The wolf stirred in the early afternoon sunshine, satisfied with the claiming of one mate and the taste of the other. Now a different type of hunger moved through its body. The growl in its belly echoed in Syndelle's stomach and she groaned, rolling to her back on the soft bed, her body arching, stretching, as both she and the wolf enjoyed the feel of muscles sliding smoothly under skin.
She lay with her eyes closed, wanting to enjoy the warmth of the sun before she got up and went to find something to eat. The wolf settled, allowing her a few moments, its contentment rolling through her in gentle waves.
I hope you know what you've done, she told it, shivering as her mind ranged back to the previous night and Brann's promise to make her his companion.
The wolf lifted its muzzle, drawing Rafe's scent deep into its lungs and sending a pulse of heat through Syndelle's body, making her cunt swell and grow wet so that she clamped her legs together in reaction.
The wolf relented.
Slipping inside herself, Syndelle curled her arms around the wolf and buried her face in its warm, comforting fur. Though her wolf was forever trapped inside her because Syndelle couldn't take its form, it was as real to her as those that resided in her brothers, as those that resided in the pure werewolf females who could shift.
The wolf was always with Syndelle, though sometimes it faded, watching and waiting from the shadows as ancient magic whispered in Syndelle's ears, guiding them both toward an unwanted destiny. She shivered as her thoughts moved to Brann. Few vampires dabbled in magic for fear of altering or destroying the very force that reanimated them and allowed them to live.
Brann was the exception.
A sorcerer. An executioner. A vampire.
She shivered again as her vampire father's memories stirred, trying to rise from deep within Syndelle's mind. The blood link between Sabin and her more complex than between most vampires and their Angelini offspring.
The nightmare of losing their first daughter had never left her parents. When Syndelle was born, they'd tried to further protect her by giving her Sabin's blood along with her mother's milk. His blood had changed her, set her apart, perhaps opened the door so the ancient magic could reach her and shape her into its vessel. She shivered, remembering the exact moment her family had discovered what she was.
Syndelle gave the wolf another hug, her attention shifting outward, avoiding the memories and the fear that would come with them. The sun was up. And though she could feel Brann's presence hovering in the distance, he was not her mate yet and she was not his companion. Her shields were strong enough to easily block him.
She opened her eyes and studied her surroundings. This was obviously Rafe's bedroom. His clothes where scattered on the furniture in casual disregard of the closet that stood open. Magazines lay in small stacks. Hot rods. Computers. Video gaming. She smiled and rolled off the bed, suddenly anxious to shower, to eat, to find Rafael.
She found him in the room they'd been in the night before. The room with no windows, the only one in the house beside his bedroom and the kitchen, that had been designed for comfort and wasn't filled with priceless artifacts and antiques. He was sprawled on a chair in front of a huge screen, his hands quickly manipulating the controls of a video game. He glanced up briefly, his eyes moving over the thin tank top and jeans, a mocking smile playing over his lips before his attention returned to the screen. "If you need a fuck, you're going to have to wait 'til I get done with this mission."
His words slapped her and the spark of pleasure she'd experienced at finding him, died in her chest. The unexpected assault struck at her very core, sending an unfamiliar wash of loneliness through her. She turned, thinking to retreat, to explore Brann's home and grounds. "Not like you guys to turn tail and run," Rafe said, his words halting her in her tracks.
Syndelle stood with her back to him. It would require almost no effort at all to open the mental link between them and read his thoughts so that she could understand his unkind words, and match them to the confusing swirl of emotions she felt in him. But she did not want to take what he didn't willingly give.
"What do you know of the Angelini?" she said, remaining where she was, delaying the moment when she would have to decide whether to stay or go.
Silence stretched between them. She could feel his brief flash of confusion as his mind lightly skimmed the barrier that blocked his thoughts from her, the link with the vampire making Rafael aware in a way another human wouldn't have been.
The turbulent flow of emotion around him calmed and he sighed heavily. She could hear him drop the game controller and rise to his feet. He moved toward her, not stopping until he was so close that his scent and body heat surrounded her.
He filled her senses. He was her mate. Her husband, and yet she knew nothing about him other than the fact that he was bound to an ancient vampire.
Rafe grabbed her arm and turned her to face him. The wolf uncurled, stretching and shaking itself as its attention roamed over the taut, heavily aroused male in front of it.
"What do I know of the Angelini?" Rafe growled and the wolf actually licked its lips. "I know that before you came along I was just screwed-" his mouth twisted, "-though not by Brann, at least not yet, if that's what you're wondering. But now I'm royally fucked. Completely and totally fucked." His hands went to the waistband of her jeans. "So I might as well enjoy the perks of being able to come again, because that was a real bitch, night after night of fucking my brains out and never being able to get off."
Syndelle hesitated for only a second before grabbing his wrists and stopping him from opening her jeans. The wolf tested her will, then shook itself again and retreated, its low voice grumbling as it moved out of her consciousness. It wanted him. It would take him without regard to what he thought or what emotions swirled within him. It cared only that his cock was full and his testicles were heavy with seed. But Syndelle wanted more from Rafe. Last night she'd been helpless against her Angelini blood and the wolf's instinct to take a mate, but today they didn't rule her. She pushed at his hands, relieved when he yielded.
He studied her intently and she licked her lips nervously, wanting to spend time with him but not wanting to feel the bite of his sharp words. "Would you show me around the house?" she finally asked.
Rafael's surprise moved down their bond, forming a tentative truce between them. He shrugged, casting a quick glance at the paused video game before saying, "Sure, why not. That mission's a total washout. I've already been gutted twice and gunned down once."
Syndelle laughed, not letting his words sting. "You sound like Itai. He's got a collection of video games. Our parents have to hide them from him when they want to send him on an errand or get his help on a chore he dislikes." Feeling Rafe's surprise deepen, she added, "The Angelini do not keep blood-bound servants as the vampires do, and my parents are cautious about who they allow into our home. That and Riesen's strong Were blood have made us a close family. We take care of what needs to be done without bringing in outsiders."
Rafe's surprise edged into puzzlement and Syndelle could feel the pulse of a command sharply given along the link between him and Brann. Rafael's lips curved into a challenging smile, the dare directed at their unseen companion, as he said, "If you're such a close family, how come you don't claim Skye as your sister? How come you didn't run to her and have Gian intercede when you found out you'd just mated yourself to a vampire's companion?" Now his smile returned to the mocking one she'd seen earlier, the one she already hated. "Not that it would do any good. You do know that your sister's mate is Brann's creation? That Brann is his sire, right?"
Before the words had even finished leaving his mouth, Rafe tensed and she could sense the vampire's painful rebuke rushing through Rafael's body. Without thought to what it might mean, to what it would reveal, her own link to Rafael strengthened, dropping a heavy shield between him and Brann.
Syndelle's heart thundered in her chest and she braced herself for the vampire's wrath at daring to interfere between him and his companion. But instead of anger vibrating against her shields, she found only the purr of satisfaction and anticipation.
A fresh jolt of fear raced through her as she recognized Brann's cunning. He'd wanted to know how strong her bond with Rafael was, and now he knew. For the moment, Rafael was more hers than his.
Syndelle shivered as Brann's power rubbed sensuously against hers, communicating without words his intent. In the end, both Rafael and she would belong to him-totally, completely, in every way-bound together by both Angelini magic and vampire companion bond.
Deep inside her the wolf stirred, testing the air for a danger it could help her fight. When it didn't find one, it brushed its head against her soul in a soothing, calming gesture that stroked her confidence and automatically slowed the frantic pace of her heart. Only a mate as powerful as this one can keep us safe. But he will not crush our will. He doesn't truly understand what it is to be bound to us. Once he is our mate, he will crave us as desperately as we crave him, and he will soon understand that we are his equal. He thinks that a vampire's companion bond will give him control of us as it would with a human, that we will bend to his commands, yielding everything to him. He will learn soon enough that he is wrong.
Syndelle took a deep, calming breath and forced her attention away from Brann. For a split second she felt his amusement, and then like the wolf, the connection faded, becoming only the barest flicker of light in a pitch-dark universe.
"Nice trick," Rafe said, "you'll have to teach it to me."
Syndelle reached up, freeing the companion medallion from underneath Rafe's black muscle shirt. Like the night before, it was cool to the touch, innocuous, though now that she was studying it closely, she recognized some of the ancient symbols and saw it for what it was.
Her mother wore Sabin's companion medallion, though any who looked at it knew instantly what it was and what it meant, unlike this ancient coin-like disc that Rafe wore. She smoothed her thumb over the surface, opening her inner vision so that she could take its full measure. "How did you end up with him?"
"Wrong place at the wrong time, and fucking the wrong woman." The mocking smile returned. "Story of my life."
She dropped the medallion and stepped back, her nerves raw from dealing with her two mates. But she wasn't ready to escape from Rafael yet.
Her thoughts returned to Rafe's comment before Brann had made his presence known. The conversation with Big Daddy played out in her memory. "Why do you think this woman, Skye, is my sister?"
Rafael's eyebrows rose. "Other than the fact that she could be your brother's twin? Let's see, she's Angelini but she doesn't wear a tattoo on her neck. I've only met two hunters like that-you and her. You guys forming a rebellion? Not that I mind. Fucking women with tattoos on their necks isn't a real turn-on for me. And some of the Angelini tattoos are enough to cause nightmares. 'Course, those just might be leftover vampire terrors."
"Where would I find this woman?"
"Sometimes at a place called Fangs. Gian co-owns it."
In the distance, she could feel Brann's attention sharpen, so she backed off, changing the direction of her thoughts. "The one called Big Daddy ordered his men to take Skye to the injured girl. Is she a healer?"
Rafe snorted. "Only if you consider putting someone out of their misery- permanently-a form of healing."
Syndelle remembered the relayed conversation between Big Daddy and one of the other men. "There have been other girls like the one last night?"
"Two that I've heard of."
"Skye is hunting for the one who injured them?"
Rafe shrugged. "That's Big Daddy's business, and hers. Not mine."
"But you know him and you were at Bangers, when you could have been anywhere else."
For the first time his face tightened. "I was there because Brann ordered me to be there."
"Why?"
"Who the hell knows with vampires?" The mocking smile reappeared. "And what the fuck do I care? The women there are easy and there are plenty of private dance rooms for screwing your brains out. It's as good a place as any."
His words drove her backward a step, as he'd intended them to. The temptation to open the link and know his thoughts, to read his memories and understand him through them was almost unbearable.
She moved away from temptation, out into the hallway where the sun's light bathed her in its brightness. Where its touch strengthened her shields.
The previous night had spun out of control the moment she'd seen Rafael. The demands of the wolf and the chiming Angelini song had made it impossible to think beyond securing her mate. But now she could look back, examine the strangeness of being draw by a human's pain, relive the mix of nervousness and excitement along with the small thrill of independence she'd experienced at finally facing the challenge of going out by herself.
Her heart raced with fresh excitement. Possibilities swirled inside her like leaves picked up and twirled by the wind before being dropped on the floor of the forest to form a pattern.
The girl was central to the design.
Because of her, Syndelle had been drawn to her mates...and perhaps to the lost sister her parents still mourned. Because of the girl, Syndelle had gotten her first taste of freedom, her first chance to use her own skills in some small way to help someone other than her family.
Syndelle's heart danced in nervous anticipation. She was not a hunter, but she could aid Skye in finding the monster that had left the girl broken and scarred. And in the process she could get to know this woman who was probably her sister. Jovina, daughter of the sky. Her parents rarely spoke the name, but it whispered through Syndelle now. She would know immediately if Skye was her sister. Blood knows blood, more so for Syndelle because of the link she shared with Sabin.
She looked at Rafael again and found him lounging in the doorway. Even the insolence radiating off him did not stop her body from reacting to him-to the sight of his long blond hair pulled back in a ponytail, the muscle shirt stretched tight, showing off his upper body, the faded jeans emphasizing his huge cock.
The mocking smile appeared. His hand moved down to cup himself through the fabric of his jeans. "Ready for stud service?"
His words pierced her, but the pain she felt wasn't hers, it was his. Between one heartbeat and the next, the window of his soul cleared just enough for her to see the desperate path he'd lived-where sex was a shield, a weapon, a survival skill, an attempt to fill a deep, seemingly endless void.
She moved into him, close enough so that their breath and heat mingled, but not so close that their bodies touched. "I won't use you that way, Rafe."
He laughed, a harsh bark of unhappiness. "That's an easy promise for you to make." He leaned in so their cheeks brushed against each other. "You're not a guy, so you don't know what it's like to fuck all night, to fuck your partner through one screaming orgasm after another and not be able to come yourself. That was one of Brann's little punishments for having to make me his companion in order to save my life." Rafael's tongue stroked her earlobe and sent a shiver through Syndelle. "But now you're here and his curse doesn't work between us. So all you have to do is walk in the room and I want to ram my cock into you hard and fast, over and over again until my balls explode and my dick screams from coming inside you."
He pulled back, his gaze meeting hers, his lips curling up in a faintly mocking smile that didn't reach his eyes. "So when we fuck, you'll just have figure out who's using and who's being used. But I'm not going to waste time worrying about it."
For a long moment she held his gaze, his words ricocheting around inside her like a bullet intent on doing maximum damage. If he were an unbound human without a blood-tie to a vampire, a blood-tie that she shared, it might have been possible to break the Angelini bond. But not now. She knew it without seeking counsel. The truth of it whispered into her mind on an ancient voice.
Tears threatened and she turned away, feeling heartsick and lonely. The wolf rose from the shadows then, moving to stretch and bask in the sunshine, drawing the sun's warmth into both of them. And once again Syndelle's attention returned to the girl she'd found in the alley and to the woman who might be her sister.
She would seek Skye out on her own if she had to, but it would be foolish to make that her first choice. "Will you take me to Fangs?"
Along the bond, Brann's command flared to encompass both Rafael and her. You will not leave the safety of the house and grounds.
"The club's not open until the sun sets. I doubt you'd find Skye there before then," Rafe said.
She turned to face him again. "Do you know where they'll take the girl?"
He shrugged. "Most of Big Daddy's low-end girls stay in a house down by the railroad tracks and the biker bar."
"Will you take me?"
Rafe's lips quirked upward as Brann's command not to leave whipped through them both again. "Sure, if you can get us out of here."
He moved past her then, leading her down the hallway and to the garage. The blood-red Viper gleamed in the dusky darkness. Next to it was a black Boxster.
Syndelle smiled at the sight of the cars. All of her brothers owned flashy sports cars like these. Only her parents chose to drive vehicles that didn't call attention to themselves.
Rafe indicated the Porsche and moved around to the driver's side. She climbed into the passenger seat, her excitement building as the engine roared to life and the garage door swung open.
They backed out and swung around on the circular driveway, stopping only when they came to a keypad several feet away from the wrought iron gates blocking their path.
"The gate only stays open for a few minutes," Rafe said, making no move to key in the code. "This is as far as I can go right now."
Syndelle could feel the wards protecting the house and gardens. For the most part they served to keep others out, but one had been crafted to keep them both inside. She studied it with her mind's eye, seeing the delicate weave of intricate symbols as clearly as if they were written on paper.
Next to her, Rafe gritted his teeth and tilted his head backward. "Any time now would be good. And while you're at it, if you want a tour guide, you need to get him out of my fucking head again."
Out in the sunshine Brann's commands were easy for her to block, their blood-link not strong enough to break through the barriers created by her training, her magic, and the rich flow of Sabin's ancient blood that coursed through her veins. With a thought, she extended her protection to Rafael and was rewarded by the sound of his laugh.
She turned at the sound, her heart jolting with pleasure at the expression on his face, at the infectious smile he was directing at her. "Nice work. Take care of the rest of it and we can blow this joint."
Syndelle wrinkled her nose at his bad imitation of an old-time gangster and his smile widened. He leaned over and covered her lips with his, giving her a brief, playful kiss, before saying, "Let's give him a run for his money."
For a moment she hesitated, heart pounding with excitement and trepidation. Did she dare defy Brann? Did she truly dare to venture out?
The wolf looked up then, pulling back its lips, the flash of sharp canines a startling contrast to the gleam in its eyes. Let him pursue us, let him fight to win us, let him prove his worth to us by showing his strength and dominance.
Syndelle turned back toward the gate, and with her pulse racing and dancing, she lifted her hands, her fingers signing gracefully as she unraveled the complicated, powerful ward until finally it popped against her senses.
Rafe laughed again and punched the keys on the alarm pad. Within seconds, the gate swung open and they were free.