As a boy, he’d once broken Jessamy’s arm by jumping on her from a high shelf, he’d been so excited to see her. She’d told him not to worry, that she knew he hadn’t done it on purpose and that she’d heal quickly, but he’d never forgotten her cry of shock and pain—or the horrible crunching sound her arm made as it snapped.
“It’s your task to make sure she doesn’t break, Naasir.” The midnight of Raphael’s hair whipped around his face as the wind rose in a sudden gust. “Andromeda is our greatest chance of reaching Alexander first—we can’t forget Lijuan’s age or the age of the scholars in her court. She may have access to information that gives her a head start.”
Turning his attention back toward the metal and glass and glittering water of the city, Naasir tried to sound human as he spoke. He didn’t wholly succeed, his words guttural. “How am I supposed to find my mate if I’m dragging around another woman?”
“You’ve survived six hundred years without a mate.” A touch of amusement in Raphael’s tone. “Why are you so impatient now?”
“Because it’s time.” Naasir lived according to the rhythms of his blood and of his soul, and that rhythm was now pounding a single beat. “Is this scholar wild and interesting?” he asked hopefully, because like his sire, he didn’t judge a person on their bloodline, only on their actions.
“Not according to your definition. It appears Andromeda has taken a vow of celibacy.”
Naasir groaned. “I think I should jump off into traffic. It’d be less painful than such torture.”
Naasir liked sex, liked touching women’s soft, warm bodies, liked driving his cock into their tight, wet sheaths as they screamed his name. He hadn’t done it since the night he decided to go mate hunting, so he wasn’t frustrated by the vow of celibacy because he planned to seduce the scholar—no, he was frustrated because that vow confirmed she wasn’t his, and now he was going to be stuck with her for who knew how long.
No mate of his would ever be so ridiculous as to take a vow of celibacy. “What kind of strange person takes a vow like that?” Angelkind wasn’t exactly known for its lack of excess.
Raphael laughed, the big, open sound one Naasir hadn’t heard for a long time before Elena came into the sire’s life. That was what Naasir wanted—a mate who’d play with him, who’d make him laugh, who’d challenge him. And who’d rut with him. Over and over. No idiotic vow of celibacy permitted.
“There are the odd few,” Raphael said after his laughter faded. “Scholars sometimes believe cutting out physical distractions heightens the mind.”
“In that case, I’d rather stay unenlightened.” Rising to his feet, Naasir held Raphael’s gaze. “I will go, sire.” He’d miss dinner with Honor and Dmitri, but they would understand—and when he returned, he’d be welcome at their table.
Raphael shook his head, the inky strands of his hair crossing over the painful blue of his eyes as the gust returned. “Not tonight, Naasir. Tonight, you’ll spend with family in New York.”
2
Naasir hated traveling in the metal bucket of a jet, but it was the fastest way for a non-winged traveler to get most of the way to the Refuge. He paced the cabin the entire time and was out the door almost before it was fully open once they landed. The sun on his face, the kiss of wind, it was pure pleasure.
Breathing deep for the first time in hours, he shook himself to settle his skin back into proper place, then grabbed his duffel when the pilot threw it out. He grinned and saluted one of the two men—the other being the co-pilot—whom he’d driven crazy over the flight. The other vampire was used to him and flashed Naasir his fangs before disappearing back inside.
Naasir laughed and, duffel slung over his shoulder, loped to the private parking garage that housed his motorcycle. He could see mountains in the distance, clouds touching them, but they weren’t of the Refuge. He was still far, for the angels had nothing of civilization close to them.
Any unauthorized vampire, or mortal who accidentally entered Refuge territory, soon forgot about it, the memory taken quietly away. The landscape itself was so forbidding that it kept most at bay, and the powerful angels who lived permanently in the Refuge were able to do something that swathed the approaches to the angelic haven in heavy fog.