She frowned and shook her head, but I was already pushing the door open.
Behind me there was a stunned silence. Then Victorine said, “I beg your pardon. My daughter will be right back. But please, enjoy the dancing for another few minutes.”
I pulled off the other shoe and, transferring them both to one hand, dashed up the stairs as the tower clock struck midnight.
Please let Rafe still be in the tower.
But if not, I had his number.
I fumbled with the keypad to open the door, getting it wrong the first time. I drew a breath through my teeth, tried again.
The living room was empty. My heart sank. I shut the door—and jolted as Rafe emerged from behind the door, a bottle raised above his head.
“Hey.” He lowered it with a sheepish grin.
“We have to leave. Now.” I dropped my shoes on the floor and locked the door. In the bedroom, I shoved a few things into a small carry-on suitcase—jeans, T-shirts, underwear, a light jacket.
“You’re going to help me?” He appeared at my side.
“Yes.” It was perfect, really. It would buy me a few days to figure out how to handle Victorine’s ultimatum that I mate.
She’d be furious at me for slipping away from my own ball, and even madder that she didn’t get to make her midnight announcement. But I was banking on the fact that she’d forgive me as long as she didn’t find out who I’d left with.
Meanwhile, I could prove to Rafe—and to myself—that Victorine wasn’t working with Slayers, Inc., because he’d created enough doubt in my mind to make me uneasy. I needed to know, one way or the other, before I made a final decision about Étan and the lieutenancy.
“How did you get here?” I dragged off my dress as Rafe watched, two vertical lines creasing his forehead.
“Tonight? By motorcycle.”
“What about to Montreal? Did you fly or drive?” I pulled on skinny jeans and a turtleneck, both gray. For once, I was glad of my monotone wardrobe. Easier to blend into a crowd.
“I took a flight to Toronto and rented a Honda to drive the rest of the way. I figured your mom has people watching the Montreal Airport.”
“You’re right.” I stepped into low black boots and grabbed my laptop and a pair of silver stilettos from a wall safe hidden behind the bedroom mirror. “Can your Honda carry two people?” I sheathed the knives in my boots and tucked the laptop into my suitcase
A nod. “It’s a mid-size bike—has a V-twin engine. What’s going on, Zoe?”
I gave him a confident grin to cover the slamming of my heart. “We’re going to Paris.”
His eyes narrowed. “To find Zaq?”
“If he’s really there. But you have to get me out of here without anyone knowing. Now.”
12
RAFE
I wasn’t sure why Zoe had changed her mind about helping me, but I wasn’t going to give her time to rethink it.
“I’ll get my bike,” I told her. “Can you get out of the tower without the guards knowing?”
Zoe gave me a don’t-be-ridiculous look. “Yes. But we have to hurry. They’ll come looking for me any second now.”
“Meet me on the other side of the gates. I’ll wait for you at the bend in the road.”
She nodded, picked up her suitcase, and faded into the shadows. I snatched up my bowtie and jacket, leapt onto the windowsill and followed her. I only had enough juice for a few seconds in the shadow dimension, but that didn’t matter, because as soon as I landed in the garden, I powered my glamour and came out of the shadows.
My glamour felt solid. Thanks to the blood-wine I’d drunk, I’d be able to power it long enough to get off the island.
I retrieved my bike from the parking lot and rode across the causeway. The guards waved me through the gates. Zoe must have been running alongside me, because when I pulled off the road to wait for her, she was right there.
“Go.” She swung onto the bike behind me, a sexy cat burglar in a hoodie and black leather jacket.
We made a quick stop at the rental house for my things. Zoe kept watch in the foyer while I stowed my stuff in the duffel bag and changed into jeans, a T-shirt and a leather jacket. When I came back downstairs, she was peering through a sidelight.
I looked over her shoulder. “Any sign of your mom’s men?”
“Not yet.” She reached for the door knob. “Ready?”
“Not quite. There’s something I haven’t told you.”
She turned around, eyes wary. “What?”
“Victorine didn’t just threaten me and my brothers. She said that if I ever touched you again she’d consider the treaty broken. If she finds out, the blood feud’s back on.”
“Crap.” She blew out a breath. “All right. It’s not like I plan to tell her where I went or who I was with.”
“She won’t hear it from me. You have my word.”
“Good. And you have my word, too.” She turned back to the door.
“Hang on.” I set my hand on the wood. “What about your phone? Can your mother track you?”
“I took out the SIM card while you were upstairs. The GPS in my laptop is already disabled.”
“Good.”
We hurried down the walk, both of us keeping a wary eye on the shadows. But nobody appeared to stop us. I stowed the duffel bag and we got on the Honda.
By then it was after one a.m. Sunrise was less than five hours away. We’d have to hurry if we were going to make Toronto before dawn.
“It’s going to be a hard ride,” I warned.
“Just get me out of Montreal.” She put her arms around my waist and slipped into the shadows until we’d left the city behind us.
We rode straight to Toronto with only a quick stop for gas, but by the time we reached the outer suburbs, thin fingers of pink and gold had spread over the sky. Behind me, Zoe slipped on sunglasses and pulled her hood over her face.
I frowned at her over my shoulder. She was so young for a vampire. “You can’t take even a little sunlight, can you?”
“I’m okay,” she muttered, then spoiled it by resting her head against my shoulder. A moment later, her hands slid limply down to my thighs.
I swore and grabbed her wrists, holding them against my waist with one hand while operating the bike with the other.
“Zoe.” I elbowed her in the ribcage. “Wake up, damn it. You can’t fall asleep—not yet.”
She grumbled under her breath in French but woke up enough to grab my hips again. I aimed for the nearest exit and the cheap hotel I’d spotted. I zoomed into the hotel’s parking lot and grabbed for my last bit of magic to conjure a glamour. All I could manage was something quick and dirty: lighter hair and a bend in my nose so it looked like it had been broken at some point.
I hustled Zoe into the lobby. “A room.” I threw a credit card at the clerk. “Now.”
Five minutes later, we were upstairs. I had Zoe wait in the hall while I went into the room and pulled the rubber-backed curtains across the windows to block the sunlight.
When I went to get her, she was wavering on her feet, eyes half-closed. I drew her inside. “I’m okay,” she mumbled.
“Yeah, yeah. You’re superwoman, right?”
She chuckled.
I helped her out of her jacket and gloves. She stumbled past me and sank onto the mattress. She smoothed a hand over the blue polyester comforter.
“We did it,” she said with a crooked smile. “They’ll never look for me here.”
I grinned back, then leapt to catch her as she slid bonelessly off the bed. “Are you okay? I should have stopped sooner. You should’ve told me—”
She touched my cheek. “Hey. I’m fine. Just…sleepy.” She closed her eyes and went limp in my arms.
I placed her back on the bed, then took off her boots and removed her hoodie, leaving her in a tee and jeans. Her face had a touch of sunburn—her long cheekbones were touched pink, and the tip of her nose was peeling.
I ran a finger down her petal-soft cheek. Not
even a flicker of her eyes from behind her closed lids. She was completely out…helpless.
The Tremblay Princess at the mercy of a Kral.
My heart clenched. “You do trust me,” I murmured. “A little, anyway.”
Two years ago, I’d have done anything to have Zoe under my control, defenseless. I’d pictured how I’d snap cuffs onto her slim wrists, make her beg, maybe even give that pretty ass of hers a few hard smacks.
She could’ve told her mother the truth—that she’d wanted that little assignation as much as I did. Instead, she’d been deliberately cruel.
But hell, if I’d been raised by Victorine Tremblay, maybe I’d have done the same thing.
I tucked the comforter around her slender form. I was bending forward to brush my mouth over hers when I halted and pulled back.
Nothing had changed. Zoe was still Victorine Tremblay’s precious spawn. She’d agreed to help me find Zaq, not run off with me for a hot-and-dirty weekend.
I took off my leather jacket and sat on the edge of the mattress. The adrenaline that had allowed me to push myself and the motorcycle through the night had dissipated. I hadn’t had any fresh human blood in more than a week. I was exhausted and lightheaded with hunger. Hell, I’d even found myself staring at the hotel clerk’s bearded neck. If I was going to be of any use to Zaq, I needed to feed.
I put on my sunglasses and went back outside. I got lucky almost immediately. Without my glamour, the twenty-something hotel employee arriving for the dayshift recognized me immediately.
“Holy shit.” She did a doubletake. “Are you Rafe Kral?”
“Guilty.” I gave her the smile that seemed to melt the panties off humans.
“Ohmigod, ohmigod. Don’t go anywhere. I—” She fished a phone out of her backpack. “Can I please get a selfie?”
“Sure. If I can feed first.” I wrapped an arm around her and before she could aim the phone, sank my fangs into her neck.
“Oh!” Her eyes went wide. She stiffened and tried to struggle free.
I kept her where she was. It wasn’t right to feed from a human without their consent. My mom would have my head if she knew. But fuck ethics. Zaq was more important. The clerk would recover, and I’d make sure she didn’t remember me.
I pulled her behind a big green dumpster and drank.
Zoe was still out when I returned to our room, sated and sleepy. I took a quick shower and crawled naked under the comforter next to her.
I emerged first from the day sleep. The comforter had slipped beneath Zoe’s breasts. She lay flat on her back, her chest rising and falling almost imperceptibly.
I rolled onto my side and propped myself on an elbow. Her straight dark hair was sexily disheveled, and the traces of makeup—mascara smudges beneath under her eyes, a hint of lipstick at the corner of her mouth—made her look so hot, like a starlet who’d collapsed into bed after a night out clubbing.
I’d woken with my dick hard anyway, but having her this close, and looking so available made me want to drop back my head and howl at the rising moon.
The peeling skin on her nose had healed. I trailed a finger down the long, straight bridge, and her nostrils twitched.
“You awake?” I asked.
No response.
I continued down her face, outlining her mouth with my finger, rubbing the pad of my thumb over her full lower lip.
Something—the scent of my blood, or maybe me playing with her mouth—made her fangs extend. One cute tip protruded over her lower lip. I rubbed my thumb over the sharp point and her mouth worked like a baby suckling.
I couldn’t resist. I cupped her cheek and leaned over to kiss her awake. Her lips clung to mine. She sighed and muttered something unintelligible. Beneath her lids, her eyes flickered like she was dreaming.
Hell. She probably didn’t even know who she was in bed with. I eased back.
She opened her eyes and looked at me drowsily. “Rafe?”
“Bon soir, Princess.” This close, I could see all the colors that made up the hazel of her irises: green and gold at the outer edges, with a burst of amber-brown radiating from the center.
A sleepy smile. “Good evening.”
“Did you sleep well?” I brushed her spiky black bangs back from her forehead. “I like the bangs, by the way.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” I nuzzled her throat, inhaling her spicy green scent.
Now that I’d fed, the blood-craving wasn’t riding me anymore. I could focus on other things like her soft, cool skin and the needy moan she made when I scraped my teeth over the sensitive spot beneath her jaw.
Not yours, I reminded myself. But damn, it felt good having my dick pressed up against her thigh, even if it was through her jeans.
She rubbed her eyes. “We’re in Toronto?”
I nodded. “We’re at a hotel just outside the city, about twenty minutes from the airport. Which reminds me, I need to book a flight for us.”
Because if I didn’t, I was going to start something I wasn’t sure either of us wanted.
“Wait.” She grabbed my arm.
“What is it?”
She propped herself up on her forearms and glanced at my very hard, very ready erection. Her eyes widened. “Oh.” It came out somewhere between a sigh and a mewl of appreciation, which my dick loved.
It swelled even more.
I sat up and shrugged. “Hey, I’m a guy.”
“I can see that.” She sat up as well, her gaze still on my lap.
“Zoe?”
“Mm?”
“Is there some reason you don’t want me to book a flight?”
She flushed and lifted her eyes to mine. “Victorine will be watching Toronto, too.”
“No problem. I fed this morning. I can power a glamour long enough to get us to Paris without being recognized.”
“What about me? I can’t hold a glamour longer than a few minutes. And what I can do is pretty lame.”
“How lame?”
She shrugged, clearly embarrassed. “It’s not one of my skills, okay? About all I can do is take the sheen from my skin so I look human instead of vampire.”
“I see.” I should’ve asked sooner—the ability to produce a glamour varied greatly among our kind. “But you’re a vampire spawn.”
Her shoulders hunched. “Yeah, well, I’m a disappointment to my mother, too.”
I silently cursed myself for putting her on the defensive. “No offense, but your mom’s an idiot.”
She shook her head, but an uncertain look flashed across her face, like she was absorbing what I’d said. Turning it around in that smart, strategic brain of hers that was nevertheless blind when it came to her mother.
Victorine had really done a number on her daughter.
“I mean it.” I ran my thumb over her cheekbone. “You’re a special woman. Intelligent, beautiful, hard-working. If she can’t see that, it’s her problem, not yours.”
Our gazes snagged. My heart thumped, hard and slow.
“We should book a flight.” I nibbled her plump lower lip. “Don’t worry about your appearance. A blond wig should do it.”
“Mm-hm,” she said against my mouth. “Which US airport is closest?”
I traced a finger over the delicate wings of her collarbones. First the left side, then the right. “Buffalo, I guess.”
“Let’s fly out of Buffalo, then. I’m pretty sure Victorine doesn’t know you’re in Canada, so it won’t occur to her that I might be with you. Once she realizes I’m really gone, she’ll check the Canadian airports for flights out, but if we cross the border into the United States, she shouldn’t be able to trace us. Even if she does, we’ll be in Paris by then.”
I nodded. Buffalo was in Kral Syndicate territory. “So you want to catch a flight to Paris from Buffalo?”
She nodded. “I can compel the border guard to look the other way so he doesn’t remember me.”
“Sounds like a plan.” I unzipped her hoodie and
caressed her breasts through her T-shirt. Her bra was thin as air. I could see the outline of her small, rose-brown nipples, and when they beaded beneath my fingers, I felt every sweet detail.
“Rafe?”
“Five minutes. Just give me five—” I shoved up her T-shirt and bra and latched onto one of the tightly furled points, sucking hard.
Her body arched. She made a low sound of arousal and wrapped her arms around me. Her fingers feathered over the hair at my nape.
Competing needs fought in me. The need to take her. The need to keep her safe. The need to get to Paris and my brother as soon as possible.
I brought my mouth to her other nipple, sucked again. Her hands tangled in my hair, pulling me closer. I was on top of her now, her legs twined around me, my erection cradled in the V of her jeans.
I rocked my hips against hers and we both groaned. I felt her damp heat through the denim. I rotated myself against her, so damn ready I was about to explode.
I dragged in a breath. “We don’t have time for this.”
She blinked up at me. “No?”
I grimaced. “Afraid not.”
A heartbeat passed. Neither of us moved until I gave her a long, we-will-finish-this kiss and reluctantly moved off her.
“Let me clean up, and then I’ll call Buffalo and get us on a flight to Paris while you get ready.”
She heaved a breath. “Okay.”
I was back in five minutes. She rose from the bed and gave a long, catlike stretch. “Give me fifteen minutes.”
I watched as she padded to the bathroom. The woman had a truly fine ass, firm and heart-shaped, and the tight jeans showed it off to perfection.
I scrubbed a hand over my face and got dressed before reaching for my phone. I would’ve preferred to go straight to Paris, but there were no direct flights from Buffalo to France.
I toyed with booking a private jet, but the Paris Syndicate would monitor incoming flights as a matter of course, just as my father’s people monitored flights to and from the East Coast. A private jet could trigger attention neither of us wanted. We’d have to fly commercial.
The best I could do was a flight with a two-hour stopover in Newark, New Jersey, and then on to Paris. We’d land in France a little after dawn, but it was either that or wait another night to travel. Zoe wouldn’t be able to travel even a mile in the full sunlight, so I booked a room near Charles de Gaulle Airport.
Craved: A Vampire Syndicate Paranormal Romance (The Vampire Syndicate Book 2) Page 10
