Raging Passions (9 page)

The driver from inside the van shouted, “I’m leaving in thirty seconds whether any of you come or not. Let’s move it, people!”

Rage hissed. Could the ass have been any louder? Someone was sure to have heard that. “Just go!” she shouted at them.

Caden took a step toward her, but Dean caught his shoulder and shoved him back. “You can’t force her, she’s too stubborn and she bites now. Besides, Anders doesn’t make ideal threats. We’ve got to go now.”

“I won’t leave her to die!” Caden tried to rip free of Dean, but the Offspring grabbed him by the waist and flung him through the door and into the van like a duffle bag. Caden landed hard and groaned. He was still in bad shape from Ripper’s attack, and a small, new blossom of fresh blood stained the bandages taped to his chest.

Before Rage knew what he was doing, Dean moved to her and hugged her tightly. He’d moved fast.
Almost as fast as a Kinsman.
She flattened against his powerful chest, her cheek resting on his shoulder and her arms circling his neck to embrace him back. Quickly, he kissed her cheek and whispered, “I have a motorcycle out back. You know where I keep it. If it gets bad tonight, you run, you hear me? Just run and I’ll find you.”

“I promise,” she whispered.

Dean released her, gazed one long second into her eyes as if he debated simply snatching her up and forcing her to come with him. Then he released her and stepped back. With a half smile of encouragement and hope, he turned and soared with such speed through the shaft of sunlight as he leapt into the van that his body only smoked a little bit. A second later the van sped away, and as Dean closed the van’s back doors, Rage could see the concern on his face, making him appear more mature than she’d ever seen him before.

Staying well clear of the shaft of sunlight, Rage plucked a broom from the closet and used its long handle to close the door. If she was going to play it off as if she were not involved with Dean and Caden’s escape, Rage decided she needed to head back up to her room. As she turned toward the main stairwell, several vampires blocked her path, staring daggers at her with their cold, silver eyes.

At the forefront were Shade and Ripper.

Taking a breath, Rage closed her mouth, which had gaped open in her surprise. She’d not heard a single sound of their approach. There was no fighting her way past the vampires before her. Only the doorway to the deadly sunlight lay behind her. Rage was well and truly trapped. Not given any options, Rage stood straighter, defiant, and silently waited to see what would happen next.

The stoic expression in Ripper’s face was as unreadable as a panther’s as he stalked toward her. He moved so close to her that if she were to inhale too deeply, she would bump into him. As quick as the flick of a snake’s tongue, he grabbed her around the throat and jerked her so close to him that her lips were less than an inch from his and his breath spilled warmly over her mouth.

His fingers curled tightly around her neck, not quite cutting off her air, not quite bruising her flesh. Reflexively, she clutched his forearm, but she knew better than to try to free herself. As his Offspring, especially in front of the others, she was expected to submit to Ripper, even if he intended to kill her.

Rage relaxed in his grasp. Her hands softened on his arm and massaged and stroked his muscled forearm through the silk of his sleeve. She’d seen his soul. She knew he would not kill her. At least, she
thought
he wouldn’t.

He murmured, “You could at least have the decency to appear afraid of me.”

Pushing her back just enough so she could see his icy blue eyes, Rage saw more fury there than she’d ever seen from him.
At least directed at her.
The expression was murderous. Fear trickled in her belly. Could she have misplaced her trust in him?

With a quick jerk, he flung her to the floor. Rage rolled on impact, but her hip and shoulder had slammed with substantial force. Panic shot through her with more force than the impact with the floor as she twisted to watch Ripper, giving him with her expression, the fear he wanted.

“Shade,” Ripper growled, “Chain her in my room and guard her. I’ll deal with her betrayal tonight.”

Rage debated fighting Shade, but he was on her almost as fast as a Kinsman. He wrapped an arm securely around her neck just shy of choking her and forced her back into his bare chest. With her arm twisted behind her back, she couldn’t attempt to fight him or he’d rip it from the socket. Shade’s dark hair tickled her face as he bent down to her and laved a long, hot, wet lick up the length of her cheek. “Maybe he’ll let me taste you before he kills you,” Shade said with a smile in his voice that sent chills through Rage.

As he forced her before him toward Ripper’s room, a deeper fear than she’d ever experienced as a vampire clutched tightly around her heart. She’d made a mistake.
A fatal one.

Chapter Seven

Ripper had left the door to his room ajar and Shade used his shoulder to knock it open. Since he was so much taller than Rage, Shade’s arm looped around her neck forced her to walk on tiptoes. His other hand shackled her narrow wrist and kept it pinned in the small of her back easily, forcing her to arch into him, which made her panicked breathing come in short, desperate gasps. Once inside, he used his heel to kick the door closed.

Alone with Shade, and with his balance compromised by closing the door, Rage struck. She didn’t have much chance of succeeding, but it might be her last opportunity. Stomping down, aiming for the foot that supported his full weight, Rage then reached back with her free hand and tried to claw at Shade’s face.

Moving with the fluidity of the dancer he was, Shade sidestepped Rage’s kick. He dodged her grasp and tightened his grip around her throat. Flinching upward, he raised her wrist to the middle of her back until she thought her shoulder might pop. Instead of clawing at his face, she dug at the flesh of his forearm clamped under her chin.

Shade’s soft and seductive mouth pressed to her ear as he spoke in a deep purr of a whisper. “Don’t fight me, Rage.”

Her shoulders arched into his broad, bare chest. Pulling her tightly to him, Shade forced her to lay back into him so her bottom propped suggestively against his strong thighs. His loose black hair tickled her cheek. Rage could smell his uniquely attractive scent, a mixture of masculine strength and a touch of something minty.

“I don’t want to hurt you, Rage,” Shade murmured to her in his deep voice, “but I can’t release you if you’re going to struggle.”

She wasn’t in the position to argue.
Especially with his arm clamped securely around her throat to the point where she could not speak.
Fighting her instinct for survival and forcing her body to relax, Rage draped limply back into Shade, letting him know with her actions that she would not fight him.
At least for the moment.

He waited an extra second to be sure before Shade slide her arm down her back. He switched his grip on her wrist so it hung to her side by her thigh. She fought her panic to remain calm and pliable in his control. Finally, he softened his hold around her throat.

“Trust me, Rage.” As Shade drew his arm from around her neck his fingertips trailed so he stroked her neck and jawline as he released her. His hand rested on her shoulder as he spoke lightly against her cheek. “I’ve never hurt you. I’ve never given you cause to fear me.”

She touched her own throat protectively, “Not until today, anyway.”

Gently, he turned her so she faced him. Shade curled his hands on the curve of her hips bones, using the confident, controlling hold of a dancer on his partner. As he bent close to speak softly in her ear again, in case others might be eavesdropping, Rage glided her hands up to rest against his bare chest. His skin was perfectly smooth and cool to the touch, and beneath that his muscles were hard as stone. The way she touched him seemed friendly and intimate, but if suddenly threatened she’d have perfect leverage to shove him away. Shade murmured, “I don’t like this battle between you and Ripper. I don’t like that Dean, my brother in blood, has betrayed the clan.” His lips pressed tight together. Wrinkles of disquiet folded between his eyebrows. “Dean has left. I know you want to leave.” The pain in his dark gaze was deeply felt. He made no attempt to hide it. “I know Ripper made us, but it is you and Dean who I think of as family. I just don’t want to be left behind.”

Shade was not a man of many words. When he did speak, he meant what he said.

“You can trust me.” He gently massaged her hips. “I had to make it look good downstairs for Ripper and the others just now, but other than that, I have never been other than who I am with you.”

Leaning back so she could gaze deep into Shade’s dark eyes, Rage confided, “I don’t know who to trust anymore. No one is who I thought they were.” Leaning back, she reached up and stroked his strong cheek with her fingertips. When her rage veiled her emotional vision, she’d never really seen any of them. Not Shade. Not Dean. Not Ripper. And not even Caden, really. They’d all surprised her once she’d stopped despising them on general principles. Now, though, she was beginning to understand each of them. As for Shade, Rage believed him.

The door opened and Ripper stomped in. When he saw Shade’s familiar hold on Rage, he stopped and stared, his frown deepening. His reflective silver eyes glared like death at them both. Shade snapped back his hands and stepped back from Rage, acting as guilty as if he’d been caught in a much more intimate act
than
their innocent but friendly touching.

Remembering the order Ripper had given him, Shade reclaimed Rage’s forearm and drew her with him to the length of chain secured to the headboard above the bed and closed the attached handcuffs loosely around each of Rage’s wrists. The chain gave her enough room to stand beside the bed, but just barely. As the cuffs clicked into place, Shade’s deep mocha eyes fixed upon hers, their softness speaking volumes of concern and apology.

Once she was secure, his hands slipped down to hold both of hers. They clasped briefly, the brotherly bond she felt with Shade deepening in those brief seconds.

Shade backed away and lowered his eyes and she could see in his expression and body language his regret at her predicament. Reluctantly, Rage slid her gaze from Shade to Ripper, who watched her so intently she could feel the slight burn of his anger reaching though the power of his Summoning and bathing her with a searing scent.

“Leave us,” Ripper ordered.

With his head bowed and shoulders slumped, Shade did as he was commanded. When he closed the door behind him, the sound could not have been more dreaded than the ratchet of a guillotine before the blade dropped. And through it all, Ripper’s penetrating glare remained nailed upon her.

The liquid roll of his hips as he stalked toward her held the sensual menace of a predator. The power in his bearing, the flexing of his chest and abdominal muscles beneath his opened silk shirt, the wild way his blond hair splayed across his eyes, all projected danger and sexuality.

She backed away as he reached for her. For one frightened moment Rage flinched as his fingers touched her throat and she envisioned him strangling her. But instead, his strong fingers smoothed back her hair and cradled her face. In a rush, he bent down to her and captured her mouth. Ripper inhaled her in his kiss, drawing her tongue into his mouth, stroking, tasting,
consuming
her with his hunger.

As desperate as a drowning man, he clutched her to him. Rage could not raise her handcuffed arms as they became trapped between them. As if frantic with his need for her, Ripper’s arms circled her, one supporting her back and one her bottom, helping her to match the force of his starving kiss. For a second he leaned back, raised her joined arms over his head and maneuvered her so she hugged him around the neck. He embraced her to him again so the hard length of his body pressed forcefully into her. And soon his arousal ground through their clothing and against her stomach.

The power of the vampire magic billowing off Ripper trapped her, forcing her to comply
to
his will. It stroked her soul as he caressed her body. Breaking from her mouth, Ripper showered quick, urgent kisses all over her face as he spoke to her. “I won’t lose you. I will slay any who try to steal you from me.”

Rage felt her body softening into Ripper’s need even as her heart raced with the urgency to flee. She’d seen his soul. Even though she’d doubted him when he made a show of reprimanding her before the clan, she knew in his heart that he could never let her go.
Never.

For Rage freedom would not be a gift. She would have to claim it for herself.

She clung tighter to Ripper, pressing herself more determinedly into him. Her voice came breathily, giving him the passion he demanded from her. “What are we going to do? The clan thinks I betrayed them.”

Ripper nuzzled into her throat so a melting sensation dribbled down her body and stirred her skin into a sensitive, touch-starved state, his warm breath raising chill bumps. His command over her as his Offspring soaked into every fiber of her body.”We redeem you.”

Stroking her cheek against Ripper’s, Rage relaxed into his confident embrace. With her cuffed wrists behind his head, she stroked his silky hair. There was magic in his scent and it spilled from him in waves flavored with need. Only one thought anchored her from submerging completely into Ripper’s power.
Caden.
Lightly kissing Ripper’s neck, she asked, “And how will we do that?”

“Simple.” He circled her narrow waist with his hands and lifted her. Rage wrapped her legs around him as he held her. Almost nothing felt as natural as giving in to the creator. Like sleep, the hypnosis of his power crept over her. “We hunt down and kill your ex-fiancé.”

Rage snapped awake.
Caden.
Even if she submitted to Ripper he would never allow Caden to live. Fear sobered her. A growl purred from deep within. A new power blossomed inside her. It was not her familiar rage, but it gave her strength. Rage laced her fingers through Ripper’s pale hair and urged him to lean back. “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”