“Just checking,” she countered, putting the cake things away. “Because I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
Shaking his head, he crossed to a drawer near the wine shelf, then got out paper and a pen and jotted a message on it. He set the note on the microwave and continued, “Bodily functions? Sure, I can take a piss, but that’s about it. And yes, I get a fucking erection every time I see you. Can I sire children? I don’t know.”
Shae stared at him for a moment then she smiled. “We can deal with everything else as it occurs. For now, I’m happy I have you. Let me change my slippers and get a jacket.” She hurried to the kitchen door, skated to a halt, and spun back. “I’m really, really glad you still have a heartbeat, and you aren’t like the vampires movies and books depict—the ones who don’t breathe and drop into a dead sleep at sunrise—that would be scary as hell.”
“And you think I’m not?”
“Oh, I know you are.”
“Good.” He cut her a serious look. “Never forget, Shae, I’m a predator first and foremost.”
Honestly, she didn’t care how threatening Dagan appeared, he was whom she wanted. This attraction had taken root that night outside the club when he’d abducted her, though she hadn’t appreciated it at the time.
In the bedroom, she traded her warm, fuzzy slippers for boots. The long-sleeved, maroon knit-dress would do. She grabbed her leather jacket and sprinted to the front courtyard where she sensed him waiting.
He turned from staring into the gorge below, the light breeze playing with his unbound hair. At the darkness in his expression, her steps faltered. “Dagan?”
He shook his head. Was he thinking about his past? When she recalled his awful confinement trapped in the wasteland of Tartarus with nothing—no one to talk to for five centuries—her chest hurt. Maybe, in time, she could ease some of those nightmares. Replace them with better ones.
“What was the note you left in the kitchen?” she asked instead, pulling on her jacket.
“I requested Angelus to make you an apple cake.”
“You did?” Her gaze widened, then she smiled. “It’s okay, I like baking. I wasn’t born into wealth, you know. My father was a farmer. Apples.”
“Where?”
“Stone Ridge, Upstate New York. I really loved it there…” A wistfulness entered her tone. “It was so peaceful.”
“I like apples, too…”
“What?” She blinked. “But you don’t…”
His gaze lowered to her chest. “They’re round, firm, and really delicious. I can eat them all day, every day.”
She burst out laughing. His lips twitched in amusement. Only he could do that, make her smile when her heart was filled with sorrow.
“C’mon, my wildcat, let’s go.” He drew her close, and she put her arms around his waist. But at the tempting bulge nudging her, she couldn’t resist, and she slowly rubbed her hips against his groin.
He went utterly still, and without a word, he dematerialized them. The moment they took form on the shadowy side of the church, he slammed her against the wall, his mouth crashing onto hers. He kissed her deeply and, just as suddenly, pulled back, leaving her panting. His gaze heated to a brilliant yellow, he dropped to his heels and reached beneath the hem of her short dress.
“Wait, wait!” She grabbed his thick wrists. “What are you doing?”
He pulled off her underwear. Like a man possessed, he pushed her legs apart and put his mouth on her. She grabbed his head, pleasure igniting as his tongue parted her and he licked up her cleft and over her clit. A moan rushed free. “God! Dagan, we’re in a church.”
“Outside,” he corrected against her flesh and deliberately hooked one of her thighs over his shoulder. With teeth, tongue, and lips, he sucked and nibbled, and she whimpered. He appeared determined to make her lose her mind. She’d had no idea her teasing would take such a sensual turn. Desire coalesced, her every sense focused on one part of her body. Her fingers tightened in his hair. Shae no longer cared that they were in the open as he tormented her with lazy licks. “Dagan,” she moaned, she was so close.
A sharp tug on her clit and she cried out, her orgasm hauling her up as she broke apart. Birds roosting on the small shrubs nearby took flight in a rustle of wings. Arms steadied her.
Breathing hard, she came back to her senses and found him watching her with an emotion she couldn’t decipher, one that made her heart race. He straightened her clothes and rose. “Tease me that way again, Shae-cat, and you pay.”
She wanted to glare at him. Instead, she panted. “I can’t believe you did that against a church building.”
A dark eyebrow arched. “And you’re complaining because?”
“Anyone could have seen us.”
“But the danger made you hot, admit it.” His tone lowered. “I love mouth-fucking you, but I really wished my cock had been inside you when you came—”
“Oh, God.” She slapped a hand over his mouth, halting the sinfully erotic words, so sure her face must be brighter than her hair. But deep down, she wished the same. “Stop that.”
He kissed her palm, then lowered it. “Why? I find I like my mouth on you, so fair warning, my sweet cat, I’ll continue to do so whenever I can—wherever I want. Ready?”
“My legs feel like jelly. I don’t think I can walk,” she grumbled, fighting to focus on why they’d come here and not on tackling him to the ground for more sexy fun. “My underwear?”
A hint of a smile, he handed it over. “Okay, wait here while I do a recon of the area.”
Shae pulled on her underwear and slumped against the wall, her breath choppy, and her legs still wobbly from the unexpected sensual encounter—and in broad daylight, too.
Dagan slipped on his shades and stepped out from the building’s cool shadows. The weak, noonday sun gleamed off his blue-black hair as he strode across to the parking lot. With a wave of his hand over his loose tresses, like several invisible fingers working at once, the strands parted and wove into numerous warrior braids. He glanced about the place, appearing to study the air around them.
Her legs functioning once more, Shae wandered over. “What are you doing?”
“I’m trying to find a tear. It’s the only way all those demons appeared so suddenly last night when only four followed us.”
“What tear?”
“It forms in the mystical veils that separate the realms, and it keeps this world safe from supernatural evil.” He frowned, his attention back on the gravelly surface. He hunkered down and put his open palm on the dirt-packed ground. “If there’s a crack in the veils, they’ll use it to enter this world, and we can’t allow that to happen.”
Warily, Shae looked about her then crouched beside him. “Is there one?”
“No. They must have accessed a portal.” His moving hand stilled. “I feel the lingering vibration…the entryway was through here.”
“But the other Guardian, Race, he would have killed them all, right? I mean, those flames last night were pretty scary.”
“Yeah, he would have taken them out…”
Still, her stomach knotted at the hard set of his jaw as he glanced in the direction of the village. “What’s wrong? Oh, no, do you think there could be more of them still lurking about?”
His gaze came back to hers. Softened. “I won’t let anything happen to you.” He helped her to her feet. “I’m sorry, Shae-cat, but a rain check on the café? I need to make sure none of them are around.”
Blowing out a rough breath, she nodded. Her cell rang. She retrieved the device from her jacket pocket and answered.
“Shae?” Harvey’s harried tone cut through her worry. “I found out something I think you should know. It’s about your mother—”
“What is it?”
“I was in a club last night and overheard a demon bragging to a few of his pals about something big going down soon, then I heard the name Jenna mentioned. I know it’s your mom’s—”
“What did they say,” she demanded, fe
eling as if someone had sucker-punched her.
“Asshole wouldn’t say anything when I pushed for more. But it sounded like they knew where she is.”
Her fingers clenched around her cell in frustration. “Where can we find this demon?”
“He usually hangs around at Club Anarchy. I’ll keep pushing, see if I can get more information from him.”
“I’m coming back. I want to talk to him.” She ended the call before he could protest and lifted her determined gaze to Dagan’s shaded one. “I have to do this. I’ve looked for her for so long. If there’s a chance it might be her and they know where she is—” She bit her lip, unable to stop the tremble or the fear seeping through her.
“Shae…” He pushed his sunglasses to his brow and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’d ask you to let me handle this—”
“Dagan—”
“But since I know you won’t,” he cut her off, “we’ll do it together—unless I deem it too dangerous.” He squinted in the sunlight, but his features were hard. Forbidding. “And you aren’t doing anything on your own with that Fallen after you. I need your word on this.”
She sighed. “Fine.”
“C’mon, let’s head back. Besides, I don’t think it matters much now which place we’re at since they know you’re here. I still can’t figure out how the hell the bastard tracked you here so fast.”
Shae knew whom Dagan meant. Aza.
Chapter 18
They stepped through the portal onto the Guardians’ island on Manhasset Bay, leaving behind the Romanian sunshine. Dusk and a chill enclosed them, night insects hummed in disharmony. The castle was ablaze with lights as if in welcome. Despite the warm feeling it gave her, her stomach remained in a knot after Harvey’s call.
“Remember, you can’t go back to the penthouse, Shae, not until we know what’s going on,” Dagan said as they headed toward the castle.
Like she wanted to bump into Aza. A few dates, and now the delusional Fallen believed she was his mate. God. She rubbed her cheek. Could this day get any worse?
“Dagan, wait. I have to call Uncle Lem, let him know I’m okay. What do I say about why I’m not at home yet?”
His brow furrowed. “Text him that you’re delayed because of work, it should give us a few days leeway. We’ll go see him together, then you can tell him about us.”
“He’ll freak out.”
“Then I’ll just have to make sure he doesn’t.”
Shae stopped in the shrub-lined pathway and shot off a text to Lem, praying that Harvey had found something they could use to locate the woman who might be her mother. If the lead didn’t pan out, then it meant her mom did hate her and had simply left. Much as it pained her, Shae preferred the latter. She didn’t want some evil demon holding her mother captive…hurting her—Christ! Bile burned her throat at the thought.
Dagan stroked her cheek with his knuckles. “It’s going to be okay.”
She looked into those bright eyes—so calm and steady—inhaled a deep breath, and nodded.
As they neared a terrace with a wrought-iron table and chairs, he put his hand on her waist and ushered her through the open French doors and into an enormous rec room. A flat-screen TV took up space on one side with leather recliners facing it. Adjacent to it stood arcade games and a foosball table.
The blue-haired warrior, Aethan, looked up from the pool table, so did the one with the cropped black hair. Blaéz. He smirked. “And another one bites the dust.”
Snorting, Dagan crossed to the inner door then asked, “Is there a meeting this evening?”
“Yeah,” Aethan answered.
“Right. I’ll see you there, then.”
The door shut behind them. Dagan led her down the softly lit passageway lined sporadically with paintings by old masters, along with rather authentic body armors from medieval times that sported dents and slashes. “I’ll show you to our quarters, then we can get an update from Hedori.”
“Hedori?” She frowned. “Shouldn’t we be talking to Harvey?”
Dagan didn’t answer as a tall, dark figure stepped out of the kitchen, chugging down a soda.
“Hey, Nik,” she called out, happy to see a familiar face. “When did you get here?”
His gaze shifted to Dagan then back to her. “Moments before you two did. You okay?”
She smiled. “I am.”
Dagan remained silent, and Nik cut him an amused smirk that did little to warm the coldness in his eyes. “And the other?” he asked.
Her smile dimmed. There was still one treacherous ravine to cross. With Dagan as unbending as a steel arrow, she had no idea how to get him to change his mind about feeding from her.
Ignoring Nik, Dagan tightened his grip on her hand and headed for the grand staircase in the front. Shae had to hurry to keep up. “He cares about you, you know that, right?”
“Yeah, it’s what saved his neck from my sword with what he let you do.”
Sighing, she let it go for now.
As they took the stairs up, the blond warrior who looked like the heavens had been having a seriously good day when he was created loped down. He slowed. Dagan didn’t even glance his way.
Shae had no idea what was going on between them. Still, she couldn’t ignore him. “Hello.”
Sexy, masculine dimples appeared briefly, even though the warrior’s smile didn’t reach his toffee-brown eyes. “Shae.” And then he was gone.
A tic pulsed hard on Dagan’s jaw as they headed for the third floor. He pointed across the landing and said something about the other wing belonging to Aethan and Echo. She barely heard him, her mind on the obvious friction between the two men. “You and Týr don’t talk?”
“It’s not important.”
“I think it is.” She eyed his rigid expression thoughtfully. “I once asked you about who you consider a friend, and even though you said Nik, I always thought you meant to say another name. It was him—it was Týr, wasn’t it?”
He finally looked at her. Those beautiful, inhuman eyes were haunted and filled with desolation. “He was my sister’s protector. He failed her.”
“What?” Shae halted in front of an intricately carved, wooden door. It was the last thing she’d expected to hear. “How—why?”
“It doesn’t matter how or why. We have things to do.”
“Tell me.” She stepped in front of him when he would have opened the door.
His expression tightened. “Inara was not yet eighteen and far too young when she became the Goddess of Life—her safety had to be absolute…” He told her what had happened the last day in the Sumerian temple—about Lucifer’s attack. “Týr was her guard that day. And I trusted him.”
Shae didn’t know what to say, but the anger behind his flat words troubled her. More, she’d seen the shadow of torment in Týr’s eyes, too. “Did you speak to him? Find out what happened?”
Silence. It wrapped around her like barbed wire.
He opened the door into a massive bedroom and stood aside. “That’s not important right now. You are.”
Knowing it was a painful subject for him, she didn’t push. She stepped past him, and her eyes widened. Gorgeous, vaulted ceilings rose high above her, and two doors flanked a massive fireplace accented by a beautiful, earth-toned Aubusson carpet. Above the mantel, several old-looking swords were mounted.
“Oh, how lovely.” She wandered to the wall of windows with undrawn, champagne-colored drapes and retracted blinds and looked out into rolling gardens as dusk encroached.
Her worried mind slipped back to her mother. She pivoted to him. “What did you mean when you said we needed to speak to Hedori? What does he have to do with my mom?”
“About that…” He shut the door behind him. “Hedori’s been checking things out for me while we were in Romania. We don’t believe your mother ran off.”
Unease prickled her skin as he made his way to her. “What do you mean?”
“The last time we were at the penthouse, Hedori picked up
on anguish and despair. Not yours, but definitely female. It didn’t connect with a woman who’d want to take off and live her own life. Now, with your demon friend’s news, it increases my suspicions.”
Anger swelled. “We were in Romania for several days, and you didn’t say a word?”
“You’re too emotional when it comes to your parents. You’d have dashed back to New York and into danger the moment you knew. And with your growing power, you’d have every evil thing out there after you.”
Even though he was right, betrayal still cut deep. “You should have told me, should have given me a choice, not made it for me. For so long, I thought…” Tears and frustration formed a hard knot in her throat. “I thought she took off because she couldn’t stand to look at me, that she hated me for what I’d done, for hurting her when my laptop exploded. And you kept quiet about something so important?”
“I couldn’t take a chance.”
“You didn’t trust me!”
“And you just proved my point when your friend called.”
God! She inhaled a shaky breath and pivoted to the window. Getting upset wasn’t helping. Maybe he had a point, but she was used to doing things on her own. She was all her mother had left after her father died.
“Shae.” He came up behind her, his hands settling on her waist. “I only have your best interests at heart.”
“How can I believe you when you keep things from me?” She swiped the perspiration beading on her brow.
“You are my mate. And human. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe, even if I have to bear the brunt of your anger.”
The heat inside her hiking, she broke away, opened the door, and stepped onto a small balcony overlooking the trimmed lawn at the back of the castle. The cold night air swept over her, cooling her damp face. She inhaled deeply, making sure her psychic shields were locked in place, then got out a dextrose from her pocket and chewed it.
Dagan stepped up behind her. “All my life, I’ve failed the people who mattered most to me, those whom I’m supposed to protect. I will not lose you, too.”
At the raw pain in his voice, she pivoted. She had a feeling he wasn’t only talking about his sister. “Who?”
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