Rafael (22 page)

Tessa and
Isabelle arrived at the security gate outside the Pen. Isabelle rolled her
window down. “Dr. Isabelle Sarantos to see the Warden.”

The guard bent
over and peered in the window at Tessa. “Identification please, Dr. Sarantos.
Who’s this?” he gestured to Tessa. “I’m her body guard.” She shoved her
driver’s license into his hand.

“Stay here.” He
went into the guard shack and typed something into a computer then picked up
the phone.

Tessa smiled at
the guard as he looked at her, probably calling the Warden to get permission
for her entry. He came back to the car, returning their I.D.s. “Follow the
drive all the way around to the back. You will be escorted to Warden Stone’s
office.”

He raised the
security barrier and allowed them to proceed. Tessa mentally made notes of
everything she saw. The building was a tall monstrosity with guard towers
situated at all four corners of the property. Thirty foot tall chain linked
fence was topped with razor.

Isabelle parked
in a designated visitor spot and turned the engine off. She hadn’t spoken one
word since they left the house. Now she turned and looked at Tessa. “I have one
question. I take it Alexi wasn’t my mate since I didn’t transition when we were
married. If he and I had a child, would that child be like me or human?”

Tessa stared at
her cousin. “Belle,
did
you have a child with Alexi?”

“No, of course
not, I’m just curious as to how all this works.”

“Honestly, I
have no idea. You and a couple others are the only ones who have married
someone that wasn’t your mate, and as far as I know, neither of them have
children.”

“So, for those
of us who have no idea what we are and get married to someone who isn’t our
mate, what happens when we meet our mate while married? Does everyone have an
affair like Elizabeth did? Is it that strong of an attraction?”

Tessa winced
when Belle mentioned her mother. “It depends on the person I guess. My mother
was married to a monster. She lived her life in constant fear so when she met
my father it was a blessing. If she had never met him, she probably wouldn’t be
here. I definitely wouldn’t be here.”

Their
conversation was interrupted by a knock on the window. A security guard was
waiting to escort them inside. They both exited the car and the guard said,
“Dr. Sarantos, Miss Blackmore, please follow me.”

Once inside,
Tessa made note of the number of guards and where they were situated. The
Warden’s office was located down an interior hallway. They were ushered to a
waiting room filled with standard hard-back chairs and asked to please wait.
They both sat, looking at nothing in particular. Isabelle turned and whispered,
“I would appreciate if you would stay out here. I amused you by allowing you to
tag along, but what the Warden wishes to speak to me about is really none of
your business.”

“Sure, whatever
you want.” Tessa didn’t care to come face to face with
the
Gregor Stone
anyway. The guard returned for Isabelle, “The Warden will see you now.”
Isabelle rose and followed him into the inner office.

Tessa glanced
around, taking in her surroundings. She heard voices coming down the hall, one
of those voices she knew as well as her own. Tamian. She walked to the door and
peeked around the corner. Her brother was in handcuffs coming down the hall.
The guard leading him stopped when he saw Tessa. “Excuse me, Ma’am.” She
stepped back into the waiting area, and Tamian was escorted in then pushed into
a seat.

Tamian glanced
at Tessa, frowning.
Andrea, what the hell are you doing here?

Tessa reached
out with her mind.
“Hello, Brother. Forget why I’m here. Why the hell are
you here? I saw the arrest on TV. This is bullshit. I’m going to get you out of
here.”

 “No, you
can’t. I’m supposed to be in here.”

“You are the
last person who belongs in here, Tam. Don’t worry, I’ll get you out.”

“No Andi, you
don’t understand…” 
The inner office door opened, and Isabelle appeared
along with the guard from earlier. She turned back toward the office, “Thank
you, Warden Stone, I’ll be in touch.”  She walked past Tessa and asked, “Are you
ready?”

Tessa looked at
Tamian.
“Don’t worry, Brother, I’ll get you out of here and Tam, don’t EVER
call me Andrea.”

“Andi no.
Andi!
ANDREA!”  Tamian was shouting out loud. Just the distraction she
needed.

When they were
once again in the privacy of Isabelle’s car, Tessa asked her, “Well, how did
your meeting go? I’m sure the Warden was as charming as ever.”

“It went well.
How do you know Mr. Stone? I didn’t realize the two of you had met, or I
wouldn’t have rushed you out.”

“I don’t know
him; I just bumped into him once.” Literally. “So, are you going to take the
job?”

“It’s a big
decision, one I have to think about. It’s not just me I have to consider.”

“You’re right;
you have the family to think about.”

“Yes, family.”
Isabelle slipped into silence and drove them back to her house. Tessa had no
idea what was going through her cousin’s head. She only hoped she made the
right decision.

Rafe was doing
everything within his power to gain control of his inner beast. Gods, Kaya had
to be scared out of her mind. Here he was, fangs out, yelling at her to run.
His eyes were closed so he could concentrate. Unholy… think about Unholy.
Anything but the beautiful woman who just rocked his fucking world by doing
nothing more than tasting her own essence. Godsdamn Kaya. He didn’t know how
much more he could withstand.

“Rafael.” Her
soft voice was right in front of him. Her hands were on his biceps, gently
caressing him.

He opened his
eyes to see his woman braving his rage. “Kaya.” His voice was tormented, even
to his own ears.

“Rafael, look at
me. See me. I am not running. You will not hurt me, I know this. I understand
though. If I had fangs of my own, they would be out now. I would want to bite
you, mark you as mine. Maybe that is not what happens with your kind but I feel
so connected to you that
I
want to bite
you.”

“Kaya, you don’t
know what you’re saying. To my kind, the bite completes the bonding. That is
why I disappeared last night. You didn’t know what I was, and I couldn’t get my
fangs to retract. I was so close to biting you that I had to retreat into the
house. I know you felt disillusioned. I heard you talking to yourself. But
Love, you have to know that what you were thinking was so far from the truth.
Having sex with you sent me over the edge. I was so close to hitting bottom
that I panicked.”

Kaya pulled his
face down to hers and ran her tongue over the tip of one of his fangs. Fuck!  She
didn’t realize how sharp they were. He could smell the blood in her mouth.
Instead of gasping or crying out, she stuck her tongue out and removed the
blood with the tip of her finger. She stared at it like it were a scientific
experiment and then she surprised him. Looking in his eyes, she stuck her
finger in her mouth and sucked.

Rafe’s cock was
throbbing in his pants. It had been hard when he was going down on her, but
seeing Kaya lick the blood caused by his fang had him hardening to the point of
passing out. “Kaya.” He groaned out her name.

“Rafael.” She
placed her hands on his face. “Will you hurt me? Truly cause bodily harm to me?
Or are you feeling the effects of the bond to the point you want to mark me?
Because let me tell you, I trust you with my body, with my life, my soul.
Normally I’m a rational woman. What this is between us doesn’t make sense.
We’ve known each other a few days. Had you asked me before we met if I thought
love at first sight was possible, I’d have said no. But now?” She shrugged a
shoulder.

“What are you
saying?” Rafe was feeling light-headed. All the stimulation was too much to
take, even for King of the Gargouille.

“I’m saying I’m
falling for you. In my brain, I know it’s too soon. In my heart, it’s not. I
want you in my life, and I feel if I don’t have you I will stop breathing.”

Rafael’s heart
was overfull. This time a week ago, all hope was gone at finding a mate and
having children to carry on the Di Pietro name. Now, it was so much more than
that. This woman loved him, he knew it as well as he knew his own name.

The look in her
eyes was all the confirmation he needed. The doorbell rang, and his fangs
retracted. “Get dressed, Love. That would be Julian.”

Rafe waited
until Kaya had snagged her clothes from the floor and disappeared into the
bathroom to redress. He peered out the side window to see his cousin waiting
patiently on the front porch. “Julian, please come in.”

Kaya checked
herself in the mirror then went back into the living room. Julian handed the
laptop to her. “I found him. The man who sent the email is Vincent Alexander. I
had to dig past some extensive firewalls. I have Nikolas doing a background
search on him, but so far, he’s a real piece of work. Juvenile records were
sealed, so it appears Mr. Alexander has been trouble from a young age, if he is
indeed the real Alexander.

“I have multiple
addresses and aliases. Most addresses are no longer valid, but a couple of them
are. I have a team spread out, and they are searching his locations as we speak.
He won’t be hard to spot since he’s an albino. At this time, I can’t categorize
him as an Unholy, but there is something off about him. He may be a clone.”

“You can’t just
go around searching people’s houses without a warrant.” The law she’d upheld for
years was always forefront in her mind.

“Kaya, the man
is trying to kill you. I know you don’t want to hear this, but when dealing
with Unholy, we don’t always abide by your laws. We do what we have to so that
the streets of New Atlanta are somewhat safer than they would be otherwise.”
Rafael was pacing the floor. “I need to get out there, help search.”

“My King,
please, stay here and guard Miss Kane. We are patrolling the area and will
continue to do so until this Alexander is found.”

“Julian said he
isn’t an Unholy. If that’s true, we have to get a search warrant. I’d say the
judge will agree we have probable cause seeing as he’s tried to kill me, but
he’s going to want to know where the evidence is. I haven’t spoken to CSU about
the bullet casing that was found. I need to get to the office and do my job
instead of hiding out here.”

Julian pulled a
plastic bag out of his pocket. “The bullet that hit me was from an L115 sniper
rifle. The casing I found that hit Rafael was also from an L115. Several of those
particular rifles have been found in one of Alexander’s apartments. I use the
term apartment loosely.”

“You took a
bullet? Mr. Stone, that is tampering with evidence.” Julian looked bored.
“Okay, I’ll overlook that. But gentlemen, we really have to follow the rules so
that when you do capture him we can put him away. If the court finds out the
evidence was not gathered in the proper manner this Alexander will walk, and we
will be right back where we started.”

 “Not if he’s in
the Basement.” Rafael turned to Julian. “Go find him. You have two hours until
I join the search.”

“What about the
security upgrade?”

“I will protect
Kaya for now. You go find this fucker.”

“Yes, my King.
Miss Kane, again it was a pleasure.” The younger Mr. Stone left to do Rafael’s
bidding. Kaya wasn’t sure she could do this, not and be chief too.

“Rafael, I made
a promise to uphold the law and what just happened, well that’s not the way I
do things. If you are going to continually usurp my authority…”  Rafael didn’t
let her finish. He pulled her tightly to his chest and kissed her softly. Ever
the dichotomy this man.

“Kaya, I rarely
break your human laws, and when I do, it’s only for the greater good of
humankind. The laws we break are so that you don’t have to. If my breaking the
law and keeping you safe means that we cannot be together, then so be it. It
would kill me for you to walk out of my life; but I would rather watch you from
afar, knowing you’re alive and well, than sit back and do nothing while this
monster continues to target you.”

“What is the
basement? Is it exactly as it sounds?” She wasn’t certain she wanted to know.

“Yes, it’s the
lowest level of the Pen where we put the Unholy to keep them away from the
other inmates.”           

“I don’t know
what to say. I need to think. I am almost certain I cannot walk out of your
life, but where does that leave me in my job? If I continue to act as chief and
knowingly allow you to run shod of the rules, I would be lying. I need time.”

“I honestly
don’t understand your dilemma. Did you not become a police officer to get the
scum off the street?” Rafael backed up but was still holding her hands.

“Yes, you know I
did. But I also took an oath.” She tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t let her.

“As did Dante.
He’s a doctor for the gods’ sake, but he also has to make hard choices when it
comes to dealing with the Unholy. Kaya, these creatures are the worst of the
worst. They are bred for killing and nothing else. Do they deserve to walk free
because my men didn’t obtain a piece of paper stating we have the right to put
them in the Basement? We make those hard choices every day, but it is always
for the greater good, the protection of humans.”

Kaya looked into
the eyes of the man standing in front of her. She had a choice to make, and if
she were honest with herself, it was an easy one. “I’m hungry. Are you hungry?
I don’t think I have anything to cook, but I can call for delivery.” She pulled
her hands free and went to the kitchen to find the various menus for local
restaurants.

“Why don’t you
come back to the manor with me? There is plenty of food there, and I would feel
better about your safety.”

“As wonderful as
that sounds, I want to stay here and think. If I go with you, I have no doubt
we will be doing anything but thinking. You are a hard man to resist, Rafael
Stone.” Hard indeed.

“Are you kicking
me out, Miss Kane? I’m wounded.” Rafael smiled like he was teasing, but she
could see the hurt in his eyes.

“No, I’m not
kicking you out. I am asking you to give me time alone to think.” She already
knew what her decision would be, but she wanted to make sure. With him in the
room, his body was all she could concentrate on, not their future.

“I will give you
time, but I will be close by.  Until Alexander is caught, either I or one of my
men will be watching you at all times. Kaya, promise me you will remain
diligent. Promise you will call me when you leave and when you arrive at work.
And please, if you need anything in between you will call me for that as well.”
Rafael was once again holding her in his arms. His mouth was warm against her
ear as he pleaded with her to keep herself safe. She put her arms around his
neck and laced her fingers through his gorgeous hair. She leaned away from him
so she could see his eyes. “I promise,” she whispered against his lips.

She couldn’t
resist. The invisible bond between them was such that she could not contain
herself. Her lips found his, and when he exhaled into her mouth, she inhaled,
breathing his life essence into her own body. She would keep that small part of
him with her while they were apart.