Blood Vow (Blood Moon Rising)

by Tabke, Karin

  “But—” She wanted to say it, to hear him tell her it didn’t matter, that his love transcended his hatred for all Corbets, Thomas in particular. But she couldn’t bring herself to do it for fear she would lose Rafe and, in losing him with the truth, Lucien as well.

  He cupped her chin in his hand, his loving eyes searching hers for what troubled her.

  “But what?”

  Exhaling, she closed her eyes and shook her head. Pressing her hand to his, she opened her eyes and smiled. “Nothing, my love. Nothing.”

  Rafael kissed her nose and left her, shaken and unsure.

  Nine

  AS FALON EXITED the bathroom she slammed into the hard wall of Lucien’s chest. He steadied her. Electricity sparked between them. She swallowed hard and looked up into intense golden eyes. Like Rafe’s, Lucien’s touch would always stir her.

  “Hey,” he said softly, lowering his lips to hers.

  “Hey,” she said, leaning into him. His lips were soft, and oh so gentle. His hands slid up her arms, along her shoulders and up her neck. Tears stung her eyes. She was so torn. She didn’t want to hurt either one of these proud men, but she could not choose one over the other.

  “Luca,” she whispered against his lips, “we need to talk.”

  “I don’t want to talk,” he whispered back, and captured her lips again in a soul-stealing kiss. He backed her into the bedroom, kicking the door shut with his heel. Lifting her up into his arms, their lips still connected, he carried her to the big bed and laid her down on it. His big body slid over hers as his kiss deepened.

  Falon fought for composure. This could not happen. Not until they were one. Tearing her lips from his, she scooted out from beneath Lucien and up against the headboard. Pulling her knees up to her chest she blinked back tears.

  Lucien stared at her, the fear in his gaze nearly doing her in. “Luca,” she said, wanting to reach out to him and smooth away the fear. But she didn’t. If she touched him, she would succumb to him and she was not going to do that to Rafa.

  “I need you to listen to me.”

  He nodded.

  “I love you, with all my heart, I love you.” He opened his mouth to speak, but she shushed him with her fingers to his lips. “I love Rafa, too. I can’t give you up to be with him any more than I can give him up to be with you.”

  Lucien’s eyes narrowed.

  “I want you both.”

  Moving her fingers from his lips he softly but firmly said, “You cannot have us both.”

  “Why can’t I?”

  He moved to the edge of the bed and shook his head, then dropped it in his hands and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his palms. Oh how she wanted to run her hands down his muscled back and soothe away his pain. “Because, I will not share the woman I love with another man, not even my brother. Because I am alpha and alphas do not share.” He turned and looked at her over his shoulder. “Because I am selfish, and possessive, and territorial. It would kill me to know when you left my bed you were going to his.”

  Falon nodded as she tried to understand. All she had to do was put herself in either one of their places. Could she share Rafa with Anja? No. Or share Lucien with Mara if she were alive and not a Slayer? No again.

  At that moment, it washed through her with crystal clarity that what she was asking of these two proud men was pure selfishness on her part. And cowardice. She didn’t want to make a choice and be the one to hurt the other. Not that she could make a choice.

  “Rafe has Anja, let him keep her.”

  Falon smiled. “It’s not that easy, Luca. By the Blood Law that gave me to you, it gives me back to Rafael. He will insist, and I will rejoice, but I will be incomplete without you.”

  Lucien stared at her for long moments. This Lucien she had not seen before. Quiet, contemplative. Not when it had to do with her and the possibility of losing her.

  “If you would hurt neither of our feelings with your choice, Falon, who would you pick?”

  It wasn’t a question she could answer. When she had no choice, she accepted her life with Lucien. Fell in love with him. He made her feel things Rafe didn’t, but oh how she loved Rafael. He was every girl’s dream. Her dream. Her first love.

  Ah, but Lucien . . .

  “If I picked you, my heart would be half empty. If I picked Rafa, my soul would bleed. Each of you completes me in your own way. I love you, Lucien. Madly. Soul deep. I love Rafael with all my heart, too.”

  Lucien stood, and she felt as if the air in the room was about to evaporate. “You’re going to have to decide which one it will hurt less to live without. Your heart or your soul.”

  He walked out of the room, and quietly shut the door behind him.

  Falon sank into the thick comforter and cried like a little girl who was lost at the mall. Afraid. Lonely. And heartbroken she would never see the two people she loved the most again.

  * * *

  “RAFE,” LUCIEN SAID, striding into the kitchen, “a word with you.”

  Anja looked up from her plate to Rafael, who put down the sword he was cleaning.

  Lucien continued through the great room to the front door. He moved down the long front porch. The thick loamy scents of the forest filled his nostrils. It was places like this where he felt most at home. No urban sounds, no threats, just him at one with nature. Grasping the railing, he stood back and gazed at the lush forest. Subtle animal scents punctuated the forest fragrance. The urge to shift and run was overwhelming. He could run for miles, hours, days but his problems would still be his constant companion.

  He felt his brother’s presence behind him. “I want to hate you, Rafa. I want to tear you apart, but I won’t.”

  Rafe stepped beside Lucien and took up the same stance. Side by side, they looked into the forest with the same woman on their minds.

  Rafael let out a long sigh. “I feel the same.”

  Lucien looked at his brother’s profile. Proud, honorable, Rafael. The golden son. Lucien’s stomach churned but his heart was full. “I’m sorry,” he said, shocked that the words escaped his lips.

  Rafael jerked back and, narrow-eyed, looked at Lucien. “For what?”

  Lucien exhaled and looked back at the tempting forest. “For being an ass. For doubting you. For everything.”

  When Rafe didn’t respond, Lucien looked at him to find a smile tugging his lips. “I’m glad you’re amused.”

  “More like shocked.”

  Lucien shrugged. “No more than me.”

  Both of them turned back to the forest.

  “She wants us both,” Lucien said, and when the words came out of his mouth he realized that if that was the only way he could have the woman he loved, pride be damned, he would have her on her terms. The shock of all shocks.

  “I know.”

  “I don’t want to share her, not even with you, my brother.”

  “I feel the same.”

  Lucien looked at Rafe. “I called you out here to have it out with you, but all I feel is miserable. I don’t want to go back sixteen years, Rafe. I don’t want to lose Falon. I want to reunite the packs but I don’t want to co-alpha any more than you do.” He jammed his fingers through his hair and looked at his brother whose face reflected the same misery Lucien felt. “For the first time in my life, I don’t know what to do.”

  “You two are pathetic.” Anja sneered as she walked through the open door. “If your packs saw the way you’re mooning over that woman they would turn on you faster than a Slayer! Have you no pride? Here you stand crying about who gets the girl when the entire Lycan nation stands on the edge of extinction! Neither of you are worthy to lead an army of ants into battle much less the great Lycan nation.” She strode past them down the steps to the slate walkway that led to the driveway. “I’ll be sure to tell the packs how you two are up
here crawling on your bellies to her!” She shifted and leapt into the forest.

  Lucien straightened and faced his brother. “She carries my child, Rafael.”

  Rafael stared steadily at his brother. “You forget I was there that night, too.”

  “Are you suggesting that the child is not mine?” Lucien growled.

  “We won’t know until the babe is born who the—”

  The gods would not be so cruel! Or would they . . . ? Something in Lucien snapped. His fingers dug into the wooden railing splintering it. His beast howled furiously, demanding blood. His brother’s blood.

  Rafael’s beast responded and in that split instant they shifted.

  You gave me your word, Luca! Falon called.

  Lucien snarled, and then leapt over the railing into the thick forest. He ran. For miles he ran trying to clear his head, to make sense of all this bullshit! When had his life become so complicated?

  He knew the answer: the day he set eyes on Falon for the first time. Since that day, his world had been knocked so completely off its axis all he could do was hang on by his fingernails. And now what she wanted him to do, and Rafe! It was completely out of his comfort zone. Physically and emotionally. How the fuck did you share the woman you loved with another man?

  Who did that?

  He ran for miles but his head was no clearer than when he’d leapt from the porch hours before. As he knew it would, his journey brought him back to his destiny: The woman who tore him inside out. The same one he could not live without.

  Shifting as he mounted the steps to the deck he breathed hard, his body sweaty, and no more at peace than when he left. Rafael’s scent was close. Striding into the great room, Lucien found Rafe sitting in one of the overstuffed chairs by the cold fireplace. They both started when Falon literally glided into the room.

  Lucien swallowed hard. Jesus, she was a vision in a transparent white gauzy spaghetti-strap ankle length dress—shit, her long tan legs played peekaboo with each step, the long slits of the skirt flowing like feathers around her. She looked like a beautiful angel. Blood shot straight to his cock, and he didn’t care that he was standing naked and sweaty in the center of the room and making no qualms about what he wanted. Rafael growled from his corner and stood.

  Barely perceptible, Lucien heard Falon’s sharp intake of breath as her eyes swept his rigid body, then to Rafael’s. Her nostrils flared in hyperawareness.

  Ten

  BLOOD SURGED THROUGH Falon, warming her bone deep. Lucien was so close she could see the drops of sweat trail haphazardly down his sculpted chest to his flat belly to his . . . She swallowed hard. His cock was thick and rigid, angrily demanding what she so wanted to give him. When she looked across the room to Rafe, she swallowed hard again.

  Clad only in a pair of low-slung jeans, his long muscled arms and defined chest was hard with sexual tension. The thick ridge beneath his button fly swelled beneath her gaze. She tried to swallow again but her throat was so dry she couldn’t. Slowly she raised her eyes to his and hissed in a sharp breath. The slow burn in Rafael’s eyes accentuated by the flare in his nostrils drew her to him as if he were reeling her in. And God help her she wanted him. Right there on the floor, with Lucien . . .

  Squeezing her eyes shut, Falon struggled for control. Her body wanted one thing, her heart and soul the same thing but her reason told her it was a futile dream. If she could not have them both, she would have neither, and as hard as that would be, she would not have to live with hurting one of the two men she loved enough to make that sacrifice. “I’m glad you’re both here,” she stammered, stumbling over her words.

  “Falon—” Rafe began, stepping closer to her. His gaze swept her from head to toe, his beautiful aqua eyes pleading for succor she could not give him. Not on his terms.

  Shaking her head she put her hand up to stop him. She had something to say and she was going to say it. But when Lucien grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips, then gently bit the fleshy part of her palm, she moaned. Heavy, hooded lids hung over her eyes as desire flared within her. He pulled her into his arms, and not wanting to upset Rafe who growled and strode toward them, Falon hung in Lucien’s embrace. His hot sweaty body molded to hers, his thick erection digging into her belly.

  “No,” she whispered, feeling helpless to stop him. Not wanting to stop him. She wanted him to kiss her and stroke her in front of Rafe. She wanted Rafe to see how she craved Lucien’s touch, what he did to her, then perhaps—

  “Oh, God,” she moaned when Lucien’s hand slid down her back and cupped her bottom, pressing her harder into him.

  He nipped her chin then looked past her to Rafe. “She wants me, Brother. I want her.” He licked her throat, dragging his teeth along her jugular. “Tell him, Falon. Tell him how you crave me,” he said roughly against her skin. “Tell him how it is between us. How it will always be.”

  “Yes,” she breathed, unable to deny his words.

  As if she were in a drugged state, Falon could not raise a hand to stop him even if she wanted to. Where was her will? Why couldn’t she say no? Her heavy lids fluttered as she gazed at Rafael’s handsome features hardened in sexual tension. Her heart slammed against her chest. He wanted her with the same insane need with which she wanted them both.

  Rafa . . .

  “We were meant to be together,” Lucien crooned, nipping at her chin. His teeth drew blood, the scent of it stirring all three of them.

  “Yes,” Falon breathed, closing her eyes, praying that Rafa would see this was their destiny. “The power of three,” she moaned.

  Desire pounded like thunder through her when she felt Rafa’s long strong fingers stroke her back. Yesss, this was what she wanted.

  “Is this what you want, Falon?” Rafe whispered against her ear. “Me and Lucien fighting over you?”

  “No . . .” She exhaled. “No fighting.” Was she drugged? She felt heavy, sluggish, as if she were swimming while every inch of her was expectant and sensitive.

  His big hands slid down her waist to her thighs. “Oh.” That felt so good. When he pressed the thick seam of his fly into her back, Falon moaned and arched. Her nipples dug into Lucien’s slick chest and her ass rubbed against Rafael’s erection.

  That neither one of them pulled her away from the other thrilled her. Was there hope? Her knees shook. If they were not on either side of her she would crumple to the floor. Lucien’s arm tightened around her waist as Rafael’s teeth sunk into the sensitive place where her neck and shoulder met.

  Her lips parted as a deep sigh escaped and Lucien caught them in his. Surrendering to Lucien, Falon pressed her head into the crook of Rafa’s neck while Lucien plundered her with his tongue.

  Rafael growled, his patience pushed to its limit. Fear skittered along Falon’s spine but the excitement of being in both men’s arms at the same time overrode her caution. She was so hot for them, she was soaked and shaking.

  She was playing with fire, and if she didn’t back down now there was going to be a catastrophic explosion. If there were any hope that they would see her way, it would have to be in incremental steps. That they had progressed this far and the brothers were just now on the verge of tearing each other apart was progress.

  Falon’s fingers snaked into Lucien’s wild hair and pulled him harder against her lips as her other hand fisted Rafael’s hair.

  Tearing her lips from Lucien’s was probably one of the hardest things Falon had ever done in her life. Her body was on fire, every molecule flaring with white-hot need. Rafe snarled and grabbed Falon from Lucien’s arms. Spinning her around, he shook her. “Is this what you want, Falon? Us fighting over you like dogs?”

  “No—I—” Falon tried to shake the lust-induced fog from her head but she couldn’t shake it all. “Please, Rafe,” she said hoarsely. “Don’t be mad at me.”

  His deep aq
ua eyes burned like green flames. “You don’t make anything easy, Falon.”

  Though it nearly killed her to do so, somehow, Falon found the strength to maneuver out of Rafael’s arms.

  Shaking her head, she smoothed down the wrinkled fabric of the dress she had found in the closet. Nervously she stepped backward until her back hit a wall. Like the wolves they were, Lucien and his brother smelled her weakness for them and circled in front of her, waiting for their moment to exploit it. It made her nervous, and afraid of what these two men who she loved and trusted could do to her in the heat of passion when they both wanted her at the same time in the same place.

  It would be a bloodbath.

  “I don’t want either of you,” she blurt out.

  Her words stopped them cold in their tracks.

  Simultaneously their brows drew together and their eyes narrowed.

  “You’re a lousy liar, Falon,” Rafael said.

  “I don’t want either one of you, if I can’t have both of you,” she stated, her words bolstering her resolve and at the same time cooling the heat in her body. Smoothing her damp hands down the skirt of the dress, Falon pushed off the wall, her will returning in slow drips. “So I will have neither of you.” There, she said it. And she meant it.

  She slid her hand down to her belly. “In less than nine months we’ll know who fathered this babe, and he will be allowed to raise his child, but it will be the only child I ever bear.” She drew in a deep breath and slowly exhaled. The identical shocked looks on their faces would have made a lesser woman laugh at the absurdity of these two mighty alphas left speechless. “Until then, we will travel together to find the sword. Because we are stronger together than separate, we must stay together through the rising.” She smiled wanly, feeling no victory. “As long as we are together, Fenrir cannot harm us.”

  Falon inhaled again and exhaled. “I’m sorry for asking such a thing from either of you. It was selfish of me to even consider it.” Intending to shift, she slid the dress from her shoulders and let it drop to the floor.