We Shall Rise

by J. E. Hopkins

  She wasn’t sure what to expect from him. There was so much anger when he left before, but now she was just so thrilled to finally be seeing him again. The last thing she wanted was another fight. Too much time wasted already. She eased open her bedroom door and saw him sitting on her bed, waiting for her. Her heart skipped a beat from anticipation.

  Kaden knew he missed her, but seeing her now looking so sexy and desirable in the black leather dress that highlighted her luscious curves heightened the ache of longing that had haunted him these past two days. So often he had dreamt of tasting that tantalizing skin, soft as silk.

  He came here to apologize, to offer her words of regret for his actions, but no words would form. His fangs elongated as his body grew painfully hard. He could wait no longer. He needed her now. He vaulted from the bed pressing her back against the door.

  He could feel the tension in her body. He scented her need for him. Her desire matching his. He gently petted her cheek as he whispered in her ear, “I have to know.”

  “H-have to know what?” Reysa struggled to ask. His simple touch was driving her to a heavenly madness.

  “How delicious you taste.” Kaden’s body was glowing from the fire building up inside of him. He took a deep breath to temper the flames. He feared he might burn her with the intensity of his need. His desire was a burgeoning inferno that could only be extinguished by the joining of their flesh.

  He placed his hands on the top of her dress. The heat instantly melting the straps. He slid his hands slowly down from her shoulders to her breasts to the secret pleasure waiting below melting the leather until all that was left were its ashes at her feet. “I’ll buy you another,” he promised.

  Reysa was so close to an orgasm as her body smoldered from the heat of his touch. “Now I taste,” he warned as he worked his tongue from her jaw down to the valley between her breasts. “Chocolate. My favorite flavor."

  Using that delectable tongue, he took her darkened nipple in his mouth sucking so hard her legs collapsed. He used his left had to keep her upright as he feasted from one breast to the other. He finally pulled away. The loss of that tongue eliciting a mournful groan from Reysa.

  “Mousse. My favorite dessert."

  Kaden dropped to his knees. Using his fangs, he sliced the straps of Reysa’s thong. Her perfect body was finally fully revealed to him. He licked his lips in anticipation as he spread her legs wider and tasted the treat he had craved the moment he saw her. “Caramel, my favorite topping.”

  Reysa’s eyes nearly exploded from their sockets as Kaden feasted on her. Her knees buckled and she would have collapsed from the ecstasy, but Kaden caught her, easing her to the floor. His tongue never left her mound as he continued to savor the richness of her unique flavor. Reysa exploded several more times before Kaden finally eased back. He looked at her with such reverie that she had to fight back the tears that wanted to fall.

  “Ditch the clothes, Kaden,” Reysa demanded as she tried to gather her composure.

  He loved the forcefulness of her tone. He loved her strength. She was like no other woman he had ever known.

  He stood up and began to disrobe.

  “Slowly.” Reysa demanded. “I want to see every ounce of you.” Kaden obliged even though the strain of his engorged flesh nearly killed him.

  Reysa watched as he peeled away his shirt displaying his divinely sculpted chest. She licked her lips wanting so desperately to trace them along his chest. Maybe the striptease was a bad idea. The anticipation was overwhelming.

  He unbuckled those blue jeans letting them fall to the floor. He kicked them off and stood proudly, naked before her. Reysa caught herself drooling and quickly wiped her face to avoid further embarrassment.

  Kaden smiled that devilish grin as he looked down at Reysa lying on her back with her dark brown locks spread all around her. A heavenly angel waiting for him, desiring him. Part of him feared this was another dream, but he would embrace it regardless and hope that he would never awaken. He may not deserve such a treasure, but he couldn’t give her up.

  Mine.

  “Show’s over,” he growled as he moved on top of her and he mashed his lips onto hers in a violent titillating kiss. Both of them too dominate to let the other lead; their tongues dueled as they stroked each other with a passionate fury.

  Kaden didn’t think it was possible to come from a kiss but he was about to explode. He pulled away, suddenly trying to catch his breath. Reysa would not have it. She wrapped her hand around his hard flesh and tugged him back to her. Kaden dug his claws into the carpet to keep from coming in her hand. He wanted this for too long but he wanted to find this satisfaction inside of her.

  “Please,” he gritted.

  Reysa could see the restraint he was barely able to maintain. His eyes were a fiery flame. His skin was so hot that it singed her body causing a pleasure she had never known before. She relished the control she had over him.

  "Mine." she whispered as she kissed him again.

  Reysa spread her legs and positioned him at her entrance. “Enter me.”

  “Not yet. I need to make sure you’re ready.”

  “I’ve been ready for weeks. Inside me now, Kaden.” Reysa gave him one final tug, breaking the last of Kaden’s control. He thrust hard into her, finally joining their bodies. Reysa yelled out from the painful pleasure of the feel of him inside of her.

  They moved in perfect rhythm as Reysa felt another orgasm rip through her. Her fangs elongated. She wanted desperately to sink her teeth in his flesh and taste his blood. Her body wanted to bond with him, but her mind warned her to refrain. She raked her claws across his back as her eyes turned a heated crimson.

  Kaden came shortly thereafter sending a bolt of fire into Reysa’s wall. “Sorry,” he offered as he stretched out his hand and called back the flame.

  Reysa was too spent to care. He could burn down her entire house as long as this didn’t have to end.

  “I’m probably crushing you,” Kaden moved to sit up, but Reysa wrapped her legs around his hips keeping him nestled inside her.

  “Not yet. Stay inside me.”

  “Well, if you insist,” he teased as he nuzzled her neck. “I can’t deny you anything.” Reysa smiled. The sight of that gorgeous face caused him to harden inside of her again. “I hope you are ready for round two.”

  “Just like boxing, I’m good for twelve rounds.”

  “Ah, but my rounds last more than three minutes. Can you handle me?”

  “I’ll manage,” she responded as she flipped their positions so that she straddled him. “First, let’s see if you can handle me,” she challenged as she rode him to paradise.

  IV

  “I can’t feel my legs,” Kaden muttered as he cradled Reysa in his arms.

  Reysa buried her face in his chest nestling in the warmth of his overheated skin. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to walk straight again.”

  “If I don’t leave your body soon, I may never be able let go.”

  “There are worse things.” Reysa snuggled closer.

  Kaden closed his eyes trying to savor the ecstasy of this night a little longer. Eventually they would have to get back and deal with the real world, but he wanted to enjoy this absolute bliss he felt for the first time in his useless life.

  It was like she was made for him. Her body fit his so perfectly. He finally felt like he was home, inside of her where he belonged. He reached for hand admiring the beauty and contrast of her darker skin compared to his bronzed Mediterranean complexion.

  “What’s so fascinating about my hand?” Reysa quipped as she nipped him lightly on the jaw.

  “This masterful grip of yours nearly pleasured me to insanity,” he reminded her, “but I also just love the color. You are a remarkably beautiful woman, Reysa.”

  Reysa hid her blush. It was one thing to hear such compliments from Christian, Alejandro or her other friends, but from Kaden it felt so different, so much more pleasurable. She didn’t like the vul
nerability she felt with him, but there was nothing she could do to stop it. He mattered. What he thought mattered. “You’re not too bad either. Have you ever been with a black woman before?”

  “Human probably, but I doubt another immortal. To tell you the truth, my sex life is one big blur. I can’t remember anyone other than you.”

  Reysa’s heart skipped a beat with that admission. “Well, you know what they say. Once you go black, you never go back.”

  Kaden laughed as he reached to kiss her so tenderly Reysa melted into his hold. “I don’t want to go back,” he whispered. He didn’t have to say another word. He could see the recognition in Reysa’s eyes. She understood. There was no going back now. Not after what they shared.

  For the first time in his life, he imagined a future of happiness. He craved a family. Reysa as his mate as they raised Tatiana and built a life of love together. Maybe they would have children of their own one day.

  No. The thought sobered him and woke him from the unrealistic dream. The last thing he would ever want would be to have his bad DNA infecting another. Let his tainted bloodline end with him. Hopefully, Reysa would understand.

  He prayed she would as he desperately wanted a future for them. He wanted her to choose him, not because of a mating bond, but because she loved him for whom he was, mistakes and all. The only way she could feel that way for him is if she truly knew him. He needed to reveal the truth to her and hope that she could love the good in him despite the bad. That was their only chance at happiness.

  Kaden reached for Reysa’s boot and threw it at the lamp knocking it over and dislodging the plug from the outlet.

  “Why did you do that?” a puzzled Reysa questioned.

  “I need to talk to you, but not in the light.” Kaden held her tightly to him, fearful that as soon as she heard the truth she would pull away. The rejection would probably kill him, but better to get the pain over with now then delay it when he was too far gone. Who was he kidding? He was already too far gone. There was no going back, but they couldn’t go forward with so many secrets between them. “I need you to really see me. All of me, Reysa.”

  “Kaden, considering what we’ve done in the last five hours, trust me, I’ve seen every scrumptious ounce of you.” She rolled her tongue on his nipple, causing his body to instantly respond to the invitation.

  Kaden willed his body to control itself. He carefully pulled her away and tilted her chin so that she faced him. Her green eyes shone brightly in the darkness of her bedroom. He barely had the courage to do this, so he blurted out the words before he succumb to his fear. “I’ve done some horrible things. There’s no getting around that fact. I’ve hurt people I love and I’ve hurt people just because I wanted them to hurt. If I was in pain, I wanted others to be miserable too and I would make it happen. I’m not proud of that and I wish I could change the past, but I can’t undo the harm I’ve done.”

  “Kaden, we’ve all made mistakes in the past. It’s what we do now and going forward that matters most.”

  “I want to believe that and I want to move forward with you, but I need you to know me. That’s only fair to you.” Kaden sat up with Reysa straddling his lap. The safety of her arms enabled him to open up to her. “My father used to punish me. That’s what he would call it. I don’t know what I was being punished for. I think my entire existence offended him although if it weren’t for me, he would never have kept my mother as his prisoner.”

  “It’s not your fault, Kaden,” Reysa tried to convince him.

  “Actually, it is.”

  The memories flooded Kaden. Olivia’s battered face that greeted him so many mornings. They both pretending like nothing happened, neither brave enough to speak the truth. For years, this continued. This was their family. “I was too much of a coward to stop it.”

  Kaden spent most of his life living in fear of his father. Daughton Gaspard was a cruel dictator, but he had no kingdom to rule so he ruled his family with an iron fist demanding total obedience and submission to his will. Kaden tried to comply with his father’s demands to become the son his father wanted. “In the beginning, I wanted to please him. I tried everything, but it was never enough. I was never good enough. Eventually I stopped trying. Once Julian came along, he stopped trying with me. He had the perfect son and I became expendable.”

  Kaden gripped Reysa’s hips pressing her closer to him. “I guess you could say I was his entertainment. He used his gift of mind control to force me to hurt myself for his amusement. Eventually, I learned to control my fear in front of him. I couldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing that he was breaking me every time he punished me. I stopped crying. I stopped reacting to his torture. I feigned control even though I was dying inside. That’s when he got bored with this game and found another way to torture me. My mother.”

  Reysa knew of the close bond between Kaden and his mother. Olivia had shared with her how she tried to make up for the fatherly love Kaden had been denied. “Your mother told me stories about the times you spent together. How I envied you having such a relationship with a parent. You’re lucky to have her.”

  “She isn’t so lucky to have me as a son,” Kaden regretted. He never doubted her love for him. She proved it every day despite the painful punishment she endured at Daughton’s hands because of that love.

  “When I was locked away, she would sneak in to visit me giving me blood and food. One day Daughton found her there. I heard her yelling at him trying to convince him to free me. I remember the emptiness and anguish of hearing the sounds of her suffering at my father’s hands. The more she defended me, the more she suffered and yet she never stopped. She wouldn’t give up on me. I felt so helpless, so worthless knowing that she was hurting for me and I couldn’t rescue her.”

  Kaden closed his eyes trying to brace himself against the haunting memories that he could not escape. “I heard him strike her so hard. I knew it was bad because she didn’t come see me for days. I went crazy down there. Finally, my father showed up and he watched in quiet enjoyment as I exploded over what he had done to my mother. After my tirade ended, I realized that I had made a huge mistake. That was a test and I failed. I showed him my weakness. I gave him another weapon to use against me. I gave him my mother. He knew how much I loved her, so he tortured her to hurt me. I let him do it. I didn’t stop it and for years she suffered because of me. Sometimes I can still hear her screams.”

  Daughton took full advantage of Kaden’s weakness. He exploited it with every opportunity. Olivia was not only a means to punish Kaden, she was his way to control his insolent son. If he wanted Kaden to do something, he would threaten to harm Olivia and Kaden would begrudgingly obey. “He knew I was too weak to challenge him,” Kaden confessed hating to admit this weakness to Reysa, but he needed her to understand his failure.

  “I thought about leaving so many times. I should have left. I was certainly old enough to be out of my father’s home, but I couldn’t leave her unprotected so I stayed. As my father aged, his madness worsened. I wanted to keep my mother safe. The irony was that it was my presence that led to his violence towards her. If I had gone, she wouldn’t have suffered.”

  “You don’t know that.” Reysa clutched his face forcing his wounded jade eyes to meet her vibrant emerald. “Your father was a crazed, merciless monster who enjoyed inflicting pain on those closest to him. He would have always found a victim. No one could have been safe with him. You mother would never have been safe as the wife of a lunatic like Daughton Gaspard. Your presence or lack thereof would not have changed that result.”

  “Maybe, maybe not.” Kaden wanted to believe her, but there was that lingering doubt in the back of his mind that he couldn’t ignore. “Finally I got the courage to stop him from destroying us all. I wish I would have found that strength sooner.”

  Kaden confided in Reysa about Daughton’s partnerships with some Mexican drug cartels. He provided the transportation to help deliver their products to the human population. No one in the v
ampire community cared that Daughton was breaking human laws. As long as he didn’t do anything to reveal their existence, the Council tacitly blessed his crimes. Daughton made a fortune, some of which he gave to the Council to ensure they stayed out of his racketeering business.

  “I wanted no part of the drug trafficking game. I suspected that Daughton was also trafficking human women. He had no regard for humans. They were the only things that disgusted him more than his worthless older son. I refused to participate in the family business. For the most part, he left me out of it until one of his key enforcers was killed in a fight with a lycan outside a bar. This guy was scheduled to coordinate a shipment headed towards Arizona. As Daughton never tended his own dirty work, he demanded that I fly to Arizona and supervise the delivery. I was not about to be my father’s henchman. Rather than obey, I opted to attend a new vampire club had opened up. I knew there would be hell to pay for that choice, but something inside me just refused to go along with his games any further. I just couldn’t do it. By the time I had returned home, Daughton was waiting for me with a familiar look of pure disgust on his face.”

  “Where have you been, boy?” Daughton shouted.

  “Out. I had a great time. Thanks for asking.” Kaden started to walk away.

  “You think this is funny? I’ll tell you what’s really funny. You should see your mother’s face right now. I was just taking a break. Now that you’re back, things will get even funnier in a few minutes.”

  Kaden stiffened. “Leave her alone, you sick bastard. If you’re mad at me, take it out on me. She has nothing to do with this.”

  Kaden could see the damaged skin on Daughton’s hands. Usually Daughton used his mind control power compelling Olivia to hurt herself as he watched in delight, but this time it looks like he used his fists as well.

  “You’re mistaken, Kaden. She has everything to do with this. You see, she’s the only way I can teach you a lesson in obedience. It’s your constant defiance that has caused her pain. You have no one to blame but yourself. How she must regret having you. You’ve cost her so much more than you know.”