Something about the way he said he’d protect me made me look at him.
His handsome face was stern, his mouth in a harsh line. When he said protection, he meant he’d go after Victorine himself.
I couldn’t let that happen. Rafe was tough for a dhampir, stronger even than some vampires I knew, but Victorine was a vampire in her prime.
In fact, that might be her next tactic. If she could somehow get Rafe to attack her, she could stake him and call it self-defense.
I’d set this off myself by mating with Rafe, but things were happening so fast. There were so many unknowns.
We were hurtling toward a showdown with Victorine, and I was terrified that somehow, someway, she’d find a way to tear us apart.
I couldn’t lose Rafe.
Not the man who’d brought color into my black-and-white life.
Not the man who’d shown me love isn’t a weakness, it’s a strength.
That’s when I seriously started to consider staking my mother.
A Kral limo met us at JFK. A dark-skinned female soldier took the bag from Rafe and opened the door for us. Rafe greeted the woman, then straightened back up without getting inside.
Karoly Kral himself looked at us from the interior.
I went rigid.
“Father.” Rafe took my hand in a firm grip.
I’d seen photos of the Kral Primus, of course, but we’d never met. He was slim, black-haired, handsome…and all vampire. A powerful presence that emanated a cool control.
The man who wanted me dead.
But things had changed. I was mated to his son now, and if I wanted to keep Rafe, I had to stand my ground. I lifted my chin and waited for him to acknowledge me.
His dark gaze settled on his son. “Rafe,” he said. Just that one word, but there was a world of love infused in it.
Envy shafted through me. I couldn’t recall anyone ever looking at me like that.
“You’ve lost weight,” Karoly added gruffly.
Rafe shrugged and grinned like it was no big deal. That was one of the things I loved about him—nothing kept him down for long.
“It would’ve been worse if Zoe hadn’t busted me out of there,” he told his father.
Karoly turned to me. The warmth cooled, but his nod was grateful. “Princess Zoe. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for saving my son, and welcome to my city.”
I inclined my head. “Thank you, Primus Kral.”
Rafe pressed my fingers. “He’s okay with this,” he said out of the side of his mouth. “He knows you’re an asset to us.”
“I’m listening,” his father said dryly.
Rafe grinned. “I know.”
A Kral asset? I blinked.
But of course, that was how he’d see it. The Tremblay Princess, defecting to the Kral Syndicate.
Holy bat shit, what had I gotten myself into?
“Shall we go?” Karoly asked and withdrew deeper into the limo’s interior.
I took a deep breath and took the seat across from him. Rafe sat next to me, showing by his body language that he was on my side now. And in case his father hadn’t gotten the message, he took my hand and interlaced his fingers through mine.
The Kral soldier shut the door and got into the front seat with the chauffeur.
The three of us exchanged a few minutes of small talk, then the men got down to business. Rafe filled his father in on the details of what had happened in Paris.
“You understand what this means?” Rafe finished. “Tomas isn’t going to stop with me, Zaq and Gabriel. He’s going to go after you. He gave me some crap about doing it for you, but I think he wants to be primus himself.”
His father’s mouth pressed into a bleak line. “Tomas is a dead man. I have people looking for him in both Paris and New York.”
“Just be careful, all right?” Rafe said. “He knows too much about us. About you.”
His father inclined his head. “I know.”
The conversation shifted to what Rafe had missed in the two weeks since he’d left for Montreal. His oldest brother Gabriel had narrowly missed being staked by first someone in the Kral Syndicate, and then by a slayer embedded in his own staff. More proof that all three Kral brothers had been targeted by Slayers, Inc.
Rafe told his father something I hadn’t heard yet—that Tomas had arranged things so it would look like Gabriel had betrayed Karoly.
“Ah.” His father tented his long fingers and touched them to his lips. “That, I didn’t know. I’ll get someone on it right away.”
But there was happy news, too. Gabriel had mated with a human named Camila Vittore and taken the risk of turning her into a dhampir. I knew about Camila, of course. The Tremblays maintained files on all the major players in the Kral Syndicate. Gabriel had dated the human for a couple of years, but after she’d left him, we’d stopped keeping tabs on her.
Rafe was thrilled for his brother. “They’re mates?” he asked his father.
“Yes. He insisted on taking her as a mate before she went through the transition.” Karoly leaned back in his seat. “My sons are hard-headed like that,” he told me with a narrow-eyed look at Rafe.
I smiled tentatively, not sure if he was joking.
His youngest son made a scoffing sound. “Like anyone could’ve talked you out of mating with Mom.”
Karoly’s cheek creased ever so slightly. “That was different.”
“Mom was the best thing that ever happened to him,” Rafe said to me, “and he knows it.”
His father inclined his head. “She was—and is.”
My smile widened, became more genuine. There was love in this family I’d mated into. Maybe, just maybe, some of it would spill over onto me.
Rafe leaned forward in his seat. “Did Mila make it through the transition?”
“We don’t know yet. She’s still buried. Gabriel hasn’t left her side.”
I’d never witnessed the transition from human to dhampir myself, but I knew it was rough, that Camila might not make it through. I set my hand on Rafe’s, offering comfort.
He curled his fingers around mine. “I’ll call him,” he told his father.
Karoly shook his head. “Later in the week, perhaps. He’s not himself right now. He mated with her while she was still human. Their fates are intertwined now.”
Rafe’s throat worked. I squeezed his hand. If Gabriel had formed a mate bond with Camila, her death would devastate him. He might never mate again.
“She’ll make it,” Rafe said firmly.
He straightened up and drew a breath. “I have something to tell you, sir.”
“Go ahead,” Karoly said.
“I staked Victorine’s lieutenant. The blood feud is back on.”
Rafe sat stiff-backed, hand tight on mine, clearly expecting his father to be angry.
“He did it for me—,” I started to say, but Karoly spoke at the same time.
“Good. The sonofabitch was part of the group that kidnapped your brother. I’d have staked him myself, but he’d left Paris by the time I got there.”
I blinked. Something else Victorine had kept from me. But it made sense; she wouldn’t have risked going to Paris herself. Sending Étan was the next best thing.
Beside me, Rafe relaxed. “If I’d known about Zaq, I’d have staked him in Montreal. The bastard was slapping Zoe around.”
The two men shared a look. “Then, of course,” Karoly agreed in soft tones, “you had to kill him.”
The limo crossed the bridge from Queens to Manhattan. A few minutes later, we stopped in front of an eight-story high-rise on the Upper East Side. I knew from the file we kept on Rafe that he had a penthouse in New York, but it turned out he owned the entire building.
Karoly had fallen silent, but now he stirred in his seat. “For now, it’s best if you stay in Manhattan. Let people see you two together. I will let Victorine know you’re under my protection.”
“She’s not going to give up,” Rafe said. “She told me—and
I quote—that she wanted to ‘wipe my family from the face of the earth.’”
A chill went down my spine. I hadn’t known that.
“I can handle Victorine,” his father said. “It’s you and Zoe I’m worried about.”
“Zoe has an idea about that,” Rafe said.
“Go ahead,” Karoly told me.
I gave him a rough sketch of my plan. That if my mother didn’t agree to give up the vendetta against the Krals, then I’d go public with how she’d hired Slayers, Inc. to kill Karoly’s sons and heirs.
“I’m going to upload the evidence to a secret server,” I added.
“I’ll want backup,” Karoly said.
I hesitated. “Of course.”
Rafe understood the reason for my hesitation. “Are you sure Tomas is the only mole?”
Karoly’s features sharpened into something feral. “No, I’m not sure. Andre Redbone was another traitor. But Gabriel eliminated that little problem.”
“Ah,” said Rafe. “Redbone was the New Orleans kapitán,” he told me.
I nodded.
“I still want backup,” Karoly said. “But you would be wise to have a third person—someone neutral—to keep the evidence safe. Just in case.”
“Agreed,” said Rafe.
“Very well,” Karoly said. “We will try this plan. But meanwhile,” he added, “take a night for yourself—just the two of you. You’re safe for now.”
Rafe brought my hand to his lips. “We could use a night to rest up.” Behind the cover of my hand, his tongue touched my palm in a sexy lick that made my inner thighs constrict.
His father’s black eyes sparked with amusement. “Of course. You must be…exhausted from your ordeal.”
His son smirked. “Something like that.”
“Zoe.” Karoly reached out his hands to me. “My mate would have my head if I didn’t wish you welcome to our family.”
I swallowed. I was conscious of both men looking at me. I withdrew my fingers from Rafe’s grip and took his father’s outstretched hands. They were strong and cool.
“Thank you. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” That was stretching the truth a little, but a part of me actually meant it.
The Kral Primus squeezed my fingers. “And you,” he said with a smile that, for a vampire, held real warmth.
Two guards, a male and a female, greeted us in the high-rise’s marble-and-wood foyer.
Rafe gave them an easy nod. “This is my mate, Princess Zoe,” he said. “She’s to be treated like a member of the family. Inform the rest of the staff.”
Their eyes widened. “Of course, sir,” they murmured.
“We’ll be staying in for the rest of the night.” He set a hand on my lower back and ushered me into the elevator.
Rafe’s penthouse took up the top two floors of the high-rise. I had the impression of hardwood floors and warm colors. The kitchen/dining room was a warm brick-red with touches of vibrant turquoise. Rafe urged me through the foyer and into the living room past a lime couch flanked by lipstick-red chairs. The east side was a wall of specially treated dark windows with a view of a river.
I loved it. Delighted, I pulled him to a halt and looked around me.
“The colors are so bright. And it feels so homey.”
“I’ll give you the tour later.” He practically dragged me to the stainless steel staircase at the penthouse’s center.
I was giggling now. “What’s your hurry?”
“What d’you think?” He pulled me, still laughing, up the stairs. Then we were in his bedroom, a lush but cozy space with brick walls and a massive bed covered in jade burnout velvet.
His mouth came down on mine. I eagerly kissed him back. He walked me backward until my thighs hit the velvet-covered bed. I sat down, and he kneed my legs apart so he could stand between them. He framed my face with his hands and gave me another kiss.
Somehow I ended up on my back, my booted feet still on the floor, Rafe over me. He put his forearms on either side of my head, his body pressing mine into the mattress.
My nipples prickled. He rocked his hips against mine.
He gave me a slow, toe-curling kiss, then raised up long enough to remove my T-shirt and bra. His fangs scraped my throat.
I tensed, and then my head dropped back. It was submission, but also a kind of power. Because he couldn’t walk away from this thing between us anymore than I could.
An approving growl. “Mine,” he said against my skin. “I’ll never let you go.”
My vampire liked that, because I wasn’t letting him go, either.
He dragged his lips down my throat. Kissed each of my nipples through the bra.
“I meant it, you know—what I said when we mated. I always wanted you as a mate.”
I stroked my hand down his curls. “I do know it. That thing you said to your father about your mom being the best thing that ever happened to him? That’s how I feel about you.”
He lifted his head and grinned at me. “About time you realized it.”
That did it. I grabbed his shoulders and pulled him back up to me. “Kiss me, Kral.”
And he did. Hot, wild, very-Rafe kisses.
He’d clearly been holding back, because now he unleashed his full arsenal. When he’d kissed me breathless, he attacked my clothing. My boots came off first, then he tore off my jeans and panties.
He stood up long enough to divest himself of his own clothing, then reached beneath me to pull down the jade bedspread, revealing chocolate-colored sateen sheets.
I shimmied my hips against the smooth sateen. “Mm. Sexy.”
He crawled on top of me. Six feet, two inches of aroused, hard-bodied male.
His dark eyes burned into mine. His erection brushed my belly. “You look like a fucking goddess with your gold eyes and your beautiful body and your hair spread out like that around your face.”
He combed his fingers though my hair, arranging it on the pillow to his liking.
How did he do that? Make me feel like the most beautiful woman in the world?
“Your goddess.” I opened my arms to him.
His eyes flashed blue. “My goddess.” He stroked his hands over me like an artist learning every curve so he could commit my body to canvas.
I linked my fingers around his nape and tried to pull him down for a kiss, but he resisted and sat up. “Hang on a minute.”
“No.” I tried to pull him back.
“Trust me, you want this.” He dug into the duffel bag for a large white box wrapped in a gold ribbon. “It’s a little late, but happy birthday, sweetheart.”
The box was from a Paris chocolatier. He must have picked it up that last day when I’d still been asleep.
I sat up and opened the box. Salted caramel truffles.
“Oh.” I sucked in my lower lip.
“Your favorite. I told you I remembered.”
I nodded, heart full.
“Here.” He selected one and brought it to my mouth.
I took a small bite. The flavor exploded on my tongue—the salt of the caramel mixed with the dark chocolate’s rich sweetness. I moaned in pleasure.
“More?” He offered me the rest of the truffle.
“Mm-hm.” I took it into my mouth and rolled it around on my tongue. Savoring the taste.
Rafe drew a jagged breath. “Those weeks we were in the negotiations? You have no idea what you did to me when you ate one of those. So slowly. I had such nasty thoughts about your mouth and chocolate.”
“Oh, I knew what you were thinking.” I reached for another truffle. I took a bite out of it but held the piece in my mouth and pushed him back onto the sateen pillows. “Why do you think I played up to you?”
He shook his head in mock-reproof. “You are so bad.”
“Yep.” I grinned and rubbed the melting chocolate up and down his hard length. “Let me see… Were you thinking something like this?”
His swallow was loud in the quiet bedroom. He took my head and guided me to take him
into my mouth.
“Sweetheart, you read my mind.”
26
RAFE
We spent most of Sunday in bed catching up with our sleep. I woke before Zoe and lay there, looking at her. I was sloppy in love, and I didn’t care. She was so beautiful to me.
My dark-haired, golden-skinned vampire princess.
When she finally opened her eyes, we took a shower together. I indulged myself by washing her all over and then taking her against the black granite wall. We were both starving by then, so we went down to the Village and the Ruby Speakeasy, a Kral vampire club where we could feed.
We spent most of the night looking for Zaq in both vampire and human clubs. My brother wasn’t good at conjuring a glamour, but he had a way of blending in with humans that was almost as effective. He had to know I was in New York, but if he was here too, as he’d told Zoe, he was hiding, even from me.
It hurt, even though I knew he’d been brainwashed by Philippe and Tomas.
We returned to my penthouse and made love again. Zoe fell asleep at dawn, but I stayed up for another few hours, trying everything I could think of to track down Zaq. I even went looking for him online, although I knew he was too smart to leave digital traces. If he wanted to hide, he’d stay offline and use cash.
My eyelids grew heavy. I ran a hand down my face, then shut my laptop and crawled into bed with Zoe.
Around dusk, the buzzing of my phone woke me. I grabbed it from the nightstand.
It was Father. Zaq had contacted Gabriel.
I snapped awake. “How is he? What did he say?”
“He’s okay, as far as Gabriel could tell. But he wants me to call off the hunt.”
I rubbed my forehead. “Why?”
“That’s all he said, other than that you and Gabriel should be careful, too—that whoever was behind this wanted to bring me to my knees. He told Gabriel that he couldn’t talk long, that he was afraid the call would be traced.”
I shook my head. “I don’t like it.”
Craved: A Vampire Syndicate Paranormal Romance (The Vampire Syndicate Book 2) Page 24
