Infinite Desire

by Gayle Donnelly, Robyn MacKenzie

  Tre turned and bolted upstairs, with Michael following. He had every confidence that the man would keep up with him. Michael had joined them with Tre when he’d left Washington because of the increased Valta activity in New Orleans. Talon hadn’t hesitated to honor the request but it had been surprising when Michael had volunteered. It was well known that he’d always worked side by side with his brother, David. But he’d been the first to step forward. Michael had just recently been released for duty from the injury he’d sustained during the Washington operation and was a hell of a tracker and as loyal as they came. Tre assumed the warrior wanted to stretch his wings a little, without the shadow of his older brother. Whatever the reason, Tre was glad to have him at his side.

  Tre reached his room on the second floor and threw open the french doors, needing the added privacy of the dark upper level to shift. The hot night air hit him like a fist but his body barely registered the blow. Nothing was going to stop him from finding Nic. He raised his arms and let the emotion take hold to allow the shift take him over. His hawk form appeared and he headed toward the bakery, intent on finding the bastards who had taken his friend and knowing full well that Michael would be following closely.

  Tre landed on top of a lightpost across the street from the melee that was engulfing the street. Cars and lights were everywhere and officers were filing in and out of the bakery with care. The NOPD were on line with this and losing another woman in their area would just bring them more negative press. The recent abductions and the victims found had them scrambling to find answers. Unfortunately the men in blue had no more answers than the Coteri did. But this was one woman Tre was not willing to lose.

  A giant black raven landed next to him. Michael. Both men scanned the area, trying to find any trail to follow. Tre bounded off the post and landed behind some bushes next to the French Quarter Café. To blend in more effectively, he quickly shifted into the form of a dirty mutt and loped across the street, sniffing his way around. The closer he got, the stronger the stench of the Valta became. He managed to stay out of the way of the officers but could detect the scent of blood—both human and that of his kind. Damn it. Nic had definitely been hurt. From the scent, and from knowing her, she had probably fought like a tiger trying to get away from those fuckers. Good for her. She was going to need that strength if she was to stay alive. He knew the Valta didn’t kill the women they took to begin with. Isla had hypothesized that testing was probably done on each woman to find out her natural cycle. Once in ovulation, the woman were impregnated. They had no idea whether it was done medically or whether the women were subjected to rape. He growled low in his throat. Just the thought of Nic being held down and violated made Tre sick.

  He turned and quickly found the scent again. It headed east down Decatur, toward the shipping warehouses. He had it. He tore off running down the road with Michael following him in flight. The trail was strong and fresh and Tre wasn’t going to stop for anything. He would get her back. It was because of him that they had targeted her. He was sure of it. How could he have been so stupid? He should have kept his distance from her. But his loneliness had won out and he’d allowed that to override Nic’s safety.

  Fuck. He was a selfish bastard and now she was hurt and in danger because of him.

  Tre ran until his lungs burned. The sun had come up and he now had to deal with more cars on the road. With the scent this strong, he could afford to shift back into his hawk form and still be able to follow it. He stopped on the side of the road and ran behind a tree. Once shifted, he soared into the air and met up with Michael. They flew low to stay on the trail of the Valta as they followed Nic’s scent. They crossed over Arabi and followed Highway 39 down the riverbank. The farther they went, the deeper into marsh country they got.

  Once they reached Port Sulphur, the scent weakened. Tre and Michael circled, trying to catch it again, but the more they flew, the colder the trail got. Tre landed behind a dock and transformed back into his human form. The Coteri’s ability to shift and fully retain their clothing and any weapons was never more welcome than at a time like this. Michael quickly followed suit and they both immediately sensed it. The Valta had been there. Right there. They must have moved onto the water. That had to be the reason the scent had weakened so abruptly. Tre looked around and found a wind boat. “Michael, take the boat. See if you can spot anything. I’m going to fly and get a broader view of the area.”

  Michael stood unmoving. His jaw clenched, his hands curled into fists. Tre could sense pure rage pouring from him, which was uncharacteristic. Michael was normally the light-hearted prankster. But they didn’t have time for that shit now. “Michael!” Tre shouted. “Move your ass.”

  Michael turned his rage-filled gaze toward Tre and Tre realized he wasn’t the only one feral over the loss of Nic. Shit.

  “I’m on it,” Michael responded as he jumped into the boat and quickly sped away.

  Once Michael was out of sight, Tre once again shifted into his hawk form and soared over the marsh. The thick trees and brush obscured his view, so he flew low and searched for anything out of the ordinary, anything out of place. A building, an open area within the cypress trees—anything he could think of. It was difficult. The marshland was huge, the thick trees and brush shrouding the area completely making visual contact of anything substantial almost impossible. He passed over Michael a few times but found nothing.

  No fucking way was he leaving empty-handed. He would fly the entire area as long as his wings would carry him, and he would find Nic. He wouldn’t lose her. He couldn’t let her go through what those other women had endured.

  Tre started to fly higher. He made long, circular passes over the marsh, hoping and praying to find something. He looked down and spotted a smaller boat making its way through the narrow canals. He swooped down for a closer look. Once he was close enough, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

  The figure behind the controls of the boat was no stranger. It was Alex. She was dressed in dark jeans and a fitted white T-shirt, her hair pulled back in a long braid, and it didn’t look as if she was on a fishing trip.

  Fuck. He had been right.

  She was Valta.

  Chapter Four

  Dev had managed to get Thea back to his office. He continued to hold her in his arms. She was still crying but had calmed enough to allow him to rock her gently in his lap. She had tucked her head under his chin and he rubbed his hand up and down her back, trying to soothe her. He felt like a complete fucker, considering he was sitting there thinking how good she felt, all soft and warm, needing him. After all this time, he finally had her exactly where he wanted her—in his arms. But this was definitely not the way he wanted to get her there. He needed to keep his libido in check or she was going to quickly find out just how comfortable he was with her sitting on top of him. One good shift to the right and she was going to feel all he had.

  Thea moved her head against his chest, nuzzling closer for comfort. She looked up at him and wiped her eyes with her hands. “I’m so sorry, Devereux. I had no right to come here and demand things from you that I have no business asking for. You’re my employer and I’m sitting on your lap, demanding that you find my sister. I have no idea what came over me but the first thing I thought of after I was told what had happened to Nicolette was to get over here and tell you I needed your help.”

  Dev felt his chest swell with pride. She had immediately thought of him. Come to him. Needed him. His satisfaction was quickly deflated as he came back to reality. He couldn’t have her. Hell, just being with her this way was putting her in danger. Danger from the Valta. Hell, from him. He knew what he was and what he became and she didn’t deserve that. She deserved someone soft, easy and caring. Not the hard, controlling animal he became when his emotions took over. And just looking at her right now, he knew it would be easier to go against a tank than to keep his animal in check where this woman was concerned.

  He placed his hand on the side of her head and guided h
er back to his chest. “It’s all right, Thea. You came to what you know. I appreciate that you trust me, believe me. It means more to me than you realize.”

  She lifted her head away from him and looked him in the eyes once again. “What do you mean?”

  Dev reached up and pushed her long thick hair behind her ear. “It just means I…appreciate that you trust me. That’s all.”

  Thea just sat there silent. Staring. Waiting for something he couldn’t and wouldn’t say. The look on her face said it all. She wanted comforting. Needed soothing. He was so not the man to do this for her. Slow and easy were just not in his repertoire when it came to women. He saw, he took and he left. Dev knew it was harsh but it was all he could do to survive, given his duties as a general of the Coteri. He didn’t want to go through losing someone close to him. He’d seen it all too often with his brethren. His life was dangerous, his duties making anyone he held dear an obvious target. This way was just safer, for everyone involved. But as he continued to become lost in her beautiful violet eyes, he felt himself lean in closer. Inhale her scent. Feel her body shift toward him. Feel her hands slide over his shoulders.

  Her fingers wove through his hair at the back of his neck and against his better judgment he allowed her to pull his mouth down to hers. On contact he thought of one word.

  Home.

  Her lips were warm and soft. He tasted the salt from her tears as he ran his tongue along the seam. She opened to him immediately, and without thinking he pulled her tighter against his chest. Dev heard her moan escape as he dug his hands into her soft behind, pushing up with his hips. Trying to feel her warmth.

  Without breaking their kiss, Thea lifted her body, stood, then straddled Dev’s lap, pushing down against him. He was so shocked by her maneuver that he pulled back and looked into her eyes.

  Lips swollen and eyes wild, Thea dived right back at him, holding him tight and taking his mouth in the ultimate seduction. Damn, this woman was going to kill his self-control. It had been a living hell keeping his hands off her over the years she’d worked for him, and now here she was, offering herself to him with complete trust. For a split second, he thought of his king. He thought of what Roderick would say to him. The punishments he would list out for disobeying a direct law forbidding a Coteri to mate with a human. Dev pulled away again and drove his hands into Thea’s hair. He fisted the strands and held her face in front of his, staring. She was breathing heavily and fighting his hold. The violet of her eyes had darkened with desire. She wanted him just as much as he wanted her. But at what cost?

  Then it finally hit him. The law relating to humans had been lifted. It had happened recently but Dev could no longer use that as an excuse to stay away from Thea. But Thea didn’t really know what he was. Her words from earlier replayed in his mind. She might know he was something different from what he portrayed to the outside world, but she didn’t know the specifics. His mind was reeling. Fuck it. He wanted her. And he was going to have her. He had spent the last few years lusting after this woman on a daily basis. And even though she was hurting and probably going to regret this later, she wanted him now. Was he a big enough son of a bitch to take advantage of her weakened emotional state?

  Common decency warred with his need. No. He wouldn’t do this now. Not to her, and not while she was in emotional distress. He closed his eyes and let out a long, slow breath.

  “Why are you stopping?” Thea asked breathlessly.

  “Theadosia, darlin’. You aren’t in your right mind right now. I understand you want comfort and I’ll give it to you, but I won’t take advantage of you like this.”

  “Oh God,” she interrupted him as her hands covered her face in embarrassment. “I can’t believe I did that. Just threw myself at you like that when all I should be focused on is my sister. I’m so sorry, Devereaux.”

  Her soft sobs ripped as his heart. Dev reached up and gently pulled her small hands away from her face, now wet with fresh tears. He lifted her trembling chin with his fingers and waited until she met his gaze. “Listen to me, bébé’. As much as I want to—and believe me, I most certainly want to—I don’t want you to regret being with me when you’re emotionally distraught and before I even get the chance to truly show you how I feel about you.”

  Thea immediately stiffened in his embrace. “Feel about me?”

  Dev shifted and lifted her to sit across his lap. He wanted to make sure she heard what he was saying, because he doubted he would have the balls or the self-control to say it again, especially if he’d allowed her to stay in her previous position with her warm heat pressed so intimately against him. “Yes. Feel about you. I have feelings for you, darlin’. I have for a long time. And I want to show you those feelings, but now isn’t the time or the place. We need to find Nic and get you back to normal. Then, if you’re still willing, I can show you some of those feelings and you can decide if you feel anything back.” He brushed her thick dark hair away from her face and smiled at her startled expression. “Sound okay to you?”

  Thea slowly lifted her hand and cupped the side of his face. He immediately felt the warmth of her touch and for a split second regretted being a gentleman in this particular situation. But looking at her, he knew she deserved the best he could give her.

  In a whisper, she said the only word he wanted to hear. “Okay.”

  * * * * *

  Tre remained high in the sky as Alex drove her craft to the Port Sulphur docks. He watched as she got out of the boat and entered a silver SUV. He couldn’t risk her sensing or seeing him, and having a hawk constantly circling overhead would be a dead giveaway.

  As she sped down Highway 39, Tre thought about all the ways he would kill her if he found out that she had, in fact, been involved in hurting Nic. Would he do it quickly or draw it out to try to get as much information out of her as possible after she told him what he needed to know? And there was no fucking way she wasn’t involved. It was just too damn coincidental that the day Nic was taken, he found Alex speeding through the bayou where the Valta trail ended.

  The thought of her fucking him like an Olympic champion, messing with his head, then taking the one human who was closest to him fed the rage building inside him to cataclysmic levels. She had probably been trailing him for weeks, or at least for long enough to learn about Nic, before their sex-fest in the hotel. Apparently Dev had been right after all. She’d been there to gather intel. And he’d been the stupid fucker dumb enough to fall for it. But little Alex was in for a surprise, because there was no way in hell he would allow himself to be that gullible again. And God help her if she truly did have anything to do with Nic’s abduction.

  Tre followed Alex’s vehicle into the Garden District, where she turned in to the driveway of a home down from Loyola. He suddenly remembered her telling him she was there for a medical research job with Loyola. Could he even hope that this was just one huge coincidence and she was an innocent in all this? Fuck no—he shook his head in denial. Not with Nic’s life at stake. Alex had mind-fucked him before she’d sneaked away from him six months before. She was in the marsh where the scent of the Valta who had taken Nic had last been determined. He couldn’t allow what he thought he felt for Alex to cloud his judgment when Nic was depending on him. He returned his attention to Alex as she left her vehicle. And just how could she be out in the open like this, obviously living among humans, without him and his team discovering her over the last six months?

  She had parked behind the home, and walked to the back door with her head down and shoulders hunched. He noted that her hand shook as she struggled to get the key into the lock. She finally succeeded and walked into the house, slamming the door behind her. Tre landed behind the shed on the lawn in the backyard and shifted back into his human form. Before moving to the house, he texted Jude and Seth to let them know what he had found and ordered them to come to the Loyola address and to keep an eye out. He instructed Michael to keep looking in the bayou and not stop until he found something. Alex had been out
there for a reason and was damn sure going to find out what that reason was.

  The sun was starting to set and it had been a full day since Nic had been taken. One day too long for Tre. He crept silently to the back of the house and tried the door. It was fucking unlocked! Was she out of her mind?

  He cautiously turned the knob and walked into the 1950s-style kitchen. The black-and-white tiled floor gleamed beneath his dirty boots. As silently as he could, he moved down the hall toward the front of the house. He could sense that she was still on the first floor, and made a beeline for her location. Her remembered scent shot through his system in a rush. Just as he was about to round the corner to the front room, he saw something sail past his vision and crash into the wall. A loud, mournful wail came on its heels.

  He slowly lowered himself down the wall and peered around the molding. There was Alex. On her knees, rocking back and forth. Crying. What the fuck? He schooled himself. Not his problem.

  He moved back behind the wall and pulled out his phone. He sent another text to Jude to let him know that the target had been acquired and that he should head to the marshes to assist Michael but advise Seth to bring the car in silently to this address and wait for his instructions.

  Tre looked around the corner again and saw Alex still on her knees but now staring at the ceiling with tears streaming down her face. Her shoulders were shaking, her hands fisted in her lap. She was sobbing. An instant urge to go to her passed through him and he dismissed it immediately. This woman was at the very least involved in Nic’s disappearance, and that had to be his main concern.

  After a few minutes, she jumped to her feet and ran behind the staircase. She slammed through the door and stepped through it, disappearing from his view.

  Fuck.

  He had to follow her if he was to have any hope of finding out where Nic was, but there was no telling what he would be walking into.