Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Samantha
The flavor in my mouth changes from fresh to sweet chocolate. It’s pure Rafael, full of seduction and sex, and I can’t get enough. No matter how tasty Santiago is or how Zack makes my body vibrate and my heart flutter, I crave Rafael.
There’s still frailness against my bones, something brittle that needs mending. Every swallow I take from Rafael eases it, clears away the fog, and erases doubt. The blood and pleasure bind us together, and I become aware of the strain only when it eases.
I try pushing my pleasure to Rafael, intent on making him feel as good as he’s making me feel. What I’m not prepared for is how well it works. He jerks against me and groans some curse word or another.
Did I just make him come in his pants?
Even the idea of that is enough to unravel my control and I start tearing at my clothes.
“Samantha. Samantha, stop,” he tries to still my hands, so I turn my attention to clawing at his clothes.
“Fucking vampires,” the woman huffs.
“That’s the plan,” I throw back at her and immediately sink my fangs back into Rafael. I managed to tear his shirt, so his pectoral is my target. I’m not hungry anymore, but I want to feel him around my fangs.
“Everybody out,” Zack orders behind my back.
“I guess that means you two,” Santiago says to the wolves and I hear amusement in his tone, even if he still sounds weak. “Thanks again, Jere,” he adds when I hear stomping feet. The woman is cursing but smartly keeps her insults general. I don’t mind, as long as they get the fuck out of here.
“At least let me get us to the sofa.” Rafael groans when I tug his pants open. Yup, I made him come in his pants. And he’s hard again. Gods, I love vampire sex.
“No. I want you inside me right now.”
“Um,” Zack begins, but Santiago cuts him off.
“Just let her have at it. She is young. Reasoning won’t work, it’s more likely to piss her off.”
“But—”
I slam my hand over his mouth. Santiago is right, he is pissing me off. “Rafael, now,” I demand and lift my hips. But it’s Zack who helps to steady me.
“I wouldn’t mind fucking you, dove,” he mutters against my palm. His lips against my palm feel hot and when he licks my skin, my pussy clenches.
“Later,” I promise him and then focus on crawling on top of Rafael.
He leans back easily when I poke his chest and my mouth waters again when I see the punctures I left behind. Hot, his flesh marked by me. I straddle him, eager to slide his cock inside.
“Sweetheart, for heaven’s sake, wait,” he rasps.
“No! Why?”
“Let me make sure you are ready,” he says and I can’t help but laugh. Ready? Can’t he feel how ready I am? Burning for him. I move, but strong and warm arms wind around me, stopping me. My heart flutters at his strength.
Wait.
What?
Freezing in my place, I stop and take stock. There’s a slight burn in my chest, like a muscle that’s been working too hard and is ready to cramp. Slowly, I lift my hand and rub my sternum. A muscle inside me, my heart.
I have a heartbeat!
“What? How?” I stutter and slump against Zack.
“I don’t know how,” Rafael answers. “But your heart is beating again.”
“She—what?” Santiago shouts and lunges closer.
“Dove,” Zack rumbles, “will you be pissed off if we discuss this now?”
“Um, I don’t know,” I whisper, still reeling.
“Samantha, look at me,” Rafael says with that resonant voice of his I can’t resist. “Are you really turned on right now, or do you only think you are? Think through it. How do you really feel?”
And it hits me right then. The reason he stopped me is because I’m not ready to take him in. In fact, my body is barely hanging in there. It’s my mind that is running the show. The rest of me is exhausted and aching.
“I—I’m tired. And my mind is on overdrive, seriously over the top.”
“That’s what I thought,” Rafael says and sits up, gently running his hand down my cheek. “We basically gave you a full-body blood transfusion. It’s bound to mess up your system for a while.”
“Still doesn’t explain the fucking heartbeat,” Santiago says. He’s moved to sit on the floor next to us and his fingers press on my wrist.
“When…”
“After I started drinking the alpha’s blood from the vein. It took me a moment to realize what was going on,” Rafael explains.
“You still smell like a vamp to me, dove. But also, something more.” Zack noses my neck. “Like fresh mountain air mixed with honey and blood.”
I try to focus, but his heartbeat keeps distracting me. And so does some annoying tug at the back of my mind. It’s all too much to process when I still crave Rafael’s blood and cock. I need him to soothe me and I have no idea why.
“Rafael.” It comes out straight up whiny and I lift my arms up for him to take me from Zack’s lap.
“I have you, sweetheart,” he says and gently moves me to him. Zack lets me go, but I know he’s not happy. I know it, like he’s part of me. We are all conveniently ignoring my undressed state.
“Did I bond with Zack?” I ask faintly and bury my face against Rafael’s neck. “I mean even more than before.”
“Yes, dove, I can feel more of you. If I took your blood now, I bet the bond would snap in with full force.” Even if he doesn’t sound upset, I can’t help but shiver.
“Fuck,” Santiago says and I turn to look at him. “Your heartbeat, darling, it seems to react to him somewhat.”
“How?” Zack snatches my other arm and traces the veins inside my wrist.
“Talk to Rafael about the weather or whatever,” Santiago says.
“The weather? The weather sucks. Been raining too much lately.”
“Personally, I don’t mind the rain,” Rafael replies.
“Now, tell Samantha something,” Santiago says while holding my gaze.
“Dove, your eyes look incredibly blue,” Zack says, his voice caressing my skin. “Oh, hell. I felt that,” he adds to Santiago.
“Felt what?” Rafael wants to know.
“I… fluttered?” I manage to force the words out.
“It feels like there’s a secondary rhythm when she reacts to him. I wonder if he could command her as an alpha.” Santiago sounds both disgusted and intrigued by the idea.
“I won’t be doing any of that.” Zack seems to be purely in the disgust camp. “She’s not a shifter and even if she were, I would never…”
“Hey, whoa. No one said anything about being a shifter. I didn’t even sign up for being a vamp,” I wheeze and press closer to Rafael. He looks a bit sheepish.
I glance over at Zack and then stop to hold back a sickening lurch in my stomach. A tug and pull that tear at me. It comes and goes so fast, I could almost imagine it, but it leaves a strange taste in my mouth.
“I can still feel the thing,” I whisper as the world once again turns black.
I’m flying high. The sun shines and warms my wings—purple, blue, and black glimmer when the light hits them.
The wind feels playful and is gently pushing me as I flutter along.
There’s somewhere I need to be, but I’m in no hurry.
Everything looks weird from this perspective, a bit twisted and too sharp.
The storm rises with no warning, wind wailing and tearing me down. Rain pours over me, forcing me to the ground, and I shimmer and change forms. The cold seeps into my bones, my muscles convulse and the twisting of the world makes me nauseated.
“There you are. I’ve been looking for you.” A voice hisses from the shadows.
Shivering, I try to get up on my hands and knees and crawl, but my body only lies on the ground, limp and useless.
“I’ll find you again.” The voice has moved closer and I curl into a ball. Then the image twists and changes as a ferocious growl carries over the little clearing.
“I’m coming, mate.”
“Come back. Samantha.”
A hand shakes my shoulder. Someone is shaking me hard.
“Samantha.”
“Dove.”
All the smells and sensations roil in my head.
The storm and shadows. The sickening lurch and the pull in my gut when I fell.
The cold and the voice that made me shudder.
The growl that shook my bones. Warm hands, hugging me against a warm body.
Hands on my face. Someone holding my hands. A low rumble.
“Samantha.” The command forces my eyes open, but I still see the dark forest around me.
“No, no, no,” I whisper, horrified.
“Dove,” the rumble intensifies at my back, sending tremors through my body.
“No,” I sob, blinking hard. That thing is not my mate.
“Darling, breathe. In and out, slowly.”
“No!” Screaming, I tear myself away from them. Away from the pull and demand their voices cause. I crash into something and smell blood. It doesn’t smell right. There are too many scents and they overwhelm me.
“Samantha, stop.” The voice doesn’t give me an option. I freeze. My hands are bloody. I feel cuts down my arms and legs. The sunshine blinds me and tears fall freely, the salt stinging in the wounds on my face. Sun.
“Don’t move,” the voice orders.
“Rafael,” I whisper and the world tilts back to its axis.
“That’s right. Just stay still now.”
Wavering in place, I listen for him as he moves closer like I’m a feral animal.
“We need to make sure there’s no glass in those wounds before she heals over them.” Santiago. His voice comes a few paces in front of me. It’s too bright for me to see him, but he’s there.
“I’ve never driven a woman to jump through a window to get away from me.” Zack. He’s somewhere farther back.
“Zack,” I try to say, but it comes out as a pained whine. A shard of glass is jammed into my throat and moves when I try to speak.
“Shit, dove,” he rumbles, but I sense him a bit closer. Not physically but in the bond. “Just be still and let the vamps get the glass out before you hurt yourself more.”
Now that my senses are slowly returning, I feel an insistent tug in my core. One that doesn’t come from any of them. It’s pulling me into the forest. The tug is fighting with Rafael’s command to stay still.
“Mate,” I whisper, ignoring the pain. “Calling.”
“What?”
“Still, Samantha,” Rafael says, right behind me. I don’t realize I’ve been inching forward until he wraps his arm around my waist and stops me.
Shaking, I try to sort my tumbling thoughts. Reality and the nightmare are still mixing in my head. Did I dream or was the nightmare something else entirely?
A shriek tears from me when Santiago pulls the shard from my neck. Blood flows and a strange scent invades my senses. Not Santiago’s lemon, or Rafael’s chocolate, or even Zack’s freshly cut grass and lime. No, this one is something I can’t quite put my finger on. Like I should know it, but I don’t.
No one says anything about it. Am I just imagining this scent? Rafael croons reassurances while Santiago methodically goes down my body, pulling glass out and probing my wounds to feel if anything is left.
:Come to me, mate.
The voice echoes in my head, tone haughty and demanding, and I flinch away from Rafael. My body moves even when my mind rebels against the thing.
The pull intensifies and I again jerk against Rafael. It wasn’t a dream; something is wrong, really wrong. A sense of danger skitters down my spine. I’m losing control.
“Knock me out,” I grind out past the clamoring in my head.
“What?” Santiago and Rafael speak at once, their hands clasping me tighter.
“Knock. Me”—I have to stop and pant—“out.” I force the last word behind gritted teeth.
:Come, mate. Need you.
The echo, the thing, doesn’t relent. The words are clear but don’t flow easily.
Kinda like a bad connection cutting off with delay.
I almost plead with Rafael to let me go.
The sensible part, the very small part still left in my control, is fighting hard.
And losing. I’m too weak and the thing calling me is viciously strong, relentless in its demand.
“Samantha, what’s wrong?”
“Stop struggling,” Rafael roars over Santiago and his compulsion gives me a reprieve, overriding the thing.
“He’s talking to me.” I gasp and slump against Rafael’s chest. As soon as I cease fighting, the thing seizes control and I’m lost. The world twists and turns until I can make no sense of it. Up is down and I have no idea what’s real.
In the midst of the chaos, I still hear voices, smell things, and get a feeling I should know something very important, but the second I try to focus on it, a splintering pain shatters my mind.