“How was it?”
Wraith was in one of our guest rooms below, but I wasn’t worried about being overheard. Due to recent events, we’d modified our bedroom. It was now soundproofed as well as ghost-proofed, thanks to copious amounts of weed and garlic between the thick insulation in the walls. With that and our low voices, not even an attentive vampire could catch our conversation.
Bones ran his hands along the length of my back, causing me to scoot closer in enjoyment. He always came to bed naked, and the feel of his hard, sleek body was enough to make me want to skip talking altogether, but this was important.
“Pleasant, for the most part.” Then he paused, seeming to choose his words. “Bluebloods often sired bastards in both the upper and lower classes, so I have fewer doubts about Wraith being my relation than I do about the type of man he is. The former, he seems eager to discuss. The latter, he’s reticent about.”
That mirrored my own concerns, but I’d let him go first. “How so?”
“His sire was killed, nothing unusual in that.” Bones paused again, and I could almost feel his cynicism battling with his desire to believe Wraith. “Yet he continues to claim no real association with vampires since then. Even if he stayed out of political alliances for safety reasons, our kind isn’t known to be solitary.”
“Maybe he doesn’t want to admit he’s pals with some of your enemies because he’s worried it’ll affect your opinion of him?” I had my doubts about this, but for Bones’s sake I’d suggest an optimistic reason.
“Perhaps,” he mused. “What do you make of him?”
“With the resemblance, name, documents, and portrait being so easy to authenticate, I think he’s probably your brother, but that doesn’t mean I trust him,” I said honestly, and proceeded to outline my concerns.
His expression tightened as I spoke. By the time I was finished, he let out a sigh.
“Nothing to do but investigate him, then. If he can’t accept my doing that, then we’ve no hope of a relationship. I wouldn’t fault him for looking into my life before seeking me out. Two centuries is too long to throw caution to the winds for sentiment, even if we are family.”
“You’re two hundred and forty-five,” I reminded him, changing the subject. We both agreed that Wraith needed checking out, plus we had to hunt for the vampire who attacked Annette, but we could do those things later. Right now, I wanted Bones focused on pleasant things, not more stresses. It was his birthday, after all.
I slid my thigh between his, brow arching in challenge. “So, you ready for your other present? Or now that you’re almost a quarter-millennium old, maybe you want to take a nap instead?”
His laugh was sin at its most tempting. “For that, luv, I’ll make you beg.”
Bones rolled, yanking me on top of him. He gripped my wrists in one hand, the other urging up my short silk nightie. Unlike him, I never went to bed naked. Not when it was so arousing to let him peel the clothes from me.
“Let go of my hands,” I said, aching to run them over his body and feel the myriad of muscles beneath his pale, smooth skin. Already his power flowed over me, vibrating along my nerve endings like seeking, invisible fingers.
He chuckled as he used his free hand to part my legs. “You forgot to say the magic word.”
Then he slid down the bed, letting go of my wrists. I tried to move them, but found my wrists still held in an unbreakable grip, this time with invisible bands of power instead of flesh.
“I see you’ve been practicing with your new telekinesis,” I said breathily. “That’s cheating.”
He laughed again as that flex of power kept me where I was. Strong fingers kneaded the small of my back as he pulled me closer, bringing my lower half to his mouth. I sucked in a gasp when his lips caressed my stomach, tongue teasing my navel with flickering strokes before continuing downward. His fangs snagged on the top of my panties, tugging them, but far too slowly. My straddling him hindered their removal, too, but when I tried to swing my leg around, he stopped me.
“Something you want?” he murmured.
His mouth was so close that his lips brushed against the lace underwear I now cursed myself for putting on.
“I want these off,” I said, arching toward him. For a split second his mouth pressed to my flesh, shooting red-hot pleasure through me as his tongue snaked out with devastating skill. But then it was gone, leaving me throbbing with need.
“Bones, please,” I moaned.
A dark laugh made everything flame where his breath landed. “You call that begging? Oh, Kitten, you can do much better than that . . .”
Six