Forbidden Touch (33 page)

"C'mon baby. This is the big one. I know it's there, just let it go, Ciera."

He was right. Something was building in her so strong, that she thought if she let it go, it would rip her in half. She did as he asked of her. She let it go. It was the greatest feeling she had ever felt in her long life. Waves and waves of pleasure ran though her body like a rollercoaster. Then she felt Dane shudder above her. They both screamed out in pleasure, as their goal was met.

She ran her fingers over his back lightly. He had collapsed on top of her, and they were both still breathing heavily. She knew she wouldn't be able to erase the smile from her own face if her life depended on it. She had no regrets that she had chosen him to be her first. She would be with Mitch forever, but she loved Dane too, and he deserved nothing less than to be her first lover. She only wished that she could give him more.

He raised his head and looked at her lazily. "You have given me more than I could have ever dreamed of." She looked quizzically at him and he laughed. "It seems as though when your hormones are heightened, that you broadcast a lot …" He paused. "A whole lot louder." He kissed her lips gently. "I love you too. We need to get some sleep now. We have a long road ahead of us. It really makes me sad to say that I don't have any more friends between here and Illinois where we can sleep over." He kissed her lightly, then smiled. "You had better put something on. Mitch is supposed to pull you to him in just a little while. He may not be angry with the idea that you would take me to your bed, but I bet if you showed up there without any clothes on, he would have a change of heart."

She kissed him quickly and got out of the bed. "I think you just might be right about that."

She went to a dresser across the room to search for clothes to put on. Dane laced his fingers behind his head and admired her body as she moved. He noticed something amiss, then realized what it would be. He wouldn't say anything to her. She would see it soon enough. Then she did.

"Oh my God! I haven't had a menstrual cycle in over three centuries." She sat on her knees on the floor and began to cry. Dane lost his smile, and was out of the bed and to her in a matter of seconds.

He helped her stand and hugged her close to him. "Ciera…you haven't started having them again because you had sex." She looked up at him, and he wiped her tears away and smiled at her. "That will only happen this one time, my love. You have lost your innocence." He thought for a moment, then said, "I think that this generation calls it
the cherry
. You have lost your cherry." He kissed her lips and she finally smiled.

"I have heard of that," she laughed. "I'm not a virgin anymore."

He pointed to the luxurious bathroom attached to their bedroom. "Go take a hot bath, and clean yourself up. I will find you something to wear to bed." He kissed her once more, and she left him to do just that.

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Chapter
53

Mitch was wound up like a three day clock waiting for Lazarus to get home. He knew how long it took to investigate a murder. But this one shouldn't have lasted very long, with the murderer still being at the scene and all. He was sure that Lazarus would have gone to the station to make sure the compulsion worked, and that Daniel had told the cops that he was, without a doubt, the murderer of all the serial victims in and around Decatur, IL that had happened in the last four and a half weeks.

He'd been wearing a perfect line in Lazarus' hardwood from pacing, when he heard the unmarked pull in the driveway. He glanced at the clock. It was 7:15 a.m. The guy would only have enough time to rattle out a few sentences about what had happened, before he had to take a shower and head back in to work.

Lazarus walked in the house and was bombarded with questions. Lazarus held up a hand for Mitch to slow down, or just shut the hell up altogether, and he smiled. "Everything went as planned. Daniel is behind bars, and for some reason," Lazarus shrugged, "the Captain seems to think that I know where you are. He told me to tell you good work, and to take the rest of the week off. He expects you back at your desk Monday morning."

Mitch's brow furrowed. "Why would he think that I had anything to do with solving the case?"

Lazarus shrugged again. "He knew that I wasn't helping you any with the case before you left, and that I wasn't taking any interest in it after you left. It kind of seemed weird that I happened to stumble over the killer at three in the morning. He thinks that you had a lead and followed it, discovered Daniel murdering young Brittney, didn't get there in time to save her, but hit him over the back of the head and called me to come in and clean up the mess."

Mitch laughed a little. "So I have my life back now?"

"Yep, he will go in front of the press at eight o'clock to clear your name publicly. It will be in the paper in the morning," Lazarus said as he walked toward his bedroom to get clothes for work.

Mitch let out a great whooping yell, and Lazarus chuckled lightly as he walked back out to go to the bathroom. "I figured you would be pleased." He stopped and looked at Mitch as he flipped on the light. "I bet you haven't slept at all, have you?"

The smile was still a mile wide on Mitch's face. "Hell no! I've been too nervous to sleep."

Lazarus left the door open as he turned on his water, then stepped under the spray. Mitch acknowledged that he did the same. "Get some sleep today. And when you wake up, practice your skills. When I get home from work, we will see if you possess any more than what we know about already."

"All right, I'll see you around five thirty. We can go out tonight to celebrate my freedom; your choice, my treat." Mitch laughed. "I can't wait to get back to work and rub it in Gracie's face that I solved the case."

"Yeah, she is really excited that you didn't do it, and that you are coming back. When are you going to give in to her and screw her brains out?" The water cut off, and Mitch heard him grab a towel.

Mitch raised his brow. That was not something that a normal father would say to his son. "When hell freezes over. She isn't my type."

Lazarus walked out of the bathroom with the towel wrapped around his waist. It was the first time that Mitch had ever seen him without a shirt on. He was actually surprised at how similarly they were built. "Ciera isn't your type either, Mitch. I know that you are still hung up on her. You will get over that broken heart of yours a lot faster if you move on; the quicker the better. We will go to a club tonight. We can feed and get laid. Kill two birds with one stone, what do you say?"

"I guess you are right. Nothing can change the things that she did to me, and I can never forgive her." He nodded in agreement. "I'm up for it. I will see you tonight when you get in. I'll be ready." Mitch didn't wait for a response from Lazarus. He went straight to his room and shut the door.

He took his shirt and jeans off and put on some pajama bottoms. He really was tired. He climbed in between the sheets and relaxed. He could hear Lazarus moving through the house, and it wasn't very long before he heard the front door open, then close.

He waited about ten minutes after he heard the cruiser pull out of the drive, before he threw the sheets back and sat on the edge of the bed. He closed his eyes and thought about the time he and Ciera had been at Alice's house in Arkansas. "Alice, come to me," he said, and before he even had his eyes open, she was reprimanding him.

"I dare say that it is about time, Mitch! You are about the slowest vampire I have ever met in my life."

He blinked at her. "I am only the second one that you have met, Alice."

"No, you are the third. I met that nice young man that is traveling with Ciera only a few hours after I met with the two of you. He has had quite the change of heart over the last day or so."

"I've heard," Mitch growled. "I didn't bring you here to talk about Ciera's love life, Alice."

She raised a brow at him. "Let me tell you one damn thing, Mitchell Foley." She closed one eye and shook her finger at him. "If you don't get your head out of your ass, you are going to lose your soulmate."

Mitch's mouth fell open in disbelief. "Are you saying that everything that she has told me is the truth?"

She gave him a scolding look. "What does that cold heart of yours tell you?"

Mitch was really glad that he hadn't called Ciera here yet. She would have been cheerleading for the opposing team. "I don't know what to believe."

"The hell you don't!" she said shortly. "If you want to take the easy way out and let her go; you go right ahead. I know for a fact that young man that is with her wouldn't have any doubts whether she had lied to him or not. She gave up everything for you. She told you what she was, and took you away from here to save your life, and this is how you repay her. I would be ashamed of myself if I were you."

Mitch dropped his head. "Yes, Ma'am, I am."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Now what are you going to do about it?"

What could he do about it? He had already told her that he didn't want anything to do with her, that he hated her, that he wanted to kill her. And even if she did forgive him after all of that, Dane was in the picture now. He couldn't be mad at the guy for moving in on his girl, he had let it happen. Hell, he had practically laid out a red carpet to Ciera for him. He couldn't blame her for falling in love with the guy either. Dane had been there for her, when he had shunned her. And then there was the fact that Lazarus, his own father, had been the one to murder all of those innocent people so he could get his hands on him and use him as a weapon to kill a bunch of freakishly powerful vampires. He didn't know how to get away without getting killed. For some reason, he thought that Lazarus knew what he was doing, maybe even now. He suspected that Lazarus had something to do with the pay phones going dead yesterday while he had been on the phone with Alice.

He had been sitting there thinking, and had just realized that his body was tingling. He looked up, and Alice was having a quiet conversation with Ciera. When the hell had she shown up, he thought? "When the hell did you show up?" he asked aloud.

She turned and looked at him, and so did Alice. He wasn't getting any warm welcoming for interrupting their conversation. "The only way I can come here, is if you call me to come, Mitch. I have been here about four minutes talking with Alice, while you have been sitting there in your own little world. I did say hello to you when I arrived, but you were thinking about God only knows what to notice."

He averted his gaze from hers, and met Alice's scornful one. He looked away from her eyes as well. "I'm sorry, hello."

"There, that's better. Alice and I were just discussing a few things, but we need an answer or two from you before we can fill you in on the details."

Mitch was interested. "Go ahead."

"We need to know what side you are on. Alice seems to think that you are having a change of heart, but I'm not so sure."

He bowed his head. "I still don't know."

Ciera raised her brow and nodded, then looked back to Alice. "Well then, I guess we will go with plan B."

Mitch stood up. "Wait a minute. What the hell is plan A?"

She glanced back at him briefly. "With you." She paused. "Plan B is without you."

"Well, can't you tell me why we even have a plan?" Mitch asked.

"We don't have a plan, Mitch. I do. And if you don't trust me, then you are a liability. Liabilities cause plans to fail. I cannot afford for that to happen." She looked back to Alice.

"Wait, damn you!" He paused and took a few breaths. "What if I did trust you?"

Ciera sighed, closed her eyes, and rubbed her left temple with two fingers. "I'm sorry, Mitch, it is too dangerous to let you know anything. I have no idea what your daddy is capable of. I don't know any of his skills. For all I know, he is listening to us now. If he is strong in compulsion, he will be strong enough to compel you to tell him everything. You won't even know that you had done it until it was too late. We can handle this. All I ask of you, if you decide that you trust me, is when the time comes, stay the hell out of our way."

"Who is our?" he asked impatiently. He knew Lazarus couldn't do compulsion, but that didn't mean he couldn't read minds, or find a different way to get him to talk.