Redemption of Fate (Fate Series Book 2) (24 page)

With each passing minute, he drew closer and closer to the edge realizing that that same stranger and his cronies now had Layla and could be doing God-knows-what to her. The sting of his own nails cutting into his palms drew him out of his thoughts. Taking the opportunity before he sunk back into despair over the unknown, he shoved the darkness to the back of his mind as blood filled his hands.

“Listen, man; we’re all worried about Layla and I know you’ve been feeling strung-out on Cami since that little workout thing you told me about earlier but, if you were asking me for advice, I’d tell you to dial it back a few notches. If you go at her, trying to tell her what to do and getting all alpha male on her, she’s going to put your nuts in a jar,” Martinez said as they reached the training room. “And the way it sounds, you’re going to have some serious competition from that kid.
 

“You think this is about Cami?” Dante asked, stopping to face Martinez.
 

“Well, yeah; you’ve seemed pretty amped up since this morning, and then with—” Martinez stopped, eyeing Dante as he started to pace. “Oh, shit; wait, is it Layla?”

Dante stopped walking and ran his hand through his hair as he regarded his friend; his eyes revealing the answers his mouth didn’t seem able to say.

“It’s about fucking time. You know, I think she’s been in love with you since her first day here,” Martinez responded, grabbing Dante by the shoulders.

Dante pulled away, lowering his head; his voice barely above a whisper. “She wanted to tell me earlier. I think I knew what it was about. I think I’ve known for a long time; I saw it in her eyes, but I just did what I always do. I used another woman to push her away. I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with me; all these years, I just couldn’t, and now—”

“Hey, Dante,” Martinez said stepping closer to his friend and looking him in the eyes. “We
are
going to find her. Layla is a good soldier, and she’s fucking stubborn. She has to be to keep putting up with your shit all this time. She never gave up on you, so don’t you give up on her.”

Unable to speak, Dante nodded.

“There’s no one here,” Martinez observed as he peered through the glass into the training room. “Let’s head back to the pit; Cami might already be there.”

Silently, Dante turned and Martinez followed.

Stopping suddenly, Dante inhaled deeply. “You smell that?” he asked looking behind his friend.

Martinez took a breath. “Yeah; Cami’s close by, or she was.”

Dante pointed at the door behind his friend. “No fucking way,” Martinez responded as he realized they were standing outside the guest quarters Jared had been occupying for the last week. “You really think she’s in there?”

“Only one way to find out,” Dante replied as he pressed his finger to the button beside the door.

✧

Having lost track of the number of times she and Jared had made love in the last few hours, Cami rolled away from his embrace, feeling deliciously sore.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Jared asked as he anchored his arm around her waist and dragged her naked body back against his.
 

“Just coming up for some air. I need a shower and I should check in. Guest suites don’t have call signals, but I’m guessing just about everyone would know where to find me now.”

“I’ll join you,” Jared said, sliding them both to the edge of the bed. Cami swung her legs over as Jared sat up behind her, putting his much larger feet down on the floor on the outside of hers so that she was snuggled between his thighs. He pushed her thick mane of hair to one side and nibbled softly at the tender flesh at the base of her neck; eliciting a low moan from the back of her throat.

“That might be a bad idea. If you get in there with me, we may never make it back out,” Cami said, her tone half-teasing.

Jared kissed her shoulder before moving back just a little and letting her hair fall back into place. “I’ll behave; scout’s honor,” he said making a cross over his heart with his hand as she stood and he flashed her that crooked grin of his.
 

“You weren’t a boy scout,” she responded as more of a question than a statement. While many vampire families integrated with humans and participated in their activities, it seemed unlikely that the High Commander’s family would have done so, given the demanding nature of his position amongst their kind.

“Actually, I was. My mom liked to get away as much as she could when I was younger, said she got sick of always being on display, being watched. Spending time around humans was an escape from the expectations that come with being a member of the High family. She liked to take classes, yoga, painting, dance, all kinds of stuff; so she had to find something to keep me occupied, too.”

“A real-life boy scout. Is there a merit badge for what we just did? Because, if so, you would have my highest endorsement.” Cami said playfully, as she turned and sped into the bathroom.

Jared was right on her heels, but he stopped and leaned against the doorjamb as he watched her move around the space.

Cami threw two white towels on to the hook on the wall, slid open the glass door and moved her fingers over the digital touchscreen to set the temperature and turn on the shower. She looked over her shoulder at Jared, as she closed the door and smiled as he had to pull his eyes from her naked ass to meet her gaze. Turning to face him, her eyes moved over his chiseled form, drinking in his masculine perfection as she licked her lips.
 

In a breath, Jared was up against her, pushing her back against the frosted glass. “You can’t look at me like that if you expect me to behave,” he whispered against her mouth, his lips barely brushing over hers as they moved.
 

“Mmmm; I may have changed my mind about that,” she said before capturing his bottom lip between her teeth and sucking it into her mouth. She released it with a pop as she gripped his hard stalk and backed them into the warm streams of water.

Jared cupped Cami’s tight ass with his hands and hoisted her up as he covered her mouth with his own. With a moan, Cami wrapped her long legs around his waist and slid her arms around his neck as the water cascaded over them. Taking advantage of the bench seat behind him, Jared sat back bringing Cami down with him, the contact between their mouths never breaking as she slid her wet body down over his hard length.

As she rocked back and forth, Jared moved his hands up over the slick skin of her back and into her thick hair. He tugged just hard enough to pull her head back, getting her full attention as their mouths separated and she looked down at him with lust-filled eyes.

Jared stared up into her eyes as she continued to move against him; the delicious friction between their bodies bringing her close to orgasm and making it difficult for her to maintain her rhythm. As the first waves of her climax started to crest and her eyes slid closed, Jared released her hair and cupped her face in his hands.

“Look at me, Cami. I want to see your eyes when you come,” he commanded.

With some difficulty, she obeyed and immediately came apart when her eyes found his again. Seeing the pleasure flood Cami’s eyes, and feeling her body tighten around him, sent Jared over the edge right behind her. He growled lowly and his hands shot down to the bench as he thrust upward with the surges of his orgasm while she gripped his shoulders to ride out her own release.

Cami collapsed against him, their bodies still joined as Jared reached for the shampoo. With Cami nuzzled against his chest as the water ran down her back, he squeezed a small amount of shampoo into his hand and began massaging it into her scalp. She let out a satisfied moan as his fingertips circled, applying the perfect amount of pressure.

“Stand up and rinse your hair,” he said easing her off of his lap. As she obeyed, he grabbed his loofa and began to wash her body, taking his time appreciating every gentle curve and line of her toned figure.
 

“You are so beautiful,” he whispered standing up straight and pulling her thoroughly-cleansed body into his arms.
 

“An overrated quality,” Cami replied before placing a soft peck on his lips. “Now I really need to go. You should check on your sister and Chloe when you’re done showering.”

Jared groaned as he pulled her even closer. “Now that I finally have you in my arms, I don’t want to let go.”

Despite her first instinct to pull away as she felt her fear starting to creep back in, she stayed still and let Jared hold onto her.

“Cami, you don’t have to be afraid with me. I will never hurt you. You are everything to me,” Jared promised in reply to her dark thoughts.
 

“You’re going to have to stop reading my mind,” Cami said trying to sound annoyed; but in truth, she needed his comfort just then and was grateful for his gift. It wouldn’t be the last time she’d need reassurance as they navigated this new territory together. She didn’t know the first thing about being in a relationship, let alone being in one with the threat of war pressing down on them harder and harder each day.
 

After several minutes holding each other under the streams of warm water, Jared loosened his grip and kissed Cami firmly on the lips before stepping back and starting to wash himself.

“You just going to stand there and gawk at me the rest of the night? Thought you had work to do,” he teased, trying his best to lighten the mood despite the anxiety he felt about letting her out of his sight.
 

As much as he wanted to keep her with him always, he knew she wasn’t the kind of woman who would put up with a possessive man. She was strong, independent, a soldier; and if he wanted to keep her, he would have to give her the room to continue to be those things.

Cami took one last long deliberate look at him, letting her eyes travel thoroughly over his body before she winked at him, turned, and flashed to the other room to get dressed. Jared shook his head and chuckled as he lathered up his body.

God, I love that woman.

✧

Cami dressed quickly in her fatigues before strapping on her holsters and securing various weapons to her body. Just as she was finishing up with tying the lace of her combat boot, the buzzer at the door sounded.

Cami hurriedly pulled her hair back into a ponytail and rushed to answer. She groaned as she looked back into the room, seeing the bed in complete disarray with Jared’s clothes piled haphazardly on the floor. She considered taking a moment to straighten the mess.

Fuck it; not like it’s a secret,
she thought, realizing that the whole family, and the commander, had seen them together.
 

Her stomach dropped as she considered the possibility that it was the commander on the other side of the door coming to look for her because she wasn’t in her room where he could signal for her. Despite the fact that she was nearly two hundred years old and one of the toughest soldiers in The Elite forces, somehow she still felt the rush of blood in her face which outwardly showed the awkward feeling she had in the pit of her stomach, like a teenage girl being caught with a boy in her bedroom for the first time.
 

Taking a deep breath, as she silently berated herself for succumbing to such foolish emotions; she disengaged the lock and yanked the door open. She couldn’t hide her surprise at finding Dante there.

Dante’s eyes moved over her head, scanning the room behind her and prompting her to pull the door shut; a vain attempt to maintain some semblance of privacy and prevent another altercation between him and Jared. She hadn’t disengaged the soundproofing, so once the door was shut she wouldn’t have to worry about Jared overhearing and there being a repeat of the scene in the training room.

Cami watched Dante closely as he took a step back; seeing him at Jared’s door, she expected some ridiculous display of anger or jealousy.

“Is Jared here?” Dante asked simply.

“It’s really none of your business; but yes, he’s in the shower,” she responded, eyeing him suspiciously.

“One of ours was abducted by four infected from Blood Runners tonight. It was Layla.”

“What?! When? What the fuck happened?” Cami inquired, her voice laced with concern.

“She was grabbed a couple of hours ago. Layla, Jasmine, and Rachel all went out after you got back from Copley Place. The fuckers almost got Jasmine, too, but Rachel managed to take one of them down before they could get away.”

“Did he die; the one she took down?” Cami asked, immediately thinking of Ethan. Getting ahold of a live infected vampire could help her father find a cure.

“I’m guessing he didn’t, but who knows? His buddies got him out.”

“Shit. Do we have any leads?” Cami asked.

“Yeah, we happened to get a shot of the plates on their vehicle from an ATM security camera across the street. Jester did his magic and got us an address. The place is out in the sticks and the owner is human, so I expect we’re only going to find pieces of him lying around. That’s why I was hoping you’d come along.”

“Of course. Are you doing okay? I know you and Layla are close,” Cami asked, growing anxious. The abductors were infected, which meant they worked for Lucias, and whatever they found while searching for Layla could lead them to Ethan as well.

“I’ll be doing a lot better when we get her back. Hey, about that; earlier when we were sparring—“

“Dante, can we just forget it? I’m sorry if you got the wrong message, but Jared and I—”

“No, I get it; you and the kid are together now. I just wanted to say I’m sorry; kissing you was a mistake. I’ve been confused about a lot of shit for a long time now, but I think I finally see things clearly,” he said sincerely.

“Uh, oh, okay then,” Cami replied, a little confused, but relieved that Dante seemed to finally understand that she wasn’t interested.

“So, listen; can you give me a minute with Martinez? The rest of your team should already be waiting in the pit. We’ll be right behind you.”

Cami eyed Dante and glanced back at Jared’s door. Opening her mouth to protest, he beat her to it.