While he disappeared in the bathroom, she took a pillow and shoved it under Blake’s head. “Here. That might be a little more comfortable.”
Blake tossed a look at the open bathroom door behind her before thanking her with a smile.
From the corner of her eye, she noticed Thomas and Eddie waiting. She looked at them. “So who’s gonna give him his blood?”
Eddie raised his hands. “Not me.”
Thomas hesitated, but didn’t get a chance to answer, because Cain’s voice now came from the bathroom as he stepped out. “I will.”
He walked to her and set a small bowl of water on the floor beside her, placed the towel on the armrest of the sofa, then crouched down next to the couch and loosened the knot of the makeshift bandage around Blake’s leg Faye had made earlier.
“You don’t need to do that,” she said, and kneeled down next to him. “You’re the king.”
“He’s my responsibility.”
Faye put her hand over his and gently pulled it back. “I’m much better at that than you are.” She held his gaze until he finally nodded and rose.
“Cain,” Eddie addressed him. “A word, please.”
“Excuse us. I’ll be back in a moment,” Cain said and followed Thomas and Eddie as they left the room. She heard them walk across the common area and open the door to the other guard’s room, before turning back to Blake.
“Now let’s have a look at your wound.”
Cain shut the door to Thomas’s room and looked at Eddie.
“You asked us to check out John’s story,” the young blond vampire started.
“Yes. What did you find?”
“I hacked into property records and searched for John’s and his lover’s names. John owns a little place in the French Quarter.”
Cain nodded. “Makes sense. That’s probably where this Nicolette lives. Did you check it out?”
“We did. Unassuming place, nice, but not flashy. She lives there, all right. We asked the neighbors.”
“What about the girl? What did she say?”
“We didn’t talk to her. She wasn’t in.”
“Didn’t you wait around?”
“We did, but she didn’t get back all night.”
Cain rubbed the back of his neck. “Where would she be? John came back to the palace without her. I think I would have heard if he’d brought her to the palace grounds.”
“There was something else really odd,” Eddie continued, his forehead furrowing. “Maybe it’s nothing.”
“What is it?”
“Well, on the outside the house is a little run down, needs some paint on the windows and the shutters and stuff.”
“So?”
“The door had just recently been replaced, and when I looked a little closer, I noticed that one of the hinges looked as if it had been bent and then straightened out again.”
Cain tilted his head to the side. “As if somebody had kicked the door in?”
“Yeah.”
“That might not mean anything,” Thomas interjected. “There’s plenty of crime in this city. Burglaries happen every night, I’m sure.”
Cain contemplated Thomas’s words. “You could be right, but I don’t like it.” He turned back to Eddie. “Did you mention any of this to the neighbors or ask them whether they heard any disturbances in the last few days?”
“I asked if they heard anything suspicious, but nobody did.”
“I want you to go back and dig deeper. I want to know where the girl is. John said she was injured. So it doesn’t make sense that she’d be venturing out in the middle of the night after just recently being attacked. She’s human, and even though John healed her, any normal human woman would be wary about being out at night without protection after having been assaulted. Find out where she is.”
Eddie nodded.
“We’ll go into the French Quarter tomorrow night and make inquiries,” Thomas said. “But first, I think we all need a shower to wash the stink of the bayou off us.”
Cain turned up his nose. “You get no argument from me there.”
He’d jump in the shower just as soon as he’d healed Blake with his blood.
28
Abel pulled into the alley and unlocked the car doors of his red Ferrari. He watched impatiently as the door opened and Baltimore slid into the passenger seat. Clenching his jaw, he waited until his guard slammed the door shut and turned his face.
“You fucking idiot!” Abel greeted him.
Baltimore lowered his head in a show of submission, but not even that gesture did anything to quench Abel’s urge to hurt somebody.
“Do you have any idea what your stupid behavior led to?”
“I’m sorry, Abel!”
“Sorry doesn’t fucking cut it! Imbecile!” He bent closer to his underling. “Did you have to go against her wishes? Was it necessary to attack her?”
Baltimore thrust his chin up. “I didn’t attack her!”
Abel flashed his fangs. “I don’t care what you call it! It doesn’t change anything about the outcome! Now Cain has banned you from the palace grounds. You’re no good to me out here! I needed you inside the palace walls.”
“I couldn’t know he was going to show up.”
The flimsy excuse gnawed on Abel’s nerves. “That’s not the point! Besides, the way those two are right now, Faye would have gone to him anyway and told him what you did, even if he hadn’t shown up. He’s taken her back again, and with your stupid move you’ve probably made things worse and brought them even closer together. That wasn’t my plan!”
“I understand.”
“You understand nothing, you idiot! Or you wouldn’t have done it. Now Cain trusts her again, or why did my spies report to me that he spent the entire day in her chambers, shacked up with her?” Abel slapped Baltimore across the face. “I wanted to isolate him, and what do you do? You drive him into her arms so he has an ally in the palace.”
“But we’ve still got John.”
“Just as well! We’ll need him now more than ever, seeing that I can’t rely on you doing your part. I’ll have to rethink our approach.” He leaned back in his seat and stared out the windshield. In a few hours the sun would rise again and bring him ever closer to the day of Cain’s welcome home celebration. And if Abel hadn’t set up a solid plan by then, the opportunity of ripping the throne right out from under him would slip through his fingers.
“Fuck! I’m not going to wait any longer to get what’s rightfully mine. Do you understand me?” He didn’t even look at Baltimore, because he didn’t want an answer from him.
After a moment the idiot spoke anyway. “Maybe now is the time to call in some favors.”
Abel turned his head and narrowed his eyes. “What are you talking about now?”
“There are several people still in the palace who will do whatever you ask of them, for fear that you’ll make good on your prior threats if they don’t.”
Taking a few breaths, he contemplated Baltimore’s words and had to admit that occasionally his personal guard did come up with possible solutions, though he wouldn’t praise him for it right now. In his eyes Baltimore didn’t deserve any praise for having screwed up part of his plan by getting himself banned from the palace.
“I’ll think about it,” Abel said instead and turned the key in the ignition. “Make yourself useful and relieve your men from their watch over John’s lover. Stay with her until I contact you, and send the two guards back to the palace. I may need them.”
Baltimore nodded dutifully and reached for the door handle.
“And another thing.”
“Yes, Abel?”
“Have you spoken to the Mississippi clan?”
Baltimore’s mouth twisted into a grin. “They were surprised to get your invitation, but they’re happy to come and talk peace.”
Abel chuckled. “Excellent. Have one of your men contact them anonymously to tell them that Cain is harboring two of their traitors.”
Baltimore’s forehead furrowed. “To what purpose?”
“I hired you for your muscles, not your brain, so leave the thinking to me. Now go. Don’t contact me unless something goes wrong. I can’t have Cain find out that I’m still communicating with you. Is that clear?”
Baltimore grunted his acquiescence and got out of the car. When the door shut, Abel jammed the car into reverse and raced out of the alley, then sped away as he hit the main road.
Only a few more days, and everything would fall into place.
And at the end of it, Abel would be king. Finally.
29
Faye snuck into the secret walkway, not wanting to be seen by Cain’s guards. She’d made sure that Blake was recovering and left him in the care of the witch, Wesley. Having rid herself of the clothes that had gotten dirty in the bayou, she was dressed in only a robe.
Without making a sound, she opened the secret door leading into Cain’s suite and eased it shut behind her. The sound of running water came from the bathroom, the door of which was ajar. On bare feet she approached and pushed it open farther.
Cain stood in the shower with his back to her. Water ran down his muscled back and sculpted ass. His strong thighs and calves were dusted with dark hair, his feet planted wide as he let the spray of the shower run over his head, his hands braced against the tiles.
She couldn’t get enough of looking at his gorgeous naked body. When he’d fought the alligator a short while earlier, she’d watched in fascination how he’d battled the strong animal and defeated it with his bare hands. He’d looked ferocious, like a true warrior, and had reminded her of the night when he’d rescued her.
Seeing him fighting to save his friends had made the longing for him grow. She needed him, wanted him more than anything else in her life. She sighed.
Cain whirled around, his hands instantly forming into claws, but the moment his eyes landed on her, he visibly relaxed. A smile formed on his lips.
“You shouldn’t sneak up on me like that.” He stepped sideways, out of the spray of the shower.
Her gaze wandered over his nearly hairless chest. He was ripped, sporting a true six-pack. Farther down, a nest of dark hair surrounded his shaft. Long and thick, it hung there in a relaxed state. She licked her lips.
“If you don’t want me in here, I can leave,” Faye suggested, but made no motion to turn away. Instead she opened the belt of her robe and let it fall open in the front.
“Well, since you’re here already,” he hedged, “maybe you’d like to join me.”
“I was hoping you’d say that.” She pushed the robe off her shoulders and let it fall to the floor with a soft whoosh.
When she raised her eyes to his face, she noticed the hungry look with which his eyes devoured her. Lower, another reaction caught her attention. His cock was rising.
Slowly, without taking her eyes off him, she stepped into the glass enclosed shower and laid her hands on his chest. “When you were fighting that alligator earlier, I couldn’t take my eyes off you.”
His arms came around her, pulling her against his body. “Why’s that?”
“You looked so strong, so formidable. Had we been alone, I would have asked you to make love to me right there,” she confessed.
Cain grinned. “Well, look at that. My seductive vixen gets turned on by a little hand-to-hand combat. Is there anything else that turns you on?”
Faye slid one hand lower, moving it ever closer to his groin. “You naked in the shower.” She slid her hand over his cock, reveling in his velvet smooth skin. “Your cock hardening at the sight of me.”
“Keep going,” he encouraged her, his hand now moving to her backside, stroking her suggestively.
“The thought of taking you in my mouth.”
His breath hitched, and his eyes darkened with desire. “Is that what you came in here for? To suck me?” He rubbed his cock against her palm, and a groan left his throat.
“Only if you don’t mind.”
“You know I don’t. So are you gonna tease me forever, or will you get on your knees and make good on your threat?”
She smiled, lowering her lashes halfway. “Are you commanding me as my king?”
“As your king, I’m powerless to command you. But as your lover, I beg you to put me out of my misery and let me feel your lips around my cock.”
The fact that he wasn’t commanding her but begging her surprised her. Previously when they’d played this game, he’d always played along by slipping into the role of the omnipotent king whose commands were to be followed. But now, suddenly, he was giving power over to her.
Faye looked into his eyes. So much had changed about him, yet so much was the same. The desire between them was still as potent as ever. No, even more so now. As if they were starting all over again. Everything was new and fresh, exciting and unknown. And utterly thrilling. Even now as she crouched down and brought her face level with his groin, anticipation coiled through her as if she’d never before pleasured him in this way.
“Please,” Cain murmured and pressed himself against the tile wall at his back, placing his hands flat against the wet surface. “Let me feel you.”
Faye slid her hands over his thighs, caressing his powerful muscles. She felt them flex under her touch. “You’re beautiful.” His cock stood fully erect now, the veined shaft tilting upward toward his navel. His balls had pulled up tight too, its two eggs visible beneath the skin.
With her index finger, she stroked over the tight sac, not stopping when she reached the underside of his cock.
Cain expelled a ragged breath. “Fuck!”
Ah, how she liked his reaction, raw and untamed. She would reward him for it.
Moving her face closer, she opened her mouth and let her tongue slide over the underside of his cock, taking her time to move to the tip to swipe over the purple flesh. From the corner of her eyes she saw his hands clench as if he was trying to get himself under control. But she wouldn’t allow it. Cain would lose control tonight and be at her mercy. He would surrender to her.
Faye licked over the bulbous head once more before wrapping her lips around it and taking him into her mouth. Pumped full with blood, he was thick and long. She loved how hard he was even though she’d barely touched him. As if for him, this was new, too. Just like he’d said when they’d made love the day before. Maybe their long separation contributed to this sense of novelty.
When she suddenly felt his palm caressing her cheek, she glanced up at him. He was watching her, his eyes full of passion, his lips parted and showing his fangs.