Blood Pool

Raven didn’t speak.

She just stared at the water and breathed in the heavily scented air. Her chest rose and fell with each inhalation. He knew those aromas, the jasmine, bougainvillea and the frangipani. Clouds were heading to the east as if a storm had cleared. She turned and looked at him. Her lips seemed to be inviting him to kiss her. She sat on her knees and faced him, placing her hands on his cheeks. The heat between Bo and Raven burned with a palpable ferocity.

“I love you.” Her mouth formed the words, but he could not hear.

He kissed her, just to make certain she was still there and not a vision. He felt her as she kissed back. Their lips parted and tongues swirled. She went limp in his arms, and as she leaned back he caught her, cradling her in his embrace.

She pressed her body closer, grasping at his shirt, tugging and pulling, trying to remove it. He sat back and peeled it off, revealing his rippling muscles and slender waist. He took her hand and placed it between his legs, rubbing the center of his longing.

She unfastened his jeans, bringing her arms together as her dress slipped down around her shoulders. Her breasts peeked out of the silky fabric, and Bo reached to taunt, tease and stroke them. She let out a soft moan, and it catapulted him to a still deeper level of yearning.

He guided her down onto the blanket.

His lips followed his hands as he traversed the valley between her bosom, up and around the soft rise of her breasts and down her belly to her sacred mound. Her back arched as his tongue stroked the soft folds of her skin, driving her over the edge. He heard her fight to catch her breath.

Grasping at the blanket beneath her, she let out a whimper as he lifted her to get a better taste of her sweet juices. She was exquisite-he could not get enough of her, and it appeared she could not get her fill of him.

Riding the crest of her climax, she cried out to him, begging him to slip inside her.

“Bo…now,” she moaned.

He leaned over her, his cock throbbing in anticipation. “Raven, my love,” he declared as he entered her, craving the surrender of his aching and obsession. “Oh, Raven.”

“Bo…”

“Huh?”

“Bo, we’re landing,” Jade said, shaking him.

Jade and Bo made their way through the airport in record time. With one bag each, they reached the car rental office within fifteen minutes of disembarking the plane.

Bo rented an SUV. He threw their belongings in the backseat, hopped in the driver’s side and started the vehicle. He felt Raven. She was closer. He didn’t know how or why he knew. He supposed it was the instinct he’d explained to Solaris. The wolf within him growled. Have to get to her. Danger. He felt his eyes changing. Must tame the beast.

Rain pelted down. The sky darkened, as did Bo’s mood.

Jade shifted in her seat. “I hate to be a pain, but can I get a little bit of that blood out of the cooler? I’m really not used to this weird feeling-hungry, but not for food.”

The rain was coming down harder, but thanks to Bo’s keen eyesight, it didn’t hinder their travel. “Help yourself. Hey-do you feel Raven? Use some of that Lamai intuition.”

Jade closed her eyes. “Nothing. I think I need some blood first. All I feel is…”

“Yeah, weird,” Bo finished her sentence.

Jade reached in the back for the cooler. “Aren’t you hungry? You should eat.”

He answered more harshly than he meant to. “No. I haven’t been hungry since…”

“Yeah, I get it. Say no more. I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but…” She opened the cooler and took out a packet of blood.

“I know you’re sorry. Jade, you don’t have to keep apologizing. Really. I just wish Raven had shared with me what she was doing… That she changed you.”

Jade sighed. “She wanted to. It was really hard for her to keep it secret. From you. Damn, she scared the shit out of me! She loves you so much. You’re a lucky guy. I got the inside scoop from Raven when she shared her blood. There’s nothing she wouldn’t do for you. It’s really intense, the way she feels about you. And it has a timeless quality, her love for you has no beginning or ending.” She was quiet a minute. “Maybe I shouldn’t have told you all this. Oh, well. Pretend I didn’t say anything.”

Bo clenched his jaw, the nervous energy building inside. The images from his dream still haunted him. Frustration swallowed him. “Look, I know you’re trying to make me feel better, but it truly is not working. Drink the blood and see if you can feel her.”

Jade looked perplexed as she fumbled with the pack of blood. “How exactly do I do this?”

“There’s a round cut-out on the top. Pop it out and put the straw in-and drink.”

She followed his directions and began drinking.

“Do you know the only reason she didn’t marry you sooner is because she knew your family wanted you to pair off with Bethany?”

“What?” The carnal lust rose within. Raven was his. It didn’t matter who approved or disapproved.

Jade smacked her lips together. “Yeah, she worried about you and how your family would feel if you got married. Raven knows your grandfather loves her, but your mother…is a different story.”

Bo didn’t answer. He didn’t have to. It was true Bo’s grandfather loved Raven, but his daughter wanted Bethany for a daughter-in-law. However, her son was stubborn, and he told his mother in no uncertain terms that Raven would be his wife someday, or he would remain a bachelor. Over time, Bo’s mother came to accept Raven. Not that it mattered.

“She also worries when you go off with the pack, that you’re-how do I say this?-mating with Bethany. And that you either don’t recall or won’t tell her. As secure as Raven is-with you-she is very insecure about Bethany.” Again she was silent. “You have to not let me talk anymore. I’m revealing all Raven’s insecurities. Not good.”

“That’s ridiculous. She knows I don’t get amnesia. Gods. I told her I remember everything that I do when I change, and I don’t ‘mate’ with anyone. Raven is mine.” He was going to remind her that wolves mate for life, but that was old news.

Jade took in a deep breath. “Well, apparently, a while back Bethany told Raven she was pregnant with your-cub? Baby? How does that work?” she asked between sips. “Hey, is this flavored?”

Bo narrowed his gaze at Jade, smirking. “Shit-very funny, Jade. A baby, not a cub. Gods, I guess your father didn’t teach you everything. And yeah, it’s flavored. What’d you get-strawberry?”

“Cranberry and…tastes peachy.”

“Oh, that’s a new one Tracy came up with.”

Jade returned to the topic at hand. “So, you never had sex with Bethany?

Bo looked over at the young woman sipping cranberry-peach type O blood. “I did in the past, but that was a long time ago.”

“You two are lucky to have each other. Raven and you, I mean.”

He knew that all too well. Why had he let all those years go by without claiming her? The love he felt for Raven was unlike any other emotion he’d ever experienced. It consumed him like fire. In the beginning he told himself he was still young and had plenty of years to settle down. He always assumed Raven would be there for him. Yes, his mother pushed him incessantly to pursue a relationship with Bethany, but his heart was never truly in it.

It was always Raven he wanted.

“Bo, your hands are white. Relax.” Jade broke the spell he was under. Thoughts of Raven inundated him. He gazed down at his hands. His knuckles were white as he gripped the steering wheel.

Clearly, it was time for a subject change. “We’re not too far from Port-au-Prince -a two hour plane ride.”

Jade watched as the palm trees began swaying in the breeze. The winds were picking up, and the rain was coming down in sheets. “He wouldn’t take her there. If I know my father-and I do-he won’t take her to Haiti. He wouldn’t want to risk infecting the people there.”

Bo shook his head at the irony. “What a humanitarian.”

Jade drank in silence.

He scratched at his head, confusion plaguing him. “I don’t get it. Sol said she’s not on the mainland, yet I feel her.”

Bo pulled over to the side of the road, got out of the vehicle and put his nose up in the air. The winds whipped his hair straight out behind him. He gazed over at Jade who stared at him through the car window. From the expression on her face, he assumed he must have looked like a crazed native Aztec god. Within no time, he was soaked to his skin from the rain. His felt the burn in his eyes indicating they’d turned golden, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as he tuned in to his mate.

Jade sat back with her eyes closed and concentrated on her sister. Raven had not taught Jade the fine art of using her Lamai senses. Everything had happened too fast with just the basic changes in DNA, although the transformation was a slower process due to the immediate blood transfusion. And Laroque had taken Jade before Raven had a chance to teach her anything.

Bo returned to the car. “Anything?”

Jade said, “This is all new to me. I’ll do the best I can. Maybe if I focus on the blood memories of my sister, it will work.”

Her main point of concentration became her beating heart. “The thumping in my head is beating out a solitary rhythm. No, wait-it’s split into two beats,” she whispered. “One loud and persistent, the other farther away.”

Jade got out of the vehicle. “I feel her!” she yelled over the winds. “It’s faint, but I feel her heart beating.” She wiped the rain from her face.

Bo couldn’t get past his own racing heartbeat. He got out of the car. “Where is she?”

She looked over at Bo. “Hey, your eyes are changing color. They’re gold. Are you going to get all snarly on me?”

“No. Concentrate.”

Jade seemed to be listening to the two hearts beating. “I’m turned to the east; no change. Now to the north, it’s faded slightly. Wait, the thumping’s getting louder. What about any islands off the coast, to the south-the Keys? Technically they’re not part of the mainland, so Solaris would be right-and yet they are.” She strained, raising her voice over the growing winds.