Even though part of her knew she was still embedded in a dream, she opened her eyes and stared down at Rafe, studying his peaceful face. He’d had a “love ’em and leave ’em” reputation. Play and go, the irrepressible flirt. Alone with him at dinner, Taz saw the man in pain who was afraid to love again. He was sweet and kind, despite his flirty horndog façade. Taz was the first woman he’d loved since his wife, Cassandra, died. He’d let her into his mind and shown her the truth.
In her dream, she reached out and caressed Rafe’s cheek. This must be how she was dealing with things now that her freaky powers were awakening. It felt so real, like she was actually with him.
Taz would never admit it to Matthias, not in a million years, but part of her wished she’d slept with Rafe in real life before he died. Maybe if she’d gone to Rafe’s cabin in person, instead of doing the succubus number on him, Caroline wouldn’t have killed him. It would have meant losing the man she loved, but then again, didn’t that happen already? The other man she loved was dead before morning, and she considered it her fault.
Either way, she lost. Only Rafe paid with his life. Taz may not have killed him, but she still felt guilty.
As if sensing her thoughts, dream Rafe opened his eyes. “Sleep, baby girl. This isn’t good for you.” He pulled her snugly against him. She eventually closed her eyes.
“I love you, Rafe,” she whispered.
“It’s okay, Taz baby,” he said. “I love you, too. Now to go sleep.”
God, if only his voice didn’t sound so clear in her mind! Just like that damned disembodied voice she’d heard in Yellowstone.
Part of her wished Matthias hadn’t stopped her from dropping Caroline into Abyss Pool, wanting to make her the main ingredient in a hot spring full of vampire soup. Caroline deserved to die for killing Rafe.
Deserved to die for killing the man she loved.
Taz finally slept.
Chapter Two
Matthias couldn’t sleep, his conversation with Bartholomew bouncing around in his brain, angering him.
He watched Taz. Even in her sleep she rubbed her finger over Rafael’s ring, the one she took from his hand after they’d recovered his body from the woods behind his cabin. Real citrine in a plain gold setting, given to him by Cassandra before she died. Rafe used to work it like a worry stone, running his thumb over the band when he was anxious or stressed, and now Taz had the same unconscious nervous tic.
Matthias thought about the last day of Rafael’s life and allowed his thoughts to drift deeper into the recesses of time.
The night Cassandra died. Matthias got there just before she went, before Rafael…
Even further into the past.
Sarah.
God, he’d been only sixteen years old! Back then, hundreds of years earlier, times were different, and he was considered a man. Sarah was nearly a year younger than him, and a vision when he rode up on her one afternoon while out hunting with another cousin.
Love at first sight. Her green eyes and auburn hair captivated him. “Perhaps I should come over there and kiss you,” he’d teased.
She smiled, and his soul belonged to her. “You can kiss me when you catch me, sir. If you catch me.” Then she’d wheeled her horse around and took off, her laughter trailing behind her.
Matthias jumped on his horse, the hunt forgotten. He’d raced after her, desperate to keep her in his sight. It took nearly a year of chasing, but he finally caught her for good. Until he lost her and, even more heartbreaking, their third child. Their first two children hadn’t survived either, and then he was left alone with only his grief and memories.
He remembered how he sobbed while his father helped him dig her grave in the clearing where they’d buried the first two children, near where his father had laid his mother to rest. Then placing the stone so he would know where to grieve.
Years later, helping Rafe bury Cassandra there…
Matthias slipped his arm around Taz, deeply inhaling her scent, fighting his tears. He should cry for Rafe, but feared he couldn’t stop. Too much grief to take at one time. Now he had Taz, and even her scent imprinted his love for her upon his soul. He thought he’d lost her, too, when she withdrew and tried to die after nearly killing Caroline.
All these hundreds of years later, no other woman had caught his heart the way Sarah had, until Tim Robertson showed him Anastazia’s picture after she graduated from law school ten years earlier. Captivated didn’t begin to describe how he felt about her. Well, no other woman since…
But Cassandra was never his to have. He’d kept his distance, an act of sheer self-control.
Matthias knew Taz was special just from Tim’s many reports about her abilities and progress through the years. Thank God he’d had the sense to place Tim there, working for her parents to help raise her and guide her without revealing anything about her powers or special nature. Tim had trained her well.
Matthias had wanted to spend years easing her into the truth, give her time to get to know him and hopefully fall in love with him the way he’d loved her.
What a mess.
Could he ever make it up to her? She blamed herself—wrongly—for Rafe’s death. What if he’d waited to bring Taz in? He’d wanted to hire her to work for him and start the agonizingly long process of gently exposing her to everything so the final truth wouldn’t shock or overwhelm her—which was exactly what had happened.
Had he not been greedy, had he waited, Rafe would still be alive. So wasn’t the ultimate blame his to bear?
Even in sleep, Taz still held a barrier in her mind. She was far stronger than she knew, scared of her powers, and terrified of losing control again after almost killing Caroline. She was a true force of nature and would go on to do great things.
“I love you, cara,” he sent to her, feeling her heartbeat under his palm.“I love you more than life. I will die for you, because I couldn’t bear to lose this kind of love twice in my life.”
In sleep, she cuddled closer to him and he kissed her neck. “I love you, Taz,” he whispered, closing his eyes. “Please don’t ever leave me.”
Matthias awoke before dawn the next morning with Taz tantalizingly pressed against him. When he tried to shift position, his morning erection ended up nestled in the cleft of her ass. He stifled a moan.
She turned to face him and slowly rolled her hips, making his already stiff cock ache with need. He couldn’t resist, nudging against her, gasping as his cock easily slid into her already wet pussy.
She must have been having really good dreams to be that ready, but she wasn’t totally awake, caught in the twilight between sleep and dawn. That much he knew from what little he could sense through her mental barrier.
He closed his eyes and slowly stroked his cock inside her, debating whether or not to wake her up. If she was having wonderful dreams, he didn’t want to spoil that for her, not after the horrific past few days she’d had. He folded her against his chest and savored her scent, the feel of her body against his as he slowly made love to her.
After many long minutes, her arms tightened around him. She nuzzled his neck, her tongue tasting his flesh.
“Anastazia,” he whispered in her ear. “I love you so much.”
Her legs tightened around him as her hands traced his spine down to his hips. She was waking up. He felt her awareness grow as her pulse quickened. Taking this as his cue, he gently rolled on top of her and slid a hand between their bodies. In the dim light he kissed her, breathing her name through her lips as he gently explored with his tongue.