Willem stared at him hard for a long time. He’d needed to hear those exact words. They’d all been through hell, those mastyr vampires who served their Realms whether as rulers like Quinlan or others in law enforcement of one kind or another, like Willem.
He scrubbed his face with his hand, wiping away what turned out to be a lot of water, then sat up. “I’ve really fucked up this time.”
Quinlan set aside the bowl of water he’d been using. “Looks like it. Actually, I sort of lied. It was Davido who asked me to intervene. Figured it had to bad if the old troll was involved.”
“It’s bad and I’m pretty sure I just made the worst mistake of my life.” He swung his legs over the side of the bed. “I had a blood rose for a few hours, but Davido broke the bond and now she’s gone.”
“Uh, how is that even possible and why would Davido break the bond?”
“He thought I was going to kill her, to let Charlotte fall into the ocean. I was holding her suspended because she kept telling me she loved me.”
Quinlan chuckled. “Oh, well, now that you’ve explained things.” He then laughed heartily. “So, you’re caught in the blood rose nightmare?”
“You can taunt me later. Shit, what have I done? There’s a boy’s life at stake and all I had to do was bond with Charlotte and we could have found him.”
“What boy?” Quinlan’s expression sobered quickly.
“The Infinity Killer took another one.”
“Sweet Goddess, help us. Another boy.”
“’fraid so.” Willem held Quinlan’s gaze. “But thank you for saving my life. I was out of my mind and I could never have made it back in time.”
“Well, if Davido was involved, he probably provoked the hell out of you. He’s good at that.”
Willem held Quinlan’s gaze. “Yeah, but I think this time, he was right.”
“That’s the rub; Davido is always right. Comes from having been born well before time began.” No one knew Davido’s age.
For some reason, everything suddenly made sense to Willem, in a way it never had before. Maybe he’d needed a good shout across the ocean to release what he’d kept locked up inside, but right now he knew what he wanted and despite Vojalie’s insistence that once broken, the bond with Charlotte was ended forever, he had to try.
Because, dammit, he loved Charlotte. And he needed her.
He grabbed Quinlan’s arm. “So where’s Davido now?”
Quinlan whipped his thumb up over his shoulder. “In the other room.”
“He’s here?”
Quinlan smiled. “Apparently, he never left. Charlotte’s still here as well. Go fix this thing, because I’m pretty sure it’s in your power to do it. As for me, I’ve got to head out. We’ve got Invictus sign tonight all the way to the east in the Ashur Mountains. The Troll Brigade has been taking a beating.”
Willem stood up and clapped Quinlan on the shoulder. “Thanks for being a good friend.”
“Back atcha.” He didn’t head into the main living area, but left by way of the French door next to the fireplace. He waved once then took off into the air. The bond to Quinlan’s blood rose, Batya, had increased his mastyr power and he flew like a rocket. That was another thing about having a blood rose, the rise in power, probably more than enough to catch the Infinity Killer.
Willem took a moment to settle into his determination, then, lowering his shoulders, he headed back to the foyer.
Charlotte stood in the living room, near the front windows, but Davido sat grinning at him from the chair near the fireplace. He met Davido’s gaze and nodded several times.
Davido responded in exactly the same way. “So you’re all set?” Davido asked.
“I am.”
Davido’s smile settled into that look of his that spoke of the wisdom of the ages. He slid his hand in Charlotte’s direction. “Then I’d start with an apology.”
Charlotte stared at him now, over her shoulder, pivoting slowly toward him. Her eyes were haunted as she searched his.
Willem went to Charlotte and took her hands. “I was out of my mind back there, but I’m all right now. I’m so sorry for putting you through so much distress. But I need you to know that I want to be with you, Charlotte, in whatever way we can be together now. I wish it could be as a blood rose to a mastyr, but if not, we’ll make it work somehow.”
“Willem. Oh, God, and I can feel how badly your starvation returned once the bond was broken.” She turned scathing eyes on Davido. “How could you do this to us?”
But Willem caught her chin and turned her gently toward him. “Don’t blame him. This was my fault, sweetheart. I couldn’t get past the hurdle when I needed to. Davido tried to get through to me times past counting, it’s just a little too late. But I don’t care about any of that. Just, be with me. Are you willing to do that, Charlotte?”
“Of course I’m willing.” She placed both hands on his chest. “I believe in you with all my heart and I can still feed you. At least that won’t change.” Again she glanced at Davido. “And if he feeds from me, he won’t suffer, right?”
The troll nodded. “Your blood will ease his pain. No question.”
Charlotte slid her hands up Willem’s chest and wrapped her arms around his neck. “You’re back and you’re safe, that’s all that matters.” Her chest shuddered. “Oh, but Willem, now we won’t be able to help that boy.”
A woman’s voice suddenly intruded. “Davido, you fix this right now. You’re torturing them both. And stop grinning. You’re having way too much fun at their expense.”
Willem turned and found Vojalie standing near her husband. Davido rose to his feet and though he came just to the top of his wife’s shoulder, his presence filled the room. He took Vojalie’s hand and lifted her fingers to his lips, as he’d done earlier, kissing them. “My pet, I will do anything for you. Anything, my dearest love.”
He then snapped his fat troll fingers and Willem gasped. Charlotte’s entire body jerked. And there it was, the temporary bond, back in place. Willem couldn’t believe the level of the Troll’s power.
To Willem, he said, “I’ve only restored the temporary bond. The two of you will still have to do the rest.”
Vojalie put a hand to her chest. “Oh, thank the Goddess! I’ve been worried sick lest his little trick backfire and become permanent. But my dears,” she glanced from one to the other, “complete the bond now, or I won’t have a minute’s peace. I fear that something will go wrong and you’ll lose the chance forever.”
To Charlotte she said, “You have a good man. You’ve chosen extremely well.” To Willem, she smiled, “I wish you every happiness, something you so richly deserve, but now we have to go. I have a baby to feed. Just decide between you and the bond will do the rest.”
Davido blew a kiss and the pair vanished from his living room once more.
Willem had never known such a swelling of his chest as he did now. He turned to Charlotte and drew her into his arms. “I can feel the bond between us, unbroken.”
“I thought I’d lost you forever, but are you truly all right?”
“I’m good. Better than good.” But he wasn’t taking any chances. “Charlotte, will you complete the blood rose bond with me right now?”
“I will.” She smiled and kissed him. “So, how do we do it?”
“I’ve got this.” He held her close and opened up his mating frequency full bore, nothing held back. In response, her new fae frequency began to vibrate. He wrapped her up in his arms and kissed her again.
He pathed, With all my heart, Charlotte, I give myself to you, to be bonded to you, mastyr to blood rose, vampire to human-fae. I will cherish you as long as I have nights.
~ ~ ~
Charlotte gave herself to the sweet embrace within her spirit, one vibration to another, as she let Willem’s frequency surround her and comfort her. I bind myself to you, Mastyr Willem of Grochaire Realm. I promise to serve you as a blood rose and to cherish you as long as I live.
She turned her thoughts in
ward and focused on experiencing the dance of their frequencies, her heart thrumming as the temporary bond began to tighten more and more. Suddenly, the bond locked into place and ecstasy poured through her entire being.
She gasped even as he kissed her.
Willem drew back. “We’re bonded now.”
“I can feel it as well.”
He nodded, then something new emerged and the entire room became suffused with a golden glow. At the same time, she watched Willem alter physically. He released her and flexed his arms in turn. “I’m stronger.”
Charlotte smiled as she nodded. “Yes, you are.” She wanted to stop and to savor the moment, but time pressed on her with the need to find the boy. “Now let’s have another look at that file.”
Willem led her quickly back to the worktable in his study, withdrew the case, and unzipped.
Long before he folded to the last page of the file, her vibration hummed heavily in her chest. She didn’t hesitate, but settled her hand on the photo. Willem covered her hand with his and held her gaze. Barely a second later, her fae vibration lit up and the vision of the boy, still alive but unconscious, came to her.
As Willem had directed her before, she tried panning back in order to discover the location of the building. She’d been unsuccessful that time, but now her vision could move, and she retreated farther and farther from the crime scene until she was outside the dwelling, a place that she recognized as being in the heart of the city. “There’s a school nearby.”
“Can you read the name?”
“Quinlan Elementary on Elm Street.”
Willem whipped his phone from his jeans and made a call, directing his team of agents. They could reach the boy faster than he could fly.
Charlotte listened to him rattle off a string of orders and afterward hung up. “They’re on the way. Now let’s go join them.”
~ ~ ~
Willem held Charlotte tight to his side as he flew them both in the direction of the realm school, faster than he’d ever flown before. Charlotte said nothing, but he felt the tension in every bone of her body as well as how fixed her mind was on their destination point. Even if he hadn’t known exactly where the school was, he could have used the signal she emitted and flown her directly to the site.
By the time they arrived, an RIU advance team was in place, ready to bust down the doors, but one of his agents met him, frowning. “We can’t find an entrance to the basement.”
“I know where it is,” Charlotte said.
She then directed the entire unit to a doorway, kept secret through fae charms, but which her own emerging powers had no problem dispelling.
Everything happened at once. The advance team broke down the door and apprehended the criminal, a well-known Grochaire businessman.
Once he was handcuffed, Willem faced the man who had brutalized him. There was a strained look in the killer’s eyes, his gaze sliding away from Willem’s then back. “So you finally caught up with me, but I don’t know how since I paid a fortune for the charms.”
Willem had been right all along; a spell had been in place. “Take him away.”
He paid no more attention to the killer. In this moment, he meant nothing.
Instead, Willem turned his attention to the boy. Emergency techs were already with him.
Charlotte squeezed his arm. “I think I can help.”
When Willem nodded to her, she ignored the blood on the floor and went straight to the boy, speaking quietly to the EMTs. She then put her hand on the boy’s head and closed her eyes.
She’d been in his world long enough to know that healing was often part of the fae gift. He joined her in support and wasn’t surprised to find that she was delivering a strong steady flow of fae healing power. Vojalie had been right: Charlotte had tremendous potential.
He watched in stages as the boy began to relax, though he remained unconscious. Even his wounds began to recede, if slowly. She sustained her effort, until a well-known fae healer arrived and took over for Charlotte.
The forensic crew had already moved in and started setting up their equipment. It would be a long time before the basement as well as the house above would be released.
With a heavy heart, Willem recognized the room and yes, he’d been here a long time ago.
He decided then and there that he’d buy the house, have it demolished, the basement removed, and the land filled in. Eventually, he would have the ground blessed by the local Fae Guild and once some of the horror of the location diminished, he would build an altar of remembrance laid in place for those children who had died at the hands of the monster.
For now, he stood side-by-side with Charlotte, staring at the table that was as familiar to him as the odd, motor oil smell of the place. He could never have done this without Charlotte, without being bonded to her, or without Davido’s hard push to release what had held him captive for so long. For all of that, he was grateful beyond words.
“This is where it happened, isn’t it?” Charlotte’s quiet and deeply respectful voice, pierced his thoughts.
“Yes, but the room is much smaller than I remembered. Of course, I’d been only ten at the time.”
She glanced at him. “You okay?”
He slid his arm around her waist and squeezed. “I am now.” And he was, not just because he’d finally exorcised the demon, but because Charlotte was with him.
* * * * * * * * *
Hours later, as dawn began to creep over the ocean, spreading a soft pink light on a sea that extended for hundreds of miles to the west, Charlotte lay in bed beside Willem.
His arm was around her shoulder and he’d laced his fingers through hers. He had a remote in hand, one that would lower the security shades, an important factor for sun-sensitive vampire types. But even she winced as the sky lightened a little more, another sign that she was becoming part fae.
The fae of the Nine Realms were also light sensitive, unlike shifters and trolls but not quite as bad as vampires.
When he clicked, she actually breathed a sigh of relief.
The shutters came down a full foot away from the house so that the ocean breeze continued to flow through Willem’s bedroom.
Releasing his hand, she turned into him, then settled her arm over his muscled chest. He’d made love to her and fed from her again and her heart was still singing as well as their joined mating vibrations.
“I love you,” she whispered.
“You have my heart, Charlotte, every last piece of it. You always will. You changed everything for me.”
She lifted up slightly to meet his gaze. “And you did the same for me. From the time I was a child and learned about the Nine Realms, I knew I wanted to explore your world. But until you asked me out, and we had this incredible experience together, it never occurred to me that I could build a life here.
“Now I’ve embraced what must have always lived inside me.” She reached up and kissed him, which caused his arms to tighten around her. “I’m happier than I’ve ever been.”
He drew back enough to meet her gaze, running a finger down her cheek. He’d done that on the beach below when he’d first brought her to Maris Sol what felt like a lifetime ago, when she wondered if he was seducing her.
But Willem hadn’t seduced her at all. Instead, the seduction belonged to the Nine Realms, to the magical forces at work that had played on her heart for as long as she could remember, calling to her to grab hold of all that she was, all that she could be in either the human or realm worlds.
Now she was bonded to an extraordinary man, who happened to be a vampire and who worked for the RIU.
And because of her strong fae gifts, she’d be able to help as well.
Charlotte lay her head down on Willem’s shoulder, hugging him. “I could stay here forever.”
He squeezed her shoulder. “Good, because I plan to keep you here at least that long.”
As the sun rose, her eyes finally closed and she fell into a dreamless, undisturbed sleep. Hours later, howev
er, her fae vibration woke her up.
Blinking her eyes open, she glanced around and put a hand to her chest. Fear rippled through her because she didn’t recognize what she was looking at. She sat up, staring at a heavily bruised child, cowering in the corner, but it wasn’t Willem’s room.
It took her a moment to realize she was having another vision. Slowly, she panned back and saw a drunken fae woman weaving in the doorway, a beer bottle dangling from her fingers.
Willem reached for her, rubbing her back. “What is it, Charlotte?”
She wanted to look at him, but she was afraid to lose the vision. Instead, she panned back farther and farther until she could see the outside of the house, the address and finally the street.
At last releasing the vision, she turned to him. “Time to go to work.”
“What? A vision?” He glanced toward the shuttered windows. “It’s still light out.”
She nodded. “I know. But you have trolls on your team who can deal with this, right?”
His lips twisted. “So this is to be my new life?” Then he smiled.
She dipped down and kissed him. “I’ll spend every non-working hour making it worth your while, vampire.”
His smile softened and a gentle expression entered his eye. “You already have.”
***
Caris Roane Bio
As of September, 2014, and with the publication of, “SEDUCED”, New York Times bestselling Author Caris Roane has published twenty paranormal romances. As Caris Roane, she currently writes paranormal romance for St. Martin’s Press and self-publishes several series set in different paranormal worlds. Writing as Valerie King, she has published fifty Regency works and in 2005, Romantic Times gave her a Career Achievement award in Regency Romance. To learn more about Caris Roane, please visit her website: www.carisroane.com
For the Newest Releases, Hottest Pics, and Coolest Contests, be sure to sign up for Caris’s newsletter: http://www.carisroane.com/contact-2/
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Titles In The Blood Rose Series
EMBRACE THE DARK
EMBRACE THE MAGIC
EMBRACE THE MYSTERY