Chapter 16 #2
“This is beautiful; the pictures in the magazine don’t do it justice. Mekhi is going to burst when he finds out this is where you brought me.” She laughs a little, and I can’t help but reach out, grabbing her chin and turning her to face me; our gazes lock.
“Wait until you see the view later, it’s stunning.
” I let my eyes run over her face—my Rose has always been beautiful to me, but this time, creation made her even more perfect.
I notice her cheeks have a spray of light freckles over them.
She also has an Orion’s belt of birthmarks on her left cheek.
She’s had those markings in all her lives.
A marking the powers that be gave her—a sign that marked her as the Reader.
She blushes deeply before leaning back from me and picking up the menu. “What would you recommend?” she says. I grin, knowing I am affecting her as much as she is affecting me.
“I hope you don’t mind,” I say as the waiter places a jug of water on the table. “But I took the liberty of ordering the taster menu for us—samples of every dish.”
She smiles at me. “That sounds perfect, I can never decide what to pick anyway.”
“Drinks, Sir? My lady?” the waiter asks. I gesture to the drinks menu, and Ari picks a bottle of white wine.
“We’ll also have a jug of Black to go with it,” I order. The waiter nods before leaving us.
“Black is so strong. I’ve only ever had it once, and I was hungover for days,” Ari laughs lightly.
Black is the demon version of Tequila, but much stronger; it’s black in color and has a silver swirl when added to any drink.
Human alcohol does nothing for daemons, so adding a few drops gives drinks a nice edge.
“We’ll go slow, we have all evening,” I assure her.
“We’ll have to go really slow, or I’ll be dancing on the tables, and your friend that owns this place won’t let us come back,” she laughs, and it is quickly becoming one of my favorite sounds.
Seeing her naked and dancing on this table would be a dream come true. I can make it happen with a click of my fingers, and this place will close. I grin at her, flashing my dimples, my eyes full of mischief. “I’m sure he wouldn’t mind at all, seeing as I’m the one who owns this place.”
The pink of her cheeks darkens, and she then glances around as if seeing it for the first time.
When her eyes settle on mine, she’s smiling with excitement. “This place is amazing. Why did you buy it? Are you a part-time chef?”
I can’t help but laugh out loud at that, which makes her giggle next to me.
“No, I can cook some things, but not as well as our chef here. He’s from France.
” The waiter brings over our drinks, and I pour us both a glass of wine.
“I saw it one day and it reminded me of something, so I had to buy it.” It had reminded me of her, but I kept that to myself.
“Just like that, you walked in and paid for it?” she asks, watching me add a couple drops of Black to her wine.
“You can buy anything for the right price. Plus, the owner was struggling, so my money helped him out, and now…”
“It’s one of the top restaurants in Darkville,” she finishes for me.
I watch as she lifts her glass to her plump lips and takes a sip of her wine.
I can’t stop watching as she lowers the glass and licks a drop of the wine from her lips.
My cock twitches with a need to reach out and taste her.
I adjust in my seat as my cock starts to get hard again.
I reach for my drink and take a huge gulp.
“Thirsty?” She asks me, amusement lacing her voice.
I chuckle. “You could say that.” I can feel my eyes turning a brighter blue. I forgot they do that when I’m with her—she always had a way of bringing out my darker, more powerful side.
“So apart from buying amazing restaurants, what do you do, Gaelan?” She’s smiling at me, and I can already tell that the Black is affecting her; her eyes have dilated, and her body is relaxing. We imported the best stuff from the Underworld—the human-made kind just isn’t the same.
I reach my hand out and tuck a piece of hair that’s escaped back behind her ear.
“I invest in companies that are on their last legs. I buy them, and then my teams do what needs to be done to keep them going.” As I pull my hand back, I brush her cheek with my fingers, feeling the warmth of her skin.
She almost leans into my touch but catches herself at the last minute, taking a sip of her drink instead.
She swallows, pulling in a shaky breath like she’s trying to calm herself.
The waiter brings over our first course, and we slip into an easy conversation about work and life.
She tells me all about Mekhi and her other friend, Lucy.
I learn that she’s still obsessed with lemon and chocolate.
I can’t help but keep asking questions so that I can listen to her talk.
I’ve spent most of my long life missing her, missing my mate, so every second I get with her is precious.
The rest of the dinner goes quickly. Ari eats more than most women I’ve taken to dinner, though that has not been very many.
The heart wants what it wants, even if I do need to feed.
Dessert comes out, and I can’t help the grin that crosses my face at seeing how excited Ari is.
“Gaelan, oh my god. There are so many.” She says delighted
I pick up my spoon and cut into the lemon posset, offering it to her. I wait for her to take a bite.
“I think you’ll really enjoy this one. It’s our chef’s specialty,” I say, tempting her. She moans around the mouthful she takes, and fuck me, my cock almost rips my pants at the seams.
Shifting forward, I drop the spoon. “You…Uh… Missed some.” I can’t hold myself back. I wrap my hand around the back of her neck and pull her forward, crushing my lips to hers. She moans again, and then she’s kissing me back, her hand fisting my shirt and pulling me closer to her.
“Sir?”
My hand tightens on her neck, making her gasp into my mouth.
“Sir?”
Pulling back, I can see the glow from my eyes reflecting around the room. “What?” I snap, annoyed at the interruption.
Ari licks her lips, and I can’t help but track the movement. My chest heaves as I fight to concentrate on Mark, and not on fucking Ari right on this table, no matter who’ll see us. “Speak,” I hiss.
Ari is still lust drunk on our kiss, so she misses the anger in my voice, but Mark doesn’t. I turn my head to look at him. I can taste blood in my mouth, my own—Ari bit me. Seems My Rose still loves to chew. I smirk at the thought.
“Sir, I’m sorry to bother you, but there is a problem,” Mark says.
“And that is?” I can’t help the edge to my voice. I’m barely holding on after that kiss, and this interruption is just pissing me off.
“Jade and Mist are here, sir.” Mark’s voice is full of loathing.
At the mention of those names, anger courses through my body. My voice becomes deeper as Trelor, my daemon, shimmers on the surface. “Is she with them?” I question anxiously, hoping that I have more time.
“No, Sir, not yet.” Mark sounds relieved. I am too. The last thing we need is the princess of hell here.
I look at Ari, who is licking my blood from her lips, enjoying the taste.
Whether she knew what she was doing by biting me, or not, I don’t know.
But my kiss and her enjoyment of my blood don’t distract her from questioning me.
“Who are Mist and Jade?” A hint of jealousy in her voice makes me grin a little.
She’ll learn soon enough that she never has to worry about other women. She’s my everything.
I lean over and kiss her on the cheek. “No one for you to worry about. Stay here with Mark, and I’ll be right back.” She opens her mouth to ask me something, but I jump out of my seat, barking out, “No one comes back here.” Mark nods at my words.
“Gaelan? What’s going on?” she asks, her voice full of worry.
She tries to push her way out of the booth. I shake my head. “Please, stay here, beautiful. It’s just some business. I’ll be right back.” My voice is stern; I don’t need Mist or Jade knowing she is back here.
Shimmering to the front of the restaurant, I summon my twin daggers to my body holster, hidden under my shirt—these were crafted by the dream gods, my ancestors, the first ones to rule in the Dream Realm.
The blades are silver with a blue handle that matches the color of my eyes—of my ancestors’ eyes.
Each one has a gold dragon curling around the handle, the same dragon Ari has on her necklace.
These daggers have been with me since I was old enough to wield them and have never let me down in a fight.
At the front of the restaurant, I see Mist drinking from one of the daemon patrons.
To any man, both Mist and Jade would be impossible to resist. Jade has jet black hair cut in a short bob.
Her eyes glow an orange hue, and her body is lethal.
She’s always dressed in some kind of tight latex dress—today is no exception. Jade is also a fire daemon.
Mist’s long gray hair hangs down her back and is a weapon in and of itself—she can use it to hold, tie, and strangle someone.
Mist has chosen to dress as some kind of odd, sexy clown today.
She’s got on a pair of baggy red clown pants, with black leather straps running up the length of her body.
Barely covering her nipples. The rest of her breasts are on full display.
Mist’s gray eyes announce her status as a water daemon.
Both of them are deadly. And both work for Macy.
“Does she know her pet is out? And with another woman?” Jade asks, moving closer to me. She lifts a hand to her mouth, feigning a shocked expression. “Gaelan, you should know better. Macy doesn’t like to share.”
Mist pulls back from drinking and wipes the blood from her chin with the back of her hand. “Naughty, naughty, Gaelan,” she giggles.