by Tabke, Karin
“That would be the northern battleground,” Rafe said.
“Which two bloods?” Lucien asked.
Falon swallowed. Was it her blood specifically? Or would any old Slayer and Lycan blood do?
“I’m not sure.”
“Could it be you, Falon? You possess both bloods,” Lucien speculated.
The heat blanched from her cheeks.
“Mondragon and Vulkasin,” he elaborated.
She nearly passed out with relief. Under no circumstance could she find a way to tell these two men that she loved so desperately that the man who viciously killed their parents was her father. She wanted to deny it to herself. Knowing that Thomas Corbet and her mother had sex and loved each other? Dear God, how could Layla lay with him? Love him? After what he did? And Corbet? A man like him was not capable of love. Her mother had to hide her from him! He would have kidnapped her or killed her.
“Earth to Falon,” Lucien said softly, lightly shaking her.
She blinked and mentally shook herself. “I—was just shocked to hear about Corbet. Oh, my God. What if he goes after my mother again?” The vision that Fenrir cast of her mother, alone, in the woods flared in her memory banks. Did she know that Falon knew? Is that why she was running away again?
And at that moment Falon hoped she never came back. How could she face her mother? How could she even look at herself in the mirror knowing what she knew now?
She exhaled loudly. And, dear Lord, how fair was it not to tell Lucien and Rafe?
Falon started as the front door slowly opened.
Anja.
“I’ll get my bath now,” Falon said as she slipped from the room grateful for the interruption.
Eight
“YOU COULD HAVE told me you were backtracking, Rafael,” Anja complained sourly as she entered the kitchen. Immediately, her crystal-colored eyes scanned the room. Raising her nose, she sniffed. “She’s here,” she stated unhappily.
“You should be grateful we got her away from Fenrir. Without Falon, we stand no chance of surviving the rising,” Rafael chastised.
Anja imperiously waved her hand as if shooing away a fly. “You give her too much credit, Rafael.”
“You don’t give her enough,” Lucien said from behind her.
Anja turned and smiled at him. “Maybe.”
Rafe took the leather pack with their belongings from her and tossed it onto the granite countertop. “I want you to return to your pack.”
Anja whipped around to face Rafe. “Vulkasin is my pack, and as their alpha’s chosen one I go where he goes.”
Rafe swiped his hand across his face and looked past her to his brother, who stood staring at something that had captured his interest on the ceiling.
I could use a little help here, Lucien, Rafe said.
Lucien’s gaze lazily dropped from the ceiling to his brother. And make it easier for you to make a case for Falon? No, Brother, you can count me out on that one.
Anja cannot travel with us!
Why not?
Aside from the fact I don’t want her near Falon, she will slow us down.
Lucien nodded. True.
“You’re talking about me aren’t you?” Anja accused.
Rafe nodded, and explained, “Where we’re going, you can’t go, Anja. The three of us can travel much faster if we don’t have to continually wait for you.”
“Oh, bullshit, Rafe!” she exclaimed. “It has nothing to do with me and everything to do with her! You two want that selfish bitch just like you had her in the pond!”
When Rafael neither claimed nor denied her accusation, she insisted, “I saw it, Rafe! I saw how you and your brother made love to her at the same time! And, Rafael, I watched you watch your brother and her after.”
Rafe ignored Anja and looked at Lucien. He’d had guilt about it then, but he didn’t now. Not when he knew Falon had been and still was rightfully his. His brother’s eyes sparked furiously.
“Lucien, I—”
“Shut up, Rafael. Shut up before I break my promise to Falon, and mop this floor with you.”
Lucien stalked out of the house, slamming the door behind him.
Rafe turned back to Anja. He was done arguing with her. “There’s plenty of food—eat, then I want you to meet up with your pack and go north with them.”
Anja moved into him. Her essence was strong; she was fertile and if he took her now, his seed would bear fruit. “Please, Rafael, give me a chance. I’m strong. My line is strong.” She grabbed his hand and pressed it to her belly. “My time is ripe. Make love to me, and tonight our dynasty will begin.”
She was warm. Beautiful, and worthy of any alpha, but he didn’t want her. He wanted the woman down the hall, his first love, his only love. His true mate.
“I’m sorry, Anja,” he said, pulling his hand from hers. “I didn’t mean for you to get caught up in my blood feud. I didn’t mean for you to get hurt, but even if I could change the truth I wouldn’t. I want Falon. I’ve always wanted Falon. I will always want her and only her.” He stepped away. “I was just in killing Lucien’s chosen one all those years ago, and so justified, Falon remains my rightful mate.”
“What about me? I’m just supposed to say, ‘Hey, no big deal, the council made a mistake,’ and even though my world has been turned upside down and inside out, I’ll just skulk off into the forest and lick my wounds while you fight over her like a bone?”
Frustrated, Rafe clasped his hands behind his head. “What do you want from me, Anja?”
“Your brother.”
Stunned Rafe looked at her like she was mad.
“I come from a great line, Rafael. I deserve a great alpha. If I cannot have you because you insist on honoring your first mark on Falon, then I will take your brother.”
Rafe shook his head unable to help himself from smiling at such a ridiculous request. Lucien would never accept Anja, though it would certainly solve Rafe’s problem. But Lucien and Anja? He threw his head back and laughed.
She slapped him. “How dare you!”
Rafe grabbed her hand and pushed her away. “Lucien will not take another mate if he cannot have Falon.”
His words sobered him. Lucien would howl at the moon for the rest of his life if Falon were not by his side. Coldness shimmied through him. Part of Rafe wanted to ease his brother’s pain. They had both suffered so much for so long, but to ease Lucien’s pain, Rafe would suffer. No, he’d found Falon, he’d marked her and she’d returned the mark. By first bloodrights she was his. He vowed to keep her at all costs. And in that, Rafe would not ease his brother’s pain at the expense of giving up Falon.
Suddenly feeling just as weary as Falon, Rafe’s shoulders slumped. “Eat, Anja, then go to your pack.”
He walked away ignoring her soft sobs, feeling like a colossal dick. When had life become so damned complicated? Shit, when hadn’t it been?
Rafael stopped outside the bathroom door at the end of the hall. Falon’s magical scent mixed with aromatic soap teased his senses. His blood surged, the urge to lift her all silky wet from the tub and lay her down on the big bed and make love to her overwhelming. Since they rescued her from Fenrir, Lucien had had a private moment with her, but Rafe had not. He wanted it now.
Come in, Rafa.
He grinned and opened the door, quietly shutting it behind him.
He leaned back against the door and beheld the sultry vixen luxuriating in a steamy tub of white velvety bubbles.
“You look like you’re enjoying yourself,” he said softly.
She splashed bubbles at him and smiled shyly. “I am.”
Rafe pushed off the door and strode across the slate floor. Bracing his hands on either side of her on the tile, he leaned down and smiled at her. Mesmerizing blue eyes held his captive.
&nbs
p; His heart ached for her. His body hungered for her, and his soul cried out for her.
“Hi,” she said, trailing a soapy finger across his bottom lip. Her cheeks blushed pink.
“Hi,” he said, afraid he had died and gone to heaven. Maybe he had, and if that was the case, he died a happy man.
Sweeping her hair back from her cheeks, he slid his fingers into the thick softness. “Gods, I’ve missed you.” Cupping the back of her head in his palm, he brought her lips to his. Lightning struck on contact. His body swelled. Overcome with emotion, he slid his arm around her waist and pulled her to him, pressing her full against him until each inch of her imprinted him.
“Oh, Rafa, I’ve missed you, too,” she sighed against his lips.
The urge to cover her with his scent, mark her again as his was overwhelming. He could not believe she was here, in his arms.
“Stop thinking, Rafa,” she murmured against his lips. “Just kiss me.”
A slave to her touch, he lost himself in her lips. His tongue tasting her uniqueness, his fingers traced the curve of her cheek, her jaw. Down her slender neck to the high swell of her breasts. They plumped beneath his touch. He moaned, longing for more of her. “Falon,” he gasped hoarsely. “I have missed your touch.” He inhaled deeply. “The scent of your skin. The taste of your lips.” He kissed her deeper, savoring the warm wetness of her. “I want you, all of you, here, now.”
“I want what you want, Rafa.”
“I want you as mine.” Rafe looked into Falon’s glowing sapphire eyes. They reflected the deep love he felt. “You belong to me.”
Her eyes darkened, narrowing imperceptibly. “Not when you belong to Anja.”
Alarm bells went off in his head.
He stiffened. “But you expect me to share you with my brother?”
Her body stilled beneath his. Her eyes focused, and a sad smile tugged at her lips. “It is the only way.”
Shaking his head, Rafe settled her gently back into the tub and moved from her. His body and heart screamed for him to take her back into his arms, but his head prevailed. “I must share but you will not share me with Anja?”
Falon sat up, the water sloshing over the edge of the tub, and pulled her knees to her chest. “The difference is twofold, Rafa: You don’t love, Anja, you love me. I love you and I love Lucien.”
“By Blood Law, you belong to me, Falon,” he said in a measured tone. “Everything that came after we exchanged marks is irrelevant. The break was forced upon us both because of a lie.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“How can you say it doesn’t matter when it matters very much to me?”
“That was then, this is now. I cannot change how I feel.”
“But you expect me to?”
She inhaled deeply. Something had changed. He detected a hardness about her that had never been there before. Had Lucien turned her or—his blood ground to a halt in his veins. Had Fenrir infected her somehow?
“Do you love me?” she softly asked.
“With every fiber of my being.”
A smile flickered along her lips. “As I love you, Rafa.”
“How can you love me with every fiber of your being when you love my brother, too?”
“I can’t explain any of it, but please, never doubt my love for you.”
“You make it hard not to when you so easily gave yourself to Lucien.”
She stiffened. “Lucien was forced on me, Rafael. As I was forced on him! It was an impossible situation. I had no choice but to try. And when I did—” Her eyes misted with tears. “I discovered a tormented man who had horded his love as miserly as you had. A man who despite your mark, took me into his pack and gave me what you had given me. A family.”
She shook her head. “I don’t expect you to understand. How can I, when I don’t understand it myself. When I had no choice but to go with Lucien, I did. When I had no choice but to exchange marks with him I did. When I had no choice but to watch you take Anja by the hand to our room and mark her in the bed we made love in, I took it. Because, I had no choice! I did what I had to do. Because I loved you and because I love Lucien.” She swiped tears from her eyes. “Now, I have a choice, and my choice is both of you.”
“I have a choice, too, Falon, and I choose to have you for myself. The Blood Law will uphold that choice.”
“And if I don’t?”
He smiled thinly. “You will have no choice in the matter.”
“You have said you would do anything for me. I’m asking you to allow me to love you and Lucien, in heart, body and soul. For me. For us. For the nation.”
“The nation has nothing to do with this!”
“There is untold power in the three of us! You have felt it. You can’t deny it.”
“That doesn’t mean I give my consent to let you fuck my brother when you are mine!”
She stood in the tub and reached out, touching his cheek. He flinched at the way his body instantly reacted to her sexy touch. Her sultry image evoked provocative thoughts. His head told him to pull away, his body craved more. “Rafa, do you remember that night, in the pond?”
“It was an illusion, a figment of our imaginations.”
“Oh, no it wasn’t. It was as real as the both of us standing here, and even if it were a physical illusion, the emotions were very real. You took me while Lucien held me. It was—amazing. It was unlike anything I have ever experienced. Unlike anything you or Lucien has experienced. There was nothing wrong with what happened. Everything about it was right. We are meant to be together. The power of three.”
“I am an alpha, Falon! Alphas do not share.”
“Alphas do what is best for the pack.”
“How do you think my pack will look at me, their alpha, who shares his woman?” He jammed his fingers through his hair. “Weak. Pussy whipped, willing to take sloppy seconds.”
She slapped him.
“Don’t speak to me like that! I had no choice! And you! You—you walked away from me!” Tears flooded her eyes. “How do you think I felt when you wouldn’t speak to me? I begged you to answer but you didn’t.” She dropped her head. “I did what I had to do, for myself, for you.” She looked up at him with a tear-streaked face. “And for Lucien. He needed me, Rafa. And I needed him. We had no one but each other.”
He grabbed her hand and kept it pressed to his cheek. “How do you think Lucien’s pack will look at him? What you’re asking is worse than asking us to cut off our balls.”
He inhaled deeply and slowly lowered her hand, then released her. “You’re killing me, Falon. I can accept that you love Lucien.” He laughed sharply. “For the love of Singarti, I can even understand it. He has that way about him, he always has. Despite our blood feud, I never stopped loving him. But I will not share you with him.”
“If he were willing, would you be?”
“No,” he growled.
“You did once when no one was looking.”
“It was a dream. Nothing more.”
She grabbed his hands and brought them to her lips. “It was more than a dream! It happened. Make the dream a reality, Rafa. Please. We’ll find a way to work it out. I promise.”
The fight went out of him then. Not that he changed his mind but because he could not, despite her crazy request, stay angry with her. He loved her. Gods help him, but he loved her and, because he did, he would do almost anything for her, except—
“Pride has destroyed so much and wasted countless years and lives. There is no shame in loving me as your brother does.”
“There is more than my pride involved.”
“The packs would reunite.”
“And what then? I step aside as alpha? Would it not be enough Lucien had you but now the pack?”
“The two of you co-alphaed bef
ore.”
“We were sixteen and stupid.”
“Now you’re older and wiser.” She looped her sultry arms around his neck. He stiffened not wanting to answer her siren’s call. “The more I think about it, the more I realize the benefits of the three of us together aren’t just mine.” She stood up on her toes and pressed her lips to his. “The pack will benefit by us uniting on every level. The show of our love and power will instill hope and confidence in the entire nation. We know what we’re up against now, and we will need everything we have. The power of the three will only strengthen the packs. Not weaken them as you think.”
“It doesn’t work that way.”
“It will, if you work it, that way.”
Rafe didn’t want to talk about it anymore. The thought of watching Lucien take Falon from his bed to Lucien’s made his stomach churn. He saw himself laying on the cold rumpled sheets that still smelled of her and their lovemaking, as he imagined Lucien’s hands on her. He shook the image off. He had watched once, in the pond, when he went to Falon, and it had been—fuck! He would not consider it!
Falon smiled to herself, even as worry tugged at her heart. Her deadly secret cast a shadow over everything she did, everything she desired—over her entire future. If Rafael or Lucien discovered her parentage, they would—kill her.
“Rafa,” she breathed, “promise me, no matter what, you will never stop loving me.”
“I will always love you.”
“Promise me you will never hurt me.”
He pulled away from her. The tears in her voice were reflected in her misty eyes. “I would never raise a hand against you.”
She swallowed hard.
“What is it?” He smoothed a damp tendril from her cheek. “I love you, you can tell me anything.”
“I—I have Corbet blood in me now. If I could purge it from my body I would, but—what if it changes me?”
“You are too Lycan for the Corbet blood to affect you adversely.”
“You don’t hate me because of it?”
“It saved your life. How can I hate it?” He smiled and kissed her forehead. “It’s not like you’re a blood Corbet.”