Chosen by Fate

by Virna DePaul

  Picturing her doing either eased his mind.

  It was still something he was getting used to—living with her at the Dome, knowing that when he woke and went to bed, she’d be there. Feeling confident that she was safe within his care. Knowing that she touched and enjoyed all the details he’d considered in making this house a home.

  Who could blame him for occasionally wondering if it was all a dream? After all, not only had he finally won the heart of the human he loved, but he had his father back. Things were as they should have always been.

  His mother, Bianca, the vampire Queen, and his father, Jacques, the human-turned-vampire who’d been unfairly branded a traitor, had been reunited.

  Knox’s son, Thomas, and his daughter, Joelle, were thriving.

  With the addition of Felicia, they were a family.

  And he was happy. Happier than he ever would have dreamed possible.

  Although his clan still suffered from the effects of the vamp vaccine—which had been given to humans once vampires were discovered, changing human blood so that it could no longer nourish the vamps—many of them, including his mother, had shown remarkable improvement. In part, it was because of the return of Knox’s father, which, along with a regular infusion of pure blood from Felicia, had revived their Queen. It was also because they had hope now—hope that the vamp antidote the Para-Ops team had brought back from Korea would be their ultimate salvation. That they would return to strength and flourish as a race once more.

  Shifting until he was flat on his back, he stretched his limbs, soaking in the feeling of the silk sheets beneath him and the realization that no matter how luxurious the fabric, it didn’t come anywhere close to the softness of his wife’s skin.

  Smiling, he turned his face into his pillow, savoring the sound of the word “wife” even as he savored the headiness of their combined scents. Instantly, his body hardened, and he cupped his dick with his palm, stroking himself in anticipation of her return. He hadn’t yet opened his eyes when he felt her body against him and her fingers brush away his. A rough moan escaped him as she began working him with her fist.

  “You started without me,” Felicia murmured, her chiding tone causing him to open his eyes. She was bent over him, straddling his thighs, her long hair falling across his face in a tangle of fiery silk. He cupped her face in his palms and said, “No, my love. Nothing starts until you’re with me. Nothing.”

  The amusement on her face vanished, and her beautiful blue eyes got glassy, making his chest hurt. The bond between them was so strong, but the way she teared up at his words told him she also had trouble believing they’d made it to this moment. Married. Mated. With no guilt to burden their joy.

  The only thing that had dimmed Felicia’s joy on their wedding day had been regret that her parents couldn’t have been there. She’d talked a little of her mother and father, who’d been dedicated to the peaceful integration of Otherborn into human society before they’d been killed in a house fire. He would have done anything to make her sadness go away. Since he couldn’t, he’d sworn their future would be one to make her father proud.

  Pulling her down, he kissed her, worshipping her mouth with his. Showing her with every breath and every touch how much she meant to him. The hand that still cradled his cock shifted as she guided the head to the honeyed warmth between her thighs. They both inhaled as he raised his hips, slowly pushing into her. This time he took her slowly, wanting to draw her pleasure out as long as possible so it lingered on her skin for days, wiping away even the faintest hints of doubt that she still carried with her. When she cried out her pleasure, arching her back and covering his heart with both her palms, he crooned, “That’s it. I love you, baby. You’ll be mine forever.”

  She immediately fell into a light sleep, and he held her and watched her the entire time, savoring the quivers of sensation that still trembled through them both. A long time later, a faint blinking of light caught his attention. On the night stand, he saw his phone’s message light blinking. He hesitated briefly then, moving carefully so he wouldn’t wake Felicia, retrieved the phone, and played the messages.

  He frowned when he heard Caleb’s voice. Gritted his teeth as he listened to Caleb describe the men who’d followed them to Evanston, Wyoming, with the instructions to retrieve the wraith who’d been inside the Dome. According to Caleb, Wraith had indeed met up with her friend, Joanna, the wraith Knox had cleared for entry, only to learn she’d been attacked before the men had found Wraith and Caleb in Wyoming. Although Joanna had survived, it had only been because she’d received help from a male companion.

  “I’m sorry to intrude on your honeymoon,” Caleb’s voice continued. “You and Felicia deserve your time together. But I thought you should know that someone’s watching the individuals coming and going from the Dome. I know you’ll want to take precautions.”

  With another apology from Caleb, the message ended. Grim, Knox dialed another number and quietly gave his security team instructions. With calm, deliberate movements, he shifted back into a reclining position, still cradling Felicia.

  Caleb had done the right thing by letting him know about the attack. Knox wouldn’t take any chances when it came to protecting his clan and his family. His security team was now on red alert, and he’d instructed them to pull all security footage from the night of the wedding reception, even those from his guest’s private quarters. It was an intrusion into their privacy, but one that was necessary at this point. If someone could get to Wraith and Caleb so easily simply because Wraith had attended a function in the Dome, then that meant they could get to others, as well, including Felicia.

  He was going to make sure there was zero chance of that happening. But even as his determination fed his confidence, even as he looked down at his wife and assured himself that no living thing, whether human or Otherborn, would harm her, a different fear began to creep in.

  He could protect her from others or die trying, but there was still the matter of that damn antidote . . .

  When Knox had accepted Mahone’s invitation to lead the Para-Ops team, it had been for two reasons: to find the missing antidote that FBI scientists had engineered to reverse the effects of the vamp vaccine, and to get closer to Felicia, the human female he’d loved for years, but whose mortality, along with his marriage and subsequent duty to marry another vamp, had kept him at a distance. During the mission, they’d learned Felicia was an immaculate—that she had pure blood—and the most likely explanation was that the FBI’s lead scientist, Dr. Barker, had given her the antidote without telling her. Dr. Barker’s trickery had enabled her to feed Knox, to give him the strength to get through the mission and teleport everyone back to the United States, but in the end it could also result in Felicia’s death.

  Because at the same time Knox had discovered Zeph’s father, Dante Prime, was the traitor rather than Knox’s father, Prime had claimed that the antidote had deadly side effects. Just because Prime had lied about the antidote having killed the Bureau’s scientists, that didn’t mean the possibility of negative side effects was eliminated. The vamp antidote hadn’t been fully tested and cleared before Dr. Barker had begun administering it. Now Felicia and a handful of humans had the pure human blood that made them indispensable to vampires, but they also lived with the uncertainty of how the antidote would affect them in the long term. Even as quickly as his scientists were working to find the answer, there was no way they could fully conclude—

  He jerked when he felt a hand cup his cheek. Felicia looked up at him, a frown marring her delicate brow. “You’re worrying again, aren’t you? Thinking about what Prime said?”

  “Yes,” he answered honestly, which was the only way a vamp could answer. Vamps couldn’t lie. That didn’t mean, however, that he wasn’t well trained in diversion tactics. “But there was something I meant to ask you earlier . . .”

  “Don’t you try that with me, Knox Dev—umph.”

  He kissed her soundly. He’d tell her about the men who’
d tracked Caleb and Wraith, but he wouldn’t concern her with his own fears regarding the antidote. In the end, he was foolish for even entertaining them.

  Felicia wasn’t going to die because he wouldn’t allow it. If it meant taking the ultimate risk and turning her into a vampire, he’d do it. No hesitation. She didn’t want to talk about that option, and he wasn’t pushing, but it wouldn’t change his course, either.

  When he’d kissed her breathless, he asked, “How much fun do you think the team is having in L.A.?” He smiled broadly. “Because I know they can’t be having more fun than us.”

  She laughed, whooping when he scooped her up and headed toward the bathroom.

  “Just what kind of fun are we in for now?”

  “The kind where you lie back and let me take care of you.” She stroked his hair. “That’s what you always do, my love. Take care of me.”

  And I always will, Knox thought. Whatever it takes.

  SEVENTEEN

  Aware that all eyes had shifted from Lucy to her, Wraith forced her gaze down to the floor. Even so, her body trembled with a vicious need for action. Every instinct screamed for her to move, to shove Lucy to the floor while yelling her denial, or to throw herself at Caleb and wrap herself protectively around him, announcing both her refusal to accept Lucy’s so-called plan and her unspoken desire for the human male. She did neither. Instead, she just kept staring at the floor, listening to Lucy’s wavering explanation.

  “I’m sorry. It might seem excessive to you all, but the fact is, I’m not . . .” Lucy cleared her throat. “I’m not sexually experienced. More to the point, I’m not comfortable with anyone touching me in a sexual way. I don’t want to mess things up before we even get started, so I suggested to Mahone that perhaps a little training would help. And because, well, Caleb and Wraith are always fighting, I just figured . . .”

  Slowly, Wraith leveled her gaze on Lucy, causing the mage’s words to falter. Oh no. She wasn’t letting her get away with that feeble excuse. Not without some kind of reaction from her. Lucy knew damn well how Wraith felt about Caleb and that the last thing she’d want is to see him hooking up with another female, let alone the female teammate she’d thought at least came close to being a friend. Of course, Wraith also knew that Lucy harbored feelings for Caleb as well. She just hadn’t realized how strong they were or how strong the mage’s will was, either. She’d obviously fooled them all. Wraith considered her to be a youngster in many ways and had dismissed her feelings for Caleb as a schoolgirl’s crush. As evidenced by his earlier protectiveness, Dex seemed to also believe that Lucy was vulnerable.

  Turned out she was as manipulating and scheming as the rest of them. Score one for the mage.

  As for Caleb . . .

  She shifted her gaze to him, swearing that if he was looking at the mage with anything close to desire, she was going to drop him right there. Instead, he was staring back at her, his expression blank but his eyes heated. She actually gasped, because while he was indeed shooting off desire, that desire seemed to be completely directed at her.

  It threw her off balance. He didn’t seem to care who saw it. Who knew it. He was clearly telling her that he wanted her, not the mage. And as much as that made her want to pump her fists in the air and do a victory lap, it also quieted her instinctive feelings of possession and had her struggling to make sense of both their situation and their feelings.

  What did he want from her? Because she knew what she wanted. Yes, she wanted his body. There was no doubt about that. But secretly, she wanted everything that he’d been unconsciously offering her, too. She wanted him to save her. She wanted him to ride up on his white horse and slay every dragon from her past and every one that was coming for her in her future.

  She couldn’t have that. She couldn’t have him.

  How many times would she have it shoved in her face before she accepted it?

  She forced herself to walk slowly toward the mage. Everyone in the room tensed, including Lucy, but she narrowed her eyes and raised her chin. Good girl, Wraith thought. Fight for him. Show me you deserve him, and maybe, just maybe, I’ll actually be able to let you have him.

  She forced herself to smile and say, “That’s a great idea, Lucy. Good way to think ahead.” She shrugged and looked over her shoulder at Mahone. “I don’t know why you thought I’d need the same training, though. Believe me, Mahone, I don’t. Isn’t that right, Lucy?”

  Lucy flushed. “I didn’t suggest you and Dex . . . train. That was Mahone’s idea.”

  “Really? Hmmm. Well then, maybe I should take our fearless leader’s advice.” She turned toward Dex and threw him a come-hither glance. To her surprise, the werebeast actually looked scared of her.

  “Wraith . . .” Caleb growled, causing her to stumble. Eyes forward, she told herself. Everyone’s watching, Wraith.

  With determination, she walked toward Dex and stared at him with challenge.

  “What do you say, Dex? You up for being used? Let’s show everyone just how adept I am at being touched so we can put all this bullshit aside and get on with things.” She tried to keep the entreaty out of her voice, out of her eyes, but as Dex stared at her, she could almost believe he sensed it anyway. His eyes darted to Caleb, and in her peripheral vision, Caleb shook his head.

  Dex’s gaze came back to hers. “You’re playing with fire, Wraith. You know that,” he said softly—so softly she knew she was the only one who could hear him. Leaning close, she pretended to kiss his ear.

  “I don’t want to play, Dex,” she said just as softly. “Not anymore.” And she meant it. She was tired. Past tired. She wished she could lie down right now and go to sleep and never wake up.

  Pulling back, she saw the understanding in his eyes. With a muffled curse, he pulled her into his arms and bent to kiss her. Wraith didn’t feel pain. She didn’t feel pleasure. She didn’t feel anything. But for those watching, she pretended to. And one thing she’d always been good at was pretending.

  As Caleb watched Wraith and Dex embrace, he actually felt something snap in his brain. He watched Dex’s hands roaming Wraith’s body and hers roaming over his. Distantly, he was aware of both Mahone and Lucy, still and eerily quiet beside him.

  It was several minutes before Wraith pulled back and made a show of straightening her clothes. Without a word, she walked slowly past them, taking a path that left her out of Caleb’s reach. Not that he made any move to reach for her. The door shut quietly behind her.

  Dex was trying hard, but he didn’t exactly look unaffected by Wraith’s kiss. Vaguely, Caleb heard Mahone say something to Lucy, sensed him encouraging her to leave the room, and then the two of them were gone. He was shut inside the office with just Dex, the werebeast who’d just had his hands all over Wraith despite the fact he’d known Caleb was watching.

  A sound, a repetitive beat, rang around him. He realized he was breathing like a horse that had just been run hard.

  “She did it to push you away, you know,” Dex said idly, as if they were discussing what they were going to have for lunch.

  “Yeah,” Caleb said. “I know.” His hands clenched as he visualized strangling the life out of the were.

  “And Lucy’s had a crush on you from the beginning. I suppose you know that, too?”

  That gave him pause. Had he? He supposed on some level he’d sensed it, but like the rest of them, he’d dismissed it easily enough, unable to take the little mage’s emotions seriously. Obviously, he should have.

  “I’m judging by your silence that means no, which makes you every bit as stupid for thinking you can actually come at me and walk away looking anything like you do now. So if you still want to be a ladies’ man when this mission is over and Wraith is well out of your life, I’d think twice about it.”

  Maybe it was Dex’s reference to Caleb being a ladies’ man, or maybe it was the effortless way he spoke of Wraith leaving, but Caleb’s emotions came down a notch. He closed his eyes, immediately pictured Wraith and Dex together, and
opened them, a low growl in his throat. Several seconds passed before he looked once again at the were. “It’s not like you to give fair warning, Dex. Why are you doing so now? You scared?”

  Dex breathed out a ragged chuckle. “No, O’Flare. I’m not scared. I just figured I’d give you a little leeway since you’re obviously suffering from the same thing Knox was not too long ago.”

  He scowled. “And what the hell is that?”

  “A case of gotyouby.”

  “Gotyouby?” Caleb echoed.

  “Yeah. As in, she’s got you by the balls, man. And good luck, cuz it doesn’t look like she’s gonna let go anytime soon.”

  EIGHTEEN

  Returning to Ramsey’s nightclub now that it was dark outside was going to be a whole different experience than Wraith’s earlier visit, but not until she was actually inside. She could barely hear the music blasting inside until the door was swept open by the doorman to welcome in a limo full of well-dressed patrons. As soon as the latest arrivals were inside, the parking lot was quiet again. The only clue that something interesting was happening inside was the presence of four solemnfaced, thick-necked men positioned two on either side of the door.

  Ramsey’s wasn’t the type of joint where people waited outside in line to pay a cover charge at the door. To get inside, you either had to be a member or been invited by one. Surprise drop-ins were turned away with absolutely no exceptions.

  At least, Wraith thought, until tonight.

  She hadn’t called ahead, and Ramsey didn’t know she was coming, but she sure as hell wasn’t going to let anyone turn her away from what she’d come for.

  She was going to get a little of that forgetfulness she’d been seeking at Knox and Felicia’s wedding. She was just going to have to get it in a different way than she’d been hoping. From a different man altogether.