by Maya Daniels
“Huh?” Tilting her head, Artemis frowned slightly at those words.
“Never mind, I talk like a blathering idiot when I get shocked by something.” Iris waved away the confusion. “At least that’s good news. We know he won’t kill you if you go back.” She looked at Artemis for a second before frowning. “What?”
“Lazarus cares about Lazarus, nothing else,” Artemis told her. “If he suspects me of anything, it’s a serious possibility there will be a battle, and only one of us will survive it.”
“That’s one more reason you shouldn’t go alone. I’ve kind of started liking you, to tell you the truth. Besides, you make the vampire less annoying.” Iris chuckled awkwardly. “I would hate to have anything happen to you.”
“What could happen to someone like me when you know what I am?” Artemis smiled slightly.
“What do you mean, what you are?” Iris looked at her, confused. It wasn’t Artemis that answered.
“A weapon.” Raphael joined their conversation while leaning his shoulder on the doorway.
A high-pitched scream ripped from Iris’s throat. “Oh, my God, you scared the shit out of me!” She glared at him. Raphael ignored her.
“Isn’t that so, Artemis?” His green eyes were locked on Artemis as she turned to look at him.
“It is.” Her eyes flashed in a challenge.
“How long have you been standing there?” Iris asked him, accusation evident in her voice.
“Long enough to tell you that you don’t need to worry about distracting me.” He narrowed his eyes at Iris for a second before looking back at Artemis. “And you are not going anywhere alone!”
With a groan, Iris folded her arms on the table, and leaning down, thumped her forehead on it.
Raphael was fuming inside while trying his best to keep his calm façade. He knew before leaving to hide Claude that Artemis was plotting something. He could see it in her mesmerizing eyes and in the way she was distracted and very still. He found it astounding that in such a short time he’d learned to pick up little things like that. Regardless of whether it was the mate bond making it possible or not, he was happy to take whatever he could if that meant he would keep her at his side. With each passing moment the need became stronger, and it was almost turning into an obsession.
It was fear, he had to admit to himself, which was ludicrous. He hadn’t felt fear for so long until he saw the Fae for the first time that it took him a while to recognize it. What a peculiar feeling that was, fear. Pushing himself off the doorframe and shaking his head slightly, Raphael walked into the room and headed straight to where Artemis was sitting, watching him warily. It felt like the two women were holding their breath to see what he would do next.
Raphael stepped so close to Artemis she had to spread her legs as he stepped between them and cupped her face, lifting it up so he could look at her eyes. He noticed the way her face tilted into his touch on instinct, and his lips quirked at the corners while her eyes flashed at him in defiance. It was not going to be an easy argument to win. Oh, no! He was sure of that, but he had yet to meet anyone who could outwit him when he had his mind set on something. In this case, it wasn’t just his mind but his heart and everything else that was set on Artemis.
“Where you go, I go.” Raphael spoke softly, searching her eyes. “With everything that we know now, you cannot possibly expect me to sit back and wait while you place your life in danger.”
“It will not be I who is in danger, Raphael!” She frowned as if she couldn’t believe that he couldn’t see that.
“Yes, it will! And you keep forgetting I’m not human.” His eyes hardened, making hers narrow at him. “I will not sit back and wait to see if you live or die!”
“It’s the mate bond…”
“It has nothing to do with the mate bond!” He cut her off, stepping away from her angrily. “I’ve sat back and left the world to evolve around me for too long! Look where it got us all! People I’ve known my entire existence are dead! Claude is in some deep shit I knew nothing about, and it can kill us all!” Clenching his fists, he seemed almost to grow in size with the anger radiating from him. “I will not sit back on this! If it gets me killed, so be it!”
“I think you two need to sort this out, so I’ll go check on Fern…or something.” Iris lifted herself from the chair, clapping her hands together like some preschool teacher. She smiled tightly at them as she hurried out of the room.
“Wait, Iris! Can I see him?” Artemis jumped up from the chair and a growl came from Raphael’s chest while his eyes flashed amber. The hairs on the back of Iris’s neck stood on end as she froze at the door. Artemis, on the other hand, just smiled wickedly at Raphael.
Shaking her head and muttering under her breath, Iris left the room, closing the door behind her with a thump. Still smiling at Raphael, Artemis leaned on the table and crossed her arms. He stood with his clenched fists and a scowl on his handsome face, making her shift uncomfortably. He was breathtaking in his jealousy, fierce and possessive.
“Don’t test me, woman!” He practically growled the words as her smile grew. “Now is not the time. I keep saying you mistake me for a human or the fairy boys you are used to.”
“You’re different.” Cocking her head, she looked him over from head to toe as if trying to find a physical difference. “I feel your power much more strongly all around me. And you are not as calm as you were when I saw you a few days ago. It still doesn’t mean you can survive everything that comes your way.”
“Don’t change the subject!”
“I’m not changing anything,” Lifting her hand to stop his argument, her eyes narrowed, scrutinizing him. “I’m still talking about how smart, or how stupid, it is to go with me.”
“There’s nothing to talk about.” Walking up to her, he pressed her body between the table and his muscled chest, making her breath quicken. “Where you go, I go! End of story!”
To stop any further arguments, Raphael took her mouth in a searing kiss. One of his arms wrapped like a boa around her waist, lifting her up so she was seated on the table, while his other hand tangled in her hair, tilting it the way he wanted. Everything she tried to say disappeared when his tongue tangled with hers, and she wrapped her legs around his hips, pulling him closer to her. The dress she was wearing bunched up at her hips as she grabbed the back of his head with one hand and clawed at his back with the other. Every time they touched it felt like it wasn’t enough.
Releasing her hair, Raphael trailed kisses down from her neck to her shoulder while his hands gripped the neckline and dragged the dress down, exposing her to his hungry mouth and roaming hands. He nipped and licked her skin, driving her crazy as she arched her body, giving him more access and rocking her aching core on his hardness pressed there. Raphael rolled his hips, grinding harder and groaning at her moans. Sucking a nipple in his mouth, he looked up at her tilted face and parted lips. She was too tame at the moment, and he wanted her to feel as out of control as he felt.
Panting and feeling like she wants to claw out of her skin, Artemis looked down and locked eyes with Raphael. Her breath caught in her throat at the raw need and hunger she saw there. He held her captive, and she couldn’t look away as he released her nipple and pushed her down on the table while he trailed kisses between her breasts and down her belly. Artemis couldn’t breathe as his hands slid under her, lifting her up towards his wicked mouth. She saw it then. In his eyes it was as plain as a day, the determination to get things done his way, no matter what. She was way too far gone to deny him anything and he knew it as well. His smile grew, making her insides clench the emptiness she wanted him to fill a moment before his mouth descended on her aching core.
Raphael didn’t move slowly, teasingly or gently. As soon as he saw the realization dawn in her eyes about his tactics, he attacked her sopping core with vigor, like he was a starving man and she was a feast. He licked, sucked and nibbled between her thighs until the moans started getting louder. It was like music to
his ears as he feasted and her hips undulated on his face. When she started getting impatient and her legs squeezed around his head as her hand gripped and pulled on his hair, Raphael pushed two thick digits into her channel, turning her loud moans into screams. She was close, but so was he.
Lifting himself up and not letting her look away from him, he licked his lips as he pulled on his belt and zipper, yanking down his pants and letting his cock spring free from the confinement as her eyes snapped in that direction. His cock jutted out as Artemis licked her dry lips, unable to look away from it. It almost looked angry it was so red, leaking precum and pointing at her accusingly for its state. Wrapping his hand at the base of it, Raphael positioned himself at her entrance, pushing only the tip inside her before stopping.
“What are you doing? Don’t stop!” Moaning desperately, she looked at his face, her eyes unfocused, pleading and frantic.
“Where you go, I go!” Raphael was holding onto his control by a thread and his legs were trembling, but he would be damned if he didn’t take advantage of this situation to make sure he stayed by her side.
“Fuck me, Raphael! Stop talking!” she moaned and pleaded while her hips kept moving and her hot channel clenched around the head of his cock as if trying to suck him in.
“Promise me, Artemis! I’ll give you what you want if you just promise me that!” he growled, wondering if she would be cunning enough to keep him waiting longer. He would fail then, there was no doubt.
Artemis locked eyes with him and he knew at that moment that nothing would ever be the same again for either of them. There was anger in her eyes, but also gratitude, hope, determination and dare he say, something like love. Her beautiful eyes softened and a sad smile ghosted her lips.
“I promise. Where I go, you go.” Her husky words were like a healing balm to the fear that had been gnawing at him.
As soon as Artemis made her promise, Raphael slammed inside her with one jerk of his hips, making her scream and bow her body, almost lifting herself off the table. It was so erotic and satisfying that he released the control he’d been holding since he touched her. Grabbing her hips in a bruising grip with both hands, Raphael pistoned so fast that his body started blurring at the edges.
There was something different this time when Raphael was inside her. Artemis was too lost in her passion to be able to figure out what that was, but there was no mistaking the intensity of it or the power swirling around them both. He was a large man, but it felt like he was getting thicker and longer inside her with each thrust of his hips. It was bordering on pleasure-pain and it was making her delirious.
Raphael could feel their mate bond getting settled at last. It was the reason their lovemaking was so intense to a point he thought that after he filled her up, he would disincarnate. She clung to him with her legs around his waist, and he couldn’t stop or slow down to save his life. His sack tightened as he felt her walls fluttering around his cock. Bending down over her, he kissed her once where her neck meets her shoulder before sinking his fangs as deep as his cock was in her. The moment her blood touched his tongue, they both exploded. She screamed his name for a long time before he lifted his head and roared hers.
It felt like it lasted forever, their souls' twining and linking as their physical bodies were connected. When they both came down from the pleasure high, Raphael lifted his head to look at her face. He would remember the smile on her face for as long as he lived. That was one second before his eyes widened at the loud cracking sound and they both dropped to the floor with the broken table. Artemis was sound asleep, not noticing anything. Raphael rolled onto his back, pulling her over his chest as he chuckled weakly.
The curtains were pulled tightly together and thick blankets had been placed over them to keep the sunlight out of the room. Artemis was pacing like a caged animal while Raphael slept, stretched out on the sofa that looked like a toy compared to his massive body. Her eyes kept going to him no matter how hard she tried to stop herself. She would have to wait until nightfall for him to wake up so that they could go to her realm. Iris was preparing everything to open the portal in her ritual room.
They could’ve used the portal in the forest, but Raphael said it was better not to. Apparently the vampires thought that Claude was with Artemis, trying to find out everything she knew so he could stop the Fae. With a snort, she kept on pacing. She wasn’t sure what the truth was anymore, but regardless, Artemis still thought it might’ve been a good idea to kill those poor creatures that lived in Claude’s mansion. That house stank of greed and sin. Her eyes strayed to Raphael again.
In sleep, his face was relaxed and looked so innocent that it was almost boyish. The chestnut hair was mussed, falling over his forehead as his lips were parted slightly, the lower one fuller than the upper. Her mind went back to what that mouth could do to her and she stopped pacing to press her thighs together as her core started throbbing instantly. The vampire would be the death of her. She wouldn’t die in a fight or seeking revenge, as she’d always thought; she would die from need. Artemis had been told that vampires got addicted to Fae blood. No one ever mentioned Fae getting addicted to vampires. And she was addicted! To his touch, his eyes, to his voice. A heavy sigh escaped her parted lips and she shook her head at the craziness of the situation.
Irritated and feeling helpless to come up with a good solution, she yanked on her hair, smoothing it out and twisting it into a braid. Instead of thinking how to take them in and out of her realm alive, her mind kept replaying images of Raphael’s naked body glistening in the lights as his muscles bunched up while he thrust in her. Even while he slept, she couldn’t control herself and wanted to start removing his clothes and molest him.
“I can feel your need, beautiful,” Raphael rasped, his voice thick from sleep. “Come here.” He reached his hand towards her, opening one eye to look at her as a slight smile lifted his lips.
“I thought you didn’t wake up during the day,” she mumbled as her feet took her towards him of their own accord.
“I don’t.” Taking hold of her hand, he pulled her down and wrapped his body around her. “But as I said, I felt your need. It triggers my own.” He tilted his hips and she felt him hard against her thigh.
“Sorry, I don’t know what’s wrong with me. It’s the mating, I think. It’s driving me insane at times when I need to stay focused for all our sakes.” Artemis closed her eyes as if pained by that knowledge.
“I’m not complaining.” Raphael nuzzled her neck before placing butterfly kisses there, making her groan. He chuckled.
“Be serious for a second!” She pushed with her shoulder to dislodge him.
Lifting his head, Raphael looked at her and there was no trace of a smile anywhere. “I’m very serious, I assure you. I find nothing funny when your safety is in question.”
“I feel the same when it comes to your safety.” He sighed when she cupped his face and he nuzzled her palm. “I need to know that if anything goes wrong, you will get out of there.” He looked at her sharply and opened his mouth to say something, but she spoke over him. “Iris will hold the portal open for as long as she can unless someone tries to walk through it. I need to know you will leave if we find ourselves in a bad situation.”
“I’m not leaving you behind!” Frowning at her, he pushed himself up and stood. “Are you insane? You think I can just turn my back and leave you to die?”
“Raphael, I don’t know what makes you triggered about leaving me behind or whatever it is that you’re feeling. I’m not whoever it was that made you feel that guilt that you’re trying to redeem through me.” Standing up as well, Artemis walked up to him and grabbed his face in both hands. “I will not die! He will not kill me even if I wish that he would. I’m his weapon and he will not lose that! But you? He’ll kill you, and if he notices that I care for you, he’ll make me watch.” She searched his eyes. “It’ll be worse if he knows you’re my mate.”
“Well, we won’t let him notice, then!” he snapped stub
bornly.
“Maybe he will mention Fern…” Raphael growled and his eyes flashed amber at her words. Artemis grimaced before looking at him pointedly.
“Ah, fuck!” Moving away from her, Raphael scrubbed his hands over his face before linking his fingers on top of his head. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” he spat angrily.
“You should be sleeping. Go rest a bit more.” She pulled on his hand, but he only pulled harder and wrapped her in an embrace while burying his head in her neck. “I’ll think of something.” She pressed closer to him holding him tight.
“My entire family was slaughtered because I was not capable of helping.” His words took her off guard as she pulled back to look at him. “The night I met my maker, my family died because of me. I was human and couldn’t do anything to help them. I vowed it would never happen again. That’s why I never cared about anyone or got attached. So I never have to feel that hopelessness again.” His eyes shimmered as he looked away as if ashamed. It broke her heart to see him like that. “Until now!” He looked back at her. “I will not stand back and hope that you will be fine!”
Artemis looked at him for long moments. She had bottled down all of her emotions, apart from anger, most of her life because she didn’t want to feel what he had just described. She knew it took a lot for someone like Raphael to speak out loud about weaknesses, and she admired him for his courage. A lump clogged her throat, but she kept her face stoic, not wanting to anger him or disrespect him by showing pity. He didn’t need her to pity him. He needed her to show him enough trust and respect and find a solution together.
“I have been fighting this battle on my own, my whole life, Raphael. Forgive me if I don’t know how to do this as a team.” His eyes softened and she embraced him again “We will do this together. I just hope we survive it,” she whispered in his ear.
