“I agree,” Solaris said, tossing small bones onto a velvet cloth. “Bo is on the Vineyard and he’s in danger, outnumbered.”
Julianna had closed The Bed and Brew early that night to prepare for the next day’s festivities. Solaris had resumed planning the Nights of the Parades once they had the epidemic under control. There were no new cases of the virus. News of Frank’s disappearance had died quickly, thanks to some spells performed by Emerald, Julianna and Solaris.
Mordred and Bridget were busy in the back preparing food for the following night. While kneading many loaves of dough, they tossed flour at each other, enjoying the moment. The scare of only a couple of weeks ago, when Mordred fought for his life, seemed years away.
Emerald sat next to Tobias and Jade, silently envying the young lovers in the other room. She was distracted and lost in thought, daydreaming about her wedding day, which would take place on the Winter Solstice.
“We searched the Vineyard—used our abilities to try to hone in on Raven’s energy. How did Bo know she was there?” Tobias asked.
Emerald’s lips parted slightly and her eyes rolled back, revealing only the whites.
A hollow voice came from petite blonde’s mouth. It was the voice of Queen Rhia. “I told you to follow the heart. The heart knows more than the mind, Tobias.”
Emerald slumped over, and Tobias grabbed her before she slid off the chair. He gathered her in his arms and laid her down on a quilted lounge chair by the roaring fire. Her eyes fluttered open and she smiled at Tobias, who gently stroked her cheeks.
“Follow Bo, my sweet. He knows where Raven is. His is the heart you must follow. Go. I’ll be fine. We’re fine,” Emerald whispered as she touched her belly. “I need to go shopping with Iris anyway. My jeans don’t fit anymore.” She raised her head and their lips met. “Go find your daughter.”
Jade stood and headed for the door. Tobias joined her.
As they walked over the threshold, both became one with the vapors.
Chapter Twenty-three
Her breath came out in puffs of smoke as she exhaled into the frigid night. Dressed in clothes suitable for the tropics, Raven was shivering. She noticed a heavy sweatshirt lying in a heap next to her. She pulled it over her head and rubbed her arms, trying to warm up. Judging by the salty air and bumpy ride, she concluded that they traveled by boat.
The cabin was dark. The purring of the engine soon cut back, signaling that they were close to shore. She stood and walked over to the cabin door, which suddenly swung open and just missed hitting her nose.
“Shit!” Mick’s booming voice drowned out her cry of shock as the two almost collided.
“I don’t have a lot of time. We’ve just arrived back on Mirabelle. I don’t know where Laroque is going to keep you until tomorrow. Raven…”
“Get her up here,” Laroque ordered, climbing down the steps to the cabin.
“Come on,” Mick said, grabbing Raven by the arm.
Raven had just stepped up onto the deck when from behind a hood fell over her head. Laroque yanked her hands behind her, and she felt the sticky glue of duct tape against her skin. He wrapped it tightly around her wrists.
“I can’t see…” she said as she fell forward onto the deck.
“Get up.” Laroque had clearly not cooled off in the least. His voice communicated only contempt.
Mick took her over his shoulder and walked the rest of the way, carrying her as he would a sack of potatoes.
Bo shimmered back to his human form and wiped the blood from his cheeks. He tore a piece of his denim sleeve and pressed it against his neck. Blood oozed from the wound inflicted by one of the wolves sent to attack him.
Both of them now lay dead under the oak tree. Murderous rage pumped through Bo’s body as he strode inside to look for his lover. He’d caught only a glimpse of her before the older wolf bit into his neck. She looked thinner, and he wasn’t used to seeing her with so much color in her face, but she was still breathtakingly beautiful. Still his Raven.
Walking into the kitchen, Bo smelled her essence lingering in the air like expensive perfume. Bo went to the sink and rinsed the cloth. Her energy was strongest in this area. He was lightheaded from his blood loss and he weaved his way to the table where he practically fell into the chair.
He breathed deeply, absorbing what was left of her essence as it hung in the misty air. Her energy was ripe for the taking. Ripples of heat bombarded him as he recoiled from the energy she left behind.
Images of her plagued him, along with the feelings of love they’d shared for a decade. He grabbed at empty air with his mind, trying to get hold of her, but there was nothing to grasp. His memories took him to a time when he could hold her.
Tears filled his eyes as he thought of when they hadn’t a worry in the world. Why had it taken ten years for him to make the commitment he’d felt in his heart since the day he met her? It was love at first sight for him and he was pretty certain she felt the same.
Bo realized that he may have been too late, that he may have lost the best thing that ever happened to him. It was too much to bear. He gave into sights and feelings from the past.
Raven had just walked out onto the newly-constructed deck in her backyard. The sun was beating down on that magnificent July afternoon. Bo had just pounded in the last nail of the railing. They were ready to go for a swim in the calm Atlantic.
Bo wore cutoffs and a tool belt, nothing more. Raven greedily eyed her hunky handyman. That’s what she teasingly called him. She wore the skimpiest bikini he’d ever seen. Her breasts were barely covered by the animal print fabric. The bottom sparkled with jewels around her hips as they swayed, catching the sunlight. Simply a string covered her backside.
“You look good enough to eat,” he told her as he gave her his most scandalous smile.
She stood with the sun behind her in the western sky, which gave her a haloed effect. Her hair flowed down her back, and her pale skin was moist with sweat.
“Likewise,” she said as she walked to him.
A tattered bandana stretched across his brow and tied in the back, disappearing into his ebony locks. Raven’s hair caught in the breeze from behind and wrapped around her shoulders. Bo gently traced the outline of her face, pushing her hair away from her face. He pulled her closer and his lips seared her face with teasing kisses.
“Thanks so much for all the work you’ve done here, Detective,” she said coyly.
“You’re welcome, Dr. Strigoi,” he whispered in her ear, dropping his tool belt to the ground with one hand and pulling her closer with the other.
“I’m not a doctor yet.”
“A minor technicality that you will rectify soon enough.”
Her smile slayed him. “I am very grateful…” she said with a sigh, her arms sliding around his narrow waist, her hands slipping around to his rear.
“Really?” he asked as his mouth worked its way down the slender curve of her neck.
“Truly,” she answered, grabbing his shorts by the waist and yanking him up against her hips.
“Show me, my love,” he said, finally pressing his lips to hers.
With lips parted, he slipped his tongue inside and teased hers to come out and play. His hands tangled in her mass of coal black hair.
She wiggled from his grasp and knelt in front of him, pulling down his shorts. His erection was clearly visible through the flimsy old denim, and she moaned with desire as her hands grasped him from behind. She kissed the tip of his cock and took him into her mouth for a moment. Moans of ecstasy escaped his lips as he slowly dropped to his knees and took her by her shoulders, guiding her down upon the grass.
“I’ve wanted to make love to you all day. You’ve tortured me, parading around in that poor excuse for a bathing suit,” he murmured between long, passionate kisses. His hands managed to remove the bikini without her even realizing it.
The sun felt wonderful against their naked flesh as they lay upon the soft grass. It was their favorite pl
ace to make love—outdoors, under the bright blue sky or with the moon peeking down, just as it was on their first night together.
Raven rubbed against his hips, inviting him to enter her and ease the wanton lust. But he wanted all of her right now, from head to toe and needed to taste her salty skin and velvet flesh. His hand rubbed at her pebbled nipple while he devoured her breast with his lips.
Letting out a moan, he felt the desire rise from his being and settle between his legs. A throbbing hunger pulsed inside as he waited to feel her tender flesh. The anticipation became overwhelming.
“Now, Bo, I can’t wait anymore… I was fantasizing about you all day, too.”
The sun on his back felt wonderful as he traversed the landscape of her ivory form. His mouth toyed with her breasts, his tongue teasing and suckling, first one then the other.
He reached for her hand and guided it to his shaft, wrapping her fingers around it and letting out a low groan of delight as she stroked him ever so gently. She eased over to him and kissed his mouth with a fierce hunger and unbridled craving.
“I love you so very much, Raven,” he said, nipping at her neck, licking at the blood that pooled.
The slight smell of blood in the air caused Raven to die a little death. Her eyes flashed to silver and her incisors extended with another type of hunger. The two merged and she bit down into his flesh, sucking his blood while crushing her hips upward, trying to guide him inside. The ache was unbearable, and he needed to feel her, wanting to be one.
Bo moved down and kissed her stomach. He felt the familiar tug as all feelings merged to his cock. She spread her legs apart, panting as he moved closer with the growing promise of pleasure.
“Please, Bo…” she pleaded, trying to wrap her legs around him.
But he wanted her to lose herself. He placed his lips between her legs, licking playfully, tasting her. Gently he sucked in her smooth folds, teasing with his tongue, and she’d asked for more. Her slender fingers grasped at clumps of grass as he felt her come. So powerful was the experience for Bo that it blotted out the sun itself as her cries echoed across the ocean.
She lifted her head and grabbed a fistful of Bo’s hair. His eyes met hers. She was gone. Blood covered his bottom lip. She swiftly moved, turning him over onto his back, sucking at his lip. His body jerked in response, longing to make love to her.
Her head nestled between his neck and shoulder, and she writhed back and forth on top of him, his cock just at the entrance of paradise. He could feel she was wet with hunger, devoid of all thoughts as she stared at him. Encompassing her soul, he owned her very being. Bo couldn’t begin to tell where she ended and he began.
She sank her teeth into his flesh once more and tasted him, slowly moving her hips down to meet his awaiting sex. He cried out as he pushed himself deep inside, almost climaxing at the velvety feel of her. She drank from his neck, yet it was if she were making love and sucking his cock at the same time.
His whole body trembled.
Firmly grasping her by the waist, he rammed farther inside her, the feel of the wet grass beneath him, the smell of salty air and skin all around. Her eyes, a liquid silver, held his gaze as she wiped his blood from her mouth in a seductive manner, which drove him over the edge. She had that look. The look that drove him wild.
He turned her over now, covering her body with his own, delving into the inner depths of his love. Their animal instincts took over and their lust for each other knew no end. Her fingers dug into his back as she clawed desperately at him. Bo needed to get as close as he could to her very core, where her soul resided.
She licked the blood from her fingers. He felt wave after wave of pleasure taking control of her. She smiled seductively.
Her legs wrapped tightly around him. With every thrust, he lifted her off the grass. She held on as if her life depended on staying connected to him.
“More… I want more…” she begged as he crashed into her, mimicking the waves against the rocks a few feet away. It seemed as if it wasn’t enough, as if she could never get enough of him.
“Is this what you want, my love?” he asked as he rocked inside her.
“Oh, Bo…yes…and more…” She closed her eyes.
His arms curved underneath hers and he cradled the back of her head. With every thrust, he felt closer to release. He tried to delay, but the day had been long and in his fantasies he had made love to her a hundred times already.
As their passions crested, his will grew weak.
But this was just the beginning. They would have the whole night ahead of them. They would enjoy every moment spent in each other’s arms.
“Love me…” he whispered as his teeth sank into her flesh once more.
With a sudden jolt, he came inside her. Lifting his head to the heavens, he let out a blood-curdling cry of pure ecstasy.
He held his head in his hands at the table. His mind whirled at the memory of that afternoon, sending signals to his body that were better ignored. He ached for Raven. He knew there was a message for him in that memory. Since they’d made love so close to the ocean, his best guess was that she was traveling over the water again. Back home. To Mirabelle.
He stood, inhaled deeply and headed for the boat. The memory of their coupling clung to him as fiercely as Raven had on that blissful summer afternoon.
He headed for the Boston Whaler. It bobbed in the water at the dock, a quarter-mile down from Laroque’s property.
Chapter Twenty-four
Bo was lost in thought as he stumbled out of the house at the same time Jade and Tobias shimmered out of the vapors. They practically collided.
“Damn!” he cursed, sidestepping Jade, virtually falling over the front steps.
“Thank God you’re all right!” Jade said, throwing her arms around his neck. Upon second thought, she pulled away immediately. He’d not been so jovial in her presence the last time they were together.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I know I’m not your favorite person.”
“No, I’m sorry. It’s not your fault. I was…” Bo headed toward the water, his head down, shoulders slumped. He looked terrible.
“Wait. Where are you going?” Jade called to him.
“Let him be,” Tobias said, and in an instant he stood at the side of the boat. “Are you okay, Bo? Let me take a look at your wound.”
“It’s healing, Tobias. I’ll be fine. I must have just missed her… She was so close. I saw her for the briefest second.”
The rope tied to the cleat lay loosely around the metal hook, and Bo leaned to unknot it. He dropped to his knees and grabbed the cleat, ripping it from the wooden dock.
“Raven!” he howled into the night.
“I know where my father is. Let me go talk to him,” Jade pleaded with Tobias and Bo while they sat around a table at The Bed and Brew having a quick meal.
No one was eating. The three of them hadn’t slept or eaten in days, with the exception of Jade downing a pint or two a day of O negative. Bo showed the worst signs of fatigue.
“He’s on the island at this guy Henri’s house. It’s located on the south side. I went there last night.”
Bo jumped up from his seat. “You what?” he exclaimed, slamming his fist on the table.
“I went there. Tobias was with Emerald and you were—where were you? Anyway, I used my abilities to tune in to both my father and Raven. She’s there with two other Lamai and three shifters. Henri is one Lamai, and Mick is the other.”
“The same Mick from Blood Pool?” Bo asked.
Jade’s face flushed.
“You know this man?” Tobias stated more than asked.
“Yes. I’ve been seeing him for a few months now.”
Bo moved suddenly, knocking the table over in his wake. “You’ve been in contact with this Lamai all along?” His ire visibly inundated him as he grabbed Jade by her shirt collar.
“N-no—Bo, listen to me. I haven’t been in contact with him…”
Bo tossed her
to the side, and she crashed into an empty table and chairs. Bridget poked her head from the kitchen and wisely made a quick retreat.
Jade straightened her white cotton shirt and tucked it back into her jeans. She was more stunned than physically hurt by Bo’s reaction. She knew she should have seen it coming. Bo was running on empty and feeling more and more dejected at every turn.
“I was so close to rescuing Raven the night before. I had her in my sights and lost her because I was paralyzed by my emotions. I-I didn’t realize the other two shifters had noticed me and were circling.”
“Tobias, I haven’t spoken with Mick in days. Since I came back to Mirabelle Cove, we haven’t spoken. I didn’t tell Mick where I was in case he’d unwittingly let my father know what I was doing, that I was helping you. I swear to you both I didn’t speak with Mick last night, either.”
“You know what, Jade, I don’t give a fuck.” Bo stormed across the room and stood just inches away from her. “All I know is that ever since you got here, my life has been a living hell. I almost died trying to save your ass, and now your father has Raven. The gods only know if she’s even still alive.”
“She is alive. I saw her last night, asleep. She knew I was near. I don’t know how I did it, but I managed to enter her dream.” Jade turned to walk out of the bar. “But you don’t want to hear what I have to say,” she snapped as she slammed the door behind her.
Bo yelled over the clamor, “You’re right! Like I said, I don’t give a fuck!”
Tobias walked over to try to calm the brooding man down. Bo spun around and roared, “Don’t, Tobias! Don’t say a word!” With that, Bo bolted out the door.
Tobias was left standing alone in the ransacked room.
Bo beat a path to Blood Pool by noon, his stride purposeful as he entered Solaris’s office. She sat behind her desk with the curtains drawn. Incense burned in the brazier. A midnight blue velvet cloth covered the desktop. Tiny bones lay scattered across it, forming a pattern that made sense only to Solaris.
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