by C. L. Parker
His hand traveled over the length of her arm until he found her hand nestled close to her chest and laced his fingers through hers. The warmth of his skin and the comfortable vibration of energy that passed between them set her at ease and awakened her senses at the same time.
“Is this okay?” he whispered against the skin of her neck.
She couldn’t risk opening her mouth to form words she knew would come out a garbled mess and make her sound as pathetic as she was, so she nodded instead.
Dante kissed her shoulder and then lay back with a sigh. Silence stretched between them and she would’ve thought Dante was fast asleep if he hadn’t been sliding his fingers back and forth through hers methodically.
“I have a confession to make.” His voice was quiet even though the silence had been broken. “There’s a reason I wasn’t here the day you arrived. I hadn’t wanted to meet you because I felt like our parents were forcing us together.”
Tori guffawed. “Oh really? And why would they do that?”
“I’m serious. Do you know why you’re here?”
That was an odd question. “We just came to visit on vacation. Why else would we have come all the way to London?”
“They didn’t tell you? I figured as much.”
“Dante, what are you talking about?”
“Quite rude of them to leave the task to me, but you deserve to know the truth.” He inhaled a deep breath before continuing. “Do you remember when I told you that I’ll never let anything happen to you?”
Tori nodded.
“I meant that quite literally. It’s my sworn oath. You’re the Guardian of Mankind, but I’m the Guardian of the Guardian. According to my father, and grandfather before he passed away, I’m supposed to fight by your side, to keep you safe so that you can do whatever it is that you’re meant to do. It’s the real reason your parents brought you here . . . so that we could forge our bond.”
Tori’s jaw dropped and she sat up to look down at him. “You’re kidding me!”
“ ’Fraid not. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.”
“It’s not bad news. It’s just . . . why wouldn’t they tell me that?”
“I suspect they just wanted to see how we’d get on. It’s easier to know if you’re compatible with someone if you don’t feel forced to be.”
“So, this is kind of like a prearranged marriage, huh?” Tori’s head fell back and she growled through a forced laugh while rubbing her hands over her face. “This is just too much.”
She was going to march straight to her parents’ bedroom and demand answers. With that mission in mind, Tori flung the covers back and started to get out of bed, but Dante stopped her when he sat up and swung his legs over the edge, catching Tori around the waist to place her between his legs.
“Calm down, Angel. You can’t blame Kerrigan and Dominic.”
“Oh, yes I can.”
“You don’t understand. They weren’t the ones who made the decision.”
Tori scoffed. “Really? Well then who did?”
“Is it such a horrible thing to think about spending so much time with me?” he asked, his fingers trailing lightly down her arm to her wrist where he flipped her hand palm side up.
“That’s not the point, Dante. Aren’t you tired of someone or something else making all the decisions about your life for you?”
“Oh, I don’t know, Angel . . . This part doesn’t seem to have turned out so badly. I thought we were getting along well enough.”
He lifted her hand to his mouth and placed a seductive kiss to her palm. Tiny tingles tickled down her spine like a pixie had sprinkled its magical dust on the center of her back. It was nearly enough to make her forget what they were talking about, but she fought its power.
Tori pulled her hand away. “Stop trying to distract me. You obviously know more about this than I do, so I want to know how they can be so sure.”
Dante sighed. “Very well, then. Where’s your mark?”
“Why?”
“Just let me see it.”
Tori took her ponytail and laid it over her left shoulder before pointing to a spot half hidden by her hairline on the back of her neck. Dante reached around her and switched on the bedside lamp so that he could see. He parted the section of hair that hid the remainder of her birthmark and examined it.
“Just as I thought. You have a singular wing like that of an angel,” he told her, not that she hadn’t already known that.
“So?”
“Would you like to see mine?”
“Is that a trick question? I mean, are we back to the ‘show me yours and I’ll show you mine’ bit? Because I might actually punch you in the face if you go there with me right now.”
“Bloody hell, woman. Always so violent. Just turn around already.”
Tori turned around and Dante maneuvered himself so that his back was to her. Then he pulled the waist of his pants down enough so that she could see the mark at the curve of his ass.
Her gasp was audible, her whispered words barely so. “It’s just like mine. We’re soul mates?”
Dante pulled his pants back up and shook his head, turning back around to face her. “Not exactly like yours. Mine spreads to the right where yours spreads to the left. It only looks identical to you because I imagine you’ve only ever seen it through your reflection in the mirror.”
“But what does it mean, then?”
“There is one theory. See, we’ve learned from our parents that the marks of soul mates are identical. Ours are two parts of one whole, so my father believes it proves we’re mated, but in a different way. We’re still trying to figure it out. There has to be more to it than we know, or think we know.”
Tori stared off at nothing in particular. “I . . . I can’t believe they didn’t tell me this. We never keep secrets in our family.” She was definitely going to have a talk with her parents the first chance she got. What hypocrites.
“I don’t think they believe it means the same thing as my father does. They seem to think your mark is shaped like a wing as a symbol of the Guardian Angel bloodline you carry, but they agreed it was odd.
“That wasn’t the only thing. My mother wasn’t supposed to be able to have children, but soon after she and my father met, they were married and she found out she was pregnant with me. It was a miracle, but there were complications. She said I was stubborn and refused to be carried to full term.
“When she went into labor five months into her pregnancy and the doctors couldn’t stop it, she thought she was about to lose yet another baby. But I was born, a little undercooked, but alive. Apparently, I spent the rest of the time I should have been in the womb in an incubator while the rest of my body formed. The doctors said I would always have health issues, that I’d always be a runt. But I’ve never been ill a day in my life, and as you can see, I’m definitely not a runt.”
Boy, did he ever hit the nail on the head with that one. Six-foot-five and not a pound under one hundred and eighty with a body built like a soccer player. He was probably the most physically fit man she had ever met. Definitely not a runt.
“My father, he really abides by the ‘everything happens for a reason’ motto, so he felt that was added proof that you and I were meant for something great. While those were miraculous signs, hard to ignore, Dominic and Kerrigan still weren’t convinced.
“You and I share the same birth date. Did you know that?”
Tori shook her head. “I’m having a really hard time wrapping my head around all this.”
“Trust me—I know full well what you mean. Your parents found it a little hard to believe as well. Which is why Dominic came to London to see for himself about five years ago.”
“My dad was here? Five years ago?”
Dante nodded.
“My mom told me he had to go to New York to pick up a part for his Barracuda.”
“Sorry, he was here. Again, don’t be cross with him. It was the only way to know for sure. It wasn’t until my fath
er handed him the Ring of Truth and had me recite, ‘I am the Guardian of the Guardian, Victoria Milena Cruz-Grayson,’ that he finally believed what my father had already figure out.”
The Ring of Truth. Tori had heard about its magical ability to discern truth from lies. When the bearer of the ring felt it warm against their skin, it was proof that whoever was speaking was telling a lie.
“So, what does all this mean, exactly?” Tori asked, still confused and very much overwhelmed.
“Well, our semi-matching marks, the Ring of Truth, and the pull we both feel to each other all seem to point in one direction. And if my touch can somehow protect you from your nightmares, it will only be further proof that I am indeed your protector, the Guardian of the Guardian, destined to stand by your side while you protect the fate of mankind.”
“Protect the fate of mankind,” Tori repeated sarcastically. She huffed and resumed her previous position in the bed. “I still don’t even know what that means.”
“Nor do I, but we’ll figure it out together,” Dante said, resituating himself under the covers and looking down at her. “Until then, it looks like you’re stuck with me, Angel, and I can’t say I find that thought revolting in the least.”
No, the thought wasn’t revolting. It stung no less to know that she had been lied to repeatedly by her parents, and yet another decision had been stolen from her.
Tori reached over to turn the light off again, not sure she would be able to sleep, or even if she had the strength to deal with the nightmares should their hypothesis turn out to be an epic fail. But if it worked—if it worked, for even a few moments, maybe she could shut it all out and get lost in the restful bliss of pure nothingness.
When she pulled back, Dante put his hand on her shoulder and nudged her until she was on her back under him.
“Hey, I’ve told you before, you’re not alone in this. I’m going to be with you every step of the way.”
Tori nodded. She believed he would, but there was still a whole other part of her that he knew nothing about, and she just couldn’t bring him in on that clusterfuck on top of everything else.
Dante kissed her tenderly, once, twice, and lingered on the third while his tongue swept back and forth over her bottom lip. He deepened the kiss, swallowing up the moan she hadn’t even realized she’d made. That was when she realized how much she already needed him. He alone possessed the ability to make her forget about everything else. She felt like she was drowning, like all the oxygen had been sucked out of the room, and she realized that it was him. When Dante kissed her, she not only forgot about everything else, she also forgot to breathe. As if he sensed what Tori needed, even though she couldn’t have cared less, he pulled back in time for her to inhale deeply. Then he softly kissed her twice more.
“I’m sorry, but I really did want that goodnight kiss. I’ll try to warn you next time so that you’re better prepared.” He nudged her back onto her side, wrapped his arm around her again, and nuzzled her neck. “Sweet dreams, Angel.”
Dante was apparently a boob man.
Tori had smiled and shaken her head when she awoke to find him snuggled against her back with his hand cupping her breast. The pervert. Her smile had broadened when she realized she had slept the entire night and wasn’t able to recall any sort of dream or nightmare. It had worked. Dante really was the Guardian of the Guardian, and his touch really had kept the demons away.
Waking up in his arms hadn’t seemed the least bit odd. In fact, it felt natural, like something she had done for all her life and would every morning of forever. Being with him was as easy as breathing, even when he made her forget to do so. His presence made her feel safe, his relentless flirting made her feel wanted, and his kisses made her feel desired. In short, he made her feel alive for the first time in her life.
But she hadn’t forgotten about her parents’ betrayal.
That afternoon, she had gone to their bedroom to have a little chit-chat, but Dominic had been off with the fellas, and Kerrigan had taken her request for a talk as a sign that she wanted to spend more time with her. That turned into the extension of an invitation to Gabe and Sinclair to join them, making it a girl power day of manicures and makeovers. Not exactly her intention, but she really did need that pedicure, especially if Dante was going to continue to sleep in her bed.
It wasn’t her first makeover—she’d experienced plenty of beauty sessions with her mother and Gabe while growing up—and she was used to them prying into her personal business. Before, however, she had been able to convince them she hadn’t any boy talk to dish because it was the truth. Now, they knew there was something up between her and Dante and it seemed like every chance any one of them got to ask about it, they made sure they did.
It only resulted in an outburst. Not only to distract them but because it needed to be said, she cited her lack of appreciation for the fact that they hadn’t told her about the true reason behind their quote/unquote summer vacation to London. All of them had known, and not one of them thought it was something she needed to know in return. It was only her life; why should she need to have the inside scoop?
Tori had expressed her feelings of betrayal, shed an angry tear or two, and then ripped the separators from between her toes and thrown them to the floor. Since the separators were foam, it hadn’t given her quite the effect she was going for, so she stomped out on the heels of her feet and slammed the door behind her.
After a brief cool-off period—where she had gone into her sanctuary, only to find that the damn wall had encroached even farther into her beautiful meadow and the mystery woman was nowhere in sight—she went in search of Dante. She had missed him terribly. Being away from him made her feel incomplete—which was a whole other anomaly to mull over. Rather than torture herself even further, she had decided it best to just alleviate that uncomfortable feeling altogether.
The second she stepped outside and caught sight of him, washing his motorcycle in the driveway shirtless while holding a soapy sponge and a hose, all the tension that had coiled up in her body eased. She hadn’t even realized her hands were balled into fists, unfurling into twitchy fingers that wanted to touch the fraction of the mark peeking out from under the waistband of his snug jeans. Then she realized that her lips wanted in on the action as well. He would let her; she knew he would. That mark was about as sensual to a Guardian of the Light as full-on contact with body parts of the nether regions for normal people. At least that was what Gabe had so crassly pointed out during their girl talk earlier, much to the disapproval of Kerrigan and Sinclair, judging by the look of scorn on their faces.
Dante turned around and gave Tori a breathtaking smile that was even brighter than the glow of his Guardian skin when he saw her standing there.
“Hey, Angel! I see you’ve tired of your girls’ day out, which confusingly you ladies spent in.” Tossing the sponge into the bucket and the hose across the driveway, he picked up a chamois and began wiping the bike down. “Or did you just miss me that much?”
It was true, on both counts, but Tori saw no reason to make his ego any more inflated than it already was. “Will you get me out of here, please?”
Dante paused and looked up at her. He must have seen something in her expression that told him she didn’t want to talk about because he shrugged. “Sure. I actually had a place in mind that I wanted to take you this evening, but I don’t suppose it would hurt to go now. Won’t be near as much fun during the daylight hours, though. Just let me finish drying off the Duck and we’ll be on our way.”
Tori cringed at the thought of riding on the bike again. “Can’t we just walk to the mound or something?”
Dante chuckled, but kept at his business. “You really don’t fancy my bike, do you?”
“I should think that would be obvious by now,” she said, mocking his accent.
He arched a brow at her sarcasm while shaking out the chamois, eliciting a giggle from Tori. Then his face brightened. “I think I know what we’re going to do toda
y. I’ve heard that to overcome any fear, you simply need to face it head on.”
A dog barking from the neighbor’s front lawn drew Tori’s attention and she turned to see what was causing the racket.
“Which is why I think you need to . . .”
The sound of Dante’s voice faded into the distance when Tori saw a young couple walk by. Time seemed to slow to a crawl when Tori blinked. Before her eyes, the man’s hair changed from brunet to black with white tips, and his eyes turned from dark to crystal, the reflection of the sun on them throwing off glints of the colors of the rainbow.
It was him.
Tori inhaled sharply when she saw the face of the woman he was with morph into a hideously snarled up face of a demon. Her long, golden hair fell in clumps to the ground, her eyes turned pitch, her back hunched over, and her perfectly manicured nails elongated into grotesque talons. He wrapped his arm around the demon and kissed what was supposed to be its cheek. Then a slow, creepy smile spread across his face as he winked at Tori.
Dante’s arms wrapped around Tori’s waist from behind. “I promise to keep you safe,” he whispered into her ear.
Tori blinked again and the couple walking by transformed back to their previous selves. The blonde tossed her hair over her shoulder and smiled at Tori, but kept on their forward path without pause.
“So, what do you think? Are you up to the challenge, oh chosen one?” Dante chuckled behind her.
Tori shook her head to clear it and turned in his arms. “Um, I’m sorry, what?”
She couldn’t have just seen what she thought she had. She was awake, and the demons never showed themselves when he was around.
Dante laughed again. “Have you not heard a word I’ve just said? Or are you faking it because you’re really that terrified of a motorcycle?”
Not having a clue what he was talking about, but knowing she was scared of the bike, Tori nodded in answer.
Dante put his hands on her hips and slipped his thumbs under the hem of her shirt to rub circles on her skin. The baby blue and honey of his eyes came alive with his Light as he looked at her intently.