Bad Mouth

chapter Thirty-one


Val wanted to crawl out of her skin. She’d awoken ages ago and had spent the daylight hours typing up a million and one reports on the laptop she’d had Alice send her. When that had been done, she’d filled even more time making phone calls. Hopefully it was enough to waylay the legislation she’d ignorantly written.

She’d spoken to all the right people, ones she thought would modify the bill. She’d even enlisted her parents to use their influence. It made sense that instead of eliminating all transformations, the bill should specify vampire delegates to judge whether the subjugates had assimilated adequately for transformation and should limit the time allotted to assimilate. That would save people like Ezra from themselves and take the choice away from them.

After that, she’d paced on the balcony waiting for Kade to awaken. Last night, she hadn’t had time to talk much with him before sunrise took him from her. He’d fought it like a champ, but couldn’t stop his muscles from going lax and his words from slurring. Eventually, he’d stopped making any sense, and she’d ushered him to bed, half carrying him again.

Things could have gone very differently last night. He could have died, which made her rethink her position on transformation. Would it be so terrible to live almost forever if she had him at her side? The image of his despair when he’d thought he’d lost her haunted her all day. She would force that on him with her death. He’d lived nearly five centuries without love. He might never find it again after she passed on. And did she really want him to when she could be with him instead?

She jumped when Kade’s hard, muscled arms came around her. He squeezed lightly, pressing his unshaven face into her neck to kiss her. The shock of rough and soft made her skin tingle.

“I could wake up to this forever,” he said. He turned her in his arms and tucked her against his chest. She felt his chin rub against the top of her head, and then he burrowed his nose into her hair. “I love the way you smell.”

“Kade?” She would have said more, but the words stuck in her throat.

“Hmm?” He kept nuzzling. Oh, he made it so very hard to concentrate.

“Would we ever end up like them?”

His body tensed against her. She had no doubt he knew exactly what she’d asked. He leaned away to see her face. Mixed emotions crossed his.

“Never. They were warped before they were made.”

“Is it painful?”

He stroked the hair back from her face. “Terribly.”

“What if I’m not the same?”

“It never works like that.”

She let that sink in, all the while feeling as if she walked a narrow ledge. Which side would she fall on? It shouldn’t matter. He’d catch her wherever she fell. Her breath faltered and her heartbeat along with it. He would catch her. She’d bet her life on it. She trusted him completely.

If she trusted him with her heart, it wouldn’t be a stretch to trust him with her life.

“Would I be Legion?”

The tension in his body ramped up, but his gaze softened and he cupped the back of her head. “The Rex can’t be with a Legion, Val. And I intend to be with you until eternity ends.”

“Oh.” Now he’d thoroughly confused her. He’d wanted her to transform, but if she did, she couldn’t be with him.

“If you transform, I want you every second of every century.”

“But how—”

“You’ll be of the Dominorum, a Domina, like Evangeline, only not the crazy, evil-bitch version,” he said.

She fought a grin and arched an eyebrow. “How can you do that?”

He smiled softly and lowered his voice to a murmur. “I’m going to tell you something, and you can’t share this with a single soul. Not one. The Legions don’t even know this secret. It’s a dangerous secret. Promise?”

“Yes, I promise.” She tilted her head.

“The Dominorum are a direct bloodline from our original race. Therefore, to make a Dominus, the adjuvant must be a Dominus. A blood exchange must occur. That’s the difference, Val. When I make a Legion, I use my will to initiate the change. That’s the end. With creation of Dominorum, the new vampire’s first feeding must be from Dominus adjuvant.”

“Why is that a secret?”

“What do you think would happen if anyone, even the Legion, knew the value of Dominorum blood?”

Good point. The Slavers would be the tip of the iceberg. “What about the Legion adjuvants?”

“None of them know. They can’t know.”

She nodded and turned back to the balcony railing. She let the information swirl in her thoughts and in her heart. There would be no going back if she decided to transform. How she’d changed from when she’d first met Kade such a short time ago. This option had once been poison to her. Now she thought she wanted this. Yes, she wanted this. She wanted to be with Kade until eternity ended.

“Will you be the one to do it?”

There it was, the joy she’d waited to see in him, but some other worry shadowed it. He’d wanted this the most. Had he changed his mind?

“Like I’d let anyone else put their lips on you?” He grinned. “And when I bite, it’ll be right here.” He rubbed the inside of her upper thigh, brushing his thumb against her core. A shot of heat made her press into his hand. He laughed, and she slapped his rock-hard biceps.

“Then I’ll do it. I’ll put an application in.”

He nodded, tight-lipped, and then he looked out over the Sound. “You don’t need an application, Val. The agreement with the VLO died with the Ancients. A new one needs to be drafted. Until then, I decide who transforms and who doesn’t.”

Her pulse jumped a few beats. So she could do it right away. The thought thrilled and terrified her. She wanted it, but she didn’t feel ready. In fact, it felt an awful lot like the time she’d gone skydiving at Alice’s encouragement-slash-badgering. At the point of no return, she’d wanted to crawl over her tandem instructor to get back into the plane.

“Today then?”

“If you wish.” His eyes dimmed. She pulled him around to face her. He didn’t quite meet her eyes, looking instead about shoulder-level.

“Kade, I thought you wanted this.”

“I did—I do.” He took her hands in his, and his gaze fixed on their joined fingers. “Can I ask a favor first?”

“Yes.” Her voice had turned husky.

“Do you think you might—I mean, would you consider—”

“Just ask, Kade.” She tightened her grip on his fingers, willing him the strength to tell her his worries. Her heart dropped.

“Could you wait long enough to have a baby or two with me?” He raced on, as if afraid of her answer. “You never talked about having a family, but most humans want it. I guess I assumed you might want one, too. Really, it’s not a deal breaker or anything. I—”

“Babies? A family?” Of all things she’d imagined would be under his skin, this was the absolute last. In fact, it hadn’t entered her realm of possibility. Tears blurred her vision and she tried to blink them away. He looked at her with something akin to horror.

“Val, I’m sorry. We don’t have to—”

“Shut up, Kade.”

With that, she grabbed his shoulders and leaped into his arms. He caught her as she wrapped her legs around his waist and buried her face against his shoulder. The tears wouldn’t stop. She was getting his shirt all wet and didn’t care. The happiness inflated her heart so much she thought it’d burst. It took her a minute before she realized she was sobbing in his embrace. He murmured soothing words into her hair and stroked her back with one hand. She leaned away and framed his face with her hands.

“Yes, I want to have a family with you. But don’t you need two vampires?”

He laughed. “No, and not all vampires can conceive. Only adjuvants, in the same way we turn humans. We will it to be and it is.”

“One of the Ancients was an adjuvant?”

“Olen, and the trait is hereditary.” His tone held a note of warning. So he thought she’d have a problem with their children becoming adjuvants.

“Kade, some of my favorite people are adjuvants.” When he relaxed, she knew she’d read his mind. His sin-loving grin told her his thoughts were now driven from down below.

“We have to start right away, though.” His breath grew heavier as he carried her toward the bedroom. “I can’t give you my blood once I take the throne, at least until after you’re turned. And I’ll be damned if I’d let anyone else transform you.”

“What are you doing about the throne anyway?”

“I came up with a plan this morning.”

“This morning? How long have you been awake?”

“An hour or so,” he said. She pinched under his arm, making him flinch. “Ow, f*ck! What was that for?”

“I’ve been waiting for you for hours.”

He kicked the bedroom doors open, crossed the room with her, and pressed her back onto the bed. The love in his eyes killed her ire and filled her with a sweet languor. “I’ve been waiting centuries for you.”

His work-roughened but gentle hands dragged up her belly, taking her shirt with it. He sprinkled soft kisses along the skin he’d bared. She sucked in a breath through her teeth.

“What did you decide?” she rasped. “About the throne.”

“Hmmm? Oh, I’m making Ptolomy my regent.”

“A stand-in? Will he accept it?”

He laughed, a little on the wicked side. “He will. He’s always dabbled in politics, and he’ll be an excellent advisor. No one will question the choice. But it doesn’t matter what he wants. I’m his king now, and he’ll do what I order him to do.”

Somehow she thought Kade would rather enjoy bossing around his never friend. Someday she’d ask him to tell her that story. Not now, though. Now Kade’s tender touch drove thought from her mind and replaced it with pure sensation, pure pleasure.

“In less than an hour, you’ll carry my child inside of you.” His eyes burned into hers as he eased his wide body between her legs. “Val, I’ve never known what it was to be happy until I met you.”

She gripped his hair and dragged him down closer in her embrace. “Then I’m glad we met. I love you, Kade, bad mouth and all.”

“And I love all of you. Until eternity ends.”

“Until eternity ends.”