The Alphas' Bliss (3 page)

Micha

H
er whimper woke me up, immediately. I opened my eyes and felt for her next to me but she wasn’t there. I sat up in bed at the sound of another painful whimper and looked around the barely illuminated room. It was nearly nine in the morning but no sunlight shown through the shutters. I found her in the corner of the room, her knees pulled to her chest, her arms circling her legs. Her head was thrown back in pain. Another small whimper escaped.

“Bliss, sweetheart.” I couldn’t figure out where the pain originated. There was just wave after wave of heat and pain coming from her. She lifted her head and looked at me. Her usual brown eyes were shining blue and bright, her small fangs visible as she hissed at me. The damn transition. Why was it always so hard and painful for the females?

“Micha,” she groaned as another wave hit her. I jumped from the bed and was by her side lifting her up and bringing her back to the bed in an instant. She curled into the fetal position, her body soaked in sweat.

“I know baby. I’m going to give you blood. You need to drink it.” I told her sternly.

She shook her head at me, whimpering, writhing in pain. “Just hold me,” she begged. I climbed up on the bed and pulled her onto my lap. I bit into my wrist, putting it to her lips.

“Drink.” I said harshly. She only hesitated a second before she clasped my wrist and brought it to her lips. Her little fangs punctured the holes I’d already made in the veins and she drank deeply. Her body instantly relaxed and I felt the pain subside somewhat. She pulled free of my wrist after several minutes, her head falling to my shoulder. I licked the wounds closed quickly then checked her pulse. It was steady and sure, but she trembled in my arms.

“Bliss, sweetheart. Talk to me. How are you feeling now?” I pushed her hair away from her face, watching the color climb in her cheeks.

“Cold,” she moaned, a whole body shudder taking over. I reached over and grabbed the phone dialing 201.

“This better be good,” came the gruff voice over the line.

“Warrick, I need Lucy stat. Bliss is having some transition symptoms but she’s burning up and I don’t have a clue what to do,” I told the warrior hurriedly.

“We’ll be up in a minute.” The line went dead.

I rocked Bliss in my arms holding her tightly against my chest. Her trembling was getting worse and the whimpers were back. I could feel the pain center on her abdomen spreading to her chest.

“Dude, you’re naked!” Warrick barked walking into the room followed by Lucy, his plump doctor mate.

“Get outta the way Warrick. It’s not like I haven’t seen it before,” Lucy said coming around him. “Put her on the bed Micha.”

I laid her down next to me then climbed from the bed. Warrick handed me my jeans and I pulled them on quickly while Lucy listened to Bliss’ heart and took her pulse.

“You gave her blood?” she asked as she looked at Bliss’ fangs and felt around her neck.

“Yeah. There was just wave after wave of pain beating at her. It reminded me of transition hunger so I gave her blood. The pain eased but now it’s different, not as bad, just different and she’s burning up.”

“She took the blood ok? It didn’t come back up?” Lucy looked around the room as she put a thermometer to Bliss’ forehead.

“Yeah, she kept it down.”

“That’s good. That’s really good Micha. Her temp is 103 but she’s going to run hotter during her transition. I suggest you keep the temp down in this room so she doesn’t get too agitated. I’ll let the staff know to keep the temperature cooler in the house. The pain you feel her experiencing now is probably her internal organs absorbing your blood. Even though she’s half vampire, she’s never had vampire blood before. I’m going to give her something for the pain and the fever. Give her a cool bath and just let her rest. If she wakes and wants more blood, give it to her. Otherwise, this is all normal stuff. She’s going to suffer on and off till the full transition hits which hopefully will be soon since she’s having these hard core symptoms.

“Thanks Lucy I appreciate it.” I went back to the bed and sat next to Bliss. She curled into me.

“She’s beautiful,” Lucy said with a smile.

“That she is. And tough. So tough.” I smiled. “When she’s feeling up to it I’ll bring her down to dinner and introduce her to everyone.”

“We look forward to it,” Warrick said taking his wife’s hand. They waved goodbye then headed out. I went to the bathroom and quickly filled the tub with cool water. I returned to find Bliss sitting up in bed looking a little disoriented.

“I’m so cold,” she said as a way of greeting.

“You have a fever sweetheart. You need a cool bath. The doctor came and gave you a shot. You should feel better in a little bit. The bath is ready, let’s get you in there.”

When she climbed from the bed she wobbled. Thankfully, I was there to catch her. I quickly picked her up in my arms and carried her to the bathroom. I sat her on the lid of the toilet to remove her shirt. She reached out and ran her hand over my abs, then looked down at herself. Her fevered eyes looked up at me.

“Am I too big for you? Do you find me unattractive? I’m big for a human. Plump. Chubby. Human males would find me unattractive. Brass says because they are assholes,” she babbled while touching me.

I pulled her hand away from my stomach and placed it against my lips, kissing her palm. “You are the sexiest female on this earth to me. You are beautiful Bliss and I love your body.” I cupped her heavy breast in my palm running my thumb over the nipple till it peaked. I slowly ran my finger against her slightly rounded tummy to the apex of her thighs to the nest of dark curls there.

“Thank you,” she said sleepily. The pain medicine and fever reducer must have kicked in. I quickly reached behind her and braided her hair to keep it dry, then, lifted her from the seat of the toilet and placed her in the cool water. She gave a light yelp at the temperature, but soon settled. I made quick work of bathing her to remove the sweat from her body then lifted her from the water. After she was sufficiently dry, I carried her back to bed and climbed in beside her. She curled into me, quickly dozing off.

I hadn’t wanted a mate but now that this little half human lay next to me, I was quickly changing my mind. I couldn’t believe she thought I’d find her unattractive. She was plumper than Ann-Marie had been, true, but I still thought she was perfect the way she was. I found her extremely attractive, even beautiful.

I watched her sleep for a while, an occasional whimper escaping but I’d reassure her I was there and she’d quiet. She finally fell into a peaceful sleep staying curled into me. I soon followed her into a deep sleep as the noon hour rolled around.

Bliss

I
woke feeling like I’d been run over by a Mack truck. I was alone in bed and totally naked. Fuzzy memories floated around in my head. A cold bath, me babbling, about what I couldn’t recall, a lady doctor coming in and giving me a shot, Micha giving me blood. I shuttered at that. I’d drank Vampire blood.

I carefully climbed from the king size bed and pulled on the yoga pants and hoodie that were waiting for me. My hair was braided so I left it alone. Eschewing my bedroom, I went through the door that would lead me to the short hall, following it to the sitting area of our suite.

When I walked into the room there were six very large males standing around and all eyes turned to me. I staggered and the one nearest to me steadied me. It was one of the twins from the night before. Brock, I believe.

“Thanks,” I mumbled.

“Welcome, my lady,” he said gruffly.

“Bliss, sweetheart, are you sure you should be out of bed?” Micha asked as he walked toward me.

I looked at all the warriors in the room and shook my head. “Not anymore,” I answered honestly. Grins broke out among the males.

“I like her.” One of them said from across the room. He had waist length blond hair and piercings covered half his face. Tribal tattoos covered the other half.

“She’s starving Micha. We’ll finish this later. Feed your mate,” a gruff looking red head said from the corner. I self-consciously put my hand on my stomach. I was hungry but I didn’t think anyone could hear my stomach growling.

“We have superb hearing,” Brock said with a grin.

“Sorry to disturb your meeting,” I said apologetically.

“Not a problem my lady. We can finish this anytime. You come first,” Brock reiterated. All the warriors nodded to me as they left the room. Brock was the last to exit and he gave a low bow.

Micha pulled me into his arms and kissed my temple. “Fever is gone. That’s a good sign. How are you feeling?” He led me to the small alcove that served as the dining room. There on the table were several covered dishes. He pulled out a chair for me and I sat. He started to pull the covers off the dishes revealing scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, and pancakes.

“Like I was run over by a truck. Thank you for taking care of me.” I spooned a bit of scrambled eggs onto my plate and pulled two pancakes off the stack.

“You’re my mate, sweetheart. It’s my job to take care of you,” Micha said leaning in and kissing my forehead before taking a seat and fixing his own plate of breakfast.

I’d taken a few bites of food before I decided to be brave enough to ask about the picture of the woman in the sitting room.

“Micha, who’s the woman in the painting in the sitting room?”

He took a drink of his juice and looked at the painting then to me. “Her name was Ann-Marie. She was my mate. We grew up together. We were childhood sweethearts. My mark appeared on her on her sixteenth birthday and we were mated.”

“Sixteen? Wow.”

“It was a different time back then,” he said with a wistful smile.

“What happened to her?” I asked.

“She died during the vampire plague a hundred years ago. It was a terrible time. A lot of vampires lost their mates during that time,” he said sadly.

I reached across the small space separating us and took his hand in mind. “I’m sorry you lost her,” I said sincerely. “She was very beautiful.”

He picked my hand up and kissed my wrist. “Thank you sweetheart.”

“How many mates can vampires have in their lifetime?” I asked curiously.

“It’s unknown really. My father lived to be two thousand years old. He had four; he was very lucky. My brothers and I were born from his first union. He had no other children. We call the union where a child is born a soul union because children are so very rare. The mate of that union is a soul-mate. Though we seem to be able to have multiple mates, finding them is a different story. Many vampires don’t wait to find a true mate; they marry for companionship much as the human tradition.”

“Do you have any children from your previous union?”

“No, sweetheart. I have no children. Do you want children?” he asked watching me.

“I never gave it much thought really. I think I’d like to have a bit of time with my mate first before we bring a child into the picture,” I answered honestly.

“I think that’s a sound plan,” he agreed with a smile. “If you are done with breakfast, how about I show you the rest of the house?”

“I’d like that,” I said getting up from the table and taking the offered hand.

Our tour started in the foyer, where my initial tour had ended the evening before. There were two main staircases in the house. The first, led to our suite of rooms on the second floor. The second led to the second floor also, but on a totally different side of the house. That’s where the warriors, Reardon and Dante lived.

Some of the servants lived toward the back of the house in the servant’s quarters and several lived in small cottages that were on the grounds of the estate. The house was massive and grand and I knew that I’d get lost. I mentioned this to Micha, and he showed me the intercom system in each room. I could only grin. There was also a formal dining room, sitting room, and a large library that I fell in love with instantly.

I met several of the servants but the house manager, a very sweet elderly vampire, by the name of Jean-Luc, was the best of them. He’d been with the House of Treyvane for over two hundred years. I liked him instantly, unlike the house manager at my guardian’s home, whom I totally disliked.

The coup de gras, however, was the massive game room where all the warriors were gathered playing various games or watching a football game on an enormous big screen television that hung above the largest fireplace I’d ever seen.

When we walked into the room all eyes turned to us. Reardon and Dante were the first to speak.

“Bliss, how was your first night in the mausoleum?” Reardon asked with a smile, coming over to hug me tightly.

“Besides an early morning wakeup call by the transition symptoms, it was wonderful, thank you.”

“Big brother giving you the grand tour? Did you meet Jean-Luc yet? Best butler in the world!” Dante complimented as he too hugged me.

I smiled. “I did and he’s much nicer than that old hag Beatrice at Mother and Father’s house.”

“So true.” Reardon agreed and Dante nodded.

“Someone else who liked to give you trouble?” Micha asked gruffly.

“All the time.” I answered honestly. “Introduce me to your warriors Micha,” I said softly.

“Yes, Micha, introduce us.” The big red head from earlier said with a wide grin.

Micha shook his head in exasperation. “Well to start the introductions, Bliss, that big mouth fool, is Gideon. The blond tattooed freak next to him is Kai.” Kai lifted his middle finger at Micha.

“The two at the pool table are Raif and Warrick. Warrick is the mate of Lucy, who you met this morning.” Raif and Warrick raised their hands respectfully.

“Brock and Bradley you met last night. Everyone, this is my mate, Bliss, from the House of Garreth.”

All the warriors put their fist to their hearts and bowed low. “Welcome my queen” they said in unison.

I didn’t know what to say. I was flattered by them all. “Wow, thanks guys. What a way to make a girl feel welcome,” I said with a smile. They were all huge and intimidating as hell but that wasn’t going to stop me from trying to get to know each and every one of them personally. They protected my mate and the entire vampire race from miscreants, human hunters, rogue wolves, and anything else that wanted to hunt vampires.

“Oh I missed the introductions!” A plump redhead said coming into the room carrying a tray with sandwiches and several bags of chips. A servant followed behind her carrying another tray with several more sandwiches piled high.

“Hi, I’m Lucy, the doc who came in and checked on you this morning. You seem to be feeling better,” she said extending her hand after she’d placed the tray down.

“I’m a bit worn out but overall good. Thanks for coming to the rescue. Sorry I was so out of it.” I shook her hand giving her a smile.

“Oh, no worries.  I’ve been where you are so I completely understand. Call me anytime. Micha knows my extension down in the clinic and our personal suite line,” she informed me.

“Clinic?” I asked looking over at Micha.

“Yeah, I didn’t show you that yet. There’s a clinic down in the basement. Doc Lucy is our surgeon. She fixes us up and also does some consulting work for a few other vampire surgeons on special cases. I’ll show you that tomorrow,” he said tucking me under his arm.

“That’s wonderful,” I said to Lucy.

She shrugged. “It keeps me busy.” We chatted a little more about the clinic and the work she did for the warriors. I also teamed up with her against Warrick and Kai in a game of pool while Micha watched the rest of the football game. Of course we won, much to Warrick and Kai’s amazement. Reardon and Dante just laughed their asses off.

I was having a good time listening to the warriors tease Micha and tell war stories when I suddenly started to feel like a furnace had turned on inside of me. Sweat broke out all over my body. A wave of pain washed through me so intensely that every warrior in the room turned to look at me even though I didn’t make a sound.

Micha was next to me instantly. He picked me up in his arms without hesitation and carried me out of the room. He took the stairs two at a time till he reached our suite of rooms. He laid me on the couch and immediately bit into his wrist, then placed it against my lips. I pierced the holes he made with my fangs and drank the blood he so freely offered. He tasted spicy but sweet. Addicting. I thought I’d gag at the taste but I didn’t. The minute his blood hit my system, the pain started to subside. I started to pull away but Micha shook his head no.

“A little more baby. Just till the pain goes away.”

I continued to drink till most of the tearing pain eased and I started to feel a little drunk. I pulled away, careful not to tear the puncture wounds with my small fangs. Micha licked the wounds closed, then ran his thumb on the corner of my mouth cleaning away a spot of blood I guessed. The pain subsided to blissful numbness and I sighed in relief as my eyes closed and I passed out cold.