She stood over Blaise who was still on the floor, still holding his beer upright. Jessie eased his beer from his hand. She set it on the table and shook her head at the man, one hand going to her hip. “Why on earth are you lying on the floor?”
“I was watching you shake your ass and fell over,” confessed Blaise with a grin that said he was up to no good.
“You’re a moron,” returned Jessie with a laugh.
“You’re hot as hell,” said Blaise, earning him a swift kick from Searc. The man grunted but didn’t move. His gaze was on Jessie. “Marry me.”
“She’s taken,” snapped Searc with a growl.
Jessie laughed. “Are you kidding? I can totally hear the slight French accent there, Blaise. My father would lose his shit if I brought home a French vampire. Okay, any vampire as my significant other, but especially a French one. No, wait. British would be worse. He’d go on and on about never taking his freedom or his land. It would be all very dramatic and accents would thicken to the point no one understood anyone.”
Daniel laughed.
She winked at him, having already won him over about two minutes into meeting him at PSI upon their arrival.
Blaise stayed on the floor. “You do know you’re fucking hot, right?”
Searc’s jovial mood died instantly. He went to kick Blaise again, but Jessie gave him a hard look, as if daring him to pull anything. He grunted.
She pursed her lips. “He’s harmless.”
“Lass, he’s a crass cad.”
“He’s funny,” she said with a dismissive wave. She put her hand out to Blaise. “Want to dance?”
Searc’s eyes widened. She couldn’t be serious. Dance with Blaise? Was she insane? “No! He doesnae want to dance!”
Blaise came up fast, standing between them. “Yes, he does.”
“I will break you,” warned Searc with a growl.
Jessie huffed. “You’re turning into my father—a bullheaded Scot with a heavy accent, always growling and grunting whenever a man is near me. Send me to my room next. That should do it. I bet you really do not want me seeing you as my dad.”
He blatantly adjusted his cock through his jeans again. “Lass, when I order you to bed, there will be nothing fatherly about what I do to you there. Or have you forgotten our time together already?”
She raked her gaze over him slowly. “Let me think. Hmm,” said Jessie in a way that made what had happened between them sound as if it were no big deal. “Oh right, our uglies bumped.”
Daniel nearly choked on his wine.
“Jessie!” said Searc.
Jessie laughed. “Relax, I remember. I’m teasing you, Searc.”
Blaise smiled wide. “Jessie, you can tease me all you want.”
Searc’s demon nearly burst free from him. Snarling, he made a move to go at Blaise, but Jessie stepped in his path, her expression pinning him in place. He grunted. “Yer nae about to go out there and dance with him when he’s offering to do you.”
“Oh, I’m not?” She leveled one of her famed looks at him and his shoulders slumped.
“Fine. Go. But if he touches you anywhere he shouldnae, I’ll rip his hands off him.”
Blaise grinned. “So what you’re saying is, use something other than my hands to touch her with. Got it. I have the perfect thing in mind.”
He growled.
“Yep. Grunting and growling. So like my dad.” Jessie laughed and dragged Blaise toward the dance floor, which had no one on it at the moment. The two began to dance and Searc wasn’t sure he could cage his demon for much longer.
“She knows what buttons to push on you already,” said Daniel, sounding pleased. “And it’s very easy to see you have deep feelings for her. We’ve always known as much, but had never seen it with our own eyes.”
Auberi nodded. “Sit. Blaise will behave himself with her. He says what he does only to get a rise out of you. He is aware she is important to you. He will act accordingly.”
Chapter Sixteen
Jessie laughed to the point she bent over as Searc threw a dart at Blaise instead of the dartboard. It hit Blaise in the butt. Blaise twisted and removed the dart before eyeing her. When the suggestion had been made to step away from PSI and relax while they waited for her test results, she’d nearly jumped at the chance. So much had happened that she wanted a mental break. And she didn’t want to dwell anymore on what her father might be doing to Islay.
“Willing to kiss my boo-boo?” Blaise asked with a waggle of his brows.
Searc growled and she laughed harder, moving against him, the feel of his hard body making her breath catch. She was thankful she’d decided against drinking. She wasn’t sure she could handle being near Searc if she was drunk. Sober was hard enough to keep her hands off him. They’d been at the bar for just over an hour and she couldn’t remember a time she’d had more fun. The Para-Regs all had good senses of humor and liked to party, but she wasn’t permitted to join in with them. Her father did his best to keep that world separate from her, except when he enlisted his men as babysitters.
She found herself running her hand up Searc’s chest, letting it rest on the start of his neck. Her thumb moved over his jawline. “Keep being mean to Blaise and I really will go kiss his boo-boo.”
Blaise was funny in a way that gelled with her personality. She understood his advances weren’t actually real, but rather to get Searc going. And it worked well. There was a certain sadness in Blaise’s eyes that made her wonder if he was as happy as he tried to appear to be to all around him. She was also curious to know if the man ever let anyone in under his façade of Goth and humor.
She doubted it.
Searc turned his head enough that his lips skimmed her thumb. He hooked an arm around her waist, locking her against him. When he began to sway to the music, she smiled wide and melted against him, following his lead.
They danced slowly past a table full of men she didn’t know, but from the way they lifted their bagged blood and nodded to Searc, they were friends of his and vampires. Knowing she was surrounded by them made her feel safe.
The song changed over to another of the classic rock ones she’d selected from the jukebox. She smiled, still stunned Searc and his teammates actually hung out at a bar that she’d have guessed would appeal more to shifters, who tended to be a rough crowd. But from what she’d seen, most of the men in the place were living challenged.
Jessie twisted around in Searc’s arm and pressed her back to his front, moving to the beat. He jerked her back against him and the moment she felt his long, thick erection through his jeans, heat stained her cheeks. She glanced over her shoulder to find his gaze containing flecks of black through the green. She’d spent her life around vampires and knew when they were struggling with what they carried in them.
She gasped and turned again to face him. She took hold of his hands. “Searc, you need blood. You never fed before we left the hotel and what you took from me was a small amount.”
His gaze slid to her neck and he nodded slowly, still forcing their bodies to move to the beat of the music.
Daniel appeared next to them, slight concern touching his face as he pressed a smile to his lips. “Excuse me. I’d like a word with Searc.”
She sighed. “You sense it on him too, don’t you? That he’s close to the edge? That he needs to feed to be able to gain full control again?”
Daniel lifted one brow, seeming surprised by her words. “I do. Tell me, do you sense such things on all vampires?”
She didn’t respond. Instead, she went to her tiptoes against Searc. “Let’s get you a drink of the O-Positive kind, okay?”
“W-what?” he asked, his gaze locked on her chest now.
Seeing that he was struggling to focus, and that the black flecks in his green gaze were increasing, Jessie did the first thing that came to mind. She pressed her lips to his. The kiss was meant to be chaste, but that wasn’t what happened. He thrust his tongue into her mouth and her tongue greedily met his. Th
ey ate at one another on the dance floor for several seconds before she gained control of her hormones and tore her mouth from his. His breathing was hard as she tugged on his shoulders, putting her lips to his ear.
“I don’t want to go, but I will if you don’t stop and take care of what the darkness in you needs. It needs to feed, Searc, and I know deep down that you won’t be safe for me to be around very soon if you don’t tend to those needs. Don’t make me leave you.” She wasn’t sure why she added that, but it was from the heart.
He stiffened and then drew back from her slightly. He lifted their joined hands and held her hand out to Daniel. “Mind taking my woman for a spin? I’ve something I need to attend to.”
Daniel took her hand and Searc headed straight for the bar. She knew he’d order blood. Others in the bar were drinking it as well. They were easy enough to spot as their drinks were in travel mugs of sorts to help keep the blood just right.
Daniel looked completely out of place in a dive bar on the dance floor. Jessie snorted and shook her head. “You look scared.”
“I am,” he confessed, making her laugh.
“Here,” she said, positioning his hands on her shoulders and putting her own on his waist. She didn’t bother trying to dance as one should to the music playing. She simply swayed in place, doing her best not to laugh at his obvious discomfort with the situation.
He looked at her. “You never answered my question, Jessie. Do you sense what you did on Searc from all vampires? I know your father is a powerful master vampire. It would not surprise me if many of his gifts have been inherited by you as well.”
“Honestly, no. I mean, I can sense certain things, but not like I can around Searc. I just sort of knew what was happening to him. I can’t really explain it. It was like that before he claimed me even.”
“Do you love him?” he asked.
She blushed. “I’ve always had a crush of sorts on him, but love seems like a strong word. He always seemed larger than life to me when I was in my teens. This man who would show up at random, sit with my father as his equal, and tell him no when a no was in order. It appealed to me. Plus, he’s not hard to look at by any stretch of the means. He’s very hard not to touch.”
Daniel grinned. “Are you here with him tonight, mated, because you know deep down your father would not be pleased? Is Searc a way to rebel against the tight hold your father has always had upon you?”
She didn’t take offense. She knew Daniel was simply looking out for one of his men, much like her father would. And she understood Daniel was a close friend of Searc’s. “No. The last thing I want is for my father to be upset with Searc. And I’ve never much liked when I know he’s disappointed in me. I love him. He’s always been nothing but good to me. Yes, he’s overprotective, but think about it from his side.” She continued to barely dance with Daniel. “He’s been alive for how long and he’s never found his mate. Yet he has me, a biological child. Something very few of your kind get.”
Daniel inclined his head.
“The odds of him ever having another child are incredibly slim, despite the fact that all I want for him in life is to find his mate—to start a family of their own. To find happiness. So, to answer what you didn’t outright ask, I have never been the type of daughter who acts out for her father’s attention or to teach him a lesson. He’s an amazing man, even though he doesn’t see himself that way. And he’s always done nothing but love me. Why would I want to hurt him?”
She lowered her gaze. “I watched him struggling last night with me being close to Searc. In one second he seemed pleased and in the next, he fought with his natural-born need to protect me. I know how important Searc is to him. I know that he’s who my father has set up to take over everything from him should he die.”
Daniel took a deep breath. “What? Cormag has Searc in place to succeed him? Not his second-in-command?”
“I’m not supposed to know as much, but yes.” She bit at her lower lip. “I came home from school once early. I went to his office to talk to him, but he was there, speaking with his lawyers. They were arguing with him on his choices, telling him that wasn’t the way of it. They even tried to convince him to simply will control of running things to me, rather than Searc, but he told them that his directives stood. Searc is who controls his territory, his businesses, and his men if he dies.”
Daniel watched her closely. “You leave something out.”
A nervous laugh escaped her before she stepped closer to him. “Daniel, I overheard my father telling them that he was leaving me to Searc too. That it was as Fate deemed. What did he mean by that?”
He eased her against his body and moved slowly with her. “I believe Cormag senses what I sense on the two of you.”
“What is that?” she asked.
He stepped back and she found Searc there, his gaze normal. He shared a knowing look with Daniel before he eased Jessie to him. He waggled his brows. “I drank blood. Now, woman, where were we?”
“Woman?”
He flashed a wide smile. “We were kissing.”
She laughed and put a hand to his chest. “Probably not our smartest move. I’m going to visit the little girls room. It’s for the best. We need space.”
His laughter followed her.
Chapter Seventeen
Searc watched Jessie head off in the direction of the restrooms and turned to face Daniel. “I left her with you to keep her safe from me, nae for you to drill her on her intentions with me. I’m nearly three hundred. I do nae need you looking out for me.”
“Then act your age,” said Daniel, watching him.
“No. My senses are overloaded when I’m around her. Has been the way of it since she was eighteen or so. I cannae think clearly when she is near. I thought claiming her would help. It has nae done a thing for it.” Searc glanced in the direction of the restrooms, concerned for Jessie.
Daniel caught his shoulder. “I know you overheard what she told me. That she has feelings for you and that Cormag has bypassed his second and any men still directly under him, selecting you instead to be who handles his affairs. And from what you’ve told me, he’s questioning Islay as we speak on what happened while he was gone. It’s clear he’s not trusted the man in some time.”
Searc had heard as much. But what had stuck with him the most was that Jessie admitted to having a crush of sorts on him. He wanted to explore that more with her. Wanted to know exactly what she thought of him—did she love him? Yes, they’d claimed one another but that didn’t mean they loved each other, did it?
He didn’t give a shit about Cormag’s will. His maker would live forever. And he didn’t want to think of the man as dying. It would be too painful for his woman.
“What is happening to me?” he asked his longtime and trusted friend. “I want to go back there, grab her, and fuck her until neither of us can move. I want to sink my cock and my fangs into her. I claimed her. I should nae have such a driving need in me still, should I?”
“You’re the only one of our team mated. You tell me.” Daniel patted his shoulder. “Take her back to the hotel or PSI even. Start small. The rest will come to you. Though you’re Scottish and have a hard head.”
Jessie appeared at the back of the bar and the second her gaze met his, Searc found himself going to her. He swept her up and off her feet. “Ready to go? We can head back to the hotel and wait for a call there.”
She put her forehead to his. “This isn’t helping with the putting-space-between-us thing.”
“I’m nae really a fast learner, lass.” He inhaled her fresh scent and his body reacted at once, wanting in her. He set her on her feet, keeping her close. “Are you ready to go?”
Her brows met. “Why is it you suddenly want to go so bad?”
“Because I want to be buried in you, lass. No clothing between us. Just me, sinking deep into you,” he said, wanting the words back the second they left his mouth.
Her eyes widened and pink stole her cheeks and upper chest
. “Okay.”
He sighed. “Lass, tell me no. Tell me yer nae for me to take anytime I want.”
“Wait? I’m not? I thought you were mine to take anytime I want now.”
“Jessie,” he countered and then cleared his throat. “Be serious here.”
“I am.” Jessie licked her lip. “Searc, are you sure we’re mates? What if some supernatural wires got crossed?”
The very idea that it might be a fluke caused Searc’s demon to rise at a rate that stunned him. He staggered and stared out from shifted eyes, eyes that saw even more than normal. His fangs burst free from his gums and his fists clenched. “No!”
Auberi, Daniel, and Blaise were around him in an instant, thrusting him back from Jessie and out of the bar. They dragged him into the parking area before they released him.
“Searc, enough! Cage your demon!” yelled Daniel.
Auberi stayed close, looking like he was ready to take on Searc if need be. They were often sparring buddies while training, and Searc knew Auberi could give him a run for his money. He didn’t care. That being said, he found it hard to draw his demon side back. It hated the idea that Jessie would question if she was his mate.
He set his sights on Blaise and he wondered if his flirting had anything to do with it.
The man gulped. “Guys, he’s looking at me like he wants to bite my throat out. Tell me why I’m worried.”
Daniel glanced between the men. “Because in his current state he might actually do it.”
“Searc,” said Auberi calmly. “Focus.”
There was a high-pitched whistle and everyone stopped as Malik walked up, holding a folder in his hand. His dark gaze swept to Searc. “We need to talk.”
“What is it?” asked Searc, his demon receding quickly. “What did the doctors find? Is she sick? What did Islay do to her?”
Suddenly Jessie was close to him, wrapping her arms around his waist. He held her to him as he stared at Malik. Auberi walked to his friend and took the folder. He leafed through it and his eyes widened.
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