Chapter Sixteen
“Jessica. Jessica.” The tone of Ricard’s voice was stern, much more so than Jessie liked. “Jessica, wake up.”
She opened her eyes, feeling tension. It was a peculiar sensation because her entire body was relaxed to the point of being rubbery. She wasn’t even sure she could hold her head up.
She may have been too physically weak, but inside and all around she felt stronger than she’d ever felt before. As sure as she knew she was alive, she felt something new, an energy or a flow of something bigger than herself, more powerful.
Whatever it was, it was greater even than Ricard. She sensed he felt it too. In fact, she sensed there was now an invisible tether linking them. It was bigger than love, more tangible, as if it had a spirit of its own.
This sensation filled her with light and love. Where she felt a chill, it warmed her. Where she felt too hot, it cooled. This thing provided for her.
Beyond this wonderful connection was a tense pressure descending, coming toward her from every direction. The separate being was familiar to her. It was Ricard.
“What’s wrong?” she managed to slide over a few inches and see his face.
Eyebrows drew close together. Eyes narrowed. The spot below his eye jumped.
“We must question you.” His jaw set, causing the muscles to bulge. “Then, you and I must talk alone.”
“You’re still upset that Rafe will do it, aren’t you?” With concerted effort she lifted her hand to his cheek. “I’ll try my best to answer questions for you first, but no one seems to think that will work.”
She hated to see him worry over something that was out of their control and she was fairly certain was a supernatural safety measure. Now was not the time to admit she was happy to hear nature was on her side in this situation.
Certainly, a vampire being able to influence his mate did not bode well for the poor mate. No, this was a definite situation of nature getting it right.
Slowly and steadily strength returned to her body, making her able to support her own weight.
He was quiet for a moment. “That is not my concern.”
She felt the connection between them vibrate, like a current of electricity ran through it. Ricard flinched. Had she not been looking at him, she’d have missed it.
His body tensed, shoulders rising for a split second.
“Ricard, do not try to mislead me. What we have between us will not allow you to lie.” Shifting, she pulled herself up to sit on his lap, immediately missing the feel of his body against hers. “This situation will work itself out fine. You’ll be with me. Serge will be there. There is no reason for you to fear Rafe will do anything inappropriate. Besides, he has his own mate.”
She rubbed his cheek. “He will certainly understand what you’re feeling.”
He clasped her hand to his face, then kissed her palm. “It is instinctual for a vampire to feel anger toward another who would try to use compulsion on his mate. I do not deny feeling that way. But, I am less concerned for this situation than I am over what we will learn from you.”
“What do you mean?” She could not fathom what could possibly be of worry. If she knew something, she’d share it. “Whatever I know will help us.”
“I am certain you are correct. It is not what you know that concerns me. It’s why you keep it buried so deeply that is alarming.”
“I don’t understand. Did you try to question me when you bit me? I didn’t think that’s what you were doing.” Alarms went off in Jessie’s mind. Had her mate tried to use a moment that she believed was personal and between them and about their love to gain something else.
The simple thought of such betrayal hurt. How could he?
“Ricard, why?”
His hands came to her arms, and he held her firmly, staring deep into her eyes. “I did not question you. I was as busy enjoying our moment as you. That time was for us, not for work. There is a time for everything, and during our intimate moments there is no time for work.”
Slowly his head dipped an inch. “Do you understand?”
She nodded. “Then what are you talking about?”
“In our moment, while I fed, I should have been able to calm your thoughts, even lull you into a sleepy state of pleasure.”
“I was sleepy and I did like it.” She recalled the way it felt when his fangs broke her skin. Crazy fear crashed against an overwhelming wash of pleasure.
In less than a second’s time she forgot feeling afraid and slipped straight into a state of contentment.
“You did. I could tell. Though, generally, it’s far more pleasurable than you experienced.”
“Really?” She smiled. “That doesn’t sound too bad.”
“Hmm. Yes, well, what does sound bad is you are my mate and it was not far more pleasurable. You never let go of the multitude of thoughts swirling in your mind. Rather, they continued tumbling over and over, and I was unable to distract you from them entirely.”
“Well, we shouldn’t take that to mean anything. Think about what has happened to me. I would be ashamed of myself if I simply forgot my brother.” The thought of ever forgetting Joshua and what he’d been put through was impossible.
“Jessica, love, you don’t understand. A vampire’s bite has brought relief to humans in the most horrific moments. For example, as they lie dying, terrified by the vampire’s attack, we are able to relax the worry.”
Jessie winced. “Sort of a bad analogy, don’t you think?”
“Perhaps, but what is…worse…is that your thoughts could not be calmed. I wonder not only what you know, but what has been done to you to make you not forget and not share.”
“Done to me?”
“Yes. I’m certain you’ve seen things that Tyrone or Rollins did not want you to repeat, but they didn’t want you to forget either. To add to my suspicion is the fact Tyrone was at your home. The man was rarely seen outside Panthera in the last few years, yet he went to your home when he knew your brother wasn’t there. It leads me to believe you must have been very valuable to him.”
“You think I’ve been…I’m an experiment?” Jessie’s hands shook. “What’s going to happen to me?”
There was nothing that compared to not knowing. There was not a thing that rivaled the terror of what might happen.
“You have to figure it out. You have to know what’s in here.” She pointed to her temple. “You have to let Rafe question me. Don’t make this harder than it is.”