The Claimed (22 page)

“Are we doing the right thing?” she asked, reminding him of the problems that lay ahead of them and the dangers they had to face if they continued to see each another.

“I will tell Ryan first when I return this morning. He may be the hardest to convince. He has much to hate about the Light Ones.”

“Because of his parents?” she said, recalling what Christopher had explained barely hours ago.

With a shrug and a pent-up sigh, he nodded. “And Jason and so many others we have lost over the years.”

“As we have lost, Christopher,” she reminded.

“It will be up to us to show them there can be peace. That with the Shadows returning to the old ways, our energy can be pure. That it can be shared to revitalize the Hunter race,” he said, and there was no denying the passion or conviction in his beliefs.

Victoria needed to believe as strongly. Even now, cradled in his embrace, doubts lingered about whether his Shadows could keep the peace. The memory of watching the energy fade from Mike’s eyes was still too painful a reminder that not all Dark Ones followed Christopher’s edict.

“If your man, Jason, was not there to harm us, then he was killed by one of your own. We need to find those responsible. Bring them to justice in the hope that there can be peace.”

His body tensed beside hers as her indecision was more obvious than she had wanted.

“You have spent the night in my arms and still you do not want to believe?” he said, anger alive in his tone.

She could have lied, but where would their relationship go if it began with falsehoods?

“I still have doubt, Christopher. Although we shared our bodies, our energies remain singular despite the fact that the Equinox has come upon both of us.”

“It’s true that we didn’t bond,” he admitted, possibly as puzzled as she given the strong attraction of their affinities.

Victoria offered up the thought that had come to her as she had lain so cozily in his arms. “I think you’re right that it takes more than attraction. Maybe it takes—”

“Trust?” he finished for her, arching a dark brow upward. “Do you not believe what I shared with you last night?”

Victoria wanted to believe in him, but that would not alleviate her fears about one of her own. “Even if I did, I fear there are others who aren’t as they seem.”

“You think a Light Hunter was also involved in what happened?”

“Adam was clearly the target of the attack. Only a few knew he would be there last night. A trusted few,” she stressed once again, dismayed by the possibility that one of her most faithful, possibly Rafael, had been involved, and yet there was no other explanation. Adam’s movements were too closely guarded. Even at the auction the other night he had been well-protected. It had not been happenstance that the Shadows had come to the compound on a night when he would be present.

“So we both have traitors in our midst?” he said, and placed his hand on her side, shifting it up and down in a consoling caress.

“We need to find those responsible.”

Christopher nodded since he had a good idea where to start his hunt, but he worried for Victoria. “I already have a clue who might be behind the attack, but you must be careful.”

A deep furrow formed between her brows at his words, but then she shook off her worry. “Do you think Ryan will accept the possibility of peace between our people?”

Christopher leaned his forehead against hers and whispered, “He will, although not without fear. But time and peace will help dim that apprehension.”

“I’ll need to convince our clans as well. Show them that you can be pure. That if Shadow and Light clans join together we can restore our people.”

“It won’t be easy. As it is there are Shadows, like my father, who refuse to believe it’s possible.”

“But you believe. You’ve cleansed the pox from your life force,” she said, and ran her hand across the masculine perfection of his chest, devoid of any evidence of damage much like the rest of his body.

“It has taken great sacrifice, Victoria. Restraint from feeding on humans and other Hunters because they carry the pox virus in their bodies,” he explained.

“Then we must prove it to them,” she said, and as if to demonstrate her point, she called forth her own energy and his responded, glowing beneath her hand with an uncontaminated aqua color replete with life.

“I can show them what I’ve done. Demonstrate the hunting methods that have reinforced the truth of the old
ways,” he said, and stroked his hand across her body, leaving a glimmering trail of light along the path of his hand.

“You are beautiful,” she said, once again stunned by the force and clarity of his energy and his sheer physical presence. Her body responded yet again, but she jumped as he covered her breast and rubbed his palm along her nipple.

A chagrined smirk came to his face. “We were a little rough last night,” he acknowledged.

He skimmed his hand down and eased it between her legs. Her lips and clitoris, still tender and slightly swollen, picked up on every nuance of his hand, even with only the lightest touch. The gentle roughness of his palm against her. The barest glide of his thumb.

But instead of pressing forward with his touch, the unexpected kiss of energy came and dragged a strangled moan from her.

Shocked, she jerked hold of his hand to stop him and cried his name. “Christopher, please.”

“There are many old ways,
warmi
. Let me love you as only the highest Hunters can love,” he said, and brushed a kiss across her lips. As he did so, he unleashed yet a bit more power and it snaked through her, unlike anything she had ever experienced before.

She called his name again and tightened her hold on his wrist, but this time to keep him there. To urge him on as he sent another pulse through her and her legs began to shake as the climax built deep in her womb.

Christopher kissed her, swallowed her cry of his name, feeling his own desire become almost painful as he focused on pleasing her. He tucked his head down, gaze locked on the sight of his hand between her legs and the
shimmer of energy growing ever larger. Tendrils of silver-blue and golden red tracked outward over his wrist and hers as she continued to hold his hand. Twined around them, binding them. Uniting them as he brought her ever closer to release. Over and over he shared his power, rising ever higher and higher. Her hand holding his wrist tightening, the vines of energy quivering with light as she arched her back, seeking even more.

He groaned as his erection tightened, wanting his own release, but he needed to please her first. Take her somewhere she had not ever been before.

Reaching into his core, he let go of any last hold he had on his power and sent it rocketing into her.

Beneath his hand her body quaked and shook as she screamed his name as her climax washed over her.

It was a sight like none he had ever seen as her body came alive with light, the pure colors of their shared energies glimmering like a million fireflies dancing in the summer night.

His own body trembled as he tried to control himself, to keep from plunging into all that welcoming vitality, but then her hand snaked up to caress his erection. She pressed her hips forward and guided him close.

“Are you sure?” he asked, seeking her permission for his own orgasm as a way to demonstrate that she could trust him. Even now, when he was on the knife-sharp edge of need.

She nodded and urged him ever closer. “Join with me.”

He didn’t hesitate. He pressed her shimmering body down onto the mattress and eased between her legs. The remnants of the energy and her release caressed him even before he entered her, almost making him lose control.

He bit his lip and she raised her head, kissed the spot and whispered, “Come with me.”

Christopher groaned and surged forward at the same time she shifted her hips to grant him entry.

It was a humbling experience being surrounded not just by warm, willing, wet woman, but also by such incredible power. The physical joining completed the circuit between them and he lost all self-restraint. He came with an explosion of his seed and energy that dragged another climax from her.

Bodies shaking, breaths uneven, they sank into each other’s arms, silent, lost in the wonder of their union.

C
hristopher reluctantly left Victoria’s side just as the sun was rising over the ocean, bathing the sky in a vivid shade of red. A good sign to mariners for centuries, Christopher thought, and hoped it was a harbinger of wonderful things to come for them. While he zapped across the paths of energy along the beachfront to return to his compound, he thought of Victoria and all that had happened and all that had not.

Despite their amazing sharing of energy, the thrum of his Equinox remained within him. That unique well of power had not left to bond with her and make them truly one or to create life as was the way of their people when their energies united.

He didn’t understand how it was possible for his Equinox to still be unfulfilled given the strong sharing of his life force with Victoria, their similar affinities, and the amazing physical joining they had experienced.

He told himself it couldn’t be because they were Light
and Shadow Hunters. After all, they were the same race despite the existence of the troubling pox.

So it had to be something else. Something more elemental to explain their failure to bond which troubled him because of what was growing in his heart. Something unexpected that went beyond his desire for his clan to prosper.

For the first time in his life, Christopher allowed himself to imagine a peaceful life. One spent pleasurably in Victoria’s arms. Maybe even one of love.

As he raced up the lawn at the back of the compound, Ryan was already there, waiting for him. His friend’s eyes widened as Christopher materialized, making him pause to glance down at himself.

His body was alight in a brilliant sea of aqua and sapphire hues. A rainbow of energy tendrils swam around in his aura, testifying to the remnants of Victoria lingering within him. How much more powerful could he be if he bonded with her during an Equinox?

“Is it done?” Ryan asked, holding up his hand to skim it inches away from the edge of Christopher’s field of energy.

“Surprisingly, no,” he said, and as Ryan’s touch finally came into contact with his aura, his cadre captain sucked in a breath and ripped his hand away.

“Sweet goddess. It’s so pure. So strong, and yet you say this is without a bonding?” Wonder filled every word he uttered.

Christopher was not one to kiss and tell, but there was more Ryan had to know, both as a friend and as his cadre captain. “Come inside, brother. There is a great deal I have to share with you.”

“I have news for you as well,” Ryan advised, and
started to clap him on the back, but stopped mid-action. “Can you put that thing away? It’s a little disconcerting.”

Trying to lighten the mood of the moment, Christopher teased, “Do you feel somehow lacking?”

“There are some things you should not expose even to friends, Christopher. That,” he said, motioning to Christopher’s immense aura, “is one of them.”

Christopher laughed and shook his head, pulling in his life force because Ryan was right. Such displays of power were best kept for when needed. It was why they had learned to cloak such energies from the humans and other Hunters. Unfortunately, thoughts of Victoria during the sprint home had weakened his command, exposing his aura to his friend.

With the situation under control, Christopher and Ryan walked into their compound and headed to Christopher’s office. One of their cadre members stood guard at the door and Ryan commanded, “No one is to enter without our approval.”

The guard saluted them, and after Ryan and he entered the room, Ryan finally relaxed, but only a little.

“You said you had news,” Christopher prompted, and rolled his finger, urging his friend to speak.

“After you left, I visited Maya,” Ryan began, but paused as a wave of color flooded his cheeks. With his own power mastered, Christopher could now detect the remnants of Maya’s energies all over Ryan.

“I see that you had a nice visit,” he said, but there was an underlying hint of censure in his tone. He knew his friend had a soft spot for Maya, although he didn’t know why. He worried that weakness might lead to poor decision-making.

“It’s not what you think, although I was tempted, Chris. She could make a saint surrender his soul.”

Christopher knew it well, but he also trusted Ryan enough to believe that if he said nothing had really happened, it hadn’t. “So what did go on?”

Ryan dragged a hand through the short strands of his red-blond hair. “I examined her power, but there was no hint that she had fired an orb.”

Despite his words, Christopher sensed hesitation. “But you still have uncertainty about her involvement?”

“She was there. I detected a signature at the site of Jason’s death. One that was too much like hers for comfort.”

Ryan reached into his jeans pocket and extracted a cell phone that he handed over to Christopher. He flipped it open, but knew what would be there even as Ryan said, “Maya has been calling your father. She says it’s to check up on him since he hasn’t been well.”