by Cat Miller
He said nothing, his hazel green eyes sparkedwith determination and possession. His mouth was a stern line surrounded by a well-trimmed goatee when he lowered his head to claim her mouth. Karrie sagged in Nate’s hold and returned the kiss. When he finally lifted his head, Karrie sighed and followed obediently without being dragged. She turned back to give Brandi a look of apology for leaving her. It was the damnedest thing. It seemed as though the stern, demanding woman had met her match and she knew it. Derek and Brandi both smiled, watching the other couple disappear into the darkness.
****
Derek placed his hand on the small of Brandi’s back to swiftly lead her toward the edge of her family’s property. He had a vehicle waiting a few blocks away from the supposedly secure perimeter wall. It was dark and quiet with stray beams of moonlight filtering down through the trees. When they passed through a clearing, Derek took the time to look down at his willing captive. The tension in her body was palpable and he knew Brandi had every reason to fear him. She had no reason to trust him, for all she knew he was leading her to her death, but she followed him into the night and away from the safety of her family anyway. She trusted him and wanted to hear his side of the story before summarily passing judgment on the life he lived. Not that anything he said to her would matter once she realized that he would never leave the Master’s service as long as his mother was a prisoner.
Brandi looked up at him and the midnight-blue of her eyes reflected the light from the moon that seemed more like a disco ball hanging low in the sky. She was breathtaking. His arms ached to hold her close and feel the warmth of her acceptance.
This was a Brandi he had never had the pleasure of seeing before. Gone were the designer clothes and stiletto heels. Brandi was garbed in an outfit that seemed to fit her more naturally than all the flash she usually wore. She wore a simple pair of jeans, a snug t-shirt that bore the logo of the local college football team and a pair of classic black Vans that made her look at home in her skin. He couldn’t help it; Derek stopped and wrapped his arms around her lush, petite body. He had been dreaming of holding her ever since the night he spent watching over her in Candy’s spare bedroom.
After only a moment’s hesitation, Brandi returned the embrace, going up on tiptoes to tuck her face into the hollow of his throat. Dear God, he wanted this woman. He wanted to taste her, claim her, protect her, but more than that he wanted to be the type of man she would allow to do those things and proudly claim him as her man as well.
“I think this is a bad idea.” Brandi whispered lifting her head, “I’m going back to the house. I can’t… I don’t want to be with you, Derek. I can’t trust you.” Brandi tried to look away but he held her chin in his hand, forcing her to look him in the eye when she lied to him.
“Don’t lie to me, Sparky. I know you feel the pull, the same way I feel it.” Derek smiled weakly. Brandi blushed.
He knew he should let her go, but for just a moment Brandi was in his arms and that had been all he wanted since the first time their eyes locked on each other so many months ago. This may be new for her but he had been tracking her every move and doing everything in his power to protect her from the Master and his machinations ever since he was released from the dungeon after he and Darren had failed to capture Danielle. Unable to stop himself from brushing his lips against hers lightly, barely a whisper of contact before placing one of her hands on his shoulder and taking the other hand in his own to led her in the first strands of a waltz only he could hear. Derek loved to dance. His mother taught him that any man worth his salt could woo a woman on the dance floor. But that was a long time ago.
“There isn’t any music,” Brandi whispered with a sheepish smile.
Brandi was also an accomplished dancer. He had watched her dance at several formal functions. She was trying not to enjoy the dance and failing. He spun her in a turn at the end of the clearing and pulled her a little closer to his chest for the return trip.
Derek looked into her exquisite, upturned face and the slow shift in his chest that had been occurring every time he saw Brandi finally snapped. She made him want more and she made him dream of the impossible. He had to acknowledge the feel he was experiencing for the first time in his life. He was falling for Brandi. It was time she recognized her attraction to him also.
He knew all about her surfer boyfriend and all of the Wrath guard’s heroics but he also knew Brandi was curious about him too. It was odd that when her hero accompanied her to the various balls and charity functions he acted like more of a bodyguard. He never dance with her or making the social rounds. In his opinion if Malibu Ken was doing his job, Brandi wouldn’t be thinking about other guys. She wouldn’t have followed him blindly into the unknown. Yes, she was very curious and Derek would use that curiosity to keep her with him for as long as possible.
“There is music if you listen,” he finally replied. “Do you hear the wind rustling the leaves in the trees, the branches swaying to the beat of the night? I hear the flapping of wings, an owl singing us a song and the distant hum of passing cars. Can’t you hear my heart thudding, trying to catch up with yours?”
Derek kissed her, licking his way into the heat of her beautiful mouth. He lifted her from the ground to rest against his chest when her steps faltered. He continued to dance but Brandi struggled to pull away. He wouldn’t release her. Derek needed this chance to explain his life and his feelings to Brandi. He had to make her listen. Even if she hated him afterward, she had to know the truth. He wasn’t the Master’s willing soldier. He was a victim too. But she likely wouldn’t see it that way. His heart became heavy with regret in his chest. How could he expect her to understand and forgive him for things he couldn’t change? He would continue to be the Master’s lackey.
“Let me go. I’m going home.” She tried wrenching her arms free, but Derek held tight.
“Please, Brandi, you said you wanted answers. I want to give them to you.” She shivered under his hands.
“Giving me answers has nothing to do with the kissing and wandering hands,” she stuttered and looked ashamed, “I have a boyfriend. I’m in a serious relationship with a man that would be hurt by my behavior. If he finds out I’m missing, and when they discover I’m gone, he will be the first person they call before they even contact my parents, he will be distraught.”
“A serious relationship, huh? That’s funny considering how much time you spend alone,”Derek challenged.
Derek jerked her against him and laid siege on her senses. He stroked her back with his hands and claimed her mouth with his. He surrounded her with his arms and the mingled scent of their bodies until she allowed his tongue entrance. He let Brandi feel the effect she had on his hungry body when he rotated his hips, pressing his length into the softness of her belly. This was his specialty and one of the many reasons the Master valued Derek’s services. The human girls were drawnto his vampire nature, foolishly flocking to the predator, while the vamp girls longed to get closer to that illusive scent that pulled them in like eager little lambs to slaughter. It was the human in his blood that drove them crazy with the need to feed, but his vampire blood confused them into believing it was the need for the purely carnal pleasure he promised. Sometimes he actually gave it to them and slaked his own lust before resigning them to their fates as fodder for the Master and his men.
At the moment he did what he had to do in order to gain Brandi’s compliance. He pulled back, peering deeply into her astonished, almost confused eyes. His heart beat wildly. She wasn’t the only one affected by the soul rending kiss.
“Can your man make feel like that? Can he make you forget I exist the way I just made you forget his name?” Derek taunted.
Derek tried to keep his grip on Brandi when the skin under his hands became hot and searing. He may have gone too far with that last comment. Brandi was pissed. He had wondered what it would take to push her into using her secret talent. Her deep blue eyes had shifted to a glassy onyx and her skin became molten hot. Wit
h a hiss he was forced to release her or suffer burns that would take him much too long to recover from. The massive power contained in this sweet little spark of a woman amazed him and only made him want her more.
“I’m not the kind of girl that cheats, Derek. I’m done with this shit. Thank you for helping me in the past but you need to leave now. Please don’t come back.” Brandi began to walk back toward her home.
The sadness that flashed in her eyes made Derek regret pushing her. He had made her feel dirty and that was the last thing he intended to do. It felt like the secret flames in her body reached out to him, igniting a need for her every time they came into contact and making him act like a letch.
“I’m sorry, Sparky. I get close to you and all my good intentions go up in flames, so to speak. Please don’t go. I promise to behave like a gentleman.” He held his breath and watched her continue walking away from him. If she left, he wouldn’t pursue her tonight, but he’d be damned if he would stay away as she requested.
At the edge of the clearing she paused, sighed deeply and turned around. Derek’s mouth fell open when she raised one hand to him. Everything between them began to heat up and it looked as if he were looking out across hot asphalt. Her image shimmered and waved like a desert mirage.
Shit.
She was going to attack him. He wasn’t sure his half-human body could survive the damage the fire ball he knew she capable of producing. He had seen one scorched a path of earth and trees through the woods. There was no sense in running. He was stronger than most vampires but not as fast. He couldn’t outrun her rage.
She stared at him looking anguished. He waited silently for her judgment. Maybe it was for the best. His forced life of crime and depravity would end at the hands of the only woman he had ever longed for, the one person who had been able to make him feel real shame for his deeds. No matter that they had been done in defense of his mother. It was fitting after the things he had done to so many innocent girls.
Brandi lowered her hand and a tree stump halfway between them, completely covered in debris from the forest floor, burst into flames. It was an instant campfire. Wow. She must have been practicing. There hadn’t been a fireball or a path of destruction. Brandi had merely pointed at the stump and up it went. The flames cast a warm glow over the area between them. Derek took a deep breath, realizing her intent hadn’t been to hurt him.
“You have one hour, Derek. Stay on that side of the flames and I will listen.”
****
Cayden listened with keen interest from the canopy of trees above the couple eyeing each other over the flames. Brandi had created a brilliant blaze. Cayden was shocked and amazed at the discovery of Brandi’s pyrokinetic talent, though not surprised that she would have kept it hidden. It would have made her an immediate target for the Rogue. He had been on guard and secretly watching the Vaughn Estate for the last two days since Griffin had been taken to the infirmary. It had been warriors, his own brethren that had tried to deliver the Councilmen and his son to the Rogue. Cayden decided to stay hidden and watch over the family until Griffin was able to come home and protect them himself. The last he heard when he checked in with his father, Gage Paris, the captain of the entire warrior class, Griffin still hadn’t awakened from the drug induced sleep caused by the Rogue’s flunkies.
The bastard was still after Dani. Cayden clenched his fists in anger and struggled to keep his breathing even. Dani had told them all the truth. They had spies and traitors in their midst. All it had gotten her was banishment from the Enclave and the distrust of most of the warrior class. Now she had to live a life of restriction, hiding from the Rogue to protect the entire vampire nation from the power that lurked in her petite body. If the Rogue were ever able to drain the life from Dani and steal that power, he would be unstoppable.
Cayden was glad he hadn’t immediately taken out the intruders when they made an unauthorized back door entrance at the Vaughn estate. Now he had the identity of at least one traitor, the one that left his post and cleared the way for two unknown vamps to creep inside. He wouldn’t apprehend the traitor yet. It would be beneficial to follow him back to his friends.
He hadn’t panicked immediately when the house was breached because he had seen Karrie sneak in, without the aid of the spies, early that morning. He knew Karrie would protect Brandi. Karrie was impressively trained and able to defend against any threat, so long as she wasn’t drugged by the intruders. It hurt Cayden just a little when Karrie had walked off with another guy, but he had no claim on her. She had tried to develop a more serious, exclusive relationship, but Cayden just wasn’t ready. He still nursed the self-inflicted wounds he suffered after losing Dani to his best friend. Cayden knew he couldn’t expect Karrie, with her long sexy legs, beautifully tilted, deep brown eyes and strength of body and mind to wait for him to get it together. The only surprise was that it had taken this long for her to move on. The fact that her new guy was possibly another minion of the Rogue was something he would have to deal with though. Somehow he just couldn’t believe Karrie, the daughter of a Wrath team leader from a long line of warriors, was aware that she would be sleeping with the enemy.
His patience had paid off. The unknown vampire male had spent the better part of an hour explaining his history and how he became an unwilling minion of the Rogue. Cayden pitied the guy. He didn’t know what he would do if it were his sweet, gentle mother in the Rogue’s clutches. To the guy’s credit, and obvious detriment, he confessed all of his various sins to Brandi, explaining that he didn’t want her to learn of it later and believe he had lied or purposely kept secrets from her. Brandi sat silently listening to the man, who was clearly in love with her, speak of past deeds that included drug distribution, kidnapping vamps and humans, theft and fights to the death organized by the Rogue. He swore that his many and various sins were all done in the name of love for his mother. Apparently he was such a successful fighter the Rogue used him as a weapon to discourage his other minions from attempting a mutiny. The situation with the Rogue had grown well past the scope of the Enclave’s understanding.
Now was the time, while the stranger was distracted by the beautiful and apparently powerful woman Brandi had become, to sneak in and apprehend him. If he were as close to the Rogue as he claimed to be, the stranger would have valuable information, such as the location of the Rogue’shideout. They could end this nightmare. Dani could finally live free and his people wouldn’t need to live in fear of their children disappearing without a trace.
Cayden slowly descended the tree and hit the ground on silent feet. He made his way through the shadows of night to come up on the other man’s blindside,but by the time he got into position, the vamp had made his way around the flames and was holding Brandi in his arms. She was sobbing.
“I’m so sorry, Sparky. Please, tell me you can try to understand the situation I’m in?” Cayden heard him say.
“We can end this together, Derek. Can you help my people catch this bastard?” Brandi sniffed. Silence. More sobbing.
“My mother would never make it out alive. He would torture her to bring me back under his control. You may not believe that one life is worth the price of many but she is my mother. She is all the family I have. I can’t leave her at his mercy. Can’t you try to understand?” He stroked Brandi’s dark hair. Brandi shoved at him and came to her feet.
“What is it that you’re asking me for? I don’t understand why you’re here. Do you expect me to leave a good man, a warrior that protects and cares for my people? Should I forsake my family and my race to run off with you? Did you plan on dragging me into your sick little world so the Rogue can use me against you too? Did you imagine that we would share a cell in the dungeon he locks you in? What do you want? Why are you telling me all this shit?” She was screaming in his face, the air around her began to wave with the heat of her temper. If the guy wasn’t careful he would find himself charbroiled.
“I just had to see you, to know you weren’t hurt. I’m sorry
I came. I just wanted you to know I’m not evil at heart, only in actions. That doesn’t seem to really matter in the end. No matter what the reason for your actions you are still responsible for the results. I understand that.” He sighed and tried to get closer to Brandi but he was forced back by the heat of her emotions.
“I care deeply for Greyson. I don’t know what you expect from me but I can’t deliver. I will never betray his trust. I’m sure that’s not a concept a criminal would understand.”
The guy looked like she had punched him in the gut. He stepped back, putting more space between them.
“You need to leave. I don’t want to see you again. If you ever come back here, I won’t be so friendly. Again, I thank you for stepping in and saving my life. Now get off my family’s property and don’t come back.” Brandi stomped off into the trees. The guy just stood there looking forlorn while he watched her disappear into the trees.
He saved her life? Cayden would like to know when and how. Brandi was going to have a lot to answer for when they got this guy into custody. Cayden crept forward while the other vamp was still distracted. Now that Brandi wasn’t in the line of fire he could take the guy down without getting too close. He raised his sidearm and aimed for the vamp’s knee. He wouldn’t get far on only one leg. As he pulled the trigger a huge weight fell on him, forcing his shot to go wide and miss its target. Cayden struggled but couldn’t move and the vamp in the clearing took off like a spooked animal, escaping into the forest.
“Calm yourself, son. I’m not here to hurt you.” The deep timber of a huge male informed him from behind. How the hell had this guy gotten the drop on him? Cayden hadn’t heard or smelled a thing. He struggled against the steel hold of the stranger but failed to get even one limb free.
“We need to talk, son. We can’t do that until you calm yourself. I don’t want to be forced to knock you out and carry you off over my shoulder. I know you wanted to capture Derek but there is far more at stake here than you can possibly understand. You can’t see the whole picture, yet. You need to understand the situation from all angles before you can conquer your enemies. That is why I am here. We will be allies in this war if you are willing to keep an open mind.”