“Preston, please, stop. I can’t talk when you’re doing that.”
“I need you, Lily. I’ve done nothing but dream about you since you left my car.”
Knowing that he’d dreamed of me excited me and, suddenly, I didn’t want to talk, I wanted to touch him everywhere. The idea of Dorian being just outside in the other room hadn’t left my mind. His close proximity ignited a pang of anxiety within me, but I was only doing what was expected of me, after all. He could hardly get upset about that. Just because it happened to be with Preston was the greatest bonus I could have ever hoped for.
I undid the buckle of Preston’s pants, and he stood as he shoved them down. He was already so hard. He gently pushed me back onto the bed, and as I lay facing him, his mouth covered mine with a heated kiss. His hand slipped inside the thin, lace bodice of the gown to cup my breast. When he suddenly plunged into me, I closed my eyes at the feeling of fullness, and the prick of his fangs at the vein of my neck took me over the edge of the kind of climax I never thought to experience again.
Press switched from my vein to my lips, allowing me to taste my blood in his kiss. He licked his way back to my throat and sank in his fangs again. As he suckled there, I lost all coherent thoughts of Dorian and Julian. Preston’s hands roamed over every inch of my body, and his lips attacked, hot with passion and tenderness. Under him, I came alive and arched up into his thrusts. He was all I could feel, the sensations of me convulsing around him again as he cried out my name, and his heat exploded inside me.
As I lay in his embrace, he held me close and ran his fingers up and down my arm, the motion gentle and soothing. “We have to get you out of here somehow. I had a bad feeling about your situation when you left me, and I searched the city for you that morning. But wherever you materialized to must have blocked the blood bond we’d created. I couldn’t track you, and I got caught in the sun. It’s taken me until tonight to fully recover.”
“You searched for me in the daylight? Why would you do such an idiotic thing?” I asked, stroking my palm over his face, his head, then down to the muscles of his chest.
“I couldn’t think straight when you left me. I had no control over what I did. All I could think about was finding you.” His voice was thick, still coated with desire. “I couldn’t bear you leaving me that way, without knowing anything about where you were going. Don’t ever do that again.”
“I won’t, I promise.” I kissed the corner of his mouth. “I’m so sorry you got caught in the sun.” Then I kissed his chin and slipped down to his neck to kiss him there. “I didn’t know. I haven’t even been able to go to The I.V. to see if you were there. Dorian locked me in my room after he discovered I’d been gone all night. He was waiting for me in my room that morning when I returned.”
Preston stilled his fingers. “How did he lock you in?”
“I’m not sure. I think there is a spell preventing me from teleporting out of there. When he turns the lock, something happens, and I can’t penetrate the walls. That’s probably why you couldn’t sense me once I entered my room.”
“We need to figure out a way to get you out of here. Dorian loved me once. My guess is, he still does; otherwise, I doubt he’d have handed you over to me so easily.”
“Maybe, but the Dorian you know, the Dorian Julian and I grew to love and respect, disappeared the night he killed his friend Langdon in a jealous fit. Julian had an affair with Langdon, but in addition to that, Langdon wanted everything Dorian had, including me. When he suggested to Dorian that I live with him, Dorian went ballistic and flew into a mad rage before he severed Langdon’s head with this eighteenth-century war sword he has hanging on the wall. I’d never seen anything like that—before or since. It was horrible. I still have nightmares about it. After that night, Julian and I made plans to leave, but it’s difficult to escape one’s maker when they are so much stronger and find out you’ve deceived them. Now, he keeps Julian locked up and drugged and uses his captivity against me. Aside from the prostitution, which by the way is a mild description of the business Dorian conducts, he uses me to distribute heroin on the streets. Though he’s never used me as a prostitute . . . until tonight.”
“Don’t think of it that way. You are with me, and Dorian has nothing to do with it. Besides, I would have turned him down if he had offered me anyone else.”
“If I don’t continue working for him and pretending to be his wife, he’ll kill my brother, Preston.”
“Then we need to find a way to get both of you out.”
Chapter Seventeen
Preston
I hadn’t slept all day. Leaving Lily with Dorian, tore me to pieces. She claimed to be in danger and I believed her fear was real. She had no reason to make any of that up, except I had a difficult time coming to terms with the fact that Dorian, the man who’d given me a second chance at life, would do her or her brother any real harm. On the other hand, his reasons for turning me had been purely selfish, and he did desert me, leaving me alone without anyone like me, so maybe Dorian was capable of hurting them. As much as I pleaded with Lily to come with me, I couldn’t convince her to leave and abandon her brother—no matter how much I tried to get her to understand that I’d find a way to rescue Julian. Now, I needed to find a way to save her and her brother. For that, I’d need the help of my brothers. Though that would require me revealing the truth about my relationship with Dorian. It was a small sacrifice for someone I cared deeply for. A very little cost compared to what Lily had given up for her brother for so many years.
I didn’t even try to go to sleep. Hadn’t even gone to my room. I walked through the mansion rather zombie-like. I even hung out in the library for a while and read. Nothing was taking my mind off Lily. I strolled into the studio and played my guitar for a while. Music always soothed me, and I ended up staying in there until the sun went down.
I’d left Dorian’s without checking to see if Gage was still there or not. If he was still enjoying himself, I didn’t want to rush him. He could take care of himself; plus, he’d already told me not to wait up, which meant he’d find his own way home when he was ready.
I needed his help if I had any chance of saving my woman. I needed all of my brothers’ help.
When the last of the sun had descended into the horizon, I went upstairs and headed to the living room where I knew everyone would be—a ritual gathering to the beginning of our day that we all enjoyed. I sighed at the sound of voices inside. It was almost time . . . time for me to come clean with everyone.
I walked into the room, and Cian gestured toward the veranda where I saw Gage standing. I knew he’d want to talk to me alone first, and had mostly likely told Cian to send me outside to him when I got there. I was also positive Gage had already filled everyone in about our discoveries from last night. I tensed a little as I opened the sliding glass door. Gage didn’t turn to see who it was, but he knew by my scent. I stood next to him and gazed across the bay.
He handed me a beer he’d had waiting for me, and I grabbed it. I took a swig and let the cool taste of hops and barley coat my parched throat as I braced myself. The dreaded conversation I never, ever wanted to have with him was about to start.
“So, that Dorian dude, I guess you know him pretty well?”
“Yep.”
He nodded and took a pull from his own beer. “He kissed you, on the mouth.”
“Yeah, he did.”
“And you let him.”
I inhaled a large breath of air and let it out, then sucked in my lips while I nodded, keeping my eyes on the bridge. The air was warmer than usual tonight for this time of year, and I pulled my shirt off over my head to feel the semi-cool sea breeze. The mixture of salt and mist felt amazing on my overheated flesh after the damage the sun had done.
When I didn’t answer, Gage went on. “Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t bother me at all. I’m just surprised. I thought I knew everything there was to know about you, but you’ve never mentioned this Dorian character.”
Where did I start? Gage was my best friend. He did know most everything about me, just as I did him. But he didn’t know it all, and he deserved to know what had happened. It was supposed to be our pact; no secrets among brothers and all that. How had I gone all these years without ever telling Gage the truth about my transition?
“It’s complicated,” I said.
“No, you know what’s complicated, Preston?” I swallowed at his usage of my real name. Gage only called me Preston when he was upset or needed to talk about something very serious. Lane had given me the Elvis nickname, and the rest of the guys had picked up on it. It had all started as a joke at first until Cian had had the great idea to use it in the performance. But it was getting old as far as I was concerned. I needed a change.
I shook my head and stiffened as I waited for Gage to answer his own question.
“If you suddenly lost all your vampire abilities and were dying because you needed constant blood transfusions or something fucked up like that . . . that’s complicated,” Gage continued. “But fuck, man, telling it like it is? ‘Gage, dude, by the way, I like batting for the other team now and again.’ What’s so fucking complicated about that?”
“I’m not bi-sexual.”
He chuckled, but there was no humor in it. It sounded contemptuous, and the sneer on his face confirmed it. “Yeah? Then what the fuck was that? Why’d you let that fruitcake—and I don’t mean fruitcake because he’s gay, I mean fruitcake as in he is very weird—play kissy-kiss with your lips last night?”
“I couldn’t stop him. Dorian’s my maker.”
Gage stared at me, his eyebrows knitting together in a mix of anger and betrayal. “No. Wait. You told me that some female vamp named Vicky turned you while you were fucking her.”
“I lied.”
“You lied? You lied to me?” He was facing me now, pointing his finger at me. “Why would you lie about that?”
“For this very reason. I knew how you’d react.”
“I wouldn’t be reacting any way if you had just told me the truth from the beginning.”
“Told you that I was a cripple, and when the opportunity arose to have a complete and whole life, it meant me being a male vampire’s lover?”
“Yes. That.” His voice rose several decibels, and he just kept going, hurt and anger pouring out of him. “And you were crippled? Another fact you seem to have left out. You lied to me. And after everything we’ve been through, you still never came clean. Not until now, until you’re forced to. Well, you know what? Fuck you, Preston! Fuck you to hell!”
I flinched as the crash of his beer bottle rang out through the night. I glanced over at the small, semi-circular dent in the wall from where the bottom of the bottle had hit first before the rest of it had shattered into a million pieces of brown glass as it landed on the cement flooring of the veranda. Cian was going to be pissed.
Gage turned from me and stomped back inside; slamming the sliding door closed so hard I thought it might shatter, as well. Then there’d really be hell to pay. But Cian was the least of my worries at the moment. My best friend hated me, and that weighed heavy on my heart. I only hoped that in time, he’d come around and understand why I lied. But now I had to figure out how to rescue Lily and her brother, and it didn’t look like Gage would be much help. Apparently, he wasn’t as forgiving as I’d hoped he would be.
Seeing Dorian last night had shocked the hell out of me. I’d thought maybe he had died. He’d professed his love to me, but in all these years, he’d never tried to find me again. If he loved me as much as he claimed, I would have thought he'd come back. But now, here he was. And to learn he’d turned Julian so he could be his lover, the same reason he’d turned me . . . Was that a pattern of Dorian’s? Changing young men into vampires every few centuries in order to obtain a new lover? And then there was all the drug dealing and prostitution. It seemed to me that Dorian had become a menace to society. Despite the shock, now, the one thing needling the base of my brain was the fact that in order to save Lily, I would need to kill Dorian.
“Gage didn’t seem too happy when he left,” Cian said as I walked back inside.
No shit. He hates me now, and I need to kill my master, but I’ll never be able to do that without Gage.
I was fucked.
I wasn’t even sure I wanted to discuss any of this with them, but if I didn’t have Gage, maybe they’d understand.
“Wanna talk about it?” Cian leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees as he rested his chin on his clasped hands.
I shrugged, and Lane got up immediately, then made a bee-line for the credenza and the alcohol and poured himself a couple of fingers deep from the Johnny Walker bottle.
“Anybody want one?” Lane asked.
“No thanks,” Cian said.
“Yeah. I’ll take one.” Anything to help take the edge off. Alcohol didn’t have the same effect on vampires as it did on mortals, but it did provide a generous buzz if we consumed enough of it—without the fucked-up hangover that humans usually experienced the morning after.
“All right.” Lane filled another tumbler.
I wanted Gage here, but I doubted he was coming back anytime soon. Dammit. The bastard couldn’t forgive me for the lie, and that stung so bad I had a hard time thinking about much else. Gage had been my rock, my one constant through decades of time. My salvation after Dorian had left me alone and lonely in a world full of humans who would never accept me.
I sighed heavily and gulped down the contents of the glass I held. Without thinking, I headed to the bar to pour myself another.
“So, what’s this about, Elvis?” Cian asked.
“He prefers to be called by his given name these days.”
My head snapped to the doorway where Gage stood. He’d come back. I glanced at the bottle I held, unsuccessfully trying to hide the smile I couldn’t contain, and then poured another glass without asking if he wanted it. I picked up both tumblers and headed toward Gage, handing him one. When he accepted it, I said, “Thanks.” He nodded and entered the room, finding a seat on the sofa at the opposite end from where Lane sat.
“Preston? Okay. Sorry, man,” Cian said.
I shrugged. I’d never told Gage I preferred Preston or Press, but he was good at sensing my feelings. I’d been Press or Preston to him for a while already. He’d never really embraced the Elvis nickname as much as Cian and Lane had. “Whatever you guys want to call me is fine by me, as long as it’s not sometime disgusting.”
“Like dipshit?” Lane laughed.
I chuckled. Two seconds later, the rest of the household walked in, including Grayson, Chelle’s father, whom I’d requested when I’d told Cian I needed to talk to everyone. The doctor needed to know about this new drug Dorian was using. But I’d forgotten to ask Cian to exclude the women, and when Josh and the other women walked in, I frowned. I hadn’t wanted the women here, or the human. Ari was an exception, and was always welcome as far as I was concerned, but Maggie, Vanessa, and Chelle? I sighed. Though the witch might come in handy. But talking about Dorian and my relationship with him was difficult, especially in front of women. Except Lily . . . I suddenly ached to have her beside me. I needed her support. In due time, in due time, I assured myself.
Everyone got drinks and sat, waiting for me to start. I glanced around the room and swallowed my pride as I began.
“I’m in love,” I started, as claps and woohoos permeated the room. I couldn’t believe I’d just blurted that out without even considering how it might feel on my lips to say it or how my heart would skip a few beats when the words flowed over my tongue. I was in love with Lily. I’d need to be sure she knew that the next time I held her in my arms. I rubbed my hand down my mouth and then took another sip of my drink. I glanced up to see everyone staring at me. Waiting. “But the woman I’m in love with is being held against her will by a vampire named Dorian Sweet.”
“Dorian Sweet? The owner of Sweet Enterprises?” Josh asked. Being a reporter
, I’d expected him to know who Dorian was. “Fuck. Dorian Sweet is a vampire? He’s like, one of the most prominent and influential business owners in San Francisco. Everybody looks up to Dorian Sweet. Just last year, he was voted best in organizational performance by the Golden Gate Business Awards committee as the best in development and construction in the world.”
I had no doubt about that after having been inside Dorian’s building last night. The place was remarkable.
“That’s all true, but he also runs a prostitution and human/vampire trafficking circuit. I did some checking. Turns out, he’s managed to tap into a very lucrative niche, one of the largest cartels in California,” Gage added, and I was thrilled he was backing me up.
“The victims are usually vampires, but he exploits humans, as well. They are frequently extorted, assaulted, and trafficked for sexual exploitation.”
“How the fuck does he compel vampires?” Lane asked.
“Apparently, he or someone else, has developed a drug.” I glanced at Grayson. This was his area of expertise. “Once injected into the vein of a vampire, it acts like a roofie and makes them completely compliant, rendering them helpless and vacant. Almost like the sun, but without the pain.” Having recently just experienced such an incapacitation, and the calm I’d experienced while unconscious, I completely understood the validity of a vampire’s submission under such a drug.
“I may have heard something about this. I’d hoped it was just a rumor, though,” Grayson said.
“No, it’s very real. It’s called Blaze, and I’ve seen the effects. Gage and I attended a private party at Dorian’s last night. Several of the vampires seemed lethargic, some completely incapacitated, but at the time, I didn’t realize why until Lily told me about her brother, who is one of the vamps being held against his will and forced to perform sexual acts with both male and female vampires, including Dorian himself.”
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