CHAPTER THREE
She was alone.
Her first lucent thought was of waking in a small room, moonlight washing over gray, stone walls. She was in a bed, that much she knew, and someone had piled soft blankets on top her, as though instead of June, it was February. She was wearing a loose night gown, too. A large window dominated most of the wall to her left, but the view did nothing to enlighten her to her whereabouts. All she could see was a bright, neon moon, and the swaying tops of trees. With a groan, she let her eyelids drop and tried to remember how she’d gotten there.
Nothing. She couldn’t remember a thing…at first. Then, as if whispered into her ear, a name rose to her lips. “Umberto.”
Opening her eyes slowly and half expecting him to appear in front of her, she shifted under the covers and tried to sit up. Her head swam with the effort. Her arms were too weak to hold her weight, her legs too shaky to risk standing on, and her head throbbed.
But she was alone.
Exhausted by the small effort, she slumped back and closed her eyes again.
She woke suddenly—she didn’t remember going to sleep—when something thudded dully against the wall. She would have jerked upright if not for the fatigue. As it was, all she could do was dart glances around the room.
Nothing. She was still alone.
How long had she slept? Before she’d fallen asleep the moon shone brilliantly through the window, filling the room with dim, natural light. Now the room was gloomy with shadows. What time was it? And, where was she? More importantly, where was Umberto? Why had he let her live?
“Are you thirsty?”
She went for the blade she kept strapped to her thigh, but was brought up short by the heavy cuff sheathing her wrist and the chain running from the cuff to the sturdy steel headboard of the bed. She gave the chain a yank, expecting it to break easily. When nothing happened, panic surged through her. Despite how tired she was, a shot of adrenaline streamed through her veins, giving her strength.
She writhed on the bed, cried out, and fought to free her arms.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
The voice was familiar, but not the one she’d been expecting. Though it took a force of will, she settled back into the pillows and focused her attention on the man who’d come into the room.
At first, all she could see was the glimmer of the flames rising from matching white, tapered candles. The speaker moved to one corner of the room and set a candle in a narrow recess, then repeated the process on the opposite wall.
The gloom dissolved. The soft orange and red glow from the flames lit the room enough for her to see her visitor. “Wolf?” She blinked, but his form remained.
“Bleu.” His voice was deep, coarse, almost unnatural.
She opened her mouth to speak, and then shut it. What was Forsaken’s head of security doing here?
He was six feet-seven inches of pure muscle. Solidly built with smooth brown skin, a head as hairless as a baby’s bottom, and a goatee, Wolf was enough of a deterrent to keep anyone under control. She’d always made a point of steering clear of him. Unfortunately, it looked as though this night she hadn’t been given a choice in the matter. “Wolf,” she said again.
He held up his hands, palms out. “No, don’t try to move anymore. You’ve lost a lot of blood.”
A memory flashed in her mind of being in Umberto’s arms, of his lips on her throat, of the sting of pain and pleasure when he sank his fangs into her.
She got her elbows under her and began to rise, but Wolf pressed her gently back. “You can’t go anywhere, even if you had the strength. You’ve been asleep for two days. I had to chain you to the bed last night. For your own safety,” he added.
She’d been asleep for forty-eight hours? But the raid! The mission! She couldn’t have slept through it.
Another look at her wrists, at the wide iron cuffs fit around them had fear descending on her anew. “Let me go!”
“Let you go where? To do what? There’s nothing for miles but forest, water, and predators. You’d be dead before daylight.”
“I’m willing to take that chance. It’s better than whatever Umberto has planned for me.” She stared levelly at him and enunciated her words carefully. “He’s going to kill me.”
“You think so?”
He walked to a corner of the room and bent to pick something up. When he approached the bed, he was holding something large.
“What’s that?”
He reached in his pocket and drew out his cell. A moment later a bright white light shun from the phone. He held it up so the light was cast on the object in his hand.
She saw at once that it was a painting. A painting of herself.
Her mouth fell open and she blinked. “Why is there a painting of me?”
“An old painting of you. Look at how you’re dressed.”
She saw what he meant. She was wearing a frilly white dress with buttons that went up her throat. Her hair fell in ringlets down her back and she looked younger than she was now; naïve even. It was the way she saw herself in her dreams.
“What is this?” she asked.
“It was done in in Greece. Umberto commissioned it.” He paused to look at me. “It is of his wife, Simone.”
She stared at the picture. “His wife?”
“You.”
“I’ve never been to Greece.”
He walked to the wall and set the painting down. “But you were.”
“It was probably painted since I’ve been here.” She looked around. “Wherever here is.”
He walked back to the painting, flashed the light on it and ran a thick finger over the canvass. “Dry. This could not have been done recently. This is an old painting. You are Simone, and Umberto has found you after centuries of hoping Simone would be reborn.”
Again, she tugged at her bindings. “I am not Simone, I’m Bleu.”
He stared at her, one eyebrow raised.
“Just let me go.”
“You leaving is not an option. You have to stay.” He set one knee onto the mattress and bent over her, speaking as he rolled her onto her stomach. “You’re marked now. Your group wouldn’t take you back even if we dropped you off on the doorsteps of their motherhouse in London.”
“What do you know of the Talhari?”
“I know about the Talhari. I know enough about them to know what they are and what they are not. They’re a secretive bunch, but they’re not bent on the destruction of all vampires.”
“You know nothing about us.”
“There are Talhari scholars who do little more than research immortals,” he went on to say. “Talhari hunters—which you strive to be—and Talhari scouts. The latter look for possible Talhari recruits.”
His touch was surprisingly gentle, nevertheless, she squirmed. “Where am I?”
“Stay still.”
His fingers were near her ear, moving around as though searching for something.
The haze cleared and she realized what was happening.
Her CU!
She’d managed to activate her CU in time to say, Help me, Kyle! Umberto … before Wolf located it and pulled it free.
The absence of her CU, the loss of it made her blood run cold. She wouldn’t be able to communicate with the team. She was completely cut off from the others. Alone. And she was more terrified than she’d ever been in her life.
Wolf rolled her onto her back then stood. “That’s better. We can’t have you calling your old friends for help, can we? One look at you, one sniff, and they’d kill you as quickly as they’d try to kill the rest of us.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re marked. You’ve got the scent of Umberto all over you. Your CHI will scent it the moment he’s within a hundred feet of you.”
How did he know about her, about The Talhari? “You’re lying. Where are Kyle and Nick?”
A door shut, soft footsteps sounded on the stone floor.
“I suppose Kyle is trying to figure out why his ambush failed.”
“Umberto?” She asked, though she knew the Spanish cadence of his voice well. She also knew the feel of his body, the touch of his lips.
She shook her head to clear it. She would not think of what he’d done to her, what they had shared in those brief moments beside the stage when he had taken her in his arms and … and what? And made love to her was what she’d been thinking. How ridiculous was that? What happened with Umberto had been a mistake. A mistake she’d only allowed because he’d drugged her.
Umberto appeared beside the bed, eyes narrowed, and brows drawn low on his forehead. He was wearing crisp black slacks and an expensive looking black silk shirt. He was beyond beautiful. His hair glimmered in the orange glow of the candlelight; his lips were so perfectly formed she had to squash an impulse to entreat him for a kiss. How she wanted to kiss him. To smell the delicious aroma that permeated the air around him, so sweet and fragrant she could lose herself by simply smelling him.
The drug must still be affecting her. It was the only explanation she could find for her continued attraction to the vampire. She didn’t care if forty-eight hours had passed since he’d suckled at her throat, apparently the pheromone in his saliva was very strong.
He moved closer to the bed and smiled at her. “How are you feeling, Bleu?”
“Kill me or release me. I will not be chained like an animal.”
“You’re chained for you own safety. Didn’t Wolf tell you? You had a high fever yesterday, it made you restless.”
“I repeat, kill me or release me.”
“I drank too much.” He looked down at his feet, then shook his head slowly. “That is a mistake I will not repeat.”
“Release me!”
He didn’t move. For long minutes he was silent. Then, tucking his fingers into the front pockets of his pants, Umberto shook his head. “I won’t kill you and I’m not releasing you.”
“But why? What’s the…?” Then, all at once she knew. She could kick herself for not figuring it out sooner. Even with her blood loss she should have known what was going on as soon as she woke. “I’m a hostage, aren’t I? You mean to lure my associates to you.”
His smile was chilly. It made him look every bit of the vampire he was.
“There’s no need to protect Kyle and Nick. I know who they are. I’ve known for some time. Even before your arrival on the scene.”
“And all that talk of love and enchantment. Was that part of your game?”
“Was it part of yours?”
Sighing, she gave her cuffs one last, ineffective tug, then turned away and stared at the wall. “They won’t come, you know.”
He made an odd, grunting noise that had her rolling toward him so she could have a look at his face again. It was probably a bad idea to turn her back on him anyway, after the way he’d sneakily attacked her at the show. “You’re wasting your time, Umberto.”
“I don’t think so.” He shifted to the right, looked to Wolf, who was standing at the window, gazing out into the night.
From where he was standing, Bleu knew Wolf couldn’t see Umberto. Still, Forsaken’s head of security swiveled. “Yes?”
“Are you sure she was asleep when you brought her here? She has no idea where we are?”
“Affirmative. Even if she were awake before I entered this room and in communication with Kyle, she wouldn’t have been able to give the CHI a location.”
“Is there any way to know for sure if she’s spoken with them at all?”
“Negative. But I know the CHI doesn’t have unlimited access to his team. Someone has to initiate a conversation. That’s how the CU works; otherwise there’d be constant chatter through the lines. If Bleu was asleep, as I know she was for most of the time, there’s no way she would have been able to contact the CHI. He would have to contact her.”
How did Wolf know so much about CU’s? What he was saying was accurate, and it made her wonder why Kyle hadn’t tried to get in contact with her. Then again, maybe he had and she’d been unconscious and unable to respond. And she hadn’t been awake long before Wolf had confiscated her unit. He’d taken it before she’d had a chance to get her wits about her. But he hadn’t taken it while she’d been asleep. If he’d done that, chances were good that she never would have awakened. She would have slipped into a coma. Doubtless he’d known. What she couldn’t figure out was why Wolf or Umberto cared whether she lived or died.
Rage roiled inside of her. It was all she could do not to scream in frustration. This was her first assignment and she’d made a mess of it. She’d let herself be seduced by a vampire, captured, and imprisoned. It was too great a humiliation. And the fatigue, the weakness; it stopped right here and now. She was Talhari and she would behave accordingly. “If you think I’m going to lead my company into an ambush, you’re wrong.”
Umberto refocused on her. “You wound me.”
“They won’t risk themselves for one agent. It’s not worth it.”
He lowered himself until he was seated on the edge of the bed, not quite touching her but close enough for her to feel the heat rising from his body. Regardless of the warmth radiating from him, a brief shiver of anticipation lighted through her at his closeness. She wondered if he was going to bend over her, kiss her. Touch her nipples as he’d done before and tease them until they were hard little pebbles, sensitive to his every stroke.
Instead of touching her, though, he rested a hand, palm down, on the pile of comforters and studied her face. “Do you want to know what I say, Bleu?”
Despite her mounting desire, she released an unladylike snort and shrugged.
“I say,” he continued, clasping her chin and tugging gently until she had no choice but to stare into his eyes, “you’re absolutely worth it.” Still gazing at her, he added, “Wolf, I think Bleu and I would like to be alone for a while.”
“We don’t want to keep our guests waiting for too long.”
“We’ll be down shortly.” He returned his gaze to her. “Are you comfortable?” he asked as soon as Wolf shut the door behind himself.
For good or bad, she thought, they were alone now. Though Umberto wasn’t as large as Wolf, she had no doubt facing off with him would be far more dangerous. Especially if he drugged her again and made her into that spineless trollop she had been back at the show.
He still held her chin so she pulled free of him and glared. She shook her arms, setting her chains to jangling. “I’d be more comfortable without the bracelets. Think you could give me a hand with them?”
“Would you like me to unbind you?”
“What do you think?”
“I think I like you as you are.”
She stared up at him, disbelief making her speechless.
He ran a finger between her breasts then up her arms. The touch of his palms on the sensitive skin of her inner arms sent a shiver of pleasure through her body. When he pressed her arms against the mattress, pinning her beneath him, she actually sighed.
His smile widened.
“Laugh if you want, but you and I know if it wasn’t for those pheromones my reaction to you wouldn’t be so…so—”
“Is that what you think?” He threw his head back and laughed.
She sputtered indignantly.
“You are pheromone free. If you want me, it’s because you want me.”
“I would never want a vampire. You’re doing something to me; to my emotions. Confusing me.”
He leaned forward and captured her lips in a kiss. Her response was immediate. She lost herself to him, sank deeper into desire.
When he pulled away she was breathless.
“What are you doing to me?” she groaned.
“You are mine,” he said into her ear. “Once again, you are mine. And this time, I won’t lose you.”
With a ferocity that scared her, she realized she wanted Umberto. She needed him with something that verged on desperation.
When he pulled off his shirt she nearly cried out in relief. “Yes. Now,” she said, not caring how she sounded.
He undid his pants, tossed them aside, then moved between her thighs.
The flesh between her legs was wet already, her anticipation made her light headed.
Bleu struggled to lean toward him, but his weight was immovable.
“Umberto?” she asked. Her voice sounded too thin, too weak to actually belong to her.
All thought evaporated when he rotated his hips and sank inside her. The pleasure of that simple movement had her falling back into the bed and moaning.
“That’s a girl,” he crooned. He captured her wrists in his hands.
She sighed and arched her back.
He levered her arms over her head, pinioned them to the bed and rose above her. “Welcome home,” he said, then began to move slowly within her.
He slid deep inside, and she moaned. Abandoned to the feel of him, she lost herself in pleasure as he set a rhythm slow enough to torment even as it satisfied. Her hips moved of their own accord; she met his thrusts with an enthusiasm that sent shudders vibrating through her every time he eased out and sank back in.
She couldn’t speak, didn’t even try. Words were beyond her. Her entire world had narrowed to the delicious sphere of erotic sensation administered to her by a man who wasn’t human.
He rocked his hips, thrusting in, then sliding out. The movements were smooth. His breath was cool, peppermint scented bursts of air that peppered her face as he panted above her.
He gazed down at her and slid his tongue over his lower lip. He had a look in his eyes that said he knew the sight of it made her hungry for the taste of him. “You’re not going anywhere ever again,” he said as he rode her.
He lowered himself on her, capturing her mouth with his. The kiss was possessive. A ravenous plundering by a starving man. His tongue met hers and the two danced, gliding against the other and demanding satisfaction.
Her entire body felt lit by a thousand tiny sparks of flame, each threatening to explode at any second. At the very edge of reason, on the precipice of sanity, she felt the most intense orgasm of her life building deep within her.
“Harder, Umberto,” she begged.
He eased back, gentled his thrusts, rose above her and grinned. “Not a chance.”
“You’re killing me.”
“And you love it.”
He stilled on top of her and stared into her eyes. His gaze had her biting her lip when she would have screamed in protest with any other man.
“I love the way you beg, Bleu,” he said. “You can’t imagine how much it turns me on.”
He flexed his erection and she squirmed.
“Please,” she gasped.
Bleu knew he’d come to some silent decision when he gritted his teeth, loosened her wrists, and braced his arms at either side of her head. Before she could tighten her legs around him he withdrew, sending tiny erotic vibrations through her. He drew back until he nearly slipped free of her. She was about to protest but the look on his face stalled her. He’d set his mouth in a humorless grin, focused on her with an intensity that had her squirming again, and drove into her with such force she did scream.
He drew back again and thrust in hard, drew back and thrust, hard and sure as a piston. The movements were quick, deliberate, and they felt too good. Bleu could scarcely catch her breath. He’d become an animal on top of her, growling through every thrust with a look in his eyes that challenged her to refuse him.
She tightened her legs around him, lost herself in the feel of being so completely taken.
She cried out his name, too far gone to control herself.
Their tongues met and bright light flashed before her. He claimed her so thoroughly she thought she’d explode. His tongue darted in and out of her mouth, accented by his thrusts. Pleasure came at her in waves, each stronger than the last, each powerful enough to pummel her into a higher level of abandon.
Teetering on the edge, the orgasm churned within her, closed in, then drove her over the edge. She came hard, bucking beneath him. They writhed together, mouths joined and bodies locked. He thrust harder. Again and again, until thrusting deep, he held fast and emptied himself into her.
On a long groan he collapsed on her, gasping for breath.
Bleu listened to his gentling breathing as calm returned to her. She panted. Gloried in the feel of his hot wet body on her.
She admitted, if only to herself, if this were a dream, she never wanted to wake up.