Chapter 13
As the day wore on, Rafe’s beast threatened to reveal itself, his thirst for Skylar becoming insurmountable.
He loathed the vampire inside him, the beast craved its nourishment, blood.
As if she’d sensed it, she’d pulled away from him.
Conflicted, he refused to treat Skylar as food.
Though the craving for her tempted him, he cared too much about her to subject her to his addiction.
Greyson waved to him, attracting his attention. “I’ll be back in a second. I need to feed.”
The shock and pain of the statement immediately registered on Skylar’s face. “Yeah, no worries. I mean, yeah. Do what you need to do.”
The butler approached, extending a pair of swim trunks to Rafe and pointed to a small cottage. “Sir. The green pool house is on the right where you can see to your dressing. I believe these should fit.”
Henri turned to Skylar. “The High Priestess has assigned you to the purple pool house. Inside you will find an exquisite selection of women’s swimwear in various sizes.
She had the latest designs flown in from Miami last week.
But of course we have the top styles from Sydney and Rio as well.
I do hope you find it suitable for your needs. ”
“Thank you. I’ll be fine,” Skylar responded, concealing her expression.
Rafe’s chest tightened knowing he’d hurt her.
The taste of Skylar haunted him, and Greyson had urged him to feed.
The best way for him to put space between them, to create clean boundaries, was to drink from another human.
He suspected it would be like putting a Band-Aid over a gushing head wound and wouldn’t do shit to stop him from craving Skylar.
“Greyson. Did you bring the food?” Crass. Hard. Unattractive. He needed to make a break with Skylar. “Where is she?”
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight Skylar brushing a tear from her cheek. I’m an asshole. An asshole who can’t keep a human girlfriend.
“Fuck,” he mumbled under his breath.
From the pool, Ilsbeth glared at him. The sting of her icy energy rushed over him like sleet, a message, reminding him of her power.
Rafe set off toward the cottage, refusing to look at her. He swung open the door and slammed it behind him. Greyson stood shirtless in a pair of hot-pink swim shorts dotted with yellow pineapples.
“Where’s my donor?” Rafe stripped off his shirt and pants. Nude, he threw the swimsuit he’d been given onto the floor.
“You’re in a good mood.”
“Where’s the fucking donor?” Ravenous, Rafe’s fangs descended.
“In the bedroom. What’s with the attitude?”
The Alpha whipped his head around, his eyes glowing red. “I need blood.”
“You okay, bud? Skylar would probably let you bite her.”
“No,” he replied with no hesitation. There was no fucking way he was feeding from Skylar. The thought alone enraged him. Never again would he kiss her luscious lips or taste her essence.
With his anger on the edge, he looked across the room. A petite brunette with a pixie cut tapped at her cell phone.
“One second, hun.” She held up a finger.
“On the bed,” he commanded.
“Sorry honey.” She set her phone onto the table and shimmied onto the bed. “You want me sitting? Or laying down? I’m open to extras at a price.”
“Sitting.”
“Oh. Okay. You sure?” She offered her arm to him as if it were a sandwich.
“Silence!” He snatched her arm, his fangs hovering over her skin. He sniffed to make sure she was clean. “Don’t move.”
“You like it rough? No worries. I’m up for a good time. Whatever you want…Ah,” she cried as Rafe struck, his fangs slicing into her flesh.
The tangy blood ran down his throat, feeding the starving beast that tortured him, demanding its hunger be sated.
Ever present, it craved its nourishment, punishing his body when he didn’t feed.
As he sucked her arm, he released his power to lull her response.
Her arousal filled the room, her screaming grew louder.
As he retracted his fangs, blood sprayed onto the pale blue cotton quilt. Jesus.
“Oh God. Daddy. Finish me off. Fuck me.” She reached between her legs and stabbed her fingers into her underwear.
“Get out,” Rafe growled.
“Hmm, come on. Bite me again. You know you want it.”
“Greyson! Get her the fuck out,” Rafe yelled.
“What the hell is going on in here?” Greyson asked, his eyes wide with shock at the sight of the blood.
“I’m finished. Get her out!”
“Aw geez, ya know your mother isn’t going to like this mess. What the hell?”
Rafe strode across the room into the bathroom and slammed the door behind him. He reached for the spigot, allowing the cold water to rinse the blood from his hands. Rife with turmoil, his stomach tightened in pain. “What the fuck is happening to me?”
The feeding had been like no other. He’d allowed the sanguine river to flood his throat, yet his thirst remained unsated. As he caught sight of his reddened eyes, streaks of blood staining his chin, his gut churned with determination in battle with the vampire.
He sucked a breath, attempting to regulate his emotions. Confusion swept through him. The donor should have sated his thirst, at least taken the edge off, yet thoughts of Skylar persisted.
The vampire inside him sought to make her his own, to claim her in a bond. Yet if he allowed it, he’d never be wolf. “No fucking way.”
The cool water ran over his hands. He cupped it and splashed it onto his face, rinsing away any traces of the other woman. His vampire wouldn’t have it. It would starve before taking another’s blood.
Rafe reached for the towel. He whipped around at the sound of the door opening. Greyson stood with his hands crossed over his chest.
“I’m sorry.” Rafe dabbed his face clean, checking under his chin, inspecting his body, erasing the evidence of his feral nature.
“I think we need to talk about what’s going on. You scared the shit out of the donor.”
“Sorry about that. I gotta tell you something.” Rafe turned to the vampire, his tone serious.
“Last night with Skylar…I wasn’t going to bite her…
I really wasn’t.” Rafe wore a somber expression as he confessed.
“But I did. I fed from her. Just now, though, with the donor? I didn’t want her.
My vampire…I only wanted Skylar…fuck, this isn’t good. ”
“Don’t tell me you’re bonding with the human?” Greyson pinned him with a stare.
“I don’t know what’s happening. There’s just something about her. This doesn’t make sense. I’m a wolf.”
“You’re vampire. Or at least part of you is now.”
“I can’t live like this, Greyson. I can’t do this anymore. I know you’ve adjusted. I’m sure a long time ago you were like me. You didn’t get a choice.”
“It was a different time.”
“I had a good life in Wyoming. This vampire. This dark magick. This bastardization of the vampire. It’s killing my wolf. And at the same time.” Rafe shook his head. “Skylar.”
Rafe hesitated to speak the words he’d known for a year, was slowly accepting. “Being vampire isn’t my fate. I know this as sure as I’m standing here. I’m Alpha.”
“It’s about time you admit it. But Rafe.
Don’t get your hopes up too high. I’m warning you.
This thing with Ilsbeth. I know you trust her.
And I get why. She’s a convincing, more like conniving, witch.
She’ll make promises. Some she can keep and some she knows full well she’s gonna break.
I don’t know why she’s lured you here. But I’ll support you if she can make you whole again. ”
“I must be wolf.”
“Be sure about this, because once you’re wolf, and the vampire is gone, so is any shot of a bond with a human.”
“I cannot do this anymore. I can’t live like this. I’ve got to get rid of this vampire.”
“And the human?” Greyson raised a questioning eyebrow at Rafe without saying a word.
“Skylar is an amazing person. But I haven’t even known her that long and—”
“Don’t bullshit me. You’ve fallen for her.”
“Yeah, I have feelings.” Rafe shrugged. “I’m not going to deny what just happened with that donor isn’t an issue. Because it surely fucking is.” He blew out a breath. “Let’s just go. I’ll see about whatever Ilsbeth needs for the spell.”
“Yeah. Sure.” Greyson nodded, his expression still serious. “Get yourself together. I’m headed out.”
“It’s gotta work.” Still shaken from the incident with the donor, Rafe stared at himself in the mirror.
Whatever Ilsbeth asked of him, he’d do it. That was the easy part. Giving up Skylar? That was a different story.
Rafe’s skin seared with the heat of the afternoon sun as he stood in the pool, the water brushing over the waistband of his suit.
He’d selected the darkest pair of sunglasses Henri had offered him.
Though he never burned, his ashen skin had turned a shade of pink, reminding him yet again how the vampire had changed him.
“You do realize you have vampires out here bare ass in this sun?” Greyson grumbled.
“Don’t be soft. You’ll be fine. Your magick is far too powerful,” Ilsbeth argued. “Come here. Form a circle.”
“Is there a reason why we are doing this in the pool in the middle of the afternoon?” Greyson sighed.
“Do I do anything without reason?” Ilsbeth continued without giving him an opportunity to respond.
“This pool is a safe place. No one can hear us or touch us. It holds our energy. Together we are strong. The water is blessed and warded, cleansing you of the negativity you’ve allowed her to attach to you all. I could smell her on you.”
“Who?” Rafe asked.
“Her.” Ilsbeth glared at Greyson as she confronted him. “You should have called me the second you heard her name.”
Rafe glanced to Greyson who reached for a rainbow-colored pool noodle, responding with silence.
“What the hell is going on?” Rafe asked.
“Zyaire.” Ilsbeth spoke in a whisper and looked to the sky as if Hell was about to rain down from the heavens. “Really, Greyson. Why didn’t you tell him about her? I told you and Viktor this would bring about the prophecy.”