Secret Fantasies Read online

  Alderic nodded thoughtfully, but both Rylan and Simeon had started to look at each other uneasily, likely seeing where Vasili headed here.

  “Am I the only person here to notice two things? Firstly, if these two gods, who supposedly loved each other beyond compare, ended up pretty much killing one another, because you can bet the Goddess Adedenious had more than one blowup fight before taking such drastic action as putting them both in the sky, how the five hells do we expect Chandra and Gav not to kill each other? But more importantly, secondly, how do we know they’ll find this Rune where it’s supposed to be, and if it’s not there, won’t they just head straight back out to where the second most likely place they think the Rune will be?”

  Rylan frowned and spoke up.

  “That’s a decent point, Vas. We could spend months chasing after them, running all over and across the known galaxy. Personally, I can think of better things to do with my time.”

  Both Simeon and Rylan exchanged meaningful glances. Vasili barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes in comedic disdain. Sure, he would enjoy spending a few weeks or more doing nothing but learning every curve and crevice of Lea’s body, but he, at least, could restrain himself in public.

  He heard Lea laugh at that very moment, a light, happy sound seeming to come from her very soul. He felt a quiver of lust roll through him. He grinned to himself, but didn’t say anything aloud.

  “I’m not sure there’s much point in us constantly chasing after him, or not anymore now that we know he’s okay. I mean, even though it sounds like he’s on a massive shadow chase, we know he’s fine, and with Chandra.”

  Vasili watched as Rylan turned to Simeon, seeking his twin’s thoughts on the matter. Simeon had been fretting in the beginning, insisting they search and find what had happened to Gavreel. Rylan obviously thought if Simeon was easy over the safety of their father then the matter would rest.

  Vasili coughed, looked back to where the women had been left and checked they were still in their own little world.

  “Actually…ahh…” He paused trying to think of a delicate way of putting things. “Michael has already left to hire a merc guide to chase after Gav.”

  When Alderic as well as the twins looked at him as if he had lost his mind, he shrugged.

  “Mike went after Gav? And he hired a merc to do it?” Simeon questioned, his voice raised in utter astonishment. “Oh man, wait until he comes back. Mr. I-am-so-cool-and-you-are-such-a-fret-pot. What could possibly have made him chase after Gav of his own volition? Are you holding out on us, Vas?”

  Vasili stood tall, knowing Simeon was actually thinking he had withheld information on Gav’s safety, not the fact Mike had indulged in a one-night stand, only to find himself—though he didn’t yet know it—deeply in love.

  Much as he shared with the twins, he felt Michael might want to share his own news in his own way, and at his own convenience. Vasili scrambled about mentally, trying to think of something to say.

  “Something to do with a woman,” he mumbled, knowing all three vampires would be able to hear him, even over the women’s voices, especially since he had their full and complete attention.

  Vasili had no idea what else to say, and truthfully, he didn’t know much more anyway.

  “You’re kidding me?” Simeon said, shocked, but his voice at least lowered to its usual pitch. “That is so lame I can’t believe it. Michael is chasing after Gav so he can have a bit of fun on the side and spend time with…oh!” He doubled over, Rylan having jabbed him again in the stomach with his elbow.

  Vasili snickered, wondered if Rylan had taken so much offense simply because he had almost instantly known not even Michael would go running after some woman merely on a whim. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to gage the high odds that Michael was in heat. Or maybe Rylan had something else on his mind?

  Frowning in thought, Vasili wondered just how much he had been missing while the Montague men cavorted all across the Galaxy.

  Rylan had only just come back from chasing Gavreel to Owanus, with his new partner Ruthie. He had shamelessly used the excuse to remain in close contact with her. But Simeon scorning Michael for merely trailing around after a woman on the flimsiest of excuses had likely cut a little too close to Rylan’s ego and peace of mind.

  Besides, Simeon should know firsthand that vampires in heat generally didn’t chase after one, particular woman unless there was something serious to it. Unless the vampire had very good reason, like feeling an overwhelming need for just that woman, any willing female would do.

  Both Simeon and Rylan had needed their respective partners, and no other would have been as fulfilling for them. So too did Vasili know Michael felt this way about Phoebe, though he didn’t feel inclined to share the knowledge with either twin. They would have plenty of ammunition to tease Michael with, after his odd behavior.

  “Right, gotcha,” Simeon finished lamely, coughing and attempting to catch his breath. Vasili had to grin as Rylan glared daggers at his twin, looking as if he would happily throttle the life out of him.

  “What the hell is so lame about—” Rylan started to defend himself and his actions, but all four vampires shifted awkwardly as women returned to the conversation. Rylan snapped his mouth shut, totally unwilling to go any further with Ruthie present. He sent a serious “shut the fuck up” look to Simeon, who smiled but pressed his lips together, indicating he understood.

  Ruthie wrapped her arms around Rylan’s waist, hugging him from behind and seeming more than just a little bit interested in the conversation she knew she’d interrupted.

  “What’s lame? Don’t stop talking for us, Ry!”

  The men all looked at each other, a surprising blankness on both Simeon and Rylan’s faces. Alderic appeared to be deep in his own train of thought, and so Vasili decided to make a decent and hopefully halfway believable excuse up as he went along.

  “Michael has hired a merc to help him research and head out to Klampor, and we were just saying it was a bit of a lame cop-out for him to do that, and not try to do it alone,” he said, lying shamelessly.

  Vasili had a hard time keeping a straight face as both Simeon and Rylan cast him grateful glances, obviously appreciative it was he lying to their respective partners, and not either of them.

  Vasili wondered if Clare and Ruthie knew their partners well enough to tell when they were lying, and shrugged as he decided maybe they did know each other well enough to gage that. Thankfully, both Clare and Ruthie took his words at face value and began to throw their own opinions into the mix, and a new conversation began.

  The temporary argument between the twins was dropped instantly, and hypothesis on whether Michael would be able to catch up with Gavreel, considering he had such a huge lead, began a new round of arguments.

  As the conversation became more volatile, Vasili followed Lea as she tugged him slightly to the side and behind a random shelf. She reached up and, speaking softly said with surprising pride in his ear, “You can lie really well.”

  Vasili attempted to look wounded, but when he realized Lea looked at him with awe and not feminine annoyance or irritation, he decided to play it for all it was worth.

  “Lie?” he said, wondering which piece she hadn’t believed. “I was telling the truth, Michael has hired a merc—”

  “I know your words weren’t a lie, but that certainly wasn’t what Simeon and Rylan had been arguing about ‘what was lame’,” she said cheerily.

  Vasili licked his lips, wanted to touch her as he noticed a strange gleam in her light blue eyes. Before he could suggest a raunchy way for them to pass the time before Simeon and Rylan left them alone again, Lea continued, amusement deepening in her eyes.

  “Vampire hearing,” she continued to whisper in his ear so the other women wouldn’t hear, “brilliant stuff. Particularly comes in handy when one wants to keep tabs on a male conversation occurring across the room and one needs to really remain with the little women.”

  Vasili raised
an eyebrow, intrigued, but still not completely convinced.

  “You could talk your way through a conversation about fashion and other assorted female things with two women, at light speed, and still listen in on our conversation and follow both?”

  Lea laughed, a happy, almost delighted sound. Vasili grunted and reassessed his opinion on the stunning woman before him. His respect for her abilities and skills went up several notches.

  How the hell had he missed so much about her down at Scooper’s? Maybe if he hadn’t avoided her like the plague, thinking she was little more than a baby, he could have been getting to know her better months ago.

  And why the hell had Gavreel been busily introducing her to Simeon and Rylan? Vasili felt insanely tempted to kick his own ass, for judging someone without even trying to get to know them. Never would he make the same mistake again, he swore.

  “It’s called multitasking, Vas,” Lea said, laughter still prominent in her voice. Vasili’s face split into a grin. At least someone seemed to be enjoying his stupidity. “Women have been doing it for millenniums, and men never really seem to catch on.”

  Vasili shook his head, bewildered and knowing he fell deeper and deeper into her spell with every breath they took.

  “So what is so lame about taking a woman on a shadow chase simply to seduce her?”

  Vasili nearly choked as he heard the ardent curiosity in Lea’s tone. He looked around himself, hoping for divine intervention, or at least a reasonable story he could produce.

  Sure, he didn’t owe Rylan anything, but the payback for ratting on his mate would be severe, and likely worth far more trouble later on than it would be for him to satisfy Lea’s curiosity now.

  Around the corner, Vasili could hear the argument between Simeon, Clare, Ruthie and Rylan about the merits of chasing after Gavreel again. For the first time all week, Rylan and Simeon were trying to talk Clare and Ruthie out of following with Michael.

  Vasili snorted. At least the men had all agreed without even discussing it that Michael deserved at least a fighting chance of making headway and seducing his woman without the interference of the rest of his family and their chosen partners.

  “Uh…” Vasili hesitated, not wanting to lie, but neither wanting to say the truth. Instead, he decided to go with the ever-present cop-out of, “nothing, really. We just were expressing how…it’s just…lame, don’t you think?”

  Vasili winced as the only lame things that had been happening recently seemed to be coming out of his mouth. He smiled in what he hoped was a confident manner but he had a sneaking suspicion it was just a thin, weak thing.

  She looked at him hard, and then shrugged her shoulders. He watched as Lea took a deep breath and placed one hand high up on his chest. The palm pressed warmly against his thin shirt, making his heart beat even faster.

  He looked down into pale blue eyes, and felt his whole world tilt to the side. One simple touch, he mused to himself, and I turn into jelly. Wouldn’t the twins howl with laughter if they knew?

  “I can think of a better way of seducing someone, don’t you know,” Lea purred seductively in his ear. Vasili gulped as her other hand strayed from his hip, to in front of his pants. The hand on his chest continued to stroke softly, in time with his pumping heart. Could she tell how much she turned him on, with just one small caress? With but a few words from her lips?

  Vasili had never felt so out of control before.

  “Come by Scooper’s,” she whispered sexily, teasing and tempting him with the myriad images he felt conjure behind his mind’s eye, “just on closing time tomorrow morning.”

  Vasili watched as Lea licked those pouting lips, dampening them and making him wish they were alone. He would love for her to go onto her knees, open those pouting lips of hers and take him in her warm, damp mouth. Vasili swallowed audibly, his cock rising even more uncomfortably in his pants.

  He stood stock still as Lea stood on tiptoes and planted a warm, soft kiss against his mouth. He hungrily tasted her, fire and honey making an intoxicating mix he thought he could drink forever.

  All too soon he felt her pull away slightly, and for the first time in his more than three hundred years of existence, he didn’t want to let a woman go. Vasili wrapped an arm possessively around his woman, and drew her closer to him, not letting her escape.

  For another heaven-sent moment, he tasted Lea, let the tip of his tongue toy and play with hers, the two of them twining together and parrying in an endless game of chase. When Lea moved slightly, indicating with her body language that she wanted to go, he reluctantly loosened his hold on her, but only by moving his arm from around her waist to across her shoulders.

  “Mmm,” she murmured huskily, “I have never before enjoyed the masterful type, but I rather like it on you, Vas.”

  Vasili groaned slightly, what he had previously thought an iron-ore hard cock becoming even more painfully so. A million thoughts ran through his head, almost all of them centering on taking Lea somewhere secluded and quiet, well away from the Montague’s, and stripping her slowly, until she was bare-assed naked, and having his wicked way with her.

  “I’d love to stay here and be naughty with you, with or without the wannabe voyeurs nearby, but I have to report in to work,” she said softly. A moment ago, Vasili would have sworn he couldn’t have let her go, but the true regret in her tone, coupled with the knowledge she wanted him as much if not more than he wanted her, gave Vasili the strength to squeeze her shoulder tightly once, and then step aside.

  Vasili looked down at her, and caught the kiss Lea blew to him. With a final wink, she called out her goodbyes to Simeon and Rylan as she rounded the shelves again. Vasili followed more slowly, enjoying the sight of Lea, who twenty minutes ago had never met Clare to his knowledge, hugging the two women as if they were long-lost sisters.

  After the rounds of hugs and farewells, Vasili stepped back a pace so he had a better view of Lea as she left, more than enjoying the sensual sway of her pertly rounded ass as she sashayed out of the store. He watched her leave, with a spring in her step as if she didn’t have a care in the world, until the crowds passing by on the street swallowed her from his sight.

  Vasili smiled innocently to the twins, amused to see even Alderic had a gleam in his eye when he surveyed him. Vasili felt grateful for his mind block. He didn’t want the elderly vampire or either of the twins having an inkling of the lustful thoughts scattering around his mind.

  Besides, he reminded himself firmly, there are a lot of hours between now and the time Scooper’s closes, where hopefully there will be chances to seduce and torment Lea. And afterwards, anything was possible after hours.

  For the first time in more years than he could count, both Simeon and Rylan seemed to sense his muted frustrations. Even more amazingly, with smarmy, almost identical smiles which promised vengeance of the most deplorable kind, they began their farewells and in a matter of minutes led their partners out into the back of the shop into the more private quarters of Alderic and, when he felt like it, Gavreel.

  Simeon was promising Clare a hot drink, one she apparently had not tried as yet, and Ruthie seemed confused, but willing to follow suit.

  Vasili found himself left alone with Alderic.

  “A real vixen, your woman Lea,” Alderic said clearly, almost as if he had not been lost in his own musings the last ten minutes.

  Vasili felt surprised but not shocked. Alderic often could be completely on a different plane, only to snap back to reality and know everything that had occurred while lost in his own mind.

  “I remember her great-grandparents, Arthur and Jean,” he continued easily. “Feisty couple they were. I never knew another pair of anything, let alone vampires, who ran around the galaxy collecting tickets and fines for lewd and indecent behavior like they did.”

  Vasili grinned, not knowing if laughter was really the right response to Alderic’s admission.

  “It wasn’t so much they relished their children’s chagrin, but I thi
nk they felt disappointed their children were not as free and liberal thinking as they were. In any event, I feel certain that’s why the rest of the family headed into the Force. Massive repression and denial, the lot of them. Lea seems to at least have a bit of spark and humor in her soul.”

  Vasili nodded, interested to learn more about Lea’s family and history.

  “You think they know about her working undercover?”

  Alderic chortled, seemingly genuinely amused.

  “Are you kidding me, son? I bet they’d lock her up and throw away the key if they thought she was working as an escort, even just as a cover. I also would bet on the fact they think she has some safe, sane, cushy desk job and never sees the light of day. Scooper’s would be the last place they’d expect to see her.”

  Vasili turned to the elder vampire, looking at him seriously.

  “Do you think she’s coming on to me because she’s repressed?” Vasili felt a huge measure of relief as Alderic shook his head. He hadn’t realized how much he relied on the elder vampire until he negated what had suddenly, in the space of ten seconds, become a huge fear.

  “No, son. I don’t think Lea would be capable of using you or anyone like that. Unless I miss my guess, she’s entering a very, very mild form of heat. Her DNA is still derived from vampire, even though it is diluted through the generations. She has a few vampire characteristics, right?”

  Vasili cocked an eyebrow and nodded, not able to say a word. Alderic shrugged and raised his own eyebrows, almost as if to say “well, there you go then”.

  Vasili took a deep breath, not sure if he could wait until closing time. A vampiress in heat was a stunning thing to behold on numerous levels. Not many incomplete vampires, and even fewer human men could ever say they had experienced a vampiress in full throes of her sexual heat.