Raging Passions (4 page)

Rage found Caden in the second cell on the left. Using the keys left on the brass ball capping the handrail of the stairs she opened the cell door. Unable to speak, she stared at Caden as he sprawled on the thin mattress tossed on the stone floor. He’d been stripped of everything except his torn black fatigue pants. A thick leather dog collar that covered his entire throat was padlocked to a heavy chain bolted to the floor. He’d been given enough chain that he could move easily in the space of his cell, but not walk out of it should the door be left open. The chain and collar was intended to keep other vampires in the house from making off with the meal rather than to prevent Caden’s escape. Without the chain, someone might assume Caden’s blood was community property. A huge patch of gauze bandages was taped over the center of his chest but blood already seeped through the white cotton. The hot, metallic scent of it burned Rage with hunger.

Her mouth watered. At that moment, more than anything, she wanted to taste him in a way she never had before. She wanted Caden’s blood in her mouth.
To roll the spice of it on her tongue.
To feel it ooze down her throat. To smell his brisk, masculine scent while she drew him into her, body and blood. Rage ran her tongue across her teeth, lingering over her fangs, craving him as only a vampire can crave.

Give in to it
, she thought. It was the only thing that made sense. Take him now as she wanted to take him. Fuck him one last glorious time and then bleed him out. She was a vampire. This is what she did.
Who she was.
To take Caden down in a blaze of glory would make everyone happy. Well, perhaps not so much for Caden, but he would die with a smile on his face. After all this time, after all he’d done to her, it was better than he deserved.

His blood smelled so damn good. It was a waste to let the bandages soak it all up. Her fangs ached to feel the give of his flesh. Crossing to him, she loved how slick her thigh-high stockings felt as they rubbed together. Rage knelt down beside Caden’s leg, cushioning her knees on the padding of the prison mattress. He was unconscious still, but that would not last long.

Rage felt the heavy fabric of his fatigues. She massaged his hard thigh through them and gave a hum of appreciation at the firmness of the muscles encased inside. “Caden,” she sang in a soft, teasing voice. “Wake up, sleepyhead.” Her palm drifted upward until she cupped the heaviness of his balls. “Nice,” she murmured as she rolled and teased them.

Caden stirred but did not yet wake. “I hope Morgana didn’t give you too heavy a sedative.” Rage unbuttoned his fly.
Figured that he would be going commando.
Perfect for her.
With the tips of her tapered fingernails, Rage lightly scratched at the pubic hair peeking out of Caden’s pants. Her smile felt familiar, if distantly so. She wasn’t faking this one.

Rage bent over his crotch and kissed the lowest spot the pants would allow, at the root of Caden’s cock. Awake or not, he was becoming aroused. The pants began to arch to the left, giving away the shape and position of her quarry. She teased the mound through the fabric, encouraging its swelling.

As Caden stirred, Rage slithered her hand down the inside of his pants. Her hand circled his burning shaft. Dragging her breasts up his limp arm, Rage drew closer to his calm face. She rested her fist on his upper chest and propped her chin on it as she watched his face. “You are too gorgeous for my own
good,
you do know that, don’t you?”

Caden’s eyelids rose slowly. It took him a second to focus in on Rage.

“That’s right, look at me.” She grinned at him. She massaged his hard cock as she taunted him.
“Hey, lover.
Miss me?” As she smiled so her fangs peeked out from beneath her glossy lip, Rage felt her vampire magic reaching for her prey. Caden’s drugged mind gave no resistance as she entranced him. He would know what she was doing to his will, but would be powerless to defend himself. His lips parted as he drew in a shaky breath. Rage captured Caden’s mouth in a delving kiss. Her tongue penetrated deep into his mouth, demanding. With all the power of her Offspring magic, Rage stoked the fires of lust within him. Caden moaned as she felt her very soul reaching into him.

Caden kissed her back, matching her heated passion. His hands cupped her head, drawing her harder down into him. The tips of her fangs scraped over his tongue and lips, but nothing slowed his sudden desire. With every stroke of her hand over his shaft, he lifted his hips to force himself more into her grasp.

She meant to draw back and tease Caden again, with a vicious edge of the hurt she’d suffered. His fingers tangled into her hair and refused to release her from their kiss. All sluggishness vanished as he rolled with a hunter’s agility. Only a tiny squeak of her surprise escaped their merged mouths. Pinned on her back beneath him, Rage could not escape the frantic kiss if she’d wanted to. His hips parted her thighs, so she hooked her legs around his middle.

Caden released her hair only to explore her body. He gripped her shoulders then her breasts, waist and finally her hips. He released her only to shove his pants down just enough to free his cock. The searching touch of his fingers between them found no barrier of clothing hidden beneath her miniskirt. Caden drove his cock home with one massive stroke.

In that instant he filled Rage like no one but Caden ever had.
All her need, all her loss, all her loneliness for him blossomed from her magic.
It flooded between their hearts. The lure she’d perfected in trapping lover-victims found a new purpose. The pain washed away with the tears seeping from the corners of her eyes. Caden filled the void within her where the pain had once lived.

Each pounding of his cock into her pussy rocked Rage. Her legs wrapped tighter around him, never wanting to release him from this moment. She gripped his powerful back. The muscles flexed and swayed beneath her touch. The weight of his torso pressed her solidly into the mattress, trapping her against him. It was glorious. This was what she’d wanted. All she’d wanted.
This connection with him.
This union.
This perfect consummation of soul mates.

Rage needed more. His thick cock stroked through her core with such silky sweetness. She wanted his blood in her mouth. She caught his hair in her fists and drew him back until his lips freed hers. There was such hunger in his brilliant blue eyes it only made
her own
needs that much sharper.

Strong as he was, Rage had to use her vampire strength to force Caden to reveal his throat. The collar protected his vulnerable arteries, so she settled for the thick cord of muscle along the top of his shoulder. Her fangs stabbed through his flesh easily.

“Oh…
God!”
Caden shivered as the teeth penetrated deep. Rage well knew the pain and pleasure he experienced. The vampire bite hurt so
good
. The fragrant blood gushed into her mouth with a salty tang. The tip of her tongue probed at the wounds, coaxing even more blood from them. Rage waited until the hot flow filled her mouth before she swallowed. It burned all the way down with Caden’s life and heat. She could swear his blood filled her heart along with her stomach.

It all felt so good. Caden was a dream of perfection. He made love to her as only he had ever been able to. He made her feel things only he had ever been able to make her feel. Rage gave in to those feelings of contentment and love. Her body reacted by shuddering into an orgasm. Hugging him with arms, legs and her core, Rage whimpered against his skin. Forgetting why she shouldn’t, she gave herself to him, heart and soul, for the thundering length of her orgasm.

Caden shouted as he thumped deep into her pussy. His back arched, pushing himself deeper still. The hot flow of his cum shocked her cooler vampire system. She released him from her bite to watch his face. The expression of rapture was always worth the look.

When the moment passed, Caden stared down at her as she lay beneath him. He held himself up in a partial pushup as he took everything in. Her magic had shattered in her orgasm. Caden found himself in full control of his body and emotions with his cock buried deep inside her. Rage imagined it took a little assimilation for him to catch up with all that she’d just done to and with him. His lips parted as if to say something, but he’d not quite figured out what yet.

Suddenly Rage didn’t want to hear whatever he might say. She’d meant to hurt him, punish him. She’d not anticipated falling for Caden all over again. All her years of honed fury failed her when she needed it the most. Beneath him now she felt more vulnerable than she ever had since becoming a vampire. One sharp word from him now would destroy her. The glorious union was all her creation, but it was as fragile as gossamer daydreams. Rage couldn’t bear for him to crush it all
to
silvery dust.

She wedged a forearm between them and shoved Caden off her. He flipped over onto the mattress hard enough to have a gust of air escape him. Rage scrambled to her feet, feeling unstable on her heels. In three long strides she hurried to the open cell door.

“I love you!” Caden called after her.

Rage froze.

She swayed. Too many emotions buffeted against her. She felt as if she rode a storm surge in the deep ocean. She felt unbalanced.
Confused.
Afraid.

She closed the cell door without looking back. The lock latched automatically. She dropped the keys on the steps as she ran up them. The guard at the cellar entrance didn’t say a word as she jogged past him. Frustrated tears burned her cheeks and blurred her vision. Rage didn’t slow as she burst out the back door into the moonlit backyard.

Morgana had opened the door from her greenhouse and Rage could see Dean resting with his eyes closed on the lounger. It was not a conscious decision that led her to slump down under the sapling planted near the greenhouse.

Rage covered her eyes with her fists, remembering standing in her wedding dress at the back of a church. Five hundred people, all but twenty complete strangers to Regina, waited restlessly for the ceremony to begin. She’d felt so beautiful dressed in the off-the-shoulder princess gown that was so long a young cousin of Caden’s was supposed to help carry the train. She’d sat through two hours of primping and curling and pinning and spraying to get all her hair curled and coifed on top of her head with the baby’s breath tiara woven into the complicated construction.

An hour after the ceremony was supposed to have
begun,
Regina had begun calling hospitals to see if Caden had been in an accident. The guests began to filter out slowly after that, avoiding eye contact with her as they murmured apologies.

Five hours later she’d been waiting alone, sitting in a pew in the back of the church, squeezing her cell phone in her hand, praying it would ring, when it finally obliged. Terrified, she just knew it would be someone calling to say something awful had happened to Caden. She loved him so much. She would die without him.

It had been Caden.

“Regina?” he asked, surprised. “I was hoping to get your voicemail.”

“Caden?
Where are you? Are you hurt?” She tried to make out the sounds in the background. It sounded like a party, with music and laughter.

“Listen, hon. I just can’t.”

Regina blinked, a sudden stab in her chest stopping her heart. “Can’t what?”

“Can’t do this.
Can’t be who you want.
Can’t be with you.”
He took a big breath and blew it out. “I just can’t.”

Regina held the phone out from her face and stared unbelievingly at it. She couldn’t have heard what she thought she’d heard. Slowly, as if she thought the phone might bite, she brought it back to her ear.
“Caden.
Getting married was your idea.”

“My mother’s actually,” he sighed. “She wanted me to settle down with some quiet girl and stop embarrassing the family.”

Some quiet girl? That was all she was? Some peace offering to the purse-holding old snob who made Regina aware with every word she uttered how beneath her she thought Regina was? She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t process the words he spoke. They made no sense. After almost three years of what she’d thought had been a blissful, loving relationship? How could that be?

A girl giggled close to Caden, Regina could hear it perfectly through the phone. “Listen,” Caden said, “I’ve got to go. No hard feelings, right?”

No hard feelings? “Caden,” Regina choked on her tears, “I love you.”

He’d paused so long Regina thought he must have hung up. Finally he said, “I know. I’m sorry.”

Just before the phone finally died, Regina heard the woman with Caden giggle, “Come on, lover. Let’s party.”

Regina gaped at the phone. The pain and hurt boiled into hatred. How could he have led her on all this time? Convinced her so completely that he loved her? Screaming, she smashed the phone on the floor.

She wouldn’t cry. She wouldn’t, damn it! Regina gathered up the layers of her skirt and stomped out of the church. With no idea where she was going, she marched furiously into the night. Only when she’d tripped over a low headstone and broke the heel of her shoe did she realize she’d gone into the cemetery.

Leaning against a statue of a weeping angel, Regina yanked off the shoes and hurled them as far as she could. She’d kill him. She’d hunt him down and claw out his heart until he hurt as much as he’d hurt her.

“You’re beautiful when you’re angry.”

The voice slithered over Regina like icy velvet. She spun. In the timid glow of the lights from the church, a tall man stalked out from behind a massive headstone. Weak wisps of ground fog stirred like a hint of mystery around him. The black slacks he wore accentuated the strong length of his legs and the incredible line of his hips and butt. Glistening like oil, his black silk shirt flowed over his wide shoulders and spilled down his body in a way that promised an incredible physique. His hands and face were ghostly white even in the darkness. He looked young, only in his early twenties. His high cheekbones, straight eyebrows and beautifully strong jaw could have been sculpted by Michelangelo himself. His marigold-colored hair, highlighted and styled attractively, and the white-blue of his eyes were the only things about him not either black or white.