Shadow Falling (The Scorpius Syndrome #2) (34 page)

She lifted her head. “It’s my mistake to make.” He was wrong. He didn’t know Raze like she did. Even so, anxiety fluttered awake inside her abdomen. “Thanks, Jax.”

He handed over a flashlight. “Try not to fall into a hole.”

Without
another word, he turned on his combat boot and strolled back inside.

Vinnie sniffed and pushed sopping-wet hair from her forehead. Keeping the flashlight beam low on the ground, she moved carefully, acutely aware of each hole and shattered rock as she slid out of the main gate, which was slightly open but well-guarded. The guards didn’t stop her.

She tripped and regained her balance. All she needed right now was to break an ankle. The rain assaulted her, and a chilled wind dug past her wet shirt to bite her skin. Yet she forged on, making it through the two lines of downed cars, giving a nod to each guard she passed. Nobody tried to stop her until she reached the far end of the biggest Mack truck.

“This is a mistake,” Sami said, gun down, her head protected by a ball cap. “Trust me, girlfriend. Go wait in your nice, warm bedroom for your man to get his shit together. You can’t save him.”

Vinnie paused. “None of us can save one another. I know that. But I can help him.”

Sami snorted. “You don’t believe that.”

“I do.” Vinnie patted Sami’s arm. “Thanks, though.” She pointed her flashlight back to the ground and ran across what probably was once a busy street in a downtrodden area. Her shoes squished in mud as she hurried by a burned-out truck. Should she go through the front door or the side fire escape? Probably the fire escape. Water splashed up her legs as she rushed toward the rear of the building and ran full force into Raze Shadow. She bounced off his hard chest, and only his hands on her arms kept her from falling on her butt.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” His hands tightened until pain rippled through her forearms. He glanced over her shoulder. “Has there been a breach?”

“No.” She gulped down air and shook rain from her hair. “I was looking for you.”

He stilled. His
head lowered. His gaze glittered through the rain. “I scouted for a few miles, just walking, and now I’m here trying to figure out how to take down this place without any explosives.”

She swallowed. “You could burn it.”

“I don’t think the brick would burn.” He studied her. “You left the safety of the compound by yourself in this weather?”

“Um, yeah.” Her knees quivered. “I was looking for you.”

He pivoted and lifted her up against the worn brick building, not very gently. “You were looking for me.” He leaned in, heat from his body giving warning instead of warmth. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Nope.” She went for flip because he was scaring the ever-living shit out of her. Enough violence pulsated in his rigid muscles to make the air around them resonate with a tension rivaling the storm.

Rain poured from the roof, landing next to them. “Why?” he asked.

She shrugged, acutely aware of being a foot off the ground. Rough brick scratched her back, and rain smattered her head, but the only thing that mattered was Raze. “I thought you might need me.”

He straightened. His eyebrows drew down, and he blinked. “What am I going to do with you?”

She settled against the building and gripped his hips with her knees. Shrugging slightly from his hold, she pressed a hand over his heart. “Being so close to your sister and then losing her had to be terrifying. There aren’t any words to take the pain away.” Hell, she knew how bad life could cut. “You have to believe we’ll get her back.” Before meeting him, she wouldn’t have used those words.

He studied her, a series of emotions finally crossing his face. Fury, pain, confusion. So many emotions and so quickly. His chin lowered. “Vinnie.” Then his lips were on
hers. Not gentle and definitely not sweet. He kissed her so hard her head hit the wall, and still he pressed. She opened her mouth in defense, and he went deeper with a low groan.

Rawness pulsed from him, digging through her, setting her on fire. Her mind reeled, and her body ruled. She shoved her hands beneath his shirt, caressing up, filling her palms with male and man. So much desperate strength.

His tongue took hers, claiming her mouth in a way that even felt primitive. She gyrated against him, the ache between her legs demanding relief. Nobody had ever treated her with such roughness and desperation. As if he was claiming her on every level and giving himself back in ways he’d never be able to say.

Only Raze Shadow could make her feel like this.

He slapped a hand to the brick by her head, his mouth continuing the assault; his free hand yanked down her wet shirt to palm her breast. Demanding and warm, he squeezed and then moved to her other breast. Electricity, sparking and alive, zipped down to burn her clit. Too much. Way too much.

His teeth sank into her bottom lip. Excitement flared her nerves to the point of pain.

She gyrated against him, her nails cutting into his chest. “Raze, please.”

Through the scent of rain, he smelled wild and free. Totally male. He lifted her higher, and his mouth took her breast, sucking hard. Alive and rough, his tongue flicked her nipple before moving to the other one. “So fucking pretty,” he murmured against her. “Hold on.”

Desire quivered her into a mass of need. Her feet hit the wet pavement, and he yanked her jeans down her legs. She scratched down his ripped abs and frantically released his belt, shoving down. He helped, kicking his pants to the side.

Both hands grabbed her ass, she left the ground again, and he thrust himself inside her. Pain edged with carnal
pleasure rippled inside her, and her internal walls gripped him tight in a hold that went beyond her mere body.

She threw back her head, taking even more of him. All of him.

“Look at me.” The fingers at her ass squeezed, and one brushed her anus.

She stiffened, trying to focus, and opened her eyes. Everything in her stilled, quieted, as if waiting. He watched her, his eyes glittering with a light deeper than hunger.

Balls-deep inside her, holding her against the wall, he took her mouth in a brutal kiss so deep a miniorgasm rocked through her core. His grip tightened, and he released her bruised mouth, his lips remaining a second away. “You came out here, Vinnie.”

She blinked, her breasts aching. “I know,” she breathed.

“Your choice, but there’s no going back.” His nose was so close it nearly touched hers, and everything—man, everything—glowed in his eyes. “Understand?”

She did. On some level she couldn’t quantify, couldn’t explain, she knew exactly what he was claiming. “I understand,” she whispered.

Satisfaction and determination were stamped hard on his deadly face. “Good. Every inch of you is mine. Get me?”

It was a declaration she should fight. Reason with. But her body rioted, craving for him consuming all thought, and she tightened her sex around him. “Yes.”

His lids dropped to half-mast, giving him a dangerous look that only increased her hunger. One hand spread out over her ass, and the other slid up to clamp on the nape of her neck. He tilted her, just enough, and started to power into her.

Energy rushed into her, rolling through her, crashing an orgasm into her from nowhere. She cried out, digging her hands into his shoulders to keep from flying away. He wrapped over her even more, keeping her from hitting
the building, somehow holding her weight exactly where he wanted her. So damn strong. He hammered into her, his lips on her neck, his body enfolding her.

Faster and harder, he battered her clit, each impact flicking a sensation of energy through her that stole her breath. Holding her in place, he hit a spot inside her that arched her entire body. Lava sparked through her, and she exploded. White flashed behind her eyes, and her body gyrated with the crashing waves. She gripped him tight, rippling along his length. Finally, wrung out to the point of going limp, she relaxed into his hold.

He stilled, pushed home hard, and came with her name on his lips.

The morning light cascaded through the windows as Raze paced the conference room like a caged animal. He needed to go, and now, but that would be a colossal mistake. In a world filled with Rippers, displaced gang members, and wild animals . . . darkness was his only ally. The sun had only been up for a couple of hours, but if he looked at the map of Santa Barbara for one more minute, he was going to start yelling his head off.

His night of wild sex with Vinnie had taken the edge off physically, but now his chest ached. What the hell was he going to do with her? She’d burrowed so far inside him, he didn’t feel whole unless she was next to him. For hours after they’d returned to the apartment, he’d listened to her sleep.

Leaving her had pissed him right off, even though he’d headed straight to work. Now he could barely concentrate. So he pivoted on one boot and headed through the building to the infirmary.

Tace looked up from the receptionist counter. Lines of
fatigue cut into the sides of his mouth, and red colored the whites of his eyes. “Do you have an appointment, sir?”

Raze snorted. “You look like shit.”

“Can’t sleep.” Tace pushed back from the desk. “Since Scorpius, I can’t sleep. Lynne thinks it has something to do with the lack of vitamin B during the initial infection.”

Raze winced. “Don’t people need sleep to keep sane?”

“Yep. Maybe that’s part of the insanity issue, you know? Lack of sleep.” Tace stood and turned back toward the examination rooms. “Jax said you wanna get tagged.”

Raze faltered. “Um, yeah, but I’d rather you had some rest first.”

Tace chuckled. “Don’t be a pussy. I’ve drawn the Vanguard tat on at least two dozen bodies and won’t screw up your pretty skin.”

Raze’s steps slowed, but he continued on. In case he didn’t make it back from the Merc attack, he wanted to belong. A little ink in his skin didn’t change much, but at least he’d be part of Vanguard for a few hours. It had been so long since he’d belonged anywhere. “All right.” He entered the room and sat on a torn examination table that had lost most of its padding. “Just don’t screw it up.”

Tace opened a worn cardboard box and drew out ink and needles. “We actually raided a top-of-the-line shop a few blocks over, so no worries. The Vanguard tat will look good. Where do you want it?”

“Left bicep.” Raze yanked off his shirt.

“I could do a sleeve on your right forearm to cover the burn scars,” Tace said casually, wiping off Raze’s arm with a cloth that almost appeared clean. “What’s the story there?”

Raze glanced down. “Barn fire. I was twelve and Moe was eight. She was playing inside, and I went in after her. A burning rafter fell, broke my arm, and burned me to shit.” Maureen had been nearly inconsolable, and had spent the
entire time he’d been in a cast bringing him presents and haranguing their mother to make more cookies.

“You grew up on a farm?” Tace asked.

“Yeah. Wyoming.” Raze held still as Tace went to work on his other arm.

Jax loped into the room and flipped a chair around to straddle it. “Gettin’ the tat, huh?”

Heat threatened to climb into Raze’s face. “Yeah. I said I was going to. It’s definite.”

Jax studied him, gaze intent. “Good.”

Tace kept working. “We’ll get your sister back. She’s okay, and we’ll get her. Family.”

Raze nodded, his chest heating. Family. With every stitch of ink, Vanguard was becoming family as well. “You’ll like Maureen. She’s smart and fearless.” From day one, when he’d looked at the tiny pink bundle, he’d vowed to protect her. “She has to be safe.”

“She will be, brother.” Jax said the words, his dark eyes nearly glowing.

Brother. Yeah. Raze leaned back and let Tace work away. Nearly three hours later, he’d been tagged. He glanced at the intricate and strong lines. “That’s that, then.” It meant more than he could say that Jax and Tace had stayed with him the entire time. Sami had poked her head in, nodded approval, and returned to scouting duty.

He had a home.

Shrugging his shirt on, he finally relaxed into the new reality. “I should get to work.”

April Snyder suddenly hovered at the doorway. “Jax? Do you have a minute?”

“Yeah.” Jax pushed off the chair and turned it. “Have a seat. Let’s hear it.” He waited until April sat before bellowing, “Vinnie? Get down here.”

Vinnie strode inside wearing a pretty pink blouse and dark jeans. “For goodness’ sake. Stop yelling.”

“Sorry.” The
Vanguard leader strode toward the far side of the room to lean against the wall. “April? How was church?”

The petite brunette scrunched up her face. “Different. I mean, the sermon was strong, and the reverend very charismatic. But the message was one of survival at all costs.”

Raze tried not to focus on Vinnie as she stood in the doorway, her attention on April. In the light of day, she was even sexier than the night before. Just the thought of him taking her against that brick wall hardened his groin. Things had changed.