“That’s because he’s a fucking nut case,” Carissa stated. Dimitri snorted loudly. “He is!”
Denver smiled. “I won’t argue with you. He really started to lose it when Serina was born with that mark. He saw how my aunt’s life changed and didn’t want it to happen to her. It really escalated when Julian took Serina. When she died…” His voice choked off, and he shook his head.
“I’ll give Julian the message,” Dimitri said.
Carissa handed Denver a piece of paper “You call this number once he’s moved.”
Denver nodded. “If your cousin is the one I’m thinking took her, then I owe that fucker a lot more than one small scar and can’t wait to give him more.”
Dimitri was afraid to ask for details on what she referred to. Not knowing what she had been up to during the months she was keeping an eye on Julian bothered him. He didn’t have a clue about her confrontations with the breeds and Renzo. She hadn’t returned his calls or checked in for her scheduled reports and was touchy as hell if he questioned her on it.
84
Jaden Sinclair
“You better go,” Dimitri said to Denver.
Denver turned and left quickly. Dimitri couldn’t blame him. The place was depressing with the lingering stench of death.
They left the same way they came and then walked back to the car parked about a mile away. It was quiet, almost too quiet. Dimitri had this nagging feeling they were being watched. He stopped, put his head down, and listened.
“Feel that?” he asked.
“Since the moment we got here,” she stated. “We’re not alone.”
“And he’s not making himself known.” Dimitri took a deep breath, sniffing the air for the unusual scent. “Human, with a bit of—”
“Us,” she finished. He met her eye. “It’s strange.”
“Another half-breed, maybe?”
She shook her head. “Not likely. I’ve never heard of any other than me.” With a look of disgust she added, “More than likely it’s that fuck Rage”
He took another deep breath. “Gone.” He looked closely at her. “You know the scent.”
Carissa nodded. “It belongs to the one who took Serina and left Julian to die. Rage.”
She let out his name with an angry sigh.
“Don’t make it personal, Carissa,” he warned.
“Too late. It already is.”
They drove in silence. In his head, he recalled how Claudia tasted. How her warm, smooth blood went down his throat, and the sounds she made as he drank.
“So what are you going to do about Claudia?” Carissa asked.
He tightened his hands over the steering wheel and kept his eyes straight ahead.
“You’re going to bond with her, right?”
“I don’t want to talk, not about this,” he grumbled.
“I’m sorry, okay,” she snapped.
Guardians 2: Forgotten Soul
85
He slammed on the brakes, skidding to a stop in the middle of the dark road. They both snapped forward, and Dimitri clenched even harder on the steering wheel.
“I can’t do this with you again.”
“I know.”
He turned his head, looking Carissa in the eye. “How do you do it? How can you be so detached from it all?”
“I’m not detached, Dimitri.” She frowned at him. “I just have to put my feelings away and focus on the job I’ve chosen to take. I care about others. If I didn’t, then you wouldn’t have gotten as close as you did.”
“But what was I really?” He moved again, sitting forward in the seat. “A fling to get him out of your head.”
“What do you want me to say?” She turned back around, sitting up straight in her seat. “No, I didn’t use you back then. As for Julian, yes, I feel when he’s around, but there’s no point in me taking any steps toward him. His heart belonged, and still does, to Serina. I’ve accepted it and moved on.” She turned again, pointing her finger in his face.
“I didn’t feed from him.”
He growled at her statement. She had him there. They had once given each other the comfort they needed, but a long time ago. He no longer fed from her, just as she’d stopped feeding from him.
“I want her, Carissa.” His voice was low. “And I’ve never wanted anyone like I do her.”
She touched his arm. Dimitri looked down at her hand. It was a contact, a gesture Carissa hadn’t made towards him in two years. He looked up at her, and she smiled. He didn’t need to see her eyes right then to know she cared about the friendship they still had between them.
86
Jaden Sinclair
He kept his mouth shut, nodded, put the car back in gear, and floored it. They made it back to the house an hour before dawn. He was tired, irritable, moody, and what pissed him off the most, horny.
Dimitri knew without a doubt in his soul that he was on the edge of a sexual hunger that was about to rid him of his sanity. He’d known it the second he kissed Claudia.
Something about her triggered the need he’d pushed down and kept hidden for so long.
And it wasn’t just the need to have sex with her or protect her. The way she looked at him made him feel normal.
He wasn’t stupid either. He knew if he fed from her again, he was going to have sex with her. Once that happened, there would be a good fucking chance he would take it even further and seal a bond with his blood. It didn’t take much to seal it. When someone was on the edge of control as he was, he was pretty damn certain there would be no holding back.
But could he do that to her?
Dimitri couldn’t answer the question. He didn’t know. Yes, he was very attracted to her, but he didn’t know her. She didn’t know him. What if they bonded, then she woke up one day and didn’t want to be bonded to a Guardian any longer? The uncertainty of the future held him back. Just thinking about Claudia gave him the chills, and he didn’t have the answer when they reached the house.
“I’ll check in with Ambrose,” Carissa said, as she walked off in a different direction.
He kept walking, going straight for his room instead of Shadow’s to unload the weapons. Walking into his quarters, Dimitri was hit with a shock.
Claudia was in his room, or better yet, in his bed. She was sleeping on top of the covers, curled up in a silky robe that ended at her knees, open just enough for him to make out the top of her gown under it. Pure white, with tiny pink flowers sewn into the thin material, hugged her breasts to perfection. He wouldn’t mind seeing more of her and Guardians 2: Forgotten Soul
87
her baby doll gown. On his lamp table sat another tray of food that held very little interest for him.
Swallowing hard, he closed the door silently, slipped out of his coat, and with his eyes still fixed, he bent over to remove his boots. Unloading his weapons and undressing, he put everything on the chair and walked into the bathroom.
He stepped into a shower of cool water and hoped like hell the need surfacing too damn fast could be held back a little bit longer. He really had to talk to her before things got out of hand.
“Oh, brother, I’ve got a problem,” he groaned in his hands, the water beating on his head. “One big ass problem.”
88
Jaden Sinclair
Chapter Six
Rage walked quietly down the dark stairs to the basement of the old farmhouse he’d taken over. Renzo killed the vampires who had lived there some time ago, but Rage kept the young daughter for himself. In other words, he saved her from Renzo. Renzo, of course, would never know the real reason. Rage had need of her in more ways than one.
The house looked deserted from the outside, and he kept it that way. Everything he needed was below as it was in all vampire homes for them to be able to move around during the daylight hours—a bedroom, kitchen, bath, and one special room he turned into his personal playground. He had a couple of breeds who worked for him; men stuck in transition between being human and vampire, not qu
ite a breed yet. Rage managed to keep the breed part of their transition at bay and turned them into his slaves instead. They did what he said, when he said it, without question.
He pushed open the door at the bottom of the stairs and stepped into his living quarters. The bloodmate kept it neat and very tidy for him. He spotted her right away, fixing something in the kitchen. Rage didn’t acknowledge her. He walked through the living space back to his desk.
Sitting down, he rubbed his leg like he always did—since her! Rage took the camera out of his pocket, flipped it open, and took out the memory chip. He pushed the chip into the side of his computer and brought up the photos he’d taken, quickly flipping through them until he got to the last one. Sitting back in his chair, he stared at the woman covered from head to toes in black leather. She was the only one to ever put a mark on him.
The little bloodmate came up to him, head lowered, eyes to the floor. She offered her wrist to drink from. Rage wasn’t in the mood to feed, at least, not from her any longer.
Guardians 2: Forgotten Soul
89
He touched the point of his fangs with his tongue, thinking of another woman. Those fangs—who would have ever believed the vampire genes his mother carried would have been enough to make him a fucking half-breed. He needed the whole thing, the other half from a male vampire in order to be full blood. Unfortunately, his true father wasn’t a vampire, but a human. By the time his transition came, he had the fangs and understood clearly what kind of freak he was.
After all the years, thinking of himself as a freak, he finally came to terms with it once he met her. Coming face to face with another, he understood the role he needed to play and understood the game and new rules.
Even with the demands Renzo constantly put on him, his sole desire was the woman on the screen and those bright silver eyes. Rage had a strong desire to be with her and no one else. He wanted her blood and knew she was the only one who could still his hunger.
He would have her and somehow come to terms with the demons inside while he struggled to keep them hidden from Renzo.
Rage learned who he was just before his mother died. The man he knew as his father had treated him viciously like dirt for as long as he could remember. He never understood why, until he listened to a death bed confession from his mother. The simple words passing his mother’s lips changed his life. His father wasn’t his father. He wasn’t one of the few born of a vampire bloodmate who wasn’t a vampire. No, he was even a worse freak. His Uncle Renzo, his mother’s sister’s husband, was his father. Once Rage understood, how he’d been treated by his supposed father, all his life made sense, even why he didn’t have all the vampire genes.
He was unique, as unique as the woman he wanted. If Renzo had been a vampire, then Rage would be also, one hundred percent.
He was born Ranieri Greco. After the death of his mother, he dropped the name and became just Rage. He learned a month, after his mother’s funeral that Renzo had killed the man everyone believed to be his father. No loss as far as Rage was concerned, but 90
Jaden Sinclair
Renzo thought his secret was safe then. Rage had his own. Renzo believed Rage had no idea he was his father or that his conception had been the result of rape.
Rage had the vampire’s thirst and incisors. He kept the fangs hidden when needed by using fake teeth over his own. Those fangs were a constant reminder of what and who he was. He could remain satisfied for up to a week after he fed, sometimes longer. He had no difficulties going out in the daylight as a purebred vampire would, but he had their strength and was strong as hell. Because of his fangs, he was forced to keep his false teeth in whenever he was around Renzo or be careful not to smile. He wasn’t stupid. If Renzo found out he had any of the traits of a vampire in him, Rage would be dead man.
A glass of red liquid was placed in front of him; the bloodmate serving him her blood in a glass when he hadn’t take her wrist. Rage moved his eyes from the screen to stare at it a moment before he shifted his gaze to her. She shook in fear.
Rage grabbed her by the wrist, yanking her closer. She gasped, but didn’t struggle.
She’d cut herself, draining her blood into that glass probably with the hope he wouldn’t come for her later. Rage lived up to his name when he took her, took her because it could never be called making love.
He sighed and told her, “Maybe it’s time for us to part ways.”
“The room’s ready,” a voice said.
Rage looked up at the man, if it could be called that. He stood in a deliberate slow pace, let go of the girl, and walked to the center of the next room. Stopping there, he inspected the chains. They were strong. They would hold the strongest vampire, keeping his guest standing in the middle of the room or chained to the ceiling and floor if he so desired. He fingered a small bottle of clear liquid in his pocket. The container held a formula he’d been working on for a long time; one Renzo would love to get his hands on.
“How many?” Rage asked.
“We have ten so far, with twenty more brewing.”
Guardians 2: Forgotten Soul
91
“Perfect,” he whispered, a grin tugging at his lips. “Just perfect. Now call Renzo, tell him I want two humans here—no make that three. One can be our tester. Set the girl free too. I’m done with her.” He looked around the room again. “Get a bed in here. We want our guest to be comfortable after all.”
* * * *
Claudia woke up slowly, looked around, and groaned when she looked at the clock.
She’d been asleep for maybe an hour. She rolled off the bed, preparing to leave, when she thought she heard something and stopped to listen. Someone was taking a shower.
Biting her lower lip, she walked to the bathroom door and peeked inside. Her mouth dropped opened, and her pupils widened to take in the sight before her.
Dimitri stood in a shower stall with no door or curtain. She had a perfect view of his body. It scared the hell out of her while exciting her at the same time. She was instantly wet with need and knew what it was even though she had never experienced it before.
She desired him. She wanted him to feed off her and more.
He was a brick, one, large, solid muscular brick. His thick legs reminded her of a picture she’d once seen of a Viking. They were huge. He had a narrow waist and a well rounded rear. She had a quick vision of grabbing him there and squeezing. Washboard abs, wide chest, strong shoulders and arms, and what a handsome man he was. The mere sight of him had her trembling. His head was tipped back, water beating down on his face. The long wet locks of his hair stuck to his shoulders and neck. His Adam’s apple strained, and his mouth was open, a mouth she would never forget even though they had only shared one memorable kiss.
Dimitri’s profile appeared dark, but to her he was kind. He had a wide forehead, a straight nose, full lips, dark, sexy eyes, and narrow cheekbones. If calling a man beautiful was acceptable, Claudia would do it. He was perfect in every way. On the flipside, he scared the crap out of her.
92
Jaden Sinclair
When he turned, she got a real good view of his cock hanging between his legs. The sight of that had her mouth go dry. Being inexperienced was really a major drag. Claudia had always dreamed of the first time being with her vampire. He would come in and sweep her off her feet. Make sweet love to her all night, bond with her, and just cherish everything they had together.
The fairy tale quickly crashed into a wall as she stared at the size of Dimitri’s thing.
Man, he was big, and he wasn’t even hard. How bad would it hurt, having something like that push into her? Just the thought of it had her shivering. It had to be almost seven inches long just hanging down between his legs. So did it mean maybe nine hard? And how much bigger around? If she was guessing right, how would he fit where he was supposed to go? Claudia really wished she had more knowledge about what happened between men and women.
She didn’t hear the water turn off. Didn
’t even realize he watched her watching him until he turned full around. He gave her a perfect view of his front side, with his cock getting thicker and longer, and standing up straight right before her eyes. Claudia’s mouth went even drier, her clit started to throb, and when she forced her eyes to move up to his face, the air felt like it had been sucked right out of her lungs.
Dimitri stared back at her.
He stepped out of the shower, grabbed a towel, and dried that gorgeous body of his.
The whole time his eyes were locked with hers, never looking away. He tossed the towel aside and moved forward, toward her. Claudia took a step backward for each one he made. He didn’t try to hide his nakedness or mask the intent in his eyes.
She stopped the second the back of her knees touched the foot of the bed. Glancing behind her, Claudia was lost as to what to do or say. “I—I—I” she stuttered.
Dimitri touched her lips with his finger. “Shhh.”
Guardians 2: Forgotten Soul
93
She trembled under his touch and fisted her hands. He moved his finger down her lips to her chin and didn’t stop. Further down her throat, his finger traced her to the top swell of her breasts. Claudia breathed fast, but managed to stay still for him.
His hand stopped at her waist. She gasped when he pulled on her tie, undoing the bow that wasn’t doing a very good job holding the robe closed anyway. He pushed the material off her shoulders, and Claudia stood in front of him in her baby doll nightgown, breathing quickly and shivering. Fear or excitement, she wasn’t sure.
The back of his hand moved around one breast. She thought she was going to lose what little sanity she had left. She shook more, fidgeted, and was about to cross her arms over her breasts but stopped when he spoke, his voice was thick, low, and husky.
“You frightened?”
“Yes—no,” she rushed out.
He ran a finger up to her left strap of her gown and pulled it down over her shoulder.
Chapter One Page 9
