“You have to go, save yourselves”

“No way. I came this far for you, you stubborn bastard.” I tug him close to my side “You’re coming with us.”

“And Jolie?”

“We will save her, I promise. No matter what.”

He looks back toward his sister’s pale, beastlike form.

Carver,” I say. “You have to trust me. I won’t leave her to this life, but we can’t help her until we help you.” Banging continues on the door marking our only way out and the last word comes out in a shiver, “Please.”

He glances between me and Jolie a half dozen times. The poor guy loses either way. He knows it. I know it. Either way someone ends up hurt. The only question is who?

Finally, Carver comes to some decision and leans toward Jolie. She wretches back, dropping into a feral defensive pose and he whispers in French to her.

I don’t know what he’s said, but it sounds like a promise.

Moment’s later he takes my hand in his and nods to Lucian and Marius. He doesn’t ask all the questions I’m sure are running through his mind. Instead, he steadies himself and adjusts his stance into a fighting pose.

“Carver, love. You aren’t up for a fight.”

“I’m injured, ma belle, but I am not dead.”

Marius grunts as he continues to brace the door, he glances down at the large drain along the floor between the rows of cages. “There.” He says. “We can take the sewers out.”

Lucian and I follow his gaze until we see the large metal ridges atop the drain. It’s a strange spot for a drain, but I assume with all the death and horror that happens in this place, they need a way to make clean ups easier. Anger builds in my chest at the thought of Carver’s blood having been spilled into those same drains.

“Can you get that off?” I ask Lucian.

He studies it for a moment then nods. I gently leave Carver’s side and rush over to take Lucian’s place against the door with Marius.

He smiles down at me, his eyes alight from all the chaos around him. I’m beginning to realize my third lover enjoys a good thrill.

Seconds later, Lucian has the drain cover clean off and gestures to Carver, “You first, then Aura. Marius and I will up a blockade against the door and meet you down there.

I look to Lucian, “Don’t fuck around. Either of you.” I glance at Marius as well, “I can’t do any of this without you. So please, be careful.”

“We’ll be seconds behind you,” Marius promises

Marius nods, “Don’t worry, we won’t.”

I swap places with Lucian, tossing a couple of long axes and whips off the stomach-churning torture rack, to Marius. He catches them and he and Lucian begin forming a barricade of sorts across the handle and lock. I don’t have time to watch as Carver jumps down into the sewers. I follow along, casting one last glance at my other two men.

I land in a splash of god-knows-what covering the ground. The stench is awful, but there’s no time to linger as I take Carver’s hand and tug him along the passageways. I use my senses to guide me, following the flow of water until it reaches an outlet.

Twenty minutes later and a dozen twists and turns, we end up beneath the highway. The scent of musky water and earth great Carver and I and I take a deep inhale of the almost fresh air.

Seconds pass and footsteps slamming through water echo behind us. I move to block Carver, just as he does the same for me. But neither of us have to fight because it’s Lucian and Marius.

“Told you we weren’t fucking around, sweetheart.” Lucian smiles and grabs Carvers shoulder, hitching him onto his side to carry his weight.

“How the hell are we getting back now?” I ask, exhaustion and adrenaline making my voice breathy.

“Don’t worry about that.” Marius grabs the phone out of his pocket and texts someone. Ten minutes later a vampire I haven’t seen before arrives with a large black Escalade followed by a small town-car.

He hops out, gives the keys to Marius, and silently walks back toward the other vehicle. A moment later, the other car drives off, leaving the four of us to make our own way back.

* * *

Carver spends most of the drive home in silence, continuing to stare out the window. He holds my hand tightly, the only sign that he knew I was there. The moment the car pulls into the driveway, he hops out without a word. I follow him silently as he makes his way toward the bedroom, never saying a word.

I still don’t have any idea about the hell he’s been through and I don’t want to pressure him, so I let him do as he needs. He walks into the bedroom, closes the curtains and quietly curls up onto soft mattress. Seconds later, he rolls onto his side and closes his eyes, giving me his back. I go over to him and climb onto the bed, wrapping my arms slowly around his waist. He tenses as though the contact shocks him momentarily, but doesn’t fight me. After a few breaths, he leans into my touch and moments later, he is asleep.

Hours, or more pass, and I awaken—alone. The bedspread is cool and Carver is nowhere to be found. At first I panic before remembering that he in fact did come home. He was safe. At some point, I’d kicked off my pants and slept in my t-shirt. Pressed against Carver’s back, the room was warm and peaceful. Now, it felt bare.

I rise, following his scent as it trails out of our room and down the hall, ending in the bathroom. I knock gently, “Carver?” but no one answers.

Tap Tap Tap.

“Carver?”

My knuckles rap a third than fourth time. Finally, I open the door, not caring whether he wants me to come in. I’m too worried that he’s been hurt--or worse. Instead, I see that he’s standing in front of the sink, his hands gripping the edges of the counter. The mirror is still fogged and most of the bathroom is clouded in a hazy mist of steam. He doesn’t look at me as i come in, his attention too focused on his own reflection. There’s a raw pain in his eyes, as if he’s physically here, but mentally, somewhere far, far away from me. Unreachable.

“Carver, are you all right?”

He glances briefly at me, then focuses back on the mirror.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I ask, stepping closer to him until I’m standing beside him, my chest pressed against his hip.

I want to heal him. To take away everything he’s been through, but I know I can’t

Suddenly he turns, leaning his hips against the counter. He looks down at me as if seeing me for the first time again. His hand raises from the counter and gently rubs of my face, trailing over my lips jaw and neck. His hands are cut and bruised but healing and I rub at wounds that have already formed scars.

Heat, pain, anger and longing fill the air and without a second more, we frantically reach for each other at the same moment. I grab at his neck pulling his face down to me as He leans down and grabs my hair with one hand jerking my mouth up to meet his lips. His other arm rubs down the side of my body hitching my thigh around his waist and crushing his body into me as t-shirt rides up to my waist.

This time a soft moan escapes my lips as Carver slips his tongue into my mouth. His taste is intoxicating, more so than the finest chocolate I’ve ever tasted.

I feel like I could drink every bit of him for eternity. I grab the back of his head, making the kiss deeper. He groans and pushes me against the wall, his hands moving to cup my breasts. I let out another moan and run my hands down his broad, muscular back pulling him closer to me. My body is burning for him and moisture builds between my legs as the weight of his erection grinds into me.

“Carver, I need you. I need to feel you.” I whisper the words against his skin between moans.

“I will not be gentle, ma belle.” He cautions, turning me around so I’m facing the foggy mirror. He meets my eyes in the reflective surface and I don’t flinch at the harsh look on his face.

“Who said I wanted gentle?” I know he needs this. Needs to reconnect with me. Needs to feel good. To feel loved. And I’m going to give it to him.

He pushes my shirt up and out of his way, ripping my panties off as he palms his length in his hand. Without mercy he pushes into me and I let out a whimper of pleasure.

“Carver, mmm.”

“Oui, ma belle, oui.”

I lick my lips. “Feels so good.” I grip the counter at my hips, pushing back against each punishing stroke as he pumps his length inside me with harsh strokes.

“The way you wrap around me...” He trails off and I watch as he watches his length disappear inside of my slick channel.

He fucks me hard and fast, his pace unrelenting. And I’m right there with him, quickly climbing the peak to bliss as he finds our connection again and latches onto it like a life raft.

“Come for me, Aura. Come on my cock.” Carver issues the command and I’m unable to resist.

I scream his name, my pussy clenching around his wide length as he pumps inside of me, harder, faster, and then stills.

“Aurora.” He sighs against the back of my neck as his length jerks inside me and he comes, filling me with his release. He turns me around and leans his damp forehead against my own, “I’m proud of you.”

“What?”

“Proud of you, ma belle.” He tips my mouth to his and places a sweet kiss on my swollen lips, “You’ve grown in strength, fortitude. When many would have fallen, you have risen.”

I press my palms to his cheeks and kiss his forehead. “I did it all for you. I’d walk through hell and back to save you, Carver.”

“I know you would, just as I would for you.” We kiss and touch for a few minutes more until a knock on the door sounds and Lucian asks us if we want to spar a bit and we both grin at each other, and I see a little bit of the more carefree Carver emerge.

“We’ll be right out!” I yell back, pushing Carver back and dropping to my feet. “Think you can keep up with me now?” I challenge as I walk into my giant closet.

He chuckles darkly. “I wouldn’t bet against me, ma belle.”

* * *

“Be careful, ma belle, Morana won’t be as taken with those sapphire eyes as I am,” Carver says as his hand closes around my throat.

He holds it there as his sensuous eyes burn it into mine. Despite my current predicament, an angry rush of heat goes between my legs. Damn that Carver! He knows how I love him using his French on me. Not to mention that this chokehold, albeit a lighter version, is what’s started many of our trysts.

I glare into his dark eyes as I struggle. A two-fingered jab to his gut frees me.

He yelps as I spin to Lucian, who is advancing, tan hands out and ready.

“And she certainly won’t be as easily overcome,” his low voice says dryly, a second before he’s gone and striking me from behind.

Shit. Is the only thought that enters my mind as my limbs fall out from under me.

As Carver leaps to finish me, I jab up my foot. It catches him right in the balls. As he falls to his knees, I latch my fingers through his soft golden strands.

“Sorry, Carv. But I’m not as much of a lightweight as you think.”

Despite his furious-browed scowl of pain, there is a trickle of something else in his eyes. I follow their gaze to my training corset, which my breasts are currently straining out of.

At the last second, his hand goes up. I catch it mid-air.

“After all we’ve been through together, and you think I can’t guess your next move?” I smile sweetly at him with a raised brow.

I bap out my head into a neat head-but. His body droops back with a groan.

A hand on my waist sends me spinning around.

“Is that really fair?” I ask Marius.

My breath catches in my throat a little at the sight of him. Those flyaway mocha strands. Those high cheekbones shoving his eyes into permanently wary slits. All that on a body chiseled and sculpted for fight. My gaze directs me downwards, to his tight cloth pants, where I can see another part of him is hardened at the ready.

We circle one another. Every so often one of us jerks into a feint, pretending to dash or lunge. My heart is ricocheting in my chest. Marius is testing me, I can feel it.

I need to be testing him too. I’ve only enjoyed Marius once before, he’s entirely new ground I’m treading on.

Marius finally pauses to let his icy eyes roam over me.

“Don’t worry, Aura. This won’t hurt-” He clocks me in the side of the face with his foot – “much.”

Seconds after I’m on the ground, Marius is on top of my pelvis, straddling me.

“What kind of training session is this, anyway?” Lucian’s accented voice inquires, with more than a bit of ill humor.

More heat flares between my legs. That look of utter dominance on Marius’s severe features, the last time I saw that we were….

Flinging my upper body upright, I slam a palm under his chin.

“Don’t count your victories when they still have live blood flowing in them,” I quip as I leap to my feet.

Down on the cool concrete as he is, Marius cranes his head around to toss a cocky half-smile my way. “That’s not all you should have in you.”

“Careful, or that’s the only thing I’ll let in me.” I wink saucily at him and laugh before I reach down and offer him a hand to pull him to his feet.

Marius leans in and kisses the side of my neck. “Nah, you wouldn’t do that to us.”

I push against his chest and step back facing all three of my men, ready to learn as much as they can teach me so I can defend not only myself but them as well.

“Again.”