sanguineangels (16 page)

He clasped her hand, shackled it in strong fingers, placing a kiss in the center of her palm. “Just promise me, when I cannot be with you, you go nowhere without at least Houston. I cannot be with you during the day.” He tilted to look at her, a frown forming. “You purposely forgot today.”

She blushed, burrowing her face into his chest. “I know. Houston was at it again, and I guess I got tired of hearing it.”

He touched her chin with his fingers, lifting her to his searching eyes. “Promise me,
cara
. Do not go off like that again. I have told you it is not safe.”

“I know. I believe you.”

“Now,” he retorted. “He is no longer responsible for your safety or anything else. When I cannot be with you, you must stay safe.” His finger threaded through the expanse of hair cascading around her shoulders. Silken and heavy, just the weight of it in his hands made him want her again. He rubbed a few strands across his lips, savoring the texture, inhaling the scent. “I cannot go back to the life I had.” It was spoken before he could censor his thoughts.

“What life?”

Desire coiled tighter when she wiggled against him. He stroked her body, feeling her come alive under his touch.

Her eyes sparkled at him. “You’re in the mob, aren’t you? A criminal?”

He chuckled, bringing her supple body higher on his. “No,
cara
.”

“You do have the look,” she said, teasing him through lowered lashes. “All that black leather.” She shivered when he nipped in retaliation at her shoulder.

“My life was very dark. You give me laughter. I do not want to lose that.”

She tensed, then relaxed when he positioned her to straddle his hips. “You know, Diego, I still have my tour to finish. A relationship between us is not only crazy, but unethical. You are my group’s employee.”

“Honey, this is more than a relationship.” His head went back with a snap when she rubbed against his body with her hot center. His voice grew hoarse. “This is forever.”
Eternity
shimmered in his thoughts. Whether it was his thought or hers, he did not care.

She gasped, poised for a heartbeat. “Diego! Is this normal?” He felt every inch of her shudder in reborn need.

He lifted his hips to meet her. His jaw tightened, agonizing pleasure beating at him. “It had better be. I need you.” He held her tenderly with his hands and she enveloped him, her slick sheath taking him, her cries of passion rising to meet his.

Raging heat swamped him as she began to move, riding him in a slow, torturous rhythm.

Nothing had prepared him for her. He had never dreamed of such a woman in his life. Fingernails raked lightly down his chest, and a growl rose in answer. He would always want her, just like this. Passionate. Hungry. Needing him.

He felt a frisson of fear. What if she did not survive the change? His gaze swept up her body, caressing every inch with his hungry eyes. She had to survive. There was no other option.

His hands rose, cradling flushed skin to palm a full breast. Her cries rose when he took one taut nipple between his lips, her arms clasping around his head.

She was so soft to his wandering touch, his tongue leaving a damp trail. He sat up on the bed, pulling her feet behind his back, and felt her reaction. Her body shuddered in ecstasy, her head thrown back in offering to his hot mouth. He slid up the column of her throat, sipping at the underside of her jaw. She writhed and moaned helplessly against the onslaught.

Diego inhaled, and her hot scent crashed into his senses. She whimpered low in her throat when he brushed his tongue to her pulse. “Mine,” he said against the erratic beat of her blood. Muscles clenched tighter, and he was sure he had died.

His hold was tender when his teeth broke through the fragile layer. He restrained his impulses, closing the puncture without gorging himself.

He held her head, finding her mouth and losing himself in her. Desire raged, filled him until he could not take her sweet punishment any longer.

He flipped them back onto the bed, hearing her cry of surprise change to one of red-hazed desire. Throaty whimpers sank into his blood. He felt her body winding tighter, felt the fireball building in her bloodstream, reaching for release.

Diego watched her precious face as she exploded, imprinting her surge of ecstasy into his memory for all time. Flames seared him inside and out when he followed her.

* * * *

Several miles northeast of San Francisco, down a long, rarely-used road, Tenorio waited by a phone. He picked it up on the first ring to lean into his chair with a casual grace that belied his eagerness.

“Did you get her?”

“No, Ten. She hasn’t been out of her room since her little walk.”

“Any calls from her room?”

“Nothing on the tap.”

“Just remember,” Ten advised his man. “Whatever it takes. I want her.” Fists tightened in anticipation.

“Not a problem. We’ll get her. Oh, and the mini bar was a snap.”

“Good,” Ten said. “The suggestion I planted will take over under any stress. If she uses the bar, even better. Her natural barriers will be weak.” Ten actually felt a bit aroused at the thought. He shifted his weight, redirecting his thoughts to the conversation. “I cannot wait to get to this one. She’s so damn capable. She’ll be a hot addition to the project.”

“It’s been a while since we’ve had one this pretty,” the low voice said, laden with innuendo.

“Don’t worry. All I need is her mind. You know the men get the rest.” He pulled down on his bare chin. “I might just taste her myself. Either way, she’s going to be an asset. Are the others ready?”

“And willing. The last test proved positive. The enhancement is working.”

“Excellent,” Tenorio said. “Call me if anything changes. I have to reply to the invitation from that cocky Senator. He’s still hounding me to attend his ostentatious cocktail party tomorrow night.”

“Have a nice evening.” The tone implied the function would be a chore.

Tenorio grunted in complete agreement, more excited by his prey’s expected capture than by the evening he would have to suffer through.

Titania woke up thirsty. Terribly thirsty. Trying to see through slit eyelids was a mistake. She cried out, slapping a hand over them as pain shot across the front of her mind. Sunlight flooded her hotel room through the open curtains. It felt like a thousand hot knives were stabbing her from the inside. She commanded the thick drapes closed, panting heavily while she waited for the pain to recede.

She lay there a moment, gathering the will to move. She felt lethargic, like she wasn’t supposed to move or be awake. Maybe she hadn’t gotten enough sleep last night. She turned to find the clock and groaned. Seven again. She was sleeping too much.

That did it. She was going to have to go to the doctor. She couldn’t eat. She was sleeping like the dead. Sunlight was killing her. She was sick. She knew it. She burrowed deeper into the bed. Maybe she would feel better after a shower. She spent several minutes considering how much better before actually doing it, though.

After crawling from bed, she took a bottle of water from the mini bar and drank it dry. She stared at the empty bottle in her hand. Her stomach almost gave it back to her. “Definitely sick.” But it helped ease the dry feeling after a few minutes.

She knotted her hair into a bun on top of her head to start the hot water to heat in the shower. Her gaze caught her reflection, and she winced. “You look like hell, girl.” Her skin was pale, and there were shadows under her eyes. Houston had been right. She had lost weight.

Her vision drifted, discovering a mark on her neck. Her hand rose, nearly cradling it in her palm. “That rat. He gave me a hickey.” Steam started to infiltrate her fogged brain. “Shower. Get moving,” she ordered her reflection.

All she had the energy for was to prop herself against the wall on flat hands and let the water pummel her in waves. Her body was sore in several places, but remembering how she had gotten that way made her smile.

Titania knew it was insane. There wasn’t any way this was going to work between her and Diego. All he had to do was look at her and she went up in flames, and if he kissed her… Her eyes closed as heat surged over nerves.

A light knocking on her door pulled her to the present, and she turned off the water regretfully. She wrapped the robe hanging on the door around her with leaden hands, then realized she had heard the door over the shower plus through the closed bathroom door. And Houston had knocked. Not pounded as he was prone to do.

She shook her head, gradually working her way through the quicksand feeling she’d awakened with. It didn’t make sense, but she couldn’t concentrate to figure it out right then. The knot of her hair came loose after she was bundled in the robe, and she let it tumble free with a flick of her fingers. She rubbed her eyes, actually opening the door herself. “Hey,” she said.

Houston walked in two steps, then halted. He turned to her very slowly. “Christ, Tani.”

The door swung shut. “I know. I’m going to the doctor. You don’t have to say it.”

He shook his head, a worried gaze raking her. “No. Not that, though you should. As soon as possible. You’re still losing weight.” He leaned and sniffed at her neck, snapping straight. She slapped a hand to her neck, scowling at him.

“What was that? I just got out of the shower. I know I don’t stink.”

“That bastard!” Houston snarled. “He marked you!” Houston’s hands clenched while rage made his expression lethal.

“What are you talking about?” she squeaked, leaping a step away. “He gave me a hickey. Big deal.”

His hands shot out and gripped her by the shoulders. “Damn it, Tani! You don’t get it!” He shook her once. “He’s going to use you. He’s a killer.” He gave her a disgusted glare. “And worse, you slept with him.”

Fire burned her cheeks. She tilted her chin in defiance. “And if I did? I am an adult. You going to run home and tell my mother?” she goaded. She must have been feeling better to defy him, her blood running hotter as her energy rose.

“Jeez, Titania.”

She winced. He only used her full name on rare occasions, like now, when he was furious with her.

“No, but I should. Why don’t you want to listen to me on this? Let him be your bodyguard if you have to, but don’t get messed up with him.”

This intensity was unusual, and Houston had been very adamant since the beginning. “What aren’t you telling me?” she prodded him. “You keep warning me off him, swearing I’m going to end up hurt or worse. What do you know about him?”

Houston avoided her gaze. “It’s not my place to tell you,” he replied after several dragged-out seconds.

“Houston, I’ve trusted you with every secret I ever had. When I met you, I didn’t even want to talk to you. I just wanted to sing. You and your guitar changed me in a lot of ways, but it did not give you the right to run my life. Just because you’ve appointed yourself as my guardian, at my age,” she stressed, “I have the right to live.”

His gaze returned to hers. Firm hands remained on her shoulders, though he gentled his grip on her. “I know, Tani. But why him?”

Diego’s disembodied voice suddenly echoed from everywhere in the room. “Release her.” There was no hurry to the request, but any who heard knew it was a demand.

“Diego. He is not going to hurt me.” She was really reaching the point of exasperation with these two.

“I am aware of that,
cara
. However, I cannot help it, when I awake to find a man in your room, to feel a little jealous.” Houston’s hands fell from her shoulders accompanied by a sufferable sigh. He dragged a hand through his hair.

Houston didn’t blink an eye when Diego materialized directly in front of Titania. “Why, Diego? Why Tani? She’s hardly twenty-three. She has her whole life ahead of her.”

Diego took his time answering, examining Titania. She trembled when a gentle thumb brushed across her cheek. Power. She shivered more, seeing the full force of that energy in his pale eyes. He hadn’t just woken up jealous. He had woken up enraged. That anger and jealousy made his eyes as hard and unforgiving as glass.

Tani ducked her chin, yanking away from his caress, overwhelmed by it all.

“Do not,
cara
.” Diego’s touch and voice soothed, and so slowly, the emotions crashing over them abated.

She began to shake and wrapped her arms around her stomach. When would life go back to normal?

“I am sick,” she murmured. “I am really sick.”

“No,
cara
.” He stroked her one last time, then faced Houston. “Let me put this in a way I believe you will understand,” Diego answered Houston succinctly. “I believe she is my mate.”

Houston choked hard. “You’re joking! You’re of the Brethren.”

Diego’s muscles clenched, rippled beneath the dark leather that always smelled so good. “No, I am not. I do not claim any of them.”

Houston’s censure was loud and clear. “I didn’t think any of you did. Diego, I can’t let this happen. I can’t let her get hurt.” He grimaced, a frown growing. “Have you ever met her mother? I’m dead as it is.”

Diego turned to her and tilted her chin up, robbing her of air, his gaze hot and needy, the anger faded now to reveal his deeper emotions. She began to throb inside from the unveiled want and desire in his gaze. “I hate to tell you this, but you cannot stop what is.”

“But you’re a—” Diego’s head snapped up, his eyes flaming. “All right. I know.” Houston’s sigh was deep and heartfelt. “It’s not like I run into your kind all the time.”

“Likewise,” Diego drawled without humor.

“What is he talking about?” Titania asked, jerking up to stare at him.

“Later.” Diego brushed a tender kiss to her hair. He spoke to Houston. “Truce?” She sensed Diego was offering more with the way his body was too still, energy leashed, but barely.

“Do I have a choice?” Houston growled with a harsh edge. Diego shook his head. Time seemed to drag endlessly until she heard Houston’s reply. “Truce, but it’s killing me to even consider it. Why are you even acting like this? I’ve never heard of this happening.”

“I am different,” Diego replied.

Houston snorted. “No kidding.”

Titania smacked Diego’s shoulder with a fist. “Hey. Would someone explain this to me? What is going on here?”

“I’ll leave you to it,” Houston said, spinning on a heel. He paused at the door, his voice low. “If anything happens to her, Diego, I’m coming after you.”

“I take that responsibility.”

Tani shuddered at the calm acceptance in his voice. Then she was alone with him. She minced a pace away, realizing that she
was
alone with him, naked beneath her robe, and he had just admitted something huge to Houston.

“Just who are you, Diego? And who are the Brethren? You are part of a gang or something, aren’t you?”

He removed his coat, sliding it deliberately over one of the chairs. “Do not fear me, honey. You already know more about me than any other person alive. You know there is nothing to fear.” He reached for her hand. She hesitated a heartbeat, then wound her fingers through his. He sat in a chair and eased her onto his lap.

“My name is Diego Viteri. When I was cursed with this life, I was thirty-seven. I am not a part of a gang or an organization,” he told her, his lips quirking when she gasped. “You forget, I can read your mind, honey. If you wanted to, you could read mine as well. With a little practice, it would become almost second nature.”

Strong arms tightened comfortably around her as she tried to assimilate what he was telling her.

She raised a hand to interrupt. “Houston knows what you are about to tell me, doesn’t he?”

“He does. He has known since the beginning.”

Her gaze searched him. “Why didn’t he say something then? Why was he being so mean to me about you?”

“Because the second I claimed you, you became my responsibility. When you let me into your life openly, he could not confront me. I am the one who has to tell you. It is an unwritten code of honor between us, ones like us, anyway.”

She shook her head, barely acknowledging the scoop of his hand as he molded her further against his body. He cradled her protectively, his warmth soothing her as much as his quiet strength. “Curses? Code of honor? Claiming? You are so losing me. Just what is going on?”

He pressed his forehead to hers, everything about him beseeching her understanding. “Can you promise me you will keep an open mind on this? Just hear me out before you run screaming through the door.”

“This has a lot to do with your abilities. Like your bamfing and healing, doesn’t it?”

A chuckle rolled from beneath her shoulder. “Bamfing?”

“Your ability to just pop in and out. Something started in Hollywood, but that’s what they call it now.” An ability she’d truly believed had been nothing more than a Hollywood trick. Until Diego. She raised her chin up, searching his expression. Cool and collected as always. The tension he exuded was encased in the broad shape of his shoulders, the tightness of his body against hers. A light finger traced the shape of his mouth. “No one should be born with a mouth like that. It just isn’t fair.”

He captured the tip of her wandering finger between perfectly formed, white teeth. He swept his tongue over the tip, delivering shocks up and down her spine. He released her with a soulful groan.

“Yes, it has everything to do with what you call my abilities.” Torment filled his gaze. Finally, he slackened with acceptance. “I guess the easiest way is to show you.” He sat up straight and opened his mouth.

Chills swept through her at the same time she felt the blood drain from her face. “Are those…” She sat gaping disbelievingly at the sharp incisors that two minutes ago hadn’t been there.