Chapter two
Five years ago…
After being exonerated of the murders alleged against him, Riordyn's intention had been to greet the dawn thereby ending the curse that kept his lifemate from finding eternal peace. He couldn't do it. He stood waiting as the first golden rays of dawn seared his skin. But when the moment came, some outside force pushed its way into his mind and forced him to go to ground. At first he believed it to be his brother Rafe controlling him, exerting his will to make certain Riordyn did not end his life. Yet when given the chance to think about it, he realized he would have recognized his brother's touch on his mind.
Again and again he tried to greet the dawn with the same results. Finally he gave up, and returned home to search for his lifemate. The only thing he knew for certain about her was that she was mentally insane. He spent his nights spanning the countryside, investigating every mental institution in hopes of finding her. The gray bleakness of every asylum he entered wore on his soul, dragging him down into the depths of darkness the likes of which he had never known before.
Numerous times he considered making his presence known to Rafe to end his solitary existence. The thought always lingered in his mind after every unsuccessful venture to find his lifemate. But Rafe believed him dead, and eventually he would try to greet the dawn again. He steeled his resolve knowing he could never put his twin through the pain of losing him a second time.
If his emotions hadn't returned due to the cruel experiments the Morris Research Facility conducted on him and Rafe's lifemate Genevieve, he wouldn't be feeling the heavy weight of loneliness pulling him under. And even if he didn't want to admit it to himself, maybe it was his emotions and not some outside force that kept him from greeting the dawn.
And maybe his emotions were to blame for allowing one of the patients he came across in his travels to get under his skin. Thankfully she wasn't his lifemate – she didn't bring color back into his life, but she did bring trouble, amusement, and even laughter into his life.
He stumbled upon her at the Havenhurst Sanatorium – quite literally stumbled as she was hiding under the bed when he entered her room in search of his lifemate. Not seeing anyone, but hearing a single erratic heartbeat, he slowly traveled through the drab white-walled room. When he'd made it to the window, he pivoted back around, and that's when she lunged out from under the bed and slammed into the backs of his knees. Unprepared for the sneak attack, his knees buckled, and he fell, slamming his head into the ground.
"Not this time, Cobbs!" she said triumphantly, and scrambling up onto his chest, she raised a fist to strike him.
"I would not do that if I were you," he uttered in a lowly deadly tone, and in a blur of motion he caught hold of her fist. "You will remove yourself from my body before I am forced to do it for you."
The girl's steel gray eyes widened considerably. She was young, no more than fourteen or fifteen years old, and yet the look in those large eyes of hers bespoke of experiences of a person well beyond her age. "Did Cobbs send you?" Although she was trying to put up a brave front, he heard the slight tremor in her voice as she spoke. "If so you can tell him he's not my pimp!"
Riordyn lifted a brow, and studied her more closely. Faded bruises peeked over the collar of her oversized t-shirt, and on her lower lip he noticed an ugly scab. "Tell me, little one, does this Cobbs' person mistreat you? Did he rape you?" His body tensed as he waited for her answer. Carpathian men cherished women and children, and the thought of someone hurting an innocent girl filled him with rage.
"He wouldn't call it rape." Cautiously, with eyes on him, she slid off him, got to her feet and backed away from him. She edged around the bed as if that would give her an advantage if he suddenly attacked her. "Why are you doing in my room?"
"I was looking for someone," Riordyn replied as he rose to his feet and brushed off his pants. "Instead I found you." For a split second he considered leaving her, but he knew what it felt like to be raped – to have someone take advantage when he was too weak and broken to defend himself. "You will show me where this man Cobbs is, and I will see to it that he hurts you no more."
"Yeah, that's not going to happen, Sparky," she said, eying the doorway to her private bathroom.
"You can try – you will not make it far." He chuckled.
"I'm a fast runner." Her gaze darted back and forth between him and the open door.
"I assure you I am faster. Now tell me where the man is and what he looks like."
"I hate to burst your bubble, but Cobbs is a lot bigger and stronger than you – hell, I knocked you down. So I'm not going to tell you where he is and be responsible for you ending up in the hospital."
"Are you questioning my strength?" A smile tugged at the corner of his lips. "I'll have you know I am quite capable of taking care of myself."
She chewed at the scab on her lower lip in clear indecision. "If you really want to help me, then get me out of here. I'm not crazy – not yet anyway, but if they keep me here much longer, I'll go insane."
"If you are not ill then why are your parents allowing these people to keep you in this place?"
"My parents died when I was four." Squaring her shoulders, she sauntered around the bed, and came to stand before him. Lifting a hand, she trailed it down his chest to the waistband of his pants. Her tongue darted out to glide along her upper lip. "Help me, and I'll do anything you want." Her voice turned low and seductive, not at all the tone he would expect from a child.
"You are a child," he uttered, grasping hold of her hand before her fingers traveled any lower. "And as such, I can do no other than protect you – even if it means protecting you from yourself."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Her eyebrows knitted together. "I'm not a child, and I definitely know how to please a man."
"Your answer is all the proof I need to say you are in desperate need of my guidance and protection, little one." Riordyn easily slipped into her mind and sent her a sharp mental command to sleep. Her eyelids drooped closed, and before she fell to the ground, he scooped her up into his arms.
I am abducting a teenage girl from a mental institution. This is not going to end well. He berated himself as he strode through the long corridor of the mental institution. She wasn't part of his world, but no one from her own world was looking out for her well being. Every ingrained instinct within him cried out to save her from those who would use and abuse her body. Later when he had her safely tucked away in his lair he would return and take care of Cobbs and any other man who abused her.
Several doctors, orderlies and nurses unknowingly passed by them as he made his way toward the exit. He paused at the sight of a large man with short scruffy hair walking toward the double doors of the exit. The man was dressed in a light gray security guard uniform and from the silver nametag he wore, Riordyn read the name Cobbs. As he stood watching the muscular man, Cobbs unlocked the front door, ushered a seedy looking man inside, and took the wad of cash the man offered him.
"Down the corridor, take your first right and it's the fifteenth room on the left," he said in a voice just above a whisper. Riordyn retraced his steps in his mind, and cursed under his breath when he realized Cobbs was sending the man to the room where he abducted the girl.
Carefully setting the girl down on a couch in the reception area, he lunged forward and shifted into a large black wolf. A low growl rumbling in his throat was their only warning before he attacked. His eyes burned red as he leapt at the man who had just entered the building. Sharp claws ripped through his clothing and tore into his chest. The man's screams echoed throughout the expansive lobby as Riordyn's jaws snapped closed around his upper arm. Blood surged into his mouth, the predatory need to kill his prey nearly overwhelming him.
Gunfire blasted, bullets slammed into Riordyn's body, piercing his wolf hide. With a yelp of surprise, he flew backward and slid across the floor. Blood quickly coated his fur. He shifted into human form and turned to face Cobbs. Instead of running, Cobbs stood with his gun aimed at Riordyn's chest.
From within the mental institution he heard the panicked screams of the patients, and he didn't need to look back to know the girl was awake. He sensed her eyes on him, but unlike the other patients she remained silent.
"You will no longer make money off the innocence of others," he growled, taking a slow calculated step toward Cobbs.
"I don't know what you are or how the hell you got in here, but you're going down, you son of a bitch!" A menacing smile spread across Cobbs' craggy features as he fired his gun again.
With lightning fast reflexes, Riordyn dodged the bullet. "To strike the kind of fear within you that you should be feeling at this moment, I will say I am vampire." In a blur of speed, he gripped hold of Cobb's throat and lifted him off the ground with one hand. His other hand circled Cobbs', and he applied pressure until the gun clattered to the ground. "I believe it will not be to my own damnation to kill you – no, it would be a just kill I think."
Lowering Cobbs to his feet, Riordyn bared his fangs, and drove them into the man's throat. Cobbs flailed and writhed in his arms, trying to break free, but he was no match for Riordyn's strength. Riordyn gorged himself on the rapist's blood, and could feel the life draining from him.
"We need to go," came a quiet voice behind him, and he felt the girl place a trembling hand on his back. "The police are coming." As she said this, Riordyn regained enough control to hear the sound of sirens drawing closer.
He will not go unpunished, little one. Riordyn swirled his tongue around the puncture wounds in Cobbs' throat, healing them. Then he bit into his own wrist, and fed the man his own blood. Now he would always be able to find him and have control over his mind. "You will admit what you have done to the police, and accept whatever punishment they give you. Do you understand?"
When Cobbs' gave a nod, Riordyn scooped the girl up in his arms and strode out the front door. "Close your eyes," he commanded, and waited until she did as he asked before he took to flight.
As he flew through the night, he tried to decide what to do with the girl. She was another complication he did not need in his life, and to keep her with him would leave her vulnerable during the daylight hours. Yet even knowing this, he couldn't turn her over to the humans who had failed to keep her from harm.
"I am Riordyn," he finally said with a heavy sigh. "What do they call you?"
"Jennifer – Jenny Callahan." Jenny pried open her eyes, glanced down at the world far below and gasped. Her arms wound around his neck in a death grip.
"Have no fear you will not fall while in my arms." Feeling her grip loosen a little, he smiled. "I am glad to see you trust me."
"Are you really a vampire?" She rolled her eyes. "What a stupid question. Of course you are." She muttered something unintelligible under her breath. "So are you the sparkly variety or more along the lines of Bram Stoker's version?"
"I do not sparkle," Riordyn chuckled, "and I may have embellished the truth for Cobbs' benefit. I am not vampire."
Jenny chewed at the scab on her lip as she contemplated what he said. "But you are dangerous."
"Lethal," he said without the slightest hesitation.
"And you drink blood."
"It is how I survive."
"And you have fangs – big ones."
"They do tend to help when I'm thirsty." He laughed again. "So have you revised your earlier notion that I am not strong enough to take on someone like Cobbs?"
She gave a quick nod, and removed her arm from around his throat to push her dark bangs out of her eyes. "What are you going to do with me?"
"That I have not decided. I will not turn you over to your own people and have them mistreat you." He looked down at her, and noticed the light dusting of freckles across her pert nose. "My people would cherish you –"
"Yeah, maybe for dinner," she cut in. "No, I can take care of myself, Sparky."
"You have not done such a great job taking care of yourself thus far," he gently reminded her. "And my name is Riordyn not Sparky."
Spying the mountains ahead, he dove downward and flew fast through the narrow tunnel leading to his temporary lair. Once inside the cavern deep within the mountain, he wove intricate safeguards to keep predators out and to make certain Jennifer remained inside with him. With a wave of his hand, he created a bed, table, chairs and a couch for her comfort. One by one candles burst to life, bathing the cavern in a warm glow.
"How old are you, Jenna?" he asked, taking a seat on the edge of a deep pool of water.
"Nineteen," she said without giving it a moment's thought.
"I am not asking for the age you give men when you prostitute your body." As he waited for her answer, he concentrated on ridding his body of the bullets. Once they wormed their way to the surface, and fell to the earth, he dug into the rich soil, mixed it with his saliva and packed his wounds. When she failed to respond, he added, "Make no mistake about it, I will know the truth even if I have to ferret it from your mind."
"Fifteen," she finally responded, slumping onto the couch.
"You are far too young to be making decisions for yourself." As he spoke he once again considered his options. If he left her in the care of the Carpathians, they would learn that he did not greet the sun. And that was something he could not allow to happen. And he wouldn't return her to the mental institution even with Cobbs gone. "You will stay with me until I figure out what is best for you."
"Stay – with you? In a cave." She laughed condescendingly. "Yeah, that's not going to happen. Maybe it's escaped your knowledge but I need food and –"
With a wave of his hand, heaping platters of food appeared on the table. And before she could make any other argument, he created two intricately carved dressers filled with clothing for her. "Anything you should need, I can provide for you."
"What if I want jewelry?" she said in an obvious attempt to be difficult.
With a roll of his eyes and a shake of his head, a heavy diamond necklace appeared around her throat while jeweled rings encircled every one of her fingers. "If those are not to your liking, princess, I assure you I can create anything to please you."
She lifted the necklace and studied it for a moment before she let it drop back against her chest. "I was only joking about the jewelry," she muttered, blowing the hair out of her eyes.
"I know." He chuckled, and as he laughed the jewelry disappeared.
Riordyn dragged himself to his feet, and walked to the table. Gesturing for her to join him, he took a seat. "I must feed and go to ground in order for my injuries to heal, Jenna," he said as she took a seat in the chair beside him. "You will not be afraid here if I am gone, will you?"
"No," she said, picking up a warm roll and slathering it with sweet smelling strawberry jam. "I'm use to being alone."
"As am I, little one." Riordyn felt an odd fluttering in his heart for the tiny wisp of a girl. "You have jam on your chin."
As she wiped off the jam with her shirt sleeve, she asked, "Who were you looking for at Havenhurst?"
"My lifemate," he said as he got to his feet, "the woman who is supposed to bring light to my darkness."
"And you expected to find her in a mental institution?" she giggled. "Wow, you really must be desperate."
"I am."