As Dawn Breaks, page 15
Her mother nodded and sighed. “Yes, Luca. Bastien will need to spend time with her.”
Luca shook his head. “No. He has other things to focus on. Gina must not be tainted.” God, how those words pierced Genny. Reinforcing that she didn’t have a family. “Your behaviour put our entire lifestyle at risk, Vivienne. Syrah and Franc have wisely chosen to stay at the other end of the village and won’t be mingling with them either.”
Vivienne might have dropped her head at Luca’s words, but not before Genny caught sight of the rebellious light in her mother’s eyes.
David grunted, and she whirled, the creature once more subsiding as she knelt beside him. “David? Can you hear me?”
His eyes opened, though they were glassy. She turned and noted Vivienne had a cell phone in her hands, talking to someone.
Her mother turned away and soon replaced the phone in her pocket. “Doctor Henri will be here soon. But if Luca’s theory and mine is correct, by tonight he should be feeling better.”
Genny screwed up her nose. “What? You think you know the cause?”
Her mother sighed. “So much I should have explained. Once we’re in house four, I’ll tell you what I can.”
“Vivienne…” Luca’s voice interrupted, warning his wife.
Vivienne whirled, her face tight, body stiff.
“This is my daughter, Luca. You washed your hands of her years ago. Told me you wanted nothing to do with her and she was my responsibility. You will not now tell me what I can and can’t tell my daughter. You got what you wanted that day.” Her voice rose with fury. “Any right you had to direct our relationship died when you cast us out.”
Luca’s eyes widened, and then his legs moved him up close and personal with Vivienne. “I am the head of the clan.”
“To hell with that, Luca Thorne!”
It was the same old same old for Genny, though. The relationship turbulent, though never violent. Their rages well known, along with the making up. More than once she’d woken in the middle of the night to the sound of their lovemaking. Weres were dramatic and easy to rouse, both to anger and intimacy.
“I…” David’s slurred voice reminded her he needed her assistance, and she focussed on him once more.
“Shh. It’s okay. The doctor is on his way. We’ll work it out—”
A knock on the door had her spinning. Henri, the grizzled medic, entered.
“Someone needing my assistance?” His gaze settled on Genevieve with shock and surprise, then David. In a split second he moved in, displacing her.
Vivienne stepped up, hovering over Genevieve’s shoulder. “She bit him. During sex. And he bit her.”
The man swivelled. “What? So, he’s…”
Her mother managed a gallic shrug. “So it would appear.”
Henri grunted and turned back to David. “List your symptoms.”
David rattled off, “Headache, wooziness, exhaustion, muscular pain, temperature,” while Henri checked the bite point.
The man scratched his head and rose, turning to Genny. “Show me your bite point.”
She blanched, feeling cold fingers of dread sliding into her stomach. Nonetheless, she pulled aside the light top so he could palpate the area with a grunt. “It’s too soon,” she muttered.
“You haven’t educated her?” He aimed the words at Vivienne.
“I haven’t had a chance.”
“You’ve had years, Vivienne. The girl can’t become what she truly is, if she doesn’t know about her heritage—"
A snarl emanated from Luca. “She’s not—”
Henri shook his head. “She is. Whether you want to acknowledge it or not, she’s enough were to have infected him. She may also be other, but putting your head in the sand and refusing her knowledge endangers her. As a result, you endanger us with your blind devotion to purity. Your mother warned you before her death. You know the words as well as I do.”
Genny’s gaze narrowed at the bellow from Luca of “Get out!”
Henri shrugged and retreated.
“What words? What don’t I know?”
Luca pinned her mother with a glare. “You cannot tell her. I forbid it, Vivienne.”
David felt better by degrees as the day wore on.
They’d moved to what Gen called house four, explaining it was the least salubrious of the guest housing, on the very edge of the village. He didn’t care. The bed was soft and cosy, the bathroom efficient but fitted with a hot shower which he’d already used satisfactorily. The kitchen, miniscule though it was, was stocked with meat, vegetables, and fruit along with coffee.
There wasn’t a sitting room, as the place was essentially just a large single room with a burner in the corner for winter. David remained where Gen had laid him down, watching her mother, Vivienne, stalk around the room. She almost forgot he was there, and that suited him down to the ground.
“There is a prophecy, you understand, given generations ago, that one would be born. A child of strength who would cross the boundaries between were and others. One who’d be the balance of future prides.”
“But what does that have to do with me?” Gen’s voice rose, and he waited as Vivienne paced.
“Bastien is better with his knowledge of the lore. Luca has been teaching him. He’ll be here soon and can explain it.”
“No, Maman, you tell me,” Genevieve entreated, but her mother simply shook her head.
It sat on the edge of David’s tongue to remonstrate with Vivienne that as Genevieve’s mother, surely she shouldn’t abdicate things of such importance, but he wisely kept his mouth shut. After all, it wasn’t like his own family were better at keeping things together. His parents hadn’t bothered to make contact since leaving the house they’d ruled for decades.
A rapping echoed, and Vivienne rushed to the door. A large man, his hair the same colour as Gen’s, entered the room. He appeared not much older than a teenager, yet he knew instantly this with Bastien, Gen’s twin.
“You came.”
“Maman said you wanted me here.” The cold between the two almost turned the inside of the house frigid, and he understood for the first time just how Hope must have felt. His gut lurched at the pain on Gen’s face.
“Yeah.” Bastien looked down. “It’s not that I don’t appreciate you making the journey, but Gina doesn’t know about…” He waved his hands.
“That I’m a mutt?”
Bastien growled. “Don’t say that.” His eyes shone in the deepening gloom.
David moved in the bed, and Bastien’s eyes widened. “Papa told me about him. You bit him.”
Gen’s face blushed beet red. “Does everyone?”
“Just about.” Bastien shrugged. “Has he changed yet?”
Gen’s nose wrinkled, and David cleared his throat. “I showered. Do I smell?”
Bastien laughed. “Neither of you knows? Maman?”
“Luca forbade me to tell. He didn’t forbid you, though.” Vivienne wrung her hands together.
Bastien sighed. “It’s got nothing to do with smelling… David, is it?” He took up a position in an armchair. “There’s a prophecy. One that was made centuries ago. It says that one day a child will be born. One who is not pure. That this child will breach the distance between were and others of the world. That this will be because, in a moment of true love, they’ll change the one who will walk beside them during the term of their unnaturally long life.”
David blinked, not really expecting this at all. “That’s…”
“One hell of a prophecy. The clans are big on keeping bloodlines pure because they like being separate. They don’t want to mix with others. That means that anyone birthing a child who isn’t pure is turned away. Except in our case, because Maman was only away one night, and her girlfriends didn’t realise she’d hooked up. My… her husband didn’t know Genevieve wasn’t his. It was only at puberty, before her first change, that we worked it out.”
“I’m so sorry, bebe. It was never my intention to make such a mistake.” David saw Gen flinch, though he doubted her mother noticed. “I didn’t know I could get pregnant twice in the same heat cycle. I’d been with Luca and thought I was safe. Luca and I… it was never a love match, and we agreed, so long as I was careful, that any other interactions would be forgiven. Until you.” Vivienne covered her face with her hands.
During the speech, Gen had blanched. “Mistake?”
He doubted her mother heard.
Bastien’s face tightened. “You’re not a mistake, Gen.”
She turned, her eyes glittering. “Maman just said it. I’m the mistake the clan would rather do without. Gina isn’t supposed to be tainted, and Syrah and Franc want nothing to do with me.” Every sentence was a knife, and Bastien winced.
“It’s not that simple, bebe,” Vivienne whined.
Having had enough, Daniel dragged himself from the bed. “She’s a strong woman, but you have all done your bit to destroy her. Not one of you stood up for her when she most needed you. She’s lived with verbal barbs all her life and made herself into a woman I am proud of.”
Bastien’s gaze settled on him. “David. You are a Yeux Secondes of an important nest, I understand. You walk with feet in two worlds, yes? But now you should prepare to enter a third. If the prophecy is right, when you were bitten, you were infected by the were virus.”
David blinked. “Were virus?”
“Consider the prophecy. Think of what I’ve said.”
Gen dropped to the seat. “But I’m not a full were.”
Reality impinged on him. “This isn’t a sickness?”
“No sickness. You’re changing. Becoming a were.”
Silence finally descended as Maman and Bastien departed, leaving Genevieve and David alone in the tiny cottage. Her stomach grumbled, and she wondered about making some supper. Nerves quivered because she’d done something that could only be considered unconscionable. She’d taken his choice from him.
Hands settled on her shoulders. “Gen?”
She stared out the window, fear stabbing deep. “I didn’t know, David.”
“I understand that, Gen. I won’t regret what we have either. If this is indeed what it is, we accept it.”
She whirled. “But how can you—”
“Shhh.” His hands gripped hers, the pressure grounding her. “One of these days, you should ask Hope and Celina about their changes. Neither had a choice. Daniel, my cousin? He’s the only one who chose when he became life partner with Cressida, the head of the Council.”
Frustration ate at her. “But you should have had a choice. This is no different to my mother and her lovers. I mean, she’s not a particularly good wife, as you’ve heard. Their marriage was arranged, and she was wild…” Gen shrugged because she really didn’t know how to explain properly the regret she felt. Not from being with him but taking away his options.
“It’ll be okay. We’ll find a way and muddle through. Now let’s get dinner done. I’m starved. Then perhaps we can go to bed. And cuddle if you prefer.”
Such earnestness filled his features, and she leaned in, welcoming the heat of his hug. The embrace soothed the creature within.
“What if your creature is as misshapen as mine?” The words tumbled out against his chest.
“We’ll deal with it when the time comes. Because I love you, Gen.”
Her heart stuttered. “What? I thought it was the heat of the moment or…”
David’s fingers bit deep, and she pushed him back so she could look into his eyes. “Listen carefully. I’m a man who’s made mistakes. I don’t have a lot to offer right now. The security of my position isn’t going to be there much longer. I’m making a new and honest life, but the one thing I’ve learned is that love is the foundation stone I want to build my life on. Yes, this is quick, and I know you’re unsure. But I love you, Genevieve Fernly. You’re the woman who saw the man I hid from others. You’re the one who healed me. I’m not asking for any great declaration.”
Her eyes leaked tears as she listened to his words. God knew she wanted to believe them. “I…” She licked her lips and his gaze followed the action. The deep green of his eyes heating with sensual hunger.
In response, her body tightened, and suddenly her mouth was covered by his, her fingers spearing deep into the dark silk of his hair.
His hands found her hips and tugged her closer so the hardness of his erection poked at her belly.
Carnal hunger roared inside her.
“Fuck me, David.”
He laughed against her mouth. “Never. But I’ll love you. Hard and fast or soft and slow. Whatever way I can get you. Because I’m starved for you and you only, Genevieve.”
She arched, his mouth gliding along the line of her jaw before slipping over the thudding vein of her neck. His hands trailed down her back, caressing and curving over the line of her ass, and she shivered. Then he tugged her closer so his cock slid against the centre of her while she twined her legs around his waist.
“I’m going to push inside you, so your hot wet pussy sucks at me. You’re going to cry out my name when you come all over me. Then I’ll ride you some more.”
His words, dirty yet arousing, had her breath hitching. “Yes… I want you like that. Here, on the bench… now.”
Hands pushed at her, repositioning her butt, and she found herself seated at the very edge of the wooden bench. His hands dove beneath the light cotton of her skirt, sliding over the skin of her inner thighs, and she squirmed, aware that she was so turned on, she’d drenched her panties.
“Yum. Wet, aren’t you?” His fingertips toyed over the silk covering her mons. “I’m not going to rip them, but they’re coming off, Gen. Then I’m going to put my mouth over you. My fingers will play, slide over your clit and deep inside you, and make you hotter.”
She gulped.
“Is that what you want?” His demand was coupled with a finger sliding over the sensitive core of her.
Oh God, did she ever! “Yes,” she breathed as her eyes fluttered closed, their weight too much in her frenzied state.
He hooked a hand under the band as she sucked in a breath, her body a wild buzz of nerve endings.
“What do you want, Gen? Shall I love you like that, or do you want me to suck at you? Lick and drink until you scream my name?”
His voice filtered over her, a wave of primal desire urging her to demand anything he had to give, so long as the orgasm her body craved lay at the end of their play.
“I want you. Inside me. Filling me up.” The words were broken as she tugged at her shirt.
“No. Leave your top on for now or I’ll get lost in your luscious breasts. They’re so beautiful, with hard tips I want to suck. But if I do that, I might not get back to your pussy, and it’s craving the attention right now, isn’t it? It wants my mouth.”
“Yes,” she answered, body tensed as his words wound her hunger tighter than before.
His hands moved, sliding beneath the silk and pulling them away. Baring her to his gaze. The whisper of his breath, and she jerked back with a soft moan. “Ready for me?”
“Oh… please.” His mouth descended on her, touching her and drawing her deeper into the web of pleasure.
She writhed and arched while he devoured. Every glance ricocheted through her body until she exploded on a cry.
David hefted her up as her body clenched in the afterglow of the orgasm. His mouth against hers, tangy. Musky.
They moved; she didn’t care where because the thrust of him against her over-sensitized skin wound the invisible wire within her once again to a level of excitement. They tipped onto the bed, and he rolled her over before reaching for his pants. Shucked them in record time and crawled up and over her.
“I want you, Gen. However I can get you. You’re like a fever in my blood, and I don’t want to get better because you feel so damn good.”
Their gazes met, a silent union taking place as he lined himself up, his cock at her entry. “When I’m inside you, I feel like I’m home. Complete.” The slide was slow, measured, filling her body. His words though, they filled her heart.
Tears pricked at the backs of her eyes.
His brow creased, and he stilled, embedded deep. “What’s wrong?”
Gen raised her hand, caressing his cheek. “Your words are beautiful, and I want to be worthy of you.”
“You already are.”
The first rock had her gasping, the second bowing off the bed as they came faster and wilder.
“I love you, Gen. You have to know that.”
“I love you too.”
He rode her mercilessly, and she loved it. Taking every move and slide and wanting more while her heart crashed and thudded, her body beaded with sweat that mingled with his.
He reached out, and she took his hands just as the climax loomed.
She shattered. A million tiny star tracks stealing her sight.
David tensed, giving over to his own pleasure with a grunt of satisfaction.
When he slumped down, it was into her arms, where they lay intertwined, regaining their breath, his hand moving in lazy circles over her skin.
“I didn’t think you were a dirty-mouthed kind of guy.”
He stilled. “You don’t like it?”
She smiled. “I like it. A lot, in case you missed my reaction.”
He laughed. “Just checking. Anything for my lady.”
“Is that what I am?” she wondered aloud.
“Today and every day. Now sleep. There’s lots going on tomorrow.”
Chapter 17
David watched as Genevieve left him at the bar, his drink warming. She’d been quiet through the ceremony. How much of that was because of Luca Thorne and his attitude, or Julien shooting daggers at them both? It might have been the man who was the clone of Thorne, with the child sitting beside him during the Joining, or the woman who appeared to be a mini-me of Vivienne.
“She’s coping well.” An older man of grizzled appearance dropped into the seat beside him.
“I beg your pardon?”
