Sanibel Sizzle - Vampire Werewolf Menage (22 page)

“There were spies kept here a few days before they were relocated.  The guards talk.  Gage talks.  Jayce and Bren talk every time they’re here.  I have nothing to do but sit and listen.” He moved closer, his warm breath lifting blond wisps from her temple.  “I will go to the uncrowned Alpha.”

She stilled, asking, “Why?  He’s nuts.”
So was your sister.
             

“He’s my blood, my clan. I’ll persuade Ciaran to return Rebecca.”  He tightened on the silver bars that prevented him from touching her, never flinching when his skin burned under their assault.  “I assure you that he’ll be easier to convince once he sees that I’m very much alive.   If Rebecca’s still living, I’ll save her.  Placing her at your feet, I’ll present an offering to you.  In return, what do you offer me?”

She didn’t think twice, vowing, “Anything.  She’s the only family Bren has left.”  Tatum’s unconditional love for Bren bled to his sister, and she would
do anything
short of murder
to bring Rebecca home.

“It’s not
anything
I want, Tatum.  I’ll have you.”

“I won’t leave Bren and Jayce,” she admitted honestly, shaking her head.

“I won’t ask you to,” Mike promised.  “But I want to maintain my freedom without going rogue and the chance to earn your heart
as they have
.”

“How…Jayce and Bren….”

“You
will convince them to give me that
chance after I bring back your sister
-
n
-
law.”

“Why hook up with the vampire?” She raised a thumb over her shoulder at Maestru.

“I can give Maestru something he wants, but I refused to do so unless I spoke with you first.  He sealed our deal tonight.  What’s your answer?  What about the deal I make with you, my mate?”

“How do you feel about me, Mike?”  She had to ask.  If was a fifty-fifty shot, he could lie or speak the truth.  Did he really want her, or want revenge?  Revenge, in the world of Weres, was a dish spoon fed to the young.  An everyday requirement throughout their lives, immortals killed and rarely thought twice afterwards.  A well-known fact and it sickened Tatum daily.                                                                   

“The night we were together, I showed you how I felt.  You wanted me in return, hungered for what I could give you.  Our blood joins us under the moon.  Even if Jayce tried to remove it, he couldn’t, not completely.  That alone made it unwise to kill me.  Since you would be a shell of a being lost to unrequited needs that only I, your God-given mate, could give you.”

“I have two other mates.”

“They’re not me.  I was the first to share blood and penetration simultaneously with you during full moon.”

“No,” she raised her voice, “you didn’t.”

“But I did, before you awoke.”

Her gasp filled the quiet cellar, clouding her head with more unanswered questions and
simple
rage.  “You took me while I was unconscious?”

“You coined me merciless.
” His lips curved sadly. “
But I’m merely sensible, fighting for what’s mine.”

With everything she could mentally muster, s
he refocused on Rebecca, swallowing the bile burning her throat.  Unquestionably caught in
yet another
trap, her only hope was Mike and his trusty vampire.  “Okay.” Tatum gave Gage’s phone to the coven master, not acknowledging the extra brush of Maestru’s fingers against hers.  He crushed it to powder. “You retract that bogus territorial spat.  Make sure my man and his people are home tonight safe, got it?”

He blanked out a second and then
said, “It’s done.”
Obviously a mental directive, Tatum thought, since he didn’t use a phone.  Vampires were
freaky to be able to reach that
far with their minds.  “But you will not handle me, female.”

“You’re supposed to be allied with Jayce, you deceiving hypocrite.   What else are you hiding?” She got in his face.  A deadly
beautiful creature that found her amusing, though she knew he would kill her without a hint of regret
. “I’m sick of you and your brother’s shit, Maestru. 
I
sure as hell will ‘handle’ you if you something happens to my man.” She straightened her spine.  “Of course, I won’t be coming at you alone, but you can count on staring down my favorite red stilettos and a pack of angry beasts.” She mirrored his cold smile.  “I love powerful males, if for no other reason than the fact
that
they have big dangling balls.” She cocked her head in the way of Weres.  “I’m sure you’re attached to yours, can’t blame you for that.   And I’ll knock them to the roof of your mouth so fast you’ll choke on them
.
All while a big angry werewolf sits on y
our chest and laughs his ass off, they have a thing for watching naughty action.   So count on your nuts
to be your first non-liquid meal if Jayce isn’t home safe and sound tonight.”  

Maestru roared with laughter, but Tatum’s eyes were hot with tears.  “Such passion, you must be one hell of a lover.”

“You’ll never know,” she spat through clenched teeth.

“True,” Maestru agreed with a crooked smile, all dark and gorgeous.  No lights in his head, Tatum mused, t
hey dimmed from selfish will and too much power
.

Wiping tears on her sleeve, she met Mike’s face. A deal with the devil she must make. “You’re merciless in your own right.  I guess you learned well from your family, and I need someone who thinks the way they do to get Rebecca back.”  She gathered herself, taking a deep, steadying breath.  “I want you to bring Rebecca home.  I’ll agree to convincing Jayce and Bren to give this,” she said, waving between them, “a go.  But only on the condition Rebecca comes home unharmed and this ridiculously staged vampire dispute
is dismissed without bloodshed.”  She emphasized, “Not
even a drop glistening on a single fang.”

“You’re really giving us a chance?” Mike asked, reaching through the bars and stroking her cheek with his fingertips, invoking familiarity with his touch.

She inched back. “You really have a plan all figured out?” Tatum rubbed her forehead, dreading the idea already. 

“I do.”

Could things get worse?  Yes, for the most part, they could. She was on the bottom of a pond.  Feet stuck in the muck and she couldn’t see past the scum in the water.  Tatum didn’t know who to fear the most.  Would it be the mad vampire that gulped half her blood in seconds before misting her to Miami, all after threatening the lives of her mate and pack? Maybe it should be Scotland’s unacknowledged Alpha and his
entire
clan holding Rebecca captive. But let’s not forget her own werewolf pack that was irrationally overprotective of her – their queen, probably now tearing up the state to rescue her from an insane vampire leader.  Still, her money was on Jayce and Bren when they found out she made a deal with Mike. 

Yeah, she had a bad feeling that it was the latter.  Because when it came to her men, possessiveness was a gross
understatement
,
just
like saying a nuclear warhead
was
a little firecracker.

Then, there was no time to wonder, no time left to fear anything.  As it had on the island, a sharp pain speared her throat before she sank into black velvet abyss.

13

R
ebecca searched everywhere for Blade.  Even with her immortal senses and superior
speed, the storm and its light
ning
sent
her running into a glorified barn. So now she found
herself pacing
in the king’s private stables.
  Mysteriously, she wasn’t forced back to her bedroom, but
had
a free
range outside for the first time in weeks.  Fres
h air and too much time to worry
, she realized.
Where are you Blade?

And
it was
a
dangerous
situation
. 
I
n h
eat and unmarked was comparable to
Rebecca showering in blood and jumping
in
to
the
ocean.
  Although they maintained a distance, the
werewolves
circled
like hungry
land sharks bordering a feeding frenzy. 

There was only one reason they hadn’t approached her. 

Ciaran prowled the night.

For some unknown reason,
s
he couldn’t smell him.  She couldn’t sense him.  But she knew he was there.  Pretending to give her space, he allowed some slack in her leash.  Albeit temporarily, she knew Ciaran would yank her back soon if for no other reason than the way he looked at her tonight.  When he recognized what she was to him.  Emitting such a raw possessiveness, he scared the ever loving shit out of her.  As if her thoughts brought him bodily forward, Ciaran’s voice centered the storm.

“
Rebecca, I know you’re listening. 
You want love?  It will come,” he called out.   “You want romantic notions?  They will come.  You want my body?” He took a deep breath.  “I scent that you do, lass.  It’s here now, ready.”

“Go away.”

“If I believed you meant that,” he ans
wered, stepping toward the door.
“I would leave, for now.”

“Take my word for it.”

“It’s a dark and stormy night, lass. Come to the house. Take my hand.” Ciaran stepped inside, framing the doorway and holding out a palm.

“I can see just fine.”

“I want to hold it.”

“You just want it on your cock.
” She rolled her eyes. “Deceive me with caring.”

“Guilty.  I was working up to asking you.” A smile entered his voice, teasing her. “Every time I look at you; I care.  And it’s not like I haven’t tried my best to fight it.  There’s no way to fight it now, for either of us. 
Even if you try, f
u
ll moon draws near
.”

“I said to go away.”

“I don’t think you want me to.” A whisper mixed with a challenge. “I don’t think I have to convince you of anything.  You feel the pull, what’s meant to be.”

“I feel the pull with Blade, not you.” 
Lie.

“I can
make you feel anything that I want
.” A shadow slid over his face, his hands fisted. Ciaran was struggling against age-old instincts.  “I fought the pull as well.  That inexplicable awareness in my chest warned me the first moment I laid eyes on you.  Like a fool, I didn’t
listen.  Too busy with battling, I suppose.
  The beast hunted you, hungered for you, and claimed you as his
own,
even before I scented your arousal
.
That’s truly unheard of among werewolves.
  It would have never let me harm you, lass.  I did
n’t know why then, but I do now.”

“Maybe, but it’ll never be real between us.”

“What was
real happened this
night.
  Your taste still lingers on my tongue.  Whetting my appetite, I will have more.”

“Tell me about your other mate,” Rebecca whispered, wondering how she died under a king’s protection.  And with the way this conversation was going, she wanted to shift gears.  If he was startled by her change in topic, he didn’t show it.

“We were never
officially
mated
.
I never claimed her.” He shot her a strange look over his shoulder as his thoughts drifted to the past.
 
“Our pack was different at the time my father ruled and he
was a traditionalist
through and through
.  He expected full moon ma
ting to cement the law. So any willing female of appropriate age was presented at rights to mate.
” Ciaran uncle
nched his hands, let them drop. “I knew she was mine and watched over her from afar, biding my time upon my father’s insistence.  But when she died,
the pain of her death was insurmountable
, the separation of soul mates
is excruciating
.”

“Go on.” She trailed a finger across a wooden railing, a thick post that separated rows of empty corrals.
  She felt safe, yet was too aware that she shouldn’t be alone with him.