Rising Shadows (8 page)

CHAPTER 11

Bastien

    Rachel is sleeping on the bed beside me.
My mate.
How did I get a mate?
I’m not the commitment type. What possessed me to claim this human woman for the rest of our lives? Now that we’re mated, her life is bound to mine. Her life span just jumped into the triple digits.

There is no denying Rachel is beautiful. I noticed her when she walked into Lune Rouge. Scent plays a significant part in
Lycan mating. Probably in all Therian mating, but I couldn’t swear to it. Rachel smells like shelter. I noticed it down in the cells when I first spoke to her. She’s intoxicating. This leads me to believe she was already destined to be mine.
Fate.
My mate and my lost brother’s child somehow walk into my world together. Twenty four hours later I am joined with her and seriously considering adopting my niece. It appears Rachel has bonded to Livia.
Perhaps she won’t mind being a wife and mother overnight?

The bedding has fallen below her navel. Blonde hair drifts across the pillows. A lock of hair lay over her left breast, winding around the gentle slope. I pursue the swirl of spun gold around to her nipple before palming the whole breast. She stirs in her sleep. My hand travels between her breasts. Gradually I skim my palm down stomach. Rachel is slim, but not gaunt. Her abdomen has a slight roundness, her hips and breasts are full. Generous proportions instead of the skeletal frame that’s popular today.

My hand slips below the sheet, carrying it with me. Short, blonde curls conceal her pussy.
I spread my fingers through the hairs until I find her slit. Dipping my fingers into her wet warmth and then slowly rolling the sensitive bud hiding at the top. She’s beginning to wake up. I toss back the bed sheet, and ease down the mattress to taste what my fingers have held. My lips touch her labia, and I hear her gasp. Looking up her body, I meet her drowsy gaze. Sleep tousled, eyes heavy lidded from desire. I coil my arm around her waist and haul her down the bed so I can become better acquainted with her most intimate parts more comfortably. Her legs dangle off the edge, I kneel on the floor between them.

“Good morning.” I smile at her. I follow up my greeting with a slow lick between the lips of her pussy. Rachel tries to pull back. She looks at me with shy indecision.  “Never had anyone go down on you before?”

Biting her lip, she shakes her head no.

“Hmm. Not sorry to hear that. Relax. Let your legs go free. I promise you will enjoy this. Even if I’ve to work at it all day.”

She arches an eyebrow at me. I press my tongue into her again. I’ve slid my hands under her buttocks to hold her tight. Tremors rack her body. She’s close to coming. I feel her nails on the back of my head, pressing me to her. Beneath me, Rachel's body rides the waves of an orgasm.

CHAPTER 12

Winter

    An exiled Fae princess walks into a werewolf’s home with two vampires.
Sounds like a joke I was told once
. Claude is granting us permission to see his granddaughter. She may be the only piece of his son Athan left in the world. If a vampire can save her life, he will put his prejudice aside. The nursery we’re taken to in Claude's home is outfitted with hospital machinery monitoring Livia's vital signs. Keller examines her, drawing tubes of blood, taking hair samples and saliva. The man had better be the genius Kiril calls him. Livia's arm is in a sling.

“The break should be mended by now. Why is her arm still in the sling?” I whisper to Claude.

“Whatever is killing her is impairing her ability to heal.”

Livia
whimpers softly provoking Claude to move closer. Varian takes up the space next to me.

“She's so small.” He looks perplexed.

“Children are like that,” I respond.

“I’ve not been around any children
in, I cannot recall the last time I was around children actually.”  He frowns.

“Vampires have kids, why haven't you seen any?”

“No parent desires to risk their offspring. What if I am as psychotic as people claim? Varian Caina, cursed with so much power he lost his sanity,” he scoffs bitterly.

I plan to sneak off from him at his revelation. He’s right. No one wants to chance being in his presence. Except maybe the doctor, whose qualifications I’m questioning now. Varian's hand grips my wrist like a vise.

“Relax, Firefly. Gossip and superstition. You are safe with me.”

“Could you loosen up on my wrist? I think I can feel the bones grinding.”

Varian looks stricken. He holds my wrist up to inspect it for damage. Once he’s satisfied I am unharmed, he lowers my hand down but refuses to let me go. His thumb rubs the backs of my fingers. Studying his features I take in the sharp angles of his face. The jaw, cheek, and nose are defined blades. His hair is blond, though not as light as my father's was. The Caina line is the height of vampire aristocracy. Varian possesses the looks to back his bloodline’s claim. The length of his hair is his only rebellion from the polished features genetics granted him. It is long, past his shoulders. Vampires are beautiful. It makes them more efficient predators. Fae share that innate beauty in common with vampires. Varian Caina is the most attractive man I’ve ever seen in any realm.
Seriously? The most lethal vampire in all the world and I have a girl boner for him? I am so screwed
.

“I think I would have liked to be a father.”  I can barely hear him he speaks so softly.

Squeezing his hand I say,  “You still can. Not like you don’t have lifetimes to do it.” I meant for him to laugh at my joke.

He gives me a sad smile and my heart breaks for him.  “I think you and I both know the score on that, Firefly.”

I start to say something to him, but I’m interrupted. The woman from Lune Rouge explodes into the bedroom with Bastien on her heels.

CHAPTER 13

Rachel

   
Livia looks frightening. Her skin is deathly pale, her lovely red hair is dull. My heart is breaking in my chest. A man is bowed over her bed, surveying her then writing furiously in a notepad. He’s not a Fae, I learned from meeting the Fae bartender, Winter at Lune Rouge that they are mesmerizing. He doesn’t hypnotize me with his beauty the way Winter does. No animal qualities, so not a shifter. He sticks his pen in between his teeth to turn the page on his notepad. Dangerously sharp canines too long to be human rest over the pen. Vampire. If I had not seen his teeth, I wouldn’t have known.
Arcana has a point of weakness.

Crossing the room, I sit down in the chair next to
Livia. I hold her uninjured hand in mine.

“
Livia, its Rachel”  Her eyes flutter but don't open. I glance over for Bastien, and find he’s standing by my side. He seems torn between anger and sadness. His father Claude is close by. He mirrors his son's dark countenance.

“
Livia, sweetheart please wake up. I need to talk to you. I need to hear your voice. We're free. No more tests. No more bossy men in suits. You can be a little girl now.” The tears fall fast. I can't see Livia clearly. Bastien lifts me from the chair into his arms. With my face buried in his neck, I let myself sob. I cry until the tears ran out.

When I’m sure I’ve no moisture left in my body to give I speak to
Bastien.  “You can put me down now. I think I am done.”

Bastien
rumbles in his chest, and his arms get tighter.  “I like you here.”

I like me here, too.

“At least let me stand on my own two feet. Marriages are built on compromise.”

“Human marriages maybe,” he says as he sets me down.

I pause to take in the room’s occupants. Claude has moved closer to Bastien and me. He catches me looking at him and supplies a nod. A simple nod that feels full of favor. Winter has tear tracks down her cheek. One side of her face is pressed to the chest of a tall, handsome blond man. His arms are around her, and he’s resting the side of his face on the top of her head.

Is that her husband?

  The doctor closes his notepad and addresses the room.  “Humans created a dangerous cocktail. Why did they infect a child?”

I clear my throat before I respond
,  “To use as leverage against me.”

The doctor does not like that answer. He makes a scary face and says something in a language I don’t understand. The blond man embracing
Winter grunts in agreement.

   “They call us monsters, and they infect children with death,” the Doctor sneers.

I jump like I was hit. Bastien rubs my arm to soothe me.

“Death? Does that mean you can’t do anything for her?” Bastien asks before I can.

Mussing his hair, the doctor rubs at his head absently.  “Our options are limited. Time is running out,” he sighs.  “With the samples I gathered I can give her a chance once I get the original compound they used. Magic would work, but the
Fae refused the petition.” The doctor wanders out of the room mumbling about cures, antigens and blasted humans.

I find
Winter’s eyes and demand an answer.  “I thought she was a Royal Red. Bastien said she was the daughter of some lost princess. Why won't they help?”

Winter disentangles herself from the stoic blond. Swiping at her eyes she says. 
“Because she’s only half Fae. The queen will not take a halfling. If Amalia was alive, then she might be persuaded. Fae are not known for their loving families.” Winter, is angry for Livia. Guess not all Fae are anti-family.

 
Madalaina opens the door.  “All of you look beat. Take a break. I am going to read to my niece for a bit, and I hate an audience.”

I don't want to leave, but
Bastien coaxes me out. There is nothing I can do here. The drive back to Bastien's place is quiet
. Our place, now
. Still hard for me to believe there
is
an us
. Will there always be an us? Are werewolves monogamous? All my stuff is still at my old apartment. Unless Anna got rid of it. This is making my head hurt.

We get back to the house and
Bastien walks over to sit on one of the kitchen stools. His eyes aren’t as bright as they should be, dark circles have formed underneath. Tension in his shoulders has him rubbing the back of his neck absentmindedly. I stop in front of him and replace his hands with mine. Gently massaging the knots drags a moan from him. He rests his forehead in the center of my chest. His arms hug me around the waist.

My poor wolf.

“What are we going to do,
Bastien? If the Fae won’t help, then we need to get back into Richland somehow and steal Keller a sample of the virus.”

He grunts.  “Is your plan to make me stupid with your sweet hands so I’ll agree to anything?
Because it’s working.”

In mock disbelief I ask
,  “Would I do something like that?”

Bastien
pulls my arms down from his neck and slides his hands into mine.  “I haven’t known you long, but I would say without a doubt that you’d do anything to protect my niece.”

I bristle at him calling
Livia his niece.
Why am I mad? She is his niece.

Bastien
pulls me onto his lap.  “Why are you upset? I can feel you pulling away from me.”

I duck my face.  “It’s stupid. I’m possessive of her. She isn’t even related to me,” I mumble.

Hugging me tighter, Bastien brushed my back with his hand.  “She is now. You are her Aunt through our mate bond. But you two are so much more than that. You didn’t give birth to Livia, but you love her as fiercely as any mother. Blood doesn’t always tie a family together.”

“When this is all over will I lose her?” I whisper.
Tears again? I’m such a cry baby.

“No, baby. I won’t let anyone take Livia from you. Once she’s better she’ll live here with us. First we have to get her well again. I think you’re right about Richland. I’ll get a sample for Keller.”

I jump off
Bastien’s lap.  “Are you crazy?! Did you hear me at all when I told you what they do inside Richland? They could throw you in the tank with someone like me.”
I’d be broken if he died. When did I fall in love so completely?

Angrily, I stalk out of the kitchen. I’m angry at myself for being vulnerable, angry at Richland for what he did to
Livia and I, and angry at Bastien for being chivalrous.
Why’d he have to be such a great guy? This would be easier if he sucked.
A tingle in my hands signals to me that my Arcana is kicking up into high gear along with my anger.

Bastien
doesn’t let me get far. He catches my hand and whirls me around to face him.
Ah! He needs to stop with all the alpha male manhandling! Maybe. Not really.

“Rachel, I’m sorry you’re mad, but I won’t let you go back there.”

“Let me? How do you propose to stop me Mr. Macho?”

He smiles at me so seductively my panties get damp.
Traitorous girly bits.

“I think we both know I am a clever boy,” he teases.

Who can stay mad at that?! Hmph. He can think he’s won for now. I won’t stand by and watch him sacrifice his life for Livia and me. When I have the chance, I’m out of here. Keller will get his sample and Livia won’t die. Not if I can help it.