Bad News

RHIANNON

~Red eyes stare at me through the darkness. I shake my hands, but they are chained. The chains make loud rattling sounds against the ground.~

~A deep laugh vibrates the room. He’s on top of me, flying across the room so quickly I don’t understand what is happening.~

~He sinks his teeth into my neck. I try to fight him off. I fight until I grow weak. My eyelids are heavy. I’m so tired and cold.~

I scream, jolting up in bed, clawing at my neck.

Isaac bursts into the room with Noah at his heels. I push myself back against the headboard and hide my face in my hands.

“Annie, you’re bleeding.” Isaac pulls me to his chest. “Let me see it, please.”

I lift my head slowly. I’ve scratched the skin on my neck raw. He looks at me questioningly. The scratches are on the other side of my neck from my mark.

“I was being bitten there,” I explain. “He had red eyes and I was chained to the floor, and he was biting my neck.”

Isaac turns and growls at Noah, who bows his head and quickly leaves.

“Come here, little mate,” he lifts me against his chest and carries me to the bathroom. “Shower or bath?”

“Are you joining me?”

“If you want me to.”

“Shower, and I want you to.”

He adjusts the water before coming to stand in front of me. He gently takes the hem of his shirt I’m wearing and pulls it over my head.

Once he’s undressed, he walks into the large glass shower, and I follow him.

My muscles start to relax under the water.

“Where were you earlier?” I question.

“I was in my home office. There is some pack paperwork I have to do.”

“I’m sorry for taking you away from your work! We can get out now, I feel better.”

He strokes my mark, and I shiver.

“There is nothing more important than you, Annie. I can stay here as long as you need me to.”

“Did I sleep through breakfast?”

He laughs. “Yes, but I had food brought here. Whenever you’re ready, we can eat together.”

“You didn’t eat yours yet?”

“Of course not.” He looks confused, like him eating without me is unbelievable.

He gently lathers shampoo into my hair while I wash his body, running my fingers over his smooth wet skin.

I lean my head against his chest; darkness is swirling at the edges of my mind, but he pushes it away. He clears away the smoke, leaving only contentment and calm behind.

Pushing up on my toes, I pull him down to me by his shoulders. I place soft kisses on his mouth and neck. He lets me go at my own pace, controlling himself from taking over.

His length pushes against my stomach, filling me with the ache I’m starting to grow accustomed to.

Stepping back, his hand in mine, I lead him to the smooth stone bench inside the shower. When I sit down, he lets out a surprised breath as he watches me closely.

I take him in my hands and look up at him. He’s looking back at me with dark eyes, panting.

I’m intimidated by the task I’ve set for myself. He’s given me so much pleasure with his mouth, I want to reciprocate, but I’m not sure how, exactly.

I get the gist of it, but how to do it well is another story.

I lean forward and kiss the tip softly and he groans. The sound spurs me on.

I lick him from base to tip and he twitches, threading his hand into my wet hair.

I tentatively pull him into my mouth, slowly allowing him to sink to the back of my throat. When I gag, he moans, loudly.

I run my tongue along the underside as I slide him out of my mouth, then back in. I repeat this until the muscles in his abdomen clench.

“Use your hand baby, on the rest of it,” he grits out through gasps.

I pull him as far into my mouth as I can, gagging on him while gripping the rest in my hand.

I work my head and hand in unison, sliding up and down on him. His smooth skin is soft and slick in my mouth.

He lets out a sharp breath. “Fuck, Annie,” he groans. He has one arm outstretched, holding himself up against the shower wall.

I suck him hard and watch as his head falls forward, a shameless groan rumbling in his chest.

My stomach tightens as I watch him. He’s struggling to give up control. He moves his hips forward and I know he wants to thrust into my mouth but he holds back.

We make eye contact and I swell with pride at the moan that pushes past his lips. He watches me, watches himself slide in and out of my mouth.

The throbbing in my core is intensifying. I reach down between my legs to relieve some of the pressure.

“Holy shit,” he bucks his hips forward. “I…you have to stop if you don’t want… Fuuuck…I’m about to—”

His words are cut off by a deep, guttural moan as I suck him into my mouth, hard, pulling him as far as I can, forcing myself to swallow around him.

My neck and jaw feel tense but I won’t stop. I can taste small spurts of him on my tongue and I know he’s close.

“That feels so good, baby. Please don’t stop.” His voice is frantic and choppy. His moans fill the bathroom. He’s pushing his hips forward to meet my mouth but I can tell he’s holding himself back.

I feel him pulse against my tongue and his body goes rigid.

“Oh my—fucking—God,” he grits through his teeth as I feel long, hot spurts of him down my throat.

When I release him from my mouth, he pulls me into his arms, kissing me hard.

“That was amazing, baby.”

I blush at the compliment.

He turns off the water and carries me out to the bed. After he sets me down, he yells out the door, “Noah, if you’re still here, get the fuck out.”

I snort, but he’s completely serious.

Wordlessly, he pulls me to the edge of the bed. My ass is right on the edge, and my core is completely exposed to him.

He pulls one of my legs up, resting it on his shoulder, while my other leg is bent at the knee, my foot against his other shoulder.

“Your turn,” he growls as he pushes into me slowly, my eyes rolling back.

After several hours, we emerge from the room, hungry and exhausted. Isaac calls Noah back while I heat the breakfast from this morning.

Reheated pancakes aren’t delicious, but that’s what we get for losing half the day in bed.

“Alpha Hunter called while you were…otherwise engaged. I told him to expect a call as soon as you are back in the office,” Noah smirks while my cheeks burn.

Isaac rolls his eyes and walks toward his home office. “I’m going to call him, Annie. I’ll be back.”

He steps into his office but doesn’t close the door.

“Luna?” Noah asks while sitting at the other end of the table.

I quirk my brow at him. How many times do I have to tell him to call me Annie?

“My wolf won’t allow me to call you Annie,” he says as if he can read my mind. “I can feel the mark. You carry too much authority now to treat you so informally.”

My hand immediately gravitates to my mark. “You can feel it?”

“Yes, his claim on you, your position in this pack. We can all feel it.”

“What? How?” I gape at him.

“It’s hard to explain, but it’s kind of like…a collective consciousness that the pack has. We’re all connected to each other.

“You’re our luna; since he marked you, we can feel you more strongly than before. My wolf can feel your importance and your place over me in the pack.”

“What do I do?” I ask him quietly. “How do I take care of all of you? I want to do a good job.”

He chuckles. “Give yourself some time, Luna. You’re still adjusting. You’re already doing a good job, Jacko has never been so happy and relaxed.”

“Why can you call him a nickname?” I smirk at him.

“We grew up together. He knows how much I respect him. Maybe in twenty-five years I’ll be able to call you a nickname, too,” he laughs.

Isaac steps out of his office, his face serious and distressed.

Noah and I perk up, noticing the change in his mood immediately.

He sighs loudly and scrubs his hands roughly over his face. He sits, completely deflated.

“Hunter was trying to reach his cousin, Sybil, for you. She contacted him on behalf of the people that brought you to his pack.”

I nod, “I remember.”

“Well, he found her. She’s dead. A few weeks ago apparently.”

Noah jumps up. “Syb’s dead?”

He nods sadly, turning to me. “She was a friend to this pack. Everyone will be very upset by this.”

Noah rubs his wet eyes and asks, “How?”

Isaac hesitates. “She, um, she was drained.”

“What the fuck?!” Noah begins pacing.

“Drained? What does that mean?” I ask cautiously.

“Drained of her blood,” Isaac explains quietly. “It means vampires.”

I don’t know what to say. My mind races. Is this a normal occurrence?

“It gets more bizarre,” he cuts through my thoughts. “She was in Canada.”

Noah stops pacing. “Wait, do you think it’s connected to whatever weird shit is happening up there?”

Isaac shrugs and turns to me. “The day we got here, I had that urgent phone call,” he reminds me. “An alpha in Canada reached out after noticing an increase in activity from vampires in his area.

“They weren’t local. After watching them for a while, the pack came to the conclusion that they were searching for something…or someone.

“They caught one lingering around pack land borders. It was like he was surveilling the place.

“We have a council that we have to notify if anything is amiss. He read the reports about the vampires that attacked you in North Carolina and reached out to Hunter, who directed him to me.”

I shiver. “Were they looking for me?”

“We don’t know. The vampire they captured still hasn’t talked.”