Before Dawn

by Olivia Hutchinson

  “Yeah.” Declan through the SUV in park. “He’s a warlock. Stay right here and don’t get out. If shit sours, drive to my parents.”

  Natalie wanted to scream. “If you think something’s gonna happen then why are you getting out of the car? I know you ain’t stupid, Declan.”

  He stole a glance at her, and his face softened slightly. "I need to know what he wants."

  “I would think that’s obvious,” she said, gesturing to herself. “You’re the one—"

  "No. Hang tight, and I'll be right back."

  “They always fucking say that,” she told the car door after he stepped outside.

  “Azarov.” Brick nodded once in greeting.

  Declan stepped toward the warlock, leaving several feet between them. It's not as if the distance truly mattered, since Brick was telekinetic. He could throw Declan around with his mind no problem, if that's what he wanted to do. He could also roll the SUV at the drop of a dime which was the only reason he entertained the notion of getting out of the vehicle in the first place. "Why are you here?"

  “I have to talk to you.”

  “I have a phone.”

  The warlock enforcer shook his head. “Nope. This is too important.” He hesitated and nodded toward the SUV. “You shacking up with a witch?”

  “None of your business,” Declan growled. Brick grunted, his dark brown eyes staying on Natalie longer than Declan liked. “Say what you have to say.”

  It had been years since he spent any real time with the warlock. They were friends once, a long time ago. They fought each other once in a match in Philadelphia, and hung out often when they were traveling from one fight to another. That was back before the big push to keep the factions as separate as possible. Before Brick began following Cole’s orders and shit went sour.

  The rain was sprinkling his face, but he didn't so much as move an inch to wipe it away. He tilted his head down slightly so he could still see. Brick didn't have the same qualms. He dragged his palm down his face and flung the water from his hand. "I got a call tonight. I've been ordered to Maine."

  The hair stood up on the back of his neck. “Where?”

  “Azarov territory. Cantor, specifically.”

  "Cole give the order?" Declan suspected, but he needed to make sure the order wasn't coming from Erik, the warlock third, or someone else high up in their pecking order, like Cosmo.

  Cole was second only to Dis, the faction leader, and carried a vicious reputation. Declan had only ever met him once in the Council House, and he had no desire to repeat the experience. There was a twisted, calculated look Cole carried that made the Others avoid him like the plague.

  The fact that Brick was here, revealing to Declan what he was ordered to do, spoke volumes. He didn’t understand why the warlock would seek him out to tell him these things, but there was no way in hell he was going to stop him either.

  Much to his surprise, Brick shook his head. "Nah. Came directly from the big man. Cole's been stripped of his rank. Been caught fraternizing with the enemy."

  The enemy? “Who?”

  "A witch. Powerful one. Dis forced a mating. He's gonna kill them both eventually." Brick hesitated and glanced again at Natalie. "You see, there's this rumor going around. I heard you had a witch with you and I had to see her aura for myself."

  As much as he didn’t like Brick looking at her, he wanted to know. “And?”

  "You got you a powerful one, just like I heard Cole has. It makes me wonder. Makes me think that Cole was on to something with that witch of his." Brick met his eyes. "Makes me think that the reason I'm being ordered to your territory is that you're hiding something there."

  Declan didn’t flinch. Didn’t give away a single tell that would alert Brick that he knew what the warlock was talking about, but he did. He knew. Dis was after Carey.

  Malcolm swore a blood oath decades earlier when Ruby came to him with the shifter-vampire hybrid in tow. Fucking Phineas – or Finn as he preferred to be called – threatened to murder the entire Azarov line if they didn't provide the witches with sanctuary. Malcolm, and now Declan, had no reason to believe Finn wouldn't carry out his threat if push came to shove, but even so, Declan would never reveal Carey’s whereabouts.

  “I’m not going to tolerate warlocks in my territory,” Declan bit out.

  “It’s too late, Azarov. They’re already there.”

  “Then why the fuck are you here Brick? You just wanted to give me a heads up that I’m going to have to chase your ass out of my territory?”

  "Nah." The warlock unwound his arms from his chest and thrust them into the pockets of his jeans. "You need to know. I follow Cole. I only follow Cole. You get me? Once he’s free—”

  “You said Dis was going to kill him.”

  Brick shook his head, sending water drops flying from his hair. “You wanted to know why I’m here?” He thrust his finger toward the SUV. “I’m here to see her, and now I have."

  “Then leave,” Declan growled.

  Brick turned toward a car parked along the brim as if he was actually going to get into it and drive away, but then he hesitated. "Once Dis is done in Cantor, he'll be back in Boston. Give him a day, maybe two, and he'll be in the Council House, and you won't have another chance to run."

  “What are you getting at?”

  “You want to save that witch’s life? Mate her. Mate her and get the hell out of here.”

  With that, Brick walked away, got into his sedan, and drove off, leaving Declan standing in the middle of the road, watching after him and wondering what the hell just happened.

  9

  “What was that about?” Natalie asked once Declan got back into the SUV. He stood out in the rain for several minutes before sliding back behind the wheel. Natalie debated going out to him but stopped herself since he explicitly told her to stay in the vehicle.

  Declan was quiet for a long moment. He put the car back into gear and drove on as if he wasn’t soaking wet and hadn’t just had a late-night meeting with a warlock in the middle of the road. A warlock who stared at her as if he recognized her.

  “He warned me,” Declan started. “Told me he’d been ordered to Cantor.”

  “You know him?”

  “We knew each other once. Spent time together, but that was a long time ago.”

  “What did he warn you of? Just that he was going to be in your territory?”

  He shook his head quickly. “No, no. I’m sorry, Nat. I’m trying to figure out what to do with all the shit he just said.”

  She didn’t probe for more information or shoot any more questions in his direction then. Instead, she allowed him to drive in silence to have time to get his mind straight.

  They drove past the gates at his parents’ property and down the long driveway. Natalie didn't know what to make of what had just happened either. What had the warlock said to him to shake him so severely? Because that's what happened. Declan was shaken to the core, something she never saw from him.

  “Let’s go inside,” he said after he turned off the car. “I need to get out of these clothes and make a few phone calls.”

  She grabbed her purse from the floorboard and dashed to the door, the rain coming down heavily now. Declan unlocked it and let her inside before locking it behind them. They went upstairs, and he followed her into the bedroom. She hesitated while she gathered her pajamas, unsure of where he wanted to change. He answered her question when he went into the bathroom and shut the door. The shower turned on a second later.

  Natalie peeled herself out of her dress and pulled on her shorts and tank top. She ran her fingers through her wet hair and wiped off her smeared eyeliner with a tissue. Grabbing the blanket from the bed, she curled up on the sofa and waited for Declan to come out of the bathroom.

  When he opened the door to the bathroom wearing nothing except a pair of low-hanging navy gym shorts, he hesitated. She had turned on the small lamp next to the couch, but otherwise, the apartment was shrouded in darkness. Decla
n ran his hand through his hair so that it was standing up in small spikes and flipped off the bathroom light before coming over to the couch, his cellphone in hand.

  The cushion dipped when he sat down next to her. “I have to call someone.”

  “Want me to go into the bedroom or something?”

  “No. No, don’t.” He leaned forward and rubbed the back of his neck.

  Natalie couldn’t help herself. She untangled herself from the blanket, scooted a bit closer to him, and tossed part of the blanket over his legs. He looked at her then and gave her half a smile before adjusting the blanket.

  He made his phone calls. The first call was quick, but it was also an order. Whoever Declan spoke to was now heading back to Cantor. The second call was longer, and then Natalie got to hear what the conversation was between him and Brick in the street as he relayed it to the person on the other end.

  She couldn’t hear the responses, but Declan’s mouth was a thin line as he listened.

  "You don't have to come up here," he said then. There was quiet while the other person spoke. "Council is in session again tomorrow. We'll head back over there, and I'll talk to—" Declan's eyes widened. "A bainise bracelet? No, he didn't say anything to me, but he knows I'm here. Well, shit…"

  Natalie bit her lip and watched Declan's face as he spoke and listened. He respected whoever he talked to, that much was clear. His mentor, she assumed. The same one Ruby told him to call about coming to Boston before they left.

  When he ended the call and set the phone on the table, Natalie asked, “What’s a bainise bracelet?”

  “A fae mating bracelet. Similar to a wedding band. Only this one was from a mating between a fae and a warlock.”

  She was confused now. “I thought mating outside your faction required Council approval?”

  “It does. This mating was not approved.”

  “Oh. What does that mean then?”

  Declan leaned against the armrest and pulled the blanket up, sliding his hands underneath it. He stroked her ankle absently, and she froze, part of her unsure if he realized he was touching her and the other part not wanting him to stop. "It means there's an unapproved alliance. It verifies the fae and the warlocks are working together as we suspected."

  “I thought the warlocks weren’t big on mixing the factions?”

  “None are, but you’re right. The warlocks and the fae are the biggest proponents of that. Or at least Dis and Roarke are. Who really knows what the rest of them think.”

  Natalie settled against the armrest of the couch and tried not to purr at the feel of Declan’s hand on her ankle. She never would’ve thought such a simple, innocent touch could be so enjoyable. “What do you think?”

  He met her eyes. “About mixing the factions?”

  “Yeah. I mean I know you care about your own just based on your reaction to what happened with Everleigh, but do you believe werewolves should only mate other werewolves?”

  Declan's eyes searched hers, and she wondered what he was running through his head. She almost asked him, except she wanted to know the answer to her original question. A small frown played with his full lips and his hand on her leg stopped moving, as if he just realized he was touching her. "No," he said, his voice thick. He cleared his throat. "No, not at all. Did you think I felt that way?"

  She shook her head. “Everyone seems so focused on it. I don’t understand why.”

  “Control. With the way our governing body is set up, Others who mate in between factions fall out of the chain of command. Hybrids are strong. That’s why they’re used as CE officers. The ones who go rogue – who won’t be controlled – are perhaps the Council’s greatest fear.”

  “Are you afraid of them?”

  "No. Anyone who feels cornered is going to fight. It doesn't matter if they're Other, human, or even an animal."

  “Your world is so fucked up,” she said softly.

  “And that’s only the tip of the iceberg.”

  Natalie slid down on the couch so that her head was lying on the armrest. Declan released her ankle but hadn't moved to get up. She regarded him under heavy lids. The man was gorgeous, his arm muscles every gym rat's dream. And here she was, pretending to be his girlfriend. It was so comfortable being with him, it wasn't difficult to fake. If their little bathroom encounter hadn't happened, she might be able to convince herself that he actually liked her. As it was now, she ignored their earlier issues and soaked up his attention and the way her heart thrummed in her chest.

  “Are you tired?” he asked her.

  She didn’t want to let go of the fantasy yet. Being here, sitting with him like this…she wasn’t going anywhere. “Nope.”

  A long sigh escaped him as he shifted on the couch and pulled her feet into his lap. His thumb dug into the arch of her foot as his nimble fingers began rubbing away the soreness that came from hours wearing heels. She wanted to moan at the sheer bliss of it.

  This is what she wanted from her life. A man who made her feel as if he wanted to be there. As if she was his focus when they were alone. Someone who enjoyed being around her and who talked to her. Someone who asked her opinion because he genuinely wanted to know it. Someone she could respect and who trusted her. Her feelings for him stopped being fake a while ago.

  “I want to talk to you about earlier.”

  She didn’t want to go there. Not yet. “Don’t ruin my fantasy,” she said before she could stop herself.

  His brows scrunched, and his hands paused. "Your fantasy?" She groaned and tried to pull her legs to her chest and sit up, but he caught her ankles. She pushed herself up onto her hands. "No…no running. What are you talking about?"

  Her few moments of dreaming that her life with him wasn’t all bullshit were gone. Irritated, she said, “No, you ruined it now.”

  “Ruined what? What the hell are you fantasizing about?”

  "That this—" she shifted her weight to one arm and gestured between them, "—isn't all make-believe, but now you've gone and ruined it and reminded me that there's nothing here and that what happened earlier shouldn't have ever happened. That it was all a mistake."

  “Whoa, Nat, hold on.” He parted her calves so he could turn on the couch to face her and shoved the tangled comforter to the side. “First, I wouldn’t call what happened earlier a mistake. I remember very clearly what I did was oh-so deliberate and I thought long and hard about it before I bent you over that sink. Second, when I said earlier it shouldn’t have happened, I didn’t mean that I never should’ve touched you. I was mad at myself for doing it in a fucking bathroom in the Council House and only after Jackson cornered you. That never should’ve happened. Third, you’re fantasizing we’re actually together?”

  That’s all it had been? Him upset they’d done that in the Council House’s bathroom? Upset about the other werewolf? She swallowed audibly, stuck on his last question. “Umm…”

  “Natalie.”

  “No…?”

  “Bull-fucking-shit.”

  She scrambled for an answer. “It’s easier faking something and makes it more believable if I pretend—”

  “I know you don’t believe that. Don’t lie to me, Nat,” he growled. “You want it to be real because it feels like it should be. I’ve known you were trouble since we were at Lila’s. You’re too easy to be around. Too comfortable. Too right.”

  She gasped. Was he really telling her that this wasn’t all one-sided?

  “You want to know what Brick said?”

  The abrupt subject change jarred her. “Y-yeah…”

  “He said I should mate you.”

  Shit. She didn’t expect that, and he certainly hadn’t said it to the person on the phone just a few minutes before. "Mate me?"

  “And I had to stand there and come up with all the reasons why that wasn’t a good idea because as soon as he suggested it, it was precisely what I wanted to do.”

  He went up on his knees and pressed forward, crawling over her. She fell back against the co
uch cushions to keep a few inches between them as he stalked her, his eyes not leaving her face. “Declan…”

  “Tell me I can’t have you, Nat. Tell me this is a bad idea.”

  Oh, fuck. It should be a bad idea. It should be, but she didn’t believe it was. Having him over her, her thighs wide as he pressed his hips against hers, felt just like what she’d been dreaming about. There was something wrong with her. His heavy, thick erection pressed against her through the layers of fabric.

  A surge of heat shot through her, settling low in her belly. Declan's mouth brushed over her collar-bone, then her shoulder, then her neck. She turned her face to give him better access as his hand dug into her hip and he ground himself against her.

  With a small whimper, she clung to his shoulders. She never wanted anyone as badly as she wanted him. Her body was aching. Chills erupted through her as his breath tickled the sensitive skin of her neck. Teeth scraped her skin.

  His voice was a low growl when he said, "Please, tell me no. Tell me to stop."

  The permanence of mating and everything else that came with it she wasn’t ready for, but being with him? Oh, yes. “Don’t stop.”

  "This won't just be fucking." He pulled back slightly and met her eyes. Desire was written plainly on his face, but so was his torment. Declan wanted her and not just for right now. Her heart soared, and for a breath, she was tempted to ask him for the mating bite, but she pushed that dangerous thought from her head, not sure where it came from.

  She placed a finger over his lips before he could say anything else. “You’re not allowed to bite me, Declan. Is that what you want to hear?”

  He squeezed his eyes shut for a long moment and she could almost feel his frustration, followed by a slow sense of relief. “I won’t bite you.”

  “Promise me.”

  Blue eyes met hers, and she saw his honesty when he said, "I swear."

  “Then I see nothing wrong with this. I want you.” She rocked her hips against his. “And you want me.”

  Declan nipped her neck. No biting. He had to keep that thought in his head; otherwise, he may just give in to the temptation, even though he just promised her he wouldn't. He hadn't lied to her yet, and he had no intention of starting now.