Epilogue, but for real this time
ECHO
I moaned loudly as Vale slid into me.
“Keep your voice down, my little hole,” Vale reminded me, but the way he gripped my hips even more firmly as he fucked into me told me he didn’t care that much about being overheard.
I was little more than a floppy ragdoll as Vale fucked me against the back wall of the house. He was still far stronger than I was, but I was growing more durable by the day, so our sexytimes sessions had gotten a lot more fun.
It might not sound like fun, getting fucked outside in the snow on Christmas day, but with my changing body, the cold didn’t bother me much, and I was one hundred percent there for it.
I’d asked Vale and the rest of the family to help keep me occupied on Christmas Day since it was the anniversary of the two worst moments of my life.
Vale had taken it as a sacred mission, and getting outdoor wall sex was only a drop in the bucket.
The first thing we’d done after waking up was fuck in the shower.
Then we went out for breakfast in a neighboring town and killed some guy with a shit ton of fake gold chains around his neck.
Gareth said he was responsible for a lot of bad shit, and I didn’t ask details.
If Gareth thought the world would be a better place without Gold-chain McGee, then I was on board.
Gareth is still super scary, and watching him beat a man to death with his own severed arm was something a person doesn’t just unsee, but I’ve figured out that Gareth has his own set of rules that he follows religiously.
As long as you don’t touch his bottom line, he’s a decent guy. A bit gruff and taciturn, but nowhere near as bad as his fear aura makes him seem.
So, anyway, we took care of Gareth’s side quest, and when we were done, he rewarded me with a shiny metal box. When I opened it, I discovered a new phone.
I’d never gotten a new one because I’d been so caught up in the love bubble with Vale that I hadn’t needed one. Any work correspondence was taken care of on my laptop during business hours. The rest of the time was spent learning all about my new husband.
“It’s keyed to your biometrics, so only you can use it,” Gareth said in his boss voice. “It’s unhackable and untraceable, so you don’t need to worry about leaving it behind during missions.”
“Does that mean Gareth can’t hack it either?” I asked Vale.
“Don’t get your hopes up,” Vale said with a ghost smile.
Gareth didn’t say anything, so I assumed that was a big, fat no.
After that, Baz and Vix dragged us out into a field to see the hundred or so snowmen they’d made. At first, I was all “...” because it was a very Christmassy thing to do, and that was the opposite of what I’d wanted.
Then Baz offered me a machete, pulled out another one, and sliced off the head of the nearest snowman. A spray of red fountained out of the snowman’s neck, and Baz said, “Okay, now it’s your turn!”
Then I was all “!!!” and suddenly ready and raring to go.
It turned out that Baz had some unresolved feelings to take out on Christmas, too. Or maybe he just enjoyed hating something. It was hard to tell.
Vale watched us with an air of I’m happy simply observing and low-key judging all of you as Baz, Vix, and I went slash happy on a field of snowmen stuffed with balloons filled with splashy red stuff.
That little adventure led to shower number two.
After shower number two, Vale took me outside to the backyard. He pointed out several trapped Christmas decorations, slowly vanishing under the falling snow and said, “This is from Vix. He would have shown you himself, but he’s busy with another surprise.”
Vix’s idea of decorations seemed to be taking Halloween decorations, slapping a Santa hat on them, and then making them as lethal as possible, and I was all in.
Before we got to whatever Vale wanted to show me, he stopped me, touched the blue stripe in my hair, and said, “You’re beautiful in the snow.”
I looked up at him, blinking snow out of my eyes and… that’s how I got my second fucking of the day.
When the wood siding of the house began to protest our lovemaking with a dangerous cracking sound, instead of easing back, Vale only turned up the heat, and I cried out in wordless encouragement.
“Does my needy little hole like this?” Vale asked, his eyes glowing as he watched me fall apart around him. “Should I ruin it completely?”
“I’m yours, Vale,” I panted. “Yours to destroy if you want.”
Vale took one hand away from my hips, and I wrapped my legs around him tightly. He grasped my throat and squeezed until my vision blurred.
“Tell me how much you want this,” Vale said, his gentle tone a beautiful contrast to the havoc he was wreaking on my body.
“I want it, Vale. Fuck, I need it. Please…”
Vale bit into my neck and began to feed while driving into me. As soon as his fangs sank into my flesh, I began to come, and the magic of our curse held me suspended in that moment for an endless amount of time.
I stayed there, in glorious bliss as I felt all of Vale’s love pouring through our soul bond. It was everything.
Two traumatized, fucked up people had somehow managed to be perfectly imperfect together.
I don’t know how long we stayed that way, but when Vale finally released me, I was glowing so brightly that the snowy landscape around us had become a distinct shade of green.
Vale grinned at me smugly, and I nipped his neck in retaliation. My canines weren’t fully fledged fangs like his, but they’d begun to grow into cute little points that could draw blood just fine. I lapped at Vale’s blood—he tasted of cinnamon and spice, and I was obsessed with it.
I reveled in the delicious tingle as Vale’s blood healed any damage he may have done to me while he was ruining his needy little hole. I was such a good hole for him and so proud I could joyfully take whatever he gave me without any ill after-effects.
I hadn’t developed a desire yet for anyone else’s blood, but Vale’s was ambrosia to me, and he shared it willingly, whether I wanted to be healed or only wanted a snack.
After a quick clean up with the wipes I carried constantly out of self-preservation, I inspected the me-shaped dent in the side of the house.
“There is no way anyone is going to believe that was an accident,” I said. “Gareth is going to know we broke the no fucking in public spaces rule.”
“We’re in our honeymoon period,” Vale said. “Gareth went easy on both of the other couples in the house for a month after they got together, so we should be fine.”
“Did they break the exterior of the house?” I touched a piece of wooden siding, and it broke off and landed in the snow.
“...No.”
“Gareth is going to make us do something gross, isn’t he?”
“If he does, I’ll take full responsibility,” Vale promised.
I bit him again in thanks, and it grew heated quickly.
I bite him a lot. It’s my new love language.
Eventually, I decided to stop our make-out session so we could continue with the anti-festivities.
It was hard because, holy shit, our curse makes us horny as hell.
Our version does, anyway. Apparently, the monster decided that instead of making us eat people all the time, it was happy to just let us fuck it out.
Vix and Paris had stiff competition for couple who fucks the most.
Heh. Yeah, I said what I said.
My decision to stop was aided by a verbal bucket of ice water.
“You decided to get us married and didn’t invite me to the wedding, Vale? Harsh.”
Since my face was still glued to Vale’s, I couldn’t see the speaker, but his familiar voice stopped me in my tracks. It was somehow husky and ethereal at the same time. Like he was in the world, but not of it.
Vale stiffened and moved to block me from Wraith, but I slapped at his restraining arms until we reached a compromise where Vale could be protective, but I could still see.
“A guy is gone for a day—” Wraith began.
“Twenty-three days,” Vale corrected.
“A mere twenty-four hours that you’ve known this man, and you tied our lives to him. Your judgment is abysmal, Vale. Do I need to stage an intervention?” Wraith stood directly on top of one of Vix’s most potent and lethal traps, and I was finding it difficult to follow the conversation.
He should have been shredded to pieces instead of standing there innocently resembling a moonbeam in broad daylight. I knew exactly how dangerous the trap was because I’d helped Vix with it the day before.
It was my house, so I couldn’t allow its security to be anything less than the best, right?
“Could you take two steps to the left?” I asked. “I need to check something.”
Wraith moved off the trap, and nothing happened.
I was flummoxed. If stepping on the trap hadn’t triggered it, stepping off it should have done the job.
At the very least, Wraith should have been sporting a missing leg, but instead, he was busy continuing to berate Vale, who was glaring at me with a look of shocked betrayal.
“Vale, I never should have abandoned you that day. You’re still young and innocent to the ways of this cold, cruel world, and this harlot got his claws into you.”
Vale ignored Wraith and continued to look at me like I’d stolen Oda Nobunaga from him.
“How did you do that?” I stormed up to Wraith. “That was some of my finest work. How dare you still have two functional legs?” I demanded.
“Wouldn’t you like to know, harlot?” Wraith huffed and gave me the once-over. “I suppose he’s good in bed at least? Shall we go find out? I might as well have a turn since we’re all married now.”
I stumbled backward because I fully expected Vale to pop Wraith’s head free from his body, but I was woefully disappointed.
Vale shot Wraith a dirty look and said, “You wish.” Then he took my arm and tried to steer me away from the situation.