“There’s too much nitrogen in the fertilizer,” she continues. “It’s as though the nitrogen is making the soil too dark for the plants to see the light. We just need to add phosphorous to help absorb the light. Then these little mamas will bear fruit next season.”
Marechal turns back to her work. She takes another vial of chemicals out of the case. The label has a big P in black, covering the glass tube. Marechal pours some of the powder into the mixture. It bubbles and fizzes like a witch’s brew.
I stand behind her. My legs can’t move. My chest feels constricted. My fingertips tingle.
After a few moments, Marechal’s face lights up. “See?”
I see that a reaction has happened, but I’m not sure what it is.
“It just needed balance,” she continues. “This land has been untouched and left in the dark for years. All it needed was a little help to see the light.”
“Are you saying the grapes will grow now?” I ask.
“Give me nine months, and I’ll have this place bearing fruit.”
Marechal grins brightly at her scientific achievement. I stand mute, questioning my very reason for being.
Gaius, Hadrian and Virius all said that prophecies never turn out as expected. Those three vampires are just as old as this curse. And all the parts of it are coming undone and being righted in unexpected ways.
If the land is now mine because of a pen stroke, and the grapes will grow and bear fruit because of chemistry… then maybe the prophecy is satisfied? Maybe… maybe it’s even wrong?
Maybe I don’t have to get pregnant?
Maybe I can keep Virius forever?
Chapter 21
Virius
I struggle to awaken. Not because I’m tied down, not this evening. There are no binds that hold me to the bed as I wait to be petted by Domitia’s newest client. My hands and legs are free. My body is my own. It’s only the setting sun that weighs me down.
Still, I rise in defiance of the life-threatening rays. It’s the first time I can remember waking up with a light, airy halo around my head. The first time that warmth courses through my chest. I think this is called happiness.
Though, when I turn in the bed, the source of my happiness is not with me.
I should panic. But I don’t. I scent her nearby. She hasn’t gone far. Even if she had, I would track her down.
Domitia bound me to her with her blood, with chains, and with words that mindfucked a child into submission. It wasn’t until last night that I finally shook off the last vestiges of that bondage. Now, I’m bound to Zahara. But this time, I’ve cuffed myself.
I will gladly spend the rest of my life giving Zahara pleasure, fulfilling her every need and desire. Including giving her the child she desires.
It’s a trudge to get out of the bed. There’s likely a half hour of sunlight left outside. Inside my closet, I feel for the first garment on a hanger. I poke the correct body parts through the appropriate holes, and go in search of my woman.
Her scent trail leads me to the back of the house. A few rays of sunlight shine in from the glass doors that lead out to the vineyard. I step my way around those shards of death until I am on one side of the window.
Zahara sits in a cluster of vines. Her legs are folded beneath her. In her hands, she holds a diseased vine. Marechal is beside her. Scientific instruments are all around them.
I can hear what they’re saying thanks to my supernatural hearing. But they’re speaking in the unintelligible language of science, so their words go over my head. I don’t bother to catch any of the discussion. I simply let the tone of Zahara’s voice wash over me.
Even her voice is like honey as it enters my ears—which makes sense, since her kisses are like nectar. Between her thighs it tastes like the sweetest of wines. Her blood would shame the ambrosia of the gods.
The need to have her in my arms, her thighs wrapped around my neck, around my waist, is so powerful that I take a step towards the door. I hiss as the light shoves me back into the shadows.
“Just a few more minutes, and then we can go to them.”
I don’t turn at the sound of Gaius’s voice. I sense him behind me, and am sure his gaze is on Marechal.
“Crazy what love does,” Gaius continues. “It fills you with such want that it makes you forget your weaknesses.”
“Have you learned any more about how Dom fathered a child?”
Gaius’s pause lets me know that he has.
“Tell me,” I demand.
“I don’t know the answer. But I know where we can find Dom.”
“Let’s go,” I say, eager to learn how to give Zahara the one thing I never thought I could.
“In a minute.”
Gaius reaches for the door and pulls it open. The sun has set, thus lifting the barrier between the two of us and the women we treasure. Gaius is on Marechal in less than a breath. Both she and Zahara yelp at his sudden appearance.
Marechal giggles as Gaius brings her up into his arms for a deep and bruising kiss. Zahara blinks at the two of them. Then, as though only just sensing my presence, she turns to me.
I’m not certain what to do. Should I race to her? Bring her into my arms, and kiss her? That’s what I want to do. But I’m uncertain if I should.
Hadrian made Cari a vampire and bound her to him in our ways. Gaius plans to do the same with Marechal, in time. I know that Zahara is mine, but I don’t know how panther shifters mate. Wolves bite. I’ve already bitten her. That should stake my claim.
The thoughts flee my mind as a bundle of flesh is
