“The danger is drawing closer,” the shaman whispered.
Rianna nodded. “I know. I can sense his presence.”
“Rhad will protect her.”
“I wish I could be sure.”
“There’s nothing more you can do, Rianna. You cannot interfere with Mischa’s destiny.”
She looked down to observe the transparency of her body. “Of that, I am painfully aware, Grandfather.”
“So what do you do during the day?” Mischa wanted to distract herself.
Rhad shot her a curious look. “I sleep.”
“Oops. I meant what do you do when you’re awake? Do you work?”
He laughed a little. “No, I don’t work.”
“Why is it that all vampires are rich?”
“I can’t speak for all vampires, but my family was in the oil business. I inherited the money when my parents died.”
“Was it difficult?”
“Was what difficult?”
Mischa released his hand to tuck both of hers into the pockets of her jeans. “Watching everyone you know die.”
Rhad remained quiet for a long moment, so long that she was convinced he wasn’t going to respond. Then finally, when he broke the silence, she almost wished he hadn’t.
“I didn’t watch my family die.” His voice cracked a little.
Her heart began a rapid beat. “What do you mean? You weren’t there?”
“I could not be around my family or friends, the ones I had known before I was turned. The town knew what had happened to me. They were waiting for my return…to execute me.”
She sucked in a sharp breath. “Had you killed someone?”
He stopped walking and turned to face her. “No. Not then and not now. I don’t kill, Mischa, unless it’s to protect someone I care about. Then it would be a possibility.”
She touched his jaw. “Or to protect yourself.”
He didn’t respond.
She prodded him. “You would defend yourself, wouldn’t you?”
“Would you choose to live this existence?”
She looked down at the ground and considered his words. “What if you didn’t have to live it alone?”
He grasped her chin and brought her head level once more. “What are you asking?”
“Wouldn’t your life be better if you didn’t have to live it alone?”
He dropped his hand. “I don’t live in what if land.” He stared out into the distance.
“You said you haven’t killed. How have you survived this long? It’s only been ten years since the shaman helped you.”
“For a long time after I was sired, I refused to give in to the hunger.”
“You starved yourself?” The very idea horrified her as the image of the muscular, well-built Rhad who now walked beside her gave way to a gaunt, skeleton with sallow skin.
“Only for two years.” He held up one hand. “Vampires can survive a long time without eating. It’s just a miserable existence. “For the next sixty years, I followed the scent of spilled blood.”
Mischa wasn’t sure she wanted to know more, but she’d come this far with her need for knowledge. “People who were already dead?”
His shoulders tensed then he shook his head “We should pick up the pace. We haven’t covered much ground.”
Mischa recognized the cue. Reluctantly, she allowed the conversation to drop. She walked along in silence beside him for several minutes and then, on the breeze, she picked up a scent, familiar, personal. Knowledge slammed into her stomach. “Rianna? Oh my God, Rhad, I can smell her perfume!”
Rianna hastily pulled herself higher, evaporating into the air. She’d made a mistake, gotten too close, but she wanted, no, needed to see her sister’s face, to hear the melodic sounds of her voice. She thought when Hamrick had taken her life she would never see Mischa again, but she’d been granted a reprieve, if only for a few more days.
“You cannot get so close to her, Rianna. Your presence will only create grief within her.”
The truth behind her grandfather’s words still stung. “Won’t the knowledge of my death do the same?”
He sighed. “Yes, it will, but that grief will pass in time, and the memories she has of you will be restored. To see you like this, in your incorporeal body, would be more devastating to her than the news of your passing.” He squeezed her fingers. “You have to trust me, my sweet. Your sister will be better for remembering you as you were.”
Rianna nodded head slowly though her eyes filled with tears. “I will miss her.” She hiccupped. “You know, we didn’t see each other that often, but I always knew she was there for me. I never, for one second, thought I’d be the one to go first.” She slipped her hand free and sailed higher into the sky. “I need to be alone now.”
Rhad tried to ignore the hunger pangs clawing at his insides, but the urge to satiate his need intensified with each step he took across the rocky terrain. At just after midnight, it had been almost twelve hours since he’d tasted the blood of the last wolf he’d cornered.
“Aren’t you getting hungry?” Mischa asked as if reading his mind. Perhaps she had.
They’d grown closer over the last couple of days. Too close, maybe. Rhad needed to protect her, shelter her, and the knowledge he carried within him consumed him. Guilt ate at him, and he cursed the sight which had force-fed him the information.
“Rhad?” Her soft voice drew his mind back to her question.
He touched her arm. “I will go soon.”
“You should go now. I don’t want you passing out on me.”
His hand slid down to take hers. “Weren’t you listening when I told you vampires can go quite some time without eating?”
She shuddered. “But you don’t have to do that now. I’ll be fine here by myself. I have my trusty black-belt, and I’m sure I can find a wooden stake to use.”
He smiled, her sense of humor like a light to his soul. “What do you think of the night?” He shouldn’t ask, but he had to know. Was it possible she could live a life without those things she took for granted? No! He couldn’t even consider the possibility.
Her fingers tightened around his. “I like the smells, and the feel of the wind on my face even though it is frigidly cold. Why do you ask?”
Rhad stopped walking long enough to tuck a stray strand of her silky hair behind one of her shell-shaped ears. “Do you miss the sun yet?” He watched her eyes shift toward the moon before she focused her gaze on his face once more.
“What are you asking me, Rhad?”
He pulled away from her instantly. “Nothing. I was merely making conversation.”
“Go eat. I’ll wait right here for you.” She perched herself on a moss-covered boulder and crossed her legs at the ankles.
His eyes seemed to bore into her, dark and piercing. “Mischa.”
She blinked up at him. “You aren’t gone yet? I thought you were so hungry. And don’t worry about me. I’ll sit right here and keep quiet.” She held one finger against her lips and gave him a saucy wink before turning away from him.
“Mischa,” his voice reached to her out of the darkness once more.
She heard the exasperation behind the word, and she looked up. When had he walked closer to her? Goosebumps littered her arms. Those eyes, so beautiful and yet so distinctly male, were still trained on her face while sensual lips curved upwards slightly. “I want you.” He made the words a demand.
Mischa took a stumbling step backwards. “But…but…I thought you were hungry.” Surely he wasn’t thinking about…no, he couldn’t drink human blood…could he?
“I am.”
The silky words glided over her skin like a lover’s caress, but she wanted to make absolutely clear she understood the huskiness of his voice, the spark she saw in his eyes. “For food,” she offered lamely.
“That, too.”
Like a flash fire, her skin heated. She licked her lips with just the tip of her tongue. “Weren’t you the one saying this shouldn’
t happen? You did have a point, you know. I mean, we’re like night and day, pardon the pun. We don’t have a lot in common. I mean, I drink coffee. You drink blood. I like to tan in the summertime, and well, that’s not really an option for you. I live in Boston in an apartment with thick rugs and classic paintings, and you live here, in Romania, in an age-old castle surrounding by portraits of dead people. I really don’t think…”
“Do you want me?” he interrupted in a deadly quiet voice.
World failed her. How could he ask that? Could he not hear every beat of her heart when he stood before he like this? And wasn’t she the one who’d taken him in her mouth, enjoying the pleasure as much as he had?
“You already know the answer to that.”
He caught a fistful of her hair in a possessive grasp. “I want to hear you say it.”
Mischa threw caution to the wind along with a healthy portion of her common sense. “I want you.”
He danced her back toward a nearby tree and backed her against the rough trunk. “Do you want me here?” At her nod, he continued. “Now?”
Her breath shuddered out of her lungs. “Yes.”
Rhad’s eyes smoked, and he slipped one hand between her legs, cupping her, molding her. “Tonight is ours. We’ll only think about the pleasures our bodies can give one another. I will make you mine, and I will be yours.” He bent his lips to her neck. “For all time.”
Mischa’s head lolled back, and she moaned low in her throat. His words faded in the distance as his lips created havoc within her mind. She couldn’t think as her brain jumbled with feelings and emotions. Pleasure. Passion. Perfection.
Rhad’s hands began a slow, leisurely pace over her spine before sliding down to her bottom. He cupped her soft flesh, lifting her against his growing erection. Without words, he tipped her head back and lowered his lips to hers, drinking in softness of her lips, the heat of her mouth. “I love how you taste,” he whispered before gliding his lips over her temples, her cheeks and back to her mouth.
Mischa’s eyes closed. Her hands scrambled to get underneath the thickness of his shirt. She needed to touch him, to feel his hot flesh.
“Slow down,” he instructed. He dragged her shirt over her head and tossed it aside. Though darkness bathed the forest, by the light of the moon, Mischa saw his eyes roam over her full breasts. He licked the top of one mound. “I’ve thought about touching you like this again. I’ve dreamed about it.” He dropped a kiss to her bare shoulder.
Mischa braced herself against the tree, her palms scraping the rough bark as she gave him full access to her bare skin. The catch on her bra gave way, and she moved her arms long enough to slide the lacy material out of her way.
“I’ve thought of little else since the first night we touched. I’ve remembered this, the feel of your hands moving across my body, holding me.” The words were a powerful aphrodisiac, and Mischa tugged his head back down to her face, fusing her lips to his, taking the initiative. Her tongue plowed against his, tasting his welcome.
With short, furious movements, Rhad popped open her jeans and tugged them down her legs. His hands moved back up her thighs, skimming the lace of her panties before diving beneath the waistband to find her heat. She bucked beneath the intrusion of his fingers, opening herself to his quest, and he groaned low in his throat, pressing tiny, heated kisses against her neck.
Her body burning, need clawing its way up her spine, Mischa shoved against his shoulders, dislodging him, tearing the shirt from his body. Eager to feel his skin against hers. The sight of firm, solid muscle pulled a moan from her throat.
Rhad pulled her even closer until their bodies were so close they seemed to meld into one another. “Look at me, my love,” he urged, his hands now moving over her body, finding the most sensitive spots.
Her clothes fell away as if by their own will, and the night air caressed her bare skin. She pushed and tugged until she could feel Rhad’s nude body against hers. And while the night came alive with nocturnal sounds, she gave herself to him, to this strange, powerful vampire.
Their bodies joined, gliding together in symbiotic rhythm. Gazes locked, fingers linked. Mischa arched into him, accepting what he offered, giving just as much until that moment of exquisite pleasure consumed her.
Her heart pounded so loudly she heard it, and her head dropped against his chest. Somehow, they’d managed to stay upright, though she wasn’t sure how much longer her legs would hold her. “Another perfect moment,” she finally managed to say after she’d regained some breaths.
Rhad nuzzled her neck. “Perfect would have been on a bed with candles glowing and the whisper of wind in your hair.”
She slid her palm alongside his cheek, the rasp of his stubble tickling her skin. “No, I’m pretty sure this was perfect. The other stuff would have just been overkill.”
Laughter rumbled in Rhad’s chest, and he kissed the top of her head. “I’m glad you came to my house, Mischa Bonovich.”
She moved her lips over his damp flesh. “Me, too.”
He held her until his stomach began to rumble, a reminder that he still hadn’t eaten.
“You should go eat.” Her nose wrinkled. “That sounds strange to say it.”
He smiled and pushed himself away, dressing silently. “You shall remain here.”
She gave him a mocking salute. “Yes, Master. Now, go. I’ll be fine.”
Something flashed in his eyes, something she couldn’t read, but then he was gone, leaving her with a knotted stomach and more than a little concern.
Hamrick crouched low, his body shielded by a large copse of trees. He couldn’t believe the fates had finally smiled on him. Mischa Bonovich stood less than ten feet away from him. All alone now that Rhad Valentine had taken off into the woods. For whatever reason, the dumbass had left her by herself.
And now was his chance.
The guy from the bar, Hamrick hadn’t cared enough to learn his name, snagged hold of his arm, but Hamrick quickly tugged free.
“I’ve got some business to take care of with this lady. You can beat it now.” He stuffed some money into the man’s hand and jerked his head toward the path they’d just taken. He doubted the guy understood a word he’d said.
The man lowered his flashlight and shook his head vigorously. He pointed up the path.
Hamrick handed over some more money and gave the guy a push. It took several more tries before the guide gave in. Clutching the money in one hand and the only flashlight in the other, the man traipsed back down the path.
Hamrick grinned. “Yeah, that’s right, buddy. You go on. Mischa will take me right where I need to go.”
Rhad watched Mischa a moment longer before he slipped deeper into the darkness. He shouldn’t have made love to her again. It was only going to make matters worse once the truth was revealed. Mischa had no intentions of staying in Romania once she found her sister. Only, she was expecting Rianna to be alive.
How would the knowledge of Rianna’s death change the course of Mischa’s life? Would she decide to stay in Romania, or would she return to the States and to her lonely life there? He couldn’t go with her. The shaman had warned him he could not leave his country or the craving for human blood would overtake him. But could he allow Mischa to leave?
She’d touched him. No woman had ever done that before. No woman had ever gotten close enough to spawn these types of feelings inside of him. People had marked him as a monster, a creature to be feared. They couldn’t have known of his inability to harm an innocent being.
His stomach rumbled again, and he began his search for sustenance. Shifting into subtle mode, he prowled, dropping lower until he became level with the low-hanging branches of the bare bushes. Minutes passed as he waited.
He heard a crunch, just a slight noise, really, but it could signify dinner. His fangs lengthened, and just as his nose caught the scent, another image stopped him in his tracks.
It was Mischa…trapped and helpless…in danger. With a loud roar, he spu
n around and raced through the forest.
Chapter Five
Mischa didn’t know who held her, but the hand covering her mouth stank of sweat. Her stomach roiled, and she increased her struggles.
“I might consider removing my hand if you promise not to scream,” a gravelly voice whispered in her ear.
She bobbed her head instantly. The ability to talk would greatly improve her odds.
“Where’s your vampire?”
Mischa’s blood went cold. Her captor didn’t want her, but terror raced through her veins. Only two kinds of people went looking for vampires. Idiots and hunters. Or a combination of both.
Taking hold of her arm, the man spun her around. Up close, he didn’t look like the type of man who’d be out hunting vampires. With neatly clipped hair and a pale face, he belonged behind a desk rather than wandering about in the Romanian mountains.
“I asked you a question, Miss Bonovich.”
He knew her name! Had he been following them, waiting for just the right moment to get her alone? But no, he’d asked about Rhad. Still, maybe he was figuring his odds of taking her before Rhad could return. But what would he want with her?
The man poked her just above her collar bone. “Answer me, damnit.”
Mischa squared her shoulders and pinned him with a cold stare. “What do you think you’re doing? Release me at once.” She hoped she injected just the right amount of old-fashioned indignity into her voice.
He slid one arm around her waist, and Mischa caught a glimpse of a shiny Rolex encircling his wrist. This wasn’t an ordinary thug. For some reason, the knowledge made her heart drop a little lower.
“I’ve got a better idea. Why don’t you come with me?” He started to lead her away from the clearing.
Her temperature rising, Mischa dug in her heels and forced herself to remain calm. Think, Mischa. You can do this. Just keep him busy until Rhad returns. “Why? What do you want with me?”
Her captor’s breath hissed out near her ear, and he caught hold of her hair and gave it a sharp tug. “What I want from you is the way to the shaman, and if you want to stay alive, you’ll lead me to him.” His hand tightened. “Because I’d really hate to break your lovely little neck just as I did your sister’s.”
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