“Okay, we need to check out the scene,” Cyn was saying. “Kathryn, I have a flashlight in my purse, but just one, and these guys never need them.”
“Hey,” Kathryn said in mock affront. “Don’t you watch TV? I’m an FBI agent. I always have a flashlight with me.” She disappeared into the bedroom, emerging a moment later with the same kind of Mini Maglite that Cyn carried. Raphael couldn’t help noticing the similarities between the two women, and he only hoped Kathryn tormented Lucas as efficiently as Cyn did him. The thought made him smile.
“I hate to break up the party,” Lucas said dryly, when the women were gone, “but it’s getting late. Kathryn will be going back to the city this morning, but, Raphael, I’ll have to stay at the main house today. We don’t know yet what damage this place has suffered, and given the situation—”
“This is your home, Lucas. Your territory. In any event, Cyn and I will leave for Chicago at sundown.”
Everyone was being polite, Raphael thought to himself, but the truth was that vampire lords were too aggressive and territorial to play well together, especially when visiting another’s territory. The annual Council meetings typically lasted only a few hours, with the various lords flying in for the meeting and leaving just as quickly. This year’s meeting in Chicago would last longer because of the challenge, but since the city was part of the Midwest and currently no one’s territory, the strain would be lessened.
There was also the fact that under Raphael’s guidance, the members of the Council were slowly becoming allies, rather than enemies. They couldn’t erase their vampire instincts, but they could blunt them long enough to get along and work toward a common goal. Which was why Raphael had maneuvered all of them into this situation in the first place. If the European vampires had left him and his alone, he would have been happy ruling nothing but his Western territory with Cyn at his side. But he was nobody’s victim. If Europe wanted a fight, they’d get one. And they’d discover the bitter taste of defeat.
But for today, Raphael and Lucas would sleep in the same house, albeit as far from each other as physically possible. It helped that Lucas was Raphael’s child, and that he was willing to submit to Raphael’s will if it came down to it. But despite their love for each other, it would be stressful. It was necessary for this one day, but that was it.
The front door opened with a squeal of damaged wood, and Cyn stuck her head in.
“The replacement SUVs are here, and sunrise is about an hour away,” she said with obnoxious good cheer. “Time to rock and roll, my lords.”
“TIME TO ROCK and roll?” Raphael repeated, as he locked down the elevator in their guest quarters.
Cyn laughed. “I considered going with saddle up, what with Lucas having horses and all, but decided to stick with the classic instead.”
“Classic is obviously a relative term,” Raphael commented drily.
“You’re being awfully calm about me going back out to the homestead this morning.”
“As you said, Rob will be with you, and I happen to agree with your reasoning. It is necessary to find and stop Magda before she can disrupt the challenge in Chicago. With all of the other lords present, the potential for disaster is fairly high. And that doesn’t take into account the challengers who will be on edge even without her machinations.”
Cyn narrowed her eyes at him. “Who are you?”
“My Cyn,” he said, stepping close to her and trailing a finger down her silken cheek. “I have finally come to understand that my attempts to control you only result in you engaging in ever more risky behavior in order to prove that I do not, in fact, control you. I have, therefore, changed my approach. I am capable of adapting, you know.”
“You, my love,” she drawled, “are one of the most adaptable people I have ever met. You have one goal, and that is to win. And you do whatever it takes to get there.”
“I would move heaven and earth to keep you safe, lubimaya.”
“I know,” she said, her eyes going soft. “Even though I could argue you’re controlling me by not controlling me.”
Raphael laughed. “If only we had time for that discussion,” he said with mock regret. “You did promise to tuck me into bed, however.”
“Hmm. So, I did.” She shrugged out of her jacket, letting it drop to the floor behind her, then stripped her sweater off over her head. “How much time do we have?” She walked toward him, her hips swaying seductively as she twisted the front clasp on her bra.
Raphael growled and stuck his fingers into the waist band of her jeans, pulling her closer as her bra fell open, baring her beautiful breasts. He rested a hand on her waist as he bent to take her mouth in a kiss. Her arms snaked around his neck as she leaned into the kiss and pressed the full length of her body against him.
Their tongues caressed each other in a dance that was both familiar and different every time. She tasted like Cyn, sexy and seductive and surprisingly sweet. He could smell the enticing scent of her blood, so very close to the surface of her satin skin, the delicious perfume of her arousal. He lowered his head to the curve of her neck and simply breathed her in. He loved this woman as he had never loved another, as he never would love another.
He bent suddenly and swung her up into his arms, unable to wait any longer. The sun wasn’t far away, and he needed to be inside her, needed to feel her bucking beneath him, to hear her cries as she came over and over again, helpless in the throes of their lovemaking.
Cyn laughed as he threw her onto the bed. He pulled her boots off, then began tugging at his own clothes.
“Strip,” he ordered. “I want you naked.”
Cyn blew a raspberry at him, but put her hands on her jeans, snagging her lacy underwear as she began a sexy shimmy that shoved them both over her hips and down her endlessly long legs. When they were around her ankles, Raphael bent and pulled them the rest of the way off, then wrapped his fingers around her calves and placed one knee on the bed between her legs.
He looked her over then, one eyebrow raised in a challenging stare as he slid his hands higher along the inside of her thighs, spreading her legs until she was completely open to him.
“Raphael,” she whispered, her breaths shallow, her heart pounding so loud that he didn’t have to strain to hear it as he watched her fingers twist into the elegant silk of the bed’s coverlet.
“My Cyn,” he crooned, pressing his hand to the slick wetness between her legs, spreading the swollen lips of her vagina, and leaning close enough that his hard cock stroked teasingly against the satin skin of her inner thigh.
“I thought you said . . .” She panted a little to catch her breath, trying to finish her sentence. “You said,” she repeated breathlessly, “there wasn’t much time.” Her last word ended on a cry as he slipped a finger into the delicious heat of her sex, while his thumb rubbed slow circles around her sensitive clit.
Cyn groaned and tried to reach for him, but he only smiled. She swore and palmed her own breasts instead, pinching her nipples until they were full and ripe as cherries, until he could almost see the blood pulsing between her fingers.
It was his turn to swear. Leaning forward, he flattened one hand beneath her upper back and lifted her breasts to his mouth, sucking hard, first right then left, before biting one juicy nipple with a hungry growl. Cyn cried out, her nails digging furrows into the skin of his shoulders as her back bowed upward, offering herself to his mouth. Her hips thrust against him impatiently, her legs wrapped around his hips, pulling him into her heat.
Raphael reached between his legs with a snarl, and fisted his cock, wetting only the tip between her thighs, sliding it up and back, enjoying her small cries of frustration, until he finally positioned himself and entered her with a firm thrust. Plunging as deep as he could go, feeling the trembling sheath of her body as it parted before his invasion, then wrapped him in a hot, wet embrace.
Cyn scraped her fingers along his scalp and gave a hard tug on his hair, pulling him up to
her mouth, tasting her own blood on his tongue as they kissed passionately. This was no longer a seductive dance of tongues. This kiss was demand and desire all tangled up in the deep love they felt for each other. It was a hunger they could never satisfy, and one they would never tire of. Their teeth clashed as their tongues fought for dominance, and Raphael wanted to roar with the sheer joy of the battle.
With a growl, he wrenched his mouth away from her lips and nipped at her neck. Cyn’s breath caught, and he felt the first clench of her sheath. He bit harder, still teasing, still not breaking the skin, but beneath him Cyn’s muscles tightened in excitement, and the hot grasp of her pussy began to shiver around his cock.
Raphael lifted his head enough to stroke his tongue over the taut side of her neck. He kissed the swell of her jugular once, a bare touch of his lips.
“I love you, my Cyn,” he whispered against her hot skin.
“Raphael,” she panted, then groaned as her inner muscles contracted.
Raphael’s fangs emerged, and he struck without warning, slicing into the velvet honey of her vein, her blood filling his mouth, his stomach, spreading heat and life into every inch of him, until it was hard to tell where she ended and he began.
Cyn cried out, her inner walls fisting his cock until he could barely move, her abdominal muscles clenched, the hard pearls of her nipples scraping against his chest as she climaxed, bucking beneath him. He knew he should retract his fangs, should stop the satin flow of her blood into his mouth. He was powerful and old, he didn’t need much blood to sustain himself, but this was more than nourishment—this was his Cyn. He took one more long, indulgent pull, relishing the sheer, sweet taste of her, then lifted his head enough to lick the twin wounds shut.
Her eyes flashed open, green and fogged with desire. Her tongue dashed out, and she licked her lips, meeting his gaze in a challenge of her own, as she flexed her inner muscles around his cock.
Raphael sucked in a breath as desire flooded every nerve, heating his blood and swelling his cock to almost painful hardness as it jerked deep inside Cyn’s sexy body.
He growled and cupped her ass with both hands, holding her open as he began fucking her with long, hard strokes, the friction of their bodies generating an almost volcanic heat that surrounded his cock and shot straight to his balls. It soared higher and higher, a wild heat that shot down his shaft, splashing against Cyn’s womb as she orgasmed yet again, the two of them thrusting against each other until they were both spent and breathless.
Raphael collapsed on top of Cyn, feeling the pulse of her heart beating against his chest for only a moment before he rolled to one side, taking her with him. It was a few minutes before either one of them could speak.
“How’s that for tucking?” she asked, the tease ruined by the jaw-cracking yawn she spoke around.
“Excellent tucking,” he agreed. “You should sleep.”
“No,” she insisted. “I need to get back to the homestead before there’s nothing left to find.” She yawned again, then groaned. “Jesus, I hope there’s coffee on this ranch somewhere.”
Raphael hugged her. “Lucas has the usual daytime staff, so I’m certain there’s coffee and breakfast, too. You need to replenish.”
“I need to drink water, you mean. That’s what I get for loving a bloodsucker.”
He slapped her ass.
“Hey! There’s no need to beat me.”
Raphael scoffed wordlessly, and she laughed.
“What’s your plan for the day, then?” he asked.
“Depends on what we find at the homestead. If there’s anything to follow, we’ll do that, but I’ll be back before dark.”
“Promise.”
“Yeah, yeah, I promise.”
“I love you, my Cyn,” he murmured.
She rose up enough to press her lips against his. “I love you back, my Raphael.”
Raphael closed his eyes against the searing heat of the rising sun that was blazing inside his skull. He fought it as long as he could, straining to remain awake, to give voice to the alarm bells clanging in the back of his mind. But this was one foe he could never defeat, and sleep claimed him before he could warn her that among vampires even friends could be enemies.
Chapter Nine
“FUCK,” ROBBIE muttered, as he climbed from the SUV and stood staring at the debris scattered in front of Lucas’s homestead house.
Cyn ignored him as two of Lucas’s daytime security guards walked over to join them. She recognized both of them from the previous morning, and smiled a greeting.
“Okay with you if we look around a little?” she asked, although the request was mostly for form, because the visit had been arranged in advance.
“Help yourself,” one of the guards said. “Lord Donlon cleared it already.”
“Thanks. You all haven’t seen anyone snooping around, have you? Maybe a vehicle headed this way in the distance that turned around suddenly?”
The guard shook his head. “See for yourself. Line of sight goes on forever here. We’d definitely notice.”
“Okay. We’ll poke around a bit, and get out of your hair.”
“Holler if you need anything.”
Robbie didn’t look up when she rejoined him. Eyes on the ground, he grumbled, “Whose idea was it to search through this stuff anyway? Oh, wait,” he continued, slanting a look at Cyn. “It was yours.” He leaned over to push aside a piece of tire, then grunted in disgust.
Cyn glanced over at what appeared to be a piece of human rib bone with bits of meat still attached.
“I’m surprised there are any body parts left,” she said absently, returning to her own search. “I thought the animals would have dragged it away or eaten it by now.”
“A visual I could live without,” Robbie groused. “You know, Cyn, when you called this morning, you said we were going hunting, not picking through some guy’s barely dead remains.”
“We’re not picking through remains, we’re looking for clues. And then we’ll go hunting.”
“You sure the big guy knows you’re doing this?”
“Absolutely, and he agreed it was necessary.”
Robbie sighed. “All right, what the hell are we looking for again?”
“I think our best bet is finding something from the truck. It looked like a personal vehicle to me. I had other stuff on my mind at the time, but I remember it as being fully loaded. Shiny paint, lots of chrome, big tires. Somebody’s baby.”
“Nothing from the plate?”
Cyn closed her eyes briefly, trying to replay what she’d seen in those few minutes of panic. “What’s the South Dakota plate look like?”
Robbie frowned. “Mount Rushmore, I think.”
Cyn stared at him without seeing. “Yeah, that could be it. Blue sky, with something gray. It might have been Rushmore.”
“Great. That narrows it down to only a few hundred thousand vehicles.”
“Don’t be snarky. It was dark, and he turned his lights on when he got closer. Not to mention the bomb he was carrying.”
“Excuses,” he tsked, shaking his head.
Cyn grinned despite herself. “Okay,” she said, scouring the scattered debris. “Our best bet—and I know it’s a long shot, so no smart ass remarks—would be even a small piece of the plate. The back end was loaded with explosives, not to mention the gas tank, so that probably blew all to hell, but the front plate might have been thrown out of the immediate blast range.”
“No problem,” Robbie said absently, reaching into his pocket and pulling on a latex glove. “I’ll get right on that for you.”
Cyn’s laugh trailed off as he held up a bloody piece of something.
“Unless you’d rather have this,” he said, grinning. “I do believe it’s a thumb.”
She hurried over. “I think you’re right,” she said. She retrieved a bottle of water from the SUV, and poured it over the gruesome appendage, washing away the dirt and grime.
“Could be someone else’s, I guess,” Robbie said.
“Nah, it’s too fresh. Let’s see if our guy’s in the system, shall we?”
She whipped out her cell phone, took the thumb in her own gloved hand, and pressed it to the screen, scanning it quickly before handing it back to Robbie. The image was automatically sent to her laptop, which would then query every fingerprint database she had access to, and that was most of them.
“Ain’t technology great?” Robbie commented. “Should we save this thing?”
Cyn dug a plastic baggie out of her pocket. “Just in case.”
“Speaking of cases,” he said, dropping the thumb into the baggie, “how come the local cops aren’t all over this? That explosion was visible for miles. We saw it from the ranch.”
“Kathryn says Lucas is friends with the mayor. He made a few calls, and voila, no police were dispatched. Your tax dollars at work.”
“More likely it’s Lucas’s political contributions at work. Corruption is everywhere.”
“Yeah, well, get over it and help me decide what to do next, because we have a winner, boys and girls.”
They both peered down at the ID displayed on Cyn’s cell phone. “Matthias Hoover,” she read. “He has an old DUI conviction. No surprise that one would hit first. There’s an address, but this record is old. Let me see . . .” She tapped the screen rapidly, accessing the local white pages, and found a listing under the same name, same address.
“I love people who stay in one place. Incoming,” she murmured and sent the address to Robbie’s phone, which pinged almost immediately.
“Got it,” he said. “What now?”
“We check out the house.”
“Cyn,” Robbie said in clear warning.
“If it looks like Magda or any other vampire is using the place, we won’t go inside,” she promised. “We’ll wait until sunset, and let the big guns handle it.”
“Promise?”
The Cyn & Raphael Novellas Page 16