Vivi Anna - [Valorian Chronicles 04]

by The Vampire's Quest

  Sensing his need, Sophie ran a hand between them, and guided his hard length into her. The moment he entered her slick core, a rush of adrenaline and power sizzled through him. With the blast he lost his breath, digging his fingers into her hips to hang on as intense energy pummeled him from the inside out.

  She clung to his neck, moaning as he started to thrust in and out. Frantic for her, he drew out then drove in hard and fast, pivoting his hips. She cried out and he covered her mouth with his to swallow it down, to inhale her every wail, every moan of pleasure. He needed to fill himself with her. Only then he knew he’d feel complete, whole. Only then could he truly live.

  Kissing her, tasting her, he thrust into her again and again, manic for her. Sounds of their lovemaking echoed around them. The rain had stopped falling, and it was as if they were completely alone, cut off from the rest of the world. It was Sophie and he together, their passion simmering and sparking between them like electricity.

  If only they could stay like this forever.

  Thighs tightening, gut clenched, Kellen pulled her hips forward as he buried himself deep and found release.

  Raking her nails across his back, Sophie writhed against the stone wall, grinding her pelvis into his body. The pleasure was too intense. She couldn’t think, it was too much. She’d be lost if she let go. She was afraid.

  Even after Kellen orgasmed he continued to move inside her, urging more from her. Shaking her head back and forth, she begged him to stop. “I can’t. It’s too much.”

  Kissing away her protests, he ran his hands up to her face. “Just let go, Sophie. Let go and everything will be all right.”

  She squirmed in his arms, feeling him start to slip away from her. “No. I can’t do it. I don’t want to.”

  Smiling, he kissed her again. “You need to let me go.” And with that he plunged into her again, and she was lost to her own pleasure. “I’ll always come back to you.”

  In a heated rush she came.

  But as soon as she did, Kellen had vanished into the fog.

  “Sophie?”

  She felt a nudge on her shoulder.

  “Wake up.”

  Startling awake, Sophie sat up in the chair she’d been slouched down in and glanced around, feeling disoriented. Lifting her hands, she noticed the dampness of her skin. She could still smell the rain and the jungle leaves. But it had been a dream, hadn’t it?

  Gabriel stood at the end of the Kellen’s bed watching her. He frowned. “Are you okay? Your eyes were changing.”

  She nodded as she shifted in the uncomfortable seat. The one she’d been sleeping in for the past two days.

  Despite the nurses’ protests, she had pushed her hospital bed next to his and held his hand while she slept, and talked to him when she was awake. When one ambitious nurse tried to dissuade her, Sophie had growled so fiercely she actually made the old woman cry and flee in fear.

  On the third day, the doctor came and told her that she was being discharged from the hospital. She was healed enough to go home. She told him in no uncertain terms that she was not leaving. They could have their bed back; she’d sleep in the chair.

  And that was how Gabriel found her, dozing in the chair, holding on to Kellen’s hand.

  “I hear they’ve discharged you.”

  She stretched her arms and nodded. “Yeah. I’m feeling much better.”

  “Then what are you still doing here?”

  She frowned at him.

  “You need to go home and rest, Sophie. You can’t fully heal while cooped up in this dreary room. You need some proper food, red meat preferably, some sun, a good night’s sleep in a comfortable bed, and you need to go for a long run to work out all your injuries.”

  He wasn’t telling her anything she didn’t already know. She just couldn’t force herself to leave. What if he woke up and she wasn’t here? Or worse, what if her voice and touch were guiding him home, and without them, he gave up and never returned?

  “I’ll take it under consideration.”

  He shook his head and yawned. “You’re the most stubborn woman I know. And that’s saying a lot.”

  “What about you? What are you doing here? You look like you could use a good twenty-four-hour nap.”

  “It’s been a bad couple of days.” He rubbed at his eyes and yawned again.

  “I heard about the protest on the television.”

  “The superintendent is finally putting into place measures to ensure the safety of the humans inside the city. It’s going to get uglier before it gets better.”

  “Did NORM claim responsibility for the attack on the club?”

  He nodded. “Just this morning, in a note to the superintendent.”

  Looking at Kellen, she squeezed his hand tight and rubbed her thumb over his knuckles. “Someone needs to pay for this, Gabe.”

  “Someone will. Eventually. This group can’t hide forever. And when they’re found, I promise you I’ll be there to take them down.”

  She glanced at Gabriel. He had a look of fierce determination. She’d known him long enough to know that what he said he meant. She had no doubt that he would take on the terrorist group with his own bare hands if need be. In the past, many people had mistaken Gabriel’s calm and logical demeanor as passive. However, the man could be fierce. She’d had the pleasure of seeing him in action.

  “Gabe, do you believe in dream projecting?”

  He nodded. “I know some vampires can do that. It’s an old trick they used to use to seduce their victims.”

  “I just had a dream about Kellen. I think he’s talking to me.”

  “What’s he saying?”

  She paused before answering. “To let him go.”

  He set his hand on her shoulder in that comforting way of his, and squeezed. “Maybe you should. There’s nothing the doctors here can do for him.”

  Tears rolled down her cheeks. Although it hurt to hear it, Gabriel was right. She couldn’t selfishly hold onto him any longer. If it would give him peace, she would let go, however painful it would prove to be.

  “Did you bring me the file I wanted?”

  Sliding it from under his arm, Gabriel handed it to her without a word. He patted her shoulder again, and then left the room, giving her the privacy she sought.

  She returned her attention to Kellen. Still rubbing her thumb over his knuckles, she watched the rise and fall of his chest. She wondered if he could hear her when she spoke to him. Could he feel her caresses? The doctor hadn’t been any help in that regard. He couldn’t hazard a guess whether Kellen was aware of her or not. His brain was still working. The needle on the EEG was in constant motion, so she knew he was in there struggling to get out.

  His body was healing even while he slept. The cuts and bruises on his face, hands and torso were slowly disappearing. So she knew he was still fighting inside.

  Leaning over, Sophie set her head onto his chest and listened to his heartbeat. It was strong. He was strong. And she knew he’d come back to her. He had to. She couldn’t lose him now, after all they’d been through. After all that he made her feel—the array of emotions and sensations he’d forced from her with his unusual charm and care. She’d never met anyone like Kellen. He was unique. And she never wanted to be without his distinctiveness. He was special to her and she loved him. It was as simple as that.

  And because she loved him so much, there was one more thing she could do for him.

  Releasing his hand, she flipped open the file folder and almost instantly found what she was looking for. She dug her cell phone out from her pocket and flipped it open. Hands shaking, she dialed the number.

  It rang four times before it was answered. “Ni hao.”

  “Dr. Shen Li? My name is Sophie St. Clair and I’m calling from Nouveau Monde Centre Hospital. There’s someone here I think you need to meet.”

  Chapter 29

  The murmuring lycan crowd quieted when Leon stepped into the speaking circle.

  Sophie stood on the sid
elines, next to her mother, Elsa, and looked over the crowd of two hundred or so seated in the outdoor amphitheater. It never failed to amaze her when the whole pack assembled. For a nonlycan it would certainly be a frightening scene to set eyes upon in one place—all simmering with power, all connected by love and loyalty.

  This night they were connected in grief.

  It was a full moon, two weeks after Duncan, Cheryl and Bianca’s deaths. The pack had gathered to remember them and mourn their loss, as was the tradition.

  It had also been two weeks since Kellen was airlifted to China. So Sophie’s heart grieved twice as much.

  After speaking with Dr. Shen Li on the phone and telling him everything she had learned about Dr. Brenner and the experiments in Vietnam, he agreed to treat Kellen. Sophie had really given him no choice in the matter. She had told him she was sending Kellen to China and that the doctor better be prepared to administer a cure. Even before she had threatened him, the doctor seemed eager to treat Kellen. And it had almost seemed as if he had been waiting for her call.

  Two hours later, Sophie, with Gabriel’s help, had commandeered transport from the hospital to a facility in Shanghai. She had walked by Kellen’s side, still holding his hand, as medics wheeled him down the hall to the elevator that went to the roof of the building, and, finally, to the waiting helicopter. She had kissed Kellen’s lips before standing there and watching the transport take off.

  She hadn’t heard from him, or about him since. And she was going stir crazy.

  She hadn’t slept well or eaten much in the past fourteen days. Once she was fully healed, she tried to dive back into work at the lab, but found it difficult every time she walked by the workroom and imagined Kellen standing at the table.

  At home was no better. Her sheets still carried his scent. As did her skin and her hair. She tried to scrub it away with a loofah sponge, but it only rubbed her flesh raw. His scent had stubbornly remained.

  If only she knew he was coming back. Instead, she knew nothing but the pain in her heart.

  Dr. Shen Li hadn’t returned any of her calls. Every time she called, whether it was day or night, she either reached his answering machine or an assistant that informed her that the doctor was busy and would get back to her. He never did.

  It was the not knowing that was destroying her. She didn’t know whether to hope or to grieve.

  The eerie silence of the crowd brought her back to the service.

  Before he began to speak, Leon turned in a circle, looking at each of his pack members. She could sense the expectant edginess of the pack waiting for his words. Leon was revered as pack alpha. He was strong and unbending. He could and would support the weight of the pack’s grief on his shoulders.

  “Brothers. Sisters.” His booming voice echoed throughout the amphitheater. “We gather here today to pay homage to our fallen comrades.”

  Sophie glanced around and saw varying degrees of sorrow and anger on the faces of her fellow pack members. She matched it with her own.

  “Bianca Shaffer was a vibrant young woman with a kind word for everyone she met. She was much too young to die.”

  “May the moon bless and keep her.” The crowd chanted.

  “Cheryl McManus was a nurturing and loving woman. A wife and a mother, and a teacher of us all. She will be greatly missed.”

  “May the moon bless and keep her.”

  Sophie caught the eye of Cheryl’s mate and her heart nearly shattered. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he squeezed his young daughter and son to him. She bit down on her lip to stop her own tears from welling. She could sense their pain. It tore at her throat like claws.

  “Duncan Quinn,” her father said, and then paused, lowering his head as if to gather his thoughts. Then he raised it and Sophie could see the sheen of tears in his eyes.

  His gaze met hers and she smiled at him. He returned her gesture and began again. “Duncan Quinn was a good man. He served this city and his pack well. Not always diplomatic, Duncan was loyal. He loved his pack and would have done anything for it. His death, as well as Bianca’s and Cheryl’s, will not go unpunished.”

  “May the moon bless and keep him.” The crowd chanted louder, the echo of their collective voices resounding.

  Sophie’s heart was racing. Her stomach twisted into complicated knots. She couldn’t stand it any longer. Surrounded by grief, and anger and love—most of all love—she couldn’t stay here in Nouveau Monde and not wither away and die. She had to know about Kellen. She had to know whether he was living or dying. Her heart couldn’t stand the pain of it. It would shatter into a thousand pieces.

  Glancing around in a panic, she searched for a quiet way out. She knew her father would try to stop her. He could never understand her feelings for Kellen. Not with the pain of Duncan’s death still fresh in his heart and mind. She knew he would think that she was betraying her pack by loving Kellen, by leaving them to go to him. But she couldn’t deny her heart any longer. It would kill her in the end.

  Leon raised his hands up to the sky, toward the full moon radiating her glory on the amphitheater and forest near by. “Now, my friends let us shift and run free with the spirits of our fallen brothers and sisters.”

  The crowd started to break apart, making room for the task at hand. Some members already started to shift right where they stood into their wolf form.

  Before Sophie could move, she felt a presence at her side. A slim hand fit into hers. Turning she looked into her mother’s eyes and saw understanding.

  “Go to him, Sophie. Do not deny yourself happiness. Not for the pack, not for your father. Follow your heart. It doesn’t lie.”

  Smiling, she hugged her mother tight and inhaled her familiar scent. “Thank you, Mama.”

  “I love you, daughter.” Elsa smoothed her hand down Sophie’s head, and then held her back, hands gripping her shoulders. “Now go. I will deal with your father. It’s high time I did, anyway.”

  “I love you, too.” She kissed her mother’s cheek, then turned to find the easiest way out of the amphitheater without drawing notice to herself.

  But before she took three steps, a ripple of tension flowed through the mingling crowd. Lycans who had already shifted were huffing, blowing air out of their nostrils in a sign of heightened anxiety. Others, who had not shifted yet, started to scent the air and jostle from foot to foot nervously.

  Pack member looked to pack member, trying to find the source of anxiety. Sophie sensed it, too, but another emotion washed over her. Anticipation. Something was about to happen. She grasped her mother’s hand tight and raked her gaze over the crowd, searching for the reason for her awareness.

  Near the south entrance of the amphitheater, a great disturbance surged through the crowd. Lycans sidestepped into other lycans, jittery and afraid, making a hole near the gateway. Sophie’s gaze settled on the path made in the pack, her heart pounding so hard she could barely breathe.

  “Ah, sorry to interrupt,” a voice echoed through the theater. A lone figure stepped into the circle, rays of moonlight illuminating his pale face. “But I’m looking for Sophie St. Clair.”

  Sophie’s heart leapt into her throat and she had to swallow down the gasp that threatened to erupt. Her knees wobbled, barely supporting her as she took a few steps forward. Surprised fear gripped her tight. She was afraid that her eyes betrayed her.

  She was afraid that if she blinked, Kellen would disappear again.

  Chapter 30

  As Sophie moved into the pale light cascading over the circle in the stone amphitheater, Kellen nearly dropped to his knees. It felt like he’d been waiting a lifetime to see her again, and he didn’t want to wait another single second to have her in his arms.

  But he knew he’d have to wait, regardless. The pack wouldn’t let her go easily. Especially not Leon. He could already feel the alpha’s discontent from across the ring.

  When he arrived back in Nouveau Monde he hadn’t been thinking clearly. His only thoughts were of Sophie and k
issing her. He had gone right from the airport to the lab, searching for her. Olena had told him that Sophie was at a pack service and told him she probably shouldn’t be disturbed, but had given him the address and detailed directions just in case he didn’t want to listen to her advice.

  She had been right. He wasn’t going to listen to anything that kept him from Sophie.

  His resolve was steadfast until he had parked his borrowed car and walked half a mile to the meeting place. The energy of over two hundred lycans surged over him, nearly making him wince. He’d never felt anything like it. But still he took the steps toward the entrance. He wouldn’t back down now. Not for anything. Not for anyone. He wasn’t afraid to live. Not any more.

  He wanted Sophie forever, and he wouldn’t stop until he had her.

  Death tried but failed. A few hundred lycans couldn’t be any worse.

  Before Sophie could reach him, Leon stepped in her way, effectively blocking her from taking any more steps. Kellen’s hands itched to breach the distance between them and touch her. The ache to do so throbbed from the top of his head to his toes.

  He glared at Kellen. “How dare you interrupt this grieving service.”

  Glancing around, Kellen met the gazes—some wolf, some human—of anger—but also of curiosity. “I apologize if my presence insults anyone here. But I’m not leaving. Not without my Sophie.”

  “Your Sophie?” Leon boomed. “I didn’t realize that you owned her.”

  “I don’t.” He met Leon’s piercing gaze, not backing down, not this time. “But she belongs to me, regardless.”

  “Father,” Sophie started.

  Leon shook his head. “No. I won’t agree to this.”

  “It’s not your choice, Leon, it’s Sophie’s.”

  Everyone turned as another woman stepped into the circle next to Leon. From the fiery locks that cascaded around her shoulders, Kellen knew this was Sophie’s mother, Elsa.

  “This man has not only saved our daughter twice from death, he also risked his own life to try to save Duncan. This man deserves our respect and gratitude, not disdain.”