,' Bane. You know that."

"I wanted to have my cake and eat it too, but I forgot about all the other—" his finger grazed my nipple "—sweets on the table."

Oh he wanted to play? "I can either come like this or with you inside me, but I am coming, Bane," I growled like the true werewolf I wasn't.

Vampire speed in effect, Bane reached over the side of the bed for a black plastic bag and tugged out a large box of condoms. He sliced his finger across the safety seal, pulled out a string and waved them in front of me. "I have never bought or worn them. Can you show me how to put them on?"

"Oh, Hell yes!" I gushed sliding off his lap and onto my back. "Straddle my chest."

Bane raised a brow, but crawled up my body until his cockhead slid across my cheek. The position gave him all the advantages, but he didn't take a single one. Didn't force his cock in my mouth, fist my hair and take what he wanted. Bane gave me the control.

I expressed my gratitude and appreciation with my tongue, lips, and hands. Anyone who tried to finesse a blow job wasn't doing it right. They were messy, desperate affairs. Not like pornstars looking at the camera every two seconds. My eyes were fixed on Bane, his face, his muscles, attuned to his breathing and guttural sounds.

"Put it on. Now," the words lacked their usual demand, coming desperate and heavy.

Pinching the tip, I popped the condom on his swollen head then rolled it down as best I could with my mouth. Bane growled, his eyes devouring me as I devoured him.

"Off."

I moved my mouth away from him with a messy pop, smiling through puffy, red lips. "I put it on ya. Now what are you going to do?"

My husband's smile was pure predator. Hooking my legs over his hips, he slid into me in one, hard thrust.

Determination etched his brow as I bowed off the bed and let a "'Bout time" leak from between clenched teeth.

I arched harder as he slid deeper, kitty-cat claws raking across his shoulders and back. The man had a magical dick, the kind of thing the Greeks and Romans built statues of and wrote poems about.

I was totally addicted to this vampire king.

"It's more than an addiction."

"What?" My eyes crossed. I was pretty sure this was not the time to have a conversation. Hot, sweaty, raspy-voiced, and speaking-in-tongue sex yes. Meaningful, thought-producing dialogue? Nah. No, thank you.

He held up my hips in one hand while the other interlaced with my hand. I turned my cheek and pressed a kiss to out joined knuckles, moaning when he alternated his thrusts between slow, nail-biting digs and sheet-shredding, bloody murder screaming ones. "You give me things I never knew I needed. Now I can't live without them."

Yes. That was it. It was that connection I'd felt when I first had sex with Bane. Damn, but the man knew what I was trying to say before I did. Always in my head.

My thoughts were starting to fragment and come out as a jumble. But I knew he was right. I lost a part of myself when he wasn't with me, and I gained it back when he was. It was that constant give and take, ebb and flow.

I lost my train of thought as he slammed his hips into mine and came. God, he came hard! Fingertips digging into my hips, fangs at my neck or my breasts. Where were they now? I shuddered, a second behind him, eyes blocking out everything. There he was. Inside of my wrist, tongue on my pulse, teeth under my skin.

I moaned and came harder.

Every time we made love, we were trying to find that other piece, trying to become one. Sure, we got close, but we never did get there. That was the beauty and horror of it all, we'd never get to have the thing we wanted the most but we'd keep trying again and again and again.

I was sore, bruised, and bleeding. My breasts were tender and sweat covered my skin. We were searching for something more than love, something we might never get, but we'd keep trying. With Bane I'd probably try until the world crumbled, my legs broke, I turned mute, and I sucked out all his vamp powers out through his dick.

Chapter Fifteen: Catch Me, I'm Falling!

"I should've married a vampire king sooner," I moaned in the room as one woman gave me an awesome facial and another one rubbed out the knots in my calves.

"Peaches," Samantha sighed next to me, frustrated. Her voice changed and the air crackled in the small spa suite. That probably wasn't the only thing changing, but with the tea bags over my eyes I couldn't see her skin darken and hair lighten. "You will forget what she said about a vampire king."

"Sorry 'bout that." I reached up to remove one of the tea bags, shooting the witch a glance. "You need me to get Luther?" Still wasn't sure about the Luther/Samantha power-bond thing, but it was pretty obvious that there was another reason other than love that the two were together.

"I'll be fine." The ends of her hair were still white and her skin tone was more gold than white, kinda like she'd been doing her eyeshadow and accidentally spilled the contents all over her body.

"You sure?"

The woman doing my face tapped my shoulder. "If you would please lie back, Miss."

I did, moaning as the masseuse went to town on my knees.

"I am, Georgia."

Talking had no place in the relaxing spa sent straight from Heaven, so I relaxed deeply, letting my mind float. Rare these days. All I thought about was how messed up my relationship with Bane was, while coming to terms with the fact that—despite the messed up nature and everything that'd happened—I probably loved the vamp. Bane might make me bonkers, might piss me off, but he made me stronger, pushed me to do and be better, get on his level, challenge him.