Reawakening (27 page)

“Another shipment is due within the week.”

“Good. Good. I would like to sample the wares this time. Make sure they are … untainted.”

A sneer crossed Taiven’s face. “They won’t be untainted if you sample them.”

Anger rolled off the other vampire. “You think to deny me?”

“I do believe that I am in charge of this aspect of our business, father.”

Suddenly an unknown force hurled Taiven across the room and held him pinned high against the stone wall. He wailed in obvious agony.

“I do believe you have forgotten your place, Taiven,” the other vampire stated flatly.

As quickly as Taiven was held to the wall, he was released and now lay panting on the floor.

“I’ll expect you to personally escort me.” He turned and walked away without waiting for a response.

Taiven stood, brushed himself off and shifted his eyes directly to hers. Sarah sucked in a breath, fear permeating every single muscle. His heated gaze traveled slowly over her, lingering on the swell of her breasts, almost as if he knew her intimately. Something niggled in the back of her brain that made her very uncomfortable. Something she didn’t want to examine too closely. She was dreaming, she knew it, and while she could see people in her dreams, they didn’t really “see” her, per se, like what was happening now. This was just as real as if she were standing in the flesh before him. And she knew he wouldn’t forget their conversation, like everyone else before him.

Wake up, wake up, wake up, she chanted. Over the last few months, Kate had helped Sarah tremendously to have control of her dreams, but waking at will wasn’t one she could master. The dream ended when it ended, and not a second before.

“Yes, dreamwalker. I see you. And I’ve been waiting for you. Sarah.”

Holy balls. He knew her name?

“Yes, I know who you are, Sarah. I’ve been watching over you since you were born. You are Romaric’s new lovely mate.” She didn’t miss his eyes as they moved to the intricate mating mark wrapped around her left thumb or the flare of jealousy that was quickly gone. “Lucky him.”

Gulp. That nagging sensation picked up speed, refusing to be ignored. The sick feeling in the pit of her stomach intensified. Had it been him all along instead of Rom?

“I need to meet with my brother.”

“Who’s your brother?” She knew exactly who he was referring to, but they’d never mentioned Rom’s name so she wasn’t about to.

“Don’t play dumb, Sarah. You’re far above that.”

She snorted, unable to help her reaction and unable to believe this was really happening. “Why? So you can kill him? I think I’ll take a pass on delivering that message.”

He continued, unfazed by her derision. “Tell him to meet me at the Reverie in four days’ time. Midnight.”

The uncanny similarities between Rom and Taiven were many. In looks, build and personality. Apparently the Dietrich men thought they could command anyone to do anything at any time and they would jump. No questions asked. Well, just like Rom, Taiven needed someone to knock him down a peg or two. Or a hundred.

“No.”

He regarded her with the same cool look that Rom had given her dozens of times already. “You will if you want him to live, female.”

Then he was gone.

Sarah woke with a start, heart beating out of her chest, veins swarming with adrenaline. Thoughts and emotions swirled like a violent tornado through her head. Rom had a brother. She’d talked to him. He
knew
her.
He
was the one all along, not Rom. He was the shadow in her dreams. The thought made her sick.

He’d touched her.

He’d wanted her.

Oh God.

Why on Earth would Rom’s brother have been the one in her dreams all these years? Yet now that she’d met him, she knew it to be true. Only in this last dream she’d had of him before she’d mated Rom did he ever show any interest in her in a sexual way. All other times she’d felt safe, protected.
Watched over.

Why did she believe him when he insinuated he was trying to help Rom, even though everything else about him creeped her out?

She thought back to Seraphina’s cryptic words.
“You are the only one who can save him.”
Was this what she had meant or was it something else? God, she was so confused.

She tried moving but was pinned to the mattress tightly by two solid arms and a heavy leg thrown over hers.

“What’s wrong, beauty?” a husky voice rasped in her ear, setting her body on fire in a totally different way. Would his every touch and every word always affect her like this, she wondered. If she was lucky, the answer was yes.

Should she tell him about the dream? Was it a trap? Or was Taiven really trying to help save Rom’s life? She believed the latter to be true.

“I had a dream,” she replied.

“Mmm,” he nibbled on her earlobe. “Did it involve you riding my cock? Because mine did.” His left hand was now roaming over her nakedness, leaving tiny goose bumps behind.

She stifled a moan. They needed to talk, not spend hours making love, even though she’d like to simply forget the whole disturbing conversation she’d just had with his brother and do just that. She would leave out the part, however, about how he’s haunted her dreams for the last twenty some years and she’d mistaken his brother for him.

Well … here goes nothing.

“No. It was about Taiven.”

Chapter 44

Rom

His hand stilled. His muscles went rigid with fear. “What did you just say?”

She turned in his arms, facing him. “I just had a conversation with your brother, Taiven.”

He couldn’t breathe. “That’s not possible.”

“It’s not possible because? You know I’m a dreamwalker, Rom.”

Fuck.

Jumping out of bed, he began pacing, barely checking the anger and terror washing like icicles through his veins. “Sarah, tell me what the fuck just happened.”

Grabbing the sheet, she covered herself and sat against the headboard, concern and anxiety wafting off her.

“I had a dream about your brother and your father. I think.”

Double fuck.

It seemed they hadn’t talked about a lot before they bonded. They’d not talked about Sarah’s dreamwalking skills yet so he didn’t really know exactly how hers worked. Each of her sisters had slightly different variations of the talent.

“How does your skill work, exactly?”

“Uh … I don’t really know. I have conversations with people. I learn things that they don’t remember telling me because, of course, we talked about it in my dream state and not while awake. It’s always been a pain in the ass, honestly.”

“So you had a conversation with my brother? Just now?”

She nodded, clearly unnerved by his agitation.

“What about my father?”

“No. Just your brother.”

Did they know who she was? If so, he was fucked. They would come after her. Use her as leverage to get to him. She was in terrible danger, and for the first time since they’d bonded, he wished he had waited until he could have taken care of this threat for good. His father would not hesitate to slaughter his mate if he didn’t agree to any crazy-ass terms he threw at him. And if they ever found Sarah, Rom would do anything they asked of him to save her. Absolutely fucking anything.

“Tell me exactly,
word for word
, what was said.”

“Okay.” Sarah spent the next several minutes reiterating what happened and now he was absolutely beside himself. His brother knew who she was. He
knew
she was his mate. He could
see
her and even Sarah knew this dream was different from any she’d had in the past. How could that be? Where on Earth could he have reaped that skill?

Fucking hell. This was bad.

At one time, he and Taiven had been close. Inseparable. Taiven was only thirty years his junior. But as Taiven had become fully blooded, he began to change. He took on his father’s evil, malicious qualities and even Romaric couldn’t change the path that Taiven had headed down. Another one of the reasons he’d left home and never looked back. How he could be cut from the same cloth as his father and brother were, he didn’t know.

He’d obviously been lucky and inherited his mother’s kind heart, at least in the aspect of respecting human life. Of any life for that matter. Rom was cold, calculating and deadly when he needed to be. But he did not thrive on killing. He never had. He never would. And that’s exactly what his father wanted to make of him.       

A heartless, cold-blooded killer. A mini Makare.

“Are you going to go?” she whispered, unshed tears shining bright.

He stood at the end of their bed, unable to take his eyes off the woman that he’d come to love so. His heart swelled so much he thought it would burst and he had a hard time even remembering how incomplete his life was without her. How she could have wormed her way so far into his heart and soul and psyche within such a short period of time, he had no clue. But whenever he laid his eyes upon her, he literally felt the hardness in him melt away, being replaced by the most glorious warmth only love could possibly bring.

She was scared for him, but he thought just as she did. This was not a trap. What it was exactly, he wasn’t sure, but he would find out.

He’d planned on going to Romania anyway, but would head out a couple of days earlier than anticipated to do his own investigation. And he needed to meet Ainsley before she returned to Romania.

“Yes. I am.”

A stray tear escaped as she tried holding in her sobs. He could feel her anguish and anxiety for him. For
them
. She silently held out a hand and he climbed back onto the bed, taking her into his arms.

“It will be okay, beauty. This is a meeting. Nothing more.”

“I’m scared. I just want all of this shit to go away so we can be happy.”

“I will make it so. I swear it, Sarah.”

And he would. He would do anything it took, use anybody he needed and kill anyone he had to in order to keep Sarah safe. So he could live the happy life he’d fucking earned.

God help anyone who stood in his path. If his father wanted a heartless, cold-blooded killer, he’d get one. Romaric’s wrath would know no bounds until every damn threat had been eliminated.

And right now … outside of the lords and their mates, everything and everyone was fair game.

Chapter 45

Geoffrey

They sat around a very long conference table, a thirty-page report and maps spread out in front of them. All courtesy of Circo, Romaric’s lieutenant, who had clearly worked the last twenty-four hours churning data.

Romaric had called an hour ago demanding he attend this strategy meeting and, of course, was blindfolded and ‘escorted’ personally by Romaric’s lieutenant. Very
Mission Impossible
. Quite frankly, he was surprised to be included at all outside of the information he was gathering and handing over. All the lords were present, as well as their respective lieutenants and a few others he hadn’t met before, and had it not been for one person in this room, he had no doubt only his head would have been in attendance at this meeting. Probably sitting on a gold-plated platter in the middle of the table like a fucking centerpiece. Or a dartboard. The menace aimed his way by every other member in the room was palpable and unmistakable.

He was an unwelcome interloper.

And he did not miss the power pulsing in the room, reminding him that if he made one false move, he would be dead quicker than he could blink. Of course
,
the very sharp, very long knife, that Damian had laid in front of him, could have clued him in too.

But right now he held all the cards, which was the only reason he was even present. And alive. And he’d been handing them over slowly to the lords, needing to keep a couple of critical ones in his pocket for the right time, for if he showed them too early, his usefulness would end and he’d likely be a dead vamp. And a few weeks ago, he would have actually welcomed it. Now, however … now, he had every reason to want to live. He was desperate to get his Moira. Not that he deserved her, or ever would.

“So there are twenty-one locations, spread out in twenty different states,” Circo stated. Geoffrey hadn’t been exposed to Circo much, but in the bit he had, he already had immense respect for his intelligence. And there were twenty-two locations, as he’d found out last night, but he was going to keep that to himself just a tad bit longer until he did some additional research on this very small, very specialized compound.

“Do we have all the records now?” Damian snarled at Geoffrey.

Letting a smirk turn his lip, he retorted, “All electronic records. Not all paper copies. As you know, this has been going on for some time. Well before electronic recordkeeping, and it would look mighty suspicious if I were to back up a fucking truck to each facility and haul out reams of papers.”

After several tense seconds, Damian sneered, “You’re living on the edge, vampire. And I’m fucking hoping you put one foot over so I can push you the rest of the way.”

Geoffrey held the furious vampire’s glare and smiled. In another life, he had no doubt Damian would be a friend. But the only thing he could hope now is that any time he was around the powerhouse that Damian wouldn’t burn him to a crisp.

He’d taken several liberties at being Damian DiStephano over the years and Damian knew it. Yes, he was responsible for taking Damian’s mate’s mother into captivity. But that had been the mission. Retrieve a powerful witch. And back then, he did what was commanded of him without question, brainwashed into believing it was all ‘for the cause’.