Sighing impatiently, she shook off a curious sense of foreboding and crossed immediately to the bureau. She picked up the letter, taking it with her as she hurried to the closet and its secret entrance. Taking the few steep stairs downward, she closed and locked the door behind her, then sank onto the thick mattress which served as a bed in the tight quarters.
Legs crossed beneath her, she slid a scarlet fingernail beneath the seal and sliced it open, withdrawing a single, folded sheet of paper. A photograph tumbled to the floor and she bent over to pick it up, frowning at the three people pictured there. Two men and a woman. None of whom she knew.
Laying the photograph aside, she unfolded the piece of heavy linen writing paper and found it covered in Lucien’s handwriting. Sophia’s heart sank as she began to read.
Chapter Seven
Raphael sighed as the vault door closed behind him and he listened as Cyn locked them in with a series of muted thuds. This room was below ground, accessed by a private elevator and reserved for his exclusive use when visiting the Seattle compound. All of his vampires here slept their days underground, secure in a state-of-the-art vault like this one, which, once closed, could be opened only from the inside, except by Raphael or the nest’s leader or security chief. Within the larger vault, each vampire had a private sleeping chamber. Raphael’s private room was in a separate wing, more spacious and better appointed, but it was no more or less secure than those of the other vampires in the compound.
Cyn threw her leather jacket over a chair, slipped off the shoulder holster and popped the magazine from her Glock before coming close enough to lean into him and wrap her arms around his waist. “I’m sorry about Marco and Preston,” she said. “They were with you a long time.”
Raphael circled her slender shoulders and pulled her against his chest, taking comfort from her presence. “I’m glad you’re here,” he admitted.
“I told you,” she teased gently. “Besides, after that last New Mexico trip of yours, I swore I’d never let you leave me behind again. I was miserable the whole time you were gone.”
Raphael smiled into her sweet-smelling hair and let himself be distracted from the horrible night. “Were you?” he asked.
She jabbed him in the side. “Like you weren’t. Besides, who will take care of you if I’m not here?”
“Duncan? Juro, perhaps?”
“Don’t be obtuse.”
“Obtuse. I suppose that’s better than your usual epithet.”
“Which one would that be?”
Raphael snorted dismissively. “I’m hardly going to provide ammunition for my own execution.”
“Don’t be a baby.”
“Hmmm,” he murmured, gliding his hands down over her back to cup her ass. “Not what I had in mind, no.”
Cyn pressed herself closer, rising up onto her toes to reach his mouth. “How long before sunrise?”
“More than an hour, sweet Cyn.”
“We’ll have to hurry then.”
Raphael laughed, and it felt good. He swept her up in his arms, crossed to the bed in a few strides and dropped her onto its wide expanse. “Clothes, lubimaya,” he said. “Off.”
“You’re such a romantic,” she murmured as she kicked off her boots, then lay back on the bed to unbutton and unzip her slacks, shimmying them under her sweet ass and down her legs in a way that had his c*ck growing heavy against his thighs. He tore off his own clothing, tossing it to one side as he watched Cyn tug her sweater over her head, leaving her in nothing but a sheer bra that enticed more than it covered and a matching bit of lace between her legs.
Raphael eyed that bit of lace and growled as he shed the last of his own clothing, prowling over to the bed and tugging her closer, until her h*ps rode the very edge. “Off,” he repeated with a snarl. He snapped the two thin bits of satin holding the triangle of lace in place and tossed it over his shoulder. He reached for the bra, but Cyn was already there, freeing her beautiful br**sts as he spread her legs around his h*ps and slipped his hands beneath her ass, holding her open to him.
“Raphael,” she said breathlessly.
Scenting her arousal, he plunged into her tight sheath without warning, pushing himself in as deep as he could go. She was ready for him, as he’d known she would be, and she hummed with pleasure as his penetration stretched her open around his cock, her muscles straining against his thickness. She shivered with desire, growing wetter, slicker and hotter, warming his cock, welcoming him home.
He wanted to f**k her, to slam his c*ck over and over into the human heat of her until he forgot everything but the sheer sensuous pleasure of her luscious body pulsing around him. Until he was coated in her creamy juices as she screamed his name.
She looked up, her green eyes narrow and sparking with desire, her gaze never leaving his as she deliberately began caressing her own br**sts, cupping them provocatively, squeezing and releasing. She took a nipple between her thumb and fingers, rolling until it was hard and full, and then moved to the other breast. She raised her fingers to her mouth and licked them thoroughly, until they glistened with moisture. Raphael watched, his c*ck throbbing as he began to move slowly, in and out of her silken body.
Cyn blinked lazily, rubbing those wet fingers over her br**sts, trailing down the flat span of her belly to slip between the plump folds of her sex. Holding herself open, she began to circle her clit, her breath catching as he thrust harder, faster, his arms stretched taut and stiff to either side of her, so he could watch her play with herself, watch her sensitive pearl swell with desire, flushing pink with blood as it responded eagerly to the stimulation of her fingers.
Cyn’s breath shuddered from her lungs and she leaned back, eyes closed, face gleaming with sweat as she fought her orgasm.
“Come for me, sweet Cyn. Let me feel you shudder around my cock.”