Colel Read online

  “I had no idea, Rys.” She touched his arm. “And now…” She couldn’t bring herself to say the words; he’d just lost his grandmother on top of also losing his twin brother. His entire immediate family wiped out.

  “How could you know?” he snarled. “How could anyone possibly understand how much I loathe vampires? How could you have known that the mere mention of the word sends my grandmother into a tailspin?” He turned his head and pierced her with his hateful gaze. “But that doesn’t mean I can forgive you for killing her.”

  Colel’s mouth flapped for a moment. “I-I am so sorry,” she whispered. “I’ll do whatever it takes to earn your forgiveness and help your town.”

  “I thought,” he gazed vacantly at the fire, “just for a moment that maybe you and me…” His words faded off.

  “Maybe what? Just tell me.”

  He looked at her, his jaw tight with anger. “Never mind. I was wrong. All I ask is that you and your disgusting, bloodsucking worshipers leave.”

  Bloodsucking worshipers?

  “I don’t know what you mean, Rys. Apart from my brother, Nick, who’s circumstances are extremely unique, I personally find vampires to be repulsive. I mean, they literally make my skin crawl. I’d rather make out with a scab-covered turd than be friends with one.”

  “Then why would you voluntarily be around them?”

  “I just told you, Nick is my brother, but I don’t worship him or any other dog of the night.”

  She felt a presence in the room staring at them. She turned her head to see Kinich standing there, not looking at all pleased.

  “Is this what you truly think of me?” Kinich folded his arms. “After I gave up everything that I was to save every living being on the planet?”

  Oh crap. Why did this whole thing just keep spinning deeper and deeper down the scuzz-filled drain?

  She looked at Kinich. “Okay. You. Kitchen. We need to talk.” She looked at Rys. “You stay put.”

  She marched off with Kinich, dragging him by the hand into the large, well-lit kitchen. “First, you didn’t hear the entire conversation.”

  “Did you not just call me a ‘dog of the night’?”

  “No. Okay, yes. Sort of. I can’t stand vampires, okay? They’re gross. They drink blood and crawl around in the shadows like giant cockroaches. But I also told Rys that you are my one exception. I love you. I always will, and your disgusting dietary needs will never change that.”

  “Then why were you going to change Rys into one?”

  She hissed out a breath. “It was a stupid plan. I know that now. Which is why I freaked out before it went any further. I knew I couldn’t be with a vampire. Not even temporarily. I’m not even sure I could be with a demilord.” Half god, but also…half icky vampire.

  “I cannot fucking believe you, Colel. Of all the beings on this plane of existence, I would expect the Mistress of Bees to understand the importance of biodiversity.”

  “I do! I do understand. And just because I have respect for all life doesn’t mean I want to date all life. For example, I don’t want to have sex with a dung beetle. Or termites, tarantulas, or vampires. I don’t even want them in my home. They skeeve me out.”

  “Did you really just put me in the same category as a dung beetle?”

  She shrugged.

  “Well, that’s just great.” He tossed his hands in the air. “And here I was thinking that out of all the gods, you were the one I could always count on to be mature and respectful of all life. Instead, I find out you’re a speciesist.”

  “Yes, I am. Okay. I favor the black and yellow striped critters of the world. Someone has to. And why are you so upset anyway? I’ve made it clear that I love you. And I will always be your loyal sister.”

  Kinich grabbed her arm firmly. “Because. The vampires are my people now. And, also, I just turned your mate’s grandmother. Imagine my surprise that now you’ll throw up at the sight of her.”

  Her heart skipped a beat. “No. Nooo… Why? Why would you do that?” she yelled.

  “Because anyone with eyes could see how much that Rys man loves her, and I thought it would destroy any chance you had with him if she died due to your blabbering mouth.”

  Oh gods. Oh…gods. Colel placed a hand over her heart. This isn’t happening. Rys is going to hate me. No. Worse than hate. He’ll despise me with every fiber of his being for all eternity. They’d turned his sweet granny into the one creature he hates most in this world.

  Her eyes wide with shock and fear, she looked up at Kinich. “This is bad. So, so bad. Granny Bea hates vampires as much as he does! They want them wiped off the face of the earth.”

  “Why?”

  “I think your people are flipping, and one decided to make a pit stop here in town and snack on seven humans. Two of them were Rys’s parents.”

  “What?” Kinich’s face turned sheet white.

  “Ah! Motherfucker!” Rys yelled out from the other room.

  Colel froze. What was that? The moment her brain registered the scream had come from Rys, she rushed into the living room to find him on the floor, writhing in pain. Dozens of bees were stinging him.

  “No! No! You promised. Get off him!” She dove down to swat them away.

  But it was too late.

  “Rys? Rys?” She slapped his cheek, but his eyes were rolling back into his head.

  No, no, no, no! “He’s going into anaphylactic shock.” By the time they got him to a hospital or to his flower shop, where he had an EpiPen, he’d be dead. She looked up at Kinich. “Save him.”

  Kinich took a step back in silent protest.

  “I know what you’re thinking,” she blubbered. “I do. But I’m begging you.”

  “But you won’t ever love him if he’s like me. You just told me yourself.”

  “I know what I said. But I can’t let him die. Please…I accept the consequences of whatever happens.”

  “But will he?”

  “I don’t know! But if you do nothing, then he doesn’t get to make that choice!”

  Kinich didn’t move. “What about you, Colel? Will you accept him?”

  Colel hung her head, knowing that Rys only had seconds left. “If he dies, I will never get to find out.”

  Kinich released a slow breath. “I need to call Penelope. I’ll return shortly.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  “I’m very sorry we didn’t make it to the chapel in time.” Zac sat back on the king-size bed of their brightly decorated hotel room—a very nice penthouse suite at Circus Circus in Vegas—sipping a glass of chilled champagne. “Are you certain you don’t want to try one of the other chapels?”

  Tula sat next to him and shrugged. “Nah. It’s all right, Mr. Zac. The other places won’t marry a man to an invisible woman. And now that I’m thinking about it, I have to wonder if the ceremony would even be legal?”

  “You’re questioning the legitimacy of the Paranormal Romance Love Chapel? ‘Werewolves, vampires, and ghosts welcome’?” He chuckled quietly. “How could you?”

  Tula laughed. “I think our wedding will have to wait until I’m real again.”

  “Tula, you are real. Real enough for me to swear to love for eternity. Real enough for me to fight for.”

  She turned her entire body to face him. “But how do you know this isn’t all some dream, that I’m not just a figment of your imagination? How do I know I’m not hallucinating while stuck in limbo between my world and that underworld place Cimil always talked about?”

  “Listen to me, Tula. You are real. This is not a dream. And I don’t give two fucks if anyone can see you.”

  “You can’t even touch me,” she whimpered. “I died a virgin, and now I’ll be stuck like this forever. Never knowing what it’s like to be with you.”

  He downed his champagne and set the glass next to the bottle on the nightstand. It genuinely pained him to see Tula like this, but until Cimil was freed, there was little he could do. Unless…

  He glanced at her big
blue eyes and sweet oval face. “Are you able to touch yourself?”

  Tula’s eyes widened. “What?”

  “Can you touch your own body and feel it?”

  She blushed. “Mr. Zac, how dirty.”

  “Yes. But you know me by now, so it mustn’t come as a surprise. Answer the question.”

  “Well, yes, I can. But—”

  “But then nothing.” He unzipped his pants and unceremoniously whipped out his cock.

  “Oh my!” She turned her head. “Put that back.”

  “No. We are going to get kinky, woman.”

  She covered her eyes. “I can’t. We’re not even married.”

  “Well, that shouldn’t matter because we can’t have sex. I’m merely suggesting that we lie down and watch each other get off.”

  “No,” she squealed. “I can’t do that.”

  “Why not? It’s perfectly natural, and I’m sure you’ve done it before.”

  “I’m not talking about this, Zac. You’re asking me to jump from beginner sex all the way to kink town, and I’m just not ready.”

  “Ready to do it in front of me or ready to watch?” He paused. “Because I’m doing it right now…” He began stroking his long hard flesh, ensuring she’d get an eyeful the moment she looked over. “Mmmm…so good. I know you want to see.”

  “Nope. I’m not looking. This is not happening.”

  “Admit that you were hoping we’d be married by now, and I would be using this thick hard cock between your thighs.” He groaned. “So big. I have to use two hands, and you know how big my hands are.”

  “Zac…” she warned.

  He threw back his head, pumping his hand over the silky flesh. “I’m imagining it’s you touching me. I’m thinking about your lips on my head, your tongue on my balls, your mouth over every inch.”

  To his surprise, he was ready to blow, and she wasn’t objecting any longer. He kept going, imagining her on top of him, riding his cock. “I’m going to come. You want to see it, don’t you?”

  “Yes. Don’t stop.”

  He opened his eyes, thrilled to find her right there, so close that the edges of their bodies overlapped. She’d probably never seen a man come. Hell, she’d never been in bed with anyone. And the knowledge he could tempt her to watch got him off.

  Before he knew it, the hot liquid ejaculated from the tip of his shaft, covering his hand. The orgasm shut down everything around him except her. Those eyes. The intense lust. Their connection only fueled him. He’d pleasured himself many times to the thought of her over the last year, but this was so much more intense.

  The last jet of cum released, and he closed his eyes, smiling with satisfaction.

  “That was kind of sexy,” she said in a quiet voice.

  “I can’t wait for us to finally be together. Then you’ll know what real sexiness is like.” He sighed, trying not to allow the doubts and fears to enter his mind. Failure was a real possibility. But it’s not an option. I won’t allow it. “I must take a shower now. Would you care to spectate?”

  She didn’t respond.

  “Tula?”

  “Sorry. I was just realizing that if I can will myself to change clothes, then I should be able to will myself naked.”

  He grinned. “In that case, if you’d like me to perform an encore, imagine yourself in a big pair of panties. Beige.”

  He loved her giant unsexy underwear.

  She smiled. “If I could, I would so kiss you right now, Zac. One pair of enormous tummy-control undies coming right up!”

  “Is he awake yet?” Colel asked her brother Kinich as she spoke into her cell while wading waist-deep in snow. She was almost to the fifth location on her map but had yet to find one single hive. Normally she’d have her bees along to help navigate, but at the moment, she couldn’t stand the sight of them. She always understood they were wild creatures, but to see them attack an innocent person for no good reason left her broken. She couldn’t understand. Still, regardless of her feelings, she had a job to do. Bees were necessary to mankind’s survival, and she couldn’t give up her quest to save them.

  “He hasn’t risen yet,” said Kinich. “And neither has his grandmother, but they will as soon as the sun goes down.”

  “Oh, that’s right.” A vampire’s first day started on the first night, when they woke up ravenous, disoriented, and violent.

  “Penelope has flown in to assist and brought along nourishment for them. Are you certain you don’t want to be here when they wake? I could send Brutus with the helicopter to come get you.”

  Penelope was full of sunshine, so no vampire would dare take a bite. Kinich was Rys and Bea’s maker, so he would act as a calming force. The rest of the group at the house were all immortal soldiers, so they weren’t easily harmed. As long as there was vampire juice ready, Rys and his grandma’s first evening as vampires would go much smoother without her there. At this point, she would be nothing more than a trigger.

  “No, you’re better off welcoming them without me.”

  “Colel, the sooner we get everything out on the table, the sooner they’ll start accepting their new lives.”

  “No. I can’t face them. I just…can’t. Not after everything I’ve done.” Besides, once Rys learned that he and his grandmother had been turned, and that it was essentially all her fault, there was nothing she could say. Nothing he’ll want to hear.

  “I am the one who turned them,” Kinich pointed out. “So it is me they will blame. I think you’re merely afraid to see Rys in his new night-crawler form.”

  Oh, gods. “Yes, it’s true. I’m not going to lie. Which is why it’s not only unfair to him, it’s unfair to you. Now that you know how…”

  “My kind revolts you?”

  She remained silent and kept marching forward through the snow. Her cell was chirping now, warning that the battery was low.

  “You won’t even give him a chance?” Kinich pushed.

  “Chance for what? To tell me how I ruined his life? To tell me he hates me for turning him into the one thing he’d rather die than become? No, thanks. It’s best I leave him alone.”

  “So you’re not planning to come back to the house?”

  “I’m finishing up my hive inspections, and then I’m leaving for Hawaii.”

  “Colel, you can’t do this. You can’t just walk away. You may have made a mistake, but you’re no coward.”

  “Oh, but I am. It’s the reason Rys is in this mess.” The bottom line was she couldn’t be trusted to make the right choices, and that put people around her in danger. “He’s better off without me fucking up the rest of his existence.”

  “I don’t want to have to pull the Ruler of the House of Gods card, but I will if you don’t come back here and face him.”

  “You’re the ex-ruler.”

  “Yes, but my mate isn’t, and she will kick your ass if you don’t come back here.”

  “I’m sorry, Kinich. But I’m doing what’s right. I had no business messing with him and his grandmother. Especially not after everything he’s been through.”

  “After seventy thousand years, you still don’t get it, do you?”

  “Get what, brother?”

  “Sometimes even a god has to have faith. This will work out as it’s meant to, but only if you’re brave enough to step in the right direction.”

  Her eyes teared up. She did not want to be called out for her weaknesses because she already knew she wasn’t worthy of a mate. Hell, I can’t even control a group of bees. I’m the godsdamned Mistress of Bees!

  “I do have faith, Kinich. In you. You will ensure they are taken care of, and I will ensure I stay away. Tell Rys and Bea I am sorry. I won’t ever bother them again. Goodbye.”

  She ended the call and shut off her phone to conserve what was left of her battery. After she made the rounds, which would take most of the night, she would head back to town, grab an Uber to the Denver airport, and continue on her way.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN


  Around one in the morning, Colel finally had to stop. Her compass was frozen from the moisture that had seeped inside, and her clothing was soaked through. Dammit. She pushed the on button of her cell, but it didn’t respond.

  “Great. I’m going to freeze to death out here.” Freezing was a horrible experience. Worse than fire, which only lasted a few minutes, worse than being drawn and quartered or drowning. She couldn’t speak to dying slowly of an illness since those didn’t affect deities, but she had experienced almost everything else.

  “Water-resistant, my ass.” She shoved the phone into her pocket. She couldn’t ask any wild bees to send word because none of the hives she’d come to check on were here. They’d all either died or moved on to warmer pastures. She wouldn’t know for certain until she sent Chuck out to scout. If I send him.

  Fuck. What am I doing? She sank down against a rock in a small alcove with an overhang along the trail. It wasn’t much, but it would keep the wind off her for a few short hours while the temperature continued to drop. She would then experience a fit of uncontrollable shivers as the blood in her veins turned to ice and she drifted off to sleep. Then she’d wake back in her realm without a body and have to make the decision to return or not.

  Perhaps I will stay there for a while. Life felt much simpler in her realm. No body. No people around to influence her energy waves. Just me, some empty space, and a clear view of the planet.

  She pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. “Who am I kidding? It’s lonely there.” The gods’ realm was stale and absent of all other life. Even when her brethren were there with her, it felt like the equivalent of hanging out inside an empty white room with only a TV to watch. Sure, it had every channel, but it wasn’t the same as being part of the action.

  She’d never stayed there more than a few months at a time. This planet was her home. Stupid fucking horrible chaotically beautiful mess. I love it. She was in it until the bitter end. Her only regret was that she was in it alone. Sure, she felt a bond with the bees, but now she understood they were not family. Bees are my flock to care for, but we are not the same.