by Laura Wright
It was all the explanation a hired hand needed.
When Cruen’s powers returned, he would no doubt have to dispose of the male. He couldn’t risk having anything about this side trip leaked, to either his staff or the Order. But for now, he mused as they broke through the trees onto flat land, he needed all the help he could get in order to contain Synjon Wise.
“How much farther?” he rasped.
The guard moved solidly beside him. “Just across the plain and to the river.”
* * *
One moment Petra felt the cool darkness of night and the next she slammed down on a hard surface, dawn breaking all around her.
In the span of a breath, she was pulled out of the dawn’s light and through an open door into a dark, sprawling penthouse.
The effect was utterly jarring, and she reached out to grab the one beside her to steady herself.
“It’s all right, love,” Synjon said, holding her close.
Panic ripped into her as she realized where she was, whom she was with, and what he’d just done.
She pushed away from him, her eyes narrowing, her fangs dropping. “How could you?”
“How could I?” He stood there in his opulent living room, wearing only the faded jeans he’d come into the Rain Forest with, his expression completely at ease. “Did you not do the very same thing to me?”
“For the balas,” she nearly shouted at him. “For your blood, for the balas.”
“This is also for the balas.”
“Bullshit.”
His brow lifted and his voice dropped. “Please don’t curse.”
“You’re kidding me, right?” This wasn’t happening. She was not going to be kept here against her will. She headed for the open glass door, went out onto the balcony and stood directly in the rising sun. The cold air chilled her to the bone, so completely unlike the Rain Forest that she instantly started to shake.
“Take me home,” she said through chattering teeth. “Now.”
Remaining in the shadows, Syn crossed his arms over his chest. “Come back in here before you freeze.”
“Everything I have is there!”
“Not everything.”
“My family, my friends, a male who cares about me.”
“And what about what you need?”
She shook her head, hissed at him.
“What you need is here, and you know it. Inside my veins. Red. Sweet. Hot.”
Around her, the wind picked up, sending her hair one way, then the other. His words made her mouth fill with saliva and her fangs dropped farther. She hated her vampire self in that moment because it made her weak. To his words, to his offer, to the imagery he had just plastered on the canvas of her mind. Maybe even to the thread of possibility that had been lying dormant inside her since the night in her tree house.
The night they’d made the balas.
“You don’t want to go,” he called out, his eyes locking with hers. “Look at you.”
“Don’t tell me what I want,” she said, weakly now, her tongue running over the surface of her lower lip.
“You’re hungry, Petra.”
“I’m always hungry.”
“So stay and feed from me.”
She shook her head, her chest tight with emotion—something she’d been relatively free of for the past twenty-four hours. “Why are you doing this?”
He seemed to struggle with the question. Even more so with a response. Finally he just shrugged. “Instinctual reaction. My balas is inside you and my instincts call for me to take care of it.”
“How clever—and convenient.” She wrapped her arms around herself, rubbed her exposed skin. “And when did this new and exciting reaction kick in?”
“Come inside,” he said.
“When, Synjon?”
“When I fed you, and perhaps even when the balas moved under my hand. All right, love? There it is.”
She stilled. Even in the cold air, her entire body stilled.
He tossed his hands up and turned away, calling out, “Yes. I admit it. A connection was forged.” He turned in a small circle, faced her again, his body still in shadow. “Not emotional. That is an impossibility. But instinctual.”
Her teeth started chattering again. “You sound like a shifter.”
“Well, perhaps we all have animal in us.”
“I won’t be your prisoner.”
“Then be my guest.”
This was madness. That she was even standing here, having a conversation about staying with him in his penthouse in the sky. If he wouldn’t take her back in a flash, she should walk straight past him to the door. Leave. Leave him again.
He moved to the very edge of the darkness. “Please come inside, Petra.”
She wasn’t sure, couldn’t swear to it, but there might have been a brief glimmer of apprehension within his gaze. As if he’d heard her thoughts, her plans. But was the apprehension for the balas alone?
Snow began to fall the moment she left the terrace. She walked back through the glass doors, closed them behind herself, then moved into the shadows with Syn.
Instantly, he threw something black and warm and soft around her shoulders. She wanted to melt into it. Into him. And she despised herself for all of it, for being so weak.
“Stay,” he said, his voice soft near her ear. “Stay until the balas is born.”
“This is insane,” she whispered as much to herself as to him.
“I will give you my vein whenever you need it.”
“So obliging.”
“No. I just realize my duty now.”
Why was she doing this? Standing here, listening to him? “Maybe it’s too late.”
“Don’t sacrifice the balas’s well-being for unnecessary pride.”
She whirled on him, nostrils flared. “Don’t do that.”
He had the audacity to look confused. “What?”
“Go the manipulative route with me. I’ve been caring for this child since its conception.”
With a slow release of breath, he sat down on the arm of a rich brown buttery-looking leather couch. “You’re right. I apologize.”
Still bristling, Petra stared at him. What the hell? An apology from Synjon Wise? Was the world coming to an end? Or did he truly have a change of heart? Had this connection he believed he had with the balas altered him somehow? And so much that he was willing to feed and keep her until it was born?
She didn’t know what to think about that. What to believe. What to hope for. She had so much anger and resentment inside her for him, for what he’d done to her father in the dungeon of Erion’s castle. Gods, what he still wanted to do to her father.
Her breath caught as, inside her womb, the balas moved, stretched, warned her that if she didn’t give it what it required soon, things would return to normal.
And that normal had been pretty much a living hell.
She pulled the blanket closer around her, keeping out the chill and the strange notions of a male changed. But notions still managed to push through, their hopeful warmth poking at her to believe, to accept. “This would be only until the balas is born.”
Syn nodded, his eyes flashing with momentary satisfaction. He’d won.
“After that, I’m going home.”
He nodded again. “To the Rain Forest.”
“Yes.”
“To the bear shifter.”
She sniffed with melancholy. “If he’ll have me.”
Synjon’s gaze moved over her face. From lips to cheeks to eyes. “Oh, he’ll have you, love. Who in their right mind could resist you?” Then he stood and gestured for her to follow him. “Come. I’ll show you where you’ll hang your hat.”
10
Synjon knew as he led her through the penthouse that what he’d just proposed, what he’d just done by stealing her away and offering her his home and his blood, was practically begging for trouble.
The one and only goal he’d had was to bring Cruen here, and instead he’d brought the paven�
�s daughter.
Forget emotions. Clearly he was without intelligence as well.
When he reached the door of the spare bedroom, he stayed where he was and let her pass. “You should find everything you need here, except of course for clothing and personal things. But we’ll get that tonight, yes?”
She stared at the large, modern bed in the center of the room, with its steel frame and pale gray linens, then turned to look at him. “We’re going back to the Rain Forest?”
He didn’t like the shimmer of eagerness, of hopefulness, in her blue eyes. “No. We can get it all here in Manhattan.”
She shook her head. “No. I don’t want you buying me anything.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, love,” he replied, laughing at the absurdity, “I have more money than I could spend in a thousand lifetimes. Don’t put a meaning on it that’s not there. I took you from your closet—you’ll need another.”
“You’re going to get me a closet, eh?”
“You know what I mean.” His gaze moved over her. “We’ll go shopping tonight.”
That shimmer of hopefulness changed to a glint of wickedness. “I thought you had guests coming.”
Guests.
Right.
He was expecting the usual suspects at midnight. And one special friend, if the paven had news to share. His gaze moved about the room. It looked so sparse. Cold, even. He hadn’t noticed it before. Shite, he’d been in here only once or twice since he moved in. Would such a dim, modern room displease her? Make her uncomfortable? Make her miss the rustic warmth of her home in the Rain Forest?
He would have to fix that.
That, and other things.
“No guests tonight, I think,” he said. “And what color do you fancy?”
She stared at him, looking as confused by his behavior as he was. “You mean, what’s my favorite color?”
“Yes.”
“Green. I like green.”
“Good.” He cleared his throat, nodded in the direction of the bed. “Call your family. They’ll be worried.”
Her eyes were as wide as plates and her lips were parted as if she couldn’t figure out what to say. She glanced over her shoulder at the phone, then back at him. “I don’t understand you.”
Join the bloody club, veana. He didn’t know what had gotten into him, what was spurring this sudden need to make her comfortable, make her feel at home. He just knew he couldn’t fight it.
“Get some rest, Petra.” He turned around to leave.
“So, what? You’re not afraid I’ll have them come and get me?” she called after him.
Synjon’s lips twitched. Saying anything more about favorite colors—now that was a legitimate fear. But keeping Petra and the balas by his side? Not so much.
“Just let me know when you’re hungry, love,” he called before closing the door and heading for his study.
* * *
“Now they’re both gone!”
After finding the caves empty, Phane and Dani had flown the party back to the lion shifter’s land. While the Romans searched the river cabin, Phane, Helo, Dillon, and Wen returned to the family home.
“The bastard took her somewhere,” Dani said, bursting through the front door. “I know it.”
“Why would he do that?” Phane asked, following her. “He’s only wanted to get away from her.”
“I don’t know.” She charged into the first bedroom, nose lifted, eyes narrowed. “Who can explain asshole?”
Phane heard Helo chuckle from the room next door.
Once the house was searched, they all met up in the living area. Everyone except Wen. The older female had told them she was going to contact the faction leaders, let them know the situation. But Phane wondered if she truly just needed a moment alone. She’d looked stricken after leaving the caves.
Hands on her hips, Dani surveyed them all expectantly. “Well? What’re we going to do? Where are we going to look first?”
“We should split up,” Helo said. “Take different sections of the forest.”
Once again, the door opened and both the Romans and Petra’s brothers entered the house.
“Nothing at the river cabin,” Nicholas said. “But Lucian stayed behind just in case they show up.”
Dani nodded. “Good.” She turned to Sasha and Val. “What about you two?”
“We’re going to search on foot,” Sasha said. “Ask every shifter we come across if they’ve seen either one of them.”
“I’ll take the sky,” Dani said. She glanced at Phane. “I could use some help up there. You interested?”
Phane’s hawk stirred. “Very interested.”
“I need to buy time with the Order,” Dillon said. “Cruen’s disappeared. He wasn’t in the caves with us. I lost track of him. That’s not going to go over well. Especially if he’s back, standing before Feeyan and telling her that two Purebloods are missing on shifter land.”
“We’ll help with ground cover,” Alex said, “then flash into Manhattan when it gets dark. Check out the penthouse.”
Dani smirked. “He wouldn’t take her there. Not to his den of—”
“Wait!”
Wen came into the room. She looked disheveled, wide-eyed, but the fear in her expression had dimmed somewhat. “She’s not here, not in the Rain Forest. She’s with him. He took her—”
“Unfuckingbelievable!” Dani called out. She headed for the door. “I’m out of here. I’m going to kick some douchy vampire ass!”
“No, Dani,” Wen said, going after her. “Stop. She doesn’t want us to come.”
With a low growl, Dani turned to face Petra’s mother. “Wen, that’s the douchy vampire talking, not Pets.”
The older female shook her head. “I heard the truth in her voice. She’s agreed to stay with him.”
Dani shook her head. “No.”
“I know my daughter.”
Dani stared hard at the female. “Goddamn it.” She turned away, then back. “Why? Why would she be so freaking stupid? He’s a jerk. He’s a whore. He’s a—”
“He’s got the blood,” Phane said simply.
The female whirled on him, her eyes narrowed. She sidled up to him, her finger pointed in his face. The heat coming off of her was so damn intense, Phane nearly reached out to grab her. But Dillon’s words stopped him.
“This changes everything, you know?” The jaguar shifter sighed as she headed for the door. “God, I hate this job.”
“Yes,” Dani called after her, turning away from Phane. “Go appease the vampire Order. But what about us? What about the shifters? One of ours has been taken now. From shifter land to bloodsucker territory. Maybe we’re the ones who’ll have to infiltrate to get her back.”
“She’s not yours,” Phane said, watching her, admiring the passion in her. Her ferocity, her loyalty, made his hawk scratch and stir. “She’s not shifter.”
“This is none of your business,” she warned him. “My best friend is out there, pregnant and with a male who doesn’t truly care for her. I don’t know why she’s agreeing to this—if it’s really about blood or something far more problematic—but I’m sure as hell going to find out.”
* * *
Petra woke feeling groggy, emotional, and hungry. She lay on top of the covers in the bed she had agreed to sleep in every night until the balas arrived.
She blinked and rolled to her other side. The room was dimly lit, but she could make out the dark gray walls, stark white molding, expensive leather chairs, antique dresser, and the door to her own private bath, well enough. She’d already been in the bathroom. Massive stone shower, white towels everywhere, and a whirlpool tub. It was like a fancy hotel. Not that she’d been in all that many fancy hotels during the months in New York, when she was looking for Cruen, but the one she had been in reminded her an awful lot of this one.
A wave of melancholy moved over her and she moaned against it, then took a deep breath into her lungs.
She didn’t want that back. The intense
, overwhelming wave of feeling. The pain. The tears she couldn’t control no matter how hard she tried. She looked over at the closed door. Where was he? Her sexy prick of a blood donor. His bedroom? The living room? If she called to him, how fast would he be at her side?
She moaned again. Not from the emotional waves crashing through her this time, but from the foolishness of her thoughts. If she dared to attach romance or sensuality or connection to this agreement, she was basically inviting him to hurt her again. What she needed to keep in the forefront of her mind at all times was that he didn’t want her in the way she deserved to be wanted.
It was as simple as that.
She sat up and swung her legs off the bed, wondered what time it was as she padded across the room and opened the door. There wasn’t a clock in her room, and with all the shading to keep the sunlight out, not to mention the time difference, she was a bit turned around.
Silence greeted her as she headed down the hall and entered the living area. She couldn’t help but look around at all the beautiful, yet starkly cold furnishings. Even with the warm light of three or four table lamps, the emotionless space felt dead. The walls, though painted a rich cocoa, were bare, except for one near the kitchen. On it were six gigantic slabs of pointed metal. They look like fangs, she thought.
She moved toward it, feeling both intrigued and intimidated by its audacity. Why this piece? she wondered, following it past the kitchen and down another hallway. When all the other walls lay bare, why such a blatant scream of ferocity? Looking closely, she saw that the final shard of metal was the color of caramel and longer than the others. She reached out to touch it, then hissed as her skin met the surface.
“Not what you’d expect, is it?” Synjon said, coming up behind her.
Instantly, her body reacted to his nearness: fangs down, skin going tight, breath hitching in her lungs. Damn it. This was not a good start to her plan for keeping herself detached.