No Longer Alone (House of Garner Book 1) Read online

  “Yes, lots,” she drawled.

  Impressive, that meant she’d killed lots of corrupted. So her amazing display last night in fighting an enemy wasn’t a one time thing. Then again, I’d known that given Clarence wasn’t a noble just anyone could hold off for almost five fucking years.

  “Picture that. Use your focus, your gift to speed it along.”

  “They die then,” she argued, her voice cracking.

  “Princess, they are already dead. You are just giving them peace. A ghost is an anchor, and the soul doesn’t move on until it’s really gone. Help them. You set them free from their prison as being corrupted, now lead them to their afterlife.”

  She nodded, sucking in a shaky breath before I felt energy buzzing inside of her. I should have moved, given her space, but I was a selfish dick and let that feeling of my princess commanding her powers run all over me. Plus, I wanted her to get used to my being close, and if that meant taking any advantage when it popped up, I would do it.

  “Oh fuck, it worked,” she whispered as she slid away from me.

  I turned to find her squatting down and picking up a large seed. “Well done, Princess, well done indeed.” And it was. For her to catch on so quickly, channel her power so well with just one simple instruction, was amazing.

  She blinked at me, realizing I was talking, but still couldn’t hear me. I gave her a thumbs up and nodded to the seed when I got a better look. “I think that’s an oak seed.”

  “Why would I need that?” she grumbled, shaking her head. “Diamonds. Leave a girl some diamonds to buy what she needs and stay safe in the apocalypse. That’s the least you fuckers could do after trying to eat me.”

  I burst out laughing. I couldn’t help it. I laughed so hard again I leaned against the wall. She was certainly not like any princess I’d ever met before.

  Fantastic!

  She had a small pile of seeds minutes later, looking wiped and shaky.

  “Eat, you need fuel,” I called loudly.

  “They’ve shut up,” she said at a normal volume, giving me a hesitant look. “Thank you. I’m sorry I shot you, but how the fuck are you okay?”

  “I think you know that answer,” I answered gently. She seemed too tired to piece out what to do or how to handle the situation we found ourselves in, and I felt the same. “I want to tell you so much and what’s most important, but I fear it will worry you or make you think that I’m your enemy again.”

  “No, not my enemy,” she mumbled after a few moments. “You jumped in to help last night and brought me food after I shot you, and hey, helped my sanity with how to deal with the fucking ghosts.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “But that does not mean I trust you or I’m up for whatever con you’re planning.”

  I bobbed my head, not even wasting my breath that it wasn’t a con. Then I had an idea. She was clearly logical to list out what worked in my favor like that, so that was the way to go. “Give me a chance to prove I’m not a con. If I can get, um, five things right out of like ten guesses, you give me a chance.”

  “What does that mean?” she asked as she pulled the taco containers to her, keeping the table between us. “Why go back there? How did you get there and back so fast when you didn’t have a car?”

  I opened my mouth and then closed it, blowing out a harsh breath. “I will answer if you give me a chance, and by that I mean you just let me travel with you.” I rushed on when I saw the answer I didn’t want in her eyes. “A few days. I’ll be of use and help you load up your van.”

  Before she could get scared I’d steal it or accuse me of anything, I thumped my fist against one of the safety deposit boxes, and the hinges broke and the door fell off.

  She blinked at me a moment. “Well, that was easier than I’ve been doing it.” She slowly nodded before opening the containers and putting together tacos. “Fine, I’ll agree to play this game, no idea what you could guess, but okay, what’s your five things?”

  Again, I opened my mouth but then closed it, blowing out another harsh breath, which seemed to amuse her like I was already failing in my own con. “I might need some information too.”

  “Of course you do,” she drawled.

  I shook my head. “Not everyone is the same. Not every princess can manipulate ghosts like that. We all have different gifts.”

  She sighed in between bites. “Well, you’ve got ten guesses, so maybe don’t start from the complicated stuff. Clearly I know nothing in your eyes, so start there.”

  I flinched. “You know lots, Princess, and you are impressive. Your ignorance on all of this is not your fault nor a strike against you. I’m in awe you have survived as you have, not judging you.”

  Her cheeks flushed slightly, lust shooting through me and my cock going rock hard for her. She cleared her throat and glanced away. “Well, that’s better than most, as they always try to treat me like an idiot who needs them.”

  “Everyone needs people and help, but that certainly doesn’t make any of us helpless.”

  “Thanks. And thanks for helping me with the ghosts. I—it makes everything so much harder to wait until they go.”

  “I can’t even imagine.” And I couldn’t. To be harassed and surrounded by ghosts while running on her own, with her needs and… That was the answer. “So we’ve already established you’re a beacon for corrupted. Your blood is, you know this, yes?” I waited until she nodded. “And you crave it.”

  Her eyes went wide as she choked on her taco, thumping her chest as she stood up straight. It took her a few moments to get herself together, and then she was looking anywhere but at me. “Blood? No, no, what kind of sicko wants blood? I mean, I love me some rare meat, but everyone does and—”

  “Well, clearly you’re a terrible liar,” I drawled.

  She let out a huff. “I’m a very good liar, thank you very much, unless it’s something I don’t see coming.” She gave me a scared look. “I don’t want blood.”

  “I’m counting this as two of five if I can prove otherwise,” I warned as I pulled my blade from my back pocket. I flicked it open with the ease of practice, not even having to look at it, and sliced it over my palm. I kept my gaze locked with hers. “Tell me you’re not dying—”

  She was around the table and her mouth on my wound before I could finish. She took my hand in her two smaller ones, pressing it against her lips and letting out a whimper when the wound healed so she couldn’t get more. I watched as she licked every drop of my blood, turned on in a way I didn’t think I ever had been before as I watched, completely under her spell.

  Until tears filled her eyes and she dropped my hand as if it burned her. “I’m a monster. I’m—that was sick, and all I want is more.” She covered her face with her hands and let out a quiet sob.

  “No, no you’re not,” I whispered, moving closer, hugging her even when she shoved away. “You’re just not human, Princess.”

  “Inez,” she choked out. “I think we’re past the part of hiding my name when I just drank your fucking blood.”

  “I offered,” I reminded her as if that would help, relieved I at least knew her name finally.

  She snorted but then shoved at me harder. “Hot. Sorry, hot. Fuck, hot.” That last time came out more like a moan.

  And made me realize something bad. I let her move away, watching her closely. “Inez, have you never fed? Had blood ever?”

  “What? No, of course not,” she snapped, rubbing her hands over her arms. “It wasn’t this hot in here. Was something wrong with that food?” She gave me an accusatory look. “Did you slip me something? I’m all itchy.”

  “No, it’s from my blood,” I answered, swallowing loudly. “Okay, so I fucked up but not—I didn’t—how could you have not fed at all for five years? I’ve never—I didn’t dream—I figured you fed on humans.”

  “What? No, never,” she groaned, running her hands over her body now. “Hot. Why am I so hot? I feel like I’m burning up.”

  “You are,” I worried. “It’s just
not the—you know this feeling, Inez. I’m sorry, I didn’t think you’d never fed, but you know what you’re feeling.”

  She shook her head, looking half out of her mind. “Hot. I ache and itch. I don’t know this. Sensitive.”

  I thought I might burst out of my pants when her hand ran over her chest and up her neck as the other moved along her stomach, pulling up her shirt. She kept muttering about being too hot and aching. I sucked in a harsh breath. “Inez, are you a virgin?”

  “Yes, well, I think so. I don’t remember before, but I’ve never—no, I haven’t done anything like—men are creeps and—so hot.” She let out a moan as she collapsed against the safety deposit boxes. “Fix it. How do I fix it? You fix it. You did it.”

  “I would love to, but this would be no different than taking you while drunk, and that would be rape,” I whispered, hating myself for not handling this better. “I’m so sorry, Inez. I messed up.”

  “Fix it,” she whimpered, yanking off her shirt and starting on her pants. “Please, just fix it!”

  And that was why Clarence and assholes like him thought our princesses sluts. They had absolutely no control when their need overwhelmed them. I’d had no idea it would be like this for a new princess.

  Who had never fed.

  And never had sex.

  I was such a fuckhead. She was going to kill me.

  And I’d hand her the rifle because I deserved it.

  4

  My body was on fire. I mean… F. I. R. E. I’d never felt anything like it, and I ached. It didn’t hurt, but feeling that hot worried me. The itching did hurt and was driving me insane. Like seriously insane.

  And the one who did it to me kept talking instead of helping. I couldn’t even make out his words anymore, my heart thudding in my ears as I tried to itch off my skin.

  He grabbed my arms and shook me. “Let out the charge, Inez. That’s your power. Let it out as if you were fixing an electric vehicle.”

  That I could do. I let it out, and he grunted, his eyes filling with pain. Whoops, he’d been touching me. Well, this was all his fault. He’d said as much.

  I wanted to focus on what else he said, but all I wanted was to put out the fire and have more of his blood. I’d fucking drank his blood and loved it and was desperate for more. He should tell me again I wasn’t a monster.

  His face came closer, and I’d ducked enough men to know he was trying to kiss me, turning away. He gripped my chin and forced me to look at him. “No, I’ve fucked up enough. I won’t do this wrong too. I won’t touch you without at least kissing you first. You deserve so much better than this, and I’m sorry. Please forgive me, Inez.”

  He lowered his lips to mine before I could even think of what to reply.

  And then I didn’t want to duck the kiss. I whimpered against his mouth, feeling like one of those simpering women in romance books I rolled my eyes at, but I was burning up and not in my head.

  And missing my shirt?

  And my running pants were almost to my knees?

  How had that happened?

  Did I really care right then?

  No. The answer was very much no… But I would later.

  “Your reaction is more than I—I don’t know which is best to help you,” he worried in between kisses. “Oh fuck, Inez, I didn’t mean for it to be like this.” He growled and lifted me up, ripping the pants off of me so he could move my legs over his hips. He sat me on the other table and kept kissing me. “Tell me what to do, Inez. You have to decide. I don’t want your first time here like this with you out of your mind.”

  It hit me what he meant, and I shook my head. “No sex.”

  “As you wish,” he promised before pushing me to lay back. He kissed down my body, leaving the sports bra on but then yanking off my panties so fast I barely even felt or saw them go.

  I opened my mouth to yell at him when he spread my legs, but he kissed me there and all I did was moan. Like moan. Oh shit. It was amazing, and I finally understood why so many guys had tried to pay me for blow jobs.

  “Please, please, Darius please,” I begged, not even sure what I was begging for.

  “Fuck, you taste so good, so sweet,” he moaned against me. “I’m in so much trouble. You’re going to kill me, and I’m so sunk.”

  Right, because that made any sense to me. Was he out of his head too? I wasn’t sure, but I knew I had to be to let this stranger—the one with the fangs whose blood I’d drank, couldn’t forget that—eat me out when I’d never so much as had a kiss before.

  Something built inside of me, and the burning calmed enough that even I figured out it was an orgasm. I bit my lip to stay quiet as he ramped up my body, moving my hand over my mouth when it crashed into me to keep from screaming. And scream I did. I screamed in bliss as my body lost its ever loving mind, shaking and freaking out like I’d thought people made up and lied about.

  Shit, I owed some people apologies for sure.

  I realized my other hand was fisting his hair and holding him to me as he kept going. I wanted more. I wanted more and more of what he’d done.

  And because he was nice, he did it again. I about bit through my lip this time it was so good, my body twitching with the ripples of my orgasm.

  “Better?” he asked after a few minutes, his breath tickling my sensitive skin, and I shivered. “Is the burning better? The itching?”

  I nodded, unable to get my mouth to work as I gasped for air. I wanted to pull away from him, my pleasure and happy hormones starting to fade and reality coming back.

  “Please don’t be sad,” he whispered. “I’m sorry. This was—I’ve never been around a brand new princess. I’m so, so sorry, Inez.”

  “So you didn’t want to?” I asked, wondering how my mind landed on that to be the first concern.

  “I wanted to,” he promised. “I—you are gorgeous, and yes, I was hard for you already. Please, I wanted to. I simply wanted to do this better so you weren’t upset.”

  “Can I get dressed?”

  He stood up and handed me my clothes before turning and punching several of the safety deposit boxes, his shoulders stiff and tense. I was dressed before he moved down the row, but he just stayed at the end of the room, staring at the wall.

  It took me several tries to find my voice, wanting to believe what he was feeling was real. “You knew how to help me but not that I would react like that?”

  He flinched at the implied accusation. “I’ve had sex, Inez. I knew what hormones I was smelling off of you. I’ve been around princesses before and know what feeding does, what nobles share with their princess. I’ve never been intimate with a princess though. I’ve never fed one, only seen it, and it’s not—it’s not always like that, and you didn’t have much.”

  I sat with that a moment. It made sense if I believed whatever was going on with the princesses and nobles and vampires stuff, but I’d drank his blood and seen his fangs so, you know, that helped. “Were those going to be the questions you asked first?”

  “Yes,” he admitted after a moment. “I was going to ask how you’ve been feeding, when the last time you fed was. I’m sorry. My mind was filled with Clarence and trying to find a way to tell you I knew who hunted you without you thinking I was with him.”

  I felt a healthy dose of fear shoot through me, and suddenly a bit of oral sex with a stranger didn’t seem like something to worry over. I quickly started collecting what I’d already gotten, hurrying to pack up so I could flee. They had arrived faster than I would have thought, and I had to move.

  “Inez, please, they won’t hurt you,” he whispered, grabbing my arms. He sighed when I opened my mouth to object. “He is an asshole. Yes, he would use you and mistreat you, but he would never injure you.” He searched my eyes for something. “He has never injured you, right? Never shot at you?”

  “No, they want me alive, they always do to sell women,” I seethed.

  “Right, but any others who’ve tried for you have given up?” he pushed, letting
me go when I nodded. “He’s a noble like me but not like me. If you rejected me, I wouldn’t hunt you. He knows you are ignorant to us and our ways. He wants to use that against you and make you his instead of us yours.”

  “Huh?”

  He sighed. “Okay, too fast. Got it. I’ve never had to explain this before. I’m struggling here too.” He growled and punched a few more safety deposit boxes. “They’re heading north. The taco truck driver told them to go north after I spoke with him. We have time.” He moved his hands against the wall and leaned down to stretch. “But I cannot interfere with his courting you unless you order me to.”

  “Courting? Like dating?” I squeaked and would forever deny I did because I sounded like an idiot. “They’re chasing me all over to date me? Right.”

  “No, to be part of your court.” He slowly turned, giving me a heated look as he swallowed loudly. “As am I. I don’t want to lie to you, but I don’t want to scare you either. I’ve never wanted to serve a princess before. I smelled you and thought it too strange for a princess to be here. Then I saw you start that car and no protection, and that’s why I gave chase. I thought you lost your nobles and were on your own.”

  I held up my hand to stop him. “Wait, too much.” I covered my face with my other hand, realizing how mortified I was again. “And a bunch of ghosts watched us do that. Just—fuck, too much.”

  He was quiet several moments. “For now, all I ask is to stay by your side and help you. Please, Inez? I’ll tell you everything and however you need it. You are a rare gift from the Goddess and maybe the last new princess we could have after the fucking apocalypse. Let me help you.”

  “Okay,” I heard myself whisper. Yes, I wanted answers, and yes, I wanted more of his blood, but all of it was too crazy.

  Except he’d told me how to make the ghosts go away. That was enough for me to give him a crumb of faith.

  “Thank you, Inez,” he rasped, rubbing his hand over his heart. Then he stood up straight and grabbed the other box he’d brought in, holding it out for me. “I wiggled my way into their community bakery. I know this is all too much and terrifying, but I wish to give my princess whatever I can to make her smile.”