Chapter 30
Had someone other than the Shaman asked me to leave my newly bonded mate, I would’ve told them to take a trip to the hells.
Despite the urge to have her close at every waking moment, I entrusted Aurora to Soma and busied myself.
There had been a moment’s pause where I considered hanging nearby to listen in, but Rory deserved the privacy.
She would finally get answers to her burning questions.
That thought alone had me smiling as I kicked up dirt with my boots.
Phelan meanwhile had such a shit-eating grin on his face when I approached him, I kicked his chair, asking, “What?”
“You know what, Alpha. It’s written all over your face,” he’d said, circling his finger.
Claiming her, marking her. Heat blazed through my skin from the inside out. “Careful. Runnin’ a fine line there, Phel.”
“Oh, stop. I’ll be a gentleman about the details, but I honestly meant you look happy, Harkin. You found your mate. She’s officially yours. You should be happy. I’m ecstatic for you. Really.” Phelan stood from his lawn chair and gave my shoulder a hearty slap.
I beat my fist against my palm, unable to recall the last time I’d been this happy. “Yeah,” I’d whispered, a lop-sided grin following. “I am, Phel.”
My mate had waited on telling me any news she had from the Shaman.
I respected that. Mostly because whatever she had to tell me, Aurora was mine now.
We’d make it through anything, but most importantly I’d be right at her side and we’d be doing it together.
Her excitement afterward when she ran looking for me, the blood tears dried on her cheeks, my gods, if it hadn’t made my chest want to burst. I’ve wanted all of her for so damn long.
Her fierceness, her attitude, seductions, jokes, all of it. Now I had it.
My curiosity peaked when she brought up talking to Chelsea Stewart.
I had never formally met her. My knowledge of her was entirely secondhand.
She’d come to the Cove some time ago, not understanding Dionysus was her mate.
She didn’t know that she was a witch. Thought she’d been human this entire time. Why did Aurora need a witch?
We’d driven through the Town Center. The lit street lamps were some of the only signs of life given the late-night hour.
Shops and businesses displayed their “closed” signs, interiors dark.
Except for the twenty-four-hour bakery, Muffin Compares to You.
It wasn’t often I frequented the heart of the Cove, but I’ve indulged in a sweet treat now and again.
The pulsing bass from inside the club Bacchus grew louder the closer we got.
Aurora’s knees pinched my sides from behind me on the bike as if she’d suddenly grown nervous.
I squeezed her thigh. Her arms wrapped around me tighter, her nose pressing between my shoulder blades.
After finding a suitable parking spot, I killed the engine.
Aurora sat staring at the burgundy sign with the blazing yellow neon Bacchus logo, complete with a goblet.
“You ready, sweetheart?” I wiggled her knee.
Aurora’s gaze dropped to mine, her lips parting as if she was about to spill something, but she pinched them together. “Yes. Let’s go find her.”
Dadgummit. This patience thing was for the damn birds.
We headed inside after paying the cover charge.
I had half a mind to give Dion shit for that.
As if everyone who came into the club wouldn’t spend enough money on drinks.
Blinding white and purple lights cast rotating rays over the main dance area on the first floor.
Female dancers, Dion’s maenads, and several male demons of varying colors danced between Greek-designed columns bordering the top floor.
“This place is certainly wild, huh?” Aurora interlaced our fingers, clinging to me.
Pulling my cowboy hat lower, I ignored the lingering stares from other shifters mixed into the crowd when they scented me. Pulling Aurora closer, I nuzzled her temple with my nose. “Sure is. Let’s find Chelsea.”
“Where do I start?” Aurora stood still, scanning the expansive nightclub. The low lighting shadowing faces was not helping our cause.
Pressing a hand to the small of her back, I guided her toward the bar area. “Let’s ask the bartender.”
Aurora rested her forearms on the bar top, feverishly tapping her fingers to the pulsing beat of the music.
Watching her playful behavior with a warm smile, I leaned on the wood behind her.
I pressed a hand beside both of hers and hitched my boot on the metal foot of the stool.
Customers occupied the bartender’s attention further down.
I busied myself with brushing my nose through her hair, inhaling her scent now mixed with mine.
Her tank top fully displayed my claim mark.
I pressed a kiss there, humming proudly at it.
My eyes drifted to a massive gold statue of a naked man with only a leaf covering his goods, ivy wrapping around him, a grape crown on his head, and holding a goblet of wine.
“Admiring the likeness, huh?” Dion, the club’s owner, spoke with a voice I recognized right away. He stood beside us with his arms folded, admiring the gaudy statue.
Smirking, I nudged my chin at the cock-leaf. “If it is, that leaf looks mighty small.”
Dion barked with laughter, some of his long, wavy dark brown hair falling over his eyes. He clapped me on the back, causing my already hardening length to bump into Aurora’s ass. “Harkin, you old hound, how the hells you been?”
Dion and I had never particularly gotten along. Ever since he found his mate, though, it made him amicable toward me. It was off-putting.
“Great, actually.” I shifted my gaze to the gorgeous vampire in my arms. “And you’re just the person we need to talk to.”
“We indeed.” Dion’s eyes lit up.
Aurora offered her hand. “Aurora.”
“Aurora,” Dion repeated, taking her hand and patting it with the other. “The Crimson Crypt is some of my biggest competition.”
“They come to you for the Ambrosia wine. They come to me for camaraderie.” Aurora smiled, part fang, part brightness.
“She’s my mate,” I clipped, feeling the urge to ensure he knew it, despite his existing mate. I wound an arm around her waist.
Dion’s grin grew wider, the tips of his horns appearing at the sides of his head. “No shit. The real deal this time, huh?”
Aurora slid her arm over mine and rested her head against my chest.
“We’re lookin’ for your mate, Chelsea. Aurora has to speak with her.” I slipped two fingers into the top of Aurora’s pants.
“Yeah? Give me two shakes and I’ll grab her from the back.” Dion hooked his thumb toward a door labeled “VIP Only” before swiveling on a boot heel.
“Do you two want something to drink?” The bartender, a red demon with bright blue eyes, asked, his spade tail swaying behind him.
“Nothin’ for me. How about you, sugar?” I tapped against her skin, my fingers getting devilishly close to her clit.
She nibbled her lip. “I’m good, thanks.”
“Alrighty, just wave me over if you change your mind.” The bartender moved onto a large, grey gargoyle hunched over the bar with four empty tumbler glasses resting in front of him.
Aurora chewed on her fingernail. “He said two shakes. Shouldn’t he be back by now?”
Seizing the hand she was trying to shred the nails from, I stroked her knuckles with my thumb. “Rory, would it help you if you told me something? Even something small?”
“Yes. Yes, it would.” Since I’d stopped her from chewing her nails, she switched to bouncing a leg. “But I have plans for everything. All of it. I only get to do this once.” She fiddled with her antler charm.
I kissed the back of her hand, chuckling. “Lemme guess, you can shift again?”
Aurora’s brown eyes grew as wide as Oreos. “How could you possibly guess that, Harkin?”
My spine seized, a peculiar numbness crawling up my neck. “I was kiddin’. Shit, you serious?” I still caged her in, only now her tits were inches from my face, a ray of purple highlighting my claim mark.
“Hello, hello,” a woman’s voice chimed from somewhere around us.
We didn’t answer her straight away. We were too focused on staring at each other, experiencing a mixture of disbelief, frustration, and joy.
“They’re new, aren’t they?” The woman asked someone.
Aurora forced her eyes away and to the red-haired woman. Now that my brain could function on something other than my mate, I recognized it was Chelsea. “Chelsea, I presume?”
With my hat off, I pressed it to my chest. “Ma’am.”
Chelsea smiled, nudging Dion’s side with her elbow before extending her hand. She wore a silver dress with a plunging neckline down to her navel. Her neck and cheeks were flushed pink. “I am. You’re the Aurora that owns Crimson Crypt?”
“I am.” Aurora, my little minx, flipped her hair.
Chelsea tapped her chest. “We spoke briefly on the phone sometime ago. I’m Apollo’s publicist.”
“No shit.” Aurora hooked a finger in my belt loop, wiggling my hips. “He’s been a highlight, if but a little bright for my liking.”
Dion gave a snorting laugh. He circled an arm around Chelsea’s hips. “The knucklehead has always been that way.”
“Dion told me you had something to talk to me about?” Chelsea’s eyes brightened like glittering emeralds.
Aurora glanced at me before hopping off her stool. “I was going to ask to talk in private, but now that my mate is far too intuitive for his own good—”
Wincing, I shoved my thumb under my hat to scratch my head. It had been a wild guess, but may the gods have mercy, Aurora can shift again?
“Given your magic, are you able to make another full moon appear? I realize we just started a new phase again, but it would mean the world to me if one could occur tomorrow night, even if for one night.” Aurora pressed her palms together, her forehead crinkling as if preparing for Chelsea to tell her “No.”
Chelsea’s face softened. She tapped a finger to her lips, her eyes darting back and forth. “Yes. Yes, I believe I work something out if I involve my coven.”