“You have no idea how important you are to me.” Raking his teeth over my pulse, he thrust a finger inside me and swirled it around. “Sometimes I wake up and can’t quite believe you’re there.”
I swallowed hard at the emotion in his voice. “I’m here, and I’d really like to come.” But he withdrew his finger, the bastard.
“I want in you.” There was the sound of a zipper lowering, and then his cock bumped my folds. I tilted my hips back for him. “Good girl.” He thrust hard, burying himself balls-deep inside me in one smooth stroke. My muscles clamped around him, and a growl rumbled up his chest.
The burn of his cock stretching and filling me was heavenly. I needed more. “Move.”
One hand gripped my hip while the other moved up to span my throat. “All mine.”
He rode me hard, fingers biting into my skin. Savage possession glittered in the dark eyes that met mine through the mirror. Every merciless slam of his cock built the friction until I could feel my climax creeping up on me.
He splayed one hand over my lower stomach. “I can feel me moving in and out of you. Owning you.” The words made my body clench. “That’s it, baby, squeeze me. Play with your clit, Imani, make yourself come.”
“That’s your job.”
He flashed me a crooked, bad-boy grin and then took my hand. “Is that right?” He used my finger to work my clit; alternating between circling it, flicking it, and rubbing the side of it over and over. “I can feel you getting hotter. You ready to come for me, baby?”
“Yes.”
He upped his pace, grunting into my neck. “I haven’t tasted you for almost five nights.” He licked my throat. “Not going without it any longer.” His teeth sank down. My body tightened, and my climax slammed into me. He roughly jammed his cock deep and exploded with a growl.
“I seriously needed that,” I panted as I leaned back against him.
His arms looped around me once more. “Your blood tastes different. Not in a bad way. It just has a slight fizz to it...like sparkling champagne.” He kissed my neck. “I like you this way. All soft and relaxed with sex-drunk eyes.”
I chuckled. “I’m more buzzed than relaxed. I’m also hungry.”
“Then I’ll feed you.”
We both cleaned up and pulled on some clothes before heading to the kitchen.
“I need you to try something.” He took an NST out of the refrigerator, opened it, and held it out to me.
I recoiled at the smell. “No thanks.”
He resealed it and set it aside. “Hmm.” Leaning toward me, he bit his lip hard enough to draw blood and then kissed me. “What about that?”
I licked my lips, tasting him, and smiled. “I’ll never turn down your blood.”
“So it’s just human blood you have an aversion to,” he mused. Both our cell phones beeped at the same time.
“That’s probably a message from Fletcher telling us he’s ready for our meeting with Marco.”
Butch’s smile faded. “Probably. You can change your mind, you know.”
“I know, but I won’t.”
“I know you won’t, you’re too damn stubborn.” He curled his arm around me and drew me against him. “First, you need to feed.”
It was oh so very tempting but…“I fed from you for three nights straight during the transition.”
“Then you went twenty-four hours without any blood or food, which I’m going to note is totally unnatural and worrying the shit out of me. In that time, I drank plenty of NSTs. I’m fine.”
“You’re sure?”
“Positive. Whatever you need, you’ll have.” He kissed me. “Feed.”
I lapped at his pulse, and his arm contracted around me. I bit down and moaned as the taste of him filled my mouth. No blood or NST had ever tasted this good. When I pulled back, I sealed the bite closed and smiled up at him. “Thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me.” He patted my ass and disappeared. In the blink of an eye, he was back, cell phone in hand. “It was Fletcher. He’s ready.”
“Tell him we’ll meet him at the entrance to the cells.” As Butch typed the message, I followed him to the door. Just as his hand reached for the knob, a knock sounded. Keeping me behind him, he opened it wearing the scowl from hell.
Alora’s smile was somewhat animated. “Hi, Butch. It’s nice to see you.” He grunted.
Maya cleared her throat. “We’d like to see Imani.” She peered around him and grinned at me. “I expected you to look like shit. You look…well fucked.”
Ava chuckled. “It works on you.”
In a rush, Paige charged past Butch and clamped her arms around me. “I’m so sorry I was an unsupportive bitch. I was so worried about him letting you down that I didn’t realise I was the one letting you down. And then you got hurt and…and…”
I patted her back gently. “Hey, don’t cry.”
“I’m not.”
She was.
Jude looked at Butch. “And we’re sorry we didn’t even give you a shot.”
Cassie nodded. “We were totally out of line, and we hope you’ll give us the chance we didn’t give you…even though we probably don’t deserve it.”
Without releasing me, Paige glanced at him over her shoulder. “You really took care of her during the transition.” Which showed them just how serious about me he was. “Thank you for that.”
Butch just stared at her. Ooookay.
“Your irises really are back to normal,” marvelled Ava, shoving Paige aside. “Dude, this is some crazy shit.”
“Yeah,” I sighed.
“I’m so sorry we weren’t there for you during the transition,” said Alora. “We wanted to be, but…well, Butch was right to send us away. We totally messed up, and we hope you’ll forgive us.”
I stepped away from them and moved to Butch’s side. “Honestly, girls, I’m glad you’ve come and I’m glad you’re sorry. But I can’t truly move past this unless you’re all willing to give Butch the chance he deserves. He’s important to me. I need you to accept that or there’s no moving forward.”
“We completely accept it,” Jude assured me. “We knew he was important to you, we just didn’t realise you were important to him.” She looked at Butch. “We really are sorry we misjudged you.” It was an authentic apology. It also pulled absolutely no reaction whatsoever from him. He could hold a grudge as well as Paige.
He took my hand. “We have to go, baby.”
Cassie’s brow furrowed. “What’s going on?”
I sighed. “I have to talk with Marco. I’ll explain everything, just not right now.”
“Okay,” said Paige. “Call me later.”
Butch herded them out of the apartment and, my hand still in his, zoomed out of the building in vampire speed. He paused as we reached the mansion and turned to me. “Are you pissed at me for not graciously accepting their apologies?”
I shook my head. “Hell, no. They were totally in the wrong, and I don’t blame you for being wary of them. Just note that I won’t be so forgiving toward your squad either.”
He kissed me. “They won’t apologise, baby.”
“Sure they will. It’ll hurt their egos, but they’ll do it.” I tugged Butch inside the building, and we then headed beneath the mansion where the containment cells were located. Fletcher was waiting there, looking like a bag of nerves. I smiled at him reassuringly. “You’ll be fine. Marco can’t get to you.”
Fletcher fanned his face. “There’s nothing fine about being in the company of a complete sociopath.” Wincing, he said to Butch, “No offense.”
“Butch is not a sociopath,” I ground out. “Marco, well, he’s another matter. When you’re around both guys at the same time, you’ll see the difference.”
“I’ve informed Jared that we’re here,” Butch told us. “He’ll teleport in to collect us when we’re done.”
I nodded. “Let’s get on with this, shall we?”
Fletcher straightened his shoulders and stayed a
t my side as we walked through the passages with Butch leading the way. I couldn’t resist waving at Tait and Juliet as we passed their cells, though inside I was scowling. Finally, we reached Marco’s containment cell. Butch and Fletcher stood against the back wall as I moved closer to the glass.
In a blink, Marco was off the mattress and beaming at me. “Hello, sweetheart.” His smile shrunk as his gaze shifted to Butch. “Why are you here? I want some time with my Imani.”
“If you want to talk to her, you’ll deal with me being here,” said Butch, his tone non-negotiable.
Marco glared at him. “Does she know you’re just as cold and wacked as me? Or do you hide that part of yourself from her?”
Playing games already. “I thought you wanted to speak with me.”
Switching his attention back to me, Marco studied my face. “The serum cured you?”
“No.”
“But it changed you.”
Obviously, but this wasn’t a social visit and I needed to keep the conversation on track. Marco was trying to control it—typical. “You said the mark on the blog is an insignia.”
“Getting down to business already?”
“Either you have something to tell me or you don’t.”
“I brought you into this life without your consent. How did that make you feel? Angry? Resentful? Depressed? Eager for revenge?”
I swallowed. “I just wanted to be human again. But I don’t see how this has any—”
“The blogger and his friends want the same. They blend in with humans and exist in their world, but it isn’t enough for them.” A long pause. “Ever heard of The Order?”
Never but, for some reason, a chill crept up my spine. “No.”
“For a long time, it was just a small group of vampires who got together and said, ‘I hate what I am, you hate what you are, let’s all be hateful together.’ I actually forgot about them…until you mentioned the dragon shifter attack.”
Frowning, I asked, “Why would you think that The Order and the dragon attack are connected?”
“My personal opinion is that the dragons who will invade this place are mercenaries. While we waited for Andres’ agreement to meet with you, I looked into what enemies the Grand High Pair has. Our kind has settled since Sam and Jared took over; people fear and respect them enough to stay in line. So, I asked myself, who hated them enough to risk their wrath? Then I recalled the blog we’ve been monitoring that has The Order’s insignia, and my gut told me to take another look at the association.”
“And?”
“They’ve grown in numbers and strength. They no longer sit around, bemoaning their situation. They now have a mission.”
This wasn’t going to be good. “What’s their mission?”
“To destroy us all.”
Well, fuck.
“I was able to link them to several bombings that humans branded acts of terrorism. Ironically, the humans weren’t wrong. The Order is, in effect, a large association of terrorists. But their targets are vampires. Get Sam and Jared to take a look at the terrorist attacks that occurred in the last two years. Many of them wiped out entire nests and buildings that belonged to vampires. I don’t think that’s a coincidence, considering that The Order has possession of human weapons of war.”
“How did you find out about all this?”
His smile was mysterious. “I have my sources.”
“None of this means that The Order is behind the upcoming dragon attack.”
“If Sam and Jared had made enemies of a drove, Andres would have told you and worked with you to prevent a war; that’s the kind of guy he is.”
Okay, but… “Why hire dragons? Why not just bomb the island?”
“That would require them to get close. They’re probably not brave enough for that, considering they hide behind bombs and guns. The result of a dragon shifter attack would be close to the result of a bomb. If they wipe out the most powerful of our kind, it will cause mayhem and panic.”
“Why didn’t you tell us all this sooner?”
“I wasn’t given a chance,” he pointed out, affronted. “The second we got back from our meeting with Andres, I was teleported away from you.” His eyes glittered with fury as he added, “Then you were injected with the serum and I was wrongly imprisoned.”
“Wrongly?”
My doubt strangely didn’t anger him. In fact, he seemed hurt. “You know I didn’t do it.”
“If it wasn’t you, who was it?”
“When I find out, I’ll hurt them so badly they’ll beg for death. Believe that.”
Unsure what to believe, I returned to the matter at hand. “The Order…where is it based?” He had to know, given all the information he possessed.
Marco smiled. “Come back tomorrow, and I’ll tell you more.”
Appearing at my side in a blink, Butch growled. “You get one conversation with her, asshole. Nothing more.”
Smile widening, Marco said to me, “You’ll come back, sweetheart. Do you want to know how I know that? It’s because you’re good. If you can help someone, you will. If someone relies on you, you’ll do your best not to let them down. Right now, people are relying on you to get answers from me, aren’t they?”
“This isn’t a game, Marco, stop playing me.”
His expression softened. “Playing you? I’m not doing that, sweetheart. But if I drag this out long enough for you all to realise I’m not the person you’re looking for, I get to live and I get my freedom. I rather like living. The moment I’m no longer of any use to anyone here, he’ll end me. And we both know it.”
I couldn’t deny that.
Marco turned his back on me and walked to the bed. “Tomorrow, Imani.”
Barely holding back a frustrated growl, I spoke to Jared. We’re done here.
In a matter of moments, he appeared and teleported us to the living area of his beach house, where Sam was waiting. I gave the couple a rundown of everything Marco said.
“Do we think Marco’s spinning us some tales?” I asked, relaxing on the sofa. Butch was combing his fingers through my hair.
“I don’t know,” said Jared.
Sam took a sip of her NST. “I’ll talk to Antonio, find out what he knows about The Order—if it even exists at all. This could be just a case of Marco trying to seem useful so we let him live.”
“He wants Imani to visit him again,” said Butch. “He’ll drip feed us info so that he gets to see her.”
“I’ll talk to him again tomorrow. He might tell us where The Order is based.” Not that I was particularly optimistic about that.
“What did you get from him, Fletch?” Sam asked.
Fletcher put his empty NST bottle on the coffee table. “Given everything he’s done, I expected him to be hollow inside. He’s not. There’s a lot going on in that dark mind. But even though his emotions are intense, they lack any real depth. He despises Butch, which I doubt comes as a surprise to anyone. He probably sees him as an interloper.”
“He sees Imani as a possession,” said Butch.
“He does want to own her, but it’s more than that.” Fletcher turned to me. “He has this nagging sense of boredom, but you stimulate him. Amuse him. Even soften him a bit. You’re important to him. He cares for you about as much as he’s capable of caring for someone; it’s more like he’s formed an attachment to you. What I know is that the bloke wouldn’t cause you physical harm. He sees himself as your protector.”
Well that blew a lot of theories out of the water.
Jared exhaled heavily. “We’re missing something.”
Totally. Hopefully Marco would give us the missing pieces of this shitty puzzle, but having that knowledge gave him power; I very much doubted he’d want to give that up.
“You look tired,” Sam told me.
At dusk, I’d felt great. But my strength had waned as the night went on. The good news was… “I’m not as tired as I was last night.” I’d take that as a win.
“If you want to
postpone your conversation with Lazarus and Annalise, it’s totally fine,” she assured me.
Shit, I’d completely forgotten about that. “I want to talk to him.” I had some questions for him, like had Juliet been telling the truth about Marco and had Lazarus lied to me all these years?
Sam, Jared, Butch, and I headed to the Grand High Pair’s office, where Jared set up the teleconference call. Soon enough, the faces of Lazarus and Annalise were on one of the monitor screens.
“Imani, you cannot imagine how relieved I am to see you alive,” said Lazarus.
Annalise nodded. “My beautiful girl, I am so sorry for what happened to you. It grieves me that you were harmed in such a way and right under my roof.”
I shrugged. “What’s done is done.”
“I see that the cure did not work.” Lazarus’ eyes narrowed. “Although your irises lost the amber glow. In what other ways have you changed? How is it that you survived the transition?”
“Your guess is as good as mine.”
Annalise looked at Sam. “Have you questioned Marco, Tait, and Juliet? People came forward to say the three were nowhere near Imani during the concert.”
“We all know that doesn’t mean they weren’t behind what happened to Imani,” said Sam.
“Yes,” sighed Lazarus. “But I’m unable to prove it. As much as I want vengeance for Imani, I cannot brand someone guilty unless I can be certain that they are. My gut tells me it was Tait, but if I punish her based on my gut and it turns out I was wrong, the person who is truly responsible would go unpunished. Imani would then not have the justice she deserves.”
“You won’t need to punish her, Lazarus,” said Sam. “That’s our show.”
He stilled. “They, including Imani, are my vampires. The punishment is mine to deliver.”
“Wrong. Come on, Lazarus, did you think I brought them here for tea, cakes, and a pop quiz?”
“I have witnessed via V-Tube your idea of interrogations. I do not want my vampires subjected to that—not when at least two of them are innocent.”
“I’m not asking for your permission, Lazarus.”
“I do not appreciate you taking over this situation.”