Cake (50 page)

I’m in Flame, Shade. Can you see Claudius? I can’t go back downstairs now. It would not be safe.

What is
he
doing here?

Nightshade might have been a female, but she was also a Hellcat, and she extended her powerful claws to back up the disdain she felt at seeing her least favorite vampire coming up the stairs towards us.

I looked up to see what had unsettled her and saw familiar sable brown tresses. If my skin had been tingling before, my flesh burned like fire now. I heard myself start panting and growling. I was growling? I heard it again. Yes…I was growling

Xavier, don’t lose it. There are too many humans around.

Shade was trying to be the voice of reason, but I was in Flame. And you can’t reason with Flame, especially when any willpower I had was now gone at the mere sight of him. I dug my fingers into the metal grating that made up the floor of the upper level and watched as Marcus continued climbing up the stairs.

My Marcus. My Pretty. My breaker of promises. My rapist of mind and body…And yet still the holder of my heart. No wonder Claudius was so worried about me. Apparently, I was still out of my fucking mind where Marcus was concerned.

He was about twenty feet away from me, and I could smell that special scent of his…apple orchard. Climbing to my feet, I watched as he looked around upon reaching the top of the landing, feeling a brush of awareness against my shield. And then he slowly turned his head towards us.

What a sight the Hellcat and I must have made. My crystal vision allowed me to see a blue glow that was dancing on my skin while Shade, still in her little housecat form, was standing in front of me and doing her best impression of a Halloween kitty. Her fur bristled, she hissed, and she growled. But my own growl drowned hers out as I swayed on my feet, a flare of desire ripping through me. Oh God, I wanted him so badly.

Marcus began to approach, then glancing down at Shade he noted her hostile stance and stopped a respectable distance away, looking at me. I forced my hands to curl up into fists at my side to prevent me from grabbing him and dragging him forward, knowing if I did, I would push him down on his back and climb on him to ride his…Stop it. Stop it.

“
You are in Flame, Xavier.”

Thank you, Mr. Obvious.

Shade snickered at my snide remark to Marcus, while I just silently nodded. I didn’t trust using my voice.

The bass music was vibrating the walkway. My whole body was so sensitive. I couldn’t stand still, and I began swaying to the beat that seemed to envelop me. I saw Marcus’s eyes flare up in the dim light, and then he blinked, and the red hue was gone. But I knew he still wanted me.

“
Does Claudius know?” he asked. I nodded again. “Then I shall leave you to it.” He turned away, but I wasn’t going to stand there and watch him walk from me this time, not without saying what needed to be said.

“
That’s it? ‘You’re in Flame, see ya’,” I challenged. “I know you’re fucked up, but you fucked me up bad too when you first took me. And you left me twisting in Flame the last time I saw you. I thought I meant something to you, somewhere in that perverse heart of yours!”

Oh, go, Xavier.

Shut up, Shade!

“
I never meant…You will always own my heart, Little One.” He didn’t turn around to look at me as he spoke, but I heard every word.

“
You made me this way,” I called to him, my hands stroking down my body. Every second that passed was making my Flame burn with a bit more intensity. “Quit walking away, Marcus. Take responsibility.”

He turned his head a little, and my eyes greedily drank in his profile. “You do not belong to me anymore,” he said sadly. “I walked away and gave up any right to you.”

“
What?”

He finally turned to look at me, resting his hands on the metal guard rail at the top of the stairs. “Claudius is your Father now,” he told me. “He has the power to decide with whom you…mate. No matter how much it pains me to see your Flame getting stronger even as we talk, I do not have the right to ease it anymore.”

“
Bullshit.”

I took three steps forward, and he took three steps back away from me. I stopped moving, but he still backed away from me. Tears of anger and frustration burned at my eyes, and I let them fall. I didn’t care if he watched or not. He had backed away from me. He had rejected me…again.

Sitting back down on the walkway, I drew my knees up to my chest. “Please find Claudius for me. This is starting to hurt me.” In more ways than just the Flame, I thought morosely.

“
I am here, Xavier.”

Claudius was standing behind Marcus. His hand came up, and he caught the taller vampire’s shoulder. And when Marcus made to turn away from his father, the hand tightened, and Claudius held on tighter to his son.

“
Marcus, do not turn away, not from me,” he said, looking down at my hunched-up figure. “Do you finally understand now why I took him from you? Did you see his beauty and skills downstairs? No one there could deny him. Is that not part of his birthright as a vampire, as our Emperor?” Marcus remained silent. “You could not have given him that, my son. You are skilled, talented, and formidable as Master of the Territory, granted. But you cannot see beyond him. Xavier is your Achilles’ heel, and you are his. You both had to separate so that he could get stronger. He cannot lean on you forever, Marcus. And you cannot protect him from the world.”

I hugged my knees tighter to myself, feeling those warm chocolate brown eyes of his playing on me.

“
He does have a subtle touch,” Marcus conceded. “I brushed those he drank from. He left no trail.”

“
Could you have taught him that?” Claudius asked.

“
No,” Marcus admitted. “You know I have no patience for training.”

“
You should see Xavier soar on his wings, especially during a full moon,” Claudius spoke with obvious admiration. “It is a sight to behold, though he crashed so many times before he mastered it. It hurt to watch him suffer through broken bones, but he would insist on getting up and trying again. I know you would not have let him do that. You would have mollycoddled him up in the Manor.”

“
I only wanted to protect him. But I ended up being the one causing him the most harm,” Marcus said, his voice tight with emotion.

Claudius caught Marcus by the chin, turning his head to make him look at him. “You are both my sons, and you are equal in my eyes, though I know that I myself have been a poor substitute as a lover to Xavier. You did it, Marcus. You went out and built your perfect mate.” He nodded toward me, a light of disapproval shining bright in his eyes. “I have no doubt he will match you need for need, but he also has a gentle side that you had better nurture, that you should find in yourself. Nightshade and I have armed him with the skills needed to stand against you if necessary. I hope you let him stand
with
you and that you will protect him in these upcoming days of turmoil. I had hoped to keep Xavier with his Hunter family for another three months, but it seems other plans have been set in motion.”

That sounded to me like I was in danger. “Claudius?” My voice sounded my anxiety.

“
Someone knows the Royal Blood Line has been rediscovered. More of the known Blues are being killed.” I could see Claudius’s blue eyes flare with anger and maybe a little fear.

“
What? I thought you said there had only been one,” I cried, standing up on shaky legs,

“
No. There has been another assassination,” Claudius sighed heavily. He caught up our hands, placing them on one another and laying his own on top. “Look after your little brother, Marcus, I give you leave. Xavier, I give you leave also. Cherish each other, my sons. Cherish each other while you can. And watch out for him, Marcus…If you ever hurt him like that again, I will rip your throat out. Is that understood?”

“
Yes, Father.”

“
See to his Flame. I will secure the area.”

I could feel the heat of Marcus’s hand under my fingers, and I watched as his warm chocolate brown eyes burst into that familiar red glow. He tightened his hold on me and let a smile cross his lips, his fangs dropping into view. I shivered, and he smiled even wider.

Shade, go find your Tom.

What about you?

Oh, I’ve got my Tom.

Vampires. Humph. I ate too much. I can feel a turkey coma coming on. I’ll be in the car waiting for you.

Marcus leaned in towards me. Once, I would have called it looming, but now I wanted him plastered tight to me. He was so close that I heard his whispered words, even though the music was so loud.

“
I cannot feel you anymore. I saw Claudius come in, then I saw this…” He lifted a strand of my hair and brought it to his face, inhaling deeply. “But I could not feel you,” he stated.

It was hard to tamp down the urgency of my body. I wanted to jump on him, to have him hump me raw. But I knew this was important. I knew I had to think with the right head here and answer him.

“
You’ll never feel me again,” I told him. “I’m not letting you fuck with my head anymore, Marcus. You made a promise to me, but you couldn’t keep it. So it’s up to me to protect myself, even from you.”

“
I am truly sorry.”

“
Sorry is a board game,” I snapped at him. “I can’t trust you. I mean, I can trust you with the outside stuff, stakes and assassins, but…I can’t trust you with
me
.”

He dropped my hair and made a half step back. I immediately brought his hand up to my lips, kissing each of his knuckles in turn. He wasn’t walking away from me tonight. In fact, he wasn’t walking away from me ever again. I let my tongue sweep across his fingers, pushing wetly, suggestively, between them, and Marcus grabbed me, dragging me up close to his chest.

“
It’s flattering, really, that I can drive you so stupid,” I said, smiling with a small amount of triumph.

“
Xavier…”

“
Marcus?”

“
Shut the hell up,” he hissed through his fangs. And then he proceeded to help me do so, by shoving his tongue down my throat.

I bit him. He hadn’t expected that and instinctively made to pull away, but I held him fast, gently running my tongue along the wound, taking my time, tasting my private apple orchard. His blood seemed richer to my taste buds, or maybe it was simply mixing with the overabundance of essence I had in me now. Whatever the reason for it, I closed my eyes and sucked on his tongue, relishing the flavor.

“
I cannot do gentle right now, Sex,” he breathed heavily when I released him. “I am trying, but I cannot. I want to warn you now before it gets out of hand.”

“
Did I ask you to be gentle with me?” I asked cockily.

He rammed me backwards, hard against the wall, and my feet lost their touch with the walkway. That was okay, I didn’t need my legs to stand. I locked my ankles behind him and offered up my throat.

His lips trailed from my mouth, kissing along my jaw and down to the pulse that throbbed in my neck. I felt the scrape of a fang, and then nothing. I opened my eyes and saw him looking down at me.

“
I need your consent,” he said softly.

I humped my groin against his. How much more consent did he need?

Consent my brains out!

Marcus pressed his forehead to mine. “I need to hear it from you, my Little One. I’ve done so much wrong to you. I need to know at least I can do one thing right.”

“
Consent me, Marcus,” I cried wantonly. “Consent me hard.”