I could see into both Ajax and Arabella’s memories of their day when I rose. I saw their intimate moments when they first awakened. The gentle, loving sex. I also saw the times Ajax tookcontrol and was rough with her, but it didn’t happen often. Three or four times a month.
Swans have tochangeon the solstices and equinoxes. They’re in great pain for the following three months if they don’t. I’ve tortured swans in the past by withholding thechangewhen it was necessary for some security reason, but never would I allow our Arabella to be put through that. Thechangerequires the swan female have an orgasm with a cock inside of her. A dildo won’t do. It has to be a warm-blooded penis. This meant Ajax was the only one of us who could do it, and he felt honored to take on the task.
Arabella and Ajax were invited to Thanksgiving dinner with the Swan Queen and Dragon King. They arrived home stuffed to the gills, and then Kieran and I had our own feast. Different meals give the blood a different taste, and Thanksgiving dinner has a specific flavor.
The stores were open in the middle of the night for the big Black Friday sales, so the four of us went shopping together. It was a madhouse, and I nearly hissed at a few people, but remembered not to. Even if no one else saw, there were cameraseverywherein this century. Such a pain in the ass.
We bought more Christmas decorations, including a totally tacky huge blowup fake glass globe for the front yard. Arabella wanted it, and none of us could bring ourselves to tell herno.
I intended to take Arabella to Italy for a shopping spree. She’d open a present to find the itinerary confirmation for Abbott’s long-range jet, and a promise to purchase as many outfits as she could put together in three days of shopping. I figured between the two of us, we’d probably spend one hundred and fifty grand on clothes, hotel, and the cost to use Abbott’s plane. We had reservations in a Milan resort that caters to vampires.
Ajax was getting private lessons for a helicopter license, along with a four-person helicopter. His house in Alaska came with a helipad. It seemed a shame not to use it.
And for my wonderful husband, I’d purchased a declining hotel in an up-and-coming portion of Fairbanks. It’d been a while since he’d done the hands-on real estate thing. He enjoyed turning a building into a successful money-maker, and this one was the perfect business for him to revamp.
Yeah. Okay. So I go a little overboard for Christmas. If you can’t splurge on the ones you love, why bother being filthy rich to start with?
When we returned from shopping, our Ajax decided it was time we saw what was in the blocked-off portion of his memories. At first, I thought he did it in the hopes it might be one of the things Abbott and Sophia were looking for, but as soon as I had the thought, I saw the truth in his mind. He didn’t want to keep secrets from us anymore. He wanted us to seeallof him.
We didn’t have long until we needed to retire before the sun rose, and I believe this was by design, to keep from having to talk about it. Instead of telling us, he merely opened it, so we could see everything.
Our werewolf was fully broken in as a bodyguard, not as a sex slave. Some of it was similar to a military boot camp — sleep denial, more exercise than should be physically possible, rough fight training. But there was more. Extended time caged. Treated as an animal. Broken down to nothing and then turned into a lethal killing machine. And then, training in how to sit still and focus for days, and still be able to react within a millisecond. And always, extreme punishment when a trainee failed at a task or assignment. This was how he knew the Singapore method of caning, though that was far from the worst thing done to him.When he’d later been put through slave training, it’d been a piece of cake.
Instead of giving him sympathy, I merely thanked him for trusting us enough to share this painful part of his personal history. Kieran told him he honored us with his truth.
And we didn’t speak of it again. He locked those memories back up. He’d trusted us to see them and not make a big deal of it, and then he put them away again. We didn’t force him to talk about it because we saw that Abbott had handled it for us. However, we also endeavored to never give our werewolf any trigger that might remind him of that time in his life.
Chapter Thirty-One
Arabella
Words can’t describe the magic I felt for anything Christmas. I realized it was a little silly, but it was almost as if Ifinallygot to be a kid.
The only thing that bothered me was the fact I didn’t have my own money, and thus, couldn’t purchase gifts for anyone. Gwen pulled me aside one day and told me she’d purchase whatever I wanted to buy Kieran and Ajax, and she told me Kieran would purchase any gift I wanted to get for her. She gave me a huge number, and told me all four gifts couldn’t go over. I realized she’d seen my worries, and I threw my arms around her neck. “Thank you. I was so frustrated, and I didn’t know what to do! I was trying to come up with something I could make for all of you, or a way to barter for a gift, but...” I blew out a breath. “I’ll find some way to repay you!”
“No.” She held me at arm’s length and met my gaze. She told me how much they would pay for a house manager, above and beyond room and board. It was more money than I’d ever know what to do with, so I merely stared at her.
“I don’t want to stress you out,” she continued. “That money is in an account. It’s yours. If you never want it, we’ll give it to charity. You don’t have to accept it. Kieran and I are handling your finances.”
“I’m your slave. Slaves don’t get a paycheck.”
“And you haven’t. Nor will you, unless Sophia orders it. I just wanted you to know I’ll be purchasing gifts you wish to give others with money you’ve earned. You don’t have to pay me back for anything.”
I wanted to argue, but I wasn’t sure I could. They said they’d take care of me so I didn’t have to worry about money, and that’s exactly what they’d done.
“I’m going to get Ajax a suit from the guy who makes Abbott’s suits. Assuming I have enough money for that. I also want to buy him more jeans and t-shirts. Oh, and shoes. He needs better shoes.”
The time from Thanksgiving to Christmas seemed to take forever, and yet, it flew by. Kendra and Eric invited us onto their yacht for a big boat parade. We got to help decorate it, and then there was a huge party during the parade.
The following weekend, we saw a live show of The Nutcracker, but only after watching a few movies of it, so I’d have an idea of what the ballet meant. We also drove around town at night and looked at Christmas lights. We drove to a place south of Atlanta, and another place in Birmingham, that had so many lights I almost cried. Oh, and we walked through a place on Lookout Mountain called Rock City, and I got to see the lights close up. I can’t even begin to describe how wonderful it all was.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Ajax
The day before Thanksgiving, the RTMC martial arts studio had a special guest during class. EthanThe CavemanLevi had won multiple titles in the world of mixed martial arts, and he was the current world champion. The club had asked him to help with one of their Christmas charities, and he’d been happy to help. Somewhere along the way, he was invited to spar with us, and he accepted.
Josef stopped by the evening before and released my wolf. Nothing was constraining him. I could’vechangedat any time. I could hold a warrior form now, which meant I could kill a whole bunch of people in not much time if I went out of control. Or rather, if the wolf did.
