by Marilyn Lee
“I’m fine.”
“Then why did Acier call me?”
He sighed and opened his eyes, annoyed. “Because he worries too damned much. It’s time he realized I’m not some damned silly teen who needs his guidance or interference.”
Damon slid a palm against his neck. “He’s your brother and I’m your friend. When you hurt, we hurt.”
Slayer hurt too.
“I’m not hurt. I’ve just spent eight hours with two lovely, lusty fems.”
“And?”
He shook his head. “And while I was with one of them, I stopped aching for Raven!”
“That’s good. Right?”
“I don’t know. I called her a fem, but I don’t think she’s really a vampire. She called herself Adona and --”
“Gorgeous, with yards of smooth, dark skin?”
“Yes. You know her?”
“I’ve seen her around, but I don’t know anything about her.”
He sighed. “Now that I’m away from her, my hunger for Raven has returned. What am I going to do?”
Damon’s hand on the back of his neck tightened. “I told you what you need to do! You have to get with Raven, Etienne! This is not something you have much control over. You are more vampire than shifter and damn if you’re not a second away from entering a Feast of Indulgence.”
He knew from previous talks with Damon, a vampire, that a latent or half-blood vampire moving to the status of a full-blood vampire entered a sex and blood orgy called the Feast of Indulgence. It was said to be a dangerous time for a vampire who bloodlusted with anyone who was not a vampire.
“I’m part shifter,” he objected. “How can I possibly have a Feast of Indulgence? How can I become a full-blood vampire?”
Damon shook his head. “I don’t know, Etienne, but I know the signs. Your feelings for Raven are making you more vampire than shifter. Okay. So maybe it’s not a full-fledged Feast, but this incessant hunger for sex that no matter how good leaves you longing for Raven can’t be denied.”
“If that’s true, shouldn’t Acier be the one about to enter a Feast instead of me?”
Damon shrugged. “Hey, I don’t pretend to understand how things work for vampire hybrids, but I think it’s fair to say that’s what you and Acier are. You’re not shifter hybrids. Maybe things would be different for you two if you were shifter hybrids. But you’re vampire hybrids. You know what’s wrong, Etienne, and you know the remedy.”
He shook his head. “I can’t.”
“I’ve talked to Acier, Etienne. He doesn’t like it, but he understands what you need to do to retain your sanity.”
“I can’t touch Raven, Damon. He loves her too much. No matter what you say, he considers himself a shifter. We… they mate for life and do not share their mates. If I touch her, our relationship will never be the same again.”
“If you don’t… I fear for you, Etienne.”
“I’ll be fine.”
Damon bared his incisors. “Damn it, Etienne, you will not be fine! You can’t go on ignoring a large part of who and what you are. You are vampire, and we share our bloodlusts with our siblings. It’s a part of our heritage. You have a right to fuck Raven. Acier has accepted that and Raven wants it. So go do her already, you stubborn bastard, so we can get on with dealing with the bastards threatening Den Gautier.”
“We?”
Damon nodded. “You don’t think I’m going to allow you to face danger alone, do you? Shaun and Brett stand ready to help too. Okay?”
He closed his eyes and leaned against the headrest again. From what he knew of Damon’s older brothers, he didn’t relish needing their help. Both were unpredictable with tempers shorter than a New York minute. “I appreciate their offer of help, Damon, but I feel like I’m going mad. I want sex all the time but no matter how great it is, it never satisfies me for long.”
“I know.” Damon squeezed his shoulder. “I know.”
A picture of Raven danced behind his closed lids. He dismissed it only to have it replaced by one of Adona. Wonderful. Now he’d get to obsess over two different women. For all he knew Adona would prove just as difficult to possess as Raven had.
He swore softly. “Take me to the RV.”
Slayer stirred on his shoulder. Father at RV?
“Father? Who are you calling --”
“He and I talked about Madison on the way here,” Damon explained.
He looked at Damon. “And you called him father?”
“Not me. Slayer’s been talking to Pen and Drei and that’s what they call Aleksei Madison.”
Father at RV? Slayer asked again.
No. Why?
Want meet father.
Why?
He’s father. Pen and Drei met other father. Pen and Drei like… want meet yours. Want like yours.
You want to meet him? He shrugged. Why not? “Let’s go find him, Damon.”
Damon glanced at his watch. “Okay, but I can’t stay long.”
“Why not? Got something better to do?”
Damon grimaced. “I’d hardly call it better. Damn, the things I do for my friends. It’s something I’ve agreed to do.”
“For who?”
“Never mind who. I have a fucking unpleasant appointment with a number of supercilious bastards. That’s all you need to know.”
“Fuck you, Damon.”
“Don’t make me bitch slap you, Etienne.”
He bared his incisors. “You and what army?”
Damon laughed and sent the SUV speeding forward.
* * *
Raven sprawled on her stomach, her cheek pressed against the mattress, her teeth gritted, her hands clenched into fists. Steele, naked and demanding, lay on top of her, his incisors buried in her neck, his big hands holding her hips still as he rutted his long, thick cock violently in and out of her pussy. He did it with little regard for her pleasure. In fact, he was hurting her… much as he’d done when he’d taken her virginity less than two weeks earlier. Although their sex play since that first time had alternated between tender lovemaking and raunchy fucking, he had always done his best not to hurt her.
She knew he made no such effort now. He seemed to delight in hurting her. Each time he slammed his huge length up into her, she gasped in pain and shuddered. As she did, he tightened his hands on her hips and thrust harder and deeper, bringing more pain. The moment he had tossed her onto the bed and fallen on her, knocking the breath from her, she had feared something was wrong. When he used his knee to force her legs apart and slammed his entire length into her with one painful, breath-stealing lunge, she had known that the man about to fuck her was not Steele.
She closed her eyes and tightened her hands until her nails dug into her palms. “Steele… please.” She spoke in a low, pain-filled voice. “Not so hard or so deep. Please.”
He lifted his head from her neck. His response, growled against her ear, shocked her. “I know you like it like this so shut the fuck up and enjoy it!”
She felt Bentia, the living barrier spirit who had granted Raven the right to command her, stir restlessly in her stomach. I will make him stop. I will not let him hurt you.
No. Angry tears tightened her throat, but she held them off. The man lying on her, rutting into her like some whore he’d picked up in some crack dive, was not the Steele with whom she had fallen so helplessly in love. And yet he was. No. It’s not his fault. His two natures are warring with each other like never before. Steele, my Steele would never hurt me.
He is hurting you. He knows that and he’s reveling in that knowledge.
She knew Bentia was right, but there was nothing to be done. She had willingly come to the bedroom, thinking they would make love. Instead, his vampire nature seemed to be conquering the sweet shifter for whom she had fallen. She knew it was the vampire who delighted in bringing her pain. Yet, somewhere inside him were the remnants of the shifter she loved, needed, and wanted to please and protect.
Let me handle this, Bentia.
He collapsed on top of her, breathing deeply, almost suffocating her. Her pussy sore, her heart aching, she reached deep within herself and called on Bentia. I’ve had enough. Get him off me!
Feeling Bentia surging through her, she pressed her hands against the bed, and thrust her body up with a force powerful enough to force Steele’s cock out of her and thrust him off of her. She rolled onto her side and exploded off the bed to stand staring down at him.
He lay on his back staring up at her with glowing eyes and bared incisors, his still erect shaft protruding up from his body. He fondled his cock. “I’m not finished with you,” he said. “Get your sweet black ass back in bed and ride me.”
Enraged and hurt, she reached down, curled her fingers in his long, dark hair, and glared down into his eyes. “I know this is a difficult time for you and you’re struggling to retain the identity you feel you’ve lost or are losing, but if you ever try to abuse me like that again, Acier, you will be extremely sorry.”
His gray eyes flickered with anger before slowly turning gold. He blinked up at her. “Abuse you? Petite, you know I would never hurt you.” He pried her fingers loose from his hair and rose to face her.
“You practically raped me, Acier!” She leveled a finger at him. “Do it again and I will show you just who the fuck I am! I love you, but no one abuses me! No one ruts into me without my permission as you just did. Understand that or prepare to have your ass kicked by a Willoni who commands a living barrier spirit, you big bastard!”
His eyes flashing gray, he bolted to his feet, and bared his incisors. “You are my woman, Raven! Mine! I’ll do whatever the hell I want to with you.” He glared down into her eyes. “And don’t think your living spirit will be able to stop me. No one comes between me and my woman.”
Raven dropped her right hand down to her side, her fist clenched. She felt Bentia rushing up from her stomach to her chest. Like Steele and Etienne, she was not fully human. Her human father had married and mated with a Willoni Priestess. From her guide, Abby Valentine, she learned that Willoni, through mastery of a spiritual process called a creed or soul song, had the ability to see into and in some cases shape the future.
With power like that at her disposal, she was not about to allow any man to mistreat her. “Fuck you, Acier!” As a coil of energy shot down her arm, she thrust out her hand, opening her palm.
Swept off his feet by the force of Bentia, the living barrier spirit, being released from her fingertips, Steele slammed against the far wall. Snarling, he sprang to his feet. Raven thrust out her hand again and a shimmering wall, just barely perceptible to the eye, sprang between them. He rushed at it, but secure in the knowledge that he would not be able to get past Bentia, Raven turned and quickly pulled on her clothes.
“Where the fuck are you going?” He punched a clenched fist against Bentia.
“I’m going for a drive to give you time to come back to your senses. I know this is a difficult time for you, but I’ll be damned if I’ll be abused by you. You get your damn act together by the time I get back or I am out of here for good!”
“If you leave, Raven --”
“Fuck you!” She turned and stormed through the RV. Outside, with the afternoon sun warming her, she took a deep breath, allowing some of her rage to dissipate. She climbed into her car and pulled out of the RV court. As she did, she reached out to Bentia. Hold him for ten more minutes, but do not injure him.
I would not injure one who brings such pleasure.
A few days earlier, as she and Steele had made love, Bentia had exerted herself and caused Raven to react with an insatiable hunger, driving Steele to fuck her so violently Raven passed out. Bentia had promised not to allow her desire for Steele to emerge again. But now it seemed like a good idea to allow the two of them to go at each other without boundaries or restraints. She knew in future, she would be capable of satisfying all of Steele’s hungers, but she wasn’t there yet.
You can still say that after what he just did? she demanded of Bentia.
Yes. It is not his fault he brought pain.
Then whose fault was it? Mine?
It’s the fault of the war within him. Forgive him.
I will -- when I’m ready.
And now?
Now? You want him? Fine. Allow him to fuck you raw.
I… I have your permission to mate with him?
Raven sucked in a quick breath. She didn’t like the idea of sharing Steele, but right now his passion and hunger for sex was more than she could handle alone. And if she had to share him, who better to share him with than Bentia, who had a thing for him?
I’m going to talk to Abby. As the Willoni guide charged with guiding her to her true destiny, Abby would be able to help. Fuck him to your heart’s content, but when I return, he is mine.
He will always be yours… even as I mate with him. Would you like to retain our link so you may share the experience with us?
She shuddered at the thought of Steele with someone else. No. It’s one o’clock. I’ll be back by six. Do not let me walk in on you pleasuring him when I return.
Thank you.
Raven broke the connection. Pressing her foot on the accelerator, she sent her car speeding down the road. She cleared her head and concentrated not on what was happening between Steele and Bentia, but on the wonders and discoveries the future with him held. If they had a child, it would be part Willoni, part shifter, part human, and part vampire. Such a child would be a wonderful, miraculous gift to them both.
* * *
Aleksei sat in the driver’s seat of his SUV, his gaze on the dark road just ahead of his vehicle’s headlights. Vlad sat beside him. Pen had remained with Acier, but Drei, in his natural wolf form, perched on his shoulder, pressed close against his neck, projecting waves of warmth at him. The affection he and the small creature shared amazed and pleased Aleksei.
For the first time in a very long time, Aleksei felt at peace. He and Vlad had found their sons. He wasn’t sure how they could both be so certain one twin belonged to either of them, but all four of them were sure. It wasn’t logical but it made sense to them.
He noted a calmness and a sense of happiness in his twin he had despaired of ever witnessing. Meeting Etienne seemed to have had a profound effect on Vlad. Aleksei sensed a new purpose in him.
“When this is over, I’m going to see her.”
“Her?” Aleksei cast a surprised look at Vlad. “Mother?”
“Yes.”
He tensed. The last time the two of them met, Vlad had been determined to kill her. “Why?”
“I… need to see her, Sei. I want to talk to her. I told her I was coming.”
“Why?”
“I think I know what she must have felt when I tried to… when I wanted to… no parent should feel as if they are hated by his or her child. It’s not… natural. It’s not something she… deserves.”
Aleksei sighed, feeling as if a huge burden had been lifted off his shoulders. “She loves you more than ever.”
“I know.”
This was a new Vlad indeed. But before he and Vlad could settle down and become fathers, they had pressing business. “Tell me about the Brotherhood, Vlad.”
“They are a powerful, dangerous group, Sei. Vitali Bourcaro is in charge. He’s the one we’ll need to convince to back off.”
“Tell me about this Bourcaro.”
“He’s very powerful… anywhere from 700 to 900 years old, I think. He is devoted to ensuring vampires do not lose ground to humans or anyone else.”
“Is he a reasonable vampire or will I have to kick his ass all over the countryside?”
“He will back Deoctra and Falcone.”
“Do you know this Falcone?”
“We’ve met. He’s a powerful shifter. He’s Heoptin.”
> Aleksei frowned. His mentor Luc had spoken of an ancient god called Heoptin, who long ago commanded a breed of vampires who were healers rather than predators. Among those Heoptin commanded were a breed of warriors known as shifters who had been renowned for their skill in battle against superior foes. This Tucker Falcone, whose bite had nearly killed Acier, would present quite a challenge to Acier.
But he would only intervene if the tide turned against Acier. “His ass will be a dead Heoptin if he keeps fucking with my son.”
“Sei, I don’t know if Acier can take him. I know Acier is brave and strong, but perhaps it would be best if Etienne took him on.”
Drei stiffened on Aleksei’s shoulder. Alpha stronger. Don’t need help.
Aleksei arched a brow. “Are you by any chance implying Etienne is more powerful than Acier?”
“I’m not implying it. I’m coming right out and saying it, Sei. I know he’s your son, but facts are facts.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Vladimir. Etienne is clearly a shifter to be reckoned with, but Acier --”
“Acier is a shifter. Etienne is a vampire.”
The pride he heard in Vlad’s voice both pleased and annoyed him. “Really? Let’s not forget which of them shifted into a wolf. It wasn’t Acier. He’s vampire enough to take Falcone in a fair fight.”
“I would hate to see you lose your son so soon after finding him, Sei.”
“Don’t you worry about Acier, Vladimir. He’s the one who was chosen to be next Alpha Supreme.”
“This Aime who chose him over Etienne must be a little… mentally deficient.”
Aleksei laughed. Only days after finding them, he and Vlad were arguing over whose son was the strongest. “They’re both worthy males, Vlad. Mother will be so pleased to learn she was two such fine grandsons.” Remembering the promise he had made to Luc to bring Acier to meet him, Aleksei sighed. How the hell was he going to get the headstrong Acier to agree to meet Luc?
He’d worry about that later. For now, there was Vitali Bourcaro and the Brotherhood to deal with. A few miles from Vitali’s suburban Philadelphia home, Aleksei felt a familiar tingling sensation.
“Stop, Sei.”