Diana Racine 02 - Goddess of the Moon

of the sisters. “You shouldn’t have gone to the mission ,” he said. “What if someone was watching?”
    “They weren’t,” Nona said. “We checked.”
    “If the police had that place under surveillance, you wouldn’t have seen them. Now you have to stay here. It’s too dangerous for you to leave. You could expose everything. Whatever the cops suspect, they can’t prove a thing.” He curled his index finger under Brigid’s chin and lifted her head. “Do you understand?” he said in a knife-thin whisper. “No more.”
    “We would never say anything,” Nona said.
    H e alternat ed his attention between the two women , his tone firmer. “Do you understand?”
    “Yes, Seth,” they said in robotic unison.
    “Besides,” Brigid said , “ Father told us we’d be here for a while.”
    “ True,” Seth said . “ There’s plenty for you to do here.” He patted Brigid’s stomach and smiled , then rose and took Maia’s arm . “Come with me .”
    She looked back at her half-sisters, cooing over their charges, and shook her head. They were nothing but automatons. What will happen to them when this compound comes to the attention of the authorities? Where w ould they go?
    Maia followed Seth, noticing he didn’t lock the door after him. Why should he? Brigid and Nona weren’t being held here against their wills. “Where are you taking me? ”
    Seth stopped, fixed his black eyes on her. “You haven’t eaten anything since you arrived late last night . You’re hungry, aren’t you?”
    He must have heard the rumblings in her stomach. “Yes.”
    “I thought I’d have the cook prepare you something to eat.”
    “As long as you taste it first.”
    “Maia, Maia , d on’t you trust me?” Seth’s patronizing tone always infuriated her, but she needed to be smarter now than in times past.
    “ Not long ago my food contained something that knocked me out. Nine months later I gave birth to a bouncing baby boy.”
    “That’s because the third time you were difficult. You left me no choice.”
    So it was Seth . Part of her breathed a sigh of relief; the other part felt sick . “There’s always a choice.”
    “I’m the father of all your children,” he said , “ b ut making love is much better when it’s consensual.” He o pened another door and held it.
    When she started through, he blocked her way, coming so close she breathed in his scent, the same spicy fragrance she remembered, filling her senses. He cupped his hands over her breasts and massaged them. She felt them tighten, nipples protruding hard in his hungry fingers. She stared at him as if his contact meant nothing, even though her body quivered inside . S he didn’t remove his hand. It had been a long time since he’d touched her intimately , and he still w ielded the same sensual power over her.
    “Don’t fight it, Maia. W e were meant for each other .” He nuzzled into her neck and murmured in her ear. “You’re still the most beautiful, you know, and at your peak of childbearing years .” He drew back, smiling. “Admit it, you wanted me as much as I wanted you , and from what I’m feeling un der your blouse, you still do.”
    She brus hed his hand aside. “You wish.”
    She ’d loved Seth Crane, then and now, and he knew it. She remembered that summer after the end of her home schooling. Her father consented, with a hundred caveats, to her wish to attend the fall semester at Tulane. First, however, she must sp end the summer at the compound.
    When barely a teenager, and she first set eyes on Seth, she felt an inexplicable pull. She tried to ignore the attraction because he was Selene’s younger brother, and she hated Selene. But his olive skin and black eyes mesmerized her. His strong muscled arms held her, hands stroking her body, while his mouth covered every inch of her skin, giving her pleasure she’d only dreamed about. He teased her, played with her for hours, bringing her to the height of excitement. When he entered her , the world exp loded in unimaginable ecstasy.
    The summer turned into more than a year when she got pregnant, which was the group’s plan all along. She put college on hold to have Seth’s baby. Such a beautiful baby boy, with Seth’s dark skin and her bright blue eyes. A fter a few months, they took the baby from her and she went back to school. A repeat performance the summer before her junior year produced a daughter . She co uldn’t resist Seth’s magnetism.
    “I want to see our