by Opal Carew
Car doors slammed in the circular drive down below and Rachael and Danai hurried to the window. “Uncle Tobias and my cousins,” Rachael said under her breath.
“Do as I say, Rachael. Marry that hunter, Gregory, who wishes to have you as a mate.”
“I don’t love him.”
“You can’t love my brother. Nor can he ever truly love you.” She didn’t say another word before she vanished.
Rachael stared at the place Danai had been as if the woman would magically reappear there any second now, but a knocking on her door made her gasp.
“Rachael?” Michael called out. He spoke to someone else in the hallway outside her room, “I know you said she was in her room, but you should have made sure.”
Rachael touched the tear in her blouse where the vampire had sunk her teeth and the wad of tissue that had stopped the bleeding. She jerked the bloody tissue off and threw it into the wastepaper basked. Thankfully, the bleeding had stopped sufficiently. Then she yanked her shirt off and shoved it under her pillow. “Just a moment.” She pulled off one boot, then the other. Both clunked on the floor to her annoyance.
“Rachael?” Michael’s voice was hot. The doorknob twisted.
She tugged off her jeans and dashed across the floor to get her bag. Her skin tingled as she pulled the zipper open. She was certain everyone all the way downstairs heard every blasted noise she made and knew just what she was up to.
“Rachael!”
“I’m getting changed, Michael. Hold your horses.”
She slipped a nightgown over her head and swore under her breath. She’d forgotten a robe. And how would she explain her swollen lip?
The doorknob rattled. “Rachael, unlock this damned door!”
She strode across the floor and opened the door. “I forgot my... “ Gregory stood slightly behind Michael, and Rachael ducked behind the door. “I forgot my robe at the apartment.”
“Where’s Danai?”
So that’s who he really wished to see. She should have known. But he couldn’t fall in love with the vampire. She couldn’t allow it. “She went home.”
“Her car was here when we arrived.”
“She slipped out the back way.” She swallowed hard. She’d never had to lie so much in her life, and she hated every bit of it. “She was afraid... well, she’s just afraid of men right now. And I’m not properly dressed so let me return to bed.”
“You were getting changed.”
“I hadn’t changed when I laid down the first time. But I was halfway undressed when you began pounding on the door like a crazed gorilla. It’s way past time for bed. I’ll see you in the morning for breakfast.”
His eyes finally focused on her lips, then his gaze jerked up to hers. “What happened to you?”
“For heaven’s sake, Michael. When you pounded so violently on the door, I bit my lip.”
He hesitated as if he didn’t believe her, then he glanced at Gregory. “He wants to say goodnight.”
“I’m not dressed.”
Michael shrugged, then headed down the hall.
Gregory smiled. She frowned back. “My uncle would not approve of you being with me in my bedroom while I’m wearing a nightgown.”
“I’m standing in the hall still, and I can’t see the gown you’re wearing because you’re hiding behind the door. But I want to give you a goodnight kiss.”
He leaned over to kiss her, and annoyed that he was so presumptive after she’d made it perfectly clear she wasn’t interested in him in anyway whatsoever, she shut the door in his face. A fist slammed into the door. She jumped back, not anticipating his flare of temper.
Instantaneously, a man chuckled behind her.
Her heart in her throat, she whipped around.
Adonis gave her a small smile. “That’s telling him,” he whispered.
“You shouldn’t be here either.” She spoke softly, but firmly and locked her door, then headed for bed.
He grabbed her wrist, pulled her against his chest and wrapped his arms around her. “I’ve wanted to do this forever.” He nuzzled his face against her neck, then stopped. Touching the area near her scar with a gentle caress, he whispered against her ear with a concerned voice, “Julia punctured the skin?”
Rachael motioned to a clock-radio. They walked over to the bedside table, and she turned the music on low to hide their whispered conversation.
“She did, but it should heal pretty quickly.” Rachael touched the bite marks and hoped so anyway. “Luckily, something made her stop and withdraw. She was distracted enough, I was finally able to strike her in the heart.”
“She could sense Piaras’s mark on your skin with her teeth. Undoubtedly, she realized you were Rachael. That’s why she stopped.” He tightened his grip on Rachael. “If she hadn’t and she’d killed you, he would have terminated her. We’re just lucky she didn’t broadcast your presence, or he would have known you were in the warehouse.”
“He pursued me, let me know he knew you helped me get away, although with the darkened windows, I don’t think he knew exactly who I was.”
Adonis cursed under his breath. “That’s why I couldn’t locate him in the warehouse at first when I returned. He seemed to suspect…sure, he’d seen my vehicle, then you drove off in it. He believes I helped a hunter escape. There will be hell to pay for it later.”
A frigid chill centered in her spine. Rachael rested her head on Adonis’s chest and wrapped her arms around his firm body. “What will happen now?”
He ran his hands down her back over the silky nightgown, slowly, methodically, tenderly, heating her whole body. Why could she give herself to Adonis so freely, while shunning a real hunter like Gregory? Was it because Adonis took what he wanted and didn’t wait for an invitation?
“Piaras needs me to get to you. So for now, he’ll tolerate my disloyalty.”
“What if he’d thought you’d killed the vampires?” She took a ragged breath, the realization he’d been so close to dying at the hands of Piaras a reality. “I’d never considered that he might suspect you.”
“He doesn’t think I can kill a vampire.”
“Oh?”
“He tested me. Had two threaten me, but I never attacked back. He believes he’s sufficiently cured me of killing vampires. And to foster this impression, I haven’t killed one since I was turned.”
She barely breathed. What if he couldn’t kill a vampire? What if she was all alone in this? Even if she could possibly terminate Piaras through some vast stroke of luck, she couldn’t possibly fight all the others who would protect their master. “Can you kill one, do you think?”
“They end each other’s lives from time to time. I don’t see that I wouldn’t be able to. But for now, I’m cautious.”
“Then you could terminate them as a hunter would again?” Her hopes that he could... well, that he could be a hunter with her family...
He kissed the top of her head, his strong, nimble fingers still working the tension out of her back. He was a master masseur, and she’d have paid him her yearly earnings to have him work his magic on more than just her back.
She looked up when he didn’t answer. His expression had turned contemplative. “Couldn’t you?”
“I don’t know, but tomorrow night when your family goes on a hunt, I’m going to beat them to it. Prove to them I should be part of the family. So I guess then, we’ll know for certain.”
“But if Piaras hears you’ve turned on your own kind... “
“They’re not my own kind, Rachael. You are.” His voice was touched with irritation. His sentiments indicated he wanted to be a hunter with all his heart. Why couldn’t he be one again, then?
She was certain he could with the way his hunter genes seemed to control him more than his vampire ways.
“Why didn’t you let me kill Piaras at the warehouse?” Was it that he worried she wasn’t ready yet to tackle the deadliest vampire of all?
He shook his head and held her tight against his chest.
“You’d never have gotten close enough. Not with a weapon in your hand. When I take you to him at his estates, he’ll ensure you’re unarmed. I’ll have to slip a weapon to you afterward.”
“Your sister says I shouldn’t go after Piaras.”
He took a deep breath. “She knows we have no choice. What else did she say?”
Rachael reached up and pulled his hair loose from the leather tie that bound it. “I shouldn’t want you. That I should marry Gregory.”
“You mean, the man you just gave a nose job to?”
She chuckled and combed her fingers through Adonis’s dark brown hair, highlighted by the sun. She was quickly making an enemy of Gregory, her most avid suitor. “It’s a good thing the doors are solid oak or his fist would have gone right through it.”
“You can’t marry a man as violent as that.”
“So... you don’t give me permission.”
His fingers shifted lower on her back, to the tip of her tailbone. He pressed her against his groin. Was he advertising how much she turned him on? If Gregory had done such a thing, she immediately would have pulled away. But with Adonis, she wanted him to show her more... much more.
His hands slipped further down her backside as he leaned over. He cupped her cheeks in both hands, then squeezed. “I’ve told you already, Rachael Bremerton, you’re mine. No other hunter can have you.”
“My uncle doesn’t even know what you really are, and he already says I can’t see you ever again.”
“I can’t see you alone like this?” His hands swept down her body in light, teasing caresses, the heat from his fingers making her whole body tingle with need.
She knew she shouldn’t encourage him, wearing a filmy gown, nearly naked in his arms. What was there about him that made her behave so illogically? No hunter could have ever come this far with her, not without her permission. And here Adonis wasn’t even a hunter... not any longer.
She pulled his shirt out of his pants and slipped her hands around his back, tracing her fingers over his toned muscles.
“Can I do the same with you?”
“Absolutely not. You still have your pants on. If you pull up my nightgown... “
He chuckled, deeply seductive. And without another minute’s hesitation, he swept her up into his arms as if he were crossing the threshold on their wedding night and carried her to the bed. She wanted him, whether it was prudent or not. He’d kept her safe from Piaras when he could have easily turned her over to him and freed his family. He’d taken her on her first hunt, when her own family would never have allowed her to go, trusting she could do this.
She was willing, eager even to take their relationship all the way. Adonis’s heated gaze slid her down to her nightgown skimming her ankles. But when his gaze returned to hers, he seemed hesitant. She raised her brows and offered her hand.
“Join me,” she whispered.
Chapter 11
If Adonis joined Rachael in her bed, would the bloodlust take over as it had when she first had him under her spell? He ground his teeth as if doing so would keep them at bay.
When he didn’t readily accept her invitation, she pulled the comforter back and climbed in between the sheets. Her blue eyes sparkled, anxious, watching to see what he would do next.
He turned off the lamplight. In the dark, he could still see her watching for him, wondering if he’d join her. He closed his eyes. His conscience told him he needed to keep them both safe. He had to return home and leave her be. For now.
But his heart or maybe his other head won the battle, and within seconds, he’d stripped off his shoes and trousers, then slipped between the sheets with her, forcing her to move over.
“Does your mouth hurt?” he whispered.
“No. You can kiss it and make it feel better.”
His body pressed against hers, molding to all her curves, and his mouth captured her lips in a blistering kiss. She slid her hands down his back, warming his insides, but she stilled her touch when she reached his naked butt.
He gave her a smug smile. “The only way I sleep.” And then he nuzzled her cheek and was rewarded with a kiss to his lips.
He avoided her shoulder, the drops of dried blood that Julia left behind when she bit into Rachael’s shoulder, calling to him to lick them away. But tasting her blood would be too much of a temptation. He wasn’t sure he could control the bloodlust then. Even now, his teeth itched to extend while he breathed in her heavenly scent, touched her soft skin, and felt her warm body move sensually against his while he kissed her mouth.
Reaching down, he lifted her gown over her head and tossed it to the floor. Her nipples were already peaked to perfection, and he leaned down and kissed each. Her fingers gripped his shoulders, holding on as if for dear life.
He took a ragged breath, trying to restrain his overwhelming need to take her sexually as a hunter would, and make her his own forever by turning her as a vampire would. Her own breathing grew as rapid as his, and her skin moistened with perspiration as he continued to work his body against hers. It would have been so easy to slide inside her hot, wet folds. And part of him wanted to with a fever that couldn’t be quenched. Yet part of him wanted to do the honorable thing and have her uncle’s approval first. But she was Adonis’s, and no one would decide this for them. Only Rachael’s desires would he consider.
He nudged her legs apart with his knee. And she spread her legs, offering herself to him without reservation, a hunter turned.
Wishing he had greater strength in wanting the best for her, he groaned and touched her breast, working the nipple between his fingers. “I want you so badly, Rachael. I’ve never wanted anyone this intensely.”
“The feeling is mutual.” She tenderly stroked his back.
“You don’t know how frustrating it is for me to see some docile hunter like Gregory try to stake claims to my mate.” He licked her nipple and sucked on the tip.
Her voice was ragged as she said, “He doesn’t know I’ve been claimed.”
“I’ve already told him so once. When I advised him to leave your apartment, he knew he’d lost the game. You’ve chosen me, no other. Your actions whenever you’re with me reveal this to me, and to anyone else who’s seen you with me.”
He nuzzled his cheek against her soft neck. “Your cousin Zachary knows it, too. And those who saw us on the balcony together have a pretty good idea. The only thing is they haven’t put the two people together. If they do, they’ll know they can’t ever keep us apart.”
She touched Adonis’s cheek. “Gregory said my uncle would never allow me to marry an out-of-stater.” She frowned. “What am I saying?” She took a deep breath. “He wouldn’t allow me to marry a... a—”
“I won’t let anyone else have you.” He couldn’t make love to her. Not yet. The hunter side of him demanded he attempt to get her uncle to accept him first. Still, he snuggled against her, his erection pressing against her mound as his legs slipped between hers, but he wouldn’t join her, just yet, and instead wrapped his arms securely around her. “You’re mine, Rachael, for as long as we both shall live.”
When he didn’t make a move to take her, she opened her mouth to speak.
A slight rustle in the bedroom made him turn. Instantly, his shirt flew into his face. He cursed under his breath.
“Adonis Cameron, what do you think you’re doing?” Danai scolded, her voice hushed but angry, her fisted hands resting on her hips. “I’ve waited half an hour for you to return home. And here’s where I find you? Charming the clothes off the huntress?”
He could have strangled her for the intrusion. Trying to control his temper and keep his voice low, he whispered in anger, “Return home at once, Danai, before you rouse the whole house.”
She folded her arms. “To get you to leave her alone, you’d better believe I will.”
A soft knocking on Rachael’s door followed. “Rachael? Rachael, honey, are you all right in there?” Mary called from the hallway.
Adonis jumped out o
f bed and grabbed his clothes off the floor. Danai pulled at his arm. “Come on, Adonis,” she whispered.
“Rachael?” Mary called out louder this time.
“Just a minute!” Rachael peered into the darkness. “Adonis, can you toss my nightgown to me?” she whispered.
Footsteps headed toward the room. Heavier ones belonging to a man.
“What’s the matter?” Michael asked Mary.
“I thought I heard voices in there. Rachael’s got her music on, but I could have sworn I heard talking.”
A pounding on the door followed. “Rachael, open up,” Michael demanded.
Frowning, Adonis leaned down and kissed Rachael’s lips. “I’ll be back.” He handed her gown to her, then vanished.
Her heart racing, Rachael slipped the gown over her head, then climbed out of bed. She hoped the hell neither Michael or Mary would see how flustered she was.
She took a deep breath and tried to calm her raw nerves—tried to appear as though she’d hadn’t just being laying naked with a vampire—and yanked the door open. “What now?”
Michael stormed into the room and shoved the light switch on, then checked the window.
Mary led her back to bed. “You don’t have a robe?”
“I forgot it at home.”
“I thought I heard you speaking to someone. I was concerned.”
Rachael pulled the covers to her chin and glared at Michael who turned his attention to her. Facing Mary, she smiled. “I was talking to myself.”
“When I talk to myself, it’s usually because I’m riled over something Ned has said or done. Were you upset about something?”
“Of course. I’m still furious about the way my uncle and the others treated me earlier. Why wouldn’t I be mad?” She hated lying, but in her heart, she couldn’t betray Adonis and his sister.
Mary took her hand. “Your uncle’s really worried about you. He says Piaras won’t quit until he gets you. Uncle Tobias told Ned and the other men he’s certain he’ll succeed, too, if we’re not ultra-careful about making sure he has no way to reach you.”
