“Flynn, make me forget,” she pleaded.
He placed his larger frame over hers, balancing all his weight on his arms, so as not to crush her.
As his mouth sought hers, the fear washed away. Flynn could feel her body going lax as she melted into the kiss. As he teased her with his mouth, she wrapped her legs around his hips until he was pressed against her.
“Jolie,” he moaned, feeling the wet heat kissing his flesh. He could get lost in this feeling for the rest of his life. She pulled him down, burying her hands in his black silky hair.
Their moans of pleasure filled the room.
Flynn wanted her.
He also wanted to share tenderness with her.
Pushing off her body, she went with him, refusing to let go. As he sat in the middle of the bed, she was perched over his lap. They were lip to lip and nose to nose.
Then he let her slide down his erection.
Jolie moaned. “Oh, Flynn!”
Yeah, he felt the same way.
Only he wasn’t finished. He could feel Rinnon screaming to get free. He wanted to take his mate, burying himself in her as she screamed his name.
Flynn won out.
He called for their darkness, and there was a fluttering of wings as that invisible barrier wrapped around them. They were safe as they made love.
She stared into his eyes. They were the crystal blue pools. In her lavender ones, she knew he would see the same love.
“My mate.”
“My love.”
With the strength of his arms, he lifted her up and let her slide back down his erection. Together, they moaned in pleasure, and swallowed each other’s gasp-y breaths.
They were locked in the moment, their bodies bound together with limbs and invisible threads of death.
With each slide down Flynn’s body, Jolie wanted to take that blissful leap from the edge. The only thing that kept her hanging on was the need to fall with her mate.
She needed him.
She wanted him.
He was the one who would hold her world together when they were struggling.
“So close, baby. Hold on for me,” he whispered, running his fangs across her throat. “I have to taste you. I need that to fall.”
She tipped her head, perched on the edge. “Please,” she murmured.
As his mouth found that one spot he loved, Flynn let his fangs slide into her body. It was so achingly slow that they both came at the sheer pleasure of it.
She exploded apart, and he erupted into her body.
They fell.
As one.
Into the bliss.
When Flynn opened his eyes, Jolie was clinging to him. “I want you to rest.”
She didn’t think she could. “I’m worried about him. How can I go to death knowing my mate is in pain? What he said…”
Flynn understood.
Lifting her chin, he forced her to stare into his eyes. “Rest.”
Jolie dropped off without a fight.
Death appeared.
“She’s going to be angry.”
“I needed to see you.”
“I know. I heard the call in my bedroom. I figured I’d wait until you finished your mating. Honestly, Rinnon, you could be a little more creative. That’s such a blah position. You’ve done so much better.”
He stared at her.
“Can we be serious for a second?”
Death laughed and snapped her fingers. She was naked and on their bed. “I’m ready. Let’s get serious.”
He rolled his eyes, planning to ignore her offer. It wasn’t that Death didn’t have an amazing body.
She did.
It was that he knew what lurked beneath it. No one wanted to tangle with that viper.
“I need a favor.”
“What?”
“How do I change her into a demon? My blood converted the children. How do I make Jolie one of us?”
Death didn’t see this one coming.
“Why?”
“So she can’t die. Ever.”
Death stared at the prone vampyre. “If you want to do that to save her, Fate isn’t going to let it happen. That’s bending the rules.”
“What if it was after this mess was over? Would fate allow it then?”
Death thought about it. “Maybe, but there will be a cost. You know that.”
He did.
“Then I’ll wait.”
“Rinnon, are you sure you want to do this? She’s merely a vampyre. You could have so many other women. You could have someone more aligned with your status. You could have me.”
Flynn growled. “She’s my mate! She’s the only woman I will ever touch, love, or be with, and that’s final.”
The room shook.
“Okay! Don’t get your wings in a bunch.”
He took a deep breath as he held Jolie to his body.
“I’ll work on it. If Fate will allow it, she needs to drink from me. It’ll convert her, and she’ll be yours forever.”
He closed his eyes.
The blue was back.
“Thank you.”
Death hopped off the bed. “Thank me with some sex while your mate is busy.”
“We both know that’s never going to happen, but really, thank you.”
Death snapped and was redressed.
“You’re welcome. Now find me the head of the Tueur, and kill him!”
With that, she was gone.
Flynn placed his mate in bed and called for Mina. He had to search the grounds. Whoever had left the spell might come back, and he was the only one available for patrol until Tommy arrived in the morning.
He couldn’t wait to see his partner.
This was getting out of control, and he was afraid.
Flynn needed to find a way to save his family, and soon. Time was definitely running out.
For all of them.
∞ Chapter Nineteen ∞
Saturday Before
Dusk
When he woke, he didn’t know where he was. Jacques’s head was pounding, and all he knew was something horrible had to have gone down.
It was rare that he didn’t wake beside one or both of his mates.
Now he was in bed with Percy, and they were both chained to the headboard with silver.
This didn’t bode well at all.
Everything was fuzzy in his brain. He didn’t know what the hell had happened, but he felt like shit.
Jacques had to wonder if this was what a hangover felt like for humans.
“Yes, it is,” Flynn offered, “only worse since we went a few rounds before you got your ass knocked out by Vanth. You shouldn’t fuck with demons, Jacques.”
The vampyre glanced across the room and toward his mate, who was sitting in a chair.
“Flynn, what happened?”
“Oh, quite a bit. You need to brace yourself. You’re not going to like this conversation, my friend.”
He looked confused.
It was time for show and tell.
Flynn stood and pulled off his shirt. Across his body were the remnants of Jacques’s attack.
“Shit! Who hurt you?” he asked.
Then he looked down at his wrists.
“Wait! No, I didn’t do that to you. I couldn’t do that to you. You’re my mate. We’re in a relationship. I’m not violent.”
Flynn approached. “Not only did you hit me, you struck our mate. You put marks on her, and you called her a whore more times than I’d like to think about it.”
He stared at him.
“No, I didn’t! I’d never do that.”
Flynn had a reality check coming for the vampyre. “Well, you did. You tried to kill us both. As a matter of fact, Percy flipped out too.”
Jacques glanced over at the other vampyre.
“Flynn, there has to be some mistake. I couldn’t do this to you both. I certainly might ‘flip out’, but I’d never call Jolie a whore. That’s not me.”
He reached out and touched Jacques’s head. He rep
layed the entire thing, since he needed to see it for himself.
Flynn didn’t skip a single, solitary moment.
As it fast-forwarded through Jacques’s mind, his mate’s eyes filled with tears.
They fell down his cheeks.
When he was done, he covered his face in shame. “Oh God! I’m so sorry. I wouldn’t hurt either of you. I’d never touch Jolie out of anything but love.”
He sobbed.
Flynn had to know.
Before he set him free, Flynn needed to truth. “Do you really feel that way about me? Do you really think we betrayed you, and that I stole your mate from you?”
He glanced up. “Flynn.”
“I need the truth, Jacques. I need to know what I’m dealing with here. We don’t have a lot of time, and we have to cut through the bullshit.”
“At the beginning, I was scared and jealous. Now…I’m simply in love with both of you. I don’t fear you taking her away. I fear you will stop loving me and both of you won’t need me.”
Flynn relaxed.
“I need to look. I need to go into your mind and find out what happened. I’m not going to find that what you just said is a lie, am I?”
“I swear to you, on my life, my allegiance to this family, and to Jolie that I’m speaking the truth.”
Jacques picked up Flynn’s hand and put it on his head. “Look and see I’m being honest.”
Flynn slipped into his mind.
The entire time, he didn’t find anything there that would prove Jacques was lying. There was love, adoration, and lust. It wasn’t only for Jolie, but for his other mate too.
He replayed Jacques’s moments.
He watched everything play out. He could sense the second the spell kicked in and overtook him. It was when he wanted to shower and do their finances. The longer he stayed in the house, unprotected, the more it affected him.
Flynn opened his eyes.
He unlocked the silver cuffs before he stood up. “We have one hell of a problem.”
“I have more than one. I hurt Jolie. I abused you both. How will you ever forgive me?” he asked. “How will you ever trust me again?”
“Here’s how,” Flynn stated, dropping a tray onto the bed. “I searched the grounds. Someone came here, while we were out, and this was planted. I would have felt an intruder when I was here. The fact that I didn’t means the person who did this was lying in wait. They wanted to screw with our family, and they did a damn good job. They were likely betting the vampyres in this house would go nuts, and they would kill everyone.”
Jacques stared at the herbs, the blood covered pentacle, and the rest of the mess on the tray.
“Why?” he asked.
“Because Jolie is going to help the families find the person who is leaving this bullshit behind. They wanted to hurt us, and they did. You were under a spell, Jacques. Now that I know you didn’t mean any of it, I can guess that this spell was to magnify fears.”
He pointed at Percy.
“He kept telling Mina she was going to leave him and that she didn’t love him. That’s his fear. He doesn’t want to lose her, and you’re afraid we don’t love you as an equal. Add in anger, some spite, and violence, then you have this outcome.”
“I’m so sorry, Flynn. Please forgive me,” he said, touching the man’s abused torso.
“I’m okay, Jacques, but Jolie isn’t.”
He got scared. “Did I hurt our children? Did I…?” He couldn’t say the words.
“No, you didn’t, but you are hurting her heart. We need to support her, and she needs to find this idiot.”
He understood. “I’ll do whatever it takes to support her, and you, Flynn. That man you saw abusing you both…I’d like to say he doesn’t live in me, but I am a product of my father’s anger. I know it lives in me, but I generally have control of that. I don’t enjoy abusing the people I love. I hope you believe me.”
Flynn moved toward him and Jacques stood. When he threw his arms around his mate, they both relaxed and re-centered themselves.
“I know, Jacques. I understand.”
“Thank you for protecting her. Thank you for not ending my life out of anger. I can’t say I would have been as kind.”
“I do love you, Jacques. You’re part of me.”
Flynn could feel his hunger.
“You should feed.”
“If you don’t want me drinking from you, I can call Mina. I won’t blame you.”
“I’d blame me. In our family, we don’t push anyone out because of a fight. We pull them closer to offer them love.”
His heart kicked. “Thank you.”
“Feed, Jacques.”
He sought that particular spot on his neck. When he bit down, he was ravenous. He wasn’t gentle, but Flynn didn’t mind. He allowed him to be himself.
They fell backward, Flynn beneath Jacques. That one act spoke louder than any words. His mate trusted him enough to let him be on top and in control.
As he fed, Flynn moaned. The feel of his mate’s mouth moving over his throat was always a welcome thing. It brought them both to life.
‘I love you,’ he whispered into Jacques’s mind.
‘I love you too. I always will.’
He continued feeding. When he was full, he slowly pulled his fangs from Flynn’s neck.
Both men were breathing heavily.
“That gets better each time,” Jacques admitted.
Flynn didn’t disagree with him. “Yes, yes, it does.”
“May I kiss you?” he asked, wary about crossing a line with his mate.
“Yes, please. For the record, stop asking and go with your feelings. If I’m uncomfortable, you’ll know.”
Jacques covered his body once more, finding his mate’s mouth. He shared the taste of Flynn’s blood with him, and then pierced his own lip. The mingling of flavor was perfect.
It was them.
They continued, lost in the kiss.
When Jolie cleared her throat, Jacques slowly pulled away to glance over at her.
“First, you’re kissing other women, Flynn, and then you’re in bed with not one, but two men. The therapist in me wants to analyze the hell out of this.”
That made her one mate laugh.
Jacques looked confused.
“You were kissing other women?”
Flynn snorted. “She was four years old, and technically, she kissed me. Jolie likes to exaggerate.”
Jacques slowly moved off Flynn. He wanted to touch Jolie, but he was afraid. After what he did, he wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to forgive him.
“Mon amour, please forgive me. I couldn’t hurt you, and the horrible things I said…”
She didn’t hesitate.
Jolie rushed him.
He caught her in his arms and held her close. He felt the worry and love. Jacques knew she was scared.
“Oh, Jacques, are you okay?” she asked, finding his mouth with hers. The kiss was heated, and it brought the taste of all three of them together.
‘You’re not a whore, Jolie. I’m ashamed of myself. You’re the only woman I could ever love.’
‘Were you in control?’
‘It wasn’t me. I don’t even remember it.’
‘Then you have nothing to be sorry about. We’ll find the asshole who did this, and they’ll pay.’
He relaxed into the kiss.
Flynn hugged them both. “I’ll end whoever hurt us like this. I’ll break whoever tried to destroy our relationship.”
They believed him.
Breaking the kiss, Jacques touched her cheek. The bruise was fading. “Oh, my love, I am so sorry.”
She smiled at him. “You hit like a girl.”
It caught him off guard.
It also made him laugh.
“My poor ego.” Then he realized he could have hurt their children. “Are Angelique and Azriel okay?” he asked, tentatively touching her belly.
“They’re swimming about causing mayhem. Your childr
en want to get out and cause havoc. I think I know where they get that from.”
The men laughed.
“They are their mother’s children.”
Jolie punched Flynn.
“Jesus, baby, the ribs.”
She gasped. “Oh, Flynn, I’m so sorry.”
He slapped her on the ass. “Yeah, so am I.”
She started laughing. The mates were the sunshine in her life. She loved how they brightened her days.
Flynn tensed, placing his hands protectively on each of their shoulders.
“We have company,” he hissed.
Jacques went full on vamp, preparing to protect his family. After what he did, he would tear the intruders apart before they could plant another spell.
Flynn scanned.
Then he relaxed.
“It’s Tommy. He’s arrived with his family. We’re safe.”
Jolie grinned. “I get to kiss Cari first!” she declared, running from the room.
They let her have that one.
“Flynn.”
He took his mate’s hand. “We’re good—just watch my back. I have a feeling that what’s coming is going to be a bitch.”
Jacques didn’t disagree.
He only hoped he was strong enough to hold it back.
* * * H a r c o u r t e * * *
They were finally there. Tommy was grateful they’d made it. After Flynn gave him the directions, telling him not to write them down, he figured it would be one hell of a trip from the airport.
And it was.
This was more like a pilgrimage.
When Flynn said they were hidden in Ireland, he wasn’t kidding. This house was on a back road, off a fork in a gravel road, off a dirt road that led into the trees, and out in the middle of nowhere.
It actually helped him calm down.
There was no freaking way anyone could find them there. On one side was the ocean, and around the house were dense trees. This was a secret spot that few would know about unless they got darn lucky and parachuted into it.
“You should wake her,” he said to Camille, as she pulled Cari out of the back of the car. “I’m thinking they’re rushing out here for her, not us,” he said, seeing Jolie exiting the house.
Camille shoved energy into her daughter.
She was up and bouncing in seconds.
Dangerous Sacrifice (The Harcourte Vampyre Society Book 6) Page 23