At Grave's End

His arms lashed around me even as he moved faster. “You are mine,” he ground out, sealing his mouth over my pulse.

 

I barely had a chance to smile at my victory when his fangs slid into my neck. A hot swell of passion flooded me, making me dizzy, but for more reasons than the single swallow Bones took before he closed the punctures.

 

He kissed me, the metallic taste of my blood flavoring his mouth. I clung to him while the escalating intensity seemed to make my whole body boil.

 

“Your turn, Kitten.” His voice was rough with lust. “Show me I’m yours.”

 

My teeth sank into his neck. Bones’s hand wound in my hair, holding me closer, inciting me to bite harder, until his blood filled my mouth.

 

I swallowed. Bones tugged my head back to kiss me again, our mouths tasting of sex and each other’s blood. There was something primal about that, his anger, and the seething urge I had to prove to him that no one else mattered.

 

Don’t stop. Don’t stop.

 

Maybe I said it out loud. Maybe I didn’t. Either way, Bones flipped me over until he was on top of me, moving with ever-increasing intensity.

 

“I can’t stop.”

 

It was the best fight we’d ever had.

 

 

 

The strobe light of the control tower pierced the darkness with sweeping circular beams. It had snowed earlier. I was freezing even with my double pants, double sweaters, and jacket. Bones hadn’t bothered to don anything over his clothes except his black leather coat, but that was probably more from habit than need for warmth.

 

The strobe light turned off. Our signal.

 

In the darkness, Bones circled the base in whirls of aerial speed, too fast and random for anyone with a bulky weapon to target, and if they had anything smaller, it wouldn’t matter. I was clasped in his arms, closing my eyes against the dizzying dips and turns. We could have just driven up, but Bones was being extra paranoid. He didn’t want to risk the chance that one of Patra’s people had somehow followed us from the wreckage of Hykso’s plane and was waiting near the compound with a rocket launcher like Max had.

 

The guard’s faces on the roof were masks of carefully controlled shock as first Bones appeared out of the dark, landing, striding toward them without even a falter in his step. Right behind him was Ian, who carried Tate. Then came Tick Tock and Zero.

 

Don had argued about Ian knowing where the compound was, but Bones brushed him off. He didn’t think Ian would betray the location to anyone, so Ian was here, letting go of Tate as soon as he touched the roof. Ian looked around with mild curiosity. His being here was ironic, of course, considering how Don had sent me to capture or kill Ian just a little over a year ago. How things had changed since then.

 

The six of us went inside. No one had been shot at and nothing had exploded. So far, so good, if you asked me, though truth be told, I didn’t know why we were here in the first place. After our, um, argument in the back of the tractor trailer, Bones had said he needed to see Don. I’d asked why, of course, but he had a really effective method of distracting me. Then there had been the interesting scene at the private airport, where Bones green-eyed an unsuspecting pilot into flying us to Tennessee. So now here we were, and I still didn’t know what Bones wanted to talk to my uncle about. Guess I’d find out soon enough.

 

I’d avoided looking at Tate since we met up with him, Ian, Tick Tock, and Zero a few miles from here. There was a big awkward factor between us now. For his part, Bones didn’t act any differently, even though he would have been able to sense and hear my mental discomfort. Therefore, I was taken aback when Bones announced that he’d meet me in Don’s office, saying he wanted to find Juan and have a word with him.

 

“Okay,” I managed, torn between going with him just to keep Bones as a shield between me and Tate, and staying because of how cowardly that was. I picked staying. Whoever said I took the easy road? Not me.

 

Ian cast a meaningful look at Tate and then grinned. “I’ll go with you, Crispin,” he said.

 

I began walking toward Don’s office. It didn’t surprise me that Tate followed. I heard Bones let out a sardonic snort right before the elevator doors closed. Yeah, he wasn’t surprised by Tate’s actions, either.

 

Tick Tock and Zero kept pace behind us. I glanced back at them, once again struck by their dissimilarity in appearance. If ever there was a pair of vampires who looked less alike, it was the albino-ish Zero and the chocolate-skinned Tick Tock.

 

“Where did the two of you meet Bones?” I asked, struggling to fill the silence before Tate did.

 

“Poland,” Zero replied.

 

“Australia,” Tick Tock said.

 

I’d never been to either place. Tate’s comment that I didn’t really know Bones after spending just one year with him out of the two hundred and fifty he’d lived echoed in my mind. Then I squashed it. I know what counts, I reminded myself firmly.

 

“So, how are you and Crypt Keeper doing?” Tate asked in a casual tone.

 

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