The shiny piece exploded into a million little shards it hit the wall mere inches from my face. Even though I was ready to go ballistic at the thought of Raquel and Jean Paul, I realized how much I was enjoying our exchange of old. At least we weren’t destroying someone else’s home this time.
“Just tell me it’s over,” I said in what I thought was a reasonable tone.
“Do you really think I would have mated with you if I was involved with someone else?” she asked in a tone so quiet I got scared for my undead life.
“Well… I didn’t say you were sleeping with him now. I meant… like ever.”
“Your regard for my morals is sadly lacking and makes me wonder about yours,” she hissed.
“You still haven’t answered the question,” I challenged, fairly sure I should stop while I was still alive. However, my inner alpha-hole had a mind of his own and wouldn’t be denied. My damn mouth kept moving as if I was possessed by the Devil. If only I had that as my excuse.
“Get this through your thick and stupid skull before I break it in half,” she stated, incensed. “My sexual past is not your concern. You will never ask me that question again.”
“It’s a legit question,” Jean Paul commented calmly from the doorway. “I’m fine if you want to tell him the truth.”
“He doesn’t deserve the truth,” Raquel spat and pulled a short dagger from her inner thigh.
Seeing him standing so comfortably in her home was almost my undoing. I knew this impasse was my fault entirely. Goddamn it, messy was going to be a way of life for us if I made it through the next few minutes. My mate and a sharp dagger didn’t bode well for me.
“No,” I said with a decisiveness that belied how I actually felt. “Raquel is right. It’s not my business. Not now—not ever. Although if you ever even think about her like that again, I’ll kill you.”
It was the best I could do under the circumstances. I was possessive and greedy and wanted every part of Raquel to myself, but if I didn’t cave a little it would be a brutal uphill battle to build a future together. I was smart enough to know that. The last two hundred years I’d been only half-alive without her. I would not fuck it up by being jealous over something in her past. I probably had more conquests than she did anyway.
Their laughter caught me off guard. I watched with my fists balled at my sides. Jean Paul took his place on the couch beside my mate as if he belonged there. Raquel’s giggle floated across the room like music and simply infuriated me.
It dawned on me that I was being played, but for the life of me I couldn’t figure out how.
“It’s really not nice to toy with him like this,” Jean Paul told her in his fucking debonair French accent. “He will find a way to repay you.”
“Ugggghhhh,” Raquel grunted as she watched me warily. “I don’t like his tone or his insinuations.”
“Hmmm…” Jean Paul stroked his chin and feigned deep thought.
I seriously wanted to rip his head off.
“His tone is that of a newly mated Vampyre,” he assured Raquel. “And I would surmise if the tables were turned, you would have been a Hell of a lot more unpleasant.”
“That’s not true,” she snapped and punched his arm. “Take that back right now.”
His laughter and way with her held a familiar ring to it. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but my fists slowly unclenched.
“Raquel, the poor man is suffering and so close to removing my head I’m getting a bit nervous. If you don’t tell him, I will.”
“Fine,” she groused. “I’ll tell him. But Heathcliff, you’ve lost your panty privileges for a month.”
“That’s just mean,” Jean Paul muttered under his breath.
I couldn’t have agreed more.
“There is no way Jean Paul would have revealed my secret to Vlad or anyone else,” Raquel started and then paused to make my Hell last a bit longer.
“Raquel,” Jean Paul prodded her on with an eye roll. “Put the poor man out of his misery.”
She huffed and placed a kiss on Jean Paul’s head. The very same head I was going to remove in five seconds if someone didn’t enlighten me.
“I raised him basically from birth and turned him when he came of age,” she told me, staring me down and daring me to say something.
“Holy Hell, Raquel. You are so mean,” Jean Paul coughed out on a laugh.
“Well, it’s true,” she shot back gleefully.
“Yes, but...” he said hesitantly.
“Wait. That sounds a little, ummm…” I stuttered.
“Sounds a little what?” she demanded as she crossed her arms over her chest and waited.
Goddamn it, if her position didn’t give me a better shot of her cleavage. I closed my eyes and willed my dick to stay calm.
“Ummm… weird?” I said unable to come up with something eloquent or literal that wouldn’t end my life.
“Well, it would be weird, gross, disgusting and fucking illegal if I’d slept with him,” she shouted. “But I have never and will never have sex with Jean Paul.”
“Illegal?” I asked.
It was the only word, other than the phrase sex with Jean Paul, that jumped out at me. I mean, I knew I was younger than her, but how young did she like them before me?
“Do not tell me what you are thinking,” she said in a voice that could give one nightmares. “And I have slept with him—many times over the years, but not the way you and your pea sized brain think.”
“Raquel, I am so close to being beheaded by your mate, that I’m putting the poor bastard out of his pain. I’m her brother,” Jean Paul volunteered with a grin.
The tension in my body left and shame took its place. “Explain,” I ordered. This was certainly a mortifying lesson about trust… and what a pig I could be.
“Although you don’t deserve it, I will,” Raquel said as she stared angrily at me, her eyes narrowed dangerously.
“Fine point, well made,” I agreed.
She paused in surprise and took me in. It was rare for a Vampyre to be humble, but I was being an untrusting ass to the one woman I would die for. I was going to need a few lessons.
“After royal polygamy was abolished, my mother left my father and married a human man. She gave birth to Jean Paul shortly after I’d chosen to be turned. My mother and Jean Paul’s father both died in a plague when he was still a baby… so I took him in.”
“She raised me and spoiled me rotten.” Jean Paul reminisced fondly. “When I became of age, she gave me the choice to live out my life as a human or become a Vampyre and spend eternity with her making my life a living Hell. I chose the later because I love her. Completely. She is my blood and I will die for her,” Jean Paul vowed.
I now felt lower than a slug.
“So yes, I have slept in the same bed with my sister. When I was a child, I was terrified of the dark. Raquel, who by the way is tone deaf, would cuddle me and sing to me for hours. The agony of listening to her massacre tunes kept the imaginary monsters away,” he announced with a chuckle and a wicked glint in his eye.
“Now that’s just rude,” she admonished him as she blushed in embarrassment.
“Does the King know?” I asked as I tentatively approached Raquel and Jean Paul. I wasn’t sure if I was welcome yet—or ever.
“Of course he does. My father loves Jean Paul like a son,” she stated. “Jean Paul is the one who likes it to be kept a secret. If our enemies knew he was my brother, they would try and use him as collateral against me.”
“So brother-in-law, there you have it,” Jean Paul said as he stood and put his hand out to me.
I took it in mine and lowered my head in respect. “I’m sorry.”
“If you hadn’t been such a dick, I wouldn’t have made you suffer like that,” Raquel said still keeping her distance. “I was excited to tell you about Jean Paul. He lives here in my home with me.”
“I am her brother. However, very soon you will come to realize she treats me like a child,
” Jean Paul added with a chuckle.
Raquel’s eye roll and snort pulled a small smile from my lips. God, my jealously had certainly fucked up this little family get together.
I now recognized what I couldn’t put my finger on. Their relationship was similar to mine and my sister Cathy’s. His cockiness with me in Kentucky and his anger at my mule headed ways where Raquel was concerned now made perfect sense. Also now that I knew, I could see the resemblance.
“Again, I’m sorry. It seems I have little self-control when Raquel is part of the equation,” I apologized once more to Jean Paul.
“Well, chasing a stubborn gal for several hundred years would no doubt do that to a man,” he added letting me off the hook with a lopsided grin. “I overheard that the King and Pam are coming. I’ll get things ready.”
“How did you hear that?” I asked, positive we hadn’t spoken of it since we’d been back.
“I was at the Summit of course,” he replied with a satisfied smirk. “I’m never far from my sister.”
“That’s slightly disconcerting,” I muttered thinking about some of the more pornographic interludes she and I had shared.
Jean Paul’s belly laugh brought a smile to Raquel’s face and my own wasn’t far behind.
“Dear God.” He groaned and shuddered. “No worries, my friend. Only in public venues do I track my sister.”
“He can morph,” Raquel informed me with pride.
“He can what?” I asked, confused.
“My baby brother can take the human forms of others and walk undetected among us. Of course I know it’s him, but I’m quite sure you wouldn’t be able to tell,” she bragged.
This was new to me. I was aware Demons could take other forms. I’d seen Satan do it myself, but a Vampyre? I stared at Jean Paul with a new respect.
“I beg to differ,” I challenged with an offended raised brow. “I’ll be able to tell. Morph into your sister. I will tell you who is who.”
I turned my back and waited. Raquel’s giggle of delight made me hopeful that the panty privileges threat had been a bad joke.
“If I’m right, you will remove the ban on me getting into your panties,” I informed her with my back still turned.
“And if you lose, you are going to get very friendly with your hand for the next two months,” she pronounced grandly.
Shit. I was going to get this correct. I had to get this correct.
I heard some shuffling around and some laughing. My gut tightened. Me and my big mouth could potentially land me in whack-off Hell.
“Are you ready?” I inquired. If I was capable of sweating, I’d be in a pool of water at the moment. My pride and my sex life were on the line.
“Yes,” two identical voices answered in unison.
Again. Shit.
Slowly I turned around and stared at them. The resemblance was uncanny and alarming. They were completely identical—almost. My grin of relief came with an audible grunt of satisfaction. I pointed at the real Raquel. Not even for a moment did I not know who she was. I’d recognize her till the end of time.
“How did you know?” she squealed in disbelief. “You didn’t even have to think about it.”
“He knew because you’ve shared blood,” Jean Paul said as he took back his own form.
It was stunning in its simplicity. In the blink of an eye he was a different person—no fan fare or magical glitter. Truly a chameleon.
Amazing.
“Plus, my guess is that Heathcliff would know you anywhere, my sister,” Jean Paul added as he strode across the room to make his exit.
“You knew he would guess correctly?” she asked her brother incredulously.
“Yep,” he said as he picked up his pace to leave.
“You threw me under the bus,” she accused with a laugh.
“This is true, but I felt sorry for the poor sap after the fun we’ve had with him. Giving him back his panty privileges was the very least I could do,” he called over his shoulder as he sprinted the rest of the way out of the room and down the hall.
“I like your brother.”
“You would,” she said as she eyed me warily.
I circled her like a lion stalks its prey. She stood her ground and watched me with undisguised interest.
“We have a half an hour before your father and Pam arrive. I won the bet. Hand over your panties,” I instructed.
“I can’t,” she replied with a smirk and a shrug.
“Welching on a bet, Red?”
“No, Heathcliff. I’m not wearing any panties. Therefore, it stands to reason I can’t give them to you.”
Faster than a human eye could follow, I pinned her body to the couch with my own. Her sexy ass was pressed against the very hard evidence of my desire for her. I was in the gateway of Heaven. Now it was time to cross the threshold.
“I’m afraid I’m going to have to pat you down to verify the veracity of your statement, ma’am,” I whispered in her ear as I tamped back the need to tear her dress from her body.
“Is that legal, officer?” Raquel giggled and let her head fall back on my chest giving me better access to her slender neck.
“Absolutely not. However, I enjoy living dangerously.”
“This is inappropriate behavior. I have a very jealous mate who will happily tear you from limb to limb for even looking at me,” she informed me trying not to laugh.
“He sounds like a brilliant man. However, he’s not here and I plan take what I want,” I told her as I slid my hands purposely down her body.
Her nipples pebbled beneath my palms and her soft moan was music to my ears. “Raise your hands and put them behind your head,” I instructed gruffly.
“Is this normal police procedure?” she inquired as she slowly raised her arms and seductively placed them behind her head.
“Yes. Yes it is,” I told her as my fingers skimmed her flat stomach and toyed with the hem of her dress.
The material was silky, but nowhere near as soft as her skin. Raquel’s low hiss of desire made all thoughts of the game disappear. I was not a policeman, I was a deadly Vampyre who had just mated with the love of my life and being inside her was my only mission—or to put it more accurately, my obsession.
“We don’t have much time,” she insisted as she helped me along by raising her dress up over her hips, proving without a doubt that she was definitely panty-less.
“Holy Hell,” I muttered harshly as I took the perfect round globes of her ass in my greedy hands and squeezed.
My right hand snaked around to the front of her body and I pressed my fingers into her tight wetness. So fucking hot. So fucking beautiful.
“I’d like to make love to you after I’ve made you come at least four times,” I ground out through clenched teeth as I tried to rein in my inner caveman.
“I already came once while you were talking,” she said frantically.
She rocked against my hand with wild abandon and I made sure to send her over the edge once more. Her muffled scream against the pillows was so damn hot I almost came myself.
“We don’t have that much time. Are you willing to take a rain check on the other two pre-sex orgasms?” I was desperate to be inside her.
“Are you willing to fuck me over the couch until I can’t see straight?” Raquel challenged as she yanked her dress over her head.
“I can make that happen,” I told her as I undid my belt and jerked my pants down in a shaky movement.
At the moment I was lucky I could do anything seeing as all the blood from my brain had traveled to my dick. She was so goddamned gorgeous and so goddamned mine. Raquel leaned over the arm of the couch, turned her head over her shoulder and gave me a smile that went straight to my balls. Her wild red curls framed her face and her eyes sparkled green with desire.
All bets were off as far as controlling myself. Taking her hips in my hands, I spread her legs apart as far as they would go with my knee. The need to make her mine made coherent thought and polite behavio
r impossible.
Taking myself in hand, I put my dick right where we both wanted it to be and I plunged in so fast and deep I was certain I would pass out. Her cries of ecstasy matched my own. I sheathed myself completely and stilled.
Time held its breath and the feeling of being merged together into one entity stole my voice. It was magical. It was perfection. It was how we were meant to be.
“I love you,” she whispered and reached back to grab my hand.
She was so delicate, yet the strongest, most deadly and brilliant woman I knew. Maybe I was still getting used to the fact that it was no longer a chase. The pursuit was over and I had finally won… we had won.
Fashionably Hotter Than Hell: Book Six, The Hot Damned Series Page 17
