Unforgiven (A Cyn and Raphael Novella Book 3) (5 page)

Cyn’s breath caught in her throat when his eyes took on the silvery glow of his power, his gaze spearing her through a fan of thick, black lashes.

“Mine,” he growled, in conscious imitation of her earlier claiming. His fangs slid out from between lips she knew were deceptively soft, and Cyn’s mouth went dry.

“Raphael,” she whispered, and then her head fell back and all she could do was breathe as he bent over and put his mouth to her thigh, as his fangs sliced through the soft skin and pierced the big vein in her leg. Cyn gasped as the euphoric in his bite rushed into her bloodstream, as her blood grew heated and every nerve ending lit up like Christmas on steroids. She cried out when her clit came to glorious life, going from aroused to oh-my-god-I’m-coming in a single, thumping heartbeat. She tried to slam her thighs together, instinct ordering her to protect her throbbing clit from anymore stimulation, but Raphael wouldn’t let her. His hands held her wide open as his lips caressed her thigh around his fangs. She could feel the pull of his bite, the strong working of his throat as he swallowed her blood.

She thrust her hips upward, unconsciously seeking a cock to fill her empty pussy as the orgasm rolled on and on, skimming over her skin like an electrical pulse, tightening nipples on swollen breasts, setting every nerve to trembling until she thought she’d fly apart, her body overwhelmed by too many sensations, too much pleasure for one woman to bear.

Distantly, she was aware of Raphael’s fangs pulling out of her thigh, of the rough scrape of his tongue as he sealed the puncture wounds.

“Sweet, my Cyn,” he rumbled in his midnight voice. His breath was hot against her pussy as he leaned forward and drew his tongue through the soaking wet lips of her sex, tasting the juices of her arousal. “Even sweeter,” he murmured. And then without warning, his hips were pushing her thighs wide as he slammed his cock deep into her body, forcing her sheath to accommodate him, her inner muscles trembling, stroking him with a thousand fingers, pulling him in and squeezing him tightly, rippling all along his length.

Cyn bit back a groan of pleasure, sighing out a breath instead, as her arms came around his broad shoulders and her legs wrapped around his hips. She could feel the flexing of his tight butt as he thrust in and out, moving in a steady, pounding rhythm.

His mouth went to her neck and she thought he’d bite her again, but he kissed her instead, licking and tasting his way to her lips where he took her mouth in a hungry kiss. She tasted her juices on his tongue, her blood on his lips, and she shivered with desire, with sheer lust.

“Raphael,” she whispered, wanting to tell him so much. How much she loved him, how he filled her life with light and energy, how much more of everything
she
was because he loved her. But she couldn’t say any of that, couldn’t come up with words beautiful enough to convey the depth of emotion he deserved. So, she just whispered his name and held him close, feeling the fire burn hotter and hotter between them as her sheath tightened around his cock, rippling along his length, pumping him until his release flooded her body with heat, and they roared over the edge together.

Chapter Three

“IS IT TRUE WHAT I’ve heard?” Pascal asked casually. He was on routine patrol with a young vamp named Riley. Young, not necessarily in years, since Riley had been turned about the same time as Pascal. But in terms of experience, they were worlds apart. Riley was so naïve that Pascal was almost embarrassed for the kid.

“Is what true?” the kid asked absently. His attention was only half on their conversation at best. He’d made it clear to Pascal that he didn’t think it was appropriate to chat while they patrolled. It was nearly impossible for Pascal not to talk, however. It was a flaw he’d accepted about himself long ago. He was who he was. Others could accept him as-is, or move on. He generally didn’t care either way.

Unfortunately, his current assignment forced him to restrain his freedom-loving ways in favor of accomplishing his task. And that meant getting the inside scoop on Raphael’s household, especially one specific part of his household.

“Is it true that Raphael’s got his own sister locked up around here somewhere?”

Riley glanced at him, but didn’t say anything.

“That used to be her house where we’re all living, right?” Pascal persisted. “I mean, that’s what I heard.”

“You’ve heard a lot of stuff.”

“Hey, I’m just making conversation.”

Riley snorted, his position on that clear, and Pascal forced down a snarl of anger. Self-righteous little prick. He’d hoped to gather as much intel as possible without using his talent. Every use of his ability increased his exposure and heightened the likelihood that he’d get caught. But he hadn’t counted on getting shut down quite this quickly.

“So, the sister’s dead?” Pascal asked, being intentionally provocative.

“Look,” Riley said, swinging around to face Pascal. “I don’t know about you—” His words shut down as Pascal directed a sharp probe into his brain, taking over with far less finesse than he usually employed. Riley winced in pain, which gave Pascal a warm feeling of satisfaction. The kid should have been nicer to him.

“Tell me what you know about Alexandra,” he ordered. He felt the kid trying to rebel and tightened his control, even as he marveled at the strength of the loyalty Raphael’s vamps all seemed to feel toward their master. “Tell me now,” he demanded.

Riley’s jaw unclenched slowly. “She’s in a special prison, below the garages near the main house.”

“What about guards?”

“It rotates. No one works that detail for more than a month. She’s a bitch, but a beautiful one, and she can be sweet when it suits her. Lord Raphael doesn’t want anyone getting too attached.”

“You’ve worked the detail then?”

“We all have.”

“Who decides the rotation?”

“Jared,” Riley said, as if it was obvious.

“Excellent. You’ve been very helpful. Now forget that we had this conversation.”

Riley staggered slightly then blinked as he looked around. He cast a guilty look at Pascal, as if he was afraid he’d flaked out on the job, and was checking to see if Pascal had noticed. Pascal gave him a bland smile in return.

“We turn back here,” the kid said gruffly.

“Our route doesn’t include the main house?” Pascal asked as if they’d never stopped, but had kept walking all this time. Although he really didn’t care where the damn route went since it didn’t include Alexandra’s prison.

“No,” Riley responded, unaware of Pascal’s disregard. “That’s a separate rotation.”

“Good thing,” Pascal said cheerfully. “This is a big fucking estate.”

They turned and started back along the gravel paths toward the mansion turned guard barracks. For once, Pascal’s emotions weren’t faked. He really was cheered by this first night’s work. He’d proven he could suborn Jared, which would be especially critical given what he’d just learned from Riley. And then there was Riley himself. One never knew when the rank and file would come in handy.

He grinned. All in all, an excellent beginning.

CYN WAS SITTING in the alcove next to Raphael’s desk, tucked into one end of the big overstuffed couch with a warm, woolen throw pulled over her legs while she worked on her laptop. The fireplace was lit and she wore her most comfortable clothes: sweats and a short t-shirt, UGG boots on her feet. The night outside was cold and wet, a storm churning its way toward the California coast. Down below the cliffs, the ocean was raging; it rattled the windows and shook the floor every once in a while when a big wave hit, and she loved it. Loved working safe and warm with Raphael nearby, while the ocean thundered below.

Her task tonight was nothing she hadn’t done before, tracking down an old friend for a vampire. The difference this time was that the job was
gratis
—because her client was Raphael—and the friend was apparently a vampire who was even older than he was. Raphael didn’t want her to locate the vamp herself, though. He said it was because he didn’t think the old vampire would be wired into the system in any way that that would make him easy to find. Although, as far as Cyn was concerned, that made the job more attractive, not less, a challenge instead the same old thing.

But that didn’t matter since the real reason Raphael didn’t want her doing it was because finding the vamp would have meant Cyn going out into the field, and Raphael wasn’t having any of that. Especially since the most likely place to find the old vampire was down in the wilds of Mexico, somewhere totally off the grid. Raphael didn’t even like her traveling to the territories of friends and allies like Lucas or Rajmund, much less to Mexico. That entire country was still very much controlled by Enrique, who was no friend to Raphael. Or anyone else that Cyn could tell.

Since she couldn’t go herself, Cyn was left with nothing to do but screen private investigators who would and could take on the assignment for Raphael. His lawyers, Kimiko and Boyd Lorick, would handle the actual transaction part of the deal, although Raphael wasn’t requesting anonymity this time around. He wanted the P.I. to know who was hiring him or her in this case, since Raphael had suggested a woman would be better for the task he had in mind. Cyn had no problem with that. In fact, whenever possible, she preferred to use female P.I.’s. Sort of the female version of the old boy network. This time around, she was recommending a woman she’d worked with in the past, a bounty hunter named Lana Arnold. Not only was she proficient at tracking down criminals but she was also skilled at tracing missing persons.

Cyn’s only job would be providing Kimiko and Boyd with Lana’s contact info. Pretty boring stuff. She scowled at her computer screen then looked up, transferring her scowl to Raphael who was unfortunately too engrossed in his own work to notice. She sighed and leaned back to stare at the black night beyond the windows. She didn’t want to jinx anything, so she kept the thought to herself, but she wouldn’t mind a little adventure for a change.

“Sire.”

Cyn twisted around as Juro strode through the open double doors to the hallway, his entire demeanor conveying urgency and purpose.

“You’ll want to see this, my lord,” he continued, walking up to Raphael’s desk and holding out an iPad.

Cyn winced and fought back a pang of guilt. Jinx. She knew it!

Raphael glanced silently at the iPad Juro held out then hit a few keys on his keyboard, apparently bringing up whatever it was on his own computer.

“Cyn,” he said, turning to give her a meaningful look.

Cyn threw off the blanket covering her legs and hurried over to his desk, frowning when she saw that he’d pulled up video feed from one of the estate security cameras. It looked like one of the holding cells below the garage, except . . . Her eyes widened when she realized what she was looking at. This wasn’t any old cell, this was
Alexandra’s
cell. Alexandra was Raphael’s blood sister. She’d been taken and made vampire on the same night that he was, albeit by a different master. Raphael hadn’t known about her, had thought she was truly dead until more than 300 years later. Once he’d discovered the truth, he’d rescued Alexandra from her abusive master and pampered her like a princess for centuries, only to have her turn on him when he fell in love with Cyn. Apparently, Alexandra wanted to be the only woman in Raphael’s life, which was kind of sick, when you thought about it. She’d conspired to get rid of Cyn by turning her over to Jabril, an enemy vampire lord who’d planned to torture Raphael by raping and eventually killing his lover.

Any other vampire would have been executed on the spot for betraying Raphael like that, but Alexandra was his baby sister and he loved her. So he hadn’t killed Alexandra. He’d locked her away in a prison cell filled with every comfort and convenience instead. Cyn would have chosen death over life in a box, no matter how comfy it was. But then, she and Alexandra didn’t exactly see things the same way.

Cyn’s attention sharpened when another vamp showed up on screen. But when she saw it was only one of the guards, she gave Juro a puzzled glance. What was the big deal? Alexandra was never left unguarded, so what did it matter that . . . Wait. That wasn’t just any guard, it was Pascal. Now
that
was interesting in a what-the-fuck sort of way. She knew the visiting vamp had petitioned for a permanent spot among Raphael’s security force, and she knew that against all odds, Jared had begun rotating him into the patrols, but even so . . .

“What’s he doing with Alexandra?” she asked, not concealing her concern. Very few guards were permitted that particular assignment, and
they
had all proven their loyalty to Raphael who was their Sire on top of everything else! Something was definitely wrong here. She might not like Jared much, but he was as fanatic as any of them about Raphael’s security. And Alexandra was a living threat to that security, so why . . .

Her eyes widened as Pascal produced a set of keys and unlocked the first level of security, which was the cage around the keypad which controlled access to the cell door. The cell itself was actually two rooms—the main room, which was visible through the bars, and a small bedroom and bath, which afforded Alexandra a measure of privacy that no other prisoner enjoyed.

On the screen, Alexandra stood in the outer room, just inside the iron bars, watching Pascal, a smile playing around her lips. She was a beautiful woman, there was no denying it. She was, after all, the female version of Raphael, and he was the most gorgeous male Cyn had ever laid eyes on. But while Alexandra’s heart was a shriveled lump of coal, Raphael’s burned like the brightest star in the heavens, his power warming every one of the thousands of vampires in his care. And his love for Cyn was the burning flame at the center of that star.

“Raphael,” Cyn said in growing alarm as Pascal began punching buttons on the security keypad.

“We expected this,” Raphael assured her, reaching out to pull her closer. “Or something like it. I confess I’m surprised that this is their play.”

“Are you going to let him take her?” she asked, as the cell door opened and Alexandra emerged, offering her hand for Pascal to kiss, like a queen and her subject. The fucking pretentious bitch.

“We are,” Raphael confirmed. “Pascal is nothing but a tool. We want to know who’s wielding him.”

“Do you know where he’s going? Where he’s taking her?”

“Not yet,” Juro told her. “But we will. I’ve had a team waiting ever since he maneuvered his way into this assignment. They’ll pick up the trail as soon as Pascal leaves the estate. But I expect that will only be the first step. Alexandra has no value other than to pull Raphael in.”