The Ravana Clan Vampires: a Young Adult Paranormal Romance (Complete Series)

by E. M. Moore

  That was it. I couldn’t take it anymore. I reached up to stay his hand, except I only succeeded in helping him cup me fully over my pajama top. “Nic,” I whispered, my jaw tense. He was in the middle of shifting again, the hard part of his body rearing up to come just that much closer. “Nic,” I whispered a little more harshly.

  He stilled. I froze alongside him, my breath suspended, waiting for him to make the first move. I couldn’t see him, but I could feel the realization in his body as he became aware of our situation. He conformed around me like a wet blanket, his hand wiggling out of my hold and moving to my hip so he could press me back as he angled forward. His other hand snaked under me and took the other’s place over my chest. Pleasure coursed through me, but I fought it with everything I had. I bit my lip so hard it was possible I’d even made myself bleed.

  He was taut, still holding me in place when a gruff whisper sounded near my ear. “Do you know what torture it is to wake up like this?” He pulled me back again and I let go of the hand on my breast to stop the one on my hip that was intent on making me suffer. His head bowed toward mine, his lips moving right next to my ear. “I’m stopping, but only out of respect for my brothers. If I had my way, I’d—” He moaned, his hips arcing forward again. I squeezed his fingers around my hip, unsure if I was telling him to stop or urging him. I had a feeling I knew what he’d do, and my body really liked the idea of it, even if we’d soon have an audience. “Fuck, Ri,” he said, practically growling. “I’m so gone. I need to move away now before I get us both in trouble.”

  I didn’t move my hands, and he didn’t pull away either. I’d always wondered about Nicolai. What it would be like with him. He was always so dark, almost dangerous looking at times. I couldn’t deny that appealed to me on a primal level. Who didn’t fantasize about the dark and sexy ones? But it was deeper than that with him. He had heart, too. An amazing one that cared for me on another level.

  Without thinking, I nestled back into him.

  He froze for a split second, then he reached out and bit my earlobe. I squeezed his hand, needing somewhere to put my energy instead of vocalizing it. God, I hated him right now.

  “This is on you, Ri,” he said. His voice dark, husky. “It’s your move because I swear I’ll just take you. Think I won’t? Tempt me.” He nipped my lobe again and the heat between my legs intensified. “It might not be pretty the first time, but it’ll be raw and all about feeling. When we decide to give in, I want to make you come so hard you—”

  I pushed away. I scrambled into Christian and then turned around, my chest heaving as I stared at a grinning Nicolai. He didn’t look ashamed or embarrassed whatsoever. There were shadows in and around his eyes, then they lifted as the corners of his mouth tipped up.

  “You win. For now,” he whispered.

  Won? I was pretty sure I just lost, but holy shit. My body was shaking.

  Christian propped himself up on his elbow and put his hand on my shoulder. “Hey, you okay? Did you have a bad dream?”

  I shook my head, my heart still racing.

  “Are you sure? You’re freaking out. Your body is quivering.”

  Nic grinned and turned over, carefully concealing his massive hard-on with his blankets.

  I flopped down on my back and tried to relax. Christian hovered over me. His steely blue eyes calculating as he stared at me from above. “I don’t want you to worry about today. We’ll go in and tell them the truth, we’ll tell them exactly what happened, then we’ll get you back to The Fort so you can finish your training.”

  I swallowed, trying to make my mind think about something other than Nic. It took about half a minute before I could form any rational thought. “Are you guys coming back with me?”

  “Of course, where else would we go?”

  I smiled at the thought of them being there with me until the end of training. I wanted to see their faces after I kicked Zeke’s ass in the obstacle course. They could get pulled away for Council duties again. That I could live with as long as they weren’t gone for too long. If it weren’t for the fact that I needed to finish my training, I’d tell them I wanted to stay here. However, even I knew The Council wouldn’t let me do that unless I was their guard. We just needed to be patient, take things one step at a time before we were all back here again and having slumber parties in the library.

  He leaned over and kissed my cheek. Instead of pulling away, his lips lingered. “You are positively ravishing in the morning.”

  My face flushed. He should see them through my eyes at any time of the day. It was like looking at a GQ magazine twenty-four seven. You had your light one, your dark one, your middle of the road intense ones. It was like a smorgasbord of hot men. I took a deep leveling breath and sat up. No good was going to come from this morning if I didn’t get up and get away from them for a little while. A much needed cold shower did sound good.

  Christian’s eyes narrowed as he watched me stand. I waved away his worries. “I’m going to get ready for today,” I explained. He caught my hand and pulled me back a step, his lips grazing the skin at my knuckles. His eyes were questioning, and my heart constricted. I reached out and ran my hands through his hair. “You are a sight worth waking up to every morning.”

  Then, I pulled from his grasp and turned on my heel. I practically ran down that hall, then took a quick peek toward the first room, the room I’d pretty much determined the guys were holding something back about, and then continued forward down our hall. I slipped into the room I’d been given and made my way into the bathroom where I locked the door behind me. I leaned against it, my heart still racing as a smile pulled my lips apart.

  God, I was one of the luckiest women alive.

  Hopefully, after this Council meeting, we could take some time to hang out together. I missed out on almost a whole day with them yesterday because I trained with the other guards and then went on the scouting trip. Remembering what happened last night, I pulled at the bandages around my forearms until they fell off and gawked down in amazement. There was barely anything there. It looked like a deep cat scratch, not the fierce vampire attack it had been. That Stephan, he was too good. I’d have to thank him later.

  I showered and dressed quickly. I was just pulling my hair back into a ponytail as I left the bathroom when I found Christian sitting on the edge of my bed. He was already dressed for the day, perfectly handsome in a pair of khakis and a polo shirt. “Hey,” I said, my steps slowing when I spotted him.

  He looked up, a smile lighting his face. “I was going to tell you to wear your trainee uniform, but looks like you beat me to it.”

  I shrugged. “Figured it was more appropriate than regular clothes.”

  I sat next to him, and he immediately reached out to take my hand. The sentiment was all too familiar. I bent my head to look at him. “You’re not afraid I’m going to take off again, are you?” I asked, bringing our entwined hands up so he could look at them. “This is what you usually do when that’s going through your head.”

  He chuckled, the invisible weight on his shoulders lifting a little. “Yes? No?” He shook his head. “I just keep wondering when you’re going to get sick of all this and want to leave. I stopped you once, but now that you’ve been captured and injured,” he said, his fingers tracing over my now almost non-existent claw marks. “I don’t think I’d stop you again.”

  I wanted to make a joke, but I couldn’t. He was always taking too much on himself, beating himself up for bringing me here. I didn’t know how to make him realize he’d done me the biggest favor. “I’m happy here,” I said earnestly. “With all of you. You know that.”

  “But you keep getting hurt. I swear if we knew things were going to get this bad, we would’ve waited.”

  “Waited?”

  “To bring you into our world.”

  Now that I had them, to wait even a second longer would’ve been like gasping for breath. “I want all of you under any circumstances. I don’t care if we’re constantly under at
tack or if we’re just hanging out. I’m finally living.”

  He tucked a flyaway hair around my ear, his face a mix of emotions that I couldn’t quite place. “If only we’d been able to bring you here as one of us. If we could’ve claimed you as ours instead of having to jump through hoops first, we wouldn’t be going through this right now.”

  I squeezed his hand. “If by jump through hoops you mean being a guard, I think I need to tell you something…” I smiled, letting the feeling of being needed, of having a purpose surround me. “I like being a guard.”

  “That’s quite obvious, but I can’t sit back and say that it doesn’t make me nervous. Maybe I have some of that old world vampire in me, but I want you by my side, not out front fighting my battles.”

  I’d always been drawn to the idea of being protected, but now that I had skills, now that I knew what my body could do, I liked the idea of both. Sometimes I wanted to feel safe, and other times, I liked the idea of fighting for those around me. “Why don’t you think of it as fighting side-by-side? You know damn well you wouldn’t let me out front of you anyway if we were ever in a bad situation.”

  His blue-gray eyes looked as if a storm cloud was passing over. “You’ve already been out front. Twice.”

  “And I’m still here,” I said, moving our entwined hands to my chest where I held them over my heart.

  There was a knock on the door, and Nicolai, Connor, and Stephan strolled in. They all looked dapper in their pressed pants and fancy shirts, different from their usual jeans and t-shirt attire. I squeezed Christian’s hand twice letting him know we weren’t done with this conversation and hopefully reinforcing that I wasn’t going anywhere. I’d happily fight in front of him or behind him as long as he wanted me to.

  “Are we ready?” Connor asked. “We don’t want to be late. Especially not with Checkov running it.”

  I stood and smoothed my black pants down as if they were a skirt. I’d worn the trainee uniform on purpose. I wanted everyone to think of me as the Ravana Princes’ guard. When they thought of their safety, I wanted them to think of me.

  Christian stood. “From what Dad told me last night, they’ll ask Ariana questions first. We’ll be allowed in at the same time. Then, they’ll call us up individually.”

  Stephan cleared his throat and looked at the ceiling. He was pale—well, paler than normal. He’d have to recount what he’d done to Kay today. It wasn’t bad enough that he’d had to do it in the first place, now he’d have to live through it again as he told them all what he did.

  Nicolai clapped him on the back. “You’ll be fine.” He turned toward me, still a mischievous glint to his eyes. “Just so you’re not surprised when you get in there, the room we’re headed to looks like a judge’s courtroom. There will be a table in the front where all the Council members sit. Off to the right is where the witnesses sit. That’s us when our time comes. There will be others looking on, I’m sure. Unless it’s a closed door Council meeting, all the meetings are open and any vampire who chooses to attend can do so.”

  I peeked at Stephan and frowned. Great. Now he’d have even more of an audience. I set my shoulders back and tugged my ponytail over my shoulder so it laid down my back. “Let’s get this over with then.”

  I waited as the rest of them walked from the room so I could fall in step with Stephan. “We can talk afterward if you want,” I offered I looked up at him, but he kept his face forward. “Just please don’t go off and try to deal with it alone. Not again.”

  He caught my eye and nodded. He’d do it for me even if he wouldn’t do it for himself. Once we got him through this, things might get better. Maybe he’d be able to put it behind him little-by-little.

  I turned my attention back ahead of me, sending up a little prayer that Stephan would make it through this alright. He reached out and grabbed my hand. I entwined my fingers with his almost sighing in relief. He gave me a short squeeze as we continued to the Council meeting. Though we were just giving testimony, it seemed like much more than that. The Council would be judging us for sure. What was done was done though. Now we just needed to wait and see what they would say about our actions.

  15

  Just like Nicolai prepared me for, the room was large and set up almost exactly like a courtroom. However, instead of a judge up front, there was a long table with important looking vampires in business suits facing the entire room. The front of the room was raised by a few feet so the audience could see everything going on. Two steps sectioned off the seating area from where the Council members sat. The room had a dome roof with shaded glass at the top, stopping the sun’s harmful rays from shining directly down on the vampires, but still letting in a small amount of natural light from outside. From what I’d seen of the vampires, they liked the best of both worlds. They wanted the light, but they didn’t want to be out in the sun where it could harm them. It was a bit like having your cake and eating it too. They liked having human guards for their protection, but they also wanted to regulate that by putting measures and restrictions on people. I almost laughed when the thought occurred to me. This no “real” feelings for human guards was like putting shaded glass over the guards. They were there, but not really, and only when they needed them.

  I shook the thought away and followed the princes down to the first row of benches and sat. People were scattered throughout the room, but there were still more vampires coming in every minute as we waited for the meeting to begin. Shock paralyzed me for a second as Isabelle Ravana took a seat at the Council table a few down from her husband. There seemed to be some confusion about where Gregor would sit, but ultimately, he sat at the center of the table, and a man with red-brown hair sat next to him. Connor leaned over. “Philippe Checkov.”

  I nodded and watched as he pulled the desktop microphone over to him and made sure it had the correct angle to capture his voice. He went through all the trouble, but when a series of loud clangs rang through the room announcing the top of the hour, Gregor grabbed the microphone from him and poised it in front of his mouth. “Good afternoon.” His eyes shone down on the room, landing last on his sons. The room quieted in an instant. “We are here today to hear testimony regarding the incident involving Royce Michaelson and Katherine Nichols. Philippe Checkov will preside over the meeting as my sons will be giving testimony. Thank you.” He slid the microphone over to Checkov without looking.

  Checkov took his time placing the microphone in front of him and adjusting it. Finally, he smiled out at the seating area. I turned around in my seat to see how many had come in after we sat. There were only a few empty spots in the whole room. I wished I knew if this was a normal gathering or not. Surely these people had better things to do than listen to what we had to say about the incident.

  A male voice echoed through the room. I twisted in my seat once more to find Checkov still smiling. “First, we have Ariana Stuart giving us her testimony.” The vampire gestured toward the seat off to the side just like Nic said. I rose, taking that as my cue to move forward. “Ariana is training to be the guard for Nicolai, Christian, Stephan, and Connor Ravana, our princes.”

  My heart was in my throat as I moved toward the seat. Once I sat, I looked out over the crowd of people and immediately wished I hadn’t. The vampires looked at me curiously, almost as if they could see right through me to the bone and marrow underneath. I squirmed in my seat before locking eyes with Nicolai who gave me a slight nod.

  “Ariana,” Checkov said, garnering my attention. “It is our understanding that you were at the Rajyvik training facility when Kay kidnapped you.”

  I cringed. I really hated that stupid kidnapped word. My throat ran dry and got worse by the second. I took a quick peek out at the crowd again and noticed others there that I hadn’t before. Lex, T.J., Matthews, and even Samuel sat in the last row. “Yes, Sir,” I said, forcing the words out. “I was at the Rajyvik party celebrating a new vampire child, Christopher.”

  Checkov looked down at a paper on the desk in fro
nt of him. “And where exactly were you when she absconded with you?”

  “I was outside speaking with Nicolai Ravana regarding guard duties.” The lie eased off my tongue as easy as the truth. “One moment we were just talking and the next, it was dark. I didn’t wake up until I was in a basement tied up and laying on the floor.”

  Checkov finally turned his narrow gaze on me. His dark eyes weren’t as menacing as Nic’s, but there was something there that affected me differently. “Can you explain to us what happened from there, Ariana?”

  I nodded, then cleared my throat and looked out over the crowd. “Kay told me she’d taken me because her vampire lover—” The vamps in the room stood up straight and looked uncomfortable. I turned to Stephan and held his eyes. I pretended I was just telling him what happened. “—her vampire lover killed himself because of a decision The Council made. It was then I realized she was the woman guard I’d read about in the papers who’d become pregnant from a vampire. She told me she blamed Gregor Ravana for Royce’s death, and that she was taking me to get revenge on him.”

  “Revenge on him? Did she explain?” Checkov asked.

  It was ridiculous to be repeating all this. Gregor had to have related every bit of this information before. Why did they want to hear it direct from us? And for it to bring Stephan back to that moment, I hated it even more. I wondered if Gregor even knew what he was about to do to his son.

  Instead of saying any of this, I just answered the question. “She said I was there as a lure to reach the princes. If she could hurt the princes, her revenge on Gregor would be complete.”

  Another voice from the Council table rang around the room. I looked away from Stephan to find a woman on the end with long black hair staring at me. “Katherine Nichols felt she could use you to get to the princes? Do you know why that is?”

  My heart started to pound. These were the kinds of questions I was dreading. Any questions that alluded to why the princes would care were dangerous. I decided for the truth. Well, at least the truth I would know if I was an outsider. “She didn’t tell me specifically, no. She told me to call them and get them to meet her so they could get me back. I refused. I knew that once they were there, she would hurt them.”