“Because she hates the Sabins with a passion. As she sees it, Juliana almost took me away from her. She’s been plotting that woman’s downfall for nearly a decade.” He steered the Gallardo around a hairpin curve, then went on. “But she never made a move until now, because she didn’t want to push her luck with the Council. But that situation is changing. She’s been digging up dirt on her fellow Council members for years, and now she’s got those old bastards by the balls. Except for Selingham, which is why she got rid of him.” He cut Ashe a harsh glare. “Still, she probably wouldn’t have risked her power play by messing with the Sabins, until you started digging into things.”
Ashe brushed off that irritating remark, saying, “So you bust Juliana out of the Wasteland and then just leave her at the mercy of the Assassin’s League?”
“I didn’t just leave her,” Raphe argued, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the wheel. “I’ve intercepted two assassination attacks that you don’t even know about. And stopped another one that was headed for her family. But it hasn’t been easy with my mother watching every damn move I make!” He slanted Ashe another blistering scowl. “And I told Juliana to find you. I didn’t plan on her fighting this thing on her own.”
“About that,” he rasped, grasping for the door handle when Raphe took the next turn at full speed. “Why me?”
Raphe gave a rusty laugh, wiping the back of his wrist over his busted lip. “Because I knew you were interested. That’s why.”
Ashe’s dark look demanded an explanation.
“You’re not exactly subtle, Granger. You’ve been hounding the Court for information about the Sabin family for a year now. I knew you’d help her. And you helped keep the pressure off me for a while, since my mother assumed you were the one who’d helped Juliana escape from the Wasteland.”
Irritation roughened his voice. “Why not just tell Jules where to find me in London? Why the whole setup at that restaurant?”
Delacourt gave a stiff roll of his shoulder. “I needed to be able to see—”
“You were watching us?”
“Damn right I was,” he snapped. “I wanted to make sure you didn’t turn your back on her.”
“Bullshit,” he growled. “You just wanted to watch the drama. And if you were watching, you could have offered some help with those bloody Lycans.”
“I would have stepped in with the Lycans,” Raphe said, “but you had it well in hand.”
Ashe cursed something rude under his breath that made the other man laugh, and then with a sobering cough, Delacourt said, “By the way, I wanted to let you know that I’m sorry for what happened to your cousin. It wasn’t my choice to have Sanders killed. It was my mother’s.”
He wondered how the hell he and Gideon had failed to realize it was Lenora Delacourt who was controlling her son, and not the other way around. With a sharp sigh, he asked, “Just what the hell is your mother after anyway?”
“Believe it or not,” Raphe murmured, “she wants to see the Medeiros back in power.”
“She’s fucking insane!”
A wry smile twitched at the corner of Raphe’s mouth. “I didn’t say she was well-balanced. Just ruthless.”
Hoping they didn’t have much farther to go, desperate to reach Juliana, Ashe asked, “Just how many of there are you, anyway?”
“Thanks to my mother, there are hundreds of Medeiros now hiding among the Deschanel. It’s why she’s never mated. She sees herself as a breeder. Not only has she had countless offspring with different males, but she controls who the other Medeiros breed with, as well. She’s claimed authority over the line, using her position on the Council to cover for her ‘children’ whenever one of them has a lapse.”
“You mean whenever one of them kills,” he bit out.
Delacourt nodded, his profile grim.
“And what about you?” he rasped. “She cover up your kills, as well?”
Raphe pulled back his shoulders, his voice tight. “Believe it or not, I have better control than that.”
“You didn’t with Juliana,” he accused in a low, furious slide of words.
“That was a…special circumstance,” Raphe muttered, his expression bleak. He slowed the car and steered into a small turnoff that was barely wide enough for the Gallardo. “We’re not far from the estate,” he said, changing the subject as he parked in the shadow of a towering oak tree. “We should go the rest of the way on foot.”
They climbed out of the car, and Ashe followed Delacourt through the wooded grounds. Considering the harrowing circumstances, the weather should have been raging with the foul, destructive force of a storm. But instead, the sky was exceptionally clear and bright, the glitter of the stars like watchful eyes staring down on them from above.
They discussed the best way into the house, deciding to take a side entrance that Delacourt believed would be the least guarded. Working together, they took down the two guards standing watch at the wide double doors and quickly made their way up to the second floor of the historic château.
“I know which room they’re keeping her in,” Raphe said in a low voice, leading the way down a long, ornate hallway with a mirrored ceiling and silk-covered walls. When they reached the eighth door on the right, Raphe pulled his key ring from his pocket, found the right key and inserted it into the lock.
Then he stepped aside, motioning for Ashe to enter first.
With his heart pounding, Ashe pushed open the door and stepped inside, frantically scanning the room for Juliana. He spotted her slender form pacing in front of a dark window, and relief punched his chest with such a powerful blow he nearly staggered backward into Raphe.
“Ashe?” she cried, already running toward him. “Oh, God, you found me!”
They came together in a hard, clutching embrace in the middle of the room, their hands stroking and searching, as if trying to make sure the other was unharmed. “How did you…?” She shook her head as she stared up at him, her big eyes bright with shock. “I don’t understand!” she whispered, her sweet voice quivering with emotion. “How did you know where to find me?”
“I had a little help,” he muttered, crushing her against his chest as he buried his face in her hair. “Christ, woman. You frightened the ever-loving hell out of me. I was so damn scared that I’d lost you.”
She was hugging him back, but he could feel her tension as she sniffed, no doubt detecting the scent of another male. “Ashe, who’s with you?”
Exhaling a rough breath, he kept her in his arms as he turned to the side, the change in position giving her a clear view of Raphe standing in the open doorway, the male’s expression a primitive mix of jealousy, frustration and soul-deep yearning.
A hard shudder racked her trembling frame, and she sucked in a wheezing breath. “What’s… Why is… What the hell is he doing here?” she gasped.
With a soothing touch against her spine, Ashe said, “I need you to take a deep breath and calm down, angel. It’s okay. I won’t let him hurt you. I know it sounds crazy, but he’s the one who helped me find you.”
“What?”
“It’s a long story. But Delacourt’s the one who brought me here.”
“That doesn’t make any sense! Why would he do that?” she demanded, shaking like someone with a high fever, her teeth chattering. She was going into shock, and Ashe cut a warning glare toward Delacourt.
“Give her an explanation. Now!”
Raphe stepped into the room and shut the door behind him, his tall form rigid with tension as he turned to face them. “I brought Granger here because I care about what happens to you, Juliana.” His throat worked as he gave a hard swallow and wet his lips. “I know…I know you probably find that hard to believe, but it’s true.”
Juliana gaped. “Is this some kind of sick joke?”
The vampire shook his head. “No joke. I…Christ, I don’t know how to do this,” he rasped, shoving his hand back through his hair, “so I’m just going to say it. Despite what happened between us
, I want you to know that I loved you.”
* * *
“YOU LOVED ME ?” Juliana swayed, unable to believe what she’d just heard. “What the hell do you mean you loved me? You tried to kill me!”
He couldn’t seem to find the right words to explain. “I wasn’t…I know that’s how it seemed, but I—”
“How it seemed?” she choked, cutting him off. “You tore me to shreds, you bastard!”
She tightened her hold on Ashe’s strong arms as Raphe took another step toward her. He still looked so much like the man she’d known, except that his playboy’s smile had been replaced by an expression of raw anguish. “Juliana, listen to me!” he pleaded. “If my intention had been to kill you, I’d have released my venom. But I didn’t. What I did was lose control, because you’re…because you…” He broke off with a frustrated curse and slanted a shuttered look toward Ashe, before locking his gaze back on hers. “Juliana, there’s…there’s a reason the Medeiros only mate with our own kind.”
She blinked, unable to believe he would try such a ridiculous lie. “I know your past. You had affairs with dozens of human and Deschanel women, if not more!”
“That was fucking,” he growled, his hands curling into hard fists at his sides. “I didn’t feel anything for them. You were different.”
“You’re lying!”
“Damn it, I loved you!” he roared, the guttural words echoing through the room.
With a snarl, Ashe released his hold on her to take an aggressive step forward, but Juliana stilled him with her hand on his arm. “It’s okay,” she said in a soft voice. Then she looked at Raphe and said, “You had a hell of a way of showing your love.” Tears clogged her throat. “Do you have any idea what they did to me?”
His face went pale. “I didn’t. Not until tonight, when Granger told me.” He came a little closer. “Juliana, I can never tell you how sorry I am. I never meant…I never meant for you to suffer. I knew I shouldn’t touch you. I knew it. Knew that my feelings for you would test my control. I tried to fight it, but when you came to me that night, I couldn’t resist.”
“You should have tried harder,” Ashe growled.
Raphe’s tormented gaze cut to Ashe, his lip curled in a sneer. “So says the man who can’t keep his hands off her.”
“That’s different,” he said quietly, his eyes burning with a fierce, possessive fire. “She’s mine.”
Raphe flinched, looking as if he’d just been punched. “You mean…?”
Ashe gave an affirmative jerk of his chin, and something like pain washed through Raphe’s eyes. “I’m…glad,” he said haltingly. “It means…that you’ll be cared for, Juliana.”
“I can take care of myself,” she said, lifting her chin. She refused to look weak in front of this man.
A sad smile twisted the corner of his mouth. “I know you can. I’m the one who was weak, and that weakness cost you.” He shook his head again, his deep voice thick with emotion. “I just…I want you to know that I’d give anything to go back and change that night.”
“Why didn’t you just do something, Raphe? If you really cared about me, you could have gone before the Council and told them your mother was lying about me.”
“Because he was saving his own ass,” Ashe muttered.
“Not mine,” he said. “My sister’s.”
Juliana blinked. “What did one of your sisters have to do with it?” she asked, aware that he had numerous half brothers and sisters on his mother’s side.
“Her name is Jessica and she’s my father’s daughter,” he explained. “The girl is only thirteen, the product of an affair my father had with a human female. The woman died during the birth, shortly before my mother had my father killed. Suspecting that my mother was plotting against him, he had begged me to take care of the little girl if anything ever happened to him, but my mother got to her first. She’s been holding Jessica prisoner ever since, hiding her away from me, threatening violence against her if I don’t do as she says.”
“Oh, God,” she whispered with horror.
“Juliana,” he said, his gaze imploring her to understand, “I want you to know that I did try to help you after that night. When I learned that my mother was planning to execute your entire family before their case could even be tried before the Court, I leaked the information to the Council. That’s why the Council took your family into custody before the sentencing.” His breath shuddered past his lips as he added, “When my mother realized what I’d done, she said that Jessica would have to pay the price for my betrayal, and she cut off one of the child’s fingers.”
Before Juliana could say anything, they each caught the sound of footsteps coming from the hallway.
“That’s enough time spent on explanations,” Ashe said quietly, taking Juliana’s hand as he looked at Raphe. “We need to get her out of here. Now.”
Raphe handled the guard they’d heard in the hallway, and together the three of them hurried down the main staircase, ready to make a run for one of the exits at the side of the house. But just as they reached the bottom of the stairs, the massive front doors swung open and Lenora Delacourt stepped over the threshold, flanked by eight of her private guards. Ashe knew at a glance that the guards were Medeiros vampires, their eyes already burning with a crimson glow, their talons the same thick consistency of the Royal Guard he’d fought at the nightclub.
As the eight guards began shifting into their Medeiros forms, gaining another foot in height and nearly forty pounds in muscle, their skin darkening to a deep, gleaming shade of red, Lenora moved forward.
It was strange, looking at her angelic appearance, and knowing she was such a maniacal bitch. She was dressed in a stylish white pantsuit and black heels, her dark hair falling in long, glossy waves over her shoulders. She was petite, probably reaching only five feet without the heels, her pale skin smooth and flawless, despite the fact she had to be over three hundred years old. As he and Raphe had made their way through the woods, the vampire had told him that Lenora was a child at the time of the mass Medeiros executions.
“You protect Juliana,” Raphe said at his side, while keeping a careful eye on his mother. “I’ll handle the guards. Just…promise that if something happens to me, you’ll find a way to protect Jessica.”
“You’ll handle all of them?” Ashe made a rude sound deep in his throat. “You might be tough, Delacourt, but you’re not that tough. Unless, of course, you’re not really planning on fighting them.” His tone was thick with suspicion.
“I’ve gone this far,” Raphe snapped. “I’m not about to back out now.”
“Of course he’s not,” Lenora drawled, her unsettling crimson gaze locking with Ashe’s. “My son allowed you to kill two of my favorite Royal Guards in Nice. And he’s been helping the little whore hiding behind your back. He knows I won’t forgive him for this.” She looked at Raphe and lifted her brows. “Isn’t that right, darling?”
“I’m not your fucking darling.”
Her smile looked brittle enough to crack. “Not anymore. It’s a shame Jessica will have to pay for your disobedience. If I weren’t so determined to see you bleed out on this floor tonight, I would have made you witness her torture.”
“You are one twisted head case,” Ashe muttered.
“And you, Förmyndare, are a troublemaker,” she drawled, sliding that crimson gaze back to Ashe. “But you won’t win with this little crusade of yours. Soon, the Medeiros will be in power, and your kind will suffer for their crimes.”
Ashe narrowed his eyes. “The Medeiros were destroyed for a reason.”
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