Queen of the Dead (The Dead and Not So Dead Book 1) Page 10

  “Our rule is three,” I explained.

  “The Hellhounds had more,” he shot back, nonplussed. “Plus, I don’t exactly trust you to be straight with my brother. I’ve heard rumors that you’re a little girl trying to act like a Queen.”

  Oh, okay buddy.

  Lionel smiled at him. “You’re an ass.”

  The over-inflated Alpha growled a threat. I moved quickly and tossed my knife through the air. It soared and landed, tip imbedded in the wood, right between the Alpha’s spread legs. Silence filtered through as the Alpha stared down at the precariously placed knife.

  “What the hell was that for?” he snarled.

  “Actin' like an arse, I’d expect,” Declan clarified with a smile.

  “Can’t even fucking understand him,” Richard drawled.

  My magic totally got defensive. I shot a warning look at Lucas. A small lip twitch told me he wouldn’t attempt to intervene. I stood up and rounded the chair in which this Alpha sat, pulling the knife from the wood and placing my hands on his shoulders.

  “What the fuck?” He snarled and writhed trying to turn around, stuck by my power.

  “Look forward,” I demanded as my smile grew. He did.

  “Now,” I stated softly. “I’m going to stand here and keep this knife right in my hand. If I hear one more shit thing come out of your mouth, I’m going to lodge it right between your legs. And this time, I won’t bury it in tree wood. Deal?”

  He nodded very quickly.

  “Please continue, Lucas,” I stated. Mila grinned openly as she spun her own knife. Maybe she wanted to get a shot at him as well.

  Can we say girl bonding?

  On a side note, I had very much been looking to form my own girl group. Not that I didn’t love my boys, but if we were going to get all sweet and romantic, they would get even more protective. I could see them itching to get involved right now. I needed a badass girl group to fuck shit up with. Mila was totally getting an invitation.

  “Some of the pack members,” Lucas started softly, “are worried that this attention will draw in other shifters from the local areas. As you know, we have claimed most of the territory to your west. If they move in, there would be problems.”

  “Who specifically are you most worried about?”

  Mila spoke then. “The pride from Northern Louisiana mentioned to a wolf passing through that they heard there was trouble and were thinking of… expanding.”

  I chuckled and Rickard shivered under me. Good.

  “I wouldn’t be very worried, really. If they attempt to claim your land, you know you have an ally. Not only that but despite your differences, I think you would find the other communities around here don’t crave change. You know, something along the lines of ‘your known enemy’ and shit.”

  Lucas nodded as well as Lionel.

  Mila spoke. “I will send scouts then and try to gauge how serious they were.”

  I nodded. “Good idea.”

  Now, how did I slip in a “want to go shopping and be gal pals?”

  “Thank you, Your Majesty,” Lucas said and stood. Before I moved to shake his hand, I knocked the legs of Rickard’s chair. He grunted as his ass hit the ground. Mila let out a laugh as Lionel smiled.

  I kept my back to him in a show of dismissive confidence. I felt him move behind me. Before he could pounce, Raphi had him on his back. Zachariah chuckled. Declan took a sip of his whiskey. The twins watched with interest. Dorian wrapped an arm around my waist and kissed my cheek.

  See? Sometimes he was so sweet. Too bad most of the time he was a dick.

  Raphi rumbled a low warning in Rickard’s ear. “Don’t challenge me. I don’t have time to move to Atlanta and have no interest in moving your shitty pack here.”

  Rickard growled as Lucas rolled his eyes. The wolves began to walk out. Raphi looked at Rickard for a moment more before the Alpha glanced away. He stepped back and scrambled away like a wounded puppy.

  “Bring in the vampires!” I called out in genuine excitement. I always left the witches for last because, frankly, they sucked.

  I expected the Egyptian and South American covens, however it seemed that there was a new group in town as well. I bounced my legs in anticipation as both of my living vampires moved behind me. The twins got very defensive around the undead because…well, they just did honestly. Dorian was the only one who didn’t get defensive around his own kind, but then again he had disengaged from demonic culture almost completely.

  Three vampires walked in and I instantly spotted the outlier. The first was…god, what the fuck was his name? Oh! Xavier. The other was something that started with an “R” but I really sucked at remembering their names.

  “Hello,” I offered them engaged smiles as they both sat. The new, third member approached.

  “A female coven leader,” I grinned. “Very interesting.”

  The woman in front of me seemed different than most undead vampires. Her eyes were nearly black and she had waist length blonde hair that starkly contrasted against her purple dress. She offered her chilled hand and I smiled at her barely-there life scent. So, recently dead, then?

  “My coven, from Paris,” she explained while sitting in one smooth, fluid movement. Her accent was thickly French. “Had to seek refuge in the Americas due to trouble with a larger coven. The local covens here were nice enough to allow us to maintain our power structure.”

  I looked at both men who were openly staring at the woman.

  Ah. I see what’s going on here.

  “How… sweet of them,” I chuckled as she flashed me a smile that had me wondering if she realized I knew.

  “My name is Elizabeth,” she offered. “I was the one to encourage them to meet with you.”

  Xavier spoke, his Spanish accent as thick as the day he died. “They arrived only last week but because of everything going on, we hesitated to bother you with this.”

  The guy whose name started in “R” spoke. “Plus, we’ve been made aware of what occurred at Declan’s bar earlier and feared we wouldn’t be welcome.”

  I smiled. “The actions of one shouldn’t reflect on everyone. Now, should they?”

  The two of them shook their heads as Alaric mumbled something.

  “So,” Elizabeth continued. “I just wanted to let you know that we are very much on your side when it comes to the issues on Bourbon Street.”

  I hadn’t doubted their allegiance but damn they had never stated it for sure. The other men nodded and I nearly burst out in laughing. I’ll just bet they fucking agreed with her. Also, how fucking funny was it that we weren’t positive about what the threat even was yet people were declaring allegiances. I tossed out a smile.

  “I appreciate it. Will you be staying in the French Quarter?”

  Her eyes flashed with humor. “I’ve been moving between the two larger covens, but my coven is housed in the Quarter.”

  Yeah, she totally knew what was up.

  “Well,” I nodded. “I would love to have a longer chance to talk at some point.”

  “Absolutely,” she grinned, the points of her fangs resting on her full lower lip.

  I dismissed the three of them and marked her as another invitee to my badass bitch club. I mean, a group of three badass chicks? Let’s just make a movie, honestly. Oh! What about matching motorcycle jackets?

  As the doors closed, I threw my head back and groaned. “Can I just skip the next part? Please?”

  “No, you have to suffer like we have to,” Dorian quipped. I tossed my hand back to hit his arm. He caught it and placed a searing kiss on the top of my hand. Stupid cute bastard.

  “After this we may be able to have a break before the larger meeting,” Abel suggested.

  Alaric scoffed. “If these stuffy assholes don’t take up all of our time.”

  Declan grinned. “How long were it last time?”

  Raphi groaned. “Three full hours of formalities.”

  Zachariah chuckled and leaned forward on his forearms. “Should we call them in, Little Rose?”

  I squeezed my eyes and muttered a curse before sighing. “Fine.”

  Dorian called something out in French as the doors opened. I could literally feel the stuffy asshole-ness in the air. Of course, they didn’t stick to the three rule either but if you thought I should have called them on it, it wouldn’t have been worth it. Trust me. They are a piece of work. Last time I tried, we ran circles around linguistic definitions of three within this universe. Three groups of three… three groups of ten. They sucked. And I’d just been in a room full of vampires for crying out loud!

  “Your Majesty,” a snooty voice said. I looked up at the decrepit woman in front of me. She looked like the fucking Crypt Keeper. I always tried to talk positively about women, but she was a bitch through and through. I examined her gray pallor and that gray head of stiff curls as she sat in front of me in ancient robes.

  “Gertrude,” I offered instead of her title.

  She sneered slightly as one familiar and one unfamiliar face sat on either side of her. I could see the other witches milling about. They didn’t bother me. But my metaphorical fur bristled at the woman to her left. The one that stared at Zachariah like he was her next meal. A low sound came from my throat. The red-haired bombshell looked back at me.

  “Who are you?” I challenged. I felt Zachariah’s hand graze my back.

  “Nina,” she replied flashing her eyes toward my Voodoo priest. “I just got into town.”

  I could tell.

  “She doesn’t care.” A lazydrawl from the other side of Gertrude made me smile. My favorite witch, Brandon, sat relaxed and nonchalant. He was cute in the same way Jonathan was, very all American and way too sweet for my tastebuds. Still, loved the kid to death.

 
Nina scowled. “She should.”

  I laughed genuinely as she frowned. She looked to Zachariah with big eyes. “What’s your name?”

  My head fell back at her obvious lack of understanding. Gertrude looked pained and Brandon just amused. The other witches look concerned.

  Zachariah’s eyes met mine, sparkling. “I don’t see how that matters.”

  Declan chuckled while talking to Dorian, “Lass, dinnae know what she's gettin' 'erself into.”

  No. No she didn’t.

  Now, I had no right to be possessive over Zachariah. Honestly, that was only half of it though. The bigger part and the aspect Declan was referring to was the obvious disrespect being shown. Then, if possible, she did something even dumber.

  “Oh, but it does,” she breathed huskily and reached to touch his jean-covered leg.

  I wasn’t about to kill her because she wouldn’t regenerate, but I didn’t hesitate to grab her hand and twist her wrist. I heard a snap and she cried out.

  “Oops,” I gave a patronizing smile. “So sorry about that. Afraid I got a little enthusiastic about that hand shake, there.”

  Nina looked enraged. “You bitch! You’re just jealous because he’s obviously into me.”

  I didn’t even try to stop the chuckle. Neither did my boys. Even Zachariah, looking exhausted, smiled widely and smoothed a massive warm hand over my knee.

  Gertrude shook her head. “Leave, girl. Go wait in the back.”

  Nina scowled. “This is ridiculous.”

  Our new friend Nina was gone. Good. How impressed are we that I didn’t kill her?

  “Now,” I smiled to the reasonable, if stuffy, people in the room. “What can I do for you ladies and gents?”

  Narcissa

  Sweet baby Jesus. Someone save me.

  It was a full two hours later. I had given up trying to rationalize their current concern regarding some bullshit about the wolves bothering them. I had tuned out because the twins were answering some of her questions along with Dorian. The three of them were fantastic at talking in circles with people and NOT killing them from outright exasperation. Zachariah still had his hand on my knee in a possessive hold and Brandon kept staring at an annoyed Raphi.

  Declan? He was humming and drinking like the lazy bastard he was. Although I couldn’t help but stare at his impressive arm muscles, something he totally caught me doing.

  Busted.

  Anyway, this was necessary. The witches were still our allies, despite their stuffiness. They always showed up when needed. The least I could do was hear them out.

  “Alright,” I looked at Gertrude. “I can promise we will look into this, but we really should invite everyone in for the larger meeting. Is there anything else that needs to be said before that?”

  Brandon flashed me a grin that spelled trouble. “Just that you look beautiful tonight.”

  Now, Brandon knew very well that I didn’t like him like that. He was even okay with it. I heard Raphael growl and all my other boys, even Declan, went quiet. I wasn’t even going to try to analyze when the Voodoo priest and Irish demi-god had become part of my little team. Dare I say… my little harem?

  A girl can dream… and read more Kindle books.

  “Thank you.” I flashed him a charming smile. They stood and Dorian called for the others. I stood and stretched, a pair of arms wrapping around me. Raphi.

  “Yes?” I asked curiously as he placed his nose against my throat and nuzzled me.

  “Stop scenting me,” I chuckled and pulled away. His wolf let out a deep rumble and I knew if I wasn’t careful, he would make an appearance. I didn’t mean him shifting, but that did happen often.

  Alpha’s have three forms. Their main one and their wolf one. The special third one appeared like their human form, but the dominant personality was the wolf. It had only happened twice and each time had been a mix between fucking hilarious and a bit scary.

  His eyes would turn black and his voice lower than normal. His wolf was possessive but also a demanding fucker. I mean the guy was very pushy. Very animalistic. Sexy, but only half a person. Have you ever tried reasoning with an animal? They’re not big on Dr. Phil.

  But now that Raphael had admitted to loving me like I loved him? Well, I expected the worst from his wolf.

  “Raphael,” I looked up at him. “Other people are here, we can’t…”

  “Why not?” He spoke with a slight growl. None of my boys bothered explaining and I got the feeling they were curious about my answer.

  I spoke evenly. “Because it is a little difficult to be a badass when a massive shifter is holding you like a doll.”

  His rumble echoed again. “So, you don’t want them to know that you’re ours?”

  My lips flitted into a smile.

  This guy.

  I totally wanted to knee him in the balls for saying I was theirs, but it was sort of fucking cute, also. If anyone was anyone’s, they were mine. So, yeah. Suck it. Or I could suck them…

  Not the time, Narc. Not the time.

  “It isn’t that,” I mumbled,fighting a laugh. “It’s just that I need to seem like I can hold my own.”

  “No one questions that,” Alaric stated, trying to be helpful instead of adding to the problem.

  “And what about the men who think you’re single?”

  I shot Dorian a nastylook. He was only making it worse. I spoke before I could stop my stupid mouth.

  “Come on, guys! We haven’t exactly made anything official to even announce tonight!”

  A savage growl ripped through the space as my head whipped to Raphi’s….wolf.

  I see.

  “Raphi!” My jaw tightened in warning. “Pull him back.”

  His dark eyes flashed and struggled to revert back to green. Instead, his wolf stayed forward and the minute I heard his voice, I just knew this was going to be bad.

  “No.” His voice was low and gravelly. Dear god, but that shouldn't turn me on.

  I put a hand on his chest and frowned. “Yes. We have other stuff to handle right now. We do not have time for this.”

  “Mate,” he growled and pulled me forward, pressing me against his chest. I could hear the boys warding people off and semi-shielding us from the many curious eyes. God, this was so fucking caveman-like.

  Cave-wolf-ish. Ha. See what I did there?

  “Raphael Sanchez,” I warned in a stern, quiet voice as I looked up at him. “You cut this shit out right now or else I’m going to have to use my power.”

  His hand grasped my jaw to tilt my head back.

  “Narcissa, are you ashamed of us?”

  I knew the “us” was him and Raphi. His wolf didn’t pay the other men in our group any real mind but he didn’t try to kill them, so that was a positive. I grunted and shoved his chest. “No, you big brute, but these guys are going to see it as a weakness.”

  “Nothing fucking weak about how I feel about you.” His voice rasped like sandpaper. And then the fucker kissed me.

  Oh, shit.

  I felt my head tilt back as my mouth opened to allow his probing, hot tongue. Suddenly, I realized how much he had been holding back in his earlier kiss. I mean, shit. Those sweet kisses turned real fucking hot as melted sugar filled my senses and my toes curled. I involuntarily ran my hands up his massive arms as he pulled me off the ground to be eye level with him. I think I lost my fucking mind when his hand slipped into my hair and tugged.

  My entire body responded. I resisted the urge to wrap my legs around his hips. Raphael’s wolf let out a low rumble as he began to kiss down my neck and bit down, just slightly. I groaned. I couldn’t even stop from baring my neck just slightly. That only made him more excited as his grip turned bruising.

  “Raphael,” Alaric snapped. Both of us pulled back. I breathed rough and uneven as I peered into a pair of very bright green eyes. God. I had no fucking idea that his wolf could be triggered that easily. I was totally, absolutely going to test that out more often. Except I wanted to be alone, in my bedroom, naked.

  “We have a meeting,” I mumbled. I could hear everyone talking behind us. A few catcalls rang out. Good. That’s all I fucking needed.

  Instead of answering, he just hummed un response and looked hungrily down at my lips. He pressed one last kiss to my lips and strode forward, leaving me wrapped up in Alaric’s waiting arms. I heard Raphael snarl at the other shifters to lower their fucking eyes. I grinned.