Raven's Rose (Charity Series Book 3) (5 page)

              Kyle was dragging Rose by the arm through the forest. She tried to use her strength to break free, but it only angered him more. He’d shown up after school, pressing what she thought was a gun to her back and demanding she come with him. No one seemed to notice or even care, which puzzled her. She was a new student after all, but everyone was either on their cell phones or iPods, not giving her the least amount of concern, or maybe they really didn’t notice. Either way it didn’t matter anymore, she may die soon, and she’d not even had a chance to really live. She didn’t know Kyle’s plans, but it couldn’t be good. After all, besides being mean, she knew he was also reckless and impulsive.

             
“Kyle, let me go. Please let me go,” she pleaded, fear shaking her to her core.

             
“After how you treated me—I don’t think so. You’re coming back to Atlanta with me.”

             
Her eyes widened in alarm. “Kyle, no!”

             
She struggled and fought until he pushed her down and pointed the gun at her.

             
“Are you gonna make me do this?” he shouted, his eyes were wild, and his hand shook slightly as he held the gun to her face.

             
“No!” she screamed, squeezing her eyes shut, too scared to even move for fear of angering him further.

             
Suddenly, she thought she picked up a sound but before she could make sense of it something that resembled a brick wall slammed into Kyle with great force, sending him sailing ten feet into the air and then crashing hard to the ground. Raven stood there, teeth clenched, this time picking him up and slamming his body into the closest tree and letting him fall to the ground again where he lay unmoving.

             
For a moment she lost herself, staring at the beautiful man in awe with his black hair and blacker eyes. He was magnificent. Her eyes trailed down to his rock hard arms and then she remembered the women wrapped around those arms just yesterday. As his eyes finally met hers, her anger returned.

             
“Sophia!” He rushed to her side and began helping her to her feet. “Are you all right?” he asked, pulling her to him.

             
She let him take her in his arms, snuggling her face against his chest as she breathed in his amazing scent. But, remembering her previous irritation with him, she jerked away from his touch. “I’m fine.” She knew she should forgive him, but her pride was damaged. And she was nothing if not stubborn.

             
Eli, Levi, and Charity burst onto the scene.

             
“Rose! Are you all right?” Eli asked, taking his little sister in his arms. She clung to him and cried. He ushered her immediately away.

        
                                    * * * * * *

Charity watched as Hector came up from behind them and grabbed the little twerp, Kyle, and carried him away without a word. They would have Raven remove Kyle’s memories of Rose later.

              Raven stood there motionless and numb—right before he collapsed.

             
“Levi!” Charity called.

             
Levi collected Raven’s limp body in his arms and carried him all the way back to the Drake House.

                              Chapter Seven

Levi laid Raven on his bed and Charity covered him with the blanket. “We need to get someone to feed him so he can begin to heal,” Charity said to Levi. “Where is Doc?”

              “He’s on his way. I’ll call Irena and get her to handle getting someone to feed him.”

             
“There’s no time. I’ll do it.” She sat on the bed and began rolling up her sleeve.

             
“I don’t think so!” Levi snapped, pulling her from the bed. “We’ll get someone else!”

             
“Fine!” she snapped back, “But we better hurry. He looks bad.”

             
Raven’s head turned as his eyes opened slightly. “No feeding,” he mumbled.

             
“What?” Charity asked. “You have to feed in order to heal.”

             
“No feeding,” he said again, this time weaker.

             
“Tell me why,” she demanded, leaning in closer.

             
His voice was just a whisper, but with her new keen hearing, thanks to her growing babies, she managed to hear his feeble word. “Rose.”

             
Charity stood tall—her crystal blue eyes boiling with rage.

                                        
    * * * * * *

Charity burst into Rose’s bedroom without so much as a knock. “What have you done?!” she demanded, her face red with restrained anger.

              “What?” Rose asked in confusion, her head still a blur from her ordeal in the forest.

             
“Do you even understand what you’ve done? Raven could die!”

             
“What?” She stood in alarm. “Raven—die? But how?”

             
“The sun hurts vampires—zaps their strength, sending pain shooting through their limbs. Direct sunlight, in particular, can burn them; even dry them to the bone. Raven said it feels like lightning passing through their veins—and yet he gave no thought to that the moment he heard you were missing from school. He shot out of here without a single thought to his own safety. And what do you do? Shun him! Now he won’t even feed in order to heal himself. He said “no feeding!” and then mumbled your name. What’s that all about anyway?”

             
Rose rubbed her temples, seemingly shocked at Charity’s anger, or maybe it was over this new information. From Rose’s frantic expression, her emotions were in overload.

“After our date the other night,” Rose began, “I offered myself to him to feed. He refused. I got angry, but later I felt bad about that, so I went to find him to apologize. I found him feeding on a pretty woman in the hall. And you know the rest. I didn’t understand how he could do that. I still don’t.”

Charity sighed, her anger dissipating instantly. After all, she knew all too well the emotion of jealousy. She was the last one to judge such a response. She remembered how it felt when she thought Serena was trying to seduce Levi. It seemed so long ago, but she still remembered how painful such thoughts could be. She sighed, taking a seat on the bed next to Rose. “Well, let me explain. We have donors assigned to Raven. These are pack members who’ve volunteered to feed him.  It’s too dangerous for him to leave the safety of the facility to find his own source of food. The vampires may be looking for him. We set up a schedule and, unless requested sooner, one will show up to feed him every seven days or so. That girl he was feeding from was assigned to him—a donor. That’s all. He has no other relationship with any of them beyond that. He’s been incapable of love since the loss of his Rose—that is until you showed up. Now do you understand?”

Rose lowered her head, seemingly ashamed of her actions. “I have been such a witch. I should’ve known.”

Charity took her hand in hers, compassion filling her as she studied Rose. “How could you have known? You two still barely know each other, but it’s not too late to make it right.”

“Charity, really? Do you think he can forgive me?”

She flashed a devilish smile. “I think he’s dying to forgive you—pun intended. Now here’s what you should do.”

                  
               Chapter Eight

Rose opened the door slowly and crept into Raven’s living quarters. It was dark, and until her eyes adjusted, she had to feel her way through the rooms. Once her eyes did adjust, however, she could see quite well, and had no trouble finding Raven’s bedroom. She stepped in slowly, cautiously approaching the dark figure lying unmoving in his bed. She sat down on the edge of the bed and took his hand in hers; it was slightly cool to the touch. He still didn’t move.

              “Raven, it’s me, Sophia.”

             
His head gradually turned toward her, and she saw the moment his dark eyes finally focused on her. “Sophia? Is it really you?” His voice was but a whisper.

             
“Yes, Raven, it’s me. I came to apologize. I’ve been such a fool. Can you ever forgive me?”

             
His smile was weak. “Of course I forgive you. I too was a fool.”

             
“No,” she said, shaking her head from side to side. “You saved my life. I want to thank you properly, and I won’t take no for an answer. After all, I did inherit some of Rose’s tenacity.”

             
He laughed softly. “Yes, I do not doubt that.”

             
She brought his hand up to her lips and kissed it softly—then pulled her hair to the side and positioned herself on the bed, towering over him—her neck hovering just over his mouth.

             
“I am sorry, Sophia, but I cannot. I do not want to hurt you. I am too thirsty.”

             
She smiled. “I thought you might say that.” She secretly thanked Charity for the idea. Mischievously, she pulled her father’s pocketknife from her jeans pocket and cut a small slit on her neck, allowing the blood to trickle slowly down her neck toward her collarbone.

              His eyes grew wide as he gaped at her in disbelief.

             
“Are you going to let my rich, sweet werewolf blood go to waste then?” she asked, watching him closely, as he lay there motionless on the bed below her.

             
His response startled her. Everything blurred as he grabbed her in his arms, but then slowly caught the droplet just passing her collarbone with his tongue. She gasped at the intimacy of the act, which left her breathless and lightheaded. He slowly traced the trail of blood up her neck until he settled his lips over her small wound. When he pierced her skin she felt little pain, able to focus only on the heat burning within her.

She imagined he couldn’t have made love to her and it feel any more intimate, his hands holding her so gently now as his lips caressed her neck. A moan rumbled in his throat, making her respond with a whimper of her own. When he pulled away and gazed up at her, she was sure she saw a flame burning behind his dark eyes. It burned with an intensity she’s never experienced in her short life, and she was unable to look away, compelled by the overwhelming beauty of him. When his lips came down on hers, she wasn’t prepared for her own response. She threw her arms around his neck and pulled him against her, holding onto him as if her life would end the moment he pulled away. And she felt like it might.

Abruptly he pulled away. “Sophia, you had better go now.”

             
“I don’t want to go,” she whispered, taking his face in her hands. She sought his lips again and found them. He was trying to be noble but wasn’t strong enough to back it up. He wanted her too and she knew it.

             
The kiss deepened as he sought to devour her, and she felt as though their souls were merging somehow as the passion flowed between them.

             
When they finally broke, both were left breathless, smiling contentedly.

             
“I think I love you, Sophia Rose Jameson,” he breathed, staring at her with such sincerity.

             
“You mean me and not your old Rose?”

“There is no old Rose. You are the only Rose for me now. My Sophia Rose.”

She smiled. “Oh yeah, well in that case I think I may love you too, Raven Vanderburg.”

             
His smile was wider than she’d ever seen anyone smile, flashing his sparkling, white teeth, and she thought to herself,
wow—a vampire and a werewolf—who would have ever thought it possible.

                                 
Chapter Nine

From that moment on they were inseparable. Aside from school, they spent pretty much every waking minute together, learning everything there was to know about each other; past memories, their favorite things, what music they listened to, and how they felt about each other. They even shared their future dreams. Raven didn’t have any dreams outside of spending his days with Rose. This made her blush, which he adored. Rose, however, dreamed of being an artist. She loved to paint and was very good at it. He spent a lot of time peering over her shoulder, watching her work on piece after piece. He loved how elegant her fingers were as they stroked the pages and created such colorful images. His favorite was the one she did of him. He was smiling, and at first, he almost didn’t recognize himself, but this was his life now; a life filled with laughter and lots of smiling.