Page 51 of Kiss of Wrath

“Do not try my temper, or you may taste the flavor of my wrath.” Is there anything more sex-worthy than a woman with spirit?

“Get over yourself!”

I would like to get over something, or on, or in. Whoo! I hope my fangs aren’t showing, or another body part. All I have to do is look at her and my arousal goes up a notch or twenty.

Meanwhile, the two idiots strolled in, and, yes, it was idiotic to wear a cape in ninety-degree temperature, even though he understood why; the capes hid large amounts of weaponry. Just then, he detected a slight sulfur scent on Harek and a lemon scent on Cnut. They’d been killing Lucies and saving sinners, that would be Mordr’s conclusion. And it wasn’t just the odor that clung to their garments, their skin tones were healthy and tanned-looking, not the usual paleness when they’d been away too long from feeding.

And Miranda noticed, too, he could tell. When Harek passed by into the house, her nose wrinkled reflexively, as if he might have a bad case of wind in the bowels. She probably thought Cnut had been sucking on lemons, or sucking up vast amounts of lemonade.

“Miranda, why don’t you go check on the children whilst I talk with my brothers?” Is that her nipples showing as tiny, twin peaks on the bodice of her dress? Mayhap it is just a wrinkle in her undergarment. But her nipples are big, like ripe currants, or cherry pits, or . . . For the love of dirt! I cannot be thinking about nipples or that scandalous lace concoction that covers them.

“I already checked on the children.”

“Do it again.”

At first, she balked and addressed Cnut, “You mentioned trouble. Is it Roger?”

“Who?” Cnut asked. “Is Roger a Lucie?”

“No, or leastways we do not know yet,” Mordr answered for her.

“Lucy who?” Miranda was confused, with good reason. “Roger’s last name is Jessup.”

“I’ll explain later,” Mordr said to his brothers.

“Oh my gosh! I thought I was mistaken before, but . . .” Her words trailed off as she gaped at his brothers, whose vampire teeth were exposed again, no doubt due to reflexive lust in the proximity of a desirable woman, meaning Miranda, who was herself in an aroused state due to his stirring the embers of her desire. Idiots! His brothers were idiots, and he was the biggest idiot of them all, succumbing to temptation after centuries of self-imposed celibacy. He indicated by tapping his mouth twice what the situation was. Their fangs immediately retracted. Now, they just displayed slightly longer incisors. Naught could be done about the lust that still simmered beneath the surface of his skin.

Miranda blinked at his brothers. “Sorry. For a moment there, I thought I saw . . . never mind. Um, I’ll just go and check on the children. Mordr, why don’t you take your brothers into the den.”

After she hurried off and his brothers were seated on the sofa, Mordr on the recliner, they wasted no time.

“Children, Mordr? You, around children?” Worry resonated in Harek’s voice.

“Five of them,” Mordr said with disgust.

“That is cruel, even for Mike,” Cnut remarked.

“Tell me about it. Half the time I feel as if I am going to heave the contents of my stomach, and the other half I nigh faint.”

“You have never fainted a day in your life,” Harek declared, “not even that time a black bear twice your size trapped you in a cave with its cubs.”

That was a memory Mordr would not soon forget, even though it happened a hundred years ago.

“And a woman, Mordr?” Harek gazed at him with incredulity. “I thought you gave up women centuries ago.”

“I did not give them up precisely. I just lost interest.” By the runes! Since when do I reveal such intimate things about myself?

“Same thing!” Harek asserted. “And equally hard to believe.”

Mordr had no intention of discussing anything further with his brothers about his lack of lust. A lack until now, God help me. “So, what is the trouble?” he asked.

“Lucies. In Vegas,” Cnut said.

“Lots of them,” Harek added.

Mordr let the footrest of the recliner drop, and he sat up straight. “How can that be? I would have noticed.”

“They are in the city itself, in and around the casinos,” Cnut explained.