Warrior Fae Trapped: A DDVN Book

by Breene, K. F.

  So strong was the allure of his eyes that it nearly took her breath away.

  She barely shook her head, shattering the vertigo that had swept over her.

  “Knowledge,” she said. “All I want is knowledge, and to make my own way. And look, I’m already doing that. So…yay me!”

  “You have strength in you. Power. I feel it. Rich but delicate, like a handblown glass vase. It’s unique. Exquisite in every way. I must have you.” He took a step forward. “I can give you knowledge; I have much of it. Or I can pay for your schooling—it is expensive for you, is it not? You do not look wealthy. Do you wish to travel? I can have the best tutors in the world attend you and a private jet take you anywhere you wish to go. Whatever you can possibly need, I can provide. Lovers? Doting men? Easily done. I will share you; I am not possessive.”

  “You are, quite possibly, the most out-of-touch guy I’ve ever spoken to. This come-on is an epic fail.”

  He took another step closer, which seemed more like five, given how close it brought him. “I will have you for my own. Resistance is futile.”

  “Now you’re showing your true colors. Well, I’m not the kind of girl to roll over and play dead because some rich, handsome jackass has a dominance complex.”

  A smile spread across his perfect face. Her gut told her this was his version of coiling. An attack would come soon.

  Charity gritted her teeth—although fear still boiled in her gut, it had been overridden by the need to survive. She reached for the weapons.

  “A lovers’ spat. How engaging. I will win.”

  He moved so fast that she lost sight of him. One moment he was standing a few yards away, and the next his delicate fingers had turned into bands wrapped around her upper arm, preparing to drag her away.

  Fear rolled. Power surged. She snatched a knife, the closer weapon, turned, and stabbed all in one fluid movement. The blade plunged deep into his chest.

  She missed his heart by three inches.

  He sucked in a breath that sounded like a backward hiss and plucked the knife from his chest. With a flick, he threw it away. Mist hazed the air, and for one moment, his face of inhuman perfection turned to that of a monstrous beast.

  She twisted and gouged. Her fist hit his throat. He barely moved.

  Beneath his feral smile, his irises began expanding to fill his eyes. He bent to her, reaching for her body.

  Her flash of dread turned into a gush of electricity.

  She slapped her hand to his chest and let the inner power pour out. A zap turned into a sizzle. The air concussed. His body sailed up and back in an arc, his limbs weirdly still for a guy catapulting through the air. At the last second, he flipped and twisted…and landed perfectly on his feet, crouched and ready.

  “Holy crap,” Charity breathed, blinking stupidly.

  That perfect smile burned brighter as he straightened.

  “What a rare treat,” he said, and slowly ran his hand down his chest. “I have underestimated you. You are not what you seem, yet…” He cocked his head. “Why are you familiar to me? So sweet. So soft. So brutal. I am in rapture. What are you? You are certainly not human…”

  Charity dove for the gun, clutching it and pointing it at her target in a stance born of years of practice. He was moving again, straight at her. His human skin melted away like hot wax, revealing that disgusting thing beneath with huge white fangs and black lips.

  Charity sighted, and breathed.

  The gun jerked in her hand. The creature jerked as the bullet slammed into the center of its chest, an inch or two off target.

  It kept coming.

  She opened fire, squeezing over and over, aiming, re-aiming, keeping focus. He reached her a moment later, lifted her up, and tossed her across the SUV. She knew a second of weightlessness, the gun clutched tightly, before she was falling again. Her shoulder slammed off the hood and she toppled over the side, landing in a heap.

  He was on her a second later, scooping her up like a child.

  “I will have you as mine,” the creature hissed in her ear. The sound was like a hundred snakes slithering across a dirty wooden floor.

  She twisted her body and shoved the gun against its heart. There was no way this bullet would miss.

  Click.

  The magazine was empty.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “No fucking way!” she screamed.

  Her head hit off the SUV again as the vampire snatched her up. Electricity welled within her. Dizzied but frantic, she pushed, and power surged out through her arms and into the creature’s body. The creature started to scream, a sizzling sound as her electricity ate away at its exposed, swampy skin.

  She shoved back and opened herself up to the current, letting it run through her. The sky lit up overhead, the darkness cracking open, and light beat down on the writhing, squealing vampire. Steam, then smoke, billowed up from the being’s nasty skin as its mouth gaped open unnaturally wide.

  She put more energy into it, hoping for more juice. The light flickered brighter. The buzzing of the faux-sun competed with the sizzle of flesh.

  The vampire stumbled, its arms raised in defense, its skin turning red and black. Through a squint, it met her eyes for a moment before zipping past the tree line, almost too fast to follow.

  The light blinked off as she fell to her knees, so drained that she could barely lift her head. It felt like she’d run ten miles in cement shoes. Distantly she heard sirens. She didn’t have much time to get out of there.

  Struggling to climb up the side of the car, she heard panting. A massive black wolf sprinted into the middle of the driveway. It did a visual sweep before its nose went to the ground. Another giant wolf emerged behind Devon, breathing raggedly. Two more to the right, followed by a snow-white wolf she’d never seen before.

  Must be Yasmine.

  They were missing one, though.

  Then she saw it, trotting down from the house, blood all over its muzzle. In fact, they all had blood on them, splattered or sprayed, evidence of their exploits.

  And the police were on their way.

  “We gotta get outta here!” Charity said as Devon approached. “At least me and the cars do.” She lowered her voice in case any partygoers were close enough to hear. “If they know someone died here tonight, they’ll want to question the owners of all these cars.”

  He raised his head and stared at her, standing in exactly the place her new BFF had casually chatted about sexual slavery.

  One quick bark and deep green magic swirled around him, fur rolling and boiling until a naked man crouched on the ground. He stood, and his gaze shot to a new dent in his SUV. He noticed the gun in her hand, and finally the knife that had been thrown to the side.

  “What the hell happened?” Devon asked, striding toward her.

  “I ran out of freaking bullets, that’s what happened! Why didn’t you load the whole magazine? I could’ve had him!” She leaned heavily against the SUV. “Did you get the one in the house?”

  Devon’s eyebrows lowered dramatically. “We got the younger one.”

  “Okay, well, great, can we go now?” she said, strangely uncomfortable in that unwavering stare.

  “Yeah, we need to head out. The cops are close,” Rod said as he started doling out clothes.

  “Should we leave someone behind to deal with the other vamp?” Dillon asked before he put on his shirt.

  Devon’s eyes bored into Charity. “We could never handle him. It’s an elder.” He paused, and with the way Devon was looking at her, the small hairs rose along Charity’s arms. “It’s Vlad.”

  “It was Vlad?” Andy asked, incredulous.

  “Who’s Vlad?” Charity said as Rod swore.

  “Not someone you want interested in you,” Devon said. “Come on, we need to go.”

  “Why would Vlad be interested in Charity?” Macy asked, hurrying into her clothes.

  Devon, still staring at Charity, shook his head slowly, but he didn’t respond. Charity’s he
art kicked up a notch. Whoever this Vlad was, it was clear he was really bad news. It was also clear that he had an unhealthy interest in her. Them not knowing why made it ten times scarier.

  The whine of the sirens increased in volume, echoing through the trees.

  “We gotta go, man,” Rod said, jingling his keys.

  With one last fierce look, Devon started for the driver’s side of his SUV. “Charity, with me.”

  Yasmine’s perfect features twisted with confusion for a moment before she turned to Andy. “Ride?”

  Andy shrugged, jogging to his car.

  Charity sagged against the hood. Even the short distance to her door seemed like an impossible feat.

  “Magic is really tiring, it turns out,” she muttered, trying to shoulder her resolve and get moving. The sirens weren’t far off now. At the top of the driveway, people were running or staggering for their cars or the trees. Everyone wanted out of there before the cops showed up. “Or maybe I’m bad at it.”

  “I’ll get her,” Rod said, hurriedly donning a shirt and starting over.

  Devon froze as he got into his seat, Rod clearly cutting through his whirling thoughts. He stared at Charity over the hood for a beat before a look of confusion crossed his face. Anger came next.

  He stepped away from his car and threw out a hand, catching Rod in the chest. “I got her. Load up.”

  “You sure?” Rod gave him a confused look. “I’m right here—”

  “I got her, I said.” Devon’s angry gaze pinned Charity to the SUV.

  She didn’t care who helped; she just wanted to sit down.

  A moment later, muscles bunched and extended, faster than thought. Suddenly she was in Devon’s arms, hugged tightly against his chest. It wasn’t a romantic hold—he bumped and jostled her to the passenger door, angry about something and clearly unsure how to express it. Once there, he crushed her to him with one hand as he yanked the door open with the other. Then he heaved her in with an inelegant push.

  Like she was a skeleton on Halloween, her limbs fell in a tangle across the seat. A hand pushed her butt so she was completely in before slamming the door.

  “What the hell is your problem?” she yelled at him as he came around the driver’s side. “I didn’t mess this night up for you, Devon. I didn’t do anything wrong. Why are you being such a dick?”

  His eyes flashed to her, boiling with anger. But right under that, it seemed like he was uncertain about something. Uncomfortable, maybe.

  And guess what? So was she. She was tired, drained, and terrified. She didn’t deserve this treatment. So when he slammed his own door, jabbed the push-button ignition, and finally stomped on the gas, every movement leaking rage, she couldn’t help but feel a small trickle of vindictiveness.

  “You don’t like being a gentleman? Too in love with your image as a bad boy?” she badgered, not sure why.

  He held up a flexed arm, his finger and thumb indicating an inch. “I am this close to tossing you out of this car, Charity. Keep it up.”

  “Alas, but then Roger would kick your ass.” The fear and uncertainty from the vamp’s attack was like an acid bath to her nerves. She didn’t know why, but she wanted—needed—to take it out on him. “Can’t do much of your own thinking on this one. But that suits—”

  Tires screeched as he swiveled the wheel and slammed on the brakes. She smacked off the dashboard. Her face pressed painfully against the windshield.

  Parked on the side of the road, he turned on her in a rush. Red lights flared in front of them as Andy stepped on his brakes.

  “I don’t give a shit what Roger will do,” he said. “Shut. The. Fuck. Up.”

  His fury shriveled her vindictiveness, leaving only uncertainty and vulnerability. Tears welled up, the fear threatening to drown her. She dropped her face, trying to hide the sudden gush of emotion as she crawled back into the seat.

  “Sorry,” she whispered. “You’re right.”

  She heard a long sigh. He leaned forward, bracing his forearms on the wheel. Sirens wailed as three police cars zipped by.

  “Please don’t cry,” he murmured. “I was too rough. I didn’t mean that. I’m sorry.”

  She quickly wiped away a tear and strapped herself into the seat. “It was my fault. I shouldn’t have pushed. I was so scared with that vamp. I keep protecting myself, but I don’t know how anymore. I just… I feel…”

  “Like you have no control,” he said softly. “Your life is on the line, and you have no control over the outcome.”

  She hugged her arms around her body.

  “I felt that way in the beginning,” he said. “Like I was slipping through by the skin of my teeth. I barely knew how to turn into a wolf. I had nothing else to fall back on… I was a disgrace during our first battle. I had to get saved by my alpha at the time. I was as embarrassed as all hell. Took it out on the punching bag after.”

  He leaned back, his eyes still trained on her face. “I can’t imagine going up against an elder my first time. Or what it must’ve been like to wake up in that house. I forget you’re new to all this. I forget that you’re as green as they come—without any real control over your magic. I just…fly off the handle sometimes. I apologize for how I handled that. I should’ve known why you were trying to get my goat.”

  “What a weird saying,” she said dismally, feeling a little awkward now that she was regaining control over her emotions. “‘Get my goat.’”

  Devon snorted, his soft and intent gaze not allowing her to rebuild her walls. “Yeah. But, you know, goats are worth money. For the milk and cheese and stuff.”

  “I should invest in a goat.” She tried to laugh.

  “I’m always around for talking, you know. If you need to hash stuff out. I don’t know anything about your magic, but I can maybe tell you about mine, and you can learn that way.”

  “It’s okay. I got it.” She straightened herself up.

  Finally, he nodded, straightening up too. “It’s out there, if you need it. We men don’t like to talk about our own feelings, but we can sure fix up other people’s lives.”

  Laughter came a little easier this time as she settled back into the seat. She wanted to reach out and touch him, to feel his solidity and ease her fear and uncertainty, but she gathered he wasn’t a man that bent to intimacy all that well—at least, the non-sexual kind. She didn’t want to trade her uncomfortableness for his. It wasn’t fair.

  She settled for leaning her head on the back of her seat and crossing her arms over her chest.

  Devon had his hand on the gear selector, ready to put them back in drive, when Andy walked over.

  “What’re you doing?” Devon said, rolling down the window. He’d wrapped his alpha rage back around him like a favored coat. Poor Andy.

  “She okay?”

  “She’s fine. Let’s go!”

  Andy threw his hands up. “Drop a man a line once in a while.” He started jogging back to his car.

  “Tonight would’ve been a success if that elder hadn’t shown up,” Devon said softly, watching Andy get into his car. “I mean, it’s still a success, because everyone is okay, but…”

  “I take it the other one wasn’t a problem?”

  “Yasmine lured it out of the house easily. Led it right to us, then helped us finish it. She’s a strong addition.”

  Charity turned toward the window. It wasn’t a surprise Yasmine had pulled off her task—she seemed competent and capable—but Charity hated being the weak link.

  As if hearing her thoughts, like he always managed to do, Devon asked, “What happened tonight?”

  “I got beaten up by a vampire.”

  “Yes. Before that.”

  Charity relayed the events as Devon drove home. When she got to the part about the vamp’s offer, he held up a hand. “Wait.” He pulled into his driveway and threw the SUV into park. “He wanted to set you up like a mistress?”

  “I guess. He said he’d share me. That he wasn’t possessive.”

&
nbsp; A crease formed between Devon’s eyebrows. “I see. Go on.”

  At the end of the story, Devon’s mouth had worked into a tight line. “He remembers you from the party,” he summarized. “He wants to keep you as some sort of pet. He offered to give you whatever you want, including men. And then he tried to take you by force? Take you, not bite you?”

  Charity brushed her hair out of her face. “That about sums it up. The guy is Froot Loops.”

  “You stared him right in the eye and said no?”

  “Obviously. Otherwise I would be wearing a gold collar, asking for another doting boy to serve me grapes.”

  Devon glanced out his window as the rest of his crew walked past the SUV and up to the house, everyone glancing at them as they passed. “I have to speak to Roger. This might be something the elders do. I have no idea. Sounds…”

  “Froot Loops.”

  A handsome smile flashed across Devon’s face. It was the first full smile, however fleeting, she’d seen from him. And it was a thing of beauty, so much more real than that vampire’s.

  Too soon, he was back to serious and brooding. “I wasn’t angry at you earlier; I was angry at myself. I left you alone tonight. That was a stupid move.”

  “You couldn’t have known that vampire would find me.”

  “It is my duty to protect you, Charity, and I failed. It won’t happen again.”

  She crinkled her nose. “You should apply to be one of the doting boys, because that almost made my heart squish.”

  “Can you be serious for a moment?”

  “No. I stabbed and shot a guy tonight. Technically, he might be a creature, but my mind is still trying to agree with my eyes on that one. I emptied a gun into a living body. As if that weren’t bad enough, I did it at point-blank range and somehow missed its heart. How bad of a shot does that make me? My brain, as we speak, is trying to unravel in half a dozen ways. So no, serious is not in me right now. Maybe later.”