Annie Nicholas: The Omegas

She turned to Katrina. “How can I be in a relationship with someone who can’t grow old with me?”

Katrina blinked, then chuckled. “You asking wrong person. Tyler is the romantic.”

“Speaking of twisted relationships, you snuggled up close to him last night while playing Scrabble. Are you his mate?”

Katrina lowered her gaze.

Sugar could almost see her friend physically shrinking back inside herself. She reached out to touch her knee. “You’re my friend, Katrina. Whatever happened in the past is over. Don’t build walls between yourself and those who care about you. Build them between yourself and the past.”

Katrina let out a shaky breath. “I know. I lucky to have such good friends. It take time. Tyler will wait, he say.” She looked back at Sugar with a fragile smile. “You take some of you own advice.”

“What?”

“You need build wall to you past. Daedalus strong vampire, gentle heart.” She tapped her chest with this proclamation.

“Gentle heart?”

“See?” She craned her neck around, then showed her wrists. “No bite me, never touch me or feed. He no ask me but somehow know my pain. Gentle heart. Is good man.”

Sugar caressed the folded piece of paper in her pocket with new insight. A tough exterior and a soft heart. It didn’t change the fact she was human and he a vampire.

Katrina touched her knee. “Daedalus good for you. I see change in you.”

“What change?”

“You walk different.”

“Well...he’s kind of big, and I did get sore…”

“Eww! Not that!” Katrina giggled while slapping playfully at Sugar. “You walk more free.”

Sugar lifted an eyebrow and tilted her head. She loved Katrina with all her heart, sometimes the language barrier made things difficult though.

Katrina sighed with frustration and got up. “I…” She pointed at herself. “Am you.” She pointed at Sugar, then started walking around the patio, swinging her hips as she took great strides with her short legs.

Sugar’s mouth dropped open. “I do not walk like Betty Boop.” She laughed at Katrina. Tyler’s sense of humor had rubbed off on her. Sugar would do anything to have things work out for them.

Laughing, Katrina came to sit by her again. They watched as the clouds floated by the city and the planes made trails marring the sky.

“I noticed a full moon two nights ago. Where did you and the boys go for the change?”

Katrina bounced on the bench. “Daedalus take us out to woods. No tame city park but far into the wild places.” She said ‘wild’ with awe and wonder. “You know Nosferatu clan and werewolf share the hunt in old times?”

“No. What clan?”

“Daedalus’s clan, Nosferatu. He is upset we know nothing of it. He angry the packs lose the way with old law. He teach us.”

The pride in Katrina’s voice surprised Sugar. She’d never heard it before. Daedalus must have inspired it. Her vampire warrior with the soft heart.

The window stuck as he tried to slide it open. Silence was of the essence on his mission, so he couldn’t force it with his strength. Footsteps echoed in the alley below, so he became one with the brick building as he hung upside down, held by fingertips and toes.

A human male strolled by while whistling Dixie under his breath. The man rummaged through the trash cans as if shopping at the market.

Silently, the monster on the wall banged his forehead against the brick. His sweet, juicy target slept on the other side of the glass. Close enough to smell.

Lavender mixed with clean cotton.

On any other night he would have had the patience to wait out the homeless man. Not tonight. He built a low growl in his chest and let it vibrate through the alley. The rattle of a lid crashing to the ground was the first response, the pitter-patter of running the second.

He grinned. Mission accomplished, it was about time. With a little applied pressure to the frame, the window opened enough to slip inside.

Sugar slept soundly, cocooned in her soft, thick blankets. Probably tired after an evening spent in laughter with her friends. Quiet snores escaped her blissful repose. Unaware of the shadow that slid into her room and stalked around her bed. Ignorant of the monster who wished to feed on her sweet, yielding body.

Delicious.

He removed his underwear, one of only two things he wore, and tossed it in a corner. With preternatural quiet he untucked the covers from the mattress. The blanket flowed off her in a smooth slow motion, lest she be woken too early. She laid spread across the white cotton sheets. An undersized, blue t-shirt barely covered her generous round bosom, her midriff exposed above a pair of white panties clinging to her hips.

A beautiful midnight snack.

The bed quivered as someone crawled over her. Sugar woke, startled, and tried to sit up, but something heavy kept her pinned and held her hands to the bed. Her heart raced. She struggled against the solid mass and kicked out. A scream tore from her throat.

“Hey, sweet thing.” A husky male voice cut through her terror.

“Daedalus?” Stunned, she stopped her tussle. “You scared me!” A mix of annoyance with anticipation swept away her adrenaline rush.

The weight of his delicious body pressed her to the bed. Her irritation dissolved when he gave her a moist, deep kiss while laughter rumbled in his chest. Still pinned, she kissed him back, eager for pleasure, and joined in with her giggles.

Their embrace grew longer and deeper, the laughter forgotten.

She explored his mouth, touching both delicate, sharp fangs with the tip of her tongue, careful not to prick herself. His lips were soft, such a contrast to the rest of him. This time he tasted of…mint.

He released her hands and tangled his fingers in her curls. He kissed her like he was drowning and could only find breath in her mouth. At that moment she would have let him devour her.

She ran her palms down his powerful, sturdy shoulders, along his bare, solid back, to his round, hard ass. The taut skin covering his well-defined muscles registered in her consciousness. She pulled from his kiss. “You’re naked.”

“And you’re not.” Amusement filled his voice. Sitting up, he straddled her hips, and efficiently tugged off her shirt. He wrapped his fingers around her panties, and with a quick snap of his wrist, tore them from her hips.

She gasped at the rough treatment but didn’t care. Her attention was focused on Daedalus. The nightlight on her wall gave enough illumination for her to finally see him nude. Every sculpted muscle moved visibly under his pale, translucent skin as he undressed her, his gestures fluid and precise.

The black snake eating its tail tattoo over his heart was the symbol of eternal life. She’d googled it at work and found it fit him. Her gaze trailed down to what she had only felt but not seen. His cock stood huge and erect against his hard abdomen.

When he saw the object of her curiosity he gave her a smug smile. He stroked his cock while his gaze traveled along her body. “You’re so luscious, Sugar.”

She wanted to taste him. Suck him hard and deep until he begged for mercy. Something silky hanging around his neck distracted her. “Are you wearing a white scarf?”

“I’m in the mood to play.” He pulled it off, and then snapped it between his hands.

She jumped at the sharp pop. “How?”

A wicked grin exposed a little fang while he tied her wrists to the headboard.

She tugged futilely at her bonds out of reflex, not fear. The silk, smooth and cool, held tight. Scandalous delight coursed through her. She’d never done anything like this before.