CHAPTER TWENTY
“I got you some fish. Maybe we can have grilled fish tonight?”
The hopeful tone of Peter’s voice had Eva smiling as she picked some vegetables from their garden. The vegetation they found when they first got there was huge, with only the bare minimum planted and uncared for. Now, it was thriving with all their favorite vegetables, along with some fruits that Eva painstakingly watched before they bloomed and could finally be left alone.
The same could be said about Peter. It had been so difficult to manage him at first, as he struggled with his nature and fought to stay in his lane and not seek out human flesh. He’d often cried at night asking for Ana, then looked lost and helpless in the morning before the hunger set in. When Eva had returned from Manhattan, she’d found him bloodied, confessing that he’d killed a deer and had feasted on its flesh before he could stop himself. Instead of reprimanding him, Eva knelt beside him. Then she hugged him tight and told him that it was alright, and to keep fighting it.
That was a month ago, and the changes within him now were very significant. He started liking fruits and vegetables again, even grilled and fried meats rather than raw ones. When the urge became too strong, he willingly locked himself up inside a prison cell at the back of the house and waited out the hunger. Sometimes, he had a raw rabbit or two, but that was it.
“Grilled fish sounds like a good idea,” Eva replied. “Don’t you want blood?”
Eva realized that there was no tiptoeing around the subject matter, really, and it was better out in the open to let Peter know that he wasn’t some monster to be ashamed of. But he wasn’t normal, either, and he needed to control himself first before he could be reintroduced to the world.
“I can last without blood every other day now,” Peter said proudly. Then he suddenly looked troubled. “That’s a good sign, don’t you think?”
Eva nodded her head. “It’s a very good sign.”
“So I’m learning to control myself better?”
“Yes. Which is a good thing.”
“I miss Ana,” he blurted out. Then he bit his lip, kneeling down beside her as she selected some ripe tomatoes.
“I miss her, too,” Eva said softly. She’d been so wrong about her niece, and she was still coming to terms with that. The image of Ana’s love for Peter struck a chord inside her.
“I miss Raz,” he added. “Where is he?”
This time, the striking was more intense. Eva looked down. “He had some things to do.”
She could still remember that day clearly—how she begged for his life in exchange for hers, and how Lucinda had refused. She was then told to go away and never come back, else they were going to kill both Peter and Raz.
Now, she might never see him again. It hurt like hell, but it was for the best. At least, that was what she kept telling herself.
“Raz.”
“He’s gone, sweetie.”
“No, Raz,” Peter insisted. “Raz!”
“Hi, Peter.”
The deep, familiar voice had Eva freezing. It struck her heart once more, and she blinked her eyes a couple of times to better control her emotions.
“You’re squeezing that tomato to death,” the voice said.
Eva blinked again, then looked at her hand, which was indeed squeezing the tomato. She dropped it to the ground and stood up, staring at the man just outside the spell border and wondering if he was real.
He looked good. In fact, he looked so good that she couldn’t quite reconcile how he looked now from how he looked when they were at vampire headquarters—skin riddled with injuries, blood flowing freely, eyes not quite there. The pain of that moment reverberated back inside her, and she marveled again at how his skin looked polished right now, with almost no scars. It made her take a step back now and eye him suspiciously.
She picked up her basket of vegetables, intending to throw it at him if he wasn’t Raz.
“Prove yourself,” she said, keeping her voice perfectly calm. “Or else I’ll have Peter tear you to shreds.”
Peter readied himself, eyes widening.
Raz tilted his head. “We’ve made mistakes and choices we’re not proud of, but we did our best—and that’s what matters in the end.”
Eva dropped the basket upon hearing the same exact words she said to him before.
Then she was walking fast in his direction. She stopped just a few inches away from the invisible barrier, staring at him once again as her heart almost burst out of her chest.
“Raz,” she whispered.
“Eva.”
He took a step forward and crossed the barrier, closing whatever distance was left between them.
*****
The catching up took a while, as Raz filled her in on what had happened to him so far while she made the preparations for dinner. Apparently, he thought he was going to die, too—but the vampire leader shocked him when he woke up a few days after Eva’s visit and found that the torture had stopped, and they’d allowed him time to rest. Then he was taken to Lucinda, who told her the conditions for his life.
First, he needed to continue a couple of crucial missions for the vampire leader for a month.
Then, after that was done, he was permanently banished from the vampire society and was never to show his face again.
Lastly, he was the appointed guardian for Peter, with Peter only allowed to live so long as Raz was alive.
It was a pretty tall order, and Eva reeled back from the information overload. She realized now that Lucinda setting her free hadn’t been because of mercy—it was all part of her strategy to get Raz to work for her some more and to set the conditions that Raz could do nothing but agree to, given that both Eva and Peter were to live in the end. It made her dislike their society even more. However, she had to hand it to the vampire leader for being so clever and couldn’t help but admire the tough, cold woman.
Peter was quiet at first as he listened, but Raz put him at ease, bringing to the forefront their closeness that transpired in New Jersey. It was obvious that Peter looked up to Raz, and the way Raz doted on the boy had Eva’s heart melting. At the same time, she couldn’t stop staring at him and just taking the sight of him in, like he was water and she’d been thirsty for so long.
It wasn’t one-sided. She thought it was at first—until she caught him looking at her like he wanted to devour her. Those dark eyes and that intense look combined had the sparks flying in the air and had her body responding, tingling little by little until it built up into a very pleasurable heat in her stomach. Her hands couldn’t contain themselves, and she had to repeatedly check herself from touching him right in front of her nephew.
Finally, Peter declared that he was so full and needed to take a swim. He loved swimming near the cliffs and staying there for hours, and when he came back, he was often so tired that Eva had to remind him to take a shower first before crashing straight to bed.
“Don’t wander too far,” Eva said softly, hugging Peter.
“I won’t,” Peter promised.
“Want to go hunting tomorrow?” Raz asked. “There’s an area here overpopulated with birds.”
Peter lit up like a Christmas tree. “Neat! Tomorrow, then!”
Then he was off like a rabbit, the door slamming shut. Eva stood up and listened to his footsteps, and Raz did the same. Silence filled the air, as if they both knew a single word spoken right now would ruin the mood.
Five minutes later, when no sounds came from outside at all, they stared at each other, green clashing with blue.
Then they jumped each other at the same time.
Raz’s mouth fused with hers, kissing her hard and prying her mouth open with his tongue. She readily let him in, glorifying in the way he kissed her and made her feel things. Her tongue slid into his mouth, too, almost sobbing at how good he tasted and how much she missed this—how much she missed him.
Wanting more, wanting all of him, she started sliding his shirt up. But he pushed her hands away and ripped at her shirt instead, making her gasp. Then he was lifting her using one hand on to the kitchen table, and a few dishes hit the floor.
“Raz!” she protested, scandalized. “Peter will hear—”
“He’s gone,” he clipped out, the lust barely contained in his voice.
Then he turned her protest into moans as he yanked her bra down and latched on to a nipple, sucking hard and making pinpricks of pleasure shoot inside her in intense spurts. Her hands grabbed his hair and pulled him tighter, and she spread her legs and ground against the hardness that she felt underneath his trousers.
She tore at his shirt, too. Then she frantically unzipped him and held his large shaft in her hand, feeling him grow harder and wanting that pulsing heat inside her.
“Raz,” she sobbed out. “I want…”
“I want, too,” he murmured. But it was his fingers that slid in, where he found her wet and clamping around him. He thrust those fingers repeatedly in a playful motion, then intensified the movement. “Come for me, Eva. Come hard for me.”
The words were said in a low voice that sent shivers down her spine. He kissed her again, his other hand teasing her breasts, and she did come—in fact, she came so hard and violently that she had to brace herself against him as it racked her body up. Dimly, she felt something else sliding inside her and realized it was his cock, sliding in smoothly to the hilt. He wrapped her legs around him and started thrusting, even with his trousers still wound around his ankles and his torn shirt still half on him.
Her orgasm ebbed away, but the buildup returned as he used speed and strength to tease her all over again. They bumped against the nearby kitchen island, then crashed into the coffee table trying to reach the bedroom. But they couldn’t, and he ended up bumping her back against the nearest wall and using the leverage to piston his cock in and out of her until she lost her damn mind.
Pleasure rose from deep inside. When his tongue teased her neck, his scent filled her again. Then she was climaxing once more, crying out his name as she did so and reveling in the way he kept pounding inside her. Like he lost all control altogether, and it was all because of her. Her nails raked his skin, drawing blood, and she found herself sucking on it and on him.
He called out her name, too. Then his fangs grew as he pierced her skin, drew some blood and elevated her orgasm to another level. She felt him buck against her, and she whispered for him to let go. When he finally did, she rode the wave of pleasure with him that took them to the skies and left them floating there.
They pressed against each other, breathing harshly. She watched in fascination as his skin healed instantly from her scartches, and she was sure hers was doing the same. When she caught a bit of her breath back, she looked at him.
He looked back.
“I just made you my mate,” she declared. “And we’re stuck here. How are we going to survive this, Raz?”
The corner of Raz’s lips lifted up, taking her breath away all over again.
And he knew it.
She snorted. He laughed, the pleasant sound filling the air.
“We’ll find a way,” he promised.
Love shone in those normally calm blue eyes. Eva held on to that.
And she held on to him.