Blood Bound

by V. J. Devereaux

  Pleasure poured through her. She moaned. Nico’s expert fingers sent her over the edge, making her cry out around Julian’s thrusting cock.

  His cock swelled in her mouth in response to her moan, pulsed. With a deep groan he erupted, his hot cum gushing down her throat and she swallowed frantically, taking him as Nico hammered into her pussy. With a shout, Nico filled her with his cum as well, spurting into her, his hips jerking against her as his cock emptied.

  With an effort even she could see, Julian hauled her up into his arms, his body still shuddering. Nico braced himself before lifting her legs and sliding onto the couch to join them.

  For a moment, none of them could speak.

  Julian chuckled. “So, I take it you’ll be staying?”

  Clearing her throat again, she said, reasonably, “I’m willing to give it a try if you are.”

  “Oh,” Julian said, lifting an eyebrow. “I think we’re more than satisfied with the arrangement.”

  He looked at Nico, who grinned.

  “Most definitely.”

  Chapter Seven

  “Well,” Sasha said, as he settled at his desk to check in before they went out to follow up on a few cases, “you look relaxed.”

  Thinking about her ‘weekend’, the two days her schedule left free, to her astonishment Rafi found herself blushing like a teenager as she tried to restrain a grin.

  It had been the weekend they’d decided that she would move in with Julian and Nico.

  As usual, Julian had taken care of everything. People were sent to her apartment to pack it up and clean it. Even as someone saddled up the horses Gordon and the staff were rearranging the furniture and unpacking for her.

  To celebrate they’d finally taken that tour of Julian and Nico’s property, Julian explaining how to tell the difference between one type of grapevine from another by the leaves, and somehow making it interesting. As with everything with Julian, the property was large, large enough for a good-sized lake for irrigation and water. The lake was hidden within woods. For every acre Julian had under vine, he had another he was restoring to original habitat.

  They’d taken bottles of champagne with them and a picnic basket. One of the bottles had been allowed to fountain over her naked body, the sparkling golden liquid cold and tingling on her skin. Then Julian and Nico had licked up every drop of it. They’d had fun at the lake. And just about everywhere else. She was insatiable when they were around, which was just as well, as they were the same around her.

  Sasha sat back, grinning madly. “I’m guessing it went well.”

  “Something like that,” Rafi said, laughing, lowering her head to her desk to try to hide her flaming face. She was still a little sore, and not just from horseback riding.

  Truth was, it was going very well.

  “Enjoyed yourself, did you?” Sasha teased, snickering.

  “Oh, stop Sash,” Rafi said, “I’ll tell you all the details in the later.”

  The Captain’s door opened. “People.”

  Heads swiveled to look.

  “Got a heads up for all of you. We’ve got word on the street that something’s up in respect to the paranormal community, particularly the vampires,” he said, his gaze meeting each of theirs, making sure everyone was paying attention. “Another one of those religious things. It’s just a whisper, so check it out with your sources and contacts if you get a chance, see what you hear. We need to confirm this and shut it down before it starts to spread.”

  Heads nodded with varying degrees of commitment.

  Rafi frowned.

  Something nagged at her, something Julian had said in passing, not once, but twice, that first night. Something about rumors of vampire hunters. These days there were always paranormal hunters of some kind around. The ‘acceptance’ of paranormals had brought out the worst among some of the more radical religious groups. There were groups that hated werewolves, but that was nothing compared to the hatred some held for vampires. It was a constant battle to root out the worst of the groups or keep them tamped down.

  Still, her cop instincts stirred and Julian wasn’t the type to worry over nothing.

  Even distracted by the report he was writing, Sasha’s head went up and his nostrils flared a little as he scented her concern.

  “What’s up?” Sasha asked, frowning, as he looked at her.

  She took a breath, chewing on her lip and shook her head. “I don’t know, something Julian said. Something about vampire hunters.”

  Rafi didn’t know where Julian stood in the vampire community but his wealth was a good indication of where he stood in the world at large. He was intelligent and a predator, like Sasha. Like herself for that matter. Was there a chance his instincts were trying to warn him about something?

  Eyebrows lifting, Sasha’s eyes turned a little more gold than brown and his gaze intensified.

  Like many in the paranormal community, he tended to take it a little more personally when there was a threat to any of them. Almost everyone knew someone, relative, friend, acquaintance, who’d suffered at the hands of bigots. Rafi couldn’t blame him given the department’s own prohibition against his kind. It was hardly fair since they were as likely to face a werewolf or some other shapeshifter at some time.

  “Hold on a sec,” he said, his look enigmatic, and picked up the phone. “Hey, Sid, it’s Sasha. Could you come up here? My partner and I need some information.”

  Rafi scrolled through some of the department’s files. It was amazing, and saddening, to realize how much hate was out there.

  The cop that came through the door was old school, tough, capable, tall and rangy, his seamed face the color of aged walnut, his close-cut hair silvered. The instant she saw him she thought of a timber wolf, a lobo, and she always had. She knew him by sight but had never met him. Sid Barnes was a legend in the department. Now, for the first time, she wondered if that initial impression had been correct. Suddenly a lot of things made sense.

  “Sasha,” he said, and then a pair of laser bright blue eyes turned to her, studied her.

  With a gesture, Sasha said, “Rafi, Sid Barnes.”

  Those ancient eyes regarded her evenly and then Barnes extended a hand to her. “Pleasure.”

  She took it, shook it, the grasp firm but not too hard, the strength in it hidden.

  “Thanks for coming up,” she said, and gestured at her computer screen. “What can you tell me about hunters?’

  He leveled a look at her.

  “Not all of them are nut-cases, first of all,” he said, pulling up a chair and settling into it, stretching his long legs out in front of him. “That’s the scary part. Some are, of course. Some are just good ole boys who once upon a time would have done the same to people of color or gays but now claim paranormals are ‘animals’ not human, just clever imitations, giving them the right to hunt.”

  His vivid eyes glowed with suppressed anger.

  “Most of them aren’t really dangerous to a mature paranormal of any kind. Even a normal human can practically smell that kind coming, they reek of excitement, of the adrenaline rush. Only newly made vampires or werewolves, mostly young, mostly young males, are in any kind of danger from that type. They like the rush, too, flirting with danger. With their increased sense of sight and smell, their increased strength, they’re only in danger from their own carelessness. Born paranormals grow up with it.”

  Linking his fingers over his lean abdomen, his gaze darkened and he shrugged.

  “The lifestyles of many paranormals go against what many consider ‘family values’, despite the fact that once most werewolves mate they mate for life as real wolves do, not taking another mate unless they lose the one they had. The same is true of many of the weres.”

  A stillness settled over him, old grief moved in his eyes, but his expression didn’t change.

  “Still, until they do, young werewolves are as randy as any other creatures, including humans. To those who consider paranormals just larger and smarter animals, th
at offends all kinds of sensibilities.”

  He paused.

  “Vampires are another matter entirely. Like demons, they bring out fanatics of all kinds since some folks consider both the personification of evil. Then there are the others, the smart ones. The ‘true believers’ I call them. Some of those are quite serious, and very dangerous.”

  He looked at her. “So, word getting around?”

  “Yeah, Captain told us,” Sasha said.

  “And this one, which do they fall into.”

  Barnes’s jaw tightened, he shrugged. “What I’m hearing, little unsettled whispers, makes me think is one of that last group. When even some hard-core born-agains get nervous about what these folks are saying, I get nervous, too. I’m rattling a few cages.”

  Looking at Sasha, then at Barnes, she said, “We’ve got some witness follow-ups to do. We’ll do them and maybe we’ll rattle a few cages of our own.”

  “Could use the help,” Barnes said. “Any help I can get.”

  “Sasha?” she said.

  Her partner nodded. Grabbing his helmet, he followed her out to the parking lot as she pulled on her jacket.

  Her own helmet was secured to her motorcycle.

  With a smile, she ran her hand over the sleek black machine. The Beamer was no cruising bike but a sport utility that ran on both street and dirt. It was state of the art engineering and could leave most other more popular bikes in the dust. So much so that Sasha had gone out and bought one like it.

  “We have a stop to make later,” Rafi said, as she secured her helmet.

  Work first, as much as it tugged at her. Just the thought of Julian sent a rush through her. They had witnesses to question.

  “Julian?” Sasha said, settling onto his bike, then teased. “Can’t get enough of him?”

  Her grin belied her growing uneasiness as she got on her bike. “Nope. The man has mad talents.”

  “TMI, partner. Waaaay too much information.”

  “You asked,” she said, grinning.

  Side by side, they swung out into traffic, both motorcycles nearly silent in comparison to their noisier cousins, which was another advantage. Especially with paranormals whose expanded senses would hear most other bikes at a pretty good distance.

  This wasn’t something she wanted to talk about with Julian over the phone, not knowing who might be in his office with him.

  As usual, the questioning took longer than usual, but it had to be done. They needed to lock down those cases, make certain they were solid. In at least one case, she wasn’t sure.

  Julian’s office was in one of the big downtown glass, steel and concrete office towers that took up a whole city block.

  Somehow, though, it had never quite registered with her just what the office number meant. Their badges got them past the doorman and the desk.

  The man at the desk eyed her in her open motorcycle jacket, biking pants and steel-toed department-issued dress shoes. He clearly didn’t approve. She just waved her badge at him as she went past on the way to the elevators. Sasha just grinned.

  A lot of eyes were on them as they walked across a broad expanse of marble flooring to the elevators.

  Rafi looked at the buttons and took a breath as she realized exactly what floor Julian’s office was on.

  The doors opened on the penthouse suite, to wide glass doors with JL Investments etched into them and thick gray carpet beneath their feet.

  Well.

  Apparently the man at the security desk had alerted Julian’s secretary of their arrival, she was already stalking across the marble to intercept them.

  “Can I help you, officers?” she said, pleasantly. “Mr. Lüceanu is a very busy man. Perhaps I can answer any questions you might have.”

  Her face was a mask of makeup perfectly applied so that she appeared to be made of porcelain.

  “Now she’s just being insulting,” Sasha said. “The badge clearly says Detective on that gold shield.”

  The woman’s gray eyes flashed to him coldly.

  “Would you just ask Julian if he’s free to see me?” Rafi said, mildly, “Rafaela Stratford.”

  “As I said,” the secretary responded, emphasizing the next, “Mr. Lüceanu is busy. If you can tell me what this is about, I’ll tell him.”

  “It’s police business,” Rafi said, “but we’ll wait.”

  Her first impulse was to go to the broad mahogany doors and knock, suspecting that Julian wouldn’t mind, but she didn’t want to make things uncomfortable.

  The woman sat down at her desk, made a few minor notations until Rafi leaned an arm on her desk and just stared at her.

  Finally, exasperated, the woman stalked to the doors, knocked sharply and walked in at Julian’s call.

  Through the half-opened door she caught a glimpse of Julian pacing across the floor of his office before a bank of windows but his dark eyes were on the display screen and the figures on it.

  Like the night they’d met he was dressed immaculately in a business suit and a crisp white shirt, somehow making them look sexy. His hair was brushed back to display the sharp widows peak. He was so beautiful.

  One look, a glance and her heart was pounded.

  She sighed softly. Already she had it so bad.

  In the next instant, he straightened, turned and his gaze found hers.

  “Rafi,” he said, clearly delighted, tossing the remote mouse to the secretary as he swept past her.

  The look in his eyes was all Rafi needed to see. Her heart lifted.

  Julian gave Sasha a quick acknowledging glance and a smile before he gathered Rafi up in his arms for a quick but thorough kiss.

  “Apparently,” Sasha said, to no one in particular, “the feeling is mutual.”

  Julian chuckled and broke off the kiss.

  “It is,” he said, turning to offer his hand. “Very.”

  Still trying to get her breath back from the kiss and what he’d just said, Rafi smiled a little and said, “Julian, my partner, Sasha.”

  The two men eyed each other, but there was no sense of animosity, just assessment.

  Slowly Julian nodded. “I see why Rafi trusts you.”

  It had been something that had concerned Sasha. Paranormals, with their heightened senses, knew each other for what they were. So just as he knew that Julian Lüceanu was a vampire, Julian also knew Sasha was a werewolf.

  He trusted Rafi too much not to know that she would do everything to protect him, so it was a measure of the trust this man had earned in such a short time that she would bring them together. And a measure of her concern.

  “Come in, come in,” Julian said, gesturing them into his office.

  He glanced as his secretary. “Unless I’m in a meeting, anytime Rafi comes here, show her right in.”

  Affronted but trying not to show it, the secretary stiffened, then walked out.

  Rafi resisted the childish need to stick her tongue out at the frosty woman. It was likely that she was very efficient, and equally likely that she’d wanted Julian, so she couldn’t blame her.

  Seeing the look, Julian grinned. “Behave.”

  Laughing, Rafi said, “You already know me far too well.”

  “I do,” Julian said, burying his hands in her hair to tilt her face up to his to look into her twinkling eyes. He glanced at Sasha. “I hope you don’t mind.”

  Sasha shook his head, grinned ruefully. “Nothing I don’t see in the pack.”

  In fact, he kept waiting to meet his own mate. He kept looking, but so far, he hadn’t found her.

  “Good,” Julian said, and gave Rafi another quick kiss. “So, what brings you here? Not that you’re not welcome, but this seems to be more like official business.”

  “It is,” Rafi said, looking up into his deep brown eyes. “Julian, when we first met, you said something about vampire hunters. Was there a reason?”

  In a moment, she watched as he shifted from lover to a predator. His eyes went darker, if that was possible. His body went stif
f, muscles tightening, although his hands were still cupped around her head gently. A part of her thrilled to see it, to feel that powerful energy. She was reminded her almost instantly of a panther, dark and sleek.

  Every sense in Julian’s body went alert.

  Very carefully, looking from his Rafi to her partner Sasha, he said, “Why do you ask?”

  Rafi’s deep blue eyes were intent. “We got word from on high that there’s talk of a vampire hunter in town.”

  Like many police departments after 9/11, they found it was easier to go more pro-active, and so they had a fairly intricate web of informants and snitches. And Sid Barnes.

  “Apparently there’s reason enough to believe that the information is credible,” she said, looking up at Julian intently. “They don’t do that lightly.”

  “No,” Julian said, “they don’t.”

  “I didn’t know who else to talk to who might be able to put a warning out,” Rafi said, “to the vampire community.”

  The popular fiction was that the paranormal community was like everyone else, just common citizens with no power structure. Of course, nothing was further from the truth.

  Julian looked at her, and smiled, despite his fears for his people. Her instincts were better than she knew.

  “You came to the right place,” he said.

  That confirmed Rafi’s guess. Then the import of his words really hit her. Julian was the de facto leader of the vampire community. For a moment the reality of it just…stunned her.

  Seeing it, Julian drew her closer and looked down into her turbulent blue eyes. He grinned.

  “Nothing’s changed, Rafita. I’m still Julian.”

  Rafi looked up at him, at the dimples that had appeared from nowhere, at the warmth and light in his eyes.

  She smiled. “Yes, you are.”

  “I’ll put the word out, warn my people,” he said. “Dinner’s at six. Catalena will be very disappointed if you miss it. She made Beef Wellington just for you.”

  Chapter Eight

  A hand appeared before Rafi’s eyes, turning a single white rose between strong, agile fingers. Warm buttery yellow seemed to glow in heart of the flower. Julian’s aftershave enveloped her. Rafi took a deep breath, drawing in the slightly spicy sent of it as she turned her head to look up at him with a smile. The files had been putting her to sleep, or she’d have heard him coming.