Free Colour Me Undead by Mikela Q. Chase Page B

you.”
    “Melinda!”
    “Fine, fine. I’ll cancel my plans.”
    “Thank you.” Pleased she won the first round of arguments, Cora glanced around the room. Every chair in the place had a vampire draped across its surface. Some of the bloodsuckers had human sidekicks who looked like they were rejects from the gothic hall of fame, while the humanless flopped about on the furniture as if they were too cool to have backbones. It was almost as if all their bones dissolved and what was left was a group of droopy vampires.
    The vampire beside her burst into laughter.
    “Oh, shut up,” Cora muttered. She knew he’d just read her mind.
    “I can’t help it, my dear. I haven’t had a good laugh in a while.” He turned an appealing gaze to Melinda. “Are you going to introduce me?”
    Cora glared at the sexy vampire.
    Melinda straightened her stance as if she were a military soldier caught slacking off. “Of course. Cora, this is King Basil Bloodthorn.”
    Bloodthorn?
    Melinda frowned at her. Her cousin probably read her mind but she’d never hid her thoughts before and she wasn’t going to start now.
    Cora shrugged. It wasn’t her place to stir the waters if the king had a weird name. All vampire names probably had the word ‘blood’ in them. They weren’t known for being an imaginative group. Instead of saying anything further, she turned to the king. “Nice to meet you, your highness.” It wasn’t, of course, and she made sure it was reflected in her thoughts, but she only got an amused look for her trouble.
    “Please call me Basil, and my no-good brother should be here soon.” He still wore the same amused expression on his face since she’d arrived. Cora figured he couldn’t be too upset with her.
    “I’m right here.”
    Cora turned to face a nice-looking vampire with brown eyes and pleasant features who looked at Melinda like she were everything good on the planet, all rolled up into one perfect form. At least one thing was right about this blasted wedding, the bridegroom looked truly enchanted with his bride.
    “I’m Alexis. Nice to meet you.”
    “Nice to meet you too.” Cora knew better than to offer her hand to the vampire. It was considered bad manners to initiate physical contact. They only touched those they were intimate with or people they desired. She gave him a polite nod and received one in return before Alexis’ attention returned to her cousin.
    Melinda gave him a sweet smile, an expression Cora had never seen on her cousin’s face. It freaked her out a little. “I’m going to sit down with my cousin and talk about the wedding. I doubt you want to be part of that discussion.” Most grooms wanted to be as far away from wedding talk as they could get. She figured the undead weren’t any different.
    A frown crossed the vampire’s face. “I still don’t understand why you insist on this fiasco. Vampires don’t need a piece of paper to be mates.”
    Melinda’s eyes narrowed. “Because my mother is traditional and won’t acknowledge our union unless we’re married.”
    Cora nudged Basil, completely breaking vampire protocol but she didn’t care. Her cousin’s happiness was on the line.
    “What?”
    “Do something,” she hissed. Cora didn’t need a blow-up between the bride and groom right before planning the wedding. If her cousin was in a bad mood the meeting wasn’t going to go well and, frankly, she had other things she would rather concentrate on.
    “What will you give me if I help?”
    Cora seriously contemplated kicking the jerk.
    “I’d reconsider that.”
    Cora rolled her eyes. “Fine. What do you want?”
    The couple’s arguing was reaching new heights, involving relatives she was almost certain Melinda would have to literally pull from the grave in order for them to be pertinent to the wedding.
    “A kiss.”
    Cora looked back from the couple to the king and back again. “Fine, but I still would rather kick you. You’re the most annoying man I’ve ever