“Zorica,” I growl. “We need—“
She tilts her head and runs away so fast that it looks like she’s vanished.
I can’t move. Tears blind me.
“Can you read me a story, Daddy?” the kid whispers, pulling at my hair.
“I can,” I rasp. “I’ll read you ten stories. No, twenty. We’ll have a fucking reading marathon.”
The little shit kisses me on the cheek. “I didn’t let my mom die. I protected her so she could find you.”
“Where is she now?”
“Read me a story, please.”
“Where is she?” I growl.
The little shit shudders. “Read me a story.” Her voice falters.
I nod. “Okay. You even have a name?”
“No. My mom said you’d choose a name for me.” She kisses my cheek again. “She calls me a princess, but I want a real name. Please, Daddy.”
Emotion strangles my throat. Zorica has respected me even though we’ve been apart. It’s a hunter thing—fathers name their daughters. My club hates the Order but we’ve kept a few traditions. The politics of the Order is one thing, but our traditions that are part of us is another thing.
I inhale deeply. Her name is my head, on the brink of my consciousness. It’s been waiting there.
“Neve,” I say. “You are Neve.”
“Thank you, Daddy.”
I fight the urge to follow Zorica, but the sense of responsibility for Neve wins. As long as I am alive, Zorica is alive too.
“I’ll put you to bed, little bug,” I say.
“But we’ll be playing in the morning?”
“Sure. You want to ride a bike or go for a walk in the woods?”
She hops in my arms and snorts. “I want a bike. And toys. And books.”
I carry her over to my cottage. We enter it through the back door and I sit her in the chair in the kitchen. I make her a sandwich. She eats it and starts running up and down the stairs. I grab her and we go to the bathroom. She brushes her teeth with one of my spare toothbrushes, which makes me think about the need of going for a shopping trip and then I give her one of my t-shirts. I lay her on the couch in the living room and wrap two blankets around her. I sit down on the floor beside her and watch her drop off to sleep. She’s mine. My little treasure. I’m a daddy and she’s my daughter. I love her so much it hurts. Tears prick my eyes. I feel like a fucking cry-baby when the thick drops are leaking from my eyes, and I wipe them away with the back of my hand.
Tiny arms wrap around my neck from behind. “Love you, Daddy.”
“Love you too.”
I’ve always liked kids, but there have never been many kids in the compound. My club brothers are mostly single or they’re widowers.
Neve will bring a lot of happiness to the compound.
Neve curls up into a ball and the sound of her breathing wafts through the air.
I drop my head back and rest it against the couch. My muscles relax. I feel weightless before I drop off to sleep.
Tiny fingers pull at my hair, tearing me out of my nap.
“Daddy,” Neve says into my ear. “Wake up. I want to ride a bike.”
I shudder and open my eyes. Neve is squatting down in front of me.
A few streaks of sunlight filter through the gaps between the curtains. My internal clock tells me it’s early in the morning.
“We have to go to the shop first,” I say. “I’ll buy you ice-creams if you’re well-behaved.”
She widens her eyes. “What are ice-creams, Daddy?”
I feel my throat tighten. “What do you eat, Neve?” My voice cracks.
“Berries and nuts and roots.”
“Where do you live?”
“In the woods. Deer watch over me when my mom is asleep. They’re so funny and warm and furry. Scratchy.” She claps her hands. “And smelly.” She twirls around me. “I love squirrels. They smell nice.”
Fucking hell. I feel like an axe has struck on my skull. My daughter needs almost anything—food, clothes, toys. A safe home. A normal family.
I pull her into my arms and hold her tight against my chest. “Everything’s gonna be fine, little bug.”
Chapter 6
Declan
I rise to my feet and rush over to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for us. We eat boiled eggs and baguettes with cottage cheese. Neve squeals and smacks her lips and makes a horrible mess. Bits of food layer the table and the floor, as orange juice trickles down from her chair. I don’t care. I wait until she’s finished and pull one of my hoodies on her. I carry her out of the house and I sit her on my bike in front of me. She’s a biker’s daughter after all. She should start learning riding a bike as soon as possible. The little shit snorts and hops, excitement written all over her face.
We go to the supermarket and do our shopping. People stare at us like we’re some fucking extraterrestrial beings, but a few of the female shop assistants are really helpful. They choose clothes for Neve, and for Zorica. We grab our bags, have burgers in a nice café, and return to the cottage.
I open the garage and take a child’s bike out. The previous owner of the cottage had four kids. He decided to sell it when his kids grew up. The garage is littered with bikes and toys. Neve dances around me as I start fixing the bike for her.
“Can you even ride a bike, Neve?”
“I can’t.”
“I’ll teach you.”
“Mom teaches me about Moras.”
Something jabs my heart like a needle. “I’ll teach you about hunters.”
“She said you’d take me to your clubhouse.”
Ice fills my veins. “She doesn’t want to go with us?”
Neve ignores my question and disappears into the garage. I hear her checking out all the toys. Her screeches, snorts and giggles fill my heart with joy. Bangs and scraping sounds accompany her, bringing hope to my mind.
I focus on the bike. I change the tyres, wipe the dirt away from the frame, and lower the saddle. Neve walks out of the garage with two rug dolls swinging in her hands.
“Come on, Neve, let’s try to teach you how to ride a bike.”
I sit her on the bike, putting the dolls aside, and explain to her how to use the brakes and pedals. Then I help her ride. She’s a quick learner. After two falls and one bruised knee, she can ride a bike.
I cook supper for us, feed her, and prepare a bath for her. She falls asleep in one of the bedrooms upstairs. I kiss her little head and walk downstairs. The last sun’s rays filter through the window as I drop into the chair at the kitchen table. They illuminate the floor, catching the dance of dust. Urging me to clean up the mess Neve did.
I pick up the bits of food and dispose of them into the rubbish bin.
Why is Zorica not with us? I want to find her, force her to talk to me, but that little shit upstairs needs me to keep her safe.
I freeze, kneeling on one knee. It seems like time has stopped and cold eternity is enveloping me.
A light knocking on the back door tears me out of my numbness. I open it and see Zorica standing in the dimness of dusk. Streaks of mist slither into the garden and wrap around the flower urns.
“Are you going to stay for longer?” I growl with reproach as I grip her arm and pull her inside the cottage.
“I thought—“
“You thought what?”
I bury her in my embrace. She tries to wiggle out of the trap of my arms, but I don’t allow her to.
“You left your kid, Zorica.”
Her eyes rise to mine and flutter as she digs her fingers into my forearms. “She’s safer with you. I’m a threat to you both.”
“You are the fuck what?” My voice has a high-pitched crack.
She shakes in my arms. “They hurt you because of me. They can track you and her when I’m around you. I shouldn’t even be here. I just… just wanted to see you for a moment.”
I slide my hand up her back and wind her hair around my fist. I tip her face up to mine. “I’m tak
ing you and Neve to the compound.”
“I can’t, Declan. Please, try to understand. I just want you to be safe. I can’t be with you.”
I rest my forehead against hers, inhaling her tantalizing musk. “You and Neve are going with me. Don’t you dare to leave this cottage without my permission. If I as much as see you doing something stupid, I’ll tie you up, Zorica. You hear me? So you’d better be a good girl.”
Her eyes start burning with red, glassy like two gems from her tears. “I—“
“You what?”
“You and Neve are everything to me, you know this, Declan.”
I kiss her on the top of her head. “Are you hungry?”
“I—“
“You are. Good. Let’s have a shower together.”
She snorts like she’s offended. “I had a bath in the stream nearby.”
“You’re gonna shower with me, woman, and then you’re gonna feed, you understand?”
“There are squirrels in your garden. I could—“
She’s so adorable. So sweet. So fucking mine.
I slam my lips on hers. My tongue thrusts in and fucks her mouth. She tastes like I remember—the essence of forest, the aroma of wild strawberries, and a pinch of seductive darkness. Nothing and nobody will take her from me again.
I move her towards the bathroom that’s downstairs behind the living room. I have her plastered to me as I keep kissing her sweet mouth. Her tears moisten my face. I feel her body tense against mine.
“Everything will be fine, Zorica, I promise.”
Zorica
He smells like I remember—the musky fierceness of his warrior scented with tobacco.
His body feels like an unbreakable shelter. Feels like I remember.
I’m free from my fear and bad memories in his arms—
—The hunters almost killed me with the silver they had poured over my body. Almost, because they had not acquired enough knowledge on the Mora lore. They were unaware that the baby in my womb would keep me alive. That’s the magic of the baby born from a Mora and a hunter.
I was the vessel carrying a precious gift for the world—my daughter is a hunter superior to those from the Order and the nature protected her in my womb. That’s why I was protected as well.
The hunters didn’t know about it. They threw me into a swamp and left me to rot. I crawled out of the dense smelly water and four deer took care of me.
Then I started to look for Declan.
One rainy night, I heard him call me. I followed that call and found him here in Normandy—
This is my duty to protect his daughter. She will be safe with him. She will be safer when I’m far away from her.
Declan drags me over to the bathroom and starts tearing my clothes off me.
I know I should resist him.
I know I should leave and never look back.
And I know nothing.
I just feel his hot lips against mine, his hot breath mingling with mine. His rough hands, his hard muscles, his torment and impatience.
“We’re forbidden to love each other,” I say as I shake and tears flow down from my eyes.
“I don’t give a fuck, Zorica.”
Declan
I want to have her naked body pressed against mine. That’s my most important need at the moment. I tear her hoody off her and then kneel down and pull her tracksuit bottoms down. She sniffles but doesn’t make any suspicious movements.
As soon as she’s naked, I shove her into the shower cabin and strip. My hard cock springs free. I stand in front of her and turn on the hot water. My eyes roam over her body and learn it once again. I see scars—two of them stretch along her right collarbone, two more go down the left side of her chest, three more are scattered on her left thigh. I turn her round and see five more on her lower back. All of them look like the scars after burns. No big deal, but I can see she’s ashamed of her appearance.
I grip her waist, turning her, and lift her off the floor, slamming her on the wall. I want all of her—her lips, her cunt, her scars. Her body and her soul.
“You’re beautiful,” I rasp.
I hold my cock and guide it into her entrance. I enter her in one firm thrust. Her tight pussy clamps down on my cock. Heat shoots to my toes. Zorica’s eyes flutter, and she whimpers. Her fingers dig into my shoulders.
“Good, baby?” I rasp.
“Very good,” she murmurs. “Missed you so badly.”
Our eyes meet and I see hunger in hers. A hunger that makes a mad man out of me.
I grip the back of her neck and pull her to me so her lips touch my neck. Her legs and arms wrap around me. Her fangs pierce my skin and a wave of pleasure rolls over me. I rest my forearm against the wall and let her drink. My balls tighten, my body stiffens against hers, and I cum, moaning my satisfaction.
Zorica tears her mouth off my neck as her inner walls contract rhythmically around my cock. I’m still so fucking hard for her.
My blood covers both of us, trickling down in thin streams, as I press my body against hers and start thrusting into her. Her knees spread wide apart. Her body rocks against mine. I fuck her harder. Her moans blend with mine and we tremble against each other. My orgasm is so intense I see blackness in front of my eyes.
I lower to the floor with Zorica in my arms, and I let the water and steam cradle us.
“I love you, Zorica, you hear me? I love you.”
“I’m so scared, Declan.”
“I know.” I kiss her lips as my palms land on her head. “I’ll take care of you both and keep you both safe. You have my word.”
I’ll fucking kill every hunter from the Order. Me and them? We are at war.
“We are together, Zorica.”
She nods, tears streaming down from her eyes and merging with the shiny droplets of water.
“Say that,” I growl.
“We are together, Declan.”
I rise to my feet and carry Zorica out of the shower cabin, grabbing a towel. I throw it over her and we go to one of the three bedrooms upstairs.
I put Zorica under the blankets and slip into my jeans. My eyes sweep over the desk and beside cabinets. I grab my phone and call Brad. I ask him to bring a truck. Zorica falls asleep and I go to check on Neve. My daughter’s mind is still travelling in the dreamland, so I circle the cottage two times. Nothing suspicious here.
I smoke a cigarette, standing with my back turned towards the façade and watch the sunrise. A dim pink paints the horizon. It brightens as the first sun’s rays slice the air and make the condensation on the lawns shimmer. I walk through the gate, moving towards the back door. I dispose of my cigarette into a stone urn.
Neve walks out through the back door. She rubs her eyes with her tiny fists.
“I’m hungry,” she says.
“I bet you are.”
I grab her and carry her over to the kitchen. We eat breakfast and go out for a walk.
In the early afternoon, Brad arrives at the village. He tumbles into my kitchen and freezes at the sight of Neve who’s sitting on the floor and playing with pans and ladles.
“She…” He points his finger to my daughter. “Fuck me.”
“You don’t fucking swear when my daughter is around.”
Brad clears his throat. “She looks like you.”
“She’s my daughter, can’t you see, you fucking moron?”
“But you’re ugly as fuck and she’s a little princess.”
“Don’t fucking swear, Brad.” I sweep my hand furiously.
Brad grumbles as Neve beams at him. “Are you my uncle?” she asks.
“Kind of,” Brad says as he squats down in front of her, and they shake hands.
Neve rises to her feet and puts her hands on her hips. I chuckle at the boldness radiating from her tiny form as I drop my head.
“Are you my uncle or not?” she asks in a demanding tone.
“I can be your uncle if you want me to,” Brad says.
“I want to,” she says.
“Until I grow up. Then you can’t be my uncle anymore.”
Brad erupts into laughter. “And why is that, princess?”
Neve twirls around him. “You will marry me when I’m grown.”
Brad keeps laughing. “You’re a very funny little shit, princess.”
I grit my teeth. Neve is my little princess and nobody will ever marry her. Over my dead body.
“Brad.” I give him a chin thrust.
He rises to his feet.
I pack all the stuff and throw it into the truck. Brad helps me load my bike onto the flatbed as Neve watches us.
“Are you a bear?” she asks.
Brad scratches his head. “Do I look like a bear?”
Neve tilts her head. “A bit, but you’re not as hairy as them.”
Brad erupts into laughter, causing Neve to frown.
“Can you watch her for an hour?” I ask. “I need a nap.”
Brad nods. “Sure.”
I stretch my body out on the couch in the living room and allow myself to keep my eyes shut. I fight the urge to sleep, but I drift off anyway. Brad wakes me and I see Neve hopping in his arms. I get up at once, cursing under my breath. The sun dies, so I slap him on the back.
“I need to feed my wife, brother,” I say.
Brad chuckles. “Go.”
I rush upstairs and enter the bedroom. I see Zorica open her eyes. She shudders and jumps off the bed.
“Calm down,” I say as I stride over to her and bury her naked form in my arms.
“Someone is downstairs, Declan.”
“Yeah, he’s my club brother, don’t worry.”
She exhales with relief and slumps into my embrace.
“We need to hurry, Zorica.”
“I know.”
She tries to wiggle out of my embrace, but I plaster her back to my chest.
“Zorica, you need to eat first.”
“I don’t need to eat every night.”
I turn her round. “Listen to me. You need to eat because I love it when you’re feeding on me and because I need you to be strong, you feel me? We’re together in pleasure and in shit, so you need to be fit, alright?”
She tilts her head as her eyes narrow. “We’re a team, right? From now on, we’ll make every decision together?”
“Not every decision, but you’ll have your say.”
Zorica and Declan: Restless Spades MC (A Bad Boy Paranormal Vampire Romance) Page 6