by L. J. Red
He bent close, one of his braids trailing across her skin, and his lips brushed her ear as he whispered, “Let me show you. Let me show you how a soulmate bond can feel.”
She let her eyes fall shut. Her control a fragile thread, fraying. She wanted, Oh God, she wanted him so bad. She dragged open her eyes and caught his blue ones. The depth to his gaze caught and held her. He wanted her, really wanted her. His eyes shone with desire. It made her feel precious, special, and her control snapped.
“Yes,” she moaned, arching up toward him. “Show me.”
Rune’s blue eyes seemed to glow as desire rose between them. His gaze dropped to her lips and she trembled as he held back for one agonizing second before pressing his mouth to hers and kissing her deeply. It was everything she remembered, everything she wanted. She surrendered to desire. Rune’s hand went to the small of her back, pressing her against him until she felt his hardness against her belly. Fuck. He wanted her as much as she wanted him.
The kiss went on forever, until finally, Brigit pulled free, gasping a breath. She was light-headed. She wanted to kiss him again; it was like a drug. Desire made her thoughts drip slow and hazy through her mind. There was a strange, whispery sound around them and the shadows seemed to detach from the walls and wrap closer. She gasped and clutched him, but Rune had her. His arms were solid and strong around her as he lifted them up and whirled them away, through the shadows.
Chapter 24
Rune parted the shadows and deposited them in a back room, empty and silent, far from where the rest of his Bloodline were gathered. He couldn’t bear to wait long enough to reach his rooms. He needed her; he needed her now. He pressed his lips against her neck. Soon, he would claim her, take her as his soulmate forever. But first he needed to feel her around him, he needed to send her to a high of bliss that she had never felt. He wanted to worship her, to devote every part of his body, his lips, his mouth, his fingers, to her desire. He wanted her to feel… everything.
Rune kicked the door shut behind them, scanning the room in half a second, and laid Brigit down on the chaise lounge by the curtained window. He arched over her, pressing her into the cushions as he trailed kisses down her neck, his fingers working at her shirt.
The moment Brigit recovered from traveling through the shadows she lifted her hands to the back of his head and pressed him closer. He reveled in her desire. She wanted him, wanted this. It felt right. Pure need washed over him and he shoved her shirt up roughly, tugging at the clasp of her pants and shoving them down. His fingers deftly slipped between cloth and skin.
Brigit gasped, her red lips wide, her skin flushed, as he traced the tips of his fingers along her delicate folds. “Oh fuck, yes,” she moaned, and Rune grinned, plunging his fingers deep inside her, again and again, driving her higher. Fuck, he wanted to be inside her, wanted to feel her around him, but this, seeing her moan and writhe under the onslaught of his hands, this was so good too. He kissed her again, tongue tangling with hers, and quickened the rhythm of his fingers deep within her. All around him heat and pleasure. She was loud, giving herself over with abandon to his touch, and he was glad they had moved far enough from the others that they wouldn’t be overheard. He wanted this for himself. Everything about her, her body, her pleasure, the way she looked beneath him. He treasured it.
Her hair had come loose, a blonde halo around her neck, and her eyes were half-lidded as she arched against him, sensation building, echoing down the fragile bond between them as she finally came undone.
She sagged against the chaise, panting. He pressed his body against hers, needing so badly to release the tension still in his frame. God, he wanted her, wanted to take her here, drive her to orgasm again. It all felt so perfect. His soulmate here, underneath him. The joining of their bodies was exactly as he knew it would feel. They fit together perfectly, her curves against his hard planes.
This was how it should be. The two of them, together. He had wanted to tell her earlier, tell her she had a place here, that they could be together as they were meant to be, as soulmates. But he knew his actions could speak louder than words. He would show her. This time she would say yes.
He let his fangs slide into his mouth and he looked down at Brigit. “I want to claim you,” he said, expecting her to agree.
But her eyes opened wide, and instead she scrambled back, pulling her clothes over her body. “No.”
Rune felt like he had been plunged into ice cold water.
“But I thought… Is that not why…”
“I’m not your damn property.” She took another step away from him.
“You felt it,” he said. “I know you did; your place is here—”
Brigit stared and the anger in her eyes stole his breath. “My place? Excuse me? Where do you get off telling me where my place is?”
Rune stared back at her. Wasn’t it his right? To decide where they should live, how they should live? That was how things had been done in the past. Wasn’t it? He hesitated. There had been women warriors in his village. They had gone out with him to fight. He would never have dreamed of telling them their place. But that was different; they were ancient warriors, not modern women. Surely Brigit could not want that, to fight like that? He thought about how she had carried herself in the raid on the black-market shop, thought of the warrior bond she had with Dana that let them both move silent and dangerous, in tune with each other. Shit. He’d made a mistake. He’d screwed up. Again.
“That’s not what this is,” Brigit said. “Look, I’m afraid you’ve got it wrong. I can’t be your soulmate. I’m not who you think I am and this, this was a mistake.”
“I don’t—” Rune hesitated. He needed to get it right this time. Needed to explain he recognized her strength, but that he still wanted her beside him… If he could only claim her, turn her, as his fellow Shadows had turned their soulmates. It was how it was supposed to be, wasn’t it? He had never known any other soulmates. So that had to be right. “What if you were a vampire,” he said, alight with the idea. “If I turn you, you will understand, you’ll feel it,” He took a step toward her. “You’ll be stronger, faster, better…” He trailed off.
“Better?” Brigit’s eyes were hollow. “You don’t know me at all,” she said.
“Brigit.”
“No,” she choked out, and he was horrified to see her eyes were filling with tears.
“Please, I don’t—”
But Brigit didn’t let him get the words out. “Look,” she said, “it feels so good between us, I get it, but that isn’t the only thing that matters. You need someone who fits what you want. Someone who wants to be a vampire who wants to live here.” She gestured around her. “Who wants to be protected.” She sniffed. “I hope you find that person, but it’s not me. I’m a fighter and I’m always going to be on the front line of whatever battle we face, and that means sometimes I’ll be in danger.” Rune’s eyes flared with emotion. He couldn’t stop his protective instincts rising at the thought of Brigit being put in danger. “I can see you don’t like that thought,” Brigit said.
Rune didn’t know how to explain that, of course, he hated the thought of her being in danger. To see her in pain would be to feel that pain himself, but that didn’t mean he would stop her from doing her job. He’d already realized what a mistake that would be, but before he could say anything Brigit was speaking again.
“And you need someone who will embrace being a vampire. That’s not me. I have a family, a life. I don’t want to be a vampire. Not ever.”
Rune couldn’t understand that. How could she not want eternal life, eternal strength? He had embraced becoming a vampire from the start. He couldn’t imagine anything else.
Brigit started dragging her clothes back on, turning away from him.
“Don’t leave,” Rune said, all his words falling apart in the face of her pain.
“I thought we could just… I thought this would help, but I was an idiot. I’m sorry; I’ve made it worse,” she said. “It
was a mistake. I have to go,” she choked out, and with that she walked quickly from the room, the door swinging shut behind her. Rune stared at the door, impassive and silent as rage rippled through him. Then he exploded into movement, slamming his fist against the wall, cracking brickwork and crumbling plaster under the impact of his hand. It was over. He had lost her.
Chapter 25
Brigit rushed from the Sanctuary, tears making the view in front of her blurry.
What had she been thinking? Of course sex wasn’t going to be the answer. Sleeping with him wouldn’t solve her problems. It had been a ridiculous, desire-fueled decision to make, and now she had not just the memory of the kiss to taunt her, but the memory of how his fingers had felt inside her and all the closeness they had shared. All of it tainted by the fact that he had instantly followed it by getting his fangs out. Brigit sobbed, climbing into her car and beating the steering wheel.
She didn’t want to become a vampire. She never wanted to be a vampire. How hard was that to understand? She was a human and a human life meant too much to her to give it up. She had her family; she loved them, needed them, and she wasn’t going to sacrifice it all and move into the Sanctuary permanently.
Brigit wasn’t sure how she managed to find her way home from the Sanctuary, but finally she climbed into bed and pulled the covers up, hiding away from the world and falling into a deep sleep.
Her alarm woke her the next evening and she dragged herself out of bed, staring at her red-rimmed eyes in the mirror and tying her hair into a messy bun. She really didn’t want to face the precinct today but she had no choice, so she grabbed her makeup bag and put on her armor.
Feeling slightly more human once she had her face on, she stepped out into the Chicago night. Luckily the bullpen was practically empty for once and she went straight to her seat in the team’s room, ducking down behind her computer, intending to hide there for the rest of her shift.
Dana came in a little later, clutching a couple of coffees. She came over to Brigit’s desk. “Hey,” she said. “You okay? I thought I heard you leave later than I thought last night.”
Brigit grabbed the coffee and swallowed a scalding mouthful. “I’m fine,” she said shortly, not inviting any more questions.
From Dana’s frown, Brigit saw she was unconvinced. But she respected Brigit’s very loud ‘do not ask’ signals and went over to her desk.
Brigit knew she should speak to Dana. If anyone could understand what she was going through, it’d be her. Then she remembered Dana had chosen to become a vampire. Okay fine, Lucian had been dying and it had been the only way to stop the Monster of Chicago, but still. Dana didn’t have a family to lose. Brigit did, and she couldn’t lose them. It would break her.
The night stretched out into an interminable, miserable crawl. Even the weather seemed miserable, with a spitting rain splattering the windows. Slowly the bullpen got rowdier as the cops inside tried to avoid going out into the city in this awful weather and found all sorts of excuses to do the paperwork that had been piling up over the past few dry days.
Brigit would rather be out in that miserable weather. Anything was better than sitting here, staring at her computer, trying not to look at Rune’s empty chair, and waiting for a lead to materialize.
They had thought finding the black-market shop would help them, the unexpected links to both HUNT and Sparrow spurring them on, but everything had dried up. Nothing had come of it and they had ground once more to a halt, stuck going over every piece of evidence, every interview, every witness testimony in the hope they would turn up something that would give them the next link in the chain to cracking the case open.
Brigit stretched, her back clicking, and looked around the room. Coffee cups lined the tables and the remains of the takeout that Agent Franklin had ordered left a greasy smell in the air.
Franklin herself was still working behind her desk along with Dana and Brigit. Novak had disappeared.
Franklin’s desk was so full up with reports from the black-market evidence that she had moved to where he usually sat. She snapped closed the report she’d been reading and dropped it on the tall stack next to her. The stack wobbled precariously, slipped, and then, almost in slow motion as Franklin grabbed for it, the files all cascaded over the edge of Novak’s desk. “Oh crap,” Franklin shouted as the files crashed to the floor. She looked down at the mess and up at the other two, and the expression of horror on her face was so funny Brigit cracked up. Dana followed, and after a moment Franklin joined in.
“I’m sorry,” Brigit said, trying to gasp in a breath. “You looked like someone had died, oh man.” She pushed herself up and came over to help clear them up. “I needed that, wow.” She sighed, feeling better for the laughter.
Dana joined her on the other side.
“It’s the thought of losing my damn sorting system,” Franklin explained. “I should probably just work on the floor at this rate.” She sighed. “Thanks for helping.”
“No worries. You’ve been plowing through them all day.”
“We all have,” Dana sighed. “Well.” She glanced at the two empty seats. “Those of us present at any rate.”
“Yeah,” Brigit said. “Where’s Novak? He was around a minute ago.”
“He went out to grab a coffee,” Franklin said.
“Without offering to do a run for the rest of us?” Brigit rolled her eyes. “Real spirit of cooperation, that guy.” At least they had Franklin. Brigit caught Dana’s eyes and read the same thought reflected in them. Dana stacked up her files and placed them on the corner of the desk.
“Thanks,” Franklin said as Brigit placed the rest on the other side. “Honestly, half the stuff isn’t mine. Novak isn’t exactly a tidy guy.” She frowned, picking up a piece of paper left on the floor. “This was a report from the raid that was supposed to be filed ages ago.” Her expression darkened further. “In fact… this is pretty important. Why wasn’t it put into the system?” she murmured.
Brigit traded a sharp look with Dana. “What is it?” she asked.
“It’s the powder we found in the black-market raid.”
“You mean a workup from Dr. Patil? She can’t have done it that quickly; I only just dropped the samples off.”
“No, no,” Franklin said. “It’s not that. It’s something about the canisters they were using. I wanted them checked for serial numbers, anything I could use to trace them. Novak told me he didn’t have anything, but this list…” She dragged her laptop over and tapped away at the keys.
“Why the hell didn’t Novak share it then?” Brigit said, turning to look at Dana. Over her partner’s shoulder, she saw Novak walk in.
His eyes widened when he saw the three of them clustered around his desk. “Um…” He tensed “Did you want coffee?”
“Forget the coffee,” Brigit said, grabbing the report. “Why didn’t this go into the system?”
“Oh.” Novak gulped. “That, yeah. Um, so I was going to, I just… I didn’t have time. And there was so much to get through, um, I guess I must have forgotten.”
Brigit glared. His excuse was barely coherent. He ‘oh, um, forgot?’ Bullshit. She caught Dana’s eye as she passed the report back to Franklin.
“Not good enough,” Dana said. “You’re part of this team. We expect you to do your job properly. I’ll be reporting this to Morrell.”
“Okay, sorry,” Novak said. “I can get right on it.” He sidled toward his desk.
“No, it’s fine,” Franklin said. “I’m working on it now.” She hunkered down in front of her laptop. Brigit crossed her fingers. She hoped Franklin would find something, and soon. Sparrow had got herself out of all sorts of scrapes over the years, but Brigit was afraid this one might be her last.
Chapter 26
“What do you mean, they’re getting close?” Cleaver spat down the phone. “You were supposed to be running interference.”
“I know.” The voice came tinnily down the line. “You don’t understand. They�
��re fucking persistent. They’re on the scent now and it’s only a matter of time before you get tracked down. You need to move out.”
“We’re not moving anywhere,” Cleaver said, looking down at the factory floor where his people were packing the powder into canisters. “We’re too close to perfecting the formula. The experiments we’ve been running on the captive vampires is crucial. You need to distract them somehow.”
“I can’t. They’re going to find your location. It’s only a matter of time. The Shadows are going to be called in and then—”
“Then deal with it,” Cleaver shouted. “That’s what I pay you to do, isn’t it? So, do it.” And he jabbed at the phone, cutting the call off abruptly. He gripped the phone so tightly the plastic creaked. They couldn’t leave now. They weren’t ready. The money V.I.T.R.I.O.L. was pumping into Brightbrook had accelerated his schedule, but they had too much going on here to leave. Roman had turned enough of the captives that they had plenty for their experiments. And if a few died when they tested their weapons on them? Well, it only showed how well they were working. Roman didn’t seem to care, and the body parts all went back into the black market to help finance HUNT. It was a perfect system, or it had been until the damn cops and Feds began sticking their noses in.
Cleaver caught a flash of white in the corner of his eye and spun around to see Roman standing behind him. He refused to show any of the shock or fear on his face. How the hell had the vampire got in here without anyone seeing him? Damn, he hated working with him. “I thought you were supposed to be dealing with the Shadows,” he said to Roman, covering his fear with bluster.
Roman snarled, his face full of fangs, and suddenly he was standing right in front of Cleaver, so close Cleaver felt the passage of air from his movement. “Don’t question me, human,” Roman snapped. “The Shadows won’t be a threat for much longer, but I will deal them in my own time. Chicago is my territory, my seat of power. You are nothing. Your life will be gone like that.” He snapped his fingers close to Cleaver’s face, his long nails sharpening into claws dangerously close to Cleaver’s eyes.