Chapter 19
Ferro knew Drakos had saved his life by shoving Violet out of the cell and locking him inside.
As much as he hated to admit it, Violet had been a threat.
He’d seen the murderous rage in her eyes.
His salvation was small comfort. The woman had bested him.
Two women, including one of his own Arguses.
First Kade had joined forces with Violet, and now Mia had.
But what did they have? Kade, who would be mental mush, and Violet’s suspicions, with no way to prove them.
Still, he wanted her dead.
He sat in his office while other officers investigated how the jailbreak had happened.
Officially, it looked like a desperate sister broke in to save her mentally ill brother.
Clearly, psychosis ran in the family. Once Mia was captured, she too would be treated with the Black Bore Orb.
She would now have her suspicions, tainted by Violet.
He called Onyx. “Violet and Kade Kavanaugh’s sister broke Kade out of the psych ward.
I imagine they’ll be returning to Castanega land to try to nurse him back to health.
Fortunately for us, that will never happen.
Not mentally, anyway, and he may be more dangerous to them than to us.
” He told her about the Black Bore Orb. He had bristled at the idea of having Purcell, whom he knew only as a member of the Concilium, coming in and taking care of his problems. But Ferro had to admit that the orb had been a brilliant idea.
Kade went crazy within sight of witnesses, and even with him out there, he was harmless. To Ferro, anyway.
“The idea of it gives me the creepy chills,” she said. “Remind me never to piss off a Deuce of his order. Can I finally take out Violet? You know I so want to.”
He crossed his ankles on his desk. “We’re too close to have anything happen to us.
We’re Drakos’s lifeline. But we do need to ignite the clan wars.
They’re already on alert, ready for attack.
One more murder, clearly committed by the Castanegas, and they’ll be out of the picture.
Then you can swoop in and take those who have killed and Breathed the others, thus gaining more power than you would taking one at a time. ”
“But I want to kill Violet,” she whined.
“If she survives, take her after we’ve fed Drakos our power. We can’t afford to risk your safety when we’re this close. Remember what’s at stake. You’ll never again have to fear for your life. When you come for Violet after Friday, no one will defeat you.”
* * *
Violet waited for everyone to completely vacate the premises.
Her chest was so tight she could hardly breathe.
She had an idea—if things worked out well—and ran outside to turn on the hose by her workshop, laying the end in the soggy area where they had fought.
She returned to Kade and sat on the bed again, putting herself only an inch from his face.
He stared past her with a fierce intensity.
What scared her most was that he had no mist in his eyes. Just moss green, normal as a Mundane’s. And blank.
“Kade, look at me.”
He slowly shifted his gaze to her. “You.” He wasn’t seeing her, not by the vicious tone in his voice.
“Kade, I want you to kiss me.”
He frowned, both disgusted and puzzled. “What?”
“Kiss me,” she ordered. She straddled him and leaned forward, only a hair’s breadth away from him. “Now.”
He closed the distance and complied. To feel his mouth on hers…she closed her eyes and put her hand against his jaw.
“Kiss me like you did this morning,” she said. “You opened your mouth, touched my tongue with yours.” She ran her hands over the front of his chest. “Do it again.”
“Last month,” he said. “I…we…”
“No, this morning, with me. Violet Castanega.” Even if he was remembering a fragment with someone else, at least he wasn’t being hostile.
She could live with that. “You made love to me this morning, touched me, pleasured me, made me come over and over.” She opened her mouth and sucked his lower lip into hers.
Her lip ached, but the pain was nothing compared to the joy of feeling him again. “Remember, Kade.”
“I touched you,” he said, and desire heated his eyes.
He joined the kiss, sliding his tongue inside her mouth, tilting his head for a better angle. She closed her eyes and pressed her body into his. She moved with him, making him groan.
“We made amazing love,” she said between kisses.
Suddenly he lifted his head, knocking his forehead into hers. “The boat just rocked. Someone came onboard.”
“No, Kade, it was just the wake of another boat. You’re safe. We’re safe here.”
She ran her hands over his shoulders, along his arms. She laced her fingers with his. His fingers remained stiff and straight. Tap into the fantasy, keep him there and away from memories.
“Squeeze my hands,” she ordered.
He complied, clamping his fingers over hers. Panic fluttered through her. She was as secured there as he was.
“Release me,” she said.
He held her, an intense look on his face. The pressure squeezed the blood from her fingers.
“Release me, Kade.”
His grip loosened, and she slid her hands free.
“Why am I cuffed to the bed?” He looked at his hands. “You’re keeping me captive?”
“We’re playing a game.” She nuzzled the curve of his neck, kissing the warm skin there, feeling his hair tickling her cheek. “I’m the dominant. You the submissive. You do as I say. Call me Mistress.”
“A sex game?”
“Exactly.”
He nodded in understanding, a smile slowly spreading across his face. “Mistress.”
“Tell me you’re my pet.”
“I’m your pet.”
She ran her hands up beneath his shirt, her fingers skimming the ridges of his stomach.
She kissed his chin, traced her tongue along that superhero indent, nibbled on his lower lip.
This time he dipped his head and kissed her without being ordered to.
Reflex? Or another memory. No, she had to keep him out of his memories.
“You love me,” she said, pinning him with her gaze.
He met her gaze. “I love you.”
Though the words weren’t genuine, they washed over her anyway. Silly girl. “I love you, too.” She braced her hands on either side of his face. “We’ve loved each other from that first time we met. Our gazes met across the crowded dance floor. Do you remember?”
His eyebrows furrowed as he searched for the memory. Of course, he would find none, exactly what she wanted. He shook his head.
“It’s okay, because I remember. I remember for both of us.
We danced to Take My Breath Away, and you told me how much you loved the group Berlin.
And I told you I did, too, because the lead singer sounds so strong and sure of herself.
You said you liked her cool half black and half blond hair in the old music videos. ”
“I don’t—”
“And we kissed on the dance floor, at the end of the song, and we kept kissing right into the next one, which was Mon A Q’s Stay in Love, and we laughed because when we came out of it everyone was watching us. Kiss me like that again.”
He did, fully and thoroughly.
It was the last test, and she reached up and released the cuffs. “I’m your Mistress.”
“I’m your submissive.”
She rubbed his cheek. “Good boy. Come with me.” She pulled him up and led him outside to the muddy pit. The smell of moist earth reminded her of hot summer days rolling through the marsh in a swamp buggy. He was still barefoot. “Feel the mud between your toes.”
He looked down, as though he’d never seen mud squishing around his feet before. She had to keep him in the place between his memories. While this was close to a memory, they’d actually been fighting in the mud. She thought it was worth the risk.
“You like making love in the mud, love the way it looks over my skin, my bare breasts. Take my shirt off.”
As long as he kept obeying her, she’d be safe. If she lost him, he could kill her. He pulled her shirt over her head, dropping it to the damp ground.
“Take off your shirt. And your pants.”
He complied, standing in all his naked glory. The muscles in his body tensed, rippled.
“Take off my pants. Stay here with me. Think of nothing but my body.”
He stepped closer and worked the button on her pants, unzipping them. He hooked his fingers over her waistband and pushed them down, using his foot to dislodge them completely.
“And now my panties. Very slowly. Very, very slowly.”
His focus was now on her belly button as he knelt in front of her on one knee.
“This is how you proposed to me. You offered me this ring.” She held out her hand, the wrong one, and showed him a ring she had made.
She could see him trying to pull the memory.
He seemed to give up and continued with his assigned task.
He wrapped his index fingers around the thin strap at her hips and slid them down.
Slowly. His movements were deliberate, studied.
His face was even with her pelvis. At any moment, she had to be ready for him to shift to a violent memory where she was the villain.
“You’ve touched this body. Made love to this body. Do you remember?”
There! She saw the mist in his eyes swirl. For the first time, he seemed to remember something she wanted him to.
She took his hands and ran them down her legs. “You traced circles in the spots behind my knees, and we were both surprised how erotic it felt.”
He took over the motion, staring at his fingers as if they were moving of their own volition. The memory was there, at the edge of his mind. She could see it. Dare she let him slide into it rather than keeping him in the fantasy?
Yes.
His thumbs rubbed down the front of her thighs, his fingers skimming the sensitive skin behind her knees. He moved his hands up now, his thumbs grazing her inner thighs.
“You made me crazy with want without even touching me,” she said, sliding one hand up to the apex of her thighs. “You pleased me in remarkable ways. Do you remember, Kade? Please, please remember.”