“If you get the gloves and give me that knife, I’ll free myself and Sylvie. You can go look for Isabella.”
Burke hesitated for only a blink before doing exactly as Miko suggested. He pulled the gloves off, and handed him the knife, allowing Miko to cut himself from his bindings. Then, after giving Sylvie another gentle kiss, he promised he’d return in a minute, as soon as he found Isabella. He ran upstairs.
The instant Miko located the key and freed her from her restraints, Sylvie climbed to her shaky legs and staggered toward the stairs. There was plenty of time for hugs and comfort and marveling about his miraculous healing later. Right now, she just had to get out of that hellish place. She wouldn’t breathe easy until they were far away from there. As she passed Hadrian, he lifted his head, startling her. She hopped to one side, kicking over one of the smelly candles sitting on the floor. A few scraps of paper ignited.
“Shit!” Miko looked at her and then at Hadrian, helpless as he was.
She had her own ideas about what that monster deserved, but Miko had the morality of a police officer. She supposed he wouldn’t be able to leave him down there to burn to death.
“Get outside,” Miko shouted, as he stomped on the spreading flames.
“Come with me,” she pleaded from the foot of the stairs.
“I’ll be out in a minute. I just can’t… he’s my brother.”
No, he wasn’t going to risk his own life for that bastard!
Her heart rushed up her throat. She nodded and tripped her way up the stairs, using the loose wooden railing as support. Because she’d inhaled so much smoke, her lungs were burning, her eyes were tearing and her legs weren’t one hundred percent steady.
She screamed “Fire!” as she wobbled and swayed through the house. A cloud of smoke was rolling up the stairs and gathering along the kitchen ceiling. Legs getting stronger, adrenaline doing its job, she ran through the dining room. “Burke?” She turned a corner and dashed across the living room.
The smoke was getting thicker by the second. She reached the front door but hesitated. Run outside to safety or help Burke and Miko? She threw open the door and filled her lungs with fresh air. “Burke! Fire! Miko!”
No one answered.
Clutching the shredded pieces of her shirt to her breasts, she scampered outside, jumped off the porch and ran around the outside of the house. At the very rear, she found the kitchen window. The board covering the window was partially pulled down. She frantically clawed at it, tearing a piece away. She now had a limited view of the scene inside. Miko had his tied brother in his arms and was staggering across the kitchen, toward the side door. Burke had Isabella with him and was running in the opposite direction, toward the front hall. But just as he was about to head out of the room, there was a loud crack, splitting wood. Miko dropped out of sight.
Had he fallen down, or literally crashed through the floor?
God, would this hell ever end? Sylvie screamed and ran around to the side door leading into the house. The knob was blistering hot. She covered it with a scrap of her mangled shirt and twisted, kicking it in.
Burke was long gone. There was an enormous hole in the floor. Red and gold flames danced around the opening. She kept close to the wall and inched back toward the stairs. But before she reached them, Miko staggered through the basement door, collapsing at her feet.
She grabbed his hands and dragged him toward safety outside. Only a few feet. She could do it. Her muscles screamed in protest but she pushed aside the pain. Safety was so close.
The moment she had Miko outside, she joined him on the cool grass. Flat on her back, gasping, her lungs burning, her eyes tearing so badly her vision was blurred, the cut in her stomach throbbing. Her skin felt dry and hot, like she’d fallen asleep in the sun.
But he was safe. She was safe. And the bad guy, Hadrian, she could only guess what had happened to him.
“Sylvie?” Burke called from around the side of the burning building.
“I’m here,” she returned weakly.
“Oh, thank God.” Burke dropped to his knees and pulled her into a tight embrace. And finally, she felt safe enough to just sit there and enjoy it.
The danger was over. And hopefully, with Miko’s help, Burke would get back everything that had been taken from him.
Chapter Eighteen
It took at least forty-eight hours for Sylvie to finally accept that she didn’t have to hide from a killer anymore. But even two months later, she still hadn’t worked through the lingering effects of the trauma she’d endured. She suppressed the worst of her emotions for as long as she could, burying herself in the business of getting Carpe Nocturne back on its feet.
She didn’t want to accept the fact that the terror she’d endured in that basement had changed her, perhaps for the rest of her life.
Life had to go on. Right? People who’d endured more pain than she had -- attempted murder, spousal abuse, child neglect -- they pushed on. They grew up, graduated high school, got married, had families. Why was she having such a hard time?
Sleeping was particularly difficult. Nightmares woke her night after night. Burke and Miko stayed with her in her home, putting every obligation off to be with her. Work. Reclaiming the life they deserved to have again. Everything.
They held her as she cried out in the night, murmuring soothing words as she trembled in bed. Nothing was said about their Binding, whether it was complete or incomplete, or about the desire simmering below the surface of her vampires’ concern-filled eyes.
They simply waited. Patiently. Supporting her. Encouraging her. Even helping her at Carpe Nocturne. Burke rarely let her out of his sight. He shadowed her everywhere she went, and she was grateful. This was ironic, since she’d always been the kind of woman who bristled at a man’s overprotective attention. No longer.
She couldn’t step foot into her office without reliving that first night. She could practically see the dead man hanging in her office, could smell the pungent stench of death. Cold, dark places struck cold terror in her. She could see what was happening to her, like she was standing outside of herself, watching. She was letting those bizarre events shape her.
How could she stop that from happening?
Late one night, after closing Carpe Nocturne, she sat in the center of her bed and cried. The bad guy was dead -- the fire had destroyed the house and everything in it. But she was still in so many ways chained to that floor, a victim who couldn’t move on. She was tired of being scared. Pissed off at her inability to put it behind her. But she just couldn’t. Carpe Nocturne was doing well. The weekly costume parties had taken the failing bar and turned it around. But she couldn’t handle working the theme nights. The creepy vampire outfits were just too much for her, despite the fact that she knew Burke and Miko were vampires. That night, she’d been unable to find someone to work the shift.
Burke and Miko traded concerned glances as they positioned themselves on either side of her. Burke rested a single hand on her knee; Miko placed a hand on her shoulder. They watched her cry, determination and anger and a plethora of other emotions playing over their faces. She knew they wanted to ease her pain but felt powerless to give her more than temporary relief.
Finally, as her sobs wore down, Burke spoke, “I think it’s time we leave.”
What? He was going to leave her? How could he even think of doing that? “No. Please.” Panic set her heart racing. The organ thumped against her breastbone. She clenched her trembling hands in her lap, struggling to hide the effect his words were having on her.
“It’s for the best.” Miko took hold of her chin and coaxed her to look at him. “We talked about it and we both agree. You need to give yourself some time to heal.”
“But without you? What will I do? I need you.”
“Not without us. We want you to come with us.”
Relief took the form of a warm, pleasant sensation that spread across her chest and down her torso. “Where?”
“Back to one of my
estates in Europe,” Burke said. He inched closer, sandwiched her hands between his. “You can have a new life, a new beginning. Not that I expect all this to go away yet -- the fear and trauma. But I want to give you the choice. I will stay with you no matter what. Don’t think for a minute I’m going to walk away from you. I love you.” He blinked several times and she realized, from the shimmer in his eyes and the slight tremble in his lips, that he was on the verge of crying too. “Do you want to stay here, continue to build Carpe Nocturne? Or would you rather come away and begin a new life far away from the memories?”
Her heart felt like it had swelled to at least twice its normal size. Contentment. Joy.
There could be no doubt. Burke was telling the truth. He loved her. More than any person ever had, with the exception of Miko. Their love had been like a cloak she wore whenever she left the house. It kept her warm, eased her fears, gave her strength. She wanted to give them the same kind of joy, to get beyond her own neediness and reach out to them.
If they wanted to fly across the world, to Timbuktu or wherever, did she belong anywhere but with them? Did she want to continue like this? Losing herself in ugly memories?
They wanted what was best for her. “Okay,” she agreed.
Her vampires sandwiched her between them in a long, warm, soothing hug.
Yes, she was looking forward to starting her life over. The ghosts haunting her wouldn’t follow half way around the world. At least she hoped not.
Above and beyond getting past the trauma of her kidnapping, she simply wanted to enjoy life and enjoy the two men who’d become such a huge part of it.
Over the next several weeks, a lot of things happened. She sold Carpe Nocturne to her friend Lisa, packed up the few personal possessions that mattered to her, took a final trip to the charred remains of the house she’d been held captive in, and then boarded a private jet with her vampires. She spent the bulk of the overnight flight in the plane’s comfy bed. For the first time in months, she didn’t wake up sweating and shaking from night terrors.
Yes, this had been the right decision.
While the private plane should have clued her in to how rich Burke was, it wasn’t until they’d landed and driven to his so-called estate that the reality sank in. Burke wasn’t just a little bit rich. He was very rich. Like own-a-small-country rich. Because they had to travel at night, she wasn’t able to get a good feel for the scope of Burke’s real estate holdings, until she stepped foot in his house -- correction, castle. And this was supposedly his country cottage. Oh. My. God!
Clearly, the Langton family had deep roots in the Czech Republic. Burke gave her a brief history lesson about his family as he led her on a tour of the house. It was fascinating, learning how the former socialist government had taken possession of the property for a time and then returned it later. But what intrigued her the most about the house and its beautiful furnishings was the sense of history, of former lives and loves, she felt as she passed through the rooms.
Perhaps that was what she’d long ached for? Having been a child with no roots, no family that she knew of after her mother died, she lacked ties to the past.
She knew she’d heal in this place. Even though it was huge and so gorgeous it looked more like a museum than a home, there was something here that fed her soul.
“Are you tired?” Burke motioned toward the sweeping staircase that arched elegantly around in a wide “c” to the second floor above. His index finger traced the beautiful swirls carved into the wooden railing.
Mmmmm. A little ripple of warmth shimmied through her body. She’d had plenty of sleep on the plane. She wasn’t tired. If he did decide to take her upstairs for a tour of the bedrooms, she could think of a few things she’d rather do than sleep. She glanced over her shoulder, wondering where Miko had gone.
Burke answered her unspoken question. “I believe he’s upstairs, taking a shower.”
Miko in the shower? Now, that called to mind some intriguing images.
Come to think of it, she was feeling a little grungy herself. A shower would be a good thing, especially if she were lucky enough to have some company.
She raised an eyebrow at Burke and he burst into a guffaw that tickled her insides like a flock of butterflies had been released in her tummy. A few parts of her anatomy launched into party mode when one side of Burke’s mouth lifted into that wicked grin she so adored.
He scooped her up into his arms, flung her over his shoulder like a caveman hauling off a prize kill, and ran up the stairs. Thanks to her bouncing against his shoulder, her giggles rushed up her throat in broken bursts. Burke dashed through a bedroom she was sure she’d seen in an interior design magazine and threw open the door to an attached bathroom that would make the average girl weep. A sunken jet tub, long stretch of stone counter with framed mirrors hanging above it. Gorgeous tile floor and walls. But best of all, an enormous glass enclosed shower that could hold a half dozen people comfortably, with at least as many spouts spraying water at the one scrumptious body standing inside. Burke didn’t bother to snap the clothes off either one of them before throwing open the glass door and carting her into the stall. The water temperature was perfect. It struck her from all directions, soaking her clothes within seconds. But she couldn’t care less about a few soggy garments.
She was going to do the wild thing in the shower! Happy squeal!
She closed her eyes and focused on the erotic sensations pummeling her system. The water, caressing her skin as it ran down her torso in warm rivulets. The naughty thrill she received as her vampires ripped her soaked clothes from her body. The sound of rending fabric and murmured promises of wicked fun by the two most amazing men this side of heaven. She cleared her head, mentally shoving aside a few lingering questions she ached to have answered, and instead focused on the moment. How often did a woman find herself in the shower with two gorgeous men who were determined to drive her absolutely insane with pleasure?
Ohhhh! Could this moment last forever?
At one end of the shower was a wooden bench, jutting from the tile wall. Miko coaxed her backward and down, until she was sitting, her legs spread wide. He bent, muscles bunching as he moved, to kiss her shoulder. Burke, still dressed, the knit shirt clinging to his skin and emphasizing his bulk, knelt before her, his eyes taking a tour of her wet, trembling body. He rested a hand on each of her knees, pushing them further apart, and licked his lips. “Damn it, what you do to me. I want to take my time…” He skimmed one flattened palm up over her thigh before stopping at her hip. She quivered at his heated expression, and feeling naughty and brave, reached down to finger her labia.
Both her vampires visibly swallowed as they watched her. She knew how much power she held over them right then. She’d literally forced them to their knees. But at the same time, she ached to surrender to the latent power she witnessed in their bodies. They both had the kind of bodies that inspired wet dreams. She’d gladly swap shower nookie vampire dreams for the night terrors that had been interrupting her sleep for the last few months.
The water made Miko’s hair hang in heavy waves around his face. Droplets clung to his eyelashes, nose, lips. He ran his tongue along her collarbone, and she gladly tipped her head to the side to give him greater access to her neck.
Would they bite her again? She wanted them to for some reason. As much as she wanted them to fuck her like they had before, both at the same time. While she’d been struggling the past few months, the guys had refused to make love to her. Burke had said they didn’t want to make things more difficult for her.
Obviously, they weren’t worried about that anymore, and she was oh, so happy.
While Miko worked his way lower, to her left breast, Burke pushed aside her hand and replaced it with his mouth. “Ohhhhh!” she moaned, letting her head fall back to rest against the wall a few inches behind her. Her vampires had performed magic plenty, with the snap of their fingers, but now, they were performing magic on her body. With their mouths.
&n
bsp; She wrapped her fingers around the edge of the seat and inched her bottom forward, offering Burke easier access to her pussy.
“That’s it, yes. Open for us. Take what is yours.” Burke simultaneously pumped two fingers in and out of her clenching pussy and teased her clit with the world’s most agile tongue. It danced, flicked, swirled. His fingers thrust in and out, somehow stroking that special place inside that sent quakes of pleasure through her body.
Miko’s tongue was dancing over her nipple. He pulled it into his mouth, suckling. She arched her back, thrusting her breast forward, and sighed. The agony! The profound pleasure. It was all so overwhelming.
The water, scents of soap and man and sex, the sounds of mouths working over wet skin, all blended inside her body, whirling around and around like a ball of fire in her gut. Miko pushed roughly at her shoulders, forcing her to lean back until her shoulder blades ground into the tile wall. That little act of domination made her insides go all hot and molten. She groaned, blinking into the water spray. A part of her wanted the moment to last forever, another wanted to soar over the pinnacle. Release was just out of her reach, even with two men both pleasuring her. Something was missing.
Burke lifted his head and narrowed his gaze. “I know what you need.”
She was quite certain, from the fire she saw in his eyes, that statement was true. He stood, pulled Miko away from her and turned off the water. Then he motioned with a tip of his head. “I think she’s ready.”
Miko’s smile took her breath away. A blend of unspoken promise and raw desire, the expression made her squirm. He pulled her up and maneuvered her between his yummy body and Burke’s.
She had to wonder if Burke’s castle had a dungeon. The kind he’d magically created in the safe house. The answer, she quickly learned, was yes. Every bit as erotically dark and dangerous as its owner.
She let her Masters lead her inside. “Can I ask a question? Why couldn’t Hadrian snap like you?”
“The dark magic.” While Burke shed his sopping clothes, Miko lay on his back on a narrow, hip-high wooden table. His expression was wicked, the muscles of his toned stomach and lean, smooth-skinned thighs taut. A bead of precome glistened on the tip of his thick, rigid cock. “Suck me.” It was a command, and a plea. Sylvie heard both in his voice.
The Alpha's Touch Boxed Set (14 Book Bundle) Page 20
