RAFE'S LAIR (25 page)

                       
          CHAPTER 37

      Michael pushed himself up off the ground and made his ass get up and go after what he now knew was Rachel. He had to find out what the hell was wrong with her that made her start all this shit. Not to mention, he'd already lost
her once. He sure as hell wasn't going to lose her again.

Rachel ran straight for the car she had stashed just for this very reason. She knew Michael had been following her, but all she had to do was make it to the car and she'd be home free. She was comi
ng close to the alley when Michael tackled her to the ground.

Michael latched onto Rachel and tackled her, turning before they hit the ground to cushion her impact with his own body. He sure as hell felt the impact though, especially after being thrown off
the damn building by her awesome little bomb. He may be really fuckin pissed, but he'd be damned if he let his mate get hurt. She immediately started fighting him even before they hit the ground.

    "Rachel stop baby!" Michael grated out as he struggle
d to hold onto her.

    "Let go damn you!" Rachel screamed back to him as she continued fight.

Rachel reared back and hit him square in the nose with her head. Michael's eyes blurred with the water now filling them from the pain, but he wouldn't loosen his grip on his mate. She was screaming louder now and if she didn't stop she would attract a whole lotta attention they didn't need.

    "Rachel if you don't stop this shit right fuckin now, I'm going to paddle your little ass."

Hell he may even do it on principle for giving him this much grief. He was quite sure he had more than a few broken bones, and she just added his nose to the list.

Rachel did not want to think about how hot that sounded. She had to remember she hated him. She had to remember that Mich
ael didn't want her like she wanted him, no matter how hard she wished that wasn't true. He didn't need a mate and he wouldn't make time for one ever. She was quite sure he was going to take her into custody and then turn his back on her.

    "Hey what the
hell is going on back here?"

Fuck! This is exactly what he didn't need. Michael glanced up to see that the intruder was a cop. dammit! He whispered to Rachel.

    "Don't you dare make a scene baby. I'm warning you, I will add more to your punishment than a spanking."

He released her, and spoke to the officer. "Nothing officer, we were just playing around. Weren't we baby?"

Rachel scrambled up and immediately moved away from Michael. She had to put some distance between them. She was quite sure he could tell exactly how much he affected her.

    "Actually, we were having a fight. I don't want to press charges or anything, but I'd like to go home without having to deal with anymore tonight. If that's okay with you sir." She told the officer not daring to look
at Michael. She could feel his eyes burning into her and the tension pouring off him. She knew he was already pissed and she just pissed him off even more by disobeying him.

    "You
’re sure he hasn't hurt you?" The cop asked her.

    "Rachel." Michael gr
owled in warning. His little mate would definitely pay for this one and he was going to thoroughly enjoy doling out her punishment. He knew it would take him all damn day too and neither one of them would be able to move afterward. There was no way she would be able to run from him then. Not that she would want to after he got his hands on her. He'd been waiting a long damn time to have her, to hold her.

    "No sir he hasn't hurt me. Like I said I just want to go home and deal with this in the morning afte
r we've both chilled out."

The cop nodded his head. "Alright you go ahead and go home; I'll make sure he doesn't follow you."

    "Thanks officer."

Michael moved then. He went straight for Rachel, he was not about to lose her again. Before he got to her, t
he cop got in his face.

    "I suggest you back off son. I will take your ass in even if she doesn't want to press charges."

    "I'm not your fucking son; now get out of my way." Michael said trying to push around the cop as Rachel took off running.

    "
You mouthing me?"

Ethan came up behind the cop and tapped him on the shoulder. When the guy turned around, he smiled and tranced him. The cop shook his head to clear the sudden fog.

    "Who are you? What's going on here?" He asked

    "Well you and I were
having a great conversation about the night we just had over at the Meat Locker. And about how your secret is totally safe with me good buddy." Ethan said grinning like a fool and slapping the guy on the shoulder. "Dude those dancers you banged were fucking hot as hell. You are a wild man my friend."

    "Ethan you asshole." Michael turned the cop around and tranced the fool again. "Thank goodness we found you officer. We just saw a fight over on Elm. The guy was getting jumped by four guys and looked like
he was in bad shape. He needs your help right away."

    "Shit! Thanks." The cop said taking off towards Elm calling for back up.

    "Man my story was better. You should have let me go with it. I wonder how long it would have taken him to fess up to his wife."

    "Did you ever think he might try to go after Dom for his dancers getting too friendly with the patrons?" Michael asked.

Ethan tapped his chin. "Ooo your right that would have been way more fun. Dom would have torn him to pieces for fucking with his club."

    "And when he found out it was you who got the cop going, he would tear you apart too. Now that I think about it, I s
hould have let you go with it."

    "Whatever asshole. You'd miss me and you know it. What the hell are you doing over here anyway?"

    "I was going after Rachel and had her too before that fucking cop got in the way."

Ethan's jaw dropped. "Wait! What? Yo
u mean Rafe's sister Rachel? Dude she died with their parents in the crash. You sure it was her and you didn't hit your head or something?"

    "Did Rafe not tell you?" Michael asked curious now.

    "No man. I helped get Ed in Dom's car and saw you take off this way. After Rafe got Ava in the car with him, I came to make sure you were good."

    "Fuck! What's wrong with Ed?"

    "Dumb ass thought it'd be fun to get shot the hell up and then lose control of his human form in front of Ava." Ethan told him. "How did you not know any of that? You called for backup didn't you?"

    "I was on the roof when the bomb went off and got thrown off the damn thing. I went after Rachel when I saw her as soon as I could move. Are they okay?"

    "Damn. Yeah they're fine. Ed will live, although I am so gonna give him shit for losing his form in front of Ava. You think Rachel was trying to kill Ava and Rafe?"

Michael shook his head. "I don't know, but I intend to find out when I find her." Michael looked at Ethan. "Tell Rafe
I've gone after her and I'll find out what the fuck is wrong with her."

    "Dude come back with me and we'll figure out a plan and we'll all help. Rafe can take her to trial if she's guilty."

Michael slammed Ethan into the wall baring his fangs. "She will not go to trial and I will not let any of you near her. Do you understand me? I will kill you if I even think you’re coming after her."

    "Holy fucking shit! Is she yours?" Ethan asked.

Michael was a crazy mofo anyway, but he just went all vamp mate crazy at the mention of Rachel going to trial. Well paint him blue and call him Papa smurf. Wasn't this some shit? First Rafe finds his mate and now Michael had his all along. They just thought she was dead. That did explain some of why Michael was so fucked up actually.

Michael slammed him back into the wall again. "Do. You. Understand. Asshole." Michael asked again right in Ethan's face. He didn't want to have to kill the shit head, but he would if he threatened Rachel's safety again.

    "Yeah I got ya man. Your mate is off limits. No prob. What do you expect me to tell Rafe though?"

    "You tell him I'll take care of her." Michael said and took off to find the only woman he'd ever loved.

    "Riiiight. This has got to be the most fucked up year ever. Good luck dude. Better you than me bro." Ethan said to the back of Michael's retreating form.

                                  CHAPTER 38

      Rafe carried his still shivering mate into their room and laid her down on their bed. She stayed curled in a tiny ball. Shit she was still in shock. She hadn't said another word after they left the warehouse and he was growing more worried about her every second. He brushed her hair from her face and kissed her head. He needed to get her calmed down so they could talk about what she'd just seen. He needed to make sure she wasn't afraid of him. And he had to make her understand what they were to each other and what he was before he lost her for good.

    "Every thing
’s okay now beautiful. I'm going to draw you a bath and I'll be right back to help you into it." Rafe told her as he started to move away.

Ava jumped up and reached for him. "No don't leave me alone! Please she could be here and she's crazy. She'll hurt you
. She'll make them kill you. We have to do something."

    "Ava, baby come here." Rafe said pulling her into his arms to get her to stop. "You
’re safe. I swear I won't let anything happen to you beautiful." Rafe said.

Dammit
Ava was more freaked than he thought. She was breaking his heart and he was about to lose it too if he didn't get her to relax soon so he could hold her. He picked her back up and carried her into the bathroom with him. He sat her down on the side of the tub and reached over to start filling it up. Rafe found some bubble bath and salts and poured them in, then turned back to Ava and started helping her out of her clothes.

Ava grabbed onto Rafe's arms to stop him. "Rafe are you even listening to me? She doesn't want to hurt me, she wants
to kill you. We have to make sure she can't get to you again! She'll get them to take you away from me, Rafe. Please we have to do something. It's not safe for you here."

Ava was starting to get hysterical again. Rafe wasn't listening to her and that crazy
midget was out there somewhere. Ava couldn't bear the thought of something happening to Rafe again. This time they might not be so lucky and get away. She could feel her heart start pounding again and tears burning her eyes.

    "Ava stop. Look at me baby
." Rafe said grabbing a hold of her face. "Nothing is going to happen to me beautiful. I promise you. We're both safe now." Rafe kissed her forehead again. "Baby let's take a bath and just relax a little. We'll both feel much better after we do."

    "You'
ll stay here with me?" Ava asked.

    "Oh yes beautiful. I'm going to hold you the entire time okay."

Ava bobbed her head yes and lifted her arms to let him take off her shirt. Rafe shed their clothes fairly quickly, picked Ava up, and stepped in the huge tub settling her back against him. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close resting his cheek on the top of her head. When he felt her body relax against him and she gave a contented purr he kissed her temple and picked up the soap and started washing her.

    "Ava? Baby we have to talk about what just happened earlier."

    "You have a crazy sister that wants to kill you and there's apparently some cult League thingy that wants in on the action. What else is there to talk about?"

Rafe smiled. Chuc
kling he picked up one of her legs to wash it. "No baby that's not totally what I want to talk about and you know it."

Ava grabbed Rafe's hand to stop him. "There has to be an explanation to what I saw Rafe. You can't expect me to believe that vampires act
ually do exist."

Rafe sighed this was not going good at all. Ava was in denial of what she saw and he really didn't know how to ease her into the truth. He decided the best thing to do is just throw everything out there and hold on tight to her while she p
rocessed it all. Then pray he didn't lose her afterward. Taking a deep breath, he jumped in.

    "My name is Rafael Di Luciano and I was born in Verona Italy in 1652. My parents were Ricardo and Elena Di Luciano and they were nobility at that time and gove
rned our lands until we moved here to the States after my sister was born. We have a beautiful villa still there today, though I haven't been back since I lost my family. I had a younger brother Roman and you met my sister Rachel."

Rafe rinsed Ava's soft skin savoring the feel of her delicate weight leaning against him. He was paying close attention to how she was handling this news. So far, she stayed resting against him letting him gently wash her. He waited to see if she would sa
y anything yet and when she didn't. He continued.

    "My family have always been vampires, though back then we weren't feared and didn't have to hide what we were. I didn't know my grandparents so I can't tell you what they were like. Their caravan was rai
ded while they were traveling and my grandfather was caught out in the daylight. My grandmother died shortly after. But from what I don't know. I can tell you my family goes back farther than written records, though most of our linage has been lost over the years. I do know that my grandmother was human and that's why she was able to survive the sun. But from what I know most of us are born vampires."

    "Only pieces of the stories you've grown up hearing are true. Yes, a vampire can turn a human, but it i
s very difficult and isn't attempted often. There are more of us than you might think and I've only met very few who were once human in the many years I've been on this earth. Obviously, we can't go out in the daylight. Although the older we get, the more we can tolerate some sun. We do have to drink blood, but we don't have to kill to do it. It is actually against the laws to do so and again the older we are, the less we have to do it."

Ava stopped him then. "I saw you eat real food though."

    "Yes, but real food as you put it, can only partially sustain us though." Rafe waited for her to say something more.

Ava was trying to make sense of all this. He expected her to believe that he was over three hundred years old and that he was a real vampire. That hi
s whole family are vampires except his grandmother that he never knew. This had to top the cake of crazy ass shit happening to her.

    "Like I said we have laws to keep everyone safe, humans and supernaturals alike. We don't kill as a general rule. But li
ke there are some humans who enjoy killing, there are those of us who start too as well. We have officers if you will who watch over our people to stop those that do."

    "The League." Ava said.

    "Yes the League."

    "And your apart of this League?"

Rafe pushed some of Ava's hair to the side bringing her closer to him. He needed to be surrounded by her sweet scent as he faced this part of his past again. He brought one of her hands up to his mouth and kissed it. Saying his next words against her fingers.

    "Yes beautiful I was chosen by the people to be a League enforcer." He told her.

    "And your brother?"

Rafe closed his eyes and buried his head in Ava's hair against the pain. "Roman was training to be an enforcer on my team."

Ava felt Rafe shudder. This was obviously very hard for him. She wrapped her arms around his and laced her fingers through his trying to give him some strength while he faced this memory.

    "Before I could finish training him, I found him right after he'
d killed a woman. He'd fed from her to the point he'd drained her. There was nothing I could do to save her by the time I got to them. If I had found him sooner, I could have stopped him. I could have saved both of them."

Ava moved then. She pushed Rafe's
arms off of her and started to get up.

Rafe panicked. He was losing her. He knew she would never be able to accept what he was and what he'd done. Rafe reached for Ava desperately trying to find a way to make her forgive him.

    "Beautiful wait let me explain." He said trying to bring her back to him.

Ava pushed up from Rafe and turned around grabbing onto his face. "No you listen to me." She said straddling his legs and bringing their bodies together again. "What Roman did was his own fault. You just told
me that you don't have to kill when you feed right?" When Rafe nodded, she continued. "Then it was a choice that he made, not you. Do you kill when you feed Rafe?"

    "No beautiful I don't, but it's more complicated than you think."

    "No Rafael it is not." Ava said using his full name hopefully to make him listen to her.

Rafe growled when Ava used his full name. "Little mate be careful, I'm trying to explain things to you and you are distracting me by challenging me." Rafe said wrapping his arms around
Ava's back and pulling her down onto his hardening dick.

Ava sucked in a breath when she felt Rafe slide against her core. "Should I be afraid of you?" She asked him breathlessly.

Leaning in to kiss her collar bone, he replied. "Oh no beautiful, I would never hurt you, but I can punish you in so many enticing ways. I can do so many interesting things to you to make you beg me to let you cum for me."

Rafe kissed his way to one of her hardened nipples and sucked it into his mouth. He supported her back with
one arm as she arched into him and lowered his other to her ass to make her slide against his now rock hard dick.

    "Rafe you called me mate. Your sister did too earlier." Ava said when her foggy brain registered what he had called her.

Shit! He'd slipped on that one. Resting his forehead against her chest, he took another steading breath. He looked back up into her gorgeous face and tried to memorize her every feature just in case.

    "Yes Ava I did. Because you are. We are meant only for each other. I
should finish explaining a few things before we get wrapped up in each other and forget that we should be talking. Not fucking."

    "Gee ya think." Ava said sarcastically.

Rafe spanked Ava lightly on the butt. "Feisty little mate you need to stop distracting me so I can finish explaining things to you then." He intentionally called her mate that time to see if she would call him out on it again. She didn't. Good. He lifted Ava out of the bath reaching for a towel to dry her off.

    "Where was I? Oh yes. T
here is way too much to explain all at once, but you know we have laws and enforcers. What you don't know is that we have a governing council that we bring the offenders to. I had a choice to either take Roman into custody or help him cover up his crime. I chose to uphold the laws and it cost me not only his life, but my parents' as well."

Ava placed her hands on Rafe's face lifting it up to look at her. He smiled at her and stepped closer to her placing his hands on her thighs. Moving them to the inside of
her thighs, she felt him apply pressure. He leaned in closer so she felt his breath against her lips.

    "Open for me beautiful." She did and he stepped into the v of her legs. "You were saying?"

Ava giggled, but sobered quickly.

    "So that's what your
sister was trying to do? Frame you so you had to go trial?"

Rafe wrapped Ava in the towel and stepped back. He picked her up and carried her back to bed. After he laid her down against the huge mound of pillows, he followed her down. He pulled the towel a
way from her body and covered them both up so she wouldn't get cold. And of course, so he could press her naked body against his without any barriers between them.

    "Yes I think so." He continued. "She blames me because after Roman was executed, my pare
nts left to go back to Italy. They were grief stricken from the loss and blamed me for allowing him to be executed. Their plane had a mechanical malfunction and crashed on landing. I thought I lost all three of them, but apparently it was just our parents."

Rafe looked down at Ava's little hands resting on his chest, petting him yet again.
Dammit. Guess he had to start liking that. She made him feel so much it almost hurt. He truly thought his heart died with his family on that plane. Now he actually dared to hope again. All because of her. He had fallen in love with her almost the moment he met her that first night in the club. She was everything to him already and he really didn't know what he would do without her now that he knew they were mates. He had no idea how he was going to tell her everything without pushing her away from him for good. Ultimately, it was her decision to accept what they were or to reject him completely.

    "So where does this mate thing fit into all this? Am I
like a vampire too and just didn't know it?"

Rafe threw his head back and laughed. Damn that felt good. How could he not love this incredible woman? She'd just been kidnapped and her life threatened. Now she's just been told she's been sleeping with a 361
year old vampire that she is actually mated to, and she asks if she's been a vampire all along and somehow not realized it. She was absolutely perfect for him.

    "What! It is a perfectly good question. Crazier things have just been pointed out to me late
ly. So what do you expect me to think?" Ava asked a little irritated now.

    "Yes beautiful it is a fairly good question although a ways off base, I must say. No you are not a vampire and you never will be."