Vampire Most Wanted
Page 30
“You have the strangest smile on your face,” Divine said suddenly. “What are you thinking?”
Marcus blinked and then sat up abruptly. Sexually, he wanted Divine like crazy, but more than that, he wanted her in his life. But he had to sort out if she was rogue, and if so, why. He needed that knowledge to sort out a way to keep her safe. So, instead of answering, he said, “Tell me about your family.”
Divine stilled, wariness crossing her face, “My family? I told you about my family.”
“Yes, you did, but—” Pausing, he leaned forward and said, “Divine, the Basha that Lucian is looking for is the mother of Leonius Livius.”
“His mother?” she asked with a start. “I didn’t think she was alive. I thought she died long before he did.” And then with sudden alarm, Divine asked, “He is dead, isn’t he? I was told he died back during the immortal/no-fanger war.”
“Leonius Livius I is dead,” Marcus assured her, noting the way she’d paled. “I’m talking about Leonius Livius II.”
She blanched as if he’d slapped her. “There’s another one?”
“Yes,” he said gently, concerned by her obvious upset. “Apparently one son escaped during the immortal/no-fanger war.” His eyes narrowed when she suddenly seemed to stop breathing.
After a moment, she let her breath out and said bitterly, “So one of his sons survived and you call him Leonius Livius II.” Before Marcus could respond, she asked sharply, “Why? Because he’s his father’s son?”
“No, because that’s what he calls himself,” Marcus said patiently and then explained, “He calls himself Leonius Livius II and has named all his sons Leonius as well. They go by numbers though. At least, Leonius the twenty-first was called Twenty-one, Leonius the thirteenth was Thirteen, and the others the Rogue Hunters have caught all went by a number. Except for Ernie,” he added with a frown.
“Ernie?” Divine asked sharply.
“Another son of his, but an immortal rather than a no-fanger,” Marcus explained. “For some reason he was named Ernie instead of Leonius . . . Perhaps because he was immortal rather than no-fanger,” Marcus thought aloud and considered that briefly before shaking his head. “Anyway, I’m off topic. The point is that Leonius was captured two years ago or so and a woman apparently whisked him away, and that woman according to Mirabeau looks like you but with blond hair. And then Ernie and this girl named Dee were captured, and from Dee they learned about a blonde named Basha who was Leo’s mother.”
Divine stood up and started slowly across the room.
Marcus frowned and said, “Now we know your son’s name is Damian so you can’t be the Basha who is Leonius’s mother. And Jackie said you were actually Leonius’s victim. But Mirabeau said there was still something in your thoughts about you being rogue or wanted. So just tell me why you think you would be—” He stopped abruptly, nearly swallowing his tongue when Divine suddenly stopped at the side of the bed, turned to face him with the robe undone, and shrugged it off her shoulders. All Marcus could do was sit and gawk as the robe hit the ground and pooled around her bare feet.
He swallowed, opened his mouth to speak, and then closed his mouth again, unsure what he’d been about to say. What had they been talking about?
Turning away, Divine climbed onto the bed, crawled to the center of it on her hands and knees, and then shifted to lounge on it, legs together, knees raised, feet and palms flat on the bed, arms back a bit, holding her upright at an angle that thrust her br**sts into the air. It was about the sexiest damned pose he’d ever seen, or maybe it was just the woman. Marcus didn’t know which and didn’t care; without actually giving his body the order to move, he found himself standing at the side of the bed.
Disappointment slipped through Marcus when Divine immediately shifted to sit on the edge of the bed in front of him, but that died when she reached out, undid his robe, and then pulled it open. His erection, which had sprung into existence the moment her robe had dropped, bounced upward without the heavy terry cloth to hold it down and nearly poked her in the eye. Divine took that in stride though and simply caught it in her hand.
Marcus sucked in a breath, eyes squeezing shut as her cool hand closed around his hot member. His eyes blinked open again, though, on a shocked grunt when her hot, wet mouth suddenly closed around it.
Oh dear God, no, Marcus thought. This was too much, too fast. He’d lose control and— Oh hell, he thought as his hands reached for her head, his fingers tangling in her drying hair. She seemed to know exactly how much pressure to exert, just where to flick with her tongue, when to suck hard and when to ease up. It was like she was psychic.
Or a life mate experiencing what he was along with him, Marcus realized as his pleasure seemed to grow inside him in waves that rolled out, seemed to gather steam, rolled back in to gather more, and rolled out again.
Marcus moaned as a particularly strong wave of passion hit him, and heard Divine’s answering moan, and then just as he reached and started to fall over the edge of that cliff their pleasure had built, he was suddenly alone. It was as if they were back on that bungee drop ride, harnessed in together, and when she pulled the rip cord, he was suddenly whipped away from her, riding it out alone. Marcus instinctively tried to stop his own fall, but couldn’t, and found himself tumbling helplessly into the abyss where darkness closed over him.
Twenty
Divine straightened with a little sigh, and then paused to contemplate the man she’d just finished tying to the bed. The robe ties and torn-up jeans she’d used to tie up Marcus wouldn’t hold long, but they weren’t meant to. She didn’t want to leave him here helpless until room service came to see why he hadn’t checked out, she just wanted to keep him from following her too quickly should he wake up sooner than expected.
Unfortunately, she’d kind of mistimed things. Divine had meant to try to shut her mind off from his sooner than she had, but had got wrapped up in the passion she’d so carefully stirred to life in them both and left it just that one second or two too long. Instead of remaining conscious as she’d hoped, she’d ended up passing out with him. Or perhaps that hope had been a lost cause from the start. Divine had never had a life mate before to try it with, so hadn’t been sure that shutting him out of her head at the last minute would prevent the passing-out business. Fortunately, while she’d passed out with him, she’d woken first. Hence the reason he was now tied to the bed.
Turning, she moved to the bags Marcus had brought back from his shopping trip and went through them again. She’d already gone through them once in search of something to tie him up with; now Divine went through in search of clean clothes. She’d noted that he’d bought them both clothes. Now she quickly picked out a pair of jeans and a T-shirt and pulled both on, only to peer down at herself with a grimace.
Divine normally wore dresses. Actually, she’d never worn pants, so wasn’t sure how they were supposed to fit exactly, but they certainly weren’t comfortable compared to the Gypsy outfits she’d been wearing for the last hundred years or so. The jeans were close fitting, barely reaching her hipbone at the top, or her calves at the bottom. As for the T-shirt, well, that had a similar problem; it was a scoop neck, but tight, stopping short of the top of her jeans, the sleeves stopping just past her elbows. If she hadn’t seen young women wearing similar outfits at the carnival, she would have thought Marcus had mistakenly bought them from the children’s section or something.
Shaking her head, Divine glanced to the bags, considering finding something else to wear, but just as quickly changed her mind. She didn’t know how long she had before he might wake up. It was better just to get out while she could, Divine thought, and headed for the door.
She was almost out the door when she recalled that she’d need the SUV keys. Turning back, Divine let the door close and quickly searched the room for Marcus’s keys. It wasn’t until she recalled his showering that she thought to look in the bathroom. His jeans were on the bathroom floor, and a quick rifling through the pockets revealed them in the front right pocket.
Sighing with relief, Divine hurried out of the bathroom, headed for the door again. This time, though, she only got as far as clasping the doorknob before she was stopped again. This time by Marcus muttering, “What the hell?”
Pausing, she glanced back just as he turned his attention from his tied hands to her and said with confusion, “Divine?”
“It’s better this way, Marcus,” she said quickly. “You don’t want to give up everything and everyone you know for me.”
“Don’t tell me what I want. I— Wait!” he barked as she opened the door.
Divine hesitated and that was her undoing.
“At least give me an explanation. You owe me that much, don’t you think? You’re my life mate, Divine. Just help me understand. That’s all I ask.”
Divine bit her lip and stared for a moment at the doorknob she was holding, trying to make herself leave. But her mind was throwing up reasons why she shouldn’t. One of which was that she had questions of her own she needed answers to. Sighing, she released the door and turned back, frowning when she saw that he was eyeing the ties on his hands with intent.
“Only if you promise not to try to free yourself until I’m gone,” she said sharply.
Marcus shifted his gaze to her, hesitated for the count of perhaps ten, and then relaxed back on the bed. Staring at the ceiling he said, “Okay. We’ll do this your way.”
Divine breathed a little sigh of relief and then just stood there for a moment before admitting, “I don’t know where to start.”
“The beginning is—” He’d lifted his head to see her as he spoke, but paused to ask, “Can I at least sit up for this talk without you running out the door? Please?” Marcus added dryly.
“Oh, yes, of course,” she said, moving forward. “Do you need help?”
Since he was seated upright, his hands now hanging down and out to the sides where they were tied, by the time she got to the bed, Divine supposed he didn’t.
“As I was saying, the beginning is usually a good place,” he said solemnly. Leaning back against the headboard, he then prompted, “You told me that after your uncle found you, he took you home to his parents and they taught you to read and control mortal minds and feed safely. But you said they never got the chance to teach you about Atlantis, our history, and the origin of nanos?”
“Right,” Divine murmured, but didn’t speak right away. Instead she paced the room once, slowly, and then paused in front of the dresser, leaned against it, and crossed her arms.
“Your name is Basha Argeneau,” Marcus prompted when she didn’t say anything.
“I was born Basha Argeneau,” she corrected, and then added, “Alexandria and Ramses were my father’s parents, my grandparents. Lucian Argeneau is my uncle and is the one who found Aegle and me, and took us to my grandparents.”
“And it was like a fairy tale, you said,” Marcus reminded her.
Divine nodded, but unconsciously tightened her arms around her waist, and then said, “My grandparents were great, but Uncle Lucian was a bit scary at first; gruff and . . . well, scary to a kid. But Gran assured me was a marshmallow underneath.”
When Marcus raised his eyebrows at this assessment, Divine nodded with amusement. “Yeah, I think she may have been a little delusional on that score, but at the time I believed her and lost a little fear around him.” She smiled sadly at the memories sliding over her and then shook her head and admitted, “I basically followed him around like a puppy . . . and he put up with it. He also helped with my training, taking me out to stalk mortals, control minds, and feed. He said I was a fast learner and smart,” she admitted, remembering how happy she’d been when he’d said that. How she’d glowed under the praise.
“It sounds like you looked up to him,” Marcus said quietly.
Divine grimaced. “Actually, I think I kind of— I guess he was a kind of replacement father for me.”
Marcus merely nodded.
Letting her arms drop, Divine peered down at her bare feet, and said, “Everything was good. I was happy, Aegle was happy. I was safe and warm and fed and loved. Grandmother and Grandfather were very kind, but it was always Uncle Lucian I looked to for . . . I don’t know what,” she finished unhappily, and then rushed on, “Everything was great until one evening I got up and Uncle Lucian was gone. Gran said he’d had to go away on business, but . . .” She wrinkled her nose. “Before that he’d taken me with him on his trips, and the one time he hadn’t, he’d at least come to wake me up and told me he was leaving, and for how long, as well as when he’d be back. This time I got up and he was just gone.”
“You were hurt,” Marcus murmured.
“I guess so,” Divine said on a shrug.
“What happened?” he asked, obviously recognizing that the story didn’t end there.
“We lived in what is now called Tuscany,” Divine told him. “Grandfather had a large tract of land on the Tiber River and I used to like to play and swim in the river, sometimes with my cousin when she visited, but always with Gran or Aegle or Uncle Lucian accompanying. That night, though, Aegle was suffering some mortal bug and didn’t feel up to going. She said to ask my gran, but Gran had company, and Uncle Lucian wasn’t there, so I just decided to go alone.”
Divine sighed and glanced to him to admit, “I guess I was a bit out of sorts that he left without saying good-bye, and . . .”
Marcus blinked and then sat up abruptly. Sexually, he wanted Divine like crazy, but more than that, he wanted her in his life. But he had to sort out if she was rogue, and if so, why. He needed that knowledge to sort out a way to keep her safe. So, instead of answering, he said, “Tell me about your family.”
Divine stilled, wariness crossing her face, “My family? I told you about my family.”
“Yes, you did, but—” Pausing, he leaned forward and said, “Divine, the Basha that Lucian is looking for is the mother of Leonius Livius.”
“His mother?” she asked with a start. “I didn’t think she was alive. I thought she died long before he did.” And then with sudden alarm, Divine asked, “He is dead, isn’t he? I was told he died back during the immortal/no-fanger war.”
“Leonius Livius I is dead,” Marcus assured her, noting the way she’d paled. “I’m talking about Leonius Livius II.”
She blanched as if he’d slapped her. “There’s another one?”
“Yes,” he said gently, concerned by her obvious upset. “Apparently one son escaped during the immortal/no-fanger war.” His eyes narrowed when she suddenly seemed to stop breathing.
After a moment, she let her breath out and said bitterly, “So one of his sons survived and you call him Leonius Livius II.” Before Marcus could respond, she asked sharply, “Why? Because he’s his father’s son?”
“No, because that’s what he calls himself,” Marcus said patiently and then explained, “He calls himself Leonius Livius II and has named all his sons Leonius as well. They go by numbers though. At least, Leonius the twenty-first was called Twenty-one, Leonius the thirteenth was Thirteen, and the others the Rogue Hunters have caught all went by a number. Except for Ernie,” he added with a frown.
“Ernie?” Divine asked sharply.
“Another son of his, but an immortal rather than a no-fanger,” Marcus explained. “For some reason he was named Ernie instead of Leonius . . . Perhaps because he was immortal rather than no-fanger,” Marcus thought aloud and considered that briefly before shaking his head. “Anyway, I’m off topic. The point is that Leonius was captured two years ago or so and a woman apparently whisked him away, and that woman according to Mirabeau looks like you but with blond hair. And then Ernie and this girl named Dee were captured, and from Dee they learned about a blonde named Basha who was Leo’s mother.”
Divine stood up and started slowly across the room.
Marcus frowned and said, “Now we know your son’s name is Damian so you can’t be the Basha who is Leonius’s mother. And Jackie said you were actually Leonius’s victim. But Mirabeau said there was still something in your thoughts about you being rogue or wanted. So just tell me why you think you would be—” He stopped abruptly, nearly swallowing his tongue when Divine suddenly stopped at the side of the bed, turned to face him with the robe undone, and shrugged it off her shoulders. All Marcus could do was sit and gawk as the robe hit the ground and pooled around her bare feet.
He swallowed, opened his mouth to speak, and then closed his mouth again, unsure what he’d been about to say. What had they been talking about?
Turning away, Divine climbed onto the bed, crawled to the center of it on her hands and knees, and then shifted to lounge on it, legs together, knees raised, feet and palms flat on the bed, arms back a bit, holding her upright at an angle that thrust her br**sts into the air. It was about the sexiest damned pose he’d ever seen, or maybe it was just the woman. Marcus didn’t know which and didn’t care; without actually giving his body the order to move, he found himself standing at the side of the bed.
Disappointment slipped through Marcus when Divine immediately shifted to sit on the edge of the bed in front of him, but that died when she reached out, undid his robe, and then pulled it open. His erection, which had sprung into existence the moment her robe had dropped, bounced upward without the heavy terry cloth to hold it down and nearly poked her in the eye. Divine took that in stride though and simply caught it in her hand.
Marcus sucked in a breath, eyes squeezing shut as her cool hand closed around his hot member. His eyes blinked open again, though, on a shocked grunt when her hot, wet mouth suddenly closed around it.
Oh dear God, no, Marcus thought. This was too much, too fast. He’d lose control and— Oh hell, he thought as his hands reached for her head, his fingers tangling in her drying hair. She seemed to know exactly how much pressure to exert, just where to flick with her tongue, when to suck hard and when to ease up. It was like she was psychic.
Or a life mate experiencing what he was along with him, Marcus realized as his pleasure seemed to grow inside him in waves that rolled out, seemed to gather steam, rolled back in to gather more, and rolled out again.
Marcus moaned as a particularly strong wave of passion hit him, and heard Divine’s answering moan, and then just as he reached and started to fall over the edge of that cliff their pleasure had built, he was suddenly alone. It was as if they were back on that bungee drop ride, harnessed in together, and when she pulled the rip cord, he was suddenly whipped away from her, riding it out alone. Marcus instinctively tried to stop his own fall, but couldn’t, and found himself tumbling helplessly into the abyss where darkness closed over him.
Twenty
Divine straightened with a little sigh, and then paused to contemplate the man she’d just finished tying to the bed. The robe ties and torn-up jeans she’d used to tie up Marcus wouldn’t hold long, but they weren’t meant to. She didn’t want to leave him here helpless until room service came to see why he hadn’t checked out, she just wanted to keep him from following her too quickly should he wake up sooner than expected.
Unfortunately, she’d kind of mistimed things. Divine had meant to try to shut her mind off from his sooner than she had, but had got wrapped up in the passion she’d so carefully stirred to life in them both and left it just that one second or two too long. Instead of remaining conscious as she’d hoped, she’d ended up passing out with him. Or perhaps that hope had been a lost cause from the start. Divine had never had a life mate before to try it with, so hadn’t been sure that shutting him out of her head at the last minute would prevent the passing-out business. Fortunately, while she’d passed out with him, she’d woken first. Hence the reason he was now tied to the bed.
Turning, she moved to the bags Marcus had brought back from his shopping trip and went through them again. She’d already gone through them once in search of something to tie him up with; now Divine went through in search of clean clothes. She’d noted that he’d bought them both clothes. Now she quickly picked out a pair of jeans and a T-shirt and pulled both on, only to peer down at herself with a grimace.
Divine normally wore dresses. Actually, she’d never worn pants, so wasn’t sure how they were supposed to fit exactly, but they certainly weren’t comfortable compared to the Gypsy outfits she’d been wearing for the last hundred years or so. The jeans were close fitting, barely reaching her hipbone at the top, or her calves at the bottom. As for the T-shirt, well, that had a similar problem; it was a scoop neck, but tight, stopping short of the top of her jeans, the sleeves stopping just past her elbows. If she hadn’t seen young women wearing similar outfits at the carnival, she would have thought Marcus had mistakenly bought them from the children’s section or something.
Shaking her head, Divine glanced to the bags, considering finding something else to wear, but just as quickly changed her mind. She didn’t know how long she had before he might wake up. It was better just to get out while she could, Divine thought, and headed for the door.
She was almost out the door when she recalled that she’d need the SUV keys. Turning back, Divine let the door close and quickly searched the room for Marcus’s keys. It wasn’t until she recalled his showering that she thought to look in the bathroom. His jeans were on the bathroom floor, and a quick rifling through the pockets revealed them in the front right pocket.
Sighing with relief, Divine hurried out of the bathroom, headed for the door again. This time, though, she only got as far as clasping the doorknob before she was stopped again. This time by Marcus muttering, “What the hell?”
Pausing, she glanced back just as he turned his attention from his tied hands to her and said with confusion, “Divine?”
“It’s better this way, Marcus,” she said quickly. “You don’t want to give up everything and everyone you know for me.”
“Don’t tell me what I want. I— Wait!” he barked as she opened the door.
Divine hesitated and that was her undoing.
“At least give me an explanation. You owe me that much, don’t you think? You’re my life mate, Divine. Just help me understand. That’s all I ask.”
Divine bit her lip and stared for a moment at the doorknob she was holding, trying to make herself leave. But her mind was throwing up reasons why she shouldn’t. One of which was that she had questions of her own she needed answers to. Sighing, she released the door and turned back, frowning when she saw that he was eyeing the ties on his hands with intent.
“Only if you promise not to try to free yourself until I’m gone,” she said sharply.
Marcus shifted his gaze to her, hesitated for the count of perhaps ten, and then relaxed back on the bed. Staring at the ceiling he said, “Okay. We’ll do this your way.”
Divine breathed a little sigh of relief and then just stood there for a moment before admitting, “I don’t know where to start.”
“The beginning is—” He’d lifted his head to see her as he spoke, but paused to ask, “Can I at least sit up for this talk without you running out the door? Please?” Marcus added dryly.
“Oh, yes, of course,” she said, moving forward. “Do you need help?”
Since he was seated upright, his hands now hanging down and out to the sides where they were tied, by the time she got to the bed, Divine supposed he didn’t.
“As I was saying, the beginning is usually a good place,” he said solemnly. Leaning back against the headboard, he then prompted, “You told me that after your uncle found you, he took you home to his parents and they taught you to read and control mortal minds and feed safely. But you said they never got the chance to teach you about Atlantis, our history, and the origin of nanos?”
“Right,” Divine murmured, but didn’t speak right away. Instead she paced the room once, slowly, and then paused in front of the dresser, leaned against it, and crossed her arms.
“Your name is Basha Argeneau,” Marcus prompted when she didn’t say anything.
“I was born Basha Argeneau,” she corrected, and then added, “Alexandria and Ramses were my father’s parents, my grandparents. Lucian Argeneau is my uncle and is the one who found Aegle and me, and took us to my grandparents.”
“And it was like a fairy tale, you said,” Marcus reminded her.
Divine nodded, but unconsciously tightened her arms around her waist, and then said, “My grandparents were great, but Uncle Lucian was a bit scary at first; gruff and . . . well, scary to a kid. But Gran assured me was a marshmallow underneath.”
When Marcus raised his eyebrows at this assessment, Divine nodded with amusement. “Yeah, I think she may have been a little delusional on that score, but at the time I believed her and lost a little fear around him.” She smiled sadly at the memories sliding over her and then shook her head and admitted, “I basically followed him around like a puppy . . . and he put up with it. He also helped with my training, taking me out to stalk mortals, control minds, and feed. He said I was a fast learner and smart,” she admitted, remembering how happy she’d been when he’d said that. How she’d glowed under the praise.
“It sounds like you looked up to him,” Marcus said quietly.
Divine grimaced. “Actually, I think I kind of— I guess he was a kind of replacement father for me.”
Marcus merely nodded.
Letting her arms drop, Divine peered down at her bare feet, and said, “Everything was good. I was happy, Aegle was happy. I was safe and warm and fed and loved. Grandmother and Grandfather were very kind, but it was always Uncle Lucian I looked to for . . . I don’t know what,” she finished unhappily, and then rushed on, “Everything was great until one evening I got up and Uncle Lucian was gone. Gran said he’d had to go away on business, but . . .” She wrinkled her nose. “Before that he’d taken me with him on his trips, and the one time he hadn’t, he’d at least come to wake me up and told me he was leaving, and for how long, as well as when he’d be back. This time I got up and he was just gone.”
“You were hurt,” Marcus murmured.
“I guess so,” Divine said on a shrug.
“What happened?” he asked, obviously recognizing that the story didn’t end there.
“We lived in what is now called Tuscany,” Divine told him. “Grandfather had a large tract of land on the Tiber River and I used to like to play and swim in the river, sometimes with my cousin when she visited, but always with Gran or Aegle or Uncle Lucian accompanying. That night, though, Aegle was suffering some mortal bug and didn’t feel up to going. She said to ask my gran, but Gran had company, and Uncle Lucian wasn’t there, so I just decided to go alone.”
Divine sighed and glanced to him to admit, “I guess I was a bit out of sorts that he left without saying good-bye, and . . .”
