by Raven Stone
I watched him disappear down the stairs, followed by his other guard.
Green was afraid.
He was afraid this would happen again.
He should be.
Chapter 51
Nadia – Chicago
The things Degarr had revealed during that meeting.
Frankly I’d been rapt, too caught up in his interaction with Green to even think about speaking. Now we were alone together again, just Degarr and I, sitting in the back of the SUV with the privacy screen up. Degarr put his hand on my knee, and sat back in his seat.
“Who are you?” I asked.
Intense, grey eyes met mine.
“You know who I am.” His fingers pushed aside my skirt, and trailed up my thigh. “And shouldn’t I be the one asking that question? It seems you know a lot about me, and I know very little about you.”
I shivered. “I asked first.”
His lips twitched.
“Fair enough.” He pushed my skirt up, bunching it around my waist with one large hand. “I’m a vampire.”
“And a killer.” I added.
He’d threatened to kill Green – one of the most powerful men in this city – without blinking an eye.
Degarr’s fingers trailed tantalizingly along my thigh. My legs widened of their own accord.
“And you?” he asked.
Then his hand stopped moving.
“Is this some sort of interrogation technique?” I asked.
His lips curved upwards. “That wasn’t the plan, but that’s a fantastic idea. For every good bit of information you give me about you, I’ll give you a reward.”
His hand moved again, caressing my thigh. He stopped again, and I bit my lip, as his idea of a reward became clear.
“Okay,” I said breathlessly. “I’m a consultant. A locator.”
“Hmm. So I’ve heard.” Degarr went to floor and knelt in front of me. “Spread your legs, love.”
I found myself very thankful for the privacy screen as I did just that. Degarr ran his hands up my legs and hooked his fingers in my panties. He paused.
“How did you become a consultant?”
“I had a talent, and I needed to make money.” I was omitting a whole hell of a lot, but that was the gist of how I got started.
He slid the panties slowly down my legs, his fingers trailing along with the soft cloth, sending shivers up my spine. He gently lifted each foot, and slipped the panties free.
“I like these,” he said, then stuffed them into a pocket.
“Hey,” I protested, but he ignored me and kissed a trail up my legs.
He stopped mid-thigh.
“How did you find your first clients? Ones who could pay you well?” he asked.
“I started out with ones who could barely pay me, but I supplemented with other work, and mingled with the right crowd until I made the right contacts,” I replied.
“Like Amber’s trying to do?” he asked.
I nodded.
He continued kissing me, moving his way upward, until he stopped shy of the juncture between my thighs. I could feel his breath on my skin.
“This is where it gets personal,” he warned, his grey eyes dark.
“Okay,” I said breathlessly.
“We’ll start with something easy. What’s your favorite color?”
“Blue.”
Degarr dipped his head, and ran his tongue up the most intimate part of me from bottom to top. I inhaled sharply, resting my head against the seat.
“What do you like to do for fun?”
“I don’t have fun,” I replied.
He stopped touching me completely, and sat back on his heels. Heated dark grey eyes blinked at me.
“Fine,” I sighed. “I drink some wine and I watch shows like Married at First Sight and 90 Day Fiancé.”
He leaned forward again, his head dipping between my thighs. In just moments, I was rewarded with long, slow strokes of his tongue.
I gripped his arms, as ripples of pleasure went through me.
“I also like knitting and crocheting, okay? But you can’t tell anybody.”
This time he rewarded me by slipping his tongue inside of me.
God.
Damn.
I threw back my head and moaned.
When he raised his head again, my entire body was throbbing, and my legs were so wide his entire body could easily fit between them.
“What band do you like that you’re embarrassed to tell people about?”
“Bemidy Hoyoke.” The answer flew from my lips.
I had to admit, this was getting a lot easier.
He dipped his head again. This time his hands gripped my thighs, holding me as he explored me with that wicked tongue of his.
“Baby.” My hand slipped into his hair. “God, yes, like that.” My eyes drifted shut. My entire body was warm, wave after wave of pleasure crashing over me.
Soon.
I was going to come soon.
Degarr stopped abruptly, as if he could hear my very thoughts.
I growled, staring down my body at him, and he smiled.
“Yes, love?”
In answer, I simply tightened my grip on his hair. His smile deepened, and his eyes darkened.
“I want to slip my fangs into you. I want to feed from you right here.” He tapped my inner thigh with two fingers.
A shiver shot from that spot to my very core.
“Do it,” I told him.
“You can’t feed me right now, love. But soon.” He kissed the spot that he’d marked, then his hot gaze returned to mine. “One last question.”
“Yes?”
“What do you want to be when you’re forty?” he asked.
I didn’t even think about it. The answer just tumbled out of me.
“Happy,” I said.
As soon as I said it, I thought he might push back and say that wasn’t a real answer. Instead, he gave me that brilliant smile and lowered his head again.
This time, he swirled his tongue over me and nibbled my clit.
This time, he pushed a finger into me. Then another, swapping fingers for tongue, and back again, until my eyes had drifted shut and I was just this wanton, writhing creature wrapped around his hand.
“Degarr,” I breathed. “Please.”
And then he sent me to heaven. With a blend of fingers and tongue, he had me coming in seconds.
Coming on his hand, and fingers, and tongue with loud, wanton cries.
Chapter 52
Nadia – Chicago
He didn’t fuck me when we got back to my place. I was disappointed, but since he’d already given me an orgasm on the way home, I couldn’t really complain. He had left with a kiss; telling me he had a lot of work to do.
I wanted to go with him. I wanted to spend the rest of the night in his bed, and today too. But that came with a price.
My real name.
Why did he have to be so stubborn?
And why, for the love of God, did he have to latch onto one of the very things I didn’t want to give him?
The man was infuriating.
And incredibly good with his wicked, wicked tongue.
And he’d held me while I cried, without saying a word.
The fucker.
My phone rang, interrupting my thoughts.
“Bellamie?” It was Amber.
“Yes?” I poured fresh coffee into a mug. Normally I wouldn’t stoop to making coffee at home, but I’d slept in until noon and my body was screaming for caffeine.
“You owe me that ticket to Ibiza,” she said.
I made a noise. “Hardly. You don’t get that until you deliver.”
“Then get ready, because I got you and your boyfriend a meeting,” she replied.
I blew on the coffee before taking a sip. “With the person who hired you?”
“No. I got you a meeting with the person who ordered the drugs. The person who’s behind all of this.” She sounded smug.
I
came damn close to spewing coffee all over my countertop. Instead, I swallowed what I could, and carefully set the mug down. If Amber was telling the truth, then she had every right to be smug.
“How in the hell did you do that?” I asked.
“I’m sorry, my methods are proprietary,” she replied.
Good girl.
I smiled. “Well done, Amber. Alright, when and where?”
“Tomorrow at midnight. They’ll text me the address by eleven.”
“Will it be somewhere public?” I asked. Degarr had made that a condition for his meeting with Green, after all.
“No,” she replied.
Fuck. I was betting Degarr wouldn’t like that, but I didn’t see how we had much of a choice.
“Okay.” I sighed. “Be at my condo by ten tomorrow night.”
“Alright. And Bellamie?”
“Yes?”
“Have that ticket ready for me.”
It was only after she’d hung up that I realized she’d called Degarr my boyfriend and I hadn’t said a word of protest.
It had barely even registered.
After coffee and breakfast – okay, hell, lunch – I sat down on the couch and stared at the manila envelope Green had given us.
Did I even want to know? Technically it wasn’t even necessary anymore, since Amber had gotten us a meeting.
Us.
As in, it wasn’t just me going into that room. Degarr and Jamie would be there too. Maybe that should make me feel safe, but it didn’t. It made my throat tighten.
I cared about Degarr and Jamie. I cared about what might happen to them.
Fuck it.
I snatched the envelope off the table and opened it.
By the time I was done reading, my heart was racing, and I knew why every other locator had turned it down. I knew why Green had been scared last night.
The mark was a vampire, just like Degarr. It didn’t say that outright, but it was clear to anyone who’d been around vampires. That’s where the similarities ended though, because based on what I’d witnessed, Degarr just killed you. This man had dungeons. Like, real fucking dungeons. Cross him, and he didn’t simply kill you. Instead, he kept you like a pet. He chained you up in his dungeon and did God knows what to you.
I swallowed.
My mind flashed back to that warehouse in Houston. The one with chains on the walls. The one Degarr had been in.
Baby, what did he do to you?
I knew he’d been stabbed, but what about before then? He hadn’t seem bothered by talking about it. If he had been tortured, wouldn’t he have difficulties talking about it?
So maybe he hadn’t gone through that. Maybe the asshole had only stabbed him before he’d gotten free.
Either way, shouldn’t I tell Degarr about this? Shouldn’t he know who he was up against?
Someone knocked on my door, and I jumped. I shoved the papers back into the envelope, put it on the coffee table, and answered the door.
Jamie walked inside, his expression turning to concern at whatever he saw on my face. “What?”
I closed the door, took him by the hand, and led him to the couch. Then I handed him the envelope.
“Green gave us this last night. It’s the information on our mark. Read it.”
He did, sitting down on the couch and reading through it before tossing it back onto the coffee table.
He ran a hand over his face. “Fuck. Not again.”
“Again?!”
Jamie shot me a sad smile. “I thought you knew about Houston. You said you went to the warehouse.”
“I did.”
“Then you know this is similar. I suspect this vampire has different goals than Albion, but still.” He shrugged. “I’m beginning to realize that this is part of what Garr and Gabriel do.”
I crossed my arms. “What do they do?”
“Gabriel’s a king, but what he’s really interested in are vampires like that.” He pointed to the envelope.
“And how does Degarr fit in?” I asked.
“Garr helped Gabriel build his kingdom. He kept him safe from assassinations.”
“Is that why he’s called the Sword of Gabriel?”
He nodded. “From what I heard, he got that name after everybody realized they’d have to go through Garr first, if they wanted to kill Gabriel. No one managed it. He’s one of the main reasons Gabriel made it through the early years.” His tone warmed, and a light appeared in his eyes.
“You’re proud of him,” I realized.
“Very,” he replied.
I smiled, then my mind flashed back to that first bit of intel the Crew had given me.
“But I thought he was a businessman?” I asked.
“He was,” Jamie said.
“What changed?”
“That’s who he wanted to be, or that’s who he told himself he was. It worked for a while, I guess. The business he built was successful. In fact, he sold it right before we went to Brazil. But as much as he tried to make himself into your average, ordinary entrepreneur, that’s not who he really is. We’re both beginning to realize that he’s supposed to be the Sword of Gabriel, or something like that. It scares me because I don’t want to lose him, but he’s so much happier this way.”
“You mean he’s not suicidal like he used to be,” I said softly.
Surprise flickered through his eyes. “What?”
“Jamie, I was supposed to kill him, and he knew it. Okay, the blonde was supposed to kill him, but the point is, he knew about the stakes. He knew what I was supposed to do.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“He didn’t tell you what happened in Brazil? Between him and me?” I asked.
“No. What you said in the bar that first night was explanation enough,” he replied.
“I was hired as a wingman for this blonde girl. Normally I wouldn’t have agreed, but I was desperate. She was supposed to lure the mark up to a hotel room and kill him. I was just support; someone to get her in the door and act like her best friend. But Degarr fucked it all up. He didn’t pick the stupid blonde, he picked me,” I said.
“And you couldn’t do it,” Jamie said softly.
“No. But he knew about the stakes. He even tied himself up and told me to open his shirt so it would be easier to get the stake in him.”
“What did he tie himself up with?”
“His belt.”
Jamie’s lips curved upwards. “He was chained to a wall and he broke free. A belt wouldn’t do anything.”
He tapped his knee with his fingers, and eyed me.
“You know, for a while, I thought all of this was Gabriel’s influence. That he brought out some sort of thrill-seeking, danger-loving side of Garr that otherwise wouldn’t appear. But the more I hear stories like that, the more I realize I was wrong. That side of Garr is always there. Gabriel just channels it, gives him something constructive to do with it instead of pursuing it in self-destructive ways.” He nodded thoughtfully. “What happened next?”
“Three vampires burst in on us. He snapped the belt and killed them all. Then he helped me get out of Brazil,” I said.
“Helping someone he barely knows. That’s the Garr I know.” A smile spread across the ginger’s face.
“It was stupid. I tried to kill him.”
“After what you’ve seen and heard by now? We both know you couldn’t have killed him.” He sighed. “He just wanted excitement. And Gabriel gives him that in spades.”
“Tell me about Gabriel. Who is he?”
“He’s a good man. Decent. He genuinely cares about his people, and he looks for the good in everyone, even when it bites him on the ass. And he loves the hell out of Garr.”
“How long have they been together?” I asked.
“As friends, for a few hundred years. Romantically, less than a year,” he replied.
I blinked. “That’s not very long. What about his girlfriend, Orleande? How long have they been together?”
“On and off for centuries. She knew him when he was human. He calls her the love of his life.”
Something lodged in my throat, and Jamie’s eyebrows rose.
“Jealous?”
My eyes narrow. “I don’t get jealous.”
“Like you don’t do boyfriends?” he countered. “Or maybe you never cared about anyone before. Not like this. Not enough to get jealous.”
I rose on shaky legs and headed for the kitchen.
“I don’t get jealous.” I stubbornly repeated.
Jamie followed me into the kitchen. I went to open to open the refrigerator door, and he shut it with one hand, while closing his other hand around the back of my neck.
“Goddammit.” My body felt boneless again, and I rested my palms and forehead on the refrigerator.
“You do get jealous,” Jamie said, just as stubborn as me. “You care about Garr. Admit it.”
His damn scent was filling my nostrils again, full of wolf and pine, whispering to me of home and safety.
“Fine. I admit it. I care about Garr,” I said. “And you too.”
He wrapped his other arm around me, and we drifted to the floor. I wound up on his lap, snuggled into him like he was my very own full-size teddy bear.
“We can’t keep doing this,” I said. “It’s wrong.”
“We’re not fucking,” he replied. “This is a wolf thing. Wolves do this all the time.”
“I’m not a wolf. And wolves don’t have arms to cuddle with.”
His lips curved upward. “Werewolf then. Just don’t say ‘cuddling’ around the other wolves, okay?”
“I won’t. I promise.”
He rewarded me with a big smile.
“How long have you been a werewolf?” I asked.
“Almost five years.”
“And you’ve known Garr that whole time?”
He nodded.
“What about other wolves?”
He swallowed thickly. “Not until recently. That’s thanks to Gabriel. I met other werewolves – other than the one who turned me – through him.”
“Are they nice?”
“Yes.”
I sighed, putting my hand on his chest. “Tell me about your home. Yours and Garr’s.”
“I can’t,” he said softly, rubbing my neck. “Garr said I couldn’t, until you give him –”