by K. L. Kreig
Fuck! What had he done?
Chapter 27
Sarah
“Sarah, you must complete the bonding. Time is running out.”
“Time’s running out? What does that mean? Who are you? How do you know him?”
“That is not important now. What’s important is completing the bonding. You are the only one that can save him.”
“Save him? Is he in danger?” She didn’t know much about Rom’s skills, but she’d heard he was very powerful. The most powerful of all the lords. She doubted he could be in danger from anyone or anything.
“Yes, Sarah. Romaric is in grave danger. Your special abilities will be the key to saving him. But only if the bonding is complete.”
Mystery girl started fading away. “No. No, don’t go. Tell me who you are. Tell me how Romaric’s in danger. Please!”
Mystery girl faded to black and Sarah bolted up in bed, a thin layer of sweat coating her skin.
“What the hell?” she whispered. She must bond with Romaric because he was in danger and she’s the only one that can save him? Who the hell was this damn girl and why wouldn’t she just tell Sarah? Why did she feel like every dream about her was a puzzle she was supposed to solve? And why did Sarah feel like she’d spoken the truth? Mystery girl’s words sat like a boulder in the pit of her stomach.
She just noticed Rom wasn’t in bed with her. Looking at the digital clock on the nightstand, it read 5:02 a.m. Throwing back the covers, she padded quietly out of the room, down the hall and descended the stairs to the second level. To her right, she noticed a light shining from Rom’s office. He was probably working and she should leave him alone, but she had this visceral need to be with him. To make sure he was all right. Which was crazy stupid, but she couldn’t ignore it.
Making her way to his office, she stood quietly in the doorway, watching. Sitting in a large black leather office chair, his back was to her and it appeared he was staring out into the darkness. She listened for a few moments to be sure he wasn’t on the phone and when she heard nothing, she entered.
Not waiting for an invitation, she walked in and around his desk. His eyes raised to hers and her breath caught at the fury—and fear—emanating from them. He silently held out his hand and not wasting a second, she grabbed on like it was her only lifeline in a choppy, unforgiving ocean. She climbed silently into his lap and curled up into his strong arms, which he’d wrapped around her.
“What happened?” Mystery girl was right. Something was terribly wrong and suddenly she was very afraid. He remained silent and she didn’t think he would answer. Typical male … trying to protect his woman.
“We need to return to Milwaukee tomorrow evening. I have an impromptu business meeting that I must attend.”
“Is everything okay?”
He squeezed her tightly, stroking her bed-ravaged hair. Lovely. In her haste to get to him, she probably should have walked by a mirror first.
“Yes,” he murmured. “Come. Let’s get you back to bed.”
“Will you stay with me?” She could hear the pleading in her voice, but didn’t care. She’d beg him if that’s what it took. She needed to be in the safety of his arms.
“Of course.” Soft lips pressed gently against her temple.
Minutes later they were snuggled back in his bed, her body wrapped around his.
“Sleep, my beauty. I’ll be here when you wake.”
As her eyes drifted shut again, Sarah couldn’t shove down the feeling that a series of events had been set into motion the second their eyes met that neither could prevent from coming to fruition.
But how would it end and what would her role be?
Chapter 28
Sarah
Consciousness slowly claimed her, but it took several moments to remember where she was. In Rom’s bed. With Rom. She’d rolled away from his hard body in sleep, now facing the wall. Eyes glancing up, she noticed it was now just after 8:00 a.m. And unfortunately she’d remained dreamless. Mystery girl hadn’t returned.
Dammit!
She needed more answers on this danger that awaited Rom so she could warn him. Maybe she should try anyway. That bitch, Nancy, reared her ugly head again. “Right, Sarah. And what will you say? Some mystery girl who looks exactly like me, told me I had to bond with you to save your all-powerful ass? Oh…and tick-tock, time’s a wastin’.”
Why didn’t Rosie choose to appear at these times instead of that ho? Probably because that beotch usually made more sense. Ugh. Of course she couldn’t say anything about that dream, because just like the other two, neither made a lick of sense.
Sarah thought back to Rom’s tenderness last night, both on the balcony and again in his office. Did he know that those actions were the ones that endeared her to him? That each time he uttered a compassionate word, or touched her with such reverence and genuine caring, it became almost impossible to deny what her heart wanted, but what her mind fought. Her body knew, and had since day one. But her mind … her stubborn mind had been fighting it every blessed step of the way.
She knew very few people, if any, had really seen the true Rom underneath all of his multi-faceted, complex layers. It hadn’t taken her but minutes. She’d immediately seen his depth, his compassion, his sensitivity. It was there. It was just buried underneath heartache and loss and pain. And she knew that had everything to do with mystery girl. She just didn’t understand why.
Was she falling for Rom, despite the fact her common sense urged her to slow down? Yes. Could she envision her life without him? No. Did she want to? Hell no. Was she ready to make a lifelong commitment when there was still so much she didn’t know about him? After last night, she was much closer to the yes line than she had been just yesterday. And if mystery girl was right? If Sarah’s stubbornness in bonding until she knew every nit and nat about him caused her to lose the one person she knew was meant for her … would that push her over the yes line? Unequivocally yes.
No, she may not know every single thing about him, like his shoe size or his favorite toothpaste or whether he liked pepperoni or ham pizza best, but she knew what kind of male he was. And she knew she wanted to wake up next to him every single day she lived.
Turning over, she noticed Rom gazing at her, a pensive look creasing his oh-so-handsome features. He reached a hand out, slowly running the back of his fingers down her cheek.
“I can hardly breathe when you look at me,” he rasped. “I feel like you’re a figment of my imagination and if I blink you’ll be gone.”
Her breath caught and a sudden, ravenous hunger assailed her.
Hunger for his body.
Hunger for his blood.
Hunger to be his.
Not because of mystery girl. Because of Rom. Because, notwithstanding the fact that normal people didn’t fall in love in less than two weeks, they weren’t normal. They never were and never would be. And despite what Rom had said the other day about this being simple biologics … he couldn’t be more wrong. This was so much more than physical. This was soooo much more than girl meets boy, kisses in a tree, falls in love, marries and lives happily ever after.
This was raw, visceral and irrefutable. They belonged together. They belonged to each other.
Not caring that she hadn’t brushed her teeth or how her hair looked or even if the makeup she wore to bed was smudged, she rolled onto all fours and closed the short distance between them.
Rom’s pensiveness turned to raging desire. His glacial blues dilated and began to glow. His shirt was off and her breath stopped. Her mouth went bone-dry. Holy mother … he was sin personified and sex incarnate. Imagine your masturbation fantasy came to life … and it would be him.
God, she loved ink on a man. Thick, sexy tats swirled over his right pec, down his bicep, but other than that he was free of ink, free of scars, free of a single imperfection. There was not one hidden ounce of fat on his muscular, sinewy body. The sheet he’d draped over his lower half couldn’t hide the chiseled V, which led to the most perfect cock
she’d ever seen … or tasted. And it couldn’t hide the fact that he was, indeed, aroused.
He watched her, watching him. She didn’t miss his intake of breath when her hands traced his six-pack abs. She didn’t miss his moan when her lips sucked a hard flat nipple into her mouth. And she didn’t miss the hiss that escaped his lips when she told him she wanted him to fuck her.
She straddled him and eyes never leaving his, reached down to remove the little navy blue tank she’d worn to bed, leaving her only in tiny matching shorts.
His eyes raked over her nakedness, heat blazing in their fiery wake. His gaze was so potent, she swore she felt fingers feathering her oversensitive skin everywhere it landed.
“Christ, Sarah …”
Leaning forward, she brushed his ear with her lips. “Make love to me, Rom. Please.”
Her lips left a damp path down his neck and back up his strong jaw until she took his mouth with hers. She felt empowered and in control, but reckless at the same time. His mouth devoured hers as one hand palmed her neck and the other reached for her exposed breasts, tweaking one nipple first, then the other. Her hips undulated against his rock hard cock and she could think of nothing else but being possessed completely by him.
She wanted him to consume her.
Breaking the kiss, she spoke the words that had been on the tip of her tongue since she woke. “I’m ready. Make me yours.”
The events that followed those five little words would be something she would reflect back on for days.
His body completely froze. His lips stopped kissing. His hands stopped touching. His hips stopped thrusting. He forced her head to rest on his shoulder. She tried moving, but he restrained her. She was completely and utterly confused.
“I think we should wait. Just a few days.”
What.
The.
Fuck?
The last several days he’d been doing nothing but trying to get her to acquiesce to the bonding and now that she was, he thought they should wait. Why?
Pulling out of his strong grip, she searched his face for answers. “I don’t understand.”
He looked away, unable to hold her gaze. “I’m sorry.”
Unable to control her emotions, she yelled, “Are you serious?”
“Sarah …” he started.
Pulling free from his tight grip, she scrambled off the bed, heading for the safety of the bathroom. “No. Forget it. Forget I said a fucking thing.”
“Sarah … let me explain.”
Explain? Explain? There was no explanation on Earth that could possibly justify the about-face that had just occurred.
“Fuck you,” she shouted, slamming and locking the bathroom door. Not that it would stop him if he wanted to enter. Thankfully he didn’t. She started the shower, stripped her pajama bottoms and stepped under the hot spray. Tears flowed, mixing with the scalding liquid cascading over her body.
He’d rejected her. She’d finally agreed to be his and he’d rejected her. Why? What happened last night that had changed things? Had he heard her thoughts on the kidnapping and what occurred that horrific night? Did he think she was tainted goods? Was he afraid she thought he was the same as those monsters who had kidnapped her? Or was it something else? Was it possibly the danger that mystery girl had referred to?
Whatever the reason, she wasn’t really sure it mattered. Sinking to the cold tiled floor, she curled into a ball, letting the hot water rush over her and cried, giving into every single emotion that she’d buried for the past several months.
She cried for her parents.
She cried for herself.
She cried for a future she’d once dreamt of that would never be.
But mostly she cried for the loss of a new future, a new happiness, one she’d come to accept and even embrace with girlish giddiness. For some unknown reason that now seemed to be in jeopardy.
And she had no damn clue how to fix it.
Chapter 29
Rom
He was gutted.
He was heartbroken.
He was tortured.
He was resolved.
He was in hell.
Chapter 30
Sarah
She was lost.
She was sad.
She was confused.
She was pissed.
She was in hell.
Chapter 31
Mike
He’d woken this morning and Giselle was gone. Classic. Totally expected, yet, soul-crushing nonetheless. But surprisingly … he wasn’t mad at her. He was mad at himself. He knew he was moving too fast. He knew she may not be in the same place he was emotionally. Hell … she may never be. Maybe he was just a shiny new plaything to her and nothing more. But even as he thought it, he knew it not to be true. The feelings she had for him could not be hidden in her expressive eyes. She just couldn’t verbalize them. Therefore, he should have kept his big fucking mouth shut and maybe she’d still be here right now.
She apparently needed space, so he’d decided against texting or calling. Instead, he’d spent the entire day working on their project, contacting additional PD’s and faxing pictures of the two missing women. Then about an hour ago … pay dirt.
Marna Clark was age twenty when she went missing in Des Plains, Illinois in 1969. There were very few leads and her case quickly grew cold and eventually forgotten in favor of the newest missing person. Hundreds of thousands of people go missing each year in the United States alone and Marna quickly became a statistic, like so many others. Mike was able to get her parents’ names, number and address. He’d called, but there was no answer.
Fuck it. Des Plains was only an hour and fifteen minutes from Milwaukee and since there was no reason to stick around here, he grabbed his phone, packed an overnight bag and headed to the garage. He’d sleep in a cheap motel close to their house and stop by the Clark’s first thing in the morning. Talking to them in person would be better anyway. He could gauge their expressions, and more importantly see their faces. Did either of them resemble Sarah? Did they have other children that did?
He didn’t really understand why Giselle was working on this project for Sarah, since Giselle wasn’t really the warm and fuzzy type, but the reason didn’t matter. Even if she’d decided not to come back, he would continue on his own. He’d do it for Sarah. He’d do it to keep his goddamned mind from spinning and churning.
And he’d do it in hopes that Giselle would come to her fucking senses and return to him. This time for good. Because next time she walked through that door … he wasn’t letting her leave. Ever.
Chapter 32
Rom
It was 1:00 a.m. and he sat at The Bar waiting for Ainsley to show. His stomach churned at how he’d left things with Sarah. They’d barely spoken since she’d declared she’d wanted to bond this morning. At those words, his heart soared, but quickly crashed. He’d wanted nothing more at that moment but to bury himself deep inside her and take what she’d so freely offered. What he’d been waiting for.
Mine, mine, mine, his beast roared.
No, no, no, his logic countered.
He didn’t know the right answer. He wanted her with raw animal need that bordered on insanity. But was it the right choice? Was his decision misguided? Should he confide in her and let her make her own informed choice? Maybe.
Fuck. He didn’t know.
Once again, his calm, collected, decisive demeanor had escaped him and he felt truly lost for the first time in his life. And for one as old and formidable as he was, that was not a comfortable place to be.
A stunning blonde dressed all in black entered the bar bringing Rom out of his introspection. He couldn’t help but smile as their eyes caught and she hurriedly made her way to him. Standing, he pulled her into his arms.
“Ainsley,” he greeted as he swiftly pulled back. Even though they had more history between them than most, he still felt uncomfortable holding another female in his arms. Friend or not. Sarah was, and always would be, the only
female he would ever hold again. Christ … he’d been an absolute idiot earlier today.
“Romaric. You look good.” She took a seat at the table he’d selected. Strategically placed, it afforded both of them a view of the entrance and exit, allowing each to quickly react if necessary.
They regarded each other silently until Rom spoke. “What is the plan?”
She snorted. “Your death, of course.”
“How?”
“I don’t know for sure, but they will surely try to trap you. Trick you using your mother so you return to Romania.” She gazed at him quietly before continuing. “He knows you spoke to her. She’s already been severely punished. I’m surprised she still lives.”
Mother. Fucker. He would so enjoy taking his father’s head.
“You look different.” Her head cocked. He didn’t miss her not so subtle glance at his thumb, looking for a mating mark. A smile crossed her lips. Ainsley was an extremely beautiful and desirable female and when they were children he fancied himself in love with her. The fact that she’d not met her mate to this day saddened him. “You’re in love. You found her.”
Rom remained quiet, unsure how to respond. Did he trust her enough? No.
“When?”
She chuckled, very much onto him. “Within the next month, maybe sooner. He’s trying to locate someone who can find you.”
“You.”
“Yes.”
He nodded. He’d suspected as much. So he had two weeks at most to prepare.
“What powers does he possess?”
The only down side to not staying in touch with his father, or anyone from his family, was that he didn’t know what skills his father had been able to procure over the years. And since he was a ruthless, callous killer, he imagined it was many. When Rom faced a rare foe more powerful than he, knowing his weaknesses would mean the difference between life and death.
