Page 24 of The Baby Hex (Mori’s Mementos #2)

Crilus

Against the odds, I fell asleep once we pulled out onto the highway.

Heat prickled the back of my neck and under my fingernails.

Pierce’s scent filled my head with every breath, but alone with him in the car was safe.

Ghosts were bad at following speeding targets.

My haunting grandmother had never come near a car as far as I knew.

My brain buzzed with hundreds of questions that I’d eventually have the answers to but the whir of the wheels against the pavement lulled me to sleep.

I woke when a woman’s voice asked, ‘Will that be all for you today?’

Where were we? The accent sounded right for this part of the territory, but I didn’t recall a fast food place in the middle of the highway.

“Yep. Thanks, Mare,” Pierce said.

I opened my mouth to say that I wished he would’ve woken me up to order too but we were already pulling around the building.

The lady at that window scanned something on Pierce’s phone and told him to have a nice day.

Did he even realize I was awake or was he so intent on eating that he’d forgotten about me dozing in his front seat?

“I got you the chicken tenders. I never know how people take their burgers and since this is a vampyric establishment, bloody is usually the go to. If you want something else, we can swing around again or they’ll bring it out.”

“Oh,” I blinked, embarrassed of the pang in my stomach when I thought he’d forgotten me. “Has this place always been here?” I asked to change the subject.

“Yeah but it’s technically on private property. I know, I know. All businesses are on private property, but this is on ‘personal property.’ You have to have a code to get into the community.”

“Your estate?” I arched a brow and sat up to look around.

“No,” Pierce shook his head as I took in the busy mini-shopping center. There were ‘blood’ cafes, shoe stores, and even a ballet studio. Other business fronts were unlabeled, and I wondered what went on there.

“I take it this isn’t a place where anyone could just come up and order.”

“Well, I mean, they could if they could get into the community. Vampires bring guests all the time,” he said, as the car in front of us moved forward.

“We’re not anti-nonvampires. This place was founded before vampires were more widely accepted.

It’s just evolved over time. We’re only about ten minutes from the house and I figured we should eat before going anywhere near a bedroom together.

Plus, I wanted to put in for a few extra deliveries of bloodshake mix.

My parents are in Greece, your friends are back in London or stateside, and I don’t expect the grounds keepers to baby us and drop stuff off for our matingmoon. ”

“And your friends?”

“Are mostly Moonscale Guards,” he chuckled. “Drone delivery is a thing and delivery apps too. I’m not counting on either of us making the best choices once your heat kicks up.”

When we finally made it to the window where the worker hands out the food, we were greeted by a ginger haired woman who smiled a little too much for my liking. Was she flirting? Did she smell my heat? Was she trying for a tip? Did you tip at fast food places? Did Londoners tip at all?

Pierce double-checked the bags she handed out and told her to have a nice day before leaving.

“Did you know her?”

“Yes.”

“Is she your ex?”

“No.”

“Well, you became a glued shut book awfully damn quickly,” I said, holding the fast food bags in my lap.

“I’m not,” Pierce shook his head.

“But you won’t tell me how you know her.”

“You didn’t ask that,” Pierce shrugged. “It’s complicated and best not talked about in public. I’ll tell you at home.”

The words at home buzzed around my brain.

Sooner or later we’d have to decide where to officially call home.

For me, that would always be Old New York back in the Raven Hollow Wolf Pack Territory.

Not that I had plans of moving back there any time soon.

Still, I liked the sound of Pierce calling his house my home too.

“What? Are you part of the same serial killer club or something?”

“Or something,” Pierce nodded.

“If you’re hoping I’ll forget, it’s a fifty-fifty chance depending on how good the food is and how fast my heat kicks up,” I teased him.

“Some things are family secrets and I’ll tell you after our claiming vows.”

Goosebumps shimmied up my arms and I fought hard not to rub them. Every family had secrets. The gods knew my family had more than its fair share of skeletons in the closet.

“Don’t smell so damn nervous about it,” Pierce said, keeping his hands on the wheel. “She’s family more or less.”

“Is that why she kept smiling like that?”

“She was telling me that you were cute and that she hoped she was invited to our mating feast. Which of course, Jasel is.”

“Jasel,” I said the name that sounded like someone just shoved jazz music in front of the letter L.

“Jasel,” Pierce nodded.

His family’s estate was sprawling with walking paths and tiny roads just wide enough for one car heading off in every direction. Everblooming rose bushes marked all the paths with their big crimson blossoms and their inch long thorns sticking out in every direction.

“Remind me not to run for the bushes if something happens,” my wolf huffed from inside his inner sanctum.

“The main house is where my parents stay,” Pierce said, nodding in the direction of an old manor house that had recently been added to.

“The one not far behind it is us. It’s three stories because it’s newer and has a little balcony in the back where I keep the telescope.

It’s hooked up to the computer though. So you can watch the night sky from any device in the house. ”

“Uh… For magic or leisure?” I asked.

“Both. Blood magic doesn’t rely on the heavens as much as some families of magics do but it is important here and there.

Vampires have their own astrological signs and everything.

I was born under the fang. From what I know of you, I believe you were born under the fire. You’re a December baby, right?”

“Yeah,” I nodded unsure of how he knew that.

“Under the fire,” he nodded.

“What’s that mean. I know what being a Capricorn means. I’m stubborn and hardworking. But what does being born under the fire mean?”

“If I told you, you’d accuse me of making it up,” Pierce grinned.

“What? Now you’ve got to tell me.”

“Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Just tell me already,” I said as he pulled up onto a small parking space and killed the engine.

“Those born under the constellation of the winter fire, also called the Hearth, are said to bring change to their families. They’re the generations trauma healers, the curse breakers, and generally raise hell or follow their own path.”

“Of course,” I rolled my eyes as he got out of the car and opened the door for me. “What about the fang?” I asked, as he took all the fast-food bags in one hand and offered me his other to help me out of the car.

“In my family it means we possess a very unique gift.”

“Let me guess another family secret?” I arched a brow, trying to take some of the bags from him but he caught my hand and held in his instead as we made our way up the flower lined walk.

Thankfully, this walk wasn’t surrounded by blood thirsty rose bushes.

Instead, bushes with little baby blue flowers surrounded our ankles.

“I’m home!” He called out and I startled.

“Who do you live with?” I asked as the door opened, and a doormat appeared in front of us. He wiped his feet and waited for me to do the same. Then he heeled off both of his shoes as soon as we stepped inside.

“You can leave them anywhere. The house will put them away in one of those cubbies,” he said, nodding at a little section of wooden shoe cubbies next to the door. “But mind the hardwood.”

I kicked off my shoes and sniffed the air.

The whole place smelled like Pierce and breathing his scent deep into my lungs was a messy idea.

I almost crashed into him. It would’ve been easy to back him up against the door and kiss him until our lips were too swollen to do anything else for the rest of the week.

I could’ve dropped to my knees and sucked on him until he had no choice but to divulge all his family’s secrets.

Against my better judgement, I inhaled deeply again.

The whole damn house smelled like him because his blood was everywhere.

It was hidden here and there and mixed into paint and hidden under things.

The coppery scent was nearly overpowering.

“You alright?” he arched a brow. “Do you want to eat at the table or are you more of a fast-food means eating in the living room person?”

“I--- either,” I said as my list of questions grew. “I’m alright with either. And yeah. I’m okay. I--- Your blood is here. A lot.”

“I’m a vampire,” he said leading me down a narrow hallway into an expansive dining room.

“You do know that usually means you spill other people’s blood, right?” I asked.

“That shows how much the general public knows. Yes, I feed on blood. I like it. Actually, depending on the source, I even love it but as an alpha vampire of my lineage, I spill a lot of blood for magic. I can spill a lot of blood and keep going, if I’m careful.”

He sat out the food on the dining room table and turned to grab plates from a small nearby cart.

I normally didn’t bother with plates for fast-food but this was his house and--- Of course, he needed a plate.

As soon as he unwrapped the crimson paper from around his burger it oozed with greasy blood.

My bird turned his head from one side to the other ready to pick up a bite.

I startled when a fast hand slid a bite of the half-raw burger into the mouth I didn’t know was hanging open.

“Next time I want one of those,” I said, as my inner beasts voiced their agreement. “It’s greasy like a burger but bloody. How do they do that?”