Alpha Male Incorporated: Take Control (23 page)

“You attacked my mate,” he hissed with his fangs exposed. “I warned you about touching her, didn’t I?’

Cordelia struggled in front of him as her hands clawed at his arms and fingers. He heard the slight gagging sound coming from her lips. “I should kill you right here for making Raya feel any sort of pain. Is your jealousy strong enough that you would die for it? Tell me, is it?”

Her struggles grew more frantic, but he didn’t care. She was a vampire and could handle being pushed to her limits. Raya wasn’t. She was strong but only to a certain point. Her sweet innocence outweighed everything else, and seeing her in pain tonight cut him deep.

The drive to kill Cordelia pushed him to the brink of no return. For a quick instant, he saw the all-consuming fear in Cordelia’s wide eyes as she read his thoughts. Killing her would free Raya from her petty jealousy. He should do it now and get it over with.

Thorsten! Stop! Let her go
! Jax’s voice yelled in his head.

Glancing away from her, Thorsten’s gaze landed on Jax and Zander standing off to his left. “I can’t do as you ask. She hurt Raya and she must pay for it,” he answered. “How did the two of you know I was here anyway?”

“Your anger drew us to you,” Zander replied, coming next to him, “We both felt it and just followed the trail to Club V. Let Cordelia go like Jax told you.”

“No.”

“Fine, how will you explain killing her to Raya?” Jax questioned.

“Raya will never know about this night. She’s at my house asleep in my bed. She won’t wake up until the morning.”

“She will know about it because you will have to confess all of your sins to her before she can ultimately accept you as her mate. Will she be able to overlook this even if you did it for her?”

His cousin’s question made Thorsten loosen his grip, allowing Cordelia’s body to fall to the dirty pavement beneath their feet. Her wide, scared gaze never once left his as she scooted away from him with her slender hand pressed against her red neck.

“Cat,” he said, calling her by the name she hadn’t used in years. “You are very lucky, so you should thank Jax. I hadn’t come here to kill you but after I wrapped my hand around your slender neck I wasn’t going to stop. This is your very last warning. Stay away from me and Raya.”

“Thorsten, you will regret this,” she choked out, then vanished.

“Do I need to stay?” Zander asked, looking at Jax then back in his direction. “I will if I need to because Sabrina is with Sahara.”

“No, you don’t have to stay and babysit me,” Thorsten said. “Go ahead and leave. Your wife needs you. Jax, why don’t you leave as well?”

“Are you sure?” Both men asked him.

He nodded. “I’m going for a walk. I need to clear my head before I go back to Raya. I won’t be able to control myself around her like this. The smell and feel of her already has me to my breaking point. I want to turn her so badly.”

“I’m leaving, but I’ll check in with you later to make sure you’re doing alright,” Zander said, then disappeared.

“Thorsten, are you sure you’re okay?” Jax asked, touching him on the shoulder. “I can still feel your anger simmering beneath the surface. I have never seen you in such a rage before.”

“Honestly, I’m fine. I just saw red when I thought how much more Cordelia could have done to harm my Raya. She has brought peacefulness to my existence. I never knew how special having a
Unique
woman was until now. I can’t lose her, but I don’t have her, either.”

Jax gave his shoulder an affectionate squeeze. “Zander and I have both been where you are. I was worried about you not forming a bond with Raya. However, I can see I was wrong.”

“Yes, you were wrong,” he agreed.

Dropping his hand, Jax grinned at him. “You are in love with her.”

Thorsten scowled darkly. “She’s mine. I care about her, but I don’t think it’s love yet.”

“Have you not experienced love for so long that you don’t know what it is? You’ve taken Raya’s blood. I can smell the addition of it in yours. When she got hurt you were at the hospital, the need to protect her from danger consumes you because you love her. Not need, want, or even crave. You are in love with Raya. She’s everything to your being and the thought of living without her pains you.”

He didn’t want to hear what Jax was telling him since it was so close to the truth. Closing his eyes, Thorsten’s hands clenched into fists at his side. “I crave her. I feel this powerful, all consuming need for her but it can’t be love. I don’t know how to love anyone,” he said, opening his eyes.

Tossing back his head, Jax’s deep, warm, and rich laughter filled the deserted alleyway of the nightclub. Thorsten’s eyes narrowed at the man next to him. “Why are you laughing?” he bit out.

Seconds later his laughter stopped, Jax gave him a huge grin. “You have it bad for your mate. You couldn’t let Raya go now if you wanted to do it. The part of your being that still wants to be wild is fighting your future, but it will stop once you are joined with your woman.

“Go back home to her and keep her safe. Nothing out here will give you the comfort her arms will.” The words of advice were directed towards him with love. Jax vanished, leaving him alone.

Raising his head, Thorsten breathed in the night air, hoping it would relax his senses, but his body was still in torment. The sounds of the night weren’t working their magic. Jax was right. He needed more than his usual fix to calm down this pulsing need.

Raya fought through the heavy blanket of fog in her head to wake. She slowly pried her eyes open then glanced around the bedroom. A tiny light flickered from a lamp on the dresser by the side of the bed. She remembered eating tomato soup and the grilled cheese sandwich Thorsten had fixed for her, but after that everything was a total blank.

Slowly, she sat up in the bed and tossed the light covers off her body. Thorsten had done something to make her sleep. They would have a talk about this. He couldn’t be putting her to sleep without her permission.

“Thorsten, where are you? We need to have a conversation,” she yelled, swinging her feet over the side of the bed.

She listened closely but didn’t hear a sound in the house. It was deadly quiet—almost too silent to be real. Raya took a glance at the clock by the Victorian lamp, shocked it was past midnight.

Where could he be this late at night?

He argued with her not to go anywhere, but he up and left her all alone in his house. Well, she wasn’t going to lie in this bed and wait for him to come back home. Getting out of the bed, Raya felt the brush of the white nightgown Thorsten had given her to wear against her upper thighs. She was too worn out earlier to ask where he had gotten it.

Leaving the bedroom, she stood gingerly on her twisted ankle then added a little weight, noticing it was better. She didn’t know how, but it didn’t hurt as badly as it had before she took the nap.

She slowly made her way towards the staircase at the very end of the hallway. Holding onto the railing, Raya walked down the steps and paused at the bottom one before going into the living room. She still couldn’t believe how amazing this place was. Her entire condo could probably fit in this one room.

The polished hardwood shone, which only enhanced the beautiful design. A towering steel wall bookshelf was a focal point in the space. The shelves looked sturdy enough to hold the thousands of leather bound books that looked very old, but in perfect condition.

One of them had to cost in the hundreds of dollars, if not more. Thorsten wasn’t pretending about his wealth. Every single item in this one space screamed of old money, which was logical since he was centuries old. He could probably afford anything he wanted in the world.

A soft buzzing sound brought her attention over to the glass-topped table in front of the tailored, black leather sofa. Raya spotted the laptop and instantly her curiosity got the better of her and she hurried over to it. Sitting down, she reached for it but her hand stopped midway when an uncertainty overwhelmed her. She caught herself glancing uneasily over her shoulder.

She moved around on the cushion as a wave of guilt hit her. Spying on Thorsten’s emails didn’t feel right, no matter the countless things he did to take her company away. She would be betraying his trust, especially after everything he had done for her tonight. She hated to admit how his attention touched her.

You are falling for him
, a warning voice whispered in her head.

“I haven’t fallen for Thorsten,” she muttered while she experienced a gamut of perplexing emotions.

He just caught her in a weak moment, nothing more. Raya was suddenly anxious to escape from Thorsten’s house and his disturbing presence. If she stayed here a moment longer, she might not be able to resist the pull of him.

****

A gust of wind blew outside, then Thorsten’s body suddenly appeared in the darkness of the deck leading to his bedroom. He took great pleasure in his ability to teleport from one place to another without being seen by anyone. Unlike him, his cousins only used their abilities when absolutely necessary.

Standing there at the door, he felt a momentary pang of guilt. He should have listened to Jax’s advice and arrived back home two hours ago. However, he still had too much rage rolling around in him from his confrontation with Cordelia. Raya didn’t deserve him bringing any of those lingering emotions home to her.

Instead, he went for a walk in the park and lost himself in the sounds of nature surrounding him. No one was aware of how the solitude at this time of night relaxed the battle inside of his body.

Waving his hand, Thorsten released the safeguards he had placed before leaving and entered his bedroom. Instantly, he knew Raya wasn’t in the room but seconds later he was engulfed by her conflicting emotions coming from close by.

Rushing out of his bedroom, he raced to help Raya with whatever was causing her such unbelievable torment. He made his way down the steps and found her walking around in the living room near the couch. He noticed she wasn’t limping anymore, but she still couldn’t be on her feet. The bath salts he had placed inside her bath water had taken down the swelling in her ankle, but she still needed to rest.

He stopped for a moment, noticing how stunning her brown, creamy skin looked in the nightgown he had purchased for her weeks ago. He had been out getting a new suit made and walked past a lingerie shop. The second he saw it hanging in the window display he went inside and bought it for her. He knew it wouldn’t look good on anyone else but Raya, and he was right.

“Raya, sweetheart, what’s wrong? I thought you would still be asleep.”

She stopped her pacing and spun around in his direction. Her bedroom chocolate eyes bored into his as she pointed a finger in his direction. “You did something to me. I could barely wake up earlier. It felt like I had been drugged, and then I tried the front doors to leave. I couldn’t open them. You’ve locked me in.”

Thorsten moved with a burst of speed to tower over his mate. Why would Raya want to leave his home? She was perfectly safe with him. Anyways, she couldn’t be out wearing the thin nightgown on her body; it barely covered her beautiful breasts.

“Why are you trying to leave?” he asked instead, ignoring her accusations. “I can take care of all of your needs right here in my home.”

“Maybe I want to be in my own home,” she told him. “I missed my things and knowing I’m safe in my own home.”

Sighing heavily, he reached for Raya, pulling her to his body. He heard her heartbeat pounding inside her chest, but it wasn’t out of fear but desire. She wanted him and it scared her. He pressed her head against his chest. Running his hand down her silky black hair, Thorsten got lost in the softness of her body. The feel of her against him felt so good.

“I know you can take care of yourself, but let go for once and allow me to step up,” he said, moving back so he could stare into her face. “I crave so much more from you and our bond has already been sealed by fate, but I want you to be with me on our own freewill.”

“You’re trying to say all the right words, but we both know we are people who don’t like to compromise. I know you’re used to every woman who crosses your path to fall for your good looks and charm.”
He cupped Raya’s chin in the palm of his hand, tipped her head back so she couldn’t escape the look in his eyes. “So, you do find me attractive?”

Raya’s eyebrows slanted down into a frown. “I would have to be stupid not to know you’re extremely good-looking. Your face has this inner strength about it, but I can’t figure out if you’re a good guy or a devil in disguise. Even the way your ridiculously blue eyes are filled with life, pain, and some other indefinable emotion I can’t read.”

“Baby, I can’t let you leave me,” Thorsten said, realizing how much he wanted Raya to care about him…love him for the vampire he was and see past all of the mistakes he had made thinking he knew how to win her over. The idea of being without her pained him so deeply.

Just the short time he had spent away from made his loneliness set back in. He needed to bind them together and have her accept her gift.

“If you leave me tonight. I…” His voice trailed off as he lowered his head, brushing his mouth over Raya’s.

She gasped as she tried to push him away, but he wrapped his hand around her wrist and held her to him. He tried to fight it, but he felt the demands of his body clawing at him to take over. The sweetness of Raya’s mouth was too much for him to ignore any longer. He had to have her in a way he hadn’t done yet.

“Sweetheart, stay and let me make love to you,” he whispered the words against her mouth. “I have been holding back, but I can’t any longer. I need you with me, please don’t go.”

Pleading with a woman to stay with him wasn’t something he was used to doing. Females usually gave him what he craved of their own free will, but Raya wasn’t like them. She had her own way of thinking and figuring out things that drove him crazy on one hand, but impressed him in so many different ways. Yet, he wouldn’t push the decision. It had to be hers and hers alone, but he secretly hoped she made the right one for the both of them.