by Opal Carew
“I can’t remain locked up always.”
“That’s what he’s worried about.” She turned her attention to Rachael’s shoulder.
Rachael quickly pulled her hand free from Mary’s and reached up to make sure her gown covered the scar and the fresh bite marks.
She glanced over to see Michael looking at her shoulder. She should have taken acting classes. Every action she took made her feel guiltier than before. If they discovered she’d been bitten...
“What’s wrong, Rachael?” Michael asked, his tone of voice worried.
“Nothing.” She dropped her hand to the comforter.
“Does it bother you at times? I’ve heard that someone who’s been marked can sense the presence of the one who did the scarring when they’re nearby.”
She crossed her arms. “Now how would you know that, Michael Bremerton? No one we’ve even met, human or otherwise, was marked first.”
He ignored her sarcasm. “Did you feel anything about the one who came to you on the balcony?”
“I was stunned when he appeared. I distinctly remember having reached for my dagger at one point and—”
“Damn.”
She raised her brows. “I’m not a fool. I know they’re dangerous.”
“Deadly. I didn’t know you’d try to defend yourself. Father had said you didn’t react to the vampire much. Like he’d cast a spell over you.”
“You know they can’t do that to a hunter.” She smoothed out the comforter over her legs. “I want to see Adonis Cameron as a marital prospect.”
Michael blew out his breath. “That’s like asking to date the vampire on the balcony. Father won’t agree.”
She didn’t want any other hunter... only Adonis. Could she live with him, being the way he was? Could they have normal hunter children, or would they be mixed? She sighed deeply. Could even trying to have a child with him be a fatal endeavor for her or her unborn child?
She hadn’t any idea what she was getting herself into with him. And worse she couldn’t even begin to sort out the flurry of feelings she had about the whole mixed up mess from the burning desire to be with him every second of the day and night, to excessive worry and frustration that she wasn’t making the right choices.
What if her uncle could see fit to allow Adonis to marry her, could Adonis hide what he was from her family forever? But worse than any of the questions plaguing her, could she live without him?
“I want him as my mate.”
Michael’s face turned red. “Father won’t approve. This Cameron fellow has been seeing you behind his back, without the family’s approval. God knows how he’s manipulated you into wanting him.”
“He wants to join the family. He intends to prove to you what a powerful hunter he is. Having an experienced full grown male join the family is always desired. Why can’t he be given a chance?”
Michael shook his head. “Father wants you to marry Gregory.”
“It’s my choice, damn it! I get to choose. If I kill Piaras... “
She quit speaking as both Mary and Michael’s mouths dropped open.
She’d really blown it now. They probably guessed she’d want to go after Piaras, but she’d never in a millennium wanted to say it publicly to them. “I meant to say if we kill Piaras and I’m free to seek a mate, I want it to be Adonis. I won’t marry any other hunter. He has my heart and I have his.”
Mary cleared her throat. “You’ve met him once and you feel this strongly for him?”
“It’s like we’re soul mates. We’re drawn to each other. I can’t explain.”
With a disgusting look, Michael studied Rachael. “Whatever’s sifting around in that brain of yours concerning Piaras, forget it. You’re not going after him. And as for this Adonis, don’t get your hopes set too high.”
She folded her arms. He sounded like her older brother, which he wasn’t. Or a father. And he wasn’t that... either!
Michael combed his fingers through his blond hair now resting unbound over his shoulders. “If this Cameron guy had been honorable, he would have come to my father and asked his permission to see you. Instead, he must have something to hide by seeing you behind our backs.”
If that wasn’t the truth. Her cheeks grew hot, just thinking about why Adonis had to sneak around. Adonis would have been honorable, seeking the privilege to see her through her uncle’s good graces, if he had not been turned. He was a respectable hunter—with a vampiric touch of devil in him—one hell of an irresistible combination.
Michael wrinkled his brow. “Have you considered he doesn’t want to marry you at all? Maybe he’s a rogue who already has a mate he left behind on the east coast. Have you thought about that?”
“He doesn’t,” Rachael said softly.
“Then why does he sneak around to see you?”
“He didn’t sneak around to see me. Why do you have to make him sound so... so bad?”
“His behavior isn’t honorable for our kind. He should have asked Father for permission to see you.” Michael paced the floor, stopped and faced her. “How far did he go with you, Rachael?”
“What?”
“From what you told Mary and Trish, he was working on having sexual relations with you.”
Rachael’s cheeks burned as if she’d been lying on a beach in the noonday sun too long. She took a deep breath. “He kissed me.”
“Yeah, and more,” Michael said, his voice hot.
Her brows rose. What in the world had she said to Mary and Trish?
Although she and Adonis shouldn’t have been so intimate with one another when he was a vampire, she loved every blessed moment she’d spent with him. “We kissed.”
“That’s why we gave you the truth serum earlier.” Michael turned to Mary. “Tell Ned you’re sleeping with Rachael tonight.”
Mary’s lips curved up in a surgery sweet smile. “Why don’t you tell him yourself, Michael? He may not be willing to give me up for the night.”
Michael frowned at her. “Then Trish. I don’t care. Lynella. But one of the women must sleep with her tonight.”
Rachael shook her head, her stomach muscles tightening in annoyance. Lynella was like a shoe that rubbed on a blister... someone that irritated the hell out of her. No way was she sharing a bed with that witch. “Not Lynella. I’d rather sleep with Gregory.”
Mary chuckled.
Michael scowled. “Mind what you say. If he learns you feel that way, he’ll say you’ve offered your hand to him.”
Rachael’s brow furrowed in anger. “I’m not marrying Gregory. I want to wed Adonis.”
Mary swallowed hard. “You can’t say that, Rachael, unless your family approves, and you’ve been seeing him for a good long while. He’s... well, he’s made you desire him in a... “ She glanced back at Michael, who waited to hear what she had to say.
Mary turned her attention back to Rachael and frowned at her, then patted her hand. “Your uncle is right about this. And what if Michael’s right? What if Adonis does have a huntress back east that he left behind?”
“He doesn’t.”
“You’ve talked about this?”
Rachael frowned. Of course she hadn’t talked to him about it. He didn’t have anyone else. She just knew he didn’t.
When Rachael didn’t say anything in response to Mary’s question, Mary nodded. “Back east is a big place. Where exactly back east did Adonis come from?”
Rachael fidgeted with the comforter. “I don’t know.”
“Well, see? You don’t know anything about him.”
Rachael’s brows rose. “He’s a great kisser.”
Michael swore under his breath.
Rachael smiled.
***
When Adonis reappeared in his own bedroom, his clothes still tucked underneath his arm, he found Piaras sitting on the edge of his bed, dressed the same as he’d been earlier at the warehouse only now his hair was tied back. Cursing under his breath at the sight of him, Adonis scowled at the vampire he despi
sed most, sitting in his bedroom like he belonged there. The vampire’s black eyes widened when he considered Adonis’s state of nakedness. He threw his head back and laughed.
Adonis dumped all but his trousers on the floor, then jerked them on.
“Danai!” Piaras hollered to the house as she wasn’t in the room, “you could have let your brother finish his business with the woman, first.”
To be dragged away from the huntress of his dreams, then return to the vampire of his nightmares...
After belting his trousers, Adonis grabbed his shirt and thrust an arm into a sleeve. “I take it you wished to see me, and your business wouldn’t wait.” The venom dripped from his words. If he could have succeeded, he would’ve ripped Piaras heart out with his canines in an instant, right then and there.
“Sophie has offered herself to you several times and yet you still seem to prefer human females to a vampire.” His eyes narrowed as if he considered Adonis might have been with Rachael. “You remember what I told you about the huntress?”
Adonis refused to respond to his taunt.
“Just remember what I’ve said. I wouldn’t want you to fall head over heels over my huntress.”
“Her uncle is allowing hunters to pursue her now. If she makes the mistake of allowing one to get too close to her, I can’t be held accountable.”
Piaras stood. “Then you’ll have to make every effort to turn her over to me pronto, before any of them have a taste of her first.”
No one would have a “taste” of her but Adonis, as far as he was concerned. “Why do you want her so badly?”
“You’ll know the answer to that question when you bring her to me. From the sense of frustration in your voice, I’d say you hadn’t fully satisfied your interest in your lady companion. Once I tell you what I wish of you, return to her.” He raised a black brow. “As to why I sought you, Dominique has said a hunter named Michael Bremerton has a contract on her. Kill him for me.” Piaras cast him a conceited smile and vanished.
Hell, Rachael’s cousin.
As soon as Piaras was gone, Adonis stormed through the house. “Danai!”
Chapter 12
Angry beyond words, Adonis stalked to Danai’s bedroom and scowled at her as she left her room. “Damn it, Danai. You could have told me Piaras was waiting for me here.”
“I didn’t exactly have a lot of time. Not with Rachael’s family pounding down her door. So what did the bastard want this time?”
“For me to kill Rachael’s cousin, Michael.”
Danai grabbed the wall, and her knees buckled.
“What’s wrong?” He grasped her arm and led her to the living room.
“Nothing.” But for his words to mean nothing, why did her body tremble?
“He means something to you?” Adonis asked, his voice arched with incredulity. He sat her down on the couch and took a seat beside her.
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Her sharp tongue didn’t disguise her feelings toward the hunter.
He realized at once he’d sent his own sister into a den of male wolves... all eligible bachelor hunters, any of whom would be interested in a huntress for a mate. “There’s a shortage of huntresses here.”
Giving him a dirty look, she pushed her long hair behind her ears. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
He eased back into the black velvet sofa, smiling inwardly. It was the first time since they’d been turned she’d shown any interest in a man. Maybe if she felt the same way toward a hunter as he did for Rachael, Danai would understand his need to have Rachael for his own. Then maybe, she’d lighten up on him. Although he couldn’t permit any real relationship between his sister and Michael, considering what she was now. Adonis didn’t believe the hunter would overlook that fact like Rachael did with him. “You feel something for him?”
“Of course not.” She looked down at her lap and wrung her hands.
He touched her hair. “He’s interested in you.”
“As you so aptly commented, a shortage of huntresses exists here.”
Despite wanting her to understand his longings for Rachael, Adonis groaned. His sister couldn’t fall into the same cursed trap he was in with Rachael. “Great. I’d never considered that a hunter from Rachael’s family would target my own sister.”
“Thanks.”
“I don’t mean you’re not attractive or desirable enough. I just hadn’t considered it is all.” He took her cold hand and held it. “Piaras expects me to kill Michael.”
She nodded and sniffled.
He put his arm around her shoulders. “Now you see how I feel about Rachael? Longing to be with one of our own kind again?”
“They’re not our kind. Not any longer. If Michael, well, if any of them knew what we really were, they wouldn’t hesitate to kill us.”
Adonis wasn’t sure his sister was right. If one of them could care about them the way Rachael did, maybe they could convince the others to accept them for what they were. “Rachael doesn’t feel that way about us.”
Danai wiped away tears.
“She didn’t speak ill to you, did she?”
“She said she’d gladly be like a sister to me.”
Rachael’s words warmed him. He knew she was the one for him. “See?” Then his voice turned bitter. “Why did you go and tell her to give me up for that lame hunter, Gregory?”
“He wants her badly. Throughout the meal he barely ate. He watched every move she made.”
“She’s a prime candidate for a mate. He’d want her, whether he loved her or not. And hell, wasn’t that hunter who enticed Pasha’s friend here named Gregory Devine on that damned Hunters-for-Love dating site? What if this is the same Gregory that’s after Rachael? Meghan would never have gotten tangled up with Piaras and gotten herself killed if she hadn’t rendezvoused here with the bastard.”
Danai’s eyes widened a little. “I…I never thought this Gregory might be the same one. No one ever said his last name. But if he was…” She swore under her breath. “We wouldn’t have gotten into the mess we’re in now either.”
“Yeah, well if it’s the same guy, I’d like to tell him what I think of him. I bet Tobias doesn’t know what the bastard had been up to either. He entices a huntress here away from her family, gets her killed, and then plots to take another for his mate only a month later. If he’s the same one.” Adonis ran his hand over Danai’s arm while she leaned against him. He hadn’t seen her so affectionate since she’d been turned. Had Michael had that effect on her? “What about Michael? How did he act toward you?”
“He sat next to me at the meal and invited me to stay the night.”
Adonis moaned. “Great. So do you want him, too?”
She stiffened her back and tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t let her. “There you go being asinine again. We’re not hunters anymore, Adonis. When will you realize that?”
“We’re not bloodsuckers either, Danai. Not in the way the others are. Turning us didn’t change the way we were, except that we have to supplement our blood occasionally.”
“And the fangs, remember? Can you control them when you’re having a hot and heavy moment with Rachael?”
“It’s difficult, but with practice... “
Danai shook her head. “We’re damned for all eternity. We’ll never be true vampires, and we’ll never fit in hunters’ circles again. We get really pissed off, and the teeth extend. We can’t help it. No matter how much we want to fight these new instincts, cursed abilities, whatever.”
He sighed deeply. “Perseverance is the key. If you want anything badly enough, you can have it.”
“You mean Rachael?”
“Rachael has chosen me as her mate. I won’t give her up to any.” He stroked his sister’s hair. “What about you and Michael?”
“There is no Michael and me.”
“Then I can kill him.”
A sob escaped Danai’s lips. Adonis squeezed her tightly. Michael seemed to have melted the heart of ice Danai had develo
ped once Piaras had turned her. “I have no intention of killing Michael. Piaras is the one I want.”
“But if you don’t do as he orders... “
“We’ll figure something out. If Michael doesn’t leave his uncle’s house, I can’t get to him. Piaras doesn’t know I can enter the house freely. And I’m certain his minions wouldn’t go anywhere near Tobias’s estates. Or possibly, you could take Michael somewhere else, hide him away until I’ve taken Rachael to Piaras and we’ve killed him.”
“You won’t hurt Michael?”
“What do you think?”
She hugged him firmly. “But you can’t have sexual relations with Rachael. Why were you and she naked in bed together? You’re going to get yourselves killed.”
“I want her anyway I can have her. Don’t you feel something for Michael like that?”
“Adonis, you won’t return to her tonight, will you?” Her avoidance of his question made him realize she felt something more for Michael, too. He and his sister were definitely treading on thin ice in both the vampire and the hunter worlds.
“Go to bed and I’ll see you in the morning. We’ll come up with a plan for Michael.”
***
At first, Adonis stayed at home, pacing across his living room, thinking about Rachael sleeping alone, envisioning the way she felt naked beneath him, her skin like velvet, her body pliable and eager to please. But then he recalled the hasty reason for his departure…Michael’s arrival. Had Rachael gotten into any further trouble? He had to know if she was all right and hoped to hell when he returned, he wouldn’t find a hunter in her bed, waiting for him instead.
He vanished and arrived back at Rachael’s room, but when he drew nearer the bed, his blood heated to see the dark-haired figure sleeping next to Rachael. He moved closer to the person and breathed a sigh of relief. It was a woman, her small face nearly buried under a head of dark curls. He hurried to Rachael’s side of the bed.
How to wake her without startling her and consequently waking the other sleeping beauty was now the question. He brushed his lips softly against Rachael’s. She stirred, her lips curving upward. He smiled and pressed more firmly.
