“You’re the only one who didn’t know,” he murmured. “I thought that I hid so well. I couldn’t admit it to myself, but everybody else knew. Everybody except you.”
Her arms came up and he let her push him onto his back, wrapping his arms around her as she sprawled on top of him. “You’re such a jerk,” she whispered huskily.
Burying his face in the golden, downy softness of her curls, he chuckled. “You keep telling me that.”
She sniffled. “It’s true. You are a jerk. I was miserable, damn it.”
His heart tightened painfully in his chest and he murmured, “I’m sorry, pet. I thought I was protecting you.”
She harrumphed and he had to fight a smile as she pushed herself into a sitting position, crossing her arms over those glorious tits, scowling down at him. Tipping her nose into the air, she said regally, “I don’t need protection, babe.”
Pushing on his hand, he sat up, watching her as he somberly agreed, “Of course not.”
Then she poked her lip out and said, “Protecting me from what?”
Shifting his weight, he moved closer, kneeling in front of her as he shrugged. Laying his palms on her smooth, shapely thighs, he rubbed them with restless strokes. How could he explain it?
“I didn’t think I could love anybody, pet. Ever. But I liked you, cared about you. Wanted you like crazy. Still do. I didn’t want to hurt you when you started wanting more.” Sliding her a narrow look from under his lashes, he added, “Did it anyway. What good was it, trying to protect you?”
Her eyes seemed to soften for a second, but then her fingers grabbed at his chest hair and she pulled sharply. Rafe yelped and clapped a hand over his chest, rubbing at the injured spot, as he glared at her. Sheila sniffed and said, “You men. You think, and you’re dangerous. Either that, or more stupid than normal.”
She slept the day through with Rafe lying behind her on the narrow cot, feeling the slow, irregular beat of his heart even in her sleep. When Sheila awoke, it was with a smile on her lips. Rolling over, she saw him sitting on the floor, staring at her with those dark eyes.
“You’re so damned beautiful,” he murmured.
She smiled, but it was a tight, strained smile. There was something in the air…tension radiating from him. It made her uneasy and she sat up slowly, automatically bringing the sheet with her and throwing it over her shoulders. “What’s wrong, Rafe?” she asked quietly.
A soft sigh slid from him as he reached up, threading his fingers through her hair. Her gut clenched as she started to worry he was already sorry.
“No.” Her eyes widened as he repeated it again, shifting onto his knees while he pressed his lips to her forehead. “I’m not sorry—never will be, pet,” he whispered and she felt the movement of his lips against her flesh as he spoke. As he settled back on his heels, he met her stare levelly and she watched as one big, muscled shoulder lifted in a shrug. “I can feel you inside me—have for a while. Always aware of you. I knew you were in Memphis, even before I saw you. I felt you. And the closer I get to you, the more aware of you I am. Thoughts, feelings…everything.”
Lowering her brows over her eyes, she glared at him. “That doesn’t seem very fair,” she said truculently. Her mouth turned down in a frown as she added, “Especially since I never know a damn thing going on inside in your head.”
Rafe smiled lightly and shrugged. “You know more than anybody else does. Not even Eli ever had much luck penetrating my thick skull, as he so politely put it. But you, you’ve always been able to tell when I’m mad, when I’m tired…” Flashing her a wicked grin, he whispered, “When I’m…hungry.”
Now that was true enough. At times, his emotions had swamped her. “And when you’re thinking too hard,” she muttered. “What’s going on in that thick head of yours, Rafe? Why are you strung tight enough to break?”
“I want you to go back to the enclave.”
Her spine went rigid. Coolly, she said, “No.”
“Damn it, Sheila,” he snarled, rising off the floor in one fluid motion. He paced the small room, shooting angry glances her way. “Listen to me—I don’t want you…or them where you could get hurt.”
The fear she saw in his eyes had her heart clenching. “I understand that, Rafe,” she said calmly. “But you don’t get it. If anything happens to you, I’m dead inside. I can’t just walk away. You don’t even know what it is you’re facing. You’re strong. But this…this monster, he’s ancient. I feel it in the air. And he’s more than a vampire. I won’t let you face it alone.”
“Damn it, Sheila, this isn’t some punk kid on a crime spree. You can handle those. This is a fucking monster. You haven’t faced the kind of monsters I’ve faced,” Rafe snapped, spinning around and glaring at her. “You’ve never fought against one of our kind. I have. You are too…”
A golden brow winged up as his voice trailed away. “Too soft?” she supplied. “Not tough enough?”
Rising from the bed, she advanced on him, letting the sheet fall to the floor. His eyes dropped, for one brief second, to her breasts and she felt her nipples tighten under that look. Squashing down the hunger that rose, she jabbed at his chest with her finger as she snapped, “I’m not soft. I won’t ever be a Master, damn it, but I am a vampire. I’m a Hunter. And I’m a decent one, too. I may not be Sarel, or Tori, or even Lori, but damn it, I am a Hunter and I can damn well fight.”
“What about them?”
The soft question had her deflating and she turned away, burying her face in her hands. “Don’t, Rafe. Don’t ask me to walk away from you,” she whispered thickly. There was a nagging fear in her gut that if she walked away from him now, she might never see him again.
“They need to be safe, Belle,” Rafe whispered. He moved up behind, brushing her hair aside and pressing a kiss to the nape of her neck. “Ella and Robbie have never been safe. They need to know that they are. And your friend is still weak.”
There was an odd note in his voice as he said your friend. But she couldn’t figure out what. Well, other than the fact that Rafe had found her having sex with Dominic. But that had been about hunger. Nothing more. Shoving it aside, she folded her arms around her, rocking herself slightly. “Don’t,” she repeated, shaking her head. If he pushed…
“No.”
That low, angry voice might have sounded like the petulant voice of a child, but as Ella came storming through the door, the anger in her eyes was that of a woman, hot and furious and strong.
Sheila jumped as the door slammed into the wall, her eyes locked on Ella’s scarred face. The puckered scar around her eye seemed red, almost angry, and there was fire in her gaze as she stared at them.
Sheila barely even registered that Robbie had slid into the room until she felt his hands on her shoulders, so caught up in the fury she saw on Ella’s face that she was blind to everything else. But then she felt Robbie’s hands on her shoulders, and the smooth cotton of the sheet as he draped it around her. She flushed, but he never even looked at her.
Robbie’s eyes were all for Ella.
Sheila had never expected reinforcements coming from this corner—not from Ella. Robbie, maybe—inside that child’s mind lurked the heart of a hero. But Ella…not from Ella.
Rafe moved behind her, silent, his gaze brooding as he stared at the two people in front of them. Fury, frustration…and an odd kind of pride, all tangled inside them as he watched the witch with the vampire.
Robbie laid one big hand on Ella’s face and asked, “You understand now, don’t you?”
It was the most grown-up he had ever sounded, Rafe suspected. As Ella stared up at Robbie, there was a flicker of surprise in her gaze as she nodded. “I do, Robbie. You knew before I did.”
Robbie smiled, a young boy who had impressed his teacher. “But you taught me. When you helped me, and we ran, you always made us stop to help others, even when I was so scared I couldn’t breathe. You taught me. We have to help the ones he hurts. But we’ve always helped after he hurt
them. Let’s help stop him before he hurts more. Wouldn’t that be easier?”
Ella smiled, and for a moment, the scar that bothered her so seemed to fade away and Rafe saw the lovely woman she should have been. The clear, direct blue gaze swung to meet his and she shook her head. “We aren’t leaving, Rafe. This may be your land—I knew the moment you came here, I felt it. I knew a Master was here, a new one. And you are worthy. But we aren’t going to leave.”
“You are scared to death of him,” Rafe said through gritted teeth. “What can you hope to do? Damn it, you’re barely stronger than a mortal. And…” his voice trailed off before he could finish. The words echoed in his head, though. Robbie is little more than a child…
Hypocrite, he muttered to himself. He had railed at Ella because she didn’t want Robbie feeding a vampire. And now Robbie wanted to help fight a vampire, but Rafe was acting as though he wasn’t good enough.
Scrubbing his hands across his face, he swung around and saw Dominic standing in the door, pale, but upright. There was a smirk on his young face, and Rafe bared his teeth at him. “What in the hell are you snickering at?” he demanded.
Dominic lifted one shoulder in a careless shrug. “You told me to get strong and get some of my own back. How in the hell can I do that if I leave?”
“Bloody hell!” Rafe roared, glaring at them all. “Did you all have nothing better to do but listen to a private conversation?”
Ella had the grace to look away. Robbie simply stared at them, smiling that fey smile that looked so out of place on a grown man’s face. But Dominic lifted his chin pugnaciously and snapped, “Well, not really. It is daylight and I’ve developed this phobia of the sun. And in case you haven’t noticed, we’re in a damned tight space. Kind of hard to not hear, since the walls seem thinner than paper. And you don’t exactly speak quietly, hotshot.”
Rafe lifted his lip at him in a snarl, but Dominic just stood there, not even blinking.
Turning, he met Sheila’s gaze and he had to fight the urge to turn her over his knee and spank that delectable ass. Or shake her. Anything to make her listen. “This is your fault,” he muttered.
She smiled serenely.
With a sigh, Rafe crossed to her and placed his index finger under her chin, lifting her face to his. Lowering his head, he purred in her ear, “If you get hurt, so help me God, you’ll be sorry.”
Then he covered her smiling mouth with his for a gentle kiss.
Turning around, he surveyed his small army.
Damn it, what in the hell had he gotten into?
* * * * *
Robbie held the connection as Rafe spoke with Lori. The big witch with the slow, quiet voice and childlike ways had surprised him once more. As he had paced across the room, he had muttered, “Damn it, wish I could get in touch with Lori.”
Telephones didn’t always work very well for the witch. That normally wasn’t an issue—for her. But when somebody who wasn’t a witch needed to talk with her, it sucked.
Robbie had just smiled that slow vacant smile as he had reached out and touched his fingers to the silvery surface of the platter on the table before him. When he had pushed it toward Rafe, the surface had gleamed with a silvery light.
So now Rafe spoke with Lori, watching as the slim redhead stood there brooding, her mouth pursed, brows low over her pretty eyes. “They told you his name was Pierre?” Lori asked.
“For the second time, kitten,” he said patiently. “Yes. They called him Pierre.”
She scowled and shoved a hand through her hair, her fingers tangling in the red-gold curls. “There was a vampire who was in Louisiana. He was the one who bit Leandra. But he was more than a vampire. He was a witch.”
“I heard about the vampire who changed Leandra,” Rafe said quietly, lifting his brows. “But witch and vampire—that’s not possible. The two powers don’t combine. It’s like when a witch and a shifter have a child. The powers cancel each other out.”
“Did you forget about Leandra?” Sheila asked quietly from behind. “She is both vampire and witch—remember? And Benjamin Cross is both, shifter and witch.”
Even as she mentioned them, Rafe thought of them. Leandra, Cross—both of them were the good guys. But what if one of their kind ended up on the wrong side…
“Can he be killed?”
Rafe slid Sheila a glance as she stepped to his side, staring into the surface as she met Lori’s eyes. “Hey, Sheila,” Lori said, her lips quirking in a slight smile. “I see the brooder found you.”
“Yeah, girl, he found me,” Sheila murmured, and Rafe felt her fingers entwine with his. “About Pierre, can he be killed?”
Lori laughed. “There is no creature, mortal or otherwise, on this earth that can’t be killed. No matter what all the shows on TV tell you. There is no evil that can’t be killed. Just like there’s no warrior on our side who is infallible. Even Malachi can be killed. He’s just a little harder to catch.” One lid dropped in a quick wink and she added, “Thank God.”
Rafe had to echo that sentiment, even as he wished that Lori wasn’t feeling so talkative. “So he can be killed?”
Lori grinned. “Of course he can. Sunlight probably won’t do it—I suspect he’s old. So unless you can hold him down for several hours until the sun cooks him well-done, it won’t do you any good to try that route. But beheading will do it, I imagine. Taking his heart. A stake would do it, but you have to remember, the older a vampire, the denser their bones become. His could be as solid as granite by now.”
“Meaning getting through his chest to stake his heart won’t be that easy?” Rafe drawled, rolling his eyes. “And I was thinking of trying to pull the bad-ass slayer act and stake him.”
Lori cocked a brow at him and chuckled. “Here I was thinking you’d use that sword you like to carry around.”
Sheila giggled. “He’s going to use his cock?”
Lori burst out into laughter. “Well, that wasn’t the one I was talking about. And actually, with this one, that would just make Pierre want to add Rafe to his stable. Rafe’s such a pretty man…and Pierre likes it both ways,” Lori said, waggling her brows at Rafe.
Rafe felt something sick crawl through his belly, but he had already known that. Vividly, he had known. The memories that tormented Dominic had shown him far too much. “You’ve become an evil brat, Lori, you know that?”
That same impish grin lit her face for a minute before it faded away. The sparkle in her eyes died and she gazed at him somberly. “Rafe, you need help. Pierre is an evil, powerful bastard.”
A dry laugh escaped him as he gazed at Robbie over the table. “I’ve got help.”
Lori simply stared at him, arching a brow, doubt gleaming in her eyes.
Rafe sighed, reaching up and pressing his hands to his face. The thought of another vampire coming in here, whether he was there to help or not, simply enraged him, even the thought of it. His hold on this land was too tenuous. Not even concrete yet.
Lori’s brows drew low over her eyes as she stared at him. “What’s going on, Rafe? You’ve never been too stupid to let anybody help you before. What’s the deal?”
“It’s the land, Lori.”
Rafe cut his eyes to Sheila as she gently nudged him out of the way. “The land?”
Rafe moved away from the mirror, blocking their voices out. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t keep people from coming if it would help but the thought of letting people into his land made him want to gnash his teeth and howl like a wolf. The fury the thoughts brought him was almost as intense as the rage he’d felt when he’d seen Dominic crouched over Sheila’s nude body, plunging his dick inside the snug well of her pussy.
He closed his eyes as the fury arced through him, driving his hands through his hair, locking his fingers behind his neck. Crouching in front of the fire, he stared into the dancing flames, blanking his mind in an attempt to let the fury drain out of him.
Sheila kept one eye on Rafe as she spoke to Lori through the connection
Robbie still held flawlessly.
“What do you mean it’s the land?”
“I mean just that,” Sheila murmured, keeping her voice low. “He bonded to it. I think the minute he hit Tennessee, he started to feel it. He tracked me from more than a hundred miles outside of Memphis—knew I was here. It was the land. The land knew him and started whispering to him the moment he got here.”
“Bonded. As in Rafe has found his own territory?” Lori asked quietly. Her eyes slid to a point beyond Sheila and she suspected the witch was studying Rafe. Lori sighed, looking down for a moment and the red-gold of her curls spilled into her face. “I think Eli knew this was coming. He’s been so tense lately. And you leaving… Sheila, I thought he was going to go insane for a little bit there. He attacked Eli.”
Sheila’s jaw dropped. Turning, she stared at Rafe, but he didn’t seem to have heard as he stared into the fire, his face stark, eyes burning. Attacked Eli? Damn it, Rafe was more than two hundred years younger than Eli. Rafe was strong, fast, and would be one hell of a Master. If he lived long enough. Attacking vampires centuries older than him wasn’t going to increase his life span.
Lori chuckled. “I think he surprised Eli.” Then her face sobered and Lori sighed. “He’s young. Except for Byron, he will be the youngest to ever claim his own territory. At least here.”
“He can handle it,” Sheila said with a slight smile. She had no doubt of that.
“And you’ll be going with him?”
Sheila arched a golden brow at Lori in response. Lori just laughed. Her head cocked to the side, as though she heard something in the distance. But the clouding of her eyes made Sheila think it was something else. Then her face went smooth, blank as a doll’s, lids drooping low until barely a sliver of green showed.
Sheila stayed quiet, waiting. When Lori’s eyes opened, they were glowing. “I’ll talk with Leandra. If Pierre is in Memphis, she’s a good woman to have at your side.”
The Hunters 6: Rafe and Sheila Page 9