Rafael (15 page)

Sunday at the
manor had turned into family day. Rafe didn’t mind it at all. As a matter of
fact, he was thankful for the houseful of men. Having his brothers with him all
day was a tradition he enjoyed. He wondered if the ritual would continue when
the men found their mates. With the journal entries Nikolas found and the
feelings he held for Kaya, he knew in his heart human bonding was possible. He
had yet to figure out if Xavier was hiding the truth about it.

There was a
video game tournament going on in one room and a billiards tournament going on
in another. Julian was off installing security cameras at the last warehouses. Frey
had jumped at the chance to fly Jasper around in the helicopter. Scoping a home
out from the air was prudent for Goyles. They required privacy and lots of it.

Rafael was lost
in thought about his upcoming dinner with Kaya. He wanted to get to know her
better and figure out if she was only attracted to him because of the mating
bond. He was looking forward to the Policeman’s Ball where he could be
anonymous. Would she be attracted to him if she didn’t know who he was? That
would be a true test.

“Rafael. Yo
Rafe, you’re up.” Sixx was waiting impatiently at the pool table.

Rafe took a
drink from his beer then lined up the shot. He sank three stripes in a row then
called the eight ball in the side pocket. Perfect shot.

“Next,” he said,
grinning at Sixx. He had won three out of five. He was eventually dethroned by
Urijah. The kid spent a lot of time in bars, watching out for the humans.

 The day was
winding down now that they all had their bellies full of Priscilla’s cooking.
“I’ll be on vacation next Sunday so one of you will have to do the cooking.”
She always kidded with them good-naturedly. She often told Rafael that if she
didn’t have a houseful of her boys, she wouldn’t know what to do with herself.

Rafael asked the
men to join him on the patio where they discussed the second murders and the
fact that the detective was missing. “Now that Julian has all properties set up
and being monitored, hopefully, there will be no more bodies showing up. The
missing detective bothers me. Tonight when you are scouting, be on the lookout
for his vehicle.”

Rafael told them
all about his conversation with Xavier. All Goyles knew of the Elder, but few
had ever met him. “I will not stop searching until we know what we need to
about bonding with humans. Also, I think that X knows more about Jonas Montague
than he is letting on. I have a feeling life is gearing up to be even more
interesting.”

Everyone left
for home with the exception of Jasper and Lorenzo. They were both ready to find
a place of their own. Rafe couldn’t blame them. When you were as old as they
were, living under someone else’s roof, no matter how expansive, was nice for
only so long. Lorenzo called it a night and that left Rafael and Jasper.

“What’s on your
mind, Jas?” He could tell his cousin was nervous.

“I wanted to ask
you about the mate bond. If it’s true, that we can bond with humans, do you
think the fates will put us with the right person?”

Rafael could
feel the trepidation coming off Jasper. “Yes, I do. I have never seen a Goyle
mated to someone they didn’t like, and I do not think you will be an exception.
You will be put with the perfect man.”

Jasper gasped.
“I’m not…” Rafael stopped him. “It’s okay. I’ve watched you, and I see who
catches your attention. I have no problem with your sexual orientation, Jas, and
neither will any of the other brothers. Well, unless you are hitting on them.”
Rafe laughed. Jasper ducked his head, and Rafael could have sworn he saw tears
threatening to fall. “Now, I have business to attend to if you are okay.”

Jasper nodded.
“Yes, my King. Thank you.”

Rafael clapped
him on the shoulder and headed inside to his office. Being King, there was
always something going on that warranted his attention. Tonight he was fielding
emails from two leaders in the southwestern states, something about boundary
issues. Once he responded with what he felt were reasonable settlements, he
shut his computer off. He would go to the office in the morning and bid on the
Cromwell job. If the bid was accepted, he would be one step closer to figuring
out who the mystery man was.

Rafael knew he
would get little sleep. He was too anxious about dinner with Kaya. He decided a
late night flight was in order. Julian had called earlier and said there had
been a problem with the video surveillance at the warehouse on Industrial
Boulevard, so Rafael decided to check it out. He phased in the woods then
walked toward the building. What he found made his blood boil. Kyle Jorgenson’s
car was inside the building with the detective at the wheel. Fuck! So this is
where his body had disappeared to. It shouldn’t come as a surprise but still,
finding bodies that implicated you in their murder was a shock. Rafael did not
need this, especially before his date tomorrow. He had to tell Kaya, just not
tonight.

He pulled out
his cell phone and called Julian. “Jules, you’re not going to believe this.”
Together they worked through a scenario that Rafael prayed would not blow up in
his face.

 He needed to be
fresh for his evening with Kaya, not worn out. He had not called her all day on
purpose, even though he picked his phone up several times to do just that.  He
flew home and prepared for bed as he normally did; he turned the news on while
he was brushing his teeth and changing clothes. Tonight he opted for no sleep pants.
They would only get in the way when he was stroking his cock and thinking of
all the things he planned on doing to one pretty blonde police chief. Once his
dick was satisfied, maybe his brain would shut down for the night.

Kaya spent all
day Sunday combing over the scarce information she had on Gordon Flanagan. She
called in two more detectives since Jorgenson and Abbott were both M.I.A. She
sent them to the archives, pulling information on Elizabeth Flanagan as well as
anything else they might find on Gordon.    

When the
documents she read gave her no clues, she headed to the library. Not only did
she scour for information on Flanagan but also on Rafael. She was going to have
dinner with a man she didn’t know anything about other than he drove her body
crazy and his kisses made her toes curl. She always thought that was a stupid
saying until she encountered the reaction herself.

Nothing she
found on Flanagan helped her case. All the data on Rafael certainly helped his
case. There was not one negative thing printed about the man. She went home
empty-handed, but she felt better about her date.

She checked her
phone every five minutes to see if he called or at least sent a text. Nothing.
She decided to stop acting like a teenage girl and clean her house, anything to
keep her occupied and her mind off Rafael. She cranked some hard rock on her
stereo and got busy.

With a clean
house and a black screen on her phone, she called it a night.

Kaya got to work
early as she did most days. Still not having heard from Dane and Jorgenson was
forefront in her mind. A close second thought was her date tonight. She called
a meeting of all her employees, asking if anyone had heard from either of the
detectives. Nobody had. She set up a couple of task forces; both whose
responsibilities were to canvas neighborhoods and areas looking for Dane and
Kyle. Since the GPS on Jorgenson’s car had been disabled, and Dane’s car was
still in his parking lot, they had their work cut out for them.

A knock on her
door alerted Kaya to the young dispatcher entering her office carrying a huge
vase full of wildflowers. “These just came for you.” She sat them on the edge
of Kaya’s desk.

“Thank you.” Kaya
knew who the flowers were from without looking at the card. Kim didn’t move
toward the door. “Did you need something?” Kaya knew the girl was just being
nosy.

“No, Ma’am.” She
reluctantly turned and left for her own desk, or the desks of everyone along
the way so they could speculate who the bouquet was from. In all the years Kaya
had worked at the precinct, not once had she received flowers. Kaya pulled the
envelope off the plastic holder. Thank goodness it was sealed. She picked up
her letter opener and carefully slid it under the flap. Once open, she pulled
out the card and read it.

There is much
beauty to behold in hearts that are wild.

There was no
name, no initials, just that beautiful line. Did Rafael find her heart wild?
She would have to ask him tonight. Shit, tonight. She knew she should stay at
work but now she just couldn’t. She was going to take her flowers home and
start getting ready.

She put her
laptop in its case and grabbed the vase. Kaya knew leaving this early was
completely irresponsible, but she couldn’t help herself. She had to pass by the
bullpen and the dispatcher’s desk, but she didn’t stop. As she walked by, she
told Kim, “I’ll be working from home the rest of the day.”

Rafael submitted
the bid to Cromwell. It was so ridiculously high he almost hated to hit the
send button. Now, he could not sit still. There were a couple of hours left
until he picked up Kaya. He rehearsed what he was going to say in his head, but
it sounded stilted, fake. This was their first official date, and he was
nervous as hell. Never had he brought a woman back to the manor. That honor he
had saved for his mate. In his heart, he knew that was Kaya and bringing her
home tonight was huge.

Unsure of how
well the night would go, he asked Frey if Lorenzo and Jasper could stay with
him. He confided to his cousin his plan to skirt the truth in finding the body
at the warehouse. A conference call with the others had them in agreement that
it was the best course of action. After Priscilla had served dinner, she and
Jonathan were to remain in their private wing for the rest of the evening.
Priscilla’s eyes filled with tears when Rafe requested the special meal.

Everything was
in place. He just needed to expend some energy, waste some time, and stop
thinking so hard. Rafe hated running. Why run when you could fly? Julian was
the runner in the family. One day he took off and didn’t return for almost
twelve hours. He said he just got lost in his head. Rafe enjoyed swimming, but
that was too relaxing. What his body required now was to hit something. He
found himself in the gym decimating a punching bag.

His thoughts
turned from the object of his desire to the current bane of his existence:
Flanagan. Why now? What had set the tyrant off this time causing him to commit
mass murder? Was it his twin being out in public that had pushed him over the
edge? Rafael was certain he was behind the killings, especially with Magnus
being one of the victims. Why was he targeting Rafe? Was it coincidence that
the bodies were piling up in his warehouses? Never having met the man, Rafe
couldn’t answer that. If there was bad blood between them, he could understand
being set up. As it were, he couldn’t figure out the motive.

If Goyles
sweated at a normal rate, Rafe would be drenched. Being a shifter had his skin
barely glistening. A quick look at the clock told him he had been punching and
jabbing for a couple of hours. Perfect. He made his way to the shower where his
thoughts returned to his mate. He soaped and rinsed his face then shampooed his
hair and ran conditioner through it. Rafe washed the rest of his body taking
great care with his cock. He couldn’t get in the shower now without getting a
hard-on. Thoughts of Kaya’s lips wrapped around the head and her pink tongue
licking down the length, fueled his soaped hand to stroke longer and faster.
Blue eyes looking up at him while she swallowed what he offered spurred his
orgasm up through his balls and onto the tile wall.

 Hopefully by
the end of the night, his fantasy would become reality. He finished bathing,
rinsed the conditioner out of his hair, and cleaned his spunk off the tiles.

Rafe stepped out
of the shower wrapping a towel around his waist. The overhead fan kept the
steam from fogging up the mirror. He pulled his razor and shaving cream out of
the drawer. The face staring back at him was one he had seen hundreds of
thousands of times. It was so familiar that he rarely looked at his reflection.
Didn’t really see himself. What did Kaya see when she looked at him, a plain
man with too rough features? Or did she find a handsome man that she would be
happy looking at every day for the rest of her life?

Rafael knew that
his initial feelings for her were based on the mate bond, but for him it also
went deeper. The connection was there when they touched, when she spoke, when
they kissed. He had to trust she felt it too.

He ran some gel
through his longish black hair that would keep it out of his eyes. Did she
think his hair too long? Did she like it or wish it were shorter? When she had
her hands in it, grabbing and pulling his face to hers, that made him think she
did indeed like it. After shaving, he slapped some lotion on. Not that it was
necessary, he just liked the way it smelled. He never thought about what scent
a woman might like, but since he met Kaya, everything he did, every decision he
made tonight caused him to wonder. He brushed his teeth and put on deodorant.
Now for his clothes.

Fuck. Rafael was
second guessing his decision to dress up. He would be more comfortable in
jeans, but he truly wanted to see Kaya in something sexy. Of course, that was
just going to make keeping his hands to himself impossible, but what the hell.
Tonight would tell the tale. Did she want him? He pulled out a charcoal grey
suit and silver button up shirt. Black dress loafers completed the ensemble.
Standing before the floor length mirror, he adjusted the lapels of the jacket.
Hopefully, Kaya would appreciate what she saw.